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UR present reconstruction period differs fundamentally from other such periods following other great wars. It is not quite safe, therefore, to rest in any easy assurance that in a few years all will be well, since a period of painful reconstruction must follow every great war. It is becoming evident now to all of us that we are confronted, not merely with a political and economic reconstruction, but with a radical social reconstruction.

Long before the war it had come to be believed that society was on the sick list, needing drastic treatment, if not a major operation. We had become. painfully conscious of certain social "evils," and our attention was fixed more and more upon certain loudly advertised "cures" for these evils. Among these evils were the unequal distribution of wealth and opportunity, the constant clashes between labor and capital, the unjust exclusion of women from political and economic privileges, the alcohol evil, social diseases, poverty, crime, and the falling birth rate. Among the proposed "cures" were the further extension of democracy, socialism, syndicalism, votes for women, national prohibition, and coöperation.

Then came the war, and at once our attention was focused upon this as the worst evil of all. That such an awful calamity could suddenly befall the world increased still further our distrust in our whole social system, and we began at once to search for some cure for this further evil, and hoped to find it in a League of Nations, international agreements, and the self-determination of peoples.

The Spark of Divinity in the Human Mind

It is characteristic of our age to be peculiarly sensitive to its evils. This sickening feeling that the world is in a very bad way and needs redemption is illustrated in the book written by Alfred Russel Wallace shortly before his death, in which he bewailed the degeneracy of the times, dwelling upon the prevalence of poverty and crime, and frightful social diseases, and social injustice, in a note almost of despair.

Certainly it is a hopeful sign that we have become so sensitive to injustice, so conscious of social evils, so intolerant of wrong doing, so repelled by the horrors of war, that our own era, which is really clean and wholesome and peaceful and righteous as compared with past periods in human history, seems to us so imperfect. There is thus at any rate this element of hope in the situation that there must be some spark of divinity in the human mind, since we compare the present, not with the real past, but always with the ideal fu

ture.

Conscious Control of Man's FutureWill it be Intelligent and Beneficial?

The special characteristic of our time is therefore not the presence of evils, of which to be sure there are quite enough, but the peculiar consciousness of them and the resolute will to cure them,-a will so persistent and so determined. that it is certain that the twentieth century will see profound changes in our social order. But it does not follow necessarily that these changes will be

beneficial. They will be experimental. This is the first time in history that man has consciously and with determined purpose entered upon the task of directing his own fortunes. Hitherto he has been a puppet in the hands of cosmic forces: evolution, climate, the struggle for existence, the industrial revolution wrought by mechanical inventions and the discovery of coal, iron and petroleum, and finally, the retroactive influences of the American and Pacific frontiers. Now the period of conscious control has come.

But is this conscious control to be intelligent control, or is it to be the kind which the newly rich suddenly acquire over their material surroundings? So far as we can see at present, the era of intelligent control lies far in the future, and the control which is to mark the twentieth century will spring from an impulsive idealism characterized by a keen sensitiveness to our present social evils rather than by a comprehensive grasp of the whole social situation. We are to enter upon the deliberate attempt at social reconstruction but with a kind of adolescent impetuousness and a fatuous, almost fanatical faith in the magic of certain social symbols to cure social evils. This is, no doubt, a necessary stage in the progress of social control, but it is not without its dangers. We have gained the power to remodel our social order. Have we gained the necessary poise, the scientific, historical, and psychological knowledge that will make our meddling safe?

There is, in all the discussion of evils and the cures for them, a singular disregard of the psychological and historical factors of the situation, and a strange forgetfulness of the fact that however important social and political readjustments may be, the world cannot be made over as long as the human material, the minds and bodies of men, remains the same. The relatively greater importance of education, of physical and mental health, of racial integrity,

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of universal intelligence and self-control, is overlooked.

The Present Philosophical Basis of Social Reconstruction

But my purpose in this article is to call attention to the philosophical basis of the reconstruction movements of the day. Underlying all these movements is the philosophy of the full, free and abundant life; of self-expression; of self-determination; of self-realization; of freedom from every kind of autocracy or class rule or oppression or repression; of equality of opportunity; of freedom for self-development and culture; of complete liberty to realize one's own inner needs and one's own personality; of escape from all old and cramping conventions and institutions; of naturalness, initiative, power, will, and efficiency.

These are our ideals and to most of us they are so obvious that they seem to need no discussion. They have found expression in our current drama and fiction, in our moving pictures, in our books and magazines, and in all our plans for social reform. We have come to take them quite for granted.

Is Self-expression an Obsession? Perhaps it may be worth while to examine these ideas with a little care. As ideals they are obviously good. This may pass unchallenged. But it is not self-evident that they are the highest ideals, nor is it self-evident that they are alone sufficient as a foundation for social welfare. It seems rather that the present age is merely obsessed with these ideas, just as other epochs of history like that of the ancient Hebrews, or that of Greece and Rome, or that of the Middle Ages, were obsessed with a wholly different set of ideas.

For instance, in the Middle Ages, poverty, chastity, and obedience were the monastic virtues, and every ambitious boy aspired to be a monk. We look in vain now for many ardent devo