in the slums and huts of the so-called poor, but it is often far more prevalent in the luxurious homes of the worldly rich. They who have no vision, no faith, no imagination, no infinite hopes, no gladsome good-will surging through their hearts, no true feelings of humanity and no contact with the Cosmic Spirit of life are the destitute and the poor of this world. To such, the inspired touch of true genius never stoops, no matter how hard they may work, concentrate their mental forces and struggle for success. Worldly success may and should in a measure accompany true success and lasting achievement in the interests of mankind and universal progress, but what is often branded as worldly success is but a soulless icy pinnacle of selfish avarice-anti-human-the consummation of a life

of error.

Life must be met in a fighting spirit. Human excellence, be it mental or moral, is seldom made easy of attainment, but we may achieve much, if we will only pay for it with its equivalent in wholesome, persistent effort. Non-resistance means mediocrity. Struggles to survive, to overcome obstacles and attain, develop character and that mental poise and tone of soul demanded by the true spirit of life. Wordsworth well depicts as a happy warrior the character of the successful world's worker, gifted with enthusiasm, poise, self-knowledge and well exercised faculties of reason:

"It is the generous spirit, who, when brought
Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought
Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought;
Whose high endeavors are an inward light

That makes the path before him always bright—
Who, with a natural instinct to discern

What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn;
Abides by this resolve, and stops not there
But makes his moral being his prime care.

He labors good on good to fix, and owes
To virtue every triumph that he knows;
Who if he rise to station of command
Rises by open means; and there will stand
On honorable terms, or else retire,
And in himself possess his own desire;
Who comprehends his trust, and to the same
Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;

Who, not content that former worth stand fast,
Looks forward, persevering to the last,
From well to better, daily self-surpast."

T

XII

HE era in which we live has been called the
Machine Age; it has also been described as

the Age of Human Specialization. That phase of the Machine Age in which men have been enslaved to mechanism, as the tools of a moneygrabbing and wealth-worshipping class, is rapidly passing; but the age of the machine is progressing and expanding. Workers are being elevated from the dead line of automatic mental function and stagnant brains, to duties of a more human kind, where the workers operate the machines-not machines the workers-and where vocational functions, with mind activity, are brought into play.

Machines dominated, tended, nursed and driven by workers are like horses ridden by jockeys, where human skill plays an important part in the race to the goal; but machines which dominate toilers are juggernauts which ride mercilessly over brutalized unfortunates and, with monotonous grind, make for drudgery which robs man of all initiative, interest and hope. The record of the first part of the Machine Age in Great Britain, and in many sections of our own land, is one of horror and persistent crimes against humanity. Machines were monsters, tended by human slaves and it is only in comparatively recent years that the worker has become master of the machine and obtained his freedom.

Craftsmen have existed since the days when men of peculiar ability were deputized to do special work for the good of the tribe, such as the making of arrows, plows, utensils and the forging of swords. During the ages, the agricultural and fighting forces have predominated, the former to sustain life by obtaining food, the latter to defend the tribe or nation and its property, and for offensive extension as its military power developed. The stronger warriors became rulers, while the men of more mentality capitalized their learning and imagination, preyed upon their fellows and, by intimidating brawn by brain, became priests, soothsayers, oracles, physicians and prophets. The artisan was considered of little importance, and the merchant did not stand very high in the social scale.

The last few centuries have seen a mad scramble for recognition by commercial and dominating industrial interests. Through the power of machines and gold, priests, nobility and kings have been tumbled from their high places, armies have been controlled, countries subjugated, dynasties overthrown or subsidized; and today industrialism and commercialism are enthroned Molochs, demanding worship and, at times, human sacrifice. Our modern civilization rests upon wealth, for wealth is the business of the world.

When war consumed all that man captured or made, nothing permanent could be built and there was no reserve to draw upon. Specialization was the first offshoot of individualism and as it became profitable for the tribes to have men apply themselves to specific work, it gradually became profit