he one side or the other. Civilization may be to man as the microbe to
the locomotor-ataxy subject; but innate civilizationists would delight
in the surrender of humanity to the social order. To them what would
humanity be but civilization's opportunity, its habitat, its
food-supply? I am saying that, to prove trade immoral it is not enough
to show that man is a sacrifice to the economic order; you would be
required also to demonstrate that man ought not to be sacrificed to any
social order, that he must always be the final end, and never a mere
means. But that is exactly what you can never demonstrate to any one
who is not innately, spiritually, naturally, on the side of man against
all other objects of interest. I mean that there is no arguing with any
one who constitutionally hesitates to side with man. You might pray for
such a one; but it would be folly to reason with him, for the
foundation is not in him upon which your reasonings could mount. All
this seems to me necessary to say, because I get the impression from
books on political economy that most writers and readers first
dehumanize themselves as a prerequisite to a discussion of the morals
of trade.

VI. THE LIVING FOUNDATIONS

In one of his allegorical poems, James Russell Lowell depicted the
antagonism of sentiment to which I am referring as existing between
Christ and his conventional worshippers. The poem is a slight thing:
although strict in metre and perfect in rhyme, it is too flowing and
fantastic to be classed high in literature. But if we view it as a
scientific essay in dynamic sociology, it is admirable beyond
criticism. As its meaning is quite separable from its form and sensuous
contents, I therefore ask you not to think of it as poetry or Christian
mythology, but to regard it only as a compact treatise in ethical
economics. Because this poem is familiar to you all, it will serve my
object the better. It represents Christ as coming back to earth after
eighteen hundred years, and all the grandees as rendering Him elaborate
homage. Nor do they omit to direct His attention to His own image set
up in the places of highest honor. But still, according to our dynamic
sociologist:--

... wherever his steps they led,
The Lord in sorrow bent down His head,
And from under the heavy foundation stones
The Son of Mary heard bitter groans.

And in church and palace and judgment-hall,
He marked great fissures that