goal, now backward hurl'd,
Toils the indomitable world."

I have recently read an address by one whose knowledge it would be
presumptuous to challenge.[2] In it I find abundant evidence of
progress.

[2] Address by the Hon. Carroll D. Wright before the
Unitarian Conference, September, 1903.

During the past fifty years crime has decreased. True, the records of
to-day contain a longer list of crime. But our statistics are more
complete and accurate than the statistics of times past. Besides,
there are many offences on the list which half a century ago would not
have been thought of as crimes. This shows that the public conscience
is more sensitive than it ever was.

Our definition of crime has grown stricter, our punishment of it more
lenient and intelligent. The old feeling of revenge has largely
disappeared. It is no longer an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
The criminal is treated as one who is diseased. He is confined not
merely for punishment, but because he is a menace to society. While he
is under restraint, he is treated with humane care and disciplined so
that his mind shall be cured of its disease, and he shall be restored
to society able to do his part of its work.

Another sign of awakened and enlightened public conscience is the
effort to provide the working-class with better houses. Did it occur
to any one a hundred years ago to think whether the dwellings of the
poor were sanitary, convenient or sunny? Do not forget that in the
"good old times" cholera and typhus devastated whole counties, and
that pestilence walked abroad in the capitals of Europe.

Not only have our laboring-classes better houses and better places to
work in; but employers recognize the right of the employed to seek
more than the bare wage of existence. In the darkness and turmoil of
our modern industrial strifes we discern but dimly the principles that
underlie the struggle. The recognition of the right of all men to
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, a spirit of conciliation
such as Burke dreamed of, the willingness on the part of the strong
to make concessions to the weak, the realization that the rights of
the employer are bound up in the rights of the employed--in these the
optimist beholds the signs of our times.

Another right which the State has recognized as belonging to each man
is the right to an education. In the enlightened parts of Europe and
in America every city, every town, every villag