rolled by the sympathetic spirit
of brotherhood or he hunts for spoil with the savage hunger of a beast
of prey.

I am not making a new classification; I am merely calling attention to
a classification that has come down from the beginning of history. Many
years ago I heard a man from New Zealand tell how a cannibal in that
country once supported his claim to a piece of land on the ground that
the title passed to him when he ate the former owner. I accepted this
story as a bit of humour, but it accurately describes an historic form
of title. Even among the highly civilized nations governments convey to
their subjects or citizens land secured by conquest, the lands being
taken from the conquered by the conquerors. A tramp, so the story goes,
being ordered out of a nobleman's yard, questioned the owner's title.
The latter explained that the title to the land had come down to him
in unbroken line from father to son through a period of 700 years,
beginning with an ancestor who fought for it. "Let's fight for it
again," suggested the tramp.

To show how ancient is the distinction that I am trying to make clear, I
remind you that both the Psalmist and Solomon used the word "brutish"
in describing certain kinds of men, and one of the minor prophets calls
down wrath upon those who build a city with blood. Christ, it will be
remembered, denounced the hypocrites who devoured widows' houses and for
a pretense made long prayers.

The devouring did not cease with that generation; it is to-day a menace
to stable government and to civilization itself. In times of peace we
have the profiteer who is guilty of practices which violate all rules
of morality even when they do not actually violate statute law. In this
"Land of the free and home of the brave," we have been compelled to
enact laws to restrain brutishness--not only laws to prevent assault,
murder, arson, the white slave traffic, etc., but also laws to restrain
men engaged in legitimate business. Pure food laws prevent the
adulteration of that which the people eat--men were willing to destroy
health and even life in order to add to their profits. Child labour laws
have become necessary to keep employers from dwarfing the bodies, minds
and souls of the young in their haste to make larger dividends.

Usury laws are necessary to protect the borrowers from the lenders, and,
from occasional violations, we can judge what the condition would be if
the very respectable business of b