ey whom we hail as men of genius, as
benefactors of the human race.

* * * * *

When we come to analyze good and evil positively, we feel that in
_reality_ much of the "evil" we theoretically deplore in individuals
may be resolved into external causes. The depravity of the masses
resolves itself into the combined effects of pauperism and
drunkenness; crime into degeneration; the faults of children and
scholars arise from the darkness of prejudice. But as these causes are
not absolute and immutable, but are related to transitory states which
may be altered, the ancient philosophic conception of evil resolves
itself partially into so many social questions and actions. To give
work and combat the drink habit--this it is which contributes largely
to morality by removing so many causes of evil. To undertake the
regeneration and education of the degenerate, is to combat crime, and
therefore to promote morality.

Thus, if in schools the dense darkness of prejudice is the cause of
innumerable moral ills, to reform the school by the help of natural
principles will be the first step towards its moralization.

It is in this direction, then, that we must face the great question,
not by analytical examination of the system of prizes and punishments,
of the principle of emulation, of the most opportune and practical
manner of inculcating moral principles, nor by the creation of new
decalogues. That which we have hitherto regarded so lightly as a
didactic problem is, on the contrary, a great and veritable social
question.

When a moral problem is limited to the _effects_ of preventable
causes, it is merely apparent. Thus, for instance, let us imagine for
a moment a populous quarter, where pauperism is rampant and the poor
will fight for a piece of bread; where dirt, drinking-shops and civic
neglect degrade the inhabitants; where all, men and women alike, give
way readily to vice. Our sole impression of such people at the moment
is: "What wicked people!" On the other hand, let us take the modern
quarter of an industrious city, where the houses of the people are
hygienic, where the workpeople receive a fair remuneration for their
labor, where popular theaters, conducted with a true sense of art,
have taken the place of public-houses, and let us enter one of the
restaurants where workpeople are enjoying their food in a quiet,
civilized fashion; we should be inclined to say: "What good people!"
But have they really