e development of character impossible when he made wealth his
first and chief aim. If he has a million dollars he tries to insure
his soul by leaving in his will one-tenth to build a church, or,
possibly, one-half for foreign missions. In the latter case he will
be held up as a shining example to all the youth of the land, and
the churches will ring with his praises. But what has been the
effect of his life on the moral, social capital of the community? Is
the world better or worse for his life? He has all his life been
disseminating the germs of a soul-blight more infectious and deadly
than any bodily disease.

If he has made learning or fame his chief aim, he probably has not
the money to buy soul-insurance. He takes refuge in agnosticism,
like an ostrich in a bush. His agnosticism is in his will; he does
not wish to see. Or its cause is atrophy, through disuse, of moral
vision. He cannot see. There are agnostics of quite another stamp,
whom we must respect and honor for their sterling honesty and
high character, though we may have little respect for their
philosophical tenets. But how much has our scholar advanced the
morality of the community? He has probably done even more harm than
the business man, who is a mere "covetous machine."

The "practical" man has reversed the sequence of functions.
Character is, and must be, first; and wealth, learning, power, and
fame are the materials, often exceedingly refractory, which it must
subjugate to its growth and use. And this subjugation is anything
but easy. The reversal of the sequence results in a moral
degradation and poverty indefinitely more dangerous to the community
than the slums of our great cities. For these may be controlled and
cleansed; but the moral slum floods our legislatures and positions
of honor and trust, and invades the churches. The mental and moral
water-supply of the community is loaded with disease-germs.

The social wealth of a community is the sum total of the wealth of
its individual members. And a community is truly wealthy only when
this wealth is, to a certain extent, diffused. If there is any truth
in our argument that the sequence of functions culminates in
righteousness and unselfishness, the real social wealth of a
community consists in its moral character, not in its money, or even
in its intelligence. We may rest assured that character, resulting
in industry and economy, will bring sufficient means of subsistence,
so that all its me