Such, for instance, are the
agitation for temperance and similar social reforms, for prison reform,
for the spread of education, for the suppression of vice, and for the
avoidance of war by arbitration, disarmament, or other means; such
are, in some measure, university settlements, neighborhood guilds, the
various organizations typified by the Young Men's Christian Association
and Young People's Society for Christian Endeavor, sewing-clubs, art
clubs, and even commercial clubs; such are also, in some slight measure,
the pecuniary foundations of semi-public establishments for charity,
education, or amusement, whether they are endowed by wealthy individuals
or by contributions collected from persons of smaller means--in so far
as these establishments are not of a religious character.

It is of course not intended to say that these efforts proceed entirely
from other motives than those of a self-regarding kind. What can be
claimed is that other motives are present in the common run of cases,
and that the perceptibly greater prevalence of effort of this kind under
the circumstances of the modern industrial life than under the unbroken
regime of the principle of status, indicates the presence in modern life
of an effective scepticism with respect to the full legitimacy of an
emulative scheme of life. It is a matter of sufficient notoriety to have
become a commonplace jest that extraneous motives are commonly present
among the incentives to this class of work--motives of a self-regarding
kind, and especially the motive of an invidious distinction. To such an
extent is this true, that many ostensible works of disinterested public
spirit are no doubt initiated and carried on with a view primarily to
the enhance repute or even to the pecuniary gain, of their promoters. In
the case of some considerable groups of organizations or establishments
of this kind the invidious motive is apparently the dominant motive both
with the initiators of the work and with their supporters. This last
remark would hold true especially with respect to such works as lend
distinction to their doer through large and conspicuous expenditure; as,
for example, the foundation of a university or of a public library
or museum; but it is also, and perhaps equally, true of the more
commonplace work of participation in such organizations. These serve
to authenticate the pecuniary reputability of their members, as well as
gratefully to keep them in mind of their