s
in doubtful harmony with the interests of justice in the larger sense;
in the business world commercial integrity is exalted, and lapses from
the ethical code which do not assail this cardinal virtue are not
always regarded with equal seriousness.

It is as though men elected to worship at the shrine of a particular
saint, and were inclined to overlook the claims of others. For all
this there is, of course, a reason; such things are never to be looked
upon as mere accident. But this does not mean that these more or less
conflicting standards are all to be accepted as satisfactory and as
ultimate. It is inevitable that those who study ethics seriously, who
really reflect upon ethical problems, should sometimes criticise the
judgments of their fellow-men rather unfavorably.

Of such independent criticism many persons have a strong distrust. I
am reminded here of an eminent mathematician who maintained that the
study of ethics has a tendency to distort the student's judgments as to
what is right and what is wrong. He had observed that there is apt to
be some divergence of opinion between those who think seriously upon
morals and those who do not, and he gave the preference to the
unthinking majority.

Now, there is undoubtedly danger that the independent thinker may be
betrayed into eccentricities of opinion which are unjustifiable and are
even dangerous. But it seems a strange doctrine that it is, on the
whole, safer not to think, but rather to drift on the stream of public
opinion. In other fields we are not inclined to believe that the
ignorant man, who has given no especial attention to a subject, is the
one likely to be right. Why should it be so in morals?

That the youth who goes to college to seek a liberal education has a
need of ethical studies becomes very plain when we come to a
realization of the curious limitations of his ethical training as
picked up from his previous experience of the world. He has some very
definite notions as to right and wrong. He is as ready to maintain the
desirability of benevolence, justice, and veracity, as was Bishop
Butler, who wrote the famous "Analogy "; although, to be sure, he is
most inarticulate when called upon to explain what constitutes
benevolence, justice, or veracity. But the strangest thing is, that he
seems to place some of the most important decisions of his whole life
quite outside the realm of right and wrong.

He may admit that a man should not