here was a firm
belief that the negroes, especially, needed the care of the superior
race; that they were better off and happier than they would be in
freedom; there was a deep-seated race prejudice that remains
unyielding till this day. Yet the slave trade has ceased, stopped by
armed vessels patroling the seas. The slaves, eight hundred thousand,
in the West Indies were set free; the shackles were stricken off by
the sword in the United States; Brazil adopted gradual emancipation,
and chattel slavery disappeared forever from the civilized world.

The reform battles fought and won are assurances that victory shall
also reward those who contend against this sin of usury. There are
also other good grounds for confidence.

1. They are seeking only a return--a reform: "a restoration to a
former state;" they are not seeking for the establishment of some new
and untried theory, but they are seeking a return to the faith and
conduct of the righteous from the beginning and up seventeen centuries
of the Christian era. The race is but temporarily deflected to the
worship of the golden calf.

2. There is coming forward a great army of intelligent, virtuous young
people. They are made intelligent by our high schools, seminaries and
colleges. They are made students of the Bible and stimulated in
righteousness by Sunday Schools, Christian Associations, Endeavors,
Leagues and Unions. From these there shall rise up defenders of the
truth, free from the burden of debt and unbiassed by life-long
association with conditions familiar to those older. The reformers in
all ages have been young, and this reform will be no exception. There
is a rashness in youth that needs direction, but there is also a dash
and hope and confidence that is necessary to break away from old
customs. One generation of intelligent, virtuous young people could
give this evil its fatal blow.

Usury cannot flourish among the vicious and the unreliable. Other
evils may flourish among the idle, the indolent, the treacherous, the
deceitful and the dishonest, but industry and economy and integrity
and faithfulness and honor and even God-fearing piety are desirable
qualities in the usurer's victims. The higher the civilization, yes
Christian civilization, the more is produced and the richer the
harvest. The usurer has no use for a savage. This worm thrives in the
living body and sucks its vitality. It cannot flourish in putrid
flesh. Let the highest types of our youn