Henry Baird Favill, AB, MD, LL.D., 1860-1916, a ... - University Library

378 HENRY BAIRD FAVILL
At this moment the significant note is freedom of
thought. When we are disposed to bemoan the ridiculous
domination of fashion, let us reflect on the facility with
which tradition is thrown to the winds. As we view with
discouragement the ever-recurring domination of viciousness,
let us appreciate the spontaneity with which people
respond to an ethical slogan.
Imitation has determined social custom.
Initiative will
This will not destroy the need for wisdom,
loosen its fetters.
tolerance, and equilibrium, and through the seething mass
of human activity there will continue to move an everincreasing
element of sane, philosophic, and conservative
progressivism.
To the progress imaginable under this combined movement
of social stir and philosophic development, freedom of
thought is essential. It is the atmosphere in which things
can grow, and, for every license to which this emancipation
leads, manifold measure of liberty will be poured forth.
Consciously or unconsciously through it all we are sounding
another note. To a degree never before approached,
posterity is the subject of solicitude.
Labor fights to the death for principles which can never
materially affect the present participants. Political reformers
immerse themselves in labor and study whose fruition
can be not less than a generation hence. Sociologists
grapple problems in the light of the future, and great ethical
movements, seeking to justify and readjust human relations,
plunge with intensity into a struggle, the benefits of
which can only accrue to our children and children's children.
Conservation, the shibboleth of political economists,
justifies only in its relation to coming centuries. While immediate
advantage, selfish
interest, and short-sighted greed
play a role as acute now as ever in the past, it is being
offset, and in a large measure ultimately will be destroyed,
by the overpowering force of foresight.
The substitution of solicitude for the race, as a motive.