DISORGANIZATION： OTHER TRADITIONS DISORDER IN THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM -- IN EDUCATION --IN HIGHER CULTURE -- IN THE FINE ARTS
This same idea， of confusion and inefficiency in social actions arising from the breaking up of old structures， might find illustration in almost any phase of life which one might choose to investigate. The economic system， for example， is in a state somewhat analogous to that of the family and the church， and indeed the "industrial revolution" is the chief seat of those phases of decay and reconstruction which most affect the daily life of the people.
Location itself梩o begin with man's attachment to the soil梙as been so widely disturbed that possibly a majority of the people of the civilized world are of recent migratory origin； they themselves or their parents having moved from one land to another or from country to city. With this goes a severing of traditions and a mixture of ideas and races.
Still more subversive， perhaps， is the change in occupations， which is practically universal， so that scarcely anywhere will you find people doing the things which their grandparents did. The quiet transmission of handicrafts in families and neighborhoods， never much interrupted before， is now cut off， and the young are driven to look for new trades. Nor is this merely one change， to (384) which the world may adapt itself once for all， but a series， a slide， to which there is no apparent term. Seldom is the skill learned in youth available in age， and thousands of men have seen one trade after another knocked out of their hands by the unforeseen movement of invention. Even the agriculturist， heretofore the symbol for traditionalism， has had to supple his mind to new devices.
I need not point out in detail how the old legal and ethical relations梩he whole social structure indeed梠f industry have mostly broken down； how the craftsman has lost control of his tools and is struggling to regain it through associations； how vast and novel forms of combination have appeared； how men of all classes are demoralized by the lack of standards of economic justice； these are familiar matters which I mention only to show their relation to the principle under discussion.
In general， modern industry， progressing chiefly in a mechanical sense， has attained a marvellous organization in that sense；while the social and moral side of it remains in confusion. We have a promising plant but have not yet learned how to make it turn out the desired product of righteousness and happiness.
Wherever there is power which has outstripped the growth of moral and legal standards there is sure to be some kind of anarchy；and so it is with our commerce and finance. On these seas piracy flourishes alongside of honest trade； and， indeed， as in the seventeenth century， many merchants practice both of these occupations. And the riches thus gained often go to corrupt the state.
In the inferior strata of the commercial order we find that human nature has been hustled and trodden under (385) foot： "Things are in the saddle and rice mankind."The hand-worker， the clerk and the small tradesman， generally insecure in the tenure of their occupations and homes， t are anxious and restless， while many classes suffer special and grievous wrongs such as exhaustion and premature old age， due to the nervous strain of certain kinds of work， death and mutilation from machinery， life in squalid tenements， and the debasement of children by bad surroundings and premature work.
Although the individual， in a merely mechanical sense， is part of a wider whole than ever before， he has often lost that conscious membership in the whole upon which his human breadth depends： unless the larger life is a moral life， he gains nothing in this regard， and may lose.
When children saw the grain growing in the field， watched the reaping and threshing and grinding of it， and then helped their mother to make it into bread， their minds had a vital membership in the economic process； but now that this process， by its very enlargement， has become invisible， most persons have lost the sense of it. [1] And this is a type of modern industry at large： the workman， the man of business， the farmer and the lawyer are contributors to the whole but being morally isolated by the very magnitude of the system， the whole does not commonly live in their thought.
Is it not a universal experience that we cannot do anything with spirit or satisfaction unless we know what it is for ？ No one who remembers the tasks of childhood will doubt this； and it is still my observation that so soon as I lose a sense of the bearing of what I am doing upon gen-(386)-eral aims and the common life， I get stale and discouraged and need a fresh view. Yet a great part not only of hand labor but of professional work and business is of this character. The world has become so complicated that we know not what we do，， and thus suffer not only in our happiness but in our moral steadfastness and religious faith. There is no remedy short of making life a moral and spiritual as well as a mechanical whole.
Education is another matter that might be discussed at much length from this point of view. That radical changes are taking place in it is hardly more obvious than that these changes are not altogether beneficent. We may say of this department as of others that there is a spirit of freedom and vigor abroad， but that its immediate results are somewhat anarchical.
The underlying reason for the special growth of educational institutions in our time is the free and conscious character of our system， which demands a corresponding individual to work it. Thus democracy requires literacy， that the voter may learn what he is voting about， and this means schools. Under the plan of free competition the son need not follow his father's occupation， but may take the open sea of life and find whatever work suits him； and this renders obsolete household instruction in trades.
