p. 3 | Present Conditions and the Remedy by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 12, 1906

Present Conditions and the Remedy

By Editor

CANDID papers and magazines, convinced by the array of evidence, are compelled to recognize such a departure from the old-fashioned standards of honesty and business integrity on the part of the leaders in the financial world as to constitute what one publication is pleased to term “the moral crisis.” The following paragraphs from the Independent (New York) are not the loose assertions of a pessimist, but the thoughtful utterances of a writer who still has hopes of better days. Note them:—

It is not easy to keep unimpaired our faith in the moral integrity of the American business community in these days of worse and worse revelations. The record of disclosures has already become appalling, and those who know what is below the surface tell us that the depths of iniquity have not yet been sounded. . . .

During the five years that have since passed [1901-’06], one investigation has succeeded another, and the literature of exposure has given publicity to all manner of disclosures, clothed in a sensational garb, that has arrested the attention of the thoughtful and the thoughtless alike. From the enormous mass of data accumulated, one generalization stands forth in startling relief. It is this: There has not been one investigation of corporate conduct, of the relations between corporations and individuals, of the conduct of individual men, that has vindicated the defendant; not one that has failed to reveal an amount and degree of wickedness far worse than the public had suspected.

In view of this terrible truth, it is vain to inveigh against the “muck-rake” man. The jester who suggested that the only legitimate criticism to be made upon the muck-raker was that he should have used a steam shovel, had the true sense of proportion.

As an explanation of this startling situation the Independent suggests the following:—

To-day we are exploiting, ruthlessly and wastefully, the most marvelous resources ever found at the disposal of any people. Unlimited capital employs a grade of ignorant, common labor, which existed formerly in the United States only in sporadic individual specimens. Gigantic power, on the one hand, human helplessness, on the other hand, together extracting the gifts of nature from the earth, have created fabulous wealth for men who have never been forced to toil, as the pioneer and the colonist toiled; who have seen in risk, industrial adventure, speculation and exploitation, infinitely greater potentialities than men have ever found in industry and thrift.

And these conditions have turned men’s heads. They have scared men’s consciences. They have created a nation bent on getting something for nothing; a nation unmindful of the duty of putting into the common store as much as one takes out of it; a nation, in short, of industrial and commercial gamblers.

The generalization which the Independent makes is indeed a startling one, and its use of italics to emphasize it is justifiable, but we fear that its explanation will not stand the test of a careful analysis. Mere conditions do not create character, but simply give opportunity for character to express itself. The combination of “unlimited capital,” “gigantic power,” and “human helplessness” do not of themselves change honest men into a nation of “industrial and commercial gamblers.” It is the glory of Christianity that the strong should bear the burdens of the weak. When advantage is taken of the opportunity to oppress the weak, and when the few, by unlawful combinations and by grinding the face of the ignorant poor, compel the many to fill their coffers with tainted money, the already existing lack of moral character is revealed. The Independent confounds revelation with creation.

There is only one sound explanation of present conditions. This is found in the Scriptures. We are living in the last days. These are the “perilous times” when men are “lovers of self.”

Of the rich in these times it is said, “Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days.” The “worse and worse revelations” correspond to the inspired declaration that “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.”

The Independent is hopeful for the future in the face of the terrible situation to which it confesses. It says:—

We are necessarily optimistic because the causes that have produced our wickedness can no longer operate as heretofore. . . . The diminishing returns of materialism will happily direct our thoughts to justice, mercy, and good manners.

This reasoning is superficial, and the hope is not well grounded. The cause of our wickedness is not the fabulous returns of materialism, and the diminishing returns of materialism will not create a higher standard of character. These outward circumstances are not the cause of either wickedness or virtue, but are simply the setting in which they may appear. It is the creative gospel of Christ, “the power of God unto salvation,” which is needed in order to change hearts. That standard upon which is inscribed “The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” ought to be lifted up, and the message of the coming of the Lord as the only hope of a sin-burdened world ought to be proclaimed everywhere. The third angel’s message explains the present condition of things, and provides the only genuine remedy.