A Statesman's View of the World's Progress
By T.
O N a recent date Mr. Bryan, the secretary of state, made an address in Chicago before the Union League Club on "the signs of the times." He brought three propositions before his audience to show that the world is advancing in intelligence and morals and the science of government. Mr. Bryan presented many facts to show that education is on the increase, that countries like Japan that fifty years ago were bound in ignorance have now broken their chains and are sharing in the world's progress. There is no question in regard to great material progress having been made during the last hundred years. There is no question but we have in this time some of the most stalwart men in morals that have ever lived on this planet. They are doing heroic work for the cause of humanity, but when we come to say that the world is getting better morally the proof is lacking. For instance, Mr. Bryan referred to the increasing sentiment in favor of temperance, and gave some splendid incidents to show what is being done in that direction. But notwithstanding this strong temperance sentiment, the statistics of our government, which are supposed to be absolutely reliable, show that each succeeding year brings an increase in the consumption of alcoholic drinks. In 1850 the amount per capita in this country was only four and eight tenths gallons, while now the amount per capita is twenty-two and three fourths gallons. We have our army of W. C. T. U. workers; we have our Prohibition Party; we have our Anti-saloon League, and many other allied organizations, and orators and journals, and they have done mighty work for the cause of temperance. But in spite of all this work, the statistics show that an average of nearly twenty-three gallons of strong drink is consumed in a year by each man, woman, and child throughout the nation. Now we know there are many who, like Mr. Bryan, refuse in the face of the ridicule of some people to touch wine even upon state occasions, but nevertheless some one, somewhere, is drinking his twenty-three gallons of strong drink. You might go through the nation and find thousands of people who never touch a drink of the iniquitous cup that is laden with alcohol, but for these strong temperance people there must be found others who drink their share in order to bring the average to this twenty-three gallons. That is, there are some who are drinking very much more than twenty-three gallons in order to bring up the average. Now how can we say that we are making headway against intemperance when the amount being consumed is increasing right along? And so we might continue in all of the fields of reform. Heroic work is being done to suppress vice, but vice is nevertheless on the increase, and has reached such proportions that leading educators and statesmen are crying out against it as a menace to our civilization. There is great danger that we look at our big organizations that are working for reform, and hear only their music and the marching of their brave army. But unless the world were in an awful condition morally why would we have need of such multitudes of organizations that are working to suppress child labor, and to protect women, and to get proper wages for the employee, to put down vice and intemperance, and so on to the end of the list? Would it not be well to recognize that the Bible states fact when it says that "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived"? Would it not be well to recognize the truth of the ringing words of the prophet Daniel which he himself applies at the time of the end? He says: "The words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Dan. 12:9, 10. Observe that his prophecy was given for the time of the end. Many shall be purified and made white and tried, and furthermore he tells us that "the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand." Now that scripture very plainly shows that there will be a trying process that will purify and make white many people in "the time of the end," but on the other hand many of the wicked will do wickedly and none of the wicked will understand. We wish to encourage every true reform work, because it is all in the providence of God and under His fostering hand, so that the vice that Satan is seeking to bring into the world can be held in check until the work of Jehovah is finished upon the earth. Because many in this time are to "be purified, and made white, and tried," we must not make the mistake of believing that their divinely appointed work is causing the world as a whole to be getting better. These good, true workers will be climbing to the very heights of purity and righteousness, and their noble souls will lift them to that exaltation that they may be tempted to believe that the world is getting better, by what they see being done by themselves and their associates; but we must remember that evil men will wax worse and worse, and furthermore that the wicked will do wickedly in the time of the end. And if we confine ourselves to facts instead of fancies, we will have no difficulty in seeing the literal truth of the divine word.