to influence the decision and to influence it to his utmost power? To find what light the past may throw upon these questions we must study the political, industrial, intellectual, and moral movements of the age with reference to the character, strength, and persistence of their causes, and specially note all blossoming signs of a new ideal of nobler type than that which dominates our life to-day, and earnestly seck the conditions of developing the new ideal and the means of lifting it to sovereign control in place of the present ideal of commercial conquest and triumph in industrial battle. The mightiest of all forces, molding education, government, social conditions, and economic systems, is the dominant ideal, which in turn is modified by all the elements of life. No more momentous years have ever come to man than the opening years of this new century, through the portals of which he has just entered. No grander mission can be found than to give one's life to the building of a loftier ideal and the effort to turn the organization of industry away from despotism toward liberty, democracy, and diffusion of benefit, so that the wealth and knowledge of the twentieth century shall make all the people rich and free-the grand movement toward the liberation and enrichment of life, sweeping aside the aristocracy of wealth as it has the aristocracy of birth, and filling the years. with a new equality that shall make all other equalities real and safe.

Boston University School of Law.

FRANK PARSONS.

AN ECONOMIST WITH TWENTIETH CENTURY

IDEALS:

PROFESSOR FRANK PARSONS, C.E., PH.D., EDUCATOR, AUTHOR, AND ECONOMIST.

I.

"To construct the people-what an aim! Principles combined with science, all possible quantity of the absolute introduced by degrees into the fact, Utopia treated successively by every mode of realization,by political economy, by philosophy, by physics, by chemistry, by dynamics, by logic, by art; union gradually replacing antagonism, and unity replacing union; for religion God, for priest the father, for prayer virtue, for field the whole earth, for language the Word, for law the right, for motive-power duty, for hygiene labor, for economy universal peace, for canvas the very life, for the goal progress, for authority freedom, for people the man.

"And at the summit the ideal.

"The ideal!-the stable type of ever-moving progress."—"WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE," by Victor Hugo.

ALL

LL successful evolutionary or revolutionary steps in political, social, or economic advance must be preceded by patient educational work of the "line upon line and precept upon precept" character; for the masses in all nations are conservative, and it is not enough to convince the reason. The conscience must be awakened to such a degree that the call of right and duty becomes an imperative mandate. For this reason there is always a long waiting time before a radically progressive step can be successfully taken-a time when the silent leaders of civilization work for years, decades, and sometimes for generations to arouse the reason and conviction of the slow-thinking multitude, and during which period their words seem for the most part to fall into barren soil. The public appears sodden, indifferent, and disorganized; and, were the apostles of progress governed by any motive less exalted than loyalty to the call of duty, they would become disheartened. Yet all this silent work has been producing its result. Here is a group who have already become convinced. At another point a leader has been won, and in ten thousand

cities, villages, hamlets, and communities missionaries are quietly repeating the words of wisdom which the leaders have given. In this way a nation is educated and aroused until a certain point is reached when everything seems to swell the rising tide of political and economic enthusiasm. Then every manifestation of arrogance, insolence, injustice, and oppression from the upholders of the older order makes converts to the new cause, though a few years before similar actions excited no response. The essential preliminary educational agitation has been quietly but effectively carried on until the conscience, reason, and judgment of a large proportion of the people have been influenced in such a way that a successful revolutionary step has been rendered inevitable; and without this quiet and persistent educational propaganda victory for the progressive cause would be impossible.

To-day signs are not wanting that indicate the near approach of a social, economic, and political conflict that will prove the most momentous civilization has known. The old competitive order has given place to two elements-private combination, striving to establish an industrial despotism in a republican government, and progressive democracy, seeking to establish governmental ownership of public utilities and a nation-wide coöperative system whereby all men, women, and children shall enjoy the rich and ample blessings of civilization. Professor Frank Parsons in a recent paper thus expresses the demand of the new political economy as insisted upon by those who believe with Victor Hugo that the hour has struck for hoisting the standard, "All for all":

"The science of political economy is undergoing a change almost as remarkable as that which took place in astronomy in the Copernican era. In the old astronomy the earth was the center around which all other things, including the sun and stars, were made to circle. In the old economy material wealth was the center around which all other things, including even life itself, was made to revolve. The new astronomy knows that the earth is not the center but only a planet moving about the sun, and the new economy knows that material wealth and the desire for it are not the central facts, but

only subordinate parts of a great system, of which manhood and womanhood, character, mind, soul, affections, ideals, and development are the controlling elements, the real foci of power."

Now, during the last generation, and especially during the last two decades, there has been going on an amount of silent but persistent educational work throughout the United States which has rarely if ever been equaled in the hours preceding any great revolutionary or evolutionary step known to Western civilization. What is true of America is to a great extent true of England, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, France, and some other European nations; but we are at present chiefly concerned with the work in the New World, because all things indicate that the rapid concentration of wealth in the hands of the master spirits operating the industrial trusts, and the influence they are exerting on government in all its ramifications, will bring the American people face to face with the alternative of industrial despotism or coöperation for the maintenance of free institutions sooner than elsewhere.

The economic awakening was inaugurated and largely stimulated by several remarkable social visions, principal among which were "Looking Backward," by Edward Bellamy; "News from Nowhere," by William Morris; "A Traveler from Altruria," by William Dean Howells; "The City Beautiful," by Joaquin Miller; and latest, and in many respects greatest of all, "Equality," by Edward Bellamy. The enormous sales that many of these books enjoyed, and the eagerness with which the public perused these and scores of other social visions, were indeed significant. But social visions, valuable as they undoubtedly are in stimulating thought, in showing the way out, and in making men dissatisfied with unjust, inequitable, and evil conditions, are not enough. Anglo-Saxon peoples demand far more than theories and social dreams, however rational and pleasing they may be; and, fortunately for the new awakening, the men most needed were ready for the great demand.

Among the master thinkers in the New World who have compelled hundreds of thousands of thoughtful people to study social problems, the late Henry George was preeminent. One may or may not agree with all the theories of this highminded, clear, and lucid reasoner and incorruptible patriot, but no well-informed student of economic problems can fail to recognize the great work accomplished by Mr. George in compelling the people to think seriously on vital and fundamental social and economic problems. Among other great representative leaders and workers must be mentioned Henry D. Lloyd, whose masterly works, "Wealth Against Commonwealth," "Copartnership in England," "A Land Without Strikes," and "Newest England" have done very much to stimulate thought along progressive lines, as also have the writings and educational work of Professors John R. Commons, Edward Bemis, Richard T. Ely, Eltweed Pomeroy, and a score of other careful thinkers who have been working for true democracy. But among the coterie of silent leaders who have led in the serious constructive and scholarly work that must precede a successful onward movement, no man has wrought more effectively or convincingly than Professor Frank Parsons, who, as educator, economist, and author, has carried forward the cause of coöperation and the public ownership of public utilities in such a manner as to challenge thoughtful attention from friend and foe alike. He is one of the most scholarly, careful, and sane thinkers in the progressive ranks to-day. He is dominated by altruistic ideals-a true son of twentieth-century civilization.

II.

Professor Frank Parsons was born in 1854, at Mount Holly, New Jersey. His ancestors on his father's side were sturdy, liberty-loving Englishmen. His mother was American-ScotchIrish, and came from a well-known family of clergymen, teachers, and professional men.

One grandfather, with several "greats" before his name, who was keeper of the king's stores in Philadelphia when the