We have passed through ages of autocratic tyranny; the individualistic democracy of the last century is waning; there is approaching an era of social effort, social morality, a recognition of social interdependence. "The quick and sensitive ear," to quote Miss Scudder, "hears the beat of a new music, to which men begin to rally.[100] It is a concerted harmony, no mere solitary bugle call; and those who march to it are more or less consciously swayed by a new rhythm. For it is notable that the rhythms of life are coming more and more to connote harmony rather than melody, or rather to weave many melodic phrasings into one complex whole. Association--or to use the fairer word, fellowship--becomes a term of increasing modern cogency." What matter, that to any but the superficial observer, the situation looks dark. It may be that the more we study it, the blacker it grows. As we look back upon the history of man's strivings for some better social organization, the conflict may seem hopeless. We may be tempted to reflect with William Morris, "How men fight and lose the battle, and the thing they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes it turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name." But it is nobler to say with Mrs. Browning: "We will trust God. The blank interstices Men take for ruins, He will build into With pillared marbles rare, or knit across With generous arches, till the fane's complete. This world has no perdition if some loss." FOOTNOTES: [93] Father Cuthbert, O.S.F.C., "Catholic Ideals in Social Life," p. 211: N. Y., 1904. [94] Bulletin of U. S. Bur. of Lab., Jan. 1, 1911, p. 869. [95] Cf. Mrs. Florence Kelly, "Some Ethical Gains through Legislation," N. Y., Macmillan, 1905; Bulletins of U. S. Bur. Lab. giving resumé of labor legislation. [96] The next few pages appeared substantially as here given in The Month, March, 1911, under the title "The Consumer's Opportunity." The author thanks the editor of this magazine for kind permission to reproduce this matter. [97] "Historical Sketch of the Pioneer Consumers' League," p. ii, Consumers' League of New York City, 1908. For further information address Mr. V. P. Kellogg, 105 E. 22nd St, New York City. [98] Cf. _The Survey_, Dec. 17, 1910. [99] Cf. Hunter, "Poverty," New York, 1906. [100] Hibbert Journal, Apr., 1909. APPENDIX 1 Constans et perpetua voluntas jus suum unicuique tribuendi; voluntaria laesio et violatio juris alieni: De Lugo, De just. et jure, Disp. VIII, Sec. I, n. 1. 2 Debitum rationale ex necessaria connectione mediorum cum fine necessario resultans: Theologia moralis fundamentalis, ed. 2a, Bruges, 1890, p. 188. 3 "Quoties aequalitas non servatur ut venditor ultra supremum pretium, vel emptor emat infra infimum ... injustitia commititur." L. c., Tr. VII, n. 380.