It would be possible to point out many similar divergences between the fatherly and motherly indulgence of family life, the charity, long-suffering, and forgiveness of Christian faith, the easy tolerance of social life on the one hand, and, on the other, the ideal of justice, cold and impassive, which we associate with the state. In her admirable discussion of “Friendship and Politics,”[21] Mrs. Simkhovitch has given us what is, on the whole, a very sympathetic picture of the poor man who would scorn to sell his vote outright but who delivers it blindly to the “big hearted” ward leader, whose kindly interest and protection he so constantly needs to secure work and avoid oppression. It is hardly fair to characterise his attitude in slightly ironic phrase as dominated by the principle of the “sacredness of the job.” Hard, continuous labour and the support of a family under such conditions are virtues of no small proportions. In large part, as Mrs. Simkhovitch has pointed out, devotion to the ward leader may be much less the expression of selfishness than of the traditional loyalty of a race, class, or neighbourhood. Such loyalty, within limits, must also be accounted a virtue. Finally, in attempting to judge the case, we must inquire into the opportunities which voters of this sort have had for acquiring high ideals of civic conduct. Are the best attainable results secured by our systems of education, poor relief, correction, and taxation? Need nothing further be done to prevent child labour, to furnish better housing conditions and to safeguard the public health? If we concede the necessity of social reform in these or any other directions, we impliedly recognise either the failure of society to live up to its own ideals or the necessity of new and higher ideals of social conduct. And this recognition involves the assumption of part of the moral guilt of existing corruption by society itself. Mr. G. W. Alger has noted the current dissatisfaction with the ideal of pure cold justice.[22] He also insists, correctly enough, that justice is the rock upon which alone generosity can safely build. The two ideals should not, however, be dealt with as fundamentally incompatible. Not since the time when Thomas Aquinas first recognised the caritative function of the state has such a view been tenable. More and more the state has endeavoured in modern times to live up to this duty of protecting the poor and weak. Its fuller realisation will mean the disappearance of many of the existing causes of corruption.