the half-tone and other fac-simile reproductions, which cultivate an appreciation of the beautiful and carry into even the humblest of homes the refining influences of great works of art; reproductions used in illustration also elucidate and render great assistance to the correct interpretation of scientific and other publications. But do these material attainments mark, in themselves, man’s greatest achievements? Vast and complete as they are, our answer must be no. Each, within itself a type of highest thought, becomes an integral factor in the progression of the race, the perfectability of man, his nature and condition. ♦Paper aids great reforms♦ The advanced thinkers of to-day agree that the hundred years just ended have been especially remarkable from a humanitarian standpoint. They have been made notable by movements tending toward man’s elevation, toward the righting of his wrongs, and the alleviation of his sufferings. Victor Hugo declares: “This century is the grandest of centuries ... because it is the sweetest. This century ... freed the slave in America, elevated the pariahs in Asia, extinguished the funeral pile in India, and crushed the last fire-brands at the martyr’s stake in Europe.” If we ask how these great reforms were wrought, the answer must be, in part at least, that their accomplishment was the result of public sentiment properly educated and directed. This were surely impossible without paper. By dint of the universality of its service to mankind the ruling minds of all thinking nations are frequently placed upon a common plane, becoming possessed of common convictions, and upon the sudden presentation of important international problems, often act with a degree of unison that strikingly illustrates how much of one mind we are, how nearly upon one plane the thoughts of men are moving. As a force both in shaping and giving expression to public opinion, the press wields a power that is at once unquestioned and invincible. As Chapin says, the productions of the press “go abroad through the land, silent as snowflakes, but potent as thunder.” Power without an agency of expression is helpless, and the paper sheet is the medium that makes possible the potency of the press. On its white wings it bears abroad the inspired words that stir men’s hearts and prove the heralds of “liberty, equality, and fraternity.” ♦The power of education♦