"What we are suffering from," says one of the greatest of living democrats,[1] "is something far more widespread than the German Empire.

Is it not the case that what we are in face of is nothing less than the breakdown in a certain idea and hope of civilisation, which was associated with the liberal and industrial movement of the last century?
There was to be an inevitable and glorious progress of humanity of which science, commerce, and education were to be the main instruments, and which was to be crowned with a universal peace.

Older prophets like Thomas Carlyle expressed their contempt for the shallowness of this prevailing ideal, and during this century we have been becoming more and more doubtful of its value.

But we are now witnessing its downfall.

Science, commerce, and education have done, and can do, much for us.