America, Uruguay, I desire to express my very lively satisfaction in the results obtained by this conference, which has succeeded in drawing up a convention, the very mention of which would, a little while ago, have given rise to sarcasm and persiflage."

The foregoing excerpts from the proceedings of this conference, charged with the duty of strengthening, by international laws, the safeguards of home and family which enlightened nations have thrown around their social structures, rightfully reflect the spirit and purpose of this momentous gathering.

At the close of the deliberations M. Deschamps delivered an eloquent and inspiring address fraught with sentiments of high devotion to the cause of a nobler and purer humanity. He concluded by abjuring his hearers as the élite of mankind, not to abandon the masses "to the deadly attacks of all the ferments of corruption, to the pestilence that spreads from all the centres of infection which lurk in the depths of populous cities, and which distils a poison that spares neither the meanest village nor the humblest abode."

O

XII

LOOKING FORWARD

F all nations that have grown to greatness and renown within recorded time, none

can be compared with our own for celerity. We have attained a foremost place among the peoples of earth within the short limits of a hundred and thirty-seven years-reckoning from the establishment of the Federal Government-and the present writer has lived nearly one-half of that period. How far their restless energy and genius for large accomplishment in all fields of human endeavour will carry the American people in the centuries to come is something that baffles imagination. As yet, we can scarcely be said to have evolved a native culture. Our conglomerate population, particularly in the larger cities, are of many different cultural strains. When blended and stabilized as they must be in the course of time, what will be the accepted American code of life? It is in the making now. In this, its formative period, our generation will impart its impulse to the forces which are shaping the future of America.

Most right-thinking men and women are alive to their obligations toward their families, their neighbours and the state. Their obligation to the

future of their country is sensed less keenly. Yet it is an obligation that may not be ignored by him or her who, loving America, would shape her future toward the realization, by myriads yet unborn, of the untold blessings which may be theirs if our people remain true to American ideals.

Those ideals never grow old and never fade. They are as eternal as God Himself Who set them up as a goal toward which a righteous people should ever strive.

Foremost among them is morality, public and private. By that term is not meant the moral tenets of any particular denomination, sect or cult, but that fundamental morality which is recognized by all religions and all civilized peoples as the foundation of well-ordered human society.

So far as history reveals, the great nations of the past grew to power and influence through the staunch character of their peoples. The beginnings of decay were marked by relaxation of family ties, by sexual promiscuity and such unspeakable practices as are denounced in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Rome fell through the loss by her citizens of that rigid virtue which had builded the republic and founded the empire. It was destroyed through immorality just as certainly as were Sodom and Gomorrah.

Thoughtful citizens should consider the similar symptoms of decay which are already appearing in American life. We see them in the growing

contempt in which those moral restraints which were cherished in the early days of our country are held. The drama, literature, and social customs of our time bear evidence of a far departure from the old American moral code.

The growing contempt for law has given us the unenviable reputation of a crime-ridden people. The use of narcotic drugs has grown to alarming proportions while disregard of the prohibition laws has resulted in perceptibly debauching the lives of the rising generation among whom the pocket-flask has come to be regarded as a prime attraction at social gatherings, and a sort of gauge of "honour."

The growing percentage of divorces to the number of marriages is a national disgrace. Sexual promiscuity is increasing at an alarming rate. The tolerant or indifferent attitude of press, pulpit and platform toward these evils is as ominous as it is reprehensible.

Is our decadence to be as rapid as our rise? Is it because the period of growth of ancient nations was slow that they lived so long? Is it a law of national life that the faster a nation grows, the earlier it will decay?

This writer is no alarmist. On the contrary he has unbounded faith in the heaven-appointed destiny of this nation. But the adage, "The Lord helps those who help themselves," may be as true when applied to nations as it is when applied to individuals.

Between the primal forces of good and evil the relentless war goes on. Since time began the eternal battle has swayed to the side of righteousness only through irresistible pressure. By slow degrees, the forces of evil have been pushed back throughout the ages, but only on those fields where the armies of God were marshalled in force, fully equipped and fighting heroically. Relaxation of vigilance or effort has always been attended by an advance of the enemy.

Every patriot should consider himself and herself as a soldier in this unceasing fight. The fact that the enemy advances to-day, should only serve to renew our courage and our determination to drive him back. It is written that we must prevail. But the implied condition of that assurance is that every one must do his duty.

Of all the alarming present-day conditions, none is more dangerous than the prevalent toleration of putrid prints and pictures, which freely circulate in defiance of law. It is a menace to our institutions because these vile things debauch the morals of the young of both sexes. They defile the home and profane the family altar; they are preparing the way for future generations of immoral Americans. Of what avail are the efforts of home and church and school to keep childhood clean and wholesome when the minds and souls of the young are endangered by the filthy prints which everywhere surround them-on the news stands, in the sta