MORAL IMPROVEMENT IN A HUNDRED YEARS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6867, 23 March 1929, Page 10

MORAL IMPROVEMENT IN A HUNDRED YEARS

W.E.A. Lecture

The usual weekly public lecture, E arranged by the W.E.A. and Victoria ■i University College, was given in St. t Andrew’s Memorial Hall ou Thursday evening. I" "I wonder," said the lecturer (Mr f A. Ernest Mander) in comcncing, E "what you would describe as the sil--0 licst statement you have ever heard in '• your life? Far and away tho silliest ** statement ihat I have ever heard is the statement so frequently met with, e that although the last centruy has wite uc-ssed such stupenduous progress in e science and in material civilisation, yet i- there has been no corresponding imi- provement in ibc moral qualities of the y masses of the people themselves. A dogmatic assertion which is shown to e be utterly ridiculous when tested by f the facts! The man who says such k a thing must cither be blinded by pres judiee, or else lie can never have stud:l icd the actual facts of tho moral state ), of the people of England a hundred f years ago. When we study the facts, - we recognise clearly that, during the t last hundred years, there has been an s amazing improvement not only in science and civilisation, but also in the moral character of the great masses of the people." The lecturer then referred to the fact that a hundred years ago, there were many individual men and women of tho finest moral character. "There were giants in those days.” And even apart from the "giants" there were thousands and thousands of men and women living decent, honest, sober lives, trying to make the best of themselves and do their best for the world, of course there were—thousands of them! If there had not .been, conditions generally would never have been improved. For tho improvement of the average mass has, of course, been effected mainly by the efforts and example of those who were above the average. What determines the sentiment and behaviour of the great majority of persons is the pressure of public opinion. It is public sentiment which sets the standard of morals; and 'the moral progress of mankind therefore depends upon the progress, the improvement, of public sentiment. The average mass to-day is morally superior to the Average mass a century ago be.cause tho standard set by public opinion (or public sentiment) is higher. 'And it is higher as a result of the lives of all those who have lived duriug the last hundred years who were themselves superior to tho standard set by tKc public opinion of their own times. But for purposes of comparison, we must ignore the best 20 j>er cent, and the worst 20 per cent., and try to compare tho average mass then and now. Moral Conditions a Century Ago. Mr Mander then proceeded to quote the evidence relating to the moral condition of the people of England in 1800-1840. Dealing first with drunkenness, he quoted passages from numerous authorities who proved the prevalence of drunkenness—among all classes—lo have been utterly appalling. •Who can imagine a town to-day with nearly half the adult population drunk on tho streets every Saturday night? iThc decrease of excessive drinking be'gan about 1830 or 1840, and, once begun, continued very rapidly Speaking in 1804, John Bright said: "I am jold enough to remember when drunkenness was fen of twenty times more common than it is now." Tho lecturer then dealt with sex morals, revealing an almost incredible state of affairs iduring the opening decades of the nineteenth century. Professor Gilbert Slater (Principal of Euskin College) says that "between 1794 and 1834 illegitimacy was so prevalent that it was rare for a girl to become a bride before she became a mother." J. T. Barber, whiting in about IS2O, stated that "in Manchester there is an almost promiscuous intercourse in tho masses of the people." Two Socialist Labour leaders in 1830 declared that there was "almost general unebastity in (ho working class." Mr Mander made it clear, however, that this was not by any means confined to the working classes. Wo sometimes forget that Englishmen were slaveowners until 1834 (the lecturer continued); and it gives us .'something of a shock to remember that jGladstouc made his first big speech iu Parliament in defence of the treatment of his father's slaves in the West Indies."

Mr Mander then described the cor'ruption of public life, tho almost ucijvcrsal dishonesty of business men, and ;the prevalence of potty thieving in the 'working classes, a hundred j-ears ago. The evidence of this was collected from many sources; and every fact served to emphasise the extraordinary moral progress that has been made in tho intervening century. A striking comparison was then made between the forms of popular entertainment a century ago and to-dav. The popular sports and pastimes of the tw-o periods were next compared. A Pleasure-Loving Generation.

"We arc often told that our present generation is a worthless and pleasureloving generation. Well, there arc pleasures and pleasures! Every generation is ‘pleasure-loving.’ The only questiivi is: What forms of pleasure does it love?. Dancing? Tennis? fishing and pig-hunting? History Looking at screen-plays? Political argument? Watching football? Playing football? Attending the W.E.A.? Gardening? Motoring? Swimming?

"Let us Temember that an earlier generation—not so long ago—found it* pleasure in very different ways. . . . Watchiug and gloating over a. public hanging! Getting beastly drunk every Saturday night; bull-baiting; cockfighting; watching ‘ barc-knucklc ’ prize lights; taking part in hysterical ‘revivals.’

“ Ye?, this is a pleasure-loving generation. Every generation is pleasureloving. The only question is: What forms of pleasure does it love? And though, of course, we cannot and must not allow ourselves to become satisfied

with.,, the conditions of the world' today, yet when we compare it with the state of affairs a hundred years ago, we cannot help feeling proud and glad to realise what stupendous moral progress has been made. It is wrong to compare the best in those days with the worst in these, or the worst in those days with the best in these. The comparison needs to be made carefully and impartially. To-night we have tried t;> make it thus. Our conclusion is that the moral character, the quality of the great masses of the people has improved extraordinarily during the last hundred years. The standard sot by public sentment is very much higher to-day than it has ever been in the past. And if ours is, as so often said, a pleasure-loving generation, at any rate the kinds of pleasure it loves arc, on the whole, infinitely superior to the. corresponding pleasures of the people of a hundred years ago. Encouraged by the great progress that has been made in the last few generations, we can confidently hope—provided we also work —for further rapid progress in the future. ; ’