ABSTRACT
The one virtue that may be said to have characterised the twentieth century and to have redeemed it from utter worthlessness was a devotion to the cause of progress. In the United States, at all events, the one duty inculcated on every child from its earliest years was that of advancing the material welfare of the world. This was our rule of life; this our religious and moral code; this stood for honour, patriotism, duty and all those fine abstractions which really do seem to have influenced the actions of our grandfathers. Large buildings were moved from place to place with speed and security. Bridges were constructed across chasms of enormous span in an incredibly short space of time. Tunnelling was carried through mountains and under seas with less expenditure of time and labour than had been required for the puny mouseholes of the first half of the Nineteenth century.
