Living as we do in the closing year of the twentieth century enjoying the blessings of a social order at once so simple and logical that it seems but the triumph of common sense it is no doubt difficult for those whose studies have not been largely historical to realize that the present organization of society is in its completeness less than a century old. No historical fact is however better established than that till nearly the end of the nineteenth century it was the general belief that the ancient industrial system with all its shocking social consequences was destined to last with possibly a little patching to the end of time. How strange and wellnigh incredible does it seem that so prodigious a moral and material transformation as has taken place since then could have been accomplished in so brief an interval! The readiness with which men accustom themselves as matters of course to improvements in their condition which when anticipated seemed to leave nothing more to be desired could not be more strikingly illustrated. What reflection could be better calculated to moderate the enthusiasm of reformers who count for their reward on the lively gratitude of future ages!