So long as such questions were merely academic, practical persons like yourself paid little attention to them.  Now they are being asked by persons as practical as yourself who are intent on ‘getting results.’  And what is more, they employ the instruments of precision furnished by modern science.

You have been pleased over the millions of dollars which have been lavished on education.  The fruits of this are now being seen.  Hosts of able young men have been studying Government and Sociology and Economics and History.  These have been the most popular courses in all our colleges.  And they have been studied in a new way.  The old formulas and the old methods have been fearlessly criticized.  New standards of efficiency have been presented.  The scientific method has been extended to the sphere of moral relations.  It has been demonstrated to these young men that the resources of the country may be indefinitely increased by the continuous application of trained intelligence to definite ends.  The old Malthusian doctrine has given way before applied science.  The population may be doubled and the standard of living increased at the same time, if we plan intelligently.  The expert can serve the public as efficiently as he has served private interests, if only the public can be educated to appreciate him, and persuaded to employ him.

This is what the “social unrest” means in America.  It is not the unrest of the weak and the unsuccessful.  It is the unrest of the strong and ambitious.  You cannot still it by talking about prosperity:  of course we are prosperous, after a fashion, but it is a fashion that no longer pleases us.  We want something better and we propose to get it.  What disturbs you is the appearance in force of a generation that has turned its attention to a new set of problems, and is attempting to solve them by scientific methods.  It is believed that there is a Science of Government as well as an Art of Politics.  The new generation has a respect, born of experience, for the expert.  It seeks the man who knows rather than the clever manager.  It demands of public servants not simply that they be honest, but that they be efficient.

Its attitude to the political boss is decidedly less respectful than that to which you were accustomed.  You looked upon him as a remarkably astute character, and you attributed to him an uncanny ability to forecast the future.  These young men have discovered that his ability is only a vulgar error.  Remove the conditions created by public indifference and ignorance, and he vanishes.  In restoring power to the people, they find that a hundred useful things can be done which the political wiseacres declared to be impossible.

When I consider the new and vigorous forces in American life I cannot agree with your apprehensions; but there is one thing which you said with which I heartily agree.  You said that you wished we might settle down to sound and constructive work, and get rid of the “muck-raker.”