It is my observation that the same wrongs which are held up to execration in the magazines are present， under appropriate forms， among teachers， lawyers， ministers， reputable tradesmen， and others who come under my immediate notice.We are all in it：
the narrow principles are much the same， the differences being largely in the scale of operations， in being or not being found out， in more or less timidity in taking risks？ and so on.
A somewhat similar problem is that of energizing indirect service.The groups we serve ？the nation， the educational institution， the oppressed class， for instance ？have come to be so vast， and often so remote from the eye， that even the ingenuity of the newspaper and magazine press can hardly make them alive for us and draw our hearts and our money in their direction.The "we" does not live in face-to-face contact， and though photo-engravings and stereopticons and exhibitions and vivid writing are a marvelous substitute， they are often inadequate， so that we do not feel the cogency of the common interest so immediately as did the men of the clans."Civilization，" says Professor Simon Patten， "spares us more and more the sight of anguish， and our imaginations must be correspondingly sharpened to see in the check-book an agent as spiritual and poetic as the grime and blood-stain of ministering hands." How far this may come to pass it is hard to say： for myself， I do not find it easy to write checks for objects that are not made real to me by some sort of personal contact.No doubt， however， our growing system of voluntary institutions ？churches， philanthropic societies， fraternal orders， labor unions and the like ？are training us in the habit of expressing ourselves through the check-book and other indirect agents.
I expect， however， that the best results will flow not merely from an intelligent general benevolence that writes checks for all sorts of good causes， but from a kind of specialization in well-doing， that will enable one by familiarity to see through the tangle of relations at a particular point and act in the view of truth.In philanthropy， for instance， an increasing number of men and women of wealth and ability will devote not only their checks but trained thought and personal exertion to some particular sort of work which takes hold of their interest？to the welfare of dependent children， of the blind， and so on梞aking this their business， giving it the same close and eager attention they would any other business， and so coming to understand it through and through.
These， along with salaried workers， will be the leaders in each special line， and will draw after them the less personal support of those who have confidence in them； but people will never send much of their treasure where their heart does not go first.Every city and neighborhood has its urgent social needs which the resident may study and devote himself to with much better results to the world and to his own character than if he limits himself to the writing of checks.And for that matter every occupations law， medicine， teaching and the various sorts of business and hand-laboras its own philanthropies and reforms into which one may put all the devotion he is capable of.If each of us chooses some disinterested form of public service and puts himself thoroughly into it， things will go very well.
Another tendency involved in the rise of public will is that toward a greater simplicity and flexibility of structure in every province of life： principles are taking the place of formulas.
