Dr. Finney is fond of his panaceas, but his enthusiasm
is certainly intelligent enough to save them from dullness. He analyses all the evils of social and economic affairs in the United States, making, as hispAublisher says, " a forceful appeal for return to the Simple I le," and placing his hopes entirely with the middle classes, their religion and their ideals of conduct. His attitude to this class of society is perhaps too rhetorically reverent ; at all events, the conclusions he comes to as to its actual functioning are at the opposite pole to those implied in Mr. Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt. "To be middle-elass," says Dr. Finney, " is to believe in honest work . . . to believe that knowledge is power, and be eager to get it . . . to find joy in domestic life and motive in domestic responsibilities." This may be true, but it loses much of its effect by being made too exclusive and antithetical. Dr. Finney is more detached when he discusses " the New Religion " ; his opinions on this subject are clear, constructive and definite. He seems better acquainted with the sociological and ethical than with the economic aspects of American life.
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