The question of the moral responsibility of parents and children is today a very real one, because it is evident that the spiritual ties which should bind the children with their parents are loosening. This situation is bringing confusion into the ranks of society.

To preserve intact any social institution and to insure its development, it is necessary, not so much that the members of society shall lead a life of harmony, but that they shall help one another with all their material and spiritual forces, in behalf of the common good.

Each family is in itself a separate organism that performs certain functions in the life of a nation, and the nation in turn will be the stronger, materially and morally, the more united her members are in behalf of the common cause.

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History teaches us that those nations have survived, grown, and become strong, whose family life has been closely knit, whose every citizen has worked faithfully for the welfare of the entire family, thus contributing indirectly to the progress of the nation.

On the other hand, the nations in which family life disintegrated, in which immorality and wickedness, disobedience and indolence, were widespread, in which parental authority broke down--these nations soon lost their liberty, many of them disappearing entirely from the face of the globe.

Today we find, especially in the big cities, conditions that threaten family life with disintegration. Family life is being completely neglected. Frequently, the husband dissipates his hard-earned money in drink, which reduces his moral and intellectual powers to the level of a beast, and leads to crime, with all its evil consequences.

The wife, misinterpreting the true meaning of woman's emancipation, often 3forgets her exalted role of a mother; she becomes lax, a prey to luxury, waste, and pleasure, and disregards the sanctity of her home. This kind of family life undermines the foundations of the family, and leads society to destruction. It has a perverse influence upon the children, who, by some unborn instinct, will sooner adopt and imitate bad traits than good ones.

To remedy these deplorable social conditions, which must be attributed to the World War, we must reform and modify our social institutions to deal with the problem. These institutions are not capable of educating a generation that will become cognizant of its duty to the family and to society. To achieve this, the work must not be left solely to the "proper agencies"; it is a task which must be joined in by everyone in whom the proper conception of duty toward society and nation is not dead. The necessary reforms must endeavor to instill in our youth the principles of sound morals and self-reliance; they must indicate the duties that are associated with the family and society in general. Such education of our youth will put them on the road to happiness, and will have a salutary effect upon the family.

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From the combined efforts of our intellectual workers, we expect a social renaissance, and with it, a deeper sense of the moral responsibility of parents and children.