A young man left his father's house to see the world.
Everywhere he found busy human beings. Cities were rising
toward the skies, seas and plains were being lined with
traffic, school, mill and office hummed with life. He
wondered why men were so busy and what they were trying to
do.

He went to a railroad director and asked: “Why are you
building railroads?” “For profits,” was the answer. But a
laborer beckoned him aside and whispered: “No—we are making
the World one neighborhood. East is now next door to West,
and all peoples dwell in one continuing city.”

The young man went to the boss of a labor union. “Why,” he
asked, “do you spend your days breeding discontent and
leading strikes?” “Why?” repeated the leader fiercely, “that
the workers receive more pay for shorter hours.” “No,”
whispered a laborer, “we are teaching the World the sacred
value of human beings. We are learning how to be brotherly—
how to stand up for each other.—James Oppenheim.