When I first entered the large hall of Shawmut College, where I was to
deliver my lectures, I noticed near the door of the room a gentleman of
about forty years of age. He was too old to be one of the students and
as I had not seen him when Dr. Leete introduced me to the professors
of the institution, I was somewhat curious to know in what capacity he
honored my debut.
The cordial reception I had met at the hands of the professors, the
fact that every seat of the large hall was occupied, acted as a
stimulus and when Dr. White, the president of Shawmut College had
introduced me with a few complimentary remarks as a living witness of
the nineteenth century, I began my first lecture in the best of spirits.
My speech contained naturally many of the points that Dr. Leete had
most dwelt upon, when, in his conversations with me, he had compared
the organization of society of the nineteenth and that of the twentieth
centuries.
I said in substance, that my hearers must not expect a synopsis of the
civilization of the two centuries or a panegyric of the present state
of affairs. I would point out but a few conditions, regulations and
institutions that could serve as criterion of the spirit of their times.
As characteristic of the spirit of the civilization of the nineteenth
century, I described the insane competition, where a man in a foul
fight must “cheat, overreach, supplant, defraud, buy below worth and
sell above, break down the business by which his neighbor fed his
young ones, tempt men to buy what they ought not and to sell what
they should not, grind their laborers, sweat their debtors, cozen
their creditors,”[1] in order to be able to support those dependent
on him. I showed “that there had been many a man among the people of
the nineteenth century who, if it had been merely a question of his
own life would sooner have given it up than nourished it by bread
snatched from others.”[2] I pictured the consequences of this insane
and annihilating competition as a constant wear on the brains and
bodies of the past generation, intensified by the permanent fear of
poverty. The spectre of uncertainty walked constantly beside the man
of the nineteenth century, sat at his table and went to bed with him,
even whispering in his ears: “Do your work ever so well, rise early and
toil till late, rob cunningly or serve faithfully, you shall never know
security. Rich you may be now and still come to poverty at last. Leave
ever so much wealth to your children, you can not buy the assurance,
that your son may not be the servant of your servant or that your
daughter will not sell herself for bread.”[3]
[1] Such parts of Mr. Bellamy’s book as are characteristic of
his manner of dealing with the present and with the future,
I give with marks of quotation, adding in a foot note the
page of “Looking Backward,” where the sentence may be found.
The above remarks are taken from page 277.
[2] Page 277.
[3] Page 321.
And while one hundred and thirteen years ago all men worked like
slaves, until completely exhausted, without having even a guaranty
that they would not die in poverty or from hunger, the men of the
twentieth century were walking in the sunlight of freedom, security,
happiness and equality. After receiving an excellent education in
standard schools and then passing through an apprenticeship of three
years, the young people of the twentieth century select their vocation.
Short hours of work permit them, even during the years of service in
the industrial army, to spend more time for the continuation of their
studies and for recreation than the people who lived a hundred years
ago had ever believed to be consistent with a successful management of
industries, farming or public affairs.
Free from all cares, in perfect harmony with each other, without
the disturbing influence of political parties, enjoying a wealth
unprecedented in the history of nations, we might verily say: “The long
and weary winter of our race is ended. Its summer has begun. Humanity
has burst the chrysalis. The heavens are before it!”[4]
[4] Page 292.
I had spoken with enthusiasm, yes, even with deep emotion and I
expected, if not a warm, at least a sympathetic reception of my
address. But only a faint and very cold applause followed my remarks.
I had the impression that not one fourth of the young men present had
found it worth their while to show their approval of my lecture, and
that the applause of even these few had been an act of courtesy rather
than a spontaneous outburst of feeling. The chilly reception was such
a great disappointment to me that I could not rally courage enough to
leave my chair and pass through the students as they were leaving the
hall.
I busied myself at the little desk before me until everybody had gone
with the exception of the gentleman who had arrested my attention when
I entered the room. He remained at the door evidently waiting for me.
“You belong to the college?” I asked, to hide my embarrassment.
“Indeed I do”, he answered with a light smile, that challenged another
question.
“I suppose I have the pleasure of meeting one of my colleagues”, I
continued. “My name is West”.
“Until about a month ago I was Professor Forest, your predecessor in
teaching the history of the nineteenth century; to-day I am one of the
janitors and my chief has been good enough to recommend this room to my
care.”
I had during the last few days seen and heard so many new and strange
things, that I was prepared to be surprised at nothing, however
astounding.
But the information, that to a professor of history was assigned the
duty of cleaning the rooms, where he had once lectured, sounded so
incredible and opened such an unpleasing prospect for my own career,
that I could not conceal my amazement.
“And what has caused this singular change of position”, I inquired.
“In comparing the lot of humanity in 1900 and 2000 I came to
conclusions very different from yours”, responded Mr. Forest.
“You do not mean to say, that the condition of the people of the
nineteenth century was better than that of the present generation?” I
asked with some curiosity.
“That is my opinion”, said Mr. Forest.
“The only way I can understand you holding such extraordinary views,
is that you are personally quite unacquainted with the civilization of
which you speak so highly,” I declared.
“I have as a matter of course, drawn my information from our libraries,
and I am forced to admit that you can support your argument in regard
to the civilization of the last century by pointing to your personal
knowledge. But I am afraid that you are not so familiar with the
present state of affairs, at the fountain of your information in regard
to the twentieth century is only one man, Dr. Leete. I may therefore
claim that my information of the civilization of your days is better
than yours of our institutions, because mine is based on the testimony
of more witnesses than one.”
“Then you must of course disapprove the views developed in my lecture?”
“Your address will undoubtedly be published in extenso in all the
administration organs, that is, in nearly every newspaper in the land”,
said Mr. Forest, evading a direct answer to my question.
“Administration organs you say”, I asked with surprise: “Has the
administration organs, and why does it need them?”
“Of course the administration has organs”, answered Forest. “And it is
both difficult and unpleasant to edit an opposition paper. Therefore we
have only a few of them.”
“But Dr. Leete said: “We have no parties or politicians and as for
demagoguery and corruption, they are words having only a historical
significance.”[5] And yet you speak of opposition and of administration
papers?” I said this very likely with an expression of some doubt in my
eyes.
[5] Page 60.
My companion broke into a loud laugh, after which he asked: “Excuse,
please, my merriment, but Dr. Leete is a great joker, who never fails
to “bring down the house.” Well! Well! That is too good. I wish I could
have seen his face when he gave you that information.”
And Mr. Forest laughed again.
“I beg your pardon, Mr. West”, he continued, when I met his merriment
with silence; “but you would not only excuse but share my laughter, if
you were familiar with our public life, if you knew Dr. Leete as well
as I do and then learned that he had claimed, we were suffering from a
want of politicians. But I wish to say right here”, added Mr. Forest in
a more composed tone, “that I have not a poor opinion of Dr. Leete. He
is a practical joker, a shrewd politician, but otherwise as good a man
as our time can produce.”
“Dr. Leete is a politician?” I asked in the utmost astonishment.
“Yes. Dr. Leete is the most influential leader of the administration
party in Boston. I owe it to his kind interference, that I am still
connected with the college.”
Noticing that I did not know how to construe this statement, Mr. Forest
added:
“When, in comparing the civilization of your days with ours, I came
to the conclusion, that communism had proved a failure, I was accused
of misleading and corrupting the students and the usual sentence in
such cases: “confinement in an insane asylum”, was passed. Because,
it is claimed, that only a madman could find fault with the best
organization of society ever introduced. Dr. Leete, however, declared,
that my insanity was so harmless, that confinement in an asylum seemed
unnecessary, besides being too expensive. I could still earn my living
by doing light work about the college building; and my case would serve
as a warning to all the professors and students to be careful in
their expressions and teachings. So I retained the liberty in which we
glory and was spared doing street cleaning or some such work, which is
generally awarded to “kickers” against the administration.”
“The students seem to share your opinion, at least they received my
remarks very coldly,” I remarked, in order to avoid a discussion of the
qualities of my host.
Mr. Forest’s keen grey eyes rested for a moment upon my face, and then
he said in a friendly tone:
“I believe you were convinced of what you said, Mr. West; but did it
not occur to you, that you treated your time and your contemporaries
very severely? Did competition really demand, that one should defraud
his neighbor, grind his laborers, sweat his debtors and snatch the
bread from others? Were the majority of the men of your time swindlers
and Shylocks? Were the laborers all slaves, working each day until
completely exhausted? I remember distinctly, that the wage-workers of
your time struck frequently for eight hours, declining to work nine
or ten hours per diem for good pay. I think you had a strong, proud
and independent class of laborers, who could not fairly be regarded
as slaves. And as for the girls, I have seen the statements and
complaints, that help for housekeeping was very scarce in your days and
was paid from $2. to $5. per week, with board, so that there was no
excuse for any decent girl to sell herself for bread.--Of course your
state of civilization was very far from being faultless; in fact there
is no such thing as perfection in anything. But your description of the
civilization of the nineteenth century is painted in such dark colors,
that our students, who are somewhat familiar with the history of those
days, could not very well enthuse over your lecture; especially as many
of these young men do not regard our present institutions with such
complete admiration as you do. I speak frankly, Mr. West, and I hope
you will excuse my frankness, because of my desire to serve you in
describing men, things and institutions as I see them.”
The warm tone of his voice and the sympathetic expression of his eyes
caused me to shake hands with Forest, although everything he had
said went directly against my friends, my views, my feelings and my
interests. I left him in an uneasy mood and walked home revolving in my
mind his criticism of my lecture.
I met Dr. Leete and the ladies, and Edith inquired whether my debut as
professor had satisfied my expectations.
I have always tried to be frank and true: so I gave Dr. Leete and
his family a synopsis of my speech, mentioned the cool reception of
my address and my disappointment. I spoke of Mr. Forest’s criticism,
leaving out, of course, his observations relative to Dr. Leete, and
confessed that his censure was not wholly undeserved inasmuch as I had
gone too far in charging upon the whole people the bad qualities which
reckless competition had stamped on certain individuals.
Dr. Leete was evidently not altogether pleased with my remarks. After a
short pause he said: “I think the reckless competition of the last part
of the nineteenth century could not fail to demoralize more or less,
in most cases more, all the people, who were conducting a business or
who had to work for a living. I think furthermore that your lecture was
an excellent exposition of principles and that you have no reason to
yield an inch of your position. The cold reception you met with, ought
not to worry you. It is due to Forest, who has planted in the hearts of
our students his idiosyncrasy, his blind admiration of competition and
his aversion to our form of civilization. It is your task to enlighten
the young men in regard to the comparative merits of the two orders
of things.--Mr. Forest is placing a heavy tax on the patience of his
fellow citizens by his persistent efforts to mislead the students.--Did
he mention the fact that he was your predecessor?”
“He did, when I asked him if he were a member of the college staff of
teachers. He said that he was discharged for his heresy and that he
owed his comparatively lenient treatment to you.”
“It is not Forest’s habit to conceal his opinions and he may have given
you a nice idea of Dr. Leete”, my host said with a smile.
I thought best under the circumstances to repeat Forest’s remarks in
regard to Dr. Leete, which remarks were very good natured and rather
complimentary to my host. I may add that I desired very much to know
what Dr. Leete would say in answer to the charge of being a politician
and a leader of the administration party.
So I said: “Mr. Forest laughed heartily when I repeated your remarks
that you have no party nor politicians. He called you a great practical
joker, a shrewd politician, the leader of the administration party in
Boston and a good man.”
Dr. Leete smiled somewhat grimly as he replied: “That is a character I
ought to be grateful for, considering that it comes from a faultfinder
like Forest. Concerning his references to me as a politician I will
say that I never held an office, but that the administration has
occasionally consulted me and other citizens on important questions.
Political parties we have not. There are of course a few incurable
faultfinders like Mr. Forest and a few radical growlers, but we pay
but little attention to them so long as they do not disturb the public
peace. If they do, we send them to a hospital where they receive proper
treatment.”
Although these words were spoken in the tone of light conversation,
they impressed me deeply. “If they do, we send them to a hospital,
where they receive proper treatment.” Did not this confirm Forest’s
statement, that the usual sentence against the opponents of communism
was confinement in an insane asylum?
My unpleasant thoughts were interrupted by Edith’s sweet voice
remarking: “I think Mr. Forest is an honest well meaning gentleman and
he should be permitted to express his views, even if they are wrong
and queer. The students will certainly eventually be convinced that
our order of things is as good as it can be made, and besides it is so
entertaining to hear once in a while another opinion.”
With an expression of fatherly love, Dr. Leete placed his right hand
on Edith’s thick hair and said: “The ladies of the court of Louis XVI.
of France also considered very entertaining the ideas that caused the
revolution and cost many of the “entertained” ladies and gentlemen
their heads beneath the guillotine.--Ideas are little sparks. They may
easily cause a conflagration if not watched”.