CHAPTER XXVII

INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS

_Industries Radiate from the Land as a Centre_.--In primitive

civilizations industry was more or less incidental to life. The food

quest, protection of the body from storm and sun by improvised

habitation and the use of skins, furs, bark, and rushes for clothing,

together with the idea of human association for the perpetuation of the

species, are the fundamental notions regarding life. Under such

conditions industry was fitful and uncertain. Hunting for vegetable

products and for animals to sustain life, the protection of the life of

individuals from the elements and, incidentally, from the predatory

activities of human beings, were the objectives of primitive man.

As the land is the primary source of all economic life, systematic

industry has always begun in its control and cultivation. Not until

man settled more or less permanently with the idea of getting his

sustenance from the soil did industrial activities become prominent.

In the development of civilization one must recognize the ever-present

fact that the method of treatment of the land is a determining factor

in its fundamental characteristics, for it must needs be always that

the products that we utilize come from the action of man on nature and

its reaction on him. While the land is the primary source of wealth,

and its cultivation a primal industry, it does not include the whole

category of industrial enterprises, for tools must be made, art

developed, implements provided, and machinery constructed. Likewise,

clothing and ornaments were manufactured, and habitations constructed,

and eventually transportation begun to carry people and goods from one

place to another. These all together make an enlarged group of

activities, all radiating from the soil as a common centre.

{430}

We have already referred to the cultivation of the valleys of the

Euphrates and the Nile by systems of irrigation and the tilling of the

soil in the valleys of Greece in the crude and semibarbarous methods

introduced by the barbarians from the north. We have referred to the

fact that the Romans were the first to develop systematic agriculture,

and even the Teutonic people, the invaders of Rome, were rude

cultivators of the soil.

Social organization is dependent to a large extent upon the method of

attachment to the soil--whether people wander over a large area in the

hunter-fisher and the nomadic stages, or whether they become attached

to the soil permanently. Thus, the village community developed a

united, neighborly community, built on the basis of mutual aid. The

feudal system was built upon predatory tribal warfare, where possession

was determined by might to have and to hold. In the mediaeval period

the manorial system of landholding developed, whereby the lord and his

retainers claimed the land by their right of occupation and the power

to hold, whether this came through conquest, force of arms, or

agreement.

This manorial system prevailed to a large extent in England, France,

and parts of Germany. These early methods of landholding were brought

about by people attempting to make their social adjustments, primarily

in relation to survival, and subsequently in relation to the justice

among individuals within the group, or in relation to the reactions

between the groups themselves. After the breaking down of the Roman

Empire, the well-established systems of landholding in the empire and

the older nations of the Orient in the Middle Ages developed into the

feudal system, which forced all society into groups or classes, from

the lord to the serf. Subsequently there sprang up the individual

system of landholding, which again readjusted the relation of society

to the land system and changed the social structure.

_The Early Mediaeval Methods of Industry_.--Outside of the tilling of

the soil, the early industries were centred in the home, which gave

rise to the well-known house system of {431} culture. "Housework" has

primary relation to goods which are created for the needs of the

household. Much of the early manufacturing industry was carried on

within the household. Gradually this has disappeared to a large extent

through the multiplication of industries outside the home, power

manufacture, and the organization of labor and capital.

In many instances house culture preceded that of systematic

agriculture. The natural order was the house culture rising out of the

pursuits of fishing, hunting, and tending flocks and herds, and the

incidental hoe culture which represented the first tilling of the soil

about the tent or hut. The Indians of North America are good examples

of the development of the house culture in the making of garments from

the skins of animals or from weeds and rushes, the weaving of baskets,

the making of pottery and of boats, and the tanning of hides. During

all this period, agriculture was of slow growth, it being the

incidental and tentative process of life, while the house culture

represented the permanent industry.

Industries varied in different tribes, one being skilled in

basket-making, another in stone implements for warfare and domestic

use, another in pottery, another in boats, and still another in certain

kinds of clothing--especially the ornaments made from precious stones

or bone. This made it possible to spread the culture of one group to

other groups, and later there developed the wandering peddler who went

from tribe to tribe trading and swapping goods. This is somewhat

analogous to the first wage-work system of England, where the

individual went from house to house to perform services for which he

received pay in goods, or, as we say, in kind. Subsequently the

wage-earner had his own shop, where raw material was sent to him for

finishing.

All through Europe these customs prevailed and, indeed, in some parts

of America exist to the present day. We see survivals of these customs

which formerly were permanent, in the people who go from house to house

performing certain types of work or bringing certain kinds of goods for

sale, and, {432} indeed, in the small shop of modern times where goods

are repaired or manufactured. They represent customs which now are

irregular, but which formerly were permanent methods. It was a simple

system, requiring no capital, no undertaker or manager, no middleman.

Gradually these customs were replaced by many varied methods, such as

the establishment of the laborer in his individual shop, who at first

only made the raw material, which people brought him, into the finished

product; later he was required to provide his own raw material, taking

orders for certain classes of goods.

After the handcraft system was well established, there was a division

between the manufacturer of goods and those who produced the raw

material, a marked distinction in the division of labor. The expansion

of systems of industry developed the towns and town life, and as the

manor had been self-sufficient in the manufacture of goods, so now the

town becomes the unit of production, and independent town economy

springs up. Later we find the towns beginning to trade with each

other, and with this expanded industry the division of labor came about

and the separation of laborers into classes. First, the merchant and

the manufacturer were united. It was common for the manufacturer of

goods to have his shop in his own home and, after he had made the

goods, to put them on the shelf until called for by customers. Later

he had systems of distribution and trade with people in the immediate

locality. Soon weavers, spinners, bricklayers, packers, tanners, and

other classes became distinctive. It was some time before

manufacturers and traders, however, became separate groups, and a

longer time before the manufacturer was separated from the merchant,

because the manufacturer must market his own goods. Industries by

degrees thus became specialized, and trades became clearly defined in

their scope. This led, of course, to a distinct division of

occupation, and later to a division of labor within the occupation.

The introduction of money after the development of town economy brought

about the wage system, whereby people were paid in money rather than

{433} kind. This was a great step forward in facilitating trade and

industry.

One of the earliest methods of developing organized industrial society

was through the various guilds of the Middle Ages. They represented

the organization of the industries of a given town, with the purpose of

establishing a monopoly in trade of certain kinds of goods, and

secondarily to develop fraternal organization, association, and

co-operation among groups of people engaged in the same industry.

Perhaps it should be mentioned that the first in order of development

of the guilds was known as the "guild-merchant," which was an

organization of all of the inhabitants of the town engaged in trading

or selling. This was a town monopoly of certain forms of industry

controlled by the members of that industry. It partook of the nature

of monopoly of trade, and had a vast deal to do with the social

organization of the town. Its power was exercised in the place of more

systematic political town government. However, after the political

town government became more thoroughly established, the guild-merchant

declined, but following the decline of the guild-merchant, the craft

guild developed, which was an organization of all of the manufacturers

and traders in a given craft. This seemed to herald the coming of the

trade-union after the industrial machinery of society had made a number

of changes. English industrial society became finally completely

dominated, as did societies in countries on the Continent, by the craft

guilds.

All the payments in the handcraft system were at first in kind. When

the laborer had finished his piece of goods, his pay consisted in

taking a certain part of what he had created in the day or the week.

Also, when he worked by the day he received his pay in kind. This

system prevailed until money became sufficiently plentiful to enable

the payment of wages for piecework and by the day. The payment in

kind, of course, was a very clumsy and wasteful method of carrying on

industry. Many methods of payment in kind prevailed for centuries,

even down to recent times in America. Before the great {434}

flour-mills were developed, the farmer took his wheat to the mill, out

of which the miller took a certain percentage for toll in payment for

grinding. The farmer took the remainder home with him in the form of

flour. So, too, we have in agriculture the working of land on shares,

a certain percentage of the crops going to the owner and the remainder

to the tiller of the soil. Fruit is frequently picked on shares, which

is nothing more than payment for services in kind.

_The Beginnings of Trade_.--While these simple changes were slowly

taking place in the towns and villages of Europe, there were larger

movements of trade being developed, not only between local towns, but

between the towns of one country and those of another, which led later

to international trade and commerce. Formerly trade had become of

world importance in the early Byzantine trade with the Orient and

Phoenicia. After the crusades, the trade of the Italian cities with

the Orient and northwest Europe was of tremendous importance.[1] In

connection with this, the establishment of the Hanseatic League, of

which Hamburg was a centre, developed trade between the east and the

west and the south. These three great mediaeval trade movements

represent powerful agencies in the development of Europe. They carried

with them an exchange of goods and an exchange of ideas as well. This

interchange stimulated thought and industrial activity throughout

Europe.

_Expansion of Trade and Transportation_.--The great discoveries in the

fifteenth and sixteenth centuries had a vast deal to do with the

expansion of trade. The discovery of America, the establishment of

routes to the Philippines around South America and to India around

South Africa opened up wide vistas, not only for exploration but for

the exchange of goods. Also, this brought about national trade, and

with it national competition. From this time on the struggle for the

supremacy of the sea was as important as the struggle of the various

nations for extended territory. Portugal, the {435} Netherlands,

England, and Spain were competing especially for the trade routes of

the world. France and England were drawn into sharp competition

because of the expansion of English trade and commerce. Portugal

became a great emporium for the distribution of Oriental goods after

she became a maritime power, with a commercial supremacy in India and

China. Subsequently she declined and was forced to unite with Spain,

and even after she obtained her freedom, in the seventeenth century,

her war with the Netherlands caused her to lose commercial supremacy.

The rise of the Dutch put the Netherlands to the front and Antwerp and

Amsterdam became the centres of trade for the Orient. Dutch trade

continued to lead the world until the formation of the English East and

West India companies, which, with their powerful monopoly on trade,

brought England to the front. Under the monopolies of these great

companies and other private monopolies, England forged ahead in trade

and commerce. But the private monopolies became so powerful that

Cromwell, by the celebrated Navigation Acts of 1651, made a gigantic

trade monopoly of the English nation. The development of agricultural

products and manufactures in England, together with her immense

carrying trade, made her mistress of the seas. The results of this

trade development were to bring the products of every clime in exchange

for the manufactured goods of Europe, and to bring about a change of

ideas which stimulated thought and life, not only in material lines but

along educational and spiritual lines as well.

_Invention and Discoveries_.--One of the most remarkable eras of

progress in the whole range of modern civilization appeared at the

close of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth,

especially in England. The expanded trade and commerce of England had

made such a demand for economic goods that it stimulated invention of

new processes of production. The spinning of yarn became an important

industry. It was a slow process, and could not supply the {436}

weavers so that they could keep their looms in operation. Moreover,

Kay introduced what is known as the drop-box and flying shuttle in

1738, which favored weaving to the detriment of spinning, making the

trouble worse.

In the extremity of trade the Royal Society offered a prize to any

person who would invent a machine to spin a number of threads at the

same time. As a result of this demand, James Hargreaves in 1764

invented the spinning-jenny, which was followed by Arkwright's

invention of spinning by rollers, which was patented in 1769.

Combining Arkwright's and Hargreaves's inventions, Crompton in 1779

invented the spinning-"mule." This quickened the process of spinning

and greatly increased the production of the weavers. But one necessity

satisfied leads to another in invention, and Cartwright's powerloom,

which was introduced in 1784, came into general use at the beginning of

the nineteenth century.

During this period America had become a producer of cotton, and Eli

Whitney's cotton-gin, invented in 1792, which separated the seeds from

the cotton fibre in the boll, greatly stimulated the production of

cotton in the United States. In the meanwhile the steam-engine, which

had been perfected in 1769, was applied to power manufacture in 1785 by

James Watt. This was the final stroke that completed the power

manufacture of cotton and woollen goods.

Other changes were brought about by the new method of smelting ore by

means of coal, charcoal having been hitherto used for the process, and

the invention of the blast-furnace in 1760 by Roebuck, which brought

the larger use of metals into the manufactures of the world. To aid in

the carrying trade, the building of canals between the large

manufacturing towns in England to the ocean, and the building of

highways over England, facilitated transportation and otherwise

quickened industry. Thus we have in a period of less than forty years

the most remarkable and unprecedented change in industry, which has

never been exceeded in importance even by the introduction of the

gasoline-engine and electrical power.

{437}

_The Change of Handcraft to Power Manufacture_.--Prior to the

development of the mechanical contrivances for spinning and weaving and

the application of steam-power to manufacturing, nearly everything in

Europe was made by hand. All clothing, carpets, draperies, tools,

implements, furniture--everything was hand-made. In this process no

large capital was needed, no great factories, no great assemblage of

laborers, no great organization of industry. The work was done in

homes and small shops by individual enterprise, mainly, or in

combinations of laborers and masters. Power manufacture and the

inventions named above changed the whole structure of industrial

society.

_The Industrial Revolution_.--The period from 1760 to about 1830 is

generally given as that of the industrial revolution, because this

period is marked by tremendous changes in the industrial order. It

might be well to remark, however, that if the industrial revolution

began about 1760, it has really never ended, for new inventions and new

discoveries have continually come--a larger use of steam-power, the

introduction of transportation by railroads and steamship-lines, the

modern processes of agriculture, the large use of electricity, with

many inventions, have constantly increased power manufacture and drawn

the line more clearly between the laborers on one side and the

capitalists or managers on the other.

In the first place, because the home and the small shop could not

contain the necessary machinery, large factories equipped with great

power-machines became necessary, and into the factories flocked the

laborers, who formerly were independent handcraft manufacturers or

merchants. It was necessary to have people to organize this labor and

to oversee its work--that is, "bosses" were necessary. Under these

circumstances the capitalistic managers were using labor with as little

consideration or, indeed, less than they used raw material in the

manufacture of goods. The laborers must seek employment in the great

factories. The managers forced them down to the lowest rate of wage,

caused them to live in {438} ill-ventilated factories in danger of life

and health from the machinery, and to work long hours. They employed

women and children, who suffered untold miseries. The production of

goods demanded more and more coal, and women went into the coal-mines

and worked fourteen to sixteen hours a day.

Society was not ready for the great and sudden change and could not

easily adjust itself to new conditions. Capital was necessary, and

must have its reward. Factories were necessary to give the laborers a

chance to labor. Labor was necessary, but it did not seem necessary to

give any consideration to the justice of the laborer nor to his

suffering. The wage system and the capitalistic system

developed--systems that the socialists have been fighting against for

more than a century. Labor, pressed down and suffering, arose in its

own defense and organized. It was successively denied the right to

assemble, to organize, to strike, but in each separate case the law

prevailed in its favor.

All through the development of European history the ordinary laborer

never received full consideration regarding his value and his rights.

It is true at times that he was happy and contented without

improvement, but upon the whole the history of Europe has been the

history of kings, queens, princes, and nobility, and wars for national

aggrandizement, increased territory, or the gratification of the whims

of the dominant classes. The laborer has endured the toil, fought the

battles, and paid the taxes. Here we find the introduction of

machinery, which in the long run will make the world more prosperous,

happier, and advance it in civilization, yet the poor laborer must be

the burden-bearer.

Gradually, however, partly by his own demands, partly by the growing

humanity of capitalistic employers, and partly because of the interest

of outside philanthropic statesmen, labor has been protected by laws.

In the first place, all trades are organized, and nearly all

organizations are co-operating sympathetically with one another. Labor

has been able thus to demand things and to obtain them, not only by the

persistency {439} of demand, but by the force of the strike which

compels people to yield. To-day the laborer has eight hours a day of

work in a factory well ventilated and well lighted, protected from

danger and accident, insured by law, better wages than he has ever had,

better opportunities for life and the pursuit of happiness, better fed,

better clothed, and better housed than ever before in the history of

the world.

Yet the whole problem is far from being settled, because it is not easy

to define the rights, privileges, and duties of organized labor. Some

things we know, and one is that the right to strike does not carry with

it the right to destroy, or the right to organize the right to oppress

others. But let us make the lesson universal and apply the same to

capitalistic organizations and the employers' associations. And while

we make the latter responsible for their deeds, let us make the

organization of the former also responsible, and let the larger

community called the state determine justice between groups and insure

freedom and protection to all.

_Modern Industrial Development_.--It was stated above that the

industrial revolution is still going on. One need only to glance at

the transformation caused by the introduction of railway transportation

and steam navigation in the nineteenth century, to the uses of the

telegraph, the telephone, the gasoline-engine, and later the radio and

the airplane, to see that the introduction of these great factors in

civilization must continue to make changes in the social order. They

have brought about quantity transportation, rapidity of manufacture,

and rapidity of trade, and stimulated the activities of life

everywhere. This stimulation, which has brought more things for

material improvement, has caused people to want paved streets, electric

lights, and modern buildings, which have added to the cost of living

through increased taxation. The whole movement has been characterized

by the accumulated stress of life, which demands greater activity, more

goods consumed, new desires awakened, and greater efforts to satisfy

them. The quickening process goes on unabated.

{440}

In order to carry out these great enterprises, the industrial

organization is complex in the extreme and tremendous in its magnitude.

Great corporations capitalized by millions, great masses of laborers

assembled which are organized from the highest to the lowest in the

great industrial army, represent the spectacular display. And to be

mentioned above all is the great steam-press that sends the daily paper

to every home and the great public-school system that puts the book in

every hand.

_Scientific Agriculture_.--It has often been repeated that man's wealth

comes originally from the soil, and that therefore the condition of

agriculture is an index of the opportunity offered for progress. What

has been done in recent years, especially in England and America, in

the development of a higher grade stock, so different from the old

scrub stock of the Colonial period; in the introduction of new grains,

new fertilizers, improved soils, and the adaptability of the crop to

the soil in accordance with the nature of both; the development of new

fruits and flowers by scientific culture--all have brought to the door

of man an increased food-supply of great variety and of improved

quality. This is conducive to the health and longevity of the race, as

well as to the happiness and comfort of everybody. Moreover, the

introduction of agricultural machinery has changed the slow, plodding

life of the farmer to that of the master of the steam-tractor,

thresher, and automobile, changed the demand from a slow, inactive mind

to the keenest, most alert, best-educated man of the nation, who must

study the highest arts of production, the greatest economy, and the

best methods of marketing. Truly, the industrial revolution applies

not to factories alone.

_The Building of the City_.--The modern industrial development has

forced upon the landscape the great city. No one particularly wanted

it. No one called it into being--it just came at the behest of the

conditions of rapid transportation, necessity of centralization of

factories where cheap distribution could be had, not only for the raw

material but for the {441} finished product, and where labor could be

furnished with little trouble--all of these things have developed a

city into which rush the great products of raw material, and out of

which pour the millions of manufactured articles and machinery; into

which pours the great food-supply to keep the laborers from starving.

Into the city flows much of the best blood of the country, which seeks

opportunity for achievement. The great city is inevitable so long as

great society insists on gigantic production and as great consumption,

but the city idea is overwrought beyond its natural condition. If some

power could equalize the transportation question, so that a factory

might be built in a smaller town, where raw material could be furnished

as cheaply as in the large city, and the distribution of goods be as

convenient, there is no reason why the population might not be more

evenly distributed, to its own great improvement.

_Industry and Civilization_.--But what does this mean so far as human

progress is concerned? We have increased the material production of

wealth and added to the material comfort of the inhabitants of the

world. We have extended the area of wealth to the dark places of the

world, giving means of improvement and enlightenment. We have

quickened the intellect of man until all he needs to do is to direct

the machinery of his own invention. Steam, electricity, and

water-power have worked for him. It has given people leisure to study,

investigate, and develop scientific discoveries for the improvement of

the race, protecting them from danger and disease and adding to their

comfort. It has given opportunity for the development of the higher

spiritual power in art, music, architecture, religion, and science.

Industrial progress is something more than the means of heaping up

wealth. It has to do with the well-being of humanity. It is true we

have not yet been able to carry out our ideals in this matter, but

slowly and surely industrial liberty and justice are following in the

wake of the freedom of the mind to think, the freedom of religious

belief, and the {442} political freedom of self-government. We are

to-day in the fourth great period of modern development, the

development of justice in industrial relations.

Moreover, all of this quickening of industry has brought people

together from all over the world. London is nearer New York than was

Philadelphia in revolutionary times. Not only has it brought people

closer together in industry, but in thought and sympathy. There have

been developed a world ethics, a world trade, and a world interchange

of science and improved ideas of life. It has given an increased

opportunity for material comforts and an increased opportunity for the

achievement of the ordinary man who seeks to develop all the capacities

and powers granted him by nature.

SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. Show that land is the foundation of all industry.

2. Compare condition of laborers now with conditions before the

industrial revolution.

3. Are great organizations of business necessary to progress?

4. Do railroads create wealth?

5. Does the introduction of machinery benefit the wage-earner?

6. How does rapid ocean-steamship transportation help the United

States?

7. If England should decline in wealth and commerce, would the United

States be benefited thereby?

8. How does the use of electricity benefit industry?

9. To what extent do you think the government should control or manage

industry?

10. Is Industrial Democracy possible?

11. Cutting and hammering two processes of primitive civilization.

What mechanical inventions take the place of the stone hammer and the

stone knife?

[1] See Chapter XXI.

{443}

CHAPTER XXVII

SOCIAL EVOLUTION

_The Evolutionary Processes of Society_.--Social activity is primarily

group activity. Consequently the kind and nature of the group, the

methods which brought its members together, its organization and

purpose, indicate the type of civilization and the possibility of

achievement. As group activity means mutual aid of members, and

involves processes of co-operation in achievement, the type of society

is symbolic of the status of progress. The function of the group is to

establish social order of its members, protect them from external foes,

as well as internal maladies, and to bring into existence a new force

by which greater achievement is possible than when individuals are

working separately.

_The Social Individual_.--While society is made of physio-psychic

individuals, as a matter of fact the social individual is made by

interactions and reactions arising from human association. Society on

one hand and the social individual on the other are both developed at

the same time through the process of living together in co-operation

and mutual aid. Society once created, no matter how imperfect, begins

its work for the good of all its members. It begins to provide against

cold and hunger and to protect from wild animals and wild men. It

becomes a feeling, thinking, willing group seeking the best for all.

It is in the fully developed society that the social process appears of

providing a water-supply, sanitation through sewer systems,

preventative medicine and health measures, public education, means of

establishing its members in rights, duties, and privileges, and

protecting them in the pursuit of industry.

_The Ethnic Society_.--Just at what period society became well

established is not known, but there are indications that some forms of

primitive family life and social activities were {444} in existence

among the men of the Old Stone Age, and certainly in the Neolithic

period. After races had reached a stage of permanent historical

records, or had even handed down traditions from generation to

generation, there are evidences of family life and tribal or national

achievements. Though there are evidences of religious group activities

prior to formal tribal life, it may be stated in general that the first

permanent organization was on a family or ethnic basis. Blood

relationship was the central idea of cohesion, which was early aided by

religious superstition and belief. Following this idea, all of the

ancient monarchies and empires were based on the ethnic group or race.

All of this indicates that society was based on natural law, and from

that were gradually evolved the general and political elements which

foreshadowed the enlarged functions of the more complex society of

modern times.

_The Territorial Group_.--Before the early tribal groups had settled

down to permanent habitations, they had developed many social

activities, but when they became permanently settled they passed from

the ethnic to the demographic form of social order--that is, they

developed a territorial group that performed all of its functions

within a given boundary which they called their own. From this time on

population increased and occupied territory expanded, and the group

became self-sufficient and independent in character. Then it could

co-operate with other groups and differentiate functions within.

Industrial, religious, and political groups, sacred orders, and

voluntary associations became prominent, all under the protection of

the general social order.

_The National Group Founded on Race Expansion_.--Through conquest,

amalgamation, and assimilation, various independent groups were united

in national life. All of the interior forces united in the

perpetuation of the nation, which became strong and domineering in its

attitude toward others. This led to warfare, conquest, or plunder, the

union of the conquered with the conquerors, and imperialism came into

being. Growth of wealth and population led to the demand for more

territory {445} and the continuation of strife and warfare. The rise

and fall of nations, the formation and dissolving of empires under the

constant shadow of war continued through the ages. While some progress

was made, it was in the face of conspicuous waste of life and energy,

and the process of national protection of humanity has been of doubtful

utility. Yet the development of hereditary leadership, the dominance

of privileged classes, and the formation of traditions, laws, and forms

of government went on unabated, during which the division of industrial

and social functions within, causing numerous classes to continually

differentiate, took place.

_The Functions of New Groups_.--In all social groupings the function

always precedes the form or structure of the social order. Society

follows the method of organic evolution in growing by differentiation.

New organs or parts are formed, which in time become strengthened and

developed. The organs or parts become more closely articulated with

each other and with the whole social body, and finally over all is the

great society, which defends, shields, protects, and fights for all.

The individual may report for life service in many departments, through

which his relation to great society must be manifested. He no longer

can go alone in his relation to the whole mass. He may co-operate in a

general way, it is true, with all, but must have a particularly active

co-operation in the smaller groups on which his life service and life

sustenance depend. The multiplication of functions leads to increased

division of service and to increased co-operation. In the industrial

life the division of labor and formation of special groups are more

clearly manifested.

_Great Society and the Social Order_.--This is manifested chiefly in

the modern state and the powerful expression of public opinion. No

matter how traditional, autocratic, and arbitrary the centralized

government becomes, there is continually arising modifying power from

local conditions. There are things that the czar or the king does not

do if he wishes to continue in permanent authority. From the masses of

the {446} people there arises opposition to arbitrary power, through

expressed discontent, public opinion, or revolution. The whole social

field of Europe has been a seething turmoil of action and reaction, of

autocracy and the demand for human rights. Thirst for national

aggrandizement and power and the lust of the privileged classes have

been modified by the distressing cry of the suffering people. What a

slow process is social evolution and what a long struggle has been

waged for human rights!

_Great Society Protects Voluntary Organizations_.--Freedom of assembly,

debate, and organization is one of the important traits of social

organization. With the ideal of democracy comes also freedom of speech

and the press. Voluntary organizations for the good of the members or

for a distinctive agency for general good may be made and receive

protection in society at large through law, the courts, and public

opinion; but the right to organize does not carry with it the right to

destroy, and all such organizations must conform to the general good as

expressed in the laws of the land. Sometimes organizations interested

in their own institutions have been detrimental to the general good.

Even though they have law and public opinion with them, in their zeal

for propaganda they have overstepped the rules of progress. But such

conditions cannot last; progress will cause them to change their

attitude or they meet a social death.

_The Widening Service of the Church_.--The importance of the religious

life in the progress of humanity is acknowledged by all careful

scholars. Sometimes, it is true, this religious belief has been

detrimental to the highest interests of social welfare. Religion

itself is necessarily conservative, and when overcome by superstition,

tradition, and dogmatism, it may stifle the intellect and retard

progress. The history of the world records many instances of this.

The modern religious life, however, has taken upon it, as a part of its

legitimate function, the ethical relations of mankind. Ethics has been

prominent in the doctrine and service of the church. When the church

turned its attention to the {447} future life, with undue neglect of

the present, it became non-progressive and worked against the best

interests of social progress. When it based its operation entirely

upon faith, at the expense of reason and judgment, it tended to enslave

the intellect and to rob mankind of much of its best service. But when

it turned its attention to sweetening and purifying the present,

holding to the future by faith, that man might have a larger and better

life, it opened the way for social progress. Its motto has been, in

recent years, the salvation of this life that the future may be

assured. Its aim is to seize the best that this life furnishes and to

utilize it for the elevation of man, individually and socially. Its

endeavor is to save this life as the best and holiest reality yet

offered to man. Faith properly exercised leads to invention,

discovery, social activity, and general culture. It gives an impulse

not only to religious life, but to all forms of social activity. But

it must work with the full sanction of intelligence and allow a

continual widening activity of reason and judgment.

The church has shown a determination to take hold of all classes of

human society and all means of reform and regeneration. It has evinced

a tendency to seize all the products of culture, all the improvements

of science, all the revelations of truth, and turn them to account in

the upbuilding of mankind on earth, in perfecting character and

relieving mankind, in developing the individual and improving social

conditions. The church has thus entered the educational world, the

missionary field, the substratum of society, the political life, and

the field of social order, everywhere becoming a true servant of the

people.

_Growth of Religious Toleration_.--There is no greater evidence of the

progress of human society than the growth of religious toleration. In

the first hundred years of the Reformation, religious toleration was

practically unknown. Indeed, the last fifty years has seen a more

rapid growth in this respect than in the previous three hundred.

Luther and his followers could not tolerate Calvinists any more than

they could {448} Catholics, and Calvinists, on the other hand, could

tolerate no other religious opinion.

The slow evolution of religious toleration in England is one of the

most remarkable things in history. Henry VIII, "Defender of the

Faith," was opposed to religious liberty. Queen Mary persecuted all

except Catholics. Elizabeth completed the establishment of the

Anglican Church, though, forced by political reasons, she gave more or

less toleration to all parties. But Cromwell advocated unrelenting

Puritanism by legislation and by the sword. James I, though a

Protestant wedded to imperialism in government, permitted oppression.

The Bill of Rights, which secured to the English people the privileges

of constitutional government, insisted that no person who should

profess the "popish" religion or marry a "papist" should be qualified

to wear the crown of England.

At the close of the sixteenth century it was a common principle of

belief that any person who adhered to heterodox opinions in religion

should be burned alive or otherwise put to death. Each church adhered

to this sentiment, though, it is true, many persons believed

differently, and at the close of the seventeenth century Bossuet, the

great French ecclesiastic, maintained with close argument that the

right of the civil magistrate to punish religious errors was a point on

which nearly all churches agreed, and asserted that only two bodies of

Christians, the Socinians and the Anabaptists, denied it.

In 1673 all persons holding office under the government of England were

compelled to take the oath of supremacy and of allegiance, to declare

against transubstantiation, and to take the sacrament according to the

ritual of the established church. In 1689 the Toleration Act was

passed, exempting dissenters from the Church of England from the

penalties of non-attendance on the service of the established church.

This was followed by a bill abolishing episcopacy in Scotland. In 1703

severe laws were passed in Ireland against those who professed the

Roman Catholic religion. The Test Act was not repealed until 1828,

when the oath was taken "on the true {449} faith of a Christian," which

was substituted for the sacrament test.

From this time on Protestant dissenters might hold office. In the year

following, the Catholic Relief Act extended toleration to the

Catholics, permitting them to hold any offices except those of regent,

lord chancellor of England or Ireland, and of viceroy of Ireland. In

1858, by act of Parliament, Jews were for the first time admitted to

that body. In 1868 the Irish church was disestablished and disendowed,

and a portion of its funds devoted to education. But it was not until

1871 that persons could lecture in the universities of Oxford and

Cambridge without taking the sacrament of the established church and

adhering to its principles.

The growth of toleration in America has been evinced in the struggle of

the different denominations for power. The church and the state,

though more or less closely connected in the colonies of America, have

been entirely separated under the Constitution, and therefore the

struggle for liberal views has been between the different denominations

themselves. In Europe and in America one of the few great events of

the century has been the entire separation of church and state. It has

gone so far in America that most of the states have ceased to aid any

private or denominational institutions.

There is a tendency, also, not to support Indian schools carried on by

religious denominations, or else to have them under the especial

control of the United States government. There has been, too, a

liberalizing tendency among the different denominations themselves. In

some rural districts, and among ignorant classes, bigotry and

intolerance, of course, break out occasionally, but upon the whole

there is a closer union of the various denominations upon a

co-operative basis of redeeming men from error, and a growing tendency

to tolerate differing beliefs.

_Altruism and Democracy_.--The law of evolution that involves the

survival of the fittest of organic life when applied to humanity was

modified by social action. But as man must {450} always figure as an

individual and his development is caused by intrinsic and extrinsic

stimuli, he has never been free from the exercise of the individual

struggle for existence, no matter how highly society is developed nor

to what extent group activity prevails. The same law continues in

relation to the survival of the group along with other groups, and as

individual self-interest, the normal function of the individual, may

pass into selfishness, so group interest may pass into group

selfishness, and the dominant idea of the group may be its own

survival. This develops institutionalism, which has been evidenced in

every changing phase of social organization.

Along with this have grown altruistic principles based on the law of

love, which in its essentials is antagonistic to the law of the

survival of the fittest. It has been developed from two sources--one

which originally was founded on race morality, that is, the protection

of individuals for the good of the order, and the other that of

sympathy with suffering of the weak and unprotected. In the progress

of modern society the application of Christian principles to life has

kept pace with the application of democratic principles in establishing

the rights of man.

Gradually the duty of society to protect and care for the weak has

become generally recognized. This idea has been entirely

overemphasized in many cases, on the misapplication of the theory that

one individual is as good as another and entitled to equality of

treatment by all. At least it is possible for the normal progress of

society to be retarded if the strong become weakened by excessive care

of the weak. The law of love must be so exercised that it will not

increase weakness on the part of those being helped, nor lessen the

opportunities of the strong to survive and manifest their strength.

The history of the English Poor Law is an account of the systematic

care of pauperism to the extent that paupers were multiplied so that

those who were bearing the burden of taxation for their support found

it easier and, indeed, sometimes necessary to join the pauper ranks in

order to live at all.

{451}

Many are alarmed to-day at the multiplication of the number of insane,

weak-minded, imbeciles, and paupers who must be supported by the

taxation of the people and helped in a thousand ways by the altruism of

individuals and groups. Unless along with this excessive altruistic

care, scientific principles of breeding, of prevention, and of care can

be introduced, the dependent, defective, and delinquent classes of the

world will eventually become a burden to civilization. Society cannot

shirk its duty to care for these groups, but it would be a misfortune

if they reach a status where they can demand support and protection of

society. It is a question whether we have not already approached in a

measure this condition. Fortunately there is enough knowledge in the

world of science regarding man and society to prevent any such

catastrophe, if it could only be applied.

Hence, since one of the great ideals of life is to develop a perfect

society built upon rational principles, the study of social pathology

has become important. The care of the weak and the broken-down classes

of humanity has something more than altruism as a foundation. Upon it

rest the preservation of the individual and the perpetuation of a

healthy social organism. The care of the insane, of imbeciles, of

criminals, and of paupers is exercised more nearly on a scientific

basis each succeeding year. Prevention and reform are the fundamental

ideas in connection with the management of these classes. Altruism may

be an initial motive power, prompting people to care for the needy and

the suffering, but necessity for the preservation of society is more

powerful in its final influences.

To care for paupers without increasing pauperism is a great question,

and is rapidly putting all charity upon a scientific basis. To care

for imbeciles without increasing imbecility, and to care for criminals

on the basis of the prevention and decrease of crime, are among the

most vital questions of modern social life. As the conditions of human

misery become more clearly revealed to humanity, and their evil effects

on the social system become more apparent, greater efforts will be

{452} put forward--greater than ever before--in the care of dependents,

defectives, and delinquents. Not only must the pathology of the

individual be studied, for the preservation of his physical system, but

the pathology of human society must receive scientific investigation in

order to perpetuate the social organism.

_Modern Society a Machine of Great Complexity_.--While the family

remains as the most persistent primary unit of social organization out

of which differentiated the great social functions of to-day, it now

expresses but a very small part of the social complex. It is true it

is still a conserving, co-operating, propagating group of individuals,

in which appear many of the elemental functions of society. While it

represents a group based on blood relationship, as in the old dominant

family drawn together by psychical influences and preserved on account

of the protection of the different members of the group and the various

complex relations between them, still within its precincts are found

the elementary practices of economic life, the rights of property, and

the beginnings of education and religion. Outside of this family

nucleus there have been influences of common nationality and common

ancestry or race, which are natural foundations of an expanded society.

Along with this are the secondary influences, the memories and

associations of a common birthplace or a common territorial community,

and by local habitation of village, town, city, or country. But the

differentiation of industrial functions or activities has been most

potent in developing social complexity. The multiplication of

activities, the choice of occupation, and the division of labor have

multiplied the economic groups by the thousand. Following this,

natural voluntary social groups spring up on every hand.

Again, partly by choice and partly by environment, we find society

drawn together in other groups, more or less influenced by those just

enumerated. From the earliest forms of social existence we find men

are grouped together on the basis of wealth. The interests of the rich

are common, as are also the {453} interests of the poor and those of

the well-to-do. Nor is it alone a matter of interest, but in part of

choice, that these groupings occur. This community of interests brings

about social coherence.

Again, the trades, professions, and occupations of men draw them

together in associated groups. It is not infrequent that men engaged

in the same profession are thrown together in daily contact, have the

same interests, sentiments, and thought, and form in this way a group

which stands almost aloof from other groups in social life; tradesmen

dealing in a certain line of goods are thrown together in the same way.

But the lines in these groupings must not be too firmly drawn, for

groups formed on the basis of friendship may cover a field partaking in

part of all these different groups. Again, we shall find that the

school lays the foundation of early associations, and continues to have

an influence in creating social aggregates. Fraternal societies and

political parties in the same way form associated groups.

The church at large forms a great organizing centre, the influence of

which in political and social life enlarges every day. The church body

arranges itself in different groups on the basis of the different sects

and denominations, and within the individual church organization there

are small groups or societies, which again segregate religious social

life. But over and above all these various social groups and classes

is the state, binding and making all cohere in a common unity.

The tendency of this social life is to differentiate into more and more

groups, positive in character, which renders our social existence

complex and difficult to analyze. The social groups overlap one

another, and are interdependent in all their relations. In one way the

individual becomes more and more self-constituted and independent in

his activity; in another way he is dependent on all his fellows for

room or opportunity for action.

This complexity of social life renders it difficult to estimate the

real progress of society; yet, taking any one of these {454} individual

groups, it will be found to be improving continually. School life and

school associations show a marked improvement; family life,

notwithstanding the various evidences of the divorce courts, shows

likewise an improved state as intelligence increases; the social life

of the church becomes larger and broader. The spread of literature and

learning, the increase of education, renders each social group more

self-sustaining and brings about a higher life, with a better code of

morals. Even political groups have their reactions, in which,

notwithstanding the great room for improvement, they stand for morality

and justice. The relations of man to man are becoming better

understood every day. His fickleness and selfishness are more readily

observed in recent than in former times, and as a result the evils of

the present are magnified, because they are better understood; in

reality, social conditions are improving, and the fact that social

conditions are understood and evils clearly observed promises a great

improvement for the future.

_Interrelation of Different Parts of Society_.--The various social

aggregates are closely interrelated and mutually dependent upon one

another. The state itself, though expressing the unity of society, is

a highly complex organization, consisting of forms of local and central

government. These parts, having independent functions, are

co-ordinated to the general whole. Voluntary organizations have their

specific relation to the state, which fosters and protects them on an

independent basis. The school, likewise, has its relation to the

social life, having an independent function, yet touching all parts of

the social life.

We find the closest interdependence of individuals in the economic

life. Each man performs a certain service which he exchanges for the

services of others. The wealth which he creates with his own hand,

limited in kind, must be exchanged for all the other commodities which

he would have. More than this, all people are ranged in economic

groups, each group dependent upon all the others--the farmers dependent

upon {455} the manufacturers of implements and goods, upon bankers,

lawyers, ministers, and teachers; the manufacturers dependent upon the

farmers and all the other classes; and so with every class.

This interdependent relation renders it impossible to improve one group

without improving the others, or to work a great detriment to one group

without injuring the others. If civilization is to be perpetuated and

improved, the banker must be interested in the welfare of the farmer,

the farmer in the welfare of the banker, both in the prosperity of

manufacturers, and all in the welfare of the common laborer. The

tendency for this mutual interest to increase is evinced in all human

social relations, and speaks well for the future of civilization.

_The Progress of the Race Based on Social

Opportunities_.--Anthropologists tell us that no great change in the

physical capacity of man has taken place for many centuries. The

maximum brain capacity has probably not exceeded that of the Cro-Magnon

race in the Paleolithic period of European culture. Undoubtedly,

however, there has been some change in the quality of the brain,

increasing its storage batteries of power and through education the

utilization of that power. We would scarcely expect, however, with all

of our education and scientific development, to increase the stature of

man or to enlarge his brain. Much is being done, however, in getting

the effective service of the brain not only through natural selective

processes, but through education. The improvement of human society has

been brought about largely by training and the increased knowledge

which it has brought to us through invention and discovery, and their

application to the practical and theoretical arts.

All these would have been buried had it not been for the protection of

co-operative society and the increased power derived therefrom. Even

though we exercise the selective power of humanity under the direction

of our best intelligence, the individual must find his future

opportunity in the better {456} conditions furnished by society.

Granted that individual and racial powers are essential through

hereditary development, progress can only be obtained by the expression

of these powers through social activity. For it is only through social

co-operation that a new power is brought into existence, namely,

achievement by mutual aid. This assertion does not ignore the fact

that the mutations of progress arise from the brain centres of

geniuses, and that by following up these mutations by social action

they may become productive and furnish opportunity for progress.

_The Central Idea of Modern Civilization_.--The object of life is not

to build a perfect social mechanism. It is only a means to a greater

end, namely, that the individual shall have opportunity to develop and

exercise the powers which nature has given him. This involves an

opportunity for the expression of his whole nature, physical and

mental, for the satisfaction of his normal desires for home, happiness,

prosperity, and achievement. It involves, too, the question of

individual rights, privileges, and duties.

The history of man reveals to us somewhat of his progress. There is

ever before us the journey which he has taken in reaching his present

status. The road has been very long, very rough, very crooked. What

he has accomplished has been at fearful expense. Thousands have

perished, millions have been swept away, that a single idea for the

elevation and culture of the race might remain. Deplore it as we may,

the end could be reached only thus. The suffering of humanity is

gradually lessening, and destruction and waste being stayed, yet we

must recognize, in looking to the future, that all means of improvement

will be retarded by the imperfection of human life and human conditions.

The central principle, however, the great nucleus of civilization,

becomes more clearly defined, in turn revealing that man's happiness on

earth, based upon duty and service, is the end of progress. If the

achievements of science, the vast accumulations of wealth, the

perfection of social organization, {457} the increased power of

individual life--if all these do not yield better social conditions, if

they do not give to humanity at large greater contentment, greater

happiness, a larger number of things to know and enjoy, they must fail

in their service. But they will not fail. Man is now a larger

creature in every way than ever before. He has better religion; a

greater God in the heavens, ruling with beneficence and wisdom; a

larger number of means for improvement everywhere; and the desire and

determination to master these things and turn them to his own benefit.

The pursuit of truth reveals man to himself and God to him. The

promotion of justice and righteousness makes his social life more

complete and happy. The investigations of science and the advances of

invention and discovery increase his material resources, furnishing him

means with which to work; and with increasing intelligence he will

understand more clearly his destiny--the highest culture of mind and

body and the keenest enjoyment of the soul.

SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. What were the chief causes of aggregation of people?

2. Are there evidences of groups without the beginning of social

organization?

3. What is the relation of the individual to society?

4. The basis of national groups.

5. Factors in the progress of the human race.

6. Growth of religious toleration in the world.

7. Name ten "American institutions" that should be perpetuated.

8. Race and democracy.

9. What per cent of the voters of your town take a vital interest in

government?

10. The growth of democratic ideas in Europe. In Asia.

11. Study the welfare organizations in your town, comparing objects

and results.

12. The trend of population from country to city and its influence on

social organization.

13. Explain why people follow the fashions.

{458}

CHAPTER XXIX

THE EVOLUTION OF SCIENCE

_Science Is an Attitude of Mind Toward Life_.--As usually defined,

science represents a classified body of knowledge logically arranged

with the purpose of arriving at definite principles or truths by

processes of investigation and comparison. But the largest part of

science is found in its method of approaching the truth as compared

with religion, philosophy, or disconnected knowledge obtained by casual

observation. In many ways it is in strong contrast with speculative

philosophy and with dogmatic theology, both of which lack sufficient

data for scientific development. The former has a tendency to

interpret what is assumed to have already been established. With the

latter the laboratory of investigation of truth has been closed. The

laboratory of science is always open.

While scientists work with hypotheses, use the imagination, and even

become dogmatic in their assertions, the degree of certainty is always

tested in the laboratory. If a truth is discovered to-day, it must be

verified in the laboratory or shown to be incorrect or only a partial

truth. Science has been built up on the basis of the inquiry into

nature's processes. It is all the time inquiring: "What do we find

under the microscope, through the telescope, in the chemical and

physical reactions, in the examination of the earth and its products,

in the observation of the functions of animals and plants, or in the

structure of the brain of man and the laws of his mental functioning?"

If it establishes an hypothesis as a means of procedure, it must be

determined true or abandoned. If the imagination ventures to be

far-seeing, observation, experimentation, and the discovery of fact

must all come to its support before it can be called scientific.

_Scientific Methods_.--We have already referred to the turning of the

minds of the Greeks from the power of the gods to {459} a look into

nature's processes. We have seen how they lacked a scientific method

and also scientific data sufficient to verify their assumptions. We

have observed how, while they took a great step forward, their

conclusions were lost in the Dark Ages and in the early mediaeval

period, and how they were brought to light in the later medieval period

and helped to form the scholastic philosophy and to stimulate free

inquiry, and how the weakness of all systems was manifested in all

these periods of human life by failure to use the simple process of

observing the facts of nature, getting them and classifying them so as

to demonstrate truth. It will not be possible to recount in this

chapter a full description of the development of science and scientific

thought. Not more can be done than to mention the turning-points in

its development and expansion.

Though other influences of minor importance might be mentioned, it is

well to note that Roger Bacon (1214-1294) stands out prominently as the

first philosopher of the mediaeval period who turned his attitude of

mind earnestly toward nature. It is true that he was not free from the

taint of dogmatic theology and scholastic philosophy which were so

strongly prevailing at the time, but he advocated the discovery of

truth by observation and experiment, which was a bold assumption at

that time. He established as one of his main principles that

experimental science "investigates the secrets of nature by its own

competency and out of its own qualities, irrespective of any connection

with the other sciences." Thus he did not universalize his method as

applicable to all sciences.

Doubtless Roger Bacon received his inspiration from the Greek and

Arabian scientists with whom he was familiar. It is interesting that,

following the lines of observation and discovery in a very primitive

way, he let his imagination run on into the future, predicting many

things that have happened already. Thus he says: "Machines for

navigation are possible without rowers, like great ships suited to

river or ocean, going with greater velocity than if they were full of

rowers; likewise {460} wagons may be moved _cum impetu inaestimabili_,

as we deem the chariots of antiquity to have been. And there may be

flying-machines, so made that a man may sit in the middle of the

machine and direct it by some device; and again, machines for raising

great weights."[1]

In continuity with the ideas of Roger Bacon, Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

gave a classification of human learning and laid the real foundation on

which the superstructure of science has been built. Between the two

lives much had been done by Copernicus, who taught that the earth was

not the centre of the universe, and that it revolved on its axis from

west to east. This gave the traditions of fourteen centuries a severe

jolt, and laid the foundation for the development of the heliocentric

system of astronomy. Bacon's classification of all knowledge showed

the relationship of the branches to a comprehensive whole. His

fundamental theory was that nature was controlled and modified by man.

He recognized the influence of natural philosophy, but insisted that

the "history mechanical" was a strong support to it.

His usefulness seems to have been in the presentation of a wide range

of knowledge distinctly connected, the demonstration of the utility of

knowledge, and the suggestion of unsolved problems which should be

investigated by observation and experiment. Without giving his

complete classification of human learning, it may be well to state his

most interesting classification of physical science to show the middle

ground which he occupied between mediaeval thought and our modern

conception of science. This classification is as follows:

1. Celestial phenomena.

2. Atmosphere.

3. Globe.

4. Substance of earth, air, fire, and water.

5. Genera, species, etc.[2]

{461}

Descartes, following Bacon, had much to do with the establishment of

method, although he laid more stress upon deduction than upon

induction. With Bacon he believed that there was need of a better

method of finding out the truth than that of logic. He was strong in

his refusal to recognize anything as true that he did not understand,

and had no faith in the mere assumption of truth, insisting upon

absolute proof derived through an intelligent order. Perhaps, too, his

idea was to establish universal mathematics, for he recognized

measurements and lines everywhere in the universe, and recognized the

universality of all natural phenomena, laying great stress on the

solution of problems by measurement. He was a fore runner of Newton

and many other scientists, and as such represents an epoch-making

period in scientific development.

The trend of thought by a few leaders having been directed to the

observation of nature and the experimentation with natural phenomena,

the way was open for the shifting of the centre of thought of the

entire world. It only remained now for each scientist to work out in

his own way his own experiments. The differentiation of knowledge

brought about many phases of thought and built up separate divisions of

science. While each one has had an evolution of its own, all together

they have worked out a larger progress of the whole. Thus Gilbert

(1540-1603) carried on practical experiments and observations with the

lodestone, or magnet, and thus made a faint beginning of the study of

electrical phenomena which in recent years has played such an important

part in the progress of the world. Harvey (1578-1657) by his careful

study of the blood determined its circulation through the heart by

means of the arterial and venous systems. This was an important step

in leading to anatomical studies and set the world far ahead of the

medical studies of the Arabians.

Galileo (1564-1642), in his study of the heavenly bodies and the

universe, carried out the suggestion of Copernicus a century before of

the revolution of the earth on its axis, to {462} take the place of the

old theory that the sun revolved around the earth. Indeed, this was

such a disturbing factor among churchmen, theologians, and

pseudo-philosophers that Galileo was forced to recant his statements.

In 1632 he published at Florence his _Dialogue on the Ptolemaic and

Copernican Systems of the World_. For this he was cited to Rome, his

book ordered to be burned, and he was sentenced to be imprisoned, to

make a recantation of his errors, and by way of penance to recite the

seven penitential psalms once a week.

It seems very strange that a man who could make a telescope to study

the heavenly bodies and carry on experiments with such skill that he

has been called the founder of experimental science could be forced to

recant the things which he was convinced by experiment and observation

to be true. However, it must be remembered that the mediaeval doctrine

of authority had taken possession of the minds of the world of thinkers

to such an extent that to oppose it openly seemed not only sacrilege

but the tearing down of the walls of faith and destroying the permanent

structure of society. Moreover, the minds of all thinkers were trying

to hold on to the old while they developed the new, and not one could

think of destroying the faith of the church. But the church did not so

view this, and took every opportunity to suppress everything new as

being destructive of the church.

No one could contemplate the tremendous changes that might have been

made in the history of the world if the church could have abandoned its

theological dogmas far enough to welcome all new truth that was

discovered in God's workshop. To us in the twentieth century who have

such freedom of expressing both truth and untruth, it is difficult to

realize to what extent the authorities of the Middle Ages tried to seal

the fountains of truth. Picture a man kneeling before the authorities

at Rome and stating: "With a sincere heart and unfeigned faith I

abjure, curse, and detest the said errors and heresies. I swear that

for the future I will never say nor assert anything verbally or in

writing which may give rise to a {463} similar suspicion against

me."[3] Thus he was compelled to recant and deny his theory that the

earth moves around the sun.

_Measurement in Scientific Research_.--All scientific research involves

the recounting of recurring phenomena within a given time and within a

given space. In order, therefore, to carry on systematic research,

methods of measuring are necessary. We can thus see how mathematics,

although developed largely through the study of astronomy, has been

necessary to all investigation. Ticho Brahe and Kepler may be said to

have accentuated the phase of accurate measurement in investigation.

They specialized in chemistry and astronomy, all measurements being

applied to the heavenly bodies. Their main service was found in

accurate records of data. Kepler maintained "that every planet moved

in an ellipse of which the sun occupied one focus." He also held "that

the square of the periodic time of any planet is proportional to the

cube of its mean distance from the sun," and "that the area swept by

the radius vector from the planet to the sun is proportional to the

time."[4] He was much aided in his measurements by the use of a system

of logarithms invented by John Napier (1614). Many measurements were

established regarding heat, pressure of air, and the relation of solids

and liquids.

Isaac Newton, by connecting up a single phenomenon of a body falling a

distance of a few feet on the earth with all similar phenomena, through

the law of gravitation discovered the unity of the universe. Though

Newton carried on important investigations in astronomy, studied the

refraction of light through optic glasses, was president of the Royal

Society, his chief contribution to the sciences was the tying together

of the sun, the planets, and the moons of the solar system by the

attraction of gravitation. Newton was able to carry along with his

scientific investigations a profound reverence for Christianity. That

he was not attacked shows that there had {464} been considerable

progress made in toleration of new ideas. With all of his greatness of

vision, he had the humbleness of a true scientist. A short time before

his death he said: "I know not what I may appear to the world; but to

myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and

diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble, or a

prettier shell, than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all

undiscovered before me."

_Science Develops from Centres_.--Bodies of truth in the world are all

related one to another. Hence, when a scientist investigates and

experiments along a particular line, he must come in contact more or

less with other lines. And while there is a great differentiation in

the discovery of knowledge by investigation, no single truth can ever

be established without more or less relation to all other truths.

Likewise, scientists, although working from different centres, are each

contributing in his own way to the establishment of universal truth.

Even in the sixteenth century scientists began to co-operate and

interchange views, and as soon as their works were published, each fed

upon the others as he needed in advancing his own particular branch of

knowledge.

It is said that Bacon in his _New Atlantis_ gave such a magnificent

dream of an opportunity for the development of science and learning

that it was the means of forming the Royal Society in England. That

association was the means of disseminating scientific truth and

encouraging investigation and publication of results. It was a

tremendous advancement of the cause of science, and has been a type for

the formation of hundreds of other organizations for the promotion of

scientific truth.

_Science and Democracy_.--While seeking to extend knowledge to all

classes of people, science paves the way for recognition of equal

rights and privileges. Science is working all the time to be free from

the slavery of nature, and the result of its operations is to cause

mankind to be free from the slavery of man. Therefore, liberty and

science go hand in hand in {465} their development. It is interesting

to note in this connection that so many scientists have come from

groups forming the ordinary occupations of life rather than, as we

might expect, from the privileged classes who have had leisure and

opportunity for development. Thus, "Pasteur was the son of a tanner,

Priestley of a cloth-maker, Dalton of a weaver, Lambert of a tailor,

Kant of a saddler, Watt of a ship-builder, Smith of a farmer, and John

Ray was, like Faraday, the son of a blacksmith. Joule was a brewer.

Davy, Scheele, Dumas, Balard, Liebig, Woehler, and a number of other

distinguished chemists were apothecaries' apprentices."[5]

Science also is a great leveller because all scientists are bowing down

to the same truth discovered by experimentation or observation, and,

moreover, scientists are at work in the laboratories and cannot be

dogmatic for any length of time. But scientists arise from all classes

of people, so far as religious or political belief is concerned. Many

of the foremost scientists have been distributed among the Roman

Catholics, Anglicans, Calvinists, Quakers, Unitarians, and Agnostics.

The only test act that science knows is that of the recognition of

truth.

Benjamin Franklin was a printer whose scientific investigations were

closely intermingled with the problems of human rights. His

experiments in science were subordinate to the experiments of human

society. His great contribution to science was the identification of

lightning and the spark from a Leyden jar. For the identification and

control of lightning he received a medal from the Royal Society. The

discussion of liberty and the part he took in the independence of the

colonies of America represent his greatest contribution to the world.

To us he is important, for he embodied in one mind the expression of

scientific and political truth, showing that science makes for

democracy and democracy for science. In each case it is the choice of

the liberalized mind.

_The Study of the Biological and Physical Sciences_.--The last century

is marked by scientific development along several {466} rather distinct

lines as follows: the study of the earth, or geology; animal and

vegetable life, or biology; atomic analysis, or chemistry;

biochemistry; physics, especially that part relating to electricity and

radioactivity; and more recently it might be stated that investigations

are carried on in psychology and sociology, while mathematics and

astronomy have made progress.

The main generalized point of research, if it could be so stated, is

the discovery of law and order. This has been demonstrated in the

development of chemistry under the atomic theory; physics in the

molecular theory; the law of electrons in electricity, and the

evolutionary theory in the study of biology. Great advance has been

made in the medical sciences, including the knowledge of the nature and

prevention of disease. Though a great many new discoveries and, out of

new discoveries, new inventions have appeared along specific lines and

various sciences have advanced with accuracy and precision, perhaps the

evolutionary theory has changed the thought of the world more than any

other. It has connected man with the rest of the universe and made him

a definite part of it.

_The Evolutionary Theory_.--The geography of the earth as presented by

Lyell, the theory of population of Malthus, and the _Origin of the

Species_ and the _Descent of Man_ by Darwin changed the preconceived

notions of the creation of man. Slowly and without ostentation science

everywhere had been forcing all nature into unity controlled by

universal laws. Traditional belief was not prepared for the bold

statement of Darwin that man was part of the slow development of animal

life through the ages.

For 2,000 years or more the philosophic world had been wedded to the

idea of a special creation of man entirely independent of the creation

of the rest of the universe. All conceptions of God, man, and his

destiny rested upon the recognition of a separate creation. To deny

this meant a reconstruction of much of the religious philosophy of the

world. Persons {467} were needlessly alarmed and began to attack the

doctrine on the assumption that anything interfering with the

long-recognized interpretation of the relation of man to creation was

wrong and was instituted for the purpose of tearing down the ancient

landmarks.

Darwin accepted in general the Lamarckian doctrine that each succeeding

generation would have new characters added to it by the modification of

environmental factors and by the use and disuse of organs and

functions. Thus gradually under such selection the species would be

improved. But Darwin emphasized selection through hereditary traits.

Subsequently, Weismann and others reinterpreted Darwin's theory and

strengthened its main propositions, abandoning the Lamarckian theory of

use and disuse. Mendel, De Vries, and other biologists have added to

the Darwinian theory by careful investigations into the heredity of

plants and animals, but because Darwin was the first to give clear

expression to the theory of evolution, "Darwinism" is used to express

the general theory.

Cosmic evolution, or the development of the universe, has been

generally acknowledged by the acceptance of the results of the studies

of geology, astronomy, and physics. History of plant and animal life

is permanently written in the rocks, and their evolutionary process so

completely demonstrated in the laboratory that few dare to question it.

Modern controversy hinges upon the assumption that man as an animal is

not subjected to the natural laws of other animals and of plants, but

that he had a special creation. The maintenance of this belief has led

to many crude and unscientific notions of the origin of man and the

meaning of evolution.

Evolution is very simple in its general traits, but very complex in its

details. It is a theory of process and not a theory of creation. It

is continuous, progressive change, brought about by natural forces and

in accordance with natural laws. The evolutionist studies these

changes and records the results obtained thereby. The scientist thus

discovers new truths, {468} establishes the relation of one truth to

another, enlarges the boundary of knowledge, extends the horizon of the

unknown, and leaves the mystery of the beginning of life unsolved. His

laboratory is always open to retest and clarify his work and to add new

knowledge as fast as it is acquired.

Evolution as a working theory for science has correlated truths,

unified methods, and furnished a key to modern thought. As a

co-operative science it has had a stimulating influence on all lines of

research, not only in scientific study of physical nature, but also in

the study of man, for there are natural laws as well as man-made laws

to be observed in the development of human society.

Some evolutionary scientists will be dogmatic at times, but they return

to their laboratories and proceed to reinterpret what they have

assumed, so that their dogmatism is of short duration. Theological

dogmatists are not so fortunate, because of persistence of religious

tradition which has not yet been put fully to the laboratory test.

Some of them are continuously and hopelessly dogmatic. They still

adhere to belief founded on the emotions which they refuse to put to

scientific test. Science makes no attempt to undermine religion, but

is unconsciously laying a broader foundation on which religion may

stand. Theologians who are beginning to realize this are forced to

re-examine the Bible and reinterpret it according to the knowledge and

enlightenment of the time. Thus science becomes a force to advance

Christianity, not to destroy it.

On the other hand, science becomes less dogmatic as it applies its own

methods to religion and humanity and recognizes that there is a great

world of spiritual truth which cannot be determined by experiments in

the physical laboratory. It can be estimated only in the laboratory of

human action. Faith, love, virtue, and spiritual vision cannot be

explained by physical and chemical reactions. If in the past science

has rightly pursued its course of investigation regardless of spiritual

truth, the future is full of promise that religion and human reactions

and science will eventually work together in the pursuit of {469} truth

in God's great workshop. The unity of truth will be thus realized.

The area of knowledge will be enlarged while the horizon of the unknown

will be extended. The mystery of life still remains unsolved.

Galton followed along in the study of the development of race and

culture, and brought in a new study of human life. Pasteur and Lister

worked out their great factors of preventive medicine and health.

Madame Curie developed the radioactivity as a great contribution to the

evolution of science. All of this represents the slow evolution of

science, each new discovery quickening the thought of the age in which

it occurred, changing the attitude of the mind toward nature and life,

and contributing to human comfort and human welfare. But the greatest

accomplishment always in the development of science is its effect on

the mental processes of humanity, stimulating thought and changing the

attitude of mind toward life.

_Science and War_.--It is a travesty on human progress, a social

paradox, that war and science go hand in hand. On one side are all of

the machines of destruction, the battleships, bombing-planes, huge

guns, high explosives, and poisonous gases, products of scientific

experiment and inventive genius, and on the other ambulances,

hospitals, medical and surgical care, with the uses of all medical

discoveries. The one seeks destruction, the other seeks to allay

suffering; one force destroys life, the other saves it. And yet they

march forth under the same flag to conquer the enemy. It is like the

conquest of the American Indians by the Spaniards, in which the warrior

bore in one hand a banner of the cross of Christ and in the other the

drawn sword.

War has achieved much in forcing people into national unity, in giving

freedom to the oppressed and protecting otherwise helpless people, but

in the light of our ideals of peace it has never been more than a cruel

necessity, and, more frequently, a grim, horrible monster. Chemistry

and physics and their discoveries underlying the vast material

prosperity of moderns have contributed much to the mechanical and {470}

industrial arts and increased the welfare and happiness of mankind.

But when war is let loose, these same beneficent sciences are worked

day and night for the rapid destruction of man. All the wealth built

up in the passing years is destroyed along with the lives of millions

of people.

Out of the gloom of the picture proceeds one ray of beneficent light,

that of the service rendered by the discoveries of medical science and

surgical art. The discoveries arising from the study of anatomy,

physiology, bacteriology, and neurology, with the use of anaesthetics

and antiseptics in connection with surgery, have made war less horrible

and suffering more endurable. Scientists like Pasteur, Lister, Koch,

Morton, and many others brought forth from their laboratories the

results of their study for the alleviation of suffering.

Yet it seems almost incredible that with all of the horrid experiences

of war, an enterprise that no one desires, and which the great majority

of the world deplore, should so long continue. Nothing but the

discovery and rise of a serum that will destroy the germs of national

selfishness and avarice will prevent war. Possibly it stimulates

activity in invention, discovery, trade and commerce, but of what avail

is it if the cycle returns again from peace to war and these products

of increased activity are turned to the destruction of civilization?

Does not the world need a baptism of common sense? Some gain is being

made in the changing attitude of mind toward the warrior in favor of

the great scientists of the world. But nothing will be assured until

the hero-worship of the soldier gives way to the respect for the

scholar, and ideals of truth and right become mightier than the sword.

_Scientific Progress Is Cumulative_.--One discovery leads to another,

one invention to others. It is a law of science. Science benefits the

common man more than does politics or religion. It is through science

that he has means of use and enjoyment of nature's progress. It is

true this is on the side of materialistic culture, and it does not

provide all that is needed for the completed life. Even though the

scientific {471} experiments and discoveries are fundamentally more

essential, the common man cannot get along without social order,

politics, or religion.

Perhaps we can get the largest expression of the value of science to

man through a consideration of the inventions and discoveries which he

may use in every-day life.[6] Prior to the nineteenth century we have

to record the following important inventions: alphabetic writing,

Arabic numbers, mariner's compass, printing, the telescope, the

barometer and thermometer, and the steam-engine. In the nineteenth

century we have to record: railroads, steam navigation, the telegraph,

the telephone, friction matches, gas lighting, electrical lighting,

photography, the phonograph, electrical transmission of power, Roentgen

rays, spectrum analysis, anaesthetics, antiseptic surgery, the

airplane, gasoline-engine, transmission of news by radio, and

transportation by automobile. Also we shall find in the nineteenth

century thirteen important theoretical discoveries as compared with

seven in all previous centuries.

It is interesting to note what may have taken place also in the last

generation. A man who was born in the middle of the last century might

reflect on a good many things that have taken place. Scientifically he

has lived to see the development of electricity from a mere academic

pursuit to a tremendous force of civilization. Chemistry, although

supposed to have been a completed science, was scarcely begun. Herbert

Spencer's _Synthetic Philosophy_ and Darwin's _Origin of the Species_

had not yet been published. Huxley and Tyndall, the great experimental

scientists, had not published their great works. Transportation with a

few slow steam-propelled vessels crossing the ocean preceded the era of

the great floating palaces. The era of railroad-building had only just

started in America. Horseless carriages propelled by gas or

electricity were in a state of conjecture. Politically in America the

Civil War had not been fought or the Constitution really completed.

The great wealth and stupendous business organization of {472} to-day

were unknown in 1850. In Europe there was no German Empire, only a

German Federation. The Hapsburgs were still holding forth in Austria

and the Hohenzollerns in Prussia and the Romanoffs in Russia. The

monarchial power of the old regime was the rule of the day. These are

institutions of the past. Civilization in America, although it had

invaded the Mississippi valley, had not spread over the great Western

plains nor to the Pacific coast. Tremendous changes in art and

industries, in inventions and discoveries have been going on in this

generation. The flying-machine, the radio, the automobile, the

dirigible balloon, and, more than all, the tremendous business

organization of the factories and industries of the age have given us

altogether a complete revolution.

_Research Foundations_.--All modern universities carry on through

instructors and advanced students many departments of scientific

research. The lines of research extend through a wide range of

subjects--Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Anatomy, Physiology, Medicine,

Geology, Agriculture, History, Sociology, and other departments of

learning. These investigations have led to the discovery of new

knowledge and the extension of learning to mankind. Outside of

colleges and universities there have been established many foundations

of research and many industrial laboratories.

Prominent among those in the United States are The Carnegie Corporation

and The Rockefeller Foundation, which are devoting hundreds of millions

of dollars to the service of research, for the purpose of advancing

science and directly benefiting humankind. The results play an

important part in the protection and daily welfare of mankind. The

Mellon Institute contributes much to the solution of problems of

applied chemistry.[7] It is interesting to note how the investigation

carried on by these and other foundations is contributing directly to

human welfare by mastering disease. The elimination of the hookworm

disease, the fight to control malaria, the {473} mastery of yellow

fever, the promotion of public health, and the study of medicine, the

courageous attack on tuberculosis, and the suppression of typhoid

fever, all are for the benefit of the public. The war on disease and

the promotion of public health by preventive measures have lowered the

death-rate and lengthened the period of life.

_The Trend of Scientific Investigations_.--While research is carried on

in many lines, with many different objectives, it may be stated that

intense study is devoted to the nature of matter and the direct

connection of it with elemental forces. The theories of the molecule

and the atom are still working hypotheses, but the investigator has

gone further and disintegrated the atom, showing it to be a complex of

corpuscles or particles. Scientists talk of electrons and protons as

the two elemental forces and of the mechanics of the atom. In

chemistry, investigation follows the problems of applied chemistry,

while organic chemistry or biochemistry opens continually new fields of

research. It appears that biology and chemistry are becoming more

closely allied as researches continue and likewise physics and

chemistry. In the field of surgery the X-ray is in daily use, and

radium and radioactivity may yet be great aids to medicine. In medical

investigation much is dependent upon the discoveries in neurology.

This also will throw light upon the studies in psychology, for the

relation of nerve functions to mind functions may be more clearly

defined.

Explorations of the earth and of the heavens continually add new

knowledge of the extent and creation of the universe. The study of

anthropology and archaeology throw new light upon the origin and early

history of man. Experimental study of animals, food, soils, and crops

adds increased means of sustenance for the race. Recent investigations

of scientific education, along with psychology, are throwing much light

on mental conditions and progress. And more recently serious inquiry

into social life through the study of the social sciences is revealing

the great problems of life. All of knowledge, all of science, and all

of human invention which add to material {474} comforts will be of no

avail unless men can learn to live together harmoniously and justly.

But the truths discovered in each department of investigation are all

closely related. Truly there is but one science with many divisions,

one universe with many parts, and though man is a small particle of the

great cosmos, it is his life and welfare that are at the centres of all

achievements.

SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. In what ways has science contributed to the growth of democracy?

2. How has the study of science changed the attitude of the mind

toward life?

3. How is every-day life of the ordinary man affected by science?

4. Is science antagonistic to true Christianity?

5. What is the good influence of science on religious belief and

practice?

6. What are the great discoveries of the last twenty-five years in

Astronomy? Chemistry? Physics? Biology? Medicine? Electricity?

7. What recent inventions are dependent upon science?

8. Relation between investigation in the laboratory and the modern

automobile.

9. How does scientific knowledge tend to banish fear?

10. Give a brief history of the development of the automobile. The

flying-machine.

11. Would a law forbidding the teaching of science in schools advance

the cause of Christianity?

[1] Taylor, _The Mediaeval Mind_, vol. II, p. 508.

[2] Libby, _History of Science_, p. 63.

[3] Copernicus's view was not published until thirty-six years after

its discovery. A copy of his book was brought to him at his death-bed,

but he refused to look at it.

[4] Libby, p. 91.

[5] Libby, _History of Science_, p. 280.

[6] Libby, _Introduction to the History of Science_.

[7] The newly created department at Johns Hopkins University for the

study of international relations may assist in the abolition of war.

{475}

CHAPTER XXX

UNIVERSAL EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY

_Universal Public Education Is a Modern Institution_.--The Greeks

valued education and encouraged it, but only those could avail

themselves of its privileges who were able to pay for it. The training

by the mother in the home was followed by a private tutor. This system

conformed to the idea of leadership and was valuable in the

establishment of an educated class. However, at the festivals and the

theatres there were opportunities for the masses to learn much of

oratory, music, and civic virtues. The education of Athens conformed

to the class basis of society. Sparta as an exception trained all

citizens for the service of state, making them subordinate to its

welfare. The state took charge of children at the age of seven, put

them in barracks, and subjected them to the most severe discipline.

But there was no free education, no free development of the ordinary

mind. It was in the nature of civic slavery for the preservation of

the state in conflict with other states.

During the Middle Ages Charlemagne established the only public schools

for civic training, the first being established at Paris, although he

planned to extend them throughout the empire. The collapse of his

great empire made the schools merely a tradition. But they were a

faint sign of the needs of a strong empire and an enlightened

community. The educational institutions of the Middle Ages were

monasteries, and cathedral schools for the purpose of training men for

the service of the church and for the propagating of religious

doctrine. They were all institutional in nature and far from the idea

of public instruction for the enlightenment of the people.

_The Mediaeval University Permitted Some Freedom of Choice_.--There was

exhibited in some of them especially a desire to discover the truth

through traditional knowledge. They were {476} composed of groups of

students and masters who met for free discussion, which led to the

verification of established traditions. But this was a step forward,

and scholars arose who departed from dogma into new fields of learning.

While the universities of the Middle Ages were a step in advance, full

freedom of the mind had not yet manifested itself, nor had the idea of

universal education appeared. Opportunity came to a comparatively

small number; moreover, nearly all scientific and educational

improvement came from impulses outside of the centres of tradition.

_The English and German Universities_.--The English universities,

particularly Oxford and Cambridge, gave a broader culture in

mathematics, philosophy, and literature, which was conducive to

liberality in thought, but even they represented the education of a

selected class. The German universities, especially in the nineteenth

century, emphasized the practical or applied side of education. By

establishing laboratories, they were prepared to apply all truths

discovered, and by experimentation carry forward learning, especially

in the chemical and other physical sciences. The spirit of research

was strongly invoked for new scientific discoveries. While England was

developing a few noted secondary schools, like Harrow and Eton, Germany

was providing universal real _schule_, and _gymnasia_, as preparatory

for university study and for the general education of the masses. As a

final outcome the Prussian system was developed, which had great

influence on education in the United States in the latter part of the

nineteenth century.

_Early Education in the United States_.--The first colleges and

universities in the United States were patterned after the English

universities and the academies and high schools of England. These

schools were of a selected class to prepare for the ministry, law,

statesmanship, and letters. The growth of the American university was

rapid, because it continually broadened its curriculum. From the study

of philosophy, classical languages, mathematics, literature, it

successively {477} embraced modern languages, physical sciences,

natural science, history, and economics, psychology, law, medicine,

engineering, and commerce.

In the present-day universities there is a wide differentiation of

subjects. The subjects have been multiplied to meet the demand of

scientific development and also to fit students for the ever-increasing

number of occupations which the modern complex society demands. The

result of all this expansion is democratic. The college class is no

longer an exclusive selection. The plane of educational selection

continually lowers until the college draws its students from all

classes and prepares them for all occupations. In the traditional

college certain classes were selected to prepare for positions of

learning. There was developed a small educated class. In the modern

way there is no distinctive educated class. University education has

become democratic.

_The Common, or Public, Schools_.--In the Colonial and early national

period of the United States, education was given by a method of tutors,

or by a select pay school taught by a regularly employed teacher under

private contract. Finally the sympathy for those who were not able to

pay caused the establishing of "common schools." This was the real

beginning of universal education, for the practice expanded and the

idea finally prevailed of providing schools by taxation "common" to

all, and free to all who wish to attend. Later, for civic purposes,

primary education has become compulsory in most states. Following the

development of the primary grades, a complete system of secondary

schools has been provided. Beyond these are the state schools of

higher education, universities, agricultural and mechanical schools,

normal schools and industrial schools, so that a highway of learning is

provided for the child, leading from the kindergarten through

successive stages to the university.

_Knowledge, Intelligence, and Training Necessary in a

Democracy_.--Washington, after experimenting with the new nation for

eight years, having had opportunity to observe the defects {478} and

virtues of the republic, said in his Farewell Address: "Promote, then,

as an object of primary importance institutions for the general

diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government

gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion

should be enlightened."[1] Again and again have the leaders of the

nation who have had at heart the present welfare and future destiny of

their country urged public education as a necessity.

And right well have the people responded to these sentiments. They

have poured out their hard-earned money in taxation to provide adequate

education for the youth of the land. James Bryce, after studying in

detail American institutions, declared that "the chief business of

America is education." This observation was made nearly forty years

ago. If it was true then, how much more evident is it now with

wonderful advance of higher education in colleges and universities, and

in the magnificent system of secondary education that has been built up

in the interval. The swarming of students in high school and college

is evidence that they appreciate the opportunities furnished by the

millions of wealth, largely in the form of taxes, given for the support

of schools.

_Education Has Been Universalized_.--Having made education universal,

educators are devoting their energies to fit the education to the needs

of the student and to assist the student in choosing the course of

instruction which will best fit him for his chosen life-work. The

victory has been won to give every boy and girl an educational chance.

To give him what he actually needs and see that he uses it for a

definite purpose is the present problem of the educator. This means a

careful inquiry into mental capacity and mental traits, into

temperament, taste, ambition, and choice of vocation. It means further

provision of the special education that will best prepare him for his

chosen work, and, indeed, it means sympathetic co-operation of the

teacher and student in determining the course to be pursued.

{479}

_Research an Educational Process_.--Increased knowledge comes from

observation or systematic investigation in the laboratory. Every child

has by nature the primary element of research, a curiosity to know

things. Too often this is suppressed by conventional education instead

of continued into systematic investigation. One of the great defects

of the public school is the failure to keep alive, on the part of the

student, the desire to know things. Undue emphasis on instruction, a

mere imparting of knowledge, causes the student to shift the

responsibility of his education upon the teacher, who, after all, can

do no more than help the student to select the line of study, and

direct him in methods of acquiring. Together teacher and student can

select the trail, and the teacher, because he has been over it, can

direct the student over its rough ways, saving him time and energy.

Perhaps the greatest weakness in popular government to-day is

indifference of citizens to civic affairs. This leads to a shifting of

responsibility of public affairs frequently to those least competent to

conduct them. Perhaps a training in individual responsibility in the

schools and more vital instruction in citizenship would prepare the

coming generation to make democracy efficient and safe to the world.

The results of research are of great practical benefit to the so-called

common man in the ordinary pursuits of life. The scientist in the

laboratory, spending days and nights in research, finally discovers a

new process which becomes a life-saver or a time-saver to general

mankind. Yet the people usually accept this as a matter of fact as

something that just happened. They forget the man in the laboratory

and exploit the results of his labor for their own personal gain.

How often the human mind is in error, and unobserving, not to see that

the discovery of truth and its adaptation to ordinary life is one of

the fundamental causes of the progress of the race. Man has advanced

in proportion as he has become possessed of the secrets of nature and

has adapted them to his service. The number of ways he touches nature

and forces {480} her to yield her treasures, adapting them to his use,

determines the possibility of progress.

The so-called "common man," the universal type of our democracy, is

worthy of our admiration. He has his life of toil and his round of

duties alternating with pleasure, bearing the burdens of life

cheerfully, with human touch with his fellows; amid sorrow and joy,

duty and pleasure, storm and sunshine, he lives a normal existence and

passes on the torch of life to others. But the man who shuts himself

in his laboratory, lives like a monk, losing for a time the human

touch, spends long days of toil and "nights devoid of ease" until he

discovers a truth or makes an invention that makes millions glad, is

entitled to our highest reverence. The ordinary man and the

investigator are complementary factors of progress and both essential

to democracy.

_The Diffusion of Knowledge Necessary to Democracy_.--Always in

progress is a deflecting tendency, separating the educated class from

the uneducated. This is not on account of the aristocracy of learning,

but because of group activity, the educated man following a pursuit

different from the man of practical affairs. Hence the effort to

broadcast knowledge through lectures, university extension, and the

radio is essential to the progress of the whole community. One phase

of enlightenment is much neglected, that of making clear that the

object of the scholar and the object of the man of practical affairs

should be the same--that of establishing higher ideals of life and

providing means for approximating these ideals. It frequently occurs

that the individual who has centred his life on the accumulation of

wealth ignores the educator and has a contempt for the impractical

scholar, as he terms him. Not infrequently state legislatures, when

considering appropriations for education, have shown more interest in

hogs and cattle than in the welfare of children.