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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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Brewster. - </title> - <style type="text/css"> - - p { margin-top: .75em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .75em; - } - - p.bold {text-align: center; font-weight: bold;} - p.bold2 {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; font-size: 150%;} - - h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; - } - h1 span, h2 span { display: block; text-align: center; } - #id1 { font-size: smaller } - - - hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; - } - - hr.smler { - width: 15%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 42.5%; - margin-right: 42.5%; - clear: both; - } - - body{margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - } - - table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; border-collapse: collapse; border: none; text-align: right;} - - .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - text-indent: 0px; - } /* page numbers */ - - .center {text-align: center;} - .smaller {font-size: smaller;} - .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - .mynote { background-color: #DDE; color: black; padding: .5em; margin-left: 20%; - margin-right: 20%; } /* colored box for notes at beginning of file */ - .box {max-width: 35em; margin: 1.5em auto;} - .space-above {margin-top: 3em;} - .right {text-align: right;} - .left {text-align: left;} - - .poem {display: inline-block; text-align: left;} - .poem br {display: none;} - .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} - .poem div {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem div.i1 {margin-left: 1em;} - .poem div.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of What's What in America, by Eugene V. Brewster - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: What's What in America - -Author: Eugene V. Brewster - -Release Date: March 16, 2017 [EBook #54370] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT'S WHAT IN AMERICA *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Martin Pettit and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class = "mynote"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:<br /><br /> -Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.<br /></p></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><a name="cover.jpg" id="cover.jpg"></a><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/titlepage.jpg" alt="title page" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<h1>What's What<br /><br /><i>in</i><br /><br />America</h1> - -<p class="bold space-above">BY</p> - -<p class="bold2">Eugene V. Brewster</p> - -<p class="bold">EDITOR OF</p> - -<p class="bold"><i>Motion Picture Magazine, Motion Picture<br />Classic and Shadowland</i></p> - -<p class="bold space-above">The Wm. G. Hewitt Press<br />61-67 Navy Street<br />Brooklyn, N. Y.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p class="center">COPYRIGHT, 1919<br /> -BY<br />EUGENE V. BREWSTER</p> - -<p class="center space-above">THE WILLIAM G. HEWITT PRESS, 61-67 NAVY STREET, BROOKLYN, N. Y.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Preface</i></h2> - -<p>America is a heterogeneous conglomeration of humans comprising a -homogeneity. They are all alike, yet they are unalike. All corners of -the earth have contributed in the making, yet the one hundred millions -have all been blended together into the huge melting pot and we call -them Americans. They were attracted to "the land of the free" and remain -here because no other country offers such prizes and such liberty. All -are engaged in a wild scramble for fame and fortune, yet they are sadly -disorganized. While they have their labor unions, churches, colleges, -societies, and cults galore, and while they have their governments -(city, county, state and national), and while the more successful ones -(capitalists) have their organizations (trusts, monopolies and banking -institutions), there is no organization of the whole. Nobody seems to -take into account the tremendously important fact that all men and all -industries are now interdependent, and that therefore they must all be -organized into one organization.</p> - -<p>One of the most marvellous things in America is the fact that we are so -unorganized that at any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>moment the whole nation may be tied up and -bound hand and foot by strikes. Any morning we may wake up and find the -nation paralized. Labor is becoming so organized that all industries are -at its mercy. The cost of living continues to rise, and we are powerless -to prevent profiteers from monopolizing our products and making prices -to suit themselves. We have no way to make people work if they don't -want to, even if we starve. Under our present laws we cannot prevent -strikes and walk-outs, even if we perish. There is nothing to prevent a -few men from cornering the market on all commodities and paralizing the -nation's industries.</p> - -<p>And yet there is a remedy, and a simple one.</p> - -<p>Free thought reigns supreme in America, and the national mind and -character have been moulded in a remarkably liberal manner.</p> - -<p>A nation that embraces a multitude of believers in such theories as -phrenology, Christian Science, osteopathy, astrology, spiritism, etc., -and which adopts these and other fads as religions, must indeed be an -over-credulous if not a fanatical one. Some of these isms and ologies -have been dissected and analyzed in the following pages, and these -little essays have been inserted parenthetically, as it were. They tend -to prove that Barnum was right when he said, "The American public loves -to be humbugged."</p> - -<p>Here in America, not so many years ago, we were burning people at the -stake and punishing innocent persons for witchcraft. Still later some of -our best people were holding converse with departed spirits who were -otherwise busying themselves with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>upsetting tables, painting portraits, -etc. And it is so even now. Thousands of intelligent Americans are now -being guided in all their affairs by mediums, astrologists, palmists, -clairvoyants, etc. Some years ago I had occasion to make a more or less -thorough investigation of some of these isms and ologies, and in the -following chapters I have given some of the results.</p> - -<p>Our forefathers came here to escape religious persecutions at home, but -one of the first things they did on landing was to impose the penalty of -death on all those who should dissent from their own religious beliefs. -These and other similar Puritanic orders have done much to prevent the -growth and development of the arts in America. We have had liberty and -freedom to excess, in some respects, yet in other respects we have been -tied hand and foot. We are not yet a full-grown nation. America is still -in its infancy of development.</p> - -<p>It is also interesting to note how Americans follow a chosen leader like -so many sheep, and how and why certain leaders become popular. Hence, a -few chapters have been added which treat of men, habits, popularity, -greatness, the public, etc.</p> - -<p>The author makes no apology for the fact that these little articles were -not written with the intention of inserting them in this volume. It is -obvious that they were not. Nevertheless, they are given here for what -they are worth, because they may be helpful in showing What's What in America.</p> - -<p class="right"><span class="smcap">The Author.</span></p> - -<p>December 15, 1919.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<table summary="CONTENTS"> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Credulity</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Christian Science</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Osteopathy</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Phrenology</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Physiognomy</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Dreams</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Superstitions</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Stage Tricks and Occultism</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Ghosts</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Strikes, Profiteering and the High Cost of Living</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Public</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Popularity</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Greatness</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Martyrdom of Genius</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Gentlemen, Be Seated</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Beards</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Gambling</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_211">211</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Wedding Bells</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">What's What In America</p> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<h2><i>Credulity</i></h2> - -<p>The physical origin of mental delusion has many times been investigated -and explained by various philosophers, but the different forms of -credulity and superstition have never yet been satisfactorily treated -with reference to the physiological and pathological principles upon -which they depend.</p> - -<p>From the beginning, man was and is, by nature, endowed with an eager -propensity for novelty. This is particularly true of Americans. His -passion for the novel, the singular and the unusual, has influenced his -mind to attempt to discover the character of objects concealed in the -remote recesses of infinite space, and to investigate the various -invisible agencies that he has always found, and still finds, in -perpetual operation around him. Curiosity has always been one of the -great impelling forces of the scientific <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>investigator. As Winwood Reade -says in his masterly "Martyrdom of Man," "The Philosophic spirit of -inquiry may be traced to brute curiosity, and that to the habit of -examining all things in search of food."</p> - -<p>Man is by nature a credulous, and at the same time a superstitious, -being, and ever prone to allow an undue influence to the imagination and -passions. This is due to the original structure and specific elements of -the mind. It is a natural trait of the mind to contemplate with interest -whatever is presented to it as deviating from ordinary natural events, -whatever is novel or strange, and whatever affects the senses, through -an obscure medium so as to arouse the passions. Thus, when primeval man -first felt, saw or heard such natural phenomena as volcanic eruptions, -earthquakes, the aurora borealis, thunder, lightning, meteors, and -eclipses, it was quite natural for him to people the hidden recesses of -the earth and of space with demons, and to imagine that these strange -noises and sights were manifestations of some powerful enemy. In his -blind ignorance, he could ascribe no natural causes to the phenomena, -and he therefore attributed them to supernatural agencies. His feeling -of dependence, and of insecurity, in the face of these mighty unknown -forces, inclined him to seek a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> protector, and for this purpose he -created one or more gods. Idols of various kinds answered the purpose, -until his dawning intelligence taught him the futility of this sort of -worship, and then he worshipped the sun and other heavenly bodies. Then -a glimpse of astronomy further enlightened him, and, realizing the -absurdity of planet worship, he invented other gods of an invisible -nature to which he attributed the creation of all phenomena. The -propensity for the novel and marvelous always obscured his reason and -judgment. To the ignorant mind, everything marvelous is super-natural; -but the philosopher sees in all marvelous phenomena nothing but the -results of natural causes, even if those causes are not yet fully -understood. Science cannot yet fathom all of nature's mysteries, but -nearly every day brings forth new light.</p> - -<p>In ancient times, the enlightened few took advantage of the ignorance of -the multitude, and, by stupefying their reason with a mixture of science -and magic, made them more submissive and obedient as slaves or subjects. -Science was used to inculcate gross superstitions in the minds of the -ignorant masses, for the purpose of enhancing the interests of the -deceivers. By means of concave and convex mirrors, of lenses, of -chemical and optical illusions, and even of ventriloquism,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> the pagans -fooled their devotees into all sorts of absurd beliefs. Demons and -angels were made to appear in frightfully distorted and hideous shapes, -the dead were evoked from their graves to hold converse with the living, -and every advantage was taken of natural phenomena such as the eclipse -and the mirage. Even drugs, like opium, were given and taken to throw -the operators into semi-conscious ravings and trances; and in -innumerable other ways the excited imaginations and the irresistible -propensity to believe in the miraculous, was taken advantage of by the -wise charlatans, seers, priests and soothsayers.</p> - -<p>There are good reasons for believing that the dramatic exhibitions of -the Witch of Endor, by which Saul was made to believe in the -re-appearance of the deceased prophet, Samuel, to announce his -approaching fate at Gilboa, was but an imposition practiced upon the -senses of that superstitious monarch; and many of the ancient miracles, -which appear to be so corroborated, can be satisfactorily explained in a -similar manner. Ancient magic and natural science were synonymous, and -magic was made to become an assistant to government. Doubtless the -crimes committed by these unscrupulous charlatans, masquerading as -philosophers, suppressed for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> many centuries the smouldering light of -reason in the human race, and caused the world to be susceptible to the -terrific doctrine of witchcraft that held sway until the seventeenth -century, and which afflicted nearly every nation on the globe.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Christian Science</i></h2> - -<p>In order thoroughly to understand Christian Science, it is necessary to -understand Mary Baker Eddy. Hence, I have found it necessary, -reluctantly, to give a brief account of some of the important events of -her life. Should these events show her to be a mercenary, selfish woman, -it would tend to explain a great deal that she and her followers have -failed to explain.</p> - -<p>Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, was born the year -that Napoleon died, 1821. In her younger days, she lived in an -atmosphere of mysticism. Mesmerism was everywhere in evidence, and much -had been said about "Animal Magnetism," "Power of Mind over Matter," -"the Shakers," "Faith Healing," etc., long before Mrs. Eddy had thought -or heard of these things. She married George W. Glover in 1842, who died -the following year, leaving Mrs. Eddy a widow at twenty-three. From that -time until about 1870, Mrs. Eddy lived a sad and sordid life of ill -health, poverty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> and unhappiness. In 1853, she had married Dr. Daniel -Patterson, a dentist, but this proved an unhappy union and they were -much separated, and finally divorced. During all this time she had -drifted from one place to another, wearing out her welcome at every -place she went, and usually leaving each place after having caused -family discord in the household. She was practically an invalid during -this period, which may account for her peevishness, ill-temper, domestic -selfishness, and want of consideration for those who had befriended her.</p> - -<p>In 1862, being then forty-one years old and a nervous wreck, and -attracted by the stories of wonderful cures by Dr. Phineas Parkhurst -Quimby, Mrs. Eddy visited that famous occultrist at Portland, Maine. Dr. -Quimby had learned much of his philosophy, and all of his mesmeric -tricks, from Charles Poyen, whom he had followed about from place to -place. About three years before Mrs. Eddy called on him, Quimby had -perfected his system of mental healing and had reduced it to writing, -having discarded the mesmeric part of it. Various disinterested persons -are still living who have given reliable testimony to these facts, as -also to the following: (1) When Mrs. Eddy first visited Quimby she was a -physical wreck; (2) After<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> three weeks' treatment from Quimby she was a -well woman; (3) She borrowed, and had in her possession for a long time, -a copy of Quimby's manuscripts; (4) She never gave Quimby credit for one -bit of her "Discovery"; and even went so far as to abuse him for the -rest of her life.</p> - -<p>Please remember the dates: Mrs. Eddy first called on Quimby in 1862. In -February, 1866, she slipped on an icy sidewalk and sustained a severe -nervous shock. On the same day she called on Dr. A. M. Cushing for -medical treatment. Dr. Cushing says she continued to take his medicines -until she was cured. Mrs. Eddy denies that she took any of the medicines -after the first visit, and says that she cured herself in a miraculous -way and rose as one from the dead, and that she depended solely on God. -Yet, she called on this same Dr. Cushing the following August to be -treated for a cough!</p> - -<p>During these days it is known that she spent much of her time writing, -and reading the <i>New York Ledger</i>, and, if we are to believe what she -wrote to a friend, she also read "<i>Irving's</i> Pickwick Papers." She -apparently did not like Dickens.</p> - -<p>In 1869 (please note the date) she taught Mrs. Wentworth the Quimby -theory for the sum of $300, to be taken out in board, and at that time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> -she made no pretense that it was her own theory. She even permitted Mrs. -Wentworth to copy from a manuscript which has been proven to be -identical with the original Quimby manuscript. Several witnesses testify -that she "talked Quimby till every one grew dead tired of hearing him," -and she often remarked: "I learned this from Dr. Quimby, and he made me -promise to teach it to at least two persons before I die." It is also -known that Mrs. Eddy "shrank instinctively, like any other nervous -woman, from the sick-bed of others, and had shown such a morbid fear of -death that Mrs. Wentworth often wondered what there could be in her past -to make death seem so dreadful."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Eddy did not practice healing. What she now wanted was to publish -and teach Quimbyism and to find some one to demonstrate the healing -theory. In 1870 she found just what she wanted in the person of Richard -Kennedy, with whom she went into partnership, and in six months they had -made $6,000. This was the sharp turning point of her life. She now -discarded Quimby forever, and her ambitions led her in time to discard -even Kennedy, her greatest benefactor. Everything was now Mrs. Eddy. She -next started a school or college where students paid her $100 each plus -a promise to pay<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> her a life annuity of ten per cent. of all their future -earnings. She also made them give a bond for $3,000 which was to be -forfeited if they allowed any one to see or to copy the manuscripts that -she lent them. The college so prospered that she raised the price to -$300 for twelve lessons, induced, she says, "by a strange providence."</p> - -<p>In 1877, at the age of fifty-six (although her age appears as forty in -the marriage license), she married Asa Gilbert Eddy, then forty years -old. He was "a man willing to be taught; he would even turn docility -into self-effacement." He died five years later. Even Mrs. Eddy could -not save him. Mrs. Eddy never had another husband, but "in Calvin A. -Frye, steward, bookkeeper, secretary, coachman, her 'man of all work,'" -as she herself called him, she has had the while one singularly devoted -to her and to her interests. To serve her he gave up all at the outset. -Family ties were relinquished. Friendships were allowed to languish. It -is said that never since the day he came, has he been beyond the reach -of her voice for a whole day! A few years ago Dr. E. J. Foster, whom she -adopted in 1882 as her son, was driven out of his home by Frye. Her own -son she seems to have forgotten entirely for long years at a time.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p><p>In 1875, Mrs. Eddy issued the first edition of "Science and Health with -Key to the Scriptures." Other editions came out in 1881, 1883, 1888, -1898, 1905, and 1906, and also other books and writings by the same -author, in all of which she claimed that her great discovery and -revelation came to her in 1866 (note the date). Meanwhile her college -was prospering and students flocked to it from all parts of the world, -each paying $300 for a three weeks' course, and in 1889 there were no -less than 300 on the waiting list. In 1894 she erected a building at a -cost of $221,000, which now stands as a frontispiece to the colossal -temple which was completed in 1906 at a cost of $2,000,000. The Mother -Church in Boston reported June 11, 1907, a membership of 43,876, and the -total membership of the 645 branch churches was 42,846.</p> - -<p>On December 18, 1890, Mrs. Eddy said that <i>Science and Health</i> was -"God's Book and He gave it at once to the people." Yet the book was -<i>sold</i> by Mrs. Eddy for over $3 a copy, while a copy of the Bible may be -bought for a few cents, and if anybody cannot buy it, he can get a copy -presented to him free by any preacher or Sunday School teacher. Mrs. -Eddy also says that it pays to be a Christian Scientist and that the -professionals have made "their comfortable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>fortunes." When Mrs. Eddy -died, her private fortune was considerably in excess of a million -dollars, yet she persistently tried to evade paying her share of taxes.</p> - -<p>This in brief is the life history of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy. Her's was a -stormy career, filled with troubles, quarrels, lawsuits, internal -dissentions, fears, revenge, ill health, sorrows, unhappy marriages, -rivalries, disloyalties, and selfishness. She had many thousands to -admire and to worship her, but few to love her. Those who knew her best -loved her least. That she was one of the most remarkable women who ever -lived, few will doubt. Her career is almost as spectacular as that of -Joan of Arc, who, like Mrs. Eddy, rose from a poor girl to be a -world-famous leader of men. Neither had anything like an education, and -both had a poor start in life, but, out of sheer force of personality -and persistency, both accomplished wonders. Their lives read like -fiction. While history is full of examples where men have risen from -nowhere, and claimed that they were inspired, or Divine, or Sons of God, -or prophets, there is no parallel to the career of Mrs. Eddy, who has -won both the scholar and the ignoramus. No, not <i>ignoramus</i>, for the -ignoramus is not the kind to fall a victim to Mrs. Eddy's doctrine. It -requires a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> person of brains to "grasp" it. While it is true that people -unschooled in philosophy, science and theology are quickest to accept -<i>Science and Health</i>, and that those who read earnestly and think -loosely can get just enough glimpse of an imagined something that they -cannot quite grasp, yet which they feel is there somewhere, still, it -must be said that the average Christian Scientist is generally a person -of unusual intelligence. Were it not so, the doctrine would never have -become so popular. Was it not Lord Bacon who said something like -this?—"While a little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism, -depth in philosophy inclineth men's minds to religion." And so with -Christian Science. Given a good mind, and a good understanding, and an -investigating disposition, feed it <i>Science and Health</i> and it will have -a tendency to accept it as truth, provided it is not allowed to hear the -other side, and provided it has not been previously trained to reason -correctly along scientific lines. There is just enough truth in it to -make it all sound plausible and there is just enough mysticism to make -the mind doubt its own acumen. Belief in Christian Science is a form of -intellectual hypnotism.</p> - -<p>The hypothesis of Mrs. Eddy's doctrine is stated as follows: "The only -realities are the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Divine Mind and its ideas. That erring mortal views, -misnamed <i>mind</i>, produce all the organic and animal action of the mortal -body * * * Rightly understood, instead of possessing sentient matter, we -have sensationless bodies * * * Whence came to me this conviction in -antagonism to the testimony of the human senses? From the self-evident -fact that matter has no sensation; from the common human experience of -the falsity of all material things; from the obvious fact that mortal -mind is what suffers, feels, sees; since matter cannot suffer."</p> - -<p>Here are a few of Mrs. Eddy's favorite, oft-repeated assertions: "God is -supreme; is mind; is principle, not person; includes all and is -reflected by all that is real and eternal; is Spirit, and Spirit is -infinite; is the only substance; is the only life. Man was and is the -idea of God; therefore mind can never be in man. Divine Science shows -that matter and mortal body are the illusions of human belief, which -seem to appear and disappear to mortal sense alone. When this belief -changes, as in dreams, the material body changes with it, going wherever -we wish, and becoming whatsoever belief may decree. Human mortality -proves that error has been engrafted into both the dreams and -conclusions of material and mortal humanity. Besiege sickness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> and death -with these principles, and all will disappear."</p> - -<p>This theory, that there is no reality except thought, is merely a -distinctive form of idealism that is as old as the hills, and Mrs. -Eddy's doctrine is the resultum of a confusion of isolated thoughts. -Read Plato, Hegel, Democritus, the Zend-Avesta, Spinoza, Kant, Bishop -Berkeley, Lotze, Hume, and various other works and you will find the -threads from which Mrs. Eddy's fabric is woven. But don't imagine that -the philosophers named ever believed any such things as Mrs. Eddy has -laid down in her books. Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalists -speak of the supremacy of mind over matter, and all modern physicians -recognize the power of the mind over the body; but none of these ever -maintained that the discovery of those facts was made by Divine -revelation by order of God, to be given to the people at a certain time, -at so much per lesson or book.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Eddy says that the one reality is God, whose name is Mind or -Spirit; that God is All-in-all; that all is infinite Mind and its -infinite manifestations; that matter is unknown in the Universe of Mind. -Now, if we take all this as mere speculation, all is well. But when we -are asked to make these ideas our Bible, our code of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> human conduct, our -bread and butter, our Divine law, that is where we should stop. What -matter if all of that is true or false? The world will go around just -the same. If Mrs. Eddy had stopped right there, she would not have -invited such a storm of criticism as she had to face. But she did not. -The critics began their deadly work soon after the first edition of her -book came out, and she met it courageously, proceeding to amend her -theories to suit the occasion. Constant and frequent changes were made -in <i>Science and Health</i> and in her teachings, which was all right except -that it disproves her contention that the whole plan came to her as a -revelation in 1866, and that it was "God's book and He gave it at once -to the people." It really makes but little difference to most of us -whether Mrs. Eddy is right in her theory that there is no such thing as -matter and that all is spirit, for we are all compelled to act every day -as if matter were matter, and, to all intents and purposes, it <i>is</i>. Of -course, we are glad to have the truth, but it would be idiotic for a -man, who had discovered that there is no such thing as sound, to try to -persuade the world that his discovery was so important that a new system -of religion must at once be founded on it to regulate the daily affairs -of the whole world. Some of the truths in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> Christian Science are -important, but it does not follow that we are to discard all our other -religions, beliefs, and modes of living; for Christian Science is only a -speculation, and it does not concern most of us. It rightly is no more a -religion than is the theory of evolution, which, by the way, Mrs. Eddy -did not seem to understand, for she said: "Theorizing about man's -development from mushrooms to monkeys and from monkeys to men, amounts -to nothing in the right direction, and very much in the wrong."</p> - -<p>Mrs. Eddy says that "God is not in the things He hath made"; and, in the -next breath she says that since things are matter, and that there is no -matter, then there can be no things. In her <i>final</i> revelation of 1866, -expressed in 1875, she says that "God is Principle, not <i>person</i>"; yet -later, in a later <i>final</i> revelation she says that "Life, Truth, and -Love constitute the <i>triune</i> person called God." Again, she says, "Jesus -is the human man and Christ is the divine, hence the duality of Jesus, -the Christ." And, in 1894, and at other times, she has stated quite -plainly that she and Christ were one and the same.</p> - -<p>Be all this as it may, Christian Science rests mainly on the hypothesis -that sin, sickness, disease and death are not real—that they exist only -in thought; that Christian Science can remedy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> these <i>seeming</i> evils. -Had it not been for the curing and healing part of the doctrine, -Christian Science would never have become the fad that it has. All the -rest of the doctrine would have been looked on merely as an interesting -speculation, had not Mrs. Eddy injected the claim that Christian Science -cured everything—that it cured even sin as well as suffering. Here, -then, was something to interest everybody, and she made the invitation -all the more desirable when she added that doctors were "flooding the -world with diseases," that the fewer the doctors, the less disease the -world would suffer from, and that "as long as you read medical books you -will be sick." We all know of thousands of cases where doctors have been -of great assistance to humanity, and we know, too, of many serious -medical mistakes. We all know that medicine has been much overworked, -yet we must all admit that doctors and medicine have made this world -vastly better and more healthful. But what has Christian Science done? -Mrs. Eddy failed to give to the world the complete, authenticated record -of one single case of disease that she cured. True, she <i>said</i> that she -had cured certain diseases, but we are left in the dark as to whether -they were diseases or what they were. She refused to have medical tests -made. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> even announced that she had no time to give personal -treatments and consultations. At that time she was busy teaching, at -$300 a pupil. Besides, according to her theory, there was no such thing -as a body, or disease, or pain. She doubts even that Jesus suffered pain -on the cross, although the Bible says that He cried out in pain. Either -Jesus did suffer pain, or He falsely made those around Him <i>think</i> that -He did, and we know that He was incapable of deception. Yet, Jesus -Christ and Mrs. Eddy are one and the same.</p> - -<p>Christian Science seeks to eliminate pain, whereas most physicians -recognize pain as a blessing. It is a danger signal. It warns us of -decay, of disease, and of disorders. Were it not for pain, we would -allow our teeth to decay, our eyesight to be impaired, and various other -organs to degenerate. When we live wrongly, or eat too much, or overtax -our powers, Nature warns us to halt, but Christian Science says there is -no such thing as suffering, discomfort and pain, except in our -imagination.</p> - -<p>And thus we could go on for hours pointing out the inconsistencies of -Mrs. Eddy's theories, but a short article like this will not permit. -Take for example her statement that "Science can heal the sick who are -absent from the healers, as well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> as those present, since space is no -obstacle to mind"; and the assertion that "Christian Science divests -material drugs of their imaginary power * * * When the sick recover by -the use of drugs, it is the law of a general belief, culminating in -individual faith that heals, and according to this faith will the effect -be"; and "The not uncommon notion that drugs possess absolute, inherent -curative virtues of their own involves an error. Arnica, quinine, opium, -could not produce the effects ascribed to them except by imputed virtue. -Men <i>think</i> they will act thus on the physical system, consequently they -<i>do</i>." Does anybody doubt that if the writer of those words walked into -a drugstore blindfolded and, unseen by anybody, drank opium, not knowing -what it was, she would not immediately feel the effects of that drug? -And that if she took any other drug, the effects would not be about the -same as they are known to be in practically all cases? Yet who would -say, under those circumstances, that Mind has endowed those drugs with -the powers to act on the system as they do? If Mind can so act, medicine -is just what we want, for Mind can be made to make drugs do even greater -things than they have yet done, perhaps to raise the dead.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p><p>But why go to greater length to point out the fallacies of this fad -that is nothing more than a superstition founded on a truth. <i>Science -and Health</i> is simply words, words, words. It is a tangled mass of -assembled philosophy from various sources that has but little practical -value. That mind, suggestions and imagination have great influence over -the body nobody will deny, but nobody but Mrs. Eddy ever attempted to -form a religion out of that old fact. <i>Science and Health</i> is founded on -the Bible, and pretends to be a key to it. It is a "key," but it is one -that breaks and distorts rather than opens. It is an interpretation, and -it treats the Book as if it were a puzzle that God left unsolved until -He inspired Mrs. Eddy to reveal its secrets, after having kept it from -the world for nearly 2,000 years. From the standpoint of a promoter, -Mrs. Eddy was wise in calling her doctrine <i>Christian Science</i> and in -founding it on the Bible. That many have been helped by Christian -Science nobody will deny, but the same can be said of a hundred other -theories and beliefs, some of which are admittedly absurd. Some people -can be cured with sugar pills and some by an Indian medicineman. -Christian Science contains much that is true and good, and much that is -false and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> bad, and perhaps the harm that it has done may not outweigh -the good. Nobody knows. Those who get pleasure and satisfaction and -peace out of it should not be disturbed, but they should be warned not -to let it run away with them.</p> - -<p>The Epicureans handed down to us some questions which have never been -quite satisfactorily answered, except by the Christian Scientists—who -are quite satisfied with their answer. If God is able to prevent evil, -and is not willing, where is His benevolence? If God is willing, but not -able, where is His power? If God is both able and willing, whence then -is evil? The Scientists say there is no evil, and that settles the whole -question. The blind man sees nothing. The Occulist teaches us to see: -the Scientist teaches us not to see. Excellent thought! When the thief -comes, we close our eyes, and lo! we do not see him, for he is not -there—and when we open our eyes, nothing else is there.</p> - -<p>Consider for a moment the folly of holding that sickness, pain and -disease are products of the mind, and that they have no real existence. -To say this is to declare that there are no germs and microbes; and to -declare that mind causes disease and death is to upset the whole -accepted theory of creation and of evolution. Are not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> animals affected -by disease as well as man? If so, who would say that their meager minds -could cause it? and if it be said that human minds caused it, how about -the millions of animals who suffered pain, disease and death thousands -of years before man ever appeared upon earth? Does the Scientist know -that there are hundreds of different kinds of microbes, fighting and -combatting one another, that the big fish are eating the little ones, -that if there were no microbes there could be no putrefaction and that -if there were no putrefaction there could be no breaking down of the -dead bodies of animals and plants, and that the earth would be -encumbered with the dead bodies of these animals and plants of past -generations, and that very soon all the organic elements—all the carbon -and nitrogen, if not all the hydrogen and oxygen—on the face of the -earth would be fixed in these corpses and that all life would perish for -want of sustenance? In short, germs and death are just as important, and -just as inevitable, as joy and life.</p> - -<p>The Christian Scientists, New Thoughtists and other dreamy faddists, who -would eliminate all death, sorrow, pain and suffering, by bringing -heaven to earth all in a day, are respectfully introduced to a paragraph -from John Ploughman: "There is a sound reason why there are bones in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> -our meat and stones in our land. A world where everything was easy would -be a nursery for babies, but not at all a fit place for men. Celery is -not sweet till it has felt a frost, and men don't come to their -perfection till disappointment has dropped a half-hundred weight or two -on their toes. Who would know good horses if there were no heavy loads?"</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Osteopathy</i></h2> - -<p>If we are to believe history every century produces one or more -wonderful healers, or persons with the "Healing Touch." It is said that -these mysterious persons have made the blind to see, the lame to walk, -the deaf to hear, and even the dead to rise, by means of laying on of -hands. Just how much of these records are facts or fiction no man may -say, but we may reasonably assume that a fair amount of facts are mixed -up with the fiction, even if we may not believe half of what we hear and -read.</p> - -<p>Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, of Kirksville, Mo., is the founder of -Osteopathy, and in that place he has founded what he is pleased to call -a college, which is highly successful. After reading his history, he -will perhaps remind you somewhat of Mary Baker Eddy, Elbert Hubbard, -Tolstoy, and Jesus of Nazareth, although it cannot be said that he bears -much physical or mental resemblance to any of these. He dresses like a -farmer or backwoodsman, and is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>Simplicity personified. His followers -worship him very much as do those of Mrs. Eddy, and there is a vein of -mystery, not to say of superstitious faith, connected with both their -doctrines that seems to bind their followers together. While Dr. Still -claims no divine inspiration, as did Mrs. Eddy, still he and his -disciples are inclined to the mysterious and supernatural. For example, -in one of the Osteopath books I find this, by his son Dr. Charles E. -Still, D.O.: "When a boy, I was out with my father and an old physician -one day, when he stopped at a house where there was a boy almost totally -blind. My father stepped up to him and took hold of his neck; in a few -minutes he bade him look at the sun, and behold, the blindness had -disappeared." This reads very much like a Bible miracle. "Again, we met -an old colored man who was badly crippled. My father asked him his -trouble and had him stand up against a drygoods box. My father set down -a flour sack of bones we were carrying; he then took hold of his leg and -after apparently winding it around a few times, he told the man to walk, -which he did without as much as a limp, much to the amazement of the -bystanders. Time and again equally as wonderful cures were made by him -in my presence." Dr. Still, Jr., then goes on to say that in an -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>epidemic of diphtheria he treated about sixty-five cases and lost but -one; that he was called on to treat practically all the ailments that -flesh is heir to; that he treated epileptics by the score and -successfully in most cases; that he set a neck that was broken, and set -a case of dislocated astragalus and cured it in one day after a -physician had assigned the patient to straps in bed for six weeks, thus -saving five weeks and five days of the patient's time, patience and -money. Other miraculous cures are reported by the Messrs. Still and by -other learned Osteopaths, and there are many people around who are -willing to give reliable testimony to the effect that they have been -cured of serious ailments by Osteopaths when doctors have failed.</p> - -<p>Osteopathy is really the old Swedish movement cure under a new name, but -considerably enlarged and improved.</p> - -<p>Some people imagine that Osteopathy is a sort of massage, but, according -to Dr. Still, Sr., this is a mistake, for he says: "Osteopathy -absolutely differs from massage. The definition of 'massage' is masso, -to knead; shampooing of the body by special manipulation, such as -kneading, tapping, stroking, etc. The masseur rubs and kneads the -muscles to increase the circulation. The Osteopath never rubs. He takes -off any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> pressure on blood vessels or nerves by the adjustment of any -displacement of bone, cartilage, ligament, tendon or muscle." Thus, an -Osteopath might be called a bone manipulator, and that is what the words -implies, "osteon" meaning <i>bone</i>. As a matter of fact, Dr. Still and all -Osteopaths to the contrary notwithstanding, Osteopathy is not -"absolutely different from massage." Dr. Still says that Osteopaths -adjust displaced muscles, does he not? And how do they do it? By -manipulating the muscles. That is just what the masseur does. It is true -that the masseur rubs, with a view to increasing the circulation, but it -is also true that the Osteopath kneads, or presses, for the same -purpose. A good masseur handles the muscles very much as do the -Osteopaths. Circulation is the object in both cases: If you want to hurt -an Osteopath's feelings, just tell him that he is a fine masseur. For, -has he not spent three years at an Osteopathic College to learn his art, -whereas the masseur may have learned his the previous week from some -Turkish bath operator? Please remember that the Osteopath is a -physician, and that he knows as much about anatomy and therapeutics as -do other physicians. Please also remember that the Osteopath has had a -thorough course in physiology, biology, embryology, histology,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> -pathology, symptomatology, physical and laboratory diagnosis, -obstetrics, gynecology, dietetics, hygiene, bacteriology, toxicology, -urinalysis, surgery, pediatrics, dermatology, phchistry, and medical -jurisprudence. The only physicianly subject with which he is not -familiar is materia medica, and that is something that he thinks is -unnecessary.</p> - -<p>The Osteopath does not believe in drugs. On that point he will have many -sympathizers, notably the Christian Scientists. In fact, many of our -best physicians have abandoned that old fashioned faith in drugs which -made people think that they could abuse Nature all they liked, and do as -they pleased, and that a few drops of medicine would cure them of the -ill-effects of their indiscretion. Dr. Osler, who was appointed Regius -Professor of Medicine at Oxford University a few years ago, gives a long -list of diseases, in his book "Textbook on the Theory and Practice of -Medicine," which cannot be cured by drugs, and he frequently states that -drugs are notoriously uncertain in their effects in many cases. Any -physician who is honest and wise will tell you that drugs are not being -used so much nowadays as formerly, and that medicine is still more or -less of an experiment in many cases, and often a dangerous and fatal -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>experiment. But, in spite of all this, it is certainly unwise to -denounce <i>all</i> drugs simply because we do not know the certain effects -of <i>some</i> drugs. Drugs have been in use since the beginning of history, -and we are still experimenting with them. While we do not yet know what -they will do and not do, we know that they will do <i>something</i>. In other -words, drugs have an effect on the body—that we know. We know that -certain drugs will put us to sleep, or cause us to vomit, or give us a -headache, or take away a headache, or benumb a pain, etc. Everybody -knows the effects of castor oil, pepsin, strychnine, salts, sugar of -lead, laudanum, paragoric, camphor, iodine, linament, calomel, and -certain other drugs in certain cases. Now, some of these drugs are -extremely useful and it would be a calamity if the human family were to -be deprived of their use. While, as we all know, many people are -extremely superstitious about medicines and are taking them all the time -to cure imaginary ills, and while it is true that many sick persons are -either killed or made worse every year by medicines administered by -physicians, still the sum-total of good that comes from the proper use -of drugs, and the immense possibilities of the future seem to reason -that we must not entirely discontinue the use of drugs. Nature is the -best<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> doctor, and all that the physicians can do is to assist nature. -Osteopathy may assist nature, and so may massage, and so may water, and -exercise, and diet and drugs. Different cases require different -remedies. Drugs are a part of nature. Nature made all herbs, vegetables -and minerals. Some of our best medicines, even minerals, are found in -the food that we eat and in the water that we drink. Perhaps nature put -them there for a purpose. Perhaps she put in too much, perhaps she did -not put in enough. We are all different, no two alike. Our bodies are -made up of various chemicals, and many of our ailments are due to a -scanty supply of these chemicals. Hence, if we cannot get a sufficiency -of these chemicals from the foods, we may often require them from the -drug store. For example, phosphorus is necessary to the nerves and -brain. While it is found in various foods, it may be, as is often the -case, that we have to take phosphorus in some other form in order to -preserve our health or to restore our body to its normal state.</p> - -<p>But the Osteopath does not reason this way. Dr. Still says: "God has -placed the remedy for every disease within the material house in which -the spirit of life dwells. I believe that the Maker of man has deposited -in some part or throughout the whole system of the human body<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> drugs in -abundance to cure all infirmities; that all the remedies necessary to -health are compounded within the human body. They can be administered by -adjusting the body in such a manner that the remedies may naturally -associate themselves together. And I have never failed to find all these -remedies. Man should study and use only the drugs that are found in his -own drugstore—that is, in his own body." If this means anything, it -means that drugs are necessary, and that manipulating the bones of the -body results in a proper distribution of these drugs. The statement that -he has never failed to find these remedies, if it means anything, means -that Dr. Still has cured every case that has come to him, but he has -never said so in plain words; in fact, he admits elsewhere that he has -not been successful with all cases. And if he was not successful in -certain cases, the failure was due to not being able to adjust matters -so as properly to associate the drugs of the body with their remedies! -Farther on Dr. Still says that the still greater question to be solved -is, "How and when to apply the <i>touch</i> which sets free the chemicals of -life as Nature designs." Does Dr. Still here mean that Osteopaths have a -certain magic touch which is so powerful and wonderful that it must be -used with great caution?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> That this touch lets loose certain drugs or -chemicals which the body needs to cure itself? It is possible that the -Doctor is speaking in figures and that he does not mean what his words -imply. It must be so. Otherwise, we must put him down as a charlatan. If -he speaks figuratively, he is indiscreet, because he plainly leads -people to think that the spinal column secrets certain drugs or -chemicals which are necessary to health and that these can be made to -flow to the necessary parts by means of certain manipulations.</p> - -<p>Dr. Still would have us believe that Osteopathy is something of a -cure-all, and that its adoption makes the use of drugs unnecessary, but -all Osteopaths do not make this claim. Dr. George V. Webster, D.O., -says: "Osteopathy is not a cure-all. There are disorders that are -incurable." This is encouraging, because we now know that if a disease -is incurable Osteopathy cannot cure it! Dr. Webster says that "there are -diseases needing surgical attention," that in some cases an anesthetic -is necessary, that a parasite requires an antiseptic, and that a poison -requires an antidote. Thus he has found that drugs have <i>some</i> uses, at -least. In one place Dr. Webster says that Osteopathy is not a cure-all, -and in another we find him saying, "The application of osteopathic -principles to meet the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> problems of bodily disorder has demonstrated -their efficiency in <i>practically all diseases</i>"! Dr. Still himself says, -"You may say there are some failures. Yes, who would not expect it? -Perhaps the Osteopath is not able to apply the knowledge he should have -gained before being granted a diploma from his osteopathic school."</p> - -<p>And thus, all through the Osteopath literature there is an inference -that bone manipulation cures everything, although it admits that it has -not always done so. This is the weak, fatally weak, spot in Osteopathy. -It is the old story of the over-enthusiastic specialist who thinks that -the sun rises and sets on his pet theory. Show a child a watch, and all -it sees and understands is that it is wound up and that the hands move -around. If the watch gets out of order the child tries to wind it up -again—that is all it knows. It does not know that inside the case are -hundreds of delicately arranged parts that are adjusted to a nicety. It -does not know that some of these parts may be worn out from over-use, or -are missing, or broken, or that they need cleaning. Likewise, when the -Osteopath sees a body suffering from some disorder, he usually sees only -the blood vessels and nerves, and he decides at once that one or more of -them is being squeezed by a misadjustment of some bone or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> muscle. He -looks on the spinal column as the backbone of the human structure, which -is of course true, and surmises that if anything is wrong it must have -originated in the spinal cord, which is not necessarily true. If it is -indigestion, or a disease of the kidney, or what not, he thinks that by -turning one of the keys on the spinal cord it will unlock the necessary -drug and let it flow to the disordered part. He wears a pair of glasses -on which is written the word "Osteopathy," and when he looks he sees -nothing but Osteopathy. Now, as a matter of fact, he is right in many -cases. He will cure when all the doctors in the world might not even -relieve. He has a great truth. He holds the key that unlocks the door to -many a mystery, and it is a key that should be in common use, by all -doctors. Where the regular physician would perhaps drug his patient to -death, the Osteopath might cure him with a few simple treatments. Take, -for example, a headache. Now, a headache is a symptom, not a disease. It -is a sign that something is going wrong. It is a sign that there is -either too much blood in the head, or not enough, usually the former. In -either case, it is probable that there is some abnormal pressure on some -blood-vessel or nerve, and that if that pressure could be released the -headache would disappear. Just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> examine a model of the spinal cord -sometime and see what a complicated structure it is, with all the little -nerves, blood vessels and muscles so intricately interwoven between its -many parts. We are all prone to get in certain habits. We learn to read -in a certain posture, and to write, and to lie down, and to walk, and to -sit, and in the course of years it would be strange if one or more of -our thousands of parts did not get into an abnormal position so as to -compress or squeeze some of the delicately arranged nerves or blood -channels, thus preventing freedom of passage. Such a condition might set -up congestion and inflammation, and it is likely to affect seriously -some distant organ. By readjusting the bones of the neck, shoulder, back -or spinal cord, we relieve that pressure and thereby cure the disorder. -There can be no doubt of all this, and every regular physician ought to -know it and to practice it, but they don't and won't. Furthermore, they -won't refer the patient to an Osteopath. Professional jealousy!</p> - -<p>It is really a shame that there cannot be some kind of a union of the -various isms, ologies and athies. Certainly all Osteopaths should be -regularly admitted physicians and surgeons. If they could be broad -enough for that, they would soon put the old-school physicians out of business.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p><p>In conclusion, Osteopathy is much overestimated by some, and much -underestimated by many. It will do good to most anybody, and harm to -nobody. It will cure thousands of cases that the regular physicians -cannot cure; but, on the other hand, there are thousands of cases that -Osteopathy should not attempt to cure without the aid of the modern -school of physicians and surgeons.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Phrenology</i></h2> - -<p>The word phrenology comes from the Greek word <i>phren</i>, meaning the mind, -and <i>logus</i>, meaning science—the science of the mind. The alleged -science rests upon these principles: (1) The brain is the organ of the -mind; (2) the mind may be divided into a certain number of faculties -independent of one another; (3) each faculty resides in a definite -region of the brain; (4) the size of each region is the true measure of -the intellectual power of the organ therein residing. The phrenologist -examines the outside of the skull, and, by measuring the various bumps -and indentations thereon, claims to be able to tell how much brains are -within and just what faculties are concealed under each and every -portion of the skull. They claim to take into consideration various -other things, such as the texture of the hair, the lung power, the -brilliancy of the eye, the color of the skin, the general poise and -shape of the head,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> and so on, but phrenology really means bumpology or -craniology.</p> - -<p>The real fathers of the theory are Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, although we -find suggestions of it in the writings of some of the ancients, notably -those of Aristotle and Pythagoras, and even so far back as the ancient -Egyptians. Aristotle believed the brain to be a complex organ, but held -that the small head was the standard of perfection—"Little head, little -wit; big head not a bit." (For a lengthy treatise on phrenology and its -history, see Enc. Britannica.)</p> - -<p>If phrenology is sound, the brain is divided into compartments, each -having a separate and distinct function to perform. But when the brain -is dissected, no such compartments or divisions are revealed, even under -the microscope. Neither the certical nor fibrous part of the brain -reveals any such dividing lines or difference in texture. And not only -this—the existence of the horizontal membrane separating the superior -from the interior part of the whole brain, and the arrangement of the -lateral ventricles, corpus callosum, the fornix and other parts, are of -themselves almost conclusive proof that there can be no compartments -such as phrenologists describe.</p> - -<p>But even if the brain were divided into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>compartments, each resting -against the skull, it would next be necessary for the phrenologist to -prove that quantity means quality or that quantity means power. -Otherwise, a person might have a large quantity of, say, combativeness, -and a small quantity of, say, veneration, as donated by the size of the -bumps, at the places where those faculties are supposed to reside, but -the brain matter in the veneration compartment might be twice as dense, -compact, active, powerful or flexible as the brain matter in the -combativeness compartment, and hence the phrenologist would be deceived -by outward appearances. The phrenologist must depend upon size, and he -must assume that every part of the brain is of the same density, texture -and power. For example, when he sees a head that is large and full in -the upper forehead and small at the back, he at once declares that that -person's casuality, eventuality and comparison, are highly developed, -and that his amativeness and philoprogenitiveness are poorly developed. -Size is the measure, and he assumes that size means volume, and that -volume means power. Hence, a man with a large head must have more brains -than a man with a small head, and the more brains he has, the greater -his power, other things being equal. He forgets that many idiots have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> -enormous heads, and that the heads of many of the world's greatest -characters were very small. Several kinds of monkeys, the dolphin, the -canary and the sparrow, all have larger brains than man, in proportion -to the size of the body. The ground mole and field mouse have about the -same proportion as man. The whale, the rat, the porpoise and the goose have more.</p> - -<p>Again, the researches of physiologists of the highest authority seem to -have established the fact that the brain acquires its full size and -weight at the age of eight years! How can the phrenologist reconcile his -philosophy to this stubborn fact? The skull and head continue to grow -after the age of eight, but the brain remains the same in weight and -size. Everybody knows how the skulls of children change as they grow up, -and yet the brains never do. As the child acquires knowledge and -develops his mental faculties, the brain remains the same size and -weight. What then have bumps to do with his mind? We may polish our -brains, but we cannot add to them. And so, when the phrenologist says -that this pulpy matter called brains gradually grows larger and crowds -the skull bones out so as to make bumps, or that it shrinks, for want of -exercise, and makes the skull contract with it, causing indentations, he -is not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>talking from facts but from a premise founded on a delusion.</p> - -<p>If the theory of phrenology is true, then, if a person should have an -accident or a disease, and lose a portion of his brain, he will lose -control of those faculties which are supposed to be located within the -lost part. Now, every physician knows of cases where patients have lost -portions of their brains, and you will probably not find a single case -where the patient lost control of the precise faculty said to be located -in that portion. The medical books are full of proof of this. Once in a -while a physician has to remove a portion of the brain where the faculty -of, say tune, is located, or it is destroyed by accident or disease, but -after the operation the patient has the same fondness and talent for -music that he formerly had. The brains of able men have been examined -after death, and certain portions have been found to be diseased; yet -the patients had shown no signs of having lost any of their faculties.</p> - -<p>These examples show that the brain is not and cannot be composed of a -plurality of organs, each of which is the seat of a separate faculty, as -claimed by the phrenologists, because if such were the case the -destruction of one of these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>organs would result in the destruction of -the particular faculty connected with it.</p> - -<p>Again, the phrenologist assumes that all skulls are of the same -thickness, and that every skull is of the same thickness at every point. -There are variations of this rule, as he will tell you, but in the main -the statement is true; for, if it were not so, bumps and indentations -would be almost meaningless. But the fact is that some skulls are only -one-eighth of an inch thick and some are a full inch in thickness. And -there is no certain way of telling just how thick a skull is, except by -an examination of its interior and not every subject is willing to -undergo this inconvenience. The phrenologist may thump it with his -knuckle and sound it, but he can never be certain how near he is to the -brain nor how much brains are within. And still again, nearly every -skull has thin parts and thick parts, and in some heads there are actual -cavities in places. So, even if the size of the brain is the sure test -of mentality, how is one to tell the size of a brain which is incased in -a skull of unknown and variable thickness?</p> - -<p>And then, the mistaken notion that there are just and only thirty-five -or so faculties and that each acts independently of the others. As well -might one say that the retina of the eye is divided<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> into compartments, -one to see flowers, one to see trees, one to see letters and figures, -and so on; or that the ear-drum is divided into sections—one section to -hear the voice, one to hear the violin and one to hear other sounds. If -there is a separate compartment for every faculty there should be nearer -thirty-five thousand compartments than thirty-five. But there are not -even thirty-five faculties, and there are certainly not more than two or -three compartments, if any. Aristotle divided the brain into only three -parts. Veneration is the result of fear, admiration, love, respect, -conscientiousness, and a dozen other things. Destructiveness and -combativeness, continuity, stubbornness and many other faculties produce -in greater or less degree, the same emotion and results. Form and size -are the same faculty, the knowledge of extension including both. To say -that each of these faculties has a separate plot or parcel of brains -staked out for its own private and exclusive use is about as sensible as -to say that there is a separate compartment of brains devoted to love of -children, another for the love of parents, another for brothers, another -for dogs, and so on. It requires no philosopher or psychologist to see -that every single faculty is a part of an inseparable indivisible whole. -Instead of endowing the mind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> with certain faculties and designating -these according to the nature of their function, the phrenologist -designates them according to the nature of object upon which they are -exercised. According to this, to be logical, he should have as many -faculties and compartments as there are things in the universe.</p> - -<p>There are two ways of looking at phrenology. If there is a portion of -brains for each faculty, then we must determine how many faculties there -are, and we must assume that each portion or compartment performs only -its own function, for otherwise, if a certain compartment frequently -does the work of some other compartment, then the whole theory of -phrenology falls, because it matters not how much or how little brains a -person has in one compartment when other sections are to lend a hand in -helping its weak or deficient neighbors. The phrenologist must assume -that "comparison," for example, is the faculty that does all of the work -in that line, and that "color" does all of the work in its particular -line. Otherwise bumps would be meaningless. Fowler and Wells, the latest -authorities, give thirty-nine distinct and separate faculties, each with -its particular location. Now, many of these conflict, such as -comparison, form and size, combativeness and destructiveness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> firmness -and continuity, cautiousness and secretiveness, veneration and -spirituality and conjugal love, friendship, amativeness, inhabitiveness -and philoprogenitiveness. True, these words of each group are not -synonyms, but they require the same mental process, produce like -emotions, or proceed from the same motives and sensations. If this be -true, part of the bottom of phrenology falls out. There is redundancy. -The faculty of cautiousness makes one cautious when one is exercising -one or more of the other faculties, and continuity is the faculty which -gives us the power of keeping one or more other faculties applied to the -task. Nearly every organ must be endowed with the power of imagination, -yet there is a faculty called ideality which is assumed to have a -monopoly of this power. Nearly every faculty is also endowed with -casuality, particularly calculation, constructiveness and comparison. -And if the phrenologist should say that there is no redundancy here, -that each of these things is a different and distinct faculty, surely if -there is not redundancy, there is at least deficiency (either of which -is fatal) in that according to his theory there should be separate -faculties for mechanical constructiveness and literary constructiveness, -separate faculties for love of children and love of cats, separate -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>faculties for the English language and the Chinese language, and every -language, and a separate faculty for every object of attention in the universe.</p> - -<p>Until the phrenologist can find some way of measuring the quantity of -neurine in the brain of his subject he cannot tell much about that -person's mentality; and when he does this he is no longer a phrenologist.</p> - -<p>Phrenology takes in a wide field which contains so many avenues of -escape, that it is quite impossible to attack it at one point without -letting it out at another, for its powers to evade the issue are almost -unlimited. When the skull of Voltaire was examined, it was found to have -the organ of Veneration developed to an extraordinary degree. The -phrenologist would promptly explain: "His veneration for the Deity was -so great and his sensibility upon the subject of devotion so exquisite -that he became shocked and disgusted with the irreverence of even the -most devout Christians, and that out of pure respect for the Deity he -attempted to exterminate the Christian religion from the earth."</p> - -<p>If you have a large bump of destructiveness, the phrenologist might -declare you were like the early English who would often say: "It's a -fine day; let's go out and kill somebody." Yet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> you may be only inclined -to destroy delusions; or to destroy the rum demon; or to demolish -gambling; or to combat vice.</p> - -<p>The novel "Mr. Midshipman Easy," by Capt. Maryatt, might be recommended -for the consideration of phrenologists. Prof. Easy built a great machine -with tubes and pistons; the subject would get into the machine and, by -suction, the professor would draw out the good organ indentations and by -pressure suppress the "bad organ" bumps. If the brain grows, as -phrenologists claim, this system ought to help the brain grow in the -right direction and create perfect men.</p> - -<p>The irregular formation of the skull, features, fingers and of other -parts of the anatomy are mere accidents of nature, and are no more a -test of a person's character and capacity than a cask is of its -contents. The verdict of phrenology retards the moral and intellectual -advancement of the subject and lessens the influence of reason, -religion, environment and education.</p> - -<p>After Professor Porson's death, his head was dissected, when, to the -confusion of craniologists and the consolation of blockheads, it was -discovered that he had a skull of extraordinary thickness. Professor -Gall, on being called upon to reconcile the intellectual powers and -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>tenacious memory of Porson with a skull that would have suited an -ignorant prizefighter, replied: "How the ideas got into such a skull is -their business, not mine; but, when they were once in, they certainly -could never get out again."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Physiognomy</i></h2> - -<p>Physiognomy is not entirely a delusion. There is no "science" of -Physiognomy, however, nor is it an exact art. The rules laid down by -Adamantius were quite different from those of Aristotle, just as those -of Baptist Porta and Robert Fludd were quite different from Levater's. -Physiognomy is the art of knowing the humor, temperament or disposition -of a person from observation of the lines of the face, and from the -character of its members or features. While there is as yet no code of -rules laid down by any author which constitutes a trustworthy guide, -there in an apparent analogy between the mind and the countenance, which -is discernible to keen observers. Probably every man and woman prides -him or herself on the ability of translating expression, because we all -imagine that we are good judges of human nature; yet, we have all erred -in this regard, and often they were costly errors. Our instincts and -intuitions, are perhaps the safest guides, after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> all, for there is but -little reliance to be placed on the text books; and the common beliefs -regarding the meaning of the features are anything but reliable. The -best that can be done, for the present, is to assemble the predominating -characteristics of the great men of history and compare these with their -portraits.</p> - -<p>It is generally conceded that the greatest authority on Physiognomy is -Levater; yet, in my copy of his principal work, which, by the way, is -the voluminous 15th London edition, he says: "I understand but little of -physiognomy, and have been, and continue daily to be, mistaken in my -judgment." Since no greater physiognomist ever lived, it seems fair to -assume that there is no "science" of physiognomy, and no infallible -system with which we can read the character and capabilities of a person -by means of the features. Whether such a science will yet be discovered -or devised, remains to be seen. However, it is possible, and even -probable, that the features all have meanings, even if we do not know -those meanings, and that the code finally adopted by Levater is fairly -correct. This being true, the best we can say for Physiognomy is that it -<i>helps</i> us to interpret character by showing us <i>tendencies</i>. That is, -given a face the chin of which denotes firmness, and the mouth -tenacity,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> we may be reasonably certain that the individual will have a -strong tendency to do thus and so under certain conditions, provided -those characteristics are not over-balanced and offset by other -characteristics. That the tendency is not conclusive, is apparent: for -the person may be born with a nose which, according to Physiognomy, -denotes criminal propensities; yet, he may have overcome his immoral -tendencies by means of education, religion or environment, while his -nose remains unchanged. Again, he may have certain features which are -said to denote generosity, for example, yet there may be various other -features which denote love of power, acquisitiveness, vanity, etc., -which would make it quite impossible to say that generosity would -predominate, and to which tendency the subject would yield. Indeed, it -is a grave question if all the accumulated knowledge of the ages on -Physiognomy would not be misleading, even if every person knew the -precise meaning of every section of the face; for, however skilful we -might be, our judgment would constantly be taxed to the utmost to weigh -and balance, to compare and distinguish, one indication with another, -and then that other with still another, and with perhaps a whole group -of others,—a task for a mathematician, psychologist and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>philosopher -combined. Again, who may say that a large nose, which was esteemed so -highly by Napoleon, or a strong jaw, which is generally understood to -denote perseverance, may not be mere accidents of nature, for are not -some born tongue-tied, cross-eyed or flat-footed, without design, -meaning or tendency, so far as those physical conditions are concerned? -And do not all persons develop one or more faculties, and neglect -others, without causing any change in the bones of the face? One may -conquer and conquer, like Alexander, until there are no more worlds to -be conquered, and yet not acquire a conqueror's nose. If we treat -Physiognomy as the science of interpreting expression by means of the -muscular anatomy of the face, that is a different matter; but the real -Physiognomy deals with bones as well as with muscles. If there is doubt -as to whether the shape of the bones of the face are indicative of -character, there is no doubt that the flesh and muscles of the face form -what we call expression of the countenance, and that this can be -interpreted with some degree of accuracy.</p> - -<p>Levater says that the forehead is the image or mirror of the -understanding; the nose and cheeks the image of moral and sensitive -life; and the mouth and chin the image of the animal life;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> while the -eye will be to the whole as the summary and center. I am prepared to -believe without hesitation that nothing passes in the soul which does -not produce some change in the body, and that even desire, and the act -of willing, create a corresponding motion in the body; but it requires -extraordinary credulity to believe that bones are enlarged or diminished -by this process, and, consequently, that part of Physiognomy I must -reject. But it is quite certain that, on the countenance discernibly -appear light and gloom, joy and anxiety, stupidity, ignorance, and vice, -and that, on this waxen tablet are deeply scribed every combination of -sense and soul. On the forehead, all the Graces revel, or all the -Cyclops thunder! Nature has left it bare, that, by it, the countenance -may be enlightened or darkened. At its lowest extremities, thought -appears to be changed into action. The mind here collects the powers of -resistance. Here resides the <i>cornua addita pauperi</i>. Here headlong -obstinacy and wise perseverance take up their fixed abode. Beneath the -forehead are its expressive confines, the eyebrows; a rainbow of -promise, when benignant; and the bent bow of discord, when enraged; -alike descriptive, in each case, of interior feeling. The nose imparts -solidity and unity to the whole countenance,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>—the mountain that -shelters the fair vales beneath. How descriptive of the mind and -character are its various parts; the insertion, the ridge, the -cartilege, and the nostrils, through which life is inhaled. The eyes, -considered only as tangible objects, are by their form, the windows of -the soul, the fountains of light and life. The eye-bone, whether -gradually sunken, or boldly prominent, is also worthy of attention; as -likewise are the temples, whether hollow or smooth. That region of the -face which includes the eyebrows, eye, and nose, also include the chief -signs of soul; that its of will, or mind, in action. The occult, the -noble, the sublime, sense of hearing, has nature placed sideways, and -half concealed. On the inferior part of the face, nature has bestowed a -mask for the male, and not without reason, for here are displayed those -marks of sensuality, which ought to be hidden. All know how much the -upper lip betokens the sensations of taste, desire, appetite, and the -enjoyments of love; how much it is curved by pride and anger, drawn thin -by cunning, smoothed by benevolence, made flaccid by effeminacy; how -love and desire, sighs and kisses, cling to it, by indescribable traits. -The under lip is little more than its supporter, the rosy cushion on -which the crown of majesty reposes. If the parts of any two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> bodies can -be pronounced to be exactly adapted to each other, such are the lips of -man, when the mouth is closed. Words are the pictures of the mind. We -judge of the host by the portal. He holds the flaggon of truth, of love -and endearing friendship. The chin is formed by the under lip, and the -termination of the jaw-bones, and it denotes sensuality in man, -according as it is more or less flexible, smooth, or clear: it discovers -what his rank is among his fellows. The chin forms the oval of the -countenance; and when, as in the antique statues of the Greeks, it is -neither pointed nor indented, but smooth, and gradually diminishes, it -is then the keystone of the superstructure. With apologies to Herder for -much of the foregoing, thus endeth this brief dissertation on Physiognomy.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Dreams</i></h2> - -<p>It is quite clear that the phenomena of dreams could be perfectly -accounted for by natural laws and therefore they should not be -attributed to supernatural causes.</p> - -<p>Ancient divines taught that dreams either proceeded from the Deity or -from the devil, but it is now quite certain that all dreams originate -only in the dreamers. Dreams come only from a state of imperfect sleep. -When sleep is perfect, all the faculties are at complete rest, and there -can be no dreams—and even if there were, memory being absent, the dream -could never be recalled. Bodily sensations are the most common cause of -dreams. A hot-water bottle at the feet might cause dreaming of a fire; -kicking the bed-clothes from the lower extremities might carry the -dreamer to scenes of snow and ice; getting one's head accidentally under -the pillow might involve the dreamer in a drowning episode or other -incident of strangulation. Physical ills also have their influence upon -the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>unsound sleeper, and the nature of the pain is usually similar to -the nature of the dream. The mind, during unsound sleep, is irrational, -and often groups incongruous things and scenes into meaningless and -impossible situations. Stored away in hidden recesses of the memory, are -innumerable items, and during imperfect sleep the mind seizes some of -these haphazard and forms some of the most fantastic and ludicrous -pictures.</p> - -<p>The cause of the dream is sometimes the cause of its fulfilment. For -example, a person might think, in his waking moments, of writing a poem, -and if it is strongly on his mind he is likely to dream of it. The dream -may suggest some missing link or idea, and when he awakes he is better -prepared to complete it. Belief in the supernatural origin of dreams is -also the frequent cause of their fulfilment. If a person dreams of -approaching sickness, and is superstitious, his fears and imagination -are likely to hasten the calamity. There is recorded somewhere in -history the case of a general who dreamed of a defeat, and, being -superstitious, his courage deserted him, and the enemy conquered. There -is also recorded the case of a German student, who dreamed that he was -to die the next day at a certain hour. His friends found him next -morning<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> making a will and other preparations, and as the time drew -near, he had every appearance of a person about to die. His friends used -every argument to shake his belief in dreams, but to no purpose, and -they were despairing of saving him, when the physician contrived to set -the clock forward, and thus prolonged matters until the student's life -was at last saved. There are several instances on record where death has -actually ensued in consequence of the belief in the supernatural origin -of dreams, and there is no doubt that believers in dreams often cause -fulfilment by mental influence. It is true that there are instances on -record where a person has dreamed of the death of a relative, and found -that that relative had died at about the time of the dream, but these -instances are rare and prove nothing. When it is considered that there -are doubtless millions of instances where persons have dreamed of the -death of relatives, when they have not died, the comparatively few cases -where the dreams came true must be taken as mere coincidence. It is not -a miracle for a dream of this kind to come true, but it would indeed be -a miracle if one or more of such dreams did not come true, like the one -that is recorded of a proud young divinity student who dreamed three -times in one night that he must turn to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> seventh verse of the fifth -chapter of Ecclesiastes, where he would find important instructions. He -arose in the morning, and turning to the specified passage, found this: -"In the multitude of dreams there are divers vanities."</p> - -<p>The mental process by which the human mind arrived at the conclusion -that dreams result from supernatural causes is due to the same -propensity of the mind for the marvelous, and to that excess credulity -which attributes all unusual or remarkable mental impressions to some -external agency. The average mind is prone to reason out the causes of -phenomena to the limit of its mental powers, and then, when it arrives -at the point when it can go no farther, and can give no rational -explanation, to attribute the phenomena to the supernatural.</p> - -<p>All dreams originate from former sensations. These sensations were -introduced into the mind by the senses, at some previous time or times, -and the mind has stored them away where they have lain dormant and -forgotten. The dream-state is that condition of temporary -subconsciousness when the memory recalls the aforesaid sensations and -submits them to the scrutiny of the reasoning faculty, by which their -relations are determined, through the agency of association. During -perfect sleep there can be no dream, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>because the dream is caused by a -state of activity of certain faculties, which, in perfect sleep, are in -a state of torpor. There could be no dream if the mental faculties, -including memory, are at perfect rest. Only when part of the mental -faculties are sufficiently active to recall the sensations and -impressions that are stored away, and to institute association, can -there be dreams. Some of the faculties must be active, and some -inactive, to produce a dream, and only in imperfect sleep does this -condition obtain. Among the inactive faculties in the dream state is -judgment, which, were it active, would correct the mental process and -discover the fallacy. Imagination is often brought strongly into play by -the dreamer; and the combination of imagination, previous sensations and -associations often create fantastic objects and pictures wholly -different from those occurring in nature. The mind of the dreamer can -readily combine parts of the sensations previously derived from -beholding an elephant, a crow and a cow, and may see in his dream a crow -with a trunk, a cow with a bill, or an elephant with upright horns and a -black feathered tail. It can also readily associate with his own self -parts of various sensations derived from reading or hearing of certain -crimes or improprieties, and picture himself in the act of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> doing things -utterly at variance with his morals and inclinations when in a conscious state.</p> - -<p>It also may happen, in the various modes of combination, that objects or -events are portrayed in accordance with nature and facts, but, perhaps, -in exaggerated, diminished or distorted forms, in which case an -erroneous standard of judgment is formed that will throw all after -sensations out of perspective with truth.</p> - -<p>The dreamer generally dreams of things which have lately been weighing -on his mind, but not necessarily so, nor does it follow that he will -dream what has been ardently expected or painfully dreaded. Association -of ideas may lead his unguided mind to a scene or object which, in his -wakeful moments, he cannot trace, for his memory usually preserves only -the final objects or scene, and not the various steps that led to it. -Thus, if moving be on his mind, he may, in his dream, see a moving van, -then a painting on the side of the van, then an artist, then a paint -shop, a model, another picture on an easel, and finally a very pleasant -or a very horrible scene in a studio. When the dreamer awakes he -remembers only the scene, and he is at a loss to know why he should have -dreamed of a scene so foreign to his previous thoughts.</p> - -<p>There appears to be no truth whatever in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> theory that dreams come as -omens or warnings, for they are purely accidental. Neither is there -apparently any truth in the belief that dreams come by opposites, that -they are the manifestation of some invisible agency, or that there is -anything supernatural, uncanny or mysterious about them.</p> - -<p>To maintain that one can foretell future events, or read past events, -from dreams, is absurd. Nearly every person dreams each night, and -particularly during the moments when losing consciousness and the -moments when awakening, since imperfect sleep then obtains; and, it -would be strange indeed if, during one or more of these occasions, we -did not by chance dream of something which afterwards actually happens.</p> - -<p>All bodily derangements that interrupt healthy sleep, such as irritation -of the digestive organs, and even over-exertion, worry, and undue -excitement, will produce dreams, and it is therefore fairly obvious -that, since we know the cause of dreams, their effects and results, -there is nothing marvellous, unnatural, wonderful, extraordinary or -supernatural in dreams.</p> - -<p>Until the past few hundred years, the cause of dreams was not -understood. Aristotle believes the cause of dreams to be common sense,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> -but placed in the fancy. Avicen thought it to be an ultimate -intelligence moving the moon in the midst of that light with which the -fancies of men are illuminated while they sleep. Averroes, an Arabian -physician, ascribed it to the imagination. Democritus referred the cause -of them to little images, or representations, separated from the things -themselves. Plato placed it among the specific and concrete notions of -the soul. Albertus attributed dreams to superior influences, which -continually flow from the sky, through many specific channels.</p> - -<p>In order to disdelusionize, it will be necessary to get a clear -understanding of the nature of the mind and of its workings. "When the -mind turns its view inward upon itself," says John Locke, "and -contemplates its own actions, <i>thinking</i> is the first that occurs. In -it, the mind observes a great variety of modifications, and from them -receives distinct <i>ideas</i>. Thus the perception, which actually -accompanies, and is annexed to any impression on the body, made by an -external object, being distinct from all other modifications of -thinking, furnishes the mind with a distinct idea which we call -<i>sensation</i>; which is, as it were, the actual entrance of an idea into -the understanding by the senses.</p> - -<p>"The same idea, when it occurs again without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> the operation of the like -object on the external sensory, is <i>remembrance</i>; if it be sought after -by the mind, and with pain and endeavor found, and brought again in -view, it is <i>recollection</i>; if it be held there long under -consideration, it is <i>contemplation</i>; when ideas float in our mind -without any recollection or regard of the understanding, it is that -which the French call <i>reverie</i>; our language has scarce a word for it. -When the ideas that offer themselves (for, as I have observed, while we -are awake, there will always be a train of ideas succeeding one another -in our minds) are taken notice of, and, as it were, registered in the -memory, it is <i>attention</i>; when the mind, with great earnestness, and of -choice, fixes its view on any idea, considers it on all sides, and will -not be called off by the ordinary solicitations of other ideas, it is -what we call intention or study. <i>Sleep</i> without dreaming is rest from -all these; and dreaming itself, is the having of ideas (while the -outward senses are stopped, so that they receive not outward objects -with their usual quickness) in the mind, not suggested by any external -objects, or known occasion, nor under any choice or conduct of the -understanding at all, and whether that which we call <i>ecstasy</i>, be not -dreaming with the eyes open, I leave to be examined."</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p><p>We often converse with a dead or absent friend, in our dreams, without -remembering that the grave or the ocean is between us. We float, like a -feather, or fly like a bird, upon the wind, one moment in New York, and -the next in Melbourne, without reflecting that the laws of nature are -suspended, or inquiring how the scene could have been so suddenly -shifted. We accommodate ourselves to every event, however romantic, -impossible, unreasonable, extravagant and absurd.</p> - -<p>We also dream awake, which dreams may be called <i>reveries</i> or -<i>waking-dreams</i>, and they are sometimes as chimerical, and impossible to -be realized, as our sleep dreams. Many fabulous stories of apparitions, -magic, and apparent miracles, owe their origin to some form of dream.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Superstitions</i></h2> - -<p class="center"><i>Superstition has done more harm than war, famine and pestilence.</i></p> - -<p>It has been said that all men are tainted with superstition, in greater -or less degree, and that they are credulous from the cradle to the -grave. We may be particularly strong on Friday, on the thirteenth, on -walking under a ladder, and other foolish superstitions which have -thousands of times been exposed, yet we find ourselves weak on something -else equally absurd. We are credulous because we are naturally sincere, -which indicates that superstitious belief proceeds from honorable -principles. All men have a strong attraction to truth, and the man who -is the most deceitful is usually the most disposed to belief that other -men respect truth. And thus, before rejecting the statements of others, -we usually require to detect something in them which is not in accord -with our previous knowledge, unless, perchance, we have cause to suspect -a design to deceive us. Credulity is, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>therefore, natural, in part, and -it is also the result of the faulty education that we have received from -our distant ancestors.</p> - -<p>Perhaps many of the superstitions owe their origin to religion. If -people had not been taught about devils, hells, miracles and other -mysteries, they would not be so susceptible to other beliefs equally absurd.</p> - -<p>It is commonly known that gamblers are very superstitious, but fashions -change with them as they do with everything else; for, where -unsuccessful gamblers used formerly to make a knot in their linen, to -change their luck, they now content themselves with changing their -chairs, and performing other silly things which some successful gamester -has lately done. And so with other superstitious persons. As a security -against cowardice, it was once only necessary to wear a pin plucked from -the winding sheet of a corpse; now, all one needs is to rub the back of -a hunchback. To insure a prosperous accouchement to your wife, you once -had to tie her girdle to a bell and ring it three times, while now all -that is necessary is to see the new moon over your right shoulder and -wish. To get rid of warts, you were to fold up in a rag as many peas as -you had warts, and throw them into the highroad, when the unlucky person -who picked them up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> became your substitute; but now, they may be cured -by finding a pin, head toward you. To cure a tooth-ache you had to -solicit alms in honor of St. Lawrence, but in these enlightened times it -can be done by staring at a horseshoe over the door. And so on, <i>ad -infinitum</i> do we find the superstitions, like the fashions, ever changing.</p> - -<p>The birth of science was the death of superstition, said Huxley; but, -alas, it is a slow and painful death. But, science is only half born as -yet, and that is why superstition is only half dead.</p> - -<p>P. T. Barnum was known as the prince of humbuggers, yet few men have -ever lived who had a keener insight into human nature. He knew the human -heart, he knew its weaknesses, and he knew how to profit by his knowledge.</p> - -<p>The gullibility of the public is shown in various ways: first, by the -prosperity of the palmists, astrologers and mediums; second, by the -success of all get-rich-quick enterprises; third, by the crowds who -patronize the street fakirs who sell articles which nobody can operate -but themselves; and fourth, by the apparent success of certain officials -who operate through their press agents.</p> - -<p>Palmistry, graphology, physiognomy, phrenology, clairvoyancy, -chirognomancy, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> other "sciences," have not yet been accepted by -the powers that be, fortunately, as an infallible detector of crime. -Very few, indeed, of the believers in these isms and ologies would care -to have their fate in court determined by experts in one or more of -these theories. Only a few hundred years ago, persons were tried and -convicted of witchcraft by the same sort of "experts," and the result -was that the accused had a very slight chance of acquittal.</p> - -<p>Most of our great men have had their illusions, delusions and -superstitions, but that is no excuse for people of our times. Genius is -always ill-balanced, in accordance with the law of compensation. -Napoleon believed in the exploded theory of astrology, and he once said -of a bright star, "It has never deserted me. I see it on every -occurrence urging me onward; it is an unfailing omen of success." Oliver -Cromwell says he saw the figure of a gigantic woman enter his chamber, -who told him that he would become the greatest man in England. Sir -Joshua Reynolds thought the lamps in his gardens were trees, and the -women bushes, agitated by the breeze. Descartes thought he was followed -by an invisible person, whose voice urged him to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> continue his -researches. Loyola, lying wounded after the siege of Pampeluna, imagined -he saw the Virgin, who encouraged him to prosecute his mission. Pope -thought he saw an army come through the walls of his home to inquire -after his welfare. Goethe says that he once saw his exact counterpart -coming towards him. Byron was also visited by ghosts, and Dr. Johnson -thought he heard his mother's voice, though she was in a distant city. -Swedenborg imagined that he could converse with departed spirits. -Cellini was deterred from suicide by the apparition of a beautiful -woman, and Nicolai was annoyed by various spirits, one of which had the -appearance of a dead body. And when we remember that some of the world's -greatest minds were deluded by the doctrines of witchcraft, alchemy, -astrology, spiritualism, and kindred superstitions, now known to be -false and silly, including the mighty search for the Philosopher's -Stone, we should hesitate long before accepting any strange theory just -because somebody else believed in it.</p> - -<p>ABRACADABRA was one of the names given to the Persian sun-god Mithra. -This word was supposed to have magic powers to cure diseases, provided -it was written in the form of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> a magic triangle several times, as -follows, and worn on the bosom for nine days:</p> - -<p class="center">ABRACADABRA<br />BRACADABR<br />RACADAB<br />ACADA<br />CAD<br />A</p> - -<p>Why is superstition so deep-rooted? Why do we cling to error so -tenaciously? Why does every new, occult fad soon attract a host of -followers? Let us see. First, there is a charm to everything that is -extraordinary—we love the unusual, the different, the marvelous, the -miraculous; second, we hate to see destroyed that which we love. Hence, -the tendency to exaggeration, which is a consequence of it; and hence -the regretful reluctance to have our dreams of wondrousness dispelled. -Is there anything quite so unpleasant, when we have told a friend of -some marvelous manifestation we had witnessed, as to have that friend -prove to us that the manifestation was but a trick? Not only is our -pride hurt, but our pet joy is spoiled; we had been hugging a sacred -mystery, only to find it a delusion.</p> - -<p>That which we call mystery is unfinished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> knowledge—not complete -ignorance. That which we call the supernatural is but the natural not -yet understood, or only partly understood. We know a little of -everything, but not everything of everything, nor even everything of any -one thing. Science is only a mystery solved.</p> - -<p>A prevalent and dangerous form of credulity or enthusiasm is that which -makes us extremists or faddists. A faddist is an extremist, and an -extremist is a faddist. It is one thing to be so stubborn and -old-fashioned that nothing new has any interest to us, and it is another -to be so credulous and catholic that we seize every new theory with a -mad enthusiasm. Every fad and delusion is founded on a truth, but the -extremist sees in them more than a truth; his brain becomes a -kaleidoscope, with numerous reflecting surfaces which reflect multifold -imaginary pictures. From two or three simple truths, sprang an immense -false system of astrology; from the simple truth that our temperaments -and characters are more or less expressed upon our bodies, sprang some -of the silly doctrines of palmistry and physiognomy; from the simple -truth that every person has an individuality which is expressed in his -apparel, his home and his manners, sprang the ridiculous theory of -psychometry; from the simple truth that souls live beyond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> the grave, -and that our imagination may picture those souls, sprang the untenable -belief in ghosts, spirits and mediums; and from the simple fact that our -pains and troubles are intensified by brooding over them, sprang the -fallacy of Christian Science. Who would say that the Boston tea party -<i>caused</i> the Revolutionary war, or that the firing on Fort Sumpter -<i>caused</i> the "late unpleasantness"? The quarrel between Queen Anne and -the Duchess of Marlborough over a pair of gloves did not cause the -change of ministry and the following peace with Louis XIV, nor did the -blood of Lucretia put an end to the kingly powers at Rome, as some say, -and neither did the sight of Virginia terminate the decemviral power, -nor did the view of Caesar's body and mantle enslave Rome. It seems to -be that love of the marvellous, of the curious, of the strange, and of -the impossible, that makes us ascribe great results to the most -insignificant and isolated causes.</p> - -<p>There is a book entitled "Current Superstitions," which can be had in -any library, that should cure any reasonable mind of superstition. It -contains some thousands of superstitions common throughout the United -States, and if a person were to believe in them all, that person could -not live one day without violating a dozen or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> more that would involve -him into fatal consequences. Fortunately, the superstitious person -usually clings to only two or three, which are not bothersome, and he -does not see the folly of them. Some superstitions seem harmless enough, -such as, for example, the belief that holding an open umbrella over the -head in the house is productive of bad luck, for who wants to do such a -thing? or, that of walking under a ladder, for how many times in a -lifetime does a person have occasion to avoid doing so? But all -superstitions are harmful to the mind, and harmful in their influence -upon others—particularly upon children. A man cannot successfully -contend against an unknown enemy in the dark, and superstition -pre-supposes that there is some unknown, relentless, all-powerful force -at work, against God, Nature, common sense, and against the laws of the -universe.</p> - -<p>There is an old story, but a well-authenticated one, which serves to -illustrate the dangers of superstition. In Hamburg, in 1784, a singular -accident occasioned the death of a young couple. The lady, going to the -church of the Augustin Friars, knelt down near a Mausoleum, ornamented -with divers figures in marble, among which was that of Death, armed with -a scythe, and a small piece of the scythe being loose, fell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> on the hood -of the lady's mantlet. On her return home, she mentioned the -circumstances as a matter of indifference to her husband, who, being a -credulous and superstitious man, cried out in a terrible panic, that it -was a presage of the death of his dear wife. The same day he was seized -with a violent fever, took to his bed and died. The disconsolate lady -was so affected at the loss that she was taken ill and soon followed -him. They were both interred in the same grave, and their inheritance, -which was very considerable, fell to some distant relatives.</p> - -<p>Under the head of "Thirteen at Dinner," Edwards in "Words, Facts and -Phrases" says: "The common superstition which makes it unlucky to have -thirteen at dinner is no doubt a reference to the Last Supper of our -Lord and his disciples, where thirteen were present and Judas was among -them. He left first, and therefore the first of a party of thirteen to -leave the table is the unlucky one." Perhaps this is correctly stated, -but if so, how many persons now make the <i>dangerous</i> mistake of at once -leaving a table as soon as they discover thirteen present! By leaving at -once they hope to avert the evil, whereas they are rushing into it. What -folly, either to leave the table or to remain at it, because of this -superstition!</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p><p>The Thirteen Club of New York serves a useful mission. Composed of -several hundred prominent people, it meets, discusses the folly of -popular superstitions, exposes the fallacies of the supernatural, and -breeds a healthy condition of the mind. They meet on Fridays, usually on -the 13th of the month, they enter the clubrooms by passing under a -ladder, the dues are multiples of thirteen, umbrellas are hung over -every chair, salt is spilled on every table, and so on, in defiance of -the laws of superstition.</p> - -<p>Those foolish persons who believe in the silly superstition "Thirteen at -table, one of them sure to die," should remember that if there are -fourteen at table, or more, the chances of one of them dying soon are -much greater than if there were only thirteen, so that it is far safer -to reduce the number to thirteen!</p> - -<p>Wonder is the effect of novelty upon ignorance, it is said, but the -ignorant are not the only ones to wonder over novelty, and other things -than novelty cause wonder, such as want of familiarity with common -things met with every day. Knowledge is the cure of both ignorance and -superstition, but of the love to wonder there appears to be no cure.</p> - -<p>The reason we are so quick to believe in the supernatural is that we are -prone to discern in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> it either good luck or bad luck—benefit or -punishment. We are all governed by our passions—principally Hope and -Fear, and nothing is more capable of creating those hopes and fears than -unrestrained credulity concerning the mysterious.</p> - -<p>Everybody has doubtless seen those wonderful, supernatural mind-readers -at Coney Island, who profess to be able to tell you your name. I -listened to one of their dialogs recently, in which a young lady and her -companion were amazed at having the magician look in their eyes and read -there their true names, fully convinced of the supernatural powers of -the operators. Guessing at how it was done, my friend and I strolled -off, made a plan, returned, stopped in front of the camp, and began a -conversation in which I addressed my friend as "William"—which was not -his name at all—and he called me "Washington," to all of which the -several fakirs were intently listening, though pretending not to. Just -as they thought they had enough to work upon they approached us, and we -yielded to their entreaties. We were ushered into the mystic chamber, -there was some whispering among them, and then we were dramatically -ordered to think intensely of our names, the chief fakir all the while -glaring tragicly into my friend's eyes. "Ah, I has it," said he, -gesticulating wildly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> "William!" he exclaimed, exultantly. "Wonderful!" -was our reply. Devoting his attention to me, he appeared puzzled, but -finally said: "You no think; I no get name, but I tell you something -wonderful—I tell you what on your mind." "Very well," said I, "that -will do." And then he put his greasy forefingers on my temples and -cried, "You think you have some <i>washing done</i>!"</p> - -<p>If every spiritualist, astrologer, palmist, clairvoyant, mind reader and -fortune teller were compelled by law to hang out a sign, "I am a -professor of tricks, magic, sleight-of-hand, legerdemain, and -tomfoolery; come in and match your wits against mine!" they would still -have many customers; but, if everybody believed in signs, there would be -no harm done. But perhaps the people would rather have it the other way, -as it is, so that they can nurse the delusion that "Perhaps there may be -something in it, after all."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Stage Tricks and Occultism</i></h2> - -<p>Stage tricks are usually harmless, except when played by fakirs who -claim to be possessed of supernatural powers. There is a large variety -of these, such as spiritualists, slate-writers, clairvoyants, -telepathists and mind-readers, who perform ordinary stage tricks under -the guise of occultism, and they deserve something more than mere -exposure. Every operator has his or her own particular method of -performing certain tricks, and it would be impossible to explain in a -brief article how each is done; but it may be helpful to expose a few of -the more common ones. All of these tricks may be accounted for as -follows: Sleight-of-hand, confederacy, ingenious contrivance, or the -application of some natural law, and most of the best tricks are -performed with the aid of two or more of these. Had Hermann the Great, -or Keller, been dishonest, they could almost have had the world at their -feet, by maintaining that their tricks were done through spirit or -physic force;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> but they were honest enough to admit that all their feats -were done by means of one or more of the devices just mentioned. There -is no slate-writing trick, or materialization, or mind-reading -exhibition, that they could not have duplicated, or even excelled; in -fact, they did actually duplicate and expose most of them. Had they -claimed that spirits or devils, aided them, a majority of the people -would probably have believed it without question. Perhaps one reason why -more mediums, and such, are not exposed and arrested, is because there -is something grew-some and awe-inspiring in the thought that possibly -the on-looker is in the presence of the inhabitants of another world; -or, perhaps the feeling of sadness, or of the sacredness of the -occasion, shuts off all sentiments of revenge, however doubtful he may -be of the genuineness of the exhibition. The fact that one by one -practically all the great mediums have been exposed, seems to make no -difference, because in our anxiety to learn if there is not some -possible way to get news of the departed loved ones, we reason that -because one, or a dozen, imposters have been exposed, this particular -one may be genuine, and that there may possibly be something in it after all.</p> - -<p>Why is it that so many are willing to attribute<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> occult powers to all -magicians who perform inexplicable tricks? There is scarcely a person -who cannot do one or more card tricks which will puzzle the most astute -observer, but we do not marvel because we know that they are merely -tricks; but let the trickster once announce that he is a mind-reader or -a hypnotist, and three out of every five will accept the statement as -truth and not seek further to disprove it. Thus, we are taught that -credulity is a disease with which most persons are afflicted, and that -it is very easy to fool the best of us. Those who are so weak as to -accept every mystery as a manifestation of supernatural power, should -obtain one of the many books which can be had at any library, and make a -study of the art of legerdemain. Then, when attending a spiritualistic -seance, or a slate-writing exposition, the student will be able readily -to detect the fraud and to duplicate it for the amusement of his own friends.</p> - -<p>If every investigator would, before going to a seance, buy one or more -of the books, which are on sale at every bookstore, showing how the -various stage tricks are done, there would not be many spiritualists in -the world. These books sharpen the wits, and while they may not give the -precise methods adopted by the medium to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> be visited, they will show how -easy it is to deceive the eye and to fool the best of us.</p> - -<p>Much has been said of the wonderful tricks of the fakirs in India, -particularly of the Great Mango Trick, and all kinds of supernatural -powers have been ascribed to these clever people. In these exhibitions, -the fakirs take a seed and a pile of sand, and make a Mango tree grow, -in a few minutes, to the height of three or four feet. The secret lies -in the fact that the leaves and twigs of the Mango are such that they -can be folded into a very small compass and rolled up within the hollow -seed, so that when they are unrolled they do not show the slightest -crease. The fakir covers the whole with a cloth, and operates beneath -it, piling the dirt around it, and exhibiting the building tree -occasionally to his astonished audience. Baldwin, "The White Mahatma," -has exposed this and many others of the Indian tricks, in his book, "The -Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained."</p> - -<p>Slate-writing tricks are done in a hundred different ways. Some -operators carry a tiny point of pencil under their thumb nail, some have -chemical compounds which render writing invisible until heated, or -moistened, and some have duplicate slates. The messages they write are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> -obtained in various ways, often by means of accomplices, and still -oftener by guess-work.</p> - -<p>Some mediums have a regular detective force who make it a business to -get acquainted with all susceptible persons, or prospective customers, -and after getting a history of these persons, they convey it to the -medium, who only has to await the coming of the victims to be able to -make startling revelations.</p> - -<p>The mind readers also operate largely by means of confederates, and most -of the theatrical performers have clever trappings. One of these was -exposed recently in a Long Island village, when it was discovered that -the operator had several telephone wires running under the floor of the -theatre, from the rear of the stage. In another instance, it was found -that the sheets of cardboard, which were passed around for the audience -to rest their papers upon, were sensitized so that when they were -collected and subjected to chemical treatment they would make visible -the writing that had been done over them. The questions asked were -communicated to the operator by an accomplice in the wings. Another -method, adopted by those who claim to read the numbers in watch cases, -and to tell the numbers on banknotes, is that of a code of signals sent -to the operator by a confederate in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>audience. These codes are -sometimes composed of words, and sometimes of gestures and signals.</p> - -<p>One noted spiritualist claimed to be able to put the subject under a -spirit influence and give him superhuman strength. For instance, the -subject would support his feet on two little stools, and his hands upon -two others, each pair of stools being about five feet apart, and he -would then arch his body upward, in the form of a bridge. A heavy anvil -was then placed upon his abdomen, and the operator would take a huge -sledge hammer and beat a piece of red hot iron into a horseshoe. This -was only an experiment in inertia, and the heavy blows were hardly felt -by the man below, the effect of them being almost absorbed by the large -mass of iron. It was also noticed that when heavy weights were lifted at -arm's length, they were so arranged as to lie along the forearm, this -position being more graceful and about fifty per cent. easier. Leather -straps were broken around the chest, and this was done by means of a -sharp tongue to the buckle, filed to an edge, which cut the strap with -slight pressure. (The audience eagerly examined the strap in advance, -but never thought of examining the buckle.) Heavy Jack-chains were also -broken by the subject, but these chains all contained one weak link, of -unwelded soft iron,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> which would stretch out when pulled in a certain -direction. Pennies were broken with ease, but these were, of course, -prepared in advance, by placing them in a vice and working them back and -forth many times until they became soft in the middle.</p> - -<p>Innumerable tricks are done by means of cans and other vessels -containing false bottoms, or several compartments, and every stage where -magicians perform contains various trap doors in the floor, mirrors, and -other illusions. A modern scheme is to have two rows of blinding lights, -before a black background, so that the audience cannot see the -machinery. By this contrivance, figures on the stage are made to float -in the air, and to do all kinds of apparently impossible things. One -familiar performance has a man at a piano rise in air and revolve -rapidly, all in full view—apparently—of the audience, and another -makes a lady dance in midair, and take gigantic strides at enormous -speed. These tricks are done by means of machinery, concealed from view -by optical illusions, the lady having an iron belt about her waist which -connects with the hidden machinery in the rear.</p> - -<p>Another familiar trick is the appearance and disappearance of a person -into or from a box, basket, coffin, and so on, also in full view of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> -audience. It will usually be observed that these are placed near to the -back curtain, where it is easy for a person to enter or exit through a -secret opening, but sometimes it is done through a trapdoor in the -floor. Once I had the pleasure of assisting Hermann the Great at -"Hermann's Theatre" on Broadway, since burned down. I went to his -dressing room before the performance, and he gave me a tiny rabbit which -I concealed in my ulster pocket, and at the same time several other -confederates were given "props," such as silk hats, in which omelets -were afterwards made, and handkerchiefs with red moons in the center, -and red handkerchiefs with white moons, which were afterwards used in -the performance by Hermann who cut a circle out of the middle of a white -handkerchief and one from a red handkerchief, and afterwards produced -out of the audience the handkerchiefs aforesaid, much to the wonderment -of the audience. The rabbit I held was the counterpart of another which -Hermann shot from a pistol on the stage, and which was afterwards found -in my pocket, much to my apparent chagrin.</p> - -<p>The art of magic, while by no means a lost art, is not so popular now as -formerly, yet it still has a firm hold on human credulity. As Barnum -used to say, "The people love to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>humbugged." Inborn in us is that -love of the marvelous which caused our ancestors to believe in -astrology, sorcery and witchcraft. The stage magician is well aware of -this, and as the old tricks become familiar to their audiences, they -soon discover new methods to satisfy this natural propensity to crave -mystery. Some good folks say that all magic is bad, in that it is deceit -and treachery; but this seems rather a lame argument when it is -remembered that the magician practically tells his audience that he is -going to fool them, and that he is merely matching his dexterity against -their quickness of perception. The real harm and danger comes of the -modern tricks of magic, in which the magician pretends that he is -possessed of some supernatural powers, such as spiritualistic -manifestations, clairvoyance, mind reading, slate-writing, etc. If the -real truth were known, these charlatans probably reason thus: "We are -magicians, the people love to be mystified, we can no longer entertain -them with the old tricks, they are ever ready to believe that which they -cannot understand, the supernatural is always entertaining; and since we -must make a living some how, we will perform our tricks and claim that -they are of supernatural origin." There is some logic in this view, from -their viewpoint, but from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> standpoint of us who see the danger in, -and who are trying to destroy, superstition, it is a practice that -should be suppressed.</p> - -<p>In the introduction to Barnum's "Humbugs of the World," the great -showman says, "I once travelled through the Southern States in company -with a magician. The first day in each town he astonished his auditors -with his deceptions. He then announced that on the following day he -would show how each trick was performed, and how every man might thus -become a magician. That expose spoiled the legerdemain market on that -particular route, for several years. So, if we could have a full -exposure of the tricks of trade of all sorts, of humbugs and deceivers -of past times—religious, political, financial, scientific, quackish and -so forth—we might perhaps look for a somewhat wiser generation to -follow us."</p> - -<p>Thus, we could go on at great length to show how easy it is to deceive -people. It is one of the easiest things in the world to make up tricks -to fool the best of us, and all operators in occult or physic phenomena -know it. "Am I not to believe what I see with my own eyes, and hear with -my own ears?" they all say,—at least ALL who <i>want</i> to be convinced. -The answer is, "No, you are not."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Ghosts</i></h2> - -<p>One by one the great superstitions of the world are slowly but surely -disappearing. It was not long ago when we, in this new country of -enlightenment, believed in <i>witchcraft</i>, and were burning witches at the -stake; but now it would take a long hunt to find a man, woman or child -who believed in that horrible and disastrous superstition. The same is -almost true of "<i>Ghosts</i>," for that word is now used more in jest than -in earnest; but to believe in "<i>apparitions</i>" is not altogether of past -centuries, for there are still many who cling to the delusion of -supernatural appearances. The modern way of putting it is "<i>Spirits</i>."</p> - -<p>Authors, poets and dramatists of all ages, sacred and profane, have made -endless allusions to supernatural appearances, not only because <i>ghosts</i> -are convenient and entertaining characters to introduce, not only -because writers naturally tried to reflect the beliefs of the periods of -which they wrote, but because they could make a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> deeper impression on -the minds of a superstitious world. Shakespeare makes fine use of the -Ghost in Hamlet and in Macbeth, just as Goethe does of Mephistopheles in -Faust. Not only is fiction and the drama full of Ghosts, but there are -hundreds of volumes in the libraries giving serious, and apparently -"well-authenticated" cases of supernatural appearances. Mrs. Crowe's -"Nightside of Nature" is probably the classic of this line of -literature—at least, it appears to be quoted more than any other. The -author of Robinson Crusoe wrote "An Essay on the History and Reality of -Apparitions; being an account of what they are and what they are not, -when they come and when they come not; as also how we may distinguish -between apparitions of Good and Evil Spirits, and how we ought to behave -to them; with a variety of surprising and diverting examples never -published before."</p> - -<p>I have frequently been asked by believing friends, "How do you account -for this?"—following with, perchance, an elaborate account of what the -aunt's mother's sister's nephew once saw. My answer has always been, and -still is, to those friends, to Mrs. Crowe, Daniel DeFoe and all others, -"I cannot account for what somebody else saw, says he saw, or thinks he -saw;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> but let me see it and I will guarantee to give you a reasonable -explanation." John Ruskin says somewhere that the greatest thing in this -world is to see something and to be able to tell simply and accurately -just what you saw, <i>and nothing else</i>. There is the secret! I remember -the first time I saw Hermann the Great, and how I went home and told -everybody about the wonderful trick he had performed. Of course, nobody -could tell me how it was done, for, from the way I described it, it was -an impossibility. Sometime later I had occasion to meet Mr. Hermann in -his dressing room, and I then learned how the trick was done. How -simple! I had been duped and deceived. My eyes had not seen aright. How -different was the story I had told, from the story Hermann told!</p> - -<p>I have often thought, if Hermann had been in the <i>Ghost</i> business, what -harm could he not have done!</p> - -<p>We all know what becomes of the bodies and clothing of the dead. Of this -there can be no doubt. What becomes of the soul, the spirit, nobody -knows. Assuming that this does not die, which seems probable, we know -that it cannot again live within the same body and apparel, for that is -destroyed. To assume that the spirit procures a new and similar body and -clothing, is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> to assume the existence of material, physical matter in -the spiritual world. Does it not require quite a stretch of a -sacrilegious imagination to picture a clothing factory in the spiritual -world? And yet, we are told that ghosts appear "in the very clothes they -used to wear." Mrs. Bargrave "took hold of Mrs. Veal's gown several -times" and recognized the velvet. (Drelincourt on Death, 1700). We are -also told of "rustling of silk," "creaking of shoes" and "sounds of -footsteps" (Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World, Owen).</p> - -<p>Even the voice is recognized, although the various organs that produced -the original voice on earth have long since perished. We all seem to -have a notion that ghosts should be light, thin and airy, but, it seems, -there must be fat <i>ghosts</i>, too. I remember at least one fat ghost, for -I yanked it into my lap in the middle of a highly interesting seance at -Mrs. Calder's, a famous <i>Ghost</i> producer who once thrived in New York. -The ghost was alleged to be a famous Plymouth church preacher whose name -is too revered to be mentioned in this connection.</p> - -<p>Some Ghosts have even appeared in iron armour, and some with walking -sticks, swords or shovels. People have heard, seen and felt all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> -these—the word <i>felt</i> might be used in a double sense here, because one -vicious <i>ghost</i> is said to have delighted in thumping his hosts with a -cane—so it can be assumed that such material things as clothing, armour -and canes are to be had in the other world. And yet, <i>ghosts</i> are -transparent! You can see right through them. They disappear through a -stone wall, through a carpeted, oaken floor, and through a locked and -bolted door. You can shoot at them, run them through with a sword, and -you touch nothing.</p> - -<p>Again, the same <i>Ghost</i> frequently appears in many places at one and the -same time. DeFoe tells of the burglars who found the same <i>ghost</i> in a -chair in every room in the house at the same moment. Still again, we -have "well-authenticated" cases of beggar Ghosts in rags, of one-armed -Ghosts, beheaded Ghosts, blind Ghosts, hungry Ghosts, thirsty Ghosts, -worried, tormented and unhappy Ghosts, and wicked, revengeful Ghosts. -Is, then, the spirit world (heaven), no improvement on our own world? -Mr. Kardec once asserted that we are surrounded by "myriads of -spirits—good, bad and indifferent," which quite alarmed the author of -"Mary Jane," who feared accidents might happen among such a crowd of -<i>spirits</i>. Mr. Baker,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> it was, who set the author at ease, by explaining -that "the <i>spirits</i> can walk through one another and not feel it."</p> - -<p>It is a wonder that, in a world so full of humbuggers, -get-rich-quicksters, fakirs and delusionists, greater effort has been -made to profit by the greatest of all passions. For every human weakness -we have a gold seeker, be it a Barnum, Munyon, a Lydia Pinkham, a 520% -Miller, a Dowie, a Dis de Bar, or a Sister Fox. Some want to be tall, -some short, some fat, some thin, some rich, some healthy, some -beautiful, etc., etc., and there is always an army of fakirs, honest, -semi-honest and otherwise, ready to make them so for a monetary -consideration payable in advance. But, the greatest distress, the -greatest passion, the greatest longing and yearning, is for the dead. -What a tremendous army is the army of the mourners! What a gold mine to -the man who can bring the mourner and the departed together! <i>Ghost</i> -makers do not necessarily mean to defraud, nor do they always perform -for money. There are good and bad, as in all else, and they sometimes -fool themselves in their efforts to fool others. The <i>Imagination</i> is a -wonderful organism. It is the greatest machine on earth, because it can -do the greatest things. But,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> beware of it—it is not to be trusted; it -will expand your credulity, undermine your reason, and give you a taste -of the delirium tremens—which makes you see things!</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Strikes, Profiteering and the High<br />Cost of Living</i></h2> - -<p class="center"><i>Being an Argument in Favor of Industrialized Government</i></p> - -<h3>PART I.</h3> - -<p class="center">THE A. B. C. OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.</p> - -<p class="center">(<i>Simplified for the Uninitiated.</i>)</p> - -<p>The one great desire uppermost in the minds of men is to get the -greatest good from the earth, the source of all wealth, with the least -possible labor and effort. In the so-doing, both experience and reason -teach that economy is the watchword. It is the life blood of -civilization—the essence of industrial prosperity. The basis of all -philosophy is "I want," and in the pursuit of happiness and contentment, -economy must be the watchword.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> - -<p>WASTE.</p> - -<p>The destruction of the smallest useful atom is an injury to every living -person; and the more useful the atom, the greater the injury. A great -fire, a flood, a devastating cyclone, is not only a calamity to those -immediately affected, but it is a universal loss; for, the great human -family is just so much poorer, the world's progress has been retarded, -and our onward march toward the perfect civilization has been checked. -Likewise, every stroke of labor that does not go toward making the world -better or richer is wasted energy. The man who insists on making shoes, -or raising wheat, or digging coal, when he is mentally, physically and -by nature ill-adapted to that calling, is a drone and a burden upon -society. He is wasting energy and impeding the general progress, because -he is doing something which others could do better or quicker, and he is -therefore the cause of misplacing two persons in unproductive and -unnatural callings.</p> - -<p>MACHINES.</p> - -<p>The labor saving machine is the personification of economy. It, and all -great inventions, are welcomed by civilization as great economizers of -the world's work. It is wasted energy for man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> to do by hand that which -a machine can do as well and in less time. The machine economizes -production and therefore lightens and lessens the toil of the human -family. Ten men in a shop or industry, each assigned to that branch of -the business to which he is best adapted, form a combination for economy -identical with a machine. If a linotype machine, operated by one man, -can do the work of say five type-setters, the world is richer to the -extent of about what four men could create in other -vocations,—allowances being made for the labor required to make the -machine itself.</p> - -<p>DEPENDENCE.</p> - -<p>A person can no longer make his own hat, coat, shoes and house, and -raise his own vegetables, as Crusoe did. Ten thousand men are -co-operating to give him his shoes alone. There are the men who kill the -animal which provides the hide, the men who carry it to the jobber, the -men who strip it, the men who cure and tan it, the men who pack it, load -it on the trucks, put it on the cars, unload it, carry it to the leather -merchant, and the innumerable clerks, bookkeepers, advertisers and -stenographers who help sell it to the shoe manufacturer, the additional<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> -transportation, the endless variety of hands it passes through in the -factory, and the countless hands that handle the finished shoe before it -reaches the consumer; and then,—the telegraph's part in the manufacture -or sale or transportation of that shoe, and the mails and the -advertising, each employing thousands. Even the linen thread used in the -shoe has a similar history; likewise the pegs, the needles, the -machines, the cloth lining and the metal eyelets. And the shoe is a -small part of a man's necessaries. What does all this show? The -inter-dependence of men, one upon the other.</p> - -<p>CO-OPERATION.</p> - -<p>We have come to that stage of human progress when we could not return to -the Crusoe method if we desired. We must depend upon our brothers in -distant parts. A vast industrial machine has been created, of which each -member of the human family forms a part. A must look to B for his shoes, -B must look to C for his meat, C must look to D for his coal, and all -must look to one another for every needed thing. Even the savages in -distant lands are at work procuring ivory and other commodities for us -while we are creating suitable articles for them, and thus the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> human -family are co-operating together for the common good.</p> - -<p>If this system of co-operation or trade is not interfered with by -unnatural and artificial devices, every man will sooner or later find -his level and bend his energies in that calling to which he is best -fitted by nature, education, training, and environment. A natural law is -at work. To interfere with it is to divert commerce from its natural -channels and cause friction in the great industrial machine. The machine -needs no oiling or mending; it simply requires direction. It develops, -expands and lubricates as it runs. It is not revolution that wears out a -machine; it is friction.</p> - -<p>COMBINATION.</p> - -<p>Two or more persons can enjoy the heat of one stove, or the light of one -lamp, or the shelter of one roof, as well as one person, and without -depriving anyone of an equal quantity thereof. A printer can produce -1,000 circulars with but little more cost than 50. A truck or car can -carry tons with but little more expense than pounds. Two fish can be -fried in one pan as well as one. A professor can teach a class of 500 as -well as of five. Hence the advantages of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> combination and co-operation, -and hence the uneconomy of individual isolation. How much wiser for -Crusoe to take Friday in his household and divide their labors, each -doing that which best suits him, using,—so to speak—only one stove, -one lamp and one frying-pan.</p> - -<p>Suppose at Christmas a man has 100 presents to distribute in various -localities. A messenger for each of the 100 presents would mean an -expense of say $50 and much wasted energy. A single messenger could so -systemize the work, by mapping out the shortest routes, that he could -accomplish the work in far less time, comparatively, than the 100 -messengers, and his bill would be only about $5. Now, suppose the man -should ascertain that each of his 199 neighbors in the block also had -100 presents to deliver. That would make 20,000 presents in all. If each -man should employ a separate messenger it would cost about $1,000. One -messenger would go to First street and leave a package (little knowing -that another messenger was to deliver a package at perhaps the very next -door), thence to—say Nineteenth street, thence to a distant section of -the city, thence to still another district, and so on. Each of the 200 -messengers would have the same long journey to make, wearing out his -shoe leather, making the cars do <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>useless work, and wearing and wasting -his own energy. But suppose the 200 neighbors should combine and -co-operate. They would soon find that about five messengers could -deliver their 20,000 presents in about the same time that 200 could; -and, at $5 each, or $25 in all, with a saving of $975 to themselves. -Mapping out the city in five districts and assigning one messenger to -each, they would probably find that many presents were to be delivered -in adjoining houses, and some to different residents of the same house. -Witness the many steps that have been saved, and the time, and the labor -of 95 men who have thus been freed to work in some productive vocation.</p> - -<p>Method and system are parents of economy. They allay waste, eliminate -useless labor, and lighten and lessen the toil of the human family.</p> - -<p>ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION.</p> - -<p>Some morning at break of dawn witness the confusion in the simple -industry of delivering milk. A wagon rattles up to your door and leaves -a bottle of milk. It clatters down the street and leaves a bottle to a -neighbor in the next block. Then it turns down the avenue and leaves a -bottle several blocks away, and thence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> perhaps to a distant section. -But watch, and you behold another wagon coming. It stops at the next -house to yours and deposits a bottle on the window-sill, then dashes -down the block and leaves a bottle at some distant house, then to a -house perhaps several blocks away, and so on until it has covered, in -spots, a large territory. Soon, a third wagon appears and leaves a -bottle at the second house from yours, and then dashes away to distant -parts to cover its route.</p> - -<p>And so on until nearly 200 different wagons, or grocer clerks, have -visited the 200 houses in your block to deliver 200 separate bottle of -milk. In every block the same scene is being enacted. Remember that -every employer has horses, wagons, harness, drivers, a store, books, a -cashier, advertising, fuel, light, and a plant to maintain.</p> - -<p><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>Now compare the unsystemized milk delivery with the scientific, -methodical system of delivering the mail. The letter-carrier leaves a -letter or paper at your door, hurries on to the next house, then to the -next and the next; then, he does likewise on the other side of the -street until nearly every house in the block is visited; then he -proceeds to the next block and continues his systematic, economical -labors; and so on until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> he approaches the line where another carrier -has been doing likewise in the adjoining district.</p> - -<p>Suppose mail should be delivered in the unorganized, unmethodic manner -that milk is delivered; it would require many times as many carriers to -do it, and this additional work would be just as useless and wasteful to -the world as if they were employed to dig holes in the earth only to -fill them up again. If the milk business were to be organized similar to -the letter-carrying business what an enormous amount of wasted energy -and labor would be saved. What an immense amount of useful and -wealth-creating work could those now useless extra milkmen perform in -other callings.</p> - -<p>THE FUTURE.</p> - -<p>The question is asked: Will all of the milk dealers one day combine and -form a Trust? And should they? My answer is, Yes. Competition will -perhaps drive them to it; but if it does not, some day they will see the -advantages and benefits of such a combination and they will wisely -follow the example of the oil and steel magnates. If they never see it, -then some of the larger and wiser milk dealers will, and they will -perhaps enlist sufficient capital to control the market by buying up the -milk supply at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> farms, thus driving the smaller dealers out of the -business or into the Trust.</p> - -<p>What is true in the milk business is also true of nearly every other -similar business, and that is the condition which this country has to -face in the near future.</p> - -<p>PARTNERSHIP.</p> - -<p>A is engaged in the manufacture of shoes. B is a rival. They sell a -certain shoe for $3. Each has a separate plant to maintain; a -bookkeeper; a delivery wagon; and fuel, light, rent and advertising -bills to pay. After a while A and B form a partnership under one roof, -with only one delivery wagon, one bookkeeper, etc. With this great -saving in expenses they find that they can produce as many shoes with -the one enlarged plant as the two old plants produced and at much less -cost. They can now pay a little higher wages, make a little more profit -and still reduce the price of their shoes to, say, $2.90. C now comes to -town and opens a rival establishment. He has difficulty in producing as -good a shoe for $2.90 as does the firm of A & B, but he competes for a -while until D comes to town and starts another shoe factory. Then C and -D join their plants into one and the two firms go on competing, each -spending large sums in advertising,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> etc. Finally they all get together -and combine the several plants into one. They build an extension on A -and B's building and move C and D's machinery therein. The new firm of -A, B, C & D now have a large plant. Where formerly the individual -manufacturers employed say six bookkeepers, they can now get along with -but two. Where they once had ten delivery wagons they now require but -two or three, because of the systemized routes mapped out. Instead of -each manufacturer spending $10,000 a year for advertising, or $40,000 in -all, the new firm now spends only say $15,000. The saving and economy is -so great in nearly everything, that they can now pay still higher wages, -make still greater profit and sell their shoes for perhaps $2.75—if -they want to. Thus everybody is benefited by the enlarged partnership -except those who have been thrown out of employment, and they shall -presently be taken care of as we proceed.</p> - -<p>Now, if four men by combining and forming a partnership can reduce the -price of shoes from $3.00 to $2.75 and pay higher wages and make more -profit than if they were operating separate plants, how great must be -the advantages of 100 or 1,000 men and plants combining into a -partnership. This would be a Trust. If two men can use the light of one -lamp or the heat of one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> radiator without one depriving the other of any -light and heat, so can 100 men do likewise, provided there is enough -light and heat to go around, and on this simple principle is the great -Trust founded. It economizes; it eliminates useless energy; it allays -waste; it saves. Our letters are delivered by the Trust system; our milk -is delivered by the old system of individual enterprise and is -inconsistent with modern civilization.</p> - -<p>ORGANIZATION.</p> - -<p>If the industries were not organized, if Trusts and Combinations were -unknown, if there were no corporations and no partnerships and -everything was carried on by individual units, what would be our -industrial condition? What an enormous amount of waste would there be -and what a colossal volume of extra work would the human family have to -perform to produce what we now have!</p> - -<p>Organization is the key-note of the century. "Individual Enterprise" is -a relic of past ages. A partnership of two or more is organization on a -small scale. A corporation is practically a combination of two or more -partnerships, or an enlarged legalized partnership. A Trust then is -simply an organization of several smaller organizations. The greater and -more perfect the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>organization, the greater the economy. The greater the -economy the lower will be the cost of production, and the smaller will -be the amount of work to be performed and, likewise, the cheaper will be -the article—if! (See later).</p> - -<p>ADVERTISING.</p> - -<p>Most advertising is wasted energy. One of its purposes is to take trade -from another and bring it to itself,—a snare set by A to attract B's -customers. It creates nothing, and is only useful as a means of -communication or notification, and it imposes an unnecessarily heavy -burden upon the human family. While it does give employment, it is not -much more useful employment than the hiring of men to shovel dirt into -the river and then hiring them to shovel it out again. If employment is -all we seek, why not tear down the public buildings and then hire men to -build them up again? (The question of employment for labor will be dealt -with elsewhere.)</p> - -<p>This illustration is not intended to discourage advertising, for -advertising has its uses, and under present conditions is almost -synonymous with success. But suppose, for example, there were 100 -telephone companies in New York instead of one. The competition would be -bitter. Prices would come down to the lowest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>competitive margin. But, -as prices and profits came down, so would wages. The rivalry would -encourage dishonesty, hatred and envy, and result in various -impositions, such as compelling every subscriber to have several -'phones.</p> - -<p>Each company would have the expense of maintaining a separate plant, -with its small army of employees, and wires strung over the city like a -mosquito netting, and each would be spending large sums in advertising -which would finally be paid by the consumers.</p> - -<p>Now, contrast this unorganized confusion with the present single system -with its one small advertising bill to pay, one system of wires, one set -of canvassers and other employees, one engine room, one president, etc. -Has not the burden of the world's work been lightened and lessened by -this combination and organization?</p> - -<p>THE WORLD'S WORK.</p> - -<p>Given a population of 80,000,000 of which say 20,000,000 are working -people, and given a certain amount of work required to provide the -80,000,000 people with food, clothes, shelter and the numerous minor -conveniences,—how many hours a day must these 20,000,000 working-people -labor to produce what we now produce, under the old unorganized system -of individual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> enterprise? If there were 100 telephone companies in New -York instead of one, here at once we require about ten times as many men -in this single industry as are now required, and these hundreds of -thousands of men required to operate the 100 telephone companies must be -taken away from other industries. And so on, throughout all the trades, -professions, factories and industries.</p> - -<p>If the average day's work is now ten hours, and all those who want to -work are now employed, and only one-half of the industries are now -organized into Trusts, what would be the result if all the other -industries were organized into Trusts? First, there would not be so much -work to do, owing to the great saving and economy of combination as -before explained; and second, several hundred thousand workers who are -now employed would be thrown out of employment. Here we arrive at an -apparent obstacle. One of two things must be done; either the great -unemployed must leave the country, or be supported in idleness, or die -of starvation, or, <i>the hours of work must be reduced</i>! If 20,000,000 -can do the required work, working ten hours a day, with half the -industries unorganized, and if organization (Trusts) would throw say -5,000,000 out of employment, then we must <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span><i>reduce the hours of daily -work</i> so as to give the 5,000,000 employment!</p> - -<p>If the hours were reduced to say six, the remaining 15,000,000 could not -do all the work in that time, and the 5,000,000 unemployed must be -called in to help. A demand for the labor of the 5,000,000 would at once -be created. Everybody would then be employed. Every industry would be -organized. Useless work and wasted energy would be eliminated. Everybody -would have shorter hours of work. The uneducated would have more time to -study and develop. The arts would then be generously patronized. Paupers -would disappear. Wealth would multiply. Ignorance and drunkenness would -have received their death-blow, because their father—Poverty—would -have been destroyed. But hold,—other difficulties present themselves: -Who would compel the organized industries (Trusts) to reduce the hours -of work? What would prevent them charging exorbitant prices? Who or what -would prevent the captains of industry filling their own pockets and -keeping the great profits to themselves? Who or what would prevent the -rich from growing richer, and the poor poorer?</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p><p>SYNOPSIS.</p> - -<p>The informed reader might well have passed over the preceding pages, for -they are purely rudimentary; but if he has been kind and patient enough -to follow me thus far, so much the better, for he has refreshed his -memory and will be more ready to grasp that which is to follow.</p> - -<p>Before proceeding let me recite in synopsis these important truths which -I have already illustrated:</p> - -<div class="box"> -<table summary="Economy"> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="left">1. <span class="smcap">Economy.</span>—We desire to get the greatest good from mother earth -with the least possible labor.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="left"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">2. <span class="smcap">Waste.</span>—The destruction of every useful atom.</td> - <td class="left">}</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">Every useless stroke of work.</td> - <td class="left">} Is a loss to all the world</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">For 100 men to do what 10 men could do.</td> - <td class="left">}</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="left"> </td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="left">3. <span class="smcap">Employment.</span>—We should not aim simply to give men employment. We -must aim to make them useful—not merely laborious. To dig holes -and then fill them up is employment, but it is not useful. So is -all that work useless and wasteful which fewer men could do better -or quicker under the Trust or Combination system.</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="left"> </td> - </tr> -</table> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTE:</h3> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> This chapter, in fact all of part I, was written in 1903, -and published and copyrighted in 1906. Note what has taken place since -then.</p></div></div> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> - -<h3>PART II.</h3> - -<p class="center">A SUMMARY AND EXPOSITION OF THE PRECEDING PAGES.</p> - -<p>Having familiarized ourselves with the elementary truths concerning the -Trust principle, we have now arrived at that point where we may begin to -shape an intelligent argument, but before so doing, let us summarize. -Perhaps we may now be able briefly to set forth the more important -features of the Trust or Combination.</p> - -<p>GOOD QUALITIES OF THE TRUST.</p> - -<blockquote><p>1. It eliminates useless labor and energy.</p> - -<p>2. It allays waste.</p> - -<p>3. It economizes and reduces to the minimum the cost of production.</p> - -<p>4. It reduces the world's work.</p> - -<p>5. It tends to lessen the hours of labor.</p> - -<p>6. It makes it possible to raise wages.</p> - -<p>7. It makes it possible to lower the prices of commodities, and -thus reduce the cost of living.</p> - -<p>8. It operates in harmony with the law of natural selection.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p><p>9. It destroys wasteful competition, and economizes by eliminating -the useless and the unfit.</p> - -<p>10. It includes all of the advantages of co-operation without -altogether destroying the advantages arising out of the natural -instincts of rivalry, contest and emulation.</p></blockquote> - -<p>EVIL QUALITIES OF THE TRUST.</p> - -<blockquote><p>1. It throws large numbers out of employment.</p> - -<p>2. It destroys many small dealers, jobbers and middlemen.</p> - -<p>3. It tends to create monopoly in private hands.</p> - -<p>4. It creates power in private hands arbitrarily to fix exorbitant -prices, to lower wages and to control the market.</p> - -<p>5. It tends to create great wealth for the few at the expense of -the many, widens the chasm between the rich and the poor, and -causes concentration of wealth.</p></blockquote> - -<p>BALANCING ACCOUNTS.</p> - -<p>We have, then, in the Trust, an immense commercial giant which is both -good and bad at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> same time. If one had a fine thoroughbred horse -which balked, or shied, or kicked, should we destroy it because of these -evil qualities, forgetting that it also has an equal percentage of good -qualities? Or, should we try to cure it of its faults by training it to -do our bidding? We do not condemn and destroy a great machine because it -has a defective part, but we rather seek to remedy the defect.</p> - -<p>The Trust is doing a wonderful work for the world. Like improved -machinery, it is lightening and lessening the toil of the human family, -and at the same time it is working a great injury. Labor-saving -machinery is also working injury, in that it is making large numbers of -men idle, but this is not sufficient reason to destroy it. Machinery and -Trusts are brothers. To be consistent, if we destroy the one we must -destroy the other. Before contemplating destruction of the Trust, let us -see if we cannot find some way to train and to harness it, like the -horse, so that it will be useful and beneficial. Let us try to devise a -method whereby the good qualities of the Trust can be preserved and the -evil qualities eliminated.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> - -<h3>PART III.</h3> - -<p class="center">FALLACY OF THE GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP IDEA.</p> - -<p>The doctrine of socialism, which may be defined as government ownership -and operation of the means of production, is attractive. Some of our -ablest men are numbered among its exponents, and the political parties -which advocate socialism, in whole or in part, are growing rapidly.</p> - -<p>The theory of socialism is so beautiful and may be so cleverly stated -that very few indeed have the acumen to withstand its assaults upon the -reason, particularly when only one side of the question is heard. The -great mass of our people have refused to accept it, not because they -believe it unsound, but because they either do not understand it or are -prejudiced and believe it to be some destructive, lawless scheme of the -discontented.</p> - -<p>The recent coal and railroad strikes, had they long continued and -assumed really alarming proportions, would have furnished an almost -unanswerable argument in favor of the government ownership idea; and a -repetition in these or in some other important industry would perhaps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> -so drive home the conviction that socialism was the only remedy, that -for all we could do the elections would be carried by the party -advocating those measures, and our present form of government -overthrown.</p> - -<p>The superficial thinker, upon reading the foregoing pages, will probably -arrive at one or two conclusions as to the Trust; either it must be -destroyed or it must be taken over by the government. The more -thoughtful will conclude that it would not be wise or expedient, even if -possible, to destroy the Trust, and his next thought will be in the -direction of public ownership. He will say that if the government can -operate the Post Office system so successfully it ought to be able to -operate the coal mines, the oil fields, the factories and the railroads, -just as the cities operate their water works, police department, and in -many cases their railroads and gas plants. If he be not too thorough in -his reasoning he will conclude that if the government operated the -Trusts, all their evil qualities would be eliminated and their good -qualities saved. It is a convenient conclusion, yet it is unsound as I -shall presently proceed briefly to show.</p> - -<p>COMPETITION.</p> - -<p>Some writer has said, "Competition gluts our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> markets, enables the rich -to take advantage of the necessities of the poor, makes each man snatch -the bread out of his neighbor's mouth, converts a nation of brethren -into a mass of hostile, isolated units, and finally involves capital and -labor in one common ruin."</p> - -<p>Successful competition denies competition, because the successful -competitor must destroy his rival, before he can be successful. -Competition is the antithesis of co-operation. The one means isolated -units, the other an organized combination of units. The Trust method of -co-operation, however, while it destroys competition among industries, -<i>does not destroy competition among men</i>. Here lies an important -distinction which will develop as we proceed.</p> - -<p>INSTINCTS.</p> - -<p>Contest and rivalry are inherent instincts in all living things,—in -vegetable and animal life alike, and this struggle for existence -determines which shall survive. The law of survival of the fittest -determines which plant, which animal and which man shall succeed. All -these are struggling among themselves for supremacy and nature is the -supreme arbitrator of the contest. The law of natural selection cannot -be overcome. It is as fixed and immutable as the law of gravitation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> -Men are not born equal. Nature never duplicates, and never creates two -things alike. Men are unequal and different in nature, in stature, -intellect, frugality, desire, industry, perseverance, hardiness and -strength. A wise Creator hath made it so.</p> - -<p>Were all men alike they would all want the same thing—to do the same -thing, to create the same thing, and to consume the same thing—which -would result in chaotic confusion. Again, the inequality of conditions -has been one of Nature's greatest and most useful expedients in -developing and perfecting the race. To assume an equality among men is -to assume that which is impossible and that which would be unwise. It -has ever been the struggle for existence which has urged men to move -onward with vigorous, earnest and persistent effort. The desire to -surpass, to outshine, his fellows has always been and will ever be a -potent factor in his development, and when this rivalry is exerted in -the struggle for the means of sustenance then does this desire develop -into the power that moves the world. Emulation, that milder form of -competition, is that which may be said to have for its object of -attainment the applause and approval of our fellows. It has no influence -in the struggle for bread. The primary desire to sustain life and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> -perpetuate the species is the inherent instinct that gives power to the -secondary desire to excel or emulate a rival, and hence bread is the one -great objective point. Take away the necessity to struggle for food, -clothing and shelter, and you destroy that dynamic power that moves the world.</p> - -<p>PUBLIC OWNERSHIP.</p> - -<p>If contest and rivalry are inherent instincts, and if the struggle for -existence brings out men's best efforts, then, any system which destroys -the opportunity for the free exercise of these instincts in such a -struggle is at cross purposes with the basic principles of human nature, -and is therefore unsound and unscientific.</p> - -<p>Socialism presupposes the government's taking over and operating of -every farm, factory, railroad, mine, telegraph, trade and industry. The -Goulds, the Rockefellers, the Morgans and the Schwabs must then seek -government positions with a fixed wage not to exceed the wages of their -inferior officers and workmen. If they were then to exercise their -marvellous organizing powers, it would no longer be the fear of poverty -which now inspires them. They would know that they could no longer -aspire to excel their fellows in wealth and social position, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> there -would no longer be a struggle for existence.</p> - -<p>Existence would be for everybody alike who is willing to labor a few -hours a day. Food, clothes and shelter would be in abundance for the -rich and poor, regardless of one's abilities or attainments. The one -great incentive that has always moved men to labor with energy, -enthusiasm and persistence will have vanished. The world would soon go -to sleep.</p> - -<p>OBJECTIONS TO SOCIALISM.</p> - -<p>1. It would create an enormous and dangerous power for the party in -control, and would probably perpetuate its control over every industry -in the land.</p> - -<p>2. It would destroy the instincts of rivalry, contest and competition -for the necessaries of life, and that desire to excel and surpass our -fellows, which instincts now move the world.</p> - -<p>3. It removes the incentives to progress by eliminating the -opportunities to acquire individual affluence and social superiority.</p> - -<p>4. It would result in stagnation of business.</p> - -<p>5. It would cause deterioration in human character because of the -removal of the incentive which makes men strive to better themselves -mentally, morally and intellectually.</p> - -<p>6. It is unscientific in that it does not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>comprehend the great -inequality of men and the necessity for the inequality of conditions.</p> - -<p>7. It does not rest upon the fundamental law of natural selection, -because it diverts men from their natural callings, since it is the -struggle for existence only that determines which is fit to survive, and -which is best fitted for certain work.</p> - -<p>8. It is impossible of attainment except by confiscation without just -compensation to the owners of the enterprises confiscated, and to this, -modern civilization would never consent.</p> - -<p>9. It would create an industrial machine so colossal, so complicated and -so complex that it would be entirely unmanageable.</p> - -<p>10. It would result in chaos and confusion because of the assumed -equality of very great inequalities.</p> - -<p>ARGUMENTS FOR SOCIALISM.</p> - -<p>There is much in socialism that is good and true. In fact, it may be -that it is nine-tenths true; but the other one-tenth is fatal—it -outweighs the other nine-tenths.</p> - -<p>I have heretofore in my public life, and could now, set forth many -convincing arguments in favor of the government ownership idea. If I did -so now it would necessitate answering them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> by repeating and enlarging -upon that which I have just set forth, which is not the purpose of this -essay. In my opinion there has been no argument for socialism yet -produced that can overcome the force of the foregoing truths.</p> - -<p>As times and conditions change, so do opinions, and thus has it been -with the writer. Change is the only thing that is constant—strange -paradox—and mutability is the one immutable law of the universe.</p> - -<h3>PART IV.</h3> - -<p class="center">CAUSES OF MONOPOLY.</p> - -<p>Most people agree that the Trust is the result of an evolutionary -development. If this be true, it is quite certain that the movement will -continue and that the Trusts will multiply in number and in size, and -thus even greater injury will be wrought than is now complained of, and -the problem will become the more complex and the more pressing for -solution. If the Trust is the result of a natural movement it is idle to -talk of such manifestly inadequate suggestions as tariff revision, -government ownership, the single tax, and publicity as Trust destroyers; -for, if it is natural, the Trusts will grow and thrive in spite of -these. But, should we listen for a moment to those who seek to -exterminate the Trust?</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> - -<p>OBJECTIONS TO DESTROYING THE TRUST.</p> - -<p>1. It performs the same function in civilization as improved -machinery—lightening and lessening the toil of the human family.</p> - -<p>2. It organized the industries, eliminates useless labor, allays waste -and economizes in the use of nature's materials.</p> - -<p>3. It makes less labor necessary, and therefore tends to reduce the -hours of work.</p> - -<p>4. It makes enormously greater profits, comparatively, than individual -enterprises, and therefore makes higher wages possible.</p> - -<p>5. It reduces the cost of production to the minimum and therefore makes -possible the lowest prices.</p> - -<p>6. It is impossible to destroy the Trust without legislating against the -co-operative and partnership principle, and this would be futile as well -as demoralizing.</p> - -<p>THE GREAT QUESTION.</p> - -<p>If then we are not to destroy the Trust, and if we are not to adopt the -government ownership idea, and if the Trust cannot safely be let alone -because of the injuries it is now working, and because of the still -greater injuries which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> it threatens to inflict upon society in the -future, what shall be done with it? What can be done with this -unmanageable monster to destroy its faults and yet not spoil its -virtues? How can we conquer the giant without slaying him?</p> - -<p>LOCALIZATION.</p> - -<p>One more phase of the question requires consideration before proceeding -with conclusions. In Gloversville, N. Y., and near vicinity, about -three-quarters of the inhabitants are engaged in the glove industry, and -in Troy, N. Y., the same conditions obtain as to collars and cuffs. All -over the country, we find the inhabitants of certain localities devoted -almost exclusively to one industry, such as pork-packing, manufacturing, -fishing, and mining, and even in our cities we find certain sections -devoted exclusively to banking, shipping, shopping, dry-goods, -manufacture, and commission brokerage. The people of a certain town, -having for generations devoted themselves exclusively to the manufacture -of say, bricks, have become proficient and expert in that industry. They -have invented or obtained control of the best machinery, they have -trained their children from infancy to become proficient in the -industry, and they have ever been alert to seize upon the best and -newest ideas that always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> come to those who devote their lives and -fortunes to the perfection of any one thing. Besides, natural advantages -such as water power, accessibility to navigable streams, climatic or -geological conditions, and geographical situation often attract and -confine the people of a locality to one industry. Racial limitations and -advantages also determine to some extent what calling a man shall -follow. The thick-skulled negro would not be a success in the icy -regions of Alaska, and the oily Esquimo would be a failure in the cotton -fields of the South. Again, nature has adapted certain regions to the -growing of cotton, or tobacco, or fruits, and in others it has deposited -vast quantities of coal, or iron, or oil.</p> - -<p>These, in brief, are some of the facts which render irresistible the -conclusion that localization of industries and specialization of men is -the natural and inevitable condition of the future.</p> - -<p>Now, if every locality shall in the future have its specialty and other -localities will not compete with it, as we have shown they often cannot, -then locality monopolizes that specialty.</p> - -<p>Thus the people of Gloversville will probably obtain a monopoly of the -glove industry, likewise the people of Troy of the collar and cuff -industry, the people of Wilkes-Barre of the coal industry, and the -people of Omaha, Kansas City<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> or Chicago, of the meat-packing industry, -and the people of Haverstraw of the brick industry—not only because of -their training and experience, but because of natural adaptation, or of -geological or geographical advantages.</p> - -<p>Here, then, are natural monopolies at many points, and we may as well -legislate to stop the tides from rising and falling as to resist this -natural economic movement. While not necessarily a Trust, it partakes of -the nature of the Trust in effect, and it may properly be classed with -the Trust for all present purposes.</p> - -<p>Thus, monopoly results from two known causes: the operation of the laws -of co-operation, and the operation of the laws of localization and -specialization.</p> - -<p>INTERDEPENDENCE OF MEN</p> - -<p>Since one can no longer make his own shoes alone and must summon the aid -of thousands of his fellows in this simple industry, so must he have the -assistance of many more thousands of his fellows to supply him with the -numerous other articles needed for his comfort. In exchange for their -aid he gives his own labor in his chosen calling, and thus does he and -every other man become a necessary unit in the vast universal -organization. All men and all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>industries are interdependent. Without -the steel industry, the shoe industry fails for want of nails, eyelets -and machines. Without the paper industry the steel industry fails for -want of paper, car-wheels, books, stationery, the mails and the -telegraph. Without the silk and cotton industries the glove industry -cannot thrive, and so on throughout the entire list.</p> - -<p>SOME PARTY HISTORY IN PASSING.</p> - -<p>Thomas Jefferson, the father of the present Democratic party, was an -individualist. He was opposed to the expenditure of public money in -repairing highways, to building state canals and to establishing even a -national university. He was strongly opposed to the government ownership -principle, and maintained that that government is best which governs -least. The keynote of his philosophy was "free individual enterprise."</p> - -<p>Alexander Hamilton represented the opposite school of political -philosophy. He was for concentration, and centralization of power. At -the root of the Hamiltonian theory is the belief that the people are not -competent to govern themselves,—hence the idea of ruling from above. At -the root of the Jeffersonian theory is the home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> rule principle and -absolute confidence in the wisdom of the people. The Republican party -today is somewhat consistent with the Hamiltonian philosophy, while the -Democratic party is consistent with no one theory, and is composed of an -heterogeneous collection of philosophers (?) from divers schools; but, -assuming that the Democratic party is mainly Jeffersonian, it should be -the last party seriously to suggest the government ownership idea. Yet, -if we are to follow Jefferson's "Free individual enterprise" philosophy, -we cannot consistently destroy the Trust, for that would be interfering -with free individual enterprise. The word "free" was used by Jefferson -in the sense of freedom from governmental interference. However, there -are those who claim that the Trust destroys free individual enterprise -because of special governmental favors, such as tariffs, patent and -copyright laws and legislative discrimination, which contention is more -or less well founded, and these persons therefore wish the government to -refuse these favors, claiming that then the Trust cannot exist, and that -then there will be free individual enterprise. But this appears to be an -erroneous conclusion, in view of the enormous advantages and economies -of co-operation, and by no manner of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> logical reasoning is it possible -to construct a permanent remedy from such proposed action.</p> - -<p>Briefly, there is nothing to be found in the traditions and philosophy -of either the Democratic or the Republican party, nor the various -socialist parties, to meet the situation.</p> - -<p>Whether we approve of the collectivist school of philosophy, of which -Karl Marx was the illustrious head, or of the individualistic school, of -which Proudhon was perhaps the ablest exponent, whether we are followers -of Hamilton or Jefferson, we find we must seek out a new ground or a -middle ground somewhere, for the old theories will not meet the -situation and solve the problem.</p> - -<p>There is some truth and virtue in everything that is false and evil, -just as there is some evil in everything that is good. We must discover -and appropriate the virtues of Jefferson and Proudhon, Hamilton and -Marx, and carefully discard their faults.</p> - -<h3>PART VI.</h3> - -<p class="center">A PARABLE.</p> - -<p>A family was once shipwrecked upon a large island. There were five -members of the family all able to work, and by a proper division of -their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> labor they managed to provide themselves with food, clothes, and -shelter. After a time another family was shipwrecked upon the same -island. The second family followed the example of the first, and each -prospered independently of the other. During the next year a third and -fourth family were also stranded upon the same island, for it was -unmarked on the charts and many a ship had met its fate upon its rocky -shores. As each family developed and multiplied, each having selected a -different part of the island, four little villages, some distance apart, -sprang up. During the daily hunts several other similar villages were -discovered in the interior, each representing a shipwrecked family of -previous years. As time wore on, and each village grew, and other -shiploads of people from all nations were deposited upon the island, it -came to pass that the island became quite densely inhabited, and the -villages almost touched one another at their outskirts.</p> - -<p>One day a philosopher mysteriously made his appearance; and after -touring the island, he asked all of the inhabitants to meet him in an -open field. When the appointed day came, the entire adult population was -there, and the philosopher spoke as follows:</p> - -<p>"You have a fine country here, and fine people.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> You are industrious and -simple. Each little village is independent of the other villages, for -each can provide itself with everything its people actually need. You -never ask favors from your neighboring villages. Each village has its -own corn field, its own carpenters, woods, cows, sheep, horses and -stores. But I find that you have no music, no books, no art, no places -of amusement and very little ingenuity. You all work from morn till -night and you have no time for these things. It is a constant, ceaseless -struggle for all of you to keep body and soul together. Each of you men -and women is an isolated unit. Each village is an isolated unit. You are -all isolated from the great commercial countries far beyond the seas. -Now, in travelling through your island, I found that one village had a -coal mine and all the people there used coal for fuel, while all the -other villages have to hew great trees, chop them up, and burn wood, in -order to get heat. In one village I found oil wells and the people there -burn oil, while all the other villages have to use bullrush torches. In -one village I found the soil of clay, so that the people made their -houses of bricks, while the other villages have to use blocks of wood, -or logs. In another village I found iron ore and their people have sharp -tools, while other villages have to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> use sharpened stones. And so on, -for I found each village has some peculiar and natural advantage over -the other. Now, my friends, why do you keep these God-given advantages -to yourselves? You villagers who have coal know that there is enough for -all the island, and so with you who have the iron, bricks, or cotton, or -fruits, or silks, or furs. Why don't you exchange what you make or raise -for the products of your neighbors? The whole island must have so many -hats, so many shoes, and so many houses, and if you divide your labors -and freely exchange your products with one another, you will find that -you will all have more comforts, and you won't have so long to work each -day. And when you have more leisure, you will begin to invent, and plan, -and enjoy yourselves, and write books, and visit one another to exchange -ideas. The gross amount that all you people produce each year is really -very, very small. If you should co-operate, you could create many times -as many commodities as you now produce."</p> - -<p>The philosopher disappeared. The people talked about it for weeks -thereafter, and they finally began to adopt his plan. They built -railroads, and they freely exchanged products with one another. Money -then came into use. With money one could do almost anything. It -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>represented bread and butter. Every man tried to get all he could,—not -only to provide against future wants, but that he might outshine his -neighbors. There was gradually a great division of labor on the island, -and a great saving in work. The people no longer worked fifteen hours a -day. They did not have to. Men who had strong arms moved to the village -where they were doing something which required strength. Men who had -thick skulls moved to the cotton fields to work under a hot sun. Men who -had sharp eyes moved to the manufacturing village. Men with -executiveness became foremen, and superintendents, and presidents. And -so every village gradually became adjusted to the changed plans. Every -man sought that village or field best adapted to his physique or -abilities. Every man and every village finally became a specialist. In -the coal village they did nothing else but mine and transport coal. In -the oil village they only produced and shipped oil. In one village they -had several swift streams running through to the coast, and this village -was in the middle of the isle and not far from the iron and cotton -villages. It became the manufacturing village. This village was divided -into many different districts, and was very large. In one section, the -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>Manchester-like climate and misty atmosphere, and nearness to the -cotton fields, made it a natural cotton manufacturing center. Another -section was adapted for making steel and iron goods. And so on.</p> - -<p>As time wore on, every industry on the island, localized, and every man -became specialized. Inventions and machinery multiplied. But every new -labor-saving machine saved labor, of course, and produced better goods -than hand labor. So every new machine took a job away from several -workmen. There was much complaint about this but new inventions kept -coming. There were now twenty different hat factories in the -manufacturing village, each trying to undersell the other. One day they -combined and built a large addition on the largest factory building. -Then they moved most of the other hat factory machinery in, and -destroyed the old buildings and the machinery they did not want. They -also discharged nineteen engineers, nineteen foremen, fifty bookkeepers, -two hundred drivers and packers and many other men, because they no -longer needed them. These poor discharged workmen did not know what to -do, for they had spent their lives at that business and knew no other. -First, there was a great hue and cry raised by all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> little villages, -for they all felt sorry for the poor discharged workmen.</p> - -<p>But soon, this big partnership concern began to sell the same hats for -far less than formerly, and they told the people that they could afford -to because they did not have so many men to pay, so much rent, so much -advertising, and were running things more economically. Other big -partnerships were formed all over the island, and after a while, so -great was the economy of combination that many men could not get any -work to do. Every big partnership soon took in all the little concerns -on the island, or else it drove them out of business by competition.</p> - -<p>Some men became discouraged and began to drink rum, and others even -began to cheat and steal.</p> - -<p>One day, some of the big partnerships had a banquet, and they talked -things over and they said: "We're making money and getting rich, but we -could do it faster if we did not have to pay so much wages. Let us raise -prices and cut wages down." This they did, and finally the workingmen -got together into a partnership of their own. They organized, and they -all said they must have just so much wages or they would not work at -all. This forced the big partnership people to pay better wages for a -while, but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> two partnerships, employer and employee, were always -quarrelling. One day a very serious thing happened in the coal village. -The workmen refused to work because they thought they were not getting -enough wages. They stopped mining coal, and, while they were idle, all -other workmen on the island sent them money and provisions out of -sympathy. It was dead winter and people began to suffer and some of the -factories had to shut down. Even the railroads could not run their -engines. But the people made such an uproar that the coal owners finally -surrendered a little, reluctantly, and again the mines were operated.</p> - -<p>Not long after this, a similar disturbance took place in the cotton -fields, and for a long while the whole island suffered for want of the -hundreds of things which cotton goes to make, even to shoe strings and -lampwicks.</p> - -<p>For several years these outbreaks in the different villages were very -frequent. First it was a cry of, "no oil;" then, "no milk;" then, "no -iron;" then "no meat." Finally, as a last straw on the back of the -already exhausted camel, all the railroads formed a partnership, and -they too became tied up, and ceased operation. Without them, the people -could scarcely get anything to eat, or drink, or wear, or burn, and -famine <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>threatened the island; because, every village had become devoted -to only one thing, and it could not do or produce anything else. Each -had learned to depend upon the other villages for every other article. -Then there was a great public uprising. Meetings were held everywhere. -Many people said that the trouble was because people formed -partnerships. Others answered by saying that that was not the cause, for -even if there were no partnerships, still one village would continue to -have all the coal, another all the oil, and another all the cotton, on -the island. There were no tariffs, no land monopoly, no special -privileges, no government favoritism, no railroad discrimination, and no -taxes, so those whose fathers had heard of such things in other -countries could not advance such arguments. Nature had given certain -villages a natural monopoly of certain industries. Nature had also given -certain men a natural monopoly over certain trades and pursuits by -making them apt and proficient therein. Therefore, Nature was the -criminal, and she alone was to be blamed. But what were the forlorn -islanders to do about it?</p> - -<p>One fine day, when everything was in a turmoil of discontent and -perplexity, the philosopher again made his appearance upon the island. -Many thought him a Divine being sent from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> heaven to succor and advise -them; and so, when he had called them all together, he addressed them -thus:</p> - -<p>"My friends, you have advanced and progressed and developed wondrously -in one direction, but you have made a fatal mistake. You have -specialized and localized your industries, and have affected an -efficient system of division of labor, but, you forget that this means -monopoly in private hands. You have overlooked the fact that now, every -man is dependent upon every other man, and every industry is dependent -upon every other industry. Again, when one hundred concerns combine into -a partnership, or Trust, as we call it, and throw thousands out of -employment, or when a new machine does so, you now have no way of -providing for these unemployed thousands, and you cast them out upon the -world to shift for themselves."</p> - -<p>"O, Sir," cried one of the islanders, "why can we not return to the old -way and not have all these modern ideas? We were getting along all right -before we began to exchange commodities with each other. Why can we not -go back to the old way?"</p> - -<p>"Ah, too late, my friend, even if you all wished it," the old -philosopher said.</p> - -<p>"But, surely, you do not wish it," he added.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> "Do you remember when you -worked from early morn till late at night and then had no stoves, no -lamps, no blankets, no carpets, no crockery, no cooking utensils, no -gas, no chairs, no wagons? Do you wish to return to that? Do you wish to -isolate yourself from your fellow men and separately make and raise -everything you eat and wear?"</p> - -<p>Everybody saw the logic of this simple philosophy, and he was beseeched -to show them what to do.</p> - -<p>"What you must do, my friends, is to organize. Organization is all you -require. You have as yet only organized into simple isolated groups. You -must now organize all these groups. Every industry, every partnership, -is a group. Each group is dependent upon all the others. This being -true, you must form a whole. Let every man stick to his special work, -let every locality remain in its special work, let every industry and -every partnership stick to its special work,—don't disturb nature—<i>but -all these must stick to each other</i>! How? By forming yourselves into one -solid, compact, organized body. Call yourselves a nation. Have a -convention at stated times, and let every industry, every labor -organization, and every locality send representatives and delegates to -this convention. It is foolish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> of you to let the coal villages send -coal wherever, whenever, and in such quantities, as they wish. And so -with every other industry. The law of demand is not always sufficient, -as a guide to what is needed. All are demanding more coal now, yet the -coal village is sending it out, here and there, without organized plan, -system or method. The national convention should determine these -questions, and all other national questions that do not adjust -themselves naturally. When they do not adjust themselves naturally -complaint should be and will be made to the national convention, and -then the convention shall have power to settle the question in dispute. -If one industry fails to do its duty and supply the others with its -specialty, be it coal, oil, cotton, bricks or gloves, it is ground for -complaint, and it then becomes a question for the national convention. -If a partnership or industry fails to pay its employees suitable wages, -and those employees refuse to work, it becomes a national question, and -the national convention must direct that that industry must give to the -workmen a greater share or proportion of the profits of that industry. -Whether it shall be a raise in wages, or compulsory profit-sharing, is a -question for the national convention to settle. Again when men cannot -work, and they become a burden<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> upon society, it becomes a national -question, because their non-employment is caused by the organization of -the industries, and it becomes the nation's duty to give these men an -opportunity to earn a living. This it can do by lessening the hours of -work in the industries. If all the workmen are required to work fewer -hours each day, more men will be required to work, and thus employment -can be given to all. Every national question can therefore safely be -entrusted to the national convention; and, so long as that convention -has power to act, you will have no trouble.</p> - -<p>I believe, however, that so long as the national convention is known to -be in existence, and that it has such power of direction, there will be -little for it to do. Because, the great partnerships and industries and -labor organizations, knowing of such a supreme judicial power, will -usually so adjust their differences, and in a natural and peaceful way, -that but few questions will come before the national convention. It is -therefore the knowledge of the existence and power of such body that -will urge all men to act honorably with one another. It is the fear of -it which will be the potent factor, and not the thing itself."</p> - -<p>After a few more remarks of explanation, the old philosopher disappeared -as mysteriously as he had come. After deliberating upon his wise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> -suggestion for a while, the islanders finally adopted his plan, and -forever thereafter the island never had occasion to seek his counsel.</p> - -<h3>PART VII.</h3> - -<p class="center">CONCLUSIONS.</p> - -<p>Let us assume that in the preceding pages we have proved the following -propositions:</p> - -<p>1. That the Trust cannot and must not be destroyed.</p> - -<p>2. That the government could not and should not own and operate the -Trusts.</p> - -<p>3. That the Trust, if not interfered with, will work great injury to -society and that therefore some stringent action must be taken.</p> - -<p>4. That such action must be such as will not destroy the many virtues of -the Trust.</p> - -<p>INTERDEPENDENCE.</p> - -<p>Let us assume that we have also proven the following propositions:</p> - -<p>1. That every man is dependent upon his fellows for all the necessaries -and comforts of life.</p> - -<p>2. That every industry is dependent upon other industries.</p> - -<p>3. That the natural, proper and inevitable tendency is toward -specialization and localization.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p><p>4. That, as men specialize, and industries localize, a natural monopoly -results.</p> - -<p>5. That each man and each industry becomes an integral part of an -immense industrial machine.</p> - -<p>6. That harmonious action of this machine must exist, for the reason -that if a single wheel is misplaced here, or an engineer refuses to -respond there, the action of the entire machine is impaired.</p> - -<p>In the face of these two groups of premises but one conclusion can be -drawn, and that conclusion may be expressed in a single -word—ORGANIZATION! Men, localities and industries being interdependent, -society must organize for the general welfare. A league or association -must be formed, in which every man, every locality and every industry is -represented. Like all other societies, this association must have a -common head or center. It need not be altruistic (as against egoistic), -because the welfare of one must be the concern of all, if for no other -than purely selfish motives. The whole must see that every part properly -performs its work. A man can no longer be an isolated unit, for he is -now an integral and necessary part of society. He not only owes duties -to himself, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> owes duties to society. He must recognize the mutuality -of all true human interests.</p> - -<p>GOVERNMENT.</p> - -<p>Can such an association or society be organized? Can so immense a -collection of bodies meet and combine with unanimity? Fortunately, we -need not speculate on the correct answer to these questions. We have an -illustrious example at hand. Society has already organized. The -organization is improperly called government. Government is simply -organized society. We elect a President as a public servant, not as a -governor. He does not, or should not, reign over us, but serve us, and -do our bidding. This is not a monarchy, but a democracy.</p> - -<p>And so the great machine is already organized. Unfortunately we are not -in the habit of looking at <i>government as a huge industrial machine</i>, -and our law makers are too prone to assume arbitrary and tyrannical -power, regardless of the theory of democracy upon which all our -institutions rest. Furthermore, our lawmakers are mostly lawyers, rather -than industrialites.</p> - -<p>NATIONAL DIRECTION.</p> - -<p>Either organized society (government) is supposed to protect its members -(citizens), or it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> not. If it is, then it is its duty to see that the -necessaries of life are not monopolized and placed beyond the reach of -its people. If it is not, then the organization is a failure, for -without the means of sustenance a nation cannot exist. If, then, we may -be permitted to view government as an organization of society having for -its aim the welfare and protection of its members, why shall not that -society have power to DIRECT the industrial machine? If all men and -industries in the nation are interdependent, why shall there not be a -NATIONAL DIRECTION, so that every industry shall be made to do its duty -toward society? If people must have coal, or oil, or meat, or -transportation, or gloves, and one set of men or one locality has a -monopoly thereof, why shall not the nation DIRECT that those men or -those localities shall do right by all other men and by all other -localities? That they will not always do so in the absence of national -direction is evidenced by the recent strike. The labor unions of the -country are probably able and willing to support the strikers for years -when a vital principle is involved, and so thoroughly is labor -organizing that serious conditions are likely to obtain in that most -important of all industries, transportation,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> to which industry all -others are so closely related and on which they are so helplessly dependent.</p> - -<p>FIXING PRICES.</p> - -<p>If government is to "promote the general welfare" by assuming the -obligation of keeping the necessaries of life within the reach of its -people, it must of necessity prohibit the fixing of prices of those -necessaries beyond the purchasing power of the people. Thus, if the coal -operators having a monopoly of coal choose to make the price of that -necessary $50 a ton, the national board of arbitrators (be it Congress -or some other body), must fix a reasonable price and if the employees of -any industry have a grievance, they cannot be allowed to strike and stop -work—their grievances must be arbitrated by the National Board. -Probably such a course would never become necessary, when the industrial -organization is perfected and the readjustment accomplished, but the -power of national direction must be ever present, <i>if for no other -purpose than to act as a warning</i>.</p> - -<p>FIXING HOURS OF WORK.</p> - -<p>What is true of prices is equally true of the hours of work. Government -will not owe every man a living, but it will owe every man an -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>opportunity to earn a living. As the principle of co-operation develops -and is utilized, so great would be the economy that many would naturally -be thrown out of employment. Thus, rather than create a public -poorhouse, or "idle house," the hours of daily work must be reduced to -include all who are able and willing to labor.</p> - -<p>If the tobacco manufacturers by combining and organizing the Shoe Trust -have thrust say 50,000 travelling salesmen and jobbers out of -employment, it should not complain if they are <i>nationally directed</i> to -contribute toward their support in the same or in some other more useful -and productive industry by being directed to reduce the hours of work of -all men who are employed by it, thus making room for all who desire to -labor. Co-operation and combination carry their responsibilities, and -the co-operators must be presumed to intend the natural consequences of -their acts. Hence, the nation is justified in directing a reduction in -the hours of work whenever occasion requires.</p> - -<p>And this is not so radical as at first appears. Many of our State -Legislatures have heretofore passed laws fixing the price of gas, -telephone service and railroad rates, and they have even fixed the hours -of daily work in certain industries. Again, witness the volumes of law -in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>regard to buildings, sweat shops, hotels, mines and railroads, -designed and passed for "public safety" and protection, and for "the -general welfare."</p> - -<p>Again, witness what was done by all governments during the Great War!</p> - -<p>LABOR'S SHARE.</p> - -<p>Those who claim that "labor creates all wealth" must concede that the -foreman, the superintendent, the president and the manager is just as -much a laborer as the man who wields a hammer or drives a truck. That -the latter do not often get a fair share of the product or of "what he -produces" is, of course, true, for "rent, interest and profit" eat up -much of the proceeds of his toil. Without delving needlessly into the -profound question of the relations between capital and labor, be it said -that labor can, by a system of <i>national direction</i> such as is here -suggested, obtain a fair and just reward for its toil through <i>a system -of compulsory profit-sharing</i>. There are already many cases in America -of voluntary profit-sharing with employes, and employers have found that -their men work better, quicker and more faithfully when given an -interest in the business. This is not urged as a necessary part of the -national direction idea, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> as a most desirable part, and I am of -opinion that in compulsory profit-sharing with employes lies the real -solution and adjustment of the differences between capital and labor.</p> - -<p>COMPULSION.</p> - -<p>The word "compel" is a harsh word. It strikes at personal liberty and -individual freedom and attacks that spirit of independence which makes -men brave, honest and noble.</p> - -<p>The theory of democracy assumes that every man has an inherent and -absolute right to freedom and liberty in so far as in exercising that -right he does not impair the rights of his fellows. He is the sole judge -of what he wants and of what is best for him, but in satisfying those -wants he must not interfere with the rights of others.</p> - -<p>Law and government are designed to protect those rights, and in so doing -the right of compulsion is implied. All our institutions, courts, laws -and legislative departments rest upon the power of compulsion, and -without that power our form of government becomes ineffective. We compel -a man to keep his contract by applying to the court for an injunction; -we compel the vicious to obey certain laws or we imprison him; we compel -railroads to charge not more than a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> certain fare; we compel house -owners to clear their sidewalks of snow; we compel men to pay other men -what they owe, and if they do not, we compel the sheriff to take away -his property; we compel importers to pay a tariff; we compel husbands to -support their families, and we compel all to help support the government -by taxation.</p> - -<p>The more civilization advances, the more society finds it necessary to -organize; and the more organized society is, the more compulsion is -necessary, until men become more perfect. Every individual now owes -duties to the collectivity as well as to himself, and the power of -compulsion must be vested in the collectivity so that those duties may -be enforced.</p> - -<p>If we have arrived at that stage of progress when every man can be -depended upon to perform his whole duty by respecting the rights of -others, keeping his contracts and doing only those things which will -benefit society, and if the Trust can be depended upon to charge -reasonable prices, pay just wages and in all things respect the rights -of others, then the word compulsion may be stricken from the political -dictionary. If we have not, if men are still selfish, dishonest and -inconsiderate of the rights of other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> men, then the right to compel must -be a part of the political machinery.</p> - -<p>TAXATION.</p> - -<p>The question may be asked, What power can compel the Trusts to do that -which they have been directed to do by the nation? For example, suppose -the coal mines remained idle,—what if the operators refused to obey the -national directory? It is not the purpose of this brief writing to draw -up a complete code, showing in detail how each and every man, industry -and question shall be handled, but simply to show that such a code can -be drawn and its regulations enforced. How do we now compel the electric -lighting companies to charge not more than a certain rate, the importers -to pay a tariff, the gas companies to supply us with gas at certain -prices, the law-breaker to pay his fine, and the corporations to pay -their taxes and penalties? These methods are well known, and they would -perhaps be adequate if adopted by the nation to compel its members to -keep its rules and regulations. If not, a certainly effective means of -inducement would be found in a tax on land values; for then, if a Trust -refused to obey, the land upon which it rests could be so taxed as to -render it unprofitable to hold it idle, and the Trust managers would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> -soon be compelled either to operate or sell the plant. The land monopoly -evil is serious and threatening, since all our land is owned by about -ten per cent. of our people, and, unfortunately, we are in the habit of -inviting men to buy vacant land and hold it idle while waiting for a -rise in values. The earth being the source of all wealth, those who -monopolize the land have a first lien upon all production. There appears -to be no immediately practicable remedy for this deplorable and -unnatural state of affairs, yet it is quite certain that whether or not -the contention of the Single Taxers is sound, national direction will be -a step in the right direction; for it will mean a more compact and more -perfect organization of society, and then we shall be able to see more -clearly just where the evils exist, just what is at fault, and just what -would remedy the defects in our present system. Besides, it would -permanently fix the taxing power in the national collectivity, and when -the various methods of taxation were being considered in the national -councils, the law of cause and effect could more easily be traced and -distinguished owing to the solidarity of society and the specific -information and complaint that would be forthcoming from the most -competent and well informed sources.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></p> - -<p>CONSTITUTIONS.</p> - -<p>Must the constitution be amended in order that NATIONAL DIRECTION shall -be put into effect? And, if so, would it take eight or ten years before -this could be done? And is that constitution of ours, which has carried -us so successfully through a century and a quarter, so sacred that it -should be kept, with religious fidelity, unchanged and unaltered? Recent -events seem to cry out No!</p> - -<p>As times and conditions change, so do men, opinions and laws, and so -should constitutions. It is superstitious bigotry to hold that our -revolutionary forefathers were infallible and that they could and did -foresee the conditions that are present in the opening years of the -second century after theirs.</p> - -<p>On November 15th, 1777, the thirteen original colonies were banded -together under what was called the "Articles of Confederation." Article -II thereof said in part: "Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom -and independence." Article III said: "The said States hereby severally -enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their mutual -and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other." In the -following articles they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> vested in the Congress full power to make such -rules and regulations as it deemed best for the general welfare of all -the people.</p> - -<p>Now, if all of the industries and labor organizations of the nation were -to meet and agree to do as did the thirteen States, each reserving the -right to send delegates to an empowered convention, then that convention -would have power to pass such laws as were necessary to carry out the -remedies hereinbefore suggested.</p> - -<p>If a constitution nearly a century and a half old, which has already -been amended seventeen times, stands in the way of advancement and the -general welfare, would any man say that the obstacle should not speedily -be removed from that constitution?</p> - -<p>The solution herein suggested does not necessarily require action by -Congress, and therefore an amendment to the constitution may not be -required. Nevertheless, a Congress could be empowered to act, and if it -were properly constituted and contained business men and representatives -from all industries and labor organizations, instead of lawyers and -politicians, it would answer the very purpose. Perhaps in time the -people will learn what kind of men to send to Congress. NATIONAL -DIRECTION would not necessarily require an immense industrial -<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>department of government. NATIONAL DIRECTION is not national ownership. -It does not embrace the idea of absolute control. It does not place the -management of the Trusts in the hands of a department of government, or -of a Congress, for each industry should continue to manage its own -affairs, since it alone can be thoroughly conversant with the details of -its own plant.</p> - -<p>I have aimed to show:</p> - -<blockquote><p>1. That the Trust has as many virtues as faults.</p> - -<p>2. That it can be so treated as to retain its virtues and to -eliminate its faults.</p> - -<p>3. That the Trust must not be destroyed.</p> - -<p>4. That the government must not own and operate the Trust and -Industrial Combinations.</p> - -<p>5. That NATIONAL DIRECTION is the only scientific and practical -solution.</p></blockquote> - -<p>The arguments herein are intended to show the advantages and -practicability of NATIONAL DIRECTION of our industries, and the -harmonious operation of those natural laws and forces which are -incessantly working out their destiny. The inherent instincts of man, -his nature, his desires, his ambitions, his weaknesses must all be -considered in forming conclusions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> That which is right will finally -prevail. We may retard the onward march of civilization, but we cannot -permanently check it. Not only does reason and logic urge the acceptance -of the conclusions herein presented, as it appears to the writer, but -unmistakable evidences of a natural movement in the direction indicated -are now apparent.</p> - -<p>If the premises given are sound, NATIONAL DIRECTION is desirable. If the -conclusions are logical, NATIONAL DIRECTION is inevitable.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>The Public</i></h2> - -<p>Who or what are the public? You say, the people! What people? Dr. -Johnson defined the public as "A majority of society," but this is -rather indefinite. "The public! the public!" exclaims Chamfort, "how -many fools does it take to make the public?" Bancroft did not think the -public fools, for he says, "The public is wiser than the wisest critic." -If the public is the majority, who is to say that they are wise or -unwise, right or wrong, fools or philosophers? Who or what is to be the -court of last resort? Somebody has said that the majority is usually -wrong, but who is to decide whether the majority or that "somebody" is -wrong? Schiller had but little faith in the majority, for he wrote, -"Votes should be weighed, not counted; the voice of the majority is no -proof of justice:" and Bovee suggests that a better principle than this, -that "the majority shall rule," is this other, that justice shall rule. -And according to the code of Justinian, "Justice is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> constant and -perpetual desire to render every man his due." But, as a matter of fact, -the majority seldom do rule, for while our public men and political -bosses may say "The public be damned," as was publicly said by at least -one man and echoed by at least a thousand, the public is pretty sure to -get anything but justice, so long as such men are in control of the -election machinery. The public have opinions, doubtless, but they have -not yet found a way of expressing them when they want to, and not often -do they get what they want. The public is a heterogeneous mass, without -organization and without any settled community of interest. Sometimes, -we call the public by the uncomplimentary name, the mob. Goethe thought -the public particularly sensitive, for he said that "The public wishes -itself to be managed like a woman; one must say nothing to it except -what it likes to hear." He also thought them ungrateful, for he said, -"He who serves the public is a poor animal; he worries himself to death, -and no one thanks him for it." Hazlitt was of like mind, and he -maintained that the public have neither shame nor gratitude.</p> - -<p>When we say of a man that he is popular with the masses, we mean with -the people; and it is interesting to speculate on how we form such an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> -opinion. How do we know that a man is popular with the people? Certainly -we have not asked all the people about it, and the few we have asked may -not be representative. Perhaps we form our opinion of the public's -opinion from one or more of these things: what the newspapers say, what -those persons say with whom we have talked, and from our knowledge of -the human heart generally. As for the last, we know that such virtues as -honesty, self-sacrifice, ability and courage are universally admired, -and that such vices as dishonesty, selfishness and cowardice are -universally condemned; so that if we know what impression certain acts -of a public official have made, we may come pretty near knowing whether -that man is or is not popular. As to the newspapers, they are usually -very close to the people, but they are sometimes closer to some other -influence.</p> - -<p>Certainly the public must not be put down as fools. They may be -ignorant, when it comes to determining some great question over which -the best minds of the world are in dispute; they may be illogical; they -may be unreasoning; they may be sentimental; they may be unstable in -judgment; but certainly they are not fools. Like children and animals, -the most ignorant of the public have their instincts and intuitions, -and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> while the sun of public opinion may fluctuate from cloud to cloud, -it generally sets true at last. Like the Athenians, and sheep, the -public are more easily driven in a flock than individually. Just as the -crowd will make way for the man who pushes boldly forward, so will the -public follow any good leader who knows enough about his business to -appreciate the value of such sentiments as patriotism, humanity, -unselfish devotion and human sympathy. While such a leader is in favor, -the public are more than willing to be led, like so many sheep, but the -most trivial incident will sometimes win their disfavor, and history -shows that the public are perfectly willing to crown a man one day and -to hang him the next. To gain the favor of the mob is not so difficult; -but to serve the public so that they and their posterity will in after -years honor his name, that is indeed difficult, and decidedly worth while.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Popularity</i></h2> - -<p class="center">"I court not the votes of the fickle mob." Horace.</p> - -<p>Public favor is fickle fancy. It is as capricious, uncertain and -unreliable as the weather; and, while we may at times predict where it -will bestow its alleged blessings, we can never with certainty tell how -long it will remain there. Those who crave popularity should remember -that it begins by making a man its tool, and usually ends in making him -an object of contempt. A very trifling circumstance often creates -popularity, and a single circumstance just as trifling usually destroys -it. Was there ever a more popular man than Dewey after the Manila -victory? Yet the trifling circumstance of transferring his gift-house to -his new wife almost destroyed it. Hobson was equally popular after the -Merrimac episode, but he forfeited it by numerous kissing exhibitions. -Bird S. Coler was extremely popular while comptroller of New York and -lost the governorship by an inch, but his popularity was as quickly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> -forfeited as it was acquired. Louis XVI was extremely popular, but he -died at the guillotine a despised and hated monarch. Marie Antoinette -was equally popular, until she told the mob, who were crying for bread, -to eat cake. Napoleon was universally popular until he divorced -Josephine, and again popular at the cradle of the King of Rome. The -memory of Cromwell was infamous for more than a century, but now he is a -world hero. Robespierre was popular until he attempted to check the -effusion of bloodshed.</p> - -<p>Popularity knows no law and no precedent. It sometimes attaches to -tyrants, for were not Caligula and Nero more popular than Germanicus? It -sometimes attaches to ignorance, for who is today more popular than our -champion batter or prize fighter? It sometimes attaches to immorality, -for did it not adopt the infamous Pompadour and du Barry? It sometimes -attaches to trifles, for was there ever such a fuss made over anything -as the Teddybear? It sometimes delights in the downfall of royal -favorites, and then exults in their reinstatements. It attaches to the -great, at times, and then hails with shouts of exultation those who -overthrow the great.</p> - -<p>He who delights in popularity must be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>prepared to submit to the veriest -subjugation, for he must <i>obey</i> the very ones whom he desires to -<i>command</i>.</p> - -<p>True merit heeds not the fulsome acclamations of capricious popularity, -but goes on its way regardless. It asks itself "What is right?" not -"What will the public applaud?" Merit as well as folly, loves -appreciation, but the one hopes for it as a just reward, while the other -seeks it as a theft.</p> - -<p>There are two kinds of popularity: the popularity of men and the -popularity of their productions, the latter being the more reliable and -constant. The popularity of Roosevelt was mainly of the former kind, for -it was his pleasing and picturesque personality that made him one of the -most popular men of the last hundred years. As he recedes into history, -we can tell better whether his name will remain a household word like -Napoleon, Jackson, Lincoln, Webster, Grant, Bismarck and Gladstone's. It -may be that certain popularity is ephemeral, for public opinion -resembles a mind obeying by turns two directly opposite impulses, -lauding a man to the skies one day, and, on the next, as it discovers -him deficient in the merit it gratuitously ascribed to him, avenging -itself by deprecating that which it had capriciously over-rated.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p><p>Popularity is the keystone of modern politics. Alas, too few men have -we, who think, say, or act, without weighing the probabilities of its -popularity. Our statesmen care more for what is popular than for what is -right, and popularity is generally the sole consideration. To attain the -honors of posterity and of history, a more solid merit is required than -the ephemeral smile of popularity.</p> - -<p>Popularity is a delusion.</p> - -<p>It is an easy matter to become popular if one wants to, for all it -requires is passive tolerance, and active commendation. Taking the -individual, listen to his stories attentively, applaud his hobbies, rave -over his phonograph, his pianola, or his pictures, or books, or his dog. -A good listener is always popular. Taking the individual collectively, -the public, the same rule holds good. Place your ear to the ground, -study the whims of the people, learn how they worship, how they play and -how they work, then preach their doctrines, pat them on the back, -applaud their errors, and you can be popular. Rub the fur the right way -and the cat won't scratch. Pioneers of thought seldom attain popularity. -The man with a new idea, or who dares to preach something different, is -usually put in jail<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> while he is alive, and put in marble after he is -dead. As Goethe says, "The public must be treated like women: they must -be told absolutely nothing but what they like to hear."</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Greatness</i></h2> - -<blockquote><p>The first step to greatness is to be honest.—Johnson.</p> - -<p>All great men are partially inspired.—Cicero.</p> - -<p>All great men come out of the middle classes.—Emerson.</p> - -<p>No really great man ever thought himself so.—Hazlitt.</p> - -<p>The world knows nothing of its greatest men.—H. Taylor.</p> - -<p>What millions died that Caesar might be great!—Campbell.</p> - -<p>The great are only great because we carry them on our shoulders: -when we throw them off they sprawl on the ground.—Montandre.</p> - -<p>It is not in the nature of great men to be exclusive and -arrogant.—Beecher.</p> - -<p>None think the great unhappy but the great.—Young.</p> - -<p>There is but one method, and that is hard labor.—Sydney Smith.</p> - -<p>No man has come to true greatness who has not felt in some degree -that his life belongs to his race, and that God gives him for -mankind.—Phillips Brooks.</p></blockquote> - -<p>What is genius? Is it merely the ability to master details, as somebody -has said, or is it the result of some natural endowments, faculties, or -aptitudes for a particular thing? That it is some uncommon power of -intellect, all admit; but whether it is a general or a specific power, -is much disputed. Doctor Johnson's notion was that genius is nothing -more or less than great general powers of mind, capable of being turned -any way, or in any direction, and that "a man who has vigor may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> walk to -the East just as well as to the West." Emerson held quite the contrary -view, for he says that a man is born to some one thing, and that he is -"like a ship in a river; he runs against obstructions on every side but -one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and sweeps serenely -over a deepening channel into an infinite sea." And again, in -<i>Representative Men</i>, "Each man is, by secret liking, connected with -some district of nature, whose agent and interpreter he is, as Linnaeus, -of plants; Huber, of bees; Fries, of lichens; Van Mons, of pears; -Dalton, of atomic forms; Euclid, of lines; Newton, of fluxions." On the -other hand, versatility of genius is not uncommon, for was not Leonardo -da Vinci master of all the arts? did not Lord Brougham excel in -everything, until they said of him "Science is his forte, omniscience -his foible"? and was not our own Franklin equally famous for his several -accomplishments? Nevertheless, it is quite certain that most of the -great men of history, in art, arms or letters, displayed genius in only -one line; yet this does not signify that they could not have displayed -equal genius in one or more other lines. Perhaps the case could be -stated thus: (1) A genius is a man of uncommon power of intellect; (2) -Every man has a natural bent for some one line of effort; (3) A genius -is apt to follow his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> natural bent, and thus excel in only one line; (4) -A genius may also excel in one or more other lines, circumstances and -environment leading him away from his natural inclinations.</p> - -<p>What is greatness? Who were the greatest men of history? Who are the -great and the greatest men of the time? These are questions on every -tongue, yet who may say the answer? Seneca, Bacon, Carlyle, Goethe, -Emerson, Colton and other philosophers have written volumes without -answering any of these questions, and nobody yet has been able to give -answers satisfactory to all. There are four kinds of greatness: village -greatness, provincial greatness, world greatness and era greatness, for -we know that a man may be great in his village, mediocre in his -province, county, state or country, a nonentity in the world, and a -nobody in the era following that in which he lived. A few men are -accepted as great during their lifetimes, a few of these are accepted as -great outside their own colonies, and only a very few of these survive -their own eras. While it is true that a man is seldom a hero in his own -home, and that greatness is seen to better advantage from a distance, -yet some greatness is so weak that it dies before it is fullgrown. -Greatness is often divided into two kinds,—greatness of men of action, -and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> greatness of men of thought; yet this is an improper division, -since all great men are men of action, and are always endowed with a -force which may be called pneumatic energy.</p> - -<p>Bismarck once said that a really great man is known by three -signs—generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation -in success; but Brougham insists that "the true test of a great man is -his having been in advance of his age." Schopenhauer, in estimating the -greatness of great men, applies the inverted law of the physical, which -stands for the intellectual and spiritual nature, the former being -lessened by distance, the latter increased. But these views do not help -us much in our effort to find what is greatness. When Sir William Jones -was asked who was the greatest man, he answered, "The best: and if I am -required to say who is the best, I reply he that deserved most of his -fellow-creatures." Is this a correct test?—what -fellow-creatures?—creatures of his own time, or of all time?—who is to -judge what is best for them,—they or I?—and who is to say whether he -is deserving or not, and deserving of what? Dempsey is a great fighter; -Raphael was a great painter; Socrates a great philosopher; Hannibal a -great general; Beecher a great preacher; Columbus a great discoverer; -Browning a great poet; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>Gibbon a great historian; Lincoln a great -agitator; Dana a great editor; Steinitz a great chess-player; and so -on,—perhaps the greatest of their time, but would they be numbered -among the greatest men? Is a great shoemaker a great man? Yet he is very -deserving of his fellow-creatures, and he may be the greatest of his -kind. Is a great hangman as great as a great divine, and is the greatest -clown to be numbered among the greatest men of history?</p> - -<p>Again, in selecting the great men, should there not be some limit in -number and some method of declaring different degrees of greatness, -because otherwise the man who wrote "Home, Sweet Home" might find a -place alongside Shakespeare. Again, should a conqueror be classed among -the great? Still again, are philosophers like Schopenhauer, Ibsen, -Bernard Shaw and Nietzsche to be numbered among the great, when most -people say that their philosophy is wrong, destructive and immoral? No -wonder, then, that nobody has yet been able to give a satisfactory -definition of Greatness. Alexander accomplished wonders: he conquered -the then known world and wept for other worlds to conquer; but perhaps -he was not so deserving of his fellows as some poor shoemaker. And take -Napoleon: he made all Europe run blood; yet he certainly did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> much good; -are we to balance his account and determine if the good outweighed the -bad? Dante and Milton are always numbered among the greatest men, yet -some do say that these great poets did more harm than good by -perpetuating the false doctrines of Hell and Paradise. Was Robespierre a -great man?—no one questions that great good came from the French -Revolution, yet who will urge a monument to Robespierre, the -personification of that Revolution? His intentions were good, however -bad may have been the method, but so were Cromwell's regardless of his -fanaticism; yet public opinion curses the one and crowns the other. Some -men seem to accomplish world-wonders without effort, while others -struggle against tremendous odds: of the two, the latter, of course, are -the greater, because, as Bryant says, "Difficulty is a nurse of -greatness—a harsh nurse, who rocks her foster children roughly, but -rocks them into strength. The mind, grappling with great aims and -wrestling with mighty impediments, grows by a certain necessity to the -stature of greatness." Some say that greatness is founded in human -sympathy, and that the man who shows the biggest heart plus the greatest -ability to do, is the greatest man. Others say that greatness consists -in reforming the world along religious lines, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> still others maintain -that greatness is merely righteousness—"He is not great, who is no -greatly good" (Shakespeare). Was Caesar great? Remember Campbell's -line,—"What millions died that Caesar might be great." Beecher was -doubtless right when he said, "Greatness lies not in being strong, but -in the right use of strength," but men may differ as to what is the -right use, for, suppose he uses it to defend his people against some -other people, and for a cause which he believes in, as did Robert E. -Lee? He thought he was right, many others thought he was right, and he -displayed qualities truly great, yet Beecher would say that Lee was not -a great man. No great man ever yet lived who was conceded so to be by -everybody. We see many who are great, in a sense, and many that are -good; but we seldom see a man who is both great and good; and, according -to Franklin, a great man must be both. Leonardo da Vinci was great at -many things,—"master of all the arts," and as virtuous as most men, yet -many people place Caesar and Alexander in the list of great men and -leave da Vinci out. Perhaps Colton was right when he said, "Subtract -from the great men all that he owes to opportunity, all that he owes to -chance, and all that he has gained by the wisdom of his friends and the -folly of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> enemies, and the giant will often be seen to be a pigmy." -Shall we class Joan of Arc among the great? She was the victim of an -illusion and she accomplished that which was bound to come. Shall we -nominate Diogenes? He was what would now be called a tramp and lived in -a tub. Shall we give Socrates a niche? He was also something of a tramp, -and we may never know how much he really said of the many wise things -which Plato attributed to him. Shall we declare Washington and Jefferson -great, and not Tom Paine, when the latter knew more than the other two -together, and gave them most of their ideas? No, we don't do that, -because they say that Paine's religious views were bad. Shall Theodore -Roosevelt go on the list? Shall we put Martin Luther on, and not -Voltaire? And how about poor John Brown?—he did not accomplish much but -he tried mighty hard and died in the attempt. Shall Booker T. -Washington's name not go on the immortal list just because he is black? -If not, how about Confucius who was yellow? Shall Jesus' name be written -on the scroll and not Buddha's or Mohammed's? The fact is that it is -next to impossible to name a complete list of the <i>great</i> men of -history,—to say nothing of the <i>greatest</i> men. One of the toughest -problems I ever attempted to solve was once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> given me by a young -student, who asked me to write down the names of the twenty-five -greatest men. I spent many evenings on it, and the answer was published -in many newspapers. The chief difficulty came in the attempt to limit -the list to just twenty-five—it is easy to make a list of <i>about</i> -twenty-five, or about fifty, or about ten.</p> - -<p>As I remember it, the list was as follows:</p> - -<table summary="Genius"> - <tr> - <td class="left"> 1. Moses</td> - <td class="left">13. Dante</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"> 2. Homer</td> - <td class="left">14. Copernicus</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"> 3. Pericles</td> - <td class="left">15. Galileo</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"> 4. Alexander</td> - <td class="left">16. Shakespeare</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"> 5. Plato</td> - <td class="left">17. Bacon</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"> 6. Aristotle</td> - <td class="left">18. Milton</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"> 7. Archimedes</td> - <td class="left">19. Cromwell</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"> 8. Julius Caesar</td> - <td class="left">20. Newton</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left"> 9. Augustus Caesar</td> - <td class="left">21. Napoleon</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">10. Charlemagne</td> - <td class="left">22. Beethoven</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">11. Alfred the Great</td> - <td class="left">23. Goethe</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="left">12. Leonardo da Vinci </td> - <td class="left">24. Franklin</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="center">25. Lincoln</td> - </tr> -</table> - -<p>This list is not yet satisfactory. It should contain John Fiske, who -knew everything, Herbert Spencer, Darwin, Kant, Descartes, Emerson, -Washington,—but hold! there is no end. Ten years from now I shall make -another list and it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> will probably contain a new name, perhaps -Roosevelt, Wilson, Bryan, Foch.</p> - -<p>As Rochefoucauld says, "However brilliant an action may be, it ought not -to pass for great when it is not the result of great design." Some men -became famous—apparently great—by accident, or because of -circumstances, but that is not greatness. I once became the manager of a -dinner in honor of Mr. Bryan, and, like Byron, woke up one morning to -find myself famous—think of it!—famous for getting up a dinner. But -such fame is meteoric and has but a mushroom existence. Fielding says -somewhere that Greatness is like a laced coat from Monmouth Street, -which fortune lends us for a day to wear and tomorrow puts it on -another's back; but he did not mean Greatness, but Fame, or Popularity, -Greatness is not greatness if it is not lasting. If we cannot tell what -greatness is, we can tell what it is not. The greatness of a man must be -judged from the viewpoint of his own time, and we must make due -allowance for his weaknesses and blunders; for was not Napoleon a -believer in astrology, and could not any school-child today correct -Aristotle in natural history and physiology? With this thought in mind -we shall not have so much difficulty in singling out the great men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> of -history. "Nature never sends a great man into the planet, without -confiding the secret to another soul" (Emerson), and we soon discover -them, but not often in their own time—it requires the perspective of -history to get them in focus. Great men are the models of nations. As -Longfellow says, "they stand like solitary towers in the City of God, -and secret passages running deep beneath external nature give their -thoughts intercourse with higher intelligence, which strengthens and -consoles them, and of which the laborers on the surface do not even dream."</p> - -<hr class="smler" /> - -<p>"Corporations are great engines for the promotion of the public -convenience, and for the development of public wealth, and, so long as -they are conducted for the purposes for which organized, they are a -public benefit; but if allowed to engage, without supervision, in -subjects of enterprise foreign to their charters, or if permitted -unrestrainedly to control and monopolize the avenues to that industry in -which they are engaged, they become a public menace; against which -public policy and statutes design protection."</p> - -<p class="center"><i>Leslie V. Lorillard, et al.</i>—110 N. Y. 533.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>The Martyrdom of Genius</i></h2> - -<p>It seems that those who have done the most good in this world have -usually been the most unfortunate. The history-makers are our martyr -heroes, abhored for their virtues, tortured for their courage, and -persecuted for their good deeds. Verily, all the world's a stage, and -the great actors appear upon it, say their lines, perform their parts, -and then disappear behind the curtain amid a storm of hisses. Genius is -seldom appreciated at short range. We praise dead saints, and persecute -living ones: we <i>roast</i> our great men in one age, and boast of them in -the next. Let us see if history does not bear out these -assertions.—Alexander the Great died in his youth; Socrates was made to -drink the fatal hemlock; Leonidas, the immortal Greek patriot, was -hanged; Xerxes was assassinated in his sleep; Scipio was strangled in -his bed; Seneca, the Roman moralist, was banished to Corsica; Hannibal -took poison to prevent falling into the enemy's hands; Caesar was -assassinated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> by his friends; Philip of Macedon was assassinated by his -body guard; Archimedes was stabbed for not going to Marcellus till he -had finished his problem; Belisarius was sentenced to death and blinded; -Mohammed was despised and persecuted; Bruno was burned alive and his -ashes thrown to the four winds of heaven; Dante was banished from -Florence; Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded; Admiral Coligny was murdered -at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew; Joan of Arc was burned at the stake; -Savonarola was burned on a heap of faggots for his religious preaching; -Madam Roland was beheaded; Cardinal Wolsey died on his way to the -scaffold; Milton was stricken blind; Martin Luther was excommunicated -and persecuted; Anne Boleyn, the good and true wife of Henry VIII, was -beheaded; Palissy the Potter had to burn his house to feed his furnace, -and was imprisoned in the Bastile for his religious faith; Mary, Queen -of Scots, was beheaded after a long imprisonment; Cervantes, creator of -Don Quixote, was imprisoned for debt and suffered want; Edmund Spenser, -author of "Faerie Queen," also died of want; Henry of Navarre was -assassinated; Galileo was made to recant under penalty of death; -Napoleon was sent to St. Helena; Oliver Cromwell was an exile, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> price -upon his head; Charles I. was beheaded, Marshal Ney, "Bravest of the -Brave," was cruelly shot to death for alleged treason; Madame Racamier, -the most beautiful and charming woman in history, died poor, blind and -an exile; Voltaire was arrested, imprisoned and exiled; Beethoven, "The -Shakespeare of Music," was stricken deaf; Mozart was buried in Potter's -Field; the gallant Decatur and the illustrious Hamilton were cruelly -shot by duelists; John Brown was shot for trying to free the slaves; -Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley were assassinated; Madame De Stael was -banished from Paris because Napoleon did not like her; Florence -Nightingale became a chronic invalid; Marie Antoinette was beheaded; -Garibaldi was condemned to death and compelled to flee his native land; -Gen. Custer fought the Indians till none of his soldiers lived and then -died upon the battle-field; Victor Hugo was made to flee Brussels; -Lafayette in France was imprisoned and nearly starved to death; David -Livingstone, explorer, died in the wilds of Africa; Tasso was exiled and -imprisoned and died in poverty; Lovejoy was murdered; Wm. Lloyd Garrison -and Wendell Phillips were mobbed on the streets of Boston; Sir Henry -Vane was beheaded because he asserted liberty; William Penn was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> -persecuted and imprisoned; Aristides was exiled; Aristotle had to flee -for his life and swallowed poison; Pythagoras was persecuted and -probably burned to death; Paul was beheaded; Spinoza was tracked, -hunted, cursed and forbidden aid or food; Huss, Wyclif, Latimer and -Lyndale were burned at the stake; Schiller was buried in a three-thaler -coffin at midnight without funeral rites; Pompey was assassinated in -Egypt by one of his own officers; Shelley, the poet, was drowned; -William, Prince of Orange, was assassinated; Anaxagoras was dragged to -prison for asserting his idea of God; Gerbert, Roger Bacon and Cornelius -Agrippa, the great chemists and geometricians, were abhored as -magicians; Petrarch lived in deadly fear of the wrath of the priests; -Descartes was horribly persecuted in Holland when he first published his -opinions; Racine and Corneille nearly died of starvation; Lee Sage, in -his old age was saved from starvation by his son who was an actor; -Boethius, Selden, Grotius and Sir John Pettus wrote many of their best -works in jail; John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress while in prison; De -Foe, author of the immortal Cruso, was imprisoned for writing a -pamphlet, and so was Leigh Hunt for a similar offense; Homer was a -beggar; Plautus turned a mill; Terence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> was a slave; Paul Borghese had -fourteen trades, yet starved with them all; Bentivoglio was refused -admission into the hospital he had himself erected; Camoens, author of -the Lusiad, died in an alms house; Dryden lived in poverty and distress; -Otway died prematurely through hunger; Steele was constantly pursued by -bailiffs; Fielding was buried in a factory graveyard without a stone; -Savage died in jail at Lisbon; Butler lived in penury and died in -distress; Chatterton, pursued by misfortune, killed himself in his -youth; Samuel Abbott, inventor of the process of turning potatoes into -starch, was burned to death in his own factory; Chaucer exchanged a -palace for a prison; Bacon died in disgrace; Ben Johnson lived and died -in poverty; Bishop Taylor was imprisoned; Clarendon died in exile; Swift -and Addison lived and died unhappy and unfortunate; Dr. Johnson died of -scrofula, in poverty and pain; Goldsmith was always poor and died in -squalor and misery; Smollett, several times fined and imprisoned, died -at 33; Cowper was poor and tinged with madness. Of the American -discoverers, Columbus was put in chains and died of poverty and neglect; -Roldin and Bobadilla were drowned; Ovando was harshly superceded; Las -Casas sought refuge in a cowl; Ojeda died in extreme<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> poverty; Encisco -was deposed by his own men; Nicuessa perished miserably by the cruelty -of his party; Basco Nunez de Balboa was disgracefully beheaded; Narvaez -was imprisoned in a tropical dungeon and afterwards died of hardship; -Cortez was dishonored; Alvarado was destroyed in ambush; Almagro was -garroted; Pizarro was murdered and his four brothers were cut off.</p> - -<p>Doubtless, many other martyrs could be mentioned, but perhaps the -foregoing will suffice to prove our case. As Napoleon once said, it is -the cause and not the death that makes the martyr, and many of the -foregoing martyrs perhaps deserved to die as they did. But, who may say? -An additional list will be found in "Fox's Martyrs," but they are mostly -religious martyrs, whereas the foregoing is general and fairly -representative of every age and of every calling.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Gentlemen, Be Seated</i></h2> - -<p>When the interlocutor says these words, all the men sit down. They all -assume that they are gentlemen; anyway, they know that they have been -called such, and they accept the appellation. Any man will be offended -if you say he is no gentleman. Every man wants to be known as a -gentleman. The sign that reads "Gentlemen will not expectorate upon the -floor—others <i>must</i> not," is very effective, because every man who -reads it will obey, fearing that if he does not he will not be rated as -a gentleman. You cannot appeal to him on any stronger ground; the -dangers of tuberculosis, cleanliness, the ladies' skirts, and such, do -not weigh so heavy as the argument that real gentlemen do not -expectorate. Take the lowliest laborer, and you cannot pay him a higher -compliment than to make him understand that you rate him as a gentleman. -Even pickpockets, burglars and thugs pride themselves on being -gentlemen, when off duty, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> it is their highest ambition to get -dressed up and to frequent the same hotels, restaurants and resorts that -gentlemen frequent. And yet, if you ask any of these what a gentleman -is, he cannot tell you. For that matter, who can? What is a gentleman? -What are the qualifications and requirements? Can a person be a -gentleman part of the time and not all the time, or is he born one way -or the other? Can a person who was not born a gentleman acquire the -title? Is it a matter of birth, a matter of character, a matter of -conscience, a matter of dress, a matter of conduct, or a matter of -education? Can a man who has been brought up in ignorance, crime, filth, -squalor, and degradation be educated to be a gentleman, or will his real -self pop out sometime and show that he is not? The dictionary definition -of a gentleman is: "A man of good birth; every man above the rank of -yeoman, comprehending noblemen; a man who, without a title, bears a coat -of arms, or whose ancestors were freemen; a man of good breeding and -politeness, as distinguished from the vulgar and clownish; a man in a -position of life above a tradesman or mechanic; a term of complaisance." -But none of these definitions covers the modern "gentleman"; not one is -adequate. Chaucer's idea was that "He is gentle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> who doth gentle deeds." -Calvert's was that a gentleman is a Christian product. Goldsmith's, that -the barber made the gentleman. Locke's, that education begins the -gentleman and that good company and reflection finishes him. Hugo's, -that he is the best gentleman who is the son of his own deserts. -Emerson's, that cheerfulness and repose are the badge of a gentleman. -Steele's, that to be a fine gentleman is to be generous and brave. -Spenser's, that it is a matter of deeds and manners. Shaftesbury's, that -it is the taste of beauty and the relish of what is decent, just and -amiable that perfects the gentleman. Byron's, that the grace of being, -without alloy of fop or beau, a finished gentleman, is something that -Nature writes on the brow of certain men. Beaconsfield's, that propriety -of manners and consideration for others are the two main characteristics -of a gentleman. Hazlitt's, that a gentleman is one who understands and -shows every mark of deference to the claims of self-love in others, and -exacts it in turn from them, and that <i>propriety</i> is as near a word as -any to denote the manners of the gentlemen—plus elegance, for fine -gentlemen, dignity for noblemen and majesty for kings.</p> - -<p>Chesterfield's opinion ought to be worth considering—"A gentleman has -ease without <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>familiarity, is respectful without meanness, genteel -without affectation, insinuating without seeming art." Likewise -Ruskin's—"A gentleman's first characteristic is that fineness of -structure in the body which renders it capable of the most delicate -sensation; and of structure in the mind which renders it capable of the -most delicate sympathies; one may say simply 'fineness of structure.'" -The Psalmist describes a gentleman as one "that walketh uprightly, and -worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart," and Samuel -Smiles adds that a gentleman's qualities depend, not on fashion or -manners, but or moral worth; not on personal possessions, but on -personal qualities. Thackeray intimates that a gentleman must be honest, -gentle, generous, brave, wise; and, possessing all these qualities, he -must exercise them in the most graceful outward manner. That he must be -a loyal son, a true husband, and an honest father. That his life ought -to be decent, his bills paid, his taste high and elegant, and his aim in -life lofty and noble. A more modern view is that of the great English -philosopher, Herbert Spencer, who says that "Thoughtfulness for others, -generosity, modesty and self-respect are the qualities that make the -real gentleman or lady, as distinguished from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> veneered article that -commonly goes by that name." And here's another view:</p> - -<p><i>Gentleman</i>—A man that's clean outside and in; who neither looks up to -the rich nor down on the poor; who can lose without squealing and who -can win without bragging; who is considerate of women, and children and -old people; who is too brave to lie, too generous to cheat, and who -takes his share of the world and lets other people have theirs.</p> - -<p>Originally <i>gentleman</i> was merely a designation, not a description, and -it was meant to apply to men occupying a certain conventional social -position. It had no reference to the qualities of heart, mind and soul. -Later the word <i>gentleman</i> was given an exclusively ethical application. -Both ideas are extremes, and both are wrong, because the former might -apply to thieves, liars, cads, fops and ruffians, and the latter might -apply to servants and slaves, many of whom are men of the best and -truest type. There is an old saw that runs—</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>"What is a gentleman?</div> -<div class="i1">He is always polite,</div> -<div class="i1">He always does right,</div> -<div>And that is a gentleman."</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>If it is difficult to ascertain what a gentleman is, it is not difficult -to ascertain what a gentleman is not. For example, a gentleman is not—</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p><p>1. One who jumps into the one vacant seat when there are women -standing.</p> - -<p>2. One who smokes or swears in a public elevator in the presence of a -lady.</p> - -<p>3. One who dashes through swinging doors and lets them bang into the -face of those behind.</p> - -<p>4. One who jumps on the platform of a moving car when others are -patiently waiting to get on.</p> - -<p>5. One who eats with his knife, picks his teeth in public, spits on the -floor, wipes his mouth on the tablecloth, coughs or sneezes in public -without covering his mouth, or cleans his nails in a public place.</p> - -<p>6. One who carries his umbrella extended horizontally under his arm, -with the sharp ferrule sticking out behind to the inconvenience if not -peril of others.</p> - -<p>7. One who rushes into a car before those in it have time to get off.</p> - -<p>8. One who occupies two seats for himself and his newspaper or parcels -in a crowded car.</p> - -<p>9. One who fails to apologize when he has unintentionally insulted -another.</p> - -<p>10. One who refuses to apologize or make amend when he has intentionally -insulted another.</p> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p><p>11. One who always wants to bet or to fight when he is getting the -worst of an argument.</p> - -<p>12. One who neglects to respect old age.</p> - -<p>13. One who is mean, selfish and inconsiderate of the rights and -convenience of others.</p> - -<p>14. One who deliberately uses uncouth or vulgar language.</p> - -<p>15. One who is intentionally neglectful of his appearance to the extent -of wearing soiled linen in public and of neglecting his person so that -he is obnoxious to the olfactory organs of those around him.</p> - -<p>16. One who lacks tolerance and who wrangles with everybody who does not -do as he would like them to do.</p> - -<p>17. One who has a hot temper and does not know enough to put his foot on -the soft pedal.</p> - -<p>18. One who laughs at a drunken man or woman or who induces them to -become so.</p> - -<p>19. One who thinks that the world owes him a living and who proceeds to -collect it from everybody he comes across, by foul means or fair.</p> - -<p>20. One who does not know that women, children and elderly people are -entitled to a preference and to unusual consideration on all occasions.</p> - -<p>Gentlemen, be seated, and we will inquire<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> still further as to what a -gentleman is and is not. Of course, at this command you are all seated. -The commander knew that there would be no exceptions in your judgment. -But, even if you do not agree with the opinions of those quoted above, -you have your own notions as to what is a gentleman, and it is a safe -bet that not one of you live up to those qualifications. The most -perfect of gentlemen sometimes fail to live up to their best. We all -fall down once in a while.</p> - -<p>Some people define gentlemen as follows:</p> - -<p><i>Gentleman</i>—One who does not wear detachable cuffs; one who changes his -shirt every day; one whose clothes are of the latest pattern; one who -wears a cane, a silk hat and patent leather shoes; one who has money and -spends it freely; one who tips the waiter generously, and who would not -soil his hands by shaking hands with a laborer; one who is above work -and who would not associate with a common tradesman; one who respects to -the point of worship anybody who has money and who detests to the point -of hatred everybody who has not; one who has his nails manicured twice a -week, and who always wears gloves in public; one who thinks that the -greatest thing in the world is to belong to the smart set and to be -fashionable.</p> - -<p>Such people forget that the <i>gentleman</i> is solid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> mahogany, while the -fashionable man is only veneer. They forget that the gentleman is not so -much what he is without as what he is within. You cannot make a -gentleman out of fine clothes, even if you add elegant manners. Nor will -education complete him. When you educate the thief you do not -necessarily cure his thievery, and you often make him a more -accomplished thief. And some of the greatest thieves and cut-throats -have the most elegant manners and wear the finest clothes. The real -gentleman must be a gentleman clean through, from the center of his -heart to the top of his brain. Culture and refinement in the true sense -proceed from within. While they can be purchased at any good -boarding-school, this is another brand, and partake of the qualities of -varnish. They are a sort of polish.</p> - -<p>Gentlemen, be seated. Ah, you do not seat yourselves so quickly! You -begin to see the light. Perhaps you realize that you are not so much of -a gentleman as you at first thought you were. You may have the instincts -of a gentleman, you may have good breeding, good manners, education, -refinement, good intentions, even culture, yet you know down in your -secret souls that you have some qualities that are not those of the -real, true gentleman. You may have gentleness, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>generosity, honesty, -polish, and yet you lack some of the other ingredients that are used in -the manufacture of a gentleman. But never you mind. None of us are -perfect—not even the writer! And you frown when you are told that <i>you</i> -are not gentlemen. But you are not. There is no such thing as a -gentleman. How can there be when a gentleman is a <i>perfect man</i>? The -thing to do is to try to be a gentleman. Let's try hard.</p> - -<p>Gentlemen, be seated. You all sit, because you <i>try</i> to be gentlemen, -and, for aught I know, you are as much gentlemen as anybody. Anyway, if -you try, you are, to all intents and purposes; for, if a man does the -best he can he is entitled to the highest honors, and what higher honors -are there than to be known as a real gentleman?</p> - -<p>Gentlemen, be seated, and we shall hear from a wonderful philosopher, -Herr Friedrich Nietzsche. A million sages and diagnosticians, in all -ages of the world, have sought to define the gentleman, and their -definitions have been as varied as their minds, as we have already seen. -Nietzsche's definition, according to Mencken's translation, is based on -the fact that the gentleman is ever a man of more than average influence -and power, and on the further fact that this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> superiority is admitted by -all. The vulgarian may boast of his bluff honesty, but at heart he looks -up to the gentleman, who goes through life serene and imperturbable. -There is in the gentleman an unmistakable air of fitness and efficiency, -and it is this that makes it possible for him to be gentle and to regard -those below him with tolerance. The demeanor of highborn persons shows -plainly that in their minds the consciousness of power is ever present. -Above all things, they strive to avoid a show of weakness, whether it -takes the form of inefficiency or of a too-easy yielding to passion or -emotion. They never sink exhausted into a chair. On the train, when the -vulgar try to make themselves comfortable, these higher folk avoid -reclining. They do not seem to get tired after hours of standing at -court. They do not furnish their homes in a comfortable, but in a -spacious and dignified manner, as if they were the abodes of a greater -and taller race of beings. To a provoking speech, they reply with -politeness and self-possession—and not as if horrified, crushed, -abashed, enraged or out of breath, after the manner of plebians. The -gentleman knows how to preserve the appearance of ever-present physical -strength, and he knows, too, how to convey the impression that his soul -and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> intellect are a match for all dangers and surprises, by keeping up -an unchanging serenity and civility, even under the most trying -circumstances.</p> - -<p>Thus spake Nietzsche, but he was really defining an aristocrat, or one -of the so-called nobility, for which he had a profound respect. Here is -still another definition:</p> - -<p><i>Gentility</i>—Perfect veracity, frank urbanity, total unwillingness to -give offense; the gentleness of right-hearted, level-headed good nature; -kindliness tactfully exercised through clear sense that duly appreciates -current circumstances involving the personal rights, privileges and -susceptibilities of others; and, while justly regarding these, acting on -what they generally suggest so considerately and so gracefully that a -pleasurable, heartfelt recognition of finest decency is inspired in others.</p> - -<p>An old wag once said, "I never refuse to drink with a gentleman, and a -gentleman is a man who invites me to take a drink." That is the Kentucky -idea. But this is not:</p> - -<p><i>Gentleman</i>—One who has courage without bravado, pride without vanity, -and who is innately—not studiously, but innately—considerate of the -feelings of others.</p> - -<p>And so the definitions vary inversely as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> square of the desirability -of the kind of gentleman we try to be. In brief, a <i>gentleman</i> is -indefinable as it is unmistakable. You can always tell him when you meet -him, but you cannot tell how or why.</p> - -<p>Gentlemen, be seated. This is final. Just think over what you have -heard, and see if there is not now a clear idea of what a gentleman is -and is not. If you have read between the lines, you have seen the true -lights on the subject. Wit and mirth and humorous allusions—such as -they are—should not obscure the real issue. Do we not all know now what -a gentleman is? Quite true that we cannot define it, without a very -large vocabulary and thousands of words, yet we feel that we know. And, -knowing what a gentleman is, surely we shall all try to be one. And then -what more can the gods require?</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Beards</i></h2> - -<p>And so the beard is coming in fashion again. Consoling thought to you of -the fertile facial soil and with ugly contour or ungainly blemishes to -conceal, but distressing to those chubby-faced, masculine beauties whose -tender skins will not yield a plentiful crop. But, you have had your -day, oh, ye of the germ-proof, Napoleonic countenance; so, discard your -Gillettes, and make way for his majesty—The Beard. The halcyon days of -the razor are no more, if we are to believe fickle Dame Fashion, and we -are now to welcome the day of the shears. If nature has been stingy, and -that glorious excrescence, the beard, is impossible to you, mon cher, -pray accept our sympathy; but, please be generous enough to take the -inevitable with good grace, and not worry us with foolish arguments -about bearded barbarians and unsanitary savages. We know that you can -make a strong case against the beard, but we imagine we can make one -equally strong in its favor. All<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> of your progenitors had them, -including Adam—if we are to believe the ancient monuments, all of which -show those gentlemen with a bushy beard of no mean dimensions. You say -the ancient Egyptians wore no beards? Yes, but please observe that on -occasions of high festivity, they wore false beards as assertions of -their dignity and virility, and always represented their male deities -with splendid hirsute adornments tip-tilted at the ends. It is true that -they called the Greeks and Romans "barbarians" (bearded, unshaven, -savages), and that about 300 B. C., the latter began to shave and in -turn to call other peoples "barbarians"; but these incidents were only -passing fancies, freaks and fashions soon to make way for the -approaching, persistent reign of the beard. You say that Julian argued -arduously against the beard? Yes, but would you take for a model a man -whose whole body was bearded, and who prided himself on his long -finger-nails and on the inky blackness of his hands? And don't forget -that the reason Alexander abolished beards in his army was one that -hardly fits your case, for was it not because the enemy had a habit of -using the beard as a handle, much to the inconvenience—to say nothing -of the discomfort—of the victim?</p> - -<p>The beard has had an eventful career, and has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> always been the bone of -contention between nations, churches, politicians, kings, gods, and -barbers. As to the last, suffice it to say that beards existed before -barbers, and that barbers are now as favorable to beards as they are -unfavorable to safety razors. As for the churches, they have been -alternately pro and con: Israel brought the beard safely out of Egyptian -bondage; the Orientals cherished it as a sacred thing; the Scriptures -abound with examples of how it was used to interpret pride, joy, sorrow, -despondency, etc., the Greek church was for beards, and the Roman church -against; the Popes of Naples wore beards at various periods; and now, -most of our popes, priests and preachers keep their "chins new reaped." -In Asia, wars have been declared on alleged grievances concerning -shaving, and Nero offered some of the hairs of his beard to Jupiter -Capitolinus who could well have bearded a dozen emperors from his own. -Herodotus has more to say of beards than of belles, bibles and Belzebub, -and the other poets and historians have found inspiration in like theme. -In some times, beards denoted noble birth and in others they were tokens -of depravity or of ostracism. The Roskolniki, a sect of schismatics, -maintained that the divine image resided in the beard, and for ages the -beard was the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>outward sign of a true man. In brief, the beard has had a -Titanic struggle for existence, first up, then down, first on and then -off. Just as it would attain the zenith of its glory, some beardless -king would come along and dethrone it, as was the case in Spain, for -example, when Philip V's tender chin refused to bear fruit, which -calamity soon changed the fashion among the Spanish nobility. And, no -sooner would the bald chin be established in favor, than some ugly-faced -prince would come forward with an edict that the elect must again -display the manly beard, as in France, when the young king's face was so -disfigured with scars that he found a beard necessary to give him an -appearance of respectability, whereupon all his faithful subjects found -that they also had scars to conceal, much to the dismay of the barbers.</p> - -<p>Then, again, the beard was often attacked by the assessors, as well as -by the churches and fashions; for did not Peter the Great levy a heavy -tax on all Russian beards, and did not Queen Elizabeth, in spite of -bearded Raleigh, impose a tax of 3s. 4d. on all beards above a -fortnight's growth? These were unfair handicaps to the beard, and -greatly hampered its progress, but, beards, like truth, crushed to earth -will rise again, and so always did the beard. For, observe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> that in the -reign of Henry VIII the lawyers wore imposing beards, which became so -fashionable that the authorities at Lincoln's Inn made them pay double -common to sit at the great table; but mark that this was before 1535 -when Henry raised his own crisp beard which afterwards became so -celebrated. Beginning with the 13th century, when beards first came in -fashion in England, up to the present, the poor beard has had a -checkered career, but of late it has held its own with commendable -persistency, and now all Europe is bearded, as it was in the beginning.</p> - -<p>If the beard was sometimes held in respect, as in the Bastile, where an -official was kept busy shaving the captives, and as in our own prisons, -where the guests of the state are kept beardless, do you say that -occasionally it was held in contempt and betokens laziness and rudeness? -Yes, but, when your entire list of digressions is exposed, and your -whole catalog of objections exhausted, you will find that His Majesty -the Beard still waves triumphantly. It may be trod under foot for a -time, but, just as the shaven beard will soon grow again, so will the -beard that has been legislated against by court, church or fashion. In -days of old, to touch the beard rudely was to assail the dignity of its -owner; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> when a man placed his hand upon his beard and swore by it, -he felt bounden by the most sacred of oaths. We all have a certain -reverence for traditions, and those of the beard are still respected, -among the uncivilized as well as among the civilized. Was it not Juan de -Castro, the Portuguese admiral, who borrowed a thousand pistoles and -pledged one of his whiskers, saying, "All the gold in the world cannot -equal this natural ornament of my valor?" Persius associated wisdom with -the beard, and called Socrates "Magister Barbatus" in commendation of -that gentleman's populous beard. And do not the sculptors and painters -usually represent Jupiter, Hercules and Plato with the same tokens of -strength, fortitude, sturdiness and virility? Who would favor a -"beardless youth" to Numa Pimpolius—he of the magnificent flowing -beard? Who would prefer a Shakespeare, a Longfellow, a Whitman, a -Ruskin, a Charlemagne, shorn of their hirsute adornments? Or a Lincoln, -Grant or Lee? But, of course, there are beards and beards; we are not -lost in admiration at sight of such anomalies as those of John Mayo -("John the Bearded"), or of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, nor even with -that majestic forest of hair which was attached to Queen Mary's agent to -Moscow, George Killingworth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> whose beard measured five feet two inches, -and which so pleased the grim Ivan the Terrible that he actually laughed -and played with it. Coming down to the present, some of us will prefer -the silky, golden beard, such as adorns the handsome countenance of -Judge Wilkin, of the Children's Court; some the splendid snow-white -beard of Hudson Maxim, or the shorter and less white beard of our able -and amiable Edwin Markham; or the mixed, philosophic beard of General -Vanderbilt; or, perchance, we prefer the sandy, semi-gray beard of that -profound jurist, statesman, philosopher,—Judge Gaynor. And then there -is the erudite Bernard Shaw, and our virtuous statesman Judge Hughes, -and then there was the sage and honorable keeper of the public baths, -Dr. Wm. H. Hale, and Oscar Hammerstein, the impressario. Yes, the beard -is coming, so away with your safety razors, and supply your barber with -shears. Away with your alum, salves and powders, and look up the old -recipes for hair-restoring. The Roman youths used household oils to coax -the hairs to grow, but the apothecaries of those days were not so -cunning as ours, and soon we may expect to see the bill-boards and -advertising pages filled with notices of new preparations guaranteed to -grow a beard in a night, and directions how to care for,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> dress, comb, -clip and preserve it. No doubt we shall soon become as careful of those -sacred emblems of maturity and manhood, our whiskers, as Sir Thomas -Moore was of his, who, as he put his head upon the block, carefully laid -his beard out of the way, and then cracked a joke. What kind of a beard -shall we wear? Consult the artists and barbers, and trim it as you do -your hair—as best suits and becomes you. Charles the First adopted the -Vandyke beard, after the artist of that name. Ruskin, and other -philosophers, wore their beards as nature intended, trimming them about -once every decade. Actors, waiters, and doctors will probably wear no -beards, for obvious reasons, but they will all wish they could, if they -read James Ward's "Defense of the Beard," in which eighteen excellent -reasons are given, among which might be mentioned, protection to throat -and chest, and Nature. And yet, on the other hand, there are serious -objections to the beard, among which is the one made immortal by those -classic lines of Homer—or was it Lewis Carroll?—which runneth thus:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>"There was once a man with a beard,</div> -<div>Who said, 'It is just as I feared:</div> -<div class="i2">Two Owls and a Hen,</div> -<div class="i2">Four Larks and a Wren</div> -<div>Have all built their nests in my beard!'"</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p><p>There has been some scientific inquiry as to why woman was made -beardless, but the question was never satisfactorily settled until the -poets became interested in the problem, and the result was as follows:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>"How wisely Nature, ordering all below,</div> -<div>Forbade a beard on woman's chin to grow;</div> -<div>For, how could she be shaved—whate'ver the skill—</div> -<div>Whose tongue would never let her chin be still."</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Gambling</i></h2> - -<p>In 1890, a reformed gambler named John Philip Quinn, wrote a book, -"Fools of Fortune," which I read with interest when it first came out. -Later I met this man and saw him expose numerous tricks of gamblers. The -book comprehends a history of the vice in ancient and modern times, and -in both hemispheres, and is an exposition of its alarming prevalence and -destructive effects, with an unreserved and exhaustive disclosure of -such frauds, tricks and devices as are practised by professional -gambler, confidence man and bunko steerers; and the book was given to -the world with the hope that it might extenuate the author's twenty-five -years of gaming and systematic deception of his fellow men.</p> - -<p>I wish every boy and every public official could read that book. Its -pages are twice the size of these, and there are no less than 640 of -them—a big and a valuable book. It would do more good in the world than -a great many <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>so-called religious books that I could mention; and, if I -am ever rich, I would like to have it reprinted and sold for ten cents a -copy so that everybody could get one.</p> - -<p>Alongside of this book in my library is another, entitled, "What's the -Odds," by Joe Ullman, the famous (or infamous) bookmaker. What a -contrast! This book tells many "interesting" stories of the turf, of the -pool-room and of the card-room, and it tends to cast a luring glamor -around racing and all sorts of gaming.</p> - -<p>By the side of this book in my library is another, entitled "Gambling: -or Fortuna, Her Temple and Shrine. The True Philosophy and Ethics of -Gambling," by James Harold Romain, which is an able defense of gambling. -How much harm these two last-mentioned books may have done, no man may -say. Certainly they have done no good. If ever a book should be -suppressed by law, these two books should come first.</p> - -<p>Mr. Romain says, "The keepers of gambling resorts are denounced, as -though they were responsible for the gambling propensity in mankind. -Resorts for gambling do not cause the passion. It is a tendency to which -all men are prone, more or less. The essential fact is the existence of -this passion. There can never be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> great difficulty in obtaining the -means for its gratification."</p> - -<p>Now, it is quite true that gambling is a tendency to which most people -are prone, more or less, but that is no argument for increasing the -temptation, nor for encouraging the vice. Men are prone to steal, to -drink, to be dishonest, to lie, to cheat, to be immoral; but these -tendencies must be checked and suppressed, not encouraged. Because some -men will steal, should we license them and furnish them with ways and -means to carry out their brutal instincts? Civilization is striving to -eliminate man's brute passions. Thousands of institutions such as the -law and the church, the prisons and reformatories, the libraries and the -schools, are constantly combating man's animal tendencies. Shall we stop -all this and let man's passions have full sway? Mr. Romain says, yes. He -says, "In the name of liberty and equality, a brave battle has been -fought for individuality. Unjust and unwise interference by the state -has been ably resisted. It is demanded that private judgment be released -from the embrace of authority. The truth is, one man has no natural -right to make laws for another. True, he may repel another, when his own -rights are infringed, but he has no right to govern him." Of course, -this is anarchy. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> doctrine of "no laws" is an exploded theory. By -common consent, the world has come to an understanding that the majority -of the people shall make laws to govern the whole, and there is no other -way. What is detrimental to the community must be suppressed, and the -law is the best suppressor.</p> - -<p>While Fortuna may proudly enumerate her great votaries in America, -including Aaron Burr, Edgar Allen Poe, William Wirt, Luther Martin, -Gouverneur Morris, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, General Hayne, Sam -Houston, Andrew Jackson, Generals Burnett, Sickles, Kearney, Steedman, -Hooker, Hurlbut, Sheridan, Kilpatrick, Grant, George D. Prentiss, -Sargeant S. Prentiss, Albert Pike, A. P. Hill, Beauregard, Early, Ben -Hill, Robert Toombs, George H. Pendleton, Thaddeus Stevens, Green of -Missouri, Herbert and Fitch of California, Jerry McKibben, James A. -Bayard, Benjamin F. Wade, Broderick, John C. Fremont, Judge Magowan, -Charles Spencer, Fernando Wood and his brother Benjamin, Colonel -McClure, Senator Wolcott, Senator Pettigrew, Senator Farwell, Matthew -Carpenter, Thomas Scott, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Hutchinson of Chicago, -and Pierre Lorillard; think of the long list of greater men who were not -addicted to gambling.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> This list is fairly complete, yet it is by no -means representative. If these men had the passion, they no doubt felt -sorry for it and they would be the first to warn others of the vice. -Some of them were ruined by it. It is a folly to be ashamed of, not to -be proud of. It is a weakness, and all great men have their weaknesses. -Think of the great men who were inveterate smokers and drinkers; yet we -would not hold them up as examples for the young simply because they -acquired these bad habits. Are we to emulate the faults of the great, or -their virtues?</p> - -<p>Of all the passions that have enslaved mankind, none can reckon so many -victims as gambling. In the wrecking of homes, in the destroying of -character, in the encouragement of dishonesty, in the dissolving of -fortunes, gambling has only one rival—drink. The two are brothers. They -walk hand in hand. One seldom exists without the other. If drink comes -first, gambling follows shortly; if gambling gets hold of its victim -first, drink soon joins his brother. And with these two terrible, -fascinating, insidious habits firmly entrenched in a man's system, all -the other vices are invited in to keep the others company. Smoking, a -lesser evil, usually accompanies the rest, in fact usually comes first; -but it is hardly to be classed as a vice, since it in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> itself has no -immoral effects, and is simply a bad and an expensive habit, although it -is one that many enjoy without harm or danger, even with profit. -Gambling appeals to a latent instinct, and hence is all the more -alluring. It is a disease that, when it once gets hold, seldom lets go. -The victim may shake it off, for a time, but it will surely show its -fangs again, and it will require a struggle and many of them, throughout -life, to conquer it. It will crop out in divers ways and its influence -will be felt in all transactions. True, all life and business is a -gamble, in one sense—that is, a chance, but that is no reason why we -should make gambling King. Our efforts should be directed to dethroning -it, not to crowning it.</p> - -<p>If you have a boy growing up, remember that he has a latent instinct to -gamble. Remember that unless you show him the dangers of the vice, he -will surely get the fever. It is just as sure as it is that he will be -tempted to steal and to lie. You will observe him shooting marbles for -gain. Then, craps. Then he will be playing cards for money. Then he will -get interested in the penny-slot devices that are to be found in the -cigar and candy stores. He will keep a sharp lookout for prize packages. -He will take a chance in every lottery that he hears of, including those -that are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> usually conducted in church fairs. Next, he will hear of faro, -roulette and other games of chance, and soon he will find his way into a -regular gambling den. He will probably lose, the first time, and then he -will save up, and go again to recover his losses. If he loses again he -will have all the more reason to go again, to get square. If he should -win the first time, he will get the fever anyway, and he will at once -see visions of an easy fortune ahead. Either way, he will stick to it, -and to stick to it means ruin. He will need more money than you will -give him, and he will be tempted to get money by dishonest means. If he -does not steal, he will perhaps take something from the house and sell -it in order to get money with which to gamble. If he cannot get that -something in your home, he may be tempted to get it from some other -home. He will sell his toys. He will go without shoes and spend the -money at gambling. If he cannot get money, he will run away and earn it. -He will forget all your teachings and do anything to get money. And, -when once he gets into one of those gilded palaces of the devil, where -big stakes are played for, where everything is bright, elegant and -alluring, where one man is seen to make a fortune in a night, which -sometimes happens, and where sumptuous tables are spread with all the -luxuries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> and dainties of the season for the delight of the patrons, -where wine and cigars are freely given to both winner and loser—then -bid goodbye to your boy, for he is lost. The chances are that he will -never get over it. The fascination will be too much for him. He will -surely go again. Win or lose, he will look forward to the day when he -can try his luck with the great Goddess of Chance. The yawning jaws of -the tiger are ever open for fresh victims such as he, and if he gives -them a chance they will inevitably close down on him. If he loses at -first, he will begin to study "systems" to beat the game. He will spend -sleepless nights studying how to win out. If he finds that, with all his -studying, he still cannot retrieve his losses, he will try other forms -of gambling, such as horse racing, but all with the same result. He is -bound to lose in the end. But, the strange thing is, that you cannot -make him believe this. Every man seems to have an inborn notion that he -is different from everybody else; that he is, by some freak of nature, a -marked man to win; that if he keeps it up long enough luck must change; -that he above all others has been picked out by Dame Fortune to win; -that it is only a question of time when luck will again smile upon him. -So, he keeps it up, chasing the will o' the wisp, following<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> the rainbow -to find the proverbial pots of gold that are said to lie at the other -end. History proves all this. The road to ruin is straight and clear. It -is easy to follow. Walking is good. It is well lighted. The mirage of -Fortune looms up big at the other end which seems just a little farther -on. He may get weary and discouraged, at times, but Hope and Promise -beckon him on. He sees his possessions vanishing, as he plods on, he -sees his reputation and character leaving him, but he believes that -these can easily be restored when he arrives at his destination. But he -never arrives. He falls by the wayside. He dies, mourned by few, shunned -by many, discouraged, desolate, homeless, friendless, forsaken—a -worthless wreck.</p> - -<p>Among the hundreds of thousands of gamblers, you can count the few -prosperous ones on your fingers. Whether it be stock-market gamblers, -race track gamblers, card gamblers, or what-not, the universal law is -that they all must lose in the end. Every once in a while you read of -some famous once-rich gambler who has just died poor and forsaken, -fortune gone. The few successful ones are successful only for a short -time. And the chances of your boy being one of the successful ones is -about equal to his chances of becoming the king of England. The odds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> -are all against it. In playing against the dealer, or bookmaker, or -"house," the percentage is large against him. If by chance he should -win, there are two chances to one that the gambler will get it all back -and more too, at the next sitting. People say, "I will try it once more, -and I am sure to win this time, and if I do I will quit the game -forever." But the forever never comes. If they win, they will soon come -to an understanding with themselves that they will try it just once -more, to win just a little more, then stop. If they lose, they soon -agree with themselves that they will try it just once more to get back -what they lost. In either case they are bound to get back to the gaming -table, and the gamblers all know this. Hence, when the professional -gambler sees a winner leave his place, he does not frown; he only -smiles, because he knows that the winner will soon be back to drop his -winnings plus a little more.</p> - -<p>And what are we to do with this common enemy of mankind? Are we to sit -down and sigh, and say, "Well, people will gamble anyway, and if they -are fools enough to throw away their money that way, let them do it"; or -are we to bend our energies to suppress it? Are we to allow gambling -houses to exist in our midst, thus inviting our young men to become -victims? Are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> we to allow lotteries and petty gambling devices -everywhere as we do now? Are our churches to encourage the vice at their -fairs in order to make money to <i>redeem</i> the world? No, we must stamp it -out wherever we find it.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> - -<h2><i>Wedding Bells</i></h2> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been</div> -<div>To public feasts, where meet a public rout,</div> -<div>Where they that are without would fain go in,</div> -<div>And they that are within would fain go out.</div> -<div class="right"><i>Sir John Davies.</i></div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>Let us listen, for a moment, to the merry jingle of the wedding bells, -as they echo through the corridors of the Hall of Time. What is a -wedding, and a marriage, and why? What object was sought, in the -beginning, when custom demanded a marriage ceremony before cohabitation? -Why has that ancient custom followed man to every far corner of the -globe, and why do all peoples resent any effort to destroy that custom? -Why so many different forms of ceremony, what do they mean, and why do -they differ so?</p> - -<p>Bolingbroke says that marriage was instituted because it was necessary -that parents should know their own respective offspring; and that, as -the mother can have no doubt that she is the mother, so a man should -have all the assurance possible that he is the father: hence the -marriage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> contract, and the various moral and civil rights, duties and -obligations which follow as corollaries.</p> - -<p>Monogamy was the original law of marriage, but in Genesis we are told -that Lamech took unto himself two wives. The Jews, in common with other -Oriental peoples, married when they were very young, but the Talmudists -forbade marriage by a male under thirteen years and a day. There was not -much ceremony, in the early days, except the removal of the bride from -her father's house to that of the bridegroom, called "taking a wife," -and in primitive ages this was done by seizure and force. The only -"ceremony" took place on the preceding day, when the marriage had been -agreed upon in advance, and consisted of a formal elaborate bath by the -bride in the presence of her female companions. In later times, marriage -ceremonies gradually became very elaborate, and have generally remained -so and became more so ever since, in all parts of the world. Abraham -appears to have the honor of having secured the first divorce in -history, for we are told he sent Hagar and her child away from him. In -Deuteronomy XXIV, it is stated that a man had the power to dispose of a -faithless wife by writing her bill of divorcement, giving it into her -hand and sending her out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> of his house. When a man died, without issue, -his brother had first claim upon the widow, and she could not marry -another till the brother had formally rejected her. One peculiarity of -the ancients was, that they assumed that the impending wedding of a -couple had a very depressing effect, and it was consequently the custom -for all friends and neighbors to take means to cheer up the doomed ones -by all sorts of boisterous amusements. Married life was looked upon as a -business, and perhaps a perilous one.</p> - -<p>Cecrops seems to have been the first to introduce among the Athenians -the formal marriage ceremony with all its solemn and binding -obligations. The ancient Greeks early decided that marriage was a -private as well as a public necessity, and the Spartans treated celibacy -as a crime. Lycurgus made laws so that those who married too late, or -unsuitably, or not at all, could be treated like ordinary criminals, and -not only was it unrespectable to be a bachelor, but it was dangerous. -Plato preached that a man should consider the welfare of his country -rather than his own pleasure, and that if he did not marry before he was -thirty-five he should be punished severely. The Spartans advocated -marriage for the reason that they wanted more children born to the -state, and when a married woman gave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> birth to no children she was made -to cohabit with another man. The Spartan King, Archidamus, fell in love -with and married a very little woman, which so incensed the people that -they fined him: they did not believe in marriage for love, but in -marriage for big, sturdy offspring. Often, fathers would choose brides -for their sons, and husbands for their daughters, who had never seen -each other, and compel them to marry. In Greece, until Aristotle put a -stop to it, the custom of buying wives was common.</p> - -<p>By the Romans, as well as by the Jews and Greeks, marriage was deemed an -imperative duty; and parents were reprehended if they did not obtain -husbands for their daughters by the time they were twenty-five. The -Roman law recognized monogamy only, and polygamy was prohibited in the -whole empire. Hence, the former became practically the rule in all -Christiandom, and was introduced into the canon law of the Eastern and -Western churches. During the time of Augustus, bachelorhood became -fashionable, and to check the evil, as well as to lessen the alarming -number of divorces, which were also getting fashionable, Augustus -imposed a wife tax on all who persisted in the luxury of celibacy.</p> - -<p>The superstition that some days and months<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> are unlucky or lucky for -weddings seems to have originated with the Romans, May and February -being thought unpropitious, while June was particularly favorable to -happy marriages. These beliefs were based on things which cannot -possibly concern people of other climes and religions, and, like all -superstitions, are unfounded and absurd.</p> - -<p>We know very little of the marriage affairs of the ancient Egyptians, -but we do know that they were not restricted to any number of wives. In -modern Egypt, a woman can never be seen by her future husband till after -she has been married, and she is always veiled. A similar custom -prevailed in ancient Morocco, the bride being first painted and stained, -and then carried to the house of her husband-to-be, where she was -formally introduced to him. He was satisfied, however, that she would -suit him, for he had previously sent some of his female relatives to -inspect her at the bath. The Mahomedans of Barbary do not buy their -wives, like the Turks, but have portions with them. They retain in their -marriage rites many ceremonies in use by the ancient Goths and Vandals. -The married women must not show their faces, even to their fathers. The -Moors of West Barbary have practically the same customs as the -Mahomedans and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> Moroccoans the groom never seeing the bride till he -is introduced to her in the bridal chamber. The modern Arabians, since -they have conformed to the Koran, marry as many wives as they please, -and buy them as they do slaves. Among the Bedouins, polygamy is allowed, -but generally a Bedouin has only one wife, who is often taken for an -agreed term, usually short,—which sounds something like the "trial -marriage" plan recently suggested by a now-famous American lady. The -wedding consists in the cutting of the throat of a young lamb, by the -bridegroom, the ceremony being completed the moment the blood falls upon -the ground. Among the Medes, reciprocal polygamy was in use, and a man -was not respectable unless he had at least seven wives, nor a woman -unless she had five husbands. In Persia, living people were sometimes -married to the dead, and often to their nearest relations. In the -seventeenth century, the nobility might have as many wives as they -pleased, but the poor commonality were limited to seven: and they might -part with them at discretion.</p> - -<p>Trial marriages were also in vogue in Persia, and seldom was a marriage -contract made for life. A new wife was a common luxury. Persian -etiquette demands that before the master of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> the house no person must -pronounce the name of the wife, but rather refer to her as "How is the -daughter of (naming her mother or father)?"</p> - -<p>The Chinese believe that marriages are decreed by heaven, and that those -who have been connected in a previous existence become united in this. -Men are allowed to keep several concubines, but they are entirely -dependent on the legitimate wife, who is always reckoned the most -honorable. The Chinese marry their children when they are very young, -sometimes as soon as they are born.</p> - -<p>In Japan, polygamy and fornication are allowed, and fathers sell or hire -out their daughters with legal formalities for limited terms. In Finland -it was the custom for a young woman to wear suspended at her girdle the -sheath of a knife, as a sign that she was single and wanted a husband. -Any young man who was enamored of her, obtained a knife in the shape of -the sheath, and slyly slipped it in the latter, and if the maiden -favored the proposal, she would keep the knife, otherwise she would -return it.</p> - -<p>In another part of Finland, a young couple were allowed to sleep -together, partly, if not completely dressed, for two weeks, which -custom, called bundling or tarrying, was common in Wales and the New -England States, and is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>supposed not to have resulted in immoral -consequences.</p> - -<p>In Scotland, the custom has long prevailed of lifting the bride over the -threshold of her new home, which custom is probably derived from the -Romans. The threshold, in many countries, is thought to be a sacred -limit or boundary, and is the subject of much superstition. In the Isle -of Man, a superstition prevails that it is very lucky to carry salt in -the pocket, and the natives always do so when they marry. They also have -the international custom of throwing an old shoe after the bridegroom as -he left his home, and also one or more after the bride as she left her -home. In Wales the old-time weddings were characterized by several -curious customs, such as Bundlings, Chainings, Sandings, Huntings and -Tithings. In Britain, before Caesar's invasion, an indiscriminate (or -but slightly restricted) intermixture of the sexes was the practice, and -polygamy prevailed; and it was not uncommon for several brothers to have -only one wife among them, paternity being determined by resemblance.</p> - -<p>The foregoing facts and customs do not show the evolution of marriage, -because in some countries the same forms and customs prevail to-day that -prevailed six thousand years ago. As <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>civilization advances, however, we -find that the tendency is toward a more rigid enforcement of the -marriage contract, and strictly against polygamy. The sanctity of the -home and respect for marriage vows have not only passed into the statute -law of civilized nations, but they have become proverbial with most all -of the enlightened people. It must also be observed, however, that at -the present time there seems to be a tendency in this country to make -marriage more difficult and divorce more easy.</p> - - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's What's What in America, by Eugene V. 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Brewster - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: What's What in America - -Author: Eugene V. Brewster - -Release Date: March 16, 2017 [EBook #54370] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT'S WHAT IN AMERICA *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Martin Pettit and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -+-------------------------------------------------+ -|Transcriber's note: | -| | -|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | -| | -+-------------------------------------------------+ - - -What's What - -_in_ - -America - -BY - -Eugene V. Brewster - -EDITOR OF - -_Motion Picture Magazine, Motion Picture -Classic and Shadowland_ - -The Wm. G. Hewitt Press -61-67 Navy Street -Brooklyn, N. Y. - - -COPYRIGHT, 1919 -BY -EUGENE V. BREWSTER - - -THE WILLIAM G. HEWITT PRESS, 61-67 NAVY STREET, BROOKLYN, N. Y. - - - - -_Preface_ - - -America is a heterogeneous conglomeration of humans comprising a -homogeneity. They are all alike, yet they are unalike. All corners of -the earth have contributed in the making, yet the one hundred millions -have all been blended together into the huge melting pot and we call -them Americans. They were attracted to "the land of the free" and remain -here because no other country offers such prizes and such liberty. All -are engaged in a wild scramble for fame and fortune, yet they are sadly -disorganized. While they have their labor unions, churches, colleges, -societies, and cults galore, and while they have their governments -(city, county, state and national), and while the more successful ones -(capitalists) have their organizations (trusts, monopolies and banking -institutions), there is no organization of the whole. Nobody seems to -take into account the tremendously important fact that all men and all -industries are now interdependent, and that therefore they must all be -organized into one organization. - -One of the most marvellous things in America is the fact that we are so -unorganized that at any moment the whole nation may be tied up and -bound hand and foot by strikes. Any morning we may wake up and find the -nation paralized. Labor is becoming so organized that all industries are -at its mercy. The cost of living continues to rise, and we are powerless -to prevent profiteers from monopolizing our products and making prices -to suit themselves. We have no way to make people work if they don't -want to, even if we starve. Under our present laws we cannot prevent -strikes and walk-outs, even if we perish. There is nothing to prevent a -few men from cornering the market on all commodities and paralizing the -nation's industries. - -And yet there is a remedy, and a simple one. - -Free thought reigns supreme in America, and the national mind and -character have been moulded in a remarkably liberal manner. - -A nation that embraces a multitude of believers in such theories as -phrenology, Christian Science, osteopathy, astrology, spiritism, etc., -and which adopts these and other fads as religions, must indeed be an -over-credulous if not a fanatical one. Some of these isms and ologies -have been dissected and analyzed in the following pages, and these -little essays have been inserted parenthetically, as it were. They tend -to prove that Barnum was right when he said, "The American public loves -to be humbugged." - -Here in America, not so many years ago, we were burning people at the -stake and punishing innocent persons for witchcraft. Still later some of -our best people were holding converse with departed spirits who were -otherwise busying themselves with upsetting tables, painting portraits, -etc. And it is so even now. Thousands of intelligent Americans are now -being guided in all their affairs by mediums, astrologists, palmists, -clairvoyants, etc. Some years ago I had occasion to make a more or less -thorough investigation of some of these isms and ologies, and in the -following chapters I have given some of the results. - -Our forefathers came here to escape religious persecutions at home, but -one of the first things they did on landing was to impose the penalty of -death on all those who should dissent from their own religious beliefs. -These and other similar Puritanic orders have done much to prevent the -growth and development of the arts in America. We have had liberty and -freedom to excess, in some respects, yet in other respects we have been -tied hand and foot. We are not yet a full-grown nation. America is still -in its infancy of development. - -It is also interesting to note how Americans follow a chosen leader like -so many sheep, and how and why certain leaders become popular. Hence, a -few chapters have been added which treat of men, habits, popularity, -greatness, the public, etc. - -The author makes no apology for the fact that these little articles were -not written with the intention of inserting them in this volume. It is -obvious that they were not. Nevertheless, they are given here for what -they are worth, because they may be helpful in showing What's What in -America. - -THE AUTHOR. - -December 15, 1919. - - - - -CONTENTS - - PAGE -CREDULITY 5 - -CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 10 - -OSTEOPATHY 29 - -PHRENOLOGY 42 - -PHYSIOGNOMY 54 - -DREAMS 61 - -SUPERSTITIONS 71 - -STAGE TRICKS AND OCCULTISM 84 - -GHOSTS 94 - -STRIKES, PROFITEERING AND THE -HIGH COST OF LIVING 101 - -THE PUBLIC 163 - -POPULARITY 167 - -GREATNESS 172 - -THE MARTYRDOM OF GENIUS 183 - -GENTLEMEN, BE SEATED 189 - -BEARDS 202 - -GAMBLING 211 - -WEDDING BELLS 222 - - - - -What's What In America - - - - -_Credulity_ - - -The physical origin of mental delusion has many times been investigated -and explained by various philosophers, but the different forms of -credulity and superstition have never yet been satisfactorily treated -with reference to the physiological and pathological principles upon -which they depend. - -From the beginning, man was and is, by nature, endowed with an eager -propensity for novelty. This is particularly true of Americans. His -passion for the novel, the singular and the unusual, has influenced his -mind to attempt to discover the character of objects concealed in the -remote recesses of infinite space, and to investigate the various -invisible agencies that he has always found, and still finds, in -perpetual operation around him. Curiosity has always been one of the -great impelling forces of the scientific investigator. As Winwood Reade -says in his masterly "Martyrdom of Man," "The Philosophic spirit of -inquiry may be traced to brute curiosity, and that to the habit of -examining all things in search of food." - -Man is by nature a credulous, and at the same time a superstitious, -being, and ever prone to allow an undue influence to the imagination and -passions. This is due to the original structure and specific elements of -the mind. It is a natural trait of the mind to contemplate with interest -whatever is presented to it as deviating from ordinary natural events, -whatever is novel or strange, and whatever affects the senses, through -an obscure medium so as to arouse the passions. Thus, when primeval man -first felt, saw or heard such natural phenomena as volcanic eruptions, -earthquakes, the aurora borealis, thunder, lightning, meteors, and -eclipses, it was quite natural for him to people the hidden recesses of -the earth and of space with demons, and to imagine that these strange -noises and sights were manifestations of some powerful enemy. In his -blind ignorance, he could ascribe no natural causes to the phenomena, -and he therefore attributed them to supernatural agencies. His feeling -of dependence, and of insecurity, in the face of these mighty unknown -forces, inclined him to seek a protector, and for this purpose he -created one or more gods. Idols of various kinds answered the purpose, -until his dawning intelligence taught him the futility of this sort of -worship, and then he worshipped the sun and other heavenly bodies. Then -a glimpse of astronomy further enlightened him, and, realizing the -absurdity of planet worship, he invented other gods of an invisible -nature to which he attributed the creation of all phenomena. The -propensity for the novel and marvelous always obscured his reason and -judgment. To the ignorant mind, everything marvelous is super-natural; -but the philosopher sees in all marvelous phenomena nothing but the -results of natural causes, even if those causes are not yet fully -understood. Science cannot yet fathom all of nature's mysteries, but -nearly every day brings forth new light. - -In ancient times, the enlightened few took advantage of the ignorance of -the multitude, and, by stupefying their reason with a mixture of science -and magic, made them more submissive and obedient as slaves or subjects. -Science was used to inculcate gross superstitions in the minds of the -ignorant masses, for the purpose of enhancing the interests of the -deceivers. By means of concave and convex mirrors, of lenses, of -chemical and optical illusions, and even of ventriloquism, the pagans -fooled their devotees into all sorts of absurd beliefs. Demons and -angels were made to appear in frightfully distorted and hideous shapes, -the dead were evoked from their graves to hold converse with the living, -and every advantage was taken of natural phenomena such as the eclipse -and the mirage. Even drugs, like opium, were given and taken to throw -the operators into semi-conscious ravings and trances; and in -innumerable other ways the excited imaginations and the irresistible -propensity to believe in the miraculous, was taken advantage of by the -wise charlatans, seers, priests and soothsayers. - -There are good reasons for believing that the dramatic exhibitions of -the Witch of Endor, by which Saul was made to believe in the -re-appearance of the deceased prophet, Samuel, to announce his -approaching fate at Gilboa, was but an imposition practiced upon the -senses of that superstitious monarch; and many of the ancient miracles, -which appear to be so corroborated, can be satisfactorily explained in a -similar manner. Ancient magic and natural science were synonymous, and -magic was made to become an assistant to government. Doubtless the -crimes committed by these unscrupulous charlatans, masquerading as -philosophers, suppressed for many centuries the smouldering light of -reason in the human race, and caused the world to be susceptible to the -terrific doctrine of witchcraft that held sway until the seventeenth -century, and which afflicted nearly every nation on the globe. - - - - -_Christian Science_ - - -In order thoroughly to understand Christian Science, it is necessary to -understand Mary Baker Eddy. Hence, I have found it necessary, -reluctantly, to give a brief account of some of the important events of -her life. Should these events show her to be a mercenary, selfish woman, -it would tend to explain a great deal that she and her followers have -failed to explain. - -Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, was born the year -that Napoleon died, 1821. In her younger days, she lived in an -atmosphere of mysticism. Mesmerism was everywhere in evidence, and much -had been said about "Animal Magnetism," "Power of Mind over Matter," -"the Shakers," "Faith Healing," etc., long before Mrs. Eddy had thought -or heard of these things. She married George W. Glover in 1842, who died -the following year, leaving Mrs. Eddy a widow at twenty-three. From that -time until about 1870, Mrs. Eddy lived a sad and sordid life of ill -health, poverty and unhappiness. In 1853, she had married Dr. Daniel -Patterson, a dentist, but this proved an unhappy union and they were -much separated, and finally divorced. During all this time she had -drifted from one place to another, wearing out her welcome at every -place she went, and usually leaving each place after having caused -family discord in the household. She was practically an invalid during -this period, which may account for her peevishness, ill-temper, domestic -selfishness, and want of consideration for those who had befriended her. - -In 1862, being then forty-one years old and a nervous wreck, and -attracted by the stories of wonderful cures by Dr. Phineas Parkhurst -Quimby, Mrs. Eddy visited that famous occultrist at Portland, Maine. Dr. -Quimby had learned much of his philosophy, and all of his mesmeric -tricks, from Charles Poyen, whom he had followed about from place to -place. About three years before Mrs. Eddy called on him, Quimby had -perfected his system of mental healing and had reduced it to writing, -having discarded the mesmeric part of it. Various disinterested persons -are still living who have given reliable testimony to these facts, as -also to the following: (1) When Mrs. Eddy first visited Quimby she was a -physical wreck; (2) After three weeks' treatment from Quimby she was a -well woman; (3) She borrowed, and had in her possession for a long time, -a copy of Quimby's manuscripts; (4) She never gave Quimby credit for one -bit of her "Discovery"; and even went so far as to abuse him for the -rest of her life. - -Please remember the dates: Mrs. Eddy first called on Quimby in 1862. In -February, 1866, she slipped on an icy sidewalk and sustained a severe -nervous shock. On the same day she called on Dr. A. M. Cushing for -medical treatment. Dr. Cushing says she continued to take his medicines -until she was cured. Mrs. Eddy denies that she took any of the medicines -after the first visit, and says that she cured herself in a miraculous -way and rose as one from the dead, and that she depended solely on God. -Yet, she called on this same Dr. Cushing the following August to be -treated for a cough! - -During these days it is known that she spent much of her time writing, -and reading the _New York Ledger_, and, if we are to believe what she -wrote to a friend, she also read "_Irving's_ Pickwick Papers." She -apparently did not like Dickens. - -In 1869 (please note the date) she taught Mrs. Wentworth the Quimby -theory for the sum of $300, to be taken out in board, and at that time -she made no pretense that it was her own theory. She even permitted Mrs. -Wentworth to copy from a manuscript which has been proven to be -identical with the original Quimby manuscript. Several witnesses testify -that she "talked Quimby till every one grew dead tired of hearing him," -and she often remarked: "I learned this from Dr. Quimby, and he made me -promise to teach it to at least two persons before I die." It is also -known that Mrs. Eddy "shrank instinctively, like any other nervous -woman, from the sick-bed of others, and had shown such a morbid fear of -death that Mrs. Wentworth often wondered what there could be in her past -to make death seem so dreadful." - -Mrs. Eddy did not practice healing. What she now wanted was to publish -and teach Quimbyism and to find some one to demonstrate the healing -theory. In 1870 she found just what she wanted in the person of Richard -Kennedy, with whom she went into partnership, and in six months they had -made $6,000. This was the sharp turning point of her life. She now -discarded Quimby forever, and her ambitions led her in time to discard -even Kennedy, her greatest benefactor. Everything was now Mrs. Eddy. She -next started a school or college where students paid her $100 each plus -a promise to pay her a life annuity of ten per cent. of all their future -earnings. She also made them give a bond for $3,000 which was to be -forfeited if they allowed any one to see or to copy the manuscripts that -she lent them. The college so prospered that she raised the price to -$300 for twelve lessons, induced, she says, "by a strange providence." - -In 1877, at the age of fifty-six (although her age appears as forty in -the marriage license), she married Asa Gilbert Eddy, then forty years -old. He was "a man willing to be taught; he would even turn docility -into self-effacement." He died five years later. Even Mrs. Eddy could -not save him. Mrs. Eddy never had another husband, but "in Calvin A. -Frye, steward, bookkeeper, secretary, coachman, her 'man of all work,'" -as she herself called him, she has had the while one singularly devoted -to her and to her interests. To serve her he gave up all at the outset. -Family ties were relinquished. Friendships were allowed to languish. It -is said that never since the day he came, has he been beyond the reach -of her voice for a whole day! A few years ago Dr. E. J. Foster, whom she -adopted in 1882 as her son, was driven out of his home by Frye. Her own -son she seems to have forgotten entirely for long years at a time. - -In 1875, Mrs. Eddy issued the first edition of "Science and Health with -Key to the Scriptures." Other editions came out in 1881, 1883, 1888, -1898, 1905, and 1906, and also other books and writings by the same -author, in all of which she claimed that her great discovery and -revelation came to her in 1866 (note the date). Meanwhile her college -was prospering and students flocked to it from all parts of the world, -each paying $300 for a three weeks' course, and in 1889 there were no -less than 300 on the waiting list. In 1894 she erected a building at a -cost of $221,000, which now stands as a frontispiece to the colossal -temple which was completed in 1906 at a cost of $2,000,000. The Mother -Church in Boston reported June 11, 1907, a membership of 43,876, and the -total membership of the 645 branch churches was 42,846. - -On December 18, 1890, Mrs. Eddy said that _Science and Health_ was -"God's Book and He gave it at once to the people." Yet the book was -_sold_ by Mrs. Eddy for over $3 a copy, while a copy of the Bible may be -bought for a few cents, and if anybody cannot buy it, he can get a copy -presented to him free by any preacher or Sunday School teacher. Mrs. -Eddy also says that it pays to be a Christian Scientist and that the -professionals have made "their comfortable fortunes." When Mrs. Eddy -died, her private fortune was considerably in excess of a million -dollars, yet she persistently tried to evade paying her share of taxes. - -This in brief is the life history of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy. Her's was a -stormy career, filled with troubles, quarrels, lawsuits, internal -dissentions, fears, revenge, ill health, sorrows, unhappy marriages, -rivalries, disloyalties, and selfishness. She had many thousands to -admire and to worship her, but few to love her. Those who knew her best -loved her least. That she was one of the most remarkable women who ever -lived, few will doubt. Her career is almost as spectacular as that of -Joan of Arc, who, like Mrs. Eddy, rose from a poor girl to be a -world-famous leader of men. Neither had anything like an education, and -both had a poor start in life, but, out of sheer force of personality -and persistency, both accomplished wonders. Their lives read like -fiction. While history is full of examples where men have risen from -nowhere, and claimed that they were inspired, or Divine, or Sons of God, -or prophets, there is no parallel to the career of Mrs. Eddy, who has -won both the scholar and the ignoramus. No, not _ignoramus_, for the -ignoramus is not the kind to fall a victim to Mrs. Eddy's doctrine. It -requires a person of brains to "grasp" it. While it is true that people -unschooled in philosophy, science and theology are quickest to accept -_Science and Health_, and that those who read earnestly and think -loosely can get just enough glimpse of an imagined something that they -cannot quite grasp, yet which they feel is there somewhere, still, it -must be said that the average Christian Scientist is generally a person -of unusual intelligence. Were it not so, the doctrine would never have -become so popular. Was it not Lord Bacon who said something like -this?--"While a little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism, -depth in philosophy inclineth men's minds to religion." And so with -Christian Science. Given a good mind, and a good understanding, and an -investigating disposition, feed it _Science and Health_ and it will have -a tendency to accept it as truth, provided it is not allowed to hear the -other side, and provided it has not been previously trained to reason -correctly along scientific lines. There is just enough truth in it to -make it all sound plausible and there is just enough mysticism to make -the mind doubt its own acumen. Belief in Christian Science is a form of -intellectual hypnotism. - -The hypothesis of Mrs. Eddy's doctrine is stated as follows: "The only -realities are the Divine Mind and its ideas. That erring mortal views, -misnamed _mind_, produce all the organic and animal action of the mortal -body * * * Rightly understood, instead of possessing sentient matter, we -have sensationless bodies * * * Whence came to me this conviction in -antagonism to the testimony of the human senses? From the self-evident -fact that matter has no sensation; from the common human experience of -the falsity of all material things; from the obvious fact that mortal -mind is what suffers, feels, sees; since matter cannot suffer." - -Here are a few of Mrs. Eddy's favorite, oft-repeated assertions: "God is -supreme; is mind; is principle, not person; includes all and is -reflected by all that is real and eternal; is Spirit, and Spirit is -infinite; is the only substance; is the only life. Man was and is the -idea of God; therefore mind can never be in man. Divine Science shows -that matter and mortal body are the illusions of human belief, which -seem to appear and disappear to mortal sense alone. When this belief -changes, as in dreams, the material body changes with it, going wherever -we wish, and becoming whatsoever belief may decree. Human mortality -proves that error has been engrafted into both the dreams and -conclusions of material and mortal humanity. Besiege sickness and death -with these principles, and all will disappear." - -This theory, that there is no reality except thought, is merely a -distinctive form of idealism that is as old as the hills, and Mrs. -Eddy's doctrine is the resultum of a confusion of isolated thoughts. -Read Plato, Hegel, Democritus, the Zend-Avesta, Spinoza, Kant, Bishop -Berkeley, Lotze, Hume, and various other works and you will find the -threads from which Mrs. Eddy's fabric is woven. But don't imagine that -the philosophers named ever believed any such things as Mrs. Eddy has -laid down in her books. Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalists -speak of the supremacy of mind over matter, and all modern physicians -recognize the power of the mind over the body; but none of these ever -maintained that the discovery of those facts was made by Divine -revelation by order of God, to be given to the people at a certain time, -at so much per lesson or book. - -Mrs. Eddy says that the one reality is God, whose name is Mind or -Spirit; that God is All-in-all; that all is infinite Mind and its -infinite manifestations; that matter is unknown in the Universe of Mind. -Now, if we take all this as mere speculation, all is well. But when we -are asked to make these ideas our Bible, our code of human conduct, our -bread and butter, our Divine law, that is where we should stop. What -matter if all of that is true or false? The world will go around just -the same. If Mrs. Eddy had stopped right there, she would not have -invited such a storm of criticism as she had to face. But she did not. -The critics began their deadly work soon after the first edition of her -book came out, and she met it courageously, proceeding to amend her -theories to suit the occasion. Constant and frequent changes were made -in _Science and Health_ and in her teachings, which was all right except -that it disproves her contention that the whole plan came to her as a -revelation in 1866, and that it was "God's book and He gave it at once -to the people." It really makes but little difference to most of us -whether Mrs. Eddy is right in her theory that there is no such thing as -matter and that all is spirit, for we are all compelled to act every day -as if matter were matter, and, to all intents and purposes, it _is_. Of -course, we are glad to have the truth, but it would be idiotic for a -man, who had discovered that there is no such thing as sound, to try to -persuade the world that his discovery was so important that a new system -of religion must at once be founded on it to regulate the daily affairs -of the whole world. Some of the truths in Christian Science are -important, but it does not follow that we are to discard all our other -religions, beliefs, and modes of living; for Christian Science is only a -speculation, and it does not concern most of us. It rightly is no more a -religion than is the theory of evolution, which, by the way, Mrs. Eddy -did not seem to understand, for she said: "Theorizing about man's -development from mushrooms to monkeys and from monkeys to men, amounts -to nothing in the right direction, and very much in the wrong." - -Mrs. Eddy says that "God is not in the things He hath made"; and, in the -next breath she says that since things are matter, and that there is no -matter, then there can be no things. In her _final_ revelation of 1866, -expressed in 1875, she says that "God is Principle, not _person_"; yet -later, in a later _final_ revelation she says that "Life, Truth, and -Love constitute the _triune_ person called God." Again, she says, "Jesus -is the human man and Christ is the divine, hence the duality of Jesus, -the Christ." And, in 1894, and at other times, she has stated quite -plainly that she and Christ were one and the same. - -Be all this as it may, Christian Science rests mainly on the hypothesis -that sin, sickness, disease and death are not real--that they exist only -in thought; that Christian Science can remedy these _seeming_ evils. -Had it not been for the curing and healing part of the doctrine, -Christian Science would never have become the fad that it has. All the -rest of the doctrine would have been looked on merely as an interesting -speculation, had not Mrs. Eddy injected the claim that Christian Science -cured everything--that it cured even sin as well as suffering. Here, -then, was something to interest everybody, and she made the invitation -all the more desirable when she added that doctors were "flooding the -world with diseases," that the fewer the doctors, the less disease the -world would suffer from, and that "as long as you read medical books you -will be sick." We all know of thousands of cases where doctors have been -of great assistance to humanity, and we know, too, of many serious -medical mistakes. We all know that medicine has been much overworked, -yet we must all admit that doctors and medicine have made this world -vastly better and more healthful. But what has Christian Science done? -Mrs. Eddy failed to give to the world the complete, authenticated record -of one single case of disease that she cured. True, she _said_ that she -had cured certain diseases, but we are left in the dark as to whether -they were diseases or what they were. She refused to have medical tests -made. She even announced that she had no time to give personal -treatments and consultations. At that time she was busy teaching, at -$300 a pupil. Besides, according to her theory, there was no such thing -as a body, or disease, or pain. She doubts even that Jesus suffered pain -on the cross, although the Bible says that He cried out in pain. Either -Jesus did suffer pain, or He falsely made those around Him _think_ that -He did, and we know that He was incapable of deception. Yet, Jesus -Christ and Mrs. Eddy are one and the same. - -Christian Science seeks to eliminate pain, whereas most physicians -recognize pain as a blessing. It is a danger signal. It warns us of -decay, of disease, and of disorders. Were it not for pain, we would -allow our teeth to decay, our eyesight to be impaired, and various other -organs to degenerate. When we live wrongly, or eat too much, or overtax -our powers, Nature warns us to halt, but Christian Science says there is -no such thing as suffering, discomfort and pain, except in our -imagination. - -And thus we could go on for hours pointing out the inconsistencies of -Mrs. Eddy's theories, but a short article like this will not permit. -Take for example her statement that "Science can heal the sick who are -absent from the healers, as well as those present, since space is no -obstacle to mind"; and the assertion that "Christian Science divests -material drugs of their imaginary power * * * When the sick recover by -the use of drugs, it is the law of a general belief, culminating in -individual faith that heals, and according to this faith will the effect -be"; and "The not uncommon notion that drugs possess absolute, inherent -curative virtues of their own involves an error. Arnica, quinine, opium, -could not produce the effects ascribed to them except by imputed virtue. -Men _think_ they will act thus on the physical system, consequently they -_do_." Does anybody doubt that if the writer of those words walked into -a drugstore blindfolded and, unseen by anybody, drank opium, not knowing -what it was, she would not immediately feel the effects of that drug? -And that if she took any other drug, the effects would not be about the -same as they are known to be in practically all cases? Yet who would -say, under those circumstances, that Mind has endowed those drugs with -the powers to act on the system as they do? If Mind can so act, medicine -is just what we want, for Mind can be made to make drugs do even greater -things than they have yet done, perhaps to raise the dead. - -But why go to greater length to point out the fallacies of this fad -that is nothing more than a superstition founded on a truth. _Science -and Health_ is simply words, words, words. It is a tangled mass of -assembled philosophy from various sources that has but little practical -value. That mind, suggestions and imagination have great influence over -the body nobody will deny, but nobody but Mrs. Eddy ever attempted to -form a religion out of that old fact. _Science and Health_ is founded on -the Bible, and pretends to be a key to it. It is a "key," but it is one -that breaks and distorts rather than opens. It is an interpretation, and -it treats the Book as if it were a puzzle that God left unsolved until -He inspired Mrs. Eddy to reveal its secrets, after having kept it from -the world for nearly 2,000 years. From the standpoint of a promoter, -Mrs. Eddy was wise in calling her doctrine _Christian Science_ and in -founding it on the Bible. That many have been helped by Christian -Science nobody will deny, but the same can be said of a hundred other -theories and beliefs, some of which are admittedly absurd. Some people -can be cured with sugar pills and some by an Indian medicineman. -Christian Science contains much that is true and good, and much that is -false and bad, and perhaps the harm that it has done may not outweigh -the good. Nobody knows. Those who get pleasure and satisfaction and -peace out of it should not be disturbed, but they should be warned not -to let it run away with them. - -The Epicureans handed down to us some questions which have never been -quite satisfactorily answered, except by the Christian Scientists--who -are quite satisfied with their answer. If God is able to prevent evil, -and is not willing, where is His benevolence? If God is willing, but not -able, where is His power? If God is both able and willing, whence then -is evil? The Scientists say there is no evil, and that settles the whole -question. The blind man sees nothing. The Occulist teaches us to see: -the Scientist teaches us not to see. Excellent thought! When the thief -comes, we close our eyes, and lo! we do not see him, for he is not -there--and when we open our eyes, nothing else is there. - -Consider for a moment the folly of holding that sickness, pain and -disease are products of the mind, and that they have no real existence. -To say this is to declare that there are no germs and microbes; and to -declare that mind causes disease and death is to upset the whole -accepted theory of creation and of evolution. Are not animals affected -by disease as well as man? If so, who would say that their meager minds -could cause it? and if it be said that human minds caused it, how about -the millions of animals who suffered pain, disease and death thousands -of years before man ever appeared upon earth? Does the Scientist know -that there are hundreds of different kinds of microbes, fighting and -combatting one another, that the big fish are eating the little ones, -that if there were no microbes there could be no putrefaction and that -if there were no putrefaction there could be no breaking down of the -dead bodies of animals and plants, and that the earth would be -encumbered with the dead bodies of these animals and plants of past -generations, and that very soon all the organic elements--all the carbon -and nitrogen, if not all the hydrogen and oxygen--on the face of the -earth would be fixed in these corpses and that all life would perish for -want of sustenance? In short, germs and death are just as important, and -just as inevitable, as joy and life. - -The Christian Scientists, New Thoughtists and other dreamy faddists, who -would eliminate all death, sorrow, pain and suffering, by bringing -heaven to earth all in a day, are respectfully introduced to a paragraph -from John Ploughman: "There is a sound reason why there are bones in -our meat and stones in our land. A world where everything was easy would -be a nursery for babies, but not at all a fit place for men. Celery is -not sweet till it has felt a frost, and men don't come to their -perfection till disappointment has dropped a half-hundred weight or two -on their toes. Who would know good horses if there were no heavy loads?" - - - - -_Osteopathy_ - - -If we are to believe history every century produces one or more -wonderful healers, or persons with the "Healing Touch." It is said that -these mysterious persons have made the blind to see, the lame to walk, -the deaf to hear, and even the dead to rise, by means of laying on of -hands. Just how much of these records are facts or fiction no man may -say, but we may reasonably assume that a fair amount of facts are mixed -up with the fiction, even if we may not believe half of what we hear and -read. - -Dr. Andrew Taylor Still, of Kirksville, Mo., is the founder of -Osteopathy, and in that place he has founded what he is pleased to call -a college, which is highly successful. After reading his history, he -will perhaps remind you somewhat of Mary Baker Eddy, Elbert Hubbard, -Tolstoy, and Jesus of Nazareth, although it cannot be said that he bears -much physical or mental resemblance to any of these. He dresses like a -farmer or backwoodsman, and is Simplicity personified. His followers -worship him very much as do those of Mrs. Eddy, and there is a vein of -mystery, not to say of superstitious faith, connected with both their -doctrines that seems to bind their followers together. While Dr. Still -claims no divine inspiration, as did Mrs. Eddy, still he and his -disciples are inclined to the mysterious and supernatural. For example, -in one of the Osteopath books I find this, by his son Dr. Charles E. -Still, D.O.: "When a boy, I was out with my father and an old physician -one day, when he stopped at a house where there was a boy almost totally -blind. My father stepped up to him and took hold of his neck; in a few -minutes he bade him look at the sun, and behold, the blindness had -disappeared." This reads very much like a Bible miracle. "Again, we met -an old colored man who was badly crippled. My father asked him his -trouble and had him stand up against a drygoods box. My father set down -a flour sack of bones we were carrying; he then took hold of his leg and -after apparently winding it around a few times, he told the man to walk, -which he did without as much as a limp, much to the amazement of the -bystanders. Time and again equally as wonderful cures were made by him -in my presence." Dr. Still, Jr., then goes on to say that in an -epidemic of diphtheria he treated about sixty-five cases and lost but -one; that he was called on to treat practically all the ailments that -flesh is heir to; that he treated epileptics by the score and -successfully in most cases; that he set a neck that was broken, and set -a case of dislocated astragalus and cured it in one day after a -physician had assigned the patient to straps in bed for six weeks, thus -saving five weeks and five days of the patient's time, patience and -money. Other miraculous cures are reported by the Messrs. Still and by -other learned Osteopaths, and there are many people around who are -willing to give reliable testimony to the effect that they have been -cured of serious ailments by Osteopaths when doctors have failed. - -Osteopathy is really the old Swedish movement cure under a new name, but -considerably enlarged and improved. - -Some people imagine that Osteopathy is a sort of massage, but, according -to Dr. Still, Sr., this is a mistake, for he says: "Osteopathy -absolutely differs from massage. The definition of 'massage' is masso, -to knead; shampooing of the body by special manipulation, such as -kneading, tapping, stroking, etc. The masseur rubs and kneads the -muscles to increase the circulation. The Osteopath never rubs. He takes -off any pressure on blood vessels or nerves by the adjustment of any -displacement of bone, cartilage, ligament, tendon or muscle." Thus, an -Osteopath might be called a bone manipulator, and that is what the words -implies, "osteon" meaning _bone_. As a matter of fact, Dr. Still and all -Osteopaths to the contrary notwithstanding, Osteopathy is not -"absolutely different from massage." Dr. Still says that Osteopaths -adjust displaced muscles, does he not? And how do they do it? By -manipulating the muscles. That is just what the masseur does. It is true -that the masseur rubs, with a view to increasing the circulation, but it -is also true that the Osteopath kneads, or presses, for the same -purpose. A good masseur handles the muscles very much as do the -Osteopaths. Circulation is the object in both cases: If you want to hurt -an Osteopath's feelings, just tell him that he is a fine masseur. For, -has he not spent three years at an Osteopathic College to learn his art, -whereas the masseur may have learned his the previous week from some -Turkish bath operator? Please remember that the Osteopath is a -physician, and that he knows as much about anatomy and therapeutics as -do other physicians. Please also remember that the Osteopath has had a -thorough course in physiology, biology, embryology, histology, -pathology, symptomatology, physical and laboratory diagnosis, -obstetrics, gynecology, dietetics, hygiene, bacteriology, toxicology, -urinalysis, surgery, pediatrics, dermatology, phchistry, and medical -jurisprudence. The only physicianly subject with which he is not -familiar is materia medica, and that is something that he thinks is -unnecessary. - -The Osteopath does not believe in drugs. On that point he will have many -sympathizers, notably the Christian Scientists. In fact, many of our -best physicians have abandoned that old fashioned faith in drugs which -made people think that they could abuse Nature all they liked, and do as -they pleased, and that a few drops of medicine would cure them of the -ill-effects of their indiscretion. Dr. Osler, who was appointed Regius -Professor of Medicine at Oxford University a few years ago, gives a long -list of diseases, in his book "Textbook on the Theory and Practice of -Medicine," which cannot be cured by drugs, and he frequently states that -drugs are notoriously uncertain in their effects in many cases. Any -physician who is honest and wise will tell you that drugs are not being -used so much nowadays as formerly, and that medicine is still more or -less of an experiment in many cases, and often a dangerous and fatal -experiment. But, in spite of all this, it is certainly unwise to -denounce _all_ drugs simply because we do not know the certain effects -of _some_ drugs. Drugs have been in use since the beginning of history, -and we are still experimenting with them. While we do not yet know what -they will do and not do, we know that they will do _something_. In other -words, drugs have an effect on the body--that we know. We know that -certain drugs will put us to sleep, or cause us to vomit, or give us a -headache, or take away a headache, or benumb a pain, etc. Everybody -knows the effects of castor oil, pepsin, strychnine, salts, sugar of -lead, laudanum, paragoric, camphor, iodine, linament, calomel, and -certain other drugs in certain cases. Now, some of these drugs are -extremely useful and it would be a calamity if the human family were to -be deprived of their use. While, as we all know, many people are -extremely superstitious about medicines and are taking them all the time -to cure imaginary ills, and while it is true that many sick persons are -either killed or made worse every year by medicines administered by -physicians, still the sum-total of good that comes from the proper use -of drugs, and the immense possibilities of the future seem to reason -that we must not entirely discontinue the use of drugs. Nature is the -best doctor, and all that the physicians can do is to assist nature. -Osteopathy may assist nature, and so may massage, and so may water, and -exercise, and diet and drugs. Different cases require different -remedies. Drugs are a part of nature. Nature made all herbs, vegetables -and minerals. Some of our best medicines, even minerals, are found in -the food that we eat and in the water that we drink. Perhaps nature put -them there for a purpose. Perhaps she put in too much, perhaps she did -not put in enough. We are all different, no two alike. Our bodies are -made up of various chemicals, and many of our ailments are due to a -scanty supply of these chemicals. Hence, if we cannot get a sufficiency -of these chemicals from the foods, we may often require them from the -drug store. For example, phosphorus is necessary to the nerves and -brain. While it is found in various foods, it may be, as is often the -case, that we have to take phosphorus in some other form in order to -preserve our health or to restore our body to its normal state. - -But the Osteopath does not reason this way. Dr. Still says: "God has -placed the remedy for every disease within the material house in which -the spirit of life dwells. I believe that the Maker of man has deposited -in some part or throughout the whole system of the human body drugs in -abundance to cure all infirmities; that all the remedies necessary to -health are compounded within the human body. They can be administered by -adjusting the body in such a manner that the remedies may naturally -associate themselves together. And I have never failed to find all these -remedies. Man should study and use only the drugs that are found in his -own drugstore--that is, in his own body." If this means anything, it -means that drugs are necessary, and that manipulating the bones of the -body results in a proper distribution of these drugs. The statement that -he has never failed to find these remedies, if it means anything, means -that Dr. Still has cured every case that has come to him, but he has -never said so in plain words; in fact, he admits elsewhere that he has -not been successful with all cases. And if he was not successful in -certain cases, the failure was due to not being able to adjust matters -so as properly to associate the drugs of the body with their remedies! -Farther on Dr. Still says that the still greater question to be solved -is, "How and when to apply the _touch_ which sets free the chemicals of -life as Nature designs." Does Dr. Still here mean that Osteopaths have a -certain magic touch which is so powerful and wonderful that it must be -used with great caution? That this touch lets loose certain drugs or -chemicals which the body needs to cure itself? It is possible that the -Doctor is speaking in figures and that he does not mean what his words -imply. It must be so. Otherwise, we must put him down as a charlatan. If -he speaks figuratively, he is indiscreet, because he plainly leads -people to think that the spinal column secrets certain drugs or -chemicals which are necessary to health and that these can be made to -flow to the necessary parts by means of certain manipulations. - -Dr. Still would have us believe that Osteopathy is something of a -cure-all, and that its adoption makes the use of drugs unnecessary, but -all Osteopaths do not make this claim. Dr. George V. Webster, D.O., -says: "Osteopathy is not a cure-all. There are disorders that are -incurable." This is encouraging, because we now know that if a disease -is incurable Osteopathy cannot cure it! Dr. Webster says that "there are -diseases needing surgical attention," that in some cases an anesthetic -is necessary, that a parasite requires an antiseptic, and that a poison -requires an antidote. Thus he has found that drugs have _some_ uses, at -least. In one place Dr. Webster says that Osteopathy is not a cure-all, -and in another we find him saying, "The application of osteopathic -principles to meet the problems of bodily disorder has demonstrated -their efficiency in _practically all diseases_"! Dr. Still himself says, -"You may say there are some failures. Yes, who would not expect it? -Perhaps the Osteopath is not able to apply the knowledge he should have -gained before being granted a diploma from his osteopathic school." - -And thus, all through the Osteopath literature there is an inference -that bone manipulation cures everything, although it admits that it has -not always done so. This is the weak, fatally weak, spot in Osteopathy. -It is the old story of the over-enthusiastic specialist who thinks that -the sun rises and sets on his pet theory. Show a child a watch, and all -it sees and understands is that it is wound up and that the hands move -around. If the watch gets out of order the child tries to wind it up -again--that is all it knows. It does not know that inside the case are -hundreds of delicately arranged parts that are adjusted to a nicety. It -does not know that some of these parts may be worn out from over-use, or -are missing, or broken, or that they need cleaning. Likewise, when the -Osteopath sees a body suffering from some disorder, he usually sees only -the blood vessels and nerves, and he decides at once that one or more of -them is being squeezed by a misadjustment of some bone or muscle. He -looks on the spinal column as the backbone of the human structure, which -is of course true, and surmises that if anything is wrong it must have -originated in the spinal cord, which is not necessarily true. If it is -indigestion, or a disease of the kidney, or what not, he thinks that by -turning one of the keys on the spinal cord it will unlock the necessary -drug and let it flow to the disordered part. He wears a pair of glasses -on which is written the word "Osteopathy," and when he looks he sees -nothing but Osteopathy. Now, as a matter of fact, he is right in many -cases. He will cure when all the doctors in the world might not even -relieve. He has a great truth. He holds the key that unlocks the door to -many a mystery, and it is a key that should be in common use, by all -doctors. Where the regular physician would perhaps drug his patient to -death, the Osteopath might cure him with a few simple treatments. Take, -for example, a headache. Now, a headache is a symptom, not a disease. It -is a sign that something is going wrong. It is a sign that there is -either too much blood in the head, or not enough, usually the former. In -either case, it is probable that there is some abnormal pressure on some -blood-vessel or nerve, and that if that pressure could be released the -headache would disappear. Just examine a model of the spinal cord -sometime and see what a complicated structure it is, with all the little -nerves, blood vessels and muscles so intricately interwoven between its -many parts. We are all prone to get in certain habits. We learn to read -in a certain posture, and to write, and to lie down, and to walk, and to -sit, and in the course of years it would be strange if one or more of -our thousands of parts did not get into an abnormal position so as to -compress or squeeze some of the delicately arranged nerves or blood -channels, thus preventing freedom of passage. Such a condition might set -up congestion and inflammation, and it is likely to affect seriously -some distant organ. By readjusting the bones of the neck, shoulder, back -or spinal cord, we relieve that pressure and thereby cure the disorder. -There can be no doubt of all this, and every regular physician ought to -know it and to practice it, but they don't and won't. Furthermore, they -won't refer the patient to an Osteopath. Professional jealousy! - -It is really a shame that there cannot be some kind of a union of the -various isms, ologies and athies. Certainly all Osteopaths should be -regularly admitted physicians and surgeons. If they could be broad -enough for that, they would soon put the old-school physicians out of -business. - -In conclusion, Osteopathy is much overestimated by some, and much -underestimated by many. It will do good to most anybody, and harm to -nobody. It will cure thousands of cases that the regular physicians -cannot cure; but, on the other hand, there are thousands of cases that -Osteopathy should not attempt to cure without the aid of the modern -school of physicians and surgeons. - - - - -_Phrenology_ - - -The word phrenology comes from the Greek word _phren_, meaning the mind, -and _logus_, meaning science--the science of the mind. The alleged -science rests upon these principles: (1) The brain is the organ of the -mind; (2) the mind may be divided into a certain number of faculties -independent of one another; (3) each faculty resides in a definite -region of the brain; (4) the size of each region is the true measure of -the intellectual power of the organ therein residing. The phrenologist -examines the outside of the skull, and, by measuring the various bumps -and indentations thereon, claims to be able to tell how much brains are -within and just what faculties are concealed under each and every -portion of the skull. They claim to take into consideration various -other things, such as the texture of the hair, the lung power, the -brilliancy of the eye, the color of the skin, the general poise and -shape of the head, and so on, but phrenology really means bumpology or -craniology. - -The real fathers of the theory are Drs. Gall and Spurzheim, although we -find suggestions of it in the writings of some of the ancients, notably -those of Aristotle and Pythagoras, and even so far back as the ancient -Egyptians. Aristotle believed the brain to be a complex organ, but held -that the small head was the standard of perfection--"Little head, little -wit; big head not a bit." (For a lengthy treatise on phrenology and its -history, see Enc. Britannica.) - -If phrenology is sound, the brain is divided into compartments, each -having a separate and distinct function to perform. But when the brain -is dissected, no such compartments or divisions are revealed, even under -the microscope. Neither the certical nor fibrous part of the brain -reveals any such dividing lines or difference in texture. And not only -this--the existence of the horizontal membrane separating the superior -from the interior part of the whole brain, and the arrangement of the -lateral ventricles, corpus callosum, the fornix and other parts, are of -themselves almost conclusive proof that there can be no compartments -such as phrenologists describe. - -But even if the brain were divided into compartments, each resting -against the skull, it would next be necessary for the phrenologist to -prove that quantity means quality or that quantity means power. -Otherwise, a person might have a large quantity of, say, combativeness, -and a small quantity of, say, veneration, as donated by the size of the -bumps, at the places where those faculties are supposed to reside, but -the brain matter in the veneration compartment might be twice as dense, -compact, active, powerful or flexible as the brain matter in the -combativeness compartment, and hence the phrenologist would be deceived -by outward appearances. The phrenologist must depend upon size, and he -must assume that every part of the brain is of the same density, texture -and power. For example, when he sees a head that is large and full in -the upper forehead and small at the back, he at once declares that that -person's casuality, eventuality and comparison, are highly developed, -and that his amativeness and philoprogenitiveness are poorly developed. -Size is the measure, and he assumes that size means volume, and that -volume means power. Hence, a man with a large head must have more brains -than a man with a small head, and the more brains he has, the greater -his power, other things being equal. He forgets that many idiots have -enormous heads, and that the heads of many of the world's greatest -characters were very small. Several kinds of monkeys, the dolphin, the -canary and the sparrow, all have larger brains than man, in proportion -to the size of the body. The ground mole and field mouse have about the -same proportion as man. The whale, the rat, the porpoise and the goose -have more. - -Again, the researches of physiologists of the highest authority seem to -have established the fact that the brain acquires its full size and -weight at the age of eight years! How can the phrenologist reconcile his -philosophy to this stubborn fact? The skull and head continue to grow -after the age of eight, but the brain remains the same in weight and -size. Everybody knows how the skulls of children change as they grow up, -and yet the brains never do. As the child acquires knowledge and -develops his mental faculties, the brain remains the same size and -weight. What then have bumps to do with his mind? We may polish our -brains, but we cannot add to them. And so, when the phrenologist says -that this pulpy matter called brains gradually grows larger and crowds -the skull bones out so as to make bumps, or that it shrinks, for want of -exercise, and makes the skull contract with it, causing indentations, he -is not talking from facts but from a premise founded on a delusion. - -If the theory of phrenology is true, then, if a person should have an -accident or a disease, and lose a portion of his brain, he will lose -control of those faculties which are supposed to be located within the -lost part. Now, every physician knows of cases where patients have lost -portions of their brains, and you will probably not find a single case -where the patient lost control of the precise faculty said to be located -in that portion. The medical books are full of proof of this. Once in a -while a physician has to remove a portion of the brain where the faculty -of, say tune, is located, or it is destroyed by accident or disease, but -after the operation the patient has the same fondness and talent for -music that he formerly had. The brains of able men have been examined -after death, and certain portions have been found to be diseased; yet -the patients had shown no signs of having lost any of their faculties. - -These examples show that the brain is not and cannot be composed of a -plurality of organs, each of which is the seat of a separate faculty, as -claimed by the phrenologists, because if such were the case the -destruction of one of these organs would result in the destruction of -the particular faculty connected with it. - -Again, the phrenologist assumes that all skulls are of the same -thickness, and that every skull is of the same thickness at every point. -There are variations of this rule, as he will tell you, but in the main -the statement is true; for, if it were not so, bumps and indentations -would be almost meaningless. But the fact is that some skulls are only -one-eighth of an inch thick and some are a full inch in thickness. And -there is no certain way of telling just how thick a skull is, except by -an examination of its interior and not every subject is willing to -undergo this inconvenience. The phrenologist may thump it with his -knuckle and sound it, but he can never be certain how near he is to the -brain nor how much brains are within. And still again, nearly every -skull has thin parts and thick parts, and in some heads there are actual -cavities in places. So, even if the size of the brain is the sure test -of mentality, how is one to tell the size of a brain which is incased in -a skull of unknown and variable thickness? - -And then, the mistaken notion that there are just and only thirty-five -or so faculties and that each acts independently of the others. As well -might one say that the retina of the eye is divided into compartments, -one to see flowers, one to see trees, one to see letters and figures, -and so on; or that the ear-drum is divided into sections--one section to -hear the voice, one to hear the violin and one to hear other sounds. If -there is a separate compartment for every faculty there should be nearer -thirty-five thousand compartments than thirty-five. But there are not -even thirty-five faculties, and there are certainly not more than two or -three compartments, if any. Aristotle divided the brain into only three -parts. Veneration is the result of fear, admiration, love, respect, -conscientiousness, and a dozen other things. Destructiveness and -combativeness, continuity, stubbornness and many other faculties produce -in greater or less degree, the same emotion and results. Form and size -are the same faculty, the knowledge of extension including both. To say -that each of these faculties has a separate plot or parcel of brains -staked out for its own private and exclusive use is about as sensible as -to say that there is a separate compartment of brains devoted to love of -children, another for the love of parents, another for brothers, another -for dogs, and so on. It requires no philosopher or psychologist to see -that every single faculty is a part of an inseparable indivisible whole. -Instead of endowing the mind with certain faculties and designating -these according to the nature of their function, the phrenologist -designates them according to the nature of object upon which they are -exercised. According to this, to be logical, he should have as many -faculties and compartments as there are things in the universe. - -There are two ways of looking at phrenology. If there is a portion of -brains for each faculty, then we must determine how many faculties there -are, and we must assume that each portion or compartment performs only -its own function, for otherwise, if a certain compartment frequently -does the work of some other compartment, then the whole theory of -phrenology falls, because it matters not how much or how little brains a -person has in one compartment when other sections are to lend a hand in -helping its weak or deficient neighbors. The phrenologist must assume -that "comparison," for example, is the faculty that does all of the work -in that line, and that "color" does all of the work in its particular -line. Otherwise bumps would be meaningless. Fowler and Wells, the latest -authorities, give thirty-nine distinct and separate faculties, each with -its particular location. Now, many of these conflict, such as -comparison, form and size, combativeness and destructiveness, firmness -and continuity, cautiousness and secretiveness, veneration and -spirituality and conjugal love, friendship, amativeness, inhabitiveness -and philoprogenitiveness. True, these words of each group are not -synonyms, but they require the same mental process, produce like -emotions, or proceed from the same motives and sensations. If this be -true, part of the bottom of phrenology falls out. There is redundancy. -The faculty of cautiousness makes one cautious when one is exercising -one or more of the other faculties, and continuity is the faculty which -gives us the power of keeping one or more other faculties applied to the -task. Nearly every organ must be endowed with the power of imagination, -yet there is a faculty called ideality which is assumed to have a -monopoly of this power. Nearly every faculty is also endowed with -casuality, particularly calculation, constructiveness and comparison. -And if the phrenologist should say that there is no redundancy here, -that each of these things is a different and distinct faculty, surely if -there is not redundancy, there is at least deficiency (either of which -is fatal) in that according to his theory there should be separate -faculties for mechanical constructiveness and literary constructiveness, -separate faculties for love of children and love of cats, separate -faculties for the English language and the Chinese language, and every -language, and a separate faculty for every object of attention in the -universe. - -Until the phrenologist can find some way of measuring the quantity of -neurine in the brain of his subject he cannot tell much about that -person's mentality; and when he does this he is no longer a -phrenologist. - -Phrenology takes in a wide field which contains so many avenues of -escape, that it is quite impossible to attack it at one point without -letting it out at another, for its powers to evade the issue are almost -unlimited. When the skull of Voltaire was examined, it was found to have -the organ of Veneration developed to an extraordinary degree. The -phrenologist would promptly explain: "His veneration for the Deity was -so great and his sensibility upon the subject of devotion so exquisite -that he became shocked and disgusted with the irreverence of even the -most devout Christians, and that out of pure respect for the Deity he -attempted to exterminate the Christian religion from the earth." - -If you have a large bump of destructiveness, the phrenologist might -declare you were like the early English who would often say: "It's a -fine day; let's go out and kill somebody." Yet you may be only inclined -to destroy delusions; or to destroy the rum demon; or to demolish -gambling; or to combat vice. - -The novel "Mr. Midshipman Easy," by Capt. Maryatt, might be recommended -for the consideration of phrenologists. Prof. Easy built a great machine -with tubes and pistons; the subject would get into the machine and, by -suction, the professor would draw out the good organ indentations and by -pressure suppress the "bad organ" bumps. If the brain grows, as -phrenologists claim, this system ought to help the brain grow in the -right direction and create perfect men. - -The irregular formation of the skull, features, fingers and of other -parts of the anatomy are mere accidents of nature, and are no more a -test of a person's character and capacity than a cask is of its -contents. The verdict of phrenology retards the moral and intellectual -advancement of the subject and lessens the influence of reason, -religion, environment and education. - -After Professor Porson's death, his head was dissected, when, to the -confusion of craniologists and the consolation of blockheads, it was -discovered that he had a skull of extraordinary thickness. Professor -Gall, on being called upon to reconcile the intellectual powers and -tenacious memory of Porson with a skull that would have suited an -ignorant prizefighter, replied: "How the ideas got into such a skull is -their business, not mine; but, when they were once in, they certainly -could never get out again." - - - - -_Physiognomy_ - - -Physiognomy is not entirely a delusion. There is no "science" of -Physiognomy, however, nor is it an exact art. The rules laid down by -Adamantius were quite different from those of Aristotle, just as those -of Baptist Porta and Robert Fludd were quite different from Levater's. -Physiognomy is the art of knowing the humor, temperament or disposition -of a person from observation of the lines of the face, and from the -character of its members or features. While there is as yet no code of -rules laid down by any author which constitutes a trustworthy guide, -there in an apparent analogy between the mind and the countenance, which -is discernible to keen observers. Probably every man and woman prides -him or herself on the ability of translating expression, because we all -imagine that we are good judges of human nature; yet, we have all erred -in this regard, and often they were costly errors. Our instincts and -intuitions, are perhaps the safest guides, after all, for there is but -little reliance to be placed on the text books; and the common beliefs -regarding the meaning of the features are anything but reliable. The -best that can be done, for the present, is to assemble the predominating -characteristics of the great men of history and compare these with their -portraits. - -It is generally conceded that the greatest authority on Physiognomy is -Levater; yet, in my copy of his principal work, which, by the way, is -the voluminous 15th London edition, he says: "I understand but little of -physiognomy, and have been, and continue daily to be, mistaken in my -judgment." Since no greater physiognomist ever lived, it seems fair to -assume that there is no "science" of physiognomy, and no infallible -system with which we can read the character and capabilities of a person -by means of the features. Whether such a science will yet be discovered -or devised, remains to be seen. However, it is possible, and even -probable, that the features all have meanings, even if we do not know -those meanings, and that the code finally adopted by Levater is fairly -correct. This being true, the best we can say for Physiognomy is that it -_helps_ us to interpret character by showing us _tendencies_. That is, -given a face the chin of which denotes firmness, and the mouth -tenacity, we may be reasonably certain that the individual will have a -strong tendency to do thus and so under certain conditions, provided -those characteristics are not over-balanced and offset by other -characteristics. That the tendency is not conclusive, is apparent: for -the person may be born with a nose which, according to Physiognomy, -denotes criminal propensities; yet, he may have overcome his immoral -tendencies by means of education, religion or environment, while his -nose remains unchanged. Again, he may have certain features which are -said to denote generosity, for example, yet there may be various other -features which denote love of power, acquisitiveness, vanity, etc., -which would make it quite impossible to say that generosity would -predominate, and to which tendency the subject would yield. Indeed, it -is a grave question if all the accumulated knowledge of the ages on -Physiognomy would not be misleading, even if every person knew the -precise meaning of every section of the face; for, however skilful we -might be, our judgment would constantly be taxed to the utmost to weigh -and balance, to compare and distinguish, one indication with another, -and then that other with still another, and with perhaps a whole group -of others,--a task for a mathematician, psychologist and philosopher -combined. Again, who may say that a large nose, which was esteemed so -highly by Napoleon, or a strong jaw, which is generally understood to -denote perseverance, may not be mere accidents of nature, for are not -some born tongue-tied, cross-eyed or flat-footed, without design, -meaning or tendency, so far as those physical conditions are concerned? -And do not all persons develop one or more faculties, and neglect -others, without causing any change in the bones of the face? One may -conquer and conquer, like Alexander, until there are no more worlds to -be conquered, and yet not acquire a conqueror's nose. If we treat -Physiognomy as the science of interpreting expression by means of the -muscular anatomy of the face, that is a different matter; but the real -Physiognomy deals with bones as well as with muscles. If there is doubt -as to whether the shape of the bones of the face are indicative of -character, there is no doubt that the flesh and muscles of the face form -what we call expression of the countenance, and that this can be -interpreted with some degree of accuracy. - -Levater says that the forehead is the image or mirror of the -understanding; the nose and cheeks the image of moral and sensitive -life; and the mouth and chin the image of the animal life; while the -eye will be to the whole as the summary and center. I am prepared to -believe without hesitation that nothing passes in the soul which does -not produce some change in the body, and that even desire, and the act -of willing, create a corresponding motion in the body; but it requires -extraordinary credulity to believe that bones are enlarged or diminished -by this process, and, consequently, that part of Physiognomy I must -reject. But it is quite certain that, on the countenance discernibly -appear light and gloom, joy and anxiety, stupidity, ignorance, and vice, -and that, on this waxen tablet are deeply scribed every combination of -sense and soul. On the forehead, all the Graces revel, or all the -Cyclops thunder! Nature has left it bare, that, by it, the countenance -may be enlightened or darkened. At its lowest extremities, thought -appears to be changed into action. The mind here collects the powers of -resistance. Here resides the _cornua addita pauperi_. Here headlong -obstinacy and wise perseverance take up their fixed abode. Beneath the -forehead are its expressive confines, the eyebrows; a rainbow of -promise, when benignant; and the bent bow of discord, when enraged; -alike descriptive, in each case, of interior feeling. The nose imparts -solidity and unity to the whole countenance,--the mountain that -shelters the fair vales beneath. How descriptive of the mind and -character are its various parts; the insertion, the ridge, the -cartilege, and the nostrils, through which life is inhaled. The eyes, -considered only as tangible objects, are by their form, the windows of -the soul, the fountains of light and life. The eye-bone, whether -gradually sunken, or boldly prominent, is also worthy of attention; as -likewise are the temples, whether hollow or smooth. That region of the -face which includes the eyebrows, eye, and nose, also include the chief -signs of soul; that its of will, or mind, in action. The occult, the -noble, the sublime, sense of hearing, has nature placed sideways, and -half concealed. On the inferior part of the face, nature has bestowed a -mask for the male, and not without reason, for here are displayed those -marks of sensuality, which ought to be hidden. All know how much the -upper lip betokens the sensations of taste, desire, appetite, and the -enjoyments of love; how much it is curved by pride and anger, drawn thin -by cunning, smoothed by benevolence, made flaccid by effeminacy; how -love and desire, sighs and kisses, cling to it, by indescribable traits. -The under lip is little more than its supporter, the rosy cushion on -which the crown of majesty reposes. If the parts of any two bodies can -be pronounced to be exactly adapted to each other, such are the lips of -man, when the mouth is closed. Words are the pictures of the mind. We -judge of the host by the portal. He holds the flaggon of truth, of love -and endearing friendship. The chin is formed by the under lip, and the -termination of the jaw-bones, and it denotes sensuality in man, -according as it is more or less flexible, smooth, or clear: it discovers -what his rank is among his fellows. The chin forms the oval of the -countenance; and when, as in the antique statues of the Greeks, it is -neither pointed nor indented, but smooth, and gradually diminishes, it -is then the keystone of the superstructure. With apologies to Herder for -much of the foregoing, thus endeth this brief dissertation on -Physiognomy. - - - - -_Dreams_ - - -It is quite clear that the phenomena of dreams could be perfectly -accounted for by natural laws and therefore they should not be -attributed to supernatural causes. - -Ancient divines taught that dreams either proceeded from the Deity or -from the devil, but it is now quite certain that all dreams originate -only in the dreamers. Dreams come only from a state of imperfect sleep. -When sleep is perfect, all the faculties are at complete rest, and there -can be no dreams--and even if there were, memory being absent, the dream -could never be recalled. Bodily sensations are the most common cause of -dreams. A hot-water bottle at the feet might cause dreaming of a fire; -kicking the bed-clothes from the lower extremities might carry the -dreamer to scenes of snow and ice; getting one's head accidentally under -the pillow might involve the dreamer in a drowning episode or other -incident of strangulation. Physical ills also have their influence upon -the unsound sleeper, and the nature of the pain is usually similar to -the nature of the dream. The mind, during unsound sleep, is irrational, -and often groups incongruous things and scenes into meaningless and -impossible situations. Stored away in hidden recesses of the memory, are -innumerable items, and during imperfect sleep the mind seizes some of -these haphazard and forms some of the most fantastic and ludicrous -pictures. - -The cause of the dream is sometimes the cause of its fulfilment. For -example, a person might think, in his waking moments, of writing a poem, -and if it is strongly on his mind he is likely to dream of it. The dream -may suggest some missing link or idea, and when he awakes he is better -prepared to complete it. Belief in the supernatural origin of dreams is -also the frequent cause of their fulfilment. If a person dreams of -approaching sickness, and is superstitious, his fears and imagination -are likely to hasten the calamity. There is recorded somewhere in -history the case of a general who dreamed of a defeat, and, being -superstitious, his courage deserted him, and the enemy conquered. There -is also recorded the case of a German student, who dreamed that he was -to die the next day at a certain hour. His friends found him next -morning making a will and other preparations, and as the time drew -near, he had every appearance of a person about to die. His friends used -every argument to shake his belief in dreams, but to no purpose, and -they were despairing of saving him, when the physician contrived to set -the clock forward, and thus prolonged matters until the student's life -was at last saved. There are several instances on record where death has -actually ensued in consequence of the belief in the supernatural origin -of dreams, and there is no doubt that believers in dreams often cause -fulfilment by mental influence. It is true that there are instances on -record where a person has dreamed of the death of a relative, and found -that that relative had died at about the time of the dream, but these -instances are rare and prove nothing. When it is considered that there -are doubtless millions of instances where persons have dreamed of the -death of relatives, when they have not died, the comparatively few cases -where the dreams came true must be taken as mere coincidence. It is not -a miracle for a dream of this kind to come true, but it would indeed be -a miracle if one or more of such dreams did not come true, like the one -that is recorded of a proud young divinity student who dreamed three -times in one night that he must turn to the seventh verse of the fifth -chapter of Ecclesiastes, where he would find important instructions. He -arose in the morning, and turning to the specified passage, found this: -"In the multitude of dreams there are divers vanities." - -The mental process by which the human mind arrived at the conclusion -that dreams result from supernatural causes is due to the same -propensity of the mind for the marvelous, and to that excess credulity -which attributes all unusual or remarkable mental impressions to some -external agency. The average mind is prone to reason out the causes of -phenomena to the limit of its mental powers, and then, when it arrives -at the point when it can go no farther, and can give no rational -explanation, to attribute the phenomena to the supernatural. - -All dreams originate from former sensations. These sensations were -introduced into the mind by the senses, at some previous time or times, -and the mind has stored them away where they have lain dormant and -forgotten. The dream-state is that condition of temporary -subconsciousness when the memory recalls the aforesaid sensations and -submits them to the scrutiny of the reasoning faculty, by which their -relations are determined, through the agency of association. During -perfect sleep there can be no dream, because the dream is caused by a -state of activity of certain faculties, which, in perfect sleep, are in -a state of torpor. There could be no dream if the mental faculties, -including memory, are at perfect rest. Only when part of the mental -faculties are sufficiently active to recall the sensations and -impressions that are stored away, and to institute association, can -there be dreams. Some of the faculties must be active, and some -inactive, to produce a dream, and only in imperfect sleep does this -condition obtain. Among the inactive faculties in the dream state is -judgment, which, were it active, would correct the mental process and -discover the fallacy. Imagination is often brought strongly into play by -the dreamer; and the combination of imagination, previous sensations and -associations often create fantastic objects and pictures wholly -different from those occurring in nature. The mind of the dreamer can -readily combine parts of the sensations previously derived from -beholding an elephant, a crow and a cow, and may see in his dream a crow -with a trunk, a cow with a bill, or an elephant with upright horns and a -black feathered tail. It can also readily associate with his own self -parts of various sensations derived from reading or hearing of certain -crimes or improprieties, and picture himself in the act of doing things -utterly at variance with his morals and inclinations when in a conscious -state. - -It also may happen, in the various modes of combination, that objects or -events are portrayed in accordance with nature and facts, but, perhaps, -in exaggerated, diminished or distorted forms, in which case an -erroneous standard of judgment is formed that will throw all after -sensations out of perspective with truth. - -The dreamer generally dreams of things which have lately been weighing -on his mind, but not necessarily so, nor does it follow that he will -dream what has been ardently expected or painfully dreaded. Association -of ideas may lead his unguided mind to a scene or object which, in his -wakeful moments, he cannot trace, for his memory usually preserves only -the final objects or scene, and not the various steps that led to it. -Thus, if moving be on his mind, he may, in his dream, see a moving van, -then a painting on the side of the van, then an artist, then a paint -shop, a model, another picture on an easel, and finally a very pleasant -or a very horrible scene in a studio. When the dreamer awakes he -remembers only the scene, and he is at a loss to know why he should have -dreamed of a scene so foreign to his previous thoughts. - -There appears to be no truth whatever in the theory that dreams come as -omens or warnings, for they are purely accidental. Neither is there -apparently any truth in the belief that dreams come by opposites, that -they are the manifestation of some invisible agency, or that there is -anything supernatural, uncanny or mysterious about them. - -To maintain that one can foretell future events, or read past events, -from dreams, is absurd. Nearly every person dreams each night, and -particularly during the moments when losing consciousness and the -moments when awakening, since imperfect sleep then obtains; and, it -would be strange indeed if, during one or more of these occasions, we -did not by chance dream of something which afterwards actually happens. - -All bodily derangements that interrupt healthy sleep, such as irritation -of the digestive organs, and even over-exertion, worry, and undue -excitement, will produce dreams, and it is therefore fairly obvious -that, since we know the cause of dreams, their effects and results, -there is nothing marvellous, unnatural, wonderful, extraordinary or -supernatural in dreams. - -Until the past few hundred years, the cause of dreams was not -understood. Aristotle believes the cause of dreams to be common sense, -but placed in the fancy. Avicen thought it to be an ultimate -intelligence moving the moon in the midst of that light with which the -fancies of men are illuminated while they sleep. Averroes, an Arabian -physician, ascribed it to the imagination. Democritus referred the cause -of them to little images, or representations, separated from the things -themselves. Plato placed it among the specific and concrete notions of -the soul. Albertus attributed dreams to superior influences, which -continually flow from the sky, through many specific channels. - -In order to disdelusionize, it will be necessary to get a clear -understanding of the nature of the mind and of its workings. "When the -mind turns its view inward upon itself," says John Locke, "and -contemplates its own actions, _thinking_ is the first that occurs. In -it, the mind observes a great variety of modifications, and from them -receives distinct _ideas_. Thus the perception, which actually -accompanies, and is annexed to any impression on the body, made by an -external object, being distinct from all other modifications of -thinking, furnishes the mind with a distinct idea which we call -_sensation_; which is, as it were, the actual entrance of an idea into -the understanding by the senses. - -"The same idea, when it occurs again without the operation of the like -object on the external sensory, is _remembrance_; if it be sought after -by the mind, and with pain and endeavor found, and brought again in -view, it is _recollection_; if it be held there long under -consideration, it is _contemplation_; when ideas float in our mind -without any recollection or regard of the understanding, it is that -which the French call _reverie_; our language has scarce a word for it. -When the ideas that offer themselves (for, as I have observed, while we -are awake, there will always be a train of ideas succeeding one another -in our minds) are taken notice of, and, as it were, registered in the -memory, it is _attention_; when the mind, with great earnestness, and of -choice, fixes its view on any idea, considers it on all sides, and will -not be called off by the ordinary solicitations of other ideas, it is -what we call intention or study. _Sleep_ without dreaming is rest from -all these; and dreaming itself, is the having of ideas (while the -outward senses are stopped, so that they receive not outward objects -with their usual quickness) in the mind, not suggested by any external -objects, or known occasion, nor under any choice or conduct of the -understanding at all, and whether that which we call _ecstasy_, be not -dreaming with the eyes open, I leave to be examined." - -We often converse with a dead or absent friend, in our dreams, without -remembering that the grave or the ocean is between us. We float, like a -feather, or fly like a bird, upon the wind, one moment in New York, and -the next in Melbourne, without reflecting that the laws of nature are -suspended, or inquiring how the scene could have been so suddenly -shifted. We accommodate ourselves to every event, however romantic, -impossible, unreasonable, extravagant and absurd. - -We also dream awake, which dreams may be called _reveries_ or -_waking-dreams_, and they are sometimes as chimerical, and impossible to -be realized, as our sleep dreams. Many fabulous stories of apparitions, -magic, and apparent miracles, owe their origin to some form of dream. - - - - -_Superstitions_ - - _Superstition has done more harm than war, famine and pestilence._ - - -It has been said that all men are tainted with superstition, in greater -or less degree, and that they are credulous from the cradle to the -grave. We may be particularly strong on Friday, on the thirteenth, on -walking under a ladder, and other foolish superstitions which have -thousands of times been exposed, yet we find ourselves weak on something -else equally absurd. We are credulous because we are naturally sincere, -which indicates that superstitious belief proceeds from honorable -principles. All men have a strong attraction to truth, and the man who -is the most deceitful is usually the most disposed to belief that other -men respect truth. And thus, before rejecting the statements of others, -we usually require to detect something in them which is not in accord -with our previous knowledge, unless, perchance, we have cause to suspect -a design to deceive us. Credulity is, therefore, natural, in part, and -it is also the result of the faulty education that we have received from -our distant ancestors. - -Perhaps many of the superstitions owe their origin to religion. If -people had not been taught about devils, hells, miracles and other -mysteries, they would not be so susceptible to other beliefs equally -absurd. - -It is commonly known that gamblers are very superstitious, but fashions -change with them as they do with everything else; for, where -unsuccessful gamblers used formerly to make a knot in their linen, to -change their luck, they now content themselves with changing their -chairs, and performing other silly things which some successful gamester -has lately done. And so with other superstitious persons. As a security -against cowardice, it was once only necessary to wear a pin plucked from -the winding sheet of a corpse; now, all one needs is to rub the back of -a hunchback. To insure a prosperous accouchement to your wife, you once -had to tie her girdle to a bell and ring it three times, while now all -that is necessary is to see the new moon over your right shoulder and -wish. To get rid of warts, you were to fold up in a rag as many peas as -you had warts, and throw them into the highroad, when the unlucky person -who picked them up became your substitute; but now, they may be cured -by finding a pin, head toward you. To cure a tooth-ache you had to -solicit alms in honor of St. Lawrence, but in these enlightened times it -can be done by staring at a horseshoe over the door. And so on, _ad -infinitum_ do we find the superstitions, like the fashions, ever -changing. - -The birth of science was the death of superstition, said Huxley; but, -alas, it is a slow and painful death. But, science is only half born as -yet, and that is why superstition is only half dead. - -P. T. Barnum was known as the prince of humbuggers, yet few men have -ever lived who had a keener insight into human nature. He knew the human -heart, he knew its weaknesses, and he knew how to profit by his -knowledge. - -The gullibility of the public is shown in various ways: first, by the -prosperity of the palmists, astrologers and mediums; second, by the -success of all get-rich-quick enterprises; third, by the crowds who -patronize the street fakirs who sell articles which nobody can operate -but themselves; and fourth, by the apparent success of certain officials -who operate through their press agents. - -Palmistry, graphology, physiognomy, phrenology, clairvoyancy, -chirognomancy, and the other "sciences," have not yet been accepted by -the powers that be, fortunately, as an infallible detector of crime. -Very few, indeed, of the believers in these isms and ologies would care -to have their fate in court determined by experts in one or more of -these theories. Only a few hundred years ago, persons were tried and -convicted of witchcraft by the same sort of "experts," and the result -was that the accused had a very slight chance of acquittal. - -Most of our great men have had their illusions, delusions and -superstitions, but that is no excuse for people of our times. Genius is -always ill-balanced, in accordance with the law of compensation. -Napoleon believed in the exploded theory of astrology, and he once said -of a bright star, "It has never deserted me. I see it on every -occurrence urging me onward; it is an unfailing omen of success." Oliver -Cromwell says he saw the figure of a gigantic woman enter his chamber, -who told him that he would become the greatest man in England. Sir -Joshua Reynolds thought the lamps in his gardens were trees, and the -women bushes, agitated by the breeze. Descartes thought he was followed -by an invisible person, whose voice urged him to continue his -researches. Loyola, lying wounded after the siege of Pampeluna, imagined -he saw the Virgin, who encouraged him to prosecute his mission. Pope -thought he saw an army come through the walls of his home to inquire -after his welfare. Goethe says that he once saw his exact counterpart -coming towards him. Byron was also visited by ghosts, and Dr. Johnson -thought he heard his mother's voice, though she was in a distant city. -Swedenborg imagined that he could converse with departed spirits. -Cellini was deterred from suicide by the apparition of a beautiful -woman, and Nicolai was annoyed by various spirits, one of which had the -appearance of a dead body. And when we remember that some of the world's -greatest minds were deluded by the doctrines of witchcraft, alchemy, -astrology, spiritualism, and kindred superstitions, now known to be -false and silly, including the mighty search for the Philosopher's -Stone, we should hesitate long before accepting any strange theory just -because somebody else believed in it. - -ABRACADABRA was one of the names given to the Persian sun-god Mithra. -This word was supposed to have magic powers to cure diseases, provided -it was written in the form of a magic triangle several times, as -follows, and worn on the bosom for nine days: - - - ABRACADABRA - BRACADABR - RACADAB - ACADA - CAD - A - - -Why is superstition so deep-rooted? Why do we cling to error so -tenaciously? Why does every new, occult fad soon attract a host of -followers? Let us see. First, there is a charm to everything that is -extraordinary--we love the unusual, the different, the marvelous, the -miraculous; second, we hate to see destroyed that which we love. Hence, -the tendency to exaggeration, which is a consequence of it; and hence -the regretful reluctance to have our dreams of wondrousness dispelled. -Is there anything quite so unpleasant, when we have told a friend of -some marvelous manifestation we had witnessed, as to have that friend -prove to us that the manifestation was but a trick? Not only is our -pride hurt, but our pet joy is spoiled; we had been hugging a sacred -mystery, only to find it a delusion. - -That which we call mystery is unfinished knowledge--not complete -ignorance. That which we call the supernatural is but the natural not -yet understood, or only partly understood. We know a little of -everything, but not everything of everything, nor even everything of any -one thing. Science is only a mystery solved. - -A prevalent and dangerous form of credulity or enthusiasm is that which -makes us extremists or faddists. A faddist is an extremist, and an -extremist is a faddist. It is one thing to be so stubborn and -old-fashioned that nothing new has any interest to us, and it is another -to be so credulous and catholic that we seize every new theory with a -mad enthusiasm. Every fad and delusion is founded on a truth, but the -extremist sees in them more than a truth; his brain becomes a -kaleidoscope, with numerous reflecting surfaces which reflect multifold -imaginary pictures. From two or three simple truths, sprang an immense -false system of astrology; from the simple truth that our temperaments -and characters are more or less expressed upon our bodies, sprang some -of the silly doctrines of palmistry and physiognomy; from the simple -truth that every person has an individuality which is expressed in his -apparel, his home and his manners, sprang the ridiculous theory of -psychometry; from the simple truth that souls live beyond the grave, -and that our imagination may picture those souls, sprang the untenable -belief in ghosts, spirits and mediums; and from the simple fact that our -pains and troubles are intensified by brooding over them, sprang the -fallacy of Christian Science. Who would say that the Boston tea party -_caused_ the Revolutionary war, or that the firing on Fort Sumpter -_caused_ the "late unpleasantness"? The quarrel between Queen Anne and -the Duchess of Marlborough over a pair of gloves did not cause the -change of ministry and the following peace with Louis XIV, nor did the -blood of Lucretia put an end to the kingly powers at Rome, as some say, -and neither did the sight of Virginia terminate the decemviral power, -nor did the view of Caesar's body and mantle enslave Rome. It seems to -be that love of the marvellous, of the curious, of the strange, and of -the impossible, that makes us ascribe great results to the most -insignificant and isolated causes. - -There is a book entitled "Current Superstitions," which can be had in -any library, that should cure any reasonable mind of superstition. It -contains some thousands of superstitions common throughout the United -States, and if a person were to believe in them all, that person could -not live one day without violating a dozen or more that would involve -him into fatal consequences. Fortunately, the superstitious person -usually clings to only two or three, which are not bothersome, and he -does not see the folly of them. Some superstitions seem harmless enough, -such as, for example, the belief that holding an open umbrella over the -head in the house is productive of bad luck, for who wants to do such a -thing? or, that of walking under a ladder, for how many times in a -lifetime does a person have occasion to avoid doing so? But all -superstitions are harmful to the mind, and harmful in their influence -upon others--particularly upon children. A man cannot successfully -contend against an unknown enemy in the dark, and superstition -pre-supposes that there is some unknown, relentless, all-powerful force -at work, against God, Nature, common sense, and against the laws of the -universe. - -There is an old story, but a well-authenticated one, which serves to -illustrate the dangers of superstition. In Hamburg, in 1784, a singular -accident occasioned the death of a young couple. The lady, going to the -church of the Augustin Friars, knelt down near a Mausoleum, ornamented -with divers figures in marble, among which was that of Death, armed with -a scythe, and a small piece of the scythe being loose, fell on the hood -of the lady's mantlet. On her return home, she mentioned the -circumstances as a matter of indifference to her husband, who, being a -credulous and superstitious man, cried out in a terrible panic, that it -was a presage of the death of his dear wife. The same day he was seized -with a violent fever, took to his bed and died. The disconsolate lady -was so affected at the loss that she was taken ill and soon followed -him. They were both interred in the same grave, and their inheritance, -which was very considerable, fell to some distant relatives. - -Under the head of "Thirteen at Dinner," Edwards in "Words, Facts and -Phrases" says: "The common superstition which makes it unlucky to have -thirteen at dinner is no doubt a reference to the Last Supper of our -Lord and his disciples, where thirteen were present and Judas was among -them. He left first, and therefore the first of a party of thirteen to -leave the table is the unlucky one." Perhaps this is correctly stated, -but if so, how many persons now make the _dangerous_ mistake of at once -leaving a table as soon as they discover thirteen present! By leaving at -once they hope to avert the evil, whereas they are rushing into it. What -folly, either to leave the table or to remain at it, because of this -superstition! - -The Thirteen Club of New York serves a useful mission. Composed of -several hundred prominent people, it meets, discusses the folly of -popular superstitions, exposes the fallacies of the supernatural, and -breeds a healthy condition of the mind. They meet on Fridays, usually on -the 13th of the month, they enter the clubrooms by passing under a -ladder, the dues are multiples of thirteen, umbrellas are hung over -every chair, salt is spilled on every table, and so on, in defiance of -the laws of superstition. - -Those foolish persons who believe in the silly superstition "Thirteen at -table, one of them sure to die," should remember that if there are -fourteen at table, or more, the chances of one of them dying soon are -much greater than if there were only thirteen, so that it is far safer -to reduce the number to thirteen! - -Wonder is the effect of novelty upon ignorance, it is said, but the -ignorant are not the only ones to wonder over novelty, and other things -than novelty cause wonder, such as want of familiarity with common -things met with every day. Knowledge is the cure of both ignorance and -superstition, but of the love to wonder there appears to be no cure. - -The reason we are so quick to believe in the supernatural is that we are -prone to discern in it either good luck or bad luck--benefit or -punishment. We are all governed by our passions--principally Hope and -Fear, and nothing is more capable of creating those hopes and fears than -unrestrained credulity concerning the mysterious. - -Everybody has doubtless seen those wonderful, supernatural mind-readers -at Coney Island, who profess to be able to tell you your name. I -listened to one of their dialogs recently, in which a young lady and her -companion were amazed at having the magician look in their eyes and read -there their true names, fully convinced of the supernatural powers of -the operators. Guessing at how it was done, my friend and I strolled -off, made a plan, returned, stopped in front of the camp, and began a -conversation in which I addressed my friend as "William"--which was not -his name at all--and he called me "Washington," to all of which the -several fakirs were intently listening, though pretending not to. Just -as they thought they had enough to work upon they approached us, and we -yielded to their entreaties. We were ushered into the mystic chamber, -there was some whispering among them, and then we were dramatically -ordered to think intensely of our names, the chief fakir all the while -glaring tragicly into my friend's eyes. "Ah, I has it," said he, -gesticulating wildly, "William!" he exclaimed, exultantly. "Wonderful!" -was our reply. Devoting his attention to me, he appeared puzzled, but -finally said: "You no think; I no get name, but I tell you something -wonderful--I tell you what on your mind." "Very well," said I, "that -will do." And then he put his greasy forefingers on my temples and -cried, "You think you have some _washing done_!" - -If every spiritualist, astrologer, palmist, clairvoyant, mind reader and -fortune teller were compelled by law to hang out a sign, "I am a -professor of tricks, magic, sleight-of-hand, legerdemain, and -tomfoolery; come in and match your wits against mine!" they would still -have many customers; but, if everybody believed in signs, there would be -no harm done. But perhaps the people would rather have it the other way, -as it is, so that they can nurse the delusion that "Perhaps there may be -something in it, after all." - - - - -_Stage Tricks and Occultism_ - - -Stage tricks are usually harmless, except when played by fakirs who -claim to be possessed of supernatural powers. There is a large variety -of these, such as spiritualists, slate-writers, clairvoyants, -telepathists and mind-readers, who perform ordinary stage tricks under -the guise of occultism, and they deserve something more than mere -exposure. Every operator has his or her own particular method of -performing certain tricks, and it would be impossible to explain in a -brief article how each is done; but it may be helpful to expose a few of -the more common ones. All of these tricks may be accounted for as -follows: Sleight-of-hand, confederacy, ingenious contrivance, or the -application of some natural law, and most of the best tricks are -performed with the aid of two or more of these. Had Hermann the Great, -or Keller, been dishonest, they could almost have had the world at their -feet, by maintaining that their tricks were done through spirit or -physic force; but they were honest enough to admit that all their feats -were done by means of one or more of the devices just mentioned. There -is no slate-writing trick, or materialization, or mind-reading -exhibition, that they could not have duplicated, or even excelled; in -fact, they did actually duplicate and expose most of them. Had they -claimed that spirits or devils, aided them, a majority of the people -would probably have believed it without question. Perhaps one reason why -more mediums, and such, are not exposed and arrested, is because there -is something grew-some and awe-inspiring in the thought that possibly -the on-looker is in the presence of the inhabitants of another world; -or, perhaps the feeling of sadness, or of the sacredness of the -occasion, shuts off all sentiments of revenge, however doubtful he may -be of the genuineness of the exhibition. The fact that one by one -practically all the great mediums have been exposed, seems to make no -difference, because in our anxiety to learn if there is not some -possible way to get news of the departed loved ones, we reason that -because one, or a dozen, imposters have been exposed, this particular -one may be genuine, and that there may possibly be something in it after -all. - -Why is it that so many are willing to attribute occult powers to all -magicians who perform inexplicable tricks? There is scarcely a person -who cannot do one or more card tricks which will puzzle the most astute -observer, but we do not marvel because we know that they are merely -tricks; but let the trickster once announce that he is a mind-reader or -a hypnotist, and three out of every five will accept the statement as -truth and not seek further to disprove it. Thus, we are taught that -credulity is a disease with which most persons are afflicted, and that -it is very easy to fool the best of us. Those who are so weak as to -accept every mystery as a manifestation of supernatural power, should -obtain one of the many books which can be had at any library, and make a -study of the art of legerdemain. Then, when attending a spiritualistic -seance, or a slate-writing exposition, the student will be able readily -to detect the fraud and to duplicate it for the amusement of his own -friends. - -If every investigator would, before going to a seance, buy one or more -of the books, which are on sale at every bookstore, showing how the -various stage tricks are done, there would not be many spiritualists in -the world. These books sharpen the wits, and while they may not give the -precise methods adopted by the medium to be visited, they will show how -easy it is to deceive the eye and to fool the best of us. - -Much has been said of the wonderful tricks of the fakirs in India, -particularly of the Great Mango Trick, and all kinds of supernatural -powers have been ascribed to these clever people. In these exhibitions, -the fakirs take a seed and a pile of sand, and make a Mango tree grow, -in a few minutes, to the height of three or four feet. The secret lies -in the fact that the leaves and twigs of the Mango are such that they -can be folded into a very small compass and rolled up within the hollow -seed, so that when they are unrolled they do not show the slightest -crease. The fakir covers the whole with a cloth, and operates beneath -it, piling the dirt around it, and exhibiting the building tree -occasionally to his astonished audience. Baldwin, "The White Mahatma," -has exposed this and many others of the Indian tricks, in his book, "The -Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained." - -Slate-writing tricks are done in a hundred different ways. Some -operators carry a tiny point of pencil under their thumb nail, some have -chemical compounds which render writing invisible until heated, or -moistened, and some have duplicate slates. The messages they write are -obtained in various ways, often by means of accomplices, and still -oftener by guess-work. - -Some mediums have a regular detective force who make it a business to -get acquainted with all susceptible persons, or prospective customers, -and after getting a history of these persons, they convey it to the -medium, who only has to await the coming of the victims to be able to -make startling revelations. - -The mind readers also operate largely by means of confederates, and most -of the theatrical performers have clever trappings. One of these was -exposed recently in a Long Island village, when it was discovered that -the operator had several telephone wires running under the floor of the -theatre, from the rear of the stage. In another instance, it was found -that the sheets of cardboard, which were passed around for the audience -to rest their papers upon, were sensitized so that when they were -collected and subjected to chemical treatment they would make visible -the writing that had been done over them. The questions asked were -communicated to the operator by an accomplice in the wings. Another -method, adopted by those who claim to read the numbers in watch cases, -and to tell the numbers on banknotes, is that of a code of signals sent -to the operator by a confederate in the audience. These codes are -sometimes composed of words, and sometimes of gestures and signals. - -One noted spiritualist claimed to be able to put the subject under a -spirit influence and give him superhuman strength. For instance, the -subject would support his feet on two little stools, and his hands upon -two others, each pair of stools being about five feet apart, and he -would then arch his body upward, in the form of a bridge. A heavy anvil -was then placed upon his abdomen, and the operator would take a huge -sledge hammer and beat a piece of red hot iron into a horseshoe. This -was only an experiment in inertia, and the heavy blows were hardly felt -by the man below, the effect of them being almost absorbed by the large -mass of iron. It was also noticed that when heavy weights were lifted at -arm's length, they were so arranged as to lie along the forearm, this -position being more graceful and about fifty per cent. easier. Leather -straps were broken around the chest, and this was done by means of a -sharp tongue to the buckle, filed to an edge, which cut the strap with -slight pressure. (The audience eagerly examined the strap in advance, -but never thought of examining the buckle.) Heavy Jack-chains were also -broken by the subject, but these chains all contained one weak link, of -unwelded soft iron, which would stretch out when pulled in a certain -direction. Pennies were broken with ease, but these were, of course, -prepared in advance, by placing them in a vice and working them back and -forth many times until they became soft in the middle. - -Innumerable tricks are done by means of cans and other vessels -containing false bottoms, or several compartments, and every stage where -magicians perform contains various trap doors in the floor, mirrors, and -other illusions. A modern scheme is to have two rows of blinding lights, -before a black background, so that the audience cannot see the -machinery. By this contrivance, figures on the stage are made to float -in the air, and to do all kinds of apparently impossible things. One -familiar performance has a man at a piano rise in air and revolve -rapidly, all in full view--apparently--of the audience, and another -makes a lady dance in midair, and take gigantic strides at enormous -speed. These tricks are done by means of machinery, concealed from view -by optical illusions, the lady having an iron belt about her waist which -connects with the hidden machinery in the rear. - -Another familiar trick is the appearance and disappearance of a person -into or from a box, basket, coffin, and so on, also in full view of the -audience. It will usually be observed that these are placed near to the -back curtain, where it is easy for a person to enter or exit through a -secret opening, but sometimes it is done through a trapdoor in the -floor. Once I had the pleasure of assisting Hermann the Great at -"Hermann's Theatre" on Broadway, since burned down. I went to his -dressing room before the performance, and he gave me a tiny rabbit which -I concealed in my ulster pocket, and at the same time several other -confederates were given "props," such as silk hats, in which omelets -were afterwards made, and handkerchiefs with red moons in the center, -and red handkerchiefs with white moons, which were afterwards used in -the performance by Hermann who cut a circle out of the middle of a white -handkerchief and one from a red handkerchief, and afterwards produced -out of the audience the handkerchiefs aforesaid, much to the wonderment -of the audience. The rabbit I held was the counterpart of another which -Hermann shot from a pistol on the stage, and which was afterwards found -in my pocket, much to my apparent chagrin. - -The art of magic, while by no means a lost art, is not so popular now as -formerly, yet it still has a firm hold on human credulity. As Barnum -used to say, "The people love to be humbugged." Inborn in us is that -love of the marvelous which caused our ancestors to believe in -astrology, sorcery and witchcraft. The stage magician is well aware of -this, and as the old tricks become familiar to their audiences, they -soon discover new methods to satisfy this natural propensity to crave -mystery. Some good folks say that all magic is bad, in that it is deceit -and treachery; but this seems rather a lame argument when it is -remembered that the magician practically tells his audience that he is -going to fool them, and that he is merely matching his dexterity against -their quickness of perception. The real harm and danger comes of the -modern tricks of magic, in which the magician pretends that he is -possessed of some supernatural powers, such as spiritualistic -manifestations, clairvoyance, mind reading, slate-writing, etc. If the -real truth were known, these charlatans probably reason thus: "We are -magicians, the people love to be mystified, we can no longer entertain -them with the old tricks, they are ever ready to believe that which they -cannot understand, the supernatural is always entertaining; and since we -must make a living some how, we will perform our tricks and claim that -they are of supernatural origin." There is some logic in this view, from -their viewpoint, but from the standpoint of us who see the danger in, -and who are trying to destroy, superstition, it is a practice that -should be suppressed. - -In the introduction to Barnum's "Humbugs of the World," the great -showman says, "I once travelled through the Southern States in company -with a magician. The first day in each town he astonished his auditors -with his deceptions. He then announced that on the following day he -would show how each trick was performed, and how every man might thus -become a magician. That expose spoiled the legerdemain market on that -particular route, for several years. So, if we could have a full -exposure of the tricks of trade of all sorts, of humbugs and deceivers -of past times--religious, political, financial, scientific, quackish and -so forth--we might perhaps look for a somewhat wiser generation to -follow us." - -Thus, we could go on at great length to show how easy it is to deceive -people. It is one of the easiest things in the world to make up tricks -to fool the best of us, and all operators in occult or physic phenomena -know it. "Am I not to believe what I see with my own eyes, and hear with -my own ears?" they all say,--at least ALL who _want_ to be convinced. -The answer is, "No, you are not." - - - - -_Ghosts_ - - -One by one the great superstitions of the world are slowly but surely -disappearing. It was not long ago when we, in this new country of -enlightenment, believed in _witchcraft_, and were burning witches at the -stake; but now it would take a long hunt to find a man, woman or child -who believed in that horrible and disastrous superstition. The same is -almost true of "_Ghosts_," for that word is now used more in jest than -in earnest; but to believe in "_apparitions_" is not altogether of past -centuries, for there are still many who cling to the delusion of -supernatural appearances. The modern way of putting it is "_Spirits_." - -Authors, poets and dramatists of all ages, sacred and profane, have made -endless allusions to supernatural appearances, not only because _ghosts_ -are convenient and entertaining characters to introduce, not only -because writers naturally tried to reflect the beliefs of the periods of -which they wrote, but because they could make a deeper impression on -the minds of a superstitious world. Shakespeare makes fine use of the -Ghost in Hamlet and in Macbeth, just as Goethe does of Mephistopheles in -Faust. Not only is fiction and the drama full of Ghosts, but there are -hundreds of volumes in the libraries giving serious, and apparently -"well-authenticated" cases of supernatural appearances. Mrs. Crowe's -"Nightside of Nature" is probably the classic of this line of -literature--at least, it appears to be quoted more than any other. The -author of Robinson Crusoe wrote "An Essay on the History and Reality of -Apparitions; being an account of what they are and what they are not, -when they come and when they come not; as also how we may distinguish -between apparitions of Good and Evil Spirits, and how we ought to behave -to them; with a variety of surprising and diverting examples never -published before." - -I have frequently been asked by believing friends, "How do you account -for this?"--following with, perchance, an elaborate account of what the -aunt's mother's sister's nephew once saw. My answer has always been, and -still is, to those friends, to Mrs. Crowe, Daniel DeFoe and all others, -"I cannot account for what somebody else saw, says he saw, or thinks he -saw; but let me see it and I will guarantee to give you a reasonable -explanation." John Ruskin says somewhere that the greatest thing in this -world is to see something and to be able to tell simply and accurately -just what you saw, _and nothing else_. There is the secret! I remember -the first time I saw Hermann the Great, and how I went home and told -everybody about the wonderful trick he had performed. Of course, nobody -could tell me how it was done, for, from the way I described it, it was -an impossibility. Sometime later I had occasion to meet Mr. Hermann in -his dressing room, and I then learned how the trick was done. How -simple! I had been duped and deceived. My eyes had not seen aright. How -different was the story I had told, from the story Hermann told! - -I have often thought, if Hermann had been in the _Ghost_ business, what -harm could he not have done! - -We all know what becomes of the bodies and clothing of the dead. Of this -there can be no doubt. What becomes of the soul, the spirit, nobody -knows. Assuming that this does not die, which seems probable, we know -that it cannot again live within the same body and apparel, for that is -destroyed. To assume that the spirit procures a new and similar body and -clothing, is to assume the existence of material, physical matter in -the spiritual world. Does it not require quite a stretch of a -sacrilegious imagination to picture a clothing factory in the spiritual -world? And yet, we are told that ghosts appear "in the very clothes they -used to wear." Mrs. Bargrave "took hold of Mrs. Veal's gown several -times" and recognized the velvet. (Drelincourt on Death, 1700). We are -also told of "rustling of silk," "creaking of shoes" and "sounds of -footsteps" (Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World, Owen). - -Even the voice is recognized, although the various organs that produced -the original voice on earth have long since perished. We all seem to -have a notion that ghosts should be light, thin and airy, but, it seems, -there must be fat _ghosts_, too. I remember at least one fat ghost, for -I yanked it into my lap in the middle of a highly interesting seance at -Mrs. Calder's, a famous _Ghost_ producer who once thrived in New York. -The ghost was alleged to be a famous Plymouth church preacher whose name -is too revered to be mentioned in this connection. - -Some Ghosts have even appeared in iron armour, and some with walking -sticks, swords or shovels. People have heard, seen and felt all -these--the word _felt_ might be used in a double sense here, because one -vicious _ghost_ is said to have delighted in thumping his hosts with a -cane--so it can be assumed that such material things as clothing, armour -and canes are to be had in the other world. And yet, _ghosts_ are -transparent! You can see right through them. They disappear through a -stone wall, through a carpeted, oaken floor, and through a locked and -bolted door. You can shoot at them, run them through with a sword, and -you touch nothing. - -Again, the same _Ghost_ frequently appears in many places at one and the -same time. DeFoe tells of the burglars who found the same _ghost_ in a -chair in every room in the house at the same moment. Still again, we -have "well-authenticated" cases of beggar Ghosts in rags, of one-armed -Ghosts, beheaded Ghosts, blind Ghosts, hungry Ghosts, thirsty Ghosts, -worried, tormented and unhappy Ghosts, and wicked, revengeful Ghosts. -Is, then, the spirit world (heaven), no improvement on our own world? -Mr. Kardec once asserted that we are surrounded by "myriads of -spirits--good, bad and indifferent," which quite alarmed the author of -"Mary Jane," who feared accidents might happen among such a crowd of -_spirits_. Mr. Baker, it was, who set the author at ease, by explaining -that "the _spirits_ can walk through one another and not feel it." - -It is a wonder that, in a world so full of humbuggers, -get-rich-quicksters, fakirs and delusionists, greater effort has been -made to profit by the greatest of all passions. For every human weakness -we have a gold seeker, be it a Barnum, Munyon, a Lydia Pinkham, a 520% -Miller, a Dowie, a Dis de Bar, or a Sister Fox. Some want to be tall, -some short, some fat, some thin, some rich, some healthy, some -beautiful, etc., etc., and there is always an army of fakirs, honest, -semi-honest and otherwise, ready to make them so for a monetary -consideration payable in advance. But, the greatest distress, the -greatest passion, the greatest longing and yearning, is for the dead. -What a tremendous army is the army of the mourners! What a gold mine to -the man who can bring the mourner and the departed together! _Ghost_ -makers do not necessarily mean to defraud, nor do they always perform -for money. There are good and bad, as in all else, and they sometimes -fool themselves in their efforts to fool others. The _Imagination_ is a -wonderful organism. It is the greatest machine on earth, because it can -do the greatest things. But, beware of it--it is not to be trusted; it -will expand your credulity, undermine your reason, and give you a taste -of the delirium tremens--which makes you see things! - - - - -_Strikes, Profiteering and the High Cost of Living_ - -_Being an Argument in Favor of Industrialized Government_ - - -PART I. - -THE A. B. C. OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. - -(_Simplified for the Uninitiated._) - -The one great desire uppermost in the minds of men is to get the -greatest good from the earth, the source of all wealth, with the least -possible labor and effort. In the so-doing, both experience and reason -teach that economy is the watchword. It is the life blood of -civilization--the essence of industrial prosperity. The basis of all -philosophy is "I want," and in the pursuit of happiness and contentment, -economy must be the watchword. - - -WASTE. - -The destruction of the smallest useful atom is an injury to every living -person; and the more useful the atom, the greater the injury. A great -fire, a flood, a devastating cyclone, is not only a calamity to those -immediately affected, but it is a universal loss; for, the great human -family is just so much poorer, the world's progress has been retarded, -and our onward march toward the perfect civilization has been checked. -Likewise, every stroke of labor that does not go toward making the world -better or richer is wasted energy. The man who insists on making shoes, -or raising wheat, or digging coal, when he is mentally, physically and -by nature ill-adapted to that calling, is a drone and a burden upon -society. He is wasting energy and impeding the general progress, because -he is doing something which others could do better or quicker, and he is -therefore the cause of misplacing two persons in unproductive and -unnatural callings. - - -MACHINES. - -The labor saving machine is the personification of economy. It, and all -great inventions, are welcomed by civilization as great economizers of -the world's work. It is wasted energy for man to do by hand that which -a machine can do as well and in less time. The machine economizes -production and therefore lightens and lessens the toil of the human -family. Ten men in a shop or industry, each assigned to that branch of -the business to which he is best adapted, form a combination for economy -identical with a machine. If a linotype machine, operated by one man, -can do the work of say five type-setters, the world is richer to the -extent of about what four men could create in other -vocations,--allowances being made for the labor required to make the -machine itself. - - -DEPENDENCE. - -A person can no longer make his own hat, coat, shoes and house, and -raise his own vegetables, as Crusoe did. Ten thousand men are -co-operating to give him his shoes alone. There are the men who kill the -animal which provides the hide, the men who carry it to the jobber, the -men who strip it, the men who cure and tan it, the men who pack it, load -it on the trucks, put it on the cars, unload it, carry it to the leather -merchant, and the innumerable clerks, bookkeepers, advertisers and -stenographers who help sell it to the shoe manufacturer, the additional -transportation, the endless variety of hands it passes through in the -factory, and the countless hands that handle the finished shoe before it -reaches the consumer; and then,--the telegraph's part in the manufacture -or sale or transportation of that shoe, and the mails and the -advertising, each employing thousands. Even the linen thread used in the -shoe has a similar history; likewise the pegs, the needles, the -machines, the cloth lining and the metal eyelets. And the shoe is a -small part of a man's necessaries. What does all this show? The -inter-dependence of men, one upon the other. - - -CO-OPERATION. - -We have come to that stage of human progress when we could not return to -the Crusoe method if we desired. We must depend upon our brothers in -distant parts. A vast industrial machine has been created, of which each -member of the human family forms a part. A must look to B for his shoes, -B must look to C for his meat, C must look to D for his coal, and all -must look to one another for every needed thing. Even the savages in -distant lands are at work procuring ivory and other commodities for us -while we are creating suitable articles for them, and thus the human -family are co-operating together for the common good. - -If this system of co-operation or trade is not interfered with by -unnatural and artificial devices, every man will sooner or later find -his level and bend his energies in that calling to which he is best -fitted by nature, education, training, and environment. A natural law is -at work. To interfere with it is to divert commerce from its natural -channels and cause friction in the great industrial machine. The machine -needs no oiling or mending; it simply requires direction. It develops, -expands and lubricates as it runs. It is not revolution that wears out a -machine; it is friction. - - -COMBINATION. - -Two or more persons can enjoy the heat of one stove, or the light of one -lamp, or the shelter of one roof, as well as one person, and without -depriving anyone of an equal quantity thereof. A printer can produce -1,000 circulars with but little more cost than 50. A truck or car can -carry tons with but little more expense than pounds. Two fish can be -fried in one pan as well as one. A professor can teach a class of 500 as -well as of five. Hence the advantages of combination and co-operation, -and hence the uneconomy of individual isolation. How much wiser for -Crusoe to take Friday in his household and divide their labors, each -doing that which best suits him, using,--so to speak--only one stove, -one lamp and one frying-pan. - -Suppose at Christmas a man has 100 presents to distribute in various -localities. A messenger for each of the 100 presents would mean an -expense of say $50 and much wasted energy. A single messenger could so -systemize the work, by mapping out the shortest routes, that he could -accomplish the work in far less time, comparatively, than the 100 -messengers, and his bill would be only about $5. Now, suppose the man -should ascertain that each of his 199 neighbors in the block also had -100 presents to deliver. That would make 20,000 presents in all. If each -man should employ a separate messenger it would cost about $1,000. One -messenger would go to First street and leave a package (little knowing -that another messenger was to deliver a package at perhaps the very next -door), thence to--say Nineteenth street, thence to a distant section of -the city, thence to still another district, and so on. Each of the 200 -messengers would have the same long journey to make, wearing out his -shoe leather, making the cars do useless work, and wearing and wasting -his own energy. But suppose the 200 neighbors should combine and -co-operate. They would soon find that about five messengers could -deliver their 20,000 presents in about the same time that 200 could; -and, at $5 each, or $25 in all, with a saving of $975 to themselves. -Mapping out the city in five districts and assigning one messenger to -each, they would probably find that many presents were to be delivered -in adjoining houses, and some to different residents of the same house. -Witness the many steps that have been saved, and the time, and the labor -of 95 men who have thus been freed to work in some productive vocation. - -Method and system are parents of economy. They allay waste, eliminate -useless labor, and lighten and lessen the toil of the human family. - - -ANOTHER ILLUSTRATION. - -Some morning at break of dawn witness the confusion in the simple -industry of delivering milk. A wagon rattles up to your door and leaves -a bottle of milk. It clatters down the street and leaves a bottle to a -neighbor in the next block. Then it turns down the avenue and leaves a -bottle several blocks away, and thence perhaps to a distant section. -But watch, and you behold another wagon coming. It stops at the next -house to yours and deposits a bottle on the window-sill, then dashes -down the block and leaves a bottle at some distant house, then to a -house perhaps several blocks away, and so on until it has covered, in -spots, a large territory. Soon, a third wagon appears and leaves a -bottle at the second house from yours, and then dashes away to distant -parts to cover its route. - -And so on until nearly 200 different wagons, or grocer clerks, have -visited the 200 houses in your block to deliver 200 separate bottle of -milk. In every block the same scene is being enacted. Remember that -every employer has horses, wagons, harness, drivers, a store, books, a -cashier, advertising, fuel, light, and a plant to maintain. - -[1]Now compare the unsystemized milk delivery with the scientific, -methodical system of delivering the mail. The letter-carrier leaves a -letter or paper at your door, hurries on to the next house, then to the -next and the next; then, he does likewise on the other side of the -street until nearly every house in the block is visited; then he -proceeds to the next block and continues his systematic, economical -labors; and so on until he approaches the line where another carrier -has been doing likewise in the adjoining district. - -Suppose mail should be delivered in the unorganized, unmethodic manner -that milk is delivered; it would require many times as many carriers to -do it, and this additional work would be just as useless and wasteful to -the world as if they were employed to dig holes in the earth only to -fill them up again. If the milk business were to be organized similar to -the letter-carrying business what an enormous amount of wasted energy -and labor would be saved. What an immense amount of useful and -wealth-creating work could those now useless extra milkmen perform in -other callings. - - -THE FUTURE. - -The question is asked: Will all of the milk dealers one day combine and -form a Trust? And should they? My answer is, Yes. Competition will -perhaps drive them to it; but if it does not, some day they will see the -advantages and benefits of such a combination and they will wisely -follow the example of the oil and steel magnates. If they never see it, -then some of the larger and wiser milk dealers will, and they will -perhaps enlist sufficient capital to control the market by buying up the -milk supply at the farms, thus driving the smaller dealers out of the -business or into the Trust. - -What is true in the milk business is also true of nearly every other -similar business, and that is the condition which this country has to -face in the near future. - - -PARTNERSHIP. - -A is engaged in the manufacture of shoes. B is a rival. They sell a -certain shoe for $3. Each has a separate plant to maintain; a -bookkeeper; a delivery wagon; and fuel, light, rent and advertising -bills to pay. After a while A and B form a partnership under one roof, -with only one delivery wagon, one bookkeeper, etc. With this great -saving in expenses they find that they can produce as many shoes with -the one enlarged plant as the two old plants produced and at much less -cost. They can now pay a little higher wages, make a little more profit -and still reduce the price of their shoes to, say, $2.90. C now comes to -town and opens a rival establishment. He has difficulty in producing as -good a shoe for $2.90 as does the firm of A & B, but he competes for a -while until D comes to town and starts another shoe factory. Then C and -D join their plants into one and the two firms go on competing, each -spending large sums in advertising, etc. Finally they all get together -and combine the several plants into one. They build an extension on A -and B's building and move C and D's machinery therein. The new firm of -A, B, C & D now have a large plant. Where formerly the individual -manufacturers employed say six bookkeepers, they can now get along with -but two. Where they once had ten delivery wagons they now require but -two or three, because of the systemized routes mapped out. Instead of -each manufacturer spending $10,000 a year for advertising, or $40,000 in -all, the new firm now spends only say $15,000. The saving and economy is -so great in nearly everything, that they can now pay still higher wages, -make still greater profit and sell their shoes for perhaps $2.75--if -they want to. Thus everybody is benefited by the enlarged partnership -except those who have been thrown out of employment, and they shall -presently be taken care of as we proceed. - -Now, if four men by combining and forming a partnership can reduce the -price of shoes from $3.00 to $2.75 and pay higher wages and make more -profit than if they were operating separate plants, how great must be -the advantages of 100 or 1,000 men and plants combining into a -partnership. This would be a Trust. If two men can use the light of one -lamp or the heat of one radiator without one depriving the other of any -light and heat, so can 100 men do likewise, provided there is enough -light and heat to go around, and on this simple principle is the great -Trust founded. It economizes; it eliminates useless energy; it allays -waste; it saves. Our letters are delivered by the Trust system; our milk -is delivered by the old system of individual enterprise and is -inconsistent with modern civilization. - - -ORGANIZATION. - -If the industries were not organized, if Trusts and Combinations were -unknown, if there were no corporations and no partnerships and -everything was carried on by individual units, what would be our -industrial condition? What an enormous amount of waste would there be -and what a colossal volume of extra work would the human family have to -perform to produce what we now have! - -Organization is the key-note of the century. "Individual Enterprise" is -a relic of past ages. A partnership of two or more is organization on a -small scale. A corporation is practically a combination of two or more -partnerships, or an enlarged legalized partnership. A Trust then is -simply an organization of several smaller organizations. The greater and -more perfect the organization, the greater the economy. The greater the -economy the lower will be the cost of production, and the smaller will -be the amount of work to be performed and, likewise, the cheaper will be -the article--if! (See later). - - -ADVERTISING. - -Most advertising is wasted energy. One of its purposes is to take trade -from another and bring it to itself,--a snare set by A to attract B's -customers. It creates nothing, and is only useful as a means of -communication or notification, and it imposes an unnecessarily heavy -burden upon the human family. While it does give employment, it is not -much more useful employment than the hiring of men to shovel dirt into -the river and then hiring them to shovel it out again. If employment is -all we seek, why not tear down the public buildings and then hire men to -build them up again? (The question of employment for labor will be dealt -with elsewhere.) - -This illustration is not intended to discourage advertising, for -advertising has its uses, and under present conditions is almost -synonymous with success. But suppose, for example, there were 100 -telephone companies in New York instead of one. The competition would be -bitter. Prices would come down to the lowest competitive margin. But, -as prices and profits came down, so would wages. The rivalry would -encourage dishonesty, hatred and envy, and result in various -impositions, such as compelling every subscriber to have several -'phones. - -Each company would have the expense of maintaining a separate plant, -with its small army of employees, and wires strung over the city like a -mosquito netting, and each would be spending large sums in advertising -which would finally be paid by the consumers. - -Now, contrast this unorganized confusion with the present single system -with its one small advertising bill to pay, one system of wires, one set -of canvassers and other employees, one engine room, one president, etc. -Has not the burden of the world's work been lightened and lessened by -this combination and organization? - - -THE WORLD'S WORK. - -Given a population of 80,000,000 of which say 20,000,000 are working -people, and given a certain amount of work required to provide the -80,000,000 people with food, clothes, shelter and the numerous minor -conveniences,--how many hours a day must these 20,000,000 working-people -labor to produce what we now produce, under the old unorganized system -of individual enterprise? If there were 100 telephone companies in New -York instead of one, here at once we require about ten times as many men -in this single industry as are now required, and these hundreds of -thousands of men required to operate the 100 telephone companies must be -taken away from other industries. And so on, throughout all the trades, -professions, factories and industries. - -If the average day's work is now ten hours, and all those who want to -work are now employed, and only one-half of the industries are now -organized into Trusts, what would be the result if all the other -industries were organized into Trusts? First, there would not be so much -work to do, owing to the great saving and economy of combination as -before explained; and second, several hundred thousand workers who are -now employed would be thrown out of employment. Here we arrive at an -apparent obstacle. One of two things must be done; either the great -unemployed must leave the country, or be supported in idleness, or die -of starvation, or, _the hours of work must be reduced_! If 20,000,000 -can do the required work, working ten hours a day, with half the -industries unorganized, and if organization (Trusts) would throw say -5,000,000 out of employment, then we must _reduce the hours of daily -work_ so as to give the 5,000,000 employment! - -If the hours were reduced to say six, the remaining 15,000,000 could not -do all the work in that time, and the 5,000,000 unemployed must be -called in to help. A demand for the labor of the 5,000,000 would at once -be created. Everybody would then be employed. Every industry would be -organized. Useless work and wasted energy would be eliminated. Everybody -would have shorter hours of work. The uneducated would have more time to -study and develop. The arts would then be generously patronized. Paupers -would disappear. Wealth would multiply. Ignorance and drunkenness would -have received their death-blow, because their father--Poverty--would -have been destroyed. But hold,--other difficulties present themselves: -Who would compel the organized industries (Trusts) to reduce the hours -of work? What would prevent them charging exorbitant prices? Who or what -would prevent the captains of industry filling their own pockets and -keeping the great profits to themselves? Who or what would prevent the -rich from growing richer, and the poor poorer? - - -SYNOPSIS. - -The informed reader might well have passed over the preceding pages, for -they are purely rudimentary; but if he has been kind and patient enough -to follow me thus far, so much the better, for he has refreshed his -memory and will be more ready to grasp that which is to follow. - -Before proceeding let me recite in synopsis these important truths which -I have already illustrated: - - - 1. ECONOMY.--We desire to get the greatest good from mother earth - with the least possible labor. - - 2. WASTE.--The destruction of } - every useful atom. } - } - Every useless stroke of work. } Is a loss to all the world - } - For 100 men to do what } - 10 men could do. } - - 3. EMPLOYMENT.--We should not aim simply to give men employment. We - must aim to make them useful--not merely laborious. To dig holes - and then fill them up is employment, but it is not useful. So is - all that work useless and wasteful which fewer men could do better - or quicker under the Trust or Combination system. - - -PART II. - -A SUMMARY AND EXPOSITION OF THE PRECEDING PAGES. - -Having familiarized ourselves with the elementary truths concerning the -Trust principle, we have now arrived at that point where we may begin to -shape an intelligent argument, but before so doing, let us summarize. -Perhaps we may now be able briefly to set forth the more important -features of the Trust or Combination. - - -GOOD QUALITIES OF THE TRUST. - - 1. It eliminates useless labor and energy. - - 2. It allays waste. - - 3. It economizes and reduces to the minimum the cost of production. - - 4. It reduces the world's work. - - 5. It tends to lessen the hours of labor. - - 6. It makes it possible to raise wages. - - 7. It makes it possible to lower the prices of commodities, and - thus reduce the cost of living. - - 8. It operates in harmony with the law of natural selection. - - 9. It destroys wasteful competition, and economizes by eliminating - the useless and the unfit. - - 10. It includes all of the advantages of co-operation without - altogether destroying the advantages arising out of the natural - instincts of rivalry, contest and emulation. - - -EVIL QUALITIES OF THE TRUST. - - 1. It throws large numbers out of employment. - - 2. It destroys many small dealers, jobbers and middlemen. - - 3. It tends to create monopoly in private hands. - - 4. It creates power in private hands arbitrarily to fix exorbitant - prices, to lower wages and to control the market. - - 5. It tends to create great wealth for the few at the expense of - the many, widens the chasm between the rich and the poor, and - causes concentration of wealth. - - -BALANCING ACCOUNTS. - -We have, then, in the Trust, an immense commercial giant which is both -good and bad at the same time. If one had a fine thoroughbred horse -which balked, or shied, or kicked, should we destroy it because of these -evil qualities, forgetting that it also has an equal percentage of good -qualities? Or, should we try to cure it of its faults by training it to -do our bidding? We do not condemn and destroy a great machine because it -has a defective part, but we rather seek to remedy the defect. - -The Trust is doing a wonderful work for the world. Like improved -machinery, it is lightening and lessening the toil of the human family, -and at the same time it is working a great injury. Labor-saving -machinery is also working injury, in that it is making large numbers of -men idle, but this is not sufficient reason to destroy it. Machinery and -Trusts are brothers. To be consistent, if we destroy the one we must -destroy the other. Before contemplating destruction of the Trust, let us -see if we cannot find some way to train and to harness it, like the -horse, so that it will be useful and beneficial. Let us try to devise a -method whereby the good qualities of the Trust can be preserved and the -evil qualities eliminated. - - -PART III. - -FALLACY OF THE GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP IDEA. - -The doctrine of socialism, which may be defined as government ownership -and operation of the means of production, is attractive. Some of our -ablest men are numbered among its exponents, and the political parties -which advocate socialism, in whole or in part, are growing rapidly. - -The theory of socialism is so beautiful and may be so cleverly stated -that very few indeed have the acumen to withstand its assaults upon the -reason, particularly when only one side of the question is heard. The -great mass of our people have refused to accept it, not because they -believe it unsound, but because they either do not understand it or are -prejudiced and believe it to be some destructive, lawless scheme of the -discontented. - -The recent coal and railroad strikes, had they long continued and -assumed really alarming proportions, would have furnished an almost -unanswerable argument in favor of the government ownership idea; and a -repetition in these or in some other important industry would perhaps -so drive home the conviction that socialism was the only remedy, that -for all we could do the elections would be carried by the party -advocating those measures, and our present form of government -overthrown. - -The superficial thinker, upon reading the foregoing pages, will probably -arrive at one or two conclusions as to the Trust; either it must be -destroyed or it must be taken over by the government. The more -thoughtful will conclude that it would not be wise or expedient, even if -possible, to destroy the Trust, and his next thought will be in the -direction of public ownership. He will say that if the government can -operate the Post Office system so successfully it ought to be able to -operate the coal mines, the oil fields, the factories and the railroads, -just as the cities operate their water works, police department, and in -many cases their railroads and gas plants. If he be not too thorough in -his reasoning he will conclude that if the government operated the -Trusts, all their evil qualities would be eliminated and their good -qualities saved. It is a convenient conclusion, yet it is unsound as I -shall presently proceed briefly to show. - - -COMPETITION. - -Some writer has said, "Competition gluts our markets, enables the rich -to take advantage of the necessities of the poor, makes each man snatch -the bread out of his neighbor's mouth, converts a nation of brethren -into a mass of hostile, isolated units, and finally involves capital and -labor in one common ruin." - -Successful competition denies competition, because the successful -competitor must destroy his rival, before he can be successful. -Competition is the antithesis of co-operation. The one means isolated -units, the other an organized combination of units. The Trust method of -co-operation, however, while it destroys competition among industries, -_does not destroy competition among men_. Here lies an important -distinction which will develop as we proceed. - - -INSTINCTS. - -Contest and rivalry are inherent instincts in all living things,--in -vegetable and animal life alike, and this struggle for existence -determines which shall survive. The law of survival of the fittest -determines which plant, which animal and which man shall succeed. All -these are struggling among themselves for supremacy and nature is the -supreme arbitrator of the contest. The law of natural selection cannot -be overcome. It is as fixed and immutable as the law of gravitation. -Men are not born equal. Nature never duplicates, and never creates two -things alike. Men are unequal and different in nature, in stature, -intellect, frugality, desire, industry, perseverance, hardiness and -strength. A wise Creator hath made it so. - -Were all men alike they would all want the same thing--to do the same -thing, to create the same thing, and to consume the same thing--which -would result in chaotic confusion. Again, the inequality of conditions -has been one of Nature's greatest and most useful expedients in -developing and perfecting the race. To assume an equality among men is -to assume that which is impossible and that which would be unwise. It -has ever been the struggle for existence which has urged men to move -onward with vigorous, earnest and persistent effort. The desire to -surpass, to outshine, his fellows has always been and will ever be a -potent factor in his development, and when this rivalry is exerted in -the struggle for the means of sustenance then does this desire develop -into the power that moves the world. Emulation, that milder form of -competition, is that which may be said to have for its object of -attainment the applause and approval of our fellows. It has no influence -in the struggle for bread. The primary desire to sustain life and -perpetuate the species is the inherent instinct that gives power to the -secondary desire to excel or emulate a rival, and hence bread is the one -great objective point. Take away the necessity to struggle for food, -clothing and shelter, and you destroy that dynamic power that moves the -world. - - -PUBLIC OWNERSHIP. - -If contest and rivalry are inherent instincts, and if the struggle for -existence brings out men's best efforts, then, any system which destroys -the opportunity for the free exercise of these instincts in such a -struggle is at cross purposes with the basic principles of human nature, -and is therefore unsound and unscientific. - -Socialism presupposes the government's taking over and operating of -every farm, factory, railroad, mine, telegraph, trade and industry. The -Goulds, the Rockefellers, the Morgans and the Schwabs must then seek -government positions with a fixed wage not to exceed the wages of their -inferior officers and workmen. If they were then to exercise their -marvellous organizing powers, it would no longer be the fear of poverty -which now inspires them. They would know that they could no longer -aspire to excel their fellows in wealth and social position, and there -would no longer be a struggle for existence. - -Existence would be for everybody alike who is willing to labor a few -hours a day. Food, clothes and shelter would be in abundance for the -rich and poor, regardless of one's abilities or attainments. The one -great incentive that has always moved men to labor with energy, -enthusiasm and persistence will have vanished. The world would soon go -to sleep. - - -OBJECTIONS TO SOCIALISM. - -1. It would create an enormous and dangerous power for the party in -control, and would probably perpetuate its control over every industry -in the land. - -2. It would destroy the instincts of rivalry, contest and competition -for the necessaries of life, and that desire to excel and surpass our -fellows, which instincts now move the world. - -3. It removes the incentives to progress by eliminating the -opportunities to acquire individual affluence and social superiority. - -4. It would result in stagnation of business. - -5. It would cause deterioration in human character because of the -removal of the incentive which makes men strive to better themselves -mentally, morally and intellectually. - -6. It is unscientific in that it does not comprehend the great -inequality of men and the necessity for the inequality of conditions. - -7. It does not rest upon the fundamental law of natural selection, -because it diverts men from their natural callings, since it is the -struggle for existence only that determines which is fit to survive, and -which is best fitted for certain work. - -8. It is impossible of attainment except by confiscation without just -compensation to the owners of the enterprises confiscated, and to this, -modern civilization would never consent. - -9. It would create an industrial machine so colossal, so complicated and -so complex that it would be entirely unmanageable. - -10. It would result in chaos and confusion because of the assumed -equality of very great inequalities. - - -ARGUMENTS FOR SOCIALISM. - -There is much in socialism that is good and true. In fact, it may be -that it is nine-tenths true; but the other one-tenth is fatal--it -outweighs the other nine-tenths. - -I have heretofore in my public life, and could now, set forth many -convincing arguments in favor of the government ownership idea. If I did -so now it would necessitate answering them by repeating and enlarging -upon that which I have just set forth, which is not the purpose of this -essay. In my opinion there has been no argument for socialism yet -produced that can overcome the force of the foregoing truths. - -As times and conditions change, so do opinions, and thus has it been -with the writer. Change is the only thing that is constant--strange -paradox--and mutability is the one immutable law of the universe. - - -PART IV. - -CAUSES OF MONOPOLY. - -Most people agree that the Trust is the result of an evolutionary -development. If this be true, it is quite certain that the movement will -continue and that the Trusts will multiply in number and in size, and -thus even greater injury will be wrought than is now complained of, and -the problem will become the more complex and the more pressing for -solution. If the Trust is the result of a natural movement it is idle to -talk of such manifestly inadequate suggestions as tariff revision, -government ownership, the single tax, and publicity as Trust destroyers; -for, if it is natural, the Trusts will grow and thrive in spite of -these. But, should we listen for a moment to those who seek to -exterminate the Trust? - - -OBJECTIONS TO DESTROYING THE TRUST. - -1. It performs the same function in civilization as improved -machinery--lightening and lessening the toil of the human family. - -2. It organized the industries, eliminates useless labor, allays waste -and economizes in the use of nature's materials. - -3. It makes less labor necessary, and therefore tends to reduce the -hours of work. - -4. It makes enormously greater profits, comparatively, than individual -enterprises, and therefore makes higher wages possible. - -5. It reduces the cost of production to the minimum and therefore makes -possible the lowest prices. - -6. It is impossible to destroy the Trust without legislating against the -co-operative and partnership principle, and this would be futile as well -as demoralizing. - - -THE GREAT QUESTION. - -If then we are not to destroy the Trust, and if we are not to adopt the -government ownership idea, and if the Trust cannot safely be let alone -because of the injuries it is now working, and because of the still -greater injuries which it threatens to inflict upon society in the -future, what shall be done with it? What can be done with this -unmanageable monster to destroy its faults and yet not spoil its -virtues? How can we conquer the giant without slaying him? - - -LOCALIZATION. - -One more phase of the question requires consideration before proceeding -with conclusions. In Gloversville, N. Y., and near vicinity, about -three-quarters of the inhabitants are engaged in the glove industry, and -in Troy, N. Y., the same conditions obtain as to collars and cuffs. All -over the country, we find the inhabitants of certain localities devoted -almost exclusively to one industry, such as pork-packing, manufacturing, -fishing, and mining, and even in our cities we find certain sections -devoted exclusively to banking, shipping, shopping, dry-goods, -manufacture, and commission brokerage. The people of a certain town, -having for generations devoted themselves exclusively to the manufacture -of say, bricks, have become proficient and expert in that industry. They -have invented or obtained control of the best machinery, they have -trained their children from infancy to become proficient in the -industry, and they have ever been alert to seize upon the best and -newest ideas that always come to those who devote their lives and -fortunes to the perfection of any one thing. Besides, natural advantages -such as water power, accessibility to navigable streams, climatic or -geological conditions, and geographical situation often attract and -confine the people of a locality to one industry. Racial limitations and -advantages also determine to some extent what calling a man shall -follow. The thick-skulled negro would not be a success in the icy -regions of Alaska, and the oily Esquimo would be a failure in the cotton -fields of the South. Again, nature has adapted certain regions to the -growing of cotton, or tobacco, or fruits, and in others it has deposited -vast quantities of coal, or iron, or oil. - -These, in brief, are some of the facts which render irresistible the -conclusion that localization of industries and specialization of men is -the natural and inevitable condition of the future. - -Now, if every locality shall in the future have its specialty and other -localities will not compete with it, as we have shown they often cannot, -then locality monopolizes that specialty. - -Thus the people of Gloversville will probably obtain a monopoly of the -glove industry, likewise the people of Troy of the collar and cuff -industry, the people of Wilkes-Barre of the coal industry, and the -people of Omaha, Kansas City or Chicago, of the meat-packing industry, -and the people of Haverstraw of the brick industry--not only because of -their training and experience, but because of natural adaptation, or of -geological or geographical advantages. - -Here, then, are natural monopolies at many points, and we may as well -legislate to stop the tides from rising and falling as to resist this -natural economic movement. While not necessarily a Trust, it partakes of -the nature of the Trust in effect, and it may properly be classed with -the Trust for all present purposes. - -Thus, monopoly results from two known causes: the operation of the laws -of co-operation, and the operation of the laws of localization and -specialization. - - -INTERDEPENDENCE OF MEN - -Since one can no longer make his own shoes alone and must summon the aid -of thousands of his fellows in this simple industry, so must he have the -assistance of many more thousands of his fellows to supply him with the -numerous other articles needed for his comfort. In exchange for their -aid he gives his own labor in his chosen calling, and thus does he and -every other man become a necessary unit in the vast universal -organization. All men and all industries are interdependent. Without -the steel industry, the shoe industry fails for want of nails, eyelets -and machines. Without the paper industry the steel industry fails for -want of paper, car-wheels, books, stationery, the mails and the -telegraph. Without the silk and cotton industries the glove industry -cannot thrive, and so on throughout the entire list. - - -SOME PARTY HISTORY IN PASSING. - -Thomas Jefferson, the father of the present Democratic party, was an -individualist. He was opposed to the expenditure of public money in -repairing highways, to building state canals and to establishing even a -national university. He was strongly opposed to the government ownership -principle, and maintained that that government is best which governs -least. The keynote of his philosophy was "free individual enterprise." - -Alexander Hamilton represented the opposite school of political -philosophy. He was for concentration, and centralization of power. At -the root of the Hamiltonian theory is the belief that the people are not -competent to govern themselves,--hence the idea of ruling from above. At -the root of the Jeffersonian theory is the home rule principle and -absolute confidence in the wisdom of the people. The Republican party -today is somewhat consistent with the Hamiltonian philosophy, while the -Democratic party is consistent with no one theory, and is composed of an -heterogeneous collection of philosophers (?) from divers schools; but, -assuming that the Democratic party is mainly Jeffersonian, it should be -the last party seriously to suggest the government ownership idea. Yet, -if we are to follow Jefferson's "Free individual enterprise" philosophy, -we cannot consistently destroy the Trust, for that would be interfering -with free individual enterprise. The word "free" was used by Jefferson -in the sense of freedom from governmental interference. However, there -are those who claim that the Trust destroys free individual enterprise -because of special governmental favors, such as tariffs, patent and -copyright laws and legislative discrimination, which contention is more -or less well founded, and these persons therefore wish the government to -refuse these favors, claiming that then the Trust cannot exist, and that -then there will be free individual enterprise. But this appears to be an -erroneous conclusion, in view of the enormous advantages and economies -of co-operation, and by no manner of logical reasoning is it possible -to construct a permanent remedy from such proposed action. - -Briefly, there is nothing to be found in the traditions and philosophy -of either the Democratic or the Republican party, nor the various -socialist parties, to meet the situation. - -Whether we approve of the collectivist school of philosophy, of which -Karl Marx was the illustrious head, or of the individualistic school, of -which Proudhon was perhaps the ablest exponent, whether we are followers -of Hamilton or Jefferson, we find we must seek out a new ground or a -middle ground somewhere, for the old theories will not meet the -situation and solve the problem. - -There is some truth and virtue in everything that is false and evil, -just as there is some evil in everything that is good. We must discover -and appropriate the virtues of Jefferson and Proudhon, Hamilton and -Marx, and carefully discard their faults. - - -PART VI. - -A PARABLE. - -A family was once shipwrecked upon a large island. There were five -members of the family all able to work, and by a proper division of -their labor they managed to provide themselves with food, clothes, and -shelter. After a time another family was shipwrecked upon the same -island. The second family followed the example of the first, and each -prospered independently of the other. During the next year a third and -fourth family were also stranded upon the same island, for it was -unmarked on the charts and many a ship had met its fate upon its rocky -shores. As each family developed and multiplied, each having selected a -different part of the island, four little villages, some distance apart, -sprang up. During the daily hunts several other similar villages were -discovered in the interior, each representing a shipwrecked family of -previous years. As time wore on, and each village grew, and other -shiploads of people from all nations were deposited upon the island, it -came to pass that the island became quite densely inhabited, and the -villages almost touched one another at their outskirts. - -One day a philosopher mysteriously made his appearance; and after -touring the island, he asked all of the inhabitants to meet him in an -open field. When the appointed day came, the entire adult population was -there, and the philosopher spoke as follows: - -"You have a fine country here, and fine people. You are industrious and -simple. Each little village is independent of the other villages, for -each can provide itself with everything its people actually need. You -never ask favors from your neighboring villages. Each village has its -own corn field, its own carpenters, woods, cows, sheep, horses and -stores. But I find that you have no music, no books, no art, no places -of amusement and very little ingenuity. You all work from morn till -night and you have no time for these things. It is a constant, ceaseless -struggle for all of you to keep body and soul together. Each of you men -and women is an isolated unit. Each village is an isolated unit. You are -all isolated from the great commercial countries far beyond the seas. -Now, in travelling through your island, I found that one village had a -coal mine and all the people there used coal for fuel, while all the -other villages have to hew great trees, chop them up, and burn wood, in -order to get heat. In one village I found oil wells and the people there -burn oil, while all the other villages have to use bullrush torches. In -one village I found the soil of clay, so that the people made their -houses of bricks, while the other villages have to use blocks of wood, -or logs. In another village I found iron ore and their people have sharp -tools, while other villages have to use sharpened stones. And so on, -for I found each village has some peculiar and natural advantage over -the other. Now, my friends, why do you keep these God-given advantages -to yourselves? You villagers who have coal know that there is enough for -all the island, and so with you who have the iron, bricks, or cotton, or -fruits, or silks, or furs. Why don't you exchange what you make or raise -for the products of your neighbors? The whole island must have so many -hats, so many shoes, and so many houses, and if you divide your labors -and freely exchange your products with one another, you will find that -you will all have more comforts, and you won't have so long to work each -day. And when you have more leisure, you will begin to invent, and plan, -and enjoy yourselves, and write books, and visit one another to exchange -ideas. The gross amount that all you people produce each year is really -very, very small. If you should co-operate, you could create many times -as many commodities as you now produce." - -The philosopher disappeared. The people talked about it for weeks -thereafter, and they finally began to adopt his plan. They built -railroads, and they freely exchanged products with one another. Money -then came into use. With money one could do almost anything. It -represented bread and butter. Every man tried to get all he could,--not -only to provide against future wants, but that he might outshine his -neighbors. There was gradually a great division of labor on the island, -and a great saving in work. The people no longer worked fifteen hours a -day. They did not have to. Men who had strong arms moved to the village -where they were doing something which required strength. Men who had -thick skulls moved to the cotton fields to work under a hot sun. Men who -had sharp eyes moved to the manufacturing village. Men with -executiveness became foremen, and superintendents, and presidents. And -so every village gradually became adjusted to the changed plans. Every -man sought that village or field best adapted to his physique or -abilities. Every man and every village finally became a specialist. In -the coal village they did nothing else but mine and transport coal. In -the oil village they only produced and shipped oil. In one village they -had several swift streams running through to the coast, and this village -was in the middle of the isle and not far from the iron and cotton -villages. It became the manufacturing village. This village was divided -into many different districts, and was very large. In one section, the -Manchester-like climate and misty atmosphere, and nearness to the -cotton fields, made it a natural cotton manufacturing center. Another -section was adapted for making steel and iron goods. And so on. - -As time wore on, every industry on the island, localized, and every man -became specialized. Inventions and machinery multiplied. But every new -labor-saving machine saved labor, of course, and produced better goods -than hand labor. So every new machine took a job away from several -workmen. There was much complaint about this but new inventions kept -coming. There were now twenty different hat factories in the -manufacturing village, each trying to undersell the other. One day they -combined and built a large addition on the largest factory building. -Then they moved most of the other hat factory machinery in, and -destroyed the old buildings and the machinery they did not want. They -also discharged nineteen engineers, nineteen foremen, fifty bookkeepers, -two hundred drivers and packers and many other men, because they no -longer needed them. These poor discharged workmen did not know what to -do, for they had spent their lives at that business and knew no other. -First, there was a great hue and cry raised by all the little villages, -for they all felt sorry for the poor discharged workmen. - -But soon, this big partnership concern began to sell the same hats for -far less than formerly, and they told the people that they could afford -to because they did not have so many men to pay, so much rent, so much -advertising, and were running things more economically. Other big -partnerships were formed all over the island, and after a while, so -great was the economy of combination that many men could not get any -work to do. Every big partnership soon took in all the little concerns -on the island, or else it drove them out of business by competition. - -Some men became discouraged and began to drink rum, and others even -began to cheat and steal. - -One day, some of the big partnerships had a banquet, and they talked -things over and they said: "We're making money and getting rich, but we -could do it faster if we did not have to pay so much wages. Let us raise -prices and cut wages down." This they did, and finally the workingmen -got together into a partnership of their own. They organized, and they -all said they must have just so much wages or they would not work at -all. This forced the big partnership people to pay better wages for a -while, but the two partnerships, employer and employee, were always -quarrelling. One day a very serious thing happened in the coal village. -The workmen refused to work because they thought they were not getting -enough wages. They stopped mining coal, and, while they were idle, all -other workmen on the island sent them money and provisions out of -sympathy. It was dead winter and people began to suffer and some of the -factories had to shut down. Even the railroads could not run their -engines. But the people made such an uproar that the coal owners finally -surrendered a little, reluctantly, and again the mines were operated. - -Not long after this, a similar disturbance took place in the cotton -fields, and for a long while the whole island suffered for want of the -hundreds of things which cotton goes to make, even to shoe strings and -lampwicks. - -For several years these outbreaks in the different villages were very -frequent. First it was a cry of, "no oil;" then, "no milk;" then, "no -iron;" then "no meat." Finally, as a last straw on the back of the -already exhausted camel, all the railroads formed a partnership, and -they too became tied up, and ceased operation. Without them, the people -could scarcely get anything to eat, or drink, or wear, or burn, and -famine threatened the island; because, every village had become devoted -to only one thing, and it could not do or produce anything else. Each -had learned to depend upon the other villages for every other article. -Then there was a great public uprising. Meetings were held everywhere. -Many people said that the trouble was because people formed -partnerships. Others answered by saying that that was not the cause, for -even if there were no partnerships, still one village would continue to -have all the coal, another all the oil, and another all the cotton, on -the island. There were no tariffs, no land monopoly, no special -privileges, no government favoritism, no railroad discrimination, and no -taxes, so those whose fathers had heard of such things in other -countries could not advance such arguments. Nature had given certain -villages a natural monopoly of certain industries. Nature had also given -certain men a natural monopoly over certain trades and pursuits by -making them apt and proficient therein. Therefore, Nature was the -criminal, and she alone was to be blamed. But what were the forlorn -islanders to do about it? - -One fine day, when everything was in a turmoil of discontent and -perplexity, the philosopher again made his appearance upon the island. -Many thought him a Divine being sent from heaven to succor and advise -them; and so, when he had called them all together, he addressed them -thus: - -"My friends, you have advanced and progressed and developed wondrously -in one direction, but you have made a fatal mistake. You have -specialized and localized your industries, and have affected an -efficient system of division of labor, but, you forget that this means -monopoly in private hands. You have overlooked the fact that now, every -man is dependent upon every other man, and every industry is dependent -upon every other industry. Again, when one hundred concerns combine into -a partnership, or Trust, as we call it, and throw thousands out of -employment, or when a new machine does so, you now have no way of -providing for these unemployed thousands, and you cast them out upon the -world to shift for themselves." - -"O, Sir," cried one of the islanders, "why can we not return to the old -way and not have all these modern ideas? We were getting along all right -before we began to exchange commodities with each other. Why can we not -go back to the old way?" - -"Ah, too late, my friend, even if you all wished it," the old -philosopher said. - -"But, surely, you do not wish it," he added. "Do you remember when you -worked from early morn till late at night and then had no stoves, no -lamps, no blankets, no carpets, no crockery, no cooking utensils, no -gas, no chairs, no wagons? Do you wish to return to that? Do you wish to -isolate yourself from your fellow men and separately make and raise -everything you eat and wear?" - -Everybody saw the logic of this simple philosophy, and he was beseeched -to show them what to do. - -"What you must do, my friends, is to organize. Organization is all you -require. You have as yet only organized into simple isolated groups. You -must now organize all these groups. Every industry, every partnership, -is a group. Each group is dependent upon all the others. This being -true, you must form a whole. Let every man stick to his special work, -let every locality remain in its special work, let every industry and -every partnership stick to its special work,--don't disturb nature--_but -all these must stick to each other_! How? By forming yourselves into one -solid, compact, organized body. Call yourselves a nation. Have a -convention at stated times, and let every industry, every labor -organization, and every locality send representatives and delegates to -this convention. It is foolish of you to let the coal villages send -coal wherever, whenever, and in such quantities, as they wish. And so -with every other industry. The law of demand is not always sufficient, -as a guide to what is needed. All are demanding more coal now, yet the -coal village is sending it out, here and there, without organized plan, -system or method. The national convention should determine these -questions, and all other national questions that do not adjust -themselves naturally. When they do not adjust themselves naturally -complaint should be and will be made to the national convention, and -then the convention shall have power to settle the question in dispute. -If one industry fails to do its duty and supply the others with its -specialty, be it coal, oil, cotton, bricks or gloves, it is ground for -complaint, and it then becomes a question for the national convention. -If a partnership or industry fails to pay its employees suitable wages, -and those employees refuse to work, it becomes a national question, and -the national convention must direct that that industry must give to the -workmen a greater share or proportion of the profits of that industry. -Whether it shall be a raise in wages, or compulsory profit-sharing, is a -question for the national convention to settle. Again when men cannot -work, and they become a burden upon society, it becomes a national -question, because their non-employment is caused by the organization of -the industries, and it becomes the nation's duty to give these men an -opportunity to earn a living. This it can do by lessening the hours of -work in the industries. If all the workmen are required to work fewer -hours each day, more men will be required to work, and thus employment -can be given to all. Every national question can therefore safely be -entrusted to the national convention; and, so long as that convention -has power to act, you will have no trouble. - -I believe, however, that so long as the national convention is known to -be in existence, and that it has such power of direction, there will be -little for it to do. Because, the great partnerships and industries and -labor organizations, knowing of such a supreme judicial power, will -usually so adjust their differences, and in a natural and peaceful way, -that but few questions will come before the national convention. It is -therefore the knowledge of the existence and power of such body that -will urge all men to act honorably with one another. It is the fear of -it which will be the potent factor, and not the thing itself." - -After a few more remarks of explanation, the old philosopher disappeared -as mysteriously as he had come. After deliberating upon his wise -suggestion for a while, the islanders finally adopted his plan, and -forever thereafter the island never had occasion to seek his counsel. - - -PART VII. - -CONCLUSIONS. - -Let us assume that in the preceding pages we have proved the following -propositions: - -1. That the Trust cannot and must not be destroyed. - -2. That the government could not and should not own and operate the -Trusts. - -3. That the Trust, if not interfered with, will work great injury to -society and that therefore some stringent action must be taken. - -4. That such action must be such as will not destroy the many virtues of -the Trust. - - -INTERDEPENDENCE. - -Let us assume that we have also proven the following propositions: - -1. That every man is dependent upon his fellows for all the necessaries -and comforts of life. - -2. That every industry is dependent upon other industries. - -3. That the natural, proper and inevitable tendency is toward -specialization and localization. - -4. That, as men specialize, and industries localize, a natural monopoly -results. - -5. That each man and each industry becomes an integral part of an -immense industrial machine. - -6. That harmonious action of this machine must exist, for the reason -that if a single wheel is misplaced here, or an engineer refuses to -respond there, the action of the entire machine is impaired. - -In the face of these two groups of premises but one conclusion can be -drawn, and that conclusion may be expressed in a single -word--ORGANIZATION! Men, localities and industries being interdependent, -society must organize for the general welfare. A league or association -must be formed, in which every man, every locality and every industry is -represented. Like all other societies, this association must have a -common head or center. It need not be altruistic (as against egoistic), -because the welfare of one must be the concern of all, if for no other -than purely selfish motives. The whole must see that every part properly -performs its work. A man can no longer be an isolated unit, for he is -now an integral and necessary part of society. He not only owes duties -to himself, he owes duties to society. He must recognize the mutuality -of all true human interests. - - -GOVERNMENT. - -Can such an association or society be organized? Can so immense a -collection of bodies meet and combine with unanimity? Fortunately, we -need not speculate on the correct answer to these questions. We have an -illustrious example at hand. Society has already organized. The -organization is improperly called government. Government is simply -organized society. We elect a President as a public servant, not as a -governor. He does not, or should not, reign over us, but serve us, and -do our bidding. This is not a monarchy, but a democracy. - -And so the great machine is already organized. Unfortunately we are not -in the habit of looking at _government as a huge industrial machine_, -and our law makers are too prone to assume arbitrary and tyrannical -power, regardless of the theory of democracy upon which all our -institutions rest. Furthermore, our lawmakers are mostly lawyers, rather -than industrialites. - - -NATIONAL DIRECTION. - -Either organized society (government) is supposed to protect its members -(citizens), or it is not. If it is, then it is its duty to see that the -necessaries of life are not monopolized and placed beyond the reach of -its people. If it is not, then the organization is a failure, for -without the means of sustenance a nation cannot exist. If, then, we may -be permitted to view government as an organization of society having for -its aim the welfare and protection of its members, why shall not that -society have power to DIRECT the industrial machine? If all men and -industries in the nation are interdependent, why shall there not be a -NATIONAL DIRECTION, so that every industry shall be made to do its duty -toward society? If people must have coal, or oil, or meat, or -transportation, or gloves, and one set of men or one locality has a -monopoly thereof, why shall not the nation DIRECT that those men or -those localities shall do right by all other men and by all other -localities? That they will not always do so in the absence of national -direction is evidenced by the recent strike. The labor unions of the -country are probably able and willing to support the strikers for years -when a vital principle is involved, and so thoroughly is labor -organizing that serious conditions are likely to obtain in that most -important of all industries, transportation, to which industry all -others are so closely related and on which they are so helplessly -dependent. - - -FIXING PRICES. - -If government is to "promote the general welfare" by assuming the -obligation of keeping the necessaries of life within the reach of its -people, it must of necessity prohibit the fixing of prices of those -necessaries beyond the purchasing power of the people. Thus, if the coal -operators having a monopoly of coal choose to make the price of that -necessary $50 a ton, the national board of arbitrators (be it Congress -or some other body), must fix a reasonable price and if the employees of -any industry have a grievance, they cannot be allowed to strike and stop -work--their grievances must be arbitrated by the National Board. -Probably such a course would never become necessary, when the industrial -organization is perfected and the readjustment accomplished, but the -power of national direction must be ever present, _if for no other -purpose than to act as a warning_. - - -FIXING HOURS OF WORK. - -What is true of prices is equally true of the hours of work. Government -will not owe every man a living, but it will owe every man an -opportunity to earn a living. As the principle of co-operation develops -and is utilized, so great would be the economy that many would naturally -be thrown out of employment. Thus, rather than create a public -poorhouse, or "idle house," the hours of daily work must be reduced to -include all who are able and willing to labor. - -If the tobacco manufacturers by combining and organizing the Shoe Trust -have thrust say 50,000 travelling salesmen and jobbers out of -employment, it should not complain if they are _nationally directed_ to -contribute toward their support in the same or in some other more useful -and productive industry by being directed to reduce the hours of work of -all men who are employed by it, thus making room for all who desire to -labor. Co-operation and combination carry their responsibilities, and -the co-operators must be presumed to intend the natural consequences of -their acts. Hence, the nation is justified in directing a reduction in -the hours of work whenever occasion requires. - -And this is not so radical as at first appears. Many of our State -Legislatures have heretofore passed laws fixing the price of gas, -telephone service and railroad rates, and they have even fixed the hours -of daily work in certain industries. Again, witness the volumes of law -in regard to buildings, sweat shops, hotels, mines and railroads, -designed and passed for "public safety" and protection, and for "the -general welfare." - -Again, witness what was done by all governments during the Great War! - - -LABOR'S SHARE. - -Those who claim that "labor creates all wealth" must concede that the -foreman, the superintendent, the president and the manager is just as -much a laborer as the man who wields a hammer or drives a truck. That -the latter do not often get a fair share of the product or of "what he -produces" is, of course, true, for "rent, interest and profit" eat up -much of the proceeds of his toil. Without delving needlessly into the -profound question of the relations between capital and labor, be it said -that labor can, by a system of _national direction_ such as is here -suggested, obtain a fair and just reward for its toil through _a system -of compulsory profit-sharing_. There are already many cases in America -of voluntary profit-sharing with employes, and employers have found that -their men work better, quicker and more faithfully when given an -interest in the business. This is not urged as a necessary part of the -national direction idea, but as a most desirable part, and I am of -opinion that in compulsory profit-sharing with employes lies the real -solution and adjustment of the differences between capital and labor. - - -COMPULSION. - -The word "compel" is a harsh word. It strikes at personal liberty and -individual freedom and attacks that spirit of independence which makes -men brave, honest and noble. - -The theory of democracy assumes that every man has an inherent and -absolute right to freedom and liberty in so far as in exercising that -right he does not impair the rights of his fellows. He is the sole judge -of what he wants and of what is best for him, but in satisfying those -wants he must not interfere with the rights of others. - -Law and government are designed to protect those rights, and in so doing -the right of compulsion is implied. All our institutions, courts, laws -and legislative departments rest upon the power of compulsion, and -without that power our form of government becomes ineffective. We compel -a man to keep his contract by applying to the court for an injunction; -we compel the vicious to obey certain laws or we imprison him; we compel -railroads to charge not more than a certain fare; we compel house -owners to clear their sidewalks of snow; we compel men to pay other men -what they owe, and if they do not, we compel the sheriff to take away -his property; we compel importers to pay a tariff; we compel husbands to -support their families, and we compel all to help support the government -by taxation. - -The more civilization advances, the more society finds it necessary to -organize; and the more organized society is, the more compulsion is -necessary, until men become more perfect. Every individual now owes -duties to the collectivity as well as to himself, and the power of -compulsion must be vested in the collectivity so that those duties may -be enforced. - -If we have arrived at that stage of progress when every man can be -depended upon to perform his whole duty by respecting the rights of -others, keeping his contracts and doing only those things which will -benefit society, and if the Trust can be depended upon to charge -reasonable prices, pay just wages and in all things respect the rights -of others, then the word compulsion may be stricken from the political -dictionary. If we have not, if men are still selfish, dishonest and -inconsiderate of the rights of other men, then the right to compel must -be a part of the political machinery. - - -TAXATION. - -The question may be asked, What power can compel the Trusts to do that -which they have been directed to do by the nation? For example, suppose -the coal mines remained idle,--what if the operators refused to obey the -national directory? It is not the purpose of this brief writing to draw -up a complete code, showing in detail how each and every man, industry -and question shall be handled, but simply to show that such a code can -be drawn and its regulations enforced. How do we now compel the electric -lighting companies to charge not more than a certain rate, the importers -to pay a tariff, the gas companies to supply us with gas at certain -prices, the law-breaker to pay his fine, and the corporations to pay -their taxes and penalties? These methods are well known, and they would -perhaps be adequate if adopted by the nation to compel its members to -keep its rules and regulations. If not, a certainly effective means of -inducement would be found in a tax on land values; for then, if a Trust -refused to obey, the land upon which it rests could be so taxed as to -render it unprofitable to hold it idle, and the Trust managers would -soon be compelled either to operate or sell the plant. The land monopoly -evil is serious and threatening, since all our land is owned by about -ten per cent. of our people, and, unfortunately, we are in the habit of -inviting men to buy vacant land and hold it idle while waiting for a -rise in values. The earth being the source of all wealth, those who -monopolize the land have a first lien upon all production. There appears -to be no immediately practicable remedy for this deplorable and -unnatural state of affairs, yet it is quite certain that whether or not -the contention of the Single Taxers is sound, national direction will be -a step in the right direction; for it will mean a more compact and more -perfect organization of society, and then we shall be able to see more -clearly just where the evils exist, just what is at fault, and just what -would remedy the defects in our present system. Besides, it would -permanently fix the taxing power in the national collectivity, and when -the various methods of taxation were being considered in the national -councils, the law of cause and effect could more easily be traced and -distinguished owing to the solidarity of society and the specific -information and complaint that would be forthcoming from the most -competent and well informed sources. - - -CONSTITUTIONS. - -Must the constitution be amended in order that NATIONAL DIRECTION shall -be put into effect? And, if so, would it take eight or ten years before -this could be done? And is that constitution of ours, which has carried -us so successfully through a century and a quarter, so sacred that it -should be kept, with religious fidelity, unchanged and unaltered? Recent -events seem to cry out No! - -As times and conditions change, so do men, opinions and laws, and so -should constitutions. It is superstitious bigotry to hold that our -revolutionary forefathers were infallible and that they could and did -foresee the conditions that are present in the opening years of the -second century after theirs. - -On November 15th, 1777, the thirteen original colonies were banded -together under what was called the "Articles of Confederation." Article -II thereof said in part: "Each State retains its sovereignty, freedom -and independence." Article III said: "The said States hereby severally -enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their mutual -and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other." In the -following articles they vested in the Congress full power to make such -rules and regulations as it deemed best for the general welfare of all -the people. - -Now, if all of the industries and labor organizations of the nation were -to meet and agree to do as did the thirteen States, each reserving the -right to send delegates to an empowered convention, then that convention -would have power to pass such laws as were necessary to carry out the -remedies hereinbefore suggested. - -If a constitution nearly a century and a half old, which has already -been amended seventeen times, stands in the way of advancement and the -general welfare, would any man say that the obstacle should not speedily -be removed from that constitution? - -The solution herein suggested does not necessarily require action by -Congress, and therefore an amendment to the constitution may not be -required. Nevertheless, a Congress could be empowered to act, and if it -were properly constituted and contained business men and representatives -from all industries and labor organizations, instead of lawyers and -politicians, it would answer the very purpose. Perhaps in time the -people will learn what kind of men to send to Congress. NATIONAL -DIRECTION would not necessarily require an immense industrial -department of government. NATIONAL DIRECTION is not national ownership. -It does not embrace the idea of absolute control. It does not place the -management of the Trusts in the hands of a department of government, or -of a Congress, for each industry should continue to manage its own -affairs, since it alone can be thoroughly conversant with the details of -its own plant. - -I have aimed to show: - - - 1. That the Trust has as many virtues as faults. - - 2. That it can be so treated as to retain its virtues and to - eliminate its faults. - - 3. That the Trust must not be destroyed. - - 4. That the government must not own and operate the Trust and - Industrial Combinations. - - 5. That NATIONAL DIRECTION is the only scientific and practical - solution. - - -The arguments herein are intended to show the advantages and -practicability of NATIONAL DIRECTION of our industries, and the -harmonious operation of those natural laws and forces which are -incessantly working out their destiny. The inherent instincts of man, -his nature, his desires, his ambitions, his weaknesses must all be -considered in forming conclusions. That which is right will finally -prevail. We may retard the onward march of civilization, but we cannot -permanently check it. Not only does reason and logic urge the acceptance -of the conclusions herein presented, as it appears to the writer, but -unmistakable evidences of a natural movement in the direction indicated -are now apparent. - -If the premises given are sound, NATIONAL DIRECTION is desirable. If the -conclusions are logical, NATIONAL DIRECTION is inevitable. - -FOOTNOTE: - -[1] This chapter, in fact all of part I, was written in 1903, and -published and copyrighted in 1906. Note what has taken place since then. - - - - -_The Public_ - - -Who or what are the public? You say, the people! What people? Dr. -Johnson defined the public as "A majority of society," but this is -rather indefinite. "The public! the public!" exclaims Chamfort, "how -many fools does it take to make the public?" Bancroft did not think the -public fools, for he says, "The public is wiser than the wisest critic." -If the public is the majority, who is to say that they are wise or -unwise, right or wrong, fools or philosophers? Who or what is to be the -court of last resort? Somebody has said that the majority is usually -wrong, but who is to decide whether the majority or that "somebody" is -wrong? Schiller had but little faith in the majority, for he wrote, -"Votes should be weighed, not counted; the voice of the majority is no -proof of justice:" and Bovee suggests that a better principle than this, -that "the majority shall rule," is this other, that justice shall rule. -And according to the code of Justinian, "Justice is the constant and -perpetual desire to render every man his due." But, as a matter of fact, -the majority seldom do rule, for while our public men and political -bosses may say "The public be damned," as was publicly said by at least -one man and echoed by at least a thousand, the public is pretty sure to -get anything but justice, so long as such men are in control of the -election machinery. The public have opinions, doubtless, but they have -not yet found a way of expressing them when they want to, and not often -do they get what they want. The public is a heterogeneous mass, without -organization and without any settled community of interest. Sometimes, -we call the public by the uncomplimentary name, the mob. Goethe thought -the public particularly sensitive, for he said that "The public wishes -itself to be managed like a woman; one must say nothing to it except -what it likes to hear." He also thought them ungrateful, for he said, -"He who serves the public is a poor animal; he worries himself to death, -and no one thanks him for it." Hazlitt was of like mind, and he -maintained that the public have neither shame nor gratitude. - -When we say of a man that he is popular with the masses, we mean with -the people; and it is interesting to speculate on how we form such an -opinion. How do we know that a man is popular with the people? Certainly -we have not asked all the people about it, and the few we have asked may -not be representative. Perhaps we form our opinion of the public's -opinion from one or more of these things: what the newspapers say, what -those persons say with whom we have talked, and from our knowledge of -the human heart generally. As for the last, we know that such virtues as -honesty, self-sacrifice, ability and courage are universally admired, -and that such vices as dishonesty, selfishness and cowardice are -universally condemned; so that if we know what impression certain acts -of a public official have made, we may come pretty near knowing whether -that man is or is not popular. As to the newspapers, they are usually -very close to the people, but they are sometimes closer to some other -influence. - -Certainly the public must not be put down as fools. They may be -ignorant, when it comes to determining some great question over which -the best minds of the world are in dispute; they may be illogical; they -may be unreasoning; they may be sentimental; they may be unstable in -judgment; but certainly they are not fools. Like children and animals, -the most ignorant of the public have their instincts and intuitions, -and while the sun of public opinion may fluctuate from cloud to cloud, -it generally sets true at last. Like the Athenians, and sheep, the -public are more easily driven in a flock than individually. Just as the -crowd will make way for the man who pushes boldly forward, so will the -public follow any good leader who knows enough about his business to -appreciate the value of such sentiments as patriotism, humanity, -unselfish devotion and human sympathy. While such a leader is in favor, -the public are more than willing to be led, like so many sheep, but the -most trivial incident will sometimes win their disfavor, and history -shows that the public are perfectly willing to crown a man one day and -to hang him the next. To gain the favor of the mob is not so difficult; -but to serve the public so that they and their posterity will in after -years honor his name, that is indeed difficult, and decidedly worth -while. - - - - -_Popularity_ - - "I court not the votes of the fickle mob." Horace. - - -Public favor is fickle fancy. It is as capricious, uncertain and -unreliable as the weather; and, while we may at times predict where it -will bestow its alleged blessings, we can never with certainty tell how -long it will remain there. Those who crave popularity should remember -that it begins by making a man its tool, and usually ends in making him -an object of contempt. A very trifling circumstance often creates -popularity, and a single circumstance just as trifling usually destroys -it. Was there ever a more popular man than Dewey after the Manila -victory? Yet the trifling circumstance of transferring his gift-house to -his new wife almost destroyed it. Hobson was equally popular after the -Merrimac episode, but he forfeited it by numerous kissing exhibitions. -Bird S. Coler was extremely popular while comptroller of New York and -lost the governorship by an inch, but his popularity was as quickly -forfeited as it was acquired. Louis XVI was extremely popular, but he -died at the guillotine a despised and hated monarch. Marie Antoinette -was equally popular, until she told the mob, who were crying for bread, -to eat cake. Napoleon was universally popular until he divorced -Josephine, and again popular at the cradle of the King of Rome. The -memory of Cromwell was infamous for more than a century, but now he is a -world hero. Robespierre was popular until he attempted to check the -effusion of bloodshed. - -Popularity knows no law and no precedent. It sometimes attaches to -tyrants, for were not Caligula and Nero more popular than Germanicus? It -sometimes attaches to ignorance, for who is today more popular than our -champion batter or prize fighter? It sometimes attaches to immorality, -for did it not adopt the infamous Pompadour and du Barry? It sometimes -attaches to trifles, for was there ever such a fuss made over anything -as the Teddybear? It sometimes delights in the downfall of royal -favorites, and then exults in their reinstatements. It attaches to the -great, at times, and then hails with shouts of exultation those who -overthrow the great. - -He who delights in popularity must be prepared to submit to the veriest -subjugation, for he must _obey_ the very ones whom he desires to -_command_. - -True merit heeds not the fulsome acclamations of capricious popularity, -but goes on its way regardless. It asks itself "What is right?" not -"What will the public applaud?" Merit as well as folly, loves -appreciation, but the one hopes for it as a just reward, while the other -seeks it as a theft. - -There are two kinds of popularity: the popularity of men and the -popularity of their productions, the latter being the more reliable and -constant. The popularity of Roosevelt was mainly of the former kind, for -it was his pleasing and picturesque personality that made him one of the -most popular men of the last hundred years. As he recedes into history, -we can tell better whether his name will remain a household word like -Napoleon, Jackson, Lincoln, Webster, Grant, Bismarck and Gladstone's. It -may be that certain popularity is ephemeral, for public opinion -resembles a mind obeying by turns two directly opposite impulses, -lauding a man to the skies one day, and, on the next, as it discovers -him deficient in the merit it gratuitously ascribed to him, avenging -itself by deprecating that which it had capriciously over-rated. - -Popularity is the keystone of modern politics. Alas, too few men have -we, who think, say, or act, without weighing the probabilities of its -popularity. Our statesmen care more for what is popular than for what is -right, and popularity is generally the sole consideration. To attain the -honors of posterity and of history, a more solid merit is required than -the ephemeral smile of popularity. - -Popularity is a delusion. - -It is an easy matter to become popular if one wants to, for all it -requires is passive tolerance, and active commendation. Taking the -individual, listen to his stories attentively, applaud his hobbies, rave -over his phonograph, his pianola, or his pictures, or books, or his dog. -A good listener is always popular. Taking the individual collectively, -the public, the same rule holds good. Place your ear to the ground, -study the whims of the people, learn how they worship, how they play and -how they work, then preach their doctrines, pat them on the back, -applaud their errors, and you can be popular. Rub the fur the right way -and the cat won't scratch. Pioneers of thought seldom attain popularity. -The man with a new idea, or who dares to preach something different, is -usually put in jail while he is alive, and put in marble after he is -dead. As Goethe says, "The public must be treated like women: they must -be told absolutely nothing but what they like to hear." - - - - -_Greatness_ - - - The first step to greatness is to be honest.--Johnson. - - All great men are partially inspired.--Cicero. - - All great men come out of the middle classes.--Emerson. - - No really great man ever thought himself so.--Hazlitt. - - The world knows nothing of its greatest men.--H. Taylor. - - What millions died that Caesar might be great!--Campbell. - - The great are only great because we carry them on our shoulders: - when we throw them off they sprawl on the ground.--Montandre. - - It is not in the nature of great men to be exclusive and - arrogant.--Beecher. - - None think the great unhappy but the great.--Young. - - There is but one method, and that is hard labor.--Sydney Smith. - - No man has come to true greatness who has not felt in some degree - that his life belongs to his race, and that God gives him for - mankind.--Phillips Brooks. - - -What is genius? Is it merely the ability to master details, as somebody -has said, or is it the result of some natural endowments, faculties, or -aptitudes for a particular thing? That it is some uncommon power of -intellect, all admit; but whether it is a general or a specific power, -is much disputed. Doctor Johnson's notion was that genius is nothing -more or less than great general powers of mind, capable of being turned -any way, or in any direction, and that "a man who has vigor may walk to -the East just as well as to the West." Emerson held quite the contrary -view, for he says that a man is born to some one thing, and that he is -"like a ship in a river; he runs against obstructions on every side but -one; on that side all obstruction is taken away, and sweeps serenely -over a deepening channel into an infinite sea." And again, in -_Representative Men_, "Each man is, by secret liking, connected with -some district of nature, whose agent and interpreter he is, as Linnaeus, -of plants; Huber, of bees; Fries, of lichens; Van Mons, of pears; -Dalton, of atomic forms; Euclid, of lines; Newton, of fluxions." On the -other hand, versatility of genius is not uncommon, for was not Leonardo -da Vinci master of all the arts? did not Lord Brougham excel in -everything, until they said of him "Science is his forte, omniscience -his foible"? and was not our own Franklin equally famous for his several -accomplishments? Nevertheless, it is quite certain that most of the -great men of history, in art, arms or letters, displayed genius in only -one line; yet this does not signify that they could not have displayed -equal genius in one or more other lines. Perhaps the case could be -stated thus: (1) A genius is a man of uncommon power of intellect; (2) -Every man has a natural bent for some one line of effort; (3) A genius -is apt to follow his natural bent, and thus excel in only one line; (4) -A genius may also excel in one or more other lines, circumstances and -environment leading him away from his natural inclinations. - -What is greatness? Who were the greatest men of history? Who are the -great and the greatest men of the time? These are questions on every -tongue, yet who may say the answer? Seneca, Bacon, Carlyle, Goethe, -Emerson, Colton and other philosophers have written volumes without -answering any of these questions, and nobody yet has been able to give -answers satisfactory to all. There are four kinds of greatness: village -greatness, provincial greatness, world greatness and era greatness, for -we know that a man may be great in his village, mediocre in his -province, county, state or country, a nonentity in the world, and a -nobody in the era following that in which he lived. A few men are -accepted as great during their lifetimes, a few of these are accepted as -great outside their own colonies, and only a very few of these survive -their own eras. While it is true that a man is seldom a hero in his own -home, and that greatness is seen to better advantage from a distance, -yet some greatness is so weak that it dies before it is fullgrown. -Greatness is often divided into two kinds,--greatness of men of action, -and greatness of men of thought; yet this is an improper division, -since all great men are men of action, and are always endowed with a -force which may be called pneumatic energy. - -Bismarck once said that a really great man is known by three -signs--generosity in the design, humanity in the execution, moderation -in success; but Brougham insists that "the true test of a great man is -his having been in advance of his age." Schopenhauer, in estimating the -greatness of great men, applies the inverted law of the physical, which -stands for the intellectual and spiritual nature, the former being -lessened by distance, the latter increased. But these views do not help -us much in our effort to find what is greatness. When Sir William Jones -was asked who was the greatest man, he answered, "The best: and if I am -required to say who is the best, I reply he that deserved most of his -fellow-creatures." Is this a correct test?--what -fellow-creatures?--creatures of his own time, or of all time?--who is to -judge what is best for them,--they or I?--and who is to say whether he -is deserving or not, and deserving of what? Dempsey is a great fighter; -Raphael was a great painter; Socrates a great philosopher; Hannibal a -great general; Beecher a great preacher; Columbus a great discoverer; -Browning a great poet; Gibbon a great historian; Lincoln a great -agitator; Dana a great editor; Steinitz a great chess-player; and so -on,--perhaps the greatest of their time, but would they be numbered -among the greatest men? Is a great shoemaker a great man? Yet he is very -deserving of his fellow-creatures, and he may be the greatest of his -kind. Is a great hangman as great as a great divine, and is the greatest -clown to be numbered among the greatest men of history? - -Again, in selecting the great men, should there not be some limit in -number and some method of declaring different degrees of greatness, -because otherwise the man who wrote "Home, Sweet Home" might find a -place alongside Shakespeare. Again, should a conqueror be classed among -the great? Still again, are philosophers like Schopenhauer, Ibsen, -Bernard Shaw and Nietzsche to be numbered among the great, when most -people say that their philosophy is wrong, destructive and immoral? No -wonder, then, that nobody has yet been able to give a satisfactory -definition of Greatness. Alexander accomplished wonders: he conquered -the then known world and wept for other worlds to conquer; but perhaps -he was not so deserving of his fellows as some poor shoemaker. And take -Napoleon: he made all Europe run blood; yet he certainly did much good; -are we to balance his account and determine if the good outweighed the -bad? Dante and Milton are always numbered among the greatest men, yet -some do say that these great poets did more harm than good by -perpetuating the false doctrines of Hell and Paradise. Was Robespierre a -great man?--no one questions that great good came from the French -Revolution, yet who will urge a monument to Robespierre, the -personification of that Revolution? His intentions were good, however -bad may have been the method, but so were Cromwell's regardless of his -fanaticism; yet public opinion curses the one and crowns the other. Some -men seem to accomplish world-wonders without effort, while others -struggle against tremendous odds: of the two, the latter, of course, are -the greater, because, as Bryant says, "Difficulty is a nurse of -greatness--a harsh nurse, who rocks her foster children roughly, but -rocks them into strength. The mind, grappling with great aims and -wrestling with mighty impediments, grows by a certain necessity to the -stature of greatness." Some say that greatness is founded in human -sympathy, and that the man who shows the biggest heart plus the greatest -ability to do, is the greatest man. Others say that greatness consists -in reforming the world along religious lines, and still others maintain -that greatness is merely righteousness--"He is not great, who is no -greatly good" (Shakespeare). Was Caesar great? Remember Campbell's -line,--"What millions died that Caesar might be great." Beecher was -doubtless right when he said, "Greatness lies not in being strong, but -in the right use of strength," but men may differ as to what is the -right use, for, suppose he uses it to defend his people against some -other people, and for a cause which he believes in, as did Robert E. -Lee? He thought he was right, many others thought he was right, and he -displayed qualities truly great, yet Beecher would say that Lee was not -a great man. No great man ever yet lived who was conceded so to be by -everybody. We see many who are great, in a sense, and many that are -good; but we seldom see a man who is both great and good; and, according -to Franklin, a great man must be both. Leonardo da Vinci was great at -many things,--"master of all the arts," and as virtuous as most men, yet -many people place Caesar and Alexander in the list of great men and -leave da Vinci out. Perhaps Colton was right when he said, "Subtract -from the great men all that he owes to opportunity, all that he owes to -chance, and all that he has gained by the wisdom of his friends and the -folly of his enemies, and the giant will often be seen to be a pigmy." -Shall we class Joan of Arc among the great? She was the victim of an -illusion and she accomplished that which was bound to come. Shall we -nominate Diogenes? He was what would now be called a tramp and lived in -a tub. Shall we give Socrates a niche? He was also something of a tramp, -and we may never know how much he really said of the many wise things -which Plato attributed to him. Shall we declare Washington and Jefferson -great, and not Tom Paine, when the latter knew more than the other two -together, and gave them most of their ideas? No, we don't do that, -because they say that Paine's religious views were bad. Shall Theodore -Roosevelt go on the list? Shall we put Martin Luther on, and not -Voltaire? And how about poor John Brown?--he did not accomplish much but -he tried mighty hard and died in the attempt. Shall Booker T. -Washington's name not go on the immortal list just because he is black? -If not, how about Confucius who was yellow? Shall Jesus' name be written -on the scroll and not Buddha's or Mohammed's? The fact is that it is -next to impossible to name a complete list of the _great_ men of -history,--to say nothing of the _greatest_ men. One of the toughest -problems I ever attempted to solve was once given me by a young -student, who asked me to write down the names of the twenty-five -greatest men. I spent many evenings on it, and the answer was published -in many newspapers. The chief difficulty came in the attempt to limit -the list to just twenty-five--it is easy to make a list of _about_ -twenty-five, or about fifty, or about ten. - -As I remember it, the list was as follows: - - 1. Moses - 2. Homer - 3. Pericles - 4. Alexander - 5. Plato - 6. Aristotle - 7. Archimedes - 8. Julius Caesar - 9. Augustus Caesar -10. Charlemagne -11. Alfred the Great -12. Leonardo da Vinci -13. Dante -14. Copernicus -15. Galileo -16. Shakespeare -17. Bacon -18. Milton -19. Cromwell -20. Newton -21. Napoleon -22. Beethoven -23. Goethe -24. Franklin -25. Lincoln - -This list is not yet satisfactory. It should contain John Fiske, who -knew everything, Herbert Spencer, Darwin, Kant, Descartes, Emerson, -Washington,--but hold! there is no end. Ten years from now I shall make -another list and it will probably contain a new name, perhaps -Roosevelt, Wilson, Bryan, Foch. - -As Rochefoucauld says, "However brilliant an action may be, it ought not -to pass for great when it is not the result of great design." Some men -became famous--apparently great--by accident, or because of -circumstances, but that is not greatness. I once became the manager of a -dinner in honor of Mr. Bryan, and, like Byron, woke up one morning to -find myself famous--think of it!--famous for getting up a dinner. But -such fame is meteoric and has but a mushroom existence. Fielding says -somewhere that Greatness is like a laced coat from Monmouth Street, -which fortune lends us for a day to wear and tomorrow puts it on -another's back; but he did not mean Greatness, but Fame, or Popularity, -Greatness is not greatness if it is not lasting. If we cannot tell what -greatness is, we can tell what it is not. The greatness of a man must be -judged from the viewpoint of his own time, and we must make due -allowance for his weaknesses and blunders; for was not Napoleon a -believer in astrology, and could not any school-child today correct -Aristotle in natural history and physiology? With this thought in mind -we shall not have so much difficulty in singling out the great men of -history. "Nature never sends a great man into the planet, without -confiding the secret to another soul" (Emerson), and we soon discover -them, but not often in their own time--it requires the perspective of -history to get them in focus. Great men are the models of nations. As -Longfellow says, "they stand like solitary towers in the City of God, -and secret passages running deep beneath external nature give their -thoughts intercourse with higher intelligence, which strengthens and -consoles them, and of which the laborers on the surface do not even -dream." - - * * * * * - -"Corporations are great engines for the promotion of the public -convenience, and for the development of public wealth, and, so long as -they are conducted for the purposes for which organized, they are a -public benefit; but if allowed to engage, without supervision, in -subjects of enterprise foreign to their charters, or if permitted -unrestrainedly to control and monopolize the avenues to that industry in -which they are engaged, they become a public menace; against which -public policy and statutes design protection." - -_Leslie V. Lorillard, et al._--110 N. Y. 533. - - - - -_The Martyrdom of Genius_ - - -It seems that those who have done the most good in this world have -usually been the most unfortunate. The history-makers are our martyr -heroes, abhored for their virtues, tortured for their courage, and -persecuted for their good deeds. Verily, all the world's a stage, and -the great actors appear upon it, say their lines, perform their parts, -and then disappear behind the curtain amid a storm of hisses. Genius is -seldom appreciated at short range. We praise dead saints, and persecute -living ones: we _roast_ our great men in one age, and boast of them in -the next. Let us see if history does not bear out these -assertions.--Alexander the Great died in his youth; Socrates was made to -drink the fatal hemlock; Leonidas, the immortal Greek patriot, was -hanged; Xerxes was assassinated in his sleep; Scipio was strangled in -his bed; Seneca, the Roman moralist, was banished to Corsica; Hannibal -took poison to prevent falling into the enemy's hands; Caesar was -assassinated by his friends; Philip of Macedon was assassinated by his -body guard; Archimedes was stabbed for not going to Marcellus till he -had finished his problem; Belisarius was sentenced to death and blinded; -Mohammed was despised and persecuted; Bruno was burned alive and his -ashes thrown to the four winds of heaven; Dante was banished from -Florence; Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded; Admiral Coligny was murdered -at the Massacre of St. Bartholomew; Joan of Arc was burned at the stake; -Savonarola was burned on a heap of faggots for his religious preaching; -Madam Roland was beheaded; Cardinal Wolsey died on his way to the -scaffold; Milton was stricken blind; Martin Luther was excommunicated -and persecuted; Anne Boleyn, the good and true wife of Henry VIII, was -beheaded; Palissy the Potter had to burn his house to feed his furnace, -and was imprisoned in the Bastile for his religious faith; Mary, Queen -of Scots, was beheaded after a long imprisonment; Cervantes, creator of -Don Quixote, was imprisoned for debt and suffered want; Edmund Spenser, -author of "Faerie Queen," also died of want; Henry of Navarre was -assassinated; Galileo was made to recant under penalty of death; -Napoleon was sent to St. Helena; Oliver Cromwell was an exile, a price -upon his head; Charles I. was beheaded, Marshal Ney, "Bravest of the -Brave," was cruelly shot to death for alleged treason; Madame Racamier, -the most beautiful and charming woman in history, died poor, blind and -an exile; Voltaire was arrested, imprisoned and exiled; Beethoven, "The -Shakespeare of Music," was stricken deaf; Mozart was buried in Potter's -Field; the gallant Decatur and the illustrious Hamilton were cruelly -shot by duelists; John Brown was shot for trying to free the slaves; -Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley were assassinated; Madame De Stael was -banished from Paris because Napoleon did not like her; Florence -Nightingale became a chronic invalid; Marie Antoinette was beheaded; -Garibaldi was condemned to death and compelled to flee his native land; -Gen. Custer fought the Indians till none of his soldiers lived and then -died upon the battle-field; Victor Hugo was made to flee Brussels; -Lafayette in France was imprisoned and nearly starved to death; David -Livingstone, explorer, died in the wilds of Africa; Tasso was exiled and -imprisoned and died in poverty; Lovejoy was murdered; Wm. Lloyd Garrison -and Wendell Phillips were mobbed on the streets of Boston; Sir Henry -Vane was beheaded because he asserted liberty; William Penn was -persecuted and imprisoned; Aristides was exiled; Aristotle had to flee -for his life and swallowed poison; Pythagoras was persecuted and -probably burned to death; Paul was beheaded; Spinoza was tracked, -hunted, cursed and forbidden aid or food; Huss, Wyclif, Latimer and -Lyndale were burned at the stake; Schiller was buried in a three-thaler -coffin at midnight without funeral rites; Pompey was assassinated in -Egypt by one of his own officers; Shelley, the poet, was drowned; -William, Prince of Orange, was assassinated; Anaxagoras was dragged to -prison for asserting his idea of God; Gerbert, Roger Bacon and Cornelius -Agrippa, the great chemists and geometricians, were abhored as -magicians; Petrarch lived in deadly fear of the wrath of the priests; -Descartes was horribly persecuted in Holland when he first published his -opinions; Racine and Corneille nearly died of starvation; Lee Sage, in -his old age was saved from starvation by his son who was an actor; -Boethius, Selden, Grotius and Sir John Pettus wrote many of their best -works in jail; John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress while in prison; De -Foe, author of the immortal Cruso, was imprisoned for writing a -pamphlet, and so was Leigh Hunt for a similar offense; Homer was a -beggar; Plautus turned a mill; Terence was a slave; Paul Borghese had -fourteen trades, yet starved with them all; Bentivoglio was refused -admission into the hospital he had himself erected; Camoens, author of -the Lusiad, died in an alms house; Dryden lived in poverty and distress; -Otway died prematurely through hunger; Steele was constantly pursued by -bailiffs; Fielding was buried in a factory graveyard without a stone; -Savage died in jail at Lisbon; Butler lived in penury and died in -distress; Chatterton, pursued by misfortune, killed himself in his -youth; Samuel Abbott, inventor of the process of turning potatoes into -starch, was burned to death in his own factory; Chaucer exchanged a -palace for a prison; Bacon died in disgrace; Ben Johnson lived and died -in poverty; Bishop Taylor was imprisoned; Clarendon died in exile; Swift -and Addison lived and died unhappy and unfortunate; Dr. Johnson died of -scrofula, in poverty and pain; Goldsmith was always poor and died in -squalor and misery; Smollett, several times fined and imprisoned, died -at 33; Cowper was poor and tinged with madness. Of the American -discoverers, Columbus was put in chains and died of poverty and neglect; -Roldin and Bobadilla were drowned; Ovando was harshly superceded; Las -Casas sought refuge in a cowl; Ojeda died in extreme poverty; Encisco -was deposed by his own men; Nicuessa perished miserably by the cruelty -of his party; Basco Nunez de Balboa was disgracefully beheaded; Narvaez -was imprisoned in a tropical dungeon and afterwards died of hardship; -Cortez was dishonored; Alvarado was destroyed in ambush; Almagro was -garroted; Pizarro was murdered and his four brothers were cut off. - -Doubtless, many other martyrs could be mentioned, but perhaps the -foregoing will suffice to prove our case. As Napoleon once said, it is -the cause and not the death that makes the martyr, and many of the -foregoing martyrs perhaps deserved to die as they did. But, who may say? -An additional list will be found in "Fox's Martyrs," but they are mostly -religious martyrs, whereas the foregoing is general and fairly -representative of every age and of every calling. - - - - -_Gentlemen, Be Seated_ - - -When the interlocutor says these words, all the men sit down. They all -assume that they are gentlemen; anyway, they know that they have been -called such, and they accept the appellation. Any man will be offended -if you say he is no gentleman. Every man wants to be known as a -gentleman. The sign that reads "Gentlemen will not expectorate upon the -floor--others _must_ not," is very effective, because every man who -reads it will obey, fearing that if he does not he will not be rated as -a gentleman. You cannot appeal to him on any stronger ground; the -dangers of tuberculosis, cleanliness, the ladies' skirts, and such, do -not weigh so heavy as the argument that real gentlemen do not -expectorate. Take the lowliest laborer, and you cannot pay him a higher -compliment than to make him understand that you rate him as a gentleman. -Even pickpockets, burglars and thugs pride themselves on being -gentlemen, when off duty, and it is their highest ambition to get -dressed up and to frequent the same hotels, restaurants and resorts that -gentlemen frequent. And yet, if you ask any of these what a gentleman -is, he cannot tell you. For that matter, who can? What is a gentleman? -What are the qualifications and requirements? Can a person be a -gentleman part of the time and not all the time, or is he born one way -or the other? Can a person who was not born a gentleman acquire the -title? Is it a matter of birth, a matter of character, a matter of -conscience, a matter of dress, a matter of conduct, or a matter of -education? Can a man who has been brought up in ignorance, crime, filth, -squalor, and degradation be educated to be a gentleman, or will his real -self pop out sometime and show that he is not? The dictionary definition -of a gentleman is: "A man of good birth; every man above the rank of -yeoman, comprehending noblemen; a man who, without a title, bears a coat -of arms, or whose ancestors were freemen; a man of good breeding and -politeness, as distinguished from the vulgar and clownish; a man in a -position of life above a tradesman or mechanic; a term of complaisance." -But none of these definitions covers the modern "gentleman"; not one is -adequate. Chaucer's idea was that "He is gentle who doth gentle deeds." -Calvert's was that a gentleman is a Christian product. Goldsmith's, that -the barber made the gentleman. Locke's, that education begins the -gentleman and that good company and reflection finishes him. Hugo's, -that he is the best gentleman who is the son of his own deserts. -Emerson's, that cheerfulness and repose are the badge of a gentleman. -Steele's, that to be a fine gentleman is to be generous and brave. -Spenser's, that it is a matter of deeds and manners. Shaftesbury's, that -it is the taste of beauty and the relish of what is decent, just and -amiable that perfects the gentleman. Byron's, that the grace of being, -without alloy of fop or beau, a finished gentleman, is something that -Nature writes on the brow of certain men. Beaconsfield's, that propriety -of manners and consideration for others are the two main characteristics -of a gentleman. Hazlitt's, that a gentleman is one who understands and -shows every mark of deference to the claims of self-love in others, and -exacts it in turn from them, and that _propriety_ is as near a word as -any to denote the manners of the gentlemen--plus elegance, for fine -gentlemen, dignity for noblemen and majesty for kings. - -Chesterfield's opinion ought to be worth considering--"A gentleman has -ease without familiarity, is respectful without meanness, genteel -without affectation, insinuating without seeming art." Likewise -Ruskin's--"A gentleman's first characteristic is that fineness of -structure in the body which renders it capable of the most delicate -sensation; and of structure in the mind which renders it capable of the -most delicate sympathies; one may say simply 'fineness of structure.'" -The Psalmist describes a gentleman as one "that walketh uprightly, and -worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart," and Samuel -Smiles adds that a gentleman's qualities depend, not on fashion or -manners, but or moral worth; not on personal possessions, but on -personal qualities. Thackeray intimates that a gentleman must be honest, -gentle, generous, brave, wise; and, possessing all these qualities, he -must exercise them in the most graceful outward manner. That he must be -a loyal son, a true husband, and an honest father. That his life ought -to be decent, his bills paid, his taste high and elegant, and his aim in -life lofty and noble. A more modern view is that of the great English -philosopher, Herbert Spencer, who says that "Thoughtfulness for others, -generosity, modesty and self-respect are the qualities that make the -real gentleman or lady, as distinguished from the veneered article that -commonly goes by that name." And here's another view: - -_Gentleman_--A man that's clean outside and in; who neither looks up to -the rich nor down on the poor; who can lose without squealing and who -can win without bragging; who is considerate of women, and children and -old people; who is too brave to lie, too generous to cheat, and who -takes his share of the world and lets other people have theirs. - -Originally _gentleman_ was merely a designation, not a description, and -it was meant to apply to men occupying a certain conventional social -position. It had no reference to the qualities of heart, mind and soul. -Later the word _gentleman_ was given an exclusively ethical application. -Both ideas are extremes, and both are wrong, because the former might -apply to thieves, liars, cads, fops and ruffians, and the latter might -apply to servants and slaves, many of whom are men of the best and -truest type. There is an old saw that runs-- - - - "What is a gentleman? - He is always polite, - He always does right, - And that is a gentleman." - - -If it is difficult to ascertain what a gentleman is, it is not difficult -to ascertain what a gentleman is not. For example, a gentleman is not-- - -1. One who jumps into the one vacant seat when there are women -standing. - -2. One who smokes or swears in a public elevator in the presence of a -lady. - -3. One who dashes through swinging doors and lets them bang into the -face of those behind. - -4. One who jumps on the platform of a moving car when others are -patiently waiting to get on. - -5. One who eats with his knife, picks his teeth in public, spits on the -floor, wipes his mouth on the tablecloth, coughs or sneezes in public -without covering his mouth, or cleans his nails in a public place. - -6. One who carries his umbrella extended horizontally under his arm, -with the sharp ferrule sticking out behind to the inconvenience if not -peril of others. - -7. One who rushes into a car before those in it have time to get off. - -8. One who occupies two seats for himself and his newspaper or parcels -in a crowded car. - -9. One who fails to apologize when he has unintentionally insulted -another. - -10. One who refuses to apologize or make amend when he has intentionally -insulted another. - -11. One who always wants to bet or to fight when he is getting the -worst of an argument. - -12. One who neglects to respect old age. - -13. One who is mean, selfish and inconsiderate of the rights and -convenience of others. - -14. One who deliberately uses uncouth or vulgar language. - -15. One who is intentionally neglectful of his appearance to the extent -of wearing soiled linen in public and of neglecting his person so that -he is obnoxious to the olfactory organs of those around him. - -16. One who lacks tolerance and who wrangles with everybody who does not -do as he would like them to do. - -17. One who has a hot temper and does not know enough to put his foot on -the soft pedal. - -18. One who laughs at a drunken man or woman or who induces them to -become so. - -19. One who thinks that the world owes him a living and who proceeds to -collect it from everybody he comes across, by foul means or fair. - -20. One who does not know that women, children and elderly people are -entitled to a preference and to unusual consideration on all occasions. - -Gentlemen, be seated, and we will inquire still further as to what a -gentleman is and is not. Of course, at this command you are all seated. -The commander knew that there would be no exceptions in your judgment. -But, even if you do not agree with the opinions of those quoted above, -you have your own notions as to what is a gentleman, and it is a safe -bet that not one of you live up to those qualifications. The most -perfect of gentlemen sometimes fail to live up to their best. We all -fall down once in a while. - -Some people define gentlemen as follows: - -_Gentleman_--One who does not wear detachable cuffs; one who changes his -shirt every day; one whose clothes are of the latest pattern; one who -wears a cane, a silk hat and patent leather shoes; one who has money and -spends it freely; one who tips the waiter generously, and who would not -soil his hands by shaking hands with a laborer; one who is above work -and who would not associate with a common tradesman; one who respects to -the point of worship anybody who has money and who detests to the point -of hatred everybody who has not; one who has his nails manicured twice a -week, and who always wears gloves in public; one who thinks that the -greatest thing in the world is to belong to the smart set and to be -fashionable. - -Such people forget that the _gentleman_ is solid mahogany, while the -fashionable man is only veneer. They forget that the gentleman is not so -much what he is without as what he is within. You cannot make a -gentleman out of fine clothes, even if you add elegant manners. Nor will -education complete him. When you educate the thief you do not -necessarily cure his thievery, and you often make him a more -accomplished thief. And some of the greatest thieves and cut-throats -have the most elegant manners and wear the finest clothes. The real -gentleman must be a gentleman clean through, from the center of his -heart to the top of his brain. Culture and refinement in the true sense -proceed from within. While they can be purchased at any good -boarding-school, this is another brand, and partake of the qualities of -varnish. They are a sort of polish. - -Gentlemen, be seated. Ah, you do not seat yourselves so quickly! You -begin to see the light. Perhaps you realize that you are not so much of -a gentleman as you at first thought you were. You may have the instincts -of a gentleman, you may have good breeding, good manners, education, -refinement, good intentions, even culture, yet you know down in your -secret souls that you have some qualities that are not those of the -real, true gentleman. You may have gentleness, generosity, honesty, -polish, and yet you lack some of the other ingredients that are used in -the manufacture of a gentleman. But never you mind. None of us are -perfect--not even the writer! And you frown when you are told that _you_ -are not gentlemen. But you are not. There is no such thing as a -gentleman. How can there be when a gentleman is a _perfect man_? The -thing to do is to try to be a gentleman. Let's try hard. - -Gentlemen, be seated. You all sit, because you _try_ to be gentlemen, -and, for aught I know, you are as much gentlemen as anybody. Anyway, if -you try, you are, to all intents and purposes; for, if a man does the -best he can he is entitled to the highest honors, and what higher honors -are there than to be known as a real gentleman? - -Gentlemen, be seated, and we shall hear from a wonderful philosopher, -Herr Friedrich Nietzsche. A million sages and diagnosticians, in all -ages of the world, have sought to define the gentleman, and their -definitions have been as varied as their minds, as we have already seen. -Nietzsche's definition, according to Mencken's translation, is based on -the fact that the gentleman is ever a man of more than average influence -and power, and on the further fact that this superiority is admitted by -all. The vulgarian may boast of his bluff honesty, but at heart he looks -up to the gentleman, who goes through life serene and imperturbable. -There is in the gentleman an unmistakable air of fitness and efficiency, -and it is this that makes it possible for him to be gentle and to regard -those below him with tolerance. The demeanor of highborn persons shows -plainly that in their minds the consciousness of power is ever present. -Above all things, they strive to avoid a show of weakness, whether it -takes the form of inefficiency or of a too-easy yielding to passion or -emotion. They never sink exhausted into a chair. On the train, when the -vulgar try to make themselves comfortable, these higher folk avoid -reclining. They do not seem to get tired after hours of standing at -court. They do not furnish their homes in a comfortable, but in a -spacious and dignified manner, as if they were the abodes of a greater -and taller race of beings. To a provoking speech, they reply with -politeness and self-possession--and not as if horrified, crushed, -abashed, enraged or out of breath, after the manner of plebians. The -gentleman knows how to preserve the appearance of ever-present physical -strength, and he knows, too, how to convey the impression that his soul -and intellect are a match for all dangers and surprises, by keeping up -an unchanging serenity and civility, even under the most trying -circumstances. - -Thus spake Nietzsche, but he was really defining an aristocrat, or one -of the so-called nobility, for which he had a profound respect. Here is -still another definition: - -_Gentility_--Perfect veracity, frank urbanity, total unwillingness to -give offense; the gentleness of right-hearted, level-headed good nature; -kindliness tactfully exercised through clear sense that duly appreciates -current circumstances involving the personal rights, privileges and -susceptibilities of others; and, while justly regarding these, acting on -what they generally suggest so considerately and so gracefully that a -pleasurable, heartfelt recognition of finest decency is inspired in -others. - -An old wag once said, "I never refuse to drink with a gentleman, and a -gentleman is a man who invites me to take a drink." That is the Kentucky -idea. But this is not: - -_Gentleman_--One who has courage without bravado, pride without vanity, -and who is innately--not studiously, but innately--considerate of the -feelings of others. - -And so the definitions vary inversely as the square of the desirability -of the kind of gentleman we try to be. In brief, a _gentleman_ is -indefinable as it is unmistakable. You can always tell him when you meet -him, but you cannot tell how or why. - -Gentlemen, be seated. This is final. Just think over what you have -heard, and see if there is not now a clear idea of what a gentleman is -and is not. If you have read between the lines, you have seen the true -lights on the subject. Wit and mirth and humorous allusions--such as -they are--should not obscure the real issue. Do we not all know now what -a gentleman is? Quite true that we cannot define it, without a very -large vocabulary and thousands of words, yet we feel that we know. And, -knowing what a gentleman is, surely we shall all try to be one. And then -what more can the gods require? - - - - -_Beards_ - - -And so the beard is coming in fashion again. Consoling thought to you of -the fertile facial soil and with ugly contour or ungainly blemishes to -conceal, but distressing to those chubby-faced, masculine beauties whose -tender skins will not yield a plentiful crop. But, you have had your -day, oh, ye of the germ-proof, Napoleonic countenance; so, discard your -Gillettes, and make way for his majesty--The Beard. The halcyon days of -the razor are no more, if we are to believe fickle Dame Fashion, and we -are now to welcome the day of the shears. If nature has been stingy, and -that glorious excrescence, the beard, is impossible to you, mon cher, -pray accept our sympathy; but, please be generous enough to take the -inevitable with good grace, and not worry us with foolish arguments -about bearded barbarians and unsanitary savages. We know that you can -make a strong case against the beard, but we imagine we can make one -equally strong in its favor. All of your progenitors had them, -including Adam--if we are to believe the ancient monuments, all of which -show those gentlemen with a bushy beard of no mean dimensions. You say -the ancient Egyptians wore no beards? Yes, but please observe that on -occasions of high festivity, they wore false beards as assertions of -their dignity and virility, and always represented their male deities -with splendid hirsute adornments tip-tilted at the ends. It is true that -they called the Greeks and Romans "barbarians" (bearded, unshaven, -savages), and that about 300 B. C., the latter began to shave and in -turn to call other peoples "barbarians"; but these incidents were only -passing fancies, freaks and fashions soon to make way for the -approaching, persistent reign of the beard. You say that Julian argued -arduously against the beard? Yes, but would you take for a model a man -whose whole body was bearded, and who prided himself on his long -finger-nails and on the inky blackness of his hands? And don't forget -that the reason Alexander abolished beards in his army was one that -hardly fits your case, for was it not because the enemy had a habit of -using the beard as a handle, much to the inconvenience--to say nothing -of the discomfort--of the victim? - -The beard has had an eventful career, and has always been the bone of -contention between nations, churches, politicians, kings, gods, and -barbers. As to the last, suffice it to say that beards existed before -barbers, and that barbers are now as favorable to beards as they are -unfavorable to safety razors. As for the churches, they have been -alternately pro and con: Israel brought the beard safely out of Egyptian -bondage; the Orientals cherished it as a sacred thing; the Scriptures -abound with examples of how it was used to interpret pride, joy, sorrow, -despondency, etc., the Greek church was for beards, and the Roman church -against; the Popes of Naples wore beards at various periods; and now, -most of our popes, priests and preachers keep their "chins new reaped." -In Asia, wars have been declared on alleged grievances concerning -shaving, and Nero offered some of the hairs of his beard to Jupiter -Capitolinus who could well have bearded a dozen emperors from his own. -Herodotus has more to say of beards than of belles, bibles and Belzebub, -and the other poets and historians have found inspiration in like theme. -In some times, beards denoted noble birth and in others they were tokens -of depravity or of ostracism. The Roskolniki, a sect of schismatics, -maintained that the divine image resided in the beard, and for ages the -beard was the outward sign of a true man. In brief, the beard has had a -Titanic struggle for existence, first up, then down, first on and then -off. Just as it would attain the zenith of its glory, some beardless -king would come along and dethrone it, as was the case in Spain, for -example, when Philip V's tender chin refused to bear fruit, which -calamity soon changed the fashion among the Spanish nobility. And, no -sooner would the bald chin be established in favor, than some ugly-faced -prince would come forward with an edict that the elect must again -display the manly beard, as in France, when the young king's face was so -disfigured with scars that he found a beard necessary to give him an -appearance of respectability, whereupon all his faithful subjects found -that they also had scars to conceal, much to the dismay of the barbers. - -Then, again, the beard was often attacked by the assessors, as well as -by the churches and fashions; for did not Peter the Great levy a heavy -tax on all Russian beards, and did not Queen Elizabeth, in spite of -bearded Raleigh, impose a tax of 3s. 4d. on all beards above a -fortnight's growth? These were unfair handicaps to the beard, and -greatly hampered its progress, but, beards, like truth, crushed to earth -will rise again, and so always did the beard. For, observe that in the -reign of Henry VIII the lawyers wore imposing beards, which became so -fashionable that the authorities at Lincoln's Inn made them pay double -common to sit at the great table; but mark that this was before 1535 -when Henry raised his own crisp beard which afterwards became so -celebrated. Beginning with the 13th century, when beards first came in -fashion in England, up to the present, the poor beard has had a -checkered career, but of late it has held its own with commendable -persistency, and now all Europe is bearded, as it was in the beginning. - -If the beard was sometimes held in respect, as in the Bastile, where an -official was kept busy shaving the captives, and as in our own prisons, -where the guests of the state are kept beardless, do you say that -occasionally it was held in contempt and betokens laziness and rudeness? -Yes, but, when your entire list of digressions is exposed, and your -whole catalog of objections exhausted, you will find that His Majesty -the Beard still waves triumphantly. It may be trod under foot for a -time, but, just as the shaven beard will soon grow again, so will the -beard that has been legislated against by court, church or fashion. In -days of old, to touch the beard rudely was to assail the dignity of its -owner; and when a man placed his hand upon his beard and swore by it, -he felt bounden by the most sacred of oaths. We all have a certain -reverence for traditions, and those of the beard are still respected, -among the uncivilized as well as among the civilized. Was it not Juan de -Castro, the Portuguese admiral, who borrowed a thousand pistoles and -pledged one of his whiskers, saying, "All the gold in the world cannot -equal this natural ornament of my valor?" Persius associated wisdom with -the beard, and called Socrates "Magister Barbatus" in commendation of -that gentleman's populous beard. And do not the sculptors and painters -usually represent Jupiter, Hercules and Plato with the same tokens of -strength, fortitude, sturdiness and virility? Who would favor a -"beardless youth" to Numa Pimpolius--he of the magnificent flowing -beard? Who would prefer a Shakespeare, a Longfellow, a Whitman, a -Ruskin, a Charlemagne, shorn of their hirsute adornments? Or a Lincoln, -Grant or Lee? But, of course, there are beards and beards; we are not -lost in admiration at sight of such anomalies as those of John Mayo -("John the Bearded"), or of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, nor even with -that majestic forest of hair which was attached to Queen Mary's agent to -Moscow, George Killingworth, whose beard measured five feet two inches, -and which so pleased the grim Ivan the Terrible that he actually laughed -and played with it. Coming down to the present, some of us will prefer -the silky, golden beard, such as adorns the handsome countenance of -Judge Wilkin, of the Children's Court; some the splendid snow-white -beard of Hudson Maxim, or the shorter and less white beard of our able -and amiable Edwin Markham; or the mixed, philosophic beard of General -Vanderbilt; or, perchance, we prefer the sandy, semi-gray beard of that -profound jurist, statesman, philosopher,--Judge Gaynor. And then there -is the erudite Bernard Shaw, and our virtuous statesman Judge Hughes, -and then there was the sage and honorable keeper of the public baths, -Dr. Wm. H. Hale, and Oscar Hammerstein, the impressario. Yes, the beard -is coming, so away with your safety razors, and supply your barber with -shears. Away with your alum, salves and powders, and look up the old -recipes for hair-restoring. The Roman youths used household oils to coax -the hairs to grow, but the apothecaries of those days were not so -cunning as ours, and soon we may expect to see the bill-boards and -advertising pages filled with notices of new preparations guaranteed to -grow a beard in a night, and directions how to care for, dress, comb, -clip and preserve it. No doubt we shall soon become as careful of those -sacred emblems of maturity and manhood, our whiskers, as Sir Thomas -Moore was of his, who, as he put his head upon the block, carefully laid -his beard out of the way, and then cracked a joke. What kind of a beard -shall we wear? Consult the artists and barbers, and trim it as you do -your hair--as best suits and becomes you. Charles the First adopted the -Vandyke beard, after the artist of that name. Ruskin, and other -philosophers, wore their beards as nature intended, trimming them about -once every decade. Actors, waiters, and doctors will probably wear no -beards, for obvious reasons, but they will all wish they could, if they -read James Ward's "Defense of the Beard," in which eighteen excellent -reasons are given, among which might be mentioned, protection to throat -and chest, and Nature. And yet, on the other hand, there are serious -objections to the beard, among which is the one made immortal by those -classic lines of Homer--or was it Lewis Carroll?--which runneth thus: - - - "There was once a man with a beard, - Who said, 'It is just as I feared: - Two Owls and a Hen, - Four Larks and a Wren - Have all built their nests in my beard!'" - - -There has been some scientific inquiry as to why woman was made -beardless, but the question was never satisfactorily settled until the -poets became interested in the problem, and the result was as follows: - - - "How wisely Nature, ordering all below, - Forbade a beard on woman's chin to grow; - For, how could she be shaved--whate'ver the skill-- - Whose tongue would never let her chin be still." - - - - -_Gambling_ - - -In 1890, a reformed gambler named John Philip Quinn, wrote a book, -"Fools of Fortune," which I read with interest when it first came out. -Later I met this man and saw him expose numerous tricks of gamblers. The -book comprehends a history of the vice in ancient and modern times, and -in both hemispheres, and is an exposition of its alarming prevalence and -destructive effects, with an unreserved and exhaustive disclosure of -such frauds, tricks and devices as are practised by professional -gambler, confidence man and bunko steerers; and the book was given to -the world with the hope that it might extenuate the author's twenty-five -years of gaming and systematic deception of his fellow men. - -I wish every boy and every public official could read that book. Its -pages are twice the size of these, and there are no less than 640 of -them--a big and a valuable book. It would do more good in the world than -a great many so-called religious books that I could mention; and, if I -am ever rich, I would like to have it reprinted and sold for ten cents a -copy so that everybody could get one. - -Alongside of this book in my library is another, entitled, "What's the -Odds," by Joe Ullman, the famous (or infamous) bookmaker. What a -contrast! This book tells many "interesting" stories of the turf, of the -pool-room and of the card-room, and it tends to cast a luring glamor -around racing and all sorts of gaming. - -By the side of this book in my library is another, entitled "Gambling: -or Fortuna, Her Temple and Shrine. The True Philosophy and Ethics of -Gambling," by James Harold Romain, which is an able defense of gambling. -How much harm these two last-mentioned books may have done, no man may -say. Certainly they have done no good. If ever a book should be -suppressed by law, these two books should come first. - -Mr. Romain says, "The keepers of gambling resorts are denounced, as -though they were responsible for the gambling propensity in mankind. -Resorts for gambling do not cause the passion. It is a tendency to which -all men are prone, more or less. The essential fact is the existence of -this passion. There can never be great difficulty in obtaining the -means for its gratification." - -Now, it is quite true that gambling is a tendency to which most people -are prone, more or less, but that is no argument for increasing the -temptation, nor for encouraging the vice. Men are prone to steal, to -drink, to be dishonest, to lie, to cheat, to be immoral; but these -tendencies must be checked and suppressed, not encouraged. Because some -men will steal, should we license them and furnish them with ways and -means to carry out their brutal instincts? Civilization is striving to -eliminate man's brute passions. Thousands of institutions such as the -law and the church, the prisons and reformatories, the libraries and the -schools, are constantly combating man's animal tendencies. Shall we stop -all this and let man's passions have full sway? Mr. Romain says, yes. He -says, "In the name of liberty and equality, a brave battle has been -fought for individuality. Unjust and unwise interference by the state -has been ably resisted. It is demanded that private judgment be released -from the embrace of authority. The truth is, one man has no natural -right to make laws for another. True, he may repel another, when his own -rights are infringed, but he has no right to govern him." Of course, -this is anarchy. The doctrine of "no laws" is an exploded theory. By -common consent, the world has come to an understanding that the majority -of the people shall make laws to govern the whole, and there is no other -way. What is detrimental to the community must be suppressed, and the -law is the best suppressor. - -While Fortuna may proudly enumerate her great votaries in America, -including Aaron Burr, Edgar Allen Poe, William Wirt, Luther Martin, -Gouverneur Morris, Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, General Hayne, Sam -Houston, Andrew Jackson, Generals Burnett, Sickles, Kearney, Steedman, -Hooker, Hurlbut, Sheridan, Kilpatrick, Grant, George D. Prentiss, -Sargeant S. Prentiss, Albert Pike, A. P. Hill, Beauregard, Early, Ben -Hill, Robert Toombs, George H. Pendleton, Thaddeus Stevens, Green of -Missouri, Herbert and Fitch of California, Jerry McKibben, James A. -Bayard, Benjamin F. Wade, Broderick, John C. Fremont, Judge Magowan, -Charles Spencer, Fernando Wood and his brother Benjamin, Colonel -McClure, Senator Wolcott, Senator Pettigrew, Senator Farwell, Matthew -Carpenter, Thomas Scott, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Hutchinson of Chicago, -and Pierre Lorillard; think of the long list of greater men who were not -addicted to gambling. This list is fairly complete, yet it is by no -means representative. If these men had the passion, they no doubt felt -sorry for it and they would be the first to warn others of the vice. -Some of them were ruined by it. It is a folly to be ashamed of, not to -be proud of. It is a weakness, and all great men have their weaknesses. -Think of the great men who were inveterate smokers and drinkers; yet we -would not hold them up as examples for the young simply because they -acquired these bad habits. Are we to emulate the faults of the great, or -their virtues? - -Of all the passions that have enslaved mankind, none can reckon so many -victims as gambling. In the wrecking of homes, in the destroying of -character, in the encouragement of dishonesty, in the dissolving of -fortunes, gambling has only one rival--drink. The two are brothers. They -walk hand in hand. One seldom exists without the other. If drink comes -first, gambling follows shortly; if gambling gets hold of its victim -first, drink soon joins his brother. And with these two terrible, -fascinating, insidious habits firmly entrenched in a man's system, all -the other vices are invited in to keep the others company. Smoking, a -lesser evil, usually accompanies the rest, in fact usually comes first; -but it is hardly to be classed as a vice, since it in itself has no -immoral effects, and is simply a bad and an expensive habit, although it -is one that many enjoy without harm or danger, even with profit. -Gambling appeals to a latent instinct, and hence is all the more -alluring. It is a disease that, when it once gets hold, seldom lets go. -The victim may shake it off, for a time, but it will surely show its -fangs again, and it will require a struggle and many of them, throughout -life, to conquer it. It will crop out in divers ways and its influence -will be felt in all transactions. True, all life and business is a -gamble, in one sense--that is, a chance, but that is no reason why we -should make gambling King. Our efforts should be directed to dethroning -it, not to crowning it. - -If you have a boy growing up, remember that he has a latent instinct to -gamble. Remember that unless you show him the dangers of the vice, he -will surely get the fever. It is just as sure as it is that he will be -tempted to steal and to lie. You will observe him shooting marbles for -gain. Then, craps. Then he will be playing cards for money. Then he will -get interested in the penny-slot devices that are to be found in the -cigar and candy stores. He will keep a sharp lookout for prize packages. -He will take a chance in every lottery that he hears of, including those -that are usually conducted in church fairs. Next, he will hear of faro, -roulette and other games of chance, and soon he will find his way into a -regular gambling den. He will probably lose, the first time, and then he -will save up, and go again to recover his losses. If he loses again he -will have all the more reason to go again, to get square. If he should -win the first time, he will get the fever anyway, and he will at once -see visions of an easy fortune ahead. Either way, he will stick to it, -and to stick to it means ruin. He will need more money than you will -give him, and he will be tempted to get money by dishonest means. If he -does not steal, he will perhaps take something from the house and sell -it in order to get money with which to gamble. If he cannot get that -something in your home, he may be tempted to get it from some other -home. He will sell his toys. He will go without shoes and spend the -money at gambling. If he cannot get money, he will run away and earn it. -He will forget all your teachings and do anything to get money. And, -when once he gets into one of those gilded palaces of the devil, where -big stakes are played for, where everything is bright, elegant and -alluring, where one man is seen to make a fortune in a night, which -sometimes happens, and where sumptuous tables are spread with all the -luxuries and dainties of the season for the delight of the patrons, -where wine and cigars are freely given to both winner and loser--then -bid goodbye to your boy, for he is lost. The chances are that he will -never get over it. The fascination will be too much for him. He will -surely go again. Win or lose, he will look forward to the day when he -can try his luck with the great Goddess of Chance. The yawning jaws of -the tiger are ever open for fresh victims such as he, and if he gives -them a chance they will inevitably close down on him. If he loses at -first, he will begin to study "systems" to beat the game. He will spend -sleepless nights studying how to win out. If he finds that, with all his -studying, he still cannot retrieve his losses, he will try other forms -of gambling, such as horse racing, but all with the same result. He is -bound to lose in the end. But, the strange thing is, that you cannot -make him believe this. Every man seems to have an inborn notion that he -is different from everybody else; that he is, by some freak of nature, a -marked man to win; that if he keeps it up long enough luck must change; -that he above all others has been picked out by Dame Fortune to win; -that it is only a question of time when luck will again smile upon him. -So, he keeps it up, chasing the will o' the wisp, following the rainbow -to find the proverbial pots of gold that are said to lie at the other -end. History proves all this. The road to ruin is straight and clear. It -is easy to follow. Walking is good. It is well lighted. The mirage of -Fortune looms up big at the other end which seems just a little farther -on. He may get weary and discouraged, at times, but Hope and Promise -beckon him on. He sees his possessions vanishing, as he plods on, he -sees his reputation and character leaving him, but he believes that -these can easily be restored when he arrives at his destination. But he -never arrives. He falls by the wayside. He dies, mourned by few, shunned -by many, discouraged, desolate, homeless, friendless, forsaken--a -worthless wreck. - -Among the hundreds of thousands of gamblers, you can count the few -prosperous ones on your fingers. Whether it be stock-market gamblers, -race track gamblers, card gamblers, or what-not, the universal law is -that they all must lose in the end. Every once in a while you read of -some famous once-rich gambler who has just died poor and forsaken, -fortune gone. The few successful ones are successful only for a short -time. And the chances of your boy being one of the successful ones is -about equal to his chances of becoming the king of England. The odds -are all against it. In playing against the dealer, or bookmaker, or -"house," the percentage is large against him. If by chance he should -win, there are two chances to one that the gambler will get it all back -and more too, at the next sitting. People say, "I will try it once more, -and I am sure to win this time, and if I do I will quit the game -forever." But the forever never comes. If they win, they will soon come -to an understanding with themselves that they will try it just once -more, to win just a little more, then stop. If they lose, they soon -agree with themselves that they will try it just once more to get back -what they lost. In either case they are bound to get back to the gaming -table, and the gamblers all know this. Hence, when the professional -gambler sees a winner leave his place, he does not frown; he only -smiles, because he knows that the winner will soon be back to drop his -winnings plus a little more. - -And what are we to do with this common enemy of mankind? Are we to sit -down and sigh, and say, "Well, people will gamble anyway, and if they -are fools enough to throw away their money that way, let them do it"; or -are we to bend our energies to suppress it? Are we to allow gambling -houses to exist in our midst, thus inviting our young men to become -victims? Are we to allow lotteries and petty gambling devices -everywhere as we do now? Are our churches to encourage the vice at their -fairs in order to make money to _redeem_ the world? No, we must stamp it -out wherever we find it. - - - - -_Wedding Bells_ - - Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been - To public feasts, where meet a public rout, - Where they that are without would fain go in, - And they that are within would fain go out. - _Sir John Davies._ - - -Let us listen, for a moment, to the merry jingle of the wedding bells, -as they echo through the corridors of the Hall of Time. What is a -wedding, and a marriage, and why? What object was sought, in the -beginning, when custom demanded a marriage ceremony before cohabitation? -Why has that ancient custom followed man to every far corner of the -globe, and why do all peoples resent any effort to destroy that custom? -Why so many different forms of ceremony, what do they mean, and why do -they differ so? - -Bolingbroke says that marriage was instituted because it was necessary -that parents should know their own respective offspring; and that, as -the mother can have no doubt that she is the mother, so a man should -have all the assurance possible that he is the father: hence the -marriage contract, and the various moral and civil rights, duties and -obligations which follow as corollaries. - -Monogamy was the original law of marriage, but in Genesis we are told -that Lamech took unto himself two wives. The Jews, in common with other -Oriental peoples, married when they were very young, but the Talmudists -forbade marriage by a male under thirteen years and a day. There was not -much ceremony, in the early days, except the removal of the bride from -her father's house to that of the bridegroom, called "taking a wife," -and in primitive ages this was done by seizure and force. The only -"ceremony" took place on the preceding day, when the marriage had been -agreed upon in advance, and consisted of a formal elaborate bath by the -bride in the presence of her female companions. In later times, marriage -ceremonies gradually became very elaborate, and have generally remained -so and became more so ever since, in all parts of the world. Abraham -appears to have the honor of having secured the first divorce in -history, for we are told he sent Hagar and her child away from him. In -Deuteronomy XXIV, it is stated that a man had the power to dispose of a -faithless wife by writing her bill of divorcement, giving it into her -hand and sending her out of his house. When a man died, without issue, -his brother had first claim upon the widow, and she could not marry -another till the brother had formally rejected her. One peculiarity of -the ancients was, that they assumed that the impending wedding of a -couple had a very depressing effect, and it was consequently the custom -for all friends and neighbors to take means to cheer up the doomed ones -by all sorts of boisterous amusements. Married life was looked upon as a -business, and perhaps a perilous one. - -Cecrops seems to have been the first to introduce among the Athenians -the formal marriage ceremony with all its solemn and binding -obligations. The ancient Greeks early decided that marriage was a -private as well as a public necessity, and the Spartans treated celibacy -as a crime. Lycurgus made laws so that those who married too late, or -unsuitably, or not at all, could be treated like ordinary criminals, and -not only was it unrespectable to be a bachelor, but it was dangerous. -Plato preached that a man should consider the welfare of his country -rather than his own pleasure, and that if he did not marry before he was -thirty-five he should be punished severely. The Spartans advocated -marriage for the reason that they wanted more children born to the -state, and when a married woman gave birth to no children she was made -to cohabit with another man. The Spartan King, Archidamus, fell in love -with and married a very little woman, which so incensed the people that -they fined him: they did not believe in marriage for love, but in -marriage for big, sturdy offspring. Often, fathers would choose brides -for their sons, and husbands for their daughters, who had never seen -each other, and compel them to marry. In Greece, until Aristotle put a -stop to it, the custom of buying wives was common. - -By the Romans, as well as by the Jews and Greeks, marriage was deemed an -imperative duty; and parents were reprehended if they did not obtain -husbands for their daughters by the time they were twenty-five. The -Roman law recognized monogamy only, and polygamy was prohibited in the -whole empire. Hence, the former became practically the rule in all -Christiandom, and was introduced into the canon law of the Eastern and -Western churches. During the time of Augustus, bachelorhood became -fashionable, and to check the evil, as well as to lessen the alarming -number of divorces, which were also getting fashionable, Augustus -imposed a wife tax on all who persisted in the luxury of celibacy. - -The superstition that some days and months are unlucky or lucky for -weddings seems to have originated with the Romans, May and February -being thought unpropitious, while June was particularly favorable to -happy marriages. These beliefs were based on things which cannot -possibly concern people of other climes and religions, and, like all -superstitions, are unfounded and absurd. - -We know very little of the marriage affairs of the ancient Egyptians, -but we do know that they were not restricted to any number of wives. In -modern Egypt, a woman can never be seen by her future husband till after -she has been married, and she is always veiled. A similar custom -prevailed in ancient Morocco, the bride being first painted and stained, -and then carried to the house of her husband-to-be, where she was -formally introduced to him. He was satisfied, however, that she would -suit him, for he had previously sent some of his female relatives to -inspect her at the bath. The Mahomedans of Barbary do not buy their -wives, like the Turks, but have portions with them. They retain in their -marriage rites many ceremonies in use by the ancient Goths and Vandals. -The married women must not show their faces, even to their fathers. The -Moors of West Barbary have practically the same customs as the -Mahomedans and the Moroccoans the groom never seeing the bride till he -is introduced to her in the bridal chamber. The modern Arabians, since -they have conformed to the Koran, marry as many wives as they please, -and buy them as they do slaves. Among the Bedouins, polygamy is allowed, -but generally a Bedouin has only one wife, who is often taken for an -agreed term, usually short,--which sounds something like the "trial -marriage" plan recently suggested by a now-famous American lady. The -wedding consists in the cutting of the throat of a young lamb, by the -bridegroom, the ceremony being completed the moment the blood falls upon -the ground. Among the Medes, reciprocal polygamy was in use, and a man -was not respectable unless he had at least seven wives, nor a woman -unless she had five husbands. In Persia, living people were sometimes -married to the dead, and often to their nearest relations. In the -seventeenth century, the nobility might have as many wives as they -pleased, but the poor commonality were limited to seven: and they might -part with them at discretion. - -Trial marriages were also in vogue in Persia, and seldom was a marriage -contract made for life. A new wife was a common luxury. Persian -etiquette demands that before the master of the house no person must -pronounce the name of the wife, but rather refer to her as "How is the -daughter of (naming her mother or father)?" - -The Chinese believe that marriages are decreed by heaven, and that those -who have been connected in a previous existence become united in this. -Men are allowed to keep several concubines, but they are entirely -dependent on the legitimate wife, who is always reckoned the most -honorable. The Chinese marry their children when they are very young, -sometimes as soon as they are born. - -In Japan, polygamy and fornication are allowed, and fathers sell or hire -out their daughters with legal formalities for limited terms. In Finland -it was the custom for a young woman to wear suspended at her girdle the -sheath of a knife, as a sign that she was single and wanted a husband. -Any young man who was enamored of her, obtained a knife in the shape of -the sheath, and slyly slipped it in the latter, and if the maiden -favored the proposal, she would keep the knife, otherwise she would -return it. - -In another part of Finland, a young couple were allowed to sleep -together, partly, if not completely dressed, for two weeks, which -custom, called bundling or tarrying, was common in Wales and the New -England States, and is supposed not to have resulted in immoral -consequences. - -In Scotland, the custom has long prevailed of lifting the bride over the -threshold of her new home, which custom is probably derived from the -Romans. The threshold, in many countries, is thought to be a sacred -limit or boundary, and is the subject of much superstition. In the Isle -of Man, a superstition prevails that it is very lucky to carry salt in -the pocket, and the natives always do so when they marry. They also have -the international custom of throwing an old shoe after the bridegroom as -he left his home, and also one or more after the bride as she left her -home. In Wales the old-time weddings were characterized by several -curious customs, such as Bundlings, Chainings, Sandings, Huntings and -Tithings. In Britain, before Caesar's invasion, an indiscriminate (or -but slightly restricted) intermixture of the sexes was the practice, and -polygamy prevailed; and it was not uncommon for several brothers to have -only one wife among them, paternity being determined by resemblance. - -The foregoing facts and customs do not show the evolution of marriage, -because in some countries the same forms and customs prevail to-day that -prevailed six thousand years ago. As civilization advances, however, we -find that the tendency is toward a more rigid enforcement of the -marriage contract, and strictly against polygamy. The sanctity of the -home and respect for marriage vows have not only passed into the statute -law of civilized nations, but they have become proverbial with most all -of the enlightened people. It must also be observed, however, that at -the present time there seems to be a tendency in this country to make -marriage more difficult and divorce more easy. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's What's What in America, by Eugene V. 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