STUDIES IN SOCIAL LIFE: A REVIEW OK THE PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES, AND PROBLEMS OF SOCIETY. BY GEORGE C. LORIMER, LL. D. Author of "The Great Conflict;' "Jepus the World's Savior," "Isms Old and New." * * * " I call that mind free, which protects itself against the usur- l>tions of society, 'which does not cower to human opinion , which feels itxtlf accountable to a higher tribunal than man'*, which respects a hiylH-r low than fashion, which respects itself too much to be the slave or tool f the many or the few. ' CHAKNING. LONDON, E. C. SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RTV1NGTON, 188, FLEET STREET. (All rights reserved.) FROM WILLIAM C. RICHARDS TO ROBERT BROWNING. Thy genius, BROWNING, to this book hath lent Like Sculptor's skill in some cathedral shrine A subtle charm of grace to its design, And to its chapters matchless ornament, Not vainly to thy wells its Author went For draughts of truth and wisdom half divine ; The purer-one must draw there with deep line And think as deep to catch their strong intent. For texts so rare that fit so rare his themes No less to thee the Author owes than brings His own, and, by foreglance, his readers praise ; While to his friend the well-blent service seems Complete, as when some world-famed tenor sings, And sermons match the singer's lofty lays. 790473 TO MY WIFE: Tfike them. Low. the book and me together: }\liere the heart lies, let tlie brain lie also.' 3 CONTENTS. I. THE SOLIDARITY OF SOCIETY 11 II. THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY 56 III. THE INEQUALITIES OF SOCIETY ^117 IV. THE SUFFERINGS OF SOCIETY 195 V. THE VICES OF SOCIETY 248 VI. THE IMPOSITIONS OF SOCIETY 316 VII. THE DIVISIONS OF SOCIETY 341 VIII. THE AMUSEMENTS OF SOCIETY. 377 IX. THE EDUCATION OF SOCIETY. 414 X. THE HOPE OF SOCIETY 454 I am sitting by niy window looking out upon the sea. The waves are rolling royally and are fighting with each other convulsively, the incoming billow seeking to overtake and overwhelm the one that is nearing the shore, and all the rest apparently striving to break away from fellowship with the ocean of which they form a part, and with which they cannot help but blend. As I gaze on the restless, surging waters I think of Society. That, too, is a troubled ocean, bounded by sandy or rocky coast lines of laws and institutions, against which human beings hurtle themselves with many a moan, and from which rise turbulent and yeasty factions threatening each other with destruc- tion, pursuing each other mercilessly, engulfing each other pitilessly, and seeming as though they would disown the common nature which they share and which asserts itself in them all. This comparison might be continued almost indefinitely. As the wide sea is a unit in its depths, though torn by winds and divided on its surface, and as it has.expanses of calm as well as of storm ; and as it has currents that counteract each other and tides that advance and retreat ; and as it has voices of agony responding to cruel torments of the tempest, and other voices of needless complaining when its whitest waves beat gently upon the beach, so, likewise, in Society. There, also, one- ness of interest underlies diversities of action ; there antagonisms sweep onward side by side or cross each other's course ; there sweet seasons of peace and prosperity are enjoyed, and again times of con- flict and adversity are encountered ; there, also, is progress, and then retrogression and progress once more ; and there, too, are cries, shrieks and repinings, wrung from suffering thousands by the hand of oppression, and wailings and murmurings unwarranted and unjusti- fiable. Of late much attention has been given to social problems, but not more than they deserve, for they are the vital questions of the age. To their earnest consideration I have devoted for several years the time that could be spared from professional pursuits, and in this volume present the results of my observation, reading and reflection. Frequently have I lectured on these subjects, and some traces of the platform will be found in their treatment. This defect, as some critics may regard it, was partly unavoidable, as the habit of direct address cultivated by one who speaks much in public cannot readily be overcome. But on the other hand, it may be said by way of apology, if apology is needed, this style possesses some advantages, especially in the direction of freedom, familiarity and personal appeal, and I felt that I ought not to deprive myself altogether of its charm and power. 9 It may be of interest to the reader to learn in advance what is the governing idea of the book which he is invited to peruse. In very brief terms it can be stated. I am a firm believer in American liberty, in contradistinction to the theories of liberty current in France and Germany, and I am persuaded that social amelioration can only be promoted by the faithful application of its principles. My aim has been to define these principles, to compare their working with those of other systems, to show how they are related to religion and educa- tion, to portray the evils which result from their violation and the vicious causes which hinder their beneficent action, and to make plain what reforms are needed to render them effective in dealing with existing and perplexing problems. It may be permitted me to add, that in discharging my self-imposed task I have not sought after scenic and sensational originality, nor to invent strange remedies for the sake of inventing. Mine the humbler ambition expressed by Robert Browning: I like to use the thing I find, Bather than strive at unf ound novelty : I make the best of the old, nor try for new. This book has already passed through one fire, being partially destroyed in the great conflagration which wrecked the magnificent buildings occupied by its publishers, and it has been restored to shape with much labor and difficulty. But for this disaster it would have appeared last June. And now another fire awaits it that of the critics. If, however, they shall treat it as generously as they have other volumes from my pen, and if not more of it shall be charred with censure than went up in the flames on that dreadful night in May, I shall not murmur at the ordeal. But whatever may be their judgment, I have honestly worked With powers appointed me, since powers denied Concern me nothing. GEORGE C. LORIMER. OCEAN HOUSE, SWAMPSCOTT, Mass., August, 1886. THE SOLIDAKITY OF SOCIETY. Each creature holds an insular point in space: Yet what man stirs a finger, breathes a sound, But all the multitudinous beings round, In all the countless worms, with time and place For their conditions, down to the central base, Thrill, haply, in vibration and rebound, Life answering life across the vast profound, In full antiphony. Mrs. Browning. Be Hate that fruit, or Love that fruit, It forwards the general deed of Man; And each of the many helps to recruit The life of the race by a general plan, Each living his own to boot, Robert Browning. SOCIETY has been called "the standing miracle of this world. " Its wonderful indestructibility would seem to warrant this representation. Variable in many respects as the surface of the earth, in other respects it is as perma- nent. Generations with their crimes, their ambitions, their sorrows, and despair have passed into oblivion, and new generations, with perishable innocence, joy, and hope have followed, only to vanish as ignominiously as their predeces- sors ; but Society, like nature's "solemn temples" and "the great globe itself," though assailed by numerous foes, has resisted decay and death. It may be compared to a light-house shedding its rays over the advancing and re- ceding tides of men and of races, which no billows have U 12 STUDIES IN SOCIAL LIFE. been able to submerge and no lightnings have succeeded .in wrecking. .Taough mutable in form, being plastic and "versatile, arid though frequently modified and diversified in structuicy it has remained, and yet remains, in its essential features -sttiblc.' persistent and unyielding. Shaken it has often been, but never subverted. Political revolutions have dashed their lava-like waves against it, or have yawned like earthquakes to engulf it; fanatical conspiracies have threatened to overwhelm it, and dreamy illusions have attempted to undermine^t; but, though at times its existence has been problematical and its preservation mar- velous, and though its character has suffered from these violent and subtle antagonists, it has never in reality finally succumbed. In the long run it has always triumphed. And if it has withstood the disintegrating tyranny and licentiousness of Nero the vicious, and of Louis the Great, Avith all the other disreputable creatures who have filled the thrones of the world; and if it has victoriously com- bated the disorganizing lawlessness of Marat the feline, and of Robespierre the "strait-laced," with all their attendant sans culottes ; and if it has survived the misleading visions presented in "The Eternal Gospel" of Joachim de Fiore, "the Utopia" of More, "The Civitas Solis" of Campa- nella, "The Oceana" of Harrington, and "The Salent" of Fenelon, we may well believe that its perpetuity is as- sured to the future. Society has been, is now, and doubt- less will be, forevermore; or at least until the general day of doom, if ever such a day shall break with annihilating hor- rors on a panic-stricken universe. This continuity is, apparently, deeply grounded both in the nature of man and in the providence of God. Plato contends in his Republic, and in his dialogue entitled Pro- tagorus, as Aristotle does in his Politics, that there is in all men affinity for the social state. Locke also argues that God has made them not only with an inclination and under THE SOCIAL STATE. 13 a necessity to have fellowship with those of their own kind, but has furnished them with language, which is the great instrument and common tie of brotherhood. And Fergu- son has confirmed these testimonies by showing that "man- kind have always wandered or settled, agreed or quarreled in troops and companies." Likewise the Frenchman, Alfred Fouillee (La Science Sociale p. 421.), maintains that the same law which produced the worlds and the con- stellations, produced also human society. His words are: " Les metnes lois qui ont produit les mondes et les constella- tions prodnisent done les societes humaines, avec cette differ- ence que ce qui etait dans les uns lumiere exterieure et mouvement fatal devient dans les autres lumiere interieure conscience et mouvement volontaire. " The discrimination he here draws does not detract in the least from the conviction that both domains have proceeded from a necessary and irreversible law. Indeed, history conclusively proves that the social instinct the societatis appetitus of Grotius is strong, that it impels the race to combine and organize, and that when such combinations are impaired or deranged it inevitably restores them in the old forms or in fresh ones. Thus then, Society is not artificial in its origin, but nat- ural and Divine; and, therefore, as long as man remains man, and as long as God rules over the world, we may con- fidently expect it in some shape to exist. But in what shape? We know that its spirit, institutions, methods, and manners have undergone frequent changes, and that it has never yet attained to such a degree of perfection as to dispense with the service of reformers. Evils have ever afflicted it, and unquestionably there is still room for in- definite improvement. How it shall be molded, how fashioned and ordered, that in the future it may more ade- quately and beneficently discharge its functions than in the past, is the vital question of the hour. To its solution all kinds of writers have directed, and are still directing 14 STUDIES IK SOCIAL LIFE. their energies ; and we only need mention the names of Mazade, Lassalle, Proudhon, Karl Marx, Elise Reclus, Bakounine, Henry George, William Godwin Moody, Will- iam Morris, Owen, J. Stuart Mill, Fawcett, Cairnes, Thornton, Laveleye, Thorold Rogers, Carlyle, Ruskin, Herbert Spencer, Maurice, Kingsley, Thomas Hughes, Renan, and a host of others, to gain an idea of the wide range and varied character of the discussion now taking place. These men, and thousands of the purest and most intelligent everywhere, sympathize with them, are painfully impressed by the inequalities, sufferings and apparent hopelessness of modern times. They raise their voices against wrongs, oppressions, corruptions and stupidities of the age, and suggest as remedies schemes, more or less rad- ical, such as the Phalsterianism of Fourier, the Peoples Banks of Proudhon, the Anarchism of Bakounine, the Land Nationalization of George, and the six-hour law of Moody; or they indulge in fierce invectives, or melancholy retrospects, and gloomy forebodings, such as distinguish the wearisome and endless complaints of Carlyle and Rus- kin. But however they may differ from each other in views, they seem to be one in spirit. They are all seeking the true welfare of Society, and are alike striving to rouse all peoples to fresh endeavors in behalf of its deliverance from the curses which now disfigure and debase its char- acter. Proudhon would classify them together as "Social- ists," and, adopting his interpretation of the term, we are content to do the same. They constitute in reality a party believing in social progress, and laboring for its achieve- ment, in contradistinction from those who are satisfied with things as they are, and who question whether improvement is possible. Proudhon, after the Journees de Juin in 1848, when interrogated by a magistrate, said that he had been contemplating "the sublime horrors of the cannonade." "But," inquired the official, "are you not then a Social- PERSONAL EXPLANATION'S. 15 1st?" "Yes, assuredly, I am a Socialist. " "What then is Socialism?" asked his examiner. "Socialism," replied Proudhon, "is any aspiration toward the amelioration of society." "If this be the case, then," the magistrate answered, "we are all Socialists." "That is precisely my opinion," quietly responded Proudhon. In this sense then we are warranted in applying the name to the multitude, a multitude ever increasing, of those who seek in some way to abate the evils which burden and afflict humanity. We know that this is not the technical meaning of the word, and we are aware that it is employed in a narrower and more objectionable way ; but at the same time we cannot think of any other that as fittingly characterizes the grow- ing party which, however it may be split into factions and may be divided into extremests and moderates, is intent on social amelioration and advancement and has hearty hope of ultimate success. In the ranks of this party the writer of these pages has been enrolled for some years, and still earnestly desires the triumph of the cause it advocates. With this end in view he presumes to contribute the present volume. He is not a pessimist. While the sufferings of the race are great, he does not regard them as being as terrible as in former ages; and while there are fearful wrongs to be rectified, he does not think that they are as gigantic as some from which the world has already been delivered. He is not blind to the woeful and awful sights and sounds of modern civilization, and yet he sings: The good of ancient times let others state ; I think it lucky I was born so late. He is not infatuated with yesterday, neither does he unduly extol nor depreciate to-day, nor does he doubt the promise of a better to-morrow. But he believes if that morrow ever dawns it will be through the faithful and earnest en- 10 STUDIES IN SOCIAL LIFE. deavors of those who, seeing abuses, injustice and corrup- tion, seek by tongue, pen, and hand their utter extermina- tion. With this end before him he has written. lie confesses at the outset to a strong bias on the side of the poor, the illiterate, and despairing. It is their cause he would particularly plead. While he dare not go as far as Basil, and say "The rich are thieves," or, with John Chrysostom, assert that they are "brigands," and that "everything ought to be in common," he yet believes that the excessively affluent under present social conditions have too much power, too many exclusive privileges, and, in some respects, constitute the most dangerous class of the "dangerous classes "of a community. He has found it impossible to keep from his mind such questions as per- plexed Bossuet when he wrote: "Why should one fortun- ate mortal live in abundance, able to satisfy his every little useless fancy, while another, every whit his equal, cannot maintain his poor family, or even procure for them suffi- cient food to allay the gnawing pangs of hunger?" How frequently has this and similar queries agitated and con- fused mankind; and how natural, when they have been considered, for thought and speech to champion the inter- ests of the wretched, even to the extent of doing injustice to the favored. This extreme partisanship is wrong. The writer of these words is fully conscious of this; and yet, when cruel inequalities force themselves on his attention, he finds himself falling into it. Perhaps it is unavoidable. Certainly the wealthy have defenders enough; and after all, it is not their condition Social Science seeks to improve, but that of the toiling, struggling masses. God knows I would not, if I may be allowed to speak in the first person, willingly do them any wrong. But I am honest enough to avow my sympathies. They are on the side of the lowly and poor. I would lighten their burdens, I would dry their tears, I would diminish their sorrows, increase their PROUDHON 's PRAYER. 17 joys, multiply their privileges, stimulate their ambition, and save them from vice, ignorance, and despair, and from the equally fatal political and social illusions by which false friends are luring them to ruin. The more I think on their deplorable condition, the more intently do I find my- self passionately inquiring with Elliot: When wilt Thou save the people? O, God of Mercy, when? The people, Lord, the people! Not thrones and crowns, but men! Flowers of thy heart, O God, are they! Let them not pass like weeds away, Their heritage a sunless day! God save the people. And now, as I commit to the public my reflections on the Principles, Practices, and Problems of Society, in which I have pointed out the elevation that may be reached, the prosperity that may be mastered, and the freedom that may be attained, may I not hope for a careful reading and a candid judgment? I have tried to put my soul in my book, and now, as it goes forth on its mission, I cannot but imitate Proudhon, and invoke the Divine blessing to attend it. Nor can language of mine as adequately represent the spirit in which I have written, or the deep emotions by which I have been moved, or the dependence I have felt 011 the Unseen Being for success in my undertak- ing, as that of this same Proudhon, who closed his remark- able Memoire on Property with these striking and sublime petitions : O, God of Liberty! God of Equality! Thou God, who hast placed in my heart the sentiment of justice before my reason compre- hended it, hear my ardent prayer. Thou hast formed my thought, thou hast directed my studies, thou hast separated my spirit from curiosity and my heart from attachment, in order that I should pub- lish the truth before the master and the slave. I have spoken as thou hast given me the power and talent; it remains for thee to complete 2 18 STUDIES IN SOCIAL LIEE. thy work. Thou knowest whether I may have sought rny interest or glory. O God of Liberty! may my memory perish if humanity may but be free; if I may but see in my obscurity the people finally in- structed, if noble instructors but enlighten it, if disinterested hearts but guide it! * * * Then the great and the small, the rich and the poor, will unite in one ineffable fraternity; and all to- gether, chanting a new hymn, will re-erect thy altar, O God of lib- erty and equality. Dr. Draper, in his Conflict Between Religion and Off- ence, ascribes the wonderful changes of modern times to an extraordinary development of "individualism" in the six- teenth century. He finds its embodiment in a sturdy German monk Luther who asserted its rights under theological forms; and if he had searched farther he would have found it being clothed in the robes of philosophy by another German Leibnitz. Great indeed was this revo- lution. It is well known that the old governments were essentially paternal in character, just as Russia is today. They regarded all citizens as members of the body politic,, and the King or Emperor as the head, the duty of the one being to submit, and the right of the other being to rule and judge. The chief legislated for his subjects, deter- mined their religious faith for them, prescribed their con- duct, fixed their wages, and even went so far as to regulate their food and apparel. When Bossuet, under Louis XIV., taught that "Kings are gods, and share in a manner the Divine independence;" and when Hobbes sanctioned the notion of unlimited sovereignty, it is evident no bounds could be set to governmental powers and demands; and that, as in Peru, the Inca " was the source from which everything flowed," and as in Dahame all men are slaves to the monarch, so the personality of the citizen must have been ignored and practically nullified by the organized tyranny of the absolute authority which these celebrated authors approved. Where it reigned, freedom of thought. PATERNALISM. 19 freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, with all other natural and inalienable rights, were necessarily treated with disdain and contempt. Traces of this principle are still to v be found in some of the most civilized nations of Europe; and a new tendency in the same direction appears in Com- munism, which, substituting the State for the king, would have the individual owned by the former instead of the latter; for, as Herbert Spencer teaches, his personal liberty must be sacrificed in proportion as his mental, moral and material welfare becomes the care of the Commonwealth. But while remnants of antique "Paternalism" survive, and while efforts are being made to revive it in a more popu- lar form, the revolt from it which distinguished the over- throw of feudalism, the rise of constitutional government in England, and the revolutions in America and France, was too determined and radical for a reactionary movement to promise encouraging progress. The peril and evil of our times, particularly in this country, are rather of an opposite character. Emancipation from the political and social regime of the past necessarily carried with it enlarged, and, perhaps, exaggerated notions regarding the importance of the indi- vidual. Hence, we hear little else to day than cries, pro- testations, and declarations about personal rights: rights of property, rights of conscience, rights of labor, rights of capital, rights of women, rights of children, rights of trade, and other rights too innumerable for specific mention here, which are being so highly extolled as to overshadow the sense of duty, fill the air with the loud echo of their de- mands, and are bringing classes, sexes, and pursuits into deadly hostility. In a word, modern liberty has so power- fully stimulated individualism that it has actually grown into egoism, and the result is intense sordidness, compara- tive disregard for the welfare of others, and the supremacy of business maxims subversive of that Gospel which, accord- 20 STUDIES IK SOCIAL LIFE. ing to Sissy Jupe, reveals the first principle of Political Economy in the Golden Rule "Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you." Even the benevolence of the age is largely tainted by this morbid spirit. The philoso- phers in several instances have contributed to this drift from the fair ideal of brotherhood, and of brotherly sacri- fice, which it was Christ's purpose to actualize among men. Hobbes maintains that in doing good to others our ultimate aim is really to do good to ourselves, and that, consequently, what we call love for others is simply love for oneself. Mandeville and Helvetius adopt a similar view; and it has so far permeated current thought that much of our philan- thropy is merely a refined species of selfishness, a method of gratifying ourselves by gratifying somebody else. The greatness, the profitableness, the loveliness, the. luxury of kindness, generosity and sympathy are insisted on too strongly for the sweets of real disinterestedness to be tasted by our generation. In a very large number of cases pecuni- ary aid can only be obtained for the poor, or for humani- tarian movements and public enterprises by a covert 'appeal to the vanity or conceit of the donors. They are usually flattered extensively, and sometimes excessively; their de- sire for personal happiness is skillfully excited; their crav- ing for the approval and applause of their fellow-beings is judiciously nursed and fondled, and they are thus persuaded into doing what they would otherwise leave unattempted. Others have natures peculiarly susceptible. They are easily affected to pain by recitals of sorrows and sufferings, and often extend a helping hand more to allay their own storm- ful feelings than to minister to calm elsewhere. As in benevolence, so in right-living, self-interest is mot merely acknowledged to be the ruling principle, but is gloried in as the supreme law which all are bound to obey. Integ- rity, temperance, and faithfulness to obligations are com- mended as contributing to the welfare and peace of those ETHICS OF SELFISHNESS. 21 who regard them, and, therefore, as preferable to their op- posites. The policy of right-doing, not the rightness of right-doing, is uppermost in the majority of minds, and practical ethics are reduced to the low level of a scheme to check, balance and adjust the operations of practical sel- fishness. Manifestly, Hobbes is in the ascendant; but, not- withstanding the unhappy prevalence of his theory, it is base and unsound. It is possible, whatever his school of philosphy may say to the contrary, to be moved to right deeds and good deeds by higher and nobler considerations than its teachings allow. As Bishop Butler has shown in his own vigorous way, "If sympathy with another is to be construed into self-love because it is I who feel it, then by the same rule my admiration and praise of another must be resolved into self-praise and self-admiration, and I am the whole time delighted with myself, to wit, with my own thoughts and feelings, while I pretend to be delighted with another." Assuredly deep feeling in behalf of suffering may arise without any thought of self, just as in the case of true homage to genius; but it may be enough to say in reply to every elaborate defense of this calculating morality, that agreeableness and usefulness are not ethical concep- tions at all. What a man does merely because it is agreeable or advantageous, -common sense decides is not necessarily virtuous. Such a basis of conduct tends to subvert morality, and hence the rapid spread of insincerity, heartlessness, char- latanry and corruption, during recent years. And while it thus pollutes the springs of social life it fosters lawlessness, rudeness and anarchy in the State. Individualism devel- oped into windy, blatant, self-infatuated egoism, brooks but little control on the part of constituted authorities; and recognizing no personage greater than self, and no obliga- tions higher than those which impel self to secure first and last the interests of self, it takes care to do as little as possible for the general welfare of the community. It is 22 STUDIES IX SOCIAL LITE. not only its own pope, it is also its own president and chief- justice as well. Respect, reverence, obedience, are virtues it never cultivates, and without these civic order is difficult, if not impossible. Carlyle, has said, " It is not by mechan- ism, but by religion; not by self-interest, but by loyalty, that men are governed or governable," and we are therefore warranted in expressing apprehensions that unless the pres- ent abnormal growth of individualism can be arrested we shall wake up at last to scenes of strife and suffering as terrible and horrible as any which have disgraced the annals of our race. To avert these possible calamities, an effort should be made before it is too late to arouse Society to a distinct and intense consciousness of its solidarity. By this we do not mean to advocate the opposite extreme, the undue de- preciation of individualism, or to recommend that it be superseded by excessive government control ; but that the close and permanent relations between the unit and the totality of mankind should be pointed out, and their bear- ings for good and evil be clearly and sharply displayed. We admit that we are employing a term to express this thought of very doubtful character. The French, from whose language it is derived, usually inscribe it on the ban- ners of Socialism to denote its distinctive principles ; but we do not adopt the word for any such purpose. \Ve have not in mind any form of Society when we suggest that it con- tains an antidote to the mischievous egoism of our day. Real and true ' * solidarity " is not an affair of state-craft. not an artificial arrangement to equalize the citizens of a Commonwealth; but is rather that mysterious, natural principle which weaves one human personality in with another, and which blends, combines, and almost consoli- dates them together. The fact is, inexplicable links unite the separate and separable in umbers of our race, and its aggregate is more than a formal mechanical organization of THE PRESENT AXD THE PAST. 23 multitudinous parts. There is such a necessary, vital, inner, and spiritual coalescence between its members, such an indivisibility of interests and indissolvableness of rela- tions, that its wholeness is as one huge body, having a com- mon consciousness and a common soul. The Apostle Paul employs this figure when referring to a special and particu- lar fellowship : ' ' For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ; " and "whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it, or one mem- ber be honored all the members rejoice with it " a repre- sentation as applicable to Society as it is to that segment of which the church is composed. To vary the illustration, individuality may be compared to the distinct waves that rise and fall while social unity may be likened to the undi- vided ocean of which the billows form a part; it may be compared to the stars that shed radiance on the earth, while social wholeness may be likened to the light from whence they derive their common lustre; the first is as the leaves and branches of a tree, the second is as the tree itself; the first is as the wheat and tares, the second is as the roots inextricably intertwined and interlaced. Of the reality of the doctrine thus defined, and of its preeminent importance, there can hardly be any question. Let us not forget that we of the present are creations of the past. What we are, whether for weal or woe, is largely due to the generations gone. Our roots are in former times, and the direction of our growth is deter- mined by influences that blow from the realms of the dead. If the doctrine of the conservation of force is true, that- no physical energy is wasted' and no material element is de- structible, but only convertible, and transformable, then it must follow that no thought, idea, or endeavor is perish- able. And if the intellectual and spiritual forces of the world are as durable as the physical, being only susceptible 24 STUDIES IN SOCIAL LIFE. to modifications and transmutations, then we who live in this age have been shaped and directed by the inexhausti- ble energies of ages ended. We are thus identified with humanity from the very beginning 'of its existence. Not all our art or skill can dissever the connection. Try as we may to rend the tie, we shall still find it to be impossible. In vain shall we strive to extricate ourselves from the past. In our thinking, feeling, planning, working, it will in spite of us obtrude itself, and at times will perplex us to decide whether we really belong to this era or to one lying in the morning twilight of history. But not only are we subject to influences whose origin is hidden in the re- mote antiquity, we also inherit from our ancestors taints and tendencies, mental and bodily peculiarities and char- acteristics. "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." Yes, the moral as well as physical current flows from sire to son. In that mys- terious chamber where life is elaborated, the likeness of the parent, with more or less accuracy, is transmitted to the child, as the face of a man is imprinted on the photo- grapher's plate, hidden in the darkness of the camera. Each birth is as the restoration of some old portrait ; a process, that revives faded colors, and that once more fixes the outlines of features that had well nigh become indis- tinct. Whatever theoretical objections we may entertain to this law, it is as unquestionable as the law of gravitation. The hypothesis of the evolutionists derives its greatest de- gree of probability from this certainty. Heredity underlies the reasoning both of Darwin and Spencer, and without it their conclusions would lack even the shadow of a founda- tion. We need hardly remind you that the Bible confirms this view, and in the clearest terms insists on the transmis- sibility not merely of physical, but of moral qualities as well. Corruption, scrofulousness, and general viciousness may be in the blood; but they may as truly be in the spirit. THE LAW OF DESCENT. 25 Predisposition to righteousness, devoutness of soul, or men- tal aptness for particular pursuits may at an early period discover itself in the child, and not unfrequently be traced to its progenitors. And what, as George Eliot has so well argued, can be more reasonable? For Shall the trick of nostril and of lips Descend through generations, and the soul That moves within our frame like God in worlds Convulsing, urging, melting, withering Imprint no record, leave no documents Of her great history? There can be but one answer to the question. If the doctrine of descent is true at all, the spiritual must be as transmissible as the physical; and if we in the present are the receptacles of the past, and if the future cannot but re- ceive the present, then is one generation indeed bound up in all the others, and the solidarity of humanity is a very real and a very solemn fact. Additional considerations must, we think, increase the force of this conclusion. Take the race at any one period of its existence, say our own, and observe how close the re- lations are that unite its myriad members, and how the well-being of one is interwoven with the prosperity of all. Dr. South wisely said: "If indeed a man could be wicked and a villain to himself alone, the mischief would be so much the more tolerable." But that is impossible. As the apostle wrote, "no man liveth to himself/' so no man sinneth to himself alone. His waywardness involves the innocent, compromises and afflicts those who have faith- fully reproved him for his course. The drunkard impov- erishes his family, the gambler disgraces it, and the crim- inal brings upon it that ban which oftentimes is so undeserved, and which is yet enforced so mercilessly. Like a stone falling in the mire, that besplashes the unfor- tunate bystander, the descent of the good into evil bespat- 20 STUDIES IX SOCIAL LIFE. ters his relatives and friends. Their garments are befouled with his befoulment; and the shame which he has merited they frequently feel more keenly than he does or can. The only relief to this dark fact is that on the other side the operation of this law is equally apparent. " If one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it ; " if "one sinner does much harm/' one righteous man does much good. He who wins for himself an honorable name cannot, if he would, retain its lustre to himself. It will irradiate those who are allied to him, and if it does not do so irresistibly his friends will take good care to place themselves in the way of its brightness. If you want to know how numerous your relatives are, acquire fame or wealth, or obtain the nomination to high political office, and you will speedily be amazed at the extent of your family. " What! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?" I can readily conceive a successful aspirant for presidential dignity exclaiming, as his eye wanders despair- ingly over the multitude who claim some degree of fellow- ship with his blood. But, even apart from such self-evi- dent selfishness, the nobility achieved by one is shared by many. Father and mother feel the triumph of their son as though it were their own, and carry themselves with a prouder air because it has been won; and many a child of renowned parentage rests with serene satisfaction on the laurels wherewith his house is crowned, nor makes the least endeavor to increase its glory. Even entire com- munities have a sense of elevation when one of their num- ber performs some notable feat or makes some remarkable discovery. We rejoice to belong to the race whose history is distinguished by the names of such men as Hampden, Shakspeare, Washington, Franklin, Morse, Bryant, and Stephenson. The realization of their greatness somehow ministers to our own. They seem to be part of ourselves, IXTERDKPKXDKNM K. 27 as though we lived in their life, and as though in some in- explicable way our being merged itself in theirs. . Have you ever explored the significance of our interde- pendence in labor? Many workers are indispensable to every important result, whether it be social, religious, politi- cal, or mechanical. There is no invention that can be ascribed solely to one mind, 110 revolution and no reform that can be credited to one individual, just as there is no community whose welfare is separable from diversity. . We are in the habit of recognizing some conspicuous person as the author of important movements, but there is never one who deserves to be lifted up so high that in fixing on him eyes of admiration his co-workers should be overlooked. But for them he never would have succeeded, as but for him all their toil would or might have been in vain. Mrs. Browning writes: 'Twill employ Seven men, they say, to make a perfect pin: Who makes the head, content to miss the point, Who makes the point, agreed to leave the joint; And if a man should cry, " I want a pin, And I must make it straightway, head and point," His wisdom is not worth the pin he wants. Seven men to a pin, and not a man too much. And how many for a newspaper, a railroad, a steamboat, a factory, an invention, a discovery, a reform, or a revolu- tion? How many to direct, sustain, and shape that com- plicated machinery called civilization? One industry is dependent on another, and "the eye" of the inventor "can not say to the hand" of the mechanic, "I have no need of thee;" "nor again the head "of the thinker "to the feet" of the toiler, " I have no need of thee; nay, much more, those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary." The writer can not say to the printer, I have no need of thee; nor the manufacturer 28 STUDIES IN SOCIAL LIFE. to the producer, I have no need of thee; nor the architect to the builder, I have no need of thee; nor the jeweler to the miner, I have no need of thee; nor the miner to the smelter, I have no need of thee; nor* the merchant to the trader, I have no need of thee; nor the citizen to the states- man, I have no need of thee; nor the navigator to the astronomer, I have no need of thee. Nor, indeed, can any calling, however high, say to any, however low, I have no need of thee; for they are all so mortised, dovetailed, and sutured into each other, so ingrafted and intertwisted, that the suspension of the one would jeopardize the rest. And if to this interdependence we add the reality of sympathy, whose waves like the currents of atmosphere and seas which course about our globe, reviving and refreshing, flow from heart to heart, and even from land to land, making all sorrows common and all sufferings personal, while they bear on their bosom strength and comfort, the doctrine of solid- arity w r ill be so fully confirmed that henceforward it will become a vital part of our every-day working creed. To us it is singular that any person should permit ideas of independence, or the institutions of freedom, or any- thing else to obscure the inexorable reality of this principle in social relations. Yet, as we have already intimated, nothing in our times is more common. Many people who acknowledge its abstract truth are inexcusably blind to its actual operations in the concrete, and seem to proceed on the supposition that it is not practically applicable to the welfare and advancement of humanity. At least they justify the suspicion that they believe themselves exempt from personal allegiance to the law of solidarity, and may tamper with it, and disregard it, without injury to com- munity or detriment to themselves. There is no delusion more fatal, and none that ought to be more unsparingly rebuked. Consider for a moment how utterly impossible it is for any of us to evade all responsibility for the condition of RESPONSIBILITY FOR OTHERS 29 Society, and how absolutely futile the hope that we can live in its fellowship and yet exercise no influence on its destiny. It is not something outside of ourselves, something from which we can be separated,, our dreaming to the contrary notwithstanding. \Ye may retire to our chamber and read accounts of royal pageants, of kingly splendors, of Vander- bilt balls, of expensive opera festivals, and moralizing, ex- claim, "Oh! the pomps and vanities of Society!" as though we had no earthly concern in these brilliant move- ments; or we may meditate on political struggles, fraudu- lent elections, rioting in the streets, battlings in the east or west, outrages committed on the innocent, and wrongs and cruelties perpetrated on the defenceless, and indignantly murmur against the awful things that go on in Society, as though we were unharmed by them and necessarily unblam- able for them; or we may reflect on the sufferings of millions, their poverty, anguish, and despair, and with tears in our eyes and sorrow in our heart, declaim against the heartlessness of Society, as though we could not under any circumstances be as heartless as the rest. But this frontier line, after all, is purely imaginary; there is no such abyss between ourselves and Society as we suppose. There is not a change in its affairs, nor an evil tolerated, nor a vice defended, nor a right resisted, nor a good assailed, in which we are not interested, and for which we are not more or less accountable. When the degraded and reckless classes are neglected, and their unclean habits and deprav- ed conduct breed malaria and death, are we not exposed to peril, and if we fall a victim to their irregularities may we not simply be paying the penalty of our selfish disregard of their welfare? Their excesses and corruptions may murder as surely as Cain who slew his brother Abel; but in this instance, Abel himself may be largely responsible for the crime. A low moral sense, combined with ignorance and passion, may seek to avenge its real or fancied wrongs by 30 STUDIES IN" SOCIAL LIFE. applying dynamite, not only to public buildings, but to the inequalities which divide, hoping in this way to explode social order and blow tip the very throne of Providence. We may feel no concern in these violent proceedings, may smile complacently on their partial successes, and yet they may ultimately shatter and consume both our property and life. Thus, then, whether we like it or not, and whether we are conscious of it or not, the law of solidarity asserts itself in the practical affairs of the world, and stub- bornly insists that neither human happiness nor prosperity can be realized apart from its recognition, appliance and general utilization. The opinion prevails, and we shall not controvert it at this point, if at all, that there must always be aristocracies of blood as in England, of culture as in Germany, or of money as in America. Whatever may be said in favor of them sep- arately or together, they are alike open to the objection that they are usually self -conceited and self-contained, and being exempt from many of the ills of life, feel exempt also from many of its obligations. The feudal barons resisted every encroachment on their oppressive privileges; the medieval priests would never lessen their exactions, though multi- tudes were on the verge of starvation; the French nobility of a hundred years ago resented taxation and pleaded their ancient rights; and in the same spirit the upper classes of today are unwilling to deny themselves various indul- gences and gratifications for the sake of the people. Now as in the past, it is almost a gospel with them that every man should look after himself first, last, and altogether, and should never hesitate to build up his own fortune even at the expense of his neighbors. Indeed they are so self-satis- fied that they come to look on iniquities and wrongs perpe- trated by themselves as totally distinct in character from similar deeds committed by the unthinking and degraded. Augustus very likely saw no injustice in his murderous hate MANIFOLD EXTREMES. 31 against Anthony, when having divided the world with him and Lepidus, he desired his death that he might reign over it alone; Charlemagne doubtless palliated his cruel conduct when he shut up his brother Carloman in a cloister, and cut off the heads of all Saxons who were taller than his sword was long that he might thus destroy Whitikkind; and when Rufus revolted, and Louis XI. rebelled against his father, and when Richelieu made effective his policy at the block in the Place de Greve, and when Mazarine proved faithless to the exiled Charles, and when Louis XV. rioted in the Parc-au-cerfs, they all unquestionably had fine reasons and smooth extenuations for their villanies, massacres and pollutions, regarding them almost as virtues, and not in any way to be identified with the turbulence of the Roman plebs, the low and vulgar vices of the serfs, or the bloody and heartless crimes of the Parisian sail* r///