The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1870-01-12

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human progress which should be regarded
as fundamental laws, and used as guides,
so far as known, IN any movement having
or its object the Reconstruction of SOcie-
". Of these I make the following emu
meration, without affirming it to be COM
plete.
FIRsT-The success of any enterprise
based upon cooperation will depend al
ways, in its earliest as in all its later sta
ges, upon the success of its industry, that
Is, upon the creation Of 9gealh. As in the
individual organism, the nutritive process
sez produce that nervous development
which lies at the foundation Of all force
and activity, whether corporeal, moral or
mental, so in the collective organism,
which we call society, industry, which
corresponds to digestion and assimilation
in the living individual, produces that ma
terial development which lies at the foun-
dation of all social and intellectual ad-
vancement. In both cases the material
precedes and inevitably evolves the spir-
itual and hence IN the onward march of
humanity, the production Of wealth or ma
terial abundance, Is the foundation and in
dispensable condition ofall spiritualgrowth.
This principle, which is perhaps the most
fundamental Of all, should be kept steadi-
ly in view.
SECoND-Moral or social development
follows the industrial necessarily and SDoR-
tdTeOiSLy; therefore no premeditated eX-
pedlents, nor scientific provision, Is requir-
ed to make social progress keep pace with
the progress of industry; in other words,
social development is sure to advance side
by side with industrial development, that
is, with the increasing production Of
wealth, wealth being nothing else than
the material means Of enjoyment, and in
an important sense, the basis of all human
enjoyment whatever And in virtue of
the same law, intellectual progress follows
infallbly in the path of industrial pro-
gress.
[NoTE-The definition of wealth has
perplexed Political Economists, and none
has been proposed upon which they are
agreed. Adam Smith who aimed in his
celebrated and justly admired work, "The
Wealth of Nations" to elevate Political
Economy to the dignity of science at
tempted no definition. l propose the fol-
lowing as accurate and ble.-
Wealth Is IChdtecer ministers to human
2ca1lts or GppetiteS, that is, to human en-
jOynlent, and, not being furnished by Hd-
tire ready nlade,can be produced only by
human agency
THIRD-Esthetic development, or the
creation Of grace and refinement in de-
pertinent, and of politeness in social inter
course, the establishment of all mans
pursuits and relations, and the artistic or
of all his material surround
lngs Will, in like manner, surely keep pace
with and, infallibly accompany, industrial
and social development, and viii not re-
qulre, for healthy growth, any premedita-
ted or artificial stimulus. An abundant
supply for mans material wants must
precede, and will inevitably secure, univer-
sal artistic elegance and refinement.
FOURTH-It IS also a general law that
all true or normal development Is effected
n certain natural order, and, if the nat
lral order be reversed or considerably de-
ranged by disturbing forces, the certain
result will be a more or less distorted or
5anlsm, whether individual or collective.
Viewed under another aspect, this law
orblds that development should proceed
by sudden leaps or abrupt Transitions
Proper or healthy growth, though it may
be rapid IN various degrees, as well as
slow, must be effected by gradations or
steps which are closely contiguous to each
1ther and regularly successive, such
steps being also taken IN their natural Or
Ter, so that each shall be the proper sue
lessor Of that which next precedes it
Therefore no industrial or other progress
should be attempted until the preliminary
are adequately provided and
For however desirable it may
seem 10 reach some future stagsuof ad-
all efforts to do so will be use
less or pernicious, otherwise than by pas
lng through the intermediate stages
nhre 10 ole IL
such as cooperating bodies
are, the several parts should
grow symmetrically, and IN due proper
hon to each other, and that none should
De dwarled or excessively developed. De-
7elopment IN any direction should neither
De unduly fastened nor unduly retarded.
But for time, ignorance, resulting from
may make it impossible to
avoid certain intrlngements Of this law
Industrial development being, in virtue
of the first of these four laws, the basis of
al higher humanitary development, it re-
suits, as a necessary consequence, that hu-
man progress depends upon the efficiency,
that Is, the productiveness, OF human in
1ustry, and Will be accelerated precisely
in proportion as the products of labor be-
come universally abundant. The indis-
pensable condition therefore Of collective
social and intellectual progress Is an aug
mented supply, and the general diffusion,
Of the means by which mans material
wants are satisfied. This augmented sup
ply can be obtained by means of two agen-
cies, which may be called direct and in
verse-direct, by increasing not only the
quantity of human labor by attracting to
it the idlers who now avoid il, but also its eff
fciency and productiveness, to which ma
ch-nery, driven by steam or the forces of
nature, should be made auxiliary to the
utmost possible extent ;-u1UerSe, by pre-
venting waste, dispensing with and sup
pressing superAuous and parasitic func-
donaries, and introducing the large econ
omies made practicable by the concurrence
Of considerable numbers in production
and consumption.
Wealth being thus abundantly created
and also universally (however inequality
so that want and the fear of
want shall be entirely banished from mems
thoughts as evermore impossible, the so
cial and generous impulses will become
and spontaneously active,
and all will eagerly seek for objects upon
which to exp endtheir outiowing sympathies
which, so long as an ample provision for
their own wants, even in the distant fu-
ture, Is felt to be precarlous, are unaVold-
ably more or less stifed by the instinct of
self preservation.
The products of industry, prosecuted as
it is at present, in the most imperfect man
ner and its ineficiency aggravated by the
fact that so many escape it in any of its
useful forms, are entirely insufficient ade-
quately to satisfy the most imperious
wants OF the larger portion of the human
race, even in the most favored countries !;
and therefore the laboring classes are ev-
erywhere, to q great extent, condemned
to pinching poverty and cruel privations
So efectually are they despoiled, and with
such fragrant inequality are industrial
products distributed, that in the midst,
and within the view, of the impoverished
and unhappy masses, a certain number
live in ease, elegance and comfort, while
a favored few revel in splendor, and in the
enjoyment of all the luxuries and pleas
ures which opulence, in the present imper-
feet state of human knowledge, can com
mand But of this arrangement, iniqui-
tous as it seems, 1t does not become US to
complain. 1t is rather incumbent upon
US, by the exercise of that organizing IN
telhgence which presides over harmonies