Wichita eagle., 1889-11-08
SOCIAL SCIENCE.
Continued from Page Five.)

members that were present rose and noses
were counted to the number of forty-five.
Mrs. Toler announced that luncheon
would be served at the Congregational
church today at twelve O'clock immedi-
atefy after the adjournment of the morn
ing session.
Mrs Prentiss then asked all visitors from
abroad to come forward and register their
names. In response to this invitation the
following ladies stepped forward and ell
rolled their names:
Mesdames o. C. Charlton, R. Atkinson,
N. L. Ward. o. II. Barrett and Miss NJ.
Barrett, of Ottawa; Mesdames George L.
Guernsey, L. Z. Humphrey, of Independ-
ence: Mesdames L. o. Case, r. f. Charles,
of Topeka; Mrs. c. W. Smith, of Stockton;
the Misses J. E. Richardson, Emma Bing-
ham, Myrta Mckee. Mesdames DR.. Mckee,
E. o. Hoag, E. B. Fowler, b. Warkenton,
H. W. Bunker, s. Z. Steele. Fl. l.. Hart,
F. Winnie. o. B. Hildreth, c. S. Bowman,
S. S. Williams, NJ. McGraw, of Newton;
Mesdames c. NJ SteTry, Miss Nettie Z.
Ridge, DR.. F. NJ. W. Jackson, of En-
poria; Mrs n. B. Hughes, of Denver; Mrs.
James Turner, of Paola: Mesdames L..
Houk. H. j. Humphrey, of Hutchinson;
Mrs. c. NJ. Stockton, of Kansas City: Mes
DANES G. A. Atwood aud S. y. kedZie, of
Manhattan; Mrs. James Humphrey and
Mr.. ]. Copley, of Junction City.
No further business coming up the presi-
dent declared the meeting adjourned until
7:3O in the evening
EVENING SESSION.
The evening session opened promptly at
half past seven with the same large at
tendance of the day. The bad weather al
though preventing many from attending,
was unable to dampen the ardor of those
present. Miss Brown. of Lawrence, read a
paper on Nationalism, or review of
sIIookiny Backward" which is given IN
full.
have lust come from a re-reading OF
that wonderful book of Edward Bellamy's,
Looking Backward" and the beauty Of
the ideal state Of society there depicted
has thrilled me again, and l would that
had pen of fire, or that were Chrysoston,
the silver mouthed, that l might klndle
your hearts as mine is kindled with the
Thought of a commonwealth founded upon
unseifishness, one founded upon the golden
rule, upon the sermon on the mount, upon
Christian principles.
hope you have all read the book be-
cause in the short time allotted me 1or
this paper, l cannot stop TO tell you the
story. 1 want to say a few words AS TO
how the author came to write 1t. Before
the publication of Looking Backward"
MIR. Bellamy was known only as brilliant
writer of fiction, aud when the first con-
ception of an ideal republic came 10 him
It was, as he himself says, merely rs a
literary fantasy. There WAS no thought of
contriving a house which practical men
might live in, bat merely of hanging in
M nf reach
sordid and material world of the present,
n cloud palace for an ideal humanity. At
first he fixed the date i'll tho year 5000,
thinking that thus he would have ample
time for celebrating any OF his theories
and all awkward collisions between his
Ideal structure and the hard facts
of the real world would be pre-
vented. He found in the military system
a grand plan for the organization OF his
industrial army, but he says he had no
conception of the full potency OF the In
strument he was using until he began to
work out it's details, but finally he became
fully convinced that he had found the key
to the great social problems and hence
forth he was impatient of the story and
intent only Hpon working out the moral
uuestion. He recast his plot, left out
much of its former scenic effects, retaining
only enough, as he says, decently to drop
che skeleton of an argument, and not
more he studied and wrote and wathced
public affairs the more he became con-
WINGED that the people We're ready now
for many of the changes he contemplated,
so he placed his time of fuihllment In the
year 1000, apd he says every days reflec-
ton and observation SINCE has tended TO
confirm his opinion.
Certainly his dream is not so wild as
would the story of today have seemed to
our grandmothers hundred years ago
HAD some one pictured to them time
when n machine should do the sewing OF
the family; when thousand Splndles
should run at their bidding and make the
fathers and the husbands clothes: when
they should no longer have to spin and
weave; when their children should be ig-
norant even of the simplest processes OF
carding wool and making cloth; when the
lightning should be chained and take the
place OF their tallow dips; when women
could stand in their kitchens and gossip
with neighbOrs and friends miles away.
Indeed our whole life would have seemed
the very widest dream of the most fanci-
full poet. Yet ii has come about quietly
and naturally. Today there is new
heaven and new earth, for former things
have passed away. Machinery has taken
the place in great measure of human toll
and many new inventions have made the
old ways Impossible. Tremendous bust
ness enterprises have sprung up, accumu-
lating vast fortunes i'll the hands of few
Captains of industry" The day of small
capitalists and individual enterprises has
passed away. 1t is becoming every day
more impossible for any one with small
means to build up business for himself.
His only way Is to unite with others
or 10 put his money into d business already
established and so be enabled to compete
SUCCESSFULLY We talk about rolling up
wealth. 1t is rolled up ike one of those
immense snow falls which we used to roll
up in \. II. when we were children. Get the
ball started and now it would grow, till ii
became,so unwieldly Ms to require the unit
ed Efforts of two or three youngsters to
move il. And this rolling up OF wealth
and these new methods Of business has
made necessary new terms, and we hear of
pools, trusts, combines, monopolies, syndi-
Gates on the one hand and of labor unions
and trade organizations on the other, and
the warfare is capital against labor, and
differences between the rich and the poor
become greater and the evils of our times
become more prominent, and many and
various are the remedies for the Ills which
mankind groans under, but let them do
what they will they cannot stem the cur
rent, for this Is the great river o. God and
it PUSHES onward to the ocean 1t is fate:
il is destiny. To believe otherwise is to be
an infide, to lose faith in God. For if he
be all powerfull and all-wise, the creator
Of the universe. then we must think
things are as he would have them, and it
is for us to study their meanings and TO
work out hi. final plan. | believe then
that the trend of thugs is
Rt present towards greater enter
prises, more extensive trusts, more
tremendous monopolles, and this not be-
cause men are selfish. because with all the
wrong there is l believe there is more Civ
ing, more philanthropy today than the