Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1892-02-19

classic period and that of the lower en-
pire; yet the change was accompanied,
or rather caused, by change of taste.
The artists who most quickly followed
this change of taste were in their day
regarded as the superior arrests. And
so of literature AS it became more
vapid, puerile, and stllted, it would be
in obediance to an altered taste, which
would regard it's increasing weakness
as increasing strength and beauty. The
really good writer's would not find read
ers; he would be regarded as rude, dry,
or dull. L And so the drama would de-
cline; not because there a lack of good
plays, but because the prevailing taste
become more and more that of a less
cultured fclass who, of course, regard
that which they most admire as the
best Of fits kind. And, so, too, of reli-
gion; Interpretations which supersti-
tious people will add to it will be regard
ed by them as Improvements. While,
as the decline goes on, the return to Bar
barism, where 1t is not in itself regarded
as an advance, will seem necessary to
meet the exigencies of the times.
For instance, fogging, as a punish
ment for certain Offences, has been
recently restored to the penal cade Of
Englanll,and has been strongly advocat-
ed on this side of the Atlantic. I ex-
press no opinion as to wheather this is or
is not a better punishment of crime than
Imprisonment. only point to the fact as
illustrating how an increasing amount of
crime ard an increasing embarrassment
as to theEmaintenance of prisoners (both
obvious tendencies at present) might lead
to fuller return to the physical cruelty
of barbarous codes. The use Of torture
in judicial Investigations, which steadily
grew with the decline of Roman civiliza.
tion, it ii thus easy to see, might, as
manners arutalized and crime increased
be demanded as necessary improvement,
of the criminal law.
Whether in the present drifts of opin
ion and taste there are as yet any in
dications of retrogression 1t IS no
necessary to inquire; but there are many
things abeuU which there can be no dis
pute, which 60 to show that our civiliza
tion has reached a critical period, ant
that unlsSs a new start is made in tn
direction as social equality. the nine
teenth century may to the future mari
it's climax These industrial depressions
which cause as much waste and sufferin!
as famines or wars, are like the twinge
and shocks which precede paralysis
Everywhefe is it evident that the ten
denci to inequality, which is the necess
airy result of material progress whcr
land is monopolized, cannot go mucl
further without carrying our civilization
into that downward path which is s.
easy to enter and so hard to abandon
Everywhere the increasing intensity .
of the struggle to live, the increasing
necessity @ior straining every nerve t.
prevent being thrown down and trod
den under foot IN the scramble TO
wealth, is draining the forces which gai
and maintain Improvements. In ever
lcivilized country pauperism, crime, in
sanity, and suicides are increasing. Il
tevery civilized country the diseases ar
increasing which come from overstraine'
nerves, from insufficient nourishment
from squalid lodgings. from unwhole
Isome and monotonous occupations. from
premature labor of children, from tn
tasks and crimes which poverty impose
upon woman. In every highly civilized
country the expectation of life. whicl
gradually rose for several centuries. ant
which seems to have eliminated abou
the first quarter of this century, ap
pears to be now diminishing.
1t is not an advancing civilization tina
such figures show. It is civilization
which in it's under-currents has alread
begun to recede When the tide turn
in bay OF river from flood to ebb, it
| DUb tll Ub OuCt. Uus iicAC l" Quiz Nh'o VI
though there it has begun to recede
When the sun passes the meridian,
can only lbe told by the way the shol
shadows fall for the heat of the da
yet increases. But as sure as the turr
ing tide 1Aust soon run full ebb: as SUI
us the d{clining sun must bring DARK
} ness, SO suite is it. that though knowledg
vet increases and invention marches or
and new Estates are being settled, an
cities still expand, yet civilization has b
gun to wane when, in proportion
population, we must build more an
more prisons, more and more almshouse'
. more and more insane asylums. 1t
not from top to bottom that societies di'
it is from bottom to top.
But there are evidences far more pa
pable. thaa any that can be given b
) statistics, of tendencies to the ebb {
civilization. There S Il vague but ger
eral feeling Of disappointment; an il
creased bitterness among the workin
classes; a widespread feeling of unre:
and brooding revolution. If this wei
accompon;nJ hx- q definite idea of hO