Gloucester County Democrat., 1893-03-16
Rev. Thomas Dixon's Mental Telescope
TaIses yIite e.xxaar,

Rev. Thomas DIxons Mental Telescope
Takes Wide sweep.
As to the political and social condition OF
the United States and of the worI,lin 1893
do not believe there will he Il crowned
head In the civilized world at the close oi
the next century. | believe chat democracy
will reign triumphant to the fafthest limits
OF civilization.
1t seems to me certain that government
must grow more complex if by complexity
sse understand the multiplication Of its
functions. The less government the het-
ter is motto Of an infantile republic It
is out Of date at least lO0 years. By gov
ernment otr ancestors understood tyranny.
kingship, power outside OF the people
pressing upon them. BY government now
We understand the people governing them
selves Az life becomes necessarily com
plex. 10 government must keep pace with
the development of life, otherwise liberty
will become ut last mcckery The condi-
tions Of our modern civilization are far
more complex han the conditions OF those
which our ancestors met when they made
the federal constitution. That constitution
il utterly inadequate to the demands of the
present, and will he magnified and enlarged
either directly or indirectly by amendment
or Interpretation to meet the growing needs
Of the cew life OF the new century
II is absolutely certain either that the
railroads and telegraphs will be owned and
managed by the state or that the railroads
and telegraphs will own and manage the
state.
Tho question Of money and the mechan
ism of exchange will turn entirely upon
the development OF the social question,
which will be pressed to climax some
where within the present century The
present basis of money is satisfactory nei-
ther to those who believe in social reform
nor to those who belong to the conservative
element in the present social regime.
Within the next century the saloon is-cer-
tain to be outlawed in AEerica, and when
it is driven from America the progress OF
reform will sweep the earth. High license
will be weighed in the balance and found
wanting, and when this humbug is thor
otghly tested and exposed and proved to
be a delusion and Il snare the good will
unite In thoroughgoing. radical prohib
itory law
The punishment of criminals, it seems to
me, will be based more and more upon the
effort to reform rather than TO inflict pen
atty. Capital punishment will be abol-
ished- 1t has now already collapsed We
had 1000 murders last year and less than
100 legal executions. The sentiment of the
age is against it, and human life suffers in
consequence The only remedy seems to be
tosubstitute life imprisonment and make
the execution of law practica, certainty
upon the guilty
Our divorce laws must become uniform
not only In America, but there must be in
the future an adjustment of the principle
OF the home life international All inter.
national law is founded on the menogamic
group of society. II Mr.. Deacon fails to
secure divorce in Paris he proposes to
apply to the courts of America, and, vice
versa, the man who is interested in such
procedure may change the base Of opera
tons.
The tendency for the accumulation of
wealth In a few hands must continue to
increase until overturned by social revo-
luton that will make such an increase an
impossibility That revolution is certain
to be accomplished within less than fifty
years.
Great corporations and vast business ag
.-..ee-.tir,.s will cnrtirpa IN e.rnw prnntnr