The Progress., 1893-10-21

world represented not less than OGH
000.0 900 workingnen-that is to sav. TIE
steam engines at work in 1887 did more
than three times the working force OF
the entire earth. Their earning capacity
at that time was three times greater
than the muscle power of the world.
The advance IN the application of me-
chanical power to the problems of life
since 1887 has been most marvellous of
all. Since that time electricity has TAX
en- in large measure the place of steam
in thousand avenues of life, and where
the steam wheel made one revolution
the electric motor makes ten. If we in
crease at this rate during the next gem
Grafton the working force of the world,
it will be possible to do all the work
necessary for the production and distri-
button of economic goods within a few
hours of every week, if society can be
organized upon the cooperative rather
than the competitive basis.
A DISTURBANCE IN EXISTING CONDITIONS.
1t can be seen at once that it is impos-
sible for society to receive each day this
tremendous army of wheels and levers
without causing a radical disturbance
in the existing social order within the
near future. Labor organizations in
their blind ignorance have fought the in
PRODUCTION of machinery in the labor of
the world. But as they become educated
they will not be slow in seeing that the
work of the world can be done by ma
chinery in few hours when that ma
chinery is harnessed by cooperative
social order.
The developments of science during
the past generation have been so mar
velous that we literally live in a new
world because of those developments.
Each day reveals new wonders. The
present rate of progress, if maintained,
will give civilization in TIE early part
of the twentieth century The very out
lines of which no prophet can foretell
today. The only problem is, Can the
present rate of progress be maintained
in the discovery of natures secrets by
those who are searching for them? The
probability is that it will not only be
maintained, but accelerated, for where
there was one man in search of the Sc
crets of nature for useful ends 90 years
ago there are a thousand men today
searching with might and main for these
secrets to give them Immediately to the
world as a practical contribution to its
social and economic life. Speculative
science has everywhere given way to
practical science, and the man of specu-
lative mind cannot refrain from making
the application even on the page of his
philosophic speculation.
THE GROWTH OF CITIES.
The growth of cities has been so re-
markable within the past generation
and is so rapidly increasing in the pres
ent that it presages a new life in the near
future-a new life, social, economic, re-
ligious. A glance at the development of
the cities within the past decade and a
comparison of each decade in the CEN
tury will reveal that the growth of the
city has been one of the marvels of mod
ern life. In 1890 the population of the
United States was in round numbers
100000. The population of the cities
at that time was in round numbers 49,
000-3.35 per cent of the whole popula-
ton, leaving a rural population of 96.65
per cent. In 1890 we had a population
of g., ZOO, 600. The population of the
cities had grown to 1880, 900, about 80
per cent of the entire population as con-
trasted with per cent in 1890. The city
has grown, in short, to dominate the life
of the century. The rural district has
lost its power The scepter of import
has been transferred to the streets of the
great cities, and from the streets it has
sunk to the cutters, and the dives, and
the sewers.
The domination of city life over rural
life is one that cannot continue long
without radical change in the whole
social order. The growth of the city
means the growth of the darkest ele-
ments of our life, at the expense, for the
time being, If the saving elements. The
growth of the city means the growth of
the active principle of our civilization.
The city is the center of activity. 1t is
the center of good and the center of evil.
1t means, therefore, the necessary inteu-
sifcation of life. 1t means the intensifi-
cation of crime. The development of
crime within this latter part of our GEN.
tury has been out of all proportion to the
progress Of law and order. We have
1000 murders in America and 100 legal
executions.
The daily record of our crime is some
thing appalling to the heart of those
that love their fellow man. The genera
ton of criminals who have served their
term in penal institutions is increasing
with marvellous rapidity. A penal col.
ony within the body of civilization is
something with which we have never
been confronted before. The number OF
convicts of various degrees which are al
present adding to the slum population OF
cur cities is something beyond computa-
ton. Corruption in society and in gov.
ernment and in commerce has increased