The morning call., 1894-01-21
ARE WE CIVILIZEDP

Mr.. Stead's crusade against the corrup-
ton of society is not collapsing, as was
predicted. When he threw down the
gauntlet to the fashionable world of Chi
cago there was an outburst of indignation
in that city. and it was declared that he
would be run out Of it. But he seems to
stick and to grow more vehement than
ever. The class which believes there is
truth in his TRADES is growing. and the
class which poohs poohs him is diminish
ing. He is not precisely al ideal gentle
man; he is rather sensational. with a
strong propensity to stir up hgh-flavored
puddles. But all reformers are In some
degree cranks.
The point in the controversy is not what
Mr.. Stead is or is not. 1t is this: Are a
large portion of the so-called best people
leading selfish, vulgar. useless. barbaric
lives, or are they not? And if they are.
how are they to be handled and cured?
When the illiterate laborer gets drunk and
beats his wife or engages in street fights,
we punish him pityingly, but when the
aristocrat passes his life in idle pastlmes,
and spends his utmost endeaVOr IN CON-
peting with his neighbOr in wanton extrav-
agance, setting his sons an example which
is pretty sure to demoraliZe them, society
does not punish him at all, and many
thoughtless people metaphorically fall
down and worship him. And it is not fair
to make the xceptional millionaire solely
responsible for the shameful example he
sets. he is encouraged to lead the life he
does by the adulation he receives from
people who assume to be respectable, but
bo foli is
could afford it.
Nothing can degrade humanity mere
than a prize-fight But all the details of
such an affair. the preliminaries, the
lodges by which the law is TO be evaded,
the personal appearance Of the combatants
and their confederates, are of engrosSing
interest to untold numbers not only In
Chicago but elsewhere; while two such
men as the Rev. Mr.. Haweis. one Of the
leading men of the day, and Hamlin Gar
land, who will be the leader of the new
school OF American letters. visit city after
city and fail TO draw audiences to their
lectu res. Outside of a small circle there
is no interest in the great movements
which are intended to make men and
women wiser and better, more humane and
unselfsh but boys will desert the break
fast-table to read the latest intelligence OF
Corbett's training, or OF the escape OF the
highwayman Evans. 1t is that which
starves the spirit of the men of the day.
The thoughtful reader of history is some
times in clined to fancy that there must be
a higher occult law. which provides that
each civilization contains within itself the
seeds of dissolution when the sordid, cor
rupt and brutal elements gain the mastery.
When we 60 to New York and contemplate
the palatial mansions of the millionaires !;
when we reckon up their solid belongings,
and the constantly enlargng sphere of
their power, it seems as though their era
was anchored upon a base as firm as
the Rocky Mountains. But the wealth
and power and splendor of Rome under
the early Caesars also seemed sure TO last
forever. There was no nation in the
world as wise and as far-seeing as the
Romans. Their laws were so perfect that
our modern codes were built up on them.
Their rules regarding citizenship were so
liberal that they drew all races to the en-
pire, and secured for its service the ablest
men in the civilized world. Their armies
were invincible. But in less than three
centuries the whole edifice crumbled into
ruin, the temples and palaces tumbled
down. the rich men became paupers, the
men Of the middle class spent a thousand
years in cutting each others throats. That
is where Roman civilization eliminated.
Is 1t certain that better fate is in reserve
for ours2