The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-12-05
what is the Matter with the "Inde-
nendent.O

What is the Matter with the "lnde-
pendent"
Every once In while we hear wall
from the press, the pulpit or the platform
that the world is growing worse instead
of better. Now comes the New York In-
dependent, ono of the ablest religious
journals in this country, with an article
OF this tenor The INDEPENDENT is the
paper on which Henry Ward Beecher and
Theodore Tilton won thoir first journals
tic spurs. We quote on the subject under
discussion;
It is a serious question whether we are
in period Of decadenCe. The whole
world appears to be in condition of in
tellectual inactivity, or at least without
those great mental struggles which char
acterized the recent past. We are numer-
ously following fads, exercising the mind
on trlnes, reading and writing trash, and
interested in few general problems. The
preceding century closed in storm, the
American and French revolutions having
excited the energies of the world. The
present century promises TO close In
calm that breeds malaria. The last gen
Grafton active over the anti-slavery con-
flict and civil war, prolonged its excite
meut through the German wars against
Austria and France. The present gener-
alton is relatively without interest poo-
pie have nothing specially to think
about When 1t was n question of saving
the country or settling great moral prob
lens, mems thoughts were great and their
activities on n corresponding scale. The
wyrld was undertaking gigantic tasks
and brains were. in demand. The orator,
the poet the statesman were busy in
their greatest creations.
Pausing long enough here to note that
in this opening Ithe writer seems to con-
found revolutionary and political activi-
ties with mental developments, we pass
on to some oflthe writer's specifications:
We are in period of dilettantism. 1t
is the age Of bric-a- brac in art, of cere-
monies and entertainments in religion
and of dress in society. Scholars gossip
in clubs, instead of debate in lyceums,
and college students are known chiefly as
football players No new philosophers
have been conceived in this age, no great
poems have appeared or remarkable ad-
ventures. 1t is an age Of medlocrity, in
which many come forward in every de-
partment but none is conspicuous. The
whole world has been recently convulsed
over wedding A superficial book on
bohemianism has made the greatest sue
cess in literature The principal interest
in politics is an easy way to pay debts.
Socialism is as deep as the public can see
into government. Claptrsp interests
men, and public officials are capitalists
instead of statesmen.
1 4 N,1 NE.A
possibly in the period Of dilettantism. IL
may be an age of bric-a.brac in art, of
ceremonies and entertainments in religion
and of dress in society. Scholars may
gossip in clubs, instead of debate in lyce-
ums, more than they have in past periods
although we doubt it, and college stu
dents certainly are known in a large
measure as foot. ball players or devotees
of the game. But all this proves nothing
more than that society now, as at every
other period in the history Of. the world
has had its fads and fanCies, cycles Of de-
velopment and cycles of rest, periods Of
progress and corresponding periods OF de-
cadence. Influences that have made for
such results, as the writer particularly
notes, are a state Of peace instead of war:
an era in which wealth has been rapidly
developed following one in which econ
omy has been practiced by the masses.
But when the writer says no new phil
osophy has been conceived in this age, no
great poems have appeared o. Iemarka-
bic discoveries have been made, we must
enter..a protest. As to philosophers, what
is the matter with the great doctrine of
evolution that has revolutionized thought
in this age in which we are living? What
becomes Of the great special workers in
the field of sCienCe-men like Darwin,
Tyndall, Huxley and Wallace, who have
delved out facts on which philosophy has
been built? Following these workers in
special fields has come Herbert Spencer,
happily yet alive, who gathered together
and generali2ed the facts, largely fur
nished him by others, which he has
built into the grandest system of philos-
ophy the world has ever seen.
Neither will the specification in regard
to poetry hold. We have just closed an
especially fruitful era of poetic produc-
tions. Whittier and Tennyson have re-
Gently been laid to rest. The latter pro-
duced up to very few years ago. 1t is
but natural that we should now expert
ence hiatus in which few years will
be required to develop other poets Of emil
nenoe.
AS to present dearth of adventures
the statement is absurd on it's face. The
discoveries in Africa have in themselves
been suffit lent to fill many volumes.
Great activity has been displayed by ex-
plorers beyond the Arctic and Antarctic
circles, and in every region where explor-
alton is profitable.
In fact, instead of the world being in a
condition Of intellectual inactivity, we
are mentally very much alert, especially
in the field Of invention. Never since the
discovery of printing has there been a
period when we have made anything like
such record in inventions as in the last
twenty years and never were our inYen-
tors more active than at the present time
The October reports of railway earn
ings which are tabulated in the Finan-
cial Chronicle, show a splendid increase
in the freight traffic from Chicago east