The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903, 1897-05-01
THE PROPHECY.

| is necessary is a correct equation of
scientific facts and due care in the sub
stitution of values. and the future ap-
pears as inevitably as If the equation
were in truth algebraic. So it happens
that nowadays we laugh the long
haired. wild-eyed sons of the wilder
| ness. who go about in our midst cry
ing Woe. Woer' back into their native
Kansas deserts. We know all about
the ''woe" ourselves, and we haven't
had to become barbarians in order to
find it out either.
There is one of these scientific edua-
tions whose working out is to speculat-
i've folk-with whom / must acknowl-
edge fellowship-as fascinating as the
squaring of the circle is held to be
among mathemat,cians. i allude to the
theory of Evolution, as applied to the
human family-to what might perhaps
be termed the problem of life. 1t Is
not with evolution as a theory of the
genesis of the race that 1 am interest
ed. The nature of the events which in
duced some meditative anthropoid to
discard his tail and set a new fash on
that ended in revolutionizing society or
the exact time at which the forerun-
ners of our forsfathers literally de-
scended from their ancestral tree and
took squatter's claim on some primitive
quarter section, are matters of small
moment to me. They may interest
Darw-nfans and others addicted to an
tiquarian research; for myself, / am
not yet an antiquarian. What evolution
has done is interesting in it's way-an
everyday sort of interest; but what 1t
is going to do-that is the question.
There are three facts of scisnce, three
main terms IN the equation which leads
TO a solution of this problem. The
first of these is the gradual dying of
the suns heat Whether that heat is
due to combustion of the suns elements
or to contraction of it's mass or to both
combined. matters little. The fact re-
mains that it is lessening century by
century and must eventually die out
entirely. The second term in our Sc
entific problsm is what is known as
the Malthu1an theory-that the grad
ual increase of the human race must
eventually exhaust the DEMONSTRATING
resources Of Mother Earth. Our last
term is somewhat less obvious than the
preceding, yet the student of human,
progress must be forced to concede it.
1t is the doctrine of the final unity of
the race. Intercommunicat;o on between
all the branches of the human family
Is already beginning to frame the uni
versal civilization. Common civiliza-
ton means similar environment the
world over. and this must shape sm-
liar development. The tendency of gov
eminent is toward some form which
shall as nearly as possible place all
men under equal conditions What
government fails to accomplish inven-
ton will achieve. Absolute homogenei-
ty must be the final outcome the world
over. Men will in truth be cosmopoli-
tan-cit zens of the world.
Taking these terms together I see but
one natural solution, and on it base NV
prophecy-not at all, let it be under
stood. after the manner of the Kansas
prophets
Ages will have passed away. Man has
reached state of perfection never
dreamed of by his primitive nineteenth
century ancestors. Distinctions of
race, of individual even. have largely