The Portland daily press., 1898-12-17
WORLD is BETTER.
50 Says Hall Cain, the Famous
Author
HIS VERY INTERESTING CHRIST
MAS MONOLOGUE.
In 1t He Expresses Optimistic Views
and Logical Conclusions.

In 1t He Expresses Optimistic Views
and Logical Conclusions.
The world Is growing bstter and hap
pier, says Hall Caine. Taking the broad
est and longest view of the material ana
spiritual and physical condition OF man
today there can be no doubt of this.
| As to the material condition of the peo-
pie, we hear good deal about the suffer-
ings OF the masses in our days-about cue
miseries that result from the congestea
centres of population in the great citles'
and OF the evils that come with the pro-
gress of even SO good thing as COM
meroe. But when we begi IL to look at
the old civilizations, that knew but little
! of commerce. that were SUD-
centred, SO to speak, in their activity-We
see quite clearly that the condition OF
people was much poorer than anything
we now know about. If you want to
realize all this, just look at the present.
| condition of those countries that nave
been left behind in the progress OF OWL
| ization.
| Take, for example, such country as
lies within our reach in the advance OF
civilization, let us say Morocco. There,
| in northern Africa, within sight OF our
English fortress of Gibraltar and within
reach Of the Spanish port Of Ceuta, In
constant communication with the great
countries of Europe, you have country.
which has been left behind entirely in
the progress of ages. There is an example
of what might have existed in the time OF
| Christ. There is literature and art OF
its kind, religion in the primitive form
such as Mohammedanism was In Arabia
twelve or thirteen centuries ago. And
there is q sort of Intellectual activity
among race that has played great part
in It's own day and has produced very
splendid specimens of humanity. But
what is the condition of the poor theyep
They ara not one stage removed above
absolute slavery. Their life is hardly
different from barbarity.
| They are the most abjeot servants of
their masters, and their lives properly
cannot at any time be called their own.
They are miserably housed, shockingly
| fed, and their education for the most part
| is confined to the text of thu Koran. Nor
have we too much reason to believe that
this is not typical of the condition of a
great part of Europe even as recently as
| a thousand years ago. For instance. we
have Caesars Commentaries, which tell
| us what the condition of England was at
the time the Rom ans landed there.
| know that the Caesars Commentaries
are disputed by scholars, and that they
contain certain various little admissions
which point to sit uation much higher
| than he intends to describe. Bot what
he says about the condition of England as
whole, making allowances for the differ
ences of race, climate etc., shows that the
people were in low state indeed.
| But let us come down to mora recent
years. What. for example, was the con-
dition OF great part of the people in
Shakespeare's timer Look at Shakes
peare's plays. Compare his pictures OF
the clowns, the jewellers in the country.
Would they be any fair picture of the
rustic population nowP 1t is perfectly
plain that. they had no rights which were
much greater than the rights of dogs or
horses. Even the large-hearted Shakes
peare regards them with a sort of lofty
pity for the most part. They are not great
factors in the life of the nation. They
play their parts simply as a vast machine,
SO to speak. l am putting this very
crude, but what is true of England Is no
doubt true of France, Of Germany, and
still more true OF Russia And the great
conclusion that I would form would be
that the great mass of the people were in
much lower condition at that. time than
they are now.
Consider for moment the way they
were housed Such records as we have OF
the homes of the poor show that they
were huddled together in cltles-yast
populations living together without any
thing that we should call sanitation,
which led to the great outbreaks of dis
ease which we know as plaques. What
these plaques were precisely do not
know, but those who ought to know have
assured me that they were diseases that
VIC A6v0 o1hOO ga oSA AAAAcAuoA ~ SSeSS~
sanitary precautions,
BETTER FOOD FOR THE PEOPLE.
Consider, too, the food of the people.
Notwithstanding the fact that the popula-
lions were SO much smaller, and that the
facilities for feeding the people off the
lands of the country were therefore so
much greater it is quite obvious from
the records we have that the people were
miserably fed. Even the pictures of feasts
and festal days indicate in an Indirect
way that when the poor were fed on roast
beef or drank ale they were having ire
mendous feast, such as came only once
in blue moon. You may depend on 1t
that their usual food was for the most
part the very simplest, and such as the
average working people nowadays would
consider no susUenance.
That brings us to physical statement.
/ think it very obvious that the race was
a smaller one than it now is. This APP
plies even to the fighting men of the race
In our Tower of London we have great