The Advocate and news., 1898-09-14
what the World is Seeking.

W0aL the WOTlu Is SeSkAnBs
A great truth-in fact, the greatest
truth, the truth Of all truths--seized on
and put into livingwords and simply but
befittingly told by one who has grasped
its significance; such Is Ralph Waldo
Trine's What All the Worlds a-Seek-
ing" The title is catching. The world
is surely seeking something; there is a
vague clutching after something perma-
nent and satisfying in this life in all
parts Of the globe, and the more civil
lied we become the more restless we
seem to be- The author Of What All
the Worlds a-Seeking" has set himself
to discover what 1t is we are seeking
and how we may seek successfully.
He asks these questions: How can
make life yield its fullest and best?
How can know the true secret Of pow
er? How can l attain to a true and
lasting greatness? How can l fill the
whole of life with happiness, peace,
a joy, a satisfaction that is ever rich
and abiding, that ever increases, never
diminishes, that imparts to it a sparkle
that never loses its lustre, that ever
fascinates, never Wearies"
His answer is the answer of Professor
Drummond. He has found the sum-
mum bonum in life, the summum bonum
universal, just as Drummond found it,
and, indeed, there is a great deal in the
two Life Books" Of Trine to stamp
him as the follower and successor of
Drummond He has the same kindly
spirit, he has searched life-mysteries as
deeply, and he takes up the exposition
where Drummond was forced to leave it
with the world. He has found what
the world wants. This is his statement:
Social problems are to be among the
greatest problems Of the generation just
moving on to the stage OF action They,
above all others, will claim the attention
Of mankind, as they are already claiming 1t
across the waters as at home. The atti-
tude of the two classes toward each other,
or the separation of the classes, will be
by far the chief problem of them all. AL
ready 1t is imperatively demanding So
luton. Gradually as the years have passed,
thus separation has been going on, but
never so rapidly as OF late Each has
come to regard the other as an enemy, with
no interests in common, but rather that
what is for the interest or one must nccs
essarily be to the detriment Of the 9th,
For many years it has been q teaching
even of political economy that the employer
buys his help just as he buys his raw ma
teral or any other commodity; and this
done, he is in no way responsible for the
time isn't so far distant when the employed
were herded together as animals, and were
treated very much as such. But, thanks
be to God, a better and brighter day Is
daWnng. Even the employer is beginning
to see that practical ethics, or true Christ
ianity and business must not be divorced;
that the man he employs instead of being
a mere animal whose services he buys, Is,
after all, his fellow man and his brother,
and demands a treatment as such, ana
that when he fails to recognize this truth,
ri oh demanding q n
atty for its vlolation.....
In the very remote history Of the race
there was one who, violating a great law,
having wTonged brother, asked, "Am
my brothers keeper?" Knowing that he
was, he nevertheless deceltfully put the
question in this way in his desire, II pos
employers in their selhsnness and greed
for gain have asked this same question in
this same way. They have thought they
could thus defeat the sure and eternal laws
of Just Ruler, but have thereby deceived
themselves the more These more than
any others have to a great degree brought
about the present state Of affairs in the
industrial and social world.
Just as soon as the employer recognizes
the falsity Of these old teachings and prac-
tices, and the fact that he cannot buy his
EMPLOYEES services the same as he buys
his raw material, with no further respon-
sibility, but that the two men are on vastly
different planes, that his employee is his
fellow man and his brother, and that he
Is his brothers keeper and will be held
responsible as SUCH that 1t Is to his own
highest interests, as we'll as to the highest
interests of those he employs and to So
ciety in general, to recognize this; and just
as soon as he who is employed fully ap-
preciates his opportunities and makes the
highest use of all, and in turn takes an ac>
tive personal interest in all that pertains
to his personal welfare, just that soon will
a solution Of this great question come
forth, and no sooner.
1t is not so much a question Of legisla-
tion as Of education and right doing, thus
a dealing with the individual, and so pre-
Vention and a cure, not merely a sup
preston and regulation, which is always
sure to fail; for, in a question Of right or
wrong no question is ever settled finally
until 1t Is settled rightly.
The individual dealing with the individ-
ual is necessarily at the bottom or all true