The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-07-27

come and that is imitation. There is
nothing new under the sun" Imitation
in its worst form is hatred of the new
and progress must mean a death of this
hatred. The blood of the martyrs 10
the seed of all progress The old idea
of revolution is dying and the new idea
of evolution is being born.
The mutability of things is point
to dwell upon. 'Toute passe" say the
French. Everything passes. Fauna,
flora, civilizations, they tell us, will
pass. This is not all true. The feliah
sits under the pyramid, he has not
passed. Arctic laws are found in Span
ish rules; in Mexico and Peru the face
of the American Indians is seen again
and again.
Again we are told that the problem
of centuries to come will be woman. But
If we look at the question we shall sec
better. Woman was first a slave then
a warrior, thousands of years aeo; she
is not yet citizen. We need not fear
the increasing activities of woman. 1t
is foolish to speak of the inferiority of
woman and the superiority of man.
Humanity even now unconsciously rec
ognizes their differing spheres. Woman
is neither superior, inferior nor equal
to man; she is all of these. Woman is
leading man. 1t will be Termination,
not effeminization that will make the
change in the 20th century. Woman
represents the race type better than
man, and is giving 1t to man. In Italy
it is told that coeducation only will re-
generate that country. By this woman
will develop a responsibility for her own
acts. Woman in the centuries past has
been worker; now we see signs of her
becoming a social worker rather than
a physical worker.
We are told sometimes that the home
is degenerating. that divorce is increas-
ing, marriage rate is falling off. If it is
true, it is natural.
The whole world has been engaged
for years in a struggle OF liberation
We have first the emancipation Of races,
next of slaves. third, the emancipation
of wife from mother and now we are.
freeing the children of too much de-
pendcnee on parents. Women have re-
ceivei the power to choose and natural
ly they reject more than before. Some
times it has gone too far, but it is like
the swing of a pendulum seeking equl-
librum. The mystical and ecclesiastical
binding of woman to man is passing
away.
We can predict for man and woman in
centuries to come mutual dependence
and mutual independence. We are told
that the goth century will be less re-
ligiors than former centuries. Religion
is as old as man and reason has quar-
rsled with religion only when 1t was
necessary to restrain mans magma
tions.
The problem Of urban life is not as
new as 1t is thought. 1t is undoubted
that nothing characterizes civilization
more than the drift to the cities. A
French writer who has studied the
cities of Europe, sees that the growth
Of industries has created cities. There
Is little reason to think that city life
10 due to any caprice whatever. 1t
cannot be maintained for a moment
that the city injuries the country, for
the cities and country are bounded to-
gether by mutual ties. The power Of
nation demands the city. The city of
race, of a province, is the centre of
its ethical civilization. What is desir-
able and what will come is a trans
formation in city government We
have nothing to fear of the nightmare
Of the city as it is writ down in some
books Of sociology.
Commerce is one of those things
which will help us deal with the cities
Just as art and commerce made the
civilizations, so do they make the city
In looking back we may be tempted
to see how fast we have advanced in
the last century as compared with pre-
ceding centuries. We can believe that
there is law of aeceleration in So
GEOLOGY as we'll as in mechanics. The
progress has been due to great men
and great inventions The struggle
has become more intense and the best
weapon for conquest has been evolving.
1t is not strength, but love and sym
patty. The battle of the intelligent is
rap0nptlP
over and not by other ways. In pol
itics, assimilation not conquest, is to
be the rule of the goth century.
The time for war has almost gone by,
for war costs more than the other
methods. Assimilation is quicker than
war, for it means the meeting of in
telligence. Synthesis and federation
are the marks Of the civilizations to
come.
There is in the world natural force
that is making us go toward this end
The socialist and individualist will both
find this the end to which they are
striving.
Hitherto the poet, the philosopher
the statesman, the soldier, the priest,
each walked their separate ways, but
now they are uniting. The poet has
ceased calling the world to war, the
priest has ceased cursing souls to save
bodies, the soldier has ceased to wish
to fight, but takes to conquering him
self
The civilizations of the 18th century
are not destined to fall. All past civil
izations have been based on war; the
civilizations of the future are to be
based on the data of science
We can say that the civilization Of
the 10th century is to be the civilization
of the 21st and so on to the end.