Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-03-27
NATIONAL PROGRESS.
Sociological Society-America's
Prejudice Her Drawback.

f20OeIG IB1aI0co AuuECBo 0CkOFe tn0
Sociological Society-America's
Prejudice Her Drawback.
Robert Wiziarde has some original ideas
on sociological subjects and he gave ut
terance to them at the last meeting Of the
Sociological Society.
A trite saying is. THE laws are as just
as the people they govern" said he. $50
that it cannot be taken Ill nor as treason
able when We say that. to the inertia Of the
masses of the people. their slavery to Gus
tom, appetite, prejudice, or to their inabil-
ity to concentrate on broad questions, may
be attributed all of the abuses and devil
alton from the path Of altruistic state
craft which should and could be that Of
the United States Of America. We are
certain that. under the immntabie law OF
progress which marks the universe. our
own planet and its animal. vegetable and
geologic genera SO, too, the outward form
and attributes. the natomy.nay even tas
and reformed-sOmetimes descending. some
times rising, sometimes las do celestial alb
also, defectad and hindered by great waves
Of time-cOStly divergenceS from the direct
line OF progression.
ton in progressive spirals. that is. tapping
far back at one period or epoch-as surely
advancing or improving on the ascending
never retrograding. never exactly repeating.
and with the changes wrought SO slowly
that no man can point to a certain place
and say there or here came the Shift,
realms of moral knowledge. 1t Is equally true
or the development OF the nations and their
governments. Also is the same true OF
mans intellectual development-that is. the
result OF his striving to reach higher planes
through the persistent pursuit OF truth.
Intellectual DEVELOPMENT and the mere
| carnaI do not exist OF the same planes,
| nor can they thrive together.
As the spiral overiaps in It's upward wind
ings, so. too. ave discoveries IN an the
sciences refuted. overturned, or perhaps
affirmed the conclusions drawn In past
cycles. Thus, crusades and persecution OF
.hsre,ics" led sdd easily to the ser lnGuisiti On:
shadow Of the eclipse of the dark days
passed away with Columbus and Magellan's
epSag Wsich bhe ma %iaaIf ahe G meridian 4iSiiann Of the the e ec-
clesisstic powers was followed by the twi-
light dawnings of the day of release from
the last trial Of women for witcheraf1. de-
veloped a new period Of astronomical dis
covery; the hammer strokes Of Martin Lu-
Their on his church door resOunded through
out Christendom. calling a halt; to-day, the
line of progression has reached so high
that the higher social organizations grant
as debatabie the propriety of capital pun
ishment and whether 1t is not a compound
ing of crime and a moral crime in itself,
and seek to abolish it by removing the
causes which lead 70 the original cgime
The Esquimo. living in constant menace
of life. having but little of that which men
call wealth. molds his tribal law TO mt the
circumstances marriage, parental reSpou-
sibility, property. the punishment of crime,
and the hopes of a beatitic future state are
all based on the environments and limita-
tons with which nature has confronted
him. The Kaffir obeys the same law; the
New Zealander as we'll. The lowest type
OF the human specie. which Charles Darwin
sailed leagues to had emerged
from the animal far enough to defend his
islands against the invasion of strangers,
and to question their right to disturb him
and his family, though his roof-tree was
but a bush and his only means of defense
and of gaining a livelihood was his Drawn.
The red man Of North America has
less eyes rejecting the setting sun of his
race, four centuries Of civilizations at
tempts to improve on nature have only
handful Of beesars and beneiciaries. :"
He stands on an eminence and sees the
smoke Of the city and hears the roar Of
pleased the Great Spirit Of his fathers.
whose voice he was early taught to know
in natures sweet wa~y-wonders that he
and his are driven before. and that the
and that the bones of his forefathers are
| enriching the soil OF wheattields whose
iards of the paleface across the Great lake.
and whose arms are all turned against him
and such as he.
Cortez, preceded by the cross Of Christ,
that of England. Spain or Italy in many re-
spects. in the same period; for the glory Of
n temporal throne and IN the name nj re-
ligion and with a ,papal license. this race
was scattered and while the
galleons and transports Went back laden
low with the spoils of the temples and the
to hosannas of Christian Europeans; the
watchfires on the affairs were. replaced by
the candle. the crucihx, and the alms-box.
and ali in the name Of Christ and civiliza-