El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-26

the universe. all that wonderful evolu-
ton which is known as the struggle
for life" has been but one long sue
controlling motive self interest"
A few historical references will serve
to bring out the point. Ancient his
tory is for the most part a story of
war and conquest having for their
dominant motive the spread of COM
mercial influence. The constantly wide
ming influence of the nations of the
ancient world came from their mari
lime enterprise. their colonies. in fine.
the extension of their trade What
is the influence on the worlds his
tory OF ancient China and Russia. her
init nations. compared with that of
Greece. Rome. Arabia. Phoenicia, We
nice. trading nations? 1t is no answer
to refer to the downfall of the great
empires of the past. Other causes COM
bined to cause the failure of the great
of such commercial expansion. Among
these causes were vice and licentious-
ness. cruelty. excessive taxation. OPP
preston. maladministration. If these
nations did not live TO enjoy the fruits
OF Their conquests. the world enjoys
them now. The point is sustained
that the worlds good has been greatly
subserved by the practice of CONNER
cialism" as a controlling motive.
English speaking peoples of today
liberties from the date of the sealing
and delivery OF the Magma Charta. Yet
an examination of the circumstances
that led up to the granting of the char
ter shows that il was commercial
ism. self interest. that forced the
contest to an issue. Most of the Great
Charter is devoted to securing to Eng
lishmen their property rights. their
rights to travel. their rights to their
own persons. immunity from excessive
taxation. and so on-almost all mat
tiers that have to- do. sooner or later.
with the individuals pocket book.
At first thought many people will
say that revolt against religious perse
progress of the race Independently of
self interest" This would be pretty
argument il true. and most of us would
like TO believe 1t. maybe. on sentiment
tai grounds. but il is not we'll found
ed. In many or all OF the religious
wars and rebellions. there were doubt
less some purely disinterested individ
uals. who went into the fights for the
glory of God and the church. but in |
every one the motive that supplied
the compelling force and made the re-
volts. crusades. and wars practical fac
tors in the worlds progress was that of
self interest. in some form or other. |
excessive taxation, re-
commerce. desire for plumber |
or new territory. rivalry or hatred
some or all of these motives actuated |
the plans of kings and popular leaders. |
made the movement of large bodies of
men and ships possible. Often too. the |
personal ambition OF popes. archbish-
poral power. supplied the motives that
them and their followers to
work ostensibly for the extension of
the church.
In this discussion il must not be for
gotten that broad principles of history
are being considered. and that there
are always exceptions. in the persons
of devoted and spiritual minded indi-
viduals. which are apt to shine out
from the pages of the popular history
like the evening star at twilight But
this fact does not invalidate the con-
illusions as deduced from general OBJ
servation of the broader field.
The voyages OF the great navigators
OF the middle ages were due entirely to
markets. more colonies. more COM
merce. shorter routes to the orient.
The discovery of America and its set
Element were due to commercialism.
The reader will at once dissent from
this statement and cite the Pilgrim
Fathers. than whose sublime devotion
to a religious faith there is nothing
to be found in history more inspiring
since the days OF the Apostles. Yet
what could these sturdy men have done
without war and commerce? They
could not STAND still. Nature does not
permit any being to rest: she compels
progress by compelling motion and
Installing self interest as motive for
nrogreSs And after all did NOT the