Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-12-07


Lacks the Needs"-CivIIixotionR tie.
pudiates the Ethics of Christ.
Especial Correspondcncel
About forty years ago French writ.
er proclaimed in one Of his literary
productions the following phllosophic
thought: mo one has the right to the
luxuries of life 80 long as anybody
lacks the needs" And what dreadful
thought that Is, 80 anarchical, so un.
Christian, so vile and detestable in all
respects! That Is anyhow the impress
sion 1t will produce with most men.
OF course, the actualizatIon Of that
thought would not do any good IL 1t
was only limited to the individual life
Of few men. Why so? Because no
to anything in the long run and grand
ensemble Of human development so
long as the social organization operates
as if Gods moral law had nothing to
do in the collective life of community,
nation. humanity.
Let us predicate a pirates gang of
hundred men. Each of them is perfect
ly honest in his individual dealings
with the others and those he may meet
when some of the pirates land some-
where to sell or buy something as mere
merchants going from port to port.
| They will assert that their only lrregu.
larlty Of life springs up from the fact
that their respective earnings rest on a
certain distribution of certain fund
they all obtain from processes that
men out of the gang don't approve of,
such processes being the product of
certain politico-economlc dispensation
representing their social organism
Those men could add. What Is the
essential distinction between our civil
lizCtion and that of the powerful ma
tions all over the planet" No civilized
man can make any defensive answer
to that unless he wants to discard all
sound logic, all equity, all perceptions
of fundamental honesty.
Try to prove to men in high stand
ards of life that civilization repudiates
yet the ethics of Christ and common
sense. They shall hardly deny that, or
they will not prove the correctness of
their denial because unable so TO do in
the presence of all historical develop
ment What they shall do is to drop
back into their personal goodness and
the wickedness of some other fellows.
1t is always a question of "the Ttote
and the BEAM" the latter in our own
eyes and conduct. the former in the
conduct and eyes Of somebody else.
Our. fine civilized brother may yet
condescend to assert that If civilization
could be initiated fresh without any
disturbance to anybody, to our own
selves especially, then. of course, it
would be binding on us to start it right.
but since it was started wrong and 200
genera tions of good men have seen tit
! to keep 1t wrong what right have we.
the good men of the day. to initiate
righteousness on earth? The thing is
bound to come In the sweet by and
by. 1t must come. Why. then. bother
ourselves about 1t? In the meanwhile
each one of us knows what he needs.
Each one Of us needs from $1,000 to
100000 per nnnum to make both ends
meet and. say, from 100000 to $780,
100000 in capitalized values for rainy
day. And we have so many rainy days
in the year! We always forget that
under godlke civilization no amount
Of rain would ever interfere with our
boundless joys.
Yes. we all want five, ten, a hum
dred times more income than the
average production per family group
and five hundred or twenty thousand
times as much capital as the average
capital Of each family group. We
stand. then. by civilization which i'm
parts aspirations that we do our best
not to realize. besides their being total
ly unnecessary. totally impossible. Our
own daily life is constantly telling us
that Joy Is not question Of wealth,
but Of duties performed. And the same
applies to manhood. But duties per-
formed! Do you suppose that that
only refers to our personal individual
lied acts?
In the eyes of a righteous God what
are modern nations yet in their inter-
nal and external relations? Gangs Of
AucH uuWlllluss " otuhu W houcSty III
social adjustments. unwilling to sup
press fundamental wrongs. satisfied
because now and then they knock off
some Of the lower branches of the tree
of evil. And so the tree grows higher
and stronger than ever.
mo one has the right to the luxuries
of life so long as anybody lacks the
needs" That Is just the maxim in
grained In divine and natural laws.
That would be the satisfactory result
of social status that tried to respect
and specialize those laws and so realiz-
ing universal JOY. And what right
have men to specialize any other kind
of laws? None whatsoever No Won
der that life Is sad tale to rich and
poor, to the ignorant and the wise. We
don't do anything else but all that is
conducive to sadden life, to lower our
own potentialties for good. With
mighty few exceptions our 100000 min,
listers, college professors. editors of i'm
portant daiies, weekles, ETC., and SIM
liar influential teachers. all are engag.
ed in finding flaws with Gods laws or
adjustments in his universe Of glory or
in complicating that education which