The Washington times., 1901-11-04
The EHoIntion of Today.

The Evolution of Today.
Recent writers on the evolution of
fprehistoric man take the ground that
the superior intellectual and industrial
development of certain races began dur
ing the glacial period. when, cut off
from retreat to the tropics by the i'm
mense masses of ice moving southwark,
tribes which had come from the warm
| er climate and less exacting conditions
of Africa and Asia found themselves
obliged to support life in circumstances
new and infinitely difficult for their
limited capabilities. They sought refuge
from cold and wild animals in caves and
huts; they contrived clothing; they
were obliged to defend themselves from
| the larger carnivora, which were moved
| to greater boldness by the difficulty
of finding food as the cold in
creased, and to meet these necessities
they developed train-power unknown
until that time. Like other facts in the
infinitely varied history of evolution.
| this goes to show that circumstances
mold man, wherever he is too strong to
! be exterminated and too weak to re-
| sist
| To students of industrial and social
evolution, this phase of mans develop
ment presents a striking analogue to
the present condition of the Occidental
world. Man, in this country and in
Europe, Is brought face to face with
conditions new to him, in which he
must either develop new powers or be
more or less crushed and deformed. This
is inevitable. All changes in circum-
stances press on one side or the other
of the living beings affected by them.
They m2y proGuce deformity, or they
may restore balance. Only an intelli-
gent study of the laws of life and hu-
man development can enable the OBJ
server to predict with any degree of
certainty which will happen.
For example, the sudden removal of
thousands of Europeans to this coun-
try, during its early history, was an ex-
pertinent which, to the unthinking OBJ
server Of that day. might have seemed
predestined to end In failure. To those
accustomed to be governed in every act
of their lives by divinely appointed
rulers. it might well appear that to
lea"e people to govern themselves in a
wilderness could only be disastrous. As
a matter Of fact however, it developed
new and unsuspected powers of self
government Man was left largely free
to follow his natural instincts, while |
there were still, in the colleges and uni
versiues of the Old World, and the |
beginnings of these institutions in the |
New. guide-posts and maps which kept |
him from making some mistakes into |
which he might otherwise have fallen. |
But in the opportunities of his new ex-
perience he discovered ways of living |
which had been shut off fr m his fore
fathers, and which were higher, nobler, |
and better worth while than theirs. The
same has been true in some measures
of british colonists in other parts of the
world
In the present industrial develop
ment we have a specialization which
makes the individual but one part of
great machine. We are sometimes proud
of abiding to this as progress. 1t is
progress certainly: hut what 10 sUiHg
to be the end of it? Are these condi-
tons going to develop new powers in
Tit 4ftilieii VI Sciili7tLlf cll4s II 81 h1ldAs |
Nature knows but little Of what we call
right and wrong. In natural law there
is nothing which will work a miracle
and make men broad-minded. intelli-
gent, virtuous. when all their circum-
stances are forcing them to be narrow,
ignorant and immoral. Here and there
1ne may revolt from the degrading in
luences which surround him. and op-
pose them with such might that he
will in time destroy them; but mean
While his fellows bear the marks of their '
bitter experience France never en-
ireIy recovered from the shock Of the
french Revolution. or, more properly.
rom the effects of the Napoleonic wars
which followed it. It is well for intelh-
cent people to study this industrial evo-
ution, its nature, and its effects upon {
he individual, for these will be its ef- )
ects upon the country. 9