The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-02-08

adding to the sum of It's arrNS. For 'N-
made man a spniler In every stage OF
Aur,an advancement and so viii 1t
continu, TO the end " time IN spite Of
moral interiict
All nature is, in measure. ass'eS-
sive and ruthless. The shrub aud hum
BILE hlads # grass thrive by plunderins
the earth and air Of the clements Of
their growth. and man lives by max
ing food o! the body Of the animal
that feeds upon them This is N. SIM
PIE law ot life. and It involves M fun
damantal question OF ethics. Wha, i'
morally right for a man To do gives way
to y hat he is really compelled &c do
to live at an. and philosophy is faulty
that makes the sacrifice of his Ire ANA
well being necessary to the ohsyrvan,s
OF its laws. But the world i full Of
such superficial and misleading phi'oso-
phy. Ii is not strange that the student
of economies teaches things which MT
only ignore ;he recognized axiom that
necessity knows no law. bu; are hope
Iessly in coafis; With one another ana
are unsound, superficial and misleading.
1t is not strange that tn, student ot
economics in ths eighteenth century and
earlier. Nho could scarcely have antic-
mated the ioircduc;jon .nlo the worlds
fields ot industry u the reyc,utioniz-
ing factors " steam and electricity, or
the wonders - De u-,ggh, by .ab5r-
saving machinery. railway and rapid
ocean transit. eiec-~icG. e1-aEuuication,
the achievements NJ science l-@ open
ing Of ;he ras. l,a-roisuu r=s=va!rs Of
the earth. ana N. .h1utE-as oy in
yentions ana discoveries INA, have pro-
duced = chang - S-al L the indus
trial, commercial ana sTsa political
methods IF civilized maakiad-ii IS not
strange, w repeat, ma, philcs piers
of past generations. who could not have
foreseen 4 succ esaon OF developments SO
significant and so astounding should
have formulated theories for which the
modern world has 9ut LITTLE U.s.; but 1t
has even less use for the illogical and
undigested opinions Of the philosopher
today. who. in full view Of all that
has been accomplished, and wi;a the
tendency of events plainly evident, pro-
ceeds TO fill the general ear with his
bewildering economic speculati0ns.
The doctrines of the political parties
are based upon distinctly economic
IDEAS. many OF them plausible to the
understanding that is unable or un-
willing TO look beyond a singh phase
of the political or industrial problems
the people Of every civilized
land. The discrediting Of these ideas
one alter another by the masses is eyi-
dence that economic laws are not a
fixed quantity or quality, and that phil
csophers who attempt to adapt them to
social or other theories are
unconscious promoters # economic an
lrchy. since they build their struc-
tures by Iemo.shing the works Il one
another. And this they have done pref
y thoroughly during the last quarter
If a century. one 1f them in a yoluml-
icus work which received the thought
ess c6nmendation Of many advanced
he opinion that the great cities 0f the
and were doomed 20 abandonment as
hey cease to b. its chief manufac-
uring cen:ers in the future. This was
assumed 70 he inevitable. and a system
# district government was devised by
he author to meet the necessities of
he coming redistribution Of tn people.
Another philosopher - Rev Josiah
strong, general secretary Of tn Evan
.elical Alliance Of the United States
n book entitled The Twentieth Cen
ury City" recently showed. on the
ther hand, that the assured destiny gf
majority Of the American p-opl was
Q concentrate in the large cities, and
s those cities We're corrupuy gov I
rned, as rule, ana ih- abodes Of
ice, united and systematic Chris ian ,
fort SHOULD be .naugura,rd and ,ig-
rously directed 20 their moral cleans
lg
This was not an entirHy hopeless
lew of the future Of th= republic un-
er the political dolnnanoa Of its gr.at
ties; there vas possible salvation for ,
in earnest Christian work. But AL |
-her philosopher Professor BeIraIl
loses. saw no.hing ah.ai # us but
ltional disaster He admitted the ten
ency of the people % gravitate TO ,he
-eat cities, there to poison III. BODY l.