The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-01-06
TAKES 4 SCIENTIFIC TURN
PROF. A. j. SMITH COMMENTS ON
VIEWS REGARDING MANS
ORIGIN AND DESTINY
PROF. LoEB's POSITION GIVEN
His Book Commended for Reading
Purposes, Although the Com
illusions May Not BE
Accepted.
Special Correspondence of the Globe.

Special Correspondence of the Globe.
CHICAGO, Jan. 1.-The new century
has dawned and we have the same sun,
moon and stars that ran their course in
other ages, and the world seems to be
very much like it was before the
startling occurrence. 1t is a time how
ever, for review and summing up, and
our good orators especially the minis
tiers, have recOunted the priceless bene-
fits conferred upon mankind by the de-
parted century, but after all We can but
vaguely wonder whether the remote
student searching through the pantheon
of history shall find much more to the
credit of the nineteenth century than
10 others, the influence of whose mis-
sion still works in the secular affairs of
the human family, so much that we
esteem lofty and wonderful, now in the
light of subsequent events may seem so
small, even so harmful, that estimates
will greatly change. Always an .opti-
mist, l enter tain the belief that we are
moving towards higher ideals and bet
ter conditions, but the distance We have
moved during the past century is not
yet determined.
1t is interesting at the use of the
yeaT-a year whose prosperity has been
SO loudly proclaimed-to take note of
business statistics Your readers have
already seen them, no doubt, but they
studied. In the United States alone:
Disasters, 1885; increase over 1899, $500;
killed by railroad accidents, 400; in
crease 557; general marine disasters,
2.19; increase. 400; lynchings lis; in
crease, s: fire losses, $159, $50, 223; in
crease, IS. 712,S SOS; hangings, 119; decrease,
j; murders, S,275; increase, 1850; suicides,
6,755; increase, LAOS; embeZzlements
$i600,134; Increase, $2,44S,761; donation
and requests to institutions of all kinds,
So, 46l ,9O4; decrease, ST., 2SS, go. I have no
desire to comment upon this showing,
nor to endeavor to find out wherein lies
the justification of the claim that the
closing year was the most beneficent
and prosperous of the entire century,
Certainly the municipal problem is dis
cOuragingly complex. Increase in crime
is shown beyond all question, and squalor
and immortality are surely increasing.
Man has put harness on Leviathan
And hooks in his incorrigible Jaws.
and yet the perils of the street remain.
Out of the whirlwind of the cities rise
Lean, Hunger and the Worm of Misery
The heartbreak and the cry of mortal
tears
One hundred years ago the splendors
OF Napoleonic wars overshadowed the
world. There was merciless slaughter.
but there were also glory of achieve
ment and brilliancy of execution in
struggles where mighty nations of equal
strength We're contending for supremacy
that render imperishable deeds of heroic
undertaking. Then the strong battled
with the strong and the victor deserved
and received the thanks of his country
men. But today, even granting that the
great powers are justified, how frightful-
~, now painfully repugnant are the re-
ports from South Africa and from Asia
ana with what mental depression we
read of victories. Again wish to re-
affirm that 1 am not pessimistic or cen
serious, but 1 have read twice the new
century greeting that Mark Twain sent
to the American Society of Red Cross:
bring to You the stately matron named
tChrstendom, returning bedraggled, be-
smirched and dishonored from private
raids in kiao-Chow, Manchuria. South
Africa and the Philippines with her
soul full of meanness, her pocket full of
Doodle, and her mouth full of pious hy-
pocricies. Give her soap and towel, but
hide the looking glass"
Fie upon Mark Twain Has not residence
abroad sadly jaundiced his vision? When
he has changed his point of view he will
be more reasonable and less cynical.
Preparatory to the task of discussing
the condition of the school system of this
city, and of school systems generally, I
take this opportunity to refer very
briefly to some of the scientific views put
forth recently touching the origin and
destiny of man, and which bear directly
upon processes of education. Empiricism.
so strongly condemned a few years ago,
has so ably and so persistently pressed
Its claims upon public attention that now
experimentation precedes all conclusions,
and determines the value of all views and
beliefs.
The structure of eternal truths" rests
not upon miracle nor faith, but upon
laws governing and moving all influ-
erces in natures laws that experience
and experiment are to determine. In nv
last letter I spoke of the work of Prof.
Jacques Loeb, of the Chicago university.
and expressed the belief that possibly
he had rendered humanity a great SER
vice. This view is further strengthened
by the recent publication of his book en-
titled Comparative Physiology of the
Brain which 1 commend unreservedly
10 the attention of your readers. or
course, I do not ask them to accent his
conclusions, but they will in any event
be profted by A careful study of his re-
searches and experiments. Upon three
points particularly he presents startling
conclusions, viz: Touching instinct, the
Will and heredity. though he does not
treat these separately. He opposes OAR