New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-14

We must on this occasion dissent from the
dictum that the style is the man. Mr.. Ben
1amin Kidd is too considerable man for that
Only few years back he gave US treatise on
Social Evolution" which attracted wide at
tention and secured a permanent place amid the
literature Of the subject Later he discussed
The Control Of the Tropics" in confident II
not a convincing manner Now he discusses 'he
whole scope, trend and purport Of Western
civilization. IN the true cathedra tone. we
shall see hereafter whether the discussion Is any
more practically epoch-r1akinE than his previous
ESSAYS The point q present interest is that MI
Kidd takes himself very seriously on variety
Of very serious topics and that therefore, ne
II l. be assumed &c be q man of subjectiTely
lucid mind and direct thought For that rea-
son We repeat, We cannot concede that IN ms
case the style IS the man. Rather would we
turn back 10 that other immemorial saying
that the use Of speech is to conceal rather than
to disclose thought Barere de Vieuzac at
tributed that saying 10 Talleyrand, which is
rroof presumptive that Talleyrand did not utter
it seeing that Barere was the most accom-
plished and graceful liar in history Noltale
did say II, and Goldsmith. too al about the
same time But did they borrow il from Samuel
Butler or from Bishop South? And from what
Babel-sprung progenitors did these inherit IL
Let such speculation pass. For the present we
may be CONteNteQ Win lIllS 4dttN' 'oN-N
might say the last-concrete and literal eN-
ample OF the fact
For here IS a book Of many pages. therefore
Of much labor and doubtless of much thought
the language Of which is deftly and master
fully woven into internlinable proiNlnes' I'M
penetrahle obscurities and reduplicated Nerhdl
labyrinths so as - make the mazed reader
wonder il there indeed be in il any sequent ana
coherent train Of thought only meaningless
medley IF words. words. words Nor Is IL d
scintillating and fascinating phantasmagorla
which charms while it bewilders. but rather
1eaden dull and more than leaden heavy mass
which wearies mind and sense We would not
quite declare II heavy but not weIghty. Tor there
IS much weight in Il disguised by its heaT1ness
Yet oh the pity Of IL that the Taleyfaho-
Vcltaire-Goldsmith South Butler-B Babel rule OF
speech could not for this once have been ignored
in favor Of the converse Of the other one, first
quoted Had the man efficiently projected him
self into the style. We should have had epigrams
irsread Of Alexandrines lucidity in place Of in
Waived obscurity and. in brief, an essay as lu-
rninous as it is voluminous.
The dilgent and persevering explorer may
however discover landmarks from which TO
take his bearings in even the darkest and most
disordered jungle. and 50 he who earnestly an
plies himself to Mr.. Kids essay may IN time
perceive some salient points Of meaning The
somewhat advanced beyond the mere Darwin
ian standard. 1T is a fair query. if Darwin
were he living. would now be accounted an eVo-
lutionfst at alb The law Of the survival Of the
fttest is one Of his conceptions Of universal con-
troll from which he evolves what he terms the
principle Of Projected Efficiency. That being
3nferpreted means that henCeforth the world Is
10 look to the future. not 70 the past The dis
cover-y and enumeration Of the doctrines Of eTo-
Sfa P6
the purpose Of the world. Men viii no longer
dwell 1Ion and study the past and from IL de-
rive rules for present guidance Rather VIII
they speculate upon the future and plan for it.
and VIII shape their present course with an eye
single 10 the realization Of those plans To-day
vii 10 mere be what 1t is because Of memories
Of yesterday. hut because Of hopes or expecta-
tons OF tomorrow. Indeed. in one sense. this
is no new thing. II has ever been so. The
shadow Of the future has continually rested
upon the present. But now, for the first time.
the WORLD is awakening to a practical realiza-
ton Of the fact, and is organizing society and
the state more and more upon that basis The
fact is also being realized that 1t has never
been the welfare Of the infntesiGnal number Of
individuals al any time existing which consti-
tutes the end toward which Natural Selection
may be regarded as working. II is always the
advantage of the incomparaby larger number
of individuals Yet TO come toward which the
whole process moves" In brief the individual
withers and the world is more ana more"
We cannot here follow Mr.. Kidd through all
the involved reasoning and the detailed and
reconcile citations Of historical records and
present day conditions and tendencies with
which he seeks TO establish his propositions The
reader or. rather. the student-for this book is
70 be studied rather than read-must discover
these for himself and he viii find profit for his
labor in so doing. There is, as we have said
thought in the book, despite its forbidding oh
scurity Of style and there Is, best Of all thought
which viii provoke thought. the latter perhaps
not always in agreement with the former. In
many form the demand. What do We owe
posterity? What has posterity done for u.s."
continues to come before tho world. Mr.. Kidd
answers II nobly. that We owe to the future the
best efforts Of the present. That is quite true
without the slightest regard 10 varying theories
Of psvchology or of eschatology. Whether life
be epheneral or eternal, the obligation is the
same. The difficulty is, however, that neither
our discoveries Of the principles of evolution nor
our best resolutions for the discharge Of
obligations 10 posterity have given the power
10 discern the future Patrick Henry expressed
an inmutable truth when he said that he knew
of no way 10 Judge the future but by the past
However much in Mr.. Kidd's words, the shadow
of the future may fall upon the present. our
eyes cannot perceive It However steadfastly
we may lock toward the future. can do so
cnlv by virtue OF the light which is reflected
from the past This is one of the memorable
conditions Of human nature II is all very well
to talk of projected efficiency, but accumuat-
ed efficiency IS the concrete fact. We are now,
DOUBTLESS. enjoying the projected efficiency Of
the past. But in truth there was less projection
OF IT by the past than there has been deduc-
1r-sl1g q h.