The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-27
MEET IN PHILADELPHIA.
HISTORICAL AND ECONOMIC
 SoClkTIES IN SESSION.
Professor E. R. A. seligman of Columbia University Speaks on the Subjecl, "kc-n mo and
 Social ProgrsSs."

Historical Society and the American Economic Association, each of which VIII be in session In this city until Tuesday, formally opened their annual sessions to- night by holding a joint meeting In the Drexel Institute. Beginning tomorrow the organizations will hold separate sessions There Is & large attendance Of professors from many of the educational inst-tu- uons of the country.
 Dr. Joseph E. Wharton of the School of Finance. University of Pennsylvania, welcomed both orga nlzations. after which the President of each society delivered his annual address. Capt A Y. Manan, U. s. N. retired, Presldent of the His torical Society. spoke on ',Subordination in Historical Treatment" ana E. R. A. Seligman. professor of economies in Co., Iumoia University, President of the Economic Assocoation, had tor his suo- ject Economic and Social Progress"
 He said:
 An economic analysis bassd on chang ing condiuins is of the utmost possible service. If conducted skillfully 1t would. feel convinced. bid us be of good cheer and help us face the future with hope and confidence. The fundamental prob lem connected with social development is, after all this: Whither are we tending? What are the forces that are making for progress or retrogression7 What lessons have an economic Interpretation of the past and of the present to teach us in our guidance for the future?
 There Is no binding the fact that many give pessimistic answer to these quer- ies. They call attention to the increase i of luxury and of materialism. They look with suspicion upon what they term the growing plutocracy and the new teudal- ism. They point to the warning example | of the oriental monarchies of classic | Greece and Rome and tell us that in our case. too, the period of unduestioned pros perity which Is now upon us will inevi- | tably be followed by one of decay and 1 final dissolution.
 | I venture to affirm, however. that a more discriminating study would disclose the existence of several factors. inatten- ton to which is largely responsible for this gloomy and Respondent attitude. and that, on the contrary, the outlook is not dark. but promising indeed.
 Without attempting in this place the impossible task of a complete analysis, venture to call your attention to six points which differenuats modern indus trial society from all It's predecessors: i These are. first. the practical exhaustion of free land; second. the predominence of l industrial capital; third. the application 1 or SCleHIHc H6lnOuS, Iu6 SAlSt- ence of a competitive regime based on the newer conception of liberty; fifth, the l spread of education and the birth of a distinct public opinion; sixth, a true dem | ocratic spirit and the growth of a new idealism. What Is the real import of these factors?
 ! The virtual disappearance of free land makes slavery forever impossible In the future. Recent investigations have pI eyed beyond the peradventure of a doubt that slavery as typical economic system is ascribable to the existence of vast quantities of untitled tracts suitable for agriculture. It Is because the entire ly different economic systems and conse- ] quent social ethics of the mother coun- tries are now the potent factors in the world that we can confidently look for l ward to the speedy passing of slavery m | every part of the globe. Morality. indeed
 Is doing its noble work. but at bottom lies the disappearance of free land
 The predominence Of industrial capital In the strict scientific sense capital has Indeed existed from the time of the first hunters bow and arrow. But Tor prac' tical purposes and for real aid In calling this the cspitaIistic age. The typical form of capital today Is industrial capital as in feudal times 1t was landed capital or, as in so many civilizations Of oio' II was trade capital
 We speak glib;y of the recent progress of sciences, but few realize the true i'm port of this growing subjection Of nature to man, and of the revolutionary charac' ter of this harnesslng of the powers oi the universe to the yoke of the humar intellect For one 1t has made poss ol' an almost Iimltless increase in produc' ton.
 In modern times the progress oi economic thought and the presence o' economic fact in uplifting the hitherto submerged classes of the community t generating a public opinion which frank 1 ly recognizes the benefits of healthy competition, but which insists more anc more on effective social control of com petition to the end that 1t be elevated and purified.
 This is the true meaning of the sixth point of diTerence-the flower and thu fruit of al It's forerunners-the existence of the democratic ideal. We point in deed with complacency to the advances
 made by the working classes, but to al those who realize the essential conditions of successful Democracy where the mas
 of citizens are necessarily the laoorers
 the ideal to be attained advances stil more quickly than the actual progress
 The brutish. lethargic peasant of the ol'
  misery. The free citizen of our indus : trial democracy wants, and wants justly
 to participate In the spiritual as well a d the material benefits of modern civiliza
 ton. With every advance In his economi ' position. due the interplay of modern in
 dus trial forces new vistas of possibilitie
 disclose thems new sources of legi ' innate satisfaction make their appear
 ance. The social unrest of today wit
 al It's disquieting and deplorable Incident Is on the whole a salutary system. It
 but the labor pains in the birth of tn
 new Industrial order which has been |
 the making for the past few generation: and of which the faint outlines afe eve . now diseernable.
 '' A study of the economic forces now q work thus Justlnes a reasonable hopeful
 ness The productive powers of societ .s are augmentlng at such prodigious rat
 that we need no longer apprehend deca |. of general prosperity or of natural powe
 There Is to be no further irrupton of th |. barbarian, because there will soon
 no more barbarisns There Is to be . . domination of each nation In turn ovt
 all the others. because of the internt e tonallty of science and the impartial tel
 rltorial diffusion of industrial akencie'
 And within each nation while the rich al
 getting richer. the poor are not gettir l. poorer. The creation of A more equabl ,a because more perfect, competition throus