The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-02-05
AsroRIAN PUBLISHING COMPANY.
Feo1sM THE MEASURE OF OUR INTEREST.

X EGOISM The MEA0UhE VI WIN - AA'
IT might almost be laid down as law of psychol
ogy that man. interest in given event varies IN
inverse ratio with the square OF the distance says
the San Francisco Bulletin. This law is somewhat
complicated by the fact that all events are not all OF
intrinsic interest. A burglary committed next door
to one : home is great event. burglary committed
two blocks away is something to remark when one
reads of it in the paepr sbutbauglrary hltbmy bp
reads Of it in the papers, but burglary committed
on the other side of town across the bay is nothing
at all One reads of it without the slightest interest
But triple murder committed mile away, IN err
cunstances Of shocking brutality or horrfying pre-
meditation quite overshadows petty larceny next
door,
The sense of local interest is very strong man
will give up his life to save the lives of twenty per-
sons in building burning across the street. but what
man in San Francisco would consent to die, as sort
of placatory sacriical victim in order to prevent
war between Japan and Russia war in which
thousands of men are sure to lose their livesi
When the Baldwin hotel in this city was destroyed
by fire it was a tremendous event in the city, and
people here talked about it for months, although
only few perished in that event But if a similar
hotel were to be burned in Chicago, or New York,
little concern would be felt in San Francisco. col
umn in the newspapers would safe our curiosity about
it We would glance down the column and then
turn stlessy to the sporting pages or to the society
gossip.
When the roof of the glass works caved in during
the football game few years ago, and number of
people were precpated into the cauldron of boiling
glass, what excitement there was throughout the
eityi The papers printed pages and pages of the
thrilling details Pictures of all the dead and in
jured and Of all their surviving relatives within the
third degree Of kindred, were published. The other
day fire broke out in an eastern coal mine and many
persons were killed than lost their lives in the
glass works disaster; yet the San Francisco newspa-
pers did not make great deal Of the affair. The
editors were aware that the people here were not
greatly concerned about the loss of two or three hun
dred lives in Pennsylvania
Why does the distance make such difference in
an event? Are human lives not as precious in Penn
syIFdlhd DIS Ill odH rrdHclScOB is HOL HOLel IN Cn
eago as valuable as one in San Francisco Is bur
gary committed around the corner, in house whose
occupants we do not know, more important intrin
sically than burglary committed in Oakland or
New York, or Berlin, or Calcutta?
This preference of the near event over the far
event springs from the ineradcable egosm of human
nature. Each man views himself as the center Of
the cosmos the exact middle term in the long series
of life, the eliminating product of evolution. We
measure all men and all things by their position with
relation to ourselves The past is the time that eaps
ed before we came the future is the time that shall
come after our departure. Consequently events
gain Importance by propinquity to ourselves either
in time or in distance and diminish rapidly as in
perspective, as they become more and more remote
The man who is SO fortunately situated as to live
in the house adjoining ours is therefore magnifed
The poor wight whom destiny has cast in our antp.
odes is mere impersonal unit of population If he
is killed in fire war we do not care to know his
name or anything about him. Suffice it that the dis
patches say twenty guests lost their lives in burn
ing hotel or the Russians lost one hundred pryates
and two officers
Our interest in events, moreover, depends but
slightly upon the intrinsic Importance Nothing
could be much more important to the people than a
detailed report Of committee engaged in framing
tariff BILL yet the report Of the proceedings in
scandalous divorce trial would be read with keener
relish by nine persons out Of ten than the report Of