New-York tribune., 1907-09-09
THE NEW "NORALITY."

"a person cannot be moral under the mar
riage and divorce laws Of this country" said
one of the principals of the triangular romance
with which newspapers have been recently en-
tertaning their readers. We hear such asser-
tions often from persons who hold advanced
and enlightened views about the coming so
cietv" who deliver or who listen to lectures on
social science" in social science schools" and
who contribute to the uplift of humanity by
working among the unenlightened. Obviously It
all depends upon what is meant by the word
..n,oral" Why is it immoral" for a man to
live with the woman to whom he IS married
after he has tired of her and would much prefer
union with some other woman? \ generation
ago it would have been unhesitatingly declared
that such A course was highly moral, and many
thoughtIess and unenlightened persons today
would be inclined to take the same view their
fathers held. But social science to-day
teaches that this old-fashioned course is i'm
moral and to abandon the first choice for the
second choice is the only true morality.
Society is better sustained by permanence of
the marriage relation, and the old morality.
which has still many unenightened followers.
made what was expedent to society the moral
standard. There have always been persons who
found yielding to society irksome TO themselves,
and they have formulated their rebellion into
philosophy. Their system of morality makes
what is expedient to the individual the highest
standard Of morals 1t IS very uncomfortable
to have to ceave to one woman when you would
much rather be ceaving to another Under such
circumstances your ego suffers lneXpressibly.
Your individuality" doesn't have half chance
nj development Therefore, II IS extremely I'm
moral" Your "cgo" is the most important
thing in the world, not merely TO you. but TO
all the rest of mankind. You may I'll columns
of the newspapers with It's anguish. What IS
the good OF society compared TO the good of an
ego? The old morals were social; the new
morals are egoistic.
The new standards of right and wrong are, Of
course, extremely impressonistic. Whatever 4
man thinks is best for him is right. just as
whatever q man thinks Is blue is blue no mat
ter If to nine out of every ten 1t is red or.
just as under the new doctrine of agmatsm,'
whatever a man thinks is true is true. II
your ego finds the marriage and divorce laws
inconvenent why, they are immoral, and that Is
all there is to ii. You have a right 10 your own
standards, for are you not an "individuality.n
that most tremendous thing In the world? Egos
have more trouble with monogamy than with any
other old-fashoned institution, but the new
morality knows no abstract. good or bad. and
every individual is entitled to his own "impres
sOns" of morality, it ought not be long before
some of our most exaggerated egos" will find
IL extremely lheApeuieht IDdL lney shouIu nave
small or no means while other persons roll In
wealth The old moral notions about stealing
will have 70 go. and with the other out
worn prejudices that hamper an ego on its up
ward way. AS It is now some OF our most enter
prsing egos are in jail, painfully has the de-
velopment of individuality been restrained by
the old social code of morals. The new morals
are of the essence of liberty. Their great prin-
ciple is: Every shall do as he pleases; to
do otherwise is the only immortality. Give the
egos q chance! They have suffered too long
from the shackles Of society. An exaggerated
ego" is the apex of human development