The sun., 1909-05-23

finds that II helps him In UNDERSTANDING
those movements and therefore accepts
IL professionally For the pragmatist
however, aprovisionally' means nothing
That 10 to say, he does not expect truth =
TO be anything else than provisional
Prof. James contrasts pragmatism win
the older philosophers as represent.
ing the open air and possibilities OF
nature against dogma. artiHetallfy ahn
the pretence OF the fnallty OF truth
What is true Professionally, because ser
viceable, is FOR it the only kind OF truth
attainable.
We think that criticism Of pragmatism
to have much effect must take 1t on tnls
ground. It must ask what its praoiicai
effects are on the popular mind. u
should inquire whether the standard OF
practical morality is likely TO be lowered
by the pragmatist's. assertion that the
truth Of an idea Is equivalent to it's use
fulness. -True beliefs says q prs gma-
tist, ~are those which help us to get what
we want" -The proof Of the pudding
is in the eating; that is fair popular
estimate Of their position. Prof. James
states it frankly when he uses the express
sions, athe cash value Of an idea, the
paying Of an idea Does the belief In
God help us? Then that is sufficient war
rant FOR It. Apply this to moral laws:
their validity is confined to their practical
utility. Fiat justitia. pereat mundus is
sheer nonsense to the pragmatist. Al
bottom he is an epicurean sceptic, but
"epicurean" Of course lis word OF many
meanings All depends on the point
from which you start. When PROF. James
says that the truth Of an idea ID to be de-
termined by it's "usefulness, he with ms
old New England and academic back
ground gives a meaning to -usefulnees
which it is no% likely to have to young
Chicago broker.
The pragmatist asserts his willingness
to stand or fall by the practical enects
of his doctrine upon the masses. Tor nc
is no aristocrat. He dislikes eeoteno
dogma and authority. He believes IN the
! -vox populi." That is one reason why ne
Ia representative of the age; and this
age 10 commercial as well as democratic.
| God IL no gentleman. says Prof. James
Unless he Is useful. do away with him.
But the very idea OF his omnipotenoe 70
an inspiring and therefore useful idea to
us. 1t pays Not so the renunoiataon OF
Christ. Let US not renounce with
Christ" says an italian pragmstist. but
| conquer with God"
Does pragmatism make for material
istic, carpe diem view OF life? Does 1t make
for a calculating opportunism in moral
ity? Does it insist upon the price rather
than the value of things? Does 1t prac-
ticalN capitulate to the lower tendencies
| OF a commercial age, 30 far as the masses
are concerned, whatever sense a few
elect. aloof spirits like Prof. James may
read into 1t? These are the questions,
we think, which DR.. Pratt would have
done we'll to examine rather than, or at
least in addition to. the formal logical
consistency OF the theory.
The Crusade Against the Plague In San
| Francisco.
The bubonic plague bacillus was dis
covered by Yersin OF the Pasteur Institute
and by Kitssato during the Hongkong
epidemic OF 1894. 1t was known that cpl
denies OF the plague we're always preceded
by q fatal epizootic among rats and mice.
| This knowledge pointed the way to the
| further discovery that the baoilh OF the
human plague and the rat plague were
| identical-that the rat epizootic and the
bubonic plague are one and the same dis
ease. The next problem was to learn
the mode of transmission OF the disease
| from rat to rat and from rat to man.
Koch and other scientists Expressed the
belief that the infection was transferred
By the flea The opinion was verified by
Nuttall in 1881 and Simond in 1898, both Of
whom demonstrated the presence OF the
bacillus pestis in the bodies of ieas taken
from plague sick rats. Simond in the
latter year succeeded in transmitting the
disease from one rat to another without
contact except through infected fieas.
Since then the relationship between the
episootic and the plague has been estab-
lished in detail. particularly by the work
of the Indian Plague Commission. under
taken In 1905.
The bacillus pestis is q vegetable organ
ism depending for it's life on lodgment
in living animal tissues. 1t dies quickly
in the sunlight or in dry. hot air, though
it will live from thirty. TO sixty days In
sterilized water at ordinary room tempera-
ture. 1t cannot live indefinitely either
in soil or in water. Its natural hosts are
rats. mice. squirrels. marmots and othsr
flea infested animals. or these the most
migratory and therefore the most i'm
portant in spreading disease is the rat,
which is carried from seaport to seaport
and follows every inland avenue Of COM
merce in its peregrinations.
The plague is primarily a rat disease
and 10 epizootic in all Of the rat family.
1t is only seoondarily disease OF man,
and is transmitted principally through
the flea and through contaminated food.
1t has come to be known az the bubonic
plague because it's oommonest early
symptom 10 swelling OF the lymphaic
glands in the groin. a symptom traoeable
to the fact that fieas. emerging generally
from cracks in the door and jumping to
the foot, usually draw blood first on the
lower extremities, in which case the hrst
glands reached by the infection a. Il
spreads through the system arc those
in the groin.
When the plague appeared In the China
town OF San Francisco in 1900 enough was
known about the rat a. carrier OF the
disease to indicate the proper measure
to be taken by the sanitary authorities,