Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-02
Diagnosing the Unrest

:, .ha Importance OF economic and So
thought needs any proof besides life
.,t n is the refreshing fact that books
s,h,s nature have at last become divert
soading. More and more volumes are
e.lns written with the ease and strength,
,dslon and the humor of Walter Lipp-
..s,n,s "Drift and Master" (Mitchell-
vennerley, New York;.
=. the present age of unrest this
..A,.enosls" as Mr.. Lippman's terms hia
..at would be good reading, even IL IL
80, vritten in the verbiago OF col
~, nrofessor of economies, for 1t goes
.,sa,ght at the roots of things in such
,naivsis of the spiritual content of
80 lime. as ut has lost authority and
,o,ained the need OF IT." and points a
a,..p path out of that quandary in
u.,o, have to substitute purpose for
,rad,tion; and that is, 1 believe, the pro-
,onndest change that has even taken
n,sce In human history"
m the basis of the rock of ages
b,ssted at last, and with the expert
,,.nt,ve. open-minded scientific method
:. guide TO purpose, Mr.. Bippmann
.naiyses the public veal of today and
n,alcates lines along which development
,eoms ms probable as 1t is desirable. Any
.n,,lne of the direction of Drift and
Mastery would be the barest and most
un,nyiting OF syllabuses. Quotations
along the way should be quite as in
forming. far more readable and a very
sood KEY to the satisfaction awaiting
the reader.
However effective profit may have
been for inaugurating modern indus
try, 1t Is falling as method of real
ising its promise
rhe way out of corrupt and inept
nolltics is to use the State for inter-
Gsting and important purposes.
The trust movement is doing what
no consprator or revolutionist could
ever do: It is sucking the life out of
private property. The modern
shareholder is very feeble represen-
tative Of the instutlon of private prop
erty.
II may we'll be that the best unit
Tof Industry is smaller than some of
the modern trusts 1t does not follow
that we must break UP industry into
units of administration whose ideal ef-
fciency is spent in competing with
one another.
The simple act of buying has be-
come q vast, impersonal thing which
the ordinary man is quite incapable
OF performing without all sorts of
organized aid. Politics is
becoming the chief method by which
the consumer enforces his interests
upon the industrial system.
without democracy in industry -"
there is no such thing-as democracy
in America. For only through the
union can the wage-earner participate
in the control of industry and
obtain the discipline needed for self
government.
Theunrest of women cannot be met
by few negative freedoms: only the
finding of careers and the creation of
positive functions can make liberty
valuable.
The Interpretation of today, the vision
Of tomorrow: they are both in Drift and
Mastery" 1t becomes, therefore, true
to hope and practical to those who use
IT, as Mr.. Lippman finds 1.-THE Wealth
Of Nations" and ',Das Kaptal" But will
4 It become the Bible of the Goth century,
as the author holds the other two were
to their times? Aside from the modest
range Of the book-only some 800 pages
Il Is likely to stay out of the Bible class
because til too soberly and convincingly