Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-04-08
"vvhat Fools These MortaIs Bel"


marked, In commenting upon some of
the marvellous utilities Of the day:
What should we do nowadays if we
were suddenly thrown back to the scant
conveniences Of half a century ago."
The answer may be found in Europe
at the end of the present war. They
will be able to retain many of the
wonders of recent progress. of course,
but they are being reduced to a meas
ure Of luxuries and comforts hitherto
known only to the very poorest classes.
They are learning to do without many
things to which they had become &C
customed. They are finding themselves
forced, more and more, to economize.
They are constrained to practice self
denial and are making use of bits
formerly wasted. They are re-learning
the practices of pioneers.
The big question stands: care they
suffering, under this forced re duction
of the standard that has been the out
growth Of progress and invention?'
OF course this does not apply to those
of the cities, towns and productive
fields that have been devastated by
war, but to the average people of the
countries engaged in war yet living far
from the scenes of conflict. And of
course the question, has no reference
to the stress Of mind because of near
and dear ones lost or liable to loss.
Then we answer mo-" Have our own
western settlers, who have invaded the
wilderness and the vast unpeopled
plains, suffered" because deprived Of
luxuries? We think not; and the ex-
PLANTATION lies in the acceptance of
equality in their environment. They
did not suffer-" with plenty Of coarse
food and warmth when billiards pre-
vailed. for they had no fear Of the pity
Of those better off. They did not "suf-
fer" from their rugged toll because all
were toilers within their range Of con-
tact. They did not suffer" from lack
of social standards to live up to.
Happy existence is a state Of mind,
not indulgencies of longings and pas
sions. We are creatures Of envy, and
envy causes suffering. We can do
without, II those around US do without.
We are controlled by imitation only a
short remove from the monkey. We
are pitiful imitators and waste our en-
ergies and products in following the
styles and fads.
Last month Golfers contained an
article by James Howard Keller. He
wrote:
pass a store where window dress
er was working, pathetically 1t seemed
to me, with cheap goods and cheap ac-
cessories, to make a window that would
appeal to the passers-by. He crept in
soiled sandals over a cheap tissue-cov-
cred floor to lay carefully, tenderly,
against a similar crepe-tissue- covered
box in front, a limp imitation-leather
handbag.
The scene was typical Of what is the
matter with our limited, unsocial and
uncivilized point Of view as to what
business is or should be. That is why
it was pathetic.
did not blame the window dresser.
did not blame his employer.
I did not blame the poor shopgirl
who was going to labor pathetically
to sell this imitation handbag to some
other shopgirl who could not afford to
buy it. but who must have it to make
an imitation impression upon imitation
people.
did not blame the imitation manu-
facturer who made the shoddy hand
bag and who proposed getting rich
through supplying the artificial wants
Of an imitation civilization.
did not blame anybody.
I felt sorry for everybody concerned
in the transaction and for. everybody
affected by it, however remotely, which
includes you and me.
It was pathetic because social blind
ness is the most pathetic thing in the
world: blindness to our own inner pro-
cesses; to any conception, even elemen-
tary, of what life means or of what we
are here for; complete, abysmal, black
blindness as to what constitutes a log
ical, dignified, honest, self-respecting
place for oneself in the general scheme
of life.
The handbag had no excuse even for
existence.
Yet sentiment, potent human life had
been poured into it's lavishly-thous-
ands of capable, hopeful, creative hu-
man beings had contributed to it: po-
tentially useful men had conceived and
designed It: workmen whose skill could
have erected a Pantheon had built a
factory and machines to make it; other
men and women were giving their lives
to selling tall to the end that another
person, a fellow human who could not
afford it, should give the result of her
labor, which is her life, to buy it.
It seems a senseless and vicious cir
Gle, doesn't It? 1t Is.
And we have no cure for it except to
talk about 1t and keep on talking about
it, using such logic as we have to
make 1t appear as ridiculous as it really
is, until those who are the only bene-
flciaries Of It Iii the profits Of such alb
surdities can be called benefits) devel-
CD sufficiently a sense Of humor and
sense Of the essential dignity OF human
life to quit 1t.