Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-12-28
THE Law OF THE
JUNGLE
(From the New York Tim.,,

There is 4 certain flavor of III.
pected In the disclosure. that tia y. y
lister NJ. Cailaux included ar s,n'
his seditious activities an attemnta
stir up ~il-feeling between Franc %
America, and there Is q great Le.Haa o
Iit~in the disclosure that his arvnn.o u
was based on economic considssa
tons.
In his conversation NJ. Cailau,
had also expressed opinions Mo-
tie to the United States, renrs.
scented by him as an economic
adversary and competitor
against central Europe. .
If there is absolutely nothins
which hatred between nations can h"
based, If your most earnest resea rc, "e
fail to discover anything but nerfsss
good will, fall back on econon,ic as
iterminism. It Is a witch.word. q csS
alistic symbol, at the sound OF uhiaS
men lose their reason, fall on ths;a
faces, and grovel. It. is one Of thnaII
magic words in the fairy tales whies
Instantly struck the nearer DUNN IN
this war it has been a factor Of inca'
culable force. ~
The theory that all wars are simn,,.
clashes between rival economic need.
means that all mems actions are cons
trolied by their stomachs, and that
there is no such thing as a.soul. II ~
implicitly accepted by Germany. II =; =
believed as a creed by millions VII"
do not know the name Of it. Thus Nv
have cen German writer's a%ccountina
by such explanations AZ that orr AZ
ject is to destroy Europe by cxhan,.
ton. Most Socialists who oppose ~.
denfense of the. nations against Ger
man aggression believe wholly in thi,
superstition. for Socialists are the
most superstitious Of all men.
The Crusaders did not 60 to N.
Holy Land impelled by economic d.
terminism. by q necessity of finding
markets in the Near East. The Cres.
cent was not carried into Byzantine
and Spain by economic determinism
But the slaves Of this more than
usually ugly and repellent supersti.
ton tell you that in an industrial, 90.
ciety there car be no other kind ~
war than a stomach filling one. The
american Revolution was not fought
for liberty, the soul had nothing to do
with it; it was purely a matter of ths
belly. The theory Of economic deter.
minism is an offshoot Of the older be.
lief that all mems actions are deter.
mined by the question Of material ad.
! vantage, advantage to the indiyidua,
or the group OF. individuals.
In an age which,, as fast as it de-.
thrones the old gods. falls more alb.
jectly at the feet of the .squalid su.
perstitions- it creates for itself, the
scientist is the Druid: The Compare
son is a little unfair for the objects
of Druidic worship. were infinitely
nobler than the miserable fetiches
which. man makes in a commercial
age. Even Odin was a grander god
than the gastric juices. Man must
worship. and if he is deprived Of God
or and more u~nreasoning bigotry.
Since Science can map the stars and
string telephone wires Of course it
must be able to do everything, and
it a probe the soul Of man. Iecan
codify the souls laws just as it can
survey a railroad.
But the new god has its Limitations.
1t can map what can be mapped, d.
agnose what n be diagnosed. 1t can
set at the inside Of all machines.
There is only one error in its mapping
of man, and that IS in treating him
solely as a machine. A machine will
always do what you expect of it, and
if it does not you can ascertain the
reason. But II man is a machine, he
differs from all other machines in a
certain something which Science re-
fuses to call the soul but which it
has never succeeded in calling any
thing else. Since it cannot explain. or
even define OF understand, this thing,
it ignores it and proceeds to account
for mans actions by those of his
parts which it can explain. define. and
understand. This. is fne and easy and
comfortable; but suppose it should be
that in the very things you are inter
preting his actions are dictated, not
by the parts you can. explain and de-
fine, but by the one thing which has
always eluded you?