The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-12-31
From Other
Editorial Pages
NEM GODS FOR OLD.

NEW GODS FOR OLD.
New York Times There IL "A certain
fayor Of the expected In the disclosure
that the sinister NJ. Caillaux included
among his seditious activities an at
tempt To stir up ill.feeling between
France and America. and there Is a
great deal of II In the disclosure that
his argument was based ON economic
| Onsiderations:
In his conversation NJ. caillaux had
also expressed opinions hostile to the
United States. represented by him as
an economic adversary and "a competl-
tor against central Europe.
II there ~ absolutely nothing on
which hatred between nations can be
based. II your most earnest researches
fail to discover anything but perfect
goodwill, fall back ON economic de.
terminism. II II witoh-word cab
listic symbol. AZ the sousd of which
men lose their reason, fall on their
faces and grovel. II II one of those
magic words in the fairy tales which
instantly struck the hearer dumb. In
this war II has been "A factor OF in
caleulable force.
The theory that all wars are simply
clashes between rival economic needs
means that all mems actions are con
troled by their stomaohs, and that
there is no such thing AS soul. II Is
implicitly accepted by Germany. II IL
believed as creed by millions who do
not know the name Of IL. Thus we
have seen German writer's accounting
Ia A Apnariaafe into Ia. -
by such explanations as that our OBJ
iect Is To destroy Europe by exhaus.
tion. Most Socialists who oppose the
defense of the nations against German
aggression believe wholly in this SUI
perstition, for Socialists are the most
superstitous of all men.
The Crusaders did not go to the Holy
Land impelled by economic determin.
ism. by necessity of finding markets
in the near east. The Crescent was
not carried into Byzantum and Spain
by economic determinism. But the
slaves of this more than usually ugly
and repellent superstition tell you that
in an industrial society there can be
no other kind of war than a stomach
filling one. The American Revolution
was not fought for liberty. the soul had
nothing To do with IL; it was purely
matter of the belly. The theory of
economic detei1ninism is an offshoot Of
the older belief that all mems actions
are determined by the question of ma
terial advantage. advantage to the in.
dividual or the group of individuals.
In an age which. as fast as II de.
thrones the old gods. falls more alb
perstitions IL creates for itself. the
scientist is the Druid The comparison
Is a little unfair for the objects of
Druidic worship We're infinitely nobler
than the miserable fetiches which man
makes in commercial age. Even Odin
was a grander god than the gastric
juices Man must worship. and IL he
is deprived of God he worships science
with a far fiercer and more unreason-
ing bigotry. Since science can map
the stars and string telephone wires. of
course IL must be able to do everything
and il can probe the soul of man. IL
can codify the souls laws just as 1t can
survey a railroad.
But the new god has its limitations
II can map what can be mapped. dag.
nose what can be diagnosed. 1t can
get 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. \ machine will always
do what you expect of it. and if il does
not YOU can ascertain the reason. But if
man is a machine, he differs from all
other machines in a certain something
which science refuses to call the soul
but which it has never succeeded in
calling anything else. Since il cannot
explain. or even define or understand.
this thing. it ignores it and proceeds
to account for mans actions by those
of his parts which ii can explain define
and understand. This is fine and easy
and comfortable; but suppose it should
be that in the very things YOU are in
terpreting his actions are dictated. not
by the parts YOU can explain and de-
fine. but by the one thing which has al
ways eluded you?