The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1921-12-11

A few days ago a very thoughtful
gentleman asked my opinion as Il
what is the predominant philosophy
Of modern life. MY reply was "ThG
philosophy of THINGS" We have
become nation Of thing-worshipers
automobiles, giant factoriesy great
buildings, magnificent cities, and d
thousand and one other THINGS
which, under a saner regime, would
be regarded as nothing more than
THINGS. But today, under our ma
terialistic regime, they have become
ends, not means, the essence Of life,
not adjuncts to it.
Strange, indeed, this philosophy OF
THINGS, and strange the process of
its growth. Primitive man has few
things,--few tools, few implements.
In his struggle with the forces of
nature, necessity impels him to create
THINGS to aid him against uneven
odds. His ingenuity enables him to
fashion crude devices which mitigate
for him the hardships Of the struggle.
Later generations improve upon these,
and each successive improvement en-
llarges the scope of mans mastery
over the physical forces Of nature and
extends the realm of his supremacy.
But, as nature is overcome, and as
mans emancipation from his environ
ment is made complete, his dependence
upon THINGS grows, and the import
ance of THINGS looms larger When
finally, not content with mere enamel
patton from the forces of nature, man
determines to harness those forces
and use them for his own ends, he
emerges--a monarch! No wonder the
poet could sing Of the Joiner Of oceans,
"A man went down to Panama
Where many a man had died,
To slit the sliding mountains
And lift the eternal tide.
A man stood up in Panama,
And the mountains stood aside!"
The story Of mans progress from
creature to Creator, from the abiect
subject of nature to undisputed mas
terry over nature, is the story Of the
power Of THINGS,--the man-made
tools and implements which man used
as instruments first of self-emaneipa.
ton, and then of self-aseendancy. 1t
is a thrilling story, TO be sure, this
romance Of the conquest of nature,
this age-old struggle, from which man
energies the undisputed winner,--the
mOnarch,-the mastefl
And man, the master, the monarch,
exults lin the fruits Of his kingdom.
And those fruits are--THINGS! No
longer however, does man create
things as means to a worthy end;
their creation has become an end in
itself, and the THINGS themselves
the summon bonum of existence. Great
facto les, the manufactures of
THINGS, run day and night, with
out regard to the human agency en-
in the running of them.
THINGS must be produced in stag
gering abundance; what matters the
sapping of human energies in their
production! The hdeous wastage of
the human elements in production is
only an incident in the great game Of
making THINGS.
Take one of mans THINGS, for
example,--battleships. Their creation
has become an obsession with all
powerful peoples. Man, apparently, is
intoxicated with his ability to create
them, and nations vie with each other
in the construction of the giant Levia-
thans of the sea, the man-made mon
sters Of destruction. But the making
of battleships, - beautiful, graceful,
powerful THINGS, though designed
for hideous purposes,-has become
such a JOY to the makers that pro-