,libraries7       ,barbara ,weinstock   
,lectures on ,the ,morals of ,trade     
,,is ,,civilization ,a ,,disease8 ,by   
,,stanton ,,coit4  ,,social ,,justice   
,,without ,,socialism4 ,by ,,john       
,,bates ,,clark4  ,,the ,,conflict      
,,between ,,private ,,monopoly ,,and    
,,good ,,citizenship4 ,by ,,john        
,,graham ,,brooks4  ,,commercialism     
,,and ,,journalism4 ,by ,,hamilton      
,,holt4  ,,the ,,business ,,career ,,in 
,,its ,,public ,,relations4 ,by ,,albert
 ,,shaw4     ,,is ,,civilization ,a     
,,disease8    ,by  ,,stanton ,,coit     
,,boston ,,and ,,new ,,york ,,houghton  
,,mifflin ,,company ,the ,riverside     
,press ,cambridge #aiag  ,,copyright1   
#aiag1 ,,by ,,the ,,regents ,,of ,,the  
,,university ,,of ,,california  ,,all   
,,rights ,,reserved  ,published ,may    
#aiag     ,,barbara ,,weinstock         
,,lectures ,,on ,,the ,,morals ,,of     
,,trade   ,this series will contain     
essays by representative scholars and   
men of affairs dealing with the various 

phases of the moral law in its bearing  
on business life under the new economic 
order1 first delivered at the           
,university of ,california on the       
,weinstock foundation4     ,,is         
,,civilization ,a ,,disease8     ,i4    
,,trade ,,typical ,,of ,,civilization   
,in choosing ,the ,morals of ,trade as  
the general title of the ,weinstock     
,lectureship1 ,i am informed that its   
founder meant the word ,trade to be     
understood in its comprehensive sense1  
as commensurate with our whole system of
 socialized wealth--at least1 upon the  
present occasion ,i shall interpret it  
in this broad way4   ,i shall           
furthermore ask you to consider our     
system of socialized wealth--its        
practice and principles--in relation to 
the whole of that vast artificial       
structure of human life which is        
labelled ,civilization1 and which began 
to prevail some ten thousand years ago4 
,such a comprehensive sweep of vision   
is1 in my judgment1 necessary if we are 

to view trade in true human perspective2
 nor can we estimate the degree of      
praise or blame we ought to confer upon 
it until we have determined the worth of
 civilization itself4 ,for trade is not 
only bound up inextricably with the     
whole of our social order1 but1 as it   
seems to me1 manifests in a most acute  
form the universal character of         
civilization in general4 ,we must       
therefore discover the structural       
principle which began to co-ordinate the
 lives of any group of human beings when
 their tribe finally passed out of      
barbarism4 ,having discovered this1 we  
shall be able to judge whether by its   
ever-advancing application to the life  
of men1 and its ever-increasing         
domination over their wills1 it has     
furthered the cause of ideal humanity or
 not4 ,if we find that it has been      
essentially humane1 we shall have       
arrived at the conclusion that its      
offspring1 trade1 is moral4 ,if1        
however1 we unearth in the very         

principle of historic civilization      
something radically wrong1 anti-human   
and inhuman1 and if we can discover     
another co-ordinating principle which is
 humane and feasible1 civilization will 
then be seen to be a thing to be        
superseded--as ,nietzsche thought man   
himself was--and trade1 its latest and  
lustiest issue1 will be felt to be a    
usurper deserving to be disinherited in 
favor of some true economic child of the
 ,holy ,spirit of ,man4     ,,ii4 ,,is  
,,civilization ,,just8   ,in order to   
open such lines of anthropological      
investigation and ethical reflection1 ,i
 have raised the question3 ,is          
,civilization a ,disease8  ,had ,i      
asked1 ,is ,civilization ,christian8 ,i 
should have defeated my own end4 ,you   
would have answered ,no as soon as you  
saw the subject of my discourse         
announced1 and would have stayed at     
home4 ,but you might still have given   
your ethical sanction to trade4 ,you    
might have said1 ,it does not pretend to

 be ,christian2 but that is nothing     
against it1 for the vital principle of  
,christianity is sentimental and        
impracticable3 and what won't work can't
 be right4  ,had ,i raised the question 
in the form1 ,could trade ever have     
emanated from an intelligent motive of  
universal love--of deference for the    
humanity in every man8 you would have   
replied1 ,never6 ,but you might have    
consoled yourself with the thought that 
it is only a small part of our boasted  
civilization4 ,we have art and education
 and family life and monogamy and       
religion2 and these come in as          
correctives1 so that trade1 although not
 conceived of benevolence and not       
bearing the stamp of humanity in its    
character1 is comparatively harmless    
under the restraints laid upon it4      
,then1 too1 the idea of universal love  
savors of theology1 and would have put  
my lecture under that general ban which 
in philosophical circles has been set up
 against theological ethics4  ,indeed1  

,i even shrank from asking1 ,is         
civilization unethical1 or wrong1 or    
bad8 ,for nowadays we find moral        
judgments more attractive when they are 
disguised or at least slightly veiled4  
,when we are really curious to know what
 is good1 we become shy2 we are not sure
 that our neighbors may not put a       
cynical interpretation upon any         
appearance of enthusiasm in our effort  
to find out what is right4 ,anticipating
 such delicacy in my prospective        
audience of to-night1 ,i threw a        
physiological drapery1 not to say       
pathological1 over the ethical bareness 
of my theme1 by introducing into it the 
idea of disease4 ,for while it may no   
longer be a stigma to be un-,christian1 
and while some have been trying to break
 all the traditional tables of moral    
values and prevent any new ones from    
being inscribed1 nobody1 so far as ,i   
have been able to learn1 has denied that
 disease1 whether physical or only      
mental1 is an evil and a thing which it 

would be wicked to spread for the mere  
delight in spreading it4 ,happily1 there
 is still astir throughout the community
 an active1 virile1 and unashamed       
desire--and not only among women--for   
health4 ,and in alertness and           
resourcefulness it is second only to the
 desire for wealth itself4 ,the result  
is1 that if anything which we have      
admired and been proud of has been      
discovered by experts to be of the      
nature of disease1 we want to be        
notified1 so that we may reverse our    
sentiments towards it1 and if possible  
destroy it4 ,the word disease is still  
plainly one of reproach4  ,on the other 
hand1 the very term civilization sets   
emotions vibrating of deference and awe 
towards the institution it signifies4   
,indeed1 pride in being civilized is    
still so nearly universal--especially   
among ,americans--that many persons upon
 hearing the point mooted whether       
civilization be a disease or not1 are   
disposed to resent the bare suggestion  

as smacking of whimsicality4     ,,iii4 
,a ,,metaphorical ,,use ,,of ,,the      
,,word ,,disease   ,i1 therefore1 hasten
 to hide myself thus early in my        
discourse behind the man1 bigger than   
,i1 who many years ago first aroused    
this question in my mind1 a question    
which1 having once fastened itself upon 
the soul1 may allow one no rest and may 
prevent one from ever again going on    
gayly through life singing with         
,browning's ,pippa3--      ,god's in    
,his ,heaven--       ,all's right with  
the world4  ,it is now twenty-six years 
since ,i first read ,mr4 ,edward        
,carpenter's penetrating essay1 then but
 recently published1 entitled           
,civilization3 ,its ,cause and ,cure4   
,the very name of the book made one ask3
 ,is civilization then a disease8 ,and  
if one deigned1 as ,i did1 to read the  
essay carefully1 one found the author   
defending the affirmative in all        
seriousness and with much thoroughness1 
and displaying acute analytical power   

throughout his argument4 ,the charge of 
whimsicality could not hold against him4
 ,the author showed an adequate insight 
into the social structure which is      
called civilization4 ,what was equally  
essential1 his knowledge of the latest  
speculations as to the nature of        
disease1--theories which have not yet   
been superseded and which when applied  
by ,sir ,almroth ,wright proved to be   
most fruitful working                   
hypotheses1--,carpenter's knowledge of  
these was comprehensive and             
discriminating4 ,he accordingly never   
pressed the analogy between civilization
 and disease unduly--he knew that it    
could not be made to fit all            
particulars4 ,and he never fell into any
 confusion of thought2 he easily avoided
 being caught in his own metaphor4 ,he  
employed it only within limits and only 
when it rendered the moral issue more   
concrete and vivid4 ,because he had a   
scientific knowledge both of            
civilization and of disease1 he could   

safely use language which appealed to   
the moral emotions as an aid to our     
moral judgment4  ,indeed1 ,mr4          
,carpenter showed himself not only      
scientific in his ethics1 but what is   
much rarer in these days1 ethical in his
 science4 ,for it is questionable       
whether one can ever arrive at any moral
 judgment except there be a deep and    
strong emotional accompaniment to one's 
rational investigation4 ,if we do not   
take sides with humanity at the outset1 
if we eliminate all preference for      
certain kinds of conduct and goals of   
pursuit which grew up in the human mind 
before we began our scientific criticism
 of morals1 how shall we ever get back  
again into the sphere of distinctively  
ethical judgment8 ,for instance1 how    
could we strike out from the field of   
observation the something which we count
 the moral factor in life1 and then     
proceed to investigate the morals of    
trade8 ,evidently we must in every      
ethical enquiry start by taking sides   

with that trend of the ,race-,will in   
us1 which moves plainly towards an      
ever-increasing self-knowledge1         
self-reverence and self-control on the  
part of man4 ,for it is this race-will  
in us whereby we have the capacity and  
interest to call any line of conduct or 
any disposition of the mind good or bad1
 right or wrong4     ,,iv4 ,,outline    
,,of ,,my ,,argument   ,nor do ,i simply
 mean that we must show loyalty to life 
as opposed to death1 or to health as    
against disease4 ,it is more than that4 
,the lifeward effort of some beings     
clashes with the corresponding attempt  
to live on the part of others1 and the  
actualization of one impersonal ideal of
 beauty1 truth1 or society exacts the   
sacrifice of one set of human lives and 
favors the survival of another1 so that 
an opposition in ideals may mean an     
antagonism in the struggle of classes   
and masses of men for existence4 ,there 
is a combat1 and we are called upon to  
choose which side to encourage and      

support4 ,one and the same state of     
things often spells disease and death to
 the one party and life and health to   
the other4 ,i shall be able on this     
account to show that whether            
civilization appears to us as a disease 
or not depends upon what sort of a      
person we are1 and to which side we are 
constitutionally disposed to attach     
ourselves4 ,to show this1 ,i will first 
draw an analogy on the biological plane 
and then ,i will cite the judgment of   
great humanists who have sided against  
civilization4 ,after that1 ,i will      
submit instances in civilization itself 
for your own judgment4 ,only then shall 
,i return to ,edward ,carpenter1 to give
 a rsum of his position1 and to point   
out how far and why ,i agree with him1  
and at what stage ,i part company with  
him and for what reasons4 ,then ,i shall
 attempt to present a bird's-eye view of
 the steps in human advancement towards 
civilization as the best anthropologists
 have traced them4 ,thus1 we shall be   

able to see our historic social order in
 right relation to that ideal humanity  
which our own spiritual constitution    
projects prophetically above the        
threshold of our consciousness4 ,then1  
if ever1 we shall be in a state of mind 
to judge whether the thing which        
civilization has begotten after its own 
kind and named trade is good or bad4    
,v4 ,,man ,,versus ,,civilization   ,now
 to my biological analogy3 ,it was      
recently my privilege to be conducted   
over the ,rockefeller ,institute for    
,medical ,research in ,new ,york ,city4 
,you will remember that to it some      
millions of dollars have been assigned1 
for the purpose of discovering the cause
 and cure of bacterial diseases4 ,in one
 department of the ,institute a         
,japanese professor showed under the    
rays of the ultra-microscope specimens  
of a remarkable bacillus1 the existence 
of which he had been the first to       
detect4 ,it was that kind of bacillus   
which1 if it is present in the marrow of

 a man's spinal cord1 induces a state of
 the body that is called                
locomotor-ataxy4 ,this state is one in  
which the man who manifests it is unable
 to control properly the movements of   
his feet and legs4 ,he has lost command 
from the supreme cerebral centre2 the   
lower nerve ganglia seem to have become 
insubordinate and to act on their own   
initiative4 ,but is locomotor-ataxy a   
disease8 ,clearly your answer will      
depend upon whether you are on the side 
of the man or the microbe4 ,if you      
sympathize with the man and are thinking
 of him1 it is a disease2 but if your   
heart is with the microbe there in the  
spinal cord1 the locomotor-ataxy will be
 to you life and health abundant1 and   
that not only for the individual        
specimen whom you pick out for          
observation1 but for his whole family   
which1 as the ataxy advances1 reproduces
 itself proportionately1 and with an    
inconceivable rapidity4  ,what is to    
determine whether you are on the side of

 the man or the microbe8 ,surely the    
constitutional bent of your emotional   
and volitional preference4 ,it is not a 
matter for the science of fact to       
consider4 ,mere intellect1 mere reason1 
knows nothing of health and disease1    
unless it assumes this distinction as   
its starting-point4 ,it knows only the  
order of sequences4 ,suppose1 then1 we  
were to find that civilization had      
pitted itself against ,man1 so that it  
was a case of ,man versus ,civilization1
 as ,herbert ,spencer conceived an      
antagonism between ,man and the ,state4 
,should we not be compelled1 in order to
 decide what condition of things was one
 of health1 to open up conscious        
relations with our deepest trend of     
heart and will1 and find out whether we 
flowed with humanity or with            
civilization8 ,nor would there be any   
escape from the necessity of remaining  
true to our own trend and favoring      
whatever flowed the same way4 ,in case  
of a clash between the social order and 

humanity1 the health of each is to the  
other as a disease and1 therefore1 the  
question inevitably arises1 ,which is in
 our judgment to be preserved8 and each 
one's answer must depend on whether he  
finds himself after full deliberation   
irresistibly drawn to the one side or   
the other4 ,civilization may be to man  
as the microbe to the locomotor-ataxy   
subject2 but innate civilizationists    
would delight in the surrender of       
humanity to the social order4 ,to them  
what would humanity be but              
civilization's opportunity1 its habitat1
 its food-supply8 ,i am saying that1 to 
prove trade immoral it is not enough to 
show that man is a sacrifice to the     
economic order2 you would be required   
also to demonstrate that man ought not  
to be sacrificed to any social order1   
that he must always be the final end1   
and never a mere means4 ,but that is    
exactly what you can never demonstrate  
to any one who is not innately1         
spiritually1 naturally1 on the side of  

man against all other objects of        
interest4 ,i mean that there is no      
arguing with any one who                
constitutionally hesitates to side with 
man4 ,you might pray for such a one2 but
 it would be folly to reason with him1  
for the foundation is not in him upon   
which your reasonings could mount4 ,all 
this seems to me necessary to say1      
because ,i get the impression from books
 on political economy that most writers 
and readers first dehumanize themselves 
as a prerequisite to a discussion of the
 morals of trade4     ,,vi4 ,,the       
,,living ,,foundations   ,in one of his 
allegorical poems1 ,james ,russell      
,lowell depicted the antagonism of      
sentiment to which ,i am referring as   
existing between ,christ and his        
conventional worshippers4 ,the poem is a
 slight thing3 although strict in metre 
and perfect in rhyme1 it is too flowing 
and fantastic to be classed high in     
literature4 ,but if we view it as a     
scientific essay in dynamic sociology1  

it is admirable beyond criticism4 ,as   
its meaning is quite separable from its 
form and sensuous contents1 ,i therefore
 ask you not to think of it as poetry or
 ,christian mythology1 but to regard it 
only as a compact treatise in ethical   
economics4 ,because this poem is        
familiar to you all1 it will serve my   
object the better4 ,it represents       
,christ as coming back to earth after   
eighteen hundred years1 and all the     
grandees as rendering ,him elaborate    
homage4 ,nor do they omit to direct ,his
 attention to ,his own image set up in  
the places of highest honor4 ,but still1
 according to our dynamic sociologist3--
              444 wherever his steps    
they led1     ,the ,lord in sorrow bent 
down ,his head1     ,and from under the 
heavy foundation stones     ,the ,son of
 ,mary heard bitter groans4      ,and in
 church and palace and judgment-hall1   
,he marked great fissures that rent the 
wall1     ,and opened wider and still   
more wide     ,as the living foundations

 heaved and sighed4      ,have ye       
founded your thrones and altars1 then1  
,on the bodies and souls of living men8 
,and think ye that building shall endure
     ,which shelters the noble and      
crushes the poor8            99      99 
99      99      99      ,then ,christ   
sought out an artisan--     ,a          
low-browed1 stunted1 haggard man1       
,and a motherless girl1 whose fingers   
thin     ,pushed from her faintly ,want 
and ,sin4      ,these set ,he in the    
midst of them1     ,and as they drew    
back their garment-hem     ,for fear of 
defilement1 ,lo1 here1 said ,he1        
,the images ye have made of ,me6        
,to-day no one denies that the          
foundations are alive and that they     
heave and sigh4 ,in our age one need not
 be of the order of ,christ to have ears
 to hear the bitter groans4 ,everybody  
hears them1 if one may judge from the   
universal reports of the daily papers4  
,indeed1 how to suppress the groans or  
to prevent them from becoming more      

articulate and coherent is the most     
vexing problem of the government of the 
most civilized state in the world4 ,at  
least ,prince von ,blow so represents   
the case in his book entitled ,imperial 
,germany4 ,and the party leaders of the 
,united ,states have all been alert for 
two decades to discover how to render   
impossible an upheaval of the living    
foundations of ,america4 ,there is1 as  
,i say1 no denying the fact that the    
foundations are alive1 and that they not
 only groan bitterly1 but--what is more 
serious--heave threateningly4 ,whether  
any one person1 however1 is on the side 
of the living foundations1 as according 
to ,lowell ,jesus ,christ was1 or on the
 side of the thrones and altars1 as his 
conventional worshippers are depicted to
 be by ,lowell and many another         
,american writer since1 depends upon    
what the special person's innate taste  
is4 ,the thrones and altars have become 
more and more magnificent in beauty1    
costliness1 and splendor1 with the      

progress of civilization2 but not so the
 mob1 the rabble1 the underworld1 whose 
stirrings have rent the walls4 ,christ's
 taste1 it would seem1 was not primarily
 aesthetic4 ,but then not every one is a
 son of ,mary1 and not every carpenter's
 son sides with the class to which his  
father belonged4     ,,vii4             
,,civilization ,,condemned ,,by ,,christ
 ,,and ,,all ,,sons ,,of ,,man   ,i said
 that after my biological analogy ,i    
should cite the judgments of some great 
sages who saw in civilization an enemy  
of man4 ,of these ,i have just been     
mentioning the greatest4 ,the ,founder  
of ,christianity set ,his ,will dead    
against the established order of        
society1 rebuking the upholders of      
thrones and altars1 and becoming the    
champion of the outcasts4 ,the kingdom1 
,he announced1 was not to be of this our
 world of moneylenders4 ,no wonder the  
rulers of ,his day gave ,him short      
quarter1 so that after three years of   
agitation this speaker of rousing       

parables to the multitude1 who had no   
bank account1 was silenced forever4     
,likewise1 it was a foregone conclusion 
that every disciple of ,christ whose    
spirit was to be set aflame by          
,his--like ,st4 ,francis1 and           
,savonarola1 ,wycliffe1 ,luther 7at the 
first71 and ,john ,wesley--should turn  
in pity to the living foundations and in
 horror of spirit from the entombing    
thrones4  ,but the protest against the  
sacrifice of man to mammonized society  
has been no monopoly of ,christ and     
those spiritually descended from ,him4  
,the ancient ,hebrew prophets taught    
equally a kingdom that was to be        
diametrically the opposite in principle 
from that which prevailed in the ,jewish
 ,state or in ,babylon1 and later in    
,macedon or ,rome4 ,it should be noted  
that the prophets and ,christ           
accompanied their censure of the        
formative principle1 upon which nations 
and traders had built up their dealings 
with one another1 with a proposed       

substitute4 ,but if we go back to       
,gautama and the ,india of his time1 we 
find that the ,buddha's protest against 
civilization was still more extreme2 for
 he did not wait to submit a new        
principle before condemning the old4    
,indeed1 he felt that self-conscious    
existence for the individual1 as he     
beheld it everywhere1 was a tragic      
calamity1 and altogether unendurable4   
,preferable would be the extinction     
utterly of all individualized selfhood4 
,he would isolate the individual and    
submit him to a discipline1 the object  
of which was escape forever from the    
wheel of existence4 ,he advocated not   
mere individualistic anarchy1 but the   
annihilation of individuality as        
preferable to civilized life4 ,a third  
of the human race still believe in his  
discipline1 and in the alternative he   
proposed to the highly developed type of
 social order which prevailed in his    
time in ,india4  ,nor do ,gautama1 the  
prophets1 and ,christ stand alone4 ,all 

the great humanists of the eighteenth   
and nineteenth centuries1 although      
professing no discipleship of earlier   
teachers1 were at one with them in      
condemning the root-principle of the    
existing co-ordination of human lives in
 politics1 economics1 and education4    
,the cry of ,rousseau1 ,back to ,nature6
 and all the watchwords of ,voltaire and
 the encyclopdists1 were so many        
summonses to revolt against the entire  
order of organized society4 ,the same   
meaning underlay all the writings of    
,fourier and ,prudhomme1 of ,owen and   
the other ,english communists4 ,it was  
as if they all said1 ,civilization is a 
disease2 let us rid ourselves of it4    
,with the socialists1 ,marx and         
,lassalle1 and the anarchists1 like     
,stepniak and ,kropotkin1 the           
condemnation of society1 as it is and   
always had been1 was equally radical and
 sweeping4 ,even humanists less violent 
in their protest1 not so negative in    
their criticism1 nor so positive in     

their offered substitutes1 like ,carlyle
 and ,emerson1 like ,shelley and        
,whitman and ,swinburne1 like ,henry    
,george and ,henry ,demorest ,lloyd1 all
 aim to create in us the judgment that  
civilization1 as it has been from the   
first1 is no friend to the best in any  
man4 ,no lover of humanity seems ever to
 have worshipped the god who rules over 
the things that are established4 ,they  
all agree with the medival theologians  
that this world has been given over to  
the ,prince of ,darkness4     ,,viii4   
,,two ,,instances ,,of ,,civilization   
,we may come to wonder the less at this 
adverse judgment when we have considered
 two instances of the effects which the 
highest types of civilization have had  
upon the masses of mankind who were     
brought under its sway4 ,take ancient   
,egypt and ancient ,athens4 ,go back to 
the building of the pyramids4 ,although 
they are among the earliest monuments of
 civilization1 they are yet among the   
most marvellous illustrations of the    

mastery of the human mind over matter4  
,scarcely three had passed of the ten   
thousand years which have constituted   
the epoch that superseded barbarism1    
before these vast tombs1 or whatever    
they are1 began to be erected4 ,lost in 
admiration as he stands before the      
,great ,pyramid1 how can any one but    
resent the suggestion that the social   
order1 which made it at last possible1  
was a disease1 preying upon the body and
 spirit of men8  ,and yet1 if one turns 
from it to examine that organization of 
human labor and that control of the     
wills of the masses of ,egypt which made
 it possible1 and then again looks up at
 it1 one marks great fissures that rend 
the whole mass and one hears the        
foundations groan4 ,to speak thus is    
only an imaginative way of saying1 what 
all the anthropologists and             
archaeologists tell us1 that to the     
building of any one of the great        
pyramids went the enforced labor of     
upwards of a million men for many years1

 who were literally driven by the lash  
of the whip4 ,there is no ground for    
supposing that the feel of the whip1    
when the back of an ,egyptian slave     
began to bleed1 was different from what 
we should suffer if the stroke fell now 
on us3 nor that cries of pain were any  
the less natural then4 ,and we must     
remember that1 according to the         
unanimous opinion of anthropologists1   
the organization of enforced labor is   
one of the essentials of civilization4  
,picturesque and vivid1 but not         
exaggerated1 is the saying of the author
 of that able book1 ,the ,nemesis of    
,nations3 ,civilization begins with the 
crack of the whip4 ,lord ,cromer quotes 
this dictum in his work on ,egypt as    
giving an epitome of the kind of power  
behind the civilizing process as it has 
always manifested itself in the land of 
the ,nile2 and then1 lest those of his  
readers who live in the glass house of  
,english history should commit the      
ridiculous sin of unconscious hypocrisy1

 he gently but firmly reminds us that   
many inhumanities of a similar spirit1  
especially towards offenders against the
 laws of property1 were not suppressed  
in ,england till the beginning of the   
nineteenth century4  ,in these comments 
of mine upon ,egypt1 ,i may seem to have
 appealed to your sentiment of humanity2
 but ,i have never for a moment         
forgotten that no instance from history 
can prove civilization a disease except 
to those who are intuitively on the side
 of the man instead of the microbe1 of  
the people instead of the pyramid4 ,such
 instances1 however1 are of value in    
bringing those who listen to them to a  
clear self-consciousness of their own   
primal preference--and that is a        
distinct gain1 even when the preference 
is for the pyramid4  ,it cannot be      
denied that the masses of ,egypt were a 
sacrifice--and not willingly--to        
civilization4 ,in the preceding periods 
of savagery and barbarism1 there had    
been no such enslavement2 the           

organization of enforced labor had not  
proceeded so far4 ,the crack of the whip
 was still as yet intermittent4         
,according to ,lewis ,morgan1           
civilization is the progress of man from
 beast to citizen4 ,well1 until ten     
thousand years ago1 man was more beast  
than citizen2 but1 happily for him1     
among the beasts of the field there is  
nothing parallel to this organization of
 labor through the will of one by means 
of the stroke of the courbash upon the  
backs of the many4   ,some students who 
shrink in horror from the ,egyptian type
 of civilization plead nevertheless for 
the type which was manifested in ancient
 ,greece4 ,let us go1 then1 to ,athens  
in the age of ,pericles1 that period of 
her glory concerning which ,professor   
,freeman somewhere says that to have    
lived but ten years in the midst of it  
would have been worth a hundred of      
modern mediocrity4 ,who can think       
otherwise as he recalls the ,athenian   
drama1 eloquence and philosophy1        

architecture and sculpture8 ,but when   
one turns to the organization of        
society1 as it was in ,athens1 to find  
out at what human price the splendor was
 bought of that dazzling decade when the
 ,parthenon was being built1 one finds  
that of the inhabitants of that ,city of
 the ,light scarcely more than thirty   
thousand were free men1 while two       
hundred thousand were slaves4 ,again1   
the living foundations groan6 ,and if   
our heart1 by its nature1 insists on    
going out to the sacrificed1 our delight
 in ,athenian ,kultur will be henceforth
 shot through with anguish4 ,our only   
way of escape will be by absorbing      
,nietzsche into our system until the    
poison paralyzes our impulse to pity4   
,but you may think that if we shift our 
investigation1 we shall find relief4    
,let us enquire1 then1 into the position
 of woman instead of the man-slave in   
,athens4 ,alas6 we are now confronted   
with facts which reveal1 on the part of 
one whole half of ,greek mankind1 the   

surrender of their distinctive humanity 
to civilization1 to that process whereby
 sentient beings are transformed from   
beasts into citizens4 ,professor        
,westermarck sums up the attitude of    
civilization to women in these terms3-- 
,nowhere else has the difference in     
culture between men and women     been  
so immense as in the fully-developed    
,greek civilization4 ,the     lot of a  
wife in ,greece was retirement and      
ignorance4 ,she lived in     almost     
absolute seclusion1 in a separate part  
of the house1     together with her     
female slaves1 deprived of all the      
educating     influence of male society1
 and having no place at those public    
spectacles which were the chief means of
 culture4  ,he then calls attention to  
the startling absence from the whole of 
,greek literature of any evidence that  
any man who had received the training   
which ,greek culture gave ever fell in  
love with any woman4 ,in his chapter on 
the ,subjection of ,wives1 ,professor   

,westermarck further says3--      ,the  
status of wives is in various respects  
connected with the ideas     held about 
the female sex in general4 ,woman is    
commonly looked upon     as a slight1   
dainty1 and relatively weak creature1   
destitute of all     nobler qualities4  
,especially among nations more advanced 
in culture     she is regarded as       
intellectually and morally inferior to  
man4 ,in     ,greece1 in the historic   
age1 the latter recognized in her no    
other     end than to minister to his   
pleasure and to become the mother of    
his children4  ,this author finds the   
,greek subjection of wives1 as you will 
have noted1 no exception to the         
universal rule as to the relation of    
culture to womanhood4 ,after speaking of
 the status of woman among the ancient  
,hebrews1 and the position assigned her 
by that greatest instrument of ,european
 civilization called the ,roman         
,catholic ,church1 he repeats his       
generalization in these terms3--        

,progress in civilization has exercised 
an unfavorable influence on     the     
position of woman by widening the gulf  
between the sexes1 as     the higher    
culture was almost exclusively the      
prerogative of the     men4 ,moreover1  
religion1 and especially the great      
religions of the     world1 has         
contributed to the degradation of the   
female sex by     regarding woman as    
unclean4     ,,ix4 ,,the ,,age ,,of     
,,the ,,foundations ,,at ,,hand   ,is   
this degradation an inevitable outcome  
of the animating principle at the heart 
of the process whereby sentient beings  
have thus far been transformed from     
beasts into citizens8 ,we are forced to 
answer ,yes4 ,otherwise1 why has the    
relative degradation of woman deepened  
universally with the progress of        
civilization8 ,if ,westermarck is right1
 it would seem that the lowest          
foundations of highly developed society 
have always consisted of the bodies and 
souls of women4 ,if such be the historic

 fact1 it may seem strange that only in 
our day1 but now the world over1 is     
heard the wail of women crying to be    
freed4 ,perhaps the reason1 however1    
that we for the first time hear the wail
 is because never before had the        
fissures grown wide enough to allow the 
fainter1 but more piteous1 sighs to     
escape4  ,the fact1 too1 of which there 
is no doubt1 that at last in our age    
even women are beginning to be revered  
as responsible moral and spiritual      
agents may be a sign that the ,day of   
the ,foundations is come1 that the age  
of civilization is nearing its close1   
and that a new era1 animated by a fresh 
principle of human co-ordination1 is at 
hand4 ,there is at least evidence that  
many women are asking3 ,are the products
 of civilization worth the price which  
we women have been compelled to pay1 in 
order that they may exist8 ,is our      
subjection justifiable8 ,in reply1 the  
men who entertain an innate contempt for
 woman answer1 ,yes2 those who are moved

 by the extreme opposite of sentiment   
have arrived at the bitter1 though      
chivalrous1 thought1 ,better the        
non-existence of the human race than the
 continued sacrifice of its womankind2  
while even the sons of the golden mean  
in judgment go so far as to say that not
 only the already acquired benefits of  
civilization1 but finer ones and more   
abundant1 can from now on be attained by
 some other process1 which will involve 
no degradation either to workingman or  
to woman1 and which in structural       
principle and human effects will differ 
as much from civilization as            
civilization itself differed from the   
barbarism and savagery which preceded   
it4  ,my own judgment is1 that          
civilization is nearing its close4 ,four
 or five deadly blows were dealt out to 
it by four or five events which happened
 in the middle of the fifteenth century 
after ,christ1 and it has been          
staggering ever since4 ,in that century1
 certain things occurred which produced 

the very opposite effect upon the masses
 of mankind to that produced by the     
wonderful thing which had happened ten  
thousand years ago and by its occurrence
 had changed radically the relation of  
men and women to the community and to   
the physical universe in which they     
lived4 ,what was begun in the fifteenth 
century by the events that took place   
then1 and what was continued as a       
destructive process until recently1 is1 
in my judgment1 being finished now      
through a constructive process which has
 been set up by certain other           
things--some ten or twenty--which have  
happened since the beginning of the     
present century4     ,x4 ,a ,,new       
,,structural ,,principle   ,it has      
seemed to me necessary at this point in 
my argument to call attention to the    
introduction into social life in the    
fifteenth century of a new working      
principle which has been in direct      
antagonism to the basic idea of         
civilization1 because it must be borne  

in mind that during the last four       
centuries the history of ,europe and the
 ,new ,world furnishes illustrations of 
two conflicting processes of social     
integration4 ,not everything that has   
happened since the ,new ,world was      
discovered can be set down to the credit
 of that process which is still         
ascendant in ,prussia4 ,instances1      
therefore1 from modern history which go 
against my account of civilization have 
no weight against my contention and     
cannot be raised against me2 modern     
instances must not only be shown to be  
facts1 but to be vital outputs of the   
same principle that animates the old    
order4 ,to account every co-ordination  
of modern social life as an instance of 
civilization is as if any one should    
cite the turbine engine and its         
achievements and set these down to the  
credit of the piston engine4 ,but the   
idea of the one is wholly new and not a 
further evolution of the old4 ,or it is 
as if one should assign the glory of the

 motor-car to the inventor of the       
bicycle1 or of the bicycle to the       
originator of the horse-cart2 or as if  
one should point to an aeroplane as an  
illustration of a further stage in the  
evolution of the motor-car4 ,it is a    
fact that the aeroplane came after1 but 
not a fact that it came from1 the       
motor-car4 ,if1 as ,i believe1 the new  
order which began to manifest itself in 
the fifteenth century stands to         
civilization as the aeroplane to the    
motorcar1 and as the motor-car to the   
bicycle and the horse-cart1 or as the   
turbine to the piston engine1 then ,i am
 right in claiming that we ought not to 
call it civilization4 ,if we do1 we     
should be acting like any one who       
insisted upon calling an airship a      
horse-cart4 ,there might be reasons for 
so doing3 and there may be reasons for  
calling things civilization which are   
something quite different4 ,for         
instance1 ,i can conceive that the new  
order might be more easily insinuated   

into general acceptance if those whose  
interests are all vested in the old are 
not informed that it is new4 ,but       
tonight ,i am treating not of words1 but
 of things2 and if it will hasten the   
triumph of the new order to pretend that
 it is civilization1 let us by all means
 do so--just as we call six o'clock     
seven in order to gain an extra hour of 
sunlight during the waking day4  ,i know
 that to many the idea will appear      
grotesquely naive1 that an institution  
as old as civilization and so           
wide-spreading should come to an end and
 be superseded by something else1 and   
that this change should be taking place 
under our very eyes4 ,but1 happily for  
me1 the world-conflict which is now     
devastating ,europe has begun to        
undermine in the soul of many the       
fetish-worship of civilization4 ,and to 
assist further in breaking the spell    
which civilization may have cast over   
the imagination of most of my audience1 
,i would remind you that civilization   

is1 after all1 a mere mushroom growth1  
and that what has sprung up only        
overnight cannot have taken deep root   
7as if it were a thing practically      
eternal71 and could not be very         
difficult to replace by something more  
deliberately thought out--by something  
learned through ten thousand years of   
the tragic effects experienced by       
thousands of millions of human beings4  
,civilization1 ,i say1 is a mere        
mushroom growth1 as compared with the   
whole life-period of man's existence on 
earth4 ,it is only ten thousand years   
old2 while1 by the most modest and      
cautious calculation1 man has existed   
one hundred thousand years2 and during  
the ninety thousand which preceded the  
last ten1 he made gigantic progress     
towards self-knowledge and              
self-reverence4 ,let us1 therefore1 not 
be browbeaten by civilization on account
 of its antiquity4     ,,xi4 ,,edward   
,,carpenter',s ,,indictment ,,of        
,,civilization   ,equally must we guard 

against the fallacy of attributing only 
the beneficent effects of civilization  
to its inherent principle1 while we     
trace all the evils which have arisen in
 its train to extrinsic causes--to human
 nature1 or to superficial and local    
obstructions4 ,this word of warning     
brings me back to ,mr4 ,edward          
,carpenter's essay on ,civilization3    
,its ,cause and ,cure2 for when ,i first
 read it he appeared to me to exaggerate
 out of all proportion the evils in     
modern life as compared with the good in
 it3 especially did ,i feel that he     
erred in that he accounted the evils as 
permanent and organic characteristics of
 the civilizing process itself1 and     
believed that they must increase with   
its development and could not be        
eradicated except with its extinction4  
,during the last twenty-six years1      
however1 ,i have learned a thing or two4
 ,i have not lost one jot or tittle of  
my early faith in man1 and ,i have even 
gained fresh hope for a speedy issue of 

the human race out of most of its       
sufferings and sins2 but ,i have gained 
this fresh hope only because ,i have    
been drawn by wider and closer          
observation of economic events--and     
especially of the new developments of   
trade and politics the world over--to   
the conclusion that the evils1 however  
great1 are to be traced to the false    
principle that animates the civilizing  
process1 and that they will fall away of
 themselves when once that principle has
 been exchanged for another that is     
already well known1 and which1 as ,i    
have remarked1 began four centuries ago 
to disintegrate the established order4  
,carpenter's indictment of civilization 
seems to me incontrovertible4 ,the best 
way for me to present it briefly will be
 by means of a number of typical        
quotations1 in which he indicates the   
nature of disease and shows that such is
 the state--mental1 physical1 social1   
and moral--induced in man by the        
organization of enforced labor and the  

whole of the adopted method of making   
citizens out of wild beasts3--          
,when we come to analyze the conception 
of disease1 physical or     mental1 in  
society or the individual1 it evidently 
means 444 loss     of unity4 ,health1   
therefore1 should mean unity4 444 ,the  
idea should     be a positive one--a    
condition of the body in which it is an 
entirety1 a unity1 a central force      
maintaining that condition2 and         
disease being the break-up--or          
break-down--of that entirety into       
multiplicity4444 ,thus in a body1 the   
establishment of an     insubordinate   
centre--a boil1 a tumor1 the            
introduction and spread     of a germ   
with innumerable progeny throughout the 
system1 the     enlargement out of all  
reason of an existing organ--means      
disease4     ,in the mind1 disease      
begins when any passion asserts itself  
as an     independent centre of thought 
and action4444 ,what is a taint in the  
mind is also a taint in the body4 ,the  

stomach has started the     original    
idea of becoming itself the centre of   
the human system4     ,the sexual organs
 may start a similar idea4 ,here are    
distinct     threats1 menaces made      
against the central authority--against  
the     ,man himself4 ,for the man must 
rule1 or disappear2 it is impossible    
to imagine a man presided over by a     
,stomach--a walking ,stomach1     using 
hands1 feet1 and all the other members  
merely to carry it     from place to    
place1 and serve its assimilative mania4
 ,so of the     ,brain1 or any other    
organ2 for the ,man is no organ1 resides
 in no     organ1 but is the central    
life ruling and radiating among all     
organs1 and assigning them their parts  
to play4 ,disease1 then1 in     mind or 
body1 is 444 the abeyance of a central  
power and the growth     of             
insubordinate centres--life in each     
creature being conceived of     as a    
continual exercise of energy or         
conquest1 by which external or          

antagonistic forces 7or organisms7 are  
brought into subjection and             
compelled into the service of the       
creature1 or are thrown off as          
harmful to it4 ,thus1 by way of         
illustration1 we find that plants or    
animals1 when in good health1 have a    
remarkable power of throwing     off the
 attacks of any parasites which incline 
to infest them2     while those that are
 weakly are very soon eaten up by the   
same4 ,a     rose-tree1 for instance1   
brought indoors1 will soon fall a prey  
to     the aphis1 though when hardened  
out of doors the pest makes next to     
no impression on it4 ,in dry seasons    
when the young turnip plants in     the 
field are weakly from want of water1 the
 entire crop is     sometimes destroyed 
by the turnip-fly1 which then multiplies
     enormously2 but if a shower or two 
of rain comes before much damage     is 
done1 the plant will then grow          
vigorously1 its tissues become     more 
robust and resist the attacks of the    

fly1 which in its turn     dies4 ,late  
investigations seem to show that one of 
the functions of     the white          
corpuscles of the blood is to devour    
disease-germs and     bacteria present  
in the circulation1--thus absorbing     
these     organisms into subjection to  
the central life of the body1--and      
that for this object they congregate in 
numbers toward any part of     the body 
which is wounded or diseased4     ,,xii4
 ,,carpenter',s ,,false ,,remedy   ,to  
cast ,carpenter's metaphor1 according to
 which civilization is a thing to be    
cured1 into the form of an analogy1 we  
might say that the civilizing process   
has been to man what the bringing       
indoors is to a rose-tree1 or the coming
 of a drought to the turnips in a field4
 ,and ,i ask you to assume with me that 
this is so2 as it will help me to get on
 with my argument1 which1 as it         
advances1 will reveal more and more     
whether it be inherently weak or strong4
 ,nor do ,i anticipate much opposition  

to ,carpenter's mere indictment of      
civilization4 ,at least it is only when 
he outlines his remedy that my own      
protest is aroused4 ,and ,i suspect that
 many a reader will feel with me1 that  
while to cure a rose-tree or a turnip   
plant may require only the taking of the
 one out of doors again and the falling 
of the kindly showers upon the other1   
the restoration of civilized man to     
health would necessitate something more 
than a mere return on his part to       
,nature and savagery4 ,indeed1 such a   
return may be altogether impossible1 and
 even undesirable4 ,in my judgment1 man 
having 7as ,carpenter himself points    
out7 become self-conscious1 can never go
 back to ,nature1 since he is no longer 
the same being he was when he emerged   
from his more primitive state4 ,yet what
 ,carpenter recommends so far as he     
recommends any cure1 is exactly this3   
,human beings are to wear less          
clothes--if any at all2 man will again  
live out of doors1 for the most part1   

instead of in houses2 he will return to 
the eating of uncooked food--mainly     
fruit and grains2 he will begin to feel 
himself one again with ,nature2 he is to
 lose his sense of sin2 every man will  
do the work he likes--and presumably not
 do the work he does not like4 ,as to   
,external ,government and ,law1 they    
will disappear1 says ,carpenter1 for    
they are only the travesties and        
transitory substitutes of ,inward       
,government and ,order4 ,in religion1   
there is to be a like return to ,nature4
 ,the author says3--      ,and when the 
civilization-period has passed away1 the
 old     ,nature-religion--perhaps      
greatly grown--will come back4444 ,our  
,christian ceremonial is saturated with 
sexual and astronomical     symbols2 and
 long before ,christianity existed1 the 
sexual and     astronomical were the    
main forms of religion4444 ,on the high 
tops     once more gathering he will    
celebrate with naked dances the glory   
of the human form and the great         

processions of the stars4444  ,carpenter
 sees signs already here and there of   
the beginning of this return3--         
,the present competitive society is more
 and more rapidly becoming a     mere   
dead formula and husk within which the  
outlines of the new and     human       
society are already discernible4        
,simultaneously1 and as if     to match 
this growth1 a move toward ,nature and  
,savagery is for the     first time     
taking place from within1 instead of    
being forced upon     ,society from     
without4 ,the ,nature-movement1 begun   
years ago in     ,literature and ,art1  
is now among the more advanced sections 
of the     civilized world rapidly      
realizing itself in actual life1 going  
so     far even as a denial1 among some1
 of machinery and the complex           
products of ,civilization1 and          
developing among others into a gospel   
of salvation by sandals and sunbaths6   
,in order to help us to judge aright    
whether a return to ,nature and a       

primitive communism would restore to man
 that centrality and health of which we 
assume that civilization has deprived   
him1 we should do well to consider what 
it was that happened ten thousand years 
ago and proved so sinister in changing  
the relation of men and women to the    
community in which they lived1 and to   
the physical universe4 ,but of that     
event we cannot gain an adequate        
appreciation unless we view it in       
perspective along the line of analogous 
events1 some six1 which had occurred    
from time to time during the ninety     
thousand years preceding4     ,,xiii4   
,,speech ,,and ,,fire   ,a hundred      
thousand years ago1 among our ancestors1
 who then were only inarticulate        
mammals1 living in trees and caves1 one 
of them by himself1 or a little group of
 them together1 hit upon the use of     
articulate vocal signs as a means of    
conveying to his mates his needs1 his   
fears1 his desires and threats4 ,it was 
probably by a happy fluke that he hit   

upon this use1 or by some transcendent  
flash of insight due to a spontaneous   
variation of ability above that of the  
average ape2 or else some unusual stress
 of hunger or danger of attack drove    
even a mediocre individual to an        
unwonted exercise of ingenuity4 ,in any 
case1 by inventing articulate speech1 he
 brought into existence a new species of
 mammal--man4 ,i must leave to your     
imagination the thousand transforming   
effects of this new device for          
communicating perceptions1 feelings1 and
 intentions4 ,the speaking ape stood to 
his own species1 and through them to    
other kinds of animals and to the       
material universe1 in a different       
relation from that in which the         
speechless stood4 ,the power of combined
 action among the members of any group  
became immeasurably greater than it had 
previously been4 ,a social unity of will
 was possible that could never have     
existed on earth hitherto4 ,for all we  
know1 thirty thousand years may have    

passed away before any other event      
occurred among human beings comparable  
in practical importance to the invention
 of spoken language4 ,this1 however1 was
 all the time being gradually perfected 
under the stress of new experiences in  
general and of trying predicaments in   
particular4  ,then1 in the fulness of   
time1 and once more by a happy fluke1 or
 by a stroke of spontaneous genius1 or  
under the pressure of some unprecedented
 danger1 or through the educative       
influence of some new order of          
experience1 one of the speaking apes hit
 upon the use of fire1 and thereby      
introduced a new era in the advancement 
of man4 ,practically infinite was the   
increase of man's new mastery over      
,nature4 ,into temperate and even icy   
regions he could now penetrate and1 as  
it were1 create around him a little     
temporary zone of tropical warmth4 ,with
 speech had come social unity2 with fire
 at man's disposal came mastery over    
matter4 ,but the unity thereby suffered 

a change4 ,with the invention of means  
of creating artificial warmth the social
 homogeneity of the tribe began to be   
broken4 ,whoever controlled fire        
controlled the rest of his group1 since 
no other way for the tribal             
appropriation of the blessings of       
regulated fire was possible among       
talking apes1 except that one           
individual1 or a very few1 should assume
 the office of owner of the sticks or   
flints for igniting the fire1 and should
 become dispenser of the flame4 ,the    
group thus was divided into the         
controller and the controlled1 the owner
 and the owned1 the master and the man1 
the governor and the governed1 the chief
 and his followers4     ,,xiv4 ,,the    
,,two ,,marks ,,of ,,all ,,civilization 
,such a differentiation of society was1 
among apes1 the condition for any sort  
of social unity2 but control by the few 
could at the first have been only       
rudimentary and intermittent4 ,fire is  
not everything1 and was indispensable   

only on certain occasions1 as when the  
group were caught unexpectedly in some  
wintry region4 ,then the choice for any 
man might lie between freezing or       
obeying4 ,be it observed that fire under
 such circumstances would be shared by  
all1 but the power of social control    
would be monopolized by one4 ,had you   
been there1 but not the mightiest of    
your group1 the condition of your       
surviving the cold would have been that 
you surrendered whatever individual     
initiative you had had4 ,you gained     
fire1 but lost freedom4 ,at this point1 
by some innate sense of logical         
identity1 my mind is carried forward a  
hundred thousand years to that centre of
 to-day's highest                       
civilization--,detroit1 and to its very 
palladium1 the ,ford ,motor ,works4 ,for
 in that far-famed institution is to be 
found a very striking similarity to the 
primeval monopoly of initiative which   
arose with the first control of fire4   
,mr4 ,henry ,ford has been magnanimously

 ready to share profits with his men1   
but1 so far as ,i can learn1 no iota of 
the industrial control4  ,before ,i go  
to the next step towards citizenship1 ,i
 would call attention to the fact that  
thus1 near to the beginning of things   
human1 when the use of fire was         
introduced1 we are able to detect the   
two distinguishing characteristics of   
all civilization1 and of trade in       
particular1 which are the sharing by the
 tribe of the blessings of man's mastery
 over ,nature1 but1 as the condition of 
the sharing1 a monopoly of power and    
initiative by the few who dispense the  
blessings4 ,so much of good and of      
goods--but no more--could the mass of   
men enjoy as was compatible with the    
continuance of the master's ascendancy  
over the men and over the public4 ,we   
shall find no other than these marks in 
all future civilization1 to distinguish 
it from savagery and barbarism4 ,the    
only difference will be that in the     
period of civilization proper--that is1 

from ten thousand years ago to the end  
of the fifteenth century after ,christ1 
when the established social order began 
to break up--the monopoly of initiative 
and control is practically absolute4 ,as
 we trace the future steps in human     
evolution1 we shall see how this        
concentration of power in the hands of  
rulers occurred4 ,but it must be further
 observed that it is not only           
rudimentary civilization which we detect
 as ensuing upon the introduction of the
 use of fire3 it is trade1 socialized   
wealth1 the division of the community   
into the haves and the have-nots1 the   
introduction of the working of the law1 
that to him that hath shall be given and
 that from him that hath nothing but his
 labor to offer shall be taken with it  
his liberty also4 ,it should likewise be
 borne in mind that with the stealing of
 fire from heaven came also that        
coalition of government with trade1 of  
politics with commerce1 of the          
monopolists of economic power with the  

dictators of life and death1 of peace   
and war1 which is manifested to the     
highest conceivable degree to-day in the
 states most assertive of their         
leadership in the vanguard of           
civilization4 ,i said that with the use 
of fire came the enslavement of men2 but
 government and enslavement were one and
 the same thing4 ,neither1 however1 was 
as yet dominant over social life4       
,,xv4 ,,arrows ,,and ,,earthenware      
,the talking1 fire-using anthropoid in  
the course of time invented the bow and 
arrow4 ,so great and so enduring were   
the benefits of this new device that it 
is almost impossible for us1 who have   
profited by them1 to imagine the state  
of human society when men could kill    
animals or destroy enemies only by      
throwing stones or clubs1 or by striking
 with the fist4 ,but it is easy to see  
that the chief of a tribe of men        
received an incalculable increase of    
power when1 besides the instruments of  
ignition1 bows and arrows were in his   

possession to deal out at his will4     
,whatever equality of initiative and    
diffused sovereignty had existed before 
the use of fire was known1 it now began 
to vanish1 and the men of any tribe saw 
power concentrated in the will and word 
of the chief and those nearest him1     
while submission to his command was the 
condition of survival4 ,and no doubt1   
with the loss of that individual liberty
 and that self-reliance which           
characterize the lower animals1 there   
also died away a certain joyousness and 
zest of spontaneous self-fulfilment1    
such as we observe in wild creatures so 
long as they are free from hunger and   
thirst and secure from the pursuit of   
enemies4  ,it was perhaps another ten   
thousand years before one more new link 
in the chain of man's mastery over      
,nature and the chief's mastery over his
 men was forged4 ,this time it was      
probably a woman who--again by a happy  
chance or by necessity of maternal      
solicitude--noticed the effect of heat  

upon clay and introduced the art of     
pottery4 ,until then men had no utensils
 that could withstand the action of     
fire2 they could not boil water except  
by dropping hot stones into some        
receptacle of wood or skin4 ,now1 by the
 new device of boiling1 the food-supply 
was enormously increased4 ,the blessing 
of another mastery over matter was      
henceforth shared by all the members of 
the tribe4 ,but1 at the same time1 there
 was a corresponding force added to the 
chief's grip upon his men4 ,we see the  
law illustrated1 that every new         
invention1 owned by the few1 becomes one
 more trap for the many4 ,the           
differentiation between the owner of the
 tribe's wealth and the propertyless    
became with the introduction of pottery 
fixed and hopeless4 ,the master dealt   
out not only fire and arrows1 but       
cooking-utensils2 or he withheld all    
these if he saw fit2 and if you had been
 there1 but not in command1 you1 too1   
would have tamely submitted or have     

died4     ,,xvi4 ,,animals ,,tamed ,,and
 ,,iron ,,smelted   ,the word tamely    
which ,i have just used1 brings me to   
the next great event which moved mankind
 perceptibly nearer to civilization     
proper4 ,it is an event which was not   
only a literal fact of prime importance1
 but which is eternally a symbol of     
man's own fate4 ,it was probably first  
the dog that lent himself to the        
imagination of the speaking1            
fire-making1 arrow-shooting1            
clay-baking1 anthropoid ape1 as a       
stimulus to the idea that captive       
animals might be of service to human    
beings4 ,man began to tame not only the 
dog1 but the sheep1 the ox1 the camel1  
the goat1 the horse1 and the elephant4  
,the gain to all the tribe was enormous4
 ,the men all shared in the profit1 but 
once more their master appropriated the 
new increment in power4 ,he became the  
owner of the domesticated animals as    
well as of the inanimate pot and arrow  
and flame4 ,but at this stage it must   

have seemed to all the other members of 
the tribe that they also were owned1    
soul and body1 by their chief4 ,they    
could not help seeing1 nor could he1    
that they were his men4 ,and how natural
 it was for them to rejoice in the fact 
that they belonged to some one who was  
mightier than themselves1 and who       
identified his own prosperity with that 
of the tribe1 and of every individual in
 it who served it according to his will4
 ,loyalty to the beloved community      
became loyalty to the chief4 ,but it is 
evident that what mankind had caused to 
happen to the dog and the horse1 the    
chief had accomplished in regard to the 
human beings who had come under his     
power4 ,he had tamed them2 they were no 
longer wild animals4 ,they had rendered 
up individual liberty and self-reliant  
independence such as we see among many  
species of wild beasts4 ,but instead1 as
 the price of obedience to a will       
outside their own1 they had received a  
thousand creature-comforts4  ,only one  

more invention was needed to lift them  
to the highest and latest stage of      
barbarism4 ,some one now hit upon the   
art of smelting iron--the first         
invention that had not directly to do   
with the supplying of food4 ,by leaps   
and bounds the art of smelting iron     
advanced man in the equipment of war1 in
 the building of houses1 roads1 and     
vehicles of transportation4 ,now what   
magnificent returns individuals received
 for having surrendered their original  
liberty to do as they pleased6 ,after   
all1 what would independent initiative  
have been worth without fire or arrow or
 earthern kettle1 or cow or horse or    
wheel1 or sword and shield8 ,who would  
not have forfeited the bare birthright  
of empty 7although healthy7 independence
 for participation in the ever richer   
conquest over the physical resources of 
,nature8     ,,xvii4 ,,civilization     
,,proper   ,but now at last1 only ten   
thousand years ago1 the event occurred  
which put forever out of the question   

any possibility of prudence in any      
waywardness of individual whim1 or any  
deviation from the rule dictated by the 
owner of things4 ,this time the         
something that happened did not cause an
 increase of man's mastery over physical
 ,nature4 ,it was1 instead1 like that   
initial invention which turned apes into
 men4 ,and again1 like spoken language1 
it was a device to facilitate           
communication of mind with mind4 ,in    
some one of the many groups of beings   
who had learned the use of fire1 arrows1
 pots1 sheep1 and swords1 some genius   
hit upon the idea of written signs as a 
medium of communication with those      
distant in space1 and as a means of     
perpetuating a knowledge of the will of 
the dead among his survivors4 ,but be it
 observed that only the master1 never   
the man1 only the owner of things1 the  
controller of circumstances1 was in a   
position to embody and preserve his     
judgment and desire in written signs4   
,the new art of writing enhanced the    

power of rulers1 of chiefs4 ,the        
,pharaoh1 not the fellah1 dictated the  
inscription that was to be engraved4    
,thus all the rulers of the past were   
now able to perpetuate their power by   
adding their sanction to the word of the
 living chief1 while no voice from the  
ranks of the governed would be allowed  
to immortalize itself in written speech4
 ,this is the reason that written       
language introduced civilization proper4
 ,there was no longer any chance for the
 wildness of the beast to crop out4     
,here began the empire of the dead over 
the living2 but it was the empire of    
dead rulers over living slaves4 ,the    
mastery over ,nature and the monopoly of
 social power thereby became practically
 infinite4 ,the tamers were now         
omnipotent in comparison with the tamed4
 ,it must be noticed that the process of
 transforming beasts into citizens was  
one to which only the tamed1 but not the
 tamers1 were subjected4 ,the ruler     
stood outside of and above the rule he  

made4 ,the law was for his subjects4    
,this was the case with ,henry ,,viii at
 the acme of civilization as it had been
 with the first of the ,pharaohs4  ,not 
only the blond beast of prey1 but the   
swarthy also dictated an ethic for his  
subjects in order to keep himself in    
ascendancy4 ,it was because ,nietzsche  
admired all beasts of prey and felt     
contempt for their victims that he hated
 ,jesus ,christ and proudly assumed the 
title of ,anti-,christ4 ,for ,christ had
 set up an ethic which encouraged the   
victims to protest and attempt to win   
back their primeval initiative1 to take 
over the sovereignty which had been     
concentrated in the hands of the mighty 
and to diffuse it among the nobodies of 
the tribe4 ,st4 ,luke goes so far as to 
assert that even before ,jesus was born 
his ,mother entertained levelling ideas4
 ,into her lips he puts a song in which 
she magnifies the ,lord because she     
believed her ,son would bring down the  
mighty and exalt them of low degree4    

,but alas6 civilization went on for     
fifteen hundred years and succeeded in  
tying ,christianity to the chariot-wheel
 of monopolized initiative4     ,,xviii4
 ,,the ,,fifteenth ,,century ,,after    
,,christ   ,christianity had to wait for
 something to happen that would lend    
force to its ,gospel4 ,that something   
did not occur until the middle of the   
fifteenth century4 ,then1 as ,i have    
already said without specifying what    
they were1 a number of unforeseen events
 took place which opened the door to the
 divine bridegroom of humanity4  ,i have
 said that in the fifteenth century     
after ,christ a new principle began to  
work in society2 but ,i did not say that
 it was then for the first time         
promulgated4 ,civilization was the      
organization of man's mastery over      
,nature on a basis of self-interest2 it 
was the giving only so much of wealth   
and power to the many as was compatible 
with the retention of one's own         
ascendancy4 ,to be civilized1 then1 is  

evidently not to be ,christian any more 
than it is to be ,buddhistic or ,judaic1
 socialistic or democratic4 ,everybody  
admits that one can be civilized and be 
none of these things3 just as one may be
 cultured without being kind4 ,in other 
words1 it is consistent with being      
civilized to be highly selfish2 one need
 only be rationalized in one's egoism4  
,indeed1 civilization is the incarnation
 of self-interest4 ,if self-interest1   
its basic principle1 should give way to 
social interest2 if the monopoly of     
social power should be broken and the   
power transferred to the general will of
 the community2 if the community should 
relegate its administration to          
representatives1 but should prevent     
these by some social device from ever   
usurping the power entrusted to them1   
then something new--something as        
different from civilization as the      
airship from the horse-cart--would have 
begun to establish itself4 ,a new       
species of social order can be nothing  

other than an order whose basic         
principle is totally new2 and what      
greater difference could exist in       
structuralizing tendencies than that    
between self-interest and the interest  
of the community8 ,whenever the latter  
gets the upper hand1 it will be because 
,fate1 the ,cosmos1 the ,universe1 the  
force within unconscious evolution1 has 
caught up the song of the ,magnificat4  
,no such consummation of humanity has   
taken place1 but it is undeniable that  
in the fifteenth century the ,word      
entered like a seed into the soil of    
,fact4 ,the ,virgin's prophecy began to 
fulfil itself4   ,familiar to everybody1
 and quickly to be specified1 are the   
wonderful events which turned the vision
 into reality4 ,one of these events was 
the invention of gunpowder2 another was 
the mariner's compass2 a third was the  
invention of paper2 a fourth1 the       
printing-press2 a fifth was the         
discovery that the earth goes round the 
sun once a year1 and whirls on its own  

axis once a day2 a sixth was that       
indiscretion of ,christopher ,columbus1 
whereby instead of over-populated ,india
 he opened up a way to the vast and     
sparsely denizened ,americas4  ,these   
events1 each and severally and all      
together1 produced in one particular the
 same sort of effect as the use of fire 
and of the bow and arrow1 of pottery1   
the domestication of animals1 and the   
smelting of iron3 they enhanced         
incalculably the mastery of man over    
matter4 ,but in the other particular    
characteristic of civilization they     
acted in the very opposite direction    
from all preceding inventions4 ,instead 
of entrenching the master in his        
monopoly of social power1 instead of    
furthering the differentiation of       
society into master and man1 they all   
played into the hands of the man4 ,for  
the first time since the beginning of   
human evolution1 inventions checked the 
monopolization of control over others4  
,but the initiative that now flowed to  

the multitude of nobodies was not that  
puny freedom and narrow scope of        
self-realization which the talking ape  
had enjoyed4 ,it was the accumulated    
foresight and control of the universe   
outside of man which had been storing   
itself up more and more for ninety      
thousand years in the intellects and    
wills of the favored few4 ,the          
floodgates were opened for the first    
time in the fifteenth century1 and this 
godlike energy flowed in among the      
people at large1 so that man1 the many1 
the multitude1 were quickened by it into
 hope on earth1 unto life here and now1 
into liberty1 creative originality1 and 
the joy of self-realization4  ,but it   
was only the beginning3 the effects of  
the introduction of gunpowder1 the      
compass1 the printing-press and paper1  
and the new ideas about the heavens1 and
 the opening-up of relatively           
uninhabited lands1 were scarcely        
discernible for two centuries1 and then 
only as a destructive force4 ,indeed1   

for still another hundred years the     
process was one chiefly of              
disintegration4 ,there was taking place 
a transference of power from the few to 
the many2 a diffusion of sovereignty1 as
 well as a redistribution of wealth2 and
 the change was accompanied by an       
awakening of the masses to the meaning  
of the transformation which they were   
undergoing4 ,the people began to realize
 that the invention of gun-powder had   
raised the peasant as a fighter to the  
level of the armed knight2 that the     
compass and the opening-up of the       
,western hemisphere made it possible for
 the poor to escape from ,european      
masters whom they were unable to        
vanquish2 and that the cheapness of     
books was linking the minds of the      
masses to the sources of learning and of
 religious tradition4 ,it cannot but    
excite our mystic wonder that for nearly
 one hundred thousand years every new   
mastery of man over physical ,nature was
 such that it inevitably played into the

 hands of rulers by strengthening their 
monopoly of initiative2 and that then1  
at last1 and ever since the fifteenth   
century after ,christ1 each new         
mechanical invention or discovery has   
had the unintended and undesired effect 
ultimately of scattering among the many 
the pent-up power of owners and rulers1 
and of creating in the many fresh       
psychic energy and a new capacity of    
invention4  ,this great process of      
levelling-up took again an enormous leap
 forward in the middle of the nineteenth
 century4 ,the steam-engine advanced it 
almost as much as all the               
fifteenth-century inventions and        
discoveries together4 ,the new          
facilities of travel brought new        
experiences1 and these1 by the          
psychological law of contrast and       
novelty1 stimulated intelligence        
many-fold4 ,the new speed in            
transportation made it possible for     
thousands to escape from oppression     
where scarcely one had been able to do  

so in former generations4 ,the ,irish   
peasants began to pour into ,america2   
then followed the ,germans2 soon        
,russians and ,latins were helped to    
leave the ,old ,world2 sometimes in all 
came a million-odd in one year4 ,wealth 
was multiplied and scattered to a degree
 that had never been dreamed to be      
possible4 ,not only in the ,united      
,states1 but in ,france1 ,italy1        
,scandinavia1 the ,british ,empire1 and 
,south ,america1 the diffusion of social
 initiative was taking place4 ,first1   
power spread from the few to the many   
severally2 but now1 for a quarter of a  
century1 the many1 without surrendering1
 have been pooling their new power in   
the general will of the nation4 ,there1 
in the unified and unifying purpose of  
nations like ,america1 and of each of   
her federate ,states1 the power is being
 safeguarded for the community and for  
its members severally by political      
devices which render public servants    
incapable of prolonged usurpation4      

,,xix4 ,,civilization ,,faces ,,its     
,,successor   ,still1 the new order is  
far from being in the ascendant4 ,as    
civilization began with the introduction
 of the use of fire1 but was not        
triumphant until the invention of       
written language1 so the new order--call
 it what you will3 ,christianity1 the   
,meaning of ,america1 the ,dream of     
,california1 the ,wisconsin ,idea1      
,social ,democracy1 ,humanity--this new 
order has only entered in as yeast which
 has not yet had a chance to leaven the 
whole lump4 ,but the fermentation now   
goes on apace4 ,the ,world-,war is      
perhaps best understood when it is      
looked upon as a struggle of            
civilization against its successor4     
,alarmed and armed to the teeth1        
civilization 7applied science organized 
on a basis of reasoned self-interest7 is
 attempting to expand itself over       
territory which had been preempted and  
mapped out by social democracy1 and was 
being devoted1 in the spirit of the     

ideal commonwealth foreshadowed in      
,christian sentiment and ,jewish        
prophecy1 to the co-ordination of wealth
 and power on the principle of deference
 to the humanity in every man4  ,but    
more significant than the ,world-,war of
 the passing away of the old order and  
its supersession by a new are the ten or
 twenty inventions1 ideas1 discoveries1 
and new social contacts which marked the
 first decade of the present century4   
,no doubt even the ,world-,war has been 
precipitated by the sudden inrush of    
these unprecedented forces1 and the     
realization of their trend by the       
self-centred leaders of civilization4   
,it would seem that the civilized1      
anticipating a move on the part of the  
humanized1 and fearing an appropriation 
of the benefits of new inventions1 stole
 a march upon the unsuspecting4 ,the    
result is1 that we saw at the outset of 
the war the latest appliances seized    
upon by the upholders of arbitrary      
power1 and only now1 after the first    

shock of attack1 are the builders of an 
earthly paradise demonstrating their    
ability and intention to turn all the   
forces of ,nature and devices of reason 
to the service of each in the           
brotherhood of the common life4 ,we are 
beginning to see1 also1 that every one  
of the latest inventions is such in its 
nature that soon victory must come to   
the cause of economic and political     
equality4  ,even the cheapness of       
motor-cars will overtake the champions  
of industrial monopoly1 who at the first
 used them for the hoarding of social   
power4 ,the submarine can at the first  
only be turned against the freedom of   
the seas during times of peace4 ,the    
aeroplane and the airship1 more than any
 other instruments of locomotion1 will  
assist in the diffusion of initiative   
among all the outlying and small nations
 of the earth4 ,more than anything else 
they will assist the weak and the meek  
of the earth to rush together to one    
another's rescue2 and wireless          

telegraphy1 as soon as it is established
 universally1 will sound to them the    
alarum in the twinkling of an eye4 ,all 
the new inventions are1 as it were1     
,god's detectives for the exposing of   
the subtle and disguised crimes of the  
great2 or they are ,god's captains for  
the mobilization of the scattered forces
 of the meek when the plot of an        
oppressor has been unearthed4 ,the      
people need only to realize that the new
 inventions are by their very nature    
breakers of power-monopolies1 in order  
to find in them an irresistible         
incentive to rise and act in the cause  
of world-wide democratic initiative4    
,high explosives1 the gas-engine1 the   
giant gun1 sheets of flame1 deadly      
gases1 all these are within the reach of
 ,christ's little ones to encircle their
 kingdom-that-is-coming against the     
attacks of inhuman humans4 ,the new     
inventions are humanity's destructors to
 annihilate civilization's destroyers4  
,i have specified some of the twentieth 

century's inventions to show that1 like 
the compass and the printing-press1 they
 will be scatterers of privileges to the
 masses4 ,i might go on indefinitely    
adding to the list1 but ,i will cite    
only one more4 ,it was only in the last 
decade of the nineteenth century that a 
new way of making cheap paper was       
discovered--so cheap that it became     
possible to sell great dailies for one  
cent4 ,but this practice was not        
established until the twentieth century4
 ,and it was only a few years ago that  
the greatest newspaper of the world--and
 a very stronghold of upper-class       
monopoly--was able1 or driven1 to reduce
 its price from threepence 7six cents7  
to a penny4 ,but ,i specify the case of 
the ,london ,times because1 like a      
miracle of divine healing1 but entirely 
due to the cheapness of paper1 is the   
change of its policy from that of brutal
 imperialism to the democratic one of   
transforming the ,british ,empire into a
 commonwealth of equal states4 ,now that

 the ,times has been converted1 we may  
be sure that the universe itself has    
come round to the side of the right1 and
 has taken up the cause of the poor4 ,by
 the pricking of my thumbs ,i know that 
something better than civilization this 
way comes4 ,dull indeed must be that man
 whose blood does not tingle with       
anticipation4 ,yet the physical         
inventions of the twentieth century are 
not to be compared in pregnancy of good 
with its less palpable1 its spiritual1  
novelties4     ,,xx4 ,,against ,,the    
,,materialistic ,,view ,,of ,,history   
,before passing1 however1 from the      
physical inventions to the new moral    
ideas and mental contacts1 ,i must      
interpolate a comment to save myself    
from misunderstanding4 ,generally1 those
 who trace to mechanical utilities new  
epochs in the development of mankind    
proceed upon the materialistic theory of
 history4 ,but this theory ,i have in no
 wise committed myself to1 for ,i count 
it to be false4 ,it is true that ,i have

 traced all the great steps in human    
advancement to physical inventions1 but 
,i have in no word implied that the     
inventions themselves were caused by    
anything material whatsoever4 ,and if   
they themselves were1 as ,i believe1 the
 result of man's mental and spiritual   
activities reacting against events1 then
 my tracing of human advancement to them
 implies no belief in the materialistic 
theory of history4 ,every effect of the 
inventions must be set down ultimately  
not to them1 but to their causes2 and   
their causes were mental4 ,casually ,i  
have said as much1 in remarking several 
times that they took place by a happy   
chance1 or by a stroke of insight on the
 part of some rare genius1 or by the    
reaction of some mediocre person's      
intelligent volition against some       
extraordinary experience which made the 
idea of the invention so obtrusively    
evident that even a mind not unusually  
gifted could scarcely have avoided      
lighting upon it4  ,the only phrase ,i  

have used by which ,i cannot absolutely 
stand is the expression by a happy      
chance2 for ,i believe that the mental  
productions of each person are due not  
to uncaused chance1 or to accident1 but 
to trends of the social mind that have  
been set in motion by mental exigencies 
arising out of current events4 ,as      
primitive peoples1 however1 have left no
 record of their mental sequences1 we   
cannot say with confidence what were the
 exact experiences that led to the idea 
of using fire1 or to any other device   
that transformed the relation of human  
beings to one another or to their       
material habitat4 ,i only repeat that   
whatever caused the inventions caused   
all the remote effects of these1 and    
that if the causes of the inventions    
were mental and spiritual1 then an      
interpretation of history is not        
materialistic merely because it traces  
advancement to mechanical utilities4    
,that ,i am right in tracing these to   
mental and spiritual causes is proved at

 least in the case of recent inventions4
 ,for we know that their causes were    
psychic2 we know the mental atmosphere1 
and how it arose1 that brought forth the
 telephone and aeroplane and submarine4 
,we know that these were not due to     
physical necessities or to any material 
causes4 ,they arose from the brooding of
 creative imaginations disciplined in a 
method learned by reflection upon former
 successes in discovery4 ,we also know  
in what main particulars this modern    
atmosphere differs from that of former  
centuries4 ,but such questions are not  
germane to my central theme1 and so ,i  
pass them over lightly4 ,let me then    
return without further delay from this  
digression which has been made in the   
interests1 not of my argument1 but of my
 self-respect as a student of social    
facts4     ,,xxi4 ,,contact ,,of        
,,peoples   ,consider1 for instance1    
that at the beginning of our century1   
for the first time in more than fifteen 
hundred years1 the ,christian nations   

came into contact with a mighty pagan   
power1 and were compelled to acknowledge
 it as not only a political1 but a      
moral1 equal4 ,whoever knows the magical
 effect in the quickening of            
intellectual and spiritual life due to  
new contact with a contrasting type of  
national culture will agree that the    
meeting thus of ,christendom with the   
so-called heathen world is a fact of    
prime significance in the history of    
man4  ,nor is it simply the contact of  
heathen and ,christian on terms of moral
 equality4 ,there is another aspect to  
,japan's ascendancy and her recognition 
by the ,west4 ,the ,east and the ,west  
meet at last4 ,the psychic invasion of  
each by the other must be epoch-making  
and in the direction of the completeness
 and unification spiritually of all     
mankind in a brotherhood of nations and 
nation-states4 ,the new contact of      
heathen and ,christian1 and of white and
 colored1 of ,east and ,west1 means that
 the exploitation of the dark races by  

nations more highly organized on a basis
 of self-interest is about to cease     
forever4 ,with the humanization of the  
,west will come the salvation of those  
tribes who never divided themselves so  
absolutely into the haves and the       
have-nots1 or who never attained a high 
mastery over the physical universe4     
,are there persons in ,america who say  
what1 until the present war1 many in    
,old ,england thought--that there is    
nothing new under the sun8 ,then ,i     
would call their attention to the       
unprecedented and revolutionary         
character of the contact in the ,united 
,states1 on a basis of relative         
political and social equality1 of       
immigrants from some fifty-one different
 nations of the ,old ,world4 ,these     
people will mix their blood1 their      
temperaments1 and their traditions1 and 
not only will a new variety of human    
being emerge1 but the mixing of         
opposites in idea and temperament will  
quicken self-consciousness and heighten 

mental power and speed up its activity4 
,the opportunity of the blond beasts of 
prey has lain in the torpor and         
inactivity and ignorance of the         
multitude4 ,but ,i find no torpor in    
,california4 ,and where there is no one 
that will allow himself to be preyed    
upon1 even blond beasts take up the new 
enterprise of co-operation among equals4
 ,this is an inevitable result of the   
contact of many varieties of unlikes1   
the unification1 not of equals1 but of  
supplementary equivalents4 ,when such   
psychic conditions have prevailed for a 
century or more1 it is inconceivable    
that trade can continue to consist of   
competition between individuals and the 
permission of the successful to amass   
and hoard fortunes4 ,either production  
and distribution will become communal1  
or the community will tax large fortunes
 into the state and national treasury4  
,but there are three other              
distinguishing characteristics of the   
twentieth century which make for the    

replacing of civilization by            
humanization1 and for the transition of 
trade from the harshness of the law into
 the abounding grace of the gospel4     
,,xxii4 ,,the ,,power ,,to ,,transmit   
,,human ,,life1 ,,its ,,social ,,control
   ,first1 the limiting of population by
 the will of human individuals4 ,in the 
beginning men stole fire from the gods2 
but life they allowed the ,almighty to  
continue to dispense at his own         
inscrutable pleasure1 while they        
remained his pleased but puzzled agents 
in its transmission4 ,it was only in the
 eighties of the last century1 after a  
hundred thousand years1 that man hit    
upon the idea and the practice of       
controlling life as he had controlled   
fire4 ,from the beginning1 he had       
planted the fire-seed according to his  
own purpose and social need4 ,and now at
 last he has come to look upon the      
life-seed as not simply in his keeping  
as a trust for another1 but as his own  
property to control in the interest of  

his own future4 ,can human audacity     
reach higher8 ,can the assumption of    
divine and creative responsibility by   
man out-strip this latest act of        
self-government8 ,from beast to citizen1
 did we say8 ,but have we not found the 
process during the last four hundred    
years to be from citizenship to godship1
 from creature to creator8 ,it was one  
of your ,american reformers who entitled
 a book ,man as ,social ,creator4 ,from 
beast to citizen seemed dull enough2 but
 from citizen to ,god--what intoxication
 of zest does this thought engender6    
,can the creature dare it8 ,is this the 
great venture8 ,is this the meaning of  
the travail of the ages8 ,or is it only 
a process from citizen to man1 from     
tamed beast to free spirit feeling the  
,soul of ,all at the inmost centre of   
himself1 and finding the means at last  
of incarnating that soul in the         
community1 in politics1 trade1 and      
domestic life8 ,howsoever the new facts 
and the newer outlook are to be         

interpreted1 it becomes quite clear that
 if civilization was the taming of      
beasts1 something that is not           
civilization has begun to assert itself4
 ,the liberating of citizens1 as it     
moves to triumphant attainment1 must    
scrap many an institution1 many a habit1
 and set up the reverse of many a rule  
of conduct4 ,we have indeed reached a   
new era1 one which is not that of taming
 animals1 when young women can--and know
 that they can--as war-brides strike    
against the labor of maternity and      
against the foreseen horror of a fate   
for one's offspring such as they would  
never choose for the fruit of their     
love4   ,but1 secondly1 close upon the  
invention of means for controlling the  
transmission of life has followed the   
idea that this control shall not rest   
with the individuals most intimately    
concerned1 but with the will of the     
community--of the nation--of federated  
humanity4 ,if a man has no exclusive    
right to do as he pleases with his power

 of labor1 to withhold it or direct it  
irrespective of the general welfare and 
the will of the commonweal1 how much    
less1 say the advocates of eugenic      
marriage1 shall men and women be        
permitted to follow their own whim and  
their selfish pleasure as regards the   
use or waste of the power to communicate
 life8 ,this new doctrine that men are  
only trustees for the nation and        
posterity in their central power to     
control the future quantity and quality 
of human beings whom they may bring into
 existence1 recognizes no division of   
society into the tamed and the tamers4  
,there is no class suggested of         
monopolists of social power who will    
regulate the rest of the community1 as  
the owner of cattle controls the        
breeding of them4 ,the general will of  
the community1 administered under       
diffused public opinion and through the 
educated judgment of the individual     
himself1 will decide4 ,only in cases of 
what are agreed to be downright crimes  

will the law step in to condemn and     
prevent1 and then only through agents   
who are directly accountable to an      
enlightened and alert public opinion4   
,the retaining of this new mastery of   
man over the quantity and quality of    
human life1 by the communal conscience  
against all monopolists1 is the         
transcendent feature of the new order4  
,but if this be so1 then trade1 our     
system of producing and distributing    
wealth1 ceases to be merely a question  
of the control of labor and becomes a   
question of the control of the          
transmission of human life4 ,such       
control might have been accounted a     
possible privilege among ,virginian     
breeders of slaves4 ,but so to regard it
 seems monstrous1 now that chattel      
slavery has been universally condemned1 
thanks to the triumphant levellers of   
the last hundred years4 ,what is more1  
all trade is beginning to be regarded as
 a question ultimately1 not of the      
manufacture of machines and their       

products1 nor of the propagation of     
plants and animals1 but of the begetting
 of spiritual agents1 who in their turn 
are to become the makers and masters of 
the universe in which they are to live4 
,the third characteristic event of our  
century which is to help us to slough   
off civilization1 as our ancestors ten  
thousand years ago rid themselves of the
 wild-beast features of barbarism and   
savagery1 is the awakening of women4    
,their claim to social initiative and   
responsibility is the extremest possible
 reach of democratic self-assertion4    
,the remarkable peculiarity of their    
entrance into trade is not1 however1    
that they are women1 but that they are  
the one half of mankind who have never  
worked for hire1 but always from love1  
and who have desired the wage less than 
the approval of those they served4 ,the 
morals of trade1 as it has existed under
 the relation of master to wage-earner1 
even the ethics of trades-unionism1     
cannot survive the censure of women1 who

 on other principles demand for         
themselves the right of maintenance by  
the state to protect them in the bearing
 and rearing of children and the making 
of homes1 and the nursing of the wounded
 and the sick4 ,now that women no longer
 allow themselves as social agents to be
 ignored1 they will insist that not only
 the morals of marriage and of          
democratic relations must become humane1
 but that all trade1 as well as all     
legislation1 must be guided by the      
eugenic motive4     ,,xxiii4 ,,foreign  
,,trade ,,the ,,begetter ,,of ,,wars    
,i have presumed to say that modern     
trade discloses civilization in its     
acutest form4 ,the strict sobriety of   
this assertion we cannot1 perhaps1      
appreciate to the full1 unless we note  
the relation of trade during the last   
three hundred years to aggressive       
warfare4 ,there prevails in the public  
mind the false notion that somehow peace
 and trade are akin in spirit and       
identical in their interests4 ,this     

notion has been assiduously foisted upon
 the public by kings of industry and    
some professors of sociology1 who       
possibly believe that it is true4 ,but  
the facts of history prove that every   
great war during the last three         
centuries has been undertaken in the    
service of foreign traders1 who call    
upon their government to back their     
claims4 ,according to ,sir ,john        
,seeley1 the greatest political         
historian of the ,british ,empire1      
foreign trade and modern war have always
 been one and the same thing4 ,some     
small nation-state resented the advent  
and methods of the foreign traders1 and 
began to prepare for self-defence1      
asserting that it wished to be left     
alone1 and that it meant to defend its  
own sacred traditions4 ,this the        
government that backed the traders would
 not permit1 and a clash of arms ensued4
 ,or two rival sets of foreigners were  
jealous of each other in their effort to
 possess one and the same market and    

induced their respective governments to 
spring at each other's throats4 ,under  
such circumstances war does not always  
arise1 because the mere show of vastly  
superior might is often sufficient to   
compel immediate submission4 ,such was  
the case when the ,united ,states in    
#ahec exhibited in the harbors of       
bewildered and terrified ,japan a fleet 
of great steamships4 ,the threatened    
nation1 having admitted no foreigners   
since the ,jesuits in the seventeenth   
century plotted against its political   
independence1 and not knowing how to use
 steam to propel engines1 saw that there
 was no alternative to violent conquest 
by their uninvited guests but peaceful  
submission on their own part4  ,such    
peace1 however1 is not the holy thing   
which some persons declare all peace to 
be4 ,when a man holds up his hands in   
answer to the challenge of a highway    
robber1 bloodshed is avoided2 but the   
outrage is none the less detestable     
because perfect quiet prevails4 ,nor is 

it the kind of social calm which the    
angels meant when they proclaimed peace 
on earth to men of good will4 ,on the   
contrary1 it is that stillness of       
unchallenged iniquity of which our ,lord
 expressed his menacing hate when ,he   
declared that ,he came not to bring     
peace but a sword4 ,trade illustrates   
civilization in its highest degree of   
intelligence and elaboration2 and       
foreign trade is only trade in its      
widest transactions4 ,but foreign trade 
being the cause of all war1 the only way
 to end warfare is to displace          
civilization by a system of wealth      
produced and distributed under communal 
control4 ,then commerce will no longer  
be inspired by the financial interest of
 private investors1 but by the total    
welfare of the whole people of the      
nation4 ,but ,i have touched upon the   
identity of war and trade only to show  
their vital connection with civilization
 as a whole4     ,,xxiv4 ,,the          
,,opposite ,,of ,a ,,return ,,to        

,,nature   ,civilization is still       
advancing by leaps and bounds4          
,nevertheless1 at the same time1 with a 
greater acceleration of development1 the
 men are checkmating the master and     
transferring control and initiative to  
the will of the commonwealth4 ,at least1
 not otherwise am ,i able to interpret  
the new deference for nationality which 
has been aroused in protest against     
aggressive militarism2 nor the kind of  
industrial legislation that has been    
enacted during the last decade in       
,california and other western states1 in
 ,new ,zealand and ,australia1 and even 
in ,italy and ,england4 ,it all means   
that the new inventions1 although at    
first seized upon by monopolists1 are   
seen to be such as to provide channels  
through which the pent-up instincts and 
hopes of the masses can act with        
concerted power4 ,it means that also    
political machinery is being devised for
 securing the public welfare and        
protecting opportunities for individual 

genius and talent4 ,no man asks for     
more4 ,the world over we have reached   
the threshold of collective democracy1  
wherein the consuming of material wealth
 will be shared with approximate        
equality and wherein social control will
 be retained by the collective will1 to 
safeguard individual initiative1 and    
will be administered by public servants 
who have proved their superior ability1 
but who remain subject to almost        
instantaneous recall4  ,such a          
substitute for civilization1 however1 is
 the opposite of a return to the        
individualism of ,nature or to a        
primeval communism4 ,it presupposes the 
highest mastery of man over matter and  
social unity among all mankind          
co-operating as nation-states and       
federations of states4  ,as regards     
external government and law1 it is the  
antithesis of ,mr4 ,carpenter's proposal
 that they should disappear1 because    
they are the travesty of inward         
government and order4 ,on the contrary1 

,i hope that external government1       
animated by the general will of a social
 democratic commonwealth and vested in  
representatives sensitively accountable 
to an alert and intelligent public      
opinion1 will appear to my listeners not
 as a travesty1 but as the very         
incarnation of that inward government   
and order which every individual man    
must feel to be the law of his own being
 unless he has lost his manhood's       
centrality4 ,a crushing indictment of   
,mr4 ,carpenter's modern movement back  
to ,nature is to be found in the fact   
that it has declined instead of         
advancing during the twenty-six years   
since he wrote4 ,probably fewer persons 
in ,england preach salvation by sandals 
and sunbaths to-day than did a quarter  
of a century ago1 while the sandals     
themselves and sunbaths have become but 
items among the general products of     
industry and governmental hygiene4 ,the 
sunbath is only one of the many remedies
 prescribed to the poor by doctors      

impanelled by the ,british state1 and   
the sandals are better made by machinery
 than by the hands of poetic hermits4   
,but while the vision of philosophical  
anarchy has been fading away1 whole     
nations on a gigantic scale have been   
subjecting the power of trusts and      
monopolies to the general will of the   
community4 ,in ,america you have changed
 your federal law and many of your state
 constitutions1 in order that the right 
of the common will to dictate may be    
unquestioned1 and that no occasion for  
lawless violence need ever arise through
 any legal barrier to the full assertion
 of the mind of the common life4  ,so in
 every particular of his cure for       
civilization ,mr4 ,carpenter's worship  
of savagery and barbarism is being      
rejected as fantastic4 ,we may return to
 uncooked fruits and grains4 ,but what a
 task for the most highly developed     
industrial state1 to raise and          
distribute an adequate supply of grapes1
 apples1 and nuts the year round for the

 #a1jjj1jjj1jjj inhabitants of the      
globe6 ,what a call for many wizards of 
,california to produce new species of   
luscious edibles6 ,it would seem to me  
that the curse of civilization has lain 
in the direction of too little of either
 cooked or uncooked food1 instead of too
 much4 ,if the common people are to come
 into their own1 trade in every         
necessity and luxury must be more highly
 integrated4 ,the difference of the new 
era as regards foreign commerce will    
chiefly be that nations as a whole by   
their governments will conduct it       
instead of private traders4 ,in other   
words1 foreign trade will be            
nationalized1 in the way that social    
democrats have long demanded that land  
and capital should be4 ,the community   
will own and control it through state   
agents for the common welfare4 ,nothing 
of good which civilization has brought  
forth will be lost1 nor will the        
organization of wealth be relaxed4      
,machinery will be multiplied a         

thousandfold4 ,like the human body      
itself1 social life must become as      
complex as it can without losing its    
centrality4 ,be it remembered that the  
truly simple life is not gained by      
meagreness of possessions and interests1
 but by singleness of aim controlling a 
seemingly infinite number of detailed   
means4 ,but this unity dominating a     
multiplicity of interests is attainable 
only through the entire mechanism of    
external government4 ,and again1 as the 
man resides in all the organs of the    
body1 but is himself no organ1 and as by
 the central unity of his life-energy is
 able to rush the white corpuscles to   
any part that is wounded or poisoned1 so
 the general will1 the community-self of
 the social democratic state1 is        
beginning to direct all the healing     
agencies in the body politic to the     
rescue of the unfortunate4 ,such        
beneficence and benevolence1            
systematized and alert1 is more than    
civilization4 ,it is ,christianity1 it  

is the doing unto the least of one's    
fellow-men what self-interest prompts   
one never to do2 but its power is equal 
to the redemptive goodness that inspires
 it4 ,in motive and method it is not    
business1 it is different from trade2   
for it is a progeny of pity4 ,but       
nevertheless1 it is socialized wealth   
and applied science and politics4 ,it is
 government by the governed4   ,when    
civilization has been superseded by this
 democratic process1 which in our       
century is advancing at such rapid gait1
 there will surely be in the sphere of  
religion no more return to ,nature than 
in that of economics4 ,there will be no 
more the worship of any one instinct or 
organ1 or any external object or agent4 
,how could ,carpenter have so far       
forgotten his own definition of health  
as to applaud the primitive ritualistic 
worship of the glories of the human body
 and the procession of the stars8 ,that 
ritual was itself the symptom of the    
break-up of man's character into        

multiplicity1 and the insubordination of
 specific organs4 ,surely when man has  
gained centrality of health1 he will    
worship the unifying will which is      
dominant whenever health prevails4 ,he  
will adore the spirit which makes the   
many one4 ,but men will never gain that 
centrality of health until they have    
established this worship of the one     
heart that beats in every human breast  
and1 being inspired with religious      
passion for it1 have brought the entire 
economic order into conformity with its 
behests4   ,the ,riverside ,press       
,,cambridge  ,,massachusetts ,u  ,s  ,a