“ TR UTH BEARS T H E TORCH IN T H E SEARCH FOR T R U T H .” — Lucretius
VOL. 4.
S IL V E R T O N , O R EG O N , T H U R SD A Y , JU L Y 19, E. M. 300 (1900.)
NO. 28.
Superstitious Man,
shape his destiny. If it had sym infinity. Yet some superior tvne latest phases of th a t law which are
pathies and preferences and preju m ay be developed there. And if called respectively, Life, Feeling
O ALL e a r th ’s blessings deaf and
dices; if it had intelligence and there be on th a t planet or a n y and Thought. For while the forms
blind,
will, it would be u tterly u n m an where else in the solar system or in through which these modes of en
L ost to him self and to his k in d ,
W ith m ad p resu m p tio n , lo! m an tries
ageable and would ever rem ain the the universe a m aster being re ergy are m anifested m ay v ary to
To pierce th e e th e r of th è skies.
m aster and despot of m an, as it lated to other beings in any such any required extent, I cannot con
His fancy winged to worlds u n k n o w n ,
practically has been during most way as man is related to the other ceive th a t the attrib u tes them selves
H e scorns th e trea su res of his own ;
By fears of hell and hopes of heaven,
of his early history, and it could living creatures on this earth, the could, under any circum stances, be
His noble m in d to m adness driven.
never become his servant and all- chances are again infinity to one other than they are. For exam ple,
O h, first of all th e trib es of e a rth .
powerful aid and ally as it is fast | against his possessing the form or whila the fancied in h ab itan ts of
W ake to th e know ledge of th y worth ;
getting to be and is certain ere any of the leading physical a ttr i Mars m ight all differ in every
T hen m ark th e ills of h u m an life,
other p articu lar from those of this
And heal its woes, and quench its strife. long fully to become. T hus the
butes of hum an beings.
earth, it is im possible to conceive
V ictim and ty r a n t thou, O m a n ;
hardest facts of existence are seen
All this may at first sight look them as not endowed with life at
Thy w orld, thyself, thy fellows scan,
to embody the germ s of the b rig h t like wild utopian speculation. But least, although we can suppose
Nor forw ard cast an an x io u s eye,
Who know s to live, shall know to die.
est hopes. Those dark realities its u tility does not lie in any them devoid of feeling in the sam e
—L iberal H ym ns.
which have been taken as arg u knowledge it yields as to the in h ab sense that we conceive plants to be.
m ents for pessimism are them itan ts of other planets. It lies in But if we im agine them to have a d
The Im p a rtial W orld Our Base selves, when correctly understood, teaching the great lesson th a t no vanced even to the lowest anim al
stage, we are obliged to endow
of Life and Hope.
the foundations of the only sound knowledge of an y th in g can be them with feeling, consciousness,
philosophy of social progress.
gained by speculation, and th at will. And when we speak of a re
BY PR O FESSO R L ESTER F . W A R D .
The only proper a ttitu d e on all our only knowledge consists in the mote planet being “ in h ab ited ,” a l
these questions is to view the u n i actual investigation of facts th at though we can a b stra ct from those
AVING tried to paint the verse objectively. D ism issing for lie w ithin our reach. We m ust in h ab itan ts every physical ch a ra c
ter th a t belongs to m an and con
w orld-picture true to life ever all idea of w hat it ought to study the tangible, visible, dem on ceive them as dragons, or satyrs,
(in our last issue,) let us be, we m ust sim ply seek to d eter strable world and find out w hat it or m onsters of any form, we cannot
next inquire w hat the lesson is m ine what it is. We m ust also di ¡contains. There is no telling what im agine them devoid of reason and
th at we should learn from its care vest ourselves wholly of the notion we shall find. No preconceived no intelligence in addition to the a t
tributes of life and sensibility.—
ful study. The first and most ele th a t we can determ ine this by pure tions of w hat we ought to find,
Sociology and Cosmology, in O ut
m entary principle of th a t lesson is reflection. There is no fixed way much less of w hat we ought not to ings of Sociology.
th at the very fortuity from which in which things m ust be which en find, m ust influence the quest for
this entire state of things results is ables us to reason out the way they tro th . This is not, however, to
A Future Life.
laden with the highest hopes for are. W hile, of course, the way discourage the use of hypotheses.
m ankind; th a t no other condition they are is really the only way They are the searchlights of science.
BY H O R A C E S E A V E R .
could furnish an y such ground for they could have been, still the a n But their use requires due caution,
hope: th a t the opposite or opti tecedent causes which have brought and a hypothesis m ust not be con
H E great m ajority of m an
m istic view, were it, the true one, them into existence, besides being founded with a thesis.
kind think th a t a belief
would really lead to despair. The unknow n to m an, are so infinitely
Now, while it is true th a t all
in future existence is ab
optim ist m ay be com pared to a complex th at they are for the most those aggregations of cosmic ele solutely
necessary
to present
young m an w ithout em ploym ent or part wholly beyond his grasp. For ments th a t give m ultiplicity and happiness. We believe the doc
m eans of subsistence who lives in exam ple, any one can conceive of a I variety to the content of the u n i trine to be a m istake. Time a
the perpetual and illusive hope solar system in which no single re verse are in the sense explained thousand years hence is no more
th a t some rich relative or acquain lation is the same as exists in ours. ! wholly fortuitous and m ight as to us now th an time a thousand
tance m ay bequeath him a fortune. Any one can conceive of beings in well have all been different from years past. As no event could
C ontrasted with this, the rneliorist habiting a planet all of which w hat they are, it 'is a legitim ate! have harm ed us when we existed
may be likened to a young man shall be entirely different from any question to inquire w hether there not, so no event can possibly harm
who, recognizing the tru th th a t u n of those th a t inhabit this earth. rem ains an y th in g which is not us when we are no more. By a n
earned fortunes are not given to The plan of structure of organic thus fortuitous, and which must in ticipating and calculating too much
idle ad v en tu rers, goes resolutely to forms depends entirely upon the the n atu re of things be what it is. on future felicity and dreading, or
work and strives by honest in d u s initiative which first launched each And we find th a t there are such at least fearing, future misery, m an
often loses sight of present en jo y
try to build up a fortune for h im type upon its career. This in itia things. There are essentials as well m ents and neglects present duties.
self. And this is the true lesson tive is wholly fortuitous. The ver as accidents, but they belong to a When men shall discover th a t
for hum an society. There is no tebrate type of anim als, for ex different category. If we exam ine nothing can be known beyond th is
room for social Mica where. W h a t am ple. m ust be looked upon as due the m atter closely, we will see th a t life, and th a t there is no ratio n al
ever “ tu rn s u p ” must be turnedjup. to some prim ordial accident, as it all the cases considered come under ground for any such belief, they
will begin to th in k more of im prov
The passive a ttitu d e is suicidal. were, i. e., some coincidence of the head of form- -worlds, p lan ts, ing the condition of the h u m an
This folding of the arm s and resig causes, external and internal, at anim als, men. But there is a n species. T heir whole thoughts will
nation to fate is certain to m eet its the appropriate tim e and place, other great class of cases which fall then be turned upon what m an has
fate. The cosmic Ju g g ern au t will th a t happened to determ ine that under the head of forces or p rin done, and what he can still do, for
roll over and crush those who type of structure which proved bet ciples, and these when carefully the benefit of m an. As they will
be delivered from all fear of in v is
throw them selves before it. The ter adapted to sustain the highest exam ined are found not to be v ari ible voluntary agents th a t m ay do
logic of Science is action, and only organization thus far attained in ables but constants— the constants them harm , so they will no longer
by busy brains and busy hands the anim al kingdom. If this p ar of nature. By this I do not meau look up to such agents for help,
can the recognized evils of the ticular type had not chanced to be th at they alw ays exist at all tim es but they will study more their own
world be lessened or removed.
tried, some other would have stood and places, although this is proba powers and the powers and proper
ties of N ature. T hey will discover
The second principle in this highest, but it is as likely to have bly tru e of the universal g ra v itan t how much tim e and labor are spent
great lesson is th a t it is only be been a still better one as to have and ra d ia n t forces, of which, in entirely uselessly, and worse th an
cause all n atu re is a dom ain of been a poorer one for the purpose. deed, all the other forms of energy uselessly—perniciously; th a t so far
rigid law, of absolute im p artiality , If the planet Mars is really the are doubtless special conditions. I from im proving the condition of
and devoid of all moral q uality and home of living beings, the chances refer in general to w hat is known m an, such labors only tend to de
stroy bis own peace and render
all intelligence, th at man can hope of the vertebrate type of structure as the principle or law of evolu him an enem y to his fellow-man.—
to carve out of it his fortune or occurring there are only as one to tion, and in p articu lar to the three [Occasional Thoughts.
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