Part 9 (1/2)
But, though we cannot perform the task fully, our plight is far from hopeless. The World War has goaded us into thinking as we never thought before. It has constrained us to think of realities and especially to think of the supreme reality-the reality of Man. That is why the great Catastrophe marks the close of humanity's childhood. The period has been long and the manner of its end is memorable forever-a sudden, flaming, world-wide cataclysmic demonstration of fundamental ignorance-human ignorance of human nature. It is just that tragic _demonstration_, brutal as an earthquake, pitiless as fate or famine, that gives us ground for future hope. It has forced us to think of realities and it is thought of reality that will heal the world. And so I say that these days, despite their fear and gloom, are the beginning of a new order in human affairs-the order of permanent peace and swift advancement of human weal.
For we know at length what human beings are, and the knowledge can be taught to men and women and children by home and school and church and press throughout the world; we know at length, and we can teach the world, that man is neither an animal nor a miraculous mixture of angel and beast; we know at length, and we can teach, that, throughout the centuries, these monstrous misconceptions have made countless millions mourn and that they are doing so to-day, for, though we cannot compute the _good_ of which they have _deprived_ mankind, we can trace the dark ramifications of their positive _evil_ in a thousand ways; we know at length, and we can teach, that man, though he is not an animal, is a natural being, having a definite place, a rank of his own, in the hierarchy of natural life; we know at length, and we can teach the world, that what is _characteristic_ of the human cla.s.s of life-that which makes us _human_-is the power to create material and spiritual wealth-to beget the light of reasoned understanding-to produce civilization-it is the unique capacity of man for binding time, uniting past, present and future in a _single growing reality_ charged at once with the surviving creations of the dead, with the productive labor of the living, with the rights and hopes of the yet unborn; we know at length, and we can teach, that the _natural_ rate of human progress is the rate of a swiftly increasing exponential function of time; we know, and we can teach, that what is good in _present_ civilization-all that is precious in it, sacred and holy-is the fruit of the time-binding toil struggling blindly through the ages against the perpetual barrier of human ignorance of human nature; we know at length, we can teach, and the world will understand, that in proportion as we rid our ethics and social philosophy of monstrous misrepresentations of human nature, the time-binding energies of humanity will advance civilization in accordance with their natural law _PR__T_, the forward-leaping function of time.
Such knowledge and such teaching will inaugurate the period of humanity's manhood. It can be made an endless period of rapid developments in True civilization. All the developments must grow out of the true conception of human beings as const.i.tuting the time-binding cla.s.s of life, and so the work must begin with a campaign of education wide enough to embrace the world. The cooperation of all educational agencies-the home, the school, the church, the press-must be enlisted to make known the fundamental truth concerning the nature of man so that it shall become the guiding _light_ and _habit_ of men, women, and children everywhere. Gradual indeed but profound will be the transformations wrought in all the affairs of mankind, but especially and first of all in the so-called arts and sciences of ethics, economics, politics and government.
The ethics of humanity's manhood will be neither ”animal” ethics nor ”_super_natural” ethics. It will be a natural ethics based upon a knowledge of the laws of human nature. It will not be a branch of zoology, the ethics of tooth and claw, the ethics of profiteering, the ethics of s.p.a.ce-binding beasts fighting for ”a place in the sun.” It will be a branch of humanology, a branch of Human Engineering; it will be a time-binding ethics, the ethics of the entirely natural civilization-producing energies of humanity. Whatever accords with the natural activity of those energies will be _right_ and _good_; whatever does not, will be _wrong_ and _bad_. ”Survival of the fittest” in the sense of the _strongest_ is a s.p.a.ce-binding standard, the ethical standard of beasts; in the ethics of humanity's manhood survival of the fittest will mean survival of the _best_ in compet.i.tions for excellence, and excellence will mean time-binding excellence-excellence in the production and right use of material and spiritual wealth-excellence in science, in art, in wisdom, in justice, in promoting the weal and protecting the rights both of the living and of the unborn. The ethics that arose in the dark period of humanity's childhood from the conception of human beings as mysterious unions of animality and divinity gave birth to two repulsive species of traffic-traffic in men regarded as animals, fit to be slaves, and traffic in the ”supernatural,” in the sale of indulgences in one form or another and the ”divine wisdom” of ignorant priests. It is needless to say that in the natural ethics of humanity's manhood those species of commerce will not be found.
And what shall we say in particular of economics, of ”industry,” ”business as usual,” and the ”finance” of ”normalcy”? There lies before me an established handbook of _Corporation Finance_, by Mr. E. S. Mead, Ph.D.
(Appleton, N. Y.), whose purpose is not that of adverse criticism but is that of showing the generally accepted ”sound” bases for prosperous business. I can hardly do better than to ask the reader to ponder a few extracts from that work, showing the established, and amazing theories, for then I have only to say that in the period of humanity's manhood the moral blindness of such ”principles,” their s.p.a.ce-binding spirit of calculating selfishness and greed, will be regarded with utter loathing as slavery is regarded to-day. Behold the picture:
”Since the bondholder is solely interested in the security of his princ.i.p.al, and regular payment of his interest, and since both security and interest depend upon the permanence of income, other things being equal the companies with the most stable earnings or a market ... furnish the best security for bonds. Stability of earnings depends upon (1) the possession of a monopoly....
_Monopoly is exclusive or dominant control over a market. The more complete this control, the more valuable is the monopoly._ The advantage of monopoly lies in the fact that the prices of services or commodities are controlled by the producers (_meaning owners-Author_), rather than by the consumer.... Monopolies are of various origins. The most familiar are (1) franchises, the right to use _public property_ for _private purposes_, for example, the furnis.h.i.+ng of light, water and transportation, (2) _control of sources of raw material_ ... , (3) patents, ... (4) high cost of duplicating plant.... In manufacturing industries, for example, those enterprises which _produce raw materials_ and the _necessities of life_ have a more stable demand.... Railroads furnish perhaps the best basis of bond issue because of the stability of the demand for the transportation service ... the high cost of duplicating the railroad plant, ... enables them to fix their rates on freight and pa.s.senger traffic.... The security of the creditors is here the profitableness of the business _which is carried on in the factory_. Furthermore, a business is not an aggregate of physical property but consists of physical property-buildings, boilers, machine tools-plus an industrial opportunity, plus the organization and ability to operate business.” (Italics indicated by the author.)
There we see the animal standards in their studied perfection. Comment would be superfluous.
In the period of humanity's manhood, the so-called ”science” of economics, the ”dismal science” of political economy, will become a genuine science based upon the laws of the time-binding energies of humanity; it will become the light of Human Engineering-promoter, guardian, and guide of human weal. For it will discover, and will teach that a _human_ life, a time-binding life, is not merely a _civilized_ life but a _civilizing_ life; it will know and will teach that a civilizing life is a life devoted to the production of potential and kinetic use-values-to the creation, that is, of material and spiritual wealth; it will know and will teach that wealth-both material and spiritual wealth-is a natural phenomenon-offspring of the marriage of Time and human Toil; it will know and will teach that the wealth in the world at any given moment is almost wholly the _inherited_ fruit of time and the labor of the dead; and so it will ask: To whom does the inheritance rightly belong? Does it of right belong to Smith and Brown? If so, _why_? Or does it of right belong to man-to humanity? If so, _why_? And what does ”humanity” include? Only the living, who are relatively few? Or both the living and unborn? The Economics of humanity's manhood will not only ask these questions but it will answer them and answer them aright. In seeking the answers, it will discover some obvious truths and many old words will acquire new meanings consistent with the time-binding nature of man. It will discover and will teach that the time-binders of a given generation are _posterity_ and _ancestry_ at once-posterity of the dead, ancestry of all the generations to come; it will discover and will teach that in this time-binding double relations.h.i.+p uniting past and future in a single living growing Reality, are to be found the obligations of time-binding ethics and the seat of its authority; economics will know and will teach that _human_ posterity-time-binding posterity-can not inherit the fruits of time and dead men's toil _as animals inherit the wild fruits of the earth, to fight about them and to devour them_, but only as _trustees_ for the generations to come; it will know and will teach that ”capitalistic” l.u.s.t to _keep_ for SELF and ”proletarian” l.u.s.t to _get_ for SELF are both of them _s.p.a.ce-binding_ l.u.s.t-animal l.u.s.t-beneath the level of time-binding life.
The economics of humanity's manhood will know and will teach that the characteristic energies of man as man are by _nature_ civilizing energies, wealth-producing energies, time-binding energies, the peaceful energies of inventive mind, of growing knowledge and understanding and skill and light; it will know and will teach that these energies of existing men united with one billion six hundred million available ”sun-man” powers united with the ten billion living ”man-powers of the dead,” if they be not wasted by ignorance and selfishness, by conflict and compet.i.tion characteristic of beasts, are more than sufficient to produce a high order of increasing prosperity everywhere throughout the world; in the period of its manhood economics will discover and will teach that to produce world prosperity, cooperation-not the fighting of man against man-but the peaceful cooperation of all is both _necessary_ and sufficient; it will know and will teach that such cooperation demands _scientific_ leaders.h.i.+p and a common _aim_; it will know, however, and will teach, for the lesson of Germany is plain, that scientific knowledge and a common aim are not alone sufficient; it will know and teach and all will understand that the common aim, the unifying principle, the basis of cooperation, cannot be the welfare of a family nor that of a province or a state or a race, but must be the welfare of _all_ mankind, the prosperity of humanity, the weal of the world-the peaceful production of Wealth without the destruction of War.
In humanity's manhood, patriotism-the love of country-will not perish-far from it-it will grow to embrace the world, for your country and mine will be the world. Your ”state” and mine will be the Human State-a Cooperative Commonwealth of Man-a democracy in fact and not merely in name. It will be a natural organic embodiment of the civilizing energies-the wealth-producing energies-characteristic of the human cla.s.s of life. Its larger affairs will be guided by the science and art of Human Engineering-not by ignorant and grafting ”politicians”-but by scientific men, by honest men who _know_.
Is it a dream? It _is_ a dream, but the dream will come true. It is a scientific dream and science will make it a living reality.
How is the thing to be done? No one can foresee all the details, but in general outline the process is clear. Violence is to be avoided. There must be a period of transition-a period of adjustment. A natural first step would probably be the establishment of a new inst.i.tution which might be called a Dynamic Department-Department of Coordination or a Department of Cooperation-the name is of little importance, but it would be the _nucleus_ of the new civilization. Its functions would be those of encouraging, helping and protecting the people in such cooperative enterprises as agriculture, manufactures, finance, and distribution.
The Department of Cooperation should include various sections, which might be as follows:
(1) _The Section of Mathematical Sociology_ or _Humanology_: composed of at least one sociologist, one biologist, one mechanical engineer, and one mathematician. Their work would be the development of human engineering and mathematical sociology or humanology; promoting the progress of science; providing and supervising instruction in the theory of values and the rudiments of humanology for elementary schools and the public at large. _The members of the section would be selected by the appropriate scientific societies for a term fixed by the selectors._
(2) _The Section of Mathematical Legislation_: composed of (say) one lawyer, one mathematician, one mechanical engineer, selected as above.
Their task would be to recommend legislation, to provide means for eliminating ”Legalism” from the theory and practice of law, and to bring jurisprudence into accord with the laws of time-binding human nature and the changing needs of human society. Their legislative proposals, if ratified in a joint session of sections (1) and (2), would then be recommended to the appropriate legislative bodies.
(3) _The Educational Section_: composed of two or three teachers, one sociologist, one mechanical engineer, one mathematician, selected as above. They would elaborate educational projects and revise school methods and books; their decisions being subject to the approval of the joint session of sections (1), (2), and (3).
(4) _The Cooperative Section_: composed of mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, production engineers, expert bookkeepers, accountants, business managers, lawyers and other specialists in their respective lines. This section would be an ”Industrial Red Cross” (Charles Ferguson) giving expert advice when asked for by any cooperative society.
(5) _The Cooperative Banking Section_: composed of financial experts, sociologists, and mathematicians; its task being to help with expert advice new cooperative people's banks.
(6) _The Promoters' Section_: composed of engineers whose duty would be to study all of the latest scientific facts, collect data, and elaborate plans. Those plans would be published, and no private person, but only cooperative societies, would be permitted by law to use them. The department would also study and give advice respecting the general conditions of the market and the needs in the various lines of production.
This section would regulate the duplication of production.
(7) _The Farming Section_: composed of specialists in scientific and cooperative agriculture.