The Dominion SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1909. CIVILISATION IN DANGER.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 478, 10 April 1909, Page 4

The Dominion SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1909. CIVILISATION IN DANGER.

The above challenging title headed' a noteworthy article in the Hibbert Journal ■from the pen of a French writer, M. Rene L. Gerard. Wc arc accustomed to vaticinations of national and of worldwide social disaster. But the danger this author sees is not the "Yellow Peril," nor race suicide, nor growing luxury and effeminacy, nor degeneration arising from the preservation of the unfit, nor decay of religious belief. It is something which, recognised by all, and in some of its manifestations disliked by many, has seldom been regarded as the special danger of our times. It is nothing else than the general levelling of human distinctions— that "equality," in short, which has so long been the goal of social reformers, but which to M. Gerard is a "slough" in which civilisation itself may be engulfed. Physicists tell us that owing to the radiation of heat into space by our sun and otlur stars the universe tends to be brought to a dead level of heat in which motion and change would no longer be possible. A uniform universe would be a universe dead without hope of re-birth. So, too, wc may well imagine that by the bringing of mankind to a dead levol of

lower, material, "mental, and moral, the loath- of human society might be brought .bout. But physicists go on to inform us hat the collisions of wandering suns genrate new heat, and give' rise to new :ycles of development. Thus, doubtless, mmanity contains forces to counteract hose making ; for stagnation—perhaps the :ollisions that shatter dead suns and reolve them into nebulae with possibilities if renewed development may be paraleled by explosions of class and racial mtagonism, which, working temporary isolation, may requicken torpid civiliiations. M. Gerard considers the geniral levelling of human differences under ;hrcc heads—social and material, intelectual, and moral. The first kind of evelling is obvious to all. AVhercas, as ;he author in medieval times ilasses were sharply •defined, now disiinctions of dress and of habits are lost. Hie low price of manufactured goods enibles the poor to imitate the rich in Iress, house furnishings, etc. All public imuscments are for the world, at large. National distinctions are being broken :lown. "Outwardly at least, man has become impersonal." So far, though growing uniformity may deprive the world of much interest and picturcsqueness, it seems of little importance. It' is well, surely, that all classes should share fully in all the material triumphs of modern science. M. Gerard concedes this. "Material uniformity is perhaps inevitable, 3vcn desirable, on condition that it comes ibout by raising the condition of the masses, and not by the abasement of those who govern them. One could contemplate without regret an age when wealth would be unknown provided that distress were unknown also." It is in the intellectual and moral spheres that the equalising tendency shows itself under the most unsatisfactory aspect. With compulsory education knowledge bas ceased to be a mark of superiority, »r to be of economic advantage. "It avails no longer to be acquainted with many things; it is more advantageous to know only one, and to concentrate on it. In other words, specialisation is necessary, and will increase in exact proportion to trie further growth of human knowledge. As instruction spreads, culture diminishes. . A cultivated man is one who, whether or no ho has made a special study of one branch of knowledge, is not entirely ignorant of any. He is a man to whom no expression of human intelligence or feeling is a matter of indifference, because his mind is opened wide enough to comprehend its bearings and to appreciate tho effort involved. He is the man to whom 'nothing human' is alien.' To produce such men was the object of the education of the past." Now, though England still clings regretfully to the old ideal, most countries have frankly renounced it for tho utilitarian one. Hence the level of general knowledge descends, and even university graduates are often deficient in intellectual curiosity and the power of comprehension. It may occur to some in reading these criticisms that specialisation is inconsistent with uniformity, but a little reflection will show that the most thoroughgoing specialisation is accompanied with general uniformity in mental outlook. An engineer, a chemist, and a banker may develop very different abilities jn their callings; yet alike-, be so narrowed by preparation for. and pursuit*of these as to.have scarcely other intellectual tastes than the masses below them. The barrenness of our age in the highest forms of literature and art is generally admitted; and we are fast losing the capacity not only to create but even to appreciate. ' Coming to moral tendencies the author finds that the man of to-day is_ deliberately living in the present. Life is looked on as an end, not as a means. This is not wholly to'be regretted, for "it is good to love life and the whole of life. But unfortunately in a time like the present when everybody pretends to _ have opinions and upon every subject, opinions run wild in the streets and get plentifully soiled by their dirt. This is what has happened to the theory which is based upon the merely human ideal" For the crowds the idea of happiness never extends beyond a limited circle of immediate and tangible satisfactions which can be bought with money. Monetary success has almost become the exclusive object of universal endeavour. The modern ideal, instead of being merely human, has become utilitarian. This mode of feeling is not new; mediocrity is eternal. But perhaps it has never been so nearly universal. Utilitarianism rules nations as it rules individuals. Summing up, the author finds that while "in materia} respects the levelling of society is especially evident in the 'slow ascent of the masses to better conditions, in moral and intellectual respects it is being realised by the lowering of tho elite to a unifrom level with all the rest." If this conclusion be correct, then certainly is civilisation in danger. For moral worth and intellectual ability incalculably outweigh mere material good. ' The consequences of present tendencies, it is submitted, may be "the speedy disappearance of every kind of social superiority. The passion for uniformity assails not only superiority of fortune or position, but every kind of superiority whatever." Certainly the common attitude of Socialists towards intellectual ability corroborates this assertion. How common it is in Socialistic literature to see intellectual superiority regarded with jealous dislike; disparaged and explained away, while the average man is glorified ! Thus humanity seems doomed to pass through a stage of sordid ugliness, of vulgarity and universal mediocrity. To defend the world from this fate, M. GERARr argues that an aristocracy must be restored. "A civilisation without aristocracy is of inferior type; il is the civilisation of bees or ants, not of human beings. To sup press inequalities is to revert to lowci forms. But the aristocracy of the future must support its claims on superiority oi talent and of character. The aristocracy of the intellect exists already, but il lacks cohesion and is unconscious of the necessity of fighting to avoid being sub merged by the -democratic flood.' In the endeavour to establish th< new aristocracy, which must be ar aristocracy of feeling and of man ncrs even more than of intellect, thi writer sees a potent ally in woman, win "far surpasses man by her illimitabli craving for the ideal." And "woman ha a direct interest in resisting tho.ruin o art and culture; for in a civilisatioi purely utilitarian, whence luxury an< leisure had alike been banished, she woul< be hopelessly condemned by her economi inferiority to a subordinate position.' In the aristocracy of tho intellect, ar

fcists, women, tho writer sees the forces which may combine for the defence of the menaced culture of mankind. "The time has not yet come to despair. But let the day arrive when social inequalities shall have disappeared, and individual initiative will forthwith come to an end." This wcbclievc to be a well-founded prediction, which-tho more intelligent of the Socialist party would do well to weigh.