The Contemporary Review, January 1883: Vol 43, No. 1Various
Science
The Contemporary Review, January 1883: Vol 43, No. 1
Various
Arts -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals; Political science -- Periodicals
Nor do the evils end here. There is the injury to posterity. Damaged
constitutions reappear in children, and entail on them far more of ill
than great fortunes yield them of good. When life has been duly
rationalized by science, it will be seen that among a man's duties, care
of the body is imperative; not only out of regard for personal welfare,
but also out of regard for descendants. His constitution will be
considered as an entailed estate, which he ought to pass on uninjured,
if not improved, to those who follow; and it will be held that millions
bequeathed by him will not compensate for feeble health and decreased
ability to enjoy life. Once more, there is the injury to
fellow-citizens, taking the shape of undue disregard of competitors. I
hear that a great trader among you deliberately endeavoured to crush out
every one whose business competed with his own; and manifestly the man
who, making himself a slave to accumulation, absorbs an inordinate share
of the trade or profession he is engaged in, makes life harder for all
others engaged in it, and excludes from it many who might otherwise gain
competencies. Thus, besides the egoistic motive, there are two
altruistic motives which should deter from this excess in work.
The truth is, there needs a revised ideal of life. Look back through the
past, or look abroad through the present, and we find that the ideal of
life is variable, and depends on social conditions. Every one knows that
to be a successful warrior was the highest aim among all ancient peoples
of note, as it is still among many barbarous peoples. When we remember
that in the Norseman's heaven the time was to be passed in daily
battles, with magical healing of wounds, we see how deeply rooted may
become the conception that fighting is man's proper business, and that
industry is fit only for slaves and people of low degree. That is to
say, when the chronic struggles of races necessitate perpetual wars,
there is evolved an ideal of life adapted to the requirements. We have
changed all that in modern civilized societies; especially in England,
and still more in America. With the decline of militant activity, and
the growth of industrial activity, the occupations once disgraceful have
become honourable. The duty to work has taken the place of the duty to
fight; and in the one case, as in the other, the ideal of life has
become so well established that scarcely any dream of questioning it.
Practically, business has been substituted for war as the purpose of
existence.
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