Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

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1910 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. 155 state showed so-me concern for the physical and intellectual training of its constituents, but it did so with the idea that it could thus develop a bet- ter citizen, who could best further the interests of the state. VVe must not suppose that the mission of the state as generally conceived was always an unvvorth-y one. In the case of the jewish anfd Athenian state, the nations were conscious of a high and worthy mission to accomplish. But in each case the end sought was not to develop a high type of individual, but to in- sure the supremacy of systems and at- tain to a national ideal. The center of political gravity lay in the state and not in the individul, accordingly there were few rights that a man possessed that the state wats bound to respect. Not only was personal iniative crush- ed in blind obedience to sylstems in which individual rights were ignored, but quite generally he was under the absolute control of an individual or, hierarchy of individuals who possess- the power of life and death over him. The Roman citizen soldier counted for little except as he was instrument- al in extending the empire of the Caesars. The many, comprising the middle and lower classes of society, existed for and were used for the pur- pose of furthering the interests of those who ruled over the-m. These condi- tions existed practically up to the time of the English Revolution. Now under such conlditions, equality of opportunity for the highest de- velopment of the individual and for the fullest expression of personality, was practically denied to a great ma- jority of men. It is not to be sup- posed that such confdi'tio-ns could long exist when once the minds of men were aroused to the injustice of it. Such a time came during the seven- teenth and eightenth cengturies. It was in the minds -of the political philosophers of the age, such as john Locke, that political ideas were con- ceived that were to revolutionize whole systems of government. These ideas were: that the rights and powers of 'government were Originally inher- ent in the people. A natural out- growth of this idea was the doctrine of the native equality of all me-n. Its propogation resulted in the attempt to enthrone the individual in, all his rights, powers, capacities, and oppor- tunties. This attempt was directly or indirectly responsible for most of t'he rervolutionsi and uprisings within the governments of Europe during these cenfliuries. So thoroughly were the minds of men imbued with the idea of freedom, and equality that there is scarcely a political document, in the nature of a constitution, drawn up during this period, that does not in some form or other assert the native equality of men. Our declaratio-n of independence asserts, that all men are created equal, that man is endow- ed with inalienalble rights, that gov- ernment derived their just powers from the governed, claims that would have seemed most startling to the peo- ple of several hundred years earlier. Almost every state constitution drawn up in Afmerica prior to the nineteenth century contained its bill of rights, in wlhich the foregoing so-called rights of man were enumerated. Quite na- turally political system would have to be altered to meet these new ideas. This violent changing of the center of

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154 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. JUNE The Trend of Modern Civilization . .X -X X WILLIAM W. OESCH, A. B. fMajor Subject History.J It has been said that the proper sturdy of mankind is main. One of the most interesting phases of this study is h-is cifvilizatifon, that is, the study of the processes through whlich he has passed antd of the institutions and ideals he has fostered, in his effort to elevate himself into a higher plane of thought, deed, and aspiration. Gen,- erally speaking the civilization of an age or ofapeople iinds its clearest ex- pression in the institutions that if fosters and perpetuates. If this be true, in our efforts to arrive at a fair- ly good understanding o-f a-n age we have only to study well its institu- tions. political, social, intellectual, moral and industrial. As the politi- cal organization of society-that is the state-does probably the most to insure pemanenoy to all others, it shoul'd perhaps receive clrief con,- sideration. ' There is no age in which we should be more interested than the prese-nrt. The fact that irt is the one in which we live, that it is the one whose vitality We share, that it is the one Whose pulse-beats We feel the most keenly, makes it amply wforth while that We should attempt to understancl it. We are interested in past cilviliza- tions, it is true, but only to the extent that they help us to understand the present, and as they serve as mile stones, indi-ca.tin,g the path that man has traveled in his upward trend. It is a rather comfmon-place idea that our present civilization, is based upon the Hebrew and Graeco-Roman. But any one Who wiill attempt a compari- son of our present institutions and ideals with those of former civilliza- tions, whether in the near or remote past, will soon realize that the main features of our present civilization are quite unique and exceptional. We need but go black several 'hundred years in the history of Europe until we arrive at that period Where the insti tutions that survived from the classical or previous ages encountered and passed thnough a veritable maelstrom. New institutions arose differing in many instances vastly fro-m their pro- totypes. VVherein then does the uniqueness of our modern clivilization lie? One of fthe most striking exceptional fea- tures of it lies in t-he new anld exalted value it has placed upon the indivi- dual. Under the old civilization the in- dividual existed for the state, his good was made subserviant to that of the state. In Greece we find that the

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156 , GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. JUNE political gravity from the state to 'the individual was inclined to turn the existing systems topsy-turvy. It may be questioned wthether the pendulum did not take an extreme swing. I am inclined to look upon the present ten- dency towards centralization in gov- trnment, that is, a giving up of ser- tain powers to the government hith- erto jealouslylguarded by the people, as a slight reaction against this ultra- radical attempt to enqthrone the in- dividual. Another exceptional and significant feature of our civilization is the emancipation of the masses, especial- ly such as were - in slavery. This was a natural outgrowth of the doctrine of the equality of all men. Slavary as an institution is based upon the assumption that some men who have come into pos- session of other men, either by pur- chase or capture in war, have a right to compel these men to do labor for them in order that they might be free from the economic struggle. In former ages the institution of slavery was no doubt justifiable. It was the freedom from struggle for physical existance thus secured to the intel- lectually superior that made possible the highest attainments in the Arts and Sciences. All former civilizations were based upon slavery. The popu- lation of Athens in the time of Peri- cles was about four-fifths slave. The population of Rome in the time of Marcus Aurelius was about one-half slave. Not only was the morality of slavery unquestioned, but it did not seem to occur to the most advanced political thinkers of the age, that a political society or state could be formed withlout slavery. Plato, in his remarkable attempt to descrifbe an ideal Republic, would halve a large portion of its inhabitants occupy the position of slaves. When we con- ceive ,how thoroughly the old civiliza- tions were based upon this institu- tion, and how generally its existence received the moral assent of man, we are made to believe that its abolition was one of the greatest forward strides ever taken by the race. Yet the fact is evident that slavery, in the sense here used, has passed away never again to receive the authorafta- tive assent of enlightened fmankind. Its abolition was brought about large- ly because under its iniquitous system a large number of persons were ef- fectually denied a fair chance to de- velop their personalities. Anld in an age which has asserted the equality of men and enthroned the individual no- thing could compensate for this. It is certain that no civilization in the fu- ture will be called great, regardless how high its attainments may be in Literature, Arts or Science, when these have been reached at the price of human sl-ayvlery and subordination. Another institution, characteristic ofotir age, which has grown out of the enthroning of the individual and the emancipation of the masses, is the Democratic form of government, that is, the almost complete sharing of the powers of government with the gov- erned. This is shown by the astonish- ing growth of representative forms of governmenlt in Europe and Ameri- ca during the last century. It is un- questionably the goal toward which governments in all enlightened na- tions are traveling. There was F10-