CHAPTER XI.

THE FOUR CHIEF METHODS OF REDUCING EVIL.

I. THE CONTROL OF MATERIAL FORCES.

We have seen that the Problem of Happiness and that of the Elimination of Evil are really one; and that the attainment of the maximum happiness for the greatest number means the minimising of evil. We have also considered in what sense, and to what degree, the observation of nature is necessary to the reduction of evil. Pursuing still further this thought, the control and modification of material nature appears at once as a primary (though by no means the final) method to be pursued for accomplishing the elimination of evil; certainly for all that evil which is termed physical, and which causes, no one doubts, a great portion of human suffering. The exercise of intelligence to remove the causes of pain is a necessity of all progress, and as much a part of morality as anything else.

Instinct teaches man in common with other animals to seek food, drink, shelter and other protection from extremes of temperature; and as civilisation advances, the devices for satisfying all the primary appetites become very complex and elaborate. The greater part of human industry has always been devoted to improving the material conditions of existence; this is usually the chief work of the individual in life at the present day, the problem which he proposes to solve for himself and those in whom he is interested. Men need little stimulation in this direction, and consequently less need be said about it, although the degree of enterprise exhibited may vary under different circumstances. Utilising material nature in some degree is an inseparable concomitant of life.

Effort to modify the action of forces is only absolutely extinguished in the face of a conviction of impossibility. People do not attempt to prevent rain or drouth, winter cold or summer heat-except it may be by prayer to a power higher than human. They seek to find out the uniformities under which forces work,

that they may have prevision of what is to come and guard themselves accordingly. But within the sphere of what they deem possible of accomplishment activity varies to a remarkable extent. Climatic conditions have much to do with this. The indolence of those who inhabit warm regions contrasts strangely with the untiring energy of many who dwell under northern skies. Again, health and disease everywhere directly stimulate or impair all the vital energies, respectively increasing or diminishing intellectual and volitional exercises. Then, too, the effect of social conditions is powerful now to encourage and now to discourage effort. The conviction of impossibility is almost as strong a deterrent if that impossibility be deemed moral instead of physical. Sometimes it is quite as much so. There have been times when the interests of religion have been deemed to require cessation of efforts to improve material conditions. Very likely in Galileo's day it would have been deemed impious to have invented or applied the electric telegraph system. Many of these social hindrances we shall consider in later chapters. A reference to them is sufficient for the present.

A very interesting essay in the line of the subject of this chapter was the attempt to find an elixir for indefinitely prolonging life. This seemed to the inquiring mind in the early days of scientific interest the most important of all problems. It was, indeed, in their time and with their light, and no one ought to begrudge the labour spent by these ancient alchemists, ridiculous as their expectations may now seem. The futility of the attempt is at any rate no disparagement to the assiduity and earnestness with which they worked. At some time in human history it was inevitable that their question should be raised and answers found, if possible. It seems to be settled that all men must die sooner or later, though a recent writer speculates with some ingenuity on 'The Possibility of Not Dying.' But it would be very presumptuous to say that all the possibilities of prolonging life are exhausted. No one can aver that the limit of knowledge has been reached with regard to conservation and renovation of the human body. Indeed, it seems to me, in view of the enormous progress that has been made in increasing our knowledge and control of molar and molecular forces (other than vital), that the physiological, hygienic, and medical sciences are disproportionately backward. Anatomy is, and for a long time has been, nearly exact and complete. This cer

1 H. C. Kirk. New York: Putnams. 1883.

tainly cannot be said of physiology; and, when we consider the empiricism of the healing art, we wonder that at this epoch in human enlightenment so little is scientifically known and verified in regard to the cure of disease. I am not insensible to the difficulties in the way of finding out the agencies at work in bodily disorders, and learning how to counteract them. Nor am I oblivious to the fact that very wonderful discoveries have recently been made as to morbific germs. It is evident that strong and earnest minds are incessantly labouring to improve medical science. But with all this, it certainly is not creditable that human knowledge should be so meagre, and human skill so helpless in the presence of disease, as it is in a large number of instances. There seem to be no thoroughly generalised principles of the action of disintegrating forces within the organism. Equally deficient is the scientific knowledge as to remedies. Physicians apply them by guesswork. Trial and error is still their method in dealing with all but the simplest cases. It is true they educate themselves to make up in kindness, sympathy, and attention what they lack in knowledge ; and their ignorance is not the fault of themselves individually, but of their art. Yet this can hardly be satisfactory, even to the doctors. The intelligence of the times demands better things of them. Discoveries are called for at their hands. They must improve the sciences and the arts relating to their profession. They must find, seize, and control for their purposes the life-giving, the life-renewing, the life-preserving forces, as the mechanic, the hydrostatic, the pneumatic, and, above all, the electric forces have been subjugated for industrial uses. There is surely no more noble field of effort, and, it may be added, there is none in which further achievements are more needed.

Perhaps the most remarkable of the triumphs over material nature are the successes achieved in the way of facilitating communication between distant places and people. The railway, the steamship, the telegraph, the telephone, have carried this perfection so far that, with the sole exception of aerial navigation, little apparently remains to be accomplished, unless, indeed, a more economical and better motor than steam be discovered. To a scarcely less marvellous degree have labour-saving inventions of all sorts revolutionised the industrial arts. The objections that have been raised to these last on the score of their depriving workmen of the means of livelihood have been effectually disposed of by economists, and need not be discussed here. Whatever conduces to the

economising of labour, the conservation of vitality, the accomplishment of the greatest results with the least expenditure, is a boon to the human race and favours increased happiness. It is an omen of evil when activity directed toward the control of material forces languishes, or is obstructed.

II. SECURITY AND JUSTICE.

The social life of mankind begins with the birth of the race. The social factors in the development of every individual from the beginning of his existence are as important as the material conditions of his environment except for the preservation of life itself, and for the latter purpose they are by no means irrelevant considerations. Men are liable to receive at the hands of their fellows not only interferences with their actions in the way of prevention and restraint, but also positive injury. A necessity, then, of all social order is the preservation of security to each individual who belongs to the community; and when this security is violated or destroyed the worst of social evil follows.

But, though some sort of security is obtained in every social organisation, maintained through the machinery of governmental administration, to which is delegated the task of preserving the common order; yet it often happens that this security is imperfect. Its imperfection may arise from the pure malevolence or greed of human beings determined to ignore everyone but self, and to satisfy their own lusts at all hazards. But this is not all. It may arise from a sense of injustice in the administration of law and government. Hence a clear and sound notion of justice, and a faithful dispensing of it by the state authority, is of the highest importance even for security's sake.

A second method to be pursued in the elimination of evil thus appears. The first was characteristically Industrial. This is Political. Governmental administration in all its departments, whatever may be its form, aims to reduce evil by securing to each person the undisturbed pursuit of his own happiness, within the limits which the prevailing ideas as to the scope and authority of government will allow. A common order is preserved and as far as possible perpetuated; and for the purposes of this common order it is necessary that in the governmental administration justice shall prevail. In the words of Mr. Henry Sidgwick, 'the prominent element in Justice, as ordinarily conceived, is a kind of

Equality; that is, impartiality in the observance or enforcement of certain general rules allotting good or evil to individuals.' 1

III. ALTRUISTIC EFFORT.

Much can be done for the prevention and abatement of evil by controlling and applying to beneficent uses the material forces of nature; and, in the superorganic world, obtaining by social means security to all men in equal measure to put into execution their own purposes, and to work out their own ideals. But even if there were nothing to annul or defeat the effects which might be expected from activities put forth in these two lines, a vast amount of evil would fail to be reached. The maintenance of security and justice is negative. Modifying nature does not affect men's wills directly, but only indirectly. In the transitions from a worse to a better condition, there are always many whom improvement has not yet reached. Even if all are given an equal chance, all are not able equally to profit by their opportunities. There are the weak, the ignorant, the unfortunate, the defeated, who need help, and who, unless aided, will form an aggregate of misery and woe, lowering the level of happiness in the community.

There must be, then, some direct and positive effort for the amelioration of the condition of mankind, in whatever particulars and in whatever instances there appears to be need. This may be either individual or co-operative, the latter of course yielding much more conspicuous results in proportion to the force employed and the field covered.

There never has been an epoch when practical philanthropy has reached a higher degree of perfection than it has at present; this is a healthy sign. Many devote their whole lives to social work of privately relieving suffering and of encouraging and maintaining associations for humanitarian ends. Practical effort for the amelioration of the condition of people accomplishes the most beneficent results, if wisely directed, both immediately and indirectly. Besides, its reactive influence upon the workers constitutes no mean item of its value. It brings people nearer to each other, breaks down social barriers, destroys the spirit of caste and induces a long toleration—a very necessary preparation for the inauguration of genuine philanthropy, which recognises the universal brother

Methods of Ethics, Book III. chap. v.