Schulte, Peter Filo

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712 THE OPEN COURT.He deemed the everlasting Lord of All.Besides he had some notions how to treatSinners and fetch them to the mercy seat.So in a broad-cloth tailored coat, combinedWith a white collar buttoned up behind,He got himself a parish. In his flockWas a sick Lion, panting on a rock.(It was an arrow from a huntsman's bowThat laid this miserable Lion low.)Him on his pastoral rounds the Reverend EarsOne morning thus addressed : "These groans and tears,How base and craven in the King of Beasts!You need a moral tonic ! Godless feastsAnd midnight games and evil LionessesHave brought you, brother, to these sad distresses;Think not that I will comfort or condole—j\Iy cure is drastic, but 'twill save your soul."Whereat he turned and in the Lion's facePlanted his hoofs with more of speed than grace.Knocked out the teeth, and blinded both the eyes.And left him, dying, to the sun and flies.Moral.This little fable, children, is a proofThat no profession, purpose, or disguiseCan change the action of an Ass's hoof."SAVAGE LIFE AND CUSTOM."To the Editor of The Oj^oi Court:In the articles on "Savage Life and Custom," by Edward Lawrence, thatyou have published in The Open Court, some views are expressed which showthat the author's knowledge of the race problems is very piecemeal. If yourmagazine represents the monistic trend of thought, of which the late Dr. PaulCams was such an able exponent, such articles should find no place in yourmagazine unless the peculiar views of the articles are corrected. It was apeculiarity of the late Dr. Carus that he was inclined toward cosmopolitanism,while as the same time he was inclined to be nationalistic. This was a pointwhere I seemed to find inconsistency in Dr. Carus, but I am convinced thatif I could have stated my views to him fully, he would not have differed fromme. Although Dr. Carus was an incessant student, versed in all departmentsof knowledge, yet I think he never studied the race problems fully.The monistic philosophy of life, of which the late Ernst Haeckel was thechief exponent, would be in favor of eliminating and exterminating the lowerraces, rather than trying to civilize them and to favor their intermixture andconsequent amalgamation with the white race. After an elaborate study of therace problems, it is clear to me that to assimilate the savage races is a scoreor more times as cruel as to eliminate them, since to intermix with and assimi-late the lower races involves centuries of evil social conditions in which lifeMISCELLANEOUS. 713will not be fit to li\c for a high t\pc of people endowed with sympathy. Theroot evil of our present social conditions is race intermixture. A social mil-lennium is not possible unless we have a homogeneous race and one withoutclass distinctions. The correct view of life is also required.The principal ideals of the monistic philosophy of life arc:1. To work in agreement with the evolutionary creative plan of Godand to favor and foster the improvement and increase of the higher grades ofpeople: to favor the development of a race of people of high-grade intellectual,physical, esthetic, and moral qualities:2. To eliminate the evils from life, and to bring ahunt a state of societyin which all people will be tolerably, equally well supplied with material goods.I belie\ c no higher realizable ideals can be stated.The white or European race is, without doubt, superior to tlic non-whiteraces on the following points:1. Physicallv:2. Intellectually;3. Esthetically, or as regards the form and beauty of body and face;4. In the value of life. Ernst llaeckcl regards the value of the life of thelower sa\ages of man as not much above the higher mannnals. I agree withhim.As regards morality, we fnid numerous indi\iduals of the white race thatare low indeed. But if one regards the situation squarely, the while racestands, in general, superior to the others in regard to morality ; although Iha\e no objection if a white man wants to regard himself morally not Ijettcrthan the lowest savage. What is an abomination, is the high-browed andself-conceited sense of justice fif the white people. The defects in morality ofthe white people as compared with the lower savages arise mainly from theirwrong-headed view of life.The European people are hybrids or intermixtures and have no racesolidarity. The chief fault of the white race of people is that they have norace pride, no race ideals ; while at the same time they have excessive nationalpride. The w'hite man judges people by Hieir citizenship rather than by bio-logical race differences. The wdiite man is a fiend and a traitor to his ownrace. This arises mainly from his wrong-headed Christian view of life withthe obvious falsehood that "all men are created equal." The more I thinkabout Christianity, the more defective it appears to me as an ethical system.I think some one wanted to put a curse on the European people, so he inventedChristianity. I have always held the view that the Christian view of lifewould lead to race intermixture, race deterioration, and bring overpopulationand severe economic conditions, resulting in the most disastrous wars. Thishas been "proved to a finish" by the world war.The author of "Savage Life and Custom" does not seem to know enoughabout biology and the evolution of species to know that the interests of widelydifferent races are in irreconcilable conflict. For instance, the conflict betweenthe Mongolian and the white races is irreconcilable. On the other hand, theinterests of such closely related peoples as the Germans. English, and Frenchrun together. For them to disagree is hazardous, for them to quarrel is dis-astrous. War between them is a w^ar of self-extermination. The Europeanrace has received a setback of over twenty million in number as a resultof the world war. This cuts like an exponential function into the future.714 THE OPEN COURT.The laws of evolution of life are in constant operation. The white racehas been found wanting in morality. The Slavic branch of the white raceand the Mongolian race, or perhaps a hybrid of these two types, will dominatethe Eastern Hemisphere in the future according to the present outlook; andin America we will develop a race of mixed breeds and mulattoes.The interests of the American Indians and the European people were inconflict in America and the intermixture of the Indians with white peopledeteriorates them. I suppose the author of "Savage Life and Custom" wouldhave left, in the name of justice, the United States eternally to be inhabitedb}' less than one million savage Indians.The European peoples have ascended from a barbarous or savage stateand have superseded the other races in progress. The superior race is con-taminated by contact and intermixture with the savages rather than thesavage by the white man. But if the savage degenerates when he comes incontact with civilization, as the author of "Savage Life and Custom" argues,,that only proves the inferiority of the savage. The white people degeneratemorally by excessive wealth and luxury; most lower races degenerate by merecontact with civilization, that is true.Such fundamental facts as the following should be kept in mind. Theworld cannot support more than twice the present population on an adequatestandard of living. The United States cannot support more than 300 millionon an adequate standard of living. Germany, for instance, had a population of67,800,000 in the year 1914. I estimated, before the war, that Germany couldnot support more than about 45 million on her soil products on an adequatestandard of living. This has been corroborated during the war. Germany hada rate of increase of 15 per cent, in excess of emigration before the war. Hereconomic and industrial expansion was desirable, but the fiends of the whiterace attempted to thwart her, with the consequent disaster. If the Europeancountries become overpopulated, it is much better if the people expand intoother countries and displace the backward peoples instead of killing each other.The ability of population to increase exceeds all bounds of food supply and,in fact, exceeds standing room on the earth. It was shown by Lamarck, Dar-win, and Haeckel that the rapid increase in numbers is an important factor inthe evolution of organisms and a necessary factor in the displacement of lowergrades of organisms by higher. This applies also to the races of man.The highest ideal of life is to favor the plan of nature (God)—to favorthe development of a race of people of the highest grade, till a certain degreeof perfection is attained. The population may then remain stationary in num-ber. Having also attained the correct view of life and complete knowledge ofnature a millennium will be possible. The monistic philosophy points out theway.You may print this letter if you wish. People have such an aversion totruth that they rather choose ruin than to face the bold facts. People seem tobe unwilling to learn the lesson of life except by hard experience—by beingchastised with diseases, wars, and death. The Creator of life must know whathe is doing when he lets such scourges as the world war prevail. It takes suchexperiences to make people think and to drive a new idea into the recalcitranthuman mind.Peter Filo Schulte.

Savage Life and Custom.

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Savage Life and Custom.

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