VEGETARIANISM 593 



directions, would result in quadrupling the yield of the present area of 

 cultivation, and in transferring to the state of cultivation vast tracts 

 now untillable or even waste. The difficulties would not be technical, 

 but human. To accomplish them the present intelligence of the human 

 race, the dependable intelligence of the working race of mankind, would 

 be wholly insufficient; the race has not attained to-day the scientific 

 stature necessary to reach and pluck these fruits of knowledge. For 

 the present, therefore, it is certain and beyond speculation that to place 

 the human race upon the basis of ethical vegetarianism would be to 

 expose the race to the mercy of nature, just as the vegetarian population 

 of India is yearly at the mercy of the yield of grain. 



To dispense with the products of animal bodies would be a task 

 trivial in comparison with the problem of feeding. With wools, cot- 

 tons, linens and the other plant fabrics, with metals and woods, all 

 could be accomplished without great technical difficulties, were pre- 

 conceptions once obliterated. From the standpoint of ethical vege- 

 tarianism, the wearing of fur, kid gloves and leather shoes constitutes 

 fratricide. The number of animal and bird lives sacrificed to-day for 

 purposes of superfluous comfort and for compliance with the vanities of 

 fashion makes a striking numerical showing contrasted with the number 

 of animals slaughtered for the supply of food. The difficulties would 

 lie in clothing the extremities of out-door workmen; but the problem 

 would be solved without difficulty in a world rich in inventive devices 

 though poor in large scientific conceptions. 



The results of the world-wide installation of vegetarianism to the 

 sociological and economic institutions of the world need but to be 

 sketched to be appreciated. The race of swine, as a domesticated family 

 would be obliterated, and the number of cattle regulated by the require- 

 ments for dairy products. On the other hand, the number of horses 

 would need to be augmented to meet the needs of enlarged agriculture ; 

 and the number of sheep to meet the increased demands for wool. The 

 population of the world would tend to shift in latitude, and the com- 

 merce of the world would be revolutionized to meet the alterations in 

 the currents and articles of trade. Fashions in dress and house furnish- 

 ings would be strikingly changed. There is no need to dilate further 

 upon these features. Man is to-day a beast of prey. Just as the whole 

 map of biology would be changed in the day when " the lion and the 

 lamb shall lie down together," so the whole face of civilization would be 

 given transformed features in the time when man regards the animal 

 as a brother and not as a prey. Man is a beast of prey because thus 

 the preservation of existence is made easy; vegetarianism would make 

 it difficult, and will therefore not be adopted. This carries its personal 

 lesson : I, the vegetarian, must not be vain ; because it is the meat- 

 eating of my brother that makes vegetarianism possible to me. 



