THE NEW OPTIMISM 499 



the advance in the position of woman. Third, the gradually lessening 

 frequency of war and its possible abolition. Fourth, the agitation 

 against alcohol. 



So free are we from fear that we do not realize the bondage of men 

 in former times to both supernatural and political tyranny. Virgil 

 represents -ZEneas as pulling up a little bush and finding clots of blood 

 clinging to the roots, whereupon his terror was so great that his hair 

 stood on end and his voice stuck in his throat. Fear is the greatest 

 source of human suffering. Until comparatively recent times nature 

 has been something unknown and the unknown has been a source of 

 constant terror. It is believed to be full of supernatural and possibly 

 hostile agencies. Devils and demons and indignant deities, an angry 

 and jealous God, possible future and retributive punishments, earth- 

 quakes, and eclipses, all have contributed to make the life of man mis- 

 erable. This burden of woe has now been lifted. Another view of 

 nature prevails. Man has cast off fear and finds himself master of 

 nature and perhaps of all her forces, while in religion the gospel of love 

 is casting out the dread monster of fear. But it is not alone fear of 

 supernatural agencies that we have escaped, but also fear of political 

 tyranny and of sudden political upheavals connected with despotic gov- 

 ernments and social instability. Few of us appreciate the profound 

 security that we now enjoy, security of life, property and reputation. 



The wonderful advance in the domestic and social position of woman 

 and her corresponding happiness sounds a strong optimistic note in 

 the present. In Queen Elizabeth's time a married woman and all her 

 possessions almost belonged to her husband, very much as did his horse. 

 He could take away her property or her wages or even pound her with 

 a stick. Gradually she has secured the right to her own property, to 

 her own earnings, and to her own children, and is now rapidly gaining 

 the right to hold office, the right to an equal voice in public affairs and 

 the right to equality of industrial opportunity. Woman's suffrage, for 

 instance, partial or complete, is a fact in large portions of the United 

 States, in New Zealand, New South Wales, South and West Australia, 

 Finland, Norway, Sweden, and other countries. 



Another ground of optimism is found in the decreasing frequency 

 of war. The cruelty of war, the physical and mental suffering, and 

 the immediate and remote social consequences, all together represent 

 only a part of its ultimate evils. In his little book on "The Human 

 Harvest," David Starr Jordan has shown how war in the past has oper- 

 ated to produce human degeneracy by removing the best and strongest 

 men and leaving at home the sick and the maimed, the lazy and ineffi- 

 cient, the slaves and the commonest laborers to become the fathers of 

 the next generation. Now the conditions are different. Even in the 

 event of a war in this country, the conditions are such that no serious 

 depopulation could happen and in Europe wars are already too far 



