AFTERWORD 357 



One could not, of course, expect to see a universal and thor- 

 oughgoing application of these principles in the concrete. The 

 materialistic view of human nature is horribly unnatural, and, 

 in practice, would be quite unbearable. Natural human good- 

 ness and even the mere instinct of self-preservation militate 

 against a reduction to the concrete of this inhuman concep- 

 tion, and these tend, in real life, to mitigate the evil effects 

 of its acceptance. Nevertheless, the actual consequences re- 

 sulting from the spread of evolutionary principles are so 

 conspicuous and appalling as to leave no doubt whatever of 

 the deadly nature of this philosophy. 



Marxian Socialism has been called "scientific" for no other 

 reason than that it is based upon materialistic evolution, and 

 this scientific socialism has brought upon modern Russia a 

 reign of terror, which eclipses that of France in the bloodiest 

 days of the Revolution. Eleanor Marx, it will be remembered, 

 after falling a victim to her father's teachings regarding "free 

 love," committed suicide. The same confession of failure has 

 been made by two recent editors of the socialist Appeal to 

 Reason (J. W. Wayland and J. 0. Welday), both of whom 

 committed suicide. These are but a few of the many instances 

 that might be cited to show that the life philosophy incul- 

 cated by materialistic evolution is so intolerably* unnatural 

 and revolting that neither society nor the individual can 

 survive within the lethal shadow of its baleful influence. 



But may not the extreme materialism and pessimism of this 

 view be peculiar to the sordid and joyless outlook of the social 

 malcontent? Does not evolutionary thought conduce to some- 

 thing finer and more hopeful in the case of the progressive 

 and optimistic liberal? Vain hope! We cannot console our- 

 selves with any delusions on this score. Liberalism proclaims 

 the emancipation of humanity from all authority, and the 

 rejection of a future life of retribution is the indispensable 

 premise of the doctrine that makes man a law unto himself. 

 Hence, wherever Liberalism controls the tongues of educators, 

 the human soul becomes a myth, religion a superstition, and 



