p. 11 | Ripening for the Reaping by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 29, 1911

Ripening for the Reaping

By C. M. S.

Degeneracy of the Race

WE would fain believe that the world is growing better from year to year—that the race is progressing upward toward some ideal goal; for we have no pleasure in degeneracy nor in the chronicling of the same. We take no pleasure in the fact that misery, want, woe, sorrow, poverty, oppression, and vice are rampant in the world to-day. Neither can we close our eyes to the facts in the case, and declare the existence of a progress that does not materialize. Education is now more general than at any other time in the history of the race. But the education of the world can not make character, can not stem the tide of degeneracy.

The Word of God plainly indicates that in the time of the end a condition of things would obtain similar to that which brought upon the world destruction by a flood of waters. Gluttony, sensual pleasures, greed, rioting, extortion, bribery, lack of natural affection, truce-breaking, religion in form without the power, lack of faith in the Word of God, disputes between laborer and capitalist—all are pointed out in the Word as signs of the ripening for the great harvest. The existence of these things in the heart of man when the earth is filled with education as never before, shows a degeneracy in the human heart which is accented by the “enlightenment” of the age. Let us look at a few

facts which show the tendency of the times in the matter of the progress or retrogression of the race.

We have referred before in these columns to the increase of insanity in general, the terrible headway which it is making in all parts of the world; but of late some have been studying the cause of insanity among women. Its increase among women is a matter of much importance to the race, because of the influence of the mother upon her offspring. The increase of insanity among women is a very important factor in the general increase of insanity. Professor Zimmer, of Berlin, who has been making investigations in this matter, has come to the conclusion that this increase is due largely to the increased competition of women in the trades. He finds that the percentage of women teachers who become insane is almost double that of men teachers. In the other trades such as the telegraph and telephone service, clerking, and watchmaking, a far larger proportion of women than men succumb to mental disorders. It is also a fact that women are being employed in such occupations to a much greater extent than formerly. And, as a natural consequence, this means more insanity among the women and among their children. This means degeneracy.

There has been a remarkable increase in crime in recent years. The records of the police departments of various cities show a remarkable increase in crime, especially among the youth of both sexes. Recent reports from the Department of Justice of Spain show a like condition there. The number of cases instituted in 1900 reached a total of over eighty-three thousand, or more than twice as many as the records of seventy years ago show. This is out of all proportion to the increase of the population in Spain. Crime among women in that country has also greatly increased during that time, their share in the criminal records for that period having risen from five to thirteen per cent; minors, from five to eight per cent. In 1838 the number of suicides in Spain was twenty-five, while the number in 1900 was 551. Public Opinion, in speaking of the cause of this, says:—

The Heraldo de Madrid does not believe that this tremendous increase in crime can be laid to the lack of education, but on the other hand, declares its belief that the bad social conditions prevailing at present are the great cause. Although the economic conditions are powerful forces, perhaps the most powerful, in engendering evil passions, the lack of public conscience is another significant cause. Hypocrisy has increased, while the power of the gospel and of altruism has diminished.

Now “the power of the gospel” is just as great as it ever was. The trouble lies in the fact that people are refusing to yield to it, and accept its principles. It is that that is creating “the lack of a public conscience;” and in the wake of that lack come all the distressing retrogressions indicated by the crimes committed.

There is no greater instrument of degeneracy than alcoholic drink. A writer in Good Health, speaking of juvenile crime and its increase and cause, says:—

This increase of juvenile crime is charged to alcohol, which has been shown to act, not only directly, but indirectly, through heredity. Alcoholic insanity is increasing with great rapidity in Paris. Alcohol is perhaps more active than any other agent in producing human degeneracy, and is one of the most direct and potent causes of criminality and insanity. The children of drunkards are very liable to be epileptic and idiotic, as well as criminal. The children of alcohol-drinking parents, when young, do not appear different from other children, but about the age of puberty their criminal instincts begin to manifest themselves.

With a decrease in the use of alcoholic beverages we might hope for a betterment of this condition. What is the fact?—Alcoholic beverages are being manufactured and consumed as never before. In the year 1902 the people of Germany paid $750,000,000 for the liquors which they drank, of which $500,000,000 was for beer. These figures are from a report to the emperor by a commission appointed to inquire into the matter. That commission has informed the emperor that drinking is rapidly on the increase, the increase having amounted to $125,000,000 in the last ten years. In the United States the consumption of liquor nearly doubled in the fifteen years ending with 1900. In 1885 it amounted to 688,632,415 gallons. In 1900 it had increased to 1,349,176,033 gallons. In England, France, and Russia also there has been enormous increase in the amount of liquor consumed, though we have not the exact figures at hand. There is every reason to believe that what is true of these countries is also true of the other nations; and while alcohol is a recognized degeneracy producer, it is folly to deny its results, and claim progress in manhood and womanhood when the agency is growing at such a prodigious rate.

Opium, the drug habit in general, and the deadly cigarette in particular, are eating into the vitals of the race, benumbing conscience, stifling moral instincts, and thus throwing open the door to crime and more crime. These things and the herding of children of tender years into the great, busy factories of the world, without a chance for physical or mental development, are aiding and abetting the other great demoralizers of the race. So the work goes on, and so the world is ripening for its reaping.

C. M. S.