Evening Star Newspaper, March 13, 1932, Page 73

THE SUNDAY STAR, Dr. Glenn The first phase of our present industrial civiliza- tion, the pre-war period, was an era of neo-pagan- ism in which the world went madly materialistic. Its gods were power, pleasure and profit. As Told to RUTH L. FRANKEL. ANKIND will emerge from the present depression In a return to idealism, according to Dr. Glenn Frank, president of the Uni- versity of Wisconsin. Recently the debonair and attractively youthful educator expressed his feeling that the present unhappy state of affairs confront- ing the world is the end of the third phase of an evolutionary cycle of modern -civilization, & cycle ranging from crass materialism to pure idealism. This third phase, in which he sees the majority of mankind now struggling, he characterized as the essence of cynicism which, in turn, he believes to be reaction from the vaunting idealism and native faith of the World War. “For,” he explained, “in spite of the profiteer- ing and patrioteering traitors of the war days, the masses of the people, fed by abstract and flaming phrases, which formed a smoke-screen for real policies and politics, were filled with a native faith that they were to see the rebirth of a new world after the war. In th days the war, to the inarticulate millions, med to be great spiritual adventure, through which, like a leit-motif, ran a naivete of belief that everything thereafter was going to be different and better and finer.’ TBI result, he pointed out, was a tremendous letdown. Sooner or later all the fine phrases and all the grand promises turned out to be false, and the idealism that had colored the war period changed into a chilling, paralyz- ing cynicism, which at present grips the entire Western World. This cynical period, which he calls the third phase of the evolutionary cycle, has lasted, roughly, he says, since the end of the war, but is now nearing its close. What will come after no one can say; yet Dr. Frank's brilliant dark eyes shone as he ventured the prophecy that already the sky is streaked with the dawn of a new day and pointed out that many indications show it to be fair. “Historians of the future,” said Dr. Frank, “looking at the present era, will probably divide it roughly into four periods, each markedly different from its predecessor. They will not, of course, see each country as a Separate unit, but will recognize that the con- ditions which have brought about the present period of profound and paralyzing depression apply equally to the whole Western World, and not to any one nation or group of nations. Today it is actually true that men are hungry while food surpluses burst warehouse walls, though there are indications that we are already emerging from this situation into a new phase of social planning which will heal the ~v3;f order.” at are the four periods?” “When did they start?” . “They are all phases of our present industrial clvilization,” he answered. “The first one, I asked. WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 13, 1932 Modern Civilization at the Threshold of Another . Turn in Cycle of Evolution That Will End Present Depression, Says President of the Then came the World War with re- birth of spir- itual forces. People were shocked into a realization of their spir- itual bank- ruptcy. There was a new spirit of pub- lic service. In place of self-seeking there was self-sacrifice. roughly speaking, is the pre-war era. The second lasted during the war. The third began with the days of the armistice, and the fourth seems to me to be just ahead.” “Then you think our present plight began before the war?” “Yes. Tt began when civilization reached the complexities of industrialism without understanding them. The first phase, until the war, was marked throughout the world as a period of neopaganism, in which the world went madly materialistic. Not a frank, healthy type of paganism, such as characterized the Greek and Roman eras long ago, but akin to the perversions that finally caused the down- fall of those great civilizations. Its gods were power, pleasure and profit: Power for the state, pleasure for the peofle and profit for industry. “With these the people were content. They didn't care that their creed was materialistic. Everything in their lives lulled them into security in their false gods. The Western World, well stocked with natural resources, with ever-increasing means of transportation and ever-growing industrialism, seemed a good world. There was no problem of over-popula- tion, as in the East. There was no climatic difficulty to sap the energy and enervate the desire for progress. There was no dearth of raw material. So no one cared that, in the scramble for material happiness, the things of the human spirit seemed forgotten. All over the Western World people went frankly pagan, worshiping the god of things and subjecting spirit to matter. “Long before the actual crash of war the thoughtful few were shivering with a sense of impending disaster. Historians of the future will look on this period from a new angle, reali(.‘gxg that though the Germans may have given the final push that started the cata- clysm, the real war guilt belongs to the entire Western World, for every nation at that period was vying with every other in the cult of hedonism—the pursuit of pleasure. They will, therefore, be more interested in asking ‘What caused the war?’ than ‘Who started it?’ and they will recognize symptoms of neopaganism everywhere, not just from Germany.” “Did the war put an end to materialism?” “Not all at once, for each of these phases of civilization merges insensibly into the next, just as today, in the midst of the depression, we are entering a new period. However, Au- gust, 1914, brought an end to the mmaterialistic creed. Thereafter imperialism could not serve as a state policy. Industrialism and University of Wisconsin After the war came disillu- sionment, an age of cyni- cism an reckless in- difference. 0O!d dogmas lost their sa- vor. The con- centration of war was fol- lowed by the chaos of peace. We are still in this period. hedonism suddenly became impossible for the man in the street. The war shocked people into a sudden realization of their spiritual bankruptecy. It actually shocked them into idealism. Suddenly they drew up on the brink of the precipice, aware of the direction they had been taking. “Millions, swallowing the comforting phrases of flaming idealism and devotion to a cause, found in the war a great spiritual adventure. They expected it to be a vindication of the moral law, a purification of Western ideals. This war, they believed, was to be ‘a war to end war' It was to ‘make the world safe for democracy.’” It was to guarantee the weak and humble forever against the aggressions of the great and powerful. It was to provide a fine and lasting peace. “These naive principles were believed by the masses and adopted sincerely as a new article of faith. They caused a rebirth of spiritual forces. Ordinary people everywhere, sharing the delusion that this war was different and purifying, unaware of the undercurrents of politics and diplomacy, arose to a new ideal- ism. Frivolities gave way to serious discussion. Men who had hitherto read only the sporting pages found themselves suddenly attentive to world policies and to questions of the day. “There was & new spirit of public service. In place of self-seeking there was self-sacri- fice. Men wanted to give. In their hunt for a new world the defeat of an enemy was really inconsequential. Nor was this mere emotional frenzy. While it lasted it was a genuinely sincere and liberal move of the masses. 11 THEN came the armistice. November, 1918, saw the beginning of the third phase, in the throes of which we dre still floundering. For, though the armistice was celebrated with fervor, the idealism which it represented ran only a few months more. The mad delirium of relief at the close of the war brought with it an epidemic of cynicism. Suddenly the people realized that they had been let down. One by one, resigned and disgusted, they de- serted their altars. Enervating cynicism sup- planted energizing faith. They lost confidence in war. They lost their willingness to act in common for the common good. They lost their compulsion to work for social recon- struction. “War no longer appeared to be an effective instmment of rational policy. It no longer seemed an inspiration of social reconstruction. Everything was a disappointment. The peace conference was a nightmare. True, its dia- logue was sometimes Olympian, but the action But now there are indica- tions that the period of economic upheaval is at hend. The coming to- gether of the self-interest of the industrialist and the idealism of the social philosopher may yet lead the way out of post-war cynicism into the creative adventure of social con- trol. that followed was far from godlike. The high promises of a new internationalism were soon discarded for a return to petty nationa’ en. Versailles failed lamentably to supplement Verdun. The statesmen failed the soldiers. The new world eluded the grasp of men and world politics lost its soul. The result was a complete collapse of statecraft. In a short while all the nations were back at their re- actionary policies. “Another characteristic of this period was the abandonment of men’s former willingness to act in common to achieve a common end. The solid front of war changed suddenly to anarchic individualism. The concentration of war was followed by the chaos of peace. People no longer tried to live up to ideals. The old dogmas had lost their savor. Today Western civilization actually swings from the extreme of individual action to the bitter tyr- anny of the majority. Men are handicapped by intellectual and social disintegration. “Furthermore, they have lost the compulsion to work for a consciously planned future. During the war, convinced of the mistakes of their former aimlessness, they planned real social reconstruction. “Thousands of books and pamphlets pointed the way to a new world. But disillusion came close on their heels, and all the nations, except Russia, Germany and Italy, scurried back to their former habits and abandoned all interest in social evolution. The very catchwords of those days indicate the temper of the times. In America we sought a return of ‘normalcy.* In England Bonar Law promised ‘tranquility,” though Lloyd George was explaining that ‘trane quility is not a policy at all, but a yawn.’ Ine stead of planning for conscious control of en< vironment in future, men adopted a devil-maye care spirit of cynicism and set out on a period of joyless debauchery, indifferent to everything except amusement.” n HAT will lead them back?” Dr. Frank was asked. “A new type of statesmanship.® Dr. Frank's eyes twinkled, and he added quickly, sensing another question: “I do not pretend to be a prophet, nor claim to see ahead. But there are indications, if megy are able to see them, that this period of economic upheaval is near- ing a close. The fourth phase is at hand, a8 phase which will be characterized mainly, by a return of idealism and by the beginning of an era of social planning. It is time to emerge from the pastoral era into the complex technological atmosphere of our day. It will take more than frightened resolutions made in the midst of depression to accomplish this, but it can be done. Unhealthy economic opti= mism must be replaced with something sterner, Men have been drunk long enough on the heady, wine of high profits, babbling lyrically about the new era, romanticizing economics instead of examining them in the sober light of reason. “The planlessness that has marked the social development of our economic order contrasts incredibly with the meticulous planning of de- tails under the same system. This is a new age. It is complex, and social planning is imperative, not for details here and there, but for life as a whole. Men like Stuart Chase Continued on Seventh Page