w trade in true human perspective; nor can we estimate the
degree of praise or blame we ought to confer upon it until we have
determined the worth of civilization itself. For trade is not only
bound up inextricably with the whole of our social order, but, as it
seems to me, manifests in a most acute form the universal character of
civilization in general. We must therefore discover the structural
principle which began to co-ordinate the lives of any group of human
beings when their tribe finally passed out of barbarism. Having
discovered this, we shall be able to judge whether by its
ever-advancing application to the life of men, and its ever-increasing
domination over their wills, it has furthered the cause of ideal
humanity or not. If we find that it has been essentially humane, we
shall have arrived at the conclusion that its offspring, trade, is
moral. If, however, we unearth in the very principle of historic
civilization something radically wrong, anti-human and inhuman, and if
we can discover another co-ordinating principle which is humane and
feasible, civilization will then be seen to be a thing to be
"superseded"--as Nietzsche thought man himself was--and trade, its
latest and lustiest issue, will be felt to be a usurper deserving to be
disinherited in favor of some true economic child of the "Holy Spirit
of Man."

II. IS CIVILIZATION JUST?

In order to open such lines of anthropological investigation and
ethical reflection, I have raised the question: "Is Civilization a
Disease?"

Had I asked, "Is Civilization Christian?" I should have defeated my own
end. You would have answered "No" as soon as you saw the subject of my
discourse announced, and would have stayed at home. But you might still
have given your ethical sanction to trade. You might have said, "It
does not pretend to be Christian; but that is nothing against it, for
the vital principle of Christianity is sentimental and impracticable:
and what won't work can't be right."

Had I raised the question in the form, "Could trade ever have emanated
from an intelligent motive of universal love--of deference for the
humanity in every man?" you would have replied, "Never!" But you might
have consoled yourself with the thought that it is only a small part of
our boasted civilization. We have art and education and family life and
monogamy and religion; and these come in as correctives, so that trade,
although not conceived of benevolence and not be