the mud-sills of this book are hewn from the presupposition that the person who reads it has not only the essentially necessary equipment to do his own thinking, but also a more or less practiced habit of doing it. it is upon such foundation the superstructure of this volume was built. it is written in the hope of promoting, or provoking, thought on certain subjects, along certain lines—not to create or school thinkers. so, if the reader lacks the necessary cranial furnishing to do his own thinking, or, if having that, he has a cultivated habit of letting other people do his hard thinking and an ingrown desire to let them continue doing so, such reader may as well stop at this period. in fact, he would better do so. the man who has his thinking done by proxy is possibly as happy and comfortable on a siding as he would be anywhere—as he is capable of being. i have no desire to disturb his state or condition of static felicity. besides, such a man might “run wild” or otherwise interfere with the traffic if switched onto the main line.
emerson has somewheres said, “beware when god turns a thinker loose in the world.” of course emerson cautioned about constructive and fighting thinkers, not thinkers who think they know because somebody told them so, or who think they have thought till they know all about some unknowable thing—the ratio of the diameter to the circumference of the circle, how to construct two hills without a valley between, to build a bunghole bigger than the barrel, and the like.
there are thinkers and thinkers. emerson had the[6] distinction between them clearly in mind no doubt when he wrote that quoted warning. so, also, has the thinking reader. it is for him this volume is planned; to him its arguments and statements of fact are intended to appeal. its chapters have been hurriedly written—some of them written under conditions of physical distress. the attempts at humor may be attempts only; the irony may be misplaced or misapplied; the spade-is-a-spade style may be blunt, harsh or even coarse to the point of offensiveness. still, if its reading provokes or otherwise induces thought, the purpose of its writing, at least in some degree, will have been attained. it is not asked that the reader agree with the conclusions of the text. if he read the facts stated and thinks—thinks for himself—he will reach right conclusions. the facts are of easy comprehension. it requires no superior academic knowledge nor experience of years to understand them and their significance—their lesson.
just read and think. do not let any “official” noise nor breakfast-food rhetoric so syncopate and segregate your thought as to derail it from the main line of facts. lofty, persuasive eloquence is often but the attractive drapery of planned falsehood, and the beautifully rounded period is often but a “steer” for an ulterior motive—a “tout” for a marked-card game. do not be a “come-on” for any verbal psychic work or worker. just stubbornly persist in doing your own thinking, ever remembering that in this vale of tears, “plain hoss sense’ll pull you through when ther’s nothin’ else’ll do.”
as a thinker, you will now have lots of company, and they are still coming in droves. respectable company, too. mr. roosevelt suddenly arrived a few days since at columbus, ohio. then there is mr. carnegie and judge[7] gary. the senior mr. rockefeller, also, has announced, through a representative, that he is on the way. these latter, of course, have been thinkers for many years—thinkers on personal service lines chiefly, it has been numerously asserted. now, however, if press accounts are true, they have begun to think, a little at least, about the general welfare, about the common good—about the other fellow.
whether this change in mental effort and direction, if change it be, has followed upon a more careful study of conditions which have so long, so wastefully, or ruthlessly and viciously governed, or results from the fact that the advancing years have brought these gentlemen so near jericho that they see a gleam of the clearer light and occasionally hear the “rustle of a wing,” i do not know. nor need one know nor care. that they come to join the rapidly-growing company of thinkers is sufficient.
chicago, march 1, 1912.
