Disquisition by Scripps, E.W., The when, where, and why of the break down, March 30, 1914

              10 greater mistake nas ever Deen made, and no greater
. mistake was ever more universally mad.e oy puolic leaders 11 than,~ oe­lievi~
tnat not only tne chief out the important proolem in society is
. . ." . . . ,~~<.\ h'\ tne eoonomio one. Men are not hedonIsts. The theory of ~.", is
,that the one great desire. of. man is to seek pleasure and avoid paIn.
There are many things that men des ire without regard to
I physical or mental suffering. It is only on the oondltlon that pain
I does not interfere with pleasure that it can De assumed that pleasure
is the aim and oDject ot most mens exforts.
~t the most important proDlem amongst civilized people
is 'the economic proolem -- tne creation ano <1istrioutlon 01 commodities
and the power by means ot wealth to purchase those things, the possessIon
of whiCh is envied oy the non-possessor. ~ecause it is easy to prove
that the possession of wealth is not only seldom accompanIed 'Oy pleasure 9
Out mos"t genera.Lly accompanied oy feelings quite the reverse, it is not
essen t ial to this thesis to nere dwell upon this su'Oject Iurtner. Uivilized
man" so-oalled, has stumbled out or "he pitch aarkness ot prImitIVe
savageness or oeastliness into the daz~ling light 01 an as yeL unco-ordi-
,nated intelligence ..
'llhe economIC queS'LIon nas Deen amongst Lne Iirst to con-front
.him anet oecause ot lack OI yet to De ootained perspective, this
ques-r; ion looms large and all oui of proportion to innumeraole other
I.questions also present, all or which are solvaole and are to De solved. ..
w.
t, .tiecause man soon enough round ou'\; that ind.iviaual eriort
was far less product i ve than co-operat i ve collective e1Iort, soore ty \va,s
/ organized crudely and olunderingly as a matter 01 COUEee ..
Political and economic government were rirst one thing.
:. the war chief in time developed Into a kIng anet an emperor, ann ruled -
Ohio University Libraries, E.W. Scripps Papers, MSS 117, Series 4, http://bit.ly/scripps_mss117