The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1878-12-12

| "a friend of mine, missionary in one
Of our largest cities. last winter preached
in large hall on Sunday evenings, and
spent some hours each Saturday night il
| the streets and alleys of that. vicinity
To all who asked for money to procure
something to eat or place to sleep he
gave food (when they would take it
many would accept nothing but money!
and secured for them q comfortable lodg
ing. Then, giving each applicant card
with time and place of services for the
next evening, he invited him to attend
the meeting, and promised him supper
and lodging for Sunday night also. More
than a hundred men were thus kindly
| treated, but not one of them ever came
| to the Sunday evening meeting. My
| friend said that of the whole number
there was but one who seemed to be real
ly hungry.
"But there are more types than one
| and we must not estimate the situation
by one such report alone. During the
last few years | have myself seen the
wives and children of workingmen in
| country towns die of inanition, after hav
ing long subsisted on little Indian
meal. Discovery came too late. These
people met their fate silently. They
were known to be poor and out of work
and they would not beg Many persons
have died in some regions of our country
during the last three years, from disease
induced by insufficient nourishment, and
many invalids among the poor have sue
cumbed to the effects of scant and un
suitable food. A young girl, whose wa.
ges as servant had procured bare sub
sistence for her mother and three small
children, lost her place recently by the
death of her mistress. Unable to find
employment and distracted by the hun
ger of the children, she applied to a
friend of mine for advice Said she,
Mrs. -, what is the right way for peo-
pie to live when they can get nothing to
eat?' On behalf of her inarticutate class
1 repeat her question. AS teachers of
the poor we should be prepared to offer
them philosophy of life suited to their
circumstances. We say truly that some
of their theories are wild, and their aims
fatal to their own interests. But we
must give voice to the plea which they
ought to make, and ourselves champion
the aims which would be wise and right
for them. Again the question, What are
they? If we should have for several
years succession of abundant crops, the
pressure and urgency of some of our
dangers would be lessened. If, on the
other hand, we have unfavorable seasons
and continued industrial depression,
these difficulties would be aggravated
1t is not wise to depend for safety upon
chances which are in no degree under
our control.
II am aware that my arraignment of
the inadequacy of the means now being
used requires some suggestion of more
vigorous methods Of action for our ma
tional regeneration, or for decided in
crease of healthful activities in the in
tellectual and moral life of our country.
A society with plan or method of work
resembling that of the New England
Loyal Publication Society, which did so
much to reinforce the national sentiment
during our civil war, could now render
quite az efficient service. Few people,
except newspaper men, know to what
extent most newspapers out of the cities
are made up, or supplied with matter, by
the mere accident of proximity, or readi-
ness to the editors scissors, of articles of
suitable length, already printed so that
they can be rapidly glanced over and
conveniently transferred to his paper, I
would have a society or arrangement of
some kind for printing and sending to
the country newspapers everywhere
series of broadsides or sheets filled with
short articles, plainly written, direct and
spirited in style, without eloquence or
bookishness. and with few figures of
speech; setting forth and repeating in
every-varying forms the few great sim Pile
truths and facts which explain our pres
eht national condition, especially in con-
nection with such subjects as debt, paper
money, resumption of specie payments,
and the relation of individual habits and
expenditures to national welfare.
1--WE need also the publication of
small, low wpriced newspaper, for circula-
ton in all parts of the country; to be
printed in the best style, giving a good
digest of the most'important news to be
dedicated to the propagation and definite
teaching of strict honesty, wise economy,
fraternal selfdenial and religious devo-
ton to our country, and the interests of
a nobler civilization than we have yet at
tanned; paper for the people, which
shall have for its aim the development of
a national spirit and temper, of prac-
tical, capable, and wholesome nature,
leading men away from empty theories
of millennial progress and attainments
to manly selfreliance and intelligent
recognition of the real conditions of hu-
man life in this world; paper, in short,
which shall represent and propagate
principles, sentiments, and activities in
accord with the central ideas of this
article.
"We need some small books on subjects
connected with political economy, which
shall teach what is known, however little
that may prove to be, and not merely
perplex the brains of workingmen by
schools. We need a great deal of ele-
mentary teaching, and should have books
written for plain people, by authors who
can drive straight at the mark and stop
when they have done.
THE persuasive power of public speak
ing, lecturing, and preaching is of course
indispensable. 1t should be employed in
the education of the people as fast as
these principles can be found to speak
clearly and usefully. People everywhere
who perceive these needs should meet,
confer with each other, and begin to
work
THE central or fundamental philosoph-
ical truth which underlies the mental and
moral culture which the age requires is
the truth of the moral order of the uni
verse. Human life belongs to an actual
order,-a cosmos, not a chaos and this
order is q moral order, and tends to and
prefers truth, justice, and righteousness.
The opposite error, which has misled a
large portion of American society, is the
opinion that the moral order to which
mans life belongs is subjective only +;
that nothing is true or right in itself, but
only as it seems 80 to US; that there is
no real standard of human conduct, only
conventional one; and that if men
would generally agree to it the relations
and nature of right and wrong might be
reversed. This is what is really fatal in
unbelief in our time-not the rejection
of the creed of my church or yours, but