San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-10-20

humanity. Once this idea obtains
and governs men grow less war
like, less inclined to shed blood,
less inclined to see blood shed, less
Inclined to inflict cruelty or see it
inflicted. That this is coming into
fashion in some sense this contro-
versy over the tt-Fitzsim-
mans fight attests, Making all due
allowance for the political under
current influencing this thing, there
is at bottom a strong protest from
the humanitarian side of society,
and this is stronger than ever be-
fore.
The attempt to settle interna-
tional differences by arbitration In
stead Of by brute force and whole
sale destruction Of the enemy, is an
other sign of the times. The organ.
ization of humanitarian and benev-
olent institutions of every kind,
hospitals, asylums, homes for
the INDECENT, refugees for the
unfortunate, all point to a new
idea of the manhood of humanity.
1t is upon the fact of these growing
institutions and the tendency OF
the state and the civil societies to
found them that the hope Of bet.
ter things in the future rests. The
very fact that these benevolences
are being supported by the state
at the general expense and that no
lines Of belief or non.belief are per.
mitted to be drawn within them,
as to the objects Of care, is the
latest phase of this work that en-
courages the efforts of the philan-
thropists all over the western
world. 1t is to be noted that these
institutions are marks Of the west
ern and not of the eastern idea and
civilization.
THE spirit Of softer consider
alton, OF a more tender and sooth-
ing ministry, Of more indolent
and reflective mind is the eastern
characteristic, but in the adoption
of the softer idea to the needs OF
the great humanity the practical
methods and the greater energy
of the western civilization is
called into exercise. The church
has always looked out in a
sense for its own. 1t has sent
Its mendicant orders over the face
of the earth asking aims for hu.
manity in the name of the meek
and lowly, but it has been careful
to confine its operations to those Of
its own household OF faith. There
has been no self help in this work
and its measures OF relief have
been spasmodic. The hope Of an
enlarged humanity, as based upon
this restriction of the idea, has not
produced any such result as to
justify the philanthropy Of the age
in accepting it as the road out OF
the darkness.
That new idea is now moving
upon the face of the modern civil.
cation is apparent. This is in great
measure the result of that broader
idea of humanity, which concludes
h at he is to be cared for on earth
as we'll as to be saved from hell.
SO long as the eccleslastic idea, sal.
walton from future hell was the
objective point of humanitarian
aid, the result stopped short Of any
radical amelioration of the race,
but once it was accepted that the
hell on earth was first to haveYts
fires quenched, the effort took an
other and more practical turn. AS
this idea grew, the idea OF govern
ment responsibility for the condi.
ton of the governed came into
play. Government for the good OF
the governed was new thing, but
once understood, it lifted the face
Of night and opened the gates OF
day.
Not until the idea is bedded in
religious consciousness as we'll as
civil, that man is worth more to
himself than he can possibly be to
any thing outside him, and that it
is his right to have all the privi-
leges and opportunities to make