The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-08-27
4 Glance at the Situation

In these days of turmoil and din,
it is pleasing to turn aside occasion
ally and quietly note what is doing
outside the field Of political strife.
Anyone to read the papers of today
might suppose that from one end of
the land to the other nothing is doing
or is talked about except the struggle
for supremacy by the contending
parties; I do not wish to intimate
that deem the issues of the present
campaign to be of little moment; on
the contrary they are all important;
and it is the duty of every good. citi-
zen to inform himself on the questions
involved, calmly weigh them, and
then vote as his judgment and con-
science dictate. But all over
our broad land there are agencies
quietly at work which are doing
much to shape the future of this
great nation, and yet they work so
quietly that the outside world knows
but little of what is being done. l
was led to these thoughts by reading,
recently, an interesting sketch of the
city of Philadelphia, telling what
some good, public-spirited men have
been doing and are doing in that
historic city. Speaking of what has
been done for the moral publication
of the city, the writer tells us that
some years ago when the population
of the city was 100000 there were in
the city, under low license, 5,763
liquor saloons, and more illicit dram
shops than now. Today the popula-
tion numbers 1880, 600, and there are
but 1870 saloons, while revenue of
$1,67OO0O is added to the city's re-
sources. The success of high license,
the writer tells US, is due in great part
to the Law and Order Society, whose
small expenditure each year main
tains a vigorous detective watch on
licenses. Open licensed liquor sa-
looms which at one time we're l to
every "a families, are now l to l47
families.
But these good people do not con-
fine their efforts to roofing out what
is bad, they try tosupply its place
with something that is good and up
lifting. One church in the city sup
ports free hospital and also free
school, and at this school some 500
attended the day classes, and about
1900 the evening classes. There are
tranch schools all over the city, and
what with it's lecture courses, its
concerts, it's gymnastics and other or
ganizations, tits doing much not only
for the moral but also for the social
and Intellectual life of the people. A
cut is given showing a block OF
houses as neat in appearance as one
could wish to see, and we are told
that these are working mems houses,
and that there are 10000 of such in
the city. There are many valuable pup
lie libraries; there are free institutionss
of learning, richly endowed, where
young people are trained for honor
able and useful lives. There are
likenesses of some of the more pro-
minent men who are taking an active
part in these labors for the public
good, and among them is that OF
John Wannamaker, ex-Postmaster
General. 1t is pleasing to think that
very many of those who fill or have
filled some of the most responsible
places of trust under our government,
are men not only of spotless character
but men who are willing to give OF
their time and their money in further
ing enterprises designed for the pub
lie good.
And what is being done in Phila-
delphia, is being done in scores OF
other American cities from the At
lantic to the Pacific. Good men are
at work everywhere, in the city, in
the hamlet, on the broad prairie and
in the deep woods, doing what they
may to open the way to improved
conditions in communities in which
they live. And they are not spend
ing their strength for naught. Each
succeeding generation marks some
advance on it's predecessors and with
all our faultfnding it is easy to se'
Eflt