The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-08

boom enterprises and took chances on
the success of the boom. On the con-
trary the more conservative ones who
kept their investments on the side of
SAFETY were regarded as lacking in
| public spirit But when hard times
came the more reckless investors failed.
carrying many with them to financial
ruin, through the failure of their en-
terpriSeS; while the community lost ii
credit on account of their inability 10
pay their debts, beside having to sup
port the unfortunates whom their fail
ure brought to depend on public
charity. On the other hand the care
ful business man who refused to be
carried off his feet by boom excite
ment, who made safe investments and
kept out of doubtful enterprises, be-
came bulwark of strength to the
community in which he lived, because
he could help to sustain business credit
and integrity and to that extent avert
panic. These in the end proved of
real benefit to the community in which
they lived. while the sO-called public
spirited men did more injury by their
failure than good by their misdirected
public spirit.
What is true in finance is equally
so in character. The easy-going, good
natured, clever fellow who merges mis-
own individuality in his consideration
for others, and does merely what
others wish him to. contributes nothing
of value to the common good He de-
velopes no character or personality.
He gives nothing to the state because
he has nothing to give. His altruism
mas destroyed his selfhOod. Like King
Lear he has abdicated the power he
should have used for wise and noble
purposes.
0f
as an excuse for selfishness. Men say
that charity should begin at home.
when they mean that it shall end
there. They talk of duty to self when
duty is the last thing they think of.
But false application of an argu-
ment does not disprOve its worth. The
fact remains that the common good
is best conserved by the best develop
ment of individual life; and any form
or altruism which overlOOks this fact
oVerreacheS itself and works injury
instead of benefit.
MAY WEAKEN OTHERS.
Another danger of altruism is that
our very care and tenderness for
others may weaken them and dwarf
their own growth by taking away their
sense of Independent responsibility.
We are very fond in these DAYS OF
talking about brotherly love. BUT
brotherhood has its dangers. 1t often
happens that a generous elder brother
spoils more selfish younger brother
by the very tenderness of his love. He
loves to make his brothers path more
easy by bearing burdens for him. But
in doing this he takes away the strong
est incentive to manly effOrt-neces-
slty. And so the younger brother fails
to develop his own strength and grows
weak, dependent and unmanly. and
often at tho a111a eI,
grateful. Much of our modern altru-'
ism is of this elder brother sort. The
loss TO the world is twO-fOId. 1t loses
the time and energy of the elder
brother Which is spent in caring for
the younger; and it loses all that the
younger brother might do if stimulated
by necessity to the exercise OF manly
effort
Another mistake of altruism is in
assuming that care for others REQUIRES
the sacrifice of selfhOOd; that the two
are separate and even antagonistic.
when in fact the truest selfhood is in
perfect harmony with the best altru-
ism. What is required is not the sacri-
flee of self, but the largest development
of our nobler selves. Polonius strikes
the keynote of intelligent altruism
when he says to his son Laertes: ITO
thine own self be true and it must fol-
low, as the night the day, thou canst
not then be false to any man."
THE UNITY OF LIFE.
The progress of the race is gradually
leading us to recognize the unity of
life-the lesson of the larger self.
Through hardship and trial, through
panic and failure, through antagonism
and friction we are slowly coming to
understand that humanity are one.
that the good of each is the good of
all, and that the individual develop
ment of noble selfhOod will solve i'm
time the problems of the race. In the
final analysis of duty, care of others
is a part of care for self. 1t is a neces-
sity of being. The unicellular life di-
videS in order that other lives may
have a being. But this division is
equally necessary to its own life The
cell grows within until it must have
more absorbing surface in order to
sustain its life Division is it's only
resource. If it could not divide with
others it must die. It's care for others
grows of its own need and the two are
one. This is fitting type of the
growth of the human soul. In its COM
plete development love for self en-
braces love for all. Egoism and altru--
ism become one. The complex cells
of duty blend together in one common
voice. And her supreme command is
uttered in the simple summons: "To
thine own self be true"
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