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

Rev. Adelbert L. Hudson spoke at
Unity hall yesterday morning upon
Some Dangers of Altruism." He said
that 'altruism" is another of those new
words brought into use by the social
writers of this century, having been
coined by the French philosopher,
Comte, about so years ago. 1t empha-
sizes care for others as opposed to ego
ism, which emphasizes care for self.
The fact itself is of course as old as
life. The struggle for life, as Professor
Drummond shows, has developed side
by side with the struggle for the life
of others. The lowest form of unicellu-
lar life divides itself so as to give OPP
portunity for other lives. The growing
tree maintains root and leaves AMI
branches, from which its own life is
fed. AT the same time it carefully pre-
serves the little seeds which may give
life to other trees. Altruism is just as
much law of nature as self-preserva-
ton is. Among the animal kingdom, if
we look from one standpoint, life ap-
pears great battlefield where each
individual is struggling for existence
at the expense of others. But look from
another standpoint and we see that it
is q nursery where many are striving
to protect the lives of others. In man
this law of altruism becomes most COM
pick, and is extended in proportion to
the advance of civilization and en-
lightenment.
Never before has care for others
occupied so prominent a place in public
thought as today Altruism has be-
come a watchword of our time. There
is even danger that it may degenerate
into fad. few days ago one of the
most prominent writers of America
CDR. Hale) expressed a doubt as to the
value of mutual Improvement clubs,
and suggested that it would be better
to turn them into charitable organiza-
lions. The general tendency of all this
is wholesome, but it has it's own dan
gers, to which attention should be
called by those who stand in any sense
as public teachers. The task is not al
together a gracious one 1t is much
easier and more pleasant to talk about
charity, self sacrifice and brOtherly
love, and feel virtuOus and self-com-
placent about it, than it is to assume
a critical attitude and point out dan
gers. But the pulpit is so much more
given TO stimulating than to checking
enthusiasm, that it may be we'll for
once to turn the X-rays of criticism
upon the method and motive of our
boosted altruism.
MAY OVERSHADOW SELFHOOD.
One of the dangers of altruism is that
it is apt to overshadow and conceal
the real worth of selfhood. 1t was
wise caution which George Elliot put
into the mouth of Daniel Deronda's
Shrewd old uncle: It's all right
Dan'l, to be charitable, but don't melt
yourself down for the benefit of the
candle trade" There are occasions
when men ought to die, when self
should be forgotten or nobly sacrificed.
The martyrs who have given life for
the French dragons who
filled the sunken road at Waterloo, the
dead upon a thousand bat
tie fields. are heroic types of the great
truth announced by Emerson: '"Tis
mans Derdition to be safe, when for
the truth he ought TO die
But the world needs that men should
live more often than they should die,
and it needs that they should live at
their best. A man who wastes or
destroys his own power decreases by so
much the worlds available capital
This is the mistake of the ascetic, who
turns his back upon the world and
shuts himself I'D in a monastery for
the sake of his religion, when the fact
is that religion requires the active
service of men and women living in the
world In contact with its varied ac-
tivities- It is equally the mistake of
the altruist who needlessly scatters
the elements of power. The strength
Of a community or nation depends upon
the strength of it's honest, intelligent,
citizens. And the first
duty of each individual citizen under
ordinary circumstances is to put him
self within this class. This is not SIM
ply a matter of representation. It is
equally a duty to the state
We are apt to get a false notion of
what constitutes public spirit. During
the boom period those men were calle1
public spirited who invested freely in