Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-03-26

! ed. In measure 1 Reproduced my
self. for It seemed to me that | ought
! TO have known; | ought in sense to
have scented It, l have earnestly
longcd for such society but like a
civic Micawber | have simply waited
I for something to turn up. or is 1t
that your light has been under a bush
cl? l certainly have never seen
| flicker of 1t until this evening. / have
] been in the work for three years
chiefly as an observant studcnt-read-
ing, thinking and feeling that civic
culture is u commanding dcsideratum
of our day.
1t has been said that the twentieth
century will be a sociological age.
sincerely trust that 1t may-and more
especially 50 II the science Of sociology
be illunined by the Christly ideal,
Personally have little faith in
knowledge apart from wisdom. To
know the evils that threaten modern
life brings little power to cope with
them We have got to have motor
force In some way. knowledge alone
seems no more than moonlight-wc
may see by it, but 1t has no general
Ing powcr-it does not move the deeps
of being, nor quicken the soul to ac-
tvity.
But let there be fusion Of knowl-
edge with whole soul faith in higher
! and divine things. then activity is
started. forward movement begins;
| the good Is reached after the old and
/ the bad are left behind and new life
| opens. This is so on the physical
| plane, on the moral plane and 1t is so
on the spiritual plane. And It is not
I less the case on the plane of our as
l ISOLATED life as citizens In this field
l as IN others, one of the first requisites
IS the Incentive power of good ideal,
| a standard Of excellence. a great end
10 work towards. a goal to be reached
For this reason we have called our
subject for this evening. THE Suprem-
! acy or civic Culture" ~ ideal state
| IKE star In the heavens has shone
| brilliantly before the vision of the
| greatest minds of the race. II was so
70 the mind of the great Hebrew legis-
| lator' whose whole soul was filed with
| a most transcendant conception of n
| ulVlne lheocracy. 1t was so to the
| mind Of the lOftiest of Grecian think
! efS' who constructed the classic Re
| pubic II was so in differing degrees
/ OF Ilght, TO Sir Thomas Moore and Lord
! bacon, and after another order IT was
! SO To our modern Bellamy. But above
an IT was 50 most divinely. universal
| ~ ana perfectly to the Christ mind
A 1i through the Christ mind to St
John and to st. Augustine in their
vision OF the city OF God.
| ihut such visions are possible to
man ana that they have reformula-
ions In the cycling periods OF human
history, Is no faint evidence of future
But our world is still a very mosaic
workaday world, very. very material
IN It's base. structure and Interplay Of
natural influences; Its subjective IDEAL
lstl seldom grows or rises to objective
realty White Chapel slums make n
qark nacksround to the west end of
London, much as the east is To the
west end OF Fifth avenue of New York
The pauper and the prince are extremes
all too Indicative Of the dislocatIon OF
modern society.
The difficulties of these antitheses
coiiroht US far more painfully In the
| city lie than In the country life: and
| possibly we may find most helpful
| Inference from the contrast The one
Is better than the other largely for the
reason of the difference in respect to
llght. air, space and freedom: Dark
ness, congested conditions. foul air and
| the TYRANNY OF crowded vice make II
impossible for slum populations to get
| out of or above the vitiating forces of
their daily life. r.f
Swedenborg's doctrine of correspond
ences has basis Of truth that cannot
| wei be gatnsaid Bad physical environ
! ments give both shape and color to the
| character of those who dwell therein
| This same doctrine Is equally inter-
| pretatlve Of the phenomena Of our
! civic life. The ignorances. indiffer-
enees, the corruptions and the incom-
petences of metropolitan life are neither
| more nor less than the concrete forms
| Of spiritual deformties; they are the
bad effect of bad causes
on the assumption that such reason
| ing is sound. we may take 1t for grant
| ed that our efforts In the work of civic
culture will only he successful to the
| extent of our conformity to the princi-
pies OF what for our present purpose
we will call the science of life.
| a sober estimate Of modern science
should make us grateful for its min
| istry. for science properly SO called is
| increasingly opening the way for the
! effective treatment Of many, If not OF
| all, the abnormal conditions Of our
| public life.
| For the convenience of treatment We
| may confine our attention this evening
| to the ethics of civic culture, the cdu-
cational requirements uf civic culture
and to the patriotic Inspiration of civic
| culture.
| THE ETHICS OF CIVIC CULTURE.
| For our present purpose we may leave
| out the speculative theorists in regard
| to the origin, the nature and the au-
| thority of ethics. our aim. as the aim
| of your League Is or should be above
all things practical. We have to deal
| with objective realities. rather than
with abstract ideas We are members.
| units of community The associated
| life Of our community is our first and
| supreme consideration Under what
! conditions are we living as a people,
| right here in this metropolitan center
of this intermountniu region?
What metropolitan character are we
| building up for ourselves? What are
! the dominant forces of our city life?
| What manner Of persons are we as
parents. guardians, teachers, ministers
| and merchants? What Is the silent
! trend and formative force Of our pri-
vate and public life IN relation TO the
! chid-lifc and youth-life OF this city?
! These all are questions that reach
deeply the moral principles of our citI-
zenship; If we are wrong here We are
wrong everywhere, Nothing on earth
can he n substitute for the eternal
verities. 1t is Righteousness that ex-
alteth nation" and moral PRINCIPLES
alone can give strength and glory to a
city.
In our efforts for civic culture we
must indeed emphas2" moral training.
and we must do # alike In the home.
in school and in tho forum. Let us
clearly distinguish m" difference he