Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-09-04
HOPE AND TRUTH.
BAD EFFECTS THAT FOLLOW THE
STIMULATING INFLUENCE OF HOPE.
The Tree of Evil Must Be Totally De-
stvOyed. Root and Branch Jose
Grss Doesn't Believe In the One
Step at a Time Philosophy.
Especial Correspondence.l

Especial Correspondence
1t IS unQuestionable that men are
/ creatures of habit. hence the vital
| Importance of our constant endeavor
| to form good habits and adhere to
| them: hence the need of good habits
| in all our thoughts and reasoning pow
er for the purpose of grasping all
| truth in whatever direction it may lie.
Truth must always be the guiding star
| of the mind. Nothing can make up for
| the absence of that star or its pre-
eminence in the realm of mind. Take.
| for instance, the stimulating influence
| of hope. good enough in many respects.
but what of it? Men have always been
hopeful. PesSimism has never been an
attribute of humanity. 1t is through
hope that all despotisms have thrived.
There was never any group of rascals
or monopolists who was not hopeful.
The vile elements of the human family
have always done their best to diffuse
hope among their victims, the working
masses of nations.
Take now that theory of progress,
one step at n time. and small one at
that, less destruction issues if we i'm
prove too fast. All despots have pat
ronized that theory. 1t is under such
now for 5000 years been trimming
the tree of evil, cutting off the lower
branches more easily reached. Natur-
ally enough. tie tree has been growing
higher up, it's beauty increasing in all
it's outward ramificatiOns and ensem-
BILE, but more fatal in the moral order
because more powerful. on account Of
our constant trimming processes, by
which the tree has been rising toward
the light and spreading in all direc
tons, hiding the skies of truth.
That tree of evil must be cut down
close to the ground, and even the roots
underneath ought to be burned and
destroyed, so that we may then plant
the tree of good where the tree of evil
grew, in the midst of our social COM
pacts. Is not that logic or common
sense? Can we expect any substantial
or permanent improvements without
that "modus operandi?" Have we not
been fooled long enough by the one
step at a time. and small one, phi
losophy. Because, don't you see what
happens with that cOwardly slow
march through the wilderness of sin?
If the one step brings some improve
ment, we are so glad with it, so hope
full, that we forget all about the next
step, and before we know it back we
are, worse than ever. by the forces of
evil that never rest as long as left
alive, because life means growth.
There was never a historical period
which did not brag about its being bet
ter than its predecessors and could not
mention the suppression of such and
such precious evils, while remaining
silent about the new evils that had
sprung up in the place of the sup
pressed ones. Because, again, this is
the law of life in the physical and
moral order. In the former, the order
OF nature, something grows up out of
what nature demolishes for the pur-
pose of its keeping forever fresh and
beautiful. But evil is not q natural
product. Evil grows because men want
it to grow, because they prefer to
evolve the worst part of their nature
and not the best. Hence evil is bound
to grow as long as men allow it to live
at the roots, under ground. and so at
the foundations of their national ex-
istence. inviting the few to rob the
many through laws of injustice,
through monopoly in production and
commerce, through social dishonesty,
through wage slavery. through indus
trial despotisms and political corrup-
ton.
If the influential classes in nations,
about 3 per cent. had had sound con-
science and sound intelligence,
neither of which they have ever pos |
sessed. outside, possibly, of a few indi |
viduals among them. then the one step
at a time would have been all right, |
and only a few steps would have long
ago carried us, or do it today, into |
that promised kingdom of heaven. of |
which 10 centuries ago |
was all ready Eat hand,'' in Christ's |
parlance. without the need of that long |
well nigh interminable evolution for /
ever demanded by the foolish wisdom /
Of men. be they theologians, perpleXed |
or patchwork reformers, |
sees.
In default Of those influential men of |
ours. more deeply and beastly sunk /
into materialism today than ever be-
fore. we have to depend on those 20 |
or 80 per cent of our plain people |
above the rest because under less of
that intense poverty which seems to
destroy all sound brain initiative. II
only that fraction of our working |
masses made up their minds to think
along fundamental lines. in search of
truth on political and economic sub
jects. to think all the year around and
not forget thinking when voting days
come, then our redemption would not
be very far off. Why? Because that
20 or 30 per cent of voters. between
three and four millions today. would
soon carry sufficient OF the unthinking |
classes below. TO accomplish all that
was necessary and right for every
body. even for plutocrats themselves.