Arizona republican., 1899-11-30
UNCCEsIDERED GOOD
Thanksgiving Sermon, By Rev. Henry
 Irving Cushman, D.D.


 ! tained let us mind the same | thing. ng.''-Philippians iii: Is.
 It is fit that we should consider at this glad season all special reasons for thanksgiving to God as set forth in the proclamations of the president and of the governors of the several states. Such reasons for thankfulness on the part of the people of our favored land cannot be too strongly emphasized. i They are great and abundant, and we do praise God for them all.
 But today I am anxious to have our thought strike a little deeper into the reality of Gods constant and loving presence in all spheres of life, so that the thankful spirit of Thanksgiving day may become the abiding spirit throughout all our life.
 Let us turn our thought, then, for little while toward the unconsiderei good of life.
 The evils of life are so demonstrative and so constantly before us that they are likely to occupy too lareg a place in our thought-leading to pessimism; while life's difficult problems and our eagerness to make progress along all lines leave us little opportunity to | think of the good things to which we have attained | Truly the evils are great, there is need of progress, and we can never re- i lax our efforts toward the bettering of i human life. But it will be for our en- ! couragement to this very end to hold 1 these in a subordinate place for a time and dwell upon the too often unconsid- 1 cred good to which as a favored peo- pie We have attained.
 | l can give, in this limited space, only 1 suggestions upon so large a subject hints which your own thought will readily follow into the ample realms of reality.
 First of all. think for a moment of the good to which we have attained in public, political life It is the fashion to imply that only selfish motives dom- mate our public servants in city and state and nation. So sweeping an in- situation is false. There was never a time when. so generally, the public service of the country was in the hands of better and more large hearted men than it is today. Even the exceptions, by their very conspicuousness help to prove the rule.
 lIlnCOID and such men as types of what is best in our public service. If such are more honored in America than ever before and I think they are-it must be be- cause in our public life we have come nearer than ever to the realization of such types. That men honor the prin- ciples conspicuous in Washington is evidence that they are seeking to live 1axre- T, good according as We are like it l think I am not claiming too much in saying that those who are performing their duties faithfully and with an eye to the public welfare are very largely in the majority in our whole land to- day.
 ! And the personal character of oul public servants is not worse, but bet ter. as the nation grows. Recall the nature of our last presidential cam paign, in which, notwithstanding the sharp differences in thought upon po- litical issues, nothing could be said against the clean lives of the candi- dates. believe the character and pur- pose of the majority of our more con- spicuous public men today approxi- mate the best types to which I have al- luded.
 Turn your thought in the direction ol business life-in the conduct of busi- ness affairs and in the uses which we make of the goods of this life.
 It is sometimes said that business is conducted solely on the principle Ot every man for himself But this. too is very far from the truth. Of course there Is selfishness enough in the busi- hut i- a1S fiCf ness and a larger consideration of oth- CTS welfare than ever before in mans daily dealings with man. I am thor. oughly convinced that the business ot the world was never conducted or higher ethical planes than at present There are hundreds of business mer in our city, and the same could be said of every community in America, who are not living wholly self-centeret lives, who consider the prosperity ot others as involving their own, and who are conducting their affairs as In thI light of these nObler ideals.
 l Let any one of these worthy bushes: men fall from the ranks and his deatf will call forth from all who knew hin a tribute to his usefulness and worth And in the very act of paying tha tribute these people all show their owr appreciation of such business trait: and their disposition to practice sucf principles.
 There are still barriers between en ployers and employees. But there art many employers in our midst, in mill: and factories and great. enterprises : who conduct their affairs with thu thought of the welfare of employees il 5 mind as well as their own. No doub
 there are hardships and evils inciden to the formation and operation of thu
 great trusts. No doubt they need to bt
 watched. But have you thought tha 2 these trusts may be but symptoms O that evolution which is surely going ol in the commercial world, and whicl ? shall finally issue in the triumph of tn principle of cooperation over the prin
 ciple of competition in business life?
 And then the rich-thCse who hay
 some accumulation Of this world
 gooGs-they are rot all misers, not al |, totally eelhsIl and mean. On the cor [ h. lar hi