Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-09-03


joys. He is not to be excused If he does
not render full measure of service to the
state and to the community at large. To
do duty; that is the summing up OF
the whole matter We must do our duty
by ourselves and We must do our duty by
our neghbors.
We must all learn the two lessons; the
lesson of self-help and the lesson of giving
help to and receiving help from our
brother There is not man OF US who
does not sometimes slip who does not
sometimes need a helping hand; and woe
to him who. when the chance comes, fails
to stretch out that helping hand. Yet,
though each man can and ought thus to be
helped at times he Is lost beyond redemp-
ton if he becomes so dependent upon out
side help that he feels that his own ex-
will stumble, and it is then our duty to
lift him UP and set him on his feet again;
but no man can be permanently carried
for If he expects to be carried he shows
that he Is not worth carrying.
Industrial Problems to he Solved.
Before us loom industrial problems vast
in their importance and their complexity.
The last half century has been one Of ex-
traordinary social and industrial develop
ment The changes have been far-reaching,
some of them for good and some of them
for evil. 1t is not given to the wisest Of us
to see into the future with absolute clear
ness. No man can be certain that he has
found the entire solution of this infinite y
great and intricate problem and yet each
man of u.s. If he would do his duty, must
strive manfuly SO far as in him lies to help
bring about that solution. 1t is not as yet
possible to say what shall be the exact limit
of influence allowed the state or what limit
shall be set to that right of individual In
itiative so dear to the hearts of the Amer-
can people. All we can say Is that the need
has been shown on the one hand for &C
ton by the people in their collective ca
oit ,,trh fha Sfntn in fQrS
that in other matters much can be done by
associations of different groups Of tndi-
viduals, in trade unions and similar or
CARNATIONS, and that In other matters 1t
remains now as true as ever that final sue
cess will be for the man who trusts in the
struggle only to his cool hand his brave
heart and his strong right arm. There are
spheres in which the state can properly act
and spheres in which a comparatively free
field must be given to individual initiative.
The one fact which all Of US need to
keep steadily before our eyes Is the need
that performance should square with prom
the Industrial or In the political world.
Nothing does more to prompt mental dis
honesty and moral insincerity than the
habit either Of promising the impossible or
possible or Of finally failing to keep a
promise that has been made; and 1t makes
not the slightest difference whether 1T Is a
promise made on the stump or off the
stump fteHeElUeT tHdt tueTe are Two SUES
to the wrong thus committed. There is first
the wrong Of failing to keep promise
made, and, in the next pace. there Is the
wrong of demanding the impossible, and
therefore forcing or permitting weak or
INSCRIPTIONS men to make a promise which
they either know or should know cannot be
kept No small part Of our troubles In deal
ing with many Of the greatest social ques-
tons, much as the so-called labor question,
the trust question and others like them.
arise from these two attitudes. We can do
a great deal when we undertake soberly to
do the possible. When We undertake the
impossible we 100 often fail to do anything
at all. The success Of the law for the tax
alton Of franchises recently enacted In New
York state, a measure which has result ed
in putting upon the assessment books nearly
two hundred million dollars worth of prop
erty which had heretofore escaped taxa
ton, is an illustration of how much can be
accomplished when effort is made along
sane and sober lines with care not to prom
Use the impossible, but to make perform
ance square with promise, and with insist
ence on the fact that honesty is never one
sided and that in dealing with corporations
1t is necessary both to do to them and to
The success of this effort made in a resolute
but also a temperate and reasonable spirit
shows what can be done when such a
problem Is approached in sound and
healthy manner. 1t offers a striking con-
trast to the complete breakdown Of the
species Of crude and violent antitrust legis-
lation which has been 30 often attempted
and which has always failed because Of its
very crudeness and violence to make any
impression upon the real and dangerous
evils which have excited just popular re-