The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1900-12-08
PREJUDICES, GOOD AND BAD.

All men and women are guided
by their prejudices. They could
not be safe without their guidance.
They could not even live in the
world of active life unless they
were at every point protected by
prejudices which warn them against
things that are dangerous or disa-.
.greeable, and invite them to those
that are useful and pleasant. The
majority of all these prejudices are,
protective. They are the labor
saving contrivances by which the
results of experience are compacted
into likes and dislikes, and handed
down from generation to genera
ton. Children note the gestures,
tones, and expressions of their eld-
ers and companions, and are quick
to interpret the signals of safety
or of danger. Long before they
think for themselves, they have
been provided with a set Of preju-
dices which warn them not to eat
certain kinds of food, not to trust
all animals and vagrant men, not to
depart far on either side from the
ways of their parents and house
hold companions.
But there comes time when, by
common consent, reason should
take the place of prejudice. After
wisely avoiding things that might
be injurious, but which there was
not time to examine, it is we'll to
test the prejudices that have been
handed down from father to son
and from mother to daughter, and
especially those stronger impress
slons made by the father upon his
daughters and the mother upon
her sons. 1t is the mark of educa-
ton and a sign of culture to revise
ones prejudices, to strengthen
those that are rational, and lay
aside those that have lost their
meaning and are no longer useful.
But, if one puts away too many
prejudices or does it too quickly,
he may find himself defenseless in a
dangerous world. Like the stag
when its horns are in the velvet, he
will be unfit for the rude contests of
life. Like the crab who has put off
his shell, he must hide himself in a
corner until his armor grows again.
They who have no prejudices COM
monty have no country, no home,
and no religion. No one can guide
his own steps at every moment.
When any one has revised his old
prejudices and discarded the habits
that enforced them, he must put his
new conclusions into a new set ot
preiudices, he must begin to make
| a new set of habits, and trust him
= self once more to his impulses.
Of all contests, prejudices are al
most necessarily part. Even in {
war that seems to be just and nee
, essary, wise men know that or
f both sides are men of good princi
r pies and good character. If they
| think the war is necessary anc
= just, they know that, for the SAKE
of some righteous end to be attain
7 ed, even those who represent the
E good cause must, for the most part
7 fight under a de1usion concernin!
, the nature of their opponents. Th'
t multitude who are to do the fight
i ing must believe that over agains
: them are enemies whose thought
: are evil, whose purposes are unjust
whose punishment is deserved. T
: strike swiftly and to strike hard re
: quires not only courage, but a be
: lief that the enemy deserves to b
: overthroWn. -.
d In theological controversies, a
o in political strife, the same rul
Il holds. Progress toward the know
3 edge of the truth and the practic