The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-02-25
SOCIETY NOT HEALTHFUL
BEC1USE TOO LARGELY GIYEN
 OYER TO WOMEN.
According to Dr. Dana, of Illinois, Ut Center Church Yesterday-Snys the Men Especially Ignore Society Oblfga- tions-Preached on DemOralizing In- fuence of Low Ideals.
fiuence of Low Ideals.

Rev. Dr. Dana, of Quincy, H., preached an able sermon yesterday morning in pr. | Smyths pulpit at Center church. Dr. Dana took for his text Luke XIV, part of the 1 eighteenth verse: And they all with one | consent began to make excuse"
 From this part of the scripture, which re-
 lates to the parable by Christ of q certain
 man who made a great supper and bade many, and the invited guests prayed to De
 excused, Dr. Dana said that many lessons might be drawn. But" said he, "l Wlsn | this morning to turn your attention to the 1 fact that every mans excuse was plausl-
 ble. One had bought d piece of ground; an other five yoke Of oxen, and had to go 10 | prove them, and another had married l wife.
 l "On it's face each one of these excuses was | reasonable, and the weakness Of the excuses 1 were only by comparison. Those who re | fused to come ill at the feast missed thelr l higher opportunities for the sake of the | lower; their ideals were low comparatively. | My theme, therefore, is the demoralizing in | fuence of low ideals. ''ln society the men especially Ignore thelf obligations, being too much absorbed In bus l mess. The elements which they might sup 1 ply to strengthen and build up the social | life are lacking, because they choose rather | to bind themselves down wholly to their | business occupations. When sought at {, all | by men social life is sought for triviality | and without serious helpful purpose. Society. life to-day tends to become emas- laa Is largely given oyer to women It IS not Ill q healthful condition. Women are not i'll q
 heathful condition and men are not. We
 all have social responsibility and they are as obligatory as our financial emoluments.
 Then again, we are too easily satisfied If we do as others do We satisfy ourselves with the excuse Others do it., and for that reason there is little of the restraining in of little gOciDl pendence nowadays. Is It right? ceases to
 be the main question; the question nowa-
 days is, Is 1t the thing! Circumstances dominate us. our environment is the en-
 vironment of the hour, and we have become
 complacent imitators. We ought not to be
 satisfied to be as good as others; there Is
 something beyond this, or ought to be-
 five talented man ought not to be satisfied
 with the increment of two.
 Ut Is Il sign of prevalent cynlclsm for
 one to ask the question, If the golden rule
 has any place in commercial business to-
 day. I know that there Is such thing in
 business centers as commercial war, fierce
 and merciless, and dishonest, in which 1t
 would seem tha all means must be made justifable to insure the possibility. of sue cess. But to believe that business Is neces-
 sarily thus is to make brutes of men.
 There are combinations of capital trusts which in their influence have been wicked and oppressive. But to condemn ali com blnations of capital is to ignore very visible and palpable good results which arise from them both to the producer and the con- suwer. There is strength in business com- bination and 1t Is not principally used to opHress.
 'sBut let us prosecute our business and reap the profit of business as a means and not as an end. We ought to be infinitely more than money making machines, and we ought to discover some better and higher use of ourselves. The life of the elder Theodore Roosevelt is in direct contrast with that of n New York millionaire, who died recently with the reputation of skinfllnt. During the civil war the elder Roosevelt took measures for the ameiora- tion of the soldiers, and after the war helped their. widows and orphans; He founded hospitals and asylums and interest," ed himself personally in philanthropic schemes. He. did not satisfy his conscience by occasionally tossing out a check for charity. He gave his time, his thought, hls very self to the work. At least one day of the seven he devoted to personal work among the poor. And on account of thl, the news of his death came home to thou sands with sense of personal bereavement. This mans ideal was not simply good-it was the best"