The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-03-28

neither in economies nor in morals Is
Il THAI plnacea Cor social tus which -
many persons two generations ago
thought It to be-"
The failure Of indiridualism in so
many important respects has naturally
tended toward the development ot a
sentiment IN favor Of socialism, under
the belief that the evils Of tn present
system can be cured by state machin'
cry With socialism President haley
may have something of sympathy, but
he does not trust It as panacea tor
the ills of society, He emphasizes ths
truth that the power Of government to
use its machinery in the public interest
lis in some respects more apparent
than real. ana goes on 10 say: "A dem-
ocratic government is subject to sp2cial
difficulties in exercising this power. Il
lacks the compelling force behind IL
which is felt in monarchy or au Ir.s-
tocracy-for what is everybody's bus-
ness is nooody's BUSINESS. ana laws
which are passed with enthusiasm often
go unenforced. II lacks continuity Of
nolicv and tenacity of purpose, This
difficulty is seen when We compare our
own foreiga policy with that ola coun-
try like Russia"
We Americans are living nomipSly
under a governmen; by law but really
under a government by public opinion.
ana the speaker pointed out that the
abiding opinion of the majority is nat
always expressed at the polls. The vote
as he said. may be simply the outcome
Of widespread and personal interest
and may not deserve in any sense tn
name Of public sentiment or public spir-
it. TAX the whole matter Of antitrust
legislation. Most people object to
trusts Why? Largely because hey do
not own them. If a man really be-
lieves that a trust is a bad thing and !
wuull refuse to countenance its pur-
suits if he were given a majority in
teres, in ths ST, ok he can fairly 1:gnify !
his spirit Of opposition to the trusts
by the title Of public sentiment"
We have here a high ideal Of public
sentiment. The phrase means, accord
ing to President Hadley, not tha; vhi,h
majority 5 willirg to talk ltr and
vote for, bit that which the commun-
ity. or at least the dominant nJ.t On Of
it, lives up to in very deed. AS al il
lustration Of the power of that Find Of
sentiment he cites the case Of the stu
dent body at West Point, among whom
there has developed a social code more
potent than the regulations of the a,ad-
emy, the commands Of officers and ac.s
of congress.
When we have formed such a public
sentiment thr ughout America ir i. ,or
of right IDEAS of conduct in private
business 'nd public affairs We sha
at least have established securely 50.
cial welfare and democratic govern
ment. In that connection Presider.
Hadley defined the essential mark IF A
gentleman as a readiness to subor-
dinate mans own convenience and de-
sires to a social CODE and he went On
to say: The code may be a good one
or bad one, but it is an autho.lty |
which the gentleman accepts Of his own
free will. without waiting for any one
10 compel him 10 accept it. To ne ex-
tent that he does this he not only
proves himself a gentleman. but proves
himself caDable of self-government."
We need 'hen social code that will
set our gentlemen" to work in the right
way That code, of course, cannot be-
formulated by statute 1t must BE- the
outgro"th Of the intelligence and the
virtue of the best men and best women
N community. In the development Of
such code President Hadley sees lis
only hope Of the republic, and IN tina,
regard thoughtful persons will ayree