The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1901-11-21
FALSE ALARMS.
AMERICAN ACTIVITY ALL RldHT

AMERICAN ACTIVITY ALL RIdHT
The Prophets and the Workers,
Lynn Roby Meekins in The Saturday Evening
Post.
Ot the many stories told of the late
Ameer of Afghanlstau, who was one of
the really strong characters among
monarchs of recent years, none is bet-
ter than the one about the subject who
ran to court in great alarm, crying
that the Russians were coming. care
they really coming1" said the Ameer.
'tThen you shall be taken to the top of
yonder tower and you shall have no
food till you see them arrive"
We have in our modern life a great
many prophets who rush into print
with predictions of impending disaster,
and who see in the keen competitions
OF the day and in the evolutions that
are going on In trade, Industry and
society 30 many sure calamities that
their warnings haye become as monot-
onous as they are uncalled for.
One of the most familiar of the
solemn assertions Is that the rush of
American life is sweeping the nation
to an untimely grave. 1t is useless to
point out that longevity Is increasing,
that Americans live better and get
more out of their years, and that all
of mankind are being lifted to finer
and truer existence by their activities
for the prophets will still cling to their
bodings, and marvel why their own
CONSERVATION docs not lead to univer-
sal panic.
It is pleasant to turn from these
messengers Of dismay to the clear-vis-
ioned men OF action who see conditions
and agencies from the proper point of
view. Marquis Ito, the great Japan
ESQ statesman who recently made his
fourth visit to this country and who
knows what American life means,
exclaimed as he looked upon an
American street
ALWAYS in hurry everybody 1t
has made America 60 ahead, has this
hurry"
A few weeks ago Lord Roseberry, who
Is one of the ablest of living English
men, counseled the young men of Eng
land to cultivate the nervous energy of
America. He pointed out the dan
gers and Limitations of British com.
placency, and showed that it is not
only inefficient as a national trait but
that it is poor policy on which to
run modern progress. There was a
prompt outcry from some portions OF
the English press but what could be
said when the objections were put into
type by Amerlcan-made machines,
when the papers were printed on
Amerlcan-made presses, and distribut-
ed on trains drawn by American
made locomot tives through
tunnels dug by Americans and lighted
by electricity from American managed
power-houses? Right in the centre Of
British activity and in the worlds
greatest city the evidences Of the ner-
yous energy of America abound on
every hand.
Let no laggard spirit lay the fatter-
ing JUNCTION to it's soul that the best
lite drifts from the moving waters to q
serene calm where the lotus flowers
fill the air with perfumed tranquility
The gospel of the age is action. The
man or the nation that is doing things
and realizing the rewards and the joys
of life glories in work. The body oi
the individual as we'll as the body poll.
tic calls for movement. The mind OF
the person as we'll as the intelligence
of the race reaches the larger ports by
buffeting through storms. It may
seem big to mount some hazy appre
heneion and send a warning to the
world, but far better is it to find an
opportunity, however modest it may
be, to achieve something Tor the good
of civilization and the profit of the
worker.
America has attained her Leadership
only through struggle and not by
prophecy, and she will keep 1t by meet
ing the present and facing the future
with ready courage, even though the
prophets come running with fateful
tidings. And in the meanwhile The
Ameers plan of putting the alarmists
on the tower-tops might have its ad'
vantages.