Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-01-01

community, IL is no less 0VluenC Cnal
the sphere of the states action
be extended very cautiously, and sc
far as possible only where it will not
crush out healthy individual initiative
Voluntary action by individuals in the
| form of associations of any kind for
mutual betterment or mutual advan.
tage often offer way to avoid alike
the danger of state control and the
1 dangers of excessive individualism.
This is particularly true of efforts for
that most important of all forms of
1 betterment, moral betterment-the
moral betterment which usually
| brings material betterment in its
| train.
Each One Doing Something.
at is only in this way by all of us
working together in spirit of broth
| erhood, by each doing his part for the
betterment of himself and of others
that it is possible for us to solve the
tremendous problems with which as
| a nation we are now confronted. Our
| industrial life has become SO complex,
| its rate of movement so very rapid,
! and specialization and differentiation
so intent that we find ourselves face
to face with conditions that were
practically unknown in this nation
half century ago. The power of the
| forces of evil has been greatly in
| creased, and it is necessary for our
self-preservation that we should SIM
ilarly strengthen the forces for good.
We are all of us bound to work to-
wards this end. No one of us can do
everything, but each of us can do
something, and if we work together
the aggregate of these something's
will be very considerable.
Good Will Towards All.
There are of course thousand diff
ferent ways in which the work can
be done, and each man must choose
as his tastes and powers bid him, If
he is to do the best of which he is ca
pable. But all the kinds of work
must be carried along on certain def
mite lines If good is to come. All the
work must be attempted as on the
whole this Young Mems Christian as
ISOLATION work has been done; that is,
in spirit of good will towards all
and not of hatred towards some; in a
spirit in which to broad charity for
mankind there is added keen and
healthy sanity of mind. We must re-
tain our self respect each and all of
us, and we must beware alike of
mushy sentimentality and of envy and
| hatred.
Warned Against Sentimentality.
cit ought not to be necessary for me
to warn you against mere sentimental
ity. against the philanthropy and
| charity which are not merely INSULT
cient but harmful. 1t is eminently de-
sirable that we should none of us be
| hard-hearted, but it is no less desir-
able that we should not be soft-head-
ed. | really do not know which quail
| ity is most productive of evil to man.
kind in the long run, hardness of heart
or softness of head. Naked charity is
| not what we permanently want. There
are of course certain classes such as
| young children, widows with large
families or crippled or very aged peo-
pie, or even strong men temporarily
crushed by stunning misfortune, on
whose behalf we may have to make
a frank and direct appeal to charity,
and who can be the recipients of it
without any loss of self respect. But
| taking us as whole, taking the mass
| of Americans, we do not want Charity,
we do not want sentimentality; we
merely want to learn how to act both
| individually and together in such fash
ion as to enable us to hold our own
in the world, to do good to others ac-
| cording to the measure of our oppor-
| tunities, and to receive good from 9TH
ers in ways which will not entail on
our part any loss of self respect.
| + 81 4 L . Il
Construction VS.. Destruction.
ut ought to be no less unnecessary
for me to say that any man who tries
to solve the great problems that con-
| front us by an appeal to anger and
passion, to ignorance and folly, to
malice and envy, is not, and never
can be ought but an enemy of the
very people he processes to befriend.
In the words of Lowell, it is far safer
to adopt for a motto: "All men up
than Some men down." Speaking
broadly we cannot in the long run
benefit one man by the downfall of
another. Our energies can as rule
be employed to much better advan-
tage in uplifting some than in pulling
down others. OF course there must
sometimes be pulling down too. We
| nave no DuSlu6SS 10 Dirk evils, ana
\ where it is necessary that the knife
should be used, let it be used unspar-
ingly, but let it be used intelligently.
When there is need of drastic rem
edy, apply 1t, but do not apply it in
the mere spirit of hate. Normally a
pound of construction is worth ton
of destruction.
Should Do Work Well.
There is degradation to us if we
feel envy and malice and hatred OF
ones neighbor, for any cause, and if
we envy him merely because of his
riches, we show we have ourselves
low ideals. Money is good thing.
1t is a foolish affectation to deny it.
But it is not the only good thing, and
after certain amount has been
amassed itceases to be the chief even
of material good things. 1t is far bet
ter for instance, to do we'll bit OF
work which is we'll worth doing.
do not care whether this work is that
of an engineer on great railroad or
captain of a fishing boat, or foreman
in a factory or machine shop, or sec
tion boss, or division chief or assist
ant astronomer in an observatory, or
a second lieutenant somewhere in
China or the Philippines-each man of