Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-03-14
THRILLING WITH EVIL
PROGRESS IMPOSSIBLE WHILE LEAD
ERS SUPPRESS THE TRUTH.
Absurd ConcOctions Through Which
Duties Are hirked-Pretending to
Condition which Does Not Exist.
Men Who Cheat Themselves.
Especial correspondence

there is no end" he would say, "Of the
connection Of absurdities through
which to shirk duties there is no end
Modern existence is such complicat-
ed network of results, each set of them
telling different story, that by simply
suppressng some and referring to 9th
ers we can justify our own conduct
and give fine impression of the times
we live in. And it is so pleasant and
so easy for most men to retain that
which is fiattering and drop that which
is not! Then most people forget that
humanity has not received omnipotent
power for evil. Evil itself needs to be
associated with good. Through no 9th
er process can it last for any long pc
riod. Any kind of mixture between
good and evil makes the latter supreme
in the ensemble of the most important
results for any length of time. How
foolish then, to arrive at any concu-
sion because something good is accom-
plished in certain directions!
The most remarkable fact Is that the
very men who are always trying TO
cheat themselves and humanity by self
justification and pretensions of social
conditions being better all the time are
generally the ones who remain inert,
never attempting to suppress wrong or
create any consensus on the subject.
They practically do just the reverse.
They implicitly carry right and left the
conviction that wrong shall go off by
itself in due time and shall disappear
without the need of our doing anything
against 1t. Such people are really those
who keep wrong alive and growing all
the time, the law of life being Il law Of
growth. They may call themselves
conservatives, that being one Of the
subterfuges by which important duties
are escaped, avoided, laid aside The
poor fellows don't see that conser-
vatism has always meant destruction
that is, the prolongation of the king
dom of falsehood. Nothing worse than
that is possible, and if evil could be
made to talk by itself, without the in
strumentality of men, it would declare
that conservatism is the best friend
that evil can have.
Harper's Weekly of Feb. / says in
its editorial columns Not one In a
thousand men dare today to tell the
truth in the important affairs of life,
either because he lacks courage to
form any opinion of his own or has not
courage enough to express it when
formed and because it is against popu-
lar sentiment. A habit is even created
On the subject by doing the same In
small Matters" 1t is wonderful how
even the most fossilized papers often
condemn the progress they are con-
stantly glorifying. They do it uncon-
scious of what they are about, with
out noticing that they thus contradict
the general tenor of their teachings;
they are all bent upon perpetuatlng our
organized and legalized social wrongs.
There we have the hidden power of
truth making itself felt even through
the public organs of error and false
hood, paid for by those who can pur-
chase wrong and evil no matter how
high Its market price may be.
What we call abstract truth in rela-
tion to specialized facts not yet real
lied is far more convincing, after all,
with sound minds than statements
resting on isolated facts, which, even
| If true, may not amount to anything
because disconnected from other facts,
kept in the background or unknown
yet. Take now the debatable question
of whether our modern progress means
| . 1x.o a g., l.,
one invited by human conceit. Higher
than any human statements or asser-
tons referring to debatable subjects
even when backed by figures and facts
subject to human prejudices or mis-
takes, higher than all that stands the
following self evident reasoning proc
ess, eve cannot prove that humanity
| is improving in the substantials of life
until we can at least show that suf-
ticient number of important men are
at work in the suppression of funda-
mental evils through precise, simple,
fundamental processes corresponding
to the Golden Rule established or pro-
mulgated by Christ"
We all know that not one in five
thousand of our important men has
anything to say about any precise, fun
damental processes with which to de-
stroy fundamental evils. They may
not even accept the idea that we have
any fundamental evils, or, if they do,
they will bring out that colossal alb.
surdity of "Oh, but we are yet fallen
humanity, unable to attack fundamen.
tai evils. We have no right to interfere
with such evils. All we can do is to
lie down fiat and let the evils have full
play upon our bodies and souls"
And so there you have it. We are
good enough and have power to sup
press evil by so or 60 per cent, so that
we may be able to brag about our be
ing better than other men, something
that God alone can know. And ther,
our power comes to an end. We cal
never complete the job in the suppress
sion of evil. A certain portion must bt
left alive for our own amusement. Th'
logic of our friends is wonderful.
And how can we suppress evil, how
can progress ever represent substan
tial, permanent Improvement as Ion;