Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-06-10
INTERVIEWS AT LONG RANGE.

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INTERVIEWS AT LONG RANGE.
Rt. Rev. John Lancaster Spalding,
Roman Catholic bishop of Peoria, Ill.,.
The women in our homes decide
how We shall build and furnish our
houses" said Bishop Spalding. They
determine what we shall eat and
wear, and read; they select our
friends, and even decide the impor-
tant questions of religion. They put
words OF the native tongue into the
mouths of the children, and influence
them powerfully in their growth to
manhood and womanhood.
If the women of the land were
more large-minded, more thoughtful,
more Intelligent, three-fourths of the
depravlty and sin that curse present
day life would disappear. The seat
of the development of the child is in
the home. To her man must leave
the training of the boys and girls that
are TO be the fathers and mothers of
the future. Shall woman be false,
ungrateful, and traitorous to the trust
that man reposed in her?
1t is more than pity that we need
to have for the poor and unfortunate.
We need to give them justice, which
is the first and greatest charity. Evil
in this day has it's source in political
corruption that taints our whole pub
lie life,
In municipalities particularly this
influence disheartens the most coura-
geous and makes reform seem impos-
sible. 1t thrives in the saloon, the
brothel, and the gambling hell and
|perverts the public conscience. If in
the home, the school, and the church,
where womans love is potent for
good, the sentiments We're implanted
that corrupt politicians are more dan
gerous to the nation, the state, and
the city than are the convicts of the
penitentiaries, what power for gooS
the women of the land might be.
Our city prisons and station-house>
and our county jails and county poor.
houses are veritable nurseries for the
development of crime. The poor fill
the prisons largely because they are
unable to pay fines and escape the
prison bars.
1t is the part of wisdom to refuse to
! yield unreservedly to our American
spirit of optimism. We call the ages
long ago the dark ages. May not the
men and women of the future look
back upon our history and call us also
the people of darker age than
theirs? We are under the tyrannous
sway of commercialism and expan-
lsion. Those who prefer money to
truth and learning are degenerates.
1t is easier to be generous than to
be just. The poor love the poor be-
cause they give their time and sym
pathy and encouragement to each
other. They do not love the rich,who
give them only money.
Mans chief value does not lie in his
ability to conquer with the sword nor
/ poor our sympathy more than our mo-
ney. Personal influence, not aims
giving, is the power that shall save
them from themselves.
Gov. A. B. Cummins on Labor I'm
]ions-The almost infinite multiplied
ton of the efficiency of men, added to
the unparalleled energy and sagacity
Of the American man, have resulted in
an accumulation of wealth of which
our forefathers had no conception.
With this wealth has arisen a power
utterly unknown to the builders of the
republic. This power, vast beyond
comprehension, in the hands of the
captains of industry" working fnde-
lpendently, is immeasurably Increased
by the spirit of association and combi-
nation, a spirit which may be well said
to be the most striking characteristic
lof the present time. 1t is a power cap
liable of being exercised for the welfare
|of the world, even as unrestricted
power of any kind is capable of being
lso used. But We know that untram-
|meled authority and absolute power,
moved by selfinterest alone, will not
be exercised for the good of the peo-
lple. 1t follows, therefore, that some
how. in some form, the government
which represents the general interest
of all the people must lay it's hand
upon these associations and restrain
them within such limits as will permit
on the one side the qualification Of
ambition, the glory of success, the
tonic of profit, with the consequent
il growth of business and commerce; but
il which will on the other side, protect
! the defenseless and guard the weak
4 against aggressions and impositions
i from which save by the mighty hand
of the government they cannot escape
/ have heard it said that we dare not
check the tendency of the age lest we
may turn back the stream of prosper.
ity upon Its fountains. ! repudiata the
declaration. Every field Of life has in
turn discovered similar tendency. II
always has been checked without i'm.
Z partng the vigor and growth OF man.