The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1902-03-06

ern business, the steady knitting
together OF all the agencies OF pro-
duction, distribution and exchange,
until the whole nation is we'll nigh
an industrial unit as it is a political
unit, the extension of this process
until international relations are so
interlaced that no nation, even by
of commerce and culture that bind
her to her sisters-the processes Of
civilization, in short-bring into play
national necessities and national
powers as much greater and more
complex than those exercised by the
fathers, as the nation and its activi-
ties today are greater and more com
pick than they were a century ago.
We can not adopt new constitutions
to meet those new conditions. They
would be inadequate if we did adopt
them, and each decade would make
the constitution of the preceding de-
cade obsolete If its letter alone were
read. And so we rely on law more
permanent and more vital-the insti-
tutional law with its roots springing
from the very soul of our race, by
whose living meaning our written
laws and constitutions are interpreted.
Our hope is in ourselves. Our safety
is in our racial customs and tenden-
cies. Our salvation and supremacy
is in the character of our people.
do not mean that we should bind
ourselves to custom. | am only a
limited believer in the philosophy of
precedent. Precedent becomes par
alysis, if observed when customs no
longer fit conditions. Conservatism
does not mean adherence to existing
order merely because it is existing
order. Conservatism means the adap-
tation of means to ends naturally and
without violence Reason is the touch
stone of conservatism. And so it is
that We must foster the element of
conservatism in American character
as we would fan the spark of life
itself, for it is that vital spark. Let
the American people write over the
fireside of every American home those
words of inspired direction: Prove
all things-hold fast to that which is
good" Time is the greater reasoner.
Patience is the eternal method of &C.
curacy and truth. Time and patience,
patience and time-these are the an
cient counSellors who never err.
Thes, are the sages to consult when
perplexing situations seem unsolvable.
Beware of instantaneous processes
Hot-House Laws Ineffective.
There can be no instantaneous set
Element of any large question. To say
that there could be, is to say that
civilization itself could be completed
by piecemeal But that is not the
method of civilizations progress. So
ciety is growth-not a creation
And all social, industrial and political
questions are related as a trees bran
ches to the common trunk. They are
not, therefore, to be determined per-
manently by cure-all meas lres and
put aside as settled, as you pack arti
cles in a box and put it on c shelf,
sealed and labeled. Conditions under
go ceaseless. change, and measures
made for those conditions m st also
undergo ceaseless change. But if the
change is wise it must be slow, and
not sudden. The wrenching of the
vast and delicate machinery of the
nations business, the straining of the
nerves of the whole people in unnec
essary campaigns, has been due to i'm
possible propositions to instantly en-
act felicity. This is not discipline,
not sanity. 1t is not reason, but pas
sion; not reserve, but rashness.
On the other hand, measures once
enacted are not immortal. No eco
nomic statute can be perpetual. To
say that it can never be bettered is to
say that human conditions can never
be bettered. But they can be bet
tered. Yesterday we numbered in
stages; today We fly in palaces. And
the change from stage-coach to rail
way has required new body of laws,
which are themselves perpetually
changing. Yesterday both capital and
labor were individualized; today both
are consolidated, systematized, coop
erative. The old laws no longer fit
the case. But these new conditions
grew out of the old conditions-they
were not suddenly created. And so
we must let the new laws, regulating
those new conditions, grow, and not
suddenly create them. Quick crea-
lions always are Ineffective. Condi-
lions make laws, not laws condition.
And when this order is reversed both
the law-made conditions and the law
which makes them are unhealthy, irri-
tating and dangerous. Events are the
greatest of lawmakers. Deliberation,
activities are the surest of safeguards.
Put not your faith in written word
alone; put your faith In your own
steady self-restraint. THE letter kill
eth but the spirit giveth life" AS in
your relations to morals, you remem-
Der the Master and strive to be like
Him; so in your relations to the state
and your attitude toward all questions
that present themselves to you as enc
of a self-governing people, remember
Washington and strive to be like him
reserved, considering, considerate
and calm.
The national habit of self-control ex-
ercised in the current developments
of each day, when times are not hot
with friction, will act without effort
In the hour whom events flame with