Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-06-04
BISHOP sPALDING ADVISES
HOME TRAINING OF CHILD


Two Thousand delegates to the Ma
tional Conference of Charities and
Corrections filed the Light Guard
armory in Detroit Monday afternoon
to listen to an address by the bishop
of Peoria. Rt. Rev. John Lancaster
Spalding. The bishops subject was
announced as "Altruism and Char
ity." OF altruism, the speaker said:
Love of self is the radical passion
of human nature. All advance is an
ascent from the primitive and sup
CRITICAL self towards the true self,
which is born of the union of soul
with truth. Justice and love. Every
form of individual activity is al
truistic. The money paid is never
the equivalent of the work done. and
the laborer. whatever he be. must
look beyond the price he gets for the
good he does; must infuse good
will and the desire to be of help,
with all he does. and with all he re-
ceives for what he does, or he will
Shrivel into something that appears
to be alive. but is really dead.
TO do good to enemies is now rec
.ognized To he the duty of society,
not less than that of individuals.
We have come To understand that
the real criminal is often the social
body itself. rather than the man or
woman ii corrupts and then pun
ishes. Our progress consists largely
in the discovery of remedies for ig-
norance and impotence"
OF the true charity the bishop
said:
Emerson says that America is
true religion working with the added
power which science gives. is greater
than America, and will purify, enoble
and trans form our life into some
likeness To the divine ideais which as
yet we but simply discern. We have
already learned that a mans chief
value does not lie in his ability to
conquer with sword and shell. and
we are. coming TO understand that il
lies just as little in his ability to
manipulate machinery or TO get
money.
The special vice of the thriftless
and delinquent is heedlessness and
recklessness. We must train them to
forethought. Consideration and at
tention and personal influence. not
whereby this may he accomplished.
If we would save them we must save
them from themselves.
lit 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 i'm this day that has its source in
political corruption that taints our
whole public life
Later in his sermon Bishop Spalding
argued for forcible restrictions of
marriages among reckless and too
youthful persons and declared that
If man shall learn to do for his fell
lowmen what science and humanity
have taught him to do fer the lower
animals. the world will be much bet
ter than il is today.
But is was to the women that Bish-
OPP Spalding assigned the responsible
ity of three-fourths of the crime of
the world. This is the way he put
IT:
'''The women in our homes decide
how we shall build and furnish our
houses. They determine what we
shall eat. and wear. and read; they
select our friends, and even decide
the important 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.
o. IF the women of the land were
more large minded. more thoughtful,
more intelligent, three-fourths of the
depravity 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 he the fathers and moth
ers of the future. Shall woman be
false, ungrateful and traitorous TO
the trust that man has reposed in
her?
IF in the home. the school and the
church where woman's love is po-
tent for good. the sentiment were
implanted that corrupt politicians
are more dangerous to the nation,
the state. and the city than are the
convicts of the penitentiaries, what
power for good the women of the
land might be-"
The reports state that large per
cent of the bishops audience were
women. who aPpIauded his remarks
as earnestly as did the men.