The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-23

spired direction: Prove all things-hold
fast 10 that which is good Time is the
greater reasoner patience is the eternal
method OF accuracy and truth Time ana
patience. patience and time-these are the
ancient counselors who never err. Inese
are the sages to consult when perplexlng
situations seem unsolvable. Beware or IN
Simultaneous processes.
HOTHOUSE LAWS INEFFECTIVE.
There can be no instantaneous settle
ment 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. Society is a growth-not a crea-
ton. And all social industrial and political
questions are related as a trees branches
TO the common trunk They are not. there
fore, to be determined permanently by cure
all measures and put aside settled, as
you pack articles in a box and put ii on the
shelf, sealed and labeled. Conditions under
90 ceaseless change, and measures made
for those conditions must also undergo
ceaseless change. But If the change Is wise
IL must be slow, and not sudden The
wrenching of the vast and delicate ma
chinery of the Nations business, the STRAIN
ing Of the nerves of the whole people IN
unnecessary campaigns, has been due to
impossible propositions to instantly enact
felicity. This is not discipline, not sanity.
1t Is not reason, but passion; not reserve
but rashness.
ION the other hand measures once en-
acted are not immortal No economic stat
ute can be perpetual. To say that ii can
never be bettered is 10 say that human con-
dItiOnS can never be bettered. But they can
be bettered. Yesterday we numbered IN
stages; to-day we fly In palaces. And the
change from stagecOach to railway has re-
CURED a new body of laws. which are them
selves perpetualy changing. Yesterday
both capital and labor were individualized;
to-day both are consolidated, systematlzed,
cooperative. The old laws no longer nj the
case. But these conditions grew out OF the
old cOnditiOns-they were not suddenly Gre
ated. And so we must let the new laws,
regulating those new conditions, grow, and
not suddenly create them. Quick creations
always are ineffective. Conditions make
laws. not laws conditions. And when TINS
order is reversed both the law-made condi-
tons and the law which makes them are
unhealthy, irritating and dangerous. Events
are the greatest of lawmakers. Delibera-
ton, patience and the self-regulation of our
activities are the surest of safeguards. Put
not your faith in written words alone; put
your faith in your own steady self-re-
straint. The letter killeth but the spirit
giveth life AS In your relations to morals,
you remember 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 one of self
governing people, remember Washington
and strive TO be like him-reserved, consid-
ering, considerate and calm.
The national habit of self-control exer-
cised in the current developments of each
day, when times are not hot with friction,
events flame with excitement If the people
will adopt this formula of conservative
thought: Everything is not bad because II
is new, and everything is not good because
il is old-and upon that formula base con-
sentative procedure, we shall always end
with conservative results. And conservative
results are safe results: and safe progress
is permanent progress. Let US beware OF re-
bounds.
NO CAUSE FOR ALARM.
1--WE are in period of growth which Is
itself a proof of our youth and charging
vitality. 1t is inevitable that each year. al
most each day, shall behold unheard-of de-
velopment in our industrial. commercial,
financial methods. Let us be not startled at
them. They may be beneficent or they may
be malevolent, but denunciation, hasty
action. conclusions which are jumped at in
stead of being thought out, are no proper
test. The habit of mind which leads us TO
bitterly denounce or unreservedly praise, Is
not the temper which a free people should
foster. For be * remembered that free
people must depend upon themselves and
not upon some separate power which at
tempts to solve every problem for them as
is the case in autocrac1es. We are fond Oh
saying that in a republic each citizen Is
king and therefore the nation itself clothed
with majesty as no people ever were ar
rayed; but only by each citizen acting as a
king should act; thinking as king should
think, steadily, calmly, with balanced Judg-
ment and well-considered action.
THE new Developments in the combina-
tions of capital call for just such popular
treatment the increasing development In
combinations of labor calls for just such
treatment. We behold millions of money
which yesterday were acting separate, to-
day massed in mighty organizations for the
production. the transportation, the distribu-
tion OF national products. Let US not be
alarmed at their magnitude. Let us not be
paniced at their novelty. 1t is not helpful
TO slap on the statute books hasty screeds
and call them laws. 1t will throw no light
upon the real question for excited meetings
to grow frenzied over excited appeals. No
great problem was ever illuminated by the
torch of a mob; and between the confiagra-
tions of the commune and fiery talk of agi-
tators who feel they must carry the next
election at any cost, there is little differ
ence. Both may be useful in revolution;
both may be useful in the bloody overthrow
of tyranny: but neither are the method of
a free people, who hold their own destiny
in their own hands.
WORK OF THE TRUSTS.
1T is apparent to the shallowest observer
and certain to the profoundest, that the
great combinations of capital recently de-
veloped are based upon some of the funda-
mental principles of progress. 1t is equally
apparent and certain that In their develop
ment. evils and crudities have attended
them But this is true of everything. 1t is
even true of the development of child
into a boy and of a boy into a man; and
constant care is exercised in the training
of the infant mind and character. Maturity
is hard process and slow, but IL is sim
pie process Let simple process be eX-
ercsed in the new development of our So
Cial economy. AS violence and hot words
and stormy conduct spoil the vision Of the
parent so will the same savage methods
spoil the vision and make foolish the ac-
ton of the people In the regulation of the
development of capital and labor.
THE great combinations of capital de-
voted to the production Of steel or hour or
meats or oil. systematize the industry,
duce the expense OF production, simplify
and make easy distribution, invade and
conquer foreign markets. The organiza-
tions of wealth devoted to the preparation
OF meats and other food stuffs sell their
products abroad as well as here. Their vast
resources enable them to put refrigerating
ships upon the sea and furnish the break
fast tables of London and Berlin. And to
supply that foreign demand the farmers of
Illinois. Dakota and Kansas are called upon
wise they could not sell at all. So We see
that this golden shuttle Of modern enter
prise shooting backward and forward not
only through own land. but across the
seas and into Europe and Asia, too, weaVeS
occupation and prosperity for our citizens
in its ministry to the wants OF our fellow
men abroad. The same is true OF other il
Illustrations of this same development The
diggers OF iron and coal. the molders of
steel. the workers IN factories of cotton
and wool are kept employed by the wrest-
ling Of the markets OF the world out OF the
hands of national competitors.
THE EVILS INCIDENTAL.
These are a few OF the benefits Incl
dental To all On the other hand the arbi-