New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-10-26
MILITANT HONESTY.


must be conscious that such responsibility rests
on him or on her-the responsibility of duty
toward those dependent upon us toward our
families. toward our friends. toward our fellow
child. 10 the state. to the church. Not only can
no man shirk some or all Of those RESPONSE
bihties, but VIII welcome thrice over the fortune
that puts them upon him to carry.
THE NEED OF THE STATE
want to call your attention to something
that is especially my business for the time being
and that is your business all the time or else
you are unfit TO be citizens OF this republic In
the seventh hymn which we sung In the last
line, you all Joined in singing God save the
state" Do you intend merely TO sing that or
TO try TO do il? II you intend merely to sing
Il, your part in doing II Will be but small The
state will be saved If the Lord puts n into the
heart OF the average man so to shape his life
that the state shall be worth saving and only
on those terms. We need civic Righteousness,
The best constitution that the wit OF man has
ever devised, the best institutions that the abesr
statesmen In the world ever have reduced to
practice by law or by custom, shall be Of no
avail If they are not vivifed by the spirit which
makes a state great by making II honest Just
and brave IN the first place.
I do not ask you as practical believers in ap-
piled Christianity TO take part one way or the
other in matters that merely political. There
are plenty OF questions about which honest
can and do differ very greatly and very intense
", about which the triumph Of either side may
be compatible with the welfare of the State
a lesser degree Of welfare or a greater degree
OF welfare-but compatible with the welfare Of
the State. But there are certain great principles
such as those which Cromwell would have
called fundamentals. concerning which
has right 10 have but one opinion Such
question is honesty. II you have not honesty in
the average private citizen, public servant,
then all else goes for nothing. The ADLER a
man is the more dexterOus, the shrewder, the
bolder. why. the more dangerous he is if he has
not the root Of right living and right thinking
in hin1-and that in private life. and even more
in public life.
HONESTY INDISPENSABLE.
Exactly as in time OF war. although you
need in each fighting man far more than
is not that courage upon which to base it So
in our civil life, although need that the aver
age man, that the average public servant shall
have far more than honesty, yet all other quail
tiles 60 for nothing or for worse than nothing
unless honesty underiies them-nOt only the
honesty that keeps its skirts technically
clear, but the honesty that is such &C
cording TO the spirit well the let
ter Of the law; the honesty that is ag
gressive, the honesty that not merely deplores
corruption-it is easy enough to deplore cor
ruptiOn-but that honesty that wars against it
and tramples il under foot. ask for that type
OF honesty. l ask for militant honesty, for the
honesty Of the kind that makes those who have
IL discontinued with themselves as long as they
have failed to do everything that in them lies 10
stamp Que dishonesty where evil can be found,
in high place or IN low.
And let US not fatter ourselves. we who live
IN countries where the people rule, that II is
possible ultimately for the people to cast upon
any but themselves the responsibilities for the
shape the government and the social and politI-
cal life Of the community assumes. I ask then,
that our people feel Quickened within them the
burning indignation against wrong in every
shape which shall take effect in condemnation.
I am asking only for condemnation Of wrong in
its crudest form When I ask that a soldier
shall have courage I ask only that which we
have right TO demand of every man who wears
the uniform. II is not SO much credit 10 him
TO have il IL is shame unutterable to him II
he lacks IL. So when 1 ask for honesty, ask
for something which we have a right to demand,
not emitting the possessOr to praise, but as
warranting the easiest condemnation possible if
he lacks II.
MUCH EXPECTED FROM CHURCH.
Surely, in every movement for the betterment
Of life, life socially in the truest and
deepest sense our life politically, we have a spe-
cial right TO ask not merely support, but leader