Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-12-03

CT discerning and practicing the good
He las surrendered himself TO the in
nc anarchy OF desire. which in the
end gives birth to outer anarchy. In
the moral life we govern ourselves: IN
tie immoral life we are governed by
our needs and passion; thus. little by
little. the bases OF the moral life shift.
ard tie law OF judgment deviates-
For the man enslavei to numerous
and exacting needs possession Is the
supreme good and the source of all
ot,,e- good things. 1t is true that in the
Ge-ce struggle for possession we come
TO hate those who possess and to deny
the right of property when this right
is in the hands of others and not in
our own. But the bitterness OF at
tack against others possessions is only
q new proof of the extraordinary I'M
portance we attach TO possession itself.
In the end people and things come to
be estimated at their selling price or
according to the profit TO be drawn
from them. What brings nothing is
worth nothing: he who has nothing is
nothing. Honest poverty risks pass
ins for shame. and lucre, however
filthy. is not greatly put TO it to be
accounted for merit
Some one objects. "Then you make
Wholesale condemnation of progress
and would lead us back to the good old
times-to asceticism perhaps"
Not at all. The desire to resuscitate
the past Is the most unfruitful and
dangerous Of utOpian dreams. and the
art of good living does not consist in
retiring from life. But we are trying
to throw light upon one Of the errors
that drag most heavily upon human
progress in order to find n remedy for
the belief that man be-
comes happier and better by the IN
crease of outward well being. Nothing
is falser than this pretended social
axiom; on the contrary. that material
without an Offset diminishes
the capacity for happiness and de-
bases character is a fact which
thousand examples are at hand to
prove. The worth Of a civilization IS
the worth of the man at its center.
When this man lacks moral rectitude
progress only makes bad worse and
further embroils social problems.
This principle may be verified In
other domains than that of material
we'll being. We SHALL speak only OF
education and liberty. We remember
when prophets in good repute an
nounccd thaS TO transform this wicked
world into an abode fit for the gods
all that was needed was the overthrow
Of tyranny, Ignorance and want-those
three dread powers so long in league.
=. @.Say other preachers proclaim the
same gospel. We have seen that the
InqueStionable diminution of want
has made man neither better nor hap
pier. Has this desirable result been
more nearly attained through the great
.are bestowed upon instruction: 1t does
net yet appear so, and this failure is
The despair of our national educators.
Then shall we stop the peoples ears,
suppress pCblic instruction, close the
schools? Ey no means. But educa-
ion. like tie mass of our ages inven-
ions, is after all only tool; every
hing depends upon the workman WHO
uses it. SO it is with liberty. 1t is
fatal or life giving according to the
use made of it. Is it liberty still when
t is the prerogative of criminals or
needless blundercrs? Liberty is an
of the higher life, and it is
)nly by Il slow and patient inward
that one becomes capa-
Die of breathing it.
All life must have its law the life of
nan 50 much the more than that of in
'erior beings. in that il Is more pre-
,;ous and of nicer adjustment. This
aw for man is in the first place an
law, but II may become an
Internal law. When man has once rec
,gnized the inner law and bowed be-