The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-12-24

the palateS of the multi
~ tude, both by men of letters
and by those who set them
selves up as authorities on the correct
principles of life, I am inclined to
think that an open and honest express
sion on this very interesting question
may not find as warm a welcome as
would an expression better graced
with tact and rhetoric. But the truth
must out and at the outset let me Law
my head upon the block. can not see
tnaI there is anything wrong with So
clety. 1 am inclined to think that
must be classed with that section of
the social fabric, often attacked and
more frequently ridiculed. that ap-
proves the Higher Civilization I find
IL impossible to Sympathize with the
elements of refOrm-So caIled-that
like the clustering winds of March
create nothing but discomfort and dis
turbance. Radicalism, of course, has
It's uses. So has Conservatism Both
are tortuous and bent from their true
end when carried to excess. The roar
OF the, wind in the ocean storm which
terrlt1es the mariner, the lashing Of
the seeming mighty waves are but a
superficial disturbance after all True
there be death and disaster as a direct
result, but under all, the great IN
Iathomed ocean remains still TRANQUIL
and unmOVed: neither is it made great
err or less; neither is it's power for good
or for evil diminished by the passing
tempest that has ragged above. And SO
1 IL IS with society We must have our
| storms; our mariners must fear our
ships must be brought disabled into
/ port, and some must go down in the
fury, even some of those seeming to be
| the staunchest. but, after all, the So
cial strata, as a body polite, must go
! on in the even tenor of its way. IN
moved, save to advance.
1 Let US bend our minds to funda-
| mental rather than to superfcies. Get
at the root of the matter. That we
n rfear-- 4
ness, that we have had bad wives, care
/ less and faulty mothers, that our faith
/ ers are of the world rather than of
| the home, that we find debauchery, de-
ceit, rascality that we are mixed in a
very maelstrom of iniquity, all these
/ things have little bearing on the fun
| damental truths which must last
| throughout the ages. There is some
4 thing we must seek behind this ques-
ton, What is wrong with Society? be
fore we can offer intelligent answer.
/ What is the destiny of society? For
/ what was and is it intended? These
are the pertinent questions. Once we
arrive at correct solution of these
/ problems, then we may be able to trace
how far society has fulfilled its mis-
sion; but until this is known, we sim
/ ply shoot our arrows Ger the house
and hit our brothers.
What are we to understand by the
term society? Surely we must not
/ conflne ourselves to any class whose
/ boundary lines may be traced through
| the cash book and ledger OF a city
bank; nor can we class as society in
/ this sense simply those of the human
race who by reason of their birth and
environment arrOgate to themselves
4 the superiority over the masses which
! at once proves their unfitness for lead
/ ership, either of thought or action.
Indeed, we must take a broader view,
and let society represent that class OF
/ humanity which has reached q civil
fzation, that class which has estab-
l lished g moral and ethical code and