The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-03
SEES NATIONS PERIL
GROVER CLEVELAND SCORES wAN-
 IN HONESTY.
American Character Menaced by Dfs- regard of Duty-HOIds Corrup- tiOn h High Places Up to
 Ruhlie Scorn.

| q uOn hn High PIocee GP " | Public Scorn.
 Grover Cleveland in .Harpers Maga- | zine for December, Copyright by | Harper and Brothers.
 | No. member of the family of man
 kind Is free from the bcsetment of al- turing temptation nor exempt from tthe danger on thraldom to pernicious1
 habits and inclinations. The forces of evil are constantly on the watch for | the unwary who venture beyond the line of high principle and moral safe l ty, and those who wander are fortu- nate if in good time they see their peril and are able to break away from tthc Vaccinations and false lights which malevolence displays for their undo | ing '--.e'a~
 | The path of return to security. | though 1t may be toilsome, Is plainly marked out and those who sincerely
 desire to retrace their steps and who have not lost the strength and en- durance of fightmindedness need not despair of restoration to virtue and | happiness. There is. however. abso-
 lutely no hope for those who in their
 wanderings have so undermined their lconscience and sense of duty that they have become victims of incur | able weaknesses and moral collapse. Let us fully realize the immeasura- ble distance between specific wrongful
 acts which result from surrender to | temptation or unpremedfated aberra-
 ton and chronically perverted moral land mental condition, no longer re- | sponsive to the voice of conscience or mindful of God and duty.
 | In one case wrong doing has not | saturated the moral and mental sys-
 tenn with depravity nor wrecked char
 acter nor submerged hope of redemp-, 1 ton; in the other case there has super l f- Ill frr1, flAo Ia
 and such paralysis of the power of
 right thinking that there Is nothing
 left to build repair'.upon.
 | Nations Also Prone to Err. The characterization thus made of | the quality and consequences of hu-
 man acts and conditions as they re- late to individuals Is equally applica-
 ble to the conduct and disposition of
 an aggregation of individuals consti- | tuting State or nation. nation, no less than an individual, Is prone | to wander from the vantage ground of safe principle and tradition, and the l effect of such wandering upon na- tional character and achievement is not l less marked nor more difficult of esti-
 nation. M
 It will doubtlessly be generally con- fessed that the departures of the American people from the way origi-
 nally ordained for them were never so common and never so disquieting as now. In official circles offenses of malfeasance and corrupt breaches of public trust are alarmingly frequent. The old landmarks Of integrity and faithfulness to duty which once mark ed our national course of safety are rashly neglected and public extrava- gance. no longer universally condemned as a disgrace , to official stewardship, is Haunted before our people as evil dence of the splendor of our nation ality.
 | In business and social circles the | pursuit of money has become heart | less and rapacious; the deference to | those who have won great fortunes | has grown in many quarters to be so
 unauestioning and so obsequious as to
 amount to scandalous servility. while | the envy of the rich among the strug- gling poor is more than ever bitter and | menacing.
 In politics there is far too often concealed behind a pretencc of devo-
 tion to the public weal the sly promo tions of disreputably selfish and per sonal advantages. and in the industrial 1 field there is no longer found the gen. erous and the contented cooperation between employer and employe which should insure the prosperity and hap piness of both.
 Sacred Trusts Violated.
 In addition to all this there is sadly apparent among those who undertake
 trusteeship a tendency to complacently venture upon bold and rank violations of duty only explained by the preya-
 lence of lax and flippant conceptions or
 the sacredness of fiduciary obligations.
 This is an arraignment which every proud American citizen would be glad | to avoid, but If we are to be frank we must confess that the dreadful list could be more easily enlarged than cur | tailed The tremendous question con-
 fronting us is whether these things can | be regarded as mere items of bad be- havior which will yield to correction or
 whether we must submit to the belief
 that they are symptoms and manifesto tions of a fundamental and radical change in American character.
 If, like offences committed by indi-
 viduals. they can be cured. or at least
 restrained from progress or repetition, by exposure and punishment, we have abundant reason for hope and reassur- ances. Despair can arise only from a conviction that the evil conditions
 which affict us are proof of the deca- dence or destruction of those saving traits of our normal disposition upon
 which our free institutions must de. pend for their beneflcence and perpet- uity.
 In discussing the significance of the
 untoward appearances forced upon our
 view we should resist the influence of
 gloomy forebodings and at the same
 time guard against the instinctive and
 compliment notion that American in
 stitutions have endured long enough to
 demonstrate that neither assault from
 without nor malignant disease within
 can defeat the experiment of popular
 rule. Though a coloring may be given
 the discussion by our moods and tenn
 peramental inclinations, 1t is certain
 that useful results will not be reached if either light headed optimism or mel
 ancholy pessimism is in full command
 Surely there is cloud bigger than a mans hand in our national sky, but this does not necessarily presage our destruction by flood or storm Least of all should one be suspected of tolerat- ing the noxious weeds which choke the growth of better things or of underrat-
 ing their banefulness if he claims that
 American character is as yet untouched by decay and is still safe guide for those who are willing to be safely led ,I High Office Not a Shield. !. United States Senators and Repre- sentatives in Congress who, relying on the Iooae ideas of honesty neryadin 1T