The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1905-02-02


the woman with one dress who ask
most insistently how she shall b.
clothed, nor is 1t those reduced to tht
strictly necessary who make mos
question Of what they shall eat tomor
row. As an inevitable consequence oi
the law that needs are increased by
their satisfaction, the more goods a man
has the more he wants. The more as
sured he Is Of the morrow according tC
the common acceptation, the more eX
clusively does he concern himself with
how he shall live and provide for his
children and his children's children
Impossible to conceive Of the fears OF
a man established in life--their mum
Der, their reach and their shades of re
Gnement.
From all this there has arisen
throughout the different social orders,
modified by conditions and varying IN
intensity, common agitation-a very
complex mental state, best compared
to the petulance Of a spoiled child, at
once satisfied and discontented.
If we have not become happier,
neither have we grown more peaceful
and fraternal. The more desires and
needs man has the more occasion he
finds for conflict with his fellow men,
and these conflicts are more bitter In
proportion as their causes are less just.
1t is the law Of nature to fight for
bread, for the necessities. This law
may seem brutal, but there Ia an eX-
cuse In its very harshness, and it Is
generally limited to elemental cruel
ties. Quite different Is the battle for
the superfuous-fo ambition, priv
ilege, inclination, luxury. Never has
hunger driven man to such baseness
as have envy, avarice and thirst for
pleasure. Egotism grows more maleG,
icent as 1t becomes more refined.
Do not the very slnews of virtue
lie in mans capacity to care for some
thing outside himself? And what
place remains for ones neighbor In a
life given over to material cares, to ar
tificial needs, to the satisfaction Of am
billions, grudges and whims2 The man
who gives himself up entirely to the
service of his appetites makes them
grow and multiply 30 well that they
become stronger than he, and once
their slave, he loses his moral sense,
loses his energy and becomes incapable
Of discerning and practiclng the good.
lie has surrendered himself to the In
ner anarchy of desire, which In the
end gives birth to outer anarchy. In
The moral life we govern ourselves; in
the immoral life we are governed by
our needs and passion; thus, little by
little, the bases Of the moral life shift,
md the law of judgment devlates.
For the man enslaved to numerous
md exacting needs possession IL the
supreme good and the source Of all
,ther good things. 1t Is true that in the
ierce struggle for possession we come
% hate those who possess and to deny
he right of property when this right
Is In the hands of others and not in
)ur own. But the bitterness of at
Jack against others possessions is only
/ new proof of the extraordinary inn
1ortanco we attach to possession itself.
In the end people and things come to
DO 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
ng for shame, and lucre, however
althy, is not greatly put to 1t to be
accounted for merit.
Some one objects, "rhen you make
wholesale condemnation of progress
and would lead us back to the good old
asceticism perhaps"
Not at all, The desire to resuscltate
the past is the most unfrultful 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 a remedy for
t--namely, tho belief that man be-
comes happier and better by the In
'rease of outward well being. Nothing
$ falser than this pretended social
Ixiom; on the contrary, that material
without an offset dlmlnlshes
he capacity for happiness and de,
'ases character Is fact which
housand examples are at hand &c
rove. The worth Of a civilization is
he worth Of the man at Its center,
Vhen this man lacks moral rectitude
rogress only makes bad worse and |
lrther embroils social problems.
This principle may be verified In
ther domains than that of material |
Tell being. We shall speak only Of
and liberty, we remember
hen prophets In good repute an
ounced that to transform this wicked
'orld into an abode fit for the gods
II that was needed was the overthrow
tyranny, ignorance and want-those
hree dread powers 80 long in league.
'oday other preachers proclaim the
anne gospel We have seen that the
dlmlnutlon of want
as made man neither better nor hap
ler Has this desirable result been
lore nearly attained through the great
are bestowed upon Instruction. It does
ot yet appear so, and this failure is
he despair of our national educators.
Then shall we stop the peoples ears,
public instruction, close the
chools2 BY no means. But educa-
lon, like the mass of our ages inveu-
ions, is after all only a tool; every
hing depends upon the workman who
ses 1t. So 1t is with liberty 1t is
atal or life giving according to the
sc made of 1t. Is 1t liberty still when
is the prerogative Of criminals or
eedless blunderers? Liberty is an |
of the higher life, and it is
My by slow and patient inward
that one becomes capa-
lie OF breathing 1t,
All life must have its law, the life of
IAN so much the more than that of In,
,rior beings, in that II is more pre-