Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-01-13

the common acceptatiOn. the more ex-
cluSively does lie concern himself with
how he shall live and provide for his
children and his children's children.
Impossible to conceive of the fears of
q man established IN life-their num-
Der, their reach and their shades Of re-
finement
From all this there has arisen
throughout the different social orders.
modified By conditions and varying In
intensity, a common agitation-a very
complex mental state, best compared
to the petulance Of a spoiled child, at
once satisfied and discontinued.
II we have not become happier,
and frnternal The more desires and
needs a 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.
It Is the law Of nature to fight for
bread, for the necessities. This law
may seem brutal, but there is an ex-
cuse in its very harshness, and 1t is
generally limited to elemental cruel
ties. Quite different is the battle for
the superauous- ambition, priv
ilege, inclination. luxury. Never has
hunger driven man to such baseness
as have envy, avarice and thirst for
pleasure. Egotism grows more malef-
icent as It becomes more refined.
Do not the very sinews of virtue
lie in mans capacity to care for some
thing outside himself? And what
place remains for ones neighbor in q
life given over to material cares, to ar
tiflcial needs, to the satisfaction Of am
billions, grudges and whims? The man
who gives himself up entirely to the
service Of his appetites makes them
grow and multiply SO 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 practicing the good.
He 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,
and the law Of Judgment deviatss.
For the man enslaved to numerous
and exacting needs possession ia. the
supreme good and the source Of all
other good things. It IL true that In the
fierce 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 agufust others possessions Is only
q new proof Of the extraordinary i'm
portance we attach to possession itself.
In the end people and things como 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 IL
nothing. Honest poverty risks pass
ing for shame, and lucre, however
filthy. is not greatly put to 1t to be
accounted for merit.
Some one objects. Then you make
Wholesale condemnation Of progress
and would lead rs back to the good old
times-to asceticism perhaps"
Not at all The desire to resuscitate
the past II 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 md q remedy for
it-namsly, the belief that man b.,
comes happier and better. BY the In
crease Of outward well being. Nothing
II faleer than this preten0Dd social
axiom; On the contrary, that matsEial
prosperity without an ofrset diminishes
ths capacity Tor happiness ana de-
baseD character u 4 fact which .
thousand. e1amples. 49, st. A%aA ~
6r0ve. Tho worth Of civilization b
4hs worth o. the man at it, centef.
Wh1m ~ man hacks moral rectitude
pc6ezon1 only males bad woese and
hrthee embrolls social problems.
1his principle mag BE- verified b
ethor o0enaiuo shGn that Of material
wNll belne. We shan speak only of
odueat1on ana liberty. We ysmsmbee
when peophetD IN good rapute an
ncunced tat e transform this wicked
world into a abode At Tor the eods
al that vas needsd was ths overthrow
of tyranny, agnorance- ana want thoee
three dread powe3S 20 long II ioatuA
Today other preachets proclaim the
same gospel. w. have seen that the
unQuestionabIe dtminutien d want
has made man neither better nor hap
pier. Has this desirabis result bean
more nearly attained through the great
care bestowed upon insuuctiouf Il does
not Jet appear 20. and this failure =
the despair Of our national sducatees.
Then shall we stop the peoples ear,
suppress public instruction, close the
schoolsf BY no means. But eduea-
lion, Ike tns mass Of our ages inven-
lions. u after all only tool: every
thing depends upon the workman who
uses It. SO It - with liberty. 1t r
fatal o. life giving according to the
ne made Of 1t. Il 1t liberty still when
It b the prsrogative Of criminals o.
needless blunderersf Liberty II an
atmosphere Of the higher life, and1t 4
only By Z slow and patient inward
transformation that one becomes capa-
BILE Of breathing It.
All life must have its law, the he q
man 20 much the more than that Of In