Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1905-11-30
THE INTEGRITY OF AMERICAN CHARACTER.
characterization of the Quality and Conse-
Quences of Human Acts and Con-
ditions by Grover Cleveland.

u'iuiihS tCuipodoioh, hoi SAOuiPo
from the danger of thralldom to per-
nicious 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 safety, and those who
wander are fortunate if in good time
they see their peril and are able to
break away from the facinations and
false lights which malevolence dis
plays for their undoing.
The path Of return to security,
though it may be tolisome, is plainly
marked out, and those who sincerely
desire to retrace their steps, and
who have not lost the strength and
endurance Of rightmindedness, need
not despair Of restoration to virtue
and happiness. There is, however,
absolutely nc hope for those who in
their wanderings have so under
minded their conscience and sense
of duty that they have become vic
Tins of incurable weakness end
moral collapse.
Let us fully realise the immeasur-
able distance between specific wrong
full acts, which result from surrender
to temptation or unprecedented
alteration, and a c~hronically per-
verified moral and mental condition,
no longer responsive to the voice of
conscious or mindful of God and
duty.
IL one case wrong doing has not
saturated the moral and mental
system with d~epravity, nor wrecked
character, nor submerged hope Of
redemption; in the other case there
has supervened such insensibility to
high ideals, and such paralysis of
the power of right thinking that
there is nothing left to build repair
upon.
The Characterization thus made OF
the quality and consequences of
human acts and conditions, as they
realize to individuals, is equally
applicable to the conduct and dis
position Of an aggregation of indi-
viduals constituting a state or nation.
A nation no less than an individual,
is probe to wander from the vantage
ground of safe principle and ira
dition, and the effect of such wand
ering upon national character and
achievement is not less marked nor
more difficult OF estimation.
1t will be doubtless be generally
confessed that the departures of the
American people from the way orig
inallly ordained for them were never
so common and never SO disquieting
as now. In official circles ~offenses
of m~alfeasance and corrupt breaches
OF public trust are alarmingly fire.
quent. The old landmarks of integ-
rity and faithfulness to duty which
once marked our national course of
safety are rashly reelected, and pub
lie extravaganza, no longer univer-
sally condemned as a disgrace to
official stewardship, is Haunted
before our people as evidence of the
splendor Of our nationality.
In business and social circles the
pursuit of money has become heart
less and rapicious. The Difference
to those who have won great for
tunes has grown in many quarters
to be SO unquestioning and so
obsequious as to amount to scan
dalous ~servility, while the envy of
the rich among the struggling poor
is more than " bitter and menace
ing.
In politics there is far too often
concealed behind a pretence Of devo-
ton to the public veal the sly pro-
motion Of disreputably selfish aud
personal advantages, and in the
industrial field there is no longer
found the generous and the con-
tented cooperation between
employer and employee which should
insure the prosperity and happiness
of both.
T. .Il.x.-- ~ Al - -