Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1906-09-21
BUILDERS BETTER THAN CRITICS
Selfish Promotion Of Good More Desir-
able Than a Nation of BabbIers.

Some acute men have noted ten
dency among the people of the Unit
ed States to be unduly critical in re-
cent times. Honest criticism is good
for our politics, for our social customs,
for our morals and manners. If lapses
were not pointed out We should be slow
to see and to provide the remedy.
Progress would lag and reform would
not have that immense motive power
of popular opinion. When there are
constant gusts of criticism and when
the criticism becomes a mere habit of
carping and faultfinding. then opinion
rides upon the neck of reason and
the people become irresponsible bab-
blers, like the Athenians when the
signs of decadence appeared
Criticism is very good and valuable
when it is accompanied with better
substitute for the i'll thing condemn
ed: but better than criticism, even
when it is constructive. is the con-
structive work which strongly and eff
GENTLY replaces the defective and the
unsound. One who pays undue heed
to all the criticism heard in the world
is apt to run distract and to imagine
that the world is awry. 1t is most
pernicious notice.
The world is filled with efficient
workers of high character. and we too
much mistake the temper and fabric
of the world and malgn it too much
in not calling attention to the builders
and constructors instead of forever
concentrating our gaze on those who
are in gorgeous error
Atlantic City in summer is world
in itself. 1t is a special world; a lit
tie cosmos: an aggregation of the most
diverse characters from all parts, for.
eign and domestic; collection of char.
acters and types and selected individ-
uals. A few who have known an old
man from one of the southern states,
now a seasoned visitor. incline to be-
lieve that in all the myriads of char
acters who frequent those shores. this
old man-still speaking English, after
forty years residence in this country,
with a strongly marked foreign accent
is one Of the most remarkable Of
men; an indubitabe benefactor of man
kind in his modest little sphere in his
quiet little world.
This man landed in 1867 in a south
ern hamlet of $50 souls in the black
belt If southern state. The country
Sas knocked fiat" by the war There
was no money and no credit and no
business. The hero of our story had
by immense sacrifices and hard work
succeeded in starting a miserable lit
tie country store. He slept on the
counter; he shaved and toiled; he
starved and persevered. His lot ap-
peared to have fallen on barren ground,
because his customers consisted chief
~ of 400 negro families of about 5000
souls who were irresponsible. lazy,
shiftless; innocent Of cash and prop
erty and apparently, to any sane man.
unworthy of trust or credit.
And so they were, and the remark.
able thing about the storekeeper was
that he embarked, either consciously
or unconsciously in a most peculiar
scheme for the uplifting of worthless
population. The instant he began bus
mess he began to extend credit and to
hold out hope to the negroes who til
led little patches in the neighborhood.
He gave trust for the seed of this
operation to Ike. and to Nose he sold
pillow and harrow on long time. He
admonished them to work. and prom
ised the more enterprising that if they
paid for the seed he would help them
to get mule. Little by little the ambi-
! ton of some was aroused. and little
/ by little the rest perceived that the
Industrious prospered by following the
advice and keeping in the good graces
of the patron. AS years went by the
more progressive of the negroes
/ bought not only mules, but land stock
of various kinds and utensils, and be
came prosperous farmers. The spirit
of emulation was aroused. and the ac
tual result was that the community
of worthless people has become sc
progressive and successful that il
stands as a rebuke and a reproof t.
those who discourage hope for any
body.
1t is known that this is the worl
primarily of one man. A grasping
short-sighted and narrow man woult
have tried to squeeze those people
without giving anything in return. Blu
: by the exhibition of wonderful pat
5 fence, forbearnce and humanity he ha'
: lifted the community with himself, an,
i. has in fact, made ten times as mucl
: money from the experiment in thi
5 prosperous community as he could b,
any possibility have got from II i'm
K poHishered and unprosressive one.
II The little hamlet of a few hundre
:. people has grown to be a thriving. pre-
Il sressive town of 1000 inhabitants: TIL
surrounding country provides visit
3 of farms; there is no negro problem il
It the neighborhood. One man led tn
n way. and it does not really matte
that he was prompted by an enlighter
n ed sef-interest rather than by a dt
e sire to be a philanthropist. Men VIII
l. are tlIed with the best of human qua
f it'es, who work intelligently. are tn
most valuable kind of philanthropist:
r The people who patiently build o
l. the foundation of the prosperity an
happiness of others are doing the gel
s uine work of the world and surpas
5. the critics, for they possess the pos
d tive humanity of which Mackintos
II wrote:
i THE only humanity which in tn
9 affairs of men claims their respect
that manly and expanded sentimer
which fixes its steady eye one tn
d menas of generl happiness. The sci
n sihi''.-, which shrinks at present ey
>. witnout extending its view to futur
4 good is not virtue "-Philadelphia Lee
4 ger