The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-04-23

| straw and filth We're dumped into the
| bay. The old waterfront was taken
| away
! Greed has been responsible for many
| disgraceful things in our national ana
| civic life and for many disasters. What
of the tenement houses in New York
| some of which We're so cheaply con
| structed that they collapsed before
| they were occupied? Greed built
| houses in which human beings lived.
| Houses in which Jacob Riis said IL
was impossible for deceney to exist.
Or what of adulterated milk respon-
sible for a death-rate among babies
| which was appalling. You remember
how that death-rate was cut in two
in one year by the act of a philan-
thropist, Jew. Or take Philadelphia
with its enormous death-rate from
typhoid, the result of the ring which
preferred the lining of pockets to the
doing of plain human duty.
But you say greed and fraud had
nothing to do with the earthquake. No,
but greed had much to do with the eff
fects of il. There were hundreds and
hundreds of houses in the burned dis
trict which were finder boxes, filthy
places a menace to life and health.
They were worse than I had ever seen
in any city. 1t was apparently the
fierce fire of these districts which made
an irresistible onslaught upon the
larger structures beyond. Chinatown
what a disgrace it was, and the Slums
near it. 1 hope they have gone for
ever. They paid good rents and they
stood until swept away.
Another lesson when we should learn
from the calamity is the true value of
things. We should learn to count
blocks and stocks and banks for just
what they are worth Those buildings
looked SO solid. earthquake and fire
proof we were told, and they fell like
houses of cards. Those great build
ings, it is hard to imagine it! The les
son is, do not place your ultimate con-
fidence on things. They are pleasant
and profitable. They provide means
for comforts, luxuries, culture and for
a wide-felt religious life
We hear of men who have lost all.
All What? All the things which they
possessed. What have they left?
They have left the character which
has been built up by the gaining of the
things gone and the use which they
have made of them. They have some
lHlIlS W HICL, WHelueF tney We're Killed
or whether they are alive the earth
quake and the fire could not touch.
The things which they had were their
tools. If a mans tools are taken away
he himself remains. If he has a right
eous character he has everything left.
If he has not that he is poor indeed.
1t is true that loss is hard, but for
a young man it should be mental and
mn. 1-C1 n a;vNJf TT
older man loss is sad, but have known
some of the dearest, strongest old men
who had been. rich, say to me: eff
had not lost it 1 should soon have been
obliged to leave it. All is Well" The
of all that we have ex-
cept character that is the lesson. The
temporal may go, the eternal remains,
that is the lesson for US
Then, there is the lesson which we
are swiftly learning in these days, it is
the essential brotherhood of man. It
is to a realization OF this that God is
bringing us in His own way. It is
worth all cost. If a famine occurs in
India or Japan we do not regard it as
an occasion to take advantage but an
opportunity to pour out gifts. All the |
inventions of the century past and !
present tend to bring about a realiza- |
ton of the truth that mo one liveth |
to himself and no one dieth to him
SELF The means of swift commune |
cation and travel came in the fulness |
of time when men were ready to use |
them for moral and spiritual develop |
ment. All of them tend to dispel ig- !
norance and prejudice and lead one |
race to appreciate the good qualities of |
another. They make public opinion so |
powerful and swift that kings and |
presidents and emperors are forced to
pay attention. They lead to excuses
and defence on the part of the king of
Belgium for the condition of the Con-
go State, they make the Car of Russia
uneasy, they bring France to do justice
% Dreyfus. The great heart of the
world thrills at the reports of cruelty,
wrong or disaster. The time is COM
ng when the essential brotherhood of !
nan will be more and more clearly
seen and felt, when it shall be seen
md known that we are all children of |
,ne father, all brethren in the king
lom of Christ, our Elder Brother.
We have cause to be thankful for
many things. The loss of life has been
mall. The people are being cared for
md fed. The worlds heart has been
ouched. Men nave watched and wait
ID the world over and we on these dis
ant islands have felt how close we are
o the rest of the world
AT such times men feel the thrill of
brotherhood, of common interest, of :
ommon destiny. 1t is worth the earth
quake and the fire if, after these have $
'assed, we hear the still small voice {
ONE out of the silence and recognize
as the voice of God speaking to US ]
essons of life, lessons of the true value I
f things, lessons of the use of misfor- ]
une lessons of the fatherhood of God
nd the brotherhood of man. II
After the crucif1xion comes the re- 7
that is the eastertide lesson. G
iod grant that after this cross of fire s
San Francisco may rise which shall ,
e better and purer and so stronger.
city whose glory shall not be in its @
locks and stocks but in the character c
its men, the purity and stability of a