Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-07-05

to the so-called inferior races is not
discharged by merely feeding them in
times of famine or by contributing to
their temporary support when some
other calamity overtakes them. A much
i greater assistance is rendered them
I when they are led to a more elevated
plane of thought and activity by ideals
which stimulate them TO self-develop-
ment. The Improvement of the. people
object in all intercourse with the
orient.
Carry Five BLESSINGS.
I Among the blessings which the Chris
tian nations are at this time able-and
in duty bound-to carry to the rest of
the world, | may mention five: Educa-
ton, knowledge of the science of gov
ernment, arbitration as a substitute for
war. appreciation of the dignity of la
) Dor, and a high conception of life.
/ Education comes first, and in nothing
/ have the United States and England
! been more clearly helpful than in the
advocacy of universal education. If
I the designs of God are disclosed by
His handiwork, then the creation of the
human mind is indubitable proof that
the Almighty never intended that learn
F! ing should be monopolized by a few,
and he arrays himself against the plans
of Jehovah who would deny intellectual
training to any part of the human race.
! 1t is a false civilization, not true one,
that countenances the permanent sep
aTation of society into distinct classes,
! the one encouraged to improve the
mind and the other condemned to
| hopeless ignorance. Equally false is
; that conception of international politics
+, which would make the prosperity of
one nation depend upon the eXploita-
ton of another. While no one is far
F., sighted enough to estimate with ac
curacy the remote, or even the immedi-
ate, consequences of human action, yet
as we can rely upon the principle that
each individual profits rather than
loses by the progress and prosperity
of his neighborS, so we cannot doubt
that it is to the advantage of each ma
ton that every other nation shall make
the largest possible use of its own re-
sources and the capabilities of its peo-
pie.
No one questions that Japan's influ-
ence has been a beneficent one since
she has emerged from illiteracy and
endowed her people with public schools
open to all her boys and girls. The
transition from a position of obscurity
into a world power was scarcely more
rapid than her transition from a men,
ace into an ally. China is entering
upon similar experience, and l am
confident that her era of reform will
powerful co-laborer in the international
vineyard. In India, in the Philippines,
in Egypt, and even in Turkey Stats
tics show a gradual extension of edu-
cation, and I trust / will be epardoned
if | say that neither the armies, nor
the navies, nor yet the commerce of !
our nations have given us so just a T!
claim to the gratitude of the people of
Asia as have our school teachers, sent,
many of them, by private rather than
by public funds.
The English language has become
the vehicle for the conveyance of gov
Iernmental truth even more than for
the spread of general information, for !,
beginning with Magma Charta and con-
tinuing through the era of American
revolution and the declaration of indie
pendence down to the present, no lam
guage has been so much employed for