The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1906-05-24

generally of the consideration of fun
damental truths, of general theories
and of ideals:
Now, in our time, philosophy and
relision-our theory. hi is, about
ultimate things, has been driven out,
more or less, simultaneously, from
two fields which it used to occupy.
General ideals used t. dominate litera
ture. They have been driven out by
the cry of Art for arts sake Gener-
al ideals used to dominate politics.
They have been driven out by the
the idea of efficiency" which may
roughly be translated as politics for
politics sake" P~ersistently for the
last twenty years the ideals of order
and liberty ave dwindled in our
books, the ambitions of wit and elo
quence have dwindled in our parlia-
ments. General theories of the rela-
ton of things have been extruded
from both, n we are in a position to
ask VIVA have we gained by this
extinction? Is literature better. is
politics better, for having discarded
the moralist and the philosopher"
Again he says:
Some of our modern politicians
claim the colossal license of Caesar
and the Superman, claim that they
are too practical to be pure and too
patriotic to be moral = +
but the upshot of it ali is m~ediocrity."
Neither in the world of politics
nor that of literature, then, has the
rejection of general theories proved
a success. 1t nay be that there have
been many moon struck and mislead-
ing ideals that have from time to time
perplexed mankind. But assuredly
there has been no ideal in practice
so moon-struck int misleading as the
ideal of p~racticality. A
man who is perpetually thinking of
whether this race or that ace is
cause is promising, is the man who
will never believe in anything long
enough to make it succeed. s Is
There is nothing which is SO weak
for working purposes as the enormous
Importance attached to immediate vic
tory. There is nothing that fails like
~uccess."
This author calls our attention to
the danger of dwelling too much upon
the perverted ideas of practically in
hnSinnCS and nnIitinc ON iAao whion
is perhaps a natural accompaniment
of modern conditions. But it would
De a great mistake for us to go to the
other extreme. We might be led into
the error of believing, like some pes
simists do, that in order to be success
full in business under present condit-
ions, we cannot be square,; that the
only way to be successful in political
life is through a series of humiliating
compromises.
Now, | am not ready to believe tina
this is the situation in either bust
ness Or politics, here in New Mexico
or elsewhere. l cannot believe, and
it would be a great pity if You, young
men, on the threshold of your careers
should believe, hat the day has pas
sed when honesty is The best policy
in either business or in politics. 1t
would De a still greater pity if you
should, as many people do. associate
the term politics" with way that
are dark and paths that are deviou
and obscure, because some men VINO
daunfo "11ah Of fhoir onarrioc 70 ro1;
tics are devious and obscure in their
methods. 1t would be just as unfortu.
nate for you to acquire the cantank-
rous and petulant spirit, which is
very prevalent nowadays, as it would
be for you to fall into the "stradling''
spirit, which seems to be equally pre-
valent. Less vicious thar either of
these, though bad enough in the spirit
of a~loofness, because that at least
does no harm to others, and is salts
t~ankerous spirit, the spirit of con.
slant fault-finding, of petty criticism,
of drawing conclusions from entirely
inadequate causes, it is perhaps the
most unwholesome and miserable of
any spirit possible, the easiest to fall
into and the most difficult to be rid
of. 1t makes you hate yourself, it
makesc you hate the world and, in
the end it makes the world nate you.
There is no cleverness SO cheap as
the cleverness of the scoffer: there
is nothing easier han to tear down
without building up.
In religion the agnostic is as I'M
wholesome as the mug-wump in poll
tics. We haven't much resnect foa