The Republican journal., 1907-05-02
pensate us for the trouble we may have

learn to know and appreciate the opin-
ions of others who are interested in the
same vocations as ourselves, to respect
their sentiments, to sympathiZe in their
difficulties and to rejoice in their sue
cess. We learn to discard the garb of
of narrow, selfish conservatism; to reach
out beyond the horizon Of the circle of
our own personal field of labor, and to
indulge in wholesome interest in the
affairs of the county, the State, and of
the world at large. In fact, we have
here entered into a practical training
school in the affairs Of every day life,
as well as in those of a more general
character, in which are many teachers,
drawing from their actual business ex-
perience and from careful observation
many things both new and old which
are of much value to the attentive lis
tener, while all may be pupils, each bene-
fitted to some extent by the experience
of others. 1t is an acknowledged fact that
we cannot converse with any person of
average intelligence for any consider
able length of time without learning
something which we had not known
| before. And it is dull person who is
not in some way benefited and educat-
ed by association with others whose
aims and interests are identical with
those in which he is himself interested.
This gathering today, then, is a valu-
able one, not only as a social holiday
and as a means of healthful recreation,
/, but as an educational institute for the
practical and intelligent Patrons gath
cred here. The most of what we know
is simply what we have learned from
others, whether we are sensible or in
sensible of the fact, and as intelligent
citizens we cannot afford to neglect the
opportunity afforded by this organiza~
ton for obtaining i'll practical manner
a reasonably correct knowledge of the
most approved methods of work and
the most beneficial lines of action in
our own vocations. We here obtain,
free of cost, the results of actual
perhaps expensive experience, combin-
ed with the careful study and observa-
ton of the most active, progressiv e
and best Informed Patrons of our
county on matters in which we are
liable to be vitality interested, financi-
ally or otherwise. But it is not alone
in the plain, practical, common every
day details of life in which we should
| be interested. There should be some
thing more to life than merely to exist,
| to simply vegetate and grow, and pass
through the various changes of exist
ence impassively as nonenity. We
should look around and above us for in
spiration and instruction in matters
which do not directly appertain to our
necessarily monotomous, humdrum,
and laborious every day life, which is
true of whatever position of life in
which we may be placed. Steady, plod-
ding, unthinking, continuous labor,
without recreation or change of sur
roundings in some way, tends to the
dwar ring of the intellect, the deadening
of all healthful aspirations for the
beautiful, the grand, and the noble in
life. We need for ourselves, and for
the benefit of those with whom we are
associated, to occasionally step aside
from the beaten path of our daily toll
into realms that are not of our usual
surroundings. We then have an oppor-
how other people, equally as intelligent
and as honest as ourselves, view mat
tiers in general as we'll as in particular,
from their own standpoint. And really
the standpoint from which we consider
matter often has much to do with our
conception of it, So from an organiZa-
ton like this, composed of representa-
tives from widely scattered sections of
the county much valuable information
and instruction of practical character
must necessarily be obtained.
In regard to methods of work in the
various lines appertaining to the social,
intellectual and moral, as we'll as to the
| business world, there is often much
honest difference of opinion. No bet
ter means can be adopted to reach a
| Just conclusion in regard to such mat
| tiers than to have them fairly and fear
lessly discussed by their adhereuts as
viewed from the particular point of
view of each.
| 1t is not absolutely certain that
matter of public policy is right, simply
because we may personally believe it to
be so. Other people as honest as our
selves may take the opposite view of it,
and it is simply a question as to who is
right and who is wrong The consistent
method is to thresh it out in practical
study and debate and see what the re-
suits may prove. Will certain posi-
ton on public question, affecting it
may be the interests of many, stand
the test of fair, considerable public
debate, opposed by men as well inform
ed and as honest as we ourselves claim
| to be? Will it stand the test in the
limelight of publicity opposed by the
sarcastic ability of those who are it's
avowed enemies? Will it prove itself
worthy of confidence when viewed in
the light of the experience of others
who have tried to make of it success?
These are some of the many ways in
which we should test our own judgment
in regard to many public questions
which are of Importance to the CON-
munity and to the State and which it is
Our duty as free citizens of a republic
to consider.
Enjoying as we do the elevation and
enobling privileges of free men, whose
right to part in the decision of ques-
tions of the gravest import to the State
and to the nation no one can deny, it is
a duty which we owe to ourselves and
to humanity to prepare to as great an
extent as possible to perform those
duties in a manner BETTING our exalted
positions. We should place ourselves
in position where justice, truth and
moral rectitude will champion our
cause, where an enlightened mind and q