The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1908-12-07

character IS the source OF the greater
portion of our misery and discon-
tent; it destroys all happiness in
those who yield to its control; takes
away even the capacity for happi-
ness and causes them to disregard
the happiness of those with whom
they associate. The worlds history
is little less than a panorama of
wars, strife, bloodshed and misery
all the work of the selfish nature.
Mans inhumanity to man.
makes countless thousands mourn.
These selfish tendencies in their
unreasonable demand for .grati6ca-
ton, disregard the true interests of
man, subject him to their tyrannical
sway, and finally sink him into
degradation and ruin. At the. same
time his moral nature is constantly
urging him to deny himself, to
restrain these selfish tendencies and
rise above their demands; to obey
the dictates of his conscience and
follow course of benevolence.
This is the battle of,life which is
waging in the breast OF every indi-
vidual. Than this, no more import
ant battle is ever fought.
Alexander conquered the world,
and wept, it is said, because these
were not other worlds to conquer.
But this selfish nature conquered
Alexander and caused him to die in
drunken revelry in the streets of
Babylon. :,
Caesar, fired by the love of coun-
try, led the man legions
through a thousand battles. to
thousand victories; love of self
ambition led Caesar beyond the
limits of patriotism, induced him to
commit the fatal act of appropriating
to himself the crown of Roman
government, and thus caused his
own downfall. +
Napoleon dethroned kings and
emperors and held them capsives at
his will. His selfish nature, ambi-
ton, gained control of his splendid
intellect, swept him beyond his ap-
pointed bounds, and thus led to
his defeat and Punishment.
All along the pages of the worlds
history we see where her conspicuous
men, her greatest poets, orators,
philosophers and statesmen have
gone down in this conflict, beneath
the power of this destroyer of
their best hopes and highest inter
ests. Men, everywhere, today over
come the obstacles to what they
consider success, then yielding to
the demands of this selfish nature,
utterly fail to fulfill every useful
mission in life, and die unwept, un-
honored and unsung; leaving behind
them no fit memorial.
mo one will dispute my conten.
ton that life's greatest victory is to
so gain control of this selfish nature
that it may be subordinate to the
cultivation and development of the
moral faculties, SO that they may
assert their superiority, and thereby
establish in the individual true man.
hood. And every institution. So
ciety or order is beneficial in its
ultimate results just in the proper
ton that it enlists, encourages and
assists the individual to fight this
battle and to gain this victory. Show
me an institution that demands,
upon its very threshold, an unquali-
fed commitment of it's initiate to
the ends of charity and benevo-
lence, to the emulation of the prin-
ciples of brotherly love; which de-
mands that he enter fully into the
contest, determined to urge an unre-
lenting war against this selfish
nature, and I will at once show
you an institution founded in a
wise and benefcient philosophy. y
And such, my friends, in the
highest degree is the Benevelant and
Protective Order of Elks. No man
can become familiar with the Elk
ritual, attend: the meetings of the
order, and breathe the atmosphere
that surrounds him, associate with
those imbued with the principles
this inculcated, and fail to respond
in some degree to these tenents.
while our greatness and granduer
as a nation is being imperiled by
this APPALLING love of self, there are
thousands of citizens who are being
taught, at the alters of the Elks,
those lessons oflife that are calcula-
ted to lift them above the poisonous
vapors of selhshness and array
them as living conservitors of
all that tends to promote civil lib
erty, as enemies to oppression and
as benefactors of the human race.
II speak, thus, perhaps at too
great length, of the principles and
teachings Of our order. not for the
purpose of imposing our creed and
our belief upon those present who
are not Elks, but, as before stated,
to call attention to some of the
principles protested and emulated by