The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-01-18
THE STANDARD: OGDEN UTAH. MONDAY JANUARY 49, 1909

has blinded the eyes and stopped the
ears OF two-thirds and more OF our
people. 80 that only mere handful
OF men and women, and they at the
very bottom of the social and com
mercial scale, are able to see the
wrongs or hear the cries for help OF
men who now and here are seeking
that refuge from oppression and bru-
tally which this nation was supreme
ly intended to be. Capitalism In this
country has almost completely ossf-
fed whatever conscience this people
has possessed, and 1t is only by Ill.
finite struggle and pain and sacrifice
that the claims of simple Justice can
be brought TO the minds OF the peo-
pie. Indeed, capitalism has so long
and so completely smothered the ma
tons conscience. that even the min
ister OF a church, the professed follow
er OF Jesus Christ, takes his life in
his hands when he attempts to arouse
the conscience OF his congregation to
the facts and needs and demands OF
moral and spiritual integrity. And not
one in thousand OF those who make
that attempt can find congregation
which will give him living support
while he makes that attempt. Yes.
the Russian government today is a
mirror In which every other govern
ment may look to see its own refiec-
ton. The autocracy OF Russia is
nothing but the legitimate issue OF all
capitalism. That autocracy is not a
whit more cruel more heartless, more
morally debasing and destructive.
than the capitalistic autocracy which
today determines the policies and
purposes, the conceptions and aims.
the morals and ethics. which control
the public and private life OF Amer
lea.
The Russian revolution is n great
object lesson hung up before the eyes
OF all the world so that no one may
have any excuse for not seeing what
it is that If fundamental to the welfare
OF the human soul, held up there to
tell the world that the only basis on
which we can build anything noble or
true or enduring are the basis OF
economic justice. However difficult
1t may be to see the truth In other
countries. there Is no excuse for not
resolution exactly what the church
means today. what government means
today, what education means today,
and above all what Justice requires.
Where will you find faith in Russia?
Will you find IL among those who are
contented with things as they are?
No, you will find faith alone among
those who make up the reyolutlonists
OF Russia. Where will you find hero
ism In Russia? VIII you find 1t among
those who accept the existing system
Its ruling class? No, you will find
heroism in Russia only among those
who are making their very lives
free. glad Offering for freedom, for
justice, for the uplift of every least
and lowest memba:. = 44.--et unhappy
country. The stories of thy Russian
revolutionists are epics, ard gospels,
are stories which, as no othfr | know
OF. bring to mind the nobility and sac
rifice and loyalty of those who inau
gurated Christianity in the w&rld. In
no other nation OF race today can the
deeds OF the faith of those revolution
lists be paralloled.
The very conditions which exist In
this country make practically impos-
5sble the same kind of heroism which !
marks SO many of these Russian revo.
lutionists. The American character
has been almost wholly corrupt and
tainted by the dominant materialism |
Of our nation. From the cradle up.
the Ideal of the young man OF young
in this country Is to get ahead,
to succeed in business, to make |
money, Accepting our government
as the best in the world, we do not |
feel any profound necessity of a |
change in that government, and by |
that very fact we lack one of tho
greatest motives which inspires our
Russian brothers and sisters. Accept |
ing American ideals as good, we con-
sciously or unconsciously shape our |
plans to fit our children to those |
ideals, no matter what It may mean |
Tor their moral nature. Accepting
or fashion or the limitations
of mere class interests as the stand
'rd by which church is to be deemed
we lack the power TO
change our methods and to find sane
Ion and sacredness In measures and
methods far different from those of the
of churches. And yet, 1t
seems TO me that the very fact of our
souls and the souls of our children In
his country depends upon our shak-
nS off these shackles OF tradition
md custom and inherited ideals and
at any cost, devote ourselves
n the most direct way possible TO
revolutionary work. The
Id religious ways and methods and
deas and ideals are as played out and
worthless as are the old political
ai;hs and the old Industrial ways. !.
,ew ethics is here, new morality Is
ere, a new education is due, a new
eligion is already inspiring men and
yemen with larger and diviner sane
Ions and ideals. We can see today
hat the sacredest interests OF man.
ind depended In the eighteenth cen
pry upon the revolutionary spirit OF
hat century. Shall 1t not be possible
or us now to see that upon the reyo-
ltionary spirit of the twentieth cen.
ury, the revolutionary spirit which
as made the story of the Russian
evolutionists a veritable gospel. ds-
ends the sacredest interests and is
ues of this age?