The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-23

! perience would Justify Indeed. the tend
ency Of some ministers in taking part in
politics and seeking governmental reform
| Is to demand too close realization of
their ideals and an unwillingness to give
up the accomplishment of some for de
cided progress toward others Tnis IS a
| limitation upon their usefulness.
Tendency Toward Paternaiism.
In TWO ways the minister is becoming
more closely in touch with politics and
governmental affairs. In the first place
the modern tendency Of government Is pa
ternal. Individualism is not dead, bui the
laissez faire school does not have It's
earnest and consistently rigid adherents
now as it did years ago. We all reeog-
nze. I think. OF at least most OF us do,
that there is certain aid. there is certain
protection that the government IS IN duty
bound. acting for all the people. to extend
TO a smaller number of the people whose
circumstances and condition forbid their
looking out for themselves. Thus in the
enforcement of health regulations, in the
passage of tenement laws, child labor
laws establishment of orphan aSylumS
and places of refuge for waits, and in
many other ways. the work of the minis
tiers in home missions brings him in con-
tact with necessity for government action,
and he is heard and is entitled to be heard,
upon the policies of the government in
these regards.
So. too in the matter of foreign mis-
sions. The greatest agency today in keep
9
oriental races. who. however old their ira
ditions aud their civilization. are now
tending toward occidental ideals, is the es-
Enlistment of foreign missions as the
oUtpOsts of the advance guard of Chris
tian civilzs ton. These missions have the
duty of representing the ideal of western
| Christian progress and through them
such progress is to be commended to the
races whom il is hoped We may induce
to accept that same civilization. The
leaders of these missionary branches Of
the churches are now becoming some OF
our most learned statesmen in respect OF
our proper oriental policies, and they are
10 he reckoned with by the men more i'm
mediateiy charged with the responsibility
of initiating and carrying on such policies
The American Teacher.
The next profession is that of the teach
er. OF course, the great number of teach
ers are engaged IN primary and secondary
instruction and in industrial or vocational
work. Their relation to politics and gov
ernment is of the utmost importance,
though indirect. 1t is and ought to be
their highest duty to instill in the minds of
the young girls and boys the patriotism
and love OF country, because the bOy IS
father to the man, and the patriotism of
the extreme youth of the country may
Wen determine that of the grown men.
The effect of an intense patriotism which
thrills through the nerves of the boys OF
a country is illustrated in the immense
p
one who visits that interesting country or
comes into contact with the Japanese can
avoid seeing its effect. The term Bush
lido is a kind OF apOtheOsis of patriotism.
The joy with which japanese give up their
lives 10 defense of their country mas its
foundation in real religious feeling, and
is most inspiring to all who come to know
Il Il should be fun of significance to
those Of the teaching profession VINO be
come responsible for the thoughts and
ideals of the young.
Another way in which the professional
teacher may exercise great indirect poiit-
ical influence is in the encoura cement that
he ought to give to the young man of
college age and life in the study of poll
tics. Every curriculum of every academic
institution now includes the study of pO-
liticai economy, the study Of sociology,
the study of government, and often the
study Of constitutional law. These, taken
together, with the political history of
England and the United States, cannot
but arouse in the minds of most Amer
lean students an interest in the govern
ment Of their country and in present day
politics, to the point of taking part in
them when opportunity offers 1t is most
encouraging to know the great attention
that is given today in all the universities
to the encouragement of political and
economical discussion among the students,
and the eagerness with which they read
and listen to those problems, the solution
of which is giving the men in actual po-
litical power anxiety and labor
Good Work of the Writers.
4 third profession which exercises some
of the functions OF the ministry and some
of those Of the teacher, is that of the writ
er His profession may be literature, and
embrace the poet, the historian, the nov
eiist, the critic, or may be Journalism,
and include the editor, correspondent and
the news gatheTeT or city reporter In
many aspects, writing is a profession; in
others, VIXEN it is reduced merely to the
purveying and sale of news, it is bust
ness. When conducted on the highest
plane it eXerts as much influence for good
as the ministry. and has a wider range
and, indeed, has probably robbed that
profession OF part of its usefulness be-
cause IT has become a substitute for it
with many persons and in many families
Its power of public instruction Is
very great But when it panders
to the vulgsrest taste for sensa-
tiOnalism and becomes entirely irreSpon-
sible in respect to its influence for good
and its statement of the truth. its peTni-
cious tendency is Obviated only by the
power of the people to protect themselves
against il by a safe discrimination and a
healthy skepticism and clear Understand
ing of its Tecklessness and Oaser motive
The close relation between journalism and
politics and the carrying on of a govern
ment. no one who has been in the slightest
degree familiar with the course of pop
uiar government can ignore The people
demand TO know what their servants in
the legislature. III the executive ana on
the bench are doing, and the chief If not
the only. method by which they are made
aware of the character of the service rem
dered to them is through the press. The
unjust color sometimes given through
jaundiced editors and correspondents has
an injurious effect, but fortunately in the
number of newspapers and in the variety
of motives that affects those who furnish
the news, such injustice is generally REM
edied. The great body OF the people who
have discriminating common sense are en-
abled to reach with considerable accuracy
the truthful verdict and judgment in re
spect to political affairs.
Praise for Physicians.
The next profession for consideration
In its relation TO governmental matter is
that of medicine Until very recently, its
influence has been practically nothing in
a professional way. There have been ply
sicians who have given up their practice
and gone into politics; but there was some
trait of theirs adapted to success in poll
tics that had little or nothing to do with
the practice of their profession. They
have become more interested in govern
ment of late years because the functions
of government have widened, and now
embrace in real and substantial way the
preservation of the health OF all the peo-
bad water, impure food. ili-ventilat ted
houses and failure to isolate contagion,
have in killing people has become more
and more apparent with the study which
great sanitary authorities have given to