Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-05-12

farmer.
Now, will not assert that in mod
ern civilized society these tendencies
have been wholly overcome, but there
has been a much more successful ef-
fort to overcome them than was the
case in the early civilizations
Wealthy men still exercise a large
and sometimes an improper influence
in politics, but Il is apt to be an in
direct influence. and in the advanced
states the mere suspicion that the
wealth of public men is obtained or
added to as an incident of their public
careers will bar them from public life
Speaking generally, wealth may very
greatly influence modern political life.
but it is not acquired in political life
The colonial administrators. German
or American. French or English of
this generation lead careers which, as
compared with the careers of other
men Of like ability. show too little
rather than too much regard for money
making, and literally a world scandal
would be caused by conduct which a
ed as moderate and which would not
have been especially uncommon even
in the administration of England q
century and a half ago.
Great Men Come From the Poor.
On the whole. the great statesmen
Of the last few generations have been
either men of moderate means or, IL
men of wealth, men whose wealth was
diminished rather than increased by
their public services.
What is the lesson to us today? Are
we to go the way of the older civiliza-
tions? The immense increase in the
area of civilized activity today, so that
1t is nearly coterminous with the
worlds surface; the immense increase
in the multitudinous variety Of it's ac-
tivities; the immense increase in the
velocity of the world movement-are
all these to mean merely that the
crash will be all the more complete
and terrible when it comes?
Personally l do not believe that our
civilization will fall. | think that on
the whole we have grown better and
not worse. | think that on the whole
the future holds more for us than even
the great past has held. But as
suredly the dreams of golden glory in
the future will not come true unless,
high of heart and strong of hand. by
our own mighty deeds we make them
come true.
We cannot afford to develop any one
set of qualities, any one set Of activi-
ties, at the cost of seeing others equal
ly necessary atrophied. Neither the
military efficiency of the Mongol, the
extraordinary business ability of the
Phoenician nor the subtle and polished
intellect of the Greek availed to avert
destruction.
What We Need.
We, the men of today and of the fu-
ture, need many qualities If we are to
do our work well. We need, first of
all and most important of all, the
qualities which stand at the base of
individual, of family life. the funda-
mental and essential qualities-the
homely, everyday. all important vir-
tues.
If the average man will not work, If
he has not in him the will and power
to be a good husband and father, II
the average woman is not a good
housewife, a good mother of many
healthy children. then the state will
topple, will go down. no matter what
may be It's brilliance of artistic de-
Velopment or material achievement.
Unjust war is to be abhorred, but
woe to the nation that does not make
ready to hold its own In time of need
against all who would harm it, and
woe thrice over to the nation in which
the average man loses the fighting
edge, loses the power to serve as a
soldier If the day of need should arise.
The Dream of Civilization.
1t is no impossible dream to build
up a civilization in which morality,
ethical development and true feeling
of brotherhood shall all alike be di-
vOrced from false sentimentality and
from the rancorous and evil passions
which, curiously enough, so often ac-
company professions of sentimental at
tachment to the rights of man, In
which a high material development 10
the things of the body shall be achieved
without subordination of the things
of the soul, in which there shall be a
genuine desire for peace and justice
without loss of those virile qualities
without which no love of peace or
justice shall avail any race, in which |
the fullest development of scientific |
research, the great distinguishing fea-
ture of our present civilization, shall |
yet not imply a belief that intellect !
can ever take the place Of character |
for from the standpoint of the nation
as of the individual it is character that |
is the one vital possession.
Finally. this world movement Of |
civilization, this movement which is
now felt throbbing in every corner Of
the globe, should bind the nations OF
the world together while yet leaving !
unimpaired that love of country In the
individual citizen which in the present
stage Of the worlds progress is essen
tial to the worlds well being. You.
my hearers. and | who speak to you,
belong 10 different nations.