The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1910-06-08

ana unhealthy. The most omlnous eig1
ID the diminution in the birth-rate, in tn,
rate OF natural increase, now to a larger
or lesser degree shared by most of tn,
owned nations Of central and western
europe, OF America and Australia: q dim
mutton 80 great that II it continues for tn.
next century at the rate which has OBJ
tanned for the last Is years. all the more
mighty civilized people will be stationary
or else have begun to 60 backward In
Popuiatlon, while many Of them will have
already gone very far backward.
There is much that should give US con.
Germ for the future. But there is much
also which should give us hope. No, man
is more apt to be mistaken than the
prophet of evil. believe with all my
heart that great future remains for US;
but whether it does or does not, our
duty is not altered. However the bat
name will with utmost vigor do his al
!oted task. and bear himself as valiant
~ IN defeat as in victory. Come what
Will we belong to peoples who have not
yielded to the craven fear Of being great
In the ages that have gone by. the
banded and that have played a mighty
! part in the world, have in the end
grown old and weakened and vanished:
but so have the nations whose only
tnougnt was to avoid all danger, all eff
Tort, who would risk nothing, and who
therefore gained nothing. In the end the
same fate may overwhelm all alike: but
the memory Of the one type perishes with
1t while the other lee yes it's mark deep
on the history of all the future of man.
kind.
A nation that seemingly dies may be
porn again; and even though in the
physical sense it die utterly, 1t may yet
hand down a history Of heroic achieve
ment. and for all time to come may pro-
1oundly influence the nations that arise in
Its place by the impress of what 1t has
done. Best of all Is it to do our part well,
ana at the same time to see our blood live
young and vital in men and women fit to
take up the task as we lay it down; for
SO shall our seed inherit the earth. But
II TINS, which Is best. is denied us. then
at least 1t Is ours to remember that II we
choose we can be torch-bearers, as our
fathers were before us. The torch has
been handed on from nation to nation.
from civilization to civilization through.
out all recorded time. from the dim years
before history dawned. down to the bla-
zing splendor Of this teeming century of
ours. 1t Is dropped from the hand of the
coward and the sluggard, Of the man
wrapped In luxury or love of ease. the
man whose soul was eaten away by self
indulgence; 1t has been kept alight only
by those who were mighty of heart and
cunning of hand What they worked at.
providing 1t was worth doing at all, was
OF no less matter than how they worked,
whether In the realm Of the mind or the
realm OF the body. II their work was
good, II what they achieved was of SUBJ
stance. then high success was really
theirs.
Strength With Morality.
In the first part of this lecture I drew
certain analosfes between what had oc- |
Cured to forms of animal life through |
the procession of the ages on this planet |
and what has occurred and Is occurring |
to the great artificial civilizations which |
nave gradually spread over the worlds |
surface during the thousands of years |
that have elapsed since cities of temples |
and palaces first rose beside the Nile and
Minoan Crete bristled with the masts of
the Aegean craft. But of course the
parallel is true only in the toughest
and most general way. Moreover even
between the civilizations of today and
he civilizations of ancient times there
are differences so profound that we must
oe cautious in drawing any conclusions
or the present based on what has hap
oened in the past. While freely admit
ing all OF our follies and weaknesses of
oday, 1t Is yet mere perversity to refuse
% realize the incredible advance that
las OCcH lldue III clinical STANDARDS. l do |
lot believe that there is the slightest nee
,ssary connection between any weaken
ng OF Vlrtle force and this advance in
he moral standard, this growth of the
ense of obligation to ones neighbor and
II reluctance to do that neighbor wrong
We need have scant patience with that
lily cynicism which insists that kindli-
less of character only accompanies
Of character. On the contrary,
ust as in private life many of the men
+ strongest character are the very men |
Il loftiest and most exalted morality, so
believe that in national life as the ages
20 by we shall find that the permanent
ational types will more and more tend
owards those in which, while the intel
ect stands high, character stands higher;
n winch rugged strength and courage, |
ugged capacity to resist wrongful ag-
resslon by others, will go hand in hand
nth lofty scorn Of doing wrong to 9TH
lampden, of Washington and Lincoln.
'hese We're as good men. as disinterested
nd unselfsh men, as ever served
tate; and they were also as strong men |
8 ever founded or saved state. Surely
UGH examples prove that there is moth
1g utopian IN our effort to combine
lst1ce and strength in the same nation
he really high civilizations must them
elves supply the antidote to the self-in-
ulgence and love of ease which they
md to produce.
Problems OF Modern Nations.
Every modern civilized nation has MANY
nd terrible problems to solve within its
wn borders. problems that arise not
erely from juxtaposition of poverty End !
ches, but especially from the self-cor-
,iousness Of both poverty and riches.
ach nation must deal with these mat I.
RS In its own fashion, and yet the spirit !
! which the problem is approached must !
yer be fundamentally the same. It (
ust be spirit of broad humanity: of I
rotherly kindness; of acceptance of re- =
one for each and each for !
u; and at the same time a spirit as re- J.
ote as the poles from every form of {
eakness and sentimentality. AS in war 5
pardon the coward is to do cruel !
rong to the brave man whose life his 1
'wardice jeopardizes, so In civil affairs !
Is revolving to every principle of | :
lstice to give to the lazy, the vicious. or c
zen the feeble and dull witted, a reward Q
hich is really the robbery of what !.
raver, wiser, ADLER men have earned i
he only effective way to help any man I
to help him to help himself; and the p
tn eo1, III