The Glenwood post., 1910-05-14

most disappeared. while the army extsts
on a vaster scale than ever before In his
tory. This is among the military mon
archies of Europe.
In our own Civil war OF the Onitoo
States the same thing occurred. peaceful
people we are. At that time more tnan
two generations had passed since the
War of independence. During the whole
of that period the people had been en-
gagged in no Mfe-and-death struggle; and
yet, when the Civil war broke out. and
after some costly and bitter lessons At
the beginning. tho fighting spirit OF the
people was shown to better advantaSs
than ever before. The war was peculiar
ly = war for a principle war waSed
b, ZACH side for an ideal, and while faults
and shortcomings were pientifui among
the combatants. there was comparatively
little sorddness of motive or conduct In
such a giant struggle. where across the
warp of so many interests 10 shot the
woof of many purposes. dark strands
and bright, strands somber and brilliant,
are always intertwned; inevitably there
was corruption here and there IN the civil
war; but all the leaders on both sides.
and the great majority Of the enormous
masses of fighting men, wholly disre-
garded, and were wholly uninf1uenced- by.
pecuniary considerations.
Wealth and Politics.
Another striking contrast in the course
of modern civilization as compared with
classic civilization Is to be found in the
relations of wealth and politics. In clas-
sic times, as the civilization advanced to-
ward its zenith. politics became rsAps-
nized means of accommodating Elat
wealth. Caesar wes again and asaiH on
the verge of bankruptcy: he spent an
enormous fortune: and he recouped him
self by the money which he made out OF
his political-military career. Augustus es-
tablished imperial Rome on frm founda-
4 H. 50 H. h,,<~
fortune he had acquired by plunder. What
a contrast is offered by the careers of
Washington and Lincoln! There were q
few exceptions in ancient days: but the
immense majority of the Greeks and the
Romans. as their civilizations eliminated.
accepted money ymaking on large scale
as one of the Incidents of q successful
public career. Now all of this is In sharp
contrast to what has happened within
tho last two or three centuries. During
this time there has been a steady growth
away from the theory that money-makine
is permissible in an honorable public ca
reer.-
In this respect the standard has been
constantly elevated, and things which
statesmen had no hesitation in doing
three centuries or two centuries ago. and
which did not seriously hurt public ca
reer even century ago. are now utterly
impossible. Wealthy men still exercise .
large. and sometimes an improper. influ-
direct influence: and in the advanced
states the mere suspicion that the wealth
of public men Is obtained or added to
an incident of their public careers will
bar them from public life. Speaking
generally. wealth may very greatly infiu-
ence modern political life. but 1t II not 40
quired in political life.
Optimistic for the Future.
Mr.. Roosevelt called attention to
70 xhok {u{I
tion that has arisen has been able to
develop only few activities. its field
Of endeavor being limited in kind az
well as in locality, and each Of these
civilizations has fallen. What is tho
lesson to us of today? he asked. VIII
the crash come, and be all the moro
terrible because Of the immense In
crease in activities and area? To
he replied:
Personally. do not believe that our
civilization will fall. I think that on the
whole we have grown better and not
worse. think that on the whole the fu-
ture holds more for us than even the
great past has held. But. assuredly, 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 af-
any one set of activities. at the cost of
seeing others. equally necessary. afro
phied. 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.
We. the men of today and of tho fu-
ture. need many qualities II we are to do
our work well. We need, first of all and
most important of all. the qualities which
Cfo ND OF h. Ho~ l,..lt,
life. the fundamental and essential quail
des-the homely. everyday. all-important
virtues. If the average man will not
work. II he has not In him the will and
the power to be a good husband and fa-
ther; II the average woman 10 not . good
housewife. Il good mother Of many
healthy children. then the state will top
pie. Will go down. no matter what may
be its brilliance of artistic development
or material achievement. But these home-
ly qualities are not enough. There must,
In addition. be that power of organization.
that power of working in common for .
common end. which the German people
have shown in such signal fashion during
the last half-century. Moreover. the
things of the spirit are even more impor-
tant than the things Of the body. We can
well do without the hard intolerance and
arid intellectual barrenness of what was
worst in the theological systems of the
past, but there has never been greater
need of high and fine religious splr4
than at the present time. 3d. while p
can laugh good-humoredly at some 81
the pretensions of modern philosophy in
its various branches. 1t would be worse
than folly on our part to ignore our need
Of intellectual leadership.
Must Steer Middle Course.
Never has philanthropy. humanitarian
Ism. seen such development as now: and
though we must all beware of the folly
and the viciousness worse than folly,
which marks the believer in the perfec-
tibility of man when his heart runs away
with his head. or when vanity usurps the
place of conscience. yet we must remem-
Der also that 1t Is only by working alonn
the lines laid down by the philanthropists,
by the lovers of mankind. that we can
be sure of lifting our civilization to .
higher and more permanent plane of WELL
being than was ever attained by any pre-
ceding civilization. Unjust war II to bs
ahhorred: hut t,. tta <aa.a