The Iuka vidette. (Iuka, Miss.) 1894-1912, 1910-06-09

or lesser degree shared by. OF the
civilized nations of central are western
Europe. Of America and Austrapl; a dim
mutton SO great that If It continues for the
next century at the rate which has OBJ
tained for the last % years. all the more
highly civilized people will be stationary
or else have begun to go backward In
population. 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 l believe with all my
heart that a great future remains for us;
hut whether II does or does not. our
duty is not altered However the bat
tie may go. the soldier worthy OF the
name will with utmost vigor do his al
loted task. and bear himself as valiant
ly 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
great nations. the nations that have ex-
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
thought was to avoid all danger. all eff
fort. 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 its mark deep
on the history of all the future of man
kind.
A nation that seemingly dies may be
born again: and even though in the
physical sense II die utterly, 1t may yet
hand down a history of heroic achieve
ment. and for all time to come may pro-
foundly influence the nations that arise in
Its place by the impress of what 1t has
AH.A - t. =.
and 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
IL this, which is best is denied us, then
at least 1t Is ours to remember that IL we
choose we can be torch-bearers. as our
fathers were before U.S. 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 ba
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. If their work was
good, IL what they achieved was of sub
stance. then high success was really
theirs.
Strength With Morality.
In the first part of this lecture I drew
certain analogies between what had &C.
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
have gradually spread over the world s
surface during the thousands of years
that have elapsed since cities of temples
and palaces first rose beside the Nile and
the Euphrates. and the harbors 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
| the civilizations of ancient times there
are differences so profound that we must
| be cautious in drawing any conclusions
| for the present based on what has hap
| pened in the past. While freely admit
| ting all of our folles and weaknesses of
| today, 1t Is yet mere perversity to refuse
| to realize the Incredible advance that
| has been made in ethical standards. I do
| not believe that there is the slightest nee
| essary connection between any weaken
the moral standard. this growth of the
sense of obligation to ones neighbor and
of reluctance to do that neighbor wrong.
We need have scant patience with that
silly cynicism which insists that klndi-
ness of character only accompanies
| weakness of character. On the contrary,
| Just as In private life many of the men
| of strongest character are the very men
| of Hottest and most exalted morality, so
believe that in national life as the ages
| so by we shall find that the permanent
| national types will more and more tend
| towards those In which. while the intel
| lect stands high, character stands higher;
| in which rugged strength and courage,
| rugged capacity to resist wrongful ag-
| gression by others. will go hand in hand
| with lofty scorn of doing wrong to 9TH
ors. This is the type of Timoleon. OF
Hampden, of Washington and Lincoln.
These were as good men. as disinterested
and unSelfish men, as ever served a
state: and they were also as strong men
| as ever founded or saved state. Surely
such examples prove that there is moth
ing Utopian in our effort to combine
justice and strength in the same nation.
The really high civilizations must them
selves supply the antidote to the self-in-
diligence and love OF ease which they
tend to produce.
Problems OF Modern Nations.
EVERY modern cly1lized nation has many
and terrible problems to solve within its
own borders, problems that arise not
merely from juxtaposition of poverty and
riches. but especially from the self-con-
seriousness OF both poverty and riches
Each nation must deal with these mat
ters in its own fashion. and yet the spirit
in which the problem Is approached must
ever be fundamentally the same. 1t
must be a spirit of broad humanity; of
brotherly kindness: of acceptance of re-
sponsibility. one for each and each for
all: and at the same time spirit as re-
mote as the poles from every form of
weakness and sentmentality. AS in war
to pardon the coward is to do cruel
wrong to the brave man whose life his
cowardice jeopardizes. so in civil affairs
1t is revolving to every principle of
justice to give to the lazy. the vicious. or
even the feeble and dull-witted, reward
which is really the robbery of what
Drawer. wiser. ADLER men have earned
The only effective way to help any man
is to help him to help himself: and the
worst lesson to teach him is that he can
be permanently helped at the expense of
some one else True liberty shows itself
to best advantage in protecting the rights
of others. and especially of minorities
Privilege should not be tolerated because
1t Is to the advantage of minority, nor