El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-23

small field of usefulness open Tor the
men Of clustered life who shrink from
contact with their fellows. Still less
room is there for those who deride or
slight what is done by those who ac-
tually bear the brunt of the day; nor
vet for those others who always pro-
fess that they would like to take ac-
ton. If only the conditions of life were
not what they actually are.
Most Important Qualities
at pay all homage to intellect, and
to elaborate and specialized training
of the intellect; and yet 1 know L shall
have the assent of all of you present
when 1 add that more important still
are the commonplace, everyday quail
ties and virtues.
such ordinary, everyday qualities in
clude the will and the power to work,
to fight at need, and to have plenty OF
healthy children. There are few peo-
pie in every country so horn that they
can lead lives Of leisure. These fill n
useful function If they make it evident
that leisure does not mean idlenesss But
the average man must earn his OWN
livelihood. He should be trained to do
so, and he should be trained to feel that
he occupies q contemplate position ii
he does not do so; that he is not an OBJ
ject of envy if he is idle. at whichever
end of the social scale he stands. but
an object of contempt, an object OF
derision.
|, Strong and Brave Man.
TN the next place, the good man
should be both a strong and a brave
man; that is. he should be able to fight,
he should be able to serve his country
as a soldier if the need arises. There
are we'll meaning philosophers who de-
claim against the unrighteousness OF
war. They are right only If they la!
all their emphasis upon the unrighte.
BUSINESS. War is a dreadful thing, and
unjust war is a crime against human
ity. But it is such a crime because II
is unjust, not because it is war. The
choice must ever be in favor of right
eousness, and this whether the aferna-
tive be peace or whether the alternative
be war.
1.-The question must not be merely, IL
there to be peace or war? The question
must be, is the right to prevail? Are
the great laws of righteousness once
more to be fulfilled? And the answer
from a strong and yirile people must be
Yes, whatever the cost
A Nations Blessing.
Finally, even more important than
ability TO work, even more important
than ability to fight at need, is ii to
remember that the chief of blessings for
any nation is that it shall leave it's seed
to inherit the land. 1t was the crown
of blessings in biblican times; and ii is
the crown of blessings now. The great
est Of all curses is the curse OF ster-
ility, and the SeVereSt of all condem.
nations should be that visited upon will
full steriilty. The first essential in
any civilization is that the man and
the woman shall be father and mother
Of healthy children, so that the race
shall increase and not decrease. If this
is not so, if through no fault of the
society there is failure TO increase, IL is
a great misfortune.
eff the failure is due to deliberate
and wilful fault, then it is not merely
! a misfortune, it is one of those crimes
| of ease and self indulgence. of shrink.
| ing from pain and effort and risk.
which in the long run nature Furnishes
| more heavily than any other. If we of
I the great republics. if we. the free
| people who claim to have emancipated
! ourselves from the thraldom OF wrong
and error, bring down on our heads the
| curse that comes upon the wiIfully bar
rem, then ii Will be an idle waste of
! breath to prattle of our achievements
| to boast of all that we have done. No
| refinement OF life. no dclicacy of taste
| no material progress, no sordid heaping
up of riches. no sensuous development
| of art and literature, can in any way
compensate for the loss of the great
| fundamental virtues; and of these great
fundamental virtues, the greatest is the
races power 10 perpetuate the race.
A Good Citizen.
I'm short, the good citizen in a re-
public must realize that he ought to
possess two sets of qualities, and that
Ia
must have those qualities which make
for efficiency, and he must also have
those qualities which direct the eff
cheney into channels for the public
good. He is useless if he is inefficient.
There is nothing TO be done with that
type Of citizen of whom all that can
be said is that be is harmless. Virtue
which is dependent upon a sluggish cir
culation is not impressive. There Is
little place in active life for the timid
good man. The man who is saved by
weakness from robust wickedness IS
likewise rendered immune from the ro-
buster virtues. The good citizen in a
republic must first of ell be able to
hold his own. He is no good citizen
unless he has the ability which will
make him work hard and which at need
viii make him fight hard. The good
citizen is not a good citizen unless he
is an efficient citizen.
Question of Socialism.
There are plenty OF men calling
themselves Socialists with whom. up to
a time point, it is quite possible TO
work If the ninth step is one which
both we and they wish to take why.
of course, take it, without any regard
to the fact that our views as to the
tenth step may differ. But, on the 9TH
er hand, keep clearly in mind that,
though it has been worth while to take
one step, this does not in the least
mean that it may not be highly disad-
vanta geous to take the next.
"The good citizen will demand liberty
for himself, and as a matter of pride
he will see to IL that others receive
the liberty which he thus claims as his
own Probably the best test of true
love of liberty in any country is the
way in which minorities are treated in
that country. Not only should there be
complete liberty in matters of religion
and opinion, but complete liberty for
each man to lead his life as he desires,
provided only that in so doing he does
not wrong his naighbor."