Coeur d'Alene evening press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1907-1929, 1910-04-23

ANASt AtttaIAisS types pFUuuecH W
modern Industrial democracy. So it
Is with the orator.
The homely virtues Of the house
hold. the ordinary worwaday virtues
which make the woman a good house,
wife and housemother. which make
the man a hard worker. a good hus-
band and father, a good soldier az
need. stand at the bottom OF charac-
ter. But OF course many others must
be added thereto II a State Is to be
not only free but great. Good citi-
zenship is not good citizenship II ex-
hIblted only in the home. There re-
main the duties OF the individual IN
relation to the State. and these du-
ties are none too easy under the con-
ditions which exist where the effort
is made to carry on free government
in a complex. industrial civilization
IndIvidualism and Socialism.
We can just as little afford 10 fol-
low the doctrinaires OF an extreme
indiyiduallsm as the doctrinaires OF
an extreme socialism. Individual ini-
tiatIve, so far from being discouraged,
should be stimulated; and yet we
should remember that, as society
develops and grows more complex.
we continually find that things which
once II was desirable to leave to in
diyidual initiative can, under the
changed conditions, be performed
with better results by common effort.
II Is quite impossible, and equally
undesirable, to draw in theory hard
and fast line which shall always d.
vide the two sets OF cases. This ev-
cry one who Is not cursed with the
pride Of the closet philosopher will
see, II he will only take the trouble
think about some OF our commonest
phenomena. For instance, when peo-
pie live on Isolated farms or in little
hamlets, each house can be left to
attend to It's own drainage and water
supply; but the mere multiplication
Of families In given area produces
new problems which. because they
differ In size. are found to differ not
only in degree but in kind from the
old; and the questions Of drainage
and water supply have to be consider
ed from the common standpoint. IT
Is not matter for abstract dogma
thing to decide when this point isl
reached; It is matter to be tested
by practical experiment. Much Of
the discussion about socialism and
individualism is entirely pointless,
because Of failure TO agree on term
inology, II Is not good to be the
slave of names. am strong In
dividualist by personal habit, inheri-
lance, and conviction; but it Is al
mere matter OF common sense to
recognize that the State, the com
munity, the citizens acting together,
can do a number of things better than
If they were left to individual action.
The indivldualism which finds its ex-
preston In the abuse OF physical
force is checked very early In the
growth of civilization. and we of to-
day should In our turn strive to
shackle or destroy that individuallsm
which triumphs by greed and cum
ming, which exploits the weak by
craft instead of ruling them by bru-
tality. We ought to go with any |
man in the effort to bring about JUS
tlce and the equality of opportunity, |
to turn the tool user more and more
into the tool owner. to shift burdens
so that they can be more equitably |
borne. The deadening effect on any
race of the adoption of logical and |
extreme socialistic system could not
be overstated; It would produce gross
er wrong and outrage. fouler immor-
allty. than any existing system. But /
this does not mean that we may not |
with great advantage adopt certain
OF the principles professed by some
given set of men who happen to call /
themselves Socialists: to be afraid
to do so would be to make a mark of
weakness on our part,
But we should not take part in act
ing lie any more than In telling a /
lie. We should not say that men are
equal where they are not equal, nor
proceed upon the assumption that +
there Is an equality where It does not I
exist but We should strive to bring /
about a measurable equality. at least /
to the extent OF preventing the in
which is due to force or
fraud. Abraham Lincoln. a man Of (
the plain people, blood OF their blood +
aud bone Of their bone. who all his |
life toiled and wrought and suffered |
for them aud at fha and died fnr