The Charles Mix new era. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1???-1911, 1910-05-20

citizen army. and the mercenary has al
moot disappeared. while the army exists
on . vaster scale han ever before In his
tory. This II % among the military mon
archies OF Europe.
In our y Civil war Of the United
States the same thing occurred. peaceful
people ~ We are. Al that time more than
two generations had passed since the
War OF Independence. During the whole
Of that period the people had been en-
gagged In no ~life-and-death struggle, and
yet. whe the Civil war broke out. and
after some costly and bitter lessons at
the beginning. he lighting spirit of the
people wal shown to better advantage
than ever before. The war was peculiar
ly . wa- for q principle. . war waged
by each side for an ideal. and while faults
and shortcomings were plentiful among
the combatants. there was Comparatively
little s~ordidness Of motive or conduct. In
such a giant struggle. where across the
warp Of so many interests 10 shot The
woof Of 30 many purposes. dark strands
and bright, strands somber and brilliant.
are always intertwined: Inevitably there
was corruption here and there In the Civil
war. but ali the leaders on both sides.
and the great majority Of the enormous
masses OF fighting men. wholly disre-
Garded. and were wholly uninfluencsd by,
pecuniary considerations
Wealth and Politics.
Another striking contrast in the course
Of modern civilization AZ compared with
the later stages of the Graeco-Roman or
classic civilization 10 to be found in the
relations Of wealth and politics. In cias-
sic times. al the civilization advanced to-
ward It's zenith. politics became . recog-
mixed means of accommodating great
wealth. Caesar was again and again on
the verge Of bankruptcy: he spent an
enormous fortune. and he recoupcd him.
self by the money which he made out OF
his politicai-military career. Augustus es-
tablished imperial Rome on firm founda-
ions by the use he made OF the huge
fortune he had acquired by plumber. What
a contrast 10 offered by the careers OF
Washington and Lincoln, There were a
few exceptions in ancient days: but the
immense majority Of the Greeks and the
Romans as their civilizations eliminated.
accepted money-making on a 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
the last two or three centuries. During
this time there has been a steady growth
away from the theory that money-making
II 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 a public ca
reer even a century ago. are now utterly
Impossible. Wealthy men still exercise a
large, and sometimes ar improper, infu-
ence In politics. but IL IL apt to be an in
direct influence: and in the advanced
states the mere suspicion that the wealth
OF public men Is obtained or added to as
an incident OF their public careers will
bar them from public life. Speaking
generally. wealth may very greatly infu-
ence modern political life, but it is not ac-
quired In political life.
Optimistic for the Future.
Mr.. Roosevelt called attention to
the fact that hitherto every civiliza-
ton that has arisen has been able to
develop only a few activities. its field
of endeavor being limited in kind as
well as in locality, and each Of these
civilizations has fallen. What is the
lesson to us of today? he asked. Will
the crash come, and be all the more
terrible because Of the immense in
crease in activities and area? To this
he replied:
Personally. I do not believe that our
civilization will fall. l think that on the
y" 49, = oha lot
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 at
ford to develop any one set OF qualities.
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 the 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
stand at the base OF individual, Of family
life. the fundamental and essential quail
ties-the homely. everyday. all-important
virtues. II the average man will not
work, II he has not in i'm the will and
the power to be a good husband and ia
ther. II, the average woman Is not a good
housewife. a good mother Of many
healthy children. then the state will top
pie, will go down. no matter 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 a
common end. which the German people
ave shown in such signal fashion during
the last half-century. Moreover. the
thin~s Of the spirit are even more impor-
fant than the things Of the body. We can
well do without the hard intolerance and
arid intellectual b~arrenness OF what was
worst In the theological systems OF the
past. but there has never been q greater
need OF a high and fine religious spirit
than at the present time. So. while we
can laugh good-humoredly at some of
the pretensions of modern philosophy In
Its various branches. II 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 ali beware OF the folly
and the viciousness nc worse than folly.
which marks the believer in the perfec-
sibiiity 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 IL Ia only by working along
the lines laid down by the philanthropists.
by the lovers Of mankind. that we can
he snre ~ Hitting our ejyfffzs finp m "a