The Green Forest tribune., 1910-06-10


 for the betterment of social conditions But 1t is unspeakably foolish thing to strive for this betterment by means so destructive that they would leave no so- cial conditions to better. In dealing with all these social problems, with the inti- mate relations of the family, with wealth in private use and business use, with la bor, with poverty, the one prime neces- sity is to remember that, though hard ness of heart is great evil, it is no greater an evil than softness of head.
 But in addition to these problems the most intimate and important of all which to a larger or less degree affect all the modern nations somewhat alike. we of the great nations that have expanded, that are now in complicated relations with one another and with alien races have special problems and special duties of our own. You belong to a nation which pos- sesses the greatest empire upon which the sun has ever shone. l belong to a nation which is trying, on scale hitherto uneX- ampled, to work out the problems of gov ernment for, of, and by the people, while at the same time doing the international duty of a great power. But there are certain problems which both of us have to solve, and as to which our standards should be the same. The Englishman the man of the British isles, in his various homes across the seas, and the Ameri- can, both at home and abroad, are brought into contact with utterly alien peoples, some with civilization more an- cient than our own, others still in, or having but recently arisen from, the bar barism which our people left behind ages ago. The problems that arise are of we'll nigh inconceivable difficulty. They cannot be solved by the foolish sentimentality of stay-at-home people, with little patent recipes, and those cut-and- dried theories of the political nursery which have such limited applicability amid the crash of elemental forces. Neither can they be solved by the raw brutality of the men who, whether at home on the rough frontier of civilization, adopt might as | the only standard of right in dealing with | other men, and treat alien races only as l subjects for exploitation
 No hard and fast rule can be drawn as | applying to all alien races, because they | differ from one another far more wide | lY than some of them differ from us But | there are one or two rules which must | not be forgotten. In the long run, there | can be no justification for one race man. | aging or controlling another unless the | management and control are exercised IT | the interest and for the benefit of that
 other race. This Is what our peoples | nave in the main done and must con.
 tinue in the future in even greater de | gree to do in India, Egypt, and the Phil. | lpplnes alike. In the next place. as re- | gardS every race, everywhere, at home | or abroad. We cannot afford to devfatt l from the great rule of righteousness | which bids us treat each man on hi. | worth as man. He must not be senti | mentally favored because he belongs tc | given race; he must not be given inl | munity in wrong-doing, or permitted tC | cumber the ground, or given other privt | leSes which would be denied to tho
 vicious and unfit among themselves. CT | the other hand, where he acts in a Eay | Which would entitle him to respect 1nC | reward if he were of our own stccs. hf | Is just as much entitled to that respect | and reward if he comes of another l stock, even though that other stock p:.o l duces a much smaller proportion of msr | of his type than does our own. This fSls
 nothing to do with social intermingliRg
 with what is called social equality T.
 has to do merely with the question of Gp | ing to each man and each woman tF at | elementary justice which will permit h'r | or her to gain from life the rewey
 which should always accompany thrift | sobriety self-control respect for tnt | rights of others, and hard and inte:li | gent work to a given end. To more thar | such just treatment no man Is entitled
 and less than such just treatment no mar
 should receive.
 Duty of Nation to Nation.
 The other type of duty is the interna l tional duty. the duty owed by one ma. | tton to another I hold that the laws ot
 morality which should govern individu | als in their dealings one with the other | are just as binding concerning nations ir | their dealings one with the other. The | application of the moral law must bt ! different in the two cases, because il | one ease it has, and in the other it has | not, the sanction of civil law with for I behind it. The individual can depend fal | his rights upon the courts. which thern. | selves derive their force from the poli :e
 power of the state. The nation can de. l pend upon nothing of the kind; anC therefore, as things are now, it is the | highest dlty of the most advanced auC freest peoples to keep themselves in sucf | a state of readiness as to forbid to any barbarism or despotism the hope of ar. resting the progress of the world by stri. king down the nations that lead in that progress. It would be foolish Indeed fe pay heed to the unwise persons who ds- sire disarmament to be begun by t:t very peoples who. Of all others, shou,f6
 not be left helpless before any possihe foe. But we must reprobate quite SN strongly both the leaders and the peop!es who practise. or encourage or condone
 aggression and iniquity by the strong al the expense of the weak We should tol crate lawlessness and wickeGness neither by the weak nor by the strong; and boih
 weak and strong we should in return treat with scrupulous fairness. The for eign policy of a great and self-respectins country should be conducted on exactly the same plane of honor, of irsistencs upon ones own rights and of respect for the rights of others as when brave and honorable man is dealing with his fei- lows. Permit me to support this state ment out of my own experience. For nearly eight years l was the head of a great nation and charged especially with the conduct of its foreign policy; and during those years I took no action with reference to any other people on the face of the earth that I would not have felt justified in taking as an individual in dealing with other individuals
 I believe that we of the great civilized nations of today have right to feel that long careers of achievement lie before our several countries. To each of us is vouchsafed the honorable privilege of do- ing his part. however small, in that work. Let us strive hardly for success, even if by so doing we risk failure, spurnins the poorer souls of small endeavor who know neither failure nor success. Let us hope that our own blood shall continue in the land. that our children and chill dren's children to endless generations shall arise to take our places and play a mighty and dominant part in the world. But whether this be denied or granted by the years we shall not see, let at least the satisfaction be ours that we have carried onward the lighted torch in our own day and generation. If we do this, then, as our eyes close, and we go out into the darkness, and other hands grasp the torch, at least we can say that our part has been borne well and valiantiy.