Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-24


husband and father, a good soldier at need
stand ct the bottom Of character. But, OF
course many others must be added thereto
IL state is to be not only free but great
Good citizenship is not good citizenship II
exhibited only In the home. There remain the
duties OF the individual In relation TO me
state, and these duties are none too easy under
the conditions which exist where the EFFORT is
made TO carry on free government in COM
pick, Industrial civilization.
Perhaps the most important thing the or
dnary citizen, and, above ALL the leader or
ordinary citizens, has to remember in political
life is that he must not be sheer doetrinaire.
The closest philosopher, the refined and cul-
tured individual who from his library tells
how men ought to be governed under ideal
conditions, is of no use in actual govern
mental work; and the one-sded fanatic, and
still more the mob leader, and the insinoere
man who to achieve power promises what by
no possibility can be performed, are not
merely useless but noxious.
HIGH IDEALS NECESSARY
The citizen must have high ideals, and yet
he must be able to achieve them in practical
fashion. No permanent good comes from as
prations so lofty that they have grown
fantastic and have become impossible and In
deed undesirable 10 realize. The imprac-
tlcable visionary is far less often the guide
and precursor than he Is the embittered foe
of the real reformer, of the man who with
stumblngs and shortcomings yet does in
some shape, in practical fashion, give effect
to the hopes and desires of those who strive
for better things.
We can just as little afford TO follow the
doctrinares Of an extreme individuasm as the
doctrinaires Of an extreme socialism. lndi-
vidual initiative, so far from being dscour-
aged. should be stimulated; and yet we should
remember that, as society develops and grows
more complex, We continually find that
things which once It was desirable to leave
to individual initiative can, under the changed
conditions be performed with better results
by common effort.
Much Of the discussion about socialism and
indvdualsm is entirely pointless, because OF
failure TO agree on Technology. 1t is not
good 20 be the slave Of names. l am strong
lndividuast by personal habit, inheritance
and conviction; but It is a mere matter of
common sense to recognize that the state,
the community the citizens acting together,
can do a number Of things better than If
they were left to Individual action. The in
divdualsm which finds its expression in the
abuse Of physical force is checked very early
In the growth OF civilization. and we of today
should I'm our turn strive to shackle destroy
that individualsm which triumphs by greed
and cunning, which exploits the weak by
craft instead Of ruling them by brutality.
FINDS GOOD IN SOCIALISTS
We ought to so with any man in the effort
to bring about justice and the equality Of
opportunity, to turn the tool more and
more into the tool owner, to shift burdens so
that they can be more equitably borne The
deadening effect any OF the adoption
OF a logical and extreme socialistic system
could not be oyerstated; It would spell sheer
destruction; It would produce grosser wrong
and outrage, fouler immortality, than any eX-
stng system. But this does not mean that
we may not with great advantage adopt GER
tain Of the principles professed by some given
set Of who happen to call themselves
| Socialists; to be afraid to do so would be TO
make a mark Of weakness part.
There should. so far as possible, be equality
of opportunity to render seryice but just
so long as there Is inequality of service there
| should and must be inequality Of reward We
may be sorry for the general, the painter
the artist the worker in any profession or
of any kind whose misfortune rather than
whose fault It is that he does his work i'll,
But the reward must go to the man who does
his work we'll; for any other is to
create a new kind Of privilege the privilege
of folly and weakness; and special privilege
| is injustice, whatever form 1t takes
The good citizen will demand liberty for
| himself and a matter Of pride he will see
| to it 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 minorites are treated in
that country. Not only should there be com
plete liberty in matters OF religion and opinion.
| but complete liberty for each man TO lead
| his life he desires, provided only that in
| so doing he does not wrong his neghbor.
| Persecution is bad because It Is persecution,
and without reference to which side happens
at the moment to be the prosecutor and which
| the prosecuted Glass hatred is bad In just
the same way and without any regard to the
individual who. at a given time, substitutes
| loyalty 10 a class for loyalty TO the nation,
or substitutes hatred of men because they
| happen to come in certain social category
| for judgment awarded them according to their
| conduct,
! CLASS LOYALTY DANGEROUS
There have been many republics In the
| past, both In what call antiquity and in
what we call the Middle Ages They fell, and
the prime factor In their fall was the fact
that the parties tended to divide along the
line that separates wealth from poverty. It
made no difference which side was successful;
It made no difference whether the republic
fell under the rule OF an oligarchy or the
rule Of a mob. In either case, when once
loyalty to a class had been substituted for
| loyalty to the republic, the end Of the re-
| public was at hand. There is no greater need
| today than the need to keep ever in mind the
| fact that the cleavage between right and
wrong between good citizenship and bad cit
izenship, runs at right angles TO, and not
parallel with, the lines of cleavage between
class and class, between occupation and oceu-
! patton Ruin looks US in the face if we
! judge a man by his position instead Of judg-
! ing him by his conduct in that position.
In a republic, to be successful we must
| learn TO combine intensity OF conviction with
broad tolerance Of difference Of conviction.
Wide differences Of opinion in matters Of re-
I Iigious, political and social belief must exist
II conscience and intellect alike are not to be
stunted, if there is to be room for healthy
| growth
/ OF one man in especial, beyond any one
else, the citizens Of republic should beware,
and that is the man who appeals to them
TO support him on the ground that he is
hostile to other citizens of the republic that
ne will secure for those who elect him, in one
shape or another, profit the expense OF
other citizens of the republic 1t makes no
difference whether he appeals to class hatred
or class interest, 10 religious or anti-religious
prejudice. The who makes such
appeal should always be presumed to make 1t
for the sake of furthering his own interest.
GRAFT is DENOUNCED