Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1910-04-28

|
There is need of sound body. and
even more need Of sound mind But
above mind and above body stands
character. the sum of those qualities
which we mean when we speak of q
mans force and courage, of his good
faith and sense Of honor. believe In
exercise of the body. always provided
that we keep in mind that physical
development Is a means and not an
end. / believe. of course, in giving to
all the people good education. But
the education must contain much be-
sides book-learning In order to be
really good. We must ever remember
that no keenness. and subtleness of
intellect, no polish. no cleverness in
any way make up of the lack Of great
solid qualities--self-restra self-mas-
terry, common sense. the power of ac-
cepting individual responsibility and
yet, or acting In conjunction with
others. Courage and resolution; these
are the qualities which mark a mas
terful people. Without them no peo-
pie can control itself or save itself
from being controlled from the out
side. speak to brilliant assemblage:
l speak in great university which
represents the flower of the highest
intellectual development; pay all
homage to intellect, and to elaborate
and specialized training of the intel
lect; and yet know / shall have the
assent of all you present when add
that more important still are the COM
monplace. everyday qualities and vir-
tues.
The Evils of SteriIity.
In the next place the good man
should be both strong and a brave
man; that Is. he should be able to
fight, he should be able to serve
MS country as a soldier IL the need
arises. There are well-meaning phil
osophers who declaim against the un.
righteousness of war. They are right
only they lay all their emphasis upon
the unrighteousness. War is a dread
ful things, and unjust; war is a crime
against humanity. But 1t is such q
crime because 1t is unjust, not because
1t is war. The choice must ever be in
favor OF righteousness, and this
whether the alternative be peace or
whether the alternative be war. The
question must not be merely. is 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 strong and virile people must
be, Yes" whatever the cost. Every
honorable effort should always be
made by the individual in private life
to keep out Of a brawl, to keep out
OF trouble; but no self-respectlng indi-
V1dual, no self-respecting nation, can
or ought to submit to wrong.
Finally. even more important than
ability to work, even more important
than ability to fight at need, is it to
remember that the chief of blessings
for any nation is that it shall leave its
seed to inherit the land. 1t was the
crown of blessings In Biblical times.
and 1t is the crown Of blessings now.
The greatest of all curses is the curse
OF sterility. and the severest of all
concentrations should be that visited
upon willful sterility. The first es-
sential 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 society there is failure to
increase, 1t is great misfortune. If
the failure is due to deliberate and
Willful 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.
Idle Achievements.
If we of the great republics, If we
the free people who claim to have
emancipated ourselves from the thral
dom of wrong and error, bring down
on our heads the curse that comes
upon the willfully barren, then 1t will
be an idle waste of breath to prattle
of our achievements. to boast of al
that We have done. No refinement o.
life. no delicacy Of taste, no materia
progress. no sordid heaping up o.
riches, no sensuous development of ar
and literature, can in any way com
pensate for the loss Of the grea
fundamental virtues; and of the grea
fundamental virtues, the greatest Il
the races power to perpetuate tn,
race.
But II mans efficiency is not guild
ed and regulated by moral sense
then the more efficient he Is the wors
he is, the more dangerous to the bod,
polite. Courage. intellect, all the mas
terful qualities, serve but to make
man more evil If they are used merel
for that mans own advancement,
with brutal Indifference to the right
Of others. 1t speaks Ill for the CON
munity If the community worship
. these qualities and treats their DOS
SCISSORS as heroes regardless Of whett
er the qualities are used rightly o
, wrongly. 1t makes no difference as t
the precise way In which this SIM:
ter efficiency is shown. 1t makes n
difference whether such a mans fore
, and ability betray themselves in tn
/ career Of money maker or politician
soldier or orator, journalist or popl
} lar leader. If the man works for evi
then the more successful he is, til
4 more he should be despised and col
: demned by all upright and farseein
a men. To Judge a man merely by su
r cess is an abhorrent wrong; and
: the people at large habitually so judg
4 men, If they grow to condone wicke
t ness because the wicked man II
o umphs, they show their inability
q | understand that In the last analYs