The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1910-04-20
Force of Example.

Force Of Example.
Great is the responsibility of the men
in high places, not only because of the
trust committed to them, but also from
the standpoint of example Or influence.
They owe to the public, as matter OF
common Justice, a conscientious per
Torrance of the duties of their position.
This is an obligation which all duly rec
ognize. They owe, too, on account OF
their prominence-what all members OF
the great human brotherhood owe IN
some messure-special efforts for the
promotion of public morality. This is
q feature which is not kept so we'll IN
View Hence, when prominent public
officials betray their trust-by peeula-
ton, gross negligence, connivance at
wrongdoing, etc they are guilty OF
tEo-foId breach-the one against com
mon Justice, the other crime against
social morality; and of the two, the lat
ter ia often the worse, because it is more
far-reaching in it's power for evil. The
wrong done the public by notorious
graft or thievery is bad enough, but the
permanent or indefinite injury done to
public morals is still worse. The crimes
of the men in the limelight are rarely,
if ever, isolated acts. Seldom do they
stand alone. Their worst feature is that
they commonly beget brood of vipers
like unto themselves. As the cry at.
tered 10 the solitude is echoed and re
echoed from hill to hill; "a the pebble
cast upon the waters produces its ar-
psrently unending series of ripplas. so
With the public crime of him on whom
the public eye is fixed. It's end no man
GU 6ecj IT'S posSipiC uihastiooa ton"e
quences none can foretelI 1t is as like
ly Is not to prove an endless chain. A
Boccaccio may repent of his Decameron,
but he cannot recall it, or undo its eff
fects.
Those who are beyond the pale of ex
ample, or strong enough to resist ITS in
huenee, are the rare exceptions rather
than the rule. Where high moral stand
ards are the vogue ia public life, they
are bound to inspire regard for up
right dealing in the rank and file of the
people. On the contrary, where flag
rant official bribery, graft, Implicitly,
vote-buying and vote-seling, partiality
in the administration of justice, etc, are
the order of the day, they are bound to
react on the masses. First or intermit-
tent glimpses Of vice are apt to repel,
but oft-repeated, face-to- face views of IL
gradually familiarize lis with it and take
away its sting and loathsomeness. They
create an immoral atmosphere which We
are forced to breathe. and only the
strongest or morally soundest can sue
cessfully resist its disease. bearing germs.
When the governors are given over,
body and soul, to immoral practices, 1t
is difficult to see the ways and means OF
stemr1ing the tide of corruption among
the governed eff the blind lead the
blind will not both fall into the ditch?'
And what we say of public men holds
equally true of all who have the direc
ton Of others, whether in church or
state, in the schoolroom or the family
circle. 1t is of little use to insist on the
teachings of the moral law, if We fail to
practice what we preach. The object
lesson of example is far more effective
than the most learned disquisitions on
morality. The men and women who
live up to their convictions by practc
ing what they profess have done more
for morality and the social upift than
eli the wise, philosophic discourses of
an Epictetus or Marcus Aureiius.
They are practical instances of the
working of the moral law, living en-
bodiments of showing in the concrete
its principles, the possibility of regnlat-
ing conduct in accordance with its die
tstes.
One man Of the type of New York's
Governor is worth more to the cause of
morality than a host of theoretical NOR
alists. Don't do as do, but do as
say" is good enough in its way. True,
the principles of morality are ever the
ssme-just as sound and binding-no
matter how numerous or how prominent |
the men who disregard them. Never
theless, We must take men as We find |
them; and the fact remains that, for the !
most part, they are and ever will be far
more deeply impressed by our acts than
they are by ur words or precepts. !
And the men and women whose upright |
lives are sources of light and strength 10
those within their circle deserve to have |
their names recorded, and their mem.
cries revered, as the most noble and |
useful benefactors of sOciety-The Bal
timOre Sun.