The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1910-06-10

egella
ana unhsaltAy. 1Iao raost cr,ll q iisall -
u the dimlnutl6n In the birth-r IT. m mo
rate OF natural increase. now u a% larger
OF lesser degree shared BY most az tho
civilized nations OF central ana yooterl,
Europe. Of America and Australia: = dim
mutton 20 great that Il Il continues Tor the
next century ct the rate which has OBJ
tanned for the last 3 years. III the more
highly civilized people will 30 stationary
OF else have begun e 20 backward in
population. while many ot them will have
already gone very far backward
There II much that should give IN con-
Germ for the future. But there II much
also which should give us hope. No man
IL more apt to be mistaken than the
prophet Of evil. believe with all my
heart that great future remains for US:
but whether it does or does not. our
duty il not altered. However the bat
tie may go. the soldier worthy OF the
name will with utmost vigor do his al
loted task, and bear himself az valiant
~ In defeat as in victory. Come what
Will, we belong to peoples who have not
yielded to the craven fear Of being great
great nations. the nations that have ex-
panded and that have played q mighty
part in the world, have in the end
grown old and weakened and vanished:
but 80 have the nations whose only
thought was to avoid all danger, all ef-
fort. who would risk nothing, and who
therefore gained nothing. In the end the
the memory Of the~one type perishes with
1t while the other lea yes its mark deep
on the history Of all the future Of man.
kind.
nation that seemingly dies may be
born again: and even though in the
physical sense 1t die utterly. 1t may yet
hand down a history Of heroic achieve
ment. and for all time to come may pro-
foundly influence the nations that arise in
Its place by the impress Of what 1t has
done. Best Of all is 1t to do our part we'll,
and at the same time to see our blood live
young and vital in men and women fit to
take up the task as we lay It down; for
80 shall our seed inherit the earth. But
II this, which is best, is denied us. then
at least 1t is ours to remember that II we
choose we can be torch-bearers, as our
fathers were before us. The torch has
been handed on from nation to nation,
from civilization to civilization through
out all recorded time, from the dim years
before history dawned, down to the bla-
zing splendor Of this teeming century of
ours. 1t is dropped from the hand Of the
coward and the sluggard, of the man
wrapped in luxury or love of ease, the
man whose soul was eaten away by self
indulgence; it has been kept alight only
by those who were mighty of heart and
cunning Of hand. What they worked at.
providing it was worth doing at all, was
Of no less matter than hbw they worked.
whether in the realm Of the mind or the
realm Of the body. If their work was
good. II what they achieved was Of SUBJ
stance. then high success was really
theirs.
Strength With Morality.
In the first part Of this lecture I drew
certain analogies between what had oc-
CURED to forms of animal life through
the procession of the ages on this planet,
and what has occurred and is occurring
to the great artificial civilizations which
have gradually spread. over the worlds
surface during the thousands Of years
that have elapsed since cities Of temples
and palaces first rose beside the Nile and
the Euphrates. and the harbors Of
Minoan Crete bristled with the masts of
the Aegean craft. But Of course the
parallel is true only in the toughest
and most general way. Moreover, even
between the civilizations Of today and
the civilizations Of ancient times there
are differences so profound that we must
be cautious in drawing any conclusions
for the present based on what has hap
pened in the past. While freely admit
ting all Of our follies and weaknesses of
today, 1t is yet mere perversity to refuse
to realize the incredible advance that
has been made in ethical standards. do
not believe that there Is the slightest nec-
essary connection between any weaken
ing Of virile force and this advance in
the moral standard. this growth Of the
sense Of obligation to ones neighbor and
Of reluctance to do that neighbor wrong
We need have scant patience with that
silly cynicism which insists that kindli-
ness of character only accompanies
weakness Of character. On the contrary,
just as in private life many Of the men
of strongest character are the very men
OF Hottest and most exalted morality. so
believe that in national life as the ages
go by we shall find that the permanent
national types will more and more tend
towards those in which, while the INTEL
lect stands high, character stands higher:
in which rugged strength and courage,
rugged capacity to resist wrongful ag-
erosion by others. will go hand in hand
with lofty scorn Of doing wrong to 9TH
ers. This is the type Of Timoleon, of
Hampden. Of Washington and Lincoln.
These were as good men. as disinterested
and unselfsh men. as ever served a
state; and they were also as strong men
as ever founded or saved state. Surely
such examples prove that there is moth
ing Utopian in our effort to combine
JsSse~S H.
The really high civilizations must them
selves supply the antidote to the self-in-
diligence and love of ease which they
tend to produce.
Problems OF Modern Nations.
Every modern civilized nation has many
and terrible problems to solve within Its
own borders, problems that arise not
merely from juxtaposition Of poverty and
riches. but especially from the self-con-
sciousness Of both poverty and riches.
Each nation must deal with these mat
tiers in its own fashion. and yet the spirit
in which the problem IL approached must
ever be fundamentally the same. It
must be a spirit Of broad humanity; Of
brotherly kindness; Of acceptance Of re-
sponstbility, one for each and each for
all; and at the same time spirit as re-
mote as the poles from every form Of
weakness and sentimentality. AZ in war
to pardon the coward ia to do cruel
wrong to the brave man whose life his
cowardice jeopardizes. 20 In civil affairs
1t is revolving to every principle Of
Justice to give to the lazy. the vicious, or
even the feeble and dull-witted. reward
which 10 really the robbery Of what
Drawer, wiser. ADLER men have earned
The only effective way to help any man
10 to help him to help himself: and the