The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1910-12-27
ETHICS HARD TO
APPLY, SAYS 7. R.
Modern Morality Must Be Eff
Gent He Declares in Nobel
Lecture at Harvard.

CAMBRIDGE, December lA-In
speaking on applied Ethics" as the
Nobel lecturer in Sanders Theater to.
night, Colonel Roosevelt touched briefly
on the building of the Panama Canal,
the progress of conservation and the
movement toward universal peace, as
typifed by recent fisheries decisions at
The Hague.
The Nobel lecture at Harvard is pro.
vided by a fund given by Mrs. William
b. Nobel in memory of her husband, an
Episcopal clergyman, and is for the
benefit of students and the faculty.
Colonel Roosevelt s visit to Massa.
chusetts was expressly for the lecture
although he attended meeting of the
Harvard overseers at the office in Bos-
ton. He was elected member of the
board last jane.
Just before going on the lecture plat.
form tonight Colonel Roosevelt learned
of the Carnegie peace Foundation fund.
He hailed the announcement with de.
light and was especially pleased with
the selection of Senator Elihu Root as
permanent representative of the United
States at The Hague.
Gives Praise &c Carnegie.
Toward the end of his lecture he re.
feued to the gift as providing the
means of making "real progress" in
bringing aboat the results which Mr.
Carnegie desires to achieve.
''He is entitled to the hearty praise
of all good citizens here, said Colonel
Roosevelt "and of all patriots in all
countries. -
"But remember,n he said warningly,
"'that the ultimate worth depends GA
the good. practical sense, the judgment
ard ability of the men who, administer
ing the fund, succeed in translating
the theory into action"
This translation of the moral theories
of government into practise, or what
he termed "applied morality" he
sought to illustrate by the Panama
Canal under the direction of Colonel
Goethals; conservation as eXemplitied
by the labors of Garfield and Piuchot,
and the peace movement ms furthered
by John Hay and Elihu Root.
He favored the fertilization of the
canal and larger navy as The best
guarantee of peace.
Application Difficult.
In his address the colonel said in
part:
9. 1t is the easiest thing in the world
to sketch out in the closet a system
of government, and it is one of the most
difficult things in the world to make a
government really functional, In just
the same way it is proverbially easy to
preach morality, and still easier to APP
plaud it when preached, but it is diff
| fcult to do the only thing that counts,
which is to apply the morality in prac-
| tise.
''For that reason when I speak of
applied morality--using morality in the
largest sense, that is, for the efficient
application of the principles, the car,
rying out of which means really good
governments wish to give concrete IL
! Illustrations.
''For instance, it is greatly to the
credit or anv nation of any govern
ment, when it performs some vast I'M
dertaking which will last.for many cen
turtles and which adds perceptibly to
the sum of achievements of mankind.
'Such an undertaking is the Panama
Canal.
Two Great Achievements.
''Last spring when in Europe was
struck by the fact that every states
man | met deemed two acts of the
American people during the past de-
cade e-eminently worth notice; these
two being the voyage of the battleship
| fleet around the world, and the business
like efficiency with which we are dong
I the work of the Panama Canal.
"Now our own people have largely
been ignorant of the really wonderful
work that has been done on that canal.
! No men in onr history, save only some
of the men engaged in the great wars
which founded and perpetuated this ma.
! ton, have such a claim on the graft