The Topeka state journal., 1911-08-12

a SATURDAY 0E1EA1AOAN.
Say not thou What is the cause that
the former days were better than theseE
for thou dost not enquire wisely concern
ing this. Ecclesastes VII TO-
Apparently there were the same
kind of pessimistic praters in the era
cf so lorg ago, when the above worcs
were written, as there are today. It IS
likely that in every generation since
man was first placed on this earth
there have been many to find fault
with existing conditions and express a
yearning for things as they used to be.
Certainly it is not unusual nowadays
to hear some one sigh for the good old
times of the past. But as the writer
of Ecclesiastes, generally supposed TO
be Solomon suggests, they have not in
quired wisely. They are not really in
formed as to the things that are, or
they do not take the trouble to con-
slider them. They are not fair in COM
pairing them with the things that were.
Through all of the fortuitOus and
perilous journeys of humanity from
the very beginning, nothing but prog
ress has been made. There has been
slipping back occasionally, as did
Rome following her seven hundred
years of peace and plenty. But it has
only been temporary. On the site of
the capital of the wonderful Rome, of
ancient song and story, stands more
remarkable city today. The Twentieth
century is more glorious in every re-
spect and in every cline than was the
one which passed on its way before
and the ones Immediately or distantly
preceding. Surely were this not so
it would be sad. sorry
commentary, indeed. on the inherent
abilities of humans te develop; on the
accomplishments of their civilization.
The good old times are IN the nature
of myth. They are but a figment of
tired imaginations. They come to the
minds of men and women who look
out on life through smoked glasses, as
it were; who are not alive to the op-
| portunities and the splendor of the
times in which they live. Think for
a minutel And can you recall single
! department of human endeavOr where
there is not even greater advancement
| today than there was in the genera
ton OF two that have gone on their
way?
Nothing that approaches the ideal
as it relates to human existence has
been achieved as yet in any nation or
under any form of government There
are vexed and pressing questions
everywhere, and particularly in these
United States, as to the proper rela-
tions of man to man in commerce and
social affairs. Some of them are going
to prove pretty difficult of solution.
| They are more complex than were the
matters that confronted our fore
fathers and, in turn, their fOrbears.
| But because of the progress that has
been going on necessarily in the de-
| velOpment of a higher and nObler
civilization in all things, the people of
today are better equipped in every re-
lspect to solve these questions than
were their ancestors to solve the sim
pier ones in comparison that forced
their way to the front in the days that
are gone.
The man who walls for the goods
old times knows not whereof he
speaks In what an unhappy contrast
is he to the men and women who have
neither time nor inclination to think
of and dwell on the things that are
dead; who are keenly alive to the de-
lights and the opportunities of the
present; who have their shoulders to
the wheel that is paving the way for
even more desirable times for their
children and their chi1d1 en's children.