Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1912-12-26

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Why Not Confidence in the Right?
Christian Science Monitor. When
ever there SEEMS 70 be absolute ns-
essslty Ot bringing ABOUT ( radical
change il existing conditions, there
are many persons identified with re-
form, as private citizens. politicians
and newspaper writers. who inmsdj-
stely begin 70 find rsssonE why tie
reform must be delayed They are
ready and willing 70 give tine and
thought and able and conscientious
support 70 agitation against civic
abuses. for instance, up 70 the no
ment that Z demand II made for rhe
complete e1tirpsliou of the evils thar
give rise U them. They hesitate 70
act Il the very point and a. the Yery
time where and when Al effective
blow might be administered il JehsIf
u civic Righteousness, political clean
Illness and social purity, and The hegl-
tation 70 which We here direct stteu-
ton Is due 70 an attitude Of thought
for which one Of the most familiar
and most tenacious and least praise
worthy Of mental processes il regpon-
sible.
II II due 70 this process that the
reforner 70 often becomes Z reaction
ary. He il willing TO 20 Z certain
distance-to the length where, If he
kept on, consistency, not 10 say logic.
would lead him 10 the certain attain
ment Of his object-and then innum-
cradle arguments and obstacles arise
70 convince him that il is not fcagi-
bic 70 20 farther, because he feels
and this We hold to be the great fal-
lacy-that since certain conditions
always have existed, they always will
exist and cannot be disturbed without
uDsetting everything.
Every careful newspaper reader
knows that reform movements in the
cities are suspended, or altogether
stopped, in a majority of cases be-
cause it has not been deemed posi-
bic by those who WELD either influ-
ence or authority 10 20 any farther
He Is told in SO many words that
you can do this and that in the mat
ter Of uprooting and correcting COR
ruption in municipal administration.
but that it would be the sheerest
folly TO expect 10 get rid Of il alto
gether. There is an element, and it
Is by no means essentially a bad one
in the ordinary sense, that is con-
stantly attempting to grind the false
hood into the public consciousness
that there must be" just SO much
maladministration, just SO much in
efficiency, dishonesty, crime, vice
and disorder. 1t is insistent in the
contention that society must neces-
sarily tolerate a state of things that
Is repugnant to it, because there
must be" just so much lawlessness
and corruption
Nothing contributes more certain
ly to the encouragement and con-
seryation OF both. Nothing would
contribute more certainly to the dis
couragement and abolition Of both
than a reversal of this attitude.
There is no reason why a municipal
ity should not be conducted as cred
itably in its every department as
well-organized business concern.
There Is no more reason why evil
should be accepted as a necessity in
the community than in the individual
homes that make up the community.
There Is no reason why the law-abid-
ing, decent people should make any
concessions whatever to those who
are neither. There is not one of the
many blemishes upon the worlds
civic life that must" or can exist
any longer than it is tolerated by the
people 1t contaminates and disgraces.
In all the ordinary affairs of every
day existence the public refuses to
entertain the thought that improve
ment to the point Of attaining ideal
conditions is impossible. Why should
not the public bc ag firm, AZ deter
mined and as confident In morals as
It is In everything that makes for