Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1912-02-06
Equality of Opportunity
:Bu BISHOP w. 4 GAMBLER

man was wanted. The publication of
his first treatise on congressional gov
eminent made him a man OF nation
wide fame In a fortnight. Now the peo-
ple look to him as one Of the few men
Of the day worthy of consideration for
tha presidency Of the Republic. Where
are the scores Of young lawyers who
were in Atlanta when young wilson
came to the city, and who, with Tar bet
ter opportunities than he had, have
amounted to nothing? They spent their
strength pining for place, but took no
pains to fit themselves for the positions
for which they pinned. They have now
gone to their own place; they have gone
to ''the scrap pile" of men whom the
world calls failures Worst of all a
great crowd follows after them now who
are headed for the same unworthy end.
Their successors in folly are sowing
sparingly the seeds from which only
great harvests OF good spring, and fooi-
ishly hoping to gather great yield for
some volunteer crop" or accidental out
come. In the end there await them only
heart-breaking disappointments. Then
thew will whine about the want OF
equality Of opportunity" as their pre-
decessors IN this programme of sense
lessness and Incidence and failure are
now talking. Whatsoever q man SOW
eth that shall he also reap"
Society could not, II It would, make
the circumstances of every one Of Its
members the same. That sort Of COM
rnllnism is impossible, and II Is unoe-
sirable. But destiny Is not matter OF
mere circumstantial surroundings. A real
man Is more than his circumstances,
and he who is not Is q foregone failure
whatever may be his circumstances.
Character controls conditions far more
powerfully than conditions affect char
The fault. dear Brutu5. is not in our
stars,
But In ourselves. that we are under
lings."
A man proclaims himself an unedrling
by nature. and fit only for the position
of an underling, who is always bemoan-
ing little Of the opportunity while max
ing little OF the opportunities which are
before him He convicts himself or
both weakness and oowardice when he
complains that others stand in his way
and refuse TO give him a fair chance in
the battle of life He shows his own
want Of force by supinely yielding TO
what he calls his fate
1t is commonly supposed that fatal
ism is an exploded and abandoned phil
osophy in our day; but such a SUPPOSE
ton is without foundation. Fatal
ism was never more prevalent than
now, and it Is yielding. as 1t always
does, a great deal OF enervating self
pity. Multitudes are quarreling with
the world who ought to be correcting
themselves; they are accounting them.
selves helpless victims OF fate when in
truth they are only idle aspirants for
things they will not exert themselves
to win.
Not little Of modern preaching tends
to nourish this fatalism. 1t teaches
men that they are helpless and hopeless
products OF heredity and environment
The men who preach this gospel OF de-
spair seem to have lost all hope Of re-
deeming individuals by the power OF
saving grace, and they spend their time
in vain efforts to reform conditions
rather than to renew souls. They are
forever WORKING on environment ana
seem to think that II all earthly condi-
lions were brought to the same level
dwarfs and giants would be OF equaf
height and bad men and good men
would stand on the some footing. Their
preachments produce more discontent
than they beget repentance. and make
their hearers more restless than right
eous. They array class against clasA.
embitter the unfuccessful against the
successful, and lead the world towards
revolution rather than towards regen-
Grafton.
It is time to have done with all these
faltalistic and foolish notions which I'LL
men with self-pity and destroy manly
self-respect It is time to expose the
sentimental catch-words and phrases In
which this popular fatahsm is preach
ed and praised. It is time for men to
cease all their embedding talk about
equality Of opportunity and to go to
work in dead earnest to use well the
opportunities which God has brought TO
their hands.
In the worst OF circumstances the