Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1912-05-23
1890 ID sp.sis .ssa

y: BY L. T. HovERMALE. H.
E1's%SSS{S 800 5000 30 9S&.Gs
Sinful Sophistry.
"When energising objects men pur-
sue,
Then Lord knows what is writ by
Lord knows who"
byron.
II the time should come when
men shall teach only what is
true; If the time should come
when men shall write only from
honest conviction. instead of
mercenary motives, half of the
difficulties in the way Of reform
will have been solved. Practic-
ally all we read now is written,
not to arrive at the truth, but to
hide the real facts that some one
may profit from a wrong.
The trouble is that most writ
ers do not recognize the fact that
the rapidly changing conditions
demand an entirely new adjust
ment Of society. The radicalism
of to-day is the conservatism of
tomorrow. The economic and
industrial changes Of the past
few decades have occurred with
such bewildering rapidity that it
is difficult to realize them. The
tide Of evolution sweeps resist
lessly on. The people will have
to abandon the customs Of the
past and adapt themselves to
the new conditions. Sophistry
that is downright sinful is used
to try to persuade the people
that old customs will meet new
conditions. The man who lies
ignorantly does as much harm
as the man who lies knowingly.
In obedience to a natural law
the village is disappearing. In
exorable change that is the re-
suit of our industrial develop
ment. And here / want to give
the whining, fawning opponents
Of the parcels post a7few things
to think over (if they ever in
dulge in the luxury of thought.
One of the arguments that they
put up is that the parcels post
willwipe out the villages. Let's
see. The parcels post is not a
law yet, and in travelling through
Ohio and Indiana last year | saw
that the viiiages We're gone. On
their sites grew the farmers
grain Postofice gone, stores
gone.
What did it? Good roads.
Yet nobody regrets the good
roads. Instead of the postoffice
the rural carrier brings the mail
to the farmers door. Instead
Of the country store the "huck-
ster," on his well scheduled
route, from the city store, brings
the farmer his common needs
and furnishes him a market for
his produce. The farmer has
both his buying and selling mar.
ket at his door. These huckstel
wagons are veritable stores anc
carry almost as varied an assert.
ment as as the country merchant,
and il they lack an article, tn;
perfect system of telephones en-.
ables them to get it by the 'hur
rY-up wagon within a few hours
The village and the country mer
chant have passed away before
coming of good roads, yet no CRY
goes up from the prosperou,
community for return to bat
roads. They have met the new
conditions and adapted them
selves TO them.
- -
The same jackasses who bray
so vociferously in opposition L
the parcels post are the ones whC
lift up their voices for individual
effort and parrot the brutal driv
ell about the Survival of the fit
test I" And they are too dense
to see the glaring inconsistency
of their own argument Mos
of their chatter is blatant soph
isry or downright lying
Analyse i'll If individual eff
fort is the philosophy of life
then why, in all reason, SHOULD
not the farmer seek the Cheapest