Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-06-28
ACTIVITY IS PRICE
Of COMMUNITY LIFE
Every City Should be Organized So
Citizens by Cooperation Can En-
courage Industry.
ENTIRE COMMUNITY MUST
HAVE PLAYDAYS IN LIFE
Must Also be Organized Thoroughly So
as to Overlook Nothing That Will
Upbuild 1t.

Jne significant statement JnaJ man s
entire physical structure is designed for
action; that activity is indispensable to
the proper functioning of all his pow.
ers mental and physical.
We have long known that mental and
physical health was promoted by ac.
tivity, by exercise and recreation; but
we have not always recognized the fact
that whenever activity ceases in any
organ of the body, not only that or.
gan but the entire body is lowered in
efficiency.
The similarity between the individ.
ual man and a group of men often
has been remarked. The relation be.
tween an organized group of men and
each of its constituent members is in
many respects similar to the relation
that exists between the entire body
and each of its organs.
An organized human society can not
as a group be superior in vigor and
enterprise to the individuals who com
prise that society. If each of them,
ing influence in the group, are not
ing influence in the group, ar not
active and enterprising the community
itself will lag behind.
Monotony Dangerous.
Few men and certainly few cOmmu-
mites are required in the regular
course of events to bring into exercise
all Of their faculties in a manner and
to requisite degree to promote their
greatest efficiency. Every day affairs
generally are confined in very narrow
channels, They require the exercise
of few faculties and of the same facul
ties over and over without enough
change to afford variety of relaxation.
Activity in its proper sense affords
change, relaxation and relief from mo.
notony. The continual grind" is not
natural, but is wholly artificial and
opposed to all the natural laws on
which are based human progress and
enlightenment.
Many people have difficulty in real
izing the value of change, the economy
of diversion and relaxation. They won
der at the various accomplishment of
some men in widely diversified fields
of activity because they have accepted
the doctrine that the narrowing and
concentrating of efforts are forms of
economy.
Rural Americans especially farmers,
are prone to underrate the value Of
novelty, and are inclined to dread
change Habits Of life because they
have been fixed by years of custom
and monotonous labor, come 10 be al.
most fetish to them and any pro.
posed change is looked upon as little
less than sacrilegious.
Inertia of Habit.
This is especially true Of elderly peo-
pie and of old communities. Growth
and development require that man as
well as community shall accustom it.
self to change, to progress. The inertia
of habit is the milestone around the
neck of man y a man and likewise is
the weight that bears down and STILES
the life in many commnities.
Activity, then, change recreation
and relaxation, as they are essential to
the bodily health of the individual
man, are indispensable to the health
and perpetuity of organized societies
of men--to communities.
Applying Principles.
The wise man is he who, having
made himself thoroughly familiar with
the few fundamental principles of life,
is able to apply them properly to the
multitude Of relationships Of life. He
knows that what is essential to his own
health is likewise necessary to com.
munity health, and he acts accordingly.
The entire community, therefore, in
order to reach a high state Of eff.
cheney, must have its recreations, its
playdays, such as the Cherry Fair,
who all Of its citizens shall get up
out Of the ruts of everyday life, when
they shall rise to a higher level and
view new landscapes. Fun is better
than physic. The tragedy of life is
not in life itself, but IN the making Of
life a tragedy.
II each man went to his work each
morning calm, happy in mind and re
freshed in muscle and body he could
accomplish in a halliday what he other
wise may require a full day to accom-
plish. Concentration and the highest
efficiency are impossible in the pres
ence of fatigue, and monotony of EN-
ployment sounds the death knell o.
originality and initiative,
Doing the Worlds Work.
.nN