Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-11-15

lIC Pcpatol SouIiHOHpldCCo, anu tIc
current habits OF thought and feel
Ing. Newspapers popular literature.
and popular oratory show the effort
TO operate suggestion along these
lines. They rarely correct; they usu-.
ally flatter the accepted notions. The
art of adroit suggestion is one of the
great arts of politics, Anthony's
speech over the body Of Caesar is a
classical example of it." page 49,
He further says that criticism is
the operation by which suggestion is
limited and corrected" and again, the
supreme criticism is criticism of ones
self. j..
Word philosophy, hfe-policy, right,
rights and morality are all products
of the folkways They are reflections
perfence OF pleasure and pain which
is won in efforts to carry on the strug-
gle for existence under actual life
conditions. The generalizations are
very crude and vague in their germi-
nal forms. They are all embodied in
folklore, and all our philosophy and
science have been developed out OF
Them" (Page 2e.)s d
The man on the mode is the com
mon man., the average man. or the
man in the street Between him
and the democratic polite institu-
tions-the pulpit, the newspapers and
the public library there is con-
slant reaction by which mores are
modified and preserved. The aim of
all the institutions and literature in
s1faysv fnfn fusk 10. TSIn Ifo
aim is to get out of them what suits
him. The yellow newspapers thrive
and displace all the others because he
likes them. The trashy novels pay
we'll because his wife and daughters
like them. The advertisements in
the popular magazines are addressed
to him. They show what he wants.
The funny items are adjusted to his
sense of humor. Hence all these
things are symptoms. They show
what he believes in and they
strengthen his prejudices. If all art,
literature, legislation and political
power are to be cast at his feet, II
makes some difference who and what
he is. 5, His section of society deter.
mines the mores of the whole"
pages so, SD
But, says Sumner, as the mores de-
termine the degree of reserved COM
mon sense, and the habit of observ-
ing measure and method, to which
.-le masses have heen accustomed. at
follows that popular agitation Is a
desperate and doubtful method "
IF there is any document OF
.AmericSnism, it is the Declaration of
independence Those who have
Americanism especially in charge
have repudiated the doctrine that
governments derive their inst pow
ers from the consent of the governed,
,because-ite stood IN the way Of what
they wanted tosado. They denounce
those who clingdto the doctrine as
Then we see what
Americanism and patriotism art. !
They are duty laid upon us all to APP
plaud, follow, and obey whatever
ruling clique of newspapers and poll
ticians chooses to say or wants to
do. page 177.)a z
Professor Sumner reviews Rudeck,s
comparatively recent work on Sitt-1
lichkeit in Germany, the work from /
which undoubtedly Lord Haldane
largely drew his Inspiration, in which |
Rudeek deplores the lack of moral
Initiative and moral consciousness in |
the German people, and the indiffer-
ence with which they allow all kinds |
of mores to be forced on them by
economic and political arrangements. |
Sumner says, IL this is true, they are |
to be congratulated, for they have |
kept out one great influx of subjec-
tive and dogmatic mischief. Other
nations have 'nonconformist con-
science or party of great moral
ideas, which can be caught by a |!
phrase, or stampeded by a catching
watchword with "a moral sugges-
ton" J. |
/ close with the most remarkable /
exhibition of one form of mores that
l have ever seen, save at the quarter |
millennium at Harvard in 1SS5-the I
comforting of honorary degrees on the
guests by McGill uni
versity. As one entered the great |
hall and saw in the background of
the stage the portrait of its chancel-
lor and founder, Lord Strathcona, the |
old Hudson Bay pioneer, and then
saw the man himself, SO years old,
sitting in the chair in his doctors
robes, having crossed the sea to be
present at the ceremony, the great
ness of the occasion impressed itself.
The comforting of the degrees, with
the speeches OF the sponsors, was sus-
tanned to a high key throughout.
Maitre Labori and Senator Root were
absent, although the
great French advocate was present
in Montreal to attend the meeting
and the degree. was conferred in alb
sentia. Each distinguished recipient
took the hand of the lord chancellor
and bowed before him; but Chief JUS
tice White, a Catholic in their strong
hold of Canadian Professionalism, gra-
ciously kissed the hand comforting
the degree. -
An unusuai incident followed. Lord
Haldane, Chief Justice White and
Prime Minister Borden all spoke, and
ex-president Taft was called follow
ing Borden, who had risen to power
by defeating Taft's reciprocity treaty,