Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-10-30
COLONEL ADDRESSES COLLEGE ON
CHARACTER AND CIVILIZATION

welt said. I'VE are e~ndeavoring K
retain without loss the cultural civ
ilization inherited through our fore
fathers who came hither from the ole
world. w are also e~ndeavoring SO
10 develop and adapt this old world
civilization as to purge 1t of whatever
OF evil Is mixed with the good there
in. to bring forth new good and to fiji
and adjust 1t to the perculiar needs
and opportunities yielded by the west
ern hemisphere. Both sides Of the
task present grave difficulties.
"Thc work OF conquering q new con.
sinent Is one OF incredible hardship.
The men Of greatest cultivation are
really At for the task. Only men OF
rugged Will and bold and adventurous
.emper can undertake It. The strain
on the pioneers engaged in the feat Is
such that under 1t they tend to- lose
somiethiug of the culture their ances-
tors acquired. 1t is therefore our du-
ty to exercise an unceas!ng watch
rulness in order not to lose any part
OF our heritage in world civilization
and If we do lose anything. promptly
20 recover 1t. Furthermore. there Is
no small amount OF wrong which our
sorefathers in the old world handed
down to use, and for this it is our du-
ty to devise remedies.
"Moreoyer the circumstances OF our
lives under the new conditions yield.
ed by life on new continents not only
offer great opportunities which our
old world kinsmen do not enjoy, but
also expose us to temptations which
our old world kinsmen do not share,
at least to anything like the same de-
gree.
Needs Of Our Own.
"Finally, there are peculiar needs OF
our own, which it is necessary that
We meet In q new fashion. These
needs may often be Of Numerically
opposite character. The need Of one
class, or Of one period, may be Who'll
ly different from the need Of another
class or of all classes at another
time For instance, 1t is u curious fact
that in our new world the strain of
OVERHEARD condition during the pioneer
days is apt to be succeeded by the
even more dangerous strain Of over
easy conditions when once the pio-
neer days have been passed; the dan
ger to the sons is the opposite of that
menaced the fathers; and yet
the one danger is almost as meancing
as the other.
"In the same fashion, in every one
Of our great modern Industrial com
muniticB the dangerous strain on the
very poor Is in large part not merely
different form, but the exact
reverse Of, the no less dangerous
strain on the very rich; the dangers
are the exact opposite one Of the 9th
er; and nevertheless each Is d danger
SO serious that If not grapled with it
may spell national ruin. Again. no
old world communities are immune
from all sense of outside danger to
anything like the extent that is true
here; and what IS true of danger from
outside sources is true to an only less
rs regards rick and effort and
toll within; and no student of history
needs to be told that immunity from
danger, however desirable, always
means that there Is need for guarding
against the rick Of sOftening of fibre.
Danger Of Disaster.
In consequence. 1t is true that. not.
w~ithstanding all our advantages and
opportunities there is at least as much
danger, not of crushing disaster, but
OF slow decay or failure to advance, SO
far as concerns our peoples here In
the 'wo Americas, as is the case
among the nations Of the old world.
We cannot afford in vainglourious
spirit to be blind to this patiently
ominous fact. If we are true to our.
selves, II we possess the wisdom and
the virile strength to make the most
OF our opportunities, who have before
us. in our several nations, a future
which cannot be generally paralleled
among old world nations whose oppor.
tunities are necessarily les. But If we
are untrue TO ourselves, II we sink in
to slothful ease or make our ideals.
those of vapid or vicious excitement,
then there Is q chance that we shall
make a failure all the more lament
able because Of the fact that such
great success might have been ours,
To avert this failure, and to achieve
the success which Is ours II we only
have the power to grasp 1t, many