The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-03-09
FORMER PRESIDENT
TAFT ROUNDLY
SC0RESL. ". ".
Social Troubles Due to lndiffer-
ence and Cyniclsm
DUTIES AS WELL AS RIGHTS
All Must Exercise Self Restraint
and Not Arraign Glass Against
Class


things we must fight hardest in col
lege life and in the religion and edu-
cation of students is indifference and
cynicism,' said former President vii
liam H. Taft in addressing the clos
ing session of the religious education
association last night in Woolsey
hail. Yale The topic was The col
lege and the new social order" Dur
ing the course of his address Mr..
Taft criticized strongly the indus
trial workers of the cynical salts
faction of those who don't care" that
arguments for the Haywoods andI
Tannenbaums are furnished.
Give me misdirected fervor, wild
theologies lacking in sanity, extreme
error, if only the sincere spirit of
religious and social service is alive
and militant" he said, because the
hard experience of practical results
will temper this into useful activity
later on. But nothing can overcome
the Snug contentment and cynical
satisfaction OF these who don't care
and whose selfish lives dry up the
springs OF the spirit of human broth
erhood and kill the gratitude for the
blessings of Cod They in their at
tltude furnish the argument for the
Haywoods and the Ta1nenbaums.
Let us be glad that their number is
not increasing"
Mr.. Taft said; I'VE do not pro-
mote human progress toward an
ideal bye losing all our commonsense
and sanity in the contemplation of
one part of the whole picture The
hysteria and misguided enthusiasm
aroused by real wrongs and lack
of a sense of proportion in regard
TO their possible remedy manifests
itself in hunting a scapegoat for the
sinner. and the lazy, and the shift
less. in the injustice of our social
system. 1t results in such informing
and significant exhibitions as we
have had from the industrial work
ers OF the world, with their motto of
No God, no flag, no country. and
their impudent. lawless, selfish and
unjust demands. that are based on
the proposal that society owes them
a living whether they make effort
and labor or not.
'The ministers of religion do not
help their auditors who fail TO keep
clearly in mind The necessity that all
men have duties as. we'll as rights;
that all men must exercise selfre-
straint and self-sacrifice and industry
and benevolence and generosity, and
they make neither for social nor reli-
gious progress when they preach
doctrines that arouse in those who
have not merely the selfish desire to
take from those that have, and who
encourage the resentment and harsh
feeling of class by failing to dwell
on the whole picture OF humna socie-
ty, rather than on single part of It.
Now | would be very much disap-
pointed" he said, IF anything I have
said should be interpreted to mean
that | am not in favor of real social
reform and am not very hopeful that
much is to be done in this direction.
Il is most encouraging to note the
earnest Investigation of the suffer
ng in society, the study of problems
If sociology, the systematic effort to
promote the health and the comfort
IF the congested population. Speed
he success of all such work. The
new social order" said Mr.. Taft, IF
I is to be a permanent condition.
for real advance in human
progress and happiness. must con-
orm to natural economic law and
be consistent with the possibility
Ind the frailsies of human nature
md their practical betterment"