Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1914-07-31
FRIDAY, JULY 81, 1914.
TRAITORS.

The tragedy in such scandals as that
of the New Haven railroad which has
Just been so thoroughly aired goes
deeper than the money lost, the prop
erty wasted, the confding persons un-
justly deprived of savings, though
these are tragedy enough. The real
tragedy is of a public nature and af-
fects many who have never invested a
penny. 1t lies in the undermining of
faith in men, in the encouragement of
all hat is cynical and unbelieving. If
we lose faith in men all our civilization,
all our achievements fall to dust and
ashes, because in the last analysis they
are merely tools for men to use,
weapons for men to WELD, clothes for
men to wear, houses for men to live in.
Given the cynical conviction and all
idealism, all expectation for the future
falls to nothing.
Though we seldom bring ourselves to
realize it, business activity is idealism.
1t is in fact the chief idealism of our
age. 1t means sky-scraping buildings
which tower not for the mere dollars and
cents to be gained but because some
builder revels in the joy of expressing
the builders ideal that is in him. 1t
means our complicated system of credits
which holds good because mar has faith
in men. 1t means money which is moth
ing in itself but a means of storing up
mans energy and labor in a symbol
which has the power to accumulate 1t
and exert it all at one time; money
which is worthless to eat or wear, which
is nothing except for the plan or pur.
pose which makes it valuable. For one
who has the savage's lack of ideals the
savage's life from hand to mouth i,
best. The vast fabric of what we cal
business is needless to ecu the mere
animal existence. 1t is made neces
sary by the presence in the men of oul
generation of ideals. Sometimes thu
ideals are not all they should be anC
sometimes they are misunderstood
That's why these tragedies occur. Blu
the fact remains that business is bull
on idealism, and the man whose con
duct results in undermining the faitl
of mankind in men is false to the orde
of which he is a part. If we canno
believe in and honor something at tn
very heart in men, then all these wrap
pings of granite and steel and all tn
rest are so much meaningless su
per1uity.
A business man taking part in tn
active work of business life is a part O
something vastly bigger than him. H
is dependent on Others and others ar
dependent on him, i'll very much tn
same manner in which the individui
soldier in an army is tied to his con
rades. And for him to fail to play tn
game according to the rules is in hil
what treason is in the member of a
army. Particularly in this the case wit
the leaders. In the old world there 70
merly existed a watch-word among Leaf
ers which stung them to better effol
and held them fairly consistently to II
best standards they knew. This WI
the theory of noblesse oblige, and
expressed very well the responsible
of the fttest. 1t is the spirit
noblesse oblige, the glorified self-r
spect which must be developed in OF
American economic leaders. Lackir
this the whole magnificent structure
our business world must fall into rui
whether socialism or anarchism,
some other form of disintegration
unessential. The idealism of it will
out like the breath of life out of
corpse, and the remnant will be du
grovelling, hopeless, faithless mater
alism. Burlington Free Press.