The Lamar register., 1915-04-07

lcreaSe MS own power NOT II that
increase of power is to multiply it.
self in the power of others. The
greater the ruin which selfishness can
bring to men through the agency of
competition, the greater the glory
which love can bring through the
same agency. II the human intellect
can make the forces Of nature its SER
want, compelling them to produce re-
suits the opposite of their ordinary
action, no less can love take the law
of contest which under selfishness
/ leads to evil, and make it a servant
leading to the good. Gravitation
pulls downward toward the earth, but
at the command of the intellect, it
pushes the balloon up into the sky
Competition under selfishness drags
downward, but under love it lifts
men to the skies.
"The hope of the under man is first
in himself and then in the speedy
coming of the reign of love. He may
and will get help from social reform,
but let him remember his salvation
from oppression does not lie in munic-
ipal and state ownership of public
utilities and natural monopolies, or
in any legislative device or efforts in
his behalf, but that he must work out
his own salvation under the kingdom
of love. Let him put all vices under
his feet and take and keep his proper
place, a man among men.
"The day of love is coming more
rapidly than we know, and when it
per man nor under man on the face
of the earth, for all shall walk abreast
along the pathway of destiny.
"The socialist will tell you," con-
tinued the speaker, that the world is
growing worse under the present COM
petitive system. l say that it is grow
ing better. He will point you to the
daily press for the glaring accounts
of vice and tell you that this increas-
ing publicity of vice shows an in
crease in the extent and intensity of
vice. Now, one reason why vice seems
to be on the increase is that the
means Of publicity are further reach
ing than ever before. A fragrant vio-
lation of law cannot occur anywhere
within the bounds of western civili-
cation without being heralded abroad
the next hour in the public press. This
does not show that vice is more COM
mon than it once was, but that it is
more frequently discovered and made
public.
But there is another reason, and
one that has largely escaped notice
why vice occupies so large place in
the daily news and why the exaltation
of virtue occupies so small a space.
1t is because vice is the unusual, and
virtue is the usual. What the public
wants is news, not what is already
well known. What the public wants
is not the usual, but the unusual.
"The press gives the people what
they want. 1t is frequently said that
if man goes wrong, especially a
good man, it is blazed abroad, but il
he does right, no mention is made of it.
And that is exactly true. T ewgnorh
And that is exactly true. The wrong
is the extraordinary, and that is news.
The right is the ordinary, and that is
no news. The vast majority of the
people go on obeying the law, and
nothing is said about it. 1t is not
news. An insignificant few violate
the law, and it is published in start
ling headlines. 1t is news. If the
time ever comes when right conduct
shall be exploited as news, it will
then become the unusual, and may
God have pity on the people if such a
condition shall ever come to passl
"The socialist tells us that society
is retrograding under the competitive
system, | say that it is moving for
ward. The progress is slow, but all .
evolutionary processes are slow. In I
deed, if we judge any evolutionary
process by what we see at a given in
slant, the movement may frequently .
appear to be retrograde; but if we
take more comprehensive view, we
shall see that the apparent recession
is only temporary halt preparatory .