The Ontario Argus. (Ontario, Or.) 1???-1947, 1915-08-26
The Future of the Nation.

well knew the treacherv of Joab, and yet he dis
regarded all caution and paid the penalty with
his life.
Practically the whole country today is divld-
ed into two groups, each insisting that unless
the country follows it's views, America Will die
as a fool One side insists that if we are to
avoid war and final amhilatiOn, we must be-
gin now to prepare, and to become so strong that
no nation will dare attack us. The other side,
with men who appear to MS to be fully as wise
and capable as any on the other side, say that
the way to get into the war is to prepare for war
We are not expecting to add anything to the
arguments presented by either side But the
general situation is SO interesting and SO fnll OF
hope and menace to- our own country, that we
rive some suggestions regarding what may hap
pen i'm the future and how to meet it, whatever
it is.
In ease the present war i'm Europe ends in
deadlock il is likely that the power of the r,il-
ng classes will be broken and that some form
of democratic government will be set up III one
side is finally victorious, before state OF ex-
haustion is reached, there is a possibility that
the governing classes will become more firmly
ntrenched in their position. 1T the latter
should happen there would probably be a great
danger to America from the winning side. III
America were defeated in conflict with the vie
tors then the cause of democratic government
will have suffered setback of many decades If
~
government come out of the war for the nations
i'm Europe, then America will, to large extent,
furnish the building material for the new gov
ermcnts. So il seems that no matter how the
war ends, that even more than the existence of
the nation will be at stake namely, the principle
of democratic government. Any way it comes
out, the course taken by this nation will affect,
i'm large degree, the courses taken by the other
nations.
INF ho Sit is nj
wheming i'm its significance. The point we wish
to make is that we as a nation are up against the
difficult task of choosing course that will
affect the world i'm most vital way, for many
years to come. Are we going to choose blind
ly! Are we going to take any other course than
that demanded by our best reasonf Arewe go
ing to allow prejudices and biased views to con-
troll the future of the nation? If we do we can
not be hopeful of the outcome and when all is
over, America will have died as afOol.
Our suggestion is merely this. 1t is time
for the nation to think, to understand clearly
how large and complicated the situation is, and
how great must be our efforts to meet II success
fully. We must more than ever before be will
ing to listen 10 good logic and to hold our Judge
ment i'm suspense as long as important evidence
is not i'm. We believe that ii the nation will
awaken to the vastness of the issues involved,
and then think and act, where action is necess-
airy, that there will be but slight question con
cenng the final issue.
No greater opportunity ever faced the teach
ers of the nation than that facing them today.
1t is oft repeated and vet more true than we ever
realize that the future citizens of the nation
in the public schools We are seeing now some
of the things which these future citizens will
have to face. Ii is high time that the schools
stopped coddlng them along, and Dragging
about the battle of Bunker Hill and the Spanish
American war. Ii is time that they were learn
ing something more than what the word let '
meant as used by Shakespeare or who wrote the
first English novel The times now are alive
and history is in the making Science in all its
branches is progressing by leaps and bounds and
everything is on the move. The opportunity is
not for the teachers to tell the students every
thing, but to inspire them with thirst after
knowledge and desire To be men and women
who have something to do in the world. 1t is
the duty of every citizen to think himself and
also to see that the future generation will be
equipped to think likewise.
Only where there is vision, do the people live.
This is a land of great promise in it's material
and ideastc prosperity. But the world crisis
now demands the best everyone has to give.
That best now means an active interest in mod
elm affairs so that intelligent action can follow