The Wahpeton times., 1918-09-05
BENEFITS FROM THE WAR
5000 THINGS COMING
BY DOCTOR FRANK CRANE IN THE
AMERICAN MAGAZINE

II you think war is entirely evil you
are wrong. Because anything out Of
which good comes can not be judged
apart from this ultimate good. You
cannot estimate the worth Of anything
without reckoning the by-products Of
that thing. And I am going to give
in this article what seems to me the
spiritual by-products of this war.
The cruciixion of Jesus, the poi
soning of Socrates, the assassination
Of Lincoln, seemed to be unQualifiedly
evil. Yet out of them came tremend-
Gus spiritual potencies for good. And
from this war today are coming beau
tiful and wonderful reactions which
are changing, for the better, the soul
of the nation.
Thrift
The most evident good thing the war
has brought out in us is Thrift. John
Muir said that the first Liberty Loan
vas the birth Of American thrift.
Az . people, we have been notori-
ously pre1lSabe. We have produced
more wealth in one century than
Europe has In ten. But We have
flung It cut Of the window with beth
hands.
When men are piling up dizzy for
tunes in a few years, what had We to
do with savings? Unbounded oppor-
tunity bred recklessness. Housewives
wasted, travelling statesmen lived like
princes, merchants plunged, college
boys reveled in luxury, politicians
squandered, the pork barrel over
flowed, and the national bird seemed
to be an Eva Tanguay, screaming to
the four winds, 81 don't care!"
Then we were suddenly confronted
with danger. Danger is the best to
teach in the world. It can teach a
boy to swim. It can make a man out
of a careless youth in day. 1t can
transform a tinid woman into
raging lion. It is the test of human
mettle. It is the developer Of souls.
Danger has made the American
people thrifty overnight. We have
subscribed for Liberty Loans of stag
gering size. Yet the amount of.depos-
its in the savings banks have not de-
creased. What all our preaching
and warning could not do, Danger
has done.
And the result will be twofold. 1t
will not only make the people thrifty,
but It will show Big Business that It
is better to sell stock in Jumps of
500 than in Jumps of $4,000; Baby
bonds are better, both for buyer and
for seller, than big bonds.
The director Of New York railroad
once complained to me of what SEEM
ed to him a particularly oppressive
piece of legislation. He held 1t was
unfair to the railroads. 'Why is it,"
he said Are we not public servants?
Aren't we doing good and useful work
for the people? Yet every time they
get chance their legislators take
crack at u.s.
81 will tell you Why, answered.
"It's because you have no vision.
When you want fifty million dollars to
build new lines or to buy locomotives
you go down to Wall Street, pay fat
commission, and get your money from
wealthy gentlemen in sums Of from
one thousand to one hundred thousand
dollars. The result is that when the
railroad matters come up in the leg
islature the only people who are d.
rectly interested are these wealthy
gentlemen. And there are not enough
of them.
'Now, instead, suppose you sold
your securities out Of the ticket win
dow in every station Of your line, in
one hundred or even in ten dollar
amounts, directly to the people. If
your stocks and bonds were held by