The Alaska daily empire., 1918-05-20

sustenance, direction and use, on Him who is the Life itself. Re. ligion is the unifying element os life, not something we may take up If you care for that sort of. thing: it is not a side issue. It alone gives meaning, worth, to life. It is life itself.
 And if you will set before you the ideals of life as exemplified in the teachings of Jesus Christ, you will find Gas multitudes have found) LIFE, life ever broader, deeper, higher, richer, fuller, stronger, more satisfying.
 Some Essentials to Successful Life.
 The preacher then took num- Der of instances in which the com monest ideals of today were just those of the great character expert, the great exemplar of human life, Jesus Christ.
 Mistaken Democracy.
 There were three things especial ly declared to be special national vices of American people: Lack of respect for others and for au- thority (to government, parents. Church), with ignorance of facts and unwillngness to be told, and lack of appreciation for what our country (and others) have done-all growing out of the mistaken ideas that democracy means that no one iss better than yourself, no one r hon each is sufficient to himself.
 Whereas the principle on which the colonies rebelled was, Taxa tion without representation" many today have the opposite idea: Priv ilege or benefit without responsibil- ity, their main idea to get out of 1 the government, State, Church, etc., all they can without much thought of return
 What has held back victory, or kept us from being in position to aid the Allies, and is responsible for many grave in Europe, but the fact that there were so many suite willing to accept all benefits of American citizenship without their share in the responsibilities, and others willing to profit by war conditions to fix unnecessary prices?
 In other words, Each one for 'imself-what do I get out of this ?"-even in patriotic orgat- izations sometimes. #
 While we rightly condemn Ger man autocracy which makes every man a cog in a machine, the State supreme, crushing out individual ity, we are in danger of going to the opposite eXtreme-which has had such disastrous consequences in Russia. b
 True Patriotism. ,--iSS
 All this is but along the line of Christ's teaching that good of the whole depends upon the goodness of each one, that society is an orr ganism in which each part draws on and contributes to the whole; if one suffer, all suffer; etc.
 True democracy means equal opp portunity for all, not the right to do as one pleases, or to think as one pleases, regardless. s..,.,
 We are in danger of German tmaterialism,' to whatever extent we put material things first, or trust in physical forcei and equipment t1 exclusion or spiritual forces and 1 divine ideals.
 Socialism.
 As to Socialism, Christ teaches the worth and dignity of every man; that humanity is capable of infinite advancement. And, how ever humble, no man is to be the tool of another, to advance the in- terest or satisfy the selfish desire of another.
 Connected with this: The etern- al law of Gods whole Kingdom by which this world is to stand as well as the next" is: Right is for ever right, it never pays to do ] wrong, wrong cannot finally sue ceed, the only safe way is the right way, lies and deceit are ac- cursed, one must not count on shortcuts to success: no matter what ones competitors do, one is not jus tified in resorting to their methods; if one defrauds his employees or employers, robs his customers, per verts justice. deceives his neigh bor, takes advantage of another, harms any one-sooner or later he suffers the consequences.
 A number of other instances were mentioned and the truth brought out that our highest ideals were but the teachings of Jesus Christ, ., Your friends congratulate you on having reached this grade in your education They welcome your entrance on a course which they themselves entered on-which, if they entered it as we trust you do with gratitude to your teachers, school. and country, with high pur- i, pose to make the most of your life in return, with resolve to lay hold on life, real life-they can tell you. and we trust you will know