Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-31
THE INEVITABLE GOING ACROSS
By Roger Sa,Uyer Forbes

The tollotcing sentiment for the net0
year 1cdS 1critten by the ReU. Roger
Saoover Forbes, minister of the Unitarian
Society Of GermGnto1Cit, qCho, although q
neUcomer In Philadelphia, Is rapidly
making a reputation for himself as one
of the most inspiring preachers in the
city
ITO GET into "rut" is human. To stay
L there long is not humanity possible.
For one of two things is sure to follow:
Either the "rut" will rise on both sides
and bury one alive or it will push In, most
narrowly, and squeeze one to death. This
is as true OF the life Of the nations as it
is in the experience OF the individual.
Man, men, must keep going on and across
When any one says to you in these mo.
mentous days, "Everythings going to be
different" you can truthfuly answer, OF
course! 1t always has been and ever
will be.
TT is as natural, too, for humanity to
keep going across as it is necessary.
From the day when the hardy Ohthere, re-
turning from the White Sea, showed the
walrus teeth to King Alfred, to the time
when our own Peary, going over broad
lanes of oper sea between the ice fields and
500 miles by sledge, reached the Pole, men
have refused to be halted by chasms. Be-
tween "the call of the wild" and "the call
in the blood" there is a constant cor
respondence.
THIS is a good thing to keep in mind at
l. the beginning of a year of yawning
difficulties
The philosophers once had a seemingly
impossible gulf to try to bridge, between
Thought, Idea, Spirit on the one hand, and
Matter on the other. They finally covered
it. For they found in VIII a common de-
nominator. Matter" was reduced by study
to force but, of course, to force directed.
Now. direction requires effort, and to make
effort means to will. On the other hand,
thought, all clear thinking, requires atten-
ton. Attention means effort, more or less.
And-once again-to make effort means
to will. VIII. is the essence of the human
soul and of the universe. It is capable of
carrying us anywhere.
| TNHE chasms which we now fear are so.
l. clal and spiritual. But let them not
daunt us. Events often help us on toward
our difficult destination. The gulf between
classes has been wide. Between "the en-
ploying class" and the workingman" It
has been said, there can never be COM
munity OF interest or exertion. Think Of
what has taken place Of late under the
pressure OF crisis. Collective bargaining
on the part of labor has actually been en-
couraged by not few great employers,
who have come across their former OBJ
jectlons most wonderfully.
We see pictures of the mixed boards
that have been dealing with industrial puz-
zies. For one who does not happen to
know their faces it is impossible to tell
which of these cheerfully serious gentle
men. standing shoulder TO shoulder, repre-.
sent employers and which are representa-.
tive of the workingman They all seem
to have been working together as comrades.
| Unity Is not out OF the question.
Mr. Taft and Mr.. Gompers sat, and also
spoke together recently at dinner; 'the
former being introduced as "the best loved
man in the United States and the latter
as ethe greatest labor leader IN the
I world Nj Taft has never been charged