The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-08-22

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They thought that righteousness was
limited to breaking Prussian. tyranny;
they never dreamed that IL meant also
the breaking of the tyranny of the
British mine-owners and their lordly
complacency That soldiers would
come home from trenches and dugouts
in France to demand an immediate
transformation of living conditions, so
that the housing problem is foremost
among British public questions, was
far from the thought of many who
were snug1y ensco need in an imme-
mortal sociay order. That wages and
hours and social emancipation should
at once succeed Belgian and French
wrongs as American war issues was
beyond the anticipation of the world
four years ago.
We are, in for an era of economic
and social transformation. The war
| is still going on. Now as in the early
! stages of the fighting in France, there
are panicky conditions and wrong esti-
mates and plumbers galore. There are
no longer any divine rights of privi
legged classes to be conserved. We are
bunglingly busy about the huge task
| Of making all the Jericho roads OF life
| safe for travellers, rich and poor; that
| is the new Good Samaritanism. 1t is
not enough to heal wounds; we now
seek to prevent them. The League of
| Nations idea is that instead of merely
ameliorating the conditions of war, we
snail aDollSh war itself.
The Angel and the Bridge.
At the Worlds fair in Chicago hung
a popular picture of a little child
| bridge with a broken rail- Unseen by
the child. a guardian angel kept it
| from falling. Eyes of mothers grew
| moist as they viewed the beautiful
painting 1t was left for a hard-head-
ed farmer to make the criticism that
i 4
the authorities upon art. for he said
simply. Why doesn't the angel mend
the rail, and go on about its business ?"
! There you have the modern spirit.
We do not want angels TO safeguard
US from aviodable dangers: we want
the dangers removed. 1t is well that
| a mother should pray that her little
boy may not have his hand cut off in
the dangerous machinery OF the mill:
| 1t is better that the law should COM
| pei the mill-owner to install safety
devices to prevent such accidents
and that little boys who should be in
school should not have to work in
mills.
| In other words, we have incorpor-
| ated the Good Samaritan spirit into
our common laws. Instead of build
ing almshouses and rescue missions,
we abolish the saloons. which furnish
| them with most of their raw material.
Where we used to build reformatories
| for Maynard children, we now seek
to provide them with education and
| hygienic environment which will keep
them out OF -reformatories. Proven
tive Righteousness is being substituted
for reclamation. $50
tS Jericho Road Now Safe.
Il was TO have gone down to Jericho
this morning; instead, am remaining
| IN my room to write. All the spice has
departed from the journey between
Jerusalem and Jericho. For ages it
was a favorite resort for bandits.
| When I made the trip on horseback,
nine years ago. I went armed. To-
day, the expedition is a one-day auto
mobile outing with no danger except
from steep roads. The British occu-
patton has brought safety to Palestine.
DR.. John H. Finley. who was here
with the American Red Cross, covered
most of the land on foot and alone.
The new era is one Of safety instead
OF succor.
Does this take the point from the
Good Samaritan story? Far from it.
The principle taught by Jesus is oper-
alive in the spirit which seeks to re-
Eorganize the world on the basis of the
welfare of all the people. The mod
ern Good Samaritan is simply eliminat-
ing the highwaymen. When we make
the world safe for democracy we are
doing a wholesale Good Samaritan
business.
Classic of Ncighborlincss.
A hair-splitting theologian afforded
the occasion of one of the most beauti-
full parallels in literature. He had
tried to enmesh Jesus with catch
questions about eternal life. The Mas
ter simply quoted to him his own law.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart. and with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength, and
with all thy mind; and thy neighbor
as myself"
That made the doctor of religious
Adam, he sought to justify himself.
land asked who is my neighbor %
whereupon Jesus told the story of
neighborliness: "a certain man went
down from Jerusalem to Jericho. and
fell among thieves, which stripped him
of his rainment. and wounded him.
and departed, leaving him half dead
And by chance there came down a
certain priest that way; and when
he saw him. he passed by on the other
side. And likewise a Levite, when he
was at the place. came and looked
on him. ana passed by on the other
side. But a certain Samaritan, as he
1 journeyed, came where he was: and
when he saw him, he had compassion
on him, and went to him and bound
Iup his wounds. pouring in oil and
wine. and set him on his own beast.
and brought him to an inn, and took
care of him. And on the morrow
when he departed, he took out two
pence and gave them to the host. and
said unto him, Take care Of him and
whatsoever thou spendest more. when
come again / will repay thee. Which
now of these three thinkest thou was
neighbor unto him that fell among
thieves? And he said. He that show
ed mercy on him. Then said Jesus
unto him. Go. and do thou likewise"
A Program for Our Day.
That story fits all times. 1t pene-
trates to the core of the question of
social responsibility. The Master.
whose tongue was ever sharp when
He spoke of ecclesiastics. dealt caus-
tically with the priest and the levite
who trusted to their orthodoxy and
their position for Righteousness. Then
he showed how a despised Samaritan
how the theologian must have re-