The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1919-05-22

earning your bread and serving 9TH
ers in some useful occupation. Shame
upon the, idler and wastrel!
At the close of the holiday sales
merchants take an inventory of the
stock on hand and calculate from the
record Of purchases and sales what the
profits have been for the year. I'm
fortunately we teachers deal with no
such tangible stuff. We SOW at large.
Our ideas and ideals are aimed at the
minds and souls Of you young people.
You are the salt OF the earth. But
sometimes we teachers feel this in a
literal sense. We feel no surer of a
crop of ideas when we are sowing in
tellectual seed than did Ulysses when
he plowed the sea beach and sowed it
down in salt. We cannot tell how
much grows and how much falls upon
stony ground and in waste places. We
can make no inventory at the end of
the year There is no accurate trial
balance showing profit and loss. And
I confess to you that I have solemn
moments when l wonder whether am
engaged in a profitable or losing
business. I see too large a per cent
of cynical Indifference to the best we
teach, too many over sophisticated
youths, too many who assume no OBJ
legations, too few who are willing to
serve.
But do not misunderstood me. am
not advocating the long and solemn
face. do not want to be one of those
who are always taking the joy out of
life. "Cheerful, that's me all over,
Mable." But I do see immense need
ahead for wisdom and unselfshness.
! am happy to say that I
do often see wisdom and I'M
selfshness. am happy to
say that do often recognize the
students wherever 60. wish I could
believe that they exist in all. The
teacher views with grave apprehen-
sion the rising selfishness and cyni-
cism in college young people who
should by all means be idealists.
There are today prophets Of new
political justice, who are dealing the
death blow to the old political idea Of
exploiting the small and weak to the
advantage of the great and strong.
Such prophet, strong of voice and
hard of fist, was Mr.. Roosevelt. Such
prophet, more persuasive, more di-
plomatic, is Mr.. Wilson. Everywhere
there are leaders of a new intellectual
development, who bid us fearlessly
search all the fields Of the unknown.
There are not lacking great teachers
who are carrying the Ggh hit into all the
dark places of the spirit, who say to
us that there is no conflict between
the things of the mind and the things
of the spirit. They bid us seek the
truth that shall make US free. They
assure us that there is no conflict be-
tween truth and truth-that things
true in the intellectual world are true
in the spiritual. We have learned to
follow their teaching without fear of
old superstitions. Today we follow the
literary and historical method, the
ev0lutionist's scientific method, even
in reading the Bible and find it full of
new meanings and new inspirations.
With a great joy the modern scholar
finds that he can accept Jesus of
Nazareth as moral and spiritual
leader-tha with Jesus he can be-
come a citizen in the kingdom of God,
the righteous republic, here and now,
by living, up to his highest possibili
ties, the principles of the teachings Of
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
No, it is not for these that we fear.
For intellectual leadership, for ad-
vancing spiritual knowledge for po-
litical justice we shall doubtless have
capable leaders in sufficient numbers.
But what shall we say Of economic
justice? there is the dark cloud on our
national horizon-on the skyline Of
the future Of the whole world. There
is the problem that confronts you who
are to be the leaders of the day just
flushing before the dawn.
The Bolsheviki are abroad in the
land. They are. in Russia; they are in
Germany, in Austria, in Roumania,
even in France, Italy, England, and
what is the |. w. w. but the Ameri-
can Bolsheviki? He can be suppress
ed, certainly It is foolish, extreme,
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