Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1920-05-17
GOOD CITIZENSHIP.

Iowa Falls Citizen: Good citizen
ship demands that a person, man or
woman. boy or girl, make the most OF
himself and do the best he can, intel
%lectually, morally, industrially, and
physically. Few will BE- intellectual
giants, billionaires, or athletes. All
men are cropping in the darkness with
their little candles Pickering and dimly
burning. Some know enough to know
that human knowledge. is very small
and some do not, but this makes it
much more imperative that every per-
son improve himself. He yves 1t to
himself, to his family, to government,
to pcstcrity. TO the extent that a man
fails to improve, he falls short Of the
better type of citizen that he might be.
Each person., man, wOman,. boy, or
girl, should take every advantage. OF
making more of their talents. They
should get Il full public school educa-
cation, not for the purpose of polish
ing pebbles, but for the purpose Of at
tanning knowledge and efficiency and
giving service, for the purpose Of learn
ing how little we know, for the purpose
Of becoming more humble, sane, fair.
and thoughtful. They should read
reliable pipers, standard magazines,
books worth while. They should be
posted and have thoughts of their "
on public questions and be able to vote
and act i~ntelligently OF rather more
and more intelligently. 1t is easy to
detect the thoughtful and w~ellposted
person. You can see it in he eyes.
actions, demeanor. 1t is likewise easy
to detect the counterfeit, the imitation,
the fraud, with the vacuum back OF 1t.
A grclt essential Of good citizenship
is character. One trouble with NIL OF
our activities. business, society, church
es, schools, and college, is that too
much stress is placed on the dollar, and
not enough stress is placed Oh the. con-
science. Character is what Il man does
and thinks each day, each hour, each
minute. If u man takes an inventory
each evening, he will feel that the day
has been Il miserable failure. In the
morning he will start anew, saying
this day l will think no thought, speak
no word, and perform no act for which
I viii have a feeling of regret. A new
inventory will result as before.
However, there is nothing to do
each day except take up the burden
again, saying l will follow the ought"
of my soul and not the greed, not al
ways ask, How much can 1 get or how
little can l give! There is always
much temptation to PLY the game.
There is always much tendency to turn
silent SOW and drink the swill. A Co
partnership between God and the devil,
between unselfishness and greed, Is
impossible. The best argument In
favor of IL literal hell is that there
must be a place for the iypocrite.
Another great essential Of self-im-
proycment and good citizenship is TINT
Il man or woman make himself or her.
self industrially fit, that is they must
prepare themselves for some useful
occupation in life. A man must be
efficient in production, that ISL he must
be well prepared to perform some
vocation and then perform 1t to the
best of his ability and training. A
man owes this to himself and wife
and children. He owes 1t to society
and he owes it to government. He
must not be u bOarder or 4 leech or a
parasite or n barnacle or a crook. He
must earn an honest living and deliver
honest service.