The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-10-13
Frederick Haskin's Letter
tspeea CORRESPONDENCE 81 Arxusl
Ledoux.
Especial CORRESPONDENTS q The Al

kinds when the human race has
reached its real maturity of mind
There will be no unemployment fo-
example, because unemployment il
obvious and spreventable waste q.
energy. All life he sees as one vsst
stream of immortal energy in which
every individual is capable of funr-
tioning as a harmonious and nec,s-
sary part The problem of life i
the proper direction of that stream
of energy.
In the philosophy which Ledouy
xPounds-sQ eaking often in a SORT
OF blank verse, with his eyes clos
ed-there are traces of primitive
Christianity. of the teachings ~
Moses, Mohammed. Buddha. Of tha
sacred books of the Hindoos ~
Confucius. and of the great Amer
loan poet, Walt Whitman, whose
works Ledoux says he knows
by heart. He does not deny that his
inspiration comes from all of these
He says that all of the great re-
ligious teachers and the creates,
poets were men who had achieved
cosmic consciousness and who tried
to impart it to their fellow men
/ That he regards as his mission. too
but he hastens to assure you thar
he does not regard himself as either
prophet or a poet He seems
eager TO escape the repute of being
! one more amateur messiah. He saws
that his words are nothing; what he
does, everything. He proposes 20
preach gospel by acting it-bv
, giving the example of a life devoted
| to unselfish service.
| He has nothing, he says. and he
wants nothing. He gave up a sue
cessful professional career for his
/ present work. He wears castoff
clothing given him by friends and
never knows where his next dollar
is coming from. He has a wife and
three grown children. all of whom
; he has taught to support them
selves. He believes that the indi-
! vidual who deTotes himself to the
feeding of another individual Gre
ates one loafer and one slave. He
does not believe that any one should
be a dependent after childhood
Ledoux is perhaps our only pub
lie figure who speaks to his inter
viewers in a sort of poetry. For
example this:
He Speaks in Meter.
MY mission is to lift up the
! hearts of the dOwn-hearted, and
to bring a greater measure of love
and beauty into the lives of the
long denied. For that purpose I
have become a servant of the ser
wants, serving the hewers Of wood
and the drawers of water-the
| builders of the pyramids"
Ledoux is a big. barrel-chested.
athletic-looking man, with a head
of classical design, and a smile
that never wayers. He says that he
is never unhappy because he wants
nothing and so cannot be disap-
pointed. His presence is undeni-
ably impressive and magnetic It
would be hard for any one to sger-
look him or laugh at him. He IS
widely read He is a vegetarian
uses no tobacco, alcohol or condi-
ments. He says that he sleeps but
two TO four hours day, and that
he has cut his sleep down grad1-
ally from eight hours. as he has
eliminated from his life the burden
of personal desire and strife He
is voluminous and eloquent talk
er, with mind of astonishing var
iety. He will tell you a funny
incident, outline a practical plan
for a home for the unemployed, and
recite to you his poetic-mystical
version Of the evolution OF life from
the protozoon to cosmic conscious
ness, all within an hour. WhateTei
else he may be, he is unique and
interesting.
What has he accomplished? One
thing, undoubtedly. He has brought
home to Americans the fact OF IN
employment-the misery and vase
of it. He has made them see a.,
both as d human catastrophe and
as an economic problem, more Wv
idly than ever before.