New Britain herald., 1923-03-31
THE OBSER VER-
Makes Random Observations On the City and Its People

drink and to perpetuate his kind. H. r walks upright; so do some mammals f he is similar to them in many man, ways
 His God-given prerogative is the
 power of thought, the ability to req. son, the gift of choice in attaining
 his various ends. The scope of this
 ability is great, he is allowed many
 means of approaching his ends in
 any of the fundamental instincts Of , life. He may build house in q search for place wherein to be
 warmed and sheltered. The plan of
 that house may be chosen by him.
 The animal hunts for something to
 cat, thinking of variety not at all. Man tempta his palate by the exer-
 else. of choice in wide range of foods
 that are available to him. The des-
 tinies of man are controlled by that power of choice, of free will; he can
 make and break himself here and in
 the hereafter by poor choosing.
 Choice. free-will, the power to reason
 and live accordingly, is mans only
 real difference from other forms of
 life. It is the Great Gift, it is the
 only tangible evidence of immortal
 ity.
 There has sprung up in the city
 of New Britain group of men, known
 as the Civic league, the members of which have set themselves high upon
 a pedestal, have accepted their ideals
 as the ultimate choice and are pre-
 pared to interfere with the choice of
 other mortals about them by seeing that their ideas of what is right and
 wrong are lived up to by the aver
 age mortal without giving to man. kind the privilege of exercising their
 God-given privilege-choice Poor,
 weak deluded man. His race has
 come down through the centuries to kproduce what We have today. He has
 always had, to greater degree than
 anything else, the power of choice and
 he has produced what we call man in ] the aggregate The local people who
 have set themselves up as super men,
 have decided that they must furnish
 the example for mankind, they have | decided that they will do what they can to limit mans power of choice and make less the privileges that the Almighty has conferred upon him, they are proclaiming with one voice that man. is unfit, is headed toward oblivion and with another that the God-given powers are not the true property of every man, that the giftt of God must be tempered with the rule of man; the rule of themselves.
 Undoubtedly it would be well were all of Us to examine our daily acts and decide upon what is right and what is wrong. Undoubtedly we should all attempt to curb our in- stinctive reactions to things about us and examine our consciences as to the right or wong. In doing this, in needing our power of reason instead of our instinct, we are using the gift that has been given us, and what good is it if it is not used? It is of as little value as it would be were our every act regulated by an outside human agency that set itself up as being the ultimate. Our power to reason, to choose, may become because of our own weak | through over interference with ourI power by men who believe themselves to be perfect because their own con- sciences, their own sublime belief in themselves. tell them they are right. Loss of use of the power of choice /, through either cause would be just as detrimental to the welfare of man. , kind as would the changing of the , whole human race into some form of , q lower animal. When, through leg , or threats of invoking regu- power of choice from man you have , his distinguishing character { stic.
 The members of the Civic league , are to be congratulated for the c strength of their beliefs. They are certain that their aims q are proper and probably are doing f what they can to live up to those f deals, That is mans prerogative, s very mans prerogative It is the f light of the league to endeavor to . other men that its choice ,f life is proper by teaching and by fl eading. But it is not the right of he league to endeavor to surround very man with whole category of 'dont's" which it says he must fol- a ow or be punished in the flesh. It | s not the right of the league to set q tself up as the tattle-talc, which is ' ,oing to the police with evidence of 2 very minor infraction of the law. | Such men are not leaders--petty' 2 complaints will soon create a reyul- | ion of feeling that will more than : 'ffset what good they might do trough threats. Man loves a man, U le admjres one who tries to convince i'm ca new belief but he despises
 tattler-and he refuses to follow d Jim, whatever the virtue of his be !, ief '
 The principal objection to the U nague is it's -than-thou atti- ude. If it becomes strong enough it o nay succeed in telling people what u hey shall eat drink and wear and That time they must be abed O y lights. If we have weaknesses in- U erited from the first man. it is our u misfortune, and it was likewise one of " dams misfortunes that he did not :, ave the Civic league to act as his n piritual advisory board in the Gar ~ en of Eden. No doubt, it's first act ~ 1ould be to post up list of "Dont's" e' e n the tree. -
 Perhaps. the members of the league W ake themselves too seriously, and it ., possible that the Observer" and VI ther members of shirtsleeHe de- locracy take them too seriously. But hey must be considered because, as IL omeone once said, we are face to W