Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1925-08-28
WE BELIEVE IN PROGRESS
(Staunton LEADER

A few years ago there was posted
on the bulletin board
of one of the Richmond churches, To-
Gated on a street corner, a message
that challenger the attention of many
passers-by. 1t read: "A Tragic Epi-
taph. He believed in progress, but
he did not make any,"
This "epitaph" should challenge
us. There is no doubt that we be-
lieve in progress-at least, our sort
of progress-and are making pro-
gress, but to what extent is our pro-
gress impeded because, as whole,
Virginians "are too afraid of any
thing that is new and too self-sat-
isfied" with present and past achieve
ments? Virginia is far from the
forefront of modern progress"
Why?
The past has its valuable uses. We
are children of the past. Most of the
best things of civilization have been
handed down to us from the past
The main reason we send children to
school is that they may find out the
achievements of the past and may
use them in going on. Progress is
a matter of growth, and in growth
there are two elements. One is our
connection with the parent stem of
the past, and the other is the putting
forth of our energy to produce new
shoots, new bloom and fruit of the
present and the future. No program
of reform or advancement, whether it
be material, moral or spiritual
whether it be in education, taxation
or what not-is of any value that
does not have its roots in the past
and is not in some way a continuity
of the forces that have been gener-
ated in the past.
The past becomes stupid drag
upon progress only when We are sat
isfied with it and with ourselves
fOIls II lay Alo QCcu UPON
the present and prevents the removal
of obstacles that hinder our advance
ment. The balance-sheet sat the end
of the year that shows merely a
healthy" growth in business, behind
j the counter, in shop and factory, and
/ on the farm, is no measure of pro-
gress. The progress of a community
I or state is not measured so much by
what it has done as by what it is
capable of doing. Our excellence as
people does not consist in the fact
/ that we have stronger bodies, or bet
I ter educated brains. or more money
or fliyvers than our ancestors. In
deed, it is doubtful, very doubtful
with all our boosted progress
whether we are as good animals OF
as good spirits as they were
/ All our advantage lies in our abil-
( ity and willingness to recognize the
lhindrances to our growth and remove
them, to appreciate the opportunities
we have and make the most of them
to try new things when the old keep
us in a rut, to sit still only long
enough to know where we are going
But, most of all, our rate of pro-
gress is measured by our ability to
learn and apply the secret of cooper
alton by which this generation can
get rid of its handicaps and utilize
its advantages in such a way as to
increase its material and spiritual as
sets and hand them down to the next
generation, so that our children and
grandchildren will be as proud of us
and of our achievements as we are
of the glorious record of our fore
fathers. We believe in progress. But
do we believe in it enough to strike
off the manacles that bind it hand
and foot and that make its forward
march painful and slow? If we do,
let us show our faith by our works.