Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-09
The Need of Social Blueprints

ana look at the fading out Of all that
made the old normally, and you can
wall about calamity to come, or you
can stand up and watch the new era
come in, looking for your place In Its
ranks. If you do the latter, you Will
see an entirely different state or facts.
1t will not be imagination or mental
suggestion or the foolish mysticism OF
pretending things are all right wheth-
err they are or not; it will be fact-the
thing that is true, the new era Is here
y X X
A business man in a small town said
1t all very we'll the other day. Said
he: II just try to accustom myself to
the thought that I have walked up In
new world. 1 don't know just what
kind of world it is going to be, but
know 1t is my duty to keep on the
watch to find out, so that / may be
ready for 1t. I know there Is going
to be q new way of craftsmanship, and
1 am trying to find out what it Is. l
know l shall have to keep wider awake
and am trying to find out on what
lines. l arm in a new world and have
got to learn about it all over again.
The only things that have carried
across from the old world into the new
! are service and honesty-but you can
drop the honesty and save time. for
when you say service you say 1t
ALL
That is the attitude! That man was
awake to the fact that the new era
is here; he wanted to be alert in all
his senses when it tried to teach him
something. He says he hasn't learned
much yet, but he has learned the basic
thing, without which he could not
learn anything at all; he has learned
that the world is new. If that plain
fact could be dinned into peoples
heads and hearts so that even without
understanding it completely 1t could
become the time beat of their think.
ing, a great deal would have been &C.
complished.
Certainly many things are going to
pieces. They ought to! And II you
look at them long enough you may
get the impression that everything is
going to pieces. You should turn
around and look the other way and
| see the New Era marching up the
side Of the hill. Then you will see
that although the ruin Of all our own
| stupid, inefficient, unjust and unpro-
ductive methods is unavoidable and
good, the real cause of their disap-
| pearance is the New Era. which Is
| pushing them out. While you are
| looking, be sure and see 1t all.
Almost any one you may chance to
meet will tell you that something
| ought to be done" and will assure
you that it must be done very soon.
| But you will travel a long way before
YOU will meet any one with plan
| that has a single point of practicable
| ity.
Many plans, SO called. are not plans
at all; they are pleasant pictures of
conditions as they may be after all
the planning, all the preparatory
work and all the constructive labors
are done. A plan is not an oil paint
| ing Of a complete object; a plan indi-
Gates the "how" and the where" and
the what" of every joist, joint and
pillar. You cannot build house from
a charming photograph; you will need
a blueprint.
| Every thoughtful man has an idea
| of what ought to be; but what the
world is waiting for is a social and
! economic blueprint.
There is something deadly exact
| about blueprint. 1t is not a speech;
| it is not propaganda; it is not a
| burst of enthusiasm; 1t is a simple
| thing of lines and signs which tells
you what to do and just where to do
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