Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-10

1t "a not generally recognized that
the idea Of right and wrong, or what
old-fashioned people used to call morals
has quietly passed out of the picture as
conversational topic.
Under the widespread demand for
wrong of any matter, especially as en-
phasized in the conduct Of human be-
ings. is passed UP.
Tacitly few people refer to the wrong
doings of those acquaintance whom
| they regard as friends, and actually fail
to hold against them the traits they
| do not like.
Some have even gone to the extent
Of failing to discriminate at all between
right and wrong, or what one believes
| to be right and wrong, as based upon
| and capacities.
The American doctrine Of getting
ahead no doubt Is partly responsible
| for this attitude One should not look
| too closely at others or butt into their
business with too much vim, lest they
should turn around some time and
rend you.
The spirit Of the frontier has some
thing to do with 1t. James Truslow
Adams, in his Epic of America" brings
this out to considerable extent. The
men who had the physical vigor and
courage to go West were to be accepted,
not criticized
There was a somewhat cruel saying,
prevalent In the pioneer days, THE cow
| ards never started, and the weak never
arrived" So the land was to the brave
and the strong, which was just an
other way Of saying the free and the
brave.
For several score years, however, the
right and wrong Of all matters was very
/ much in evidence in this country, fol-
| lowing the Puritan influence and the
ideas Of other God-fearing peoples who
came to America for freedom of con-
| science.
! During the past decade 1t has become
| fashionable to sneer, in a dainty intel
lectual manner. at the Puritans, as If
they were certain strange animals that
had no counterpart nowadays.
The Puritans were Just ordinary folk,
however, and not one-tenth as queer
as a great many persons today would
like to make them out. They simply
believed in the right and wrong OF
things.
| Those beliefs, Of course. were based
on their own convictions. not on the
convictions or lack of convictions of
their neighbors. If many of their ten
cts happened to hinge on forbidden
fruit. 1t was because the people them
selves had soured on that fruit.
| II they forbade themselves to do GER
tain things which many today find in
nocent, or at least harmless 1t was be-
cause they did not believe them either
innocent or harmless.
! 4 +
They, at least, had beliefs. and those
are things many otherwise good human
beings Of this age seem to lack largely.
Today the American people, as a
! group. have removed their beliefs to
more lightly held matters. such as base
! ball. the stage. personal transportation
and the outdoor life. These. too are
| interesting matters. but there yet re-
main many persons, perhaps many more
than are commonly believed. since they
have few spokesman, who feel that the
right and wrong Of a matter makes an
interesting question. too.
No doubt morals. as such enter into
the average discussion less frequently
because so many people-and so much
must be admitted-do not fnd such
| questions at all interesting
When every one in q community went
to church and inbibed the same ideas