The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-02-24
Howe About:
The Conservative Side
Waterloo
Idealisrn
By ED HOWE

In 0enuncldLlOnS OF the WrOHSS Ol TIE
poor. AT the last election a farmer
candidate for a little Office tbut still
big enough to provide dishonest
salary and appropriation for al assist
anti promised her the depntyship
She at once plunged into the CAM
paign and did her best to rob the poor
because she expected to share In the
robkery
That is the trouble: even the poor,
the women, the farmers. the WORKING
men. are willing TO engage In the spe
cial robbery of the people against
which we have most cause OF COM
plant. If given chance to share In IT,
The farmer candidate was elected.
The last time | saw the widow she
said he had promised nine other peo-
pie the deputyship, and that she would
bring suit against him If he did not
keep his word to her.
John D. Rockefeller should write
and publish his own biography; no
ghost writer can equal him In the
truth and candor a task of this kind
requires.
Jean Jacques Rousseau gave such
apology as there is for the radical; !
should like to hear, with equal candor
displayed. from the worlds greatest
business man and conservative.
The conservative side of the argu-
ment has never been adequately pre-
sented. II should be; we specially need
such book now, not only for our own
use. but for the use of future gener-
atoms.
The great Napoleon suffered intense
ly al Waterloo; ruin was never more
humiliating or complete. But millions
of less noted suffer the anguish of a
Waterloo: rarely pick up newspa-
per without reading of a Waterloo
for some poor devil.
Waterloo is a good word TO remem-
Der; perhaps 1t is fortunate we so fire.
quently see it in print.
beg you to remember its signif1-
cance-which is to avoid such fate
when you have lived only half your
life and have equipment to win.
Most men, and all women. say IDEAL
ism is the first standard by which men
may Judge their action and enterprise.
This is pleasant sounding, but actually
foolish. Idealism means visionary;
the opposite of realism. The worst
mistakes of men have been due to
neglecting the good that may be ac-
complished in attempting good far be-
yond their powers. Our first stand
ard of endeavor should be intelligent
realism: selection of the best of two
evils, and training and Harvesting it
to do Gods work.
Everyone who believes in Cause
supports it fanatically; no one is ex.
actly just In his advocacy OF, or oppo-
sition to. the great controversies
which make up life. | am
fanatic, too. but on the side of con-
servatism. of safety, If caution; OF
looking longer before we leap.
Joseph McCabe Is not one Of the
most famous of historians, but In
many ways one of the most intelligent.
industrious. fair and capable. He
lately paid a compliment to the trad
ing middle class. This class, he says.
has been the great nursery of think
ers through all history. We have
books written by middle class men in
Egypt from four to five thousand years
ago, and they are generally moral
treatises: manuals of rules of conduct
telling the best way to behave in
every position of life. These books
were used in the ancient schools: in
opening tombs 1t was found young
people had been buried with such
books in their coffins. The writer's had
reached a purely natural and social
conception of the meaning of moral
conduct: no speculation beyond that
It results in most happiness. progress
and comfort for mankind.
A majority of the early philosophers
recommended good behavior for the
same reason: 1t Is mistake to be-
lieve that materialism is of late
growth. The Stoics in Greece were
noted materialists: we have no such
famous nnbelievers now as history
notes long before the time of Moses.
and records up to the time of Robert
G. Ingersoll when the agitation almost
ceased as public question.
Already we are beginning to won
der If the ancient Babylonians were
not more ferocious puritans than the
New Englanders of two hundred years
ago. And the ancient Babylonians
were not at all concerned about
future life. Their laws severely pnn-
ished several sex offenses not pun
ished at all in America or Europe TO
day: and entirely because such of.
lenses were not nice or hest for those
practicing and witnessing them.
I have lately had occasion TO visit
two neighboring towns. In both of
them are being built school houses pa
latial an6 unnecessary. Both inclnde
theaters. restaurants athletic fields.
music departments. etc.. that would
be an outrage on common sense in
good times. hut are specially outrage
ous In the midst of the greatest de
preston in history Have Won
not noted that lately indignation I'm
cIudes extravagant and unnpcessar,
waste in education? England has new.
err been half as wastef1ll in this respect
as we are. but has called halt.
Some say that one who would &C
&ho Of xrrritirao ShoItld roo a