Evening star., 1939-07-29

and Canada suffer today from this
cause. Up and down the line we are
in need of higher type of public
officials, for they are the ones who
really determine the sort of govern
ment we shall have. 1t is a whole
some sign that so many American
officials have of late been sent to
Jail. Perhaps We shall find little
Jehosophats to take their place.
The need for Jehosophats is ever
recurring, as we toll at the continu-
Gus task of creating a nobler state.
Whenever great king or president
or other ruler appears, we should
give thanks to God, after the fashion
of the Song of Deborah:
For that the leaders took the lead
in Israel,
For that the people offered them
selves willingly,
Bless We Jehovah"
Last month my friend and neigh
Dor, DR.. William I. Hull, the inter-
nationally known peace advocate,
delivered the baccalaureate address
at Swarthmore College, commence
rating the completion of his long
term of service as a professor. He
crowded the experience and philos-
ophy of lifetime into the utter
ance. And his central theme was
that there cannot be two kinds of
morality, public and private We
have brought about something like
chaos by our assumption that the
public life of nation-its laws,
its political conduct, its social rela-
tionships, its standards and ideals
could safely be on a lower plane
than that still accepted as normal
for the best sort of individuals.
Private life and public work must
keep the same level. Government
can never rise above the character
of the people So the orator COM
pellingly made the old, old plea
for Christian living by the indi-
vidual.
Well, Jehosophat had the same
idea. He continued and bettered
the work of his father, good King
Asa, in lifting the plane of the
peoples life. Prudently he gave
heed to the nations military pre-
paredness; for he was a practical
statesman. The idealist must ever
reckon with the realists.
He himself walked in the way of
his father, and of his ancestor
David. There is no escape from
that primary responsibility upon
the part of an official. A recent
issue of popular magazine printed
a long article glorifying a public
man in high place; yet it repre-
sented him as notoriously profane,
a hard drinker. an expert gambler
and an adept at practical politics.
DR.. Hull is right: We must have
good men before we can have good
government. We cannot build
marble palaces out of mud bricks.
Jehosophat's first contribution to
Judah's welfare was his own per-
sonal character. And it is a democ-
racy's duty to see that no other
kind attain Office.
NAOI al nCdTHldIncnl.
Frank Buchmans crusade for
moral rearmament" on a definitely
Christian basis is having literally
worldwide repercussions. The dec
larations of principle which it has
evoked from rulers and statesmen
in Europe and America comprise
what is probably the greatest body
of moral and religious utterances
ever produced by public men in a
single decade. AS I thumb over
dozens of them I select this one
from the new Attorney General of
the United States, who is practicing
his own preachment:
"As a practical Catholic, I be-
lieve that our hope lies in a re-
birth of the old integrities and a
new sense of moral values. This
tragic goth century, when faith
seems in eclipse, may yet prove the
most glorious in history because out
of the weakness of our broken hopes
is rising the strong tide of a spirit
ual awakening. Moral rearmament
is safeguarding the great traditions
of the past, and will provide the
sinews of our might for the future. ~
1t was an early Moral Rearma-
ment' that Jehoshaphat undertook
He carried on, and bettered, his