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Show Unwise Use of Leisure and Riches Evil That Confronts the Commonwealth By REV. ORRIN L. KOSMO, Lutheran, New York. The problem of our leisure is bound up with that of our prosperity. We are not only the wealthiest nation of the world today, but we are the wealthiest nation the world has ever known. , It is dangerous for an individual or a nation to become rich suddenly. sud-denly. Usually their riches find expression in opulence, in the tawdry and the bizarre, and oftentimes their wealth consumes them. This country coun-try has begun its crusade in that direction. Its cheap amusements, its superficial morals, its insuperable haste, its pandering to the lascivious, to the passions all these are the earmarks -of a nation suddenly become rich, attempting to spend their accumulations as swiftly as they have gotten them. All of this demonstrates that we have yet to learn how to take care of our prosperity and leisure. It is an art to enjoy life. It is a study to appreciate it, to grasp its meaning. It requires a great deal of self-control to live moderately, and it is far more difficult for the rich to live moderately than the poor. The tragedies of man and nation show the terrible truth of their being destroyed and annihilated by their own wealth. There may be the completed task of having conquered the frontiers, and there may be an infinite wealth of natural resource, but if there is no self-control and if there is no great purpose to guide the people, there come license and decay. |