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Show Practical Idealism That Is Represented in the History of Our Country By CALVIN COOLIDGE, President TTTE idea cf charity is very old. It is included in the teaching! of the earliest philosophers. It is one of the fundamental doctrines of our Bible. It is a spiritual conception of human relationship. It is life in obedience to the things that are unseen. Throughout history men have been prone to put their trust in other things and have failed. They have sought for power through material resources alone. They have thought it might be gained by the accumulation accumula-tion of great riches. They have attempted to rely on the naked force of armies and navies, conquering by the might of the sword. But these forces are not the ultimate rulers of mankind. They are necessary for security, as police and criminal courts, and bolts and bars are necessary. They are adjuncts of peace. But they are negative forces. They do not create they resist They are not the ultimate force in the world. Mankind has not yet, cannot yet, discard the use of these forces. It is significant, however, that the great nations have at last agreed upon their limitation. But it is even more significant that civilization is coming to rely more and more upon moral force. It is because the Ked Cross has been a practical application of that principle, that it has been such a tremendous success. It is this kind of practical idealism that is represented in the history of our country, a deep faith in spiritual things, tempered by a hard common com-mon sense adapted to the needs of this world. It has been illustrated iu the character of men who planted colonies in the wilderness and raised up great stataa around the church and the schoolhouse ; who bought their independence with their blood and cast out slavery by the sacrifice of their bravest sons; who olTered their lives to give more freedom to oppressed peoples, and who went to the rescue of Europe with their men when their own liberty and the liberty of the world was in peril, but when the victory was secure, retired from the field unincumbered by spoils, independent, unattached and unbought, still continuing to contribute lavishly to their relief of the stricken and destitute of the Old World; and who, but recently being asked for $5,000,000, immediate! gave about twice that amount for the afflicted people of Japan. llllltllllllllllllllllllllllMllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllltllllllllllll |