| Show GRAVER DANGERS I 1 I 1 THAN LOSS OF WEALTH there is no reason why we should worry about our material wealth writes senator guy D goff in the current issue of the national republic in an inspiring article entitled the voice of washington language can not I 1 picture nor words paint the great wealth that has come to this na tion there are dangers ahead far greater than abundance of poverty or the denial of certain rights it is not what we have but what we are that measures our worth lenes s there is not an adequate love of country nor sit sufficient bent patriotic self sacrifice nor an inborn hearts desire on the part of the majority of our citizens to take an active interest in public affairs the men and the women of this country are proud and honest benest they love their government and they respect its institutions but in their case and their radical comfort they forget that every gift Is accompanied by an obligation ob to do they ara aa andla indifferent er to this fact act that public participation p aon and public service and pcr p bonal domestic and family ni morality are absolutely necessary to the security of ind individual happiness and prosperity they are too much absorbed in their own selfish affairs to love this blessed land of such dear souls and sacred memories with a passion enduring when all other earthly desires have gone they do not care enough for the priceless fabric of liberty transmitted bitted to them as the most precious of heritages and in the pursuit of their selfish aims they have become too envious desirous and jealous even to care to serve berve the nation we must substitute for this false defective selfishness the undeniable truth that there can be no permanent prosperity for one class of our people at the expense of f another class we must teach those who do not know as aa well as those who have forgotten that democracy is no miracle worker that it guarantees this and nothing more that men of unequal ability shall be equal in their rights to develop lop their potentialities we must insist that every avenue be open and every opportunity free we must make the world a better place in which to live we must improve the morals conserve the health and advance the welfare of c every v cry man woman and child with whom we come in contact and whose lives touch ours we must soften the severity of labor and increase virease the rewards of those who do the intellectual as well as the manual work of the world to fail in these things is to take the first long iong step back to despotism to close our eyes to these eternal and moral voices is to approve a combination of the mediocre and the inferior to the end that character ability and morality shall be punished and restrained most men aside from the lazy the weak the criminal the defective and the tainted yearn for something that has the mark of personal ownership something won by struggle something to love and defend to use and enjoy mankind wants a home and all the virtues that cluster around it this sentiment constitutes the poetry of life and it dwells in humble surroundings just as much as it does in places of wealth and culture |
