Atwood Hammond High School - Post Yearbook (Atwood, IL)

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THE MODERN CRUSADE. MAUDE BLACKWELL. '10. During the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries occurred the expeditions we call Crusades. Two principal objects inspired the promoters of the Crusades. The primary motive was no doubt the restoration of the Holy Places to Christian rule; the secondary object was the defense of the Eastern Empire against tin dangers of Turkish Conquest. The first was based on a sentiment, the second on an urgent necessity. Is the time not ripe for a modern Crusade, for a Crusade which, like those of old, may be based perhaps on a sentiment and an urgent necessity? There is inherent in the American people a desire that their ideals of fairness, equal opportunity and civic righteousness shall be maintained at any cost. These ideals, as any observer may notice, have been menaced by the conditions of our new industrial order. Our Modern Crusade then, in so far as it shall he based on a sentiment, will have for its object the driving back of the new forces of sin which threaten the frontiers of our National ideals. To one who has traced our industrial history, it must be evident that there have grown up a set of evils incidental to the development of huge monopolies and trusts, which bv their impersonal nature and their failure to come within purview of established legal principles threaten the very existence of our government itself. An urgent necessity demands a Crusade. The need of this Crusade was recognized bv President Roosevelt and through his efforts a good beginning, but onlv a beginning, was made. Let ns analyze a little more carefully the conditions which make a Modern Crusade an absolute necessity. “The darling sins that are blackening the face of our time,” says Prof. E. A. Ross, “are incidental to the ruthless pursuit of private ends and hence quite without prejudice. Among these are: Doodling, blackmail, tax dodging, embezzlement, stock manipulation, child labor, criminal negligence in the adoption of safety devices, and adulteration of foods. These destructive evils being veiled by comeliness, do not reveal their hideous nature and are without tin offensive semblance of primitive sin; hence it becomes possible for vice to progress undisturbed even while people in general are adopting higher moral standards. The perpetrator of modern iniquity is often the sham philanthropist of his country; the regular attendant at church and, as lie is judged by old standards of domestic virtue, he is rated high in the esteem of his fellow countrymen. Impel , on il ty adds a distinguishing characteristic to modern sin. In the present day the perpetrator .is seldom known to us as In is usually hidden behind a board of directors or acts indirectlv hr ugh a sc; re of more or less prominent subordinates. The effect of hi vr ng doing passes into what has been called that vague mass “tin public and of it we know nothing specific. So subtle are the practices of the modern sinner that people fa’l to r a’ize that boodling is actually treason: that b'ackmail is piracy disguised: that embezzlement is downright theft; that tax dodging is real larceny; that faetorv labor of children is slavcrv d:ssembled: that deleterious adulteration of food is genuine murder. We n»'ed more insight and discrimination. Tf we possessed these, we should instantly perceive the in-inpitv of spoil practices and condemn them forthwith. The fundamental significance of thpsp practices has long been overlooked because we have lacked the pene- rati.ye insight to peroeive it. We have been exhausting our energv on mere surface immoralities and petty

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ns onr sacred guardian of peace between nations? As the Prince of Peace? May we not look on war in the future as something incongruous with Christianity and in the end reach a time when war will exist no more? ‘‘ BILLV-”

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defects of character while entirely overlooking the moie far-reachig and intinitely more detrimental effects of the newer sins of society. For instance today societies of women exist which are spending the time, money and tal ent of their members, striking at the use of the cigarette, when thousands are being murdered by the adulteration of food and the criminal delay of railroad managers in adopting safety equipments. Not only are we directly harmed by these evil practices of modern sin which ha e not yet come under the full ban of public disapproval but the perpetrator of modern vice by his worldly success and private virtues brings about the corruption of ideals. Should men of this type hoist their black flags and deal squarely with the public in ceasing to proclaim to be what they are not, their influence would never be widely felt. This is beyond doubt an opportune time for a Crusade of the right sort. Never was there such an effeciencv in the operation of moral and intellectual forces. One cannot help observing the general public striving toward clearer consciousness. As Professor Cooley of Michigan has said in his Social Organization : “Tn every province of life a multiform social knowledge is arising, which, mingling with the higher impulses of human nature, are forming lational ideals which Under the right kind of leadership and emulation gradually work into practice. Now if the times are ripe for the New (Tusade, which we are assured needs but the right kind of leadership, there remains for us. as intelligent American citizens, but one duty and that is tlie selection with keen insight and discrimination and with due regard to relative values of the proper objects of our Crusade. This choice necessitates intelligence to foresee the things that really hurt society. And if any reform is to produce lasting good, the whole people through the agency of a properly organized and directed public opinion must take the lead. Our democracy, to justify itself, must include a movement which shall lift all to a plane of keener discrimination and more rational choice. We are gradually attaining that plane if we have not already done so. Let us then with the insight afforded us by the giant searchlights of publicity, see the evils, which the comely of look, are gnawing at the vitals of our republic. Let us as patriotic American citizens, raise our banner, the white standard of morality, and carry on a Crusade against the evils peculiar to our own time that will decisively repulse the oncoming tide of the Newer Unrighteousness.