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About The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip. (Portland, Or.) 1923-1927 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1925)
THE UNITED Page Eight is more valuable for streets and other improvements than for pagan worship. More than three hundred acres of some of the most valuable ground in the central part of Tokio was oc cupied by. these temples before 1923. In consequence of this ruling which is a part of the Tokio reconstruction plans, the Buddha worshipers must be content with erecting the new temples to their diety in the outlying suburbs. In view of this decision the inference is beyond dispute that the light of in telligence radiated by occidental civilization is gradually casting off the spell by which this venerable old symbol has kept in leash the oriental mind for several centuries. One school in Seattle with 485 pupils reports that 55 percent, or more than one half of the children in attendance, are foreign born. The greater part of these, a foreign language paper in Seattle states, are “from Norway, Sweden Italy and Austria.” If the parents of these children also were attending an American school so that they could progress with their children, then everything would ‘be well in Seattle and its Americanization problems would be in a fair way of being solved. If these families are to be kept together so that harmony between children and parents can be assured, the later will need something for their mental prerequisites besides foreign language newspapers. People who are anxious to fix up other people so that they may be able to “step right” in the marching column of the all-American contingent, should learn to watch their own steps so that those they essay to train might find some tangible evidence of creditable leadership. One ounce of good example is worth a ton of flighty speech. Theorists may put it over with those of their kind, but they cannot put it over on the common herd that has been inocculated against fandangled notions in a matter of fact world where they have been trained to work out their own salvation according to the definite rule they know by a definite name — common sense. JUNE 1925 AMERICAN in the Kimberly mines alone, are so numerous that were they marketed indiscriminately and competitively, diamonds would be as common and as cheap as ordinary glass beads. Funny what our imagination can do for us, isn’t it? A man’s reverses may be blessings in disguise if they teach him to think. The man who loses his all, even at an age when many people retire from active business life, who sets out anew with two empty hands and accumulates a compe tence, is the man who learned a profitable lesson from his misfortunes and did not sink into the mire of despair and self-pity. Just what shape the roads in America would have been in had not someone got into the notion of building an automobile, is a question. Whatever is said for or against this modern form of locomotion, it has transformed impassable wagon-roads into highways, measuring three million miles in length, within our country, and of this distance we have paved no less than four hundred and thirty thousand miles. Searching for heaven may seem foolish to some people, particularly those who are everlastingly working in the direction of the other place, but those who are searching for heaven have a wonderful faculty for creating heavenly little way stations while traveling along the trail of life in the right direction. How about the standard of the one-teacher schools in America? Does anyone know? We have, according to the lastest statistics, 174,947 one-teacher school houses in the United States with 3,500,000 children attending these schools. The children of the rural communities are entitled to as much educational protection as their city cousins. The open mind is the open window to the sunlight As a Supreme Court Justice, Lewis L. Fawcett of Brooklyn may be (giving the Sunday School a lot of credit when he says that regular attendance during the formative period of youth would dose the doors of the criminal courts and jails, but it is a certainty that if the Sunday School was made a greater ally of the home, for the building of a better youth, the criminal and juvenile courts would not be doing such a thriving business as they are at present and the jails and reform institutions would not require larger and more spacious quarters. of reason. Close that window and you will experience how the darkness of fear suspicion, jealousy and hatred enters your mind. The result is that you lose your courage, your faith and your physical and mental poise. Keep your mind’s window open and the destructive germs will never affect you. Not all the well deserved epitaphs are carved as boldly as this one, which someone recently discovered on a slab in a rural cemetary: “Here lies the body of John Doe Jones; His meanness on earth is interred with his bones.” The most exacting test of human virtue is applied when the scales tip and trouble gathers around one of a circle of friends or relatives. Those who fail are those who join the throng that is engaged in throwing stones. Those who rally to relieve the burden and rescue the weak and the perishing one are proving their mettle. Human virtues are rare. They are the greatest assets in life. Lose them and liabilities are likely to accumulate so fast against you that your individual security may be in danger. By the looks of things we are a rather careless lot in the United States, where we managed to maim seven million eight hundred thousand people, by accident, during the last year. Seems rather hard to believe, yet, two millions six thousand four hundred, or more than one fourth of this number, were victims of accidents that happened within or about their homes. The total is said to include only those accidents to which all of us are exposed, without regard to employment. Getting rather unsafe to be almost any place, doesn’t it? Give some people a position of power and influence and see how they misuse their power and then you will under stand the reason why they are never kept long on the job. When you see someone wearing a large diamond, indicating a measure of wealth which lies beyond your fondest dreams, forget it, the sparkler isn’t worth the' price that was paid for it, for authorities will tell you that the diamond stones igi g i ag It may not matter much to some people who are rather profane in their every thought and expression, but it is a great relief no doubt to the more sensitive New Yorkers that the policeman who “cusses” a citizen knows that this act on his part causes him to forfeit one day’s pay. Overcoming obstacles in the better part of a worth while life. Battle for your rights and struggle to achieve your objective, but fight with clean weapons, and never rob the other fellow of the fruits of his labor. Where there is moonshine there can be no sunshine. The two don’t mix very well.' Don’t try the mixture for it holds potentialities for many ills that sensible folks are dili gently trying to avoid. The man who forms the habit of speaking well of people will have no time to devote to idle gossip or to condemnation based upon the mistakes and the weaknesses that may be discernable in the lives of others. The troubles we worry over are invariably too trivial to be of any consequence provided we could put them out of our minds and get busy thinking about worthwhile things. The one who performs a spiritual act will bring no sorrow to others and no regret to himself. ■ IP 8Ü8 SU Ml i 5 Ê[Î|â D50 Illuminant, 2 degree observer o«n*y-