Contributing
Editor's
3k 'N.tttion&l
Sun&yM&gagine
Section
Dr Hugo Miiniterberg
Tlhe Greaft Meed f Oump Tnaraie
Professor of PsycEnoIogy, Harvard Usaiversifty
aSKED what the really great things are which mankind has won
in tne last thousands of years, the imagination rushes to all
kinds of technical wonders. Steamships and the railways
are pictured and further back the gunpowder and the printing
press: we admire the great cities which men have built and
the canals which they have dug; and there seems no end to the glorious
achievements. But when we begin to think seriously and pierce a little
deeper, we soon discover that all these outer things are, after all, less
important and less decisive than some of the inner great changes which
have come to mankind. The message of love which religion brought,
the gospel of freedom, the spirit of culture, the belief in the blessing of
work, the awaking of the social conscience, have all changed the world
more than any of the outer wonders. Every great revolution has come
from the human heart.
It is not different when we think: what is the really great need of today?
What ought to be changed to make our life more worth living and to raise
our nation to unprecedented heights? Of course, much might be im
proved in our surroundings. Many inventions might serve us; many
measures might help us: and yet the greatest must still come from within.
We need again a great new message to stir the soul of the nation. We
have the spirit of freedom and of love and of work and of good will. Yet
mere is someimng aeepiy wrong
with our time, and a better to
morrow can be hoped for only if
a great change comes to our inner
world.
The thousand social ailments of
our day can be cured only by one
remedy: our generation needs
more self-control, more discipline.
It is easy to draw an absurd cari
cature of discipline, as if it meant
a kind of old-fashioned tyranny,
which forces the will of one man
on another. There is a nobler
kind of discipline: a man is to be
come his own master, instead of
being a slave to the tyranny of his
low and cheap desires.
IT was different in the past.
1 American life of earlier periods
was modest, hard and under the
authority of the church. The
puritanic spirit held the masses in
firm control, and the simplicity of
the rigid pioneer life checked the
frivolous mind. But the world
has moved on. The country has
become abundantly rich; a love of
luxury has overflooded the nation.
Gigantic cities have swollen up,
and the craving for pleasure has
spread from the white ways of the
big towns to the smallest village.
The church has lost much of its
hold, the old faith' has crumbled,
and the nation has replaced it by
the one great creed of efficiency,
of success, of worldliness.
The new fashioned scheme be
gins in the school days nay, even
in the nursery. The child no
longer learns to submit to a stern
command, but is welcome to do
as he pleases. He is sometimes
begged to change his mind, some-
Northern Pacific Vacation Land
For those who seek the mountain fastnesses, the finny tribes in lakes and
streams, the awe inspiring phenomena of nature.
Minnesota Lakes Yellowstone Park
The most unique outing spot on earth.
SEASON: JUNE 15 to SEPTEMBER IS.
During the heated term the cool, rrfresh.
tag mountain climate of Wonderland in
vigorates and energUea one both mentally
and physically.
SPLENDID HOTELS, weird natural
phenomena, nature' own wild animals,
varied trout fishing.
Go via the
Northern Pacific Ry
and GARDINER, the
ORIGINAL ENTRANCE
For eight cents in stamps, attractive publi
cations on the Park will be forwarded bv
A. W. CLELAND. Central Pamngir Agtnt, ST. PAUL, MINN.
Daily Pullmans and Weekly Per.
and streams abound in gamey fish
pike, black bass, crappies, muscal
longe, pickerel, trout, etc.
Camping and Outing Resorts are easily
reached by automatic block signal train
service of the
Northern Pacific Ry
Several trains each way daily from St.
Paul-Minneapolis and Duluth-Superlor.
"MINNESOTA LAKES," 1914 edition,
well Illustrated and with numerous
maps, describes the various lakes, hotels
and rates, kinds of fish, etc, sent on
request oy
sonally Escorted Excursions
Chicago to Yellowstone Park via
Qardiner Gateway, June 15 to
September 15.
to
times persuaded, and sometimes bribed; but he has seldom a chance to
learn obedience. And yet he who has not learned to be obedient can
never really master himself. The kindergarten method of play is creeping
into school life; our youngsters follow only the path of least resistance.
They learn a thousand pretty things in the school, and not the chief thing
which makes life worth living; to do their duty. Is it surprising that this
go-as-you-please feeling streams into all channels of our public life?
The nation sees with terror the waste of its natural resources. The
riches of forests and rivers and mines are shamelessly wasted. The
timber is burned and not replanted; millions of tons of coal are ruined in
the mines. If there were more self-discipline in the spirit of the country,
such selfish destruction would be checked. The duty to the coming
generations would call a halt. The whole nation denounces corruption
and graft. The police is ineffective; the street cleaning is wretched; the
municipal life everywhere is riddled, not by real viciousness, but simply
by this thoughtless, careless public feeling, which shrinks from any stern
demand and lets things go as selfishness shapes them. The mud in our
streets and the mud in our politics cry for the broom of discipline. If
youth does not learn self-control and discipline and the spirit of obedience
to authority, it can be no surprise that there are twenty times more murder
cases to the million of population in our country than in western Europe,
ana a nunarea times more railway
accidents than over there.
In one complaint all layers of
our nation agree : the cost of living
is too high. But no tariff can
eradicate the fundamental evil.
IF the lesson of self-discipline had
1 been learned, no one would crave
the new-fashioned gowns which
adds much to the cost of living,
when last season's gown might
just as well be used. But we pay
not alone with our purse: we have
to pay with our health and our
nerves, with our conscience and
our morality, because this lack of
self-discipline makes all the selfish,
frivolous and lascivious desires
grow rankly. The auto, the kino
and the tango have become the
symbols of our amusement craving
time. All kinds of little remedies
are prescribed. Sexual education
is to help us: and yet no more
learning about sexual life can help
a community which does not find
in its own sense of duty and dis
cipline the energy to suppress the
immoral impulse. The time of
the little remedies for the national
waste, for living beyond our means
for corruption and graft, for vice
and crime, has passed; and the
muckrakers do not help either.
Only one thing can help us: a
serious appeal to the conscience of
the nation to believe again in
discipline and self-control. And this
belief must be planted in the heart
of every Amercian boy and girl.
Two thru trains dally from Chi
cago, three from St. Paul Minne
apolis, one from St. Louis-Kansas
City and Omaha; to North Pacific
Coast and Intermediate points.
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CONTENTS COPYRKlllTED. 1014, BY THE A1IUOTT & UniGC8 COMPANY
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