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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1894)
THE COURIER gives us supreme satisfaction to note that the destruction of slavery ad all the social coaditiosa germane to that institution meant the creation of a true Southern literature. It may be said, in broad terns, that, before the war, the South had no true literature. The Soathern mbad found expression mainly in statesmanship. Perhaps literature was rather looked down upon as a kind of a trade. Since the war it is scarcely too much to say that the South has produced among our younger writers the largest measure of original form of literary power. The late slave states have given us Cable, Harris, Craddock" and Mark Twain, and the charming author of "Col. Carter." In pure originality genius, if you will I think Cable surpasses Howelle, while I think Marie Twain stands incontestable at the head at all the younger school. The writer who wears cap and bells always stands at an immense disadvantage in literary com parisons. But his book called "Huckleberry Finnhas been declared by competent English critics to be a masterpiece of genius. In speaking of what we may call the "tendency writing in modern lit erature, Dr. Holme says, quoting approvingly Andrew Jiang, "Novels are getting to be largely tracts on church affairs, free love, and other sensational topics. The thrifty plan of giving us politics, sermons, fiction and the like, all served up in one stodgy sandwich, produces no permanent literature; only what amounts to tracts for the times and for the time being. The doctor has spoken a wise and timely word. The modern novel is too often a kind of social dissecting room. You are kept constantly reminded of your moral viscera, so to speak. It may be good for the interest of philanthropy bat it is certainly bad for the interest of literature. Both are su premely good, but t Ay cannot be wholesomely mixed. And that Batkm is to be pitied that neglects its art It is art that lifts hu manity to its mountain peaks of spiritual vision. If all the forces of our national genius should be turned, for one generation, into the channel of philanthropy, it might give the poor better food and shelter and clothes, but it might leave them poorer than it found them. The Bible truly says, "Without a vision the people perish." Men seed something to touch the imagination, to arouse the dor Mat spiritual qualities. And it is in this supreme field of life that art becomes the noblest adjunct of religion. . Let us feel, then, that art, like beauty, "is its own excuse for being.' Wedded to social philanthropy, its children may lose their charm of immortal beauty. The reply of Mr. Pullman to a question concerning the refusal of his company to do a certain thing desired by its employes "It was imply a matter of business is being criticised by some of his enemies aa implying that the necessities of business justify the violation of the rules of ordinary justice and morality. He surely did not mean to be understood as asserting the right to perpetrate a wrong in order to maintain his profits or to promote his general interest. The ides' that he manifestly intended to convey was that the success of business operations is dependent upon adherence to fixed methods and principles, and that exceptions can not safely be made to asit special cases or circumstances. There are laws in trade that must be strictly observed, or failure will inevitably ensue. Such laws are the result of ages of experience, and their enforcement is essential Xo the orderly and satisfactory adjustment of industrial aad commercial forces. They recognize the right of a man to con trol his own property and direct his own affairs in such a way as to gain the largest possible degree of prosperity. He is not required to infase his proceedings with the spirit of philanthropy, or to re gulate his plana according to any other than his own view of what is best calculated to conserve and advance bis fortunes. It is trite to say that there is no sentiment in business, but the fact needs to be often reiterated for the correction of loose thinking upon important subjects. The professional reformer finds it easy to promulgate theories of improvement which promise to reduce the philosophy of trade to a basis of emotional unselfishness; but the application of such theories to actual conditions is impossible. A man who expects to thrive in any financial or commercial enterprise can not afford to put himself at the mercy of his benevolence or his sympathy with human weakness and misfortune. The pressure of competition is such that he must be quick to seize every chance and to make the most of it, regardless of considerations of personal kind ness and liberality. "Business is business, as we say in the sense that it does not include those finer feelings which find expression in deeds of charity and self-sacrifice. It is a constant struggle for advantages in which some win and others lose, and in which the only way to be a winner instead of a loser is to put sentiment aside and take account only of the practical aspect of things. This is the secret of all business success, whatever may be said against it by the theorists and dreamers whose personal failure is a standing re futation of their teaching. There are times, of course, when a man can obey an influence of generosity without damage to his business; in fact, there are times when his business can thus be benefitted. It is to the credit of hu man nature, as well as human sagacity, that these opportunities are mostly improved, and that the profit of them is properly distributed. Instances of this kind are familiar in every community. They rep resent a tendency that is a part of the ehics of business, a proof of the fundamental virtue of the system to which they are related. The manufacturer who reduced the wages of his employ ees during the panic, and then voluntarily paid them the full amount when his trade turned out to be better than he had expected was under no legal obligation to do such a thing, but it seemed to him right and fair, and he did it in a spirit of regard for the obvious equities of the case. There is no lack of business men who are cap able of thus manifesting the right sort of feeling. It is not true, aa is frequently asserted, that business has its own code of morals, by which everything is permisaable that can be done in avoidance of the law. Our business men are honest men, as a rule, and would not succeed if they were otherwise, since thero is nothing more cer tain than that a course of crookedness defeats itself sooner or later. The laws of commerce are entirely consistent with justice and integ rity, and to say of a thing that it is simply a matter of business does not signify that it may be dealt with in a dishonest or questionable manner. "Thuse noble newspapers that make it a business to collect the filth of the world-old up a high editorial nose wheneverjthe name of Breck enridge is mentioned, and cry faugh! with pious unctousnesp," says TownTopic. "Asl look toward Lexington 1,'donotthinkof Brecken ridge and Owens and Settle and McDowell. I do not think of long haired gentlemen with black felt hats and blacker looks, and knives sudden sxd quick in quarrel. I think of the blessed reflections that the voters of Henry Clay's old district are getting every day. I think of the peculiar happiness of the small boy in that district. I see and smell the juicy cuts from the barbecued stalled ox. There are pale attempts at barbecues in other state, but the genuine barbecue is found only in Kentucky. Baltimore for terrapin, Philadelphia for catfish and waffles, Rocky Point for dams, Billy Parka's for broiled live lobster, Kentucky for barbecues and heaven for usall. The southward-pointing nose is greeted by another gracious fragrance dissolving all the malodorousness of Brecken ridge and politics. In Kentucky there is another boon, exquisite, inimitable a beatitude to the palate of man. Kentucky is the land of the Burgoo, that Highest of all in LeavesuBf Power. Latest U.S. Gov't Report AmaownMX pubs M i v
