tribution to the arts and sciences. My heavens are
bright with a veritable galaxy of stars the trans-
cendent Copernicus, the glorious Chopin, "the sweet
singer of the piano," Paderewski, and other great
lovers of the muses; the orator Skarga, and that
hero of liberty, Kosciusko, who fought so nobly for
the independence of an alien nation the American
colonies. But these, my virtues, seem today to
avail me naught; the knight among the nations is
now a stricken knight, and can only look to the
future for that bright hope of a new national exist-
ence!
That very future to which Poland strains with
eager eyes is another voice that pleads for her
regeneration and independence. For in the restora-
tion of Poland lies the chief hope of peace for war-
SOUTH DAKOTA 245
ridden Europe. If that tragedy which robbed Poland
of her nationality more than a century ago had never
been enacted, there would be no war in Europe
today. For Poland, instead of being partitioned
among three nations now at war, would be a "buffer
state" between the Slav and the Teuton, and, stand-
ing firmly on her broad plains, would hold the bal-.
ance of power between them. And no peace in
Europe can be lasting which does not resurrect
Polish nationality. For the Poles are a distinct na-
tion. All efforts of the Germans to absorb them,
of the Austrians to placate them, of the Russians
to browbeat them, have been futile in the past, and
will continue to be so. That peace which shall come
at the end of this disastrous war must be a lasting
peace. It must have in it no conditions which shall
doom a self-conscious nation to a hated foreign
yoke. The voice of Poland's present suffering, her
past glory, and her future possibility as a factor
for peace, all unite in pleading for her regeneration
and independence! Will that plea be heard? Will
the cry of Poland meet with the response it so well
merits? Will her past glory and present suffering
as the "Knight Among the Nations" prove in vain?
When the shroud of smoke has lifted over those
fields of crimson carnage, what shall the eye behold?
Shall history repeat her tragic tale? Shall the
record of subjection and oppression continue? Shall
Poland again be the victim of lustful greed the
spoils of the conquering spoiler? Heaven forbid!
May the God of justice through human will and
quickened conscience rise in His might and protect
the weak of this earth! In the councils that shall
end this war may there be the keen-eyed and far-
seeing statesman who shall detect the cause of this
tragedy of the ages in the Polish question, and may
such statecraft result as shall remove that cause!
246 WINNING ORATIONS
That statesman, clear-eyed and far-seeing, should
be the American statesman. That statecraft is the
diplomacy of ideals which our nation represents!
Where can America better present her plea for hu-
manity than before the tribunal which shall deter-
mine the fate of Poland? We answered the plea of
Cuba; shall we turn a deaf ear to bleeding Poland?
Thurston pleaded for a few thousand; today we
hear the cry of millions; the prayer of a million
mute lips whose unknown and unmarked graves
fringe the frozen trenches of deserted battlefields;
and that other prayer from the living lips of thou-
sands whose wails rise hourly from the desolate,
haunted plains of Poland.
You ask what such a new birth as a nation would
mean to the Polish patriot? Listen! They are giv-
ing their all their property, their lives not for
selfish gain, but in the hope that the peace which
closes this carnage will restore their independence,
permitting Poland once more to take her place
among the nations of the world. Among the jewels
which a Polish noblewoman in England has recently
sacrificed to aid her stricken countrymen is a ring,
an old family heirloom dating from the time that
Poland's bleeding and dismembered body was par-
titioned among her brutal neighbors. The setting
of the ring is a miniature coffin, emblematic of Po-
land's burial. When a tiny spring is touched the
coffin opens and a Polish knight in full regalia with
sword aloft, rises from this tomb in which he slept
since his country was dismembered. This is the
SOUTH DAKOTA 247
dream, the soothing balm which the suffering Pole
has poured into his wounded heart. The past has
been dark with defeat; the present is black with
despair; the future alone lends a gleam of hope.
For with the ending of this European conflict may
American diplomacy touch this hidden spring, caus-
ing Poland, "The Knight Among the Nations," to
rise Lazarus-like from the dead, and take its place
by the side of its benefactor a free and happy
people, a reunited and prosperous country, a nation
among the nations.
THIRTIETH CONTEST (1917)
THE IDEALS OF THE COMING AGE
(HAROLD R. HUSTED, SIOUX FALLS COLLEGE)
Our ideals determine our progress. They are
not achievements in themselves, but they reveal
tasks to be performed. They are not to be mistaken
for results already attained, but they do serve the
purpose of inspiring and guiding us into ever higher
and richer experiences of life. It is psychologically
true that no life or community is likely to rise higher
than its own consciously adopted standards of
thought and action. We are now entering an era
of social achievement when mankind, unitedly, will
undertake by organization and co-operation, even
mightier tasks than ever accomplished before. It is
our task to find and consciously adopt constructive
ideals sufficient for the unifying and controlling of
these many social achievements.
In the past, individual inventive genius has
added improvement after improvement, until it
would seem that man's mastery over nature is to
be well nigh complete, as these ideas and inventions'
are socialized and extended to benefit all. But with
all that has been done, socially and ethically, the
world is still in a state of chaos and disorder. In
this era of unparalleled wealth, we are faced with
the fact of direful poverty. In a time of most mar-
velous triumphs of science, a vast and increasing pro-
letariat are living from hand to mouth. In a time
of most widespread intelligence, the world is wit-
nessing the most horrible and destructive of wars.
Civilization seems to be reaching another crisis and
it would seem as if the very foundation of nations
are crumbling. Truly it may be said that we have
not yet solved the problem of human life or the art
250 WINNING ORATIONS
of living together. Our age is in search, not so
much for new as renewed ideals, ideals adequate to
grip and guide the coming age must be found and
frankly adopted. Where shall we look for these
ideals?
The ideals of the past have not been without
their value. Since life is continuous, the stream of
history is pouring a variety of ideals and traditional
practices into our present. The process of finding
ideals for the coming age adequate to meet the in-
creasing needs of humanity and to satisfy all the
demands of progress, will be partially a process of
discriminating the worthy and permanent which
comes to us from the past.
In analyzing this past it is possible to discern
certain distinct streams of idealism. From ancient
Egypt comes the ideal of social justice. This ideal
has been inforced and made a part of a rigid pro-
gram of social control by the judgments of the
"Book of the Dead." This same ideal was reinforced
and further emphasized by the great prophets of
Israel. "Let justice roll down like waters and right-
eousness as a perennial stream" is the injunction of
the first great writing prophet, Amos. The epitome
of the ethics and religion of the Old Testament is
set forth in the quotation from the prophet Micah
which ex-president Eliot of Harvard selected to
adorn the Column to Religion in the Library of Con-
gress at Washington: "What doth the Lord require
of thee but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk
humbly with thy God?" This ideal of social justice
SOUTH DAKOTA 251
has been a forceful check on exploitation of the
weak by the strong through all the course of history.
The paramount ideal of classical Greece is that
of self-realization. A sound mind in a sound body,
free, developed, happy, expressing life in the fullest
fashion, is the prevailing ideal wrought out by these
ancients. It is not altogether without its truth and
value. But it falls short in that it develops self-
assertiveness and is in that measure anti-social. Its
measurable realization in ancient times was only
possible by the inslavement of the masses and leisure
for the few. Coming into our age and combining
with the conception of the survival of the fittest, it
has wrought great damage in the social order, and
has been the tacit excuse for ruthless, over-reaching
personal ambition. If combined with an adequate
social ideal, this ideal of self-realization is fraught
with wondrous possibilities for the human race. It
must be modified and redeemed by an ideal whose
essence is at once ethical and altruistic.
It is from a fulfillment rather than a laying
aside of these ethical ideals of the past that we find
our ideals for the coming age. It is also necessary
that we see them, state them and frankly adopt
them in form suited to the changed world in which
we live and work. Our ideals must both be for the
individual and for the social order, and must be ap-
plicable to the complex life in which we now live
ard which will become more complex as the years
pass by.
The first ideal which we must fully adopt with
all its implications, is that of the supreme worth of
252 WINNING ORATIONS
personality. Our age is cursed with many reminders
of cruelty and tyranny left over from the past ages
which place things above persons. There are tra-
ditions and laws which are often reverenced and
held in higher regard than the human soul. "What
shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and
lose his life." Or, "What shall a man give in ex-
change for his life" are simple, yet significant state-
ments of the value of the soul. Institutions, law,
religion itself, exist to serve and minister to human
life.
"Behold the midnight splendor, worlds on worlds,
Ten thousand add twice ten thousand more
Then weigh the whole
One soul outweighs them all."
Yet there are practices in industry which hold
human life cheap. The working man is often spoken
of as a "hand," and is known almost entirely by num-
ber. What goes on in his life, the sorrows and joys
of himself and family, are of little or no account in
the estimation of those who place profits ahead of
happiness and dividends ahead of human life. Busi-
ness, which is frankly utilitarian, must be brought
under the control of the conception of service ser-
vice of human needs. Any ideal or program for
progress will fail that does not have as its funda-
mental doctrine, the worth of the human soul.
Another ideal which is in a measure a corollary
of the first, is the ideal of democracy spiritual, in-
tellectual, political, and industrial. This also is one
of the ideals of the coming age and when clearly
understood, will work wonders to bring about the
conditions for which it hopes. Already we have
established in modern civilization, the conception of
spiritual democracy or the competency of the in-
dividual soul in the presence of truth and reality.
We guarantee intellectual freedom and our school
system is based upon the belief that education should
SOUTH DAKOTA 253
be democratic and accessible to all. From the kin-
dergarten to the university, society makes adequate
provision not for a privileged few, but for all whose
capacity makes possible a share in learning and cul-
ture. The state is no longer the ruler who claims
to rule by divine right, but it is the sovereign people
with whom all political authority ultimately rests.
Today we are feeling our way into the conviction
that the ideal of democracy has even wider appli-
cations.
Will we dare extend this ideal to include the en-
tire social process, especially to industry? Many
employers have already made their employees
sharers in the profits of industry which their toil is
helping to create. This is a great step in advance.
A further step needs to be taken: to give the men
who toil a share in the control and management
of the industry with which their lives are so closely
associated. On the principle of "no taxation without
representation," representatives of the workers
would sit in council with the directors to manage the
enterprise and a close bond of good-will and co-oper-
ation would be formed in industry. The solution of
the labor problem is in the extension of democracy.
This ideal is one of the constructive forces of the
coming age.
A third ideal closely related to the other is that
of human brotherhood. It has been the dream of
nation after nation, race upon race, to dominate
and control the world and impose its civilization and
culture on all mankind. Such dreams of conquest
and vanity have caused perpetual strife. The pas-
sion for commercial supremacy has led to innumer-
able wars. But soon the time has come for a full
and sincere adoption of the ideal of humanity as one
in interest and destiny united in the family of God.
254 WINNING ORATIONS
Wars are not a necessity. There is nothing in
the nature of strife, even international strife, that
cannot be satisfactorily adjusted. If nations can
agree to establish war as their arbiter of peace,
why can they not establish a more peaceful sub-
stitute? It is possible. Nations must adopt the
principle of action which has come to be so prevalent
in the governing of the relations of individuals. They
must be more concerned to give justice than to de-
mand rights. This world can never attain its high-
est standard of civilization until this one disgrace-
ful blemish called war is obliterated. It is the task
of the coming age to create institutions which will
maintain world peace and prevent the recurrence
of war.
These three ideals, the supreme worth of every
personality, the extension of democracy into all in-
dustrial and social life, and the realization of the
brotherhood of man, must be made the unifying and
controlling ideals of the coming age.
Who will champion these ideals? In the mili-
tant Messianic Psalm of David, where the forces of
righteousness are being rallied, is found this signif-
icant attestation of the spiritual qualities found in
youth: "Thy people shall be volunteers in the day
of Thy strength, and out from the beauty of holi-
ness came forth Thy young men and maidens, fresh
with the dew of their youth." College men, and
College women, we must champion these ideals.
We who are to live in the next age have the op-
portunity above all others to stand for human value,
human happiness and human salvation. These ideals
are worthy of the ambitions of our college students.
We stand on vantage ground of centuries. From us
will be demanded vastly more than from men of the
past, for these many opportunities are our respon-
SOUTH DAKOTA 255
sibilities. Let us make these ideals our door to
progress.
These are days when the personification of an
ideal is especially potent. Mankind has always
been better able to understand and follow a person-
alized ideal than an abstract statement. Where
shall we look for the personal leader in the coming
age? These three ideals are all in the substance
of the ethical ideals of the Prophet of Galilee. He
emphasized the supreme worth of the individual. He
established a spiritual democracy for his fraternity
of followers, and He was the first Prince of Peace.
He not only taught these ideals but gave his life
for them. What more pathetic picture in all history
than this? The Christ, with a crown of thorns on
his head, scourged by Roman soldiers, mocked and
railed at by the fickle and frenzied mob, deserted
by his friends, nailed to the cross between two
thieves, yet dying with these loving words of for-
giveness on his lips "Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do." Surely, the leader and
personalized ideal of the coming age must be the
Nazarene who not only taught these ideals but lived
them and gave his life that we might have them as
ours. He gathers up and fulfills all that is best in
the past of any people and raises to new power and
effectiveness the highest hopes for all mankind. To
Him we must look and in Him we must trust for the
ideals of the coming age.
PEACE CONTESTS
THE MODERN PARADOX
(FRANCIS CASE, DAKOTA WESLEY AN UNIVERSITY
This oration received first place at the National Oratorical
Contest of the Intercollegiate Peace Association held at Lake
Mohonk, New York, May 18, 1916.)
We are witnessing the greatest paradox of all
history. Five years ago war was declared im-
iwesible today the greatest nations of the globe are
in arms. Three years ago poet and prophet vied
with each other for the honor of first having pro-
claimed the era of peace, the age of arbitration
today poet and prophet are silent, overwhelmed and
chagrined by the era of barbarism, the age of war.
In May, 1914, orators of the Intercollegiate Peace
Association pointed in glowing terms to the third
Hague Tribunal extending the olive branch to the
nations of every land. In September of the same
year the bloody hand of Mars flaunted its red banner
from the burning heat of desert sand to the biting
beasts of Alpine peaks.
There was talk of peace, but preparation for
war. While press and pulpit were thus spreading
the glad tidings of world peace, potentates and
princes planned and put into execution the bitterest
conflict of time, pawning men for power, justice for
policy and decency for chance of gain; all in a des-
perate gamble of diplomacy. With what result? To-
day over hills and valleys, once as peaceful as these
Catskills, over water once as placid as Lake Mohonk,
Mars now reigns in fiendish mockery supreme over
our boasted twentieth century civilization.
No wonder that confused and bewildered, un-
able to comprehend the reality of the tragedy,
humanity is asking "How can it be?" "Are the
258 WINNING ORATIONS
visions of prophets and bards but empty dreams?"
"Are the plans of peace propagandists but pro-
ducts of idle fancy?" "Are treaties but mere
scraps of paper when) national honor is in
question?" But the irony of the situation con-
fronts us when we realize that if you and I were
asked to state our position on war this evening,
we would record ourselves as opposed to it, and
yet, if tomorrow a call should be issued for
volunteers to defend the nation's honor in Mexico,
we might be found among the first to enlist.
That is the paradox we face. War, despised and
condemned by individuals, yet upheld and sustained
by nations. Convicted by reason, yet prolonged by
passion. Without sanction of man or mind, yet it
remains the most vital force in the world today.
In our search for the truth, let us note how wars
originate. From the small groups of primitive
times, men of common birth, of common character-
istics, and of common language have grown into
nations of thousands and millions, within which
codes of personal arbitration have been developed.
But due to jealousy in their relations with each
other, these nations have resorted to pretense, in-
trigue, and secret diplomacy, upon the pretext of
upholding national honor. A misunderstanding
arises. Diplomatic relations are severed. And im-
mediately militarists and mis-informed patriots,
crying "our courttry right or wrong" extol the
glories of a military conquest. And the country,
conscious only of an injured pride, forgetting the
lessons of the past, rushes to arms.
Now this is done all the more easily because
from our earliest childhood, romanticists have
pictured to us the glories of war on the one hand,
and have lamented the commonplaces of peace on
the other. We have been taught to look for the
SOUTH DAKOTA 259
deeds of daring and valor in their highest excellence
only upon the battlefield. While men have been
executed for murdering individuals, nations have
been glorified for slaughtering thousands. The
walls of our schoolhouses and art galleries have been
decorated with pictures of romantic warfare gal-
lant Sheridans on galloping chargers. But the
pictures of real warfare are never portrayed
crippled men, ravaged fields and desolate homes.
Troops on dress parade march to the tune of the
Marseillaise. But troops on the field of carnage
fight to the infernal music of cannon, to the sound
of bullets ripping in human flesh. We have been
taught to honor the man who invents some new
death-dealing device, while we pass by the man who
invents for the happiness of mankind.
What can the glory of war mean to the soldier,
smothered by asphyxiating clouds of death? Where
is the grandeur of the charge, when electric wires
stretch man and beast lifeless, when hidden mines
erupt, hurling horse and rider into unrecognizable
atoms to mingle with flying earth and stone.
Are we so destitute of reason that he represents
the highest degree of patriotism whose body is
mangled by shell or shattered by shrapnel? Is it a
greater measure of devotion to die for one's country
than to live for it?
But we are lured by striking phrases. Peace-
loving citizens are told that national honor is no
fit subject for arbitration. Inflamed jingoists brush
aside calm investigation.- In Great Britain they
glory over the thought of a red-coated England
charging on the field of Waterloo, and they forget
that a ragged England was grinding out its life in
the factories to furnish the wealth that paid for
the victory.
260 WINNING ORATIONS
So-called statesmen inform us that we need a
large navy to increase and protect our commercial
prestige. Yet after careful investigation, Norman
Angell declared that relative to population, defense-
less Norway has a carrying trade equal to three
times that of Great Britain, boasted mistress of the
seas; that England might build twenty dreadnaughts
and not sell so much as a pen-knife the more in con-
sequence.
Over and over again history records that the
cost of war is in vain, that might often triumphs
over right, that the true nobility of a people lies
not in its capacity to fight, but in its capacity to
secure human happiness, and that in the end, patient
negotiation has ever been the most satisfactory
arbiter of international differences. Will mankind
ever apply the teaching of experience? Will reason
ever rule the international mind? Will world peace
ever triumph?
There should be no more any misgiving re-
garding the unmitigated curse of war. Its devilish-
ness is compromised by no virtue. Economically
it means waste; morally it means iniquity; indus-
trially it means stagnation; and, nationally it means
annihilation. Condemned by every standard of
reason yet it exists because of international
jealousy fostered by ignorance and the lack of true
convictions on the part of the people. This false
standard of honor, this unequal presentation of the
truth, this subterfuge of national defense is re-
sponsible for that condition of the public mind which
permits soldiers to be levied, armaments to be in-
creased, war to be declared, and nations to fight.
Just as long as military devotion to one's
country is the criterion of patriotism, just so long
must international peace be delayed. Real patri-
SOUTH DAKOTA 261
otism must come to mean more than mutilation of
human beings. Real national honor must be based
upon justice and not power.
War is the product of ages, the growth of
centuries. We cannot suppose that any scheme will
be able at a single operation to legislate it out of
existence, for no scheme is stronger or better than
the public opinion which supports it. The Hague
Tribunal was forgotten a year ago last August.
Primary to all plans of world-peace based upon an
international police, must come a disillusionment of
the popular mind. Peace is not a mere cessation
of hostilities, but the abolition of the military
spirit; not a mere contrivance for the settlement
of disputes between nations but a state of mind in
the people themselves.
The formula then for a real peace consists in
the creation of a proper deep-seated public senti-
ment against war in its every phase. Public senti-
ment removed the walls from our cities. Public
sentiment removed the fortresses from our state
lines. And public sentiment can sweep the armadas
from the seas and the Cossacks from the land.
Christiansen never spoke truer than when in
1905 he declared: "Every government is in its last