Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1918 — LOYALTY BASIS OF ALL CIVILIZATION [ARTICLE]

LOYALTY BASIS OF ALL CIVILIZATION

Every Citizen Owes Moral and Legal Obligation to His Government SAME IN COMMUNITY UFE I People Have Duty to Their Homo Town Which Is No Less Binding Because It Is Not Fixed by Law. (Copyright, 1»1T. Wei Urn Newspaper Union.) Loyalty is the foundation upon which the whole structure of civilization rests. Loyalty to one’s country, loyalty to one’s state, loyalty to one’s city, loyalty to one’s business associates, loyalty to one’s friends! Loyalty is essential to the ordinary progress of the world. Without it the world must be chaos. There would be no stable government in the world were it not for the loyalty of the people to their government. There would be no successful business enterprise on the face of the globe were it not for the loyalty of the men and women who are connected with it.* No church .could exist for a month were it not for the loyalty of its members. The sacredness of the home would be a myth were it not for the loyalty of the members of the family group. The loyalty of a people to its government is based partly upon sentiment and partly upon the recognition of an obligation that a people owes to its government. A people that has the benefit of good government owes a duty to that government. Those who do not recognize this duty and perform it voluntarily are compelled by law to do so. The man or woman who is protected by the government in the pursuit of life and happiness, must contribute in money and service toward the support of the government. The man or woman who, under the protection of his government which preserves law and order, is able to accumulate property, must pay taxes on that property to help maintain the government which has protected him or her. In time of war the government has the right to call upon its citizens to take up arms in its defense. Loyalty Moral Obligation. In governmental affairs these things are regulated by law, and the man who receives the benefit of orderly government Is required to fulfill the obligation which that entails, but in the ordinary affairs of life, loyalty is a moral rather than a legal obligation. There are laws which prevent a man from stealing from his employer or his business associates, but there Is no law that requires him to be loyal to them. The success of a business Institution, however, depends more upon the loyalty of Its employees than upon the laws which prevent them from stealing its money. Likewise the stability of a government depends more upon the loyalty of its people than upon the laws which compel them to fulfill their obligation to the government It is equally true that the prosperity and growth of every individual community is dependent upon the loyalty of the people who live in it. Every citizen owes an obligation to his community, and the obligation is a moral as well as a legal one. The good citizen pays his taxes cheerfully and willingly. He serves upon the juries which administer the laws of the community. He fulfills every legal obligation that is Imposed upon him by his government, but there is a moral obligation which is of still greater importance to the community. This moral obligation consists In doing everything that is in his power to promote the prosperity and happiness of. his community. The man who is enabled to make his living in any community is under a moral obligation to spend his money in such a way as to help his community. Prosperity Worth Protecting. Anything worth having is worth protecting, and if the prosperity of a community is worth anything to the people living in it it is worth protecttng. If the chance for a man to earn a good living, to live well, to give his children a good, education, is worth anything, it is worth protecting. There is just one way to protect the prosperity of a community, and that is to keep the community from being drained of its cash—working capital. The only way to do that is for the people of the community to keep their money at home. Every time the citizen of a community sends money away from home to a mall order house Instead of spending it in his home stores he is disloyal to his community. It Is disloyalty to the merchants only indirectly. It is disloyalty to the community of which the merchants are only a small but a very important part This is the moral obligation that every citizen owes to his community, just as the payment of taxes and the loyal support of his government are his legal obligations. Disloyalty of a large body of the citizens spells disaster to any government and disloyalty of any large part of the people to their community is followed inevitably by the downfall of the community. Self-interest, if nothing Oat, should convince every citizen of the (advisability of fulfilling his moral obligation to bls community.