that which was offered them by any former
system."

This applies to political life no less than to industrial life. We live
under the fairest government on earth. But it is not self-sustaining.
Nor is that all. There are selfishness and injustice and evil in the
world. More than that, these forces are never at rest. Some desire to
use the processes of government for their own ends. Some desire to
destroy the authority of government altogether. Our institutions are
predicated on the rights and the corresponding duties, on the worth, of
the individual. It is to him that we must look for safety. We may need
new charters, new constitutions and new laws at times. We must always
have an alert and interested citizenship. We have no dependence but the
individual. New charters cannot save us. They may appear to help but the
chances are that the beneficial results obtained result from an
increased interest aroused by discussing changes. Laws do not make
reforms, reforms make laws. We cannot look to government. We must look
to ourselves. We must stand not in the expectation of a reward but with
a desire to serve. There will come out of government exactly what is put
into it. Society gets about what it deserves. It is the part of educated
men to know and recognize these principles and influences and knowing
them to inform and warn their fellow countrymen. Politics is the process
of action in public affairs. It is personal, it is individual, and
nothing more. Destiny is in you.

XIII

TREMONT TEMPLE

NOVEMBER 3, 1917

There is a time and place for everything. There are times when some
things are out of place. Domestic science is an important subject. So is
the proper heating and ventilating of our habitations. But when the
house is on fire reasonable men do not stop to argue of culinary cuts
nor listen to a disquisition on plumbing; they call out the fire
department and join it in an attempt to save their dwelling. They think
only in terms of the conflagration.

So it is in this hour that has come to us so grim with destiny. We
cannot stop now to discuss domestic party politics. Our men are on the
firing-line of France. There will be no party designations in the
casualty lists. We cannot stop to glance at that alluring field of
history that tells us of the past patriotic devotion of the men of our
party to the cause of the Nation--devotion without reserve. We must
think now only in terms of winning the war.

An ele