IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
Ideas For Boys 
 
 by 
 
 WALTER W. ROSS 
 
 105 South LaSalle St., 
 Chicago, Illinois 
 
 Printed and bound by Tucker-Kenworthy Co., Chicago. 
 

 ; 
 
 Copyright 1915 
 
 by 
 
 Walter W. Ross. 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 for All Countries 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Foreword i-xiv 
 
 Boys 1 
 
 Youth 7 
 
 Health and Strength 12 
 
 School Days 21 
 
 College Days 26 
 
 Gambling 29 
 
 Intoxication 31 
 
 Tobacco 33 
 
 Immoral Women 34 
 
 Studies 37 
 
 Athletics 39 
 
 Public Speaking 42 
 
 College Friends 46 
 
 Working Your Way Through Col- 
 lege 48 
 
 College Vacations 50 
 
 After College What? 52 
 
 Business 57 
 
 Money 59 
 
 Business by Individuals 60 
 
 Business by Partnerships .... 62 
 
 334472 
 
Business by Corporations .... 64 
 
 Various Occupations 71 
 
 Value of Property in the United 
 
 States 73 
 
 Our Country and Government ... 78 
 
 What Is a Constitution 90 
 
 Legislative Power Congress . . 93 
 
 The Executive Power President . 96 
 
 Judiciary 100 
 
 Other Provisions 102 
 
 State Government 104 
 
 Mexico 108 
 
 Law and Politics 124 
 
 Revenue Laws 127 
 
 Tariff 128 
 
 Inter State Commerce Law ... 143 
 
 Monopolies . . 148 
 
 Statutes 150 
 
 Political Parties 152 
 
 Church 155 
 
 Time . 162 
 
 Marriage 167 
 
 Family of Nations 172 
 
 Bribery 188 
 
 Life and Death 202 
 
 A Man Among Men 207 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 Correct ideas are obtained only by 
 thought and labor. The ideas which an 
 immature boy develops from time to time 
 are the result chiefly of his environment, 
 associates and reading. He needs help. 
 
 An idea which is worth while, cannot be 
 implanted in a boy's mind without effort, 
 he must read, study and confer with older 
 persons, and be willing to act on their 
 sound and thoughtful advice. 
 
 I have three boys who are now about 
 eleven, thirteen and twenty-three years of 
 age respectively, and like most fathers I 
 have wanted to help them obtain correct 
 ideas on as many subjects as possible. My 
 own father died when I was less than three 
 years old, and realizing the uncertainty of 
 life I have written down some thoughts 
 for their guidance in the event I might not 
 be with them later on, but of course I hope 
 to be with them for many a day and to dis- 
 [v ] 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 cuss with them personally, not only the 
 matters herein contained, but many others 
 as the occasions arise. It has been sug- 
 gested that some of these ideas may help 
 some other boys as well as my own, and 
 in the hope that that may be true this lit- 
 tle book of conferences is published. 
 
 However stale the old truths may seem 
 to mature persons, they are new and fresh 
 to each rising generation. Boys retain 
 throughout their lives many of the ideas 
 taught them in youth. 
 
 As I look back over my younger days I 
 feel that the words of advice, both written 
 and verbal, given me by my maternal 
 grandfather were of substantial benefit to 
 me and as many of the old truths herein 
 recorded were first called to my attention 
 by him, a few personal words regarding 
 him may be interesting. 
 
 He was born in Rhode Island, where his 
 ancestors had lived since the latter part of 
 the seventeenth century. In his youth he 
 studied medicine, and soon after his mar- 
 riage moved to Southern Illinois in 1840 
 and resumed the practice of his profession 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 on the frontier. Not long after he had set- 
 tled there the Illinois Central Railroad was 
 built through the community in which he 
 lived, and coal was soon discovered and 
 Grandfather provided the funds to develop 
 one of these mines which was among the 
 first of the coal mines operated in Illinois. 
 The country developed rapidly, additional 
 railroads were built, new coal mines were 
 opened, business thrived, schools and col- 
 leges were founded, and within a few brief 
 years the frontier had changed into a busy 
 center of trade and commerce. 
 
 The active life which he led in the de- 
 velopment of this new community, and in 
 the practice of his profession, developed 
 him into an unusually strong and rugged 
 character. By the time he was sixty years 
 old he had acquired a competency and 
 soon retired from active practice. He lived 
 to the ripe old age of eighty-two years, 
 and the last twenty years of his life were 
 spent principally with his books, his chil- 
 dren and his grandchildren. He had been 
 a student throughout his long life, and 
 was learned not only in his profession and 
 [ vii ] 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 in business, but also in politics, geology 
 and astronomy, his favorite studies. 
 
 He was a very kind and generous man, 
 and the intimacy which existed between 
 us was unusual. During the vacations of 
 my student days we spent many hours to- 
 gether. Sometimes we would drive into 
 the country taking our lunches and spend- 
 ing the day in the woods, which in those 
 days was equivalent to the companionship 
 of a golf game nowadays. At other times 
 we would work together in the garden or 
 chop wood, for he was fond of exercise and 
 believed boys should learn to do manual 
 work. Often he would awaken me at va- 
 rious hours of the night to point out con- 
 stellations of stars in the heavens; and I 
 recall his obtaining specimens of geolog- 
 ical formations, and explaining them to 
 me. He was interested in the politics of 
 the day, and we read books upon such 
 questions together. 
 
 During the last fifteen years of his life 
 we spent some portion of each year to- 
 gether, and when we were separated we 
 were constant and frequent correspond- 
 [ viii ] 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 ents especially during the years I was 
 away from home attending college at 
 Princeton, and law school in Chicago and 
 at Harvard. 
 
 His letters of advice to me were ex- 
 tremely interesting (a check was some- 
 times enclosed which greatly added to my 
 youthful appreciation), and I have often 
 wished that I had preserved these letters 
 for the benefit of my boys. His letters 
 dwelt upon questions which pertained to 
 the mental, moral, physical and political 
 development of a boy. 
 
 Crises frequently arise in the life of 
 every young man, especially between the 
 ages of twenty and forty, and he must 
 solve these problems for himself, no one 
 else can do it for him. It was my expe- 
 rience as a young man that every time I 
 met such a situation, there came to my 
 mind some advice my grandfather had 
 given me, perhaps years before, which ma- 
 terially aided me in solving the new prob- 
 lems of life. Men change and conditions 
 change, but principles remain, and how- 
 ever intricate and difficult a situation may 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 seem, it will be solved with the aid of some 
 well founded principle of justice. 
 
 It is only by careful and thoughtful 
 study of the principles of right living, 
 gained from the experience of others as 
 well as from one's own experience, that 
 the youth can obtain a knowledge of the 
 principles necessary to guide him in his 
 life's work. The best way to do anything 
 is to do it right, but of course it requires 
 intelligence, experience and knowledge to 
 know how to do right. Wrongs are gen- 
 erally committed through ignorance, and 
 this is one reason why knowledge has 
 such a great advantage over ignorance. 
 
 Tried and recognized principles are the 
 sign posts which guide the youth on his 
 way. Every person ultimately selects and 
 adopts his own principles of living, but if 
 he makes mistakes in his selection and ac- 
 tion he must pay the penalty for every 
 wrong he commits. 
 
 At birth Life endows a normal infant 
 with power to see, hear, feel, taste, smell, 
 remember, and ultimately to reason and 
 talk. Life also brings to the infant many 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 instincts which are developed later, such 
 as that of self preservation, love and the 
 conception of a Creator. But at the start 
 of its career the infant does not possess 
 knowledge, its brain must be developed, 
 and as Life proceeds, physicians tell us, 
 there are developed in the brain additional 
 cells through the exercise of the brain by 
 thought and instruction, just as the mus- 
 cles of the arm or other parts of the body 
 are developed and strengthened by exer- 
 cise and use. Life, however, seems to be 
 stronger and more energetic in some in- 
 dividuals than in others, but the extent of 
 your strength and energy can only be de- 
 termined by a test of many years' dura- 
 tion. 
 
 There is developed in every normal hu- 
 man life a Character, or Personality, or 
 Will, or Mind, or Soul I care not what 
 name is given to this individual power 
 which governs and directs the develop- 
 ment of his brain cells. This power is 
 frequently called Will power and is ca- 
 pable of development, it is spurred on by 
 necessity, by interest in things and the de- 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 sire to be able to do and possess things. 
 
 It is the duty of intelligent parents or 
 guardians or instructors of youth to see 
 that proper instruction is given to the 
 young in their charge in order that their 
 brain cells shall be properly developed as 
 well as their physical and muscular 
 strength. 
 
 Let us take a boy ten or twelve years 
 old who having heard persons play the 
 piano decides he would like to do the same 
 thing. When he first sits at the piano he 
 has no knowledge of music, he is able to 
 strike the keys and make a noise, but not 
 harmonious music. Someone having a 
 knowledge of music gives him instruction 
 and he practices day after day on the 
 piano, and in the course of time develops 
 certain cells in his brain which enable him 
 to read music and perform upon the in- 
 strument. He has acquired a knowledge 
 of music which he did not possess before 
 he began to practice and study the art of 
 music. 
 
 Again, this boy decides he would like to 
 know how to operate a complicated engine 
 [ xii ] 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 or machine, some one who has knowledge 
 of engines instructs him in the use of the 
 different parts of the engine, the boy prac- 
 tices and studies and soon develops suffi- 
 cient brain cells to intelligently operate the 
 machine, and with continued study he may 
 be able to build a better machine. 
 
 To illustrate again, a boy decides he 
 wants to acquire the ability to deliver an 
 oration, he must first study language and 
 develop brain cells so that he may use lan- 
 guage fluently, and then he must study 
 the subject on which he is to speak and de- 
 velop further brain cells. 
 
 It is by work and practice and effort on 
 the part of a growing boy that his brain 
 cells are increased and developed from 
 time to time and his knowledge of various 
 subjects is built up. If he will not work 
 his knowledge will not properly increase. 
 
 The brain in a boy fifteen years of age 
 does not contain the knowledge and in- 
 telligence by far that it will contain, if 
 properly directed, when he has attained 
 the age of forty or fifty years. The boy 
 should therefore never think that he has 
 [ xiii ] 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 acquired all of the knowledge in the world 
 upon a subject, but he should be glad to 
 receive instruction from older and more 
 experienced and learned persons than him- 
 self, and especially should he welcome ad- 
 vice from his parents who are deeply in- 
 terested in his progress. 
 
BOYS. 
 
 What are you? 
 
 You are the young offspring of human 
 parents, possessed of a body which con- 
 tains the vital organs, a brain, and the 
 spirit of life. 
 
 Your ancestors have passed on to you 
 many characteristics which they received 
 from their ancestors or which they have 
 acquired by their own actions. You are a 
 composite of hundreds of generations who 
 preceded you. If your parents had white 
 skin, your skin is white; if theirs was 
 black, yours is black; if theirs was yellow, 
 yours is yellow. Racial features and com- 
 plexions pass from one generation to an- 
 other, but with intermarriage between 
 different races these distinctions pass 
 away. 
 
 Your parents may have possessed bril- 
 liant intellects and fine bodies, and you 
 will profit thereby if you put forth proper 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 effort; or your parents may have had but 
 moderate brains and sickly bodies, but it 
 does not follow that you are doomed to 
 the same misfortune. Your development 
 and success in life depends almost entirely 
 upon your own efforts; you must develop 
 from within. Abraham Lincoln's ances- 
 tors were persons of small material 
 achievements, but he developed the pow- 
 ers within him by his own efforts, and this 
 is substantially true of all successful per- 
 sons. 
 
 All persons cannot achieve great re- 
 nown, that is allotted to but few, much de- 
 pends upon the age in which they live and 
 the circumstances of the times; but all men 
 can achieve a success in life if they will 
 develop the faculties necessary to make 
 themselves useful to others. 
 
 Usefulness to others, is really the best 
 measure of success in life. There are 
 about a billion seven hundred million per- 
 sons living on this earth, you can be useful 
 to some of these persons, and many of 
 them will be useful to you. 
 
 The chief executive of a great nation, 
 [ 2 ] 
 
BOYS 
 
 who exercises great wisdom in the per- 
 formance of his many duties, is useful and 
 helpful to millions of persons daily. The 
 merchant who conducts a great store, the 
 banker who controls and loans large sums 
 of money, the president of a railroad sys- 
 tem carrying thousands of passengers 
 daily, the doctor, lawyer and minister do- 
 ing things helpful to others, the farmer 
 raising his crops, the workman and laborer 
 doing their duties, are each successful in 
 their respective callings in proportion to 
 the use and help they are to others. 
 
 Boys ten years old, and even younger, 
 can begin to learn how to become useful 
 to others, and the boys who learn this les- 
 son early in life and continue to be useful 
 throughout their lives, will attain the 
 greatest success and happiness possible for 
 them. 
 
 The boy who learns to work in the gar- 
 den, thereby helping the vegetables to 
 grow and make food, is useful to others; 
 the boy who cleans the snow from the side- 
 walks or distributes papers, or who serves 
 as a caddie or studies well in school, or 
 [ 3 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 who does many other similar things, is a 
 useful boy. But a boy who lives an indif- 
 ferent or careless life, with no impulses to 
 help others, is exposed to evil and becomes 
 a constant care and source of anxiety to 
 those who watch over him. Characteris- 
 tics developed in boyhood will continue 
 through manhood days. "The boy is father 
 to the man." Your success and happiness 
 increases as your sphere of usefulness 
 grows larger. 
 
 A boy can easily learn to do some small 
 useful thing, but he must be trained and 
 taught how to do the great things which 
 are useful and required of men in the busy 
 world. 
 
 Boyhood days are short, manhood soon 
 arrives. The boy of today is the man of 
 tomorrow. The president of the United 
 States was a boy a few short years ago; 
 the men who are serving as judges of our 
 courts, and the men who are conducting 
 our great banking, mercantile, transpor- 
 tation and other corporations will soon be 
 too old to perform these great services, 
 and the boy who properly equips himself, 
 [ 4 ] 
 
BOYS 
 
 will soon be called upon to take the place 
 of a leader who has passed on, or to per- 
 form some new service equally important. 
 But bear in mind that the competition is 
 fierce, and the prize will go to the best 
 qualified. 
 
 The thoughtful boy asks, what must I 
 do to win success and happiness in the race 
 of life? Whatever you do, do it the best 
 way you know how, with care and pa- 
 tience, keep on learning how to do it bet- 
 ter, and always keep a contented mind, 
 and be cheerful. 
 
 There are many things which you must 
 learn to do, and also which you must not 
 do. Don't believe the adage of the old 
 Scotchman who said "First get on, then 
 get honest, then get honor," that might 
 get you money, but not happiness or suc- 
 cess in its true sense, it might land you in 
 prison, or at least in disgrace. Keep your 
 conscience clear, and do nothing that will 
 bring upon you the just condemnation of 
 your fellows. Always have the courage 
 to do right irrespective of immediate re- 
 sults, by so doing you will win in the end. 
 [ 5 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 A boy who expects to go through col- 
 lege ought to begin in earnest to prepare 
 for college by the time he is ten years old, 
 and by the time he is eighteen to twenty 
 years old ought to decide what profession 
 or kind of business he will make his life 
 work; he should always have an object 
 ahead and work toward it. Don't drift 
 along, expecting some one to carry you 
 to your goal, for no one but yourself can 
 make you a success. You must be on the 
 alert and up and doing. Don't let a single 
 day pass without accomplishing some- 
 thing beneficial; if you waste your time 
 it will be fatal to your success. 
 
YOUTH. 
 
 Youth is the springtime of life when 
 things are wondrous new, when nature 
 and life are being unfolded to you. It is 
 a glorious period of life, if you will then 
 learn as well as you can to understand 
 the laws of nature which govern life, and 
 the rules of right conduct among men. By 
 the attainment of such knowledge, you 
 will have a broader and more liberal view 
 of things going on around you in the 
 world; you will be better able to under- 
 stand men and their motives, and to know 
 the cause or reason for many things and 
 the result or effect of doing certain 
 things. 
 
 Whenever you play any game, you 
 must first learn the rules and play it ac- 
 cording to the rules, for if you cheat or 
 fail to observe the rules your fellow play- 
 ers will regard you as a poor sportsman, 
 and may even refuse to play with you. And 
 [ 7 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 so it is in playing the game of life you 
 must first learn and understand the right 
 rules of conduct among men. Every man 
 is presumed to know the law, and it is nec- 
 essary for you in your youth to learn the 
 laws and obey them, and if you fail to do 
 so, you must pay the penalty which brings 
 sorrow and disgrace. "Ignorance of the 
 law excuseth no man." 
 
 In your youth learn as much as you can 
 about all things, but you should, during 
 that period, learn to do some one thing 
 unusually well; learn a trade or a partic- 
 ular business, or a profession, and become 
 an expert, highly efficient in that one 
 thing, and thus become useful to your fel- 
 low men, and therefore successful in life. 
 
 "Know thyself " learn the laws of 
 health and strength, and the moral and 
 ethical rules of life; acquire a general 
 knowledge of the world and the country 
 in which you live, the characteristics of 
 the races which inhabit the earth, the prin- 
 ciples of business, the various elements of 
 society, and endeavor to attain the most 
 [ 8 ] 
 
YOUTH 
 
 difficult and most desirable of all a con- 
 tented and cheerful disposition. 
 
 A father feels that his boy is a part of 
 himself, and to an extent lives his life over 
 again with him, and there is nothing he 
 desires more than to have his boy develop 
 into an honorable and useful man. Aye, 
 he will sacrifice everything, if necessary, 
 to help his boy along. The boy in turn 
 must honor, love and obey his parent, he 
 must remember that the parent is much 
 older than he is, that he has had many 
 more years of experience and study, and 
 knows many things which the immature 
 boy cannot know. He must on all occa- 
 sions show his parents due respect, and he 
 will gain in many ways if he remembers to 
 be always respectful to persons older than 
 himself. Every boy must learn to obey 
 promptly, this will help him to know how 
 to command later on. The smart, intel- 
 ligent boy does learn obedience; the dumb, 
 bullheaded boy will only learn by his own 
 experience. 
 
 Knowing how to profit by the experi- ^/ 
 ence of others is a secret of progress. 
 [ 9 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 Just as a boy was leaving his home to 
 spend the day upon an excursion boat, his 
 older brother warned him of the dangers 
 of an overcrowded boat and advised him 
 not to go on the trip if he found the boat 
 crowded, for the reason that if there 
 should be an accident, he would not have 
 much chance to escape with his life. When 
 the boy walked on the gang plank of the 
 excursion boat he saw a great crowd of 
 men, women and children on the boat and 
 he remembered the words of advice his 
 brother had given him, and immediately 
 left the boat. A few moments later he saw 
 the overloaded vessel list and topple over 
 carrying hundreds of its precious passen- 
 gers to death. His own life was saved be- 
 cause his older brother, who knew more 
 than he did, gave him good advice which 
 he remembered at the proper time, and 
 acted upon promptly. 
 
 The cost of learning many things by ex- 
 perience is too great, frequently death is 
 the price. 
 
 The wise man acts on the advice of his 
 lawyer on a question of law, or on the ad- 
 [ 10 ] 
 
YOUTH 
 
 vice of his physician on a question of 
 health, and so the boy should act on the 
 advice of his parent or instructor. He 
 must obey promptly, and the sooner he 
 learns the importance of obedience the 
 better it is for him, for if he trys to learn 
 everything by his own experience he will 
 not know very much when his short career 
 is ended. 
 
 History relates the experience of in- 
 dividuals, states and nations, and by 
 studying these experiences we learn what 
 to do and what to avoid. 
 
HEALTH AND STRENGTH. 
 
 Every one admires the beauty of vigor- 
 ous health and strength, whether pos- 
 sessed by man, woman or child. 
 
 If you would possess health you must 
 study and learn the laws of nature per- 
 taining thereto, and then follow these 
 laws. Some of the fundamental require- 
 ments are : 
 
 plenty of sleep; 
 
 one day of rest each week; 
 
 abundance of fresh air ; 
 
 nourishing food and regular meals; 
 
 proper exercise; 
 
 regular bowel movements; 
 
 daily baths and care of the teeth; 
 
 cheerfulness (don't worry over what 
 has happened). 
 
 A boy ten years old ought to be in bed 
 
 and asleep by half past eight o'clock at 
 
 night and sleep until half past six in the 
 
 morning. The windows should be open 
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
HEALTH AND STRENGTH 
 
 winter and summer. When a boy gets to 
 be a few years older he does not require 
 so much sleep, eight or nine hours will be 
 sufficient. Even if you should be kept up 
 late at night, don't oversleep your regular 
 rising hour in the morning. A young man 
 can hardly acquire a habit more disastrous 
 to his success than that of oversleeping in 
 the morning. Sleep is a period of rest 
 which the mind and body absolutely re- 
 quire. A few minutes of sleep during the 
 day is extremely beneficial, even a few 
 minutes spent each afternoon lying down 
 is helpful to the heart action, and if reg- 
 ularly taken will add to your strength and 
 prolong good health and life. 
 
 It has been said that a child between the 
 ages of ten and twelve years attains a 
 greater muscular action than at any other 
 time in life and in order to properly de- 
 velop the physique an abundance of fresh 
 air is necessary. A boy should spend much 
 of his time out of doors in the fresh air 
 both winter and summer. If a person is 
 placed in a small air tight room and left 
 there for some time, he will quickly con- 
 [ 13 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 sume that part of the air which sustains 
 life, and die. Wherever you are, in your 
 room at home, or in school, see that there 
 is plenty of fresh air in the room, but don't 
 sit in a draught. Impure air carries in it 
 germs of disease. Pure air invigorates 
 the lungs, purifies the blood and helps you 
 to keep well; therefore get out of doors in 
 the sunshine. Don't sit around and mope, 
 but be active and cheerful. 
 
 Your body is your human machine, and 
 it will serve you in proportion as you treat 
 and care for it. Study and learn what 
 foods are nourishing and beneficial to you, 
 and cut out the things which are harmful, 
 for if you take sufficient poison into your 
 body, you will destroy it. Your digestive 
 organs may be able to eliminate a small 
 amount of poisonous narcotics such as in- 
 toxicants, coffee, tea, and tobacco, but if 
 used sufficiently these poisons will per- 
 meate the system, and cause sickness and 
 inefficiency. These things are especially 
 harmful to the growing youth, because 
 they prevent the proper development of 
 the body. Develop your will power early 
 [ 14 ] 
 
HEALTH AND STRENGTH 
 
 in life and have the courage to say no, and 
 refuse to take into your system the things 
 which are harmful. 
 
 Eat plenty of fruit such as apples, 
 oranges, peaches, pears, grape fruit and 
 other wholesome foods. Moderate your 
 appetite, don't be a glutton, don't overeat. 
 It is better to leave the table a little hun- 
 gry than to stuff yourself full of food and 
 drink. Great harm follows from overeat- 
 ing. The system does not require a large 
 amount of food to keep it in good condi- 
 tion. Eat your meals regularly, chew your 
 food thoroughly, take plenty of time for 
 it, then your stomach will have less work 
 to do. Drink plenty of pure water be- 
 tween meals. 
 
 You want your body to be an efficient 
 and strong machine so that it will endure 
 long and continuous hours of work when 
 necessary, hence you must train and exer- 
 cise the muscles and organs of the body. 
 Take a reasonable amount of exercise 
 every day. Exercise in the open air when 
 you can; play almost any kind of a game 
 out of doors, it rests the mind and exer- 
 [ 15 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 cises the body. It is not necessary to get 
 all of your exercise in playing ; learn to do 
 useful things out of doors, if you are in 
 the country you will find plenty of things 
 to do, such as chopping wood, cutting the 
 grass, or working in the garden or in the 
 field. Learn to swim when young, the ex- 
 ercise is fine, and besides knowing how to 
 swim may sometime save your life. Dif- 
 ferent games will interest you at different 
 periods of your life. Baseball, football, 
 swimming, tennis, golf, skating, are all 
 good out of door games, and hand ball, bil- 
 liards and pool and dancing are good in- 
 door exercises. But don't do these things 
 to excess do them in moderation. When 
 you are short of time you can get excel- 
 lent results by practicing deep breathing. 
 Try to develop your muscles so that they 
 will be strong and supple and not too 
 heavy. Keep down your weight in a nat- 
 ural way. Don't overtrain or tax the mus- 
 cles of the heart, bad results follow from 
 this in after life. Overdevelopment of the 
 physique is nearly as bad as under develop- 
 ment. You must use judgment, and fol- 
 [ 16 ] 
 
HEALTH AND STRENGTH 
 
 low the advice of those who understand 
 how to train. 
 
 Get up a perspiration every day, for 
 many of the poisons of the body are elim- 
 inated through the pores of the skin. In 
 this connection I don't know anything 
 more beneficial to health, than a hot and 
 cold shower bath taken each day. The 
 hot water opens the pores of the skin and 
 cleanses out the poisons, the cold water 
 taken immediately afterwards stimulates 
 the heart action, closes the pores of the 
 skin and prevents colds. Brush your teeth 
 daily and have the dentist keep the cav- 
 ities filled. 
 
 One day when I was a boy I asked Dr. 
 Wall, what, in his opinion was the most 
 necessary thing to do to keep in good 
 health. He replied, "Keep your bowels 
 properly regulated and have them move 
 every day." You take a considerable 
 quantity of food into your stomach each 
 day, and after the organs of the body have 
 taken the nutrition out of the food, there is 
 a large part of it which must be eliminated 
 from the body through the bowels, for if 
 [ 17 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 the waste is permitted to stay in the body 
 too long it poisons the system and causes 
 sickness. It may be necessary for you, at 
 times, to take medicine to help move your 
 bowels; don't be afraid to take a couple 
 of tablespoonfuls of castor oil or Russian 
 oil now and then, they are as helpful to 
 your digestive organs as lubricating oil is 
 to machinery. As long as you take food 
 into your stomach you must see to it that 
 the refuse passes out; there is never a day 
 you forget to eat, remember the other as 
 well. 
 
 When you are sick, act on the advice of 
 your doctor, and take your medicine. For 
 several thousand years doctors have been 
 studying the effect of different medicines 
 upon the human machine or system and 
 have accumulated very valuable knowl- 
 edge. Therefore make use of this knowl- 
 edge when necessary. 
 
 The proper development of a strong 
 body while young is very important; you 
 can develop your strength, and by so do- 
 ing you will be better able to endure the 
 strains and struggles which are sure to 
 [ 18 ] 
 
HEALTH AND STRENGTH 
 
 come to you when you reach manhood. If 
 you become a business man, you will find 
 that frequently important business mat- 
 ters will arise which will require all of your 
 powers of endurance; should you become 
 a lawyer and fight in the courts the bat- 
 tles of others, you will find that in order 
 to successfully cope with your antagonists, 
 you must have a strong body which will 
 endure incessant work for weeks at a time. 
 Bodily strength is a great factor in suc- 
 cess. 
 
 We are all creatures of habits which 
 are easily formed; but be sure you form 
 good habits, then it is easier to do right 
 than wrong. 
 
 Every boy likes to hear stories of his an- 
 cestors, and it is an advantage to him to 
 know about them; study their characteris- 
 tics, learn their weaknesses and their 
 strength, take advantage of this knowl- 
 edge and profit thereby. 
 
 A knowledge of music is a very delight- 
 ful accomplishment, and does not require 
 a great amount of time or effort to obtain. 
 There are but few things more quieting 
 [ 19 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 and soothing to the nerves after a day of 
 strenuous effort than music, and a boy will 
 benefit himself by learning to play the 
 piano. 
 
 f 20 ] 
 
SCHOOL DAYS. 
 
 It is a great privilege to be able to go to 
 school, but some boys do not appreciate 
 what this privilege means to them; they 
 do not stop to think of the advantages of 
 an education. Your school is the place in 
 which you receive instruction in various 
 branches of knowledge. Knowledge is 
 power, therefore get knowledge. You can 
 learn only a little at a time, but if you learn 
 something every day you will possess con- 
 siderable knowledge in the course of time. 
 School is a place where your mind may be 
 trained; where you may learn how to 
 work, how to concentrate your mind, so 
 that you will be better able to solve the 
 problems that must be solved from day to 
 day, throughout your life. 
 
 When you are in school improve each 
 shining hour, don't waste your time or 
 your teacher's time with annoying and 
 frivolous acts; there is a time for work 
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 and a time for play, but don't try to work 
 and play at the same time; little children, 
 of course, are expected to do these foolish 
 things, but a boy ten years of age is old 
 enough to understand that school life is 
 serious and that it is time for him to be- 
 gin to work and study. The boy who can 
 study and recite under the direction of a 
 competent teacher who does not have 
 more than six or seven boys in the class 
 is indeed a fortunate boy, because when 
 the teacher has only a small number to in- 
 struct he can see to it that each boy learns 
 and understands each lesson each day. In 
 other words a schoolmaster can train six 
 boys each day more thoroughly than he 
 can a class of forty boys, and this is a rea- 
 son why some schools will produce bet- 
 ter results than others. 
 
 While you are in school have an object 
 in mind and work toward it; you probably 
 will want to go to college later on, and if 
 you have that object in mind constantly, 
 you will obtain a more thorough prepara- 
 tion for your college work, Preparation 
 for college is extremely important, and if 
 [ 22 ] 
 
SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 you are carefully and thoroughly pre- 
 pared, your work in college will be much 
 easier and pleasanter. Learn while you 
 are in school to concentrate all of your 
 thoughts on your studies, don't let your 
 mind wander from one subject to another, 
 for when you have learned HOW TO 
 CONCENTRATE then studying will be- 
 come simple and pleasant, and you will be 
 on the high road to success. 
 
 To become an educated man you must 
 study many things. 
 
 You must learn about your own physical 
 development. Then about the earth of 
 which you are an inhabitant, study its 
 geography and learn about the different 
 countries, where each country is located, 
 what kinds of climate it possesses, what 
 grains and vegetables its soil will produce 
 and its mineral resources, its accessible 
 ports and means of transportation, and es- 
 pecially must yo,u learn these things about 
 your own country. 
 
 You must learn about the languages, 
 literature, and characteristics of the dif- 
 ferent races on the earth and about their 
 [23 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 forms of governments, and what indus- 
 tries the inhabitants of the different coun- 
 tries are engaged in, and the industrial and 
 social relations of the people; also what 
 sports and games they enjoy. 
 
 Then you must learn something about 
 the universe of which the earth is a part, 
 this brings you to the study of astronomy, 
 the science which teaches the knowledge 
 of heavenly bodies. 
 
 You should also study the religions of 
 the different people and especially the 
 Christian religion. The Bible is the best 
 guide for your spiritual and religious 
 thought and it contains the Ten Com- 
 mandments which are the basis of morals 
 and many of the laws. A thorough knowl- 
 edge of the laws and principles of morality 
 are most essential to your success, and 
 without this, your education will be in- 
 complete. 
 
 The inhabitants of the world are rap- 
 idly becoming educated. Schools are now 
 established in all of the leading nations of 
 the world, and in most of them the at- 
 tendance of the children at school for a 
 
 [ 24 ] 
 
SCHOOL DAYS 
 
 definite time is made compulsory by the 
 law; for example, Japan with its fifty-five 
 million people living in a country about 
 half the size of California is ninety-eight 
 per cent literate, that is ninety-eight per 
 cent of her people know how to read and 
 write; this means great progress, and has 
 largely come about in the lifetime of one 
 man. 
 
 The four hundred million inhabitants of 
 China are just awakening to the advan- 
 tages of our civilization, and are attempt- 
 ing to establish a Republic similar to our 
 own, and to follow our plan of education ; 
 and, they will soon begin in earnest to de- 
 velop the wonderful mineral and other re- 
 sources of that country, which as yet are 
 practically untouched. 
 
 By the wonderful stimulus which has 
 been given to education throughout the 
 world, great changes are being wrought in 
 the lives of millions of individuals who are 
 thereby learning to think for themselves, 
 and how to improve their condition in life. 
 
 Trade and commerce follow in the trail 
 of science, education and enlightenment, 
 and there are many things for you to learn 
 in school. 
 
 [ 25 ] 
 
COLLEGE DAYS. 
 
 A college education is of greater value 
 now than ever before, because a greater 
 proportion of young men go to college 
 nowadays than ever before, and in your 
 lifework you will have to compete with 
 these men. Especially is this true if you 
 expect to enter upon a professional or a 
 political career. The last three Presidents 
 of the United States were college men, one 
 a graduate of Harvard, another of Yale, 
 and another of Princeton. But whatever 
 calling of life you may pursue college 
 days if properly utilized will prove bene- 
 ficial to you, provided you take them at the 
 right period in life. 
 
 A boy cannot enter a leading college un- 
 less he has had a thorough and careful 
 preparation; he ought to begin at the age 
 of ten years to prepare to enter college, and 
 he ought to enter college when he is six- 
 teen to eighteen years old and graduate 
 [ 26 ] 
 
COLLEGE DAYS 
 
 therefrom when he is twenty to twenty- 
 two years old; he is then ready to take up 
 the real serious part of his preparation for 
 life's work. If he is to take up a profes- 
 sion, he must devote at least three years 
 to his professional studies, and he should 
 do this while his mind is young and plastic 
 and in a receptive condition, and if he is 
 to enter upon a business career he should 
 begin to learn the principles of business at 
 the age of twenty to twenty-two. 
 
 But we are a little ahead of the game 
 we started to talk about college days; 
 these are the days that afford the greatest 
 opportunities for physical, mental and 
 moral growth and development. The op- 
 portunity is with you, to improve or waste 
 these days. You are now away from home, 
 away from the tender, kind and restrain- 
 ing influences of your parents or guardian; 
 you are living in a little world of its own 
 your college world. During these days you 
 will meet boys from different parts of the 
 world, boys who have different ideas and 
 habits from yours; among these boys you 
 will find many congenial spirits and you 
 [ 27 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 will make many friends, fellows who will 
 be numbered among your friends as long 
 as you live therefore be careful of the at- 
 tachments you make in college, be strong 
 enough to select your chums, select fel- 
 lows who have already developed a good 
 character. 
 
 "Birds of a feather flock together." 
 
 If you should be so unfortunate as to fall 
 in with a crowd of fellows who waste their 
 time in gambling or drinking, have the 
 strength and courage to break away from 
 them, if you don't they will demoralize 
 your habits. Remember the words of the 
 poet: 
 
 "Vice is a monster of such frightful mien, 
 Which to be hated, needs but to be seen, 
 But seen too oft grown familiar with its 
 
 face, 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace." 
 
 Here are some don'ts to remember while 
 you are in college : 
 
 don't gamble, 
 
 don't drink intoxicants, 
 
 don't smoke, 
 
 don't associate with immoral women. 
 [ 28 ] 
 
GAMBLING. 
 
 Don't waste your college days or nights 
 playing cards for money. Gambling in 
 college is a fearful waste of time. You 
 can't name one single benefit to be derived 
 from gambling at cards in college. Some 
 one might say it is only a pastime, but 
 that is not the way it works out. Suppose 
 you and some of your friends sit down at 
 eight o'clock in the evening for a little 
 friendly game of poker, you expect to stop 
 at eleven o'clock and go to bed, but when 
 eleven o'clock arrives some one in the 
 party has lost and wants to play longer 
 and the game is continued in this way un- 
 til the morning hours; you have lost much 
 valuable time and sleep and you are not 
 fit for your work the next day. Perhaps 
 you may win a little money and go out and 
 squander it, for "come easy go easy" ap- 
 plies. If you win your chum's money, he 
 will feel badly and want a chance to win it 
 [ 29 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 back, and if you lose, you will want a 
 chance to win back your money, because 
 you can't afford to lose in gambling the 
 money your parents send you to use for 
 your legitimate expenses and so you will 
 go on from time to time losing and squan- 
 dering more money and wasting more and 
 more time, and if you persist, it may re- 
 sult in failure in your college work, and 
 in disgrace from which it will take you a 
 long time to recover. Keep away from the 
 gamblers in college, for gambling often 
 becomes a mania with some persons, and 
 you may be one of them. 
 
 [ 30 ] 
 
INTOXICATION. 
 
 You are the occupant of your human 
 machine. While you are in a normal con- 
 dition your mind has complete control 
 over the movements of your body, but if 
 you take a strong drink of whiskey, or 
 other intoxicants, or certain drugs, your 
 brain and nerves are at once affected, your 
 judgment becomes impaired and you lose 
 control of your human machine, and while 
 you are in this condition, even for a short 
 time, almost anything may happen to your 
 human machine, you may lose an arm or a 
 leg or commit some act from which you 
 may never recover. Many accidents and 
 most crimes result from strong drink. It 
 can do you no good it injures the stom- 
 ach and burns up the cells of the brain. 
 The drink habit causes men to lose confi- 
 dence in the drinker, because he cannot be 
 relied upon at critical times. Many a fine 
 fellow has been started on a downward 
 [ 31 ] 
 
INTOXICATION 
 
 career by learning to drink in college, 
 which has resulted in his utter failure in 
 life. Most of the tramps and down and 
 outs, are where they are, because of the 
 drink habit acquired in youth. The risk is 
 too great for you to fool with it. There- 
 fore have the courage to say No to any- 
 one who asks you to take a drink of intox- 
 icating liquor while you are in college. If 
 you never start to drink you will have one 
 less evil to overcome. 
 
 If you have not sufficient control over 
 yourself to resist "social drinking" then 
 either keep away from college, or attend 
 a college which is located in a "dry" com- 
 munity. 
 
 [ 32 ] 
 
TOBACCO. 
 
 Leave tobacco alone while you are a 
 growing boy, it is a narcotic containing 
 some poison, it can't do you any good, and 
 it will do you some harm. Smoking stunts 
 the proper development of the lungs, it 
 will hold you back in athletic sports. Your 
 mind will be better if you don't smoke, and 
 so will your power of endurance. Just be- 
 cause some other fellows smoke, is no rea- 
 son why you should acquire the habit. 
 Wait until you have attained your full 
 physical development and until you are 
 through college, then if you want to smoke 
 you will be old enough to decide whether 
 you should do so or not. 
 
 [ 33 ] 
 
IMMORAL WOMEN. 
 
 Keep away from an immoral woman 
 shun her as you would a rattlesnake she 
 will do you more harm. She is a fallen 
 woman, a degenerate and an outcast; she 
 is filled with disease and will infect you if 
 she gets the chance ; from this one mistake 
 you may never recover, and you may 
 transmit the disease to your child or chil- 
 dren, if you should have the power there- 
 after to be the father of one. Keep clean 
 and free from bad habits. Remember, Oh 
 Youth ! that God has given you reproduc- 
 tive organs for one purpose only, which is 
 the reproduction of the human species 
 when you have married. If you violate 
 this law of nature you will surely pay the 
 penalty of impaired health, strength and 
 mentality. 
 
 A well known physician has written the 
 following: 
 
 "The observance of a like standard of 
 [ 34 ] 
 
IMMORAL WOMEN 
 
 morals for men and women, and the pub- 
 lic recognition by society at large of na- 
 ture's inexorable decree, that physical and 
 moral hygiene must be identical for the 
 two sexes, if the health and vigor of the 
 nation shall continue. Full knowledge 
 that certain diseases which are now recog- 
 nized as factors in depopulating civilized 
 nations, and are widespread in our own 
 America, appear to be the most certainly 
 prevented by one means the education of 
 our women in the necessity of demanding 
 of their husbands, sons and friends, lives 
 as clean as their own, and therefore as free 
 from the likelihood of transmitting dis- 
 ease. * * * 
 
 "That it is the consensus of opinion 
 among physicians in America and 
 throughout the world, that illicit inter- 
 course is neither necessary nor advantage- 
 ous to the health and vigor of any male or 
 female, on the contrary it renders the in- 
 dividual liable to dangers that immedi- 
 ately assail the integrity of the home, and 
 the health and welfare of the community 
 at large. * * * 
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 "No youth is to be alarmed at nocturnal 
 phenomena on the ground that they will 
 cost him dear. The extent of the loss thus 
 involved, if it be determined wholly by in- 
 ternal causes and in the absence of previ- 
 ous habits which have thrown the whole 
 neuro chemical mechanism out of order, 
 is wholly negligible, as is the loss involved 
 in fatherhood." 
 
 Remember that during college days you 
 are building a character, it is a formative 
 period of life, and the character you there 
 form will be remembered for many years 
 after by your college friends. 
 
 We have discussed some of the 
 "Don'ts," now let us consider some of the 
 things you should do while in college: 
 studies, 
 athletics, 
 public speaking, 
 friendships. 
 
 There are twenty-four hours in a day, 
 how shall a college boy spend those hours? 
 
 Eight hours in sleep, 
 
 three hours at meals, 
 
 four hours for recreation and athletics, 
 
 nine hours for study and lectures. 
 [ 36 ] 
 
STUDIES. 
 
 Nothing to do but live and learn ! Think 
 of how much you can learn by studying 
 nine hours a day for four years ! Here you 
 have plenty of time to train your mind by 
 the solution of mathematical problems, to 
 study the ancient and modern languages, 
 to learn the elemental principles of 
 sciences such as chemistry, physics, as- 
 tronomy, jurisprudence, political and so- 
 cial economics, and to learn the art of pub- 
 lic speaking and debating. 
 
 Do your work each and every day, and 
 you will have no trouble in regard to your 
 standing in classes, or in passing your ex- 
 aminations and obtaining your diploma 
 at commencement time. 
 
 But if you neglect your studies from day 
 to day, expecting to make up for lost time 
 by cramming and tutoring for examina- 
 tions, you are doomed to disappointment 
 and regrets in after years for the oppor- 
 [ 37 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 tunities you have lost. Don't forget this 
 from day to day, because I am telling you 
 the facts. Do your work each day and 
 form good habits and your college career 
 will be a success, otherwise a failure. 
 
 [ 38 ] 
 
ATHLETICS. 
 
 Every fellow when he enters college 
 should take up some athletic sport golf, 
 tennis, foot-ball, baseball, lacross, track 
 athletics, etc., and he should make a strong 
 effort to become a member of a college 
 team. You of course will not be conceited 
 enough to expect to make the highest col- 
 lege team while you are a freshman, al- 
 though it is possible you may succeed, but 
 the chances are against you. Study your 
 own physical qualifications, and carefully 
 make up your mind what team you can 
 most likely make and then go after it. 
 Train regularly every day for that partic- 
 ular sport, the continuous effort is what 
 counts remember that a class of seniors 
 graduates every year and the vacancies on 
 the teams thus caused must be filled by 
 students in the other classes, and those 
 who have best qualified themselves will 
 be selected. But even if you don't make 
 [ 39 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 one of the teams during your college 
 course if you have carefully trained dur- 
 ing the four years you will have received 
 an enormous benefit provided you have 
 trained wisely. By training I mean (1) 
 regular daily exercise, (2) properly se- 
 lected food, (3) no smoking or intoxicants, 
 (4) eight hours sleep each night, (5) daily 
 bowel movement and bath, (6) proper care 
 of the teeth. 
 
 Many fellows in college are lacking in 
 continuity, that is continuous effort, they 
 have not learned the power of concentra- 
 tion. The fellow who concentrates is gen- 
 erally a winner. If you postpone from day 
 to day your training, the time for the test 
 arrives before you are ready, and you lose. 
 Stick to it, keep at it day after day until 
 the day of trial arrives, you are then pre- 
 pared, and may win. Success in almost 
 everything lies in the preparation for trial. 
 This is true in athletics, in your studies, 
 and in the tests and trials that come in 
 after years of business or professional life. 
 
 We agreed on spending four hours each 
 day during the four college years on ath- 
 [ 40 ] 
 
ATHLETICS 
 
 letics and recreation, and if you stick to it, 
 your muscles will be strong and supple, 
 your lungs will be well developed, and the 
 muscles of your heart strong, and your di- 
 gestion good. In addition you will have 
 accumulated strong nerve reserve force 
 and kept your brain clear, so that the cells 
 therein have been increased sufficiently to 
 store away for future reference the knowl- 
 edge you have gained during your four 
 years of studies. Don't you believe this 
 equipment is worth the effort to get it? 
 You can have it, if you will only go after 
 it and get it. 
 
 I 41 ] 
 
PUBLIC SPEAKING. 
 
 The fellows I knew in my college days 
 who were smart and wise enough to train 
 themselves in the art of public speaking 
 are today (twenty-seven years after) 
 among the most successful men whether 
 they have engaged in business or profes- 
 sional work. Civilized men work in 
 groups and the leaders of these groups 
 must be able at all times to rise to their 
 feet and express their thoughts intelli- 
 gently, but no one can do this well the first 
 time he tries, he requires experience and 
 training. The earlier a boy begins in this 
 work the easier it will be for him, but cer- 
 tainly during his college days he ought to 
 take full advantage of the opportunities 
 there afforded him for training in debat- 
 ing and public speaking. 
 
 In nearly all of the colleges there are 
 societies which have been organized for 
 the sole purpose of training the students 
 [42.] 
 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 
 
 in speaking and debating. These societies 
 have their own Halls and are permanent 
 institutions, the members generally meet 
 on Friday night of each week join one of 
 them and work. Here you will have an 
 opportunity each week to speak a decla- 
 mation before a small audience, or deliver 
 an oration or read an essay, or participate 
 in a debate. It isn't an easy thing to do, 
 you will be embarrassed probably every 
 time you try it, you will be easily discour- 
 aged, for you will frequently hear some 
 fellows ridicule and makelight of the work 
 in the Halls, but they know not whereof 
 they speak, they are ignorant and inex- 
 perienced, therefore pay no attention to 
 their foolish remarks, but keep to your 
 work in the Halls and you will find, when 
 you are out of college that the work you did 
 in the Halls is of the greatest value to you. 
 Every boy hates to be laughed at, and 
 when he is standing before a crowd of his 
 fellows it is very likely that in his embar- 
 rassment he may do something to cause a 
 ripple of laughter but don't let that dis- 
 courage you try it over and over again, 
 [ 43 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 and in the course of time you will over- 
 come your embarrassment, and you will 
 have such control over your thoughts and 
 words that you will have no difficulty in 
 speaking before an audience. There is no 
 better place than a college to learn how to 
 do this. 
 
 It is said of Daniel Webster that when 
 he made his first attempts at public speak- 
 ing in college, he was so embarrassed and 
 confused that his efforts were complete 
 failures, and this is true of nearly every 
 one I have known; but Webster kept at it, 
 as have thousands of others until they 
 have acquired the ability to speak well in 
 public. 
 
 In order to be self-possessed you must 
 be subject possessed, in other words, you 
 must have some thoughts on the subject 
 on which you are to speak, you must study 
 these out beforehand, and know well about 
 what you are going to say when it comes 
 your turn to speak. 
 
 Look at the men in public life today 
 holding the principal offices such as Presi- 
 dent, Senators, Representatives, Govern- 
 [ 44 ] 
 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 
 
 ors, etc., what is their principal asset? It 
 is the ability to think and speak forcefully 
 upon the public questions of the day. 
 Their ability to speak in public gives them 
 the leadership. 
 
 The minister of the gospel must neces- 
 sarily be a good speaker, and so must the 
 lawyer who would properly plead the 
 cause of his client before a court or jury. 
 The bankers have their associations, as do 
 the merchants, and the manufacturers, 
 and the railroad managers, and the physi- 
 cians and surgeons, and the lawyers and 
 the laborers; and all have their regular 
 meetings, and at these meetings the lead- 
 ers are required to speak in public. In 
 fact, whatever may be your avocation in 
 life, the ability to speak in public is in 
 greater demand now than ever before, and 
 it will continue to be so as time goes on, 
 and civilization becomes more complex. 
 Therefore, I adjure you, learn to speak in 
 public while you are in college. 
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
COLLEGE FRIENDS. 
 
 If you are the right sort of a fellow you 
 will make many friends while you are in 
 college, but the fellows there have plenty 
 of time to study each other and your real 
 worth is soon found out, and your charac- 
 ter, such as it is, is known to them. Be 
 honest, industrious, attractive and natural 
 yourself, and select for your friends fel- 
 lows who have such qualities. 
 
 "A friend is a person whom you know 
 intimately, in whose honor and integrity 
 you have full confidence, a person with 
 whom you love to be and to talk; a person 
 with whom you have had many experi- 
 ences, whom you have tried and not found 
 wanting; a person with whom you can 
 think aloud and with whom you know 
 your words and thoughts are safe, and yet 
 with whom you may disagree on many 
 things and still be friends." 
 
 It is one of the pleasantest things in life 
 [ 46 ] 
 
COLLEGE FRIENDS 
 
 to be and converse with your friend; with 
 him your own thoughts broaden and de- 
 velop and take on a substantive form, and 
 so with him. 
 
 You should make many friends while 
 you are in college, but in order to do this 
 you must mingle with your associates 
 you will not make many friends if you are 
 a recluse. In after days you will meet 
 your college friends in various parts of the 
 world, and they will be a great source of 
 pleasure to you, and you, I hope, to them. 
 
WORKING YOUR WAY THROUGH 
 COLLEGE. 
 
 If your parents or guardian cannot af- 
 ford to pay your expenses through college, 
 don't let a little thing like that deter you 
 from going through college, but work and 
 earn the money yourself. Find a college 
 where you can obtain a scholarship if nec- 
 essary. There are many things you can 
 do in college which will enable you to earn 
 at least a portion of your expenses during 
 the college terms, and you can earn more 
 during the college vacations. Be open and 
 frank about your financial needs men are 
 always willing to help a fellow who is try- 
 ing to obtain an education. 
 
 There are always some fellows in col- 
 lege who need to be tutored, you can make 
 some money at that, if you are sufficiently 
 prepared for that kind of work; or you 
 may get on the college paper and earn 
 some money as an embryo editor, or by 
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
WORKING WAY THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 soliciting advertisements, or by acting as 
 a manufacturer's agent, or by running an 
 eating club, or doing ordinary chores for 
 persons who live in your college town. 
 There are many other ways to earn money 
 at this time which you can devise if you 
 give the subject proper thought, but it will 
 be necessary for you to get right down to 
 hard work and cut out foolishness. 
 
 Of course, if you have to work your way 
 through college you may not be able to 
 graduate quite so young as if you were 
 backed by a well-to-do parent, and you 
 will have to economize on your hours of 
 recreation and eating, nevertheless don't 
 press so hard that you will impair your 
 health, for health is more important than 
 education. 
 
COLLEGE VACATIONS. 
 
 A youth in college does not need three 
 months of rest during the summer time. 
 One month of rest or travel at that time is 
 sufficient; spend the balance of your sum- 
 mer learning something useful. If you ex- 
 pect to become a lawyer, ask some lawyer 
 to let you work and read law in his office 
 during two months of the summer vaca- 
 tion. If you are going into business, get 
 the privilege of working in some business 
 establishment during most of your sum- 
 mer vacation. By so doing you will learn 
 something useful instead of frittering 
 away your time. 
 
 Yes, a college education is worth all this 
 effort and more; you may forget your 
 higher mathematics, and how to read 
 Greek and Latin soon after you get out of 
 college, and you may feel for many years 
 afterwards that they were a waste of time 
 but sooner or later Seneca, and Cicero, 
 [ 50 ] 
 
COLLEGE VACATIONS 
 
 and Demosthenes will begin to draw you 
 back to them, and you will take them off 
 your book shelf and read them again (in 
 English) with a pleasure and enjoyment 
 you never dreamed in college would be 
 possible. 
 
 We only live one life on this earth, so 
 while we are living it let us get everything 
 good out of it we can; and if while in col- 
 lege you have stored away in your mind 
 some of the great thoughts which are to be 
 found in the best literature of the world, 
 you will probably be able to create for 
 yourself a philosophy of life, which at least 
 satisfies you, and will make you feel that 
 college days were worth while. 
 
 [ 51 ] 
 
AFTER COLLEGE, WHAT? 
 
 What is your ambition? 
 
 Do you want to enter public life, or prac- 
 tice law, or preach the gospel, or heal the 
 sick, or edit a paper, or teach the young, 
 or operate a railroad, or run a bank, or till 
 the soil, or mine minerals, or build build- 
 ings, or operate gas and electric and power 
 plants, or manufacture or sell merchan- 
 dise, or become an agitator, or do a thou- 
 sand and one other things? The list is a 
 long one for you to select from, and you 
 must decide what service you are best qual- 
 ified to perform and most likely to attain 
 success in. You may not guess right the 
 first time, and you may have to make sev- 
 eral guesses before you find the place in 
 which you fit. 
 
 You often hear it said that the profes- 
 sions are filled to overflowing, well, that is 
 true to an extent, but it is not more diffi- 
 cult to succeed in a professional career 
 [ 52 ] 
 
AFTER COLLEGE, WHAT? 
 
 than in a business career; patience, con- 
 centration, integrity, ability, courage and 
 continuous effort are required in all avoca- 
 tions. 
 
 The period of business or professional 
 activity is not very long, the older men 
 are continually passing on to their just re- 
 ward and younger men take their places, 
 and the fellow who is best prepared to 
 carry the burden of leadership will be 
 called when the time arrives for him to 
 take the load. He in turn will carry it as 
 long as he can and then shift it again to 
 younger shoulders. 
 
 I don't mean by this that I would advise 
 a young man to disregard the old adage, 
 "Don't wait to step in a dead man's boots," 
 because he may outlive you and besides, 
 the fellows whose burdens he has been car- 
 rying may not want you to take his place, 
 they may believe someone else is better 
 qualified than you. 
 
 If you decide to enter upon a profes- 
 sional career, you of course will pursue 
 your studies at a school where the prin- 
 ciples of your chosen profession are 
 [ 53 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 taught. You will find life quite different 
 then from what it has been in college. The 
 boys have grown to be men, they are more 
 serious and more determined, and have be- 
 gun to specialize in the work they expect 
 to make their life work. 
 
 Even if you do not expect to practice 
 law as a profession, a course of three years 
 study in a first class law school will give 
 you a most excellent foundation for a busi- 
 ness career, especially if you expect to be 
 associated with large corporations. The 
 laws are so many and complex nowadays, 
 I often wonder how a man in charge of 
 large business interests is able to success- 
 fully direct its affairs when he is not 
 versed in the laws; of course the answer is, 
 he generally has a lawyer at his right hand 
 with whom he frequently confers and ad- 
 vises. The chief executives of many of our 
 largest corporations today are men who 
 have been trained in the law, and the de- 
 mand for the services of lawyers in this 
 respect will increase as civilization devel- 
 ops and the laws become still more intri- 
 cate. 
 
 [ 54 ] 
 
AFTER COLLEGE, WHAT? 
 
 A three years' course in law will do 
 more to bring a wild, reckless or careless 
 young man to his senses than anything 
 else I know about, for the reason that each 
 day he is studying criminal law there is 
 impressed upon his mind the punish- 
 ments which are given to wrongdoers, and 
 in studying contracts and damages he 
 learns the result of negligent or careless 
 acts. At the same time other studies, such 
 as property rights, equity, etc., furnish his 
 mind with plenty of food for thought. 
 
 Every fellow must decide for himself 
 what career he will enter upon, and many 
 make this decision while they are in col- 
 lege, and select some of the courses which 
 will be most helpful to them later on. The 
 parent is always very much interested in 
 this decision. I remember during the last 
 few days of my senior year in college I 
 spent a day or two with one of my class- 
 mates at his home in New York; his father 
 was a very successful manufacturer and 
 merchant and called me aside to talk with 
 me about his son's future career; he 
 wanted to know what I thought his son 
 [ 55 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 ought to do, and I told him I believed his 
 son was especially qualified to go into bus- 
 iness with him, which seemed to please the 
 father very much, for that was what he 
 wanted his son to do. But the son had a 
 different idea, he wanted to become a min- 
 ister of the gospel, and the father very 
 wisely let him have his way. Well, he be- 
 came a very fine minister, and several 
 years afterwards I heard him preach one 
 of the best sermons I ever listened to, but 
 his father's interests were so large, that as 
 the years passed by, the father needed this 
 son's help more and more, and he eventu- 
 ally won, and the son became as successful 
 in business affairs as he had been at 
 preaching. 
 
 Discuss the question of your future ca- 
 reer with your associates, your parents, 
 and with men in whom you have confi- 
 dence; give careful consideration to what 
 they tell you, but after all, you must decide 
 this question for yourself. But "having 
 put your hand to the plow, don't look 
 back," at least until you have given the 
 matter a thorough test and you are certain 
 you have made a mistake which should be 
 corrected. 
 
 [ 56 ] 
 
BUSINESS. 
 
 Persons engage in business for the pur- 
 pose of earning a livelihood, or to obtain 
 a larger income. Business occupies the 
 time, attention and labor of persons or 
 corporations seeking income. Business is 
 any particular occupation or employment 
 which a person engages in for gain. In 
 its broadest sense business includes nearly 
 all the affairs in which either an individual 
 or a corporation can be actors. 
 
 A person who buys and sells groceries is 
 engaged in the business of a groceryman. 
 
 A railroad corporation is engaged in the 
 business of transporting persons and prop- 
 erty for hire. 
 
 A municipal corporation is engaged in 
 the business of conducting city or public 
 affairs. 
 
 In early times when a farmer employed 
 a person to labor for him he gave him a 
 portion of his crops in payment for his 
 [ 57 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 services, but as civilization advanced such 
 payments became inconvenient and so the 
 government of each country established a 
 medium of exchange which is called 
 
 [ 58 ] 
 
MONEY. 
 
 Money bears the stamp or seal of the 
 government which has created it. Money 
 is a representation of value, and is the 
 measure by which persons estimate the 
 value of their property and services. A 
 person who is about to travel into a for- 
 eign country uses the money of his own 
 country to purchase the money which is 
 in current use in the country through 
 which he intends to travel, so in this way 
 money is frequently used to purchase 
 money as well as other commodities. 
 
 Capital is the sum of money, or prop- 
 erty, which is used as the basis for con- 
 ducting a business. 
 
 Nearly every business must have capital 
 with which it may support its credit and 
 pay its losses; and if the business is suc- 
 cessful the capital will be increased by 
 profits. 
 
 Business is conducted principally by in- 
 dividuals, partnerships or corporations. 
 [ 59 ] 
 
BUSINESS BY INDIVIDUALS. 
 
 Let us assume a man whom we will 
 name Mr. Farmer owns 100 acres of land 
 covered with fine timber which he decides 
 to convert into lumber and sell. He finds, 
 however, that it will be necessary to erect 
 on his land a saw mill which will cost sev- 
 eral thousand dollars, but not having the 
 money or capital with which to purchase 
 the necessary machinery and employ la- 
 borers to cut down the trees and operate 
 the machinery he goes to his neighbor Mr. 
 Banker, who has saved up some money, 
 and borrows the necessary amount from 
 him for a period of five years, and gives 
 him his promissory note to repay the 
 money borrowed at the expiration of five 
 years together with interest at the rate of 
 6% per annum, and in addition to the note 
 Mr. Farmer gives Mr. Banker a mortgage 
 on his 100 acres of land; by the terms of 
 the mortgage Mr. Farmer agrees that if 
 [ 60 ] 
 
BUSINESS BY INDIVIDUALS 
 
 he does not repay the money borrowed 
 and interest within the time agreed upon, 
 then Mr. Banker shall have the right to 
 have the mortgaged property sold for the 
 purpose of paying the debt due Mr. 
 Banker. 
 
 Mr. Farmer having thus procured the 
 capital needed to purchase the machinery 
 and to pay his employees, engages in the 
 industry of manufacturing and selling 
 lumber as an individual, and after his lum- 
 ber business has made enough money to 
 enable him to pay back all of the money 
 which he borrowed, the rest of the money 
 which he receives from the sale of his lum- 
 ber, after payment of the expenses of the 
 business, belongs to him, and represents 
 the profits he has made out of his lumber 
 manufacturing business. 
 
 [ 61 ] 
 
BUSINESS BY PARTNERSHIP. 
 
 Mr. Farmer owns 100 acres of timber 
 land, which we will assume is worth $10,- 
 000, and he invites Mr. Banker, who has 
 $10,000 in money, to enter into a partner- 
 ship with him, by which he, Farmer, will 
 furnish the 100 acres of land in question, 
 and Banker will furnish $10,000 in money, 
 which is to be used as capital for purchas- 
 ing the necessary saw mill machinery and 
 payment of the, laborers for their services 
 in cutting down the trees, operating the 
 saw mill and converting the timber into 
 lumber. Farmer and Banker then enter 
 into a partnership agreement by which 
 they agree to conduct the business for a 
 definite number of years under the name 
 of Farmer & Banker and to divide the 
 profits or losses of the business equally be- 
 tween them because each has contributed 
 equally to the capital of the firm, one hav- 
 ing furnished timber land worth $10,000 
 [ 62 ] 
 
BUSINESS BY PARTNERSHIP 
 
 and the other $10,000 in money. Under 
 the law each of these individual partners 
 is personally liable for all of the debts of 
 the partnership. 
 
 [ 63 ] 
 
BUSINESS BY CORPORATIONS. 
 
 Farmer having the 100 acres of timber 
 land in question decides that he will or- 
 ganize a business corporation for the pur- 
 pose of manufacturing lumber. 
 
 A business corporation is an association 
 of individuals organized under the law for 
 the purpose of conducting a certain busi- 
 ness under a certain name, and has the 
 right among others to issue stock cer- 
 tificates to its members and to issue bonds 
 which are the promise of the corporation 
 to pay back in a certain time the money 
 loaned to it. 
 
 Mr. Farmer organizes a corporation 
 which he decides to name Farmer Lumber 
 Company with a capital stock of $20,000 
 divided into 200 shares of the par value 
 of $100 each. He himself subscribes 
 for $10,000 of the capital stock, and 
 in order to pay for the stock con- 
 veys his timber land which is reason- 
 [ 64 ] 
 
BUSINESS BY CORPORATIONS 
 
 ably worth $10,000 to the corporation 
 and takes in exchange therefor one 
 hundred shares of capital stock of the par 
 value of $100 each; he then invites his 
 friend Banker to subscribe for 50 shares 
 of stock for which he pays $5,000, and he 
 invites other persons to purchase the re- 
 maining $5,000 worth of stock. All of the 
 $20,000 of stock having been subscribed 
 and paid for, the State under the laws of 
 which the corporation is organized, issues 
 a charter to the Farmer Lumber Company 
 which authorizes it to proceed to do busi- 
 ness as a lumber manufacturing company. 
 The stockholders hold a first meeting at 
 which they elect a board of directors con- 
 sisting of 3 or 5 (or some other number) 
 of their stockholders. The directors of 
 the corporation then hold a separate meet- 
 ing and elect a President, Vice President, 
 Secretary and Treasurer, and adopt a set 
 of by-laws which provides for the holding 
 of stockholders' meetings and directors' 
 meetings, and the duties of the various 
 officers, and the issuance of certificates of 
 capital stock, and various other provisions 
 [ 65 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 pertaining to the conduct of its business. 
 
 The Farmer Lumber Company is now 
 completely organized and proceeds to do 
 business. It owns the 100 acres of timber 
 land and has sufficient money or capital 
 with which to pay for the necessary ma- 
 chinery and hire the necessary employees 
 to cut down the timber and manufacture 
 it into lumber and sell it. 
 
 At the end of the first year the stock- 
 holders meet and find that the business of 
 the corporation has been successfully con- 
 ducted and that it has made a profit out of 
 the sale of its lumber and the company 
 having sufficient surplus, a dividend of $5, 
 $6 or $10 a share (whatever the profits 
 justify) is paid to the stockholders. This 
 is called income from property, the money 
 which the employees receive for labor, is 
 called income from services. 
 
 At the end of the second year the cor- 
 poration finds that it will be to its advan- 
 tage to buy another 100 acres of timber 
 land adjacent to its property, which will 
 cost $10,000, and the corporation not hav- 
 ing sufficient surplus decides to borrow 
 [ 66 ] 
 
BUSINESS BY CORPORATIONS 
 
 $10,000, the proceeds of which it proposes 
 to use to purchase 100 acres of timber land, 
 and in order to secure the proposed loan 
 conveys all of its property to a trustee to 
 hold in trust for the benefit of the owner 
 or owners of bonds which the lumber com- 
 pany shall issue under the provisions of its 
 said mortgage or deed of trust. 
 
 The lumber company then executes ten 
 bonds, each for the sum of $1,000, by 
 which the lumber company promises to 
 pay at a certain time $1,000 to the holder 
 of the bond and interest thereon at the 
 rate of 5% per annum, and in the event 
 the lumber company shall fail to pay these 
 bonds and interest as provided, the trustee 
 may take the property of the lumber com- 
 pany, and sell it for the purpose of paying 
 the indebtedness due to the bondholders. 
 
 We have thus considered in a general 
 manner only the three most common ways 
 of conducting business, that is by individ- 
 uals, partnerships and corporations. 
 
 A great many businesses are conducted 
 by individuals and by partnerships, but by 
 far the greatest volume of business, not 
 [ 67 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 only in our country but throughout the 
 civilized world, is carried on through cor- 
 porate organizations. 
 
 Among the advantages of conducting 
 business through corporations are the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 One: The corporation may be organ- 
 ized to exist perpetually, or for a very long 
 period of years, much longer than the life 
 of an individual. 
 
 Two: When the corporation has been 
 paid the par value of its share of stock, 
 the stockholder is not required by the law 
 of most states to make any further pay- 
 ment if the company becomes insolvent, 
 while in the case of business conducted by 
 an individual or by partnership, each in- 
 dividual is liable for all of the debts of the 
 business except, however, certain limited 
 partnerships. In the case of banking cor- 
 porations the rule is different, in that the 
 stockholders have double liability. 
 
 Three: Very large amounts of capital 
 may be obtained for business through cor- 
 porate organizations. Corporations hav- 
 ing a capital of a billion dollars or more, 
 [ 68 ] 
 
BUSINESS BY CORPORATIONS 
 
 and forty thousand, and even a hundred 
 thousand stockholders (most of whom are 
 strangers to each other) are not uncom- 
 mon in this day of big business. The busi- 
 ness of such large corporations extends 
 throughout the world, and such corpora- 
 tions are generally an advantage to the 
 people of the country in which they are 
 organized, because they bring into their 
 home country money received through 
 trade in foreign countries, which means 
 more employment for the citizens of the 
 home of the world trading corporation. 
 
 In the management of a great corpora- 
 tion there are several different interests 
 which require constant consideration. 
 
 One: The stockholders and bondhold- 
 ers provide the capital to create the busi- 
 ness, and if the business is not successful 
 the capital will be withdrawn and the busi- 
 ness discontinued, or reorganized on a 
 new basis. 
 
 Two : The directors and officers of the 
 corporation, who must skillfully and hon- 
 estly manage the affairs of the company 
 or the business will fail. 
 [ 69 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 Three: The employees, who must co- 
 operate with the officers and render valu- 
 able services to make the business a suc- 
 cess, and be paid reasonable compensa- 
 tion. 
 
 Four: The public, who purchase the 
 commodity of the corporation, must be 
 fairly dealt with or the corporation will 
 not have business. 
 
 [ 70 ] 
 
VARIOUS OCCUPATIONS. 
 
 It is interesting and instructive to know 
 something of the number of persons en- 
 gaged in the various business occupations 
 in the United States. 
 
 The United States census for the year 
 1910 shows in a general way the business 
 occupations of nearly 40,000,000 citizens 
 of the United States as follows: 
 
 In the business of agriculture, forestry 
 and of animal industry nearly 13,000,000 
 persons are employed, of whom nearly 
 6,000,000 are farm laborers. 
 
 In the business of mining minerals such 
 as coal, etc., about 1,000,000 are employed. 
 
 In the manufacturing and mechanical 
 industries about 10,500,000 persons are 
 employed, of whom nearly 2,000,000 are 
 women. 
 
 In transportation (railroads, etc.) 
 about 2,500,000 are employed, of whom a 
 little over 100,000 are women. 
 [ 71 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 In the various trades, such as bankers, 
 clerks in stores, commercial travelers, etc., 
 there are nearly 4,000,000 persons, of 
 whom about 500,000 are women. 
 
 There are about 115,000 lawyers. 
 
 Ministers, 118,000. 
 
 Doctors and physicians, 150,000. 
 
 Teachers, 600,000. 
 
 Of the 1,600,000 engaged in various pro- 
 fessional services nearly half are women. 
 
 There are engaged in public service 
 nearly 500,000. 
 
 In domestic and personal service nearly 
 4,000,000, of whom two-thirds are women 
 and about one-third men. 
 
 In other clerical occupations there are 
 nearly 2,000,000 persons. 
 
 [ 72 ] 
 
VALUE OF PROPERTY IN THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 Under the laws of the United States 
 various corporations doing business in the 
 United States are required to make annual 
 reports to the Federal Government and to 
 pay a corporation tax. The annual report 
 of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue 
 for the year 1913 shows the capital stock 
 of the corporations in the United States 
 amounts to nearly $62,000,000,000, and the 
 bonds, etc., of these corporations amount 
 to nearly $35,000,000,000, the total capital- 
 ization of these corporations being nearly 
 $97,000,000,000. 
 
 The United States census for 1910 
 places the total value of farm property in 
 the United States at about $41,000,000,000. 
 The bonds, etc., of the Federal, State and 
 local governments in the United States 
 upon which interest is paid amounts to 
 nearly $5,000,000,000. 
 
 [ 73 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 The value of other property in the 
 United States, such as city and town real 
 estate and business conducted by individ- 
 uals and partners, etc., may be roughly es- 
 timated at $50,000,000,000, which makes a 
 total of nearly two hundred billion dollars, 
 about one-half of which represents the 
 value of corporation property. 
 
 The owners of all this property receive 
 income each year from their property, 
 which totals about six billion dollars, and 
 if this income should be divided equally 
 between the 100,000,000 people who live 
 in the United States each person would 
 have an income of about $60.00 a year, but 
 this sum of course would not be nearly 
 enough to support persons in civilized life. 
 
 What would happen if we all lived on 
 income from property without working? 
 Civilization would soon end. The wood 
 in the homes and buildings would soon 
 decay and crumble. The plows and the 
 machinery on the farms would soon be de- 
 stroyed with rust. The engines and rails 
 on our arteries of commerce would cor- 
 rode and fall to pieces. Nature does not 
 [ 74 ] 
 
VALUE OF PROPERTY IN U. S. 
 
 permit persons or things to be long idle 
 and continue to live or be useful. Most 
 men work from necessity. 
 
 We must all work while we have 
 strength in this every day world of ours 
 in order to live and advance, and provide 
 for our declining years, and for the de- 
 pendent ones. 
 
 A young man when he first starts in his 
 business career generally enters the em- 
 ploy of an established business at a very 
 low wage or salary because he knows little 
 if anything about the business, and there- 
 fore his services are of but little value to 
 his employer. His advancement to greater 
 earning power depends upon himself, 
 whether he continues as an employee, or 
 starts a business of his own. 
 
 The wages and salaries which are paid 
 annually to the great army of workrs in 
 our country amounts to many billion dol- 
 lars, perhaps more than fifteen billion dol- 
 lars. These wages and salaries vary in 
 amounts from a few dollars to a hundred 
 thousand dollars or more a year, depend- 
 [ 75 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 ent upon the ability and efficiency of the 
 individual worker. 
 
 Many corporations are encouraging and 
 helping their employees to save and invest 
 part of their salaries each year in the cap- 
 ital stock of the companies for which they 
 work, and thus they become stockholders 
 and part owners in the property as well as 
 wage earners, and thus the wage earner 
 is transformed into the small capitalist, 
 who in his declining years is able to live 
 in comfort to which he is justly entitled, 
 by reason of his long years of toil and 
 economy. 
 
 It is said that two billion dollars are 
 spent annually in the United States for in- 
 toxicating liquors. There would be many 
 more small capitalists living in comfort in 
 their old age if it were not for such unnec- 
 essary yes, unnecessary and harmful ex- 
 penditures. 
 
 Some persons accumulate great for- 
 tunes and have enormous incomes, but 
 generally speaking such accumulations are 
 beneficial to mankind, because such sur- 
 plus wealth is used by the owners for 
 [ 76 ] 
 
VALUE OF PROPERTY IN U. S. 
 
 building up educational and charitable in- 
 stitutions and helping persons who require 
 help. 
 
 [ 77 ] 
 
OUR COUNTRY AND GOVERN- 
 MENT. 
 
 It is a little more than three thousand 
 miles across our land from New York on 
 the East to San Francisco on the West, 
 and fifteen hundred miles from Duluth at 
 the North to New Orleans in the South. 
 Within our boundaries are all the climates, 
 and more than three and a half million 
 square miles or upwards of two billion 
 acres of land, which abound in mineral and 
 timber resources and the richest agricul- 
 tural soil in the world. 
 
 Upon this land of ours are more than 
 twenty million homes, a third of which are 
 on farms and the remainder in cities and 
 villages, and here dwell a hundred million 
 persons, one-seventeenth of the population 
 of the earth. 
 
 Three centuries ago it was the home of 
 a few wandering tribes of Indians, but 
 since that time the people of the older civ- 
 [ 78 ] 
 
OUR COUNTRY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 ilized countries who were dissatisfied with 
 their conditions, or their forms of govern- 
 ment, have been moving to our shores, 
 sometimes at the rate of over a million a 
 year, here they have found ample oppor- 
 tunities to work out their destinies; the 
 children of the different races have inter- 
 married and out of this melting pot a new 
 American race is sprung which has 
 created its own form of government, and 
 is now a leader in the progress of the 
 world. 
 
 During the first century and a half the 
 American Colonies had their own local as- 
 semblies which made many of their laws 
 and provided the necessary revenues to de- 
 fray the expenses of their governments, 
 the parliament of Great Britain had 
 not attempted to derive revenue from 
 the American Colonies, although various 
 acts had from time to time been passed 
 regulating the trade and commerce of the 
 colonies, yet none of these were designed 
 or regarded, either in Britain or America, 
 as revenue laws. 
 
 But soon after France ceded certain of 
 [ 79 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 her possessions in America to Great 
 Britain in 1763 the British cabinet con- 
 ceived the idea of taxing the American 
 Colonies in order to help pay England's 
 immense war debt, and so Parliament 
 passed the "Stamp Act," which immedi- 
 ately met with great opposition in Amer- 
 ica and was the first great cause which led 
 to the American Revolution. An early 
 historian says: 
 
 "The discontent soon spread through- 
 out the colonies and the opposition became 
 general and determined, the spirit of the 
 people gave a tone to the colonial assem- 
 blies, and bold and decided resolutions 
 were adopted against the iniquitous 
 scheme of parliamentary taxation. Vir- 
 ginia took the lead, and on the 28th of 
 May, 1765, Patrick Henry introduced his 
 celebrated resolutions into the House of 
 Burgesses, which declared that the inhab- 
 itants of that colony were entitled to, and 
 had possessed and enjoyed all the rights, 
 liberties and privileges of the people of 
 Great Britain; that the general assembly 
 of the colony had always exercised, and 
 [ 80 ] 
 
OUR COUNTRY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 alone possessed the power to levy taxes 
 and imposts on the inhabitants of the col- 
 ony, and that they were not bound to yield 
 obedience to any law or ordinance whatso- 
 ever, designed to impose any taxation 
 whatever upon them, other than the law 
 and ordinances of the general assembly. 
 So bold and unexpected were these resolu- 
 tions, that whilst they were reading one of 
 the members cried out 'treason.' 
 
 "These resolutions were communicated 
 to all the colonies, and the spirit they 
 breathed spread from one legislature to 
 another, and their sentiments were reiter- 
 ated in resolutions adopted by the legisla- 
 tures, and the freemen in public meetings." 
 
 Although the "Stamp Act" was repealed 
 by parliament, other similar laws were en- 
 acted which were oppressive, mean and 
 tyrannical and so exasperated the people 
 throughout the colonies that they rose in 
 arms and demanded that the yoke of for- 
 eign rule be removed from them. 
 
 Many of the leading citizens of the 
 United Colonies met in Congress July 4, 
 1776, and prepared the Declaration of In- 
 [ 81 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 dependence. This famous document was 
 called "The unanimous Declaration of the 
 thirteen United States of America." In 
 it they set forth many of the wrongs which 
 had been inflicted upon them by the King 
 of Great Britain and their reasons for es- 
 tablishing a free and independent govern- 
 ment. Among those who signed this great 
 instrument are the names of John Adams, 
 Oliver Wolcott and George Ross. 
 
 Few wars are justified, but the Revolu- 
 tionary War of 1775 was founded on 
 justice. Great hardships were endured, 
 and many brave lives were sacrificed for 
 freedom. 
 
 Among the leaders at the opening of the 
 Revolution was William Dawes, who rode 
 with Paul Revere on his famous "midnight 
 ride" to arouse the minute men of Massa- 
 chusetts to prepare for the attack of the 
 British at Lexington and Concord. 
 
 Colonel Knowlton was also a leader in 
 those tempestuous times, he fought in the 
 battle of Bunker Hill and afterwards be- 
 came one of General Washington's aids, 
 and when Washington wanted to obtain 
 [ 82 ] 
 
OUR COUNTRY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 certain information concerning the situa- 
 tion, strength, and future movements of 
 the British Army which was then in com- 
 plete possession of Long Island, he applied 
 to Colonel Knowlton, who at once laid 
 General Washington's request before his 
 regiment, to which belonged Capt. Nathan 
 Hale, who, a short time before had grad- 
 uated at Yale. One of the early historians 
 says of him: 
 
 "This young officer, animated by a sense 
 of duty, and considering that an oppor- 
 tunity presented itself by which he might 
 be useful to his country, at once offered 
 himself as a volunteer for this hazardous 
 service. He passed in disguise to Long 
 Island, examined every part of the British 
 Army and obtained every possible infor- 
 mation respecting their situation and fu- 
 ture operations. 
 
 "In his attempt to return he was appre- 
 hended, carried before Sir William Howe, 
 and the proof of his object was so clear, 
 that he frankly acknowledged who he was, 
 and what were his views. The following 
 morning he was executed, in a most un- 
 [ 83 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 feeling manner. A clergyman, whose at- 
 tendance he desired, was refused him, and 
 a Bible for a few minutes' devotion was not 
 procured, although he earnestly requested 
 it. The letters which he wrote to his 
 friends on the morning of his execution 
 were destroyed, and this extraordinary 
 reason given by the provost marshal, that 
 the rebels should not know, that they had 
 a man in their army who could die with so 
 much firmness. 
 
 "Unknown to all around him, without a 
 single friend to offer him the last consola- 
 tion, thus fell as amiable, and as worthy a 
 young man as America could boast, with 
 this dying observation, 'that he only la- 
 mented that he had but one life to lose for 
 his country.' " 
 
 Col. Knowlton was killed not long after- 
 wards in the battle of Harlem Heights. 
 
 At the end of the revolution, the victory 
 of the Americans was acknowledged and 
 the foreign troops were withdrawn from 
 our shores, the leaders of our colonies were 
 then face to face with the great problem of 
 the form of government they should adopt. 
 [ 84 ] 
 
OUR COUNTRY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 The intelligent citizens of the different 
 colonies believed it was necessary for 
 them to form a union and to have a na- 
 tional government through which taxes 
 could be levied, not only to pay the revolu- 
 tionary war debts, but to protect them- 
 selves against invasion by foreign powers. 
 
 The leaders of the colonies having first 
 established their separate respective State 
 governments met in convention and at- 
 tempted to form a union by adopting the 
 Articles of Confederation; the people soon 
 found that this did not fulfill its intended 
 objects, and they met again in convention, 
 where it was proposed to establish a new 
 common government which should have 
 certain definite powers, which would affect 
 the property of the people of all of the 
 states and should be founded upon the 
 general model of their State constitutions. 
 
 The second Colonial Congress in Jan- 
 uary, 1787, adopted the following resolu- 
 tion: "That it is expedient that on the 
 second Monday in May, next, a convention 
 of delegates, who shall have been ap- 
 pointed by the several States, be held at 
 [ 85 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 Philadelphia, for the sole and express pur- 
 pose of revising the Articles of Confedera- 
 tion and reporting to congress and the sev- 
 eral legislatures such alterations and pro- 
 visions therein, as shall when agreed to in 
 Congress and confirmed by the States, 
 render the Federal Constitution adequate 
 to the exigencies of government and the 
 preservation of the Union." 
 
 The various States sent their ablest citi- 
 zens as delegates to the convention, among 
 them were Washington, Madison, Frank- 
 lin, Hamilton, Roger Sherman, Oliver 
 Ellsworth, Rutledge, Morris, Livingston, 
 Paterson, Strong, Geary, Martin, Davie 
 and Pinckney, most of whom had gradu- 
 ated from Princeton, Harvard or Yale, had 
 studied law and had served their country 
 in various governmental capacities. They 
 were men who for years had carefully 
 studied governmental questions and when 
 they met in that convention and prepared 
 the Constitution of the United States of 
 America, the greatest document of its kind 
 the world has ever known, it was not the 
 result of accident, but the work of com- 
 bined ability. 
 
 [ 86 ] 
 
OUR COUNTRY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 This constitution upon its completion 
 was submitted as a proposal to the people 
 of the various States and was by them ac- 
 cepted, adopted, ratified and confirmed, 
 and then became the fundamental law of 
 the land. 
 
 Our national government may be 
 likened unto a great corporation with mil- 
 lions of stockholders who elect their Presi- 
 dent and officers who direct the affairs of 
 the company. 
 
 When you arrive at the age of twenty- 
 one years you will possess the right of suf- 
 frage, that is the right to vote. This is a 
 wonderful privilege, it is the right to par- 
 ticipate in the affairs of the government of 
 yourself and of all the millions of persons 
 in our country. It is a right which your 
 forefathers fought and died to obtain, a 
 right which you must learn to appreciate 
 and properly use. 
 
 You are a part of the government of the 
 United States, how large a part depends 
 upon yourself, if you are indifferent to gov- 
 ernmental affairs you will be a very small 
 part, but if you learn thoroughly the prin- 
 [ 87 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 ciples of our government and take an act- 
 ive interest therein you may some day be 
 called by your fellow citizens to render a 
 great service in the administration of gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The principles of government which our 
 forefathers established are not difficult to 
 understand. Prior to the revolution they 
 had lived under the rule of the King of 
 England, they did not approve of a mon- 
 archial form of government. They be- 
 lieved it was not wise to have one man 
 rule over them during his lifetime or to 
 be ruled over by one of his descend- 
 ants after his death for the reason, 
 among others, that in such a form of gov- 
 ernment too great power is placed in 
 one man, and while he might be very 
 efficient, such a ruler is required to decide 
 so many great and important questions, 
 that almost necessarily he becomes very 
 arbitrary. The King has back of him the 
 army, which is at his beck and call, to en- 
 force his orders or whims, and by reason 
 thereof his country may be thrown into 
 unjustifiable wars. 
 
 [88 ] 
 
OUR COUNTRY AND GOVERNMENT 
 
 Our forefathers devised a form of gov- 
 ernment which is strong, and yet safe- 
 guarded from tyranny. They sought a 
 government of law, not of men. 
 
 Let us consider briefly the Constitution 
 they adopted. 
 
 [ 89 ] 
 
WHAT IS A CONSTITUTION? 
 
 It is a written instrument which, pre- 
 scribes the powers and limitations, sepa- 
 rates the functions and defines the author- 
 ity of the government. It cannot be 
 changed except in the manner stated in 
 the constitution itself, it is the source from 
 which is derived the authority to enact, 
 construe, administer and enforce laws. 
 
 In other words, our constitution con- 
 tains the fundamental principles for the 
 government of our people. It divides the 
 services to be rendered into three great 
 branches: (1) the legislative branch which 
 enacts the laws, (2) the executive branch 
 which administers the laws, and (3) the 
 judicial branch which construes and en- 
 forces the laws. 
 
 The first paragraph of our constitution 
 is as follows: 
 
 "We, the people of the United States, in 
 order to form a more perfect union, estab- 
 [ 90 ] 
 
WHAT IS A CONSTITUTION? 
 
 lish justice, insure domestic tranquility, 
 provide for the common defense, promote 
 the general well-fare and secure the bless- 
 ings of liberty to ourselves and our pos- 
 terity, do ordain and establish this con- 
 stitution for the United States of Amer- 
 
 ica." 
 
 During the first seventy-five years of our 
 national existence two constructions were 
 placed upon the words "We, the people 
 of the United States," the States rights 
 men contended that this language meant 
 the people of each State, and that if the 
 people of a State wanted to secede from 
 the Union they had the right to do so; 
 the other contention was that the language 
 meant the people of the United States as 
 distinguished from the people of each sep- 
 arate State; the question was decided sev- 
 eral times by the Federal Courts and final- 
 ly by the war of the Rebellion which held 
 the Union together. 
 
 "To establish justice," means the con- 
 struction and enforcement of laws. 
 
 "To insure domestic tranquility," means 
 a national guarantee of good will of each 
 [ 91 1 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 State toward every other State, and that 
 the Union should secure to all the people 
 in the nation equal rights and liberties. 
 
 "To provide for the common defense," 
 means the power of raising armies and 
 equipping a navy to protect the nation 
 from either foreign or domestic enemies. 
 
 "To promote the general welfare," 
 means not sectional nor State welfare, but 
 the general welfare of the people of the 
 country. 
 
 [ 92 ] 
 
LEGISLATIVE POWER- 
 CONGRESS. 
 
 The Constitution provides that all leg- 
 islative powers shall be vested in a Con- 
 gress of the United States which shall con- 
 sist of a Senate and House of Represen- 
 tatives. The members of the House of 
 Representatives are chosen every second 
 year by the people of the United States, 
 these members choose their Speaker or 
 presiding officer and other officers. 
 
 The Senate of the United States is com- 
 posed of two senators from each state 
 chosen by the people thereof for six years. 
 Each senator has one vote. 
 
 The Vice President of the United States 
 is the President of the Senate. 
 
 Briefly stated the powers of Congress 
 are: 
 
 To lay and collect taxes and duties, to 
 pay the debts and provide for the common 
 defense and general welfare of the United 
 States. 93 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 To borrow money on the credit of the 
 United States. 
 
 To regulate commerce with foreign na- 
 tions and among the several states. 
 
 To establish a uniform rule of natural- 
 ization and uniform laws on the subject 
 of bankruptcies. 
 
 To coin money and regulate its value, 
 and to fix the standard of weights and 
 measures. 
 
 To punish counterfeiting. 
 
 To establish post offices and post roads. 
 
 To issue patents and copyrights. 
 
 To create tribunals inferior to the Su- 
 preme Court. 
 
 To define and punish piracies and fel- 
 onies committed on the high seas. 
 
 To declare war. 
 
 To raise and support armies. 
 
 To provide and maintain a navy. 
 
 To make rules for the government and 
 regulation of the land and naval forces. 
 
 To provide for the calling forth of the 
 militia to execute the laws of the Union, 
 suppress insurrection and repel invasions. 
 
 To provide for arming the militia, etc. 
 [ 94 ] 
 
LEGISLATIVE POWER CONGRESS 
 
 To exercise exclusive legislation over 
 the seat of the government of the United 
 States (now the District of Columbia), 
 also over the forts and other needful 
 buildings. 
 
 To make laws necessary and proper for 
 carrying into execution the foregoing 
 powers and all other powers vested by the 
 constitution in the government of the 
 United States. 
 
 Congress also has control over emigra- 
 tion. 
 
 The Vice President of the United States 
 and the Speaker of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives each recive an annual salary of 
 $12,000 and the Senators and Representa- 
 tives in Congress are paid at the rate of 
 $7,500 per annum each. 
 
THE EXECUTIVE POWER- 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 The executive power is vested in the 
 President of the United States, who with 
 the Vice President is chosen by the people 
 for four years. The President is com- 
 mander in chief of the army and navy of 
 the United States. He has the power by 
 and with the advice and consent of the sen- 
 ate to make treaties, to nominate and ap- 
 point ambassadors, and other public min- 
 isters, judges of the Supreme and Federal 
 Courts, and various other officers; also to 
 grant pardons and to perform the many 
 other duties of the chief executive of a re- 
 public. The executive power is large be- 
 cause it is not defined by the constitution. 
 
 The constitution provides "The Presi- 
 dent may require the opinion, in writing, 
 of the principal officer in each of the ex- 
 ecutive departments upon any subject re- 
 lating to the duties of their respective of- 
 fices." 96 
 
EXECUTIVE POWER PRES. 
 
 The term "principal officer" means the 
 head of the department. 
 
 The constitution does not provide for a 
 President's Cabinet, but nevertheless the 
 President now appoints the members of 
 his cabinet who are the heads of the ex- 
 ecutive departments as follows: 
 
 Secretary of State, 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury, 
 
 Secretary of War, 
 
 Secretary of the Navy, 
 
 Secretary of the Interior, 
 
 Postmaster General, 
 
 Attorney General, 
 
 Secretary of Agriculture, 
 
 Secretary of Commerce, 
 
 Secretary of Labor. 
 
 While the men appointed by the Presi- 
 dent to fill these great positions have many 
 important duties to perform as heads of 
 their department of the government, and 
 generally meet with the President at cab- 
 inet meetings held each week, where many 
 important questions of State are consid- 
 ered and freely discussed, nevertheless the 
 executive power of the President is so 
 [ 97 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 great that he is not required to consult his 
 principal executive officers in matters per- 
 taining to national affairs, but he may act 
 independently of them, as Lincoln did 
 when he decided on his emancipation proc- 
 lamation. 
 
 The President of the United States re- 
 ceives a salary of $75,000.00 a year, and the 
 use of the White House. His salary is 
 large, but is small compared to the 
 annual receipts of European sovereigns: 
 the Czar of Russia receives more than $8,- 
 000,000 a year, the German Kaiser $5,000,- 
 000 a year, the King of England $2,350,- 
 000 a year, the King of Italy $3,000,000 a 
 year, Turkey pays $4,500,000 a year, Spain 
 pays her King $1,400,000 a year, and even 
 little Belgium paid her King $710,000 a 
 year. 
 
 The Secretary of State of the United 
 States receives a salary of $12,000.00 a 
 year, this salary is also paid to the heads 
 of the executive departments of our gov- 
 ernment who are members of the Presi- 
 dent's cabinet. 
 
 In our diplomatic service, our ambas- 
 [ 98 ] 
 
EXECUTIVE POWER PRES. 
 
 sadors to Great Britain, Germany, France, 
 Italy, Austria-Hungary, Japan, Mexico, 
 Argentine Republic, Brazil, Chile, Russia, 
 Spain, and Turkey, each receive salaries of 
 $17,500 a year. Our representatives in 
 other countries receive smaller salaries. 
 
JUDICIARY. 
 
 The judiciary power is vested in one 
 Supreme Court and in such inferior courts 
 as Congress may from time to time create ; 
 the Judges hold their offices during good 
 behavior, and have jurisdiction over all 
 cases arising under the constitution and 
 laws of the United States, and all cases af- 
 fecting ambassadors and other public min- 
 isters, admiralty cases, controversies in 
 which the United States is a party, con- 
 troversies between two or more States, be- 
 tween a State and citizens of another 
 State, and betwen citizens of different 
 States, etc. 
 
 There are nine judges of the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, one of whom 
 is Chief Justice. These Judges each re- 
 ceive an annual salary of $14,500.00, except 
 the Chief Justice who receives $15,000.00. 
 
 There are nine Circuit Courts of Appeal, 
 each of which is composed of three United 
 [ 100 ] 
 
JUDICIARY" 
 
 States Circuit Judges. Each State in the 
 Union is included in one of these circuits 
 which are apportioned according to popu- 
 lation and geographical location. The 
 Circuit Court judges each receive a salary 
 of $7,000 a year. 
 
 There are about one hundred District 
 Court Judges of the United States. The 
 Districts are apportioned throughout the 
 United States according to population and 
 geographical location and convenience. 
 Each District Court Judge is paid $6,000 
 a year. 
 
 The Federal judges who have served ten 
 years may retire at the age of 70 years on 
 full pay during the remainder of their nat- 
 ural life. 
 
 All of the federal court judges are re- 
 quired to perform very important services, 
 and our government ought to pay them 
 larger salaries. The Judges of the Su- 
 preme Court of New York are paid $17,500 
 each per annum. 
 
 [ 101 ] 
 
OTHER PROVISIONS. 
 
 The constitution provides also that full 
 faith and credit shall be given to the public 
 acts, records and judicial proceedings of 
 every other State, and that Congress shall 
 enact the necessary laws pertaining there- 
 to; also that Congress shall have jurisdic- 
 tion over the territory and other property 
 of the United States and the admission of 
 new States into the Union. 
 
 Since the adoption of the constitution 
 there have been seventeen amendments to 
 the constitution, one of which abolished 
 slavery in the United States, another 
 amendment permits a federal income tax, 
 and another amendment provides for the 
 election of senators by the direct vote of 
 the people instead of by the various State 
 legislatures. 
 
 Our Supreme Court in speaking of the 
 powers of the National Government has 
 said, "The entire strength of the nation 
 [ 102 ] 
 
OTHER PROVISIONS 
 
 may be used to enforce in any part of the 
 land the full and free exercise of all nation- 
 al powers and the security of all rights en- 
 trusted by the constitution to its care. The 
 strong arm of the national government 
 may be put forth to brush away all ob- 
 struction. If the emergency arises the 
 army of the nation and all its militia are 
 at the service of the nation to compel obe- 
 dience to its laws." 
 
 Under the dual system which prevails 
 with us the powers of government are dis- 
 tributed between the Nation and the 
 States. One of the amendments to the con- 
 stitution provides that the powers not 
 given to the United States by the consti- 
 tution, nor prohibited by it to the States, 
 are reserved to the States respectively, or 
 to the people. 
 
 We have briefly considered some of the 
 principal powers of our National Govern- 
 ment, let us now consider some of the 
 powers of our State Governments. 
 
 [ 103 ] 
 
STATE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 A constitution of a state generally de- 
 fines the boundaries of the State, sets forth 
 a bill of rights, divides the powers of the 
 government into three departments: (1) 
 the Legislative Department, which con- 
 sists of a house of representatives and sen- 
 ate where the laws are enacted; (2) the 
 Executive Department, which consists of 
 the governor, secretary of state, auditor, 
 treasurer, superintendent of public instruc- 
 tion, etc., and attorney general, who must 
 take care that the laws of the State are 
 faithfully executed; and (3) the Judicial 
 Department, which consists of the various 
 courts and judges who construe the laws 
 and decide the litigations. The State Con- 
 stitution also contains general provisions 
 regarding counties and cities, suffrage, 
 education, revenue, militia, corporations, 
 banks, railroads, statutes, etc. 
 We further find that each state is divided 
 [ 104 ] 
 
STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 into Counties, and each county has its of- 
 ficers who are elected by the voters of the 
 county to supervise the county roads, 
 buildings, etc., and the financial affairs of 
 the county. 
 
 Then we have the last division of gov- 
 ernmental powers, that is, the government 
 of Cities, Villages and Townships. Each 
 City has its Mayor and Board of Alder- 
 men, Treasurer, etc., who are elected to of- 
 fice by the persons having the right to vote 
 for such officers. 
 
 The Governor of Illinois receives a sal- 
 ary of $12,000 a year, the treasurer of the 
 State is paid $10,000 a year, and the same 
 sum is paid to the attorney general of the 
 State. The Judges of the supreme court 
 of the State are each paid $10,000 a year. 
 
 The salary of the judges of the circuit 
 and superior courts of Cook County is $12,- 
 000 a year each. The Mayor of Chicago 
 is paid $18,000 a year, and the judges of 
 the Municipal Court receive $6,000 yearly 
 salary. 
 
 The expenses of the National Govern- 
 ment of the United States amount to over 
 [ 105 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 $1,000,000,000 a year; the expenses of the 
 governments of our forty-eight different 
 states amounts to many hundred millions 
 of dollars each year; the government ex- 
 penses of Cook County amounts to $25,- 
 000,000 a year and of Chicago to $25,000,- 
 000 a year. I mention these facts and fig- 
 ures to show you what an important busi- 
 ness that of government is, in the hope 
 that you may be encouraged to take an 
 active part therein. 
 
 It requires considerable time and study 
 to become familiar with the governmental 
 affairs of the City, County, State and Na- 
 tion in which we live, but all citizens 
 should devote sufficient of their time and 
 thought to these matters, so that they will 
 be able to perform their political duties in- 
 telligently, for if a sufficient number of 
 our citizens fail in this respect, our form 
 of government will become a. failure and 
 anarchy or despotism will prevail. 
 
 New problems arise, and will ever con- 
 tinue to arise, for each generation to solve, 
 and if you would know how to solve the 
 new problems, which some one in your 
 [ 106 ] 
 
STATE GOVERNMENT 
 
 day and generation must solve, you must 
 first learn how the old problems were 
 solved by former generations, for many of 
 the apparently new problems are but the 
 old problems in different forms. If you 
 fit yourself to properly solve these prob- 
 lems, you will be a leader in the progress 
 of the world. 
 
 [ 107 ] 
 
MEXICO. 
 
 Since the adoption of our Constitution 
 in 1789 the growth of our country both in 
 population and territory has been mar- 
 velous. At that time the territory of the 
 United States was bounded on the west 
 by the Mississippi River, and the popula- 
 tion was less than four million people. The 
 form of government which our people had 
 adopted was an experiment, it was believed 
 by many people that such a government 
 would not long continue, but it was soon 
 proven to be a successful form of govern- 
 ment and one which could expand to meet 
 the requirements of a growing and power- 
 ful nation. 
 
 In 1803 we about doubled the size of our 
 territory by making the Louisiana Pur- 
 chase. We paid France $15,000,000 for 
 ceding to the United States the territory 
 which now contains Louisiana, Arkansas, 
 Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North and 
 [ 108 ] 
 
MEXICO 
 
 South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska and 
 Oklahoma and part of Montana, Wyoming 
 and Colorado and some say Washington 
 and Oregon. 
 
 Then in 1819 we paid Spain $5,000,000 
 for Florida and added a territory one 
 thousand miles long to the United States. 
 
 Our form of government continued to 
 be successful and strong and sturdy and 
 seventeen years later (in 1836) Texas se- 
 ceded from Mexico and not long after- 
 wards sought to be annexed to the United 
 States which was accomplished in 1845. 
 Disputes then arose between Mexico and 
 the United States and war was declared 
 and at the close of that war Mexico ceded 
 to the United States for $18,250,000 the 
 territory now known as California, Ari- 
 zona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and 
 parts of Colorado and Wyoming. 
 
 A little more than twenty years later (in 
 1867) we purchased Alaska, having 530,- 
 000 square miles, from Russia for $7,200,- 
 000, and since them we have taken an ac- 
 tive part in the governmental affairs of the 
 Hawaiian Islands, Porto Rico, the Philip- 
 [ 109 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 pines, Cuba and the Panama Canal Zone. 
 
 Thousands of people living in beautiful, 
 rich in soil and minerals but crushed 
 with revolutions Mexico, the territory 
 which joins us at the Southwest, are hop- 
 ing and praying that our form of govern- 
 ment may some day be extended to cover 
 that territory. Will history repeat itself 
 and will part of Mexico secede as did 
 Texas in 1836 and later become a part of 
 the United States? 
 
 Our Constitutional Government "of the 
 people, for the people and by the people" 
 is successful and strong and satisfies the 
 governmental requirements of more than 
 a hundred million people. Is it not a part 
 of our destiny, is it not our duty to lend a 
 helping hand to the people of stricken 
 Mexico? It is said that a large part of the 
 fourteen million Mexicans are ignorant 
 and illiterate and have many barbarous 
 customs, and if that is true (and I believe 
 it is true from my own observations in 
 traveling through Mexico) are they capa- 
 ble of self government without help? 
 
 It is related that a baby was taken from 
 [ no ] 
 
MEXICO 
 
 barbarous parents and reared and edu- 
 cated by a civilized family, and by the time 
 she was twenty years old she was as capa- 
 ble and refined as the children of civilized 
 parentage with whom she had been reared. 
 
 Here is another illustration nearer 
 home. Dr. Montezuma is a practicing phy- 
 sician in Chicago. He was born an Apache 
 Indian, of a tribe which wandered near 
 the border line of Mexico and when he 
 was about four years old he was captured 
 by a hostile tribe and sold to a Chicago 
 man for $30. He was brought to Chicago 
 educated in the public schools, the Uni- 
 versity of Illinois and after that in the 
 medical department of Northwestern Uni- 
 versity. He recently made a speech be- 
 fore the Chicago Association of Commerce 
 and I quote the following therefrom: 
 
 "When we consider therefore that all 
 persons, Indians not excepted, come into 
 the world a mental blank and attain to 
 whatever intellectual growth they may 
 reach only as the result of surroundings 
 and influences upon the faculties with 
 which they are endowed, it is easy to 
 [ Hi ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 understand that the Indian's mental cal- 
 ibre was in inverse proportion to his phy- 
 sical development, that though he was an 
 adult in appearance, he was mentally a 
 child. In civilized life it is the rare excep- 
 tion to see such a disproportion between 
 the physical and mental development of an 
 individual as to excite surprise. 
 
 "In Arizona, the month of October, the 
 weather is beautiful and in my Apache pa- 
 poosehood I thought that life w.ould con- 
 tinue in that same way. I was satisfied to 
 sleep on the ground, run around the rocks, 
 hide under the bushes, roll on the grass 
 and bask in the sun with my playmates and 
 follow my mother. Not unlike children 
 of other races, I did not entertain the 
 thought that there were any other races of 
 people and no language but what we 
 spoke. Neither my grandfather, father or 
 mother, nor any one in our camp had ever 
 met a pale face, so you see I was born and 
 lived in the most primitive surroundings 
 in the history of America. The every day 
 common articles of civilization were un- 
 known to the Apaches surely, I have 
 [ 112 ] 
 
MEXICO 
 
 lived another life. From the picturesque 
 Iron peak, one of the highest in the Super- 
 stition range of mountains, I could see 
 miles and miles of unknown shadows of 
 far-away objects which often attracted my 
 attention and excited my curiosity to know 
 what it all meant. 
 
 "Horrors! I remember, I remember 
 the last day and the last place I was with 
 my people. I was only four years old 
 when, from this peak one midnight, I was 
 captured with a dozen or more of my play- 
 mates by the Pima Indians and hurried 
 away. About thirty women were killed. 
 All the fighting men of our camp were 
 away that memorable night. The next 
 morning, from a death dream, I awoke; I 
 was on level prairies surrounded by hor- 
 rible animals, which I afterwards learned 
 were horses, and, oh, these horrid human 
 beings, my tribal enemies. What could I 
 do? Nothing. In my inward agony I 
 called 'Mother.' She heard it not, but as 
 I grew into manhood I learned that she 
 sacrificed her life for me. She was found 
 by Apache scouts, dead with a bullet 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 wound in her body, on the trail that led 
 from San Carlos reservation to Camp Date 
 Creek. I wanted to go back to my people. 
 Not so. My people have been without me 
 for these many years God bless them. 
 
 "After two days' travel in a southwest- 
 erly course along the foothills, over mesas 
 and through cactus fields of Salt River 
 Valley, we arrived at Chief Blackwater's 
 camp in what is known now as the Pima 
 Village, where I was kept as a little pris- 
 oner for several days when again I was 
 tied behind a rider and off they galloped 
 with me to see if they could get rid of the 
 boy creature which they thought was as 
 poisonous and fatal as a young rattle- 
 snake. 
 
 "Towards evening three Pimas sold me 
 at Adamsville for thirty dollars to a Mr. 
 Gentile, who was one of the founders of 
 the Chicago Press Club and the Art In- 
 stitute. Mr. Gentile was out there in that 
 wild country prospecting, taking land- 
 scape pictures and collecting curiosities. 
 
 "Alone ! Worse than these creatures, I 
 was left with the strange half -pale human 
 
MEXICO 
 
 beings. Their faces were all covered over 
 with hair; they had chalk-like or ghost-like 
 skins. They had legs and arms like mine. 
 But, oh, what were they? After gazing 
 steadily all around, my little frightened 
 mind was more convinced. I decided I 
 was in another world, a fairyland, a won- 
 derlandoh my, everything was so won- 
 derful! Surely these 'cha wahs' (Apache 
 word for 'enemies') are gods? Within the 
 four walls of an adobe house for the first 
 time, I looked all around with amazement. 
 I said to myself: 'No one but supernatural 
 beings could have these wonderful things.' 
 "Adamsville was supplied with water 
 by one well, which was located centrally 
 and on the main street. Early the next 
 morning, before the general rush to the 
 well, Mr. Gentile, by force, led me to the 
 suspicious looking framework, accom- 
 panied by his three assistants; one carried 
 a tub, another a towel and a strange sub- 
 stance they called 'soap,' while the third 
 carried clothes. I had a foreboding feel- 
 ing that something was going to happen. 
 My eyes were open and I was not unmind- 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 ful of my dangerous situation. My little 
 mind had already decided that these 
 strange people were gods and that they 
 would say to me 'Die' and I would die, or 
 'You turn into this or that kind of an an- 
 imal' and I would be that animal. Nothing 
 was impossible for them to transform me 
 into. All they had to do was to say it and 
 it was done. 
 
 "There unclad, bewildered, I stood trem- 
 bling and ready to cry out for mercy, in 
 front of that thing which they caused to 
 whirl rapidly around until I heard some- 
 thing splash, and then one of them turned 
 and turned something, and then up came 
 a pailful of something which he poured 
 into the tub, and then I was placed in it. 
 'Oh, my ! Is this death, or is it the begin- 
 ning of a torture?' I had seen water on 
 the earth's surface and to fall from the 
 clouds in the sky, but what is this? You 
 can imagine my feelings. I stood there 
 without a whimper as they bathed me. I 
 thought every movement up and down my 
 body had a mystical meaning, but, quick as 
 a flash, I made up my mind that this was 
 [ 116 ] 
 
MEXICO 
 
 a magic fluid by which I was to be changed 
 from what I was to a pale face creature 
 like themselves. Several times during the 
 process I looked at myself carefully to see 
 whether I was bleached or was completely 
 like them. I did not like the idea of being 
 different from what I was, and if I were to 
 and must change I wanted to keep the hold 
 as long as possible. I wanted to know and 
 feel that exact sensation that would come 
 just at the moment I passed the dividing 
 line where I must say 'good bye' to my 
 Indian body. 
 
 "This was my first initiation into civi- 
 lization. That transformation, that 'In- 
 dian of tomorrow' did not come as soon as 
 I had expected in a twinkling of an eye, 
 nor in a moment. It took many, many 
 years of hard knocks, with helping hands 
 of many good friends in the midst of civ- 
 ilized surroundings. 
 
 "Wherever the Indian is so situated that 
 he is not compelled to exert himself for 
 sustenance, he is being injured both in 
 body and in morals. Every day that the 
 Indian or any other creature is kept under 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 guardianship is a day lost to him that 
 should have been put to individual effort. 
 The sooner he has to meet the storm and 
 tempest of life's battle, the sooner will he 
 develop the power to resist its forces and 
 to keep his equilibrium. 
 
 "The Indian, individually, is entitled to 
 the privilege of urging his contest for ex- 
 istence in civilization just as much as 
 other men are. He also owes it, as a duty 
 to the country, as well as to himself, to get 
 out and get to work and to begin to grow 
 like other men. The question is not what 
 he can be taught to do, and what he can 
 accomplish under certain conditions, but, 
 rather is he out among men? Is he exist- 
 ing under natural conditions among civ- 
 ilized men and slipping and climbing and 
 getting on, surely even though slowly? 
 This is the question and the answer should 
 be he is. There is no reason why he should 
 be housed and nursed on reservations. 
 
 "The Indians must become their own 
 emancipators. There is none to carry the 
 burden for them. The General Pratts are 
 too scarce to bring sufficient force to the 
 
MEXICO 
 
 work. The fundamental principle em- 
 braced in the theory for many years so 
 earnestly advocated by General Pratt, the 
 founder of the renowned United States 
 Indian Industrial school at Carlisle, Pa., is 
 that IN A CHANGE OF ENVIRON- 
 MENT we have the key to the solution of 
 the Indian problem. It is strange to be- 
 hold how persistent the nation has closed 
 its eyes to this fact. Everywhere is the 
 truth proclaimed that would you rise, 
 would you grow, would you advance, 
 would you realize the possibilities within 
 your grasp, then out with you, Mongolian, 
 out with you African, out with you Cau- 
 cassian; out with you Indian into the great 
 world, where everybody meets everybody, 
 from every nation and country. For all 
 the earth, land and sea, is man's habita- 
 tion. 
 
 "He alone is a true friend of the Indian 
 who has come to realize that the reserva- 
 tion or any substitute therefor, is a sad and 
 dreary environment with which to sur- 
 round a human being, and while within its 
 bounds no man can hope that the glorious 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 possibilities which are the heritage of free- 
 dom can be realized by him. 
 
 "In spite of all these things and sur- 
 rounded as he has been by all manner of 
 hindrances and misfortune, the 'Indian of 
 tomorrow' is living here and there, a few 
 at least, in almost every northern and 
 western state and territory, having risen 
 above the circumstances, which handi- 
 capped his people until he is one in civil- 
 ization, in business and public affairs with 
 his pale face brother. The 'Indian of to- 
 morrow' by virtue of his struggles today 
 will not be treading a pathway beset with 
 the same kind of pitfalls as in the past. 
 He will be marching and keeping step 
 with all others of the world's vast army of 
 workers, where neither he nor they will 
 think of wars and strife, hatred and re- 
 venge. The 'Indian of tomorrow' will be, 
 not an unfortunate savage, clothed in the 
 accoutrements of his former benighted 
 condition, but the Indian redeemed, trans- 
 formed and raised to the plane of man- 
 hood, which he long since would have oc- 
 cupied had the man of him been discov- 
 [ 120 ] 
 
MEXICO 
 
 ered and by intelligent treatment been 
 developed. 
 
 "The Indian, as he is known in story 
 and song, as he has been pictured in fire- 
 side tales and in one-sided history, will not 
 be recognized in the 'Indian of tomorrow.' 
 Those who know the Indian's character 
 feel justified in saying that the Indian him- 
 self does not desire to perpetuate the recol- 
 lections of, nor rehearse the scenes and in- 
 cidents of his former life, being content to 
 take on the new life, free and unburdened 
 of everything connected with his unprofit- 
 able past. 
 
 "The 'Indian of tomorrow,' will, how- 
 ever, be in some respect, at least, the 'In- 
 dian of today,' in that he will be highly en- 
 dowed with a sense of what is just between 
 man and man, will have a keen sense of 
 appreciation of kindness extended to him, 
 and for many generations yet to come he 
 will continue to be unemotional. His 
 hopes lie in the possibility of becoming a 
 full man and not that he may be made 
 simply 'a better Indian.' " 
 
 This was a wonderful speech for a per- 
 [ 121 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 son born an Apache Indian to make and 
 is rarely excelled by those born of civilized 
 parents. 
 
 There are several millions of such in- 
 dividuals in Mexico who are ready to 
 emerge from an aboriginal condition of 
 life into civilization, but without help it 
 will take them many generations to make 
 the change, and the question is Will the 
 people of the United States give the inhab- 
 itants of Mexico the help they need? 
 
 Mexico in theory is our sister Republic, 
 in fact, however, she has for centuries been 
 torn with revolutions, except during pe- 
 riods when her people have been ruled by 
 a dictator. The mineral and timber re- 
 sources of Mexico are very extensive. The 
 soil in many localities is very fertile. The 
 City of Mexico is nearly eight thousand 
 feet above the level of the sea, and the 
 climate there and in many parts of Mex- 
 ico is most delightful and agreeable. Civ- 
 ilization which is progress of the indi- 
 vidual and of society to a higher and bet- 
 ter condition of order, justice, right and 
 reason is extended in a community like 
 [ 122 ] 
 
MEXICO 
 
 Mexico, as well as elsewhere, by the es- 
 tablishment of schools and churches even 
 more than by trade and commerce. 
 
 Unless order and justice prevail in a 
 country, trade and commerce and life it- 
 self are insecure and we of the United 
 States ought to find, if possible, some plan, 
 which will help to bring better order and 
 justice among the people of Mexico. 
 
 [ 123 ] 
 
LAW AND POLITICS. 
 
 It requires a great deal of study to 
 understand the laws, and the making of 
 the laws under which we live, and every 
 person who has the right to vote and par- 
 ticipate in our free form of government 
 owes it to himself and to his country to 
 devote sufficient time to the study of 
 political problems to enable him to vote 
 intelligently. 
 
 Law is a rule for human conduct within 
 a community which by common consent 
 of this community may be enforced by all 
 of the power of the government which 
 has made it; the government may call out 
 the army and navy, if necessary, to com- 
 pel obedience to its laws. 
 
 Politics is the art of government, and 
 rests on the knowledge of human nature. 
 Wherever persons associate together they 
 must have rules of conduct, for each per- 
 son must respect the rights of others, this 
 [ 124 ] 
 
LAW AND POLITICS 
 
 is called justice, every violation of a right 
 is called injustice. 
 
 We do not live alone in a solitary place, 
 we are constantly associating with other 
 persons, which is called society, which is 
 of course indispensable for the preserva- 
 tion of the human family and moral de- 
 velopment. In this society, every person 
 is entitled to liberty, which does not mean 
 that he may do whatever he will, but that 
 he may do whatever he has the right to 
 do; then there must be equality in the 
 rights of persons, and punishment for 
 those who violate these rights. 
 
 Therefore in order that we may know 
 what are our rights we must have a gov- 
 ernment which will define these rights, 
 and protect life, liberty, property and the 
 pursuit of happiness, and in theory at 
 least, government is justice armed with 
 force. 
 
 There are of course different forms of 
 government, but ours is a Representative 
 government, in which each citizen has 
 the right to help make the laws under 
 which he lives, through his or her vote for 
 [ 125 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 the person who shall be elected to repre- 
 sent him or her in governmental affairs. 
 
 The majority of the people of our coun- 
 try make the laws themselves through 
 their representatives; if an old law is un- 
 satisfactory, they may repeal it, and if 
 they believe a new law is required, they 
 may make or enact a new one. I am now 
 referring to statutory law, which is writ- 
 ten law, the common law is the unwritten 
 law. 
 
 We have a dual form of government, 
 National and State; the United States 
 has its own statutory laws which are called 
 National or Federal Laws, and each State 
 in the Union has its own separate statu- 
 tory laws, which are called State Laws. 
 
 Let us first consider a few of the Na- 
 tional Laws which pertain to the govern- 
 ment of the United States. 
 
 Every government must collect the 
 money it needs for the payment of its ex- 
 penses; this is obtained by direct or indi- 
 rect taxation, and the laws which provide 
 for the payment of taxes are called 
 
 [ 126 ] 
 
REVENUE LAWS. 
 
 If, for example, you pay a small part of 
 your income each year for the support of 
 the government, such a tax is called a di- 
 rect tax. 
 
 If a person brings foreign made goods 
 into our country to sell, our government 
 can require him to pay a tax on these 
 goods, this is called an indirect tax, be- 
 cause the foreign manufacturer is not by 
 any law required to bring his goods here 
 for sale, but if he does, he adds the amount 
 of the tax to his price and therefore the 
 purchaser or consumer indirectly pays the 
 tax. 
 
 The money used for the payment of the 
 expenses of the government of the United 
 States is derived principally from duties 
 (or taxes) upon imported goods, wares 
 and merchandise. 
 
 [ 127 ] 
 
TARIFF. 
 
 The word "tariff" is generally applied 
 to the custom duties levied by Congress 
 on merchandise imported into our coun- 
 try. This form of taxation was used by 
 the Romans and Greeks two thousand 
 years ago and has been in use by different 
 countries since that time. 
 
 One of the first laws which the Con- 
 gress of the United States passed in 1789 
 was a Tariff law, first to provide revenue 
 for the government, and second for "the 
 encouragement and protection of manu- 
 facturers," of the United States; this law 
 was signed by George Washington. At 
 that time very few articles were manufac- 
 tured in our country, nearly all of our cit- 
 izens were engaged in agricultural and 
 shipping pursuits, and most of the mer- 
 chandise which they used was manufac- 
 tured in Europe and shipped to America. 
 The Fathers of our country, among them 
 [ 128 ] 
 
TARIFF 
 
 Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton gave 
 this matter very great thought, they knew 
 that if we continued not to manufacture 
 goods in our country we would be com- 
 pelled to buy our supplies from European 
 manufacturers, and possibly to pay them 
 exhorbitant prices, and that there might 
 be times, such as during war, when we 
 could not get the goods we needed for our 
 comfort at any price, and therefore they 
 believed it would be wise to pass a law 
 which would induce our citizens to build 
 factories and make the various articles we 
 needed here; this would also give many 
 of our citizens employment, and would 
 keep a very large amount of our money in 
 circulation among the people of our coun- 
 try instead of sending it abroad to pay for 
 foreign made goods; and by making a very 
 careful adjustment of the tariff we would 
 protect our manufacturers and at the same 
 time collect enough duties from the for- 
 eign manufacturers to pay a large part of 
 the expenses of our government. 
 
 Thus you see the "tariff" question was 
 an important question in our very first 
 [ 129 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 Congress, and it has been one of the most 
 important questions in nearly every con- 
 gress since that time, and it is now, the 
 important question upon which our two 
 great Republican and Democratic parties 
 are divided. 
 
 Many of the persons who belong to the 
 Democratic party believe that our govern- 
 ment ought not to have a law which re- 
 quires a duty or tax to be paid on goods 
 manufactured in foreign countries and im- 
 ported here for sale; they believe in free 
 trade, that is, the right to buy wherever 
 you can buy the cheapest, and the right 
 to bring foreign made goods into the coun- 
 try without the payment of any duty or 
 tax; that the government ought to find 
 some other way to collect the money it 
 requires to pay its expenses, because, they 
 say, a tariff law protects and makes rich 
 a few manufacturers at the expense of the 
 many; some of the democrats, however, 
 believe in a tariff law for revenue only and 
 not for protection. 
 
 The Republican party stands for a pro- 
 tective tariff. The members of this party 
 [ 130 ] 
 
TARIFF 
 
 believe that it is for the best interests of 
 all the people of this country to have tariff 
 laws which protect home industries 
 against the competition of foreign indus- 
 tries; that such laws encourage the build- 
 ing of factories and give employment to 
 vast numbers of persons who otherwise 
 would not be employed, and that such laws 
 enable the manufacturers to pay their em- 
 ployees higher wages than are paid in 
 foreign countries, and that it is better to 
 buy goods made in our country than to 
 send our money to foreign countries to pay 
 for goods made there, because by keeping 
 the money in circulation here we then have 
 more money in our country, and every- 
 one has a better chance to get some of it 
 for his own use. 
 
 By reason of these differing views of 
 the voters of our country the tariff laws 
 have been changed many times. When- 
 ever the party which stands at the elec- 
 tion for a protective tariff succeeds, we 
 have a high tariff, and when the opposi- 
 tion party comes into power, the law is 
 [ 131 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 changed and the tariff is taken off entirely, 
 or at least reduced. 
 
 Henry Clay made one of his great 
 speeches in the United States Senate in 
 the year 1832 on the subject of the Tariff, 
 in which he described first the business 
 conditions which prevailed in the country 
 for a period of seven years under a low 
 tariff, and then the conditions which pre- 
 vailed for a like period under a protective 
 tariff. This speech is so interesting and 
 instructive that I quote from it the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 "Eight years ago it was my painful duty 
 to present to the House of Congress an 
 unexaggerated picture of the general dis- 
 tress pervading the whole land. We must 
 all yet remember some of its frightful fea- 
 tures. We all know that the people were 
 then oppressed and borne down by an 
 enormous load of debt; that the value of 
 property was at the lowest point of de- 
 pression; that ruinous sales and sacrifices 
 were everywhere made of real estate ; that 
 stop laws and relief laws and paper money 
 were adopted to save the people from im- 
 [ 132 ] 
 
TARIFF 
 
 pending destruction; that a deficit in the 
 public revenue existed, which compelled 
 the government to seize upon, and divert 
 from its legitimate object, the appropria- 
 tion to the sinking fund, to redeem the na- 
 tional debt; and that our commerce and 
 navigation were threatened with complete 
 paralysis. In short, sir, if I were to select 
 any term of seven years since the adoption 
 of the present constitution, which exhib- 
 ited a scene of the most wide-spread dis- 
 may and desolation, it would be exactly 
 that term of seven years which immedi- 
 ately preceded the establishment of the 
 tariff of 1824. 
 
 "I have now to perform the more pleas- 
 ing task of exhibiting an imperfect sketch 
 of the existing state of the unparalleled 
 prosperity of the country. . On a general 
 survey, we behold cultivation extended, 
 the fine arts flourishing, the face of the 
 country improved, our people fully and 
 profitably employed, and the public coun- 
 tenance exhibiting tranquility, content- 
 ment, and happiness. And, if we descend 
 into particulars, we have the agreeable 
 [ 133 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 contemplation of a people out of debt; 
 land rising slowly in value, but in a secure 
 and salutary degree; a ready though not 
 extravagant market for all the surplus 
 productions of our industry; innumerable 
 flocks and herds browsing and gamboling 
 on ten thousand hills and plains, covered 
 with rich and verdant grasses; our cities 
 expanded, and whole villages springing 
 up, as it were, by enchantment; our ex- 
 ports and imports increased and increas- 
 ing; our tonnage, foreign and coastwise, 
 swelling and fully occupied; the rivers of 
 our interior animated by the perpetual 
 thunder and lightning of countless steam- 
 boats; the currency sound and abundant; 
 the public debt of two wars nearly re- 
 deemed; and to crown all, the public treas- 
 ury overflowing, embarrassing Congress, 
 not to find subjects of taxation, but to se- 
 lect the objects which shall be liberated 
 from the impost. If the term of seven 
 years were to be selected of the greatest 
 prosperity which this people have enjoyed 
 since the establishment of their present 
 Constitution, it would be exactly that pe- 
 [ 134 ] 
 
TARIFF 
 
 riod of seven years which immediately fol- 
 lowed the passage of the tariff of 1824. 
 
 "This transformation of the conditions 
 of the country from gloom and distress to 
 brightness and prosperity has been mainly 
 the work of American legislation, foster- 
 ing American industry, instead of allow- 
 ing it to be controlled by foreign legisla- 
 tion, cherishing foreign industry. . . . 
 
 "Thus, sir, has this great system of pro- 
 tection been gradually built stone upon 
 stone, and step by step from the fourth of 
 July, 1789, down to the present period. In 
 every stage of its progress it has received 
 the deliberate sanction of Congress. A 
 vast majority of the people of the United 
 States has approved, and continues to ap- 
 prove it. Every Chief Magistrate of the 
 United States, from Washington to the 
 present, in some form or other, has given 
 to it the authority of his name. 
 
 "The people of the United States have 
 justly supposed that the policy of protect- 
 ing their industry against foreign legisla- 
 tion and foreign industry was fully set- 
 tled, not by a single act, but by repeated 
 [ 135 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 and deliberate acts of government per- 
 formed at distant and frequent intervals. 
 In full confidence that the policy was 
 firmly and unchangeably fixed thousands 
 upon thousands have invested their cap- 
 ital, purchased a vast amount of real and 
 other estate, made permanent establish- 
 ments, and accommodated their industry." 
 
 In 1846 Congress again changed the 
 tariff laws, and during the debate in the 
 Senate, Daniel Webster said in the course 
 of his speech: 
 
 "This, is therefore a country of labor. 
 I do not mean manual labor entirely. 
 There is a great deal of that; but I mean 
 some sort of employment that requires 
 personal attention, either of oversight or 
 manual performance; some form of active 
 business. That is the character of our 
 people, and that is the condition of our 
 people. Our destiny is labor. Now, what 
 is the first great cause of prosperity with 
 such a people? Simply employment. Why 
 we have cheap food and cheap clothing, 
 and there is no sort of doubt that these 
 things are very desirable to all persons of 
 [ 136 ] 
 
TARIFF 
 
 moderate circumstances and laborers. But 
 they are not the first requisites. The first 
 requisite is that which enables men to buy 
 food and clothing, cheap or dear. ... In 
 Europe the question is, how men can live? 
 With us the question is, how well they can 
 live? Can they live on wholesome food, in 
 commodious and comfortable dwellings? 
 Can they be well clothed, and be able to 
 educate their children? 
 
 "The interest of every laboring com- 
 munity requires diversity of occupations, 
 pursuits and objects of industry. The 
 more that diversity is multiplied or ex- 
 tended, the better. To diversify employ- 
 ment is to increase employment, and to 
 enhance wages. And, sir, take this great 
 truth; place it on the title page of every 
 book of political economy intended for the 
 use of the United States; put it in every 
 Farmer's Almanac; let it be the heading of 
 every column in every Mechanic's Maga- 
 zine; proclaim it everywhere, and make it 
 a proverb, that where there is work for the 
 hands of men, there will be work for their 
 teeth. Where there is employment, there 
 [ 137 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 will be bread. It is a great blessing to the 
 poor to have cheap food; but greater than 
 that, prior to that, and of still higher value 
 is the blessing of being able to buy food 
 by honest and respectable employment. 
 Employment gives health, sobriety, and 
 morals. Constant employment and well 
 paid labor produce in a country like ours, 
 general prosperity, content and cheerful- 
 ness. Thus happy have we seen the coun- 
 try. Thus happy may we long continue to 
 see it." 
 
 Since that time the tariff laws have been 
 changed a number of times, notably in 
 1894 the tariffs on imports were reduced 
 and as a result of these reductions many 
 factories were closed and many men 
 thrown out of employment, and there was 
 a general depression in business. Three 
 years later a new protective tariff law was 
 passed by congress and prosperity re- 
 turned. In 1913, Congress again reduced 
 the tariff on imports, and as a result many 
 factories were closed and many of our cit- 
 izens were deprived of employment. 
 
 The citizenry of our country is different 
 [ 138 ] 
 
TARIFF 
 
 from that of most other countries. Our 
 citizens have a voice in the government of 
 the United States, and if our popular form 
 of government is to endure, our citizens 
 must have reasonable working hours, 
 comfortable homes and proper pay for 
 their work, otherwise they cannot educate 
 their children as they ought to be edu- 
 cated and they will be compelled to start 
 them at work in factories, etc., at such an 
 early age that they will be prevented from 
 developing mentally and physically into 
 the kind of citizens who are capable of 
 properly participating in our free form of 
 government. 
 
 A government owes a great duty to its 
 citizens, it ought to enact laws which will 
 help and protect them. If a government 
 of a foreign country is so deficient that it 
 permits conditions to exist which compel 
 a considerable portion of its people to la- 
 bor for fifty cents or less a day, that is no 
 reason why we should compel our laborers 
 to compete with the product of that wage. 
 We can prevent such unfair competition 
 by protective tariff laws. 
 [ 139 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 Free trade is ideal, we have it through- 
 out our forty-eight states, which is prob- 
 ably the largest free trade territory in the 
 world. But free trade will not be ideal 
 between the United States and all foreign 
 countries until the other countries have 
 placed their laborers upon the same com- 
 fortable scale of living as our own. 
 
 It requires great skill and a vast amount 
 of research to make a just and proper pro- 
 tective tariff law. Care must be exercised 
 that the tariff is not made so high on the 
 so-called necessities of life that an unjust 
 burden will be imposed upon the consum- 
 ers of our country. 
 
 We must also bear in mind that in our 
 country we have many great manufactur- 
 ing establishments engaged in world com- 
 merce, and if their cost of production is 
 made too great by reason of excessive 
 wages, cost of raw material, or transporta- 
 tion, they will not be able to sell the prod- 
 ucts of their factories in foreign markets 
 in competition with manufacturers in 
 other countries where the cost of produc- 
 tion is much lower than here. 
 [ 140 ] 
 
TARIFF 
 
 In other words the tariff must be very 
 delicately adjusted, so that it will properly 
 protect the laborer and manufacturer 
 without extortion to the consumer. 
 
 The changes which have occurred in the 
 tariff laws during the last one hundred 
 and twenty-six years show clearly the 
 meaning of "a government of the people, 
 by the people and for the people" such as 
 ours, for we find in 1789 George Wash- 
 ington and the other leaders of the gov- 
 ernment in favor of a protective tariff to 
 encourage home industries, and they en- 
 acted a protective tariff law ; then in a few 
 years the majority of the voters changed 
 their minds and Congress passed a law 
 reducing the tariff; then after the people 
 had worked under a low tariff law for a 
 few years, they again became dissatisfied 
 with a low tariff, and the question was 
 debated by the speakers and orators dur- 
 ing the campaign for office, and the ma- 
 jority came to the conclusion that the peo- 
 ple of the United States would be more 
 prosperous and contented under a protec- 
 tive tariff, and so representatives were 
 [ Hi ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 elected who at once enacted a protective 
 tariff law; and so these changes in the 
 tariff laws have been made many times, 
 the pendulum first swinging one way, and 
 then back again. 
 
 All of which illustrates that the major- 
 ity of the people can have whatever laws 
 they want to live under, so long as they do 
 not enact laws which violate the provisions 
 of the Constitution which is the funda- 
 mental law; but they can even change the 
 provisions of the Constitution in the man- 
 ner therein prescribed. 
 
 These facts show you how closely 
 bound together are politics and the law, 
 and how necessary it is for the law makers 
 to have not only a knowledge of the law, 
 but also a thorough knowledge of human 
 nature. 
 
 [ 142 ] 
 
INTER STATE COMMERCE LAW. 
 
 Under the "commerce clause" of our 
 Constitution Congress has the power to 
 regulate commerce with foreign Nations 
 and among the several States, and in the 
 exercise of that power Congress passed a 
 law in 1887 creating the Inter State Com- 
 merce Commission which is composed of 
 five commissioners who are appointed by 
 the President of the United States by and 
 with the consent of the Senate; the Com- 
 mission was given the power among others 
 to regulate the rates which railroad com- 
 panies might charge for transporting pas- 
 sengers and freight from one State to an- 
 other. 
 
 In performing this great service the 
 Commission must have respect for the 
 rights of others, in other words it must 
 determine what is Justice. On the one 
 hand it must decide what rates are reason- 
 able and necessary to enable the Railroad 
 [ H3 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 Companies to earn enough money to main- 
 tain their properties in the highest state 
 of efficiency and safety, and to pay their 
 employees proper compensation, and also 
 to pay reasonable dividends to their stock- 
 holders; on the other hand it must de- 
 termine what are reasonable rates or 
 charges for the shippers and passengers to 
 pay for the service they receive, and in do- 
 ing this it is necessary for them to take 
 into consideration many things such as 
 the volume and value of the article 
 shipped, water competition, etc. 
 
 You ask why it was necessary for Con- 
 gress to pass a law creating a Commission 
 of five men who should have the power to 
 decide how much money a railroad com- 
 pany should charge for transporting a car 
 of wheat from Chicago to New York, 
 when the government does not regulate 
 the price fixed by the farmer for the wheat 
 which he raised on his farm? One answer 
 is a railroad company is a quasi public 
 corporation, which means that it has at 
 least one of the powers which is generally 
 possessed only by the government, that is 
 [ H4 ] 
 
INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW 
 
 the right of eminent domain, which means 
 for illustration, that if you own a farm or 
 any other piece of land not used for public 
 purposes, and the railroad company de- 
 cides to build its railroad over that land it 
 can do so whether you are willing to sell 
 the land or not; if you are unwilling to sell 
 the land to the railroad company it can go 
 into Court and have the Court decide how 
 much money the company must pay you 
 for the right to build its railroad over your 
 property. 
 
 Railroads are for the public good as well 
 as private gain. It would not be fair for a 
 railroad company to have the right to take 
 your property from you for its use at a 
 price fixed by a Court and then turn round 
 to you and tell you it would not carry you 
 or your freight over its railroad at all, or 
 at least unless you paid it an exhorbitant 
 price for its service. You are justified in 
 contending that if the railroad company 
 has the right to go into Court and have it 
 fix the price at which it may take your 
 property, there ought to be a tribunal 
 where you could go and have a reasonable 
 [ H5 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 price fixed for the railroad to charge you 
 for the service it renders to you. Now, 
 what is a reasonable price for the service 
 which a railroad renders in carrying pas- 
 sengers or freight is a very difficult prob- 
 lem, and the solution of it requires a vast 
 amount of knowledge and experience, and 
 so Congress decided it was the part of wis- 
 dom to appoint an Inter State Commerce 
 Commission, whose members should de- 
 vote all of their time to questions involved 
 in inter-state commerce and become ex- 
 perts in such matters. 
 
 There was another reason which led 
 Congress to make laws regulating inter- 
 state carriers; they wanted to stop the 
 evil of rebates, which was disastrous to 
 the railroads as well as to the shippers. 
 For illustration, if a manufacturer of ma- 
 chines wanted to ship a hundred carloads 
 of machines from Chicago to Kansas City, 
 knowing the regular rate, we will say, was 
 $100 for each car, he would go to several 
 different railroads and try to get a lower 
 rate and finally one railroad anxious to get 
 the shipment would offer to give him a re- 
 [ H6 ] 
 
INTERSTATE COMMERCE LAW 
 
 bate of $50 on each car shipped; another 
 shipper would try to get the same rebate, 
 but the railroad company would refuse to 
 give it to him, and he would be unable to 
 sell his machines in competition with the 
 shipper who received the rebate, and so 
 he very properly became dissatisfied and 
 cried out to have the wrong corrected. 
 
 It is far better to have government com- 
 missions and courts regulate these matters 
 than to have the government own and op- 
 erate the railroads which is the next step 
 beyond regulation. The members of the 
 commission are appointed to serve a term 
 of seven years and are each paid an an- 
 nual salary of $10,000. 
 
MONOPOLIES. 
 
 In 1890' Congress enacted the Anti- 
 trust law, the purpose of which was to 
 condemn all combinations and conspir- 
 acies which restrain the free and natural 
 flow of trade in the channels of inter-state 
 commerce. This, of course, does not de- 
 stroy the monopoly which is granted to a 
 person under the patent laws which are 
 intended to encourage useful inventions. 
 The courts have decided that the anti-trust 
 law covers any illegal means by which in- 
 ter-state commerce is restrained whether 
 by unlawful combinations of capital, or 
 unlawful combinations of labor. Many 
 cases of the greatest importance have been 
 tried under this law and practically all un- 
 reasonable restraints or monopolies have 
 been condemned by the courts. Congress 
 has amended this law from time to time 
 and has recently created a Federal Trade 
 Commission composed of five members ap- 
 [ H8 ] 
 
MONOPOLIES 
 
 pointed by the President by and with the 
 advice and consent of the Senate, whose 
 chief duty appears to be to prevent unfair 
 methods of competition in commerce. 
 
 [ 149 ] 
 
STATUTES. 
 
 I have above referred to the Revenue, 
 Inter State Commerce and Anti-trust 
 laws of the United States for the purpose 
 of giving you some little information 
 about these laws, and to show you how 
 these laws are made and changed from 
 time to time to meet the demands of the 
 people who live under these laws. The 
 laws which I have referred to cover but a 
 few pages of the Statutes of the United 
 States which contain more than five thou- 
 sand printed pages of laws, and you, of 
 course, could not become familiar with all 
 of these laws without extended study. 
 
 The various States of the Union have 
 their separate statutes or codes which con- 
 tain the laws applicable to rights within 
 the boundaries of the State. For example, 
 each State has its revenue or tax laws to 
 raise money for the expenses of local gov- 
 ernment, and its laws pertaining to rates 
 [ 150 ] 
 
STATUTES 
 
 to be charged by railroads for carrying 
 passengers and property from one point 
 to another within the State; also laws per- 
 taining to monopolies within the State and 
 many other laws pertaining to property 
 and persons. 
 
 [ 151 ] 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 The views of individuals differ on many 
 of the political questions of the day, and 
 so it is necessary to have political parties. 
 A political party is composed of voters 
 who substantially agree upon certain fun- 
 damental principles pertaining to govern- 
 ment; these voters unite, and work to- 
 gether, for the purpose of carrying their 
 political beliefs into effect. A political 
 party, in order to be effective, must be 
 practical, it must be organized, and is 
 sometimes called a political machine. For 
 example, each party must have its Na- 
 tional Committee which is composed of a 
 certain number of leading men of that po- 
 litical faith from each State; they elect a 
 chairman of the committee, treasurer, sec- 
 retary and other officers; this committee 
 deals principally with national questions 
 such as the election of the President of the 
 United States. Then we have a State 
 [ 152 ] 
 
POLITICAL PARTIES 
 
 Committee, and a County Committee, and 
 frequently a City or Local Committee, 
 which are similarly organized to handle 
 the party political matters which come 
 under their respective jurisdictions. 
 
 It is an extremely difficult matter to or- 
 ganize a new political party successfully, 
 and cannot be done unless some great po- 
 litical issue is involved; it is generally bet- 
 ter to stick to the political party of your 
 choice and attempt to reform it from with- 
 in. 
 
 The various States of the Union are very 
 justly enacting laws which give women 
 the right to vote. Women have the legal 
 right to own property in their own name 
 and to engage in business, and they ought 
 to have a voice in the making of the laws 
 under which they live and in the election 
 of persons to fill the offices of public serv- 
 ice. 
 
 Many persons become so engrossed in 
 their private business that they do not give 
 proper attention to public or political mat- 
 ters, and it is my belief that with the ap- 
 pearance of women in politics a vastly 
 [ 153 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 greater number of our citizens will more 
 intelligently and more thoroughly perform 
 their civic duties. 
 
 The right of women, as well as of men, 
 to vote, carries with it the duty on their 
 part to vote, and to study and inform 
 themselves intelligently upon questions 
 pertaining to good government. 
 
 When office holders become corrupt and 
 incompetent, the cry is raised "turn the 
 rascals out" and the people generally vote 
 them out of office. But when a Dictator 
 and his cohorts prove to be corrupt, arbi- 
 trary and unjust, they cannot be voted out 
 of power by the people and it then be- 
 comes necessary to resort to war, or else 
 continue to suffer injustice and wrong. 
 
 [ 154 ] 
 
CHURCH. 
 
 There is in every individual, a sense of 
 a Creator, a God or an Infinite Power lead- 
 ing him ever onward and upward. Man 
 has some knowledge of the Universe, but 
 not much. We have learned that the earth 
 on which we live is round, that it revolves 
 around the sun, that it is a part of a solar 
 system, that the millions of stars we see 
 in the heavens at night are also parts of 
 solar systems all in constant and terrific 
 motion controlled and directed by some 
 Power, we know not what; that some of 
 these stars are planets, many larger, and 
 others smaller than the earth, that these 
 planets have mountains and valleys, air 
 and sunlight similar to ours, but who live 
 on these millions of planets we know not. 
 
 "From whence we came or whither we 
 
 go" we do not know, but we all have our 
 
 faith and our belief. We know that when 
 
 our body came upon this earth there was 
 
 [ 155 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 in it the Spirit of Life, and that when the 
 Spirit of Life departs, our body will soon 
 become extinct and utilized by nature for 
 other purposes, for nature knows no 
 waste. 
 
 But where did the Spirit of Life come 
 from and where does it go when it leaves 
 our bodies? Men have been asking them- 
 selves and each other these questions for 
 thousands of years, and out of these ques- 
 tions have developed many religious 
 creeds. 
 
 More than four thousand years ago the 
 Chaldeans had their religious creeds; they 
 established churches, or places of worship 
 and met together at regular intervals. The 
 very early history of the Medes and Per- 
 sians shows that they also had a religion 
 similar to that of the Chaldeans. 
 
 Buddha was born about twenty-five 
 hundred years ago; he was a warrior 
 prince, the son of one of the rulers of 
 Northern India. He established the be- 
 lief or creed called Buddhism, and began 
 his ministry at Benares. He first con- 
 verted five monks, then many of the noble 
 [ 156 ] 
 
CHURCH 
 
 youth of the city, and then a thousand 
 Brahman priests. He spent more than 
 forty years of his life wandering about 
 preaching his new creed which spread 
 with wonderful rapidity, and has been fol- 
 lowed by many millions of persons since 
 that time but is now supplanted by Hindu- 
 ism, the prevailing religion of India. 
 
 The ancient religion of the Arabs was 
 the worship of the stars which gradually 
 changed to the worship of idols, and con- 
 tinued until the time of Mohammed who 
 was born about fourteen hundred years 
 ago. He believed or pretended he was a 
 prophet, and his revelations are found in 
 the Koran. Mohammedanism was ex- 
 tended largely by the sword, but when its 
 founder died it was firmly established as 
 a great political power as well as a religion 
 and is now said to be the belief of nearly 
 two hundred million people. 
 
 Confucius was born in China about 
 twenty-five hundred years ago. His father 
 was the governor of Tson. Confucius be- 
 came a public teacher and had many fol- 
 lowers. He held several public offices and 
 [ 157 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 finally became Minister of Crime. He was 
 a man of wonderful ability, but he lost the 
 support of his ruler and spent the last 
 eighteen years of his life wandering from 
 state to state giving beneficent counsel. 
 He dealt with neither theology nor meta- 
 physics, but with moral and political con- 
 duct. "After his death his wisdom was 
 recognized by peasant and emperor alike, 
 admiration rose to veneration, veneration 
 to worship, sacrifices were offered to him, 
 temples built in his honor, and a cult es- 
 tablished which has lasted more than 2,000 
 years." The "Sayings of Confucius" were 
 compiled some time after his death. 
 
 These are but a few of the religious 
 creeds which have been developed by men, 
 and I mention them to you to show how 
 interesting may be the study of religion. 
 
 The Bible contains the teachings of the 
 Christian religion which we believe is the 
 most beautiful and helpful of all religions, 
 and which we hope will some day become 
 the religion of all the people of the earth. 
 I shall not attempt to discuss here the re- 
 ligious doctrines contained in the Holy 
 [ 158 ] 
 
CHURCH 
 
 Bible, except to say that I commend its 
 study to you; in it you will find the prin- 
 ciples which for many centuries have been 
 the basis of the laws governing civilized 
 men, and it contains the best wisdom of 
 the world and the deepest truths of re- 
 ligion. 
 
 One day in each week, the Sabbath, is 
 set aside for rest and religious service, and 
 on this day you should attend Church, and 
 if you do so, you will find the burdens of 
 living much easier to bear, and the cup of 
 happiness much fuller than if you do not 
 go. It stands to reason that if you spend 
 a portion of one day in each week in the 
 study of the best wisdom of the world and 
 in religious thought you will be a better 
 and wiser person, and understand better 
 how to get the best there is out of life. 
 
 Doubt may creep into your mind some- 
 times concerning the miracles of Christ re- 
 lated in the New Testament, but if you 
 will stop and think, you will find it no 
 more difficult to believe that the Creator, 
 who has given you the Spirit of Life could 
 also give to Christ the power to perform 
 [ 159 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 these miracles, in order that He might at- 
 tract the attention of the people of the 
 earth to the importance of His teachings. 
 In other words, we know that the Creator 
 has placed us on this earth to live, why 
 should He not find His way to tell us how 
 best to live our lives while here, and also 
 some idea of a life hereafter? 
 
 The Church uplifts men, it stands for 
 the highest morals and is the greatest in- 
 fluence for right living. 
 
 You seldom see persons who live under 
 its influence resorting to the divorce 
 courts, or involved in criminal prosecu- 
 tion, they learn how to bear the frailties 
 of others, and to resist the temptation to 
 commit crimes. In times of sorrow you 
 will find your greatest consolation in re- 
 ligious thoughts. 
 
 Through the Church great and impor- 
 tant charities are conducted which lighten 
 the burdens of untold numbers of unfor- 
 tunate persons, and you should do your 
 part in this work. 
 
 The minister of your Church gives all 
 of his time and thought to the solution of 
 [ 160 ] 
 
CHURCH 
 
 these problems, and if you listen to him 
 every Sunday, you will have a much great- 
 er knowledge of these questions, and know 
 better how to make yourself useful in this 
 world, which should be your chief aim in 
 life. 
 
 Such is the work of the Church which 
 you should attend and support, not alone 
 for its benefit to you, but for its help to 
 others, its help to mankind. 
 
 There are millions of Christian men in 
 the United States; be one of them, your- 
 self. 
 
 [ 161 ] 
 
TIME. 
 
 If some one should offer to give you a 
 million dollars on condition that you 
 should have but twenty- four hours more of 
 Time in which to live, you would of course 
 decline the offer, because you prize the 
 time during which you may live more 
 highly than money. 
 
 Time is a measure of duration, from one 
 moment to another, or from any period to 
 another. 
 
 Time is a measure of duration of Life, 
 how shall you use or spend the precious 
 Time of your Life? 
 
 You are a member of a civilized family 
 and belong to a civilized race. 
 
 You are not living the life of an abor- 
 iginal who spent his time during his youth 
 rolling upon the grass and roaming 
 through the woods. If you spend all of 
 your time during your youth in such a 
 manner you may grow to manhood phy- 
 [ 162 ] 
 
TIME 
 
 sically strong, but mentally you will be as 
 deficient as an uneducated Apache Indian. 
 
 If you spend the time of your youth 
 roaming the streets and in resorts with evil 
 companions and idlers, you will acquire 
 their habits of thought and become a men- 
 ace to civilized society, and sooner or later 
 you must pay the price of wrongly spent 
 time. 
 
 All members of civilized society must 
 work, which means doing something use- 
 ful for men. 
 
 "Work wins" is the message sent you by 
 the Chief Justice of England, who by hard 
 work and the proper use of his time has 
 won his way to leadership among men. 
 
 "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." If you 
 do not plant seeds of corn in your land, 
 you of course will not have a corn crop. 
 But if you do properly plant grains of corn, 
 and cultivate the soil, each grain of corn 
 planted will yield to you at the end of the 
 season many more grains of corn. And 
 so it is with your mind, if you spend your 
 time when young in learning how to read 
 and write you will use that knowledge 
 [ 163 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 many million times later in life. And so 
 it is with every useful thing you learn 
 when you are young, you may use that 
 knowledge a million times later on in life. 
 If you once learn how to make a machine, 
 or build a house, or try a lawsuit, or preach 
 a sermon, or cure the sick, or earn money 
 in many different ways, you can do the 
 same thing over and over again during the 
 balance of the time you have to live. But 
 if you continue to waste all of your time 
 in play or idleness you will find when you 
 have grown to manhood that you have not 
 stored up in your mind a great deal of 
 knowledge which you ought to have; and 
 you will also find that many other boys 
 have not wasted so much of their time, but 
 have spent their time gaining knowledge, 
 and therefore have a great advantage in 
 obtaining the things they desire and need 
 to make them comfortable in life. 
 
 I was in Kentucky a short time ago and 
 saw a notice posted which stated that more 
 than 200,000 persons in that state could 
 neither read nor write. You know it has 
 taken you but a short time to learn to read 
 [ 164 ] 
 
TIME 
 
 and write. Think of the pleasure and 
 knowledge those 200,000 persons have 
 been deprived of by not spending a small 
 part of their time when they were young 
 in learning to read and write. 
 
 Your time is your most valuable asset, 
 don't waste it, your success in life depends 
 upon how you have used your time; if you 
 have a little extra time, don't sit and worry 
 or dream and waste it, get to work or get 
 a good book and read of the experiences 
 of others. 
 
 I do not mean to tell you that it is al- 
 ways a waste of time to play, for it is not 
 so, for just as the body requires rest and 
 sleep and nourishment and air, so does the 
 mind need some recreation. Learn to use 
 your time to the very best advantage; 
 don't use any more of it in sleep or play 
 than is necessary to keep your mind and 
 human machine in a high condition of an- 
 imal spirits. Devote as much of your time 
 as possible to gaining knowledge and be- 
 ing useful to others, for knowledge is 
 power, and a moment, or hour, or day, of 
 your time wasted can never be regained. 
 [ 165 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 The development of your mind and the at- 
 tainment of your success in life is meas- 
 ured by the manner in which you have 
 used your time. 
 
 [ 166 ] 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 Birth, marriage and death are the three 
 most important events in your career. 
 
 One of the great laws of Nature pertain- 
 ing to mankind is the propagation of the 
 human species which is accomplished by 
 the union of an adult male and female. An 
 infant boy and an infant girl are born into 
 this world, their parents (or others) nur- 
 ture, train and educate them until they 
 arrive at their maturity. Nature has en- 
 dowed them with organs of procreation 
 and in the course of time they are ready 
 to reproduce their kind. Marriage is one 
 of the most ancient customs of civilization, 
 and parents in rearing their children look 
 forward to the time of their marriage with 
 great interest, in the hope that they will 
 not make a mistake in the selection of their 
 life partner. 
 
 When you have completed your prelim- 
 inary studies, whether school, college or 
 [ 167 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 professional, and have started in business 
 or in the practice of your profession, you 
 will begin to think of marriage and of tak- 
 ink unto yourself a wife the girl of your 
 choice. This instinct is natural, and older 
 than civilization. 
 
 Marriage is a solemn contract between a 
 man and a woman by which they are 
 united for life and assume the legal rela- 
 tion of husband and wife. You should 
 think very carefully, aye, even prayerfully, 
 of many things before you enter into such 
 a contract. 
 
 Love is the spiritual obedience to nature, 
 it is harmony with her laws clothed with 
 all the refinement of the highest cultiva- 
 tion; it is the motive power which leads to 
 kindly acts; it is the sunshine of life; it 
 brings happiness to you, and to others. It 
 is a force which may lead you anywhere 
 to be with the one you love, it may carry 
 you down to the very dregs of life, or high 
 in the spheres of usefulness, much de- 
 pends on the girl you love. Friendship be- 
 tween a young man and woman frequently 
 ripens into love, and love leads to matri- 
 [ 168 ] 
 
MARRIAGE 
 
 mony, therefore be careful whom you have 
 for your girl friends, especially when you 
 near the marrying age, which with rare 
 exceptions, ought not to be much younger 
 than twenty-five years. . 
 
 When you are selecting your wife, re- 
 member she is to be your mate for life, 
 that you are to live with her day after 
 day, and year after year; that she is to be 
 your better half, and should be your equal, 
 physically, morally and mentally. She 
 must be well educated, and possess domes- 
 tic instincts and high ideals; she must be 
 ambitious, courageous and religious, and 
 most of all, as she is to be the mother of 
 your children, she must be physically 
 sound, strong and well developed. 
 
 You must know about her ancestors, for 
 she will possess many of the characteris- 
 tics of her parents. 
 
 She must possess the courage to stand 
 with you in time of stress or adversity, 
 and the genius to share your prosperity, 
 should you attain it. She must be willing 
 to economize when necessary. There are 
 [ 169 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 many women who possess all of these 
 good qualities and many more. 
 
 You, of course, must bear in mind, that 
 a girl who possesses the qualifications I 
 have mentioned is also instinctively dis- 
 criminating, and is looking for a mate who 
 possesses qualifications equal to her own, 
 and unless you have similar attainments, 
 you ought not win her for your bride. 
 
 Pay the respect to women you would 
 have others give to your own mother. 
 
 Money, which represents accumulated 
 labor, is a most excellent thing and always 
 helpful, but in a matrimonial alliance, 
 money is not a proper substitute for any 
 of the requirements I have mentioned. 
 
 When you have married be true to your 
 wife, and your life will be happier, for hus- 
 band and wife are united in life as one in 
 hope and in mutual development, and in 
 the rearing of their offspring. 
 
 I have observed that the divorce court 
 is seldom sought by the husband and wife 
 who regularly attend Divine service. Such 
 persons are reminded from week to week 
 of the gentler and nobler things in civ- 
 [ 170 ] 
 
MARRIAGE 
 
 ilized life and are less likely to make mis- 
 takes which cannot be forgiven. 
 
 Let me remind you, however, that there 
 is no perfect woman or man, and by rea- 
 son of our frailties, misunderstandings 
 may arise from time to time, between the 
 most devoted couple, and when such mis- 
 understanding does arise do not wait un- 
 til the next day to straighten it out, but 
 take it upon yourself to forgive or be for- ; 
 given before the night passes. 
 
 [ 171 ] 
 
THE FAMILY OF NATIONS 
 
 The nations of the world are today 
 bound together in many ways and have 
 many things in common; they are all in- 
 terested in the affairs of the others and 
 most of them are engaged in trade or com- 
 merce with each other. Each nation of 
 importance is represented in the capitals 
 or principal cities of the other nations by 
 its ambassadors or ministers or consular 
 agents. Any news of interest may be 
 flashed around the world in a few minutes 
 by means of the cable, telegraph, wireless 
 and telephone. The great ocean going 
 vessels and transcontinental trains are 
 constantly carrying persons and com- 
 merce to all parts of the world. These 
 great developments in international com- 
 munication, intercourse and commerce 
 have been wrought within the last few 
 years. As civilization has extended grad- 
 ually around the world the relations be- 
 [ 172 ] 
 
FAMILY OF NATIONS 
 
 tween nations, which is called interna- 
 tional relations, have become more com- 
 plex and more interesting. 
 
 The world has no International Govern- 
 ment, but we have International Laws, or 
 the Laws of Nations, which is a body of 
 rules which the civilized states or nations 
 consider legally binding in their inter- 
 course with each other. The sources of 
 these laws are customs or usages and writ- 
 ten treaties or agreements between na- 
 tions. 
 
 International customs or usages began 
 several thousand years ago, we find ref- 
 erences to them in the Bible and in the 
 history of ancient Rome and Greece, but 
 international law is a product of Christian 
 civilization, and began to be recognized 
 as such four or five hundred years ago, 
 when various nations found it necessary, 
 in order to define their respective rights 
 and to facilitate intercourse with each 
 other, to enter into written agreements or 
 treaties between themselves and to recog- 
 nize as binding upon themselves, many of 
 [ 173 ] 
 
, IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 the ancient customs relating to intercourse 
 between nations. 
 
 And thus developed the "Family of Na- 
 tions," which consists of those nations 
 which are in constant intercourse with 
 each other, and consent to be bound for 
 their international conduct by the rules of 
 international law. The following coun- 
 tries may be called members of the "Fam- 
 ily of Nations": 
 
 United States of America. 
 
 British Empire. 
 
 France. 
 
 German Empire. 
 
 Russian Empire. 
 
 Switzerland. 
 
 Norway and Sweden. 
 
 Spain. 
 
 Portugal. 
 
 Austria-Hungary. 
 
 Argentine Republic. 
 
 Republic of Chili. 
 
 Brazil. 
 
 Italy. 
 
 Japan. 
 
 China, and others. 
 
 [ 174 ] 
 
FAMILY OF NATIONS 
 
 An international law is a rule for the 
 international conduct of States or Nations 
 based on the common consent of the mem- 
 ber States of the "Family of Nations." 
 Express consent is given, when the States 
 have concluded a written treaty, in which 
 is set forth certain rules for the future in- 
 ternational conduct of the parties; tactic 
 consent is that which is given through 
 States having adopted the custom of sub- 
 mitting to certain rules of conduct which 
 have developed out of custom or usage. 
 
 While there has never been an Inter- 
 national Government above the different 
 nations which was so organized with a 
 department of justice, and an army and 
 navy, that it could enforce the rules of In- 
 ternational Law, nevertheless in practice, 
 international law is constantly recognized 
 as law and the governments of different 
 nations comply with these rules and when 
 they fail to do so, war is frequently the 
 result, as in the case of the violation of the 
 Belgium neutrality treaty, which Germany 
 treated as a "mere scrap of paper." 
 
 It would be impossible in this brief dis- 
 [175 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 cussion to tell you about all of the inter- 
 national laws, that would require many 
 hundred pages, I can only hope to tell you 
 briefly of a few of the principal laws in 
 order that you may better understand 
 some of the important questions of the 
 day. 
 
 A sovereign State is an independent and 
 civilized community of individuals of both 
 sexes, who live together permanently, in a 
 fixed country, according to the law of their 
 land which is their supreme authority, and 
 independent of any other earthly author- 
 ity. 
 
 Our country, the United States of Amer- 
 ica, is a Sovereign State, just as are the 
 other members of the "Family of Nations" 
 above named. We have complete control 
 of all the land and waters within our boun- 
 daries, and of the oceans within cannon 
 range of our shores. No foreigner can 
 enter our territory except in compliance 
 with our laws. But the citizens of our 
 country frequently travel into foreign 
 countries for pleasure or on business, and 
 our ships are landing in foreign ports, and 
 [ 176 ] 
 
FAMILY OF NATIONS 
 
 foreigners are daily coming into our coun- 
 try, and their ships are landing in our 
 ports, and so we must have international 
 laws for the mutual protection of such 
 travelers. 
 
 One international law provides for the 
 issuing of a passport to a citizen of our 
 country which will enable him to travel, or 
 temporarily reside in a foreign country, 
 another international law provides for the 
 extradition of a criminal who has fled from 
 our country to a foreign land; this is gen- 
 erally governed by a written treaty. 
 
 Other international laws deal with the 
 conduct of vessels on the open seas which 
 belong to no sovereign State; the right of 
 search and of arrest; shipwreck and dis- 
 tress on the open sea; piracy; fisheries in 
 the various seas; submarine telegraph 
 cables; the rights of heads or monarchs or 
 presidents of sovereign States; the rights 
 of diplomatic envoys and their inviolabil- 
 ity while on foreign mission for their gov- 
 ernment; the rights of Men-of-war in for- 
 eign waters, and many other rights which 
 [ 177 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 the various governments deem necessary 
 to protect. 
 
 Then there are many international laws 
 which pertain to the rights of nations 
 which are at war with each other, and 
 which govern the nations which are neu- 
 tral, that is nations which do not take sides 
 with either of the nations engaged in the 
 war. Some of these international laws 
 pertain to good offices and mediation, 
 which means that a State which is not en- 
 gaged in the war may through its efforts 
 bring about a settlement of the dispute 
 between the nations at war; others deal 
 with reprisals, blockade and intervention; 
 the treatment of wounded and the bodies 
 of the dead soldiers; of captivity; of the 
 appropriation of property of the enemy, 
 public and private; the establishment of 
 prize courts, and flags of truce. 
 
 There are many international laws 
 which define the rights of neutrals and 
 govern the transportation of contraband 
 of war, such as ammunition, as well as ar- 
 ticles which are not contraband of war, 
 such as household furniture, etc. 
 [ 178 ] 
 
FAMILY OF NATIONS 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that for many 
 hundreds of years different nations have 
 had treaties with each other and have had 
 international laws to guide them, disputes 
 have from time to time arisen between 
 them, many of which have been settled by 
 arbitration; but frequently nations have 
 resorted to armed warfare to protect their 
 rights and honor, and the blood of many 
 millions of persons has been shed and un- 
 told wealth lost. Many of the sovereign 
 governments of the world spend annually 
 many millions of dollars on their arma- 
 ments during times of peace in order to 
 prepare for war. Such expenditures are 
 an enormuos drain upon the common peo- 
 pie. 
 
 During the last five hundred years va- 
 rious plans have been devised to have an 
 alliance of the different nations for the pur- 
 pose of avoiding war and maintaining 
 peace. One of these plans was to estab- 
 lish a Permanent Court of Arbitration, for 
 the settlement of difficulties between the 
 members of the alliance. Up to the present 
 time, no plan has been adopted which 
 [ 179 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 would do away with international wars, 
 but the efforts of The Hague Peace Con- 
 vention have been very far reaching in 
 their effect. 
 
 The First Hague Conference was held 
 in May, 1899, and was attended by rep- 
 resentatives of twenty-six of the leading 
 nations of the world; the object of this con- 
 ference was the limitation of armaments, 
 the mitigation of the evils of war, and the 
 maintenance of peace. Some progress was 
 made, but the results fell far short of what 
 was expected. Soon after this first con- 
 ference a war broke out between the South 
 African Republics and Great Britain and 
 then followed the war between Russia and 
 Japan. 
 
 The Second Hague Conference met at 
 The Hague in June, 1907, and was at- 
 tended by representatives from forty-five 
 States. This conference continued in ses- 
 sion about four months and as a result 
 many doubts concerning international 
 rules were removed, and much was done to 
 encourage arbitration and to remove the 
 causes of war. There was prepared and 
 [ 180 ] 
 
FAMILY OF NATIONS 
 
 adopted at this conference a document 
 called "Convention for the Pacific Settle- 
 ment of International Disputes," the open- 
 ing sentences of which are as follows: 
 
 "Animated by the sincere desire to work 
 for the maintenance of general peace; 
 
 "Resolved to promote by all the efforts 
 in their power the friendly settlement of 
 international disputes; 
 
 "Recognizing the solidarity uniting the 
 members of the society of civilized na- 
 tions; 
 
 "Desirous of extending the empire of 
 law and of strengthening the appreciation 
 of international justice; 
 
 "Convinced that the permanent insti- 
 tution of a Tribune of Arbitration accessi- 
 ble to all, in the midst of independent 
 powers, will contribute effectively to this 
 result, etc." 
 
 Then followed the rules agreed upon 
 pertaining to 
 
 1 The maintenance of general peace. 
 
 2 Good offices and mediation. 
 
 3 International Commission of Inquiry. 
 
 4 International arbitration. 
 
 [ 181 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 (a) The system of arbitration. 
 
 (b) The permanent Court of Arbi- 
 
 tration. 
 
 (c) Arbitration procedure. 
 
 (d) Arbitration by summary proce- 
 
 dure. 
 
 5 Final provisions. 
 
 The above document contains many of 
 the rules of international law and very 
 complete provisions for the arbitration of 
 differences between nations, but it does 
 not meet the ideals of Secretary of State 
 Root as set forth in his instructions to the 
 American delegates to the Second Peace 
 Conference as follows: 
 
 "It has been a very general practice for 
 arbitrators to act not as judges deciding 
 questions of fact and law upon the record 
 before them, under a sense of judicial re- 
 sponsibility, but as negotiators effecting 
 a settlement of the questions brought be- 
 fore them in accordance with traditions 
 and usages and subject to all the consid- 
 erations and influences which affect dip- 
 lomatic agents. The two methods are 
 radically different, proceed upon different 
 [ 182 ] 
 
FAMILY OF NATIONS 
 
 standards of honorable obligation and fre- 
 quently lead to widely differing results. It 
 very frequently happens that a nation 
 which would be very willing to submit its 
 differences to an impartial judicial deter- 
 mination is unwilling to submit them to 
 this kind of diplomatic process. If there 
 could be a tribunal which would pass upon 
 questions between nations with the same 
 impartial and impersonal judgment that 
 the Supreme Court of the United States 
 gives to questions arising between citizens 
 of the different states, or between foreign 
 citizens, and the citizens of the United 
 States, there can be no doubt that nations 
 would be more ready to submit their con- 
 troversies to its decision than they are now 
 to take the chance of arbitration. It should 
 be your effort to bring about in the second 
 conference a development of The Hague 
 tribunal into a permanent tribunal com- 
 posed of judges who are judicial officers 
 and nothing less, who are paid adequate 
 salaries, who have no other occupation, 
 and who will devote their entire time to 
 the trial and decision of international 
 [ 183 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 causes by judicial methods and under a 
 sense of judicial responsibility." 
 
 A very large part of the civilized people 
 of the world are at this writing at war with 
 each other; the warring nations were not 
 willing to submit their differences to arbi- 
 tration, which shows that arbitration does 
 not meet the requirements of the times, 
 and it may be that the time is near at hand 
 for the organization of an International 
 Court of Justice. 
 
 A nation may be likened to an individ- 
 ual. 
 
 During many centuries individuals set- 
 tled their disputes by resorting to brute 
 force, but as man became more civilized 
 courts were organized, and individuals 
 now submit their disputes to the courts 
 for settlement. When two nations have 
 a dispute, they fight it out in the same way 
 they have done for many centuries, sacri- 
 ficing the lives and property of their peo- 
 ple without limit, because there is no 
 Court of Justice which has the power to 
 settle their differences. 
 
 The object of the law is peace. It has 
 [ 184 ] 
 
FAMILY OF NATIONS 
 
 been said that "all the law in the world 
 has been obtained by strife. Every prin- 
 ciple of law which obtains had first to be 
 wrung by force from those who denied it; 
 and every legal right the legal rights of 
 a whole nation as well as those of individ- 
 uals supposes a continual readiness to 
 assert it and defend it. The law is not 
 mere theory, but living force. And hence 
 it is that Justice which, in one hand, holds 
 the scales in which she weighs the right, 
 carries in the other the sword with which 
 she executes it. The sword without the 
 scales is brute force, the scales without 
 the sword is the impotence of law. The 
 scales and the sword belong together, and 
 the state of the law is perfect only where 
 the power with which Justice carries the 
 sword is equalled by the skill with which 
 she holds the scales." 
 
 It is the great moral duty of individuals, 
 as well as of nations, to uphold and enforce 
 the law and their legal rights, otherwise 
 the law loses its majesty and power, and 
 injustice prevails. 
 
 Most of the principal nations of the 
 [ 185 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 world are now spending a very large part 
 of their national receipts from taxes for 
 the support of their army and for the man- 
 ufacture of ammunition and implements 
 of warfare to be used sometime for the 
 destruction of human lives, and it is prob- 
 able that the United States will hereafter 
 be compelled to make very much larger ex- 
 penditures for its national defense. No 
 nation can avoid these enormous expendi- 
 tures necessary for preparedness against 
 war, until the plan of an International 
 Court of Justice has been realized, and 
 then, and then only will it be possible for 
 the nations of the world to substantially 
 disarm, and for the people of a nation to 
 devote their time, money and energy to 
 peaceful pursuits. 
 
 It has required many centuries of strug- 
 gle to obtain the fundamental laws which 
 govern the rights of individuals to life, 
 liberty and property. When a court of 
 justice has finally decided a controversy 
 between individuals they are compelled to 
 submit to the judgment of the Court, for 
 back of the Court stands the army and 
 [ 186 ] 
 
FAMILY OF NATIONS 
 
 navy of the Nation always ready to com- 
 pel obedience to the mandates of the 
 Court; if it were otherwise many persons 
 would refuse to obey the judgments of the 
 Courts. 
 
 And so, if we are to have an Internation- 
 al Court of Justice, by which the disputes 
 between Nations must be determined, it 
 will be necessary to have back of the Inter- 
 national Court, an International Army and 
 Navy of sufficient force to compel any na- 
 tion to obey the order of that Court; such 
 an army and navy would be maintained 
 at the joint expense of the various nations. 
 
 This has been dreamed of, and struggled 
 for, during the last five hundred years, and 
 I believe the dream will come true after 
 some titanic struggle between the nations 
 of the world, and when this plan of admin- 
 istering world justice has been realized, 
 the various nations will then disarm so far 
 as preparedness for international warfare 
 is concerned, but it will be necessary for 
 each nation to continue to maintain an 
 army of sufficient size to enforce domestic 
 peace and tranquility, and obedience to its 
 own laws. w 
 
BRIBERY. 
 
 You perhaps wonder why I discuss this 
 subject with you. It is because of the fact 
 that when bribery is resorted to it is gen- 
 erally in secret and in a round about way, 
 and unless you know something about it 
 and are on your guard, you may be caught 
 in its meshes, much to your everlasting 
 sorrow and regret. 
 
 Bribery has been resorted to by men to 
 accomplish their ends from time imme- 
 morial. Nearly every person who has to 
 do with the administration of government- 
 al affairs sooner or later meets the ques- 
 tion of bribery in some form, and he is then 
 face to face with the temptation and must 
 decide promptly whether he will yield or 
 resist. Many a life has been wrecked, or 
 career ruined, by yielding to the insidious 
 temptation of bribery, without perhaps 
 realizing at the time of his decision what 
 the result of his act may be. 
 [ 188 ] 
 
BRIBERY 
 
 Bribery is the voluntary giving or re- 
 ceiving of anything of value in corrupt 
 payment for an official act done or to be 
 done. 
 
 The United States and nearly every 
 State in the Union have statutes on crimes 
 which provide in substance, that every 
 person who shall offer or attempt to bribe 
 any officer of the government and every 
 such officer who shall propose or agree to 
 receive a bribe shall be fined or imprisoned 
 in the penitentiary in some cases not ex- 
 ceeding ten years. 
 
 Bribery is a grave and serious offense 
 against public justice, the offer is a sore 
 temptation to the weak or the depraved. 
 A man who attempts to bribe an officer, 
 and influence him to his own degradation 
 and to the detriment of the public, even 
 though he fail in his purpose is as guilty 
 as the officer who is willing to sell his in- 
 tegrity and to debase himself. Both are 
 in the highest degree injurious to the pub- 
 lic morals, and the public service suffers 
 thereby. The honorable public official 
 [ 189 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 spurns the temptation and maintains his 
 purity and integrity. 
 
 The constitution of the United States 
 provides that "the President, Vice-Presi- 
 dent and all civil officers of the United 
 States shall be removed from office on im- 
 peachment for, and conviction of treason, 
 bribery or other high crimes and misde- 
 meanors." 
 
 Why did the framers of the constitution 
 specifically name the crimes treason and 
 bribery? It was because history showed 
 that treason and bribery had been the 
 greatest crimes in governmental affairs; 
 that public officials had committed these 
 crimes and would commit them again, and 
 still again. 
 
 Let us go back to the days which pre- 
 ceded the downfall of the freedom of 
 Athens and Greece nearly twenty-three 
 hundred years ago, it seems like a long 
 time ago but the stretch only covers the 
 lives of about seventy fathers and sons, 
 and during that time men have not 
 changed very much. Philip of Macedon, 
 and after him his son Alexander, aimed 
 [ 190 ] 
 
BRIBERY 
 
 at the conquest and sovereignty of Greece. 
 Demosthenes who lived during that pe- 
 riod, in speaking of the means used by 
 Philip to accomplish many of his designs, 
 says that he first sent his ambassadors into 
 Greece, who hired or bribed many of the 
 officials of Greece to work for and support 
 his cause. "These did Philip engage as 
 his agents and coadjutors, and by their 
 means inflamed the animosities which 
 had already torn and distracted the 
 Greeks. Some he deceived, and some he 
 gained by bribery, on others he employed 
 all his engines of seduction, and thus rent 
 the nation into many different parties, al- 
 though all were alike engaged in one com- 
 mon cause, that of uniting against the 
 progress of his power." 
 
 Demosthenes sought to arouse the peo- 
 ple of ancient Greece to defend the liberty 
 and safety of Greece and in speaking of 
 his countrymen said, "They had the spirit 
 to reject even life, unless they were al- 
 lowed to enjoy that life in freedom. For 
 it was a principle fixed deep in every 
 breast, that man was not born to his pa- 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 rents only, but to his country. And mark 
 the distinction, he who regards himself 
 as born only to his parents waits in pas- 
 sive submission for the hour of his natural 
 dissolution; he who considers that he is the 
 child of his country also, is prepared to 
 meet his fate freely rather than behold that 
 country reduced to vassalage, and thinks 
 those insults and disgraces which he must 
 meet in a state enslaved much more ter- 
 rible than death." 
 
 Philip's plan of conquest of Greece 
 seems to have been to first bribe many of 
 her officials and thus weaken their patriot- 
 ism, and their preparation for defense, and 
 while they were in this condition of un- 
 preparedness to subjugate them with his 
 army. He died before his task was com- 
 pleted, but his son Alexander followed in 
 his foot-steps, bribed many of the officials 
 of Greece and completed her conquest, and 
 the downfall of Grecian liberty. 
 
 Let us consider for a moment these con- 
 ditions as they existed just prior to the de- 
 cline of the Roman Empire. Ferrero says, 
 "And before long there grew up even 
 [ 192 ] 
 
BRIBERY 
 
 among the aristocracy a generation of ar- 
 rogant and ambitious politicians, who 
 transformed the reasoned and moderate 
 liberalism of Scipio and his followers into 
 a revolutionary movement at variance 
 with all the ancient principles of social dis- 
 cipline and destined to set public and pri- 
 vate life at the mercy of passion and self 
 seeking, who were greedy, overbearing 
 and unscrupulous, contemptuous of tradi- 
 tion and dazzled by the glamour of Graeco- 
 Asiatic civilization. Young men stood for 
 office before reaching the legal age, and 
 did not shrink from open bribery to attain 
 their desire. . . . Money, in fact, had be- 
 come the supreme power in the State." 
 
 Speaking of a considerable part of the 
 voters he says, "Few of these would scru- 
 ple to sell their vote for a consideration. 
 Skillful wire pulling had thus gradually 
 been enabled to elevate dealings in votes 
 to the level of a regular trade. They 
 formed the dregs of the electorate into or- 
 ganized clubs and made sure of their men 
 by a careful system of free dinners and 
 petty largess. Then they sold their votes 
 [ 193 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 by contract to the several condidates. . . ." 
 "Crassus proposed a bill against corrup- 
 tion . . . but no small reform of this na- 
 ture could have availed in a society where 
 anarchy and corruption were encroaching 
 day by day. . . ." Again, "All the magis- 
 trates in office demanded money from the 
 candidates as the price of their assis- 
 tance. . . . As the voting drew nearer, ac- 
 cusations, invectives and threats redou- 
 bled in violence and the bribery became 
 more and more outspoken; on the day it- 
 self there would inevitably be bloodshed 
 in the Campus, and many looked forward 
 as a last deliverance to the nomination of a 
 dictator." 
 
 It is an historic fact that almost every 
 generation produces its bribe givers and 
 its bribe takers. A bribe always indicates 
 that money is the power and has taken the 
 place of justice and right. The youth of 
 the land should be so trained that they 
 will know what bribery means and be able 
 to readily detect it and protect themselves 
 against it. If bribery is an art in which 
 men should be skilled then it should be 
 [ 194 ] 
 
BRIBERY 
 
 taught in our public schools, but bribery 
 is not an art, it is a crime. A briber does 
 not operate in the open, his methods are 
 secret, if he is detected he often flees from 
 justice, but he cannot hide from his con- 
 science or knowledge of his wrong, and it 
 may bring him to the bar of justice. 
 
 A man once came into my office and 
 asked me to give him employment. He told 
 me he had formerly been employed as an 
 officer in a certain court of justice and 
 while acting in that capacity accepted pay- 
 ment and used money for bribing jurors, 
 and when he was discovered he immedi- 
 ately escaped to Canada, and that the men 
 who had hired him to do such work kept 
 him supplied with enough money to live on 
 until the statute of limitations had run 
 against them, and then refused to pay him 
 any more money. He further said he was 
 without money and had been unable to 
 procure employment and was near starva- 
 tion. He then broke into tears for the 
 knowledge of his wrongdoing had made 
 him a nervous wreck. It is hardly neces- 
 sary for me to add that I told him I had 
 [ 195 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 no employment for him. The next I 
 heard of him he had surrendered himself 
 to the legal authorities and was tried for 
 the crime of bribery and sentenced to serve 
 a term in the penitentiary. 
 
 Don't ever let yourself be made a tool 
 of this kind, it would be better to scratch 
 soil in the barnyard with the chickens than 
 to attempt to gain a livelihood by resort- 
 ing to bribery. 
 
 Bribery is unlawful ; it is wrong because 
 it substitutes money for justice, it under- 
 mines the very foundation of property 
 rights and a free form of government. 
 
 In earlier times when two men had a 
 dispute they fought it out with force and 
 arms and the survivor was the victor ; later 
 on civilization devised the plan of having 
 disputes between men settled by trial be- 
 fore impartial judges and jurors; now if 
 it is right for one side to pay money to the 
 judge or the jurors to influence their de- 
 cision it is of course right for the other 
 side to pay money to the judge or jury and 
 it becomes simply a question as to which 
 side can pay the most money this, of 
 [ 196 ] 
 
BRIBERY 
 
 course, results in all principles of justice 
 and right being cast aside and in time 
 would bring about a complete disregard 
 for law, which means anarchy and chaos. 
 It is therefore the duty of all strong men 
 at all times and without exception to 
 do all in their power to stamp out every 
 form of bribery, because it is unlawful and 
 dishonest and is the pathway to revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 Bribery has crept into politics in our 
 country. 
 
 If our form of government is to be main- 
 tained it is necessarily the duty of every 
 man and woman to take an active interest 
 in politics, it is their duty to know about 
 governmental affairs, and about the men 
 whom they elect to office; if voters are 
 careless and indifferent in respect to their 
 civic duties, dishonest men will slip into 
 office, who, when the opportunity comes 
 will seek and accept bribes from persons 
 who think it is to their interest to pay 
 bribes. 
 
 But if there is no bribe giver there can 
 be no bribe taker. Our government is so 
 [ 197 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 separated into legislative, executive and 
 judicial departments that no person need 
 ever be deprived of his right by a dishon- 
 est office holder; it is not necessary for 
 him to pay the bribe, he can obtain his 
 right by pursuing a different course. The 
 strongest, ablest and most successful bus- 
 iness men whom I know do not resort to 
 bribery to accomplish their ends, they are 
 so courageous that it is not necessary for 
 them to pay a bribe to obtain what they 
 are entitled to. They uphold the majesty 
 of the law and fight for their rights, irre- 
 spective of the dishonest office holder. It 
 is the weaker men who resort to bribery, 
 they have neither the patience, intelli- 
 gence nor ability to protect their claims 
 except by bribery, and sooner or later such 
 men are stamped failures; whenever you 
 see bribery, fight it. 
 
 Some may tell you that bribery is ram- 
 pant, that it is everywhere, and that if you 
 would succeed you must yield to it, but 
 that is false, it is not the fact. It is bet- 
 ter and cheaper for corporations to resist 
 bribery, their just ends can be accom- 
 [ 198 ] 
 
BRIBERY 
 
 plished without it, and wherever you find 
 the chief executives resorting to bribery 
 you will generally find the employees 
 lower down the ladder resorting to graft- 
 ing and cheating. Bribery and honesty do 
 not go hand in hand. 
 
 For some years a silent revolution has 
 been going on in our country, the object 
 of which is to overcome dishonest meth- 
 ods, such as bribery and corruption in 
 politics, business, labor and other organ- 
 izations, and the substitution therefor of 
 justice and honesty. A form of govern- 
 ment in which bribery and injustice pre- 
 dominate, whose officers are elected by 
 purchased votes cannot long exist; a bus- 
 iness corporation which is conducted by 
 bribers and grafters cannot eventually suc- 
 ceed, for the lawmakers will continue to 
 enact laws aimed at their methods until 
 such dishonest methods are driven out and 
 suppressed. Business is not war, for "war 
 is hell." Business is almost universally 
 conducted on a fair and honest basis, it is 
 exceptional when it is not, and it is to 
 remedy these exceptions that new legisla- 
 [ 199 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 tion is from time to time invoked. It is 
 the desire and wish of the great majority 
 of the people of our common country to 
 be permitted to live in the enjoyment of 
 freedom and the possession of their prop- 
 erty under just laws. 
 
 Bribers were obnoxious even in the days 
 when the Psalms were written, from 500 
 to 900 years B. C., for in the 26th Psalm 
 we find: 
 
 "Gather not my soul with sinners, 
 Nor my life with men of blood; 
 In whose hands is wickedness, 
 And their right hand is full of bribes, 
 But as for me I will walk in mine in- 
 tegrity." 
 
 And in the Prophets: 
 "For I know how manifold are your trans- 
 gressions, 
 
 And how mighty are your sins, 
 Ye who afflict the just, who take bribes, 
 Who deprive the poor of their rights in 
 courts of justice." 
 
 Abraham Lincoln once said, "I will 
 stand with any man while he stands right, 
 [ 200 ] 
 
BRIBERY 
 
 but I will part with him when he goes 
 wrong." 
 
 Plain, simple honesty is the demand of 
 the times. 
 
 [ 201 ] 
 
LIFE AND DEATH. 
 
 Life has been flowing as a continuous 
 stream through humanity for hundreds of 
 centuries, yes, probably thousands of cen- 
 turies. We do not know the origin of 
 Life, for Nature has kept that as one of 
 her hidden secrets, but we do know that 
 coursing through the blood of man and 
 woman are germs of life, which, when 
 united in the mother's womb create a new 
 human life, and from that moment eternal 
 vigilance is required to protect that Life 
 during its natural days, against Death, 
 which seems to be the companion of Life, 
 ever ready to carry Life back to Nature, 
 we know not where or why. 
 
 The Creator has endowed you with a 
 brain and given you the power, if you will 
 labor, to obtain the right ideas of Nature's 
 laws which govern Life. The penalty 
 which Nature seems to have imposed for 
 the violation of her laws by man is physical 
 [ 202 ] 
 
LIFE AND DEATH 
 
 death, which may be immediate, or de- 
 ferred for a time, depending upon the ex- 
 tent of the violation of her laws. 
 
 We often speak of death (other than 
 from old age) as being the result of acci- 
 dent or weakness, but it would be more ac- 
 curate to say it was the result of the break- 
 ing of some law of Nature by the individ- 
 ual himself or by one of his fellows, it may 
 even have been by one of his ancestors, for 
 the sins of the parent are visited unto suc- 
 ceeding generations. 
 
 Be not too venturesome, and trust not 
 your life in the hands of careless or reck- 
 less persons, when it can be avoided. Keep 
 this in mind not only for your own safety 
 but for the sake of those who love and de- 
 pend upon you. 
 
 When, however, death claims your 
 friend and companion, meet it bravely. 
 Nothing is to be gained by worrying or 
 brooding over that which has happened, 
 but, still cherishing his memory and ob- 
 taining such comfort as you may from re- 
 ligion, give your careful thought to the 
 proper solution of the problems of life 
 [ 203 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 which arise from day to day among the 
 living. 
 
 "Ah! if our sight was piercing enough 
 to discover, where we only see brilliant 
 points on the black background of the sky, 
 resplendent suns which revolve in the ex- 
 panse, and the inhabited worlds which fol- 
 low them in their path, if it were given to 
 us to embrace in a general coup d'oeil 
 these myriads of fire based systems; and 
 if, advancing with the velocity of light we 
 could traverse from century to century this 
 unlimited number of suns and spheres, 
 without ever meeting any limit of this pro- 
 digious immensity where God brings forth 
 worlds and beings; looking behind, but no 
 longer knowing in what part of the in- 
 finite to find this grain of dust called the 
 Earth, we should stop fascinated and con- 
 founded by such a spectacle, and uniting 
 our voice to the concert of universal na- 
 ture we should say from the depths of our 
 soul: Almighty God! how senseless we 
 were to believe that there was nothing be- 
 yond the Earth, and that our abode alone 
 [ 204 ] 
 
LIFE AND DEATH 
 
 possessed the privilege of reflecting Thy 
 greatness and power." 
 
 The diameter of the earth is about 8,000 
 miles. Astronomers tell us the diameter 
 of the sun is 864,000 miles; that the sun is 
 93,000,000 miles distant from the earth; 
 that the distance from the earth to one of 
 the regular stars is nearly 25,000,000,000,- 
 000 miles; that there are a hundred million 
 or more stars in our universe and that 
 some of these stars may be a thousand 
 times the size of our sun. It is impossible 
 for the human mind to grasp the meaning 
 of these figures. Astronomers do not 
 know whether there are other universes 
 beyond the limits of our own, but they con- 
 tend that the physical laws with which we 
 are familiar control throughout the uni- 
 verse. 
 
 Scientific men tell us the earth has been 
 in existence from thirty to fifty million 
 years. 
 
 Biologists tell us that man is the prod- 
 uct of evolution and that he has not 
 changed much in 400,000 years. But the 
 [ 205 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 scientific men have not yet discovered the 
 origin or creation of Life. 
 
 Therefore, in contemplating Life and 
 Death, as everyone does at times, we fall 
 back on religion which is based on the be- 
 lief that there exists in the universe a Cre- 
 ator or controlling mind with which hu- 
 man minds are in communication. Reli- 
 gion exists today among the persons of 
 the highest intelligence as well as among 
 the illiterate and even the savages, and it 
 has existed throughout the known history 
 of mankind. 
 
 God's purpose seems to be the gradual 
 advancement to a higher plane of useful- 
 ness in our daily life of each individual 
 who co-operates with Him, but when He 
 takes as He gives the Spirit of Life, we 
 do not know His further purpose and we 
 thus abide on earth, each in our individual 
 religious faith. 
 
 But those who have abiding faith in the 
 guidance of their Divine Creator seem to 
 be able to bear their sorrow and adversity, 
 and success and prosperity, with equanim- 
 ity. 
 
 [ 206 ] 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN. 
 
 "The mighty hopes which make us 
 men." 
 
 Every thoughtful boy hopes and expects 
 to become a real man, and to be a man 
 among his fellow men. He must have am- 
 bition, and enough conceit to justly think 
 well of himself. He must first learn how 
 to do well one thing which is useful to 
 men and attain therein the highest effi- 
 ciency possible for him at the time. 
 
 Initiative is imperative. Plan out a 
 course of action and then go ahead with 
 it step by step, don't lay back and expect 
 someone to lead you all the time; if you 
 want to talk over some proposition with 
 another man, go and see him, don't wait 
 for him to come and see you ; keep pushing 
 your plan forward all the time and don't 
 let a day slip by without having made some 
 progress. Be thorough in your work, and 
 master every detail. Be satisfied to begin 
 [ 207 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 at the bottom, and having learned the sim- 
 pler things in the work you have under- 
 taken you will advance gradually, but 
 don't aspire to the next higher place un- 
 til you know you are qualified to do the 
 work. 
 
 Let patience be your watchword; if a 
 thing does not work out the way you ex- 
 pect it, study it over and find the reason 
 for the failure, there is a cause for every- 
 thing, but it often requires great patience 
 to find it; having found the cause of the 
 failure, you will avoid making the same 
 mistake in the future, and thus good will 
 come out of even failure. You remember 
 the old saying, "If at first you don't suc- 
 ceed, try, try again," which means perse- 
 verance. Then there is another one which 
 runs, "Everything comes to him who 
 waits"; I would add to this, provided he 
 works in the meantime intelligently, and 
 has the strength to live through the period 
 of watchful waiting. The sun always ap- 
 pears again after the darkness of night, 
 and it always shines again after a storm; 
 and so after long, patient and intelligent 
 [ 208 ] 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN 
 
 toil comes success to brighten your days 
 and reward your effort. 
 
 Intelligence, is demanded in all your 
 work, and you must bring into use the 
 things you have learned while you were 
 obtaining your education. You have 
 learned how to reason and think for your- 
 self, exercise these powers constantly; the 
 person who does not take the time to 
 think things over, necessarily makes many 
 mistakes; spend part of each day alone, 
 thinking over the problems of your work, 
 and frequently advise with others, by so 
 doing you not only obtain the benefit of 
 others' experience, but develop your own 
 thoughts and ideas upon the subject. 
 
 Personal appearance, is of importance in 
 your contact with men ; be neat, clean and 
 well dressed, and wear the appearance of 
 prosperity and success even though you 
 are struggling. The man whose clothes 
 are soiled and shabby, whose shoes are run 
 down at the heel and unpolished, is work- 
 ing under a handicap when he meets 
 strangers, for he generally wears the ex- 
 pression of failure. 
 
 [ 209 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 Cultivate good manners, and be polite in 
 your daily contact with persons. Learn 
 the art of conversation which is a medium 
 of exchange of ideas, don't be silent like a 
 mummy, enter into the spirit of the occa- 
 sion; it is better to talk, even if by so do- 
 ing you disclose some ignorance, you can 
 at least ask questions and thus gain some 
 information. It is well also to learn to be 
 a good listener for if one monopolizes the 
 entire conversation, it ceases to be conver- 
 sation and becomes a discourse or lecture 
 which is not appropriate on many occa- 
 sions. 
 
 Good manners, will make you thought- 
 ful of the comfort of others, and combined 
 with intelligent conversation will make 
 you an agreeable companion. Read some 
 books on good manners and inform your- 
 self on the arts of diplomacy. It is the 
 many little pleasantries with your daily as- 
 sociates that makes life agreeable to those 
 around you and to yourself. 
 
 The power of endurance, is a great asset 
 in obtaining success; the average youth 
 can acquire physical strength and health 
 [ 210 ] 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN 
 
 and keep them until old age if he will learn 
 and daily observe the rules which govern 
 the operation of his human machine. There 
 is no reason why you should be ignorant 
 upon this subject, you should have some 
 knowledge concerning all of the vital or- 
 gans and functions of your body, this can 
 be easily and quickly obtained by reading 
 one or more good books written by doc- 
 tors upon this subject, such as one en- 
 titled "Health, Strength and Happiness." 
 Then as you advance in years, read some 
 books on "How to Play Golf" and play the 
 game. God has given you the senses with 
 which you may enjoy the fresh, brisk air, 
 the beauties of the turf, trees and land- 
 scape, the companionship of genial friends, 
 the exhilaration of the mind and body that 
 follows from agreeable exercise and a 
 spirited contest. These, and more, are all 
 realized in a game of golf. Golf drives 
 fatigue from the mind, and refreshes it 
 for the better solution of your real prob- 
 lems. Golf makes new friends for you and 
 prolongs the enjoyment of life. It is rap- 
 idly becoming the national pastime, for it 
 [ 211 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 is beneficial to the old, middle aged and 
 young alike. 
 
 Honesty if there is one thing more 
 than another absolutely required in the 
 elements which mark a man among men, 
 it is honesty. If you haven't honesty, men 
 will neither trust nor honor you. A baby 
 does not know the difference between the 
 truth and falsehood; every youth must be 
 trained in the principles of honesty. 
 
 Men demand in their intercourse with 
 each other that they be told the truth, the 
 whole truth and nothing but the truth, and 
 if you fall short of this requirement you 
 must pay the price which is sometimes 
 very severe, it may be a term in the peni- 
 tentiary, where you will have plenty of 
 time to think over the error of lying or 
 other dishonest act. Never knowingly tell 
 a lie, or attempt to deceive, for sooner or 
 later the truth will be discovered, and you 
 will suffer for your falseness. Always 
 speak and act the truth, whether it is to 
 your immediate advantage or not, for a 
 clear conscience, and a reputation for 
 truthfulness and honor will be more valu- 
 [ 2.12 ] 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN 
 
 able to you than anything you could pos- 
 sibly gain by lying or by dishonesty. "An 
 honest man is the noblest work of God," 
 and there are not too many of them. The 
 statement has been made, based upon re- 
 liable information, that not more than 
 one person in a thousand is thoroughly 
 honest. It is necessary for our federal 
 and state governments to spend many mil- 
 lions of dollars each year for the prose- 
 cution and punishment of dishonest per- 
 sons. It is a wise precaution not to trust 
 any person until you have first obtained 
 accurate information concerning his hon- 
 esty, for there are many persons seeking 
 to obtain money by various fraudulent 
 schemes, false representations and plain 
 thievery, some of whom appear in the 
 guise of beggars. A violator of the laws 
 of the land cannot be a man among men. 
 
 Be strong and courageous, and fight, if 
 necessary, for the preservation of your 
 country and the right. 
 
 In your financial transactions be ac- 
 curate and careful. 
 
 Money is a measure of the value of serv- 
 [ 213 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 ice or property. To succeed in your busi- 
 ness you must be able to save something 
 out of each dollar of business; you must 
 be able to sell your product for more than 
 its total cost, and in ascertaining what is 
 the total cost you must not fail to include 
 every detail of expense. But above all you 
 must learn to save money, remember the 
 word "save" which means sacrificing for 
 the present something you would like to 
 have. When you have saved a thousand 
 dollars or more and have it safely invested 
 or loaned out at interest, that money is 
 working for you day and night, or rather 
 the borrower of it is working for you. Be- 
 gin when you are a boy to earn and save 
 money, even if only a few dollars, invest it 
 and let the interest accumulate, it will 
 prove an object lesson of very great value 
 to you in after life. You must have fore- 
 sight and make some provision for a rainy 
 day. 
 
 In order to make money you must have 
 some commodity or service to sell which is 
 wanted by other persons; the greater the 
 [ 214 ] 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN 
 
 demand for your commodity or service, 
 the more money you ought to make. 
 
 Persons or corporations who employ in- 
 dividuals to work for them in their busi- 
 ness generally make a profit out of the 
 services of each employee, and if they do 
 not make such profit their business will 
 not be profitable. 
 
 Never make any investment or engage 
 in any business venture or enterprise un- 
 til you have made, or had made by com- 
 petent and reliable experts, a most thor- 
 ough and exhaustive examination of the 
 property in which you expect to become 
 financially interested. Business enterprises 
 are frequently not what they seem to be. 
 Proceed slowly, but promptly and with 
 safety, for safety in your investments is of 
 greater importance than the prospect of 
 big profits, which frequently do not come. 
 Do not be afraid to borrow money for use 
 in your business, the most successful men 
 are among the biggest borrowers of 
 money. 
 
 Never buy the stock or bonds of a cor- 
 poration which is controlled by men who 
 [ 215 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 are not honorable, for sooner or later by 
 some trick or scheme they will get your 
 money away from you. "Almost any man 
 can make money but it takes a wise man 
 to keep it." While you are helping others 
 if there is any profit see that you get 
 your just share. 
 
 "Put up the bars" don't stop and leave 
 the work you have in hand half finished, 
 close it up properly and as it ought to be 
 done. Be strong in every act of life. Learn 
 all of the true facts involved in a problem 
 before you make your decision. 
 
 However successful you may be, don't 
 get a "swelled head" for this is a sure sign 
 the job is bigger than the man behind the 
 gun. A man with a "swelled head" always 
 abuses his power and sooner or later loses 
 out. Keep your nerves steady and have a 
 reserve force ready for any emergency. 
 Don't get excited or mad, for "whom the 
 Gods wish to destroy they first make mad." 
 
 Books the best of books, ancient and 
 modern, of biography, history, economics, 
 science and literature contain the expe- 
 rience and learning of the ablest men who 
 [ 216 ] 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN 
 
 have lived. Surround yourself with such 
 books, read them from week to week, and 
 make companions of these master minds, 
 the knowledge of their experience thus 
 gained will add to your own many hundred 
 fold. 
 
 Travel, gives to every person a broader 
 culture and a better knowledge of his own 
 or a foreign country than he can obtain in 
 any other way. When you have person- 
 ally visited Washington, or San Francisco, 
 or Mexico City, or Quebec, or London, or 
 Rome, or any of the other great centers of 
 civilization, you always thereafter have a 
 greater interest in the affairs of the peo- 
 ple of those communities than you had 
 before. You have seen with your own eyes 
 the different countries, and observed the 
 manners and customs of different peoples 
 and you have a better understanding of 
 their ambitions and requirements ; you will 
 thereafter read with more interest the cur- 
 rent news of the day from these different 
 localities and converse with greater intel- 
 ligence with fellow travelers upon these 
 [ 217 ] 
 
IDEAS FOR BOYS 
 
 topics. Money and time spent in travel is 
 well invested. 
 
 Be just, give to every man that which 
 belongs to him, and accord to every man 
 the greatest of individual liberty compat- 
 ible with the same liberty for others. 
 Every strong man has enemies, but you 
 can even be just to them and forgive them 
 as you hope to be forgiven. 
 
 Don't take yourself too seriously, for 
 there are some persons whose views are 
 entitled to as much weight, if not more, 
 than your own. 
 
 Be of good cheer, happy and contented 
 with your lot, for there are many others 
 worse off than you, but ever keep smiling 
 and pushing on. 
 
 Selfishness, is the underlying motive of 
 theft and crime as well as the lesser evils of 
 life. The person who is continually accept- 
 ing and never giving cannot be liked by 
 his fellows, therefore, be generous and 
 kind in your words and in your acts. Create 
 around yourself a spirit of fairness and 
 justice, and you will not see so many faults 
 in your brother. 
 
 [ 218 ] 
 
A MAN AMONG MEN 
 
 Your character which is you, your soul, 
 whatever you may be, build it up and im- 
 prove it from day to day by kind, cour- 
 ageous, intelligent, just and generous acts 
 toward those with whom you live and asso- 
 ciate; you will thus learn the art of right 
 living with your fellows and know how to 
 accomplish things worth while with men. 
 Your character is always known, and 
 changes from time to time; it is so clear 
 that it shines out even through your eyes 
 and is known by your appearance as well 
 as by your words and acts. Make your 
 character so right, so strong and clear that 
 he who runs may read it. 
 
 Nothing great was ever accomplished 
 without enthusiasm. Life is wonderful and 
 is a series of surprises and "holds a penalty 
 for every wrong, but none to virtue or to 
 wisdom." Recognize the divinity of your 
 life, and commune each day with your Cre- 
 ator that He may lead you, a lovable and 
 true man, a man among His men. 
 
 [ 219 ] 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 BERKELEY 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY