ABSTRACT
The man who wears coarse clothing and adopts a frugal style of life is easily misunderstood. He is often despised and regarded as a barbarian or an unprogressive person. The man with a robust spirit who concentrates on the realisation of a single ambition is regarded as proud and reactionary and may even be ostracised by society. The man who observes the proprieties and cultivates virtue is blamed for his bigotry. The economical man who applies himself closely to his affairs is often regarded as a miser. The man who loves wide human contacts and who seeks the praise rendered to benevolence! is frequently called a hypocrite and a flatterer. The man who applies himself to the pursuit of learning, to the mastery of a profession, to the cultivation of his intellect and to the perfection of his character is often discriminated against as an ignoble creature and a hypocritical opportunist who is merely seeking means to increase his own
popularity. Men who devote themselves to the public good or spend their whole lives in the service of the state are often attacked on the ground that they are sacrificing the nation to personal interests. Can we not all recognise these tendencies as the common defects of the world in which we live? The fact that the citizens of this Empire are unique among the peoples of the earth in freedom from such tendencies, the fact that they alone among all nations are able to display such lofty and superior qualities is due entirely and in every instance to the teachings and the grace of our Emperor.
