The Cowboy - OpEd

He’d come west several years before after the loss of his wife, drawn by the vastness of the land and the opportunity to test himself against the rigors of life on the range. Despite his unlikely appearance that earned him the name “four eyes”, he had prevailed. He’d won the respect of both owners and ranch hands by his indefatigable spirit and toughness. They had even made him a deputy sheriff to chase down the outlaw, Redhead Finnegan, and their confidence had been rewarded when he caught the outlaw after a grueling chase. Now in 1886 he operated two ranches and had been asked to address the first Fourth of July picnic in Dickinson, Dakota Territory. The cowboy worked hard on his speech and with a small group of his friends, jumped aboard the eastbound freight in Medora just after daylight and arrived in Dickinson, 50 miles to the east, in plenty of time for the festivities. Trestle tables filled the town’s square for the large crowd that had gathered for the parade and the festivities. After the parade and the prayers, the speeches began.

The cowboy was last, and the crowd had become restive. He began in a reedy voice that carried to the back of the crowd and drew catcalls from some of them; next the bright sunlight reflected off of his spectacles blinding him and right into someone eyes in the front of the crowd. This was not a promising start, and the speaker removed his spectacles and poked fun at his own inability to read his speech. Buoyed by their laughs and cheers he began again.

“…But as you already know your rights and privileges

So well, I am going to ask you to excuse me if I say a few words about your duties. Much has been given to us…and we must take heed to use aright the gifts entrusted to our care. It is not what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in which we use it.” The cowboy continued…he liked “big things” and did not undervalue America’s material prosperity, “But we must keep steadfastly in mind that no people were ever yet benefited by riches if their prosperity corrupted their virtue.”

President’s Day 2006, 120 years later, we are still being tested. We do have much for which to be grateful. Yet for so many of us who have been so singularly blessed there is no peace. We scratch at our good fortune like an itch that has now become a soar. We are afraid to celebrate our good fortune and the values that got us here. While we languish, the promise of this land continues to lure pioneers from the farthest corners of the globe, all thirsting for freedom and the opportunity to make a better life. We have just left behind our season of joy and thanksgiving, but I worry that in the affluence we have achieved and the never ceasing attempts to recognize constitutionally protected “new rights,” we may as a people have lost sight of our duties to stand up for what we have.

I founded the Free Enterprise Foundation because along with our board and co-founders, I believe that as citizens of this great land, we have a responsibility to each other to define ethics broadly. It is not just adherence to a general notion of fair play that makes us ethical. We must consistently be decent to each other and affirmatively support our communities. We look to government for many services to enhance our welfare and are disappointed. Bureaucracy, waste, outright graft and all around failure to get the job done confront us. Government is needed to protect our security but increasingly we see that it is the volunteer effort of thousands of good citizens from around our great land that has the power, the skill and the persistence of the giving spirit to transform our society into the world of which we dream. Duty is as much a part of the American ethic as is liberty. Without acceptance of our duties, freedom will perish.

Corporations, which draw their existence and their privileges from the state, have a special responsibility to foster an ethical culture that permeates their every fiber. Our Foundation reaches out to recognize those enterprises that do and to provide tools of Best Practice to all. We also intend to educate the public on the continuing need to keep the cowboy’s words ever in mind. As for the Cowboy, though he soon returned to the East, he is still very much a part of the Dakota landscape gazing out from Mt Rushmore. Theodore Roosevelt never shirked his duty, and we as citizens should do no less.

_._

Robert E. Freer, Jr is a Visiting Professor and the John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence at The Citadel and a regular contributor to the Mercury.

Charleston Mercury February 16, 2006. Page 16.

Best Friend of Charleston - OpEd

Not long after its founding in 1670, mercantile interests in Charleston became leaders in broadening commerce and transportation to assure profitable markets for this region’s precious cotton, indigo, rice and other products not available in more northerly climes. It has been a leader in broadening commerce and transportation ever since. Recently a replica of The Best Friend of Charleston spent time on Wall Street to celebrate Norfolk Southern being listed on The New York Stock Exchange. This article is by way of a cheer and a prayer

What an auspicious day! It was Christmas 1830 in Charleston, South Carolina, and Nick Darrell pinched himself at the luck that had befallen him. Since October 1830 when the contraption in front of him arrived on a packet boat from New York, he had worked hard to assemble and test it and now was to make history. Before him in its festive and seasonally appropriate green and red paint stood The Best Friend of Charleston, the first steam locomotive in the United States to establish regularly scheduled rail service. It was all going to start today, and he was its engineer. He was really excited; bands played, and the sound of firearm salutes exploded into the sky.

Today the locomotive was only going to run six miles on its wood and metal rails, but it was intended to quickly open up the interior to reliable and fast connection with Charleston. The Charleston Courier described this first trip in the following terms, “The one hundred and forty one persons flew on the wings of wind at the speed of fifteen to twenty-five miles per hour, annihilating time and space…leaving all the world behind….” Though this first trip went without incident, the Best Friend’s future was to be short lived, a careless fireman, tied down the pressure relief valve on the engine, and it blew up within two months of its maiden trip.

Not to be thwarted, however, it was rebuilt as “The Phoenix” and along with a second engine named “The West Point”; the railroad pierced the continent—or at least as far as the 136 miles to North Augusta. Along with four additional engines, it succeeded in returning prosperity to Charleston and revolutionizing freight and passenger transportation. No longer dependent on river or weather conditions, commerce boomed. Mr. Darrell didn’t realize how potent a force this bit of free enterprise had loosed on the nation. Before he died in December 1869, he would see not just one state spanned but the whole country.

In May 1869 at Promontary Point, Utah, the symbolic golden spike was struck creating an endless ribbon of steel binding the nation together. Rather than taking months to span the nation, travelers could span it in a week. Of course today the miracle of free enterprise and technology allow us to span the country in a few hours, and our images, voices, and data span the globe in microseconds. Today we gather not to see a train take leave but to see a Rocket hurtle men into space. Today we can create a permanent environment for man to work and live in space, and today we reach out to the stars. Truly the imagination and determination of a free people are daily demonstrating what can be accomplished when they are allowed to seek what their imaginations tell them is possible.

I ask, however, that you do not allow unbridled enthusiasm for technology’s gifts to blind us to the hazards of falling into the hazards of its thrall. Man has a dual nature. Man has both mind and soul. Good and evil both come from our inventiveness. Without time for the soul to contemplate, to feel the rightness of the order in the universe, our journey is pointless. We ask our Creator how He permits so much misery here on earth, but we deafen ourselves to His echoing question back. It is for our better nature to respond to the suffering we’ve created. While curing disease is for the uniquely qualified, many embody consistent kindnesses to all they meet: the willingness to cut their brother a break, to reach out to the burdened with a smile, a hug, and a helping hand. Everyone in our society is a roughly hewn stone, but through simple considerations we can polish ourselves into gleaming jewels. Charleston and the Low country seem to have an almost permanent lock on the national crown as the most courteous city in the nation; so, I expect I am largely preaching to the choir, but I ask that you encourage compassionate humanity towards all of the living jewels you encounter each day.

You too can and should be such a jewel. Technology has provided so much to us, but we must never forget that it serves us, not we it. A great man I knew who died recently startled me by suggesting the accelerating agility of machines meant that “silicon” based “life” could replace “carbon” based intelligence within 50 years. That is the risk recently explored in my column on “To Nano or Not to Nano”. To prevent that from occurring, we must grow our souls and humanity to rival our mental acuity or be undone by our own machines. After all, it is our humanity that connects us. Bless each of you…pass it on! You too can be a best friend of Charleston!

_._

Robert E. Freer, Jr., an attorney, former general counsel of Kimberly-Clark Corporation and sometimes federal government official is President and CEO of The Free Enterprise Foundation, a tax-exempt think tank located at The Citadel dedicated to the study of Ethics, Civic Responsibility, Leadership and Enterprise Best Practice. Mr. Freer is also a visiting professor and The John S. Grinalds Leader in Residence at The Citadel’s School of Business Administration.

Charleston Mercury February 2, 2006. Page 16.