The Commoner.
WILLIAH J. BRYAN, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR.
Vol. 2. No. 19.
Lincoln, Nebraska, May 30, 1902.
Whole No. 71.
THE VALUE OF
AN EDUCATION.
With the annual return of the commencement
season comes the recurring question, Does higher
education fit its possessor for a more successful
life? In 1836 a prominent divine endeavored to ex
plain the opposition to the gold standard on the
theory that farmers' sons were heing educated too
much, and thus made "dissatisfied with the posi
tion God intended them to fill." The remark called
forth a great deal of criticism, because it betrayed
an indifference to the welfare of the people as well
as ignorance in regard to the money question.
About a year ago Mr. Schwab, president of the
steel trust, made a speech before a New York
school in which he declared that very few of the
prominent business men had received a collegiate
education, and he insisted that a boy who left
school at sixteen or seventeen and went to work
would get such a start that the boy who went to
college until he was twenty or twenty-one could
never overtake him. Reference is made to the
views expressed by these two men, one conspic
uous in the ministry and the other known as th
highest salaried business man in the United States,
because they present the two arguments uaually
made against a collegiate training, first, T;hat it
makes a person dissatisfied with his condition, and,
second, that it is a waste of time.
Neither argument is sound. Contentment with
one's lot is only a virtue when the person has
done all within his power to improve his condi
tion. To say that contentment regardless of one's
situation is to be commended is to bring an indict
ment against all progress. All development of
body, of mind and of heart comes from the fact
that one is dissatisfied with his present develop
ment. Contentment, as it is preached by some,
would have left the farmer ploughing with a
crooked stick, if, in fact, it would not have stopped
him before he began to plough at all. The desire
for more knowledge is the beginning of progress.
One defect in the doctrine of those who con
demn higher education and it is a fatal one is
that they never apply it to themselves or to those
immediately related to them. The man who would
curtail the educational opportunities of people gen
erally would, as a rule, make an exception in re
gard to his own children and those in whom he
feels an especial interest But no one is able to act
as a censor in such a matter; no one is wise enough
to decide in advance which child ought to be edu
cated. The great men of one generation some
times, yes, usually, come up from the ranks, not
from the leaders of the former generation. And the
nation must educate all of its people in order that
it may have the largest possible number to draw
from.
If a person regards his education as a piece of
jewelry to be worn as an ornament, or as a thing
to be used for his personal pleasure, it will be of
limited service to him; if, however, he regards it
as a means of making him more useful and finds
his pleasure in the utilization of his education for
the welfare of his fellows he cannot possibly have
too much of mental discipline and instruction.
A successful life might well bo described as a
mountain spring that continually gives forth that
which refreshes and invigorates. A spring cannot
bo too largo, neither can its waters bo too puro.
And a life that continually overflows with helpful
ness is refined and purified by the influence of
higher education.
The second objection rests upon a fallacy that
ought to bo detected by any practical man. Tho
time spent in school is economically spent. A
workman does not lose the time spent in sharpen
ing his tools, for his increased efficiency far more
than compensates for tho timo spent in prepara
tion. As well might one object to eating, on the
ground that It takes timo from work; without eat
ing he would soon be unable to work. As well
might one criticise tho time spent in sleeping, on
tho ground that it lessens tho working hours;
without the rest and recuperation which sleep
gives it would bo impossible to work at all. And
so the student without discipline would work
clumsily and ineffectively. Ho is short-sighted
who envies the man who accumulates a few dollars
during tho years that ought to be spent in school;
he who stores his mind with useful knowledge
and fits himself to grasp and deal with tho
problems of life has a capital far more valuable
and far more secure than any that can bo meas
ured by lands, or houses, or bank account.
But even if an education did not fit one for
money-making it ought to fit him to measure life
.Jjy ' a -higher standard than that applied by tho
miser and the monopolist. 'The man who applies
the Golden Rule to life lives upon a higher plane
than the man who applies the Rule" of Gold, ixo
one is quite above the level of the brute who con
siders mere wealth in estimating success in in
dividual or national life. If food and physical de
velopment are all that one wants the beasts of tho
fields may surpass him; if fine apparel is man's
chief desire tho flowers and the birds outstrip
him; if his only thought is of himself, and if he
only labors to gratify himself, he puts himself
in the class with the vulture and tho glutton. He
only values life as he should who recognizes it as
a responsibility no less than a privilege and
strives to measure up to his opportunities. If his
ideals are lofty enough to keep his face turned up
ward to the very end of life and Ills principles aro
strong enough to keep him always moving for
ward he will find the very highest education and
the most extensive knowledge insufficient to grati
fy his ambition to serve.
JJJ
Memorial Day.
Once more the matron and the maid,
the veteran and the verdant youth,
wend their way to the city of the dead
and make, the mound-marked beds of
the nation's sleeping patriots beautiful
and fragrant with floral offerings of ar
fection and gratitude.
, Peace to tho ashes of those who havo
fought in tho wars that are past, and
to their survivors wisdom and strength
to win victories In the future, whether
they be triumphs of arms or triumphs
of peace.
WHY NOT PROTEST
AGAINST ALL TRUSTS?
Tho Missouri and Kansas bankers, at tholr
convention held In Kansas City on May 15, adopted
the following resolution:
Resolved, That tho members of this asso
ciation havo carefully listened to tho recent
discussion of tho subject of branch banking
as advocated by tho able gentlemen from tho
east, and combatted by some of the ablest and
best known membors of this state association
and of our neighboring stato of Nebraska, and
wo hereby affirm our unswerving allegiance
to that view of tho proposltlpn which con
demns it in all its forms as being unpatriotic,
un-American, unbusiness-llke and as tending
to establish a monopoly of tho great and hon
ored business of banking in tho hands of a
few millionaires, to tho exclusion of the men
of the west, old and young, who have labored
so faithfully and well to make our banking
system what it is today, the best in the known
world.
It has been a habit of tho republican man
agers to use bankers' conventions very generally
for the adoption of resolutions giving cordial ap
proval to republican policies. Tho bankers' con
ventions figured very conspicuously in the last two
presidential campaigns. .
While the Missouri and Kansas bankers aro
to be congratulated upon having the courage to
denounce ono republican scheme, it is not out of
place to direct attention to tho fact that this is
the first occasion wherein a convention df bankers
has gone on record against a trust.
Is it not significant that during all tho timo
that plans were being laid for tho organization
of trusts that prey upon tho people generally, no
banker's association was heard to make a protest,
but, on tho contrary, bankers' associations, very
generally gave ready encouragement to tho polit
ical party which thoy know was the faithful guard
ion of trusts?
Now that the trust system which many bank
ers havo told has "come to stay" begins to en
croach upon the banker's domain; now that tho
shoe pinches tho banker's foot, ho is heard to pro
test against tho banking trust as being "unpa
triotic, un-American, unbusiness-liko, and as tend
ing to establish a monopoly of the great and hon
ored business of banking In the hands of a few
millionaires, to the exclusion of the men of tha
west, old and young, who have labored so faith
fully and well to make our banking system what it
is today, the best In tho known world."
Is It not somewhat strange that these gentle
men did not think of these things in the presence
of other trusts?
Every trust that is in existence today, that has
risen upon the wrecks of smaller corporations,
has been "unpatriotic;" it has been "un-American;"
it has been unbusiness-liko;" it has tended
"to establish monopoly of a great and honored
.business," to place that particular business in tho
hands of "a few millionaires, to the exclusion of
tho men of the west," of the south, of the east
and of the north, old and young, who had labored
"so faithfully and well" to make their particular
business successful.
The tendencyof the banking trust will be a
drive out of business independent bankers and to