-' yjnm(
5- .TCfelM.
2
.r.nivnri. Nnlhlnir but a proper conception of
tlio creature's stewardship under the Creator can
protect the individual from the rust of Inaction,
tlio wear of excess and tho waste that arises from
a perverted use of tho powers of the body.
If civilization can ho defined and I know
of no bettor definition as tho harmonious de
velopment of the human race, physically, men
tally and morally, then each individual, whether
liis influence is perceptible or not, raises tho
level of tho civilization of his age just in pro
portion as lie contributes to tho world's work a
body, a mind and a heart capable of maximum
effort. No one lives unto himself or dies unto
himsolf. The tie that binds each human being
to every other human being is one that cannot
bo severed. Wo cannot without blame invite a
physical weakness that can bo avoided or con
tinuo one which can bo remedied. The burdens
to bo borne are great enough to tax the resources
of all when servico is rendered under tho most
favorablo conditions; no one has a right to offer
less than the best within his power.
Every kind of sport, every form of exercise
that contributes to the development of the body,
without mental deterioration or an impairment
of tho moral forces, can bo encouraged. Not
only does the body demand attention in the grow
ing years, but it requires continuous care through
out the entire life. A stunted body is the penalty
for overwork in the child, a weak body the pen
alty of lack of exercise, but nature's punishments
are not visited upon youth alone. The over
worked or underfed man or woman can not es
cape nature's penalty, neither can those escape
who, fancying themselves more fortunate, invite
tlio evils of idleness and overfeeding. An emi
nent Swiss, Carl Hllty, in his book on "Happi
ness" declares that regular employment at some
work which satisfies the conscience and the judge
ment is essential to any true enjoyment of life,
and Tolstoy quotes with approval the opinion of
a Russian writer, Bonderef, who insists that sys
tematic manual labor is a religious duty as well
as a physical requirement. If any one sup
poses that education should relieve him from a
personal knowledge of bread-labor "the primary
struggle with nature" he is in grievous error.
At present the strength of the race is materially
lessened by the decay consequent upon the idle
ness of those who have come to regard physical
toil- as a disgrace (unless endured for amuse
ment), and tlio average length of life is shortened
by those who convert the normal fifnction of eat
ing into gluttony. Those who approach life in
the right spirit and seek the highest develop
ment must in the very beginning understand the
Importance gf so .mastering the body and its
forces as to make them potent for good. In the
care of the body three things are necessary:
First, food sufficient in quantity and proper in
quality to insure growth until maturity and health
afterwards. At present we have at one extreme
those who suffer from lack of nourishing food and
at the opposite extreme those who ruin their
health with high living. Second, the body needs
exercise sufficient in quantity and kind to keep
it in good working order. At present a large
number, young and old, work too long, while, on
the other hand, man. do not work at all. Third,
the body needs rest sufficient for recuperation.
Today a portion of the population have too little
opportunity for rest, while others rest until they
become weary of resting.
It is hardly necessary to add that no habit,
however pleasant it may be, can with wisdom
be acquired or with safety continued, which in
creases the probability of sickness, tends to
weaken the body in its struggles with diseases,
or in any other way impairs the vital forces. The
total drain upon the nation's strength resulting
from the use of liquor and tobacco can scarcely
bo estimated, not to speak of other forms of dis
sipation. But man must be more than a perrect animal;
he does not rise above the level of the beast if he
permits his thoughts to rest entirely upon blood,
and bone and muscle. Tho prolongation of life
would., scarcely bo worth the effort, or the ward
ing off of disease reward the care, if there were
not more in human life than food, toil and rest.
The presence of these graduates, attended
by parents, relatives and friends, is evidence that
there is in this community a recognition, of tho
importance of tho training of tho mind". The
scholastic course prescribed by our educators and
paid for out of tho productive labor of the state,
represents a considerable pecuniary outlay. No
compulsory legal requirements are necessary to
convince a largo majority of tho parents of tho
Bhort-sightcdness of denying to a child the men
tal training given by our schools. From the first
day in tho kindergarten to the last day in the
university, the student follows a path marked
out by discriminating wisdom and guarded by
The Commoner.
sympathetic interest. Those who are foolish
enough to exchange the permanent ad
vantage of an education for tho temporary gain
of remunerative employment, have, as a rule,
a protracted season of repentance. As the work
man gains rather than loses- by the time em
ployed in sharpening his tools, sothe student ac
cumulates more capital by careful preparation
than he can by too early an entrance upon money
making. There is in some quarters a disposition
to regard what is contemptuously called book
learning" as of little value except in the profes
sions. No error can be more harmful, and it
arises from a misconception of the purpose of
education. Books are not to bo despised; they
contain the best thought of the authors and these
best thoughts are again sifted by time. AVhile
one should know people as well as the written
page, still books are faithful friends.
Even if the student's thoughts were centered
upon himself there could be no excuse for inade
quate preparation or for the attempt sometimes
made to substitute technical training for general
instruction. But when it is remembered that
instruction is not purely for the benefit of the
individual, but for the public as well, the import
ance of a liberal education becomes still moro
apparent. The person who understands the fund
amental principles of science can render a larger
service than one who is ignorant of the lines
along which nature acts; mathematics teach ex
actness in thought and argument; literature and
language give readiness, expression and illustra
tion, while history equips us with that knowledge
ol the past which is essential to a proper estimate
of the future. And how shall we excuse the
blindness of those if there be such who, be
lieving in popular institutions would deny to the
masses a knowledge of political economy, soci
ology and the science of government a knowl
edge so useful in the discharge of the high duties
of citizenship? Whether a boy intends to dig
ditches, follow the plow, lay brick upon brick,
join timber to timber, devote himself to mer
chandising, enter a profession, engage in teach
ing, expound the Scriptures, or in some other
honorable way make his contribution to society,
I am anxious that he shall have all the education
that our schools can furnish. He will do better
work for his education; he will have his mind for
his companion and will not be tempted to loaf
upon the streets, when the day's work is done,
and he will be in a position to demand reasonable
conditions, reasonable terms and reasonable com
pensation for those who toil.
Where an edupation has seemed to be a detri
ment in business or has yielded a less dividend
than might properly be expected, it can be traced
to a deficit in purpose rather than to a surplus
of learning.
And this leads us to the consideration of the
necessity for a moral development to accompany
mental training. An athlete ,bent on mischief
can do more harm than a dwarf or an invalid;
and so, a well disciplined mind, misdirected, is
capable of doing more serious damage than an
ignorant mind. Society is poorly repaid for the
money spent upon education if the one who
profits by the expenditure feels ashamed to co
operate with those whose toil supplies him with
food and clothing. That labor is dignified, that
work is honorable, is a truth which needs to be
impressed upon every young man and upon every
young woman. It is worthier by far to add some
thing to the world's store of wealth than to spend
the money that others have earned. We must
have food, and clothing and shelter, and we must
earn these things or some one must give them
to us. A young man's self-respect ought to make
him ashamed to sponge upon the world for a liv
ing; he ought to insist upon repaying with inter
est the service which society renders him; and
this rule applies to young women as wemas to
young men, for the forms of service are infinite
and the return that women make to society is
as valuable as the return made by men. The
essential thing is that each person, man or
woman, shall recognize the obligation to con
tribute in helpfulness.
There is no place for the drone in human so-,
ciety, and as public opinion becomes moro en
lightened we shall give less regard to those, how
ever refined or well educated, who consult their
own pleasure at the expense of others and more
consideration to the bread winners whose hands
aro calloused and whoso brows are acquainted
with perspiration.
There is evident on every side a distortion of
view as to the relative desirability of a life of
productive .labor as compared with a life of lux
urious ease, and a widening gulf seems to" divide
the two. This should not be true. The bud, bloom
ng in beauty and fragrance, might as justly scorn
the roots of the rosebud because they come into
contact with the soil, as that any man, however
VOLUME 5, NUMBER 2J
4
trained in mind or supplied with means .v,
hold in contempt those who with hvJm
4r.",u m
miiKnlfi r.natf tho annual nrnn ftvi -n..
71 ,."" i;.":vri7rt- lix. ."uluuier earth
luainun mo xauiw wiiiuii protects mm from hi
and cold, or bring fuel from the coal mines
An odiiflntlnn a Innnmnlnl-n .1.1-1 . "
An education is incomnlofn whini, .i.
e a noble purpose behind mental trnuS?1
and make the hands willing to work. Tho tt!
otirmlrfr iilHrna olv Tin fVio 1o.4. 1. . orK
should' ultimately be the largest work of whH
the hands are capable, but at all times it ai, ,,.
be the work that most needs to be done That
education is also defective which so inflames
one's vanity or bo shrivels one's heart as to sena
rate him in sympathy from his fellows. Educa
tion has been known to do this yes, education
has even been known j to make a graduate
ashamed of his parents.- A Chicago paper re
cently reported such a case. A mother who had
been denied the- advantages of the schools, but
wjho had by economy and sacrifice enabled her
spn to attend college, visited him after he had
.established himself in the practice of the law.
She had looked forward for years to his su
cess, and started upon her visit with great ex
pectations. She soon learned, however, that her
presence embarrassed her son that he did not
w.ant his clients to knQw that she was his mother.
Her heart was broken, and as she waited at the
depot alone 'for the train, that would bear her
back to. her humble home, she poured forth her
sorrow in a letter. If I thought that any of those
who receive their diplomas on this glad day
-would allow their superior, advantages to lessen
their affection for their parents or to decrease
their devotion to them, I 'would wish them chil
dren again. Better loving companionship than
intellectual solitude, but there is no reason why
the scholar should be less a son or daughter.
Head, and heart should be developed together,
and then each forward step will bring increasing
joy, strengthen family ties and make early friend
ship more sacred.
If he is culpable who shrinks from full par
ticipation in the work of this struggling world, or
shirks the responsibilities which he is by educa
tion prepared to assume, still more culpable aro
those who, by employing their talents against
society, prey upon those who supplied their train
ing. If by force or fraud or cunning one seeks
to appropriate to his own use that which he has
not earned, he turns against the public the weap
oris put into, his hand by the public for tho pro
motion of the common weal.
The old-fashioned methods ol wrong-doing are
everywhere condemned, but Professor Ross of the
Nebraska University has pointed out some of the
new methods of wrong-doing which do not bear
the odium which they deserve. He calls atten
tion not only to the dishonesty involved in tho
adulteration of food, hut to the actual bodily harm
done by the mercantile use of the poisons. There
has. been an enormous increase in the quantity of
adulterants used and a woeful lack of conscience
manifested among those who find a profit in the
practice of dangerous impositions. Professor
Ross also presents some statistics to show tho
mortality duetto the failure to use safety appli
ances the 'lives of employes being coined into
larger dividends for the benefit of stockholders.
But not all of those who make a misuse of their
intelligence are engaged in either the adulteration
of food or in doing bodily harm through unprotect
ed machinery. The pecuniary damage done by
the market speculator is even greater. Tho gross
sum every year abstracted from the pockets 01
the wealth producers by the misuse of the stocK
exchange and the chamber of commerce is enor
mous, for this sum not only includes that whicii
is lost by those who yield to the temptation to
sit in the game of speculation with the manipula
tors of the market, but it includes that still larger
sum which measures the injury done legitimate
dealers who are the innocent victims of man-mauo
fluctuations.
I know of no more imperative need today
than that there should be a clear recognition or
the law of rewards, namely, that each person w
entitled to draw from society in proportion as lie
contributes to the welfare of society. This law is
- fundamental. It conforms to that sense of jus
tice which forms the broad basis of social intei
course and a firm foundation for government.
This sense of justice is offended when any one,
either through the favoritism or government or
in defiance of government,' acquires that for wmcu
he has not given an equivalent. There aro cer
tain apparent exceptions, but they will upon e
amination be found to be only apparent or i
present evidence of an attempted approximation
to the standard. For instance, by general cuu
sent there is acquirement by right of di?coeij.
A man finds something of which man has w
beforo known, and although the discovery nw
not have caused him great effort yet it nia
(Continued on Page G)
