tVBT
Che Conservative.
Useful niul logi-
MENTAL MONEY , cal thought is brain
bullion. Coined
into words it passes current from mind
to mind , measuring man's reasoning
powers as accurately as chronometers
measure time , or gold measures values.
Reason is the standard which determines
the worth of all speech-making. The
arts of oratory sometimes successfully
counterfeit logic , stamp the semblance
of truth upon falsehood , and simulating
sound sense , cause its imitation to cir
culate at par though the fraud is sooner
or later detected and punished. Some
times sophistry , prejudice , vagaries ,
fallacies and demagogy are emotionally
and designedly circulated at the ratio of
sixteen to one. Out of such debased
metal of the mind bogus logic and coun-
"terfeit truth is coined. It is detected
either before or after it has deceived or
damaged the innocent who have accepted
it as genuine. It never circulates un
challenged for any great length of time ,
and is readily detected by the economists
who manage universities and colleges
those great clearing houses for that in
tellectual currency which is the lifeblood -
blood of healthy commerce and popular
government. And just as counterfeit
coins , shoved into trade channels ,
always accumulate penalties and pains
for the culprits who issue them , so
fallacies and vagaries in finance inevi
tably bring retribution to those who
coin them , and inexorable disaster to
governments which adopt them.
RATIO OF EDUCATION TO PRODUC
TION.
Dr. Charles W. Dabuey , president of
the University of Tennessee , in the
World's Work for April , contributes an
instructive article upon the relation of
education and production. Dr. Dabney
shows , by careful investigation of statis
tics obtained from industrial and edu
cational commissions of the several states
and of the United States , that produc
tion is in direct proportion to the educa
tion of a people. The acquisition of
material wealth is inseparable from
mental growth and development. The
productive capacity is largest in those
states that have the best and most liberal
ly patronized schools.
In 1898 and 1899 , the average school
attending period for each child in the
United States was four years ; for Massa
chusetts seven years ; for Tennessee
three years. For the year 1899 the
average per capita production for the
United States was $170 or 55 cents a day ;
for Massachusetts , $260 , or 85 cents a
day ; for Tennessee $116 , or 88 cents a
day. The average per capita school at
tendance in Massachusetts was a little
more than double that of Tennessee.
The average per capita daily earning-
capacity in Massachusetts exceeded by
about the snme proportion the per capita
earning-capacity in Tennessee.
"This is not coincidence "
a mere , says
Dr. Dabney , "in the case of Massa
chusetts , the United States , and Ten
nessee ; it is the law the world over.
The productivity of a people is every
where proportional to their education ,
to their intellectual , physical , and moral
training. It is not the natural resources ,
the climate , the soils and the minerals ;
it is not even the race , much as these
things count in production ; but it is
education which above everything else
determines the wealth-earning power of
a people.
"The population of Massachusetts is
2,805,846 ; of Tennessee is 2,020,616.
They have the same number of children
to educate.
"Massachusetts taught school 188 days
in the year , and her enrolled pupils at
tended an average of 148.5 days. Ten
nessee taught school only 89 days , and
her enrolled pupils attended only 62.8
days.
"Massachusetts for all
expended pur
poses on her public schools in 1898-99 ,
$18,889,888 , which was $88.55 per pupil
and $5.07 per capita of her population.
Tennessee expended for her public
schools in the same year , $1,628,818 ,
which is $4.62 per pupil and only 83
cents per capita of population. The
average expenditure for all the states of
the union is $19 per pupil and $2.67 per
capita of population of the entire county.
"The power of education in production
may be presented again in this concrete
way :
"Massachusetts spent in 1898-99 , $12-
261,525 more upon her public schools
than Tennessee. But see what a return
she gets. Each one of the 2,805,846 citi
zens of Massachusetts , men , women
and infants has , as we have said , a pro
ductive capacity of $260 a year , against
$170 a year for the average inhabitant
of the whole United States and $116 a
year for the average inhabitant of Ten
nessee. The inhabitant of Massachusetts
has thus an excess of $90 a year over the
average inhabitant of the United States ,
and $144 a year over the average in
habitant of Tennessee. This means that
the people of Massachusetts earned in
that year $252,487,140 more than the
same number of average people of the
United States and $403,969,824 more
than the same number of people in Ten
nessee. Twelve millions invested in
superior education yielded four hundred
millions a year. "
BUSINESS AND POLITICS.
The American people , taken as they
come , are proverbially the shrewdest
business men on earth. The very keen
est of competition makes them sharp.
From the common laborer to the master
of a billion-dollar trust , every man has
some idea of business methods and some
ability to get the worth of his money in
whatever commodity he desires. And
yet in spite of this native shrewdness and
business capacity , no cities on earth are
governed with so little regard to busi
ness principles as our American cities.
It is often said that politics ruins a man
for business. No wonder , for while ho
is in politics on the American plan he is
expected to use anything but business
methods.
The head of a business house , when
he wants a bookkeeper , seeks the most
efficient man to be found at a fair salary.
The head of a department in city or
county , when he needs a clerk , gets the
largest possible appropriation of money
and gives the office , as he is expected to
do , to a political henchman , no matter
how many better men might be secured
at lower salaries. The stockholders of a.
great corporation invariably "elect the
most efficient man to be found as presi
dent ; the voters of a great city seek a
man with a political pull for mayor.
When a railroad superintendent has
work to be done he hires the best men
he can find to do the work. When a
street commissioner needs men to work
on the streets , he is expected to hire
men of his own party who have friends
in the swim.
If any business house should attempt
to carry on its affairs in the methods
pursued in municipal governments it
would become bankrupt within a year.
Cities remain solvent simply because
they have a perennial income , to be
squandered. What we need is not only
men of business ability in office , but
men of business ability voting as they
would vote if stockholders in a corpora
tion , for the best men regardless of
politics or past services , or favors to be
secured. There is no good reason why
business and politics should bo divorced.
We can secure a business administra
tion of municipal affairs just as soon as
we begin to use business judgment in
electing men to office. St. Joseph News.
MAPLE SYRUP.
DEAR MORTON :
Please accept can of maple sprup I
sent you by express yesterday , made on
my farm south of Wilber , where you
and Hon. A. J. Poppleton stopped over
night with me some thirty-two or tliree
years ago , in 1868 , when he was making
a canvas for congress as the nominee of
the democratic party of this state against
Hon. John Taffe. Things agricultural
have materially changed for the better
since that date. The vast prairies , then
unoccupied , lying between my place and
the point on Turkey creek where you
held the meeting , are now owned and
tilled by a thrifty and industrious
people. Laud then vacant , not con
sidered worth anything , now sells for
$35 and $50 and as high as $60 per acre.
"Sweet are the uses of adversity. "
TOBIAS CASTOR.
Lincoln , Neb , , March 20th , 1900.