The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1881-02-19
Correspondence baltimore County Uaion.
POPULAR DELusIoNs.
No. III.

BALTIMORE, February 18th, 1881.
"knowledge Is power" This Is another Of those
sophistical precepts bequeathed To by antiquity,
and still boarded amongst popular treasures as
golden truth; as an active, safe and efficient auxl
liary In attaining most ambitious ends, and we
unquestioningly accept its speculative hypothesis.
Yet II Is simply an Intellectual subterfuge, men
tai Authorization susceptible Of no higher purpose
than TO mislcad the credulous decoy the unwary.
Il 10 OF small moment TO whom may attach the
unenviable distinction Of having fret developed
this insidious apothegm, or conceived the artful
design Of foisting Il upon the public as an ideal
axiom, the more readily 10 beyuiie and dcfraud its
intended victims, but Il IL sincerely to be hoped
that fearful and righteous retribution has long
since been visited upon its reckless instigator by
q shamefully deceived world.
The dognatic manner In which the delusive
proposition 10 presented, and the scaithness with
which the seductive precept has percola,ed tarous
human intelligence, 10 pointed testimony Of its
authors covert purpose to force the conclusion that
It's truth was incon,estibie that no question re-
garding Il could arise that Il was q fact intui-
lively established, and, like certain far away
planets, was fixed and immovable. Il was neces-
sary 10 It's prompt acceptance, even by unsuspect-
Ing youth, that every avenue TO discussion Of its
truth faisity should be efectually closed and TO
this end It's willy progenitor audaeiously proclaim.
cd u an axiom, and ~ such u has come 70 DO re-
ceived.
knowledge 10, according to the best iexieos-
raphers, . clear and certain perception Of that
which exists, or Of truth and fact, learning.
erudition, illumination Of the mind.
Power 10 defined, force; might; animal strength;
the faculty Of doing or performing anything.
The one belongs 10 the intellectual. the other 20
tho ply steal wsrld, and they cannot be assimilAt-
cd. knowledge may stimulate and direct, may.
- an agent In masters hand, even control power,
but can never DO identical with Il.
Knowledge 10 nm acquired property, chiefly at
tanned through studying men and books, whilst
power 10 IN element, fixed principle, . moving
cause In mechanics, science and the animal erea-
ton.
How much Of waste, want and wick edness have
resulted from the attempted development and ap-
plication Of this pretsntious dsclsrasions How
many wrecked hopes and blasted lives must u
answer fori The alluring theme has been indus
triously paraded before aspiring youth, deluding
them, with deceiving expectations. into ffaitless
struggle for the knowledge that should confer
never 10 be reached.
The midnight oil has burned in vain the NOR
tai frame has wasted and shriveled the over
wrought brain has feebly drilled into imbeeity,
or dragged its worn, frai master through poverty,
drunkeness and misery, into chattcring madness,
10 the vain effort % gasp that igsis assss, that
hssting shadow, which once In possession, should
DO TRANSMITTED into power.
Who 10 responsible for the unrealixsd dreams,
the crushed hopes, the wasted energies, the blight
cd aspirations. the lost opportunities, the desrad-
Ing idolatry, the perilous temptations, the
and suffering, that have swept the lives Of the
seekers amer knowledge, but the unscrupulous
father Of this crafty, insidious, cunning proverb
that "knowiedge 10 power ?"
Power for whati What kind o. degree Of
knowledge 10 requisitei Herein are concealed the
subtle presentations by which We are dsluded,
deceived, deffauded, yet fascinated. We are all
ambitious, all seeking knowledge In the pro6tlsss
expectation Of achieving power, so wrapped In our
vain aud eager icngings that We heed not the
snare laid 20 entrap rs, until suddenly realizing
that We are heplessly, hopelessy sacrificed 10 the
artfal device Of this fraudulent aphoris learning,
too late, the trsaehery and dupIieity Of which We
are the victims.
be no longer deceived, cast from you this crafty
invention Of the devil. Knowledge IL not power,
u u misery. The wise old Hebrew king wrote,
"Ror In much wisdom II much grei and he that
iuersaseth knowledge, inereaseth sorrow" Q. y.
d. Faithfully, cuEsArEAKE.