The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-12-03
SOMETHING THAT EDUCATfON
WILL SOT DO.

Education will not givs . man robuss
common sense. President Eliot. Of Har-
yard college. eenfesses this when he sd-
mits that number OF college graduates
voted for the Bland bill and for free silver
and for imitation. These men sinned not
for lack OF light, but in spite of light.
There 10 only one way to meet the situ-
alton; the people, not their so-calied lead
ers and representatives. should be edu-
Gated to know that the same economic and
social problems that vex as today have
vexed other people before u, and that the
same nostrums that arc now giibly pro-
posed have been just a. plausibly pre-
sented before; have been - fatuously tried
and have failed. Higher education in po-
iisical economy will prove specific cure
for our national sins of enormous taxa
ton. municipal extravagance, financial
folly or public intemperance. because
these sins are enacted and endured not ~
much through ignorance as through in-
grained dishonesty and selfishness.
United States Senator Jones aud United
States Senator Stewart, of Nevada. in 1874
made powerful arguments against fat
money and greenback SIN and defended
the gold standard n international money
as strenuously as Senator Carlisle does
today. But when the selfish personal In
terests OF these senators in 1877 with the
depreciation of silver made them ''silver-
ties" because they were mine owners, or
senators from silver states, they swai-
lowed their own financial logic and since
1878 have tried to enact legislation which
would make the United States govern
ment pay them higher price than the
market for their SILVER bullion. Both Of
these men sinned against their light and
their learning in order to swindle the
people Of the United States for the benefit
Of Nevada and their mining properties.
So ex-senator Thurman, of Ohio, an
able man, equipped with all the historical
knowledge Of fact and heart, became .
grcenbacker and silverite; so did Sem
ators Teller and Woicots. of Colorado. men
whose power Of intellect to see through
the transparent fallacy of the doctrine
they advocated 10 undoubted. Alexander
II. Stephens, Ben Butler. Booth, OF Cali
fornia, and Senator ingalls,, of Kansas,
were all children of college and culture.
all men of superior intellect. and yet all
sinned against their best lights In becom-
ing greenbackers or silverites. Sunset"
Cox had plenty of culture and learning,
and yet he was in many ways dema-
gogue in congress; SO was another man of
high intelligence, Fernando Wood.
We are not seeking to make any point
against higher education. we only point
out that the moral sense of the people, not
their lack of the sort of light represented
by learning and study. is at fault. The
sort Of intelligence that secures state
against moral plumbers in legislation.
against financial folly and extravaganza
taxation Is common enough now, and our
difficulty and danger is not TO be averted
by the founding of schools of political
learning. 1t is TO be found in our
own national moral sense. TO take the
place of the cynical moral indifferent
lam with which all men in politics,
whether children of common schools or
colleges, whether they know all history
and political presidents or not, look q.
public measures and public men.
The mass OF the people are not ignorant:
they sin against their hesrNghts from sell
fishness or moral indifference, or to every
thing except the immediate desire of max
ing one dollar two. The work TO be done
Is not to found more higher universities of
poiitieal learning but 10 Law deem and
early by the mouth of parents, teachers
and preachers the foundation OF a lofty
morality in politics, society and business.
Political learning will no. make US wiser.
more honest or more temperate until We
make public moral sense. As people we
10 know deal better than TO do as We do.
We censare our congress and eensure our
extravsgant and corrupt officials. and yet
they fairly reflect the prevailing popular
moral sense Of their time.
II Is an old but true saying that institu-
tons do not make the man. but men make
institutions; the state. the courts. the leg
islatures. aud the laws are a. good as the
people. They know the character of the
public servants before they elect them,
and If corruption prevails IL Is because the
people choose TO be represented BY bad
men, not because they are deceived by
them. The fountain head of politics is
the people. aud the stream cannot rise
above its source"
4 suit for libel has been Instituted
h.. To- e.