Great Falls weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1894-1???, 1895-09-06

duced and spoke for about an hour on
"Education for Power" He was listened
to very attentively, and at the conclusion
OF his address the applause was hearty.
He said, in part:
All persons are born with equal intel
lectual abilities, but, in long periods Of
years, nations may gain the benefit of
great hereditary intellectually. But the
lives of all are shaped by their environ
ments. With the savage, whatever tends
most toward physical improvement ia
valued most; the civilized world values
most that which tends to social, moral
and intellectual growth. What is neces.
sorry in the education Of the Pawnee is
united for the Terra del Fuegan; the
education OF the boy on the farm in Da-
kota must be different from that of the
btoy IN a Montana mining town. There
fore, the education necessary must he
determined by the surroundings.
The North American Indian, as found
by Columbus, was educated to handle
the implements of the chase and war.
his standing in the tribe was determined
by his prowess with the bow and arrow
He was educated to meet death stoicallv
and that his entrance to the "happy
hunting grounds" depended upon his
success in the chase and war. If we
seek to find why these ideas of education
prevailed, we will learn that it was be.
cause they were necessary to life. The
Indian was simply a well trained ami.
NAL with all senses more acute than
those of the paleface. The fundamental
idea of his education was power: it's
great fault was that it was the idea of
physical power only, and there is moth
ing to show that the Indian of Colum-
bus time had made any progress from
the condition of his ancestors centuries
previous.
In China, the civil service examin-
atoms, which every office holder except
the emperor must pass, and which con
fer honors, are based upon nine books.
containing com pilations by Confucius.
Confuclue did not claim to be an author,
or investigator; he was merely a collector
or historian, and there had been very
little thinking done in China since his
time until the "late unp~leasantness.i
True are the lines of the Chinese, Con
fucius, Confucius. how great was Con.
fucius! Before him there was no Con
fuclus; since him no other Confucius.
Confucius, Confucius, how great was
Those nine books of Con
fucius' time furnish the entire carri-
culum OF study in China and page
after page of them is memorized D.
students. Is it n wonder that China
has been living in the past instead Of the
present, and that they can do nothing
but initiate? There education has been
for power, but merely the power to imi-
tate.
Among the natives of India all educa
ton is based upon a few laws, in the
possession of the Brahmins, who main
tain the superiority of their caste by
their study of these laws. They have
become so skilled in debate, hat the
greatest obstacle Christian missionaries
must encounter is the Brahmins logic,
not the love of the lower castes for idol
airy. The education Of the Brahmins is
power, but for only one power, to
maintain the caste system.
We must not forget the lesson to be
learned from the failure of these nations
to develop symetrically all the faculties
Of man. The demand is not for men ed
for one purpose only, but for
men to deal with ali the problems Of
dip lomacy, finance, law, agriculture,
manufacturing. teaching. and all occu-
This is an Industrial age and
age for specialists. The business
world-outside Of Boston-cares nothing
or a mans ancestry; it will value his
at what it can get out of him.
Upon one industry depend countless
and the evolution of the course
If study has been in accordance with
.hese demands.
1t is an old adage that acknowledge ie
This is not true. Only in the
ability to apply knowledge is power.
Books are Indispensable, lectures are val
liable, but knowledge without the ability
apply it ia valueless.
Because these things are true the world
s asking of every system of education,
VIII it develop all the component parts
moral, physical and intellectual-each
md all faculties of each--symetrically?'
The development of one without the
quail development Of the other two iG
l~seless.
| am opposed to religious instruction
n the public schools, but | am in favor
# moral training. Rome and Greece fell
because of immortality, despite great phys.
cal and intellectual development. With
III the advantages of centuries, if we OF
his new republic, in the last quarter OF
he nineteenth century, fail to note that
very nation that has failed to regard
he Importance of education in morality
las fallen, we, too, shall see the hand
on the wall.
After a vocal solo by Miss Eva j,
which received an encore, the
institute adjourned until today. An in
cresting program will be given at the
morning and afternoon sessions and at &
!, M, at the court room, there will be
lusic and DR.. f. 4. WATSON will lecture
II the 'Placo of English in the School
.'urriculum," and Hon. +. A. Steere on
'Poriclcs and His Times"
Long Overdue.