St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-01-27
pERs ON EDUCATION.

DEBS On EDUCATION.
Our labor columns this morning
contain a letter from Eugene V.
DebS on Education and Agitation.
No one who has given any attention
to the literature of the labor ques-
ton, who has read any of their or
gans, or listened to the discussions,
but has been struck by their fluency
of language, the clearness of eX-
preston, the acuteneSS of reasoning
and all of those other indications
which indicate an education. If
these are all that is necessary to
enable men to form accurate judg
ment and to become safe advisers
Of their fellows, then the representa-
tives of labor thought are entitled
to rank among the counselors of the
nation.
But, if education means something
else than this, if it means the ability
to examine economic propositions
and detect therein the false from the
u Uc, W ICil O SolIlII1llIS oOPilioiil
from a truism, then this same read
ing indicates that among the cham
pionS of the cause of labor, as
among those of other movements,
there is more Of polish than Of edu-
cation. There is no difference be-
tween real educa ton in the arts, the
sciences, the trades or in economies.
It is only education when it edu-
Gates the student to detect the true
from the false. The education of the
does not enable him to detect the
kind of material he works on; the
worker in steel must know which is
the true color that indicates the
temper of his metal, and so in every
trade, as in every profession, the
only education is that which en-
ables the person to distinguish be-
tween that which is true and that
which is false.
The education which fails to do
this, that merely qualities the per-
son to dress his thought in suitable
garb and make an attractive pres
entation of his cause, is one that may
win for him notoriety, and attract
to him and his cause following, but
it is one on which no enduring traf-
fic can be built. Education makes
constant search for facts, and gives
it's owner the power to recognize
them when found. The questions
with which wage earners are now
mostly concerned, and to which they
are devoting most discussion and
seeking education, are those Of gov
eminent Here, as everywhere else,
are the true and the false; the good,
the better and the best; and that ed
ueation is valuable which enables
it's possessor to detect the one from
the other.
If, as one may infer from the
letter of Mr.. Debs, as well as from
the general trend Of thought and
action among the organizations OF
wage-earners, their education has
been in the direction Of the concep-
ton of a government as an instru-
ment to be worked for their special
advantage, then they have been
taught, but not educated. The letter
Of Mr. Debs is the best evidence of
this. If it be true that the govern
ment of the United States is ruled
by corporations, it's laws admins
tered by corrupt judges, its army
used to suppress the people, then it
is because other classes hold the
same view of government and its
functions, but, more adept, Shrewder
and more vigilant, they have di-
rected their efforts to obtaining
control Of and giving direction to
the operations of government. They
are operating it for what they con-
slider their welfare.
If this is the wrong that Mr.. Debs
and his associates denounce, then
their especial interest would be at
the opposite pole of wrong. Moth
ing has yet occurred to give any as
surance that the wage-earning
classes would be any wiser, any
less selfish, any less corrupt than
are what they are pleased to term
the plutocratic classes which they
elect for the control of the govern
ment. If from present conditions
the only conclusion they can draw
with the aid of the education they
have received is that the condi-
tons should be continued but the
position OF the parties be reversed,
then their education needs to be
begun over again on other lines. If
the things Mr.. Debs charges are
true, and in a measure they are,
then the agitation of all persons,
not alone those Who work for daily
wage, should be to correct this con-
ception of government and return
to the simpler and truer conceptions
Of its functions, and to insist that it
be restricted to its primal object,
assuring to its citizens the right to
life, liberty and the pursuit OF happi-