The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-05-17
ssLYING A HABIT"
Comment of a Correspondent q
Miss Evans Statement.

MISS VaHSN StaIcmenes
To the Editor of the Globe
There several things in Miss Evans
address, delivered a few days ago before the
St. Paul Public School union, which make
that position unique. I refer to the paper
in which she reviewed the practical results
of moral training in the public schools From
an investigation" of alleged testimony
from business men, gathered, I know not by
whom, she arrived at the surprising and
indeed startling conclusion that at least IS
per cent of the business men in the COM
munity make lying a habit when lies will
prove remuneratiye to- them, and that cheat
ten men engaged in commercial pursuits.
Not only is this the case, according to this
eminent statistfcafs authority, but further
Investigation" has convinced Miss Evans
that the situation as regards the pupils in
the schools shows -tthat those who hold to
the rigid lines of honesty about the same
as those, who could be classsd as honest
under all circumstances in the business
world" As Miss Evans represents teachers
Wasinga constant campaign against the vices
Of lying and cheating, and indeed I have no
doubt they are, and as the moral tone adj
her, with higher education, one is puzzled to
arrive at the. general average of moral
obliquity in those Of the community bereft
that Miss Evans did not go step further and
tell US exactly how bad our neighbors are,
for it's seems quite evident that her investiga-
tons have proved them much more dishonest
and untruthful than even the most despon-
dent pessimists had previously believed them
, to be-.
Miss Evans has not only done the public
the true kindness Of telling them how bad
they really are, for in general they have
been in state of blissful ignorance of the
facts" which her investigations have prov
she points the way out. For her Testimony"
showed fthat the moral tone of pupils ad-
vanced with their education, being highest
among t the colleges and higher in the high
hoe propter hoe. Nothing could be simpler.
To make a man honest, teach him Latin,
Greek and mathematics. 1t is to be regretted,
however, that she did not tell us exactly
how honest and truthful our dishonest and
untruthful lads become by the time they
ceive the degree OF B. A. or M. A. She
of beatitudinal progression, and measured
the gulf between the unregenerate freshman
and the exalted senior.
But we are farther assured from a COMPARE
son of this latest with previous ''investiga-
tons In which the Testimony of business
men" has beer conscientiousIy digested and
classified, that commercial unrelability is
rapidly increasing, and that the standard of
business morals is lower now than it was
five years ago, and no doubt it was lower
five years ago than ten years ago, and SO on,
for surely back in the good old times of our
forefathers, at least when lessons of piety
and morality were enforced even by blue laws,
there must have been time when most mer-
chants did not cheat, and when business men
DIS d RUE Q6SplS6u lldIS dlIu Qlu uOC ndDlCOdlly
utter unt1 uths.
Which leads me to reluctantly conclude, for
really I have the highest regard for Miss
Evans as a lady, as a teacher and as NOR
alist, that there must be a flaw in Miss
Evans logic. Her "facts' do not justify her
conclusion as to the desirabiIity of higher
education. Indeed, quite the contrary. For
taking all Miss Evans Facts as proved by
business men, they seem to me to show that
the less education our business men have the
more honest and truthful are they likely to
be. For there never was time when educa-
tion-higher education-was so general. Never
before were so many of our merchants and
those engaged in business pursuits, college
bred At no time in the history Of our country
were the colleges, and even the Christian col
leges sending out such droves of bachelors Of
arts and sciences to take part in the country's
commercial pursuits Post hoe propter hoe
again. If this influx has really resulted In
the deplorable state of affairs which Miss
Evans insists upon as so prevalent, does it
not look very much like cause and effect, and
does it not seem to prove that the higher ed
ucation of business men only makes them the
sharper to put their wits to bad use? Miss
Evans has indeed proved too much for her
own case. and if she had applied honestly her
alleged ''facts'' she must have arrived at the
conclusion that the best thing we can do Is
to go back to the days of the old red school
house. K M
Evans seriously She really don't believe that
in nine out of ten of the purchases she makes
in the stores the shop keeper is trying to
cheat her and encouraging his clerks to do
her up Like everybody else. she knows well
enough that most men and women and most
boys and girls are in the main both truthful
and honest. She is quite as we'll aware as any
of us less favorsd byi education than herself
that business success is to large extent de-
pendent upon Hpnest dealing. and that in
every commercial community the trickster is
a marked man. She knows too, something of
the laws of heredity and that difficult as It
is to corrupt a naturally candid, honest and
truthful boy who has good home training, 1t
ask to reform s In the schools Or
sra abstract to to e particular case
ing that nine-tenths of NorthfieIds merchants
re whsl the hs. ap gs Is
The trouble is Miss Evans in talking on this
vital subject has sg9t cite that hs
dies aid society by convention Of school
teachers or federation Of women's clubs.
sometimes looks very queer In cold print.
John Lawton.
Mortified, Mimi. Nay u.