The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-06-05
SCHOOL AND couNT1NG-HoUsE.


In his speech ct the Seaboard banquet
dent of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Company. pointed out that Athens re-
mains alone of all her contemporaries,
and drew the lesson that 1.-The school lives
forever, but the counting-house passes
away
We do not undervalue the school. Edu-
cation is a mark of civilization and pro-
sress, and every civilized and progressive
nation must have its common schools,
its colleges and its universities. Yet the
material side of the question is always
to be considered. The contingencies has
its uses and it is as necessary to higher
civilization as the school. The material
question plays an important part in our
politics, and II should do so. No nation
is great simply because it has schools.
The schools are rather an evidence and
expression of its greatness. The schools
are the product of the countins-houses In
order to national greatness there must
be factories Md trade. There is a dispo-
disparage these things. We have heard
a great deal of talk about the man and
the dollar. That the man is of prime con-
sheraton and that the dollar is nothing.
OF course, the man is of prime consd-
Grafton, but, in order to carry on his
work, the man must have means. 1t IS
almost impossible 10 diffeIentiate our IA
tional greatness between the material and'
the spiritual, for they are inter-dependent.
a sound body is necessary to a sound
mind, says the provero. The same princi-
pie applies to a nation If we would be
great also in the material. Our national
greatness would soon come to naught if
we should lose our trade. There must be
employment for the people. We must
have factories and railroads, telegraph
lines steamship lines and the like Of these
in order that tiae people may find en-
ployment, in order that we may build
schools and libraries and churches The
CHURCH itself cannot ignore the material.
The church is composed Of men and wo-
men, and men and women must earn
money in order that they may have the
means TO support the church.
Far be it from us to put the dollar above
the man. Far be it from US to exalt
the material above the spiritual But
money has its uses-it is the means to
an end. and it is as necessary to our ma
tional life as it is to individual life. 1t is
the duty Of a man to accumulate as much
money as he can accumulate by honorable
means. Not that he may waste it in
riotous living, but that he may employ it
as a means Of charging his own soul and
of benefiting his fellows. The same is true
of nation. 1t IS the duty of the United
States 10 grow in wealth and influences;
only this growth should be in the fear of
God and with our great mission as a ma
ton always kept prominently in view.
The counting-llouse is not a menace, but
a blessing, If we use it as a means of
building schools and libraries and churches
and hospitals. The material partakes Of
sacred employment.
Hear the conclusion of the whole mat
ter. The nation that increases its wealth
and power by wars of conquest or by
whatever means for the sole purpose OF
selfish Indulgence and for the pride of life,
Will finally fall a prey TO its own luNu-
robustness, as Rome fell, for wealth can
not make character, and a nation without
character cannot stand. But that nation
which employs its wealth in uplifting the
people. in improving its citizenship. in de-
veoping its national character, will grow
in grace, ana the contingencies will be
the hand-maiden of the school