The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-07
1HERICIN GENIUS AND SCHOLIR.
SHIP.

An indictment of "a fundamental de-
feet in the American spirit or IN Amer
can cili-izatioH." was delivered by Pre- -
dent Schurmann to Co-nels a5uatir g
class, in the shape of a St rious cha ( e
against the standing of American 2c&c!-
aTship and the developmt mt of American
genius. I'm art in iterat-re in scholar
ship, in s-ience, we are a long way be-
hind Europe. AparS from the donain If
politics and invention, America has rot
produced a single man or woman whose
name will shine in the Intellectual frma-
ment with Raphael Shakespeare, Copper
nicus, Newton, La Place, Goethe, Par
WIN"
In view of the vast deve!cpmc Mt OF tie
United States in educational institutions,
the above seems a severe Indictment; but
it is nevertheless apparently true. The
youthfulness of our n1ticn may lie
pleaded as an oXsenIating cir umstarce;
and yet it is a fact, TIA. il a oentury
we have produced little creative genius of
encc or scholarship. We have ap-
Piled the methods, the i.cip.es and the
learning CT Raphael, CopeTnicuz, New.cn,
La Place, Gothic, and Darwin, and we
have studied and initiated Shakespeare
and the ret, but we have not produced
such geniuses ourselves.
ho foo cEa
libraries and the other aids to he al
culture cannot produce genius Cur
trouble lies in the spirit of the age. in
the idea wAich dominates oar ciNi!iza-
ton. What if the nation expends hun
drels of millions of dollars annually m
schools and colleges, if the dom nant idea
is not love of knowledge for isse T, but
sim. ly to get a little smat.er.ng of edu-
cation that will help US on the Vo.ld'
that is to say, hep the recipient to ac-
quire social ana business stand ns?
What if Carreg spends a hundred mil
lions in filing the cites with libraries,
if the Whole teaching of the Came gle
donated millions to the Chicago un:ver.-
ity; but Roekefe-ler's life breaches con-
me-cialism; AMI Prof. Triggs comes fer
ward to tell the Chicago university 70 tn
that Rockefeller is a geni@s who COM
pares with Shakespeare. Our colleges
and libraries may collect and teach the
works of Shakes. ea3e. Newton and Dar-
win; but they do not produce a Shake
speare, Newton, or Darwin. Our inst.tu-
tons are rep ositories of the products cf
Other ages and nations, but lack the
inspiration to create these product.os IN
the name of America
Herbert Spencer questions tie value of
colleges so far as being an aid to genius,
and Perhaps he is light. He mainta rs
spires individual enthusiasm ana the
creative spirit, which is doubtless true
1t brings up the many to common
standard and thereby Accompanies
tarGs the genius and destro. his en-
thusiasm with set routine and drudgery.
Robert G. Ingersoil is another authority
who goes so far as to proclaim colleges
as the manufacturers of mediccrity. and
the burial places of genius. IngersolI is
extreme in his rhetoric, and yet there is
logic in his position. A vast aid to the
c.:Sny, the college is not the cradle of new
ideas or inspirationai force for the fu-
ture Shakespeare or Darwin.
The geniuses of our age and nation
are the Rockefellers, Carnegies ana Nor
gans-the magnates of the railways,
banks, and great industrial works. As
the greatest industrial nation in the
world. our triumphs OF NUS are ind Is
trial, commercial. financial Our schools