The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-21
THINKS SOCIAL DOCTRINES
REPRESSED IN COLLEGES
To the Editor of The Spy

| To the Editor Of The Spy
In Saturdays editorial columns you
have the following:
| Mayor Tom L. Johnson of Cleveland
Ohio, has made a speech in which he
says college professors stand in fear
| of losing their places if they speak
their minds as the universities are
mainly supported by wealthy capital
| lists. Mr.. Johnson, as a rule is not
taken seriously and not very much
weight is to be attached to his re-
marks in this case"
Tom I. johnson is right in this in
stance, and it would create a new So
cial era if the public were aware of
the appalling fact that educators, both
moral and intellectual, are kept from
uttering their best and most advanced
thoughts through fear of the want
| that would follow their dismissal from
the pulpit or professional chair.
| Not long ago l had occasion to dis
cuss some large questions of philoso-
phy and economics with the head of a
great seat of learning. He expressed
| himself with all the strength, beauty
and accuracy of man of deep thought
and advanced ideas, but he was seized
with CONSERVATION when he learned
that the public might hear of what
he had said
The president of one of the greatest
and wealthiest educational institutions
In the country is so under obligations
| to men of wealth that his utterances
on questions that relate to the present
order of things are so hampered that
| he finds himself between the devil and
| the deep sea, and finishes by talking
like a schoolboy. Personal experience
of the writer, backed up by editorials
in such papers as the New York Sur
and by articles from universally es-
) teemed writer's, are my grounds fol
| this statement.
One of the keenest and most brilliant
minds of the country, whose character
| is equal to his culture, had to resign
his chair in a college not long ago be
| cause his advanced views on practica
| ethics were not pleasing to the sup
porters of his college.
| A clergyman who won the hearts o
the people, both Catholic and Protest
ant, was compelled to give up hi
| church by the rich members in
Massachusetts town some years ago
and after laboring for years in povert.
fell a victim to his moral heroism.
There are clergymen in Worcester
and in every other city, who dare no
proclaim their deepest conviction les
they and their families should hav,
to starve or beg.
All institutions of learning are OBJ
stacles to progress in matters that arr
based on philosophy, such as ethic:
and sociology. None of them dare!
teach the incontrovertible truths tina
the will is not free, or that our econo
mic system is one of utter injustice
confusion and brutality. But in theil
closets they acknowledge these things
and admit that the PRONUNCIATION Of
these truths would be a God-send t.
humanity
No university-at least hardly any
can exist independently of people OF
means and as people of means are sat
ished with the doctrines and socia
conditions under which they made
their money, they regard new truth:
as heretical, revolutionary or anar-
chical and therefore withdraw theil
support from those who inculcatt
| them.
The cause of nearly all the insincer.
ity and dishonesty of mankind is due
to the fact that we have to eat bread
no matter how we get it. None of u:
can live up to our ideals for this rea
| son. We all bow the knee to Baa
! rather than enter the furnace of pc
nury For this reason the earnest anC
clear minds of the earth are devotine
their energies toward an economic Of
Industrial system in which every per
son shall have the inalienable RICH
| to work.
When this comes, mems minds will
be free to think, and their tongues t
utter the truths they see, without feal
of hunger for their wives and children
Morals will then become purified, an(
the race will rapidly advance toward
; the one far-off divine event, to which
the whole creation moves" C. G.