The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-06-09

at sixteen Whtefeld. the great English
divine, was electrifying the American
settlements with his eloquence at twenty
four. Napoleon was military student
at ten and was commissioned lieutenant
of artillery at sixteen. Admiral Farra-
gut was nnidshipman of the United
States navy at nine and commissioned to
a neutenancy at twenty. The roster OF
fame among inventors, scientists. mer-
chants, manufacturers and even states
men shows the same conditions The
greatest success in given field comes
where the candidate enters at the young
est age, grows up in it. breathes its
atmosphere, and receives his intellectual
development in accord with its peculiar
demands. The younger he begins the
more plastic will be his brain and ener-
gies to the demands of his chosen ca
reer, and the more closely Will his mind
conform to the requirements of success
in that work
In d broad sense these commanding
them lacked good citizenship. Some OF
them were not good neignbcrs. But they
got there. They We're machines built for
the given job. So it is with the money
maker. It is the narrow man of the
Schwab type who commands the million
dollar salary. He is too narrow to be
good citizen He may be a menace to
public safety in way But he knows
how to run a trust. His life and inter-
est are in the trust. If ne had broader
vision. if he had greater enthusiasm,
if his main idea was the public good,
il he loved literature and art and re-
Iigion and patriotism, if he cared more
for the country and the people than for
the trust, he would be q better citizen,
but he would not make so much money;
ne would not be the recipient of mill
lion-dolIar salary for operating trust
whose exclusive mission is to absorb the.
largest possible amount of the earnings
of the masses at the smallest possible
outlay Of labor material and value.
The Schwab idea Of education is cor
rect. if we grant that the Schwab phil
osophy of life is right, namely, that the
browning and absorbing mission Of man
on earth is to make money. If money
is the one aim, then higher education
except for the specialist is a mistake
If the goal of the youth is to become
a millionaire, close the high schools and
colleges. Churches and libraries, art,
museums and charitable institutions ara
superfiuous except for the specialist.
Patriotism is idle sentiment. Good cit
izenship is folderol. Love of country,
love of fellow man, love of the higher
in life and thought, are pueriIe and eff
terminate luxuries in which the thrifty
money-maker. the hard-fsted Napoleon
of trust finance, has no time to indulge.
Let the hoy who would become a mil
lonaire be apprenticed to his trade at
six 80 as to become a. manager at TWEEN
ty-one, utilizing of the learning of the
day only that which has practical and
direct bearing upon his occupation. He
may get a common school education by
sparing few months a, year from his
position; but the high school and the
college he cannot afford. nor can se
afford to be a patriotic citizen and
lover of his fellow men-because taere
is no money in it. Such is the Schwab
philosophy OF. life, culture, education and
citizenship, and the student and the pa
triot must fight it at every step OF
their progress.