The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1901-06-15

Unfortunately the tendency OF
principle to expand until it pervades
every sphere of human thought aud
activity is not confined to- good
principles. The idea Of liberty,
based upon the doctrine that all
men are created equal, has for more .
than a century been manifesting !
itself in government, in society and
IN church organizations, and it has
tended to ennoble man and to exalt
human rights. But the opposite |
doctrine has not been entirely dor
mant. Just now the plntocratic
idea is very active. The tyranny
of organized wealth in, industry is
sure to be followed by an increas-
ing influence of money in govern
ment, society and the church.
Everything will be colored to a
greater or less extent by the theory
that money is the one thing of over
shadowing Importance.
The commencement period, when
schools are closing and graduating
classes are occupying attention, is
a good time to consider the Inf1u-
ence of plutocracy upon education.
Fortunately Mr.. Charles Schwab,
the million dollar-a-year president
of the steel trust, has spoken so
plainly on the subject that little
room is left for conjecture or specu-
lation In speaking to class at
few nights ago, he said:
..Let me advise you all to make an early
start in life. The boy with the manual
| trainlns, and the common school education
who can start in life at sixteen seventeen
can leave the boy who goes to college till he
| is twenty or more far behind in the race
that he can never catch up This, however,
does not apply TO the professional life. The
other day l was at gathering Of some forty
business men-men in industrial and manufac
turing business-and the question arose as
to how many were college-bred men. OF
the forty only two had been graduated from
college. and the rest of the party, thirty
eight in number had received only common
school educations and had started in life as
poor boys. So l say, as parting advice,
start early
This is the advice given by the best
paid employe in the United States
the advice given by man VIII"
receives a salary twenty times as
great as that paid to the president
times as great as the salary paid t"
justice of the Supreme Cour,,
two hundred times as great as the
salary paid to senators and repre-
} sentatives and more than a thous-
and times as great as the average
salary paid to ministers and school
: teachers. His advice shows that
he misc onceives the main purpose
of education, and values going to
school only as it enables the stu
? dent to get ahead of some one in
. the business world.
The principal value OF education
lies in the fact that it disciplines
the mind, enlarges the mentaI
horizon and enables one to view
: m en- and things in their proper re-
lations. Education is intended &c
! axe a citizen useful to his coun.
= try as we'll as successful. 1t makes
f it's possessor the heir of the ages
= and enables him to judge of the
l future by the experience of the
r past. If a boy is taken out Of
Q school at the age of sixteen Of
: seventeen and put to work "makins
d a fortune," he is never likely te
: have time to study history or polit
y ical economy and will be apt to &C
! cept without question the opinions
y of those who are little ahead o
n him in the race for wealthy PM on:
which are in turn received from
l. those still farther ahead.
J, Plutocracy boasts that it is prac
:, teal; it has no ideals, for an idea
l. is looked up to, while plutocrac,
n has Its face to the ground.
Mr.. Schwab's advice will do in
q finite damage to the young men @
:. the country, but it ought to awaken
s. the thoughtful to the tendencies O
e commercialism. If we are to hav
n the oppression of trust system a