The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-01-02
Noted Educator Addresses
Members Of the Minnesota
Educational Association
at Central Presbyterian
Church on ''The Call Of
the Twentieth Century"
Says It VIII Have No Use
for the Incompetent.


fornia, addressed the members of the
Minnesota Educational association at
the Central Presbyterian church last
night on 1.-THE Call of the Twentieth
Century"
q The address, which dealt with the
demands of the twentieth century and
the requirements of the twentieth CEN
fury young man, was, in part, as fol-
lows
"a new century has come upon US
and it is my part tonight to appear as
its advance agent, self appointed, to
set before you the work it is to do and
its need of men to do it.
In most regards one century is like
another. Just as men are men, so
times are times. In the twentieth cen
fury there will be the same joys, the
same sorrows, the same marrying and
giving in marriage, the same round of
work and play, of wisdom and duty, of
folly and distress, which other CEN
turtles have seen. Just as each individ-
uaI man has the same organs, the same
passions, the same functions as all the
others, so it is with all the centuries.
But you know men not by their
likenesses, which are many, but by
their differences, which are few and
subtle, but all important in determine
ing our likes and dislikes, our friend
ships, loves and hates. So with the
centuries; we remember those which
are past, not by the mass Of common
traits in history and DEVELOPMENT but
by the few events or thoughts unno-
ticed at the time, but which stand out
like mountain peaks raised above OBJ
HVions sea- when the times are all
gathered in and the century begins to
blend with the infinite azure of the
past Not wars and conqueSts mark a
century. The hosts grow small in the
vanishing perspective, but the thoughts
of men, their attitude toward their en-
vironment, their struggles toward duty,
these are the things which endure.
Compared with the centuries that
are past, the twentieth century, in it's
broad outlines, will be like the rest. 1t
VIII be selfish, generous, careless, de-
voted, fatuous, efficient. But these
traits, it seems to me, must stand out
above all others, and in a higher de-
gree than any other century has known.
The twentieth century will be strenu-
Gus, complex and democratic.
Thanks to Teddy.
Strenuous it must be, as we can all
see, and we have to thank the young
man of the twentieth century who gave
us the WatchWord of the strenuous
Ire. Our century has a host of things
to do, bold things, noble things, tedious
things, difficult things, enduring things.
1t has only hundred years to do them
In, and two of these years are gone al
ready. We must be up and bestir our
selves. If we are called to help in this
work, there is no place for an idle min
ute. Idle men and idle women no
doubt will cumber our way for there
are many who have never heard of the
work to do, many who will never know
that there has been a new century.
These the century will pass by with the
gentle tolerance she shows to CLAIMS
and squirrels, but on those of us whose
life she claims, she will lay heavy bur-
dens of duty.
More than any Of the others. the
twentieth century will be democratic.
The greatest discovery of the nine
teenth century was that of the reality
of external things. That of the TWEEN
t1eth century will be this axiom in ge-
ometry: The straightest line is the
shortest distance between two points,
II something needs doing, do it. The
more plainly, directly, honestly, the
better.
Trusted to Heredty.
"The earlier centuries cared little for
the life of man. Hence they failed to
discriminate. In masses and mobs they
needed kings and rulers, but could not
choose them. Hence the device of Sc
lecting as ruler the elder son of the
last ruler, whatever his nature might
be. A child, lunatic, monster, a
sage-it was all the same to these I'M
needing centuries. The people could
not follow those they understood or
who understood them. They must
trust all to the blind chance of heredity.
Tyrant or fgurehead, the mob,
which, from its own indifference, ere
ates the pOmp of royalty, threw up it's
caps for the king and blindly died for
him, or because of his folly, with the
same unquestioning loyalty. In like
manner did the mob fashion lords and
princes in its own image. Not the man
VINO would do, or think, or help, but
the eldest son of a former lord was
chosen for its homage. The result of it
all was no use was made of the forces
OF nature, for those who might have
learned to control them were hunted
to their death. The men who could
think and act for themselves were in
no position to give their actions lever
age.
when a people really means to do
something, it must resort to democracy.
1t must value men as men, not as
functions of a chain of heredity.
Democracy does not mean equality
just the reverse of this, it means in
dIVidual responsibility, equality be-
fore the law, of course-equality of
opportunity, but no other equality save
that won by faithful service. That
social system which bids men rise.
must also let them fall if they cannot
maintain themselves. To choose the
right man means the dismissal of the
wrong.
No Use for the Incompetent.
THE weak, the incompetent, the I'M
trained, the dissipated find no growing
welcome in the century which is COM
ing. 1t will have no place for the I'M
skilled laborers. A bucket of water
and basket of coal will do all that
the unskiled laborer can do if we have
skilled men for their direction. The
unskllied laborer is no product of
democracy. He exists in spite of
democracy. The children of the re-
public are entitled to something bet
ter.
A generous education, WELL direct
ed education should be the birth
right of each one of them. Democracy
may even intensity natural inequali-
ties. The man who cannot say no to
cheap and vulgar temptations falls all
the lower in the degree to which he is
q free agent. In competition with men
alert, loyal, trained and creative, the
dullard is condemned to a life OF