The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-11-04
EDUCATION AND THE TRUE
 TnHAIG

More than anything else the world needs higher ideals. If you doubt 1t, listen to the voices of the great educa= tors. If you doubt it, look around you and note the tendency of business ethics. If you doubt it, note the sub stftution of the law for morals. If you doubt 1t, read the doings of high f. nance" and the reports of Investigating committees.
 Years ago Herbert Spencer put his finger on the weakest spot in our edu- cational system-lack of character building,
 Protesting against mere intellectual education, he said: You cannot get golden conduct from leaden instincts. 5 Our leading school men at the recent meeting of the National Educational asoeiation backed up SpenceT's criti- cism when, in series or resolutions, they deplored the lack of moral teach ing in our schools. They have realized that culture of fthe head to the excul- sion of heart culture in vain.
 Right feeling Is more necessary than right Judgment. Tn his recent address Dr. Butler of Columbia College, you re- member told the student body that statutes will not put moral principles where they do not exist" That is true. Indeed, law of itself is nothing. It ex- ists only in the specialization of pub lie opinion. It cannot of itself give tone to high standards of rectitude. It cannot even enforce itself. It is life less save as it voices the spirit of morals.
 Statistics cannot take the place of moral law. 10 order life or action based on law alone is to put human conduct on the lowest plane. To do so is to ignore ideals. When a man offers as an excuse for injustice that he is violating no law he shows how low a. place he, occupies.
 President Roosevelt has justly con- demned such men, and especially the attorneys of such men, who by. their skill and learning help their clients to do unlawful things according to law.
 President Butler, in the same address before quoted, protests against "the casuistry of the counting room and the law off1ce.''
 This sort of casuistry keeps men out of the penitentiary on technicalities. It permits anything to be done that is not indictable by grand juries. It in sists upon the letter of the law, deny ing it's spirit. It makes a species of theiving respectable and sort of high way robbery legal coup. It enables men to go to the very verge of wrong doing so long as they do not fall over the precipice.
 There is no vital connection, as a matter of fact, between knowledge and right action. An educated man may be all the more dangerous because of his education. The time will be coming when the state, for its own preserva- tion, must educate morally as well as Intellectually.
 Ideals! Men may sheer at them. They may say they are impossible; too high for everyday use, but without them character is an impossible thing.
 Ideals are not mere dreams.
 They appeal directly to the hearts of men and fortify them to carry out right principles. And ideals are the crea- lures of education
 Education and ideals! These are the hope of the future. The rising genera tion must be taught to admire the highest in human conduct, And edu- cation, through deals, will lead to golden conduct" by means of golden instincts.-St. Paul News.