The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-07-07


session of welath. the country Is under
heavy obligations to such a body as
this, which substitutes for the ideal
of accommodating money the infinitely
lOftier nOnmaterialistic ideal of devo-
ton to work worth doing simply for
that works sake. l do not in the least
underestimate the need of having ma
terial prosperity as the basis of our
civilization, but / most earnestly insist
that if our civilization does not build
a lofty SuperstruCture on this basis,
We can never rank among the really
great peoples A certain amount Of
money is of course a necessary thing
as much for the nation as for the in
dividual; ana there are few movements
in which l more thoroughly believe
than in the movement to secure better
! remuneration for our teachers, But,
after all, the service you render is in
calculable, because of the very fact
that by your lives you show that you
believe ideals to be worth sacrifice,
and that you are splendidly eager to
do nOndemunerative work if this work
is of good to your fellow-men.
Do Great Service to Country
To furnish in your lives such a real
ized high ideal is to do a great service
to the country. the chief harm done
by the men of swollen fortune to the
community is not the harm that the
demagogue is apt to depict as spring
ing from their actions, but the fact
that their success sets up false
standard, and SO serves as bad ex
ample for the rest of us. If We did
not ourselves attach such an exagger-
ated Importance to therich man who
| is distinguished only by his riches,
this f.ch man would have a most in
| significant inf1usAce over u.s.. 1t is gen.
orally our own fault if he does damage
| to US, for he damages us chiefly by
arousing our envy or by rendering us
sour and discontented. In his actual
business relations he is much more
| apt to benefit than harm the rest Of
US; and though it is eminently right to
| take whatever steps are necessary in
/ order to prevent the exceptional men,
| bers of his class from doing harm, it
| is wicked folly to let ourselves be
| drawn into any attack upon the man
of wealth merely as such. Moreover,
such an attack is in itself an excep-
|
wealth, and therefore the proof of, an
exceptionally ugly and crooked state
of mind in the man making the attack.
! Venomous envy of wealth is simply
! another form of the spirit, which in
! one of it's manifestations takes the
| shape of cringing servility toward
! wealth. and in another the shape Of
/ brutal arrogance on the part of certain
men of wealth. Each one of these
| states of mind, whether it be hatred,
| servility, or arrogance, is in reality
| closely akin to the other two; for eacn
| of them spingS from a Enthusiastically
| twisted and exaggerated idea of the
! importance of wealth as compared to
| other things. The clamOr of the dema-
| gogue against wealth, the SnObbery of
! the social columns of the newspapers
which deal with the doings of the
wealthy, and the misconduct of those
men of wealth who act with brutal
disregard to the rights of others, seem
superfically to have no fundamental
relation; yet in reality they spring
| from shortcomings which are funda-
mentally the same; and one of these
| shortcomings is the failure to nave
proper ideals.
| Work of Teachers
| This failure must be remedied in
| large part by the actions OF you and
your fellow-teachers, your fellow-edu-
| Gators throughout this land. By your
lives. no less than by your teachings,
you show that while you regard wealth
as good thing, you regard other
! things as still better. 1t is absolutely
| necessary to earn certain amount or
| money; it is a mans first duty to
| those dependent upon him to earn
| enough for their support; but after
| certain point has been reached money
! making can never stand en- the same
| plane with other and nobler- forms or
| effort. The roll of American worthless
! numbers men like Washington and
Lincoln. Grant and Farragut, Haw-
thorne and Poe, Fulton and Morse.
ST. Gaudens and MacMonnies; it num-
hers statesmen and soldiers, men of
i letters, artists, sculptors, men of sci
ence. inventors, explorers, roadmakers,
bridge builders, philanthropists, moral
leaders in great reforms; it numbers
men who have deserved well in any
one of the countless fields of activity;
but of rich men it numbers only those
who have used their riches Alright, who
have treated wealth not as an end,
but as a means, VINO have shown good
conduct in acquiring it and not merely
lavish generosity in disposing of it,
Thrice fortunate are you to whom
it is given to lead lives of resolute en-
deavor for the achievement of lofty
ideals. and, furthermore, to instill,
| both by your lives and by your teach
ings, these ideals into the minds OF
those who in the next generation will,
as the men and women of that genera
ton. determine the position which this
nation will hold in the history OF man
kind.