The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-09-16
Quality Which Is Needed.

Quality Which Is Needed.
Bearing in mind that the schools
have come to be a government insti-
tuition, that the welfare of the state
and nation is the primary object of all
education, what is that quality that is
most needed in our social, civic and
business life?
ITO determine that question, we only
have to refer to the. history of this
country during the last twenty years
and thereby understand the conditions
as they exist at the present time. Dur
ing that time this country has enjoyed
a marvellous degree of prosperity. It's
wealth has increased beyond the ex-
! pectation of even the most sanguine:
its industries are simply gigantic, but
at the same time there has crept into
our civic and business life an element
that today seriously threatens great
disaster, If not destruction. This is the
spirit of speculation, money-getting
and commercialism: il has envelOped
Our entire lives and it has become the
chief end and aim of our people, and
in this wild scramble conscience has
| been forgotten and uncomfortable. dis
honest and criminal methods have been
reSorted to- to an extent that is simply
appalling. Honesty in business and Of
fetal life is regarded as amiable. but
non essential and very improbable.
Tread the history of the investiga-
| lions and of current events of the last
five years in official and private life;
filed with accounts of prosecutions and
| convictions of dishonest public serv-
ants; with accounts of fleeing bankers
from robbed and outraged depositors;
with accounts of gigantic frauds in the
administration of semi-public trusts
such as insurance and trust companies
with fraudulent, unconscionable and
unlawful combinations to lay heavy
burdens upon all the necessities and in
dustries of life; with accounts of the
efforts of federal. state and municipal
governments TO cope with these organ
izationS often having to resort to mil
itary force. IT is a record that has
brought ussinto disgrace among the ma
tons of the earth. and humilates the
pride of every American. And this
lawless. criminal and unconscionablt
spirit has entered into all departments
and into all trades. European trav-
eler i'm this country has sneeringIy SAID
that in the United States if a mar
steals sic. they call it petit larceny and
send him to Jail: If he steals 800, they
call it grand larceny and send him Il
the penitentiary; but if he steals mil
lion dollars they call it Operating and
they send him to the legislature
This, of course, is eXtravagant, bu
there is truth enough in il to, sting anC
humiliate every American. This prac.
tice in official and private life has be
come so general that we have Dor
rowed a word from one of the science:
to fifty describe it's manipulation. anC
the generic term now used to designate
it, is graft Webster, i'm the first def
milton of this word, thus defines it: a
small shoot or scion of a tree, inserted
in another tree. the stock of which il
TO support and nourish it. The tive
unite and become one tree, but tn
graft determines the kind of fruit
is fit word TO be used for that pur
pose, and it has today come to be it
most general meaning. The graft ha
become general. and the fruit of Thu
graft is substantially determining tn
fruit that we are plucking today. If
were to determine what particular ele
ment and quality is most needed in ou
national, social, business and civic life
should say it is good, old-fashione,