The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-06-22
WHAT is WORTH WHILE.

ArchImedeS and Plato and Socrates and Seneca
did great deal for humanity by their inventions
and phlosophic speculations, and their names will
stand on the honor roll as long as mankind doe
honor to its thinkers Their work was intellectual
and tended to raise the minds of humanity to high.
er fields Of speculation. That their work should
produce something useful was farthest from thai-
thought The Archimedean screw was only intent
ed by its inventor to demonstrate profound phil
osophic truth. Because some one found useful
purpose to which it could be employed, the scieu-
tifc discovery was debased in the mind of the
Greek philosopher Plato saw little useful purpo-c
for arithmetic or for the science of medicine and
even less for writing And astronomy in the mind
of Socrates was valueess except as means to elr-
vate the minds of a few to the mysteries of the
universe Seneca wrote that certain inventions
which were applied to practical uses-transpareut
windows for exampIe-were 'drudgery for the low
est slaves"
1t took long time for the worId'to learn that
philosophy was than intellectual pastme
for old grayheads who composed the wise men of
ancient times Today we are at the opposite ex-
IRENE Philosophy now must prove its usefulness.
and discoveries of the intellectual ones are imme-
diatey seized and twisted into commercial pur-
poses Anything that is impracticable or cannot
be adapted to the needs of humanity might as well
not be. The world wants useful things No one
would attempt to chain the lightning in these days
just for the fun of the thing or to demonstrate
profound truth; before he chained it he must
know what he intended doing with it, In the TWEEN
tieth century the people do not care to have any
white elephants standing around just to be looked
at and wondered at by those uninitiated into the
mysteries of science.
But most of all. the world wants men to be use
full. man who chain lightning must show
some use for his invention he is not looked upon
as a benefactOr. Archimedes, Plato. Socrates and
Seneca were useful in their ways, but the fellows
whose memory is forever lost who applied their
philosophy to practical uses must remain even IL,
their oblivion great benefactors of the lace The
world doesn't seem to need anything until it has
it. The people seemed to live some way or other
before the invention of gunpowder, the telegraph
telephone trolley car But we couldn't get along
now without them-not unless we had to- Thev
are useful and whether they filed long-felt want
or created their own necessity matters not They
are here; they useful Therefore we need them.
The ancient philosophers didn't consider useful.
ness of any particular value, but they would have
been more honored today if they had pointed out
the commercial value of their truths. If some 9TH
err minds not so great had not sought uses for the
discoveries of the philosophers wemght think less
of the wise men and of the product of their DELHI
eratlons. But they opened the way, and others
made use of their discoveries.
If we look into nature we will find verv little
that is not useful. The old world is pretty much
the same now as it centuries ago Some things
have passed and left only few relics to remind
us that they had once existed Perhaps in the
mysterious working of Gods law in nature. these
things had outlived their usefulness and so had 70
move ON to make for other forms of life. 1t
seems to be a law by which nature works that what
is useless must die: there is no room for it in the
divine plan
SO the race must be useful to survive and the
race to be useful must be made up of useful in
dlvlduals. Our usefulness may take different
forms as that of other species of animal life or Of
the 1nanimate things. The wolf and coyote are the
beasts OF desolation and the buzzard is an unceaf
bird, but they all help to keep the world clean and
nit abode for life of higher type. Nature is in
exorable and the laws of God 90 ON forever The
individual has work to perform of a high or low.
standard as measured by man. it matters NOT. The
world needs that work done. What the world needs
is useful, and what is useful is worth while If
in our lives we produce something that supplies
want OF creates Its own place of usefulness we have
not lived IN vain. 1t may be as intangible thing a.
thought poorly expressed that finds response in
another individual that makes our life worth while
and the thought may lie dormant for an age ere it
is Vlvltled by another and new discoveries result.
We often hear of wasted opportunities and wasted
lives. But who knows We measure all We ore
capable of measuring with finite minds. we studv
the growth of man and his philosophy. we admire
The race for its progress and the individual for his
Beyond our vision, in the realms known
and movable only unto God, are things finite rea-
'oning cannot reach There we store our treasures
ana II tnere we have laid up atom or iota of
sood our lives have been worth while. Then has
ha roao fOr L