The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-06-19

danger today from the vandals in high
hats, as it is from the Huns in red
shirts For the vandals and the Huns
are equally ignorant of Gods basic law
or kindness. And their presence in the
world makes men who would be happy
by being kind and generous and help
Iul, IN the routine of ordinary business,
Ike men who roam unarmed in a saw
age wood, and pay with their lives the
price OF their broad humanity. The
the duty of man to man, that does not
implant deeply in its graduates a
working wisdom in the fundamental
human law of kindness, instead of be-
ing a blessing, that school is a curse
upon any people.
World Full of Slaves
And finally to do his duty well to
COD and man. it is essential that the
student be taught his duty to himself.
The education that does not teach self
reliance, that makes men habby under
the delusion that they are kind, the
education that makes a mans visions
OF righteousness mere f1ushes of moral
lty-1s only modified ignorance. For
until a man passes his education on,
until he gives back to the state in SER
vice what it gave him in schooling,
his right to citizenship is based on
mere law and is not a part of his be-
fought himself free. The world is full
of slaves-slaves to custom, to tradi-
ton, to the things that are, to party,
to church, to outworn tdeaS-cowardS
who know that the truth shall make
them free, but who fear to make the
truth their truth by declaring for it
simply and without buster or without
shame. Trust in myself" says Elmer
son, every heart vibrateS to that iron
string" And therefore, he who Sc
renely with what weapons God has
armed him, enlists in the fight to make
his private opinion public opinion
thereby returning to society his patri-
mony-he is the educated gentleman
For he has won his education, not
sponged it. Moreover. If he got his
education from machine in shop or
from a shovel in the street or from
horses in the field, that man who fol-
lows the instinct divinely planted In
his soul, follows it through the paper
walls of convention and usage to the
right as he sees it, still has he more
culture, more of heavens own refine
ment than if he has yard of scholastic
letters tackled after his name. For II
there is anything in the Brotherho cd
of Man, the Fatherhood of God IS
needed to prove the broth erhood. And
if there be human kinship. there is
implied some hereditary spark-caH it
conscience, instinct, revelation, racial
vision, or what you will-which I'M
plies a broad democracy, wherein at
some small point men are equals.
Education, if it be worthy of the name,
should be the bellows that makes the
divine spark within each soul glow INTO
a torch, to light his fellows But 100
often cur schools and colleges turn out
nothing more considerable than good
citizens. Your good citizens obeys the
laws, conforms to the amenities, Wor-
ships whatever gods there be, and lets
it go at that. He does not get under
the load of the world and lift He is
a dummy director who rails TO reaI1ze
that he is a partner in the inJustlces OF
this life. He does not see that until
he turns out to the caucuses and pr1-
maries and conventions and mass
meetings and makes mis- protest Ielt'
the thieves that rinhabit- the Jerlcno
road will keep right on aSSa1ling the
weak. robbing the poor, and threaten
ing the welfare of society. If he has
light it is not only hidden under
bushel, but the bushel is nailed
down and cleated to the floor. One
of the curses of this country is the
large class of socalled educated good
citizens" who. because they have been
learning and wear well-htting clothes,
are looked up to as leaders Better Is
a government of stable boys following
sincerely and fearlessly the light God
gives them than council or good
citizenship adoring yesterday, and
afraid of nothing so much as lhe
dawn of tomorrow.
Self Reliance and Thrift.
If duty to the great force outside our
selves that we have learned to call COO
is reverence. and if duty to our ne1gh-
Dor is kindness, duty to ourselves Is
self-reliance-self and thrift. !
Now. there is a thrift of money a thrift
of talent a thrift of character. And
every human being has a right-moral
as well legal-to express himself dlt-
fering from all other creatures on TINS
planet in the terms of thrift that best
suit his soul. And that right has but
one restriction: He must express him !
self honestly. And honesty must mean, |
not mere legal honesty, but mortal hon.
esty And moral honesty will keep him
within the Golden Rule; will keep him |
from growing at the expense of others; |
will prevent him from getting behind |
the laws of trade as the tiger hides |
behind the jungle law; but will never |
theless give him freedom to develop, to |
expand his SOUL and to come to his full |
fruitage. There is a cult in our western |
civilization found in the politice of eV-
cry state and government which would |
make men equal by arrested develop |
ment. Because many men grow rich |
dishonesty. certain doctrinaries of social |
science would say that all must fare |
alike Because genius often is selfish |
and blind, these doctors would strange
talent. And because strength OF char
acter sometimes makes men oppressors
of their fellows these social theorists
would make all men mediocre. There is
no other fallacy in the world today so
because to the weak it seems
so plausible as the notion that the King
dom of Heaven may be ordained on this
earth by putting all men through a
common state regulated mold, pairing off
the overlapping of the great. and puff
ing the small up to the standard size by
law If a man has a taste for business,
he should be allowed to trade to his
hearts content providing that he trade
notwithstanding water out of his
stocks, and usury out of his transac-
tons.
Let Men Specialize.
|
commerce as much as it requires re-
igion. But it should be honest COM
nerce and it should be honest religion.
If a man desires to be an inventor or