Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-24

Cation is good only In SO far as 1T is
used Alright, and IL IT. is misused or If
1t causes the ownerSto be SO puffed up
with pride as to make him misesti-
mate the relative values Of things 1T
becomes a harm and not benefit.
There are few things less desirable
than the arid cultivation, the learning
and refinement which lead merely to
that intellectual conceit which makes
man in democratic community
like ours hold himself aloof from his
fellows. and pride himself upon the
weakness which he mistakes for SUI
percilious strength. Small is the use
of those educated men who in after
life meet no one but themselves, and
gather in parlors to discuss wrong
conditions which they do not under
stand and ito advocate remedies which
have the prime defect Of being I'M
workable The judgment on practical
affairs, political and social, Of edu-
Gated men who keep aloof from the
conditions of practical life, is apt to
be valueless to those other men who
do really wage effective war against
the forces of baseness and of evil.
From the political standpoint educa-
ton is harm and not a benefit to
the men whom it serves as an excuse
for refusing to mingle with their fell
lows and for standing aloof from the
broad sweep of our national life in a
curiously impotent spirit of fancied
superiority. The political wrong
headedness of such men is quite as
great as that of wholly uneducated
men; and no people could be less
trustworthy as critics and advisors.
The. educated man who seeks to con-
sole himself for his own lack Of the
robust qualities necessary to bring
success in American politics by moan
ing over the degeneracy of the times
instead of trying to better them, by.
railing at the men who do the actual
work of political life instead Of trying
himself to do the work, is i a poor
creature, and, so far as his feeble
powers avail, lis a damage and not a
help to the country. You may come
far short of this disagreeable stand
ard and still be a rather useless mem
Der of society. Your education, your
cultivation, will not help you If you
make the mistake of thinking that it
is substitute for instead of an addi-
ton to those qualities which in the
struggle of life bring success to the
ordinary man without your advant-
ages Your college training confers
no privilege upon you save as tested
by the use you make of it. It puts
upon you the obligation to show your
selves better able to do certain things
than your fellows who have not had
your advantages. If it has served
merely to make you believe that you
are to be excused from effort in after
life. that you are to be excused from
contact with the actual world of men
and events, then it will prove a curse
and not a blessing. If on the other
hand you treat your education as a
weapon the more in your hands, a
weapon to fit you ito do better in the
hard struggle of effort, and not as ex-
cusing you in any way from taking
part in practical fashion in that strug-
gle, then it will be a benefit to you.
b Let each of you college men remem-
Der in after life that in the funda-
menta1s he is very much like his fell
lows who have not been to college, and
that il he is to achieve results. in
stead of combining himself exclusively
to disparagemnt of other men who
have achieved them, he must manage
to come to some kind of working
agreement with these fellows OF his.
There are times of course when it
may be the highest duty of a citizen
to stand alone or practically alone.
But IL this is a mans normal attitude
If normally he is unable to work in
combination with a considerable body
of his felloWs-it is safe to set him
down as unfit for useful service DIN a
democracy. In popular government
results worth having can only be
achieved by men who combine worthy
ideals with practical good sense; who
are resolute to accomplish good pur.
poses, but who can accommodate
themselves to the give and take neces.
sary where work has to be done, as al.
most all important work must neces-
sarily be done, by combination. More.
over, remember that normally the
prime object Of political life should
be to achieve results and not merely
Ito issue manifestoes save OF course
where the issuance Of such nantes.
toes helps to achieve the results. It Is
a very bad thing to be morally cal.
lous. for moral callousness is disease
But Inflammation OF the conscience
may be just as unhealthy so far as
the public is concerned: and if mans