The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-10-28

men of high intellectual ability, and
| without which real character cannot
| exist-namely, the fundamental gift or
| common sense.
Il am far from decrying intellect. 1
| join with the world in admiring it and
| paying homage to it. Without 1t,
| above all without its highest express
| sion, genius the world would move
forward but slowly, and the purple
patches in the gray garment of our
| actual lives would be sadly Shorn OF
| their glory. Nevertheless, exactly oS
| strength comes before beauty, so char
acter must ever stand above intellect,
| above genius. Intellect is fit to be the
most useful of servants; but it is an
! evil master, unless itself mastered by
| character. This is true of the individ-
ual man. 1t is far more true of the
nation of the aggregate of individuals.
Yet it is a truth of which men tend
constantly to lose sight; and the Amer
| lean republics, north and south, have
in the past shown again and again
curious forgetfulness of it. In my own
country we tend to lay far too much
emphasis on that Indispensable but
one-sided type of intellectual vigor
which shows itself only in commercial
ism, in business achievement; a kind
of intellectual power which is abso-
lutely necessary to either individual
national success under present day
conditions, and indeed under all prof.
er conditions, but which becomes 4
curse instead of a blessing if treated
as in itself an end instead of the care
fully regulated means to an end.
National Greatness.
In some other countries the INTEL
lectual manifesto tions, instead of be-
ing subordinated to materialistic
achievement, are turned almost wholly
into artistic literary or philosophical
channels. Here again, there must be
such Intellectual development if the
nation is TO make a high and lasting
impress on history; and yet there must
also be far more than such develop
nent If the nation is to accomplish ali
that its intellectual warrants From
the standpoint of national greatness
neither the intellect which finds its ex-
preston in commercialiSm, nor the in
tellect which finds its expression in ar
tiStic achievement, can permanently
avail unless based on a foundation of
character.
This is the lesson taught by the
careers of three of the most famous
peoples of antiquity. In the third cen
fury before our era the civilized world
was under the divided sway of the
Romans, the Greeks and the Phoeni-
cian jewellers in Carthage. The Greeks
were beyond question the most bril-
liant people that ever lived, and from
that day to this all poets artists phil
osophers and historians have bowed to
them as masters. They developed to
the highest point to which it has ever
been developed the cultural side of the
intellect. On the other hand, the to-
tally different form of intellect which
finds its expression in purely CONNER
cia1 success has never been more high
ly developed than in the rich mercan-
tile oligarchy which ruled Carthage as
similar oligarchies had once ruled
Sidon and Tyre
Masters of Commerce.
Michael Angelo. Rafael, Dante. Cervan-
ties and Camoens, and all the scholars and
philosophers of the most famous
medieval universities, were the spiritual
heirs of the Hellenic republics and
ments of the modern lords of finance
and captains of industry, when we con-
slider the relative means with which the
ancients worked, do not surpass those of
the marvellous masters of commerce
whose keels furrowed the waters of I'M
princely wealth of the Mediterranean
merchant cities. Yet the Greek and the
Carthaginian alike We're struck down by
the iron Roman; because, although the
Roman had neither the fine culture of
the one nor the commercial genius of the
other, he possessed what both of them
lacked, the grim strength of character
which showed itself in scorn of mere
luxury in sense of duty to the common
wealth, in power to command and to
obey. and in the mistaken fortitude and
endurance which enabled him to wrest
ultimate triumph out of immediate dis
aster.
Under present-day conditions, charac-
ter needs to show itself in different
fashion. Nevertheless. it is as virtually
necessary ever to the wel1-being of a
nation If the men of wealth and social
standing grow idle and luxurious. if they
shirk the performance of the duty to
the whole people which their position
ought to entail, if they lose their sense
of patriotism and whether at home or
in some alien city, lead lives devoted to
soft or vicious notwithstanding, if
such is the case, cultivation of mind
no adroitness in financial transactions :
will avail to save them from the contempt