Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-03-21

tending to bring the world in general
to desire an education to counteract the
i2fluenees destructive to such desire,
lot alone overcoming the mental lazi-
i.ess that is so predominant. The result /
s the brain of the average man is as
flabby and incapable of strong con-
tinuous exettion as the muscles of a !
physically lazy man who never did an
honest day IS work in his life. Almost
without exception is this lazy minded- |
ness apparent in children and there is |
SO little Influence brought to bear
against it that added age makes but
lhsle difference.
When child in the course of its
stadies runs across aspuzzling PROPOSE
tion instead OF trying to solve the diff
ficulty for itself it Immediately seeks
for assistance. Show me the boy OF girl
who always says: emo! No! I want
! to work it out by myself" and then
keeps at it till it succeeds, then you
win have shown me the making of a
future man or woman who will be an
achiever, leader in the world.
| If man tells you he never puts in
garden because he doesn t like gard
ening you can not help but feel good
deal Of contempt for him. Yet the aver
age man will look you square in the
| eyes and tell you he doesn It read eer
tain kinds Of literature because it is
too dry and hard to understand and
makes him sleepy. He admits he would
gain good deal of benefit by reading
it, but still expects you to accept his
excuse as reasonable one. His excuse
is just as absurd as that of the man
who cut cordwood for one day. The
next morning he said he would not cut
any more eordwood for 1t made his
muscles sore.
Even among college graduates there.
/ is very small per cent who sit and
read with pleasure heavy philosophical
| or technical works. Most anybody can
sit and read for hours some light novel.
But how many are there who can sit
and read understandingly the heavy
| works Of Emerson and his like for an
hour without their brains becoming SO
weary and confused they no longer
know what they are reading about.
You must first become capable
reader Of heavy literature before you
can even dream of giving new logical
body who is unwilling to weary their
brain time and time again can never
hope to become capable reader of
heavy literature. 1t requires mental
ambition of the highest order.
Self Made
We, have in the world small class OF
what we call self-made men and wo-
men; men and women who are, or have
been, achievers and hard pushers on the
,, wheels of advancing civilization.
1 Nobody viii dispute that Abraham
Lincoln stands at, the head of this class.
But with Line oln s fervent ambition to
gain an education, who is there who
will question the statement: ''If Lin
eoln had had the facilities to acquire
an advanced education he would have
utilized them to the limit and would
have stood before the world even a
brighter star than he is today Instead
of the small volume of his worthy say
ings we possess we probably would
have volumes of his writings that
would compare well in depth and
: wealth of logic with those of our illus
: trious Emerson.
While only three out Of thousand
of our college graduates succeed in get
ting their names down in the register
Of the world s great achievers only one
in one hundred thousand of the rest OF
Y the adults i'll our country receive that
honor. And they reach high place il
!. the realm Of achievers in spite Of the
Z lack of educational advantages not on
J account Of them.
II We have in the United States today
about eight hundred bright lights. i
all our adult population were collegs
tgraduates at the ratio Of three pc
thousand we would have about eighteeI
thousand unto whom would be opened
the door of fame, or nearly twenty
three times as many as we have now.
The great drawback to the advanced
education Of today is its ornamental ma
ture. Its lack OF being a stimulus t
Ioriginal thinking. Instead of three ou
of every thousand college graduate
creating anything original mentally o
physically that places them among thi
peers of our country we should havi
scores Of them and lessen the multitud
whe--content themselves with learning
and repeating the teachings Of the fey
Iadvaneed thinkers and researchers VIII
, have existed in the past or are iyini
today.
. We win admit there are some {
whom college education seems to be
detriment But who is able to pick ther
out and say which ones shall not 6
: to college. 1t is more pitiful sight t
see man or woman with the promis
of being able to reach high standin
: in life trying to get along without a
education than it is to see a c0lleg