The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-09-18

t6Ah VI Akh0hatASI =
" include myself among the
ignorant. am very ignor-
ant of vast number OF things.
perhaps Of all things. Sometimes
] have a feeling that must be edu-
Gated. because I am 80 ignorant.
All that Is the matter with the
current culture OF our time 10. to
take quotation from an American
philosopher. Artemus Ward. "It
amt so much peoples ignorance
that does wrong, it's their know
ing SO many things that amt So"
It Is easy to give list Of the kind
OF things ] mean. For instance,
(, every educated person knows that
the Jews In the Middle Ages had
their teeth pulled out and were
burned as heretics. It isn't 30. There
is only one such alleged case record
ed, and even that case. which con-
cerned King John and a bitter en-
envy. Is Of doubtful accuracy.
Certainly Jews were never burned
for heresy. In fact. II IL a most
curious paradox that. though Chris
tians who were not wholly clear In
their belief regarding the Trinity
were punished, the Jews who did
not believe in the Trinity at all
walked the streets. unpublished.
WHERE ROUSSEAU MADE
HIS GREAT MISTAKE.
Every educated person knows that
the great mistake Of Rousseau was
that he believed q perfect savage
community had existed and gradu-
ally developed q civilization from
which was formed the contrat
Social. Every educated person
knows that and 1t 10 not so. In
fact. In the. first sentence Of the
book, Rousseau says that II 10 not
so, that no one knows what the be-
ginning was.
American, history Il viewed In
England in much the same fashion.
A leading newspaper article In Lon
don on American politics. might well
begin: .aThe great Washington and
his supporters were right In separa-
ting from the Mother Country--no.
Englishman denies that-but they
carried with them an ignorance OF
the moral question Of slavery. 1t
had not dawned on them that slav-
cry was wicked, and they must be
judged by the spirit Of their time,
and SO It was not until Abraham
Lincoln. inspired by the outbreak Of
John Brown. found It necessary to
bring the country into q condition
of war to emancipate the slaves
All of which Is wrong. 1t is not
true that the great men who found.
ed the American Republic were I'M
conscious Of the evil of slavery. In
fact, the author OF the Declaration
of independence said when the aues-
ton OF slavery was considered: Il
tremble for my country when I re-
member that God Is just"
1t is not true that Lincoln was
= inspired by John Brown. Lincoln
thought John Brown was q ridicu-
lous lunatic. and said 50. The war
was not fought against slavery,
though Lincoln was passionately op-
posed to slavery. - The war was
fought because Lincoln realized
what effect the division of the Re-
public would have on. the world.
H. G. WELLS ANOTHER
EXAMPLE IN POINT.
Now for another Illustration Of
the ignorance OF the educated. Most
Of US have got into our minds what
H. G. Wells would call an Outline
of History" We all know that man
is evolved by natural selection from
the anthropoid apes and that primi-
tive man was different from any
man we know in civilization. but
not very different from certain types
Of savage that we are familiar with.
Almost all OF us know that primi-
tive man lived in a community ruled