Evening star., 1927-11-26

, comparatiro -'uo of great financial
success. III light of laboratory
triumphs. pure scientist"
relying u,s mortar and pestle
and test-tu is lighted the worlds
darkness as has Edison, or spread
healing into the wilds and the slums,
as has the Rockefeller Foundation?
The scientific research required brains,
but most assuredly great financial
enterprise and organization are equally
dependent upon similar ganglions, in
accommodating capital requisite in dis
tributing the results of research to the
furthermost ends of the world. An
eminent educator remarked recently
that Henry Ford's wonderful material
| success" was due more to his genius
for organization and administration
than to his engineering invention Of
the automobile.
In belittling the value of brains in
material success" why not consider
the national appreciation thereof, as
indicated by annual investments in
their development along both lines?
Material success" gives humanity
the power to lessen the hardships of
life by substituting what are called
"luxurieS." In the last census year,
1920, we invested $3.50 900 900 in train
ing brains in the common schools and
high schools, while by our material
prosperity" we spent the same
amount, plus two billions more, upon
'luxuries." President Lowell of Har-
ward points to the shameful fact that
motorman upon an elevated train
in New York is paid more than are
many college professors, and he adds
bitterly. (which is the more impor.
tant, to mind the train or to train
the mlnd?' That seems like quite
paradox to originate in an institu-
ton of learning, similar to one which
believes that brains are out of date,
in the material vocations.
There is no more important influ-
ence in America supporting the spread
OF higher education than is the Car
negie Foundation, but was that vast
capital accumulated without real
brains. foresight and comprehension
of problems of industry?
X X X
Why must savants isolate them
selves from human problems, and live
in an unreal world. where forgetful-
ness of umbrellas and meals is
habitual? In a newly published book,
Natural History of a Savant," by
CHARLES Richet, of France, appears
this confession:
There are many kinds of savants.
one variety studies palimpsests. HERO
giyphS, extinct languages. ancient his.
tories. AS for writing of modern his.
tory, especially of cotemporary his.
tory, 1t is not really a matter of
science, for in affairs Of our own time
personal appreciation-which has moth
ing TO do with science-holds a pre-
ponderating place. The preparation
OF treatise on Etruscan origins is
the work of a savant, but one need
scarcely regard as a savant the his
torlan who recounts such incidents as
those of the treaty of Versailles; which
nevertheless is almost as difficuult as
70 descant on the records left by the
EtruscanS"
In parallel strain, is it not of equal
Halue 10 civilization to make the dirt
My; in digging the Panama Canal
as 70 trace the canals of Mars" or to
organize an automobile industry which
gives employment to hundreds of
thousands of industrial workers and
equips millions of men with giant
boots, giving longer stride to every
pody than Jack the giant killer could
Doast-ls not that equally the work
OF Drains" as the lecture of the pro-
tessor upon the habits of ptorodactyls?
true. the poet James Sheridan
knowles agreed with Jastrow. when
ne declared, a hundred years ago, in
''The Hunchback":
Il abhor brains as I do tools: they
are things mechanical" And every.
body knows that "a poor workman
always complains of his tools"
fCopyright. 1927 by Paul ". Collins.l