The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-11-12

Editor The Times-News:
The school of experience is a
great thing for the student but
of not much worth to the dotard.
1t is of little use to those who hold
literally to the belief that "Suffi-
cient unto the day is the evil
thereof" There are so many lin
iting factors in every pursuit Of
life that at least some knowledge
of them is prerequisite if any
measure of success in the pursuit
is to be obtained. In farming, in
the professions, in skilled and I'M
skilled labor, in government, even
theology. Everything has its prob
lens, and if we are to pursue our
lives upon the theory of gradual
development towards a higher
state we must cope with these linz
iting factors. As we are able to
understand them and pursue our
way in conformity with them we
progress, when we run counter to
them we retrograde. And it is nee
essary Just as much to hold to a
truth when we learn it as to learn
it. What benefit was it to the mid
die and dark ages that men a
thousand years before knew the
world is round by the same meth
DDS we know it today? We are
continually learning and forget
ting, but as we learn more than
we forget we advance. 1t ought
to be, and take it is, much easier
to learn and hold what we have
learned than it used to be. 1t is
| easy to record our knowledge.
Nevertheless the mass of the rec
ord, cluttered with improved theo-
ries. hypothesis, opinions and fic-
ton, so becloud the truth that it
still takes great effort to obtain
much knowledge.
do not hold that | know so
very much about the great prob
lens of life, but ! am convinced
| know some things as well as the
greatest men know them. For in
stance / know taht there is no
such thing as Christianity without
love, that we cannot live without
food; that governments are insti-
tuted for the better ordering of
our lives and the protection of
our liberties; that there are two
kinds of wealth, the one that is
common as a gift of nature with
out effort Of man, the other as
a result of the effort of man, and
that the creative power of man
with relation to wealth is his abil-
! lty to change the natural wealth
INTO forms more adaptable to his
comfort and enjoyment and his
needs. know also that in the in
centlve to change the natural lies
the seed of all human progress in
material things. l know there
would be no incentive to change
Ito create) except there be ex-
pectation of enjoyment-the use
Of that which is created. Until
government was stumbled upon
away back beyond the time of re-
corded history, mans progress
was slow. There could be little
collective production because
there was no security or hope of
enjoyment. Each man or tribe
produced what it could, but if the
accumulation amounted to much
another tribe stronger, or a COM
bination of several tribes, would
dispossess it Of it's gain. 1t was
only through the security afford
ed by government that wealth in
creased and knowledge Of produc-
ing it increased. When govern
ment is unable to protect its sub
Jects in the fruits Of their labor
in the creative field there will be
no progress, no creation of wealth
or increase in knowledge. When it
fails to protect the mass against
the few or the few against the
mass the end is in sight. The gov
eminent must fail, another must
be started to perform the func-
lions it was unable to perform or
advancement ceases and decay
sets in.
We are living in what we think
a complex age, but that is only
a relative term. All civilizations
about which we know anything