High- tion The There is no use in blinding ourselves to certain of the tendencies and results of our high-pressure civilization. Some very omi nous facts have become more and more apparent during the present century, in which the social movement of the white race has gone on with such unexampled and everaccelerating rapidity. The rich have undoubtedly grown richer; and, while the most careful students are inclined to answer with an emphatic negative the proposition that the poor have grown poorer, it is nevertheless certain that there has been a large absolute, though not relative, increase of poverty, and that the very poor tend to huddle in immense masses in the cities. Even though these masses are, relatively to the rest of the population, smaller than they formerly were, they constitute a standing menace, not merely to our prosperity, but to our existence. Ibid. There is, in certain points, a very evident incompatibility of interest between the farmer Working- who wishes to sell his product at a high rate, and the Man and the working-man who wishes to buy that product at a low rate; but the success of the capitalist, and especially of the banker, is conditioned upon the prosperity of both working-man and farmer.-Ibid. before Intellect We need intellect, and there is no reason Character why we should not have it together with character; but if we must choose between the two we choose character without a moment's hesitation.-Ibid. Low Prices It is not exactly clear how a rise in the High and prices both of what one producer sells another, and of what he in return buys from that other, can somehow make both of them rich, and relax the strain of competition. Certainly in the present century, competition has been just as severe in times of high prices, and some of the periods of greatest prosperity have coincided with the periods of very low prices. There is reason to believe that low prices are ultimately of great benefit to the wage-earners. A rise in prices generally injures them.—Ibid. Nations with do not Decay The economic man in England, Holland, and the United States has for several cen- Capitalists turies proved a much better fighter than the martial emotionalist of the Spanish countries. It is Spain which is now decaying; not the nations with capitalists.-Ibid. The Keystone The prosperity of the wage-earning class is more important to the State than the prosClass the perity of any other class in the community, for it numbers within its ranks two thirds of the people of the community. The fact that modern society rests upon the wageearner, whereas ancient society rested upon the slave, is of such transcendent importance as to forbid any exact comparison between the two, save by way of contrast.—Ibid. What Education If our population decreases; if we lose the virile, manly qualities, and sink into a nation of mere hucksters, putting gain over national honor, and subordinating everything to mere ease of life; then we shall indeed reach a condition worse than that of the ancient civilizations in the years of their decay.-Ibid. Remember always that the securing of a by Process substantial education, whether by the individual or by a people, is attained only by a process, not by an act. You can no more make a man really educated by giving him a certain curriculum of studies than you can make a people fit for self-government by giving it a paper constitution. University of Cairo Address. Remember that character is far more important than intellect, and that a really great university should strive to develop the qualities that go to make up character even more than the qualities that go to make up a highly trained mind. No man can reach the front rank if he is not intelligent and if he is not trained with intelligence; but mere intelligence by itself is worse than useless unless it is guided by an upright heart, unless there are also strength and courage behind it. Morality, decency, clean living, courage, manliness, self-respect these qualities are more important in the make-up of a people than any mental subtlety.-University of Cairo Address. 2 A Great University Should Develop Character The Activities Never forget that in any country the most important activities are the activities Important of the man who works with head or hands. in the ordinary life of the community, whether he be handicraftsman, farmer, or business man-no matter what his occupation, so long as it is useful, and no matter what his position, from the guiding intelligence at the top down all the way through, just as long as his work is good. I preach this to you here by the banks of the Nile, and it is the identical doctrine I preach no less earnestly by the banks of the Hudson, the Mississippi, and the Columbia.-Ibid. The on a Pinnacle of Evil Infamy Out-of in Public Office All good men, all the men of every nation whose respect is worth having, have been inexpressibly shocked by the recent assassination of Boutros Pasha. It was an even greater calamity for Egypt than it was a wrong to the individual himself. The type of man which turns out an assassin is a type possessing all the qualities most alien to good citizenship; the type which produces poor soldiers in time of war and worse citizens in time of peace. Such a man stands on a pinnacle of evil infamy; and those who apologize for or condone his act, those who, by word or deed, directly or indirectly, encourage such an act in advance, or defend it afterwards, occupy the same bad eminence.-Ibid. Appointments to public office must of Door Men course be made primarily because of the presumable fitness of the man for the position. But even the most rigid moralist ought to pardon the occasional inclusion of other considerations. I am glad that I have been able to put in office certain outdoor men who were typical leaders in the old life of the frontier, the daring adventurous life of warfare against wild man and wild nature which has now so nearly passed away. Outdoor Pastimes. |