Central Washington University - Hyakem / Kooltuo Yearbook (Ellensburg, WA)

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' Tis true we need practical men. Bui are these men of one faculty and one idea practical men? Do they solve the great problems of life—problem »s profound and varied today as when first responsibility rapped at the door of human conscience? The aim of all free governments should he, to enable each to govern himself. The responsibility of a state Is inversely as the perfection of the individual. IIs pros- jierity can be measured only by the prosperity nr the individual. Yet his independ¬ ence Is sacrificed for the pecuniary gains of the state. Our great specialization of education and labor necessarily leads to centralization of power—the usurpation by a few of the rights of the many. Make the laborers hut a member of an organic body, and you muBt give the body a head or it will die. Make the citizen but a wheel in the great machine of state, and government is ag indiseensible and arbitrary as the engineer who stops and starts a locomotive with a single lever. The law of division of labor, when allowed free sway, is self-destructive; compe¬ tition. its very soul, dies with the independence of the laborer. Yet this, apparently, does not disturb the slumbers of those who Bleep on downy pillows, and dream of emancipated labor, and of governments, as dethroned usurpers of the past. The failure of tyrants, in the past- to keep religion and education, mind and body, separate, resulted in the overthrow of despotism. When a subject saw his rights, felt the abuse, and knew how to redress it, feudal castles and royal prerog¬ ative vanished. When, here aud there, a lonely star sends forth its feeble light the wolves descend upon their prey; but when the “orti of day and victor over night” emits its myriad rays of light and life, the shadows of night pass silently away; the beasts of prey seeks each bis dismal lair; the threatened flocks graze on the green plains and hillside: the hideous howls of night, now with the echoes of retreating foea, only enhance the serene grandeur of smiling nature. Our demand for greater production is but a mental product. Nature, every year, dotheB itself in its usual verdure; the genial sun and refreshing showers of summer, Tailing on waving meadows, fields and forests, like manna from the skv. build busily the elements of the soil, sea and air into golden sheaves and luscious fruits of autumn. Abundance is nature’s gracious tribute. Y’et the daily care of thousands la how to f%ain a livelihood. Wo cry for more productions whfi we are incompetent to dispose of what we have. With but one ruling passion, one active power, one line of effort, we chase blindly the phantoms of wealth: sacrifice our happiness; neglect our duties to others: and not less our duities to ourselves. We close the golden casket and lose the fair one we seek to win. What are all our social troubles but a narrowness of soul, of mind and of heart? What is it, but a mental myopia, which sees but the prison walls within which it moves—a paralysis of the heart which feels not the gentle touch of sympathy, and is not moved by one generous emotion? The poor, enslaved by the specialized’activ¬ ity, see before them the frowning clouds of misery, but are unable to flee; their homes are as dark and desolate as their workshops. No fond memories cluster around their firesides; no music wakes within them the symphonies of Mozart; no Longfellow sings to them of love; hut the moaning wind lends Its chorus to their despairing souls. The rich, equally narrow, hoard their wealth with little satisfaction, and the poor c ani °t but envy their apparent bliss. Abject poverty and dire need gather hungrily the spilt abundance of onr extravagance; health and beauty pale In the shudow-s of princely mansions; the millionaire served with fruits of every clime, longs for more; fearful, lest he should not prove immortal, he Imilds monuments to his own menioy; yet, unscrupulously snatches from his wretched neighbor his last crus] of bread. These are the men we call practical. This Is the education we seek to promote. Before this pile of Mammon we reverently bow, and sacrifice upon its altars our lives, our happiness and our sacred honors. But how lightiv do we estimate modest works. Few bid It hearty God-speed. Yet manlv worth is ]he rock on which our safety rests. Against its base the angry waves or dis¬ content. spend their power; against Its rough and craggy peaks, the storms of pas- Kinn ibji t In vnin Wo protest in vain against municipal imperialism. We criticise, to no useful purpose economic laws. These are llie legitimate results of our partial and one- a. , ' °i. traln i n . f U nd , h . e r, ‘ i ,UinR one - al l 1 ' l idea of life. If you would change the direction of the resultant, you must change the direction of the forces. No deduc- one o”a except her !- ' ) ' 161111111 1 ,U ‘ mona,ratlon ' no eloquent persuasion, can change m !„H 1 !i le . 80 !ij CeS hu ™ an actl m« a t be purified. Every fountain In the individual mind that adds a limped nil to the stream of action must be oppressed: the eagerness 17

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A Popular Fallacy An Address Made to the Student Assembly by Dr. J, P. Munson. Perhaps no idea in modern times is more universally accepted as true than this, that man owe his greatness to specialization of education, industry and trade. Con¬ centration or effort, practical education now recommended on every hand, these are but different forms or the same idea. While specialization in the past, though by no means Invariably, has led to great achievements, the effects of our present blind adher¬ ence to It bear unmistakable evidence that it is at most partially true. Consult philosophy and its history and the evil effects of this maxim is at once seen. Minds, biased by long study of matter, have reached the conclusion that every¬ thing is matter, that thoughts are the secretions of the brain On the other hand, those confined to the contemplation of mind alone have revealed the conclusion that everything is mind. The one. seeing through the microscope, perceives but the man¬ ifestation of physical forces; the other, the closing his eyes to the light of day. sees but the shadows of hi own thoughts; the one, presuming to know everything; the other denying the validity of any knowledge. These two systems arc but complements of each other; each the result of powers usurped anil powers Ignored. Such is the oracle to which we look for support ro our hopes, and for a defence of our most sacred convictions. But while a loo close application to a single line of thought leads to this miserable philosophising, it is not in the airy realms or metaphysical speculation that the evil effects of this maxim are most plainly seen. We perceive in it but the remote center, whenee radiate the many farces that are shaping our social, industrial, political and educational institutions. What is all this talk about useless and ornamental education, this constant advo- cacy of practical knowledge. There is scarcely a county school superintendent in this broad land who does not insist on the importance of practical Instruction. Even our colleges urge the necessity of pursuing special lines of study, often before the student has mastered the rudiments of a liberal education; and. as if an early bias of mind were worthy of special commendation, they crown the successful suppression of God- glvrn powers with special honors. How can n expect freedom of thought from such parsimonious provisions far Its growth and development? Scarcely is a student thrown into the Btream or active life, before he drifts along its current toward that single object, the nearest cataract. Thousands of men in our manufacturing establishments have been engaged In the manufacture of boot-tops, who are still unable to make a complete boot. Yet It seems that this niUBt be encouraged; we say ’tls thus the world advances; the times need practical men; men who know but one trade and know It well men who are willing to he ignorant of all else. In order that they may know one thing well. With all due respect for the labors of Kant, the secluded drudgery of Watt; the perseverance of Stevenson; or the achievements of Napoleon we can but deplore our fate, if so little of the world is open to our enjoyment, if this la the acme of our pow- Is Ilia a dream ii ed. The Immortal Bacon and Cicero will remain forever enviable, historical curiosities. No more Washingtons will lead us on to victory: no more Websters inspire us with wisdom and eloquence. No, ’tis not bo I The human mind is not t Iris powder, which concentrated at a single point, cleaves the rock and vanishes; its many powers are not this exuberant vegetation which must be uprooted in order that a favored few may gain strength and prosper. The universe is its workshop, the earth, the air, the heavens, Its lessons. Neither matter nor mind, neither the finite nor the infinite, can escape its normal scru¬ tiny. In this is ample acope for all our powers; and it Is only by the exercise of all our powers, that we can extract from them the nectar on which alone the soul sub¬ sists With mind unimpaired by disguise; unhampered by prejudice; working freely under self-involved law. we gather from this sublime environment, solace to our sor¬ rows. composure to our fears, an ' d wisdom to our ignorance. When we return weary from the workshop, the field, or the market, the lillies greet us by the wayside; the brdi-o-link and the robins warble in the treetops; we see green meadowB and waving wheal fields stretching out before us: the distant clouds blushing from the farewell kisses or the setting sun. A new tire swells within ua, and heats responsive to new im¬ pulses: the weariness of toil Is lessened: the gloom of poverty and the cares oT wealth alike vanish: and we breathe anew the healing breath of truth, beauty and love.

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for early specification must be checked. Those who have two eyes must be allowed to use them; those who have hut one, given due praise for Its judicious use. Manhood and true worth must be measured by other standards than dollars and cents. We must drink deep from the fountains of wisdom and we shall be sob¬ ered by mightier forces than state militia and federal troops Our battle scarred heroes will have won their laurels in fairer fields than fields of blood; the ruler of state and nation will court intelligence rather than ignorance to his support and rise to eminence bb an exponent of lofty principles rather than party prejudices. «i t? » uisuvr. oroauer ana a wiser life. 18