FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTIONS 549 



of providing a counterpoise for which a technical institute offers no 

 adequate material. 



It may be said that this is a side issue, and not a fundamental 

 conception, but our assumptions are always greater than our con- 

 scious knowledge, and, in one sense, there are no side issues. No 

 truly scientific man can be blind to the position of his immediate 

 object in the general scheme of things, and the more broad-minded 

 he is the more careful will he be that, as he moves along, he is not 

 stirring up forces for evil; more, he will be positive in his effort, 

 and will try to see that it is tending to produce a man whose work 

 shall be worthy of his own nature. 



All moral issues, which have been often used in support of the 

 idea of the new technical education, are, in the same sense, side 

 issues. A technical school is not, and cannot be, primarily a school 

 of morals; but even men, sufficiently careless about their own 

 standard of life, are glad enough to encourage and cultivate in 

 others that stability of conduct which is the best bulwark of a 

 democratic state. If we consider the manner in which any moral 

 effect may be looked for, as a result of technical training, we shall 

 see that the process must be something of the following nature. 

 The inner eye, which sees truth, is necessarily aided by the imme- 

 diate detection of errors in form, or in the nice adjustment of out- 

 ward things, and the consequent emphasis which is laid upon the 

 value of accuracy. We cannot take the first step towards a virtue 

 until we see it clearly, and, therefore, whatever magnifies it makes 

 that step more possible. Again, we may reflect that the enforced 

 yet pleasant exercise of a virtue may do much to make it agree- 

 able, and may diminish any natural opposition to it which may 

 happen to exist. Further, still, we may go, and assert that the will 

 itself may be, and is, cultivated in the overcoming of obstacles, 

 and, therefore, may be made the more powerful instrument of an 

 awakened and a holy purpose --for deep down beyond all this, 

 we come to the place where we are forced to admit that we have 

 reached the limit of human effort, to the place where the wise will 

 lift up "hands of faith." No science can teach a love of truth which 

 shall be strong enough to conquer life. Yet, within its limits, in 

 common with all true scientific teaching, and perhaps in a larger 

 measure proportionate to its appeal to a larger clientele, techno- 

 logy may lay claim to produce moral strength, truth, and manli- 

 ness. 



Nor is this all by any means. Technology has been exalted as 

 the spring of civilization, and it is, and not only or merely because 

 the promoters of utility increase the ease of life, "make space and 

 give time," and so broaden our mental horizon, but also because 

 in the contest with the earthly and the sensual it is no small matter 



