THE NEED OF EDUCATED MEN. 169 



" My will fulfilled shall be, 

 In daylight or in dark ; 

 My thunderbolt has eyes to see 



Its way home to the mark ! " Emerson. 



It was the dream of the founders of this republic that each 

 year the people should choose from their mimber " their wisest 

 men to make the public laws." This was actually done in the 

 early days, for our first leaders were natural leaders. The men 

 who founded America were her educated men. None other could 

 have done it. But this condition could not always last. As the 

 country grew, ignorance came and greed developed; ignorance 

 and greed must be represented, else ours would not be a repre- 

 sentative government. So to our congresses our people sent, not 

 the wisest, but the men who thought as the people did. We have 

 come to choose, in our lawmakers, not rulers but rei3resentatives ; 

 we ask not wisdom, but watchfulness for our personal interests. 

 So we send those whose interests are ours, those who act as our 

 attorneys. And just as the people do this, so do the great corpo- 

 rations, who form a large part of the people and control a vastly 

 larger part. And as the corporations command the best service, 

 they often send as their attorneys abler men than the people can 

 secure. And so it has come about that demagogues and special 

 agents make up the body of lawmakers in this country, and this 

 in both parties alike. They represent, not our wisdom, but our 

 business. They are the reflex of the people they represent ; no 

 better, and certainly no worse. Those whose interest lies in the 

 direction of good government alone, often know not which way 

 to turn, and at last fall back on the time-honored anathema 



" A plague on both your houses ! " 



In this degree republican government has failed. For this 

 failure there is again but one remedy education. If the people 

 are to rule us, the people must be wise. We must have in every 

 community men trained in social and political science. We must 

 have men with the courage of their convictions, and only the edu- 

 cated man has any real convictions. We must have men who 

 know there is a right to every question as well as many wrongs. 

 We must have men who know what this right is, or, if not know- 

 ing, who know how the right may be found. Very few men ever 

 do that which they know and really believe to be wrong. Most 

 wrongdoing comes from a belief that there is no right, or that 

 right and wrong are only relative. 



If representative government is ever to bring forward wisdom 

 and patriotism, it will be because wisdom and patriotism exist 

 and demand representation. In this direction lies one of the most 

 important duties of the American university. Every question of 



