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itself everywhere apparent. A century passed on during which the 

 ideas of Bacon and Milton were gradually infiltratrating themselves 

 into the minds of the people. Then came the great book of Adam 

 Smith on the Wealth of Nations, a book which is entitled to this 

 distinction that by combining the Aristotelian with the Baconian 

 methods it sought to establish a science of wealth on a philosophical 

 basis. The premises and the reasoning on which conclusions were 

 founded were not in my judgment without great errors ; but the book 

 had its bearings on education scarcely less important than its bearings 

 on political economy and finance. Its teachings were essentially this : 

 the best thing government can do with men, as a rule, is simply to 

 protect them against abuses from their fellows, and then let them 

 alone. This doctrine, however faulty, and civilization is now teach- 

 ing that it is full of faults, carried with it this logical conclusion. 

 If it be true, that men will most successfully work out their own for- 

 tune and destiny, when not interfered with by government, it follows 

 that they must acquire the general intelligence suitable for self guid- 

 ance, and, consequently, that far more generous provisions for edu- 

 cation must be made than had ever before been provided for. 



These doctrines of Adam Smith, moreover, were in complete har- 

 mony with what are commonly called the revolutionary doctrines of 

 the latter part of the last century. Jefferson, as well as Adam Smith, 

 preached the doctrine of letting men and things alone. And it was 

 precisely because kings and parliaments and nobles and hereditary 

 lords would not let men and things alone, that the revolution came 

 on in America, and, a little later, in France. 



There is another phase of the course of events that is worthy of 

 note. While the revolutionary ideas in regard to the proper attitude 

 of government toward the people were taking root there was another 

 revolution going on which had even greater significance. The Bacon- 

 ian doctrine of investigation was beginning to bear fruit. As a con- 

 sequence the modern sciences had come into being. In all parts of 

 the world every bright boy was looking into things. P^very intelligent 

 man was thinking of the ways by which his means of subsistence 

 could be improved. You know the result was the most remarkable 

 succession of inventions that history has ever known anything about. 

 The power loom, the spinning jenny, the application of steam to the 

 driving of machinery, the cotton gin, the invention of the locomotive 

 engine, the building of roads and canals, not only changed the meth- 

 ods of existence from top to bottom, but also made everybody the 

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