Culture and the State 



53 



the destruction which has, in all time, come with wealth, 

 upon every nation, so far, in the world, is, if possible, to 

 maintain in our population a leaven of culture, a suf- 

 ficient number of men and women who have found for 

 value another meaning than that which may be expressed 

 in money or autos. He was a wise farmer who was not 

 so much concerned in buying for his son a car, as he was 

 in learning where it would take the lad once he got into 

 it. That is it, that is it! What shall be the end of the 

 ride ? Of what possible use is a touring car if it takes a 

 man to destruction; or if, through ignorance, the unfor- 

 tunate owner have no slightest inkling where he is going 1 

 It is bad enough to remain at home and be ignorant ; but 

 to come suddenly to wealth, to have means to see the 

 splendor of the world, to pass the flowery fields, the flow- 

 ing hills, the treasured cities, as in a flitting car, and be 

 all unconscious of their meaning or their beauty, to have 

 all the world clamoring for recognition and still to sit in 

 a limousine and be ignorant this for a sentient soul 

 must approach the lowest level of personal disgust and 

 disappointment. There is no use disputing it; men can 

 never in this world be satisfied by what they merely have. 

 The moralist, the teacher, the preacher, can not too 

 much proclaim the absolute futility of wealth to meet the 

 individual need, the needs of the human spirit. They 

 tell us all the time that : 



"E'en bliss and joy that may beget 



A sense of faith in things we see, 

 Is like a glorious garden set 

 Down by the sea. 



