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Show H INI EFFECTS OF EDUCATION. 1 -pLSEWHERE in this issue will be found a I d communication from "W. Orkingmnn" anent H the question of educntion and its effect up-I up-I on immigration to the United States which, while Hjf showing thought, savors somewhat of pessimism j in the deductions formed, according to our way of H looking at the question. Our contributor and the H authority he quotes seem to be fearful of the ef- v fects of education, which they assume saps the I possessor of the inclination to do hard work. An education which teaches indolence and a repug- nance for labor is not education it is the nnrrow- ! est sort of a one-sided training, and if there are I schools engaged in promulgating this brand of w education (?) we cheerfully agree with our con- Bfe tributor that they should be curtailed or eradi- fflj, catcd. ft f B"t true education, such, for illustration as is 111! taught in the B. A. C. at this place, not only makes M man more cultured and better equipped to pro- SS tect himself against the commercial sharks of our lj modern society, but also makes him a more val- y uablo and useful worker in any line in which his $& lot may be cast. L As a matter of fact, education is not to blame my for the conditions referred to by our correspond- flf 1 ent in the majority of cases. Education is mere- fflg jy made the avenue or the refuge by which the jgnK individual seeks to avoid work which was irksome BJ or repugnant before he sought relief by.educa- M tion. Nor is the individual altogether to blame. Bu There is something wrong about our social sys-l B r tem, wl)ich permits one class of people to impose upon the other, nnd the best way of overcoming this condition js to educate the whole people, when you may depend upon it there will be a more equitable equit-able and just distribution of the pleasures and luxuries of life. With universal higher education there will bo no drudgers or muckers. Each one will be required to perform his or her just share of the world's work, which will not be burdensome burden-some when each one does his rightful portion, nnd no energy is foolishly wasted. The idea of keeping one class of society in ignorance ig-norance in order that they may be slaves for the other class is rank plutocracy, and knowing the democratic proclivities and sentiments of our contributor con-tributor we are surprised, indeed, that he should even hint at such a necessity. Neither, in our judgment, is it necessary to import ignorant and in many cases vicious people from foreign countries coun-tries to do our drudgery for us. The American people are abundantly able to take care of their own progress. What necessary labor they haven't hav-en't the disposition to perform, their Yankee ingenuity in-genuity may bo relied upon to accomplish by the use of machinery or otherwise. Generally speaking it is only through a lack of facilities and equipment that drudgery is needed at all. How many of the hard physical tasks that constitute drudgery have been made unnecessary unnec-essary within the memory of any mature reader of The Record ? We can nearly all recollect back to the time when hay was mowed with a scythe, grain harvested with a cradle, threshing done with a flail, the ground spaded or at best turned with a walking plow, water carried in pails for all culinary purposes, and then the slops carried out again in the same manner, washing performed upon a, board with the knuckles, and a thousand other tasks performed in the most expensive (to time and energy) nnd laborious manner, which in the better appointed homes and lives have given giv-en place for more profitable and congenial duties. To be sure there is still physical labor to be performed per-formed in the world, and always will be; which is for the good of our human bodies which require re-quire a certain amount of exercise in order to retain re-tain their grace, beauty and usefulness, but there need be no drudgery that a refined or educated person can possibly object to performing. Just as long as there is an educated and an ignorant class in society we may expect to see discrimination dis-crimination and inequality in all things. But educated people are equipped to take care of themselves them-selves in tho unequal struggle for existence and supremacy, and when all the popple are educated there will be no class to prey upon and the present the world's work and cease crowding lTuporioth- ; ers less fortunate. With all the people educated, labor will re- ; eeive its just reward, no matter what may be its field of action, and the man who tills the soil will ' receive just as much as his equally educated and cultured neighbor who has chosen to follow a profession, pro-fession, for the law of supply and demand will then govern, and as the professions become more and more overcrowded their services will be in less demand. After, all, the farmer's wheat and corn and fruits are quite as much a necessity as the doctor's medicine or the lawyer's advice. If any seriously doubt the disposition or capacity ca-pacity of an educated person to do physical labor, we should like to call their attention to the striking strik-ing example of the former principal of the Branch Normnl School, who has accomplished more real, genuine farming in the past year than half a dozen doz-en of his farmer neighbors. His education enables en-ables him to apply his labor with more intelligence intelli-gence and better effect. True education should make the farmer a better farmer; the miner a better miner; the mechanic a bettor artisan, and workers in any line better workmen. There is nothing about true education to fear ignorance is the obstacle in the way of progress, pro-gress, the author of the greater part of our woes in the world today. fifl |