Society's Investment In The College Graduate

SOCIETY'S INVESTMENT IN THE COLLEGE GRADUATE.

Dr. Wm. E. Barton of Oak Park, Chicago, speaking to the graduates, in a baccalaureate address, at Yankton College, South Dakota, used the following language as to the heavy investment of society in the education of the college graduate:

"The educated man has been spared for four or five years from the ranks of the producers at a time when his friends and companions are doing something for society. He has been made the beneficiary of large endowments, and for his sake a body of picked men has been set apart to teach him a great many arts and sciences He is a man for whom more is done than for any other man in modern life and society has in store for him a judgment day if he does not render account for what he has received."

He said that only a third of the college graduates of Europe amounted to anything, but that that third ruled Europe. Here he thought there should be no waste at all among such graduates. He declared society would demand a reason for any failures among a body of men and women for whom society has done so much.

Colonial Secretary Chamberlain seems to be in troubled waters with his little protection bark. Apparently he has only the premier with him in his purpose to return England to the protectionist fold. The 41,000,000 Englishmen who would have to pay more for bread for the possible betterment of the foreign 12,000,000 descendants of Englishmen in the colonies, are up in arms against the proposal. It is true that Chamberlain has thrown out a very alluring bait in the form of a proposal for old age pensions for laboring men, but this would scarcely be a quid pro quo for all the people. It would be far better, however, than the conditions under which Americana are laboring. Americana have the highest protective tariff in the world for the benefit of the comparatively few very rich people who are directly advantaged thereby by being engaged in industries which bleed the whole of the people for that advantage, but an old age pension list for laborers would be howled out of sight too quick, if such a proposal were made here. But the English people as a whole know the advantages of free trade to the whole people too well to be caught on any such hook as Chamberlain is now fishing with. At least that seems to be the outlook just now. It is thought that the rebuff given his plan may drive him from the cabinet, or cause him to resign. Of course the colonies of England do not export enough wheat to supply the needs of the mother country, but Mr. Chamberlain does not admit that a tariff would make bread any dearer. He uses the old thread-bare argument so often resorted to in this country that wages would be increased to the English laborer by such a tariff. But just how these two things could be true at the same time is not clear and probably is not to Chamberlain himself.

The confession of Mrs. McKnight that she murdered her brother, his wife and their innocent little child, together with the strong probability that she may be guilty of several other murders which have occurred in her family in the past few years, is so shocking and so horrible as to be almost beyond belief. It seems that there have been no indications about the woman to lead any one to think her a degenerate. In her confession she says the spirits of those she murdered returned to her and she felt that she was forgiven. That such traits are commingled in her would certainly indicate that she must be a degenerate. And so far as any purpose in these murders has developed, that purpose seems to have been avarice. It is probable that no one would have thought there was anything wrong about the deaths of the Murphy family but for the fact that Mrs. McKnight some time after the murder of her brother and his family recorded a mortgage against his property which had been clumsily raised from $200 to $600. Verily modern conditions and civilization develop mental freaks as well as physical.

Every day now adds to the unsavory mess that is being uncovered in the postoffice department. It is in all probability true that the free delivery bureau of the postoffice department was a huge machine used by the enemies of President Roosevelt to defeat his renomination to the presidency. It is even said that at least one United States senator and many members of congress were concerned in this machine. It is not altogether improbable that the connection of certain persons with this great conspiracy to down the president had to do with the sudden change about relative to the endorsement resolution in the Ohio republican state convention. Of course it would never do to have the names of the men at the top of this conspiracy connected with the same, but the connection could be used to make them eat crow all the same. It appears that Machen and Beavers had practically independent control of their offices and that Postmaster General Payne gave only nominal attention to their doings. And because of the favor of certain senators and representatives the men Machen and Beavers were able to put through any kind of an old contract that they desired. It seems also that this matter had been going on a year or more before anything was started in the way of an official investigation, that the postmaster general would not believe anything wrong and that nothing was done in the way of looking into the scandalous conditions until the president forced his hand.

The threatened storm in England over the proposed Chamberlain fiscal policy appears to have been averted for the present and the political life of the colonial secretary prolonged by the shrewdness, ability and generalship of Premier Balfour. The prime minister certainly handled a difficult situation with consummate tact and ability The premier declared that he was still a free trader, but that he had an open mind on this great subject and he refused to speak the final word then on so important a subject relative to which time was making constant changes. He declared that there was no way, however, to know the thought of the country on the great issue except through discussion. He refused to require his colleagues in the cabinet to conform to a policy relative to which his own mind was open. He then stated the conditions which the empire had to meet, tariff walls erected against her by other nations, the growth of trusts and the desire of the colonies for closer relations. In fact he sidestepped in such impassioned way and so elegantly that he rehabilitated Chamberlain and laid the specter of cabinet defeat. Balfour was loudly cheered and the majority of the house is still with him and even Chamberlain can remain in the cabinet.

The probing into governmental matters at Washington continues and apparently wherever the probe is inserted and withdrawn a very bad odor follows. It is now stated that a clerk in the auditor's office of the District of Columbia has been found to have embezzled, it is said, $60,000 to $75,000. It is also said that bad smelling trails have now been traced to a confidential clerk of the postmaster general himself, one H. H. Rand. Payne is said to be standing by his confidential clerk as warmly as he formerly did by Machen. But it is likewise stated that President Roosevelt has put the matter to Payne in about this way, that either Rand must go or there will have to be a new postmaster general. Rand, it is claimed, has been very closely associated with Machen, Tyner, Miller and other unsavory persons, as per the investigations now going on. Apparently the only reason things have been running so smoothly in departmental service is because no one has taken the trouble heretofore to look around. There is little question but that governmental affairs in Washington are rotten and it is to be sincerely hoped that the President will follow up his statement that he will pursue every trail which smells of stealing and public plunder, no matter where it leads.

The legislature which has just adjourned passed a resolution to submit to the people the question of an entire revision of the constitution. This is an important matter, one that should be taken up and discussed pro and con. The people are generally very conservative about changing the basic law, but certainly there is need of changes in the present constitution of the state of Michigan. Means should be found to exclude from the legislature a large amount of the purely local legislation which now takes up so much of the time of that body. Provision should be incorporated into the basis law for the initiative and referendum. The people should have a more direct check on the legislature than they have at present and they should have the means of compelling that body to carry out the will of the people directly. Provision should be made for a salary for members for a session, or a specific limit to the length of the session during which the members shall receive pay. There are various other changes which ought to be made and which could be made to the advantage of the people.

The French senate has passed a bill cutting the term of military service to two years. It is thought this term will eventually be cut to one year. Under the empire the term of military service for Frenchmen was seven years. The republic began its progressive and humanitarian policy in this matter by lowering this term to five years. The second cut reduced it to three, and now it is to be reduced to two, with a reasonable certainty, it is claimed, of an ultimate cut to 1 year. Under the measure just passed by the French senate there are no exemptions, all must serve. But it may be seen from this change from seven years of military service to two years what the republic means to the French Citizen. A saving of five of the best years of his life is a great gift to the French citizen at the hands of the republic. This cutting down of the terra of military service, thus enabling the citizen to devote five more years of his life to the pursuits of peace, is not only a distinct gain to the citizen, but an equal subtraction from the sacrifices to the military spirit and a no inconsiderable gain for the policy of peace as opposed to war. The progress of the world In gentleness and peace as substitutes for ferocity and war is slow yet sufficiently marked to convince most observers that real progress is being made.

President Angell's word of warning to educated women relative to certain perils which threaten the so-called higher society circles is worthy of thoughtful consideration. He instanced the growing tendency among women to gamble and resort to the divorce courts and to remarry again with unseemly haste. In this connection he used the following language:

"Certain customs which are rapidly gaining ground among women in what are called the higher social circles demand a vigorous effort on the part of intelligent and high-minded women to secure the elimination of the element of gambling from amusement and games, innocent in themselves. We have a right to expect from educated women pronounced condemnation of the rapidly growing practice, for which both sexes are guiltily responsible, of procuring under loose laws, laxly administered, divorces on trivial grounds or by collusion, and of contracting subsequent marriages with unseemly haste. In some quarters and in what calls itself our best society the renunciation of the solemn marriage vow on slight pretexts and the playing of games for stakes by women in private parlors are treated with a levity and publicly discussed with an indifference which recalls the declining days of the Roman empire. The purity of domestic life, the sanctity of the home, the very foundation of society are imperiled by these abuses. The educated and high-minded woman should by word and by example sound the alarm concerning them with no doubtful or hesitating voice."

It is said that President Roosevelt's campaign will not be managed next year by Senator Hanna, nor yet by Senator Quay. It is also said that it is the purpose of the president to have his campaign handled in a way that will lay all suspicion as to the use of money to buy voters and aid on the republican canvass improperly. If all this be true, it will be an interesting experiment. The Argus hopes it may prove to be fact and that the country may witness a national canvass conducted by the dominant party without the attendant enormous corruption fund that has been the prominent feature of the past several presidential campaigns.

The condemnation proceeding in the matter of the Henning property have fallen to the ground because of some technical flaws, it is said, in the preliminary steps taken by the city attorney under a preceding administration. This is no great surprise, but it may result in the dropping of the whole matter. It looks as though the same fate has already overtaken the "cat hole" affair.