Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 82.djvu/519

Rh can not help but improve conditions. The man whose researches have shown him definitely what can be done to improve morals will always mark progress. The man who can point out just how the practise of the simple virtues of honesty and faith can better any particular conditions is certain to better social conditions.

It may be mentioned that all research in the right spirit has a moral value, which, however, it is difficult to evaluate in simple units. Any man who is striving to extend the bounds of human knowledge is thus far a source of inspiration to all who know him, and a lesson in faith and hope to those who know of him. Particularly in a university the teachings of a man of research are those that are most likely to inspire the spirit of wonder and high ideals among the students. It has hardly been the province of this paper to point out how the installation of the proper ideals, free from tawdry sentiment, among university students, permeates the whole society of the state.

Why must not a state entrust the seeking after knowledge to institutions outside the state? One university professor once said that it was useless for a state to try to build up a respectable graduate school near Chicago University. The inference was that the state could well let Mr. Rockefeller's millions seek after new knowledge and then help itself. Of course it might, but this attitude when looked into carefully is ridiculous. It is just as bad as for a citizen to depend on his generous neighbor's parlors to entertain his company. If a state would be a parasite and depend upon forces outside itself to develop new knowledge, then by the laws of nature it must take the chances of a parasite. But I believe that with a healthy, wealthy and vigorous body of people, state pride will forever demand that the state shall do its share toward productive scholarship.