As a matter of fact, the very worst theories in the world are found in the ranks of uneducated, "prac tical" men. Some of the most theoretical and absurd plans for the betterment of the banking system of the United States have come from practical men, some of whom are engaged in the business of banking, and they all insist that they as "practical" men are much better qualified to devise a good banking system than any mere theorist. That they themselves are rank theorists, building structures without foundations and in violation of fundamental principles, is a fact the truth of which they would not for a moment consider. I have talked with many such men on the money ques tion and on banking and have always found them not only unable to think clearly, but also ignorant of the A B C principles of the science of which they claim to be masters because of their practical experience. By A B C principles I mean those laws or statements of truth which the impartial and unprejudiced mind immediately accepts as ?rue when they are clearly stated.
The theorist to be shunned is the man who con structs his theory without carefully sifting his facts and confirming his conclusions. The colored parson in Virginia who refused to believe that the earth moves around the sun was a practical theorist. He rose early in the morning and had many times seen the sun swing around the earth. He had positive evi dence that the mere theorists were all wrong. He was a practical theorist and knew better.
22. Does study business man who reads, studies and trains his mind merely because Ile hopes thereby to increase his ability to make money, is not impelled by the highest motive and will not get the best results. The ambition to make money is honor able. Fundamentally, it is the motive which rouses men to activity in the professions as well as in busi ness. Yet the lawyer who studies and plans only that he may earn large fees will never be a great lawyer ; lacking noble aspirations, he will lack breadth of train ing. In fact, any man, whether in the professions or in business, who always thinks of compensation in terms of dollars, must be cheap and sordid and in capable of the finest achievements.
The business man who studies will get a double re ward. First, his money-making ability will be in creased, for lie will have a better understanding of business conditions, will see more clearly the possibili ties of his own business, and will be better prepared to take advantage of opportunity. Second, be will be a bigger, broader, wiser man and so get more satis faction out of business and out of life. As he begins to understand things that are now mysterious and puzzling, and sees more and more clearly into the in tricacies of relationship existing among business phe nomena, his own business, which once was work and drudgery, will begin to possess for him the fascina tion of a game, and its charm will be due, not only to the number of dollars added to the surplus account of his balance sheet, but also to the consciousness of power which its successful conduct gives him. It cer
tainly does pay to study.
23. the foregoing section I have made no mention of the highest reward of study, the prize which scholars most highly value and which makes men of talent devote themselves happily to science and to teaching. I did not mention it above because the men who study and earn this reward do not think of it as "pay" and do not work in order that they may get it. They devote their lives to scientific study and investigation because they love it. Their unsought compensation is culture.
Culture is a word difficult to define for a man not possessing it. In the same way one would have diffi culty in making a cad or a boor understand the word "gentleman" if neither had ever seen a gentleman. Culture is a by-product of reading, of study and of fine associations. The better the books a man has read and understood and enjoyed, the finer the works of art he has seen and appreciated, the profounder his enjoyment of the beauty of nature and of the charm of music, the greater his knowledge of the funda mentals of the sciences—the larger his store of culture. Culture is not a veneer that can be bought at a shop or at a university. It implies the harmonious develop ment of the whole man, a glad, sympathetic knowl edge_of the fine, noble and beautiful achievements of the human race as recorded in the best of literature.
No man can pursue the Modern Business Course and Service faithfully and intelligently without gain ing in that breadth of vision and knowledge which is part of culture. It is to be hoped that a subscriber who thus far has taken no interest in science or in any intellectual pursuit, if there are any such, will become a new man intellectually. Under the direction of the Institute he will study the science of business and will get some knowledge of certain related sciences, such as ethics, psychology and sociology. His studies should have a cultural effect. He Will be getting, in some measure, the kind of education which Milton thus described in his "Tractate on Education": I shall detain you no longer in the demonstration of what we should not do, but strait conduct ye to a hill side, where I will point ye out the right path of a vertuous and noble Education; laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of good12,- prospect, and melodious sounds on every side, that the harp of Orpheus was not more charming. . . . I call therefore a compleat and generous Education that which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully and magnanimously all the offiees both private and publia Of Peace and War.