ich caters to the appetite
for mental pabulum more or less wholesome. Most communities make some
provision for those who are mentally or physically unfitted to care for
themselves and who have no estate nor natural relations upon whom they
can rely for support. So the state builds and maintains hospitals and
almshouses. This it does simply as a duty of humanity. The instincts of
the race and the teachings of an enlightened civilization assure us that
a universal brotherhood makes all human creatures kin. As individuals we
owe a certain duty to all other individuals, and as organized society we
must see to it that the welfare of all is conserved. But there is no
duty of kindness or good-will which requires the furnishing of reading
matter for the use of the whole community.

The public library is not provided for the mere intellectual enjoyment
of the citizens. The municipal corporation uses public funds to buy and
beautify parks and boulevards. The purpose of these is to promote the
public health and comfort, and incidentally to cultivate the aesthetic
sense. The state has a direct interest in the health of its citizens. It
must rely on their physical strength for defense in time of peril or
invasion. Therefore it must have a care that their physical welfare is
promoted. Wholesome food, gentle exercise, a cheerful and contented
mind, have much to do with soundness of body, and so food-inspection and
open-air recreation are justified at the common expense.

Art-museums and public concerts are sometimes maintained out of the
general treasury. The only basis on which this expense can be justified
is that their purpose is educational. The welfare of the state depends
not alone on the ability of its citizens to merely read and write and
solve problems in simple arithmetic. Our nature is many-sided and its
full and perfect development must be sought in many directions. The
aesthetic is not less real than the practical. The finer qualities of
the mind have weightly influence upon national progress and destiny. The
state has a right to do for its citizens the things which will best
serve its ultimate interests.

Universities and higher institutions of learning maintained at public
cost now train those who have the means and opportunities to take
advantage of their curricula for the most advanced degrees, and through
their post-graduate courses offer facilities for spending the good part
of a lifetime in the immediate pursuit