The public library is destined to play an important part, to exercise
an incalculable influence in the solution of the social problems of
to-day, and through this on the future of the nation and the race. The
wisdom needed for this task is not to be obtained from schools or
colleges, but from the higher education of mature minds--the masses of
the people--which the public library alone can give. The preparation for
this higher education of the masses devolves on the schools and
colleges. Their curricula should be so arranged as to arouse "historic
consciousness" in the youngest child, to awaken social consciousness,
and to provide for its continuous development by starting every boy and
girl on a career of self-culture--by matriculating every child in the
People's University, the Public Library. In affairs that concern society
as a whole, it is better to trust the well-informed common-sense of the
people than the learning of the schoolmen.

It is not knowledge of mathematics or physics, or Greek and Latin, or
modern languages; it is not the study--academic study--of history, or
philosophy, or even political economy, that will solve the great social
problems that now confront us. These will help in various degrees,
directly or indirectly, some more, some less, some, perhaps, not at all.
A knowledge of the general course of history is essential; some
acquaintance with philosophy is useful; dogmatic theology serves only to
confuse, but the true religion that lies in a vital acceptance of
Christ's two commandments as a summary of the law and the prophets--that
is the greatest aid of all. Such, however, is the influence of
established order on men's minds that no investigation will avail
without a determination to take nothing for granted, to re-examine what
have been considered basic principles, to accept no postulates that do
not square with reason and justice. This cannot be done by confining our
reading to the accepted standards of a generation or a century ago. We
must keep abreast of the thought of the time; we must keep our eyes and
ears, and still more our minds, open; we must scorn no aids to
enlightenment; but we must do our own thinking; we must consider the
idea, not the source from which it came, remembering that good may come
out of Nazareth; we must live up to the motto; "Truth for authority, not
authority for truth," and we must "lend a hand."

My faith in the efficacy of the education offered by the public