Intelligence the Emancipator of Mankind

Intelligence the Emancipator of Mankind

By F. S. Harris, Ph. D., Director Experiment Station, Utah Agricultural College

A man who knew practically nothing about his machine was driving his family across the continent in a fine new automobile. He had learned how to feed gasoline and turn the steering wheel. He also knew enough to keep the radiator filled with water and to tell when gasoline and oil needed replenishing. He thought his knowledge of repairing was almost complete since he could change tires and had even put on a patch. Of two roads crossing a desert, he happened to choose the rough one, which was seldom traveled. After bouncing over a particularly deep rut, the engine suddenly stopped and could not be persuaded to go. Examination of water, gasoline, and oil showed an ample supply. Everything looked all right, but not a sign of an explosion could be had. Dozens of bolts and nuts were turned and then turned back, always with the same result; the thing simply would not move. Each member of the family having exhausted all his ideas, there seemed to be nothing to do but wait. To walk back was impossible since on foot two or three days would have been required to reach help. The country ahead was too uncertain to risk walking in that direction. It was therefore decided to remain in the road till someone came along. The waiting over night surrounded by howling coyotes, the gradual exhaustion of the supply of drinking water, and the prospect of a second night and possibly an indefinite number of nights in the same place made things look serious. The stories of bleached bones being found on the desert came vividly to mind. If only the automobile could be made to go! Why had they started on so perilous a journey without knowing every detail of the machine? These and numerous other questions and exclamations were voiced in their despair. At last they saw the long-looked-for dust in the distance. An automobile was coming. If their own machine could not be made to go, at least water could be had to drink and they could be carried away from death in the desert. These thoughts made them almost hysterical with joy as the automobile drove up and the driver asked if he could be of assistance. When told the story of the obstinate machine he said, "We'll get it to going or know the reason why." "I hope so," replied the owner, "for I

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have neither been able to make it go nor find the reason why." After a hasty examination the new arrival said that the connection between the magneto and the spark plug had jarred loose and there was no spark. The owner did not know just what that meant, but concluded the explanation must be right since the engine started off perfectly as soon as the contact was made. He felt much chagrined at his own ignorance. He and his family had been face to face with a terrible death just because he did not know enough to connect a wire and turn a screw. The world is full of just such conditions. Many of the best things in life are missed because we do not know enough to take advantage of them. If we had a knowledge of all the laws of the universe, we could make of earth a pretty good heaven. We should be able to overcome most of the limitations we feel every day in all we do. Any people that overcomes most rapidly the limitations due to ignorance will be the people that will lead the rest of the world. In doing this, they must become intelligent not only in the physical but also in the intellectual and spiritual. This intelligence is obtained not alone in schools but also in the field of experience. Many of the most intelligent and best educated persons have been denied the privilege of a college education. The Latter-day Saints have, since the organization of the Church, recognized the need of educating themselves. Wherever the "Mormon" pioneer has gone into new regions he has built schoolhouses and started schools almost before providing shelter for his family. To allow his children to grow up in ignorance was a condition of which he did not allow himself to think. He could do without fine clothes, he could confine his diet to corn bread and molasses, he could deny himself all of the luxuries; but he would not rear ignorant children. The teachings of the Prophet Joseph, that it is impossible to be saved in ignorance, and that a person is saved no faster than he gains intelligence, placed the entire matter beyond the mere practical value of an education for every-day convenience, and made it a religious principle. At the very foundation of "Mormon" philosophy is the idea that the end of living is progression. The purpose for coming to the earth is to receive experience that will be of value throughout eternity. What greater failure could a person make in life than to leave it without having added to his intelligence; what greater success than to increase his intelligence to the fullest extent? This point of view makes evident the impossibility of remaining a good Latter-day Saint without progression. Ignorance is therefore one of the greatest of all sins; it is a sin for which

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there is not the slightest excuse in this day of opportunity. To become intelligent does not require wealth; nor is it necessary to live in any particular place or to be engaged in any special occupation. A college is not a necessity although it may be a great help. The one primary requirement is desire. Without this no amount of wealth or opportunity will dispel ignorance. Proper ambition coupled with reasonable diligence will enable any young person to train himself for the best there is in life. The war has brought home to many young men, who had previously been without ambition, the importance of training their minds and their hands. In the great struggle where hundreds of thousands of men were competing side by side it was not difficult to see the advantage of intelligence. Advancement, honor, and success were within the reach of the man who knew and could do, whereas his untrained, unskilled, and ignorant companion was forced to remain little more than a beast of burden. Too many lives were at stake to risk the leadership of any but the most capable. Many young men who entered the army without ambition have learned the importance of becoming trained. They realize that leadership in any line depends on superior ability, which usually follows preparation. The Latter-day Saints are ambitious to lead the world in all that is worthy and good. They are not satisfied to be second in any progressive measure that will help in the betterment of mankind. Their mission is to bring to all people a more exalted ideal of the purposes of existence and to help even the most lowly to attain the high station that is possible to be reached in an eternity of continuous progression. They realize that it is through intelligence that man is to be emancipated from the degradation of sin, from the slavery of industrial dependence, and from the snobbishness of class prejudice. In order to banish these evils from the earth, they are pledged by the fundamental principles of their religion to devote a large measure of their energies through precept and example to the substitution of intelligence for ignorance throughout the world. The Prophet Isaiah describing his vision of these last days said: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." If the young Latter-day Saints are to help in the teaching of all nations they must actively prepare for leadership. They