In his life here he may become either
a great financier or a great statesman, but certainly not either
unless he knows how. Any education, in fact, is simply learning
how.
What is true in the intellectual world is still more true in the
moral world. Whenever a question bearing on morals enters, every
one should stop and ask, "How?" A mistake here is like entering
the wrong gate in a large railroad station. The longer you stay
in its corresponding train, the farther it will take you from
where you should go. For example, there are some who say that the
human will is not free, but that our actions are all, in the last
analysis, according to our make-up. In other words, we are
machines which must go as they are made to go. There is,
therefore, no right nor wrong in human conduct, for machines
cannot be held responsible for conduct or the way they go--there
can be no sinful automobile or wicked windmill.
According to these reasoners, therefore, when human law punishes
one who has robbed a widow of all she had, or has seduced the
daughter of a friend, or committed a cold-blooded murder, the law
is wholly illogical in punishing him, because, since he is a
machine, his punishment is like throwing a clock out of a window
if it does not keep good time.
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