Professional institutes and clubs also serve to increase the sum of

general learning
Professional institutes and clubs also serve to increase the sum of
general learning. They have thus far avoided the evil which has waited
or fastened upon similar associations in Europe,--subserviency to
political designs. Every profession or interest of labor has peculiar
ideas and special purposes. These ideas and purposes may be wisely
promoted by distinct organizations. Who can doubt the utility of
associations of merchants, mechanics, and farmers? They furnish
opportunities for the exchange of opinions, the exhibition of products,
the dissemination of ideas, and the knowledge of improvements, that are
thus wisely made the property of all. Knowledge begets knowledge. What
is the distinguishing fact between a good school and a poor one? Is it
not, that in a good school the prevailing public sentiment is on the
side of knowledge and its acquisition? And does not the same fact
distinguish a learned community from an ignorant community? If, in a
village or city of artisans, each one makes a small annual contribution
to the general stock of knowledge, the aggregate progress will be
appreciable, and, most likely, considerable. If, on the other hand, each
one plods by himself, the sum of professional knowledge cannot be
increased, and is likely to be diminished.