The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-11-11
Uhe @5]ailg Ar9ns,
Political Economy in Schools

Ii the average man had made it the OBJ
iect OF his lite to know nothing about polit
zeal economy, his ignorance of it coull
scarcely be more profound Its very nam,
is puzzle. Propose to him to teach his
children politics, and vague idea of train
ing them to proficiency in packing ward.
meeting and running caucus fits across
his mind. Propose to teach them econo-
N.Y. and he thinks Of them as instructed to
invest their pennies in bank instead OF in
buns. But suggest course in political
economy, aud he is dumbtounded. Ii he
forms any idea about that science, it is as
4 something which theorists who have nutu
| ing better Ia do than 10 waste their tlmc
III studying, ii they are foolish enough 10
wish to do SO, but which concerns 'praci
cal men not at all. This lamentabe IL
norance, so dense that the victim does not
even know he is ignorant, is caused by
! the lack of systematic instruction in the
science This lack is partly due, in turn,
to the fact that there is no politico.econ-
omical manual sufficiently simple to be
used in our public schools.
Our whole system of public instruction
rests on the idea that the country is bound
to so train its youth that they will become
good citizens. On no other ground can
the expenditure of a cent on public schools
be justified Now the study of political
economy is the best possible preparation
for citizenship, 1t teaches what govern
ment may righttully demand of the citizen
and what ii may not 1t teaches the folly
OF legal interference with private tastes. -
Ii shows how the state, in its zeal to pro-
mote the interests of particular trades, of
ten imposes needless and CALLING letters
upon all industry. 1t riddles the fallaces
on which believers in wildcat money rely.
1t proves the folly of ordinary strikes. 1t
explains the forces which really fix wages
1t shows the mutual dependence of capital |
and labor. 1t shows how all labor is so
interlinked that the man who does slovenly |
work, with brain or body, harms not only
himself but his fellows and the world Il |
pleads for arbitration and co. operation 1t
breaches thrift and honesty. 1t teaches
that the suffrage is trust, created by the
state, and to be used, honoraby, only for
the states benefit. 1t is not on y, as it Is
ton and distribution of wealth, but the
science of the production OF good citizens
and the proper distribution Of politca
power. No other science, no language. no
art, can be compared with it in value, 5,
far as the average citizen of Republic is
Yet it finds no place in our
public schools, the school on which W,
lavish millions OF money for the sake of
treating good citizens
This anomaly is partly due, as we have |
said, to the lack of a good elementary text
book. Some score OF wears since, an east
,rn teacher wrote and published such Il
look but he was ahead OF his time. TIL, |
y ork is now out of print. Even if repu :
lshed, 1t would not fill the bill. We need
new, written up to date. The
books we have are for men, not boys and '
girls. We write girls advisedly, Both
exes should study the science. II school
girls were taught it, we should not have
women clamoring for the exploded dogma
# prohibition, or making insane demands
Of the franchise as natural right, OIL
he books we have, Mills and Adam
mith's are far beyond youths compre
enson. The shorter works, like Bristed's
Interference Theory, are too fragment
ry. Bastat's "Sophisms' is open to the
anne objection, while Say, Ricardo. Cair
es, Chevalier, ct a., are in the category
f Mill and Adam Smith, Prof Arthur
'erry's Political Economy" does well y
noueh, perhaps, for colleges, but is too v
iffuse and difficult for public schools. - Ia
We need book which Il youth of II to IS a,
an understand, "a book of plain words. o.
hort sentences, simple chapters. Money %
nd fame awaits its author We hope to 9,
hronlcle his name and praise his work ere pl
ing. Chicago Tribune, II