Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-26
FREE KTNDERGARTENS.
WRITTEN FOR THE DrspArcH.i

20 the black devil.
| In the millennium we will give presents to
our enemies-if we have any enemies we
will invite to our Christmas dinner all the
| people we detestzif we detest anybody. And
we will be especially mindful ofthose whom
we are in danger of forgetting. Christmas
is at present the Festival OF Injustice. The
rich get all the rich presents, while the poor
get all the poor presents They who have
| already more than they know what to do
| with are helped most bounttfully, while
they who have nothing get nothing. But
one of these days we will remedy all that.
We will have learned that lost art, the Art
! of Distribution.
In that day people will give Christmas
| presents even to the city.
The first thing is to be interested in the
| city, The next thing is to know what the
| city ought to have.
Pittsburg stands very we'll In the reports
of the Postoffice and the Clearing House.
| By and by. when the absurd separation be-
tween the opposite banks OF the Allegheny
river is bridged over, and the two great
towns are one, Pittsburg will make an ex-
| cellent showing on the tables of population.
| There is good reason for being proud of
Pittsburg.
Quality Preferred to Quantity.
"A GOOD many people in this city, how
ever, will not be contented with town
which represents O great number OF millions
of dollars, until that wealth is more wisely
and generously used than it has ever been
yet. And the number is increasing who be-
lieve that quality of inhabitants counts for
more than quantity, and that the best use
of money is to expend It for the betterment
of the citizens. These w1se people know
that the renl place of the city among its SIS
ter cities is not to be found on tables of
wealth or industry or population, but on
lists which give the number of books in
public libraries, and the number of pictures
in public galleries, and the size of public
gardens, and the condition ofpubic schools.
For while mills make money, these other
industries make men.
The public-spirited citizen will not be SO
proud of the Clearing House as to care little
for the absence of the kindergarten. When
he reads over the list OF cities which have
free kindergartens in connection with the
public schools, and finds that Philadelphia
has g. and ST. Louis &C. and st. Paul 20, and
Albany II, and Milwaukee %. and Pittsburg
none, he will find food for reflection And
il he is stirred up by the blessed Christmas
time to bestow gift upon the city, he will
know what to give.
The sentiment is not only a widespread
bnt a true one which holds that every
wealthy citizen is in debt to the city. He
self. He is rich because he lives in an Or
ganized society, where all things work to-
gethcr to assist him. Society is the silent
partner in every business. And when
rich man neglects to pay society's share in
the dividends, society, which used to be
quite meek and humble in such case, is now
touched with righteous Indignation.
= Progressive Inheritance.
WHEN a selfish citizen, who has al
ways worked for his own interests exclu-
sively, and has never done anything for the
city except to enjoy its privileges and to
pay as little as possible of its taxes-when
such citizen departs out of this life leav-
ing his seIfshness behind him in the shape
OF a mean and narrow-minded Will, society
calls him a thief. And the man deserves
the name. He has reaped benefits from the
city and made no return. Such, indeed, is
the justice of the claims of the State upon
its citizens that the law steps in at such q
time and simply takes as right certain
proportion as the property of the State.
And the only criticism which good men
make upon this procedure is that the pro-
portion is too small. Mr.. Jay Gould's mill
ions yielded to the common fund only $780,
900. In England, it is said, the general bene-
fit would have been So, 000, ,OO0 The proposal
is an excellent one to make the inh eritance
tax progressive; so much on estates above q
certain value and moro and more as the
valuations are greater.
But the law,even at its best,is not enough.
Who would have a law passed compelling
parents to spend so much at Christmas in
presents for their children2 Who would
advocate an ordinance making it compul-
sorry that every John should give his Jane
a two-pound box of caramels on New Years
ever John, If he has any heart and any
pocketbook to match it, will provide for
Jane without the persuasions of the police
man. The good man who invented the kim
dergarten laid great emphasis ON voluntary
activity. He held that children ought to
learn, not because they are made to, but
because they desire to, and that all educa-
ton which amounts to anything proceeds
along that line. So does all the best bene-
faction. What we need is not more law but
more loyalty.
What Every City Needs.
EVERY city needs public-spirited citi-
zens who are genuinely interested in the
city, who realize the fact that every man is
a debtor to the town; that all citizens must
work together for the betterment of the
municipality; that opportunity means re-
sronsibillty. and that he who has much can
do much, and ought to do much. This un-
selfish Christmas time is good season for a
sermon on civic unselfishness.
Christmas, too, is day when all well.con-
ducted grown people are thinking about
little children. The most important in
habitants of the city are the little children.
Their education, their environment, their
neglect or attention is determining inevi-
tably the future of the town. The public
spirited citizen is profoundly interested in
the children. He desires that every boy
and girl shall have a chance.
That, we must acknowledge, is the largest
cause of the differences between the better
classes ana the worse classes in society.
These people who are hindrance and
menace to the prosperity or the town had
no chance when they were boys and girls.
They were started wrong and they have
grown up wrong. 1t is for the interest of
ali of Ms that the generation which is grow
ing up to-day on the Southside and at the
Point should have a chance.
The best Christmas gift to the children of
the districts of poverty cannot be wrapped
up in brown paper nor tied with a string, it
cannot be worn nor eaten, it cannot be
bought at any shop in Pittsburg. 1t is
simply good, fair chance to grow up into
decent men and women.
Benefits of Free Kindergartens.
AND believe that one way to confer
such a chance as this would be the estab-
lishment OF system of kindergartens. The
critical period of human Ii Q is between the
ages or and Z. In that space character is
formed And that time is not touched, or Is
but inadequately touched. by the common
school. For training which shall Affect the
whole life, for impressions which are deep
est and most indelible, we are at present
making no provisions. We are leaving all
that to the dirty streets, to the crowded