The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-09-29
NEW YORK TEAT"ADv1sEs"Us-

NEW YORK OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
That we Americans are fond of boast
ing Of our liberal institutions Is a fact
which our friends across the Atlantic
are fond of calling our attention to very
frequently. 1t is a fact; we do boast of
them, and in the main we have excel
lent reasons for doing so. But there
is no institution to which we point with
more pride than our system Of common
school education, and just now in the
city of New York its condition is such
as TO put an end to all boasting and call
for nothing but public humiliation and
private chagrin.
The number OF children ready to go
to school this morning and unable to do
so is simply alarming. And, what is
still worse. there seems to be no imme-
date way out of the difficulty. AS.
Mr.. Jacob Riis pertinently said in a re-
cent communication to the Journal,
There is no short cut out of the fix
we are in. 1t is the Inheritance of a
bad past, and we have got to suffer it
until we learn to improve upon its
methods
The police census last year showed
that more than $4,000 unemployed chill
dren were wasting their most impress
sionable years in idleness that must
necessarily have been vicious in its ten
dency while nearly 10000 others were
engaged in contributing to the support
of families, but doing nothing toward
their mental Improvement, upon which
their future SO heavily depends. The
amount of evil wrought by this cOndi-
ton of affairs is beyond all calculation.
The absence of all the healthy disci-
pline of school is a single factor whose
power for evil cannot be measured.
Add to it continuance in a state Of ig-
nOrance of the elements of a common
school education. and the drift of $4,000
young people toward bad citizenship be-
comes a phenomenon which menaces
the state itself
That poor citizens must be the result
of lack of education is demonstrated by
the fact that a large majority of the
children excluded from the public
schools are partly or wholly of foreign
descent. That the parents of these
children are eager to give them the
advantages Of a public school training
has been abundantly demonstrated by
the eager clamor. the actual physical
struggle for admission. at the doors of
the schools on the East side. The Her
1T is nothing short of an outrage that
thousands of them should be COM
PEELED to roam the streets for weeks
when they should be acquiring the
training needed to fit them for future
duties as citizens The World very
properly asked: why were 1900
turned away? Simply because the au-
thorities refused to provide school room
enough for them, though the law of the
state requires them to 60 to school,
It has been well said that by adopting
a system of compulsory education this
community has bound itself by a most
serious moral obligation to provide
accommodations for its children. The
community as a whole cannot escape
the burden of this obligation by throw
ing the onus of blame upon its public
servants. 1t must deal with the mat
ter itself by the forcible and continual
proclamation of it's demands in the
shape Of an Irresistible public opinion
The community must put Its moral
force behind the officers charged with
the execution Of the school laws and
impeI them to a discharge of their
duties. It must also aid them in the
discovery of a speedy remedy for the
evils which have been bequeathed to
them by the past. The way to do this
is by a free, wide and vigorous discus
sion of possible methods. It is time
that public opinion aroused itself in re-
gard to this matter and became a NOV
ing power.