Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-14
DEFENDS BISHOP woRTHiNGToN
Rev. John Williams Expresses His
Views of the Case.

Rev. John Williams Expresses His
Views of the Case.
| OMAHA Nov l3.-To the Editor of The
! Bee: Now that the soft, white wings Of
peace begin to hover above the political
world and one-haif .he people Of the land
/ do not feel IL longer necessary or profitable
| to think the other half thieves, villains
apostatcs or anarchists, 1t may be well to
| begin to heal some of the wounds inflicted
during the late war.
During the closing days OF the political
| conflict it was flashed to us here Ia Ne
! braska that Bishop Worthington had en-
! tered quite actively into the war for the
| union in the interest Of Mr. McKinley's
! election; and further that he had attributed
| all the evils to which the farmers OF Ne
! braska and elsewhere are heirs 10 tne over
education OF the sons and daughters OF the
farmers, and not to false political or economic
| conditions "The education of the sons and
daughters OF the farmers was carried too
! far and they became restless ana dis
| contentod with the farm and aspircd to
| positions for which they were not fitted by
! natural ability. and left the farms for the
| city to swell the great army OF those seek
! ing after fortune or bread, to their own
| hurt and to the hurt Of the farm and the
| nation.
Because Of the apparently close connec-
! tion that existed between what he said OF
/ the political situation in Nebraska and of
| our system of public school education what
! he said of the latter was made to have
! a political bearing which was unjust to
| Bishop Worthington. To correct that have
received his permission to state his actual
position on the school question as he eN-
! pressed. or meant to express, himself in the
! New York interview. The report of what
| the bishop said as to the political situation
| was substantially correct, and OF that moth
| ing need be said except, PERHAPS, that 1t
had no ecclesiastical bearing or significance
! Ill. Ng..yl ,t.,
are his own personal possessions, and no
| member of the flock ruled by him, whether
/ clerical or lay, was under any moral or ec-
| clCsiastical obligation to vote or think as he
| did, except as his own judgment and con
| science prompted or dictated.
From consideration OF the political stu-
alton the conversation drifted to other top
les. In the bishops mind, at all events
there was no connection between what he
| said of the political situation and his Views
on our system of public education. He told
| his interviewer. when the subject came up,
| that he held some radical views on the
| subject of public education. If he had the
| power he would enforce the German system
| OF compulsory education upon all the chill
| dren of the nation up to the point of making
| them capable of fulfilling the necessary
| duties OF citizenship intelligently. Beyond
| that point, with what is known the
I higher education, at the public cost, he
| should make that dependent upon the per
| sonal and intellectual fitness of each child.
| If the child was an idler in school, or II he
did not possess intellectual ability to go
| on to a higher training with profit to him
| self or advantage to the state, the bishop
! felt ii was a wrong both to the child and
| to the state to cause him to spend his fOrma-
tive years in trying to acquire an education
| which only served TO unfit him for useful
ness in the position in life for which he was
best fitted by nature or character to FILL
So far as advanced education at the public
| cost was concerned this was just as true
hi l.. I,
porous 1t was OF the children of the
| poor. If those wished 10 give their inCapa-
, BILE or idly disposed children an education
| beyond the common. at their own cost, that
| was their own matter and could not be pre-
vented, but the public ought not to be taxed
for their lack of judgment as to the best
interests of their incapable or idle children
| What the bishop said of the sons and
daughters of farmers was only an incident
| OF an extended conversation. 1t had no
| connection with the political situation then
! existing. and it had no special reference to
the farmers Cf Nebraska. lie was travelling
| in carriage some time ago in the central
part OF New York. Noticing some valuable
! farms advertised for sale by the way he
asked his driver why the owners desired
! to sell. The reply was that the farmers
| sons and daughters We're grown up and had
| abandoned the farms for the city. Their
| parents had grown too old to work or to
| enjoy life, as they once did, on the farm.
| They we're old and lonely and so they
wanted to sell out and follow their children
| TO the city.
The bishop used this incident to illustrate
| what he said to his interviewer of the
| strong tendency Of our public education to
| foster discomfort and restless ambition
| among our American youth of both sexes,
| giving them distaste for the avOcatOns
| for which they are best fitted by nature, or
! in which they could best secure a reasonable
independence OF character and respectable
| living. Instead. they rushed to the great
| cities where the great majority of them
must fail to fulfill the ambitions that made
| them give up the quiet but comparatively
| Independent life OF the farm and where tens
| of thousands OF them lose both virtue and
| hope In the fierce struggle for food and
| raiment. Bishop Worthington gave his
| judgment freely on a subject most vital to
| the best interests OF the nation and OF the
| youth of the land without any reference, in
| his own mind at all events to the pending
| political conditions in Nebraska or else
| where and without any special reference to
| one class OF people or another, mere or any
where else in the land II was given un-
| fortunately during the fierce heat of an
| ombittered political campaign, and follow
! ing, as il did. on what he said OF the po-
! litiCal situation the words used were made
| 10 have political significance which was
| wholly unWarranted by the facts In the case.
Bishop Worthington is not foolish enough
| to have the children OF the farmers or OF
any other class Of people kept In Ignorance
| but he does think the state is frittering away
| the money OF the people and the time and
| welfare OF multitudes Of their children in
| afordng them opportunity to waste several
! precious years in their vain effort to acquire
an education for which they are unified
| by natural ability or temper, whether they
are the children OF farmers or nnanciers.
| JOHN WILLIAMS.
General Forsythe visiting In Chicngo
| CHICAGO, Nov, l3.-Brlgadcr General
| Forsythe. commanding the Department Of