The record-union., 1899-07-12

productive orange groves Of Cali
fornia,'' said the speaker 80 may this
meeting of the largest educational or
ganization in the world pour forth it's
influence to strengthen and invigorate
the intellectual forces Of our State,
may it enrich the home life of the
ranch, the school life Of the Pueblo, the
college life of the universities of this.
the Golden State of the Far West. You
are welcome to the far West, to the
Golden State, to the City of the Angels,
to our hearts and to our homes"
Responses to the welcoming ad-
dresses were made by N. c. Dougherty,
Superintendent of Schools of Peoria,
ILL.,; DR.. Emerson E. White of Colum-
bus, Ohio, and ]. H. Phillips, Superin-
Alabama.
After the orchestra had played Mo-
zart's overture to Don Juan," Presi-
dent Eliphalet Dram Lyte, Principal of
the First Pennsylvania State Normal
School, Millersville, Pa, delivered his
addess.
Mr.. Lyte, in opening his address, re-
ferred to the first meeting of the asso-
citation in Philadelphia, when thirty
eight members were enrolled, and
compared it with the enrolment OF
more than 10000 in Washington last
year. He also spoke of the progress
made in other respects by the asso
citation. The National Educational AS
sociation is recognized as an organiza-
tion through which the educators of the
country can reach large bodies of
teachers. He referred to several minor
school problems which should be con-
sidered in the near future by the asso-
citation, among which he emphasized
continuation schools" He then said
in substance:
mot long ago our country was
thrilled with sudden burst of patriot
ism that proclaimed US one people, pos
sessing the elements of a mighty mill
tary nation, peaceable because of our
might and unconscious of our real
strength. Much as the Spanish-Aneri-
can war did for the struggling islands
that were freed from the Spanish yoke,
/ have questioned whether it did not
do more for our own nation, in making
it acquainted with itself and with it's
power to adjust itself to new condi-
tiOns.
What the National Educational As
SOciation has done to nationaliZe our
cOuntry-to mold it's heterogeneous ele-
ments into homogeneity-it would be
impossible to estimate; nor can any one
tell what it has done to make peaceful
progress the high object of our people.
With US war is the unusual, peace the
usual condition. 1t will be remembered
by many of the older members of this
audience that at the close of the civil
war a generation ago our armies,
North and South, melted away before
the sweet sunlight of peace, and the
citizen soldier of aone day became the
law-abiding soldier citizen of the next
an act unparalleled in the world s
history. So it was last year our SOL
diers became citizens without a dis
turbance of any kind
"Our history has demonstrated that
we have no need of great standing
army. 1t has demonstrated that in
every State may be found an army
ready at a moments notice to defend
our flag against every foe. And this
army is not marshalled by military
chieftains, but by, educational chief
tains. A strong nation is made, not by
barracks for troops, but by school,
houses for children; not by recruiting
officers, but by schoolmasters; not by
rifled cannon and Mauser bullets and
war vessels. but by books and newspa-
pers and churches. That nation is
strong whose citizens obey the law
without seeing standing army behind
the law. That nation is strongest whose
a ha ixrin Low
whose citizens obey both divine and
human laws because they are right.
"A child obeys his teacher, who to
him is the law. To the child the law
must be concreted. AS the abstract is
the result of a higher form of thought
than the concrete, SO a republic is a
higher type of government than a mon
archy. We may need an army to sub
jugate the Filipinos, but the United
States would be distinctly lowered in
moral tone if it should ever become
necessary to maintain permanently
within the United States a great stand
ing army to secure to it's inhabitants
the blessings of peace. If this is true,
how great is the responsibility of the
American school teacher?
Patriotism is in the air; it is the
normal condition of living under our
flag. AS a child does not need to be
taught to think, but only how to think,
so the American youth does not need
to be taught to be patriotic, but only
how to be patriotic. and this is largely
the work of the schools. How well
this work has been done let history an
swer.
"Our horizon, however, is widening
Whether we will or not, the problem
of carrying the benefits of our public
institutions to the islands beyond the
sea must be solved in part at least
by the men and women of this associa-
ton. Since the last meeting in Wash
ington it has become plain that the
great underlying influences that have
made this nation the freest and great
est of the globe can no longer be
bounded by the sands of the sea, or the
waves that dash against our shores.
Thus far shalt thou go and no fur
ther' was not spoken to the schoolmas-
ter. The hand of destiny points the
way across the waters to-day as uner-
ringly as it pointed the way for Colum-
bus to cross the unknown seas four
centuries ago. Let us protest il we
must, but we must bear our share Of
the white mans burden. While rec
ognize fully the right of others to dis
agree with me, confess that so thor
oughly believe in the institutions of
our country, and in the dignifying in
fiuences that follow our flag, that re-
joice to watch the onward progress of
our ever-conquering republic, and the
triumphant march of the Anglo Saxon
race. A