The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1903-10-31

tendent of Public Education 1
am impelled by no petty or igno-
BILE passion for nOtOriety or fame,
but I am guided by keen sense
of duty to my State and to the
love.
Touched when a child by the
pitiable condition of the litter
ate poor of this State and en-
couraged by the possibility of
what could be done educatiOnally,
I have espOused the cause of the
children, and by the help of God
1 shall not give up the struggle.
In spite of false reports, or
misleading statistics; in spite OF |
criticism from without and diff |
ficulties within, Louisiana, edu-
cationally, shall take her proper
place, foremost among the
States of this Union.
We have a right to expect this
result because the people have
been touched by the spirit OF
educational progress. There are
scores of earnest men in every
com munity who are not officially
connected with school work but
who cherish the school from a
sense of duty and philanthropy.
They have become conscious OF
a mighty potential energy ready
for expression, a force so great
that no man can control or COM
prehend it's power. An unpre-
cedented stimulus is among the
people, and SD great is the
awakening that there are thous-
ands of men and women whose
minds have been so quickened
and ilumined that they can find
no rest or cOntentment until
every child has been liberated
from ignorance and blessed with
the riches of good educational
advantages.
The spirit expressed on every
hand gives hope for the future.
Those who once believed the
free school to be an institution
. for paupers, those who looked to
} the secluded private school or
} the tutor for the education of
, their children have come to see
; the need of educating all the peo-
/ pie. While in some sections our
= critics point to our limited funds
and to the school term of but
/ few weeks, to our schOOl-houSeS
? that are rudely constructed
: windowless cabins built for con
f venience near springs and
brooks, to the children who at
tend school when the parents
J. have nothing else for them to do
t and to the unframed teachers
5 paid less than the wages of a
e trained farm hand, yet these are
= coming to be the exceptional
> cases for I believe our people are
f ready to remove every stain OF
illiteracv from the fair name Of
n our State.
Our people know that the
= zones of the earth are measured
It by the amount of light thrown
l. upon them and that State il
r measured by the same standard
We know that the naked ability
o to read and to write is no more
), an education than a tool is ;
e workman or a telescope an as
e tronomer. We know that tn
e need of the hour is for educa
l. tional conditions that create
d good habits, clean living, an<
IS high thinking. We know tina
h men are now measured by VIVA
;e they have become as a result o
If training plus what they can do
d and that to make the worthless
l. boy self-supporting and self-re
lie speeding is to make a great ste1
" into the domain of crime. Thu
d people know that the presen
d spirit of progress is lifting tn
a. veil of doubt and revealing a 81
le gantic life that the children ar
e. to be called to live, and that tn
sc medium through which the.
s, must go is the school.
" We know that the demand TO
e. trained hands and cultured
o. minds is steadily GROWN e
a We know that the unframed il
IS the State are harmful, that ig
Or norance is the evil that imperil
er our greatness, that inactivity i
lie the curse of nations and the ban
S; of individuals, and that ever
er child is entitled to such trainin
" as will enable him to become a
er intelligent and effective either
n We know that mind and han
ID working tremendously will hus
e. the wrangling of creeds, crus
w the jealousies between the ric
h. and the poor, quiet the contlie
re between labor and capital, lii
7? the children from partisan pre-
is iudice, harmonic the cOnf1ictin