Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-01-14
TEACHERS OF STATE
MEET IN ANNUAL CONVENTION
IN MILWAUKEE.
Most Successful Session Wisconsin As.
ISOLATION Has Ever Held e. A. BirGe
Is New President Portion of Presi-
dent Mathie's Able Address.
Milwaukee correspondence;

Milwaukee correspondence:
The most successful convention the
| lsconslh Ieaehers' Association has ever
heid came TO a close Wednesday after
noon with the joint session with the Ma
nohai commercial Teachers Federation
at Plymouth Church, Milwaukee. The
delegates and attendants upon the CON
Fentlons expressed themselves as nnusu-
ally well pleased with the excellence Of
the programs and the reception and en-
tertainment by the citizens of Milwau-
kee.
Prof. Il. A. Birge was chosen presi.
dent, the features of the convention he
ing a discussion of football. Reuben
Post HaHeck of Louisville defended the
game. He said in parS: Athletics is
rivalry. 1t develops iust what you must
meet in the outside he Football teaches
the subordination of the will of eleven
boys to that of one. 1t is altruistie in
its nature. If boy is. caught smoking
cigarets, the others tell him you're hurt
ing the whole team and the schools
+ chances for securing championship
Karl Mathie of Wausau. president of
the association. delivered the president
annual address at the Davidson Theater
on the subject, The Freedom of the
Teacher" In it he scored the school
book men and urged teachers and princi-
pals t. throw off that yoke. He said in
part:
TIE fifty years that close with this
Jubilee convention have given us all that
| is distinctive in our modern school sys-
TEN. One thing after another has been
added or changed until revolution has
been wrought. And for what? That the
pupil might be free, free from unnatural
courses of study: barren text books and
arbitrary methods: unhealthful and ugly
Surroundings; unwelcome sectarian in
struction, and cruel punishment. The
best schools of to-day are very near the
ideal in securing freedom for the pupil
THE coming fifty years should bril- v
larger freedom to the competent teach
err; freedom to serve the pupils highest
needs and to follow the truth. without
fear of political interference, sectarian
bigotry, commercial insoence, early dis
rhissal or old age poverty.
Although the boards by no means seek
atheists for instructors, nevertheless the
name of God has been cut out of the vo-
cabulary of the teacher. The fact that
the first syllable of Christmas is so often
spelled with an y, or the. Roman 10, is
| emblematical of the temper of our time
that cares more for mathematics than for
manhood, more for finance than for faith,
more for speed than for spirituality.
And yet knowledge as it is organized
to-day, under the masterful touch of evo-
luton, is nothing if not a revelation Of
deity. The thoughtful mind cannot rest
i'll the presence of the wisdom. order and
beauty revealed in the universe without
seeking that great first cause. And what
ever the true teacher sees that is ennob-
ling he wants his pupils TO see. When
he shows them how the mountains were
brought forth, or how he great flood
plains were spread out like a garment,
he may feel that these tremendous forces
speak more clearly of Almighty power
than doth holy writ. But he is not per-
mitted to lay these foundations for
faithr'
At the Davidson 'Theater Wednesday
corning the association without discus
sion and with scarce a dissenting vote
passed set Of resolutions presented by
President Halsey of the Oshkosh normal
school in favor of an "amelioration of
spelling" An annual appropriation was
provided for with which to carry ON the
work of standing committee appointed
| to work for this new movement. which is
along the lines pursued by other State as
sociations.
| Prof. G.. Y. Gillian made a somewhat
caustic address in which he arraigned
the State superintendent and his depart
ment for the manner in which institutes
have been conducted, and Superinten-
dent Harvey, upon being called upon by
the audience. made a telling reply TO the
charges.
| The report of the committee on the
exhibit for the st. Louis fair wa" ap-
proved and adopted and Warden II. II.
Jacobs reported on Child Labor in the
] Factories" and resolutions were adopted
indorsfig the proposed legislation in re-
gard to compulsory education and child
labor \. Il. Winship of Boston gave a
stirring address. which was received with
great appreciation and applause on Ed
ucational Standards in the Nineteenth
and Twentieth Centuries.
i The committee on resolutions recon-
! nended action on compulsory education
Avs. spelling amelioratioh. thanks TO the
press for its information in regard to
teachers wages and asking further h. p
from the papers Of the State, approving
the plan to unity the program of the con-
vcntion and thanking the citizens who
have aided in making the session Sue
: