The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-19
arachine-nrnde Citizens.

Portland Oregonian.
 Among the heaviest burdens of the state is the extravaganza of our edu- cational system. The system consti- tutes a machine" which has no inter- est in industry, or business or taxpAy. Ing, beyond the desire to get the most 1t can. It besieges the Legislature St every session for "more;" 1t raises It's cormorant voice with incessant clamnr before the county and municipal au- thorities and before school boards It is brother, or sister, or both. to the horse leech and to the grave. Woe to the poor devil of a taxpayer--the man or woman who by laborious industry and life long self-denial has made a little accumulation. The school ma chine-chief of machlnes-wants 1t. and sets up its claim to 1t as sacred right. We must not only have com mon schools, but high schools and nor nal schools and academies and col leges and universities and municipal libraries and circulating libraries and Institutes" of all imaginable kinds, and kindergartenS and schools for manual training-all carried on the back of the patient and laborious plod- der. who Is believed to have reward enough if he still can manage to exist on the husks that are left him. In the
  to have property except for the pur- poses of taxation for support of the machine. The political machine was heavy enough, but this Is far heavier.
 People are going crazy on public edu- cation: and the educational machine, taking advantage of this catalepsis of intellect or prostration of judgment, rides the dumb beast under whip and spur. The result Is not merely the ex- f-,x 70 IaA ,akA -,,z a,, money; the worst of 1t Is the conse- auence of endeavoring to rear the whole of our youth of both sexes to the point or stage where they may live by their wits, without personal exer- tion, and especially without manual la bor. For they who have relied on the state for education, and indirectly for support, up to manhood and woman hood. will be very much disposed to lean on the state all their lives.
 But these alone would not be able to force the system forward. The chief agent in the work is the educational machine. It Is composed of persons who live by 1t and through 1t, and who work for its extenslon-because it is the vocation they live by. Their days and nights are devoted to study of means to extend the system, to devise new expedients for enlargement of It. to work up more departments. more kinds of schools and libraries and inc stitutes, through which members of the machine may obtain place On a public payroll. For 1t Is irksome to attempt to do things and to support oneself through private initiative and enter prise. and on personal on n1eavCr. The conseuuence Is reflected in the char acter of the pupils of the system; who having been carried so far by the state, are scarcely to be blamed If they expect the state to carry them, one way or another. through the remainder of their lives. and their children after them.
 There Is nothing in this world-not even any good thing-that may not be carried to excess. So 1t Is ncw with the system of public education, in many of our states. This extravagant system did not produce the strong, en- ergetic and self-reliant men and wo- men who laid the foundations of our National life. Time was when young persons were supposed to be able to do something for themselves, on their own account Our present system is fast making them caterpillars or other parasites of the state. If anyone finds life difficult the first thing he or she is encouraged to do is to turn to the state, in one way or another, for re- lief Your maehihe-made citizen knows no other resource. And our educational system is at the bottom of 1t. It forms character on this basis. instils this habit of thought and ac- ton. cuts Individuality, independence and self-reliance out of personal char acter. The lower tone witnessed in our public and in our private life. and constantly growing, is a direct conse- quence of 1t.