The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-06
Letters to the Editor.
Positive Authority Needea. .

rrs,.M M@1htsomery: @ Ala, May 5, 1906.
 In his speech of welcome to the Methodist General Conference at Bir- bingham 1alngs In.. last last Thursday. Governor United States said Eve pedHpls dd nof ff kese eee the laws. - TO the average man they are neither sacred nor supreme" try to aid in correcting this deplora- ble condition. The Governor is cor rect In his statement. But not to the preachers must he look for the most of the men towards law. The minis try, with few exceptions, doubtless continue to preach to the world that words @ S of Holy Writ: aBecause as 'sene sens tence against an evil work is not exe- cuted speedily, therefore the heart of the do sons s,,Si. of men men IS fully set s in them tinue to admonish parents that Fool ishness Is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall all this preaching. there has grown up fin the minds of the people a sickly sentimentality. against inflIcting pun to exact prompt. respectful obedience at home. and school boards, yielding to public sentiment, place so many re- strictions on teachers that they are large cities the police must sometimes be called in to restore order in the school room. Reared in such atmos- phere as this, 1t Is not surprising that boys, grown to manhood, respect neith- CT laws nor officers. Their whole edu- cation has been in exactly the oppo- site direction. For the last twenty or try have been fostering the Idea that corporal punishment at home and in schools Is unnecessary. brutal and de- the fruit of that false aid pernicious doctrine. The calling in of police to restore order in a school Is reflec- tion on the intelligence of a commu- grading to parents and to children, and far more destructive of ultimate respect for law, than would be rea- sonable reinstatement inflicted by par
 It Is set forth as a fact, one often commented upon, that the Jewish ele- represented numerically in the prisons of this country. If this ba true. may it not be fair to infer that the Jews Obedience and filial reverence are car dlnal principles of Jewish teaching. The Jewish parent. In good faith. dele- rates authority to the teacher. Hence. in the home. is continued at school and the Jewish boy grows to manhood thor oughly imbued with the idea of obe- dience to lawful authority.
 Certainly this subject of child train ing is trite, but when the Governor of q great State declares that men do not respect law, 1t is we'll to inquire
 In an excellent article entitled, The Decadence of Positive Authority" Dr. Charles H. Parkhurst, of New York, The tendency of our modern civiliza- tion is to resent all forms of author ity The result Is anarchy, domestic. educational and political"
 arfi lrt inc nf ishment of children, Dr. Parkhurst fur ther says:
 When the matter of putting the rod back in the New York public schools was up for discussion, in 1904, a min ority report favoring such a step was urged-in the language used conjointly by the male principals association of Manhattan and the Bronx and the principals association of the city of New York-that every child has the right to demand of us that we train law also that physical pain Is natures mode of punishment. and it is unfair to state that it is an Insult to the ehitd whose only avenue of senslbillty timentality rather than sentiment that antagonizes the introduction of cor poral punishment into the schools condition of mind not likely to in- feet the judgment of teachers them selves. who come face to face with the situation and the report just quoted. tOiAStHoTS og aSluS that out or two hundred and sixty-nine principals, cor poral punishment is favored by two hundred and twenty -three'-that is, by moro than eighty-two per cent"
 There is, perhaps. nowhere on the face of the earth today, civil govern ment worth, the name that Is not based on physical force. Why, then. object to .Judicious corporal punishment for children
 The preachers, of course, can help the cause. but to parents and teachers the State must look for speediest sure est and best aid In bringing men to respect law.
 This communication. however. Is not meant in any sense as a criticism of the Governors excellent speech at Birmingham.
 The Governor declared that men do not respect laws: the Parkhurst article discloses the cause and indicates the remedy; this article brings the two together, and submits that by a Seturn to positive authority. parents and teachers can do more to bring about a speedy change in the attitude Of men towards law. than can the preach CTS.
 Pedageg.ua.