The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-27

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 are, we believe, amongst the noblest in the land. Shall we offend them, If we say that many of them have scarce ly risen yet to the full realisation of their calling, of the greatest of their office, the vastness of the trust re- posed in them by the nation?
 Furthermore, shall we affront them. if we call their attention to possi- ble element in the organization they have formed, which gives us not lit- tie concern on grounds of public well fare, i. e. the element of an organized demand, called by other labor unions strike Now such an element is part, often a desirable and necessary part of other organized forms of labor. But, the states employees, and such our public school teachers are, are not in the relation of labor to an ordinary capitalist" as President Butler of Columbia university says truly, they are the employees of the whole peo- pie. and cannot be permitted to ally themselves with a part of the people against the rest of the people. If SO, says Dr. Butler" why not po- licemen, fremen, and the soldiers In the regular army. Think of your soldiers called out to defend their coun- try and going on strike on the field of battle because their pay is too low. How long do you suppose American public opinion will stand that when it understands it? Not a minute. It is only because the thing has not been through out.
 Now this question has come up in Chicago, and may come up here, We may just as well face it now as wait till it has made unbounded trouble be- fore you draw the distinction between the state and it's loyal servants, and capital and it's employees. The per- son who does not care to serve capi- tai may not be able to change em- ployment or to shift occupation There is absolutely no analogy between gov ernment and a democracy making de-
 mands of loyalty upon every servant, and private arrangement between corporations and individual capitalists
 and labor. And we may just as well
 think that thing straight, through now
 as wait until 1t has brought anarchy
 down on your heads and the heads of
 the. rest of us,
 We have quoted thus at length from DT. Buffers address in Chicago, so that
 the organization of public school teach
 CTS may be forewarned. But, we do
 not expect such things of our wise, patient and temperate teachers. We trust that we have not affronted them by even the mention of such an ele-
 ment which may turk in their organi- zation.
 Shall we displease them, if we say also, that some form of merit-system in an increase of salary ought not to
 be unduly offensive to them? Other organizations may insist, unjustly, it
 seems to us, upon equal pay for un- equal workmen, but not our public
 school teachers, whose morale should
 be above reproach.
 i Moreover, along this line we venture 1 to quote MT, Root, which, though diff ferently applied, is germain here. He tsays: T have ofter noticed at the bar that the advocate who is thinking 1 about making a. fine speech never 1 makes a Judgement in the mind or either the court or the jury; they may admire the speech but they are neither convinced nor persuaded. This is true
 at the bar, in the pulpit, and in the
 lecture room /. :. And this is true in politics. The man who engages in po-
 litical work with the primary idea of getting office may succeed in getting the office; but he is likely to lose what is of far greater value than any office the good opinion of the community in
 which he lfves-for the people of self | governing communities ordinarily pos
 sess strangely unerring insight which detects the spirit in which such man
 works and classifes him as mere poll tican in the bad sense of the term and stigmatizes him as an office -seekef.''
 May we not say as truly that the l teacher or minister who is engaging In the work with the primary idea of get ting salary, may succeed in getting the salary, but is likely to lose what is of
 far greater value than any increase Of salary-the good opinion of the com munity in which they live.
 For, finally, the people of self govern ing communities not only ordinarily | possess a strangely unerring insight
 which detects the spirit in which such
 people work and classifies them as
 mere salary-seekers in the bad sense of that term, but they will realise also, in the long run, the value of the pub lie school teacher, if not the minister, and pay accordingly, All the need is to be aroused to the transcendent value in a democracy of the true school teacher Far be it from us to under
 rate the power of the churches, and of whatever other moral forces are at work in our midst" says writer. But we repeat the destines of Eng 1 land lie in our schools. We shall be
 on the way to the greatest things when our teachers, our unordained ministry, by study, by self-discipline, by every l physical, mental, and above all, by ev- | cry spiritual reinforcement, seek to gain the fullest height of their own
 soul, that upon those little ones, who
 are the nation that is to be, they may
 pour forth the treasurer of it's secret lift" May we not say the same thing of these United States?