Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1907-01-04
The Cause of Education as a Busi-
ness Man Sees 1t.

l ZAii soy ~ q SOOu Ooo iSo ~
value is more deeply impressed upo
thOse:under the surface who come dali
in contact with the rich veins. Th
business man whose vocation send
him down among the miners catche
the enthusiasm of the ones at wOrl
with their compressed air drills. picks
and stovels.
| Everybody acknowledges that edu
cation is of value, the degree of valu
is in proportion to the amount O
thought and study devoted to eonsid
ering its influence on civilization.
When one picks up magazine ant
reads an article deduced from the cen
sus of 1900, that the chances of life t.
become of prominence in community
reduced to simple figures. are; unedu
Gated, one in 10000; with common
school education, one in 10000; witt
a high school education, one In 1,700
the business man is not surprised thai
the number of high schools increased
from 1926 In 1890 to 1926 In 1902. Rush
ing thru small towns of 5000 pOpula.
tion and upward in Wisconsin, Min.
nesota. Nebraska, Montana. and other
western States, and seeing thru the
car windows the finest building in each
place, the business man feels a sensa-
ti0n of delightful surprise and thank
fulness to have his inquiry answered
almost invariably: That's their high
school,
1t is not to be wondered at that the
average school life of the child has
grown from 420 days In 1850 to 612
days in 19O2-(S00 days now as stated
by DR.. Chancellor of Washington)
When one reads that not one in fifty
attend school in Russia and more than
one in eight in Japan, the business man
is forced to admit its potency in war
fare.
In a lecture by the late DIR. Hill. Sec
retary Massachusetts State Board Of
Education, be substantially made the
statement that, while Massachusetts
pays out almost double what is dis
bursed for educational purpose by an
equal number of the United States the
average earning power of her people
is 275 million dollars per annum more
than Of al equal number of the same
average. This excess In earning pow
er being twenty-three times more than
the entire State pays out for education
per annum, the business man then is
forced to say to himself: "What great
money maker this Cause is -
Il puts to shame the narrow minded
school director who places himself in
opposition to the expenditure of sums
necessary for proper handling of the
young minds in his community. Now
Is the one chance for eighteen million
children. The need cannot be put of
another generation, nor even for five
years with most of them. In one gen.
, Grafton these eighteen million children
of today will be deciding the destinies
of our Republic.
To those of us to whom the memory
of the Civil War is as yesterday
knowing the patriotic self-sacrifice OF
those who early rushed to enlist, the
gradual decline of patriotic motives al
the war heightened out. and the rise Of
self interest, eliminating in the
''bOunty Jumpers" the business mai
wonders why those in our national as
sembles are so lavish in their distribu'
tiOn of pension money asked for, no,
by the early recruits so much as by th'
Later element. The soldier may have
saved the country, but 1t is the con
scientiOus teacher who is today making
it worth saving. No one begrudgel
/ the manned, the impoverished, an(
the feeble all national aid possible t.
smooth the paths of their last days
but let not the claim Of the teacher g
entirely unheeded. 1t is now profes
sion, the same as law or medicine, bu
without the emoluments. How will
we, as business men, try to repay tn,
debt we owe the teacher as we'll as th
soldier
| 1t was in 1889 Horace Mann starte'
1.-The movement to make teaching on
of the learned professions by establish
ling the first Normal School, with les
than twenty students, and 1t seemed
singuIar coincidence In recently read
ing up English history to find i. wa
in the same year England began
similar effort.
The poisonous fangs of graft an
corruption fasten themselves upon e
many worthy causes. Tuere is no bel
ter way to lessen this In f1uence tina
by giving encouragement and substaI
tial support to all plans for the bette
moral development of the children
our public schools. That accounts I,
the widespread interest among bui
ness men all over our country in tt
"Brownlee System Of Child Training
and any others OF like nature, wherei
honor, truthfulness, kindness. etc, a
daily exalted and opposite qualities !
lceive proper condemnation. The
daily lessons to children while the
minds are inceptive, fill us all with
hope for more purified business a
social atmosphere In future years.
Happening to be in the hall of lar
ID school on the East Side in New YC
as the 500 pupils of various natie
alities were being dismissed, Iremal
ed to the principal, a kind mother
looking woman, ut must be grt
ne ne tax on your patience to oversee
RI many" She replied, "Oh 10, they
:, are so anxious to learn, love eve
one of them" The business man VIZ
ne away with renewed faith that the wo
TO- is grOWlDg better and hOpefulnoss