The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-02-27
COUNTRY IS SOUND
President Roosevelt Declares 1t
Is Growing Better
In an Address to the Superin-
tendents of Schools.
WILL BE NO LET UP
In the War Waged Against
ROttenness and Corruption.
Pays Tribute to the Man Who
Works With His Hands.
WILL BE NO LET UP

policy Of warning against rottenneSS
| and corruption was emphatically de-
| clared by the president in an address
to the delegates to the department OF
/ superintendence of the National Ed
| ucationaI association during their re-
ception at the White House. Continu-
ing, the president gave his views on ed
ucational methods at considerable
/ length and with characteristic cath
qlicity of thought and vigor of ex-
| preston.
At the business session of the as
ISOLATION Oklahoma City was selected
as the next meeting place, and officers
were elected as follows
| President-W. H. Elson. Cleveland.
| Secretary-A. c. Nelson, Salt Lake
| City.
| President Roosevelt, in his address to
the convention, said in part:
| "Of all the bodies of citizens that
| have received here at the White House
/ there is none that occupies more i'm
| portant relation than yours. am
| tempted to say none has come that has
occupied as important relation to the
| nation, because you men and women
who deal with education, who repre-
sent the great American policy of edu-
cation for all children, relation to
| the family, relation to the future
like number of individuals can bear. I
own six of the children that you hdu-
cate, and I am prepared to extend cor
dial sympathy to some of you
Seriously friends, 1t is idle for any
man to talk of despairing of the flu
ture of this country, or feel unduly
alarmed about it, If he will come in
! contact with you here, and with the
forces that you represent F'undamen-
tally this country is sound. morally no
less than physically. Fundamentally in
it's family life and In the outside ac-
tivities of it's individuals, the country
is better, and not worse, than 1t for
merly was. This does not mean that
we are to be excused If we fail to war
against rottennees and corruption; II
we fail to contend effectively with the
forces of evil; and they waste their
time who ask me to withhold my hand
from dealing Herewith. But 1t Is worth
while to smite the wrong, for the very
reason that we are confident that the
right will ultimately prevail. You who
are training the next generation are
training this country as it is to be a
decade or two hence, and while your
work in training the intellect is great,
it is not as great as your work IN
training character. More than any
thing else I want to see the pubic
school turn out the boy and girl VINO,
when man and woman, will add to the
sum of good citizenship of the nation.
II trust that more and more OF our
people will see to it that the schools
train toward and not away from the
farm and workshop. We have spoken a
great deal about the dignity of labor
in this country, but we have not acted
up to our spoken words. For in our
education we have tended to proceed
upon the assumption that the educated
man was to be educated away from,
and not toward labor.
THE great nations of medieval times
who left such marvellous works OF
architecture and art behind them, were
able to do so because they educated
alike. the brain and hand, of the crafts
man We too in our turn must show
that we understand the law which de-
crees that a people which loses physical
address, invariably deteriorates. So
that people shall understand that the
great carpenter, the good blacksmith,
the good mechanic, the good farmer,
really do fill the most important posi-
lions in our land and that it is an evil
thing for them and the nation to have
their sons and daughters forsake the
work which, if well and efficiently per-
formed, means more than any other
work for our people, a whole
"One thing that I would have you
teach your pupils Is that whether you
call the money gained salary or wages
does not make any real difference, and
that If by working hard with your
hands you get more than if you work
| with your head only. it does not atone
| for it TO call the smaller amount salary
The term dignity of labor, implies that
manual labor is dignified as mental
| labor as of course, it is. Indeed, the
| highest kind of labor Is that which
makes demands upon the qualities of
| both head and hand, of heart, brain and
| body
Physical prowess, physical address,
are necessities; they STAND on level
! with intellect, and only below character
Let us show that we regard the position
iof he yl,o arIyo nit ~ hax1 do
as being ordinarily and in good faith
as important and dignif1ed and as
worthy of consideration as that of the
business man or professional man. We
| need to have a certain readjustment of
values in this country, which must
primarily come through the efforts of
just you men and women here, and
the men and women like you through
out the land.
Il would not have you preach an i'm
possible ideal; for if you preach an
idael that is impossible you tend to
make your pupils believe that no ideals
are possible and therefore you tend to
do them that worst of wrongs-to teach
them to divorce preaching from prac-
tice, to divorce the ideal that they. in
the abstract admire from the practical
good after which they strive Teach
the boys and girls that their business
is to earn their own livelihood; teach
the boy that he is to be the home
maker; the girl that she must ultimate
ly be the home-keeper; that the work
of the father is to be the bread winner.
and that of the mother the house
keeper; that their work is the most i'm
portant work by far in all the land:
that the work of the statesmen. the
writer, the captain Of industry. and ali
the rest, Is conditioned, first, upon work
that finds it's expression in the family
that supports the family