The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-03-05
WILL KEEP UP THE FIGHT
President VIII Keep Up His War on
ROttennesS and Corruption.

daNt4uoL lAlANAAn1G0 III W uItAtAA
was emphatically declared by the Presi-
dent in an address to the delegates to
the department OF superintendent OF
he National Education Association dur
ing their reception at the White House.
Continuing. the President gave his
views on educational methods at con-
siderable length and with characteristic
catholicity OF thought and vigOr Of ex-
preston.
ut is idle for any man to talk of de
spairing of the fut re OF this country
or feelying unduly alarmed about it. If
he wiz come in contact with You here
and with the forces that you repre-
sent" said the President. "Fundamen-
tally this county is sound morally no
less than physically. Fundamentally.
in Us family life and IN the outside ac-
tivities of It's individuals. the country
is better and not worse than it former
~ was.
This does not mean that We are to
be excused if we fail TO war against
~rOttenness and corruption il we fail to
contend effectively with the forces Of
evil and they waste their time who
ask me to withhold my hand from deal
ing herewith. But it 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 train
ing this country rs ii is TO be q decade
or two hence: and while your work in
training the intellect is great, 1t is not
as great as your work in training char
acter. More than anything else I want
TO see the public school turn out the
boy and girl who when man and wom-
an will add to the sum of good citizen
ship OF the nation.
Il trust that more and more of Il
people Will see to it that the schools
train toward and not away from the
farm and the workshop. We have
spcAe:I 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 pro-
ceed upon the assumption that he edu-
Gated man was to be educated away
frcsn 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 craftsman.
IL would not have you preach an i'm
possible ideal, for If you preach an
ideal 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.
I'VE have all of us often heard some
good but unwise woman say, L have
worked hard; my daughter shan't
work. the poor woman not realizing
that, great as is the curse of mere
drudgery. of Overwork. ii is not so
great as Is the curse of vapid idleness,
and ii does not make any diff
ference whether the idleness be
of that of the hobo at one end of the
scale or the gilded youth at the other.
DO not waste time in envying the idler
ut either end of the social scale. Envy
Is not the proper attitude toward them.
The proper attitude toward them Is 4
Sood-humored but thOroughgoing disap-
proyal Of the mar or woman who is so,
blind. not only to the interests of so
ciety as a whole, but TO his or her Own
real interests as TO believe that any
thing permanent can be gained from a
life OF selfish and u idleness.
"Such idleness is the poorest invest
ment in the long run that a be i'm
aglned, and there is 10 surer way TO
forfeit all chance of real happiness than
to set deliberately TO work to treat
pleasure as the only aim after which to
strive. Teach the boy and girl to work |;
teach them that their proper duty is In
the home; their dnty to n another
and toward their neighbors. Then
teach them more; teach them to build
upon this foundation the superstructure
Of the higher life.