The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-16
SUM MFR SCHOOL.
pr. Schaeffer Talks on the Teaching Of
 Civics.

University, July 15.-An enlightening talk which would make teacher and lay man feel like getting up and doing things was that one given yesterday afternoon by Dr. Schaeffer the subject of ''The Teaching of Civics. To begin with the speaker showed the pleasure and benefit 10 be derived from studying the subject comparatively from the national stand- point. But we make a mistake in begin ming with national instead of state civics, for we are touched much less by the former than by the latter. There are two great lessons in this study which should oe stressed. First, the lesson of taxation; second, that of suffrage. A comparison of the rate of taxation in this country with the rates prevailing in Europe cannot fail to make any American glad that he lives under the stars and stripes. To make his subject more interesting Df. Schaeffer showed how the average per capita wealth of Alabama in 1900 was less than one-half the average for the nation. He said that with this fact in v1ew he could scarcely understand why the south ern representatives did not make a fight for national support of schools, since it is obvious that without an exorbitant tax rate the south cannot expect to have schools equal to those of the north. But of even greater importance than taxation is the matter of the ballot It Is the duty of the teacher to instill into the boy the idea that his vote is a sacred trust, for if corruption goes far enough to de- stroy faith In the ballot box our country faces an almost hopeless situation. pr. Schaeffer presented some astounding facts in regard to the purchase of offices in some of the states with which he is fa- niliar.
 "Grades of Thinking as Basis or Earning was the theme of the lecture before the general assembly this morning Dr. Schaeffer crowded his lecture with clear thought and apt illustration. There is a law of compensation, he said, which the labor unions have never been able to eliminate from our industrial life We may express this law by saying that pian's wages are determined by the kind of thinking upon which his work is based Workmen who put thought into the things which they can see and touch and handle set the lowest wages among the employees Gt Ta1lWdy. InelT WOIh IS pdScu uPoAA the simples and easIest kind of thinking. The men who make drawings of the loco motives to be constructed, of bridges to be built, are better paid because thelr work is based upon more difficult type of thinking, namely, thinking in mental pictures of things which are absent or not vet in existence. The men who calculate the strength of the bride and the motive power of the locomotive get still better pay because their work is based upon thinking in symbols and principles of mathematics and the sciences. To think things as isolated units or in their surface relations is characteristic of childhood, hut the high school and the college teacn
 pupils to think things in their causes and essential relations. This type of thinking lies at the foundation of modern industrial life. It, therefore, pays the state to make large appropriations for higher educa- ton, because in this way 1t provides Tor the training of the captains of industry
 whose function is to apply science ana technical training to the arts and indus tries of modern civilization.