The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1909-07-07
MORE NEED Of
TRAINING FOR
YOUNG PEOPLE
President Butler Takes Ad-
vanced Stand on Present
'ey Educational Needs
DEmAGOCUES PROSPER ON
ABSENCE Of INTELLIGENCE

UeIlhUVUOlU ilUUl III Uu
ABSENCE OF INTELLIGENCE
Ignorance and Selfishness Are the Only
Enemies Of Human Happiness and
Human Order-Envy Greed and Hate
Supercede Respect and Confidence.
Denver, Colo. Jnly Nicholas
Murray Butler. president Of Columbus
university, was the principal speaker
ut the general session of the National
Education association today In his
address, the subject OF which was
The Call to Citizenship, President
Butler said the educational instru-
mentalities of the country schools.
colleges and universities alike, have
before them here task which takes
precedence Of all questions of school
organization and management, of pro-
grams of study and curriculum, Of
teachers salaries and tenure of Of
flee. OF general versus vocational
training, Of secondary and ancilliary
questions of every sort-the task,
namely, of preparing intelligent Amer
lean citizens to take up each his own
share of the nations responsibilities.
"The unrest which is abroad in the
world, and which is found alike in
Europe and in America, in the un-
changing east as we'll as in the rest
less and rapidly moving west. is in
no small part due to the lack of un-
derstanding of what is going on in
the world and what has gone on
hitherto" said the speaker. --"The
world has been for more than hun
dred years under the spell of abstract
principles. admirable In themselves.
and yet the world in large measure
lacks the ability or the capacity Sc
to organize itself and its business
that those principles shall find just
and equable expression. Everywhere
old beliefs, old traditions. and old
customes are giving way before the
corroding tooth of time, and as ths
time-honored creeds, political, social
and religious, lose their hold, others
equally controlling and imperative do
not come forward to take their place.
Immense masses of men are left,
therefore, with almost boundless op-
portunities for good or evil, but with
out guiding principles with which to
work. This leads to intellectual, po-
litical and moral restlessness.
There are many who feel that the
rising generation of Americans is
growing up X. without any proper
knowledge of fundamental principles
of American institutions and Ameri-
can government. Because of this lack
Of knowledge, well-meaning men lend
ear quite too readily to demagogues
who propose to them all sorts OF
schemes without any relation, save
one of antagonism, to established po-
demagogues, it is but short and easy
step to state OF mind in which envy,
greed and hate are elevated to the
lofty place which should be occupied
by respect and confidence as we'll as
by political insight, political knowl-
edge. and political experience. The
Americans of an earlier day got their
training in the fundamental princi-
pies of citizenship from the stern
facts which faced them. Today, how
ever, one hears much less of these
fundamental principles. There are
those among us, some of them in
places of responsibility and great in
fluence, who call them outworn, an
tiquated, obstacles to popular govern
ment, and who would substitute the
passing desire of today for the care
fully wrought designs of all time.
The courts are attacked as usurpers
of an authority which the people
themselves have given for the peo-
ple's own protection. The carefully
built guards which have been put
about individual rights and liberties
are denounced as fortresses of priv
ilege by those who seek privileges
for themselves at the expense of the
rights OF others.
Two Two Enemies
There are only two really deep
seated and influential enemies of hu-
man happiness and human order,
ignorance and selfishness. These do
pretty much all the damage that is
done in the world, and they are the
always present obstacles to improv-
ing the conditions of mankind. 1t is
the province of intellectual education
to address itself to the first of these,
and 1t is the task of moral education
to deal with the other.
"If one, seeking to know the story
of civilization, cast his eyes back
over the pages Of recorded history, he
will find that the record of progress
can be written in single sentence.
1t is the development of liberty under
law. Liberty and law are the two
words upon whose true and faithful
exposition all training for citizenship
must rest. He who truly understands
the meaning of liberty and the mean
ing of law, and the relation of one to
the other. is ready to face his full
duty as an American citizen.
IAN intelligent citizenship, which
is also good citizenship, implies, how
ever, much more than knowledge
Of fundamental principles. indispens-
able as that knowledge is. Good
citizenship implies habit of will by
which the individual instinctively
conforms his action in concrete cases