Milford chronicle., 1913-03-21
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL.


One glorious feature there is Of our
American civilization which has been
to frequently overlooked or. at least
too feebly emphasized. l allude to what
may be denominated our educational fea-
ture. As Americans we recall with Joy
the discovery of our continent four hun
dred years ago. With gratitude | trust
we recOgn re the good and gracious
hand of Jehovah in It's marvellous devel-
opment through all these centuries in
art. in science, in philosophy, in litera-
ture, in equality, in liberty, in morality,
in religion, IN commerce and in material
resources. We take pleasure some
times in recounting the vast wealth that
has been placed in our hands, wealth
estimated today at one hundred billion
every day between the hour of seven
o'clock in the morning until six at night
adding two million five hundred and
seventy thousand to our national
resources. We recognize with great Joy
of heart perhaps our heritage as a land
Of priceless personal liberty, Of exalted
social prerogatives. of unrest tricted re-
iglOus freedom, of universal political
equality, and yet not sufficiently have
we emphasized the means and the pO-
tentiality of popular education as they
have been respectively adopted and de-
velOped in this newest land of our globe.
Why sometimes such facts as these
which | state startle you and me. Our
American Libraries have to-day twenty
million more volumes than all the librar
les of Great Britain and all the librar-
les of Switzerland and all the Libraries
of Austria and all the libraries of Rus
sia and all the libraries of Italy com
bined We can duplicate the libraries
of all these nations and then have twenty
million of volumes left. Our colleges /
and universities today number four hun
dred and fifty; they have been estab- I
lshed at a cost Of one hundred and
fourty-eight million dollars; they hav-
ing then today under their tutelage fully
one hundred thousand students. No 1
nation on the globe can give such a
representation of popular education. /
England has thirty million of people I
and has seven thousand students, Ger /
many has fifty million and has twenty
five thousand students, America has
seventy-five million people and she has
over one hundred thousand students;
five thousand in our theological semin-
aries, twenty-five thousand in our schools Z
of medicine and law, eighty thousand
in our academic departments making
over one hundred thousand. In Italy
the school population is ten per cent OF
the whole population. In France the
school reputation is fifteen per cent OF
the whole population, in America the
school population is twenty-five per cent
Of the whole population. With the eX-
ception of Saxona, America stands first
giving the finest educational showing
among the worlds people. In the year
OF 1920 our common school property
amounted to one hundred and thirty
million dollars, it amounts now to two
hundred and ninety million or more.
1t is wonderful when we think about
the rapid growth of our public schools.
How many postmasters are there IN
America? SiXty-six thousand. How
many public school teachers are there
IN America? Five hundred and twenty
thousand and they draw salaries am
ounting to millions of dollars. And in
passing let me say that | believe there
Is not more magnigcient corps of in
lellgent and conscientious workers Tor
God anywhere than the Christian school
teacher. They are not only teaching
them books, but instilling in the best
America youth hearts those manly and
AMY virtues Wllcn are " HldhS IiSiii
worthy members of our churches, our
social circles and our homes, developing a
In these boys and girls of ours in these ]
young men and young women of ours
those great high notions of an ideal life {
which will make life worth more to y
them because they have been to these f
schools and those high notions of the t
constitution and institution of our coun- a
sly which shall prepare them in the fu- S
tlre to say. These institutions are a
worth living for, worth dying for! 0 {
where IS there to be found on our soils /
the Grsst n from om Tnf fbs SrSn6 Sp6ad daAf 6
lantic to the broader Pacific who does t
not and will not ever stand in fearless t
eIeroic contest for our public schools a
their protection and their perpetuity. Il