Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-08-30
Economic Value
of Education.

| is the nation with
Economic Value the most abundant
educational factli-
/ OF Eoucatlon. ties which wins out
has just been completed for the United
States bureau of education by Dr. A
lCaswell Ellis of the University OF
Texas. The object OF the inquiry was
to learn the direct effect of education
on national wealth and efficiency. and
according to the report and its conclu-
isions Japan's success in the Russo
Japanese conflict and Germanys sue
|cess in 1870, as well as her astonishing
trade conquest of the past thirty years,
are attributed almost wholly to su-
|perior educational opportunities.
AS result of industrial training. Dr.
Ellis points out, Germany already puts
four times as much labor value into Its
manufactured articles as the United
States does. IF this country merely
equaled Germany's efficiency record.
he says, I'VE would be manufacturing
each year from the same raw pr products naa is
worth Of finished articles"
Education rises superior to climatic
differences, according to DR.. Ellis: In
Denmark. in Scotland. in Switzerland,
adequate provision for education. an
observer finds great industrial eff
cheney. great wealth and wen-being. On
the other hand, in Spain, in Russia, In
Turkey, in Mexico. wherever there is a
lack of the necessary school system.
there Is the same story of poverty rev.
olution and misery. regardless Of race.
climate or abundance Of natural re-
sources.
Even in our own United States"
Says DR.. Ellis, "the earning capacities
of the citizens of various states are in
direct proportion to the efficiency of
shown. for example. that the average
schooling offered the citizens of Massa-
chusetts for a given period was seven
years, while that of the United States
as a whole was only four and four
tenths years. and that Of Tennessee.
three years. Correspondingly the daily
production of the citizen Of Massachu-
sets during the same period was 30
cents, while that for the United States
as a whole was only So cents. and that
for Tennessee only 80 cents.
THAT there must be this intimate re-
latfon between education and earning
power is obvious as soon as one care
fully considers the demands of modern
industry The Asiatic farmer with his
stick pillow makes cents a day. and the
Ii1literate Russian peasant with his
primitive implements and methods
earns IA cents while the American
because his improved methods and Inn
Elements. made possible by education,
have increased his efficiency.
THE efficiency of an illiterate people
in competition with an educated nation
is as the crooked stick against the
sulky plow, the sickle against the
reaper. the bullock cart against the
express train. the ocean greyhound
against the telegraph. telephone and
wireless; the individual harangue
against the printing press the news
paner. the library: the spinning wheel
Loo ,ir,Cf ha aHf1 1n Sv,n 10 ~
against the electric light, the peddling
of skins and herbs from the OK cart
against the bank, the check book. the
railroad. the department store: the log
aided eve against the microscope and tele-
scope lamentations and magic against the
chemist. the hospital, the modern
physician and surgeon.
Take away from one entire genera
ton all education and society would
revert to the stick plow. the OK cart
and the rest because steel indictments,
locomotives. steamships. electricity.
TELEPHONES. telegram. wireless. water
works. steel buildings. mining and
chemical industries. factories. modern
sanitation hygiene and medicine, books.
newspapers, courts of Justice and laws
that protect properly and defend the
rights OF the weak are all impossible
without education and are efficient only
in proportion as educated intelligence
is applied to them"
One Of the blessings which will come
as result of the European war. according
to food experts in the
Emergency United States Depart
ment Of Agriculture.
Food Sources. is that the people of
the United States will be forced to utilize
a number of food resources which are
now neglected, particularly the various
kinds of fish. The average American Is
confident that he knows all about the
value of fish as food. but according to
| DIR. Mary E. Pennington. chief of the
| food research laboratory of the United
States bureau of chemistry. there is more
ignorance in this country about food fish
es and their desirablity as foods and
| proper methods of cooking than in any
other part of the world.
1t is the belief of the governments food
expert that the wider utilization Of fish
food resources of the United States will
be the principal means Of checking the
rise in meat prices. Investigation has
shown that at the present time the immi-
try are the principal consumers Of
fish The reason for this is that they
have brought sea food habits with them
from countries where fish are plentiful
and where meat Is scarce.
The United States has. according to
the reports of the Department of Agri-
culture, better and more varied source
of fish supply than most of the countries
of Europe and little remains except for a
wider utilization of the fish food resources,
further encouragement of the fishing
industry and the adoption Of better meth
DDS of cooking. The general rise in
food prices particularly in meats, it is
believed, will not only encourage the
wider utilization of all kinds of fish.
but will lead to an improvement in
| cooking methods which will result in
popularizing fish dishes of all kinds
|
Uncle Sam will soon be running one
of the largest employment bureaus in
the W orld. The
q. S. Distributing eighteen omces
Farm Laborers. e @ n 'h is gust 5ust
iabout to establish in the principal
cities of the country will not be known
las employment bureaus" but will be
called distribution Offices" organized
for the purpose of facilitating the dis
tribution of farm labor in the United
States. The offices have been estab-
llished by order of A. Caminetti, COM
missioner general of immigration, af-
ter a thorough test of the govern
ment's farm labor distribution plan,
ton, of which T. v. Poverty is chief.
| mi NJ