The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-02-01

teachers attend the collegiate courses,
and thus vitalize their teaching by the
new information that Is gained; and the
audiences include the poet as well as
| the motormYn who desires to know
| more about electricity.
ut was not long ago that I received
request for the establishment of
more lectures on economic and social
/ topics Twelve thousand young men,
Z IT is estimated. are annually preparing
to become voters, and In our school,
houses this army Of young men should
| he prepared. by non-partisan teachers,
through the lessons of history and eco
Monies. to become intelligent wielders
| Of the right of suffrage.
I'm the crowded tenement district
| shall the people be forced to go into the
back room OF the saloon for political
| discussion? We are becoming wise in
our generation; we are introducing
dancing and other social features In the
school. We are not going too far when
we say: Come to the schoolhouse, let
| us there reason together
| ION Sundays. too, more use should be
| made Of our school plant, and wherever
there is an organ in any Of the public
schools II should be used constantly to
spread the taste for good music among
the people and to lend its influence for
| their betterment.
! las our audiences are cosmopolitan
in this great Melting Pot called New
York city, so does our lecture star
| Illustrate that the spirit Of humanity
and brotherhood is growing. for among
the many nationalities represented in
our six hundred lecturers there are in
cuded not only Americans but repre-.
sentatives of nearly all the countries
Of Europe, a full blooded North Ameri-
! can Indian. q negro. a full FLOODED
Zulu, a Chinaman. a japanese, a Per-
sian. an Armenian. a Syrian, a Turk
and Greek. showing. by their adhe-
sion to our work, that we are nearly
realizing the words of Garrison, who
said that his country was the world
and his countrymen mankind.
| We desire that our city shall be-
come the most enlightened city OF the
world. 1t is my hope that eventually
each schoolhousc where lectures are
held shall become a genuine Peoples
Forum. Discussions following the lee
lures. particularly those on economic,
social or educational topics. are the
rule. This feature IL most valua BILE.
Sometimes as many as a thousand per-
sons have remained an hour after the
lecture for such discussion. and all
have benefited 10y the questions OF the
| few one OF the speakers VINO took
part in our course some years ago is
now President Wilson. and he refers
to his experience as follows in his
article on the Parliament OF Man in
his book The New Freedom
lone of the valuable lessons Of my
life was due TO the fact that at a COM
paratively early age in my experie nee
as a public speaker I had the privilege
Of speaking in Cooper Union. New
York | want to tell you this,
| that IN the questions that are asked
there after the speech Is over. the most
penetrating questions that | have ever
had addressed to me came from some
, If the men who were the least well
dressed in the audience, came from the
plain fellows. came from tho fellows
whose muscle was daily up against the
whole struggle VI life
They asked questions which went to
! the heart of the business and put me on
my met;lo 10 answer them. I felt as II
| those quest ions came as a voice out OF
| life itself not a voice out Of any school
less severe than the severe school OF
experience.
And what like abou, this social
| centre idea OF the sChoohouse is that
! there is the place where the ordinary
fellow IL going to get his innings, going
| IN ask his questions. going to express
his opinions. going to convince those
who do not realize the vigor OF America
that the vigor OF America pulses in the