Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-03-07
Moral Code for Children Is -
Denounced By Bishop Gambler

| the best of the seventy codes submit
ted and efforts will be made to have 1t
placed in general use in the schools.
1.-THE old-fashioned precepts of right and
wrong will, of course. be the basis of
all the documents but the institution
expects writer's to go further than that
and to. have their codes embody rules of
honor, j.courtesy, refinement and indus
try.
THE $4,000 to be awarded has been
offered by "A business man who desires
his identity withheld for the present"
Now, that is about ridiculous a
proposition as the folly of man ever
framed. 1t proceeds on the idea that the
moral law is so defective that it must
be revised in order to make it uniform,
and that1tfiis much desired improvement
can be evoked from some sapient moral
list by dangling before him a prize of
$4,000
Confessedly these men are in the dark.
and having turned away from Moses and
the prophets, they are prepared to pur7
chase purblind pilotage for moral life
by Offering $4,000 for the pilot who may
be able to, satisfy a committee that he
is the best of the guides who are ready
to offer moral leadership for so small
a sum-. 'ar.>a -.-
1t. is comforting to be assured that this
new Company of the Seventy" are to
make THE old fashioned principles of
fright and wrong the basis of. the ethi-
, cal "Sepruagint' which is to be framed.
But it is rather alarming that the codi-
| fers are to go beyond that, and that the
Ispproved code of the prize-winning NOR
alist is to. be placed in general use in
the schools
IT will be observed that this whole
business is to ne under the supervision
Of the State superintendent of Educa-
ton. From this fact we may infer thar
the new moral code is to be as far re-
moved from religion as the secular edG-
cation of the civil government is re-
moved from il. Underlying this idea
is the obvious failure of secular educa-
ton to furnish the inspiration of moral
life. This has been pointed out by wise
men again and again and now the secu-
larists in. education make this half-dis
gused confession, of the moral failure
If their secularism. -.-tr
TIE proposed element of uniformity
Is worthy of attention. The mania for
uniformity is one of the popular crazes
of the day, especially the mania for
uniformity in education" All courses
of instruction must be alike and meas
ured by a system of mechanical capac-
;ty and Intellectual attachments can be
dry measure or sugar by avoidupois
weight. Or to change the figure. all
school children and other students are
10 be treated with the same prescription,
Just as Squeers gave treacle indiscrim-
lnately to all the pupils in his school,
which was made famous and infamous
by Charles Dickens.
Uniformity in matters mental is
silly enough, but when it is proposed
to impose upon school children a com
promise code made up by leveling down
the moral law at some points and ex-
tending it at others, the thing becomes
intolerable And business man is found
ready to put $4,000 into the Inauguration
of this "push-button" and prize-purchas-.
ed system of moral lighting for the
schools of the whole country, Think
of that!
Do these, manufacturers of uniform
moral code, have any conception of the
basis of morality? No true date of eth
les can be found short of the nature
of God. and the nature of God is to
be known by revelation alone. Hence
it is impossible to frame a moral code
apart from religion, and since the sec
ularists in education can not. or will
not, teach religion, they can never be-
come the moral guides of this nation
or any other nation. The human con-
science answers to the voice of God, and
il will not respond to any authority
less sacred and commanding than the
voice divine Men might as well under
take to despise sunlight for the human
eye, and substitute for it a rush-light,
as to attempt to make something better
for the conscience than the heavenly
relation of the will of God. The world
will turn away in disgust and with de-
rision from such a foolish effort. Men
can not create morality and fashion it
to suit their own notions of uniform
ity" 1T is an eternal and authoritative
thing
1t is to be deprecated that these men,
who would purchase a new moral code
with a prize of $4,000, intend to try
the imposition of the purchased pro-
duct upon the schools of the country.
American education has suffered much
already at the hands of experts and
educational refOrmers.' But from eth
ical experiments may the Good Lord
deliver us. So mote it be.
Dali nnkIlOT nAnI " IlIIDT