The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1916-03-02
THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 1916.
A Political School House.

''When God is with our righteous cause;J
His hottest places then are ours"
This may have been written a long
while ago and written under the stress
of war and carnage, but the truth OF
lit remains the same. The other night
q speaker suggested to small body of
Kenosha people that the school houses
of the city were the proper places for
political discussions. Why not? What
lis q school house for, if not for the
education of the people and it is not
necessary to assume that this means
Ichildren under the age Of fourteen
years. A lot of people fail to learn
when they are children and the proper
use of the school buildings may offer a
chance for enlightenment to these peo-
Iple as well as to the children. 1t is inn
lportant to teach the children that two
land two make four and that CAT
spells cat, but it is just as important
Ito teach the older people that there are
big political movements which are go
ling to make their homes better protect
ed and which are going to give them
more for the money they pay in taxes.
The school is an excellent place for the
teaching Of political ethics. Of course
someone is going to cry out against
bringing politics into the schools. Why
,cry out now? The bringing of politics
into schools has been accomplished years
ago. Every school building in the city
has been erected by politically con
Itrolled board of education. When the
days of civil war threatened the per-
petuity of the nation we hung the flag
out of the windows Of every school
building and made Of it recruiting
office. Why not make the same school
buildings the recruiting offices of the
army of civic bettermentR
New tangled politics is taking the
control of the cities, the states and the
nation out of the hands of the people.
The biggest demand of the day is to
make the men who hold offices respon-
sible to the people rather than respon-
sible to the political bosses. Throw
open the school buildings. Let the men
and women go to them and take the
children with them. Let them meet the
men who would hold Office face to face
and let these men tell them just what
they stand for. When it comes to cleo
ton day it will be lot easier to sepa-
rate the sheep and the goats.
It's an old fashioned idea In fact,
oil Of bn IL
people into the hands Of the people
savor of lavender and old lace. If we
had more public meetings in our city,
campaigns where men told the people
where they stood on big questions, there
would be lot of men who would never
get near enough to public office to file
an election expense account.
The schools belong to the people and
the best possible use to which they
could be put is the service Of the people.
Enlightening the people along political
lines is one form of real service and an
important form
In little while there will be a ma
tional fight on. The people would be
glad 10 gamer In their own neighbor-
hoods and listen to someone talk of po-
litical problems. 1t isn't too early to
start this use of the schools right now.
Once give the people a chance to get
closer to the men who would rule them
and it is certain that the people will see
to it that better men are named for
these places.
1t may cost little to light up audi
toriums, but the cost will be small in
comparison with the value of a new
awakening of the people to an interest
in the big problems of their own ward,
their own city, their own state and their
own nation.