The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1916-01-18

The following is the paper which
was delivered by Rev. E. S. Kinks on
Friday night, before the Home and
School League, at it's meeting held
in the Court House:
Public welfare is the slogan of
progress and civilization. Every mo-
Their and every father has a personal
Interest in everything that has an in
Ifuence on the life of their child. On
the one side is the matter of educa-
ton in the schools-on the other the
education or influence upon the NOR
ais arising from what is allowed in a
community in the form of amuse-
ment. In a democracy every COM
munity is to be run in the interest of
the whole public. If ninety per cent.
of the property, real and personal,
in a community, were owned by ten
people, and there were five thousand
people in the community, those ten
persons could no more run that COM
munity than were the situation sueh
that there were an equal d1strlbu-
ton of the wealth pro rata among the
entire five thousand. Every individ-
ual, and every child in every house
hold, has a right to be considered, and
/ true democracy, through the ballots
} system, gives this power to the peo-i
J pie, and it is the most precious priv
lege of all civilization.
The feeling is unanimous in this
community that some things might
be done and need to be done very
badly to better the conditions under
which the young people live. We
need up-to-date. school accommoda-
lions and we need this thing badly.
IL once saw a town projected in the
far West, three thousand miles from
Maryland, and was on the ground
when there were only a few tents
and few shacks, lumber yard, and
the stakes that marked the streets.
was back in that town two years
and four months after, and there
were about four thousand people, and
school accommodations that would
make us blush. The high school
building was put up economically at
a cost of $4,000. Play grounds, and
parks were laid off, and of the school
buildings, everything was of the lat
est design to make the building
joyous place for the children to
spend the best of every day in their
education activities. The first con-
sideration is the child in any COM
munity. The body, the mind and the
soul of the child, guarded and devel-
oped, will insure the nobility of the
succeeding generation. 1 went all
through the hospital for the insane
| just outside of the town of Cam
bridge, that institution put up to
care for the unfortunates who are
more or less sick in mind. 1t is tru-
ly a wonderful place from the engine
room, where heat and electricity are
provided, and the ice plant, and the
refrigerating plants, the sun parlors,
the cheerful dining rooms, and the
hygienic methods throughout, with
the cleanest kind OF beds, and -all
done to show care for some two hun
dred people who. will never be of any
use to the State, but are cared for in
benefcence and sympathy for Attic |
ton. Then turn from such place |
and go through our school houses
where some thousands of children |
are cared for, and some of them not |
as good as some of the best construc- |
ted chicken houses that we can find |
in many places on we'll kept farms. |
Sane children have this, and the in |
sane have that. Let us think of it. |
Some weeks ago, when the grippe |
began to be serious in Philadelphia,
it was noted in the Philadelphia pa
pers that it was first epidemic In a
part of Philadelphia where the
school buildings were crowded and |
improperly ventilated. May it not
be possible that there would be lit
tie or no trouble of this kind were all
schools properly built? Is it not |
probable that these fall and winter
epidemics come from the ill con-
structed schools? For my own part,
1 think it most likely.
And what is the remedy? Why,
the answer is plain enough. In
democracy every. person who Is not
a criminal is a part. of the body pol-
tic, and politics must enter the life
of every person. The parents must
push into politics OH this matter.
Who can give us the, better school
accommodations? We must wake up
these men who are not, possibly
thinking how bad, the situation real
ly is. I lived in town In Virginia
where the same conditions prevailed,
and when we aired the matter in a
public meeting, men who came to OPP
pose the idea went away highly in |
favor Of quick action, and we got the |
school by the next term, and an up
to-date one, too. Let us get after |
the men who can push this thing |
through for us in short order. Cam |
bridge is too fine town to be salts |
fed with wrong conditions, and I'M
healthy conditions in our public |
schools. Then to the other matter |
of amusement for the children. Let |
parents take note of the books that |
the children read. A book with a |
fine cover may conceal mind poison
that will contaminate the soul of the
children who read it. The govern |
ment is doing much to stop the cir
culation of wrong, evil, corrupt lit
erature, but much that is doubtful
and suggestive finds it's way to the
children's hands. If one sells cor
rupt book to another, there is NOR
tai sin at the door, and the fact that
it is asked for and that it is profit
able does not excuse the sale. And
if this be true of books, it is emmi-
nently true of what is shown on the
stage whether by acting or by moving |
pictures. 1t is the DEVILS rejoinder
to say that the public must be given
what it demands. If I sell man poi
son for mind or body, because he
asks for it, I am particeps crimfnis. |
Let us all wake up as parents and
use our influence to get only the best |
for our children's bodies, minds and
souls.
I do not know how the picture
films are distributed, or to whom the
appeal is to be made to get only the
right kind, but surely it is in the
hands of the people in the long run
to frown on the Objectionable and de-
| mand the proper and clean kind. I
was twice so offended and shocked
by what I saw on the canvas that I
have not been since. Surely there is