The midland journal., 1917-07-13


Ough Training For Leadership.
Commissioners Claxton and
Others Urge College
Attendance.
DR.. James E. Clark, of the Pres
byterian College Board, acting not
only for Presbyterians, but also
representing other religious bodies,
and the national organization known
as the Council of Church Boards of
Education, is cooperating with the
U. S. Commissioner of Education,
DR.. P. P. Claxton, Secretary of War
Baker and other government offic-
ials, in a campaign to arouse the
American people to the nations
pressing need of trained leader
ship.
perhaps the greatest mistake
made by some of the nations across
the sea-" said DR.. Clarke, 'has been
the failure to make provision for re-
placing the trained leaders who have
gone to the front, many never to re-
turn. Large numbers of teachers
and undergraduates are in the
trenches or lie buried on fields of
battle; schools and colleges are
closed or running with greatly re-
duced attendance, and now, after
three years of war, thoughtful men
are asking, What are we going to do
for a trained leadership for the
| future?'
"The United States must not make
this mistake, but there is grave
danger that it will be made. Against
such a blunder Secretary Baker and
Commissioner Claxton and other ma
tional leaders are issuing earnest
words of warning. The danger is
that many undergraduates will think
that conditions demand a curtail-
ment of their preparation for their
| lifework, and that parents will think
that with prevailing high prices and
the uncertainty of the immediate
| future, they would better use money
| for other purposes than the higher
education of their boys and girls.
The very opposite is true. The needs
of the nation and of the world re-
1uire that no sacrifice be counted too
great in order to keep in preparatory
,chool or college those boys and girls
not called into special service by the
government, in order that they may
be thoroughly prepared for the lead
ership which the nation now needs
and will need more than ever when
the war is over.
Commissioner Claxton has issued
an appeal which should be needed by
every citizen, urging that the num-
ber of students taking higher courses
should be larger than usual in the
immediate future. He says: This
appeal is made on the basis of
patriotic duty and he shows that
while there will be an abundance of
men for ordinary purposes, there
will be dearth of officers, engi-
neers, and men of scientific skill in
all industries, in transportation, and
in many other places where skill
and daring are just as necessary for
success as in the trenches He
points out at some length the press
ing need of the near future for high
ly trained leaders, and shows that
young men and women never had
before them such a great oppor
tunity, provided only that they
odoouofa
The Honorable Newton D. Baker,
Secretary of War, said a; confer
ence of national leaders held in
Washington in May: "The nation
will be needing educated men even
more than ever before as result OF
this war for the coming years, and
the colleges must supply them" At
the same time he mentioned the
three things which he considered
most important for the successful
prosecution of the war: first, muni-
tIons; second, food; third, educated
men. General Leonard Wood in
letter to President Hibben CT Prince
ton College recently advised that all
students continue their work until
such time as their services might be
needed by the government, and SINH
lar advice has been given by ADJ
Gen. w. T. Johnson.
Commissioner Claxton shows that
the 100000 students in colleges,
normal technical and vocational
schools of high grade constitute only
about one half of one per cent of the
population, and that the continuance
of this number of young people in
college cannot lower the productive
capacity of the country to any appre-
ciable degree. On the other hand,
the need of trained leadership is so
great that every effort should be
made to increase the percentage or
those who take training for such
leadership.