The Colorado statesman., 1917-06-23
Uncle Sans Commissioner of
Education Makes Ap-
peal.
WORLD NEEDS TRAINED MEN
Those Who Enter College VIII Not
Lower Productive Capacity of Ma
tion to Any Extent, 1t
Is Declared.

2. p. Claxton, Uncle Sans commits
sioner of education. Doctor Claxton
points out that there were in the high
the past year more than 100000
boys and girls, and somewhat more
han 100000 of them graduate this
year. In an ordinary year 10000 or
more of these would next fall enter
college, normal school or technical
school, 70 be prepared for such service
to society, state and nation as can be
rendered only by those who have re-
ceived education beyond that which
the high schools can give. "Many
college presidents and others fear that
on account of our entrance into the
war few boys and girls will enter col
lege next fall and that the total col
lege attendance will be very SMALL"
says Doctor ClaXton. "The number
ought, however, to be much larger
than usual.
Will Not Weaken Nation.
1.-THE more mature young men are,
the more serviceable they are in the
army. The selective draft will take only
those between twenty-one and thirty.
In the total of 60,000,000 people of pro-
ductive age in the United States the
100000 students in colleges and nor
NAL schools and technical and voca-
tional schools of high grade constitute
only about one-half of 1 per cent.
More than half of these live in cities
and cannot be employed in agricul-
tural production except as a few of
them may find work on the farms dur
ing the summer. Their going to col
lege will not lower the productive
capacity of the country as a whole in
any oppreciable degree. The colleges,
morn al schools and technical schools
will all be open with undiminished in
come from public funds and endow
ments, and the expense of their main
tenance will continue. 1t is quite
probable that many of the older stu
dents will not return next fall and the
higher classes will be smaller than
usual. The graduates from the high
schools should see to it that the lower
classes more than make up for this
deficiency.
"This appeal is made on the basis of
patriotic duty. If the war should be
Ions the country will need all the
trained men and women it can get
many more than it now has. There
will be men in abundance to fight in
the trenches, but there will be a dearth
of officers, engineers and men of scien-
tific knowledge and skill in all the in
dustries, in transportation, and in
many other places where skill and
daring are just as necessary for sue
cess as in the trenches.
Must Help Rebuild World.
"SNhen the war is over there will be
made upon us such demands for men
and women of knowledge and training
as have never before come to any
country. There will be equal need
for a much higher average of general
intelligence for citizenship than has
been necessary until now. The world
will have to be rebuilt and American
college men and women must assume
large part of the task. In all inter-
national affairs we must play more
important part than we have in the
past. For years we must feed our own
industrial population and large part
of the population of western and CEN
trail Europe. We must readjust our
Industrial and social and civic life and
institutions. We must extend our for
eign commerce. We must increase our
production to pay our large war debts
and to carry on all the enterprises for
the general welfare which have been
begun but many of which will be re-
tarded as the war continues. China
and Russia with their new democra-
cies and their new developments which
will come as a result will need and ask
our help in many ways. England,
Fra ace, Italy and the central powers
will all be going through process of
reconstruction and we should be ready
to give them generously every possi-
BILE help. Their colleges and universi-
ties are now almost empty. Their old
er students, their recent graduates and
their younger professors are fighting
and dying in the trenches, or are al
ready dead; as are many of their older
scientific and literary men, artists and
others whose work is necessary for the
enlargement of the cultural and spirit
ual life and for all that makes for
higher civilization.
"We must be ready to assume the re-
sponsibilities and perform thoroughly
and well all the duties that will come
to us in the new and more closely re-
lated world which will rise out of the
ruins of the old world which is now
passing away in the destruction of the
war. To what extent and how well
we may be able to do this will depend
upon the young men and women who
are this year graduating from our
high schools and upon those who will
follow in the next few years to larger
degree than upon any other like num-
Der of people,"