Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-06-12
Education Of American
/ Youth Must Continue,
- Despite the War
BY BISHOP W. A. GAMBLER.


ing set forward in definite propositions
the special duties which all followers
| of Christ should meet faithfully at this
| time of crisis In the history of our ma
| ton. Among the more sacred obliga-
| tions enumerated were, ITO maintain
our Christian institutions and activities
unimpaired, that the soul of our nation
may be nourished and renewed through
the worship and service of Almighty
| God: to guard the gains of education
| and social progress and economic free
dom, won at so great cost, and to
! make full use of the occasion to set
them still further forward, even by
and through the war"
On May % there was held in Wash
ington City a conference of educators,
representing all the leading colleges
and universities in America, and this
conference declared, THAT all young
| men below the age of liability TO Sc
| lective draft, and those not recommend
ed for special service, who can avail
| themselves of the opportunities Offered
| by our colleges should be urged to do
| so in order that they may be able. to
render the most effective service, both
during the full, period Of war and in
the trying times which follow It's close
These recommendations and exhorta-
| IlOus are "a TIC AiAOSN AAhPNA SeNAA~~ W
| country at this time, ...--
We are urged to increase our food
| supply, and the duty to do so is obvious.
| We are exhorted to economic and TO
| conserve all our material resources In
order TO meet the critical situation by
which the nation is confronted; and
1 this we ought to do. But we shall be
| guilty of the saddest omissto NOT duty
If centering our attention upon the con-
1 IL a Vl6
| the production of food for the bodies of
men, we neglect the education of the
youth of our land at this time.
! One Of the most distressing conse-
uuences which has followed the war In
Europe is that the intellectual flower
| Of the populations OF the belllgerent
countries is being destroyed. The ranks
of educated young men, to whom those
nations could reasonably look FOR lead
ership in the coming generation, have
been dreadfully depleted. They are lost
| to their native lands, and they are lost
| to the world. In the coming years the
nations from which they went forth to
4 battle will be weaker and less compe-
/ tent to solve the problems of the future
by reason of this terrible sacrifice of
their educated young men who have been
manned and slain.
The youth of England's institutions OF
learning hurried to the front and multi
piled thousands of them have persisted
Great Britain is filled with grief because
| of their loss; but the United Kingdom
will feel this loss still more keenly when
/ the war has passed. Then they will be
/ sorely missed in the industrial world, the
/ commercial world, the political world
and also the religious world.
France also has lost many thousands
of her brightest young men, above
| eighteen years Of age, and many more
| thousands are falling day by day. But
the French are exhibiting a little more
foresight than the English land they are
maintaining their schools and educating
their children as never before. France
is looking beyond the day Of war, and
| evidently she does not propose that the
hope of the future shall be Utterly de-
| stroyed because of the demands of the
| present conflict
The American people should be warned
in time that they avoid the blunder of
| England and follow the wiser example
of France Our colleges and universities
should be kept open at any cost, and
parents and guardians should be ready
to bear the most pinching sacrifices in
order to educate the youth of the coun-
| try who are not called into active mill
tary service We must keep the ranks
of our educated men well filled, or the
days after the war will distress us as
keenly as the trying times of war. We
cannot now tell how many of our ab1est
and most intellectual young men will
perish in battle. We do not know how
long the war will last. But we do know
that the loss Of even one years fruit of
our colleges and universities will be
nothing less than a calam Y.
| The leadership Of the world is des-
tined to come to America, if indeed we
may not say this leadership has already
come to our nation. Such a national re-
sponsibility calls for the most thorough
and most Christian education possible.
Failure at this point will betray the
high trust which has come to us under
Providence, and will delay. if not defeat,
the progress of Christianity and civiliza-
| ton for centuries to come. The ends
Of the earth have come upon us, and we
must gird ourselves for discharging the
high duties thus involved.
Some have feared that on account of
| the war many students would be with
! drawn from our institutions of higher
| learning. No course could be more un-
wise than the calling out of the colleges
and universities the young men now In
them, and the failure to send to these
institutions Of learning the young men
who should enter them at the opening of
| the collegiate year in the coming au-
| tumn.
/ Both duty and interest should impel
parents and guardians to educate with
out delay the youth of the land, who are
now standing upon the threshold of life.
With so many educated men already
slain in the battles of Europe, and the
possibility of the perishing of many
thousands more, the demand for men of
the highest culture will be greater than
ever before when the war ceases; and
the rewards for service which such men
can win will be proportionately great
No better investment can be made for
| large dividends in the period of peace
which will follow the war than the lib
| eral education of our sons. Land values
cannot compare with the intellectual
values which wfll be needed in that pc
riod. The expansion Of commerce, which
will come then will be UNNECESSARILY
less than the expansion of opportunities
for the men of education.
Unfortunately we of the south are fur
Their behind than other sections in this
matter of the higher education, and on
account of this fact we are under the
greater obligation to strengthen our col
leges and universities and increase the
number of students in them.
From an able editorial of a great
western paper l extract the following
| pertinent passage, which enforces the
of wi ia Cat In