The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-11
Dr. Phillips Address Feature Iof Yesterdays Session of
 Jefferson Teachers Institute
tContinued from Page Five)

when the first shortage of labor be- came apparent. raid was made upon the schools-a great raid, a success full raid a raid started by a large body of unreflecting opinion. The re- suit of that raid upon the schools has been that hundreds of thousands of children have been prematrely with drawn from school and have suffered an irreparable damage--a damage which it will be quite impossible for us hereafter adequately to repair CITY AND STATE IN DANGER Tn our own city and state today we stand in grave danger of committing a serious blunder. Many parents woul withdraw their children from the school to occupy the places of those going to war. Immature children, if they can comply with the child labor law, are placed in our industries and in our shops. Their future is sacrificed to the lure of the dollar, or to the false idea of patri- otism that is too often taught on the street or in the home by the unreflect- ing. We need. today, to heed the warm ing of France and England, and resolve. whatever the exigencies of the hour may be, that the education of our children shall not be sacrificed. As in England and France. at the beginning of the war. we have here a large body of respectable public opinion, which would express it's patriotism by taking the children out of high school and elementary school and place them at work in store and shop and factory. Let us sheed the warning that comes from the old world.
 Another insiduous danger needs to ne brought to the attention of our people at this time. The old adage that many crimes are committed in the name of lib- erty' may be paraphrased variously, but |. II crimes are unwittingly committed in the name of patriotism. There is no ques- ton of the sincere patriotism of our people; there is no question of the patri- otism of our teachers. But there is grave danger of exploiting the children In the interest of a great variety of schemes and purposes in the name of patriotism The school is convenient assemblage for anyone who thinks he has a patriotic message. and there is grave danger that unnecessary interruptions and interfer- ences will tend to disturb and retard the work of the school.
 PARADES AND PROFESSIONS
 occasional parades anG processions of school children are stimulating, but the dismissal of the schools every few days for patriotic rally plays havoc with the child's education. There are certain patriotic activities that children can and should engage in--the Junior Red Cross work. the sale of Thrift Stamps and I.b- erty Bonds. and few others are legiti- mate activities in which the children should be encouraged. But the diver sion of the children from school duties should be guarded.
 .'The school is one of the essential in- struments of the American republic. The faithful teacher in the schoolroom is no less patriotic than the courageous sol dier on the battle front. The remocracy that is saved by the sacrifices Vf our peo- pie and by the courage of our boys in the trenches of France must be preserved and perpetuated by the support of our united citizenship and by the patriotic efforts of our teachers. A democracy worth saving by blood and sacrifice is worth preserving by education.
 ASTONISHING REVELATIONS
 Since UT country has been at war with Germany, we have flad some astonishing revelations. We have discovered that we had in this country thousands of public schools supported by public taxation. in which not word of the English language was spoken. and thousands more of private and parochial schools taught by German teachers in the Ger man language. We have been informed upon reliable authority that ninety per cent of the teachers of these schools were disloyal to the government that