The menace., 1919-05-17
THE BIaors ARE s1pErRAcKEp

Attorney General Groesbeck has mott.
fed Secretary Of State Vaughan that
there are not enough legal signatures on
the petitions fled by the Wayne County
Civic association to initiate, at the elec.
tion In November, the proposed constitu-
tional amendment, which would require
all children between five and sixteen
years to attend the public schools, 80
long as they are IN the grades below the
high school While there are sufficient
names on the petitions, the great bulk
Of them were signed prior to December
7, 1918, and the attorney general holds
they are no longer valid for the purpose
intended, after the general election April
II. Unless the Wayne County associa'
ton wants to test the matter out in the
courts, its only remedy will be to secure
new petitions.
The proposed amendment Is one Of the
most vicious ever offered in Michigan.
1t is aimed at the Catholic parochial
school and is designed solely for the pur-
pose Of striking at the Catholic religion.
1t seems almost inconceivable that there
are still among US individuals OF such
small minds that they are intolerant
enough to father movements Of this ma
ture at the very time when Catholic and
Protestant, Jew and Gentle have been
fighting shoulder TO shoulder and giving
their lives so that other peoples Of the
world might enjoy liberty and justice
and religious freedom. We are glad to
get the attorney generals opinion, but
IF the electors Of Michigan are ever
called upon to pass upon such a propo-
sition, they will, by their votes, give such
a rebuke TO those poor bigots that they
will never again raise their heads In
public.
TlHIS ITEM Of news and ex-
FL plosive comment is clipped
S from the Port Huron
lQ (Mich.) Times-Herald Of
April 80, 1919. The news it con-
tains is Of more than ordinary In
terest; and its content Of comment
is of more than ordinary imbecility.
The latter is inspired, il not
written, by the fine Italian hand Of
Jesuitism; and is typical product
Of papal publicity. We have
reached the point in this fair land
where no favor can be suggested
or shown to the public school with
out the entire papal press and its
editorial abettors going into con-
vulsions over vicious attacks on
the Catholic parochial school and
Roman Catholic religion"
Such outbreaks would be ridicu-
lous If not so closely related to a
public matter of serious import.
Whether American youth of from
five to sixteen should or should
not attend school, is a question that
admits of but one answer. The
kind Of school they should attend
is also a matter Of equally funda-
mental Importance.
There are places where youth is
educated, and places where youth
is trained-educated by systematic
exercise and development of their
faculties, or trained like trick dogs
and parrots to following imposed
habits or repeating memorized
mummeries.
Pupils in the public school learn
to read so they can read to learn.
Its purpose is to equip them for
thought, expression and under
standing so they may become ca
pable citizens competent to under
stand public problems, read the
opinions of others, and form orig
inal opinions of their own by in
telligent comparison Of argument
and evidence from all sources.
There is much that the public
school does not and cannot do. 1t
cannot give this elementary in
formation, and, at the same time
make a musician or a theologian
or a specialist in the few years of
attendance between the ages Of five
and sixteen. To attempt any line
of special instruction at the begin.
ming Of school work would be to
neglect those elementary things
which are Of equal Importance to
every citizen no matter what his
final destiny or future calling.
1t is in social self defense that
state and national lawmakers es.
tablish public schools and insist
upon their use as a matter Of pre-.
paredness. In the modern world
no nation dares to become litter.
ate; and those with any conception
of what is necessary for the nation.
al defense and common welfare
cannot leave the instruction Of
youth to Jesuits or any other
medieyal cult whose chief interest
is in a religious" monarch and
ibis 'infallible" edicts.
The first act of a self-governine
people is to become a Self-instruct.
ling people-a self-educating peo
Iple, by providing the means pub.
Ilicly which individuals oan,,ot 49,,