Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1919-03-28
EDUCATION VS.. ILLITERACY
Learn to See in Another's Calamity
the Many Ills Which You
Should Avoid
(By John Bush)

1t was in making education not
compulsory on all, that the destiny of
the free republics of America was
practically settled.
Robert Charles Winthrop, one of
the most proficient American states
men and orators of his time, in an
address on education among other
things said:
Slavery is but half abolished,
emancipation is but half completed,
while millions of freemen with votes
in their hands are left without educa-
ton. Justice to them, the welfare of
the states in which they live, the
safety of the whole republic, the dig
nifty of the elective franchise, all alike
demand that the still remaining bonds
of ignorance shall be unloosed and
broken and the minds, as we'll as the
bodies of the emancipated, go free"
The contemplative and diligent
people of the present, who are sincere
in the furtherance of any proposition
that is conducive to the promotion of
democracy; have from the calamity
so wide spread in the world learned
that to avoid further destruction IL
literacy, caused by suppression, must
be given serious consideration.
In urging legislation that will era
dicate illiteracy in this country the
United States bureau Of education
says: Striking facts regarding the
need for work have been voluntarily
contributed by scores of agencies.
The war department has shown the
relation of labor turnover in the war
industries to illiteracy and unassimH-
lated foreign born. The surgeon gen.
erals department has given out the
facts regarding illiteracy in the ma
tional army, making the problem
much blacker than ever before by
showing that 24.9 per cent of the
drafted men were unable to read a
newspaper or write a letter home.
The cause of this menace is due to
low wages, which in turn is due to
lack of organization among parents of
pupils and teachers.
At meeting of the Public Educa-
tion Association, New York city, it
was stated that between 10000 and
$4,000 children in that city are being
deprived of educational opportunities
in the public schools because Of a
shortage of teachers. The gravity of
the situation was emphasized, and it
was stated that the only solution TO
the problem is in offering more ade-
quate compensation to the instructors.
The minimum salary of teacher is
$315 a year. The average salary of
man is ST. a month and of woman
$51. These salaries, which were
meager five years ago, are impossible
today. With the cost of living in
creased 80 per cent practically all Of
our teachers are enduring hardships
and many are in absolute want.
Public school teachers should organize
to secure a living wage, and declare
a strike unless boards of education
increase salaries, and not leave it to
lawmakers to set minimum wage.
Another great cause for the large
amount of uneducated people is due
to the lack of enforcing the child labor
laws. The children's bureau of the
United States department of labor
warns the government of this evil.
1t is shown by the bureau that ap-
proximately 100000 children be-
tween the ages of 10 and 16 are work
ing under conditions contrary to the
federal child labor law. 1t is such
conditions as these that have brought
about most of the calamity in the
world today and are those which
must be eradicated if true democracy
is to be maintained.