The Washington herald., 1920-09-18
Richard Spillane SAYS:

! nouncement OF the passing Of
Henry Walton Grinnell. Who knew
him? And yet he was a great ad-
venturer, a maker OF history and
the son OF a man who added some
what to human knowledge and hu-
man progress.
Henry Walton GrihnelI. son OF a
family OF seagoers. had the unique
distinction of playing a fair part
in three wars. He was with Far
ragut in his Mississippi campaign.
with Bob" Evans in the Spanish
American war and probabIy'was the
only American who ever held the
rank of admiral in the navy Of
Japan. His father was the -GrinneIl
who backed Arctic expeditions and
in whose honor GriRneIl Land was
| named.
The fact that few persons knew
an American ever was an admiral
OF Japan is no more peculiar than
that few know au American was
commander-i chief OF the armies
Of China, lord high admiral and
mandarin Of the first rank before
he was 81. Today his tomb is one
Of the shrlnes Of China. His name?
Frederick Townsend Ward, soldier
Of fortune, born in Salem, Mass,
the man who did much Of the work
for which "ChinIse" Gordon got the
credit. You viii not find anything
about Ward or GrinneI in school
histories.
Fifteen years ago man wrote
in compact form a series Of "Ro-
mances Of American History" They
were printed , simultaneously in
twenty or more Sunday news
papers After they had been run
ming for some months the writer
began to get letters from superin-
tcndents Of education and teachers
in the cities where the romanccs
were being printed. saying their
pupils displayed remarkable. in
tcrcst in history and wuuld the
writer please inform the school
people what figures in history he
was going to write about. SO they
COULD get the youngsters to read
up on them and. pnssibly, write
essays. Various Of the pcdaeogIrs
declared those "Komances" had
stimulated study of history more
than anything in their school cN-
peTicnCc-
Right there was evidence that the
chnol history or the school methods
Of teaching history did not tit the
child
Somebody can do Il great service
for America by making study att
tTactIyv foT :clsel children. No
other country spends SO much un
education as docs the United States.
The results are snrTuW fuI. Com
psratIse.N few children come out Of
school with an ,ducatiou. Business
men who employ boys and girls.
graduates Of the public schools.
som.tr-'S wonder what tho pupils
learn. Surely rn; English. That is
evident from their misuse Of it
Apparently not mathematics. Ger
tainly not history.
j is not tho fault Of the pupil
II is tho fault OF the system that
makes the school UnattracJivc to
the vast majority Of thos" who g.
there. It j. due to the stupid of-
fort to make all children Mt tho
rigid school system instead 90 MAX
ln- the school ~ all children
Standardization for mass produc-
tion is excellent in industry. but
not where the work is So varied
and the arJicl" under development
so little understood as is tho human
brain. Thr school question is "a
bus moss question Of very great
Importance for. tudgins 10y its
product. tho American school is
no; justjfy3u- itself.
Dayton. Ohio. persists i'm puttIn=
itself on the map. First. il was 10y
reason Of the WU-ht hUuthors.
Then il was John H. Patterson.
Next Jimmy Cox h"hbrd up. Now
comes Fcntun T Eott
Possibly you ar. not acquainted
with Mr.. BOtt. II so. that's your
misfortune. He will have mUnu-
monts 10 him i'm every town and
city in America if he only will DO
what he says no. means TO do. He
says he will bani>h the jazz.
Mr. Bott is president Of the
American National Association OF
Masters OF Dan ing which recently
held its annual convention at tho
Hotel Astor. New York. Jazz and
the present dances. he says. must
go. Numerous influential groups
have been enlisted in the crusade
for reform and appeal is being
made to composers and music
publishers TO raise their standards
No prediction is made by Mr..
Bott -as to when the jazz riot
will end or people viii ccEs" cake
walking and resume dsnCinE. lie
merely puts tho ban on dissonauce
and the dreadful thing that passes
for dancing nowadays. and he lets
il go at that. Jazz he brands as
one Of thosr freak things for
which it is difficult to account
and which W, will smile about
as unconsciouably silly after il has
passed and w resume dancing
real dancing. which is older than
Christianity and will live to the
end Of time.
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