Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-11-23
GUARD HEALTH
OF STUDENTS,
SAYSSPEAKER
Mrs. Hathaway Declares It Is
Duty to Provide for Ply
steal Welfare.

Mrs. Maggie Smith Hathaway. rep
resentative in the state legislature
from Rayalli county, emphasized the
need of care by school authorities OF
children's health in an address before
a joint meeting of the city and rural
trustees at the junior high school
Tuesday afternoon.
Mrs. Hathaway pointed out that
many children are handicapped by de-
a duty that their physical welfare be
provided for as to provide books. She
quoted Judge Lindsay as saying that
many criminals become such because
of neglect by the communities in
which they lived while children. The
trustees have the responsibility of
keeping the children in school and the
schools equipped for practical instruc-
ton. she said.
Mrs. Hathaway was formerly a
school teacher and has served as
county superintendent and has been
tax payer for many years, which
gives her broad viewpoint on the
scholastic situation.
Her central theme was THE Re
sponsibility of the School to the
Needy Child"
II am intensely interested in the
welfare of children who are ours to be
guided. trained, protected and made
into citizens of whom the world will
be proud. What the future brings will
depend more upon how well all the
children of all the people are schooled
and educated than it will upon any
other thing that can possibly have any
bearing upon it." she said.
Must Have Equal Opportunities
She pointed out the necessity of
providing equal opportunity to every
child in the country. not only for the
child itself but for the preservation
of national ideals and for the saliva
ton of the world from the chaos
which still threatens. Democracy is
hopelessly floundering in many ceun-
tries because of illteracy, she said.
The United States as nation is
ninth in illiteracy and half of our chill
dren leave school at the end of the
sixth grade and large number aver
age less than that" she asserted.
She furnished statistics to prove
that approximately 100000 children
in the United States between the ages
of IA and Is years of age have been
gainfully employed This number rep
rescnts more than half of the total
number of children OF that age in the
country. The states heaviest in
illiteracy are the states heaviest in
paupers and criminals, she said.
Mrs. Hathaway declared that examl-
nation of statistics of England, Scot
land. Ireland and different countries
of Europe show that as education in
creases. paupersm and crime decrease,
IF we could cure the cause of pow
erty in the home we would not have
tbe problcm of needy children" she
continued. "As school people, it is
our responsibility to help solve the
problem. 1t is our duty to provide
adequate schooling for all our children,
not a favored few, and make 1t pos
sible for them to take advantage
of it.
Must Not Leave School
Surely it is travesty on democ-
racy that a democratic school system
should be built up only for those who
can afford it. that country school
should allow the majority of it's chill
dren to leave school with the mere
rudiments of an education. handi
capped at the start by the ignorance
of their parents and the poverty of
their environment.
She stated that schools are awaken
ing to the need of health instruction.
For good health 1t is essential that
children have the right sort of food.
But it does no good to tell child
that he must drink milk il there isn't
any milk available for him. she pointed
out.
Money is wasted in trying to
school under -nourished children. Since
we have not stopped pauperism in our
country we should follow the lead Of
England, which is 1908 passed the
Children's act, which provided for a
day feeding school, the speaker as
serted.
II suggest that as a nation, if we
do away with the expense and burden
of war that the United States can
and should be the big unit for school
revenue. At the present time 90 cents
out of each dollar of national revenue
goes for war. while less than one per
cent is spent for educational pur-
poses. Eliminate war and divert the
billions thus spent into educational
channels and our children will be
amply provided for and we will be
raising up our children, who will be
leaders in the world, a credit to our
nation.
"Educate the pauper out Of exist
~hs xt.s ~