Evening star., 1923-04-04
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL v. COLLINS

Secretary of War Weeks resents
the attitude Of certain so-called pa
cifist societies In requesting that Army
officers be restrained from speaking
out loud. in public places, regarding
all themes connected with the mill
| tary service. There Is not the slight
est possibility Of Americas ever be-
coming militarized, and the attitude
of the pacifists in seeking to make an
Army man ashamed of his service is
outrageous. according to the view
point Of patriotism. To what has
patriotism sunk If to be a defender
of the country against foes of its
peace-whether internal or exter-
| nal foes-is to be rated shameful?
Eternal vigilance is the price Of
| liberty. and it Is a truism that the
| nation that is ever ready to protect
its institutions and its liberties is
| least likely to be attacked This is
| the attitude OF Secretary Weeks, who
promises full reply in due time.
DR. Charles W. Stiles, the noted
zoologist of Wilmington. N. c., at
| tacks the position of William Jen-
| nings Bryan, the noted evolutionary
| nonconformist of Florida, and de-
clares that II Mr.. Bryan is right
created in their beginning, just as
| they are now, then all germs must
have been made when Adam was
made, in the Garden of Eden. Then
Adam must have harbored all the
germs that our A. E. F. boys found
! In the trenches, and Noah was able
to carry all germs through the f1ood
without losing an elephant.
How easy 1t is to anticipate Mr..
Bryan's come back. wherein he may
| lustration. There is a beast which
! never evolved from gnat buZzing
for place in the village council.
Like Joye or something, it came full
| fedged and singing its one and only
| song. That alone overturns all
theories Of evolution, for that never
\ made half as many men of monkeys
as 1t has made monkeys of men.
| Hooray!
A Washington school official ven
lures to recommend that the schools
continue the year round, without a
summer vacation for children OR
teachers. This would give the chill
dren three more months a year Of
| schooling, and eight years of grades
would be covered in six years-theo-
retically. The child who enters
school at six years of age would
graduate from high school at fifteen
years, or, IL he added trade ap
premiership, as urged by the Secre-
Itary of Labor, he might come out at
sixteen a full-fedged skilled me-
| chanic, such as a molder or ma
| chinist, or even an architect or engi-
neer.
| The proposer OF the new plan has
not disclosed the physical cost his
plan would involve, in the way of
broken constitutions and mental aber-
rations. He has not counted the
brains, as we'll as weakened ply
siques. Twelve months of study, at
the formative period of the boy or
girl-what does it mean? Nine con-
tinuous years of the school routine
to take the place Of twelve years
broken twelve times by free sum-
mers and outdoor recreation.
| What is education? Is 1t book stuff
only? Is 1t similar to the process by
which geese are nailed to boards
while their throats are crammed
with corn to make their Evers grow
| that the gourmand may feed on fat
liver pie? Is that what our school
evolution is coming to?
| Not even an adult can forego
recreation continually and retain his
normal condition Of efficiency.
| X X
President Harding, in the midst of
his own play in Florida, took occa-
| sion to write to the president of the