The Minnesota fiery cross. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1924-19??, 1924-02-22

81 doubt whether one single
law Of any lawgiver, ancient or
modern, has produced effects Of
more distinct, marked and last
ing character than the Ordinance
of 1857. 1t set forth and
declared it to be high and bind
ing duty Of government to sup
port schools and advance the
means Of education"
The greatest American tragedy was
not unfolded upon any battle field,
or in any series of catastrophies. 1t
exists in the fact that neither the ad-
vice Of Washington nor the spirit Of
this ordinance were carried out. That
was why Daniel Webster referred to
it. In 1866, seventy-nine years after,
James A. Garfield, later to occupy
the White House, presented to con-
gress an Education Association Me-
mortal from which l quote:
your memorialists beg leave
to express their earnest belief
that universal education next to
universal liberty, is matter of
deep national concern. Our ex-
pertinent of republican institu-
tions is not upon the scale of a
petty municipality or state, but
it covers half a continent and
embraces peoples of widely di-
verse interests and conditions,
but who are to continue zone and
inseparable" Every condition of
our perpetuity and progress as
nation adds emphasis to the re-
mark of Montesquieu, 1T is in
republican government that the
whole power Of educ alton Is re-
quired.
The occasion of that memorial was
the fight for more adequate public
school education then engaging the
attention of thoughtful, patriotic
Americans. Of that attempt l shall
speak later. l refer to it here be-
cause you should understand that this
present battle began two generations
ago, and also that at no time, from
Washington to Lincoln, or since, have
the educational facilities of the ma
tion been more than a beginning of
what were required for the safety
and advancement of great republic,
In his remarkable book on "Child
Labor and the Constitution" Mr.
Raymond G. Fuller says:
what nation shall be great
est among the nations of the
New World? That nation shall
be greatest that puts children
first in it's thought, in it's poll
tics, in it's economics, in it's eth
les. The nation that accepts the
leadership of little children and
sets them in the midst of it's
counselors, that nation will lead
all others in the health, intelli-
gence, morality, efficiency and
happiness of it's citizens and in
national prosperity, both materi-
al and spiritual. On the quality
of nations international peace
and progress depend"
To show the extent of our failure,
l present the opinion of DR.. Alexan-
der j. Inglis, Professor of Education
at Harvard University, who said in
1922:
in the first place let US rec
ognize that in all parts of this
country public education is very,
very far from being that which
we should all like to see it, that
in parts of the country 1t is al
most unbelievably bad, that voca-
tional education has scarcely be-
gun to be recognized, that the
amount of illiteracy and near-il
literacy is alarmingly great, that
attention to physical education
throughout the country is almost
negligible, that our large for
eign population constitutes a
serious problem for education and
for society, that most country
children do not have anything
like a fair opportunity for edu-
cation, that in many sections of
the country short school terms
make effective education all but