Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1924-08-06
MANHOOD IS
FOURTH LINE
OF DEFENSE"
Judge Bale Delivers Plea for
Better Conservation of
Nations Childhood.

| A big bodied man with grim jaws,
swapping black eyes and an appear
ance of youth and vigor got up or the
Chautauqua platform here Sunday
night and talked on 1.-THE Fourth Line
of Defense" 1t was Judge Fred G.
Bale, formerly of the municipal court
of Columbus, o.
The judge listed the lines of de-
| Tense in their order as follows: L
navy; 2-army; 3-material resource
es; 4-manpower. He then touched on
the responsibilities of the present
toward the coming generation saying
| in effect that our race had been run
and that the hope of America lay in
the children of today, the citizens of
tomorrow. Then he launched into a
proof that general deterioration,
moral and physical has taken place in
| recent years.
Under present conditions, the judge
said, so percent of the children under
| 81 die. 80 percent of the criminals,
those appearing in court, are under
| 81
Right to Be Well Born
The judge is against the breeding
of defective and says that every child
has an inherent and constitutional
right to be well born or not born at
all. He would absolutely bar the mar
riage of imbeciles or those not able
to pass rigid medical examination.
| 25 percent more detectives now than
| ten years ago, was his reason. Two
out of five failed to pass light physi-
| cal tests of our army in the recent
war.
The judge believes in physical train
ing of all school children but he does
not favor the present athletic system.
He says those on the teams are the
ones least needing physical training.
The weaklings who do need it sit on
the benches and do the roofing. AS a
constitutional right of the child, he
demands physical training for the
child.
There are two million under nour-
ished children in America, due to lack
of proper food. The judge would do
away with charitable doles from
| those who made their money from
gouging the public. what we want"
| he shouted, "is not so much charity
and more justice" meaning that living
wages and right to live decently was
the right of all workers.
"HOt-Air Patriotism
| The judge took up the cheap patri-
otism which CLOSES over national de-
| fects by calling it "hot-air" patriotism
which covers our weaknesses by say
| ing "this is the greatest country on
earth" and lets it go at that. He said
the "un-American" person was the
man who didn't agree with us and the
100 percent American" the man who
agreed with us fully.
Mr.. Bale then went into education,
discussing it's meaning and purpose.
He said that every child had one SUI
preme talent and that the duty of the
school system was to fluid and devel-
op this talent. He said standard lied
education attempted to make very
child fit an orthodox system instead
of making the system fit the child.
He likened to the Greek fable about
Procrustes and his bed The old ban
dit cut off the legs of all those who
were too tall and stretched the bodies
of those who were too short for his
bed.
DenOuces School Exams.
This astounding man would do
away with the examination system en-
tirely, saying that it places a premi-
UNI on an effort to get credits instead
of wisdom and signifies absolutely
nothing He said the master minds of
the country had been thrown out of
school by the pedagogs because they
failed to pass the tests of standar-
died education, and cited the genius,
Edison, who was made to sit with
ounces cap on his head for weeks and
then driven out of school as IAN i'm
beetle who couldn't learn his lessons"
The judge would completely turn
the system around, making the system
meet the child instead of making the
child fit the system. He said this
meant more teachers and placed the
blame for national niggardliness in
school matters on wrong relative
value of spending money. We spent
five times as much last year on auto
mobiles as for education
The judge says "get the money
is our aim and having money our
standard of material success. He says
we talk about how much a man has
got and pass tenderly over how he
got it.
The speaker says we will attain
Christian civilization some day, per-
haps, but at present we are living in
a Mammon civilization. He said the
only true measure of success is "the
amount of human service rendered
the community"
The idea of exclusiveness, of pay
ing large sum to have ar exclusive
type Of automobile, dress, hat, etc,
was another national evil. Again the
wrong relative value Of money spend
ing.
The "Barnyard" Interest
The judge claims we pay more at
tention to raising livestock than we
do to raising children and that the
"barnyard interest" is more important
in the eyes of legislators than the
child interest. In one year congress
granted seven and q half millions for
animal husbandry. The same year it
gave $29, 900 for child welfare, ra-
ito of $50 to one. Again the wrong rel
alive value of money spending. "But
don't abuse congress-" the judge shout
ed. "Their disgrace is our shame. We
sent them there"
DenounciHg the dog eat dog" pol
icy, the judge praised the work of the
Kiwanis club and the local club in