Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1937-07-08

llIely pOSSlOlS tIldt Tic pSllSSluiii
may swing too far in this direction
and the future may stage a partial
return to Jefferson's idea about gov
eminent.
Jefferson feared public debt. Re-
peatedly he wrote to Albert Gallatin,
then secretary of the Treasury, urging
him to be persistent in eXtinguishing
the national debt ''The discharge of
the debt" he said, sis vital to the des-
TIMES of our government"
Upon this point there is little need
of comment. In the modern period,
probably because of circumstances
and necessities, there is too little fear
or searching of conscience either over
private or public debts. The present
attitude, to a considerable extent
seems to be: Why worry anyway
when everybody is in debt to some
body else?
Here again perhaps jefferson may
prove to be more than half right in
his position. 1t would be we'll if there
were little more concern about pri-
vate and public debts.
Though he held these views re-
garding federal expenditures and
debts, Jefferson was not a doctrinaire
Strated when the opportunity for a
big sweep came in the Louisiana Pur-
chase. Later on America purchased
Florida, Alaska, the Virgin Islands,
adding possessions without going to
war.
jefferson believed in the honesty
of the people. He had large faith
in their common sense. He believed
that all is to be won by appealing to
the reason of voters; that by educa-
ton their ignorance can be elimin-
ated. He thought that human nature
is indefinitely perfectible and that
majoritieS rule not by force but by
right.
By remarkable foresight the Fa-
theirs who founded and pioneered this
nation realized that democracy and
education must be inseparably con-
nected. In Europe they had been
brought up under monarchic and
aristocratic systems where men were
divided into classes. A few were
trained to command and the rest to
obey. 1t was believed that a few
must have a high grade of education:
the rest needed very little. In
despotic and backward state, it is not
wise to train men to ask questions
and to think. In free and progress
sive democracy there cannot possibly
be too much thinking or too much
knowledge. The ideal in a democracy
is that every one shall be useful and,
insofar as possible, have an equal
opportunity for education. No line
of race or creed or poverty shall
stand in the way of the deserving,
promising pupil. 1t is now realized,
as never before, that education is a
continuous process which never ends
in the career of the individual and
in the life of society.
In a very real sense, the spirit of
the modern school is essentially the
spirit of democracy. Much more than
in earlier days, it is motivated by
voluntary or free government. In it.,
every day natural issues arise over
questions of truthfulness or false
hood, honesty and fair play, accuracy
or carelessnesS, generosity or mean
ness, broadness of spirit or pettiness
Moreover, our modern schools, OPP
Grating in our democratic republic,
are founded upon the idea of COOP
Grafton. Some people have mistaken
idea of cooperation and fellowship
They seem to think that cooperation
spells the death of freedom, initiative
and individuality. Just the reverse
of this is true. Most people are so
constituted that they like to cooperate
rather than to quarrel or to fight
And when people are their best selves
they do cooperate.
Sweden, a country of cooperation,
has not become Fascist nor Commun-
ist. 1t has not gone to the extreme
right nor to the extreme left. 1t
has pursued the midle way and has
remained land of sanity. 1t is
realizing its great modern motto,
Comfort in the home of all classes"
Our schools and colleges should
not be centers of propaganda, but
surely it is one of their high func-
tons to study and to compare, and
to hold before the eyes of men and
women the vision and the pattern of
greater human welfare and achieve
ment.
Liberty means freedom of speech,
press and assembly. These liberties
which we enjoy in America must be
guarded as never before. America,
like any other country, is not perfect,
but we do not need a revolution to
make for changes in a country where
the illiteracy is not so great and
where we have the free use of the
ballot.
1t was different in Russia with 70
per cent illiterate at the time of the
World war. Those illiterate people
could be used and abused anyway
a ruler saw fit. Naturally, there
was an uprising. The Communistic
form of government was adopted. It