Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1937-06-10
Standard of
Leadership


Former Governor Hjalmar
Petersen speaking before the
graduating class of the Rush City
high school Wednesday night
pleaded for more and better edu-
cation and attempted to give his
listeners inspiration for better
things in life in preference to
accumulation of great wealth as
measuring stick for success.
Mr.. Petersen's address follows:
This fresh spring evening is con-
secrated to youth. We of the elder
generation renew our young days
in sympathy with you who are step
ping forth into the world. You go
forth in the beauty, strength and
confidence of youth. We elders for
get our own disappointmentS, for in
you is the promise of better days to
come.
We seem to have the idea in this
country that all people are educated.
This is mistaken notion. Statistics
show that 4.3 per cent of men and
women numbered in our population
are illiterate, they are unable to
read or write. Think of the pity
and the tragedy of this condition.
This record compares very unfavor-
ably with that of smaller nations
such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway
and others which have less than one
per cent of illiteracy.
In 1890, only about half of the
total number of youth in this country
attended high schools or secondary
schools and many of these fell by
the wayside before they finished the
course. In the past, the mortality
in high school courses has been quite
high and it still is. Taking the ma
ton by and large, and including in
the estimate the south, it is safe to
say that you are at least a picked
minority of the population of this
country by virtue of the fact that
you are graduating from high school
this evening.
Statisticians have estimated the
average mans work at a value of
$500 per year. Each worker in wood,
iron or brass stands, for an engine
or industrial plant worth $4,000 pro-
ducing, at per cent, an income of
$500. The death of the average work.
man, therefore, is equivalent to the
destruction of a $4,000 mill or en-
CINE. Of course, some men pro-
duce less and others more than $500
per year.
The difference may lie in education.
1 do not say that it always does,
but it may. The largest wastes of
any nation are through ignorance.
Failure is want of knowledge; sue
cess is knowing how. Wealth is not
in things of iron, wood or stone.
Wealth is in the trained brain which
knows how to utilize and direct these
materials, as an illustration will show.
Pig iron is worth $40 per ton; made
into knife blades, $500; into watch
springs, $1,000. That is to say, raw
iron is worth $40, brain power, $780,
The artist, Millet, bought a yard of
canvas, a brush, and some pigments
for about sixty cents. Applying his
trained mind, his skilled hand and
his gift of genius, he produced that
well-known painting "The Angelus"
and gave the raw material a value
of $105,000.
These are just a few illustrations
of the power which lies in education
when it has the right human material
with which to work.
But, my friends, we might as well
face the fact that it is better to be
born in some periods than in others.
We of this generation and of the
past generation have been living with
in the shadow of great World war
the most devastating and dreadful
of all wars. This war has laid its
hand upon us. It is the rock from
which this generation has been dug
1t has cast long shadow across oul
pathway. We are living today ir
the reconstruction period after the
World war; 1 believe that this i:
the way that future historians viii
know us and will write of the pres.
ent period.
Now this tragic experience has haC
its effect upon youth. These las
few years many people have beer
going through a very trying period
Many have been near distraction
Hearts have been sad and minds dis
traught, but as in all periods of tran
sition leadership comes forth to poin
out new ways of adjustment. Thu
clouds are lifting and the sun is ris
ing in the east. In these times, 81
out of joint, we have been hearin,