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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1904)
pBPTEMBHat ' 1W The Commoner; . & . ? 4 Wt ; Wf5)2j5jVir '&& - iA 1 - gft- """ ""IWiWftujiu'wi'-mwLXi ., , ,, ' ' :"VijiJ?igi;V ""Slh WRITING- In a recent number oftho "Forum," Ossian H. Lang says that' the common school is unique In tho world's agencies of civili zation; that it Is above everything else the most tangible expression of the honesty and intensity of our national belief in the universal education of tho people. Mr. Lang says 'that tho Individual schools reveal more than anything else the amount of the quality of the solicitude of the several com munities for the educational welfare of their chil dren and ho adds! "Tho school can not remain below the standard of efficiency which the com munity supporting it has agreed upon as a mini mum. Nor will a school" be able to rise much be yond a point at which it can sustain Itself by public opinion. In judging tho character of in dividual schools in the United, States, this condition must be borne in mind. From this point all criti cism must proceed, and to this it must return." THE coloring given to individual schools by the purely local characteristics and aspirations, according to Mr. Lang,, has not been able to obscure to the seeing eye the underlying great national thought. He adds: "All the schools are, in vary ing degrees of Intensity and intelligence, local ex pressions of the one unifying ideal of universal education. In their development, they are becom ing more and more the principal culture forces for expanding the social and industrial usefulness of every individual unit of our democracy to its highest possible degree. The philosophical idea of the foundation of these schools, then, furnishes the key to whatever our national life reveals of educational enthusiasm and pre-eminence in in dustry and commerce. The United States are a land of practical attitude and action rather than of theorization. American philosophy is not yet reduced to a logical system. But to the discerning mind it is visibly incarnated in forms of life, in institutions and the historic trend of popular movements, The common school is stfch an in carnation. It is probably the purest embodiment of American aspirations. The logical develop ment of the realization reveals the irresistible iorce behind the institution." IT IS further pointed out 'by 'MrVLang that the common school is yet in its Infancy; 'especially in the east. He explains: "Out west, its vigorous development!, is revealing more closely its trend in practical . phases. But east and west and north and south, everywhere the national hopes incor porated in it are making themselves felt with steadily growing intensity. Again and again the Mosely reports speak of the pride American com munities take in their schools. Mr. Jephson found that 'the pushing people out west, even amid all their immediate wants and the stress and strain of getting a living in new and unsettled lands, did not. forget to provide 'gQOd schools. Some of the best schools visited "by the Mosely commission were in the west. ' Oklahoma is singled but for a special word of praise i as fan object lesson in American ways.' because' .notwithstanding the rush and bustle of 'settling a new territory, the schools had received careful consideration. 'Some of the roads may be unpaved, some of the streets not in very first rate order, but the schools are there, and the whole machinery of primary school, high school and university is there, all free to the children of this new community.' Mr. Anderson says he was specially struck with the discovery that 'the people as a whole believe In the absolute necessity of a good, sound, general education as one of the prin cipal factors in the building np of a successful state.' To this belief he ascribes the.popular. will ingness to contribute without stint to the' build ing and equipment of the common school." T UDGE PARKER'S promise that in the event of I hfg.election he would-, not be a candidate for. a second -ter, has brought forth considerable" dis--cussion. . Pervy. Belmont, in axnewspaper interview discussing the attitude of the south toward-Judge-Parker's candidacy, says: "Judge Parker's state ment that if elected he will not bo a candidate for another term is commended .because 'Mr. Tilden made the same' pledge in his letter of acceptance, and gave asa controlling reason that the civil service of theJnatibn had grown to be so enormous that It could not bo reformed if the president was permitted to plot for a renomlnatlon." REFERRING to elmont's Intorvtcw, tho New York World ventures the opinion that some careless statesman must have presented this frag ment of history to JMr. Belmont. The World directs attention to page 372, volume 2, of "Tho Writings and Speeches of Samuel J. Tilden," edited Dy John Bigelow. In this work, it is found that -what Mr. Tilden actually said in his lottor of acceptance was this: "Whilo much may bo ac complished by these, methods, It might encourage delusive expectations If I withheld hero tho ex pression of my conviction that no reform of tho civil service in this country will bo complete and permanent until its chief magistrate is consti tutionally disqualified for re-election, experience having repeatedly exposed tho fultlllty of solf imposed restrictions by candidates or Incumbents." IN THIS connection it is suggested by the editor of tho World that: "Mr. Tilden was too ex perienced a, politician not to know that If ho were elected president he would be renominated by his party, and that he would accept the renomlnatlon. No president liad ever refused a second term, and Mr. Tilden had faith .enough in human nature to believe that none over would so long as a second term was In conformity with political custom and with the constitution. His plan was not to sub stitute new practices for old traditions, but to strike at the root of things by Imposing a constitu tional obstacle to a re-election." THE republican platform for 1904 contains the following plank: "We favor such, congres sional action as should determine whether by spe cial, discriminations the elective franchise in any state has been unconstitutionally limited, and if such is the case we demand that representation in congress and in the electoral colleges shall be proportionately reduced as directed by the consti tution of the United States." IT IS now pointed out that in their speeches of acceptance, Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Fairbanks wholly Ignored this plank. The New York World directs attenti6n to the fact that the New York Sun, which is just now engaged in cordially sup porting Mr. Roosevelt, says: "Intelligent citizens of the northern states, to whichever political party they belong, have not been surprised that southern states have taken heroic measures to prevent tho negro domination which in so many districts would be involved in leaving all negroes free to exercise the franchise. That nothing else could have been expected from the whites is understood and ad mitted at the north.' ":,. REFERRING to the republican platform plank herein quoted, tho Brooklyn Eagle, says: "That impish cruelty and folly was the work of Henry Cabot Lodge Mr. Roosevelt's nearest friend. Mr. Roosevelt was unaware of it, is opposed to it and: wa3 significantly silent about it In" his -speech df acceptance. But It is In the platform, Mr. Roosevelt is in the field and Mr. Lodge Is In the saddle." A' FRENCH statistician recently presented some . interesting figures showing the gain in the population of the leading countries of the world during the last half century. These figures follow: iv years, du .years. 232.6 10.7 57.0 52.1 82.0 United States ,....22.2 France ; .- Germany ....., ' V " !!" United Kingdom 10.0 Russia in Eurone .....16.4 India '"A'lt ':". B&giumi.- .. 12.3 61.4. COMMENTING upon these figures a writer in ., the Minneapolis Times says: "There is no surprise In tho showing made by the United States, for, with, the exception of India, we have drawn more or less heavily upon all thp countries named and two or three others. Our gala, by immigration has. been their loss and some of us may bo surprised to find that our percentage of increaso for the decade la no greater than It la, as compared with that of Germany or Russia. Bear in mind, however, that thoro has been a groat docreaso In emigration from Germany in tho last fifty years. Franco has been almost at a stand still for tho last ten years, but Gormany and Rus sia have made fair progress, and tho 10 per cent Increase of the United Kingdom is not a bad show ing, all things considered. With these figures an a basis statisticians believe the day Is not far distant when the. homo market will absorb our agricultural product, but 'far distant' is a lather indefinite term in history. We have a vast area of unoccupied lands, of which a large proportion will bo made productive, antt highly ho, in time. Even old farming regions are not cultivated to thoir full capacity by any means, and as population increases there will be a constant increase in their production by reason of closer cultivation and tho taking up of territory now practically untilled oven in the eastern and middle states. Our population will overtake our agricultural output some day, but tho distance of that day is an indeterminato matter. As to some staples It will come earlier than to others." THE Japaneso government has found a novel use for post cards. A writer in thc-Man-cnester Guardian says: "Realizing, that for va rious reasons, the soldier on campaign may not have leisure or opportunity to write homo to his family, the military authorities have supplied to each army a sufficient number of post cards, ready printed, to which the soldier has only to affix his name, or, more exactly, his seal, each Japanese soldier carrying one with him as part of his out fit. On all the cards the same message Is printed: "This is to let you know that I am alive and w,ell. I can not give you my address, not knowing where I shall be tomorrow; but your letters will reach me some time or other if you reply to the place the name of which is printed in the postmark. Greetings to my family and friends." This is an idea which might well bo copied by other nations. At once practical and humane, it would cost little and save many thousand of people from unneces sary anxiety and pain." IN HIS REPORT for the year ending June 30, tho pension commissioner estimates the num ber, of soldiers and sailors that served the United States in its various wars to be as follows: Revolution .-....'. -184,038 War of 1812 286,730 Mexican war 78,718 Vdian wars 83,993 iVil war .' 2,213,365 ' Spanish war '.. 312,000 Philippines and China 146,151 Total ..... 3,304,995 . The total amount paid in pensions to , these soldiers and sailors has been $8,179,717,161. During the past year the amount paid for pensions was $141,093,571 and the number of pensions on .the rolls at tho end of the year was 994,762. In the previous year there were 996,545 pensioners and the payment aggregated $137,759,654, so that dur ing the past year the number of pensioners de creased 1,783 while the payments increased $3,333, 917. The pensioners are classified as follows; Pensioners. War of the Revolution 3 War of 1812...... 19 Indian wars . . ....... 5,886 - War with Mexico $...:. 13,035 Spanish war ......,, 16;S27; Regular establishment ,.". , .. 12,724 Total ...; T 994,78 DURING the past year, as is pointed out by the . writer is-th RocktefKYPotrKrpr ,- Co moro than 268,000 pension cases ware adjudicated and 153,900 pensions were issued. The Post-Express writer adds: "The number of deaths of pensioners during the year was 31,728, of whom 30,071 were volunteers of the civil war. The pem sion commlsisoner says tkat there will be about . 47,000 deaths this year and tkat losses to the noils 4 l A v4fc. .?. . mt y . l.t -- : T e m I I S" ' a .aV.7. .v.. L.,"ir.Mi