HOME AND EDUCATION
Follette, Belle Case La
Home and Education Conducted by BELLE CASE LA FOLLETTE Do The People Want War ? DEAR READERS: President Wilson will not be responsible for war, unless he believes the American people want war....
...TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE: "In the presence of threatening dangers, whose magnitude can not be overestimated, I venture to address my countrymen, justifying my appeal by my interest in their welfare and by their acquaintance with me...
...Vocational training is in the flood tide of its vogue...
...I am never detected...
...We have learned that the form of government amounts to little...
...We are thus face to face with a grave possibility of being drawn into the European war...
...The larger cities have established vocational guidance bureaus to aid the boy or girl to get the right kind of a job, to avoid blind alley and hazardous occupation:!, and to secure employment which offers some chance of promotion, under sanitary and healthful conditions...
...The President, senators and congressmen, who must act for the people in this crisis, desire to carry out the will of their constituents, but unless the rank and file of the people make known their wishes by direct communication, these officials must judge public opinion by the expressions of the metropolitan press which may or may not correctly reflect the sentiments of the nation...
...it still leaves one wondering how effective would he the "national defense" on the part of soldiers who—somehow—survive the destroying effects of child labor in mill and mine and factory...
...can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue...
...The present unrest among the people, strange as it may seem, is one of the best signs of the times...
...Their predominance has been practically completes and so far as I know, it has been unprecedented No other great people, either in classic, mediaeval, or modern times, has ever allowed such a profes-sional monopoly of governmental functions...
...Third, we can refuse clearance to ships of the United States and other neutral countries carrying contraband and passengers on the same ship...
...THE FIRST of a new series of practical manuals, to be called "Lippiucott's Home Manuals," have appeared...
...are we not in duty bound to measure up to the standard which we have set for them...
...A considerable proportion of our legislators and executives continue to be lawyers, but...
...On February 3, before the announcement was made that diplomatic relations had been broken off, Miss Ad-dams sent the following telegram to President Wilson: ".Many of us hope that you may find it possible to meet the present international situation in league with other neutral nations in Europe and South America, whose interests are similarly involved...
...Here are a few striking sentences from Croly: "On the whole, American laws have been made by lawyers...
...The great European countries at present engaged in warfare committed as they arc to militarism, do not practice military training in the schools...
...What can we do...
...Warning his brother judges against overstepping their authority, Justice Clark quoted approvingly the following remarks of the late Justice Harlan of the United States Supreme Court: "When the American people come to the conclusion that the judiciary of this land is usurping to itself the functions of the legislative department of the government, we will find trouble...
...The Smith-Hughes bill, which passed the Senate without a dissenting vote, grants federal aid to industrial education in the various states...
...Valley of the Shadow By John Galsworthy GOD...
...How much longer will little children remain slaves for the Profit of their masters in peace and, later, cannon fodder for the Protection of their masters and their masters' profits in time of war...
...they have been executed by lawyers...
...In the present world situation opposition to compulsory military training in the schools of the United States looms up as a great moral issue, second only to opposition to war itself— and very closely related to it...
...HASTEN the day when our universities will be turning out lawyers who are equipped with the social point of view...
...The belligerent nations on both sides think themselves in a death struggle and both sides feel justified in resorting to acts which we regard as contrary to international law as heretofore interpreted...
...Throughout his administration, he has avowed his desire first of all to be the exponent of public opinion...
...I am ruthless and cruel...
...Farewell Address By George Washington OBSERVE good faith and justice toward all nations, cultivate peace and harmony with all...
...Tour opinion and my opinion and our neighbor's opinion constitute the sentiment of our community...
...When people are content they either are ignorant of better conditions or hopeless of attaining them...
...and, of course, they have been expounded by lawyers...
...L. or a B. A. The man of business has become less contemptuous of the theorist...
...There is very little doubt that government assistance of this character will become a fact in the near future...
...Such a vote in view of our diverse 'population would be in effect an appeal to international opinion...
...School children must, become members of the community in a real sense and be held responsible for its improvement-— Edward A. Fitzpateick...
...the difference is that now they are more likely to be less successful lawyers...
...Accountancy, commercial geography, transportation, commercial law, business procedure are part of the curriculum of many a 7...
...The action is automatic, stiff and repressive and opposed to the present day ideals of bodily exercise for freedom, control and expression...
...I am travelling out to death's sea, I. who crulted in sunshine and laughter...
...Let no one say, "My plea will make no difference...
...We can not depend upon precedent to meet an unprecedented situation...
...dare not complacently assume that because our institutions are free in form, we arc safe...
...The Senate Military Committee has reported favorably the Chamberlain Bill which requires six mouths compulsory military training of all young men from the ages of 19 to 26...
...The system was temporarily tried it...
...It is agreed among educators—Dr...
...A Confession I am a murderer...
...I scatter deadly disease germs in halls, in the subway, wherever there is a crowd...
...may toil and drive...
...The adequacy of the lawyers' training, the disinterestedness of their political motives, the fairness of their mental outlook, and the closeness of their contact with the national public opinion—all become matters of grave public concern...
...Thus the lawyer, when consecrated as Justice of the Supreme Court, has become the High Priest of our political faith...
...For I am a sneeze!—New York American...
...Thought not of dying-death is such waste to mc...
...The modern teacher realizes the danger of over-accentuation, cither of the practical or the academic subjects, and in most cases has been careful to see that, in the surging enthusiasm for occupational studies, the humanities have not been neglected...
...and inasmuch as almost every important question of public policy raises corresponding questions of Constitutional interpretation, its possible or actual influence dominates American political discussion...
...as though I had died not— I, who in battle, my comrade's arm linking, Bhoutcd and sang—life in my pulses hot Throbbing and dancing.' Let not my sinking In dark be for naught, my death a vain thing.' God, let mc know it the end of man's fever...
...Think of it...
...Are the American people asleep or dumb with fear that they are not moving on their National and State Capitols in protest, against the enactment into law of these pending measures for the compulsory military training of our youth...
...In this great national emergency let us not hesitate nor procrastinate...
...Thousands of graveyards are filled with those with whom I have had more success...
...And yet, situated as I am for the first time in years, spending the winter with the children on the farm—in contact with real people, I realize how remote Washington scons and how difficult it is for the folks here at home to reach the "Capital and make their convictions known .there...
...It is not fitted to modern warfare...
...The experience, at least, is reeom-niended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature...
...JAKE ADDAMS in her address to the members of the Woman's Peace Party, dated February 7, said: "I am sure that we all have the earnest desire to stand by the President of the United States in such a crisis, but surely the highest patriotism docs not exclude conscientious discussion of public measures...
...After a bitter struggle she yielded to the pressure of conscription and she has also surrendered the right of free speech and of a free press...
...And over and above all else, consider the effect on the boys themselves...
...To decide whether war is necessary or not we mast consider the situation...
...Do not think J exaggerate...
...The President has felt it his duty to break off diplomatic relations with Germany for reasons stated In bis message, and has announced to Congress his purpose, in case of any overt act, to ask authority to use any means necessary to protect our seamen and people...
...We can better afford, therefore, to be patient and forebearing than we could if injuries came from avowed enemies and were intended...
...WE OUGHT to cease teaching pupils that government is somehow or other a perfected thing in which all the arrangements and parts and all the functions of government are absolutely settled in a thing called the city charter or the state constitution...
...Alas, is it rendered impossible By its vices...
...We must give the children the idea of government as an agency of the common welfare whose parts may be formally described in a constitution or charter, but the actual relations of which arc determined, with reference to the problems that confront them every day, by their feelings and attitudes...
...I play a safe game...
...THESE remarks of Chief Justice Clark bring to mind the passages of Herbert Croly's book, The Promise of American Life, that comment upon government by lawyers...
...However plausible the arguments in favor of judicial supremacy," he continued, "its friends cannot point to a line in the Constitution which confers it...
...In this country, as in all countries, the control of the government is in the hands of the few...
...And then the champions of government by the few, quietly, but effectively, took control of the government "The overwhelming preponderance of the judiciary was unexpectedly created in 1803 by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, without a line in the constitution to authorize it, when that body assumed the right to veto any act of Congress it chose to hold unconstitutional "This doctrine was promptly seized upon as a boon by the special interests and by all who believed at' heart in the government of the many for the benefit of the few...
...Grant mc one comfort: Leave not the hereafter Of mankind to war...
...Instead of that they think I am funny and laugh at mc...
...At a mass meeting held in protest against war where I spoke, a young working man arose and said he believed the menace of compulsory military training was the gravest danger threatening us at this time...
...1 kill babies, children, grownups Impartially...
...Is is not possible to call a joint official conference of neutral nations to consider safeguarding neutral rights on the seas before the United States is drawn into war, and thus make a very genuine beginning of a league of nations...
...England and France but was given up because of its uselessness and futility...
...for well tee know Thy grace descends On babes who grind and sweat and die To pile up Mammons dividends...
...Shield us from thoughts of flowered field And sunlit stream of childhood's play, And...
...let its not be lured aside By weak desire for Learning's way...
...What hope is there for the future if our boys in school and out young men just out of school are to be trained— not only in body but in mind and spirit disciplined to the militaristic idea...
...And should an alien hand, stretch forth To touch the wealth our labors yield, Loose in our hearts that rushing flood The years of slavery congealed...
...Matthew Page Andrews, M. A., is the author of the Brief History of the United Stales, a secondary school history that offers a fresh and interesting treatment of the subject, happily free from sectional bias...
...And in that cauldron of feverish political excitement, how can our President and our members of the Senate and the House of Representatives get our real thought and feeling from here...
...time of the present war England regarded her freedom from conscription an elemental condition of liberty...
...Bread, Butter and Culture By Max Loeb Member of the Chicago Board of Education THE long existing hiatus between culture and bread and butter is rapidly being bridged...
...Second, we can keep Americas citizens of beilig-erent ships...
...The tendency of the legally trained mind is Inevitably and extremely conservative...
...Who can doubt but, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might bo lost by a steady adherence to it...
...and can it be that good policy docs not equally enjoin it...
...Hundreds of hospitals arc filled with those I do not succeed in slaying...
...Clothing for Women is by Miss Laura I. Baldt, B. S., Instructor in the Department of Textiles and Clothing, Teachers College, Columbia University...
...The educational millennium has by no means arrived, but the existing correlation of subjects is far in advance of the long-established pedagogical attitude which made of life in school and life thereafter, things apart, work in the one having little relation to work in the other...
...He said: "It has been said that a contented people have no annals...
...will be worthy of a free, enlightened and at no distant period a great nation to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence...
...Signed) "William Jennings Bryan...
...Sixth, Congress, which has exclusive power to declare war, can submit the declaration to a referendum vote, making exception in case of actual invasion...
...Finn as Mr...
...Think of the transformation of the world that might be effected if all the enormous energy now being spent in destruction could he turned to world betterment...
...The most important thing is that the officials at Washington shall know that the people at home protest against entering this war on either side, with its frightful expenditure of blood and treasure...
...This government by law...
...The following brief, sincere statement is being used for post cards which can be addressed with equal propriety to President Wilson and to your Senators and Representative at Washington: As a patriotic citizen of the United States I am trusting you to find a way to settle the present crisis without war...
...He warned his fellow jurists throughout the country to take heed lest their powers prove their own undoing...
...Yet I could be restrained if people really understood how much harm there Is in me...
...A divorce between the practical and the academic is no longer recognized...
...Whenever its action can be legally invoked, it can, if necessary, declare the will of either or both the President and Congress of no effect...
...In so far as the Constitution continues to prevail, the Supreme Court becomes the Dual arbiter of the destinies of the United States...
...McConaughy's irony is, however...
...Literature, language and the sciences still hold their own...
...The inflammatory headlines of the newspapers do not represent the sober judgment of most of the men and women of my community, and I venture the belief that they do not bespeak the views of many of your neighbors and friends...
...Should a democracy not ask the people by a referendum vote whether it is their wish to defend American commerce by war...
...Ninety millions of people—all sorts of people—are not going to submit to the usurpation by the judiciary of the functions of other departments of the government and the power on its part to declare what is the public policy of the United States...
...Universal compulsory' military training announces to the world that we the people of the United States have abandoned our ideals, that we are preparing to get into the game of war and arc training our youth for it...
...When will every state gather in "the others...
...The Federal Constitution, on the other hand, by establishing the Supreme Court as the interpreter of the Fundamental Law, and as a separate and independent department of the government, really made the American lawyer responsible for the future of the country...
...There are several alternatives from which to choose: "First we can postpone until the war is over the settlement of any dispute which can not now be settled by peaceful means...
...Yours truly, AND NOW, dear friends, another preat imperative and urgent responsibility rests upon you and all other American citizens who would not have the United States involved in the European maelstrom...
...The President, in his noble appeal to the belligerents, has asked that they forget the bitterness en-Rendered by the killing of mora than six millions of human beings and the expenditure of more than fifty billions in money, and come together in an honorable peace...
...When it comes to the wholesale slaughter of men, machine guns appear to be the most effective and economical instruments of woe...
...Fifth, we can, if necessary, keep all American vessels out of the danger zone for the present, just as the mayor of a city keeps citizens in their homes when a mob is in possession of the street...
...Give it prompt expression...
...Out of my political experience, I am convinced that it is only as the American people arc aroused and resistant, that they will escape the doom of a period of militarism and retrogression...
...For the "Masters" QUOTING a newspaper comment that "only 150.000 children are affected by the federal child labor law," J. W. McCo-naighhv in the New York Mail contributes the following verses under the expressive title, "The, Prayer of the Others:'' In mill and mart and, dripping mine...
...Only a little more than a generation ago the Germans were aghast at the introduction of conscription...
...In 41 state legislatures at this moment there have been introduced bills for compulsory military training of boys in the public schools of those states...
...of which they boast,'is not only a government by lawyers, but is a government in the interest of litigation...
...No one can read it without feeling that it comes from the heart of a great, unselfish, disinterested patriot devoted to the highest welfare of his country and of mankind...
...Will this not breed that same jealousy and rivalry and fear toward us that existed among the nations of Europe toward each other—the very root of the war...
...in our colleges commercial subjects become steadily more popular...
...Our common schools are becoming practical...
...that they are not willing to send American soldiers across the Atlantic to march under the banner of any European monarch or to die on European soil in settlement of European quarrels and that they are not willing to surrender the opportunity to render a supreme service to the world as a friend of all and peacemaker when peace is possible...
...It has virtually made the courts the dominant power in every state in the Union...
...When they talk about government by law, they really mean a government by lawyers...
...Wire immediately to the President, your senators and your congressmen...
...It would seem that the average soldier needs to be trained to the use of the pick and shovel rather than to the use of the sword and gun...
...Hake my last breath a bugle call, carrying Peace o'er the valleys and cold hills, for ever...
...So far as reform consists in the enforcement of the law, it is, of course, supported by the majority of successful lawyers...
...He sits in the sanctuary and guards the sacred rights which have been enshrined in the ark of the Constitution...
...Even the Federal Congress has been inoculated with the vocational fever...
...They promise to do for women what the now standard "Lippincott Farm Manuals" do for the farmer, and equally for the student...
...The Executive Board of the Woman's Peace Party sent the following telegram: "The members of the Woman's Peace Party are persuaded that your wisdom can devise a new way out of the present difficult situation, which, will be in accord with the principles of the new internationalism rather than with the antiquated and what proved to be the futile method followed by our nation in 1812 when it attempted to protect by war, American rights upon the high seas...
...for unless we guard against the insidious encroachment of destructive tendencies we shall lose their essential spirit...
...The real question is, 'Where does the control of government reside?' "In 1776 we issued a declaration proclaiming the lights of mankind and their equality and freedom...
...The Nation...
...The existing political order has been created by lawyers...
...Government by Lawyers DISCUSSING "government by judges" in a speech at Cooper Union, New York, Chief Justice Walter Clark of the North Carolina Supreme Gourt declared that all the powers of government both federal and state, lie at the feet of a "judicial oligarchy" composed of the lawyers of the United States...
...If we can expect such an exhibition of virtue by them...
...When, in the present crisis, be told Congress he would come again, before taking any step that would be the cause for declaration of war, he surely intended to give the people of the United Stales time to think it over and to make themselves heard...
...Other alternatives are likely to be suggested...
...Religion and morality enjoin this conduct...
...Such an alliance might prove to be the beginning of a league of nations standing for international rights and would at least offer a method of approach less likely to involve any one nation in war...
...Fortunately the school men have not been swept from their moorings by the modern cry of practicality...
...Some of them even cry the German word for "Health" when they bear mc...
...Few people suspect inc...
...Ho that ice still serve Mammon's ends, Grant us that we...
...In individual instances, like Lane Technical High School in Chicago, an unusually happy combination of co'urscs has been worked out, and offers, by its actual results, concrete refutation to the scoffer who sneers at what he terms the present faddistic tendency in education...
...but so far as reform has come to mean a tendency to political or economic reorganization, it has to face the opposition of the bulk of American legal verion...
...The so-called high-brow is more tolerant of the affairs of every day...
...Guard thou our masters still—but send Us, raging, slaying, to the field...
...and they are by way of believing that government by anybody but lawyers is really unsafe...
...It covers selection, design and construction...
...While we dispute their right to conduct the war as they have, and earnestly protest against the violation of our rights and the sacrifice of our interests, we must not forget that the injuries which we suffer from both sides are incidental to their effort to injure each other and are in no case intended against us...
...I,'p to the...
...and they naturally believe somewhat obsequiously In a system for which they arc responsible, and from which they benefit...
...If the militarists and the munition makers should succeed in getting possession of our schools it would not be long before such meetings as the one we were holding might be forbidden...
...Fourth, we can withdraw protection from American citizens who are willing to jeopardize the nation's peace by traveling as seamen with contraband on American or neutral vessels...
...Whenever any progressive statute has not been in accord^ with tho economic views entertained by the courts, they have generally exercised their,power to declare such statute unconstitutional because it was not 'due process of law.' " Justice Clark said that if the Constitution really had given judges the right to set aside a statute, it would have given the legislative branch the same power in the case of an executive veto...
...Sargent of Harvard University, one of the most widely recognized authorities on the subject, is positive and emphatic,—that military training is among the poorest methods for the development of youth...
...When, along with Blackstone, every student will be given an insight into economies and sociology, agriculture, and ethics...
...This wonderful letter from the great Commoner should meet with the same response as though addressed to each one of us personally...
...But it can at least be maintained that, assuming some radical reorganization to be necessary, the existing prejudices, interests, and mental outlook of the American lawyer disqualify him for the task...
...But keep us ever thankful for The chance we have to earn our pay...
...while it is estimated that at Verdun as much dirt has been dug for trenches as was handled in the building of the Panama Canal...
Vol. 9 • February 1917 • No. 2
