obvious that his first duty is to hustle and to get results. I once heard a colored preacher in the South illustrate the spirit of the age in this wise: "Once we measured time by grandfather's clock, which said, 'Ever - forever, never forever '; nowadays we use a Waterbury, which says, 'Git thar - git thar.'" Our aim is to "git thar " -in our college sports, in professional life, in business; everywhere we count on winning, honestly, if possible; dishonestly, if necessary, and if the chances of getting found out are not too great.

Contrary to the findings of some critics, I believe that our schools are partly responsible for confirming us in our besetting sins not by what they teach, but in the prevailing methods of teaching. The fact is, we do look for results and are not over-particular how these results are obtained or whether they are just right or not. We are too easily satisfied with a plausible rendering of a foreign text; we are prone to measure proficiency by the amount of work done or the time spent in doing it, rather than by excellence of accomplishment or accuracy of method. We encourage guessing, and the prize too often goes to him who shows greatest skill in concealing his ignorance. In a word, we are too easily satisfied with appearances and attach too little weight to the moral effects of doing honest work.

There is another reason, as I have said, why we do not choose to follow European methods of education: We don't want to. We don't want to because we are not bound by social traditions. Our society is a social democracy. Our schools are designed to grant equal opportunity to all. In most other countries, England included, the school system is deliberately intended to keep some down

in the face of any citizen. It is the greatest experiment the world has ever seen, and while there are many who would gladly see it fail, it is our bounden duty to make it succeed. It would be presumptuous to say, after only one century of trial, that success is already assured. This is only the beginning. We are just coming to realize some of our blessings, as we see more clearly for the first time some of our dangers.

Education for the coming generation. How can a nation endure that deliberately seeks to rouse ambitions and aspirations in the oncoming generations which in the nature of events cannot possibly be fulfilled? If the chief object of government be to promote civil order and social stability, how can we justify our practice in schooling the masses in precisely the same manner as we do those who are to be our leaders? Is human nature so constituted that those who fail will readily acquiesce in the success of their rivals, especially if that success be the result of cuteness," rather than honest effort? Is it any wonder that we are beset with labor troubles? We are, indeed, optimists if we see no cause for alarm in our present social conditions; and we are worse than fools if we content ourselves with a superficial treatment of the ills that afflict us. Legislation may do much to help us out of trouble, but it is only education of the right sort that can permanently keep us from ruin. There never has been a time when we were more in need of sound education, and in the struggle for existence that is yet to come we shall need a better education than we conceive of to-day.

An educational creed. There is one educational principle that is peculiarly American. It is that every man, because he is a man and an American citizen, should be liberally educated so far as circumstances will permit. A man, according to our Magna Charta, is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The first business of the schools is to make life worth living, liberty worth striving for, and the pursuit of happiness something for which no man need be ashamed. We need, in my opinion, one more article in our educational creed. It is this: In making a man, make him good for something. It is a practice easily recognizable in the history of our universities and professional schools.

Our future procedure. The next step is to see that the common man is equally well provided for. A beginning has been made in the enrichment of the course of study in our elementary and high schools, thus giving a choice of studies and better preparation for life if the pupil knows how to choose wisely; in the introduction of the natural sciences, manual training, and the domestic arts, thus giving some acquaintance with the industrial processes underlying our civilization if the subjects be well taught; and finally, in the differentiation of the school courses and school work whenever the future vocations of the pupils are definitely known, as in the negro schools of the South, the county agricultural schools of Wisconsin, and the trade schools of some of our eastern cities.

But all this is only a beginning. At best but little can be done before the age of fourteen, but that little can be of the right kind. In teaching arithmetic we can as well present problems of every-day significance as those which

upon some events which are not political; in science we can prepare for farming as well as for college; in manual training and the domestic arts we can do in the small what the race has done in the large in its efforts to provide food, clothing, and shelter, and to perfect means of communication and transportation. If nothing else is gained from the elementary school than a wholesome respect for man's industry, a good basis is afforded for participation in man's occupations.

The insurance of democracy. The serious preparation for practical life begins for the great majority of persons at the age of thirteen or fourteen, on leaving the elementary school. The most dangerous period in the life of a boy or girl lies just ahead - say up to the age of nineteen or twenty. This is the time when the average boy must learn to be self-supporting, and when the girl must fit herself for domestic duties. It is the time, too, when technical training counts for most. I contend that every American boy and girl is entitled to practical help in this time of greatest need and at public expense, too, if the state maintains high schools, universities, and professional schools for those who aspire to leadership in professional life. My reasons for this contention are these:

1. Anything that will contribute to the greater efficiency of the workman is a contribution not only to his own wellbeing but to the wealth of the nation.

2. Anything that will lead the workman to take more pride in his work tends to make him a better citizen and a more conservative member of society.

If it be possible to make each man, no matter what his social standing may be, an honest leader in his own field, a workman who is not ashamed of his handiwork, then we need fear no criticism of our colleagues across the sea, nor need we as an industrial people fear the competition in the world's markets. More than that, we need never lose faith in the righteousness of American ideals or dread the consequences of our social democracy. If there be those who say the task is impossible, I answer in the words of General Armstrong, when some one doubted the possibility.of negro education, "What are Christians for but to do the impossible?"