Saturday. December 14. 1912.
(15) 1293
"Feoples'slHigti Schools" Made Co-pperation Possible.
: GREAT SUCCESS OF AGRICULTURAL .CO-OPERATION IN DENMARK DUE , .
- ' . NOT ONLY TO A SPLENDID SYSTEM OF COMMON SCHOOLS AND COMPUL
SORY ATTENDANCE, BUT ALSO TO A UNIQUE SYSTEM OF HIGH SCHOOLS. .
". ' ' Jy "CLARENCE' FOE.' ' " ' '
: "WJiat's The Neivs?"
THE farmers rule the roost la Denmark, Mr.
I . Monrad said to me aa we talked together la
' X Copenhagen.- "It la ; not :a . lawyer-bossed
country such as you have la America where law
yers outnumber all other "classes in Congress, in.
V" ' , ...
Denmark, however,' is doubtless rendered thru its
"short courses"--eleven-day courses in such sub
jects as dairying, stock feeding, poultry raising,
special crops, etc. eighteen of these courses being
given, each, year, one beginning the first Tuesday
the Legislatures, and in-the party councils." Mr.' and another. beginning the third Tuesday, in nine
Monrad - had lived In America several years, and J months of the twelve. It was inspiring to see" the
grown, men and women who had come for these
courses, when I visited the school; - middle-aged
farmers, . smoking . their .crooked' pipes, .walked
- across the campus in company with their gray
Tialred wives who had come to find out how science
- could help them in their work.. "Frequently the
husband comes first and takes the agricultural
course," I was told, "and is so much pleased that
he has his wlfe come, or perhaps comes back with
- her. Or perhaps the-good woman is smarter than
her husband. In which case, she Is not rarely the
first one to find out the helpfulness Of the school."
Aged men and women, such as could seldom think
Matters of Current Interest
A
khewl what he was',talklng about. V: In our Rigs-,
dftffor ConeressV he continued.., "the farmer mem-
bers have, anbsoiute majorityJ' -i
-The explanation, of all these things is not far to.
seek. -If-threes thingsOwnership Education,' and
3CoDeration--explainthe Danish farmer's pros-
lv : --Derttv . two thmks---Edueation and Organization-.
will not do the trlck.v vYou'inlght organize 10,000
men in. your country tomorrow into an' army, but
If they had hot been, "educated" for their work
that is if they' bad not. been trained to shoot and
to rtnarcK :and to maneuver they would go to
pieces? in a minute before a thoroly organized and
N ARMISTICE has been signed by Turkey,
Bulgaria, Servia.and Montenegro, and bos-,
tilities have ceased for the time, with the -
armies still in the field. Greece refused to become .
a party to the armistice, but will take part In the
peace negotiations. There are many vexing-prob-r t
lems to settle problems involving the great Pow
era of .Europe, as well as the nations engaged In -r:
the war but it is believed that all danger of . a v . -general
embroilment of Europe has passed by and' ; .
that terms of peace will be-worked out without
serious difficulty. The big problem seems to be ; '
the disposal Albania, In which an independent '
government has been set up, and which Servia ;
hopes to annex. Brief as the war has been, it has
been fierce and destructive; cholera and: starva--tion
adding thousands of victims To those killed ;
In battle. " 5 , "
We, as a people, have no greater failing than
of such a. thing in America, renew their youth and
dlselpiined--4hat is to-say thoroly "educated"- t refresh their minds with new-found knowledge at our lack of respect for the laws we have ourselves
Gernian. battalions Jdo our iarmersr no maner uow xcxi.a,c x ucucc juu uavc uau uuc etuueut ix.u.c ouu w .nuim o iuu& iui uui. yiuiccuuu. .-,
well, organized, will fail,, in great measure unless seventy-two years old," Editor Christensen said ta It is safe to say that in no other civilized country,
thpv arp pdiioated unless they read and study and Mr. Nielsen, of Karehave, as we talked together. could be found a State whose Chief Executive :
" ' . . . - - : - . . . ill 'XT. ' m 1. n J V i. i. .XI. j. ,,, n T1 -1 nrvnl A n 1 n V. L i. iU. f - L. I
ilU, WO liCkVG UUUC UCIUBI LUiUl .U!tt, 1V1T. lMeieU 1UUIU upCUljr uCViaiO U1B UUUieiUyi IV I VjOUSII- ,
replied. "We have had one pupil enrolled who tution and the laws he had sworn to eniorce, as
wa,s seventy-six, and at one time we had two pu- did Governor Blease, of South Carolina, at 'the
pils past seventy years old!" Perhaps, just as Governor's Conference last-week. We are takings .
Denmark is said7to have "the microbe of co-oper- no part in factional politics in South Carolina or V
ation" it. also has some microbe that keeps men any other State; but as long as men elected to
always eager to learn more.. At any rate, when I high position flout the laws of the land, it 'is
called; by the American Embassy in Copenhagen idle to hope that the.youth of the country will
the day I sailed, to tell Dr. Egan good-bye, I found grow up into law-abiding citizens, or that the life
him assiduously engaged in a. French lesson
plan as. wisely as the- great body of the educated
.;t . -r and organized forces with which in a democracy,
- v '.' . they must always contend-. -
Th Sign and Password of Danish Success. . .
Let b& give iny; readers here the sign and pass-
word of the Danish farmer's success. found the
sign at the first farmers' school I visited in Den
markthe Karehave "Husmandskole," near King-
- sted. It is the emblem of this school to which -so
many farmers come for short, courses and. might and he Is sixty-four!
well ba the emoiem oi many a simnar iasututiuii -
in America an owl and a spade united the owl Counties Help Worthy Students,
'representing knowledge, the spade representing , . v ; dollas . mowVn. r was- informed, covers
labor., "It means .Wisdom. and Wom, thft cost, f hoard anrl tuition at TTarohavP hut thA
of men and the honor of women will be secure.
There is no greater menace to American liberty
than the mob spirit.
In the recent campaign Geo. W. Perkins con
tributed $262,500 to aid the nomination and elec-
("Visdom oz Arbeida'.' ) we were told, and gtndents who stay thru the entlrft 8essioIL usually . tion of Mr. Roosevelt r PrankA. Munsey, $22 9,-
our entire party agreed that it might well
be taken as the emblem of thetnew Den-S
mark. And it is, indeed, because the '
Danish farmer has combined Wisdom and
Work, "Learning . and Labor, Education
receive help from the county or the State. Sup
pose the; son of a "houseman,": or small farmer,
.wishes to take the agricultural course, but lacks
funds. If he is -worthy and promising, application;
i maio in tha rnnntv P.minnfl nr TtrvavA rf P.riTntr
- and, Energy it is for this reason that he Commigsioiiers wno. may agree to defray part of
rules, ms mngaom auu 1ViU his expenses, and the National Government thru
man: the fruit of. his labors. While pL , tne; Royai;Danish Agricultural Society may also
course, it is' to the, splendid' systemof , all such
compulsory public school education, that graIlts is tnat the individual must do all he can
we must look for the secret of the Danish for nimgel, and not lean on the Government in
farmer's intellectual progressiyeness the aw Ansft WhPr h t ahiA tn Rtnr, iinn. Mr
250; Dan R. Hanna, $177,000 and Wm. Fllnn,
$144,000. The largest -single contribution .to
Woodrow Wilson's fund was $10,000. Mr. Thomas
R. Ryan who has heretofore contributed so liber
ally to aid candidates who might do the bidding
of the trusts, found no favor with Mr. Wilson
despite the urging, of Col. Henry Watterson. -
- , - ' . "
The feature of the times now is the struggle
fpr official appointments. We have just heard of
one small town where there are twenty-seven ap
plicants for the postofflce, while another man has
Karehave School itself Is about as good an illustra- jManrad wag yery severe in his criticism of AmerL- ust moved in to establish his citizenship so as to
tion as ;one; coiild .wish, for .to emphasize the gen- caQ LegIslatUres, which tob often either neglect a become the twenty-eighthT It will be a bad day for
eral thirst for knowledge. "Husmandskole -It Is good cause entirely or wait until mi prea. the country and a bad day for the Democratic
called or "Housemen's School," housemen being RnrA kvrm,.ht tn hMr nm1 hAn vntTnnTiPv rprir- Party If its leaders get the idea that the election
the mnisn wor,a ior smait larmer. xxu uu uuu , j y without requiring the recipient to do his
eighteen is.; aam auu me nBuuu a part. "The plan is to help only . those who help
x
and men receive is agricultural; in Character, hlle,h-AV-it..hft.rt--WhAn t wna in Aairv - great reforms.
that for the gins ana women iooks jlo ueipius mem,
in , cooking housework, poultry ' keeping, garden
ing, etc, 5 AsV a matter of fact let me remark, by
the way,no Danish young .woman, no matter how
rich,. wouI(l think she was treating her husband
right if she took charge of a home . without know
ing how to coolc- and look after general house
keeping in " an intelligent manner: At the royal
court, Minister Egan. says, you may "sometime take
notice of the temporary absence of some beautiful
young woman whohas figured in social f unctions.
'And where Is your, daughter? I have not seen
" her lately," you may remark to her father. "Oh,
she is engaged to be married,". will be the' reply,
V "and has gone to such-and-such a place for a few
" months for training in housekeeping." - y
.. ' A Five-Monthsr Agricultural Course.
' . But this Is what Tom Sawyer would call a.
"diversion." r We were discusslngthe courses at
the Karehave Husmandskole -the . agricultural
course," which is chiefly' patronized by the men,
' from October to May I believe, and the domestic
was for the, purpose of giving certain men the
spoils of office and not of bringing about certain
work in America I often found a State Dairy Asso
ciation, for example, asking a State Legislature
for an outright gift of $2,000 a year.1 I always
said this principle was wrong. The Legislature ,
In such case might well offer to duplicate each
dollar the Association would raise itself, and the
association would then amount to something,
whereas, to support it entirely would be just as
ruinous as it is to support a boy without making
him work for himself." Karehave, for example,
gets some help from the State, but no coddling.
Its founder, Mr. Nielsen Klodskar, If I am cor
rectly, informed, received no aid 7 until he had
demonstrated what sort of school be could make.
Then the Government made him a loan, and it
now makes a small annual appropriationonly
$810, I believe; Just enough to make the differ
ence between profit and loss, with economy and
skilful management.
j
Greatest of All Are-"the People's High Schools."
But what Danish educators chiefly boast of is
science, department; which : is more popular from their.system of "people's high schools," attended
May to; October. One secret of the success of this by thousands and thousands of young men and
school is that-lts courses last only from five to women from eighteen to twenty-five years old.
eight months. In my opinion, it is a pity that our These schools differ a great deal from our Ameri
agrlcultural colleges in America do not provide can high schools, which, as 'a Dane said to me,
more such courses. . Whether it ought to be so or too often aim only at preparing a boy or girl for
hot, the fact remains that very, very few boys who college or the : university, whereas, the. Danish
'are going to be farmers will ever take a four-year popular or people's, high schools aim at prepar
course at an agricultural college, and a very ln- ing- for life,' Industry, and citizenship,
considerable number a two-year course. If soma So far as I know, there is nothing anywhere
sort of six-months' course could be worked out, else in the world quite like these "People's High
however, Bay from October 15 to April 15, I have 'Schools," and they deserve the careful study of
a conviction that it would eventually help thou- & our people who are interested In the improve-
wnds ana tnousanas oi i.armir,uu ment or country lire. , in DenmarK these people's propriatlpn bills. Notable recommendations In
present Circmstances -will never see inside a col- high schools are the true "social centers," which president Taft's message are for citizenship for
lege building., VV'''V" ; ;-. V''f: .should form the heart of every country neighbor- e Porto RIcans, a reorganization of the army
. Old Man Past Seventy Still Thirsty for Knowledge, hood, and they no doubt account largely both for the adoption of the Monetary Commission's
. (Continued on page! 2 7.) . plan of currency .reform.
A reader has written us for a verification of the
statement we recently quoted from Attorney-General
Dawson as to the results of prohibition in
Kansas. We have written him for a verification
of his statement, and will publish his reply. Mean
while, we may note that the latest returns from
the election In West Virginia indicate an even
greater dry majority than was first claimed. Only
two counties in the State went wet, while fifty-;
three gave a majority for State-wide prohibition. '
' - -
Representatives of about one hundred leading
furniture manufacturers in , the Southern, New ::
England, and Western States met in High Pointy -N.
C, lately, and agreed to advance - furniture .
prices ten ier cent. And yet the press report goes
on to say: "It was distinctly stated that nothing f
in the nature of a combine or trade agreement:
was formed." How to devise legislation that will
affect Informal conferences like this Is a big prob-
lem in the protecting of the people. ; " '
'-- , . .'-.'.'
The income tax law will probably be In effect
before many months. Thirty-four States have,
ratified the proposed amendment to the Constltu-'.
tion of the United States, and only four have re- .
jected It. The approval of , two more. States will v
make It effective. Another amendment providing -for
the direct election. of United States Senators
by. the people is also' being pressed at this time, -
and it Is thought likely that it will be in force by
the next Congressional election In 1914.
Congress Is again in session. Little Is expected '
to.be accomplished beyond the passing of the ap-
" . KarehaVe's . greatest- Be'rrfce , to. tho farmer";p ;;;,-;y..v vCContlnued on page
x . . .. -.. . . i. . ' -...-:.....'
p