's loyalty to his gang or his
nine, his love of his country, his respect for our flag, his devotion to
our heroes, in developing a sense of human brotherhood which alone can
prevent or delay in the next generation another such catastrophe as the
one we face to-day?"

Exclusion of the war from the schools is partly the outcome of the general
attitude of most of our schoolmen, who object to the teaching of a subject
as an incidental. Arithmetic must be studied for itself alone. To absorb
it as a by-product of shop-work, as is done in Gary, is inadmissible. But
it is also a result of the fear that teaching the war at all would
necessarily mean a partisan teaching of it--a conclusion which perhaps we
cannot condemn when we remember the partisan instruction in various other
subjects for which our schools are responsible.

Again, this exclusion is doubtless aided by the efforts of some pacifists,
who believe that, ostrich-like, we should hide our heads in the sand, to
avoid acknowledging the existence of something we do not like. "Why war?"
asks a recent pamphlet. Why, indeed? But we may ask in turn "Why fire?"
"Why flood?" I cannot answer these questions, but it would be foolish to
act as if the scourges did not exist. Nay, I hasten to insure myself
against them, though the possibility that they will injure me is remote.
This ultra-pacifist attitude has gone further than school education and is
trying to put the lid on community education also. Objection, for
instance, has been made to an exhibit of books, prints and posters about
the war, which was displayed in the St. Louis Public Library for nearly
two months. We intended to let it stand for about a week, but the public
would not allow this. The community insists on self-education even against
the will of its natural allies. The contention that we are cultivating the
innate blood-thirstiness of our public, I regard as absurd.

What can we do toward generating or taking advantage of other great
driving impulses toward community education? Must we wait for the horrors
of a great war to teach us geography, industrial chemistry and
international law? Is it necessary to burn down a house every time we want
to roast a pig? Certainly not. But just as one would not think of bringing
on any kind of a catastrophe in order to utilize its shock for educational
purposes, so also I doubt very much whether we need concern ourselves
about the initiation of any impulse toward popular edu