AUGUST 1925
THE UNITED AMERICAN
the absence of the wife as a subterfuge for a divorce
action brought and the ground of desertion and the
absent wives are in many cases not informed that the
husband has obtained a divorce and that they have
fraudulently been deprived of their rights and their
American homes.
If this is true, certainly official Washington should
take action and prosecute every man guilty of such
un-American conduct. Or is this blot on American
honor also to go unchallenged by American public
opinion? Is the opinion growing rapidly abroad, that
an American can no longer be relied on, arid that the
present American is not living up to the earlier Ameri
can’s reputation for honor and integrity, truth and
veracity, manliness and morality, to be sustained by
indisputable evidence?
A thorough official investigation should be made
and the culprits of such dastardly conduct, if the
charges are proven against them, should be dealt with
in such a way that, officially at least, America’s honor
should stand vindicated.
IN SUPPORT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
rF HE SENTIMENT favoring public education in the
1 southern states is growing by leaps and bounds.
Child education, adult education, and college educa
tion of every sort, has become a real concern in the
south.
Strengthening the educational facilities in the
south by helping to check the flow of students to
northern colleges and universities, so that southern
culture may keep pace with southern industrial and
commercial progress was the earnest plea recently
made by Dr. H. W. Chase, president of the Uni
versity of North Carolina, while on a tour in the
northern states.
That such an adjustment can be made without any
narrowing effect upon the south was the belief
of this educator who seriously questioned the need
for so many young men and women coming north for
their education and then remaining for professional
careers when they would be of such great value in
their native sections. The logic of his argument may
be best obtained from the following excerpts of his
remarks:
There are few colleges in the north without southern men
and women, or those who have spent much time in the south,
on their faculties. These teachers would be especially well
fitted for positions in southern schools.
The south is presenting greater industrial problems today
than ever before. It has, of course, different commercial,
transportation and social conditions from the north. Conse
quently none are better suited to the work of development
than those who have lived in the south. I am not proposing
that discrimination be carried to the point of provincialism,
but it is true that others coming down to our states to take
important positions, no matter how well trained, need to go
through a period of adaptation before they are equipped to
carry on.
The important thing now is to keep up with the amazing
progress of the south in industry and commerce. Already
the thinking people in the south realize that our security lies
in public education. Schools have received increased state
and municipal support, and more of this is needed, in addi
tion to the spreading of a feeling of confidence in our own
institutions of learning. Because of added appropriations from
our own State, the attendance at the University of North
Carolina has doubled in the past six years.
The south, as history shows, has great resources. Within
Fage Eleven
its many fine old American families there is an intelligence and
sympathy that can be developed with great benefit if directed
toward the solution of the characteristic problems of the south.
But with the filling of our schools, the turning out of more
and more high school graduates, the increased prosperity of
the country providing for a higher education, the situation
is really very hopeful.
All that which Dr. Chase points to, is in the south.
Public education on a broader scale is going to make
the forces for good in our citizenship grow stronger
in the southern states, with every passing year.
Adult education has been carried into the colleges
in the south, where courses in elementary training,
political institutions and government, are given, par
ticularly in the summer months in the Lay-by seasons.
We wonder if it can truthfully be said of the people
in the north that they realize that our (America’s)
security lies in public education?
The present procedure of naturalization which
makes it possible that untrained and illiterate aliens can
obtain American citizenship, with all rights conferred
upon them, including the right to vote and mark the
American ballot, does not sustain this contention.
The American employer in the north who at present
is pushing and threatening his foreign-bom employes
With the loss of their jobs lest they hurry and get
their “papers,” who invariably helps to persuade the
judge to let a much inflated “good conduct” plea make
up for the applicant’s deficiency in the intelligence
that is necessary to sustain good citizenship, is guilty
of aiding and abetting the mutinous gang that is boring
from within in an effort to scuttle the good old ship
America. The job of the American employer should
be to see that every illiterate and untrained alien
employed attend the American night schools, regularly,
pursuing the study of America’s language, principles
and form of political government, for two to three
years, before there should be any question of naturali
zation.
A WORTHY EXAMPLE
ATA LITTLE station “out in the ‘sticks’ ” in Oregon
on a rainy and stormy evening an elderly lady
arrived and hired an old man with a little Ford of an
ancient vintage to take her to her destination, the farm
of a friend who lived several miles out in the hills
beyond. The roads were not paved and due to the
excessive rainfall they were in a rather bad condition.
“How much do I owe you ?” she asked, on arriving at
her destination. “Well, ma’am,” said the old man, “my
reg’lar price is a dollar, but seen’ as it’s sech a bad
night and the goin’ so terrible, I’ll call it 75 cents.”
By way of comparison we find a wholesome moral
in this little incident in which the old driver has unin
tentionally played a part and played it well. His way
of doing business carries with it a moral lesson to a
rather grasping and sordid age. The misfortune of
our fellowmen may not be any of our business but
if we could learn to adjust our demands accoidingly,
the stock in human brotherhood would soon be soaring.
The old driver suffered some discomfort and delay,
but so far as actual expense was concerned, the trip
probably cost him no more than if it had been under
more favorable circumstances. His lady passenger
certainly was not responsible for the roads or the