Influences in Evolution of True Americans [excerpt]

LAST September I observed for half an hour the proceedings in the trial of Czolgosz, the murderer of President McKinley. I heard him say, in answer to the usual questions in regard to his age, occupation and education, that he had attended public and parochial schools. Taken in connection with his oft-repeated assertion that he considered it his duty to kill the President, this answer naturally made a deep impression upon at least one person who had given over twenty-five years of his life to the work of training the young. Believing as I have, that a public school is in itself a social community where the child learns, if he learns nothing else, the necessity for subordinating his individual will to the welfare of the whole, I wondered how it was possible for this man to grow up in this republic with such a defective mind and character.
     The terrible tragedy of last September ought to give new importance to the question whether we are doing all we can in the direction of moral training and preparation for life—whether we are doing all we can to make the young appreciate the necessity for government as a guaranty of law and order and liberty—whether we are imparting right ideals as well as information—whether we are giving as much thought to the work of inspiration as to the work of instruction.