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 THE WORLD AN -^^'^^ 
 EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 WITH CENTRALIZED EDUCATION 
 AS THE CONTROLLING FORCE 
 
 A plea from the poor for 
 the same educational homie 
 environments as the rich 
 enjoy, and a plea from the 
 rich for better thought ^ 
 
 By, ADAMS DANFORTH RAUB 
 

 Copyright, 1910, 
 toy 
 Adams Danpokth Rattb 
 
 gCI..A256512 
 

 THE WORLD AN 
 EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 THE world wastes too much — more than half its 
 power, more than half its riches, more than half 
 the lives of its men. 
 The power created and lost without use far exceeds 
 that actually put to useful purpose. The energy pro- 
 duced — always at great cost — and frittered away with- 
 out productive employment would lighten the labor and 
 double the blessed results of all effort. The money 
 wasted by half the world would keep the other half from 
 want. The food destroyed by millionaires would sustain 
 the millions. The opportunities missed by the fortunate 
 would, if utilized, banish misfortune from the earth. 
 
 There is in the world more of power, of money, and 
 of food than the race requires. The stream of resource 
 coming to man is unfathomable. If wisely conserved 
 and thoughtfully directed, this stream would lose no feast 
 that body could consume or brain demand, not a penny 
 of cash that weahh could use, and not an atom of power 
 that possession demands or posterity could employ. The 
 millions who lack would want no more ; the work undone 
 would be accomplished; the promise of creation would 
 be fulfilled. 
 
 More than half the power locked in coal passes up 
 the chimney in useless smoke. More than half the energy 
 consigned to man is lost in experimental and undirected 
 effort. More than half the race, born to a heritage of 
 hope, dies in despair. 
 
 Why, if the world possesses all that is needed by the 
 race, is the race still vainly trying, still spending the years 
 in hopelessness, still sinking in the sea of failure? 
 
2 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 Because the wisdom of the world is even more 
 unequally distributed than is its power, wealth, or food; 
 because the millions are untaught, though able teachers 
 abound; because there is no bond linking the sons of 
 men together in one great family ; no wise strength, born 
 of unity, which, without impoverishing or crippling the 
 rich, the wise, and the fortunate, still aids the weaker 
 brothers by showing them how. 
 
 The race is doing less than it can because we do not 
 help each other ; because there is no unity binding us all 
 together; no common purpose by which the wise may 
 teach the unlettered. If there were, the potentialities of 
 man would not be wasted in smoke; the wealth of the 
 world would not lie half idle, half the subject of con- 
 tinual quarrel. And there zvould he no more zvar. 
 
 Many good men the world over are looking for some 
 practical plan to be adopted by civilization, by which to 
 produce a perfect and indestructible international union — 
 a world brotherhood. Let the reader bear with me to the 
 end of this article, and see if the idea and plan here sug- 
 gested do not solve the many problems. 
 
 According to statistics, about one-fifth of our popu- 
 lation is continually in school. This accounts for the 
 wonderful advancement of the last century. As chil- 
 dren, we are taught by father, mother, and the kinder- 
 garten ; and afterward by our secondary schools and 
 colleges. In this article I shall endeavor to prove that 
 it is a duty government owes to itself — and to the race — 
 to extend further educational facilities for the benefit of 
 the elders, those in middle life and in old age. 
 
 If this idea is an innovation, so were free schools"»at 
 the beginning. The wonderful printing-press and the 
 postal service have made this idea practical. I believe 
 it is wise to secure centralized education, which is rep- 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 3 
 
 resentative of the people; furthermore, this teaching 
 may be used as a governing force, thus adding greatly 
 to the value of the education itself. 
 
 To introduce this plan, v^e must lay the foundation 
 of a national press. Consider the grand results that 
 would be obtained : Each family in the republic would 
 receive the following five papers, edited by a combina- 
 tion of great talent in teaching, men capable of impart- 
 ing useful knowledge in their specialized branches for the 
 general profit and advancement of the people at large. 
 
 Paper First should be an agricultural journal, pub- 
 lished under the supervision of the Secretary of Agricul- 
 ture, at Washington, then reviewed and supplemented at 
 the experiment station in each state, to suit the climatic 
 conditions therein; thus would be perfected the industry 
 of some twenty millions of farmers who hold in their 
 hands our greatest national prosperity. 
 
 Paper Second should pertain to science and litera- 
 ture. It should contain articles on physics, chemistry, 
 geology, astronomy, electricity, etc., and should treat also 
 of inventions, mechanics, biography, and history; it 
 should contain comments on the books of the day, literary 
 articles, reviews; it should contain a department pertain- 
 ing to home life, the fine arts, music, painting, hygiene, 
 and domestic economy; it should contain miscellaneous 
 articles on party measures and political economy, giving 
 both sides of all public questions, so that each citizen 
 shall be able to cast his vote intelligently. 
 
 Paper Third should be a "youth's companion," sim- 
 ilar to a publication so designated which is edited in Bos- 
 ton, Mass. 
 
 Paper Fourth should have articles suitable to man's 
 spiritual nature, undenominational and presenting a pure 
 morality. 
 
4 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 Paper Fifth should be devoted to all questions of re- 
 form — the temperance question, municipal government, 
 the concentration of wealth, trusts and their effects, 
 crime and its prevention, etc. 
 
 The entire series of these five papers should be sent 
 under one cover to every family in the United States 
 each week. The estimated cost is seven cents for each 
 family. Such a series of papers, so produced and so cir- 
 culated, would be a fortress against the destruction of 
 government — a source of immeasurable united strength 
 for the nation. Its scope makes it a fountain of knowl- 
 edge, and the reliability of such a publication would 
 guarantee the acceptance of its conclusions. 
 
 Let us estimate a few of its uses. As a reform meas- 
 ure, it would enter all the homes of the now unconsidered 
 part of our population, giving them new views of life — 
 views good and pure, above reproach. 
 
 The very poor cannot afford to buy books, and pub- 
 lic libraries are confined to favored localities. This plan 
 excels, inasmuch as the series of papers, in itself a library 
 of universal knowledge, reaches every family and be- 
 comes its own property and subject to its own liberty — 
 a practical exponent of the acceptable doctrine of peace 
 on earth and good will toward men. 
 
 Government has yet many unsolved problems. One 
 of these is the race question. By this plan the colored 
 people would be reached in their own homes — whether 
 north or south — with educational facilities, assisting them 
 to become capable, respectable citizens of the republic; 
 it would make sectional strife and a future civil war im- 
 possible by giving the commonwealth a continuous, homo- 
 geneous education. Our national experience from 1861 
 to 1865, costing the North and South billions of dollars 
 and the destruction of property, added to the pain and 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 5 
 
 death which placed the nation in mourning, should be 
 remembered, and internal strife avoided. Financially 
 speaking, take the principal, the destruction of property, 
 the interest on the cost of the Civil War, and finally the 
 pensions, and we have a summary of nearly forty billion 
 dollars to date, with the interest perpetually compound- 
 ing. Wars and rumors of war should and could be made 
 ancient history. All power should belong to the people; 
 and I desire to suggest a centralized education as a gen- 
 eral controlling and governing force. 
 
 Let an educational department be formed at Wash- 
 ington. Then, let us say, thirty men, with the outgoing 
 President, should be selected by the President and ratified 
 by the Senate to serve as life editors, after the manner 
 of appointing the judges of the Supreme Court; thereby 
 men of the same world-wide reputation for profound 
 wisdom, great learning, and integrity of character would 
 be secured. Moreover, in addition to these, one editor 
 should be appointed by the Governor of each state and 
 ratified by the lower house of Congress to serve a limited 
 number of years. But no editor should be eligible to 
 appointment unless vouched for by a board selected by 
 our best colleges. The body of men so chosen would 
 form an editorial college at Washington. The plan be- 
 comes simple and economical, because on so large a scale. 
 
 The first papers should be issued to the District 
 of Columbia. Advance sheets should then be sent to the 
 capital of each state for supplementary printing and for 
 distribution to each family through the post-offices. The 
 college of editors should organize into committees, each 
 committee to have control of a special division of the 
 publication and be empowered to purchase manuscripts, 
 to employ specialists, and to take other necessary steps 
 to bring the paper to the highest possible degree of per- 
 
6 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 fection. The committees would have unlimited facilities 
 for public good. 
 
 This plan is representative of the people, and the 
 thought going out to the people will be unsubsidized and 
 truthful. If desired, each side of public questions could 
 be considered in a public discussion, in contributed arti- 
 cles, for the enlightenment of the voters. The conclu- 
 sions would be vastly more correct than with the present 
 plan, where party men take party papers which gratify 
 their prejudice or which have too much partisan enthu- 
 siasm to be reliable. Such a publication would rapidly 
 assimilate, educate, and give a correct influence to the 
 great numbers of immigrant home-seekers constantly 
 landing on our shores. 
 
 Should it be deemed wise by the people for the 
 government to pursue an expansion policy, in order to 
 aid commerce, to push Anglo-Saxon civilization, or for 
 any other reason, the plan here suggested would rapidly 
 assimilate the Hawaiians, the Porto Ricans, and the Fili- 
 pinos. If they are to be in any degree a part of the re- 
 public, they should — in justice to the rest of us, no less 
 than in fairness to themselves — be instructed on the best 
 thought of the citizens whom they are to join. They 
 should have lessons in self-restraint and in self-govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Such a plan might make inducements for the Cubans 
 to join our sisterhood of states. The larger and better 
 educated the nation, the better the publication. During 
 the Spanish war the writer felt that an alliance with some 
 other country would have been acceptable, fearing a 
 combination of nations against us in Europe. A woVld 
 emergency may yet come when such a movement will be 
 acceptable and prudent. Such an alliance could be made 
 by an exchange of writers in a formal manner ; it would 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 7 
 
 be purely an educational one, amounting to an appeal to 
 the people to create a sentiment, and therefore would not 
 be entangling. Such an alliance would be very effective 
 if made strong enough, and such a publication would be 
 a national mind wherein the opinion of the writers makes 
 the opinion of the people. 
 
 Much has been said of the wonderful stability and 
 power of centralized governments, it being recognized 
 that the only trouble in centralization is despotism by 
 armies through physical force. In this plan we have all 
 the power and stability without the danger. We, the 
 people, may have centralized educational influence for the 
 sake of self-knowledge, guidance, and unity that gives 
 us just what we need. We, as citizens of a republic, 
 would be bound together by blood, language, thought, 
 interest, commerce, and by an education invincible in the 
 blending, giving us increased intelligence. In this way 
 the United States would become an educational unit. 
 
 Hope suggests that we make our republic indestructi- 
 ble and make a home wherein the proverbial English 
 liberty may live forever. 
 
 Now comes the question : Can the world be made 
 an educational unit after the same plan? We answer 
 that it can. In view of the importance of such a move- 
 ment, we ask that a national assembly and press be 
 established in each country — in other words, a duplicate 
 of the department we have suggested as a promising 
 reform for this republic. 
 
 Then we shall ask for a more important assembly 
 than has yet been established in any nation. We would 
 call this greater assembly a World Congress. Its make- 
 up and selection should be from among the men forming 
 the various national assemblies. We would then have 
 an assembly or congress of the world's greatest talent, a 
 
8 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 court of arbitration for the world. These men would, 
 as a body, find educational employment for themselves 
 through each national assembly, to all the post-offices in 
 the world — ^thus reaching each family and each mind in 
 a manner that is simplicity itself. 
 
 A few years ago this scheme would have been im- 
 possible. The telegraph, the railroad system, the postal 
 service, and the printing-press had not then reached 
 perfection. Now, such a national press would hold the 
 people together with a unifying influence equal to that of 
 a commissary department in an army. Man is a creature 
 of education, and the mind grows hungry for mental food 
 just as does the body for its nourishment. 
 
 The ills of civilization are many. War is one that 
 from the dawn of philosophy has been regarded as a 
 waste of human energy, the curse of humanity, the 
 enemy of spiritual life, the bane of the dark ages, and 
 the scourge that breeds famine, pestilence, and death. 
 War means permission given by civilization to two minds 
 to hurl thousands or millions of human beings together 
 in armed conflict, sometimes even in dispute over a na- 
 tional line in a wilderness, as in the Boer war. Often 
 the question is one that a homogeneous education or a 
 higher civilization would have rendered unimportant. 
 
 Suppose that when the earth is fully civilized it con- 
 tains fifty nations, and two of them get into a dispute. 
 Such a congress as that here suggested has access to 
 every ear in the two contending nations, and can reason 
 as if face to face with them. Being composed of earth's 
 greatest talent, their arguments and pleadings should be 
 successful. But as a test of power, and in case of final 
 resort, the minds of the forty-eight nations are to be 
 heard from, whose duty is made plain to them by educa- 
 tion, and who would support a world's congress by their 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 9 
 
 combined power. We may conclude that a moral and 
 financial suicide would not be permitted by the people 
 of the two governments. The merit of the question in 
 dispute must find its way peaceably to this high court of 
 arbitration, dignified by all the nations for the purpose. 
 In ancient times people invoked the power of the gods. 
 Are not we justified in invoking the vastly more powerful 
 Spirit of the Age? 
 
 This would be the invocation : 
 
 "May the Spirit of the Age build for each nation a 
 national press, a perpetual clock of learning, the sweep 
 of whose combined pendulums reaches from the capital 
 of the earth's assembled wisdom to each home in the 
 world. May the armed camps of Europe be broken up, 
 and college life be substituted for soldier life ! May the 
 multiplied billions and billions of wealth now expended 
 in idleness, in armament, or in war, be expended in edu- 
 cational facilities for the children of men!" 
 
 A small fraction of the expenses of war would pay 
 the expenses of the national press. A publication such 
 as described substitutes itself for the dime novel, the lit- 
 erature of the anarchist, and other bad reading matter. 
 It reaches every corner in every dilapidated hut in the 
 world, and becomes an antiseptic against each vice or 
 combination of vices that fills our courts with criminals, 
 our poor houses, asylums, jails, and penitentiaries with 
 victims, and the ^world with weakened minds. At first, 
 it might be said, many of these publications would not 
 be read. This is true; but that very fact within itself is 
 the proof of an unhealthy condition. 
 
 A government does some things better than can indi- 
 viduals acting for selfish ends. An example of what 
 could not be done by individuals seeking their own gain is 
 the postal service. A world effort is required in some 
 
lo THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 things. Yellow fever, bubonic plague, and consumption 
 are examples. A world congress, representing all the 
 people of earth, would give a com.bination of power that 
 might in time eradicate the seed of every weed from the 
 face of the earth, and make our globe a new Garden of 
 Eden. There can be no limit in doing good or in eradi- 
 cating the bad in any field. 
 
 An alliance of the world's minds for the sake of 
 betterment would make life, liberty, and property safe 
 throughout the entire earth. Capital is quick to see 
 advantage, and Africa, Asia, and South America would 
 quickly be made the home of much permanent invest- 
 ment. These countries would be made to absorb hun- 
 dreds of thousands of miles of railroads for the incoming 
 millions, for the new civilization — just as a like phenom- 
 enon has been seen in the United States. This means 
 the greatest and the most permanent impetus ever given 
 to manufacturing industries on any continent. 
 
 Best of all, the universal civilization that an alliance 
 of intellect would develop, would be made indestructible. 
 Whence could come any element of danger that a well 
 united mankind could not wisely consider, and then con- 
 trol or remove? 
 
 Does it not seem a better order than the war and 
 the waste of the present arrangement? 
 
 We see in print that some of our greatest minds 
 are predicting the downfall of this republic, a republic 
 the greatest the world ever saw. There are numerous 
 grounds for such prophecy ; among them, our expansion 
 into alien races, and the corruption and bribery that have 
 become familiar to all who read. The prophets of 
 calamity point to the fact that centralized combinations 
 of capital make might; that the situation is the same as 
 in a powerful despotic nation; that when might makes 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT ii 
 
 right, justice weeps and is inconsolable. They point to 
 the fact that since the dawn of mankind nations have 
 come and gone — and this is true; that history repeats it- 
 self; that a time will come, as in the past, when the earth 
 will know us no more; that bribery is a sign of eternal 
 decay ; that ambitious men in all ages, together with vice, 
 are the direct cause of anarchy, bloodshed, and misery. 
 
 But with the plan here suggested we evolutionize ; 
 we run jealousy, selfishness, and war out of existence. 
 We act on the aggressive, and make the world a school 
 through a world congress and group of national assem- 
 blies — twin agents of wisdom to teach and guide us, two 
 divine shepherds of protection which allow neither man 
 nor nation to stray; persuading, not forcing, leading, not 
 driving, giving, and not taking — two combinations of 
 master minds to assist each home and individual to the 
 utmost, whereby each personal advancement is limited 
 only by its own effort and capacity. 
 
 This plan is not difficult to accomplish. It needs 
 only an educational division in all governments that will 
 unite and, when united, be like the arm and hand of the 
 Almighty, reaching down through clouds and lifting 
 civilization to higher and higher levels. 
 
 Master minds throughout the world desire employ- 
 ment and honor. Simply a little legislation ends the task. 
 Right here in the United States are millions of minds 
 hungry for mental food. Right here in the United States 
 are men who can supply the demand. In a matter so 
 easily accomplished, why procrastinate? Let us, of this 
 Anglo-Saxon republic, be the first to try this experiment, 
 this organization of educated government, this effort to 
 consecrate home life, to the end that all things evil and 
 wicked may perish and that all things noble and good 
 may take root and grow and remain imperishable; and 
 
12 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 to the end that each fireside shall find contentment, shall 
 be made attractive, instructive, and happy. Then, if 
 other nations shall follow our example, a higher, nobler, 
 grander civilization awaits us, whose force must cover 
 the entire earth, stimulating and educating each atom 
 of mankind toward moral, mental, and financial better- 
 ment. We claim that if dollars and cents can be organ- 
 ized so as not to fight each other, and if the organization 
 can be made economical and otherwise beneficial, so can 
 the moral and mental interests of all men be organized 
 for mutual gain. 
 
 An educational division of all the nations, even 
 when united, changes the structure of no government, 
 except by inner evolution. But this reform means more 
 than an outward and visible change could imply. It 
 means that the entire manhood and womanhood of the 
 human race, acting under modern and reasonable 
 methods, can be controlled as a body and at the same 
 time uplifted to the highest plane of utility; that the 
 wisdom and strength of the earth will concentrate upon 
 each mind and make each nation a college. The world 
 is a larger college, containing as many rooms and places 
 of active improvement as there are human beings in ex- 
 istence. 
 
 The success of this movement, by its ability to ex- 
 tinguish war and gradually to eliminate crime, would 
 realize the perfection of economy. It would in many 
 other obvious ways bring an increased ratio of material 
 betterment; therefore, the movement would cost no 
 sacrifice. 
 
 Civilization so constructed would meet the approval 
 of Omnipotence, for perfect environment would con- 
 stantly surround our children, ennoble them, and keep 
 them in the midst of peace, thrift, and wisdom forever. 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 13 
 
 All nations ask for a unity as against a world inter- 
 nal menace. This plan secures such a unity outside of 
 diplomacy, a unity that forever perfects itself by assist- 
 ing and directing experimental effort as a whole, and, 
 in the nature of things, compelling, through conscience, 
 exact justice to all. 
 
 Much depends upon the United States. We, as a 
 republic, are untrammeled, and are said to be the hope 
 of the world. If so, shall we not, as a nation, set an 
 example, and, as a nation, start a practical movement 
 in national unity and in world unity that will, in a coming 
 time, bring the whole world under one great beneficent 
 and perfect educational influence, to the end that the 
 limitless good of the earth may rest in blessing on all the 
 children of men ? 
 
 In the past a condition mostly the reverse of unity 
 has obtained; history shows that in all times and in all 
 ages the bane of humanity has been the betrayal and per- 
 version of power. Therefore a world's congress of edu- 
 cators and a centralization of thought is needed in behalf 
 of human liberty, human rights, and the safety of nations. 
 Furthermore, such a congress would guarantee absolute 
 fairness in commerce and trade, and not only this, but 
 it would determine and dictate the character and expres- 
 sion of the thought that would go to each mind. Each 
 nation being represented in this convention by its great- 
 est wisdom, such a body of men would represent the 
 world's judgment, and their power over the world's mind 
 would make a perfect world unity. How to accomplish 
 such a unity is the question of the day. 
 
 In order to make progress in this article, let us pre- 
 sume each nation willing to furnish the means to trans- 
 mit such wisdom and learning to the people ; then would 
 come the question of organization and how best to secure 
 
14 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 the character and purity of such a congress in its first 
 conception. The responsibiHty would be on modern 
 civiHzation, after which we could point to a precedent. 
 The United States, in her organization, made it incum- 
 bent for each state to enter her union by request and 
 permission. In this new educational organization the 
 backward and half-civilized nations could be admitted 
 to a congress of instructive nationhood just as our west- 
 ern states have become an active part of our civil union. 
 If compulsory education is right in principle for the 
 preservation of a state or nation, why not at a proper 
 time multiply its scope in favor of such an international 
 educational unity because of the stability it would insure, 
 and make such civilization world-wide? We, however, 
 point to the fact that such a congress would be in control 
 of civilization, and its members, being themselves educa- 
 tors, would necessarily be aggressive; they would extend 
 their own influence. 
 
 All questions in betterment are important, but of 
 multiplied importance is the problem of a world unity. 
 At The Hague Convention, called at the instigation of 
 Russia, all nations expressed themselves as extremely 
 desirous of such a unity. If all are desirous, what na- 
 tion could object to a world unity founded absolutely 
 upon individual betterment? The daily converse with 
 the world's greatest intelligence would bring to each 
 citizen a permanent betterment in every conceivable 
 direction, therefore a betterment immeasurable. All peo- 
 ple desire to be advanced along the line of their own and 
 universal betterment. There can be no other plan, fo^ 
 some lines of improvement are world-wide in their na- 
 ture and require so extended an influence that nothing 
 short of a universal organization is adequate. To illus- 
 trate: The necessities of posterity require the world's 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 15 
 
 forethought — our descendants deserve a more econom- 
 ical use of the coal beds or a satisfactory substitute for 
 this fuel; their necessities demand the preservation of 
 forests, the maintenance of soil fertility, the benefits of 
 useful forms of animal life liable to become extinct 
 through immoderate waste. Plant life should be de- 
 veloped to its utmost limit; bird life protected, which in 
 return protects plant life; the oppression of the Jews and 
 the persecution of the Armenians should cease; justice 
 the world over should prevail ; millions of people in con- 
 gested centers, rearing childen and starving, should be 
 persuaded to transplant themselves to some of the many 
 fertile wildernesses, thus developing untouched resources 
 and producing added prosperity and employment. The 
 correction of common abuses is a part of our duty to 
 posterity. The necessities of the human race do not call 
 for more resources, but for a wise, instructive, directing 
 head, a world's congress of greatest wisdom. 
 
 As this is a practical age, let us analyze the expense. 
 Seven cents per week means one cent per day for each 
 family, the average family consisting of five persons. 
 At twenty cents per hour it takes each member of the 
 family thirty-six seconds a day to pay tribute. But there 
 comes a rebate in the shape of improved sanitary con- 
 ditions, resulting in prolonged life in which to earn the 
 tribute. The greatness and the power of organization is 
 wonderful. For its perfection we point to Germany and 
 France, who, when in danger, it is said, can move their 
 entire useful manhood in thirty or sixty days to a given 
 point ; then we ask that you compare the expense and the 
 result of the organizations. We repeat, an example of 
 worse than wasted energy was our Civil War, aggravated 
 by causes that never should have existed. Shall we not 
 ask ourselves the question : Are we, the human race, 
 
i6 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 doing the best we can? We know all governments are 
 made with human hands; observation discovers their 
 want of perfection, and The Hague Convention expressed 
 a need of a closer union between nations. Then why 
 not adopt a combined instructive nationhood ? We claim 
 that the twentieth century is an age of progress, of com- 
 merce, of evolution, and of betterment. The general 
 assertion that history repeats itself means fatalism. 
 
 Civilizations have come, flourished and gone, but 
 in unity they were not organized nor founded upon 
 individual betterment. Had we such an organization, a 
 single wise, great, and beneficial thought might reach all 
 minds and change the world. It would have a channel 
 through which to bring itself to the attention of every 
 human being with the insistence of authority. Then, in 
 view of accomplishing the long-wished-for world unity — 
 an everlasting and indestructible unity — is it not reason- 
 able to ask each nation to serve its people by taking such 
 thoughts as are the product of its own greatest talent, 
 and with centralized environment making each home life 
 perfect? It is evident that if half the world can be so 
 controlled, eventually the other half will be brought to 
 the same condition. In organization we accumulate 
 power. For good and for evil, human mind-power is 
 mighty. This power must be found and left with the 
 people. After Omnipotence, earth's wisdom should con- 
 trol mankind. Under the plan we have presented, all 
 people would be as one family to be educated, and neces- 
 sarily costly, suicidal, ambitious dissensions would dis- 
 appear; moreover, livelihood would be more easily 
 obtained. Intellectually, in mind and thought, the human 
 race would become homogeneous and attain the greatest 
 excellence. Indeed, the measure of every known and in- 
 conceivable excellence that would be reached by posterity 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 17 
 
 under such advantages and inspiration could know no 
 iimit. 
 
 Believing that the United States, by her own ex- 
 ample, argument, and persuasion, could influence the 
 nations of the world to join hands with her in establish- 
 ing a world educational government, we submit our plan 
 of proceedings. While all nations within themselves are 
 organized as we see them, zve now point to the fact that 
 civilization itself as yet has not been organized; hence 
 this undertaking of a world necessity on lines educational. 
 
 To the coming friends of this movement, and to 
 those who fortunately control the greatest republic the 
 world ever saw, we venture to say, should the United 
 States adopt an educative department of government 
 suitable to this movement, all other nations in defense 
 of their own commerce and trade would be compelled to 
 establish the same. Why? The reason is this: Such 
 an educative movement upon our part would encourage 
 and stimulate the inventive genius of the American 
 people to an extent unparalleled. We are already, on 
 account of our multiplied advantages, absorbing the 
 world's trade. With such additional awakening, by so 
 assisting and intensifying the American genius, our man- 
 ufacturers could and would make still lower prices and 
 immeasurably greater inroads upon trade, thus com- 
 pelling, by greater intelligence, but in a legitimate and 
 natural competition, all other nations to better educate 
 their own people or retire from competition in business. 
 Thus the American people hold the key to the movement, 
 and, being their own masters, have the power to establish 
 a world condition of this kind. The primary question, 
 therefore, relates to the possibilities of establishing a suit- 
 able department in our country. The situation is this: 
 We have two dominant political parties, each seeking 
 
i8 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 every advantage in its own behalf. Should the party in 
 power neglect or refuse to grant this educative move- 
 ment, such a question would become a national issue. 
 The plan strengthens each mother's hands, and no father 
 would oppose the movement. The very essence of the 
 issue that would be forced into debate is this: Are 
 armies and armaments necessary to a civilization that 
 can be controlled through the mind? We repeat, the 
 world is bending under unnecessary expense. 
 
 Our demands are most reasonable; we simply ask 
 for an organization wherein earth's wisdom can con- 
 stantly address and educate power. We claim that if a 
 nation can be controlled and educated, and that if the 
 world can be controlled and at the same time educated, 
 it ought to be done, for multiplied billions in economy 
 would thus be secured each century. Be it remembered, 
 however, that the future of civilization is not a question 
 of finance, but of organized intelligence. To establish 
 the plan we propose is a matter of legislation that can 
 be quickly accomplished. Then, under the most enlight- 
 ened and useful system a world could know, were civil- 
 ization to develop ever so far, the centralized wisdom of 
 the nation and of the earth would forever be dominant, 
 and on account of the environment the system would 
 supply no part of civilization could ever again recede. 
 
 In view of the accomplishment of this movement, 
 we again point to the unbounded prestige of the United 
 States among all nations, and we desire this republic to 
 be both a leader and an educator — a leader by being an 
 object lesson, and an educator by means of precept and 
 argument; the latter through the centralized wisdom of 
 our nation as represented by a body of men who could 
 and would plead the cause of human rights to a slowly 
 improving race of people constantly and anxiously seek- 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 19 
 
 ing betterment. From this stand need we doubt that 
 God's beautiful, exhaustless earth must become a world 
 republic in representative and progressive thought, secur- 
 ing to each country and government an absolute national 
 unity, to all the nations combined an absolute world 
 unity, whose foundation stone is human development? 
 
 The population of the United States will soon be 
 one hundred millions of people, or, say, one-seventeenth 
 of the world's population. Our influence, so solidly 
 developed, so wisely and sincerely directed, would be 
 almost supreme. 
 
 At present the waste and unoccupied lands of the 
 earth could, if utilized, many thousand times pay the 
 world's indebtedness. The material interests of the 
 world are the same, and the world is already highly 
 enough civilized for our purpose, and were our govern- 
 ment so organized it would be enabled quickly to estab- 
 lish these views. If so organized, all humanity would be 
 allowed to witness an example of one hundred millions 
 of earth's wisest and greatest people speaking in one 
 mighty voice. For the world not to listen to a voice so 
 emphasized would be against its own interest. 
 
 Can this obscure article in some way make such an 
 idea and plan of educational government in the United 
 States a national issue, and thus lead up to the plan of 
 placing all peoples under one great and perfect educa- 
 tional voice and influence ? For certainly as this republic 
 goes on this question, so goes the world. 
 
 Were we asked to name our idea and plan, it might 
 be called national and ivorld educational paternalism. 
 All governments are paternal, or are supposed to be. 
 The three divisions in government we now have are 
 paternalism pure and simple. But it is an uncompleted 
 paternalism. We are living in and under an incomplete 
 
20 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 government. We ask that the divisions in government 
 shall be : Educative, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. 
 Is an educative division in government unreasonable 
 when established solely for the sake of mind government 
 or mental (representative, of course) control? This is 
 aside from the merit in the organization that may be 
 credited to scientific education. 
 
 If not considered unreasonable, but safe and 
 economical (as compared to physical force by armies), 
 then we shall eventually have a mind government by 
 persuasion and argument (to grow world-wide as physical 
 force is abhorrent), wherein scientific education within 
 itself is but a welcome addition. We shall indeed have 
 a double benefit. Let us suppose that an educative 
 division in government as described is made a national 
 issue. This issue, with a vote of approval, at once com- 
 mits this republic enthusiastically and aggressively to such 
 a movement. We, as a republic, arei now armed by act 
 of Congress with a printed voice reaching one-seven- 
 teenth of the world's population, and necessarily com- 
 manding the world's deepest attention, and advocating 
 home and fireside education by a world's congress. 
 
 In this plan we now claim to occupy an infallible 
 position ; a failure to establish a world unity from such 
 a standpoint would be impossible, as such agitation, 
 preaching, arguing and pleading with the nations of the 
 world by this, the greatest republic the world ever saw, 
 would so continue indefinitely, or until such power was 
 revoked and taken away by another act of Congress 
 (which would be never). 
 
 All people desire betterment, and all nations desire 
 to disarm, and the literature of both aspirations would 
 be loaded down and saturated with the world's greatest 
 and most useful thought, coming in the way of educa- 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 21 
 
 tional philanthropy to the rich and poor alike, and ob- 
 tainable at an expense many times less than the cost of 
 war. If the nations now accept this particular mode of 
 home and fireside education, its acceptance carries with 
 it a governing force by argument and by persuasion, and 
 controlled by a world's congress, outside and independent 
 of every nation, which destroys the fighting capacity in 
 every nation. This governing force could be strength- 
 ened by all the nations jointly arming such world's con- 
 gress with delegated ability like that of a Supreme Court 
 and with a power to silence any national assembly, it 
 being absolutely necessary to do this to collect a national 
 debt or to prevent war; and it is also understood that 
 such a world's congress should herself assume all the 
 educational duties of each national assembly and thus 
 cover every temporary emergency. 
 
 War can be prevented if such a mode of home and 
 fireside education can be added to our present institutions. 
 In this article we ask the United States to copy Russia 
 at The Hague Convention, to stand upon her own dignity 
 as a nation and proclaim by her own example leadership 
 within herself in such a movement for the world's better- 
 ment, cordially inviting each and every nation into such 
 educational copartnership, to share and share alike and 
 be good comrades to the end of time. 
 
 Comes now the question of immediate action, to 
 launch at once the national issue of an educative division 
 in government as described, a work whose accomplish- 
 ment is the key of the situation and necessarily the sum- 
 mit of our ambition. Our appeal must be answered by 
 the people of this republic. 
 
 Lately and for the year 1909 we as a republic appro- 
 priated some four hundred millions of money for the 
 army and navy and for pensions. At the same time all 
 
22 THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 
 
 Europe, when upon a war footing, aside from naval ex- 
 penses must feed, clothe, and pay some sixteen millions 
 of soldiers, besides the cost of the mechanical equip- 
 ment for the destruction of both life and property; and 
 all the capital for such an outlay is called defense money. 
 These are facts, and not theories, and this condition is 
 for future correction. Our plan reverses this situation 
 exactly. We claim that if every soldier and sailor on 
 both continents who is the recipient of a war pension 
 were transformed into a first class school teacher and 
 the resultant army of pedagogues were scattered over 
 the earth, our plan of enlightenment would still be the 
 better plan; our distribution of thought is more perfect, 
 and we concentrate man's wisdom. Could we have but 
 a part of the brutal expense of war and preparation for 
 war for education and publications, then ere long each 
 family and individual of the human race would find in 
 their own home the benefits of such a publication — a 
 literature the offspring and inspiration of earth's selected 
 and greatest talent, a publication at once a world unity 
 within itself. The blend of thought going to each mind 
 from such a Congress would necessarily establish a 
 mental copartnership of the human race with that Con- 
 gress ; each and every thought would be absorbed by the 
 public and mentally acted upon the same as the lessons 
 learned by a child. Then as it is undeniably true of 
 man that "as he thinketh in his heart, so is he," let us 
 again ask. How could war commence or exist without 
 the consent of such a congress? Certainly from past 
 experience and financially speaking an educative division 
 in government in each country is the most economical 
 step that could be taken. Educationally speaking, ideas 
 should have transportation. 
 
THE WORLD AN EDUCATIONAL UNIT 23 
 
 The operation of our plan may be illustrated by a 
 similar work in a local institution that is a type in minia- 
 ture of the great system we have in contemplation. 
 Purdue University Experiment Station, located in the 
 home city of the writer, could through its use of a sub- 
 sidized state publication with a department of agricul- 
 ture and reaching every farm home of Indiana, make 
 every farm in the state a branch experimental station, 
 and thus, through and by intense scientific farming, mul- 
 tiply Indiana's financial resources in this field to a figure 
 undreamed. Then bring to such a condition each state 
 and territory in the United States and eventually all the 
 nations of the world ! Remember, too, that such a con- 
 dition, with respect to agriculture, is but one circum- 
 stance to be considered in favor of a world educational 
 government or unity. In other words, such a unity as 
 is illustrated by Purdue University Experiment Station 
 would mean that this grand old world, bursting with 
 resources from its center to the sky for the use of man, 
 would be transformed into a great and mighty school 
 wherein the human race eventually, individually and in 
 mass, would improve in all directions, and this contin- 
 uously, swiftly, and with certainty. 
 
 In this plan each member of the human race has 
 virtually the balance of humanity in his employ seeking 
 development, and thus as the unity is thereby a world 
 educational government with its foundation on the bed 
 rock of individual betterment, it is necessarily indestruct- 
 ible. And as the many nations constituting what is called 
 civilization have no common purpose nor organization, 
 and badly need both, we herewith submit the foregoing 
 plan for a world educational structure and unity for con- 
 sideration, as a national and world issue. 
 
One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
 
A Plan to Conserve the World's 
 
 Resources and to Make 
 
 War Impossible 
 
 An Organization that Supplies 
 A World Necessity and 
 A National Want, 
 creating 
 A Perfected Home 
 
 The World's To-morrow 
 
LIBRARY OF 
 
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