-, / - 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 OF 
 
 PROF. FRED L. CHARLES 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 AND 
 
 RESOLUTIONS 
 
 ADOPTED BY THE 
 
 Military Tract Educational 
 Association 
 
 AT 
 
 NACONB, ILLINOIS, 
 October 20 to 23, 1910 
 
 XAL SURVEY
 
 COUNTRY LIFE AND COUNTRY 
 SCHOOLS AS FACTORS IN TRAIN- 
 ING FOR SERVICE. 
 
 (Abstract of a paper read before the Mili- 
 tary Tract Educational Association at 
 Macomb. Illinois, October 22, 1910.) 
 
 Man's domestication of himself began 
 many millenniums ago. It will continue 
 for a goodly season yet to come before the 
 "higher critics ' will declare him well brok- 
 en from his original untamed state. Arriv- 
 ing comparatively late in the evolutionary 
 procession, he has thus far been much oc- 
 cupied in orienting himself in the natural 
 world and has found little time as a race to 
 take himself in hand for intensive cultiva- 
 tion. Of late his progress has been rapid, 
 although an exaggerated perspective from 
 such close range may render us too com- 
 placent in our judgment of his present 
 status, in this long process, wherein he 
 who was somewhat less than human has 
 made himself something more than man, 
 unfortunate condition has arisen, doubt- 
 less inevitably. The movement was, of 
 course, away from the normal animal life, 
 in touch with earth and sky, toward the 
 manifold complexities and artificialities 
 which characterize our modern social struc- 
 ture. 
 
 Primitive man dealt with crude forces; 
 his battle was with the elements, he was 
 occupied with the fundamentals out of which 
 he had emerged. Modern man deals with 
 subtler forces; his struggle is to find his 
 place in a highly intricate system; he is 
 occupied with refinements of his own crea- 
 tion. His indomitable quest for the un- 
 known; his inventive genius; his success
 
 3 
 
 in solviiiK the riddles of natural law, and 
 particularly the achievements of 18th and 
 19th century science; the development of 
 industrialism and the congestion of popula- 
 tion into urban centers, — have impelled him 
 to a progress industrial, commercial, econ- 
 omic, a^ a rate too rapid for coincident bio- 
 logical adjustment. The result is that we 
 clothe unwisely in raiment wonderfully de- 
 vised from materials across the seas; we 
 feed not wisely but too well upon viands 
 wonderfully concocted from the offerings 
 of foreign lands; we shelter in air-tight 
 structures wherein the beasts of the field 
 would perish miserably either from quick 
 consumption or from slow asphyxiation; 
 and we huddle our habitations into closed 
 ranks with no regard for homeliness or 
 landscapes. We cover earth's carpet of liv- 
 ing green with one of brick, we live in a flat 
 and we order our lives by the screech oi the 
 factory whistie. To ■bring in wood" and 
 "fetch water" are pleasantries of our grand- 
 parents which we must translate to our 
 children. Ours is strictly a "press-the-but- 
 ton" age, an age of physical comforts which 
 exacts from us the atrophy of much whole- 
 some activity and of many a homely virtue. 
 All along the speedway of intellectual ad- 
 vance are evidences of the failure of phy- 
 sical adjustment, of bodily welfare, to keep 
 pace with the shifting conditions. From 
 that far away era when the biped position 
 was first assumed — a posture for which we 
 are yet unprepared and to which many of 
 our ills may be ascribed — down to the spec- 
 tacled age of fine print and badly lighted 
 page, of embalmed beef and nervous dys- 
 pepsia, of automobile squint and air sick- 
 ness, man has paid large forfeit for his 
 sovereignty. Biologically, we have in large 
 
 measure artificialized both ourselves and our 
 environment.
 
 God gave his creatures light and air 
 And water open to the skies; 
 Man locks him in his stitling lair 
 And wonders why his brother dies. 
 
 Much of our effort now must be corrective. 
 Science must turn back upon itself and 
 ameliorate the condition of its lord. 
 
 If we wouiU find the type of man who 
 best exemplifies the natural life, we must 
 seek him who in forest or field, in peaceful 
 valley or in mountain fastness, holding close 
 to elemental nature, pursuing his way un- 
 vexed by nervous mart or forum, still keeps 
 apace the march of progress. Of such was 
 western liberty born, and of these, today, 
 the husbandman is the most significant 
 figure. In the centuries to come he will 
 still be the mainstay of the nation. 
 
 He who lives in God's out of -doors has his 
 complete being — three-fold, if you wish to 
 call it such — under constant wholesome 
 stimulation. Every nation challenges his 
 interest, arouses his desire to know and to 
 achieve. He becomes self-relfant, depend- 
 ent first of all upon his own resources, re- 
 cognizing his own sense training and valu- 
 ing the evidence of his senses as the best 
 authority. The tiller of the soil Knocks at 
 Nature's door and she yields her secrets 
 and gives him generous admission to her 
 precious stores. He knows the seasons as 
 they come and go, and with native intui- 
 tion reads the signs. Every morning he 
 pioneers, entering the new day with the spir- 
 it of an explorer, meeting emergencies, mas- 
 tering situations, gaining dominion over the 
 earth and its creatures. His whole environ- 
 ment functions to make his life genuine and 
 sincere, and from this hardy contact with the 
 soil he is stamped as one of Nature's own. 
 The simplicity of the life he leads becomes 
 a portion of his nature and he is character- 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 — *»' --TA^ - — ■ -^ ~-'WM'^'m^t » -» .^ — -WM-^^^^''
 
 5 
 
 iBtically rugged, fearless, honest, candid, 
 free. 
 
 The country is the breeding ground of 
 great men in every walk of life. Is our 
 city man a blacksmith? Well for him that 
 as a boy he handled horses. Is he a plumb- 
 er or carpenter? Well for him that he grew 
 up under circumstances that called forth all 
 his ingenuity and skill, is he a merchant? 
 Luck for him that he knows the needs of 
 the out-of-town trade. Is he a banker? For- 
 tunate lor him that he comprehends so well 
 the economic principles that the nation's 
 welfare is rooted literally in the soil. 
 
 Under twentieth century conditions the 
 home has lost much, possibly most, of the 
 old time homely activities and fireside in- 
 dustries which contributed in large meas- 
 ure toward the solidarity of the family and 
 the development of fundamental virtues. 
 In urban centers particularly the influence 
 of a speciaiizea and centralized machinery 
 is everywhere manifest. The open country 
 has been anu ever will be the last to sur- 
 render the natural life and the play of 
 primitive instincts. Yet even here it is al- 
 ready necessary that the school shall sup- 
 plement or even supplant the home in many 
 lines that were formerly conceived to be 
 wholly domesixc in character. Now that 
 the pressing of buttons, the turning of 
 faucets, and the manipulation of valves suf- 
 fice to provide most of the comforts of life; 
 now that the laundry wagon, the tailor shop, 
 the vacuum cleaner and the grocery-mobile 
 have erased the working days from the old 
 fashioneJ home calendar, the school girl 
 returns from her books to take little part 
 in domestic affairs. In many, many dwel- 
 lings, today, even among the well-to-do, the 
 only rational self-care or home-care is that 
 which owes its origin to a humanized and
 
 6 
 
 humanizing school, where household science, 
 manual arts, nature-study, personal hygiene, 
 public health and sanitation combine with 
 the humanities to spiritualize the soul of a 
 girl. The country school must indeeu be an 
 integral part of country life, not an ex- 
 traneous agency. I would go so far as to 
 say that it must be indeed the truest and 
 fullest expression of the rural idea. 
 
 But before this can be achieved, the 
 farmer must learn the long, slow lesson of 
 co-operation. Every rural community must 
 be one united "boosting club," with the 
 school and church at its center. The ad- 
 vantages which I have pictured as belong- 
 ing to country life can hold no longer unless 
 the country man masters the co-operative 
 idea. We have much to learn in this matter 
 from little Denmark and others of our sister 
 nations across the sea. The farmer, too, 
 is far behind his city brother in learning 
 the value of united action. In production, 
 transportation and consumption, in irriga- 
 tion, cultivation and marketing, in soil rest- 
 ing, seed testing and cow testing, tarmers 
 must join hands to common eads. Con- 
 solidation of schools is but one phase of tne 
 great co-operative movement which must 
 soon come in all enlightened communities 
 where holdings are small. What city would 
 tolerate a professional man or tradesman 
 who for a liietime of residence in that city 
 deliberately, in practice and example, in- 
 jured the municipality and lowered the val- 
 ues of its real estate? Yet unnumbered ex- 
 amples may be quoted, country-wide, of 
 citizens in rural communities who, through 
 ignorance, tradition or avarice, have mined 
 the soil rather than farmed it, depreciated 
 values and left to lueir children and their 
 community the sorry remnant of a once fer- 
 tile estate. We may forecast the time 
 when such practices will be regarded as 
 
 g%-- ■ * • T J - ^ ' A^ "
 
 intolerable or even criminal, and when such 
 abuse of fertility will be regarded as on a 
 plane with arson and related forms of wilful 
 destruction of property. When the co-opera- 
 tive era of wnich I have spoken is at hand, 
 when country folk are impelled by motive 
 of mutual good and common welfare, then 
 will country life — the natural life— assume 
 significance as never before, as a world, 
 factor in training for service. And when this 
 time, so fast approaching, is really at hand, 
 perhaps, indeed, as harbinger of that day, 
 the country school will come into its own. 
 Its contribution to the community it serves, 
 and the community's contribution to it, will 
 surpass the present vision. 
 
 I am convinced that within a decade the 
 vitalized and redirected country school will 
 come to be in Illinois. With no neglect but 
 rather a strengthening of its humanities, it 
 will. In the course of its legitimate edu- 
 cational activities, make economic contri- 
 bution to the community far beyond what is 
 dreamed 0£ today. It will test the milk, 
 try-out the seed for vitality and purity and 
 for excellence oi strain, introduce new va- 
 rieties of cultivated plants, judge the stock, 
 teach rational methods of rearing, feeding 
 and housing farm animals, revolutionize 
 poultry keep, prune and spray the fruit 
 trees, disseminate knowledge of injurious in- 
 sects and fungi and make studies of their 
 life history and the means of combatting 
 them, create an irrepressible demand for 
 good roads, improve machinery, and the com- 
 forts and sanitation of the home, establish 
 higher ideals of landscape architecture, and 
 in many other ways build up values material 
 and spiritual and serve to tie the affections 
 of youth to the land. No other appeal will 
 so soon loosen the purse-strings of the farm- 
 ing community, open the way for consolida- 
 t-on, develop ■ long-awaited rural leadership,
 
 8 
 
 and bring the new century agriculture into 
 its own. Even now the country minister is 
 aroused to the needs of the times and one 
 of the moac efficient means he has found in 
 preparing for genuine service and uplift is 
 to take a practical course in farming. 
 
 I have spoken of the economic contribu- 
 tion of the country school to the communi- 
 ty whose creature it is, but the obligation 
 is mutual, and while the schools are training 
 for service, I insist that the community, not 
 as an abstract social mass, but as individu- 
 al servants of the common good, shall render 
 like contribution to the school. Each farm- 
 er, striving as he should in some particular 
 to excel his neighbors, is to invite teacher 
 and pupils to his farm to witness some 
 operation of which he is master and in which 
 intelligence is involved. If farmer A has 
 developed a meritorious ureed of corn, let 
 him Invite the school to accompany him into 
 the field belore harvest time to follow him 
 in the selection of his seed, and thus to learn 
 the lesson oi heredity and racial improve- 
 ment. If farmer B has enriched his soil 
 by the application of needed plant foods 
 and the growing of beneficial legumes, let 
 him — merely as a good citizen and not in a 
 spirit of price or of altruistic righteousness 
 — invite tue upper classes to visit his fields 
 and learn the lesson of a scientifically con- 
 trolled environment and the conserving of 
 resources for a people that yet may be 
 hungry. If the rural physician knows the 
 pool where malarial mosquitoes breed, let 
 him lead tue school on a tour of inspection; 
 then give demonstration of the means of 
 correcting the evil. If a youth has enjoyed 
 the advantages of a course in the College of 
 Agriculture, let him seek occasion to demon- 
 strate some worthy product of some sim- 
 ple operation of interest to the school. I 
 can conceive no higher type of extension
 
 teaching— no higher type of service— than 
 this very expression of the civic virtues 
 on the part of those who through superior 
 opportuniues are preparing to serve their 
 fellows of the rural community. If a young 
 woman has learned to cut and sew and mend, 
 if she has learned to select meat tor cook- 
 ing or to plan a wholesome meal, she has 
 a working capital which she may invest in 
 the rural school. The community indeed 
 bears obligation to the school. Parents, 
 graduates, directors, tradesmen, ministers! 
 professional men, each and all can and 
 should train themselves for service to the 
 school, and nowhere is the contribution more 
 needed than in the open country. 
 
 We cannot say that the movement is now 
 "back to the land," for the drift cityward 
 is still on, although it may be to some extent 
 subsiding. Improved conditions of living 
 are doubtless now operating to hold boys 
 and girls on the farm who formerly would 
 have yielded to the lure of the city. The 
 rural population, however, even in our own 
 state, is shrinking not only relatively but 
 absolutely, as the census just completed re- 
 affirms. Land values are now so high and 
 scientific method so essential to success that 
 the farmer who does not put brains into his 
 work is losing out while his neighbor who 
 looks upon farming as a profession is ab- 
 sorbing his land. Thus the farm estates of 
 Illinois are growing larger. The country 
 school which guides its children in a whole- 
 some attack upon environmental materials, 
 as these materials may be organized in the 
 form of problems suited to their years, will 
 contribute its full quota of leadership in 
 rural affairs and will be recognized as the 
 foremost factor in training for service. The 
 tremendous enthusiasm exhibited by cities 
 in building up their population, the inordi- 
 nate pride in swollen census returns, will
 
 10 
 
 some time oe deplored, and there will devel- 
 op a saner appreciation of those common 
 blessings which are afforded by the open 
 coimtry and which cannot be found in con- 
 gested centers. 
 
 I have referred to man as an unfinished 
 evolutionary product — a masterpiece still in 
 the making — and in that making subjected 
 in part to unfavorable conditions of his own 
 determination. Probably the highest type 
 of living, of naturalness and freedom is ex- 
 emplified by an enlightened country folk. 
 The present status of our rural people con- 
 stitutes the burden of the thought and en- 
 deavor of great students and leaders of 
 our national progress. There is no training 
 ground for service superior to those voca- 
 tional activities which characterize the agri- 
 cultural life. In this training the rural 
 school must be the foremost agent. In a 
 day now dawning the school will broaden 
 to serve tne universal ends that lie before 
 it, to play its part not along in theory, in 
 Qiscipline, and in what we have been wont 
 to call the higher things of life, but in all 
 the affairs of men. To achieve this end a 
 duty rests upon each and all of us, not only 
 as units but as integers. Whatever our 
 capacities, we must rally to the reinforce- 
 ment of that great training ground for 
 righteousness and efficient citizenship — the 
 American public school. ihe next great 
 step in advance is to be taken by the school 
 in the country. Let us apply ourselves unto 
 its proolems. i^ellow teachers of rural Illi- 
 nois, rejoice in the unequalled opportunity 
 for service that opens before you. Shape 
 your teaching to meet the needs both tem- 
 poral and spiritual of the peculiar communi- 
 ty you serve. The city lad answers the want- 
 ads of the tradesman; the country youth is 
 to answer the want-ads of nature. Stand with 
 him and for him, and for the country girl. 
 Study with ^hem, enter into their lives. 
 Give of yourself freely and the abundant 
 reward, of service freely given will be yours.
 
 11 
 
 RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED AT MACOMB, 
 ILLINOIS, OCTOBER 23, 1910. 
 
 With continued faith in the public schools 
 and firm belief that the development of a 
 great democracy is impossible without them, 
 the Military Tract Educational Association, 
 holding its third annual meeting in Ma- 
 comb, and representing teachers and friends 
 Oi education in western Illinois, makes the 
 following declaration of principles and aims: 
 
 1. We are conscious of the present ten- 
 dency to diversify and overburden courses 
 of study in the elementary grades, and be- 
 lieve that the complaint of many business 
 men that pupils from public schools are in- 
 accurate and careless is a criticism not 
 wholly unfounded. \Ve therefore recom- 
 mend to our membership that attention to 
 the essential subjects, and the continuous 
 drill necessary for accurate training be 
 not relaxed; it is our belief that no course 
 of study in any public school should be ex- 
 panded at the expense of the essential and 
 practical parts of the common English 
 studies. But 
 
 2. We believe that the expansion of the 
 common school to meet the needs of a grow- 
 ing civilization should be encouraged and 
 continued. The present movement toward 
 the consolidation of country district schools 
 and the establishment of townsui.i high 
 schools is an evidence of progress. We re- 
 gret that this form of progress is more 
 in evidence in many other states than 't is 
 in Illinois. We therefore urge upon our 
 constituency the importance to the Mili- 
 tary Tract of a fair distribution of opportu- 
 nities for secondary education. There is 
 absoluiely no reason why the child in the
 
 12 
 
 country should not receive the benefits of 
 school education to an extent fully equiva- 
 lent to the education furnished in the towns. 
 
 3. The character and efficiency of the 
 schools aepend upon the ability of the 
 teaching body. To the end that the business 
 of teaching shall attract men and women 
 of higher intellectual attainments, more 
 thorough training, and higher ideals, we 
 urge upon the next General Assembly to 
 consider and act upon the recommendations 
 of the Illinois Educational Commission in 
 the matters of the preparation and certifi- 
 cation of teachers, and a provision for the 
 more equitable support of teachers' insti- 
 tutes and improved rules for conducting 
 the same. We furthermore respeoctuUy 
 represent to the public, and to the Lieneral 
 Assembly representing the people, that the 
 compensation of teachers should be more 
 nearly equal lo that paid in other pursuits 
 requiring a like degree of preparation and 
 intelligence; we request the next General 
 Assembly to consider the recommendations 
 of the Illinois Educational Commission with 
 reference to a minimum salary law for 
 teachers. We favor the extension of agri- 
 cultural and other forms of industrial edu- 
 cation, and especially commend the oppor- 
 tunities in these lines offered by our West- 
 ern Illinois State Normal School at Ma- 
 comb. 
 
 4. We are proud of the splendid mate- 
 rial provision made by the State at Macomb 
 for the training of teachers, and believe 
 that the work of the school is up to the high 
 standard established for Illinois by the old- 
 er Normal Schools. We especially appreci- 
 ate the evident desire of the management 
 of the school to keep informed of and in 
 touch with the actual conditions and needs 
 of all types of schools in the Military Tract,
 
 13 
 
 and to spare no effort to be of the greatest 
 possible service to them. 
 
 5. Believing that the formation of char- 
 acter is the ultimate reason for the expen- 
 diture of millions for the maintenance of 
 schools, we adopt, as our own. the declara- 
 tion of the National Education Association 
 at Boston, 1910, that "The fundamental con- 
 sideration in any system of schools is the 
 development of inflexible integrity and 
 strong moral character in those receiving 
 instruction. The republic cannot survive 
 without a citizenship of high ideals, patriot- 
 ism, duty, and service. This Association, 
 thereiore, commends most heartily the 
 growing interest in the moral development 
 of the children of the nation." 
 
 6. The successful efforts to set up a stan 
 dard of efficiency in the country schools, the 
 skillful guidance of the studies and deliber- 
 ations of the Illinois Educational Commis- 
 sion, the wide dissemination, through the 
 Educational Press Bulletin, of information 
 to the public, and practical advice to school 
 officials and teachers, and, in general, the 
 broad-minded initiative, energy, and com- 
 mon sense of Francis G. Blair, Superin- 
 tendent of Public Instruction, have earned 
 the respect, while his genial candor and sin- 
 cerity have won the affection of his co-la- 
 borers in education in every part of our 
 State. His re-nomination, without opposi- 
 tion, was a credit to his party, and his re- 
 election will be in the interest of a contin- 
 ued advance in public school education in 
 Illinois. 
 
 WHEREAS, The more progressive uni- 
 versities in this country have established 
 or are establishing Schools of Education or 
 Teachers' Colleges, which shall adequately 
 represent in the university organization the 
 needs and ideals of the teaching profession;
 
 14 
 
 WHERji.AS, The present facilities at the 
 University of Illinois for the training of 
 high school and college teachers, for the 
 advanced training of special teachers of the 
 industrial arts, and for the training of su- 
 pervisory and administrative officers are in- 
 adequate to the demands that the schools 
 of the State are making upon the University 
 for trained workers in these fields; 
 
 RESOLVED, That we do hereby request 
 the Trustees of the University of Illinois to 
 give to the School of Education of that Uni- 
 versity all the support that is needed for its 
 development to the point where it may ade- 
 quately serve the needs of the State; and be 
 it further 
 
 RESOLVED, That we petition the Gen- 
 eral Assemoly of the State of Illinois at its 
 coming session to appropriate a sum suffi- 
 cient for the erection and equipment of a 
 building for the School of Education at the 
 University of Illinois; and be it further 
 
 RESOLVED, That the secretary of this 
 Association be instructed to send a copy of 
 these resolutions, in the form of a petition, 
 to the Governor of the State, and to the 
 President of the Board of Trustees of the 
 University, and to both houses of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly; and that the President of 
 the Association be instructed to appoint a 
 committee of five from this Association to 
 cooperate with similar committees from 
 other associations, in order to promote this 
 course. 
 
 WHEREAS, There are now bills before 
 Congress, with a favorable recommendation 
 from the respective committees, both in the 
 senate and the house, (Senate Bill No. 530, 
 House Bill No. 24316) proposing to extend 
 to the District of Columbia the benefits of 
 the so-cailed Morrill Acts for the promotion 
 of education in agriculture and the mechan-
 
 t 
 
 15 
 
 ic arts, and to c*ssign the respective funds to 
 a private institution; and 
 
 WHEREAS, This Association is in full 
 accord with the National Education Associa- 
 tion in the Ociief stated in its latest declar- 
 ation at Boston, that "Any appropriation 
 from the federal or state treasury in sup- 
 port of private educational institutions is in 
 direct contravention of the fundamental 
 principles upon which our ultimate Ameri- 
 can public school education has been found- 
 ed and has prospered; therefore be it 
 
 RESOLVED. That the members of this 
 Association would regard the passage of 
 such a bill as a menace to the educational 
 interests of the United States, and that the 
 senators and representatives from this State 
 are hereby requested to oppose the passage 
 of said bill, and that the secretary of this 
 Association is directed to send a copy df 
 this resolution to each member of Congress 
 from this State, and further, that the secre- 
 tary of this Association is directed to send 
 a petition, signed by the officers of this 
 Association, against the passage of either 
 of these bills to the Speaker of the House 
 of Representatives, and to the President of 
 the Senate. 
 
 (Signed.) 
 
 ALFRED BAYLISS. 
 CORA F. STONE, 
 CHAS. E. JOINER, 
 Committee on Resolutions.
 
 •pHE Secretary, after several attempts, be- 
 ing unable to procure the address of 
 Supt. B. B. Jackson, Holine, III, omits the 
 same.