-- = OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM © Hon. 1)r. Cody Plans to Make the Public School Fit the Needs of the A --"(Csiadia Hone Journal The reasons which led Rev. Dr. hortation, or a helpful suggestion, let Cody to assume the office of Minister him rise up in meeting and give it to of Education, and'enter politics have us, and we shall welcome it.' The De- naturally been much discussed. Hon, ! partment of Education is not a Gov- Dr. Cody said in an interview with! ernment Department alone; it is the Thomas Bengough, in. the Canadian. Department of the whole people; it Home Journal: touches us all; and on the policy and "T feel that in these great days , management ot the Department, of everyone is called on -to serve his course, will tremendously depend the country t> the best of his "ability; not progress of our Prevince and of our only to do 'his bit,'---that may seem to Dominion. What is done in Ontario be the minimum amount that he can _ powerfully affects all the other pro- tem at.a critical point. I cantured to t the present curriculum gor be improved by- condensing, say, teaching of English into one wabiect thus intensifying and improving that study, and at the same time leaving room for more handwork. I then ask- @ "Dr. Cody: what plans "he "had pro- jected for the improvement of teach- ers, mest 'gl stirring up trustees and the publ "No ienocract is safe for the world," he replied, "until it is led by honest intelligence. Up and down the length and breadth of our country : believe we cannot have too much 0' ° WANT SCH SCHOOLS FOR DEFECTIVES "HOW ENGLAND | SAVES STEEL. Substitutes Cardboard For Tin-Plate in Making Containers. ae save steel for the manufacture! NIGHT SERVICE BEFORE ATTACK ,BRITISH WOMEN WORKING FOR THEIR ESTABLISHMENT. Between 37,000 and 40,000 Physically Defective Children in Need of Education. _the public explication and vindleation| British wqmen have not been con- of the great policies of the country, tent to wait for the day fhen they can do--but more than his bit, his very, vinces in Canada, So far as Canada utmost. Probably at no other time, 'at large is concerned, the public school and of the great problems that lie be-' exercise the franchise before dealing fore it. It is my hope to be able to go with the question of the education of through the Province, as Minister of mental and physical defective school Education, and meet the teachers no ada says a despatch from Lon- _to face, meet the trustees, and meet don 'under no other cireumstances, would | system may be said to have come from _the school constituency, and get into it have been possible for the Prime Minister to have invited me to under- take this work, or for me to attempt | to undertake it. But I am trying to, do this in all humility as a piece of | public service to my native Province , and this Dominion, which I so dearly | love. Believe me, I am undertaking | i this task not from any ambitious, motives, and I think I may honestly ;' add from any selfish consideration, | but solely and wholly to try to render | a service in this day and generation | to the cause of education in Canada." "But your entry into public life,; while still retaining your position as | rector of St Paul's church, puzzles, some people." "It is a\ somewhat unusual step, 1 know," replied Dr. Cody, "but under | "egal foundations of these Provinces! with things in the abstract." .this Province. Al! over our grow! ing as close touch as 1 can with the people and wonderfully buoyant provinces in' ,of the Province, and see the educa- the west you will find people who came ' tional problems from their point of from Ontario--most of them, it would! view, Perhaps I may be able to serve seem to me, either from Bruce or the Province far hetter in some 'such Huron county! The educational and! ,; way as that than merely by dealing were,-in many cases, laid by men from "In the matter of teaching," he old Ontario, so that what we do here is | added, "it is the personality, the vital- vital as affecting the whole Dominion. ; re power of the teacher, that counts. in the way of example." comparatively poor system will I remarked on the effects of the | work well if it is administered by a | war in reducing the number of young: great soul, while the best system will men who were training in science, | not do much good if a tiny-souled in- thus causing difficulty and delay in , dividual manages it. The teacher eveloping Canada's natural resources | bears the great burden of the physi- 'to meet our war debts; also the fact! cal, the intellectual, and in no smal that we would not be able to get from part the moral development of those the old lands the industrial designers , who will be the future citizens of our on whom we had largely depended in| city and Province and Dominion. But A special subcommittee of the Joint Parliamentary Advisory Council, com- posed of women social workers and members of Parliament, has just is- sued its report upon the existing per- missive educational provisiog made for these defective children. The report, while paying a high tri- bute to the goed work done voluntar- ily by the London County Cuncil_and other bodies, calls attention to the urgent need of making the acts of Parliament dealing with these chil- dren compulsory, and not permissive. According to authorities on child life there are to-day in the countr between 37,000 and 40,000 children who are crippled or otherwise physic- ally defective, the greater number of whom are being deprived of the edu- cation that they are entitled to re- » charge the double responsibility which ond one was what I might call contin- _, Mitions, and also the extra burden _ of which in tobe ad lipked to-auei wep our political constitution membership ; the past. in the Legislature is the only way; "We all feel," replied Dr. Cody, "and | through which one can exercise the we know, that we are living in a won-| executive power in connection with , derful country, that our Canadian the Department of Education. Ample' people are worthy of the most splen-' provision is being made for the carry- did opportunities that can be pre-, ing on of the work at St. Paul's, so sented to them, and that they can pro- that I can devote myself, as I intend, ; fit by every educational facility that is with fullest energy to the Department presented. It is my hope and wish of Education." - that our people should be trained to, "What is the chief feature of the! take the fullest advantage of those many-sided work of your Department | b We use the | that has most impressed you ?" I) phrase, 'Boys will be boys,' but it is| asked. well sometimes to repeat part of it in' "Three things stand out in great/a different i and conclude: 'Boys' t the prominence in my mind," replied the! will be men kind of men) Minister of Education; "first, the they will be depends entirely on the great importance of keeping public ; the turn given them while they are | opinion in our Province so strong on j DOYS sd education that great and progressive | "You spoke about the special value | measur*s may be projected and sus- | of boys of to-day; have you any spe-| tained, as was the case with the Fish-| cial plans for them, Doctor? er 'Bill in England; next, the great} "One point has greatly impressed | need of heartening and properly sup- , me in regard to our Ontario system," porting teachers of all grades with | 'Dr. Cody said. "You will remember | public sympathy and substantial re- | that Dr. Egerton Ryerson had two fac- cognition in money and influence; and | tors in mind in projecting the system; thirdly, the special value in Canada| the first -vas, to bring the opportuni- to-day of the growing boys, who must | ties for 'education within the reach of be-tr to be able to dis- child in the Province; the. sec- wined so as w upon them--that which theyjuity of advance. That is, the public hid have to bear under normal con-/ 5 was linked to the high is. ro trying todo part of the work that/to the university, The system was would have been done by the gallant. what might be called a chain with its fellows who will not come back to us| various links. Those two leading ideas in Caneda. Therefore all that we can| still remain in the system, and it is do for our boys of to-day-in the way | 'not claiming too much -to say that our of sound education is a patriotic ser-, system has been kept very fairly up to vice of the highest possible charact-" the needs of the times. But now we 'are in new times, and almost every. "y feel," said Dr. Cody, "that I system needs readjustment and needs have a 'brief' for teachers,' trustees,. lubricetion. Now, it strikes me that and all who wish to see educational our readjustment might be made on interests pushed forward; and I intend. this line--I am not speaking dogmati- personally to visit teachers, schools, ' ¢4l'y, and hope I shal! never so speak; and the general public, and not only bu: this is what occurs to me:-- learn what is going on. but do what I' Ninety per cent. of our children get can to,show my sympathy with every lmo further education than that given effor advance and improve educa-|in our public schools; only ten per tio this Prpvince. I do not pro- cent. of them go as far as the high osé to be merely an office man; I| in-! 'school. May it not be advisable, then, tend to let the officials of my Depart-|for us sometimes to view the public ment attend to the routine matters, | school not as a mere link in a chain while I keep in touch with those who, which is never completed, but as are doing the work of training, push- | rather a distinct and complete entity ing their local projects for the im-'--a thing by itself--at least as affect- provement of education, and paying ing the masses of chridren? Might the taxes for schools and educational / not that ninety per cent. who, "from property and appliances. We should. family necessity, must soon darn their kim to inform and arouse the people living, be trained in public schools as on educational matters so that when | though they would nevgr get a more the time scems ripe for any advanced complet 'education? The question then measures they can be properly pro-| would be how much education can we jected and successfully carried give in the public schools that will through " 'provide not only a general mental "No doubt you will find the people- tr aining., but some measure of voca- ready to hear you," I remarked, "for tional training and handwork, some. there is a great desire in many direc- | kind of vorationa! guidance into useful tions for information on various'and suitable occupations, as well as phases of education.' | the great inspirations of morality and res, no doubt. Already, though I! patriotism ? Perhaps we might do have not been in office three weeks I | well to make more of our public have received literally hundreds of dif- | school system, in the light of the ac- ferent suggestions for the- improve- tual fact that the public school, and ment of our educational system and it alone, reaches ninety per cent. of outlines of educational reconstruction. our total school population. The I venture to say that practically the | ideal, of course, would be to secure whole community is prepared to tell for as many as possible of this ninety the officials of the Department of Edu- | per cent.fa further period of training, cation how they ought to run the edu-| with a special view to their life work. cational machine of the Province," he | We must strive to make this ne ua added, with a smile. "But there is a! reality reason for that, and it is not a dis- I took the liberty of senting the treditable one. It is because educa-| Minister of Education, on behalf of Mon touches every one of us. Into al-|the public bodies of progressive citi- most every home the boy or the girl| zens with whom I kept in constant comes with a tale of weal or woe from!touch, such as the Manufacturers' school, so that education reaches and| Association, the Trades and Labor affects every nook and corner of our} Council, Boards of Trade, Rotary and country. It is therefore natural and/ Advertising Clubs, Neighborhood right that everybody should have an} Workers' Association, Home and opinion on what is of such vital -im-' School Council, ete., that such an in- portance, and should be moved to ex- tensifying and extension of the work | press that opinion." in public schools would be looked upon | "What will be your attitude toward|as a most important step in the right | criticisms and suggestions?" I asked.j;direction. It would prepare the great. "I am not d czar," replied the Min-! bulk of boys.and girls for their life- | ister; "I am not omniscient; and,";work; would interest them in further: (with a smile) "honestly, I don't think | study in part+time classes or technical | that the officials of the Department! schools: after they went to work; really believe that they are omnis-| would turn the thoughts of some in; cient, or do not wish to receive helpful | the di rection of scientific investiga-! 'so that our people will how can we expect a teacher to teach in any inspiring fashion if he or she ceive. The difficulty in providing schools lis in low spirits? There _ that will produce greater depression of spirits than financial worry and finan- | cial strain. We ought to raise public | opinion steadily in our whole Province be ready to | give larger sums, not so much for ' buildings, which are secondary, but ' for the living agents who teach their children." We discussed the position, through- out the whole of Canada to-day, of the question of Education, and I gave Dr. Cody various views as expressed to me, which made comparisons _ be- tween different systems and Provinces as to their ee On this point Dr. Cody sa "In oo' critical times our people must be made fit for the immense op- portunities and responsibilities which are now before -us, and new ones which will face us after the war-- 'those problems of reconstruction, 'ad- justment, development that will call for+all the skill and expert training we can command." He quoted Dr. John -R. Mott, who recently told an English audience, "I would rather be living to-day, or in' the next ten years, than at.any.pre-. vious period in the world's history." "The 'great thing for Canadians," added' Dr. Cody, "is to fit , enamabel ves for their great task." He hoped it might not be said of us, as was writ- ten of Henrietta Maria, the consort of 'Charles the First, 'She lived at a great time, but had no greatness of soul with which to meet it.' " se In the days after the war," he con- tinued, "the problems of education will still remain, and human nature-- the raw material on which we work-- will be much the same, though the conditions may differ, and the de- "mands may be somewhat changed in consequence. One thing, however, is sure: we all realize to-day, as we nev- er did before, the tremendous .power and value of. education. We have seen a false ideal taught to genera- tions of Germans in their public schools, their gymnasia, their real- schule, and in their universities; and we have seen the very soul of that nation poisoned. We have seen thé results of this pernicious teaching in the bestiality, the savagery, the ruth- lessness, of many a battle field, and of many a devastated realm. We know that it does matter what people are taught, and what they believe. What people really believe determines their conduct. More than that, we have learned by the war that it is possible to use education with tremendous ef- fect in developing and organizing commerce and industry. We have seen Germany, by her system of re- search fellowships, by her applica- tion of pure science to industry, to is nothing ;for these children has been largely owing to local financial conditions, in the case cf a scattered district with few defective children the question of the cost of transport has been a vita! one, while to run a special schooj for a few children would have increased considerably the local education taxa i n the case of children residing n districts adjacent to a_ special sclipal the difficulty has been over- come in a measure by providing a conveyance and paying a share of the costs of school mpirtenance, but these exceptions have beer rare. Residental Plan Favored An attempt is to be made to extend a clause of the present education bill to provide for openirg special resid- ntal schools for children who are wn- ble to obtain education otherwise. Sir Thomas Barlow, Physician Ex- traordinary to the King, favors this plan. He says: ne "The suggested amendment to the education bill, which aims at the com- pulsory supp!y of schools for physical- ly defective children, is base sound policy. Those who have care. fully traced oe working of each 'on two The first is that the physically NNefee'y tive children are often found to be ex- ceedingly quick at the 'uptake.' The second is that experience shows that with proper provision for fresh air, conveyance from home to schoo] and sme other amenities the health of these children can not only be con- rved but generally improved." The clerk of the Glasgow School tin-piate ne eS in England has been cut own as much as possible, says Com- mercial Attache Philip B. Kennedy in a report from London. He quotes the British- -Under-Secretary for War, Mr. McPherson, as saying that sub- stituting car: rdboard containers for those of tin would save about 60,000 tons of steel a yea Already all sort of substitutes are being used for tin-plate in manv- facturing containers. time, accord"ng to Mr. Kennedy, tin containers are used practically for meat and processed foodstuffs only. Since last September official regula- tions have prohibited the packing* of fruits, dried footstuffs and liquid foods in tin-plate. of this material for lining packages for the export of textile and other goods has also been forbidden, and an attempt at economy was made by in- sisting that meat be packed and milk canned in larger containers. Oi] cans were doubled in size, and tinned iron drums were used for petroleum pro- ducts in India. si Mr. Kennedy continues: "Further efforts have been made to introduce substitutes for use in the army, Card- rd, wood ,and fibre are now sub- stituted for tin-plate in the manu- facture of such things as card-index boxes and workmen's checks, while earthenware bowls are used instead of the old puddling bawls. Salt, sugar and tea, which formerly were packed in soldiers' rations tins, are now pack- ed in paper bags. Recent regula- tions of the Ministry of Munitions have put the civilian. trade upon a very strict ration, so that there will! | only be a bare minimum suppiy cf | | essential articles, such as domestic utensils, stoves, meters and lamps.' The report attributes the use of cardboard containers in England en- tirely to their success in the United States, and says that 80% of the ma- chinery now used for this purpose in Great Britain has been supplied by one American manufacturer. One London manufactureer said that 5,- 000,000 cardboard containers were be- ing produced in England every week. Up to the present the paper contain- ers have been chiefly what is known as composite containers; in other words, their tops and bottom were' tin. It is now the hope of the maru- facturers to be able in the very near future to make them entirely of paper or cardboard. ey Se WHEN PEACE WILL COME. At the present Militarism -is Crushed to Death. Not -Until ready for it. And the world will not be ready for peace until the German military autocracy is crushed to death, and the world can make a lasting peace with a self-governed German people. Many times we have heard that the present offerfSive is the Germans' last desperate effort, and if it fails they Board reports: "The total number of physically de-| fective children at present on.the roll of the board's special school is 1,790.) The success that has attended our ef-) fort will be evident from the fact that} last year 570 children were passed out | as fit for the ordinary school.' There are at present in London, thirty-seven schools for the physically defective, with un .-attendance of | population being approximately 740,- 00. There are fifteen districts in Eng-. schools and the approximate attend-, provision is made beyond that sup- plied by voluntary effort. The committee is asking for He Gave His Life For a Friend. A British sergeant major, in ad- agriculture, and to manufacturing, capture one market after the other. We see what is possible to trained and organized industry and commerce. It is lawful to be taught by our ene- mies; let us learn that lesson from them. Let us never forget, however, | that efficiency is in itself no more a! moral thing than is electricity; it de-; pends altogether upon the end to 'which it is directed. Hence the per- petual need of directing moral ideas, ! end of moral training. pf Ontario can and should be made the training-ground for the inculcation of true and intelligent democracy that will help to keep the world safe, and, that will make Ontario the banner! provinee of a great, free, intelligent and skilful nation.' | ------.> The war-winning quartette is wheat, | meat, sugar and fat. They are need-' ed abroad; don't impose too much ome perfor mancegypon them Thousands of persons every year. / are crippled or killed because they fail to place a value upon their own safe-' ty. | | 'de®ging the recruits at a stuQon, spoke of the soklierly duties! training that they would be called upon to per- 'form, and concluded by saying: Be' proud of your regiment. It's your home for the war. So, stick to it, and stick to your comrades I never tire of telling recruits a ate ry of two! 'men of our second battalion Dardanelles expedition. A blizzard | The scheols| and a washout swept away a lot of|Great Britain our chaps. The two I am talking | 'about struggled on and found some sort} /of shelter, and there they sat down to! rest. The younger could have got away and come to camp, but he! | wouldn't leave his pal alone in the storm and darkness and snow. The next morning they were found togeth-' er, asleep for good--frozen stiff. The; ! younger had his arms round his pal.: He held a bit of broken bistuit in each | hand, and there were biscuit crumbs -- into the moustache of the older That's the whole story. don't know. what their regimenta! numbers and names were, but there's a book where their names are put down all right and forever. ance is 5,000, leaving from 32,000 to. 37,000 children for whom no spec ial | com-, pulsory powers under the Government. mn é education bill, and express themselves, German drive, but by the Germans' Pairs of socks, 51 fracture shirts, 183 in the, I h nd 70,000 tons in 1917, and for 1918; and suggestive and constructive criti- cism. Indeed, I might paraphrase the words of Holy Scripture and say, 'If @xy one har g psalm, or a word of ex-; & tions, and would guide them into occu- pations in which they could earn sat- isfactory wages and do good work; fact, it would vitalize the whole sys- "The best conduct a man ¢an adopt} (is that which gains him the eateem | wt The dishcloth is a poor thing with in of others without depriving him pf his which to wipe pots and pans; it is not own." --Talmud. . free from soap and grease. will be ready for peace. Possibly this is so. The Germans have been ready for peace ever since they began 'the war, and are reddy for peace to- |day--on German terms. Anyone who believes that the war _| artillery which Peace will come when the world is}! WHEN THE TROOPS 'GO OVER THE TOP AT DAYBREAK. In The Tense Hours Before The Dawn, Chaplain and Soldiers Prepare For The Day of Trial. "In the blackness of the night one tiny flame quivered at the doorway of what had been a Flanders home, tut was now just three walls and a bit. The tiny flame was that of a burning cand'e. It jumped nervous- ly and flickered in the throbbing dark- ness under the concussion of the was thundering its message at the German trenches," wrtes S. M. in the London Daily Mail. "From various points of the night came men in twos and threes, and now and then a smail squad would march towards the tiny light, entering at the 'door' and disappearing into the in- terior of the place that had once been a home. A man clad in a long cas- sock and white sleeves came towards the little flame. "'There are no lamps and no oil, boys,' he said. 'All we have is this candje. What shall we do?' "'Carry on,' replied the boys. "But -someone discovered a hand- ful of candles, and these were served out, the boys sticking them on the top of their helmets, where they burned fitfully, At the end of the poor, al- most roofless building, amid the pile of rubble and dust, was a pile of am- munition boxes, over which a Union Jack had been draped. On the tor lay an open bock. = "he man w ith the cassock began to read, droning his words as he bent over the book, beside which a candle had been placed. He read for about five minutes. The only background of sound to his droning voice was the rumble of exploding shells and the wail of the missi'es as they hurtled through the air. The candles gave a ghostly radiance to the scene. "The man with the cassock ceased to drone and knelt beside his a'iar of ammunition boxes. "A few minutes later he*rose. This time he spoke loudly 'Boys,' he said in 'his Scottish bur- ring tone, 'there's nothing like the "Old Hundred." Let us sing.' "So they sang the 'Old Hundred,' then another hymn. A crasb not far off shook the build'ng and made the earth heave. Some of the boys stop- ped singing. " 'Boys,' came the voice from the ammunition boxes, 'Brother Boche. is getting the range. Let us disperse. And jet each do his damnedest in the next five hours. God bless us all.' g "The candles were extinguished and the boys came out of the wretched building. In twos, and threes they disappeared in the blackness. The man with the cassock was last to leave. As he came through the 'door- way' he. bent and blew out the candle. Then he, too, went-into the night. "What was it? you may ask, "It was a night service before the attack at daybreak." e --_----~¥ _ Bo Children Help or Hinder? Is $10,000 an insignificant sum to be | will end when the German offensive is+ | stopped is going to be disappointed. The Germans would be glad to have} ithe Allies believe they are near ex haustion. They have spread this! } about 3,700 children, the total school tale many times before to find that 8&#iast any answer but it pays unusually well | Nothing would suit the Germans better than to have us believe our land and Wales which possess these) work is done after the present Ger-| ea in man drive is stopped. The Germans. themselves have no such belief. If the present drive fails, the Kaiser! ' Bindenburg, and eyudend ~F will be; busy shaping German p. .i: opinion. land getting rely for the next « Peace will come not by stopping a pence until] the Germans have been 'driven out of France and Belgium and back of the Rhine, and kept there. Peace will come when the world is ready for it. And the world will not be ready for it until the German mili- \tary autocracy is crushed to death,| jen a lasting peace can be made with} self-coverned German people. sexeroreintipasifcaiaaoremsieay BEHIND MEAT SCHEDULE. { Unable to Supply the | | Amount Required hy France. | The necessity for conservation of meat on this continent, im onder to meet the very heavy cenands from, overseas, is ----, by the fact that England is in unable | ito furnish reguiarly he 20,000 | tons of refrigerated meat, which was | promised France under an agreement ; ade in March, 1916. Because of | ecuiaaton activ'ties and demands | upen shipping, Great Britain fell be- | the deficit is already about 25,00) toms | eee eno renee The girl who knows as much as her} mother does hasn't anything on her! brother who knows three times as much as the "governor" ever dream- ed about. a ltance in the movement to which | Physical Training Lengthens His ; the donated to any undertaking? Can the 'donor be considered as of little impor- he Day after day the emphatically "no." That j being the case, children (at least the 'children in one Canadian city) are among the greatest backers 'of our France. The children of the Protestant schools in Montreal con- tributed during the two years ending June, 1917, $11,665.15 in money for the Red Cross. Their busy fingers and josueinn devotion produced Red Cross supplies to the number of cy 790 | pfeces. Among these were: 1,787 i gives "that sum? word expresses itsclif confident that at this stage of the war, failing to stop an all ied drive. The comfort bags, 16 pajamas, 25 pairs of with the present interest of the public less we talk about getting gape by Slippers, 189 surgical See caps,. 'in child life, tre amendment will re- stopping the Germans _ fift miles | 1,460 mufflers; 697 polo caps, 293 ceive du@Xconsideration. from Paris the better prepared we | Wristlets, 1,564 pillow slips, 48 sheets, ishall be for the big job ahea er 393 eye and chin bandages, 405 manu- ~ o¢ ; they are stopped. There will be no tailed bandages, 788 triangular band- ages, 87 abdominal, 55 head and 9,241 of the 2%-inch bandages. This year's 'ealiection, up to May 1, amounts to $6,160.89, with no falling-off in the pieces of hand work, This is truly a record of which to feel preud, desea Apel ting ts THE SOLDIER'S CHANCES. Life By Five Years. . and large as the in- Great as ihe danger losses in the argzregate, i dividual soldier has plenty of chances jof coming out of the war unscathed, jor at least not badly vinjured, Based on the mortality statistics of the allied armies, a soldier's chances as follows: Twenty-nine chances of coming home to one chance of being, killed. Forty-nine chances of recovering from wounds to one chance of dying from them. One chance is 500 of lesing a limb. Will live five years longer because of physical training, is freer from dis- ease in the army than in civil life, and has "Zettcr medical care at the front than at home. In other wars from 10 to 15 men 'died from disease to one from bulles; in this war one man diez from disease {to every 10 from buiiets.