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(b) Resolved, that citizens who are unable to read should not be allowed to vote.

(c) Resolved, that the United States should help the states to support public education.

Study Questions.

1. In what way is going to school related to our government? 2. What is naturalization? How may the foreigner legally become a citizen? What is Americanization?

3. What educational activities are carried on by our national government?

4. Read an encyclopedia article upon the Military Academy at West Point or the Naval Academy at Annapolis. How does the national government conduct these?

5. What are the main provisions of the compulsory attendance and child labor laws in your state. Account for the fact that such laws are usually better enforced in the city than in country districts.

6. Make clear the difference between a state school fund and a state school tax.

7. What is the county unit in education?

8. When was printing invented? What important changes has the invention brought?

9. The total daily circulation of all newspapers in England when the stamp act passed was about one to each five hundred population. Many copies for each person are printed now. What changes in government probably accompanied this great increase of readers?

10. "If ever there was a period for rejoicing this is the momentevery heart ought to beat high with exaltation that the name of Washington from this day ceases to give a currency to political iniquity and to legalized corruption." This appeared in a newspaper at the close of Washington's administration. It shows that newspapers have always been free to criticise very severely even our best leaders. What would be the effect of passing laws against publication of such articles?

11. Compare American freedom of speech and press with conditions in countries where the substance of laws was

(a) Five dollars fine for borrowing a newspaper.

(b) Nothing unfavorable to the king may be published. 12. Most early newspapers were called "newsletters" or "gazettes" and contained only briefest items like "On Thursday night last Samson Waters a young man went well to bed and was found dead next

morning," a bit of news found in the Boston Newsletter (1704). What more than such bare facts are usually demanded in newspapers?

13. An intelligent estimate of the contents of a large city paper during three months showed

2295 articles which would have had bad influence.

1684 articles bad rather than good.

2100 worthless articles.

3900 worth while selections.

Why are so many bad or worthless articles written? Would they be published if no one cared to read them? Examine a daily newspaper to see how much of it you consider worth while.

14. Which would you be more ready to believe, material found in the advertising space or in the editorial column of a newspaper? Why?

15. What relation do you discover between education and advertisements like the following?

(a) Offering a high school education for two years of correspondence work and a small fee.

(b) Offering mining or oil stock with the assurance that all who purchase will become rich.

(c) Promising a position at a large salary to all who attend some school for a few months.

16. Give an example of a law which is enforced because public opinion favors the law; an example of a law which is not observed because a majority of citizens are indifferent.

17. Explain "the average voter plays the game according to rule, provided he is intelligent."

18. What are the advantages of uniform postal rates as compared with making a charge in proportion to distance?

19. Letter postage is two cents an ounce, postage on newspapers and magazines is one cent a pound. Account for the difference,

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Causes of Disease. Sunshine, air, food and water are essential to life. In ancient times when people became ill they thought some evil spirit was the cause of their trouble. The cure consisted of charms which were supposed to drive the evil spirit away. Not a great many years ago people believed sickness to be a visitation of providence and some ignorant people today hold to that belief. All intelligent persons now know that most illness is caused directly or indirectly by impure food, wrong living conditions or impure water. Impure milk is the source of many epidemics, especially among children. Diphtheria, scarlet fever, typhoid fever, tonsilitis and tuberculosis are frequently traced to an impure milk supply. Other foods, if handled carelessly or kept too long, carry disease. Filthy living conditions are the sources of much illness of which the cause is never suspected. A servant living in a dirty hovel may carry disease to the kitchen of the cleanest and most sanitary home. Authorities on health tell us that pollution of wells and sources of public water supply is the cause of many thousands of deaths annually in the United States.

Contagious Diseases. When smallpox, measles, scarlet fever, or any other contagious disease is discovered, the doctor

must report the case at once to the local health officer. The health officer puts a sign on the house warning everyone of the presence of the disease. No one is allowed to enter or leave except the doctor and nurse. The house is said to be quarantined. If quarantine rules are kept faithfully, a contagious disease can usually be stamped out. If someone fails to keep the rules, he may carry the disease to other people. Laws provide penalties for those who break quarantine rules. In the case of some contagious diseases it has been discovered that vaccination prevents contagion. Sometimes the health authorities compel all persons in a community to be vaccinated. Failure to get rid of ordinary contagions means that someone has failed to obey or enforce public health measures which is one of the tests of a good citizen.

Prevention of Diseases. 1. Personal and Public Hygiene. Since the causes of most diseases are now known, prevention is in most cases possible and is far better than allowing disease to get a start and then attempting its cure. The prevention of disease depends upon hygiene-personal and public. Personal hygiene cannot be successfully practiced by any good citizen or a community in which public hygiene is neglected, and the best public hygiene is fully successful only when every member of the community faithfully practices personal hygiene. If one person in the neighborhood has filthy habits, he is likely to have disease which may spread. No community can be clean and healthful unless it has sanitation rules obeyed by all. Public and personal hygiene faithfully practiced prevents losses in happiness, energy and money, which always accompany disease.

2. Destroying Flies and Mosquitoes. Flies and mosquitoes are carriers of disease. The fight against mosquitoes is conducted by draining swamps and pools of stagnant water and

oiling water surfaces, where draining is not possible. Neglected rain barrels are breeding places for mosquitoes. Our government has done a great deal to make the world a better place in which to live by its fight on the mosquito. The construction of the Panama Canal was made possible by sanitary measures, especially destruction of the mosquito.

Flies spread typhoid fever and infantile paralysis. The struggle against the fly is a community fight against filth and dirt. Starving the fly by destroying its breeding places is better than "swatting the fly."

3. Removal of Waste. Disposal of waste presents a serious problem in many cities. Piping which is sufficient to carry the sewage of a small city proves too small with growth in population; streets must be broken up and new mains laid. Garbage dumps endanger health. If waste is drained or dumped into a conveniently situated river or lake, it may pollute the water supply, of another community. Strict laws and utmost watchfulness of health authorities are needed to safeguard community health from disease caused by defiled water supply. Rural sanitation is of importance to the whole country because it affects many of our people directly and the others indirectly. The problem is one for the entire nation to solve. The United States Public Health Service has made several health surveys in representative rural sections of the country. In these, each home in the county was visited. It was found that in more than half of the homes flies were not screened from the kitchen and dining room and that water used for drinking and cooking was exposed to danger from impurities. These health surveys caused a marked improvement in the sanitary conditions. The results of this extensive investigation in rural sanitation showed that rural sanitation was possible, that it was badly needed, and that its cost was very much less than the cost

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