The article about the German Kaiser, which is in readers now used in our public schools is scheduled to be taken up by the School Board in its meeting of June 17.

One of the queer things to which attention has been called by the war is the fact that in one of the readers used by Chicago public schools there is an article about the Kaiser. According to the article, the Kaiser, in his youth, was attending classes with other young men and the teacher notified him secretly in advance, of the subject of an important examination soon to take place. The Kaiser, unwilling to take unfair advantage of his fellow classmates, wrote the subject on the blackboard, so that the other pupils also would have the chance to study the subject more thoroughly. A eulogy is added to this little story to the effect that very few boys would have acted so nobly, a proof of the Kaiser's sterling character, because of which he is unwilling to commit any 2misdeed. When attention was called to this article some time ago, principally by the Bohemians of Chicago, Jos. A. Holpuch, a member of the School Board, insisted that the article be removed from the reader. School Superintendent Ella Flagg Young stated that she had written the article, and had it put into the reader because the article is of high pedagogical value and the deed described constitutes an excellent example for all youth. After her statement, all the protests against the article which had reached the Board were passed on to the Committee on School Management for action.

With particular regard to the statement made by the author of the article, the "Straz Osvojenych" (Guard of the Liberated) adopted unanimously a resolution which [in Bohemian translation] reads as follows:

"Whereas, One of the readers used in Chicago public schools contains an article dealing with a story from the school age of the present German Kaiser, a story 3which may have a detrimental influence upon the healthy development of our youth because similar stories from the private lives of members of any reigning dynasty are, as a rule, fictitious and circulated only with the purpose of maintaining and spreading the idea that such persons are beings of a higher order who should be looked upon with infinite admiration, servile obedience, and slavish devotion; and

"Whereas, The inclusion of such an article in a school reader is a violation of one of the foremost educational principles, according to which children should be given nothing that could arouse in them a suspicion of the absolute purity of the character of their own teacher and teachers in general; and

"Whereas, The story brings out the fact that a teacher, desiring to ingratiate himself with one of his pupils because the pupil was a member of a royal family, divulged to him, in advance, the subject which was to be used for a coming examination; and

4"Whereas, The confidence of the pupils in their teachers' justice, impartiality, and honesty should not be subjected to a possible doubt, and the minds of the pupils should not be exposed to the possibility of such a deceitful and dishonest action on the part of a teacher; and

"Whereas, A child usually thinks more logically than the person who put the article into the reader, and the children could easily come to the conclusion that what a prince's teacher had done in the past is perhaps being done now by their own teacher for children of rich and prominent families; and

"Whereas, There was added to the story an explanation based on completely perverted principles of morality, eulogizing the prince's act as manly, clean, and honest--although it is an act quite common and usual among comrades, and although, by it, the prince merely showed that he wanted to give the other pupils an opportunity to prepare themselves more thoroughly for the examination; and

5"Whereas, The story eulogizes the action of a boy who has given his comrades an opportunity to profit by a deceitful deed, and alleges that it proves good character and a noble conception of impartiality, which may lead the children to the belief that it is something honorable to impart dishonestly acquired information to one's comrades, and

"Whereas, The article mentions religion to which attention should be paid in this age; and

"Whereas, This age does not need any religion based on detect or delusion, but does need an ideal religion of Truth and Humaneness which would not, by the grace of God, divide the people into rulers and subjects who are destined to submit patiently to the rulers' domination, exploitation and enslavement; and finally

"Whereas, We would also protest against the inclusion of such a story in the 6reader if its hero were not the German Kaiser, because being freethinking people we have no national bias but have the most ardent desire to see the people of all nations and countries working in harmony toward the highest aims of humanity;

"We therefore demand that the said reader be discontinued in our schools and that the principle be adopted that no such flattering stories taken from the private life of any member of a ruling dynasty, or from the lives of people seeking special advantages because of their claim of higher birth or riches, be ever included in the readers of our public schools."

This resolution was not only officially submitted to the secretary of the School Board, but was also, in special reprints, distributed to the members of the School Board, newspaper reporters and other persons present in the meeting room prior to the opening of the meeting. The Germans had everything well prepared in advance. They submitted petitions of their own national council and also on 7behalf of other German organizations to keep the article in the readers, and a member of the School Board, Mr. Ernest J. Kruetgen, who is also the president of a German organization, delivered a speech which was climaxed by these sentences: "Our only duty is to consider whether or not the article is of pedagogic value. Since its pedagogic value cannot be questioned I move that the article remain in the reader."

The quoted resolution has proved the fallacy of this argument. After the petitions of the Germans had been read, another German member of the School Board offered an amendment to Mr. Kruetgen's motion to the effect that "because the whole affair is distasteful and because it is not in agreement with President Wilson's desire that we maintain an absolute neutrality, no more protests should be read and no protests accepted in the future, and the whole matter considered as disposed of and closed".

The motion, including this amendment, was unanimously passed.

It should be mentioned that the whole committee is under the absolute control of 8the School Superintendent who wrote the article. Some of the English-language newspapers reported rather ironically about this meeting, and one of them (Journal) published the deduction of the Straz Osvojenych in its Saturday issue and declared itself in absolute agreement with their views.

It should be mentioned also that Mrs Flagg-Young, the author of the article, gave a sign of relief when the meeting voted that no more protests should be read, and thanked all members of the committee profusely and movingly: They had saved her reputation for writing and putting into readers nothing else but articles of high pedagogic value. Therefore she was satisfied, as were the Germans who walked away proud of having kept the story of their Kaiser in American readers.

Less satisfied, however, were the "protestants" who, on their way out, could not suppress various remarks, and one of them (Mr.Vladimir A. Geringer) told 9the Committee openly that they had acted faithfully and exactly as their Kaiser would--in the manner of an autocrat and an absolutistic oppressor!

After a report on this matter had been presented at the Friday meeting of the Straz Osvojenych, a lively debate started in which mention was made of the fact that the right of petition by citizens is being respected even in monarchistic, reactionary countries of Europe, and that it is scandalous that a serious and well-founded protest submitted on behalf of at least ten thousand residents of the city should be dealt with in such a shameful manner in America. Upon a motion offered by Dr. Frantisek Iska the meeting unanimously agreed to ask the Mayor, who appoints the members of the School Board, whether he approves of such methods and whether he accepts personal responsibility for the offensive lack of seriousness and consideration shown by such methods. This question will be asked the Mayor both in writing and orally by a special deputation.

The deputation will be headed by one or more Bohemian aldermen and will appear before the Mayor next Tuesday. They will demand satisfaction which could be given by the Mayor's ordering the School Board to read the full text of the resolution submitted by the straz Osvojenych at the Board's next meeting on Wednesday and to act on it by at least putting it "on file," that is by keeping it for future reference when the general revision of the contents of the reader will come up for consideration.