334 Extracts from Addresses
hub to the wheel which turns on the axle. Without education free gov-
ernment is a burden rather than a blessing to those who possess it. With-
out education free government is of no use to those who have it, because
those who become possessed of it do not know what to do with it. We
have a striking and shining example of that truth to-day in the discord
and in the distress and in the helplessness of Russia’s plight, because of
the fact that the masses have been denied the opportunity of an education,
and for that reason, possessed of free government, they are not able to
reap the benefits of it in administering and enjoying the blessings of free
government.
The cause of education was wrapped up in this war, in my judgment,
more than in any other conflict in history, because if autocracy had pre-
vailed, the autocracy of ignorance would have fallen on both sides of the
ocean, but because of the fact of democracy triumphant, it means that
the light of education will now shine to the farthermost corners of the
globe.
So, my friends, education is the principal business and the chief busi-
ness to which those entrusted with the administration of the affairs of
the government might devote their time and their energies and their
efforts, in a way to improve and to better the cause of education and to
better and advance the opportunities of the people.
Texas has taken two steps in the last few years that have been the
most forward strides in all the history of Texas for the advancement
and betterment of education. In the adoption of the compulsory educa-
tion bill in the session of the Legislature in 1915, Texas for the first
time compelled the attendance of school children in Texas for a period
between the ages of seven and sixteen. That was the first time that it
became compulsory upon the parents of Texas to send their children to
school. And then the most forward step taken of all was involved in
the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution, which the people of
Texas overwhelmingly approved and made part of the organic law of
this State in the election held on the fifth day of this month, when it was
written into the constitution of Texas that the State shall provide free
text books for the school children of Texas. That amendment not only
helps the cause of education to the extent of providing these free text
books, but it goes further than that, and increases the tax rate from
twenty cents on the one hundred dollars, which may be imposed for school
purposes, to thirty-five cents on one hundred dollars; and in addition to
that specifically authorized the Legislature of Texas to appropriate at
all times and at any time out of the general funds of the State whatever
may be necessary to make the school system of Texas the best there is
in the whole Union of States. I feel that we have cause for gratification