Henry Grant Brown: Lebanon, Ind.

              W. L. BRATTON, Chairman.   H. T. THOMPSON, Secretary.
BOONE COUNTY REPUBLICAN HEADQUARTERS
Lebanon, Indiana.

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HENRY GRANT BROWN, Lebanon, Ind.
Republican Candidate for Nomination of State Superintendent of Public Instruction



To the Citizens of Indiana:
Lebanon, Ind., September 18, 1915.

From the standpoint of initiative, sound judgment, executive ability, fairness, and honesty, the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction is one of the most important offices in Indiana.  The duties and activities of this office bring it into vital relation to every home, every taxpayer, and every parent and child within the commonwealth.  The personality of the one occupying this office is a very important factor.

It is with the above briefly stated thought in mind that herewith are presented a few facts relative to the candidacy of Superintendent H. G. Brown of Lebanon, who is a candidate for the nomination on the Republican ticket for the above named office.



THOROUGH SCHOLARSHIP
Outside of the rudiments obtained in a rural district school, Superintendent Brown's early education was obtained by home study in the subjects of literature, science, history, and travel.  Later he graduated from Tri-State College, and in 1904 obtained the degree of Ph. B. from the University of Chicago.  Superintendent Brown has also done special work in botany and chemistry at the Ohio State University, and special work in agriculture at Purdue university.  In 1899 he obtained a Life State License by both written and oral examinations.  In this examination he was one of only four successful applicants and obtained the highest average scholarship of all applicants.  His college and university work placed him among the leaders in practically all of his classes.

In college he was active in practically all college organizations.  He was twice elected to the presidency of his literary society, editor-in-chief of the college paper, also president of a college debating society.  Superintendent Brown was not sent to college and university.  He went, and paid every penny of his expenses from money earned by his own efforts.



EARLY PREPARATION
Superintendent H. G. Brown is a native Hoosier.  In the early spring of 1868 his father, Jacob Brown, a native German and also a veteran of our Civil war, came by wagon with his wife, a Connecticut Yankee, to Indiana and settled upon an uncleared farm near Angola.  Here in the log house home Supt. Brown was born, and here surrounded by the usual features of later pioneer life he spent his boyhood.  As a lad he was large for his age, therefore at the age of fourteen he became a full hand at all kinds of farm labor, and in his sixteenth year he laid in the swath unaided over forty acres of grain.  Superintendent Brown regards his farm experience as the best schooling he ever obtained both mental and physical, for here he attained his considerably more than six feet of stature besides a liberal supply of well developed bone and muscle.  In the diversified labors incidental to clearing, draining and cultivating a new farm he also matriculated for the first time with the university of Hard Knocks, and completed several very beneficial courses in hard work, persistence, and common sense.  In all contests in either work or play demanding skill, strength and endurance, Hank, as he was familiarly known, was a recognized leader.



BROAD EXPERIENCE
Very few men have had a broader experience in school work than Superintendent Brown has had.  He began teaching at $30.00 a month in the district schools of Steuben county.  After four years of teaching experience in the district schools, he spent three years as principal of the Pleasant Lake Township high school.  Afterwards for three years he was principal of the Auburn high school.  Superintendent Brown was then elected to the position of superintendent of the Butler city schools.  Four years later he resigned this position to accept the superintendency of the Lebanon city schools, where he has labored very successfully for the last ten years.

Besides his experience as a teacher and supervisor the following activities are presented:

1.
Active member of National Educational Association.
2.
Charter member of Central Indiana Superintendent's club and secretary-treasurer of this organization since its formation.
3.
Member of Indiana State Board of Education.
4.
Lecturer Teachers' College of Indianapolis.
5.
Men's Bible Class teacher for past eleven years.
6.
Institute instructor, having worked in seven counties of Indiana and Ohio.
7.
President Northern Indiana Teachers' Association 1913–1915.
8.
Member of committees on legislation representing various school organizations in 1909, 1911, 1913 and 1915.
9.
Author of various educational publications including published reports on taxation and insurance of school properties.
10.
Active member of Lebanon Business Men's Association, president church Brotherhood, member of Columbia Club.





EDUCATIONAL CREED
Sanitary school houses.

Well equipped play grounds and gymnasiums.

A close and vital connection between the school and the community.

A school system that is based upon the moral, mental, physical and economical needs of the pupil.

A mutual, helpful coordination between the state department of education and the several educational departments maintained by our various normal schools, colleges, and universities.

A rapid and steady increase in the facilities for the training of teachers in our accredited training schools.

An emphasis of the fundamentals and an elimination of the fads.

In emphasizing the fact that professional recognition of teachers will come more quickly through professional preparation and hard work than through legislation.

All public school work should be based upon the future economic and community needs of the pupil.

The vocational idea should be extended to fit the changing industrial conditions.

After thorough examination, recognition of scholastic attainments should be given independently of where and how such attainments are secured

A gradual increase in the training and preparation of beginning teachers to the end of making teaching a profession.

A department in the State Superintendent's office devoted to economy and efficiency in the business end of school administration as an aid to school officials.

Salaries of all teachers including both county and city superintendents should be consistent with present economic conditions and with the quality and amount of services demanded.

Such matters as consolidation, courses of study, public use of school buildings, location of school buildings, amount of school tax levies, in so far as possible should be determined by each local community for itself



OPINIONS OF SCHOOLMEN
It is fitting that the public in general should be informed relative to the standing of Superintendent Brown among his fellow-educators, including teachers of all classes, county and city superintendents and college presidents.

The following are extracts taken from letters received by Superintendent Brown since he first announced his candidacy.

From the president of one of Indiana's leading universities:

I have great pleasure in knowing Superintendent Henry G. Brown.  I am also familiar with the quality of his work as an official of the public schools, as well as his character as a man.  I wish to record not only my admiration for his strong, good character as man, but also for his spirit of fairness not too common towards all people who are affected by the work of our public schools.  I happen to know that Superintendent Brown has demonstrated his fairness and courage on occasions which required the full measure of manliness.  I admire Superintendent Brown immensely.

From a leading city superintendent:

It is with pleasure and satisfaction that I note your announcement for the Republican nomination for Superintendent of Public Instruction.  I like to see men of your caliber, excellent timber for the office, get into the race in the leading parties.  Success to you.

From a successful county superintendent:

I am pleased to learn that you have announced your candidacy for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.  I feel that every one at all acquainted with your work will concede your ability and purpose to care for the educational interests of the state in case you are elected.

From the president of one of our best colleges:

I am more than glad that you are a candidate for the nomination of State Superintendent of Public Instruction.  I do not know why I should not frankly tell, as I have said to many others, that I feel better acquainted with you since your coming on the State Board of Education, and I am greatly taken with your direct and outspoken way. It suits me exactly.  I like to know where people stand.  Certainly, you have the ability, common sense, and personality for the job.  You have many friends here.

From the president of one of Indiana's normal schools:

I have known H. G. Brown for the last twenty years.  He is a leader, not by force of aggression, but by a conscious power that makes associates know that he is worthy to lead.  His friends now ask that he become a candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.  There is no man in Indiana for whom I would rather vote for this office than H. G. Brown.  He has education, courage, wholesome ideals and a rich wisdom that comes from successful experience.  I would go a long distance out of my way to vote for him.

From one of our leading Indiana superintendents:

I am certainly glad to give testimony of your merits as a school man.  Your good work in all educational organizations of the state, your services on various committees, your record as a member of the State Board of Education, all bear testimony of your ability, your enthusiasm, and your efficiency as a school man.  You would fill the state superintendent's office in a very capable manner.

From a prominent city superintendent:

I am glad to support you for the nomination for State Superintendent of Public Instruction.  I believe that you are better prepared for it than any of the other men whose names I have heard mentioned.  In my judgment we should have a man who is acquainted with all phases of school work.  I shall be glad to assist you in any way that I can in securing the nomination.

From a leading county superintendent:

I am personally acquainted with Prof. H. G. Brown, and have unbounded faith in him and wish to indorse his candidacy.

The following from a college president:

I was much pleased to note your recent announcement, and do not hesitate to say that it will be fortunate for the schools of the state if you are both nominated and elected.  Since becoming acquainted with you several years ago, I have watched your work and have made personal inquiry of educators in your part of the state and all information has been uniformly favorable to you.  Your frankness of manner and positiveness of convictions will be a helpful tonic to educational interests in Indiana.

From the president of a leading normal:

Having been a life-long Republican myself, I am glad to know that the party in Indiana will have the privilege of placing on its ticket a man who like yourself has become distinctive and marked among the forces which are constantly making for the uplift and the efficiency and a thorough grasp of school administration and progress in Indiana.  * * * I congratulate you upon the many favorable comments I hear among competent school teachers concerning your determination to stand as a candidate.  I hope you succeed.

From a prominent city superintendent:

Your fitness and qualifications for the office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction can not be questioned.  Your preparation and experience is everything that it should be for the place.


From the principal of one of the largest high schools in Indiana:

Just tell the fellows who inquire that I say you are a dandy good fellow, and an A-1 school man, fully able to hold down such an important job as State Superintendent of Public Instruction.  The voters will do well should they cast a majority vote in your favor.

From the president of one of our most efficient colleges:

An intimate acquaintance with Superintendent H. G. Brown extending over a great many years, has led me to hold him in high regard both personally and professionally.  He is a man of unusual force of character and administrative ability.  In my judgment he would make a strong Superintendent of Public Instruction.

From a prominent county superintendent:

I desire to endorse Superintendent H. G. Brown in his candidacy in the strongest manner possible.  He is just the man for the place.

From another well known county superintendent:

I am for you.  * * * Your excellent work in our county institute proved that you not only have ideas but that you know to express them to get results.

From the president of one of our sectarian colleges:

I have for your ability and for your character high regard, and will gladly give any personal encouragement to your candidacy.  I can not assure you too strongly of my confidence and good wishes.

From one of our best known city superintendents:

Superintendent Brown is fair in all his dealings.  He has unlimited energy for anything which he undertakes to do.  He has great ability as an organizer; and, above all he is a man whose honesty has never been questioned.  Such a man as Superintendent Brown will add strength to any ticket.  I wish him unlimited success.

From another very efficient city superintendent:

I am glad to say that you are well fitted for the State Superintendency.  You have a courage, a fairness, and personal convictions that would be a value to that official, and I hope you secure the nomination and election.

From a superintendent of a large city system:

I consider Superintendent H. G. Brown of Lebanon, most thoroughly well equipped to perform the duties of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.  His scholastic and professional training and experience are all of the best.  He possesses rare executive ability and the educational interests of the state will be ably managed, should Superintendent Brown be elected to this office.

From a prominent county superintendent:

I have observed your activities for a long while, and I am more than convinced as a school man and as a life long Republican that the best interests of both state and party will be conserved by your nomination.  I am sure that your well known ability and broad-mindedness and grasp of the situation in the rural schools is what we county superintendents want.  * * * In short I hope my party will honor itself by giving us a chance to vote for you.

From a prominent college professor:

I am not exactly a Republican, but because of my personal admiration for you I am willing to speak—swap—swat—or anything else for your success.  Be sure to make any use of me possible.

Many more extracts from letters like the above could be given, but it is not necessary to do so.  None of these extracts were written by either classmates, fraternity brothers, relatives, local people, or close personal friends of Superintendent Brown.



Reprint from The Lebanon Patriot of April 28, '15:
Professor Henry G. Brown, superintendent of the Lebanon city schools, will go before the next Republican state convention as a candidate for the nomination of state superintendent of public instruction.  This announcement was made Tuesday by Mr. Brown.  He has yielded to the wishes of many school men of the state of Indiana in coming out for the nomination.

In a review of Professor Brown's teaching experience it can be seen he has applied principles of teaching in every department of school work in their logical order.  By taking work in the district schools as a basis he has rapidly risen to a rank of high standing among the educators of the state after passing through township, high school and city high school superintendencies to his present post of city school superintendent of Lebanon.  Aside from Professor Brown's fitness for a position involving modern methods in education, his record stands for itself as a proof that he is a student of departmental education, a qualification which is extremely necessary in an aspirant to the office of state superintendent of public instruction.

Since coming to Lebanon, Professor Brown has placed the schools on an increasingly high plane until they have become generally recognized throughout the state.  At a recent efficiency test in which schools of all principal cities of the state were compared, the Lebanon schools attained one of the highest general averages for working efficiency.  This record was most gratifying to Professor Brown and rightfully so.

During the time our present Governor served as a member of the Lebanon city board of education while yet in the practice of law here he studied closely the methods of Professor Brown in the Lebanon schools, and after being elected Governor, he appointed Professor Brown as a member of the state board of education.  This appointment was made two years ago.  While a member of this board he took a deep interest in vocational education, especially as it applies to agriculture.  Many of Professor Brown's vocational education ideas have extended to the Lebanon schools and have been successfully worked out.

Professor Brown has served as president of the Northern Indiana Teachers' Association and for many years has been a prominent figure in state school conventions.  He has a wide acquaintance over Indiana among educators and his candidacy will mean much to the state Republican ticket.  Professor Brown is broad-minded, just and fearless educator, and he has a host of friends in Lebanon who look upon his candidacy with utmost approval, and who wish to see a worthy school man win political preferment.



Endorsed By All Parties.
The candidacy of Professor Brown is indorsed in Lebanon by men of all parties.  Lebanon has appreciated for many years his ability as a school head and is keen to see the reason why educators of this state have called into a political race a man with the abilities of which he is possessed.  Professor Brown has fought out for many years the moral problems of Lebanon as they had their relation to the school child and his work has been of the most effective nature.  He has administered his office in Lebanon in a fair and impartial manner, and no body of persons can better attest to this fact than the members of the city board of education who, though regretting very much to lose his services as local superintendent will stand as a unit together with the Republicans of the city of Lebanon and Boone county in advancing the candidacy of Professor Brown for a place for which they know he is eminently qualified.