Education: Pennsylvania Crusader

“While almost every schoolchild in Pennsylvania knows much about Captain Miles Standish and Captain John Smith, not one in thousands knows anything about the able Swedish Governor who established the first permanent seat of Government in Pennsylvania and did it before William Penn was born.” Thus writes C. Hale Sipe, lawyer-historian-lecturer of Butler, Pa. The able Swede was an adipose lieutenant-colonel named Johann Printz who arrived in New Sweden in 1642, built a state house which existed for 160 years in what is now Pennsylvania. Johann Printz is only one of many historical characters for whose recognitionin the schools C. Hale Sipe has crusaded. In his lectures and books (The Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania, The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania, Fort Ligonier arid Its Times} he has zealously reminded Pennsylvanians of their history. During the fortnight past two Pennsylvania news-papers—the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Oil City Blizzard—commended C. Hale Sipe and urged their readers to be aware of such facts of his as these: Philadelphia Tea Parties took place long before Boston’s. More important than the New England Indian Wars were the Pennsylvania Indian Wars, “the West Point from which George Washington and most of his ablest generals were graduated.” Pennsylvania pioneers printed the first school books, the first Bibles.