UC~NRLF $B 17 7D7 The Federal Government and Education AN EXAMINATION OF THE FEDERALIZATION MOVEMENT IN THE LIGHT OF THE EDUCATIONAL DEMANDS OF A DEMOCRACY BY Robert H. Mahoney KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS SCHOLAR A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy oj the Catholic University of America in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy WASHINGTON, D. C, 1922 TABLE OF CONTENTS^ CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Scope of Dissertation 1 Problems of American Education 2 The Reconstruction Tendency in Education 3 CHAPTER n THE CENTRALIZATION MOVEMENT — AN HISTORICAL SURVEY FROM REVOLUTIONARY TIMES TO THE PASSING OF THE SMITH-HUGHES ACT The American Fathers and Education S Demand for a National Bureau of Education 7 Agricultural Education — The Land Grant Colleges 9 Vocational Education under the Smith-Hughes Act 11 CHAPTER HI THE CENTRALIZATION MOVEMENT AT PRESENT — PENDING LEGISLATION Number of Bills in the 66th Congress 17 Status of Bills in the 67th Congress 17 The Kenyon Bill for Americanization 18 The Fish Bill for Americanization 23 The Fess Bill for a National University 23 The Fletcher Bill for a National Conservatory of Music 25 The Tillman Bill for Mountain Schools 26 The Raker Bill for a National School of Correspondence 27 The Raker Bill for Library Information Service 28 The Capper Bill for Physical Education 28 The Owen Bill for a Department of Education 31 The Husted Resolution for the Investigation of Public Education.. 32 The Kenyon Bill for a Department of Public Welfare ZZ CHAPTER IV PENDING LEGISLATION THE STERLING TOWNER BILL, S. 1252, H, R. 7 Character and Inspiration of the Sterling-Towner Bill 35 Provisions of the Bill 38 Revisions Arising from Adverse Criticism 40 Arguments in Support of the Bill 42 Arguments Against the Bill 48 478677 iv Contents CHAPTER V THE RELATION OF THE FEDERALIZATION MOVEMENT TO DEMOCRACY The Federalization Tendency — Its Philosophy 56 The Nature of Democracy 58 Educational Demands of Democracy 61 Federal Control and Democracy 65 Conclusion 72 Bibliography 76 Vita 80 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The era in which society now finds itself is conspicuously one of stress. Out of the vortex of a world-wide war which threatened to undermine the very structure of society and to render desolate and void the accumulated treasures of the race, there has developed in the minds of men a critical atti- tude, a spirit of challenge, and of keen penetrating inquiry into the foundations of the existing social economy. No in- stitution has escaped the test; the school, the church, the state, the home, — all have been placed on trial, and all are being weighed in the balance of public opinion. Out of the babel of confusion that exists on all sides, discrepant voices are heard. On one side it is the voice of the conservative, firm in the conviction that the present order is inherently sound, and that its ills can be assuaged by the wise and benev- olent administration of constructive reform. On the other side lifts the voice of the extreme reformer feverishly pro- claiming the doctrine of radical change and insistently de- fending the thesis that revolution, not evolution, is the sesame to a more benign and equitable order. Society, then, is in flux. It is becoming extremely self- conscious and critical. Novel interpretations of life and its meaning, new evaluations of society and its institutions are being offered in abundance. That modern society has ac- complished marvels in the harnessing of the forces of nature and the building of an imposing material civilization, there is none to gainsay. That it has secured like triumphs in the do- main of the spirit, there are few to admit. Shibboleths are the fashion of the hour. Democracy is a word to be conjured with. Americanization is being misunderstood and exploited ; in many quarters it assumes a sinister guise and is regarded with suspicion. Education is hailed as a panacea ; legislation receives a disproportionate valuation, and progress is not un- commonly identified with change. The problems of the hour are at once manifold and complex. Their relations are well-nigh limitless, their difficulties well- nigh inexhaustible. However much therefore the many cur- rent issues may appeal to intelligent leadership or absorb the mind of the general student, it shall be the aim of this dis- sertation to limit the field of observation and to focus attention on the school in its relation to the federal government, and to trace first of all the evolution of national interest in education; ^ The Federal Government and Education secondly, to examine the present trend in Federal educational legislation; and finally, in a review of the educational demands of a democracy, to see horn far national control and direction operate to the welfare of the American school. It is a truism that every society tends to perpetuate itself ; likewise that every cultivated society sees in education the chief means of its perpetuation and an indispensable mechan- ism of social control. Under democratic forms this truth con- veys a special meaning. Democracy has an abiding faith in education. Its very existence depends upon a wide diffusion of knowledge among its members. Its mainstay is a moral, social, and educated electorate. Where ignorance thrives, free institutions must inevitably fail. Autocracy thrives where minds are held in bondage. The great ideal of democracy is harmony both in the in- ternal and external relations of the group. It assumes that human nature is not fundamentally vicious ; it rests its faith on the internal forces of the individual and on his capacity for en- lightened moral co-operation. It finds its chief support not in the strong arm of government or the watchful eye of surveil- lance, but in the self-reliance of the individual, and in his fund of spiritual and moral loyalties. Its call is the call to service and self-surrender; due subordination and devotion to the common good are its perennial requisites. The test of the school then will lie in its contribution to democracy. That the test is acid, and that the challenge to the American school is earnest and fundamental, are appar- ent upon the most cursory review of educational literature. With President Butler all educators are agreed that "the dif- ficulties of democracy are the opportunities of education."^ Have our schools measured up to their opportunities? Are they laggard in their service to democracy? Thus the crucial test is being fearlessly administered. On all sides the lessons of the war are being formulated. Almost daily comes new report of the dangers of democracy that lurk within our doors. The extent of our national illiter- acy startles us ; the results of the draft prove a revelation, and a national emergency in education is said to exist. "There are in the United States nearly 6,000,000 persons over 10 years of age unable to read or write (700,000 of them young men who were liable to recent draft laws) . Fifty-eight per cent of these illiterates are white persons ; 28 per cent are native-born whites, and 30 per cent are foreign-born whites; 40 per cent of the rest are negroes. » Butler, Nicholas Murray, The Meaning of Education, New York, 1898, p. 120. An Exandnation of the Federalization Movement 3 "To educate all of its people without exception is both the duty and the right of democracy. If these people have been deprived of educational opportunities in their youth, it is the duty of the Nation to extend this blessing to them now in their years of majority; if these people have neglected their earlier opportunities, democracy has the right to demand that they correct the deficiency with public assistance at once."^ In the words of Franklin K. Lane, late Secretary of the Interior, an "uninformed democracy is not a democracy."^ Without a wide diffusion of knowledge, progressive democ- racy, social cohesion, community of ideals and sentiments are equally unthinkable. Without a mentally alert plebiscite, the demagogue supplants the leader and odious political forms from autocracy to mobocracy are quick to seize dominion. The situation is obvious, and the investigation reveals the many ills that endanger the body social. Out of the many nostrums that have been prescribed, society must make a choice. That social health may ensue, the group must employ the trained physician. The social diagnosis complete, the remedy must be appropriate. Neither the wholesomeness of the group nor the weal of its individual members should be impaired in the treatment. To insure the stability of our institutions, the conviction is widespread that educational reform is imperative, and that the Federal Government must take a prominent part in the reconstruction movement. The fact is emphasized that the in- dividual is not simply a citizen of his community or State, but of the nation as well.* From this it is concluded that the na- tion should assume a more generous share of the burden in- volved in the education of its citizens. That this conviction is taking a firm hold on our national leaders is plainly indi- cated in current legislative procedure. During the Sixty- sixth Congress there were pending at least ninety-four bills and joint resolutions bearing in some manner on education,' and the belief exists that "relatively few persons outside of Congress are aware either of the multiplicity of the legislative proposals, or of the manifest consequences which some of them would entail if enacted into law.."* Doubtless a similar number of proposals will be introduced in the course of the present (Sixty-seventh) Congress. ' A Manual of Educational Legislation, United States Bureau of Education, Bulle- tin, 1919, No. 4, p. 5. • Annual Report, Department of the Interior, Washington, 1918, Vol. I, p.30. ♦ Qaxton, P. P., Addresses and Proceedings, N, E. A., 1919, VoL LVII, P. 87. » The Educational Record, Vol. I, No. 1, p.4, and Vol. 1, No. 2, p.41. * Ibid., Vol. I, No. 1, p. 4. 4 The Federal Government and Education New Federal educational legislation is imminent, and the reflective mind is bound to ask : To what extent may legisla- tion and social regimentation be said to be conducive to the best interests of democracy? Are the problems of democracy to be solved by placing our reliance on external compulsions and attractive short-cut processes fostered by the subsidy or directed by the controlling hand of the nation? Do we really know what democracy means, and if so, is our faith in it vital and abiding and not a sham? Are we, as one writer says, in danger of preserving the externals and killing the essentials of democracy V American public education is at the crossroads and its fu- ture course must be determined. In this, as in all matters ef- fecting public policy, it is well to look before and after. A society such as ours, restless, dynamic, stripling, and impul- sive, may well take pause on the stream of change lest peril overtake it. The doctrine that the inevitable tendency in the evolution of political and social forms is toward an ever in- creasing degree of centralization finds ample expression in current sociological and educational literature; indeed, it is borne out most clearly in the facts of modern industrial life. It cannot be maintained, however, that in this centripetal drift society is at the mercy of blind and fatalistic forces. So- ciety can and must ponder over the problems of democracy; it must summon up its collective wisdom for the solution of its difficulties. The problems are not easy; their solution de- mands the best that is in us. They deserve the common coun- sel of our united leadership and the intelligent interest of our citizenry. Social salvation shall be the reward of both faith and works. ' Cope, Henry Frederick, Education for Democracy, New York, 1920, p. 272. CHAPTER II THE CENTRALIZATION MOVEMENT— AN HISTOR- ICAL SURVEY FROM REVOLUTIONARY TIMES TO THE PASSING OF THE SMITH-HUGHES ACT The present tendency of educational administration and control in the United States is the result of a gradual evolu- tion of an educational ideal, and to be intelligible, it must be seen in the full perspective of its historic background. It will therefore be the purpose of this chapter to survey briefly the development of Federal interest in education from Revolu- tionary times to the present. As is well-known, the Congress legislates concerning mil- itary and naval training, controls education in the District of Columbia, Alaska, Porto Rico, the Philippines, and Hawaii. Again, Congress appropriates funds in favor of Howard Uni- versity (for negroes), and has developed an eflFective program for the education of the American Indian. The limitations of this dissertation, however, permit consideration only of the larger educational interests of the Government, and of the facts and tendencies which are of vital import to the Nation as a whole; hence, further reference to the above mentioned policies will be omitted. The American Fathers and Education It is insisted by Cubberley that the American Fathers were indifferent to public education : "Not until the begin- ning of the nineteenth century was education regarded at all as a legitimate public function. At the time of the formation of the Federal Constitution, education was not considered of sufficient importance to receive mention in the document; and so far as there is any recorded mention of the subject in the debates of the constitutional convention, it refers to a national university and not to public education. The reasons for this are easy to see. Education was then a luxury and not a neces- sity."® Similarly, Horace Mann was of the conviction that the subject of popular education was not mentioned in the convention and that the constitutions of only three of the thirteen original States made the obligation to maintain a sys- tem of free public schools a part of their fundamental law.* Whatever truth there may be in the statements of Cub- berley and Mann, it cannot be held that the Fathers were wholly unalive to the importance of education. The North- * Cubberley, Ellwood P., Changing Conceptions of Education, Boston, 1909, p. 29. • Mann, Horace, Lectures on Education. Boston, 1855, p. 238. 6 The Federal Government and Education west Ordinance of May 20, 1785, devised to dispose of land in the western territory, provided that "there shall be re- served the lot No. 16 of every township, for the maintenance of public schools within the said township." This embodies the first definite Government enactment concerning grants of land for educational purposes. ^° Moreover, in Article III of the Ordinance of 1787, there appears the familiar quotation: "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." Again, Washington in his message to Congress in 1790 declared: "Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of government re- ceive their impression so immediately as in ours from the sense of the community, it is proportionally essential." According to one of his contemporaries, the Reverend Samuel Knox, President of Frederick Academy, Maryland, and devotee of education, there was no trait in Washington's character that has afforded a more convincing proof of his pure regard for civil liberty "than his patronage and liberal encouragement of public education."" His plea for a national university is too well-known to require comment. Most likely, Washington's interest lay mainly in secondary and higher institutions of learning. The traditions of his native State, Virginia, were aristocratic, and elementary education received little atten- tion.^2 Further interest of the Fathers in education is gath- ered from Draper who tells us that while the Constitution "is silent upon the subject of first public concern," the Fathers "were neither indifferent nor uninformed about it."^^ Educa- tion was regarded as the concern of the local communities. Accordingly, it has continued to be the accepted view that "the United States is powerless to control and does not as- sume to manage the educational institutions of the people; the States have full power to do so."^* Like Washington, both Jefferson and Madison recognized that the national welfare depended upon the general dif- fusion of knowledge. While many statesmen of the time felt that interference of the several States in education was justi- fied, the vision of a State controlled system was not a clear one, and moreover was decidedly unwelcome to the popular " Germann, George B., National Legisiation Concerning Education, New York, 1899, p. 17. ** Knox, Samuel, An Essay on the Best System of Liberal Education, Adapted to the Genius of the Government of the United) States, Baltimore, 1799, p. 29. " Shields, Thomas Edward, Philosophy of Education, Washington, 1917, p. 357. "Draper, A. S., "Functions of the State Touching Education," Educational Re- view, Feb., 1898, " Ibid. An Excmtination of the Federalization Movement 7 mind. The aim of education was individualistic, and people were quite unwilling to tax themselves for the purposes of general education.^^ The social significance of education could scarcely be regarded as more than a dawning concept, dimly appreciated as yet, and destined to wait long for real- ization. Little success characterized any attempt to construct State systems until at length the persistent activities of Hor- ace Mann in Massachusetts and Henry Barnard in Connecti- cut gave impetus to the movement.^® Their influence resulted in the appointment of superintendents by the various States and in the elevation of the standard of public education. Schools were inspected, institutes organized, and the State normal schools established. Much of the inspiration for the movement came from Germany where State systems of schools first developed.^^ While the district system persevered even to recent years, the sociological tendency constantly gained ground from 1840 on. Under the State system the conscious emphasis in public education became mainly "to prepare the individual to exer- cise the right of sufifrage intelligently, to perform the duties of citizenship fully and honestly, to discharge the duties of office satisfactorily."^® As the years have passed, the social movement has received increasing impetus and its interpre- tation has been significantly widened. Demand for a National Bureau of Education Almost concomitantly with the rise of the State school systems the idea developed that the nation should interest itself in the work of education by establishing a "bureau in the home department for obtaining and publishing annually statistical information in regard to public education in the United States."^® A memorial to this end was reported by Henry Barnard at the national convention of the friends of common schools, October 17, 1849, at which Horace Mann presided.^** Eleven years before, Barnard had visited Wash- ington to learn what school statistics existed there, and find- ing that the department in charge of the census had done noth- ing to collect them, "he brought to the attention of President Van Buren the desirability of including educational statistics " Shields, T. E., Phil, of Ed., Washington, 1917, pp. 359-360. " McCormick, Patrick J., History of Education, Washington, 1915, pp. 382-383. " Monroe, Paul, A Brief Course in the History of Education, New York, 1916, p. 387 and p. 393. "/bid., p. 394. " Steiner, Bernard C. Life of Henry Barnard, United States Bureau of Educa- tion, Bulletin, 1919, No. 8, p. 69. »Ihid.. pp. 68-69. 8 The Federal Government and Education in the census of 1840. These statistics were secured and con- stituted the earliest recognition of education by the Federal Government. Barnard and Mann used these statistics in 1842 to show the magnitude of the educational interest and the 'utter inadequacy of existing means of popular education to meet the emergencies of a republican government'."^^ At the meeting of the same organization in 1854, he emphasized the desirability of having the National Government through a competent officer issue an annual educational report.^ Steiner^^ gives an interesting report of the persevering labor and the many steps involved in shaping the bill for a national bureau. The original bill providing a bureau in the Interior Department, such as now exists, was amended in the course of proceedings to establish the Department of Educa- tion on the ground that the commissioner should enjoy a place in the President's cabinet. Thus the first bill for the creation of a Department of Education was introduced in the House of Representatives in 1866 by James A. Garfield. In the Senate the proposal was earnestly championed by Charles Sumner. The bill passed the Senate in February, 1867, and received President Johnson's signature on the second day of March of the same year. As was indeed fitting, Henry Barnard was appointed first commissioner, a post which his unflagging zeal in the interests of education richly merited for him, and which he was destined to fill with consummate ability and distinc- tion. A man of unusual capacity and enthusiasm, gifted with rare inspiration and vision, he lifted his office to a high level of efficiency and set the high standard which the position has since so consistently maintained. Barnard's first report^* submitted June 2, 1868, was not however favorably received, and as a result the Department of Education was abolished and in its place an Office of Edu- cation subordinate to the Department of the Interior was created. Not long after the name was changed to the Bureau of Education, under which it is known to the present. Ac- cording to the revised statutes, the Bureau is empowered "to collect statistics and facts showing the condition and progress of education in the several States and territories, and to dif- fuse such information respecting the organization and man- agement of schools and school systems and methods of teach- ing as shall aid the States in the establishment and mainte- nance of efficient school systems and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country." According to "7&id., p. 104. " Ibid., p. 105. ''Ibid., p. 106 ff. '*Ibid., p. 106. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 9 Barnard^^ the bill did not contemplate the creation of a na- tional system of education. As commissioner he had no prejudices to impose on the country. It was his purpose rather to bring to light whatever could be gathered from past and present experience. In summing up the work of Mann and Barnard we may say, then, that their efforts did much to arouse the educational interest of the people of the various States, and to lift the American school out of the intolerable isolation in which the policy of disintegration had withheld it ; we may truly say that with them there was instituted the beginning of the national outlook in education. Agricultural Education — The Land Grant Colleges Federal interest in agricultural education dates back to the middle of the last century. As early as 1840, Congress received a petition from the Kentucky State Agricultural So- ciety praying that funds of the Smithsonian legacy be de- voted to the endowment of an agricultural college.^^ In 1848, a petition from a citizen of New York was presented urging that Congress appropriate funds in favor of the State Govern- ments "to the establishment of institutions of science and agriculture."" A number of similar petitions soon followed. Responding to the sentiment in this direction, Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, introduced a resolution in February, 1850, inquiring into the expediency of establishing one or more national agri- cultural schools, and in 1857 sponsored a bill donating public lands to the States, that colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts might be established.-^ This bill was lost and was not introduced again until 1862 when it was finally carried in Congress and approved by President Lincoln. This represents the first grant of public lands to the old States for educational purposes. Thenceforth Government interest in agricultural educa- tion has been constant. According to Congressman Lever,^^ the "passage of the first Morrill Act for the endowment and maintenance of at least one agricultural college in each State committed the Federal Government emphatically and irrevoc- ably to a policy of appropriating money to aid in acquiring and diffusing among the people of the United States useful in- formation on subjects connected with agriculture." Accord- 's jfcij., p. 109. *»Germann, George B., National Legislation Concerning Education. New York. 1899, p. 37. ^ Ihid., p. 37. '^ Ibid,, p. 39. ''Report to accompany H. R, 7951. Co-operative Agricultural Extension Work. Report No. 110. 63rd Congress, 2nd Session, p. 2. 10 The Federal Government and Education ing to Mr. Lever's estimate in 1913, the Federal Government has spent in the last fifty years for the maintenance of agri- cultural colleges and the State experiment stations a sum approximating $70,000,000.80 T^e First Morrill Act was fol- lowed by the Hatch Act of 1887 which provided for the es- tablishment of experiment stations, and by the Second Mor- rill Act of 1890 which was "to apply a portion of the pro- ceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts." Finally in 1914, the Agricultural Exten- sion Act (Smith-Lever Bill) was passed, the intent of this measure being "to provide for co-operative agricultural col- leges in the several States receiving the benefits of an Act of Congress approved July second, eighteen hundred sixty-two," etc. As has been pointed out by Germann,^^ in all of the edu- cational relations of the Government up to and including the Second Morrill Act, but excliisive of its relations to the schools of the District of Columbia, the territorial and Indian schools, "the General Government has functioned merely as a patron of education, without exercising or even attempting to exercise an administrative control over the beneficiaries of its largesses." While few conditions were imposed in earlier enactments, the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 involved many. That the Federal Government has the right to maintain an admin- istrative control over the funds issued to the States is now quite generally sustained ; in fact, it is a fundamental assump- tion in the Vocational Education Act of 1917, in the Voca- tional Rehabilitation Act approved June, 1920, and in many other bills that were pending during the Sixty-sixth and Sixty- seventh Congresses. It is quite apparent, therefore, that in all similar measures in the future, the Federal Government will control the conditions under which its moneys are disbursed by the States. According to the Second Annual report of the Federal Board for Vocational Education,^- "we have passed from the idea of the use of Federal money for indefinite edu- cational purposes to the use of Federal money for very spe- cific educational purposes carefully defined in the statute. We have passed from the idea of no obligation on the part of the State in the expenditure of Federal money to the conception of a solemn obligation on the part of the State to use the money in conformity with the requirements of the law mak- ing the appropriation; from the idea of no machinery, no *^Ihid., p. 2. " Germann, Geo. B., Op. cit., p. 56. " Washington, 1918, p. 10. An Excmiination of the Federalization Movement 11 system, and no organization to safeguard and administer the funds to the idea of a definite system, a thoroughgoing organ- ization, and careful safeguards in order that the Federal money may be spent effectively for the purposes intended." This obviously indicates a progressive step in the centraliza- tion movement, and is not without its message for those who steadfastly maintain that current educational measures now pending in Congress and carrying large financial appropria- tions, (notably the Sterling-Towner Bill), in no way involve Federal control of education in the several States. According to Andrews,^^ there are now fifty-three institu- tions in the list of land-grant colleges. The first recipient of a share of the land grant fund was Kansas State Agricultural College which has been a beneficiary since September, 1862. The University of Arizona is the latest beneficiary, having re- ceived funds only since June, 1910. The total yearly income from the fund as disbursed in 1914 consisted of $856,318.95. Vocational Education Under the Smith-Hughes Act The Smith-Hughes Act, approved February, 1917, is "An Act to provide for the promotion of vocational education; to provide for co-operation with the States in the promotion of such education in agriculture and the trades and industries ; to provide for co-operation with the States in the preparation of teachers of vocational subjects; and to appropriate money and regulate its expenditure." This Act represents "the culmination of an evolution in national appropriations for vocational education."^* Begin- ning with the Morrill Act of 1862, the Federal Government has, by a series of acts, the Second Morrill Act, the Nelson Amendment, the Adams Act, the Smith-Lever Act, and the Vocational Education Act, gradually found its way to a phil- osophy and policy in the use of national money for vocational educational purposes, and in this span of legislation has passed from the idea of granting Federal moneys for indefinite edu- cational purposes to an exacting, specific and definitive pol- icy in its requirements upon the States in the use of Federal funds.^** Of all Federal enactments up to the present, none imposes more conditions or embodies more specific obliga- tions upon the States than does the Smith-Hughes Act. The central reason for the various restrictions was to render the "Andrews, Benj. F., The Land Grant of 1862 and the Land Grant Colleges, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1918, No. 13, pp. 58-63. ** Second Annual Report of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, Wash- ington, 1918, p. 9. "Ibid., p. 9-10. 12 The Federal Government and Education Act generally effective, and to prevent misapplication of Fed- eral moneys. According to the Statement of Policies^® of the Federal Board for Vocational Education created by the Act, the Grovernment does not propose "to undertake the organization and immediate direction" of vocational education in the States but "undertakes to pay over to the States annually certain sums of money and to co-operate in fostering and promoting vocational training and the training of vocational teachers." Although co-operation on the part of the States was not co- erced by the measure, the various States Were quick in pass- ing enabling acts to avail themselves of its provisions, and they universally agreed to meet the specific obligations out- lined in the Act. According to Section 8 of the Act, the State Board (appointed by each of the several States to ad- minister the Act in their respective areas) must "prepare plans, showing the kind of vocational education for which it is proposed that the appropriation shall be used; the kind of schools and equipment ; courses of study ; methods of in- struction," etc., and if, upon submission, the "Federal Board finds the same to be in conformity with the provisions and purposes of the Act, the same shall be approved." The appropriations available under the Act increase an- nually until 1926, when the total appropriation available for the purposes of the Act reaches its maximum, $7,200,000. Sub- ventions are made to the States on condition that they cover dollar for dollar the sums apportioned them, and provided further that they spend said moneys in accordance with the requirements of the Act. The autonomy of the States, it is held, "has been entirely preserved" by the following provisions :^^ 1. The Federal Government deals with the work in the States only through an official State board created by the legislative machinery of the State. 2. The Federal Government deals with the State in terms of standards and policies and not in terms of particular in- stitutions or individuals. 3. The Federal Government deals with the State in terms of the conditions within that State and not in terms of the United States as a whole. In addition, the Board offers four fundamental principles as a raison d'etre for co-operation on the part of the Federal '<> Bulletin, No. 1, The Federal Board for Vocational Education, Washington, 1917, p. 7. «^ Second Annual Report of Federal Board, Washington, 1918, p. 11. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 13 Government with the States in the promotion of vocational training :^^ 1. That vocational education being essential to national welfare, it is a function of the National Government to stim- ulate the States to undertake this new and needed form of service. 2. That Federal funds are necessary in order to equalize the burden of carrying on the work among the States. 3. That since the Federal Government is vitally interested in the success of vocational education, it should, so to speak, purchase a degree of participation in this work. 4. That only by creating such a relationship between the Federal and the State Governments can proper standards of educational efficiency be set up. While previous enactments permitted the Federal Govern- ment to deal directly with individual institutions, the Smith- Hughes Act differs in this respect; it touches the State only through the State Board, and thus not only the administration of the Act is facilitated, but, it is further maintained, the autonomy of the State is not interfered with.^^ In a word, "partly by the Act itself, partly by the Federal Board, stand- ards of vocational education are established meeting the ap- probation of both the State and Federal Governments. Each in its own sphere supreme, the State Board and Federal Board, in order to function at all, must come together on the ground thus briefly described."*^ The foregoing paragraphs may be said to give as impartial and complete an analysis of the import of the Act as the lim- itations of this study permit. In passing, however, it may be well to summarize briefly the prevailing attitude in ref- erence to the trend vocationally. In the mind of Professor Sharp, "American education is go- ing vocationally mad, going bad ; for behind this mischievous propaganda is a purpose and a philosophy not had of democ- racy."*^ Ellwood complains that enthusiasts for vocational education confuse it with socialized education in general; he insists that vocationalization is only a part of socialization, and that it can be made safe for democracy only by becoming a part of a general program of socialized education.*^ Jn other words, the purely vocational curriculum needs to be lib- eralized by a reasonable infiltration of cultural elements. »Ihid., p. 11. "/frirf., p. 13-14. ^Bulletin No. 1, The Federal Board for Vocational Education, Statement of Policies, Washington, 1917, p. 8. " Sharp, Dallas Lore, Patrons of Democracy, Boston, 1919, p. 16. ** Ellwood, Charles S., Sociology and Modern Social Problems, New York, 1919, pp. 384-385. 14 The Federal Government and Education Dewey is of like mind with Snedden in the belief that "exist- ing economic conditions inevitably produce social statifica- tion,"*^ and inclines to the view that "any scheme of voca- tional education which takes its point of departure from the industrial regime that now exists, is likely to assume and to perpetuate its divisions and weaknesses, and thus to become an instrument in accomplishing the feudal dogma of social predestination. Those who are in a position to make their wishes good, will demand a liberal, a cultural occupation, and one which fits for directive power the youth in whom they are directly interested. To split the system and give to others less fortunately situated, an education conceived mainly as a specific trade preparation, is to treat the schools as an agency for transferring the older division of labor and leisure, cul- ture and service, mind and body, directed and directive class, into a society nominally democratic."** An excellent illustration of narrow vocationalism may be gathered from one of the earlier writings of David Snedden, the well-known authority on the subject. In the volume, "Educational Readjustment,'' published in 1913, he states that "in vocational schools the standards of vocational education should control to the degree found essential to vocational ef- ficiency. Given this condition, place may be found in the program for some general education, but the latter must be so organized as not to interfere with the systematic voca- tional work. For example, studies not connected with voca- tional education should probably not be followed during the active working day."*® This attitude has not failed to appeal to the selfish mercantile and industrial interests, and it clearly reflects the mind of those who emphasize vocational fitness to the neglect of social efficiency. According to Cope, such train- ing loses sight of the value of personality since it seeks to develop only workers or efficient machines; learning to make a living is only a part of life, and by no means does it imply that the young should be deprived of their heritage of joy and culture in order that they may acquire the habits of wage- earning.*® In like manner, Ryan maintains that vocational training "must be established on a democratic basis and given in a democratic spirit, so that the recipients shall neither be marked off as a separate and lower class in separate schools, " Snedden, David, Vocational Education, New York, 1920, p. 66. ** Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, New York, 1916, p. 372. *' Snedden, David, Educational Readjustment, Boston, 1913, pp. 190 ff. *" Cope, Henry F., Education for Democracy, New York, 1920, p, 13, also p. 53. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 15 nor deprived of that amount of general education which should be available for all elements of the population."*'' The conviction is gaining ground therefore that society will have to counteract the selfish vocational tendency whose explicit aim is increased individual efficiency and enlarged earning power.*^ The regimentation and discipline of the classes for vocational efficiency without giving them an ap- propriate share in the common spiritual and social inheritance of the race is coming to be regarded as the expression of an unsavory materialism, and the antithesis of true democracy. It is encouraging to note in the reconstruction literature that vocational education is being conceived in a more valid and harmonious relation to the other essential influences that make for individual development. To quote from Snedden's re- cent work: "The primary object of the state or of society in its collective capacity in promoting effective vocational education may be considered to be the safety of the state itself. Nevertheless, the security and effectiveness of the state can be achieved as one of its conditions only by means of in- dividuals who are in themselves effective physically, vocation- ally, civically, and culturally."** Christianity, finally, would insist that the individual's social adjustment is rendered all the more secure by adding the further condition that he be morally effective. From these paragraphs it may reasonably be inferred that the administration of vocational education under the Federal Board has not been regarded as an unmixed blessing. In some quarters the Act has met with considerable disfavor; in fact, many prominent educators fear that the Act infringes upon the autonomy of the States, and that its plan of opera- tion is too highly centralized. In a statement submitted to the Committee on Education of Congress, Keith insisted that the Smith-Hughes Law is "the one Federal educational act above all others that causes friction in the States by virtue of its infringement upon the rights of the States to organize, supervise, and administer education within their borders. Until this act is changed, its administration is a liability rather than an asset to any division, bureau, or depart- ment."^* Similarly, President A. F. Woods, of the University of Maryland, in an address delivered at the Third Annual " Ryan, John A., The Catholic Educational Association Bulletin, Vol. XVI, No. 2, Report of Proceedings, St. Louis, Mo., 1919, "Vocational Education in a Demo- cratic State." ^Shields, T. E., Phil, of Ed., Washington, 1917, p. 370. *• Snedden, David, Vocational Education, New York, 1920, p. 38. '^ Joint Hearings Before the Committees on Education, Congress of the United States, 67th Congress, 1st Session, on S. 1607 and H. R. 5837, May, 1921, pp. 95-96. 16 The Federal Government and Education Meeting of the American Council on Education, May 7, 1920, declared that in the Smith-Hughes Act ''there is too much of a tendency to control the details of the operation of the Act in the various States I think that as a result of our experience under the Smith-Hughes Act, that future legis- lation should carefully preserve the powers of the States. This would reserve to the States the right to utilize the powers of the Act under their various conditions in the most effective way without too high a degree of centralization. It will never be possible for any Secretary of Education or any other such officer to fully appreciate and understand the problems that each State may have to deal with in the various local- ities."^* However, the friends of the Act insist that its op- eration to date has been successful, and that the results thus far achieved amply justify its existence; believing that its plan is sound, they are now supporting the Kenyon Bill,^^ which amends the Smith-Hughes Act, and provides increased ap- propriations for the purpose of co-operating with the States in home economics education. In a later chapter there will follow a more minute criticism of the policy of Federal control of education. Accordingly further study of the principles involved in the Smith-Hughes Act is rendered unnecessary at this point. So far we have surveyed briefly the relation of the Federal Government to education up to the far-reaching legislative movement ushered in since the war. Our next chapter will be devoted to a re- view of the measures now pending in Congress, and to an appreciation and criticism of their general import. w The Educational Record, Vol. I, No. 4, "The Operation of the Smith-Lever Act and its Bearing on Future Educational Legislation." Note: Taking cognizance of the features of the Smith-Lever and Smith-Hughes Acts which impair the educa- tional authority and responsibility of the States, the Department of Superintend- ence of the N. E. A., meeting at Chicago, March 2, 19(22, resolved to call upon Congress to amend those measures. "» S. 1061, introduced in the 67th Congress, 1st Session, April 21, 1921. CHAPTER III THE CENTRALIZATION MOVEMENT AT PRESENT: PENDING LEGISLATION As we noted in Chapter I, there were pending during the Sixty-sixth Congress more than ninety bills and joint reso- lutions bearing in some manner on education. To be sure, the vast majority of these measures were not reported on the floor of either house during that session of Congress. The Senate was preoccupied with important international issues, and both in the Senate and in the House educational matters were obliged to give way to a multitude of other affairs. Urgent though the emergency in education was presumed to be, the failure of Congress to pass any of the measures has not been generally regretted. In the first place, the nature of the emergency was not fully appreciated. Secondly, while not a few realized that something ought to be done and done quickly, the character of the legislation best adapted to meet the crisis had not become clearly evident, and the conscience of the American people at large was barely awakening to the facts of the situation, and ideas concerning advisable pro- cedure were but slowly beginning to crystallize in various parts of the country. Finally, the national election of 1920 was approaching, and in the excited political atmosphere prior to the election, it was not to be expected that Congress as a whole would be able or even disposed to consider carefully the merits of the many educational resolutions that had been introduced before it. Despite the inaction of Congress, the many advocates of educational reform remained undaunted, and at once pro- ceeded with renewed zest to take every possible step to secure favorable action in the subsequent session. Practically every available instrument of propaganda was resorted to, and school campaigns held in various States emphasized the para- mount need of greater interest in the movement for increased educational efficiency throughout the nation. The Sixty-sixth Congress, however, concluded its labors March 4, 1921, and in the jam of legislation preceding adjournment, the pending educational bills were lost. At present, a strong movement is under way to bring about early consideration of them in the Sixty-seventh Congress. It will be readily conceded that the many bills now pending are not of equal import, and therefore do not require uniform 17 18 The Federal Government and Education treatment in the course of this dissertation; hence, it will be our purpKDse to consider only the more significant and charac- teristic measures, and, as far as possible, to study the funda- mental principles involved in the bills pointing out the prin- cipal criticisms which have been advanced with regard to them. Pursuing this plan it will be possible at least to dis- cern the general trend of the Federalization movement. The less comprehensive measures will be taken up first, and ac cordingly the analysis of the Sterling-Towner Bill will be reserved to the subsequent chapter. The Kenyon Bill, S. 846 The purpose of this bill is "to promote Americanization by providing for co-operation with the several States in the education of non-English speaking persons and the assimila- tion of foreign-born residents, and for other purposes." A somewhat similar bill was introduced in the 66th Con- gress by Senator Kenyon, and succeeded in passing the Senate January 26, 1920. The bill was straightway referred to the House Committee on Education for action, but failed to obtain the sanction of the House. Undoubtedly a more determined effort would have been made to have the measure pass the lower chamber had not an Americanization clause been inserted in the Smith-Towner (now Sterling-Towner) Bill, which was likewise pending in the House. The rein- troduction of the Kenyon Bill has led to the observation that a number of the less comprehensive education bills endeavor to achieve piecemeal and singly what the Sterling-Towner Bill purports to achieve in one large sweep. The Americanization movement originated as a war measure. America was conscious from the outset of the World War of the heterogeneity of ideals and sentiments that prevailed among her inhabitants. During the previous de- cades, many sociologists had fancied America as "the melting pot," and had placed a higher value on the product of the amalgamation process than results seemed later to justify. Consequently, it came to be feared that our society was seg- mented, and that the social and racial stratifications evidently in existence, would, if left to themselves, become a serious menace to the stability of our institutions and to the solidar- ity of our democracy. In addition to this, the draft revela- tions offered abundant testimony of the deficient education of our people. Indications from all sides pointed out that huge numbers of our population had failed to develop the Ameri- can sense, and that many of their ideals and aspirations were alien to the heart of America. An ExanUnation of the Federalisation Movement 19 It soon became apparent that national interest should be aroused, and at the suggestion of the National Committee of One Hundred, the Advisory Council on Americanization to the United States Bureau of Education, the Secretary of the Interior called a conference on Americanization as a War Measure, in Washington, April 3, 1918.^^ Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, presided, and the attendance in- cluded governors. State officers, representatives of National and State Councils of Defence, educators, representatives of industries, Chambers of Commerce, and other associations. In his opening address. Secretary Lane pointed out that a democracy must have a ''self-protecting sense as well as a creative spirit;" that while the theory of our government repudiates paternalism, we should not bestow freedom and equal opportunity upon the newcomers to our shores without teaching what these terms mean ; finally, that the significance of the word Americanization should be interpreted in terms of help, sympathy, largeness of view, the largest of human fellowship, and that it should be translated into terms of wages and living conditions of men.*^* Before the initial meeting was brought to a close. Secretary Lane introduced the question : "Should a policy of Federal aid for American- ization be adopted ?"^^ In order to frame a definite program in response to this and other pertinent questions, a committee of nine was appointed. When the conference reassembled, Governor Stewart of Montana reported for the committee as follows : 1. We recommend the adoption of the policy that the Federal Government should co-operate with the States, and through the States with the local communities in carrying on an extended, intensive, and immediate Americanization pro- gram, including education in every possible way, especially for non-English speaking foreign-born adults. 2. That the industries employing large numbers of non- English speaking foreign-born should co-operate with the local community, State and Federal Governments in carrying out this proposition. 3. That adequate appropriations should be provided by the Congress to be expended through appropriate govern- mental agencies for these purposes. 4. That in all schools in which elementary subjects are taught, the English language alone shall be used.^® " Americanization as a War Measure, Bulletin No. 18, U. S. Bureau of Edu- cation, 1918, p. 5. ^Ibid., pp. 13-14. ''Ibid., p. 29. » Ibid., p. 36. 20 The Federal Government and Education To carry out the purpose of these recommendations, a resoliution was offered by Governor Manning of South Caro- lina the main feature of which was to appoint a committee to ask a hearing before a joint session of the Senate and House Committees on Education for the purpose of "furthering legis- lation that will give Federal direction and leadership to the movement for teaching the English language to the illiterates and non-English speaking persons of foreign origin residing in the United States, and which will promote, through the public schools, the systematic instruction of such persons in American ideals, standards, and citizenship." ^^ In this con- ference, then, we may discern a progressive step in the Americanization movement, and its crystallization into a measure of Federal interest. The principal features of the Americanization Bill may be summarized as follows: 1. Co-operation with the several States is to be directed through the Bureau of Education. 2. The sum of $5,000,000 is appropriated for the first year's work, and annually thereafter until the end of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1923, the sum of $12,500,000 is appro- priated. 3. $500,000 may be expended annually for administra- tion and research. 4. The balance of the appropriation is to be allotted to the several States "in the ratio which the number of resident illiterates and other persons unable to understand, speak, read, or write the English language, sixteen years of age and over, bears to the number of resident illiterates and other persons unable to understand, speak, read, or write the Eng- lish language, sixteen years of age and over, within con- tinental United States, exclusive of the District of Columbia and the Territory of Alaska, according to the last published United States census." 5. In order to avail itself of the money appropriation, each State must through its legislature (a) accept the pro- visions of the Act ; (b) authorize its department of education or chief school officer to co-operate with the United States in the work authorized in the Act; (c) appropriate for the purposes of the Act an amount equal to that allotted to the State by the United States; (d) require, under penalty, all residents who are citizens of the United States, sixteen years of age or over and under twenty-one years of age, and all residents of more than six months who are aliens, sixteen ^■f Ibid., p. 43. An Exmnination of the Federalization Movement 21 years of age or over and under forty-five years of age, who are illiterate or unable to understand, speak, read, or write the English language, to attend classes of instruction for not less than two hundred hours per annum until they shall have completed a specified course approved by the Secretary of the Interior ; (e) provide, as far as possible, subject to the ap- proval of the Secretary of the Interior, for the education of residents of twenty-one or over who are citizens of the United States, and of resident aliens over forty-five who are illiter- ate ; (f) require the preparation and submission to the Secre- tary of the Interior, annually, of rules and regulations de- signed to enforce the provisions of the State law and the rules and regulations of the Secretary of the Interior; and (g) submit annually to the Secretary of the Interior a report which shall show (1) the plan for administration and super- vision, (2) courses of study, (3) methods and kind of in- struction, (4) equipment, (5) qualifications of teachers, sup- ervisors, directors of education, etc., (6) plans for the prep- aration of teachers, supervisors, etc., and (7) receipts and expenditures of money for the preceding fiscal year. 6. The Secretary of the Interior may withhold the allot- ment to any state whenever he determines that any portions of the sums allotted are not being applied for the purposes of the Act. 7. The Secretary of the Interior shall make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the pur- poses of this Act, and may co-operate with any department or agency of the Government and request such agencies to co- operate with him and with the several States. While this bill represents an earnest effort on the part of its supporters to realize an adequate and effective program of Americanization, it has been criticised from several angles. On the one hand there are those who are avowedly hostile to any movement involving the transfer of the educational bur- den from the States to the Federal Government ; on the other hand are those who discern weaknesses in the bill or object to its modus operandi. In the brochure "Arguments Submitted in connection with a Referendum on Proposed Federal Legislation Provid- ing for the Creation of a Department of Education and Fed- eral Aid for Education,'^^ it is stated: "More than any other educational measure, this one (the Kenyon Bill) places full control of this large national undertaking in the hands of a Washington department. The Secretary of the Interior ■• Pamphlet, American Council on Education, Washing^n, pp. 11-12. 22 The Federal Government and Education through the Bureau of Education is charged with formulat- ing the courses of study to be used throughout the States, with the approval of State plans, with prescribing standards and with supervision. He is authorized to withhold appro- priations if local arrangements are not satisfactory to him. It is not the leadership of an office equipped to investigate the subject and bring to bear upon it the best thought of the country that is provided for, but rather a scheme of bureau- cratic domination. While the amount of money involved in the Kenyon Bill is small, the principle is judged by its op- ponents to be dangerous in the extreme." Moreover, the op- ponents of Federal subsidy as provided in the bill insist that the principle of dollar for dollar appropriations is not to be accepted as valid ; the motive appealed to is a low one ; States are induced to give merely in order to share Federal moneys ; and finally "the device is on trial. It has caused endless fric- tion in some quarters. Up-to-date it has been a very dubious success."*^® The supporters of the bill insist that the States have failed to remove illiteracy or to provide adequately for Americanization, and that therefore it has become a national obligation.®*^ It is maintained, moreover, that citizens are citizens not merely of States or local communities, but citi- zens of the nation as well, and that it is of vital importance to the nation that all of its citizens be sufficiently intelligent to discharge the full duties of citizenship, and that all of the nation's wealth should be taxed in order to equalize educa- tional opportunities in all of its parts. The condition that the States match dollar for dollar is defended on the ground that "by this means local responsibility is preserved and the small- er divisions of the nation are compelled to make a reasonable provision for education."**^ It should be noted in passing that several other Ameri- canization measures are still pending in Congress. The Ves- tal Bill, H. R. 6959, corresponds to the Kenyon Bill ; the chief point of difference lies in the financial provisions of the form- er which limits the appropriation to $4,100,000. The John- son Bill, H. R. 9, which is designated mainly to amend the ex- isting naturalization laws, authorizes the Division of Citizen- ship Training of the Bureau of Naturalization to promote the civic education of candidates for citizenship. (Sec. 16). To carry on this work, $300,000 is to be appropriated annually in addition to the customary amounts allotted for positions in the Division of Citizenship Training. >>• Ibid., p. 6. •«Ibid., p. 11. " Ibid., pp. 4-5. An Examination of the Federalization Movement ^ The Fish Resolution, H. R. 72 The Fish Resolution, which is one of the less conspic- uous Americanization measures, was introduced in the House, April, 1921. This resolution would require firstly, that Con- gress "recommend to every State in the Union that it enact into law immediately measures to the end that the English language be the controlling medium in our elementary and high schools and schools of high school standing, both pub- lic and private, and that all such schools shall be required to teach at least one year of American history and civil govern- ment and all pupils attending such schools shall attend upon these studies," and secondly, that "every college and uni- versity of the United States, both public and private, be re- quired to give merited credit for these subjects in their en- trance examinations." Since the war, the States have taken the initiative in makng English the basic language of instruction in all schools public and private. In general, the colleges and uni- versities have not been unwilling to give due credit for American history and civics in their entrance examinations. In view of thi^ fact, the passing of the second feature of the resolution would involve an unmerited reprimand to our higher institutions of learning. Without doubt, many in sympathy with the purpose of the resolution would oppose it on principle, believing that it would provide a precedent for Congressional dictation in matters aflPecting higher edu- cation. The Fess Bill, H. R. 25 / The object of the Fess Bill is "to create a national uni- versity at the seat of the Federal Government," According to Section 2 of the bill, its purpose is threefoM : "First. To promote the advance of science, pure and applied, and of the liberal and fine arts by original investi- gation and research and by such other means as may appear suitable to the purpose in view. "Second. To provide for the higher instruction and training of men and women for posts of importance and re- sponsibility in the public service of State or Nation, and for the practice of such callings and professions as may require for their worthy pursuit a higher training. "Third. To co-operate with the scientific departments of the Federal Government, with the colleges of agriculture and the mechanic arts founded upon the proceeds of the Fed- eral land grant Act of 1862, with the State universities, and with other institutions of higher learning." 24 The Federal Government and Education The bill further provides: "That the university shall con- fer no academic degrees." (Sec. 4). "That the university shall be governed and directed by a board of trustees in co- operation with an advisory council." (Sec. 5). "That the board of trustees shall consist of the Commissioner of Edu- cation of the United States and twelve additional members appointed by the President of the United States for a term of twelve years." (Sec. 6). "That the advisory council shall consist of one representative from each State in the Union. The representative from each State shall be the president or acting president of they State university in case there be a State university in said State; if not, the governor of the State may appoint a citizen of the State, learned and experi- enced in matters of education, to represent said State in the advisory council." (Sec. 7). In order to fulfil the terms of the bill and facilitate thor- ough investigation, the various Federal museums, libraries, bureaus, observatories and departments of expert research shall be open for the use of graduate students. The bill car- ries an appropriation of $500,000. The proposition to create a national university is not new ; in fact, it may be traced to the beginnings of the Repub- lic. The idea was especially dear to Washington. In his first message to Congress he referred to it, and "in his will he gave fifty shares in the Potomac Company toward the endow- ment of such an institution, provided Congress should 'incline a fostering hand toward it'."®^ The statesmen of Washing- ton's day, however, were not profoundly stirred in this direc- tion. In an address to the Legislature of Maryland in 1798, the Reverend Samuel Knox insisted that "the manner in wjhich the subject of instituting a National University passed through the great legislative council of the nation" was abun- dant testimony of the lack of educational zeal on the part of the country .^^ Washington did not doubt the power of Con- gress to maintain a university, but this view was not held by Jefferson and the "strict constructionists." Of recent de- cades, however, the question of the desirability rather than the constitutionality of creating a national University has be- come the chief source of argument. (Note). In the report of the Committee on the National University Project issued " Cyclopedia of Education, New York, 1913, "National University." •"Knox, Samuel, op. cit., p. 32. Note: An excellent presentation of arguments on "The Constitutionality of a National University" is given in the report by Edmund L. James, of the Uni- versity of Chicago, printed in the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Educa- tion, 1898-99, Vol. I, pp. 662-671. The opinion of James is that "there is a dis- tinct grant in the Constitution of the United States to the Federal Govern- ment to establish and maintain a national university." This opinion is based on five distinct grounds. An Excmunation of the Federalization Movement 25 in 1899 under the auspices of the National Educational Asso- ciation, it was held that "the Government is not called upon to maintain at the capital a university in the ordinary sense of the term," and the general principle was laid down that **it has been, and is, one of the recognized functions of the Federal Government to encourage and aid but not to con- trol, the educational instrumentalities of the country."®* In the opinion of the committee it was advisable to study the opportunities for advanced research afforded by the Govern- ment, and to see in what measure existing institutions wouM be able to co-operate to this end with the Smithsonian Insti- tution. The year 1907 witnessed a concerted movement in behalf of a national university. During that year a powerful appeal was made to Congress by the National University Committee of Four Hundred, and the National Association of State Uni- versities endorsed the project by an almost unanimous vote. Likewise the N. E. X. has supported the measure, and ever since 1901 has afforded it encouragement and sympathy. It has been generally assumed that the university should be of graduate character and that it should depend largely upon the many facilities for research that are available in the various government bureaus and departments. Accordingly the con- viction has prevailed that the national university should in no wise undertake the functions or encroach upon the sphere of existing institutions, and the provisions of the Fess Bill are evidently calculated to avoid any such friction. The chief advantage of a national university as provided in this bill would lie in the equipment of experts for the pub- lic service of State or Nation. It is believed, moreover, that it would lift research under government auspices to a higher and more intensive plane than that on which it is now carried on in the various federal bureaus and departments. The Fletcher BiU, S. 622 The Fletcher Bill proposes the establishment of a "Na- tional Conservatory of Music for the education of pupils in music in all its branches, vocal and instrumental." The con- servatory is to be fostered and maintained by the Federal Government, and is to be supplemented when practicable by branches in various sections of the country. Control is vested in a general board of regents, consisting of the President, the Vice-president, the Speaker of the House, the Chairman of the Committee on Education of the Senate and the Chairman of the Committee on Education of the House of Representa- •*Annual Report, U. S. Commissioner of Education, 189>8-99, Vol. I, p. 661. 26 The Federal Government and Education tives. In addition to the board of regents, the plan of ad- ministration calls for an advisory board of directors consist- ing of fifteen members, and a dean of the faculty of the con- servatory. The first duty of the director general shall be to make a survey and research of musical conditions and deeds in the United States ; he is to prepare plans for the organization and equipment of said conservatory, and report to the board of regents, who in turn shall report to Congress with their recommendations, and suggest the necessary appropriation. One of the principal aims of the conservatory is to "co-oper- ate eflFectively with organizations and groups who are en- deavoring to promote music in any line, in community work, in schools, or in aiding American composers, artists, and mu- sicians in general, in order to encourage musical education in this country." In addition, plans are to be prepared whereby music may be brought into the rural districts and rural life made more attractive. The conservatory is to have a curriculum of studies, and is to enjoy the power to grant degrees or diplomas. To carry out the initial work of organization, an appropriation of $50,000 is authorized. The introduction of the Sheppard Bill shows how varied are the present demands upon the Government, and how general is the tendency to resort to the Federal Government for leadership and support in the furtherance of educational and cultural interests. This bill at once invites the question whether or not patronage of music rightly fall's within the sphere of national interest. If musical education is regarded a national problem, it becomes extremely difficult to deter- mine the boundaries of governmental action, and it inevita- bly follows that federal leadership and support becomes equal- ly admissible along many other lines of social and artistic endeavor. The Tillman Bill, H. R. 4129 Of recent years students of rural sociology have persist- ently pointed out that one of the gravest educational issues facing the country is the rural school problem, especially in the mpuntain districts of the South. In an effort to amelior- ate conditions, the Tillman Bill to create the "National Board of Rural' Industrial Schools for Mountain Children" was in- troduced in the House, April 1921. The duty of the board shall be to investigate the educa- tional needs of the remote and less favored mountain sections An Examination of the Federalization Movement 27 of the United States, and then to "establish and maintain, preferably in widely scattered mountain sections, twenty in- dustrial schools for mountain children of both sexes, at which schools shall be taught the common and high school branches, military science and tactics and all other branches recom- mended and agreed upon b}^ said board with special reference to instruction in domestic science, farming, road engineering, and scientific and industrial education." The bill carries an appropriation of $300,000. This bill, although intended for a worthy purpose, would continue a step farther Federal control of education in the States. Granting the necessity of Federal action to provide education in the mountain sections, it seems unwise to create a new Federal Board to administer the Act. The tasks out- lined in the bill might well be referred to the Rural School Division of the Bureau of Education, or else to the Federal Board for Vocational Education, since industrial education is the chief aim of the measure. Under existing statutes, the educational eflFort of the Federal Government is carried on by too many distinct and isolated boards, bureaus, and depart- ments. Hence, the creation of a new educational board is highly undesirable. If the Federal Government is obliged to assume the responsibilities implied in the Tillman Bill, a more practicable plan of operation should be found. The Raker Bill, H. R. 4116 The Raker Bill proposes to enlarge the function of the Bureau of Education. Its object is to "make accessible to all the people the valuable scientific and other research work con- ducted by the United States through the establishment of a national school of correspondence." Under the bill it be- comes the duty of the Commissioner of Education "to formu- late a plan or plans whereby the publications of the various departments and bureaus of the Government shall be properly classified and lists thereof be published for free distribution, and to cause instruction by correspondence to be carried on with all persons, bona fide residents of the United States, who may apply therefor, and without charge, except such publi- cations as any such persons shall desire to purchase and which shall be supplied to them at actual' cost." It is generally conceded that large numbers of American citizens are unaware of the vast amount of literature pub- lished annually by the Government. At present the various bureaus and departments issue independent lists of available publications, and while composite lists are as yet unobtain- able for general' publication, it is apparent that any plan that 28 The Federal Government and Education would inform the public mind concerning these publications is to be cordially welcomed. To the vast army of teachers throughout the country they should prove an especial boon. With regard to the correspondence instruction provided by the Raker Bill, no definite mode of procedure is given. The plans are to be devised by the Commissioner of Educa- tion, and requests for such appropriations as may be neces- sary to carry out the measure are to be submitted annually to Congress. The importance of the Bureau of Education as a national correspondence school would depend on many fac- tors. It is conceivable that under certain circumstances it might become a very unwieldy agency, due to the nation- wide scope of its work. At present correspondence school education is being successfully conducted by many of the State universities and other local agencies in various parts of the country. The Raker Bill, H. R. 4385 Like the bill just reviewed, H. R. 4385, also introduced by Mr. Raker, aims to increase the influence of the Bureau of Education. This measure, introduced April, 1921, provides for the creation of a Division of Library Service in the Bu- reau, and authorizes the payment of $8,100 annually for sal- aries of experts and employes connected with this service. In the language of the bill, "it shall be the purpose and duty of such division to increase the efficiency of American libraries by providing current information concerning Government activities. It shall collect and organize information regarding printed matter issued by the Federal Government, and shall make available to the libraries of the United States the sources of such information. It shall provide digests of this ma- terial, with suggestions, as to its use, in order that material may be made quickly available to users of libraries." Another bill, H. R. 2458, introduced by Mr. Dallinger contain provi- sions identical to those in the Raker Bill. The Capper Bill, S. 416 The Capper Bill provides for "the promotion of physical education in the United States through co-operation with the States in the preparation and payment of supervisors and teachers of physical education, including health supervisors and school nurses, to appropriate money and regulate its ex- penditure, and for other purposes." (Sec. 1). Physical edu- cation in the definition of the bill is the thorough preparation of "the boys and girls of the Nation for the duties and re- sponsibilities of citizenship through the development of bod- An Examination of the Federalization Movement 29 ily vigor and endurance, muscular strength and skill, bodily and mental poise, and such desirable moral' and social qual- ities as courage, self-control, self-subordination, co-operation under leadership and disciplined initiative." (Sec. 2). An initial appropriation of $10,000,000 is provided for the first fiscal year ; for each subsequent year an amount sufficient to allot one dollar per child to each State accepting the pro- visions of the Act is called for. (Sec. 3). The general appro- priation is to be allotted in the proportion which the popula- tion of each State between the ages of six and eighteen years bears to the total population of the United States between those years. (Sec. 4). For the administration of the Act a Division of Physical Education is to be established in the Bureau of Education, to be in charge of a director, aided by specialists and assistants. (Sec. 5). According to the Act, the Commissioner of Education, through the Division of Physical Education is to "make and publish recommendations to aid the States in carrying out the provisions of this Act, and shall make or cause to be made studies, demonstrations, and reports to aid the States in the organization and conduct of physical education in ele- mentary, secondary, continuation and normal schools and in other institutions of higher learning." (Sec. 6). He is also required to co-operate with such bureaus and agencies of the Federal Government as may have relations with the physical education of children of school age. (Sec. 7). For adminis- tration and investigation the sum of $300,000 is to be allotted annually to the Bureau of Education. (Sec. 8). It is provided further that the United States Public Health Service shall co-operate with the Division of Physical Education of the Bureau of Education, by making "studies, investigations, and demonstrations relating to the health su- pervision of children of school age and the sanitation of school buildings, equipment and grounds." (Sec. 9). To carry out the provisions of Section 9, the Public Health Ser- vice is to receive $200,000 annually. (Sec. 10). Each State accepting the Act must designate the State's chief educational authority who will represent the State in the administration of the Act. No Federal moneys are to be turned over to the State for the payment of supervisors and teachers of physical education until that State shall have established a satisfactory system for the preparation of super- visors and teachers. Within five years after the acceptance of the Act, each State shall make provision for the physical education of all children between the ages of six and eighteen 30 The Federal Gozernment and Education years. No money shall be apportioned to any State from the funds provided in Section 3 of this Act unless a sum equally as large be provided by the State or local authori- ties or by both for the same purposes. (Sec. 11). The State authority is to present to the Commissioner of Education ''plans showing how and for what objects" it is proposed to use the appropriation allotted. These plans must show that the State is prepared to carry out the pro- visions of this Act, else the funds are not apportioned to the State. (Sec. 12). To benefit by the Act, it must be made clear to the Commissioner of Education that the State in its plan of organization of physical education "shall provide that such physical education is planned to meet the needs of all of the children of the State from six to eighteen years of age, inclusive ; and that the State, county, district, or local author- ity or any combination of these shall provide such play- grounds, athletic fields, gymnasia as are locally necessary for a well rounded course of physical education." (Sec. 13). The Commissioner of Education is authorized "to prescribe plans for keeping accounts of the expenditure of such funds as may be apportioned to the States under the provisions of this Act and to audit such accounts." (Sec. 14). The Com- missioner may withhold the apportionment of any State for the next ensuing fiscal year if the current apportionment is not being spent according to the provisions of the Act. (Sec. 16). The Commissioner is required to report to Congress an- nually on the administration of the Act. (Sec. 17). Taking cognizance of the alarming percentage of men found physically deficient in the draft examinations in the recent war, the Capper Bill aims to prevent the possibility of witnessing the rise of another generation similarly de- ficient. "In the first national army draft in 1917, when the physical standards were kept high, thirty-four per cent of the men between twenty-one and thirty-one years of age were found unfit for general military service. This is an indict- ment directly of the society in which these men had grown to maturity, and indirectly of the health service which has been offered in our public school system Society can- not afford to have boys and girls grow into manhood and womanhood physically inefficient if it is possible to remove the defect or to give the opportunity for normal development The greatest source of wealth in any community is to be found in the normal physical development of boys and girls. The individual training which is provided in our schools can mean little without a sound basis in physical An Exaiimiation of the Federal iBation Movement 31 well-being."'^' On the principle, therefore, that the future of the nation depends upon the development of sturdy men and women, sufficiently strong to meet the responsibilities of peace and to serve the common good in time of war, physical education has become a national problem. Hence the com- prehensive and detailed program embodied in the Capper Bill. This bill embodies the familiar subsidy principles seen in the Smith-Hughes Act and in the Kenyon Bill. To dis- arm certain critics of the bill who opposed it during the 66th Congress, the bill was carefully revised with the result that in the new bill the rights of the States to supervise and ad- minister their facilities for physical education are more care- fully defined, and that the parent may, if he desires, object to the compulsory medication of his child. Although the revised bill is free from many of the objec- tionable features of the earlier measure, it is believed that the pending bill gives to the Bureau of Education what may amount to complete control over the activities of the States in the work of physical education. Excepting the Sterling- Towner Bill, the Capper Bill is the most far-reaching educa- tional measure now pending in Congress. The Sterling- Towner Bill, it should be added, includes a physical education clause and authorizes as much as $20,000,000 annually for that purpose. It is believed by many that the Capper Bill serves as an excellent substitute for a plan of compulsory military training, with the added advantage that it would provide appropriate physical direction for girls as well as boys. THE OWEN BILL, S. 523. The purpose of the 0\Ven Bill is to create a Department of Education. This measure was originally introduced in the first session of the 65th Congress, April 4, 1917, and failing of action in that session and the subsequent one, was again introduced in the 67th Congress, April 12, 1921. It provides for a Secretary of Education in the President's Cabinet, and an Assistant Secretary. The present Bureau of Education is to be transferred to the proposed Department and to remain under its jurisdiction. According to Section 5, the province and duty of the proposed Department of Education is "to collect, classify, and disseminate information and advice on all phases of education and through co-operation with State, county, district, and municipal education officers to promote, •» Strayer and Engelhardt, The Classroom, Teacher, New York. 1920, pp. 17-18. 32 The Federal Government and Education foster, and develop advancement and improvement in the public school systems throughout the United States." While the Owen Bill aims to give education new dignity- through the raising of the Government's chief educational of- fice to Cabinet rank, it is not a centralization measure. It contains no provisions for federal control of education in the States; it does not attempt to co-ordinate the many educa- tional offices of the Government under its general direction; and finally, its function in all probability would not apprec- iably transcend that of the present Bureau of Education. Ac- cording to a recent criticism, "this bill might, with propriety, have been introduced at any time within the past twenty-five years. This is another way of saying that it does not ade- quately meet the situation which the war has revealed."*® The Husted Resolution, H. J. Res. 93. The Husted Joint Resolution provides for a Commission on Public Education whose duty shall be "to inquire into the condition of public education in the several States, and to recommend such measures as it may deem advisable for the improvement of the same." According to Section 3 of the resolution, the duty of the commission is to report upon the following particular subjects: 1. The desirability of establishing a uniform system of public education throughout the United States under Fed- eral regulation and control. 2. The advantages, if any, to be secured through Fed- eral legislation of uniform application throughout the United States providing for compulsory education, registration of children, inspection of schools, examination and licensing of public-school teachers, and supervision of teaching. 3. The desirability of establishing a national system of military education and training in the public schools, acad- emies, colleges, and universities in the United States. 4. The improvement of the systems of public education in the several States with a view to securing better and more practical educational results. 5. The desirability of providing optional subjects in edu- cational courses in colleges and universities and the extent, if any, to which such selection should be permitted. 6. Such constitutional amendment, legislation, or both such constitutional amendment and legislation, as may be deemed advisable by said commission and necessary to carry " Keith and Bagley, The Nation and the Schools, New York, 1920, p. 135. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 33 into effect any or all of the foregoing particular subjects of ixivestigation. This bill represents an attempt to discover a working basis on which to construct an educational policy adapted to the genius of American institutions and responding to the present demands in education. While it may be truly said of many of the educational bills in Congress that they are not derived from due preliminary investigation of the situa- tion they endeavor to remedy, the Husted Resolution on the other hand "represents an approach to the subject of Federal action on education that must especially commend itself to scientifically trained persons. It commits the country to noth- ing until a careful study has been made."*^ The Kenyon Bill, S. 1607. One of the outstanding pledges of the Republican Party in the national election of 1920 was the promotion of the general good through the creation of a Department of Public Welfare with a Secretary in the President's Cabinet. As a preliminary step in the fulfillment of this promise, President Harding in his message to Congress, April 12, 1921, urged that steps be taken to redeem the pledge of the administration. Pointing to the importance of the proposed department, he said : "In the realms of education, public health, sanitation, conditions of workers in industry, child welfare, proper amuse- ment and recreation, the elimination of social vice, and many other subjects, the government has already undertaken a con- siderable range of activities But these undertakings have been scattered through many departments and bureaus without co-ordination and with much overlapping of func- tions which fritters energies and magnifies the cost." In pursuance of the President's program, two comprehen- sive bills were introduced in the Senate in May, 1921. One of the bills, S. 1607, was introduced by Senator Kenyon; the other, S. 1839, by Senator McCormick. These bills would abolish the present Bureau of Education, and transfer its functions to the Department of Public Welfare. Section 2 of the Kenyon Bill provides that there shall be in the Department of Public Welfare a "Division of Educa- tion, which under the general supervision of the Secretary, shall have charge of the educational functions and activities of the department and shall, by investigation, publication, and such other methods as may be authorized by Congress, promote the development of schools and other educational «' Ihe hducational Record, Vol. I, No. 1, p. 21. 34 The Federal Government and Education and recreational facilities for the instruction of children and illiterate adults, the training of teachers, and the American- ization of those persons in the United States who lack knowl- edge of our language or institutions." Co-ordinate with the Division of Education would be a Division of Public Health, a Division of Social Service, and a Division of Veteran Service. This attempt to submerge education in the proposed de- partment has met the vigorous opposition of many educa- tors.^® They insist that the authors of the bill fail to recognize the growing demand for a Department of Education, and hence insist that the provisions of the bill relating to educa- tion be deleted. The bill has been opposed by the N. E. A., which is com- mitted to the support of the Sterling-Towner Bill. While the American Council on Education has not endorsed the Sterling- Towner Bill, it has declared itself by referendum overwhelm- ingly in favor of a Department of Education.®^ Various attempts have been made to conciliate the sup- porters of the Department of Education by calling the pro- posed welfare department the "Department of Education and Public Welfare." Whether or not the difficulty will be solved in this manner is problematical. Many students of govern- mental functions insist that in the regrouping of the admin- istrative units of the government, each Department should be uni-functional ; that is to say, it should pursue more closely a single line of effort. «« Joint Hearings before the Committees on Education, Congress of the United States 67th Congress, 1st Session, on 1607 and H. R. 5837, Washington, 1921, p. 87 flF. •'The Educational Record, Vol. II, No. 2, April, 1921, "The Referendum on a Federal I>cpartment of Education." CHAPTER IV PENDING LEGISLATION— THE STERLING-TOWNER BILL, S. 1252, H. R. 7. The Sterling-Towner Bill is the most conspicuous and com- prehensive educational measure that has been introduced into the Congress of the United States in recent decades. On all sides it is a current topic of discussion, and it has elicited a degree of in- terest hitherto unparalleled in the history of educational legislation in America. The bill embodies two main features : first, the creation of a Department of Education, and secondly, federal appropriation of large sums of money in behalf of education in the States. It may be said to represent the concrete embodiment of the theory that education is a national problem, demanding national attention, that State action is insufficient, and that national participation in the work of education is a fundamental and imperative need. While the demand for far-reaching collective action in edu- cation is not without a long historic development, it has become highly significant and has gained tremendous impetus since the World War. Never before have the unity and interdependence of American life been so vividly interpreted, and never before has the American conscience been so keenly aware of the relation of a community of ideals and aspirations to the national welfare. Due to the increasing complexity of social life, problems once deemed local and parochial are now being regarded in the light of a larger social vision. New needs have gradually developed, and the nation is being called upon to assume an important role in their solution. It is insisted that the individual is a citizen of the nation as well as of his State, and that since the welfare of the nation is so intimate- ly linked wath the welfare of the individual, the nation must co- operate in the development of its members to the fullness of their civic stature. To this end educational opportunities throughout the nation should be equalized ; the civic intelligence of the citi- zens of South Carolina or Mississippi should not fall below the minimum standard of civic and social efficiency that might be set for the nation as a whole. The war gave us a startling revelation of the deficiencies of American education. The foundations of democracy were de- clared in danger, and the conviction gained ground that something ought to be done, and done quickly. The first prerequisite to the drafting of a remedial measure was a study of the problems re- 35 36 The Federal Government and Education vealed by the war. This task was shared by the Committee on Federal Legislation of the American Council on Education and by the Emergency Commission of the National Educational Asso- ciation. The former Committee is the outgrowth of a special committee of the American Council on Education which was ap- pointed at a meeting held in Washington January 30, 1918, and which resulted in the organization of the Emergency Council on Education/^ At that time the special committee supported the Owen Bill for a Department of Education. The attitude of the committee wias expressed in the following statement presented to Senator Smith of Georgia: "While leaving to the States all the old measure of autonomy, in their own educational systems, it will be necessary to provide some central and general agency through which they may all ex- press themselves in policies which are either national or interna- tional in scope. Since education is universally recognized as the first corollary of demiocracy, it seems incongruous that it should not be recognized as of equal rank in the councils of the nation with that accorded commerce, labor and agriculture "Under the new conditions which the war has produced, the supreme importance of education to the country stands out more clearly than ever before. The great ideals which have always been in the minds of the people more or less in solution, need to be crystallized into definite form, and to become well defined di- recting motives in the national consciousness. In the absence of a state religion, the educational organization of the country must be the means of placing emphasis on the great moral and spiritual values which are ultimately the determining factors in a nation's history. By the enlightenment which it spreads and the emphasis which it places on the great moral laws, it can prove a large measure of salvation in a shifting social and economic order which we are inevitably facing at the end of the war "The nation's ideals, consciously expressed in the lives of its people, determine its destiny. As Humbolt has said, 'What we de- sire in the government, we must put first into the minds of the people through the schools.' "These are some of the considerations which seem to demand the recognition of education in the largest and most dignified way by the Government."^^ While Senator Smith, the Chairman of the Senate Commit- tee on Education and Labor, was impressed with the committee's program, he maintained that a broader measure than the Owen "i^The Educational Record, Vol. I, No. 3, p. 91. " Joint Hearings Before the Committees on Education and Labor, Congress of the United States, Sixty-sixth Session, on S. 1017, H. R. 7, July 22, 1919, Washing- ton, 1920, p. 156. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 37 Bill was needed in order to win the support of Congress and to meet the demands of the existing emergency in education/^ In February 1918 the National Education Association began to work for a new program of education. Two committees were appointed, one by the president of the National Educati(5n Asso- ciation and one by the Department of Superintendence. These two committees were merged, and became the Joint Commission of the N.EA. with George D. Strayer as Chairman. The first task of the commission was to initiate a study of the main defects of American education in the light of the revelations of the war. When the Joint Commission met in Washington in March 1918, the Committee of the Emergency Council submitted to the Com- mittee on Resolutions of the Department of Superintendence a resolution supporting the plan for a Secretary of Education, but after consultation with Commissioner Claxton, the Committee on Resolutions decided not to submit to the convention the resolution calling for the department of education."^^ The committees of the Council and of the N.E.A. went on record in favor of a Secre- tary of Education in preference to a Board of Education, but when it was found that certain Senators would not favor a depart- ment unless it would be empowered to disburse large sums, it be- came evident that a measure calling for a department could not secure the unanimous support of higher education if it were to carry federal appropriations.^* To obviate an impasse, the Joint Commission of the N-E.A., which refused to yield on the matter of the appropriation, and the American Council on Education, which opposed the so-called 50-50 principle of federal subsidy, were called upon to submit bills which would embody their re- spective views and from which Senator Smith might draft a com- promise measure that might succeed in passing the Senate. The suggested compromise measure failed to materialize and the meas- ure that Senator Smith decided to present was substantially the N.E.A. bill. The American Council found that it could not active- ly support the resolution as a whole, the opinion being that in the event of the creation of an educational department, "its higher in- tellectual functions must not be submerged by unduly magnified functions of the paymaster type."^^ The N.EA. bill was prepared during the spring and summer of 1918, and was introduced into the Sixty-fifth Congress by Sen- ator Hoke Smith in October, 1918, and by Representative Horace M. Towner on January 30, 1919. Between March 1919 and May 1919, the bill was revised and was reintroduced into the Sixty- '2 Arguments Submitted, etc.. Pamphlet, American Council on Education, p. 2. ^'Educational Record, Vol. I, No. 3, p. 92. ^*Ibid., p. 92. "T/ie Educational Record, Vol. 1, No. 3, pp. 94-95. 38 The Federal Government and Education sixth Congress in May 1919, the Educational Committee of the American Federation of Labor cooperating in the revision."^® To meet certain objections against the May 1919 version of the bill, it was further amended, and, on January 17, 1921, the revised form was reported back to the House with the recommendation that the bill as amended be passedJ^ Failing to come to a vote in the 66th Congress, the measure was again introduced both in the House and Senate in April, 1921, upon the opening of the 67th Congress. Since Senator Smith did not resume his seat this session, his bill was sponsored by Senator Sterling. Once again the bill was carefully revised in an effort to allay the criticism that had arisen in regard to the last Smith- Towner version. Provisions of the Bill The purpose of the Sterling-Towner Bill as stated in the preamble is "to create a Department of Education, to authorize ap- propriations for the conduct of said department, to authorize the appropriation of money to encourage the States in the promotion and support of education, and for other purposes." The principal provisions of the bill are as follows : 1. A Department of Education is created with a Secretary in the President's Cabinet and an Assistant Secretary. (Sec. 1, 2). 2. The Bureau of Education is transferred to the Depart- ment of Education and the Congress is authorized to tranfer to it such other offices, Bureaus and branches of the Government as in its judgment should be administered by the Department of Educa- tion. (Sec. 3). 3. It shall be the duty of the Department of Education to conduct studies and investigations in the field of education and report thereon. Research shall be undertaken in (a) illiteracy ; (b) immigrant education; (c) public school education, and espe- cially rural education; (d) physical education, including health education, recreation, and sanitation ; (e) preparation and supply of competent teachers for the public schools; (f) higher educa- tion ; and in such other fields as, in the judgment of the Secretary of Education require attention and study. The Secretary of Edu- cation is further empowered to make appointments, or recom- mendations of appointments, of educational attaches to foreign embassies. (Sec. 5). 4. $500,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is appropriated annually for the purpose of paying salaries, conduct- ^« Keith and Bagley, The Nation and Schools, New York, 1920, p. 142. ""House of Representatives, Report No. 1201, 66th Congress, Sd Session, Janu- ary 17, 1921. An Excmiination of the Federalization Movement 39 ing investigations, and paying expenses incidental to administra- tion. (Sec. 6). 5. The following sums or as much thereof as may be neces- sary are appropriated for co-operation with the States: (a) $7,500,000 is authorized to be appropriated for the instruction of illiterates fourteen years of age and over. (b) $7,500,000 for the Americanization of immigrants. (c) $50,000,000 for the partial payment of teachers' salaries, for providing better instruction and ex- tending school terms, especially in rural localities. To avail itself of this provision, the State will maintain the following requirements as nearly as its constitutional provisions will permit: (1) a legal school term of at least twenty-four weeks in each year; (2) a compulsory school attendance law; (3) a law requiring that the English language be the basic language of instruction in the com- mon-school branches in all schools, public and private. (d) $20,000 for the promotion of physical education. (e) $15,000,000 for the preparation of teachers for public-school service, particularly in the rural (Sees. 7-11). 6. To secure the benefits of any one or more of the re- spective apportionments authorized in sections 7-11 inclusive of this Act, a State shall by legislative enactment accept the provi- sions of the Act, and designate the State's chief educational au- thority to represent said State in the administration of the Act. Moreover, the State must appropriate for the purposes of the Act a sum of money at least equally as large as the federal sub- vention in favor of said State. (Sec. 12). 7. The chief educational authority of each State must report annually to the Secretary of Education showing the work done in said State in carrying out the provisions of the Act. This Act, however, shall not be construed to imply Federal control of educa- tion within the States, nor to impair the freedom of the States in the conduct and management of their respective school systems- (Sec. 13). 8. A National Council on Education is created to consult and advise with the Secretary of Education on subjects relating to the promotion of education in the United States. (Sec. 17). 40 The Federal Government and Education 9. The Secretary of Education shall report annually to Con- gress giving an account of all moneys disbursed and received by the Department of Education, and describing the work done by the Department. He shall make such recommendations to Con- gress as will, in his judgment, improve public education in the United States. He shall also conduct such special investigations and reports as may be required of him by the President or by Con- gress. (Sec. 18). 10. All Acts or parts of Acts in conflict with this Act are repealed. (Sec. 19). Revisions Arising From Adverse Criticism As already mentioned, the Sterling-Towner (Smith-Towner) Bill has assumed many forms- Aware of the amount of criticism directed against the bill, its authors have rewritten the measure on several occasions, and have modified or clarified the provisions which were so vigorously opposed. The results of the opposition may be summarized as follows : 1. In an effort to disarm the many critics of the bill who have been insisting that its operation involves Federal control of the educational activities of the States, the version of April, 1921, states in clear language that "all the educational facilities en- couraged by the provisions of this Act and accepted by a State shall be organized, supervised, and administered exclusively by the legally constituted State and local educational authorities of said State, and the Secretary of Education shall exercise no au- thority in relation thereto ; and this Act shall not be construed to imply Federal control of education within the States, nor to impair the freedom of the States in the conduct and management of their respective school systems." (Sec. 13). 2. Under the early forms of the bill, the President was em- powered to transfer to the Department of Education such offices, boards, bureaus, or branches of the Government, the functions of which should in his judgment be controlled or exercised by the Department. It w^as objected that this was not properly a matter for presidential decision.*^^ The amended bill reposes this power in Congress- The wisdom of the change is evident, since at pres- ent a joint committee of the Senate and House is at work upon a plan to reorganize and consolidate the various administrative branches of the Government. For this reason, the Congress should be in a position to follow out the recommendations of the committee on reorganization. 3. The earlier forms of the bill carried a definite appropria- " Capen, Samuel P., The Educational Review, Nov., 1920, "Arguments against the Smith-Towner Bill." An Examination of the Federalization Movement 41 tion of $100,000,000 for co-operation with the States. Of this total definite apportionments were made for the special purposes of the Act. A set sum of $7,500,000, for example, was author- ized for the removal of illiteracy ; a corresponding amount was authorized for Americanization, and so on. Capen among others insisted that the annual appropriation of $100,000,000 was a thor- oughly arbitrary sum; "no reliable data are at hand to indicate that just this amount is needed to accomplish the purposes speci- fied in the bill. Its very roundness indicates that it is a guess .... Assuming that the federal government should grant aid in large amounts for education in the States, the actual need of each phase of education to be subsidized should be determined in advance on the basis of careful study."^® In an effort to meet this and kindred objections, the latest revision modifies the appropriation clauses by adding to each of the sums authorized in the bill, the words, "or so much thereof as may be necessary." In this way, it is made plain that the figures given in the bill represent merely the upper limit of the amount that may be expended under the Act; in other words, the revision emphasizes the possibility that the entire appropriation may not be required to carry out the purposes of the Act. Obviously, this change is of little practical importance. 4. Certain opponents of the earlier versions maintained that as far as some of the States were concerned, several of the pro- visions of the measure would prove superfluous. The present bill makes it clear that a given State need not apply for aid under all of the respective apportionments authorized in the bill. It may therefore defer the acceptance of any one or more of the appor- tionments. 5. An entirely new feature of the latest revision is Section 17, which provides for the creation of a ''National Council on Education on subjects relating to the promotion and development of education in the United States." This section further states: "The Secretary of Education shall be chairman of said council, which shall be constituted as follows: (a) The chief educational authority of each State designated to represent said State in the administration of this Act; (b) not to exceed twenty-five edu- cators representing the different interests in education, to be ap- pointed annually by the Secretary of Education ; (c) not to ex- ceed twenty-five persons, not educators, interested in the results of education from the standpoint of the public, to be appointed an- nually by the Secretary of Education." Doubtless there were many reasons which prompted the sponsors of the bill to include this provision in the latest revision. " Ibid. 42 The Federal Government and Education Fearing one man rule in the Department of Education, many edu- cators maintained that the policies of the proposed Department should be decided by an ex-officio board, or by a national commis- sion, composed of men from various parts of the country. How far this modification of the bill tends to conciliate opposition may be open to doubt ; but it will most probably be admitted that this new provision adds a decided element of strength to the bill as a whole. From the above paragraphs, it can be seen that the opposition to the measure has resulted in a number of changes and clarifica- tions in its provisions. It is quite probable that continued exam- ination of the bill will result in further modifications. In the pages that follow, reference will be to the Sterling-Towner Bill as introduced in the House and Senate, April, 1921. Arguments in Support of the Bill 1. The Sterling-Towner Bill dignifies education by creating a Department of Education with a Secretary of Education in the President's Cabinet. Education is an essential corollary of democ- racy ; it is therefore of the most utmost importance that it be rep- resented in the councils of the nation. The proposed Department would unify and co-ordinate the various educational enterprises of the Federal Government, and afford national leadership in the movement for better schools. In addition, the Department would perform an important function in promoting research and in in- vestigating the educational needs of the nation. In the event of its creation, it would put education on the same plane with com- merce and agriculture in establishing the general policies of the nation. According to Bagley, it will be needed "to represent the people and the Government of the United States in the solution of international educational problems,"^° and to quote Spaulding, the development of a plan of education adequate to national needs "demands the establishment of a Department of Education in the national government In two-score governments, all over the world, there is found a Department, or Ministry, of Edu- cation, or Public Instruction. America is distinguished as the one important nation of the world that fails to recognize educa- tion as one of the great national fundamental interests and re- sponsibilities."^^ In no other way, it is held, could the influence and prestige of education be so notably enhanced. The advocates of the Department insist that in the work of co-ordinating and integrating the educational forces of the Nation, leadership and not law must be the potent .force ; with this as a *" Bagley, W. C, Discussion, Department of Superintendence, N, E. A., Feb., 1920. «i Spaulding, F. E., The Atlantic Monthly, April, 1920. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 43 guiding principle, a method of solving the Nation's educational problems would come most readily, "and yet not so readily that the Secretary of Education would become in any sense an educational dictator."^^ The authority invested in the Secretary of Education is "for the single purpose of safeguarding the national interest in having the subventions provided in the bill administered honestly. Anything less is unthinkable : anything more is unwise-"^^ While there has been considerable hesitation in some quar- ters to support a program that would make the nation's chief edu- cational officer a political appointee, the friends of the bill insist that education cannot escape politics and that "the sooner the great questions of education are placed squarely before the people, the sooner the problems of the school will reach a satisfactory solution; and the only way to place these questions before the people is to make them incisive political issues. To establish a Federal Department of Education would undoubtedly do more to keep education out of politics in the wrong sense and in politics in the right sense than could any other measure that the people can take."«* 2. The Sterling-Towner Bill perpetuates on a large scale the principle of federal subsidies for educational purposes. This pro- vision has been severely criticized by opponents of the measure, and in view of the prejudice against federal appropriations in aid of the States, the supporters of the bill have labored diligently in marshalling their arguments in behalf of the subsidy principle. The main reason for the federal subventions provided in the bill is to equalize educational opportunities for all the children of the nation. The bill "assumes the existence of a national con- sciousness ; that under a common flag all Americans are citizens of a common country ; that the duties and privileges of American citi- zenship are not affected by State boundaries ; that because of the facilities for intercourse between the States, each must inevitably share in the strength or weakness of all ; that whatever tends to elevate and strengthen the citizenship of any State promotes the welfare of the entire country ; and that any disorder or weakness in a State or community detracts from the general health and se- curity of the nation."®^ Granting these principles, Strayer finds it hard to understand "how one can accept the fundamental demo- cratic idea of equality of opportunity and at the same time argue against federal aid for education. It is a fact that one State has six times the wealth per unit of population that another State has. " Keith and Bagley, op. cit., pp. 297-298. **lbid., p. 304. »* Bagley, W. C. op. cit., p. 10. «Magill, H. S., The Educational Review, Nov., 1920. 44 The Federal Government and Education If equality of opportunity is to be provided, equality in the burden of taxation which is to be borne should prevail. It is manifestly unfair to suggest that the type of education which the country needs for all of its children shall involve six times as heavy a burden for one group of citizens as for another It is a sound doctrine which proposes that the wealth of the nation be put back of the education of all of its children."®^ It is contended that equality of educational opportunity does not exist to-day within a single one of our States,^^ and that the only method by which the Federal Government can promote the general welfare through education is by providing a group of con- tinuing subventions.^^ A serious drag on progress in this direc- tion lies in the fact that public opinion has not yet come to appre- ciate our educational interdependence. "The old notion of educa- tion OrS an indimdual advantage rather than a national asset and necessity still persists."^^ The war, however, emphasized the rela- tion of the individual to the Nation, and "every sign to-day points to the ever-increasing primacy of the national factor."^^ It is held that the history of federal aid to the States offers abundant precedent for the measure. From the earliest days of the Republic to the present, not a single adverse court decision has challenged the constitutionality of federal aid for education.®^ Co-operation on the part of the Government with the States under the Sterling-Towner Bill therefore is to be regarded simply as one step farther along already accepted lines, and is held to be the logical culmination of the traditional policy of the Nation. 3. The bill proposes to eliminate illiteracy, appropriating up to $7,500,000 for that purpose. According to Sec. 7, this sum is to be apportioned to the States "in the proportions which their respective illiterate populations fourteen years of age and over, not including foreign-born illiterates, bear to such total illiterate population of the United States, not including outlying posses- sions, according to the last preceding census of the United States." According to the decennial census of 1910, the total number of illiterate persons of ten years of age and over included 3,748,- 031 rural illiterates, and 1,768,132 urban illiterates. It has been found that for the native whites, adult illiteracy is six times more prevalent in rural America than in urban America ; from this it is concluded that the rural school has failed to reach the rural chil- dren in the measure that the safety and progress of the Nation 8*Strayer, George D'., Educational Review, Nov., 1920. ^ Keith and Bagley, op. cit., p. 247. ^nbid., p. 322. «»Ibid.. p. 264. ^Ibid., p. 265. «^Ibid., p. 105. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 45 demand.®^ It is held that we have succeeded more than three times as well with the children of the immigrant than with the children of the native-born, and that illiteracy is predominantly a rural problem.®^ The problem is not limited to absolute illiteracy. The army tests, for instance, "revealed the fact that practically one man out of every four (24.9%) was unable to meet the relatively simple test of intelligent reading and intelligible writing."®* To remedy this state of affairs it is contended that nothing short of Federal co-operation will suffice. 4. Closely allied to the menace of illiteracy is the American- ization problem. The same reasons that inspired the Kenyon and other AJnericanization Bills may be said to exist in regard to the Americanization clause of the Sterling-Towner Bill. Among edu- cators and statesmen the feeling is widespread that the Nation must not rest content with bestowing American liberties to the newcomers to our shores, but must make them realize their duties and responsibilities toward the land of their adoption- Accord- ing to the census of 1910, the foreign-bom population of the United States numbered 13,515,886. To develop in this vast num- ber an understanding and appreciation of Arruerican ideals is regarded as essential to the national welfare and as a blessing to the immigrants themselves. Without an Americanization pro- gram rightly conceived and administered, it is maintained that the immigrant cannot be assimilated and incorporated into the social and political life of the Nation. Weight is added to the argu- ment for Americanization when it is realized that the source of recent immigration has been 'the South and East of Europe, re- gions in which public education is supposedly negligible, and in which there exist social and political ideals so different from our own as to complicate the problem of handling the new immigra- tion.«^ 5. The bill apportions $50,000,000, or as much thereof as may be required, for the purpose of equalizing educational oppor- tunities. This sum is to be used for the partial payment of teach- ers' salaries, for providing better instruction and extending school terms, especially in rural schools, and otherwise providing equally good educational opportunities for the children in the several States and for the extension and adaptation of public libraries for educational purposes. During the school year 1915-16, the average annual salary of all teachers in the United States was $563.08 ; in Mississippi the ^Ihid., pp. 192-194. •«76»d., p. 195. "^Ihid., p. 196. »'7&id., p. 167. 46 The Federal Government and Education lowest average annual salary, or $233.64 was paid, while the high- est annual average salary, or $999.84 was paid in the District of Columbia. California held second place with $998.45.^^ As a natural consequence of the inequitable compensation of teachers throughout the country, many of the ablest teachers have aban- doned the profession for more lucrative positions, and the schools of the country have been obliged to employ untrained and inferior teachers, or to accept the unfortunate alternative or permitting vacancies to exist. From this it appears obvious that until all the schools both rural and urban are taught by properly equipped, decently paid teaching staffs, the cause of education must inevi- tably suffer a distinct loss. There has been correspondingly a considerable difference in the length of school terms in the various States. In some com- munities the child enters a veritable palace in which well-trained teachers conduct classes under the most auspicious conditions, while in other sections, the child is bound to attend school in an inferior, poorly ventilated or ill-lighted structure, presided over by a comparatively untrained teacher during a brief school year- That such inequalities exist is traceable to the variations in the taxable wealth in the several States. According to a recent study, the wealth per capita varies from $669.36 in Mississippi to $4,135.35 in Nevada, and the ''taxable wealth behind each person of school age varies from $2,026.01 in Mississippi to $27,360.70 in Nevada, wlith an average of $6,296-55 for the entire country. California can raise $30.00 for the education of each person of school age by a millage one-seventh as large as is necessary in Mississippi to raise the same amount."^^ To correct these manifest inequalities of educational oppor- tunity federal aid is regarded as imperative. If the proposed legis- lation is passed, it is promised that all schools will be made "equal- ly good in all fundamental matters, not by lowering the standards of the best schools, but by raising those of the poor and mediocre schools."»« 6. The bill incorporates also a provision for physical educa- tion and instruction in the principles of health and sanitation, the appropriation authorized for this purpose being $20,000,000. It is held that the report of the medical examinations under the Se- lective Service Act, as well as the data based on health inspection in the schools, yield abundant commentary on the need of physical and health education in all the schools of the Nation. This clause is designed to compass practically the same ends as the Capper ^Ihid.. p. 291. ^ Ibid., p. 297. »»J&trf., p. 248. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 47 Bill, S. 416. The most conspicuous difference between the physi- cal education clause of this bill and the Capper Bill is that the pro- visions of the latter are more specific and more carefully defined 7. Another feature of the bill is the appropriation authoriz- ing $15,000,000 **to provide and extend facilities for the improve- ment of teachers already in service and for the more adequate preparation of prospective teachers, and to provide an increased number of trained and competent teachers by encouraging, through the establishment of scholarships and otherwise, a greater number of talented young people to make adequate preparation for public-school service." The untrained teacher is generally looked upon as the most serious defect in public education. According to a Bulletin issued in 1916 by the United States Bureau of Education, "the United States does less to train its teachers than any other great civilized nation."^^ Of recent years it has been quite generally believed that teaching is nothing more or less than a transitory occupation, and accordingly it has not been regarded in a manner befitting its real dignity as a professional service. All the statistics that are available show that the teacher shortage is serious, and worse still, that the normal school enrollment has fallen off appreciably. In Connecticut, for instance, there were 597 students enrolled in the normal schools of the State in 1900; whereas in 1920 there were but 465.^00 Reporting the teacher shortage in the United States on the basis of data obtained since September 1, 1920, the National Edu- cational Association estimates that the combined number of vacan- cies and of teachers below standard throughout the country is 92,949.^°^ Pennsylvania is reported to have 727 vacancies and 1646 teachers below standard ; Alabama, 979 vacancies and 1230 teachers below standard.^*^^ From these and similar reports, the teacher situation is regarded as little short of menacing and as in- volving the most serious consequences. The prompt enactment of the Sterling-Towner Bill, it is believed, would aid greatly in the solution of this problem. 8. The foregoing paragraphs summarize the main argu- ments advanced in behalf of the Sterling-Towner Bill. The friends of the measure insist that it is the only kind of a measure that can properly meet the existing emergency in education; upon it de- pends the future of our schools and the progress and prosperity ••Judd and Parker, Problems Involved in Standardizing State Normal Schools, Bulletin, 1916, No. 12, U. S. Bur. Ed., p. 137. »«> School Life, Vol. V, No. 9, Nov. 1, 1920. ^'^Ihid., Vol. V, No. 10, Nov. 15, 1920. »« Ibid. 48 The Federal Government and Education of our democratic institutions. In brief, the American school cannot be content to revert to its pre-war status ; American edu- cation must be overhauled and reorganized if it is to meet the present problems of democracy. The bill has deeply impressed the public mind, and it is gathering support not only from the professional educator but also from a large array of social and civic organizations. Never before has an educational measure had so many enthusiastic and ardent supporters. Arguments Against the Bill 1. The chief argument against the establishment of a De- partment of Education is based on the fear that the Federal Gov- ernment would dominate education throughout the country. Presi- dent Hadley of Yale views the bill "as a long step in the Prus- sianizing of American education," and regards the introduction of another cabinet minister "as calculated to weaken rather than strengthen the influence of the Cabinet."^^^ He insists, moreover, that "the concentration of educational supervision in a national capital has always worked badly, and there is no reason to sup- pose that the United States would prove an exception to this gen- eral rule. French education when controlled from Paris has tended to ossify, and only as they have given independence to different parts of the system has there been progress made. All the pieces of progress of the last century were done in opposition to the na- tional incubus of a centralized bureau."^^* Likewise Capen be- lieves that under the bill the federal government would gradually and inevitably come to exercise a very large measure of dictation and control, and that federal control of local educational activities secured and perpetuated by the tacit threat of withholding federal grants would be intolerable.^^^ While the bill explicitly states that federal control of educa- tion in the States is not to prevail under the Act, Dean Burris holds that it is there in spite of all efforts to disguise it, and that no such national program for education as that contemplated in the bill could be carried out without a large measure of federal control both direct and indirect. If this control is vested in a Cabinet officer, it will be inevitably exposed to partisan influences. Be- sides, the presence of a Secretary of Education in the Cabinet is neither imperative nor desirable. For the proposed Department of Education a Federal Board of Education would be preferable. Under such a board, he maintains, continuity in the development "sr/ie Educational Record, Vol, 1, No. 3, p. 105. "* Ibid. lOB The Educational Review, Nov., 1920, p. 287. An Excmvination of the Federalization Movement 49 of well thought out policies would be assured, and the dangers arising from patronage in the appointment of assistants would be prevented.^'^^ Federal control over education is at once unconstitutional and undesirable, adds Burris ; and in the words of former Sena- tor Root it ''calls for the exercise of power by the Federal Gov- ernment which has not been committed to that Government by the people of the United States in their Constitution, but has been reserved to the several States. It seems equally clear that no such power ought to be committed to the Government, because it would be absolutely inconsistent with one of the two primary pur- poses of our system of Government, that is to say, preservation of the right of local self-government in the States, at the same time with the maintenance of National power ."^°^ According to Professor Guthrie of Columbia, the provisions of the bill would "inevitably involve an attempt at interference in the local affairs of the States, and the policy of so-called federalization of educa- tion once established would lead to an agitation and demand for a constitutional amendment to vest adequate power of centralized supervision and control in Congress."^^* In this way, believes Bur- ris, the influence now working for the beginning of a program of centralization would ultimately destroy the "very substance of Americanism, which is individualism, self-reliance, initiative, and responsibility."^"® 2. It is pointed out by Capen that the bill fails to co-ordinate the present educational activities of the Federal Government; it lays no satisfactory foundations since it "dodges the whole ques- tion of the co-ordination and simplification of the government's present educational activities It is easily possible to determine on the basis of some defensible principle which existing government offices belong in a department with functions such as those of the proposed Department of Education. In failing to indicate which these are, the framers and sponsors of the bill have not faced the primary obligation of their task."^^° It is especially noted that the bill fails to include the Federal Board for Vocation- al Education under the Department of Education. It is conceded by most educators that vocational education should be related or- ganically to the rest of the Government's educational work; the attempt to separate it from general education in States and cities has been disastrous."' Granting, however, that the Federal Board **» Burris, W. P., Address. ,A Federal Department of Education, Department of Superintendence, N. JE. A., February 26, 1920. ^'" Quoted Ibid. ^"^ Bulletin, The Catholic Educational Association, Vol. XVI, No. 4, 1920. i^O/J. cit. "» The Educational Review, Nov., 1920, pp 286-287. »"7btd., p. 291. J 60 The Federal Government and Education is brought under the Department as authorized by Section 3 of the Act, an anomalous situation would ensue, because the Smith- Hughes Act admits supervision of education within the States, while the Sterling-Towner Bill denies such supervision-^^^ In the two-fold character of the measure, moreover, there is believed to exist a misalliance; it is held that the Department of Education and the relief measure are two different and in some respects conflicting propositions; and "to promote the subsidy- feature the unification of the government's educational activities was sacrificed."^^^ 3. While the friends of the bill believe that the measure would not involve partisan politics in the appointment of a Sec- retary of Education, the opponents of the bill are not so optimistic. In the recent volume, "The Nation and the Schools," by Keith and Bagley, we read: "It is said that a President would probably appoint as Secretary of Education a member of his own political party This assertion is not true with respect to those who have served as Commissioners of Education It is reasonable to assume that the President would honestly de- sire to find the most capable man for the Secretaryship of Educa- tion and that he would make every possible effort to find such a man without making previous partisan service a prerequisite for appointment. With this reasonable assurance, the party affiliation of the person appointed becomes insignificant."^^* The high hopes expressed in the lines just quoted were given a severe jolt by the action of President Harding in removing U. S. Commissioner Claxton. To the friends of education every- where, this action was especially unwelcome- Speaking editorial- ly in the June, 1921, issue of the "Journal of the National Educa- tion Association," Bagley complained: "It is most unfortunate that a change should be made at this time when the need for rec- ognized national leadership in education is imperative. It is cer- tain to be construed as having been determined by political mo- tives and in total disregard of the growing demand for the eleva- tion of the Nation's chief educational office." Similarly, the "Ed- ucational Review" in its issue of September, 1921, commented that Commissioner Claxton's successor "would probably never have been selected by a body of experts or of impartial lay citi- zens, and the removal of Dr. Claxton seems to have been some- what impelled by political motives, which should everywhere be eliminated from education." "»7&trf., p. 292. "«J6td., p. 291. "*p. 306. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 51 This incident has convinced many of the opponents of the Sterling-Towner Bill that unless the measure is defeated, we shall witness the inauguration at Washington of a vast politico- educational machine, and that instead of attaining higher dignity in the councils of the nation, education may inherit the taint of sordid partisan politics. 4. The principal of federal subsidy as provided in the bill likewise meets with strong disapproval. Capen regards it as an accidental discovery rather than the result of careful investiga- tion.^^^ The principle of federal subsidy is still on trial and its universal validity is by no means proved ; again, it appears "not to differentiate between Federal stimulation of new educational movements and Federal support of the general educational enter- prise of the States."^^^ Basing his observations upon the opera- tion of previous laws involving the principle of federal subven- tions, Mann contends that the distribution of $100,000,000 on the fifty-fifty principle would be a fatal blunder for educational progress in the country.^^^ It is also emphasized th^t the Federal education office should exercise its leadership by means of ideas, and that when adequately equipped to investigate educational conditions, to point out defects and recommend improvements, it would accomplish everything that is sought by large federal ap- propriations."^ It is pointed out that the result would be more wholesome were the State to undertake measures for their own im- provement rather than have improvement thrust upon them ; the dollar for dollar appropriations are in principle not far removed from bribery.^^® Judd observes that "the popular mind seems prone to accept the assumption that the Federal Government can with propriety undertake everything and anything. The most insidious form of this popular superstition is the widespread belief that the Federal Government has unlimited financial resources upon which it is entirely legitimate to draw for any worthy purpose which is other- wise likely to become insolvent."^^° There are no grounds for the assumption that financial support as provided in the Sterling- Towner Bill is the duty of the Federal Government or that it will operate to raise educational standards; it is believed, moreover, "» Ibid., p. 289. »" The Educational Record, Vol. I, No. 1, p. 13. »" The Educational Review. Nov., 1920,. p. 313. ^^ Pamphlet, American Council on Education, "Arguments Submitted, etc." p. 6. "» Ibid. ^The Educational Record, Vol. 1, No. 3. Note: In an address delivered at the installation of David Kinley as President of the University of Illinois, Dec. 1, 1921, President W. O. Thompson of Ohio State University declared that if the view prevails that education is a national issue, we may expect that "national revenues will be increasingly used and that the problems of the relations between national and state agencies will increase in importance." 52 The Federal Government and Education that ther£ is more danger than benefit in Federal appropriations without Federal supervision.^^^ While many of the arguments advanced against the Subsidy principle might be regarded as speculative merely, the lessons of experience are available, and point clearly to the weakness of fed- eral subsidy. The Federal Constitution of Switzerland, for ex- ample, includes an amendment authorizing the Government to grant subventions to schools in the cantons. In Switzerland, this policy has not been generally approved ; upon consultation with leading Swiss authorities, Bryce found that it was regarded as a fault in the Swiss system. Says Bryce: "The plan of granting subventions from the national treasury to the cantons is alleged to be wasteful, injurious to the cantons in impairing self-helpfulness, and liable to be perverted for political purposes. The dominant party can, it is said, strengthen itself by these gifts, and bring a small canton too much under Federal in- fluence. Against this it is argued that the power of withholding a subvention is an engine for securing the enforcement of Federal law by a canton disposed to be be insubordinate. No great mis- chief has resulted so far, but the practice has its risks. Local sub- sidies have been lavishly bestowed, and misused for political ends, in the United States and in Canada."^^^ Again, in the experience of our own country, the subsidy principle has shown its weakness. We have at present laws au- thorizing federal co-operation with the States in the building of roads. To guard against abuses arising from this poHcy, Presi- dent Harding in his message of April 12, 1921, insisted that "large federal outlay demands a federal program of expenditure The laws governing federal aid should be amended and strength- ened. The federal agency of administration should be elevated to the importance and vested with the authority comparable to the work before it. And Congress ought to prescribe conditions to federal appropriations which will necessitate a con- sistent program of uniformity which will justify the federal out- lay." Federal aid for road-building operations is undoubtedly ad- visable and in accord with the Constitution ; and to insure that the Federal apportionments are wisely expended, a policy of Federal control is necessary. The extension of such control over educa- tion, however, would be highly detrimental to the best interests of the country, and would be clearly unconstitutional. 1" Jhid. "» Bryce, James, Modern Democracies, New York, 1921, Vol I, p. 367. An Excmvination of the Federalization Movement 53 Experience to date, therefore, both at home and abroad, can scarcely be said to favor further extension of the subsidy prin- ciple in education. Finally, objection to the $100,000,000 appropriation is made on economic grounds- Blakely holds that common honesty justi- fies opposition to it on the ground of its excessive cost at a time when the country is suffering from' serious financial burdens re- sulting from the war.^^^ Former President Hadley of Yale objects on kindred grounds, believing that the present is a singularly in- opportune time for increased national expense at Washington, and that the adverse effect of the bill economically would greatly outweigh any possible good that might be derived.^^* It has been urged also that the determination of the purpose for which the appropriation should be spent is too far removed from the people who are taxed for the expenditure.^^^ 5, Another argument which has been advanced by the oppo- nents of the Sterling-Towner Bill is that it is a direct attack upon the principle of local self-government; it imperils State sover- eignty and may give rise to paternalism and bureaucracy. It is stated that "bureaucratic control is the almost inevitable conse- quence of large Federal subsidies devoted to any kind of under- taking," and that "however carefully the appropriating act may be drawn to preserve local autonomy and prevent undue Federal influence there is finally in the hands of the Federal office admin- istering the subsidies great coercive power."^^® Addressing the United States Senate May 32, 1920, Senator King declared that there is ''a propaganda nation wide, to further weaken the States by transferring to the Federal Government the duty and responsi- bility resting upon the States of educating all within their borders. It is unquestionably the attribute of a sovereign State to provide the educational system for its inhabitants. It is an invasion of the rights of the States to have some other Government super- impose its educational system upon the people therein or control in any manner the action of such State in relation to the sub- ject."^^^ Likewise, Senator Thomas in addressing the Senate said that he was "profoundly convinced that one of the things that the States reserved to themselves and which is essential to their in- tegrity and to the integrity of the cause of local self-government is their continued retention of jurisdiction over the education of the people within their borders."^28 Hence it is argued that accord- "« Blakely, P. L., Pamphlet, The Case Against the Smith-Towner Bill. New York, 1920. »»« The Educational Record, Vol. I, No. 3. ^^ Pamphlet, American Council on Education, "Arguments Submitted, etc." p 6. ^^Ihid., p. 5. »" Congressional Record, May 22, 1920 ^Ibid., July 28, 1919. 54 The Federal Government and Education ingly as the tendency to give up home rule in education is realized in the various communities and States, local interest in education will correspondingly wane. Impressed therefore with the possible effect of the bill upon local control, educational authorities within many of the States have been studying the measure in its bearing upon their respec- tive States. In a report to Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York State, July 19, 1919, submitted by Dr. Augustus S. Down- ing, the assistant commissioner of education, after conference with President John H. Finley of the University of the State of New York, it is concluded among other things (1) that the bill would add a serious burden of taxation to the inhabitants of the State without just reason; (2) that the State of New York has taken the lead in the fields encouraged by the bill, and that so far as the State of New York is concerned, its provisions are not needed; (3) that judging from the experience of the State of New York which expends approximately $80,000,000 annually for the support of public education (which sum represents an increase of 33 1-3% within recent years) that the $100,000,000 for the en- tire country provided in the bill would prove only a pittance of the amount that would be actually required and demanded by the States. that would take advantage of the paternalism thus offered them ; (4) that the introduction of the bill at this time is inoppor- tune and its passage is clearly not desirable. In a Memorandum subjoined to Dr. Downing's report, the following facts are pointed out: "In 1918 New York paid 37% of the Income Tax of the Country. In 1917 New York paid 25% of the Expenditures of Government. Upon the later basis New York Citizens would pay for centralized education at least $25,000,000. Under the most liberal calculation. New York would receive under the proposed legislation less than $10,000,000/' According to the Memorandum, the total educational appro- priation of the State of New York for 1919 is $17,430,000 and under the proposed bill, 'Hhe additional moneys to New York would he surplusage, at the very disproportionate share in the ex- pense of obtaining it." It further states that under the terms of the measure South Carolina would pay $228,000 and benefit to the extent of $1,755,000; Mississippi would pay $143,000 and benefit to the extent of $2,115,000. The following twelve States, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia would collectively pay $7,237,000 and benefit to the ex- tent of $25,424,000. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 55 \ It is maintained, therefore, that there is no demand for fed- \ eral legislation from the States that have been progressive. The 1 demand originates from the States that have failed in compulsory \ eduation, or that seek to obtain "pork" at the expense of the j richer States. The Memorandum concludes that "the local com- < munities of New York will in the end pay the bill and the work I will not be done as well as if done by those concerned." ' CHAPTER V THE RELATION OF THE FEDERALIZATION MOVE- MENT TO DEMOCRACY From the analysis of pending federal legislation given in the two preceding chapters, it must appear evident that the present drift in American life constitutes a significant departure from the traditional policies of the nation, and reflects a strong tendency to obscure the boundaries of the States and to assert more and more the primacy of the nation. The success of the American arms in battle wlas due in large measure to the rapid mobilization of the material and spiritual re- sources of the nation. To achieve victory, the American people willingly submitted to a highly centralized system of control and gladly surrendered their wonted liberties which hitherto they had religiously guarded against the aggression of autocratic power. With the cessation of hostilities, it was to be expected that Amer- ica would strive to revert to a pre-war status, and gradually re- store the liberties appropriate to a democratic commonwealth. This, however, proved not to be the case. It appeared in fact that we were wilfully prohibiting their normal and natural restor- ation.^2® Not a few were impressed with the achievements of cen- tralized leadership and control, and hence a considerable effort was put forth to perpetuate the system which served the common cause so admirably in time of stress. Bureaucratic control proved advantageous in time of war, it was alleged; therefore, it is no less desirable in time of peace. This fallacy was not without its appeal ; and its logical correlate was embodied in the formula that a democracy cannot thrive without a maximum of social control. All too frequently it was forgotten that war is an utterly abnormal situation and that much of what is appropriate and needful in war times is inapplicable, harmful and even |>ernicious in peace times."° The current federalization tendency is the reflection of a so- cial and political philosophy whose legitimate fruition is socializa- tion on an ever-increasing scale- It is maintained that "the most outstanding lesson of the world-war is that the shibboleth of in- dividual liberty which so long held us in thrall is no longer suffi- cient. Everywhere in our increasingly complex and in- terdependent society the ideal of socialization is taking its place. *" Addams, Jane, Papers and Proceedings American Sociological Society, Vol. XIV, Chicago, 1919, p. 212. *•• Kahn, Otto H., The Menace of Paternalism, Address, Convention of the Amer- ican Bankers Association, Chicago, 1918, p. 84. 56 An Examination of the Federalization Movement 57 With reference to education we are realizing that intelligence alone can be trusted to maintain and improve our social heritage and hence the question of education can no longer be regarded as an individual matter but must be accepted as a social responsibil- ity. The nation should see to it that every child has not merely the opportunity to get whatever educational training he is able to assimilate but that he be compelled to take it. Compulsory school laws must be made universal and more effective than they have been in the past. No State can safely be permitted on the basis of State control to stand in the way of progress and national safe- ty by allowing its children to grow up in ignorance Our next step should be to modify it (the doctrine of State rights) in the field of education by centralizing control in the federal govern- ment so that we can mobilize our educational forces and make an efficient education a universal democratic birthright. "^^^ The preceding sentences convey the thoughts of Professor Walter R. Smith of the University of Kansas and they may be said to embody succinctly the philosophy of the centralization movement as it expresses itself educationally. This movement, however, has not gone unchallenged. Opposing it stands an in- fluential school of thinkers, who with President Butler believe that "the cornerstone of American government and of American life is the civil liberty of the individual citizen Ours is not a government of absolute or plenary power before whose exercise the individual must bow his head in humble acquiescence The most pressing question that now confronts the American peo- ple, the question that underlies and conditions all problems of re- construction and advance as we pass from war conditions to the normal times of peace, is whether we shall go forward by preserv- ing those American principles and American traditions that have already served us so well, or whether we shall abandon those prin- ciples and substitute for them a State built not upon the civil liberty of the individual, but upon the plenary power of organized government."^^^ It is pointed out by Cubberley and Elliot that the growth of democracy has resulted in a remarkable extension of the func- tions of the State,^^^ and, according to Chancellor, there is appar- ently no limit to what the democratic State in our land may yet undertake.^^* From the expansion of State function to the in- crease of federal function there appears a ready transition; and *» Smith, W. R., Papers and Proceedings, American Sociological Society, Vol. XIV, Chicago, 1919. *" Butler, N. M., Address. "Is America Worth Saving?" delivered before Commer- cial Qub of Cincinnati, Ohio, April 19, 1919. "• Cubberley and Elliott, State and County School Administration, Vol. II, New York, 1915, p. 3. »»* Chancellor, W. E., Educational Sociology, New York, 1919, p. 243. 58 The Federal Government and Education advocates of socialization regard it as an inherently democratic procedure. On the other hand, there are those, who, with Presi- dent Butler, regard as undemocratic any movement that tends to weaken the principle of local control and transfer the burdens of the States to the Federal Government. Not all of the educational bills discussed in Chapters III and IV explicitly provide for a large measure of federal control, yet several of the resolutions, as we have seen, are plainly calculated to achieve national leadership, direction, and control. National control and federalization of education is the unmistakable ten- dency in the current legislation of Congress. To meet the conten- tion that this procedure is the summation of a desirable and far- reaching democratic movement, it is well to study carefully whether or not the federalization movement is democratic in spirit and conducive to the highest good of the American people. As has been previously stated, the prevailing test of our institutions is their measure of service to democracy ; and surely no less a test should be applied to the contemplated legislation which, if enacted and made a part of the organic law of the land, is destined to ex- ert an important influence upon the future of our institutions and the quality of our national life. The Nature of Democracy Before a critical judgment can be made on the relation of the federalization movement in education to democracy, it should prove helpful to pause for a moment to consider the meaning of democracy. Unless some concept of the nature of democracy is accepted as a working hypothesis, it is obvious that any valuations based on the grounds of democracy cannot escape being superficial and elusive. Even where there exists substantial agreement as to the nature of democracy, its legitimate implications education- ally are far from, being clear. With regard to the meaning of political democracy, there is little ground for disagreement. According to Bryce, "the word Democracy has been used ever since the time of Herodotus to de- note that form of government in which the ruling power of a State is legally vested, not in any particular class or classes, but in the members of a community as a whole. This means, in com- munities which act by voting, that rule belongs to the majority, as no other method has been found for determining peaceably and legally what is deemed to be the will of a community which is not unanimous. Usage has made this the accepted sense of the term."^3^ Bryce, James, Modern Democracies, Vol. I, p, 20. An Exarmnation of the Federalization Movement 59 This definition amply satisfies the demands of the political scientist, but when it is remembered that in the actual work of education, not merely civic but social efficiency is the goal, the educator has reason to insist that the school is interested not only in training the youth of the nation for intelligent participation in the political life of the nation, but also in its wider social activities. When we speak, therefore, of education for democracy, we mean that education which equips the individual to realize and perform his duties not only as a citizen of our country, but also as a sharer in the wider range of moral and social interests and attitudes, without which political democracy can scarcely hope to survive. Qearly enough, then, education designed to promote democracy in its widest sense, will not only foster civic efficiency in the youth of the land, but will tend to afford that aim a wider moral and social basis. Already the peoples of progressive countries have achieved a palpable measure of political democracy. For the most part, the vision of democracy halts there ; and while the tendency of labor at present is to repulse autocratic industry, economic democracy represents rather an aspiration than an achievement. Beyond the realm of government, therefore, democracy is fundamentally an aspiration, and in most minds it sublimates into a highly ideal con- ception. A very deep-rooted fallacy concerning democracy consists in the belief that equality is essential to democracy. This prejudice is widespread and finds ample expression in current literature. Nearly a century ago De Tocqueville found it fundamental in our conception of democracy : his impression was that Americans are so enamored of equality that they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in frcedom.^^® Mecklin holds that while equality is preached as the goal of democratic strivings, and the test of institutions is seen in the extent to which they assure equal- ity, in. reality it is "not ultimate even in a democracy. It will always remain more or less a fiction. Nature and heredity have weighted the scales against it. At best, equality is a social program for the control and utilization of the inequalities that are inevitable and even necessary to a progressive society. For progress demands inequality as well as equality."^^^ The dictum that all men are bom equal is not true in an or- ganic sense ; applied to sentient beings equality is a misnomer.^^® With President Butler, Smith agrees that "nature knows no such thing as equality ;" there is, however, "an eternal tendency toward the equilibration of the forces of nature and of life. In organized i«Mecklin, John M., An Introduction to Social Ethics, New York, 1920, p. 4. ^Ibid., p. 4. "«Smith, W. R., An Introduction to Educational Sociology, Boston, 1917, p. 160. 60 The Federal Government and Education society this takes the form of securing for each individual and each class comparatively equal rights, privileges and opportunities to make the most of whatever possibilities nature or circumstances have provided. "^^® Education, therefore, is an unfortunate example for the ad- vocates of equality of opportunity ; they would be more consistent if they demanded unequal opportunity, since that would make the most rather than the least of those who are inferior.^*° In addi- tion, it would afford the highest possible opportunities for the nation's future leadership. It seems evident then that the oppor- tunities in the school should be as unequal as the persons and their future vocations.^^^ President Hall regards the uniformity of treatment of pupils which prevails in the schools as arising from an over-developed idea of democracy ; all are born free and equal, hence all must be treated alike.^*^ To repeat the thought of Her- bert Spencer, the rage for uniformity is the outcome of a nature which values equality much more than liberty.^*^ Another misconception associated with the idea of democracy lies in the belief that the individual in the democratic state is com- pletely merged or absorbed in the socializing process. While every democracy does propose to integrate the group and to de- velop homogeneity of ideals and sentiments concerning the essen- tials of group life, democracy does not propose to suppress in- dividual differences or to develop a stereotyped individuality. The fate of democracy is linked up with the perfection and protection of personality. Hence, while it is the concern of democracy to increase cooperative group action, its aim is not mass action as such ; it is even more important that in the transformation or re- making of the individual as he enters the group that he be in a measure disengaged from the mass. Democracy accordingly in- volves the realization of personality. In a real democracy, person- ality is a sacred thing, and the impulse to develop from within is everywhere fostered. From this point of view, it may be con- cluded that democracy is equality of opportunity for self-expres- sion.^** Hence it follows that self -direction is necessary in a democracy. The freedom that democracy guarantees can be pre- served only through the exercise of self-restraint Internal re- straint rather than external coercion is relied upon. The history of human liberty chronicles the struggle of the individual against the curb of group authority, and quite similarly, issj&td., p. 160. **'Harris, George, Inequality and Progress, Boston, 1897, p. 49. ^*^Ihid. ^*»Partridge, G. E., Genetic Philosophy of Education, T*School Life, Vol. V, No. 9, Nov. 1, 1920. ^^^Hanus, Paul H., School Administration and School Reports, Boston, 1920, p. 155. "8U. S. Bureau of Education. Bulletin, 1913, No. 24, p. 5. "•r/i^ Congressional Record, May 22, 1920. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 71 intellectual freedom and the play of diverse gifts and interests in its educational measures. "^^^ The presumption, therefore, in a healthy democracy is always against the intervention of the government. While society through the government has the right to maintain itself and take such steps as are essential to its perpetuity, its right is a restricted one, and is limited to the minimum of necessary co-operation. Aware of the bitter historic struggle between the freedom of the individual and the supremacy of the State, and keenly conscious of the tendency of govern- ment to encroach upon the individual, modern democracy is fearful and distrustful of authority. From this point of view democracy is not merely an aspiration, but it is a stirring protest against the curb of autocratic or bureaucratic aggres- sion. To offset the possible excess of governmental control and dominion, the other social agencies must act as a balance. In this way the home, the church, the school, the press, and the various civic and cultural groups may perform an im- portant function, namely, that of preserving the social equili- brium. If they prove vigilant and active, the fate of our free institutions will not depend upon the inclination of State or government. Thus, diffusion of control becomes the chief se- curity against its excess. ^^° At this point it should be insisted that of all institutions the home especially should be faithful to its sacred duty. The family, says Cope, is the first and most effective school of democracy.^^^ It is, moreover, the chief agency in the edu- cation of the young and as such it ought never to be super- seded. ^^^ Unfortunately, however, it is frequently neglectful of its trust, with the inevitable consequence that in justice to the children, the State or Federal Government is obliged to step in and fulfill the duties in the performance of which the home has been derelict. The strengthening of the home is one of the greatest so- cial problems of the present. Its deficiencies have necessitated the government to go far in the direction of paternalism. To restore the balance presents a task that is well-nigh heroic. One thing, however, should be remembered : Whenever the State or Federal Government concerns itself with the indi- "•Dewey, John, Democracy and Education, New York, 1916, p. 357. ^«>Ross, E. A.. Social Control, New York, 1901, p. 431, "'Cope, H. F., Education for Democracy, New York, 1920, p. 108. i*sShields, T. E., Philosophy of Education, Washington, 1917, p. 281. 72 The Federal Government and Education vidual child, it should deal with him as a member of the family and through the family; whenever this principle is ignored, the natural result is the weakening and disintegration of the family, which in turn works serious injury to the individual and to society.^®* Conclusion The following conclusions may be drawn from this dis- sertation : I. While national interest in education is not without a long evolution, the nation is at present assuming an increas- ingly important role in relation to education. The truth of this is evident upon an examination of the large number of education bills now pending in Congress. II. The bills pending in Congress during the 66th and 67th Congresses have been designed to serve a wide variety of purposes; bills have been introduced for such diverse ob- jects as the following: Americanization, physical education, vocational education and rehabilitation of ex-soldiers; rural and mountain schools ; civic, social, and health extension edur cation; a national school of correspondence; instruction in the hygiene of maternity and infancy ;^^* also bills to create a De- partment of Education, to establish a National University, a National Conservatory of Music, a station for the investiga- tion of mentally handicapped children ; likewise bills to set up a commission to investigate public education in the United States and to make recommendations for its improvement, and finally, a large number of measures affecting the scope and status of the work carried on by the United States Bureau of Education. III. Many of these measures, if enacted, would exercise a far-reaching influence on the schools of the nation. Taken altogether, they clearly reveal the tendency to transfer the educational burdens of the States to the nation. If American education is to remain true to its democratic traditions, edu- cational control will be kept as far as practicable in the hands of the people. As already pointed out, the experience of France under centralized control gives ample evidence of the waning of local interest in education wlien control passes from the local communities to the nation. In a democracy, a super- ***This (Sheppard-Towner) bill was passed in the course of the 67th Congress, 1st Session. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 73 imposed system should be avoided. There are no reasons which justify the extension of federal control of education in the United States. IV. Several important bills now pending embody the so- called fifty-fifty principle of federal subsidy. While this prin- ciple is not to be absolutely discountenanced, experience does not justify its rapid extension along educational lines. It is still on trial, and unless it is followed up by a program of rigid supervision, it may give rise to serious abuses. In some countries it has been employed for political ends by the dom- inant party. V. The Sterling-Towner Bill is the most important of the educational measures now pending in Congress. While it represents a sincere effort to remedy a number of educa- tional deficiencies that are clearly obvious and deserve cor- rection, its modus operandi is open to challenge. A genuine difficulty lies in the danger that the appropriation feature of the bill will ultimately bring about a policy of federal con- trol of education. The policy of the Federal Government un- der present legislation lends substance to this contention. In addition, the bill reveals many of the shortcomings of a com- promise measure ; in some respects it is neither well studied nor consistent. Conceivably the bill might afford temporary relief in some quarters; in the long run, however, its opera- tion would prove harmful and it would commit the country to an educational policy that would defeat rather than pro- mote the best interests of the nation. The experience of for- eign governments with nationally controlled and subsidized education does not argue favorably for the adoption of such a plan in America. VI. Among a democratic people, leadership rather than law should be the chief inspiration of educational reform. Federal control is advisable only under the condition of ab- solute necessity and as a result of a thorough investigation of the evils to be remedied. Since the end of the war, the States have been taking the initiative for educational progress. This tendency on the part of the States is so general in ex- tent, and so salutary in principle, that it should give pause to any precipitant legislation by the National Congress. At all events, the Federal Government should avoid overlapping the activities of the States. As a result of the general election in November, 1920, important constitutional amendments in the interest of edu- cation were adopted in many States. California, Georgia, Texas, Utah and Virginia were vitally affected.^^^ In the ^*^School Life. Vol. V, No. 10. 74 The Federal Government and Education course of an intensive school campaign in Texas, public opin- ion was educated concerning the educational needs of the State, with the result that favorable legislation comprising fifteen progressive features was enacted/^^ Alabama likewise reports progressive action/^^ and twenty-two other States contemplate educational programs at the approaching ses- sions of their respective legislatures/*® This activity is a direct answer to the challenge that the States are incapable of meeting their educational responsi- bilities, and that their educational sovereignty should be transferred in whole or part to the Federal Government. Moreover, it lends corroboration to the testimony of Ayres that "the educational effort of a State is dependent on its aspir- ations and ideals rather than on its financial resources. The handicap of limited resources is relative rather than abso- lute."^*^ Therefore, on the basis of data at present available, the utter incapacity of the States to meet the emergency in education has not been demonstrated. In general, considerable progress is being made through- out the Union. A healthy sign is found in the advance returns of the decennial census for 1920, which show that despite the large immigration of illiterates during the preceding decade, the percentage of national illiteracy is steadily decreasing. VII. In many quarters the belief is growing that the continuance of the present centripetal drift in educational con- trol may be rightly construed as a decline of American faith in liberty. According to President Butler, there has been over-organization in education for a long time past. "Too many persons are engaged in supervising, in inspecting and in recording the work of other persons. There is too much ma- chinery, and in consequence a steady temptation to lay more stress upon the form of education than upon its content. Sta- tistics displace scholarship. There are, in addition, too many laws and too precise laws, and not enough opportunity for those mistakes and failures, due to individual initiative and experiment, which are the foundation for great and lasting ^^Ibid., Vol. V, No. 9, and No. 12. ^^■'Ibid., Vol. VI, No. 1. ^^Ibid., Vol. VI, No. 2. **»Ayres, Leonard P., An Index Number for State School Systems, New York, 1920, p. 40. Note: Commenting on educational progress in Mississippi, H. M. Ivy, State Super- visor of Secondary Schools, writes as follows in the Journal of the N. E. A., May, 1922: "The sentiment of the people of Mississippi toward education is far more favorable than ever before. We believe that we are justified in the statement that our educational efficiency has improved not less than twenty per cent during the past three years." ^••Butler, N. M., Annual Report of the President, 1921, Columbia University, Bulletin of Information, Jan. 1922. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 75 VIII. The creation of a Federal Department of Educa- tion is gaining support throughout the country. Realizing the baneful influence of politics on education, many prefer a Fed- eral Council or Commission on Education to a Department of Education with a Secretary in the President's Cabinet. Education undoubtedly merits a higher status in the gov- ernment. Under existing statutes, the Bureau of Education is unable to cope with the important educational problems which properly belong to it. At all events, education should not be submerged in the proposed Department of Public Welfare, as provided in the Kenyon Bill, S. 1607. IX. In the interest of constructive reform the following suggestions are submitted : 1. The Federal Government should take steps to co-ordi- nate its existing educational activities. In the interest of econ- omy and efficiency, the thirty or forty educational offices now being administered by the United States, should, as far as pos- sible be brought into organic relationship and articulation with one another. 2. A National Council or Commission on Education should be created by the Federal Government. This commis- sion should be representative in character, and composed of men well qualified educationally regardless of political affil- iation. Geographical considerations should bear considerable weight in the making of appointments. In order to give con- tinuity to the commission the term of office of a member should be not less than seven years, and appointments should be so regulated as to provide at least one appointment and retirement annually. In this way, constant newness as well as continuity would be assured. Its duty might well include the following functions : (a) to investigate educational problems of national significance; (b) to authorize studies and surveys of schools and school systems in various parts of the country, to discover defects and afford information toward their improvement ; (c) to pro- mote the standards of research under government auspices; (d) to devise objective standards of educational efficiency; (e) to furnish leadership and inspiration for the educational thought of the country; and (f) to report annually to Con- gress on the state of education throughout the nation. BIBLIOGRAPHY CONGRESSIONAL BILLS AND DOCUMENTS 66th Congress, 1st Session, S. 1017, H. R. 7. S. 561. H. R. 9353. H. R. 1108. S. 1536. S. 2121. H. R. 3079. S. 2203. S. 2376. S. 819. H. R. 1204. H. J. Res. 46. 2nd " S. 3950, H. R. 12652. H. R. 12269. S. 3315. 67th " 1st " H. R. 25. H. R. 4129. S. 1061. S. 1607 S. 1839. S. 408. H. R. 6959. H. R. 4116. H. J. Res. 93. H. R. 21. H. R. 22. H. R. 7, S. 1252. S. 846. " H. R. 4385. S. 622. S. 523. H. R. 7458. S. 416. S. 1039. H. R. 9. H. R. 72. H. R. 2159. Joint Hearings before the Committee on Education and Labor, Congress of the United States, 66th Congress, 1st Session, on S. 1017, H. R. 7, Washington, 1920. Report on H. R. 7, House of Representatives, Report No. 1201. Hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor, U. S. Sen- ate, 66th Congress, 2nd Session, on S. 3950. Washington, 1920. Hearing before the Committee on Education, House of Repre- sentatives, 66th Congress, 3rd Session, on H. R. 12652. Washington, 1921. Hearing before the Committee on Education, House of Represen- tatives, 66th Congress, 1st Session, on H. R. 6870. Washington, 1919. Hearing before the Committee on Education, House of Represen- tatives, 66th Congress, 3rd Session, on H. R. 12078. Washington, 1921. 76 An Examination of the Federalization 'Movement 77 Hearing before the Committee on Education and Labor, U. S. Senate, 67th Congress, 1st Session, on S. 408. Washington, 1921. Joint Hearings before the Committee on Education, Congress of the U. S., 67th Congress, 1st Session, on S. 1607 and H. R. 5837. Washington, 1921. _ ^ ^^^^^ House Document No. 1004, 63d Congress on H. R. 16952. Report to accompany H. R. 7951, Co-operative Agricultural Exten- sion Work, Report No. 110, 63d Congress, 2nd Session. Congressional Record, Remarks and Debates on Education Bills under the following dates: July 28, 1919. Jan. 17, 1920. Mar. 26, 1920. May 22, 1920. Feb. 12, 1921. Pamphlet, Laws Relating to Vocational Education, Issued by Document Room, House of Representatives, Washington, 1921. PEDAGOGICAL Butler, Nicholas Murray, The Meaning of Education, New York, 1898. Cope, Henry Frederick, Education for Democracy, New York, 1920. CuBBERLEY, Ellwood P., Changing Conceptions of Education, Boston, 1909. Public Education in the United States, Boston, 1919. Dewey, John^ Democracy and Education, New York, 1916. DuTTON, AND Snedden, The Administration of Public Education in the United States, New York, 1914. Hart, Joseph Kinmont, Democracy in Education, New York, 1918. JuDD, Charles H., The Evolution of a Democratic School System, Bos- ton, 1918. Keith and Bagley, The Nation and the Schools, New York, 1920. Mann, Horace, Lectures on Education, Bostin, 1855. Sharp, Dallas Lore, Patrons of Democracy, Boston, 1919. Shields, Thomas Edward, Philosophy of Education, Washington, 1917. Slosson, Edwin E., The American Spirit in Education, New Haven, 1921. Snedden, David, Educational Readjustment, Boston, 1913. Vocational Education, New York, 1920. PHILOSOPHICAL AND SOCIAL Bryce, James, Modern Democracies, New York, 1921. Chancellor, William E., Educational Sociology, New York, 1919. Hadley, Arthur T., The Moral Basis of Democracy, New Haven, 1919. KiRKPATRiCK, Edwin A., Fundamentals in Sociology, Boston, 1916. Knox, Samuel, An Essay on the Best System of Liberal Education, Adapted to the Genius of the Government of the United States, Baltimore, 1799. Perry, Ralph Barton, The Present Conflict of Ideals, New York, 1918. Ross, Edward Alsworth, Social Control, New York, 1901. What is America r New York, 1919. Principles of Sociology, New York, 1920. Smith, Walter R., An Introduction to Educational Sociology, Boston, 1917. 78 The Federal Government and Education ARTICLES, PAMPHLETS AND REVIEWS Andrews, B. F., The Land Grant of 1862 and the Land Grant Colleges, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1918, No. 13. Blakely, Paul L., The Case Against the Smith-Towner Bill, Pamphlet, America Press, New York, 1920. BuRRis, W. P., AND Bagley, W. C, A Federal Department of Education as set forth in the Smith-Towner Educational Bill, N. E. A. Leaf- let, Department of Superintendence, Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 26, 1920. Butler, N. M,, Is America Worth Saving? Address, Cincinnati, Ohio, April 19, 1919. Capen, S. p.. Arguments Against the Smith-Towner Bill, Educational Review, Vol. 60, No. 4, Nov., 1920. The Government and Education, Educational Review, Vol. 62, No. 2, Sept., 1921. Germann, George B., National Legislation Concerning Education, Co- lumbia University Thesis, New York, 1899. Guthrie, William D., The Federal Government and Education, Cath- olic Educational Association Bulletin, Vol. XVI, No. 4, August, 1920. Hood, William R., Review of Educational Legislation 1917 and 1918, U. S. Bur. Ed., Bulletin, 1919, No. 13. James, Edmund L., The ConstsHutionality of a National University, An- nual Report, U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1898-99, Vol. I. Kerby, William J., Social Aspects of Rights and Obligations, The Cath- olic World, Vol. CXI, No. 662, May, 1920. Kerschensteiner, George, A Comparison of Public Education in Germany and in the United States, U. S. Bur. Ed. Bulletin, 1913, No. 24. Magill, Hugh S., The Smith-Towner Bill, N. E. A. Leaflet, Legislative Commission Series, No. 1, Washington, 1920. The Smith-Towner Bill, Educational Review, Vol. 60, No. 4, Nov., 1920. Education and the Federal Government, School and Society, Vol. XIV, No. 354, Oct. 8, 1921. Mann, C. R., The American Spirit in Education, U. S. Bur. Ed. Bulle- tin, 1919, No. 30. The National Organisation of Education, Educational Review, Vol. 60, No. 4, Nov., 1920. Monroe, Paul, Ed., Article, National University, Cyclopedia of Educa- tion, N. Y., 1913. Russell, James Earl, Education for Democracy, Teachers College Rec- ord, Vol. XIX, May, 1918. Ryan, John A., Vocational Education in a Democratic Society, The Cath- olic Educational Association Bulletin, Vol. XVI, No. 2, Proceed- ings and Addresses of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting, St. Louis, 1919. Spaulding, F. E., Educating the Nation, The Atlantic Monthly, April, 1920. Steiner, Bernard C, Life of Henry Barnard, U. S. Bur. Ed. Bulletin 1919, No. 8. Strayer, George D., Why the Smith-Towner Bill Should Becomg a Law, Educational Review, Vol. 60, No. 4, Nov., 1920. An Examination of the Federalization Movement 79 VARIA American Council on Education, Arguments Submitted in Connection with a Referendum on Proposed Federal Legislation Promding for the Creation of a Department of Education and Federal Aid for Education, Washington. American Sociological Society, Papers and Proceedings, Fourteenth An- nual Meeting, Vol. XIV, The Problem of Democracy. Americanization as a War Measure, U. S. Bur. Ed. Bulletin, 1918, No. 18. Federal Board for Vocational Education, Second Annual Report, Wash- ington, 1918. Bulletin No. 1, Statement of Policies, Washington, 1917. Memorandum to the Hon. Alfred E. Smith, Governor of New York, sub- mitted by Dr. Augustus S. Downing, Assistant Commissioner of Education of New York, after conference with President John H. Finley of the University of the State of New York and the State Department of Education, Albany, June 19, 1919. National Catholic Welfare Council, Statement on the Smith-Towner Bill. Proceedings Americanization Conference, Washington, Government Print- ing Office, 1919. School Life, Bi-monthly publication U. S. Bureau of Education, Vol. V, Nos. 9, 10 and 12, Vol. VI, Nos. 1 and 2. University of Illinois Bulletin, Vol. XIX, No. 23. The Relation of the Federal Government to Education. Urbana, 111., 1922. VITA The writer of this dissertation was born in Norwich, Con- necticut, July 3, 1895. He made his early studies at St. Pat- rick's Parochial School and the Norwich Free Academy in that city. In 1913, he matriculated at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, and received the degree Bachelor of Arts from that institution in 1917. In September, 1917, he entered upon graduate work in the School of Phil- osophy of the Catholic University of America as a Fellow of the Knights of Columbus, and in June, 1918, received the de- gree of Master of Arts in Education. After a year spent in the military service of the United States as an instructor in rehabilitation hospitals, he resumed his graduate studies in Education as a candidate for the de- gree, Doctor of Philosophy. As minors, the following branches were pursued: Sociology, Social Psychology, Bi- ology, and American History. The writer takes this opportunity to acknowledge his deep debt of gratitude to the late Reverend Doctor Thomas Ed- ward Shields, under whose scholarly guidance his graduate work was carried on until the Doctor's death in 1921 ; to the Reverend Dr. Patrick J. McCormick for frequent counsel and direction as teacher for two years, and as Major Professor during the concluding period of the writer's university work; also to the Rt. Rev. Mgr. Pace, Rev. Dr. Kerby, Rev. Father McVay, Dr. McCarthy, and Dr. Parker, whose classes it was his privilege to attend. He wishes finally to express his sin- cere thanks to the Knights of Columbus for the exceptional advantages enjoyed for three years as a graduate student at the Catholic University. 80 FOURTEEN DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. 3Jan'36TWy 1956 LU ?30d'56?W REC'D LP OCT 17 1956 7VJ\at'5»