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THE NATION AND
THE SCHOOLS
A STUDY IN THE APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLE
OF FEDERAL AID TO EDUCATION
IN THE UNITED STATES
BY
JOHN A. H. KEITH
PRESIDENT STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
INDIANA, PA.
WILLIAM C. BAGLEY
PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, TEACHERS
COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Nefo 2§0tfc
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1920
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1920,
Bv THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 1930.
NorfoooU press
J. S. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
PREFACE
The purpose of this book and the plan of treatment
are set forth in Chapter I. The authors desire here to
acknowledge their indebtedness to Dr. E. H. Reisner
and Dr. I. L. Kandel of Teachers College, Columbia
University, for their kindness in reading critically cer-
tain of the chapters dealing with the historical develop-
ment of Federal aid to education, and to Miss Frances
r\ M. Burke, of the Indiana, Pa., State Normal School,
tj for her painstaking work in preparing the statistical
tables. Paragraphs from an article contributed by one
*> of the authors to The New Republic, December 13,
- 1919, form part of Chapter XVIII, and are reprinted
with the permission of the publishers. Of the earlier
- works from which data have been taken in the con-
- struction of the tables, especial mention should be
made of F. H. Swift's Permanent Public Common-School
Funds (Henry Holt and Company) and E. P. Cubberley
and E. C. Elliott's State and County School Adminis-
tration (The Macmillan Company).
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface v
Chapter I. Introduction i
National influence in everyday life, due to the
nature of our common needs — The neighborhood
cannot remain isolated — The public schools, in
pattern, express the genius of our people, the realiza-
tion of this pattern by every school is essential to
National welfare — National aid to public education
in the states and the establishment of a Department
of Education in the National Government are neces-
sary to the accomplishment of this purpose and in-
volve no new principles.
Chapter II. Educational Conditions at the Close
of the Revolution 8
State sovereignty preceded our present constitu-
tional government — Individualism and the "town
meeting" gave rise to the "district system" — The
colonial schools were not free — Rate bills — The
compulsory rate — Compulsory schools in Con-
necticut — Schools in other colonies — The colonial
colleges — Universal education was unknown in
colonial days — Secularization began before 1776
— The bond of union was hatred — The schools
were poor and scattered.
Chapter III. The Great Stake 14
The conflict over claims to the Northwest Terri-
tory was practically settled by the Act of 1780 —
The Land Act of 1785 provided for the survey of this
territory and set aside therein Lot No. 16 in every
township for "the maintenance of public schools
within the said township" — This Act hastened
the settlement of the conflicting land claims of the
several "sovereign and independent" states — Perma-
nent funds for the maintenance of schools date from
1635 — Towns set aside lands for the maintenance
of schools (1641) — Colonial governments granted
Vlii TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
lands to towns and counties (1659) for the support
of schools — Connecticut (1726) reserved lands for
the schools and ministry and later (1733) created a
permanent fund the interest on which was to be ex-
pended for the "support of schools required by law"
— Georgia followed in 1783 and New York in 1785
— Land endowments for the support of schools in
colonial days had set the precedent for the reserva-
tion of "Lot No. 16" by the Land Act of May, 1785.
Chapter IV. The Endowment Magnificent . 22
The experiences of Ohio with "Lot No. 16" — The
difficulties of the grant to separate townships — The
grant to the state necessitated some equitable form
of distribution of the interest on the funds derived
by the states through the sale of school lands —
The inadequacy of these "distributable funds"
naturally led to state-wide taxation to supplement
them — The extension of the Land Act of 1785 to
the Louisiana Purchase — The Oregon Territory
Land Act, of 1848, set aside sections sixteen and
thirty-six for the public schools — The original
states received no land from the Federal Govern-
ment — Exceptional cases are briefly described —
The "Funds" thus derived were often mismanaged
— The free public school was firmly grounded by
these grants of land and became a great induce-
ment to settlement — The silence of the Constitu-
tion on education.
Chapter V. Land Grants for State Universities . 35
Manasseh Cutler secured, for the Ohio Company,
a grant of two townships "for the purpose of an
university" in July, 1787 — The strategy of Dr.
Cutler — Educational proposals before the Con-
stitutional Convention at the time of the grant to
the Ohio Company for a university — The organiza-
tion, supervision, and administration of education
are sovereign functions reserved to the states by
the Tenth Amendment — This is not in conflict
with the principle of Federal Aid to education which
was operative before and since that time — The
Symmes Purchase in Ohio and Miami University
at Oxford, Ohio — The policy established by grants
to these two colonizing companies has become the
policy of the Federal Government.
TABLE OF CONTENTS IX
PAGE
Chapter VI. Other Federal Land Grants in Aid of
Education 45
Salt lands were given by Congress to fourteen states
— Internal improvement lands were given to nine-
teen states and many used all or a large part of the
proceeds for public education — Swamp lands were
given to fifteen states and many of these devoted a
part or all of the proceeds to public education —
Specific grants to states admitted in 1889 and since
that time have been exceedingly generous.
Chapter VII. Money Grants in Support or Education 53
The "five per cent" funds, derived from the sale
of public lands within a state, have been a substantial
aid to education in many states — The Surplus
Revenue, deposited with the states by the Act of
June, 1836, was largely used for educational pur-
poses by the several states — The Distributive Act
of 1 84 1 yielded only a small amount of money and
for only one year — Forest Reserve Funds in some
of the western states yield a small annual income
for support of schools — Minor grants described.
Chapter VIII. The Morrill Acts and the "Land-
grant" Colleges 64
The instruction offered by private colleges and
early state universities did not meet the needs of
pioneers nor of the gradually increasing "working
man"— The older states still felt that they should
have received, individually, some of the proceeds
of the sale of the "public domain" — The first bill
of Justin S. Morrill, providing for "the establish-
ment, endowment, and maintenance of an agri-
cultural and mechanical college" in each state, passed
Congress in 1859, and was vetoed by President Bu-
chanan — The bill was passed again in 1862 and signed
July 2, 1862, by President Lincoln — Scrip was
issued to each state, and sold to individuals or land
companies — Most of this scrip was sold at a small
price — Ezra Cornell, by careful planning, enabled
New York to create a large endowment — These
"land-grant" colleges had difficulties during and
following the Civil War — The Hatch Act, of 1887,
established an "Experiment Station" in connection
with each "land-grant" college — The second Morrill
X TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Act, of 1890, gave to each "land-grant" college
$25,000 a year for its "more complete endowment
and maintenance" — The Adams Act, of 1906, in-
creased the Experiment Station appropriation of
the Hatch Act to $30,000 a year — The Nelson
Amendment to the Second Morrill Act increased
the cash appropriation to $50,000 a year, making
the total $80,000 a year to each state — The Smith-
Lever Act of 1 9 14 further increased the funds of the
"land-grant" colleges for extension work and Farmers'
Institutes — This bounty on the part of the Federal
Government has been a great stimulus to the states
— The public domain is now too small to provide
the revenue needed for further educational subven-
tions by Congress.
Chapter IX. Specific National Educational Acts . 83
The work of the Freedmen's Bureau during the Civil
War — The Bureau of Education is inadequately
supported and lacks prestige — Congress supports
purely national schools at West Point, Annapolis,
and various other points.
Chapter X. Federal Grants for Vocational Educa-
tion 94
The need for vocational education of less than
college grade has long been felt. Philanthropy has
also been interested in the worker — The Smith-
Hughes Act, of 191 7, makes ample provision for
encouraging the states to organize and expand voca-
tional education — The Smith-Hughes Act embodies
several new principles in connection with Federal
aid to education.
Chapter XL The Principles Embodied in the Educa-
tional Acts of Congress 101
The Federal Government has the right to encourage,
by grants of land or money, the establishment of
public schools, colleges, and universities — Congress
has the right to enter into cooperative arrangements
with the states, not violating the Tenth Amend-
ment, for specific educational purposes, as in "land-
grant" colleges and the various provisions of the
Smith-Hughes Act — Congress may encourage welfare
work in the states — Congress may appropriate
money for the preparation of teachers of vocational
TABLE OF CONTENTS XI
PAGE
education — Congress may appropriate money for
the collection and dissemination of information about
education — Congress has the right to maintain
schools for distinctively national ends, for the educa-
tion of its wards, and for the people in its territories
or in other lands over which it exercises sovereignty
— These principles are sufficiently broad to cover
every provision of the Smith-Towner Bill.
Chapter XII. The National Education Association
and Federal Aid 107
The endowed universities have opposed Federal
aid — This opposition was clearly voiced in 1873 by
Presidents McCosh, of Princeton, and Eliot, of Har-
vard — The public school men, generally, have
favored Federal aid — From 1873 until 1890, the
N. E. A. favored using the proceeds of public land
sales for the cause of public education — The re-
moval of illiteracy was sought — Senator Blair ap-
peared before the N. E. A. in 1887 and explained
his efforts in behalf of the removal of illiteracy _ —
Federal aid for normal schools was specifically in-
dorsed in 1876 and in 1906 — The predecessors of,
and the Smith-Hughes Bill itself, were indorsed —
The idea of a National University and specific bills
in Congress establishing such a university have been
favored — For a half century, the leaders of public
education have favored Federal aid to education,
the expansion of the Bureau of Education into a
Department of Education, and a National University
— This is reflected in the resolutions and acts of
the N. E. A.
Chapter XIII. What the War Revealed . . .120
War always reveals educational defects — The
war brought out the facts about illiteracy in our
country — The need for Americanizing the immi-
grant population was clearly appreciated — The
inadequate support of education also became evident
— The need for equalization of educational opportuni-
ties and the taxation burden incident to the support
of public education was emphasized — Health de-
ficiencies also became matters of common knowledge
— Teaching was revealed as a casual and temporary
occupation largely made up of young, immature, in-
experienced, untrained girls. The strength of the
Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
schools, as a means of reaching all of the people,
became evident — The N. E. A. appointed an Emer-
gency Commission to advise the best procedure in
the crisis — The high school and college graduates
readily developed the leadership necessary to pre-
pare our troops for the conflict.
Chapter XIV. Current Proposals in Congress . . 134
The Owen Bill, expanding the Bureau of Education
into a Department, attracted some attention in Con-
gress — The Lane Bill, prepared in the Department
of the Interior, is designed to remove illiteracy among
native-born and foreign-born, but is poorly drawn
and probably is a violation of the Tenth Amendment
— The Lane Bill seeks to remove illiteracy simply
by educating existing illiterates and does not seek
to prevent the creation of additional illiterates — It
also fails to meet the whole educational need of the
country — The Smith-Towner Bill seeks to expand
the public school system so as to meet the needs of
this generation in a comprehensive way by providing
for the removal of illiteracy, the Americanization of
foreigners, the equalization of educational oppor-
tunities, the establishment of programs of physical
and health education, the preparation of teachers,
and the creation of a Department of Education in
the Government.
Chapter XV. Reduction of Illiteracy among the
Native-born 144
Illiteracy among the native-born is decreasing, but
at a very discouraging rate — Present illiterates should
be taught through an expansion of the public school
system, and the public school system should be so
remedied that no additional illiterates will develop
— Illiterates in the several states and the allotments
of the Smith-Towner Bill for the removal of illiteracy
— The function of the Federal Government is to
stimulate the states to undertake the removal of illit-
eracy and not to set up detailed methods and plans
in accordance with which the work must be done —
Statistical tables show that illiteracy is not decreas-
ing as rapidly as national interest demands — The
states have had the problem of illiteracy with them
since the founding of the Union and no one of them
has worked out an adequate plan for dealing with it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS X1U
Chapter XVI. Americanization 162
Immigrants present a triple educational problem
— Immigrants enter this country and move about
freely in it under Federal Government regulations
— Therefore, the states have done little about it —
Figures showing rate of increase of immigrants are
astonishing, especially in view of the enormous in-
crease from countries in which education is at low
ebb — Americanization problem more than doubled
in the ten years from 1900 to 19 10 — Some form of
Federal stimulation is necessary to induce the states
to Americanize the immigrants within their borders
— The number of foreign-born in each state, the
percentage of foreign-born for each state, and the
allotments of the Smith-Towner Bill show that it
is possible to organize state-controlled systems which
will Americanize foreigners.
Chapter XVII. Physical and Health Education . 173
HI health is a constant economic and social waste.
The Surgeon General's report furnishes interesting
although disquieting data — The Alabama Survey
also shows alarming conditions in that state — Physical
fitness does not come about simply through employ-
ment — Education is needed — What is now being
done in a few states and in several cities points the
way to what ought to be done everywhere, but it
will not be done if left to local or state initiative.
Chapter XVIII. The Weakest Links . . . .184
The rural and village schools are inadequate finan-
cially to meet the Nation's needs regarding the removal
of illiteracy, the Americanization of foreigners, and
the establishment of physical and health education
— The rural school is very inadequate in every state
of the Union and part of this is due to the low status
of teaching as a profession and of the agencies for
the preparation of teachers — Sixty per cent of the
next generation of American voters are enrolled in
rural schools — Rural schools are small with low per
capita wealth, thus requiring a high tax rate to secure
good schools or the expense of transportation to con-
solidated schools — The individualism of the Amer-
ican farmer is against paying high wages — The
farmer is also tempted to keep his children out of
school — The teacher finds it difficult to deal with
XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS
children of all age limits and does not have adequate
supervision — Inadequate rural schools have pro-
duced the excess of adult illiteracy in rural as com-
pared with urban communities — The rural school
also produces a limited literacy that does not meet
national needs — Physical deficiencies in rural com-
munities are more prevalent than in urban communi-
ties — The rural community has no means of Amer-
icanizing the immigrant population resident therein
— The rural school is proverbially of less average
length than urban schools — It is not fair to judge
all of our schools by the performances of our best
schools — The common defense cannot be safe-
guarded so long as rural schools remain as they are.
Chapter XIX. The Weakest Links {Continued) . . 208
The immature and untrained teacher can never
make the rural school what it ought to be — The
best talent should go into these schools — The public
attitude toward public school service should be changed
— Compensation for teaching should no longer be a
gratuity nor pin money — It must be otherwise in
order that teaching may become a profession — The
business world is competing for ability and public
education must be able to attract, train, and retain
youth of ability — The personnel of the public school
service analyzed — Teachers in Alabama — Teachers
in Nebraska — Teachers in Wisconsin — Teachers
in Pennsylvania — The present shortage of teachers
— The factory plan of administration has come into
existence as a substitute for trained teachers —
The present inefficiency of schools is due to untrained
teachers — The normal schools are not able to train
enough teachers for the public school service and
therefore need some form of additional revenue.
Chapter XX. Equalization of Educational Oppor-
tunities 240
Taxation for the support of schools developed
slowly and with much opposition — State school
funds paved the way for state school taxes — Pro-
ceeds were distributed — Table showing present status
of educational funds in different states — Equality of
educational opportunity is fundamental to democracy
and it is the business of the state to see that this
equality of educational opportunity becomes the
TABLE OF CONTENTS XV
opportunity of every boy and girl — The teacher is
the key to the situation — Educational and taxation
facts regarding Wisconsin and Pennsylvania pre-
sented in tabular form and discussed — Education
is a National necessity rather than an individual —
The Nation has an interest in every boy and girl —
There are great variations in the taxable wealth in
our different states — Table showing per cent of
wealth, per cent of population, and per cent of persons
of school age stresses these conditions — Provisions of
the Smith-Towner Bill for equalization include setting
aside a portion of the fund by the state for the payment
of salaries of teachers so that professional preparation
will be encouraged — Table showing allotments for
equalization of educational opportunities.
Chapter XXI. Preparation of Teachers . . . 278
Every child in the land should have a teacher who
has been especially selected and especially prepared
to teach — Teaching is a national service as well as
a state service and a community service — Leader-
ship will always emerge — The normal schools, as the
agencies for training teachers for the common schools,
have been neglected by the states — The Smith-
Towner Bill would double the resources of teacher-
training institutions — The equalization of educational
opportunities will make rural school teaching more
attractive — The Smith-Towner Bill makes possible
the application of the West Point policy to the prepara-
tion of teachers — The Nation has a responsibility in
this matter — A study of the facts regarding teachers,
population, children of school age, and the average
salary of teachers taken in connection with the wealth
of the several states convinces one of the necessity for
national aid to teacher-training institutions.
Chapter XXII. A Department of Education . . 293
A Department of Education is created by the
Smith-Towner Bill following the precedent of the
non-executive departments such as the Departments
of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor — Congress has
no power to control agriculture or labor or education,
but it can be helpful to each without control — A
Department of Education is needed to prepare a
budget for the present educational activities of the
United States — A Department of Education is needed
XVI TABLE OF CONTENTS
to integrate the various educational activities of the
Federal Government and to coordinate and integrate
the forces of the Nation — A Department of Educa-
tion is needed to represent the people of the United
States in the solution of international educational
problems — A Department of Education is needed to
give to education the status, dignity, and influence
that it should have in a great democracy — A Federal
Board of Education would be wholly inadequate to the
needs of the country — The authority conferred on the
Secretary of Education is such that no one need fear
domination from Washington — The Secretary of Edu-
cation would be appointed by the President, but it is
unthinkable that any President would make previous
party service a condition of appointment.
Chapter XXIII. In Conclusion 309
Congress may appropriate money as well as land for
the "maintenance of public schools" — The allotments
of the Smith-Towner Bill are really subventions —
Each grant of money is conditional on the perform-
ance of the states — A piecemeal method of educating
each and every community and each and every state
to the national point of view is inadequate to the
present crisis — The Smith-Towner Bill follows the
unquestioned precedent already set up by the National
Government — The Sixteenth Amendment provides
for taxes on incomes — The money thus derived can
be used for educational purposes and because of the
relationship between education and wealth, it seems
particularly fitting — Wealth is not wholly or even
chiefly a matter of state lines — The states are inter-
dependent educationally, commercially, and indus-
trially — The Federal Government can, by sub-
ventions, realize educational ends as truly as if its
sovereignty included education — A Department of
Education is needed to make effective the educational
work which this country now does, for the adminis-
tration of the provisions of the Smith-Towner Bill,
and for the leadership which it would give to public
education in this country.
Appendix A 325
Table showing land and scrip granted to the states
and territories for educational aid and other purposes.
TABLE OF CONTENTS XVU
PAOl
Appendix B 334
Swamp and overflowed lands granted to different
states — A table showing cash and land indemnity
given to the several states.
Appendix C 336
A complete text of the Smith-Towner Bill.
Appendix D 350
Non-English speaking elements in the population.
Index 355
THE NATION AND THE
SCHOOLS
CHAPTER I
Introduction: The National Problem in
Education
More and more insistently the outstanding problems
in American life are becoming national problems, and
their solution is being sought on a national basis. The
Federation of sovereign states which was brought
into existence primarily to provide for the common
defense has come slowly but surely to concern itself
in increasing measure with the general and internal
welfare of its component units. To the organization
and control of the army and navy, the regulation of
customs duties, the operation of the postal service,
and the management of foreign affairs, it has added
with each succeeding decade new and unexpected types
of domestic responsibilities. Its influence to-day, well-
nigh paramount in transportation, is felt with almost
equal force in banking, mining, and manufacturing;
the productivity of the fields and the forests has long
been an object of its interest and its bounty ; and its
2 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
recent efforts toward the improvement of public health
and social hygiene have met with a degree of success
that has commanded popular approval.
It is futile to affirm that this strong and pervasive
tendency toward nationalism has been the result of
anything less powerful and significant than imperative
and fundamental needs. It may be that designing
individuals or partisan groups have sought to impose
a centralized government upon an unsuspecting people ;
if so, their puny efforts could have neither facilitated
nor retarded the deep-lying currents that were already
sweeping aside all obstacles in their course. Every dis-
covery of science, every invention in the arts, every
advance in industry has worked throughout the coun-
try toward interdependence and unity, toward a multi-
plication of common needs, common ideals, and common
aspirations, and toward an insistent demand for the
kind of far-reaching collective action that will meet
these needs and realize these ideals and aspirations
quickly and effectively. It has been through the pres-
sure of these forces, — impersonal, objective, and irre-
sistible, — that the Federation has become a Union,
and the Union a Nation.
If it is true, however, that impersonal and objective
forces have worked toward the primacy of the Nation,
it is no less true that they have so far wrought the
transformation with little appreciable weakening of the
institutions of local self-government. The American
THE NATIONAL PROBLEM IN EDUCATION 3
people are thinking in terms of a larger unit, but it
is still the people who are thinking, and as long as
this fact remains, the dangers of paternalism will be
negligible. The boundaries of the community have
been widened, but the essential condition is unchanged
— the community is still a community. What was
democratically fit and proper for the little isolated
neighborhood may still retain its democratic fitness
and propriety when the neighborhood is no longer
little or isolated. In certain essential matters to-day,
the "neighborhood" can be no smaller than the Nation
itself. To approximate in this larger unit the condi-
tions of common knowledge, common understanding,
and common standards of right and worth that char-
acterized the smaller unit is the safeguard that must
be raised against any evils that may lie in centralization.
To erect such a safeguard is the manifest duty of
the only great collective enterprise that has not as yet
been touched and quickened by the spirit of the new
nationalism, — the public school. The most powerful
and the most fundamental force that could be em-
ployed to preserve and extend the essential conditions
of American democracy has not as yet been explicitly
and systematically directed toward this end.
The public schools of the United States typify in
many ways the genius of our people. They represent
in theory the basic principles of democracy. Among
the educational systems of the modern world, they
4 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
are almost alone in their freedom from the stratifying
influences of caste or class. In pattern and in form,
they express clearly and consistently the most char-
acteristic of our national ideals — the ideal of equality
of opportunity. From the standpoint of the Nation's
needs, however, the virtues of our schools are potential
rather than dynamic. It is the pattern and the ideal
rather than the performance that commands the admira-
tion of the informed observer from abroad. Our schools
are good — excellent — in certain localities ; but taken
in the aggregate, they are inefficient in a measure that
the war crisis and its aftermath have clearly revealed.
The heavy total of illiteracy among our native-born
population is a charge against the school system; the
"limited literacy" which the Army tests found to
characterize one soldier out of every four can be ex-
plained only by the inadequacy of our lower schools;
the relatively high proportion of physical deficiency
which the draft brought to fight constitutes an edu-
cational problem ; and the need of an effective education
in American citizenship imposes upon the public schools
a national duty not hitherto clearly recognized.
^ The emergency that to-day confronts American
'education is likewise a symptom of a national weak-
ness that cries out for correction. The policy that
has denied to public-school service the rewards and
recognitions essential to make it attractive as a perma-
nent calling finds its consistent outcome in the present
THE NATIONAL PROBLEM IN EDUCATION 5
acute shortage of teachers for the lower schools. In
the fall of 1919, it was estimated that a half million
children were out of school because teachers could not
be found for them. One million more were under the
instruction of teachers who were unable to meet the
lowest standards of a licensing system already far too
low in its requirements. During the winter many
schools that had opened in the fall were forced to close
because their funds had been exhausted. And added
to all this there was an alarming falling-off in the en-
rollment of the institutions that prepare public-school
workers.
Unless remedial measures are soon taken, these
conditions will become progressively worse. The situa-*
tion that they reveal is not local and sporadic, but
nation-wide and general- It constitutes a state problem
and a local problem, but far more fundamentally it
constitutes a national problem of the first magnitude.
It is not too much to say that our educational system
is threatened with disruption at the very point where
its strength and stability are most significant to the
Nation's life.
How the public schools may be made efficient upon
a nation-wide basis is the problem for which the follow-
ing chapters will attempt to outline a solution. The
solution that will be proposed involves nothing revolu-
tionary. The Nation has already established a policy
of Federal aid for education. This policy, which
7
6 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
antedates the Constitution, has been strengthened and
developed during the period of our national life. It
constitutes to-day a safe and tested framework upon
which to build the needed extensions. There is no
thought here of a national control of public education.
This would be without warrant or justification. What
is needed is a measure of Federal cooperation that will
correct the underlying defects resulting from a narrow
and inadequate conception of educational responsibil-
ity, — a type of cooperation that will stimulate the
people to see their state and local educational problems
in a national perspective, and that will make the pro-
vision of good schools and good teachers in every
community a matter of duty to the Nation and of
fidelity to the ideals for which the Nation stands.
The first part of the book briefly outlines the his-
torical development of the policy of Federal aid, with
the attempt to show how this policy, well-intentioned
but defective at the outset, has been gradually refined
through progressive legislation to the point where its
much wider extension in the form of national sub-
ventions is clearly justified. Following this historical
survey, the present situation is analyzed and the de-
ficiencies revealed by the war are traced to their
causes. The measures now before Congress looking
toward the remedy of one or more of these deficiencies
are then considered. Of these, the Smith-Towner Bill,
as representing the most comprehensive proposals, is
THE NATIONAL PROBLEM IN EDUCATION 7
selected for detailed treatment and the remaining
chapters are devoted to a study of its provisions and
of the educational conditions which they seek to im-
prove. In this connection the two most serious weak-
nesses of American education, — the rural schools and
the policies and agencies for the preparation of teachers,
— are given especial emphasis and attention. The
book concludes with a discussion of the proposal to
restore the present Federal Bureau of Education to
its original status as a department of the Government,
and to make it an executive department with a cabinet
officer — a Secretary of Education — at its head.'"
The book, in brief, is a collection of fact and argu-
ment designed to show that the Nation is, in a very real
sense, an educational unit, that the Federal Government
should assume a fair proportion of the cost of maintain-
ing schools throughout the country, and that there
should be established in Washington an adequate agency
through which the educational needs of the Nation as a
Nation may be made vocal.
CHAPTER II
Educational Conditions at the Close of the
Revolution
It is difficult for one of this generation to go back,
even in imagination, one hundred thirty-seven years to
the time when Great Britain signed treaties of peace
with the thirteen Colonies in America recognizing each
as "a sovereign and independent State." The images
necessary to the reconstruction of the life of that day
are not within the experience of most of us. If it
be true that the ideals and acts of that distant time
have influenced, and still influence, our daily lives, it
is important for us to know something of them that we
may understand the genesis of our present problems
and act intelligently with respect to the present and
to the future that ever has its roots in a past that was
once a present.
Our colonial fathers were afraid of a centralized
authority. They lived in a day in which, for the benefit
of mankind, it was necessary to assert at every point
the "divine right of the individual" as opposed to the
"divine right of kings," — and they did it most success-
fully. The "town meeting" developed in Massa-
chusetts and was copied in many of the other colonies.
8
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS AT CLOSE OF REVOLUTION 9
Fundamentally, it expressed the right of a compact
and relatively isolated group of people, with common
interests and common ideals, to control, as a group, its
own affairs. It did not go to that limit of individualism
which is destructive of all government, but it clearly
emphasized the right of "Hke-minded" people, living
in small communities, to direct their own affairs in their
own way.
It was out of this firm belief in the autonomy of the
small like-minded group that the so-called "district
system" of public-school administration was born. Be-
cause the principles of self-determination and local self-
government appealed to the struggling settlers through-
out the colonies and on the frontier, the "district sys-
tem" became the almost universal pattern for the control
of public schools wherever such schools were organized.
The colonial schools were not free in the sense that
our present schools are free. At first they were sup-
ported entirely by a tuition charge paid by the parents.
Later, public moneys, in small amounts, were voted by
the town meeting to eke out the tuition charges. These
appropriations were supplemented by rate bills, — a
tax on the parents and guardians of children attending
the school. These rate bills were authorized by the town
meeting and were collectible by legal processes of seizure
and sale of property. 1
1 One is likely to think of the rate bills as a method of supporting
public schools belonging to a very remote past. The following table,
IO THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Schools supported in part by voluntarily determined
rate bills followed the original subscription schools.
The next step was a compulsory rate on all the inhabi-
tants, first appearing in the Plymouth Colony in 1677.
In the same year Connecticut provided compulsory
rates "except any town shall agree to some other way
to raise the maintenance of him they shall employ [to
conduct a Latin school]." l In this matter, indeed,
Connecticut really led the way, for its famous Code of
1700 provided: (1) That every town of seventy house-
holders or more must maintain a school eleven months ;
(2) that every town of fewer than seventy householders
must maintain a school for at least six months; and
(3) that towns must levy a school tax of 40 shillings on
every 1000 pounds. 2
The population of Pennsylvania was a conglomerate
of different religious sects up to the close of the Revolu-
prepared from material in Swift's Public Permanent Common School
Funds (p. 27), may dispel any illusion we may have had on this matter.
Rate Bills Abolished
Massachusetts . . . 1827 Iowa . . .
Delaware 1829 New York
Pennsylvania .... 1834 Rhode Island
Florida 1869 Connecticut .
Vermont 1850 Arkansas . .
Indiana 1851 Virginia . .
Ohio 1853 Utah . . .
1858
1867
1868
1868
1868
1870
1890
Other states do not appear in this table because they conducted their
schools at public expense for a very short term each year, permitting a
longer term by rate bills or by subscription, at the option of the district.
1 Com. of Edn. Report, 1892-3, p. 1239. 2 Ibid., p. 1245.
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS AT CLOSE OF REVOLUTION II
tionary period, and the schools — the few that existed
— were connected with the churches. The "doctrine of
the inner light" * held in common by the Quakers and
the German sects was not conducive to the organization
of schools. Ability to read the Bible was ample edu-
cation for all of life's duties and responsibilities.
In Virginia and other colonies of the South, the
plantation life rendered schools of the present type
practically impossible. There were some "plantation
schools"; subscription schools were found in the few
large towns; while for the large majority of the land-
holders, a tutorial system in the planters' homes
sufficed. In certain communities, too, an effort was
made to teach the rudiments of reading to the children
of the poor.
On the whole, colleges were more successful in the
colonial period than were public schools as we now know
them. The need of an "educated ministry" was
keenly felt and, in part, provided for. Harvard was
founded in 1636 ; William and Mary in 1693 ; Yale,
1 701 ; Princeton, 1746; Pennsylvania, 1749; King's
(Columbia), 1754; Brown, 1764; Dartmouth, 1769;
Queen's (Rutgers), 1770; Hampden-Sidney, 1776;
Washington and Lee, 1782; Washington University
(Maryland), 1782. Preparation for college demanded
1 For an illuminating treatment see Fisher's The Making of Penn-
sylvania, pp. 43-64. As to the Germans in Pennsylvania in colonial
times, see the same volume, pp. 1 19-127.
12 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
tutors in the South and the grammar school in New
England.
Generally speaking, however, the education of the
great masses of people — "universal" education — was
not only an unrealized ideal ; it was scarcely recognized
as a worthy ideal, except for the religious sanction
that attached to ability to read the Bible ; and, outside
of New England, the training requisite to this end was
usually held to be the duty of the home. And yet
the secular and civic sanctions for education were even
then beginning to take root. " The laws . . . prior to
1876 . . . show the state beginning to recognize the
importance of education for her own welfare, and begin-
ning to contribute to the support thereof, but leaving
unto the church a large measure of control in the super-
vision and administration of schools." 1
At the close of the Revolutionary period, then, we had
thirteen "sovereign and independent States" scattered
along the Atlantic coast, each spent with the long
struggle for independence, each feeling some distrust
of every other, each with its traditions of individual
liberty and local autonomy, — modified only by the
belief of each that its own views of life, religion, and
statecraft ought to be universally accepted.
These separate states, in their years of struggle for the
realization of common aims, had been brought together
1 S . W . B ro wn : The Secularization of A merican Education. New York ,
1912, p. 155.
EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS AT CLOSE OF REVOLUTION 13
under the Articles of Confederation, — a covenant so
loose that its weaknesses seemed to spell disaster for
any plan of union. The three and a half million inhab-
itants of the thirteen states were widely scattered.
Means of communication were few and inadequate. It
was difficult for one group to know what others were
doing or how they felt. The strongest bond of union
was found in a common hatred — in a negative rather
than in a positive ideal. The schools — few, small,
and scattered — shared in the disasters and dissensions
which the long years of war had brought.
CHAPTER III
The Great Stake
In colonial days there had been many quarrels over
conflicting claims to the territory that lay west of the
narrow fringe of settlements along the seaboard. Even
during the progress of the war against the Mother Coun-
try, the adjustment of these claims and the disposal and
settlement of the domain involved gave rise to bitter
disputes. In 1778, the General Assembly of Maryland
agreed not to sign the Articles of Confederation unless
the crown lands that were unsettled at the beginning of
the war should become the common property of all the
states "to be parceled out by Congress into free, con-
venient, and independent governments in such manner
and in such time as the wisdom of that assembly shall
hereafter direct." The claims of Virginia, New York,
Massachusetts, and Connecticut were hopelessly in-
volved. Virginia started to sell her western lands in
1779 and the Continental Congress, recognizing that
such a step would threaten the weak bonds that held the
states together, urged her to stop and also begged the
other states to do nothing with their lands until the war
should be over.
14
THE GREAT STAKE I 5
This land controversy not only did not help the
prosecution of the war ; it delayed as well the ratification
of the Articles of Confederation. In the efforts to
settle the matter, Congress passed, in October, 1780, a
resolution that pledged its attitude and intention as
follows :
(1) That the western territory claimed by the states
should be disposed of for the common benefit of all the
states.
(2) That it should be divided into states ultimately
to be admitted into the Confederation upon a footing
equal in all respects to that of the original states.
(3) That the expenses incurred by any state in
subduing British posts and in acquiring and defending
the western territory should be reimbursed.
(4) That the manner and condition of the sale of
the lands in dispute should be exclusively regulated by
Congress. 1
This action by Congress had a salutary effect. In
March, 1781, New York gave up her claim to the
disputed territory. In October, 1783, Virginia ceded
her lands, making only a reservation of about three
million seven hundred thousand acres between the
Little Miami and Scioto rivers in Ohio, as bounty for
her troops. Massachusetts ceded her lands in April,
1785, without reservations. A month later, May, 1785,
Congress adopted a plan for the disposal of this new
1 Journals of Congress, VI, p. 213.
1 6 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
national territory. The lands were to be divided
"into townships six miles square"; each township was
to be subdivided into thirty-six lots, one mile square ;
the lines of these 640-acre lots were to be run in the
same direction as the external lines of the townships
and the lots were to be numbered from 1 to 36. Out
of every township, the four lots numbered 8, 11, 26, 29,
were reserved by the United States Government for
future sale; and the lot No. 16 of every township was
dedicated to "the maintenance of public schools within
the said township."
With the intention and pledge which this "Land
Ordinance" of May, 1785, clearly stated, Connecticut
made her first cession in September, 1786, and her
second one in 1800. South Carolina completed her
cession in August, 1787. In December, 1789, North
Carolina ceded her claims to Tennessee. Georgia's
cession of her claim on lands west of the Chatta-
hoochee River, made in August, 1788, was not finally
completed until April, 1802, on account of the Yazoo
Land Company's troubles. With this one exception,
however, and for all practical purposes, the cession to
the United States of the lands claimed by the states
had been completed by the beginning of 1 790, —
that is, within ten years of the declaration of intention
and pledge made by Congress in October, 1780. The
Congressional action of May, 1785, which directed that
Lot No. 16 should be reserved "for the maintenance
THE GREAT STAKE
17
of public schools within the said township" was five
years from the beginning and five years from the end
of the decade. 1
The action of Congress in setting aside Lot No. 16 of
each township for the support of schools was an event of
prime importance in American history. It will be well
to trace the development of the ideals and policies which
resulted in this action.
The first permanent funds for the maintenance of
schools in this country took the form, in part, of private
endowment through the donation of lands. Benjamin
Simms of Virginia, by his will of 1635, gave "two hun-
dred acres of land, with the milk and increase of eight
cows, for the maintenance of an earnest and honest
1 It is interesting to compare the areas of the states created out of
this vast public domain with the areas of the original states.
Area in
Made from Ceded
Area in
Original States
Square Miles
Domain
Square Miles
1 . New Hampshire .
9,341
I.
Ohio ....
41 ,040
2. Massachusetts .
8,266
2.
Indiana .
36,354
3. Rhode Island . .
1,248
3-
Illinois
56,665
4. Connecticut
4,965
4-
Michigan .
57,98o
5. New York .
49,204
5-
Wisconsin
56,056
6. New Jersey
8,224
6.
Tennessee
42,022
7. Pennsylvania
45,126
7-
Alabama .
51,998
8. Delaware .
2,307
8.
Mississippi
46,865
9. Maryland .
12,327
9-
Kentucky
40,598
10. Virginia
42,627
11. North Carolina .
52,426
12. South Carolina .
30,989
13. Georgia . . .
59,265
326,315
429,528
1 8 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
man to keep a free school for the education of the
children of the parishes of Elizabeth City and Kiquo-
tan." In 1636, Captain John Mason left one thousand
acres of land "for maintaining a free grammar school
for the education of youth in New Haven." There
were many examples of such personal grants in colonial
days.
Public-land grants for education closely followed
these private benefactions. For the maintenance or
support of a school, Boston reserved Deer Island
(1641), Dorchester reserved Thompson's Island (1639),
and later (1657) added one thousand acres of
land. This step was followed by the granting of
lands by the colonial governments to towns or coun-
ties for the support of schools. Each of four counties in
Connecticut, for example, received, in 1672, six hundred
acres of land for the support of a grammar school. The
General Court of Massachusetts, in 1659, granted one
thousand acres of land each to Charlestown and Cam-
bridge with the understanding that the land was to be
forever appropriated to the support of grammar schools.
The next step in the development of land-grant
policies was taken when the colonies reserved a portion of
their unsettled lands for school purposes. Connecticut
unwittingly set the precedent for this policy in 1726.
Thirty-nine years before, in order to embarrass the royal
governor, Andros, the colony had granted a portion of
what is now Litchfield County to the towns of Windsor
THE GREAT STAKE 19
and Hartford. Contrary to colonial expectation, the
towns refused to cede back the land at the termination
of the trouble. A compromise was effected in 1726
by which each of the two towns kept half of its original
grant. The other half was divided into seven town-
ships. Five of these townships were further subdivided
into fifty- three parts each. "Three parts in each town
were reserved, one for the support of the town school
and two for the ministry." This did not settle the
matter, for in 1733 the Assembly ordered "that these
seven towns be sold and the proceeds divided among the
towns of the colony already settled, in proportion to
their respective lists of polls and ratable estate, the pro-
ceeds to be set apart by each town as a permanent fund,
the interest on which is to be faithfully expended for the
support of the schools required by law" 1
This action of Connecticut in 1733 is clearly respon-
sible for the first colonial or state permanent school fund
of which we have record, and its importance can scarcely
be overestimated. The precedent was followed by
Georgia in July, 1783, in an act which authorized the
Governor to set aside "one thousand acres of vacant
land for erecting free schools" in each county. In
1786, the State of New York provided for the survey
of its vacant lands into "townships of sixty-four thou-
sand acres" each. A "State Lot" and a "Gospel and
1 Swift's Public Permanent Common School Funds in the United States,
P-35-
20 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
School Lot" were reserved in each township. In 1789,
provision was made for the sale of the "Gospel and
School Lot," — and thus began New York's system of
township school funds. Massachusetts took similar
action in 1788.
Even before the War for Independence, then, colonial
experience had proved the worth of land endowment
as a means of insuring free schools. Congress, under
the Articles of Confederation, having won the vast pub-
lic domain as a national asset, followed the established
precedent and decreed that Lot No. 16 in each town-
ship of this vast domain was to be dedicated to the
"maintenance of public schools." The Ordinance of
1787, in the third article, contained the famous declara-
tion, — "Religion, morality and knowledge, being neces-
sary to good government and the happiness' of mankind,
schools and the means of education shall be forever
encouraged." This language is a reaffirmation, in general
terms, of the act of May, 1785, but it is not the declara-
tion by which Lot No. 16 is specifically set aside for
public schools. 1
1 It was not only in the Ordinance of 1 787 that education and religion
were coupled together as joint beneficiaries of national bounty. In
1784, Jefferson proposed a plan for disposing of the public lands, but
his plan contains no reference to education. Eleven months later,
however, Congress considered another bill which granted the sixteenth
section for school purposes " and the section immediately adjoining the
same to the northward to the support of religion." The latter pro-
vision was not repeated in the act of May, 1785, and also failed to
appear in the Ordinance of 1787. However, in the reservation of land
THE GREAT STAKE 21
How Lot No. 1 6 was made available to the different
states and what it meant to them educationally are
topics so important as to deserve a separate chapter.
in 1787 for the Ohio company, Lot 29 is to be given "perpetually for
the purposes of religion," and the Symmes contract for the purchase of
land in Ohio, 1787, also made reservation of lands for schools and
religion, and one township for an institution of higher education.
CHAPTER IV
The Endowment Magnificent
Potentially, the setting aside of the sixteenth
sections constituted a truly magnificent endowment for
public education, aggregating, in the territory east
of the Mississippi, over seven and a half million acres
of land. If all of this land could have been held by the
public under a series of ten-year, twenty-year, or even
fifty-year leases, it would have yielded a continually
increasing revenue, and would have to-day, at the
lowest estimate ($3.00 per acre), a rental value of twenty-
two and a half million dollars annually. While this
sum would be far from sufficient to maintain the public
schools of the states carved from the ceded territory,
it would be a substantial portion of the total. 1 That
the contributions of the land-grant endowments in these
states fall far short of what they might have been would
be a fact the more lamentable, had it not constituted a
probably necessary step in the development of a sound
public policy in the granting of lands for educational
purposes. To know something of the early disposition
1 The average rental value would be much higher. It has been
estimated that the rents from the "Lots No. 16" in Cook County,
Illinois, would more than meet the annual cost of operating the public
schools of the entire state on the present basis of expenditures.
THE ENDOWMENT MAGNIFICENT 23
of the school lands, therefore, is essential to an under-
standing of subsequent happenings.
Ohio was the first state to receive Lot No. 16 and her
experience in its disposition illustrates practically all
of the difficulties that the policy involved in its early
administration.
In 1802, Congress passed an act enabling the people
of Ohio to form a constitution and state government
under certain conditions that were clearly set forth in
the act itself. Relating to land grants, this law pro-
vided :
First, "That the section numbered sixteen in every
township, and where such section has been sold, granted,
or disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto and most
contiguous to the same, shall be granted to the inhabitants
of such township for the use of schools."
Second, That certain salt lands and springs should
be granted to the state for the use of the people under
regulations to be set up by the legislature of the state.
Third, That one twentieth of the net proceeds of
all lands within the state sold by Congress after June
30, 1802, should be set aside for the laying out and
making of public roads.
These grants, however, were subject to the following
condition :
"Provided always that the three foregoing propositions herein
offered are on the condition that the convention of the said state
shall provide by an ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of
24 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
the United States, that every and each tract of land sold by
Congress, from and after the 30th day of June next, shall be and
remain exempt from any tax laid by order, or under the authority
of the state, whether for state, county, township, or any other
purpose whatever, for the term of five years, from and after the
day of sale." *
This five-year exemption from all taxes, which was
to constitute an inducement to settlers, was made a
condition of granting the sixteenth section of each town-
ship for the use of schools.
There were complications, however, in Ohio.
Virginia's Military Reserve between the Little Miami
and the Scioto embraced 3,710,000 acres and had no
reservation of lands for public schools. Connecticut
in her Western Reserve had originally some 3,300,000
acres of land within the present limits of Ohio. By
1792 she had disposed of about 524,000 acres of this
land by sale, and in 1793 provided for the sale of the
remainder, the proceeds of which were to constitute "a
perpetual fund, the interest whereof is granted and shall
be appropriated to the use and benefit of the several
ecclesiastical societies, churches, or congregations of all
denominations in this state, to be by them applied to
the support of their respective ministers or preachers
of the gospel and schools of education, under such rules
and regulations as shall be adopted by this or some future
session of the general assembly." 2 This arrangement
1 Laws of the United States, 1789-1815, pp. 496-498.
2 U. S. Com. of Edn. Report, 1892-1893, pp. 1257-1259.
THE ENDOWMENT MAGNIFICENT 25
did not last, however, for in 1795 the legislature
appropriated the income to the "School Societies. "
The final disposition of this fund in Connecticut was
not helpful to the people who lived within the Western
Reserve and who desired an endowment for their
schools. The Ohio Company, which by act of Congress,
July, 1787, had secured 964,285 acres of land, had
agreed to reserve Lot No. 16 for schools. So, also, the
Symmes grant, to a New Jersey group, provided a
reservation for schools within its domain of 311,682
acres. Notwithstanding, there were over 9,500,000
acres of land within the limits of Ohio covered by Con-
gressional grants in which there were no reservations
for public schools, including the Military Reservation
of the United States, which contained 2,500,000 acres.
The Ohio Constitutional Convention made pro-
posals (1802) for the reservation of school lands for
these areas, and Congress, in 1803, accepted the pro-
posals and set aside 269,771 acres for this purpose.
This is the equivalent of one thirty-sixth of 9,717,756
acres.
Congress, in the act of March, 1803, took another step
that promised to produce more complications. In
1802, it had granted the sixteenth section, or its equiv-
alent, in each township, "to the inhabitants of such
township for the use of schools." The Congressional
act of 1803 "vested in trust in the legislature all lands
appropriated by the United States for the support of
:: THZ NATION AND THI 5". .15
s. - 7 : _:f ::" Dido tried to lease the
:o buy lands.
Hie state then planned to lease the
l::.; this met with only
5~^1 applied to Congress for
mthorit [lands outright. Congress
z-i: :: : made Ohio the trastee
In 1S27. the Ohio
\: ie plans ::: the 5 these bo
follow ■
: He sale oil e6 was to be voted on by the
- ; v^i
; If :^r t red the sale the lands were
tofcr zelow ti: ^enent.
: In payment in full iser, a deed in
:
7 : : : :wn upon the market in
i: ~ : he United 5. .t
rames com Tinies. They were
: inse -..-:: : -cli '-'. - very ..'" zr.-.t :: invest: r= md
— :ney th. rate :ne r.i:e treisury
h it belonged
ials of the
: -'zli money became a
cons:. roblem. An act of the Ohio legislature
THE EKDOWMZ>rT MAG8JFKX HI I "
in 1837 prodded that the school funds ~_irli: be '..
to the state, to counties, or to the Canal Fund if sh
per cent interest, nve sixths of which wis to go to the
: — 7- 5 air Fir.il>- :;.: r.a:e :::a '.:.- ~ a:ie :.:: aati
spent it for its temporary needs, substituting : : it an
'"irreducible debt" bearing interest at six per cent.
This interest is raised by general taratinn; the land
endowment, therefore, became a burden to the taxpi
quite contrary to the plain intent of I nl legis-
lation authorizing the grants
The grant of Lot Xo. 16 in Ohio was really a grant
to the township instead of to thf state Tai? is
true also in the case of : titer eai
Indiana. Alabama. Lzaisiiai and Miss :. — and
dear expression of the old '"neighborhood ~ eption
of educational responsibility and control. XI
plications following this plan were obviated by
the later grants of L:t No. 16 directly to thf states
thus, in a quite :::: - important
aken toward the reoog state as the
prime unit of eci. . administration. Ti
permitted the establishment of pc
derived from the pre Deeds
These funds, in turn.
of distribution. The inade
naturally : state va-
cation, and thus the pel: 1 local
schools gradually evolved.
28
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The Land Ordinance of 1785 related only to the lands
ceded by the original states to the United States. In
1826, Congress passed an act which ordered that the
sixteenth section of all lands ceded by France (the
" Louisiana Purchase") should "be reserved and appro-
priated for the use of schools."
The states that received the sixteenth section as an
endowment for public schools are shown below :
Date of Grant
1803, March 3
1803, March 3
1803, March 3
1806, April 21
1816, April 19
1818, April 18
1820, March 6
1836, June 23
1836, June 23
1845, March 3
1845, March 3
1846, August 6
State
Ohio . .
Alabama .
Mississippi
Louisiana
Indiana
Illinois
Missouri
Arkansas
Michigan
Florida
Iowa .
Wisconsin
Acres Received
710,610 x
901,725
838,329 2
798,085 3
601,049
985,141
1,162,137
928,057
1,003,573
1,053,653
978,578
958,649
When the proposals for admitting Wisconsin as a
state were before Congress in the early months of 1848,
Congressman John A. Rockwell, of Connecticut, moved
that the thirty-sixth section in each township also be
given for schools. This motion did not prevail. But
in August, 1848, Congress authorized the reservation of
1 Two townships were for a university.
2 This includes also the settlements of 1852 and 1857, '
3 This includes a settlement in 1843.
THE ENDOWMENT MAGNIFICENT
29
sections sixteen and thirty- six "in the states and terri-
tories hereafter to be created out of the Territory of
Oregon." A table is inserted below to show the date
and amount of the grants by Congress under the Oregon
Territory Act, sections 16 and 36 being thereby reserved
for schools.
Date of Grant
State
Acres Received
1850, September 9 . . . .
New Mexico . . .
4,309,369
1853, March 2
Washington .
2,448,675
1853, March 3 .
California
5,610,702
1857, February 26
Minnesota .
2,969,991
1859, February 14
Oregon . .
3,387,520
1 86 1, January 29
Kansas . .
2,876,124
1 86 1, February 28
Montana . .
5,102,107
1 86 1, March 2 .
North Dakota
2,531,200
1 86 1, March 2
South Dakota
2,813,511
1863, March 3
Idaho . . .
3,063,271
1864, March 21
Nevada . .
3,985,422!
1864, April 19
Nebraska . .
2,637,155
1864, May 26
Arizona . .
4,050,346
1868, July 25
Wyoming
3,368,924
1875, March 3
Colorado . .
3,715,555
These tables show the facts for all of the states except
those in which unusual cases have arisen. These cases
may be briefly reviewed.
The original thirteen states received no lands from
the Federal Government for the support of schools
primarily because the Federal Government did not own
any land lying within these commonwealths. Each of
1 Instead of this grant, Nevada elected to select 2,000,000 acres with-
out reference to the sections in which the land was located.
3<D THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
the original states was, of course, free to set aside its own
state-owned lands for school purposes and several of
them did so, notably New York and Georgia, while
Pennsylvania early made grants of state lands to acade-
mies. 1
Vermont was originally included in New Hampshire,
Maine was a part of Massachusetts, and Kentucky and
West Virginia were parts of Virginia. Texas came into
the Union after she had been recognized as "a free and
independent Republic" by our country. However,
Texas had set aside before entering the Union 17,712
acres in each county for the support of schools, and
owned all lands within her borders. There was, con-
sequently, neither the need nor the opportunity for
Congress to take action with respect to the reservation
of school lands in Texas.
Tennessee was admitted to the Union in 1796. Con-
gress retained title to the public lands in the new
state, for North Carolina had, in 1789, ceded to the
United States "the sovereignty and territory" of
all lands within the present limits of Tennessee. In
1806, Congress granted to Tennessee the public lands
within the state on which the Indian title had lapsed.
The state then ordered these lands surveyed and set
aside one section in each township to be "appropriated
for the use of schools for the instruction of children for-
ever."
1 See table in Swift's Permanent Funds, p. 85.
THE ENDOWMENT MAGNIFICENT 3 1
The grant of September 9, 1850, to Utah was exceed-
ingly generous because the lands were supposed to be of
small value. Four sections in each township — the
second, sixteenth, thirty-second, and thirty-sixth — were
set aside for the use of schools. This amounted to
6,007,182 acres.
Oklahoma presents the only other unusual case.
Oklahoma as a territory had two reserved sections in
each township and was granted authority by Congress
in 1 89 1 to lease these lands for not more than three
years, the rental to be used for public schools together
with $50,000 granted by Congress for the same purpose.
When it was decided to unite the Indian Territory with
Oklahoma Territory to form the new state, Congress
faced the fact that the title to the lands in the former
was vested in the Indians. In lieu of school lands in
the old Indian Territory, therefore, it was decided to
give Oklahoma five million dollars which became a
part of the permanent school fund upon the admission
of the state.
Interesting as it would be to trace the history of the
management and mismanagement of the proceeds of
these federal land grants in the several states, the details
cannot be recorded here. The interested reader is re-
ferred to the illuminating treatise by F. H. Swift, Public
Permanent Common School Funds in the United States, —
a book to which the present writers are deeply indebted.
The most recent authoritative utterance on the matter
32 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
is from the pen of the State Treasurer of Wisconsin,
Henry Johnson : *
"If the State of Wisconsin had not practically given away its
valuable school lands years ago, we would not have to raise any
school taxes for generations to come. In years gone by the State
sold hundreds of thousands of acres of fine timber land for a mere
song. Had that timber been preserved by the State it would now
pay the entire amount due the Wisconsin soldiers under the bonus
law, pay all the cost of soldier education under the Nye bill, and
in addition the interest on the balance would maintain the schools
of the State for generations to come without raising one cent for
school purposes by taxation."
But one should not be too regretful. Even though the
full benefits of the "endowment magnificent" were
not realized, the results were far beyond what the original
promoters of the grants could possibly have dreamed.
The states that received these bountiful grants of land
were able to start schools as fast as the population
appeared. There was no long waiting as in the colonial
days. The Nation as a nation had set its sanction upon
free education. The framework for schools was already
established in the Land Act of 1785, the Ordinance of
1787, and the "Enabling Act" admitting each new state.
The " school lot " was in each township a constant re-
minder to the people that education and democracy
must go hand in hand. The wilderness had one
redeeming and crowning glory, — the public school
1 Mr. Johnson's statement appeared in the Oshkosh, Wisconsin,
Daily Northwestern of Sept. 30, 1919.
THE ENDOWMENT MAGNIFICENT 33
on a substantial basis. "The ark of the covenant,"
the compact drawn up in the cabin of the May-
flower, and the dedication of Lot No. 16 in the
great national domain were alike promise and fact, —
were dream and reality at one and the same time. While
the free public school did not have its origin in the Land
Ordinance of 1785, it may be truthfully said that this
great measure has contributed more to the cause of
universal education in our country than has any other
legislative act. Its influence was not limited to the
West; the backwash from the tide of western emigra-
tion did much to confirm and strengthen the founda-
tions that had already been laid in the seaboard states.
Lot No. 16 was an inducement to settlement, but it
was also incentive to the realization of the school as a
community enterprise. The cooperation which the
school begot became the very essence of community
life. There was discussion, of course, and difference of
opinion ; but these were never allowed to go so far as to
break up the cooperation which was necessary to carry
forward the deepest common interest of all. It is not
at all extravagant to say that the free public school was,
in pioneer days, the visible and tangible embodiment
of the freedom, equality, fraternity, justice, and right
that democracy means. With all of its defects and
shortcomings, it has ever been, and still is, this visible
embodiment of the social ideal of democracy.
There has been no parallel in all history to the
34 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
development that took place in this wonderful land
of unexampled richness. It would be extravagant
to claim that any one social institution was the basal
cause of this marvelous development. It may be
truthfully said, however, that the free public school has
always served the community in proportion to the vision
of the community in providing for its support.
The purpose of this chapter has been to show that
Congress from 1785 has been granting public lands to
the states in aid of education. Although the Con-
stitution is silent on the subject of education, those
who framed the Constitution in 1787 were not ignorant
of what Congress had done in 1785 nor were they un-
mindful of the cession of lands by the states to the Federal
Government, for four states — New York, Virginia,
Massachusetts, and Connecticut — had ceded their
claims before the Constitutional Convention met, and
South Carolina completed hers while the Convention
was still in session (August 9, 1787). One is clearly
justified, therefore, in assuming that the famous phrase,
"to promote the general welfare," includes the power
and the duty of Congress to promote education in the
states by encouraging the establishment and adequate
maintenance of schools.
CHAPTER V
Land Grants for State Universities
An important name in the early history of American
education is that of Manasseh Cutler. Representing a
group desirous of purchasing a large tract of land in
Ohio, he began negotiations with Congress at the time
when the Ordinance of 1787 was under discussion. As
a clergyman, his interest was not only in colonization
but also in education. It may be that he thought the
Ordinance of 1787 inadequate in its educational pro-
visions ; in any case, only ten days after the Ordinance
of 1787 had been passed, the Continental Congress passed
two other closely related acts. Of these, the act of July
23, 1787, reaffirmed the disposal of lands by the act of
May 20, 1785, and consequently safeguarded Lot No.
16. The other act authorized a sale of lands in Ohio
to the Ohio Company and also provided " that land not
amounting to more than two townships be given perpet-
ually for the purpose of an university, to be laid off by
the purchasers as near the center of the tract as may
be." ! Mr. A. D. Mayo, a careful student of American
1 Quoted from U. S. Com. Report, 1901, Vol. I, p. 130. The act it-
self is found in the Laws of the United States.
35
36 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
educational history, says: "By the insistence of Dr.
Cutler, as the condition of the Ohio purchase, there
was inserted the additional provision of two additional
townships of the state for a university, and one for the
support of an educated ministry." l
This act of the Continental Congress of July 23, 1787,
made the first Federal grant of land for university
purposes. It had its precedent, of course, in colonial
action. John Harvard, "a godly gentleman and a lover
of learning," gave one half of his estate, about seventeen
hundred pounds, and all of his library toward the estab-
lishment of a college. Others subscribed, "all did
something, even the indigent." "And the publique
hand of the State added the rest " — a sum of four hundred
pounds. Harvard was a Congregational college estab-
lished that "the light of learning might not go out, nor
the study of God's Word perish." Yale, like Harvard,
was Congregational, and Dr. Cutler was a graduate of
Yale. The group associated with Dr. Cutler was organ-
ized to found a colony, and they had to go to the central
authority for the right to establish it. This central
authority to which Dr. Cutler appealed was the Conti-
nental Congress that had, two years before, set aside
Lot No. 16 for the support of public schools. What
more natural than an appeal to Congress for college
lands? In a letter written to his son in 1818, Dr.
Cutler says :
1 U. S. Com. Report, 1893-4, Vol. I, p. 738.
LAND GRANTS FOR STATE UNIVERSITIES 37
"The fact is, the people of Ohio are wholly indebted to me for
procuring the grant of those townships [for the University] and
the ministers' lands in the Ohio Company's purchase ; and indeed
for similar grants in Judge Symmes's purchase. When I applied
to Congress for the purchase, no person, to my knowledge, had an
idea of asking for such grants. When I mentioned it to Mr. Sar-
gent and others friendly to the measure, they were rather op-
posed, fearing it would occasion an increased price for the lands.
I had previously contemplated the vast benefit that must be
derived from it in future time, and I made every exertion to obtain
it. Mr. Sargent, indeed, cordially united with me in endeavoring
to surmount the difficulties which appeared in the way, till the
object was attained. ... It is well known to all concerned with
me in transacting the business of the Ohio Company that the
establishment of a University was a first object, and lay with
great weight on my mind."
The statements in this letter are borne out by certain
other facts. The act of May 20, 1785, set apart Lot
No. 16, but —
"Dr. Cutler was not satisfied with this provision, and demanded
that Congress should donate in addition one section in every
township for the support of an educated ministry, and two entire
townships for the establishment and support of a university.
This new claim was resisted by members of Congress. One bill
passed authorizing the Ohio Company's purchase, but without
these additional reservations; and Dr. Cutler would not accept
it. He packed his trunk, made his parting calls, said he should
leave the town immediately, and make his purchase of some of
the States. (Massachusetts owned Maine and New Hampshire
claimed Vermont.) This was somewhat of a ruse on his part,
and it turned out as he expected. Members flocked to his room
and entreated him to remain, and they would try to get more
favorable terms. He wrote out these conditions as a sine qua non
38 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
on which he would make the contract, and brought Congress to
vote precisely the terms he dictated." 1
It should be stated that Dr. Cutler proposed to buy
one and a half million acres for the Ohio Company and
about four million acres for other groups. 2 As he was
the first bidder for any part of the recently acquired
public domain, and as the money would go into the
common treasury, the members of Congress were
greatly interested in his views, not only regarding the
conditions of the purchase itself but also regarding the
larger policies embodied in the Ordinance of 1787.
The result of this grant was the Ohio University, at
Athens, Ohio. The articles of incorporation of this
institution, its first course of study, and its first faculty
are further evidences of Dr. Cutler's devotion to his idea,
— an idea that has been of untold benefit in all of the
states formed from the national domain, and the in-
fluence of which will continue as long as "the Ohio
shall flow." This grant to the Ohio Company, fol-
lowing as it did upon the passage of the Ordinance of
1787, was, in part, an explicit interpretation of the
intent of Congress that was embodied in the famous
declaration: "Religion, morality and knowledge, being
essential to good government and the happiness of
1 "Dr. Cutler and the Ordinance of 1787," by W. F. Poole, in North
American Review, 1876, pp. 262-3. The entire article is illuminating.
See also the Life of M. Cutler by W. P. and J. P. Cutler for details.
2 The contract was signed on October 27, 1787.
LAND GRANTS FOR STATE UNIVERSITIES 39
mankind, schools and the means of education shall for-
ever be encouraged."
Before reviewing the grants for the founding of uni-
versities in other states, it will be well to see what was
done with respect to education in the Constitutional
Convention which was at this time in session in Phila-
delphia, and which Dr. Cutler desired to "look in upon"
while there between July n and July 17, 1787.
On Monday, August 18, 1787, just twenty-six days
after Congress had authorized the contract with the
Ohio Company, Madison made several proposals that
were referred to the Committee on Detail. Among
these were the following :
"To establish seminaries for the promotion of the arts and
sciences."
"To establish public institutions, rewards, and immunities foi
the promotion of agriculture, commerce, trade, and manufacture."
The Committee on Detail never directly reported on
these matters, and they were not included in the final
draft of the Constitution. When the final draft was
being considered, Mr. Madison, Mr. Pinckney, and Mr.
Wilson moved to insert among the powers of Congress a
power "to establish an University in which no prefer-
ence or distinctions should be allowed on account of
religion." To understand the argument very briefly
urged in opposition by Gouverneur Morris, it is necessary
to know that it had already been agreed that Congress
was to acquire and have full and exclusive control over
40 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
a tract ten miles square which was to be the seat of
government. Madison in his "Journal" quotes Gouv-
erneur Morris as saying: "It [the granting of power
to Congress to establish a university] is not necessary.
The exclusive power at the seat of government will reach
the object."
What we actually have in the Constitution is the
declaration of purpose "to promote the general wel-
fare," the general implied powers (Article I, Section 8,
Clause 18), and the provision that "The Congress shall
have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and
regulations respecting the territory or other property
belonging to the United States" (Article IV, Section
3, Clause 2). "Other property" certainly includes
money, and Congress, as we shall see later, has appro-
priated money for educational purposes by the authority
of the clause just quoted, maintaining that the educa-
tional purposes embodied in the legislation were "to
promote the general welfare."
The Tenth Amendment, the last of the first group of
additional safeguards that our forefathers desired to
have explicitly set forth rather than risk them to the
vicissitudes of being merely "understood," is very
definite. It provides that —
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Con-
stitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the
States respectively or to the people." x
1 In force since November 3, 1791.
LAND GRANTS FOR STATE UNIVERSITIES 41
The organization, supervision, and administration of
education are functions of sovereignty. This right is,
by the Tenth Amendment, reserved to the states because
the Constitution neither delegates it to the United
States nor prohibits it to the states. But even while
the Constitution was in process of adoption, even while
the Tenth Amendment was being adopted, before that
time, and since that time, the United States has been
promoting education. To maintain, as some do, that
Congress can grant land but not money in aid of educa-
tion is to ignore the Constitution and the history that
has been wrought out under it.
To return to the theme of this chapter, — the granting
of lands for the establishment of universities : Mention
has already been made of the Symmes Purchase which,
in accordance with a Congressional act of authorization,
was completed by signatures on September 30, 1794-
This tract was in southwestern Ohio, including what is
now Cincinnati and extending northward ; it embraced
311,682 acres. The contract provided for the reserva-
tion of Lot No. 16 and also of one complete township,
to be held in trust for the purpose of establishing "an
academy and other seminaries of learning." It was
upon this foundation that Miami University, at Oxford,
Ohio, was established, and the title to the township
still is held in trust for this institution. The lands of
this school and of the Ohio University at Athens *
1 See p. 38.
42 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
were leased for ninety years with a clause that provided
revaluation every thirty years. Action of the Legis-
lature and the decisions of the State Supreme Court,
however, have substantially made the leases perpetual
on a very low valuation of the land. These leaseholds
pass from one person to another by conveyance just as
titles to land are transferred in other townships of the
state. Meanwhile, the universities at Oxford and Athens
derive only a very small annual income from what
should be to-day a most generous endowment.
The policy established by the two grants to colonizing
companies became, by precedent, the policy of the
Federal government. Upon the admission of a state, it
was granted land for a university. The grant was
usually two townships, but in some cases it was more.
Occasionally, the grant was conditionally made to a
territory before statehood had been attained. In 1889,
the policy was changed, as will be shown in a later
chapter, 1 so that large blocks of land were given for
specific educational ends in lieu of the separate grants
that were formerly made.
The following table shows the acreage of the Federal
grants for universities, excluding, of course, the very
large grants that were made following the first Morrill
Act of 1862. A few notes, explanatory of exceptional
cases, 2 follow the table.
1 See pp. 51-52.
2 A most excellent tabular arrangement is found in U. S. Com. of Edn.
Report, 1896-1897, pp. 1151-1161.
LAND GRANTS FOR STATE UNIVERSITIES
43
State
Area or Grant in
Acres
State
Area of Grant tn
Acres
Alabama . .
92,160
Montana . .
146,560 or 196,080
Arizona . .
396,080
Nebraska . .
46,080
Arkansas . .
46,080
Nevada . .
46,080
California
52,480
New Mexico .
397,703
Colorado . .
46,080
North Dakota
126,080
Florida . .
92,160
Ohio . . .
69,120
Idaho . . .
95, 080 or 196,080
Oklahoma
635,514
Illinois . .
46,080
Oregon . .
46,080
Indiana . .
69,286 or 72,662
South Dakota
126,080
Iowa . . .
40,080 or 50,080
Tennessee
100,000
Kansas 1 . .
46,080
Texas 3 * . .
2,378,550
Louisiana
46,080
Utah . . .
256,080
Michigan 2 .
48,080
Washington 5
46,080 or 146,080
Minnesota .
92,160
Wisconsin
92,160
Mississippi .
69,120
Wyoming . .
46,080
Missouri . .
46,080
Almost every session of Congress sees some change
made in the grants, and always it is an addition. For
example, the Fifty-ninth Congress granted thirty-two
acres of the Fort Douglas Military Reservation to the
University of Utah. It also appropriated to California
five per cent of the net proceeds of the cash sales of
public lands "which have been heretofore made since
the admission of said state, or may hereafter be made
1 The acreage for Kansas includes one tenth of the saline lands that
were granted to the state.
2 Michigan also received three townships in 1817 by the treaty of
Fort Meigs. These were sold for $5000.
3 Texas came into the Union as an independent Republic, and she
has set aside 2,378,550 acres for her state university, much of it being
land suitable for grazing only.
4 Granted by Republic of Texas, 378,550 ; by State of Texas, 2,000,000.
6 100,000 acres on admission.
44 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
in said state, to aid the support of the public or common
schools." The facts are constantly changing, — but
the appropriations never grow less.
The grants for these institutions have not always
been used wisely by the states. Lands that have been
sold at $3.00 an acre when belonging to the university
grants have, in the following year, brought $25.00 an acre.
There is, indeed, much in the management of these uni-
versity grants that gives cause for regret ; but there are
also many substantial achievements that would not
have been brought about, had it not been for the educa-
tional incentive to the states which the grants of land
created. Mr. Randolph, of Virginia, said in Congress
in 1803, on the question of voting land to the Ohio
School Fund :
»
"I believe that the appropriation, while it protects the interests
of literature, will enhance the value of property. Can we suppose
that emigration will not be promoted by it, and that the value of
lands will not be enhanced by the emigrant obtaining the fullest
education for his children? and is it not better to receive two
dollars an acre with an appropriation for schools than seventy-five
cents an acre without such appropriation? Indubitably it is.
Gentlemen who are not operated upon by this principle, and a
desire to establish a liberal provision for schools, will vote against
the bill." »
The argument of Mr. Randolph is valid in the economic
sense ; but the social increment that comes from uni-
versities is of inestimably greater value.
1 Annals of Congress, 7th Congress, 2d Session, p. 586.
CHAPTER VI
Other Federal Land Grants in Aid of Education
a. salt lands
Chapter IV dealt entirely with Lot No. 16 and its
associate, Lot No. 36. Closely connected with and
related to grants of this kind are the so-called saline, or
salt land, grants. These saline lands were first granted
to Ohio, a total of 24,216 acres, but Congress did not
specify to what use the proceeds from lease or sale should
be devoted. Ohio, however, used the proceeds for
public schools and has made the fund thus accumulated
a part of her irreducible debt. Indiana also received
23,040 acres of saline lands. In 1832, Indiana requested
the permission of Congress to sell them. Congress
replied, fixing a minimum price and decreeing that the
proceeds should be devoted to education. This showed
the intention of Congress. The fourteen states that re-
ceived salt lands are listed on the following page.
Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, and Arkansas used the pro-
ceeds for schools. Wisconsin gave the two townships
to the University. Michigan gave 16,000 acres for
normal-school purposes and 30,080 acres toward an
agricultural college. Kansas gave 30,380 acres for
4S
46
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
normal schools, and 4,608 acres to the University.
Nebraska gave 30,380 acres for normal schools. Iowa
divided her salt lands between public schools and the
agricultural college.
State
Acres
Date
Minnesota
Ohio
Oregon
23,040
46,080
46,080
121,029
23,040
46,080
46,080
46,080
46,080
46,080
46,080
22,216
46,080
46,080
1819
1836
1876
1818
1816
1846
1861
1837
1858
1821
1867
1802
i8 5 9
1848
As evidence of the slight value of most of the salt
lands, it may be stated that four states failed to qualify
according to the law which demanded that the lands be
selected within a year. These states are Louisiana
(1812), Mississippi (1817), California (1850), and
Nevada (1864).
B. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT GRANTS
Congress in 1841 granted to each of eight states —
Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michi-
gan, Mississippi, and Missouri — 500,000 acres of un-
appropriated government land located within each
OTHER FEDERAL LAND GRANTS 47
state, for "purposes of internal improvements." Con-
gress extended the same grant to states that might be
admitted later, and also provided that any grants
previously made to a state for "purposes of internal
improvement" should be deducted from this amount.
States admitted in 1889, and since that time, have
received specific grants for specific purposes. The
nineteen states receiving 500,000-acre grants for internal
improvements by the act of 1841 and the act of admission
into the Union are :
Alabama 1819 Michigan 1837
Arkansas 1836 Minnesota 1858
California 1850 Mississippi 181 7
Colorado 1876 Missouri 182 1
Florida 1845 Nebraska 1867
Illinois 1818 Nevada 1864
Indiana 1816 Ohio 1802
Iowa 1846 Oregon 1859
Kansas 1861 Wisconsin 1848
Louisiana 181 2
Some of the states used this money for roads, bridges,
and railways. Others devoted all or a considerable
portion of it to educational uses. The following state-
ments show the facts :
California, 1850, gave all to a perpetual common school fund.
Iowa, 1846, gave all to a perpetual common school fund.
Kansas, 1861, set aside all for common school support by her
constitution, but this seems never to have been confirmed by
subsequent legislative enactment.
Nebraska gave all to the school fund.
Nevada, 1864, all to a fund for educational purposes.
Oregon, 1859, all to the common school fund.
48 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Wisconsin, 1848, all to the school fund.
Mississippi, in 1868, gave the remaining balance, 21,000 acres,
for schools.
Alabama, in 1848, gave her lands for schools.
Florida devoted her lands to school purposes.
From the educational standpoint, the objection to such
grants as the above is that they are permissive instead
of mandatory so far as school support is concerned.
When we consider the views of the time, however, we
are forced to the conclusion that these land grants for
internal improvements, as well as special grants for
building roads, were considered as an offset to the na-
tional expenditures for lighthouses and harbor-improve-
ments by which the seaboard states profited greatly. It
is indeed noteworthy that any state before i860 should
have devoted all or even a part of this land to educa-
tional uses, for there was the greatest need for internal
improvements. The wonder is increased on reading
the provisions of the act of 1841 for, after fixing the
price of the lands at $1.25 per acre, it specifically says:
". . . and net proceeds of the sales of said lands shall
be faithfully applied to the objects of internal improve-
ments within the states aforesaid, respectively, namely ;
roads, railways, bridges, canals and improvements of
water courses, and draining of swamps."
C. SWAMP LANDS
The public lands were plentiful in the early days. In
181 2, Congress offered a bounty of land to those in the
OTHER FEDERAL LAND GRANTS 49
Northwest Territory who would enlist in the war
against Great Britain. These bounty lands were located
in Michigan. After the war was over, the soldiers who
went into Michigan were not satisfied with the lands,
maintaining that they were swampy. Congress there-
upon reserved other lands in Indiana and in Illinois. It
became evident that Congress would have the greatest
difficulty in disposing of these swamp lands. Accordingly,
in 1849, on application, Louisiana was granted all the
swamp and overflowed land within the state, on the
understanding that the proceeds should be used to drain
the land and construct levees along the rivers. In 1850,
the swamp-land law was extended to Arkansas and "to
each of the other states of the Union in which swamp
and overflowed lands may be situated." In 1855, Con-
gress gave to the states in which swamp lands had been
sold by the Government certain other lands as "indem-
nity lands." Two years later, the swamp and over-
flowed lands that had been reported by the states were
specifically appropriated to them. In i860, Minnesota
and Oregon were given "swamp-land" rights and priv-
ileges, and Kansas, Nebraska, and Nevada were specifi-
cally excluded. California, in 1866, was the last state
to receive "swamp lands."
These "swamp and overflowed lands" were an in-
definite quantity. The states claimed much and kept
on filing their claims from time to time. Consequently,
there is a difference between what was claimed and
5°
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
what was awarded to the states by the General Land
Office. The following table shows the acreage claimed
by the fifteen states which were affected by the swamp-
land grants :
State
Claimed (1896)
State
Claimed (1896)
Alabama
Arkansas
California
Florida .
Illinois .
Indiana .
Iowa . .
Louisiana
53i,355-6o
8,656,372.39
1,887,685.23
22,244,541.07
3,981,784.10
i,377,727-70
4,570,132.33
li,76o,455-83
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri .
Ohio . .
Oregon .
Wisconsin
7,243,i59-28
4,738,549-78
3,603,921.68
4,843,636.09
117,931.28
434,428.45
4,569,712.12
Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri gave the "net proceeds"
of the sale of swamp lands to their school funds.
Mississippi hesitated, but finally so disposed of its allot-
ment in 1868. The Constitution of Alabama in 1868
put the swamp-land proceeds into the school fund, but
no trace of the fund can now be found. Illinois provided
for drainage, and the surplus was to go into the school
fund. Wisconsin gave half of the fund to normal
schools. Minnesota gave one half to schools and one
half to charitable institutions. Oregon gave a part of the
proceeds to schools. California gave all to the University
of California, — creating a fund probably in excess of
$1,000,000. Michigan gave $972,606 of the proceeds
to the school fund and 6961 acres to the agricultural
college.
OTHER FEDERAL LAND GRANTS 5 1
D. SPECIFIC GRANTS
Reference has been made to the specific grants that
began in 1889, and which were to replace the grants of
different names that had grown into use since 1785.
These are in lieu of all grants except the section grants
for the common schools and include almost as wide a
range of titles as the representatives of the territories
seeking admission could formulate. On the next page
will be found a table of these specific grants, quoted
from Cubberley and Elliott's State and County School
Administration, Volume II, p. 62.
52
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
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CHAPTER VII
Money Grants in Support of Education
a. the "five per cent" funds
The grants by the Federal Government in aid of
education have not been limited to lands, but the huge
aggregate of the land grants and their distribution
throughout the country have combined to make the
public familiar with this type of endowment, while the
facts regarding the money grants are far less widely
known.
The first grant of money was to the State of Ohio
in the act of April 30, 1802, but it was not for educational
purposes. Five per cent of the net proceeds of the
sale of public lands in Ohio, after June 30, 1803, was to
be given to the state for "laying out and making public
roads." The act admitting Illinois, passed in 1818,
donated to the state five per cent of the net sales of the
public lands within its borders, with the proviso that
two fifths should be spent under the direction of Con-
gress, in making roads leading to the state ; " the residue
to be appropriated, by the legislature of the state, for
the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part
shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or university."
In order to make use of this fund, the first normal
53
54
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
school established in that state, in 1857, was called the
Illinois State Normal University.
Table. — The "Five Per Cent Funds" 1
State
Alabama
Arizona .
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Florida .
Idaho .
Illinois .
Indiana .
Iowa . .
Kansas .
Louisiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada .
New Mexico
North Dakota
Ohio . . .
Oklahoma .
Oregon . .
South Dakota
Utah . . .
Washington
Wisconsin .
Wyoming .
Total .
Aggregate
June 30, 1913
i,077,904-72
1,652.99
324,911.00
1,080,053.26
460,478.30
I37,336-o6
241,833.36
1,187,908.89
1,040,255.26
633,63 8 - IO
1,125,469.41
468,187.89
587,068.52
588,283.08
1,069,926.62
1,060,430.61
404,245.88
559,394.45
32,124.58
121,040.78
529,027.11
999,117.89
S9,ii7-89
707,016.11
308,068.20
81,694.78
396,930.35
586,408.58
213,387.64
516,093,417-43
Educational Use as Shown
Schools
State school fund
Schools
3% of proceeds to education
Permanent school fund
For support of common schools
10% to free-school fund
Schools
Schools
Permanent school fund
Educational purposes
Schools
Permanent school fund
Common schools
Common schools
Permanent school fund
Common-school fund
School fund
Perpetual common-school fund
1 This table has been prepared from facts given by Cubberley and
Elliott, State and County School Administration, p. 48 (quoted from
Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office), and from data
in Part II of Swift's Public Permanent Common School Funds.
MONEY GRANTS IN SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 55
The clause setting aside a portion of the five per cent
fund to the use of education did not again occur until
about 1845 when the states themselves began to request
it. Twenty-nine states have received such funds from
the Federal Government and practically every state
admitted since i860 must apply them to educational
uses. The Enabling Act of Oklahoma (1906) makes this
five per cent fund into a permanent fund, "the interest
only of which shall be expended for the support of the
common schools within said State."
The table on the preceding page shows the aggregate of
such funds on June 30, 1913, and the educational uses to
which they must be put where such usage has been
either required by Congress or voluntarily decreed by
the legislature of the state.
Many of the funds shown above are increasing as
public lands are sold, — at a present rate of about
$200,000 annually. No public lands remain in the older
states, such as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, and
therefore the funds have reached their maximum, but the
Government still retains title to a substantial acreage
in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Coast sections.
B. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SURPLUS REVENUE
The largest single distribution of money by the Federal
Government, however, was made by the act of June,
1836, which apportioned to the states a surplus of twenty-
eight million dollars that had accumulated in the Federal
56 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
treasury. The distribution, which was, legally, a de-
posit subject to the order of the Secretary of the Treas-
ury but which has never been called for, was made on
January 1, 1837; on that day all the money in the
treasury except $5,000,000 was put on deposit with the
states, the allotment made to the several states being
"in proportion to their respective representation in the
Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States." This was most favorable to the original states
which had the largest population at that time and
consequently the largest representation in Congress.
For fifteen years or more some plan of giving money to
the states that did not share in the educational land
grants of Congress had been urged, and the act of 1836
was a step in this direction, but it was not the end of the
effort, as will be shown later. The accompanying
table : shows the distribution and uses of the Surplus
Revenue Fund. It is particularly instructive in revealing
the variations in their employment of Federal subven-
tions when the purposes for which the money should be
spent are not specified. That so large a proportion of
the total amount distributed should have been used for
education is significant when one remembers that but few
states at that time had made substantial provisions for
public schools.
1 Made from data in Swift's Public Permanent Common School Funds,
pp. 74-78, and in Cubberley and Elliott's State and County School Ad-
ministration, pp. 52-57.
MONEY GRANTS IN SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 57
Distribution of the Surplus Revenue, 1837
State
No. IN
Congress
Amount
Received
Disposition or Present Use
Alabama .
Arkansas .
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia .
Illinois
I 669,088
286,751
764,670
286,751
1,051,422
477,919
Indiana .
Kentucky
15
860,254
1,433,754
Louisiana
477,919
Interest at 4% used for
schools.
Entire fund used by state
and lost.
Distributed (except $1000)
to the towns which still
pay interest for use of
schools.
Invested in bank and rail-
way stock. Income di-
vided among the counties.
Poor-school fund 1840; lost
in Civil War.
Two thirds used to pay the
state's debt to the school
fund. This was borrowed
and spent by the state for
internal improvements.
State now pays 6% in-
terest on $335,592 to the
school fund.
In 1 85 1, portion of fund then
intact, $567,126, put into
school fund.
In 1837, $850,000 put into
school fund, but interest
was used to pay state ex-
penses. In 185 1, school
portion and interest due
were capitalized at
$1,326,770. State pays
interest on this to school
fund.
Used for state debts. Con-
stitution of 1852 set aside
interest for school fund.
Constitution of 1864 re-
pealed this provision.
Since 1876, interest is paid
by state to school fund.
58 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Distribution of the Surplus Revenue, 1837 — Continued.
State
No. m
Congress
Amount
Received
Disposition or Present Use
Maine
Maryland
$ 955,838
955,838
Massachusetts .
Michigan . . .
Mississippi . .
Missouri . . .
New Hampshire
New Jersey . .
M
i,338,i73
286,751
332,355
332,355
669,086
746,670
Distributed to towns and
cities. A few used it for
school purposes. Most of
them distributed it per
capita to their populations.
$681,378 set aside for school
fund. Money spent for
internal improvements.
$1000 of interest goes
annually to education of
blind and $34,069 is dis-
tributed to schools.
Deposited with towns. A
few used it for education,
but most of them for other
town expenses.
Used for current expenses
and an internal improve-
ment fund.
Spent for state expenses by
1842.
Invested until it amounted
to $500,000. Invested
now in state bonds. In-
terest goes to common
schools.
Distributed among towns to
be spent for any legal pur-
pose. About fifty towns
used the money for educa-
tion.
Distributed to counties and
by them to townships on
basis of state tax paid.
Used for schools, buildings,
and other township ex-
penses. About $600,000
is now a lost fund on which
interest is paid annually
by a tax.
MONEY GRANTS IN SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 59
Distribution of the Surplus Revenue, 1837 — Continued
State
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
No. in
Congress
42
15
30
15
Amount
Received
$4,014,520
1,433,727
2,007,260
2,867,514
382,335
1,051,422
1,433,727
Disposition or Present Use
Deposited with counties to
be loaned at seven per cent.
Badly managed in some
counties. About $334,000
has been lost. Income
spent for schools, libraries,
and principal of fund.
Used $100,000 for state ex-
penses. Balance invested
for school fund. Bor-
rowed by State during
Civil War and debt re-
pudiated by state.
Divided among counties on
male population basis.
Five per cent interest to
be used for schools. State
loaned about half for a
canal project. Balance,
not known, added to
school fund.
By 1840, whole of fund had
been used for state ex-
penses.
Deposited in banks. Interest
for schools. In 1840,
State began to borrow it.
In 1859, the remainder,
$155,541, was transferred
to the permanent school
fund.
Invested in stocks, to the
credit of the state. Lost
in the Civil War.
Invested in stock of State
bank; $118,000 of the
interest was to go for
schools and academies.
Bank failed in Civil War.
In 1866, an indebtedness
6o
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Distribution of the Surplus Revenue, 1837 — Continued
State
Vermont
Virginia
No. IN
Congress
23
Amount
Received
669,086
3,198,427
Disposition or Present Use
of the State to the school
fund to the extent of
$1,500,000 was recognized.
Interest raised by tax goes
to schools.
Loaned to the towns — the
interest to be used for
schools. About 20% of
the fund is in actual ex-
istence. 80% exists only
as a "Credit Fund" or
state debt.
In 1837, transferred $225,792
to "Literary" or School
fund. Interest on this
paid to the time of the
Civil War. Fund lost. 1
C. THE DISTRIBUTIVE ACT OF 1841
This distribution was so popular with the states that
attempts were made similarly to distribute each year
the net proceeds of public-land sales. No clear, con-
tinuing plan could be formulated, and so the act that
was passed in September, 1 841, was to lapse automatically
(1) if the country became involved in a foreign war, (2)
if the minimum sale price of lands was increased, or
(3) if the tariff duties were advanced to a "higher rate
than twenty per centum." With all these conditions
1 For a most carefully detailed account of each of these funds, see
R. G. Bourne's History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837.
MONEY GRANTS IN SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 6 1
imposed, the act could not remain long in force ; indeed,
the Tariff Act of August, 1842, put an end to it.
This "Distributive Act" of 1841 proposed:
(1) To give to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama,
Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Michi-
gan, each, an additional and clear ten per cent of the
net proceeds of the sale of public lands within their
borders. This was over and above the percentages
specified in the "compacts" of admission.
(2) After deducting from the net proceeds the per-
centages specified above, to divide the remainder
among all the states of the Union, the District of Colum-
bia, and the territories of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Florida,
"according to their respective federal representative
population as ascertained by the last census." Each
state and territory was to be permitted to spend the
money as it chose, but the share of the District of
Columbia was to be "applied to free schools, or educa-
tion in some other form."
Only one distribution was made under this act.
The amount was $691,116.45. Tennessee put her
share ($29,703.28) into the school fund. The District
of Columbia received $1,643.72 for schools. 1 The plan
was never revived. 2
1 A complete statement of the distribution under the act of 1841 is to
be found in Donaldson's The Public Domain, p. 753.
2 The provisions just quoted were the first part of the act which gave
500,000 acres of land to certain public-land states for internal improve-
ments. The latter part of the act was not affected by the Tariff Act of
62 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
D. FORESTRY SERVICE RETURNS AND OTHER MINOR
GRANTS
In 1908, the appropriation act for the Department of
Agriculture included a provision "that hereafter twenty-
five per centum of all money received from each forest
reserve during any fiscal year, including the year 1908,
shall be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury to the
State or Territory in which said reserve is situated, to
be expended as the State or Territorial legislature may
prescribe for the benefit of the public schools and
public roads of the county or counties in which the forest
reserve is situated." The fund amounts to about
$500,000 annually.
Maine had a claim against the Government for services
rendered in the War ofi8i2. In 1823, the money thus
received by Maine from the Federal Government
through Massachusetts was made part of the school
fund. Twelve years later, the legislature took this
money out of the school fund and used it for general
purposes.
The "Direct War Tax" of 1861 was returned to the
states and territories by act of Congress in 1891. Three
states added this money to their school funds : Mas-
sachusetts ($696,407), Kentucky ($606,641), and South
Carolina.
In 1904, Vermont added $240,000 to her school fund
1842, and it has been applied, in substance and as already shown, to
every state admitted since that time.
MONEY GRANTS IN SUPPORT OF EDUCATION 63
by appropriating the amount received from the Federal
Government as reimbursement for moneys spent in
the Spanish American War.
Congress appropriated money directly to Oklahoma
in lieu of lands in Indian Territory, — a total of
$5,000,000 (1906). l
The Federal Government provides the entire expense
of education in Alaska and one half the cost of operating
public schools in the District of Columbia.
One of the original states secured a grant of land for
educational purposes, for, on March 3, 1819, Congress
granted one township (23,040 acres) to the Connecticut
Asylum for the education of deaf and dumb persons.
In 1906, Congress granted ''to the Sisters of St.
Francis 160 acres of land on which the St. Louis School,
near Pawhuska, is located, and 160 acres on which the
St. John's School, on Homing Creek, Osage Indian
Reservation, is located." 2
Practically every session of Congress has educational
money grants or land grants to consider. The most
famous of the land grants and the largest continuing
money grant for educational purposes will be con-
sidered in the next chapter.
1 See p. 112. 2 U. S. Com. Report, 1906, Vol. 2, p. 1239.
CHAPTER VIII
The Morrill Acts and the "Land-Grant" Colleges
The principles and policies involved in the foregoing
forms of federal aid to education having been tested
and established by experience, a new type of federal aid
to higher technical instruction was destined to appear.
The colleges and universities founded upon the township
grants of land came into direct competition with exist-
ing colleges which were dependent to a large extent
upon tuition from students and upon endowments the
income from which had to be devoted to specific ends.
Moreover, these new state colleges recruited most of
their teachers from the older institutions. In conse-
quence, the traditions and points of view of these older
colleges determined very largely the policies of the state
institutions. Beyond all this was the compelling force
of a public opinion formed very largely by people who
were familiar with the purposes and standards of the
older colleges. Small wonder then that weak, struggling,
pioneer colleges and "universities" had as their ideal
from 1840 to i860 the reproduction in the new lands of
a Harvard, a Yale, or a Princeton. The presence, too,
of many denominational colleges in the Middle West
made the success of the public-land colleges uncertain.
64
THE MORRILL ACTS AND " LAND-GRANT " COLLEGES 65
Gradually, however, an ever-increasing opposition
to the exclusively classical type of collegiate work grew
up. This new point of view came to be called the
"Industrial Movement," and may be looked upon as
the initial educational expression of the great social
and economic transformation that is now known as
the Industrial Revolution. Although European in its
origin, the Industrial Movement in education found a
ready soil in America, both along the Atlantic seaboard
and in the more remote parts of the country. In
Michigan, the State Normal School l at Ypsilanti was
the immediate result of this movement; so, too, in
Illinois, the State Normal University at Normal. These
schools "were to give instruction in husbandry, agri-
cultural chemistry, and animal and vegetable physiol-
ogy," as well as to prepare teachers for the public schools.
In 1857, Michigan opened her State Agricultural College,
the first fruit of the Industrial Movement in higher
education, although Pennsylvania, in 1855, had es-
tablished a "Farmers' High School" which in 1863
became the state's College of Agriculture. 2
Before considering the comprehensive answer made
by Congress to this demand for a more practical type
of higher education, one other element should be noticed.
The original states were never entirely satisfied with
the disposal that had been made of the public lands.
1 Now the Michigan State Normal College.
2 Now the Pennsylvania State College,
p
66 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Even before the Land Ordinance of 1785, setting aside
Lot No. 16, Maryland had memorialized the Conti-
nental Congress to make an equitable distribution of
the land revenues among the original states whose
sacrifices and endeavors had won the National domain.
In fact, the Maryland legislature went so far as to make
this concession a condition precedent to her acceptance
of the Articles of Confederation. 1 While the distribu-
tion of the surplus revenue somewhat mollified the
original states, the facts regarding this distribution
gradually faded from the public mind, and by 1855 the
states that had not shared in the benefits of Lot No. 16
were inclined to feel that Congress should do something
in an educational way for them.
Such was the general situation when, in December,
1855, Justin S. Morrill appeared in Congress as repre-
sentative from Vermont. He had been elected by a
majority of only fifty-nine votes. Shortly before his
election, at the age of about forty, he had given up his
business and retired on a modest competence that had
been accumulated within fifteen years. December, 1855,
however, marks the beginning of his real career. Al-
though he was forty-five years old at the time of his
1 Maryland held persistently to this idea, and joined with Pennsyl-
vania and other states in 1821 in a second memorial to Congress ; indeed,
it was not until 1825 that Maryland took any substantial steps toward
establishing a public-school system. Even then the maintenance of
schools was made optional with the counties, and the movement conse-
quently failed.
THE MORRILL ACTS AND "LAND-GRANT" COLLEGES 67
first election, he served twelve years in the House of
Representatives and thirty-two years in the Senate.
"He was equally the philosopher and the man of ac-
tion. . . . Mere majorities had no meaning for him,
except as they accorded with his own convictions of
truth and duty. ... He always gave the impression
of one who walked by an inner light and drew the in-
spiration of his life from unseen and immortal springs." 1
Such was the man who during his remarkable service
of forty-four years in Congress was the foremost ex-
ponent of the Industrial Movement in higher education.
His substantial achievements have given him an en-
during place in educational history. More than half a
hundred flourishing colleges of agriculture and mechanic
arts will keep his memory alive as long as the nation
lives.
The first Morrill Bill, providing for a land grant to
each state for the establishment, endowment, and
maintenance of an agricultural and mechanical college,
was introduced in the House of Representatives in
December, 1857. It was unfavorably reported in April,
1858, but with a minority report attached. Mr. Morrill
made a clear and convincing speech. He contended
that the money derived from the sale of the national
domain should be equitably distributed to all sections
1 U. S. Com. Report, Vol. 2, 1899-1900, p. 1324. The Legislative
Career of Justin S. Morrill, by G. W. Atherton, President Pennsylvania
State College.
68 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
of the country, that the policy of grants of land in aid
of education was too well established to be opposed on
constitutional grounds, and that to distribute this com-
mon fund as his bill proposed would greatly benefit
the masses by putting the new discoveries of science
at the disposal of agriculture and other industries.
In spite of the adverse committee report, the vote in
the House was 105 for, and 100 against, the Morrill Bill.
The bill, because of the violence of the opposition
to it, was not brought up in the Senate until February,
1859. It was championed by Senator Wade of Ohio.
The debate was stormy and a few amendments were
made. Senator Clay, of Alabama, said :
"The Federal Government is the creature of the States and is
dependent upon them for its organization and operation. All
its powers are subordinate to the States from whom they are
derived. The States are in no wise dependent upon the Federal
Government for their operation, organization, support, or main-
tenance. I stand as an ambassador from a sovereign State, no
more subject to the control of the Federal Government, except
in a few instances provided in the Constitution, than any foreign
and independent State. This bill treats the States as agents in-
stead of principals, as creatures instead of creators, and proposes
to give them their own property and direct them how to use it."
Notwithstanding this argument and many others, the
echoes of which are still heard occasionally in Congress,
the bill passed the Senate by a vote of twenty-five to
twenty- two. The House concurred in the amendments
and — President Buchanan vetoed the measure on the
:
THE MORRILL ACTS AND " LAND-GRANT " COLLEGES 69
ground that the Government was too poor to give up its
sources of income for this purpose, and on the further
ground that the bill was unconstitutional.
There was no thought of passing the measure over
the President's veto, and so the bill disappeared until
December, 1861, when Mr. Morrill reintroduced it in
the House. Finding it impossible to get the bill consid-
ered by the House Committee because of the important
war legislation that was pending, he had the bill in-
troduced in the Senate by Senator Wade in May, 1862.
On June 10, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of
thirty-two to seven. The Senate bill then went over
to the House and was passed by a vote of ninety to
twenty-rive on June 17. It was signed by President
Lincoln on July 2, 1862.
This act, undoubtedly the most momentous law ever
enacted in the interest of higher education, included the
following provisions :
1. Each existing state and each new state admitted
into the Union "shall be entitled to as many times
30,000 acres of public land (not mineral bearing) as
it had in i860 or has, at the time of its admission,
representatives in both houses of Congress. When
there is not enough (or no) public land within a state,
scrip x shall be issued ; but no state shall locate lands
1 Scrip is the name applied to a certificate, issued by the Federal
Government or State, which entitles the owner to receive a specified
allotment of land.
70 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
in another state save through assignees, nor shall any
portion of land be located smaller than a quarter sec-
tion."
This provision gave the older and more populous
states the advantage and evened up the score. For
example, New York received 900,000 acres and Iowa
240,000 acres. Practically every state that has entered
the Union since 1862 has received only 90,000 acres
under the provisions of this act, — 30,000 acres for each
of its two senators and an equal amount for its repre-
sentative.
2. Ten per cent or less of the entire gross proceeds
of the grant could be used, if authorized by the legis-
lature, in the purchase of land for sites or experimental
farms.
3. The interest of the entire remaining gross proceeds
of the grant were to be used " for the endowment, support,
and maintenance of at least one college where the lead-
ing object shall be, without excluding other scientific
and classical studies, and including military tactics, to
teach such branches of learning as are related to agri-
culture and the mechanic arts in such manner as the
legislatures of the states may respectively prescribe, in
order to promote the liberal and practical education
of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and pro-
fessions of life."
This provision obligated every state accepting the
provisions and bounty of the act to maintain a college
THE MORRILL ACTS AND LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 71
as a part of its public educational system. The college
thus maintained was not to be a trade school, but a
technical college with liberal features. The compulsory
military-training work in these schools was included
because of the existing war situation, and served the
country in good stead in 191 7, for it provided a large
group of well-educated young men who understood the
elements of military drill and who could begin, after a
brief period of more intensive preparation, the pre-
liminary training of troops.
4. "An annual report shall be made regarding the
progress of each college, recording improvements and
experiments made, with their cast and result, and such
other matters, including state, industrial, and economic
statistics, as may be useful, one copy of which shall be
transmitted by mail free by each to all the other colleges
of the same class, and one copy to the Secretary of the
Interior."
This provision bound the colleges together, inform-
ing each of what the others were doing, and insuring
that each would render a service to all.
5. The state legislature must formally accept the
grant within three years, must establish at least one
school of the character set forth above within five years,
must replace all losses to the fund, must invest the en-
tire gross proceeds, after making the permitted ex-
penditures, in safe stocks yielding not less than five per
cent on their par value, and must use the interest wholly
72 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
— excluding the purchase, erection, preservation, or
repair of any building or buildings — in support of the
school or schools established by the act.
This made the fund a " perpetual fund," to remain
"forever undiminished," and to be "inviolably ap-
propriated" to the purposes prescribed in the act.
Such safeguards around the federal land grants from
the beginning would have saved many millions of
dollars to the cause of education.
This first Morrill Act gave to the states a grand total
of 10,400,000 acres of land, the equivalent of 12,250
square miles, an area one and a half times as great as
that of Massachusetts, or New Jersey, and just about
equal to the area of Maryland. The distribution of
this land to the several states is shown in the table on
the following page.
One thing Congress failed to do, — it did not fix, in
1862, a minimum price for which the lands might be sold
by the states. The college lands, therefore, came into
competition with the unsold national lands. This
competition tended to force the price down to the govern-
ment price of $1.25 per acre. Some of the states that
had no national lands within their borders even sold
their scrip to an assignee, at as low a price as fifty to
sixty cents an acre. The assignee then either sold his
scrip to someone else or located his lands and sold them
in the open market. Like Lot No. 16, the Morrill en-
dowment fell far short of its possibilities.
THE MORRILL ACTS AND " LAND-GRANT " COLLEGES 73
Name of State
Acres Received
under Grant
Acres Unsold
Date of Opening
of Institution
Alabama
240,000
1872
Arizona . .
150,000
150,000
1891
Arkansas .
150,000
1872
California .
150,000
1,042
1869
Colorado .
90,000
34,153
1879
Connecticut
180,000
1881
Delaware .
90,000
1834
Florida . .
90,000
1884
Georgia . .
270,000
1872
Idaho . .
90,000
62,643
1892
Illinois . .
480,000
1868
Indiana . .
390,000
1874
Iowa . . .
204,309
1869
Kansas . .
90,000
7,686
1863
Kentucky .
330,000
O
1866
Louisiana .
209,920
i860
Maine . .
210,000
1868
Maryland .
210,000
1859
Massachusetts
360,000
1867
Michigan .
235,663
50,48S
1857
Minnesota .
94,439
185 1
Mississippi
209,920
1880
Missouri
277,067
47,287
1841
Montana .
138,954
69,147
1893
Nebraska .
90,000
1,727
1871
Nevada . .
90,000
14
1874
New Hampshi
re
150,000
1868
New Jersey
210,000
1864
New Mexico
150,000
91,909
1890
New York .
989,920
1868
North Carolina
270,000
1889
North Dakota
130,000
35,843
1891
Ohio ....
629,920
1873
Oklahoma . .
250,000
250,000
1891
Oregon . . .
89,908
920
1865
Pennsylvania .
780,000
1859
Rhode Island .
120,000
1890
South Carolina .
180,000
1893
South Dakota
160,000
141,140
1884
Tennessee . . .
300,000
1794
Texas . . .
180,000
1876
Utah. . . .
200,000
5i,78i
1890
Vermont . .
149,920
1801
Virginia . .
300,000
1872
Washington .
89,438
77,870
1892
West Virginia .
150,000
1868
Wisconsin . .
240,005
40
1850
Wyoming . .
89,832
75,875
1887
74 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Ezra Cornell, of New York, offered to take all of that
state's scrip at sixty cents an acre, and to pay the state
as he sold the land, with the understanding that all
receipts above sixty cents an acre should become an
endowment for a university. This offer was accepted.
Mr. Cornell located the scrip in the white-pine district
of Wisconsin, and eventually sold most of the land at
an average price of $6.73 an acre. This gave Cornell
University an endowment in excess of five and one half
million dollars.
Pennsylvania sold most of her scrip for fifty-five
cents an acre, and Ohio for fifty-four cents. While
this low-priced selling now seems almost criminal,
we must remember that each state was anxious to
realize immediately on its scrip. The situation was
uncertain. The Civil War was at its height, prices
were soaring, the currency was inflated, — and the
college had to be established within five years. In
1889, Congress corrected this defect in the law, and
states coming into the Union since that time are given
large blocks of land that cannot be sold until they will
bring at least $10 an acre ; the lands consequently are
leased, under certain restrictions, until they can be sold
for the price that has been fixed. The establishment
of colleges, however, is not delayed ; the lands thus
conditioned are made security for bonds issued by the
state, the state paying the interest annually and using
the proceeds of the bonds for educational purposes.
THE MORRILL ACTS AND " LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 75
These large blocks of land, as well as meeting the con-
ditions of the first Morrill Act, are in lieu of former
separate grants such as "internal-improvement grants,"
"salt lands," and "swamp and overflowed lands."
The colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts es-
tablished in the several states under the provisions of
this act were beset with difficulties during and follow-
ing the Civil War. Their particular field was new ;
few teachers were qualified to do the specialized
technical work demanded by their purpose; perti-
nent subject-matter was not abundant, for farming
was still very largely an empirical art rather than
an applied science; and the established colleges and
universities were not friendly. All of these facts should
be borne in mind by one who is disposed to criticize
the early work of the agricultural colleges. By 1872,
these new institutions were in need of additional Federal
assistance. The proceeds from the sale of public lands
kept pouring into the National Treasury. Senator
Morrill wished to create from these receipts an endow-
ment or permanent fund, the proceeds of which could
be used only for the support of the state colleges of
agriculture and mechanic arts. Representative Hoar,
of Massachusetts, was equally anxious to use the pro-
ceeds of such a permanent fund for the public schools
of the several states, apportioning these funds to the
states partly on a population basis and partly on an
illiteracy basis. The two finally agreed to divide the
76 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
proceeds of the fund equally at the outset, but the
college fund was to be limited to $50,000 a year to
each state while the common-school fund was to have
no limit. Two bills drawn to meet this compromise
passed the House in 1872, but were defeated in the
Senate.
In 1873, Senator Morrill introduced a measure combin-
ing the two bills and Representative Hoar reintroduced
his own bill in the House. Charges had been made that
the land-grant institutions were not fulfilling the pur-
pose for which they had been established, and Mr. James
Monroe, of Ohio, moved to "investigate the colleges
established under the grants of the Act of July 2, 1862."
This investigation was completed in 1875 and Mr.
Monroe himself made the report, — one entirely favor-
able to the colleges, — yet Senator Morrill's plan for a
permanent cash endowment had to wait fifteen years
after this report before it was written into law.
In 1887, March 2, the "Hatch Act" establishing an
"Experiment Station" at each college of agriculture
and mechanic arts was passed. This act provided an
annual subsidy of $15,000 for each such college in order
that original researches might be carried on and verifica-
tions of experiments made. The general field of such
experimentation is specified in the act. Each state is
required to accept the act formally and agree to carry
out its purposes. Without giving the Federal Govern-
ment any real control, the act specified that :
THE MORRILL ACTS AND " LAND-GRANT COLLEGES 77
"The Secretary of Agriculture shall furnish forms, ... for
the tabulation of results of investigation, shall indicate from time
to time such lines of inquiry as shall seem to him important, and
in general shall furnish such advice and assistance as will best
promote the purpose of the law." Each Experiment Station must
publish a bulletin at least once in three months "which shall
be sent by Government frank to each newspaper in the State
and to such persons who are actually engaged in agriculture who
shall request the same, as far as the means of the Station shall
permit."
The Hatch Act was a needed supplement to the earlier
legislation. From the outset, the colleges had been
handicapped by the relative paucity of well-established
scientific principles in the field of practical agriculture.
As a result the instruction tended to be either remotely
theoretical or entirely empirical and "rule-of- thumb"
in character. The experimental stations, by accumulat-
ing an ever-increasing number of tested facts and
principles, have given to the colleges the materials which
they needed most to meet the clear intent of the first
Morrill Act.
The law of August 30, 1890, the second Morrill Act,
was designed "to more completely endow the colleges
established under the law of July 2, 1862." It pro-
vided, out of the money arising from the sale of public
lands, an annual subsidy of $15,000 "for the more com-
plete endowment and maintenance" of each college of
agriculture and mechanic arts. This subsidy was to
increase by $1000 a year until it should reach $25,000
78 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
as the yearly grant. The amounts thus received "shall
be applied only to instruction in agriculture, the me-
chanic arts, the English language, and the various
branches of mathematical, physical, natural, and eco-
nomic science, with special reference to their application
in the industries of life and to the facilities for instruc-
tion." Reports were to be made and exchanged. The
funds available could be divided in any state on the
color line, but were to be used exclusively for operating
expenses. The Secretary of the Interior was charged
with the proper administration of the law, thus re-
vealing a slight growth in the principle of Federal
supervision over the institutions established by Federal
bounty. How this matter was considered by Mr.
Morrill is best told by stating that in the title of his bill
of 1873 he specifically designates the schools formed
under the act of 1862 as "National colleges for the ad-
vancement of general scientific and industrial education."
The Hatch Act and the second Morrill Act provided
money arising from the sale of public lands. This fund
would of necessity decrease as the public lands decreased,
and the institutions might, in consequence, find them-
selves with a decreasing annual subsidy. Senator
Morrill, with his usual foresight, did not overlook this
danger. In March, 1898, he introduced a bill which
provided that, whenever the proceeds of the sales of
public lands should be less than is required by the act
of 1890, the deficiency should be paid from any funds
THE MORRILL ACTS AND "LAND-GRANT" COLLEGES 79
in the National Treasury which are not otherwise ap-
propriated. The enactment of this bill into law es-
tablished a clear and incontestable precedent for money
grants in aid of education, the source of which would be
current Federal taxes. 1
In March, 1906, Congress passed the " Adams Act,"
an amendment of the Hatch Act. This was for the
"more complete endowment and maintenance of agri-
cultural experiment stations," and increased the ap-
propriations by easy stages to $30,000 a year for each
of the "land-grant" colleges that maintained an experi-
ment station.
In March, 1907, the "Nelson Amendment" to the
second Morrill Act of 1890 was passed. This amend-
ment increased the cash appropriation for "endowment
and support" from $25,000 annually, by increments
of $5000 a year, to $50,000 annually.
Attention should also be called to the Smith-Lever
1 The best available materials on the subject of the Colleges of Agri-
culture and Mechanic Arts are :
1. U. S. Com. Edn. Report, Vol. 2, 1894-5, PP- 1 189-12 10.
2. Ibid., Vol. 2, 1896-7, pp. 1137-1264.
3. Ibid., Vol. 2, 1899-1900, pp. 1321-1335.
4. Ibid., Vol. 1, 1902, pp. 1-82.
5. Ibid., Vol. 1, 1903, pp. 39-222.
The last two references contain a compilation of the laws of Congress
and of the states relative to Colleges of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts,
from 1862 to 1903.
6. I. L. Kandel : Federal Aid for Vocational Education. Bui. No.
10, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (New York,
1917).
80 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Act of May, 1914, which made in 1915-16 an annual
appropriation of $1,113,490 to the states for agricultural
extension work, including the support of "Farmers'
Institutes." The states added $1,364,356 for the same
purposes. These latest appropriations would seem to
complete in a fair way the Federal subventions for the
work of the colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts.
The Smith-Hughes Act 1 of February, 1917, provides
for industrial and agricultural work, but with this later
legislation, the Federal stimulus passed from the colleges
to schools "of less than college grade."
The colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts, starting
at the zero point on January 1, 1863, have had a most
remarkable growth, notwithstanding the fact that they
have been pioneers in a new type of education opposed
in many ways to the ideals of existing institutions.
The benefits of the act of 1862, or later benefits as a
substitute, have been accepted by every state, and
fifty- three institutions are to-day thus aided. These
institutions enrolled, in 191 5-16, a total of 130,499 stu-
dents. Forty-eight states receive $50,000 each annu-
ally, — a total of $2,400,000. The insular possessions
are also provided for. In addition, almost a million
dollars comes each year from interest on the Land-
Grant Fund of 1862, the principal being, in 1915-16,
$15,105,925.00. The total property values of these
fifty- three land-grant institutions in 191 5-16 aggre-
1 See ch. x.
THE MORRILL ACTS AND " LAND-GRANT " COLLEGES 8l
gated $179,519,438. In 1915-16, the income of these
institutions from the bounty of the Federal Govern-
ment was as follows :
From land grant of 1862 .... $ 884,514.00
From other land grants 193,573.00
From acts of 1890 and 1907 . . . 2,500,000.00
For experiment stations 1,362,000.00
For extension work 1,113,490.00
Total $6,053,577.00!
This chapter has been long ; but it is difficult to tell,
even in outline, the story of these institutions that in
a brief half century have developed so remarkably, that
have so fully justified the " Industrial Movement" out
of which they sprang, and that constitute so fitting a
tribute to the foresight and persistence of Justin S.
Morrill. But perhaps the greatest lesson of the Morrill
Acts lies in the steadily increasing appropriations that
the states themselves have made to these nationally-
aided colleges. To-day, by far the greater part of the
maintenance expenses of the "land-grant" colleges is met by
taxation within the states themselves. Federal aid, far from
"pauperizing" the states, or tending toward a reduction
of state initiative and effort, has served to stimulate the
states to a measure of self-activity quite unparalleled in
the development of nationally unaided state enterprises. 2
1 For complete statistics, see U. S. Com. of Edn. Report, 19 17, Vol. 2,
PP- 37i-4o5-
2 For example, in the nineteen years following 1896, appropriations
from the state treasuries to the land-grant colleges increased eightfold;
during the same period state appropriations to the nationally unaided
state normal schools increased only threefold.
G
82 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
This chapter completes the story of Federal land
grants for educational purposes. The public domain is
not yet exhausted, — on July i, 1913, there were
1,820,538,240 acres of land as yet unappropriated. 1
Much of it, however, is mountainous, arid, or semi-
arid. It will come into the market only as the pressure
of population on the means of subsistence forces its settle-
ment and cultivation. So far as a source of revenue
for the support and encouragement of education is con-
cerned, the unappropriated public land is of little ac-
count, save in Alaska. 2
1 Quoted in Cubberley and Elliott's State and County School Adminis-
tration, p. 108.
2 A summary table setting forth the principal facts regarding Federal
land grants for educational and other purposes will be found in Ap-
pendix A. This was issued by the General Land Office in August, iqiq.
It is corrective of facts previously quoted in tables, variations in which
are inevitable, as the tables have been made up at different times.
CHAPTER IX
Specific National Educational Acts
The preceding chapters have considered land and
money grants by which the Nation has promoted educa-
tion within the states. In each case, the state has, so
to speak, been the agent through which the Nation has
influenced the schools. The Federal Government, how-
ever, has undertaken educational work independently
of the states. Federal legislation of this type will be
the theme of the present chapter.
A. THE FREEDMEN's BUREAU
Up to the close of the Civil War, educational affairs
in the South were, generally speaking, in a wretched con-
dition. Of all the Southern states, North Carolina had
made the most creditable record and had made a fair
start toward developing a state system of public schools.
Elsewhere, a few elementary schools and academies had
been established, — but the elementary schools were
largely for the poor and the academies for a wealthier
group which demanded the classics and "accomplish-
ments." In the larger cities, — Charleston, Mobile,
New Orleans, — a little progress had been made in
83
84 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
promoting common schools, but, on the whole, free
public education in the South had been a failure. When
the war closed, "taxable property had depreciated sixty
per cent at a stroke, and four million illiterates (negroes)
were added to the school population. The educational
problem set for solution was how to educate three times
the number of children with one third the money." 1
There were no teachers, no schoolhouses ; the private
schools had been closed during the war because of finan-
cial difficulties. There was a deep-seated prejudice
against public schools and especially against educating
the negro. One Southern writer has said: "If the tree
be judged by its fruits, it [the public school] is poisonous
instead of salutary to republican institutions in our great
cities."
In March, 1865, Congress created a "Bureau of Ref-
ugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands." So long a
title was impossible ; the organization soon came to be
known as the "Freedmen's Bureau." There were many
church organizations that bore the same title, some of
which had been organized while the war was in progress.
The Government Bureau worked with these various
agencies and with whatever Southern associations,
organizations, or institutions it could interest in its
plans and policies. It helped to establish schools in
existing buildings, found teachers and employed them,
and did perhaps its greatest work in building what would
1 Boone's Education in the United States, p. 350.
SPECIFIC NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ACTS 85
be regarded to-day as very crude schoolhouses. It
sought the cooperation of every conceivable organization
in the North to furnish money for carrying on a work
that was too extensive and too far-reaching for a Bureau
with a limited budget to handle alone. Indeed, during
the four years of its existence, the Freedmen's Bureau
of the United States Government did a most helpful
piece of work in the South. At the end of the first
year of its history, it employed nearly a thousand
teachers and enrolled one hundred thousand pupils in
its schools. At the end of four years, the total stood :
teachers, 2500; pupils, 250,000.
The Freedmen's Bureau helped also in the founding of
Howard University * and Wayland Seminary, at Wash-
ington ; Fisk University and the State Central College,
in Tennessee ; Straight University, in Louisiana ; Claf-
lin University, in South Carolina; and Hampton
Normal and Agricultural Institute, in Virginia. The
last named became the type and pattern for negro
industrial schools, and North and South alike are in-
debted to the educational sense and sanity which, under
the wise leadership of General Armstrong, spread from
Hampton as a center. The Peabody Fund for the South
($3,100,000), the Slater Fund ($1,000,000), and many
other benefactions were hastened and directed into right
channels by the trail blazed by the Freedmen's Bureau.
1 Howard University has continued to draw support from the Federal
Treasury, the appropriation by Congress for 1915-1916 being $101,000.
86 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The Bureau spent $5,250,000 in the four years of its
existence, and all of it came from the treasury of the
United States. By 1869, however, the Peabody Fund
was operative, the work of the churches was well
organized, and the South itself had begun to establish
schools, spurred on, perhaps, by a conviction that, if
it did not do so, the Federal Government would. In
any case, the Bureau was discontinued and the work of
building up a free public school system was begun in
earnest by the reconstructed states.
B. THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION
Although the Nation, as such, has had no control
over education in the several states, it has not been
entirely remiss to the obligations that opportunity so
clearly implies. The need for a central agency to collect
and disseminate statistics and information regarding
education in the different states began to be felt just
as soon as the national consciousness sensed the fact
that universal education was a condition precedent
to the realization of its ideals. Such an agency was
talked of in the later 'forties and early 'fifties, but the
Civil War delayed its establishment. When the war
was over, the need -was accentuated by the almost
universal ignorance about educational conditions in the
South. How to meet this need was a problem that had
a prominent place on the programs of the National
Education Association in 1864, 1865, and 1866. At
SPECIFIC NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ACTS 87
the meeting in 1867, a committee was appointed to me-
morialize Congress on the subject. Of this committee,
State Commissioner Emerson E. White, of Ohio, was
chairman. The memorial was presented to the House
of Representatives by James A. Garfield. 1 The bill
creating a Department of Education was approved
March 2, 1867. The committee had asked for a Bureau,
but the House made it a Department. The Depart-
ment was established, as stated in the act, "for the pur-
pose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show
the condition and progress of education in the several
states and territories, and of diffusing such information
respecting the organization and management of schools
and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall
aid the people of the United States in the establishment
and maintenance of efficient school systems, and other-
wise promote the cause of education throughout the
country."
As a Department, this new agency of the government
had a short life. The appropriation bill of July 20,
1868, declared that "the department of education shall
cease" "from and after the thirtieth day of June,
1869." In its stead, the Bureau was created and
attached to the Department of the Interior. The salary
of the Commissioner was reduced to $3000 a year and
the total appropriation cut from $9400 to $5400 a year.
1 Data relative to this matter, including the speech of James A.
Garfield, are found in the U. S. Com. Edn. Report, 1901, pp. 414-38.
88 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The infant was almost strangled while a-borning, and
it is small wonder that it has always been puny.
The Bureau of Education has endeavored to do the
best that it could with its available funds and oppor-
tunities. Generally speaking, it has had to depend
entirely upon voluntary cooperation as regards educa-
tional statistics — and everything else. Its publications
have been timely and helpful. The annual reports con-
tain invaluable material not elsewhere available. But,
after saying all that can truthfully be said of its work as
a Bureau, it has failed to develop that leadership which
education in a great democracy needs — perhaps beyond
all other types of leadership. Prestige and influence in
other types of governmental enterprise come naturally
and inevitably; with our Federal plan, a national
leadership in education has never come. The states
long since learned this, and each of them now has, in
the state government, an executive officer or department
whose chief business, no matter what words the law
may employ, is educational leadership. In a democratic
state, the compelling power should be the ideals of the
people. The function of leadership is to inspire ideals,
— to make articulate and vocal the unformulated but
deeply felt wishes and aspirations of the people, — to set
up and exemplify those standards of worth which the
people will recognize as their own and which they will,
by collective action, make real.
We do not value very highly a position that is without
SPECIFIC NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ACTS 89
prestige. A little Bureau in a big Department cannot
have prestige. Without prestige, influence is lacking;
and without influence, leadership is impossible. And
this — plain, honest work within a narrow field, ham-
pered and repressed by beggarly appropriations, and
very little influence upon education — has been the
history of the Bureau of Education. The total appro-
priations for educational purposes by the Federal Govern-
ment for the year ending June 30, 191 8, amounted to
one hundred sixty million dollars ; of this total the
Bureau of Education received $481,800, or less than one
third of one per cent! Or, if we take some other govern-
mental agencies for comparison, we shall get a relative
idea of the importance attached by Congress to the
Bureau of Education. The Civil Service Commission
receives almost as much money as the Bureau of Educa-
tion. The Library of Congress receives one and a half
times as much. There is appropriated by Congress for
the janitors in the public schools of Washington alone,
three fourths as much as the Bureau of Education is
given. The Bureau of Plant Industry in the Depart-
ment of Agriculture has seven times as much as the
Bureau of Education, while the Bureau of Entomology
has twice as much.
Furthermore, in order to get the proper ratio for
revising the comparisons just made, we must bear
in mind that over one half of all that is appropriated
to the Bureau of Education ($267,000) is specifically
90 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
appropriated for education in Alaska. The Bureau of
Education has $75,200 for salaries; the Civil Service
Commission has $340,000 ; the Bureau of Plant Industry
has $440,000; and West Point alone has $983,602.
Control of education by the Federal Government is
as undesirable as it is impossible; but if the Federal
Government really wishes to promote education, its first
step forward might well be to elevate the Bureau of Edu-
cation to its appropriate status as an executive depart-
ment of the Federal Government.
C. PURELY NATIONAL SCHOOLS
On its own private account, so to speak, the Federal
Government has been in the educational business for a
long time for it has had its own wards to look out for,
and, in some cases, its own servants to train. Through
a long series of blunders, the tragedies of which need not
concern us here, it has developed fairly effective plans
and policies for the education of the Indians. For the
year ending June 30, 1918, the Office of Indian Affairs
in the Department of the Interior was given $9,565,800,
to be spent under Federal control for the education of
Indians.
Congress has also been under the necessity of edu-
cating, under its own management and direction, officers
for the Army and the Navy. Washington urged a
national school that would insure "an adequate stock
of military knowledge," and his wishes were realized
SPECIFIC NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ACTS 9 1
with the organization of the Military Academy at West
Point in 1802. The institution was not very successful
at first, but after the War of 181 2 its curriculum was
revised and an excellent system of discipline established.
In one way, it remained "close to the people" ; in order
to be admitted, the candidate was required only to be
"well versed in reading, writing, and arithmetic," and
to be physically fit; but the selection was practically
upon the basis of political patronage, for the candidates
for examinations were appointed by members of Con-
gress. The admission requirements have been advanced
in recent years. Its purpose has always been "to train
young men to arrange squadrons for the hardy fight";
and in spite of its aristocratic tendencies and traditions,
its success as a school is unquestioned.
In 1913, Congress appropriated $1,246,159.97 for
military training in its own institutions. These insti-
tutions, in addition to West Point, are : the Army War
College and the Army Engineer School, in Washington ;
the Coast Artillery School, Fort Monroe; officers'
schools, at various military posts ; and the service
schools at Forts Sill, Riley, and Leavenworth. Facilities
for military training expanded greatly during the recent
World War, and will doubtless decrease rapidly at first,
then more slowly for a long period, eventually going
back to the level which is considered safe from a national
point of view. It is also quite probable that the mili-
tary training required by the act of 1862 in the
92 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
land-grant colleges will, for many years, be expanded
and intensified.
The Department of the Navy was established in 1798.
In harmony with the old English system, the ship's
chaplain served as schoolmaster. About 1813, in-
structors were placed on ships. Soon afterward, in-
structors were assigned to the Navy Yards at New York,
Philadelphia, and Norfolk. Chauvenet, the mathema-
tician, was in charge of the instructors at Philadel-
phia. He conceived the idea of founding a school for
naval training. It was not until 1845, however, that his
idea was realized, through the efforts of George Ban-
croft, then Secretary of the Navy, by the establishment
of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.
This provided only for the training of officers. After
the lapse of fifty years, Naval Training Stations for the
enlisted personnel were established.
An idea of the cost of naval training in peace times
may be obtained from the appropriations made in 1913.
The Naval Academy received $586,150; the four Naval
Training Stations — California, Rhode Island, Great
Lakes, and Saint Helena — received $278,457 ; the Naval
War College (Rhode Island) received $28,500, — a
total of $893,457. For 1918, these appropriations were
more than doubled and additional facilities were pro-
vided.
The United States Government, through the Depart-
ment of State, provides for the training of student inter-
SPECIFIC NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ACTS 93
preters at our embassies in China, Japan, and Turkey.
It also contributes liberally toward the support of the
Smithsonian Institution and makes arrangements by
which its vast collections and libraries are placed at the
service of investigators. Congress, also, controls educa-
tion in the District of Columbia, Alaska, Porto Rico,
the Philippines, and Hawaii.
CHAPTER X
Federal Grants for Vocational Education
The Industrial Movement, already mentioned as
becoming active in the early fifties and again after the
Civil War, has been intensified and given a new direc-
tion by the developments of the past half century. The
land-grant colleges, while they have done a superb
work, never fully satisfied the ideals of the Industrial
Movement, for their efforts were largely limited to the
relatively small group of students competent to pursue
studies of collegiate grade. The land-grant colleges and
the experimental stations did something to bring to the
practical farmer the results of modern scientific research
in agriculture. In fact, it was, in part, the clear and
unmistakable demonstration of practical values that
led successive legislatures in the several states to make
generous appropriations for the support of these schools.
But while no one has ever criticized these colleges with
any measure of justification, it is true that there have
been many needs and longings which they have not
satisfied.
The Centennial Exhibition in 1876, too, revealed the
backwardness of the country in respect to vocational
education on the elementary and secondary levels, and
94
FEDERAL GRANTS FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 95
led to the establishment of courses in manual training
in public schools, the organization of trade schools,
and a new emphasis upon "practical" instruction.
The great private correspondence schools have been
nourished and supported by the longings of those who
would be adherents of the Industrial Movement if only
they knew that there were such a thing. The success
of these enterprises and that of private benefactions such
as Cooper Union, and the popularity of university exten-
sion work are proof conclusive of the fundamental
aspiration of the worker to better his condition.
Contributing to the demand for "practical" education
has been the vast expansion and differentiation of the
industrial processes. These require of the workman a
highly developed intelligence within a narrow field.
For example : while anyone with the necessary physical
strength can fill a blast furnace with kindling, coke,
limestone, and pig iron, someone must know the pro-
portions and sequence of these ingredients. This
knowledge was originally gained by "trial and error"
and formulated in empirical rules. Within the past
half century, however, science, through careful experi-
mentation, has worked out accurate formulae, and has
furnished explanations as well as rules. From the
making of soap and the baking of bread to the manu-
facture of steel girders, the industrial processes have been
refined and perfected to the point where each is a dis-
tinct field of highly specialized skill and highly technical
_r
96 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
knowledge. A man may be a very successful soap
maker without knowing enough about the blast fur-
nace to make even a respectable failure at operating it.
With a sufficient number of high-grade men to direct
the industries, the actual physical work might be done
by men who know very little. One of the tendencies
of modern industry, indeed, is to keep a maximum
number of low-grade employes at work under a minimum
of expert guidance. When the particular industry is
"slack," the low-grade workmen have no employment
and, consequently, no wage. The social consequences
are disastrous. Even if industry could be continuously
prosperous, its human employes would still have a
human life to live, a human destiny to work out, and
community, state, and national obligations to dis-
charge. The problem can never, from any angle, be
one of dividends merely or chiefly. The individual is
more than a cog in the industrial machine ; the Nation
is more than a mere aggregate of producers, — basic as
production is in social life.
Many boys and girls leave school at a very early age
to enter upon all sorts of occupations. These boys and
girls are not skilled workers ; they are merely hands and
feet to fetch and carry ; — and, unless they are kept
mentally alive by something outside their routine work,
they may mature physically into manhood and woman-
hood only to assume the responsibilities of family and
community life with the mental equipment and ideals
FEDERAL GRANTS FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 97
of childhood or, at best, of early adolescence. They
are the most tragic examples of "arrested develop-
ment," for mental starvation during adolescence con-
demns them throughout life to a relatively low grade
of skill. From the individual, economic, and social
points of view it is imperative to keep these young
people growing mentally.
A combination of statesmanship, philanthropy, and
good " business sense " has fortunately resulted in the
organization within the United States of a vast machinery
for vocational education that aims to solve this problem.
The embodiment of this plan is known as the Smith-
Hughes Act, approved February, 191 7. As a bill in
Congress, this act was very carefully considered by the
education committees of Congress and by a special
commission expressly created to study it. It involves
many new features, some of which are to prevent abuses
that have attended other forms of Federal subsidies
and some of which are theoretical ventures in the field
of "grants in aid" of education. The main features of
the Smith-Hughes Act are set forth below without
comment :
1. The act creates a Federal Board for Vocational
Education whose function it is "to make or cause to
have made studies, investigations, and reports, with
particular reference to their use in aiding the States in
the establishment of vocational schools and classes and
in giving instruction in agriculture, trades, and indus-
H
98 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
tries, commerce and commercial pursuits, and home
economies" ; "to cooperate with State Boards in carry-
ing out the provisions of the Act"; and "to cooperate
with the Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and Com-
merce and the Bureau of Education in making studies
and investigations." The Federal Board employs a
Director, who is the Executive Officer of the Board,
and, on his nomination, elects assistants for the direction
of certain lines of work, such as agriculture, domestic
science, industry, etc.
2. The Federal Board is given $200,000 annually to
meet the cost of administering the Act.
3. Increasing funds are set aside for specific purposes
which at their maxima are as follows :
o. For the preparation of teachers of vocational subjects,
$1,000,000, allotted to the states on basis of population.
b. $3,000,000 for teaching agriculture in schools of less than
college grade, and allotted to the states on the basis of
rural population.
c. $3,000,000 for teaching trades and industries allotted to
the states on the urban population basis.
4. These allotments are conditional upon the agree-
ment of each cooperating state to match its Federal
allotment dollar for dollar.
5. "The Federal Board for Vocational Education
shall annually ascertain whether the States are using
or are prepared to use the moneys received by them
in accordance with the provisions of this Act."
FEDERAL GRANTS FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 99
6. The Federal Board is empowered to "withhold the
allotment of moneys to any state whenever it shall
appear that such moneys are not being expended for
the purposes and under the conditions of this Act." The
state, in such a case, may appeal to Congress, and upon
the express direction of Congress the state may receive
the allotment that has been temporarily withheld by
the Federal Board.
7. The state must guarantee the Government against
loss of funds allotted "by any action or contingency."
The state must also agree to use moneys received under
the provisions of the Act solely for operating expenses, —
that is, for teaching, supervision, and administration.
8. The states must report annually to the Federal
Board.
9. The Federal Board must approve the action of
the State Board in setting up minimum qualifications of
teachers in agriculture, trades and industries, and home
economics.
The total maximum appropriation provided in the
act is $7,200,000 annually.
The features of the act that set new precedents in
Federal aid to education are :
A. The Federal Board, which is set up separately
from any existing agency of the government and which
is, consequently, directly responsible to Congress.
B. The allotment on the basis of apparent need.
C. The requirement that the states must spend, for
IOO THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
a specific purpose, at least as much as the Federal
Government allots to the state for that purpose.
D. The approval of a state's plans for vocational
education by the Federal Board, and the making of
this approval a condition of allotment.
E. The right given the Federal Board to ascertain
annually just what has been done in a state and how the
money has been spent.
These new features safeguard the interests of the
Nation as a whole as has never been done before by
any grant of land or money for educational purposes.
Whether the plan is too highly centralized and whether
the Federal Board will infringe upon the "autonomy
of the States" are matters which the wise years will
reveal.
CHAPTER XI
The Principles Embodied in the Educational Acts
of Congress
By way of summary, it will be profitable to state the
principles embodied or implied in the educational acts
of Congress that have been already considered.
(i) The right of the Federal Government to encourage
the establishment of public schools, or common schools,
by grants of land has been clearly established. The
action of the Continental Congress in 1785 with respect
to Lot No. 16 in the Northwest Territory is conclusive
evidence of this right especially in view of the long
record of subsequent acts of Congress in harmony with
the declaration of the act of 1785 and in view of the
fact that no action even remotely suggesting the invalid-
ity of this Federal policy has ever been brought before
the Supreme Court. Congress has given lands for the
establishment and maintenance of common schools to
colonization companies, such as the Ohio Company and
the Symmes Company ; to townships as in some of the
earlier states, notably Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois ; and
later to states. Not only has the Federal Government
established the right to give lands for the maintenance
of common schools, but it has given money in lieu of
IOI
102 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
land. This was done in Oklahoma when the state of
Oklahoma was given $5,000,000 in lieu of the sixteenth
section lands, the title to which was vested in the Indians.
Congress has done the same with respect to North
Dakota where a few years ago it voted $180,000 to the
state in lieu of lands that were covered by individual
Indian titles.
(2) The Federal Government has established its right
to encourage the development of colleges and univer-
sities by land grants. This has been done repeatedly.
The first form of grant was the traditional "two town-
ships" which started with the grant to the Ohio Com-
pany and which was followed by a grant of one township
to the Symmes Company. Later came salt lands,
internal improvement lands, swamp lands, and finally,
crowning all of them, lands for the endowment of
colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts. The Federal
Government also has established its right to give
money as well as lands for the maintenance and en-
dowment of colleges, — witness the Hatch Act of
1887, the second Morrill Act of 1890, the later Nelson
Act, and the Adams Act increasing the second Morrill
allowance to an annual maximum of $80,000 for each
state. This is a continuing annual subsidy for the
"further endowment and maintenance" of the land-
grant colleges.
(3) Congress has established its right to enter into
cooperative arrangements with the states for specific
THE PRINCIPLES EMBODIED IN ACTS OF CONGRESS IO3
educational purposes. This is clearly shown in the
preceding acts, especially those relative to the colleges
of agriculture and mechanic arts and the experiment
stations. It is also shown in the Smith-Hughes Act
in which a very definite and specific contractual relation
has been undertaken, — even to the point of making the
state agree to match dollar for dollar its allotment for
each specific purpose.
(4) The Federal Government has established its right
to encourage all kinds of educational and welfare work.
In addition to what has already been particularly
described in the preceding chapters of this book, Con-
gress has established in the Department of Agriculture
the States' Relation Service, and in the Department of
Labor the Children's Bureau. It has also organized
in the Treasury Department a Public Health Service
the functions of which are largely educational. Under
the States' Relation Service school gardening has been
organized on an elaborate scale and various other types
of educational activities, small and large, are encouraged
by the leadership of its employes, and often by the
stimulus of expenditures on the part of the Government.
It has also been spending, through the Department
of the Interior, small sums of money for the Ameri-
canization of foreigners and it has been spending even
more in giving publicity to this great educational need.
(5) Congress has established its right to set aside
money for the preparation of teachers under conditions
104 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
satisfactory to itself. This is shown in the Smith-
Hughes Act where $1,000,000 annually is appropriated
for the training of teachers of vocational subjects, and
also in the Adams Act which provides that a part of the
money given to the land-grant colleges may be spent
for the preparation of teachers. If it has the right to
prepare teachers for certain limited fields of teaching,
it has the right to prepare teachers for general fields of
teaching.
(6) Congress has established its right to spend money
for the collection and dissemination of information
regarding education at home and abroad. This is
shown through the activities and publications of the
Bureau of Education. The different educational pro-
posals that the Bureau is able to put before the general
educational public by use of funds provided by Congress
clearly show that Congress has established the right
to spend money for educational publicity. Closely
associated with this is the evident right of Congress to
appropriate money for the carrying on of research work
as is done so extensively through the agricultural
experiment stations, the various research bureaus of the
Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian Institution,
the Museum of Natural History, the Library of Congress,
and the National Research Council. The Federal
Government is to-day the largest single employer of
research scientists in the world.
(7) Congress has exercised its unquestioned right to
THE PRINCIPLES EMBODIED IN ACTS OF CONGRESS 105
set up schools for the attainment of its own specific
educational ends. West Point, Annapolis, the War
College, the Naval College, the Service Stations, schools
at Army posts, and Naval training stations, all clearly
prove this. It already has a special school for training
medical officers for the Army ; it could set up schools for
the training of its consular personnel if it so desired, for
the training of attaches in its diplomatic service, for
the training of teachers to serve in its own schools.
There is practically no limit to such educational activi-
ties; the field is as wide as the Government service
itself.
(8) Congress has established and exercised its right
to provide for the education of Indians and for the
education of people in its territories and outlying
possessions. It is now spending something over
$9,000,000 annually on the education of Indians. It is
spending money for public schools in the Territory of
Alaska, and it has previously spent money for the
education of people in practically every territory that
has been established. It also established and exercised
its authority to provide for the education of negroes
immediately following the Civil War as shown by the
work of the Freedmen's Bureau.
These precedents, undisturbed by a single adverse
court decision, prove that it is constitutional for the
Federal Government to promote education in a variety
of ways. It has been promoting education ever since
106 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
1785. Not a session of Congress closes without the
passage of acts designed to promote education. To be
sure, these acts are for the most part in harmony with
precedents already established, but new precedents are
constantly being set. On the other hand, for Congress
to attempt to usurp the sovereign right of each state
to organize, supervise, and administer education within
its own borders and specifically and directly for the
state's own citizens would clearly be unconstitutional.
It is, indeed, unthinkable. Congress has never at-
tempted to do this. It has never been advised or
memorialized by educational leaders to attempt it.
No one desires this sort of thing to be done ; but there
are many who feel that the cooperative relationships
already established, already justified by their results,
should be extended to include educational needs and
activities even more important to the welfare of the
Nation than those with which the Government has
hitherto concerned itself. If Federal cooperation in
education can work the miracles which now stand to its
credit, and if it can do this without invading in any
respect the rights of the states, it can work other
sadly needed miracles with the same efficiency and the
same freedom from danger.
CHAPTER XII
The National Education Association and Federal
Aid
The annual meeting of the National Education
Association in 1873 was held at Elmira, New York.
The main topic of interest was Federal aid to education.
Dr. McCosh, then president of Princeton, gave a long
address on "Upper Schools" in the course of which he
clearly revealed the attitude of the older, endowed
colleges toward the new land-grant colleges. He said,
in part :
"What should be done with those ninety millions worth of
unappropriated land belonging to the general government? We
all know that a proposal was made in the last session of Congress
to devote the whole or the half of the sum to be realized by the
sale of those lands to what were called agricultural schools. The
agricultural schools and schools of science which expected to
receive a share of the funds were employed for months in pre-
paring and promoting this measure. Members of the Senate and
of the House were anxious to be able to go back to their con-
stituents with the assurance that they brought down with them
to their state half a million of money or $50,000 a year. Friends
of education were glad to get the sum allocated to some good
educational end, were it only to prevent it from being wasted in
107 .
108 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
political jobbing. But some of us, when we learned that such a
measure was quietly passing the House and Senate, courageously
set ourselves against the allocation of so large a sum of money to
so narrow and so sectional a purpose. We argued that so far
as these schools were simply agricultural ones, they were not
accomplishing so great a good as to entitle them to so large an
endowment. I hold very resolutely that, before so large a sum
be lavished on them, there should be a special inquiry into what
they are and what they are doing ; into the number of bona fide
agricultural pupils, and specially as to the number of those trained
who have thought it worth their while to turn to farming. I could
show that in no country in the world has agriculture been much
benefited by mere agricultural schools.
"Why should the excellent college at New Brunswick [Rutger's
College] and managed by a few Dutchmen, get $50,000 a year,
and Princeton College, with its new school of Science, receive
nothing ? We wish nothing in Princeton from the state or general
government. I proclaim this publicly. But we are entitled in
this country to a fair field and no favor." *
After quoting at length from John Stuart Mill, Dr.
McCosh finally proposed that the proceeds of the sale
of public lands should be made into a permanent fund,
and that the interest be used to encourage high schools.
In the Southern states, his plan would permit the use of
one half of the state's share for common schools.
The address of Dr. McCosh was given in the evening
and the discussion continued the next day. President
Eliot, of Harvard College, carried the argument still
further, attacking the whole policy of Federal aid for
education. He said :
1 N. E. A. Proceedings, 1873, pp. 32-33.
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 109
"Dr. McCosh proposed that ninety million dollars public
money be applied for upper schools in the North and for upper and
elementary schools in the South. Ninety millions would be only
a drop in the bucket. . . . The one drop is a drop of poison. It
demoralizes us and weakens the foundation of our liberty. It
interferes with the carrying out of our destiny, — the breeding of
a race of independent and self-reliant freemen. I hope no words
will go out from this Association which can be held to sanction,
in any way or shape, a request for money from the government
for education. I know of no more mischievous, insidious enemy
to a free republic than this habit of asking help in good works
which we ought to attend to ourselves."
President Eliot also had a word to say regarding the
Congressional situation :
"It was to me, I know it must have been to many others, a
humiliating spectacle to see, last winter, in the halls of Congress,
a half-dozen men, representing a few institutions of education,
many of them but half-born, vieing for a share in the public gifts.
I was thankful to President McCosh when he ventured to go
before Congress and protest against this demoralizing use of public
money. I only regret that it was left to a gentleman not American
to discharge that public duty." *
Mr. G. W. Atherton, one of the "few Dutchmen at
New Brunswick," and later president of the Pennsylvania
State College of Agriculture, spoke the next evening on
"The Relation of the General Government to Educa-
tion." After covering the historical ground he presented
and elaborated five propositions, as follows :
1. The proceeds of the sales of public lands yet
remaining unappropriated should be permanently in-
1 N. E. A. Proceedings, 1873, p. 44.
HO THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
vested by the United States Government, as they accrue,
and set apart as a perpetual endowment for the support
of public education ; the income to be distributed among
the states, and administered by them according to
their several systems.
2. All grants of land to corporations should cease.
"From 1850 to 1873, Congress has given the Pacific
roads alone over 150,000,000 acres, — more than all
it has ever granted to all educational agencies."
3. A portion of the fund thus set apart for education
should be devoted to the further endowment of the
national scientific schools, commonly called agricultural
colleges. These institutions are the logical and fit
completion of the public school system. They are the
colleges of and for the people.
4. The Government must hold the states to an account
for the right use of its donations.
5. To sum up all in a word, the United States Govern-
ment must take a more direct and active interest than
it has hitherto done in the promotion of public education. 1
After all this discussion, and much more that was not
recorded, the Association
"Resolved, That, in the opinion of this Association, the pro-
ceeds of the sales of the public lands should be, hereafter, set apart
by Congress, under such conditions as it may deem wise, as a
perpetual fund for the support of public education in the states
and territories." 2
N. E. A. Proceedings, 1873, pp. 7°~73- 2 Ibid., p. 92.
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION III
It is interesting in this connection to note that
President Eliot at this meeting gave a strong report
against a National University, — a project which the
Association had indorsed in 1869 and concerning which
two bills had been introduced in Congress in 1872, one
by Senator Howe, of Wisconsin, on March 25, the other
by Senator Sawyer, on May 20. He said :
"During the war of the Rebellion, we got accustomed to seeing
the government spend vast sums of money and put forth vast
efforts, and we asked ourselves, Why should not some of these
great resources and powers be applied to works of peace, to creation
as well as to destruction ? So we subsidized railroads and steam-
ship companies, and agricultural colleges, and now it is proposed
to subsidize a university. The fatal objection to this subsidizing
process is that it saps the foundations of public liberty. The only
adequate securities of public liberty are the national habits, tradi-
tions, and character acquired and accumulated in the practice of
liberty and self-control." 1
These quotations give us a keen insight into the
educational attitude of different groups. One group
wished to use the public money for the removal of illit-
eracy and the development of the public schools.
Another wished to use it for the development and
possible endowment of upper schools that would prepare
for college. A third group wished to use all of the fund
for "the further endowment and maintenance of the
Colleges of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts." President
Eliot and his followers protested against any use of
1 N. E. A. Proceedings, 1873, p. 119.
112 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Federal money for education. These four groups, in
Congress and outside, had long and, at times, acrimonious
discussions.
In 1875, the House Committee on Education and
Labor gave the land-grant colleges a ''clean bill of
health" so that Dr. McCosh had still further cause for
dissent. In 1877, Senator Morrill succeeded Senator
Sherman as Chairman of the Finance Committee.
Senator Blair of New Hampshire became the Chairman
of the Committee on Education. Senator Blair was
earnestly and persistently interested in the cause of the
common schools and sought to have legislation aiding
them passed. All of his efforts failed, but they came
sufficiently near to success to keep the idea alive.
The National Education Association reiterated its
Elmira resolution in 1874 and in 1875. At the latter
meeting a committee was appointed to place the res-
olution in the hands of each member of Congress. In
1876, the idea was expanded to include "common
schools, normal education, and the technical and indus-
trial colleges" established under the act of 1862. A
committee of one from each state and territory was pro-
vided "to prepare a memorial to Congress embodying
the views herein expressed, and urging such legislation
as shall be substantially in harmony therewith." l In
1877, the same idea is reiterated. In 1879, the Com-
1 N. E. A. Proceedings, 1876, p. 58. They also desired an expanded
and better supported Bureau of Education.
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 113
mittee on Publication was "instructed to place a copy
in pamphlet form of so much of Dr. John D. Philb rick's
paper as refers to the Bureau of Education on the desk
of each Senator and Representative." The Association
expressed its "gratification at the recommendations in
favor of education made by the President of the United
States in his several messages." This meeting also
declared in favor of the creation of colleges for women
in each state, — following what seemed to be the very
successful plan upon which the colleges of agriculture
and mechanic arts had been established. The Asso-
ciation specifically indorsed House Bill No. 2059 en-
titled, "A bill donating lands to the several states and
territories which may provide colleges for the education
of females." This bill had been introduced by Roger
Q. Mills, of Texas, and a resolution looking to the forma-
tion of a similar bill had been introduced in the Senate
by John T. Morgan, of Alabama.
In 1 88 1, the Association had settled in its own com-
posite mind that the fund, already many times men-
tioned, should be distributed for the first ten years on
the basis of illiteracy and thereafter on the basis of con-
gressional representation. 1 It still insisted that Congress
should set aside a part of the income for normal schools,
and another part for the colleges of agriculture and
mechanic arts. A committee was directed to present
the matter to Congress. It is a great misfortune that
1 N. E. A. Proceedings, 1S81, p. 159.
I
114 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
these various committees of the Association did not
report. The meeting of 1882 also " resolved" on the
subject, — and ordered its resolution sent to members
of Congress. The Department of Superintendence
had held its meeting in March of 1882 in Washington
and a most earnest and able presentation of the need for
Federal aid was made by A. D. Mayo, Dexter A. Haw-
kins, and J. L. M. Curry, the agent of the Peabody
Fund. One sentence deserves a place in every discussion
of this subject. Dr. Curry said :
"I am only stating a truism when I say that there is not a
single instance in all educational history where there has been
anything approximating universal education unless that education
has been furnished by the government." *
In 1884, at Madison, Wisconsin, the Association
favored Federal aid to education in the South. In 1885,
the resolution became elaborate and declared Federal
aid necessary "to the end that every child in the coun-
try of school age may receive a good common-school
education under the respective systems of the several
states." In 1886, A. E. Winship, of Boston, offered
a plan for holding an interstate educational convention
to be called by the governors of the several states "to
consider the various interests involved in the question
of Federal aid to education." A whereas in this resolu-
tion admits that "the friends of education in Congress
1 N. E. A. Proceedings, 1882. Dept. of Supt., pp. 44-60; especially,
for the quotation, p. 56.
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 115
honestly differ in their estimate of the wisdom of making
the appropriation provided for by the various bills
now before that body."
In 1887, Senator Blair appeared before the Depart-
ment of Superintendence of the National Education
Association and talked freely about the bill he had
favored in Congress. This bill appropriated $77,000,000
to be distributed to the states, on the basis of illit-
eracy, through a series of years. It began at seven
millions, and provided in successive years for ten, fifteen,
thirteen, eleven, nine, seven, and five millions. It may
be noted in passing that the distribution of the
interest on the public land sales had been found to
be too small to accomplish any substantial result ; conse-
quently all advocates of Federal aid had turned to a lump
sum to be so distributed as to accomplish a definite
and worthy result. The Blair Bill passed the Senate
at three different sessions of Congress, — 1883-5 '■>
1885-7 I 1887-9. It never succeeded in passing the
House, although Senator Blair has stated that it had the
support of more than two thirds of the members. There
was a tangle of some sort, — either personal or political
or strategic, — that prevented it from coming to a vote. 1
The N. E. A. repeated its indorsement of the idea in
1887, 1888, and 1889. In 1890, however, it realized
1 See Cubberley and Elliott's Slate and County School Administration,
pp. 104-107, for Senator Blair's statement. It is also found in U. S.
Bureau of Education Circular of Information, No. 3, 1887.
Il6 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
that the Hatch Act and the second Morrill Act con-
stituted a first mortgage on the net proceeds of the sale
of public lands, and gracefully resolved:
"That this Association, recognizing the value of the educational
work performed by the land-grant colleges, heartily indorses the
movement in Congress for further aid of these institutions." !
The Association remained silent on Federal aid
until 1906, when it indorsed the Burkett-Pollard Bill
which was designed to provide Federal aid to normal
schools to prepare teachers of agriculture and manual
training for the public schools. A subsidy similar to
that of the Hatch Act was contemplated. It may be
remarked, parenthetically, that the vocational education
movement finally inherited the Congressional interest
which the normal schools had awakened in agriculture
and manual training. In 191 1, the Department of
Superintendence said in its resolutions: "The question
of the extension of the amount and character of Federal
aid given to education is assuming great importance and
demands the earnest consideration of all interested in
education." In 191 2, the Association indorsed "the
comprehensive plan now before Congress for increasing
the facilities in state colleges of agriculture and mechanic
arts, state normal schools, and elementary schools for
training in agriculture, domestic economy, and other
industrial work for the great mass of our people, through
the public schools of our entire country." This meant
1 N. E. A. Proceedings, 1890, Resolutions.
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 117
support for the predecessor of the Smith-Hughes Bill
then pending. In 191 6, the Association came out
squarely and explicitly for the Smith-Hughes Bill.
This brief account of the proceedings of the National
Education Association clearly indicates that the men
and women in the public-school service have con-
sistently advocated Federal aid for education, — always
with such provisos as would safeguard the rights of the
states to organize, supervise, and administer their own
schools. It also shows that a stiff undercurrent of
opposition has emanated from educational leaders
representing the endowed colleges.
This opposition still persists, although it is less
in evidence in the councils of the Association than in
former years, — largely because the Association itself
has become more faithfully representative of the in-
terests of public education as contrasted with private
and endowed education.
Another ideal that has already been mentioned fre-
quently recurs in the papers and resolutions of the
Association, — the idea of a national university. In
1901, this idea was indorsed. At the same time a report
on the subject was presented to the National Council
on Education by a committee that had given long and
patient study to the subject. President Harper, of the
University of Chicago, was chairman of the committee. 1
In 1908, a report was made for the Committee by Pres-
1 N. E. A. Proceedings, 1901, pp. 457-474.
Il8 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
ident Charles Van Hise, of the University of Wisconsin,
House Bill No. 19,465 was discussed, the principles of
the bill approved, and the committee continued. 1 In
191 2, this committee was enlarged and discussed the
matter at length. In 191 5, the Department of Superin-
tendence resolved: "We again reaffirm our declaration
in favor of a National University and note with pleasure
that the Fess Bill establishing such a University has been
favorably reported to the House of Representatives." 2
The N. E. A. has always urged the cause of the Bureau
of Education because of the benefits which have come
to public schools and to teachers through its reports
and bulletins. It has, almost without ceasing, asked
Congress to give the Bureau better quarters, more equip-
ment, and more money. It went further. In 1895,
the Department of Superintendence said in its reso-
lutions: ''The importance of public education in this
country demands its [the Bureau's] recognition as a
distinct and coordinate department of the executive
branch of government." 3 This has been substantially
reaffirmed in 1897, m I 9°°' m I 9°3 J m z 9 o8 > m I 9 IO >
and in 191 7, with some commendatory resolutions
about the Bureau and a plan for its more generous
support at every intervening meeting.
Many other national legislative measures of minor
importance have been advanced for consideration and
1 N. E. A. Proceedings, 1908, p. 34- 2 ^id., 1915. P- 2 5°-
1 Ibid., 1895, p. 217.
THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 119
have evoked some enthusiasm, but those that have lived
through the past half century as the hope of educational
leaders are :
1. Federal aid as a means of stimulating the states
to an extension and improvement of all forms of
public education. This has been accomplished with re-
spect to the Industrial Movement by the acts that have
given endowment and maintenance to the colleges of
agriculture and mechanic arts, and by the Smith-Hughes
Act for vocational education " of less than college grade."
There still remain the important fields of illiteracy, Ameri-
canization, the equalization of educational opportunities
involving particularly the improvement of the rural
schools, physical and health education, and — last but
by no means least — the preparation of teachers. These
are covered by the bill prepared in 191 8 and 191 9 by the
Emergency Commission of the Association, and known
in the Sixty-sixth Congress as the Smith-Towner Bill.
2. The expansion of the functions of the Bureau of
Education into a real department of the government,
after the pattern set by the Departments of Agriculture,
Labor, and Commerce, and the recognition of the im-
portance of education by giving it a voice in the councils
of the Nation.
3. The establishment of a National University which
should be devoted to national service through the train-
ing which it would give in research in fields that are
distinctly national in scope and significance.
CHAPTER XIII
What the War Revealed
Our analysis of historical material has prepared us
to see just what things in the way of educational defects
would come to the surface when the Nation engaged in
a great war. Notwithstanding our Federal form of
government, when it comes to the matter of war we are
as homogeneous as any nation in the world, for Congress
has the right to make war and it therefore has the right
to conscript men, to conscript labor, and to conscript
wealth to carry on war.
Whenever a nation thus strips for conflict and begins
to organize all of its resources and all of its powers for
the supreme test which war affords, the defects in its
educational policies and practices are clearly revealed.
We are all aware of the defects which England found in
her educational system. She had been slow to adopt a
thoroughgoing system of general public education. In
fact, she had never approached it until 1870, and while
she has made rapid strides since that time, her schools
are still far behind those of many other European
nations. In the midst of a most distressing conflict,
England found it necessary to reorganize and amplify
WHAT THE WAR REVEALED 121
and expand, in a most remarkable way, her educational
system.
In our own country, the educational situation, while
better in many ways than that in England, was still
far from satisfactory. One thing clearly revealed by the
war was the high per cent of illiteracy among those
summoned by the first draft. Seven hundred thousand
illiterates were subject to this first call; two hundred
thousand of them were drawn into the training camps.
These men could not make good soldiers because in a
modern army the soldier must be able to read orders,
he must be able to read signs of direction, he must be
able to read the printed page in order to get into the
spirit and animus of the great organization of which he
is a part. Because the illiterate recruits actually de-
layed the military preparation, the Nation for the first
time appreciated the real meaning of illiteracy. No one
will now deny that illiteracy is incompatible with our
democracy. The long years of patient and persistent
effort for the removal of illiteracy through the stimulus
of national aid seemed to have been in vain, but now the
facts, which every person engaged in education knew all
the time, have been brought forcibly to the attention
of the general public. No nation can safely permit one
in thirteen of its adult population to be unable to read
the printed page.
The war also brought into high relief the imperative
need of "Americanizing" the immigrant population.
122 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The unprecedented industrial development of the past
quarter century was far from an unmixed blessing, and
among the problems to which it has given rise none is
more serious than that which the assimilation of the alien
workers involves. These foreigners have been drawn
to our shores by the economic opportunity which the
country has afforded. They have been admitted and
permitted to remain in accordance with laws passed by
Congress. They have been permitted to seek employ-
ment wherever they could find it and to move freely
from one state to another.
Not only this, but a very large proportion of those
who have come to us in recent years are from European
countries in which educational opportunities have been
very meagre. They have been illiterates in their native
lands; unlike the earlier immigrants from Northern
Europe, their traditions regarding education are alien
to ours. They have come to live among a people
whose ideal? are strange and unappreciated. Conse-
quently they have flocked in groups because this was
the only way in which they could have communication
with human kind. They have not resisted American-
ization ; they have had no chance for it. The employer
has felt that his responsibility was discharged when he
paid them for their work. It was not conceived to
be the business of capital to see that these people
learned to read, speak, and write the English lan-
guage, — although there are conspicuous examples of
WHAT THE WAR REVEALED 1 23
corporations that have voluntarily assumed this responsi-
bility.
In a similar way, the states in which these masses of
un-Americanized foreigners and non-English-speaking
aliens congregated have felt that, in as much as the new-
comers might not stay and in as much as many of them
were beyond the legal school age, the state as such
could do nothing for their Americanization. In fact,
we have suddenly become aware that, while we have
been setting up rules and regulations in accordance
with which aliens might freely enter the country, we
have made no effort to have them identify themselves
with our national life. The American people as a
whole are responsible for the existence of these un-
assimilated groups — these " alien islands" — that con-
stitute not only a menace to the communities in
which they exist, not only to the states to which the
immigrants flock in large numbers because of in-
dustrial demands, but far more significantly to the
Nation as a whole and to the ideals that the Nation
represents.
The war has also awakened the country to the fact
that the institutions of education are without adequate
means of support. In every period of war, prices
advance and the wages in certain types of occupations
advance with them. But the rate at which this re-
adjustment takes place is extremely variable — and far
from equitable. Long before a new equilibrium has
124 ™ E NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
been struck, large groups of individuals suffer. In the
war just ended, in the weak, struggling school districts,
remote from the centers of wealth, the economic re-
adjustments did not affect for a long time the real-
estate values which determine the amount of tax-
receipts. In spite, then, of the increased cost of all
commodities, these districts had no more money with
which to support schools than they had in peace times.
More than this, our poorest schools are where the best
schools ought to be ; that is, they are in the com-
munities that have the least in the way of wealth, culture,
outlook, and opportunity in life. The child in the
remote mountain ravine is a national asset just as
truly as is the child on the broad fertile prairies of
Illinois or Iowa. The child in the little miserable
mining town is just as truly a national asset as is the
child born on Fifth Avenue in New York. Our public-
school system began with the theory that each commu-
nity should support its own school. We have already
seen how lamentably, even in colonial times, this theory
broke down. After a fashion it answered the needs of
pioneer days, but it failed when the pioneer stage had
passed, and practically every state in the Union has
found it necessary to establish a system of state-wide
taxation and distribution. It is now clearly estab-
lished that the adequate support of schools should be
a charge upon the revenues of the state as a whole.
Moneys contributed in proportion to wealth must be
WHAT THE WAR REVEALED 1 25
distributed back to the districts of the state in proportion
to educational needs.
This movement toward equalization has not as yet
been carried so far as it should go — so far as it must
go, if the needs of the Nation are to be met. Nothing
less than a reasonably good teacher and a reasonably
good school for every child in America can either satisfy
our underlying sense of justice or afford the measure of
educational opportunity that is basal to our democracy.
It is clear, then, that some stimulus to the states to
proceed further in the "equalization of educational
opportunities" is most decidedly needed. It cannot be
left wholly to the community to say what kind of school
it will have. The state has a stake in the schools of
every community, and the Nation has an interest in the
schools of every state.
The war also made us keenly conscious that the
level of physical health and stamina among our people
was far below what it should have been and what it might
have been. Between twenty-five and thirty per cent of
all of those within the first draft were found to be
physically unfit for military service, and most of the
defects were of such a character that they could have
been remedied had they been properly attended to in the
early years of life. There is, too, a serious reduction of
efficiency from forms of illness that are easily avoidable.
In Alabama, for example, a recent health survey "re-
vealed the fact that an average of approximately one
126 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
fourth of all the people are sick all the time." x This
is computed to involve an annual loss in earning power
of $250,000,000. There is nothing that will meet the
situation except the establishment of large, far-reaching
programs of physical and health education. During the
past one hundred years medical science has succeeded
with meagre cooperation from the public in increasing
appreciably the average life-span. This achievement
could be vastly extended by a wide dissemination of
health knowledge among the masses of the people, —
instructing both children in school and adults out of
school. This program is not only justified and de-
manded on economic grounds ; individual happiness,
social welfare, and national advancement are inevitably
bound up with it.
Then, too, the war revealed the weakness of a policy
that makes public-school teaching a casual and tem-
porary occupation, — a mere means of earning a living
until a girl is ready for matrimony or until a boy has
accumulated a little money to start in business or pre-
pare for a profession that offers a real "career." At
the outset of the war the great majority of the young
men in teaching positions went into the service, while
thousands of women teachers took the places of other
young men in industrial and commercial employment.
The schoolrooms were, in many sections, practically
1 See a summary of the Alabama Educational Survey in School Life
(the official organ of the U. S. Bureau of Education), July 1, 1919.
WHAT THE WAR REVEALED 1 27
deserted. In addition to the patriotic motives which
caused heavy inroads upon the teaching population,
there was a powerful economic motive. The average
annual wage of all teachers in the United States for
191 5-16, the year just preceding our entrance into
the World War, was $563.08. The advent of the war
did not bring significant advances; with the war in
full swing, wages twice as high were easily obtainable
in other occupations. The public gradually awoke
to the situation — but it was then too late.
The younger, less well-trained, and less mature
teachers were commonly employed in the school dis-
tricts with the lowest economic ability; hence the war
affected these the most seriously. Nor did relief come
with the advent of peace. Young people had learned
that much higher financial rewards could be found
elsewhere, and the schools were still more generally
deserted.
On the positive side, however, the war emphasized, in
a fresh and vigorous fashion, the vital importance of
the teacher to the Nation's life. Every Governmental
agency that aimed to deal directly with the people
quickly discovered that the public schools formed a
convenient and effective agency both of patriotic pub-
licity and of actual patriotic service. In every city, town,
and hamlet, and in the district schools of the open
country, the teachers soon found themselves literally
overwhelmed with national responsibilities. These they
128 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
assumed with earnestness and patriotic devotion. They
organized their pupils to sell Liberty bonds; through
their efforts very largely the Thrift-stamp and War-
savings campaigns met with gratifying success; they
formed Junior Red Cross chapters which made millions
of bandages and surgical dressings; they directed
their pupils in the collection of money and clothing
for overseas relief ; they supervised the "War-gardens" ;
they were so active in having their pupils gather peach-
pits and nutshells for the Chemical Warfare Service that
it was necessary to send a special message from Wash-
ington stopping the shipments ; at every possible point,
in season and out of season, they worked under official
Government direction to stimulate and conserve that
most important asset of a nation-in-arms, — " civilian
morale."
This devotion did not pass unnoticed. President
Wilson, in September, 191 8, addressed the following
message "To School Teachers of the United States":
"It is quite unnecessary, I am sure, for me to urge a con-
tinuance of the service you and your pupils have rendered to
the Nation and to the great cause for which America is at war.
Whatever the Nation's call has been, the response of the schools
has been immediate and enthusiastic. The Nation and the Gov-
ernment agencies know and appreciate your loyalty and are
grateful for your unfailing support in every war service." 1
1 Published in National School Service (official Government bulletin,
issued during the latter part of the war by the Committee on Public
Information, and distributed to all public school teachers), September i,
1918.
WHAT THE WAR REVEALED 1 29
The heavy responsibilities for national service thus
placed upon an already depleted and overworked
teaching personnel, together with the educational inad-
equacies and shortcomings revealed by the draft, led the
National Education Association early in 191 8 to appoint
a Commission 1 to devise ways and means of meeting
the emergency. The confusion and congestion caused by
the "war work" in the schools received first attention.
The Commission had no official status, but the Govern-
ment agencies welcomed its cooperation as representing
the public-school workers of the Nation. Through its
efforts a "clearing house" was established at Wash-
ington ; the activities of a score of departments, bureaus,
and committees, all attempting to work through the
schools, were coordinated, overlappings were eliminated,
rival claims reconciled, and the entire range of "war
activities" so reorganized that they not only served
their immediate purposes much better than before, but
also fulfilled an educational function. Once this was
accomplished, the Commission devoted its energies to
the preparation of a program through which the out-
standing defects of public education as revealed by the
war might ultimately be remedied. The program
which resulted was embodied later in the Smith-Towner
1 Called at first the "N. E. A. Commission on the Emergency in
Education and the Program for Readjustment during and after the
War"; now generally known as the "Emergency Commission of the
N. E. A."
130 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Bill, a measure which will be discussed in detail in the
following chapters. 1
If the war revealed elements of weakness in the
Nation's life which were due at basis to weaknesses in
the educational system, it is none the less true that
sources of strength were revealed which could in like
manner be traced to the schools. Illiteracy, limited
literacy, physical deficiencies, alienism — these are
certainly evils which education should have corrected ;
but the other side of the ledger is not without its credits.
The regime of the public school was not an unimportant
factor in making possible the morale essential to the
successful conduct of the war ; if the schools had failed
to Americanize the adult immigrant, they had at least
done passing well with the immigrant's children —
even of stock that came originally from enemy coun-
tries, the Americanism of the second and third genera-
tions, with very few individual exceptions, rang sound
and true ; and the studies of the schools, open to criticism
though they doubtless are, have given to the great bulk
of our population the important elements of common
knowledge, common standards, and common aspirations,
that enabled them to think together, feel together,
and act together when the crucial test came.
Another factor on the positive side of the record cer-
tainly deserves recognition. The country entered the
war relatively "unprepared"; yet the celerity and the
1 See also Appendix C.
WHAT THE WAR REVEALED 131
completeness with which the program of preparation
was put through served in some measure to mitigate
the evils and reduce the perils that unpreparedness
clearly involved. At the door of whatever persons,
parties, policies, ideals, or traditions our unpreparedness
may be laid, the quickness with which the Nation donned
its armor must be attributed in large measure to the
educational system. It is true that one half of the
recruits in the National Army had had not more than
six years of schooling ; but, even so, this record left us
no worse off than our associates in the war; while, of
the other half, the proportion that had reached the
advanced work of the high school and the college was
far larger than in any other country. Men of the
educational attainments necessary in the commissioned
personnel were at hand in such numbers that a careful
selection could be made. The supply of potential
leadership was abundant.
It was at this point that the American high school
especially justified its existence. It is well to remember
the illiterates, the limited literates, the physical defec-
tives, and the un- Americanized immigrants ; we should
keep them in mind at least until educational conditions
have been improved to the point where the handicaps
that they represent shall have disappeared ; but it would
be most unfortunate to be blind to the real achievements
of our educational system, and among these the record
of the high schools is the one in which we may glory
132 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
the most. The American high school is our single in-
digenous educational institution. Its growth during
the past thirty years had been so remarkable — a ten-
fold increase in enrollment during a period in which the
general population has increased only twofold — that
in 1 913-14 we had in these schools almost as many
pupils as were enrolled in schools of similar grade in all
other countries combined. We had, in other words,
approximated universal secondary education far more
closely than had any other nation ; we had carried to a
relatively high instructional level a larger proportion of
our boys and girls ; and we had in consequence a more
extensive basis of trained and informed intelligence
among the young men who were called to the colors.
Because of their attainments, these young men could
adapt themselves quickly to the military situation, —
and they were sufficiently numerous to "leaven the
lump." In 1914, Bethmann-Hollweg, in setting forth
the factors that in his judgment comprised the strength
of Germany, concluded with the statement that the
German continuation schools 1 had been steadily at work
for a decade. In 191 7, an American, in making a similar
1 The "continuation" school in pre-war Germany was an institution
designed to supplement the education of the masses by providing part-
time instruction after boys and girls had left the elementary school and
entered productive employment. Like all other phases of mass edu-
cation in Germany, it aimed to develop a narrow but efficient proletariat,
— a body of skilled workers who would be cheerfully subservient to the
will of the ruling classes.
WHAT THE WAR REVEALED 133
inventory of the factors determining the strength of his
Nation, might well have set in a position of the first
rank the fact that the American high school had been
steadily at work for three decades.
CHAPTER XIV
Current Proposals in Congress
Such interest in proposed educational legislation as
was outlined in Chapter XII and the educational short-
comings that were briefly described in Chapter XIII,
are naturally paralleled by proposals in Congress.
The long-continued interest of the National Education
Association in expanding the Bureau of Education has
frequently found expression in projected legislation.
For several years past, Senator Owen, of Oklahoma, has
fathered a measure looking to this end. In the Sixty-
sixth Congress, the Owen Educational Bill is known as
S 819. It is a very brief bill creating an executive
department of government to be known as the Depart-
ment of Education. A Secretary of Education is pro-
vided for, and the Bureau of Education, now in the
Department of the Interior, is transferred to the new
department. Beyond this, the bill merely provides :
"that it shall be the province and duty of said Department of
Education to collect, classify, and disseminate information and
advice on all phases of education and through cooperation with
State, county, district, and municipal education officers to promote,
foster, and develop advancement and improvement in the public
school system throughout the United States."
134
CURRENT PROPOSALS IN CONGRESS I35
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 adequately meet
the situation which the war has revealed. Just what
it omits will be shown later in the consideration of other
bills.
The military draft, as we have seen, drew public
attention to the high per cent of illiteracy both in the
native-born population and in a large section of the
immigrant population. In the latter, too, the need of
more adequate measures for Americanization was
clearly revealed. Under the present organization of
the Federal Government, both illiteracy and alienism
come properly within the purview of the Department
of the Interior. Out of the Department of the Interior,
as might be expected, there has come a program for the
reduction of illiteracy and for the Americanization of
foreigners. This program is embodied in the "Lane
Bill," introduced at the instance of Secretary Franklin
K. Lane by Senator Hoke Smith, of Georgia (as S 17)
and Representative William B. Bankhead, of Alabama,
(H. R. 1204).
The purpose of the bill, as expressed in its title, is :
"To promote the education of native illiterates, of persons
unable to understand and use the English language, and of other
resident persons of foreign birth ; to provide for cooperation with
the States in the education of such persons in the English language,
the fundamental principles of government and citizenship, the
elements of knowledge pertaining to self-support and home making,
I36 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
and in such other work as will assist in preparing such illiterate
and foreign-born persons for successful living and intelligent
American citizenship."
The plan of the bill is as follows :
(1) The Department of the Interior, through the
Bureau of Education, is authorized and directed to
cooperate with the several states in the education of
illiterates and foreign-born persons, and also in the
preparation of teachers for this work.
(2) An initial appropriation of $5,000,000 is provided
for the first year for the actual instruction of illiterates
and immigrants. Annually thereafter, until June 30,
1926, the appropriation is to be $12,500,000.
(3) For the preparation of teachers, the first appro-
priation is $250,000; annually thereafter, the appro-
priation is $750,000.
(4) A state must accept the provisions of the act,
appoint an official as custodian of the funds, authorize
its chief school officer to cooperate with the United
States in the work in question, and appropriate for the
same purposes an amount equal to its Federal allotment.
Both the Federal allotment and the duplicate fund
appropriated by the state are to be expended only for
instruction, supervision, and administration. The
Federal allotment is further subject to the proviso :
"That no state shall be entitled to participate in the benefits
of this act until it shall, by appropriate legislation, require the
instruction for not less than two hundred hours per annum of
CURRENT PROPOSALS IN CONGRESS 1 37
all illiterate minors or minors unable to speak, read, or write the
English language, more than sixteen years of age, at schools or
places or by other methods of elementary instruction, until such
min ors have completed a course in English generally equivalent
to that supplied by third-grade schools."
The plan is to put all illiterates and non-English speaking
persons between sixteen and twenty-one into school
for at least two hundred hours a year. This program
could be worked out in various ways, — five hours a
week for forty weeks, ten hours a week for twenty weeks,
twenty hours a week for ten weeks.
(5) The allotments to the states are to be made
annually on the basis of the total illiterate population
resident in the states and of persons ten years of age
and over who are unable to speak the English language,
— in the ratio which these totals bear to similar totals
for the entire country. 1 It should be noted that the
allotment is on one age basis (ten years and over) while
the instruction to be provided is on another age basis
(sixteen years and over).
(6) Each state must submit to the Secretary of the
Interior for approval its :
"plans showing the manner in which it is proposed that the ap-
propriation shall be used, including the kind of instruction and
equipment to be provided, courses of study, methods of instruc-
tion, qualifications of teachers, supervisors, and directors, and the
kind of schools in which and the conditions under which the
training of teachers, supervisors, and directors is to be given."
1 Excluding the District of Columbia.
138 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
If the Secretary of the Interior approves these detailed
plans and is convinced that a state is using or is pre-
pared to use the allotments, he shall certify to the Secre-
tary of the Interior the amounts of money to which the
state is entitled. The Secretary of the Interior is
authorized to withhold allotments when previous allot-
ments have not been expended or when "other terms and
conditions of this act have not been complied with."
(7) Each state must guarantee against loss or sub-
version of the funds.
(8) The Department of the Interior is given an
initial appropriation of $250,000 and $1,000,000 annually
thereafter, "for the purpose of administering, carrying
out, and enforcing the provisions of this act," and for
making investigations, studies, and reports.
(9) No part of a Federal allotment is to be spent
"for the support of any religious or privately owned
and conducted school or institution."
(10) An annual report to Congress is required of the
Secretary of the Interior, including a "statement as to
what has been done by the several States thereunder."
(11) The Secretary of the Interior is:
"authorized to perform any and all acts and make all rules and
regulations which he shall deem necessary and proper to carry
this act into full force and effect."
The purpose of this bill is laudable. It starts with
the existing native illiterate and un-Americanized
groups and proposes a type of education that is designed
CURRENT PROPOSALS IN CONGRESS 1 39
to make of these people as good citizens as possible under
the conditions. It places a great deal of power in the
hands of the Secretary of the Interior, — power that
might well be seriously questioned in view of the fact
that the Secretary of the Interior already has many
very widely different duties to perform. If it be replied
that the Commissioner of Education is to exercise this
power under the general direction of the Secretary of the
Interior, the answer is that the qualifications of neither
are changed by this interrelationship and possible divi-
sion of power. Clearly, it is not wise to place the powers
granted in this bill in the hands of any one but the best-
qualified educational administrator in the land. It is
equally clear that the services of such a man cannot be
secured either in the office of the Commissioner of Educa-
tion or in the office of the Secretary of the Interior, for
the best-qualified educational administrator could not
accept the salary or the subordinate position of the Com-
missioner nor would he be willing to undertake the other
duties of the Secretary of the Interior.
The bill is faulty in four ways respecting the work it
undertakes to do.
In the first place, the bill does not provide for the
group between ten and sixteen years of age, — a period
in which children can learn a language and acquire
basic civic standards far more readily than after the
age of sixteen. To say that a native- or foreign-born
person between ten and sixteen years of age is to be put
14O THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
into the beginning class with six-year-old children in
the public schools is to admit that one does not under-
stand the practical working of our public-school system.
In the second place, the bill does not seem to recognize
that there are two distinct problems involved in its
general terms, viz., the problem of teaching those who
already understand spoken English, — the purely techni-
cal problem of associating familiar ideas and familiar
spoken words with written and printed forms, — and
the problem of teaching those to whom English is
as Greek, — a problem of associating ideas with strange
spoken words and stranger written and printed forms.
In the third place, there is no valid reason for limiting
the social value of the work contemplated in the bill
to those who have not passed the age of twenty-one.
Compulsion might not be advisable beyond this age, but
opportunity is advisable and desirable. It is a mistake
to limit the bounty of the Government to those who have
not passed the age of twenty-one.
In the fourth place, the bill does not go to the heart
of the illiteracy problem, — namely, the underlying
deficiencies in the rural schools. To reduce adult
illiteracy will bring no permanent relief. The signifi-
cance of the rural and village schools to this problem
is fully discussed in Chapter XVIII.
The crowning objection to the bill, however, is that it
does not meet the whole educational need of the coun-
try as revealed by the war. It makes no provision for
CURRENT PROPOSALS IN CONGRESS 141
physical and health education, for the preparation of
teachers for the public schools, nor for the equalization
of educational opportunities within the states. It
substantially denies the validity of these claims. There
is no statesmanship in so narrow a proposal. The
provisions of the bill "in and of themselves" are not
objectionable, but they represent a delusive surface-
measure which, taken alone, will be both uneconomical
and disappointing. The defects that it seeks to remedy
cannot be considered "in and of themselves," but only
as parts of a larger whole. That larger whole is nothing
less than the ideal of democracy as embodied in a per-
fected free public-school system. When that ideal is
realized, there will no native-born illiterates growing
up in successive generations, and there will be no non-
Americanized foreign-born, because compulsory attend-
ance will put all children into school and because the
school itself will prepare the foreigner who comes to our
shores for citizenship. It seems far wiser to provide for
the extension of the public-school system to meet the
needs of our day and generation than to create for five or
six years a faulty machinery to do very largely under
Federal direction a work that the public-school system
can and will do if it is given the encouragement and the
aid that it ought to have.
The one comprehensive educational bill now before
Congress is the Smith-Towner Bill. 1 This bill was
1 H. R. 7; S. 1017, 66th Congress.
142 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
prepared in outline form by the Emergency Commission
of the National Education Association during the spring
and summer of 191 8. It was introduced into the Sixty-
fifth Congress by Senator Hoke Smith in October, 191 8,
and by Representative Horace Mann Towner on January
30, 1919. During the interval between March, 1919,
and May, 191 9, the bill was revised with the active
cooperation of the Educational Committee of the
American Federation of Labor, and reintroduced in
the Sixty-sixth Congress in May, 191 9.
The bill is comprehensive because it provides a pro-
gram to correct not only the superficial weaknesses which
the war revealed in our American public educational sys-
tem, but also the underlying deficiencies which stand to
these weaknesses as cause to effect. It creates a Depart-
ment of Education that has a real function to fulfill, —
and a function that can be fulfilled, as the terms of
the bill clearly provide, without infringing upon the
rights of the states. It includes an appropriation for
the removal of illiteracy among the native-born, and
another appropriation for the Americanization of the
foreign-born. It provides, by appropriation, for a pro-
gram of equalizing educational opportunities within
every state, and thus aims squarely and effectively at
the fundamental defects of rural education. It makes
possible a comprehensive and nation-wide program
of physical and health education. And, fundamental
to the success of all these measures, it places the
CURRENT PROPOSALS IN CONGRESS 143
preparation of teachers upon a solid and substantial
basis. 1
In the chapters that immediately follow, these provi-
sions and the facts associated with them will be con-
sidered in detail.
1 The Smith-Towner Bill is found in full in Appendix C.
CHAPTER XV
The Reduction or Illiteracy among the
Native-born
We have already seen that the problem of illiteracy
was widely discussed during the two decades follow-
ing the Civil War, and that several proposals were
introduced in Congress looking toward the solution
of the problem through national aid. Although these
proposals failed, the churches and private philanthropic
enterprises worked unremittingly to remedy the situa-
tion. Largely as a result of these efforts, — and partic-
ularly those of the Southern Education Board, — the
southern states have developed free public-school sys-
tems which have been important agencies in reducing il-
literacy. At the same time, the population has increased
rapidly in the South, the increase has come in large meas-
ure from desirable sources, and these factors have co-
operated with educational efforts to improve conditions.
In the North and West, on the other hand, the large
influx of immigrants from Southeastern Europe has
tended to increase illiteracy, and the failure of most of
the states to raise significantly the standards of rural
education has prevented the reduction of illiteracy
144
REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY AMONG NATIVE-BORN 1 45
among the native-born in a measure that might have
been expected. The situation, then, is still far from
comforting.
Illiteracy may be considered in totals as well in per-
centages of totals. The Abstract of the Census (1910,
p. 239) gives a table from which some instructive com-
parisons can be made.
In 1880, there were 6,239,958 illiterates in the country
as a whole. In 1910, there were 5,516,163 illiterates.
In thirty years the decrease had amounted to 723,795,
or an average annual decrease of 24,126. If this rate
of decrease is continued, illiteracy will disappear at the
end of 228 years. This seems a hopeless prospect.
If we consider whites alone, we get less comfort. In
1880, there were 3,019,080 white illiterates in the
United States. In 1910, the white illiterates numbered
3,184,633, — an increase of 165,553. The average an-
nual increase was 5518. The explanation of this startling
increase is found in the fact that the number of foreign-
born white illiterates increased from 763,620 in 1880
to 1,650,361 in 1910, — an average yearly increase of
29,558. This vast group will be considered in Chapter
XVI.
In the same thirty-year span, 1880-1910, the native-
white illiterates decreased from 2,255,460 to 1,534,272 —
a decrease of 721,188, or an average annual decrease of
24,039. At this rate, illiteracy among the native whites
would disappear after the lapse of sixty-three years.
146 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The census figures do not permit a thirty-year
comparison regarding the negroes or the subdivisions
of the native-white illiterates. The figures are available,
however, in the table quoted, for a twenty-year span.
Illiteracy among native whites of native parentage
decreased from 1,890,723 in 1890 to 1,378,884 in 1910,
— a decrease of 511,239 in twenty years, or an average
annual decrease of 25,562. This annual decrease
would need to be repeated fifty-three times to bring this
type of illiteracy to an end.
The native whites of foreign or mixed parentage
decreased from 174,280 in 1890 to 155,388 in 1910, —
an actual decrease of 18,892 per year. If this rate were
maintained, illiterates of this group would disappear in
about eight or nine years.
Whenever illiteracy among the native-born is men-
tioned, one thinks at once of the negro. In the twenty
years from 1890 to 1910, the negro illiterates decreased
from 3,042,668 to 2,227,731, — an average annual de-
crease of 40,726. If this average annual decrease could
be maintained, illiteracy among the negroes would dis-
appear fifty-four or fifty-five years after 1910, — or just
about one year after illiteracy disappeared among the
native whites of native parentage.
It is well known, however, that illiteracy does not dis-
appear according to such regular decreases as have been
assumed for the purposes of comparative illustration. It
disappears only as the older illiterates are taught and
REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY AMONG NATIVE-BORN 147
as those who are under the age of ten are so taught that
they do not become classified as illiterates. The com-
plete elimination of illiteracy among the native-born
whites and among the negroes is primarily a problem of
education during the years of childhood, — not a prob-
lem of adult training. The prospects of a substantial
reduction through this agency are at the present time
very far from encouraging unless the problem of rural
education can be attacked on a nation-wide basis.
Technically, an illiterate is a person ten years of age
or over who cannot write in any language ; the standard
assumed is that those who cannot write cannot read.
On the educational side, therefore, the problem of
removing illiteracy among native-born adults is a problem
of organizing means and methods by which those who
are ten years of age or over may be taught to read and
write the English language. The fundamental purpose
of such instruction is to make it possible for these people
to participate in the broader social life through the ideas
which they may acquire from the printed page and which
they may express by means of writing.
It is evident that most of these illiterates are over-
age, or "retarded," when judged by public-school
standards. In justice to them and to the children of
normal age-grade in our public schools, an organization
distinct but not separate from our present public-school
organization should be created. The schools for illit-
erates should be a part of the public-school system,
148 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
but they should have their own distinct organization,
which, in turn, should be determined by the particular
kind of work that is to be done with illiterates.
The elimination of illiteracy among the native-born,
then, is primarily a public-school problem. All children
should go to school long past the age of ten years. Every
state in the Union has found it necessary to enact com-
pulsory school laws to secure the minimum results
expected from education. The right of parents to
educate their own children cannot be construed to
include the right to leave them entirely unschooled.
The state, representing the organized collective interests
of the people as a whole, has established its right to
compel parents to send children to school to the end
that its own future welfare may be safeguarded. If in
one state 71.7 per cent of the children from ten to
fourteen years of age are in school, while in another
state 95.5 per cent of the children of these ages are in
school, there will inevitably be a vast social difference
between these two states in the years that lie ahead.
If the ages from five to nine be considered, and the first
state has only 40.2 per cent of these children in school
while, between the same ages, the second state has
73.9 per cent in school, the next census will show a much
higher per cent of illiteracy in the first state. 1 It is
futile to contend that the evil effects of this condition
1 See table 20, p. 238, Abstract of the Census, 1910, for material for
data for numberless comparisons of this sort.
REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY AMONG NATIVE-BORN 1 49
will be limited to the state itself. Illiteracy anywhere
within the national boundaries is a menace to the whole
nation. The obvious conclusion is that an effective
and thoroughgoing type of elementary education must
be made universal if illiteracy is to be stamped out.
In age groups, the native illiterates are distributed as
follows : *
1910
Negro
Per Cent
Native
White
Per Cent
10 to 14 years of age . . .
2i8,555
18.9
131,991
1-7
15 to 19 years of age . . .
214,860
20.3
140,323
1.9
20 to 24 years of age . . .
245,860
23-9
148,541
2-3
25 to 34 years of age . . .
380,742
24.6
247,774
2.4
35 to 44 years of age . . .
351,858
32.3
235,489
30
45 to 64 years of age . . .
584,514
52.7
446,855
5.0
64 and more years of age .
219,255
74-5
179,219
7-3
This table shows that the public school has gradually
increased in effectiveness. This is clearly true in the
urban communities, and the large increase of the urban
population is in part responsible for the improvements
that the table reveals. It is clear, too, that the decrease
in illiteracy is in part accounted for by death in the older
age-groups in which the percentage of illiteracy is high-
est. This is only another recognition of the work of the
elementary school. If the elementary school could enroll
1 Made from table 27, pp. 241-242, Abstract of the Census, 1910. Note
that the time-span is not the same in all cases. It is five years, then ten,
and finally twenty years. The percentage columns show the proportion
which each illiterate age-group bears to the total of that age-group.
To obtain the percentage of literacy, one should take the complement
of the percentages shown.
150 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
all children between the ages of six and ten, and teach
them with a reasonable degree of efficiency, the next census
should show no illiterates in the age-group ten to fourteen
years. Another decade should show none in the age-
groups fifteen to nineteen and twenty to twenty-four.
In this way illiteracy would be prevented, — not
removed, for under this plan death alone will entirely
eliminate illiteracy.
The fundamental cause of illiteracy as it exists to-day
in the native-born population is therefore to be sought
and found in the inadequate available school facilities
and in the lack of an effective policy of compulsory
school attendance. There is very little illiteracy that
is due to the individual illiterate. The fault lay, then,
with whom? To a very small extent, with the parents
who would not send their children to school, but chiefly
with communities that did not organize good schools,
with states that did not safeguard their own welfare
by requiring good schools to be established, and with
both states and communities that did not compel school
attendance. The full significance of this neglect did
not appear until illiteracy revealed itself in its true
light as a National handicap. The Nation called the
men between twenty-one and thirty-one to her defense
in 191 7, and found that 700,000 of them were illiterate.
These men, no matter how great their desire to serve
their country, were, as a group, liabilities instead of
assets. Their very presence in the training camps
REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY AMONG NATIVE-BORN 151
interfered with the preparation of others and appreciably-
delayed our effective participation in the war, and when
they were sent to France, their inability to read orders,
to interpret signals, and to cooperate in a multitude of
other ways in which a knowledge of reading and writing
is indispensable, caused no end of confusion and delay, to
say nothing of personal embarrassment and mortification.
NUMBER OF ILLITERATES IN THE UNITED STATES TEN YEARS OF AGE
AND OVER, EXCLUDING FOREIGN-BORN WHITES, 3,762,003.
Amount of Federal aid for each illiterate under terms of Bill, $1,994.
Continental United States :
North Atlantic Division
North Central Division
South Atlantic Division
South Central Division
Western Division . .
Total
North Atlantic Division:
Maine
New Hampshire . . .
Vermont
Massachusetts . . .
Rhode Island ....
Connecticut ....
New York
New Jersey ....
Pennsylvania ....
North Central Division:
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Number of
Illiterate I
Natives 10
Years or Age
AND OVER IN
1910
3,762,003
173,560
315,595
1,403,241
1,810,303
59,304
3,762,003
9,917
2,890
4,564
",747
4,005
4,375
42,086
19,658
74,3i8
57,77o
47,9H
50,199
18,672
11,581
6,053
Per Cent
of Total
Illiterate
Natives in
1910
100.0000
4-6I37
8.3890
37-3003
48.1207
I-5763
100.0000
.2636
.0768
.1213
.3122
.1064
.1162
1.1187
•5225
1-9754
1-5356
1.2736
1-3343
•4963
.3078
.1608
Allotment ov
$ 7,500.000.00
Section 8
$7,500,000.00
346,078.64
629,296.43
2,798,062.55
3,609,744.18
118,252.18
$7,50i,433-98
$ i9,774-50
5,762.66
9,100.62
23,423-52
7,985-97
8,723-75
83,919.48
39,198.05
148,190.09
$ lIS,i93-38
95,540.52
100,096.81
37,231-97
23,092.51
12,069.68
152
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
NUMBER OF ILLITERATES IN THE UNITED STATES TEN YEARS OF AGE
AND OVER, EXCLUDING FOREIGN-BORN WHITES, 3,762,003 (Cotlt.)
North Central Division (Conl. )
Iowa
Missouri
North Dakota ....
South Dakota ....
Nebraska
Kansas
South Atlantic Division:
Delaware
Maryland
District of Columbia . .
Virginia
West Virginia
North Carolina ....
South Carolina ....
Georgia
Florida
South Central Division:
Kentucky
Tennessee
Alabama
Mississippi
Louisiana
Texas
Arkansas
Oklahoma
Western Division:
Montana
Wyoming
Colorado
New Mexico
Arizona
Utah
Nevada
Idaho
Washington
Oregon
California
Number of
Illiterate
Natives 10
Years of Age
and OVER IN
1910
12,813
88,304
1,439
1,277
4,760
14,813
9,870
61,241
",774
230,407
6i,754
288,492
276,487
398,842
74,374
204,697
219,507
350,396
288,137
339,507
215,209
141,423
5i,427
850
400
8,989
30,529
3,898
881
213
744
2,075
1,887
Per Cent
of Total
Illiterate
Natives in
1910
•3405
2.3472
.0382
•0339
.1265
•3937
.2623
1.6278
.3129
6.1245
1.6415
7-6685
7-3494
10.3363
1.9767
5-44II
5-8348
9-3I40
7-659I
9.0246
5-7205
3-7592
1.3670
.0225
.0106
.2389
.8115
.1036
.0234
.0056
.0197
■0551
•0501
•2349
Allotment of
$7,500,000.00
Section 8
25,549-12
176,078.17
2,869.37
2,546.34
9,491-44
29,537-12
19,680.78
122,114.55
23,477-36
459,43i-56
123,137-48
575,253-OS
551,315.08
775,350.94
148,301.75
408,165.81
437,696.96
698,689.62
574,545.18
676,976.96
429,126.75
281,997.46
102,545.44
1,694.90
797.60
17,924.07
60,874.83
7,772.61
i,756.7i
424.72
i,483-54
4,137-55
3,762.68
17,622.97
REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY AMONG NATIVE-BORN 1 53
Where are these illiterates? The preceding table
shows the distribution of native-born illiterates by groups
of states, and by states, both as to actual numbers and
as to the per cent of the whole number of illiterates
resident in a given state or group of states. For con-
venience, this table also shows the allotment to each
state for the removal of illiteracy in accordance with the
provisions of section eight of the Smith-Towner Bill.
The Smith-Towner Bill does not seek to impose upon
the states any special method or device for the removal
of illiteracy. To frame effective programs for the solu-
tion of this problem is clearly the duty of the states.
The proper place and function of the Federal Govern-
ment is to stimulate the states to undertake it, and to
render financial assistance to each state, first, in propor-
tion to its need as shown by its per cent of the total
number of illiterates, and, secondly, in proportion to the
effort which the state itself is willing to make toward
the removal of illiteracy. The Federal allotment is
$1,994 annually for each illiterate. An equal ap-
propriation by a state would make available al-
most $4.00 annually for each illiterate within a given
state. It would be unwise to attempt to teach all of
the illiterates of any state in a given year. The work
of instruction demands specially prepared teachers who
are not now available. If, however, one tenth of the
illiterates of the youngest age-groups were selected, and
approximately forty dollars made available for the
154 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
instruction of each, a most satisfactory beginning could
be made. The teachers would be gaining experience
with the group that is easiest to teach, and thus be
preparing themselves for the more difficult task of
teaching the older age-groups.
The plan thus far outlined would not of itself be
successful. It needs the assured support which the
allotments for the equalization of educational oppor-
tunities and for the preparation of teachers afford. It
will suffice here to state that these allotments in the
Smith-Towner Bill are sufficient to assure twenty-four
weeks of school each year for every child in America
and to assure, also, in a very short time, a well-prepared
teacher for every schoolroom in the land.
There is another reason for not attempting to prescribe
by Federal legislation the methods of procedure by
the states. Constitutionally, the right to organize,
supervise, and administer education within a state is
clearly the function of the state itself. If a state accepts
a law with procedure specifically defined in it, it sub-
stantially enters into a contract with the Federal
Government. It is an open and undetermined question
whether such a contract is not itself unconstitutional.
In other words, can a state by contract surrender to the
Federal Government a function which the Constitution
has reserved to the state? Since the purpose of the
bill is to have illiteracy removed, it is wise not to involve
in the issue provisions that raise constitutional question's
REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY AMONG NATIVE-BORN 1 55
The problem of removing illiteracy has been before
the country and before Congress for fifty years. Our
participation in the World War has set the disadvantage
and menace of illiteracy in unprecedented clearness
before the Nation. If the problem is ever to be attacked
vigorously, now is the time.
The table on pages 156-157 shows the number of native-
born white illiterates, negro illiterates, and total native-
born illiterates for 1900 and 1910. A careful examination
of the data will serve to emphasize the necessity for
Federal stimulation. 1
In reading the table, one should keep several things
clearly in mind or errors of inference will result :
(1) The decrease and the percentage of decrease are
for a ten-year period. To appreciate what the decrease
is, one should constantly think in terms of one tenth of
the figures given.
(2) The decrease is in considerable measure due to the
high rate of mortality in the older groups. If compulsory
school attendance were thoroughly effective in every
state, illiteracy would practically disappear in from
fifty to sixty years.
(3) Compulsory attendance in many of the states
actually decreased illiteracy during the ten years in
question by preventing any considerable additions from
the groups that had reached the age of ten.
1 This table has been prepared from table .30, p. 245, Abstract of the
Census, 19 10.
156
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
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REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY AMONG NATIVE-BORN 1 57
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158 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
(4) The shifting of population also accounts for some
decreases and some increases. Oklahoma's increase
in negro illiterates probably meant small decreases for
Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The
increase of white illiterates in the Dakotas was due
to the influx of population to take up the land. In
this population, there were some illiterates. The num-
bers are small, but they illustrate the movement very
clearly.
(5) How many illiterates a state has acquired by
immigration and how many it has lost by emigration
cannot be clearly determined. It is safe to say, how-
ever, that the older states have lost illiterates by emi-
gration while the newer states have gained by immi-
gration. Since free movement from one state to another
is one of the Constitutional provisions, a National
problem is here involved which is usually overlooked.
Industrial opportunities in one state may invite the
immigration of illiterates from other states, and the
first state may be absolutely powerless to protect itself
from them no matter how undesirable they may be.
(6) The whole array of facts shows that very little
was done by the states for the reduction of adult illit-
eracy in the decade under consideration. For the
most part, the decrease was due to the prevention of
additions from the children. If anything is to be done
to remove existing illiteracy, the states must be effec-
tively stimulated to do it. Merely to contend that it is
REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY AMONG NATIVE-BORN 1 59
the duty of the states to remove illiteracy will not bring
it about. A substantial inducement, equal to the
Nation's interest in the matter, is defensible from every
point of view.
It is impossible to close this discussion of illiteracy
without a glance at illiteracy among the foreign-born.
With them, illiteracy also means, in most cases, lack
of ability to understand spoken English. There are
many foreign-born persons who are classed as literates
because, although they do not understand spoken Eng-
lish or printed English, they can read and write in their
mother tongue.
We have already massed the facts regarding illiteracy
among the native-born. With this increase or decrease
as a starting point, we may set up the facts for the
foreign-born illiterates for each state, noting whether
there has been an increase or decrease. From this is
derived the total increase or decrease for each state.
Then from total increases or decreases in the decade
we get a final column that shows what the several states
have done toward solving the problem of illiteracy dur-
ing the decade. This table has been prepared from data
found on page 245, Abstract of the Census, 1919.
i6o
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
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3-° S
REDUCTION OF ILLITERACY AMONG NATIVE-BORN l6l
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*** n OO O
CHAPTER XVI
Americanization
The facts that have just been considered relative to
the illiterate foreign-born population are only one aspect
of the Americanization problem. We know what a
native-born illiterate is in our country. If we
transplant him imaginatively into a Spanish-speaking
country, we can see what little chance he would have to
discharge the common duties of citizenship. And yet,
in 1910, we had in this country 1,650,361 foreign-born
persons over ten years of age who could not write in
any language. These people present a triple problem.
To teach them to read, write, and speak the English
language is one part of it. To give them that elementary
body of common knowledge which most children by the
age of ten get through school life, schoolbooks, and
teachers is another aspect of the problem. To give
them the basal ideas and ideals necessary for partici-
pation in our social life — with its political responsi-
bilities — is the final aspect of the problem.
To the group just considered must be added those
foreign-born persons "literate" in their own language
but unable to speak or read English, whose ideas of
American life beyond their own neighborhood are gained
from the foreign-language press — with all the possibil-
162
AMERICANIZATION 1 63
ities for the spread of un-American standards that this
medium implies. This group is probably larger than
the one previously considered.
There are many points of view from which the problem
can be considered. The industrial world complains
that these men cannot understand directions when given
orally or displayed on printed placards; consequently,
they fail to catch the spirit of the shop or industry, —
they get in the way, they are much more likely to be
injured, they are much more likely to quit work because
of trivial misunderstandings. From a community stand-
point, these people are apart from, instead of a part of, its
life. In their segregation, they remain impervious to
community ideals and community activities. Often,
because they do not understand, they grow sensitive
and sometimes even resentful. Thus they are peculiarly
liable to exploitation at the hands both of unscrupulous
employers and of designing individuals who, to accom-
plish their own ends and purposes, misrepresent the at-
titude and intent of the community or industry, or of the
state or Federal Government toward the conditions that
affect them most vitally. We became aware of the extent
of radical propaganda during the war, — but it has been
going on, for one purpose or another, for years ; l and it
1 Its real dangers came, of course, with the shifting of the source of
immigration from Northern and Western Europe to Southeastern
Europe. In so far as we are informed the first serious recognition of
the peril in this immigration came in an article by Henry Rood in The
Forum, Sept., 1892, p. no.
1 64 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
will continue as long as we have this mass of ignorant,
non-English-speaking people in this country.
There is no advantage to be gained from an analysis of
the reasons that brought these aliens to our country. It
is sufficient to know that they are here under the sanction
of the Federal law. They are, until they become natural-
ized, denizens of the country, as free as are the native-
born citizens to go where they will. In general, they stay
near the port of debarkation. Many of them plan to
remain in America only a short time, — until they
have made some money. Industrial plants have taken
these men for the rough, unskilled work because they
were cheaper than other labor ; indeed, it was prac-
tically impossible, in many cases, to get any other kind
of labor. The Nation has put an end to the importation
of laborers under contract, — but this well-intentioned
legislation is far from proof against circumvention.
The ostensible theory underlying the admission of
foreigners to this country implies the assumption that
they will become incorporated into our social and
political life. The actual sanction in recent years has
been the need of cheap labor. Our fine phrases anent
the "land of opportunity" have lacked the note of
sincerity and the newcomers have reacted as human
beings might be expected to react to a palpably hollow
stimulus.
The Federal Government has prescribed the manner
and method of acquiring citizenship and has bestowed
AMERICANIZATION 1 65
citizenship when applicants have met its requirements.
States, also, have made laws on the same subject. But
the language difficulty has been so great that relatively-
few of the more recently arrived immigrants have become
citizens. With a few notable exceptions, the employer
has not felt that he should bear the expense of teaching
these foreigners the English language and the ideals of
American citizenship. He was engaged in a competi-
tive industry, — not in the altruistic work of educating
foreigners. The Church has been busy with its own
problems, and has felt that Americanization was the
function of some other institution. The public school
is practically the only agency that has done anything at
all. It has done much indirectly through its influence
upon the immigrant's children. In a direct and system-
atic way, it has done most through night schools, espe-
cially in the large cities. In the smaller cities, and in the
villages and hamlets surrounding mills and mines, com-
paratively little has been even attempted except in spo-
radic instances.
The reason why we have done so little in the aggregate
for the education of the immigrant lies in the fact that
the states have not required it to be done. Since so large
a part of the foreign-born population has been transient,
— now here, now there, — and because it would be so
expensive to cope with the problem, the states have felt
that it was defensible to fall back on generalities. So
far as the observance of law and order was concerned,
i66
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
the police power of the state was invoked, — even to
the creation of a mounted state police. In many-
quarters, too, it was felt that it was hopeless to attempt
to teach English and citizenship to adult foreigners. The
old saw, "It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks,"
was a frequent excuse for an inexcusable neglect. If
the children of the foreign-born were put into the public
school, it seemed the best that could be done. At least,
we consoled ourselves with some such philosophy.
On the other hand, it is true that we did not know how
rapidly this foreign-born population was increasing.
The census figures for the total foreign-born population
for six decades are astounding to any one who sees them
for the first time. The following tabulation l shows the
total foreign-born in the United States at decennial
periods and the increase over the preceding decade.
i860
1870
1880
1890
1900
1910
Foreign-born Population
4,188,058
5.567,229
6,679,943
9,249,56o
10,341,276
13,515,886
Increase in io-year
Periods
1,379,171
1,112,714
2,569,617
1,091,716
3,174,610
Not only was there this enormous increase, but the
immigration from countries in which public educational
facilities were at a low ebb increased from 1900 to 1910
S»e table, p. 190, Abstract of the Census, 1910.
AMERICANIZATION 1 67
at an enormous rate. In the decade just quoted, there
was a loss of 275,911 from Northwestern Europe and an
increase of 3,215,689 from Southern and Eastern Europe,
— Russia showing an increase of 1,024,680. This enor-
mous influx from countries in which public education does
not exist and in which social and political ideals are so dif-
ferent from our own has given a new aspect to the prob-
lem of dealing with the immigrant. The matter of self-
preservation has entered into the problem as well as
our duty to those to whom educational opportunity-
has been denied. The gentle process of assimilation can
not go on under such conditions unless a special effort
is made. Machinery is necessary to cope with such
problems. Of the 13,515,886 foreign-born, 12,944,529,
or 95.7 per cent, were ten years of age or over in
1910.
Inability to speak English is only a partial measure of
the need for Americanization. One may be able to speak
English " in ordinary conversation " and yet not have
that degree of literacy which means ability to comprehend
the fundamental principles of our government. The
need for Americanization work, therefore, is even greater
than the inability to speak English in ordinary conver-
sation would indicate.
The facts regarding inability to speak English are set
forth in Volume I of the Thirteenth Census, pp. 1 265-1 283.
In the Appendix (p. 353) will be found a summary of
these facts for each division and state. It is sufficient
1 68 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
here to remark that, in 1910, nearly three millions, or
22.8 per cent, of the foreign-born whites ten years of age
and over were unable to speak English. In 1900, the
corresponding figure stood at 1,217,280. The increase
of foreign-born whites ten years of age and over unable
to speak English was, for the ten years from 1900 to
1910, 1,735,731. It is evident, therefore, that the
Americanization problem more than doubled in ten
years, — the increase referred to is 142.5 per cent. This
increase, so far as absolute numbers is concerned, was
largely localized in the great industrial states, and was
made up, in large measure, of those who came from
Southern and Southeastern Europe.
The Smith-Towner Bill assumes that the Ameri-
canization of the foreign-born immigrant is a matter of
great importance to our country. The actual work
must, of course, be done by state agencies. The bill
seeks to stimulate the states to undertake this work.
Congress has no power to force the states to undertake
it, and even if it did have the power, it would still
remain true that voluntary cooperation is always better
than coercion.
The question, then, is not primarily one of the Consti-
tutional right of Congress to expend money under the
terms of the Smith-Towner Bill. That right is clear.
The question is one of expediency. If Congress does not
do something, what will happen with regard to Ameri-
canization? If Congress enacts the Smith-Towner Bill
AMERICANIZATION 1 69
into law, what will happen with regard to Amer-
icanization ?
It is practically certain that not all, or even a respect-
able fraction of the states, will deal adequately with the
Americanization problem wholly of their own initiative,
and with their own funds. This judgment is based on
what the states have already done with regard to this
particular problem, the problem of illiteracy, physical
and health education, the preparation of teachers, and
the equalization of educational opportunities. It is also
based on the workings of the Smith-Hughes Act regard-
ing vocational education, the Morrill and related acts
regarding technical education, the land grants for state
universities, and the grant of Lot No. 16. There is
not only the inducement which the money grant sets up ;
there is also the appeal to pride in a cooperative move-
ment of great worth and magnitude. If the Smith-
Towner Bill is enacted into law, the states that have
large groups of immigrants will work out plans for the
Americanization of these people. A social machinery
will be created and the problem will be solved within a
decade.
As in the case of reducing illiteracy, it is not wise for
Congress to specify in great detail just how this work of
Americanization shall be done. There is no body of
accumulated experience that points infallibly to the best
procedure. The states, once entered upon the work,
will be anxious to find the best ways of doing it, and
170 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
wholesome rivalry will have its good results. The states
are more competent to construct and manage the neces-
sary machinery for the solution of this problem than is
the National Government, because the latter has no
public-school system * under its control and has had no
significant experience in creating one for a special pur-
pose. Nor is it well to ask the states to accept a long
list of specific limiting conditions in their acceptance of
the act itself. There is nothing but good faith between
Congress and the states in this or any other matter not
covered by explicit Constitutional provisions, and good
faith does not require prescriptive details.
It is fair to assume that the states would undertake
to do this work in perfect good faith knowing that by
carrying it to successful completion, the state would be
benefiting itself and at the same time performing a dis-
tinct and helpful national service.
The following tabulation shows the number of foreign-
born residents in each state, the proportion which this
number bears to the total foreign-born population, and
the apportionment of funds for immigrant education
under the terms of the Smith-Towner Bill. Each state
would appropriate for this purpose a like amount. Under
the plan here proposed, the completion of a ten-year
period would give us a practically complete solution of
the present problem of Americanization.
1 Excepting those in the District of Columbia, in Alaska, and among
the Indians.
AMERICANIZATION
171
Americanization of Foreigners
Number of Foreign-born Immigrants in United States . . 13,515,886
Amount of Federal Aid per Capita under Terms of Bill . . $0,555
Number of
Foreign-born
in United
States 1910
Per Cent of
Total Foreign-
Allotment for
Americanization,
Section Nine
Continental United States
North Atlantic Division
North Central Division
South Atlantic Division
South Central Division
Western Division . .
Total
North Atlantic Division:
Maine
New Hampshire . . .
Vermont
Massachusetts . . .
Rhode Island . . .
Connecticut ....
New York
New Jersey ....
Pennsylvania . . .
North Central Division:
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota ....
Iowa
Missouri
North Dakota . . .
South Dakota . . .
Nebraska
Kansas
South Atlantic Division:
Delaware
Maryland
District of Columbia .
Virginia
West Virginia . . .
13,515,886
6,676,283
4,690,461
299,994
440,017
1,409,131
13,515,886
110,562
96,667
49,921
1.059,245
179,141
329,574
2,748,011
660,788
1,442,374
598,374
159,663
1,205,314
597,550
512,865
543,595
273,765
229,779
156,654
100,790
176,662
i35,45o
17,492
104,944
24,902
27,057
57,2i8
100.0000
49-3958
34.7033
2.2196
3.2556
10.4257
100.0000
.8180
.7152
•3693
7.8370
1-3254
2.4384
20.3317
4.8899
10.6716
4.4271
1.1812
8.9177
4.4210
3-7945
4.0218
2.0255
1.7000
1. 1590
• 7457
1.3070
1. 002 1
.1294
.7764
.1842
.2008
•4233
$7,500,000.00
3,705,337.07
2,603,205.86
166,496.67
244,209.43
782,067.70
$7,501,316.73
61,361.91
53,650.18
27,706.15
587,880.98
99,423.26
182,913.57
1,525,146.11
366,737.34
800,517.57
332,097.57
88,612.97
668,949.27
331,640.25
284,640.07
301,695.23
i5i,939.58
127,527.34
86,942.97
55,938.45
98,047.41
75,174-75
9,708.06
58,243.92
13,820.61
15,016.64
31,755-99
172 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Americanization of Foreigners — Continued
South Atlantic Division
Continued
North Carolina . .
South Carolina . .
Georgia ....
Florida
South Central Division:
Kentucky ....
Tennessee ....
Alabama ....
Mississippi . . .
Louisiana ....
Texas
Arkansas ....
Oklahoma ....
Western Division:
Montana ....
Wyoming ....
Colorado ....
New Mexico . . .
Arizona ....
Utah
Nevada ....
Idaho
Washington . . .
Oregon
California ....
Number or
Foreign-born
in Unitkd
States 1910
6,092
6,179
15,477
40,633
40,162
18,607
19,286
9,770
52,766
241,938
17,046
40,442
94,713
29,020
129,587
23,146
48,765
65,822
19,691
42,578
256,241
113,136
586,432
Per Cent of
Total Foreign-
born
•0457
•0457
•"45
.3006
.3971
.1376
.1426
.0722
•3093
1.7900
.1261
.2992
.7007
.2147
•9587
.1712
.3607
•1456
•3150
1.8958
•8370
4-3388
Allotment for
Americanization,
Section Nine
$3,381.06
3,429-35
8,589.73
22,551-31
22,289.91
10,326.88
10,703.73
5,422.35
29,285.13
134,275-59
9,46b.53
22,445.31
52,565-72
16,106.10
71,920.79
12,846.03
27,064.57
36,531.21
10,928.50
23,630.79
142,213.75
62,790.48
325,469.76
CHAPTER XVII
Physical and Health Education
No lessons of the war have pointed more compellingly
to educational weaknesses than have the rejections from
the service and the assignments to limited service because
of physical disability. The Nation has become clearly
aware of the loss of man-power in war due to these
factors. It should see as clearly the enormous loss
of man-power from the same causes during peace-
times, — a loss the more regrettable in that much if not
most of it is easily avoidable. From an economic stand-
point, the reduction of the wastage due to physical dis-
ability is a policy of both wisdom and expediency.
But, beyond this economic aspect of the matter, there
is the far more important aspect of human happiness
and all the social consequences that are intimately
bound up with it.
The report of the Surgeon General contains the follow-
ing data concerning limited service. In reading the table
one should keep constantly in mind that there were, in
many states, large numbers exempted on account of oc-
cupations who were also physically unfit for military life
173
174 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
or fit only for limited service. The proportions may
consequently be considered as representing a "cross
section" of our male population between the ages of
twenty-one and thirty-one.
Total number of men examined physically Dec. 15, 191 7, to
Sept. 11, 1918 3,208,446
Number fully qualified 2,259,027
Number disqualified totally or partially 949>4i9
Per cent disqualified totally or partially 29.59 '
The following table, made from the one given on
page 417 of the Second Report of the Provost Marshal
General, follows the general arrangement of the tables
already presented in this book, so that regional com-
parisons may be easily made.
The facts of the table probably give a fairly represent-
ative idea of the variations from physical fitness among
the total population. Some additional facts from recent
surveys may serve to reenforce the point. The Alabama
Survey, already quoted, has an excellent statement of
the negative aspects of health.
Malaria in Alabama averages 13,000 cases constantly. 2
If the earning power be estimated at only $250 per
person, the annual loss is $3,250,000 from malaria alone.
The death rate from typhoid fever in 191 7 was 38.2 per
100,000, — a rate almost three times as high as in those
portions of the United States which are in the "regis-
1 Second Report of the Provost Marshal General, 1919, p. 153.
1 U. S. Bureau of Education, 1919 Bulletin, No. 41, p. 302.
PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION
J 75
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176
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
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PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION
177
tration area." 1 One child out of every four of school
age (6 to 20) is suffering from hookworm in some degree.
Of the members of the Alabama National Guard that
served on the Mexican border, sixty per cent were
affected with hookworm. The Rockefeller Sanitary
Commission, from 1910 to 1915, found 23,403 individ-
uals infested with hookworm out of a total of 53,643
persons examined. 2
The Survey Commission had one hundred white
school children and fifty colored children examined in
each county of Alabama, — with the following results :
Pee Cent Affected with
White
Colored
4. Hookworm "Suspects" . . .
5. Enlarged glands
SO
48
29
26
21
56
40
22
24
32
The situation is probably no worse and no better in
Alabama than in other states except those in which
health instruction has been carried on for some time
and in which health inspection is general in the schools.
There are defects that come naturally and are easily
remedied, such as decaying teeth and wax in the ears.
1 The registration area includes 44 per cent of the total area and
70.2 per cent of the total population, — including all states that are hav-
ing 90 per cent or more of all deaths systematically reported in accord-
ance with state laws.
2 Ibid., p. 303.
N
178 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Defects of vision and hearing, too, are not difficult to
identify and usually may be alleviated, if not entirely
remedied, by careful treatment.
There is needed, however, a nation-wide health cam-
paign which will carry the knowledge of health conditions
to everybody, — in school and out of school. With
the results of such a campaign as a basis, the work can
be carried on through the schools and reach practically
everybody. In a certain Pennsylvania county, the Red
Cross organization is spending a portion of the funds
remaining from its war expenditures in employing health
teachers who instruct the wives of the foreigners in the
simplest elements of the care of the health. The employ-
ing companies, the county, and the state have not
as yet undertaken this greatly needed work, and there
is no better way in which the balances in the hands of
Red Cross officials can be spent. But the instance is
sporadic and local while the need is universal.
The health knowledge to which reference has been
made is most valuable, but physical fitness means
much more than the mere absence of disease. Health
is the bodily condition which results when each organ
of the body separately, and all organs of the body co-
operatively, fulfill their functions normally and prop-
erly. The only dependable factor in securing this
desirable result is systematic physical exercise. In this
way only can bodily vigor and endurance as well as
muscular strength and skill be assured. When this
PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION 1 79
physical exercise is embodied in games, a host of social
and moral benefits follow in its train. These exercises
and games are not merely diversion or amusement or
recreation ; — they are the means by which the body
comes into its own and by which bodily tone becomes
transmuted into mental tone.
When one contemplates the beneficent results that
would come to all from comprehensive programs of
physical and health education in every community of
the country, — the increased economic efficiency, the
reduction of pain and suffering, the positive happiness
and enjoyment, and the fine feeling of fitness and poise
that would replace the present lassitude and lack of self-
control, — one cannot reasonably oppose a movement
that promises to secure these ends. No beneficent
potentate or fairy will do these things for us. We must
do them for ourselves. We must unify present scattered
efforts, generalize them, organize and extend them to
include every public school and every local community.
The collective, cooperative action which we put forth
in the recent war is the only type of action adequate
to such an undertaking.
The Smith-Towner Bill provides for such a collective,
cooperative effort. The bill proposes that twenty
million dollars annually shall be distributed from the
Federal Treasury to the states on the basis of population,
and that each state shall raise an amount equal to its
allotment to be spent —
I So THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
"For physical education and instruction in the principles of
health and sanitation, and for providing school nurses, school den-
tal clinics, and otherwise promoting physical and mental welfare."
The states are wisely left free to make their own
programs for realizing these purposes. Rhode Island
is almost entirely urban, — Texas is almost entirely
rural. The same plan of organization for physical and
health education would not succeed equally well in both
states. Each state, however, under the stimulus of na-
tional interest and national aid would sincerely and faith-
fully go to work in an effective way, seeking the best for
its own people and thus securing the best for the Nation.
There are several states and many cities that are now
doing excellent work in physical and health education.
The provisions of the Smith-Towner Bill would not
interfere with these present efforts. On the contrary,
the added support that it proposes would make them
more effective. The adoption of this measure would ex-
tend these forms of education to all states and to every
community. At the present time the United States
Government is doing much to promote health in several
of the states. It is finding out facts and giving them
publicity; it is advising and urging communities and
states to put effective programs of physical and health ed-
ucation into operation. It does not have the prestige or
influence which it would have if it were actually co-
operating in a financial way with the several states and
working with them for the advancement and interest
PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION
181
and welfare of the individual, the family, the community,
the state, and the nation, as these units are inextricably
bound up with physical development and the mainte-
nance of health.
Promotion of Physical and Health Education and Recreation
Population of United States in iqio 91,972,266
Allotment under terms of the Smith-Towner Bill per capita $.2175
Continental United States .
North Atlantic Division
North Central Division .
South Atlantic Division
South Central Division .
Western Division . . .
Total
North Atlantic Division:
Maine
New Hampshire . . .
Vermont
Massachusetts . . . .
Rhode Island . . . .
Connecticut . . . .
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania . . . .
North Central Division:
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota ......
Iowa
Missouri
North Dakota ...
South Dakota . . .
Nebraska ....
Kansas
Population of the
United States
for 1910
91,972,266
25,868,573
29,888,542
12,194,895
17,194,435
6,825,821
91,972,266
742,371
430,572
355,956
3,366,416
542,610
i,H4,756
9,113,614
2,537,167
7,665,111
4,767,121
2,700,876
5,638,591
2,810,173
2,333,860
2,075,708
2,224,771
3,293,335
577,056
583,888
1,192,214
1,690,949
Amount of Federal
Aid under Terms of
Act
$20,000,000.00
5,626,414.63
6,500,757.88
2,652,389.66
3,739,789-6l
1,484,616.06
20,003,967.84
161,465.69
93,649.41
77,420.43
732,195.48
118,017.68
242,459.43
1,982,211.05
551,833.82
1,667,161.64
1,036,848.82
587,440.53
1,226,393.54
611,212.63
507,614.55
451,466.49
483,887.69
716,300.36
125,509.68
126,995.64
259,306.54
367,781.41
182
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Promotion of Physical and Health Education and
Recreation — Continued
Population of the
Amount of Federal
United States
Aid under Terms of
for 1910
Act
202,322
44,005.04
1,295,346
281,737-75
331,069
72,007.51
2,061,612
448,400.61
1,221,119
265,593-38
2,206,287
479,867.42
1,515,400
329,599-50
2,609,121
567,483.82
752,619
163,694.63
2,289,905
498,054.34
2,184,789
475,191.61
2,138,093
465,035.23
l,797,"4
390,872.30
1,656,388
360,264.39
3,896,542
847,497-88
1,574,449
342,442.65
i,657,iSS
360,431.21
376,053
81,791.52
145,965
31,747-39
799,024
i73,787-72
327,301
71,187.97
204,354
44,446.99
373,351
81,203.84
81,875
17,807.81
325,594
70,816.69
1,141,990
248,382.83
672,765
146,326.39
2,377,549
517,116.91
South Atlantic Division.
Delaware . . .
Maryland . . .
District of Columbia
Virginia ....
West Virginia . .
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia ....
Florida ....
South Central Division:
Kentucky . . .
Tennessee . . .
Alabama ....
Mississippi . . .
Louisiana . . .
Texas
Arkansas . . .
Oklahoma . . .
Western Division:
Montana . . .
Wyoming . . .
Colorado ....
New Mexico . .
Arizona ....
Utah
Nevada ....
Idaho
Washington . . .
Oregon ....
California ...
The preceding table shows the allotments to the
several states, on the basis of population, of twenty-
million dollars annually. The census of 1920 will show
changes in population, but probably not many radical
PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION 1 83
changes in percentages of population. Each allotment
is to be matched by the state; hence there will be
forty million dollars available for this work. With
this sum, so much more can be done than has ever been
done before in this field that the physical strength of
the Nation could easily be doubled or even trebled
within a decade. If the program is left to local initiative
or to unaided and unstimulated state action, equivalent
results would necessarily be delayed, perhaps for a
century.
CHAPTER XVIII
The Weakest Links
a. the rural and village schools
Illiteracy, alienism, and physical and health defi-
ciencies have all revealed themselves as national handi-
caps, due in large part to the failure of state and local
education to meet adequately the Nation's needs. If,
however, the Nation is at all concerned with finding
remedies for these defects, it must go behind superficial
conditions and seek fundamental causes. Measures
that fail to reach the roots of these evils cannot solve
the Nation's problem.
There are two outstanding sources of weakness in
American education upon the correction of which the
full effectiveness of every more limited program for
reform inevitably depends. Although closely related
to one another these two sources of weakness must be
considered separately, for to remedy them will require
two distinct, though still related, programs. The two
"weakest links" in the chain of American education
are (i) the almost total inadequacy of the rural-
school system in every state of the Union, and (2) the
low status of teaching as a profession and the reflection
184
THE WEAKEST LINKS 185
of this low status in the inadequacy of the existing
agencies for the preparation of teachers.
THE IMPORTANCE AND DIFFICULTIES OF RURAL EDUCATION
The rural-school situation presents, from the point of
view of national welfare, probably the most important
and certainly the most difficult of all educational prob-
lems. The importance of the problem is indicated by
the fact that sixty per cent of the next generation of
American voters are enrolled in the schools classed as
rural by the standards of the Federal Bureau of Educa-
tion. 1
Of this substantial majority of prospective American
voters enrolled in the rural schools, it is clearly predict-
able that five sixths, — or at least fifty per cent of
all the children of the Nation, — will be limited in their
educational opportunities to what these schools are able
to provide. No democracy can intelligently disavow its
concern in an agency that determines the plane upon
which a clear majority of its future citizens are to think
1 This is the standard, also, of the Bureau of the Census. A rural
community is one of 2500 inhabitants or fewer. The term rural schools
as used in the present discussion includes, then, not only one-room and
consolidated schools of the open country, but also the schools of the
villages and small towns. The situation depicted in the following pages
would show itself as even more serious if the schools of open country
alone were considered; but it is bad enough as it stands. Generally
speaking, too, the schools of the open country and those of the small
centers in agricultural districts constitute a homogeneous problem, and
may well be considered as a single group.
1 86 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
ami feel and act in solving their collective problems
and transacting their collective business. Humble as
the rural school may be as a unit, it is far from humble
as a type. In the aggregate of its influence upon the
Nation, indeed, it transcends in importance the greatest
of our universities.
The difficulty of the rural-school problem is partly the
product of external forces and factors and partly due
to the inherent character of the rural school. Of the
external forces and factors that complicate the situation
the two most important are the generally low status
of public-school teaching as a calling and the "neighbor-
hood " tradition of educational responsibility. The
former will be discussed in Chapters XVIII and XX;
the latter, — the sinister influence of extreme localism
in education, — will be an important theme of Chapter
XIX.
Our present concern, then, is with the inherent diffi-
culties of rural-school teaching. Schools in sparsely
settled districts will always be handicapped in competing
with schools in thickly settled districts. Either the
school unit must be small, thus requiring in a group or
system of such units a large number of teachers in pro-
portion to the pupils enrolled ; or, if the small units are
consolidated in central schools, the expense of trans-
porting pupils must be met. In both cases, then, the
cost of education will be high as compared with the cost
of providing the same opportunities in a thickly settled
THE WEAKEST LINKS 187
district. If to the bare cost of instruction there be
added the "overhead" of equally competent adminis-
tration and supervision, the discrepancies in relative
per capita cost become even wider. As a result of this
inherently greater cost of rural education, only a
negligible proportion of school districts in the villages
and the open country offer educational facilities equal
to those even of the poorest cities.
Not only are the sparsely settled districts thus handi-
capped, but their situation is rendered even more un-
favorable by the fact that their per capita wealth is
almost invariably lower than that of the urban districts.
Not only, therefore, is the cost of rural education
greater, but the resources from which school revenues
can be drawn are much more meager. Actual figures
revealing the striking differences in the taxable wealth
behind each child in typical rural and urban districts
will be set forth in Chapter XIX.
A third inherent difficulty of rural education lies in
the pronounced individualism of the average farmer.
His mode of life with its isolation and its emphasis upon
independence and self-reliance predisposes him to
individualism. He is likely to resent interference from
without ; consequently the enforcement of compulsory-
attendance laws has been practically ignored in the
rural districts. Furthermore, he can use his children
in the work of the farm and the household at a profit
far beyond that which the city resident can gain by
1 88 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
similar methods. The temptation to keep children out
of school is therefore much stronger ; the plea that this
practice is justifiable is much more plausible, much
harder to prove specious. There are no labor unions
to whose self-interest the enforcement of child-labor
laws is significant. There are lacking, too, the large
and well-appointed school buildings which by their
very size and magnificence tend in the cities to impress
the people with the importance of education and with
the "majesty'' of the law which makes education
compulsory.
The farmer's individualism also expresses itself in a
distaste, not only for paying taxes that would provide
reasonably high salaries for teachers, but also for
having such salaries paid in any case. Under normal
conditions the average farmer's actual cash income is not
likely to be large and he does not like to see a young
teacher surpass him in earning power. Of course he
overlooks the fact that his cash income often measures
very fairly his net profits from the gross of which not
only his operating expenses but the cost of his own living
and the support of his family have been deducted. While
this may explain, it does not justify his attitude. The
present era of prosperity may, if it persists, alleviate
some of the evil effects of this attitude — but there are
few signs to-day that the wages of the rural teacher
are keeping pace with the increased earnings of the
fanner.
THE WEAKEST LINKS 1 89
A final inherent handicap under which rural education
labors as compared with urban education lies in the
relatively greater difficulty of gaining adequate results
through teaching. In the graded urban schools, the
teacher finds it hard enough to adapt the materials of
instruction to thirty or forty children of approximately
the same age and the same degree of attainment; in
the one-room school these thirty or forty children
may represent every age-level from five (or even four)
to eighteen or nineteen. The city teacher must cover a
wide range of subjects, but the range that the rural
teacher must cover is far more extensive. In the city,
too, the distinctly backward children are now removed
from the regular classrooms and taught in special groups
by teachers especially prepared for such work ; in the
country school the moron and the gifted child sit side
by side, and the failure of the teacher to do for the
former what he does for the latter, — what the latter,
indeed, often does for himself, — is frequently a source
of unjust but no less depressing criticism; even if this
be lacking, the presence of the dull pupils is certain to
delay the progress of the class as a whole.
Not only do the city teachers have a decided advantage
on the instructional side of their work ; their problems
of discipline are significantly reduced both by this segre-
gation of the mentally deficient children and, in added
measure, by the machinery of supervision. Practically
every city elementary school has its supervising prin-
IQO THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
cipal, — either a man or a mature and experienced
woman, — one of whose duties it is to aid the classroom
teacher in the solution of disciplinary problems. Closely-
related to this type of supervision is that which is pro-
vided in practically all cities by the staff of special
supervisors, — experts in one or another of the school
subjects who exercise a more or less thorough oversight
of the individual teacher's work. Similar systems of
supervision are so rare outside of the cities that the
few counties in which supervisory staffs have been
created for the rural schools have gained at once a
nation-wide reputation. 1 Generally speaking, the rural
teacher must struggle with his difficulties in absolute
isolation. He lacks not only the help which the super-
visor may bring, — he is denied also the inspiration and
enthusiasm that come most easily when one has the
companionship of fellow-workers.
THE RESULTS OF INADEQUATE RURAL SCHOOLS
(a) Adult Illiteracy
What has been the effect of weak rural schools upon
the Nation? This question has been definitely an-
swered by the war revelations, although the connection
between these acknowledged national weaknesses and
the inefficiency of the rural schools has not as yet been
1 These counties most frequently constitute the rural areas adjacent
to large cities ; in consequence, they are easily influenced by the ex-
ample of the urban schools. Of outstanding reputation in this connec-
tion are Baltimore County, Maryland, and Cook County, Illinois.
THE WEAKEST LINKS
IQI
recognized by the public — or, indeed, by a significant
proportion of the teaching profession itself.
In the first place, adult illiteracy in the native-bom
population is primarily and predominantly a rural phe-
nomenon and its ultimate elimination is almost exclusively
a rural-school problem. The census returns for 1910
show this clearly ; the proportion of native-born illit-
erate persons in the rural population is in no division
of the country less than twice the proportion in the
urban population, and usually the discrepancy is even
greater. This is shown by the following comparisons
based on a very striking table of the Census Report. 1
Section
Per Cent of Illiteracy
among Whites Native-born
of Native-born Parents
Proportion Rural to Urban
Urban
Rural
New England . .
Middle Atlantic .
0.5
0.6
1.2
1.9
2.4 times as great in rural
3.1 times as great in rural
E. North Central
0.9
2.2
2.4 times as great in rural
W. North Central
0.8
2.1
2.6 times as great in rural
South Atlantic
2.2
9.8
4.4 times as great in rural
E. South Central .
2-4
II. I
4.6 times as great in rural
W. South Central.
1-4
6.8
4.8 times as great in rural
Mountain . . .
0.9
5-i
5.6 times as great in rural
Pacific ....
0.3
0.6
2.0 times as great in rural
The situation is even more clearly revealed by a com-
parison of the absolute numbers of adult illiterates in
rural and urban communities :
1 See Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, p. 249.
192
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Native whites of native parentage . .
Native whites of foreign or mixed parent-
age ... .
Foreign-born whites
Negroes
Totals
Total Number of Illiterate
Persons above the Age of Ten
Rural
1,247,978
94,394
477,870
1,654,700
3,654,700
Urban
130,906
60,994
1,172,491
393,273
1,757,664
Two thirds of the total adult illiteracy is in the rural
communities; but by far the largest proportion of
urban illiteracy is in the immigrant population, for
the adults of which the public schools are in no sense
responsible. The schools must assume responsibility
for illiteracy among the native whites, and of the
native-white illiterates, 1,342,372 live in rural com-
munities as against 191,900 in urban communities.
This is in the ratio of seven to one. The total popu-
lation of the rural districts as compared with the urban
districts is in the ratio of one to nine tenths ; hence, for
the native whites, adult illiteracy is six times more prevalent
in rural America than in urban America.
In every section of the country, then, the per cent of
native-born illiterates, whether of native-white, foreign-
born, or mixed parentage, is substantially higher in the
rural districts than in the urban districts.
The following table compares the relative proportions
of negro and foreign-born illiterates in the rural and
urban districts of different sections of the country : l
1 Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, 1910, p. 249.
THE WEAKEST LINKS
193
Section
New England :
Rural ....
Urban ....
Middle Atlantic:
Rural ....
Urban ....
East North Central:
Rural ....
Urban ....
West North Central:
Rural ....
Urban ....
South Atlantic:
Rural ....
Urban ....
East South Central:
Rural ....
Urban ....
West Sotdh Central:
Rural ....
Urban ....
Mountain :
Rural ....
Urban ....
Pacific :
Rural ....
Urban ....
United Slates:
Rural ....
Urban ....
Per Cent of Illiterate Persons Ten
Years and Over in Total Population
Negroes
Foreign-born whites
16.9
15-3
7-i
13-7
12.2
20.3
7.0
14.9
15-8
9.6
9-7
10.2
21.0
7.0
12.3
8-5
36.1
17.2
21.4
11.6
37-8
10.9
23.8
9.1
37-2
3°- 7
20.3
17.9
10.6
14.4
7.0
9-7
11.4
II-3
5-3
6.0
36.1
13-2
17.6
12.6
The per cent of negro illiterates is higher in the rural
districts than in the urban districts in every section,
and the relatively high proportions of negro illiteracy
in the rural districts of the North and West prove con-
clusively that even this phase of illiteracy is very far
from exclusively a Southern problem,
o
IQ4 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The per cent of illiteracy among the foreign-born
whites is higher in the rural than in the urban com-
munities in every section except the two that comprise
the North Central states, thus proving that "Amer-
icanization" is not exclusively an urban problem.
In the United States as a whole, for all groups com-
bined, the per cent of illiteracy in the rural districts is
i o.i as against 5.1, the per cent in the urban districts.
Adult illiteracy is due primarily to inadequate educa-
tion before the age of ten. For the native-born popu-
lation, the schools must bear the responsibility both
for the condition as it exists and for its correction. The
conclusion is irrefutable that the rural school has jailed to
reach the rural children in the measure that the safety and
progress of the Nation demand. The rural-school prob-
lem is essentially and fundamentally a national
problem.
The comparison between " white population native-
born of native parentage" and the "white population
native-born of foreign and mixed parentage" is most
illuminating. Here the Census Report shows that in
so far as the prevention of illiteracy is concerned, we
have done more than three times as well with the children
of the immigrant than with the children of the native-born.
The explanation is not far to seek: the immigrant
parents are found most numerously in the larger cities
where the school facilities are fairly good and where
compulsory-attendance statutes are usually rigorously
THE WEAKEST LINKS 1 95
enforced ; the native-born parents are found most
numerously in the smaller towns, the villages, and the
open country, where neither of these conditions is ful-
filled. Again we have convincing evidence that illit-
eracy is predominantly a rural problem. 1
(b) "Limited Literacy"
The conditions regarding absolute illiteracy which the
war brought forcibly to public attention could have been
inferred long before the war by any one who took the
trouble to study the census findings ; but a menace
that even those most familiar with the situation did
not suspect, — a menace far more significant to the
Nation than absolute illiteracy, — was revealed by the
war; namely, the vast extent of a "literacy" so limited
and so ineffective as to be, from the standpoint of
citizenship, practically equivalent to illiteracy itself.
As a means of determining what may be called the
"intelligence quotient" of the Nation, the Army tests
were much more searching than were the questions that
the census enumerators asked in 1910. Furthermore,
1 The inference gains added force from the following facts : In three
sections of the country illiteracy is proportionately greater among
native-born whites of foreign or mixed parentage than among native-
born whites of native parentage ; two of these sections, however, —
the West South Central and the Mountain states — are exceptions to
the general rule that immigrants live in cities; the immigrant popu-
lation here is more generally rural. In the third section, — the Pacific
states, — the higher per cent of illiteracy among the children of immi-
grants may be due to the fact that the immigrants are largely Orientals
to whom educational advantages in the cities have often been denied.
196 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
they were inescapable ; it was a very simple matter to
determine not only whether a soldier could read, but
whether he could read a newspaper intelligently, — not
only whether he could write his name, but whether he
could write an intelligible letter home. It would be
impossible to secure such information from the general
population, but the draft furnished a thoroughly rep-
resentative group ; whatever was found to characterize
the recruits as a group may be safely generalized as
typifying the entire male population between the ages
of twenty-one and thirty-one, — and, in certain respects,
the entire adult population.
The Army tests 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 in-
telligible writing. Merely to be able to "spell out"
with great labor the headlines of the newspaper is
perhaps a slight advance over absolute illiteracy, but the
Nation has little to choose between the two, and in
either case it has much at stake. Merely to be able to
scrawl one's signature is certainly an individual asset as
compared with a complete and total ignorance of writ-
ing ; but this achievement adds but a negligible incre-
ment to the individual's value as a citizen. The Army
tests, in short, disclosed for the first time the serious
limitations of technical "literacy" as an index of educa-
tional efficiency.
It is, of course, impossible to say in what measure the
THE WEAKEST LINKS I97
rural school is responsible for this high total of limited
literacy ; but, in so far as the native-born population
is concerned, it is fair to assume that the relationship
between rural and urban communities in this respect
would be about the same as in respect to absolute illit-
eracy, with the chances in favor of a still greater advan-
tage of the city over the country because of the longer
school year, the better enforcement of compulsory-
attendance laws, and the much higher proportion of
trained teachers in the urban districts.
(c) Physical Deficiencies
While the physical and health deficiencies that con-
stitute the third group of serious national handicaps
are not so exclusively rural phenomena as is adult
native-born illiteracy, it still remains true that the need
for educational measures to correct these deficiencies
is much more acute in the rural districts than in the
cities. The published data regarding the proportion of
Army rejections in rural and urban communities are as
yet incomplete, but as far as they go they show a slight
advantage in favor of the rural districts. This is con-
sistent with the census findings of 1910, for the death rate
in communities of 10,000 inhabitants and fewer was then
somewhat lower than the death rate in the larger cities.
There was, however, significant evidence, even in 1910, 1
1 It was during the decade, 1900-10, that health administration in
cities and especially in city school systems made its greatest advances.
i g8
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
that the better health administration of the cities and
the better health provisions in the city schools were
already operating to reduce these differences by lower-
ing the city death rate; the death rate in the rural
districts during the decade, 1900-10, on the other
1900
1901
COMPARATIVE DEATH RATES, URBAN AND RURAL.
1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912
1913
1914
20.6
20.1
^19.8
//
*
<■
18.6
/I
II
*
18.3
18.2
18.2
17.9
»
16.2
16.9
16.9
16.6
16.8
15.2
15.1
15.6
15.2
= yt
5 «15.8
J6.7
lsTl^
15.4
16.3
14.4
U.8
V-
.14.8
14
13.9
"**•.
13.7
■ New York State, outside of New York City.
Figure i.
hand, remained practically stationary. 1 The compari-
son between New York City and the districts of New
York State outside of the city is strikingly shown in
the above diagram. 2
1 "It is significant that for this considerable proportion of the country
[the original registration area], the registration of deaths in which must
be considered to be somewhat more complete than for the -registration
area as a whole, the death rate for the rural districts shows but little,
if any, decrease in the years and periods considered [iqoi— 1905, 1906—
1910]. Practically the entire reduction of death-rate in this group is
due to the lower urban mortality." — Bureau of the Census, Mortality
Statistics, 1912, p. 12.
* From T. D. Wood : Health Essentials for Rural-School Children.
THE WEAKEST LINKS
I 99
If the two types of communities are compared with
reference to the health work undertaken in connection
HEALTH DEFECTS OF SCHOOL CHILDREN
10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
— I
33.58 Teeth Defects
U&9
Eye Defects
Malnutrition
Enlarged Glands
4,78
Ear Defects
4.2
2.1
3.5
1 1.65
1.5
1.7
Breathing Defects
Spinal Curvature
Anemia
Unclean
Lung Defects
City and Country
Children Compared
Percentages from all
Availahle Statistics. *
.17
1.25
32
74
40 Heart Disease
8
, Mental Defects
Country
City
Figure 2.
with the schools, the contrasts are sharp and clear.
Even the smaller cities have made health inspection an
200 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
established feature of public-school administration.
Very generally they have their school nurses and their
school dental clinics. The larger cities have well-
organized staffs of physicians who devote their entire
time to the schools, and the more progressive city systems
have added clinical psychologists to look after the pupils'
mental health very much as the physicians look after
their physical health. Beyond this, there is the far
more sanitary construction and equipment of the school
buildings in the cities. Similar work for the rural
schools, especially in health inspection, has been barely
begun in a very few of the wealthier counties. Its
extension in the absence of national stimulation will of
necessity be slow and halting, for it represents an expen-
sive phase of school administration. Yet the health of
the country child is as much a matter of concern to the
Nation as is the health of the city child. The general
situation among rural children as compared with city
children is shown in the chart 1 (see p. 199), which has
been compiled from the best available data.
(d) " Native-born Alienism"
It was pointed out above that adult illiteracy among
the foreign-born is predominantly more a rural prob-
lem than an urban problem except in the North Central
states. The reduction of immigrant illiteracy, of course,
is only one phase of the larger problem of American-
1 Taken from T. D. Wood's pamphlet above referred to.
THE WEAKEST LINKS 201
ization. To understand, speak, read, and write the
English language is the first essential, but from the
Nation's point of view these arts are but means to an
end. The all-important end is that the immigrant and
his children shall know and appreciate American ideals
and standards, and be able to participate intelligently
in the conduct of national affairs. The handicap of
alienism during the earlier stages of the war was not
confined by any means to the alien groups in the cities.
For the first time the average American citizen became
aware that "alien islands" existed in various parts of
the country and that in the rural districts these un-
assimilated groups were particularly troublesome. In
some cases, indeed, they could not be classed as immi-
grant groups, for they were removed two, three, or
even four generations from the original settlers, — and
yet they formed, to all intents and purposes, thoroughly
alien communities. Not only did the people speak an
alien tongue, but the schools — sometimes public schools
supported in part by general state taxation — were
conducted in a foreign language.
The problem of Americanization, then, is not ex-
clusively a problem of "immigrant" education. Upon
the rural school must rest the responsibility of
"Americanizing" second, third, and even fourth gen-
erations of original European stock, representing
families and sometimes entire communities that have
not as yet acquired the first essentials of American
202
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
citizenship, although the franchise has been freely
granted them.
(e) The Low Average Length of Schooling
With all these shortcomings of the rural school in
mind, it is easy to appreciate their significance and
meaning nationally when it is remembered that 53.6
per cent of the total population of this country is resident
in rural communities. These shortcomings have a still
further meaning when we remember the fact that 58.4
per cent of the total population from six to twenty years
of age inclusive lives in rural communities. 1 The
greatest significance of these shortcomings of the rural
school, however, is to be found in the figures showing
enrollment by grades in the public schools. For con-
venience this is shown in tabular form below. 2
% Enrolled in First
% Enrolled in Second
Four "Grades
Four Grades
North Atlantic
S8.SI
41.49
North Central
60.60
39-4°
South Atlantic
75-72
24.28
South Central
73-95
26.05
Western Division ....
6 2-55
37-45
United States
65.48
34-52
The preceding table should be corrected by keeping in
mind that the population is continually increasing ; this
means that the enrollment in the first four grades will
1 U. S. Com. of Edn. Report, 191 7, Vol. 2, p. 37. 2 Ibid., p. 65.
THE WEAKEST LINKS
203
be relatively larger than in the second four grades of
the public school ; but even when this allowance is made
it is evident that there is a marked falling off in the
second four grades. The relation of this decrease in the
per cent enrolled in the second four grades is closely-
connected with the per cent living in urban and rural
communities in the different divisions. The following
tabular statement shows the per cent resident in urban
and rural communities in the different divisions of the
United States.
Urban
Rural
North Atlantic
North Central
South Atlantic
South Central
74.2
45-2
254
20.6
48.8
25.8 x
54-8'
74.6
79-4
51-2
When this table is interpreted in connection with
the table just preceding it, it is evident that where there
is a high proportion of the total population in rural
communities, a relatively low proportion of children are
enrolled in the second four grades of the public school.
This conclusion makes it evident that the schooling
of children in urban communities is distinctly longer
than the schooling of those in rural communities.
1 The Census Abstract, 1910, p. 54, points out that the urban per cent
for New England is too high because it includes all towns with 2500 or
more population. In some cases in New England, the town with 2500
people is practically nothing but open country and very small villages.
204 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
It is easy to fall into the error of judging our public
school system by the performance of the best public
schools. These best public schools are located in the
cities where the population is compact and where per
capita wealth is greatest. These schools can and do
organize classes for adult illiterates and for the Ameri-
canization of foreigners. They do superior work in
physical and health education. In cities of five thou-
sand or more inhabitants, there is 42 per cent of the
total population with only 35 per cent of the school en-
rollment. This 35 per cent of the school enrollment,
however, furnishes 38 per cent of the average daily
attendance. Further, these cities have only 33% per
cent of the teachers, but these teachers receive 51 per
cent of all salaries paid to teachers. Moreover, the best
prepared teachers and those with the largest experience
are to be found in the cities. These facts do credit to
the city schools, but they must be subtracted from the
total or average performances if one would determine
the actual performance of the rural schools. These high
standards attained by city schools simply emphasize the
necessity for improving rural schools.
Better Rural Schools a National Responsibility
Pending the solution of the rural-school problem,
then, there can be no permanent solution of the problems
of illiteracy, limited literacy, health deficiencies, and
"native-born alienism." That these are national prob-
THE WEAKEST LINKS 205
lems and that the conditions which make them prob-
lems constitute a most serious national menace, the
experience of the war abundantly proves. To the
Federal Government has been delegated the duty and
power "to provide for the common defense." Under
modern conditions, the fundamental provisions for the
"common defense" are high levels of physical stamina
and health and of trained intelligence among the people
as a whole. That such levels exist to-day the findings
of the Army tests convincingly disprove. No nation
one third of whose young men are physically unfit for
military service can count itself "strong" — no matter
how vigorous the remaining two thirds may be. No
nation in which one fourth of the people are essen-
tially illiterate can feel secure, — however well it may
have prepared its "leaders." No nation so handi-
capped can compete on equal terms, either in war or in
peace, with nations that are better circumstanced —
and such nations exist to-day, — nations, too, with
which the relations of the United States may not always
be friendly. It requires no prophet's eye to see that
troublous decades are ahead. The new world order
cannot be expected to establish itself overnight or
without twistings and wrenchings that will imperil
every ideal for which the Great War was fought and
won. Lack of "preparedness" against these clearly
predictable crises would be a crime, and certainly the
kind of preparedness which is of the highest importance
206 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
for the nation that has set the type and pattern for a
democratic world is that which the mental and physical
upbuilding of all of the people alone can bring into
being. This is the best way to provide for the common
defense. This means first of all an immediate and
nation-wide reform of rural education.
Even if the rural schools did not merit attention from
Congress on the ground of the "common defense,"
they could claim consideration upon the basis of each
and every one of the remaining clauses in the great
Preamble. What can do so much to "form a more
perfect union" as to insure such bases of social soli-
darity, such conditions of clear collective thinking and
sound collective judgment, as only a system of universal
education can provide? What would better "promote
the general welfare" than trained intelligence and sound
health on a thoroughly national basis? What would
more clearly "insure domestic tranquillity," so sadly
needed in these days of social and economic unrest, than
the provision of a pervasive common culture, — the
only sure and dependable basis of mutual understanding?
What, other than this, would more certainly "establish
justice," - not only justice in the administration of
the law, but justice in the determination and direction
of that overwhelming power of public opinion upon
which even the law itself depends for its effectiveness?
What, that is less comprehensive, can "secure the bless-
ings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity"? For
THE WEAKEST LINKS 2CJ
is not the security of these blessings dependent first of
all upon an appreciation of what liberty means, and how
may such an appreciation be developed upon a nation-
wide scale except through an educational system that
touches and quickens every child in the land, — an
educational system, strong, vigorous, and efficient, not
only in spots, not only in this state or that county or
the other city, but wherever American children are
growing into mature and responsible American citizens ?
CHAPTER XIX
The Weakest Links
b. the immature and untrained teacher
The soul and substance of every school is the teacher.
In the last analysis, all buildings, apparatus, and school
revenues are purely material things, — helps, aids, means
to an end. The teacher is the personal and human
agency that gives life and significance to the work that
the school sets out to accomplish. The success of the
school and of the school system is measured by the
amount of real educative activity that goes on in the
minds of the pupils, and it is the personal, human factor
that determines this. In so far as the state or the Nation
depends for stability and progress upon its schools, it
depends upon the teachers.
Teaching is an art. Indeed, good teaching is a fine
art, — which is to say again that the personal and human
factors constitute its soul and substance. But, like
other fine arts, it has a technique, and this technique
can be mastered by competent persons under the proper
conditions. Certain of these conditions are of outstand-
ing importance — the maturity of mind that comes
only with age and experience ; the knowledge that comes
only by study; the character that comes only with
208
THE WEAKEST LINKS 200,
reflection, responsibility, and acts of intelligent choice ;
and the insight, resourcefulness, and good sense that
come in part from native endowment and in part from
the discipline of training and experience. The old saw
— "Teachers are born, not made" — means that some
people possess these fundamental qualifications without
a definite and specific course of preparation, — some
people have a "knack" of teaching. It is just as true,
perhaps, as the statement that musicians are born and
not made ; but while a person may be born with every
physical and mental quality that goes to make up
musical talent, no person is "born" an accomplished
musician. And by the same token, no person is
"born" an accomplished teacher.
Preparation for teaching should rest upon the largest
possible equipment of native talent for teaching, but to
put persons even well qualified by native endowment
into the actual work of teaching without preparation is
simply to give them their preparation at the expense
of the children whom they teach, — or, as is more fre-
quently the case, to leave them permanently on the
plane of amateurish bungling.
In Chapter XVIII it was pointed out that the solution
of the problems presented by illiteracy, limited literacy,
and physical and health deficiencies could be effected
only through a solution of the rural-school problem.
But in its turn, the rural-school problem cannot be
solved until the teacher problem has been solved. We
210 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
come, then, in the present chapter to the most funda-
mental source of weakness in American public educa-
tion.
THE RURAL-SCHOOL TEACHER
A clear conception of rural-school deficiencies can be
gained only by understanding the limitations of the
rural-school teacher. There are required for this
branch of the public-school service approximately three
hundred thousand teachers. These teachers as a group
constitute by far the youngest, the most inexperienced,
and the least well-educated portion of the total teaching
population. Of the three hundred thousand, more than
half would be debarred from voting because of their
youth, and yet to them the public nonchalantly dele-
gates a responsibility in comparison with which the
individual franchise is a mere bagatelle — for each of
them is a potential factor in determining the votes of
from fifteen to forty citizens in embryo.
These three hundred thousand rural and village
teachers, as a group, have had for their responsible
duties no training that deserves the name. Some of
them are products of neighboring high schools, and in
several states an effort is made to give a little instruction
in the high schools that will make the work of a beginner
a little less bungling. In no state, however, has this
been looked upon as anything more than a temporary
and most unsatisfactory expedient, — and the majority
of rural-school teachers lack even this modicum of
THE WEAKEST LINKS 211
training. A large proportion of them have not com-
pleted a high-school course. Indeed, it is estimated
that no fewer than a million children now enrolled in the
rural schools are under teachers who have had no more
than eighth-grade education themselves, — and many
even less than that.
The rural-school teachers are transient in the calling.
The Federal Commissioner of Education estimated the
number of recruits needed for this service in a single
year (1918-19) as 130,000, — an annual "turn-over"
of more than one in three. In one of the most prosperous
of the Middle Western states, the Bureau of Education
reports the average term of service of the rural-school
teacher to be not more than two years.
It has already been pointed out that the ultimate
elimination of illiteracy and the reduction of limited
literacy depend upon the reform of rural education. It
should now be clear that the first step in this reform
should be to insure for the rural schools a relatively
permanent and stable body of teachers, thoroughly
trained to undertake the responsible duties which these
isolated posts impose. Into these schools should go the
best talent that the calling can attract. Obviously, the
only way to attain this end is to advance the rewards
and raise the standards of the rural-school service.
The situation could be entirely transformed in a few
years and at a paltry cost, — a cost paltry in comparison
with what the Nation would gain. Three hundred
212 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
thousand well-selected, well-trained, and permanent
teachers in the rural and village schools could un-
doubtedly, as a group, do vastly more for the Nation
than an equal number of men and women, as well
selected and as well trained, could do in any other form
of public or social service, for they could profoundly
influence our national life for the greatest good at the
very root and source of whatever elements of strength
it may possess.
THE PUBLIC ATTITUDE TOWARD THE PUBLIC-SCHOOL
SERVICE
The situation in the rural and village schools throws
its dark shadow over every type of educational work.
Urban schools are, in many ways, vastly better off, and
yet the fact that the rural and village teachers, con-
stituting nearly one half of the teaching population,
are immature, transient, and untrained, operates to
depress standards throughout the entire field. Most of
the larger cities, for example, maintain local training
schools for elementary teachers, and could easily require
reasonably high standards of preparation. With a few
notable exceptions they demand but one or two years of
professional training after the candidate has completed
a high-school course. It is generally agreed that two
years represent the lowest minimum that should be
tolerated; yet even our largest and richest cities are
content with this. Indeed, of all our public-school
THE WEAKEST LINKS 213
teachers, a most conservative estimate places the pro-
portion that have met this standard at one in five. In
England the proportion meeting a comparable standard
is four in six, and in many of the countries of continental
Europe the proportion is still higher. In so far as our
policies of teacher-preparation are concerned, we are
surpassed by some of our South American neighbors. A
bulletin of the Federal Bureau of Education * author-
itatively asserts that the United States gives less atten-
tion to the preparation of public-school teachers than
does any other civilized nation.
Why do we hold this low station in respect to a public
business which, theoretically, overtops all others in its
significance to the welfare and progress of democratic
institutions? Surely the cause is not to be found in
our poverty, nor is it to be found in a failure to recog-
nize abstractly the importance of public education. It
lies primarily in the tradition that the actual work of class-
room teaching is not a serious and permanent occupation.
That teaching is at best only a transitory calling for
either men or women has become, indeed, a fixed tradi-
tion. Social and economic forces have been favorable
to its cumulative growth. The supply of these temporary
teachers until recently has overtopped the demand ;
hence wages could be kept low. The girls usually lived
with their parents, and their earnings were often more
in the nature of pin money than of a living and saving
1 Bulletin No. 12, 1916.
214
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
wage. Public education, indeed, has been far from
burdensome to the taxpayer. The entire schooling of
the average adult native-born citizen has cost the public
less than one hundred and fifty dollars — an amount
SALARY IN HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS
1 2 3 4 6 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1314 16 1617 18 1920
Machinists
Lathers
Bricklayers
Inside vAremen
Workers, structural iron
Blacksmiths
Machine tenders {printing)
Compositors {English)
Glaziers
Plumbers
Carpenters
Hodcarriers
Bakers
High School Teachers
Intermediate Ttachers
Elementary Teachers
Figure 3. — Chart showing comparison of teachers' salaries in five Middle
Western states with the union scale of wages for certain occupations in the
same section as indicated by the average of the wages paid in Chicago and
Cleveland. From E. S. Evenden's Teachers' Salaries and Salary Schedules.
comparable perhaps with that which the village grocer
invests in his daughter's piano lessons.
Nor is a low wage scale the only sorry result of the
tradition that teaching is not a serious business. Stand-
THE WEAKEST LINKS 21 5
ards of preparation have been kept low. In general,
the requirements for a teacher's license in any com-
munity have been those that the average girl graduating
from the local school could easily meet. To advance
requirements beyond this point would mean that the
local girls must go elsewhere for preparation, and this
would automatically place appointments in the local
schools beyond the reach of the larger part of the other-
wise available "home talent." The typical public-
school teacher comes from a family of four or five
children, and from a family that " enjoys" a very moder-
ate income. A study made in 191 1 estimated the earn-
ings of the average family from which elementary
teachers are drawn at $8ob a year. 1 Any attempt to
raise standards for the teacher's license to the point
where adequate preparation would be required is met
at once by "pressure" from the numerous groups of
families that have come to look upon teaching appoint-
ments in the local schools as the vested right of their
daughters.
Under these conditions, too, it is not surprising that the
material rewards of public-school service, meager as
they are, have acquired the earmarks of a public gra-
tuity doled out to the deserving poor, — a point of view
that finds a tragic expression in the rulings of most
boards of education that a woman teacher's tenure
ends automatically with her marriage, — unless, as
1 L. D. Coff man's Social Composition of the Teaching Population.
2l6 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
some boards have charitably decreed, her husband is
unable to support her ! J
It is small wonder, then, that public-school service has
become progressively less and less attractive to the type
of young manhood and young womanhood that the
Nation needs for this important work. Recent develop-
ments have intensified the situation, and have created
throughout the country a real crisis. In the early
days, conditions were at least tolerable. Teaching was
a stop-gap occupation, it is true, but many of the
strongest and most promising young men were drawn
into the schools for a brief period, and some of these,
finding the work to their liking, remained even in the
face of meager rewards and inadequate recognitions.
The girls, too, who entered the schools temporarily were
usually of a fine type, coming from homes that rep-
resented the best ideals and traditions of American life.
To-day all this is changed. Almost no men become
classroom teachers in the urban elementary schools ;
they are rapidly deserting the rural schools ; and those
seeking even temporary appointments in the high
schools are diminishing in number and apparently dete-
riorating in quality. Industrial and commercial enter-
prise has been quick to see that it pays to catch ability
1 During the war the Boston School Committee permitted certain
former teachers, who had married and whose husbands were then in
the Army or the Navy, to return to the classrooms. But it explicitly
provided that officers' wives should not have this privilege on the ground
that an officer's pay was ample for the support of his wife.
THE WEAKEST LINKS 217
while it is young and to pay generously for its training.
Indeed, it is intelligent enough to recognize ability in
those no longer young. A man who had served for
thirteen years as a teacher, advancing in that time from
the district schools to a high-school principalship, re-
cently enrolled at a university to prepare for additional
responsibilities in public-school work. Needing funds
to meet the increased cost of living, he applied for part-
time work in a metropolitan bank. A week later he
withdrew from the university, giving as a reason the
fact that his work at the bank would be full-time.
He was asked by one of his instructors what he knew
about banking. "Absolutely nothing," he replied.
"I am learning. The bank will pay me while it is
training me more than I have ever received as a teacher.
The future possibilities are vastly more attractive than
anything that public education can promise. To ad-
vance in the educational field I must prepare further
at my own expense. And," he added, " I have a family."
This competition for ability, at first limited to young
men, is now rapidly extending to young women. In
the cities, the gap between graduation and marriage
may now be bridged much more rapidly, much more
easily, and much more pleasantly through any one of
a score of other occupations than through teaching.
Even the girls in the towns and villages who, a few years
ago, would have sought appointments in the neighboring
rural schools now find more lucrative and attractive
2l8 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
opportunities in business and industry. In practically
every state there is to-day an acute shortage of teachers
for the rural schools, — and this in spite of the fact that
wages have been advanced while the standards of certi-
fication have been lowered by the wholesale issuing
of "emergency" licenses.
The war, of course, is responsible for the desperateness
of the present situation, but the social and economic
conditions which have been aggravated by the war were
already in evidence long before the war began and
sooner or later would have produced the same results.
For a decade, according to the testimony of those in
closest touch with the situation, the type of recruit
drawn into the public-school service has been steadily
deteriorating. One normal-school principal, for ex-
ample, reports that the students now entering his
school represent in their scholastic ability the lowest
tenth of the high-school graduates of his district ; his
school formerly attracted students of a superior quality.
An investigation in a typical Mid-Western state revealed
the fact that, in personality and often in scholarship,
the high-school graduates entering the normal schools
to prepare for teaching are distinctly inferior to grad-
uates destined for other occupations. In the Eastern
states, particularly, the students in the city training
schools for teachers represent, in ever-increasing pro-
portions, the more recently arrived contingents of the
immigrant population, — potentially worthy material,
THE WEAKEST LINKS 210
no doubt, but necessarily lacking in American traditions
and ideals, and sometimes reflecting manners and
standards that certainly should not be engrafted upon
the next generation of American citizens. The bearing
of this condition upon the problem of "Americani-
zation" is obvious.
Even if the quality of the teaching population did not
reveal these symptoms of deterioration, the facts
regarding the youth, inexperience, and inadequate
training of public-school teachers as a group should,
in all conscience, be sufficiently disquieting. These
facts are not generally known because very few people
are interested in public education from a national
point of view, and it is only when one takes this point
of view that the seriousness of the situation becomes
fully apparent.
THE PERSONNEL OF THE PUBLIC-SCHOOL SERVICE
To evaluate the educational strength of the Nation,
one must first of all strive to build up a fairly adequate
mental picture of the "teaching population." This is
no easy task, for more than 600,000 teachers are required
for the public-school service. The characteristics of one
large element in this heterogeneous group — the teachers
of the rural and village schools — have already been
referred to ; it is now necessary to describe the teaching
population as a whole. \
Imagine these 600,000 teachers to be extended in a
220 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
long line. Allowing three feet of space for each individ-
ual, this line will extend unbroken for over three hun-
dred miles. By rearranging the line for different quali-
fications or characteristics, it will be possible to gain a
somewhat concrete picture of the men and women who
are intrusted with the Nation's most important work.
Let the first arrangement follow the order of age or
maturity. The youngest teacher is at one end of the
line, the oldest teacher at the other end ; the remaining
teachers are arranged in the order of their age. Starting
with the youngest teacher and journeying along the
line, one will traverse one fourth of the entire distance
before reaching a teacher who has passed the age of
twenty-one. Roughly speaking, one fourth of all of the
Nation's children are receiving their education at the
hands of these immature teachers. This, however,
does not tell the whole story, for one will have passed
in all likelihood more than 100,000 teachers before
reaching the first of the twenty-year-old group, while
tens of thousands of those first encountered are only
sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen years old.
Let the line form again on the basis of educational
equipment as shown by the length of time that these
teachers have themselves attended school. Now the
journey along the line will take one past at least 30,000
teachers before one reaches the first individual who has
had any education whatsoever beyond the eighth grade
of the common school. In terms of the pupils taught
THE WEAKEST LINKS 221
there are nearly one million of the Nation's children, —
an army half as large as that which was sent to France
to save civilization, — whose teachers are limited to
this slender educational equipment. Continuing along
the line, about 150,000 teachers would be passed before
reaching the first individual whose total education had
amounted to more than two years of high-school work,
and 480,000, — four fifths of the entire group, —
would be left behind before one reached the first in-
dividual who had met the standard of preparation
recognized in all civilized countries as constituting the
barest minimum for elementary teaching — two years
of training after high-school graduation, or six years
of education in all beyond the eighth grade.
Forming the line again on the basis of experience
in teaching (which is obviously related to the maturity
of the teacher), one would pass 150,000 teachers before
reaching the first individual who had taught more than
two years, while the middle of the line would be reached
before one could greet the first " experienced " teacher
— one who had taught at least four years. One half
of the Nation's children, then, are being taught by
teachers who have not served sufficiently long to let
the discipline of experience compensate in any marked
degree for the deficiencies in their initial training. 1
1 These comparisons are derived from very careful estimates which,
in turn, are based upon the most trustworthy available investigations.
No complete census of the teaching population has ever been made, but
fairly complete data have been collected for different states, and one
222 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
This remarkable result has been achieved under the
neighborhood and state conceptions of educational
responsibility. In so far as we have been able to learn,
it is a record of educational weakness that is unsur-
passed by any other civilized nation. The poorest
democracy might fittingly blush with collective shame
at such a showing. Will the richest and proudest of
all the democracies remain smug and complacent ?
THE SITUATION IN TYPICAL STATES
The types and qualifications of public-school teachers
vary widely among the different states, — but the
variations represent only different degrees of intoler-
ableness ; in no single state does the teaching population
represent as a whole the standards that are everywhere
accepted as the lowest possible within the limits of a
decent regard for the rights and needs of children and
the welfare of the social group.
In the report of a recent Educational Survey of Ala-
bama* the qualifications of teachers in different counties
are set forth with clearness :
In Escambia County, 2 out of 2360 persons between the ages
of ten and twenty, twelve and one half per cent of the total popu-
lation were found to be illiterate, although nearly seven tenths of
important study of the teachers of the nation as a whole, based upon
"random samplings " (Coffman's The Social Composition of the Teaching
Population, New York, 1911), is very generally confirmed by the results
of the more nearly complete, but also more restricted, investigations.
1 Issued by the Bureau of Education as Bulletin, 1919, No. 41.
2 See pp. 156-162 for details.
THE WEAKEST LINKS 223
the population is white. Of the one hundred twenty-four
teachers in the county, only one third (forty-one) had had any
education whatsoever beyond the elementary school. In thirteen
schools visited by the examiners, the pupils present constituted
just two thirds of the enrollment.
In Bullock County, there are 5500 whites out of a total popu-
lation of 30,196. Twenty-three per cent of the whites between
ten and twenty are illiterates. In 1910, thirty-eight per cent of
the males of voting age were illiterate. "About 2000 children
actually of school age are not being reached by the public schools
even in the limited degree necessary to overcome absolute illiter-
acy." There is no county tax for school purposes. "With the
exception of Union Springs, the only town of over 2000 inhabitants,
the people depend entirely on state funds, dog taxes, and poll taxes
to educate their children." Schools are "supplemented both in
length of term and teachers' salaries by subscriptions from the
community."
In Pickens County, 42 teachers out of a total of 85 "have had
no schooling beyond the elementary grades or only a year or two
of high school work." !
"In Montgomery County, 33 of the 69 rural schools are taught
in schoolhouses, and 36 are taught in churches." In Dallas
County, half of the negro schools are taught in churches (p. 181).
Only sixty per cent of the negro population between seven and
twenty-one is enrolled in schools (p. 185). Taking the state as a
whole, the enrollment per teacher is abnormally large, especially
in the negro schools (p. 186).
Pupils per Teacher
White
Negro
City
42
39-2
41-5
71-3
63.8
70
1 Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1919, No. 41.
224 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The Alabama need is summed up as follows :
"The most urgent need of the colored schools of Alabama is
trained teachers. The supply now depends almost entirely upon
the secondary schools, most of which are private institutions.
. . The pupils in the graduating classes of all the schools
offering teacher-training subjects in 191 5 numbered only 270, an
annual output obviously inadequate to meet the need for teachers
in a state with over 900,000 colored people and 2350 colored
public-school teachers, of whom seventy per cent are holding only
third grade certificates." 1
The facts regarding the academic and professional
qualifications of 3648 rural and village teachers of
Alabama are as follows :
Sixteen per cent have completed only the elementary school
course. 2
Ten per cent have had only one year of high- school attendance,,
seventeen per cent have had two years, eighteen per cent three
years, and thirty-eight per cent four years. Nearly two thirds
(63.6%) have had no professional training, and only about eight
per cent have actually graduated from teacher-training institu-
tions. 3
These citations of fact are conclusive proof that
Alabama needs a form of stimulation and aid that will
put her on the right road in education, — that will
induce and enable her to become educationally a worthy
part of the United States of America. It is not a ques-
1 U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin 1916, No. 39.
2 It should be remembered that the elementary school in the South
covers usually only seven years as against eight years in other parts
of the country.
J U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin 1919, No. 41, p. 349.
THE WEAKEST LINKS 225
tion of coercion; there could be no coercion and even
if there could be, it would be beside the point. Ala-
bama would welcome a way out of her difficulty, and
it is to the highest interest of the Nation to prepare the
way; stimulation and inducement will do the work.
It may be urged that the illustration just cited is
exceptional. A study of the table of facts regarding
teachers (see page 291) will prove that the illustration
represents clearly and fairly the general situation in the
Southern states. But it is not merely a Southern prob-
lem and a Southern condition that we are discussing.
The Graduate School of Education of the University
of Nebraska recently made a survey "to ascertain the
exact status of the rural teachers of the state in regard
to their academic and professional preparation ; their
teaching experience and length of service ; their sex,
age, and nationality; and such contributory factors in
teaching efficiency as salary, living conditions, and the
like." The results are published by the Bureau of
Education as Bulletin 191 9, No. 20. Commissioner
Claxton says: "The survey is, in fact, a study of the
preparation and efficiency of rural-school teachers, which
may be considered typical of similar studies which might
be made in other states."
Twenty-eight hundred forty teachers replied to the question
as to secondary education. Forty-four per cent had not graduated
from a high school. Only four per cent had had more than thirty-
six months in high school.
Q
226 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Twenty-one hundred seven teachers replied to the question
regarding education beyond the high school. Forty-two per cent
of them had no education beyond the high school; twenty-six
per cent had one summer term at a normal school ; seventeen per
cent had not graduated from a normal school; eleven per cent
had spent one summer term or more at college. There were
four normal-school graduates in the 2ioj teachers reporting. The
teachers who failed to answer this question were probably without
high-school preparation. In other words, while 102 out of 2640
admitted they had never attended high school, it is probable that
the 37 who did not reply belonged to the same group. If so, then
139 out of 2874, or four and nine tenths per cent, had never at-
tended high school at all. 1 The average number of months taught
by these teachers (except in the third Congressional district) was
seven and two tenths. Thirty-three per cent of the teachers
were "beginners." Sixty-seven per cent had to live in unheated
rooms. The median monthly wage was $47.69. Fifty per cent
of the teachers were not over twenty years of age, and eighty-
eight per cent were not over twenty-five years of age. Only
twelve per cent had the maturity of mind and the insight into
life that come with twenty-five or more years of life. 2
In 1 91 4, Mr. A. N. Farmer made a study of the
academic and professional training of teachers in the
public schools of Wisconsin, for the year 1913-14. This
study was made in two parts, — the first excluding the
one-room rural schools, and the second dealing particu-
larly with one-room rural schools.
Excluding the one-room rural-school teachers, there were
9273 public-school teachers. The net total of normal-school,
1 See pp. 30-31 of U. S. Bureau Bulletin 1919, No. 20.
1 Ibid., pp. 24, 40, 48, 53.
THE WEAKEST LINKS 227
college, and university graduates was 6122. That is, sixty-eight
per cent of the public-school teachers in all schools, except the
one-room rural schools, were normal-school, college, or university
graduates, while thirty-two per cent of these town and city
teachers did not have qualifications equal to this standard. 1
In the one-room rural schools there were 6639 teachers. Of
these, 2820, or forty-two per cent, had had four years or the
equivalent in high schools, 1681 had had a two-year course be-
yond the elementary school in normal school or county training
school, and an additional 268 had had two years in high school.
In one-room schools there were, therefore, 1749 teachers, or
twenty-six per cent of the total, with only two years of high-school
work or its equivalent. The 22 college graduates and 119 normal-
school graduates constitute but a trifle over two per cent of the
teaching population in these schools. If we grow generous and
assume some magical influence developing from casual (and
usually very brief) attendance at normal school or college or
county training school, the total thus reached is 3446, or a little
more than fifty per cent of the entire number. 2
If we combine the two sets of facts already given, we find that
Wisconsin employed in 1913-14 a total of 15,912 teachers in the
public schools. Of this number, 6233, or almost forty per cent,
were normal-school or college graduates. An additional 1681,
or ten per cent, had had some specific preparation for teaching
by the completion of a course in normal school or county training
school. Still another group of 2671, or seventeen per cent, had
completed a high-school course. The remaining thirty-three
per cent had had less academic preparation than high school
graduation implies and practically no specific preparation for
teaching.
1 Conditions and Needs of Wisconsin's Normal Schools, by A. N.
Farmer, p. 564 a. Issued by the Wisconsin State Board of Public
Affairs, December, 1914.
2 Ibid., pp. 574-575-
228
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
One other illustration may fittingly close the matter
under consideration.
There were in Pennsylvania, for the year ending July 3, 1917,
a total of 44,144 teachers in the public schools. 1 Under the
jurisdiction of county superintendents, 6643 persons held only
the lowest grade of certificate that can be issued, i.e. the "pro-
visional" certificate; under the district (or city) superintendents,
988 teachers also held only the provisional certificate. The total
of provisionally certificated teachers was 7631, or over seventeen
per cent of the entire teaching force of the state. 2 Under county
superintendents there were 3561 without previous experience in
teaching, and under district superintendents 945 were similarly
"beginners" in the work. This gives a total of 4506, or ten per
cent of the teaching force in 1916-17, who were without previous ex-
perience in teaching. 3
The report quoted enables us to make an additional analysis,
the data being put into tabular form below. 4
Teachers who Hold Under
Co. Supts.
District Supts.
1. Permanent State Certificates .
2. Normal School Dip. and Cert.
3. Provisional College Certificates
4. Permanent College Certificates
Totals
Total .......
806
7,822
679
709
10,016
3,283
4,448
553
943
9,227
19,243 out of 44,144
The total of the fairly well prepared teachers in Pennsylvania,
then, — 19,243, — is only a fraction over forty-three per cent of
the entire number of teachers employed in the state. It is also
worthy of remark that the normal schools have furnished almost
two thirds of this group.
1 Report of Supt. of Public Instruction, Pennsylvania, 1917, p. 651.
2 See Ibid., pp. 668-669, and 676-677.
3 Ibid. 4 Ibid., for the detailed figures.
THE WEAKEST LINKS 229
RESULTS OF THE LOW STATUS OF TEACHING
{A) The Present Shortage of Teachers
The popular conception of public-school teaching
as a casual and temporary occupation has brought forth
its natural fruit in the acute shortage of teachers that
constitutes to-day one of the most serious of the crises
which the Nation is facing. That the war itself should
have caused a shortage was to be expected, but the war,
as has been suggested, only brought more quickly to a
head the boil on the body politic that had long been
festering. The shortage has not only continued un-
abated since the Armistice, — it has grown progressively
more acute. There is no reason to believe that the
status quo can be restored unless a prolonged period of
industrial and economic depression supervenes — and
it is scarcely comforting to think that the richest and
strongest of the world's democracies must wait for hard
times to make tolerable the conditions that surround its
most important public service.
The seriousness of the shortage at the opening of the
school year, 1919-20, was revealed by investigations
undertaken by the headquarters staff of the National
Education Association. 1 Later in the year, the Bureau
of Education issued a report in which the shortage was
shown to be below the earlier estimates, but scarcely
less alarming.
1 See report by H. S. Magill in N. E. A. Bulletin, November, 1919,
pp. 15-16.
230
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
There were approximately 18,000 classrooms for which
teachers could not be found. Assuming an average of
twenty-five pupils to the teacher, — a conservative
estimate, — there have been this year 450,000 boys and
girls to whom school privileges were denied. This estimate
is possibly excessive, because in some cases, pupils are
sent to neighboring schools, while in other cases
teachers remaining in the service are given additional
classes. In either event, there is a deleterious effect
upon educational efficiency ; and in any case, the actual
number of pupils who are out of school is sufficiently
large to be alarming.
Approximately 4 2, 000 teachers were classified as "below
standard," — that is, these teachers have been unable
to meet the very modest requirements for the lowest
grade of teachers' license, but because of the impos-
sibility of securing qualified persons, they have been
granted "emergency" or "provisional" licenses. Again
counting twenty-five pupils to each teacher, it is clear that
no fewer than 1,000,000 boys and girls are being "taught"
by these low-grade teachers. How low the grade may
fall is indicated by the reports of county superintendents
that some of the teachers to whom they have been forced
to issue emergency licenses are practically illiterate !
There is this year a falling off in the enrollment of
state normal schools and other training schools for
teachers varying from one half to one third of the pre-
war figures. The colleges, too, report a decided fall-
THE WEAKEST LINKS 23 1
ing off of enrollments in teacher-training courses, al-
though the total college enrollment is apparently larger
than ever before. These facts mean that the supply of
trained teachers for at least three or four years to come will
be even more restricted than it has been in the past. This
particular phase of the problem will be further dis-
cussed in a later section of the present chapter and in
Chapter XXI.
(B) The "Factory Plan" of School Administration
A second lamentable result of the public attitude
toward teaching has been the development of a type of
organization necessary, perhaps, to secure passable
results from a temporary and ill-trained teaching staff,
but fundamentally inconsistent with the fine art of
teaching. There has been a heavy emphasis upon
programs and courses of study prepared in central
offices often far removed, both in space and in spirit,
from the classrooms. The textbook has acquired an
importance in American schools that far transcends
its significance in the schools of other countries. Even
in the larger cities, where the teachers are much better
prepared than in the village and open-country schools,
the failure to recognize the actual work of teaching as
constituting a worthy career has given rise to a machinery
of administration and supervision, the intricate workings
of which often hide from both teacher and adminis-
trator the purpose that the organization should fulfill.
232 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The handicaps to educational efficiency and progress
which these conditions involve are serious in the ex-
treme. The spirit and attitude of the individual teacher
has tended to become more and more that of the artisan,
less and less that of the artist. The evils of the "fac-
tory" system in industry are all too clearly reproduced
in the institution that should be as far removed from
factory methods as possible. Individual initiative is
almost certain to be rated at a discount when plans
and specifications are always handed down from above,
and when one's duty is simply to carry out orders. It
is small wonder that a policy of this sort in school ad-
ministration curtails ambition and represses enthu-
siasm.
The seriousness of the situation is not limited, how-
ever, to the formal, lifeless, spiritless teaching that such
a system is likely to produce. Upon the teacher him-
self and especially upon his attitude toward the ad-
ministrative officers, the effect is often most serious.
Normally, every element inherent in schoolcraft sensi-
tizes the teacher to the responsibilities that the work
involves. He or she is not only willing but anxious to
do good work. The service itself stimulates the spirit
of consecration. "Overtime" is nothing; all of one's
time and all of one's energies are at the disposal of
one's pupils. This is the natural condition — the con-
dition that may even throw its halo over the lame and
halting efforts of the young and untrained girl-teacher
THE WEAKEST LINKS 233
in the isolated rural school, endowing her crude work
with that spirit of devoted service without which the
most polished technique is barren and empty. Enter
into this situation the foreman, the stereotyped speci-
fications, the time clock to be punched — and the magic
spell is broken. The workshop where the artist loved
to toil has become the factory which he loathes.
What this condition has led to in certain communities
is sufficiently serious to justify grave concern over the
possibilities that may be realized on a larger scale.
With school administrators and classroom teachers in
a state either of actual opposition or of armed neutrality,
there can be no real educational progress. Beyond this,
however, there is, from the point of view of national
welfare, a danger that cannot be overlooked. A group
of teachers who, with or without reason, have developed
an aggressive class-consciousness and adopted a militant
class-attitude cannot fail to indoctrinate their pupils with
their own bitterness and resentment. The unhappy —
sometimes tragic — effect upon children of constant
quarrels and bickerings between parents has been
recognized by authorities in mental hygiene. A quite
analogous danger arises in the school in which the
teachers and the school authorities are at swords' points.
To permit in our school system a condition to develop
in which such opposition may easily result in a permanent
cleavage between two groups that should work in ab-
solute harmony is to invite something more than school
234 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
inefficiency. On a large scale, indeed, such a condition
can spell nothing less than national disaster.
The way out of this difficulty is to recognize the
teacher who has served his or her apprenticeship suc-
cessfully as something more than an artisan — to give
him or her recognitions, responsibilities, and privileges
that are consistent with the significance of the service.
One method that has much to commend it is to delegate
to the teachers as a group, or to representative councils
of the teachers, definite responsibilities that are similar
to those usually intrusted to college and university
faculties. These would involve the right especially
to propose educational policies, and the right to be heard
when changes in educational policy which have been
proposed by others are under discussion. Recognition
of this sort would do vastly more than merely mollify
a group of malcontents. It would bring to the service
of the school authorities and the public the large fund
of first-hand experience in dealing with educational
problems which classroom teachers alone possess. It
would mean that such matters as changes in courses of
study, the introduction of new methods and new text-
books, and the standards of promotion and gradation
could not be decided without having been submitted
to the consideration of the teachers themselves. That
the teachers should have the only or the final voice in
determining educational policies is not at all proposed
in such a plan. The control of public schools must rest
THE WEAKEST LINKS 235
in the last analysis with the people themselves, acting
through their representatives, — the boards of educa-
tion. It is clear, however, that proposals involving
professional issues should either come from the pro-
fessional workers or be passed upon by these workers
before being finally adopted or rejected by the repre-
sentatives of the people.
There is a distinct need, too, for a much more compre-
hensive participation by classroom teachers in the coun-
cils of the profession itself. The state teachers' associa-
tions are rapidly becoming delegate bodies, representing
local and sectional organizations of teachers, and the
National Education Association is now planning a
reorganization on a representative basis, with the state,
sectional, and local associations as constituent units.
This means that the teachers as a group will in-
evitably wield a far greater influence in the future than
they have wielded in the past. That this influence
may bring the largest possible returns to public welfare,
it is essential to place a proper emphasis upon the pro-
fessional preparation of teachers. Such a policy alone
can counteract the present perilous tendencies toward
the development of this unfortunate class-conscious-
ness among the classroom teachers as contrasted with
the administration and supervisory officers. Such a
policy alone can meet the Nation's greatest educational
need — a mature, permanent, and generously prepared
teacher for every classroom in the land.
036 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
(C) School Inefficiency
A third result of the low estimate in which the teacher's
service is held and of the consequent inadequacy of
the training agencies is in the low level of school effi-
ciency as a whole. ''Emergency" licenses have been
issued during the past two years in much larger propor-
tions than ever before, but they have always been issued
far more frequently than they should be. More than
this, as has been repeatedly pointed out, the great
majority of teachers in the smaller schools have never
been adequately trained for their work. The results
that have followed from this situation are serious enough
when individual pupils alone are considered ; but the
results upon the strength and efficiency of the Nation
are far more disastrous.
Some of these results have already been referred to in
the discussion of illiteracy, limited literacy, and physical
deficiencies. Another condition closely related to these
was brought to public attention by the Army records, al-
though the situation that it revealed has been recognized
by public-school workers for two decades. The reference
here is to the low average schooling of the drafted men, —
representing again the low average schooling of the gen-
eral population. The average school attendance of the
drafted men was found to be but little more than six years.
This means, in general, that, of all the children who have
entered the first grade of the public schools, a majority
have failed to complete the work of the seventh grade.
THE WEAKEST LINKS 237
The fundamental cause of this unfortunate showing
is to be sought in the inadequacy of the teaching. Other
causes have cooperated, of course, in producing this
result, — poverty of parents and communities, a school
program ill adapted to the abilities of many children, a
lack of appreciation of education upon the part of parents,
— but after all due allowance has been given to these
factors, the outstanding fact of teaching inefficiency
still looms as the largest single factor, and the weak-
ness that can be most easily and most quickly rem-
edied.
The justice and validity of this position will not be
gainsaid by anyone familiar with the situation — but
unfortunately the average citizen is not familiar with
the situation. He is likely to think of teaching as a
relatively simple task, and of its simplicity as increasing
as one descends the age scale. To collegiate and high-
school teaching he may perhaps attribute certain diffi-
culties, but anyone who can "keep order" can teach
little children. In this plausible but thoroughly falla-
cious point of view lies the tragedy of the lower schools,
— a collective tragedy that finds concrete expression in
millions of individual children who are unable to do the
work of the school because the fine art of adapting that
work to the widely varying capacities and abilities of
children has never been recognized. Expert teaching
can solve this problem, and expert teachers can be pro-
vided by an adequate system of selection and training.
238 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
THE NORMAL-SCHOOL SITUATION
Such a system does not exist in this country to-day.
All of the states, and many of the cities, support normal
schools, and many of these institutions render excellent
service by sending into the lower schools a small but
steady flow of well-equipped teachers. But, taking the
Nation as a whole, the normal school system is utterly
inadequate. The normal schools themselves are more
penuriously supported by the public than is any other
type of educational institution of comparable grade.
Their instructors are notoriously underpaid and over-
worked in spite of the momentous character of their
service — for what service is more momentous than that
which prepares the teachers for the Nation's schools?
The period of training is far too short for effective work ;
the maximum preparation for prospective elementary
teachers involves only two years of professional study
and training following the high school, and this, as has
been pointed out earlier in this chapter, must be looked
upon, not as a maximum but as the barest minimum.
The most deplorable fact regarding the normal schools,
however, is that they do not attract students in sufficient
numbers to begin to meet the need for trained teachers.
Even in the pre-war years their total annual output of
graduates never amounted in the aggregate to more than
one fifth of the number of recruits needed each year in the
teaching service. Indeed, if the number of graduates
THE WEAKEST LINKS 239
who do not serve in the schools is subtracted from the
total output, the annual contribution of the normal
schools is but barely adequate to furnish the new teachers
needed because of the increase in the general population.
For the five years before the war, the average number of
new teaching positions opened each year was not less than
12,000. During these years, the public normal-school
graduating classes averaged not more than 18,000. When
one remembers that the total number of vacancies to be
filled each year is upward of 100,000 the quota of trained
teachers supplied by the normal schools appears to be
almost negligible. It is far from negligible because
the better service rendered by this small fraction of
trained teachers stands out in conspicuous contrast to
that of the immature and untrained recruit; but this
very fact only serves to bring into high relief the in-
adequacies of the system.
The conclusion is inescapable that a comprehensive
and nation-wide program for the preparation of public-
school teachers is a matter of imperative concern to the
Nation. The steps that should be immediately taken
to enlarge and improve the teacher-training agencies
will be discussed in Chapter XXI. In the following
chapter the steps essential to the solution of the rural-
school problem will claim attention.
CHAPTER XX
The Equalization of Educational Opportunities
In Chapters XVIII and XIX the outstanding weak-
nesses revealed by the war were traced to an educational
system that is defective at the very points at which,
for the welfare of the Nation, it should have the greatest
strength. In so far as the rural schools are concerned,
the situation thus revealed may be conveniently re-
ferred to as a gross inequality of educational opportunity
and its correction must involve policies and programs
that will aim to reduce these inequalities. It should be
insisted (i) that such a reduction must involve a "level-
ing up" rather than a "leveling down," and (2) that it
is urged not only as a matter of justice to individuals
who are now denied adequate opportunities, but more
fundamentally as a means of insuring national security
and promoting national progress.
To establish firmly the principle of tax-support for
public education has required a long, uphill struggle,
and the struggle has been the more difficult the larger
the unit of taxation. Even in the "neighborhood"
unit — the local school district — the individual citizen
was slow to see both the justice and the expediency of
contributing through taxation to the education of other
240
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 24I
people's children. The notion that the value of his
property and the welfare and prosperity of his own
family depended upon the morality, the intelligence, and
the industry of his neighbors was slow to dawn. But
eventually the light came. Far more difficult of develop-
ment has been the notion that the welfare of each unit —
neighborhood, town, county, or state — depends upon
the level of intelligence that characterizes every other
unit. Slowly but surely, however, this principle has
taken root, and the roots have deepened and ramified.
To-day the principle of general state taxation for school
purposes is fairly well established. 1 Eventually the
logical extension of the principle will carry the taxing
unit to boundaries no less circumscribed than those of
the Nation itself. That no unit less comprehensive can
satisfy the educational needs of the new era is the thesis
of the present chapter.
The Justification of "General School Funds"
While the essential justice of a large taxing unit for
the support of schools has only recently been clearly
recognized, efforts were made very early to establish
permanent state school funds, — the interest on which
was to be distributed to the separate towns, townships,
or school districts. These were not, however, funds
1 An excellent account of the struggle for this principle is found in
Cubberley's Public Education in the United Slates, pp. 118-181 ; also,
pp. 480-492.
s
242 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
raised by general taxation ; they were rather funds
derived from the sale of public lands, and consequently
were not ''felt" by the tax-payer. Connecticut was
especially fortunate in the sale of her Western Reserve
and the money thus derived became a permanent state
school fund. The states that were formed from the
public domain, — the land originally ceded to the
Federal Government by the original states, together
with all other territory acquired through purchase, dis-
covery, or conquest, — sought in various ways to estab-
lish state funds, the interest on which should be used
for the support of education ; but again the funds were
not tax-derived.
The establishment of general state funds based upon
the proceeds from the sale of lands, however, paved the
way for a general state school tax, particularly by
making necessary the framing of plans and principles
governing the distribution of the proceeds of the funds.
The constitutions of the states frequently provided
a method of distribution. 1 The plan commonly followed
in the earlier days was to give to the local school district
a sum proportionate to its "school population." The
"school age" was usually from six to twenty-one; in
some cases it was four to twenty ; in still others it was
from six to sixteen. This method of distribution was,
1 See Swift's Public Permanent Common School Funds, Part II, for
details; also, Cubberley's Public Education in the United States, pp. 118-
354-
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 243
at the time, defended on the basis of its fairness, but
it is clear that the moneys so distributed served to
equalize in a measure the school facilities in sections of
varying wealth. They were in effect a stimulation, a
subsidy.
Usually Constitutional conditions were attached to
the distribution of the fund, — a minimum term of three
months of school each year ; a legally qualified teacher ;
no sectarian instruction. The fund, in other words,
became an agency through which the larger interests
of the state could be safeguarded. The sovereign
powers of the states, of course, could be exerted in a
direct control without this agency, but, consistently
with the ideals of local self-government, the states on
the whole have been slow directly to command the local
school officers to do all of the desired things. It is much
more in harmony with the Anglo-Saxon tradition of
local autonomy that these ends should be indirectly
secured by controlling the distribution of public moneys.
It is not the purpose of this chapter to trace the genesis
of the state public school funds. That has already been
most admirably done. 1 The income of these funds, in
terms of total expenditures for public schools in the
several states, is shown in the accompanying table in
columns eight and nine. The other columns show the
source of the balance of the moneys expended for the
maintenance and support of public schools.
1 See Part II of Swift's Public Permanent Common School Funds.
244
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
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EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 245
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246 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The table also shows that the states, almost without
exception, now raise a fund by taxation and then dis-
tribute this to the different school units. This fund is
usually distributed with conditions attached. Since
both the amount of tax and the conditions of its distri-
bution are wholly legislative, they are subject to frequent
change. In this way, the separate school units may be
stimulated to undertake special types of work, such as
manual training, agriculture, and domestic science. In
many states, a part of this state tax-money is set aside for
the encouragement of high schools. In oneistate, a part
of the "mill tax" has been set aside to induce country
schools to install modern heating and ventilating systems.
The theory governing the state "millage tax" for
school purposes, then, has gradually been crystallized
through legislative practice in two propositions :
1. All the wealth of the state should, in justice, be
taxed to pay a part of the expense of educating all of the
children of the state.
2. A portion of the money raised by the general state tax
for school purposes may properly be used for the purpose
of stimulating school units to undertake special forms of
educational endeavor, deemed desirable by the Legislature.
There is, however, a fundamental implication of public
education that has not as yet found clear expression in
legislative enactments. The free public school is not
simply the cooperative effort of the parents whose
children attend the school. It is not simply the effort
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 247
of the community, nor of the state. The Nation has an
interest and a stake in every boy and girl. The free
public school must represent the opportunity for each
individual to acquire and develop those qualities of body,
mind, and heart that make it possible for him to be of
the highest service not only to himself and his state, but
also to his country. For the sake of the Nation as well
as for the sake of the individual, the free public school
must stand for the ideal of equality of educational oppor-
tunity in the sense that every individual should, for
the Nation's sake, have the largest and widest educa-
tional advantages that the collective resources of the
Nation can equitably and reasonably provide.
This equality of educational opportunity does not
exist to-day within a single one of our states. The
state laws, for example, prescribe a minimum length
of school year. In general, this minimum is the actual
length of the school year in the rural districts and
the small villages, while in the cities the school year
is longer. Again, the wages paid in the rural districts and
in the small villages are usually much lower than those
paid in the cities; consequently, as the preceding
chapters pointed out, the teachers in rural and village
schools are, as a group, far less competent than are the
teachers who serve in the cities for the longer term
each year at a much higher monthly wage. The
apparatus and aids to learning are not so abundantly
supplied in rural and village schools as in city schools.
248 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The cause back of these discrepancies and inequalities
has already been referred to. The schools are supported
very largely by local taxation and the per capita wealth
in the sparsely settled areas is almost always lower than
in the thickly populated areas, while the cost of operating
schools with equal advantages is very much higher,
pupil for pupil.
What does this standard of equality of educational
opportunity mean? It means that each boy and girl
should have, substantially, as good a school to attend
as any boy or girl has to attend. It means making all
schools equally good in all fundamental matters, not
by lowering the standards of the best schools, but by
raising those of the poor and mediocre schools. These
fundamental matters are :
1. Properly heated, ventilated, and lighted school-
rooms.
2. Healthful working conditions and proper instruc-
tional equipment.
3. A sufficiently diversified program of studies and
work to furnish the basal ideas and ideals demanded by
our expanding and developing social life.
4. A properly graded, organized, and supervised
curriculum of studies.
5. A teacher adequately qualified as to personality,
maturity of mind, uprightness of character, range of
knowledge, and teaching skill.
Judged by these standards, there is no state that offers
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 240
equality of educational opportunity, — there is scarcely
a county. Of late, several states, in order to protect
the children from insanitary conditions, have assumed
some measure of oversight regarding the building of
school houses; a few states have established and en-
forced minimum standards in such matters as seating
and apparatus ; many states have courses of study, but
these are often only suggestive or optional, and when
they are prescriptive, the states generally lack facilities
for insuring that they are properly administered. Gra-
dation, organization, and supervision are in most of the
states at a very low degree of efficiency when one con-
siders the schools as a whole. Every state has different
grades of teachers' licenses, — the lowest grade of
certificate being found in abundance where salaries are
low, and the highest grade of certificate being most
abundant where the salaries are highest.
The teacher is the key to the situation. The question
of qualified teachers cannot be considered without
involving the salary question. The salary question
brings up the ever-present question of taxation.
Taxation levies upon individual and corporate property,
and to increase taxation arouses opposition and involves
political entanglements. It is perfectly clear, however,
that our public schools cannot hold their own in a world
of inflated currency, high wages, and high prices unless
more money is spent upon them. The war only accen-
tuated and set in clear relief a condition that was already
250 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
growing intolerable except in cities where wealth and
public spirit happened to coincide.
Conditions in Typical States
The preparation of the teacher will be dealt with in
the following chapter ; our concern here is only with the
money cost of good public schools.
It is not easy to get accurate financial data for the
several state school systems. The rates of assessment
for purposes of taxation often bear little or no uniform
relation to the real wealth of the different local units
in a state. A few states have brought their assessment-
rates substantially to a fair cash-value basis. In such a
state it is easy to make comparisons. A table (pp. 252-
253) has been constructed to show the wealth of the
different counties in the State of Wisconsin, the per
capita wealth, and the taxable wealth that is back of
each child of school age in the several counties. The
figures speak for themselves. The extremes are $2498
for each child in Marinette County against $8976 per
child in Green County. To raise $30 for each child
by taxation would require a tax of 1 2 mills in Marinette
County and of 3.3 mills in Green County.
This inequality of financial ability is partially over-
come in Wisconsin by a state tax of seven tenths of a
mill on all the property of the state. The fund thus
raised is distributed back to the counties on the basis
of the number of persons of school age. This form of
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 25 1
state aid operates only to lower the necessary millage of
direct taxation in each county or in each local school
unit ; it fails entirely to equalize the tax rate for the
support of education. A high rate of taxation tends
to lower the sale values of all real estate affected because
what is paid in taxes is not available as profits. There-
fore, all taxing bodies seek to keep taxes at as low a rate
as possible.
The system of distribution in Wisconsin, then, tends
to lower the local tax rate for the support of schools.
The districts do not have more by the amount of the
state "distributive" school fund. 1 This result is prob-
ably not what the makers of Wisconsin's Constitution
intended, for it was the Constitution of 1848 that
settled the policy of distribution. 2
1 In fairness it should be stated that there is a provision in the Wis-
consin law by which school units cannot share in the state funds unless
they have raised as much by local taxation in the preceding year as their
share of the state fund amounts to. Since the state fund is less than
$3 per person of school age, the law just mentioned practically affects
only those districts that are largely served by parochial schools.
2 The Wisconsin Legislature, by Chapter 622, Laws of 1919, has pro-
vided that " hereafter no school district shall be formed with an assessed
valuation of $75,000 or less without the consent of the State Superin-
tendent." Special state aid is provided for existing "districts having an
existing valuation of $75,000 or less, so that no such district will be
required to levy a tax for teachers' wages in excess of five mills on the
dollar." A five-mill tax on $75,000 is $375. The minimum salary is
$60 a month and the minimum term is eight months. The minimum
amount for teachers' wages is $480. Districts with $75,000 or less of
assessed valuation will receive $105 or more of state aid ; that is, a real
equalization subsidy.
252
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
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40
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EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 253
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254
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
As a further illustration, let us take a state that has
not had a Tax Commission, leaving assessments to
townships and boroughs and having only an imperfect
county and state equalization system. From the many,
we shall choose Pennsylvania as fairly typical. The
table (pp. 256-257) shows the wealth assessed for school
purposes, the wealth per capita that is back of each
person of school age (six to twenty), and the millage
necessary to provide $30 for each person of school age.
The facts are so plain as to need no comment. The
extreme variation in current rates is found by comparing
Union County (millage 5.42) with Susquehanna County
(millage 19.03). To raise $30 for each person of school
age (6 to 20, 1910) would require a tax rate of 6.44 mills
in Green County and 50.3 mills in Susquehanna
County.
This wide diversity in tax rate exists in Pennsylvania
in spite of a very generous state fund that is distributed
to the districts, one half on the basis of the number of
children from six to sixteen, and one half on the basis
of the number of teachers employed. A district with
only seven months of school gets as much for the teachers
employed and as much for the children of school age
as does a district that has nine or even ten months of
school. Yet, as a general rule, the districts with the
lowest tax rates have the longest terms, pay the highest
salaries, and have the best equipments, courses of study,
and supervision.
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 255
DIAGRAM
Showing amount of money behind each child for school purposes
In 16 Counties in Pennsylvania 1916
Fulton
Sullivan
Clearfield
Mifflin
Tioga
Adams
Crawford
Luzerne
Cumberland
Beaver
Pike
Fayette
Lancaster
Northampton
Delaware
1260
2010
2110
2490
2560
S030
3060
8480
8860
4130
4270
6020
5190
5320
7670
012346678
1
DIAGRAM
Showing variation in rate of assessment and in Tax Rates for
school purposes in 15 Counties in Pennsylvania
Sullivan
36
Pike
37
Fayette
45
Clearfield
49
Northampton
68
Delaware
59
Mifflin
62
Cumberland
62
Beaver
62
Adams
64
Lancaster
64
Crawford
64
Fulton
68
Tioga
68
Luzerne
76
Figure 4. — The above diagrams are taken from an article by H. Upde-
grafi in Proc. Univ. of Pa., Schoolmen's Week, 1919, pp. 134 2-
256
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
M
o
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to Raise $30
por Each
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EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 257
NOO M
r- CO co
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5-39
10.14
5-93
7.22
7.27
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■<r w oodcd
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258 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
But the figures just quoted have scant significance
because the assessments are not on a uniform basis in
the several school-taxing units. The figures are correct,
— but the facts which they are supposed to express are
not accurately revealed thereby. Meanwhile, however,
the inequality of educational opportunity exists and
cannot be removed or remedied by additional moneys
distributed on the present bases. 1
This inequality exists within the counties of a state
as well as in the state as a whole. A county near the
state average for Pennsylvania is presented on page 259
so that the inequality may be seen at a glance.
The comparative expenditures for school and road
purposes for Washington County, Pennsylvania, are
shown in the table on page 260. 2
The facts that are here presented about the finances
of education in Pennsylvania show clearly that equaliza-
tion of educational opportunities is practically impossible
in a state that has no tax commission. The establish-
ment of a tax commission is a political matter that
must be settled affirmatively before an educational
" square deal" becomes a possibility.
1 The diagrams "on page 255 are taken from H. Updegraff's " Appli-
cation of State Funds to the Aid of Local Schools," Sixth Annual
Schoolmen's Week Proceedings, University of Pennsylvania, 1919, pp.
134 ff.
2 Quoted from the Washington County, Pa., School Annual, 1019,
p. 51. County Superintendent L. R. Crumrine has set an example
which is worthy of emulation.
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 259
ih - m h OCO 'tO nO«Ni
;CO*iflO 10*0 ^J' *-" w \0 't OoO
-t cot^OoO 100O O
O CO io-O t^. w o
O t"-CO ro »i O **vO
m in Tt m w ro rl- 100 G« f^>^ 100O >-i CO
cOCO "O CC \0 O n 10 so O sO so O r^- O O
10CO -tOxO'
t*» r*oO O r-00 Oco t^oo NQiO»t* r>-00
- t*»co OcO co CO ** t* r-
r^- <n so w r*» w ■<*■ m Tf co Tf
O 1— <oso 00 *oso to coo w
coco 6 loco ■"tod
4 CO o^woo o
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O O O to m r- O 10
m so hvO n« N CO
O fO »o w sq «ti-
- fO W CO 60 <N C
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fOO inO <OONN
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tj-Oco "t O O ^ •*<> r*.
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h h m h (O m'vo'oo" ^wco*OWOtO«^tt^ fO « * W
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1 <* O
39
)roioNo o «o« ^oO"-< wo cno *o »-« f>. IOCO CO
w *f 3 w
£ o w "
O *<t *0 6 CO CO w ■<*• rOsd 10 oi O
W w w ^t ■*}■ ■<* ^- M cOfOfO(OfO<
fOfOWOO lONTt
M M NM00>O fOCO o
cO<N cO -<t cO vN CON fO
O *t *OnO <OsO r»O00 OCO w ro f* "^
^f *j- r^.cO O O r-00
c-i W 0,0.5 o
>pq c & a
CO -<t »OsO l^CQ O O
ro "t *oso r-CO O O
« M « <1 M (1
260
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Washington County (Pennsylvania) Tax Millage
(The third column of Totals includes 4I mills, the uniform state and county millage.)
School
Road
Total
School
Road
Total
Allen . .
13
17!
Houston . . . .
12$
11
28I
Amwell
2
3*
ioi
Independence . .
S
3*
13I
Beallsville .
6
S
iSl
Jefferson . . . .
6
3
13!
Bentleyville
20
8
32I
Long Branch . .
9i
10
24I
Blaine . .
6
4
I4f
Marianna . . .
20
II
3Si
Buffalo . .
5
4
13!
Midway . . . .
IS
12
3il
Burgettstown
IS
14
33*
Monongahela . .
IS
12
3ii
California .
20
u
35i
Morris
6
3*
14!
Canonsburg
IS
I2j
32i
Mt. Pleasant . .
6*
3*
is
Canton
6|
3
14*
McDonald . . .
16
10
30J
Carroll
10
8
22i
New Eagle . _. .
13
8
2si
Cecil . .
8
4l
17
North Charleroi
2S
17
46i
Centerville
7
10
2l|
North Franklin
6
3l
i4i
Charleroi .
20
IS
39!
North Strabane
4
4$
I3l
Chartiers .
S
4i
I4l
Nottingham . . .
2l
S
12
Claysville .
IS
10
29!
Peters
3*
4*
12J
Coal Center
IS
10
29!
Robinson . . . .
8
6
18}
Cokeburg .
18
4i
2 7»
Roscoe . . . .
16
IS
3Sl
Cross Creek
s
4
I3|
Smith
11
S
2o|
Deemston .
2
6
i2j
Somerset . . . .
2\
s
I2l
Donegal .
3i
33
III
South Franklin . .
l|
2
8i
Donora
17
12
33!
South Strabane
3 1
3i
12!
Dunlevy .
14
6
2 4 i
Speers
II
IS
30!
East Bethlehem
22
8
34!
Stockdale . . . .
18
4$
27i
East Finley .
3
S
12!
Twilight . . .
7h
13
2Sl
East Pike Run
IS
8
27!
Union
7
7
18!
East Washingtor
.
8
11
23!
West Alexander
10
7
2li
Elco . . .
20
8
324
West Bethlehem
S
4*
14
Ellsworth .
20
10
34f
West Brownsville .
14$
18
37*
Fallowfield
Si
8
i8i
West Finley . . .
s
6
isi
Finleyville
10
IS
29i
West Middletown .
13
3
20}
Hanover .
5
3
12}
West Pike Run
4i
IO
19,
Hopewell .
3*
2*
iof
Washington . . .
14
14
321
The Distribution of General School Funds
It should now be evident that the equalization of
educational opportunities within a given state is not
entirely a matter of state distributive funds although
such funds are the first condition of equalization.
Beyond this, however, there must be an equitable method
of distribution, — giving where actually needed to
supplement local effort in communities in which the
per capita wealth is low, and giving only when the local
effort has met a reasonable standard set by the state.
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 26 1
This is the financial side of the matter. The educational
side is to be met by wise legislative enactments that
will insure for each community the fundamental condi-
tions underlying equality of educational opportunity :
(1) a well-qualified teacher and (2) a school term at least
nine months in length. A school taught by a well-
prepared teacher is obviously worth more to a state
than is a school taught by a teacher of equivalent
personal qualities who is without preparation for his
work, and a school term of nine months means more to
the welfare of the state than a school term of seven
months. The mere raising of large sums of money by
state taxation and then giving it back to school units
cannot in itself insure equality of educational oppor-
tunity, no matter how long the practice is continued
nor how large the bounty.
It is not difficult to see how the states have drifted
into their present plans for the distribution of state
educational funds. The early funds were merely
sent back to the local districts on the basis of total
population. Thus communities with relatively few
children of school age (in general, urban communities)
profited at the expense of the communities with rela-
tively numerous children of school age (in general, the
rural communities). The injustice of this policy led
to a distribution on the basis of school population. The
fund was small for any school unit, and it seemed to be
wholly a gratuity, as, in many cases, it really was. It
262 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
was aid that acted as inducement, but it did not guaran-
tee long school terms and continuous attendance. As
an inducement it served its day and generation well.
The progressive development of an established insti-
tution, however, is a very different matter from merely
inducing people to establish it, and measures that
adequately serve the latter temporary purpose may not
meet the former permanent need. Of course, there is a
"vested interest" that must not be violated, but the
direction in which the inducement is applied may, in
perfect good faith, be changed periodically and pro-
gressively for the greater good of the state and of the
different school units.
When the interest on state school funds was supple-
mented by state taxes, the same method of distribution
that had been in operation previously was applied.
More recently some of the states have been distributing
a part of their funds on the basis of aggregate days'
attendance, thereby stimulating the local communities,
first to have long school terms, and secondly to require
pupils to be in continuous attendance. Others dis-
tribute a portion on the teacher basis, making a difference
in favor of the teacher with the better qualifications.
These methods constitute a more equitable basis of
distribution, but do not alone and by themselves insure
a substantial equality of educational opportunity. 1
1 West Virginia is just starting an equalization measure passed by
the Legislature in 191 9.
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 263
It should now be evident that the financial aspects
of the equalization of educational opportunities within
a state involve many complicated problems. There is
all the force of tradition and existing practice to be
overcome. Existing practice is often to the advantage
of many school units ; they are doing well and prosper-
ing, even meeting all suggested standards with a plus
mark to their credit. They do not wish existing con-
ditions disturbed in the least. Many of them fear a
higher local millage if steps toward equalization are
seriously undertaken. Other school districts are fearful
that their school terms will be lengthened, that their
school buildings will be condemned, that salaries of
teachers will be increased, and that qualifications of
teachers will be so raised and stated that local girls
cannot be employed as teachers at the prevailing low
wages. The opposition of this group is both consider-
able and stubborn. There are other districts that
would not be materially affected and consequently
they are indifferent. The districts that are far below
the standard are usually either unaware of the fact or
unwilling to admit it. Then there is the heavy tax-
payer who regards the whole proposal as just another
socialistic scheme of conscripting wealth.
Educational Interdependence
The fundamental fact behind all this opposition is
the public attitude toward educational responsibility.
264 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
The old notion of education as an individual advan-
tage rather than a national asset and necessity
still persists. The reason for the non-achievement
of equality of educational opportunity is that the
people generally have not sensed its deep and funda-
mental significance to the welfare of the group as a
whole.
The old conception was that the child is the "prop-
erty" of his parents. Very few parents now regard
their children as property. They recognize their
responsibility for the development and up-bringing of
their children as the direct result of their having
brought these children into existence. They earnestly
and sincerely desire their children to succeed in a very
complex social world. This complex social world, it is
true, includes the community, the state, and the Nation ;
but the child is not educated simply on his own account
nor on his family's account. Indeed, if it were not for
these wider and more complex social relationships,
education of the individual would be impossible, and to
little purpose even if possible. It is this broader and
more comprehensive attitude that it is so hard to
establish in the collective thinking and the collective
action of the people.
The plan of having the local community exclusively
responsible for the public-school facilities has been
tried, and always with failure. The state has found it
necessary to set up standards of various kinds and to
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 265
provide supervision. And the Nation has contributed
in various ways.
The elemental truth is that our form of social organi-
zation is complex and multiple instead of simple and
unitary. The community has a relation to the state,
the state has a relation to the Nation, the Nation has a
relation to the state and to the community. The
individual has a relation to the community, state, and
Nation. Each of the four factors, individual, com-
munity, state, and Nation, is vitally related to each of
the others ; in fact, the relation is organic in that no one
could exist without the other. Our recent participation
in the World War has made us keenly conscious of the
national aspect of this series of relationships. Every
sign to-day points to an ever-increasing primacy of the
national factor.
Our Federal Constitution, by silence in its original
articles and by the negative of the Tenth Amendment,
makes the organization, management, and supervision
of public education exclusively a matter of state respon-
sibility. No Constitutional barrier, however, lies against
the encouragement of public education by the Federal
Government. The numerous instances already cited
show this clearly. While the early grants of land were
without condition other than that indicated by the
expressed purposes of the several acts, the later ones
have set up conditions that make the Federal aid con-
tingent. This is as it should be.
2 66 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
If the Federal Government desires to appropriate
money to the several states to encourage them to
equalize educational opportunities within their own
borders, it has a clear right to do it ; and in this act the
Federal Government may include whatever conditions
seem to it reasonable and desirable. The money thus
expended is the property of the United States. The
method by which this money gets into the treasury of
the United States may be a matter of question and
argument, for no money was ever raised by any kind of
tax that was not thus open to criticism and objec-
tion. Such questions he, however, against the method
of taxation rather than against the expenditure of the
tax-revenues. Those who point out the need of an
additional battleship are not called upon to frame and
defend a plan for raising the money, nor is the person
who points out the need for repairs to a lighthouse
expected to be sufficiently expert in revenue matters
to frame a bill that will pay the costs of his proposal.
Any funds voted by Congress in aid of public educa-
tion will be raised largely by income and corporation
taxes. They may come in part from taxes on imports,
or taxes on amusements, or on railroad fares, or on
checks, drafts, notes, agreements, and deeds; but
while there are many possible sources of revenue, it is
practically certain that the tax on incomes will be the
main source of revenue for governmental purposes.
The income tax, since the adoption of the Sixteenth
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 267
Amendment, has been as constitutional as the Consti-
tution itself. And the income tax is recognized as
vastly more equitable and just than are the forms of
taxation now depended upon almost exclusively to
support the public schools.
Figure 5. — (<z) Amount of taxable wealth behind each person of
school age in the several sections of the United States, and in one state of each
section; (6) Average number of days' attendance by each child, 5-18
(1915-16); and (c) Average monthly wage of all teachers (1915-16).
It will be well to have the main facts regarding the
wealth of the different states clearly in mind. The
following table shows the total wealth in 191 2, the per
capita of wealth, the taxable wealth back of each
teacher, and the taxable wealth back of each person of
school age. The diagram above shows graphically the
main facts of the table on the following page.
268
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Continental United States: .
North Atlantic Division
North Central Division
South Atlantic Division
South Central Division .
Western Division . . .
North Atlantic. Division:
Maine
New Hampshire . .
Vermont . . . .
Massachusetts . .
Rhode Island . . .
Connecticut . . .
New York . . . .
New Jersey . . . .
Pennsylvania . . .
North Central Division:
Ohio
Indiana ....
Illinois ....
Michigan ...
Wisconsin . . .
Minnesota . . .
Iowa
Missouri ....
North Dakota
South Dakota . .
Nebraska . . .
Kansas ....
South Atlantic Division:
Delaware . . . .
Maryland . . . .
District of Columbia
Virginia ._....
West Virginia . . .
North Carolina . .
South Carolina . .
Georgia
Florida
South Central Division:
Kentucky . . .
Tennessee . . .
Alabama . . .
Mississippi . . .
Louisiana . . .
Texas ....
Arkansas . . .
Oklahoma . . .
Western Division:
Montana . .
Wyoming . .
Colorado . .
New Mexico .
Arizona . . .
Utah . . . .
Nevada . . .
Idaho . . .
Washington
Oregon . . .
California . .
Wealth
Estimated
for 1912
$174,733,199,730
Wealth
1912 PER
Capita
1916
52,333,998,957
67,168,972,568
13,777,891,828
22,030,350,816
19,421,985,561
1,030,366,547
613,441,572
496,935,964
5,735,23o,n5
892,693,47s
2,i53,5n,444
21,912,629,507
5,361,917,422
14,137,272,911
8,552;
4,951
14,596
5,169
4,282
5,266
7.437
5,546
2,037
1,33°
3,605
4,393
130,667
061,490
467,087
,022,582
454,539
,950,787
,094,834
,493,103
,626,024
,693,417
,133,830
,844,208
293:
2,002
767
2,174
2,179
1,745
1,301
2,299
1,014
721,979
216,720
316,951
685,192
527,639
233,696
406,985
,i97,59o
,585,076
2,152,097,565
1,734,354,927
2,050,014,767
1,306,384,960
2,056,572,346
6,552,242,164
1,757,533,669
4,321,150,418
1,113,008,146
344,834,812
2,286,478,777
501,627,424
487,099,365
734,811,880
441,382,827
591,073,842
3,054,690,780
1,843,542,127
8,023,435,581
51,712.77
1,810.86
2,090.93
1,036.24
1,150.26
2,272.91
1,333-82
1,386.29
1,366.33
1,542-07
1,453-15
1,730-45
2,132-95
1,818.82
1,658.91
1,660.49
1,757-67
2,372.53
1,692.06
1,712.74
2,310.46
3,349-55
1,626.21
2,756.52
1,905.04
2,835.61
2,401.05
1,376.52
1,469.18
2,108.12
992.09
1,572.48
726.35
800.63
805.02
1,135-52
3
Wealth
191 2 PER
Teacher
1915-16
$280,754.08
904.38
801.72
878.85
669.36
1,124.34
1,479.21
1,010.23
1,962.30
2,422.24
1,920.45
2,376.64
1,222.63
1,906.12
1,692.79
4,135-35
1,379-12
i,99l-03
2,205.87
2,730-30
342,535-86
291.623.13
180,301.13
207,516.35
342.654.25
147,934.89
l98,975-53
166,088.22
327,971.07
321,923.35
335,281.24
408,871.11
320,286.56
330,874.45
268,774.24
251,988.06
437,491-52
246,390.32
262,920.83
296,012.52
273,l2l-36
274,470.16
251,776.35
188,563.61
285,985.54
288,253.24
276,574-36
309,940.66
429,388.33
l65,753-44
211,112.71
119,947-33
156,175.08
152,811.21
i76,94i-93
167,218.14
141,966.94
185,421.01
119,271.88
269,855-96
239,500.04
164,840.89
339,686.37
235,258.53
198,752.05
347,859.23
258,038.79
316,503.81
229,270.47
671,815.56
168,589.23
328,638.06
298,646.05
463,166.63
equalization of educational opportunities 269
Variations in the Taxable Wealth
Certain facts of outstanding significance to the
equalizing of educational opportunity are revealed by
this table :
(1) The wealth per capita varies from $669.36 in
Mississippi to $4135.35 in Nevada.
(2) The taxable wealth behind each person of school
age varies from $2026.01 in Mississippi to $27,360.70
in Nevada, with an average of $6296.55 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. The tax rate in Missouri would have to be
twice as great as in Iowa to raise a given sum for each
person of school age. Virginia's rate would have to be
three times as great as that of the District of Columbia.
Oklahoma would have a lower rate than any state in
the North Atlantic Division except New York.
The variations shown in the preceding table indicate
one reason for the differences in public education among
the different states, and suggest that, because of the
importance of good public schools to the life and welfare
of the Nation, Congress might with propriety appro-
priate to the several states in proportion to their respec-
tive needs and efforts money that has been raised on
the basis of ability to pay.
The figures just given are perhaps somewhat difficult
to comprehend. The following table reduces the figures
270 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
to a percentage basis, thus making them easily com-
parable. Column 1 shows the per cent of wealth (191 2)
for each state. Column 2 shows the per cent of popu-
lation (191 6) for each state. Column 3 shows the
per cent of persons from 6 to 20 years of age inclusive
(1910) for each state. The columns should be read
across for each state.
Maine has .5896 per cent of the wealth of the country,
.7572 per cent of the population, and .7034 per cent of
the children of school age.
California has 4.5918 per cent of the wealth of the
country, 2. £805 per cent of the population, and 2.0020
per cent of the children of school age.
Iowa has 4.2563 per cent of the wealth of the country,
2.1764 per cent of the population, and 2.4332 per cent
of the children of school age.
Mississippi has .7477 per cent of the wealth of the
country, 1.9130 per cent of the population, and 2.3235
per cent of the children of school age.
The proposal embodied in the Smith-Towner Bill is
obviously not one to equalize the wealth of the different
states. On the contrary, the purpose is to distribute
money, raised on the basis of ability to pay and irre-
spective of state lines, to the states, $25,000,000 on the
basis of the number of persons of school age and
$25,000,000 on the basis of the number of teachers em-
ployed in the public schools. If the several states in-
crease appropriations by a like amount, a total of
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 27 1
Per Cent
or Wealth
1912
Pee Cent
of Population
1916
Per Cent
of Persons
6-20 Years
Inclusive
1910
Continental United States :
North Atlantic Division
North Central Division
South Atlantic Division
South Central Division
Western Division . .
North Atlantic Division:
Maine
New Hampshire . .
Vermont ....
Massachusetts . .
Rhode Island . . .
Connecticut . . .
New York ....
New Jersey ....
Pennsylvania . . .
North Central Division:
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Michigan . . . .
Wisconsin . . . .
Minnesota . . .
Iowa
Missouri
North Dakota . .
South Dakota . . .
Nebraska . . . .
Kansas
South Atlantic Division:
Delaware . . . .
Maryland . . ._ .
District of Columbia
Virginia
West Virginia . . .
North Carolina . .
South Carolina . .
Georgia
Florida
South Central Division :
Kentucky . . . .
Tennessee . . . .
Alabama . . . .
Mississippi . . . .
Louisiana . . . .
Texas
Arkansas . . . .
Oklahoma . . . .
Western Division:
Montana
Wyoming
Colorado
New Mexico
Arizona . .
Utah . . .
Nevada . .
Idaho . . .
Washington
Oregon . .
California .
100.0000
29-0508
38.4409
7.88 S i
12.6080
11.1152
.5896
•3511
.2844
3-2823
.5109
1-2325
12.5406
3.0686
8.0908
4.8944
2-8335
8-3535
2.9582
2.4509
30143
4-2563
3-1743
1.1661
.7616
2.0632
2.5146
1. 1459
•4391
1.2446
1-2473
.9988
■7448
I.3I58
■SS07
1-2316
1.0498
1. 1732
•7477
1. 1770
3-7499
1.0058
2.4730
•6371
■1973
1.3086
.2871
.2788
.4205
.2526
.3382
1.7482
1.0551
4.5918
28.3285
31.4888
13-0331
18.7737
8-3759
•7572
•4337
■3565
36456
.6022
1. 2199
10.0702
2.8897
8-3535
5-0485
2.7612
6.0306
2-9945
2.4509
2.2345
2.1764
3-3433
.7246
.6847
1.2462
1-7934
.2092
1-3359
.3568
2.1487
1.3586
2.3552
1-5933
2.7996
.S758
2.3326
2.2427
2.2865
I.9I30
I -7930
4-3419
I-7054
2.1586
.4504
.1760
•9430
.4022
.2505
•4255
.1046
.4201
I-5039
.8192
2.8805
100.0000
25-5359
3I-7520
14-9177
21.4299
6.3645
•7034
.4023
•3413
3.I748
•5337
I-0755
8.8446
2-5531
7.9072
4-7343
2.8031
5-8229
2.8716
2.6398
2-3379
2.4332
35819
.6607
.6630
1-3472
1.8564
.2088
1-3999
.2856
2.5140
1.4299
2.8309
2.0333
3-3364
.8789
2.7232
2.6611
2.7039
23235
2.0752
4.9142
1.9880
2.0408
•3379
.1289
.778i
■3798
.2050
.4361
-0581
•3489
1-0576
.6321
2.0020
272 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
$100,000,000 annually will be available for equalizing
educational opportunities within the several states.
The poorest schools are in the poorest communities, —
where the best ones ought to be, from the standpoint
both of the state and of the Nation. Reasons have
already been given for the glaring inequalities of educa-
tional opportunity within the several states. Such
Federal aid as is here advocated would ultimately re-
move these inequalities throughout the country.
Section 10 of the Smith-Towner Bill provides :
That in order to encourage the States to equalize educational
opportunities, five tenths of the sum authorized to be appropriated
by section 7 of this act shall be used in public elementary and
secondary schools for the partial payment of teachers' salaries,
for providing better instruction and extending school terms,
especially in rural schools and schools in sparsely settled localities,
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. The
said sum shall be apportioned to the states, one half in the pro-
portions which the numbers of children between the ages of six
and twenty-one of the respective states bear to the total number
of such children in the United States, and one half in the pro-
portions which the numbers of public-school teachers employed
in teaching positions in the respective states bear to the total
number of public-school teachers so employed in the United
States, not including outlying possessions, said apportionment
to be based upon statistics collected annually by the Department
of Education.
Provided, however, that in order to share in the apportionment
provided by this section a state shall establish and maintain the
following requirements unless prevented by constitutional limita-
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 273
tions, in which case these requirements shall be approximated as
nearly as constitutional provisions will permit : (a) a legal school
term of at least twenty-four weeks in each year for the benefit
of all children of school age in such state ; (b) a compulsory school
attendance law requiring all children between the ages of seven
and fourteen to attend some school for at least twenty-four weeks
in each year ; (c) a law requiring that the English language shall
be the basic language of instruction in the common-school branches
in all schools, public and private.
The provision for the partial payment of the salaries
of teachers gives to each state an initial leverage on the
qualifications of teachers employed in each school. It
can pay, for example, $5.00 toward the monthly salary
of a teacher with the lowest qualifications, $10.00 per
month toward the monthly salary of a teacher with better
qualifications, and so on, — thus making it to the finan-
cial interest of the local school unit to have teachers with
the best possible qualifications. The provision for
better instruction and longer terms reenforces the above
so that "equally good educational opportunities" may
come into existence. The apportionment is made, one
half on the basis of the state's educational effort as
measured by the number of teachers employed in the
public schools, and one half on the basis of the number
of persons from 6 to 20 inclusive, — its basal, educa-
tional need. This clearly benefits the rural schools, for
in the rural districts the proportion of teachers to pupils
is higher than in the urban districts; in the rural dis-
tricts, too, the average family is larger and there are
x
274
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
relatively fewer unmarried adults ; hence the school
population is proportionately larger than in the cities.
The proviso sets up the conditions under which a
state may share in the fund thus provided. Six months
PERCENTAGES OF CHILDREN OF NORMAL AGE - GRADE
IN RURAL AND VILLAGE SCHOOLS, BOTH RACES
60 40 30 20 10 10 20 30 40 GO
100
Grade
I
White polos?* 1 V
PERCENTAGES OF CHILDREN OF NORMAL AGE ~GRADB
IN CITY SCHOOLS, BOTH RACES
60 60 40 SO 20 10 10 20 SO 40 60
Colored
Figure 6. — Inequalities of education in rural and urban districts
of Alabama. 1
of school, open to all persons of school age in the state,
must be provided. Compulsory attendance from the
age of seven to the age of fourteen for six months is
required, — to prevent any increase in illiteracy from the
bottom. And, finally, English must be "the basic
1 Taken from An Educational Study of Alabama, U. S. Bur. Edn. Bui.
4i, ioiq, p. 94.
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 275
language of instruction in common -school branches in
all schools, public and private." This does not preclude
the teaching of a foreign language in a public school or
in a private school, but it does insure that all who go to
school shall have the opportunity and the stimulus to
master the language of our country. The states have
ample power to control, to the extent indicated, all
public and all private schools, and it is to the interest
of both the states and the Nation that this reasonable
and yet fundamental standard be established.
The way in which the allotment for the equalization
of educational opportunities would work is shown in the
following table, — the first column showing the dis-
tribution of $25,000,000 on the basis of those from six to
twenty years of age, and the second showing the dis-
tribution of $25,000,000 on the basis of the number of
teachers in the public schools. Column 3 shows the
total allotment for equalization of educational oppor-
tunities to the several states. (See page 276.)
When this provision for the equalization of educational
opportunities is written into the Federal law and is
accepted by the states, we shall have begun to realize
concretely the dream of our forefathers. The wealth
of an individual is not wholly the result of his own effort.
Barbed wire may be made in no more than twenty mills,
but every state in the Union, by buying the product,
contributes to the taxable wealth of these twenty centers.
Every cash register that is bought in the remotest
276
THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Allotment for Equalization of Educational Opportunities
Allotment of
$25,000,000.00
on Basis of
Persons 6 to 20
Years Inclusive
Section 10
Allotment of
$25,000,000.00
on Teacher
Basis
Section 10
Total
Allotment of
$50,000,000.00
FOR
Equalization
Section 10
Continental United Stales:
$25,000,000.00
$25,000,000.00
$50,000,000.00
North Atlantic Division .
North Central Division
South Atlantic Division .
South Central Division
Western Division . . .
6,383,974-29
7,938,002.12
3,729,430.22
S,357,469-93
1,591,110.79
6,137,333-28
9,252,275.76
3,069,630.72
4,264,527.54
2,276,875.77
12,521,307.57
17,190,277.88
6,799,060.94
9,621,997.47
3,867,986.56
24,999,987-35
25,000,643.07
50,000,630.42
North Atlantic Division:
New Hampshire ....
Vermont
Massachusetts ....
175,849.27
100,568.95
85,314-33
793,697-78
133,422.28
268,871.54
2,211,147.55
638,296.71
1,976,805.88
279,784
123,844
120,188
702,452
111,391
258,011
2,152,830
672,485
1,716,343
05
11
64
79
41
9i
81
97
59
455,633-32
224,413.06
205,502.97
1,496,150.57
244,813.69
526,883.45
4,363,978.36
1,310,782.68
3,693,149.47
North Central Division:
Ohio
Indiana
North Dakota ....
South Dakota
1,183,585.56
700,785.42
1,455,746.22
717,900.36
659,934.97
584,469.07
608,294.67
895,473-91
165,163.92
165,743-19
336,810.58
464,094.25
1,278,169.23
789,260.16
1,340,231.88
842,726.43
654,288.96
714,744-81
1,093,829.10
811,755.36
325,095.81
283,479.69
506,383.02
612,311.31
2,461,754.79
1,490,045.58
2,795,978.10
1,560,626.79
1,314,223.93
1,299,213.88
1,702,123.77
1,707,229.27
490,259.73
449,222.88
843,193.60
1,076,405.56
South Atlantic Division:
Delaware
Maryland
District of Columbia . .
North Carolina ....
South Carolina ....
52,189.94
349,979-65
71,39392
628,498.72
357,485-80
707,716.80
508,331.11
834,094.19
219,740.19
42,660.54
259,498.20
71.783-79
527,030.40
414,715.08
584,473-5°
334,736.61
604,397.82
230,334-78
94,850.38
609,477.85
143,177-71
1,155,529-12
772,200.88
1,292,190.30
843,067.72
1,438,492.01
450,074.97
South Central Division:
680,803.88
665,280.80
675,982.36
580,892.57
518,786.74
1,228,543.13
496,990.82
510,189.63
516,987.90
519,036.57
444,119.52
439,982.01
306,135.57
1,098,970.86
428,292.54
511,002.57
1,197,791.78
1,184,317.37
1,120,101.88
1,020,874.58
824,922.31
2,327,513-99
925,283.36
1,021,192.20
Western Division:
Utah
84,476.51
32,229.92
194,536.24
94,955-56
51,25743
109,021.02
i4,533-oi
87,222.39
264,388.75
158,001.92
500,488.04
190,044.27
69,694.95
264,037.41
78,090.48
61,821.63
128,744.85
26,391.69
140,836.02
373,380.15
247,969.41
695,864.91
274,520.78
101,924.87
458,573-65
173,046.04
113,079.06
237,765.87
40,924.70
228,058.41
637,768.90
405,971-33
1.196,352-95
EQUALIZATION OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 277
hamlet helps make Dayton. Forty thousand auto-
mobile tires made in a day is the proud boast of a
factory, but if people throughout the country did not
buy the tires, there would be no profit.
When the Federal Government, on behalf of the
Nation, writes this equalization feature of the Smith-
Towner Bill into law, the several states will be glad to
undertake the great task of equalizing educational
opportunities by increasing the quantity and quality of
the work of what are now our weakest schools. This
will not involve in any way the limitation of those schools
that are now our best and strongest ones. The "square
deal" will be realized. All will gain. None will lose.
In 1838, a convention met in New Jersey to combat the
"pauper-school" idea. It issued an address to the
people of the state. In the address was the following
paragraph which may fittingly conclude this chapter:
"We utterly repudiate as unworthy, not of freemen
only, but of men, the narrow notion that there is to be
an education for the poor as such. Has God provided
for the poor a coarser earth, a thinner air, a paler
sky? ... Or is it on the mind that God has stamped
the imprint of a baser birth so that the poor man's child
knows with an inborn certainty that his lot is to crawl,
not climb? It is not so. God has not done it. Man
cannot do it. Mind is immortal. Mind is imperial.
It bears no mark of high or low, of rich or poor. It
asks but freedom. It requires but light."
CHAPTER XXI
The Preparation of Teachers
Chapter XIX set forth the more important of the
deficiencies in the personnel of public-school service
from the national point of view. Emphasis was there
placed chiefly upon (i) the public attitude which looks
upon teaching, especially in the lower schools, as a
temporary and casual occupation, and which conse-
quently permits this service to be devoid of the recog-
nitions and rewards that its significance to the Nation
demands ; (2) the results of this attitude as expressed
in the present shortage of teachers, the "factory" plan
of educational administration, and the relatively low
efficiency of the schools as a whole ; and (3) the inade-
quacy of existing agencies for the preparation of
teachers, — an inadequacy due in large part to the public
attitude just referred to which naturally minimizes the
importance of prolonged and serious preparation and
permits four fifths of the teaching positions to be filled
by essentially untrained teachers. The present chapter
will outline a constructive program for the remedy of
this fundamental weakness in American education.
Baldly stated, this program looks forward to a condi-
tion so far removed from that which now prevails that
*78
THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 279
the prospects of its realization may seem to the reader
to be hopelessly Utopian. As a matter of fact, the
program is far from impracticable; it can be realized
with an infinitesimal part of the effort that the people
put forth to save democracy ; — and its realization is
an indispensable condition in the paramount task that
now lies before the Nation, — the task of safeguarding
the great gains that have cost so much. It means
nothing more revolutionary than to give to every child
in the land a teacher who has been especially selected and
especially prepared to meet his or her educational needs.
Nothing short of this, we may be sure, will meet the
educational needs of the Nation.
TEACHING AS NATIONAL SERVICE
This program will involve primarily a complete
reversal of the public attitude toward teaching, and
especially toward teaching in the elementary graded and
rural schools. It is here that the Nation's chief prob-
lem lies. The colleges and the universities must not
be neglected, — nor will they be neglected. They
already have the "ear of the people" and they will not
sacrifice their interests in any measure by aiding in
every possible way the cause of the lower schools.
Indeed, until the problem of the lower schools is solved,
their own work will be handicapped. To make ele-
mentary and secondary education yield the largest
possible returns will mean not only a heavier enroll-
280 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
ment in the higher institutions but a vastly improved
student body. The selection of the talent available for
"leadership" will operate upon a much wider basis,
and it is to the training of leaders that the colleges and
universities have always directed their energies.
From the Nation's point of view, however, competent
leadership, while an indispensable element in a success-
ful democracy, is only one element. The essential
difference between democracy and autocracy lies at
precisely this point. The fundamental characteristic
of democracy is that its leadership must be continually
subject to evaluation by the "rank and file" with
whom the final decision on every collective enterprise
must rest. The more intelligent this evaluation, the more
effective and stable the democracy. Leadership will
always emerge ; as Gal ton pointed out fifty years ago,
practically nothing short of premature death will keep
true genius from coming into its own ; and even talent
that fails to reach the plane of genius is likely to over-
come apparently insuperable handicaps. This does not
constitute an argument for the neglect of higher educa-
tion, for talent and even genius must be trained to
insure the most effective results; but to urge higher
education as more fundamental than universal elemen-
tary education is to deny the first principle of democ-
racy. Leadership will always emerge, but the in-
telligent evaluation of leadership by the masses of the
people depends in every case upon the development
THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 28 1
of the highest possible level of trained and informed
intelligence among the people as a whole. The funda-
mental educational problem of democracy is the prob-
lem of the common schools. The fundamental prob-
lem of the common schools is to insure for every child
a competent teacher.
THE PREVAILING NEGLECT OF THE NORMAL SCHOOLS
To establish this principle firmly, it must be crys-
tallized in a tangible form. This can be done most
quickly, most readily, and most effectively through
measures that will place upon their proper plane the
institutions for the preparation of teachers, and espe-
cially the institutions that prepare teachers for the
elementary and rural-school service, — the normal
schools.
The outstanding inadequacies of these institutions
have already been pointed out. 1 These inadequacies
are only too consistent with the low status of the teacher's
calling, — but one way to raise the status is to remove
the inadequacies. If the position that we have just
taken is valid, — if the most important servants of
democracy are the teachers of the common schools, —
then the institutions which train, instruct, and prepare
these servants should be the most attractive, the most
carefully organized, and relatively the most generously
supported of all the institutions of higher and pro-
1 See Chapter XIX.
282 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
fessional education. At the present time, their status
is precisely the reverse of this : they are the least attrac-
tive of all professional schools ; their organization,
particularly with respect to their courses of study, is a
generation behind that of professional schools in the
fields of law, medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering,
and nursing; their support from the public treasuries
is far less in proportion to their enrollment than that
of other professional schools supported by public funds. 1
It is very largely because of the meager support of
the normal schools that they are so poorly attended,
especially in times of material prosperity. In spite
of the devotion of their faculties, — and in no field of
education are the teachers so generally and so thoroughly
consecrated to their work, — the normal schools are
almost everywhere regarded by ambitious youth as
"cheap" institutions, to be shunned if one has the
barest opportunity to go elsewhere. This is due in
part to the unattractiveness of the service for which
the normal schools prepare ; but it is also due in part
to the brief terms, to the low entrance requirements,
1 "It seems, then, that the public provides for those instructors who
prepare teachers for the public schools a lower compensation by about
one third than it provides for those who prepare professional and technical
workers in other fields. It also asks the former to carry a heavier load
than the latter, both in terms of periods of classwork each week and in
terms of ratio of instructors to students." — N. E. A. Commission Series
No. 3, Washington, 1918, p. 9. This pamphlet gives in detail the data
upon which this and other conclusions quoted in the present chapter are
based.
THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 283
and to the congested and ill-organized curriculum that
is inevitable when an institution attempts in two years
or less to prepare students for the wide range of duties
that elementary and rural-school teaching involves. 1
These are hard words, but it would be little less than
criminal to "whitewash" defects and deficiencies upon
the correction of which every hope of a triumphant
democracy ultimately rests.
THE SMITH-TOWNER PROVISIONS FOR THE PREPARATION
OF TEACHERS
One of the important features of the Smith-Towner
Bill is its provision for remedying this situation. Section
1 2 reads as follows :
"That in order to encourage the states in the preparation of
teachers for public-school service, particularly in rural schools,
three-twentieths of the sum authorized to be appropriated by-
section 7 of this act shall be used to provide and extend facilities
for the improvement of teachers already in service and for the
more adequate preparation of prospective teachers and to pro-
vide 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 under-
take preparation for public-school service. The said sum shall
1 One of the writers of this book has more than once caused merriment
by announcing to groups of young women that some day it would be
deemed more of a distinction to graduate from a normal school than to
graduate from any one of the four or five famous women's colleges.
And yet until this prediction comes true, the public-school service will
not have reached the plane that it must attain if the Nation's problems
are to be solved.
284 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
be apportioned to the states in the proportions which the numbers
of public-school teachers employed in teaching positions in the
respective states bear to the total number of teachers in the
United States, not including outlying possessions, said appor-
tionments to be based on statistics collected annually by the
Department of Education."
If the bill becomes a law, there will be available for
the preparation of teachers $15,000,000. This money
will be used by the states chiefly in extending and
improving the work of the state and city normal schools
and of teacher-training departments in state colleges
and universities. Where a state is not providing for the
preparation of teachers a sum equal to its Federal
allotment for that purpose, it will be required by the
terms of the bill, if it accepts the full Federal appro-
priation, to add from its own resources a sum sufficient
to make the two amounts equal. It is clear, then, that
an annual fund of $30,000,000 will be available for the
purposes in question. This will practically double the
present resources of the institutions concerned.
There is, however, every reason to believe that
national stimulation will incite the states to still more
generous appropriations. This has been the result in
the earlier instances of national aid, and especially in
the subsidizing of the colleges of agriculture and me-
chanic arts.
With these greatly increased resources as a basis,
the normal schools can proceed at once to the develop-
ment of adequate programs. Such programs, indeed,
THE PREPARATION OP TEACHERS 285
are already under construction and upon their main
features there is general agreement throughout the
country. They contemplate the extension of the period
of training at first to three and later to four years follow-
ing high-school graduation ; a decided increase in the
salaries and qualifications of normal-school instructors;
and a much better organization of materials, partic-
ularly in the increased emphasis of the "laboratory"
element in preparing teachers — that is, the provision
of demonstration schools, experimental schools, and
practice schools.
As a basis for a radical extension of the period of
training, it is, of course, essential that the material
rewards of public-school service be greatly increased.
The appropriation for the "equalization of educational
opportunities" will contribute $50,000,000 annually
toward this end ; and while the sum is relatively small
(adding less than $100 to the salary of each teacher),
it will operate upon the basis of a public sentiment
already alive to the imperative need of raising teachers'
salaries. With longer and better preparation once
well started, the material rewards will tend almost
automatically to increase. Efficient service, instead of
being restricted to isolated instances or at most to
insulated communities, will gradually become more
and more general; the real value of preparation in
promoting efficiency, — a value which is now obscured
because the work of the mature and highly trained
286 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
teacher is swamped by the poor results of his immature
and untrained colleagues, — will be increasingly recog-
nized ; with this will come a discrimination that is now
lacking and the opening of opportunities for the opera-
tion of supply and demand that public-school service
has never yet afforded.
THE "WEST POINT" POLICY APPLIED TO NORMAL SCHOOLS
Of large significance is the provision of the Smith-
Towner Bill permitting the states to use a portion of
the appropriation for the preparation of teachers in the
payment of "scholarships" to especially promising
students. The essential justice and the imperative
need of this policy are set forth by the Emergency
Commission 1 of the National Education Association
as follows:
"Federal cooperation may well make it possible for the states
to grant scholarships to exceptionally competent students, thus
insuring a higher level of ability in the teaching population. . . .
"There are three professions, each fundamentally significant
to social welfare and progress, that are alike in another impor-
tant respect. Teaching, the ministry, and the army and navy
service are salaried professions. The opportunities of relatively
large financial rewards are not comparable in any sense to the
opportunities afforded by such professions as law, medicine, and
engineering, to say nothing of the opportunities afforded by busi-
ness and industry.
"The individual student who might otherwise wish to prepare
himself adequately for teaching is likely to be discouraged by the
1 Commission Series No. j, pp. 12-13.
THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 287
relatively small financial returns that he must expect from his
investment. On the other hand, if he wishes to enter the service
of public defense as an officer in the army or the navy, and if he
is successful in securing an appointment at West Point or Annapolis
and competent to meet the entrance requirements, the Govern-
ment will not only provide him with board and tuition during his
period of preparation but will also pay him an annual stipend of
$600. The Federal Government has thus established the precedent
of educating at public expense well qualified candidates for an
important type of public service that cannot hope to compete
with business and industry in financial rewards.
"If the individual wishes to enter the ministry, he will find
that scholarships ample to cover his living expenses at a theo-
logical seminary are available to qualified candidates.
"There are, in general, no such subsidies for students who
would seek service in the public schools. But the precedent has
been established in institutions preparing for a type of service
closely related to teaching. Every great university offers schol-
arships for advanced students who wish to enter one or another
of the many divisions of research and investigation. Nor is this
practice limited to privately-endowed universities; many tax-
supported universities pay stipends to graduate students from
funds raised by public taxation.
"It is clear, then, that there is abundant precedent for pro-
viding scholarships for competent students wishing to prepare
for public school service ; it is clear, also, that there is ample
precedent for providing such scholarships from public funds.
"Teaching is numerically the largest of all professional callings
requiring more practitioners than medicine, law, and theology
combined. Teachers are to-day recruited in largest numbers
from families that cannot afford to send their children to profes-
sional schools for extended terms of preparatory work, especially
when that work holds out no promise of large financial rewards
that might otherwise justify the investment. In view of the
large number ol teachers required in the public school (the num-
288 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
ber will soon be three quarters of a million), it is doubtful whether
all positions could be filled if adequate training were demanded
and if the type of family now furnishing the typical teacher were
consequently excluded as a source of available supply.
"Coffman found in 191 1 that the typical (or median) woman
teacher came from a family having an income of not more than
$800 a year, and a family, too, with a larger number of chil-
dren than the average family in the United States. To demand
a longer term of preparation at the expense of the individual
would automatically prevent the recruiting of teachers from
fully one half of the families that are now the chief source of
supply. 1
"The natural consequence of this condition is a continual pres-
sure that resists the raising of standards for licensing or certifi-
cating teachers ; and this explains why, in a country so rich as
ours and so sincerely committed to the policy of public educa-
tion, the teachers of the public schools represent in general a low
level of maturity, general education, and professional preparation.
"The obvious remedy is to insure (1) better facilities for pre-
paring teachers, (2) higher standards of certification, (3) a much
higher scale of salaries, and (4) a system of scholarships that will
still keep the profession open to the best talent from the families
that now supply the majority of teachers."
It is clear from our earlier discussions that public
education in the several states would not have developed
so rapidly as it has developed without the stimulating
effect of the national grants. It is equally evident that
no state public-school system is complete unless it has
adequate facilities for the preparation of teachers.
Almost all states by law declare their normal schools
to be a part of the public-school system, and all teacher-
1 Coffman : The Social Composition of the Teaching Population.
THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS 289
preparation agencies are, in fact if not in law, integral
parts of the public-school system. There was a time
when private normal schools — joint stock corporations
organized for profit — flourished, but that time, for-
tunately, has passed. All the states have recognized,
through the establishment of publicly supported normal
schools, the prime importance of well-prepared teachers,
but in no state does the normal-school system even ap-
proximate adequacy to its fundamental and difficult task.
It is undeniable, therefore, that the Nation, which
has by grants encouraged the states to establish public
schools, has now the duty of stimulating the states by
further grants to go forward in teacher-preparation
programs until there is an adequately prepared teacher
in every schoolroom in the Nation.
It is a well-established fact that normal-school
graduates teach much longer than the average teacher.
While the average teaching life of all teachers is between
four and five years, normal-school graduates, even under
existing conditions, serve between eight and nine
years. If five years be the average length of service,
we shall need 120,000 beginning teachers each year. If
nine years be the average length of service, we shall need
66,000 beginning teachers each year. There are now
more than two hundred fifty state normal schools
and city training schools in the United States. If they
could be brought up to the point at which each
would graduate two hundred sixty-four persons each
29O THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
year, 1 in a very short while the demand would be met.
This calculation omits from consideration the fact that the
mere increase of the school population of the United
States requires about 12,000 additional teachers each
year, but we have left out of account, on the other
hand, the institutions in addition to normal schools
that prepare teachers for the public schools. Higher
standards will mean a longer preparation ; they will
mean a better preparation. The results of school work
will be improved ; pupils will progress more rapidly and
remain in school longer.
The following table shows the number of public-school
teachers in each state, the proportion of teachers to the
total population and to the school population (6 to 20) , the
average annual salaries of teachers (public schools, 1915-
16), and the millage on the wealth (191 2) of each state
required to pay the salaries of teachers (for 191 5-1 6).
No state in the Union has ever in the past had a well-
prepared teacher for every schoolroom and no state
is now in that happy condition. It does not require a
prophet to predict that, with the economic burdens
which the war has brought, the states will tend to reduce
relatively if not absolutely their expenditures for
teacher-preparation. There is, indeed, a marked tend-
ency to-day toward lower standards of certification.
1 It would, however, be necessary to have more normal schools. To
graduate 264 teachers each year would be impossible for most of the
normal schools because of the limited facilities for practice teaching in
the small communities in which they are located.
THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS
291
Number
of Public
School
Teachers
1915-16
Popula-
tion
(1916)
PER
Teacher
1915-16
School
Popula-
tion
('10) PER
Teacher
1915-16
Average
Annual
Salary
of
Teachers
1915-16
Average
Millage on
Wealth
(1912) to Pay
Average
Annual
Salary of
Teachers
Continental United States
622,371
163.91
44-58
S563.08
2.00
North Atlantic Division
North Central Division
South Atlantic Division
South Central Division
Western Division . .
132,784
230,328
76,416
106,162
56,681
189.15
139-47
173-99
187.47
150.75
46.38
38.25
54-17
56.01
31-15
728.56
56965
342.39
413.58
797-47
2.12
1-95
1.89
1.99
2.32
North Atlantic Division:
New Hampshire . . .
Massachusetts . . .
Rhode Island ....
Connecticut ....
New Jersey ....
Pennsylvania ....
6,965
3,083
2,992
17,487
2,773
6,423
S3, 593
16,741
42,727
110.91
143-53
121.55
212.67
221-53
193-75
191.69
176.09
199-45
28.02
36.20
31-65
S0.38
53-40
46.46
45-79
42.32
51-35
430.24
486.80
422.72
800.18
721.91
624.35
967.20
872.34
470.18
2.90
2-44
2-54
2-43
2.24
1.87
2.36
2.72
1.42
North Central Division:
Ohio
Illinois
Michigan . . - . . .
Wisconsin
Minnesota ....
North Dakota . . .
South Dakota . . .
Nebraska
Kansas
31,819
19,648
33,364
20,979
16,288
17,793
27,230
20,208
8,093
7,057
12,606
15,243
161.86
I43-36
184.39
145.61
I53-50
128.11
81.53
168.77
91-33
98.98
100.85
1 20.02
41.29
39-59
48-43
37.98
44-97
36.46
24.79
4918
22.65
26.07
29.65
33-79
528.88
580.32
7So.8s
605.47
545-co
521.52
517.05
559-74
574-76
433-71
438.45
572.60
1.96
2.36
I.71
2-45
2.07
1.76
1.89
2.03
2.20
2.21
1-53
1.98
South Atlantic Division:
Maryland
District of Columbia
West Virginia . . .
North Carolina . . .
South Carolina . . .
Florida
1,062
6,460
1,787
13,120
10,324
14,550
8,333
15,046
5,734
200.92
210.96
203.68
167.07
134-25
165.13
195.06
189.82
155-82
54-55
60.13
44-34
53-17
38.43
53-99
67.71
6i.53
42-53
358.31
561.06
999.84
34i-9o
348.93
264.36
293.99
304-31
363.09
1.29
1.81
2.32
2.06
1.65
2.20
1.88
1.99
2.05
South Central Division:
Kentucky
Alabama
Mississippi ....
12,870
12,921
11,056
10,953
7,621
27,358
10,662
12,721
184.89
177.07
210.98
178.18
240.01
161.54
163.17
173-ro
58.71
57-i6
67.86
58.86
75-56
49.84
Si-74
44-51
376.75
332.52
344.00
23364
425-95
572.52
334-94
488.45
2.25
2.34
1. 8 S
1 -95
i-S7
2.38
2.03
1-43
Western Division:
Montana
New Mexico ....
UUh
Nevada
Washington ....
Oregon
California
4,731
1,735
6,573
1,944
1,539
3,205
657
3,506
9,295
6,173
17,323
97.12
I03-49
146.35
211.05
166.04
I3S-43
162.45
122.24
16505
135-38
169.63
19.82
20.62
32.85
54-21
36.96
37-7S
24-55
27.61
31-57
28.41
32.07
702.43
500.39
632.85
546.03
770.40
724.92
782.86
742.81
866.58
650.41
998.45
2.98
2- SI
I.81
2. II
2-43
3-l6
1. 16
4.4O
2.63
2.17
2.15
292 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Certainly states will not, on their own initiative and
without a strong national urge, undertake the vast
extensions that the needs of the Nation demand. The
statesmanlike policy is to set up an inducement, — the
acceptance of which will lead the several states to move
forward toward the realization of a teacher situation that
will benefit the state itself and the Nation as a whole.
There is no expenditure that the Federal Government
could possibly make that would bring greater benefits
nationally than would flow from an appropriation suffi-
cient in amount to induce the states to assure for every
child the beneficent influence of a well-prepared teacher.
As a Nation, we have shown ourselves sensible in
many a crisis. We may gain the whole world in an
economic sense and lose our own souls in a social and
spiritual sense. The backwash of the war will entail
hardship and taxes ; the materials used in war must be
paid for out of the proceeds of human labor; but it
would be shortsighted, indeed, to take one penny of it
from the opportunity to which every child is entitled.
It would be equally shortsighted not to give every
penny that is necessary to provide for every boy and
girl the opportunity to become a worthy member of
that civilization which has been saved at so great a cost
of blood and treasure. This opportunity can come only
to those boys and girls who are privileged to have
teachers "with the wisest heads and the warmest
hearts."
CHAPTER XXII
A Department of Education
The preceding analyses of educational defects from the
national point of view and the remedial measures that
have been proposed render necessary an examination
of the organization by which it is proposed to carry
forward the Nation's part of the great educational
movement embodied in the Smith-Towner Bill. It has
been repeatedly shown that the provisions of this bill
do not interfere with the exclusive right of the several
states to organize, supervise, and administer public
education. The clear and unmistakable intent and
plan of the bill is to promote education of certain types
that bear a causal relation to national welfare without
dominating education in any way. Therefore, the edu-
cational machinery necessary to make the proposals
effective should be in harmony with this fundamental
purpose. 1
The bill creates an executive department in the govern-
ment to be known as the Department of Education and
provides for the appointment of a Secretary of Educa-
tion who shall be a member of the President's Cabinet.
The Bureau of Education is transferred from the Depart-
1 See Appendix C for the complete text of the Smith-Towner Bill.
293
294 TSE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
ment of the Interior to the Department of Education
and the transfer of other educational activities of the
Federal Government to the Department of Education
by Congressional action or by Executive order is pro-
vided for. The powers, duties, responsibilities, prop-
erty, records, and personnel of these transferred
activities are centered, after transfer, in the Depart-
ment of Education.
This plan follows the precedent by which executive
departments of our government have been created.
Originally, there were only four executive departments ;
these were attached to the portfolios of State, Treasury,
War, and Justice. Additional departments have been
created in the following order : Navy, 1798 ; Post Office,
1829; Interior, 1849; Agriculture, 1889; Commerce
and Labor, 1903 ; Labor, 191 3. Of the ten existing de-
partments, the first seven are genuine executive depart-
ments of government arising out of the constitutional
sovereignty of the Nation; the remaining three are
executive departments representing fundamental types
of national interest that are not based on sovereign
powers.
The real purpose back of the creation of each of
these executive departments has been to secure a more
effective realization of national interests. Our Nation
has grown and developed at a most remarkable rate.
The federal form of government limits, in many ways,
the exercise of national power. Therefore, and fortu-
A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 295
nately, the government has resorted to leadership as a
constitutional substitute for the direct exercise of power.
Congress has no direct power to control agriculture
nor has there ever been a serious proposal that it
should have this power. Agriculture, however, bears
a vital relation to national welfare. Everyone has an
interest in having the farms as productive as possible.
Therefore, the national endeavor should be, and is, to
promote agriculture. Over and beyond all that colleges
of agriculture, experiment stations, and agricultural
extension agencies can do, there is a field in which
the Department of Agriculture promotes the national
interest by encouraging and stimulating agricultural
activities. Control of agriculture is not sought; it is
as undesirable as it is impossible.
What has just been said is substantially true of the
fundamental purpose and work of the Department of
Commerce and the Department of Labor. Each has a
large responsibility in leadership and only very limited
powers.
The more important arguments for a Department of
Education and for a Secretary of Education in the
President's Cabinet may be briefly stated:
1. Under the budget-system which will soon be
adopted by the Federal Government, the schedules
of revenues and expenditures will be prepared in the
President's Cabinet for presentation to Congress. If
Federal appropriations of the magnitude contemplated
296 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
in the Smith-Towner Bill are to be made for public
education, there should be in the President's Cabinet
a person whose especial responsibility it will be to see
that the just claims of education are neither overlooked
nor minimized. If the educational needs of the Nation
are represented by another Department, such as the
Department of the Interior, they clearly will not be
given the exclusive consideration of a Cabinet officer,
nor will their significance appear in true proportion
either to the Cabinet that prepares the budget or to
Congress which will use the budget as a basis for its
appropriation measures.
2. A Federal Department of Education is needed to
integrate the various activities of an educational char-
acter in which the Federal Government is already
engaged. This does not mean that the executive
departments now undertaking educational work, — the
Army, the Navy, the Federal Treasury, the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior,
and the Department of Labor, — should turn over
their educational work to the proposed Department
of Education. There should be in the President's
Cabinet, however, a person who is responsible to no
one less important than the President himself and who
will be officially competent to confer with other de-
partment heads regarding their educational undertakings
and to point out to them, to the President, and to Con-
gress, the effect of every educational undertaking upon
A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 297
the educational welfare of the country as a whole.
The deleterious influence upon the schools of the un-
coordinated efforts of Governmental agencies to pro-
mote war measures through the agency of the educational
institutions has already been referred to. 1 But the war
only brought into high relief the difficulties involved in
a series of relationships that were instituted long before
and that will be multiplied in the future. A coordinating
agency is imperatively needed; that a small bureau
in one of the existing departments cannot discharge
this important function is clear from the failure of the
present Bureau of Education to meet the need during
the war. The other departments will not respect such
a bureau; Congress will not respect it; an executive
department coordinate in rank with the other execu-
tive departments alone can command and secure this
respect.
3. A Department of Education is needed to coordi-
nate and integrate the educational forces of the Nation.
In discharging this function, leadership and not law
must be the potent force. One of the first steps that
a Secretary of Education would take would be to call
a conference of the chief educational officers of the
several states for the consideration of national edu-
cational policies. Any policies that this conference
adopted affecting state and local education could be
carried into effect, of course, only through cooperative
1 See above, p. 129.
298 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
state action. With the prestige attaching to a Depart-
ment of Education, the leadership essential to this, the
only method of working out the Nation's educational
problems, would come most readily ; and yet not so readily
that the Secretary of Education could become in any sense
an educational dictator. Whatever plans this official pro-
posed would be subject to correction, even to rejection,
by the conference ; only a true leader with convincing
policies could wield a lasting influence. But the best
leader and the most convincing policies would be seri-
ously handicapped without the prestige which a Federal
portfolio would provide. If the state officers after
having come to an agreement in conference could go
back to their legislatures with well-matured plans that
had the sanction of a recognized Federal department,
the chances that their proposals would receive adequate
attention would be greatly increased; while the Secre-
tary of Education, having the backing of this repre-
sentative group, could, in his turn, make a strong appeal
to the President and to Congress for whatever Federal
legislation the conference might propose.
In a similar fashion, the Secretary of Education would
call together the superintendents of city schools, the
leaders in rural education, the presidents of the state
universities and of the land-grant colleges, the presi-
dents of the state and city normal schools, and other
groups representing in the several states educational
interests that have an important national bearing.
A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 299
Through leadership of this type every significant value
of a Federal system of education could be realized with-
out imposing upon the country a centralized and neces-
sarily autocratic school administration.
4. A Federal Department of Education is needed to
represent the people and the Government of the United
States in the solution of international educational
problems. Under the League of Nations, these prob-
lems will inevitably become matters of large importance
in the future. Educational commissions from foreign
nations visit the country every year ; these commissions
have increased in number and importance since the close
of the Great War; they will be even more numerous
and vastly more important in the years that lie ahead.
Up to the present time, the provisions for the reception
and entertainment of these commissions have been
patriotically undertaken by private and philanthropic
agencies, — largely because we have had no national
educational official of the rank and prestige which
relationships of this sort demand. International edu-
cational conferences are also clearly predictable ; plans,
indeed, for an important conference were initiated by
European educators in 1919, and the United States
would have been asked to call such a conference had not
our delay in ratifying the peace treaty and joining the
League of Nations caused an indefinite postponement
of the enterprise. Such conferences, however, will play
an important part in establishing the new world order,
3<do THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
and for appropriate participation in them the creation
of a Federal Department of Education is imperative.
5. Above and beyond all other considerations, a
Federal Department is needed to give to education the
status, the dignity, and the influence that it should have
in a great democracy. It is needed to put the seal of the
Nation's approval upon the most important enterprise
in which the people as a whole can engage. As has been
repeatedly pointed out in the preceding chapters, we
cannot consistently be a Nation in every other collective
interest, and still remain in education forty-eight separate
and distinct entities. The price that we have paid for
our failure to have education adequately reflected in our
national life has already been counted up in the heavy
toll of illiteracy, limited literacy, health deficiencies,
and alienism. National subventions to the states will
do much to remedy these national weaknesses; but,
taken by themselves, they will be an incomplete solution
of the problem. To meet the final condition there must
be in our government a Department of Education second
in significance to no other department, and subordinate
in rank, prestige, and influence to no official less im-
portant than the President himself.
Those who suggest the creation of a Federal Board
of Education with a Commissioner elected by this Board
as the titular head of American education have based
their arguments very largely upon an alleged analogy
between the Federal Government's participation in
A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 3OI
education and the administration of state and local
school systems. In the latter case, the "lay" board,
employing a professional executive, represents un-
doubtedly the best administrative agency. But the
Federal Government is to exercise no function even
remotely analogous to those of a state or local Board
of Education. It will not control schools, appoint
teachers, adopt courses of study, build schoolhouses, ap-
prove textbooks, or enforce compulsory attendance laws.
Indeed, the critics have quite overlooked the duties
that the Secretary of Education would discharge under
the terms of the Smith-Towner Bill :
"That it shall be the duty of the department of education to
conduct studies and investigations in the field of education and
to report thereon. Research shall be undertaken in (a) illiteracy ;
(b) immigrant education; (c) public-school education, and es-
pecially rural education ; (d) physical education, including health
education, recreation and sanitation ; (e) preparation and supply
of competent teachers for the public schools; and (/) in such
other fields as, in the judgment of the secretary of education, may
require attention and study.
"In order to carry out the provisions of this section the secre-
tary of education is authorized, in the same manner as provided
for appointments in other departments, to make appointments,
or recommendations of appointments, of educational attaches to
foreign embassies, and of such investigators and representatives
as may be needed, subject to the appropriations that have been
made or may hereafter be made to any office, bureau, division,
board, or branch of the Government, transferred in accordance
with the provisions of this act to the department of education;
and where appropriations have not been made therefor the ap-
propriation provided in section six of this act shall be available."
302 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
"To conduct studies and investigations in the field
of education and to report thereon" is not an executive
function in the ordinary sense of that term. Certain
fields for study are specified and other fields are left
to the discretion of the Secretary of Education. To hold
educational conferences for the consideration of educa-
tional problems ; to send educational attaches to foreign
embassies to study and report upon educational organ-
ization, methods, and results ; to make available to
the states and to the public generally information about
education, — this is educational leadership. It is in
reality an extension and improvement of a kind of work
that the Nation has carried on in an ineffective way for
many years.
It may be worth while to see just what additional
authority the Secretary of Education is given by the
terms of the Smith-Towner Bill.
(i) The Secretary of Education "is to apportion to said state"
(the report of which shows that it is prepared to carry out the pro-
visions of the act with respect to any one or more of the specified
apportionments) " for the fiscal year . . . such funds as said state
may be entitled to receive under the provisions of this act, and
shall certify . . . [the same] ... to the Secretary of the Treas-
ury ; Provided, That this act shall not be construed to require uni-
formity of plans, means, or methods in the several states in order
to secure the benefits herein provided, except as specifically stated
herein: And provided further, That all the educational facilities
encouraged 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
A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 303
said state, and the Secretary of Education shall exercise no
authority in relation thereto except as herein provided to insure
that all funds apportioned to said state shall be used for the pur-
poses for which they are appropriated, and in accordance with
the provisions of this act accepted by said state." (Section 14.)
(2) "The secretary of education is authorized to prescribe
plans for keeping accounts of the expenditures of such funds as
may be apportioned to the states under the provisions of this act,
and to audit such accounts. The Secretary of Education may
withhold the apportionment or apportionments of any state for
the next ensuing fiscal year whenever he shall determine that such
apportionment or apportionments made to said state for the
current fiscal year are not being expended in accordance with the
provisions of this act : Provided, however, That before withholding
any such apportionment from any state, as herein provided, the
secretary of education shall give due notice in writing to the chief
educational authority designated to represent said state, stating
specifically wherein said state fails to comply with the provisions
of this act." (Section 15, first paragraph.)
(3) "That the chief educational authority designated to repre-
sent any state receiving the benefits of this act shall, not later
than September 1 of each year, make a report to the Secretary of
Education showing the work done in said state in carrying out
the provisions of this act, and the receipts and expenditures of
money apportioned to said state under the provisions of this act.
If the chief educational authority designated to represent any
state shall fail to report as herein provided, the Secretary of
Education shall notify the Secretary of the Treasury to discontinue
the payment of all apportionments to said state until such report
shall have been made." (Section 17.)
The three quotations given define the authority of
the Secretary of Education as this authority is created
by the Smith-Towner Bill. In a last analysis, this
304 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
authority is given to the Secretary of Education for
the single purpose of safeguarding the national interest
in having the subventions provided in the bill admin-
istered honestly. Anything less is unthinkable: any-
thing more is unwise.
It should now be evident that all fears of "domination
from Washington " are unfounded. It is equally evident
that all arguments for a Federal Board of Education in
place of a Department of Education are founded on
an assumed analogy of the type of educational organi-
zation suited to the educational activities of a state, —
an analogy that breaks down since the Smith-Towner
Bill does not contemplate charging the Secretary of
Education with the administration even of the public-
school system of the city of Washington. 1 The great
function of the Department of Education is intelligent
leadership as this is based on conference, counsel, in-
formation, research, and report. Even if Congress should
never grant an additional dollar for the promotion of
education, a Department of Education should be created
in order to unify, coordinate, and make more effective the
educational projects it has already set in motion. If
the Smith-Towner Bill subventions in aid of education
are established by Congress, the Department of Educa-
1 Congress very properly administers the public-school system of
Washington through a board. It also very properly distributes its
money grants to colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts and its aid
for agricultural experiment stations, agricultural extension, farmers'
institutes, etc., through its executive departments.
A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 305
tion should be charged with their allotment to the several
states. Such subventions are clearly consistent with
historic precedent, and a Department of Education,
rather than a National Board of Education, is in har-
mony with historic method of safeguarding and advanc-
ing national interests in fields to which the sovereignty
of the United States does not extend.
Any analogy between the Federal Board for Voca-
tional Education for the administration of the provi-
sions of the Smith-Hughes Act and a Federal Board
of Education to administer the provisions of the Smith-
Towner Bill is faulty. In vocational education of the
types provided in the Smith-Hughes Act there was, and
still is, opportunity of misunderstanding between capi-
tal and labor and it was therefore desirable to have
each of these organized groups represented on a manag-
ing board so that each might have equal voice in deter-
mining policies, and so that each might report to its
own group. Because of the foregoing arrangement, it
became imperative that the general public should also
have representation on the board for vocational educa-
tion. The purpose of the Smith-Towner Bill — the pro-
motion of public education in the states — cannot be
misunderstood or misconstrued by any group; and,
therefore, its successful administration does not demand
a board representative of possibly conflicting interests.
It should be noted also that the Smith-Hughes Act
gave to the Federal Board for Vocational Education
x
306 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
far greater powers within the states than the Smith-
Towner Bill gives to the Secretary of Education. The
primary reason for this difference in power is that in the
case of vocational education it was sought to establish
a new type of education, while in the Smith-Towner Bill
it is sought to stimulate the states to greater and more
effective activity in fields of educational work in which
the states are already engaged or with which they are
reasonably familiar.
A Department of Education makes necessary a Secre-
tary of Education who will be appointed by the President
and confirmed by the Senate. This brings us to an
objection that is expressed by the word politics. It is
said that a President would probably appoint as Secre-
tary of Education a member of his own political party.
Instances are so clear and so recent that probably is the
strongest word that can be used. The assertion is not
true with respect to those who have served as Com-
missioners of Education, nor is it true with respect
to appointments by Governors to remotely analogous
positions. It is reasonable to assume that a President
would honestly desire to find the most capable man for
the Secretaryship of Education and that he would make
every possible effort to find such a man without making
previous partisan service a prerequisite for appoint-
ment. With this reasonable assurance, the party affili-
ation of the person appointed becomes insignificant.
It cannot be truthfully asserted that those who have
A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 307
thus received executive appointments in the past have
performed the duties of their respective offices in a
partisan way. These men are sworn to administer the
laws and, almost without exception, they have done so
with honor and fidelity. Education is the greatest con-
cern of government and of society. The so-called
politics that has interfered with education in some of
our cities and states has been chiefly the petty politics
of " graft " and other forms of corruption. It is incon-
ceivable that politics of this type can ever have sufficient
influence to control the appointment of the Secretary
of Education.
The whole matter centers around the following ques-
tions : Is a Department of Education desirable as express-
ing the Nation's interest in public education? Is a
Department of Education necessary in order to pro-
mote, by leadership and service, the advancement of
public education in the several states ? Is a Department
of Education necessary to the most efficient and most
satisfactory administration of existing national educa-
tional endeavors and of the provisions of the Smith-
Towner Bill? Affirmative answers to these questions
have led to the formulation of the provisions of the
Smith-Towner Bill with which this chapter has been
concerned.
It is evident from the foregoing discussion that the
Smith-Towner Bill is not a step toward national control
of education or toward a national system of education.
308 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
On the contrary, the Smith-Towner Bill is a proposal
for the further promotion of education in accordance
with a precedent which dates unbroken from May, 1785.
The creation of a Department of Education is also in
harmony with the precedent which our own historical de-
velopment has established. If education were with us a
national function involving control of schools in the
several states, it would doubtless be desirable to have a
National Board of Education to pass on certain matters ;
but since it is necessary to preserve the educational
autonomy of the states while stimulating them by sub-
ventions and leadership, a Department of Education
with a Secretary of Education is the most desirable and
advantageous organization for the purposes that the
Smith-Towner Bill aims to realize.
CHAPTER XXIII
In Conclusion
Our examination of the historical aspects of public
education in the United States has clearly shown that
the Federal Government has always aided public educa-
tion. The sixteenth section in each township in all of
the states carved from the public domain has been set
aside for the "maintenance of public schools. " The
grant of land to the Ohio Company was made by the
Continental Congress while the Constitutional Conven-
tion was in session in 1787. The actual grants of land
for public education within a state were first made in
1802 with the admission of Ohio. The members of
Congress were then wholly from the thirteen original
states. These states thoroughly understood that each
state retained the sovereign right to organize, supervise,
and administer public education within its own borders,
— and each proceeded to do so in its own way. The
assumption by Congress of the power to control public
education within the several states has never seriously
been proposed.
That Congress has the right to encourage the states
with regard to education has been established by the
section grants, by the university grants of townships,
309
310 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
and by the Morrill and related acts. This encourage-
ment has been both in the form of lands and in the form
of money. Land was used as long as it lasted, — and
then money was used. Congress now gives two and a
half million dollars annually for the "support and further
endowment of colleges of agriculture and mechanic
arts." Congress has the power "to lay and collect
taxes," "to provide for the general welfare of the
United States," and "to dispose of . . . the territory
or other property belonging to the United States."
The money that reaches the Treasury of the United
States is the property of the United States, and Congress
can appropriate it to provide for the general welfare.
On this theory, land was given to encourage the states
to establish and maintain public schools, universities,
and colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts. More
recently Congress has enacted a series of laws relating
to agricultural extension and vocational education of
high school grade. Each of these laws appropriates
money to the several states, under certain specified
conditions.
It is well to have in mind the difference between a
grant and a subvention. A grant is the more inclusive
term and includes all appropriations and all passing of
titles to property, — it is a giving. A subvention is a
giving under certain restrictions and conditions. If
Congress had been wise enough to provide that the
proceeds of the sale of lands granted in aid of public
IN CONCLUSION 311
education should be kept as perpetual funds, indestruc-
tible and indefeasible, the interest on such funds
would now be a boon to every state that received
grants. Congress did not make such provision for
many years after adopting the land-grant policy. In
consequence, the funds intended as capital endowment
for the public schools were spent by many of the
states, and are now only debts on which the states pay
interest by means of taxation. These are mere
"credit funds." One generation borrowed the money
and spent it. All succeeding generations must tax
themselves to pay the interest on the debt thus
created. Therefore, the grants of land for public schools
and other educational purposes have not proved to be
the perpetual and continuing benefit which they might
have been. In a similar way, it is clear that the net
result would have been better, — even though slower of
realization, — had Congress provided in the first
Morrill Act that the states should not sell their land
scrip for less than $1.25 an acre.
The public domain of the United States is practically
exhausted so far as its use as a great perpetual fund for
the encouragement of education is concerned. In fact,
a fund of which only the interest should be used would
have to be so large as to be entirely out of consideration
as a practicable possibility. The several states may
add to their several permanent school funds as the years
go by, but the great bulk of these funds is already
312 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
collected. The greater part of the expense of carrying
on public education must be paid out of current funds
raised by taxation. Our country has, at the present
time, such vast wealth that a relatively low millage
rate on the total would be sufficient to support a most
effective system of public education. There is, however,
no possibility of levying such a uniform millage for the
several states are unlikely ever to carry this great un-
dertaking to the point of educational efficiency that the
needs of the Nation as a nation imperatively demand.
The absolutely certain way to insure the increasing
effectiveness of public education in the several states
is to establish specific, continuing national subven-
tions such as have been discussed in previous chap-
ters. If the Smith-Towner Bill becomes a law, there
is no doubt that the several states will accept its
provisions and move forward along the broad but
specific pathways of progress therein specified. There
are those who think that the appeal for more
money for public education should be made to the
separate communities. The Nation's problem can
never be solved by this piecemeal method ; the country
is too large ; its component local units are too numerous
and — quite properly — too autonomous to insure a
nation-wide gain through anything short of a national
movement. There are also those who think that the
states should bear the responsibility each for itself.
But the states, too, are autonomous, — and the Nation's
IN CONCLUSION 3 13
problems are not the problems of this, that, or the other
state. In national affairs the old saw runs true to
form: "What is everybody's business is nobody's
business." The only dependable solution, from the
national point of view, is for Congress to establish a
group of continuing subventions which will, through their
acceptance by the several states, insure that public
education shall meet the needs of the Nation.
Such action would be but a continuation of the
interest which Congress has had in the development of
the public school as the one certain anchorage of democ-
racy, — an interest that was shown by its earliest
grants and appropriations, — an interest that continues
to this day. Congress has done nothing for the pro-
motion of fundamental, general education since it
began appropriating land and money for the colleges of
agriculture and mechanic arts. Its concern has been
solely with vocational education. The needs of the
technician, the farmer, and the artisan have had their
day in Congress and have been generously met.
It seems proper, as well as necessary, that Congress
should again become interested in the kind of education
that must be depended upon to develop the intelligent
citizen, — else the Nation as a nation must confess that
it is so seriously concerned with the economic produc-
tivity of its citizens as to be blind to their broader
intellectual and moral needs.
How is Congress to get the money for these sub-
314 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
ventions? Aside from our present war taxes on the
sales of commodities and services, Congress now receives
the bulk of its revenues from taxes on incomes. There-
fore, any additional money that is to be appropri-
ated by Congress for any purpose must be raised by
taxes on incomes. We shall pay, in large part, for the
Panama Canal, for warships, for internal improve-
ments, for post-office buildings, for the maintenance of
lighthouses, and for the "support and further endow-
ment of Colleges of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts,"
in the years that lie ahead, with money derived in
increasing measure from this source. There is no
authority for segregating Federal receipts into funds on
the basis of their sources, — holding that money derived
from a tax on alcohol is to be used for one purpose, that
derived from duties on imports for another purpose,
and so on through the long list of purposes. Money
raised by taxation loses its identity of source the moment
it reaches the Treasury of the United States and becomes
the property of the whole people.
The Sixteenth Amendment, now an integral part of
the Constitution with the same validity and sanction
that the original articles possess, expressly provides
that :
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on
incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment
among the several states, and without regard to any census or
enumeration."
IN CONCLUSION 315
Notwithstanding this clear Constitutional provision
and the laws which Congress has made in accordance
therewith, it has been objected that the subventions
provided for in the Smith-Towner Bill would not be
made to the states in proportion to the amounts of
income tax paid by the several states. The same
objection would lie against practically every Con-
gressional expenditure that has been made since the
income-tax law was passed, and also against any appro-
priation made before that time with a variation in the
name of the tax. It would have been absurd for Ken-
tucky, in the days gone by, to insist that the Federal
Government should return to her as much money as her
citizens paid in excises on whisky. The objection
just made is equally absurd.
If it be incumbent on proponents of a measure for the
promotion of the public welfare to stand sponsor for
some measure that will raise the money required to
carry it to successful completion, we would propose in
the present instance an extension of the income tax.
The income tax is based on ability to pay. The primary
and basal exemption allows a living, and the income
tax takes a portion of the income which is above the
living point. In a previous chapter, 1 we have seen that
wealth is very unevenly distributed in the United States,
both on the total-population basis and on the basis of
the school-age population. One would naturally expect,
1 See pp. 268 ff.
316 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
therefore, that the net incomes subject to the Federal
income tax would likewise vary in the several states.
Large incomes will, as a general rule, be more numerous
in the older communities for there has been a longer
time during which wealth could accumulate. Wealth
begets wealth. But, in a certain very real sense, the
need for Federal assistance to education bears an inverse
ratio to wealth.
To test this assumption, the accompanying table has
been prepared to show (i) the per cent of total wealth;
(2) the per cent of allotment under the provisions of the
Smith-Towner Bill ; (3) the per cent of persons six to
twenty years of age ; and (4) the per cent of total net
income reported by persons (not including corporations)
in the several states in 191 7.
The table calls for very little comment. The older
states show the larger proportions of total net income.
The income of persons resident in a given state may
not bear any relation whatever to the wealth of that
state. A citizen and resident of New York may derive
his income largely or even entirely from dividends
on the stock of a coal mine in West Virginia, an oil well
in Oklahoma, an orange grove in California, a street
railway in New Orleans, an iron mine in Michigan, a
cattle ranch in Texas, or any one of many other possible
sources that have practically no relation to the place of
residence. The claim, already cited, that a state should
share in any educational subventions of the Federal
IN CONCLUSION
317
Divisions and States
Per Cent of
Total
Wealth
Per Cent of
Total
Allotment
Per Cent of
Total
6-20 Years
Inclusive
Per Cent of
Total Net
Incomes
Continental United Stales:
100.0000
100.0000
100.0000
North Atlantic Division
North Central Division
South Atlantic Division
South Central Division
Western Division . .
29.9508
38.4409
7-8851
12.6080
11.1152
25.8812
32-4744
14.2576
19.7742
7.6189
25-5359
31.7520
14-9177
21.4299
6.3645
43-12
31-83
7-43
8-73
9.62
North Atlantic Division:
Maine
New Hampshire . . .
Massachusetts . . .
Rhode Island ....
Connecticut ....
New Jersey ....
Pennsylvania ....
.5896
•35"
.2844
3.2823
.5109
1-2325
12.5406
3.0686
8.0908
.8660
.4517
.39i8
3.2610
•5370
11157
9.2468
2.6720
7-3387
■7034
.4023
.3413
3-I748
•5337
1-0755
8.8446
2.5S3I
7.9072
•49
•31
.21
5.26
.82
I.83
20.38
3-82
10.00
North Central Division:
Ohio
Minnesota
North Dakota . . .
South Dakota . . .
4.8944
2.8335
8-3535
2.9582
2.4509
3-0143
4-2563
3-1743
I.1661
.7616
2.0632
2.5146
4.7127
2.7351
S-S954
3-0463
2.5221
2.4932
3-OI97
3-2141
.9006
.8047
I.SI38
1.9162
4-7343
2.8031
5-8229
2.8716
2.6398
2-3379
2.4332
3-58I9
.6607
•6630
1-3472
1.8564
5-44
1. 91
8.23
2.8s
I.67
2.02
2-47
2.66
•45
.80
1. 85
1.48
South Atlantic Division:
District of Columbia
West Virginia ....
North Carolina . . .
South Carolina . . .
.1681
1. 1459
.4391
I.2446
1-2473
.9988
• 7448
I-3IS8
.5807
.1938
1.2272
•2955
2-3945
I-44I4
2.7013
1.9282
3-1525
.9228
.2088
1-3999
.2856
2.5140
1.4299
2.8309
2.0333
3-3364
.8789
.41
1.86
•76
•99
•77
.61
-52
1. 12
•39
South Central Division :
Mississippi . . . .
1. 2316
1.0498
1. 1732
■7477
1. 1770
3-7499
1.0058
2.4730
2.4364
2.4189
2.5609
2.2556
2.0751
4-3977
1.8161
1.8131
2.7232
2.661 1
2.7039
2.3235
2.0752
4-9I42
1.9880
2.0408
2
1
9i
82
54
45
98
57
48
98
Western Division:
New Mexico . . . .
Utah
Washington . . . .
•6371
• 1973
I.3086
.2871
.2788
.4205
.2526
•3382
I.7482
I-055I
4-5918
•5245
.1923
.8806
.3648
• 2294
•4344
.0859
.4084
I.2565
.7676
2.4740
•3379
.1289
.7781
.3798
• 2050
.4361
.0581
•3489
1.0576
.6321
2.0020
•59
.21
1. 01
• 23
•29
•33
.12
•34
1.24
.62
4.64
318 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
Government in proportion to the income tax paid by
its residents is thus seen to be doubly absurd.
The comparisons made in the table do not imply that
there are any state lines in the matters of wealth or of
the correlative ability to pay. Wealth is not a matter of
state lines exclusively. The iron of Minnesota finds
its way to other states for smelting, and to all states in
manufactured forms. The fruits of Florida, California,
Michigan, and New York are sent over practically all
of the United States. The oil of Pennsylvania, West
Virginia, Oklahoma, and Texas goes everywhere. No
matter how much iron, or fruit, or oil might be produced
within a given state, there would be nothing but a local
market unless there was a reachable population with
needs and the wealth wherewith to satisfy these needs.
This larger market is furnished by the states other than
the producing states. There is a reciprocal relation,
of course. More coal and manufactured steel than are
needed by the citizens of Pennsylvania are produced
within the geographical limits of the state. This surplus
is exchanged for meats, flour, butter, potatoes, and other
foodstuffs of which the production within Pennsylvania
does not satisfy the demand.
It is clear, then, that the mere fact that there is a
certain total of wealth within a given geographical or
political unit does not mean that the residents thereof
have produced this wealth by their own individual and
unaided efforts. Our means of transportation have
EST CONCLUSION 319
developed to so remarkable a degree that wealth and
economic well-being are vastly increased over what
they would be had we no railroads, steamboats, electric
cars, or automobiles. The political unit within which
free exchange takes place is the United States, not one
particular state alone. Commercially, economically,
industrially, the states are interdependent, and this
interdependence is not hampered or trammeled by
law or by tradition. If the so-called sovereignty of the
states had extended to the control of commerce and
if there had been a break in transportation at state
lines as there is at national boundaries, the economic
development of the Nation as a whole would have been
slow and halting. The collective federal policy of
free exchange of commodities between and among the
states has been, in part at least, responsible for the
remarkable development of wealth in this country.
Actually, the states are as interdependent educa-
tionally as they are commercially and industrially. A
low level of educational efficiency in one state affects
every other state. (1) The citizens of the first state
are free to move into and live within any other state, —
carrying with them their ignorance, their illiteracy,
their superstition, their unprogressive or even their
anti-social ideals. (2) The productive capacity of any
group varies directly with the trained intelligence of its
members ; low intelligence in any section of the country
reduces the wealth of the country as a whole. (3) The
320 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
educationally backward state is proportionately as well
represented in Congress and in the Electoral College as is
the progressive state ; a low level of intelligence among
the voters of any one state will be inevitably reflected
in the representative government of the Nation. If,
four years ago, a person could be excusably blind to this
essential educational interdependence of the several
states, the time when such blindness is excusable has
certainly passed.
If we take corporations that pay income taxes to the
Federal Government into account, the extent of this
source of possible national receipts becomes clearer.
The net income of these corporations for 191 6 was
$8,765,900,000. How much larger it was for the follow-
ing years, we do not yet know. It certainly was not
less than in 191 6. Taking it at the 191 6 figure and
adding it to the $13,607,679,446 net personal incomes,
gives a total of over $23,000,000,000. A tax of one
half of one per cent on this net income would more than
provide for all the expenditures of the Smith-Towner Bill.
The justification of such a tax for the promotion of
education in the several states may be summarized as
follows :
(1) The induction of its citizens into its culture, its
standards, and its ideals is the greatest concern of every
government, for it is these spiritual and immaterial
forces that constitute a Nation ; if these should fail, the
Nation dies ; as these flourish, the Nation prospers.
IN CONCLUSION 321
To cherish, develop, and sedulously safeguard its spiritual
heritage is the first condition of national survival.
(2) The United States is a federal form of government
and is by its fundamental and organic law debarred from
guaranteeing its own survival through actively and
directly organizing, supervising, and administering
public education in the several states.
(3) The Federal Government can achieve the same
end by stimulating and encouraging the several
states to establish and maintain various forms of public
education. From its birth it has utilized this means of
meeting its educational needs.
(4) The war revealed certain defects in our state
systems of public education, — illiteracy and limited
literacy among adults, the presence of many un-
Americanized aliens in our midst, and many physical
defects and minor ailments that might easily have
been removed with proper care. Many of these na-
tional handicaps can be traced with certainty to in-
equalities of educational opportunities and to the low
standards of preparation in the teaching personnel.
(5) It is of the greatest importance to the Nation,
which is charged with insuring a more perfect Union,
providing for the common defense, promoting the general
welfare, establishing justice, insuring domestic tran-
quillity, and securing the blessings of liberty that these
defects in our present state systems of public education
should be remedied and the whole system strengthened.
322 THE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS
(6) The only method by which the Federal Govern-
ment can secure these results is by providing a group of
continuing subventions, — each subvention being directed
toward the stimulation of the states to increased effort
toward meeting some one educational need, such as the
removal of illiteracy, the Americanization of foreigners,
the equalization of educational opportunities, the prep-
aration of teachers, or the improvement of physical
and health education. This is the only method be-
cause Congress has no right to coerce the states to under-
take any of these policies. It is also a sure method
because a similar system of grants of land and money
has been tested under our Federal-State plan of govern-
ment. The present proposals contain all the inducement
features of former grants and also provide a set of
reasonable conditions designed to safeguard national
interests without injury to the states and without in-
fringing upon their autonomy.
(7) The money with which to finance this group of
subventions can be readily secured by the Federal
Government by means of the income tax, — a method
which, in view of the relation of education to the increase
and security of wealth, commends itself as eminently
fair and right.
The establishment of these subventions in aid of
education is the great objective to attain, — it is the
imperative thing. *
A Department of Education should be created, with a
IN CONCLUSION 323
Secretary of Education who should be a member of the
President's Cabinet. This Department of Education
should administer these subsidies, coordinate the
various educational activities in which the Federal
Government is now engaged, represent this country in
its educational relations with other countries, become
the national center for educational research, and
exercise a wise and beneficent leadership in American
education. The creation of such a Department of
Education is in line with what our states have done,
with what every first class modern nation except America
has already done, and with what the Nation has done in
creating Departments of Agriculture, Labor, and Com-
merce. These Departments do not imply national
control of agriculture, labor, and commerce. On the
contrary, their chief function is to exercise a leadership
won through a demonstrated ability to render real
service. To establish and to exercise a similar leader-
ship will be the chief function of a Federal Department
of Education.
APPENDIX A
Land and Scrip Granted to States and Territories for
Educational Aid and Other Purposes
State or Territory
Purpose of Grant
Amount Granted,
Acres
Total by States'
Alabama:
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute
Industrial School for Girls . . .
Seminary of Learning ....
Internal Improvements ....
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Common Schools, Sec. 16 . . .
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Seat of Government
University
Alaska Territory:
Common schools, Sees. 16 and 36,
reserved (Est.)
Agricultural College and School of
Mines, certain Sees. 33, reserved
(Estimated)
Arizona:
University
Public Buildings
Penitentiaries
Insane Asylums
Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Asylum .
Miners' Hospital
Normal Schools
Charitable, Penal, etc
Agricultural and Mechanical Col-
leges
School of Mines
Military Institutes
Payment of bonds issued to Mari-
copa, Pima, Yavapai and Co-
conino Counties
25,000.00
25,000.00
46,080.00
500,000.00
240,000.00
911,627.00
23,040.00
1,620.00
46,080.00
21,009,209.00
336,000.00
246,080.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
50,000.00
200,000.00
100,000.00
150,000.00
150,000.00
100,000.00
1,000,000.00
1,818,447.00
21,345,209.00
33S
326
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A — Continued
State or Territory
Purpose of Grant
Amount Granted,
Acres
Total by States
Arizona — Continued
Common Schools, Sees. 2 and 32
16 and 36
Arkansas:
Internal Improvements .
University
Public Buildings . . .
Agricultural College Scrip
Common Schools, Sec. 16
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
California :
Internal Improvements . . . .
University
Public Buildings
Agricultural and Mechanical Col-
leges
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Colorado :
Internal Improvements . . . .
University
Public Buildings
Penitentiaries
Agricultural College
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
State Agricultural College . . .
Connecticut :
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Delaware :
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Florida :
Internal Improvements . . . .
Seminaries of Learning . . . .
Seat of Government
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Common Schools, Sec. 16 .
Georgia :
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Idaho :
Lava Hot Springs
University
8,093,156.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
10,600.00
150,000.00
933,778.00
46,080.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
6,400.00
150,000.00
5,S34,293-oo
500,000.00
46,080.00
32,000.00
32,000.00
90,000.00
3,685,618.00
46,080.00
1,600.00
180,000.00
90,000.00
500,000.00
92,160.00
5,120.00
90,000.00
975,307-00
270,000.00
187.30
46,080.00
10,489,236.00
1,686,538.00
6,236,773.00
4,433,378.oo
180,000.00
90,000.00
1,662,587.00
270,000.00
APPENDIX A
327
APPENDIX A — Continued
State or Territory
Purpose of Grant
Amount Granted,
Acres
Total by States
Idaho — Continued
University
Agricultural College
Penitentiary
Public Buildings
Insane Asylum
Educational, Charitable, etc. . .
Normal Schools
Scientific Schools
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Illinois :
Internal Improvements .
Seminary of Learning
Seat of Government . .
Agricultural College Scrip
Common Schools, Sec. 16
Salt Springs and contiguous
lands
Indiana :
Internal Improvements .
Seminary of Learning
Seat of Government . .
Agricultural College Scrip
Common Schools, Sec. 16
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Iowa :
Internal Improvements ....
University
Public Buildings
Agricultural College
Common Schools, Sec. 16 . . .
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Kansas :
Internal Improvements ....
University
Public Buildings
Agricultural College
Agricultural College
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Game Preserve
50,000.00
90,000.00
50,000.00
32,000.00
50,000.00
150,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
2,963,698.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
2,560.00
480,000.00
996,320.00
121,029.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
2,560.00
390,000.00
668,578.00
23,040.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
3,200.00
240,000.00
988,196.00
46,080.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
6,400.00
90,000.00
7,682.00
2,907,520.00
46,080.00
3,021.20
3,631,965.30
2,145,989.00
1)630,258.00
1,823,556.00
3,606,783.20
328
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A — Continued
State or Territory
Purpose of Grant
Amount Granted,
Acres
Total by States
Kentucky:
Deaf and Dumb Asylum
Agricultural College Scrip
Louisiana :
Internal Improvements .
Seminary of Learning
Agricultural College Scrip
Common Schools, Sec. 16
Maine :
Agricultural College Scrip
Maryland:
Agricultural College Scrip
Massachusetts:
Agricultural College Scrip
Michigan :
Internal Improvements .
University
Public Buildings . . .
Agricultural College . .
Common Schools, Sec. 16
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Minnesota :
Internal Improvements . . . .
University
Public Buildings
Agricultural College
Experimental Forestry . . . .
Public Park
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Mississippi :
Internal Improvements .
Seminary of Learning
Seat of Government . .
Agricultural College Scrip
Common Schools, Sec. 16
Missouri:
Internal Improvements .
Seminary of Learning
Seat of Government . .
Agricultural College . .
22,508.65
330,000.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
210,000.00
807,271.00
210,000.00
210,000.00
360,000.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
3,200.00
240,000.00
1,021,867.00
46,080.00
500,000.00
92,160.00
6,400.00
120,000.00
20,000.00
8,392.51
2,874,9s 1 - 00
46,080.00
500,000.00
69,120.00
1,253.16
210,000.00
824,213.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
2,560.00
330,000.00
352,508.65
i,563,35i- 00
210,000.00
210,000.00
360,000.00
1,857,227.00
3,667,983.51
1,604,586.16
APPENDIX A
329
APPENDIX A — Continued
State or Territory
Purpose of Grant
Amount Granted,
Acres
Total by States
Missouri — Continued
Common Schools, Sec. 16 . . .
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Montana:
University
Agricultural College
Public Buildings
Deaf and Dumb Asylum . . .
Reform School
School of Mines
Normal Schools
Militia Camp
Observatory for University . .
Biological Station
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Fort Assiniboine, for educational
institutions
Nebraska :
Penitentiary
Internal Improvements ....
University
Public Buildings
Agricultural College
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Dry-land Agricultural Experiments
Nevada :
Internal Improvements ....
University
Penitentiary
Public Buildings
Mining and Mechanic Arts . .
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36,
and lieu lands, act June 16, 1880
New Hampshire:
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
New Jersey:
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
New Mexico (act June 21, 1898) :
University
Saline land (University) . . .
1,221,812.00
46,080.00
46,080.00
140,000.00
182,000.00
50,000.00
50,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
640.00
480.00
160.00
5,198,258.00
2,000.00
32,000.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
12,800.00
90,000.00
2,730,95i-00
46,080.00
800.00
500,000.00
46,080.00
12,800.00
12,800.00
90,000.00
2,061,967.00
150,000.00
210,000.00
1 1 1,080.00
1,622.86
2,146,533-00
5,869,618.00
3,458,711.00
2,723,647.00
150,000.00
210,000.00
33°
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A — Continued
State or Territory
Purpose of Grant
Amount Granted,
Acres
Total by States
New Mexico — Continued
Agricultural College
Improvement of Rio Grande . .
Penitentiary
Public Buildings
Insane Asylum
Deaf and Dumb Asylum . . .
Reform School
Normal School
School of Mines
Blind Asylum
Reservoirs
Miners' Hospital
Military Institute
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
New Mexico (act June 20, 1910) :
University
Public Buildings
Insane Asylums
Penitentiaries
Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Asylum .
Miners' Hospitals
Normal Schools
Charitable, Penal, and Reformatory
Agricultural and Mechanical Col-
leges
School of Mines
Military Institutes
Payment of bonds issued by Grant
and Santa Fe Counties . . .
Common Schools, Sees. 2 and 32
New York:
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
North Carolina:
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
North Dakota:
University
Agricultural College
Public Buildings
Educational, Charitable, etc. . .
Deaf and Dumb Asylum . . .
100,000.00
100,000.00
50,000.00
32,000.00
50,000.00-
50,000.00
50,000.00
100,000.00
50,000.00
50,000.00
500,000.00
50,000.00
50,000.00
4,355,662.00
200,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
50,000.00
200,000.00
100,000.00
150,000.00
150,000.00
100,000.00
1,000,000.00
4,355> 662 -°°
990,000.00
270,000.00
86,080.00
130,000.00
82,000.00
1 70,000.00
40,000.00
5,700,364.86
6,705,662.00
990,000.00
270,000.00
APPENDIX A
331
APPENDIX A — Continued
State or Territory
Purpose of Grant
Amount Granted,
Acres
Total by States
North Dakota — Continued
Reform School
School of Mines
Normal School
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Ohio:
Internal Improvements ....
Seminaries of Learning ....
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Common Schools, Sec. 16 . . .
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Oklahoma:
Normal Schools
Oklahoma University ....
University Preparatory School
Agricultural and Mechanical Col-
lege
Colored Agricultural and Normal
University
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Certain Sees. 13 and 33 . . . .
Insane Asylum
Oregon :
Internal Improvements . . . .
University
Public Buildings
Agricultural College
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Salt Springs and contiguous lands
Public Park (Area not yet deter-
mined)
Pennsylvania :
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Rhode Island:
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
South Carolina:
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
South Dakota :
University
Agricultural College
Public Buildings
40,000.00
40,000.00
80,000.00
2,495>396-oo
500,000.00
69,120.00
630,000.00
724,266.00
24,216.00
300,000.00
250,000.00
150,000.00
250,000.00
100,000. oc
i,375,°° - 00
669,000.00
1,760.25
500,000.00
46,080.00
6,400.00
90,000.00
3,399,36o.oo
46,080.00
780,000.00
120,000.00
180,000.00
86,080.00
160,000.00
82,000.00
3,163,476.00
1,947,602.00
3,095,760.25
4,087,920.00
780,000.00
1 20,000.00
180,000.00
332
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A — Continued
State or Territory Purpose of Grant
Amount Granted,
Acres
Total by States
South Dakota — Continued
Educational and Charitable .
Deaf and Dumb Asylum . .
Reform School
School of Mines
Normal Schools
Missionary Work
Military Camp Ground . . .
Insane Asylum
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and
36
Tennessee :
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Texas :
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Utah:
University
Agricultural College
Public Buildings
Insane Asylum
Deaf and Dumb Asylum . . .
Reform School
School of Mines
Normal Schools
Blind Asylum
Reservoirs
Miners' Hospital
Common Schools, Sees. 2, 16, 32,
and 36
Vermont :
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Virginia :
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Washington:
University
Agricultural College
Public Buildings
Educational and Charitable . .
Normal Schools
Scientific Schools
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
1 70,000.00
40,000.00
40,000.00
40,000.00
80,000.00
160.00
640.00
640.00
2,733,084.00
300,000.00
180,000.00
156,080.00
200,000.00
64,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
500,000.00
50,000.00
5,844,196.00
150,000.00
300,000.00
46,080.00
90,000.00
132,000.00
200,000.00
100,000.00
100,000.00
2,376,391-0°
3,432,604.00
300,000.00
180,000.00
7,414,276.00
150,000.00
300,000.00
3,044,471.00
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX A — Continued
333
State or Territory
Purpose of Grant
Amount Granted,
Acres
Total by States
West Virginia:
Agricultural College Scrip . . .
Wisconsin :
Internal Improvements . . . .
University
Public Buildings
Agricultural College
Forestry
Common Schools, Sec. 16 . . .
Wyoming:
University
Agricultural College
Public Buildings
Penitentiary
Insane Asylum
Educational, Penal, etc
Deaf and Dumb Asylum . . .
Miners' Hospital
Fish Hatcheries
Poor Farm
Common Schools, Sees. 16 and 36
Grand total
150,000.00
500,000.00
92,160.00
6,400.00
240,000.00
20,000.00
982,329.00
46
90
107
3°
30
290
30
3°
5
10
3,47o
080.00
000.00
000.00
000.00
000.00
000.00
000.00
000.00
480.00
,000.00
,009.00
150,000.00
1,840,889.00
4,138,569.00
133,426,478.93
APPENDIX B
Swamp and Overflowed Lands
Under the grant of swamp and overflowed lands made
by the acts of Congress approved March 2, 1849 (9 Stat.,
352), September 28, 1850 (9 Stat., 519), and March 12,
i860 (12 Stat., 3), now Sections 2479, 2480, 2481, and
2490, United States Revised Statutes, the several states,
which were the beneficiaries of it, have received patents
for the following areas to and including June 30, 1918 :
Acres
Alabama 418,520.14
Arkansas 7,686,335.37
California 2,138,745.76
Florida 20,201,660.52
Illinois 1,457,399-20
Indiana 1,254,270.73
Iowa 873,816.42
Louisiana 9,375,766.66
Michigan 5,^55, 7 6 9-56
Minnesota 4,662,927.10
Mississippi 3,284,972.58
Missouri 3,346,683.70
Ohio 26,251.95
Oregon 264,069.01
Wisconsin 3,251,542.34
Total 63,898,731.04
In addition to these lands in place, cash and land
indemnity has been given to the same states under the
acts of March 2, 1855 (10 Stat., 634), and March 3,
1857 (11 Stat., 251), now Sections 2482, 2483, and 2484,
United States Revised Statutes, as follows :
334
APPENDIX B 335
Cash Land (Acres)
Alabama $ 27,691.50 20,920.08
Arkansas 374,450-°°
Florida 67,221.69 94,782.80
Illinois 473,875-99 2,309.07
Indiana 39,080.14 4,880.20
Iowa S87,477-59 321,976-98
Louisiana 53,118.65 32,630.97
Michigan 15,922.06 24,038.69
Mississippi .... 46,449.62 56,781.76
Missouri 195,874.82 81,016.69
Ohio 29,027.76
Wisconsin 185,278.97 105,047.99
Total $2,095,468.79 744,385-23
APPENDIX C
The Smith-Towner Bill, as Introduced in the
House of Representatives, May 19, 1919, by
Mr. H. M. Towner, of Iowa
A Bill to create a Department of Education, to
authorize appropriations for the conduct of said De-
partment, to authorize the appropriation of money to
encourage the States in the promotion and support of
education, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That there is hereby created an executive department in
the Government to be called the Department of Educa-
tion, with a Secretary of Education, who shall be the
head thereof, to be appointed by the President, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who
shall receive a salary of $12,000 per annum, and whose
tenure of office shall be the same as that of the heads of
other executive departments ; and section one hundred
and fifty-eight of the Revised Statutes is hereby amended
to include such department, and the provisions of title
4 of the Revised Statutes, including all amendments
thereto, are hereby made applicable to said department.
The Secretary of Education shall cause a seal of office
to be made for such department of such device as the
336
APPENDIX C 337
President shall approve, and judicial notice shall be
taken of said seal.
Sec. 2. That there shall be in said department an
Assistant Secretary of Education to be appointed by the
President, who shall receive a salary of $5000 per
annum. He shall perform such duties as may be pre-
scribed by the Secretary or required by law. There
shall also be one chief clerk and a disbursing clerk and
such chiefs of bureaus and clerical assistants as may
from time to time be authorized by Congress.
Sec. 3. That there is hereby transferred to the
Department of Education the Bureau of Education,
and the President is authorized and empowered in his
discretion to transfer to the Department of Education
such offices, bureaus, divisions, boards, or branches of
the Government, connected with or attached to any of
the executive departments or organized independently
of any department, as in his judgment should be con-
trolled by, or the functions of which should be exercised
by, the Department of Education, and all such offices,
bureaus, divisions, boards, or branches of the Government
so transferred by the President or by act of Congress,
shall thereafter be administered by the Department of
Education, as hereinafter provided.
All officers, clerks, and employees employed in or by
any office, bureau, division, board, or branch of the
Government, transferred in accordance with the provi-
sions of this act of the Department of Education, shall
338 APPENDIX C
each and all be transferred to said Department of Educa-
tion at their existing grades and salaries, except where
otherwise provided in this act ; and the office records and
papers on file and pertaining exclusively to the business
of any such office, bureau, division, board, or branch
of the Government so transferred, together with the
furniture and equipment thereof, shall be transferred to
said department.
Sec. 4. That the Secretary of Education shall have
charge, in the buildings or premises occupied by or
assigned to the Department of Education, of the library,
furniture, fixtures, records, and other property used
therein or pertaining thereto, and may expend for rental
of appropriate quarters for the accommodation of the
Department of Education within the District of Colum-
bia, and for the library, furniture, equipment, and all
other incidental expenses, such sums as Congress may
provide from time to time.
All power and authority conferred by law upon or
exercised by the head of any executive department, or
by any administrative board, over any officer, office,
bureau, division, board, or branch, of the Government,
transferred in accordance with the provisions of this
act to the Department of Education, and any and all
business arising therefrom or pertaining thereto, and
all duties performed in connection therewith, shall, after
such transfer, be vested in and exercised by the Secretary
of Education.
APPENDIX C 339
All laws prescribing the work and defining the duties
and powers of the several offices, bureaus, divisions,
boards, or branches of the Government, transferred in
accordance with the provisions of this act to the Depart-
ment of Education, shall, in so far as the same are not in
conflict with the provisions of this act, remain in full
force and effect and be executed by the Secretary of
Education, to whom is hereby granted definite authority
to reorganize the work of any and all of the said offices,
bureaus, divisions, boards, or branches of the Government
so transferred, in such way as will in his judgment best
accomplish the purposes of this act.
Sec. 5. That it shall be the duty of the Department
of Education to conduct studies and investigations in
the field of education and to report thereon. Research
shall be undertaken in (a) illiteracy; (b) immigrant
education; (c) public-school education, and especially
rural education ; (d) physical education, including
health education, recreation and sanitation ; (e) prep-
aration and supply of competent teachers for the public
schools ; and (/) in such other fields as, in the judgment
of the Secretary of Education, may require attention and
study.
In order to carry out the provisions of this section
the Secretary of Education is authorized, in the same
manner as provided for appointments in other depart-
ments, to make appointments, or recommendations of
appointments, of educational attaches to foreign em-
340 APPENDIX C
bassies, and of such investigators and representatives
as may be needed, subject to the appropriations that
have been made or may hereafter be made to any office,
bureau, division, board, or branch of the Government,
transferred in accordance with the provisions of this
act to the Department of Education ; and where appro-
priations have not been made therefor the appropriation
provided in section 6 of this act shall be available.
Sec. 6. That for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921,
and annually thereafter, the sum of $500,000 is hereby
authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to the Department
of Education, for the purpose of paying salaries and con-
ducting investigations and paying all incidental and
traveling expenses and rent where necessary, and for the
purpose of enabling the Department of Education to
carry out the provisions of this act. And all appropria-
tions which have been made and which may hereafter
be made to any office, bureau, division, board, or branch
of the Government, transferred in accordance with the
provisions of this act to the Department of Education,
are hereby continued in full force and effect, and shall
be administered by the Secretary of Education in such
manner as is prescribed by law.
Sec. 7. That in order to encourage the States in the
promotion and support of education, there is hereby
authorized to be appropriated, out of any money in the
Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the fiscal year
APPENDIX C 341
ending June 30, 192 1, and annually thereafter,
$100,000,000, to be apportioned, disbursed, and expended
as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 8. That in order to encourage the States to
remove illiteracy, three-fortieths of the sum authorized
to be appropriated by section 7 of this act shall be used
for the instruction of illiterates ten years of age and over.
Such instruction shall deal with the common-school
branches and the duties of citizenship, and when advis-
able shall prepare for some definite occupation. Said
sum shall be apportioned to the States in the proportions
which their respective illiterate populations of ten
years of age and over, not including foreign-born illit-
erates, bear to such total illiterate population of the
United States, not including outlying possessions,
according to the last preceding census of the United
States.
Sec. 9. That in order to encourage the States in the
Americanization of immigrants, three-fortieths of the
sum authorized to be appropriated by section 7 of this
act shall be used to teach immigrants ten years of age
and over to speak and read the English language and to
understand and appreciate the spirit and purpose of the
American Government and the duties of citizenship in a
free country. The said sum shall be apportioned to the
States in the proportions which their respective foreign-
born populations bear to the total foreign-born popula-
tion of the United States, not including outlying pos-
342 APPENDIX C
sessions, according to the last preceding census of the
United States.
Sec. io. That in order to encourage the States to
equalize educational opportunities, five- tenths of the sum
authorized to be appropriated by section 7 of this act
shall be used in public elementary and secondary schools
for the partial payment of teachers' salaries, for providing
better instruction and extending school terms, especially
in rural schools and schools in sparsely settled localities,
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. The said sum shall be appor-
tioned to the States, one-half in the proportions which
the number of children between the ages of six and
twenty-one of the respective States bears to the total
number of such children in the United States, and one-
half in the proportions which the number of public-
school teachers employed in teaching positions in the
respective States bears to the total number of public-
school teachers so employed in the United States, not
including outlying possessions, said apportionment to
be based upon statistics collected annually by the
Department of Education.
Provided, however, That in order to share in the appor-
tionment provided by this section a State shall establish
and maintain the following requirements unless pre-
vented by constitutional limitations, in which case these
APPENDIX C 343
requirements shall be approximated as nearly as con-
stitutional provisions will permit: (a) a legal school
term of at least twenty-four weeks in each year for the
benefit of all children of school age in such State ; (b) a
compulsory school attendance law requiring all children
between the ages of seven and fourteen to attend some
school for at least twenty-four weeks in each year;
(c) a law requiring that the English language shall be
the basic language of instruction in the common-school
branches in all schools, public and private.
Sec. ii. That in order to encourage the States in the
promotion of physical education, two-tenths of the sum
authorized to be appropriated by section 7 of this act
shall be used for physical education and instruction in
the principles of health and sanitation, and for providing
school nurses, school dental clinics, and otherwise pro-
moting physical and mental welfare. The said sum shall
be apportioned to the States in the proportions which
their respective populations bear to the total population
of the United States, not including outlying possessions,
according to the last preceding census of the United
States.
Sec. 12. That in order to encourage the States in the
preparation of teachers for public-school service, par-
ticularly in rural schools, three- twentieths of the sum
authorized to be appropriated by section 7 of this act
shall be used to provide and extend facilities for the
improvement of teachers already in service and for the
344
APPENDIX C
more adequate preparation of prospective teachers, and
to provide an increased number of trained and compe-
tent 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 said sum shall be appor-
tioned to the States in the proportions which the number
of public-school teachers employed in teaching positions
in the respective States bears to the total number of
public-school teachers so employed in the United States,
not including outlying possessions, said apportionments
to be based on statistics collected annually by the
Department of Education.
Sec. 13. That in order to secure the benefits of the
appropriation authorized in section 7, and of any of the
apportionments made in sections 8, 9, 10, n, and 12 of
this act, a State shall by legislative enactment accept the
provisions of this act and provide for the distribution of
such funds as may be apportioned to said State, and shall
designate the State's chief educational authority, whether
a State superintendent of public instruction, a com-
missioner of education, a State board of education, or
other legally constituted chief educational authority,
to represent said State in the administration of this act,
and such authority so designated shall be recognized
by the Secretary of Education : Provided, That in any
State in which the legislature does not meet in 1920,
the governor of said State, in so far as he may have
APPENDIX C 345
authority so to do, may take such action, temporarily,
as is herein provided to be taken by legislative enactment
in order to secure the benefits of this act, and such
action by the governor shall be recognized by the Secre-
tary of Education for the purposes of this act, when
reported by the chief educational authority designated to
represent said State, until the legislature of said State
shall have met in due course and been in session sixty
days.
In any State accepting the provisions of this act, the
State treasurer shall be designated and appointed as
custodian of all funds received by said State as appor-
tionments under the provisions of this act, to receive
and provide for the proper custody and disbursement
of the same, such disbursements to be made in accordance
with the legal provisions of said State, on warrants duly
drawn by the State's chief educational authority desig-
nated to represent said State in the administration of
this act.
A State may accept the provisions of any one or more
of the respective apportionments authorized in sec-
tions 8, 9, io, ii, and 12 of this act, and may defer the
acceptance of any one or more of said apportionments :
Provided, however, That no money shall be apportioned
to any State from any of the funds provided in sec-
tions 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of this act, unless a sum equally
as large shall be provided by said State, or by local
authorities, or by both, for the same purpose: And
346 APPENDIX C
provided, That the sum or sums provided by a State for
the equalization of educational opportunities, for the
promotion of physical education, and for the preparation
of teachers, shall not be less for any year than the amount
provided for the same purpose for the fiscal year next
preceding the acceptance of the provisions of this act
by said State: And provided further , That no money
apportioned to any State under the provisions of this
act shall be used by any State or local authority, directly
or indirectly, for the purchase, rental, erection, preserva-
tion, or repair of any building or equipment, or for the
purchase or rental of land, or for the payment of debts
or the interest thereon.
Sec. 14. That when a State shall have accepted
the provisions of this act and shall have provided for the
distribution and administration of such funds as may
be apportioned to said State, as herein provided, the
State's chief educational authority designated to repre-
sent said State shall so report in writing to the Secretary
of Education. If such report shows that said State is
prepared to carry out the provisions of this act with
respect to any one or more of the apportionments
authorized in sections 8, 9, 10, n, and 12 of this act,
the Secretary of Education shall apportion to said State
for the fiscal year, or for the remainder of the fiscal year,
as the case may be, such funds as said State may be
entitled to receive under the provisions of this act, and
shall certify such apportionment or apportionments to
APPENDIX C 347
the Secretary of the Treasury : Provided, That this act
shall not be construed to require uniformity of plans,
means, or methods in the several States in order to secure
the benefits herein provided, except as specifically stated
herein : And provided further, That all the educational
facilities encouraged 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 authority
in relation thereto except as herein provided to insure
that all funds apportioned to said State shall be used for
the purposes for which they are appropriated, and in
accordance with the provisions of this act accepted
by said State.
Sec. 15. That the Secretary of Education is author-
ized to prescribe plans for keeping accounts of the ex-
penditures of such funds as may be apportioned to the
States under the provisions of this act, and to audit such
accounts. The Secretary of Education may withhold
the apportionment or apportionments of any State for
the next ensuing fiscal year whenever he shall determine
that such apportionment or apportionments made to
said State for the current fiscal year are not being ex-
pended in accordance with the provisions of this act:
Provided, however, That before withholding any such
apportionment from any State, as herein provided, the
Secretary of Education shall give due notice in writing
348 APPENDIX C
to the chief educational authority designated to represent
said State, stating specifically wherein said State fails
to comply with the provisions of this act.
If any portion of the money received by the treasurer
of a State under the provisions of this act for any of the
purposes herein provided shall, by action or contingency,
be diminished or lost, the same shall be replaced by said
State, and until so replaced no subsequent apportionment
for such purpose shall be paid to said State. If any part
of the funds apportioned annually to any State for any
of the purposes named in sections 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of
this act has not been expended for such purpose, a sum
equal to such unexpended part shall be deducted from
the next succeeding annual apportionment made to
said State for such purpose.
Sec. 16. That the Secretary of the Treasury is
hereby authorized and directed to pay quarterly, on the
1st day of July, October, January and April, to the
treasury of any State designated to receive such funds,
such apportionment or apportionments as are properly
certified to him by the Secretary of Education, and he
shall discontinue such payments when notified so to
do by the Secretary of Education, as provided in this
act.
Sec. 17. That the chief educational authority desig-
nated to represent any State receiving the benefits of this
act, shall, not later than September 1 of each year, make
a report to the Secretary of Education showing the work
APPENDIX C 349
done in said State in carrying out the provisions of this
act, and the receipts and expenditures of money ap-
portioned to said State under the provisions of this act.
If the chief educational authority designated to represent
any State shall fail to report as herein provided, the
Secretary of Education shall notify the Secretary of the
Treasury to discontinue the payment of all apportion-
ments to said State until such report shall have been
made.
Sec. 18. That the Secretary of Education shall annu-
ally at the close of each fiscal year make a report in
writing to Congress giving an account of all moneys
received and disbursed by the Department of Education,
and describing the work done by the department. He
shall also, not later than December i of each year, make
a report to Congress on the administration of sections 7,
8, 9, 10, n, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 of this act, and
shall include in said report a summary of the reports
made to him by the several States showing the condition
of public education therein, and shall at the same time
make such recommendations to Congress as will, in
his judgment, improve public education in the United
States. He shall also from time to time make such
special investigations and reports as may be required of
him by the President or by Congress.
Sec. 19. That this act shall take effect April 1, 1920,
and all acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed.
APPENDIX D
Non-English Speaking Elements in the
Population
The Census of 1910 shows that of the 12,944,529
foreign-born whites ten years of age or over in the
United States, 2,953,011, or 22.8 per cent of the group,
were unable to speak English. In 1900, there were
1,217,280 foreign-born whites, ten years of age or over,
or 12.2 per cent of the total of 10,014,256. The number
of foreign-born whites unable to speak English increased
from 1,217,280 to 2,953,011 in ten years, — an increase
of 142.6 per cent in a decade. Only seven states had a
population larger than this total. The entire population
of the eight Mountain states ■ — Montana, Idaho,
Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and
Nevada — would have to be increased by the population
of Delaware and by 117,172 to equal the number of
non-English speaking foreign-born whites ten years of
age or over who lived in the United States in 1910.
This group of non-English speaking foreign-born whites,
2,953,011, is 4.12 per cent of the total of 71,580,270
who were ten years of age or over. This means that
more than one in twenty-five of those ten years of age
or over are unable to speak English. Of the foreign-born
whites of this group resident in urban communities 21.9
per cent could not speak English, while 25.2 per cent
of the foreign-born whites resident in rural communities
could not speak English.
350
APPENDIX D
35*
Since the facilities for teaching foreigners to speak
English are available chiefly through the night schools
of the cities, it is well to know that of the total already
mentioned, 2,042,881, or 61.17 per cent, lived in urban
communities and 910,130, or 30.82 per cent, lived in
rural communities. Those living in rural communities
have very little opportunity of learning to speak English.
They remain practically illiterate even though they
learn to speak the little English which their occupation
forces on them, " except in New England and the East
North Central division, the percentage unable to speak
English for foreign-born whites was higher in the rural
population of each division than it was in the urban." *
This is such an important matter that the following
table has been prepared 2 to show the per cent of foreign-
born white population ten years of age and over unable
to speak English in the urban and rural communities of
different divisions of our country.
Per Cent Foreign-born Whites Ten Years of Age and Over
Unable to Speak English and Resident in
Urban Communities Rural Communities
New England . .
Middle Atlantic . .
East North Central
West North Central
South Atlantic . .
East South Central
West South Central
Mountain . . . .
Pacific
14.9
24-5
24.8
14.8
20.2
8.7
3°-9
15.2
9.9
16.2
34-3
19-3
19.1
35-7
18.0
53-9
27.9
19-3
1 Thirteenth Census Reports, Vol. i, p. 1274.
J Made from Table 15, p. 1275, Thirteenth Census Reports, Vol. 1.
352 APPENDIX D
The preceding table shows conclusively that the prob-
lem of Americanization is not exclusively an urban
problem, and hints that possibly the most difficult phases
of it will be found in rural communities, in which the
public-school facilities are so hopelessly inadequate.
It is quite generally known that a great number of
immigrants entered our country from 1900 to 1910,
and quite as generally known that many of these immi-
grants have not learned to speak English. Just how
great is this increase in foreign-born whites unable to
speak English is shown in the table which follows. The
number of foreign-born whites ten years of age and over
and unable to speak English in each division and state
is shown in column one for 1900, for 1 910 in column two.
The increase for the decade is shown in column three and
the per cent of increase is shown in column four. When
we bear in mind that immigration continued unchecked
until 1 91 4 and that very little has been done to teach
foreigners to speak English except in the night schools
of our cities, it becomes evident that the language aspect
of Americanization is as vast as it is important.
Foreign-born White Population Ten Years of Age and Over
Unable to Speak English in 1900, 19 10, the Increase, and
the Per Cent of Increase 1
Number
in
1900
Number
in
1910
Increase
from 1900
to 1910
Per Cent
of
Increase
Continental United Slates:
North Atlantic Division
North Central Division
South Atlantic Division
South Central Division
Western Division . .
1,217,280
585,617
471,418
19,518
85,661
55,o66
2,953,on
1,544,588
968,581
71,389
158,011
210,442
i,735,73i
958,97i
497,163
51,871
72,350
155,376
142.6
163.7
105.4
26s. 7
84.4
282.1
North Atlantic Division:
New Hampshire . . .
Massachusetts . . .
Rhode Island ....
Connecticut ....
New Jersey ....
Pennsylvania ....
13,919
17,107
3,921
76,637
17,029
26,816
220,306
48,709
161,173
19,589
26,783
8,342
171,014
36,961
64,201
597,012
153,861
466,825
5,670
9,676
4,421
94,377
19,932
37,385
376,706
105.152
305,652
40.7
56.S
112. 7
123. 1
117.0
139-4
170.9
215.8
189.6
North Central Division : .
North Dakota . . .
South Dakota . . .
51,752
n,339
103,301
49,342
86,797
68,894
25,544
I4,5H
18,082
13,104
17,908
10,844
163,722
40,731
266,557
102,286
120,665
89,850
37,169
37,747
33.491
18,486
29,519
28,358
111,970
29,392
163,256
52,944
33,868
20,956
11,625
23,236
15,409
5,382
11,611
1/014
216.3
259.2
158.0
107.3
39o
30.4
45-5
1 60. 1
85.2
41.0
64.8
161. 5
South Atlantic Division:
District of Columbia .
West Virginia ....
North Carolina . . .
South Carolina . . .
1,529
7,520
254
827
3,6l2
123
52
177
5,424
4,824
17,544
1,349
3,983
27,461
779
447
953
14,049
3,295
10,024
1,095
3,156
23,849
656
395
776
8,625
215-5
133-3
43I-I
381.6
660.2
533-3
759-6
438.4
I59-0
South Central Division:
Mississippi ....
Louisiana
Texas
1,850
675
759
334
877
7,8i7
1,718
71,631
3,816
1,648
3,028
i,49i
2,741
11,547
7,975
125,765
1,966
973
2,269
1,157
1,864
3,730
6,257
54,134
106.2
1441
298.9
346-4
212.5
47-7
364.2
755
Western Division:
Wyoming
New Mexico ....
Utah
Nevada
Washington ....
California
3,109
921
1,962
6,429
5.478
9,775
2,208
477
3,8l5
2,oR 7
18,805
I3,7i8
S,8os
5,970
22,610
11,776
25,072
8,129
3,557
25,568
13,5^1
74,7o6
10,609
4,884
4,008
16,181
6,298
15,297
5,921
3,o8o
21,753
n.444
5S,9oi
341-2
530-2
204.2
251-7
II4-9
156.5
268.1
645.7
S70.I
548.3
297-2
1 From Table 18, Thirteenth Census Reports, Vol. i, p. 1277.
2 A 353
INDEX
Ability to speak English: not a test
of literacy, 167.
Abstract of the Census (1910) : quoted,
145, 146, 148, 149, 156-157, 160-
161, 166, 167, 191, 192, 193, 203,
3Si. 353-
Act of July 23, 1787, 35-36.
Act of 1785, 16; 28; 29; 33.
Act : Adams, 79 ; Hatch, 76-77 ;
Morrill, 69-73; 77~78; 78-79;
Nelson, 79; of July 23, 1787: 35-
36; of 1785, 16, 28, 29, 53; Smith-
Hughes, 97-100; Smith-Lever, 79-
80; Surplus Revenue, 55-60; of
1841, 60-61.
Adams Act of 1906, 79.
Administration, machinery of: ob-
jectionable to teachers, 231-232.
Alabama: malaria in, 174; typhoid
fever in, 174; hookworm in, 177;
diseases among school children in,
177; educational conditions in, 222-
225; diagram comparing rural and
urban children by age-grade dis-
tribution in, 274.
Alabama Survey, 174, 177.
Aliens, 121-123.
"Alien Islands," 201.
Allotments of Smith-Towner Bill : for
removal of illiteracy, 152-153; for
Americanization, 171-172; for equal-
izing educational opportunities, 276;
for establishing health programs,
181-182.
Amendment, Sixteenth, 314.
Americanization, 162 ff; problem of,
doubled in ten years, 168; must be
solved by the states, 168; Congress
should stimulate states to under-
take effective programs of, 169;
details of should be left to the states,
169-170.
A more perfect union : dependent on
public education, 206.
Analogy : between state boards and
national executive departments,
faulty, 304-306; between voca-
tional education and the Smith-
Towner Bill, faulty, 305-306.
Annapolis, genesis of, 92.
Armstrong, General : organized Hamp-
ton Institute, 85.
Army Engineer School, 91.
Army tests and literacy, 196.
Army War College, 91.
Arrested development, 97.
Athens, Ohio University, established
at, 38; grant for, 38.
Atherton, G. W. : quoted on relation
of general government to education,
109-110; for Federal Aid, 109-110.
Attitude of public toward teaching,
212-219.
Bankhead, Representative W. B.,
135-
Bill: Fess, 118; Burkett-Pollard, 116;
Lane : 135-141 ; objection to, 139-
141 ; inadequate, 141 ; faulty, 139-
141 ; Owen Educational, 134-135 ;
by Senator Blair, 115; Smith-
Towner : introduced in Congress,
142 ; general provisions of, 142-143 ;
text of, 336-349; Blair Bill of 1887,
US-
Blair, Senator: for Federal aid for
the removal of illiteracy, 112; be-
fore the Department of Superin-
tendence, N. E. A., 115.
Board of Education (Federal) : cannot
take place of Secretary of Education,
300-306.
Board, Southern Education, 144.
Bourne, R. G., quoted on Surplus
Revenue Act of 1837, 60.
Buchanan, James P., vetoed Morrill
Bill, 68-69.
Bureau of Education, 86-90; estab-
lished as a Department in 1867, 87;
made a Bureau in 1869, 87; de-
fects of, 88-89; excellent work of,
88-89 ; leadership, 88 ; meager sup-
355
356
INDEX
port of, 8g-go; approved by
N. E. A., 118; expansion into a
Department, no; in Owen Bill,
134-135-
Burkett-Pollard Bill, 116.
Cash and land indemnity grants, 335.
Chart: showing comparison of
teachers' salaries and wages in
other occupations, 214.
Children: once regarded as property
of parents, 264.
Claflin University, founded, 85.
Coast Artillery School, gi.
Coffman, L. D., quoted on composition
of teaching population, 215.
Colleges: colonial, 11-12.
Colleges of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts: House Committee report on
in 1875, 112; established, 6g. (See
"Land-Grant" Colleges.)
Common Defense: dependent on
public education, 205.
Common Schools: fundamental prob-
lem of, 281. (See Public Schools and
Schools.)
Communities: cannot solve educa-
tional problems alone, 312.
Community : boundaries of widened, 3.
Congress: has no right to control
education in the states, 3og ; has
the right to promote education in
the states, 300-310; summary of
its grants in aid of education, 3og-
310; has made grants rather than
subventions, 310-31 1; has always
been interested in the development
of public education, 313 ; since 1862,
has been interested in vocational
education, 313; how is it to get
money for aiding education in the
states? 313-314-
Connecticut: Western Reserve in
Ohio, 24-25 ; grant of one township
to, by Congress, in i8ig, for educa-
tion of deaf and dumb persons, 63 ;
school fund of, 242.
Constitution : its silence on education
explained, 34; the General Welfare
clause, 34 ; provisions that included
Federal aid to education, 40 ; educa-
tional inferences, 41 ; Tenth Amend-
ment to, 40; gives no control over
public education in the states to
Congress, 41.
Constitutional Convention of 1787, 3g-
40 ; Madison's educational proposals,
3g; National university, 3g; agree-
ment concerning, 40; visited by
Rev. Manasseh Cutler, 3g.
Continuation Schools: purpose of, in
Germany, 132 (footnote).
Cornell, Ezra: secured endowment
for New York's "Land-Grant"
College, 74.
Cubberley and Elliott: table showing
specific land grants quoted from, 52.
Cubberley, E. P., quoted on principles
of state taxation, 241.
Curry, J. L. M., quoted on function
of government in education, 114.
Cutler, Rev. Manasseh, 35, 36 £T ;
letter of, quoted, 37 ; Poole, W. F.,
quoted, concerning, 37~38.
Democracy : fundamental characteris-
tic of, 280 ; fundamental educational
problem of, 281.
Department of Education : argument
for, 2g2-3o8; domination from
Washington, in educational matters,
impossible, 2g3 ; how created and
organized, 2g3-2g4; precedent for,
2g4-2gs ; to secure leadership, not
control, 2gs; necessary to prepare
educational budget for Congress,
2g5-2g6 ; needed to integrate present
educational work of Federal Govern-
ment, 2g6-2g7 ; needed to coordinate
and integrate educational forces of
the nation, 2g7~2g8; needed for
educational leadership, 2g8-2gg ;
needed for solution of international
educational problems, 2gg-3oo ;
needed to give to education status,
dignity, and influence it should
have, 300-301 ; and politics, 306-
307 ; not a step toward national
control, 307-308.
Diagram : showing percentages of chil-
dren of normal age-grade in rural
and urban schools of Alabama, 274 ;
showing comparative death rates,
urban and rural, ig8; showing
health defects of school children,
igg; showing amount of money
INDEX
357
behind each child for school pur-
poses in is counties in Pennsylvania,
255 1 showing variation in rate of
assessment and in tax rates for school
purposes in 15 counties in Pennsyl-
vania, 255.
"Direct War Tax" of 1861 : returned
to states in i8gi, 62.
Diseases among school children, in
Alabama, 177.
Distribution of school funds: on basis
of need, 260 ; present plan of, wholly
inadequate to present needs, 261-
262 ; origin of present plan, 261-
262 ; on basis of aggregate days, 262 ;
on basis of teacher, 262 ; present
plans of, are intrenched, 263 ; should
create a "square deal" educationally,
263.
Distribution of school funds on basis
of need, 260.
Distributive Act of 1841, 60-61 ; pro-
visions of, 60-61 ; proceeds applied
to education in District of Columbia,
61 ; related to grants of land for
internal improvements, 61-62, foot-
note. (See Surplus Revenue Act.)
District system : outgrowth of theory
of local self government, 9.
Domestic tranquillity: dependent on
public education, 206.
Domination from Washington: im-
possible, 304.
Donaldson: author of The Public
Domain, quoted on distribution of
money under act of 1841, 61.
Education, Bureau of, 86-90; ap-
proved by N. E. A., 118; expansion
into a Department, 119. (See
Bureau of Education and Depart-
ment of Education.)
Education : controlled by Congress
in territories, Porto Rico, Hawaii,
the Philippines, and in the District
of Columbia, 93 ; control of, in the
states, 106 ; control of, by Congress,
impossible and undesirable, 106 ;
in remote districts, of national
significance, 124; a national neces-
sity, 264; parents' responsibility for
of children, 264; is complex and,
multiple, 265 ; national interest in,
265; reserved to the states by the
Tenth Amendment, 265-266; may
be promoted by the Federal Govern-
ment, 265-266; development of, in
states, stimulated by national grants,
28S.
Education of foreign-born: neglected,
165-166.
Educational Opportunities, Equaliza-
tion of: need for, 125; equalization
of, 240-277 ; and social justice, 240 ;
does not exist in any state, 247-248 ;
meaning of, 248 ; movement toward,
249; impossible without equally
well prepared teachers for every
school, 249; lack of, revealed by
war, 249 ; relation of assessment
rates to, 218; cannot be brought
about by higher rates of taxation,
258; impossible without a state
tax commission, or similar body,
218; demands on financial side,
260; demands on educational side,
261 ; in Smith-Towner Bill, 272-
273 ; effort and need are factors in,
273 ; funds for by Smith-Towner
Bill, 275 ; distribution of funds for,
276; right of the Federal Govern-
ment, 266.
Eliot, Dr. Charles: quoted, 108-109;
against Federal aid, 108-iog ; against
a National University, in.
English: inability to speak among
foreign-born, 167-168.
Evenden, E. S., quoted on teachers'
salaries, 214.
Factory plan of school administration,
231-232; evil effects of, in schools,
232-233 ; how to overcome, 234.
Fanner, A. N., quoted on qualifica-
tions of teachers in Wisconsin, 226-
227.
"Farmers' High School," 65.
Farmers' Institutes: provided for by
Congress, 80.
Federal Aid to Education and the
N. E. A., 107-119.
Federal aid to education: Lot No. 16,
16; 22-34; Fi ve P er cent lun d s >
53-55 ; salt lands, 45~46 ; swamp
lands, 48-50; university grants,
35-44; discussed in Constitutional
358
INDEX
Convention of 1787, 30-41 ; internal
improvement lands, 46-48; specific
land grants, 51-52; money grants,
53-63; Hatch Act of 1887, 76-77;
second Morrill Act, 77-78; does
not pauperize the states, 81 ; voca-
tional, 94-100; Smith-Hughes Act,
97-100; principles embodied in
various acts of Congress granting,
101-106; for public schools, 101-
102 ; for colleges and state universi-
ties, 102-103 ; for educational and
welfare work, 103; for preparation
of vocational teachers, 103-104 ; for
collection and spread of information
relating to education, 104; for
purely national ends, 105 ; for ed-
ucation of Indians and other wards,
105; opposed by the endowed
colleges, 117; to stimulate the
states, 119; needed particularly
in post-war days, 290; 292.
Federal Board for Vocational Educa-
tion: duties of, 97-100; appropria-
tions for use of, 98 ; type of, not
suited to purposes of Smith-Towner
Bill, 305.
Federal Control of Education : im-
possible, 90; by contract with the
states, of doubtful validity, 154.
Federal Government : not qualified to
undertake programs of Americaniza-
tion, 170.
Female Colleges, 113.
Fess Bill, 118.
Fisk University, established, 85.
Five per cent funds, 53-55 ; to Cali-
fornia, 43..
Foreign-born: under the sanction of
Federal law, 164 ; theory of ad-
mission of, 164; education of,
neglected, 165-166; increase of,
since 1S60, 166; shift in origin of,
167; table showing distribution of
by states and divisions, 171-172.
Foreign-born illiterates, 162-163; do
not fit into our social life, 163.
Foreign-language press, 162-163.
Fort Monroe, school at, 91.
Free public schools: relation of to
democracy, 32-33 ; to the develop-
ment of the Middle West, 34.
Freedmen's Bureau, 83-86 ; created in
1865/84; educational work of, 84-
85 ; discontinued, 86.
Garfield, James A., speech of, 87-88.
Gospel and school lot: in New York,
19-20; in Ohio, 20-21.
Grant, defined, 310.
Grants of land to states : tabular state-
ment showing grants to separate
states and for specific purposes
within each state, 325-333.
Hampton Normal and Agricultural
Institute, established, 85.
Harper, President : report on National
University, 117.
"Hatch Act," 76-77.
Hawkins, Dexter A., need of federal
aid, 114.
Health Defects: largely remedial, 173.
Health education, 173 fi. ; necessity
for, 126; in cities and country, 197-
200; diagram comparing, in cities
and country, 199.
Health programs: need for nation-
wide, 178; desirable results from,
179; and the Smith-Towner Bill,
178-179; administration of, left to
states by the Smith-Towner Bill,
180; nation-wide would stimulate
states to action, 180-181.
High School, the American: its rapid
growth, 132; and military needs,
132.
Hoar, Senator, on plans for removing
illiteracy, 75-76.
Hookworm, in Alabama, 177.
Howard University, established, 85.
Illiteracy: work for removal of, by
churches, 144 ; present status,
144 ff. ; rate of decrease, 145-146;
how it is removed, 146-147; educa-
tional problems involved in, 147 ;
how deal with through the schools,
147-148; removal of, primarily a
public-school problem, 148; effect
of, on social conditions, 148; due
to inadequate public-school facilities,
150; not due to the individual, 150;
revealed by the draft, 150; problem
of, before Congress for fifty years,
155; among the foreign-born, 159,
INDEX
359
160-161 ; primarily a rural problem,
192 ; due to inadequate educational
facilities, 194; more prevalent
among native-born in rural com-
munities than among children of
immigrants in cities, 194-195; a
rural problem, 195 ; army tests
revealed "near illiteracy," ig6.
Illiterates: totals, thirty years, 145;
white only, 145 ; native-white, 145 ;
negro, 146 ; definition of, 147 ; table
showing distribution of negro and
native-white, 149; age groupings
of, 149 ; table showing distribution
by divisions and states, by numbers
and per cents, 1 51-15 2; table show-
ing distribution of Smith-Towner
Bill funds for removal of by divisions
and states, 152-153 ; classes of in
1900 and 1 9 10, compared by states
and divisions, 156-157; state and
divisional distribution of foreign-
born in 1900 and 1910, 160-161;
foreign-born, 162 ; triple problem in
Americanizing foreign-born, 162;
proportion of in rural and urban
communities, 191 ; number of, in
rural and urban communities, 192 ;
more prevalent in rural than in
urban communities, 192.
Immigrants: change in character of,
167 ; over ten years of age, 167.
Income : not determined by place of
residence, 316.
Income tax : bulk of Federal income,
314; based on ability to pay, 315;
amendment authorizing, 314; pro-
posed as source of moneys allotted
by Smith-Towner Bill, 315-316;
argument for, as source of revenue for
educational purposes, 320-322.
Indian education, provided for by
Congress, 00.
"Industrial Movement," 65-69; edu-
cational fruits of, 65; related to
founding of "Land-Grant" Colleges,
81 ; demanded work of less than
college grade, 94 _ Q5-
Inefficiency of schools, 236-237.
Interdependence, economic, 275, 277.
Interior, Department of : related to
alienism and illiteracy, 135.
Interior, Secretary of, 139; not quali-
fied to act as Secretary of Education,
139-
Internal Improvement Grants, 46-48.
Irreducible debt : in Ohio, in exchange
for the public school fund, 27.
Jefferson's plan of 1784, 20.
Johnston, Henry, quoted on waste of
school lands, 32.
Justice, dependent on public education,
206.
Kandel, I. F., quoted on federal aid
for vocational education, 79.
Land Act of 1785: provisions of, 16;
extended to Louisiana Purchase, 28;
not applicable to original states, 29 ;
significance of, 33.
"Land-Grant" Colleges: genesis of,
64-82 ; early difficulties of, 75 ;
President McCosh, regarding, 108;
investigation by Congress, in 1875,
76, ii2 ; endowment for, sought, 75 ;
Justin S. Morrill, efforts of, in 1872
to get funds for, 75 ; experiment
stations established at, 76-77; agri-
cultural extension in, 80; growth
of, 80; related to "Industrial Move-
ment," 81 ; income of, in 1915-
1916, 81.
Land grant funds: not always wisely
used, 44.
Land grants, private: for support of
schools, in Virginia, 17; in New
Haven, 18.
Land grants, public : for support of
schools, in Boston, 18; in Dorches-
ter, 18; in Connecticut, 18-19; in
Massachusetts, 18-20; in Georgia,
19; in New York, 19-20; wasted,
22; waste probably necessary to
working out a clear policy, 22; in
aid of state universities, 35, 41 ;
saline lands, 45 ; saline lands to
Ohio, 45 ; saline lands to Indiana,
45 ; saline lands, intention of Con-
gress, regarding, 45 ; saline lands,
disposition of by the states, 45-46;
saline lands, table of, 46; thought
of little value, 46; for internal im-
provements, 46-48 ; for internal im-
provements in 1841, 46-47; for
360
INDEX
internal improvements, table of, 47 ;
for internal improvements, use of
proceeds, 47-48; for internal im-
provements, used for educational
purposes without authority, 48;
swamp lands, 48-50; swamp lands,
origin of grants, 49; swamp lands,
to Louisiana, 49; swamp lands, to
other states, 49 ; swamp lands, table
of, 50; swamp lands, disposal of,
by states, 50; specific grants, dating
from 1889, 51 ; specific grants, table
of, 52; to states, for colleges of
agriculture and mechanic arts, 64-
76 ; objected to by original states,
65-66.
Land grants to state universities :
genesis of the policy, 42 ; table show-
ing various, 43 ; special, to Utah, 43.
Lane, Secretary F. K., author of bill
for removal of illiteracy and Ameri-
canization of aliens, 135.
Lawrence County, Pa., educational,
wealth, and taxation facts regard-
ing, 259.
Leadership in education : 279-280.
Lincoln, Abraham: signed Morrill
Bill, 69.
Literacy, limited, 195-197.
Lot No. 16: set aside for the main-
tenance of public schools, 16;
genesis of plan, 16-17; conditions
of grant to Ohio, 23-24 ; in Ohio,
equivalent of, 25 ; Ohio made
trustee for, 25-26; disposal of in
Ohio, 26 ; proceeds made into a
fund, 27; granted to townships, 27;
granted to states, 27 ; school funds
from sale of, 27 ; states receiving,
table of, 28; mismanagement of
funds from disposal of, 31-32;
national sanction of public school
involved in grant of, 32.
Lots No. 16 and No. 36: set aside for
schools in Oregon Territory, 29 ;
states receiving, table of, 29.
McCosh, Dr., quoted on Upper Schools,
107-108; on Federal aid, 107-108.
Maine : claim against Federal Govern-
ment, 62.
Malaria, in Alabama, 174.
Mayo, A. D., on need of federal aid, 1 14.
Miami University, Oxford, Ohio:
founded on Federal land grant to
the Symmes Company, 41.
Millage taxes: theory of, 246; prin-
ciples controlling, 246; unrealized
implication of, 246-247; and equal-
ity of educational opportunity, 247.
Mills, Roger Q. : Bill for female
colleges, 113.
Money grants, 53-63; five per cent
funds, 53-55 ; five per cent funds,
table of, showing use of, 54 ; surplus
revenue act, 55-60 ; surplus revenue
act, tabular statement showing dis-
position of by states, 55, 57-60;
distributive act of 1841, 60-61 ;
forest reserve proceeds, 62; minor
grants, 62-63.
Monroe, James, of Ohio: moved to
investigate the "Land-Grant" Col-
leges, 76.
Morgan, John T., Senator, on female
colleges, 113.
Morrill Act of 1862: introduced in
December, 1861, 6g; signed by
President Lincoln, 69 ; provisions
of, 69-7 2 ; aggregate of land given
by, 72; table showing distribution
of land to states and dates of open-
ing of colleges, 73.
Morrill Act of 1899, 78-79.
Morrill Act of 1890, 77-78.
Morrill Bill of 1857 : history of, 67-69;
vetoed by President Buchanan, 68-
69 ; opposed by the South, 68.
Morrill, Justin S., 66-67 ; efforts of
in 1872 to get funds for "Land-
Grant" Colleges, 75.
Mortality statistics : quoted, 198.
National aid to public education :
older than the Constitution, 5-6;
needed in the present crisis, 7 ; need
for in inverse ratio to wealth, 316.
National colleges: contemplated by
Senator Morrill, 78.
National influence, growth of, 1.
National interest : outgrowth of nation-
wide needs, 2 ; not opposed to local
self-government, 2-3.
National safety : dependent on im-
proved rural schools, 205.
National schools, 90-93.
INDEX
361
National service schools, 91.
National University : N. E. A. reports,
favoring, 117-118; need for, 119.
Naval Academy, established, 92.
Naval Training Stations, appropria-
tions for, 92.
Naval War College, appropriation for,
92.
N. E. A. : Emergency Commission of,
129; and Smith-Towner Bill, 129-
130; and federal aid to education,
107-119.
Nebraska : status of rural teachers in,
225-226.
Nelson Act of 1907, 79.
Non-English speaking elements in the
population, 350-353 ; increase of,
from 1900-1910, 353.
Normal Schools: and teachers, 238-
239 ; and the Nation, 239 ; must be
improved, 281 ; parallel public
opinion of teaching, 281-282 ; should
be the best among higher schools,
281 ; the least attractive of all pro-
fessional schools, 282 ; have been
meagerly supported, 282 ; present
resources doubled by Smith-Towner
Bill, 284 ; should expand and recon-
struct curricula, 284-285 ; improved
personnel needed, 285 ; relation of
salaries of teachers to growth of.
285 ; might adopt West Point policy,
286-288; necessity for, recognized
by the states, 289 ; private, 289.
Northwest Territory : controversy re-
garding, 14-15; Act of 1780, re-
garding, 15 ; claims to, given up, 15-
16.
Ohio Company : first purchaser of land
from the federal government, 35, 38.
Oklahoma, land grants to, 31 ; money
grants to, 31 ; grant of $5,000,000 to
in 1906, 63.
Ordinance of 1787, 20.
Owen, Senator: educational bill, 134-
135-
Parents: right of to educate children,
148.
Pauper-school idea : combated by New
Jersey, 277.
Peabody Fund, established, 85.
Pennsylvania : qualifications cf
teachers in, 228; diagrams showing
wealth and taxation facts in certain
counties of, 255; educational, wealth,
and taxation facts of, (table) 256-257.
Permanent school fund : created in
Connecticut, 19.
Physical defects: prevalent in rural
districts, 197-198; diagram showing
prevalence of, 198; revealed by the
war, 125-126; national loss from,
126.
Physical fitness, 178.
Population : of school age in different
divisions and states, 291 ; increase
of, demands 12,000 additional
teachers each year, 290; non-
English speaking elements in the,
350-353 ; non-English speaking, in
rural and urban communities, 351.
"Practical," demand for, 94-96.
Preamble to the Constitution : means
national aid to public education,
205-207.
Preparedness : impossible without ade-
quate public schools, 205-206.
Promotion of general welfare : depend-
ent on public education, 206.
Provost Marshal General's Report,
174; details of, 175-176.
Public Domain : practically exhausted,
3"-
Public Education: must be paid for
largely out of current funds, 312;
way to insure increasing effective-
ness of, 312.
Public Lands Sales Fund: decreasing
and inadequate for support of " Land-
Grant" Colleges, 78.
Public Schools: effective agents for
publicity during the war, 127-128;
effective agents for aiding war
measures, 128; and civilian morale,
128; appreciation of by President
Wilson, 128; development of, in
the South, 144. (See Schools.)
Randolph, quoted on wisdom of land
grants, 44.
Rate bill-: defined, 9; table of, 10.
rea, defined, 177.
Rural school standards: depress
teacher standards, 212-213.
362
INDEX
Salt Lands, 45-46.
Schools, Colonial, not free, 9; planta-
tion, 1 1 ; early, in Pennsylvania, 1 1 ;
religious sanction for, 1 2 ; secular
sanction for, 12; at the close of the
revolutionary period, 13.
Schools : defects of, revealed by War.
4; poorest, where best ought to be
124; rural and village, are weak
184; rural, problems of, are most
difficult and most important, 185
what are included in, 18s ; aggregate
size of, 185 ; national significance of
185-186; rural, difficulties of, 186
necessary expenses of conducting
186-187 ; wealth resources of, small
187 ; individualism of farmer affects
187-188; difficulty of securing good
teaching in, 189; disciplinary
troubles in, 189-190; lack of super-
vision in, 190; rural, responsibility
of, for illiteracy, 191 ; rural, failed
to reach children as Nation's needs
demand, 194 ; rural, have responsi-
bility for Americanization, 201-202 ;
rural, enrollment of, chiefly in lower
grades, 202-203 ; attainment of,
below the general average, 204;
rural and urban compared, 204;
rural, better, a national responsi-
bility, 204-207 ; rural, problem of,
demands prepared teachers, 209;
poorest, in poorest communities,
272; fundamental problem of, 281.
School Funds : origin of, in states, 241-
242 ; justification of, 241-242 ; dis-
tribution of, 242-243 ; state con-
stitutional provisions concerning,
243 ; really a subsidy, 243 ; in
different states, (table) 244-245.
School inefficiency, 236-237.
Second Morrill Act, 77-78.
Secretary of Education : provided for,
in Owen Bill, 134; provided for
by Smith-Towner Bill, 301-303 ;
powers of, 301-303 ; to be educa-
tional leader rather than executive,
302-304 ; and politics, 306-307.
Shortage of teachers : meaning of, 230-
231.
Sixteenth Amendment : income tax,
266-267 I 314-
Slater Fund, established, 85.
Smith, Senator Hoke: introduced
educational bills, 135, 142. ^
Smith-Hughes Act, 97-100; approved,
97; precedents set by, 99-100.
Smith-Hughes Bill : indorsed by
N. E. A., 116-117.
Smith-Lever Act, 79-80.
Smith-Towner Bill : introduced in
Congress, 142 ; general provisions
of, 142-143 ; distribution of funds
to states for removal of illiteracy,
151-152; not prescriptive as to
methods or devices for the removal
of illiteracy, 153 ; how its provisions
would operate in removing illiteracy,
i53 -I 54; and Americanization, 168-
169; stimulates the states, 168;
provisions regarding health educa-
tion, 179-180; provisions of, relative
to equalization of educational oppor-
tunities, 270, 272-273; provisions
of for preparation of teachers, 283-
284; provisions of, regarding secre-
tary of education, 301-303 ; com-
plete text of, 336-349.
Smithsonian Institution, supported by
U. S. A., 93-
South: education in, at close of Civil
War, 83-84.
Southern Education Board, work of,
144.
Specific Grants, 51-52.
State Funds: distribution of, in
Pennsylvania, does not equalize
local tax rates, 254.
State Taxes: for support of schools,
(table) 244-245; distribution of,
246 ; theory of, 246 ; distribution to
counties does not equalize local
rates or educational opportunities,
251 ; actually lower local rates, 251.
State universities: early ones did not
meet the needs of pioneers, 64-65.
States : cannot solve educational prob-
lems alone, 312-313; are interde-
pendent economically, 319; are
interdependent educationally, 310-
320.
States not receiving Federal land
grants in aid of public education,
20-30; Vermont, 30; Maine, 30;
West Virginia, 30; Texas, 30;
Tennessee, 30.
INDEX
363
Statistics, Mortality, quoted, 198.
Straight University, established, 85.
Student interpreters: trained at gov-
ernment expense, 93.
Subsidies for teachers in training, 287.
Subvention, defined, 310.
Surgeon General's Report, 173-174.
Surplus Revenue Act, 55-591 really a
deposit of funds with the states, 56 ;
table showing distribution to the
states and uses by the several states,
57-60.
Swamp Lands: granted to states, 48-
50; 334-
Swift, F. H., quoted on permanent
common school funds, 54, 57-60,
243-
Tax for support of schools : made
compulsory, 10; in Connecticut
Colony, 10; grew out of funds
derived from Lot No. 16.
Tax rates: in Pennsylvania counties,
254-
Taxable Wealth: variations in, 269;
(and table on page 268).
Taxation for public schools: estab-
lished with difficulty, 240-241 ;
followed precedent State School
Funds, 242.
Taxes : Federal, 266.
Teachers: shortage of, due to War,
4-5; the soul and substance of
every school, 208; need to acquire
technique, 208 ; immature and un-
trained, 208-212; born and made,
209 ; prerequisites of becoming, 208-
209 ; preparation of, necessary, 209 ;
prepared, necessary in rural schools,
209 ; rural school, characteristics of,
210-211; transient in service, 211;
tenure of, 211; prepared, needed,
21 1 ; should be chosen from best
talent, 211; described, 219-222;
pictures of, 219-222; number of,
220; educational equipment of, 220-
221; experience of, 22 1 ; in Alabama,
222-225; rural, in Nebraska, 225-
226; qualifications of, in Wisconsin,
226-227 ; qualifications of, in Penn-
sylvania, 228; present shortage of,
229-231; and normal schools, 238-
239; key to equalizing educational
opportunities, 249 ; necessary to save
what we gained in the war, 279;
remedy for present situation regard-
ing, 279; national servants, 279;
preparation of, in Smith-Towner
Bill, 282-284 ; recruited from middle
class, 288; number of, in different
states, 2gi ; tendency to lower stand-
ards for, 290, 292.
Teaching: a casual and temporary
occupation, 126; average salary for,
127; regarded by public as a part-
time occupation, 213 ; is a transitory
occupation, 213-214; a source of
pin money, 213 ; traditional attitude
toward, 213-214; a temporary em-
ployment for "home girls," 215;
open to graduates of the home school,
215 ; not usually open to married
women, 215-216; not attractive to
those who ought to enter it, 216;
meager compensation for, 213-216;
present crisis in, 216-217; does not
compete with other callings open to
youth, 217-218; classes now pre-
paring for, 218-219; personnel of
force, 210-222.
Teaching profession : status of, is low,
184-185.
Textbook: why so important in our
public schools, 231.
Third Morrill Act, 78-70-
Town meeting: educational signifi-
cance of, 8-9.
Towner, Representative H. M., intro-
duced Smith-Towner Bill in House,
142.
Typhoid fever, in Alabama, 174.
Updegraff, H. D., quoted on equaliza-
tion, 255.
Upper Schools: plan for by Dr.
McCosh, 107-108.
Utah, grant of land to, 31.
Van Hise, President: report on
National University, 118.
Vermont : Spanish-American War
claims, 62-63.
Virginia: reservation of land in Ohio
as bounty for revolutionary troops,
is-
Vocational Education : 94-100.
364
INDEX
Wages and the War, 123-124.
War: reveals defects in educational
system, 120; and education, in
England, 120; modern, and illit-
erates, 121 ; and non-English speak-
ing aliens, 121-123; as related to
the support of education, 123-124;
and physical defects, 125-126.
War and wages, 123-124.
Washington County, Pa., taxation
facts regarding, (table) 260.
Wayland Seminary, established, 85.
Weakest Links, 184-239.
Wealth : taxable, in the counties of
Wisconsin, for each person, 252-253 ;
for each child of school age, 252-253 ;
variations in taxable, 268-269; re-
lated to population and school popu-
lation, by divisions and states, 270-
271 ; not a matter of state lines,
318; due to reciprocal relations, 318-
319; of U. S. by sections, (map) 267.
West Point, established, 91.
West Point policy : applied to normal
schools, 286-288.
White, Emerson E., and Bureau of
Education, 87.
Wilson, President: letter to public
school teachers, 128.
Winship, A. E., resolution in N. E. A.
by, in 1884, 114.
Wisconsin : qualifications of teachers
in, 226-227; educational and wealth
facts concerning counties of, 252-253.
Wood, T. D., quoted on health defects,
198.
World War: revealed teaching as a
casual and temporary occupation,
126-127 ! revealed strength of public
school system, 130-133 ; rapid prep-
aration for, facilitated by previous
work of public school system, 131 ;
and high school graduates, 131-
132.
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