iiifiiiili THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES A FORWARD STEP A FORWARD STEP FOR THE DEMOCRACY OF TO-MORROW WILLIAM THUM BOSTON, MASS. die (ZTteentietl) Centttrp Campanp 1910 COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY WILLIAM THUM ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PREFACE This is a book for common people, written by one of their own number. What may appear to be needless repetition of ideas in the book is due to the fact that many of the articles hinge upon the one main purpose of promoting the interests of self-supporting students. The articles were written under the following convictions : — First, that it is of the utmost importance that the average man, especially the laborer, should ap- preciate the value of the future high school. Second, that further ethical, political, and indus- trial progress depends more upon the high schools, greatly increased in number and improved in effi- ciency, than upon any other one thing. Third, that this increase in size and improve- ment in quality depends upon there being provision made to supply those who would be self-support- ing students with remunerative and wisely selected work. Fourth, that the church could strike at evil in no better way than to direct its main eifort toward furthering the interests of the public schools. 1500233 vi PREFACE In the preparing of these articles for publica- tion, I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Miss Ada J. Miller, who rendered indispensable aid. William Thum. CONTENTS Democracy, the High School, and Self-Support- ING Students 1 Public Works High Schools 7 Manufacturing Works High Schools ... 77 Suggestions Relative to a Public Works Scholarship Fund 89 The Heart-Mind and the School .... 95 Questions for the Universities 107 Redeem National Resources and Help the Schools 112 A Study in Kinship: Church and School . . 138 The Sunday League 157 National Education Party 209 Social System — Education — Race Suicide . 216 One Way to spend Two Millions for the Public Good 219 A Fearless Church — A Better Country . . 223 Discussion 234 DEMOCRACY, THE HIGH SCHOOL, AND SELF-SUPPORTING STUDENTS The main object of every nation should be to reach the nearest possible approach to a truly democratic state. Democracy that is worthy of the name can- not be possible until a great majority of the citi- zens possess both a good general education, and a special education in some economic field. We here include the professions and arts in economic activ- ity. A good general education will tend to equal- ize us socially, and a nearer approach to social democracy will result. A well-diffused economic education wiU tend toward an equalization of our earning capacities, and to the extent of the equal- ization effected, it will develop economic demo- cracy. In order to build this form of democracy, it is of great value that economic education be im- proved, and that it be more generally distributed ; but it must be accompanied by a much better distribution of general education. This combined economic and general education must be of such a degree and so well distributed as to lead the citi- 2 SELF-SUPPORTING STUDENTS zen to the polls in the interest of laws that will result in economic justice. By economic justice we mean a state in which no man, through the mere power of wealth, can take artificial advantage of men who possess less wealth or a keener moral sense. We cannot approximate social democracy until all citizens have an equal opportunity to ob- tain a general secondary and higher education. But all cannot have such equal opportunity until eco- nomic methods and customs no longer give to some persons an unearned advantage. As just stated, we must have a higher popular education, both general and economic, in order to make laws that put an end to much of this undue advantage ; but as the undue advantage retards the needed advance in popular education, progress is unavoidably slow. We can, however, safely hope that the retarded education will be all the better for the struggle required. This slow progress may be the only safe way for the present, but no oppor- tunity to further education should pass unim- proved. True national democracy must always tend to- ward both economic and social democracy. In so- cial democracy we include both intellectual and moral democracy. As long as educated persons are relatively few, they will take little interest in poli- SELF-SUPPORTING STUDENTS 3 tics ; but as their relative numbers increase, their interest in politics will increase. When they are in the majority, politics will become the most import- ant subject of their thought and action. Thus poli- tics will be purified and democracy will be fur- thered. Again : as long as secondary and higher education is monopolized by relatively few, these few, with some exceptions, will take undue advan- tage of the less enlightened. In many cases this advantage is taken unwittingly, because even higher education in politics and economics is as yet crude. Under these conditions an approximation to true democracy is out of the question. It is the duty of every man who has the ability to learn, to obtain a good general education and an economic education. It is his further duty as a citizen to aid in the spread of secondary edu- cation. The majority of those who have the means to pay the expense of obtaining such education, or who have friends to pay these expenses for them, no doubt attend secondary schools. We therefore depend principally on the self-supporting youth to increase the number of earnest students in these schools. The number who systematically and liber- ally educate themselves at home is too small to take into account. The man who has not in one way or another obtained a thorough secondary 4 SELF-SUPPORTING STUDENTS education is usually far from his best in citizen- ship. Uncomplimentary things are often said about some high schools and about some of the students, and at times with good reason. This adverse criti- cism is due to the fact that too large a proportion of high-school students regard the school merely as a means of making one proficient in the "game of grab," or in the " society habit." Nevertheless, without high schools improved by time and greatly increased in number, our advance toward true de- mocracy will be so slow that the reactionary element in both the so-called lower and higher classes of society will more than counteract this slow advance, and finally, such democracy as we have attained will be destroyed. We especially mention high schools, as, in our present state of enlightenment, they are more necessary than are additional universities. If what has been said is true, the high school, or its equivalent, and the self-supporting student, give us our greatest hope for further advance toward true democracy. The following plan is offered as a suggestion to any boy of sixteen or eighteen years of age, who, in order to do his duty to himself and to his country, is eager to have an education beyond the eighth grade, who is dependent on his own resources, and SELF-SUPPORTING STUDENTS 5 who is so situated as to make the following under- taking feasible. Let him find a willing partner in a tried friend, and let them together seek perma- nent employment in some business, as one boy, one to work in the forenoon, the other in the afternoon. After demonstrating their ability to do their work to the satisfaction of their employer, let them apply to some well-equipped high school, or polytechnic school, for admission in half-day sessions, one to attend in the forenoon, and the other in the after- noon for the first year, with the reverse order of time for the second year. In this manner, each will attend a year of morning and a year of afternoon sessions, and in the two years will have obtained a full year of schooling. When over school age, the boys will be required to pay approximately their share of the operating expenses of the school. This requirement should not be regarded as an obstacle, as it will amount to only about thirty dollars a year for a half-time student. It may often be advisable that these boys room together. By this plan each will keep better informed regarding the work done by the other, and the two can better fill the place of a single employee. Two boys living at home may still live together by staying first at the home of one, then at the home of the other, alternating per- haps every month. If economy is practiced in every 6 SELF-SUPPORTING STUDENTS direction, wages of six dollars a week for the half- time of each student will pay all living and school expenses. ' School men believe that most young men could easily graduate after six years of this half- time attendance. By this plan the school education would be more slowly and more thoroughly assimi- lated, and would thus gain in value. Employers often advance their best interests by giving em- ployment to well-chosen, self-supporting students. 1 See note on page 234 for discassion of these wages. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS.* In order to create a desire to attend high school, all children, while in the elementary grades, should be gradually and persistently taught the many and priceless advantages of a thorough high-school train- ing. One period a week for one term in the eighth grade might be given to lessons on the advantages to be derived from an earnest high-school education. These lessons should be so clearly fixed in the mind as to create a desire to learn, and should show that efficiency in some activity for self-support, a know- ledge of the foundations of literature, science, music, and art are essential to a happy life ; they should show that steadily increasing knowledge is one of the necessities of our modern life, and that a high- school training is virtually indispensable as a means toward these ends.^ ^ With the exception of slight changes, this article is a reprint of an article published in The Arena for December, 1907. Objec- tions that were made to the plan before its first publication are discnssed, and this fact accounts for the otherwise unnecessary length of the paper. 2 The question at once arises, how can the eighth-grade student be taught this desirable knowledge, and what shall constitute 8 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS In order that our young men may obtain the full benefit of high-school training, it is necessary that every one of them who is physically able should earn and pay his own expenses after arriving at the age of sixteen. He should earn not only his personal expenses, but eventually his share of the running expenses of the school. Not only sons of parents who cannot afford to send their children to high school, but all other young men of sixteen or over, would be benefited by earning their own education. When conditions make it possible, this applies also to young women. It is well known that young men who, either from necessity or from choice, work their way through high school or college stand, almost with- out exception, far above the average. If the work by means of which they earn their living and school expenses is within reason, it harms them in no way ; in many ways it benefits them. Some young men undertake to work outside of school these lessons. Call for volnnteer schools to try the experiment. Permit volunteers among the teachers to prepare, during the year, twenty approved half -hour lectures, taking the whole year to per- fect them. The next year set aside twenty half -hour periods in the last term of the eighth grade, and go at it. At least some of the schools will succeed in making a series of lessons worth adopting, and soon the hest authorities on education will take an interest in the new course and perfect the lessons. In this case the main thing is to make a determined start. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 9 hours and during vacations and attend high school full time ; some work half-days and attend school half -days ; others undertake to work steadily three or four years to save enough to pay the expenses of a high-school course. Under present conditions, too few self-supporting young men try to obtain a high-school education ; and, for various reasons, too large a proportion of those who do try fail to carry out their intentions : only the most fortunate and strongest succeed, — but happily these are numbered by the thousands. The principal reasons for failure are unsteadiness of employment, and lack of asso- ciates who are striving to accomplish the same end. How much better could the desired result be accomplished if the public would plan to employ ambitious students at steady and justly paid work ! This work should yield enough to defray the stu- dent's necessary expenses, and should, whenever possible, be instructive as well. Such a plan would give the student the further advantage of having associates voluntarily working by his side with the same object in view. The obtaining of an educa- tion, instead of being a difficult and very often an impossible task for a self-supporting young man, would become a decided pleasure. Eventually, all young men, and possibly many young women, would be given an opportunity to earn their way through 10 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS high school. The legal time for attendance in such schools should extend over a period of eight years, anywhere between the ages of sixteen and twenty- eight. The public would be expected to provide only grounds, buildings, and initial expenses, and then exercise general supervision over the schools ; the students themselves would in time be obliged to earn and pay all operating expenses of the schools. The plan proposed might require five, ten, or even more than ten times the present high-school capacity ; this capacity, however, could be increased with but little increase in taxation. By reason of the many improvements in the methods of manufacture, industrial work has be- come so productive that almost any healthy young man of sixteen or eighteen could produce enough in five hours per day to pay the necessary expenses of a public works high school course. After two or three years of experience in work, he could earn more than enough for the necessary expenses ; and, if he wished to do so, could accumulate a reserve fund for later use. Some economists assure us that when our industrial programme is less wasteful and the products of labor are distributed in an approxi- mately equitable manner, the average laboring man will be able to earn enough in five hours per day to give him as good a living as he now enjoys. Two PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 11 o£ the possible results of the proposed plan are a greater productiveness per work-hour and a fairer distribution of the products of labor. The present inequitable distribution of the prod- ucts of labor, and the lack of general and thorough secondary education, are the direct causes of much unhappiness, and the indirect causes of virtually all unhappiness. Our elementary education is now well distributed ; it is, however, hardly an adequate preparation for life. If we are to have any further progress, except in a slow, laborious, and wasteful way, every young person with sufficient capacity should be given an opportunity to obtain a second- ary education. The plan that this article suggests aims to give all those who desire this education the opportunity to earn the means necessary for attend- ing high school, and, incidentally, it aims to modify the operation of utility works owned by the public, so that public ownership will effect the greatest possible results. No better means is at hand for the equitable distribution of some of the principal products of labor than well-conducted public utility works. Every practicable public opportunity, and, for that matter, every private one, that will enable a young man to earn the means for his high-school education should be opened to him, and, eventu- 12 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS ally, should be opened to all young men regardless of whether or not they can live on the support of parents and friends. It is of as much importance to the average rich man's son that he earn his own high-school education as that he have such an edu- cation. The influence of complete dependence upon others is sometimes ruinous. This is evidenced by every supported high-school student who does not earnestly apply himself to his studies. How shall we employ the young men? The public has municipal work to do, and the greater part of this work could be done by clear-headed young men from sixteen to twenty-eight years of age, who are students in public works high schools. In order to avoid giving the younger of these students too many hours of industrial work in one continuous period, it might be desirable to limit one set of students to five hours of labor in the forenoon and to at least three hours of school work in the after- noon ; with the other set of students the order woidd have to be reversed. This arrangement of time, with modifications for night work and special cases, would permit one half of the students to take a forenoon session in school, and the other half an afternoon session. Experienced educators say that the average self-supporting student of sixteen can thoroughly assimilate a full high-school course PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 13 in six years of half-time school attendance. As- suming this to be true, the public works school, if equipped for the purpose, could either give two haK-time years to technical or trade training, or the same amount of time to college work. It is evident that the study programme of such a school would differ from that of the ordinary high school mainly in the fact that each forenoon programme of study would be repeated with the other set of students in the afternoon. In case such schools are established, it would be a matter for experience to decide whether it would be better and more convenient to have the older and stronger boys and young men work and study alternately by half-days or by longer periods of time. Thousands of young men have earned the means to pay their way through a full high-school course, and have taken it in fewer than six years. What thousands of young men can do under difficult conditions in less time, millions could do in the six years under public works high school conditions. Furthermore, we should find that the self-support- ing students of these schools, after once the proper rules and methods were established, could do the manual, and even the managerial, labor of many municipal works with far better results than the average works can show at the present time. 14 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS What is here said of students of public works high schools would apply with greater force to students of public works colleges, should these col- leges ever exist. One way in which a trial of the foregoing plan might be made, is as follows : — Take, for example, a city of ten thousand to thirty thousand inhabitants, owning its water works. Let us assume, for the sake of brevity, that the force of men employed in the water works is as fol- lows : — 1. A superintendent, whose duties are to act as secretary, overseer of the books, and general man- ager of the office and works. 2. An office clerk, whose principal duties are to do the bookkeeping and to act as cashier. 3. A meter and bill man to read the meters and make out the monthly water bills. 4. A foreman over the mechanics and day la- borers in the works and in the field. 5. A machinist. 6. An engineer for the engine and pump room. 7. A fireman for the boiler room. 8. A janitor, whose duties include messenger service and the care of a team. 9. Several laborers for trench digging and pipe laying. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 15 A committee composed of the school superin- tendent, the principals of the several schools, and one or more members from each educational, social, and business society might be organized to take the matter in hand. If it is found that the city- administration and the citizens will readily favor the making of a public works high school experi- ment in connection with the water works, the com- mittee might proceed in its own way, or it might adopt the following plan : It could choose two capable young men who are willing to do the janitor service, one to work in the forenoon and attend school in the afternoon ; the other to at- tend school in the forenoon and work in the afternoon. It goes without saying that diligence must be required of the young men in the water works, also regular attendance and good standing in the school. The committee, in making its choice of young men, could be guided largely by the recommendations of their former teachers, and be reasonably sure of the character of the young men chosen. Since there are no public works high schools in existence to which such young men can be sent, the committee would, for the present, be obliged to make arrangements with the regular high school of the city so to adjust its programme as to accommodate seK-supporting students who 16 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS wish to do this work. It might at first be some- what difficult to put a student through one year of the course in two years, with attendance only in the forenoon during the first year, and the next year with attendance only in the afternoon ; but this difficulty would gradually be overcome as the teach- ing force adapted itself to the new condition. Here we must remember that the young men in question will be students above the average, and that such students are a pleasure to the teachers. This fact will do much to lessen the burden of any extra work involved. About two weeks before the beginning of the school year, the two young men chosen for janitor service at the water works could work with the janitor and take instructions from him. When school begins, the janitor would leave, ^ and the young men would fill his place, each working one half-day, as explained before, until the begin- ning of the next school year. These young men would have to work during the vacations the same as during the school terms, that is, five hours each day, because they would need the money for self- support, and because it would be impracticable for ^ The committee would of course be under obligations to give the displaced employee other employment at similar wages. The problem thus presented will be referred to later. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 17 the water works department to initiate a set of new men each vacation.* About two weeks before the beginning of the second year of our experiment, each one of the student janitors could, in the free part of his work day, take instructions from the meter reader and bill man in order to be prepared to take the meter readings, and to make out the monthly water bills during the second or following year. During the two weeks that these young men take instructions from the meter reader, each could, during his work hours, instruct the second set of students chosen by the committee to do the janitor work for the coming year. Throughout the second year of the experiment, therefore, the second set of students would serve as janitors and messengers, and the first would do the meter reading and make out the monthly water bills. About four weeks before the beginning of the third school year of the experiment, each one of the first set of students should, in the free part of his work day, take instructions from the office clerk in order to be prepared to keep the books and to do the other duties of the clerk during the follow- ^ A public -works school experiment that promises success has been started by Throop Polytechnic Institute and the city of Pasadena, California. 18 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS ing, or third, school year. Previous to this, the high school should have prepared the first set of stu- (lents by arranging their studies so that both would have received school training in booklteeping and office work. In the third year, therefore, the first set of students, by this time eighteen to twenty- two years old, would do the work of the office clerk; the second set, seventeen to twenty-one years old, woidd do the work of meter reader and biU man ; and the third set, sixteen to twenty years old, would do the janitor and messenger work. By this time the janitor, the meter and biU man, and the office clerk would have been displaced ; the first set of students would, at the beginning of each school year, have been initiated in their various duties by the respective men originally performing those duties ; the second and third set of students would have been initiated in their work, each by the preceding set. Whenever practicable, high- school studies should be employed to help the stu- dents in the duties of the current year, and also to help prepare them for the duties of the year to follow. The courses in mechanics and bookkeeping would meet virtually every need that might arise in carrying out this system. The programme as given above could be contin- ued on similar lines for the remaining five years PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 19 of the fuU course. Briefly stated, this programme might be as follows. In the fourth year, the first set of students, now from nineteen to twenty-three years old, might act as trench-makers and pipe- layers. In the fifth year, they could, under the supervision of the engineer, do the firing and dis- place the fireman ; they now would be from twenty to twenty-four years old. In the sixth year, with the high-school preparation in mechanics, and with the supervision of the foreman and machinist, they could perform the work of engineer. In the seventh year, with the technical high-school training, the two students, now twenty-two to twenty-six years of age, could ordinarily do the work of the machin- ist. In the eighth year of our experiment, the last year of the course, the first students might possi- bly be competent to displace the foreman ; if not, some other arrangement could be made to keep them employed. From the plan as outlined, it will readily be seen that each year, as the first set of stu- dents was shifted to other work, the shifting of the others would naturally follow, and a new set would be introduced as janitors. If this advancement in the work should prove to be too rapid for best re- sults, the students could be confined to the more common work, and the positions of engineer, ma- chinist, and foreman could be left in older hands. 20 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS At the end of the eighth school year, the first set of students would graduate from high school and would no longer be eligible to employment in municipal works, except in the few positions that are of necessity permanent. Aside from employ- ment in these permanent positions, one of the fun- damental rules regarding the students in the muni- cipal works must be that they shall be engaged only while receiving a public works high school education ; and that graduates and others shall be employed in the temporary positions only when there is no suitable candidate waiting to take up the em- ployment for the purpose of receiving such educa- tion. We must not lose sight of the fact that the young men employed are selected because of special ability, and that they would do the work at least as well as the average man. We must also keep in mind the fact that, if public works high schools are opened, the several municipal enterprises that might be within the territory of any certain school would, in a sense, become a part of its curriculum, and would be under the direct scrutiny of the entire school, students as well as instructors. Of course the municipal water works here used as an illustration is but an imaginary affair, much sim- plified for the purpose of shortening this article. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 21 In practice, the carrying out of the plan just out- lined would prove to be a more complicated mat- ter than we have made it appear ; but once in operation, this plan cannot fail of success. Not all young men would be capable of doing all kinds of work, and many variations from a typical case might be required to suit varying conditions ; such difficulties, nevertheless, can be overcome. Most boys finish the eighth grade by the time they are fourteen years old; what shall be done with them until sixteen years of age? Those who are large and strong for their years might, in spe- cial cases, be given some light employment in the municipal works and allowed to attend the public works high school as though they were sixteen years old ; five hours daily of easy occupation would not be injurious to a healthy boy of fourteen. The re- mainder of the fourteen and fifteen-year-old boys in families that cannot afford to keep their child- ren in school beyond the eighth grade, might find light half-time employment outside of municipal works. These boys might even go to work at the most suitable full-time employment that offers until reaching the age of sixteen ; or, work proving un- available, they might simply be obliged to wait until the proper age. Parents having a boy graduate from the eighth grade at the age of fourteen would, of 22 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS course, if they could afford to do so, fully maintain him and pay all expenses of full-time school attend- ance during the ninth and tenth grades, and then, after the boy is sixteen years old, require him to earn his own way through the eleventh and twelfth grades, and what might be called the thirteenth grade, by employment either in some public works or elsewhere. This thirteenth grade would cover the first year of college work, or two half-time years of technical or of trade training. These three grades, under haK-time attendance in the pub- lic works high school, would require five years of time. According to the proposed plan for public works high schools, the full course is divided into eight half-grades and is equivalent to a regular high- school course and the first year of a college course. The entire work of each of the half-grades is given in the forenoon, and repeated in the after- noon, throughout each year, for the benefit of both sets of the half -day pupils. The course thus planned will cover eight years for the half-day pupils, but will at the same time offer the opportunity for full- day pupils to complete it in five years, as at pre- sent, by attending school full time and selecting such studies and such periods as will give credit for a full course. Since in all probability the public PUBLIC WOKKS HIGH SCHOOLS 23 works high school students would eventually pay the entire operating expenses of the schools, the need of extending the legal school age would not be a disadvantage so long as any one individual may attend the school only eight half-years. The age limit, ranging from sixteen to twenty-eight years, would make a number of sufficiently mature men available for the municipal works; whereas, a lower age limit would, for some departments, be unwise. Under an arrangement similar to that described for the public works high schools, yet without adopting the plan in fuU, the city government of any city having a polytechnic institute could offer situations to suitable students of the institute, and gradually all the municipal works of the city would become closely connected with the school. The stu- dent employees would be under the supervision of the proper city authorities, and would at the same time be under the care and guidance of the school. The institute could make the study of the mimici- pal works in which its students are employed a part of one or more of its courses, and in this way develop experts and managers for these works. In cities not having schools of this kind from which to supply their own demand, good employment could readily be found for young men thus prepared. 24 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS Men having had eight years of half-time practical experience, together with the same length of time in a polytechnic institute, would be exceptionally valuable in either publicly or privately owned works. Every individual who earnestly strives to develop his reasoning power properly and to accumulate a valuable supply of knowledge is doing his first duty to the state. Here we mean such reasoning power and such knowledge as will result, at least, in the healthy development of both body and mind. It is, therefore, to the interest of every city to assist all eligible persons desiring to obtain a high-school education by offering them such employment as it can. This systematic work, both in school and out of school, will develop the reasoning power to the best advantage. By employing young persons who are ready to work for an education, the city at once gets the strongest moral class of labor, and thus raises the standard of municipal purity. The fact that each student employee would be kept on one class of work but one year, or as long as good serv- ice might require; the fact that each individual municipal enterprise would be a subject of study in a public works high school ; and the further fact that the students of these schools would have inti- mate and practical connection with the municipal PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 25 works, would make fraudulently inclined men shun municipal employment. The municipal purity that could be brought about by this plan would make municipal ownership a comparatively easy matter; and municipal ownership would naturally extend to many lines of business that cannot now be under- taken by the city on account of graft, some of which intrudes into civic positions and does moral and economic damage beyond calculation. The relations here proposed for the city and the public works high schools would apply equally to the state and the public works colleges. As public works high schools and colleges develop, it would become feasible to have municipal tele- phone systems, water woi-ks, gas works, electric works, ice plants, dairies, laundries, and street railways ; also public telegraph, postal savings banks, government railways, and other govern- ment enterprises. Later, the field of public enter- prise could be so extended that one half of the necessities of life would be furnished, approxi- mately at cost, by public works. When such a time is reached, all who are not in the higher financial strata, and all into whose lives luxuries do not enter largely, would no longer pay unnecessary tribute to trusts and monopolies. The average individual can entirely shake off the dwarfing effects of paying 26 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS this unnecessary tribute only when he and his fellows are sufficiently enlightened to cooperate intelligently in supplying their more important needs. The greater the number of municipal enterprises that can be operated successfully, the greater will be the number of students that can be employed, and the more rapid will be our intellectual and economic growth. Varied work for the young in any municipal business would teach good business methods by actual practice, and good business meth- ods are a most valuable asset in private life. After eight years of half-time employment in municipal works, the young citizen would be familiar with the details of operation in these works ; and, further- more, he could more readily familiarize himself with other municipal business. Thus he would be trained to be a reliable judge in matters pertaining to mu- nicipal industry ; and, when a large majority of the citizens are thus trained, any indifference to public trust or any possible fraudulent action on the part of a municipal employee, would be still more quickly discovered. The annual reports of all municipal industries would naturally be freely studied, com- pared, and criticised by the majority of graduates of the public works high schools. These schools could, if necessary, well afford to omit some of the PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 27 present higli-school studies, valuable though they are, in order to study municipal industrial business and thereby aid in the establishment and mainte- nance of greater purity in municipal industrial enterprises ; but, regardless of the foregoing reason, municipal industrial activity, carefully considered, wotild still be an interesting, instructive, and pro- fitable study for the schools. There is one thing iil particular that could be done for publicity in municipal enterprise that would at the same time be of value to the public works high schools. The bookkeeping classes could be given complete sets of copies of the corre- spondence, the vouchers, and the various account books for the previous year, of one or more of the municipal enterprises of the city ; and, during the current year, they could enter and post each item to its proper aiccount, and balance the books at the customary intervals. The bookkeeping course could just as well include some part of the city's actual bookkeeping as to provide only imaginary work ; some imaginary work in other lines of business would still be necessary, but less would answer in consequence of the practice obtained from the municipal bookkeeping. The classes would naturally feel a keener interest in actual than in imaginary work, and the students 28 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS would become familiar with those municipal enter- prises, the accounts of which they had audited. Should the time come for some of these stu- dents to act as clerks in these particular enter- prises, they would be especially fitted for such service. Instead of using copies of correspondence, vouch- ers, and account books of the previous year, as suggested above, it might be practicable at once to duplicate all office work and have the bookkeeping classes of the high school keep duplicate books at the same time that the original books are being kept in the office of the municipal works. The doing of actual, current work would, no doubt, create a live- lier interest than would the reproduction of work a year old. If the office of the municipal enter- prise and the public works high school would act in harmony, the labors of bookkeeping in the school could be so arranged as to enable the instructors to distribute the work among many students, and thus save much time and obtain better results. It is probable that the methods of teaching the actual bookkeeping of municipal works as outlined would have to be developed as a science, through practical experience in the smaller cities, before becoming applicable to the larger cities where the bookkeeping of the muni- PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 29 cipal works is of too great magnitude for experi- mental purposes.^ With the growing importance of industrial life, the public works high school may have to give more than the ordinary amount of time to the study of bookkeeping ; and bookkeeping, to a certain point, should perhaps be made compulsory, as it has become so vital an element in our economic and political life. To the end that all cities may adopt practically the same system, the whole process of municipal bookkeeping is steadily being made more simple and more uniform. The bookkeeping department of public works high schools could make it a point to look for improved methods in munici- pal accounting, and in the rendering of municipal ^ The city's department of education is but a municipal enter- prise, and the account books of this department would at once be available for study by the bookkeeping classes. After a pro- gramme for the study of these books has been perfected, the plan could readily be extended to include the books of other city departments as suggested above. In cities having several high schools and colleges, each of the schools might be confined to the books of a different department or works, thus specializing the accounting. In reviewing the books of the department of educa- tion, all details, including the individual teacher's salary, would be- come known to students, and this might at first be embarrassing to those teachers who are less frank than they should be. Teach- ers, especially, should be frank enough to be above such embarrass- ment. It is through the department of education that this invalu- able publicity can best be introduced into all other departments. 30 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS reports. The ultimate object of the reports should be to make easy and instructive a comparative study of similar reports from other cities, and to enable the citizen to recognize, in the report, any dollar of which he knows the history, and to learn the history of any other dollar that he may wish to know. To the ultimate advantage of both the cities and the schools, the schools could cooperate with public- spirited citizens who have already accomplished much in this direction. The books of city auditors could be handled in the same way as described for the books of municipal works. A large number of persons believe that one might as well employ a lot of frisky colts in a municipal works as to employ young men between sixteen and twenty years of age. The fact remains, nevertheless, and we wish to reiterate it, that a large majority of selected young men of the ages mentioned, after remarkably little practice, can be taught to do half a day's work of a rather complicated nature fully as well as the average man can do this work, and sometimes even better. If we choose young men from sixteen to twenty years of age who have made a good school record for themselves through the first eight or ten grades, young men who have acted sens- ibly since leaving school, and if we start a fresh group each year in a public works high school and PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 31 a municipal works, at the end of eiglit years, when the first set who have taken the full course graduate, we shall see a works operated by young men who are a credit to the schools and who are doing justice to the city employing them. After a municipal works has been operated by public works high school stu- dents for ten years, it would not be unreasonable to expect that the results accomplished by the average student of twenty years, in five hours of daily labor, would equal what is accomplished in eight hours or even more by the average laborer at the present time. This result would not necessarily be brought about through unusual ability shown by the student, but through the better systemization of the work and the greater publicity. This systemization and pub- licity will result in the saving of labor, and in the discovery of the true measure of work per hour that the average man can reasonably be expected to do. In municipal works that can avail themselves of self-supporting college students, the results would of course be still better. What one frequently sees ambitious young men doing to earn their way through high school in four years' time, is sufficient encouragement for the be- lief that the average young man, if given proper and fairly paid half-time employment, could easily earn his own living expenses, as well as the monthly school 32 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS fees necessary to cover his share of the running ex- penses of the school, and finish a complete public works high school course in eight years with half- time attendance. Of course he would have to prac- tice economy, live a pure, healthy, simple life, and spend his wages for right things, — all of which practice tends towards greater happiness. It be- comes relatively easy to live in this way when one is at work obtaining an education. Making allowances for previous school training, a careful study of a number of self-sustaining stu- dents, as compared with those supported by their parents or friends, would, as a rule, be convincing proof that the best way to obtain a high-school edu- cation is to work for it. It is true that young men, if ambitious and capable, can develop their minds and gain a store of knowledge outside of school and without teachers, and they frequently do this. This independent development is, however, impos- sible except for the most capable boys, and even these cannot gain it so well and so quickly as they could in an institution of learning equipped for the purpose, and with the incentive of working in com- pany with zealous fellow-students, — the only kind that should be tolerated in the public works high schools or in any high school. Taxes could not become an obstacle to the es- PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 33 tablisliing of public works high schools because, after the schools are in working order, the students would be required to pay tuition which eventually could be made sufficient to cover all operating ex- penses. The public would construct the buildings, supply the first educational and other necessary appliances, and pay the deficit in operating expenses until the school came into full operation. Under a highly developed industrial and economic pro- gramme, the payment of these operating expenses by the students would be an easy matter. If, in time, every young man and young woman eligible to the public works high school were to apply for entrance, it ought not to cost the public more per capita gradu- ally to build and start the larger number of schools required than it would cost both to build and to maintain the comparatively limited number of free high schools that would be required under a con- tinuation of the present system. Laboring men and others now employed by the cities in municipal works should bear in mind that the founding of public works high schools would at best be a very slow process, and that relatively few of the employees would be displaced by the students. In any city having several municipal works, there would probably be enough vacancies and new positions at any time to accommodate 34 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS all old employees that might be displaced by stu- dents taken into the first works in which the pub- lic works high school experiment might be tried. As the field of operation of the school would ex- tend by slow degrees from works to works, old em- ployees would drop out by natural processes, and thus make ample room for the student employees. It is clear that the effect of the public works high school on the employees of municipal works would be no more than an occasional inconvenience. The effect on the general labor market produced by the introduction of public works high schools would be but slight, for it has virtually the same effect whether young men work half time from six- teen to twenty-four years of age, or f uU time from twenty to twenty-four. Most young men who are not attending school should be at work full time when eighteen years of age. In addition to this, some public works high school students would not begin attendance at school until twenty years old, and then would work only half time until twenty -eight years old, thus taking eight years of half time off the market. The school therefore would reduce, instead of increase, the supply of labor on the general labor market. Furthermore, these students working half time would of necessity spend the greater part of their earnings locally. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 35 For these reasons the school could have hardly a temporary effect on even the local labor market, not to mention the general market.^ Of the possi- ble effects on the labor market referable to pub- lic works high schools, none appear to be bad ; but if there could be any bad effects, they must appear very trifling when compared with the good that these schools would do laboring men through their children. There is no reason for believing that laboring men care less for their children than do the more wealthy. Many laboring men feel keenly their inability to send their children to high school. If the public works high school should prove to be as valuable as we believe it would be, and if this high school system should become general, all mu- nicipal industrial activities would be purified under the scrutiny of the school, so that even private business would discover a good example in the management of the municipal works and would gradually rise to the new standard. After the public ^ Under an ideal economic system there could be no condition that would result in other than a temporary local oversupply of labor pending readjustment. The demand for labor would increase in proportion to the increase in workers, because each worker •would create a demand for products practically equal to his in- dustrial output. The public works high school is suggested as an important element in bringing about such an economic system. 36 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS at large had had some experience in municipal busi- ness, industrial delinquents in all fields, whether employers or employees, would be quickly dis- tinguishable from the men who do capably, and without extortion or theft, their share of the world's work. The public works high school would, event- ually, raise the intellectual and moral standard of humanity so high that there would be no danger of retrogression, because people who understand a nobler life clearly enough to appreciate it will never be satisfied with the lower ideal. The pubhc works high school would remove a burden from the parents by aiding their children of over sixteen years of age to earn both living and education. It would be a great satisfaction for parents to feel certain that their children, if fairly healthy and strong, would have an opportun- ity to obtain a good education through their own efforts. All parents who desire to send their child- ren to high school, but who cannot do so, or who have a hard struggle to do so, would appreciate the benefit that the public works high school would be to them. By reason of the school, such parents would have more time for recreation and for plea- surable mental improvement, and would be more companionable to their children. The truer mutual love between the more enlightened parents and PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 37 their more enlightened children would raise the standard of the home, and every evil known to social science would be just so much nearer cor- rection. Every one should earn enough money for the ne- cessities of life, for recreation, and for further de- velopment. If a man is to become better acquainted with the world, and become a worthy part of it, he shoiJd have money and time for books and for other aids in learning. In order to grow, a man must not only earn more money than is necessary to cover the mere necessities of life, but he must also learn to spend this surplus money to good advan- tage ; and he must earn the money during such hours per day as will leave a few hours daily for recreation and for development. It is also essential that he know how to use this spare time to good advantage in order to realize from it worthy ad- vancement. With most persons, as said before, it is absolutely necessary that the education be commenced while young, and that it be received in a school which offers at least the usual high school studies. The public works high school plan would provide experience that would teach the stu- dent how to study, earn, save, spend, and live ; and it would make a livelihood obtainable by all with fewer hours of daily labor than are now required. 38 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS While speaking of leisure time and the best way of employing it, the following plan is suggested as a practicable one for the summer vacations of stu- dents of the public works high school. During this vacation the students would have one half -day free every day, as they would be employed at the works only in the forenoon or afternoon, except during the last weeks, when they would be required to take, from the prior set of students, such instruc- tion as would prepare them for their duties at the works during the next school year. Instead of working half time each day, the students might remain at their work fuU time for half their vaca- tion, one set during the first half, the other set during the second half, and then join an out-of-door summer class of forty or fifty on camping trips under the guidance of a public works high school instructor, whose duty it would be to teach nature studies. In all cases where the students' financial condition would permit, the remaining vacations could also be turned to some pleasurable and good use. Have you tried to realize the latent happiness in this plan ? Eventually, almost every young person of public works high school age would be at work in some municipal business five hours, and would be attending school three hours per day ; he would be PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 39 virtually seK-supporting, and at the same time would be developing a keen intelligence ; he would be in good and happy student company for eight years, and after eight years of such excellent train- ing, he would come out as a first-class citizen to take his place in a community of a high order. Those graduates who might wish to enter a busi- ness career would, without special training, be well prepared to fiU any ordinary position and to ad- vance in this position. Those who might desire a professional or further business training in college would be in excellent mental condition to begin this training. Others who choose to be artisans, with a remarkably short apprenticeship, would be- come proficient. In order to fit such students to become artisans, the eighth or both the seventh and the eighth year of the school course, as the case might require, could be confined largely to trade courses which would give both manual and text- book training. Let us take the plumber's trade, for example. The students choosing it could be given manual training of much practical value, also lessons from a technical school book on the subject. These stu- dents might also be required to read a trade journal on plumbing. One or two years of half-time school attendance confined to plumbing and the studies 40 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS related to this subject would prepare the young man to such a degree that he would be sought by employers. The student's careful training in ele- mentary hygiene, sanitation, and chemistry, in ad- dition to the more general studies, has fitted him to continue study on scientific lines, if he should feel so inclined, until he makes himself a master of sanitation, chemistry, and other related sciences. A capable man could use all his ability for a life- time in the endeavor to master the important things there are to know about plumbing and the sciences that bear on it ; in inventing new plumbing devices ; or in discovering new scientific facts in regard to the trade. A journeyman plumber having a public works high school education on which to build has quite as good opportunities to make himself re- spected and valued as he could have in any other position in life. Similar argument could be made in favor of carpentry, house-painting and decorat- ing, drafting, pattern-making, machine-building, and other trades. Each city of sufficient size to have at least one well-attended high school would, after the general introduction of the public works high school, have a number of the latter institutions, and the trade courses could be so arranged that no two schools would teach the same trades. In this way the stu- PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 41 dents in such cities would be given the choice of a number of occupations. With the introduction of public works high schools, high schools would not, as now, consist principally of young men and young women of well-to-do families. Relatively poor children who now leave school at the close of the eighth grade would attend the public works high school in large numbers. Many children who now leave school after the sixth and seventh grades would then strive to continue at school through the eighth grade, and would afterwards enter the public works high school. Now we come to the question, could the students do work of enough value in five hours per day to earn their personal expenses, including their pro- portionate share of the running expenses of the school? Many sixteen-year-old students are now entirely self-supporting, so the question may be con- sidered settled for almost all other students who are in good physical condition. If parents can easily af- ford to do so, there would be no objection to their ren- dering aid to make the student life of their child- ren more effective and comfortable, but too much aid should be avoided. Members of well-to-do fami- lies will be likely to believe that sixteen-year-old boys should not work; these members will object 42 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS to such steady occupation as our plan makes nec- essary. The public works high school would require the self-supporting student to work five hours per day six days of the week every week in the year, except the few weeks of the summer vacations, and would require him to attend school three hours per day about forty weeks of the year. As our schools are at present conducted, sixteen-year-old boys of well-to-do families are now attending school six hours per day for forty weeks of the year, and it is doubtful whether it would not be better for them to do reasonable work for five hours in place of three of the hours of daily school at- tendance. During the forty school weeks, the dif- ference in hardships between attending a public works high school and the present high school would be slight. Now let us examine the details of this question. Can the students earn enough by five hours' work a day to pay their entire expenses ? In cities where the ruling wages for common labor in munici- pal works is twenty-five cents per hour, the fol- lowing figures would, approximately, hold good. The figures given would apply where the public works high school is of sufficient size for economi- cal operation. For young men away from home, cooperative boarding clubs could furnish suitable PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 43 meals at $2.50 per week ; many college boarding clubs are doing this now, and in some instances they furnish board at even a lower rate. A mother who is a good manager might possibly board her son by increasing her household expenses only $2.00 per week, especially if he did what he could to accomplish this result; and she could give a small, plainly furnished room, with heat and light, at fifty cents per week, and do the laundry work at forty cents per week, if the young man was sensibly economical and would occasionally help her with the work. An operating expense of $60 a year for each full-time student is more than many high schools are allowed, and this amount permits of the maintenance of the equipment and the employ- ment of efficient teachers ; therefore, $30 a year for each half-time student is what we will allow. A young man who has learned how to buy and care for clothes can dress himself comfortably and pre- sentably for $65 or $70 a year. For text-books and other school requisites, stationery, toilet articles, car fares, amusements, church, and other necessary expenses, we have estimated $50. These figures make a total for annual expenses of $300, or about $6 per week, as shown by the following table : — 44 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS ESTQtATED COST OF A TEAB's MAINTENANCE AT SCHOOL FOR A STUDENT LIVING AT HOME, BUT PAYING HIS PARENTS THB ACTUAL COST OF BOARD, ROOM, AND LAUNDRY Board at $2.00 a week. per year $104.00 Room with light and heat at 50 cents a week " " 26.00 Laundry at 40 cents a week, " " 20.80 School tuition, for half-time attendance, " " 30.00 Clothing, " " 70.00 School books and other items. " " 50.00 $300.80 The figures just given and those following are based partly on calculation, and partly on reports of the actual experience of a number of boys and young men who are earning their way through high schools in California. Not all young men sixteen years old who might desire to attend a public works high school have homes where they can live in this way. Room, board, and laundry would be likely to cost these young men a little more. Dormitories built by the city, or by voluntary societies formed for the pur- pose, could provide suitable rooms furnished with the heavy pieces only, steam heated, and of a size to accommodate two students, at a rental of $4.50 per month ; this figure is so calculated as to pay repairs and to yield a net income of four per cent annually if the property is held free from all taxation. Where economy is an object, good and PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 45 ample municipal light need not cost more than sixty cents per month. The student could get along with fifty cents per week and even less for laun- dry, if the work was done at special school rates. If the public works high school should be estab- lished, thousands of willing minds wiU invent ways to make the students' living less expensive and better. ESTIMATED COST OF A TEAR's MAINTENANCE AT SCHOOL FOB A STUDENT LIVING AWAY FROM HOME Board at club $2.50 a week, per year $130.00 Half of room and heat at $4.50 a month for two, " Half of light at 60 cents a month for two, " Laundry at 50 cents per week, " School tuition, for half-time attendance, " Clothing, " School books and other items, " 27.00 3.60 26.00 30.00 70.00 50.00 $336.60 This amounts to practically $6.50 per week. The student, by taking a smaller room alone, would increase his expenses about $1 per month, thus making his weekly expenses amount to about $6.75. The room rents given include only the heavy furnishing of the rooms. Our figures do not include the care of the rooms ; the young men would have to care for them, but this would not be difficult, as the rooms and the main pieces of furniture would invariably be built for easy clean- 46 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS ing. In order to cover these yearly expenses with sufficient certainty, allowing for a few days off for possible sickness, accident, or other imperative rea- sons, the student might have to earn and to receive in wages as much as $1 a week of six five-hour days, or about $364 a year. In addition to this, every student should enter with i50. With part of this amount he could buy his room furnishings, and the remainder he could hold in reserve for emergencies. He should also come with a full supply of clothing. This $50 and enough more to buy a supply of clothing, the progressive boy could, if necessary, earn and save in the time be- tween finishing the eighth grade and entering the public works high school. Now, the question remains, could selected young men of sixteen years, who had passed at least the eighth grade, earn the $1 in a week of five-hour days? Investigation shows that they could earn it in the majority of cases, and with economy to the public. Furthermore, they could be given twenty-five cents per hour the second year, thirty cents per hour the third year, and forty cents per hour for all the remaining years, and this with profit to the public. In localities where living expenses are lower than those given in our schedules, the wages would, no doubt, be relatively lower. Forty cents per hour PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 47 ■would give the older students $2 for each five-hour day, and of these students nineteen out of every twenty would be well worth their hire. Two dol- lars per day, under present price conditions, would permit of considerable saving. If $2 were paid for each five-hour day beginning with the fourth school year, by the sixth year the wise users of money could safely undertake marriage, so far as money is concerned, and if the young woman is also a good financier, there would, with ordinary good fortune, be enough income for both to live comfortably while the young man is completing his school course. Objection may be made to this plan because the public works high school would not be an entirely free school. It would be a free school as far as buildings, equipment, and the means required to put it on a self-sustaining basis are concerned. Some think it would be a step backwards to require tuition, but when a municipality supplies work to young people of sixteen to twenty-eight years of age at which they can earn sufficient wages, they ought, in justice, to pay the necessary tuition. Would it not be wise, if only for the moral effect, to re- quire the student to pay tuition ? We believe that the public should pay the expenses of operation only when it will not supply the students with work. It is simply a physical impossibility for the ma- 48 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS jority of parents to bear the expense of maintain- ing their children through a high-school course. Even the general public could not, without great hardship, bear the cost of maintenance for such a large number of high-school students ; the build- ing and maintaining of the increased number of schools would be a heavy burden for many tax-payers. It is evident that the youth must earn their own maintenance, and this maintenance should finally include tuition sufficient for the operation of the schools. When, in addition, one considers that the municipality gives the student an opportunity to support and educate himself and that full self-sup- port is valuable schooling second to none, the objec- tion to tuition is answered. In brief, the main features of the plan proposed in this article are as follows : the establishment of special high schools ; the selection of the best avail- able students as employees in municipal works ; the arrangement of the duties in these works so as to advance the student in his occupation by progress- ive steps and thus give him experience in as many branches of the business as practicable ; the intro- duction into the curriculum of each of these schools of a course that teaches the operation of the partic- ular works employing the students of the school ; as far as feasible, the detailed study of the current PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 49 accounts of the works by the bookkeeping classes of the schools ; the requiring of five hours of effi- cient labor and three hours of satisfactory school attendance, or such other division of time as might be more satisfactory ; the payment of the operating expenses of the schools by the students ; the payment to the students of wages such as will a little more than cover a fixed rate of living and school expenses, provided the boys will fully earn such wages. Two objections that have been offered to the public works high school plan, objections not pre- viously referred to, are that the schools will cause a scarcity of laborers to do the common work, and that general municipal and other public ownership will cause a loss of individuality, and a lowering of character. Many believe that a general distribution of second- ary education would so reduce the number of day laborers that there would be too few to do the world's common work. They fear that, whenever there are relatively few laborers who are capable of doing no other than the common work, general material pro- gress will be seriously retarded. Such fears are unfounded. As popular intelligence increases, the wages for common work will advance in relation to other wages, and more inventive power will be spent 60 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS on devices to perform such work by machinery. It may at times baffle the inventive powers of men to improve some of the more disagreeable occupations so as to make them agreeable ; but a better enlight- ened people will solve future problems of this na- ture fully as well as we solve those of the present time. Many who fear a lack of common laborers as the result of more general education also fear that the immigration of large numbers of the less enlightened of other races to do our common work would be encouraged. This encouragement of im- migration would result in more serious race ques- tions than at present exist, and would, in the end, no doubt, cause much unhappiness for ourselves and for the foreign races. Large corporations employ thousands of laborers from the Orient, and individual citizens employ in the aggregate other thousands to do their common work. Why should we fear that this condition will grow worse instead of better when the public becomes more intelligent and therefore more able to see a danger in its true light? The belief is common that public ownership of public utilities is undesirable, even if honest and capable employees are engaged in the work. If pub- lic ownership becomes general, it is feared that it will endanger our individuality, weaken our char- PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 51 acter, and destroy individual effort and ambition. It is believed that the average man, as soon as he has obtained a fairly secure position in public work, develops a tendency to degenerate in character and, therefore, in economic worth. Sooner or later a tend- ency toward graft develops. Sometimes this graft extends to cash or property transactions; more often it is a matter of misappropriating time, and, again, it is only an unconscious but gradual re- duction of the energy put into the work. This tendency in many men of the present time to de- generate in public service is used as a popular argument against public ownership. It is, how- ever, an argument which the growth in efficiency, resulting from institutions like the public works high school, would soon overcome. It is an open question whether that which we here refer to as degeneration in character is not merely an uncovering of previously formed charac- ter. There can be little doubt that the private em- ployer endeavors to keep a close watch over his employees, whereas the public employer is at pre- sent less vigilant. When an employee slackens his energy because watchfulness has been modified or removed, he does not degenerate in character, — he merely exposes his real character. Character that impels to duty only under close watchfulness indi- 62 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS cates slavishness ; is a worthless type of character, and stands for a poor kind of individuality. The feeling of joint ownership in municipal works that the average employee would have under a system of general municipal ownership, would surely tend toward higher individuality than does the intense watchfulness of the private employer, and the pre- sent feeling of distrust between employee and em- ployer. Desirable individuality implies good character and ambition, and we shall use the word individu- ality in this sense. Since it is our differing indi- vidualities that make life progressive and interest- ing, the development of individuality should be fostered. The greatest field for this development is among the less educated workers who are willing, or who can be taught to be willing, to earn a high school education. In order to make such an educa- tion possible, the young workers, while attending school, must have steady employment and just re- muneration. Municipal and other public ownership, properly conducted, is the only plan now in view that could supply employment to these young work- ing students. Because of weakness of character, the man of the present time has not always given efficient serv- ice in municipal works. As at present conducted, PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 53 employment in many municipal works does not of- fer enough personal incentive ; the business is not given enough publicity, and the public is too indif- ferent. In order that municipal ownership may meet with the greatest success, men must be em- ployed who are above the present average in char- acter ; more personal incentive must be introduced ; the business must be given greater publicity ; and the public must grow more interested in the opera- tion of the works. All this, we believe, could be brought about by means of the public works high school. The stu- dents would invariably be young men who desire a high school education, who are willing to work for it and who are capable of maintaining a good standing in school. These qualifications would ex- clude most of those who are unfit for service in municipal works. The students in public works high schools would be young and hopeful men ; they would have good records to make, both in the school and in the works, and their object in the works would be not only to earn wages, but also to learn thoroughly a manufacturing business and general business methods. Without a good record, they would not be sought by employers, public or private. Students would have no life positions in the works ; their positions would be subject to effi- 64 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS ciency, and would ordinarily last but eight half-years. Through the school, the operation of the municipal works would be given the greatest possible pub- licity. As more and more of the needs of the indi- vidual were met through municipal works, the public would become so vitally affected by the operation of these works that the keenest interest would inevitably follow. The periodical financial reports of public works, made with the aid of the public works high school for the purpose of com- parative study, would act as one means of pre- venting stagnation in these works. One of our best known political economists says, " Young people have a keener sense of right and justice and a sharper scent for graft or ' pull ' than have their elders." Before the first class had graduated from the public works high school, students, by reason of their moral development, would consider it unjust to shirk a duty. Although the laziness of the few might increase the cost of living for all others only to a slight degree, the spirit of fair play and the dislike of being imposed upon would quickly arouse the resentment of the manly students and of the educated and interested public. No industrial de- linquent would be tolerated, for fear that the effect of such toleration would endanger the permanency PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 55 of municipal ownership, and the consequent pro- spect of a more equitable distribution of education and of wealth. The student would understand that the first requirement on his part to aid in the ex- termination of the shirker class would be to avoid being a shirker himself. In short, the pupils admitted into the public works high school would soon develop such self-respect and strength of character that eventually there would be no shirkers in the works. These students would under- stand that every lazy and unscrupulous act would be an act of treason in peace, which is virtually the same as treason in war. The students, especially the older ones, would understand all these things so clearly that right conduct on their part would be inevitable. That student is rare who will do a wrong act if he clearly sees what is right, and at the same time can picture and compare a train of probable consequences of the wrong act and of the right one. This ability would be strongly developed in most young men by a public works high school course. In order to arrive at the best results sooner than could otherwise be expected, some kind of regular course in moral instruction should be introduced into all elementary grades. Jane Brownlee's plan for moral training as developed in one of the To- 66 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS ledo public schools is, without question, most valu- able.^ This moral training requires a few minutes daily, but it is reported as saving more time than it requires, as it leads to readier obedience among the pupils and to greater efficiency in their work. By the end of the eighth grade, all moral training in the schools should be so effectual as to result in unquestioned civic honor. The largest proportion of selected students would stand for individuality and ambition. No other incentive to do duty other than fair compen- sation would be required. Individuality and happi- ness with such students would not be based on how much municipal work could be shirked, nor on how much more than deserved wages could be obtained. These students would prefer to be strong, quick of perception, well informed, highly proficient and respected men, rather than to be rich men of medi- ocre character. Wealth, beyond the needs of pre- sent usefulness and comfort with a modest reserve for old age, would be less prized by such men. Un- necessary wealth would seem of less consequence than exceptional efficiency in some field of activity. This is true at present of some of our strongest 1 Jane Brownlee's system of moral training is explained in a pamphlet entitled The Brownlee System of Child Training, which can be obtained from G. W. Holden, Springfield, Mass. Price ten cents. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 57 professional men. Most of us have heard that Agassiz, when offered ten thousand dollars for a course of lectures, exclaimed in surprise at the offer, " I have n't time to make money! " There are but few like Agassiz in this respect, but a second- ary education, more generally distributed, would tend to raise the standard of manhood above that of mere money-making. The result would be stronger individuality, better character, and more earnest citizenship. Every hour of industrial activity, whether per- formed for one's self, for others, or for the public, affects individuality and character; every hour spent in the pursuit of knowledge, social inter- course, or any other pleasure, does likewise. In devising a plan to promote individuality and char- acter, all of these forms of activity must be taken into consideration. To consider the effect of the industrial part of any plan of life, without taking into account the equally important effects of other activities on individuality and character, would re- sult in incorrect conclusions. Secondary education, if thoroughly assimilated, would tend to make men more nearly of the same intellectual and economic value, — a value higher than at present, — and it would follow as a natural consequence, and justly so, that there would be a readjustment of individual 68 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS earnings. Two persons may be of approximately the same economic and social value, and yet be units of entirely different natures ; in other words, they may have strikingly different individualities. Knowledge is as boundless as nature, and it is knowledge that largely differentiates individuality. Even those who accumulate knowledge to the limit of human ca- pacity learn only an infinitesimal part of all there is to know. We start in the world unhke, seeking different knowledge, seeking it in different ways, and under different circumstances. Two persons would rarely accumulate, even approximately, a like store of knowledge. It therefore follows that the more we know, the more our individualities are differentiated ; the less we know, the nearer alike we are. The individuality that might be lost by reason of municipal ownership continued along the present lines, if this ownership is as detrimental to individuality as is maintained by some, would be more than regained through a public works high school education. But municipal ownership with workers that are self-supporting students would be a builder instead of a destroyer of character, and strength of character is an expression of more marked individuality. Can a person who has conscientiously educated himself by eight years of effort ever lose indi- PUBLIC WOKKS HIGH SCHOOLS 59 viduality or ever stop its expression ? Surely not, so long as he can supply his material needs by five or even eight hours of daily labor, and thus leave from sixteen to nineteen free hours in which to exercise his individuality without restriction. When our in- dustrial methods are less wasteful and when the products of labor are more equitably distributed, five fully occupied hours of energetic and intelligent work in store, office, or factory, together with work at home for personal needs, will furnish ample means. Whatever increases our free hours increases the opportunity to develop our individuality. Let us picture a possible extension of municipal ownership due to the effects of public works high schools, and the influence of such extended owner- ship on individuality. After ten years of trial, a public works high school experiment may prove to be a success. If it does so prove, a limited number of cities may make a trial of the plan, and, if these trials prove successful, the plan may be so widely adopted that in the course of fifty years municipal ownership in connection with these schools may be- come quite general. Should municipal ownership, so conducted, become general, it would follow that the students would no longer be numerically sufficient to man the works. It would then be necessary to permit the students to remain in the employ of the 60 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS works after graduating.* It no doubt would be safe to extend the field of municipal industry as long as either students or graduates of the public works high school are available as employees. If in the future fifty per cent of all workers were employed in municipal works, would our individuality, our character, our effort, or our ambition suffer? In answer we shall assume the following to be the experience of two young men, A and B, living in an era of general municipal ownership and public works high schools. We will suppose that A is graduated from the tenth and B from the twelfth grade of the public works school in the year 1940. There is at that time a demand for employees in the municipal works far beyond that which the school can supply, so both A and B take the municipal service examinations. A passes an examination as ordinary accountant, and this examination entitles him to a choice of a number of positions in industries operated by the municipalities. B passes as general expert account- ant and Master of Gas Making, which entitles him to a situation as chief bookkeeper in any municipal ^ The plan for the public works high school provides that no graduate shall be employed in the municipal works, unless special fitness adapts him to one of the few positions which are of neces- sity permanent, or unless there is a demand for workers beyond that which the school can supply with its undergraduate*. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 61 office, or as manager of municipal gas works ; his examination also entitles him to simpler work, should there be no higher position available. Let us follow A. He prefers work as a book- keeper, so he goes to the State Employment Office^ and learns that no bookkeeping situation is available in the city in which he wishes to live, but he is told of a temporary position as a copyist ; this position he accepts, but he leaves his application for a posi- tion as bookkeeper. After a month the Employment Office notifies A that a situation as bookkeeper is now available. He accepts the position, but after three months' trial by the chief accountant, he is found unsatisfactory and is reported to the Oper- ating Committee.^ This committee finds A's work imsatisfactory, and he is discharged. ^ The State Employment OfiBce could be so serviceable that no one, except in rare instances, need be out of suitable employ- ment more than one day at a time. This office could also under- take to help those who desire to change their occupations. Some might wish to learn the particulars of another line of work ; for others, a consideration of health or strength might make a change of employment desirable ; in other cases a mere feeling of rest- lessness might result in a desire for change. No one would be forced to do any work, except as necessity demanded ; but in the field of municipal work he would have to take his choice out of such available positions as his municipal service standing would warrant his holding. ^ The Operating Committee under this system might be com- posed of three or more members, and every municipal enterprise might be supplied with such a committee. It would be the 62 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS A then visits the Employment Office again, and learns that he can at once find work as clerk in a municipal dairy. He can do this work satisfac- torily, and it suits him ; so he holds the position during the remainder of his active life. In 1943, however, the general manager charges A with care- lessness in his work, and with failure to render a reasonable amount of service. The Operating Committee examines the case, and charges A with neglect of duty. A has a right to appeal his case to the Appeal Committee. * He does this, but again loses. As punishment, he is suspended from work for three months. As he has saved no money, he is compelled to go from house to house to solicit work until his sentence expires. duty of this committee to publish bi-monthly reports of the busi- ness ; to see that employees render reasonable service ; to decide internal disputes affecting the operation of the works ; and, •wher- ever possible, to cheapen production. The manager of the works might be chairman of this committee. ^ The duty of this supposed Appeal Committee would be to examine and to decide all appealed cases of employees charged with rendering poor service. Each Appeal Committee would have jurisdiction over a number of municipal works, would virtually be a court, and would rarely be called into service. Its principal use would be to enable any man who believed himself mis- treated or misunderstood to vindicate himself. The knowledge coming from considerable experience might be required to pro- duce a harmonious working between managers and both the Operating and Appeal Committees, but final results would justify the existence of thpoA c^nmmittees. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 63 In 1945 A decides to marry, and j5nds work in addition to that of bis regular employment. This extra work ^ he does in order to furnish a home. He takes the required examination preliminary to mar- riage,2 but fails in some point of bodily development, and in a knowledge of the foundation principles of physiology and ethics. He remedies his bodily de- fect, informs himself upon the subjects of physiology and ethics, and in 1946 he marries. He takes out the minimum amount of old age and life insurance required by law for a married man. Had he per- sisted in the work of assistant bookkeeper and suc- ceeded, he would have been entitled to $3.50 per day of five hours. His work as dairy clerk yields him $3 per day of the same number of hours. A is not so vigorous as B ; therefore A requires ten ^ The question of the legal length of work day ■would be largely eliminated. There would no longer be that feverish hurry to ac- cumulate money for future emergencies and for old age because men would have the certainty of employment, the protection of state life insurance, and the possible self-support of all children over sixteen years of age. This condition would result in fewer men working over-time except for special purposes, and there would be plenty of extra work on hand to supply such cases. The State Employment Office would be expected to see that every man is given not only work for the usual number of hours daily, but for as many additional hours as he may desire. 2 We here assume that a marriage law compelling such exam- ination has been passed ; and that old age and life insurance poli- cies are required. 64 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS hours of sleep each day, while B requires only seven hours. Here A, as compared with B, loses three hours of activity daily. A smokes inveterately, drinks moderately, and cannot resist spending money frivolously. He saves no money, and in 1950 he is obliged to borrow money in order to tide his family over a time of sickness ; this debt he pays during the year by again doing work beyond the customary length of the work day. As stated before, B passes the municipal serv- ice examination in 1940, and makes an excellent record. After a short trial he is given a situation as chief bookkeeper in a municipal gas works. In 1942 he is elected manager of a new and larger works built in another city. He enjoys his work, and keeps informed on all changes in the business ; he also invents several useful improvements. By 1946 B is well known and well liked by all the mu- nicipal works managers of the state ; and, through their recommendation, he is elected to the State Public Works Board. ^ In 1948 he is elected chairman of this board. His first position in 1940 entitled him to a salary of $4 per day ; his last ^ This supposed State Public Works Board could be composed of fifteen members, one of whom is the governor of the state, and ten of whom are managers of municipal works. The duty of this board could be the furthering- of municipal works and the improving of the laws affecting such works. PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 65 position yields him 820 daily. In 1949 B passes the marriage examination, and marries. He takes five times the minimum amount of old age and life insurance. By this time he has saved fifteen thou- sand dollars, with part of which he builds and fur- nishes a good home. By 1955 he has three children. He is not harassed by any unreasonably hard and exhausting business struggle, such as was the lot of many business men when competition was so keen that a man's time was entirely engrossed by his business. B is an active member of a social club established for scientific research ; he is also active in a political organization, in a national gas mana- ger's association, and in a number of other volun- tary organizations. B not only finds time to continue his education, but also to aid his wife in the proper training of their children. The average old-time business man lacked ripeness of education, and often the abil- ity to rear children properly. B is well informed on the economic history of the previous hundred years, and he is glad that old conditions no longer exist. Should his eighteen-year-old son read a his- torical novel the time of which extends from 1875 to 1900, and ask his father to explain the changes that had taken place in economic conditions since that time, his reply might be much as follows : — 60 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS " At the time of the story you were reading there was a popuhir saying, ' Competition is the life of trade.' Competition had been the life of trade, but the facilities for industrial production and com- merce had improved to such an extent as to make possible great concentration into large and finan- cially powerful business units. This concentration made possible greater individual reward to employ- ers for industrial and commercial success. Under conditions making this great concentration and ex- cessive individual reward possible, competition be- came fierce, and proved costly and even disastrous. At this time, competition always resulted either in a combination of the warring parties, or in a death struggle for supremacy. In either case, the prices of the products involved were very likely to be advanced for the purpose of exploiting the public. The usual run of men virtually lost their judg- ment when competition was destroyed and unusual profits were within reach. The managers of these combinations, with some exceptions, proved to be avaricious. In some way they conceived the idea that it was none of the public's business how much it had to pay for freight, passenger service, water, gas, electricity, meat, flour, and other necessities. The public, however, thought differently, and made stringent laws which in time resulted in the strict- PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 67 est public supervision and control of privately owned public utilities. Public supervision and con- trol became continually more exacting, until it approximated public ownership. " In granting a franchise, the public usually re- served the right to purchase the privately owned public utility business at the end of twenty-five years, or at the end of every ten-year period tliere- after. The public also guaranteed a small profit, and set a figure for a maximum profit. All excess over this maximum profit was turned over to the Public Utilities Fund. Contrary to expectation, it became popular with the private corporations to have a surplus over this profit. This Public Util- ities Fund was introduced into many cities about 1920. In these cities the public industries existing at the time of the starting of the fund were re- quired to pay into this fund annually, for thirty- three years, three per cent of their estimated value after deducting unpaid bonds. In some cases the prices of the products had to be in- creased slightly to meet this requirement. The fund was designed solely to build additional pub- lic industries on a cash basis. For a time much money had to be added to this fund by direct taxation ; now, however, the four per cent install- ments required to be paid into the fund annually 68 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS by new works meet all demands for further con- struction. " The public also reserved the right, on due notice, to alter the rate of charges, always, however, mak- ing good any shortage below the fixed minimum of profit. The minimum annual profit was commonly fixed at two per cent and rhe maximum at fifteen per cent. Interest on capital invested was not al- lowed. As the conditions in any public industry changed, the rate of charges was changed as nearly as possible to correspond. The aim ordinarily was to aUow eight per cent net profit for average ability in the operation of public utility enterprises. The rule providing a minimum profit of two per cent annually was intended as a protection to private owners against possible losses that might accrue as the result of the introduction of new inventions which would throw established plants into disuse. The rule of a low minimum profit, together with the extensive public supervision and control, fairly protected the public against the possibility of pri- vate owners' building plants which were uncertain as to permanency. " This public supervision of privately owned pub- lic utilities was not wholly satisfactory. The matter of fixing the amount of profit often had to be car- ried to the courts, and the decision was frequently PUBLIC WOKKS HIGH SCHOOLS 69 unfair because graft, to a certain extent, still existed and influenced the testimony. By 1925 all states had passed laws requiring that each publicly owned enterprise must establish such prices for its product as would make the business entirely seK-supporting. These laws also required that aU money for the construction of municipal works must, in gradually increasing proportions, come from the Public Utilities Fund ; and that all construction money must be returned to this fund, without interest, in annual installments of four per cent of the original cost of the works. "Opposition to public ownership gave way by degrees. It was believed by many that municipal ownership weakened the character of the average man employed in the works. Gradually, it became apparent that those works in which self-supporting students were employed succeeded well. The works came to be regarded as a means for instructing these students in business methods, and as a place for them to establish their reputations for later life; so in time municipal works were regarded as builders of character. " In the year 1920 it became the general prac- tice to employ only students in the works, except in the limited number of permanent positions. In 1925, owing to the increase in the number of mu- 70 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS nicipal works, graduates were allowed to fill twenty per cent of the positions in these enterprises, and this percentage was increased until, in 1940, seventy per cent of graduates were employed ; but in no case were they employed where student labor was avail- able. This restriction was deemed wise as a check to the too rapid increase of municipal ownership. A limited number of men like A, who had left the school before graduating, but who succeeded in passing the required municipal service examinations, were employed in the more common positions when- ever neither students nor graduates could be se- cured. " As experience grew, the municipal service ex- aminations became more exacting and more prac- tical, so that eventually the standing made by the individual was a fair index of his ability and of his common sen se. All graduate employees were then, as now, considered out of employment every five years, and were obliged to take additional examinations. These quinquennial examinations could then, as now, be taken by any public works high school graduate whether or not he had been employed in the works giving the examination. Those standing highest were given the positions, with the exception that former employees were given the advantage of a few points. The workers who were superseded by PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 71 the ones making a better standing readily found other work through the State Employment Office. The general public was imbued ^vith the idea that progress depended upon every man's filling the place to which he was best suited. "Now, as you know, every law and every prac- tice is established with a view to encourage indi- viduality, ambition, and efficiency. The more equit- able adjustment of wages, and the increased oppor- tunity for secondary education, have been important factors in the social and economic progress of this century." These changes in economic conditions since 1900 that B explained to his son are the possible results of general municipal ownership. Under this sys- tem the majority of voters might decide to fix wages too nearly alike for all, just as A's and B's wages were made to approximate rather closely, as com- pared with present standards, considering the nature of the services rendered by each. If such a wage sys- tem for municipal workers should be estabhshed, we could console ourselves with the fact that, with public works schools, the shirker would be quickly discovered. By reason of a more general distribu- tion of thorough secondary education, intellectual and industrial worth will be more general ; and the 72 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS average earnings will be larger. The desire of most men to do the work that requires all their training, knowledge, and reasoning powers would tend toward the equalization of wages. For instance, the capable carpenter would rather do the work in a fine public structure at $4 per day than to build barns at the same wages. The capable manager would rather manage a large municipal electric light plant at $20 per day than, at equal wages, spend all his working hours in reading the consumer's meters. It is apparent that a more general education, through which a larger number of men are trained to do the finer and more difficult work, tends to lessen the difference between the wages received for the common and coarser work, and those re- ceived for the finer and more difficult work. The greater desirability of any certain employment will largely constitute the greater reward. As there will be few positions with extremely high wages, men and women wiU choose occupations to which they are naturally adapted, and efficiency will thus be increased. It is highly improbable that wages will ever be arbitrarily equalized ; but even in the event of such equalization, B, for example, would not be discour- aged, though he might be a trifle handicapped, if he did not receive the wages he deserves as com- PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS 73 pared with the wages A receives for less valuable services. A's and B's regular work day, as before stated, would be five hours each ; this would leave nineteen free hours for each to use as be sees fit. As previously stated, B requires seven hours of sleep, while A requires ten hours. The remaining hours each could spend in such activity as he pleased, and out of these hours each would reap according to what he sowed, and would reap the entire pro- duet. Because of the difference in the ability and character of the men, B would obtain many times as much good out of his twelve free waking hours as A would obtain out of his nine corresponding hours. Out of these free hours each man would re- ceive all he creates ; he could use his individuality without limit, and no one else, as a matter of law or of custom, would receive the reward of the labor of these free hours. What one could do for himself in each free hour is quite as valuable as the best he could do for himself in each regular work hour, and is much more valuable than that done in any work hour spent in the mere accumulation of un- necessary wealth. If, in the course of time, the fixing of wages should become a public office, a community as in- telligent as the public works high schools would make it, would undoubtedly fix a varying remun- 74 PUBLIC WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS eration for its different classes of work, and this remuneration would be on a just and practical basis which would encourage healthy ambition. Should there develop a social and economic condition under which a most capable man could not reasonably ex- pect to accumulate an abnormal fortune, as is pos- sible to-day, the incentive to accumulate the maxi- mum fortune that the economic conditions would permit would still be as effective a stimulant to this ambition, as that which exists to-day when conditions permit of vast accumulation of wealth. Under general municipal ownership and general secondary education, two lives of municipal work- ers as different as the lives of A and B would be easily possible. So great a difference, however, would be less common than it is at present, and more lives would be like that of B. The A's and B's would, as now, be living examples of what can be avoided and what gained by the right kind of effort. The probable result of such effort would be incentive enough to inspire improvement in char- acter and in worthy ambition, quite regardless of the question of earnings. We have even more ex- treme examples before us now than those of the lives of A and B, but we are too deficient in true secondary education and corresponding character to profit adequately by these examples. PUBLIC WOKKS HIGH SCHOOLS 75 When privately owned industries grow so large and powerful as to partake of the nature of mono- polies, the responsible positions are sometimes given to friends and relatives of the owners, regardless of the fitness of these persons to fill such positions. This nepotism takes away from many better minds the opportunity to develop individuality in indus- trial fields, and thus creates a condition which is fully as inimical to the development of individual- ity in both managers and laborers as are the con- ditions which are said to exist under municipal ownership at the present time. Taking these several points into consideration, it does not seem probable that even the keenest minds in the field of public utilities would be retarded by a gradual introduction of municipal ownership. The field of private industry will still exist for those who prefer it ; but to insure success, private industry will require greater efficiency than at present. Again, we wish to say that with a thorough sys- tem of high-school education, the national character will be strengthened. This stronger national char- acter will not lead to an undesirable uniformity of thought. On the contrary, it will give free play to individual talents, and will lead to their full ex- pression. 76 PUBLIC WORKS fflGH SCHOOLS By the middle of this century our struggle for wealth will no longer be a matter of life-consuming battles, and the questionable development which results from such battles may have largely dis- appeared. The hard and unfair struggles of in- dustrial and commercial competition will be of less and less value as thorough secondary education be- comes more nearly universal. These struggles will be displaced by a finer, but no less difficult effort, — the effort to deserve and to receive the confidence and respect of one's fellow men. Under these new conditions we shall have time to give more atten- tion to our health ; time to gain a broader and more even development of our minds ; time to de- vote to the better training of our children ; and time to spare for the happiness of others. These gains will result in a stronger individuality. MANUFACTURING WORKS HIGH SCHOOLS^ Progress, material, intellectual, and spiritual, de- pends upon the health of the individual, upon his memory, his power to reason, and his accumulation of interesting and valuable knowledge. It is the generally accepted belief that the reform agencies of the day can hope for success only through the further development of these qualities in the indi- vidual ; without their further development, advance- ment in wisdom becomes impossible. A store of valuable general knowledge necessarily includes a fair understanding of the laws of health, and such understanding must, to an ever increasing extent, be the foundation of individual and public health. The process of accumulating this store of general knowledge develops the memory and the reasoning power. So-called primary knowledge ^ The article on Manufacturing Works High Schools for Young Women appeared in the Arena of March, 1908. This article is a reprint with the exception of slight changes. It is intended as coraplemental to the article on Public Works High Schools. The plan is equally applicable to young men students if the industry selected is adapted to them. 78 MANUFACTURING WORKS is almost universally distributed, but so-called sec- ondary knowledge is enjoyed by comparatively few. Although without the primary there could be no secondary knowledge, it is upon the latter that we directly depend for advancement in wisdom. As it is only through a further advance in popular wisdom that the present and future problems of humanity can be satisfactorily solved, it is of the utmost importance that every young person should receive a secondary or high-school educa- tion. At the present time most of us gain our sec- ondary education through observation and reading, without guidance or system ; and we gain this at a later period in life than we should. When one con- siders that in well-managed high schools the teach- ing is done by specially trained instructors in sub- jects selected by experienced educators, and that these subjects are treated according to their relative importance in the student's development, it is evi- dent that the usual random stud}dng is of little value as compared with systematic high-school training received at the most suitable age. How can every capable young person be induced to graduate from some thorough high school? This is the problem that outweighs all other reform prob- lems ; for, as just intimated, the final solution of HIGH SCHOOLS 79 such problems depends on the wisdom of the in- dividual citizen. Without an early secondary edu- cation, growth in wisdom is seriously and perman- ently retarded. In trying to solve the problem under discussion, one of the principal points to consider is the obtain- ing of means necessary to build and maintain as large a number of high schools as would be required to accommodate practically every individual during the high-school period of his life. The public could do this if it were determined to do so, but the taxes would have to be increased, and they would become a hardship in many more instances than they are at present. In addition to the means required for the building and the operation of the schools, means would have to be provided for the full or partial maintenance of all students whose parents could not fully maintain their children through a high- school course. Under present economic conditions, it would be impossible for the public to furnish this maintenance ; and if it were possible, it would be most harmful. It has been suggested that the public build and equip the high schools, put them in operation, and then let the students themselves pay the running expenses. This plan would be easy for the public and good for the students. As it is evident that 80 MANUFACTURING WORKS the hiffh-school students who could not or would not be maintained by their friends must provide their own maintenance, the question of supplying the students with remunerative employment be- comes a paramount one. One object of this article is to make a specific suggestion for the employment of young women students. We are told that many organized plans to supply students with employment for full self- support have been tried, and that all have failed. This, however, should be no reason for discourage- ment. So important is the problem that a score or more of experiments, all unsuccessful, might be considered profitable if they should finally lead to the discovery of a plan for the better distribution of secondary education. Among many industries with which the experi- ment might be tried, a practical one would prob- ably be found in knitting works for women's and children's underwear, as this industry seems to be one that is especially adapted for the employment of young women students. Any standard article that can be manufactured under healthful conditions, and for the making of which adequate remuneration can be given, would answer the purpose. A high school, that could properly be called a manufactur- ing works high school, and a knitting works might HIGH SCHOOLS 81 be operated conjointly on lines similar to those sug- gested for the joint operation of public utility works and public works high schools described in the foregoing article. The public works high school is best suited for young men, while the present sug- gestion is for the education and employment of young women. As with young men, most young women of sixteen years or over would be benefited by earning their living and education, if the work is within reason and also instructive. The details regarding the school age, the study and work programmes, tuition for operating ex- penses, and like points could be adopted as de- scribed for public works high schools, with such modifications as would best suit a woman's school. Some prominent educators are confident that six years of this half-time school attendance would be ample to complete what at present constitutes a four years' high-school course. The more mature years that would be brought into the latter part of the course, the presumably better health due to the intermissions occupied by work, the better assimilation of the studies due to the more delib- erate progress of the entire course, — all would make it possible to take a regular four years' course in six half-time years. We shall here assume that such is the case. 82 MANUFACTURING WORKS The student who attends school full time during the ninth and tenth grades would ordinarily pass the tenth grade at sixteen years of age, and if she afterwards attends only in half-day session, she would require three years more to graduate, and would be nineteen years of age. The young woman who enters the ninth grade at sixteen and goes through all the grades on a half-time schedule would graduate at twenty-two years of age. By far the larger number of young women would graduate at twenty-two or younger. Those who, by actual experience, learn the lesson of full self-support and all that necessarily goes with it, would be certain to gain much more from the school course than would the other students. In the article on public works high schools, an imaginary water works operated by self-supporting students is described. In the description of this water works a plan is given for an annual change of employment for the student workers. This change of work is suggested partly to avoid monotony, but principally to acquaint the student with the entire operation of the business from janitor up to manager. As far as it could be made to apply, this plan for changing work might be profitably adopted in the knitting works. The education of several years' duration obtained from a thorough HIGH SCHOOLS 83 working study of a knitting factory or of any other business is most valuable and interesting. Such a complete knowledge of any manufacturing business is rare, and few can fully appreciate its value. The student workers would all become well informed in business methods, and it is probable that the experiences of such a course would, in later life, aid greatly in every cooperative effort of whatever nature. Many believe that young women under twenty years of age would not render adequate service to deserve wages necessary for self-support. Self-sup- porting young women who are students by choice would make unsurpassed workers. A study of knit- ting works would be made a part of the curriculum of the manufacturing works high school, thus every part of the operation of the works would come under the observation of instructors and students. Under such favorable conditions, the service ren- dered by the young women would be almost ideal. The works woidd in all probability be owned by a voluntary association of public-spirited citizens who would not operate them for profit other than a moderate and fixed net profit that would build up a surplus for expansion. This voluntary association of citizens would require full and clear business re- ports issued to the general public at regidar inter- 84 MANUFACTURING WORKS vals. These reports and the actual bookkeeping could be made the regular course of study in the bookkeeping classes of the school. In this way the general public, the instructors, and the students would become well acquainted with the details of the business, and this publicity would tend to in- crease the efficiency in the works. Young women of sixteen years of age who are se- lected for ability above the average could earn enough in five hours at the knitting works to pay their per- sonal expenses and their proportionate share of the running expenses of the school. The young women under discussion would be willing to live simply ; and one dollar a day could be made to answer, if a supply of clothing, the lighter room furnishings, and about twenty-five dollars for books and emergencies were on hand. An energetic, capable young woman who tries to do her best, ought to be paid enough for five hours of labor to enable her to meet the necessary expenses of one day of such simple living. If she is not paid so much, others are living off her efforts. At the present time the women workers in privately-owned knitting works are not paid twenty cents per hour, and the established prices for knit goods may make wages at that rate impossible. The students' knitting works would be required to yield only a moderate profit to build up the surplus re- HIGH SCHOOLS 86 ferred to, and the student workers would no doubt show greater average efficiency than do present workers; so that, notwithstanding better wages, it might be possible for a students' knitting works to sell its goods as cheaply as the same goods are now being sold. As is shown in the article on public works high schools, the effect of student workers on the general labor market would be in no way depressing. Some believe that five hours of daily work and three hours of school attendance would result in physical injury to many young women, but actual experience indicates the contrary. Whether it would be injurious or not, it would be less injurious than eight or ten hours of daily work such as those who would constitute the greater number of the seK- supporting students now have to do. The work and surroundings in a students' works would probably be more healthful and pleasant than those of the average private factory. We wish to make a specific suggestion for the creating of a students' knitting works. Let the Na- tional Federation of Women's Clubs appoint a com- mittee to investigate the knitting works business. If this appears to be well suited for a students' works, have the committee make a detailed report. This report should include every item of expense 86 MANUFACTURING WORKS and income in the operation o£ the business, de- tailed drawings of buildings and machinery, and a practical and scientific description of the raw ma- terial required. The report should give the cost of constructing a knitting plant of the desired size ; also the cost of the necessary buildings for dormi- tory, restaurant, and high school. In making this report, the committee might profitably use several years of time. It is, of course, not necessary that the committee confine itself to knitting works ; these are suggested merely as a possibility. The general management under which the works is to be operated, until experience teaches better ways, should also be determined at this time. One of the foremost essentials for success in any plan for a school of self-supporting students is that the ap- plicants for work be given preference, as nearly as possible, in the order of their ability and character as shown by previous standing in school. Such a pre- ference is only fair, and it urges the less capable to do their best. We would suggest a board of directors consisting of three members chosen by the women's clubs. Let there be added to this board twenty stu- dent directors chosen by the student body from the eleventh and twelfth grades. Each student director should have one tenth the voting power of each di- rector chosen by the women's clubs. A special state HIGH SCHOOLS 87 law sanctioning such a board of directors might have to be enacted. Let us assume that the report will show that one dollar per five-hour day can be paid to capable work- ers. With each additional year of experience the young women would improve in industrial worth, and this, let us further assume, would, as is probable, permit giving a second-year student $1.05; a third- year student $1.10 ; thus advancing the daily wages five cents for each year of experience that the student gains. The daily wages for each of the six years respectively would therefore be 11.00, $1.05, $1.10, $1.15, $1.20, $1.25, making an average of $1.12. All wages over the one dollar per day could be saved by the student until graduation. A student working three hundred days per year for six years could in this way accumulate $225. In voting for student directors, the individual student might be given voting power in proportion to the length of time she had served, as the length of service would, in a way, be a measure of her experience in the business. Another important step for the committee to take would be to obtain the pledge of a sufficient num- ber of the members of the women's clubs to buy their knitted goods from the students' works, provided that the quality is equal to that of the best factories, and that the prices are not more in excess of mar- 88 MANUFACTURING WORKS ket prices than fair wages might make necessary. Investigation may show that students' knitting works could produce underwear at less than present ruling prices. These and other preliminaries being accom- plished, a stock company for the required amount might be formed, possibly for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the by-laws framed to make possible the desired mode of management. Should the experiment finally prove successful, students' works and manufacturing works high schools of various kinds could be introduced into every city of sufficient size. It would be difficult to estimate the great benefit to humanity if the number of mothers who are thor- ough high-school graduates could be increased but two or three fold. This would be especially true if all future high schools for girls would give courses in domestic science, nursing, and motherhood. The increase in the number of graduates due to the sys- tem for self-support would consist of just those whom nature would choose as the most desirable mothers. SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO A PUBLIC WORKS SCHOLARSHIP FUND A Public Works Scholarship Fund as suggested in this article would be intended for the aid of self- supporting students of secondary or higher schools^ and would be limited to students who earn their education by doing work for city, state, or federal government. The principal purpose of the fund would be to make good any shortage in wages below a fixed minimum. Public works scholarship funds, especially for secondary schools, might be deposited with some state university that would accept the treasuryship. Upon presentation of satisfactory vouchers as to past expenditures, the funds might be made payable in installments, as needed, to the schools for which they were intended. The collection and distribu- tion of a large fund of this nature would require considerable responsibility and work, so the care of the fund would probably be entrusted to a com- mittee. The committee might engage self-support- ing students of the university as clerks to do all of 90 SCHOLARSHIP FUND the detail work involved; and as the care of the fund would be work of a public nature, the stu- dents doins: this detail work would be entitled to the benefits of the fund. In order to give the hand- ling of the fund the greatest publicity, a section of the bookkeeping classes might be made to re- view the account books of the fund as part of their regular class work. The schools that are benefici- aries of the fund might handle their portion of it in the same manner. Let the objects in placing these students in pub- lic work be as follows : First, to give the public the benefit of a high class of service in the posi- tions allotted to the students ; second, to supply the students with the means for self-support whUe obtaining a school education ; third, to fit the stu- dents for service in public as well as in private activity ; fourth, as far as possible to give the stu- dents practical experience that wiU best supplement the school education in the special fields chosen by them as their life work ; fifth, to bring the schools into intimate working touch with the details of current public activities. The obtaining of work for the students might be done by an employment committee. In relation to his employment, the student accepting the benefits of this fund should, as far as possible, be under SCHOLARSHIP FUND 91 the control of this committee. The committee, sub- ject to the control of the board of trustees of the school, might have arbitrary power in choosing and removing any student as a beneficiary of the fund, and it should aim to offer for public work the best available material. In accepting employment from the public for the student workers, the employment committee should, as far as practicable, aim to confine the students to such positions as would require contin- uous, energetic work. One of the main objects should be to develop in the student both energy and efficiency ; a further object should be to coun- teract any possible tendency of heads of public departments to engage student workers as mere hangers-on to do work only during occasional busy periods. Such a practice would retard the proper development of even the best disposed students. A tendency to employ superfluous help might develop, because, in some cases, all or part of the students' wages would at first be paid out of the fund. Any student who might take advantage of this fund, and who, owing to his inexperience with the work, does not at first receive as wages from the department as large a sum as twenty-five cents per hour, would be entitled to receive from the fund such additional amount as would, when added 92 SCHOLARSHIP FUND to said wages, equal twenty-five cents for each hour of employment. In case a student should be tem- porarily incapacitated for work, the employment committee might be given the right to make good, out of the fund, any loss in the student's wages aris- ing from such disability. Every student who avails himself of this fund should be impressed with the special necessity of doing his best at the public work, so that he will be likely to receive wages ade- quate for his needs, and thus avoid the necessity of drawing upon the fund. Several varieties of public works scholarship funds could be established as their need arises. An exact and full description of the purposes and mode of management of every fund affecting a certain school might be recorded at this school, and a copy of each description might be recorded in the re- corder's books of the county in which the school is located. The purpose of this public record would be to simplify the work of investigation by attorneys in preparing wiUs for those of their clients who might wish to contribute to the fund. The fund committee of the university might formulate clauses and codicils for wiUs for the purpose of making it convenient for any one to bequeath part of his es- tate to the fund. This committee might advertise the nature of the fund and show its inherent SCHOLARSHIP FUND 93 public benefits. The same fund committee might also organize endowment funds for public works high schools, and, whenever the fund was lai'ge enough to start such a school, place the money in proper hands for the purpose. There can be little doubt that a large number of people would have a strong sympathy for schools which would take a special interest in self-supporting young people. As a result of this sympathy, it would be less difficult to induce people to bequeath of their means for scholarship funds and for school endowments. Because of the self-support of the students and because of the tuition required, both the endowment and the scholarship funds could be much smaller than similar funds under the present school system. Many people, however, would at present hesitate to will money to a fund for a high school: first, because the management is likely to change frequently ; second, because high schools are not equipped to handle such funds ; third, because a high-school fund is likely to be relatively small and a small fund might not be given the same care as a large one. If these objections to high-school funds were aU met, only a moderate amount of so- licitation in behalf of the funds should be required to bring good results. The plan described in the foregoing for the care of the scholarship fund, — 94 SCHOLARSHIP FUND a plan in which the students themselves are a fac- tor, — would meet every objection thus far raised. The following clause for wills might be useful as a suggestion to the fund committee : — I hereby give, devise, and bequeath to the Uni- versity of the sum of Dollars, in trust for the School of the City of , State of , to be used, administered, and dis- tributed for the purpose and in the manner set forth and described in a certain instrument entitled " Pub- lic Works Scholarship Fund " dated and recorded in Book page of the Mis- cellaneous Records of the county of , State of . THE HEART-MIND AND THE SCHOOL For the purposes of the present discussion, it mat- ters not at all whether the arbitrary and simple division of the mind as herein made is scientific. Fortunately, yet strangely, it is not essential that we know whether what we shall term the heart- mind is different from that which we shall term the primary-mind merely in degree or in kind. How- ever, it is essential that we satisfy ourselves as to a vital interdependence and a mutual helpfulness be- tween these two divisions of the mind. It is sometimes said that secondary-school and college education develops the mind without de- veloping the heart. We hear that such an education often leaves us cold, hard, and calculating. We are told, and truly told, that without education of the heart no one can become wise, strong, and happy. The word " heart," as thus used, in reality means but a certain part of the mind, and we herein refer to this part as the heart-mind. This mind, we will say, is the division which is concerned with know- ledge and beliefs regarding human nature and God ; 96 THE HEART-MIND while the primary-mind is concerned with all other knowledge. Since heart-mind and human nature are practically the same, it follows that each indi- vidual heart-mind is concerned with knowledge re- garding itself, its counterpart in fellow men, and with knowledge of God. That knowledge which clears the understanding that man has of man, or, we may perhaps say, all knowledge so far as it is used to clear this understanding, is knowledge that belongs to the heart-mind. Knowledge of the spin- ning of cobwebs, of the building of suspension bridges, of the science of language, of chemistry, and other laws of nature, are examples of know- ledge belonging principally to the primary-mind. Some branches of knowledge may belong to both divisions of the mind at the same time. It seems to be true that the primary-mind is divided in one of several suppositional ways into separate and distinct subdivisions for each line of thought activity. It seems also to be true that the normal activity of any one subdivision of the primary-mind will aid in the development of aU the others. Whether or not the primary-mind is thus subdivided in both a physical and a mental sense, or only in a mental sense; whether the sub- divisions are sharply defined, or not separately dis- tinguishable, is not essential here. As an extreme THE HEART-MIND 97 case, for instance, it is believed that a merely nor- mal activity and development of the subdivision for mathematics or mechanics in any mind will further, perhaps only to a slight degree, the development of the subdivision for music or painting in that mind. A normal rate of development of one or more sub- divisions of the primary-mind may, by reason of sympathetic action, cause improvement in the health and strength of all other subdivisions of that di- vision of the mind. Perhaps, too, the development of one subdivision is furthered by the normal develop- ment of any other, merely by reason of the inter- dependence of all branches of knowledge. Here we should remember that what is normal develop- ment for one mind may be extremely abnormal for another. For instance, we are told that some are born with a more vigorous rudiment of the mathematical subdivision of the primary-mind than are others. Those so situated during childhood as to develop this subdivision more fully than the others are developed may almost be put in the same class as those favored at birth with a good mind- rudiment for mathematics. Some children have several subdivisions of the primary-mind above the average in strength ; other children are born with all subdivisions above the average. We all know that by the time manhood is reached the child born 98 THE HEART-MIND with a marked inclination toward mathematics may, without other schooling than that obtained in ordin- ary daily occupation, become as proficient in mathe- matics as another born with a moderate inclination towards mathematics is likely to become under effi- cient instruction. It is needless to say that a good school could further improve the mathematical part of a mind that naturally understands mathematics. As it would be with this part, so it would be with all other subdivisions of the primary-mind. We have made these observations about the pri- mary-mind because there is good reason to believe that the heart-mind is similarly subdivided into sep- arate and distinct, yet related and interdependent subdivisions for the different branches of knowledge that are its province. The primary-mind and the heart-mind seem not only similar in construction and in method of operation, but humanity often unconsciously acknowledges a close relationship between them. The man who has a well-developed primary-mind is, as a rule, more readily trusted by humanity than one whose primary-mind is poorly developed, and whose store of primary-mind know- ledge is proportionately low. This more ready trust is accorded the man with the well-informed primary- mind because it has been found that improvement in the heart-mind quite generally accompanies im- THE HEART-MIND 99 provement in the primary-mind. For reasons that can readily be imagined, the primary-mind some- times advances faster than the heart-mind, and develops relatively far beyond it. Persons with such imeven mental development are frequently the recipients of misplaced conj&dence given by those who judge the individual too much by the quality of the primary-mind alone. He whose primary- mind is thus relatively in advance of his heart-mind is, therefore, in a position to take advantage of this misplaced confidence. This advantage he sometimes takes because, having a relatively weak heart- mind, he cannot always withstand the temptation to abuse the undeserved trust placed in him. He would not be granted this degree of confidence if his primary-mind were, as is usually the case, more in keeping with his less developed heart-mind. It here becomes evident how, in certain cases, a man may improve his heart-mind to some degree, yet, on account of the proportional over-improvement in the primary-mind, he may in reality become a more harmful man than before this additional de- velopment of his heart-mind. All this is no argument against educating the primary-mind, because the ultimate good arising from such education makes any temporary harm from disproportional development appear insignifi- 100 THE HEART-MIND cant. Since the human race must improve or re- trograde, it is an unimportant matter if a few, on account of temporarily uneven mental development, become more harmfid during their own process of improvement. This uneven development may be looked for in the student who has a naturally weak heart-mind, and who spends most of his time acquir- ing technical, scientific, or other knowledge belong- ing to the primary-mind. This student ignores that training of the heart-mind which is derived from good literature, from the heart-mind sciences, such as ethics, philosophy, sociology, political economy, and from the direct study of human nature through social life. A similar thing is true of any man with a weak heart-mind, whether he be laborer, me- chanic, or business man, if he confines himself too closely to an occupation that calls the heart-mind but little into action. However, the student can- not, while in school, acquire a good store of pri- mary-mind knowledge without some social broad- ening, or broadening of the heart- mind ; ^ and ^ The social broadening here referred to is aided but little by the secret societies of the students, if these societies are conducted as reported. They may be increasing in number, but they are not products of secondary and higher education : they are an out- growth of the wrong home training of many of the students. Only injurious training can be given in homes where the love of money, display, luxury, and ease is encouraged. The young THE HEAKT-MIND 101 besides a well-trained primary-mind is likely to prepare him to acquire more readily that know- ledge which develops the heart-mind. He who has a weak or untrained heart-mind especially needs ethical study to strengthen this mind. This is true because the society of his own kind, valuable as it is, often gives the heart-mind of the morally ambi- tious man a dearth of higher ethical problems. He is most fortunate who has a heart-mind that desires its own advancement, and who has a primary-mind well enough trained to make ethical study easy. To grant trust is to acknowledge in the recipient of that trust a corresponding development of heart- mind. As said before, under the belief that a cer- tain degree of heart-mind accompanies a given de- gree of primary-mind, humanity, taken as a whole, grants to the individual man a greater or lesser men from these homes form a certain part of the university stu- dent body, and these men find a combination of true social life and school work quite foreign to their tastes. In many instances they make of the secret society an institution that, in exagg'er- ated and unrestrained form, satisfies the tastes to which they have been bred. Here, of course, we have reference to societies of the nature of those that have been so severely criticised in re- cent years, and the number of these societies is not small. In the end the school will prevail, and undoubtedly all undesirable secret societies will become extinct. The social development we have in mind as due to school life is that which comes from the every- day open school work. 102 THE HEART-MIND measure of trust for each measure of development of the primary-mind that he may have attained. This fact alone should be accepted as adequate evi- dence, even though this evidence is circumstantial, that there is a strong relationship between the heart-mind and the primary-mind. It can safely be so accepted until the science of the future settles the question. When, for instance, we study criminology, suf- frage, public education, religion, the humanitarian side of taxation or of money, we not only exercise and develop the heart-mind, but we study it as well. The heart-mind cannot thus be occupied with- out making constant use of knowledge stored in the primary-mind, nor without taking advantage of the general mind power that was in part developed through the act of accumulating knowledge in the primary-mind. An exhaustive study of the heart- mind would probably involve all knowledge. Knowledge of the heart-minds of one's fellows, whether intuitive or acquired by experience and study, or both, is the principal aid to the develop- ment of one's own heart-mind, and this development fidly governs a man's treatment of his fellow man. Development of the heart-mind means development of goodness degree for degree, and this goodness in its last degree signifies the possession of such THE HEART-MIND 103 knowledge and wisdom as results, above aU other considerations, in heartfelt fair play. Still, not all who have considerable knowledge and understand- ing of the heart-minds of others are good. Some make it a business to discover the weak points in the heart-minds of their fellows in order to mislead and take dishonest advantage of them. Those who deliberately use their knowledge and understand- ing of the heart-minds of others for purposes of fraud, do this only because their own heart-minds are deficient or altogether wanting in that particu- lar section which correctly appreciates as a source of happiness the value of deserving the trust of one's fellows. The man with a very unevenly developed heart-mind is sometimes given credit for having all its subdivisions developed as well as those that are farthest advanced. In these cases, as in those where the primary-mind is developed relatively far in advance of the heart-mind, the dishonesty often takes the form of abusing the unearned trust that has been granted. Trust is likely to be erroneously granted or withheld as long as some will judge the entire heart-mind of others by certain sections thereof. To all appearances, some are born with better rudiments of the various sections of the heart-mind than are others. In the infant the rudiments of 104 THE HEART-MIND this mind are ignorantly selfish in the extreme, and if the infant has inherited little vigor of heart-mind or at least of its more vital parts, he must develop under a serious handicap ; and if he grows to man- hood under circumstances that do not stimulate the heart-mind to higher action, he will be certain to develop into a bad man. Under opposite condi- tions, this ignorant selfishness will gradually change to enlightened, refined, or altruistic selfishness in which a man seeks his own good in the good of all. The man who has a naturally weak heart-mind can be much benefited by a good training of the pri- mary-mind, provided that in the daily course of life his heart-mind is confronted by some stimulating problems, as should be the case with every heart- mind. The training of his primary-mind is the prin- cipal thing that such a man can depend upon to aid his heart-mind in reaching a sound basis, — a basis where the gradual self-uplifting of the heart- mind will be an inevitable consequence. Many people are born with the rudiments of an unusually strong heart -mind. They sometimes de- velop strength and activity in all sections of this part of the mind without first accumulating any considerable amount of knowledge belonging to the primary-mind. Some of these people have a very poorly trained primary-mind, although most of THE HEART-MIND 105 them, if not all, have a primary-mind capable of good training. They seem able, without any no- ticeable effort, to recognize, to carry in thought, and to analyze fairly complex phenomena pertain- ing to the heart-mind of their fellows. They do this, as just said, without possessing a good store of knowledge in the primary-mind, and without even realizing that their minds are making the effort to study the minds of others. Such persons are sometimes called natural readers of human nature, but we might just as truly call them natural read- ers of the heart-mind. If in a man's own heart- mind that division which appreciates the value of the trust of his fellows is well developed, he can- not observe and understand the heart-minds of others, whether they are good or bad, without making his own heart-mind better. These people sometimes develop a heart-mind relatively far in advance of their primary-minds. This accounts for the fact that some who have but slightly enlight- ened primary-minds are good. We have previously accounted for the fact that some with well-enlight- ened primary-minds are bad. We have also accounted for the fact that some who have only fractionally developed heart-minds are bad. All our best novels, histories, and religious books deal instructively with human nature and use it as 106 THE HEART-MIND the foundation theme. Through these books we come in contact with the best minds, and, directly or indirectly, through them, we obtain most of our development of the heart-mind. Imagine how much more slowly we should all develop if we were denied the training of the primary-mind, a training so es- sential for the clear understanding of such enlight- ened discourse and such books as best train our heart-minds. Schools, then, develop the heart-mind indirectly through the training they give the pri- mary-mind, through the social intercourse that accompanies school work, and through the direct teaching of such heart-mind studies as are taken by the students. QUESTIONS FOR THE UNIVERSITIES Only a moderate percentage of young people enter high school. A large majority of those that enter do not finish the course. Many of those that finish have not been thorough in their work, and of the hmited number that enter the university, many do not have the capacity to continue. Do all universi- ties hold themselves responsible for the existence of poorly trained and untrained young people? Are not those young people who are lacking in educa- tion, whether they are the aimless sons of the rich, the misguided sons of the well-to-do, or the self- supporting young men, largely results of wrong industrial and educational conditions ? Do the uni- versities take sufficient interest in the discovery of ways to improve these conditions for young people ? Do they ask themselves questions of the following nature? — Is the waste of school time that results in the high-school failure a result of a popular misconcep- tion of what constitutes social happiness? If so, what is this misconception, and how can it be corrected? 108 QUESTIONS How can virtually all boys and girls be led to take a thorough high-school course ? Would it be wise for the public to provide em- plojrment for self-supporting students who will do work satisfactorily, provided that the employment is kept under the inspection of the schools and the public ? Would such employment gradually attract large numbers of self-supporting students ? Would these students be above the average in ability? Would they raise the standard of the schools? What would be the best plan that the public might adopt to provide steady employment for stu- dent laborers? What would be the best plan to induce private employers to furnish steady and sufficiently remun- erative work to self-supporting students ? Is it possible, as a general rule, for a student to earn enough for complete self-support after reserv- ing a considerable part of his time for school pur- poses ? Could the public, without loss, engage in certain industries in order to give employment to students ? Could it permit the older students to do most of the managerial work, and thus save for the students the employer's profit ? What industries could be gradually taken over by the public for the benefit of the students ? QUESTIONS 109 Could private employers be induced to instruct students in the complete details of their respective businesses in order that the greatest educational values would be realized from the employment? Would employment with private employers, val- uable though it is, be as instructive and as valuable to the students as employment in public industries under school supervision ? If the schools were actually guiding some im- portant industries would they not be more highly regarded by young people ? Would not such activ- ity broaden the schools ? Would it not also broaden the lives of the instructors? If industrial conditions are at their best, is it not wise for students and others to be self-support- ing after the age of sixteen ? Can any school call itself a seat of learning until it has brought about a mental condition in the entire student body that grants the highest respect for any kind of labor done by a self-supporting student, and that regards self-support as one of the essentials of manhood ? What can be done to induce rich parents to turn their children over to schools where self-support would be required, and where ways of self-support would be provided ? Would the average child in the elementary 110 QUESTIONS grades be impelled to better effort by a reasonable prospect for self-support at instructive work during the period of secondary and higher education? "Would not the elementary schools prepare the children for the later labors in the public-school industries, and would not young people who had been so prepared make the operation of these in- dustries highly successful ? Would the plan for public employment during school age remove necessary competition from the lives of our youth, or would competition still re- main and be of a different and better form ? Unless means for self-support are provided, can the majority of our young people ever attain a secondary-school education, and will the standard of student earnestness ever be at its best ? Is it better for the young man to give his time exclusively to school work until the day for enter- ing the world's work, or is it better for him to pass a few years in a transition period ? Can secondary and higher education be of the highest efficiency unless it is contemporary with occupation in the world's work? Would a general union of secondary and higher schools with public industrial activity and other public activities, purify politics by reason of the higher standard of character engaged and the QUESTIONS 111 greater publicity effected, or would politics corrupt the schools? To what extent do our industrial and political conditions retard the general distribution of sec- ondary and higher knowledge? Have any other institutions better opportunities to improve these conditions than have our great universities? If so, are any other institutions as responsible for the persistence of these conditions? The church is asked to improve them, and rightly so, but have not the universities a greater responsibility in this field? Can these questions be settled without the mak- ing, under varied conditions, of a hmited number of thorough experiments? Until the universities have done aU that can be done to increase high-school attendance and to make the students more earnest, they should hold themselves largely responsible for poorly educated young people. REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES AND HELP THE SCHOOLS^ When land in great areas still belonged to the pub- lic, the government wisely set aside large tracts as school lands. These school lands were gradually disposed of in order to obtain funds for building and operating public schools. It now becomes ap- parent that it would have been still wiser had the lawmakers of those early times also reserved other public resources. Without retarding the nation's material pro- gress, the government might have reserved for pub- lic-school purposes many of the timber, mineral, and oil rights, also much of the water supply and water power. These several resources could, in the begin- ning, have been leased under restrictions fair both to the lessees and to the public, and the rent could have gone, at least in part, to the support of the schools. At the expiration of the leases, the schools, through departments of forestry, mining, oil development, water supply, and water power, ^ The larger part of this article was published under another title in the Pacijic Outlook of November 7, 1908. HELP THE SCHOOLS 113 might themselves have operated sawmills, mines, oil wells, water works, and power plants. Good wages and good working conditions could have been given the students in these public activities, and there would have been no lack of available students. The profit to the public would have been great in dollars, and beyond measure in citizenship. In consequence of the past oversight in not re- serving more of our national resources, the country now supports thousands of palatial imitations of homes in which families maintain a retinue of ser- vants who, being treated as inferior persons, often become inferior. If the public does not redeem some of its lost resources, and if it does not awaken and come to the support of its better political leaders in conserving the resources still remaining, the nation will in time be burdened with a tenfold increase in such palatial homes and their often- times undesirable occupants, instead, as would be easily possible, of being blessed with more numer- ous and better schools occupied by public-spirited and adequately remunerated teachers and by hope- fid young people developing into upright citizens. The following discussion shows how one public resource, although originally regulated by law, was made private property by the courts. The story, although wholly imaginary, shows how ridiculous 114 REDEEM NATIONAL EESOURCES such a situation appears, and how easily the re- source might have been rescued. "We will suppose that somewhat more than ten years ago one thousand American negro graduates of Hampton Institute, Tuskegee, and many North- ern high schools, in a courageous effort to aid in the solution of the race problem, undertook to start an all-negro nation of high-school graduates ^ in a suitable, uninhabited district in Africa. They named their nation New Liberia, and their first town New Hampton. Out of friendship for the United States, and out of a sense of inter-racial fellowship, all civ- ilized countries agreed to protect these ambitious, nation-making pioneers against white and yellow invasion for one hundred years. In its natural state, the district set aside for this new nation was a semi-arid country, as was South- ern California twenty-five years ago. Before leaving for Africa the colony sent three of its members to California to study the water development, and the method of distribution as there practiced. The information gained by these three men was incor- porated as a part of the general plan for the new * We have selected secondary-school graduates as the inhabit- ants of our imaginary country because we could hardly expect quick and intelligent public action from those of less training. HELP THE SCHOOLS 115 national life. In this plan it was provided that the three men, for private gain, should form and operate a stock company to supply the inhabitants of the new nation with water. The law framed to cover this phase of the nation's economy provided that the water rates should be so regulated that the business of the water company might yield the stockholders an annual net profit of twelve per cent on the value of the water plant. In addition to the regular cost of operation and maintenance, the expenses included a sinking fund for the purpose of covering expected renewals. With the exception of the clause fixing the rate of profit at twelve per cent, the water laws of California were adopted by the new nation for the regulation and protection of the business of the three incorporators of the water company. New Liberia grew rapidly. In ten years five thou- sand additional negro graduates had made their homes in the new land ; and for every such gradu- ate who entered the country, the laws of the nation permitted two less educated adult negroes to come to New Liberia. In ten years, therefore, eighteen thousand adults had come to the new country. If we add to this number all of the native-born, we find a population of about fifty thousand in New Liberia at the present time. Compulsory secondary education was adopted for all native-born citizens, 116 REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES and for each native graduate, two less educated emigT-ants from the United States will be admitted. Contrary to expectation, this movement of graduates toward Africa has not decreased the intellectual aver- age of the negroes that remain ; it has rather stimu- lated them to a more determined educational effort. We will suppose that the richest land in New Liberia, and that nearest the water supply, is by this time thickly settled. All the water has been developed by the three " water-men," as they are called, and all opportunity for competition has been removed. The next available source of supply is sixty miles distant, and the colony is as yet too poor to utilize this water. The three water-men originally brought ten thousand dollars to the new country, and with this capital they developed the first supply of water. The wages that each took for his work, together with the four hundred dollars that each received as his share of the profits, gave each as good a living as that of the more fortunate of his neighbors. But, like a large class of white men and a comparatively small class of black men, the more they have, the more they want. The colony has now grown to large proportions and its numbers are increasing rapidly, as many new settlers are coming from the different states. Under these conditions each individual settler is no HELP THE SCHOOLS 117 longer a personal acquaintance of all the others, and it requires ever less acuteness on the part of the schemer to injure the public, and to " befuddle " the issue, when those who are accurately informed of the deception endeavor to expose and correct wrong-doing. However, when a black man of New Liberia tries some nefarious scheme, he is soon checked by his more enlightened fellow citizens. Not long ago our three water-men received a visit from a negro lawyer of Southern California, and this friend told them of recent court decisions in suits between California cities and private water companies. In these decisions he said that flowing water, and water that is easily pumped, is inven- toried at one thousand dollars or more per miner's inch. Our three incorporators at once saw great possibilities of wealth, luxury, display, and power, as their water right consisted of one thousand miner's inches of such water. In California this amount of water would be inventoried at one million dollars at least. Up to this time it had not occurred to these men to demand a greater annual profit than twelve hundred dollars, as this was twelve per cent on that part of the plant built with their own money. Be- fore the lawyer ended the first day of his visit, he and his three friends had estimated a large pro- spective profit in the following manner : — 118 EEDEEM NATIONAL KESOURCES Part of plant built with the original funds, $10,000.00 Part of plant built with surplus from water rates, 300,000.00 1000 miner's inches of flowing water at $1000 per inch, 1,000,000.00 $1,310,000.00 Twelve per cent allowed for profit based on such an inventory amounts to $157,200. The lawyer said that inventory prices of flowing water in California have a tendency to rise, and he predicted that two thousand dollars an inch would prevail in ten years. Should this prediction come true, these New Liberia water-men believed that in ten years they would be entitled to an annual profit of over a quarter of a million dollars. Even $157,200 of annual income would mean a colossal fortune for three men in a new country of this character ; yet it meant, in money, but seventy- three cents per month for each of the eighteen thou- sand adults of New Liberia. Of course the lawyer told his friends that it would be a difficult matter so to engineer this change in rates that the leaders of the common council, the newspapers, the courts, and even the people, would see things right, and appreciate the injustice that his friends had inflicted on them- selves in the past. The lawyer told the three water- men that they were supposed to have done business under law copied from the original California law, HELP THE SCHOOLS 119 and this being the case, they could assume the privilege of acting under that law as modified by subsequent California court decisions. In any event, the lawyer said that it would do no harm to try the new water rates on the people, and ex- pressed his willingness to undertake the securing of legal sanction for the increased rates as just esti- mated, if the water-men would agree to allow him fifteen thousand dollars a year for his work as long as the increased rate could be made to hold. The lawyer said that he expected to use fifty thousand dollars, conditional on success. This fifty thousand dollars he thought would be ample to enlighten and satisfy all antagonism. He promised to arrange that none of these obligations should become due before the profit out of the new rates which the people would be made to pay was ample for set- tlement in full. His greatest trouble, he believed, would be to obtain advertising space on credit from even the friendly newspapers. He emphasized the fact that he, too, would wait for his annual reward of fifteen thousand dollars until the rates for January were collected. The lawyer said that it certainly could be made to look ridiculous that the water-men should have a profit of only twelve hundred dollars, exclusive of salaries, on a business that distributes nearly thirteen million gallons of water a day. 120 REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES " I know you water-men receive a salary that is approximately what you would receive if doing any- thing else," the lawyer said, " and a salary at which the public could hire men who would, with a little practice, carry on this business successfully. On the other hand, there is George Frost who has a profit of one hundred thousand dollars a year from his simple invention, and the money volume of his business is not half what your total water rates would be on the new basis. With arguments of this nature I can easily mislead the public, if the ma- jority of your people have not yet learned to dis- tinguish between a monopolistic public utility busi- ness and a private competitive business. I am aware that Mr. Frost has a monopoly for seventeen years in this patented device, but he cannot prevent another from inventing a better one which might take all or part of his business away from him. A monopoly in a public necessity, whether created by law or by an invincible aggregation of capital, is as safe as a real-estate mortgage, and, in compari- son with a private competitive business, it deserves much less profit. Your people, I believe, do not realize this, therefore they may stand the increase in rates. If they will stand the proposed increase, it will be an easy matter to continue the raising of rates in proportion to the further rise in inven- HELP THE SCHOOLS 121 tory values of flowing water in California. When your annual profit has increased to about two hun- dred and forty thousand dollars, I should advise that you capitalize on a six per cent basis, or for four million dollars, and sell at par to your fellow citizens as much of the capital stock as you can. This will make your position more secure." All the courts and newspapers in New Liberia, had they tried, could not have convinced the fifty thousand enlightened negroes that the inhabitants of California have any sense of justice, or common sense of any kind, when it comes to calculating water rates. Neither the courts, the newspapers, nor the officials endorsed the proposed increase in rates. After their endeavor to increase the water rates, the three water-men were called unpatriotic, and it will require many years of right effort to reestablish them in the confidence of their fellow citizens. The proposed plan of the California lawyer and the three New Liberian water-men directed the at- tention of the people to the possible misinterpreta- tion of the California law that they had adopted. Awake to the possibilities of the injustice to which this law opened the way, they immediately set to work to remedy its defects. When they explained the method of calculation used to arrive at the pro- posed water rate, the four men were so sharply 122 REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES reprimanded by the public that their attempt ended in a timid argument that rates must be raised to lessen consumption in order that the inadequate sup- ply might hold out until the colony was wealthy enough to bring its water from the next source of supply. Their fellow citizens replied : " Raise the rates as high as necessary for this purpose, but turn over to the city, annually, all surplus profits over twelve per cent on your original investment of ten thou- sand dollars. The money you thus turn over we will apply to extend the water plant ; and what is not needed for this extension will be used to reduce the general tax levy. If once they had accumulated sufiicient money, men as selfish as you are might corrupt our press and our officials. An enterprise in what is acknowledged as a public utility must hence- forth be considered the sacred charge of those into whose hands it has fallen. Since you have exposed your characters, we shall relieve you of your busi- ness as soon as we can make a fair and satisfactory law to provide for the compensation to be given. But this compensation will include no price for the water that was in reality only loaned by the govern- ment. Our magnificent school system is the only part of the nation's economy that is operated on a scale so generous as to make retrenchment pes- HELP THE SCHOOLS 123 sible, and if we were to permit you to take the pro- fits that you planned, we should have to curtail the school system, and this would be preposterous." The three men might have lived entirely on their salaries, and have used the annual dividends of twelve per cent to acquire additional capital stock of the water company. At the end of twenty years of such procedure, each would have accumulated about thirty-two thousand dollars worth of stock, which would yield for each an annual income of about thirty-eight hundred dollars. Had these three men adopted this plan, the public of New Liberia would have remained satisfied, and would not have decided to acquire the water business. Twenty years of service in the water works would have found these men, at about fifty-five years of age, with an annual income for each of thirty-eight hundred dollars in addition to a fair salary, and with the deepest respect and confidence of their fellow citizens. We will now turn from the imaginary country of New Liberia to our own country, and to California. Califomians are all interested in learning by what legal reasoning and by what principle of justice the California courts construe the law so as to permit water companies to estimate a percentage of profit on a valuation placed on the water they were per- 124 REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES mitted to appropriate. The California law originally did not intend to grant a man the right to appro- priate a public necessity like water, and then to pro- tect him against usurpers in order that he might demand a profit on the water right, much less a pro- fit per gallon on this right, which increases with the demand for water. Without doubt, the purpose of this law was to allow him a certain profit on his de- velopment work, and this profit was fixed at a given percentage of the value of the plant. It seems, how- ever, that the law did not define with absolute clear- ness what should constitute this value. The water law of 1885 contains the following: *' Said board of supervisors, in fixing such rates, shall, as near as may be, so adjust them that the net annual receipts and profits thereof to the said per- sons, companies, associations, and corporations so furnishing such water to such inhabitants, shall be not less than six or more than eighteen per centum on the said value of the canals, ditches, flumes, chutes, and aU other property actually used and use- ful to the appropriation and furnishing of such water, etc." The law does not say that a profit of between six and eighteen per cent shall be allowed on any future valuation of the water rights. It is true that the law expressly allows the said profit on " aU other property actually used and HELP THE SCHOOLS 125 useful to the appropriation and furnishing of such water." The phrase "all other property actually used and useful to the appropriation and furnishing of such water" was not intended to cover water rights. Should a jobbing house advertise that it has on sale water pipe and all other property actually used and useful to the appropriation and furnishing of water by water companies, no one would expect to buy water or water rights from the house. Should a dealer advertise that he has on sale fish lines and all other materials actually used and useful for catching and selling fish, no one would expect to buy fish from him. For like reasons no one should have assumed that the framers of our water law intended that a profit should be figured on a valuation of the water right, when they said that a profit of six to eighteen per cent may be al- lowed on the " value of the canals, ditches, flumes, chutes, and all other property actually used and use- ful to the appropriation and furnishing of such water." The records of lawsuits show that, up to 1890 or even later, it did not occur to water com- panies to ask a percentage of profit on a valuation of appropriated water. This fact is strong circum- stantial evidence that no such profit was originally intended. The fact that the framers of the law spe- 126 REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES cified canals, ditches, flumes, and chutes, but did not specify the water right, which is the first essen- tial in the business, is adequate evidence in favor of our contention. Does not that branch of the press that stands for right have a duty to perform in every case of such positive injustice to the public? This case of injust- ice stands out so plainly, and could be so effectually and easily corrected without wrong to any one, that the duty to work for such correction becomes doubly binding. If the interests that now control our water sup- plies are so strong, and if the rights of these interests are so long established that we cannot force any radical change, could not a valid law be framed and enacted for the appraisal of all privately owned water rights? This law should provide that the appraisal be made within a short period after the law goes into effect. Whether the price deter- mined upon in any case is fixed at the rate of one dollar or one thousand dollars per miner's inch at the intake, the law should provide that the ap- praised value may never be raised in proceedings for determining any future water rate ; that it may never be raised in order to aid in increasing the capital stock of the corporation ; that it may never be raised in order to increase the value of the HELP THE SCHOOLS 127 assets of any water company in any condemnation suit brought by the public for the purpose of effect- ing public ownership. The foregoing is said with a full appreciation of the fact that lawyers generally would consider law based on the above suggestion as impractical, con- fiscatory, and unconstitutional. Nevertheless, the law that regulates public water rates to the extent that they are regulated is of the same nature, and it was meant to go just as far as the one suggested. Long ago, when the present laws for the regulat- ing of water rates were first discussed, many law- yers argued that these laws were unconstitutional and confiscatory. This argument was made by these lawyers, although no principle in law is much more strongly established than the one which allows leg- islative bodies the right to fix the rates of charges in any business that partakes of a public nature. Our legislature acted well within its powers when it en- acted a law that attempted to regulate our public water rates. The law that was enacted is, however, only partially operative, because the courts have interpreted it so as to allow the rate to be in a measure based on a changeable valuation of the water right, — a right which, under certain re- strictions, was given to the appropriator by the public. It is apparent that as long as the valuation 128 REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES of the water right per miner's inch can be raised from time to time, any law attempting to fix water rates on a percentage basis of the combined value of the water plants and water rights becomes par- tially inoperative. For the purpose of carrying out at least in part the evident intent of the statutes fixing our water rates, all water rights must soon be given a maximum legal valuation, and this valu- ation should not be excessive. In order to show the power of our legislatures to regulate private enterprise when public interest is seriously affected, one need only refer to the historic suit of Munn versus Illinois,^ tried before the Su-' preme Court of the United States in 1876. This suit was brought to restrain the state of Illinois from fixing a maximum rate for the storage of grain in privately owned grain elevators in all cities of over one hundred thousand population. Chicago was at that time the only large city in the state. Although every sentence in the opinion delivered by Chief Justice Waite is most interesting, we will quote only in part : — "Enough has already been said to show that, when private property is devoted to a public use, it is subject to public regulation. It remains only to ascertain whether the warehouses of these plaintiffs ^ Supreme Court Decisions, book 94, U. S., p. 113. HELP THE SCHOOLS 129 in error, and the business which is carried on there, come within the operation of this principle." Next to the air we breathe, water is of the most vital importance to the public, and any private corporation in the business of supplying water to the public has its property " devoted to a public use." If, therefore, it was constitutional to fix the price of storing grain at the rate of two cents per bushel, it must be equally constitutional to prevent the basing of water rates in part on a valuation of a water right that can be increased as the demand for water increases, or for any other cause. In other words, if it is constitutional for the legisla- ture to make a fixed rate for the storing of grain in privately owned warehouses, it must be constitu- tional to make a fixed value for the water rights upon which a water rate is to be based. This looks especially reasonable when it is borne in mind that the water right was granted by the government to the original appropriator free of cost. For the sake of information we will again quote from the opinion of Chief Justice Waite : — " Neither is it a matter of any moment that no precedent can be found for a statute precisely like this. It is conceded that the business is one of re- cent origin, that its growth has been rapid, and that it is already of great importance. And it must 130 REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES also be conceded that it is a business in which the whole public has a du-ect and positive interest. It presents, therefore, a case for the application of a long-known and well-established principle in social science, and this statute simply extends the law so as to meet this new development of commercial progress. " It matters not in this case that these plaintiffs in error had built their warehouses and established their business before the regulations complained of were adopted. What they did was, from the be- ginning, subject to the power of the body politic to require them to conform to such regiilations as might be established by the proper authorities for the common good. They entered upon their busi- ness and provided themselves with the means to carry it on subject to this condition. " We kuow that this is a power which may be abused ; but that is no argument against its existence. For protection against abuses by Legislatures the people must resort to the polls, not to the courts." A great many subsequent Supreme Court decis- ions confirm the principles laid down in the case quoted. These citations from the opinion of Chief Justice W^aite could be made the basis of a law which would seem both reasonable and constitu- tional, if it provided as follows : — HELP THE SCHOOLS 131 1. Water rights not yet legally appropriated shall be given no money value in future proceedings conducted to determine public water rates, nor in future calcidations conducted to determine the price to be paid by the public for acquiring a water plant using any such water supply. 2. Any owner of a water right, if he believes it to be of money value at the present time, may make affidavit setting forth his claims. These affi- davits must set forth all the evidence in support of the value claimed. All affidavits must be filed with a " Water Court " within one year after the date on which the law goes into effect. 3. For the purpose of establishing an " appraised value," the proper public officer shall, without de- lay, bring suit against every person filing such affi- davit in any Water Court. Each such suit for "ap- praised value " shall be separately conducted on its merits. With special restrictions, these price-fixing suits shall be tried in a manner similar to that fol- lowed in suits for the condemnation of private pro- perty for public use. 4. Any price so fixed by the Water Court for such water right shall be forever the maximum fig- ure on which a profit may be calculated in deter- mining public water rates ; this price also shall be forever the maximum that the public shall be re- 132 REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES quired to pay for the water in case of condemnation by suit to acquire the water plant using such water. 6. All water rights at present appropriated, as to the value of which no affidavit has been filed within the legal limit of one year, shall be considered as having no money value in the proceedings de- scribed in the first clause hereof. 6. This " appraised value " of water rights shall be subject to reduction for cause, through proceed- ings properly brought ; but it shall not be subject to such reduction oftener than once in ten years, unless it be reduced for reasons of equity in a con- demnation suit brought at any time by the public for the acquiring of the water plant which is using the water. 7. Any community using water supplied by a private water company may, by means of the usual proceedings, annually determine the rate to be paid for water. This rate shall be calculated to yield a profit of not over five per cent on the ap- praised value of such part of the water right as is actually used, and a net profit of a percentage to be determined on the value of the development work; and in addition a net profit of a percentage to be determined on the original cost of the real estate investments necessary for the protection of the water right. HELP THE SCHOOLS 133 8. This clause might show in detail how the net value of the development work shall be ascertained, and how to determine which real estate shall be considered necessary for the protection of the water right. 9. This clause might give the public the power to raise the water rate when, in its opinion, such action shall be necessary in order to curtail the consumption of water. The extra profit due to such increase in rates shall be turned over to the public treasury for various purposes, first among which shall be that of perfecting and enlarging the water system whenever necessary. The part of the sys- tem built with this extra profit shall belong to the public. 10. Nothing herein contained shall be taken or construed as applying to privately owned water rights, the water of which is used only on the lands of the owners of the water. It may be considered too radical a principle of law that permits the permanent fixing of a price of an asset belonging to a privately owned public busi- ness, but in cases where that asset was given to the appropriator by the state without special compensa- tion, and where the principle is applied to a ne- cessity so indispensable as water, this principle of law can only be considered a next legal step in eco- 134 KEDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES noinic progress. It is possible that conditions are not yet ripe for the application of this principle to all privately owned businesses of a public nature, but the water business is so well understood by the public, and the need of pure water is so well known, that the public can be better trusted with this branch of the public economy than can private water companies. The above arguments for a law to fix maximum prices for water rights for the purposes stated are equally applicable to a similar law in regard to the numerous water-power rights that are being so eagerly grasped by private individuals. The present laws relating to these latter rights were perhaps reasonable enough when they were made, but under present conditions they are a menace to the public good. These laws were enacted when the present electrical appliances for utilizing this water power were as yet in their incipiency, and when, in com- parison with present methods, it was a Herculean task to bring the water power from the falls in the mountains to the city situated many miles distant. At that time relatively few of the water-power rights were appropriated. As great profit-making enterprises, they were less attractive than at pre- sent. However, by reason of the unprecedented de- velopment along the lines of electrical machinery. HELP THE SCHOOLS 135 the values of these rights, from the standpoint of unregulated private ownership, have increased prob- ably more than a hundred fold. Private citizens whose vocations have taught them to appreciate the new and increased value of these water-power rights are appropriating them with feverish haste, and this appropriation is effected in ways which do not always conform to the evident intent of exist- ing laws. These citizens well realize that the laws relating to water-power rights may soon be made more exacting, and their desire is to outstrip the lawmakers by hastily appropriating all such rights as are stiU left unclaimed. In the course of twenty years the interests own- ing the various power rights will inevitably be merged with the railway interests. By that time, if legislation favors, the California water-power rights alone can easily be made to yield an annual profit of many millions of dollars. Such large annual profits would be a heavy burden on the five millions of people who may inhabit the state twenty years hence. However, the greatest loss to the public will not be the payment of these millions of dollars in annual profits ; it will be the official corruption due to the misuse of a part of these millions in the legislative departments of our government. Con- temporary history teaches that the combined finan- 136 REDEEM NATIONAL RESOURCES cial forces of the water-power and railway inter- ests wUl be controlled largely by men consciously or unconsciously lacking in public morals. Public morals, generally speaking, will advance greatly in twenty years, and corruptors will find operation ever more hazardous. Nevertheless, if we carelessly and recklessly continue to place great public prop- erties in the hands of men who have little inter- est in the public welfare, we must expect to see the present steady advance in public morals most seriously checked by this increased power to cor- rupt our civic life. When we offer great public re- sources to enterprising individuals without proper restrictions to prevent abnormal profit, we attract a large percentage of men too grasping to be interested in a profit that is merely fair. This grasping class of men adopt business methods that either force out of the business those who have public morals, or force these other men to adopt similar methods in order to preserve their interests. The public, of course, pays all the loss. No good reason appears why aU remaining na- tional resources of forests, coal, oil, and metals shoidd not immediately be set aside as public prop- erty, and leased out for varying terms, or possibly operated as suggested in the foregoing by means of public works schools. In order to redeem public HELP THE SCHOOLS 137 resources, we are in great need of a law similar to the one herein suggested, and we must soon have political conditions which will enable the public to pass such laws. The public is accustomed to seeing the considerable profit made on national resources pass to private interests. After the redemption of any such resource, no one would suffer if a share of the profit saved by reason of public ownership were turned over for school purposes, especially if the school should cooperate in making successful the public management of the resource. A STUDY IN KINSHIP : CHURCH AND SCHOOL^ Let us suppose that thirty years ago a ship was wrecked near an unknown island, and that among the passengers there were twenty children varying from three to nine months of age. The ship struck an outlying rock, and the captain saw that the ves- sel was so badly damaged that it must be aban- doned. A terrific storm drove them far out of any established course, and during the storm all the life-boats were swept away. A raft was hastily constructed, and all the children were secured to this and sent to shore with a sailor and his wife. Mother love, facing necessity, induced the mothers to part with their children in this way. The sea was unusually calm, and no fears arose in regard to the safety of the children. The intention was to draw back the raft by means of an attached ^ For a century or more, the main thought expressed in " A Study in Kinship " has been generally accepted as true. Never- theless, until each individual church takes a keen interest in both the elementary and the secondary education of each of its young people, there is reason for repeating the thought in one form or another. CHURCH AND SCHOOL 139 rope, and, meantime, to construct other rafts. But before the first raft landed, the boiler of the ship exploded, and the ship, released from the rock, quickly sank. All on board were either kiUed or drowned. The one sailor whose life was saved wrote these particulars of the shipwreck in a note- book which was found thirty years later. This old notebook records that the sailor and his wife landed safely and found on the island a par- ticularly large, intelligent, and docile species of monkey not yet known to the outside world. Ac- cording to the notes, the sailor's wife won the con- fidence of these animals, and soon induced the mothers among the monkeys to adopt, nurse, and protect the babies. The monkeys were very imi- tative, and were quickly taught the essentials neces- sary for the welfare of the children. The notebook said that the children throve from the start ; it also said that the sailor and his wife, as the result of an accident, hardly expected to live. This, the last entry, was written six months after the ship- wreck. As the notebook told no more, the lives of the two guardians must have ended as the sailor feared. At this time the older children were but little over a year old. Now let us suppose that thirty years later ex- plorers who landed on the island found the twenty 140 A STUDY IN KINSHIP stranded children and their offspring in good health, but living and acting much like the wild animals that shared the island with them. The few words that the older children had learned from the sailor and his wife had been forgotten. Under such cir- cimistances, a simple gibberish similar to that used by the monkeys was as near to language as any- thing that could be developed in thirty years. By means of this gibberish they could express pain, fear, indifference, irritability, anger, jealousy, hatred, and other like states of mind, as well as the oppo- site states. If left to themselves, how many thousand years would it take these isolated men and women to reach a stage of civiHzation equal to that of old Rome ? And to these thousands of years must be added at least two thousand more before they could reach our present stage of civilization. Our forefathers, at the time of earliest recorded history, were subject to a superstitious fear of storms and other unusual phenomena. Each of these phenomena was probably connected in their minds with some imaginary supernatural personal- ity, and this fear was the nearest approach to re- ligion then extant. The thought-processes of our islanders coidd hardly be called cerebration ; indeed, in comparison with their mental activity, tlie super- CHURCH AND SCHOOL 141 stitious fear ascribed to our forefathers in the first dawn of history was a brilliant mental state. If the explorers should bring the twenty islanders and their children to New York, the churches and philanthropic societies would at once cooperate to educate them. As a result of this effort, the chil- dren of these islanders would in twenty years be as enlightened as is the average university grad- uate. Thus we see that, by taking advantage of intercourse with educated people and of the pre- sent school organization with its accumulation of knowledge and wisdom, we accomplish, by way of enlightenment, as much in twenty years as would require thousands of years on the isolated island. Let us again suppose that we were entrusted with the finding of homes for twenty orphaned children from three to nine months old, and that these children were in every way equal to the in- fants whom we described as shipwrecked. Suppose that these children were given to twenty of the most illiterate and poorest homes of the slum dis- tricts of some great city, — districts where primary education was very laxly enforced, and where the children, when only nine or ten years of age, were set at work that stunts their growth. AUow the children to develop under these conditions, without enlightened aid, until they are twenty-five years of 142 A STUDY IN KINSHIP age, and what would be the result? Some would not even learn to read ; only a few would learn more than the rudiments of reading. Their spoken language could be no other than that used by ignor- ant and oftentimes vicious people, — vicious, how- ever, only by force of circumstances. The vocabu- lary used by any person developed under such conditions would of necessity be extremely limited. In some cases so much slum vernacular would enter his speech as to make it difficult for the average person to grasp his meaning. We learn and reason largely by means of lan- guage. We have seen that without language and without association with enlightened minds, we can acquire but little knowledge beyond that which is common to lower animals. With a very limited vocabulary, and with association confined to those who are no better enlightened, there can be little opportunity of rising above the semi-barbarian in intelligence. Some barbarians, without doubt, have better opportunities to develop moral and ethical intelligence than have many of our fellow-citizens who live in the close confines of some of the least favorable sections of large cities. For such men to have any clearly-defined religious thought is impos- sible ; they have neither the opportunity nor the ability to learn from books or from enlightened CHURCH AND SCHOOL 143 discourse. Where primary-school laws are not en- forced, hardly one of the twenty children just men- tioned, by the time of reaching maturity, would have extricated himself from his undesirable en- vironment and become a good and valuable citizen. If one did so extricate himself, this release might be due to his having inherited better personal ap- pearance, better health, or somewhat stronger men- tal power. Some accidental incident may have led him into surroundings which afforded better oppor- timities, and these better opportunities may have presented themselves in such form and in such order that he could readily take advantage of them. Is it not directly in line with the purpose of the churches to see that school laws are adequate, and to see that they are enforced until they extend to the last child of school age that is out of school ? Some children are too poor to go to school. Is it not the part of wisdom of the churches to provide the means for elementary school attendance of all children not otherwise provided for ? Will not this be the duty of the churches until all states have laws to provide the means for the school attendance of the comparatively few children whose parents cannot so provide? It should not, however, be simply a matter of sending these children to school 144 A STUDY IN KINSHIP for a few months each year ; the same supervising care should see that they, as well as all other chil- dren, attend full time. The church cannot do every- thing, but if it has any duty to itself and to the public beyond that of preaching to people as it finds them, it is to look carefully after the elementary school training of children. This training will al- ways be the best part of the foundation on which church work is built. Some men believe that assistance of every kind pauperizes character. These men say, " The one of the twenty slum inhabitants who advanced beyond the nineteen was the only one fit to advance." They also say, " Nature's law, the survival of the fittest, should have unobstructed sway ; the nineteen were inferior, and should be left at the bottom until nature disposes of them by elimination, for other- wise society will not grow permanently better." Perhaps some of these men were themselves sent to the elementary school merely because the law or the custom demanded that they should go. Surely what they learned in school and out of school was principally knowledge that was bequeathed by past generations. Why do not these men argue that each succeeding generation should start at the beginning and rediscover existing knowledge and redevelop a school system, — all in order that character be CHURCH AND SCHOOL 145 not pauperized ? If all of the twenty children in the supposed instance were compelled to attend the primary school, and were given wise opportunity for further improvement, it could hardly be said that only one would make a good and valuable citi- zen ; it is more likely that four, six, ten, twelve, or even more would do equally as well. At the present time but few object to free pub- lic elementary schools, and but few more object to giving state aid to poor elementary-school pupils. Not many thoughtful people now object to com- pulsory elementary-school attendance. Five or six decades ago there were many who objected seriously to all of these things. On the other hand, many peo- ple are at present objecting to the public high school; they do not understand the great future necessity for this institution, or its possibilities. The democracy of the past was based on our elemen- tary-school system. The advanced democracy that the early future promises must be based on an im- proved and enlarged high-school system. But en- larged high-school capacity will do no good unless increased attendance follows. High-school attend- ance is relatively expensive, and many parents can- not furnish the means to support a family of chil- dren through a high-school course. Nevertheless, the majority of young people must soon take this 146 A STUDY IN KINSHIP course. Here also is a large and difficult problem, and one which the churches can help to solve. Would the one child previously mentioned as succeeding on his own initiative beyond the nineteen be discouraged, if the education of the nineteen and of himself were fostered as just suggested? If his advancement beyond the nineteen was due not to accident, but to superior ability, would he not still possess that superior ability, and would he not on this account continue in advance of the nineteen ? Would not the nineteen make a new and higher standard for the abler one to surpass ? If the nine- teen, through better opportunity, raise themselves, the superior one, by reason of the same bettered opportunity, could surely maintain a part of his former measure of superiority. The law relating to the survival of the fittest would not be antagonized. On the contrary, the requirements for unusual success would be made more exacting, and Nature's elimina- tion of any truly undesirable elements would still go on. Such a result should satisfy those who fear that aid in the form of opportunity pauperizes character. The progressive element of our people might well advocate aid in addition to that which obliges the parent to send his child through a full elementary- school course, and in addition to that which, when strictly necessary, obliges the public to pay part or CHURCH AND SCHOOL 147 all of the personal expenses incident to a child's attending the elementary school. To supply to any properly recommended young man of sixteen an op- portunity to work at fair wages for the purpose of earning his way through a secondary school would be aid of the greatest value. Is it not time for the public and for the church to make a business of thus providing work ? To be sure, such a plan for public aid would deprive the self-supporting stu- dents of the experience to be gained from finding suitable work for themselves, but the experience so lost would soon be gained while seeking employ- ment after graduating from the high school. Now suppose we have a third group of twenty children of the same ages, and in every way equal to those described as having been placed in pov- erty-stricken houses of slum districts. Suppose that this third group is given to twenty families who live in a better part of the city, a part where it is customary to send children to school until they have completed the eighth grade, and where they are ex- pected to go to work upon leaving that grade. Let us assume that all of the twenty will creditably pass the eighth grade, and will then enter some field of industry. Judging from past experience, hardly one out of a dozen who leave school at the close of the eighth grade will afterwards augment his store of 148 A STUDY IN KINSHIP knowledge in any systematic way. At the close of the eighth grade the reasoning power is usually not developed to such a point that it is foUowed by a spontaneous growth which enables the individual to cope with religious, social, and political ques- tions. At this period the storing of fimdamental secondary knowledge has just begun, and a fund of this knowledge is an invaluable aid in the solu- tion of such questions. Nevertheless, the majority of this group of twenty would make what we at present call good and valuable citizens ; some of them, in fact, would be among the best. But a store of sec- ondary knowledge, however acquired, is quite as essential for what we call manhood-thought as a knowledge of the alphabetical sounds is for child- hood reading. Without manhood-thought there can be no intellectual happiness and no satisfying re- ligion. Then why not, regardless of any reasonable sacrifice, provide means for our youth to acquire the essentials of a secondary education? At the prime of life the average man whose school experience ended with the eighth grade, and whose part of the world's work is manual, does his think- ing and expresses his thought with a vocabulary of about twenty thousand * words fairly well used. ^ The Popular Science Monthly, vol. Ixx, p. 378, gives this esti- mate of the number of words used by men with only a coramon- Bchool education, but who are readers of books and periodicals. CHURCH AND SCHOOL 149 In the field of thought, and in other ways, this man has a great advantage over the previously described man who was virtually without school opportuni- ties and who developed in the poorest section of the city. Now let us suppose a fourth group of twenty children in every way equal to those we have con- sidered. Place these children where they will grow to manhood in a part of the city that would insure healthful physical and moral surroundings, and where they would be sent to school through the tweKth grade. Suppose the high school that these children attend is one of the more efficient ones, — a school in which the special abilities of the students are likely to be discovered, and in which an earnest desire to accomplish something of value within the range of these abilities develops into an impelling pleasure. By the time he approaches middle life, the average earnest high-school graduate reasons and expresses his thought with a vocabulary of about thirty-five thousand * words correctly used. In the field of thought, the successful high-school graduate has an advantage over the eighth-grade graduate similar to that which a carpenter with a systematic training and a fair equipment of tools has over a carpenter without systematic training 1 The Popular Science Monthly, vol. Ixx, p. 378. 150 A STUDY IN KINSHIP and with a relatively poor supply of tools. In other words, the man who uses thirty-five thousand words correctly may expect to learn much more from daily practice and vStudy, and he may reasonably expect his life to be relatively more effective and happy and more nearly in harmony with the world than if his school career had been checked so that his vocabulary was limited to twenty thousand words. The numbers twenty thousand and thir- ty-five thousand do not represent the true pro- portionate difference in the intelligence of an average man from each of the two classes. As a rule, the man having the larger vocabulary uses his words more accurately. This greater accuracy makes the larger vocabulary comparatively of much greater value than its numerical size would indi- cate. When we consider that every word is a tool of thought, it becomes easy to appreciate how it may be an immeasurable advantage to have the larger vocabulary, and to have a better understanding of the words comprising it. This advantage is of both economic and social value. We do not mean to imply that a high-school graduate always develops into a man who is su- perior to the eighth-grade graduate. This would be far from the truth. In making comparisons we must not take into account the high-school gradu- CHURCH AND SCHOOL 151 ate who had no mauly purpose in going to school. A considerable percentage of our high-school stu- dents are sons of rich and well-to-do parents, and these young people do not feel the spur of immedi- ate necessity to drive them into making good use of their school days. Such of these boys who lack the common sense to desire a good secondary edu- cation often shamefully misuse their own time and that of the school. It is not infrequently the case that rich and well-to-do parents have children who, by reason of false training or almost the total lack of training, have lost their ability to get from a sec- ondary education the good that it possesses. This does not alter the fact that the average boy who has, with earnestness, obtained a secondary-school edu- cation, in nearly every case has made himself super- ior to what he would have been had he left school at the close of the eighth grade. Suppose that the entire twenty boys referred to, after leaving high school, become so situated in act- ive life that the majority of those with whom they come in contact are equally enlightened, or even more enlightened. It must be evident that the opportunity of such men to enjoy life and to develop character would, as a rule, be far greater than that of the previously described groups of twenty who receive no secondary-school education, and who 162 A STUDY IN KINSHIP live and develop within a society in which the aver- age individual has accumulated noticeably less knowledge and has developed proportionally less reasoning power. As suggested before, and as is quite seK-evident, a thorough high-school education is necessary before self-instruction becomes easily possible and in a measure spontaneous. The number of earnest high- school graduates who have in after life firmly fixed the habit of a quiet study hour each evening is smaller than it should be, yet it is proportionally far greater than that of a corresponding number of those without high-school training. In the course of fifteen or twenty years a man who spends from five to ten hours weekly in the systematic study of wisely selected topics will be on a higher plane than he would have been had his time not been well directed. With a companion or companions in the study hours, this method yields the highest pleasure of which the mind is capable, and, in the course of years, the accumulated result outweighs all that material wealth could buy, — here is shown the greatest advantage that may accrue to the earnest high-school graduate. His quiet study hours make possible satisfying spiritual development. No doubt there are many ways for the church, through a department of education, to interest it- CHURCH AND SCHOOL 153 self in the spread of secular knowledge without in any way becoming entangled with the system of public education. The church, as such, it need hardly be said, can have no moral right to intrude on the public school until every member of the com- munity concerned is voluntarily affiliated with the church. But it is surely the duty of every church to see that none of its children are lacking in thorough elementary schooling. And, furthermore, it is surely the duty of the church to see that its members are ever willing to pay their taxes for ad- ditional elementary schools and for continually im- proving the equipment of these schools. The church should be second to no institution in calling for necessary schools, both elementary and secondary. It should advocate the keeping of high-school facili- ties ahead of the demand. No doubt the rate of increase in high-school taxes would be hastened by this course, but in order to promote attendance at high school and at the same time keep taxes for these schools as low as practicable, a number of pro- visions may be made to enable young men and yoimg women of sixteen years and over to earn wages for self-support and tuition during a part of each day and to attend school the remainder of the day. * ^ See articles on " Public Works High Schools " and "Manufac- turing Works High Schools." 154 A STUDY IN KINSHIP The church that permits one of its children of sound mind to reach sixteen years of age without having received a most thorough elementary educa- tion commits a well-nigh irremediable wrong. Every church has among its members eighth-grade gradu- ates who have ample mental capacity to acquire a thorough secondary education. The church that makes no serious effort to see that each such qual- ified graduate obtains a valuable secondary educa- tion also commits a wrong. This wrong, although less extreme than that described in the former case, is nevertheless unpardonable. Some churches are located in outlying districts where no public high school exists, or where the high- school capacity is too limited to accommodate all who desire admission. An aggressive, determined church should not consider such a condition an un- surmountable obstacle. The desired result could be accomplished, at least in a small measure, by evening schools, evening and Sunday study, and social circles, all conducted within the church. Earnest high-school graduates, or other persons interested in education, could act as volunteer teachers and leaders for these evening schools and circles until such time as the church had succeeded in inducing the public to provide adequate secondary-school facilities to ac- commodate all young people who wished to attend. CHURCH AND SCHOOL 155 The churcli can further secondary education by other means also, and the aggressive church can find the means. Why is that which we call nature tangible or sensible to us? Why have we a desire for know- ledge and a mind with which to learn, unless it is necessary for our development to learn ? If it were bad for us to learn, nature would revolt at our effort. Education is slowly revealing nature, and nature is the tangible, sensible evidence of God. Through this evidence we can more satisfactorily contemplate Him. Lack of a generally distributed education is responsible for the failure of the church to conform its ceremonial details and its deeper religious thought to the revealed knowledge of God's law, a knowledge which would, if under- stood and applied, give man a harmonious life. The church early strayed from the path of its deeper usefulness ; but of late, where education has had its influence, the church is beginning to right the wrongs which it has committed, perhaps un- consciously, in being the conservator of a class, rather than the teacher of humanity. If the essence of this article is not wholly wrong, is it not the duty of every fairly enlightened church to organize an educational department which shall stimulate an interest in school education ? 156 A STUDY IN KINSHIP A few eastern churches, we are told, take an adequate interest in elementary and secondary- school education. Why do not all churches take a like interest? Is this neglect due in part to the fact that it requires hard work, some money, and a spirit of democracy to aid in providing for the laun- dress's or gardener's child an education equal to that provided for the child of the wealthier member? Is the neglect due to the undemocratic fear that it will become still more difficult and expensive to hire common work done, or to the selfish fear that, when education becomes general, the rich and well- to-do may be obliged to do more nearly their share of the common work ? Surely not. THE SUNDAY LEAGUE ' " Presume not God to scan ; The proper study of mankind is man." Stated in the simplest form, the purpose of the orthodox church is to teach us how to please God and to give us a desire to please Him. The high- est thought of this church is open to conviction, glad to receive suggestions, and ready to make these suggestions, if practicable, a part of the church work. In describing a Sunday League of which the main purpose is the study of man, the author offers what seems to him a working prin- ciple, which, if generally applied, would reach many of the unchurched two-thirds, and many of the churched one-third who do not find themselves fully in accord with the present system of church work. One purpose of the Sunday League is to make every individual strong, self-possessed, happy, and of noble character ; another purpose is to create in every mind an especial desire to help uplift the ^ Although the " Sunday League " as described on the following pages is imaginary, nearly every point given is in actual operation in one or more communities, and almost every incident cited in the narrative has occurred practically as related. 158 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE next generation ; a further purpose is to seek and disseminate that knowledge which best shows how to accomplish these results. The object of this League, definitely stated, is kept before its mem- bers. The first care of the League is to fix its pur- pose, concisely and specifically stated, in the minds of its children members, so that in the future no man can pass the threshold of the League without hav- ing this purpose flash clearly before his mind. Any noble aim, expressed in few words and in tangible form, will in time have a good influence over the hardest and dullest minds. To accomplish the pur- pose of the Sunday League may seem like asking much of any association, but as the Sunday study course extends from the age of five years to that of forty-five years, it will be seen that what is planned can be accomplished without any sense of haste. After finishing the study course, the members attend sermons where more particular attention is paid to religious teachings. These sermons, of course, may be attended at any age. It is the pur- pose of the League to use the entire Sunday for seeking knowledge and recreation in the most ad- vantageous manner. While listening to lectures, talking with mem- bers, and doing some reasoning of our own, we have learned some things that may be of interest to THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 159 the average man. We shall not try to give all we learned about the League nor all the arguments in its favor ; we shall simply recall enough of the items recorded in our memory to give a fair idea of its work. Naturally, first among these items would be those concerning the League's concept of God. Our first visit to the League was early one morning last summer. On our way we overtook a member, and during our walk together, we inquired concerning the concept of God as held by the League. Some of the principal points of his reply were as fol- lows : — " The League originates no definition of God. Most of the members believe God to be a power of such intelligence as was necessary to create the universe. Some of them believe God to be the uni- verse. Others believe that the spiritual in us is a part of God and one with Him ; aud still others believe that ours is a subordinate spirituality, and that the God-intelligence is of a different and higher order. The belief of some of the members is that God, although He gave us the ability to sympathize, is an abstract power without sympathy. A few members of the League believe that a God- Power started the universe on an orderly world- cycle, and that not later than the time when man 160 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE developed, this Power returned to a dormant state, or to some other state of inaction, and left matter and force to work out their inevitable destiny, pos- sibly with no other result than a return to the orig- inal undeveloped state of existence when this world- cycle began. The unity of the League is not founded on a unity of opinion regarding God. The question of the form, the name, or even of the na- ture of God does not enter the League, except as those advanced in the course may discuss it as a purely speculative problem," In answer to an inquiry as to the characteristics of those having atheistic beliefs, our companion re- plied : " Strange to say, these atheists are as kind and appear as happy as the other members. They feel a strong responsibility for the welfare of others, — a responsibility which seems to come from the belief or the fear that there may be no God to watch over the individual. They have a strong desire for the friendship of others, and live principally for the faith that others have in them. Since they be- lieve that death is the end to all existence, they en- deavor, through the pleasures of friendship, to make the best of their short term of life, and they ear- nestly desire to see all develop the wisdom that will guide them to do likewise. These men, like others, cling to the idea of a futm-e life, but they do this THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 161 by regarding their own lives as continued in a somewhat modified form in the lives of the next generation. Granted a good education that has given a fair insight into the innumerable wonders of nature, and that has included a broad study of man, the atheist's contemplation of the lives of his fellow men, — lives which he believes will sooner or later pass into non-existence, — arouses a strong sympathy for others, a sympathy not dependent on personal traits and beliefs. To me this sympathy seems as fine as that exhibited by the truly religious man. The inexperienced atheistic mind sometimes shows a tendency toward rank selfishness; but as education advances, time modifies this selfishness, and its folly appears. Frequently, too, the atheistic view weakens with the deeper insight into nature's laws. " There are also a few in the League who might be called ' specieists.' They believe that God does not watch over each individual separately, but that He created the human family and made a combina- tion of physical and psychical laws for its growth. ' Specieists ' believe that God concerns Himself not with the advance of the individual, but only with the advance of the race. Some of these men at first feel out of harmony with the remainder of the world, as does the foolishly selfish atheist just referred to ; 162 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE but, as with the latter, a reasonable study of the wonders of nature modifies this early unbrotherly feeling." We asked if atheists were not more inclined to be fatalists than the other members of the League, and were told that fatalism was not noticeable among them. As we approached the League grounds, our companion directed us to one of the lecture rooms in which an address was to be delivered that morn- ing on the subject of free will. After a walk of about a mile over a country road shaded by trees, we had now reached the League entrance. Here we sepa- rated, but before doing so, our companion informed us that he was at the head of the Personal Appear- ance Department, and invited us to call at his home some evening to learn about his work. As several of his remarks in regard to the department under his supervision had excited our curiosity, we readily promised ourselves the pleasure of accepting his invitation. Hundreds of members of all ages were arriving at the League, and we went in with the others. On entering, our first desire was to walk through the grounds, and to this desire we yielded. The place is delightful, as an artist-architect has so planned the buildings that they harmonize with the natural sur- roundings. The grounds, which are about three- THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 163 fourths of a mile square, are covered with a nat- ural forest known as the League Park. A small river flows through the grounds, and this has been dammed to form a lake. The buildings, which are inexpensive, yet attractive, are scattered over a par- tially cleared space of about half a mile square in the centre of the Park. After a hasty inspection of the League grounds, we decided to hear the lecture on Free Will, and we recall the following thoughts from this lecture : — " Some believe that all our actions are foreor- dained, and, figuratively speaking, plainly written in the great book of the future. To others it seems that our mind action is a result of the complex co- operation of the five physical senses through a cen- tral exchange called reason. This faculty they con- sider merely another sense, and to such persons it seems that our actions are not strictly foreordained, yet must inevitably be what they are. Still others believe that our mind is absolutely free and fully responsible for its thoughts and acts. Some be- lieve human mind action to be attributable partly to instinct and partly to free will. Whether we have absolute free will or not, we endeavor to sat- isfy desire by acting in accordance with a judg- ment based on a complex experience. Our volun- tary acts are directed by our reason to meet ever- 164 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE changing conditions. Every voluntary act is pre- ceded or accompanied by more or less deliberation, which may or may not be voluntary, yet to our minds it appears voluntary." The words "judgment" and "reason" were used by the lecturer to express lesser mind pheno- mena than free will. " Since it is such a matter of course to think of our acts as originating in free will," the lecturer said, " it is evident either that God gave us free will, or that he gave us a mind- condition that makes it appear to us that we pos- sess free will. Even if the most advanced minds should unite in telling us that we have no free will, the instinctive regarding of our acts as prompted by free will would continually assert itself. Then, too, in every experienced and thoughtful mind, there must always remain a doubt as to conclusions on this question, as on all others that are purely speculative. Since God gave us the instinctive be- lief in free will, He no doubt gave it for a purpose, and this belief must affect not only our individual actions, but all human development. Whether we have absolute free will or only a God-given illusion of free will, is immaterial so far as our actions and duty are concerned. A God-given illusion, so long as it lasts, is to all intents and purposes an actual- ity. If what has been said is true, each individual THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 165 must hold himself responsible for his acts. lu fact, human nature would revolt against the man who would attempt to excuse a wicked act on the ground that he possessed only instinct and no free will." The lecturer said, "I am acquainted with two men of strong, active minds, and of unquestioned character, who cannot come to any other conclusion than that man has no trace of free will. These two men act as though they held themselves wholly responsible for their own deeds. If there is any difference between the actions of these two and the actions of other good men, it is that the former do not hold their fellow men so responsible for their acts as do the latter. It requires considerable abil- ity to carry a line of thought as do these two men when explaining the process of reasoning that is responsible for the belief they hold. By the time a man has accumulated a store of knowledge and has developed reasoning power of this degree, there is small likelihood that he will use his belief as an excuse for a mean act." The next lecturer to whom we listened told his class of young people that the only permissible reward for pleasing God is the satisfaction a well- developed mind finds in seeking and in doing right. This gives to the individual the pleasure of being in full harmony with the universe. He said: — 166 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE " The first essential in doing right is of course to seek a knowledge of what is right ; this seeking eventually brings one to the study of the laws of nature in their government of the human mind. A study of the human mind usually increases sym- pathy for one's fellow men, enlarges and enlight- ens the sympathy of the fortunate for the unfortu- nate, and of the good for the bad. " Man has not yet found a more complex or a more highly organized form of life than his own. We therefore assume that man is God's highest handi- work. This may not be true, but our limited yet God -given reason can come to no other conclu- sion. Naturally, we judge God's ideals by the high- est thoughts of the best developed human minds, as far as we can understand these best minds. Some say that all that is necessary in order to find these ideals is to search the Bible for them. Here we must consider that the present average mind, in searching a book written largely in unfamiliar terms and in the style of a past time, usually understands this book imperfectly, and gives its own interpreta- tion to a much greater extent than if it were searching the mind of another through conversa- tion, or through a modern book. While searching the Bible for a knowledge of what is right, it is well to study also the best there is in the thought- THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 167 fill minds about you. The Bible is laboring under great difficulties, — for the average church member it requires the minister as an interpreter. This mem- ber hears one or two sermons a week, and of these sermons perhaps less than half an hour — a total of twenty-six hours a year — is devoted directly to the Bible. In many cases this Bible exposition is forgotten almost as soon as heard." The lecturer insisted that the direct search for knowledge of what is right should be more earnest and more extended. The Sunday League seemed much like an inten- sified institutional church. What appeared strange to us was that the League considered it immaterial whether or not man was God's best handiwork; whether or not man's spirit is part of and one with God's ; whether man has free will or only instinct, or both combined ; whether or not there is a God that concerns Himself about us. These, and many other beliefs and shades of beliefs, are regarded as merely personal opinions which do not materially affect the main purpose of the League. The liberality of the League in regard to per- sonal beliefs made us wonder what were the require- ments for membership. Upon inquiry we learned that any person will be accepted who possesses a fair degree of intelligence, and who grants full tolerance 168 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE of thought and its expression, provided this expres- sion does not violate the laws of the land. The prin- cipal requirement for membership is a promise that the applicant will earnestly pursue the study of man for the purpose of a higher self-development, and as an aid to the higher development of humanity. This study has come to be regarded by most mem- bers as the shortest road to wisdom and happiness. We commented on the metropolitan aspect of the membership, and were told that the League was conceived by a young and independent minister. He, with a few business men of various occupations, and their most trusted employees, established the League. Since its object is to uplift humanity, it was decided that the society should endeavor to ob- tain a large membership and should aim to have all nationalities, religions, professions, and trades repre- sented as nearly as possible in the proportions found in the community. Children applicants who are not sufficiently trained, and older persons who desire to join but who do not quite come up to all the require- ments, are given a preliminary training under the care of the membership committee. The next Sunday we visited the children's play- ground. Here we found a child who was recover- ing from the effects of an accident. She had sat down in the sunlight near the edge of the little THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 169 lake where she could watch the children and young people at play. We sat down near her, and in reply to questions, she told us that she had been a mem- ber of the League for three years. She said that she liked her Sunday and week-day lessons because they make her " more beautiful, more good, and more happy," and because they teach her how to make people about her "more good and more happy." She said that every Sunday the teachers tell them in what way some part of the lessons of the day may serve to make them better or happier. At this moment the little patient's teacher came to take her away. " Do your members, as a rule, regard education as an imperative and religious duty after they have passed the age of childhood ? " we asked the teacher. " Our young people," she replied, "' are taught to regard their general education as an aid to- ward making them genial and helpful members of society, and to regard their vocational education not only as a means of earning a livelihood, but also as a means for becoming economically efficient citi- zens. The League keeps this dual purpose of voca- tion in the minds of the students while they are taking the vocational course at school or in ap- prenticeship. Once these purposes of general and vocational education are understood by the students 170 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE whose training tends towards making them thought- ful, any slighting of work or its total avoidance seems like unfair play ; and any thriving on unpro- ductive scheming seems still worse. Students are shown how rapidly the requirements of good citi- zenship are increasing, and they early realize that without a good secondary-school education they can hardly expect to become valued members of society. Under League environments it requires little effort to inspire in the boys a desire to become good citi- zens." As the teacher left, we could but think that if all teachers were able to see the wisdom in the re- marks just made by this League teacher, they would without doubt take greater pains to instill into the youth of the land the ideal she expressed. The effect of such action by teachers might be slight, but it would surely be good. We now turned our attention to the Weekly Bulletin published by the League. This Bulletin gives the programme for all the meetings of the various societies, the lectures, lessons, and sports for the day and for the next Sunday. It has a question and answer column, and each number con- tains articles by members of the League. One val- uable feature of the Bulletin is a short review of magazine articles that are believed to be of special THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 171 interest to students of mankind. From the Bulletin we learned the following : — The League considers a specific study of man during and after high-school years absolutely essen- tial in preparing its members to aid in the advance- ment of humanity. Metaphysical, religious, and other speculative subjects are not discussed in the study course. In this course the member is taught the purport of many of these questions, and the different effects with which they have been credited. He thus becomes familiar with these questions, and this familiarity prevents his becoming a heated partisan for any one in particular. He soon learns that a partisan-like discussion, especially of specu- lative religious questions, is inimical to happiness. However, such questions are frequent topics in the debating societies, and the general lecturers often discuss them. It is understood that a reasonable amount of time given to a thoughtful and honest investigation of speculative questions is essential to progress and happiness. The members of the League are divided into many minor and wholly independent societies which have headquarters on the grounds. Each of these societies has for its purpose the raising of the standard of manhood in some particular way, or the enlightening of its members on some particular 172 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE question. There are societies for the promotion of temperance by prohibition, by high license, by gov- ernment sale of liquor, by the sale of beer and the exclusion of whiskey ; there are societies for child labor control, for and against compulsory secondary education, for and against government care of poor children ; there are church societies and other or- ganizations, formed either for the betterment of conditions and the development of character, or for study and research in some restricted scientific or speculative field. Purely speculative questions are closely studied only in the philosophical societies of the League, so their discussion does not burden the regular course of study. The independent minor societies are designed as agencies through which each individual may exercise his best judgment as to a method of work for the general advancement. As stated before, one of the few tenets of the League demands tolerance of the views of others. This tol- erance, although it is studied at first, leads finally to amicable relations between societies opposed in theory. Heated attack on the views of others is regarded as a loss of time. All arguments between opposing societies are made only in print, and, as a result, the arguments are fewer and more thoughts ful. To make the work of these societies more en- joyable, the homes of all tlie larger, permanent ones THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 173 are equipped for social entertainment. For the pur- pose of explaining the activities of these League or- ganizations, we shall give extracts from a Bulletin article, " Reform by Legal Means." This article answers a previous one opposing reform law : — " A considerable number of men believe that we shall weaken certain classes and cause continued deterioration in them if we endeavor to force them to be good. These men maintain that if the human race is ever to be morally strong and hardy, we must allow the individual to develop independently. When we, by law, take alcohol away from the alco- hol-weakling, we do not make him alcohol-resistant, — the weakness stays with him, and if he has no alcohol, the weakness will assert itself in some other way. These persons also say that when we compel the parent to send the child to school, we do not improve the parent, as his selfishness remains, nor do we remake the child and make it of better blood. When we force the trust to reduce the price of a staple, we do not make the trust-owners more gen- erous, nor do we increase the ability of the public to make its own product. Our friends argue that there should be no more of law than is absolutely necessary for the most evident self-preservation : laws against murder by violence, and stealing by act of hand are, to their minds, admissible. We will 174 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE admit that those who are beyond easy redemption are perhaps only in rare instances fully redeemed through the agency of reform laws. In greater or lesser measure the weakness in each case remains to assume some other form. The A's cannot harm themselves, nor can they harm the B's, without harming the C's. When the C's are sufficiently in- jured to become aroused, and when their number is sufficiently large, they will, with the aid of all the B's they can enlist, force the A's to desist ; and they will do this regardless of the assertions of the A's that this action interferes with the course of nature, and that the paternal care of the law weak- ens character. The C's will consider that they, too, are an element in the course of nature, and that what they are trying to do is only a natural pro- cess to their advantage and in the interest of their conception of right. In so far as this struggle is educational, it surely has a permanent effect on the character of the nation. " The help that the regular League course gives the inexperienced is simply the light of special knowledge with which to see the way of life more clearly and more in detail. The various legal means that are advocated by the several independent societies of the League in the numerous fields of reform are such as, after years of thought and study, THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 175 seem wise. The men composing these societies come from all fields of activity, have done all branches of work, and, after a life of practice and years of study and discussion, they believe in certain reforms. In view of this, should they permit their experience to waste and let things go on as before without an effort to better conditions?" In another article the Bulletin described a re- vision in the study course on the eye. The course, as revdsed, demands one hour each Sunday for twenty weeks. It includes additional study in com- parative anatomy, and some new ideas on the con- nection of the eye with the brain ; it also includes the latest theories regarding the sight faculty. We were informed that all the principal parts of the body are studied in this leisurely, careful way between the ages of twelve and twenty-five years. The Bid- letin contained other matter of interest to members ; but enough has been given to explain its scope, and, incidentally, to explain some things regarding the League. After reading the Bulletin we permitted our thought to wander from one subject to another, and among the ideas that presented themselves were the following: — Could not the League have a department the duty of which would be to see that every capable 176 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE youth obtains a secondary-school education? The League is so large that it might easily establish several cooperative enterprises, and the self-sustain- ing young people of the League might be given five hours daily of progressive employment in these in- stitutions, provided they would use their earnings to pay the expenses of three hours' daily attendance in a high school. At each annual influx of fresh- men, the older students would be advanced in their industrial work, and in this way the employment would be more interesting and instructive. Such a plan would be a most practical and thorough way to teach industrial business methods. Later, we learned that this very thing was being done. . . . Could not every orthodox church accomplish much by organizing a department to encourage secondary education ? ^ . . . What coidd yield more happiness to the individual than to assist in a plan by which all children, rich or poor, might have an equal oppor- tunity to obtain a good secondary education ? . . . One of the striking characteristics of the Sunday League is the feeling of fellowship that pervades the meetings. These people, all through the forty years' course, and even afterwards, are not only ^ The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science for November, 1907, shows the results of church work along practical advanced lines. THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 177 students, but also close observers of educational methods and results. Their observation ranges from a study of the simplest rudiments of language and mathematics to that of psychology and other sci- ences. Most members of the League appear to have been lifelong acquaintances. Is it not prob- able that a wise study of man gives one an insight into the nature of his fellow man so that weeks will develop as ripe an acquaintance or friendship as under other conditions might require years ? . . . But, after all, is it probable that the majority of men will ever be able to understand clearly a study like psychology; and is it not less probable that they will gain this understanding through pleasur- able effort ? We recall our grammar-school exper- ience. Most of those who left school at the end of the eighth grade were as capable, mentally, as those who continued and successfully completed the course. We believe that under a systematic train- ing the capacity for learning possessed by a large majority of the workers of society is quite as great as that possessed by the planners and schemers. If the church does its best to see that all children re- ceive a high-school education, and if other reform forces do not lessen their efforts, the average man, within a few generations, could easily be as famil- iar with the phenomena of the human mind as the 178 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE special students are now. It is well known that a great number of our best students along all lines are those whose parents and grandparents were la- borins: men. ... If a man's treatment of his fel- low man is the best index of his character, it would seem reasonable to consider a study of man as one of the principal requirements of education. For in- stance : to refrain from telling a falsehood because, if discovered, your reputation would be injured, or because you were taught as a child not to tell a lie, or because the Bible demands that you tell only the truth, is not what, in this age, should be con- sidered an expression of intelligent character. To withstand a temptation to speak a falsehood because that which is called self-respect does not permit the untruth, may or may not be due to intelligent character. To refrain from telling a falsehood be- cause you understand the possible bad effects that any falsehood may have on others as weU as on your- self, and because you understand the criminality of an act that injures humanity, is intelligent char- acter. A falsehood is always told for some personal advantage. If, by means of falsehood, you receive or retain credit for greater goodness or ability than you possess, you indirectly injure others and di- rectly injure yourself. In a not very remote way, every falsehood is a parasitic act. The mere mental THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 179 influence on others of hearing even what is called a " white lie " from the lips of one supposed to be true, is an injury to those who hear it, and to all humanity. Every time a man hears an untruth, his confidence in human character is lowered. If his confidence is lowered, he almost invariably shows this mistrust in his actions, and this reacts on all with whom he comes in contact. People with little strength of character tell falsehoods without hesi- tation. A falsehood from such a source does not shock an experienced man, but the effect of such a falsifier on what might be called the inter-human confidence is extremely damaging. The telling of a falsehood, even if the falsity is never discovered, has some psychological effect that tends to destroy this mutual confidence. . . . The different forms of indirect injury that any instance of the lowering of confidence may effect are innumerable, as are the more direct injuries due to falsehoods. Every falsehood is an injury to humanity, and no one can foretell the damage that any particular falsehood may cause. It is only the enlightened student of man who can fully appreciate the value of truth to humanity. This enlightened student, on account of knowing the value of truth, and on account of the character acquired while becoming enlightened, is almost the only man who habitually speaks his true 180 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE belief, and who is brave enough to do so. Occa- sionally a man of little education and experience is absolutely truthful, and in thought, at least, every one honors him. These exceptions, like all exceptions to general rules, prove nothing until understood through study and research. . . . As self-evident as the value of truthfulness is to the enlightened man, experience has taught that it cannot be instilled into the human mind by admo- nitions to refrain from untruths. Not until we have advanced farther in the study of man, and have ap- plied the acquired knowledge to all economic, social, and political questions for a considerable time, can we expect character that will be habitually truthful. Every thoughtful man knows what an uplift the simple, direct truth between men would give to life. The goodness that comes from understanding man, and from the character formed during the develop- ment of this understanding, is true and will last. To this kind of goodness must we look for relief from present social difficulties ; and this kind of goodness must be in accord with God, because it is intelligent goodness. . . . Knowledge of the latest facts discovered concerning man's mind and body is useful for the purpose of uplifting humanity. In order to make a speedy yet steady and easy headway in such knowledge, a secondary-school THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 181 education is an almost indispensable foundation. Al- though a knowledge of all facts discovered would be useful to the average man, he cannot hope to become so well informed ; but under favorable con- ditions he can probably learn enough so that hu- manity will advance at many times its present rate. When a slowly acquired and clear knowledge of the most important needs of man is more general, a way to have these needs supplied will readily be found. . . . How to aid in the equipment of the ordinary individual member so as best to enable him to do his share in the uplifting of humanity, is a vital question for any church. Strange to say, very few churches treat this as a distinct and vital question. The wisdom of any individual church may well be measured by its effort in this direction. . . . " Can I show you anything here to-day ? " an acquaintance asked. This question ended our medi- tations. We replied that he might show us any- thing he pleased, if he would first tell us about the course of study prescribed by the League. " It requires but a moment's thought," he replied, " to convince one that the outlining of a well-defined and wise course for the study of man is a task that only men of the broadest education and of a partic- ular mental endowment can be expected to work out without much difficulty. The League had at fiirst 182 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE no experienced or professional advisers. The min- ister who conceived the League and his associates discussed the plan of study for several years before even a preliminary trial course was formulated. Since then a curriculum committee of six has experi- mented with the study programme, and has done re- markably well. This shows that very often men of fair general education can, in an emergency, do work that ordinarily requires specialists. Several of the older members make it their constant study to im- prove the curriculum. " To describe the study course in a very general way, I may say that the first part is really in the public school. The League aims to take an encour- aging interest in school children and in the school system. When a child is unable to keep up in any study because the week-day teacher cannot find suf- ficient time for his particular case, the League tries, on Sunday, to aid him in whatever way it can. This aid is given by volunteers who^ for the most part, are high-school graduates that are being trained as public-school teachers. Graduates of the League also assist. This aid is given strictly in accordance with advice received from the school which the child attends. As both parents and children attend the Sunday League, it is in closer touch with the par- ents than is the public school. Because of this closer THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 183 touch, the League can more conveniently and more intelligently interest the parents in the child's needs. In this way the child is almost certain to have their sympathy and aid. Wise aid given occasionally to a child below the average in ability means happiness and progress to the little one ; without this aid, the child might be most miserable. The first care of the committee on education is to see that each child has an elementary and a secondary -school edu- cation, and that this education is as thorough as possible. " The public school, especially the high-school de- partment, gives the matter of health as much atten- tion as time permits. Valuable as is this knowledge when taught in the high school, it is considered the imperative duty of the League to carry this study still farther. We all know that it is impossible for a man to be at his best in character if his health is below the normal. To understand the relative value of food materials, to understand the laws of diges- tion and of assimilation, we need to know some- thing of organic chemistry. To understand the eyes, we need to know, among other things, the laws of light ; to understand the ears, we need to know the laws of sound, and so on. To learn even the rudi- ments of these sciences, one must have a fair gen- eral knowledge of language and of mathematics. 184 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE Botany, zo61og}% comparative anatomy, as well as other sciences, are well worth studying for the pur- pose of better understanding man's body and its re- quirements. The study of body is a preliminary to the study of mind, and a knowledge of mind is of value in the pursuit of health as well as in the pur- suit of social happiness. To these ends we find a complete scientific high-school course indispensable. " You may say that such knowledge is for the physician, the oculist, the athletic instructor, and other specialists. We have these men with us now, but they can accomplish more when those for whom they work understand their advice and the reason for it. The specialist's duty is to obtain accurate and broad knowledge of his subject and to teach this knowledge ; the layman's duty is to be able to understand it. But both the specialist and the lay- man have much to learn in regard to making our bodies healthy, strong, and beautiful. The League gives a course on personal appearance which enables the poor man to look quite as neat as does the man of average means. " There is a course that presents briefly the his- tory of speculative questions. The course includes a short exposition of the principal theories of nat- ural law, and of the various religious, ethical, scien- tific, and philosophical subjects of controversy in THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 185 both the past and the present. This short course in speculative thought shows that theorizing is end- less. The lectures are designed to create more re- spect for the opinions of others ; to sober argument of a speculative nature, and, incidentally, to moder- ate all other argument. More knowledge of past speculative questions will tend to save for humanity time that would otherwise be lost by reason of a too literal repetition of thought generation after genera- tion. You may question the average man's interest in these speculative questions. The average man thinks, and lacking accurate knowledge of the his- tory of past speculative thought, he readily becomes a partisan upon these questions, as well as upon sim- ple questions of fact. It is surprising to see how the little time given to these lectures sobers controversy. " There is a course in social and political science which gives a fairly well-defined idea of these sub- jects in all their branches. Each year a different branch is given special study. One year, attention may be concentrated on intemperance and the drug habit ; another year, upon the production and dis- tribution of wealth ; another, on public education ; another, on religion in relation to politics. This year attention is directed to intemperance and the drug habit. The plan of giving special attention to a cer- tain branch of social or political science each year 186 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE is continued for ten years, and then the programme is repeated with such variations as experience and fuller understanding may dictate. Time is too limited to permit of each member's taking all of the ten branches specially studied, but he is expected to study one branch between his twentieth and thir- tieth years, as it is considered the duty of every citi- zen to understand at least one of these subjects to the extent that they are taught by the League. As far as possible the classes are so arranged that each year a different tenth of the members can take one of the special subjects. In this way every member has broad general training in at least one branch of social and political science, and social intercourse diffuses the knowledge of aU ten branches among all of the members. " After the high-school period, studies in science, literature, and art are continued at intervals until the end of the League course. The young married women are given a course in the duties of mother- hood ; the young married men, a course in the duties of fatherhood. Those young women who did not take a course in domestic science in the high school are given an outline course in the League. Ethics is given careful study. Outlines of the various reli- gions of to-day, and a short history of all religion are included in the course. Outdoor nature studies THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 187 receive special attention, and, to this end, the chil- dren spend two or three entire Sundays of each summer in making excursions to the hills or to the beach. An outline of anthropology is given and is most eagerly studied. All sociological topics are dis- cussed to a greater or less extent. Psychology is a favorite study with many of the older students. Almost the entire course is simply a forty years' study of man, and this study is based, wherever pos- sible, upon a secondary-school education which has been received at the proper age. " To understand even as short an article on ethics as is found in the larger encyclopedias requires a mind that has at least the training of secondary edu- cation, and one in which a fair degree of reasoning power is developed. Nine out of every ten men have minds that could, with little effort, have been so trained as readily to understand such an article. At present, however, even after most careful read- ing, hardly one out of ten would understand it fully. A single instance like this should arouse all to a sense of the futility of trying to teach a man who is not naturally good to be soundly and firmly good, before he possesses a fair education. " Although practically the entire course is for the study of man, it diverges and takes up political and social science topics as such. The special attention 188 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE thus given to these subjects will be necessary until industrial, economic, social, and political conditions are fully miderstood through week-day education. " The study of the body and its care is combined with all kinds of athletics, out-of-door nature-study, singing, and other exercises that require only the most pleasurable mental exertion. These courses are given to the children who attend school during the week, and the nature of the work is such that the Sunday activity is not simply a continuation of school work. In an attractive and effective way, good manners and moral and ethical principles adapted to their age are at all times taught the chil- dren. " Beginning with the fourteenth grade, the study sessions are devoted principally to lectures, during which the students ask questions, discuss the topic, and take notes. At the close of the term, each stu- dent prepares a thesis on an assigned subject, and on the thoroughness of this thesis depends his privi- lege of entering a higher course." Here we expressed our satisfaction with our friend's explanation of the study courses, and in- quired about the teaching force. He replied, "All except the few special teachers, whom we call lec- turers or ministers, are volunteers. Any graduate of the fourteenth grade may have his application THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 189 for a position as teacher entered on the waiting-list. The average youth passes the twelfth, or the last high-school grade, at eighteen years of age. Each League degree requires but one year, and is given with the corresponding school grade. After the twelfth grade, the League degrees are granted an- nually to those following prescribed courses up to the age of forty-five. The placing and retiring of teachers is in the hands of a teacher's committee composed of members and paid lecturers. " There is no salary attached to any of the posi- tions except those which are filled by the lecturers, and these paid positions require daily work as well as general supervision of the Sunday courses. The regular Sunday positions are filled by men and women who do this work for the love of it. It is a rare occurrence to see a volunteer teacher retired after he has been allowed to teach for a year. Usually a teacher who has been retired from one study will at once place his name on the waiting- list for any position the committee may offer for which he is prepared. It is considered an honor to be tried, and each one tried is expected to admit that the committee knows better than he which teacher best meets the needs of the students. He is also expected to realize that the feeling of resent- ment is extremely childish, besides being a hindrance 190 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE to the success of the institution for which, if neces- sary, he is supposed to be willing to sacrifice him- self. Each teacher appointed, no matter how much he may enjoy his position, is expected to do his best to prove that his loyalty to the League so far tran- scends any personal feeluig that he will welcome displacement if the committee finds a substitute that it considers superior to him. Even should he believe that the committee acted in bad faith in displacing him, he will be expected to remain with the League and to use his power wisely in the interest of right as he sees it. He who fulfills these expectations is magnanimous, and is considered of the highest value to the League. So vital do we regard the influence of perfect character, that we consider the League indestructible as long as at least one out of every twenty-five of its members is truly magnanimous. Partly for this reason, the member is valued much more for his character than for any special ability he may possess. " All teachers who have not finished the League course are required to continue their League studies and to write their theses. Each teacher is supposed to have a class of about fifteen students. The full- time volunteer Sunday teachers have classes for four hours during the day, while the time given by other volunteers varies from one to three hours. THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 191 At least half of the teachers are workingmen, their wives, their daughters, or their sons. For instance, one of the teachers is a foreman carpenter whose subject is Human Habitations. This subject in- cludes the history of human dwellings from the time of the cave, cliff, and tree dwellers to the present time. He has taught this subject for fifteen years, has written the text-book used by the classes, and is now regarded as an authority on this sub- ject. This teacher lectures one hour every Sunday, and the course consists of fifteen lectures. In this way, by having classes of fifteen or twenty mem- bers, he can teach the entire League membership. The carpenter's wife is an assistant teacher in domestic science. This husband and wife were elected to their positions on account of special in- terest and ability shown in the preparation of one of their annual theses. Physicians, lawyers, mu- sicians, and scientists freely give of their time for Sunday lectures. One out of about every ten members over twenty-five years of age is acting as teacher in some capacity, and no people are happier on Sunday than these teachers and their pupils." At this point our acquaintance invited us to accompany him to the League restaurant for lunch- eon. We told him that we were much interested in this feature of the League, and requested him to 192 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE tell us all about it. The following points are the most interesting ones that he gave : — " Meals are served from eleven a. m. to two P. M., and from five to seven p. m. The classes and the various amusements are so arranged that meals are in nearly uniform demand during these hours. Food is sold at a price that leaves five per cent of the gross income for the general League fund. Many meals are served, so the cost of preparation amounts to very little per meal. The dining-room is operated more like a cafeteria than like the usual restaurant, and meals cost very little more than the price of materials used in similar meals prepared at home. The manager and enough help to operate the res- taurant on week days are steadily employed. This help is composed of young people, and is divided into two groups, each working six hours a day. These groups have their hours for duty so arranged that one half may attend a morning session in high school or college, and the other half an afternoon session. Each member of this week-day corps of workers remains on duty all day Sunday, but each is relieved from duty one day during the week. Much more help is required on Sunday, and this is supplied first by volunteers, then by League mem- bers selected by lot for five consecutive Sundays. The wholesome, inexpensive restaurant meals are THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 193 recognized as the feature that makes it possible for many members, especially those who are parents with large families and without ample means, to attend the League all day and evening. For this reason those who are selected by lot are expected to do their work cheerfully. Teachers, those with other special duties, and all older members, are exempt from restaurant duty unless they volunteer. Of the younger members, those who have once been chosen by lot are exempt from further duty till all available ones have served their turn, then all names are again placed on the list. The regular help consists of young League members who wish to learn the business and to attend school. Every League activity has an educational value. With the exception of the manager, each person regularly employed in the restaurant is given a certain branch of the work for a prescribed length of time ; and the work is so divided that each worker, by pro- gressive steps, may learn the entire business, as far as this plan for progressive division of labor is feasible. The manager is a capable man developed within the League, and excellent work upon his part is regarded as essential to the success of the League. Volunteer workers may, by agreeing to work regularly every Sunday, take the restaurant course as do the regular workers, but the taking of 194 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE the course in this way naturally extends it over a much longer period. " The Sunday business of the restaurant is very large, as many non-members come to enjoy the grounds and the band concerts. The considerable extent of the business gives exceptional opportuni- ties to learn the best methods of accounting. There is a great deal to learn in the operation of a restaurant which is so conducted that the meals are scientifically prepared, and every pound of material is taken into account. For some, this work is even fascinating, — it appears to be a real pleasure to wear an apron and act as assistant cook or waiter for a gathering which consists largely of relatives and friends. Especially is this a pleasure when one is regarded as a student of the business. Besides the practical education referred to, this employ- ment gives an exceptional opportunity to study human nature, and thus aids in the study of man. Furthermore, a close industrial contact with others, and a close practical study of any well-developed business, are great social educators. " These student employees receive thirty cents per hour for such time as they work. Not all of the restaurant students follow this business in later life, but the business training alone is believed to be worth while. All the student workers who are THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 195 engaged at the restaurant regularly six hours a day attend either our public high school for self-support- ing students, or a college in the city. In the grant- ing of employment in its several departments, the League recently decided to give preference to self- supporting students. " Assiuning a previous or present high-school training in chemistry and bookkeeping, the restau- rant course requires from one to two years of prac- tical work and study in food preparation." We were also shown several noteworthy details that would be of interest to men in the restaurant business. WhUe at luncheon, we referred to the unusual degree of comradeship manifested between hus- bands and wives. Our acquaintance thought this was due to the fact that both take parts of the same extended Sunday study course, and, when possible, join the same classes. To a certain extent this class work creates a similarity of thought which leads to closer comradeship. He said that those studies which relate particularly to man tend especially to strengthen the companionship and mutual sympathy of those who live and learn together. "Who provides the means to erect all these buildings and to keep them in such good repair ? " we asked. 196 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE " As yet, the buildings are provided largely by those members who are, financially, more success- ful," our companion replied. " Mechanic members, when out of work, sometimes give their services free, and the majority of the League ministers know how to do a mechanic's work. They have but little time to spare, but that little is often willingly given to the hammer or the saw when this service is needed. Our ministers, you see, are practical men who accept only moderate salaries and live simple, unostentatious lives — lives that are an inspiration to the community. These men find the pleasure of preaching to an intelligent, appreciative audience a privilege beyond price. The League, I must add, does not debar women from entering the min- istry. " The building committee decides on all building plans ; these plans, however, must be approved by a majority of the graduate members. Those two new buildings at your right, — those in cottage style, — for instance, were approved by ninety-five per cent of these members. The home idea caught them. You see, they are day-nursery buildings where mothers who are teaching or engaged in other work, or mothers who are attending the lectures, can leave their children during certain hours of the day. This building at your left is our new library build- THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 197 ing. A little farther on is the public high school, on a lot sold to the county. This school is attended half-time, or one session each day, by young people employed in various capacities the remainder of the day, and by the children of neighboring farm- ers. The school was established for self-supporting students. The same course is given both forenoon and afternoon, thus accommodating all. The League recently purchased sixteen acres of land adjacent to the grounds, and has divided this acreage into eight two-acre lots. As an experiment, six of these lots are to be rented to as many self-supporting students of the agricultural department of the high school. If these students wish, any two will be allowed to form a partnership and operate their land jointly ; one can then attend school in the forenoon, and the other in the afternoon. The rent will cover the taxes, and the leases will contain certain requirements with which they must comply. Six of the oldest and most enterprising students have formed three partnerships and will soon try the experiment. It has been estimated that any earnest, capable student of the agricultural depart- ment can make more than a living from the two acres. The instructor in horticulture will use the two remaining lots as an experiment station. This half-day plan is bringing about remarkable results, 198 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE because the students have learned economic and educational values. " On Sundays, the high-school building is used for lecture rooms. We have two amusement haUs with well-appointed stages. Over there on the hill- side among the trees is our Greek theatre, where, in favorable weather, lectures, concerts, and plays are given. During inclement weather the entertain- ments are given in the halls. The players and mu- sicians are usually members of the League who are of artistic temperament, and much of their work is better than some that is considered professional. These men and women donate their services on Sunday. One group has developed talent equal to that of the better professional actors, and each Sun- day they give creditable performances of such plays as are not only artistic, but morally instructive. These Sunday plays attract large numbers of non- members from the city. " This power house we are passing is operated by a few high-school students under the guidance of a teaching manager. Surplus light and power are sold to the neighboring farmers at a small margin of profit. The plant is operated in much the same way as the restaurant." We soon reached the limits of the space reserved for buildings, and the conversation turned to the rem- THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 199 nant of forest that surrounds the reserved square. We were told that the park is open to the public every day from seven A. m. to ten P. M. In the even- ing the grounds are always brilliantly illuminated. On Saturday, school children are carried on the cars from the city to the League for five cents a round trip. " For the building of character, one of the best results of League education is early marriage. The League, through its concern for the next genera- tion, takes a deep, yet unobtrusive interest in every wedding, — an interest which is confined largely to the careful teaching of the purposes, duties, and ethics of married life. This care for the next gener- ation creates a desire to have every union as nearly ideal as possible. As a result, divorces among League members are rare and solemn occasions. The private life of the members, except such quiet study hours as they may maintain at their homes, is an open book. Through the effect of the study of man, and through the intellectual contact with older people who have taken the study, the young people learn to know one another as well at twenty or twenty-five years of age as they would otherwise at thirty or thirty-five. This knowledge makes marriage less of a lottery. The League education makes a simple and inexpensive way of living look 200 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE attractive to young people, and it teaches how a sensible young couple can live comfortably on the earnings of an able man of twenty-five. If all people should become wise enough at twenty-five to be able to lead happy married lives, and if con- ditions favored the finding of the right kind of life partner, how little of vice would be left ! Marriage under such conditions would make the rearing of children the greatest of pleasures, and the much-de- plored race suicide would be permanently checked. The man who has had a good educational training up to his twenty-fifth year and who has seen much of the best side of life, is mentally better prepared to marry than is the average man of thirty-five. It is the ignorance that prevails between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five, and the inexperience in things that are good, that are chiefly responsible for the start on the road to immorality. In answer to a question, we were told that the Sunday League is maintained by moderate quarterly dues, which vary in amount, by certain profits, and by certain admission fees required from non-mem- bers. An inheritance fund is becoming popular, and is growing to some proportions. The income from this fund may be used for League expenses, and the princij3al may be used for buildings. The re- strictions upon the use of this fund are generally THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 201 satisfactory, and any one wishing to do so can be- queath any sum to the fund. Notwithstanding the fact that the dues are moderate, some think that they cannot afford to join the League. Often, how- ever, the solicitor for membership can prove to such persons that by cutting down his expenses for to- bacco, theatres, excursions, and other items that can be curtailed or entirely dispensed with, the League dues can easily be paid. Then, too, the educational benefits are sometimes estimable in dollars, for the entire study course shows the advantages of simple living, and teaches numerous economies not known to many inexperienced husbands and wives. The activity around us turned our thoughts to the empty homes with the unused kitchens and the bare dining-tables. We asked our companion if some of these people did not miss the Sunday home dinner and its social influence, and whether the en- tire Sunday away from home did not impair home life. " Saturday evening," he replied, " has become, with many, the time for the weekly family reunions. The young men whose work keeps them away from home all the week come back for the Saturday even- ing dinner, remain to attend the League on Sunday, and then return to the place of their employment at night or early Monday morning. Whenever the 202 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE mother can attend the League, she has a day of genuine change and rest, and each child has proba- bly had a better time than he would have had at home. Besides his Sunday lesson designed to impress some moral principle, the child may have received train- ing in the gymnasium, or the swimming pool, or he may have spent time among the trees and flowers. At the gymnasium he may have been taught the value of some physical exercise for the correction of a slight imperfection of his body. Perhaps the rules of some outdoor sport were taught to the class while the game was being practiced. Here I may explain that it is one of the purposes of the gymnasium to teach the children how to play many outdoor games. The Sunday spent in this wholesome way gives food for thought, and the home life as well as the busi- ness life of the ensuing week is energized." In the afternoon we listened to one of the series of lectures for children who were about to pass the sixth grade. In the evening we heard a similar but more mature discussion of secondary education. This was given to children about to leave the eighth grade. Many parents were present at both lectures. At these lectures we noticed what we had observed before, — the imiformly courteous manner and the pleasing personal appearance of the great majority of the members. It was difficult to distinguish the THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 203 merchant or the doctor from the mechanic or the laborer ; all were equally interested in any plan for the uplifting of himianity. A fair knowledge of man tends to inspire modesty, yet such knowledge tends at the same time to inspire seK-confidence. Modesty, with confidence, produces the best man- ners. So much for personal actions. In personal appearance there was no material difference among the members. One member with moderate earnings might have five or six children to support, but that did not seem to affect his own good appearance. At first thought it may be considered a small mat- ter, yet if the appearance of the individuals in a large League gathering were changed to that of the usual public gathering, the League would soon lose much of its attractiveness, and might finally cease to exist as a democratic institution. These thoughts led us to accept the invitation of the head of the Personal Appearance Depart- ment to call at his home. Li due time our host took us into his combined study and workshop, where we learned many things that interested us. After the gymnasium was established, the instructor saw the need of improving the appearance of some of his pupils, and he realized that the desired improve- ment would be a difficult task. Accordingly, a de- partment for this purpose was established and placed 204 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE in the care of our host. The ambition of this man is to teach every individual how to present a neat appearance. He is constantly endeavoring to dis- cover inexpensive methods by which all wage-earn- ers and their families may, by the expenditure of little money and some energy, be quite as present- able as are those who have more wealth and who have had better opportunities to learn the ways and means to present a good appearance. It required work and patience before the department succeeded in raising the standard of tidiness to its present level; now, however, good personal appearance is such a matter of course that, without special effort, the children learn how to be neat and clean. In order to give an idea of the value of this de- partment, we shall try to explain briefly one of the many divisions of its most practical and inter- esting work. For example, it publishes a pam- phlet on the care of the teeth. This pamphlet describes the various dijfficulties encountered by different persons in keeping the teeth in order, and gives instructions for keeping them in good condition and looking attractive at nominal ex- pense. The pamphlet tells the inexperienced that those who have normal mouth secretions need only use dental floss daily and rinse the teeth with water ; others less fortunate in this respect must, in addi- THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 205 tion, use brush and powder ; while for still others further treatment of the teeth is prescribed. It is shown how a person requiring the daily use of pow- der and brush in addition to the floss must spend for this purpose, even with careful buying, at least $1.25 per year. The pamphlet also shows how this expense can be reduced to twenty-five cents per year. This saving is brought about in part by the use of a home-made dental floss and powder. A new and economical device in toothbrushes is de- scribed, and is to be introduced by the League. Many families of six who purchase supplies in the ordinary way pay at least $7.50 for floss, brushes, and powder. This is more than the less fortunate can pay, and without these essentials, the teeth are more or less neglected. By following the advice given in the pamphlet, the expense for such a family may be reduced so that it will not exceed $1.50 per year. Although the materials recom- mended are inexpensive, their use will keep the teeth in perfect order. All materials recommended for the care of the teeth are endorsed by the den- tists in the League and by several of the best den- tal colleges. As it is with the teeth, so it is with everything about the appearance of even the humblest mem- bers : the straw hat will be white and fresh as new, 206 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE yet it may be old ; the collar and tie will be fault- lessly clean ; the shoes will be well polished with a home-made polish of serviceable yet most inexpens- ive material, and by special treatment they will be made to wear well ; the clothes, even though in- expensive, will be spotless and free from dust ; the hair, face, and hands will show that their owner has learned how to take care of them. This de- partment has found such inexpensive and ingenious ways to accomplish these and other things that the usual income of a laboring man's family, even if the family is large, will permit the carrying out of these details. This, however, might not be possible if the other departments did not show how to spend the income to the best advantage in other directions. These practical methods of economy are published, and they are especially appreciated by yoimg mar- ried people who are building and furnishing new homes. The Sunday League has much in common with the Institutional Church, the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, the University Settlement, and certain phases of Chautauqua work. It might almost be taken for a composite of these activities. The League, however, has on Sundays both the week- day work and the Sunday work of the two first-men- tioned institutions ; but it is not more for Christians THE SUNDAY LEAGUE 207 than for those belonging to the long list of other faiths among which men are divided. The purpose of the League is the raising of the standard of man- hood and womanhood regardless of religious belief. Differing religious beliefs have their place in the League if they wish place, as the thoughtfully planned methods in no way interfere with the free expression of the individuality of its members. Another point in which the League differs from the other institutions mentioned is in the fact that, eventually, it is to be maintained entirely by the regular dues for membership ; it will not accept donations, except such gifts as may be willed to its inheritance fund. This sentiment is the outgrowth of increased knowledge and the consequent spirit of independence. In time, a fair knowledge of man wiU be possessed by practically all ; and at such time each individual will be respected and honored in proportion to his perfection of character. The money ideal will fade as true knowledge advances, and no one will be granted the privilege of paying more than his proper share towards any public activity. To the League, the uplifting of humanity means not only a bettering of the laborer's condition, but an effecting, through education, of the virtual elimi- nation of laborer and master as separate classes. 208 THE SUNDAY LEAGUE The League is confident that two generations of education, approximate justice, right living condi- tions, and freer sway to individuality, — all of which things are furthered by its work, — will fairly accom- plish this end. The true friend of humanity can have no rest until all men have the opportunity for the highest development of which they are capable. The common and most essential work will not suffer in the hands of educated men, whereas at present it often suffers in the hands of the uneducated. This is a long look ahead, but the best way to accomplish an end is to keep the final purpose fresh in mind so that every effort made along the way will be an effort in the right direction. With variations that are not vital, the Sunday League is in existence at the present time. Its good features, however, are scattered, some here and some there. By the universal law of attraction, they are drawing together to build a complete institution, and the present century may reasonably expect to see a Sunday League more nearly ideal than the one here described. NATIONAL EDUCATION PARTY A FUTURE political party might be called the "Na- tional Education Party." The purpose of this party would be to make cautious experiments in govern- ment and in public education, and especially to effect a more general distribution of a wise second- ary and higher school education. As such education must always be the important feature in the solution of every great political question, and since this is especially true of the temperance question, the Tem- perance Party might, for a time, become the temper- ance branch of the Education Party. Others of the smaller parties, and progressive sections of the Re- publican and Democratic parties, might temporarily adopt the same course. This united effort might be maintained until the principal common objects were accomplished. The "National Education Party" might have a platform consisting of sections num- bered as follows, approximately in the order sup- posed to be best for their practical application :^ — 1. Direct Primary Laws of the most approved form. ^ In this list of sug^gestions, those that are printed in italics are full or partial copies of some of the best " Demands " in the Social- ist platform of 1908. 210 NATIONAL EDUCATION PARTY 2. The initiative and referendum^ proportional representation, and the right of recall. 3. The organization of a National Taxation Com- mission and of auxiliary state commissions whose duty it shall be to evolve a more scientific system of taxation. 4. For experimental purposes only, local option by counties as to the method of taxation, — this local option to be limited to one county in each state, and limited also to the various methods of taxation prescribed for experimental purposes by the Na- tional and State Taxation Commissions. 5. The making of experiments under the super- vision of the Taxation Commissions to determine the feasibility of the gradual introduction of a system of combined Single Tax and what may be called a "Graduated Real Estate Income Tax." The pur- pose of this system of taxation is to keep down the price of land, and otherwise to prevent excessive rents. ^ 1 It is believed that Single Tax alone would in some cases ac- complish the desired purpose for a limited time only, after which a " Graduated Real Estate Income Tax " might be applied to any excessive rents that might appear. When strict government reg- ulation of public utilities, or government ownership thereof, ia more general, and when voluntary cooperation in industry and trade is more common, the question of taxation will be simpler than at present. Only under conditions such as these can reforms in taxation have a permanently good effect. NATIONAL EDUCATION PARTY 211 6. The enactment of further measures for gevr eral education and for the conservation of health. The Bureau of Education to he made a department. The creation of a department of public health, 7. The making, under government supervision, of a number of experiments with public works schools. The plan of these schools provides for young men and women an opportunity to earn an education by doing public work. In case of successful results from these experiments, the establishment of public works school departments for self-supporting students in all high schools and colleges.^ 8. The establishment of state normal schools that provide seven hours daily of industrial work and three hours daily of school work. The business fur- nishing this industrial work to be reserved as a state monopoly, and the wages for seven hours of daily labor to be sufficient to support a family. The ob- ject of these schools shall be to encourage young men to take up the vocation of teaching. ^ * An outline for combining school work and municipal em- ployment is more fully elaborated in the article " Public Works High Schools." One result of these schools will be that they will make of the students efficient workers in public as well as in private enterprises. 2 A plan that would apply to a school of this nature is described in the article " Manufacturing Works High Schools " ; this plan is equally applicable to a school for young men. 212 NATIONAL EDUCATION PARTY 9. The government ownership of railroads^ tel- egraphs, telephones, steamship lines, and all other means of transportation and communication. 10. The government ownership of the lumber industry. 11. The government ownership of the Portland cement industry. 12. The government ownership of grain eleva- tors. 13. The government ownership of all industries which are organized on a national scale and in which competition has virtually ceased to exist. 14. The government ownership of mines, quar- ries, cement deposits, oil wells, forests, and water power. 15. The municipal ownership of water works, electric light and power plants, gas works, and street car lines. 16. This government and municipal ownership to be effected only as properly equipped students and graduates of public works schools are avail- able for the purpose of operating such activities. 17. The scientific reforesting of timber lands, and the reclamation of swamp lands; the land so re- forested or reclaimed to he permanently retained as part of the public domain, and the income therefrom to be used in part for additional school facilities. NATIONAL EDUCATION PARTY 213 18. The establishment of a Department of Pub- lic Ownership and Voluntary Cooperation for the distribution of such knowledge as will further municipal and government ownership of public utili- ties, and voluntary cooperation in mercantile and manufacturing activities. A special purpose of this department shall be the publication of knowledge necessary for the construction and operation of pub- lic utility works. 19. The establishment, for national defense, of a militia composed of self-supporting students em- ployed at public work. Approximately six hours of drilling, eighteen hours of school attendance, and thirty hours of work per week to be required from each militiaman. 20. The establishment, for national defense, of an adequate regular army composed of self-supporting student soldiers. Approximately twenty-four hours of drilling, eighteen hours of industrial work, and eighteen hours of school attendance to be required per week. The industrial work is to be such as is required to equip and maintain the army and navy. As far as possible, the drilling is to be given with a view to physical culture. 21. The establishment, for national defense, of an adequate navy under a plan similar to that just given for the army. School ships or combined 214 NATIONAL EDUCATION PARTY school ships and colliers to accompany the war- ships. 22. The maintenance of such militia, army, and navy until the people of all great nations, through education and experience, have so far advanced in moral and aesthetic development that war will be outside of the realm of possibilities. 23. Provision for special elections for women only, — these elections to be on the question of limited suffrage for women, to be followed in ten years by general suffrage. In order to carry the question, a majority vote of the women shall be re- quired, and this majority vote shall not be less than the number representing one half of the registered men voters. 24. The appointment of a National Monetary Commission to find a unit of value that will an- swer the purposes of money, but that will not con- sume so much energy as does the production of gold and silver coin. The commission to be directed to investigate a plan for a paper dollar with a com- posite base, as soon as the government owns the grain elevators, and either owns the mines or con- trols the products thereof. Each one hundred dol- lars to represent a given quantity of the following and similar products : wheat, oats, com, rice, gold, silver, nickel, copper, lead, iron. NATIONAL EDUCATION PARTY 215 25. The organization of a permanent tariff com- mission composed of one member from each state, the members to be elected directly by the people. The annual reduction in the tariff on each article now protected, — this reduction to be six per cent of present tariff rates, provided, however, that the reduction may at any time be suspended, if proof is furnished which satisfies the commission that a fur- ther lessening of rates would be inimical to fair profits and to the American standard of wages. 26. The formation of a National Political Sci- ence Commission, the duty of which shall be to suggest to the country at large what it considers the most needed laws. The formation of similar state commissions. 27. The continuance of all present special com- missions, and the formation of others for the pur- pose of seeking such knowledge as is needed for good government. SOCIAL SYSTEM — EDUCATION — RACE SUICIDE The best social system would provide continuous occupation for every man, whether his capabilities were great or small. The occupation provided would be such as is well suited to the worker, but he would be given every practicable opportunity to change his occupation at will. At its best, the system should provide such remuneration to the individual as would represent as nearly as possible the worth of his labors, both in the quantity and in the quality of the work done. Under present conditions of civilization, the ac- tivities are so specialized as to make it seemingly an impossible task to plan a social system that approaches even approximate fairness. It requires comparatively no thought to leave all social pro- blems to work themselves out as best they may un- der the unfair, crude, and clumsy methods of " in- dustrial competition " and " supply and demand " that are still in force against the average man, and that bring wholly unearned hardships upon many who are favored with less than their share of good RACE SUICIDE 217 fortune. Strict government supervision of all im- portant industries, — a supervision approaching gov- ernment ownership ; government ownership itself ; and better public education are at present the principal movements toward making employment steadier, more available to all, and more justly remunerative. Without an unrestrained growth in secondary and higher education, a social system cannot be at its best. Since most young people will always de- pend on their own resources, the best social sys- tem will provide for every self-supporting young person who desires an education, an opportunity to earn the expenses of school attendance. Under a well-planned programme combining education and remunerative occupation, practically all cap- able young people would, in time, avail themselves of at least a secondary-school education. When this stage of education is reached, the vexatious wage question will largely adjust itself. As education ad- vances, both individual wages and individual capa- city will tend toward equalization. In addition to the qualifications already mentioned, the best social system would make it plainly apparent that a man must be estimated both according to his intellect, and according to his attitude toward others and toward himself. 218 RACE SUICIDE Under a social system such as that described, most fathers and mothers would be well informed, refined in character, and economically well situ- ated. This enlightenment of parents would cause them to regard the rearing of a child as a pleasure infinitely deeper than that with which an artist re- gards the painting of his masterpiece. Art in its broadest meaning is the soul of life. By the time that the art of rearing children — an art which in- volves all knowledge — is recognized as the high- est of all arts, race suicide will be a thing of the past. ONE WAY TO SPEND TWO MILLIONS FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD^ The country is seriously in need of all the reforms, or " advance " movements that are now under way. Some are more needed than others, but none are more necessary than those which promise advance along lines of secondary education. This advance should lead to a more general distribution of this education, and improvement in its quality. This better education is needed to give value to the good work being done in all other advance move- ments. The foregoing belief accounts for the following suggestion for the use of a fund of two million dollars designed to improve general conditions. Each step in the suggestion is given on the assump- tion that all previously given steps have worked out as desired. Reserve enough to cover the expenses of investi- gation, and place the fund in charge of a trust com- ^ The paper on this subject was written by request ; its purpose is to explain how a manufacturing works high school may be made into a public institutioB<. 220 HOW TO SPEND TWO MILLIONS pany to invest in loans. Study the cotton mill busi- ness, — say in Georgia, — and select a suitable mill whose owners desire to cooperate in carrying out the following ideas : — Organize a school equipped to teach one hundred sixteen-year-old pupils in the forenoon and a like number in the afternoon. Gradually induce two himdred young people of the vicinity to work five hours and attend school three hours daily ; and send one haK to school in the forenoon, and the other half in the afternoon. As rapidly as practi- cable, increase the standard of the school until it is a first-class high school. From the fund, supplement the student workers' wages so that a reasonable amount of energetic work will yield enough to pay a little more than the necessary expenses of living and school attend- ance. In order to guide the young people into eco- nomical ways of living, have a course in the school on personal expenditures. Gradually change the personnel of the working force until all but superintendents are student workers of sixteen years and over. Enlarge the experiment until the entire annual income from the fund is consumed. Estimating a low net income and a high expense rate, it is pos- HOW TO SPEND TWO MILLIONS 221 sible that only four hundred students could be accommodated. Induce the city or the school district to reimburse the fund for the cost of the school building and equipment. Induce the National Child Labor Committee to furnish and apply labels to the products of the mill, and have these labels state how much per yard extra each kind of cloth costs in consequence of the school plan. Also induce the committee to urge all who are in sympathy with its work to demand the goods from this mill at the slightly advanced price. Buy the cotton mill at a prearranged price. As soon as the public demands more than the output at a price that pays additional cost of cloth from this miU, the fund will be relieved of supple- menting the students' wages. Extend the plan to other mills as fast as this condition makes it pos- sible. In order to make the work more interesting, let the school curriculum include a complete study of the business, from the purchasing of the raw ma- terial to the collecting of accounts. For educational purposes and to avoid monotony, vary the students' mill work occasionally, and later give older students some voice in the management, 222 HOW TO SPEND TWO MILLIONS as suggested in the article on " Manufacturing Works High Schools." Net profits should be used either to extend the plan or to lower the prices, as circumstances might indicate. Induce state legislatures to recognize cotton manufacturing as a public school industry, and to extend the plan as fast as suitable graduate work- ers from the first mill can be obtained to manage other mills. If dispensing with the net profit would offset the better wages and place selling prices as low as those established by privately owned mills, there would be no difficulty in disposing of the product of school mills under any rate of increase in output. Corruption or negligence in the business would be impossible, as all the current details of the business would be given in the school course, and would be studied by pupils and teachers. A FEARLESS CHURCH— A BETTER COUNTRY It is said that it is useless to think of having a better country until there is a fundamental im- provement in human nature ; and it is also said that any fundamental change in human nature is a matter of centuries of time. This argument is used against activity designed to improve political con- ditions, and especially against all movements in- tended to bring about government control or own- ership of public utilities. It is often urged that no reform effort is of lasting benefit, because the pub- lic is either hopelessly incompetent or hopelessly corruptible. All that is necessary in order to have a better country than we at present enjoy is to use to good advantage such reasoning power as we now pos- sess. All we need is a little clearing of our mental vision. The problem is largely a matter of awaken- ing each individual to his present power for good, and of showing him the best use to which he can put his present capabilities. Do we put these capabilities to the best use by 224 A BETTER COUNTRY spending our time in the accumulation of money so that we may eventually live in extravagant luxury, wear expensive clothes, eat expensive foods, attend costly social entertainments, live in a locality known as the most exclusive, travel for the opportunity of posing as travelers, or for the purpose of driving away domestic ennui that should not exist ? Does not such use of our capabilities, of our power to reason, result in a relatively characterless and empty life ? Is such life really — life ? Do we put our reasoning power to good use when we spend our time accumulating money in order that we may lovingly grant every whim of our children ; in order that we may favor relatives, friends, and passing strangers, and thus put them under some kind of obligation to us, — call it obligation of friendship if you will? A life so spent may be a step higher than the one previously described, but it is far from the ideal life. Is our reasoning power well directed if we spend our time in accumulating money, not for personal comfort, but for the pur- pose of lessening the pain of sympathy that we feel because of the suffering we see about us ? It is not well-directed reason if we relieve that suffer- ing merely with the salve of alms, gifts, or free service. Such relief does not cure, and a life so spent is not the life of a strong man. A BETTER COUNTRY 225 Is not tliat man's reasoning power well directed who studies his own character and develops his own independence, and who, by example as well as by precept, tries to develop character and independ- ence in every member of his family in order that each member may raise the standard of manhood? Is his reasoning power well-directed if he develops in himself enough of the spirit of fau'ness to feel the unearned suffering of those less fortunate, and the foolish waste of happiness of many of the more fortunate ? Is his reasoning power well directed if he spends such time as he can in attempts to improve the social conditions that hinder the proper devel- opment of some of his fellow men ? Surely the man who so directs his reasoning power is a " soldier of the common good " ; his life is not characterless and empty ; he lives not only in the present, but in the future as he wishes it to be ; he is above the petty human failings that impede true progress ; he sees hope for humanity, and nothing can darken the light of that hope. His family is likely to mani- fest the same public spirit. His wife is likely to care infinitely less about display or the ease of lux- ury, and infinitely more about having her children and other children live in a better and fairer world. She is pleased to have a husband who is in truth a man, and children who promise to become strong, 226 A BETTER COUNTRY modest men and women. A simple fireside, a small library, a healthy mind, a well-developed body, the ability to do a specific share of the world's work both of hand and of mind, fair economic and social conditions, and the material and spiritual condi- tions that residt from all these things, are what such a mother hopes for her children's future. To be financially rich is in the minds of the characterless a sort of substitute for richness in manhood. Financial riches, for the sake of such riches, are only for those who are blind to the op- portunities of being men, instead of expert money- getters. It is this blindness that so seriously retards well-balanced political and industrial progress. We all know that humanity is weak. Edward may be jealous of James ; Mary may be envious of Ann ; Frank may mistrust Charles undeservedly. It may not be within the present power of any of these to overcome their respective states of mind, but every one of them can easily do some good work for humanity. No sane man ignores the needs of humanity ; no sane man is jealous or en- vious of it, nor does any sane man distrust it. The individual can more easily do real good to human- ity, taken collectively, than he can taking it indi- vidually. Your humanity is the public that is with- in your sphere of influence. If you take advantage A BETTER COUNTRY 227 erf it in any way, or if by indifferent example you fail to inspire in the right way those who are younger in years, you are an enemy of your children, of your children's children, and of all hu- manity. This serious charge applies to the laborer who shirks his work ; to the senator who " grafts " ; to the monopolizer in land and other public re- sources ; to the millionaire who spends but little of his time and money for the benefit of institutions intended to improve human conditions ; to eveiy man in whose mind the thought of the service to be rendered does not take precedence over the thought of private gain. Fortimately, when a man works for the public good he best learns how to do real good to himself and to those nearest to him. In fact, this is often the only practical way to overcome the feelings of antagonism and antipathy that develop between individuals. The man who cares little for the public good or for humanity can care for an individual only from the most selfish motives. When the present degree of reasoning power of the average citizen is directed toward the public good, we shaU advance as a nation in a manner unprecedented. Not much longer will the organized community be a thing to "pluck," because the public is fast learning to apprehend the " plucker " ; because an 228 A BETTER COUNTRY ever-increasing number are learning that it always degrades to act as a public parasite; and because the individual is learning that the community stands for humanity, and that his own, and especially his children's interests, are identical with the interests of humanity. The advancement of humanity, not only iof the good of the present generation, but also for the good of succeeding generations, must always be the object of every enlightened and well- balanced mind. It matters not how good a man may otherwise be, if he knowingly injures the public, he wholly nullifies this good. Why do not more churches try to improve the individual through his latent love for humanity ? Do many ministers study the effects of land specu- lation, or of our system of land taxation and land ownership? Do many ministers study the practical workings of our system of franchise granting, and then offer criticism to members of their congrega- tions who are directors in companies that utilize such franchises improperly? Do many ministers study the practical workings of our system of pri- vately owned public utility businesses, or the methods and workings of our political conventions and our elections in large cities, and then argue against further wrong-doing in these fields ? Do many min- isters urge those of their congregation who are A BETTER COUNTRY 229 best fitted for the work to form, with their pastor's co(5peration, a society for the purpose of studying sociologic conditions, in order that he may intelli- gently discuss child labor if in a factory district; land speculation, if in a growing community ; tainted news, if a tainted paper circulates in the locality ; or that he may intelligently discuss the subject of taxation, of the preservation and redemption of national resources, and other topics which are of vital interest, and which, on account of their hu- manitarian side, would be at least as stimulating and elevating morally as any part of the regidar sermons ? Perhaps all who read this article know of minis- ters who are working along these lines. The num- ber thus working is sufficiently large to show that it is practicable for able and fearless ministers to undertake the preaching of these first principles of applied Christianity. It is true that some of the larger contributors to the church fund may be dis- pleased. These contributors would rather see the church confine itself to organized charities, — a de- vice that relieves only a small part of the misery due to wrong political and economic conditions, and re- lieves it in the wrong way. A fearless, tactful, well- informed minister can successfully preach on land and other speculation, tenement house iniquities, 230 A BETTER COUNTRY monopoly prices of utilities, and other social wrongs. The personnel of his congregation may gradually change ; some of those who have gained an unfair advantage of the public may be improved by the sermons ; others may leave the church for a time, and, as a result, the minister may be obliged to ac- cept a lower salary. Possibly as soon as the minis- ter must live on a smaller salary, those will leave who can judge of a minister's ability only by the salary he receives. But would not all the best mem- bers remain ? Would not new and thoughtful listen- ers join ? Would not those who leave enter a congen- ial church ? It must not be inferred that it is only the rich man who has not learned the true way of life, and who needs instruction. Every poor man who, for instance, wishes that some so-called good luck would put him in possession of an independent fortune to be used for display, luxury, or ease, is, in proportion to his influence, as great a burden to society, and needs enlightenment as badly as the rich man who has similar ambitions. Why does not the church, as a whole, patiently and thoroughly study sociologic conditions, and then considerately and fearlessly attack the wrong it sees and understands? Is what should be the House of God only the " House of Fear " ? If so, what does it fear? Is it the loss of the rich man's A BETTER COUNTRY 231 patronage? Perhaps the church is not afraid. Is it hypnotized by the rich? Or is it asleep ? These questions can be better answered after cer- tain present-day efforts have passed their experi- mental stage. In the meantime, we may feel en- couraged because the church is awakening to its duties and possibilities. Let us watch. If the church will only be a careful student of conditions prior to taking radical steps, we may expect tremendous re- sults. After such a reformation in the church, those men who left, but who on second thought are amen- able to reason, will eventually return to be its best workers. To illustrate the need of church work in civic morals, almost any reader can recall some acquaint- ance who answers to the following description. A certain man in an enlightened American city is a prominent citizen and a leading member of a great church that has a brilliant minister. The man is prominent in public and private business life, and also in social life, and for many years has been a member of this church. If drawn into a friendly yet earnest discussion in regard to the possibility of raising the standard of individual morals and true fellowship by developing a high sense of pub- lic duty, this man would smile and say that when his pocketbook was aifected, his civic pride and 232 A BETTER COUNTRY honor had to step aside. He would further say that none of his acquaintances differed from him in this regard, and would intimate that if any man is really different at this stage of human progress, this man must be one lacking in judgment. Individual goodness to family or to friends, unless it has underlying it real concern for the gen- eral good, or at least a latent capacity for this con- cern, does not differ from that goodness which ani- mals exercise toward their families and associates. This being the case, the extreme moral inexperience of the type of man just discussed becomes apparent as a matter seemingly beyond the hope of better- ment. Surely such men were born with as strong a tendency toward righteousness as were most men, and they are considered honorable. Had the church known how to teach them the love of humanity, and from the time of their early youth dared to teach them this love, they would have been genu- inely public-spirited citizens long before maturity, and would now be good men instead of only good moral animals, as animals go. You may say that such a man is good, — that he would die for his wife and children. This, you may say, is the height of unselfishness ; but, as said before, this unselfish- ness is no greater than that manifested by the lower animals : a cat will die for her kittens ; a dog, in A BETTER COUNTRY 233 order to protect his master, will take chances that often result in death. The cat and dog may not know that they put themselves in danger, never- theless, the chances they take are such as they re- frain from taking on all common occasions. Again you may say that in the case of the animals the act of self-sacrifice is an act of instinct, while with the man it is an act of free-will. That man who would readily give his life for his children, yet who has no care for the public good, could sacrifice himself only by reason of instinct. Only the human ele- ment in a man is concerned with the public good. All other conscious life is purely animal, and ani- mal life, whether in the human body or in that of the lower animals, is governed by what is called instinct. Reason as we may, that which distinguishes hu- man life and happiness from the life and happiness of lower animals, is a concern for the common good. Those in whom this concern does not exist are not yet human. In order to make a better country, there can be no doubt as to the line of work along which the church of to-morrow must fearlessly direct its efforts. DISCUSSION REFERRED TO IN FOOT-NOTE, PAGE 6 SELF-supporting students who are not beyond the age limit for high-school attendance will not be required to pay tuition, so they can easily live on wages of five and a half dollars a week. Upon first thought, a wage of six dollars. a week for only part-time work may seem high for young men of sixteen to eighteen years who have had but little experience, but these student workers are nat- urally selected from among those who passed the eighth, ninth, or tenth grades with special credit. Each, as a result of his own wisdom, is willing to forego the plea- sures of an easier life in order to make a long-continued efFort for the future economic, social, and intellectual good that results from education. As a rule, young men of this type are energetic, truthful, and reliable ; and, after a comparatively short experience, they can safely be given fairly responsible positions. Failures among them are rare, so the necessity for changing help is in- frequent. Under half-time school attendance, the self- supporting students can do from five to six hours of work each school day and a few additional hours on Saturdays. They find delight in both work and study under these hope- ful conditions, and they are usually strong and happy, and, almost without exception, stand high in school. Employers who have sufficient faith in earnest students DISCUSSION OF WAGES 235 | to employ them, will soon feel inclined to pay them such j wages as they are worth by comparison with regular era- ) ployees, although these wages may be somewhat more than are customarily paid workers of the same age. It \ should be borne in mind that the proposed plan provides i that the student workers shall be first tried and required to gain some experience before they are permanently employed and allowed these wages. Many capable young i people now command wages of twenty cents per hour. When one considers these points, the wages proposed do not seem improbable or unreasonable. Employers find ,' these self-supporting students, even at the wages stated, I to be as profitable as any help they have. Even in parts of the country where the proposed wages are, for the present, beyond the earning capacity of young students, j the plan suggested would still answer for those who i obtain some assistance from home. The number of able young people of the ages discussed is limited, but this ability will rapidly become more general, as the custom of earning one's way through school becomes more com- mon. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-Series 4939 UCLA-Young Research Library LB1621 .T423f y L 009 608 095 7 I PLEA«^t DO NOT REMOVE THIS BOOK CARD \ ^ 1 ir^ '<sL ^(!/0Jl]V3J0>^ University Research Library r