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Salaries After the War 





An Honest Man 





The Reward of the Meek 
and Lowly 





The Question of Discipline 


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Democracy in Education 
Education for Democracy 





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SADT SANSA ANN 


The American Teacher 


Democracy and Destiny 


NCE upon a time there began in 
O this country a war over the 


question whether the govern- 
ment of the United States had a right to 
send supplies to provision United 
States troops on an island in the harbor 
of Charleston, South Carolina. Before 
this war had gone on for many weeks 
it had become a war to decide whether 
a State had the right to secede from the 
Union; and in the course of a year and 
a half it had be- 


ruled by the common-sense and common 
conscience of the masses of mankind, or 
by the haughty and lawless will of rul- 
ing-class bandits. And this change has 
come about in precisely the same way— 
because all over the world the peoples 
have been compelled by suffering and 
sacrifice to think as never in their lives 
did they think before. They have been 
saying to themselves, day and night for 
four years: What has caused this hor- 

ror to break upon 





come a war for 





the ending of 
chattel-slavery on 
the American 
continent. It un- 
derwent this 
change, bécause 
the common- 
sense of millions 
of men and wo- 
men, stimulated 
by suffering and 
sacrifice, realized 
the fundamental 
cause of the 
strife, and _ the 
only way to pre- 
vent its repeti- 
tion. 


Editorials 


From the Locals 
What They Say 


Watch This Page 








The Question of Discipline, I 
Fraudulent Flattery 


Teaching versus Business 


us? And what 


re a t 
CONTENTS ) Al ne that 


such a horror 
shall never break 
again? 

All over the 
world the people 
are coming to- 
gether, working 
out their common 
thought, gather- 
ing power in 
their purpose to 
profit by the les- 
son of this trag- 
edy, and establish 
ordered justice in 














Four years ago 
there began a war, apparently to decide 
whether a small country, Serbia, should 
be compelled to submit its police and 
judicial arrangements to the control of 
a large country, Austria. Before this 
war had continued many months, it had 
taken in the question whether British 
sea-power should be broken and replaced 
by German militarism; and now, at the 
end of four years, it has become a war 
to decide whether the world is to be 


their affairs. And 
we who believe in 
Democracy, go on our way serenely 
thru these days of torment and terror 
—because we believe and know that 
the masses of men and women are not 
fools, and that once aiwakened and made 
to realize, they will not fail to do the 
job which must be done. * * * 


—From Upton Sinelair’s for November, 


Vol. VII., No. 9 


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~The American Teacher 


Entered as second-class matter, February 21, 1912, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y.; under the Act of March 8, 1879. 


Vol. VIL, No.9 








Published at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York. 


NOVEMBER, 1918 | 


“One Dollar a Year 








Teachers’ Salaries After 


the War 


GREAT many things are being said 
A concerning what is likely to happen 
after the war. For example, employ- 
ers of labor are said to be calculating on the 
supply of cheap labor “when the boys come 
home.” We hear even that the probably con- 
siderable number of crippled soldiers will 
have an important effect in lowering the price 
of labor. 

Representatives of some of these firms in 
New York that have made large profits out 
of the war have given friendly advice to 
their teacher acquaintances, and have told 
them to make haste in getting salary in- 
creases, on the assumption that as soon as 
the war is over boards of education will seek 
to employ crippled soldiers to “keep” the 
schools, and of course the soldiers will get the 
market price for men in their handicapped 
condition. To be sure, this is terribly inhu- 
man, and seemingly improbable. But we 
should not forget that most of our boards of 
education are recruited from the ranks of 
“successful” business men, and men of this 
character are talking just that way. 

In spite of the efforts of the Federal Board 
for Vocational Education, there will be great 
numbers of maimed soldiers if the war con- 
tinues who after a little while will begin to 
drift into the maelstrom of economic competi- 
tion, The labor unions already see the me- 
nace. They must prepare to meet the crisis 
which of course the employers can be relied 
upon at least not to try to avert. 

If teachers are to be affected by the em- 
ployment of crippled men, there is only one 
protection available, and that is thru the 


union movement, which must protect the 
wages of the workers, and probably also the 
self-respect and the lives of our national 
heroes. 


The Last Shot 


T the beginning of this month of No- 
A vember, 1918, events are pushing into 
our horizon with overwhelming swift- 
ness. It is as if the figure of General Foch, 
when he said in September that we have 
reached the top and are now going down the 
slope, had.been more prophetic of actual pre- 
cipitation than even he imagined. The in- 
ertia of motion carries us on with enormous 
and bewildering speed, following after a foe 
that has lost its hold completely. 

Bulgaria was the first to smash against the 
rocks, Turkey came next, and now anachron- 
istic Austria is going to pieces most pitifully 
of all. And Germany, the arch criminal of 
the nations of the modern world, is struggling 
hard to thwart the inevitable doom. 

Much as we are being cautioned by the 
Government and by the generals in the field 
against overconfidence, and hard as yet may 
be the struggle to finish up the ugly but nec- 
essary work, we may say with figurative ex- 
actness that the last shot of the great world 
struggle is being fired. And if the idealism 
of democracy gets into the mind of man as 
we hope and believe it will, this shot will be 
the last of all shots fired by men at their 
brothers in humanity. Whatever our Amer- 
ican militarists-for-profit may be scheming 
for, we believe that the old game of conquer- 
ing mankind by slaughter is discredited for 
all time. The pragmatic sanction will not 
support it. It does not work. 


183 








The American Teacher 


An Honest Man 


NE of the tests of character which 
O President Wilson has met success- 
fully is one that involved a transfor- 
mation of conviction on the suffrage question. 
Starting with known opposition to the idea, 
and holding antagonism almost Bourbon in 
its intensity, a feeling which the “picketing” 
system probably did nothing to weaken, he 
has progressed thru the stage of agreeing 
tentatively to the idea of women voting, but 
insisted that it was the privilege of the states 
to decide the issue, each one for itself. 


While others of his own political faith still 
hold grimly to the good old States Rights 
Doctrine, applying it freely in opposition to 
national measures which they do not like any- 
way, the President has had the magnificent 
courage tacitly to acknowledge that he had 
been in error. In his appeal to the Senate to 
pass the Susan B Anthony Amendment, he 
put the principle of woman suffrage clearly 
upon the issue of national democracy, as well 
as on the issue of national sincerity. In doing 
so he proved his courage as well as his politi- 
cal growth in acknowledging error. 

Another year marked by similar progress 
in suffrage propaganda must surely see the 
end of successful opposition. Incidentally, it 
is always a source of wonder that reaction- 
aries when beaten in one fight for inevitable 
progress always “come back,” and with pros- 
pects of success no brighter than at any time 
‘before. Apparently they are completely in 
the dark as to the hopeless psychology of all 
their endeavor. What a waste of gray mat- 
ter, and what an indictment of our methods 
of education! 


Bill to Create Department 
of Education 


ON OCTOBER 10 Senator Smith, of Georgia, 
introduced in the Senate a bill “to create a 
Department of Education, to appropriate 


Vol. VII., No. 9 


money for the conduct of said department, to 
appropriate money for Federal co-operation 
with the States in the encouragement and 
support of education, and for other pur- 
poses.” 

Altho the credit for this definite movement 
to place education on a national footing is 
now given to the National Education Associ- 
ation and the Association of College Presi- 
dents, the American Federation of Teachers, 
at its Annual Convention in December, 1916, 
strongly urged the establishment of a Depart- 
ment of Education. 


The Reward of the 
Meek and Lowly 


LTHO every class of worker has re- 
A ceived several salary increases since 
the outbreak of the war, and altho 
the members of such professions as the phy- 
sicians and the dentists have increased their 
charges because of the increased cost of liv- 
ing, the teachers of New York City whose 
salaries have not been advanced since 1912, 
and then for but a few, have not only been 
unable to get adequate increases, and what 
is still more humiliating, they have been un- 
able to secure even respectful consideration 
from a Mayor who was elected largely be- 
cause of his announced educational policy, 
and because of the support of the teachers. 
At a budget hearing held on October 24th 
at the City Hall of New York, Dr. Wm. H. 
Allen, Director of the Institute for Public 
Service, urged the Mayor and the Board of 
Estimate to confer with the representatives 
of the teachers regarding the proposed salary 
increases. The Mayor’s reply, from the point 
of view of choice diction, social philosophy, 
and humanity, can find no equal in the annals 
of political literature. The Mayor said the 
teachers would have to “cut out that sort of 
thing about increased salaries and go to 
work.” 
Do the teachers of New York and else- 
where realize the insult in the Mayor's 





November, 1918 


words? Is this calumny the reward not only 
for their hard work during school hours 
inder impossible conditions, but also their 
reward for their numerous war and other 
activities performed after school hours, even- 
ings, Saturdays and on holidays? Yes, 
‘teachers, shirkers, go to work and earn your 
salaries!” ‘“You’re paid too much now,” im- 
plies the honorable Mayor of the City of 
New York. 

The Mayor continued, in language that 
would have shamed Emerson: “If the dissat- 
isfied teachers don’t like their jobs, let them 
go and get other jobs.” Surely the teachers 
who entered the service twenty or thirty 
vears ago ought to be thankful to the Mayor 
for his gratuitous advice. Did they not enter 
the system on the assumption that they would 
get a salary which would enable them to live 
decently? If the City of New York refuses 
to restore the purchasing power of their 
former salaries, isn’t it honorable, just and 
fair to encourage them, at the youthful age 
of fifty-five, to go where their efforts will be 
more highly appreciated? What if they have 
given the best years of their life to the city? 
Others have starved in the past, why 
shouldn’t they? Great inventors have suf- 
fered for mankind, why should not the teach- 
ers suffer for the Real Estate Dealers and 
organized politicians? 

But, after all, the Mayor is performing a 
notable public service. He is telling the meek 
and lowly to “cut out that stuff about in- 
creased salaries and get to work,” and the 
teachers are deeply hurt; nay, they are in- 
censed and infuriated! The Mayor could 
not have said anything more helpful to the 
union movement among teachers. He did not 
intend it, however, in spite of the fact that 
he himself is a member of the Brotherhood 
of Locomotive Firemen in good standing, 
ludicrous as the situation may appear. 

Do the teachers ask, “Is the position taken 
by the Mayor honest, fair, decent?” No, it is 
not nice, but it is what you might have ex- 
pected any minute the idea came into the 
mind of the official representative of a more 
or less contemptuous public. He would not 
have talked thus more than once to the pavers 
and the stevedores, but he talks that way to 


The American Teacher 


185 


you, and expects to get away with it. Do you 
know what some of our labor union friends 
call us in moments of frankness? Well, they 
call us cowards. If teachers had the under- 
standing of the organized workers, they, too, 
would have received adequate salary in- 
creases long before this. 

But instead of organizing along effective 
lines, teachers stand off in snobbish isolation, 
or permit themselves to be herded hither and 
thither by teacher-politicians and self-seek- 
ers, and used for the personal advancement 
of vain and ignorant leaders. This being the 
truth, why shouldn’t the Mayor have told the 
teachers to cut out that stuff and get to work? 

Teachers everywhere, if there is a spark of 
self-respect left after a lifetime of submission, 
stand up, and fling back the insults of a poli- 
tician who thinks he represents the great 
public for which you labor. Do more than 
that. Decide now that you will come together 
in teachers’ unions, that you will organize . 
your anger into calm and resistless determi- 
nation to fight for the living that is yours by 
eternal human right, and that you will there- 
by cease to be branded before your fellow 
citizens as lazy and overpaid. 


Official Comedy 


At a hearing on the budget for the City of 
New York for the year 1919, held on October 
24, 1918, the following remarks were made, 
according to the report of The New York 
Times: 

“The Mayor remarked that so far as he was 
concerned the departments of the City Govern- 
ment under him would have to ‘cut out that sort 
of thing about increased salaries, and go to work.’ 
The Mayor recalled that once he had worked for 
a farmer and had demanded more pay. The far- 
mer, the Mayor said, remarked that he could go 
somewhere else and get it, which the Mayor said 
he did. ‘That’s what the dissatisfied teachers 
ought to do,’ said the Mayor, ‘go and get other 
jobs.’ ” 

“If you had stuck to the farm,” remarked Bor- 
ough President Riegelman of Brooklyn, “you might 
have been a good farmer by now.” 








pie gees. a 


186 


The New York Dismissal 


THOMAS E FINEGAN, the Acting Commis- 
sioner of Education of the State of New 
York, rendered a decision on November 4 
in the case of the three teachers who were 
dismissed by the New York City Board of 
Education for “conduct unbecoming a 
teacher.” The Acting Commissioner denied 
the petition of the teachers asking for re- 
instatement. 

Thus ends the second act of this educa- 
tional tragedy, but we all remember that 
tragedies have at least three acts. 


The War and the Colored 
Schools 


TT" education of the Negro, so utterly 


inadequate in time of peace, has be- 

come especially so since the outbreak 
of the war. This is due not only to the fact 
that so many of the able colored teachers 
have been drafted, but especially to the fact 
that many of the schools which have been 
supported largely by private philanthropy, 
find it very difficult to secure enough funds 
to pay for the increased cost of foodstuffs, 
books, coal and other material. 

Unless many of these deserving schools 
for our colored citizens receive immediate 
aid from those lovers of humanity who feel 
that every one, whether black or white, 
should have a fair chance, the schools will 
have to close their doors at a time when as- 
sistance is absolutely essential to their wel- 
fare and the general welfare of the nation. 
While it is no doubt desirable for lovers of 
humanity and the Negro to aid many of these 
deserving colored schools which are listed in 
Bulletins No. 38-39 of the Bureau of Educa- 
tion, it is even more imperative that they seek 
to make the nation responsible for the higher 
education of the colored youth. Education 
of the Negro is no longer a Southern problem 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VII., No. 9 


but an American problem, and, as such, 
should receive the support of all Americans. 

The South has ten million Negroes who are 
receiving inadequate education. What an 
economic waste. The backwardness of the 
Negro means the backwardness of the nation 
and that is something that concerns all of us. 
Teachers, it is your duty to see to it that your 
colored human brothers and sisters get a 
square deal! That every colored school be 
as well equipped as every white school! That 
every colored child shall have the same school 
year that every white child enjoys. If our 
colored brothers and sisters can give their all 
for America and for humanity, the least that 
America can do for them is to stand by its 
principles of democracy and give the Negro 
what he deserves—a square deal, and not 
charity. 


TO MEMBERS OF THE A F OF T 


Every member of the American Federation of 
Teachers in good standing receives the American 
Teacher free of charge. In return for this, for the 
benefit of being protected. and of having a fearless 
organization to help ficht for the professional rights 
of the members, the Federation maintains that each 
member should feel it a deep obligation, as well as 
a privilege, to be faithful in those matters that enable 
the officers to carry out their duties with satisfac- 
tion and efficiency. The regular payment of dues 
to the locals, the regular attendance at meetings, 
and the generous grant of personal service, all help 
to make the movement “carry on.” 








Ge American Teacher 





Democracy in Educatien Education for Democracy 
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THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 
at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
HENRY R LINVILLE, Editor 
ABRAHAM LEFKOWITZ, Business Manager. 








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The Question of Discipline 


GEORGE CRONYN 


Late of DeWitt Clinton High School, New York 


ASK you to picture a large, light bare 
| room, 40 x 20 feet in ground plan, by 
18 feet high. The walls are virgin cal- 
cimine. A large glass case obstructs one cor- 
ner, a sink another. There are twenty-four 
benches arranged in eight parallel rows, 
whose erratic satellites, some forty backless 
stools, slide under them by a margin of a few 
inches. A teacher’s desk skulks obscurely 
somewhere near—to borrow from the stage 
—‘Back, Center” This is an Art 
Room. It is located in a new, very modern, 
quite extraordinary, Hebrew Orphan Asylum. 
The Orphan Asylum is extraordinary 
chiefly because of what is not: it is not built 
of red brick, surrounded by a high iron fence; 
it is not located in a congested population 
center amid a dreary desolation of drab tene- 
ments. On the contrary it occupies a stra- 
tegic position on the top of a hill in a quite 
imposing amphitheatre of still higher hills. 
Its appearance and general lay-out suggest a 
small, brand-new, attractively-designed col- 
lege. Halls of instruction, hospitals (it 
boasts two) power house and cottages (it is 
built on the “cottage” plan) are symmetri- 
cally grouped about a central plaza of well- 
kept lawn. The shining whiteness of the 
stueco, the red tile roofs of the larger build- 
ings, done in an excellent Italian style, stand 
out in satisfying relief against a background 
of wood and farmiand. Each cottage houses 
thirty boys or girls. There is a Junior Re- 
public system of singular completeness, and 
the equipment is of the latest and best. The 
Institution, in all, represents an investment 
of almost a million dollars. It maintains 
some five hundred orphans on these grounds, 
drawn largely from the slums of New York 
City. So much for the “apperceptive back- 
ground” of our charges. 
To return to the Art room: it is only fair 
to state that it was never designed for pur- 


I 


poses of art instruction. The blackboard, for 
instance, covered a possible fourth of the 
space of one wall, and could be seen by per- 
haps a third of the pupils, seated at their 
benches. These tables themselves were en- 
tirely too low, the stools entirely too high, the 
result being a painful cramping of small 
backs and a consequent restlessness of inter- 
est and attention. There was no possibility 
of exhibiting class work without tacking di- 
rectly into the spotless walls, an unthinkable 
solution. The light amounted to a steady 
glare from the white surfaces. Classes whose 
register was anywhere from forty to sixty 
poured in and out of the room continuously 
from 8.30 A. M. to late afternoon. But in 
spite of these obvious disadvantages there 
were certain compensations. The room was 
located at the extreme end of one of the two 
Technical buildings and had no contact in 
any direction with any other class room. For 
experimental purposes, therefore, it was 
ideal. The really unique part of the arrange- 
ment, however, lay not in situation or equip- 
ment, but in pupils and instructor. The form- 
er, of all ages from seven to sixteen, had had 
no art instruction whatever ; while the Teach- 
er, by some freak of fate, had enjoyed not 
one term, not one lecture, not one text book 
in Method of Teaching Art to Children! It 
is true, he had attended an Art School—for 
professional art students. But the methods 
of teaching students to become artists are as 
remote as possible from Normal School peda- 
gogics for public school teachers. If you 
doubt it, let a first-rate, even a prominent 
artist try to pass the average examination 
presented by the Department of Education of 
the City of New York for teachers of Draw- 
ing in the High Schools. They will soon 
show him where he gets off! 

The Teacher, with the innocence of Adam 
before the Fall, faced the problem of implant- 


187 








188 The 

ing into these unusually active (because of 
fresh air and Democracy), but utterly ignor- 
ant little heads some measure of his own re- 
spect for Form, Color, and Line, of doing 
this—without the faintest conception of how 
it ought to be done, with no History of Educa- 
tion to rely on—you could have stumped him 
in a second on Froebel or Comenius—with 
not the faintest idea of the Five Steps in the 
Ideal Lesson ; indeed, without one perceptible 
qualification for teaching the young. Worse, 
he was possessed of Enthusiasm—that really 
serious draw-back to conscientious teaching ! 

So he began. 

His first mistake occurred with his first 
words to the class. He said: 

“There shall be no Discipline in this room!” 

Now, that was just as if Lucifer, in con- 
travention of the divine command, were to 
shout from the Burning Lake to the assem- 
bled demons, “There shall be no Light, but 
Darkness evermore!” 

We all know children! If you are going to 
talk like that to them—well, you might as well 
put a nice little bomb with a time fuse under 
your class room; the damage will be approxi- 
mately the same! I have heard of certain 
Radical Teachers who have reduced, modified, 
or “enlightened” their Discipline—but they 
never “let on” to the class what they were up 
to! As for actually coming right out with it 
before everybody, being frank, open and 
above-board, whoever heard of such a sacri- 
lege? 

The Teacher, however, feared dogmatism 
more than discipline, so perforce, added, 
“Unless, Boys and Girls, you choose to adopt 
= 

Nothing happened. 
know what the Teacher meant. It was just 
some new-fangled way of stating that you 
had to come to school, orphan or not, and 
learn just what your teachers, by force of 
arm or mark, could impose upon you. There 
was some discussion of this proposition, how- 
ever, outside of class, and the next day when 
the slight feeling of awe toward the new 
building and teachers had worn off, and a 
long file of erring youngsters had already 
begun to form at the right of the door to the 


The pupils did not 


American Teacher 


Vol. VII., No. 9 


Principal’s office, the classes bound for th: 
art room recalled that curious statement o! 
the Art Teacher. They would at least call hi 
bluff, even if it meant another trip to th: 
office! So the more daring gathered in «a 
solid phalanx and charged down the long ha! 
of the Technical Building, whooping, towar(! 
the Art room. The Teacher said and did ex- 
actly—nothing; he merely watched them. 
with a certain detachment. They entered, 
rushed to their places, seized stools, seized 
the same stools, fought over them (the boys 
at least) and banged on the tables. The girls 
chattered, laughed, shrieked, harried the boys 
verbally and were in turn harried. In short, 
complete pandemonium reigned. 

For forty-five minutes the tumult of voices, 
pitched in the keys of that utmost shrillness 
bred of long repressed and pent-up nervous 
energy, continued unabated, the Teacher al! 
the while surveying the drama with the calm- 
ness of an interested observer; what in the 
world did children find to talk about. Their 
frenzy of conversation was perhaps no more 
remarkable than a like phenomenon in a 
roomful of adults. But here we have food 
for thought; this is what happens when we 
actually release these active young creatures 
from an unnatural and noise-provoking 
silence—a silence intensified by the dutiful 
responses of the reciting pupil, or pitifully 
broken by stolen whispers! These gabbling 
chatterers expressed the reaction from the 
normal inanition of the well-ordered class 
room. Released from that decorous compul- 
sion they were utterly helpless, chaotically 
discordant, as strange to each other as a mob 
of convicts just loosed from solitary confine- 
ment! They had agitations in place of voli- 
tions ; their independence of action amounted 
to nil; they were simply Crowd, minus ideas! 

At the end of the period the Teacher 
opened the door—and they issued forth, a 
trifle bewildered; they had talked and ges- 
ticulated themselves out—and nothing what- 
ever had happened. They looked at th 
Teacher suspiciously as they passed him, for 
signs of his having taken note of the prin- 
cipal offenders, but he seemed quite non- 
committal, and not unfriendly. What was 





November, 1918 


his game, anyway? There were other 
classes, some noisier than the rest. The ef- 
fect was the same in all cases:, Art was 
sure some sport—if it only lasted that way, 
nothing to do ’till tomorrow! 

Thus passed the first day. The continuous 
racket, it must be confessed, was a trifle ex- 
hausting to the Teacher. If he had had the 
usual training in Method he would have been 
horribly worried: a whole day wasted, not 
only wasted but destructively employed; the 
prestige of the Teacher before his class low- 
ered; the concept of Disorder established in 
the collective mind of three hundred (later 
five hundred), pupils! Waste! waste! Above 
all, the most horrid—Inefficiency! These re- 
proaches, however, did not rise at all to the 
surface of the Teacher’s consciousness. He 
was not Normalized—therefore untroubled. 
As for time, to him there was no such thing. 
You can see right off where he is going to 
land! Where was his Plan—for the day, the 
All gone to 
Well, the truth was, he did not 
How 
in the name of Education are you to get 
through without plans? “Spontaneous 
teaching?” Come, come! 

The Teacher did not have any plans or 
plan-book for several reasons: he had never 
heard of those useful devices for codifying 
and congealing the daily grind; he was quite 
uncertain what the outcome of his course in 
art would be, because he was totally unable 
to forecast the development of his pupils in 
the new subject; lastly he was doubtful of 
being able to force whole batches of pupils, 
arranged categorically in grades, into suita- 
ble moulds. For instance, did the general 
grade correspond to the art grade? Was a 
5B in Mathematics a 5B in Drawing? And 
what, just what did grading mean in art, 
anyway? 

Of course a licensed Art Teacher could 
have set him right in a moment on that 
point. You begin with certain problems, 
simple units, if design, lettering for first 
termers in High School, familiar objects, 
geometrical in form preferably, then you 
proceed according to the lights of your par- 


week, the month, the term? 
smash ! 
have any plan. Mistake number two! 


The American 


Teacher 189 
ticular Alma Mater, adjusted to the limita- 
tions of the particular school system which 
employs you, you proceed regularly and in 
due order to the greater complexities and 
mysteries of art—such as shading, color har- 
mony and perspective. Anyway, it’s very 
simple. 

But any licensed Art Teacher would have 


encountered one difficulty about laying out a 


course for the grades of the Orphan Asylum: 
the children were all equally art-ignorant, 
but of various ages. Some would remain in 
the institution for possibly seven or eight 
years, while those approaching or actually 
sixteen would be compelled by law, to mi- 
grate. Would you, in such a case, push your 
program of graded study through in a strict- 
ly temporal form or would you assist the old- 
er classes to “catch up with the procession?” 
And if the latter, how would you gage the 
speed of the catching-up process? You see, 
it wasn’t quite so simple as it looked. 

The Teacher was saved the brain-fag of 
trying to unravel this educational snarl by 
his blissful ignorance of the whole grading 
system. The multitude of children appear- 
ing and vanishing hourly were simply human 
beings, to be introduced to a new world— 
Art. 

It is a curious—and to the average teacher 
—incredible fact, that children, even under 
the unusual stimulus of the class room, grow 
tired of idle noise. When the Art Teacher 
received his pupils for their second period of 
the week there was a distinct drop in the 
tendency to whoop and romp. A War Dance 
loses half its charm, if repeated twice in suc- 
cession, without let or hindrance. A disposi- 
tion on the part of the more exuberant to con- 
tinue the fun was checked by sibillant warn- 
ings from their class-mates. They had had 
enough, and were ready for the next number 
on the program. Then the Teacher broke an 
almost painful silence to say, quite casually: 

“We were going to talk a little about Art 
yesterday, Boys and Girls, but you were more 
interested in talking about other things. It 
makes no difference to me what you chose 
to do here; we have plenty of time ahead of 
us, for work and play. Whenever you chose, 





a 


ie Dal REO BEAR Pi SAE OS ET 


| 
' 


ee rE SRE ED 


ee 


190 The American Teacher 


as a class, to play, I shall not interfere in the 
slightest, only we, as members of a Democ- 
racy, have reached this conclusion: if the 
majority wish to do one or the other, the 
minority must either yield or go some place 
else. That is just plain common sense, isn’t 
it? Is there any discussion of these terms, 
or any denial of my assertion? If so, don’t 
be afraid to speak; the one thing we are go- 
ing to learn here, is the value of frank criti- 
cism.” 

There was no discussion. 

After a moment the Teacher said, “Well, 
you all look as if you wanted to do some- 
thing. We have stored in these big drawers 
all sorts of things for making pictures: pen- 
cils, brushes, crayons, water colors, charcoal, 
and India ink. We have a good many things 
to draw and paint, such as bowls for holding 
flowers, and the flowers themselves, from our 
own fields.” The children looked doubtful, 
but the Teacher went on, “And we have 
many, many pictures made by artists, in Pic- 
ture Books—” 

“Picture Books” was the Open Sesame to 
the interest of those unsophisticated young- 
sters. There was an immediate clamor for 
pictures. The Teachef revealed his treasure, 
a large file of International Studios and other 
art magazines, the gleanings of several years. 
He had enough pairs of scissors to supply 
the whole class; without a qualm he turned 
loose forty young savages among the best of 
modern art! 

After that, the problem of discipline be- 
came one of certain gradual adjustments, as 
shall be explained hereafter. 


Just this week the Teacher attended a 
course in Education, known as “Ethics and 
Educational Problems,” given by a famous 
Educator, whose advanced theories have 
startled a generation of Systemarians. The 
course aims to discuss “moral principles in- 
volved in education, including the curriculum 
and school administration, together with 
some consideration of the problem of instruc- 
tion in morals.” That had a fine, appealing 
sound! There was sure to be some lively 
scrimmaging in the class discussion—for 


Vol. VIL, No. 9 


there is no subject dearer to the didactic 
faculty than this same one of morals—par- 
ticularly of, those for whose spiritual welfare 
we may be, in a way, responsible. 

The Teacher was not disappointed. When 
the great Professor tossed his particular bone 
of contention (for that day) to the wholly 
mature and sedately attentive auditors, they 
fell, with some preliminary parleying, furi- 
ously upon it, and eventually—tho not at all 
losing the dignity of graduate students— 
upon one another. The question was: which 
is antecedent and ascendant in the conduct 
of children, Disposition or Act? and as a 
corollary: which should be stressed by the 
instructor? 

“Acts must be emphasized, as they create 
habits.” 

“But disposition comes before act. Chil- 
dren act—or should act—according to dispo- 
sition.” 

“Disposition is permanent; the act is only 
momentary.” 

“Acts that are repeated become habitual, 
therefore permanent. Good acts, even if en- 
forced, make good habits; good habits be- 
come good morals.” 

There followed a host of citations, counter- 
citations, interspersed with volleys of 
psychological and pedagogical tidbits, hypo- 
thetical cases and “take-for-instances.” One 
member of the class, apparently laboring 
under intense excitement, delivered himself 
thus: 

“It seems to me that this discussion is 
purely metaphysical. What does it matter, 
practically, whether disposition evolves from 
acts or acts from disposition? As teachers 
under the present educational system we 
have but one course of procedure open, which 
is, to reduce our pupils, in the briefest time 
possible, to complete submission. The ethical 
code of each school, and of each class and 
pupil in the school is imposed from without, 
at the very moment of the first bell. Princi- 
pals and supervisors are in no way concerned 
with the moral processes at work in the 
minds of either their much-laboring as- 
sistants or their much-belabored charges; 
what they demand is, Results. For corporal 





November, 1918 


punishment we have substituted an elaborate 
diplomatic game known as Method, which 
consists in cunningly moulding the formative 
mind toward the prescribed curriculum, the 
coercion being all the while, less obviously, 
but more effectively present.” 

The class stirred uneasily, as if some rude 
soap-box orator had burst in amongst them. 
Evidently some grouchy young Theorist had 
suffered censure at the hands of authority! 
They returned with relief to the more press- 
ing matter of Intention and Accomplishment. 
What are we to do with those who Try but 
don’t Succeed? The citations revived, until 
again interrupted by the Dissenter, who 
cried out, that he saw no interest in the prob- 
lem unless Physiological Inhibitions was 
meant; he mentioned Freud, and sat down in 
a thick blue fog of disapproval, which only 
the unimpassioned summing-up by the Pro- 
fessor was able to dispel. The class in Ad- 
vanced Education dispersed. 


(To be concluded in the December number) 


Fraudulent Flattery 


GB 
T O get out of the school is not always to 


succeed. It was all right for Frank, 

but the case of Walters is different. 
Walters was a good fellow in his way. He 
was conscientious, and studious, and thought- 
ful. His work in the classroom was above 
the average. Frequently he received compli- 
ments from his superiors. The principal of 
his first school used to tell of little incidents 
that he had observed in Walters’ classroom, 
showing how resourceful a teacher he was. 
Another principal with whom he had worked 
openly admired his scholarship. One of the 
superintendents frequently called upon him 
for his judgment on difficult problems—prob- 
lems that arise even in the best of school sys- 
tems. From everybody in authority Walters 
received compliments. Only one superior had 
ever taken the trouble to offer adverse criti- 


The American Teacher 


191 


cism. This one had told Walters that he put 
too much time into the preparation of the 
year’s work; that all his study was wasted, 
and even interfered with instruction, since 
there was danger of bewildering the children 
with his wealth of information. 

One principal, one with whom Walters had 
never worked directly, told him that he could 
do much better outside the school system, be- 
cause all of his ideas were not of the kind for 
which his superiors cared. But that was com- 
plimentary, too. 

No one had ever told Walters that he had 
put himself on the black list early in his ca- ~ 
reer by protesting against fraudulent prac- 
tises in school athletics. No one even told 
him that there was a black list. No one ever 
told him that he belonged to the wrong politi- 
cal party; nor that the deacon of the church 
had casually wondered, in the hearing of the 
superintendent, how a teacher like Walters 
could get anywhere, considering the irregu- 
larity of his church attendance. Nor was 
Walters ever led to suspect that his sarcasm 
had once hurt the feelings of a Person of In- 
fluence—a Person of whom Walters had never 
heard when he shot off his sarcasm. But 
others knew. The principals knew. The su- 
perintendents knew. The Persons of Influ- 
ence knew. Yet from these Walters never 
had anything but compliments. 

One day Walters was notified (Form 23Z) 
that he was too old (Bylaw 9,871, Section 45) 
for a certain higher position for which he had 
applied. Nobody hesitated to tell him that he 
was too old after that. That was something 
that could not be helped. He received many 
compliments, and many expressions of regret 
that he had not gone farther before becoming 
too old. But no one told him that he had not 
fitted into the system. Everybody compli- 
mented him and blinded him. 

The war gave Walters a chance to do work 
which he could master in spite of his age. But 
he left the schools with bitterness in his heart 
and compliments in the letters sent him by his 
superiors. 

People are too kind. They hate to tell the 
beginner that he is hopeless—or that the sys- 
tem is hopeless. Of course, you never can tell. 





192 


Perhaps he will improve. Many do. And 
year by year no one will be cruel enough to 
tell you the truth. One principal shifts you 
to another—with flattering recommendations. 
And finally, somehow, somewhere, you settle 
down and become a detail in the great Ma- 
chine. You Go not exactly fit; but the misfit 
is not bad enough to cause disaster. Indeed, 
the Machine as a whole is so far from being 
perfect that a few misfits here and there do 
not matter—seriously. 

But the little details of the machine—what 
of them? They grind one where they do not 
fit, until they are retired for general incom- 
petence, or for being too old. Or they become 
ground into worthless scraps—irritable, ab- 
sent-minded, crochety automata. 

Let us have a little more frankness. Let us 
be a little more cruel to the young teachers. 
Let us realize that the job is after all not so 
important for the beginner. Much more im- 
portant is it to get into the right work, or 
into the right system, than it is to hold this 
or that job another year, and another one. 
Let us be a little more cruel. Cut out the 
compliments. Be as brutal as a father—or at 
least as a brother. It is much kinder. 


Teaching Versus Business 
BY A DREAMER 


HEN the sweet college graduate saw 
W her name at the head of the Num- 
ber 1 list, how her heart beat with 
pride! She had succeeded! She was one of 
the annointed chosen by the infallible and om- 
nipotent ones to lead the citizens-to-be along 
the paths of virtue, enlightenment, and learn- 
ing. How she revelled in the thought that her 
scholarship, her initiative, her intense love of 
democracy would enable her to inspire in her 
charges a love for their fellow workers. But 
alas, she reckoned not with the system. 

On September 11th, the Bright, Young, and 
Enthusiastic Teacher met her class for the 
first time! She looked at the bright, eager 
shining faces before her and thanked God for 
the great privilege that was hers. In a brief, 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VII., No. 9 


spirited talk she opened before them the won- 
derful. vision of service as the goal of their 
lives, the elimination of injustice and evil, and 
how the school life was to make possible the 
realization of the vision held before them. In 
the midst of this talk the principal accident- 
ally entered. He looked as tho he had been 
stupefied by the spectacle of such intense in- 
terest and such misguided enthusiasm on the 
part of the pupils and their teacher. At three 
o’clock she was summoned to the principal’s 
office and told that her business was to teach 
and not to preach. Her business was to tell 
how America fought against English eco- 
nomic injustice, and to let well enough and 
the present alone. Surprised, pained, half 
subdued but not crushed, she returned to her 
work the next day. 

A few weeks later she was trying to teach 
the children how to recognize an adjective. 
She was using the inductive method that she 
had been taught at training school. In the 
midst of her lesson, the principal entered. 
He listened silently and impatiently. While 
the children were looking for adjectives in a 
given passage, the principal approached the 
teacher and like a parent who admonishes 
his erring child, whispered to her: ‘‘Your les- 
son is brilliant, but where is the drill? How 
much do they know ?” 

“But,” replied the teacher, “I want to inter- 
est them and to teach them to think and to 
reason.” 

“To think and to reason!” exploded the 
principal. ‘Young lady, children are not old 
enough to think or to reason. My advice to 
you is to teach them to render unquestioning 
and absolute obedience, to master the three 
R’s and to inculcate a wholesome respect for 
their superiors, as such, and for the present 
system. That is all that you are expected to 
do. No more and no less.” 

After the interview the dismissal bell rang. 
Slowly the teacher gathered her wits to- 
gether. Of what value was her normal schoo! 
training? Of what value were high ideals’ 
Of what value was the educational system if 
its sole object was to turn out pupils as a 
cigar mould turn out cigars? Could it be 
that her principal represented the views of 





November, 1918 


the educational experts and leaders? She ap- 
pealed to her superintendent, famous for his 
Chautauqua lecture, and learned, to her sor- 
row, that the pedagogy preached on the lec- 
ture platform and during working hours bore 
no resemblance to one another. 

As the teacher persisted in following her 
normal schools ideals she was rated “C” and 
transferred to a healthier environment. The 
new superintendent, apprised of the addition 
to his staff, told the teacher that if she desired 
to get along in his district she must do ex- 
actly as she was told. Again she taught 
pupils to question data, to draw inferences, 
to present all possible view points, to exercise 
her initiative. Again she ran foul of the Sys- 
tem and received her reward—Dismissal. 

Dispirited, crushed and humiliated, she 
made her way to her home a mental wreck. 
For three weeks she hovered between life and 
death. Her will to live, to show her worth 
triumphed and she recovered from her ill- 
ness. Poverty forced her once more to seek 
ajob. In her despair she felt that if she must 
produce a factory product,-she would do so 
in a real factory where that was expected of 
her. She got a job, and for a time worked 
listlessly at her task. Then her old self reas- 
serted itself once more. Once more she was a 
person of resourcefulness, of energy and abil- 
ity. In time she observed the eyes of her em- 
ployer upon her. When she was summoned 
to the office a shiver passed thru her. She 
pictured herself once more reading the daily 
advertisements, once more trudging the 
streets in search of a job. How she wished 
she had surrendered her personality as a 
teacher and retained her job and its per- 
manency. 

When she entered the office her employer, 
to her surprise, courteously offered her a 
chair, asked her how she liked her job and 
her wages. Then her employer informed her 
that her salary would be increased because 
she worked with her head as well as with her 
hands. Too dumfounded to speak, she sat 
and gazed at her employer. Thoughts raced 
thru her head. Could this be true? Was this 
business? Did brains, energy and initiative 
count after all? Were these qualities desired 


The American Teacher 


193 


in creating lifeless commodities and tabooed 
in the creation of human products? When 
she recovered herself she thanked her em- 
ployer and returned to her work. In time she 
became a forelady over hundreds of women. 
Once more her heart beat quickly, but with 
assured pride. Once more she saw possibili- 
ties of service to her subordinates and co- 
workers. Once more her soul expanded and 
she lived. 


The Executive Board of the Teachers’ 
Union, Local No. 5, New York, has forwarded 
to the five hundred principals in the schools 
of New York an invitation to form a prin- 
cipals’ local of the A F of T. The Constitu- 


tion of the A F of T now makes this pos- 
sible. 





This is the Official Organ 
of the 
American Federation of Teachers 
ORGANIZED APRIL 15, 1916 
Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor 
OFFICERS OF THE A F OF T 
President, CHARLES B STILLMAN, Chicago, 
1620 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, III. 
Secretary-Treasurer, F G Stecker, Chicago, 
1618 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, II. 


National Organizer; First Vice-President, 
L V LAMPsoNn, Washington, D. C., 
1336 Otis Place, N. W. 


Editor, The American Teacher; Sixth Vice-President, 
HENRY R LINVILLE, New York City, 
36 Terrace Avenue, Jamaica. 


Second V.-Pres., MABEL L REEs, Brooklyn, N. Y. C., 
39 Winthrop Street. 


Third Vice-President, ANITA BAILEY, Gary, Ind., 
650 Buchanan Street. 


Fourth V.-Pres., JuDITrH G RuippicK, Norfolk, Va., 
722 Duke Street. 


Fifth V.-Pres., S E Compton, Washington, D. C., 
Dunbar High School. 


Seventh V.-Pres., CLARA K Stutz, Washington, D. C., 
1628 Swann Street. 


Eighth V.-Pres., CARRIE L COLBURN, Olean, N. Y., 
803 West Henley Street. 


Ninth V.-Pres., ISABEL WILLIAMS, St. Paul, Minn., 
916 St. Clair Street. 





From the Locals of the American Federation 
of Teachers 


Staff of Chairmen of Press 


Committees 

Local No. 3, Chicago, Ill, ETHEL E BEERS. 

Local No. 5, New York, N Y, WILMER T 
STONE. 

Local No. 8, Washington, D C, CORNELIA 
WHITNEY. 

Local No. 16, Washington, D C, GRACE 
LIND. 

Note: The names of the Chairmen of other Press 
Committees will be added as they are received from 
the locals. 


Progress 

¢ ¢ E are at the threshold of a new 
W social era. It is going to come 
upon us sooner than we ex- 
pect. It is the social renaissance of the 
whole world. Some people call it Socialism ; 
others call it Bolshevikism. It means one 
thing, and that is that the man who labors 
with his hands, who does not possess prop- 
erty, is the one who is going to dominate 

the affairs of this world.” * 

Thus spoke recently Mr Charles M 
Schwab, president of the Bethlehem Steel 
Company, in widely quoted words. 

True to her reputation as a centre of pro- 
gress, Chicago is leading this march toward 
control by the workers. On the heels of 
the court decision upholding the legality of 
Jacob M. Loeb’s “business” school board, 
comes the nomination by the mayor of a new 
board of eleven members, five of whom are 
prominent labor men. 

Some worthy citizens think that this is an 
undue representation for labor. Should rep- 
resentatiori be on the basis of wealth or of 
numbers? If 65 per cent of the people of 
the U S own only 5 per cent of the wealth,? 


1Chicago Tribune, Jan. 5, 1918. 


2 Figures quoted in Final Report of the Commission on In- 
dustrial Relations, 1915, p. 33. 


it is safe to say that at least 65 per cent 
of the pupils in the public schools are the 
children of wage earners. The Chicago Fed- 
eration of Labor has earned a special right 
to be represented in the shaping of educa- 
tional policy. It is no exaggeration to say 
that for years it has stood closer to the teach- 
ers and has taken more interest in legisla- 
tion for the benefit of the schools than any 
other organized body in Illinois. 

Too well known to need repetition is the 
story of the Chicago Teachers’ Federation, 
which “resulted in the filing of schedules in 
which the valuations of five corporations 
were raised from $35,000,000 to $263,000,- 
000.” * Since 1901 this has meant a yearly 
enrichment of the city treasury by $597,033. 
After having won this unprecedented victory 
over the corporations thru great personal 
devotion and having thereby incurred the 
animosity of powerful interests, the teachers 
faced the bitter fact that the Board of Ed- 
ucation was preparing to use its share of the 
increased revenue for everything and any- 
thing except teachers’ salaries. “The teach- 
ers were worn out. Even that indomitable 
pair, Miss Goggin and Miss Haley, were dis- 
couraged. To them, in their despair, came 
a letter from the Chicago Federation of La- 
bor, asking “The Chicago Teachers’ Associa- 
tion to give to the 200,000 affiliated working 
men and voters of Chicago the right to take 
up the cause of the teachers and children in 
the only way it can be done promptly and 
effectively—that is, by affiliating with and 
sending representatives to the Chicago Fed- 
eration of Labor, with power to act for your 
body and present your wrongs and those of 
the children.’” The author of this letter, 
John Fitzpatrick, President of the Chicago 
Federation of Labor, is one of the mayor's 
nominees for the school board. 


3 George Creel in Harper’s Weekly for June 19, 1915. 





November, 1918 


From that time on, the Federation of La- 

bor has been the steadfast ally of the teach- 
ers in all legislation sought for the better- 
ment of the school system. A bill providing 
pensions for teachers, a bill providing more 
revenue for schools, a bill insuring tenure 
of office for teachers during efficiency were 
among such measures. But more important 
to the system as a whole was the defeat of 
the notorious “Cooley bill,” a brazen attempt 
to fasten upon our school system in democ- 
ratic America a dual system based on the 
German model, which has so successfully 
bolstered up the military autocracy in that 
unhappy country. This bill could not have 
been defeated without the aid of the Federa- 
tion of Labor. Special mention is due Mr 
Victor A Olander, one of the mayor’s present 
nominees for the school board. 
’ The plans of the educational committee for 
the coming year show characteristic breadth 
and initiative. In conjunction with the Wo- 
men’s Trade Union League they are plan- 
ning a course of lectures on trade unionism 
and related subjects. Classes in the evening 
schools especially designed to meet the needs 
of the workers are being arranged with the 
Board of Education. 

In this connection it is well to consider the 
need of education for teachers. In the Fed- 
eration of Labor teachers will gain a prac- 
tical understanding of industrial and eco- 
nomic questions. This is as different from 
the knowledge obtained from a text book 
as reading the score of an opera is from 
hearing the performance. The news of the 
dramatic Mooney case traveled to Russia and 
back, but the average teacher is still ignor- 
ant of the impending tragedy and its sig- 
nificance. Edward M Nockels, who was 
chiefly instrumental in proving that the 
pivotal testimony on which Mooney was con- 
victed was perjured, is one of the new nom- 
inees for the school board. How many teach- 
ers know the difference between industrial 
unionism and trade unionism? The story of 
the organization of the stock yards during 
the past year along the lines of a combina- 
tion of craft and industrial unionism throws 


The American Teacher 


195 


a light on this question that could not be 
gained from books. When one realizes that 
this organization of the stockyards is the 
final chapter in ten years’ of effort, and that 
the organization of the steel industry and the 
department stores is now under way for the 
first time, it is plain that teachers must 
hasten their steps in order to keep up with 
labor’s progress. To quote our friend, the 
steel magnate, once more “The aristocracy of 
the future is not going to be the aristocracy 
of wealth; it is going to be the aristocracy 
of men who have done something for their 
country and the world at large. Such men 
will be true aristocrats.” ? 

The City Council of Chicago has not yet 
approved Mayor Thompson’s nominees for 
the new school board. 

FLORENCE S HALL, 

ETHEL BEERS, 
Delegates to the Chicago Fed- 
eration of Labor from the 
Federation of Women High 
School Teachers, 1917-1918. 


From Local 5, New York 


HE following account of the activities 
of the Teachers’ Union of New York 
in the campaign for better salaries 
may be of interest to our fellow unionists of 
the other locals, as well as to some of the 
home folks who are not in very close touch 
with what the union is now doing. The cam- 
paign opened on Sept. 27, when the Central 
Federated Union of New York, representing 
300,000 members of trade unions, unani- 
mously adopted a motion put by Mr. Lefko- 
witz, delegate of the Teachers’ Union, to re- 
quest the mayor, the Board of Estimate and 
the Board of Education to take immediate 
steps to increase teachers’ salaries to keep 
pace with the increased cost of living. 

On Oct. 9 the Board of Education granted a 
special hearing to Peter J. Brady, chairman 
of the education committee of the C. F. U., 
and to James P. Holland, president of the 
New York State Federation of Labor, at 
which hearing these gentlemen requested an 
increase of teachers’ salaries, beginning with 





The American Teach'er 


a minimum of $1,200 per year. President 
Somers of the board expressed sympathy 
with the desire of labor to aid the teachers 
and reviewed the efforts of the board, up to 
the present, to ameliorate conditions. 

This hearing is especially interesting be- 
cause it shows the great value of the affili- 
ation of teachers with organized labor, as it 
must be borne in mind that teachers had tried 
for nearly a year to get a hearing which, 
when finally granted, resulted in an alto- 
gether inadequate recommendation for in- 
creases. On the other hand labor, on behalf 
of the teachers, was granted a hearing almost 
immediately and received marked considera- 
tion. 

On Oct. 11 the Teachers’ Union held a 
meeting at which a resolution to co-operate 
with all other teachers organizations was 
adopted. A committee on co-operation has 
been formed, and a letter has been formu- 
lated urging arrangements with a view to 
uniform action on the part of all interested 
associations of teachers in the year’s cam- 
paign for better salaries. 

The Teachers’ Union has a salary bill now 
ready, and the counsel of the union is at work 
on a supplementary bill dealing with the in- 
crease of the mandatory school tax rate of 
4.9 mills to whatever rate a careful estimate 
indicates as necessary to provide the in- 
creases of salary asked for. The. salary 
schedules provided by the bill range as fol- 
lows: For elementary school teachers of all 
classifications, $1,000 to $2,500 for high 
school teachers, $1,200 to $3,000; for first 
assistants in high schools, $2,200 to $3,500. 
Should the desired co-operation with other 
teachers’ organizations become an accom- 
plished fact the Teachers’ Union will, of 
course, be open to conviction on the question 
of amendments to this bill. Finally the union 
has also had a bill to abolish the superior 
merit requirements drawn up by its counsel. 

The plan of campaign of the Salary Com- 
mittee will be carried into effect by three sub- 
committees dealing with literature, legisla- 
tion and membership. The first sub-commit- 
tee will study the salary literature already 
published by the Union, and the general labor 


Vol. VII., No. 9 


situation as set forth in Government docu- 
ments. It will ascertain the number of teac!- 
ers who have left school, their reasons for so 
doing, and their present view, in the light of 
their new experience, of school conditions. 
The information and views thus arrived at 
will be made public in a short series of 
pamphlets covering the various aspects of 
the question. 

The sub-committee on legislation will bring 
the above literature to the attention of all 
candidates for the legislature and will ask 
them for an expression of approval or dis- 
approval of the Union’s demands. After 
election the work of impressing upon mem- 
bers of the legislature the nature of our de- 
mands will be continued, while similar work 
will be done among up-state labor unions, 
farmers’ associations, etc. When the bil! 
comes up for action at Albany the sub-com- 
mittee will be constantly on hand to push our 
interests with wavering legislators. 

The sub-committee on membership’ wil 
work by means of personal talks and distri- 
bution of literature to obtain new members as 
well as funds from sympathizers. Special 
emphasis will be laid on the invaluable aid to 
be derived from our affiilations ‘with the 
American Federation of Labor. Teachers 
will be urged to see in this movement with its 
three million members the real force which 
must be looked to in the future in any strug- 
gle to better the lot of the teachers and im- 
prove the condition of the schools. 

WILMER T STONE, 
Chairman of the Press Committee, 
Local No. 5, New York, N. Y. 


Why Join the Teachers’ 
Union? 


UST what is “The Teachers’ Union?” 
What is the attitude of the Union 


toward strikes? Does it not mean a 
loss of dignity for a teacher to join a trade 
union? Why join the Union rather than one 
of the teachers’ associations? These and 
other questions repeatedly asked by teachers 





November, 1918 


deserve an answer, and the answer will be 
clear and straightforward. 

The Teachers’ Union of New York is a 
branch—Local No. 5—of the American Fed- 
eration of Teachers, which is itself a constitu- 
ent part of the American Federation of 
Labor. In other words, it is primarily an in- 
strument of collective bargaining, designed 
to secure justice for the individual teacher 
in the great struggle of contending forces 
that make up modern society. The present 
status of teachers’ salaries shows clearly the 
need of collective bargaining, if reasonable 
claims for services rendered are not to be for- 
gotten or ignored. This need becomes greater 
when definite powerful groups, such as the 
real estate organizations, are interested in 
low taxes, hence in fighting salary increases 
in the schools. 

The need of a union extends, moreover, 
to other questions than the fundamental one 
of salary. Without meaning to cast any re- 
flections on the personnel of the supervising 
staff of the New York, schools, it is obviously 
inevitable that in such a large system occa- 
sional injustices will occur in the treatment 
of teachers by official superiors. The Union 
does not intend to shield inefficiency, or dere- 
liction of duty, but it does intend, as in the 
past, to use all its resources, legal and finan- 
cial, to defend any members who have just 
claims upon its support. Finally, the union 
looks forward to the time when it will be 
strong enough to be consulted and given par- 
ticipation in the determination of questions 
of hours and conditions of work, in altera- 
tions of the school curriculum, in choice of 
location and types of buildings, ete. In short, 
the Union stands for democracy in its par- 
ticular branch of everyday life. 

It is not unusual to encounter a teacher 
who fears to join the Union, either because 
of the strike question or because he or she 
feels that unionism somehow or other is dis- 
reputable. In answer to the first objection, 
it is a fact that one cannot be ordered to 
strike by any union official, but that, on the 
contrary, the question of a strike is sub- 
mitted to a referendum vote of the entire 
union membership of a union, and the 


The American Teacher 


197 


strike decision, to become effective, requires 
a two-thirds vote. As a matter of fact, the 
strike question is not a real issue. In the 
first place, a strike would never be attempted 
until the union had become very powerful, for 
obvious reasons. Furthermore, a _ strike 
would never be considered except to remedy 
gross injustices, after all other recourse had 
failed. Teachers are constitutionally, and by 
training, conservative, long suffering, almost 
.submissive. Therefore, it is not possible to 
imagine a motion to strike being favorably 
acted upon by a majority of teachers except 
in a case of extreme injustice. Publicity and 
discussion would almost inevitably secure a 
proper adjustment, without a strike being 
necessary, for the parents of the city would 
certainly demand that justice be done to the 
teachers before they would face the situation 
of a million children being turned away from 
empty schools to run the streets. 

The time has come when all shadow of dis- 
repute has vanished from trade unionism. 
When the labor organizations all over the 
world are consulted deferentially by govern- 
ments, when our President has, through his 
War Labor Board, actively supported the 
spread of unionism, even in this critical 
period, one may certainly state it as a fact 
that the principle of collective bargaining 
has become respectable. The history of re- 
cent strikes on the question of unionization 
of various industries is a monotonous record 
of verdicts from the government mediators 
favorable to the unions. Any school authori- 
ties persecuting teachers because of union 
affiliation might very easily bring a hornet’s 
colony about their ears. 

The question of professional dignity deters 
many teachers from joining the union, and 
seems unnecessary today, when the war has 
caused a universal re-valuation of values, to 
attempt to defend the dignity of labor. Those 
words have become transformed from a pat- 
ronizing phrase, or a poet’s expression of 
spiritual insight, into a phrase that repre- 
sents the honest conviction of all decent men 
and women. Which is the more truly digni- 
fied man, he who is proud of his labor, and 
demands due recognition for it in money, like 





198 


all other sensible members of the community, 
or he who allows himself to be imposed upon 
and put off with careless benevolent phrases, 
and hides his pitiful weakness and lack of suf- 
ficient manhood to fight for his rights behind 
resounding cant about professional dignity? 

Finally, the question of the Union versus 
the various teachers’ organizations is to be 
considered. The difference between the 
Union and all the other associations is the 
same as that between a professional and an‘ 
amateur in the world of sport, or between a 
law “with teeth“ and a “joker” law in the 
field of legislation. The union is a fighting 
organization, it is permanent, it has an office, 
légal counsel, and it is a part of the great 
American Federation of Labor. It represents 
not one outstanding, ambitious leader, or a 
narrow professional group, powerless to ac- 
complish anything, but it speaks for all of the 
teachers, regardless of sex or class of work, 
in the New York system. When the teachers 
realize that fact, and give the Union their 
support, they will be invincible. 


FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF THE 
TEACHERS’ UNION OF THE CITY OF 
NEW YORK, ADOPTED APRIL, 1916 
The Objects of the Teachers’ Union are, 
1 To provide means for the legal protection 
of teachers’ interests. 

2 To protect teachers against oppressive su- 
pervision. 

3 To increase the efficiency of the schools in 
democratic education. 

a By promoting good teaching. 

b By providing the conditions of work. 

c By providing for the systematic study of 
school problems by teachers. 

d By promoting the participation of teach- 
ers in school administration. 

e By cooperating with parents’ associa- 
tions and other educational forces of the 
city. 

4 To obtain equal suffrage among men and 
women. 


The American 


Teacher Vol. VII., No. 9 


Two Member-Getting 
Circulars 


DON’T COMPLAIN 


Why have the Dockworkers got an increase of 
15 cents an hour or $1.20 a day? 

Why have the Pavers got an increase of $1 a day? 

Why have the Fire-fighters got a substantial in- 
crease? 

While the Cost of Food has been going up 60 
per cent in New York since 1913, why have the 
Wages of the Workers gone up 69 per cent? 

Have you, fellow teachers, had any of that 69 
per cent? If not, why not? 

Are you Interested in getting an Encouraging 
Portion of a 69-per-cent increase? 

If you are, Join Hands with Labor! 

Don’t Complain about What the Mayor Said. 
Act! Join the Teachers’ Union. Do it Now! 

THE TEACHERS’ UNION OF THE CITY OF NEW York 
70 Fifth Avenue, New York 
Tel., Chelsea 8658 


. 
DIGNITY versus THE PUBLIC WELFARE 


Are you satisfied with “Dignity,” or would you 
rather have a Living Wage? 


Are you influenced by Rising Costs,—are you 
Human? 


The President stands for the principle of Union- 
ism. Do you stand behind the President in this 
also? 

Unionized Workers cannot be discharged at the 
“Thumbs Down” of the Employer. Teachers 
can be discharged under the blanket charge of 
“conduct unbecoming a teacher,” and someone 
else decides what is “unbecoming.” You don't. 

You can get Respect for your Professional Rights, 
and you can get a Living Wage, if you Stand 
Up and Unite! You will then give Better Ser- 
vice to the Public. 

6 To do Justice to Yourself, and a Good Turn 
to the Patient Public, Join the Teachers Union. 
THE TEACHERS’ UNION OF THE CITY oF NEW YoRK 
70 Fifth Avenue, New York 
Tel., Chelsea 8658 


a 


The present war must be the last. One-fifth of 
the children in New York are suffering from defec- 


tive nutrition. When they grow to military age 
there will not be enough of them to carry on a good 
war. 





What They Say 


A Letter to a Friend 


L V LAMPSON 
National Organizer, A F of T 


My dear Friend: 

Your letter of October 24 shows a willingness 
to consider further the question of the unionization 
of the teachers of the country. I shall be very glad 
to discuss with you some of the points raised in 
your communication. 

In the letter referred to the following statement 
is made: “I believe in unionism among laborers in 
industrial and commercial lines, but I think it is a 
fatal mistake for teachers to become allied with 
these classes in society. The teacher, above all oth- 
ers, is the servant of society as a whole, and per- 
manent affiliation with one class will result in in- 
jury to the entire teachers’ calling.” 

You say that teachers are “Servants of society 
as a whole.” The word servant is well chosen. All 
thru history the position of the ordinary class- 
room teacher has been a servile one. This is also 
true at the present time, whether measured by the 
standards of pay or by public regard. Teachers 
have not served the public as a whole. In the past 
almost without exception, they have served the few. 
And to-day in the secondary schools, they serve but 
one-twentieth of the possible student population. In 
the colleges and higher institutions of learning, a 
much smaller proportion of the youth is served. Fur- 
thermore, the teachers in almost every part of the 
country are under the control of an autocratic educa- 
tional system that is dominated too frequently by 
corrupt and reactionary interests. We believe in 
breaking with these conditions. We believe that by 
affiliating with labor, we cannot only emancipate 
ourselves from an oppressive economic and educa- 
tional system; but that we can serve a much larger 
number of the people than is now the case. Our 
purpose is to serve not only the interest of the 
teachers and of labor, but also the welfare of all 
the people. 

If you will permit me to say so, your statement 
confuses purpose with method. Our purpose is to 
serve all the people. Labor believes in schools for 
all the people; not for a part of the people. I 
maintain that we do not surrender our purpose, 
but further it when we affiliate with organized labor. 
In the promotion of an end there must always be 


a selection of means. It is conceivable that the 
persons who join the Republican Party believe that 
by so doing they promote the good of the whole 
country. The party is to them a means of pro- 
moting the public good. The members of this party 
constitute but a part of the people. And sometimes, 
they are not patriots but partisans. Yet you would 
not deny them the right to organize, especially, if 
they believe that by so doing they are promoting 
the public good. It is the same way with a state 
in the Union. The people of a state organize not 
only for their own good but presumably for the 
benefit of all the people. You could hardly deny 
them the choice of the means—a state government. 
States are often sectional and selfish, yet one would 
hardly suggest that for this reason, they should 
be denied an existence, or that in the main they 
do not serve the general good. To say that teachers 
cannot affiliate with organized labor because they 
are servants of the whole people is, I repeat, a con- 
fusion of the means with the end. It amounts not 
only to a denial of the rights of the teachers to 
organize in the way proposed, but in reality con- 
stitutes, if carried out to its final conclusion, a 
denial to all groups of the right to organize. Groups 
of people cannot form labor unions, nor granges, 
nor local and state governments, nor political par- 
ties, because, forsooth, these organizations are made 
up of only a part of the people. It may be said 
that they should serve all the people and not a part 


. of the people, and so they should. But they probably 


could not serve even themselves if they were not 
properly organized. It might also be said that 
teachers may organize, provided they organize by 
themselves. This proposition involves the isolation 
on the part of the teachers as a distinct class, apart 
from the rest of the people. We propose to smash 
this conception of the teachers as a distinct class. 
It has been our curse and would not make for the 
best interests of the country. It is asserted that 
since the teachers are servants of society as a whole, 
they cannot affiliate with the great mass of work- 
ing men and women. This assertion, carried to its 
logical conclusion, involves a dilemma one horn of 
which precludes teachers from organizing by them- 
selves and the other horn of which requires that 
they establish an organization which embraces the 
whole people. The first iine of reasoning permits 
no organization at all for the teachers; for they 
must serve not themselves, but all the people. The 


199 








200 


second line leads to a requirement impossible of per- 
formance. It seems clear to me that teachers may 
affiliate with organized labor and still serve the 
people as a whole. They do not sacrifice the end 
to the means. They promote that end. 

Your letter goes on to state that “Permanent af- 
filiation with one class will result in injury to the 
entire teachers’ calling.” I note with interest that 
you very properly do not use the term, “profession.” 
I am more interested at this time, however, in con- 
Sidering the possible injury which may come to the 
teachers from our movement. As has been fre- 
quently suggested because of the fact that nearly 
every occupation is either getting under the control 
of big business or the government, we are fast be- 
coming a nation of the employed. The teachers would 
consequently belong to a large and increasing class 
if they joined the ranks of organized labor. I do 
not believe that affiliation will result either in injury 
to them or to the people. To my certain knowledge, 
the Washington teachers who have taken up the 
union movement have been greatly benefited by so 
doing. I can enumerate a score of instances where 
they have been helped in a material way. I can 
likewise enumerate even more numerous benefits of 
an educational and spiritual character. In this con- 
nection it should not be overlooked that Labor is 
interested in good schools for all the people. 

Again your letter states, “It seems to me ex- 
tremely unfortunate that a movement that might 
have so much good in it, be allowed to run into so 
dangerous a channel.” I am frank to confess that 
I do not understand what you mean by the expres- 
sion “so dangerous a channel.” Organized labor 
has been the means in the past whereby the men, 
the women, and the children, who toil have been 
protected from exploitation. It is to them about the 
only channel which leads to a better, a sweeter, and 
a more decent life. 

After the war, when the spirit of patriotism and 
mutual sacrifice has become somewhat dulled, men 
of wealth will try more and more to put the burden 
of paying the heavy bills, incurred by the great 
conflict in which we are at present engaged, upon 
the common people. 
make heavy payments to the Federal Government, 
they will object to paying much in taxes to the local 
and state governments. This means the great im- 
pairment of the present inadequate school revenues. 
Already the schools are threatened with collapse. 
Heroic measures must be taken to save them. I 
am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet; 
but I desire to say in all seriousness that in my 
opinion upon organized labor and the unionization 
of the teachers of the country depend the betterment 
and even the salvation of the American school sys- 
tem. 

I am writing this letter because, if you will per- 


The American Teacher 


If men of wealth continue to | 


Vol. VII., No. 9 


mit me to say it, I regard you as one of the thi 
ing and far-seeing educational leaders of the coun 
You are fully able to surrender your preconcei\ ed 
ideas and yield to a new viewpoint made necess 
by a revolutionized and transformed world. It 
been said that while in these times not all rad 
men are sane; all sane men are perforce rad 
We need you in this movement which has as its 
object not only the promotion of the interests of t 
teachers and of labor, but the advancement of ¢| 
welfare of all the people. 
Very sincerely yours, 
L V LAMPson 


Two Letters Written to National 
Organizer, LV Lampson Relative 
to the A F of T Resolutions 
Adopted on July 5, 6, 1918 


WAR DEPARTMENT 
Washington, October 16, 1918 
My dear Mr Lampson: 

I appreciate your sending me the resolution of 
the American Federation of Teachers. The resolu- 
tion * is a very gratifying one. 

Cordially yours, 
NEWTON D BAKER, 
Secretary of Wai 

* Refers to that part of the Resolutions 
approving the stand of Secretary Baker in 
staying the hand of extreme militarists who 
are trying to bring universal military service 
to free America.—ED. 


THE WHITE HOUSE 
Washington, October 16, 1918. 
Mr L V LAMPSON, 
Washington, D C 
My dear Sir: 

Allow me to acknowledge the receipt of your let- 
ter’ of October 15th, with enclosure, and to say that 
it will be brought to the attention of the President, 
in whose behalf I beg to thank you and your asso- 
ciates for your patriotic pledge of support. 

Sincerely yours, 
J P TuMULTY, 
Secretary to the Presiden! 


To the Editor, THE AMERICAN TEACHER: 

Please send me 24 copies of the September num 
ber of THE AMERICAN TEACHER; enclosed find check 
for $2.40. If you would like to add a few sample 
copies I shall try to get you some subscriptions 
We like the number immensely. 

ADELLA M PARKER, 
Chairman Salary Committee, 
Seattle High School Teachers’ Lea; 





Watch This Page 


New York Labor Organizations 
Back Comprehensive Pro- 
gram of Education 


URGE COMPULSORY CONTINUATION SCHOOLS, MEDICAL 
TREATMENT, SCHOOL LUNCHES, BETTER PAY FOR 
TEACHERS, PARTICIPATION OF TRADE- 
UNIONISTS IN SCHOOL AFFAIRS 


Carrying out the established policy of trade-union- 
ists in the United States, the New York State Fed- 
eration of Labor, at its fifty-fifth annual convention, 
adopted a comprehensive program of education. The 
program was submitted as the report of the com- 
mittee on education of the federation, of which Peter 
J Brady was chairman and Fred F Moran, secretary. 

There were 38 separate proposals in all. Some 
of those of more than local interest were as fol- 
lows: 

A State law establishing compulsory continuation 
schools for children who leave school up to the age 
of 18 years of not less than eight hours a week, 
study hours to be between the hours of 8 a m and 
5 p m, Saturdays excepted. 

A State law establishing a free school text-book 
system for all school children of the State, includ- 
ing elementary and high schools. 

Legislation to compel local authorities to provide 
dental, medical, and surgical treatment for the care 
of all school children. 

Compulsory establishment of kindergarten classes 
in connection with every school and under the con- 
trol of the board of education. 

That there be established in connection with every 
school a system of furnishing school lunches at a 
nominal cost for the purpose of demonstrating food 
values, and thereby assuring us, through educa- 
tional processes, more healthy men and women in 
the future. 

A State law establishing complete compulsory 
systems of modern physical education under the di- 
rection of competent instructors. 

The establishment of training schools for trade 
and vocational teachers, with full pay during their 
period of training, and that we urge members of 
labor unions who desire to become teachers to apply 
for admission to these classes. 

A State law to the effect that the minimum annual 


salary for teachers shall be not less than $1,200 
a year. 

Better enforcement by the State and local author- 
ities of compulsory educational laws and the uni- 
versal establishment of a minimum school-leaving 
age of 16 years. 

That we insist upon the State educational de- 
partment, in conjunction with the industrial com- 
mission, conducting a survey of all industries of this 
State before State or Federal aid is extended to any 
school district, village, or city in the State, and that 
we oppose the extension or establishment of indus- 
trial or vocational training in any schools of the 
State until such time as an investigation is made and 
requirements and status of each trade, from an ed- 
ucational viewpoint, is ascertained. Local surveys 
to be made by State authorities upon request of 
local communities from time to time. 

That we approve of the vocational rehabilitation 
of the crippled soldiers in service as now being car- 
ried by the Federal Board for Vocational Educa- 
tion, and that this same machinery be used to help 
restore the victims of industrial accidents to economic 
independence, and that we oppose all private train- 
ing of this kind unless done with the approval of 
the Federal Board for Vocational Education. 

Acquisition of a fair knowledge of the American 
language by continuous shop and school instruction, 
supervised by State educational authorities, to be 
required of all employed foreign language aliens 
as a condition of continued employment. 

We recommend the question of the establishment 
of all year schools be given careful consideration 
by the State board of education and all local com- 
munities. 

We recommend that all local unions appoint com- 
mittees on education and that these committees take 
the initiative and offer their training and experience 
to the local authorities and show a willingness to 
cooperate with all others interested in educational 
problems and for the advancement and improvement 
of education generally—From School Life, of Oc- 
tober 16, 1918. 


Telephone Girls Gain 
Toronto, Canada, Oct. 26—Organized telephone 
girls have been awarded wage increases and im- 
proved working conditions by a government concilia- 
tion board. 


201 





202 The American Teacher 


Raise Wages Thirty Per Cent 

Washington, Oct. 26—The national war labor 
board has ordered the Willys-Overland Co., Elyria, 
Uhio, to increase wages 30 per cent to all employees 
who were paid under 45 cents an hour on May 1 last, 
and 25 per cent increase to employees receiving 45 
cents and over. No aduit maie worker shall be paid 
less than 40 cents and no female of 18 years or over 
less than 30 cents. No wage discrimination because 
of sex shall be allowed where women do the same 
work as men. The award is effective as of May 1 
and the company is allowed until November 15 next 
to make back payments. 


Gains by Painters 

Lafayette, Ind., Oct. 26.—Officers of the Brother- 
hood of Painters and Decorators report these recent 
gains by affiliates: 

Wichita Falls, Tex., wages raised to 60 cents an 
hour. San Francisco auto painters gain Saturday 
half holiday. Centerville, lowa, wages increased to 
50 cents an hour and Centralia, Ill., and Lawton, 
Okla., to 70 cents an hour. Boston glaziers raised 
wages from 45 to 60 cents an hour. Herkimer, N. 
Y., raised wages to 55 cents an hour. This local was 
formed two years ago, when. the rate was 37% cents. 
A union agreement now provides for the eight-hour 
day, Saturday half holiday and double time for over- 
time and holidays. 


New Orleans, Oct. 26.—Enmiploying painters in this 
city are decidedly patriotic, but not to the extent 
of recognizing the principle of collective bargaining, 
which has been endorsed by the national war labor 
board and proclaimed by the president. 


How Living Costs Jumps 

Boston, Oct. 26.—The national industrial confer- 
ence board has issued a pamphlet on “War Time 
Changes in the Cost of Living.” The board repre- 
sents 17 manufacturers’ associations. 

It is stated that the expenditures of the average 
family is divided as follows: Food, 43.1 per cent; 
rent, 17.7 per cent; clothing, 13.2 per cent; fuel 
and light, 5.6 per cent; sundries, 20.4 per cent. 

The board finds that “in representative communi- 
ties between the summer of 1914 and the summer of 
1918” the cost of food increased 62 per cent, the 
cost of shelter increased 15 per cent, the cost of 
clothing increased 77 per cent and the cost of fuel 
and light increased 45 per cent. 

“The four major items—food, shelter, clothing, 
fuel and light—together constitute approximately 
80 per cent of the cost of living of the typical wage 
earner’s family. For these the average increase 
between the summer of 1914 and the summer of 
1918 was 52.5 per cent.” 


Vol. VII., No. 9 


Flagmen Get Eight Hours 

Chicago, Oct. 26.—Flagmen and gatemen employe: 
by the Chicago Elevated Company, who come under 
the jurisdiction of the United States railroad aid- 
ministration, have been awarded the eight-hour day 
with the increased pay recently secured by steam 
railroad flagmen. The work day of these employees 
was 12 hours. Since the first of the year their 
wage increases total $25 a month. They are mem- 
bers of the Street Car Men’s Union. 


Workers Fine Themselves 

Jacksonville, Fla., Oct. 26—Workers employed in 
a local ship yard have adopted “short cut” methods 
to insure safety first. They have agreed that when 
one of their number drops a tool or block which 
might cause injury to others, he will pay $1 into a 
sick and accident fund. Within 20 minutes after the 
agreement was made a ship carpenter dropped a 10- 
pound oak wedge that would inflict serious injury 
to a man unlucky enough to be under it. The car- 
penter paid his assessment and declared it was the 
best kind of an education. 


Kaiserism in Omaha 

Omaha, Neb., Oct. 26.—While Omaha boys are 
“over there” fighting for democracy, authorities in 
this city are attempting to destroy the Fire Fighers’ 
Union. The usual tactics of small-minded men, ig- 
norant of social changes, are being used. Local “pa- 
triots” ignore this situation while they thunder 
against autocracy. 

The central labor union- is assisting the fire fight- 
ers to secure justice and officers of the International 
Association of Fire Fighters, located at Washington, 
have assured the men that the association is behind 
them. 

Cleveland, Ohio, Oct. 26—The Fire Fighters’ 
Union has won its eight-hour controversy with local 


municipal officials. The shorter work-day is estab- 
lished with back pay dating from last November. 


Cleveland has added a million and a half to the 
salaries of its teachers.—School Bulletin (Syracuse, 
N. Y.) 


The population of Cleveland is about one 
million. Since $1,500,000 appears fair to the 
people of Cleveland, $7,500,000 should be the 
tentative “quota” of New York City. But 
New York has put its bid at $1,800,000. The 
metropolis, however, is thick-skinned, and 
will not be stirred to better the bid except 
thru legislative and teacher force.—ED. 











iat Oo Go oh Geet Gute nm ©& 24a &® 


— a as i. i ok 


November, 1918 


The American Teacher 








UPTON SINCLAIR’S 


A MONTHLY MAGAZINE 





be found in Upton Sinclair’s. If teachers are 
of Sinclair’s. 


ment’s war policy continuously. 


stomachs.” 
period of reconstruction is upon us. 
pedagogy. 


for $1.25. 


Teacher 


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They will find a fearless, radical thinker, and a strong, loyal American, one who 
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TRADE UNIONISM 

In demanding equal pay and healthful surround- 
ings for women, the union not only protects the 
woman and the home, but it also protects the stand- 
ard of living of all wage-earners. 

There is much lip service paid to the ennobling 
effect of labor and the dignity it confers upon the 
workman, but it is the trade union, more than any 
other institution, that translates these mere profes- 
sions into actual deeds. 

In the pursuit of its ideals trade unionism has 
justified its existence by good works and high pur- 
poses. At one time viewed with suspicion by work- 
man and employer alike, it has gained the affection 
of the one and the enlightened esteem of the other. 
Slowly and gradually it has progressed toward the 
fulfillment of its ideals. It has elevated the stand- 
ard of living of the American workman and secured 
for him higher wages and more leisure. It has in- 
creased efficiency, diminished accidents, averted dis- 
ease, kept the children at school, raised the moral 
tone of the factory and improved the relations be- 
tween employer and employed. In doing so it has 
stood upon the broad ground of justice and humanity. 

Trade unionism has voiced the claims of the un- 
born as of the living, and has stayed the hand of 
the ruthless, near-sighted, profit-seeking that would 


destroy future generations as men wantonly cut 
down forests. It has aided and educated the newly 
arrived immigrant, protected the toil of women and 
children and fought the battles of the poor in attic, 
mine and sweatshop. 

I do not conceal from myself that trade union- 
ism has made its mistakes. No institution fully at- 
tains its ideal, and men stumble and fall in their 
upward striving, but I submit to the judgment of 
every unselfish, impartial mind that the trade union, 
like every other institution, should be judged by 
the good it does. 

The trade union movement is primarily and fun- 
damentally a moral movement. While attention is 
attracted to it by its strikes and its struggles, yet 
the battles it fights in defense of the poor and the 
helpless are but phases of the greater movement that 
is making for the mental, the moral and the physical 
development of all our people—From Bulletin of 
the Bureau of Publicity, Federal Food Board. 


My laundress has been making terrific sacrifices 
to keep her only child. in school all these years. 
She proceeded on the theory that the child would 
be advantaged by contact with “superior” people. 
My laundress is herself a superior person. But I 
shall not disillusion her. It would break her heart. 
Or make her cynical. 








Vol. VIL, No. 9 


The American Teacher 
(U. S. OFFICIAL, WAR FILMS) 


President Wilson says: 


(3 a letter written from the White 
House under date of September 16th 


“It was one of the most remarkable and one of the 
most satisfactory portrayals that we had seen of the 
great task which America has performed with such 
enthusiasm and in a fashion which cannot leave the 
results in doubt.”’ 


You have read about the war. You have 
thought about the war—and talked about 
it. You have cheered the boys who left 
your town to serve Uncle Sam. 

Now you are going to see the war—as 
clearly as if you were over there yourself. 
You are going to understand America’s 
part in the war, as no amount of reading, 
thinking, talking or cheering can possibly 
make you understand it! 

“America’s Answer” takes you right into 
the heart of the world conflict, and shows 
you how these American boys, we are so 
proud of, are helping to wipe out the cruel 
canker that is eating into the vitals of 
mankind. 


The war becomes a real issue—the 
“official reports”. in the newspapers «are 
suddenly translated into actions that lift 
you bodily from your seat and make you 
cheer yourself hoarse. 

You women who have men folks in 
France will specially welcome this oppor- 
tunity to see “America’s Answer.” A 
Washington woman spoke for all the 
women of this nation when she said, “If 
they only would stop long enough for one 
to scan the faces, I feel sure that I would 
see my boy.” 

“America’s Answer” is the greatest war 
picture ever shown on the screen. You 
can’t afford to miss it. 


Insist on seeing 


“America’s Answer” 


at your favorite theatre 


Available to all exhibitors through World Film Corporation Branches 


COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION, George Creel, Chairman 


Division of Films, Charles S. ‘Hart, Director, Washington, D. C. 


Tue AMERICAN TEACHER is glad to contribute this space to the enlightenment of our people. 


Sa