A MERICAN 
"= TEACHER 


MAY, 1919 


SOME E LANA NAUMAN naman inn pa 
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Our Friends Today 





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Maryland Labor Convention 





Joint Industrial Councils 





From the Locals 


TTT 


Srv nn URMILA 


Democracy in Education 
Education for Democracy 








The American Teacher 


VNAVAARRRRSSSSSSSSSBSSsBSSsSssssssssss sss VESTS 


Is Teaching a Declining Trade? 


being women, as the majority 

of them are, they are far too 
modest. They seem to forget that they 
represent a high-grade class of brain 
workers. And they let everybody else 
forget it, too. They ought to keep us re- 
minded of all the geniuses and great 
leaders that have sprung from their 
ranks. Mary Wollstonecraft was a 
teacher; Margaret Fuller was a teacher ; 
Susan B. Anthony was a teacher. There 
is a list for 


TT trouble with teachers is that, 


you must solve the problem of how to b« 
a lady on $15 a week. 

“If one day you wish to marry, we 
shall be glad to accept your resignation 
on that day. We should much rather ex- 
change your experienced services foi 
those of a ‘green’ beginner than to hav. 
married women in the schoolroom. Other 
employers may strive to prevent a larg: 
labor turnover, but our aim is just the 
opposite.” 

— 


* * * 


But never be- 





ok 
== lieve that highe: 





women teachers 
to remember. 
For more than 
a hundred years 
teaching has been 
the chief career 
for women with 
brains. The fact 
that it is now so 
scandalously un- 
derpaid shows 
how much we 
value brains, in 
spite of all our 
pretenses. Teach- 
ing is no longer a 
profession; it is a 
sweated industry. 
To-day, if a 
bright, ambitious 


Editorials 


From the Locals 


CONTENTS 


Maryland State and District of Colum- 


bia Labor Convention 


Joint Industrial Council 


salaries alone will 
heal the breach 
already gap- 
ing so widely in 
the _ teachers’ 
ranks. Unless 
they also have a 
wotce —th -« 
women and the 
men, teachers to- 
gether, organized 
into a profession- 
al union—in de- 
termining th. 
conditions of 
their employ- 
ment, even bette) 
wages will be in 

vain. The world 

is learning to-day 




















girl wishes to be- 
come a teacher, 
the Board of Education says to her 
something like this: “You are about to 
enter a time-honored and respected call- 
ing. It will give you a social standing 
that will make you feel superior to your 
sisters in ‘business.’ Hold hard to that 
feeling, for you will need all the consola- 
tion you can get out of it. You will be 
paid less than they, and you will have to 
make your money go further. Teachers 
must be ladylike in every respect, and 


by countless ex- 
amples that what 
the workers want is not alone a bet- 
ter wage, but to be valued as human 
beings should be valued—as person- 
alities with their own opinions and 
their own consciences. 


—Jeannette Rankin, in an Edi- 
torial in The New York Jour- 
nal of May 3, 1919. 





Vol. VIII, No. 5 





The Americ 


Entered as second-class matter, Feb: 
= Published at 70 Fifth A 


21, 191%, at the Post Office at New Yor! 
venue, New York, monthly, except July and August. 


an Teacher 


N. Y.; under the Act of March 8, 1879. 








Vol. VIII, No. 5 MAY, 


a Year 


1919 


One Dollar 








=== 


New Locals for March 
and April 
HE new locals organized since the pub- 
T lication of the March number of THE 
AMERICAN TEACHER run from No 54 
to 74. The organization of this number 
covers about six weeks of time. The locations 
of the locals are as follows: 54, Ardmore, 
Okla; 55, Cumberland, Md; 56, Kensington, 
Md; 57, Athens, O; 58, Philadelphia; 59, 
Minneapolis; 60, Denison, Texas; 61, San 
Francisco; 62, Royalton, Ill; 63, Austin, 
Texas ; 64, Galveston ; 65, Coalgate, Okla; 66, 
Boston; 67, San Antonio, Texas; 68, Ports- 
mouth, Va; 69, Granite City, Ill; 70, Mer- 
idian, Miss; 71, New York; 72, Fresno, Calif; 
73, Linton, Ind; 74, Benicia, Calif. 
The names of these and their officers will 
be published with later news of locals organ- 
ized in the June number. 


The Committee on 


Educational Reconstruction 
ERTAIN of the locals of the American 

C Federation of Teachers in Washing- 
ton, Chicago and New York, have 
committees at work on a program of educa- 
tional reconstruction. It is the idea of the 
Executive Council that these committees 
shall merge their activities whenever they 
have gone far enough with their local work 
to justify undertaking the task on a national 
scale. Doubtless one of the first acts of the 
national committee when it is formed will be 
to ascertain whether there are any other 


locals that may be induced to enter the 
national field. The quickest way to have in- 


99 


formation of that kind known in useful 
quarters is to communicate with the Editor 
of THE AMERICAN TEACHER, who will convey 
the facts to persons interested. 

The point of view that is characteristic of 
the union movement among teachers must not 
go unexpressed. As in other particulars, no 
one will express this point of view if we do 
not. Furthermore, a national education bill 
will come up for consideration before the 
next Congress. If we are to have a consider- 
able hand in the construction and the promo- 
tion of this bill, immediate organization of 
this committee work is necessary. 


Our Friends|Today 


T has been the fortune of some locals of 
the American Federation of Teachers 
to begin their careers under the blue 

skies of general public approval. Members of 
the Board of Education, the Superintendent 
of Schools, and the important newspapers, 
have given their blessings to the infant local. 
Young things are always objects of approval, 
until they begin to grow teeth. 

Other locals seem to start under a spell of 
indifference, as if their genesis was attended 
by some form of unhallowed parentage. No 
one acknowledges them, except the warm 
heart of labor. Alone and unapproved by the 
formalist representatives of public education, 
and assaulted by the public press, their youth 
is characterized by a precocious shrewdness . 
and a spirit of independence which some- 
times make them seem unlovely as young 
things. 

But the enthrenched friends of today may 
not be the willing friends of tomorrow. The 
young unions grow, and they become power- 








100 


ful. They no longer are dependent on their 
patrons, and the patrons begin to see that 
their power over the young things has weak- 
ened. Quite. unrealized until too late, the 
enthrenched friends comprehend the fact 
that the growing power of the young local is 
a menace to the continuance of the control 
which was as natural as it was agreeable. 

Then without warning, the patronizing 
friends arise in their wrath, throw down 
‘their masks of hypocrisy, put on their iron- 
barbed gloves, and smite the youthful and 
menacing power full in the face. 

The friends of today are no longer friends, 
but the young power finds in the outcast a 
brother. And both are the children of labor. 


On the Cooperation of 


Intelligence 


VERY organization of teachers by cus- 
5 tom depends on the energy and 
devotion of a few persons. One of 
the penalties these few individuals pay for 
the privilege of giving their services is some- 
times an ungrateful charge of “autocracy,” 
of “forming a clique,” or of “getting their 
friends into the offices,” or of some other un- 
popular act. Aside from instances where 
there is ignorance of the principles of sound 
organization on the part of the officers, ac- 
cusations of favoritism are commonly due to 
the prevalence of “idle hands.” 

The best organizations of teachers are those 
which have a comprehensive program. One 
organized for the promotion of a salary cam- 
paign will cease to operate when the salary 
increase is attained, if such an event may oc- 
cur. But an organization that plans for the 
improvement of its working conditions, for 
the development of professional ideals, for 
the establishment of a modern course of 
study, for the correctiqn of systems of dis- 
cipline, etc., etc., as well as for salary in- 
creases, will have a program when the 
salaries are adjusted. And such an organiza- 
tion will have plenty for idle hands to do. 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VIII, No. 5 


Among the idle hands is a group perhaps 
in every organization which is in possession 
of an uncommon amount of intelligence. 
They are capable of doing much, but they 
often choose to do nothing. They do not even 
find fault with those who do the work. They 
pay their dues with more or less regularity, 
and give their best out-of-school effort to 
certain avocations in which they sometimes 
appear to be more interested than they are 
in education. 

There are two things these able persons 
need. One is a keener conscience on the issue 
of how far it is right for them to accept the 
public trust of teaching, and then to neglect 
to give attention to ways of improving that 
service thru professional organizations, 
trusting sub-consciously that others will do 
that job for them. The other thing they need 
is a bit of professional discipline firmly ap- 
plied by those who have been doing all the 
professional work. 

Have you any such in your local? And 
have you planned to bring about the coopera- 
tion of their intelligence on a practical basis? 


ANNOUNCEMENT 


The symposium of newspaper editorials on teach- 
ers unions announced for this number must be post- 
poned on account of crowded columns. But it will 
surely appear in the June number. Other articles 
in that number will be an account of the splendid 
fight of the St Paul labor unions for salary increases 
for teachers, and an article on the Federal Em- 
ployees Union by a representative of that organiza- 
tion. 








Ge American Teacher 





Democracy in Education Education for Democracy 
Published monthly, except July and August by 


THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 
at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
HENRY R LINVILLE, Editor 
Max ROSENHAUS, Business Manager. 








At the time of expiration, a bill will be found in the copy. 
Subscribers are requested to give prompt notice of changes 
in address. 





Remittances should be made in postal money-order, express 
order, draft, stamps or check (New York cuianee: 





SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, ONE DOLLAR FOR THE YEAR— 
FOREIGN, $1.10. 





Maryland Stateand District of Columbia Labor Convention 


ELIZABETH A HAYDEN 
Grade Teachers Union of Washington, D C. 


HAT leaders of the organized labor 
T movement are deeply interested in se- 
curing the best educational opportu- 
nities for the children of all the people and 
also in the efforts of the organized teachers to 
gain freedom from economic oppression and 
autocratic control, was clearly shown during 
the deliberations of the Maryland State and 
District of Columbia Federation of Labor in 
Convention held at Lonaconing, Maryland, 
April 14-18, 1919. 

The report of the Committee on Education 
was unanimously adopted and other action 
taken by the Convention was convincing proof 
of labor’s recognition of the organized teach- 
ers as an important part of the labor move- 
ment. 


REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EDUCA- 
TION — 

To the Delegates to the Maryland and District 
of Columbia Federation of Labor, in Con- 
vention assembled, at Lonaconing, Mary- 
land, this 16th day of April, 1919: 

Your Committee on Education reports fa- 
vorably upon the following RESOLUTIONS 
No 29: ; 

WORLD IDEALS 

To-day the world is looking forward to two 
things—the immediate achievement of a sat- 
isfactory peace and the gradual readjustment 
of life to a new body of ideals. The achieve- 
ment of the peace is the work of statesmen; 
the gradual readjustment of life to the new 
ideals which have come as the result of the 
war’s experience, is, however, the work of the 
peoples of the earth as a whole, especially of 
the rising generations. 

Tho a definition of these ideals is difficult, 
it is necessary to make one in order that we 
may know toward what end we are striving. 
We seek security from the woe of war with 


its destruction of wealth and manhood. We 
seek an appreciation of the principle of the 
unity and solidarity of the peoples of the 
earth, and of the worth and possibilities of 
each and every nation. We seek an equaliza- 
tion of opportunity for all—opportunity for 
gaining an adequate living, for attaining the 
worthy gifts of life, and for participating in 
the privilege of public service. We seek de- 
mocracy in industry as well as in government. 

The attainment of these ideals rests in part, 
we grant with a possible League of Nations, 
but in a vaster degree on a spirit of enlight- 
ened self-interest, of international under- 
standing, and good-will among the people of 
the earth. 

AMERICA’S CONTRIBUTION DEPENDS UPON HER 
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 

But where shall the nation get its spirit of 
enlightened self interest, its international 
understanding and its spirit of good-will 
toward all men, unless it be in our public 
schools ? 

The school is the laboratory of ideals. 
There, in large measure, the fruits of victory 
may be lost or won. America’s contribution 
to the realization of the world’s ideals will be 
determined by her public school system. Ed- 
ucation is no longer an exclusively local mat- 
ter. It is one of local, state, and national in- 
terest. In order that America’s contribution 
may be a worthy one, this country must have 
a comprehensive and nation-wide educational 
betterment program. She sacrificed men and 
money without stint to win the war. Now she 
must be at least willing to spend money in or- 
der that the fruits of the war may not be lost. 
England and France, in spite of enormous 
war-debts, are appropriating more than ever 
before for education. America must do as 
much; she cannot afford to do less. 

The sucess of our school system depends 


101 








102 The American Teacher 


very largely upon the school teachers of the 
country. We can have schools without build- 
ings; but we cannot have schools without 
school teachers. Their status is a matter of 
vital public concern. 

Even many of the so-called soulless corpo- 
rations realize their product depends fully as 
much upon the efficiency of the working per- 

sonnel as upon the effiicency of the plant. The 
product of our schools is human character. It 
follows then that the happiness, welfare, and 
efficiency of the teaching personnel are essen- 
tial to the success of our educational system. 

But the teachers of America to-day are sub- 
jected to a system of economic oppression and 
intellectual repression. The average salary 
of the teachers of Maryland, for example, is 
about $475 a year, or iess than that of the 
unskilled and illiterate laborers. 

We must realize also that democracy in 
government and in industry can never be 
fully attained unless there is democracy in 
education. 


The class-room teachers are the real educa- 
tors of the youth; yet they have little or no 


voice in the determination of text-books, of 
curricula, of educational policies, of wages or 
the conditions of their work. They impart 
ideas which too frequently are imposed upon 
them. There is little or no chance on their 
part for initiative, opportunity for develop- 
ment, nor encouragement for constructive 
work. They are too often under the domina- 
tion of reactionary, tyrannical or short-sight- 
ed school heads. More and more they are get- 
ting under the control of county rings, city 
machines, and corrupt financial interests, 
which, thru the instrumentality of an auto- 
cratic educational system, seek to control the 
thought of the teachers in order to control the 
thought of the youth of the country. In the 
future, unless-the organization of the schools 
is changed by an alert public, they will con- 
tinue to be used by those interests in this 
country which know full well that they can 
do much to obstruct the progress of democ- 
racy in government and in industry if they 
can prevent it in education. Autocracy will 


Vol. VIII, No. 5 


make its final stand in the dominion of the 
minds of men. 

When the teacher is released from economic 
oppression and from autocratic control, then 
only can the youth of America be taught in 
the ways of free men; then only may we hope 
for full democracy in government and in in- 
dustry ; then only can America contribute as 
she should to the realization of the new ideals 
of the world. 

In view of these facts and principles, 
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the 
Maryland and District of Columbia Federa- 
tion of Labor, in annual convention assem- 
bled, at Lonaconing, Maryland, this 16th day 
of April, 1919, goes on record as approving, 
and pledges its support to the following: 

First. In order to place our teachers upon 
a proper economic basis: 

1. The enactment by the legislature of 
Maryland and by the Congress of the United 
States of statutes providing a $1,080 mini- 
mum annual salary for the public schoo! 
teachers of Maryland and of the District of 
Columbia, respectively ; 

2. The passage by Congress of the United 
States of the Hollis Retirement Bill for the 
teachers of the District of Columbia. 

3. The passage by the legislature of Mary- 
land of an adequate retirement and pension 
bill for the teachers of Maryland, which shall 
grant to such retired teachers a pension of 
at least $500 per year ; 

4. The amendment of the school laws of 
Maryland so that teachers, when required to 
attend summer school, shall receive reim- 
bursement for not less than 75% of necessary 
expenses so entailed ; 

5. The securing for the teachers of tenure 
of position during efficiency, and providing 
that there shall be no dismissals or suspen- 
sions without full and fair public hearings, at 
which the teacher shall have the privilege of 
being attended by friend and represented by 
counsel. 

Second. In order to promote the democ- 
ratization of our schools: 

1. The full and unhampered right of the 
teachers of Maryland and the District of Co!- 





—wmwa ms ses Ss Oo wm SOS Ss ow So SS 


— = «fF oO 


May, 1919 


umbia to organize and affiliate with the Amer- 
ican Federation of Labor ; 

2. The adequate representation of labor 
upon all boards of education, whether elected 
or appointed ; 

3. The appointment of a committee on ed- 
ucation by all local and central bodies affili- 
ated with this Federation; as well as by the 
Maryland and District of Columbia Federa- 
tion of Labor; 

4. The official recognition by boards of edu- 
cation of advisory teachers councils, elected 
by the teachers, in order (a) that the teachers 
may have a voice in the determination of text 
books, curricula, school policies, their wages, 
and the conditions of their work; (b) that the 
needs of the children whom they teach may 
be fully presented; and (c) that the class- 
room teacher may the better train the youth 
in the ways of political and industrial democ- 
racy; 

5. The passage of a law by the Congress of 
the United States providing for the election 
of the school board of the District of Colum- 
bia by the people themselves ; 

6. The passage of legislation providing free 
text-books for the children of the District 
of Columbia, not only for the grades, as at 
present; but for the high schools as well, in 
order to promote equal educational opportu- 
nity for all the children of all the people ; 

7. The wider use of school plants as centers 
of enlightenment, eduationally, industrially 
and economically for the betterment of the 
condition of the whole people in the com- 
munity to which the schools belong. The es- 
tablishment of night schools giving practical, 
helpful courses for the benefit of the many 
ambitious mechanics, tradesmen and workers 
who were compelled by economic need to leave 
school at an early age. The making of school 
libraries available to the whole community ; 
and the addition of such books as will give 
the worker a real opportunity to increase his 
knowledge industrially, economically and po- 
litically. 

8. The consolidation of rural schools, 
wherever practicable ; 

9. The adjustment, and if necessary the ex- 
pansion, of the curricula of our elementary 


The American Teacher 


108 


and secondary schools so that full opportunity 
for preparation in the callings of their choice 
may be offered the children of our people; 
the adjustment of such curricula to commun- 
ity need ; and the flexibility of such curricula 
so that transfers may be made by the student 
from one course to another upon good per- 
sonal or economic reason. 

10. The enactment by the legislature of 
Maryland and by the Congress of the United 


States of more adequate physical education 
laws for the children of Maryland and of the 


District of Columbia, respectively ; 

11. That adequate continuous dental and 
medical inspection and care be provided for 
all the children of the public schools of Mary- 
land and the District f Columbia. 

Third: The passage by the Congress of the 
United States of the Towner Educational Bill, 
H R 15400, or its equivalent, as described in 
the following extracts from a pamphlet re- 
cently published jointly by the American 
Federation of Labor, the American Federa- 


tion of Teachers, and the National Educa- 
tion Association: 
THE TOWNER EDUCATIONAL BILL, H R 15400, 


65TH CONGRESS, THIRD SESSION 


Introduced by Congressman H M Towner, of Iowa, 
January 30, 1919, at the Request of the Amer- 
ican Federation of Labor, the American Fed- 
eration of Teachers, and the National Educa- 
tion Association. 


BRIEF ANALYSIS OF THE BILL 
Title: “A bill to create a Department of Educa- 
tion, to authorize appropriations for the conduct 
of said Department, to authorize the appropriation 
of money to encourage the states in the promotion 
and support of education and for other purposes.” 
ESTABLISHES A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 
The bill establishes a Department of cae alee 
with a Secretary at its head, thus giving 
tion recognition in the President’s oe on 
with Agriculture, Commerce, Labor and the other 
Departments. At present the administration of 
educational affairs is parceled out among more 
than eighty different bureaus boards and divisions 
of the several Departments of Government. 
Bureau of Education in the Department of the 
Interior was established for the collection of stat- 
istics and the dissemination of information. 
CONSOLIDATES BUREAUS AND AUTHORIZES EDUCATIONAL 
RESEARCH 
The bill transfers the Bureau of Education to 
the Department of Education and authorizes the 
President to transfer such other educational 
bureaus, commissions boards, divisions and 
branches as, in his judgment, should be admin- 
istered by the Department of Education. It is 

















The American Teacher 


made the specific duty of the Department to en- 
courage the states in the development of public 
educational facilities, and authorizes investi 

tion and research in the fields of illiteracy; im- 
migrant education; public school education, es- 
pecially rural education; physical and health edu- 
cation and recreation; preparation and supply of 
competent teachers; and such other fields as 
come within the provision of the Act. It author- 
izes the encouragement of higher and professional 
education, and the —— of educational at- 
taches to foreign embassies to investigate and re- 
port on the educational systems of other countries. 


AUTHORIZES APPROPRIATIONS FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES 


The bill authorizes the appropriation of $100,- 
000,000 annually to be apportioned among the 
states for the following purposes: 

1. To encourage the states in the removal of 

illiteracy, $7,500,000. 

2. To encourage the states in the Americaniza- 
tion of foreigners, $7,500,000. 

8. To encourage the states in the equalization 
of educational opportunities, and for the 
partial payment of teachers’ salaries, pro- 
viding better instruction, extending school 
terms and otherwise providing equally 
good schools for all children, $50,000,000. 

4. To encourage the states in the promotion of 
physical and health education and recrea- 
tion, $20,000,000. 

5. To encourage the states in providing facil- 
ities for preparing and supplying better 
teachers, $15,000,000. 

PRESERVES STATE AUTONOMY AND LOCAL CONTROL 

The appropriations are allotted to the states on 
condition that the state, or local authority, or 
both, shall furnish an equal amount for each 
specified purpose. The administration and con- 
trol of education is left entirely to the states, and 
to local authorities, the Federal Government ex- 
ercising supervision only to the extent necessary 
to see that the several amounts appropriated are 
used by the states for the purposes specified in 
the Act. The bill provides that the funds allotted 
to the several states shall be paid quarterly to 
the respective state treasurers, and disbursed on 
the order of the state’s chief educational author- 
ity, as designated by the state legislature. 


Fourth: The recognition of the principle 
that in order to keep the world safe for de- 
mocracy, the schools must be made safe for 
democracy. 

Resolved Further (1) that this Convention 
instruct its Legislative Committee to present 
to the next General Assembly of the State of 
Maryland, and to the next session of the Con- 
gress of the United States, the above pream- 


ble and resolutions, as a memorial from or- . 


ganized labor, and that they exert every le- 
gitimate effort to have appropriate legislation 
enacted; and 

(2) That this Convention instruct its ex- 
ecutive Committee to print enough copies of 


Vol. VIII, No. 5 


the above preamble and resolutions for, and 
to send one to, each teacher in Maryland and 
the District of Columbia, and one to each io- 
cal affiliated with the Maryland and District 
of Columbia Federation of Labor. 
Respectfully submitted, 
HAROLD E WARNER, Chairman. 
High School Teachers 
Union of Washington, D C. 
ELIZABETH A HAYDEN, Secretary. 
Grade Teachers Union 
of Washington, D C. 
GILBERT C COOLING, 
Allegany County Teachers 
Union, Maryland. 
A B BOUGHTON, 


Allegany County Teachers 
Union, Maryland. 

B W PAYNE, 
Federal Employees Union 
No 2 of Washington, D C. 


Immediately after the reading, by Mr 
Payne, of the report of the Committee on 
Education, Mr Warner, Chairman ‘of the 
Committee obtained the floor and spoke as 
follows: 


Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen 
of the Convention: 


The present nation-wide movement in the di- 
rection of educational reconstruction, is, as you 
know, a direct outcome of the war. The war 
revealed to us certain shocking conditions in our 
national life. For example, as a result of the 
draft, we learned that there are 700,000 young 
men in this country, between the ages of 21 and 
31, who cannot read or write a word in any 
language. 

During the earlier part of our participation in 
the great war, some 200,000 of these illiterate 
young men were sent across to fight the battle 
of democracy. And one of these illiterate dough- 
boys having learned to write a little in a Y M C 
A hut wrote home: “Ain’t it a shame to send 
us illiterate Americans up against them educated 
Germans.” It would have been a shame; and no- 
body knew it better than General Pershing, who 
shortly thereafter wired back to Washington to 
know whether the authorities there thought that 
he was conducting a war or running an asylum 
for the feeble-minded! 

I may say that very soon after this, a Depart- 
ment of psychology was formed under the War 





May, 1919 


Department, headed by Major Terman, formerly 
Professor of Education in the University of Cali- 
fornia, and from this time on none were sent 
across seas except those who had had sufficient 
education to enable them to meet the require- 
ments of modern warfare. 


Another thing revealed by the war was the 
shocking effect of our failure to properly as- 
similate and educate foreigners in our American 
ways and language. Why we find that there are 
today 10,000,000 men, women, and children in the 
United States, including the illiterates, who can- 
not read or write the English language. Think 
of it, 10,000,000 persons who, if they could be 
here in this convention today, could not under- 
stand a word that is said here, or read a word of 
the reports of what is done here! 


Lastly, the physical health condition of our 
young people, as revealed by the war is amazing. 
Over 700,000 of the young men, between the ages 
of 21 and 31, called before our draft boards, 
had to be rejected from military service because 
of physical infirmity. Think of that—physical 
infirmity. Why two years ago, when we used the 
word physical infirmity, we used to think of an 
old people’s home; and yet today we know that 
in this connection we must think of the supposed 
flower of American young manhood! 

Now, my friends, what is the cause of these 
terrible national weaknesses which have required 
a world war to be revealed to us? The cause 
must be sought, largely, in our educational sys- 
tem, for we know that it is during the period of 
legal infancy—that is, between birth and 18 or 
21—that reading and writing may be best taught, 
health built up, and American principles and 
ideals be instilled. 

When we investigate closely our educational 
system, we do indeed find conditions which cause 
us to wonder. For example, we find the Amer- 
ican teacher working under conditions of economic 
oppression and intellectual despotism that beggar 
description. 

Consider the matter of teachers’ salaries. The 
average salary of the American teacher all over 
the country is around $500 per year. 

In Baltimore they have a very beautiful pub- 
lic park, called Druid Hill Park; and in that 
park, among other things, they have a cage filled 
with monkeys; and the people of Baltimore think 
so much of those monkeys that they have to have 
a keeper for them; and so they pay a man $960 
a year to look after the moral and physical and 
spiritual welfare of those monkeys, which is just 
double the salary that they pay to certain of the 
Baltimore teachers for attempting to guide the 
destinies of the future men and women of Bal- 
timore! 


The American Teacher ; 105 


In one of our Southern states, according to a 
report of the Russel Sage foundation, they pay 
certain convicts, sent out to work upon the roads, 
more money per day than they pay their elemen- 
tary school teachers! 


Now let me call your attention to a quotation 
from an article that appeared in The Bankers’ 
Magazine for January, contrasting the school 
teacher with the unskilled laborer. The writer 
says: “We pay the American unskilled laborer 
more than we pay the teacher, because he is worth 
more. He makes a larger contribution to the 
welfare of society.” 


Now I do not quote this for the purpose of 
comparing here the relative worth of the teacher 
and the unskilled laborer. I believe that any 
man who does an honest day’s work, regardless 
of his position in the economic scale is the equal 
of any other man. But I make this quotation 
merely that I may call your attention to the 
fact that at last the teachers of America are 
beginning to get wise to some things. We are 
just beginning to know that the sudden interest 
of the banker in the worth of the unskilled laborer 
is not due to the intrinsic value of the laborer’s 
services; but to the fact that the laborer is af- 
filiated with, and has the backing of, The Amer- 
ican Federation of Labor! 

Delegates of the convention, we teachers do not 
come before you today to teach you anything. We 
get enough of teaching in the class room. But 
we come here to lay before you our needs and 
wishes, as embodied in the resolutions now before 
you, and to ask you to tell us what’s the matter 
with them. 


If you pass these resolutions today, you will, 
of course, do a great thing for the American 
teacher; but you will do more than this. During 
the past two years the union organizations of 
teachers have grown from nothing to over 60 
local bodies, affiliated with the American Fed- 
eration of Labor, you will add a tremendous im- 
petus to the organization of the teachers thru- 
out the state and nation, which, we trust, will 
be a thing of mutual value. 


One more sentence and I have finished. The 
resolutions now before you comprise, we believe, 
one of the most sane and progressive educational 
programs ever laid before the people of a state, 
and if they are passed today, I confess to you that 
it is with a feeling of great pride that we shall 
return to our homes and say to the educators 
there—“See, while you have been discussing edu- 
cational reconstruction in the peaceful seclusion 
of the academic cloister, the labor men and women 
of the State of Maryland and the District of 
Columbia have been busy and transformed ideas 
into action!” 














106 


Other representatives of the teachers made 
strong statements in support of the report 
which was finally unanimously adopted by 
the Convention. 

-Among other evidences of the keen intelli- 
gent interest with which organized labor in 
this section of the country is following the 
interests of the teachers was the introduc- 
tion of a strong resolution relative to the 
now celebrated Wood case by Delegate Nolda 
‘of the Central Labor Union of Washington, 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VIII, No. 5 


D C. This resolution was also passed unan- 
imously.- The Central Labor Union of Wash- 
ington has on all occasions given its 
instinted financial and moral support to tre 
interests of the teachers and schools. Teach- 
ers of Maryland and the District of Colum}-ia 
having received such substantial proofs of 
the backing of the entire labor movement of 
this section of the country should be able 
to report at the next annual convention a 
hundred per cent organization. 


Joint Industrial Council of Bradford (England) 


City Corporation and Its Employees 
(From the Monthly Labor Review of the U S Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, April, 1919) 


Whitley committee for the establish- 

ment of joint industrial councils, the 
Bradford (England) City Council has or- 
ganized a joint consultative board of the cor- 
poration and its employees to consider at 
regular intervals questions of wages, rates of 
pay, hours, and working conditions, and to 
take necessary steps to prevent the differences 
and misunderstandings between the corpora- 
tion and its employees, according to informa- 
tion from the United States consul at 
Bradford under date of January 16, 1919. 
The corporation, continues the consul, is the 
largest employer of labor in the city, having 
nearly 7000 employees, such as school teach- 
ers, clerks, etc, and employees in the various 
public services, such as tramways, and the 
municipal gas, electricity, and water works, 
etc. 

The board will consist of 32 members, one- 
half appointed by the corporation, and the 
other half by the respective sections or groups 
of employees. The scheme will not in any 
jway interfere with the liberties of the cor- 
-poration on the one hand or the rights of the 
‘anions on the other. The board will represent 
‘all sections of the employees, and the unions 
‘will, as heretofore, have full power to ap- 
proach the respective committees of the cor- 


r line with the recommendations of the 


poration upon any matters they desire to 
bring forward. 

National industrial councils are in process 
of formation for most industries, including 
tramways, gas, water, and electricity, while 
the National council for all employees of local 
authorities other than the four large trading 
undertakings above mentioned has been for- 
mulated by a drafting committee from the 
large municipal associations on the one hand 
and representatives of 12 large trade-unions 
on the other. The Bradford local board was 
formed after consultation with the Minister 
of Labor. Already it is stated, other munici- 
palities are considering the formation of 
similar local boards. 

In a printed copy of the draft scheme which 
has been received by this bureau the functions 
of the board are stated to be— 

to secure the largest possible measure of joint 

action between the corporation and its employees 

for the development of the various services of 
the corporation and for the improvement of the 
conditions of all engaged therein. 

Among its more specific objects are the 


. following: 


To provide, in respect of the services con- 
cerned, for 

(a) The consideration at regular interval: of 
wages and rates of pay, hours, and working «07- 
ditions (including the method of adjustment of 
earnings to actual or anticipated new conditions). 





May, 1919 


(b) The consideration from time to time of 
such matters as sickness and accident pay, com- 
pensation and unemployment and underemploy- 
ment pay. 


To take such action as it may deem necessary 
or desirable to prevent differences and misunder- 
standings between the corporation and its em- 
ployees. 


The immediate consideration of any differences 
between any parties and sections in the corpora- 
tion service, and the establishment of any neces- 
sary machinery for this purpose with the object 
of securing the speedy settlement of the differ- 
ences. 

The collection of statistics and information, as 
and when agreed upon, on matters appertaining 
to the services concerned. 

The encouragement of the study of processes 
and design and of research with a view to per- 
fecting the services concerned. 

The provision of facilities for the full consid- 
eration and utilization of inventions and improve- 
ments in machinery or method, and for the 
adequate’ safeguarding of the rights of the de- 
signer of such improvement, and to secure that 
such invention and improvement in machinery or 
method shall give to every person concerned an 
equitable share of the benefits, financial or other. 

Inquiries into the special problems of the serv- 
ices concerned, including the comparative study 
of the organization and methods of the services 
in this and other countries, and where desirable 
the publication of reports. 

The consideration of the means to secure that 
the employees shall have a greater share in and 
responsibility for the determination and observ- 
ance of the conditions under which they carry on 
their work in so far as it affects the health (in- 
cluding housing) of workers employed in the serv- 
ices concerned, with a view to improvement, and 
the provision for special health treatment where 
necessary for workers in the services concerned. 

To provide the best means of securing (1) the 
observance by the corporation and its employees 
of the decisions and agreements mutually arrived 
at by their representatives; (2) the greatest pos- 
sible security and continuity of employment. 

The consideration of any proposed general leg- 
islation affecting corporation employees and rep- 
resentation of the needs and wishes of the board 
to Parliament or Government departments thru 
the city council. 

The consideration of arrangements for the su- 
pervision of the entrance into and training for 
the various services of the corporation and co- 
operation with education authorities in arranging 
education in all its branches for such services. 


The American Teacher 


107 


The consideration of measures for securing the 
inclusion of all work people in such services in 
their appropriate trade unions or associations. 

To take steps to provide that the board either 
directly or thru its subcommittees, shall be the 
“works committee” under any national industrial 
council which covers any services of the corpora- 
tion. 


N U T EXECUTIVE ELECTION, 1919 
(Division 10) 


If you want a man with a program and a record 
of hard and successful work for Teachers, 


VOTE 
FOR 


G D BELL 


PROGRAM. 


A new and better scale of salaries for London. 

War bonus to be made permanent. 

A Whitley ‘Committee for London. 

Decentralisation of Union work. 

Direct Teacher Representation on all Education 
Authorities. 

More Parliamentary Representation. 

One Union for all Teachers. 

Elimination of the Unqualified Teacher. 

—Advertioonent in The London Teacher of March 

21, 191 


This advertisement of a candidate for office 
in The National Union of Teachers of Eng- 
land will interest our members.—EDITOR. 


LONDON CORRESPONDENCE 


In a competition for the best collection of “how- 
lers,” which was recently arranged by the University 
Correspondent, the following gems were received: 

Martin Luther was nailed to the church door of 
Wittenberg for selling papal indulgences. 

Chicago is a large town at the bottom of Lake 
Michigan. 

Ben Johnson survived Shakespeare in some re- 


spects. 

The Habeas Corpus Act was that a man couldn’t 
be kept in prison against his will. 

One of the fe old Roman roads is called The Milky 


Way 

“liver Twist” was written by Nicholas Nickleby. 

A monsoon is an animal which eats snakes. 

The Conventicle Act was that no man attending a 
SS within five miles of his house should be a 
sc seenmnaties 

vom a which are equal to each other are equal 


wo “4 Montfort formed what was known as 
the Mad Parliament—it was something the same 
as as is at the present day. 

Me ia halen cur lo frent—Ghe loweved him en.to 

hie head. 

The Anzacs are a race of South American savages. 

A. schoolmaster leads a sedimentary life—Chrie.. 
tian Science Monitor of February 28, 1919. 











From the Locals of the American Federation 
of Teachers 


Staff of Chairmen of Press 
Committees 


Local No. 3, Chicago, Ill, Eruer E Beers 

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

Local No. 8, Washington, D C, SUSANNE 
ULRICH 

Local No. 16, Washington, D C, GERTRUDE 
L. LADSON. 

Local No. 25, Norfolk, Va, Jutian S. Hucu- 
SON 

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


EXTRACTS FROM SECRETARY STECK- 
ER’S APRIL LETTER TO THE 
FINANCIAL SECRETARIES 


the Executive Council and officers in- 
formed as to activities, difficulties 
and successes of the locals. Some secretaries 
send in special reports, some make a brief 
statement along with the monthly report and 


EK VERY means should be used to keep 


many give no indication of conditions. Some 
secretaries are not yet aware how much de- 
pends upon them in forming the closer 
relations between the local and national or- 
ganizations. 

The mail during the past month has been 
very interesting. I can mention only a few 
cases. The Madison Federation No 35 as- 
sisted a Citizens’ Committee in selecting the 
candidates for their Board of Education and 
then helped elect them on a Non-partisan 
ticket. The report which had been made re- 
garding the salaries of the teachers in com- 
parison with other wages roused public 
opinion in Madison to such an extent that 
the old Board at its last meeting raised the 
salaries about $150, an unprecedented 
amount for Madison. Several other locals are 


conducting a salary campaign the results of 
which have not yet been reported. The Sit 
Paul Women’s Federation, No 28, feels ver) 
well satisfied with the progress made in the 
few months of organization. Their report 
will appear in the June number of THE 
AMERICAN TEACHER. The New Orleans 
Trades Council welcomed the delegates of 
Local No 36 and the President was made 
delegate to the Louisiana State Federation of 
Labor Convention, and the latter honored the 
teachers of New Orleans in spite of the re- 
centness of the affiliation, by electing Miss 
Aurianne a Vice-president and member of the 
Executive Board of the State Federation of 
Labor. The Sacramento locals are doing ex- 
cellent work in reaching the teachers of the 
state who visit the capital for legislative 
purposes. There are six live locals in Cali- 
fornia. ‘There are other interesting items. 
Let us know your story. 


NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON 
(TWO HANDS CLASPED) 
NO TEARS, ONLY Joy! 


From Local No. 5. 
(The Teachers Union, New York) 


FREEDOM AND INITIATIVE 
IN THE SCHOOLS 


¢ a0 REEDOM and Initiative in the 

Schools” was the subject of dis- 

cussion at the meeting held by the 
Public Education Association of New York, 
on April 26, 1919, at Hotel McAlpin. Those 
taking part in the discussion were Dr John 
L Tildsley, Associate Superintendent of 
Schools, of New York, Prof George D Stray- 
er, President of the National Education 
Association, Prof Zechariah Chaffee, of the 
Harvard Law School, and Mr Henry R Lin- 


108 





May, 1919 


ville, President of the Teachers Union, New 
York. 

The addresses are being published separ- 
ately by the Public Education Association, 8 
West 40th St, New York. A fair account of 
the discussion was printed in the New York 
Times, of Sunday, April 27, 1919. 


The outcome of the discussion was on the 
whole favorable to the liberal opinion ex- 
piessed at the conference. The President of 
the Teachers Union has received from a 
professor in Clark University, Worcester, 
Mass, the following note: “If your opinion 
of the relation of the administrative control 
of the New York City schools to the forces 
of reaction and obscuranticism was correctly 
reported in last Sunday’s Times, I want to 
extend my hearty approval of your arraign- 
ment, which I believe to have been no less 
accurate than courageous. If the reac- 
tionaries can be kept from getting en- 
trenched during this period of patriotic 
fervor, which they are capitalizing for quite 
different ends, I believe the outlook for liber- 
alism is not without some promise.” 


SIGNED BY MEMBERS 
Stand-by-the-Union Pledge 


1. We reiterate our condemnation of any efforts 
of the school officials to prevent us from being ad- 
dressed by speakers of our own choosing. 


9 


2. We reiterate our right to criticise the school 
syllabus. 


3. We reiterate our right to criticise the actions 
of school officials. 

4. We maintain that the charge of tyranny and 
oppression by the school officials is supported by 
the very action contemplated against the Union 
and its officers. 

5. We pledge ourselves to give moral and all 
other effective means of support to the officers of 
the Teachers Union. 

6. We assume equal responsibility with them 
for the holding of the meeting of the Teachers 
Union on March 29, 1919, in Public School 27, Man- 
hattan. 

7. We reiterate our belief in the American Con- 
stitution, including the guarantee of free speech, 
and we believe that the Constitution applies to 
teachers as well as to other American citizens. 


The American Teacher 


109 


8. If the exercise of these rights has become an 
offense, we too are offenders. 


9. If our officers must be punished, we too must 
be punished. 
10. We are determined to continue to exercise 


the freedom of speech and of thought that the Con- 
stitution established for us. 


WAR ON TEACHERS’ UNION 


The Board of Education has denied the use of 
public school buildings for meetings of the Teachers 
Union, and a second resolution outlawing the organ- 
ization was sidetracked for the time being when the 
president suggested the impropriety of being “at 
once investigators, jury and judge in this case.’ 

The board’s edict was instigated by a report of a 
meeting of the Teachers Union in. which free s h 
and the rights of teachers were discussed. This in- 
subordination was bad enough, but it was claimed 
that the teachers had declared that members of the 
board of education were desirous “of suppressing the 
rights of both teachers and pupils.” 

Behind the board’s opposition, however, is the out- 
standing fact that the teachers, thru organization, 
are acquiring independence and no longer refuse 
to look upon members of the board as tin gods.— 
From A F of L Weekly Newsletter of April 12, 1919. 


HELP WANTED 


At a meeting of the Teachers Union, according to 
a report laid before the New York City Board of 
Education, “the Board was represented as tyrants, 
oppressors, a privileged class, desirous of suppress- 
ing the rights of both teachers and pupils.” If there 
is still anybody in New York who doubts the sub- 
stantial validity of the indictment, he has only to 
read the press accounts of the proceedings of the 
board on April 7, to have all his doubts removed. 
The board empowered Superintendent Ettinger to in- 
stitute an immediate and exhaustive investigation 
into the life, affiliations, opinions and loyalty of every 
member of the union. If any union-breaking private 
corporation possesses a more effective instrument of 
oppression, the Board of Education would like to 
know about it—From The New Republic of April 
12, 1919. 


TEACHERS CALL BLUFF 


President Somers, of the Board of Education, de- 
fends the beard’s opposition to the Teachers Union 
on the ground that it has published “treasonable 
literature.” This attempt to create a hostile senti- 
ment against the teachers is met by Dr Henry R 
Linville president of the union, who calls on Mr 
Somers to produce the literature. 


“The teachers are fighting not only against au- 
tocracy in the educational system,” said President 
Linville, “but ow are also fighting against dis- 
honesty.”—From The A F of L Newsletter of April 
19, 1919. 











110 


| MUST WE REPEAT THE. RACE 
EXPERIENCE? 


What strange obsession afflicts school boards that 
they should be so different from other public bodies? 
Why should they be among the worst of employers? 
Why should they forever be quarreling with their 
employees? There was a time when employers de- 
nied their men the right of organization, and re- 
fused to see committees representing them. They 
arrogantly declared they would run their own busi- 
ness as they saw fit. But that is a thing of the 
past. Few employers now hold out against the 
demand for collective bargaining; few, that is, aside 
from school boards. These august bodies, presum- 
ably public servants, exclude teachers from any part 
in the management of education. If protest is made 
the objectors are investigated to see if they are 
traitors or have Bolshevist tendencies. Political 
democracy is recognized, and industrial democracy 
is rapidly growing. But there must, if we would 
heed the school boards, be no democracy in educa- 
tion. What nonsense is this? Upon what meat do 
these men feed that they are grown so great? Must 
the school teachers go thru the long struggle 
that has marked the advance of organized labor 
in order to secure simple justice?—From The Public 
of April 19, 1919. 


NEAR OUTLAWS 


The Board of Education in New York City, which 
is not familiar with current tendencies in this coun- 
try and abroad, has forbidden the Teachers Union 
to assemble in the city’s schools. A remark by Presi- 
dent Somers that “we cannot be at once investigat- 
ors, jury and judge in this case” prevented the 
Board from adopting a second resolution condemn- 
ing and outlawing the teachers organization. But 
the first amazing proposal went thru swimmingly.— 
From The New Republic of April 26, 1919. 


THE. PRESENT CRISIS . 


The privilege of using school buildings for meet- 
ings is still withheld from Local No 5, New York, 
on the ground that the Union has criticised the 
Board of Education. 

The Glassberg trial was finished on Friday, May 9, 
1919, with a splendid summing up by the counsel 
of the Union, Mr Gilbert E Roe, of New York. The 
decision of the Board has not yet been rendered, but 
the clear indication as expressed by President Somers 
is that the Board considers itself justified in examin- 
ing into the private political and social views of 
teachers. The Teachers Union denies the validity 
of this position. 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VIII, No. 5 


From Local No. 8 
(The High School Teachers Union, 
Washington, D C) 


Extracts From 
“DISCIPLINE OF TEACHERS FOR ‘HER- 
ESIES’ IN THE WASHINGTON, 
(D C) PUBLIC SCHOOLS 


THE CASE OF MIss ALICE Woop” 


COMPILED BY THE HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS 
UNION AND THE GRADE TEACHERS 
UNION OF WASHINGTON, D C 


EXCERPTS FROM THE ORGANIC LAW 


Public Act No 254; Approved, June 20, 1906 

Sec 10. When a teacher is on trial or being in- 
vestigated he or she shall have the right to be at- 
tended by counsel and by at least one friend of his 
or her selection. 

Sec 2. The organization meeting [of the Board 
of Education], and all meetings whatsoever there- 
after, shall be open to the public, except committee 
meetings dealing with the appointment of teachers. 


EXCERPTS FROM THE RULES ADOPTED BY THE BOARD 
OF EDUCATION 

72. These rules are adopted in explanation and 
furtherance of Section 10 of the Act of June 20, 1906. 

“Being investigated,” as mentioned in Section 10, 
shall refer to an investigation made by the board, 
or a proper committee thereof, or by some officer or 
other person acting under “authority of the board 
or such committee.” 

The right of attendance of counsel and friend sha! 
be construed to exist at the first stage of the in- 
vestigation or trial at which the party involved is 
formally accused. 

Procedure of trial shall be as follows: 

The charges preferred shall be put in writing, 
signed by the person making the complaint, and 
countersigned by the superintendent. Each charge 
shall be specifically set forth with due regard to the 
time, place and character thereof. 

To the complaint shall be appended an order signed 
by the president of the board directing the party 
accused to appear before the board for trial or in- 
vestigation, at a meeting to take place not less than 
five days, exclusive of Sundays, after the day of 
the service of copy of complaint on the person ac- 
cused..... 

70. The violation of any of the rules of the Bord 
of Education; disobedience or neglect of the orders 
of those in authority; any other offenses against 
morality or good order; or inability to perform s+t- 





May, 1919 


isfactorily the duties of his position on the part of 
any employee of the board, shall be, any or all of 
them, considered cause for suspension by the Presi- 
dent of the Board of Education, or dismissal by the 
poard. The suspension of any employee shall extend 
only to the next meeting, regular or special, of the 
Board of Education, unless otherwise ordered by the 
board. 


AN OUTLINE OF MISS WOOD'S HISTORY OF THE CASE 


1. On February 14, 1919, Dr E S Newton, Prin- 
cipal of the Western High School, handed me a letter, 
signed by two parents, Mr Frank P Reeside and Mr 
Thomas Bradley, quoting indirectly and protesting 
against various remarks, especially those on the 
subject of Bolshevism, made by me in an English 
class. 

2. I answered the letter, explaining the occasion 
of the remarks, assuring the gentlemen of my patri- 
otism, and explaining my aims in teaching. I also 
assured Dr Newton that if the Board so desired I 
would not permit the discussion of any topics they 
cared to ban. 

3. No suggestions, however, came from them. 

4. On March 12, I was called to the telephone and 
asked by Mr Thurston to meet him and two members 
of the board in an informal conference which was 
held March 17, 

5. Before going I inquired thru a friend whether 
it was to be in the nature of a trial. and was def- 
initely informed by Mr Thurston that it was not, 
but was merely a friendly conference for which no 
counsel was needed. 

6. I asked Dr Newton as my principal to accom- 
pany me to the conference. We met in Mr Thurs- 
ton’s office, the others present being Mrs Gerry, Mr 
Learned and Mr Thurston. 

7. Thruout the meeting the atmosphere was in- 
formal and friendly. No charges were preferred 
and no reference was made to the letter from the 
parents. Mr Learned as chairman questioned me 
in a courteous and friendly manner as to my educa- 
tion and training and discussed with me my views 
on certain questions of economics and ethics. 

8. The conference ended with the expressed opin- 
ion of the committee (who, however, had not con- 
ferred during the meeting) that I had committed 
an indiscretion in discussing these economic and so- 
cial subjects in class. I had previously stated that 
I would obey any direction given me that such sub- 
jects should not be discussed. Dr Newton and I 
withdrew under the impression that the incident 
was closed. 

9. On Thursday morning the papers had in large 
headlines the news that I had been suspended as 
unpatriotic, with various false statements in the 
stories. ; 

10. Later, Mr Kramer informed me by telephone 
that I was suspended for one week without pay. 


The American Teacher 


111 


11. No reason was given. 

12. On Thursday evening I found at my home 
a letter from Mr Thurston giving the reason for 
my: suspension, “an attempt to touch on and in- 
terpret certain economic and social subjects in which 
you were clearly an amateur.” 


FURTHER STEPS IN THE CASE 


1. After hearing the full statement by Miss Wood, 
above summarized, the Executive Committees of the 
High School Teachers Union and Grade Teachers 
Union under date of March 22, addressed a letter 
of inquiry to the Board of Education asking for in- 
formation as to the specific charges against Miss 
Wood and the method of procedure with reference 
to her suspension. At a four-hour session of the 
joint committees held on this date Mr Paul E Lesh, 
of the firm of Wilson, Huidekoper & Lesh, was re- 
tained as counsel. He advised the committees at 
this meeting before further action was taken, and 
has since been in daily conference with the officers. 

2. The President of the Board of Education in 
his reply to this letter of inquiry stated “that the 
Board’s action in the premises is not the proper sub- 
ject of interrogation or review by other teachers or 
groups of teachers,” furthermore that the grounds 
for the board’s action had been sufficiently explained 
in the letter of the superintendent notifying Miss 
Wood of her suspension. 

8. On March 31, at called meetings of the High 
School Teachers Union and The Grade Teachers 
Union, the above facts were presented and resolu- 
tions were unanimously adopted, (a) protesting the 
suspension of Miss Wood, and asking the Board to 
rescind its action in her case, and (b) asking for a 
public hearing in order to make plain the position 
of the Unions in this matter and to discuss the 
general status of teachers in the Washington Publie 
Schools. 


SUMMARY OF ISSUES 


Inasmuch as the Board of Education is supreme 
in “questions of general policy” affecting the public 
schools of Washington, and no appeal lies from its 
decision on such questions except to public opinion, 
we submit to public opinion these inquries: 

Is it for the good of the schools, pupils and pub- 
lic— 

(1) That a teacher should be disciplined by a 
suspension for one week without pay? A teacher is 
in a position requiring the exercise of authority 
and the enforcement of discipline over her pupils; 
punishment or humiliation known to her pupils 
lessens her efficiency as a teacher. Are the same 
methods ‘of discipline appropriate to her as to an 
operative employee? Does discipline by suspension 
improve her teaching? Does it improve her rela- 
tions with her pupils? Does it improve the morale 
of other teachers? 





112 


(2) That the Board should punish teachers for 
assuming to discuss with pupils subjects clearly 
within the general scope of courses which they have 
been directed by their superiors to teach, upon the 
ground that the Board considers them to have been 
incapable of discussing the subjects in question? 

(3) That teachers assigned teach economic, indus- 
trial and social subjects should be restrained from 
freedom of expression by fear of discipline should 
their views not be approved by the members of the 
Board whose views and desires have not been made 
known to the teachers? 

*(4) That “bolshevism and similar heresies,” to 
use the Superintendent’s phrase, should be excluded 
from discussion by trained teachers, with pupils of 
an average age of sixteen to eighteen years, for 
whose intelligent understanding of government, eco- 
nomics and current events the teachers are respon- 
sible? 

*(5) That “bolshevism and similar heresies” 
should find here in America the unfairly fertile field 
that ignorance on the part of our future citizens 
can alone prepare? 

*(6) That the teachers of such pupils should fear 
to aid them to an understanding of social and politi- 
-cal doctrines and practices different from or even 
inimical to our own, as though knowledge of them 
would not lead the product of the American public 
school the more to cherish and enable him the better 
to preserve and defend the heritage of our insti- 
tutions? 


(7) That the views of the heads of departments 
(of instruction, such as English, History, Mathe- 
matics, ete.) and of principals of schools, should be 
ignored by the Board in appraising the work of 
teachers? 

(8) That the views of a few (perhaps two or 
perhaps three) of many parents founded upon in- 
formation from a few of many pupils should be 
accepted by the Board, without a hearing, and the 
action adhered to by the Board in the face of a 
positive denial from the teacher presented and sup- 
ported by the unanimous action of the Teachers 
Unions? 

(9) That a teacher should be disciplined— 

(a) Upon a matter complained about by two or 
three parents upon information derived from chil- 
dren whose immaturity formed an element in the 
complaint; 

(b) Upon verbal information communicated to 
the Board in secret session by one of two Board 
members (who had with the Supernitendent and 
her principal so conferred with her in an “informal 

estions (4), (5), amd (6) are not essential to Miss 
Ww s case; she has been at all times willing to obey the 
directions of the fh. and has not raised the question of the 
wisdom of the direction when given. Her complaint in this 


respect is that no directions had given when her supposed 
-offense was commi 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VIII, No. 5 


friendly conference” as to leave her under the im 
pression that the matter discussed was to be 
dropped) and 

(c) Upon the motion of an influential member of 
the Board who never saw her and who was a close 
business associate of two complaining parents, sec- 
onded by a member who never saw her and hai 
no information other than that derived as above 
stated? 

(10) That the Board of Education, directed by 
law to meet in public should so abuse the privilege 
of prior conference (assuming that as claimed by 
the Board the privilege exists) that a matter in 
which the public is so vitally interested as the 
application of the Unions for a hearing this mat- 
ter, should be disposed of without announcement 
other than that a reply would be sent, in a Board 
meeting scheduled for 4:30 P. M., and taking place 
from approximately 6:05 to 6:20 P. M., preceded 
by a secret conference lasting from 3:30 to 6:00 
P. M.? 

To the Courts of the District of Columbia, we 
shall, if it becomes necessary, submit the more nar- 
row issues which we are advised are within their 
jurisdiction, probably the following: 

(1) Has the Board of Education the power to 
fine a teacher by depriving her of her salary for 
a stated period as a measure of discipline, or is 
the disciplinary power confined to separation from 
the service? 

(2) Has the Board of Education the power to 
discipline a teacher for the reasons } assigned in 
Miss Wood’s case? 

(3) Has the Board of Education power to in- 
vestigate and act upon charges against a teacher 
by “informal inquiry” without giving to the teacher 
a trial or investigation in the mode prescribed in 
the Organic Act and in ts own rule, and in fact, 
without any restriction whatever as to procedure 
or formality? 

ALICE DEAL, 
President, High School Teachers Union. 
CLARA K. STUTZ, 
President, Grade Teachers Union. 
PAUL E. LESH, 
Counsel. 





AFTER ALL, CZARS DO LOVE ONE 
ANOTHER 


In Washington the teachers’ unions have enga: red 
counsel and are peegering to to fight in the courts ‘he 
case of Miss Alice Wood, who was suspended from 
her duties as a teacher because, in answer tc a 
question, she said that she’ thou ht “the Soviet Gov- 
ernment in Russia was better or Russia than was 
the absolutism of the Czar.”—From The Public of 
April 12, 1919. 





May, 1919 


“OTHER HERESIES” 


The old subject of free speech, at an amazing 
new angle, has been brought up to the country by 
the ingenuity of the Board of Education of Wash- 
ington, D C. The educational authorities of the 
national capital have forbidden the teachers of cur- 
rent events in the city’s high school to discuss the 
following subjects: 

1. Bolshevism. 

2. The League of Nations. 

3. “ Other heresies.” 

President Wilson will be greatly interested when 
he returns. 

The incident began with an inquiry propounded 
to a teacher in the Washington Western High School 
by an extremely inquiring student. This student 
wanted to know if Bolshevists were anarchists. The 
teacher thereupon explained the difference between 
Bolshevists and anarchists and recounted the strug- 
gle between the two groups in Russia. She displayed 
a most creditable and even curious amount of knowl- 
edge. Few people in all America seem to know that 
the anarchists fought the Bolshevists and contended 
with them violently for the mastery of Russia. This 
teacher knew it. Her name is Alice Wood. 

The inquiring student went on then apparently 
with his inquiries, and Miss Wood is reported to have 
made two statements, one of which she admits and 
the other of which she utterly denies. Both her 


admission and her denial might seem to be entitled 


to full credence; because the only listeners to her 
remarks were children whose testimony on matters 
so controversial and intricate would naturally be 
presumed in any court to be inadequate. 

The remark she admits making was this: that the 
Soviet form of election is a form suiting the history 
and temperament of Russia and accordingly prob- 
ably good for Russia. It will be noticed that she 
spoke here of the Soviet form, of the Soviet frame- 
work, and not of the Bolshevist party. 

The remark she denies making was this: that the 
Soviet form of election is a better form than the 
American form. 

A few weeks later the Superintendent of Schools, 
acting for the Board of Education, sent her a letter 
in which there are two passages which cannot be 
read too often. They repay repeated study. 

After informing Miss Wood that she was sus- 
pended for a week without pay, the letter goes on: 

“The board took this action because of your at- 
tempt to touch on and interpret certain economic 
and social subjects in which you were clearly an 
amateur.” 

Miss Wood was an amateur in Bolshevism. Yet 
she had discussed Bolshevism. In doing so, she was 
wrong—according to the board. But she was re- 
quired to teach current events. As a teacher of 
English she was under orders to teach current events. 


The American Teacher 


118 


Washington teachers of English and of current 
events. The world is every day producing a large 
number of events in Railroad Regulation, Tariff, 
Federal Farm Loans, Bubonic Plague, the Mainte- 
nance of Resale Prices, Single Tax, Vers Libre, the 
Dalmatian Coast, the American Merchant Marine 
and the Ponderability of Light. Hereafter, accord- 
ing to the Board of Education of Washington, D C, 
the teachers of English who teach current events in 
the Washington high schools must not discuss any 
of these subjects unless they are experts in them. 
It raised a difficulty. 

The superintendent therefore went on to solve the 
difficulty. He essentially divided all subjects into 
two classes. In the first class apparently, the 
teacher did not need to be an expert. The subjects 
in that class she might discuss freely. The names 
of these subjects are to be deduced from their omis- 
sion from mention in the second class. The second 
class is entirely different from the first class. A 
teacher must not discuss the subjects in the second 
class, no matter how expert she may be in them. 
The superintendent points out the second class and 
defines it in the second memorable passage in his 
letter. He tells Miss Wood that when she returns 
to teaching after her week’s suspension she must 
refrain from “touching upon” certain subjects. One 
must notice she is not ordered to refrain from ad- 
vocating or from combating the ideas in certain sub- 
jects. She is not ordered to refrain from being 
a partisan. She is ordered to refrain from “touch- 
ing upon,” from discussing, from teaching, certain 
subjects. They are: 

Bolshevism and “similar heresies.” 

At once the teachers of English who teach cur- 
rent events in the high schools of Washington were 
filled with an alarmed curiosity to know what those 
“similar heresies” might be. Some of them stopped 
teaching current events until their curiosity could be 
gratified. They did not want to take any chances on 
suspensions and losses of pay. They distrusted their 
own ability to discriminate between heretical and 
orthodox subjects. At any rate, they distrusted 
their ability to coincide with the opinions of the 
board on orthodoxy and on heresy -without further 
instructions. Also, they wished to know if they 
might discuss a dead heresy. In recounting the 
Presidential campaign of 1896, for instance, was it 
permissible to mention the Democratic candidate and 
his ideas or would it be necessary to relate the his- 
tory of the campaign without “touching on” Mr 
Bryan and Free Silver? 

The superintendent felt that he must clear up 
this difficulty, too. His feeling did him honor. He 
proceeded on the line of his duty, as an employee of 
that kind of Board Education, toward a degree of 
elearness blindingly illuminating. He sent out in- 
structions, by word of mouth, to the effect that one 
of the subjects not to be discussed was “the League 


A great questioning therefore arose among all theof Nations.” 





114 


‘In time, doubtless, the list of “other heresiés” will 
be expanded. In view of the proximity of the Wash- 
ington Board of Education to the White House, the 
process will not be difficult or slow. There is the 
“Self-Determination of Peoples,” for instance, an 
idea which makes much trouble for the House of 
Have, and there is “Collective Bargaining,” an idea 
continually appearing in the public prints and very 
popular with the House of Have Not. The President 
of the Board of Education of Washington, D C, is 
George E Hamilton, President of the Capital Trac- 
tion Company. 

However, it may well be that the board will rest 
on its oars. It well might. It has done a good 
deal. It has abolished Lenin’s system of things and 
it has abolished Wilson’s system of things ‘out of 
the education of its city. It has stricken from its 
curriculum of current events the two largest events 
current. 

Lately this country has been considerably stirred 
by revelations of astounding and appalling illiteracy 
in the American draft army. But is there anything 
to be gained by curing American illiteracy if Amer- 
ican children as soon as they can read are given 
ever to the care of such people as the members of 
the Board of Education of Washington, D C? Lit- 
eracy is only a means to an end. The end is knowl- 
edge of life as lived and therefore ability to meet 
it in the power of knowledge. The Board of Educa- 
tion of Washington, D C, would destroy that end. — 
Editorial in The New Republic of April 12, 1919. 


From Local No. 29 
(Canal Zone Chapter) 


UR members have very greatly en- 
() ' joyed THE AMERICAN TEACHER 
as well as the communications that 
have reached us from the various officers 
connected with the American Federation of 
Teachers. We have no excuse to offer for not 
keeping you in closer touch with the situation 
on the Canal Zone except the tropical 
manana. 

Last year practically every teacher joined 
the Federal Employees Union before we 
learned that there was an American Federa- 
tion of Teachers. We very soon applied for 
a charter, but the school year was nearly 
ended before we were able to effect anything 
but a temporary organization. Early in this 
present school year unexpected obstacles pre- 
vented some of the regular monthly meetings 
of the Zone teachers from Cristobal to. Bal- 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VIII, No. 5 


boa from effecting our final and permanent 
organization. ‘ 

We had already affiliated with the Metal 
Trades Council which was the central labor 
organization here at that time, so we were 
more directly connected with the American 
Federation of Labor than we otherwise would 
have been. About a month ago a chapter of 
the A F or L was organized, but we have not 
as yet made application for affiliation. 

As you might expect, the Canal with its 
military organization has more or less of an 
autocratically organized school system, but a 
very up-to-date and efficient one in spite of 
that fact. There are signs, however, that we 
may get some relief in the direction of a 
more democratically administered system. 

One of the difficulties here is the rapid 
turn-over of the teaching force. Altho we 
are paid in most cases 25% above simliar 
teaching positions in Washington the salaries 
were not high enough to hold many of last 
year’s best teachers. Our salary committee 
got busy, and altho the increases in Washing- 
ton last year did not apply to all teachers, 
considerable increases were secured for. all 
the teaching force here with the exception of 
the supervisors and the superintendent. 

An interesting feature of our teachers’ 
union is the fact that we have six regular 
delegates to the Metal Trades Council, two 
women and four men, and these delegates on 
the third Sunday of each month have at- 
tended some of the most interesting meetings 
that it has ever been their privilege to attend. 

Our most important committee is the Ex- 
ecutive Committee. This committee recently 
took up the case of a grade principal who had 
been suddenly asked by the superintendent 
for his resignation without any adequate 
charges, so far as we were able to ascertain. 
We took up the matter directly with the 
superintendent and received no satisfaction. 
We then laid the matter before the Metal 
Trades Council. President McGraner ap- 
pointed a committee of five to interview the 
Governor. The principal has been informed 
that he may withdraw his resignation. 

Since it is not possible on the Canal Zone to 





May, 1919 


have a Board of Education in the ordinary 
sense of the term, many people are interested 
in the formation of a school advisory council, 
such council to be appointed subject to the ap- 
proval of the Governor for the purpose of 
enabling the superintendent and the com- 
munity to keep in closer touch and to attain 
greater mutual understanding than at pres- 
ent. The Teachers Union will welcome any 
step which will mean a move toward the de- 
mocratization of the schools. We find it very 
difficult indeed to instill proper democratic 
ideals into the growing minds of children 
without experiencing any taste of the same in 
our own daily affairs as teachers. 

In conclusion, we would advise any teach- 
ers’ union to affiliate with the nearest central 
labor organization representing the A F of L, 
if the members wish to learn the true spirit 
and stimulus of unionization in the shortest 
possible time. 

G A MANNING, President. 

BALBOA, CANAL ZONE. 

April 1, 1919. 


From Local No. 48 
(Lynchburg Teachers Association) 


T the meeting of the Lynchburg 
A Teachers Association, Local No 48, 
recently held for permanent organi- 

zation, the following officers were elected: 

President, Harold T Gates. 

Vice President, Miss Jessie Peters. 

Secretary, Miss Helen Nelson. 

Treasurer, Miss Elizabeth R Curtis. 

Miss Curtis has since been forced to resign 
and leave school temporarily for her health 
and Miss Mary Paul Wallace has been ap- 
pointed to fill the vacancy. 

While the charter membership was 
thirty-eight, the unofficial list as now re- 
ported is sixty-three. 

With best wishes for the success of the 
movement. and its official organ, I am 

Sincerely, ' 
HAROLD T GATES. 





How can we teach the children to keep step with 
the army of the world’s workers if we have not 
marched with it ourselves.—Bulletin of the St Paul 
Grade Teachers’ Federation, January, 1919. 


The American Teacher 


115 


From Local No. 66 
(Federation of Teachers of Greater Boston) 


T the first meeting held to organize the 

A Federation of Teachers of Greater 

Boston, on April 12, 1919, it was 

voted to send a letter to the teachers of 

Greater Boston, urging them to join the 

Federation, and stating its principal objects 
as follows: 

1 The establishment and maintenance of 
high standards of education. 

2 The securing of adequate salaries and 
just conditions of employment for teachers. 

3 Improving the security of tenure of 
office. 

4 The union of workers by hand and by 
brain for their mutual advantage. 

5 Democratic control of education in ac- 
cordance with the motto of the American 
Federation of: “Democracy in Education, 
Education for Democracy.” 


FOR CIRCULATION AMONG ALL 
BOSTON TEACHERS 


By The Greater Boston Federation of 
Teachers 

The next meeting of The Federation of Teachers 
will be held at Huntington Hall, 491 Boylston Street, 
Boston, on Friday, May 9, at8 P M. President Still- 
man, of The American Federation of Teachers, and 
other speakers, will be present at this meeting. A 
draft of a very democratic constitution will be pres- 
ented for consideration and adoption, and temporary 
officers will be elected to serve until the date of the 
regular annual meeting, which date will be presum- 
ably in the fall. All teachers interested in a union 
are cordially invited to this meeting. Mr Henry 
Abrahams will be present. 

The Superintendent of Schools, Mr Frank V 
Thompson, heartily endorses the union, and said to 
me personally that he hoped the finest of Boston’s 
representative teachers would be included among its 
leaders. Cora BIGELOW, 

(President, Boston Teachers Club), 
36 Hancock St., Boston, Mass. 

May 2, 1919. 


STATEMENT OF THE SCHOOL COM- 
MITTEE OF BOSTON 
MADE TO A COMMITTEE CONSISTING OF MR NASMYTH 
AND MR FOLEY, REPRESENTING THE FEDERA- 
TION OF TEACHERS OF GREATER BOSTON 
Judge M H Sullivan (Chairman) 
“When I was first elected to the School Committee 





116 


I received a delegation of about seventy-five teach- 
ers, consisting of from one to three representatives 
from many teachers organizations, each presenting 
grievances. I resolved then that if all these griev- 
ances were not removed at the end of three years 
my work on the committee would not be successful. 

“Teachers have always been too apologetic. Who 
has not heard many teachers say, ‘I am only a poor 
schoolma’m? President Wilson was almost defeated 
on the cry that he was a schoolmaster.’ Teachers 
should organize to get a sense of self-respect and 
power. I am sure if I talked an hour I could not 
say any more in favor of the movement.” 

Mr Abrahams (Labor Member) 

“The teachers ought to have organized in affilia- 
tion with the American Federation of Labor years 
ago. 

Richard J Lane 


“The Federation of Teachers is in line with the 
progressive movements of the day. As a sympath- 
etic and cooperative organization I know it will be 
of value to the School Committee. 

“While returning from Washington I had been 
reading very carefully of the work of the Teachers 
Federation in Illinois and Washington, and as a 
result, I agree with other members of the committee 
that in the proper hands it will be a helpful organ- 
ization.” 


Mr Corcoran 


“If you had not started this movement for the 
organization of a Teachers Federation, affiliated with 
the American Federation of Labor, someone else 
would have done it, for the time has come. No one 
can stop this movement, and as far as I know, no 
one wants to stop it. I am heartily in favor of it.” 


Miss Curtis 


“Eight years ago I felt that the teachers should 
remain out of the labor movement until the college 
professors were willing to join, but conditions have 
greatly changed since then. I am now favorably 
disposed to the movement. It would be no use for 
the School Committee merely to express sympathy 
with the movement; I believe we should endorse it. 
This would be the best way to establish relations of 
friendship between the School Committee and the 
new Federation of Teachers from the beginning.” 


BOSTON TEACHERS IN UNION 

Boston, May 5.—The long-discussed organization 
of the teachers of Boston public schools into a union 
with American Federation of Labor affiliation is 
now assured. Before the week is out the union will 
be fact. It will be known as the Boston Teachers 
Union. Ata meeting next Friday night a constitution 
~ will be presented for adoption and temporary officers 
elected. The whole plan has the indorsement of 
Superintendent Thompson, of the city schools, and 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VIII, No. 5 


the individual approval of all five members of the 
school board. Concerning the plan for a union, 
Chairman Sullivan, of the School Committee, says: 

“When I was first elected to the School Committee 
I received a delegation of about seventy-five teaches, 
consisting of from one to three representatives from 
many teachers’ organizations, each presenting gricv- 
ances. I resolved then that if all these grievances 
were not removed at the end of three years my work 
on the committee would not be successful. Teachers 
have always been too apologetic. Who has not heard 
many teachers say, ‘I am only a poor schoolma’am?’ 
President Wilson was almost defeated on the cry 
that he was only a schoolmaster. Teachers should 
organize to get a sense of self-respect and power. 
I am sure if I talked an hour I could not say any 
more in favor of the movement.”—From the New 
York Times of May 6, 1919. 


POOR OLD NEW YORK 


Boston is stealing ahead of New York again. The 
public school teachers are organizing a union, with 
the endorsement of the Superintendent of Schools 
and the individual approval of each member of the 
School Board. This is taking a mean advantage at 
a time when the New York Superintendent and 
Board of Education are waging a campaign against 
the local teachers’ union. But Boston has always 
respected the teacher, and retains a good part of 
the New England tradition about freedom in educa- 
tion. “Teachers,” says a member of the School 
Committee, “have always been too apologetic... .. 
President Wilson was almost defeated on the cry 
that he was only a schoolmaster. Teachers should 
organize to get a sense of self-respect and power.” 
Are Boston teachers, then, so much meeker than 
those in New York? Apparently not, for the same 
official also said: ““‘When I was first elected to the 
School Committee I received a delegation of about 
seventy-five teachers, containing from one to three 
representatives from many teachers’ organizations, 
each presenting grievances. I resolved then that if 
all these grievances were not removed at the end 
of three years, my work on the committee would be 
unsuccessful.” It looks as if the difference lies in 
the official attitude —Editorial in The Evening Post 
(New York) of May 6 1919. 


MASSACHUSETTS TEACHERS, TAKE 
NOTICE! 


Copies of this number are being sent on the re- 
quest of Miss Mabel M Anderson, Chairman of the 
Publicity Committee of the Massachusetts Teachers’ 
Federation, to the chairmen of the publicity com- 
mittees of the seventy-five teachers’ clubs in Mas- 
sachusetts and to certain other teachers in the state. 
Miss Anderson urges that these copies be circulated 
widely for the information they contain.—Editor, 
The American Teacher. 





May, 1919 


NIGHT LETTER 
1919 MAY 10 AM 2 10 

BOSTON, MASS 

EDITOR, THE AMERICAN TEACHER, 

70 FIFTH AVE, NEW YORK, N Y 
CROWDED MEETING ABOUT EIGHT 
HUNDRED TEACHERS HUNTINGTON 
HALL TONIGHT DEMONSTRATED 
WIDESPREAD INTEREST AROUSED 
BY FORMATION GREATER BOSTON 
FEDERATION OF TEACHERS FINE 
ADDRESS PRESIDENT STILLMAN FOL- 
LOWED BY DISCUSSION PROPOSED 
CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS BUT 
DEFINITE ADOPTION AND ELECTION 
OF OFFICERS POSTPONED UNTIL 
NEXT MEETING OF MEMBERS PROB- 
ABLY WEDNESDAY EVENING MAY 
TWENTY FIRST PILGRIM HALL BOS- 

TON GEORGE NASMYTH. 


From Local No.—?P ~ 


(NOT YET A LOCAL) 

Seattle, Washington 

ADELLA M PARKER 
HE Washington State legislature, at 
T the session just closed, passed two 
laws which the teachers worked for. 
One was the “equal pay” law prohibiting 
any school board from discriminating in pay 
on account of sex. The other was an act 
strengthening the retirement fund law in 
cities of the first class by providing that the 
district shall double the fund paid in by 
the teachers if that be necessary to meet the 

obligations. 

The vote on the equal pay law was 84 to 
3 in the House and 34 to 1 in the Senate. 
No measure so well advertised has been be- 
for the legislature this year, so the politicians 
said. Margaret M Gorman, of the Franklin 
High School, who had charge of the bill, had 
the state so well organized and the legisla- 
tors so well lined up, that neither she nor 
any other teachers left their schoolrooms a 


The American Teacher 


117 


single day to attend the sessions of the legis- 
lature. Representative E H Guie, of Seat- 
tle, steered the measure, and every Kings 
county member was loyal to the teachers. 

This measure did not equalize the high 
school salaries in Seattle, as is does not go 
into effect until June. That action was taken 
independently as a result of the school elec- 
tion. However, the Seattle equal pay cam- 
paign was responsible for the launching of 
this statewide measure. 

Mrs Francis M Haskell, of Tacoma, the 
only woman member of the legislature, made 
the retirement fund amendment her special 
charge. In fact, she sacrificed another 
measure to get this on the calendar when 
the “rules committee” told her that she must 
choose between them. When the bill came 
to a vote the Senate indulged in a practical 
joke at her expense. To her great consterna- 
tion a motion to table the bill carried unani- 
mously. But when it was immediately taken 
from the table and passed 31 to 3 she forgave 
the members the moment of disappoinment. 
The vote in the House had been 84 to 11. 

An amendment to the school code increas- 
ing the term of school directors from 3 to 5 
years and electing only one each year was 
killed. 





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 StTecker, Chicago, 
1618 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, IIl. 


National Organizer; First Vice-President, 
L V LAMpPson, Washington, D. C., 
1386 Otis Place, N. W. 





118 The American Teacher 


THOUSANDS OF TEACHERS JOIN OR- 
GANIZED LABOR 


Washington, Monday, April 28, 1919—A new 
charter every other day under the American Federa- 
tion of Teachers is the rate at which the organ- 
ization wave among public school teachers of the 
United States has been spreading during the past 
month, according to reports received at the Washing- 
ton office of the National Women’s Trade Union 
League. The American Federation of Teachers is 
affiliated both with the American Federation of 
Labor and the National Women’s Trade Union 
League, and has to date chartered_a total of 70 
local unions from coast to coast. This it is stated, 
represents a 100-per-cent organization in many local- 
ities. 

The aims of this vigorous young national trade 
union organization of educators are democratization 
of the schools and fair working conditions for teach- 
ers. Various school boards, it is pointed out, have 
lately exhibited their autocratic, illiberal attitude 
on public questions to the extent of actual persecu- 
tion of teachers and the attempted suppression of 
free discussion in the schools. Accompanying this 
form of oppression, as a public scandal of years’ 
standing, is the salary scale of teachers, which for 
the entire United States averages $600 per year, and 
there are thousands of teachers receiving only $300 
and $400 per year. 

“We insist,” says the national president of the 
American Federation of Teachers, Charles B Still- 
man, of Chicago, “that boards of education have no 
proprietary right in the schools. They should be 

roud to consider themselves, with the teachers, fel- 
ow servants of the public. Therefore, we demand a 
voice in the government of the schools: (1) thru 
representation on the school boards; thru teachers’ 
councils in every school, consisting of chosen rep- 
resentatives of the teachers who shall be consulted 
by the authorities on all questions affecting teachers 
or pupils; and, (3) the election of school boards by 
popular vote. And we demand, in behalf of the 
children of this land free discussion of public ques- 
tions in the class room. It is impossible to make 
good citizens without discussing the problems of cit- 
= 

“Backed as we are by organized labor everywhere, 
we propose to fight, in every instance, the arbitrary, 
autocratic procedure of school boards illustrated in 
the case of Miss Alice Wood in Washington and of 
Dr Benjamin Glassberg in New York. 

“For relief as to the salary schedule of teachers, 
we have already demonstrated that organization un- 
der the American Federation of Labor is the best 
way to work. In New York, for example, with the 
assistance of the New York State Federation of 
Labor, we have secured the passage of a bill in the 
legislature allowing considerable increases in the pay 
of teachers. The teachers unions in Washington, 
now two years old, have in that riod secured 
congressional action raising their minimum salary 
from $500 to $750, and after July 1, they will share 
in the $240 increase obtained for all government 
employees by the National Federation of Federal 
Employees with the teachers cooperating. Our local 
in Madison, Wisconsin, which was organized but five 
months ago, by taking active part in the local prim- 
aries and election, secured a non-partisan board of 
education and so impressed itself upon the com- 
munity that the retiring board granted a $150 salary 
increase to the teachers before its term of office 
expired. Chicago, Vallejo, Cal, and other cities fur- 


Vol. VIII, No. 5 


nish similar examples of the teachers’ achievements 
by means of their affiliation with the organized 
oape movement thru the American Federation of 
sabor.” 

National Organizer, L V Lampson, formerly of 
the Central High School of Washington, D C, reports 
new teachers’ locals established in Galveston, San 
Antonio, Austin, and Denison, Texas, within the past 
week. Recently teachers in Boston, including Har- 
vard professors, have organized into the Greate: 
Boston Federation of Teachers, and there is also a 
local in the faculty of the University of Illinois. 

Other cities or counties in which charters have 
been issued are: New York City, Buffalo, and Olean 
N Y; Philadelphia, Shenandoah, Mahonoy City. and 
Shamokin, Pa; — Prince George, and Mont 
gomery Counties, Md; ashington, D C; Norfolk 
Portsmouth, and Lynchburg, Va; New Orleans, La; 
Lauderdale County, Miss; Memphis, Tenn; Gary, 
Valpariso, Linton and Jasonville, Ind; Lancaster. 
and Athens County, Ohio; Chicago, Peoria, Granit« 
City, Johnston City, Westville, Royalton, and Mur 
physboro, Ill; Madison, Wis; St Paul and Minnea 
polis, Minn; Garvin County, Ardmore County, an: 
Coalgate, Okla; San Francisco, Sacramento, Vallejo, 
and Visalia Cal; and the Canal Zone. 

The national officers are: President, Charles } 
Stillman, of Chicago, Ill; Vice-Presidents, Mabel |. 
Roes, of Brooklyn, N Y; Anita Bailey, Gary, Ind; 
L V Lampson, Washington, D C; Judith G Riddick, 
Norfolk, Va; S E Compton, Washington, D C; Henr) 
R Linville, of New York City; Clara K Stuz, Wash 
ington, D C; Carrie L Colburn Olean, N Y; and 
Isabel Williams, St Paul, Minn; Secretary-Treasurer, 
F G Stecker, of Chicago, Ill; National Organizer. 
L V Lampson, of Washington, D C; and Editor of 
the official organ, THE AMERICAN TEACHER,. Henry 
R Linville, of New York, N Y.—Press Service 0/ 
the National Women’s Trade Union League. 


TRADE UNION COLLEGE 


The Boston central labor union has started a 
college where workers may secure an education o1 
any subject they desire. Some of the most notable 
and liberal-minded educators in the east have become 
interested in the project and the Boston Globe says: 

“Academic freedom will not worry instructors; 
they will have nothing to fear from not pleasing 
the donors of the college—because it has no en- 
dowment.” 

The policy of this college will not be shaped “from 
above,” in secret meetings of the faculty—it will b« 
shaped by a committee on which members of th: 
unions sit with the instructors. The final decisio: 
in any matter may be referred to the central labo: 
union as a whole.—From A F of L Weekly News 
letter of April 12 1919. 








UNION COLLEGE OPENS 

The college started by the central labor unio) 
opened its doors with more than 150 enrolled stu 
dents. The purpose of the college is to provid 
higher education for the workers.. The students in 
clude both sexes and all ages. In one instance 
father and daughter sat together. 

Among the first lessons are: “How to Write Eng- 


lish,” “Shop Committees and Collective Bargaining,” 


“Master Pieces of Literature,” and “The Distribu 
tion of Wealth.”.—From The A F of L Newslette: 
of April 19, 1919. 





—— a a a ee a 


May, 1919 


Illinois University Teachers Union 


Special to The Christian Science Monitor from its Western 
News Office. 


URBANA, Illinois—The University of Illinois is 
he first large university of the country at which 
action has been taken in the way of organizing a 
eachers’ union. This was formed here recently 
inder the name of the Associated Teachers of the 
University of Illinois. The Associated Teachers is 
. branch of the American Federation of Teachers, 
nd this latter organization is affiliated with the 
\merican Federation of Labor. A smaller eastern 
nstitution. is regarded here as being first in the 
ield of the higher education to take similar action. 

A C Cole, assistant professor of history at the 
University of Illinois, was placed at the head of the 
newly formed Associated Teachers as temporary 
president. Speaking of its reason for being, he said 
to a representative of The Christian Science Moni- 
tore 

“The purpose of the Associated Teachers of the 
University of Illinois is to further the cause of 
demoeracy in education. Conditions in the Univer- 
sity of Illinois reflect the general situation in the 
academic world. Unlike the followers of most pro- 
fessions, instructors generally are without a demo- 
cratic voice in determining the conditions under 
which they perform their services to the public. 
This has caused a widespread academic unrest. The 
associated teachers hope to influence the adoption 
of a democratic arrangement for the determination 
of their tenure of office and of their working con- 
ditions. They would look with favor upon an ar- 
rangement by which the administration of higher 
learning would be truly democratized. For this 
reason they might raise such issues as that of the 
proposed constitution of the. University of Illinois, 
which was drafted a half-dozen years ago and which 
has since been sidetracked or pigeonholed. 

“There is also dissatisfaction with the financial 
returns that come to the university teacher. He 
sees vast sums of money put into brick and plaster 
and yet finds himself impotent to maintain the 
standards which the profession requires. Salaries 
of teachers often do not permit them to give full 
attention to their academic duties; they sometimes 
have to stay at home to do work which they can- 
not afford to hire done. Some one has said that 
the university instructor is rapidly losing his finan- 
cial self-respect. Furthermore, there is little in- 
centive to attract able men to the profession. 

“Conditions at the University of Illinois are no 
more intolerable than at other universities; it is 
natural, however, that a state which leads in labor 
organization should produce the first teachers’ union 
to be organized at a state university.”—From Chris- 
tian Science Monitor, of March 28, 1919. 


CoLuMBus, OHIO, MARCH 1.—The increasing num- 
ber of Ohio school teachers who are resigning be- 
cause of low wages is alarming some state law mak- 
ers who now propose to make it impossible for the 
teachers to resign without giving two months’ notice. 
If a teacher quits without giving two months’ notice 
boards of education are enjoined to report such “un- 
authorized” resignations to the board of examiners, 
who in turn must send out a monthly blacklist to 
county superintendents—From A. F. of L, Weekly 
News Letter. 


The American Teacher 


An Open Letter 


To the U S Commissioner of Education: 

Sir: I have come in contact through various 
sources with your wail concerning a shortage of 
teachers the eountry over. The situation, you say, 
was brought about by the entrance of teachers from 
colleges, universities and small public schools into 
all kinds of war work. I suppose you would ascribe 
the reasons for the shift to economic and patriotic 
considerations. So far as your survey goes that 
is probably correct. But there is still a considerable 
group of teachers of the highest ability now out 
of the profession for a very different reason—and 
their number is daily increasing. I refer to the 
group who have left or are leaving the profession 
because of the bigoted, partisan persecution they 
are receiving at the hands of self-appointed keepers 
of the public conscience—if indeed they are not 
actually evicted by these impostors. he school 
history of New York City has offered conspicuous 
examples of this deplorable condition in the last 
two years, and instances of like character are re- 
vealed thruout the union. 

The writer was himself a teacher before the war, 
and was then conscripted to fight in arms for the 
principles of human freedom. Now as we return 
from the battlefield where we thought oppression 
and injustice had been done to death, we find every- 
where we turn that freedom and justice have fled 
from our own beloved country, and everywhere 
little tsars and kaisers are imposing their arbitrary 
and unenlightened will upon the people. 

You say you have plans and schemes for draw- 
ing teachers into the profession. That is good; 
but let me say to you, sir, that if these schemes 
and plans do not include the abolition of the in- 
quisition by your underlings your planning and 
scheming will be largely in vain. No doubt that 
for a price you will always be able to hire a cer- 
tain number of men and women who will pass on 
to the children of the nation certain readymade 
mouthings—if you are willing to let that pass as 
the intellectual and moral foundation of future 
America. But do you think that men and women 
of self-respect and intelligence will prostitute their 
souls and bring disaster upon their country for 
thirty pieces of silver? I assure you they will not 
—and with defiant emphasis! If the men we have 
delegated to administer our public policies insist 
on betraying their trust recent history has taught 
us the one effective process of relieving them from 
further responsibility. 

Butte, Montana. W. H. OLDENBURG. 

—From The New Republic, of March 15 1919 


JUSTICE BEGINNING TO WORK IN 
THE WEST 


Dr. Louis Levine, professor of economics at Mon- 
tana State University at Missoula, has been re- 
instated by the State Board of Education, in session 
at Helena, after having been suspended from the 
faculty of the university for two months. Dr 
Levine’s suspension followed the publication of a 
monograph on the taxation of mines in Montana 
said to have been inimical to the corporate mining 
interests of the State, especially the Anaconda Cop- 
per Mining Company. His suspension was ordered 
by E. C. Elliott, chancellor of the university —From 
The Public of April 26, 1919. 





The American Teacher Vol. VIII, No. 5 


Hilt 


Superintendent Chadsey 
of Chicago 


Believes In— 


“An elected school board; 
“A small school board; 


“Merger of business and educational departments of the 
schools under one superintendent; Pee 


“Definition of the powers, authority and limitations of the 
superintendent and of the board of education; 


“Publicity of school finance; 

“Right of teachers to organize; 

“Consultation with teachers in framing courses of study; 
“Right of teachers to agitate for higher salaries; 
“Adequate salaries for teachers; 

“Sufficient pensions for retired teachers; 

“Right of teachers to hearing before dismissal ; 


“Opportunity for inefficient teachers to improve work before 
dismissal; 


“Access for teachers to their efficiency marks.” 


Briefly, Chadsey believes in the square deal for teachers and 
in democracy in the public schools. 


Looks as tho-Chicago is lucky in getting Dr. Chadsey, even 
at $18,000 a year. 


INN AH NR 


HN 


il