Federation 
of Teachers 











Our Opportunity 


i 
es 
> 


| 
B 


The Teacher’s Personality 


gton 


Bur of Education 


Waebin 
} Oe 


=| 
The Eastern Conference 


8 On 


- From the Locals 


Democracy in Education Education for Democracy 





The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 4. 





The Employer 


HOMAS L CHAD.- 
BOURNE, who tooka 
prominent part in the activi- 

ties of the recent Industrial Confer- 
ence at Washington as a representa- 
tive of the public (being chairman 
of the General Committee of Fif- 
teen) rose at a dinner of the War 
Trade Board Club at.the Waldorf 
last night and defended the Ameri- 
can _ working- 


things are as they are. Talk about 
educating your workingman. . You 
had better educate the employer 
first. He is the man supposed to 
have the more agile brain in the 
beginning. 

“During all the time I sat in the 
labor conference at Washington, I 
never heard one single constructive 
proposition offered by the employ- 

ers’ group. It 





man, declaring 
that the Ameri- 
can employer is 
responsible that 
the state of af- 
fairs is as it is. 

Mr. Chad- 
bourne, who 
was acting 
as toastmaster, 
said: 

“T was sit- 
ting in a New 
York club one 
day _ recently, 
when a promi- 
nent man came 
in and said to 
me: ‘Well, I’ve 
. done a good 





EDITORIALS 


ENCE 





CONTENTS 


Our OpporTuNITY 
THE TEACHER’S PERSONALITY 
REPORT OF ORGANIZATION Work 


PROCEEDINGS OF EAsTERN CONFER- 


From THE LOcALs 


Are We Our Broruers’ Keepers? 


was just a Case 
of ‘No, No, 
No,’ all the 
time. I heard 
labor make 
compromise af- 
ter compromise 
and all they got 
from the other 
group were 
Noes. 

“You and I 
—our class—are 
certainly re- 
sponsible, gen- 
tlemen, for that 
state of affairs. 
We are respon- 
sible for the 
position of the 














day’s work.’ I 
asked him what it was. ‘I’ve just 
reduced the wages of my employes 
25 per cent,’ he replied. ‘Did they 
stand for it?’ I asked. ‘Two-thirds 
of them did,’ he replied, ‘but the 
other third was unionized and they 
wouldn’t.’ ” 

“This type of employer,” Mr. 
Chadbourne almost shouted, thump- 
ing the table vigorously as he spoke, 
“is responsible for the fact that 


pendulum be- 

fore it began to swing back!” 

—Part of Paid Advertisement under the Auspices of 

..-The Church League for Industrial Democracy, in 
The Baltimore News of December 6, 1919. 





ACT OF CONGRESS, ro12 


“The right of Government employees to organize 
and affiliate with labor organizations was specifically 
acknowledged, so far as Federal employees are con- 
cerned, by an Act of Congress of 1912”—From Re- 
port of the U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1919, 
page 109. 


OO, 














The American Teacher 


Entered as second-class matter, Feb 21, 1912, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Act of March 3, 1879. 
Published at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York, monthly, except July and August. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of 
postage provided for in Section 1193, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 27, 1919. 





Volume LX, No. 4. 


APRIL, 1920 


One Dollar a Year 








IN THE OPEN 


When the history of the union movement among 
teachers is written, many of the early events will 
be very difficult to dig out. There is far too much 
of shyness, and shall we say. not a little of timidity, 
in hesitating to make known to interested persons 
and agencies active in the movement exactly what 
is happening in the territories of most of the locals. 
The officers of the locals may not realize that every- 
thing that happens has some importance, and often 
a great deal of importance, as a feature of an im- 
portant social movement. 

We need an increased readiness to tell those 
things which we often keep quiet about “for fear 
the enemy is nigh.” Anyway, it is a social move- 
ment we are furthering, and we have no ultimate 
right to keep things secret, as if they were personal 
experiences. 

A little more talk, please! 


EDUCATION IN RUSSIA 


Thru the veil that still hangs between us and the 
Soviet Republic we are permitted from time to 
time to see something of what we may be inclined 
to believe is true—inclined because the news in the 
large is humanly good. We are informed by a 
member of an official commission that has visited 
Russia within the past year that the report on Rus- 
sian education written by Mr Lincoln Eyre’a staff 
correspondent of the New York World, an Inde- 
pendent-Democratic newspaper, is one of a series 
of the truest information that has come out of that 
country since the Revolution. We are glad to re- 
print some of the story, and if we can obtain more 
information, direct from the sources, we shall be 
glad to tell that. 

American teachers realize, of course, that certain 
special interests do not want them to believe any- 
thing favorable to Russia. The reason for this 
peculiar state of mind we hope will be evident as 
we learn more about Russia. 


OUR PROFESSIONAL DIGNITY AGAIN 

The new president of the University of Minne- 
sota, Dr. Lotus D Coffman, delivered an address 
on ““Teachers’ Associations” at the Cleveland meet- 
ing of the National Education Association. The 
address was in reality an attack on teachers’ unions, 
and not exactly what the title would imply. How- 
ever, we have learned to expect these vagaries of 
professional method, and to look for the substance 
rather than for the method or the spirit. 

The burden of the address, which is being copied 
widely in educational journals thruout the country, 
is familiar by frequent repetition. It is undignified 
and unprofessional for teachers to join unions. It 
is unfair to the public for teachers to take sides with 
a special portion of the community. It is proper 
for teachers to join with other teachers in a large 
organization, which we take it means the N E A 

Dr. Coffman makes much of the point that teach- 
ers are not laborers. And he maintains that teachers 
are members of a profession. We find ourselves 
entangled in a confusion of terms owing to the fact 
that teachers have few of the attributes of a pro- 
fessional class, since they do not control the condi- 
tions under which they work. Many laborers do 
control their working conditions, and hence are pro- 
fessional ! 


THE LUSK EDUCATIONAL BILLS 


It is not so far from New York to California by 
any method of idea-transfer that Lusk of Albany 
should not be informed accurately as to what the 
education-controllers of California want. Neither 
does the mind of man have to journey far to see 
that both sinister manifestations of anti-social pur- 
pose are directed toward the same end,—to stop the 
schools from teaching or from getting ready to teach 
the truth. True, the schools have not distinguished 
themselves in that direction in former years, but the 
world has steeped itself in misunderstanding for a 








76 The American Teacher 


very long time, and it is growing tired. Besides, 
the institution of education is coming to be consid- 
ered, weak and inefficient tho it is, as the potential 
agency for directing progress. 

Senator Lusk, with the aid of reactionary interests 
in the New York State Legislature, and with the 
approval of a limited section of reactionism in edu- 
cation, was successful in having passed two bills 
that go far toward disqualifying education for any 
distinguished influence in social progress in the 
future. One of the bills requires every school or 
college, excepting schools of religious denominations, 
in the State of New York not already an accepted 
part of the public school system of the state, or not 
a part of the so-called university of the State of 
New York, to make a full and satisfactory and 
“verified statement showing the purposes for which 
the school is maintained, and the nature and extent 
and purpose of the instruction to be given.” If the 
statement is satisfactory, the regents of the university 
of the State of New York will issue a license. The 
license may be withdrawn, and the school closed 
“when it shall appear to the regents that the school, 
institute or class is being conducted in such a man- 
ner as to be detrimental to the public interests.” 
The Board of Regents is elected by the Legislature. 
There is no telling what a partisan-selected board 
might regard as “detrimental to the public inter- 
ests.” So think large bodies of citizens represent- 
ing every shade of religious belief, altho the bills do 
not affect denominational schools, and so think 
nearly every public spirited organization in the State 
of New York, conservative as well as radical. The 
Governor will probably veto this bill. 

The other bill requires every public school teacher 
in the State of New York to be examined to show 
that he “is a person of good moral character, and 
that he has shown satisfactorily that he will support 
the constitutions of this state and of the United 
States, and that he is loyal to the institutions and 
laws thereof.” It has been pointed out by the New 
York Tribune (Republican) that Abraham Lin- 
coln could not have held a license as teacher in the 
State of New York under this law, because he was 
guilty of actually aiding in the overthrow of an 
“institution,” that of slavery. 

The average teacher might be able to pass this 
test without embrassment, provided he thought it 


Volume 1X, No. 4 


just that he should be brought up short and made 
to take any test. But he could not rest eas) for 
the remainder of his career, because the law pro- 
vides that, “The certificate authorizing a person to 
teach may be revoked by the commissioner of educa- 
tion on the ground that such person is not of good 
moral character, or for any act or utterance show- 
ing that he will not support the constitutions of 
this state and of the United States, or that he is 
not loyal to the institutions and laws thereof.” ‘Ihe 
point here is that anyone may convince the commis- 
sioner that a particular teacher is not something or 
other he ought to be. The teacher himself is 
guaranteed no protection whatever, for neither trial 
nor hearing is provided for. Reactionary forces in 
education in the City of New York are credited 
with the introduction of this “joker.” The presi- 
dent of the New York Board of Education said at 
a public hearing before the Lusk Committee that 
in his opinion it should be possible to dismiss a 
teacher “whenever the educational authorities are 
satisfied that he is undesirable, and without being 
limited by the laws of evidence.” And again, 
he said, ““The Board of Education should have the 
same right to dismiss a teacher that a private em- 
ployer has to dismiss an employe.” 

Only two organizations of teachers in the State 
of New York took the trouble to fight this in- 
famous bill, Local 5 and Local 71 of the American 
Federation of Teachers. Public condemnation is 
strong against this bill also, and it is expected the 
Governor will veto it. 








The American Teacher | 





Democracy in Education Education for Democracy 
Published monthly, except July and August, by 
THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 
at 7c Fifth Avenue, New York aed 

Henry R Liyvite, Editor 





cot the time of expiration, a bill will be found in ‘the 
are requested to give prompt notice 
of chenges in address. 


Remittances should be made in postal money-order, 
express order, draft, stamps or check (New York 
exchange). 

SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, ONE DOLLAR FOR THE 
YEAR— FORHIGN, $1.10 











Our Opportunity 


Won T McCoy 
President, The Chicago Federation of Men Teachers 


Teachers are too conservative in all matters which 
concern their financial interests. They are slow 
to present their own cause to the public. This 
is due not only to a certain lack of initiative inher- 
ent in the teachers’ relation to public matters, but 
also to the long repression to which they have been 
subjected by most local school authorities. They 
look to these authorities to protect them financially, 
and thru such action to subserve educational inter- 
ests. 

It must be acknowledged that school boards have 
not properly fulfilled this function. For whatever 
reasons this is true, it has become increasingly evi- 
dent that the teachers themselves must act as guar- 
dians and expositors of the public interest in the 
schools. In some cities where bad conditions have 
forced them to organize and work for the better- 
ment of the schools, groups have developed which 
are highly competent to this task. In smaller towns 
and in rural schools such groups have not developed. 

The idea which is being forced upon teachers is 
that from some central point this great movement 
should be co-ordinated by a directing group which 
might collate the experience of all the recent drives, 
study and formulate methods, gather and shape pro- 
paganda, prepare publicity matter, and give counsel 
as to schedules. 

The existing and growing deterioration in Public 
Education due to the loss of trained teachers, the 
decline in attendance at teachers’ training schools, 
the decline in the standards of quality of incoming 
teachers, and to the increase in temporary certifi- 
cates, must be corrected for the sake of the growing 
generation. 

As the basic cause of these conditions we all recog- 
nize the deficiency of funds for education. This is 
nation-wide. It must be remedied within a- very 
short time if the educational system of the country 
is to be saved. The loss of trained teachers must 
be stopped, and the work of teaching rendered at- 
tractive to persons of capacity. Teachers cannot be 
trained in a short time. It will take years to man 
the schools even as they were before 1914. We can- 
not afford to wait for the public to become suffi- 
ciently alarmed to act. It is our duty to tell the 


77 


public what is happening and will happen to its 
schools. 

We must show to the nation the peril of inef- 
fective schools. We must arouse the public to the 
enormous inequalities of educational opportunity be- 
tween the states and within each state. We must 
make them understand that the present method of 
sporadic drives for better conditions cannot remove 
this desparity. 

There is great danger that in the desperation of 
their financial condition, teachers will lay emphasis 
on the wrong phase of the school situation. To suc- 
ceed in saving the schools the attention of the public 
must be directed not to the needs of the teachers, 
but to the decline of public education. When the 
people become convinced of the fact, their attention 
will naturally be directed to the cause; but a plea 
for the teachers’ needs is a wrong start. 

* In some of our larger cities during the current 
school year teachers’ campaigns have been conduc- 
ted which have resulted in better pay for teachers. 

The experience of these teachers is as valuable 
for their errors of method and procedure as for 
what they have done wisely and effectively. Would 
it not be worth while to collate and study plans and 
achievements of the various campaigns with a view 
to formulating correct and effective procedure and 
to extending the benefits of such procedure to other 
teachers who contemplate similar action? 

There is a value easily appreciable in having the 
movement for school betterment general and con- 
temporaneous thruout the United States. The in- 
fluence of a general movement becomes almost irre- 
sistible. A sort of rivalry for school improvement 
would come into play. The national magazines, 
which have already to a large extent championed the 
cause of the schools, would help in molding public 
opinion in general. 

The teachers in rural schools and in small towns 
are usually unorganized. This isolation of the indi- 
vidual renders teachers weak, fearful and over- 
modest in their efforts for obtaining more adequate 
salaries. The effects of this isolation might be 
removed largely by national organization for a com- 


mon purpose. 
t 





78 The American Teacher 


There exist in all cities civic, labor, social or busi- 
ness organizations which should readily unite their 
efforts with these of the teachers if the vital impor- 
tance of the school issue can be impressed upon them. 
A central organization could best formulate the 
larger argument to be directed to them. 

The time is most propitious because of the poli- 
tical situation. Enough has been done already to 
make it clear to men and women of intelligence that 
the condition of the schools is a national peril and 
shame. By a central organization and by local pres- 
sure, it should be feasible to induce the great poli- 
tical parties to make the cause of public education a 
plank in their platforms in the national campaign 
just before us. 

The National Education Association has done 
more in the past year for the cause of the schools, 
and of the class room teacher, than ever before in 
its existence. The Association has gathered an enor- 
mous mass of school data and has furnished this ma- 
terial freely to any who wanted it. It has been the 
prime mover in the great volume of better schools 
propaganda that has been appearing in magazines of 
national circulation. But the leaders of the N E A 
have not been able to seize the opportunity to in- 
crease the membership and the influence of the Asso- 
ciation by developing the ideas here presented into a 
program of action. Is the American Federation of 
Teachers in a position to take advantage of the keen 
interest in this matter? It has been objected that 
the expense of such an undertaking is prohibitive ; 
further, that the regular work of organization de- 
mands the full time and energy of the present field- 
workers. 

These objections are important and must be con- 
sidered, but they should be weighed against the 
probability that the program proposed would in all 
likelihood greatly reduce the expense and difficulty 
of organizing. 

It would furnish the strongest argument for new 
groups to affiliate. It might well result in tripling 
our membership within a year. One can hardly 
conceive of a teaching group accepting the immense 
obligation of Federation assistance in this crisis and 
refusing to join the Federation. 

In deciding on the whole matter it is well to 
remember that this is the propitious hour for secur- 
ing better conditions. The economic situation can 


Volume IX, No. 4, 


never be better for our claims than now when the 
proof is plain that salaries, miserable before the war 
and before the vast increase in living costs are now 
from 70% to 100% lower in actual value, when 
teachers,are leaving their work by tens and hundreds 
of thousands, when normal school attendance js 
dropping from 25% to 60%, when national publica- 
tions are rallying to save the schools, and the citi- 
zens of every community are easily convinced that 
the schools are-in great danger. To join effectively 
in the national movement, local organization includ- 
ing practically all teachers is necessary. 

Without the least desire to be too urgent with 
the leaders of our Fedefation, I must, as a loyal 
member, take this opportunity to say to them that 
this work will be done either by the N E A or by 
some group independently unless they take prompt 
action to occupy this exceedingly strategic field for 
the Federation... I feel that this question is so im- 
portant and the time element so vital that an im- 
mediate session of the Executive Council should be 
called to consider it. 


MISS JOSEPHINE COLBY, ASSOCIATE FIELD 
SECRETARY, WRITES FROM ARIZONA 


| have before me a letter from the Palo Alto, 
Calif., Chamber of Commerce, it conveys a definite 
recognition of the local teachers’ union. 1! have 
permission to quote the following from this letter: 
“We not only desire your hearty support of the com- 
munity propositions above, but also your definite co- 
operation as members of the enlarged organization. 
We hope (the organization) will be the means of 
establishing a better understanding between all ele- 
ments of our population, farmers, merchants, me- 
chanics, builders, teachers, faculty men, commuters, 
women.” The letter closes with an invitation to the 
teachers union to take out at least a plural member. 
ship in the local chamber of commerce and co-operate 
as an organization with them in the aims of com- 
munity betterment. 

This, Local 153 has done. 


WE WIN 


On April 22, 1920, an intercollegiate debate was 
held at Tucson, Ariz., between the University of Ari- 
zona and the University of Southern California on 
the question, RESOLVED, THAT THE TEACHERS 
SHOULD JOIN THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF 
LABOR. 

Our unofficial protagonists, Mr Hess Seaman and 
Mr Fred W Fickett, Jr, of the University of Arizona 
won the debate by the unanimous decision of the 


Judges. 





The Teacher’s Personality” 


Henry Louis SmirH 
President, Washington and Lee University 


As a background to our consideration of the 
Teacher’s Personality, I wish to make a few prelim- 
inary statements. 

A seething ferment of change and reconstruction 
is evidently ushering in a new era. Not only in 
our political customs and institutions, but our homes 
and schools and educational aims and methods are 
to be profoundly modified by this onrushing tide of 
change. 

It ig our task to answer the question, ‘What 
place will education occupy in the new social order ?” 
What great ideas, even now shaping themselves in 
the crucible of human thought, will determine the 
attitude and duties of American manhood and 
womanhood toward American boyhood and girl- 
hood? To anticipate these ideas is to prepare our- 
selves for leadership, to recognize them is to clarify 
our vision of duty, to put them into swift execution 
is to hasten the coming of a wiser and better day. 

When our nation shall have outgrown this crude 
child-era of democratic experimentalism, four great 
truths will, in my judgment, be universally accepted 
and acted upon. 

1. That the young people of a nation are at once 
its greatest asset, its chief undeveloped source of 
power, its most valuable field for unlimited invest- 
ment. 

We invest millions in American stocks and bonds 
for a beggarly 5% or 6%, which invested in Amer- 
ican boys and girls would enrich us beyond imagin- 
ation. 

Our most stupendous blunder in the past has been 
to undervalue them. Our greatest present crime is 
to neglect them. Our most misplaced economy is 
inadequate provision for their health and happiness 
and training. 

2. That the right rearing and training of young 
Americans is the most complex problem, the might- 
iest task, and the most inspiring opportunity of our 
generation. Let but one single generation be rightly 
trained from babyhood in body, mind, and immortal 
spirit, and all of the knotty problems of our social, 

*Note: This address recently delivered before Washing- 


ton teachers, obtained for publication the. Grade 
Teachers Union, Local 16. ” 
79 


industrial, and political life would be in rapid proc- 
ess of solution. Let the training of but one genera- 
tion be wholly neglected and our civilization, losing 
its art, science, literature, education and religion, 
would be far on the road to primeval savagery. 

The right training of the young is the spiritual 
reproduction of the race—the highest form of the 
activity of immortal man, the supreme task of a 
democracy, the fruit and measure of its wisdom and 
culture. 

3. That the training of the intellect alone is fa- 
tally inadequate. The recent history of the German 
Empire, its marvelous rise to power, its present 
moral and economic bankruptcy, has taught the 
world this stupendous lesson, that science and litera- 
ture and art alone can neither preserve nor advance 
human civilization. The heart must be trained with 
the head in the Christian principles of love, sym- 
pathy, unselfishness, and service. 

4. And for the comfort and inspiration of this 
great gathering, let me add that the fourth charac- 
teristic of the new era will be a frank recognition 
of the greatness of your task and the glory of your 
service. 

When our hero worship shall have become sane 
and wise, when the Golden Rule shall have become 
at least to some extent the law of American life, 
and unselfish service the test and measure of Amer- 
ican greatness, then will it be universally recognized 
that the true leaders and makers of the nation are 
not the politicians, nor the manufacturers, nor the 
millionaires, but those who train and mold and in- 
spire the young. 

And now to our specific subject, The Teacher's 
Personality. 

Modern civilization is the resultant of great dom- 
inant ideas constituting in each era the Spirit of the 
Age. The Master-idea of the Middle Age was 
Power; its hero was the conqueror. The Master- 
idea of the 17th and 18th centuries was Liberty and 
the Rights of Man; its hero was the patriot, the 
rebel, the martyr. The Master-idea of the 19th 
century was Knowledge and Research; its hero was 
the Scholar, the Scientist, the Inventor. 





The American Teacher 


The Master-idea of the 20th century, sweeping 
human civilization with irresistible force in a new 
direction, is already becoming clear. It is Co-oper- 
ation, shifting the emphasis from Power to Motive, 
from Knowledge to its Application, from Machinery 
to Men, from Tyranny to Democracy, from the 
Organization to its human constituent Units, from 
Force to Feeling, from Edict to Argument, from 
abstract Logic to concrete Human Nature. 

This new spirit is affecting the multiplied activi- 
ties of today like an all-pervading atmosphere. The 
day of the dictator, the slave-driver, the cold- 
blooded routine organizer, of non-human economic 
formulz, of countless and helpless human cogs in a 
well-oiled and resistless machine, of autocracy in 
business, government, commerce, manufacturing, and 
teaching, has passed away, probably never to return. 

The leadership of today is becoming steadily more 
human, less intellectual and mechanical, than it was 
even five years ago. 

Every increase in the importance of the human 
factor adds to the relative importance of Personality 
as an essential element of successful leadership. To 
the ability and energy that distinguished the business 
giants of a generation or two ago must now be added 
a winning Personality, if the organization is to run 
smoothly and successfully. In this third element lies 
the secret of the new business leadership of men like 
Schwab, Patterson, Herbert Hoover, and the young- 
er Rockefeller. 

Since the raw material with which the teacher 
deals is human beings at the age most responsive to 
sympathy and most rebellious of control, the per- 
sonality of the teacher has always been considered 
an important element in his success, but few of us 
realize that with the swift changes now taking place, 
it has actually become the leading factor in a teach- 
er’s success, promotion, and happiness. 

The day of the merely mechanical school teacher 
is about over. The cold-hearted routine drill-master 
will never satisfy the demands of a modern school- 
room. 

A magnetic, compelling, inspiring Personality, 
with its mtuitive, irresistible leadership, is today the 
crown-jewel of our profession. 

Like many other gifts and graces, it is the natural 
inheritance of a favored few. Yet it is within the 
reach of a far greater number as an acquired faculty, 


Volume IX, No. 4. 


and may be completely lost by carelessness and |ack 
of conscious effort. 

To develop and retain such a Personality should, 
therefore, be the constant and persistent effort of 
every teacher. That such efforts may be definite and 
effective, I wish to mention four essential character- 
istics of such a Personality. They are four steps 
upward to the sunlit heights of the teaching profes- 
sion. To attain them is to be born again. 

1. The first is 4 Warm Responsive Heart, sym- 
pathetic, appreciative, quickly interested in other 
people. A narrow mind in the schoolroom is a 
dire misfortune, but a narrow heart is a tragedy. 

Love is the sweetest thing in the world, the most 
contagious thing in the world, the mightiest thing in 
the world, and nowhere sweeter, more contagious, 
or more all-powerful than among these young pil- 
grims on the highway of life. They are not dis- 
embodied intellects to be trained to think, but living, 
feeling, willing human beings to be trained to live. 
Our human civilization, to which you are guid- 
ing them, reaches its worthiest culmination, not in 
brute force nor in barren reason, but in love and 
sympathy and service. Shun cold-heartedness, cyn- 
icism, petulance, sarcasm, contempt, anger, hostility, 
therefore, as you would a plague. Love and appre- 
ciation, sympathy and service—these oil the com- 
plex bearings of life’s machinery, lift the clouds that 
overhang every pathway, and waken in earthly 
schoolrooms and playgrounds the harmonies of 
heaven itself. Lay aside your worries, forget your 
own pains, suppress your resentments, love your 
work, love your schoolroom, love your colleagucs, 
love your pupils, especially the erring and unlovely 
and lonely, and you will find for yourself the secret 
of a teacher’s happiness. 

2. The second element in a winning personality 
is Forcefulness, the power to control yourself and 
others. Few things are more quickly susceptible of 
conscious cultivation than will-power. No one is so 
miserable, none so inefficient, as the fretful, com- 
plaining teacher, who is too weak-willed to control 
herself or her pupils. 

The attainment of self-mastery is the first step 
toward the control and leadership of others. It 
should be striven for with zealous and persistent 
determination. To lose control of one’s self, one's 
temper, prejudices, passions, feelings, fears, likes, 





April, 1920 


and dislikes, is pitiable weakness, and every leader 
of the young must be strong. Let every teacher, 
thereforey practice daily the art of independence, 
self-reliance, the conquest of natural inclination, the 
savage pleasure of forcing one’s way against obsta- 
cles within and without. If all men and women are 
divided into those who lead and those who lean, be 
a leader. If on the great four-track highway of life, 
every worker must be a locomotive or a box-car, put 
yourself in the locomotive class, with a steam power 
sufficient not only to move yourself, but to pull a 
long line of cars behind you. 

Shun indecision, fear, irresolution, hesitation, 
fickleness, cowardice, procrastination, self-indulgence, 
and all the other out-drippings of weakness and in- 
ability. 

In these stormy times, every tree of life should 
have a taproot, every house of life a stone founda- 
tion, every individual a backbone, every teacher the 
divine gift of leadership. A loving heart and an 
iron will, each supplementing and re-enforcing the 
ther, make an irresistible combination. Teachers 
who have become possessors of both have no trouble 
with “discipline” or student hostility, or leaden- 
minded idleness. They lead and mold and inspire 
by a sort of divine right. 

3. The third element of a winning personality 
is Vision, that uplifting, far-seeing, vivid Imagina- 
tion, which habitually sees thru and beyond the 
mere outer husk and surface-appearance and discerns 
the inner and greater meaning of things. It is the 
divine gift of the prophet, the seer, the poet, the 
interpreter, of all the real teachers of the race. It is 
the unfailing and beneficent source of the contagious 
and exalted inspiration that differentiates the real 
leaders and teachers of immortal men and fact-im- 
parters of the average schoolroom. It irradiates the 
homely round of school duties, the monotonous 
drudgery of recitations and examination papers, with 
a glow from the skies, lights an altar fire on the 
teacher’s desk, and makes the crowded schoolroom a 
very sanctuary. 

Where the blind drill-master sees childish wilful- 
ness and obstinacy, the real teacher gifted with the 
faculty of Vision recognizes, with a feeling akin to 
awe, the awakening human will, dimly realizing its 
divine prerogative, and with erratic movements try- 
ing out its eagle pinions. These swarming, noisy, 


The American Teacher 81 


troublesome children are not mere names on the 
school roll or cogs in the school machinery. They 
are the hope and light and joy of a hundred homes, 
the most precious raw material ever entrusted 
to human skill, the future leaders and molders of 
our great Republic. 

To this divine insight the pathos of the ages may 
dignify and consecrate a cabin of undressed logs ; the 
splendor of the truest heroism may crown a bare- 
foot boy, and the worn hands and self-sacrifice be- 
side which the poems of medieval chivalry are dull 
and shallow. History without Vision is a dull series 
of dates and names and dead facts. With it, it 
becomes the marvelous and thrilling panorama of a 
whole race struggling upwards toward the light. It 
is the teacher’s Vision that sweetens and transforms 
drudgery, uplifts and consecrates the spirit, swings 
the schoolroom into line with the spirit of the age, 
opens the receptive mind of childhood to the inner 
and higher meaning of life and duty, and establishes 
and maintains the creative spiritual leadership which 
is the crown and glory of our great profession. 

4. The fourth characteristic of a strong, effective, 
inspiring Personality is the Habit of constant 
Growth. 

Unless the mind and heart and faculties of a 
teacher are constantly growing, they are inevitably 
shallowing, hardening, narrowing, deteriorating. In 
no other of the great professions is it so fatally easy 
to become the slave of routine. The fixed location ; 
the clock-like regularity of the daily program; the 
endless repetition of the same tasks; the monotony 
of teaching the same subjects from the same text- 
books year after year—these act like an all-pervading 
atmosphere of carbonic-acid gas, steadily benumb- 
ing the teacher’s freshness and enthusiasm, paralyz- 
ing her initiative, robbing her of vitality, and too 
often making her the petty, narrow, joyless bond- 
slave of monotonous and ineffective drudgery. 

The only antidote is steady growth, and this must 
be accomplished against an equally steady resistance. 
Such growth is not mere accretion, the mere addi- 
tion of years or facts or experience to one’s previous 
stock, but a change from within, pervading the 
whole life and strengthening and fructifying every 
faculty. As it must be a conscious effort against 
resistance, let us study its processes. 

How does a tree grow? By what plans and speci- 





82 The American Teacher 


fications have the life forces of a giant forest tree 
lifted it against the downward pull of gravity to its 
present stature and eminence? 

First, it grows in Breadth, thrusting its branches 
ever outward in search of more abundant air and 
sunshine. 

Second, it grows in Depth, multiplying its roots 
and driving them deeper into the solid earth to an- 
chor its growing bulk against wind and storm. 

Third, by the innermost law of its being it grows 
in Height, persistently lifting its green crown fur- 
ther from the earth in which its roots are set, nearer 
to the far-off blue that calls it overhead. _ 

So must We grow, if we would utilize the limit- 
jess opportunities of our sacred calling! 

Grow first of all in Breadth. Breadth of Knowl- 
edge that the cutting edge of your own specialty may 
be made effective by the momentum of ripened wis- 
dom and rich experience, that you may see life sane 
and whole, that breadth of knowledge may give you 
tolerance, poise, mature judgment, and. an open 
mind. 

Grow also in breadth of Interest, that your river 
of life may be no starveling streamlet trickling 
along a stony bed, but a rolling river, rich and full 
to the brim. Life is not a line, measured by its 
days and months and years, but an area. Its true 
content is its length multiplied by its breadth. It 
is the multiplicity of interests, variety and rich- 
ness of experiences, height and depth of one’s 
thoughts, hopes, and emotions that make life worth 
living. These are the effective antidote to dullness, 
narrowness, and dreary monotony. 

Grow also in breadth of Sy:npathy. For the sake 
of your high calling and your own personality, free 
yourself from onesidedness and hopeless partisanship, 
from narrowness and petty provincialism, from race 
prejudice and class prejudice and religious bigotry. 
Thus, shall you grow in mellowness and wisdom, 
in tolerance and serenity, and in a greatness of soul 
which will uplift your whole school community. 

The second direction of growth is Depth. 

The blight of your stormy and uncertain age is 
its restless shallowness, its hysteric changeableness, 
its epidemic of aimless discontent. 

Let every tree of life, therefore, develop a tap- 
root, let no house of life be built- upon. the sand. 
In such a tempestuous period, breadth without 


Volume IX, No. 4. 


depth is fatal. Carefully matured opinions, freedom 
from shallow optimism or hysteric pessimism, stead- 
fast courage and unshaken self-control, fixed prin- 
ciples reaching down to the living and immutable 
rock—let these enable us to stand foursquare to all 
the winds that blow, doing our life-work with a 
serenity and effectiveness which shall uplift and 
strengthen every young heart that looks to us for 
guidance and inspiration. 

But no immortal spirit set to teach and lead 
other immortal spirits can ever be satisfied to grow 
only in breadth and depth.. By an irresistible law 
of its being, the tree grows also in height, lifting 
its green crown in defiance of the downward pul! of 
gravity upward toward the skies. So must W: 
grow if we would be worthy of our high vocation. 

We are all on our way to a common grave, but 
the paths that lead to it are infinitely varied and 
each must choose his own. Petty, earth-looking 
lives, absorbed in the trivial, the low, the mean, the 
selfish, the unworthy, are choosing the valley road, 
amid swamp and mire and undergrowth and creep- 
ing things and perpetual shade. For them, alas, no 
blue sky nor tonic sunshine, no quickening breeze, 
nor far-off horizon! 

Uphill? Yes, then climb toward it, and every 
step of ascent will give you a broader vision and a 
more tonic mountain air. Rugged and stony? Yes, 
but along this mountain highway the elect Spirits 
of the race, the great teachers of every era, have 
walked exultant on their way to glory! 

These are the processes of growth, outward, 
downward, and upward, that make a teacher’s life 
a perennial source of help and inspiration. 

Love and Sympathy to oil the school machinery; 
Will-power and Energy to keep it successfully at 
work ; Vision to illuminate and transfigure ; and this 
three-fold Growth in breadth and depth and height. 
These are the four steps up which the teacher climbs 
the lofty levels of his great profession. 

“Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul! 
As the swift seasons roll 

Leave thy low-vaulted past, 

Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 

Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast 

Till thou at length are free, 

Leaving thine outgrown shell by Life’s unresting 
sea.” 





Report of Organization Work to The 
Fourth Convention’ 


L V Lampson 
Field Secretary, The American Federation of Teachers 


Recently, in a small city in the United States, the 
question of whether teachers should unionize was 
under discussion. In fact, the discusion became so 
serious that it was taken up at prayer meeting where 
a good old deacon appealed to the Almighty to “save 
the teaching ‘corpses’ from the labor unions.” Evi- 
dently the Almighty must be on our side for in this 
particular city, in spite of the prayers of the deacon, 
the teachers were able to form a union. In the 
presence of this concrete evidence of Divine favor, 
let us consider the state of the union movement 
among the teachers thruout the country. 

Those of you who were present at the Pittsburgh 
Convention in 1918, will remember how small a 
group we were. At that time we had no officers on 
full time; no official organ. We had only twenty- 
eight locals. ‘Today we have three full time offi- 
cials and an office force. We have an official pub- 
lication. We have one hundred forty locals. There 
are teachers’ unions in every part of the country. In 
fact, out in the Territory of Hawaii we have one; 
down in the Panama Canal Zone we have another ; 
up in Canada we have still another. Our locals are 
chartered not only among the public school teachers, 
rural, grade and high; but also among the normal 
school, college and university teachers. Last night 
Superintendent Mortenson of Chicago, denominated 
the union movement among the teachers as the most 
progressive educational movement of the present day. 
I have heard other superintendents speak of it as 
the only hope of the American teacher. The move- 
ment has approached a national significance. We 
have in fact become an International Union. 

Work IN THE OFFICE 

Your Field Secretary is called upon to make a 
report of his activities. These have to do with work 
in the office and work in the field. The former set 
of activities include among others, the sending out 
of— 

1—Information to libraries, colleges and univer- 


—_——. 


*Read at the Chicago Convention, December 30, 19109. 


sities for use in debates by students. 

2—Innumerable form letters. 

3—Form letters to practically every educational or- 
ganization in the country. 

4—Form letters to practically every educational 
journal in the country. There has been quite 
a generous response from these journals. Many 
of them have printed our literature and quite 
a number have commented favorably upon our 
movement. 

5—Literature and form letters to every labor 
journal in the United States and Canada with 
the result that there has been much publicity. 

6—Form letters to every Indian school in the 
country. 

7—Form letters to practically every director of 
vocational education in the country. 

8—Form letters to 600 leading trade union women 
of the country, requesting their cooperation in 
extending the movement. As President Still- 
man has said, we have received a great deal of 
help from these women. 

9—One thousand form letters for use among the 
normal school teachers. 

10—One hundred form letters for use among the 
college and university teachers. The response 
from the higher institutions of learning has 
been encouraging. 

11—Newspaper interviews. One of the best of 
these was published by the Newspaper Enter- 
prise Association which had 4,000,000 subscrib- 
ers. Asa result of this kind of publicity, some 
of our locals in Texas were organized. 

Hawaii, Fargo, the University of Montana, 
Bates County, Mo, and the Canal Zone are illustra- 
tions of organizations effected thru correspondence 
and office propaganda. 


Work IN THE FIELD 
The work in the field has of course consisted of 
many more or less extensive trips among which are 
the following: 


83 





84 The American 


1—To the states of Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas 
and Mississippi, inclusive: On this occasion, the 
Chilocco Indian School was organized. A charter 
was applied for a little later but the real work was 
done at the time specified. In Texas, Denison, Gal- 
veston, Austin, San Antonio and Houston were or- 
ganized and later Beaumont applied for a charter. 
A large union movement among Missouri teachers 
was initiated at this time. 

2—To the South where we met with very grat- 
ifying results. The Atlanta teachers came across 
with the organization of 526 out of 566 possible 
members. I recall sending a telegram to my own 
local in Washington telling about the organization 
of the Atlanta teachers and making the statement 
that “As Atlanta goes, so goes the South.” We are 
expecting a great deal of help in extending our or- 

ganization thruout Georgia and nearby states from 
Mr Phillips, Miss Barker and the other members of 
Local 89. 

3—To New England with the result that Bangor, 
Fitchburg and Pawtucket applied for charters. 

4—To New Jersey with the result that Jersey 
City, Hoboken, Paterson, Trenton and Newark ap- 
plied for charters. 

5—To Pennsylvania with the result that Phila- 
delphia and the Edinboro Normal College applied 
for charters. 


6—To Virginia with the result that Lynchburg, . 


Norfolk and Portsmouth applied for charters. 

7—To Maryland with the result that Baltimore 
City, Allegeny, Prince Georges, Montgomery and 
Anne Arundel counties have applied for charters. 

8—To Missouri with the result that the Univer- 
sity of Missouri was organized. There are three 
delegates from that local at this convention. 

9—To California. This trip was taken upon the 
invitation and at the request of the California Fed- 
eration of Teachers which assumed in large part the 
responsibility for paying the expenses involved. As we 
are to have a special report upon California from 
Miss Colby, I will not encroach upon her subject, 
except to say that the union teachers arranged unus- 
ually fine meetings at Sacramento, San Francisco and 
Fresno. At the meeting in Fresno there were 2,000 
teachers present. I wish to say in this connection 
that my faith in our movement has been strengthened 
by my experiences in California. I have no doubt 


Teacher Volume IX, No. 4 
whatsoever of the success and growth of the Ameri- 
can Federation of Teachers. Before concluding this 
part of my report, I desire to express my apprecia- 
tion of the splendid cooperation extended to me by 
President Stillman and Secretary Stecker and the 
other members of the Executive Council. 
RECOMMENDATIONS 

There are certain recommendations which I would 
like to place before you for consideration : 

1—In my opinion, our offices must be centralized, 
The effectiveness of organization work is seriously 
hampered by the fact that the office of the President 
and the Secretary-Treasurer is located in Chicago 
while that of the Field Secretary is located in Wash- 
ington. The latter is willing, under the circum. 
stances, to move to Chicago. This decision is ren- 
dered more difficult by the belief which I hold that 
the permanent headquarters of the organization must 
eventually be located at the National Capitol. 

2—In my opinion, the following pamphlets should 
be prepared at an early date for distribution: 

(a) How to Organize a Teachers’ Union. 

(b) Objections to the Union Movement Among 

the Teachers Answered. 

(c) Benefits of the Union Movement Among the 

Teachers. 
(d) The Union Movement among the Normal 
School Teachers. 

(e) The Union Movement Among the Colleges 

and University Teachers. 

(f) The Smith-Towner Bill Revised. 

(g) Labor’s Contribution to Public School Ed:- 

You will be interested to know that a recent in- 
vestigation of a large number of text-books dealing 
with the history of education disclosed the fact that 
in only one of them is there any reference whatso- 
ever to labor’s contribution to public school educa- 
tion. No reference, outside of a foot note, is made 
in an yof them to the fact that organized labor is in 
large part responsible for the establishment of the 
public school system in this country. 

3—I would recommend that the locals in the 
various states join together in making an arrange- 
ment whereby they can secure certain columns of 
some reputable labor journal for use as an official 
organ. ‘The California Federation of Teachers has 
been able to reserve two pages in the San Francisco 





April, 1920 


Labor Clarion. ‘The publishers have agreed to send 
the paper regularly to teachers thruout the state at 
the rate of two cents a copy. Mr C A Davis, 
Vice-President of the California State Federation of 
Teachers, is in editorial charge of the pages reserved 
for the use of teachers. 

4—I would recommend to the officers of the na- 
tional that instead of endeavoring to extend the 
movement entirely thru their own efforts, they pay 
more attention to its extension thru existing locals. 
Each one of our unions should have its extension 
committee, e. g., Fresno; each one of our states that 
has not yet formed a state federation should have its 
state union extension committee; e. g., the State of 
Missouri; each one of our states should as soon as 
possible form a state federation by means of which 
extension work can be very effectively done; e. g., 
California. 

THE AFFILIATION OF PuBLIC EMPLOYEES WITH 
OrGaANIzED LABOR 

This convention should prepare to meet the cam- 
paign that is being waged in some quarters against 
the affiliation of public employees with organized 
labor. I propose to devote the remainder of my 
time to that subject. 

We are being attacked upon the grounds that 
public employees should not affiliate with organized 
labor because in so doing they take an oath of alle- 
giance to a labor organization which is superior to 
their obligations to the government. As a matter 
of fact, the teachers are not required to take an oath 
of allegiance by the American Federation of Labor. 
It is the custom among the craft unions to require 
such an oath which, however, contains the specific 
reservation that nothing in it shall interfere with 
one’s obligations of citizenship. Whenever a craft 
union man takes the oath of allegiance, he in reality 
reafirms his allegiance to the government. 

We are being attacked upon the grounds of the 
strike. It should be pointed out in this connection 
that the American Federation of Labor grants to 
the American Federation of Teachers a charter of 
complete autonomy which means that we have con- 
trol over our policies and affairs. No teachers’ 
union can be called out on a strike, sympathetic or 
otherwise, by any labor organization. We are pro- 
tected in this respect by a strict guarantee in the 
Constitution of the American Federation of Labor. 


The American Teacher 85 


We teachers are employees of the public. Our sal- 
aries and school laws depend upon political bodies, 
school boards, city councils, state legislatures and the 
Congress of the United States, whose membership 
and policies depend upon the voters. The great 
majority of the teachers of the country do not vote 
and even if they did they would not constitute a 
sufficient proportion of the votes in any given com- 
munity to get results unaided. It is therefore neces- 
sary for us to affiliate with the American Federation 
of Labor whose four million voters are interested in 
education and will utilize their votes for the im- 
provement of educational conditions. ‘There have 
been no strikes among union teachers. There have. 
been a considerable number of strikes among non- 
union teachers in the United States and Canada. 
We do not resort to the strike as a means of getting 
results, but depend upon publicity, organization and 
political action; methods thoroly consistent with our 
position as teachers and with the ideals of democ- 
racy. The American Federation of Teachers is in 
strict accord with the form, the spirit and the tradi- 
tions of the American system of Government. Those 
who condemn the former assume the responsibility 
of condemning the latter. 

We are being attacked on the grounds that by 
reason of our affiliation we are subject to the control 
of labor. Nothing could be further from the truth. 
This whole matter resolves itself into the question: 
“What does organized labor expect of the teachers 
in return for the support accorded them?” In the 
first place, the American Federation of Labor is an 
organization made up of employed people. We are 
employees and are eligible to membership. Labor 
leaders are candidly ambitious to build up their or- 
ganization. It is a proper ambition. ‘In the sec- 
ond place, organized labor is guilty of the crime of 
wanting to be understood. In the third place, the 
leaders of labor look upon the teachers as a further 
steadying influence in the ranks of labor. Neither 
of these two points requires elaboration. Both should 
be readily comprehended. In the fourth place, or- 
ganized labor is interested in the improvement of 
educational facilities. I remember Mr. Hugh Ma- 
gill, Legislative Representative of the National Ed- 
ucation Association called me up on the ’phone one 
day to relate a conversation which he had just had 
with Mr. Henry Sterling, Legislative Representa- 





86 The American Teacher 


tive of the American Federation of Labor. Mr 
Magill said “Sterling tells me that we need have no 
concern as to the support of the A F of L for the 
Smith-Towner Bill Revised because there is no sub- 
ject in respect to which organized labor thruout 
the country is so united as the improvement of edu- 
cational facilities.” Labor leaders want our coope- 
ration in bringing about the improvement of the ed- 
ucational system of the country. 

We are being attacked on the grounds that as em- 
ployees of the public, teachers should not affiliate 
with any particular class. This is the favorite argu- 
ment of a prominent educator who puts the follow- 
- ing question up to the union teachers to answer: 
“Why do not teachers affiliate with the Chamber 
of Commerce? Why not with the Bar Association ? 
Why not with the Methodist church? Why not 
with the Medical Association? Why not with the 
Grange? Why affiliate with Organized Labor?” 
The answer is readily given. All teachers cannot 
affiliate with the Chamber of Commerce, they are 
not financially able. All teachers cannot join the 
Bar Association, they are not all lawyers. All 
teachers cannot join the Methodist Church, they are 
not all Methodists. All teachers cannot join the 
Medical Association, they are not all doctors. Aill 
teachers cannot join the Grange, they are not 
farmers. But all teachers can join the American 
Federation of Labor because they are all employees. 
Certainly from the standpoint of education, The 
American Federation of Labor cannot be regarded 
as a class organization. It has done much to pro- 
mote the cause of public school education. Its mem- 
bers believe in education not merely for the children 
of labor, but for the children of all the people. 

Our IpgaLs 

In dealing with the present crisis, I believe that 
we would do well to make the people better under- 
stand our ideals. My own interpretation of them is 
as follows: 

We believe in the ideal of an efficient teaching 
personnel. You can have schools without school 
buildings, but you cannot have schools without school 
teachers. 

We believe in the ideal that teachers should know 
life. Education is supposed to be an adjustment to 
life. How can teachers make that adjustment prop- 
erly if they themselves are not in touch with the 


Volume IX, No. 4. 


conditions of the real world? 

We believe in tas ideal that teachers should not 
only know, but dare to teach the truth. 

We believe in the ideal of the dignity of labor. 
We teachers can render a great service by emphasiz- 
ing with the children of the country, not only the 
dignity and worth of labor, but also the need, par- 
ticularly at this time, of increased and better produc- 
tion. This would be a real contribution not only to 
the country but to the world in the period of re- 
construction. 

We believe in the ideal of public service. We 
are willing that the union movement among the 
teachers should be tested by this criterion. 

We believe in the ideal of toleration. It has been 
said that toleration is the cement which holds so- 
ciety together. Most of the present unrest is due to 
an unwillingness of one group to appreciate the view- 
point of another group. Teachers can do much to 
inject the spirit of toleration into society by a proper 
training of the youth. 

We believe in the ideal of “Democracy in Educa- 
tion; Education for Democracy.” It is our belief 
that there can be no democracy in government or in 
industry unless there is democracy in education. The 
last stand of autocracy will be in the dominion of 
the mind. The world cannot be made safe for de- 
mocracy unless the schools are kept safe for de- 
mocracy. 

These are our ideals. In the American Federa- 
tion of Teachers, we have an agency whereby we 
can transform these ideals into definite and concrete 
action. 


TEACHERS TO LEAVE UNION OR LOSE JOBS 
St. Louis Forbids A F of L Affiliation 


Special to Toe Sun anp New York HERA. 


Sr. Louis, April 14—The Board of Education notified 
public school teachers today not only to refrain from join- 
ing the Central Trades and Labor Union, but also that high 
school teachers belonging to the union must withdraw from 
their affiliation with the American Federation of Labor or 
lose their jobs. 

To make this effective a resolution, offered as a proposed 
amendment to the rule of the board dealing with employ- 
ment of instructors, was presented at the regular monthly 
meeting of the board by W Frank Carter, who, in addition 
to being a member of the board, is president of the 
Chamber of Commerce—From The New York Sun. 


The Sun has stated the most significant point in 
the last line: “Big Business” has no use for teach- 
ers’ unions—Eprror. 





Proceedings of The Eastern Conference of The 


American Federation of Teachers 


RutH Harpy 
Secretary, Eastern Conference 


On the morning of April 2, 1920, the first annual 
meeting of the Eastern Conference of the American 
Federation of Teachers was called to order by Mr 
Henry R Linville, Temporary Chairman. Miss 
Ruth Hardy was elected Temporary Secretary. The 
report of the credentials committee was read and ac- 
cepted. 

An address of welcome was given by Miss Mary 
A Depew, President of the Philadelphia Teachers 
Union, Local 58. Miss Isabel Williams of St Paul, 
Minn, Associate Field Secretary of the A F of T, 
replied. 

Mr James P Maurer, President of the Pennsyl- 
vania State Federation of Labor, addressed the dele- 
gates on the weakness of unorganized teachers. He 
emphasized the great strength of organizations affil- 
iated with all other labor organizations and the 
value of securing benefits thru the organized efforts 
of those who will enjoy them. 


Mr Maurer Taid stress on the need of fighting for 
liberties under present conditions under which teach- 
ers ordered to teach lies are unable to resist, because 
they are unorganized. He denounced the propa- 
ganda of such institutions as business colleges de- 
signed to create a psychology hostile to the labor 


movement. He spoke of a newspaper to be estab- 
lished by the Pennsylvania State Federation of 
Labor which is to print only the truth. In closing, 
Mr. Maurer offered the services of the State Fed- 
eration to the teachers. 

Motions to the effect that this session be continued 
as an open session and that committees be made up 
only of volunteers were carried. 

The Convention moved to adopt the following 
resolutions on teachers’ salaries, tenure, size of 
classes, retaining men in the school system, the sab- 
batical year for teachers and labor education: 


RESOLUTIONS CONCERNING TEACHERS’ SALARIES 


I. Be it Resolved, by the Conference of Eastern 
Locals of the American Federation of Teachers, at 
Philadelphia on April 3, 1920, that it declare itself 


in favor of a minimum wage for substitute teachers 


87 


of Six Dollars for each day of teaching, such pay to 
be made by the departments of education. 

Il. Whereas, Ours is a government founded on 
public opinion and the only source of intelligent 
opinion lies in educated citizens, the work of the 
teacher is the most fundamental of public services, 
and 

Whereas, The teacher, more particularly in 
our free and elementary school systems, has never 
received the respect of the community due to so 
fundamental a service either in regard or in money 
payment, and 

Whereas, No great public service can be car- 
ried on unless it attracts and retains men and women 
of ability, energy, and thoro training, yet the salaries 
of teachers thruout the country are so low that an 
ever decreasing number are entering the occupa- 
tion, and an increasing number are leaving, many 
after years of study and experience, 

Be It Resolved, That all locals of the 
American Federation of Teachers should work with 
their respective states for adequate salaries as a 
measure of the community’s respect for teaching as 
an essential service, and that this work should be 
based on the following principles: 

1—Equal pay for work done without distinction 
of sex. 

2-—A minimum salary for the teacher of Two 
Thousand Dollars a year. 

3—The substitution, after adequate pay has been 
secured, of a sliding scale of wage, based on the 
varying index numbers of the cost of living as pub- 
lished by the United States Government, so that 
the adequate pay may be maintained, regardless of 
the fluctuating value of the dollar, until such time 
as Congress shall by law establish a stable unit of 
money value to replace the present metallic stand- 
ard, provided that at no time shall the minimum be 
less than $2000. 

Be It Further Resolved, That study be 
given to the question of ways and means for re- 
taining men teachers already in the systems and 
attracting men into the teaching profession, and be 





88 The American Teacher 


it resolved to have a committee of volunteers from 
different localities to study the problem and to re- 
port its findings and its solution to the next Eastern 
Conference of the American Federation of Teachers. 


RESOLUTIONS CONCERNING TEACHERS TENURE 


Whereas, There is clear evidence of an in- 
sidious effort on the part of reactionary politicians 
and autocratic school supervisors to gain absolute 
control of the teaching force by destroying teachers’ 
tenure thru the gaining of power to dismiss tachers 
at will according to the political bias of those in 
power, or for mere personal whims, and 

Whereas, This power can lead to nothing 
other than the complete intellectual and spiritual 
enslavement of the teacher by destroying any vestige 
of initiative or desire for expression of opinion, 
thereby converting the public schools into media for 
the propaganda of a special class, and 

Whereas, A teacher’s best efforts can be put 
forth only when he or she is entirely free from any 
anxiety concerning the security of his position, 

Therefore Be It Resolved, By the Convention 
of Eastern Locals of the American Federation 
of Teachers held at Philadelphia on April 3, 
1920, that it go on record as being in favor of ten- 
ure of office for all teachers after a probationary 
period of one year, and furthermore, 

Be It Resolved, That this convention favor 
the framing and the passing of laws by state legis- 
latures and by local authorities which make possible 
the dismissal of teachers only on the basis of clear- 
cut charges which shall have been proved at a trial 
of the accused by a trial board upon which there 
shall be teacher representation, and 

Be It Further Resolved, That all unions 
of teachers and other workers be urged to in- 
clude among their activities a vigorous agitation 
toward the end that such legislation shall be en- 
acted by the state legislatures and by local authori- 
ties. 

THE SIZE OF CLASSES 

Whereas, It is the consensus of pedagogical 
experience that classes should be limited as 
to the number of pupils, and 

Whereas, It is the right of every child to 
have the best kind of school training which the com- 
munity can give to that child, and : 

Whereas, The child cannot receive the proper 


Volume 1X, No. 4. 


kind of individual attention when he is placed in a 
class which has more pupils than pedagogic theory 
and pedagogic experience have found to be proper, 

Be It Resolved, By the Conference of East- 
ern Locals of the American Federation of Teach- 
ers, held at Philadelphia on April 3, 1920, that the 
number of pupils in any class shall be limited as far 
as possible to twenty, and that in no case shall the 
number of permitted to exceed twenty-five, and 

Be It Resolved, That the locals of the Amer- 
ican Federation of Teachers be urged to agitate for 
such limitations in the size of classes in their re- 
spective communities, and 

Be It Further Resolved, That the aid of 
all labor bodies be enlisted in the efforts to secure 
such limitations in the size of classes thru appro- 
priate legislative enactments and local schoo] board 
regulation. 

TO RETAIN MEN IN THE SCHOOLS 

Resolved, That the Committee in charge of 
the problem of retaining men in the school system 
be known as the Teachers’ Welfare Committee, 
this committee to consider also the question of the 
length of the school day and of the school year. 

’ CoMMITTEE OF TEACHERS’ WELFARE 

Mr John W Marsh. 


Mr Jno A Frenzel 
(Proceedings to be continued in the May issue.) 


WARN TEACHERS AND FIREMEN TO QUIT UNIONS 
OR LOSE PLACES 


San Francisco, April 27—-Members of the teachers’ and 


firemen’s unions recently organized here, received notices 
today from the Board of Education and the Board of 
Supervisors, respectively, that they must give up labor 
union affiliations or lose pane Chole -posiiene. 


San Antonio, Temas, April 27-—A temporary injunco 
city officials from interfering with ° 





— ee. Umek,lCR lO lUrcrrlC(itiC OOUlC rlC TO lC MH hlCtCO SO! CF 


From the Locals of the American Federation of 
Teachers 


FROM LOCAL 5 
(The Teachers Union of the City of New York) 


How the New York Teachers Secured $36,000,000 


The passage of the modified Lockwood-Dono- 
hue Bill by the legislature of New York State 
was the most remarkable salary victory ever won 
in this country. This signal triumph was due, 
not altogether to the public or legislative recogni- 
tion of the fact that the laborer, even tho he be 
a teacher, is worthy of his hire, but also to the 
striking campaign waged by the united teachers, 
aided somewhat by the fear of the business men 
and educational officials who labored under the 
delusion that failure to enact additional salary 
legislation meant the growth of the union senti- 
ment among. the teachers—something that our 
educational and business autocrats greatly fear. 
That my statement is no exaggeration is evidenced 
by the fact that just before the passage of the 
salary bill Dr William L Ettinger, the Superin- 
tendent of Schools of New York City, was quoted 
by the public press as having said that failure to 
pass the Lockwood-Donohue Bill would mean a 
fearful future for the schools. “The teachers 
have been reluctant to organize or affiliate them- 
seives with unions for the purpose of obtaining 
necessary pay increases,” said Dr. Ettinger, “but 
they will be driven to unionize unless their de- 
mands are granted.” Thus, according to the 
admission of this educational authority the very 
existence of the Teachers Union made possible 
and necessary this remarkable piece of legislation! 

The teachers, realizing the immensity of the 
task that faced them—securing $20,500,000 after 
having secured $16,000,000 a few months previ- 
ous—set aside organization and personal prejudices 
and formed a central directing committee of 25 
called the Merger Committee. This committee 
represented not only the most powerful teacher 
organizations such as the Teachers Union, Local 
24, the Federation of Teachers Associations and 
other non-union bodies, but also the most effec- 
tive and experienced campaigners in the various 
groups. The Merger Committee formulated plans 


and policies for enlightening the public and the 
legislature as to the crisis confronting our schools, 
and designated three committees—legislative, pub- 
licity, and finance—to carry them out. 

The function of the Legislative Committee was 
to pledge enough votes to insure the passage of 
the Lockwood-Donohue Bill which contained. our 
demands. To accomplish this most effectively 
and, with as little friction as possible, the State 
was divided into two parts: New York City with 
its 25,701 employes of the education department; 
and up-state, with its 29,413 teachers; each division 
conducting its own legislative campaign along simi- 
lar lines. New York City was divided into school 
districts each with a Salary Committee under the 
guidance of an experienced chairman, and each 
school. in every district was similarly organized. 
The salary committee divided their functions along 
the same lines as did the Merger Committee—legis- 
lative, publicity and finance—and worked in har- 
mony with their central chairmen. The district or- 
ganizations, under the guidance of the Central Com- 
mittee, worked to secure the endorsement of the 
Iegislative representatives of their respective dis- 
tricts and usually succeeded by using the follow- 
ing tactics: 

1, Thru the Teachers Union and Local 24, 
New York, they secured the endorsement of or- 
ganized labor thruout the state, and of their var- 
ious locals. The members of these locals wrote 
to their representatives in the legislature urging 
them to support the bill. In addition, President 
Holland of the State Federation of Labor and 
John O'Hanlon, the State Legislative Agent 
helped the teachers’ lobby at Albany, and were 
very effective in securing support. 

2. The parents of the various schools were 
organized into associations, addressed by well- 
known speakers who told them about the teacher- 
shortage and then secured, not only their en- 
dorsement of the salary bill, but also succeeded 
it- getting most of them to write to their repre- 
sentatives urging them to vote for the measure. 
These associations were then united into one 
large city-wide Parents’ Association which later 


89 





90 The American Teacher 


stormed the capital on behalf of the teachers. 

3. Committees of parents and teachers per- 
sonally canvassed the legislators at their homes 
and tried to secure their promise of support. 

4. Local labor unions, social clubs, tax asso- 
ciations, church organizations, Republican and 
Democratic clubs, settlements, Rotary clubs, com- 
munity councils, prominent public men and others 
were visited, circularized or addressed by teach- 
ers and enlisted in the cause of education. 

5. Immense and spectacular mass meetings 
were held by the teachers in various schools and 
some under the auspices of public spirited citizens 
such as the Committee of 100, the community 
councils and organized labor. These meetings se- 
cured much publicity for the cause. 

While this work was going on in the districts 
and rural communities, a dozen members of the 
Legislative Committee, often aided by other dis- 
trict and school representatives, were at Albany 
working incessantly to explain the educational 
crisis to the members of the legislature and to re- 
move the misconceptions under which many 
labored. Many of these men ignored our litera- 


ture, but they could not ignore what our repre- 


sentatives said. This personal lobbying was the 
most effective offensive weapon employed by the 
teachers. 

To furnish the speakers with ammunition and 
to enlighten the public, the Publicity Committee 
was organized. ‘The chairman of this committee 
was assisted by a very large staff of volunteers 
who could be called upon at a moment’s notice, 
for such necessary work as securing data, reading 
proof, mailing literature, addressing district or 
parents’ meetings, and the like. The committee 
succeeded in gathering a mass of statistics deal- 
ing with earnings of teachers as contrasted with 
the earnings of workers in other occupations, pre- 
pared leaflets showing the decrease in normal 
school enrollment and in the teacher supply, the 
increasing number of rejections and resignations; 
the number of children that were dismissed daily 
without instruction because of the teacher short- 
age, and gathered other data of great value in 
making it possible for the citizens to realize that 
a real crisis confronted them, and heroic action 
was imperative. The literature, thus prepared 


Volume IX, No. 4. 


was spread broadcast thru the city. Editors were 
visited and induced to write editorials on the 
teacher shortage and leading feature articles deal- 
ing with concrete situations, while other public- 
spirited citizens, as Mr. William Fox, the mov- 
ing-picture magnate, placed the screen at our dis- 
pesal, thereby making it possible for us to appeal 
te hundreds of thousands of people. With such 
aid and thru the use of window placards and 
pasters, the public was forced to face the facts. 
The result was the birth of an overwhelming 
sentiment in favor of our cause, which no legis- 
lature, however reactionary, dared ignore. 

To conduct so extensive a campaign funds were 
necessary. ‘Teachers were asked to make volun- 
tary contributions of one dollar or more,. depend- 
ing on their annual salaries and ability to pay. 
Moreover, thruout the campaign the teachers in 
the schools held themselves ready to carry out 
every request of their chosen leaders. Certain 
pivotal legislators were continually flooded with 
letters, literature and telegrams requesting and 
sometimes ordering them to support the Lockwood- 
Donohue Bill. Despite the opposition of the 
various Boards of Election, of Mayor Hylan and 
up-state city officials, the bill passed the Senate by 
a vote of 50 to 1 and the Assembly without either 
debate or opposition. 

This campaign, more than any other, has proved 
conclusively that teachers will never receive 
full recognition, nor function effectively as com- 
munity leaders, in the coming social order unless 
they do two things; (1) unite into one big educa- 
tional organization; (2) come into intimate con- 
tact with the economic and social forces in the 
ccmmunity. This can only be achieved in one 
way—thru the unionization of teachers and thru 
affilation with organized labor. As the dignity 
and the efficiency of the teaching profession rest 
upon unionization, the ultimate triumph of the 
union movement is inevitable. The fight will be 
a long and bitter one because unionization of 
teachers will be fought by educational and in- 
dustrial autocrats with every powerful weapon 
at their command, but victory when it comes, will 
then be all the more welcome. Those who de 
lieve in the union movement, who know that only 
iu it and thru it lies the salvation of America 





roe OQeeaeaeontw =, 


reruw~ a S&S wo 


April, 1920 


and the hope of struggling humanity, will neitber 
hesitate nor falter to make the necessary sacrifice 
that this struggle will entail because all progress 
worthy of the name is—SACRIFICE. 
ABRAHAM LEFKOWITZ, 
Chairman of the Legislative Committee, 


Local 5, New York 
Eprror’s Nore: Mr. Lefkowitz prepared this statement 
on the request of The American Teacher for the purpose 
of outlining the technique of what appears to have been 
the most successful salary campaign ever waged by teach- 
ers. Doubtless many suggestions contained in the state- 
ment will be useful to other locals. We take pleasure in 
adding that special tributes have been paid by leaders in 
non-union teachers’ organizations to the skilful and hon- 
orable leadership of Mr Lefkowitz in this campaign. Local 
5 is very proud of him. 


NEW YORK SALARIES AFTER AUGUST 1, 1920, IN 
COMPARISON WITH SALARIES OF 1919 


The most substantial increases over 1919 rates provided 
in the new bill will go to the lowest paid teachers—those 
serving in the lower grades. The minimum salary for 
these teachers is increased from $900 last year to $1,500, 
beginning Aug. 1. The maximum of $1,600 becomes $2,- 
875. Of the 15,128 teachers in this group, 4,919 women 
will receive increases inning Aug. 1, over 100 per cent. 
above the 1919 rate, while 4,052 women will receive in- 
creases between 80 and 100 per cent. The 3,737 women 
teachers who have served in these grades sixteen years or 
more will receive increases between 70 and 80 per cent. 
above 1919 salaries. 

Stated in terms of actua! pay there will be 432 of these 
women teachers who will receive during the year beginning 
Aug. 1 more than $1,5co more than they would have been 
paid had the 1919 salary schedules still been in force, 
7,720 will receive from $1,200 to $1,500 more; 1,803 will 
receive from $1,000 to $1,200, 3,153 from $700 to $1,000, 
and the 281 in the first year of service an increase of $595. 

In the upper grades there are 4,541 teachers who will 
be paid a minimum of $1,900, a maximum of $3,250 with 
annual increments of $150. This new schedule will give 
521 women an increase of between 80 and 100 per 
cent., seventy-three from 70 to 80 per cent., and 1,923 
increases of less than 70 per cent. In terms of salary 155 
upper grade teachers will receive an increase in excess 
$1,500; 230 an increase of from $1,200 to $1,500, and 
fifty-five an increase between $1,000 and $1,200. 

The 546 assistants to principals will be paid under a 
schedule with a minimum of $3,400 and a maximum of 
$3,600 reached in two annual increases. There are 492 
assistants receiving the present maximum of $2,600. 

The schedule for principals begins at $3,750 instead of 
$2,540, the 1919 rate, and increases $250 a year to a maxi- 
mum of $4,750. Of the 404 principals 350 now receiving 
$3,666 will be increased on Aug. 1, to $4,750. 

A new schedule has been inserted for teacher clerks with 
a minimum of $1,200 and a maximum of $1,800, to be 
reached in six annual increments of $100 each. 

The 2,508 assistant teachers in high and training schools 
will get a minimum of $1,900 and a maximum of $3,700, 
to be reached in twelve annual increments of $150 each. 


The American Teacher ' ’ 91 


First assistant teachers, of whom there are 196, will get 
a minimum of $3,200, with a maximum of $4,200, to be 
reached in five annual increments of $200 each. 

Clerical, laboratory and library assistants, 186, will re- 
ceive a minimum of $1,400 and a maximum of $2,400, 
reached in ten annual increments of $100 each. 

—From the New York Globe of April 26, 1920. 


FROM LOCAL 32 

(The Shenandoah, Pa., Teachers Federation) 

The subjoined quotation indicates the response 
which the superintendent at Shenadoah, Pa., made 
to certain formal requests made by Local 32 of 
the Board of Education. 

At the meeting between a committee of teachers and 
this Board on the 24th of last month, one very important 
demand was made. It was “an increase in salary.” The 
teachers, in their effort to pattern after the custom to 
demand much with the hope of getting a little, in the 
judgment of the speaker, not only put themselves in un- 
professionally, but both farcical and ludicrous, as well as 
showing a lack of business principles applied. 

The demand for pay for “time attending local institute” 
is a farce. If any teacher is not sufficiently inclined, pro- 
fessionally, to attend local institute, then she or he may be 
excused. 

The speaker is not opposed to a Teachers’ Association, 
but he does believe that superintendents, supervisors or 
principals should not be members of them, and especially 
if the tenets discussed at the convention in Philadelphia 
last Friday, are to become part of the principles of the 
Association; namely, “No fewer than one-third of the 
school board shall be teachers”; “that teachers shall help 
in the election of superintendent, supervisors and princi- 
pals”; “that a principal shall not serve more than six years 
in succession, that is, two terms of three years each after 
which he should be sent back to the class room.” Woe 
be to the public schools if the assertion of the president 
of the association ever comes to be a reality! It is. “It 
was gratifying to see that teachers at last realized they 
belong to the workers’ class and not professionals’—From 
the Shenandoah (Pa.) Herald of April 8, 1920. 


FROM LOCAL 45 

Mahanoy City can now boast of having two local 
unions of the Teachers’ Federation ; one in Mahanoy 
City and the other in Mahanoy Township. Clus- 
tered in the valley, surrounded by the beauties of 
nature, you cam find a very prognessive corps of 
teachers, who are alive to the every need of the 
under-paid men and women. This is the great fac- 
tor in moulding the minds of the future citizens of 
America. The hopes of a better America, a better 
people, and a better and greater democracy. This 
depends wholly on the schools of our country. 
Therefore, let everyone who believes in the funda- 
mentals of education, give his best thought and ef- 
forts to this great cause of humanity. Mahanoy 
City teachers are determined to put forth the good 
work of organized effort to help this cause. An- 








92 The American Teacher 


other star has been added to our banner in our 
locality. Mahanoy Township teachers were organ- 
ized on April 19th, by Mr D W Davis, interna- 
tional organizer for the United Mine Workers of 
America. Mr Davis is a man to be admired and 
appreciated. He is one of the most popular and 
best known organizers, and one of the strongest ad- 
vocates of the Trade Union Movement. He has 
spent many untiring years fighting for the better- 
ment of the laboring classes. It was thru his firm 


effort and kindly advice that Local 45, Mahanoy 
City, owes her one hundred per cent membership. 
Bina M Ryan, President Local 45. 


FROM LOCAL 149 


The teachers in the Marion, (Illinois) local early 
in February, decided that it would be necessary to 
have a raise in salary. After a meeting and careful 
consideration of our system of taxation, they asked 
for a flat raise of $25.00 per month, from January 
1, 1920. 

The Board of Education 
neglected to give them an early meeting to present 
their claims. On February 17, Chas B Stillman 
explained the Federation movement to the teachers, 
and the entire corps of teachers organized, forming 
the Marion Federation of Teachers, and sent dele- 
gates to the next meeting of the Trades Council. 

In a few days the Board of Education received our 
committee, gave it a courteous hearing, then unani- 
mously granted our full request, a flat raise of 
$25.00 per month from January 1 for each teacher. 

There is at present a “‘school fight” on for mem- 
bers of the Board of Education. There are two 
tickets in the field, and one has publicly recognized 
the Federation and the right of the teachers to 
organize. 


for various ‘reasons 


Roy L Suirtey, Cor. Secretary. 


THE TEACHER’S SELF-RESPECT 

| am convinced that whatever proportion of .the 
difficulty may be ascribed to low salary scales, it 
nevertheless is not by any means the whole story. 
I should say that factors fully as important have 
been the tendency toward vexatious prescriptions 
and irritating standardization far beyond what is 
necessary for effectiveness in work, the net results 
of which constantly decrease the opportunity for 
self-expression in the teacher’s work. 

Add to this the present demoralizing and de- 
meaning interference of legislative committees, 


Volume IX, No, 4 


school boards and self-acclaimed patriots, defining 
what may be mentioned and proscribing varioys 
topics and various methods, and you have what js 
essentially an attack cn the self-respect of teachers, 
which necessarily results promptly in a reduction 
of the teaching force of the country which tends 
to sap it of its vitality. Thus the whole morale of 
the service is gradually shattered. 
—Ernest M. Hopkins, President, Dartmouth College, in 
Bull. of Institute for Public Service. 


A STORY FROM JERSEY CITY 

Mr John G Anderson taught with me at Ep- 
glewood, N J, a few years ago at $800 a year, 
In 1914 he was studying at Teachers’ College 
with no prospects. Mr Fessenden, of the Fessen- 
den School for Boys offered him $2,200 and a 
home for himself and family. He refused it. 
Then Mr Wanamaker offered him $5000 and 
commission to take charge of his sporting goods 
department, which he accepted. He told Mr 
Grant and me on Saturday that he had just had 
an offer of another position, but that Mr Wana- 
maker gave him $3800 flat increase to stay. Note 
please $3800 to remain. Yet there are those who 
say to teachers, “Get out if you don’t like the pay.” 

O Tempora! O Mores! © 


CLEAR PROOF THAT LOCALS SHOULD INFORM 
THEIR MEMBERS 
To the Editor, Tae American TEACHER: 

Last year, without very mature deliberation, I joined a 
teachers’ local in Newark, N J. I wish to absolutely with- 
draw from any such affiliation and request that no more 
publications be sent me. . 

The more I read Toe American TEACHER the less Amer- 
ican and more inflammatory I consider it. This country 
is mot a Democracy, but a Republic. I am sick to death 
of the juggling with words which mean nothing but the 
Creed of Self. The way Labor has and is acting, puts it 
outside the pale of toleration of good, honest, red-blooded 
Americans, There are still, thank God, those of us to 
cling to the good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon ideals and 
who still have a belief based on the Golden Rule, and we 
are going to keep it going. 

If I am to be governed —and I still am sane enough to 
believe in government, I prefer to be governed by thos 
who are valued from the “neck up,” not from the “neck 
down.” I think all this agitation is a direct attempt to 
foster class prejudice not to allay it—and springs from 
dangerous, diseased minds. 

I believe in one Union! 

The good old U S A—you are on the wrong track. 

ELLA W MOCKRIDGE. 





April, 1920 


DEMOCRACY IN EDUCATION IN RUSSIA 

PARIS, March 24.—In the course of my interview with 
Lunacharsky, the Peoples’ Commissary for Public Instruc- 
tion, he laid especial stress upon the country-wide character 
of the Bolshevist system of education in Soviet Russia. 
While of course the maximum effort toward the establish- 
ment of schools is being made, he said, in thickly popu- 
lated centres, children in the remoter districts are not being 
forgotten. 

In the Tver Government he observed the number of 
schools had increased from 2,800 in 1916 to 3,400 at the 
beginning of 1920. In the same province the scholars 
increased from. 160,000 to 278,000 in the same period, while 
the personnel of instructors was more than tripled. Even 
in far-off Turkestan the number of children receiving a first 
grade education climbed from 40,000 to 120,000 and that of 
teachers from 2,000 to 5,000. The Government, despite the 
shortage of paper and printing facilities, managed to supply 
school books gratuitously to 2,500,000 pupils during 1919. 
Moreover, 9,400,000 pairs of shoes were distributed to the 
Soviet’s little wards. For the same year the educational 
budget reached the amazing figure of 20,000,000,000 rubles. 

“How about finding teachers for all these new schools?” 

I asked. “That is the hardest problem we have to solve,” 
Lunacharsky replied. “In principle we have mobilized all 
persons sufficiently cultured to serve as instructors and who 
oe Ot eo a SS Soe oe Se 
only intrust the teaching of our children to those who 
share the ideals to which we aspire. There are now 10,000 
members of the primary teachers’ union and the member- 
ship is growing daily. Of course the union by no means 
comprises all the persons engaged in the work of public 


instruction. 
Committees Over Schools 

“It is mot easy to accustom conservative individuals to 
whom the imperial system gave autocratic authority over 
the children of their care to the Bolshevik theories of 
school administration. We feel that a teacher should not 
be a dictator but an adviser and comrade of his pupils and 
that his discipiine should be enforced morally rather than 
physically. Thus each school is managed not only by the 
teacher alone but by a committee composed of teachers, 
representatives of the children’s parents and delegates of 
the pupils, themselves over the age of twelve, to which is 
added an envoy of the local branch of the Commissariat 
of Public Instruction. Of course, in the actual classroom 
the teacher’s sway is unquestioned. Vigorous efforts have 
resulted in the establishment of a considerable, though still 
inadequate, number of training centres for teachers. 

Thus the former Catherine Institute, one of Moscow’s 
foremost institutions of learning, is devoted altogether to 
preparing for educational work, a rapidly growing class of 
Communistic instructors. Graduates of this institute are 
sent out into the country to spread the knowledge they 
have acquired among their less favored colleagues. There 
was opened on February 1, the so-called Sverdloff Univer- 
sity, to which will come ‘students from all over Russia, 
desirous of gaining a thorough insight into Communist doc- 
trines from the political, social and economic point of view. 
Sverdloff University is designed primarily for the training 
of the exponents of Communism and world revolution but 
it will produce A gee of good teacher material. 

“The establishments which yt call Peasant Universities 
are of course specialist schools dealing with agro- 
nomic science and other matters of — interest to 
the farmer. page fpeadhes Fraygaee”: we organized on 
the initiative of rural communities without reference to 


the central authority. 
To Aid Defective Children. 
“Another noteworthy feature of our programme is the 
formation of pedagogic courses designed to prepare a teach- 
ing personnel of eee oe The curriculum in- 


The American Teacher 93 


cludes the study of physical and psychological peculiarities 
of the child and of methods for overcoming such defects 
through tuition. As for lectures on particular subjects 
outside the ordinary educational scope, there are so many 
I could not attempt to enumerate them. Here in Moscow 
our prospective teachers were offered in one week a 
lecture on the solar system by the distinguished B 
Mikhaileleff, a report by Igor Grabar, a famous historian 
of Raion ‘art dealing with ‘be recent exchenolagieal sy 
series of talks on the 
our enemies who still 


rad ts ties dna. Gu gn to fer euch teat 
I reminded Lunacharsky that he had said nothing about. 


illiteracy among adults. He handed 
celebrated anti-illiteracy decree issued by the Council of 
Peoples Commissaries, which provided in part: 

“The whole population of the Soviet Republic must be 
able to read and write. All Russians between the ages of 
eight and fifty who are illiterate are bound hereby to 


oy the sented or Provincial Soviet in each district. 

“For adult citizens undergoing instruction in reading and 
writing the working day is abridged by two hours during 
the entire educational period. Citizens evading duties spe- 
cified by this decree or in any way interfering with its 
provisions are subject to trial by the revolutionary 
tribunal.” 

“Before the revolution,” Lunacharsky affirmed, “there 
were more than 100,000,000 illiterates in that part of Rus- 
sia now controlled by the Soviets. How many of these 
have learned to read and write in the past two years I 
cannot say, for accurate statistics covering the whole coun- 
try are . This we know, however, and that is that 
where there were originally scarcely 15 per cent. of literate 
Red soldiers, there are now nearly 60 per cent. 

“In the navy, where the percentage of illiteracy was 
almost as high as in the army, there is virtually none. We 
know too, that where two years ago Petrograd numbered 
30 per cent. of illiterates among the population, she now 
numbers only 60,000 or about 8 per cent. Continuing at 
same rate of progress she will have none whatever six 
months hence. “I don’t hesitate to predict that in three 

years there will be no more illiteracy thruout the whole 
length and breadth of the Soviet Repnblic’—-Lincotn Eyre, 
in The New York World of March 27, 1920. 


THE LABOR JURY AT CENTRALIA 


ton, rendered unanimously a verdict of “not guilty. ” 
report they declare that there was a conspiracy of 
business interests of Centralia to raid the I W W hall; 
O Grimm was a party to this conspiracy; 
that the defen- 
tt to defend their hall. They say that the 

them that = attack was made on 





The American Teacher 


BOOK NOTES 


The American Labor Year-Book 1919-1920; Edited by 
ALEXANDER TRACHTENBERG, Rand School of Social Science, 
New York. 

The American Labor Year Book will be welcomed by 
teachers perhaps more than by many other groups of 
workers. Within the compass of its 447 pages are packed 
a wealth of information concerning the many phases of the 
labor movement thruout the world, carefully arranged and 
thoroly indexed. 

The American Labor Year Book now issued for the 
third time is undoubtedly one of the most important con- 
tributions made in the field of Social-Economic literature 
in the United States. The Rand School of Social Science, 
under whose auspices the work is done; Alexander Trach- 
tenberg, its editor; and the host of authorities in Europe, 
America and elsewhere that the editor has succeeded in 
marshalling in the service of this volume deserve very high 
praise in their painstaking work. 

Readers will note with satisfaction the absence of any 
propaganda in the many articles contained in this volume. 
It is evident that it was the aim of the editor to present 
the facts of the labor and Socialist movements in a scien- 
tific and impartial spirit. The book is divided into six 
parts. The first three numbering 255 pages, deal exclusively 
with the general labor movement, two-thirds of this space 
being devoted to “Labor in the War,” and the rest to the 
“Labor Movement in the United States,” and “Labor and 
the Law.” 

In the section on “Labor in the War,” are included arti- 
cles describing the part played by labor in the English 
Coalition Government; the “History of Woman Labor in 
War-Time France”; “England and America”; the “Work 
of the War Labor Board,” which played so important a part 
in the adjustment of industrial disputes during the war; and 
a concise account of the numerous war boards which were 
set up in the United States and elsewhere. This section 
closes with a description of the restrictions on Press and 
Assemblage and an account of some of the famous trials 
of opponents of the war in the United States, such as the 
Debs, Berkman, Goldman, Nearing, O’Hare and other trials. 

In the section on the Labor Movement in the United 
States, the history cf several important labor unions is 
given, including, among others, The American Federation of 
Teachers, The Amalgamated Clothing Workers, Office 
Workers, and Industrial Workers of the World. This section 
closes with an account of the forces which are attempting 
to develop an educational program for the workers, i.e., the 
Rand School, The Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, The 
United Labor Education Committee and the Boston Trade 
Union College. 

Part Four, which describes social and economic condi- 
tions, will be particularly helpful to teachers. In this sec- 
tion are brought together a good many useful articles dis- 
cussing the cost of living, food profiteering, wealth and in- 
come in the United States, the Plumb Plan, the United 
States Employment Service, the Non-Partisan League and 
other matters. 


Volume 1X, No. 4. 


The last two sections, dealing with the Socialist move- 
ment in America, and in all the countries of the worid 
where there exists an organized Socialist and labor move- 
ment, will be found, in these days of the increasing im- 
portance of Socialism everywhere, particularly helpful, espe- 
cially since the information contained in these two sections 
is not often available in such convenient form. 


THE GREENWICH SUMMER SCHOOL 

The Greenwich Summer School will be con- 
tinued from July 5 to August 13, 1920, under the 
direction of Mrs. Marietta L Johnson, Director of 
the School of Organic Education, Fairhope, Ala. 
The address is, Mrs H C Allen, Greenwich Sum- 
mer School, Greenwich, Conn. 

The charge for any course will be $15, for any 
two or more regular courses, $25. Accommoda- 
tions for boarding at $15 a week will be offered for 
a limited number of students. 

Professor John Dewey says of Mrs Johnson’s 
work at Fairhope: 

“In my judgment the school has demonstrated that 
it is possible for children to lead the same natural 


lives in school that they lead in homes of the right 
sort outside of school; to progress bodily, mentally 


and morally in school without factitious pressure, re- 
wards, examinations, grades or promotions; while they 
acquire sufficient control of the conventional tools of 


learning and of the study of books—reading, writing 
and figuring—to be able to use them independently. 

“What has been done is simply to provide the con- 
ditions for wholesome, natural growth in small enough 
groups for the teachers (as a leader rather than as an 
instructor) to become acquainted with the weaknesses 
of each child individually, and then to adapt the work 
to individual needs.” 


THE SCHOOL SYSTEM 

What is referred to as a general “shortage of teachers 
in New York is a misstatement of the case. The supply of 
teachers, is as great as ever, but the administration of the 
schools has driven thousands of teachers out of the profes- 
sion in sheer disgust. The schools have become so many 
sweatshops, administered by a few bureaucrats who should 
be superintending peonage camps in some of the nations of 

Latin America. 

Aside from the miserable salaries paid the teachers, these 
bureaucrats have attempted to stifle every tendency toward 
independent thinking by the teachers. The administration 
has become an annex of the financial crowd, the profes- 
sional patrioteers and their bankrupt politicians. It is be- 
coming the agent of a Prussian conception of the citizen, 
a servile, unthinking manikin having no personal initiative 
and responding to conservative traditions in politics, eco- 
nomics and government. 

Just because of his education the teacher is likely to be 
the first to resent conscription of his conscience by bureau- 
cratic upstarts. The tendency under such conditions is to 
make for the survival of the unfit in the schools. The 
most servile teachers submit, and the progressives with ini- 
tiative and ideals leave in disgust. The result is that the 

pupils suffer in the end—From the New York Call of Feb- 
ruary 29 1920.) 





April, 1920 


STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, 
CIRCULATION, ETC., REQUIRED BY THE ACT 
OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912, 

Of Tse American Teacuer published monthly, except 
July and August, at New York, N Y, for April 1, 
1920. 

State of New York 

County of Queens ss. 

Before me, a Notary Public in and for the State and 
county aforesaid, personally appeared Henry R Linville, 
who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes 
and says that he is the Editor of Tae American TEACHER 
and that the following is, to the best of his knowledge 
and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management 
(and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the afore- 
said publication for the date shown in the above caption, 
required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in sec- 
tion 443, Postal Laws and Regulations, printed on the 
reverse of this form, to wit: 

1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, 
managing editor, and business managers are: Publisher, The 
American Federation of Teachers, 70 Fifth Avenue, New 
York, N Y; Editor, Henry R Linville, 36 Terrace Avenue, 
Jamaica, N. Y.; Managing Editor, none; Business Manager, 
Max Rosenhaus, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York, N Y. 

2. That the owners are: (Give names and addresses of 
individual owners, or, if a corporation, give its name and 
the names and addresses of stockholders owning or holding 
1 per cent or more of the total amount of stock.) The 
American Federation of Teachers—President, Chas B Still- 
man, 1620 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, Ill; Secretary-Treasurer, 
F G Stecker, 1618 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, Ill.; approximate 
number of members, 12,000. 

3. That the known bondholders, mortgagees, and other 
security holders owning or holding rt per cent or more of 
total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: 
(If there are none, so state.) none. 

4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names 
of the owners, stockholders, and security holders, if any, 
contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders 
as they appear upon the books of the company but also, 
in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears 
upon the books of the company as trustee or in any 
other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corpora- 
tion for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that 
the said two paragraphs contain statements embracing af- 
fiant’s full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances and 
conditions under which stockholders and security holders 
who do not appear upon the books of the company as 
trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than 
that of a bona fide owner; and this affiant has no reason 
to believe that any other person, association, or corpora- 
tion has any interest direct or indirect in the said stock, 
bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him. 

s. That the average number of copies of each issue of 
this publication sold or distributed, through the mails or 
otherwise, to paid subscribers during the six months preced- 
ing the date shown above is (This 
information is required from daily publications only.) 

HENRY R LINVILLE, 

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 14th day of 


April, 1920. 
[SEAL] ALVIN M DUNHAM, 
(My commission expires March 30, 1921.) 


Public employment must never mean the surren- 
der of the cherished right of American citizenship. 


The American Teacher 95 


WEBSTERS NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 

Mr. W. H. Maddock who has long been our repre- 
sentative in the educational field, will, after April 
first, have charge of our Educational Department, and 
make his home in Springfield. 

In this broader field we bespeak for him a con- 
tinuance of the kindly consideration that has always 
been extended to him and to us in the past. 

G. & C. MERRIAM COMPANY. 
Springfield, Mass. 
March 23, 1920 





Contracts awaiting teachers for all classes of school 
work. No fee unless appointed. Select service, prompt 
and efficient. Write us fully today, we can assist in 
your promotion. 

OSWEGO TEACHERS’ AGENCY 
Box C, Oswego, N. Y. 





This is the Official Organ 
of the 


American Federation 


of Teachers 


ORGANIZED APRIL 15, 1916 
Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor 


Executive Council of the American Federation of Teachers. 
President, Cuartes B Stimuiman, Chicago 
1620 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, Ill. 
First Vice-President and Editor American Teacher, 
Henry R Livvittz, New York City, 
36 Terrace Avenue, Jamaica 
Second Vice-President and Field Secretary, 
L V Lampson, Washington, D C 
1336 Otis Place, N W 
Third Vice-President, Josepuine Cosy, Fresno, Cal., 
124 N Van Ness Blvd. 
Fourth Vice-President, Herman Derrem, New York City, 
2875 Broadway 
Fifth Vice-President, Isanex Writ1ams, St. Paul, Minn., 
554 Holly Avenue 
Sixth Vice-President, Jennre A Wutcox, Chicago, Il. 
212 North Grove Avenue, Oak Park, Ill. 
Seventh Vice-President, Apranam Lerxowrrz, 
New York City, Grand Avenue, East Elmhurst 
Eighth Vice-President, C E Pius, Atlanta, Ga., 
94 Brookline Street 
Ninth Vice-President, Cirara K Srutz, Washington, D C 
1628 Swann Street 
Secretary-Treasurer, F G Srecxer, Chicago, Il. 
1618 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, IL 











ARE WE OUR BROTHERS’ KEEPERS? 
Penal Code of California 

‘*§ 679. Any person or corporation within this state, or agent or 
officer on behalf of such person or corporation, who shall hereafter coerce 
or compel any person or persons to enter into an agreement, ei‘her written 
or verbal, not to join or become a member of any labor organization, as a 
condition of such person or persons securing employment or continuing in 
the employment of eny such person or corporation, shall be guilty of a 
misdemeanor. ’’ 

But the Board of Education of San Francisco, which is in the State 
of Oalifornia, has denied to San Francisco teachers affiliated with organized 
labor the right to maintain their affiliation (See p. 88), and has threatened 
them with dismissal. 

Will the Board of Education of San, Francisco be permitted to have its 
way? It all depends, and mostly on US. | 

Whom are we fighting? The Commercial Federation of California. 
Otherwise known as Big Business. Here is the proof. 

This blessed body is spending money on three-column-wide, column- 
long advertisements in California papers urging teachers not to join teach- 
ers’ unions. The advertisements say the purposes of the Commercial Federa- 
tion are, for example, ‘‘to encourage and support true Americanism,’’ ‘‘to 
uphold and enforce all laws,’’ ‘‘to strive in every fair and generous way 
for a better understanding and cooperation between employer and employe,”’ 
‘‘to raise the standard and safeguard the future of the public schools.’’ _ 

With one hand they toss out promises to help teachers obtain better 
pay; with the other they set up walls dividing teachers off from useful 
organizations and from useful thinking. They say, ‘‘Neither must the dis- 
putes between labor and industry be aired in the schoolroom. Teachers 
must keep aloof alike from political and industrial discussions. Teachers 
are beginning to be regarded as wards of the state.’’ They not only set up 
walls, but they put the teachers inside. Teachers are ‘‘wards, and like 
other dependents and defectives are forbidden any activity that will tend 
to break down the walls. 7 

Down at the bottom of the advertisement the mailed fist uncovers 
itself, thus: 

“Those who do so [join unions] are false to the trust that the com- 
munity reposes in them, and they will certainly be dismissed to make place 
for others who are faithful to the traditions of their profession. 

Read over again the ‘‘purpdéses of the C F of C, and tell us whether 
it is safe to depend on Big Business to protect Americanism and the Law. 
Californians may not be able to carry on this fight alone, so, 

WHAT IS LABOR GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? 

WHAT ARE ORGANIZED TEACHERS GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? 

WHAT IS EACH LOCAL GOING TO DO ABOUT IT? 

YESTERDAY IT WAS THE ST LOUIS TEACHERS WHO WERE 
THROWN OUT; TODAY IT IS SAN FRANCISCO; TOMORROW BIG 
BUSINESS MAY STRIKE ELSEWHERE. 

ARE WE NOT COMPELLED TO BE OUR BROTHERS’ KEEPERS? 





Ep