Te AMERICAN 
==] TEACHER 











OCTOBER, 1920 


British Labor Wins 


‘= 


The Ethics of Academic 
Freedom 


gton 


Bur of Education 


Wasbin 
DC 


0 
Around the Circuit 


O 


Stirring Up the Teachers 


Education for Democracy \ 


Democracy in Education 





The American Teacher 


Volume IX, N 





\. advanced by bounds. 





Labor and Co-operation 


and 4,000 cooperative consumers’ 

stores in the United States at the 
present time. They are almost exclusively 
owned by .trade unionists and by farmers. 
Consumers’ cooperation has probably never 
reached so high a level at any previous time 
in this country. Cooperative banking has 
Large numbers of 


[a are said to be between 3,000 


small credit unions 


Members of the. American Federation of 
Labor are backing the present revival of 
cooperation. One of the dominant A F of L 
unions, the United Mine Workers of Amer- 
ica, is responsible for some of the largest 
groups of stores in the United States. Out- 
side organizations such as the Amalgamated 
Clothing Workers of America and the rail- 
road brotherhoods have shown as much zeal 

as the mine work- 








seem ‘to be ‘firmly 
entrenched while 
ambitious plans for 
state and national 
banks have been 
carefully laid. 
Producers’ coop- 
eration has been ad- 
vanced. Among 
trade unionists a 
number of interest- 
ing experiments are 
being made, while 
among farmers 
large and wealthy 
associations seem 
to be thoroly estab- 
lished. In numbers 
of organizations, in 
volume of business 


EDITORIALS 


DOM 


NEUTRALITY 


oT . 








CONTENTS 


British LAsor WINS 


Tue Etruics oF ACADEMIC FREE- 


AROUND THE CIRCUIT . 


Tue IssuE oF SALARIES FOR MEN 


From THE LocaALs oF THE A F 


STIRRING Up THE TEACHERS . 


} ers. Radical and 
conservative alike 
are giving impetus 
to the development. 
Cooperation fur 

thermore has for 
the first time 
brought organized 
labor and __associ- 
ated farmers to- 
gether in an under- 
taking which rests 
on something more 
solid than emotion 
or opinion. Often 
enough in this coun- 
try farmers and ar- 
tisans have deemed 
their interests to be 
clashing and have 


168 

















and most of all in 
centralized and critically self-conscious effort 
cooperation is on a higher plane than it has 
ever before reached in the United States. 
The successful stores are moreover chiefly 
those which ,are the property of .trade 
unionists. Dr J P Warbasse, president of 
the Cooperative League of America, states 
that a recent examination of most of the 
consumers’ undertakings listed by the league 
showed them to be overwhelmingly laborite 
in their membership. 


acted in that belief. 
Now both groups have discovered a practical 
interest which may bind them as firmly as 
the desire for protection bound the manu- 
facturers of the first half of the nineteenth 
century.—William L Cheney in The. Survey 
of October 9, 1920. 

Experiments with cooperative enterprises 
among teachers have not yet developed appar- 
ently. Teachers are requested to send informa- 
tion of any experiments that may be under way 
to the AMERICAN TEACHER. 


7 


-" 














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 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized September 27, 1919. 


Volume IX, No. 7. 


OTHER AFFILIATIONS 


[he AMERICAN TEACHER desires the coopera- 
tion of our members in ascertaining the names of 
cities in which some form of agreement seems to 
have been made between the educational systems 
and chambers of commerce. It is important that 
an investigation on a national scale be undertaken 
in this connection. In the event of significant 
data being obtained, a report will be published in 
these columns. 


FOR THE NEW WAR, THE BATTERY 
OF SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE 


More things will happen in the “backwash” of 
the war than the probable change of the political 
complexion of the national government. The 
setting up of fake standards of patriotism, and 
the advertising of 100 percenters in various one- 
sided notions of Americanism will give way to 
calm and merciless studies of actual practices in 
our colleges and schools during the war period, 
before and since that dread epoch. Some of these 
studies, like the admirable one presented in this 
issue on ”The Ethics of Academic Freedom,” are 
not directed against any particular class of of- 
fenders in our academic life. Yet they tend to 
discredit all classes.of offenders against the spirit 
of freedom, and to hasten the day of intelligent 
citizenship, 


HIS MAJESTY, THE LAW 


President Stillman’s report of the struggles of 
the two locals at Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, is 
well worth our attention. What has happened 
there is what might have been expected. In fact, 
like the credit-seeking newspaper that “fore- 
casts” events, and then exclaims, “I told you 
so!”, THE AMERICAN TEACHER desires to call at- 
tention to the forecast it made in the Septem- 
ber issue. “Unless we set a watch upon their 


OCTOBER, 1920 


One Dollar a: Year 
[the officials’] actions they will be copying Fin- 
egans’s opinions, and setting them up as the law.” 
Sure enough, Superintendent Noonan has given 
out the suggestion that the Finegan decision is 
the law in Pennsylvania. He has done even better 
than that. He has taken it upon himself to inter- 
pret the law to cover his own act when he calmly 
walks into a teachers’ meeting, picks up the char- 
ter granted to the local by the American Federa- 
tion of Teachers, and walks out with it, stating 
that any of his teachers who affiliated with or- 
ganized labor would not have their licerise re- 
newed that year. Has ever barbaric potentate 
been more true to form? 


MORE GOOD MATERIAL FOR DEBATES 


Columbia University, New York, is arranging 
a debate with the University of Texas on the now 
popular subject, “Shall teachers join unions and 
affiliate with the American Federation of Labor?” 
The Columbia students have had their “try-out,” 
which yielded the interesting result that those who 
spoke on the side of unionization showed far bet- 
ter preparation than did those who chose the 
other side. It is not known yet which college will 
speak for the unions. 

In the meantime, things are happening in the 
world at large, especially in England, that will 
have an important bearing on the question of 
whether teachers are affiliating with a special 
group in the state as against the public itself. Mr 
Stone’s interesting statement published in this 
issue showing that the coal miners made their 
fight in behalf of the public as well as in their own 
interest, will be good material for this debate. The 
Amalgamated Clothing Workers in this country 
have also indicated a definite purpose to act in be- 
half of the public. The social idealism of organ- 
ized labor has. no counterpart in the activities of 
any organizations with which the National. Secur- 
ity League, for example, would have us affiliate. 





148 


LEADERSHIP IN LABOR 


The organized teachers in America have been 
- affiliated with labor long enough to justify a thoro 
examination of our contributions to the social 
movement which labor represents. As a special 
group of educated workers, we should be peculi- 
arly fitted for assisting in undertaking and in 
carrying out certain endeavors. Two kinds of 
helpful contributions would be cooperation in the 
efforts of labor to educate itself, and cooperation 
in the newer effort of labor to strengthen its 
leadership. The first is well under way ; the latter 
calls for immediate attention. 


We should understand at the beginning that 
leadership in labor is not to be improved by any 
process of meddfing. There should be no uneasi- 
ness on this point in our case, however, if we are 
fundamentally and sincerely a part of the labor 
movement. Since we are a part of the labor move- 
ment socially and by deliberate choice, our effort 
will serve so far as it is intelligent. 


Labor needs leadership that understands the 
philosophy of the movement. There should be a 
bureau in every labor center which could devote 
itself to the preparation of promising young men 
and women for the work of teaching and leading 
thru practical means the rank and file of the mem- 
bers. The young people should be trained thru 
the intensive study of trade unionism, economics, 
history, English and public speaking. The per- 
sons who can prepare themselves for teaching the 
coming leaders are the organized teachers. In 
fact, no others can do this work so well. Natur- 
ally, this means that as the plan develops many 
teachers will find that their vocation will be altered 
in such a way that they will teach in the labor 
schools altogether. 


Along with the development of scientific under- 
standing within the leadership of labor will come, 
under the incidental social stimulation of criticism, 
a definite sense of responsibility for clean and 
honest leadership. Now and then labor is shamed 
by public scandals of crookedness in its leadership. 
The gross defiance of the rights of the public and 
the brutal treatment of the workers themselves by 
dishonest leaders do untold harm. The current 
exposure of the leadership in the Building Trades 


The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 


Council of New York hurts tremendously. Things 
of this sort become known from time to time, the 
old leaders are overthrown, and new leaders with 
senses made more keen to “watch their step,” take 
their places. 


We whose business it is to understand the drift 
and movement in history should place ourselves 
in positions to demonstrate to labor the futility of 
changing one leader for another, and letting it go 
at that. We must teach labor to give up the old 
idea of leadership which involves the dependence 
on men who are able, and are that alone. [iven 
if we say that leaders should be honest, that they 
should be intelligent, that they should scorn to 
displace all possible competitors in the leadership, 
these qualities would not be enough. Leaders 
must be socially minded, and above all they must 
give their greatest effort toward the development 
in their people of the conception of leadership as 
the instrument thru which their own social desires 
are furthered and accomplished. 


FROM THE BUSINESS MANAGER 


Many notices have come to us from postmaster: 
notifying us of removal of subscribers or readers of 
the “American Teacher.” In many cases the NEW 
ADDRESS HAS NOT BEEN GIVEN. Such readers 
are of course dropped frem our list. It is therefore 
essential that persons ing their addresses 
should notify the office at 70 Fifth Avenue, New 
York City, of such change. 

Secretaries of Locals are asked to cooperate 
whenever possible. 


The American Teacher 


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


THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 
at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
Heyry R LINvVILLE, Editor 
Associate Editors 


AUGUSTINE AURIANNE SAMUEL G McLEAN 
HARRY GUNNISON BROWN Auice L Woop 


Max ROSENHAUS, Business Manager 

















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copy. Subscribers are requested to give prompt notice 
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British Labor Wins 
WILMER E STONE , 
De Witt Clinton High School, New York 


The issues in the great strike of British coal 
miners have been complicated by the emphasis on 
details, as reported in the press, yet the under- 
lying struggle is massive and simple. The ques- 
tion primarily is whether labor shall force gov- 
ernment to intervene in the management of the 
industry on behalf of the commonwealth, or 
whether government shall step aside and allow 
the workers and owners to fight a selfish battle, 
each in their own interest, with the public as 
victims. To the honor of the miners, supported 
by organized labor thruout the United Kingdom, 
they have taken up the gage in behalf of the 
British public and the ideal of service. 


Last July the miners framed demands includ- 
ing a two-shilling raise per man per day, and the 
reduction of the price of domestic coal by 14 
shillings, 2 pence, per ton. After negotiation be- 
tween the miners’ executive, the owners, and the 
government, threats of a strike and balloting upon 
it, the miners’ leaders allowed themselves to be 
outmanceuvred. They withdrew the demand for 
the reduction in the price of coal, and, when 
the strike was finally called, the issue was a simple 
question of wages. Then the government over- 
played its hand, being confident, no doubt, that 
the miners’ leaders had lost their courage. In- 
stead of granting the two shillings per day in- 
crease, the government, thru Sir Robert Horne, 
insisted upon making the increase depend upon 
increased output, with the proviso that decreased 
output would result in a cut in wages. 

Robert Smillie, the miners’ leader, had made a 
long fight for a basic minimum wage thruout the 
coal industry, and insisted that the increase was 
justified by increased cost of living, while falling 
production was due to the failure of the owners 
to work the best seams of coal and to failure 
to install modern methods and machinery. He 
claimed that the owners were deliberately mak- 
ing a poor showing in order to secure greater 
prices, then to succeed in having the government 
relinquish all control of the industry, when the 
owners could abandon the poor coal veins, work 
the rich ones, and, at the new high prices, make 


immense profits for themselves. (Most of the 
profit now, under government control, go to re- 
duce the war debt.) So the fight really was one, 
on the part of the miners, for continued govern- 
ment control, with an established basic minimum 
wage as a leading feature, in addition to protec- 
tion of the public. 

However, so great was the clamor in the press 
that the miners were merely selfish in demanding 
a two-shilling increase, yet refusing to guarantee 
output, that Smillie advised the miners to ac- 
cept the government’s terms, since they would 
get their increase and control would be retained, 
even if the basic minimum wage were lost in case 
of further falling off in production. The men 
were not to be so easily defeated. They voted 
to reject the government proposal; the strike be- 
gan. It at once became evident that, despite the 
wavering of some labor leaders, like Thomas, of 
the railroad workers, the rank and file thruout 
the key industries, and especially the other mem- 
bers of the Triple Alliance (the Transport Work- 
ers and National Union of Railway Men) would 
line up behind the miners for a finish fight against 
owners and government (almost synonymous 
terms). 

The government took fright, and, notwithstand- 
ing the gesture of passing a bill enabling it to use 
the military power in the emergency, began to 
negotiate once more. Smillie and the other leaders 
of the miners, strengthened by the evident deter- 
mination of the men, now increased their de- 
mands. At present, the terms of the new tenta- 
tive agreement between government and owners 
on one side and miners’ executive on the other, are 
not available in full detail. They are outlined, 
however, as follows: The miners are to get their 
two-shilling increase, to date from October first; 
a commission is to be established to sit perma- 
nently to regulate wages in relation to output, 
providing that wages are not to fall below the 
minimum now existing, thus preserving both gov- 
ernment control and the minimum wage; finally, 
profits as well as wages are to vary in proportion 
to output, thus strengthening the principle of con- 


149 





150 


trol and recognizing the responsibility of the 
owners to the public and to the principle of ser- 
vice. It is to be hoped that the miners will vote 
to accept these terms, for they make a great gash 
in the divine right of private property to do as it 
pleases, and they constitute a long step towards 
the miners’ ultimate goal—nationalization and 
democratic management of the mines. Attempt 
to disguise the fact as it may, the government is 
defeated. It bows to force majeure; and the 
credit for the victory belongs to the rank and file 
of British labor. 


MOTHER AND THE TEACHER 
FLORENCE ROOD 
St Paul Federation of Women Teachers 


Time was, if we may be allowed (temporarily 
only) to lay aside our professional language and 
speak in that of the day, when mother appears 
to have been the whole works. We suggest to 
those who doubt this statement that they read 
a certain quotation: Proverbs xxxl, vs. 10-31. 

Having had’ the bearing and rearing of the 
family thrust on her by nature, she seems to have 
taken over all the activities of the industrial, 
social, and educational fields of the time Is it 
any wonder there was nothing left for father 
but to “be known in the gates, when he sitteth 
among the elders of the land’? 

Now that the fireless cooker, the vacuum 
cleaner, the electric washer and ironer and the 
ready-to-wear garment have so largely eman- 
cipated mother, we class-room teachers find our- 
selves, somewhat unwillingly, inheriting a gar- 
ment that looks like mother’s mantle in the field 
of education. If we should chronicle our activ- 
ities in the language of the quotation, they would 
read pretty much this way. 

Who can find a conscientious teacher? for her 
price is above rubies. 

She has the confidence of her supervising of- 
ficers, and they trust in her. 

“She doeth them good.” 

She seeketh educational lectures and meetings 
and listeneth eagerly with her ears. 

She is like the merchant ships, she bringeth her 
ideas from afar. : 

She riseth while it is yet night and goeth many 


The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 


miles to her labors. Yea, verily, the bottom step 
of the street car is hers. She singeth praises tha: 
it is her garment, and not herself that is separated 
in the struggles of the workers like unio mad 
beasts. 

She perceiveth that her labor is endless; he: 
candle goeth not out at night 

She layeth her hand to her pen and the red 
ink, and her hand to her “demon papers.” Sh: 
maketh averages and reports. She supplieth he: 
superior officer with material on which he writeth 
a thesis and on which he getteth a degree, and a 
promotion. 

“He is known in the gates when he sitteth 
among the elders of the land.” 

She looketh well to the ways of her school 
room; and eateth not the bread of idleness 

She washeth many feet of blackboards and 
writeth assignments thereon. 

She prepareth a lesson in each of the subject: 
man knoweth. She greeteth her children with joy. 

She readeth an “Official Bulletin.” 

She examineth her children for the ills that 
flesh is heir to; she reporteth them to the nurse. 

She readeth an “Official Bulletin.” 

She teacheth a lesson for a supervisor. 

She disciplineth a child, “she openeth her mout) 
with wisdom and in her tongue is the law of 
kindness. 

She readeth an “Official Bulletin” and pre- 
pareth an unexpected and “immediate” repor' 
on how many erasers she hath, or some other 
piece of information vital to the educationa! 
system. 

“Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain,” but a 
teacher who asketh not for greater compensation 
lest she be unprofessional, “she shall be praised.” 

“Give her the fruit of her hands; let her own 
works praise her in the gates.” 


THE FIFTH CONVENTION.—tThe call for the 
fifth convention of the American Federation of 
Teachers to be held the last week in December, has 
been issued under date of November 3rd. This con- 
vention will be held in St. Paul beginning at ten 


o’clock Tuesday forenoon, December 28th. Cre- 
dential blanks are being sent to all locals who should 
elect delegates at the earliest opportunity. Dupli- 
cate blanks should be returned to Secretary Stecker 
after election of delegates. Further information 
regarding the convention will then be furnished to 
the delegates. Local arrangements are in the hands 
of the St. Paul Locals 28 and 43. 








The Ethics of Academic Freedom* 


WILLIAM L WERNER 
Lebanon, Pa. 


Instructor in English, Pennsylvania State College 


INTRODUCTION 


This is a selective summary, chiefly of numer- 
ous magazine articles and reports, that have dis- 
cussed various phases of academic freedom in 
America. The Preliminary Discussion considers 
the ramifications of the problem and gives con- 
clusions when they seem undebatable. The Dis- 
cussion takes up the debatable issues which con- 
cern the present situation, such issues that are 
of value in the pragmatic consideration of the 
problem. It concludes with an attempt to sum- 
marize the reasonable limits of freedom. The 
Practical Suggestions are concrete proposals 
which would tend to bring about such general 
rules of conflict or ethics, as the conclusions of 
Part Two might suggest as desirable. 

In all this discussion it is assumed that private 
citizens may enjoy the very widest extent of free- 
dom in thought, speech, and press. Limitations 
on such rights of private citizens would naturally 
limit the rights of teachers. 

Where important material has been borrowed 
from other articles, the numeral employed will 
indicate the number of the reference in the bibli- 
ography. In this way, the reader can compare 
the statements of the original with the selective 
summary, noticing the reservations and interpreta- 
tions of the present writer. All statements with- 
out such numerals are the writer’s contribution to 
the discussion. 


I. PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION 


I. There are at most six parties involved in 
the contract of teaching: the founders and do- 
nors, the State, the trustees or supervisors, the 
teachers, the students, and the constituency. In 
some cases, some of these are lacking, in others 
they overlap; but this does not interfere with the 
present discussion of the rights of each.! 

(a) The founders and donors have no rights 
except the initial determination of how their gifts 
shall be used.11_ The founders can state the gen- 


_* Thesis presented in Education at Summer Ses- 
sion of Columbia University, July, 1920. 


eral purpose of the institution and select the first 
trustees. The donors can choose the place of 
their gifts. But as soon as they try to control 
the school, after their gifts are made, they cease 
to be donors and are mere bargainers. This ap- 
plies to State legislatures as well as to private in- 
dividuals.1° “There can be no room for debate 
as to the impropriety of permitting powerful in- 
dividuals outside the university, in or out of pub- 
lic office, to dictate to university presidents re- 
specting the utterance of university professors.” * 


(b) The State can exempt schools from tax- 
ation and can regulate schools by refusing to give 
them the right to grant degrees. There exists 
a general attitude that states should exempt 
schools from taxes and also that they should re- 
fuse charters “where the field is full and to in- 
dividual promulgators of prejudice.” "4 J do not 
see any ground for these opinions. Private 


schools should be willing to be taxed as much 


as any other public utility. State money orght not 
to go to institutions which the state does not con- 
trol. At the same time, it would be dangerous 
to allow the state to refuse charters to schools on 
any grounds. Such restrictions might become a 
basis of intolerable political and religious repres- 
sion (cf. attempt of New York Legislature to 
destroy the Rand School). Classification of 
schools by limiting their rights to degree-giving, 
etc., would not be objectionable (cf. III, 4). 
(c) The rights of trustees in colleges and of 
supervisors in schools are greatest at present, and 
so, most important. Opinions vary widely, from 
the attitude of some trustees of the University of 
Pennsylvania ® (and elsewhere) who believe in 
their complete control, to the opinions of others 
that they shall merely ratify faculty suggestions. 
H W Nutt?” in a book on supervision says, “one 
of the prime objects (of supervision) is to de- 
velop independence on the part of the teacher.” 
Perhaps the one undebatable point is that some 
selection and some censorship is always made by 
the trustees before their choice and in their choice 
of teachers® This is an undeniable priviiege, as 


151 





152 


no one so far has suggested that a faculty select 
its own members (except where teachers are also 
trustees, as in the School for Social Research, I 
believe ; and in minor appointments to instructor- 
ships and assistancies). The power of trustees 
over professors, after their selection, will he con- 
sidered later in this thesis. 

(d) The teachers have some just claims for in- 
dependence, which will be discussed under III. I 
shall merely point out here some of the abuses 
of the privileges which their position entails; 
abuses which are opposed to complete academic 
freedom. Such essential qualities of character- 
istics are: 

. A scholarly attitude and sincere research. 

. An expression of one’s views with dignity, 
courtesy, and temperance. 

. The duty of training pupils to think rather 
than copy one’s own ideas. 

. Competency, to teach or direct research. 

. A fair, judicial mind, setting forth diver- 
gent opinions.?° 

. The duty of teaching one’s subject to the 
best of one’s ability, not dealing in class 
with matters wholly unrelated to that sub- 
_—-, °° 

. The duty of not calling true ideas un- 
tested by others. 

. The duty of not claiming authority out- 
side one’s subjects. 

. The duty of not linking the name of one’s 
school with the expression of one’s private 
opinions outside. 

10. Correct personal conduct; high morality. 

11. No hostility to the state aiming at its 

dismemberment or destruction. 

12. Duty toward school, as first consideration 

in all one’s acts.'® 
I do not think there is any debate about the first 
ten requirements. But I should say that loyalty 
to the truth is more important than to the state 
or the institution (opposed to 11 and 12). The 
characteristics 1, 2, and 5, should be sufficient 
guarantee of a correct attitude toward state and 
school (except in the case of private schools, dis- 
cussed later). The loyalty to truth in a teacher 
seems to me to admit of no conflicting loyalties. 


Should these various loyalties become totally in- 


The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 


compatible, resignation is better than a sacrifice 
of truth. 

(e) Students in the present state of student 
government have no recognized authority. Thei: 
regulations of academic freedom are confined to 
individual boycotts of certain classes or teachers 
A student in higher institutions may avoid a cer- 
tain course, or drop it before it ends or walk 
out of a class room, to express disapproval. The 
immature pupil of the lower schools has little, if 
any, voice in the matter. The most valid ob- 
jections of pupils to entirely free speech are: 
(1) neglect of a catalogued course for extraneous 
material that interests the teacher; (2) neglect of 
the desired course in response to demands of 
backward students or discussions of students 
especially interested in particular phases of a 
problem; and (3) introduction into the cuurse of 
entirely extraneous material that is offensive to 
the student or his parents.41 These seem to be 
three reasonable limitations to entirely free speech 
(cf. previous paragraph, duties 2, 6, and 8. Per- 
haps the best way for the student to enforce 
these limitations is to follow the example of Lin- 


coln Steffens and others, who gave their profes- 
sor at a European university one minute off his 
subject, and then shuffled their feet on the floor 


until he returned to pertinent matter. (Further 
discussion under III, 5.) 

(f) The constituency of -a school includes, 
among others, the alumni and the group of citizens 
from which its students and its money are 
drawn." There is no question as to the ultimate 
power of this group, as no school can exist with- 
out students or funds. But at present its lack 
of organization and its distance from the school 
usually make it powerless. In private schools, 
it has no rights except such as can be enforced 
through a withdrawal of support (as with do- 
nors). In public schools, it must act thru its 
representatives (legislature, school directors, 
etc.). The right of an alumnus to protect his own 
prestige by insisting that the standards of the 
school be maintained must be worked out thru 
alumni representation on the governing board. 
The proper location of the power of all this group, 
in fact, should lie in the board of trustees, bring- 
ing it under the previous discussion of (c). 





October, 1920 


Having examined these six parties, we see that 
the present situation is a conflict between trus- 
tees and teachers. The other four groups have 
no rights, or have no means of enforcing them at 
present. (The matter of enforcing recugnized 
rights is taken up in Part III.) 


2. Three phases of freedom. There are six 
parties involved; there are three phases of the 
problem. They are freedom: (a) for inquiry 
and research; (b) of teaching in the class room; 
and (c) in extra-mural utterance and action. 

(a) Freedom for inquiry and research is a 
generally admitted right, provided that it does not 
interfere with teaching activities. I have found 
only one dismissal from research work, that of 
Professor Hale 1* from Dartmouth College about 
1835, and that seems to have arisen from sec- 
tarian religious differences, not connected with 
the work. I can find no justification for Prof. 
John Dewey’s*® statement that the danger to 
freedom to work is greater than to freedom of 
speech. Lack of appropriations, of course, ham- 
pers research work, but usually this is from lack 
of funds rather than from misappropriation. 


(Even this danger is paralleled by an omission . 


of course or low pay of teachers in subjects ob- 
jectionable to the authorities **, cf. Scott Near- 
ing case.) The general attitude today, I believe, 
is for unhampered research (partly because the 
danger of research to existing conditions and be- 
liefs is not realized), and I shall not consider this 
aspect further. 

(b) Freedom of speech in the class room seems 
to be the most susceptible to limitations. Here 
the teacher is speaking in his official capacity with 
a definitely assigned field to cover, and not as a 
private individual. The teacher’s first duty lies 
in teaching his subject as ably and completely 
as possible. The characteristics essential to a 
teacher and the reasonable limitations of students 
(both cited above, J, d, and ¢) should be legitimate 
restrictions on his freedom of speech in the class 
room. The desirability of as much freedom as 
possible is discussed in the next subdivision (3), 
and the practical working out of the compromise 
between freedom and abuse of privileges is dis- 
cussed in Part III. Only one other point needs 
consideration here: one teacher does not control 


The American Teacher 


153 


a student, as so much discussion seems to take 
for granted. There are three powerful antidotes 
to any abuse of freedom on the part of one 
teacher: (1) the actual experience of the student; 
(2) the opinions of friends, prominent persons 
and other teachers; and (3) the lack of substanti- 
ation by authoritative text-books on the subject. 
Altho the last two of these reasons may not ap- 
ply to the average student, the first certainly does, 
and, considered from a pragmatic viewpoint, its 
value is very great. So even the fullest freedom 
on the part of the teacher is decidedly limited 
in these three ways; his good ideas will naturally 
survive and the bad ones will tend to fail 

(c) Freedom in extra-mural utterance and ac- 
tion can hardly be denied. Only three conditions 
should be imposed: the necessity of a morally 
clean life; the expression of private views with 
dignity, courtesy and temperance; and the neces- 
sity of not linking personal opinions with the 
name of his school.’ None of these three re- 
strictions limits the content of the teachers’ opin- 
ions, and so free speech and action is practically 
guaranteed. 


3. The desirability of as much freedom as pos- 
sible seems obvious. “No man can be a success- 
ful teacher unless he enjoys the respect of his 
students and their confidence in his intellectual 
integrity.”1 One of the essential conditions of 
teachings is “the unhindered opportunity for ac- 
tion and reaction of the personalities of teacher 
and pupil.”* “To investigate truth; critically 
to verify fact; to reach conclusions by means of 
the best methods at command, untrammeled by 
fear or favor, to communicate this truth to the 
student; to interpret to him its bearing on the 
questions he will have to face in life—this i 
precisely the aim and object of the university.” 
President Harper said that complete freedom of 
speech is “regarded as fundamental” in the Uni- 
versity of Chicago.’ He continues: “If an of- 
ficer on permanent appointment abuses his privi- 
lege as a professor, the university must suffer and 
it is proper that it should suffer. Abuse is not 
so great an evil as restriction of liberty.” “Every 
act of the supervisor should be for the purpose of 
making teachers independent and efficient.” 7? “It 
is neither possible nor desirable to deprive a col- 





154 


lege professor of the political rights vouchsafed 
to every citizen.” 1 Thomas Huxley said: “Uni- 
versities should be places in which thought is 
free from all fetters, and in which all sources of 
knowledge and all aids to learning should be ac- 
cessible to all comers, without distinction of creed 
or country, riches or poverty.”* These quota- 
tions, from varied sources, on freedom both in 
class room and without, indicate the general trend 
of thought: that the ideal in teaching is freedom. 

4. The pragmatic value of this discussion must 
be based on a consideration of the actual cases 
of limitation of academic freedom. There are 
many alleged excuses for dismissing teachers, 
ranging from nervousness ard lack of taste to 
lack of patriotism in a Latin teacher.1° R M 
Wenley sums up the fields in which academic 
freedom was contested in past times as follows: 
(a) astronomy; (b) geology; (c) biology; (d) 
philosophy and now (e) economics. Surveying 
the contemporary dismissals, I find that they 
come under six headings: (a) politics; (b) eco- 
nomics; (c) religion; (d) incompetence; (e) 
immorality; (f£) disloyalty to the instiution or the 
state.1_ Both incompetence and immorality do not 
enter into this discussion; disloyalty has already 
been discussed (I, d) with respect to loyalty to 
truth. Politics and religion seem to be perennial 
subjects of dissent. Economics has succeeded 
biology as the present bone of contention.’7 The 
one important fact that the above lists show is 
that the problems of academic freedom are always 
in debatable fields, where opinion rather than 
facts are available. The absurdity of Alton 
Parker’s 1° plan of “requesting members of uni- 
versity faculties to confine themselves to teaching 
things that have stood some tests of time and con- 
cerning which the best cultivated opinion of the 
age is favorable” is manifest. Since freedom is 
chiefly a problem of opinions, there can be no good 
criteria of judgment; and so the safest plan seems 
to be complete freedom. Or if judgments are 
necessary, care should be taken to secure com- 
petent judges (cf. III, 1). 


II. Discussion oF THE PRESENT PROBLEM 


1. The discussion will be simplified by seprat- 
ing the problems of private schools and of state 


The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 


institutions. It seems fundamental that a schoc!, 
privately established and supported, should re- 
strict all activities that interfere with its primar 
purpose. A school established to propagate 
particular brand of religion or economic opini: 
has the right to do so without interference on t! 
part of its teachers. This is a generally accepte:! 
opinion. Of course, a teacher entering such 
school, should be informed clearly of any limit 
ations to his discussion (cf. case of Professor 
Mecklin * at Lafayette College, for evils of w 
certainty of this point). For further discussion 
of this point see Part III, 4 

2. The problem of state institutions (public 
schools and universities) is different. The on! 
possible limit to free speech would be in regar:! 
to opinions contrary to the interests or existen: 
of the state, or of its ruling class. Even this 
limitation must go, if we admit that the govern- 
ment exists for the people and not the people for 
the government. The loyalty to truth is the great- 
est loyalty in this type of institution. Such frec- 
dom in state schools would attract the better teacl- 
ers and students and at the same time, by com- 
petition, check the private schools from a too nar- 
row outlook. Opinions taught soberly in class 
rooms do not easily overthrow states. The pupils 
are often minors and they form a very smal! 
minority of the population; there is little danger 
in this direction (cf. also I, 2, b, for natural con- 
flict of unorthodox teaching with others’ opinions 
and experiences). I should say that the stat 
should put no limits on free discussion, and by 
example and competition should encourage the 
same attitude in private schools. 

3. Another natural division to simplify dis- 
cussion is the difference between mature and im- 
mature students. All the preceding discussion 
applies chiefly to mature students. For immatu) 
students special limitations are necessary. “It is 
expected that the instructor will present scientifi 
truth with discretion, that he will introduce the 
student to new conceptions gradually, with some 
consideration for the studerit’s preconceptions and 
traditions, and with due regard to character build- 
ing. The teacher ought also to be especially on 
guard against taking unfair advantage of the 
student’s immaturity by indoctrinating him wit! 





October, 1920 


the teacher’s own opinions before the student has 
had an opportunity fairly to examine other opin- 
ions upon the question, and before he has suf- 
ficient knowledge and ripeness of judgment to be 
entitled to form any definite opinion of his 
own.”? This does not mean that a hard and 
fast line can be drawn between mature and im- 
mature students and between universities and 
schools of acknowledged facts. The public school 
pupil who is taught to memorize and not to rea- 
son, will not be able to bridge the gap between 
the two processes later. Initiative and free dis- 
cussion should be encouraged thruout the system. 
The attitude of Mr. Mufson® (recorded in the 
account of his trial and dismissal from De Witt 
Clinton High School, New York City) seems 
to me to be the best compromise. First, he 
would bar entirely such subjects as are irrele- 
vant and beyond the pupils’ comprehension (e. g., 
anarchism). Then, he would permit discussions 
of relevant topics by the pupils, with criticism 
by fellow students, while the teacher remains 
neutral (or perhaps asks probing questions). If 
a decision is desired in a discussion, the majority 
of the class can usually come to an agreement that 
is not far from correct. (I have followed this 
plan in high school teaching of history, English 
literature and general science, and have found it 
interesting and satisfactory.) To deny all dis- 
cussion would repress the child’s natural energy 
and would encourage parrots rather than think- 
ers. To have the teacher impose his own views 
would be autocratic and unfair. Even if the 
majority decides on a wrong solution of a prob- 
lem, it will encourage thoughtfulness Such a 
decision is just as subject to change later, as any 
‘f our ideas in adult life. It 1s important in sec- 
ondary schools that an inquiring attitude be stim- 
ulated, in preparation for independent action in 
maturity. 

Conclusion to this discussion: there are five 
justifiable limitations to absolute academic free- 
dom. They are: (1) limits if any, imposed on 
every citizen of the state in morality, loyalty, etc. 
(mentioned in introduction, paragraph 2); (2) 
limits imposed by a teacher on himself (1, d) ; 
(3) limits imposed by students (I, e) ; (4) limits 
imposed by trustees or founders of private in- 


The American Teacher 155 


stitutions (II, 1); and (5) limits imposed upon 
teachers of immature students (preceding para- 
graph). 


III. Pracricat SUGGESTIONS 


There remain the practical suggestions for ex- 
ercising this freedom to these limits in the ablest 
manner ; that is, the problems of technique. 

1, The most important practical remedy is an 
increased power for the faculty, especially in 
judging cases of academic freedom. No one'can 
judge better than a professor the limits another 
teacher should impose upon himself. Nor are 
there better judges among donors or trustees 
than among teachers, on the merits of those de- 
batable questions (e. g., economics) which are 
usually the bone of contention’ A man should 
be tried by his peers. The teaching profession 
should be willing to purge itself. One of the 
conditions of academic freedom is “the fixing 
upon the teaching profession cf the full responsi- 
bility for attaining this freedom of opportu- 
nity.”* Trial by a jury of the faculty, before 
any dismissal, would insure better justice ior the 
present, and would establish an ethical code for 
future cases. 

2. Another benefit would be secured by partial 
faculty control of the curriculum, choice of in- 
structors, etc. This would make a curriculum 
more flexible, more responsive to changing needs 
and theories. At the same time the ease of 
repeating cld courses would keep the curriculum 
from being too faddish. The value of this re- 
form would lie in the improbability of slighting 
certain fields of teaching or research (e. g., pres- 
ent lack of sociology and biology in some sec- 
tarian colleges). The teachers more than the 
trustees would realize the value of a well-rounded 
culture. This is a debatable point, but I think 
that the average faculty is more broad-minded 
and open on such matters than the average board 
of trustees. 

3. The profession should be rendered more 
attractive, not entirely by salary raises, but by 
insuring the dignity, independence and reasonable 
security of tenure. Committees on -ethics and 
judicial decisions of faculties would in time build 
up a series of precedents and a code of profes- 


\ 





156 


sional conduct (cf. present variety of opinion: 
President Harper, of Chicago, recommends per- 
manent, irrevocable appointment of professors, 
while President Reed, of Dickinson, thinks a one- 
year tenure is sufficient for all positions, includ- 
ing presidency). 

4. The distinction between public (free dis- 
cussion) institutions and private (sectarian, etc.) 
schools should be accurately defined and made 
public.1 The differences between narrow sec- 
tarianism, broad-minded Christianity and entire 
freedom should be made clear.2 This would 
enable professors and students to enter institu- 
tions with a full realization of its extent of free- 
dom. The State could make these distinctions 
clear and public in educational reports and by 
regulating its degree-conferring powers. 

5. Students should be stimulated to indepen- 
dent thinking and (in some cases) to research.’ 
Intercollegiate rivalry should extend to studies 
as well as athletics. Institutions should emphasize 
their strong courses and strong teachers. Promis- 
ing students should be searched for and encour- 
aged as promising athletes are today Migration 
of post-graduate students should be encouraged 
by a system of easily transferable credits (the 
present conditions are vague and confusing). 
Students must be encouraged to demand their 
rights (cf. I, 1) from incompetent teachers.? 

The execution of these five suggestions would 
do much to rationalize and systematize present 
chaotic opinions on matters of academic freedom. 
The basis of present actions and decision ought 
to rest on complete freedom, except for the five 
limitations cited in the conclusion to the main 
discussion. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.—Bulletin of American Association of University 
Professors. All reports of committee on aca- 
demic freedom and tenure, including investi- 
gations at University of Pennsylvania, Uni- 
versity of Utah, University of Washington, 
Allegheny College, Wooster College, Univer- 
sity of Montana, etc. 

2—Nat’l Ed. Ass’n Speeches. “Administrative 
Responsibility and Current Doctrines of 
Academic Freedom and Tenure”—E. C. El- 
liott. 

3.—Report of joint committee of inquiry of Am. 
Philosophical Ass’n ahd Am. Psych. Ass’n-on 
condition at Lafayette College, 1914. 


The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 


—“Academic Freedom,” speech of Dr. George (, 
Butte, U. of Texas, 1917. 

5.—Report of Board of Education, N. Y. C., on 
Mary S. McDowell, 1918. 

6.—Reports on trial of De Witt Clinton H. §. 
teachers, New York City. 

7.—N. Y. Evening Post, Mar. 25, 1901, p. 7—Views 
of leading college presidents on the dismissal 
of professors. 

8.—Report of Committee of Economists on EF. A. 
Ross-Stanford U. case. 

9.—The Nearing Case—Lightner Witmer. 

10.—‘Academic Freedom”—John Dewey in Educa- 
tional Review. Also discussion on this ar- 
ticle in later issues, by Frank Thilly, A!ton 
Parker, etc. 

11.—“Academic Freedom in America”—Wm. DeW. 
Hyde. 

12.—“Supervision of Instruction”—H. W. Nutt. one 
chapter. 

13.—“The Human Factor in Education”—J. P. Mun- 
roe. one chapter. 

14.—“Professor Hale and Dartmouth Collece.” 
Anonymous pamphlet, ca. 1835. 

15.—“The American College”; Abraham Flexner. 
Several pertinent pages. 

16.—“Freedom of the Teacher”—C. B. Gilbert. Nat'l 
Ed. Ass’n Reports. ; 

17.—“Educational Charters”—A. F. Leach. 

18.—Columbia U.—Report (joint) of com. on ed. 
and special com. on the state of teaching, 
etc., 1918. 


BUFFALO TEACHERS TO GIVE DAY’S PAY 
TO SEVEN OUSTED MEMBERS 
Buffalo, October 14.—Both financial and moral 


support was assured today for the officers of the 
Teachers’ Educational League who were suspended 


by action of the Buffalo school board Monday. ‘The 
support was voted at a meeting last night of more 
than 1,000 rs, all women, members of the 
Teachers’ League. : 

Resolutions were passed gendornaing the action of 
the school board in dismissing Miss Mary A O’Con- 
nor, former principal of School No. 25, and in sus- 
pending six other teachers, officers of the league. 
One day’s pay was pledged by each member for ‘he 
pu of backing a legal fight against the action 
of the school board. Plans were made for a public 
mass meeting to be held Sunday, at which the 
teachers will state their side of the controversy to 
the public. 

Another resolution was passed accepting Miss 
Margaret M. Considine’s resignation as treasurer of 
the lea, after a resolution of ulsion had been 
quashed. Miss Considine, one of the nded 
teachers, was reinstated by the school board afier 
she showed she was not a member of the Officers’ 


e. 
lenge school board dismissed Miss O’Connor and 
suspended the six teachers because of alleged d- 
ee ee ton te tee Send lene dn 
pam ublished e Teachers’ League.—From 
the New York “Call” of October 17, 1920. 





Around the Circuit 


CHARLES B STILLMAN 
President, The American Federation of Teachers 


Our locals are resuming their activities for the 
improvement of the schools, which were neces- 
sarily interrupted in most cases by the summer 
vacation. Reports of constructive plans are com- 
ing into headquarters with increasing frequency. 
As these plans develop, the various locals should 
have interesting and valuable contributions to the 
columns of THE AMERICAN TEACHER. 

The problem of reaching the new teachers has 
been solved effectively by the St Paul Federation 
of Women Teachers. The St Paul loca's gave 
a reception to the new teachers, which was at- 
tended by over eight hundred persons, including 
the officials of the schools and of the city, and 
the great majority of all the teachers, old and new. 
It proved an excellent method of cordially wel- 
coming new colleagues, and developing an esprit 
de corps. Locals in other communities are plan- 


ning similar gatherings. 


TRADES AND LaBor CoNGRESS OF CANADA 


At Windsor last month I spent a few days 
at the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada. 
I found the officers and delegates intensely in- 
terested in our movement and actively sym- 
pathetic. After there was an opportunity to pre- 
sent our cause to the convention many of the 
delegates came to me urging that we inaugurate 
campaigns in their communities and promised 
their assistance. Powerful interests are opposing 
the affiliation of Canadian teachers with our move- 
ment, because affiliation would strengthen the 
principle of international organization. Canadian 
locals would, of course, retain autonomy under 
the American Federation of Teachers, even more 
completely, if that is possible, than do our locals 
in the United States. But the development of 
mutual understanding and good feeling would go 
forward apace. And the Junkers of both coun- 
tries would be glad to see the American Federa- 
tion of Labor movement smashed because the 
movement is the surest gvarantee of continued 
friendly relations between the two countries. 


More oF PENNSYLVANIA 
You are familiar with the splendid spirit shown 


by our Lancaster local when confronted with the 
lockout as the generous answer of the Lancaster 
school board to our voluntary renunciation of the 
weapon of the strike. More of that story later— 
it is far from being a closed incident. 


Mahanoy City, of the same state, has been 
passing thru interesting experiences. Our Coal 
Township and Shenandoah locals, in the same 
vicinity, have not been disturbed by thei: local 
authorities, as a result of Dr Finegan’s ruling 
in the Lancaster case. But the Superintendent 
of Mahanoy Township in a series of three mis- 
leading and abusive newspaper articles did his 
best to kill our Mahanoy City local, ard un- 
fortunately he received support from the school 
superintendent of that city. His distortion of 
Dr Finegan’s decision is so common, aad the 
sorry conception of official relationships revealed 
is so typical of a large proportion of communities 
and school systems, that I quote at considerable 
length from my answer to Superintendent Noonan 
in the Mahanoy City Record-American cf Oc- 
tober 13. 


Dr FINEGAN’s RULING Not MANDATORY 


While visiting some of the eastern locals of the 
American Federation of Teachers, I find that in 
Mahanoy City an attempt has been made, chiefly by 
Superintendent Noonan of the township schools, 
gravely to mislead the public as to the school law of 
Pennsylvania, the purposes and methods of the 
American Federation of Teachers, and the relation- 
ship between union teachers and the American Fed- 
eration of Labor. 

I have seldom seen a more flagrant abuse of the 
time-honored device of garbled quotation than is 
shown in Supt Noonan’s discussion of Dr Finegan’s 
decision. In the first place it seems necessary to re- 
mind some local school officials that the constitution 
of this State places the law-making power in the 
hands, not of appointed officials, but of duly elected 
representatives of the people, comprising the State 
legislature. Dr Finegan, the State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, is an appointee of the Gov- 
ernor, and a member of the executive, not the legis- 
lative branch of government. The school code has 
been enacted, and can be amended, only by the legis- 
lature. It is the function of the Superintendent of 
Public Instruction to see that the provisions of the 
school code are carried out. In performing that 
function, questions concerning the interpretation of 
the school law may arise, and Section 1014 provides: 


“He may, when requested, give decisions and in- 
terpretations of the school law, which shall be valid 


157 











158 






and binding in like effect as law until reversed by 
proper judicial authority.” 

Under that section Dr Finegan rendered his Lan- 
caster decision. And now let me quote vital passages 
in that decision which Superintendent Noonan was 
very careful to omit. 

“There is, therefore, presented to me for determ- 
ination, first, a question of law, which is, Did the 
Board of School Directors violate the legal rights 
of any of the teachers in failing or refusing to con- 
tract with them for the ensuing year?” Since there 
is no tenure law in Pennsylvania, he answers that 
question in the negative. He then continues: 

“There is also presented to me for determination 
a further question of broad educational policy, which 
is, Is it proper and professional for teachers to af- 
filiate as an organized body with another organiza- 
tion representing a portion of the citizens of the 
community in which such teachers are employed?” 
And at the close of the same paragraph: “It is the 
duty of the State Superintendent to determine such 
question for the purposé not only of adjusting this 
controversy, but also of expressing the judgment of 
the State Superintendent on what is a sound and 
educational policy to be pursued by teachers and 
school boards if a similar issue should be raised in 
the future.” He then answers the second question 
also in the negative. 

I have italicized certain passages for convenient 
reference. Section 1014 provides that the State Su- 
perintendent’s “decisions and interpretations” of 
school laws” are legally binding until reversed by 
the courts. Therefore Dr Finegan, in the very lan- 
guage of his ruling, carefully distinguishes between 
matters of law, and matters of his opinion and judg- 
ment on policies outside the law. In the former his 
ruling is law; but in the latter, since the school code 
in no way discriminates against teachers because of 
organizations which they may choose to join, he 
avoids any pretense that his judgment on that mat- 
ter is law. In fact, earlier in his ruling he specifi- 
cally stated, and this also Superintendent Noonan 
deliberately refused to quote: 

“There is no legal obligation on the part of the 
Board of School Directors to contract for the en- 
suing year with any of the teachers employed during 
the past school year, and the fact that such teachers 
are or are not members of an organization of any 
kind has no bearing upon the lawful action which a 

board may take in such matter.” 

Concerning Dr Finegan’s Lancaster decision the 
Educational Editor of the New York Evening Post, 
formerly the Editor of School Life, the official organ 
of the U S Bureau of Education, after personal in- 
vestigation on the ground, had this to say in the 
issue of August 14. He comments on the lack of 
tenure, in which Pennsylvania is not exceptional— 
“The School Board here can let any teacher go if 
the members do not like the color of her hair or her 
eyes, or the way she dresses, or anything else about 
her. It shows the professional position in which 
American teachers are to-day” and then continues: 
“Legally the State Superintendent was on firm 
ground. But he did not stop here. He drew up a 
statement on the propriety of teacher affiliation that 
will return to plague him some day. Nobody who 
knows Dr Finegan will believe that he wrote it him- 
self, for it isn’t even an effective attack on labor 
affiliation. It repeats most of the erroneous assump- 
tions about labor organizations that are current 
among those that have not taken the trouble to in- 


vestigate.” 


The American Teacher 





Volume IX, No. 7 





Dr Finegan’s whole discussion of the union move- 
ment among teachers shows a grievous misconcep- 
tion of its constitution, methods, and relationships, 
and a complete lack of appreciation of its purposes, 
and of the spirit of social idealism which permeates 

it. He seized the opportunity offered by Lancaster 

to use the influence of his official position against an 

organization in which he did not happen to believe. 

He went far enough in all conscience, as he would 

probably be the first to admit, but in ordinary fair- 

ness to Dr Finegan it must be said that he revealed 

no such inordinate lust for power as is attributed 

to him in Superintendent Noonan’s articles. 

Those articles also stress, with an obvious inten- 
tion to mislead and intimidate the power of the 
State Superintendent to revoke tgachers’ certificates, 
and to withhold State funds from school districts. 
Those powers can, of course, be exercised only under 
the provisions of the code; not arbitrarily on the 
basis of the personal opinion or whim of a State Su- 
perintendent, but only when the school law, enacted 
by the elected representatives of the people, has 
been violated. In the case of the district in Eric 
county given as an illustration by Mr. Noonan, it is 
my information that State funds were withheld be- 
cause the district did not conform to the state law 
in regard to vaccination. Certainly teachers’ organ- 
izations were not an element in the case. Fortun- 
ately this whole phase is cleared up by Dr Finegan 
himself in the passage already quoted: 

“The fact that such teachers are or are not mem- 
bers of an organization of any kind has no bearing 
upon the lawful action which a board may take in 
such matter.” 

Since that ruling is an interpretation of existing 
law, it is binding until modified by the courts or new 
legislation. Dr Finegan is capable of speaking for 
himself, and after he has spoken so explicitly, it is 
rather unreasonable to expect us to believe that he 
has now selected as his spokesman and official inter- 
preter, the superintendent of schools of Mahanoy 
Township. 

Superintendent Oday, of the Mahanoy City 
schools, altho happily apparently without the vindic- 
tiveness of Superintendent Noonan, has also been 
guilty of garbling the Lancaster decision. At a 
meeting of the city teachers called for the purpose 
without warning, he carefully selected passages 
from the decision, asserted vehemently that they 
were law, and demanded a vote by the teachers on 
whether it would not be for the best interests of the 
schools for them to withdraw from the American 
Federation of Teachers. A considerable proportion 
of them refused to vote on the ground that the pro- 
cedure was unfair. Some of the teachers, lacking 
an opportunity to consult their attorney, or even 
each other, and impressed by the superintendent's 
position as their official superior, and by his 
dogmatic insistence that his interpretation was the 
only possible interpretation, and that they would be 
lawbreakers if they did not accept his viewpoint and 
withdraw from the local, voted with him, so that he 
secured a majority of those voting, but only a minor- 
ity of the teachers present. He then thought to 
clinch the matter by rushing a statement of the 
majority vote to the press, and soon the report was 
circulated thruout the State that the Mahony City 
teachers’ local had withdrawn. But of course char- 
ters are not surrendered in quite that cavalicr 
fashion. The citizens of Mahanoy City must not 
undervalue the metal of their teachers, because 











October, 1920 


despite those tactics, the Mahanoy City local has 
maintained its charter and is in good standing. 
LOYALTY BY CONTRACT 

Another interesting development in the local sit- 
uation relates to the contracts between the school 
board and the teachers. This is the first time in 
years that a written contract has been used, but the 
teachers were entirely willing to sign a fair con- 
tract. The final clause in the draft submitted to 
them read as follows: 

“She will loyally co-operate with the District Su- 
perintendent and the State Department of Public 
Instruction in their endeavor to increase the effi- 
ciency of the public schools and raise the profes- 
sional standard of the teacher.” 

Primary purposes of our movement are, in the 
language of the Constitution of the A F of T, to 
“raise the standard of the teaching profession by 
securing the conditions essential to the best profes- 
sional service; and to promote such a democratiza- 
tion of the schools as will enable them better to 
equip their pupils to take their place in the indus- 
trial, social, and political life of the community.” 
We are ready and anxious to co-operate with school 
authorities and all others who will assist in the ad- 
vancement of those purposes. The city teachers 
herefore were amazed to find that Superintendent 
Oday could see a conflict between that clause and 
membership in the A F of T. However, their con- 
tract was with the school board, not with the super- 
intendent, and they were informed that the board 
intended no joker in that final clause and that sign- 
ing the contract would affect in no way their mem- 
bership in the union. Only upon that understanding 
did they sign. In that the board has simply taken 
the position I have already twice quoted from Dr 
Finegan. I am sorry that I have not had the op- 
portunity of talking to all the board members, but I 
ee seen the majority and find that they still told 
that position. 

But aside from this, to place any other meaning 
upon the language of that clause leads to very un- 
pleasant and dangerous conclusions. When Super- 
intendent Oday asked the teachers to come to him 
to sign their contracts, forgetting that the contracts 
vere with the board and not with him, he attempted 
to impress upon the teachers his interpretation. And 
coupled with the now familiar distortion of the Lan- 
caster decision into a mandatory law, that remark- 
able interpretation was to the effect that since Dr 
'inegan believed membership in the A F of T un- 
professional, and the contract pledged the teachers 
to co-operate loyally with the District Superin- 
tendent and the Department of Public Instruction, 
therefore the teachers were bound by their contract 
o sever their membership regardless of their own 
udgment! He admits freely that he even went so 
far as to ask in many cases, and I understand in 
ome instances to secure the promise of a teacher 
that she would withdraw, before he permitted her 
o sign the contract. 

That interpretation assumes that loyal co-oper- 
ition for certain specified and worthy ends is equiv- 
alent to servile surrender of independent conscience 
and judgment. It degrades the final clause of the 
ontract into a mere petty pledge of personal loyalty 
to officialdom. Such contracts would offer a State 
bureaucracy or local school administration a very 
effective means to build up a powerful machine 
‘mong the teachers by the simple process of making 
positions contingent upon pledges of personal loy- 
alty. I eannot believe that Superintendent Oday 


The American Teacher 


159 


realized even the immediate implications of his in- 
terpretation. The American ideal is loyalty to prin- 
ciples, rather than to men. I think Mr. Oday would 
agree that the only personal loyalty any superin- 
tendent, or any one else, can legitimately claim, must 
be earned by ability, breadth of view and tolerance 
and public-spirited service. Any personal loyalty 
that must be exacted by contract requirement is de- 
meaning to both teacher and superintendent. 

But let me return to Superintendent Noonan’s 
article and take up some additional statements of 
his so far as time and space permit. I notice that 
he adopts the old subterfuge of labor haters every- 
where, and insists that he is not opposed or organ- 
ized labor in general, in the mines, for instance, 
since he is living in a community consisting pre- 
dominantly of union miners. No, he is opposed to 
organized labor only when it enters his field, when 
classroom teachers affiliate with it, and what he 
considers the rightful prerogatives of superinten- 
dents are thus endangered. It is a pitiful attempt 
to carry water on both shoulders, to koop up his 
political fences, and still indulge his bitter prejudice 
against our movement. He writes, “The township 
teachers already see it properly.” It was his method 
of compelling many of his teachers to see it thru his 
eyes that aroused the wrath of the General Mine 
Committee. It seems that some proportion of town- 
ship teachers hold a type of license that requires the 
endorsement of the Superintendent for its renewal 
at the end of the year. Last spring township 
teachers applied to the A F of T for a charter, but 
it was reported that before they could perfect an 
organization, they were stampeded by the Superin- 
tendent’s threats that he would refuse to recommend 
the renewal of the license of any member of the A 
F of T. So they came to “see it properly.” There 
is no question that the Superintendent is the author- 
itative spokesman for his teachers. He confesses it 
naively and repeatedly. While writing of the gen- 
erous treatment of his teachers by the board, he 
calmly says, “I shall ask the teachers at an early 
meeting to signify their feelings in this matter by 
the passage of whatever resolution they may see fit 
to adopt.” We of course must expect a voluntary 
and spontaneous expression of gratitude to follow. 

Again, he states that the A F of T is an “organ- 
ization not educational from a professional view- 
point,” and elsewhere implies that we are an organ- 
ization “outside” the profession. The A F of i 
the national organization of classroom teachers, 
affiliated with the A F of L. It is composed exclu- 
sively of teachers, and is democratically controlled 
by annual conventions of delegates elected by the 
various locals. In conducts its affairs without dic- 
tation, or the suggestion of control of any force out- 
side its membership of classroom teachers. It has 
adopted a non-strike policy, and cannot under any 
circumstances be called out on sympathetic strike. 
(In spite of those facts, the weapon of the lockout 
has been used against it by one or two reactionary 
boards of education.) In the determination and 
carrying out of its policies, it is absolutely indepen- 
dent—and here is the rub—independent even of the 
superintendents. While the N E A and the various 
State Teachers’ Associations have proverbially been 
dominated by the Superintendents. After sixty 
years of teachers’ associations controlled by super- 
intendents, we submit to any unbiased observer that 
the resulting condition of the schools and the teach- 
ing profession does not justify an exclusive con- 
tinuance of that type of leadership. There is a 





160 


logical place for at least one organization of class- 
room teachers. But naturally we must expect bitter 
hostility from the old guard type of superintendents 
of high or low degree. : 

But that by no means includes all superintendents. 
I have had the good fortune to teach under some 
superintendents who were broad guage and liberal- 
minded, and able successfully to resist the tradition 
of autocratic authority which colored so much of the 
environment of their position. And I believe that 
the democratic type of superintendent is increasing 
in number. 


CHARGE MOVEMENT TO CRUSH TEACHER 
UNIONS IN STATE 


Representatives at Convention of Teacher Organ- 
izations Open Drive for Right to Unionize 


Charging that thruout the state “a far-reaching 
and concerted movement is at work in an endeavor 
to crush the teachers organizations,” delegates rep- 
resenting the organized teachers yesterday brought 
before the State Federation in the form of resolu- 
tions and proposed legislation their program for the 
protection and betterment of the profession. 


The principal action sought is the enactment of 
state legislation granting tenure of position along 
conditional lines, and statutory form of trials for 
dismissed instructors. A resolution pledging labor 
to the support of Amendment No. 16 on the Novem- 
ber ballot, which increases the state apportionment 
for teacher’s salaries, was also introduced. 


The measures advanced by the union representa- 
tives mark the opening of a struggle, backed by the 
organized labor of the state as well as the American 
Federation of Labor, for the right of the teachers 
to form union organizations as a means of better- 
ing their living conditions, hours of work and pay. 

n the order of their presentation the resolutions, 
signed by E J Dupuy, Robert L Ennis, J J McTier- 
nan, and Miss Josephine Colby, third vice-presi- 
dent of the National Teachers’ Federation, follow: 

“Whereas, the state labor organizations are re- 
alizing more and more the obstacles placed in the 
path of the teachers in the public schools, as well 
as the open discrimination made against teachers 
forming unions and affiliating with the Federation 
of Labor; and 

“Whereas, the proper citizenship can be devel- 
oped in the public schools only when the teachers 
are allowed their freedom of thought, of speech 
and of action; and 

“Whereas, the improvement of our schools does 
not rest solely upon an increase in salaries but in 
the removal of the altogether too arbitrary rule of 
those placed in authority over the rank and file of 
the teaching force; and 

“Whereas, it is a known fact that thruout the 
commonwealth of California a far-reaching and 
concerted movement is at work in an endeavor to 
crush the teachers organizations affiliated with the 
Labor Councils and the State Federation of Labor, 
namely, manifested in the activity of the Commer- 
cial Federation of California, now the Better Amer- 
ica, and that thruout this agency and others of the 
same character teachers are coerced into refraining 
from joining any organization excepting the ones 
designated by Boards of Education or Boards of 
School Trustees; and 


The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 


“Whereas, in several localities California teach- 
ers have been demoted, compelled to resign, or 
dropped from their department of education for 
having joined teachers federations in order to make 
place for others who may be more willing to obec, 
and never question; therefore, be it 

“Resolved, by the California State Federation of 
Labor in twenty-first annual convention assemble:/ 
that we urge during the coming year an active cam- 
paign of organizing teachers into federations cr 
unions affiliated with the American Federation of 
Labor, and pledge the support of our state and |o- 
cal organizations to all such unions of public schoo] 
teachers and that organized labor strive to secure 
representation on local school boards to the end 
that the teachers who are entrusted with the educa- 
tion of our children may impart to their charges 
the proper ideals and standards which should o)- 
tain in a free democracy, and not be intimidated 
into presenting views and theories which only rep- 
resent the ideas of a class or of such un-American 
organizations as the Commercial Federation, and 
prepare in the proper manner our rising genera- 
tion for the struggles it will have to encounter.” 

“Whereas, The more than 15,000 teachers of Cali- 
fornia are without the protection which is enjoyed 
by other members of the State Civil Service, and 

“Whereas, Their tenure of position consists of an 
individual yearly contract, not based on the funda- 
mental labor principle of collective bargaining and 
is subject to the whim and caprice of school author- 
ities, and 

“Whereas, This insecurity of tenure is a potent 
cause of the present unrest among teachers and the 
accompanying teacher-shortage; therefore, be it 

“Resolved, That the California State Federation 
of Labor directly and thru its affiliated locals, use 
every effort to secure the enactment of state legis\a- 
tion granting tenure of position for teachers along 
the following lines: 

“1, After the lapse of a probationary period of 
not less than two years, tenure, shall be permanent, 
subject to following provisions. 

“2. All dismissals, both during and after proba- 
tion, to be for causes definitely embodied in the edu- 
cational law, such as gross insubordination, inef- 
ficiency, conduct unbecoming a teacher, etc. 

“3. After the period of probation, a teacher dis- 
missed for any cause (including inefficiency) shall 
have the right of a trial to be conducted = a board 
of seven cnosen as follows: Three by the school 
board, three by the teachers, the six to elect a sev- 
enth, who is not to be either a member of the school 
board or of the teaching force. At all hearings the 
teacher shall have the privilege of being represented 
by counsel. Appeal from the decision of the trial 
board may be made to the civil courts, whose de- 
cision shall be final.” 

“Whereas, The present sources of income for the 
support of schools and the remuneration of teach- 
ers are realy Sees, and 

“Whereas, e present support of district sup- 
port of schools results in unequal opportunities for 
the children of the State; therefore, be it 

“Resolved, That the California State Federation 
of Labor pledge its support to the enactment of the 
reo initiative measure amending Article 9, 

ion 6 of the State Constitution, appearing as 
proposition 16 on the ballot.” 
—From Fresno Newspapers. 





The Issue of Salaries for Men 


F G STECKER 
Secretary-Treasurer, The American Federation of Teachers 


[A letter to the Secretary of the Boston Federa- 


tion of Men 


Teachers, Local 100, A F of T. 


Pub- 


lished by request of The American Teacher.] 


Your letter of Sept 22nd reporting the action 
of your local in regard to affiliation was promptly 
received and copies have been sent to the members 
of the Executive Council in order that all may be 
informed, The reasons for the action have been 
carefully noted. The generous action of the mem- 
bers in voting to pay all obligations to date includ- 
ing per capita to the American Federation of 
Teachers for the month of September, is fully 
appreciated. I can think of no details aside from 
the charter and seal, to the return of which you 
have already referred. We are very glad to have 
your statement of experience as secretary and es- 
pecially your expression of good will toward the 
American Federation of Teachers and your in- 
terest in its future welfare. 

The Boston situation as regards the position of 
men in the schools and their feeling toward the 


principle of equal pay for equal service regardless 


of sex has been known to us for some time. It is 
an unfortunate situation and one which we feel to 
be a sort of hangover from the period in educa- 
tion out of which it is hoped we shall soon pass. 
The schools have been too largely feminized due 
to the wage conditions and the lack of proper 
consideration for the schools and for the teach- 
ing vocation. The solution of this serious 
problem must be given careful attention if the 
American school is to be placed on the basis which 
is indispensable in our national life. There is no 
phase in our social, political and industrial life 
more critical than that of our school system and 
its relation to national standards. 

In its policy of equal pay for equal service, the 
American Federation of Teachers does not feel 
that its actions are based upon mere sentiment. 
As a matter of abstract justice the proposition 
stands without opposing argument. It is a well 
known fact that the training necessary for the 
teaching profession is as expensive for women as 
for men. Neither is there discrimination in the 
economic conditions. The only reason ever ad- 
vanced for higher pay for men is one based upon 


the so-called law of supply and demand which at 
first appearance does seem to justify a salary dis- 
crimination. Buta careful analysis removes these 
appearances if the proper standards are observed. 
Even tho \there may be five or more women to one 
man who qualify for a given position, it does not 
necessarily follow that there is equality among all 
the qualifying candidates, or that all the candi- 
dates should be accepted as desirable rather than 
to raise the minimum requirements, which would 
not only induce more men to present themselves 
as candidates but would also attract more and 
better qualified women. When the conditions are 
such as to attract an undue proportion of the two 
sexes it is my opinion that it is a serious reflection 
on the minimum requirements. It is this standard 
of minimum requirements that the American Fed- 
eration of Teachers, with the support of the 
American Federation of Labor, seeks to elevate. 
If the requirements are merely academic, a con- 
siderable number of women can qualify who do 
not possess the personality and general knowledge 
which should be demanded of the teacher. It is 
not so much a matter of competing against the 
men in the schools but rather a matter of inability 
to compete in the commercial field which allows 
them to accept the economic conditions of the 
teacher. This is merely another way of saying 
that the minimum requirements are too low, and 
too narrow. 

To put the case concretely let me refer to Chi- 
cago experience covering many years. In pre- 
vious administrations members of the Board of 
Education were fond of meeting at dinners with 
high school men whom they toasted as the finest 
group of men teachers in the world, a group of 
which the Board members were justly proud and 
which in their opinion was worthy of much higher 
salaries. As nothing was ever done and as these 
occasions carried an atmosphere of increasing in- 
sincerity the men tired of all this and saw its 
falseness. Out of these dinner groups with their 
inactivity and indirection and wunorganization 


161 





162 


sprang the Chicago Federation of Men Teachers 
affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. 
Out of this came organization, leadership, activ- 
ity and increasing achievement. The idea of higher 
salary for men has never found a voice there, 
partly because the movement was forward-look- 
ing and sympathetic with the modern trend of so- 
cial development and partly because it was felt 
that there must be a future to the welfare of the 
schools as well as of the individual teachers. To- 
day there is no sentiment in Chicago on which to 
base a demand for discriminating salary sched- 
ules. 


If the public is unwilling to pay the salaries and 
maintain the type of schools that will attract high- 
grade men and women into the service, then the 
public must be content with such teachers as will 
present themselves under the conditions estab- 
lished. Should it turn out that only women accept 
the positions, then the situation as a whole cannot 
be permanently relieved by any temporary ex- 
pedient, such as a discriminating salary. The 


problem is one of general education of the public 


to see the need of better schools and to demand 
that teachers have, in addition to the academic re- 
quirements, a knowledge of the world, of human 
nature, and of the significance of training for cit- 
izenship. When these requirements are estab- 
lished it will be found that men and women of the 
same degree of qualification and personality can 
be found in about equal numbers and the problem 
will be eliminated. To ask that men receive higher 
salaries is to accept standards as they are without 
protest. This causes a great weakening in the 
process of education of the public to the new 
standards to fit the new conditions of American 
life. Nor can this work be carried on by the 
women teachers alone since their ranks will be in- 
creased by those whose admission is made pos- 
sible by the existing requirements. It is not un- 
likely that the process of bringing our schools to 
the desired standard of excellence will be more 
rapid if no measures of expediency are adopted. 
If salary schedules will not call in men, then the 
absence of men from the school system will be a 
striking lesson to the public and will serve to 
arouse some long needed thinking on this subject. 
To keep a small percentage of men by artificial in- 


The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 


ducement is to give the public an opiate from 
which it may take years to recover. After all, ii 
is a matter of the welfare of the schools and not 
the temporary relief of teachers which can justify 
the existence of a teachers’ organization. In gen- 
eral, of course, there can be no welfare of ¢! 
schools which is destructive of the welfare of tic 
teachers. But should there be an apparent breac’:, 
the American Federation of Teachers in my o; 
inion will place itself on the side of the welfa:e 
of the schools for in that direction lies the ultima‘e 
welfare of the teachers. 


In this effort to explain the underlying prin 
ciples which prompt the American Federation of 
Teachers to maintain policies with which you 
group is not in accord, there is no desire to crit 
icize your members for failure to accept our ideas. 
The honesty of your group commands our deep 
respect. We can only regret that unfortunate 
conditions are responsible for the failure of co: 
tinued cooperation. The American Federation 
Teachers is based upon the recognition that the 
American school system is sadly defective in many 
respects and upon the hope that organized teachers 
thru an appeal to democratic and civic organi: 
tions can take part in alleviating these conditions. 
When the American school is what it should be it 
will recognize the merit of mind and character of 
the teacher, and offer the proper compensation in 
salary and promotion. The real merit system can 
be established, in my opinion, only thru the efforts 
of organized teachers. It cannot come from the 
top. Merit systems, as they have existed thus far, 
mean simply the power of one or more to ju:ge 
of the ability and effort of the various teachers. 
Little can be said in favor of such a system and 
much that is pernicious is everywhere obvious. 
It is the bureaucracy to which this leads that is 
sapping the life of our educational system from 
kindergarten to university. In Chicago and other 
places both the teachers and the administration 
have come to accept seniority, unjust as it is, as 
better than any system of rating power. We syn- 
pathize with you in your desire for a real merit 
system. We feel, however, that the Amer can 
Federation of Teachers can do more to bring this 
about in time than can unaffiliated groups or indi- 
vidual teachers. 





October, 1920 


I recognize that this letter may not sound to 
you as I wish it to sound and that it may not con- 
vey the friendly spirit which it is intended to 
convey. I trust that the termination of formal 
uffiliation will not mean that I do not hear from 
you further in regard to your problems, your ac- 
tivities and your achievements. Whenever I can 
\e of assistance be sure to call upon me. 

With a deep feeling of appreciation for the fine 
spirit of your letter and with regret for the action 
which you feel impelled to take, I am 

Fraternally yours, 


NEUTRALITY 
ABRAHAM LEFKOWITZ 

Teachers’ Union, Local 5, A F of T, New York 

Everywhere the unconscious and conscious 
educational servants of the Employing Class are 
exhorting the teachers to refrain from affJiating 
or forming entangling alliances with organizations 
primarily economic in their objects and represent- 
ing @ special interest or class, such as the Ameri- 
can Federation of Labor. “Neutrality between 
capital and labor,” is their crv. “Our chief func- 
tion,” say these holier than thou educators, “is 
to serve the cause of justice and orderly social 
progress.” Admirable shibbcleths indeed, but 
how are they applied in our economic life? 

In Buffalo, N Y, the schools have joined with 
the Chamber of Commerce and their subsidized 
organs to inculcate civic idealism, while in Syra- 
cuse, N Y, the “neutral” activity of the Chamber 
of Commerce is augmented by the activity of 
such a neutral body as the Rotary Club. Just 
what kind of idealism is being taught is well 
known to those who are familiar with the “neutral- 
ity” for which these organizations stand. 

In Seattle, the Associated Industries, a sub- 
sidiary labor-hating agency of the Chamber of 
Commerce, quietly went out of existince after 
being beaten in its ruthless anti-union war in 
which every weapon that is usually brought into 
play by class-conscious capital was used to the 
Nth power. Nevertheless, the leaders of that 
defunct organization, under the respectable garb 
of members of the Chamber of Commerce, are 
advocating the teaching of economics in grade 
schools so that identity of interest between em- 
ployer and employee may be duly emphas:zed. 


The American Teacher 


163 


In Cleveland, Ohio, one of America’s furemost 
industrial centers, the schools are cooperating 
with the Chamber of Commerce and the Cleveland 
Advertising Club, in an effort to awaken “civic 
consciousness” in all the community groups. In 


California, where the anti-unicn campaign against 


teachers has been openly adveitised by the Cham- 
ber of Commerce, the “neutral” educational lead- 
ers have been persuaded to send entire classes to 
the Chamber of Commerce lectures where they 
are probably taught to he National Security 
League Americans; that is, that present institu- 
tions, being the product of the past, are c:viliza- 
tion’s greatest handiwork and must not be tam- 
pered with lest the great social structure, built 
up by the genius of capitalism, is undermined 
and possibly destroyed. Their spirit of “neutral- 
ity” is both admirable and commendable. 


In a word, the chambers of commerce of our 
country, representing the class interests of the 
dominant economic group, are the most active 
supporters of community civics and Americaniza- 
tion drives and the policy of “teacher-neutrality.” 


They are actuated, without doubt, by a desire to 
socialize or Americanize the foreigners who are 
continually referred to as “Reds, radicals, wops, 
hunkies, sheenies or some other equally evwphoni- 
ous terms connoting brotherly love and rational 
affection. In this movement they are actively 
assisted by educational administrators and teach- 
ers who are animated by the spirit of “teacher- 
neutrality.” This neutral spirit is admirably dis- 
played in every great strike. Only recenily one 
of the leading universities of New York showed 
its admirable “neutral” sp:rit by furtishing 
strike-breakers who, by their conduct, dispiyed a 
laudable desire to serve the community. “Neu- 
trality” is in great demand by chambers of com- 
merce which cannot be called class instiiutions 
because their members are on boards of educa- 
tion and boards of trustees, are leaders cf such 
civic organizations as the American Defense So- 
ciety, the National Security Lcague, and, .ast but 
not least, prominent contributors to char‘ty and 
the like. 

What, then, is the attitude of the locals affiliated 
with the American Federation of Teachers? Is 
it “neutral”? The locals of the American Federa- 





164 


tion of Teachers are not and have no desire to 
be neutral in the Chamber of Commerce sense. 
Our teachers are proud of their affiliation with 
labor because of the service such affiliation enables 
them to render society. They are neutra' in the 
sense that their judgments are based on first- 
hand information, but unneutral in that they re- 
fuse to accept the “neutral” data so freety fur- 
nished by a brass-checked-press, or the “neutral” 
interpretations of the chambers of commerce. 
The neutrality of the union teachers ceases when 
conclusions are reached, and then they openly be- 
come partisan on behalf of communal welfare and 
social progress. Union teachers cannot be neutral 
when social progress hangs in the balance, or is 
jeopardized, or in danger of being retarded. 


Those who participate in the struggles of life 
cannot be neutral. They must, from the ecunomic 
viewpoint, be for capital and against labor, or for 
labor and against capital, on such fundainental 
economic issues as the 8-hour day, social welfare 
legislation and decent living conditions. Union 
teachers are frankly pro-labor in such cases, just 
as the non-union teachers are “neutral,” ihat is, 
pro capital. When we realize that teachers have 
every incentive to be “neutral” it must be the 
sense of overwhelming danger to progress that 
induces them to risk all to become unneutral. 
Can teachers be neutral on the question of violent 
revolution versus evolution as a method of reg- 
ular change? Can they be neutral on the question 
of child labor? No doubt the industrial barons 
of the South, and some of those in the North, 
believe they ought to be neutral, but the union 
teachers have no respect for neutrality cf that 
type. 

If our critics, whether honest or subsidized by 
economic necessity, mean that union teachers can- 
not be neutral when labor is fighting for a sub- 
sistence wage, or for welfare legislation, or for 
sanitary factory conditions, then we have no ob- 
jection to the charge. But if, by that expression, 
they mean to imply that we are so partial +. labor 
and so blind to the rights of mankind that we 
cannot be impartial in our judgments even when 
the interests of labor or particular group con- 
flict with the interests of social progress, then 
the charge or insinuation is not only without 


The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 


foundation, but a dishonest attack on a group 
that has consistently and quite successfully fought 
for progress. Every great struggle involves a 
taking of sides. Neutrality is only possible to 
those in the educational cloister. Our sh*bboleth 
is not “neutrality” but progress or its hand- 
maiden social service. We leave to our opponents 
their conception of “neutrality” as the social func- 
tion of the teacher, while we are frankly partisan 
in the cause of humanity. 


STILL STANDING FIRM 


If any local becomes low-spirited, thirk- 
ing there is nothing it can do for its mem- 
bers and for education, let it contemplate 
the Lancaster local frequently referred to 
in these pages. Thrown out of their posi- 
tions by the school board, and outlawed as 
Lancaster teachers by the decision of the 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
the members have gone to work in various 
trades, and a few at teaching in country 
districts. But they maintain the Lancaster 
local and pay their dues regularly. They 
are teachers yet in the eyes of the Ameri- 
can Federation of Teachers. Can we honor 
these fellow-workers as much as they have 
honored themselves? They know they are 
right, and they are standing firm. 


AN INTELLIGENT CRITIC 


(Extract from a letter from a professor of educa- 
tion in a Western University) 


Upon finding your name in the directory of the 
American Federation of Teachers, I am addressing 
you this letter, with the request that you furnish 
me as soon as possible whatever information you 
can as to the number of members of your local, the 
number of qualified persons who have not joined it, 
the attitude of supervising officers toward your 
organization, its definite policies and accomplish- 
ments, and any general results that you think have 
followed its formation. 


Up to the present time I must confess to a feel- 
ing of distrust and opposition with reference to 
this movement, but it has acquired such momentum 
that mere denunciation does not get us anywhere. 
We must begin to study it. I hope to make : 
thoro investigation of the whole situation, and shal 
be pleased to regard your reply, in whole or in part, 
in absolute confidence, if that assists in securin{ 
a fuller statement. 





From the Locals of the American Federation of 
Teachers 


EASTERN CONFERENCE OF THE AMER- 
ICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 
Second Session 
November 26, 27, 1920 
To be held at the Civic Club, New York 
14 West 12th St. 


Friday, Nov 26, 10.30 A M, Business Meeting 
Report of the Secretary 
Reports of Committees: Finance, Teachers’ 
Welfare, Literature, School Organization 
Appointment of Conference Committees 
Informal Luncheon at Civic Club, 12.30 
Friday, November 26, 2.00 P M 
1. Programs for Legislation 
Salaries 
Tenure 
Trial Board 
Taxation for Education 
Etc, etc. 
II. World Labor Situation 


Friday, Nevember 26, 8 P M, Evening Meeting 


The Professional Unions 
Speakers : Mr George Soule, Author, Investi- 
gator of Labor Problems; Mr John A Fitch, 
New York School of Social Work, Investi- 
gator of Labor Problems 
Saturday, November 27, 10.30 AM 
Our Fight for Unionism to Protect Locals 
under Attack 
Experience in Pennsylvania 
Suggestions for Publicity Methods. Plans 
for Winning Public Respect, and for De- 
veloping Union Morale 
Education of Union Leadership 
Labor Education 
Informal Luncheon at Civic Club, 12.30 
Saturday, November 27,2 P M 
Election of Officers 
Organization of Permanent Committees 
Reports of Conference Committees 
Resolutions 
Entertainment planned for Saturday Evening 
President Charles B Stillman will be present at 
the meetings of Saturday at least, and will take 
part in the discussions. 
Ruts G Harpy, Secretary. 


FROM LOCAL 84, FRESNO, CALIF. 


At the request of the President I am writing 
you these notes bearing on the situation of the 
Fresno Elementary Teachers’ Local 84. 

The union opened the fall activities with a 
called meeting, for the purpose of hearing Miss 
Colby’s report of the legal fight being made by the 
three Fresno teachers discharged last June. This 
meeting was well attended, which was a point of 
encouragement considering the open opposition 
shown by the City School Board. The board has 
adopted and published resolutions condemning 
union organizations of teachers. 

At the first regular meeting new officers were 
elected and also new members taken in, another 
encouraging support from unafraid teachers. 

During the state labor convention, held early in 
October, resolutions were passed by that body 
which are based on sound ideas for the welfare 
and progress of our schools. 

On October 16th the Fresno County Union held 
its first meeting of the year, and appointed a com- 
mittee to consider ways and means of preserving 
and strengthening the county unit, in order that 
it may do effective work before the state legis- 
lature during the winter session. 

EmMa ScHRAY, 
Corresponding Secretary. 


CIVIL SERVICE AND PUBLIC EM- 
PLOYEES’ COUNCIL OF PORT- 
LAND, OREGON 


When the High School Teachers’ Union, Local 
111, of the American Federation of Teachers 
organized and affiliated with the Central Labor 
Council of Portland in the Fall of 1919, they 
were immediately invited to join a civil service 
council which was an organized section of the 
central body. This council, made up of represen- 
tatives from the Federal Employees’ Union, the 
fire fighters, the mail carriers’ and postal clerks’ 
unions, and a union of city hall employees, 
changed their name and constitution to receive the 
three delegates from the High School Teachers’ 


165 





166 


Union. The name of the organization now is 
The Civil Service and Public Employees’ Coun- 
cil of Portland and Vicinity. 

Besides, the value of meeting in a smal! group 
to discuss matters of common interest to these 
six unions, this section of the Central Labor 
Council by virtue of its organization is entitled 
to a member on the legislative committee of the 
central body, a member on the Executive Council 
of this body, and a representative on th: Board 
of Control of the Oregon Labor Press. 


In looking forward to the plans for this year 
the Civil Service and Public Employees’ Council 
hopes to materially increase its value to the unions 
represented in it by bringing together all the mem- 
bers of these six unions in one or more large social 
gatherings. When we come to know one another 
in fraternal unity of purpose we can then hope 
to make big strides in the realization of ““Democ- 
racy in Education and Education for Democracy” 
in its largest and most far-reaching sense. 


NEED OF APPEAL COURT 


The action of the Postmaster General in attempt- 
ing to dismiss eleven officers of Local No. 1, Na- 
tional Federation of Post Office Clerks, emphasizes 
the urgent need of a Civil Service Court of Appeals 
to which employes may appeal in cases involving 
demotion or dismissal. We have long urged this 
reform. The present system is obviously defective. 
The Department acts as complainant, judge, jury 
and high chief executioner. Such a system is made 
to order for bureaucrats of the Burleson-Koons- 
Praeger type who publicly declare that the “truth 
is mighty,” and then refuse to grant employes an 
opportunity to prove the untruth of charges pend- 
ing against them. 

If the Burleson-Koons-Praeger dynasty are such 
believers in the might of truth they would not 
constantly oppose the efforts of the postal workers 
to establish a tribunal whose sole purpose would be 
to arrive at the truth in accordance with the recog- 
nized standards of judicial inquiry. 

The transmission of mails is a government mo- 
nopoly. Therefore the loss of a job by dismis- 
sal operates as a national blacklist to the worker. 
He should be protected against unjust dismissal by 
proper safeguards. We do not question the right 
of the Department to rid the service of the unfit, 
or to impose necessary disciplinary measures. And 
the Department should not object to submitting this, 
question of fitness to a detached tribunal where the 
possibility of inflicting an injustice would be greatly 
minimized. 

We do not desire a Court of Appeals as a refuge 
for the incompetents. We want it as a safeguard 
for the rights and liberties of wage-earners who 
are now at the mercy of supervisory officials, and. 
Department bureaucrats from whose arbitrary 
judgment there is no appeal. Inasmuch as prac- 


The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 


tically all of the postal organizations are committed 
to this reform of its enactment—the need of which 
has been emphasized by the Chicago cases—can_ be 
confidently looked for at the next session of the 
Congress.—F'rom the “Union Postal Clerk” for Sep- 
tember, 1920. 


LAUD WORKERS AGAINST UNION OF 
TEACHERS 


Riverside, October 6.—Resolutions commending 
the school authorities of Oakland and Fresno for 
the “splendid service they rendered in combatting 
efforts of certain groups to unionize the teachers of 
the two cities,” were adopted at the State Conven- 
tion of County and City Superintendents of Califor- 
nia here today. The resolutions were offered by 
Mrs. Susan M. Dorsey, city superintendent of Los 
Angeles. 

—From the San Francisco Chronicle. 





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, CHARLES B STILLMAN, Chicago 
1620 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, Ill 
First Vice-President and Editor, American Teacher, 
HENRY R LINVILLE, 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, JOSEPHINE COLBY, Fresno, Cal, 
124 North Van Ness Boulevard 
Fourth Vice-President, HERMAN DEFREM, 
New York City, 2875 Broadway 
Fifth Vice-President, ISABEL WILLIAMS, 
St Paul, Minn, 554 Holly Avenue 
Sixth Vice-President, JENNIE A WILCOX, Chicago, I1!, 
212 North Grove Avenue, Oak Park, IIl 
Seventh Vice-President, ABRAHAM LEFKOWITZ, 
New York City, Grand Avenue, East Elmhurst 
Eighth Vice-President, C E Puri.ups, Atlanta, Gz, 
94 Brookline Street 
Ninth Vice-President, CLARA K STuTz, 
Washington, D C, 1628 Swann Street 
Secretary-Treasurer, F G STECKER, Chicago, III, 
1618 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, Ill 





The American Teacher 








swered in a book. 


THE BRASS CHECK 


Ninth edition just sent to press—a total of 
144,000 copies. 

“The Brass Check” is a book of facts; a 
book packed solid with facts. Says the intro- 
duction: 

“Here are names, places, dates—such a mass 
of material as you cannot doubt, you cannot 
evade. Here are your sacred names, the very 
highest of your gods. When you have read 
this story, you will know the thing called Amer- 
ican Journalism; you will know the body and 
soul of it.’ 

Says Robert Herrick: 
and congratulate you.” 








“I wish to thank you 


Says Charles Zueblin: “ ‘The Brass Check’ 
ought to raise the roof!” (It has done so.) 

Says John Haynes Holmes: “The book is 
tremendous. I have never read a more strongly 
consistent argument or one so formidably but- 
tressed by facts. You have proved your case 


Address: 








WHO OWNS THE PRESS AND WHY? 


When you read your daily paper, are you reading facts or propaganda. And whose propaganda ? 
Who furnishes the raw material for your thoughts about life? _ Is it honest material ? 
No man can ask more important questions than these; and here for the first time the questions are an- 


A STUDY OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM 
By UPTON SINCLAIR 


UPTON SINCLAIR, Pasadena, California. 


to the handle. I again take satisfaction in sa- 
luting you not only as a great novelist, but as 
the ablest pamphleteer in America today. I am 
already passing around the word in my church 
and taking orders for the book.” 

Says the “Nation” (New York): “A most im- 
portant book a fascinating and thoro 
treatise upon the American Press.” 

Says the “Nation” (London): “This aston- 
ishing production a highly curious rec- 
ord a telling array of evidence ‘ 
a plain factual record.” 

Says the “Neues Journal” (Vienna): “A 
book-trade ‘scoop’ without equal . . . a 
breath-taking, clutching, frightful book.” 

448 pages. Single copy, paper, 60 cents post- 
paid; three copies, $1.50; ten copies, $4.50. 
Single copy, cloth, $1.20 postpaid; three copies, 
$3.00; ten copies, $9.00. 














DON’T BLAME THE MINER 


Coal miners are hard at work all over the coun- 
try, with the exception of Alabama and the Mingo 
county field of West Virginia. In those two fields 
they are on strike for a living wage and respectable 
working conditions. Everywhere else the industry 
is humming and coal is being produced in great 
quantities. Yet there is a how! for more coal. 
From all sides there comes the cry of a coal short- 
age as a menace to the people for the coming winter. 
What is the reason for this cry? 

We wish again to assure the people of this coun- 
try that if there is a coal shortage this winter the 
responsibility cannot be laid at the doors of the 
coal miners. They are producing the coal to keep 
the people warm and to keep industry in operation. 
If this coal fails to reach the people or the in- 
dustries in sufficient quantities to answer their 
needs it is no fault of the miners. The responsi- 
bility must be placed elsewhere. 

Up to October 2 the miners had produced fifty- 
one and one-third million tons more bituminous coal 
this year than in the same period last year. This is 
an enormous increase in production and yet it fails 
to stop the fear of a coal shortage. Evidently there 
is something wrong with the system of distribution 
and the coal produced is not properly placed. 
Again, that is not the fault of the coal miner, for 
he has nothing to do with the coal after it comes 
from the mine. 

We believe the American people are finding out 
the true situation, and that hereafter instead of 
immediately charging the coal miners with every- 
thing that goes wrong in the coal industry they 
will seek the truth so that they may know just who 


is to blame. The people have found that the coal 
miners are not the scoundrels, rough-necks, low- 
brows and dangerous citizens that some persons 
have tried to prove them to be. We wish to assure 
the public that the coal miner has just as deep an 
interest in the public good as any other man; that 
he is just as loyal and patriotic a citizen; that he 
is just as honest and fair as any man, and that he 
will do just as much for the public welfare as any 
man in America. So, when the cry of coal faming 
is raised, do not blame the miner. 
—From the United Mine Workers Journal 

of October, 15, 1920. 


ANOTHER GOUGE 


Anthracite coal companies who recently were 
directed by the Anthracite Coal Commission to pay 
their employes an increase of 17 per cent. in wages, 
promptly passed the increase on to the public— 
which was wholly unfair to the public—and now 
they are penalizing the mine workers by increasing 
the price of house coal $1.25 a ton, with an extra 
charge for haulage. 

This means, of course, that these companies are 
going to gouge the public and the miners out of 
millions of dollars. 

Attorney General Palmer has ordered an investi- 
gation of the bituminous coal industry, but Palmer 
investigations of profiteering have been so farcial 
in the past that this one also sounds like a joke. 
Surely, there is a remedy somewhere for the impo- 
sition that is being practiced by the anthracite coal 
companies. 

—From the United Mine Workers Journal 
of October, 15, 1920. 




















The American Teacher 


Volume IX, No. 7 








STIRRING UP THE TEACHERS—AN INDICTMENT 


“ The teachers of Syracuse are satisfied. Only the Bolsheviks : are 
making trouble!” . 


Thus, the. State senators and the assemblymien of that city reported to the 
Legislature of New York in 1919. But the teachers were not satisfied anywhere 
in the State, and they kept on until the Legislature in 1920 granted increases to 
the extent of about thirty millions of dollars for the fifty-three thousand teachers 
of the State of New York. 

Do the people begrudge decent salary increases for teachers? They do not. 
Then why do they hurl the name “ Bolshevik” at those who: start the. movement? 
Because anyone who first voices the need of a body of human beings is a menace 
to things as they.are. .He must be warned. He must be insulted or ostracized: If 
he does not stop, his living must be cut off. 

If the result of agitation is approved, then why do men object to the method, 
if it is open and above board? Because those who secure economic betterment 
must receive it in the proper spirit of humility. It is unprofessional to demand. 
It is undignified. It is too much like a labor -union. 

Commissioner Finegan, of Pennsylvania, in the Lancaster decision reproved 
the Lancaster teachers because they had~taken the initiative. “The Lancaster 
teachers knew that the Governor had several times announced in public addresses 


that he was in favor of increasing their compensation.” The commissioner also said _ 


the Lancaster teachers were assuming a threatening attitude when they affiliated 
with: labor. The real trouble was that they were preparing to “demand.” That 
is the thing that is improper for teachers. Of course it is; they are not used to it. 

It is not altogether because teachers are joining hands with labor that objection 
is made. They receive the same treatment if they join with their fellows only, 
and demand. It is the demanding that gets under the skin of those who have 
assumed the obligation to “represent the public,” the Finegans, the Garys, ete. 

How do we know this? Because teachers who are not affiliated with labor 
are being dismissed every year for “ stirring up the teachers.” 

In a small city in Western New York three teachers were dismissed last 
Spring for that reason.. They had aided in the formation of a non-union teachers’ 
organization, the purpose of whith was to urge salary increases. They had done 
nothing else which might be a cause for complaint. And yet they were dismissed. 

We have not the privilege of mentioning the city, or the names of the teachers, 
because the leader of the group has had the good fortune to secure another 
position. She fears reprisals and the loss of her present position if a fight is 
made in her behalf, since she has lost several opportunities to secure a new 
position on account of the. superintendent of the town reporting when asked 
about her that she had “stirred the teachers up.” This much THE AMERICAN 
TEACHER must divulge for the sake of teachers who have their fight still to make. 


Teachers of América! You cannot win your professional rights 
without a contest with those who for various reasons will oppose you. 
Alone with your little group your leaders are lost, and their misfortunes 
frighten others. In the ranks of the workers they will have what they 
need — POWER and COURAGE. 











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