ACKg ry | } on AS TANNIINNI7AN Wes 4 VaSL SL SL Ib > » Py, cB RICAN TEACHER ORGAN OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS »y = cee we. —é EEE EAN eee v7. i NN ‘Ng [ x ( REFERENCE DO WOT LOAN Teaching to Think STACKS “It is the purpose of higher education to unsettle the minds of young men, to widen their ho- rizon, to influence their intellects. And by this series of mixed meta- phors I mean to assert that edu- cation is not to teach men facts, theories or laws . . . It is not to reform them or to amuse them, or to make them technicians in any field. It is to teach them to think, to think straight if possible, but to think always for them- selves.” —Robert M. Hutchins, President, University of Chicago. iy, a vy Vir, villi DEMOCRAC NeEDUCATION EDUCATION FOR DEMOCRACY PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS, CHICAGO OCTOBER, 1930 VOL. XV. No. 1 WSTSTSTIRKVIINTINQTIWTWIIWTLVT IWIN. Proceedings of the Fourteenth Convention American Federation of Ceachers MEMPHIS, TENN. JUNE 29—JULY 3, 1930 Price 50 Cents Every member should have a copy in order to be fully informed of the progress and program of his organization. Convention addresses are given in full. Much excellent and in- spiring reading will be found in this volume. Ready for distribution October 1. Place your order early. American Federation of Teachers 506 South Wabash Avenue - - CHICAGO, ILLINOIS CONTENTS President’s Address Mary C. Barker. Civil Liberty for Teachers Harry F. Ward. Why I Am a Member of the Teacher’s Union Editorials Eradicate Illiteracy Selma M. Borchardt. Organized Labor and Continuation Schools 17 Carl Holderman. Trade Unionism in Chile Michael B. Scheler. Labor Section of League of Nations...... 20 John H, Walker. Books General News The Acid Test What more exacting test can there be of dictionary leadership than the judgment of the educational world? Every State that has adopted an unabridged dicticnary for use in its schools has chosen | exclusively WEBSTER’S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY The Colleges voted overwhelmingly in favor of Webster as the standard of pronuncia- tion in answer to questions submitted by the Chicago Woman’s Club. Nearly 100% of all schoolbooks are based on the New International for pronunciation, spelling, com- pounding, and division of words. The New International has been universally accepted | by those best fitted to judge. It is in accord with the best modern practice. ) \ ores \ ” S}\ = Use it in your own schools. DELETE: Searesy us Write for our free booklets of interesting ways to teach the use of the dictionary. GET THE BEST G. & C. MERRIAM COMPANY SPRINGFIELD, MASS. The American Teacher gntered as second class matter Oct. 20, 1926, at the post office at Chicago, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Ac- ceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Sec. 1103, Act of Feb. 28, 1925, authorized Nov. 8, 1936. Volume XV, No. 1 OCTOBER, 1930 Two Dollars a Year Address of President Mary C. Barker Fourteenth Annual Convention, American Federation of Teachers If there is needed any proof that the Ameri- can Federation of Teachers is young in spirit, re- sponsive to changing conditions and forward looking in its program, we have evidence to that effect today in the confidence and pleasure with which, as hosts and as guests, we open our Four- tenth Convention in a section of the country new to Our group as a meeting-ground, though well known to us in the personnel of some of its citizenship. Here in the glorious summer heat of the South, down by the Father of Waters, next door to the headquarters for the southern organ- izing campaign of the American Federation of Labor, in this growing city, one of our gateways to the great West, here we shall enjoy fellow- ship with the people of Memphis. Perhaps while we are here we shall see visions of a time when we cross the mighty river at our door and set up our convention tents in yet other new cities toward the outer rim of our country. We know that during our sojourn this week we shall take a great deal away from Memphis, but we hope that she shall be none the poorer when we are gone. We trust that we may be able to leave with the people of Memphis some- thing of value, and that in the exchanges which we make both they and we may be enriched and strengthened. Participation in Proceedings As delegates to this Convention, as visiting members of the American Federation of Teachers and of the American Federation of Labor, as friends, you are invited to take stock of the pro- gram of the American Federation of Teachers, of the progress that we have made, of the de- velopments in our field of activity, and of the degree to which we have measured up to our tsponsibilities and to our opportunities for service. As delegates it will be your duty to plan for further goals and achievements in the national program and in the individual locals. It will be the duty of each délegate to participate in the proceedings here to the end that he may become in a positive way a source of inspiration to his local group to whom he will return to report and to interpret t{tis convention, even as he shall have interpreted ‘his own group to his fellow delegates assembled here from the various parts of the country. Meaning of the Convention A national convention of an organization such as the American Federation of Teachers ought to be two kinds of a looking glass, a mirror in which the membership examines itself at the hour, and a field glass through which the mem- bership examines the terrain of opportunity and responsibility not yet appropriated. As an organization what have we done thus far to carry the mes§age of freedom through or- ganization to our fellow teachers throughout the country? It id amazing to witness how teachers are controlled by fear. Until you make contact with those who know nothing of our plan you can have no conception of the depressed conditions under which they work. From the standpoint of civil and professional rights and privileges how much stronger is the position of the teacher in the lqnd by reason of the activi- ties of the American Federation of Teachers in its national and local programs? What have we contributed toward making teaching a profession? We claim that in a pro- fession the members set up the conditions under which they work. What progress from this standpoint? What have we done toward secur- ing in the schools “the conditions essential to the best professional service?” 2 THE AMERICAN One of our purposes, we state, is to promote such a “democratization of the schools as will enable them better to equip their pupils to take their places in the industrial, social and political life of the community.” One thing is certain, this democratization will never come about except through the activities of teachers who themselves have the knowledge and the vision, the will and the courage, to work effectively to secure and to maintain the neces- sary conditions in the schools. What are we doing to cultivate this spirit, this equipment, this outlook in teachers? We say “we believe that the teacher is one of the most highly productive of workers, an1 that the best interests of the schools and of the people demand an intimate contact and an effec- tive cooperation between the teachers and the other workers of the community—upon whom the future of democracy must depend.” To what extent have we nationally and locally maintained an intimate and effective cooperation with other workers ? In our national program and in our locals what new ground should we put under cultivation an- other year? What improved technic can we bring to the task? It is not my intention to detain you with an attempt to evaluate our work in these particulars. You will seek the answers to the questions raised in the various reports that are given by officers, committees and delegates, and in other features of the program of this convention. This review merely serves to point out that every delegate is on duty and that there is much to engage his thought. Work of the Secretary-Treasurer There are two subjects to which I wish to call your particular attention and to urge upon your very particular consideration. The first is the matter of expansion and the work of the Secretary-Treasurer. The gains for the year insofar as they relate to increase in membership, in the number of local groups organized, in funds to finance our work, all these matters the delegates will find in detail in Mrs. Hanson’s report. You will find over 27 per cent increase in membership and over 16 per cent increase in the number of locals. Over and above the per capita TEACHER there has been contributed specially for orgap. izing purposes less than a thousand dollars. Th per capita increases have been sixteen hundrej dollars over these receipts of last year. In reading the reports submitted by Mrs. Han. son, you want to remember that you are reading the reports of three officers, the report of th Secretary-Treasurer, the report of the editor oj our magazine, The American Teacher, and th report of our field agent, the organizer for th American Federation of Teachers, These three tremendously important pieces oj work, these three jobs are being carried by on person at a cost to this organization of one sal- ary. To assist in this work is one full time office assistant and one part time assistant. We must emphasize this situation here for it is necessary that you get this matter upon your mind and upon your conscience. The American Federation of Teachers must finance another full time officer or cut down its program. The latter would be suicidal and is unthinkable. Un- less you have a well developed imagination work- ing on a background of some experience with work of this kind you can have little conception of the burden that our Secretary-Treasurer is carrying as the one executive agent on time for this national organization. Only a person consumed with a desire to see our ideals succeed could have spent herself in days of toil and nights of labor as Mrs. Hanson has done, not to speak of the weight of anxiety It is hu- manly impossible for anyone, even a person pos- necessarily attaching to the position. sessing such ability and capacity for work a does our Secretary-Treasurer, to carry on under such a load. The time has come when the Cor- vention must make very definite provisions for another worker on full time. The American Federation of Teachers at Its Best It has been said that the influence of the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers through its ideas its ideals and its methods is far out o proportion to its numerical strength. This is as it should be. Mere numbers will add noth ing to the effectiveness of our purpose, which # to develop the social force in teachers and fur nish a means for effective group action on tht part of teachers. Thi: wish t tion, 1 All ing SC necesS: Our the in in the munit} locals. bers. Ameri promo organ sam We preher Educa extent within Nec ment upon in the Are W Or ar energy our ne prepa B Thi has tv freedc contac profes concer to the classre to all York reaffir that r intend effect the sa The rgan- The rdred Han. ding E the or of 1 the r the es of ’ One . Sal- office Or it your rican Ither Un- ‘ork- with ytion ris for ) see nson ciety hu- pos- nder Con- for THE AMERICAN This brings us to the second matter which I yish to urge upon the attention of the Conven- jon, namely, the social development of teachers. All our activity is for the purpose of develop- ag socially effective teachers and schools and necessarily we begin with the teachers. Our success is to be measured ultimately by he increasing power of our ideals to bear fruit in the personalities of teachers and the com- qunity life. We are constantly organizing new icals. Locals are continually adding new mem- ers. Do we not need to remember that the American Federation of Teachers is trying to promote social education, not locals merely, that uganizing the locals and acquiring new members sa means to an end? We have set up as our slogan two very com- prehensive, meaningful phrases—‘‘Democracy in Education: Education for Democracy.” To what extent are the processes here assumed going on within our own ranks? Necessarily this work of the social develop- ment of our membership is dependent largely upon the programs and methods which prevail in the locals. What is happening in the locals? Are we developing constructive social programs? Or are we sometimes allowing all our time and energy to be spent on a defensive program, while our neglected membership becomes less and less prepared to take an intelligent offensive in the TEACHER 3 creation of a wholesome social attitude in the community? A program of mere defense means ultimate defeat. Another danger that besets the local situation is failure to keep up the fences of democratic procedure within the local so as to insure the free and untrammeled participation of all mem- bers in the affairs of the group. Any arrange- ment which tends to embarrass any part of the membership in the free exercise of membership rights and privileges or serves to create an in- hibition to the free expression of opinion on viewpoint is inimical to the very purposes for which The American Federation of Teachers was organized. No one form of organization perhaps will be equally successful everywhere, but we should not hesitate to protect with all the vigor we possess the freedom for our mem- bers that we are demanding for our profession. Like all other human endeavor, the American Federation of Teachers, as an instrument of so- cial and group progress will improve by constant appraisal of its purposes and of the zeal and sincerity with which those purposes are being promoted, both in the national organization and in the separate local groups and we shall be able to appraise our purposes, our program, and our progress accurately in proportion as our vision is able to encompass the whole field of social de- velopment. Civil Liberty for Teachers By Harry F. Ward, Union Theological Seminary; Chairman, American Civil Liberties Union; New York Teachers Union, Local 5 This question of Civil Liberty for Teachers has two aspects. There is the right to academic ireedom—that is the right of the teacher in all contacts with students to be true to self and to professional obligation. This right is generally conceded. There is also the right of the teacher to the same freedom of expression outside the lassroom that is guaranteed by the constitution 0 all citizens. This right was denied in New York state by the Lusk Laws. It was specifically tafirmed by Governor Smith in his veto of that repressive legislation. The Board of Super- mtendents of New York City has recently in ect taken the position that a teacher has not the same right as a citizen to write or to speak. The less disputed right of the teacher to aca- demic freedom has also been abrogated in the recent history of New York City schools in several cases. There was the case of the three teachers in war time, Schmalhausen, Mufson, Schneer. Their classroom utterances were not considered sufficiently patriotic to satisfy the one hundred percenters. They were dismissed and the judgment was confirmed on appeal by the State Commissioner of Education. Immediately after the war there is the case of Mr. Benj. Glassberg charged under framed testimony with certain statements about Russia which the Com- missioner said, in denying his appeal for rein- statement, showed a lack of loyalty for this country and respect for its institutions. Of the same sort is the recent inquiry into classroom 4 THE AMERICAN TEACHER utterances concerning communism by Mr. Charles J. Hendley, which was initiated by a complaint from the Police Department. Of another sort is the case of the three teachers—Miss Hardy, Miss Hughan, Mr. Lefkowitz, who have been persistently denied the promotion to which their position on the eligible list entitled them because of their outside activities, utterances, and writ- ings. These things are generally summed up in a phrase regarding one of them by the Superin- tendent of Schools—radical tendencies. In the record of the various inquisitions to which these persons were subjected the evidence is conclusive that the Board of Superintendents denies the right of teachers to speak, write and affiliate with organizations on the same basis as other citi- zens. This situation exists despite the fact that there is a legal decision in New York State in the case of a teacher at Buffalo which expressly states that as a matter of general policy the teacher should not be punished for any outside utterances, action or affiliation that is lawful for any other citizen. As one reads the record of these cases a sig- nificant drama unfolds before him. ‘There ap- pear the furies let loose by the war. The fear- crazed herd is on the stampede and the individual is helpless before them. In the wake of this tempest of emotions there come the personalities of the bureaucrats who, in the aftermath of the storm, are able to enforce their petty prejudices. The tragedy develops inevitably. In war time there is dismissal for those who refuse to con- form to the policies of the moment. After the war there is denial of promotion to those whose political views and activities are different from those of the dominant politicians in the Board of Superintendents. Finally, espionage from the Police Department intrudes itself into the school system, and we are back in the days of auto- cratic Russia and imperialist Japan. In this situation there is no civil liberty left for teachers that is worth talking about. But is there not a law which professes to give teachers the right of appeal? The trouble is that the law is so loosely drawn that it permits school au- thorities to work their will with no effective check. There is a clause which, with typical hypocrisy, begins by saying that teachers shall not be dismissed except for one or two reasons and then adds, “or any other reason” which is confirmed by the Commissioner of Education appeal. Behind this law are two basic concepjs which effectively prevent teachers from havin liberty. One is the master-and-servant concept which has worked such havoc in our industrid law. Under the statute the status of the teache is not professional. It is simply that of a hire employee. In addition there runs through th law the concept of the omnipotence of the state Therefore, teachers need not be surprised as em. ployees of the almighty and infallible state jj finally, as in Seattle, they have no rights left ani are compelled to sign yellow dog contracts jus like industrial workers who have no effective union. There is another factor in the New York situa. tion. The law did attempt to give the teacher some protection by guaranteeing the right oj promotion to those standing highest in the ex. amination, through a specific provision to pre vent the merging of eligible lists. This pro- vision has been nullified in a decision of the Commissioner of Education in the Hardy case. Playing the part of Pilate and washing his hands in legal technicalities, he finally declares that the law means exactly the opposite of its expres words. This decision enables the Board of Sv- perintendents to penalize teachers, whom they dare not discharge, for the mere exercise of their rights as citizens. The only remedy is to change the law. Who will do it unless the Teachers Union is strong enough to take up and carry through the fight? In what other way except through Union organ- ization can the teachers hope or expect to pre serve their civil liberty? For them it is more than a right. It is a duty. If they cannot maintain academic freedom, who else will pro tect the child from the distorted mind which re sults from knowing only part of the truth? Who else will hold open for society that unlimited access to truth without which the life of mat cannot grow? ARE TEACHERS UNDERFED? “In my youth,” writes Rebecca West, the well-knows novelist, “I used to marvel at the sadness and irritability of those who taught me. I used to ascribe it to temper amental deficiencies on their part. Later I realized tha it had something to do with me. Later still I realize? that, though that had a lot to do with it, the fact tha they none of them know the taste of pate de foie gr had probably more. CHA Jose ON on ICEDts aving ICept strial acher hire; nthe State S em: ite if t and } just active situa- cher; it of 2 eX: pre- pro- the case, ands t the press Su- they e of Who Tong ight? ‘gatl- pre- more nnot pro- h re- Who nited man nown bility nper- | that slized - that gras THE AMERICAN TEACHER 5 WHY I AM A MEMBER OF THE TEACHERS’ UNION RutH G. Harpy, Head of Department of Eco- nomics, Girls Commercial High School When the Union undertook the defense of the three teachers put on trial in 1917 on the vaguest of charges, I made up my mind that there was the first teachers’ organiza- tion I had been lucky enough to meet which was at once courageous and consistent. I have never in the years since I joined had occasion to change my opinion. Since 1920, there has been an added motive for joining; the Union has become the only teachers’ association in New York City which has undertaken to study the movement best known as Progressive Education. Under the Union’s procedure, members have un- equalled opportunities for visiting progres- sive schools, where our name is Open Se- same, as well as for discussion and evalua- tion of philosophies no less than practices. BeretHA F. Hayes, Teacher of Commercal Branches, Julia Richman High School A course in Industrial History during my school days had left me convinced that the trade union movement was one of the great- est social forces of our day—so important that professional people ought to share in it. CHaRLES J. HeENDLEY, Teacher of History, George Washington High School Through the Teachers Union I am brought into the great labor movement, which, I believe, is the most powerful social force working to establish freedom and se- curity for all who live by useful service rather than by exploitation. And I believe that only through a great social change can the teacher’s status be greatly improved. Jostrpx T. Surptey, Teacher of English, Stuy- vesant High School It is neither promise nor performance, but perspective, that binds me to the Teachers Union. Whatever its present strength or future power, the Union keeps kindled the one beacon a_ self-respecting American teacher can follow. In the mazes of greed, prejudice, ignorance, and indifference, the Teachers Union alone is leading the way to- ward “democracy in education—education for democracy.” CAROLINE Pratt, Director, The City and Country School, New York I belong to the Teachers Union because I see no way of bringing about better condi- tions for teachers and pupils except through a union of teachers backed by the whole labor body of parents. I admit there is little hope of bettering these conditions at present. Still, I am a member of my union in a spirit of readiness and because I belong there. WittiaM S. Scuvaucn, Head of Department of Mathematics, High School of Commerce The chief reasons why I am a member of the Teachers Union may be stated as fol- lows: (1) The Teachers Union seems to me to be offering more constructive suggestions in education than any other organization of teachers connected with the public school system of New York. (2) I believe that the best results in educa- tion come from the cooperative effort of supervisors, elected boards, and the teachers who are in actual contact with the problems and the children. The Teachers Union has been more effective in presenting the view- point of the teachers to the supervisors and the public, than any other similar organiza- tion. It is helping to democratize education, and I want this movement to grow. FeLix Sper, Teacher of English, Thomas Jeffer- son High School I regard the Teacher Union as an enter- prise in self-realization. Our problem is well-defined: to teach. But what of ignorant meddling of politicians, superiors, tax-pay- ers, and hostile organizations? Good sense, therefore, advises a pooling of brains and wills to insure resistance and a peaceful working out of common problems. Against the countless irritations incident to mass- education in large cities, but one way has thus far proved effective: unionization. Mary Percivat, Head of the Department of English, Hunter College High School I am a member of the Teachers Union be- cause I believe in the principles for which it stands, in the honesty and high purpose of its leaders, and the efficiency with which its activities are conducted. 6 THE AMERICAN TEACHER The American Teacher Democracy in Education Education for Democracy Published Monthly, except July and August Official Organ THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS OrGANIzED Aprit 15, 1916 Affiliated With the American Federation of Labor Editorial Office : 506 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Illinois Telephone Harrison 2950 Editors: FLORENCE CURTIS Lucie W. ALLEN HANSON At the time of expiration, a bill will be found in the copy. Subscribers are requested to give prompt notice of changes in address. Remittances should be made in postal money-order, express order, draft, stamps or check. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, TWO DOLLARS FOR THE YEAR—FOREIGN $2.20—SINGLE COPIES, 25c Made Known on Application Advertising Rates % icBell ia Patt thee 330 20 EXECUTIVE COUNCIL President 3ARKER, Atlanta No. 89; 685 N. E., Atlanta, Georgia. Legislative Representative and Vice-President SetMA M. Borcuarnt, Washington No. 8; 1741 Park Road, N. W., Washington, D. C. lice-Presidents ABRAHAM LerKow!tz, New York No. 5; 10414 27th Avenue, East Elmhurst, Corona, New York, N. Y. Henry R. Linvitte, New York No. 5; 70 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. A. J. Muste, Brookwood No. 189; Brookwood, Katonah, N. Y. CarLoTtA PittMAN, Memphis No. 52; 131 Clark Place, Memphis, Tenn. Mary C. Myrtle Street, FLorENCE Roop, St. Paul No. 28, 372 St. Peter St., St. Paul, Minnesota. W. B. SatrerTHWAITE, Local No. 200; 1837 12th Ave., West, Seattle, Washington. Lucie H. Scuacut, Chicago No. 3; 6714S. Union Ave., Chicago, Illinois. FE. E. ScHwWaArztTrRAuBER, Portland No. 111; 321 N. Brooks Street, Madison, Wisconsin. W J. Scort, Atlanta No. 89; 212 Kings Highway, Decatur, Georgia. CHARLES B, STILLMAN, Chicago No. 2; 827 Ridge Ave., Evanston, III. Secretary-Treasurer FLorENcE Curtis Hanson, Chicago No. 3; 506 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Illinois. 4 Issac iate Secretary ALLEN, Chicago No. 3; 506 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Illinois. Luci W. Things must exist in ideas before they can exist in fact.—Grove Patterson OUR NEW SECRETARY, LUCIE W. ALLEN By reference to the adjoining column you will see that the American Federation of Teachers has a new secretary and The American Teacher a new editor. The Memphis Convention did some excellent work but nothing to equal or excel the selection of Miss Allen for the staff of the National Office, She brings to her new position experience, char- acter and ability of a high order, knowledge of the past and faith in the future of the American Federation of Teachers. Miss Allen has served A. F. of T. president for a number of years and as chair- as vice- man of the permanent committee on Education. She has been treasurer and president of her local, No. 3, the Chicago Federation of Women High School Teachers and is active on its Ex- ecutive Board. Previous to taking up her new duties, Miss Allen was a teacher of social science at the Lake View High School, Chicago. She is regarded as an expert in her field. Her home is in Evanston, Illinois. With this addition to the free working force of the National, we anticipate a splendid growth and furthering of our program. THE LEADERS The Fourteenth Annual Convention American Federation of Teachers found itself of the in the happy position of being able to give again to the organization the strong inspired leadership under which so much of progress, of strength and of capacity for service has been added to our record during the past few years. To Mary C. Barker and Florence Curtis Han- son who through sacrificial service have led the American Federation of Teachers to new heights of usefulness and strength, the convention paid grateful tribute. For their willingness to be stil further spent for the cause of teachers and the advancement of education, the organization owes lasting gratitude. Could the influence of their personality and the force of their example of sacrifice reach down to every member of every local, the record of the coming year would be one of power, valvé will hers Cher llent tion ffice. har- e of ‘ican ice- lair- Hon, men Ex- iss ake ded yrce wth the self ain hip gth an- the aid till the ves Jue THE and prestige worthy of the purpose for which we are organized. TO MEMPHIS—AN APPRECIATION The Memphis Convention will forever be a srateful memory to those who were so happy 3s to be there. Southern hospitality, the oft repeated words, will to them forever be more thn words. Always will they bring to mind cordial greetings, ready kindliness and gracious thought for every comfort. The flowers of the South, the songs of the South, the people of the South, how much they will hereafter mean? Individual memories of addresses grave, gay and witty, helpful and stimulating; of a flower decked banquet hall; of sweet voices of the South’s own children in their own loved songs; of tables spread beneath magnolia trees where Old Man River rolled by suggesting our coun- try’s majesty; all these will come many times to mind, and all will blend in what the South has come to mean. To the Local of Memphis the delegafes will forever be sensibly in debt. To the Local of Memphis the American Federation of Teachers will forever be in debt if the delegates carry back to their locals the exhilaration which Mem- phis gave to them. The Teacher in the New Education Something new came into school rooms all over America as the philosophy of John Dewey began to bear fruit in the new methods of educa- tion. Education through self activity has become the accepted basis of all modern method, and the children of America are finding school life a happy, satisfying experience rather than the hated drudgery of other days. So far so good—may it ever be so. But what of the teachers, those who must guide and direct and inspire this happy new method school room. Has the educational world lost sight of the postu- late of the great early philosopher of education who said that the soul must be solicited to grow from birth until it departs to the Island of the Blessed ? There is much complaint, some of it justified, that many teachers of our nation are mcapable of successful handling of these new methods, and even unambitious to try. “Solicited AMERICAN TEACHER 7 to grow—until it departs”—have they forgotten that? John Dewey taught the educational world how to apply that to the lives of little children. Place them, he says, in contact with opportunities for growth through self activity. When does the time for that stop? With Plato we hold it is not until the day of departing. The American Federation of Teachers with its insistence on teacher activity shows itself to be a veritable new method teacher organization. Its constant urge to activity fosters a growth that comes from within rather than one imposed from above (were such possible). Its insistence on teacher participation in curriculum making, text selection, voice in determining working condi- tions and school policies, aside from the value of this teacher viewpoint to our schools, has an important by-product in teacher development. It solicits to constant growth. When under- stood and viewed from this angle the American Federation of Teachers is seen to parallel among the teachers themselves the work the new educa- tion is doing among children. When measured by Plato’s measuring stick it looms up as one of the most necessary and needed institutions in our nation today. Making Teaching a Profession \We enter upon a new scholastic year. With renewed vigor we re-dedicate ourselves to our profession, and to raising the status of that profession. Our first step to make our efforts more ef- fective, it would seem, would be to clarify the obligations of our profession are; and then for ourselves what a profession is, what we should quite definitely work out the ways and means of better and more fully meeting these obligations, Frankly, is teaching at present a profession, or does the work simply demand that we who are engaged in it shall meet certain “professional obligations”? Let's be fair in the analysis. (1) the full as to ciate t the ‘ithin n Il- id, it Dose. with mis- the ould reat THE AMERICAN TEACHER 15 thorized by the Bureau of Census. We were happy that the Commission appointed highly trained experts to make a far-reaching survey and study in the teaching of adult illiterates; hut it is at present conducting its work without any reference to what may be the findings of this Survey (to be reported in part in Septem- ber). It seems to have ignored the excellent government publication on the teaching of adult iterates, and has instead sent broadcast a ridiculously superficial Manual for Teachers which is utterly contrary to all sound pedagogy. Imagine, for example, a Manual for Teachers, a group Which we trust knows that an adult can learn as fast as a child but no faster, and a group which knows how many months it takes to teach the elements of reading and writing—a manual which says “if real progress is made within a short time in reducing illiteracy, a definite pro- gram of activities must be planned.” The “short time” given in this Manual for Teachers is twenty-four lessons. Inadequate Funds for Work We deplore the fact that the National Com- mission on Illiteracy was to set to work without public funds. It has had to accept its funds from whatever generous philanthropic sources it could obtain them. One source of revenue was, and perhaps still is, through the sale of candy. So unique is this method of raising money for the conduct of a governmental activity, that we pause to describe it. In the offices of the Na- tional Commission on Illiteracy, in the United States Department of the Interior, there were placed’ on sale attractive, quaint packages of North Carolinian pottery filled with crystalized pumpkin, a perfectly delicious confectionery. These packages of sweets, which were placed on sale in March, were to raise the money with which to eradicate illiteracy before the census was taken in April. The cover of these quaintly prepared delicacies was a green mat on which, printed in silver, was the little moonlight school, and over the dear little school house shone the silver moon. Below this touching picture were the words SWEETS BEFORE APRIL COMES This was indeed a touching appeal to be made from the offices of the Department of the In- terior of the United States government. But somehow, we are inclined to feel that it borders on sentimentality rather than on staunch and true sentiment. To many of us it seemed a sad commentary that the rich United States of Amer- ica, that the land which offers hope to so many, many people of the world, should have to resort to selling “sweets—before April” in order to wipe out illiteracy. But we are not primarily concerned with whose fault it is; we are not seeking to place the blame. We are interested only in a vitally important, urgently necessary nation-wide cam- paign to eradicate illiteracy. And we mean actu- ally to eradicate illiteracy! To this end we feel the need of a far-reach- ing governmental program based upon a fully organized plan. We suggest: 1. That illiteracy be redefined; that a person shall have reached a standard of fourth grade literacy (New York State Standard) before he be classed as a literate. 2. That all work in this nation-wide campaign be directed and conducted in keeping with the above stated definition of literacy, and that to that end the methods, devices, litera- ture, lesson plans, etcetera, at present being circulated by the National Commission on Illiteracy (which are contrary thereto), be discarded; that we cease to devote any time or effort to the superficial goal of having a person become “literate” by learn- ing how to trace his name. 3. That the full plan for the campaign be held in abeyance until September when a preliminary report is expected from the survey being conducted with the aid of such experts as Dr. Gray of the University of Chicago. 4. That in keeping with the traditional Ameri- can policy that the administration of educa- tion is fundamentally a state matter, that the actual instruction be conducted under the auspices and immediate control of the state educational authorities. 5. That in keeping with our concept of gov- ernment that we are a federal government of sovereign states, and that the federal government shall assist the several states and territories when a grave menace con- THE AMERICAN fronts them or a great disaster is upon them, that we call upon the federal gov- ernment to make available to the several states in the present emergency federal funds, with which the states may combat illiteracy, one of the greatest of all dis- asters which may befall a nation. George-Hammer Bill In keeping with such a program and in order to make possible the carrying on of this work, we have drafted a bill embodying these princi- ples. This bill has been introduced into the Sen- ate by Senator Walter F. George of Georgia, and into the House by Representative William C. Hammer of North Carolina. These men are both practical idealists. Both staunch supporters of states’ rights, ardent ad- vocates of genuine Jeffersonian democracy, these men had to be satisfied that the bill drafted by your legislative representative carried out with exacting care the principles of democracy for which they stand. Here is the bill. (S. 4388 and H. R. 12261.) An Act To aid the several states and territories and the Dis- trict of Columbia in combating illiteracy, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Rep- resentatives of the United States in Congress assembled: That in order to aid the several states, territories, and the District of Columbia in combating illiteracy, there shall be provided therefor one million dollars annually for a period of five successive years beginning with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1932, as herein pro- vided. SECTION 1. To the properly constituted state authorities of edu- cation of each state, territory, and the District of Col- umbia shall be paid a portion of the money herein pro- vided in the ratio that the illiterate population of each of the said states, territories, and the District of Col- umbia bears to their total population as given in the census of 1930, to be administered in the states by said educational authorities to combat illiteracy within that state, in such a manner as to afford equal educational opportunity to all illiterate residents of said state. Section 2, No portion of the money herein provided shall be used for the construction of school-houses nor for other building purposes, nor shall any portion of it be used for conducting regularly authorized educational work at present being carried on in the elementary, secondary, or higher schools of any of these said states, except for adult work; nor shall more than 1% of the money allotted to any one said state be used for the purchase TEACHER of books, equipment or supplies, provided that money apportioned to any state which shall not be used a; herein provided shall revert to the United State; | treasury. SEcTION 3. The State Superintendent of Schools of each of th States receiving a portion of the money herein pro. vided shall annually submit to the United States Com. missioner of Education a report setting forth a full accounting for all money received; the number of illiterates enrolled in the schools under the provision of this act; the number of teachers employed with 2 statement of their qualifications and salaries; number of hours of actual instruction; number of students en- rolled who have reached a level of fourth grade liter- acy, and such other information as the Commissioner of Education may require. The Commissioner of Education shall annually sub- mit to Congress a report on the work as herein pro- vided, as it is conducted in all the states, territories, and the District of Columbia. SEcTION 4. This Act shall become effective July 1, 1931. This bill embodies sound economy. Franklin Lane former Secretary of the Interior said ina letter to Congress in 1918, that illiteracy costs the nation $825,000,000 a year. And think what it costs our citizens who by their handicap are denied the right to participate in matters vitally concerning them! We want this remedial legislation passed by our Congress. We need to make a law of the George-Hammer Bill. And through it help the states eradicate illiteracy and not simply conceal it! INCOMES, YOURS AND MINE The National Bureau of Economic Research reports that the average salary of salaried employes in 1927 was $2,084. The average wage of wage workers was $1,205. The per capita income in that year was $745. More significant than even these figures showing the extremely low income of the person who has to work for a living. were figures which show that there were 11,000 persons who received incomes of over $100.00. The total income of these persons was $3,232,957,000. Only 188% was by any stretch of the imagination earned, while 81.2% or over four-fifths of the total was unearned income; that is, income derived from profits on the sale of real estate, stocks, bonds, etc, capital net gain from sale of assets held over more than two years, rent, royalties, interest on investments, and dividends on the stock of domestic corporations. After we get plenty of business efficiency in America I hope there will be a crusade to go back to the doc- trines of our fathers on the right of every human to regulate his own life as he sees fit—Clarence Darrow. states F f the pro- om- full r of ision ith a mber ; en- liter- ioner sub- THE AMERICAN TEACHER Organized Labor and Continuation Schools Address Delivered to Conference of New Jersey Continuation School Teachers at Paterson, N. J. By Carl Holderman, Representative of The American Federation of Full Fashioned Hosiery Workers The Organized Labor Movement has a dis- tinct interest in continuation schools. All through its history, the American Federation of Labor has taken a keen and leading part in agitation for the extension of education to the sons and daughters of the working people. This gave rise to the initial campaigns for the public school system itself. But not satisfied with participa- tion in the creation of the present educational system, Labor went further and used its influence to fill the schools with pupils. The year-long campaign for more adequate working laws and regulations that would take the child workers out of the mill, mine and fac- tory and put them in the class room is evidence of that. Without such legislation on that sub- ject as we now have—due primarily to the efforts of Organized Labor—there would be hundreds of thousands less pupils enjoying the benefits of education than there are today. The continuation school itself grew out of this demand by the organized workers that chil- dren should devote their young years to prepara- tion for the future rather than in earning a small pittance for low-waged households. It is part of the same picture. It recognizes the necessity for provisions for the future education of young folks, even after they have gone to work. The organized wage workers have a more than pass- ing stake, then, in those educational institutions which train their children and those of their fellow-workers. And in the name of trade union- ists I can heartily wish you well in the things you are seeking to accomplish. Cultural Education for Manual Workers It is of importance to the state and nation that those who engage in manual labor have as high adegree of cultural education as possible. Such a state of affairs makes for a more intelligent ‘itizenship in general, and is of great value in a (emocracy in particular. Beyond that, such edu- ‘ation also equips the working population better ‘0 meet their own problems in industry, and to participate democratically in industrial relations. If the mass of the people are well equipped cul- turally, all of our social, economic and political problems will be solved the more readily. The continuation schools have done a good job in this general cultural work. If they are to measure up fully to the things that they should do, they must go a step further. When the pupils of your classes complete their continua- tion courses, they go out into a world for which they are often illy equipped. They have to face a@ great number, of practicak problems, which come to them unexpectedly and of which they have often not heard. These problems are very vital to them, for they affect the very bread and butter which is the reward of their labor. If these young people have no knowledge of the relationships which they are to take up, they will frequently take steps which injure them and the community or refuse to take steps which are of common benefit to all. The public welfare requires that they know something of industrial relations, of what efforts have been made to place such relations on the proper plane in the past, and what is being done in that regard at the present time. While these pupils are already in industry, they are still in a formative period of their lives and the teachers in the continuation classes have much to do with what these young folks’ future actions will be. Curriculum Suggestions This leads to the suggestions that there should be added to the curriculum of the continuation schools a regular course in industrial relations. Such a course would be of the utmost practical value. It would give them a glimpse of the in- formation which would aid them to help them- selves, to become better citizens of industry and of the nation as a whole. Democracy falls short when it does not include some provisions for the democractic participation by the working people in the decision as to the conditions under which they are to work. The course should be planned, necessarily, so 18 THE AMERICAN as to approach the subject from a viewpoint sym- pathetic to the efforts to raise the standards of living of the masses of the people, rather than from the viewpoint of an executive concerned largely with exploiting those masses. It is un- fortunate that general education in this country has idealized the accumulation of wealth through individual efforts, holding up to the individual the alluring picture of advancement by stepping on the necks of his fellows. This is an utterly false education, as a moment’s consideration tells one that it is mathematically impossible for all to rise to the top of the heap. Rather should our educational viewpoint be one that concerns itself with benefiting that great portion of the population who can get nowhere by standing alone, but must help themselves and help the general prosperity of the country by standing together. It is largely members of this group who attend the continuation schools. Although the great benefits that have followed democratic organization of the workers have been attested to by a growing army of economists, re- ligious leaders and other prominent men and women, it is surprising how little is actually known about this matter. Organized Labor’s Program It is not enough to point out that those groups of workers which are organized are the highest paid and enjoy the shortest number of work- hours and the best conditions. In addition to that important contribution to the general pros- perity of the country, the organized workers movement has also been in the forefront of all humanitarian legislation. No worker who enjoys the protection of the workmen’s compensation laws receives that protection except through the past vigilant efforts of his organized fellows. No worker of the future who will be freed from the specter of the almshouse will be rid of that fear except for the same reason. Organized Labor is fighting today as vigorously for protection for the aged workers as it fought in the past for other constructive social legislation. Many or- ganized workers’ groups have even gone farther than these direct efforts for the worker and community welfare, and have actually gone out to save the particular industries in which they work from destruction when the employing groups seemed unable to do so. Organized TEACHER workers have sometimes had to fight vigorously for the salvation of their industries and for the elimination of the ruinous competition that arises from over-production, against the stubborn op- position of short-sighted manufacturers. That has been the basis of the newer, scientific rela- tions between employers and employes in such progressive industries as the needle trades and the full fashioned hosiery industries. It is somewhat ironical that employers oft- times take advantage of the ignorance of the workers by adapting the need for an organization to their own program of exploitation. This has given rise in this country to a number of so- called workers’ organizations, created by the em- ployer, controlled by the employer, and which give the workers no real voice in industrial self- government. Workers should be educated to the necessity of the discussion of their problems through an organization not under the supervision of the employer and not employer-controlled, and of the advantage of real representation in negotia- tions concerning their mutual welfare. Unemployment Unemployment has been much on the front pages of the newspapers lately, and has been of much importance in the workers lives. That isa problem which can be met or greatly ameliorated by more widespread action of the workers’ own groups for shorter hours -and appropriate and helpful legislation. The continuation school pupils, already members of industry, should cer- tainly be apprised of the aim and objects of these workers’ organizations on these vital measures. The various extraordinary methods now te- sorted to by selfish employers to crush demo- cratic organization of the workers has attracted widespread public attention of late, and has been thoroughly aired recently in the United States Senate. Is it not of importance, as an educa- tional itein, that those people directly affected by these methods, and by the movement at which these methods are aimed, should know the back- ground of the organized workers’ groups? It is suicidal public policy that all of these pertinent events should be ignored, in the educational cut- riculum. Such a policy puts the schools in the alleged position of the ostrich. For the continua- ti th the are to the pla we ously r the irises 1 Op- That rela- such > and oft- f the ation s has f so- > em- vhich self- essity h an f the d of rOtia- front n of t isa rated own and chool | cer- 's of vital y re- emo- acted been tates luca- d by hich yack- It is inent cur- ) the nua- THE AMERICAN tion classes, the absence of some discussion of the subject is a serious defect. It is a particular pleasure for me to speak thus frankly and intimately to you upon this sug; gestion, for I realize the great interest that you have in the future welfare of these young people and how much time and energy you have all devoted toward a better knowledge and under- standing on their part. We look upon you as missionaries of thought, who have a decided share in molding the social forces of the future, through those recruits to our American citizen- ship who pass through your hands. WHAT THE MACHINE DOES FOR US At the present time industry is clearly over-valued at the expense of agriculture. These two great activities are fundamentally out of balance. Mechanization has led to cities so congested that it gives little pleasure to live in them, or to contemplate what will happen if the pressure becomes much greater. By and large the sub- way is an engine for “pumping us back and forth from places where we would rather not live, to places where we would rather not work.”—Stuart Chase, Technology Review, November, 1929. Mineral Baths will tone up your entire system. Physicians are strong in the recommendation of Saline-Sulphur Salts for rheumatism, nervousness, neuritis, lack of vitality, arthritis and other ailments. New Modern Hotel Overlooking Lake Michigan HOTEL WHITCOMB ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN is famous all over the world for its Mineral Baths, which have been analyzed by leading authorities and found to contain Many curative qualities equal in medicinal values to those of the famous European Spas. The Hotel itself is located on a High Bluff overlooking the lake. It is completely modern and offers every facility for rest and recreation. Now isa good time to come. Write or wire Z. D. Jenkins, Manager, for reservations and booklets. TEACHER 19 TRADE UNIONISM IN CHILE By Michael B. Scheler The workers of Chile started their organiza- tional activities in the form of mutual aid societies in the fifties of the last century. “The Typo- graphical Society” was the first mutual aid society organized in the town of Santiago in the year 1853 by the typographical workers. The same society organized a similiar society in Valparaiso in 1855. Other mutual aid societies followed in rapid succession. In 1858 there was founded the “Ar- tisans’ Society of Valparaiso” in the town by the same name. In 1862 two more societies were formed in Santiago and La Serena, both being called “Artisans’ Union.” Both were nothing else but mutual aid societies, pure and simple. During the last quarter century of the past century the Chilean workers concentrated almost exclusively on the founding of mutual aid and insurance societies of one form or another. In 1870 there were in Chile 13 mutual aid societies ; in 1880 there were 39; in 1890—76; in 1900— 240; and in 1925 they reached the astonishingly high figure of 600, with 90,000 members. All the foregoing societies were incorporated. In addition there were and are still in existence a number of protective societies that are not in- corporated. It is only during the last quarter of the century that the first signs of workers’ class-consciousness became visible. The first workers’ organizations dedicated to the enhancement of workers’ in- terests as a class, to the capture of political, eco- nomic and social power came into being. Today there are dozens of trade union bodies which are ready to fight the battles of the workers on the industrial field and not merely to minister to their physical ailments, financial difficulties and carnal pleasures. The Chilean labor movement may be subdi- vided into three distinct categories: trade union, mutual aid, and Catholic. In the first category may be included the prin- cipal labor body: The Federation of Labor of Chile and The Federation of Societies of the National Union. The Federation of Labor was organized on September 18, 1909. At first, run- ning to form of all Chilean labor bodies, it was principally an assqciation of various beneficial societies. Gradually it grew more trade-unionistic 20 THE AMERICAN TEACHER and revolutionary in character. On December 19, 1925, at a convention held at the city of Con- cepcion, the Federation was completely reorgan- ized and its constitution, program and _ policies were radically revised and predicated upon trade- union principles exclusively. The [ederation is now revolutionary in perspective and aims, avowedly communistic in its economic and politi- cal demands, and constitutes numerically the strongest labor body in Chile today. Its present membership is estimated at 136,000. It publishes several dailies and reviews, some of them in co- operation with the literature department of the Communist Party. The Federation of Societies of the National Union is another influential labor body consist- ing exclusively of Catholic workers. It was founded in 1908. With it are affiliated 30 so- cieties with a total membership of 3,050. To the second category belongs THE SocraL Lazor Concress. It wields a tremendous influ- ence in Chile. It was organized in 1916 and with it are affiliated all mutual aid societies of labor and trade unions. It has a membership of 50,000, associated with about 350 distinct societies. To this category also belongs The Federation of Societies of the National Union, which in reality is more of a mutual aid society of Catholic work- ers than a trade union body. To the third category belongs the Federation of Societies of the National Union and several other independent Catholic societies. If our teachers are themselves students, and if they continue to be students until the end of their teaching days, if they have unbounded faith in the dignity and the greatness of their occupation, all will be well.— Principal Wallace, University of Toronto. entu Ury SHEET Mus Ic You can get any of the 2,700 standard and classi. eal Foreign and Ameri iti in this Edition at only 15¢ a copy postpaid. Every copy guaranteed correct in every detail, and equal to the best published or money refunded. Contains music in all grades for Piano, Violin, Saxophone, Mandolin, Guitar and Vocal suitable for teaching, drawing room and concert. (It is not rag time music.) peepusedesd teday toed> dress below fer our LABOR SECTION OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS SUBSTITUTES PEACE METHODS FOR WARS BETWEEN NATIONS By John H. Walker, President, Illinois State Federation of Labor The labor section of the League of Nations is a vehicle through which the nations that have made the greatest advance in economic progress can meet in conference with the representatives of the less fortunate nations and give to them the benefit of their experience, and information appertaining thereto, and of their judgment, and exert their moral influence in appealing to those nations to voluntarily undertake the establish- ment of practical and desirable economic progress. This method of raising the economic stand- ards of those nations lowest in the economic scale, to relieve the pressure holding back the farthest advanced, release from which pressure enables the progressive nations to make additional progress, seems to be a more enlightened and Christian way than was the method pursued formerly of attacking those nations with armies and navies, invading their territory, seizing them, abolishing their government setting up and im- posing on those peoples, foreign governments, for the purpose of their (the nations seized) better- ment (j)?). The unfair competition of nations having low standards of working conditions of labor, low wages and long hours, low standards of educa- tion—of living, has caused about as much con- quest by armed invasions as has greed and the desire to increase their territory on the part of aggressive nations. If the labor section of the League of Nations can (in addition to solving this problem) develop the sort of understanding and friendly relations that will result in the ex- change of needed products on the part of these nations in a helpful way, it will have accomplished practically all the things that armed invasions, subjections of people to military dictatorships has accomplished in the past. That is real, and the right kind, of national self-determination. Former President Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor had these things clearly in mind when he fought so patiently, yet ceaselessly, with all of his strength, influence and matchless ability, to bring about the establish- ment of the labor section of the League of Na- tions. hav day no tru was wat age fift nor up Ew adu con Th law tiot in | wo! or | mai tior felt is | hav We Sot stat Tals oug ide on of tior abo for tha lish a eit is tions have gress tives them ation , and those )lish- Tess, -and- omic : the sure ional and sued mies hem, , for tter- low low uca- con- t of the ving ding hese shed ons, the the ings yet and ish- Na- THE AMERICAN As a result of the action of the International Labor Office, seven of the European countries have adopted, and are enforcing, the eight-hour day. In sixteen European countries, women may no longer be employed at night. This is also true of India, and this summer a national fete was held in Japan to celebrate the liberation of 180,000 women from toil during the night watches. Boys or girls under fourteen years of age may no longer be industrially employed in fifteen countries of Europe, nor in Japan, Chile nor Cuba. Public employment offices have now been set up to help the workless to find jobs in twenty European countries, and in India and Japan. There have been twenty-eight conventions adupted by the International Labor Office. Those conventions are, in effect, national labor laws. There have been 377 ratifications of those labor laws which means that there have been 377 na- tional labor laws adopted by the different nations in the world, improving the conditions of men, women and children who work for a living. That means that a new code of international law has ben brought into existence dealing not with war or frontiers, but binding the nations to set up and maintain a higher standard of industrial civiliza- tion. The work of the International Labor Office is felt in Asia, where the rising industry of the East is learning from it to avoid the mistakes which have cost so much hardship and misery in the West. It is felt in Africa; it is felt in Canada, South America and Australia. The necessity for international action, if the status and fortunes of the workers are to be raised to a higher level, has now been so thor- oughly proved that what seemed to many an idealistic fantasy ten years ago, has today become asolid and indispensable reality. The International Labor Office was founded on the theory not only of improving as far as possible the lot, the standards of labor and of life, of the workers, but also because strong convic- tions are held that war can only be ultimately abolished when social justice has been established. The belief on the part of those who are best in- formed as to the International Labor Office is, that it will be a very helpful agency in estab- lishing social justice for the workers throughout TEACHER 21 the world—that its efforts will expedite this much desired end by intelligent, practical, as well as scientific and peaceful means. AMYL, ETHYL, METHYL: ALCOHOL SISTERS Industrial alcohol—the only kind legal in the U. S. today, except for medicinal use, is of three different kinds, generally speaking. Least important of the three is amyl; best known to laymen is probably ethyl; the third is the thoroughly poisonous methyl, or wood alcohol. The -yl suffix which forms the endings of these names, and makes them sisters among words, meant originally “wood,” and later simply “material.” Amyl alcohol, which occurs in fusel oil, is etymo- logically related to starch; it is a by-product of ethyl alcohol. Ethyl has a much longer story to be told about it. Ether is the oxide of the chemical hydrocarbon known as ethyl. Ethyl alcohol is the hydroxide of ethyl—as a chemist would express it. Ether is today the name of one of two things: in physics, the ether is the hypothetical medium which fills space (distin- guished from air or any gas or gaseous mixture) and is not displaced by other objects, fluids or solids; in chemistry, ether is “a light, volatile, mobile, in- flammable liquid,” commonly used as an anesthetic. There are other ethers in chemistry, but the one mentioned is the best known. With the physical ether is associated the name of the mathematician Einstein, who has formulated many of its hypothet- ical properties. First of all, however, the ether, according to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, was regarded as an element composing the substance of all the heavenly bodies and fixed stars, including the moon, The upper regions of space, the clear sky, were also called the ether, whence comes the word ethereal. The Latin “aether” came, according to Webster's New International Dictionary, from a Greek word akin to “light up, kindle, burn, blaze.” From this beginning, then, comes ethyl—the “eth-” from ether, plus the suffix “-yl.” Methyl alcohol is called wood alcohol, because it is frequently distilled from wood. It is dangerously poisonous if taken internally. Under the laws en- forcing the prohibition amendment, methyl alcohol has been used to denature, or render unfit for drink- ing, alcohol intended for commercial purposes. The name methyl is fanciful in its origin. Methyl or wood alcohol has also been called wood spirit, suggesting its distillation from wood. The name methylene was coined to correspond with “wood spirit,” from the Greek word for wine plus the word for wood. “It is when the task is mighty and the outcome deep in doubt, The richest joys are waiting for the man who'll work it out.” —Edgar A. Guest. 22 THE AMERICAN THE WOMEN M.P.’s IN BRITISH HOUSE OF COMMONS Thirteen women have been elected members of the House of Commons as a result of the general election held in Great Britain on May 30. Of these one is a Liberal, three are Conservatives, and the remaining nine represent the Labor Party. The solitary representative of the Liberals is Miss Megan Lloyd George, daughter of the Liberal leader, who will sit in the House in com- pany with her father and brother. The Conserv- ative members in the new House will be Lady Astor, the Duchess of Atholl and Lady Iveagh. All the women Labor members of the old Par- liament, with the exception of Mrs. Dalton, who did not wish to stand again as she thought she could do more useful work on the London County Council, were re-elected. The re-elected mem- bers are Margaret Bondfield, Susan Lawrence, Jennie Lee and Ellen Wilkinson. The new mem- bers who will join them are Dr. Ethel Bentham, Mrs. M. A. Hamilton, Lady Cynthia Mosley, Dr. Marion Phillips and Miss Picton-Turberville. Margaret Bondfield (Wallsend) is the Chief Woman Officer of one of the largest British trade unions, the National Union of General and Muni- cipal Workers. She was a member of the 1924 Labor Government—in the Ministry of Labor under Tom Shaw—and was thus the first woman Minister in Great Britain. In 1923 she was elected first ‘woman chairman of the British Trades Union Congress. In the present election she was opposed by a Conservative, a Liberal and a Communist, but was elected with a vote of 20,037, her majority over the Conservative being 7,105. Her Communist opponent only received 744 votes. In the new Labor Government Miss Bondfield has accepted office as Minister of Labor, an office which carries Cabinet rank. «She thus becomes the first woman Cabinet Minister of Great Britain and in consequence the first woman member of the Privy Council. Susan Lawrence (East Ham, North) is at present vice chairman of the Labor party. She was a member of the London City Council till 1927, and was vice chairman for a year. In 1923 she was elected M. P. for East Ham, a seat which she lost however in 1924. When a by- election became necessary in 1926 she regained the seat with a majority of 1,627 over the Con- TEACHER servative. In the recent election her majority rose to 2,164 and she increased her vote from 10,798 to 13,909. Miss Lawrence, who did such splendid work iy the debates on the Local Government Bill intro. duced into the last Parliament by the Tory Min. ister of Health, has been entrusted with the offic of Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health in the new Labor Government. Jennie Lee (North Lanark) is young school teacher daughter of a miner, who brill iantly won North Lanark in a three-cornered by- election in March by a majority of 6,578 over the the Conservative. Three months ago she was opposed by a Lib- eral and a Conservative, but in the recent election she had only one opponent, a Conservative, who received 15,680 votes. Miss Lee’s vote increased from 15,711 to 19,884, substantially because of the new young women voters. Ellen Wilkinson (Middlesbrough, East,) is a trade union organizer, a brilliant journalist, and the author of a novel written round the National strike of 1926. In the general election of 1924 her majority in a three-cornered fight was 92/, but in the recent election, also a three-cornered fight, she increased this to 3,199 over the Liberal. Her vote rose from 9,574 to 12,215. Dr. Ethel Bentham (Islington, East,) is a doctor of medicine, a member of the National Executive of the Labor Party, and was for thir- teen years a member of the Kensington Borough Council. She contested Islington on three prev- ious occasions and was on the present occasion successful in a three-cornered fight with a vote of 15,199 and a majority of 1,558 over the Con- servative. Mrs. M. A. Hamilton (Blackburn,) has con- tested this division once before. Blackburn elects two members and in the recent election the two successful candidates were representatives of the Labor Party. Mrs. Hamilton, who is a journal- ist, author and litrary critic—she has also written a biography of MacDonald—topped the poll with a vote of 37,256, and received a majority of 2,00/ over the Conservative. Lady Cynthia Mosley (Stoke,) is the daughter of the late Conservative Foreign Minister, Lord Curzon of Kedleston. She is the wife of the Labor M. P. Sir Oswald Mosley, and is one of the most notable recruits won by the Labor Party CO! bo wo He op, Wi ass all Wo pre: in | the lish crin ther to { to re-e vey, T, the ever (ret, dog: a jority from vork in intro- y Min. e office try of young » brill- ‘ed by- ver the a Lib lection e, who reased use of ) isa st, and ational f 1924 is 927, rnered iberal. is a ational r thir- yrough - prev- casion a vote > Con- S$ con- elects le two of the urnal- yritten ] with 2,007 ughtet Lord of the ne of Party THE AMERICAN ‘rom the ranks of the aristocracy. In the recent dection she won the seat for Labor in a straight fight against a strong Liberal candidate, with a yote of 26,548 and a majority of 7 850. Dr. Marion Phillips (Sunderland,) like Mrs. Hamilton, was contesting a two-member constitu- ency, and in this case also both Labor candidates were elected, Dr. Phillips heading the poll with , vote of 31,794. Her majority over the Con- grvative was 2,164. As Chief Woman Officer of the Labor Party, Dr. Phillips is also well known in other countries. During the war she took part in an International Women’s Conference. She grew up in Australia, and is a Doctor of Eco- nomic Science of London University. Miss Picton-Turberville (The Wrekin, Salop,) joined the Labor Party in 1918, and has a long record of social service. She has fought three dections for the Labor Party in three different constituencies. In the first she increased the La- bor vote by four thousand; in the second she in- creased it by 2,000; and in the recent election she defeated a Conservative and a Liberal candidate to win the seat for Labor with a vote of 14,569 and a majority of 2,862 over the Conservative. Already these women have between them a wonderful record of public service. In the new House of Commons they will not be slow to find opportunities for making their influence still more widely felt, and they will be able to give special assistance to the Labor Party in Parliament on all questions specially affecting the interests of women and children. COURTS AND CRIMINALS It is possible to trace in all of our courts. at the present moment, what has been called “dual philosophies in the treatment of crime.” Acting upon one theory, the crime itself is punished according to a well estab- lished code—so many years in the penitentiary for this crime and so many years for that. On the other hand, there is a growing tendency to individualize punishment, to find out what is fitted to a given criminal in order to deter him from further crimes and if possible to re-educate him.—Jane Addams, December Graphic Sur- vey, 1929. THE NEW WORLD IDEAL This new ideal of a world unity that is emerging with the birth of a world-consciousness in hearts and minds everywhere, has not yet been translated into the con- crete terms of any hard and fast program. It is not a dogmatic creed, but a living faith and a burning hope. —John Herman Randall. TEACHER 23 VICTIMS OF LAWLESS “BOSSES” One hundred and seventeen children under 16 years of age were injured in industrial accidents in Illinois during the year ending June 30, 1929, and 65.8 per cent of these boys and girls were employed illegally, says a bulletin just issued by the Illinois Department of Labor. The accidents include only those for which compensation is paid, so the actual number of working children injured will run much higher. The Illinois workmen’s compensation act pro- vides that 50 per cent additional compensation must be paid where it is proved that the victim of an accident was employed in violation of state labor laws, but this penalty does not seem to deter employers from hiring children for dangerous jobs. One 10-year-old boy, employed in a clothing factory, had his hand mutilated when he caught it in a machine. The employer is still contesting payment of compensation. A person would hardly expect to find a 14-year- old girl operating machinery in a farm imple- ment factory, but the bulletin reports such a case. The machine cut off one of her index fingers. Nearly one-half of the accidents occurred to children operating machines such as power-driven saws, emery wheels, stamping presses, and vari- ous types of cutting machinery. There is nothing in the bulletin to indicate that any employer was criminally prosecuted for vio- lating the child labor laws. —Labor. A FEW DONTS DON’T forget that organization increases wages and shortens the working day, making work steadier. DON’T condemn the Labor movement because you know of “objectionable features.” Every man and every human institution has some imperfections. DON’T “wait for the others.” Others are waiting for you. Some must be among the first—why not you? DON’T let so-called “independence” prevent you from being unselfish. We are all dependent on some- one or something. “No man stands alone.” Get closer together. DON’T be a non-unionist “because unions are not run right.” Get» into one and help keep it “in the straight and narrow path.” DON’T put it off. “Procrastination is the thief of time”—and of good intentions. DON’T say: “Unions can't accomplish their purpose.” They do! Over 7,000,000 of union men say so! 24 THE AMERICAN CALL SYSTEM The Natal Teachers’ Society has a protective plan an account of which may be interesting and suggestive to our locals. The following is an outline of the scheme: 1. Every member of the Society may join the Call System. 2. The amount per call will be 2/6 (60 cents) per member. 3. On the death of a member the amount in Call will be paid over to the legatee. 4. When the death of a member of the Call System occurs, the Secretary of the Fund will inform all members and ask for their next 2/6 call. 5. Upon joining the Call System, members will pay 3/-, 2/6 being the first call, and the extra 6d. for expenses in connection with the fund. 6. Failure to meet a call within fourteen days after receiving notification to do so will entail the member concerned being removed from the Call Fund Roll. If any local is interested in this benefit, we are sure that the secretary of the Society, P. Cameron-Ford, will answer questions and give details. The address is 11 Anstey’s Buildings, Durban, Natal. A FELLOWSHIP IN HOME SAFETY A graduate fellowship of $1,000 is offered for the academic year 1930-31 by the National Bureau of Cas- ualty and Surety Underwriters for a study of home safety as an index of good home management. AI- though the home is responsible for one quarter of the annual toll of 100,000 accidental deaths in the United States, no work has been done so far in this field that is comparable with the work that has been done in the industrial and traffic fields. Studies of industry and traffic indicate that safety is immediately correlated with efficiency of production and with efficiency in the movement of traffic. Safety will undoubtedly turn out to be similarly only one aspect of a well-managed home. To study this situation in detail is the objective of the fellowship. The work will be under the genera] direction of an advisory committee containing representatives of the American Home Economics Association, the National Safety Council and the National Organization for Pub- lic Health Nursing. The work may be carried on at any university having a properly qualified home eco- , nomics department. A candidate should be able to complete the work for the Doctor’s degree within the year and the study should furnish the subject matter for the thesis. Applications may be made to Albert W. Whitney, National Bureau of Casualty and Surety Underwriters, One Park Avenue, New York City. This is the seventh of a series of graduate fellowships in the field of safety education that is being maintained by the National Bureau of Casualty and Surety Under- writers. TEACHER SCHOOLS NEED SPECIALISM By Professor James F. Hosic Columbia University, formerly of Chicago Normal College The general teacher of elementary school edu- cation should be supplanted by the specialist. There is no scientific basis for the present cus- tom of assigning forty children to one guide and helper, for a semester or a year, in all classroom activities. The practice evidences tradition, not scientific management. Its validity seems never to have been investigated, although common sense is against it. At home the child enjoys the com- panionship, care and direction of two parents and often additional relatives. The very fact that every person is individual means that each one of us has something different to coutribute to the growing child’s experience. The child should not be deprived of these contacts in school. The distinction between “curricula” and “extra curricula” should not be applied to the modern elementary school program. Art, music, dramat- ics, cookery, dancing, school publications and other so-called “extra curricula” activities are no longer to be regarded as fads and innovations. The teachers will constantly join forces in guiding the activities of the pupil, each teacher contributing as she can from her special field. The children will do more than “‘pursue” courses; they will learn how to live. TRADE UNION WOMEN CALL INTER- NATIONAL CONFERENCE Amsterdam—(FP)—The International Committee of Trade Union Women, which has met in Amster- dam under the chairmanship of Johann Sassenbach, general secretary of the International Federation of Trade Unions, determined to hold an international conference of trade union women next year in con- nection with the International Trade Union Con- gress. At the meeting of the committee, discussion of the right of married women to employment in competi- tion with men who are heads of families, and of means of raising the wage scale of women in in- dustry, led to twa declarations. The first was that the trade union movement cannot discriminate against one specific group within the working class, although it may reasonably give heed first—in time of serious unemployment—to the economic necessi- ties of applicants for work. The second declaration was that women wage earners can hope for higher wages only through union organization. It asks the unions of men to aid the organization of these women into the trade union movement. Col ite ild tra rn at- nd no ttee ter- ich, of nal on- on- the eti- of that jate ass, ime $Si- tion her the nen THE AMERICAN TEACHER 25 BOOKS “There is no frigate like a book To bear us lands away.” —Enmily, Dickinson. THE NEW EDUCATION IN AUSTRIA By Mark Starr, Brookwood, Local 189 Visitors to Europe are loud in their praises of the model houses provided for the workers in Vienna which are in large part financed by a severe taxation of luxuries. It seems from The New Education in Austria (John Day Co., $3) that the building of the temples of the mind for the on-coming generation there merits similar attention and admiration. The author, Robert Dottrens, is a Swiss inspector of schools and his enthusiastic survey is supplemented by comments and explanations from Paul L. Dengler, a prom- inent Austrian pedagogue and one of the lead- ing exponents of student self-government. Be- tween them they have given a complete and in- spiring picture of the new Austrian school sys- tem which every educational worker will find fruitful of new ideas. Everybody knows that Austria lost out in the blood bath of 1914-18. The Hapsburg Empire was cut to pieces to multiply the miles of fron- tiers which make political Europe look like a weird jig-saw puzzle. The population of Aus- tria was reduced from fifty-one to six millions, a third of which were in Vienna—a throbbing eco- nomic heart cut out from its body and expected to live alone. But out of these difficulties, the nightmare of inflation and the bitter poverty, a new Austria arose. In no department of public life were there greater changes than in education: “What elsewhere experimental schools have tried and carried out to success under favorable conditions, be- comes part of a normal general schedule in elementary schools at Vienna. Arbeitsprincip (principle of self- activity ) Bodenstandigkeit (use of the accustomed en- vironment of the child), and Gesamtunterricht (con- centrated instruction)—these are the three characteris- tics in every Austrian children’s class. The rigid sched- ule has been done away with, and from everywhere brisk life penetrates a school, which is no longer a mere form, but has grown to be a factory, museum, park, street and open country. New Austria, struggling hard to keep her ground, has regained her place near the sun. She is still a spiritual power, also, in other fields—in the sciences, technics, and medicine, in the theater, literature and social welfare, highly esteemed in the cultural life of the nations.” Education previously had to train “faithful subjects, docile workmen and obsequious officials” but now it has to “strengthen the republican regime” and become “the first instrument of eco- nomic revivification.” Military and Swedish gymnastics were given up. Co-education, no longer thought to be immoral, was adopted. New types of well equipped schools were built. Text- books were completely changed and their pub- lication undertaken by a public company in which the city of Vienna holds 60 per cent of the stock: “These books are noteworthy both for their artistic presentation and for the clearness of the printing and the number of illustrations. They are furnished to the pupils free, as is the rest of the school equipment.” The reading books are never longer than fifty to one hundred pages and they are frequently changed during the course of the year to awaken fresh interest. “Nearly one hundred of these little books have ap- peared for use in the elementary school; they furnish a very wide choice of literature by authors both na- tional and foreign. “Besides these, books of grammar, arithmetic, his- tory and geography, popular books of science, music, etc., have been published. Under the direction of V. Fadrus, charming collections of pictures to illustrate the teaching have been brought out: to supplement stories, history, geography, industries and professions, and natural history eer How do the teachers fare under the new regime? Mr. Dottrens shows that the school children of Vienna fell in number from 237,000 in 1914 to 128,000 in 1925 but the teachers de- creased only from 8,600 to 6,500: “When, overnight, the city might have discharged 2,000 elementary teachers and added them to the al- ready formidable number of unemployed, she thought it better to make use of this temporarily surplus force in carrying out her projects. The number of pupils in the classes was reduced by half; the average fell from 44 to 29, thus permitting the work of teach- ing under normal conditions.” Married women are allowed to retain their posi- tions and enjoy equal rights, A definite appoint- ment must be given after two years of work and after 35 years of service the teacher receives a pension which is 90 per cent of the last salary. In the agreement made with the organized teachers, they are protected from unjust dis- missal : 26 THE AMERICAN “Heretofore, observations on the teacher’s work were kept secret and went into records that he was not al- lowed to see; now they are returned to each man. At the end of the year the inspector writes out his criti- cism of the work done, whether good, adequate, or in- adequate, on a special form; the teacher countersigns this form. If he thinks the criticism is unjust, he has the right of appeal before a committee composed as follows: three members of the teaching staff, one chosen by the teacher himself, two delegated by the whole teaching body to represent it on this committee ; a fourth member, the chairman, may be chosen outside the school personnel.” If the charge “inadequate” is sustained, promo- tion and increase of salary are withheld and if repeated the next year, the teacher is asked to resign. In the secondary schools the staff have the right of nomination of candidates for any vacant post and their choice is rarely refused ratification. Another striking feature in the present educa- tion in Austria the Parents Associations which co-operate with the teachers to secure a good understanding between parent and teacher, to assure the intellectual and physical growth of the children, to arrange instructive lectures and concerts, excursions and recreational activities. In Vienna these bodies are very active: are “During the school year 1925-6, they opened twenty reading rooms, organized fifty-two courses (gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, violin, mandolin, singing, English, Esperanto, drawing, manual training, embroidery). They bought thirteen pianos and thirty-nine machines to project lantern slides, and furnished the necessary money to give six hundred and thirteen under-nourished children a vacation in the mountains. The chief value that these parents’ associations have lies inherent in the fact that they have understood and supported every effort toward school reform.” Enough has been said above, let us hope, to interest the reader in the attempt in Austria to rescue education and make it an agency for progress. Mr. Dottrens has included a wealth of syllabi and lesson programs to satisfy the most curious. One thing remains to be said: All the above advance in education rests on the fact that since 1920 the Socialists have maintained a majority in Vienna and that in the Federal Gov- ernment in 1919 Otto Glockel was minister for education and inaugurated these reforms. As a Socialist and a onetime teacher, he built up a staff of competent educators. Teachers not poli- ticians ran the educational boards. In the plans TEACHER for a good society, a good school was possible. Reaction has reared its ugly head in Austria as elsewhere 1919 but permanent value remains unimpaired to make a sure founda- tion for a better world in a better education. since much of COLLEGE CONTROL IN MICHIGAN A study of the academic “vermiform appen- dix,” and the “Michigander-step,” in several in- stitutions, published in 1929, by the Antioch Press, has been commented on by Dean Max McConn, of Lehigh University, in the Survey, Feb. 15, 1930, as follows: This little book is much broader in scope and interest than its title would suggest. It should be read and pondered not only in Michigan and mot only by persons especially interested in col- leges but by Americans everywhere who have any concern for the vital inter-relations of edu- cation and democracy. Narrowly considered, its theme is the trustee-president form of govern- ment peculiar to American colleges and universi- ties. After an initial statement of his thesis, Dr. Kirkpatrick proceeds by reviewing at length the recent sensational upheavals at the University of Michigan and at the Michigan State Agricul- tural College, resulting in the resignation of President Little and the outrageous dismissal of President Butterfield. He shows pretty con- clusively that the fundamental difficulty in both these instances lay in the trustee system and the “hired man” status of presidents and professors alike. This part is inevitably rather juicy read- ing, but it is handled with restraint and careful fairness; Dr. Kirkpatrick is not attacking in- dividuals but exposing a system. Next he pic- tures the less turbulent but still unhappy situa- tions in the Michigan normal schools and in three greatly differing private institutions (Battle Creek, Albion, and Olivet). In the course of this demonstration by the method of concrete examples, Dr. Kirkpatrick is able to show how subtly and powerfully this form of government, by public-spirited and well- intentioned but inéxpert laymen, poisons the very well-springs of vital education, destroys the self- respect and initiative of professors and students and even of presidents, makes for traditionalism and formalism and “safety first,” invites petty intrigues, and checks experimentation and any 1or of of lege que tent que say’ pos aud poli Stat othe inde real Ow live tain grou now and way quie indi sible. ‘ia as anent inda- n. \N ppen- al in- tioch Max rvey, > and 10uld 1 and | col- have edu- d, its yern- ersi- , Dr. 1 the rsity ‘icul- 1 of al of con- both | the sors ead- -eful pic- itua- 1 in attle the ‘k is this vell- very self- ents lism etty any THE AMERICAN TEACHER 27 outward and forward-looking views and efforts. And he drives home the fact that the same sys- m of lay government operates in our secondary and elementary schools, through superintendents and principals instead of presidents, with similar evil results. The day of any general abandonment in this country of the trustee system is, of course, re- mote. But we already have with us experimental and experimenting colleges. Perhaps some in- stitution may be found bold enough to experi- ment with this fundamental problem of govern- ment. After reading Dr. Kirkpatrick’s book one feels that such an experiment might yield re- sits even more significant and fruitful than ay of the present adventurings with new cur- ricula and methods and living arrangements. The Detroit News, Jan. 5, 1930, gave a lengthy and very understanding review of the work, as for instance in the following paragraph: In several chapters, reviewing the vicissitudes of Dr. Clarence Cook Little, former president of the University of Michigan and Dr. Kenyon L. Butterfield, formerly of Michigan State Col- lege, Mr. Kirkpatrick contends that the basic question is not whether the trustees are compe- tent or incompetent. He aims only to call in question the trustee system of college control, he says, aS it now exists and “to suggest a better possible way.” A WORLD MADE ONE? By Mark Starr, Brookwood, Local 189 Lindbergh has just declared to a world radio audience that aviation does not fit into the old political frontiers of the petty little sovereign states. Wells in Britain, Delaisi in France and others have pointed out for many years that independence of nations is a myth obscuring the reality of the economic interlocking of the world. Owen Young has declared that no nation can live its life to itself and that no nation can main- lain a high standard of life for long if other soups are at the poverty line. The U. S. A. tow has $14-15 billions of foreign investments and the total increases by a billion yearly. The way in which Big Business recently gave the quietus to the anti-Soviet trade agitation also indicated the urgent need felt by U. S. capital- ists for foreign markets. So the “entangling alliances” denounced by Washington in the 18th century grows apace in the 20th. John H. Randall, in A World Community (Stokes $2.50), declares : “The interests of nations are no longer separate and isolated but all bound together inextricably by a thou- sand and one new economic ties and relationships that had no existence whatever a century ago. No nation, not even the strongest, is in a position to break with the others without depriving itself of the sources of its indispensable supplies and of its necessary customers, and consequently, without bringing ruin upon itself.” The whole book describes interestingly the forces making for world unity and the obstacles encountered and every teacher of geography, history or civics would find it suggestive. One big gap is the failure to deal with the workers’ international organizations. If wars are caused by the hunt for markets and the need for spheres of investment, what other group than the workers has the economic incentive to demand a higher standard of life so that the “surplus goods” can be consumed at home and to demand the cessation of profits? Then too it is too easy an assumption to think that only nationalist wars may occur. In his outline, a religion for a world community, Mr. Randall ignores the new feelings of solidarity and class consciousness which slowly but surely are growing amongst the exploited workers and which may alter the alignment of the forces in any future conflict. A super-national capitalism evolving out of the huge world trusts might bring the peace of the graveyard for the workers movement. THEY WILL SAY Of my city the worst that men will say is this: You took little children away from the sun and the dew, And the glimmers that played in the grass under the great sky, And the reckless rain; you put them between walls To work, broken and smothered, for bread and wages, To eat dust in their throats and die empty- hearted For a little handful of pay on a few Saturday nights. From “Chicago Poems” by Carl Sandburg Copy- right by Henry Holt and Company, New York, 1916. 28 HOW THE WORLD GOT THAT WAY Radical Scholar Explains the Coming of Imperialism By Mark Starr, Brookwood, Local 189 Workers’ education groups and teachers espe- cially should see that World Politics in Modern Civilization (650 pp., Knopf, $7.50) stands easily available on the shelf of the nearest library be- cause it is a veritable Baedeker to modern in- stitutions. Its author, Harry Elmer Barnes, with his amazing industry and encyclopedic range of knowledge, has organized a vast mass of informa- tion about the origin and basis of the ideas and practice of the great imperialist powers of the world. Excellent maps supplement the text. Ap- parently that is Professor Barnes’ job in the U. S. A.—to marshal knowledge, and his scholarship for this creative task is of a high order. History in his hands is certainly not news from the graveyard or collections of unrelated tidbits of knowledge, and much less is it the drum-and trumpet record which has befouled the pages of many history texts in the past. History is a clue to our present feelings and institutions; it makes us realize how shortlived they are and how they can be altered; it advises us against deception and forewarns us of danger. Barnes thus motivated investigates the growth-of nationalism, the expansion of modern capitalism and the rivalries of Empires. If you want to know the background of the Indian Nationalist struggle and of the tangled skein of Chinese happenings, the copious index will put you on the track. The part played by the various nations before, during and after the war receives unflattering analysis. Strong in its explanation of Imperialism, the book is weakest in its summary references to the Marxian the- ories, all of the criticisms of which have been taken at their face value. From an explanation of the challenge to the old theory of the plugged- up trade routes as the chief incentive to the voy- age of Columbus down to a lengthy and valuable commentary upon the Sacco-Vanzetti case, Barnes makes accessible the fruits of modern scholarship. The legend of the holy war (1914- 1918) is the main target of the latter chapters of the book. Every new document confirms Barnes’ long-cherished heretical scepticism about the alleged sole guilt of Germany. Politicians THE AMERICAN TEACHER like Dwight W. Morrow now publicly declare that Germany was not the only culprit. It js now known, and not maybe either, that as early as 1912, French and British military staffs con. sidered the ignoring of Belgium’s neutrality jp case of war. Barnes has specialized in hunting down the evasions and wartime lies made by the majority of his historian colleagues. Necessary work? Yes, but leading to a preponderant in. terest in guilt investigation of war in the past instead of a more necessary emphasis on the danger of war in the present and future. A more extensive account of the workers’ attempts in international industrial and co-operative or- ganizations and in the international language movement to cope with the dangers of national- ism would also enrich the book. This, however, tends to be a cavilling over a minor matter in view of the thoroughness with which the author indicts the Imperialism of the U. S. A. and other groups and proposes ways in which they can right the wrongs which they have inflicted on the world. LOCUST AT EIGHTEENTH Three minutes from t Center of Downtown St. FI for of by det wr tor cel Pr tra m@ in High Class Restaum and Coffee Shop Garage Service} hi 350 ROO iD _ aC Lach with private b and shower-cirti ting ice watersi electric a he RATES § FROM Down in Dixie the CLARIDGE Welcomes You~ 400 ROOMS each with tub & shower~ circulating ice water~ electric fan & servidors~ RATES A FROM $250 A, High Class Restaurant Convenient Garage Service MAIN AT ADAMS ST. a npnskekewys# rr. cre ceo oo declare It is S early 'S Con- lity in unting by the essary int in- e past m. the e A €mpts ye or- guage ional- vever, ter in uthor other y can ‘don THE AMERICAN TEACHER FINANCE WRITER ADMITS POVERTY BREEDS CRIME New York—(FP)—Pres. Hoover’s law en- forcement commission, running down the causes of crime, might take a look at figures prepared by the bureau of labor statistics of his own labor department, believes Ranulph Kingsley, financial writer. There he will find that 25,000,000 fac- tory and office workers in the United States re- ceive less than $25 a week. Kingsley says the President should name another commission to trace the connection betwen poverty and crime. If American business men sincerely want to reduce crime, says Kingsley, they could cut it to one-tenth within 10 years by paying a living wage to their employes. ‘American business ethics ?”’, said Kingsley. “Buncombe. Considering the really great extent of unethical dealing by Amer- ican business men, the fact that their employes are as honest as they are is remarkable. It is proof that the natural tendency of the working class is to be honest. “One-fifth of the population,” according to the financial writer, “is paid a bare subsistence wage which does not make the prospect of a life- time of ‘honest work’ attractive. The stock mar- ket plays its part by placing a new and perma- nent burden on American labor. The worker faces the prospect of working for years to come on an endless treadmill to earn the dividends and interest promised by expanding corporations. “Many employers set their employes a dis- honest example. They misrepresent values, adulterate goods, manipulate markets, gouge help and publicly practice piety for personal profit.” “One of the tragedies of unemployment is the almost total lack of public interest in the problem except during industrial crises when attention is usually concentrated upon meas- ures of emergency relief."—Report of Eco- nomic Advisory Committee to the President’s Conference on Unemployment. “It is better social cost-keeping to add the overhead burden of unemployment to those goods which are responsible for irregular em- ployment, than to draw it from the savings of the working group.” —/enry S. Dennison. 29 MORE OUTPUT, FEWER WORKERS; LABOR IS DISPLACED BY MACHINE “The advance of machinery has never been so swift as here in the United States during the decade of the nineteen-twenties,” said Dr. Julius Klein, Assistant Sec- retary of Commerce, in a radio address on the “machine age.” Dr. Klein is hopeful that eventually new wants and new “service occupations” will care for workers dis- placed by the machine. While “technological unem- ployment” brings distress, he said, the difficulty may be bridged with the aid of government officials and em- ployers. Dr. Klein did not list “service occupations” which will care for displaced workers whose number can be indi- cated by the following statement: “Taking American industry as a whole we find that the average wage earner produced more than half again as much merchandise in 1927 as he did in 1919.” The federal official called attention to a plant in a middle western State that turns out completed auto- mobile frames almost untouched by human hands. “Each frame remains on conveyors nine-tenths of the time,” said Dr. Klein. “To supervise this vast ‘auto- mat’ about 200 men are employed. The plant turns out between 7,000 and 9,000 automobile frames every day. The almost incredible efficiency of our new American machinery could scarcely be illustrated in a more strik- ing fashion. “Let us look at a few other specific instances. A calculating company speaks about a new high-speed gear shaper that brought about an increase in produc- tion of 418 per cent. In the plant of a company manu- facturing printing presses one new bending machine paid for itself in three weeks through the savings it effected. Another firm put in 10 new machines and nearly tripled the output in the operations involved. These examples could be multiplied 10,000 times.” BILLS TO CURB BOSTON CENSORSHIP Bills to curtail the powers of Boston officials to interfere with books, plays and meetings which they oppose have been introduced in the legislature by the Civil Liberties Committee of Massachusetts. The bill relating to books was introduced at the instance of the State Librarians’ Committee, backed also by some publishers and booksellers. The four bills provide for removing the censor- ship of public meetings held on Boston Common and other parks in the State; for the revocation of a theater or hall license only after public hearing and a written statement for the reasons for the action; for a finding of obscenity against a book only when the book is considered as a whole and for the repeal of the ancient blasphemy statute. FIRST INTERNATIONAL UNION The International Molders’ Union, which extended its jurisdiction to Canada in 1861, was the first inter- national union in the American labor movement. 30 THE AMERICAN TEACHER SCHOOL OF THE AIR HAS VAST POSSIBILITIES The “American School of the Air” began its first term last week. The first subject was American his- tory; the story of Columbus was told over the radio, and then an orchestra played selections from the music of the day of Columbus. Fifteen hundred thousand in more than 20,000 schools throughout the nation listened in. The possibilities of such a school are so vast that they almost frighten one. Radio makes it possible for every child in America to get instruction from the greatest educators the country affords, equipped with resources that only a great uni- versity can equal. How many colleges know anything about the music of A. D. 1492? A handful, at most. Yet now, chil- dren by millions can hear it; and nothing could do more to make the period of Columbus real and alive. It is a pity that this great work must be conducted by gracious permission of the radio monopoly, and that R. C. A., whenever it sees fit, may levy a tax on edu- cation. One would think the childhood of America might claim eminent domain of the air. But the possi- ble gains are so great that education can afford to pay tribute to monopoly—if it must—until such time as we acquire sense enough to destroy it. —Labor. HARVARD SOCIALISTS CHAMPION SCRUB WOMEN The Harvard Socialist Club has entered the list as champions of the twenty scrub-women whose discharge was caused by the fact that the state minimum wage commission asked the University to raise their pay from thirty-five cents an hour to the legal rate of thirty-seven cents. The club wrote and published a leaflet, “What Har- vard Teaches,” the story of the twenty scrub-women, which calls in no uncertain terms for the organization of labor in all fields and for the lining up of the students with the cause of labor. It ends by saying, “How much faith, fellow students, can we put in the teachings of social science professors who rely for their bread and buter on the good will of the autocrats whose social philosophy has been exposed by the case of the twenty scrub-women?” Copies of the leaflet on request. ¢ MY CREED H. A. Walter I would be true, for there are those who trust me; I would be pure, for there are those who care; I would be strong, for there is much to suffer ; I would be brave, for there is much to dare; I would be friend of all—the foe—the friendless ; I would be giving, and forget the gift; I would be humble, for I know my weakness; I would look up—and laugh—and love—and lift. | General News 141 MILLIONS IN NEW YORK SCHOOL BUDGET FOR 1931 The largest school budget in the history of New York City, calling for an expenditure of $141,296,636 in 1931, was adopted by the board cf education in the form of a proposed departmental estimate subject to the approval of the board of estimate. The budgetary estimate represents an increase of $4,883. 079 over this year’s. LABOR CHIEFS TO ADVISE ON JOB STATISTICS Arthur O. Wharton, president of the International Association of Machinists, and John P. Frey, secre- tary of the Metal Trades Department of the A. F. of ) = will represent organized labor on the com- mission which President Hoover has just appointed to advise with the Labor Department in regard to the collection of employment statistics. GENEALOGY OF THE GUNMAN Labor leader charges Chicago daily papers with responsibility for advent of gangsters in business world: Chicago, June 26.—At its last meeting the Chicago Federation of Labor was asked to join other organizations in offering a reward for the arrest and conviction of the gunman who shot Lingle, a “Tribune” reporter. In the course of the debate, President John Fitz- patrick charged that the daily newspapers of this city were directly responsible for the advent of the gangster in the business and political world. “We had no trouble with gangster killings in Chi- cago prior to the advent of the Hearst newspapers,” said Fitzpatrick. “There was no such thing as financed gangsterism. “The other papers were firmly entrenched, and the Hearst newspapers, in trying to break in on circula- tion, saw fit to go out and round up young men, take them from their homes and put them on the Hearst payroll, to engage in the warfare which they waged against the other newspapers. “The other newspapers adopted similar tactics. “Later on, when these young fellows showed some ability in this peculiar line, they were brought into other conflicts and they learned to like the ‘easy money.’ : “Then they were introduced into the political field. Men in various lines of business found it desirable to use force and the same element was injected there. “So, when you want to get back to the beginning and place the blame where it belongs, you must ‘0 pap ED At M. ass nor mit Ch cal Jai act ha rai po no of OL | New 96,636 On in ubject The 4,883,- tional secre- A. F. com- inted rd to yme nto asy eld. ble ted ust THE AMERICAN TEACHER 31 vo right back into the circulation war of the news- papers of Chicago.” LABOR. EDUCATOR ASSAILS INTELLIGENCE TESTS Again we have an attack on intelligence tests. At the N. E. A. meeting in Columbus, Dr. Charles M. Stebbins of Erasmus High School, Brooklyn, assailed intelligence tests, and separation of sub- normal and supernormal people. He declared the tests were of no value in deter- mining the relative standing of pupils and that, while they might be retained as an auxiliary, it would be a serious mistake to attach great importance to them. A WOMAN IN THE PRESIDENT’S CABINET AS SECRETARY OF LABOR The name of Grace Abbott, present Chief of the Children’s Bureau, has been brought forward as a candidate for the Labor portfolia when Secretary James J. Davis retires from that office. The re- action of the country toward this recommendation has been distinctly favorable. No voice has yet been raised to challenge her fitness for this cabinet position. Her achievements have been so noteworthy that no objections have been voiced to the innovation of a woman in the President’s cabinet. Miss Abbott is a charter member of Local No. 2 National Federation of Federal Employees. GOVERNMENT BY “LEISURE CLASS” IS FEDERAL EDUCATOR’S PROGRAM William J. Cooper, United States Commissioner of Education, wants a leisure class created who will run our government. This plea for abandonment of the American ideal was made by the nation’s educational director to a conference of 500 students of teachers’ training in- stitutions. Mr. Cooper said that the life of the British empire depends upon the efforts of an aristocratic governing class and he suggested that a class with similar functions may evolve in this country from among those who give their lives to teaching. “We must have a leisure class like the aristocracy of Great Britain which has fitted itself to meet the problems of that world-wide organization,” he said. HALF A BILLION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION ; American colleges and universities have an annual meome of half a billion dollars, not including addi- tions to endowments, according to the report of the U. S. Bureau of Education. Twenty-five per cent of that amount comes from tuitions and educational fees paid by students, 23 per cent is appropriated by state and city govern- ments, the Federal government contributes 3.4 per cent—$17,000,000—and private donations make up 13 per cent. The balance is income from endowments, and other sources. “WHAT GOOD ARE UNIONS?” Fifty-Seven wage reductions made in month, and all of them hit non-union workers, research report shows: New York—Fifty-seven wage reductions were made in eight different industries during June, ac- cording to the monthly report of the Labor Bureau, Inc., a research department at 2 West Forty-third street, but not one of the 57 pay cuts was in a unionized industry. Another highly significant fact reported by the bureau was that out of 50 wage increases granted during the month, only 11 were awarded to non- union workers. The other 39 went to members of trade unions. During the same month more than 7,000 trade union workers were reported as having gained the five-day week. . More than half of the pay slashes took place in the knit-goods industry and in sawmills. A trade union official, when asked to comment on the bureau’s reports, said: “The figures, themselves, are comment enough, and are an effective answer to the cynic who asks ‘What good are unions?” , LABOR. INSTITUTE OF PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION The second annual Institute of Progressive Edu- cation opened at Vassar College, June 25 and con- tinued for six weeks. Courses in “The History and Principles of Progressive Education,” and “Ex- periments in Progressive Education,’ were offered by Mr. Perry Dunlap Smith, Head Master of the North Shore Country Day School, Winnetka, Illinois; courses in “Elementary School Methods,” and “Elementary School Administration,” by Miss Katharine Taylor, Head Mistress of the Shady Hill School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Miss Elsie Clapp, Head Mistress of the Ballard Memorial School, Louisville, Kentucky; and courses in “Sec- ondary School Methods and Materials,” and “Sec- ondary School Administration,” by Mr. Burton P. Fowler, Head Master of the Tower Hill School, Wilmington, Delaware. The Progressive Education Association, 10 Jackson Place, Washington, D. C., will send reports on the Institute. F. W. Woolworth Co., paying its workers from $10 to $15 a week, paid its common stockholders $23,400,000 in cash. 32 THE AMERICAN TEACHER UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE STIRS DETROIT By Robert L. Cruden Pederated Press Detroit—(FP)—Unemployment insurance talk, given point by the recent Ford layoff of more thousands of workers, has taken an unusual turn with the announce- ment by one of the most prominent lawyers in Detroit that he is in favor of state unemployment insurance. Discussion on this topic began when Sen. Couzens, speaking before the Michigan Mfrs. Assn., demanded that they make the same provision for workers as they do for their dividends. Said Sen. Couzens: “Many industries, railroads and utilities have found ways to stabilize their dividends. Their dividend checks go out in good times as well as in bad. They have created re- serves to take care of the lean years. But what of labor? What has industry set aside out of earnings to stabilize the incomes of workers?” He pointed out that unless the employers themselves make some provision for unemployment the government will interfere and grant such insurance to workers. The retiring president of the manufacturers’ associa- tion then urged the stabilization of wages on a yearly, rather than a weekly basis. It was then that Fred M. Butzel, prominent lawyer and director of the Community Fund, came out with his criticism. “No good, no good at all, whoily im- practicable,” he said. “The reason is that it would be quite impossible to get all manufacturers in a particular line to join hands. Some manufacturers are so rich and powerful that they are a law unto themselves. “The only way to make the plan effective would be by state legislation. What we really need is a federal law, but federal laws of this character come only after much experimenting by states.” Meanwhile the ranks of the unemployed have been swelled by an additional layoff from the Ford plant. Workers claim that as many as 8,000 were let out but company officials will not release exact figures. In spite of the fine words of corporation heads at New Year there is as yet no sign of a let-up in the unemployment. From appearances it looks as though Sen. Couzens was right when he remarked, “Regardless of any propa- ganda that may be spread, we are not going to have a good business year in 1930.” HALF-STARVED CHILDREN ON INCREASE ° By Martin A. Dillmon Federated Press St. Louis—The St. Louis school board is struggling with the growing problem of caring for the increasing army of undernourished school children in this wealthy city. “Undernourished” is a polite term for half-starved! A survey of three schools disclosed 400 under- fed children whose dads, either idle or underpaid, were too poor to buy them enough to eat. The astounding discloseure caused investigators to throw up their hands and declare for separate schools for such children for extra attention and care. In the meantime the tuberculosis society wil give free milk to these little unfortunates until a remedial plan is worked out by a special school board committee. Significantly, the number of tubercular children mounts apace with the num- ber of underfed pupils. Tubercular children are segregated in separate schools and given special attention. Big bosses’ contribution to the problem is ex- emplified in the case of a $11.50 a week factory worker, supporting his mother and sisters. In- jured and off duty for several days, he returned to find, his substitute willing to keep the job for $7.50. His boss told him he could have his job at the reduced wages, which he refused. EDUCATION MACHINE HARMFUL TO TEACHERS Hierarchy Threatened Unless a Change Is Made in System New York.—“We are in grave danger of building up an enormous education-political hier- archy,” Dr. Benjamin B. Kendrick, professor of history, North Carolina College for Women, told a group of alumni of that institution at a meeting in this city. “In practically every city,” said the speaker, “we have highly paid executives who are engi- neering the thing, building up more and more chambers of commerce, Rotary and Kiwannis clubs and other civic or political groups. “If we are to cure the ills of society, the only hope is in the schools, schools where the teachers are kept free from such influences as threaten them through this hierarchy.” DUTY OF DESTINY By G. S. Johnson The best for the greatest number is the duty of destiny that spurs the world ahead and makes for 4 universal brotherhood of freedom and peace; with capital and labor both working in honest harmony to uplift, promote and improve the conditions and standards of human life along lines of least conten- tion and more intelligence inspired by enlightened knowledge. 1 | OTs to *Parate on and ty will until a school ber of num- en are special iS ex- actory In- urned b for is job . TO re Is r of hier- or of told eting aker, ngi- nore nnis only hers aten y of or a with y to and ten- ned —— THE AMERICAN LABOR YEAR BOOK for 1930 is now ready Covers Every Aspect of Working Conditions, and the Labor Move- ment in America and Abroad. The year 1929 will undoubtedly go down in labor history as one of the most significant since the end of the world war. RAND BOOK STORE 7 East 15th Street NEW YORK, N. Y. Back Numbers Price Available $3.15 postpaid HISTORY of the American Federation of Cearhers Thesis Prepared for Master’s Degree at University of California by J. M. Graybiel Publication Date, November 1. Price 50c. Place Your Orders Early American Federation of Teachers 506 South Wabash Avenue Chicago, Illinois DO YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO l. A voice and a vote in the management of your school ; 2. Independence of thot, freedom of expression and ex- ercise of initiative; 3. Working conditions that are sanitary, cheerful and inspiring. 4. A promotion in rank based on merit only; . A salary commensurate with the dignity and im- portance of your office? IF SO JOIN THE HOST OF READERS OF The American Teacher Published by teachers for principle; not for profit THE AMERICAN TEACHER is the only teachers’ magazine whose sole excuse for existence is the desire to improve the working conditions of the teachers, and to raise teaching to the dignity of a profession. 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Sok cans Che eee cigin eee ae ees ok bin eee cee Ceke OCs Sek hek eee eee Coty GME BORGO. ccccceceeseces ee ee re American Federation of Teachers 506 South Wabash Avenue CHICAGO, ILL. > The American Federation of Teachers desires to estab- lish an intimate contact and an effective co-operation be- tween the teachers and the other workers of the community. The American Federation of Teachers desires to co- operate with all civic organizations for improved civic life. Groups of seven or more public school teachers are invited to afhiliate with this National Organization of Classroom Teachers, for mutual assistance, improved professional standards’and the democratization of the schools. Our Slogan Is: Democracy in Education: Education for Democracy “The American Teacher” is published monthly by the American Federation of Teachers. Membership dues carry subscription to the magazine. To all others the sub scription price is $2.00 per year, 25 cents per copy. Ifr