ODICAL RY OM BRAL. LIBRARY AMERICAS 4) mY > ™ " " IN THIS ISSUE John M. Brewer Harold M. Groves Robert T. Kerlin James A. Mullenbach Norman Thomas - C. L. Vestal Carl Winters “ rf FEBRUARY, 1934 VOLUME XVIII. No. 3 GAN OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS . BS We have BUYERS for ere 1931-'32-'33 CHICAGO and COOK COUNTY TAX WARRANTS Board of Education Enyart, Van Camp & Feil, Inc. STOCKS AND BONDS 39 S. La Salle St. Andover 2424 PPR REE RE EERE EERE CSUR EEE EAR SAL II TAX WARRANTS We have orders to BUY AND SELL Large and Small Lots All Chicago, Cook County, and Suburban Issues LATEST MARKET QUOTATIONS ROGERS 6& TRACY, Inc. INVESTMENT SECURITIES 120 So. La Salle St. State 4151 CHICAGO AND SUBURBAN TAX WARRANTS 1931 - 1932 - 1933 Bought, Sold and Quoted F. M. ZEILER & C0. Members Chicago Stock Exchange Members Chicago Curb Exchange Associate Member New York Curb Exchange Central 5387 TAX WARRANTS 1931 - 1932 - 1933 Bought and Sold Paal H.Davis & Go. Established 1916 MEMBERS NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE CHICAGO STOCK EXCHANGE 37 SOUTH LA SALLE STREET Room 929 209 S. La Salle St. PHONE FRANKLIN 8622 Table of Contents Page Page mente O6 Tees Labor. . i... scvecccccccses C. L. Vestal 3 List of Books for Teachers’ Winter Reading—Michael B. What Is the Good Society?...............+41 Norman Thomas 4 _ Scheler eee . é School P Car! Winte 6 History of Socialist Thought—Harry I1’. Laidler Our Present Schoo PNR.» pleetawegbens cee’ ar inters i ities tae Riedie 6 ke Ef aeeate The queens and gee ofa —— dMG a Labor Problems—Gordon S. |Watkins ederation in a University............ a eee The Labor Problem in the U. S.—E. E. Cummins The Functions of a-School Board..... James A. Mullenbach 10 * The American Federation of Labor—Lewis L. Lorwin Taxation Propaganda............... Florence Curtis Hanson 12 The New Leisure Challenges the Schools—Bertram Enos Unionization of Teachers................++: Robert T. Kerlin 14 The Educational Frontier—Mark Starr ; Chicago on Parade A Century of Retrogression................ John M. Brewer 16 a agers y 18 How to Use English—Michael B. Scheler oe cigs vn dieSebedadsecocccesescesess Aen Austhelnns of Enalltth Proce—Michee! B. Scholer S a Re dkd es cece siecnsovesseccccccevescvesccced 7 Meee eee 28 What Are Teachers? How Many Unemployed Teachers? A National Defense Schools and the Blue Eagle William H. Holly The Relationship of Poverty and TERA d ved dee detedeesseonss Grover C. Ramsey 22 Tt, I co daeeeudesctcccesccceccs 22 School Crisis in United States and Foreign Nations........ 22 SND MINE CIEE EMBO... 22s cc ccccscccccccccccccccces 23 a rec boweecescecoon 24 UBLISHED bi-monthly, except August, by the American Federation of Teachers, 506 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. Entered as second class matter October 18, 1933, at the post offce at Chicago, Ill., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Sec. 1103, Act of Feb. 28, 1925, authorized Nov. 3, 1926. Editorial Office 506 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Illinois. Be 20 New York - Minneapolis Springfield, II. Grand Rapids New Bedford 3enton Twp. N. Dak. Agricultural College Ziegler Christopher Oshkosh Ziegler High School Tooele County Royalton West Allis EE es ae 30 Chicago Granite City Lawrence I a ews noaccuee died tee eee 15, 31 S UBSCRIPTION $1.00 for the year—Foreign $1.10 —Single copies, 25c. At the time of expira- tion, a bill will be found in the copy. Sub- scribers are requested to give prompt notice of changes of address. Remittances should be made in postal money-order, express order, draft. stamps or check. age B. , 2B . 0 31 ’ 1.10 ira- sub- . 0 ade @s2 FEBRUARY, 1934 THE AMERICAN TEACHER Vot. XVIII February, 1934 No. 3 ——_ Teachers and Union Labor o aAsPEcT of the struggle of human progress touches teachers and education more vitally than does this one of Teachers and Union Labor. Whether they know it or not their relations with union labor are matters of overwhelming importance to teach- ers. Leaders pass, but the need for finding some non- predatory plan for carrying on the economics and finances of living grows greater each day. Everywhere that problem is pressing. Our public schools are suf- fering today because our local governments have long been and still are ruled by a combination of spoils poli- tics and predatory wealth. There is no family into whose midst the hand of that alliance has not reached in one way or another, no soul dwelling within or near the jurisdiction of these governments which has not been made poorer in purse or spirit by those hands of en- trenched greed. So it appears that enlightened selfish- ness in impersonal matters is a fiction. In our present state of social development our grop- ing search for a more solid economic foundation takes the form of a struggle between successful privilege and the common people. The people have great odds against them in this struggle. They are largely ignorant of the significant facts, they do not see the meaning of facts which they do know, they distrust the very leaders whom they themselves have chosen, and they are exposed to an unceasing and subtle stream of propaganda from the publicity organs of privilege. They are, therefore, in great need of organized and disciplined groups to lead their fight, groups to whom the meaning of America is not a chance to get rich, but is a certainty of a compe- tence for himself and his family for every man willing and able to work. There is no place in the America of the future for the very rich man as such. The man or woman who can find no incentive for effort except the chance to accumulate irresponsible wealth is not a good citizen. We have long tried large scale selfishness in the hope that it would regulate itself in the common good. Instead of doing so it has brought repeated and increas- ingly severe crises in our economic history, because its gradual concentration of the control of wealth in fewer and fewer hands has undermined our economic stability. I know of only two interest groups whose need for ordinary justice might make them the chief instruments by which that economic trend can be stopped and by which definitely planned and organized progress can be made toward the elimination of the predatory outlook and practices from our economic life. Those two groups are organized labor and the teaching profession. Please do not take me for a groundless dreamer here. I do not kid myself that the hearts of teachers and trade unionists are necessarily any nearer the angels than are those of bankers and railroad presidents. The human heart is just the human heart wherever found. I am saying that the teaching profession, perhaps through cir- cumstances rather than merit, comes nearer than does any other group to being free from positive blame for the late debacle of greed in whose debris we are still entangled. It is almost the only group that public opin- ion has nothing on. Whatever the cause, its hands are cleanest and its outlook the most nearly ideal. Hence its opportunity to take a highly effective part in social progress is how great. By its very purpose it is the log- ical custodian of light, the source to which the people should be able to look for intellectual leadership. And | am saying further that organized labor, in spite of the short-comings which it is gradually getting rid of, is the only effective force at present on the field which seeks to eliminate predatory practices and at the same time preserve private initiative. If it had at its side the enormous resources for public enlightenment which should be at the command of the teachers what could not be accomplished toward peacefully remaking the world! But the teaching profession is lacking leaders who are at once idealistic and realistic. Many such leaders are needed. So far as I can see they can be found only in organized labor. That movement has a gratifying num- ber of such, men and women whose minds and char- acters, through many surface defeats and some real vic- tories, have worked through the fog of selfish ideals to a vision of a New America. They know how to keep their feet on the ground without losing sight of their ideals. If, therefore, some way could be found to bring the teaching profession into close affiliation with organized labor, so that they may together construct a common social and economic program we should have taken the longest single step which human social progress has yet made. The faith in and the hope for that common effort is the basic meaning of the teacher union movement. Incidentally, of course, their affiliation with labor gives members of teachers’ unions two feelings which are large factors in human happiness; a sense of protection which no other type of organization can offer, and a gratify- ing sense of having a part, be it ever so small, in the shaping of realities. The teachers should by now have nearly completed their painful evolution toward organization effectiveness. As matters broke, it was inevitable that they should fall into the stage of many independent and mutually com- petitive organizations among themselves. Collective in- telligence comes only through struggle. But during the past year our organization roads have come together. Within the last few months we have been presented with an unique opportunity to advance the cause of teacher affiliation with labor. Whether we like it or not, we are confronted with this test of our leadership. Are we big enough to meet it? I do not pretend to say yes. But I do say, if you wish to be in real step with progress, you will join a union. C. L. VEsTAL. THE AMERICAN TEACHES What Is the Good Society? Norman Thomas Abstract of Address Before the Progressive Education Association, Hotel Pennsylvania, Friday Afternoon, November 24th, 1933 DWARD BeLLaMy’s “Looking Backward” was the first book which gave me any idea of Socialism. I remember that as a boy I was deeply interested in it but not altogether enamored of it. Indeed, I must confess that I have never read any Utopia from Plato’s “Republic” to H. G. Wells’ latest to which I should give undivided allegiance. That is a statement which may give rise to instant alarm in the minds of some of you lest I try now to lure your imagination by some Utopia of my own. Let me hasten to assure you that I have not even a very private Utopia, at least not one worked out in detail. The best description I have ever heard or imagined of the kind of world I should like is a fellow- ship of free men wherein the problem of poverty is solved by intelligent use of: the machinery that already makes abundance possible. To such a general statement I should imagine that this audience of educators almos! without exception would agree and then demand a con- siderably more concrete picture of what this fellowship of free men would mean, how to get it, and what ought to be the role of formal education in achieving it. If I cannot write a satisfactory Utopia even for my- self I can at least point out some of the essential con- ditions of the good society which I have called a fellow- ship of free men, It would, of course, be a society from which poverty and economic insecurity are banished. Emphatically it would be a society in which the price of our emancipation from poverty would not be any nightmare of the application of science, to the produc- tion of a servile state remotely resembling Aldous Hux- ley’s “Brave New World.” Still less would it be a world split into national states after the Fascist order, total- itarian states, for which the individual exists and which demand that in them the individual shall merge his con- science and his energy and from them derive whatever satisfaction he is to know. Man, the incurably relig- ious, has never made a shoddier, more irrational, or more dangerous religion than the Fascist religion of the na- tional totalitarian state. Yet this religion, be it observed, is only, as it were, the thirty-second degree of the re- ligion of nationalism which, roughly speaking, ever since the Napoleonic wars has been the dominant religion of the Western world. The difficulty with my Utopia of a fellowship of free men to share abundance is not its undesirability or im- possibility as an ultimate goal. In the light of our me- chanical progress the conquest of poverty would not be so glorious an achievement as is the shame of our fail- ure inglorious. It is easily possible, and not at all fantastic, to imagine a world from which economic problems as they were understood in the long ages of inevitable scarcity have completely disappeared. Even now I find that the producing masses need no long ex- planation to understand that no satirist could ever pen an indictment of civilization so complete as our law- makers gave us when they could discover no way to hel» the farmers but to subsidize at the expense of consum ers an artificial scarcity in a cold and hungry world. With the disappearance of the economic problems of the ages of scarcity, with power driven machinery taking the place of slaves and serfs and wage workers on whose bowed backs all predatory civilizations have rested, we may confidently expect a freedom from exploitation and the dominion of fear, a release of human energy for the discovery of truth and the creation of beauty which will bring new meaning to life and new joy to men. A world of plenty and peace, freedom and fellowship need not be postponed to a geological future. It might be ours or our children’s for the having, if stripped of our old hates, fears, stupidities, prejudices, and contending class interests, but armed with the power driven machinery which science has placed in our hands, we could ap- proach from the beginning the task of building our world. The trouble is that all of us carry so much bag- gage with us from the past, we run our race cumbered with many and grievous burdens. Without vision the people perish, but we and our children are compelled to live as best we can today, even while we dream of the more glorious tomorrow. Every Socialist speaker is aware that there are hundreds, no thousands, of men and women who will accept in a general sort of way the Socialist idea, for everyone who will risk the struggle necessary to achieve it. The more complex our world becomes, the littler the individual seems even to himself, the less is he inclined to risk the little he has for the sake of the abundance he might share. If my watch stopped I would take it to the jeweler. While he repairs it time goes on. I can even with no great difficulty borrow another watch. But when our civilization runs down, disintegrates, gets out of order, we can take it to no celestial or terrestrial jeweler to repair it and put it together again. The lives of millions of men and women are bound up with keeping the thing going some- how. At its most hopeful best the process of saving society is essentially a process of re-education even or pérhaps especially, in those rare generations when, as Professor Whiting puts it, the expectancy of change is greater than the expectancy of continuity. But in times like these the process of re-education involves the ac- ceptance of revolutionary ideas and the laying of strong hands upon outworn institutions. In our approach to the good society the outstanding difficulty is that during the transitional period it is al- most impossible to unite virtues like individual freedom and social discipline. The surer you are that your Utopia or your way of salvation is perfect down to the last de- tail the more fanatical you are likely to be in your rela- tion to your fellows and in your ruthless insistence that they accept your salvation or at least do not stand in the way of others who would accept it. Violence be- comes holy when it is violence for the greater glory of your God. It is the man who is a bit skeptical about perfection, individual or social, to whom tolerance and a regard for other’s liberties comes easiest. He may be the best companion and friend in a troubled world; rarely, is he the best soldier for the new world. What I have just said must come close home to the thoughtful educator. On the one hand he knows that ee a ee ; al- dom opia - de- rela- that d in y of bout and may orld; » the that FEBRUARY, 1934 freedom is the condition of good teaching. At some time in his life he has probably said and believed that it is the function of the educator to draw out the per- sonalities of his pupils and not to impose upon them, to teach them to think and not what to think. On the other hand, he must be aware that the processes of edu- cation are and to some extent always will be a kind of short cut by which an older generation hands down its accumulated wisdom and experience to its successors who cannot possibly work out every problem as if men had never heard of it before. He himself, if he is worth his salt, is no mere sideline observer. On the things that matter, if he is worthy of the dignity of a teacher, he must have convictions born out of experi- ence. I do not attempt to offer any perfect solution to the teacher or to society in this conflict between liberty and truth. I shall not quote the great texts from Milton and other defenders of liberty who have honestly be- lieved and eloquent!y proclaimed that truth was born out of discussion and that in the free field which liberty gave it, it could bear away its own victories. Few, if any of them, believed in this theory as it applied to the masses without any qualifications whatsoever. I shall, how- ever, insist that the very compulsion under which we live in this machine age to act together and under some sort of discipline ought to make us the more careful to do what we can to protect against a crushing weight of compulsory conformity the heretic who has always been ‘the growing point in society. It is because there must be a considerable degree of social control even in our Utopia in order to get the best use of machinery, to protect public health, and to order our common life for beauty rather than ugliness, that it is the more neces- sary that we should protect “the right to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience” in order that our social decisions may be made in the light of the wisdom that is born from discussion. I suppose that one of the lessons which we who seek the good society must learn is that there is a kind of hierarchy of virtues which may vary under different circumstances from generation to generation, almost from decade to decade. The supreme task of our time is to end exploitation and the maldistribution of income inherent in capitalism. Without that we cannot have abundance. Old-fashioned notions of liberty are al- most meaningless—almost, I said, but by no means alto- gether—in a world irritated and oppressed by our fan- tastic inequalities and by our acceptance of scarcity when we might have plenty. There was in the long run a sounder sense than some superficial critics had been willing to grant in the French union of “liberty, equality, and fraternity.” None of them is at its best without the others. Quite on a par with the ending of poverty is the con- quest of war in the achievement of the good society. Hitler and his Nazis are right. If war must be accepted as inevitable, we do no kindness to our children if we bring them up other than as Spartans. It is positive cruelty to try to teach them the virtues and the beauties of a peaceful world. Everybody recognizes theoretically that the very science which enables us to conquer pov- erty inevitably will make new war incredibly more deadly than any that has gone before. Few of us have ac- cepted in action the consequence of this truth. It means that if social salvation depends upon the large scale vio- lence of widespread war, it is a Utopian dream, that it is far more reasonable to expect out of world war new Here again Dark Ages than any kind of good society. we come upon one of the dilemmas which tend to baffle and confuse the earnest seekers after a better way. It is obvious that the good society in a world of exploita tion is not to be achieved without struggle, yet if struggle means the acceptance of the inevitability of large scale violence, there is no guarantee whatsoever that the good society will win. Moreover the mental attitude and so- cial habits of a class struggling to be free even without wholesale violence must necessarily differ from the men- tal attitudes and social habits of the same class when it has to consolidate its victories and turn to tasks of con struction. There can be no doubt then that different times call for differing emphases on the virtues that mat- ter. They do not call for so concentrated an emphasis on one virtue that all the rest are forgotten or treated as if they were evils. This is a thing for the teacher to remember. I turn from these considerations of difficulties not per- fectly resolved to insist on some things that stand out clearly. There is no good society at all for this genera- tion or the next which can be based on those twin idola- tries, the worship of the Golden Calf of Private Profit and the Moloch of the Absolute National State, on whose altars have been sacrificed so often not merely our first born but all the choicest children of our bodies and our spirits. The acquisitive society is not the good society but evil. To claim all men’s loyalty and devotion to one national state in an interdependent world is treason against reason, against culture, against science, against religion. It is even treason against our comrades in other lands to whose labor we owe no small part of our daily bread. Our hope lies not in a totalitarian state but in the cooperative commonwealth, nay, rather in the federation of the cooperative commonwealth of mankind. To help the next generation to understand this is the outstanding function of the true teacher. It is a task which he can perform without a paralyzing dogmatism. Indeed, it can be best achieved by the effort to teach the next generation to think, which task is not in the least incompatible with pointing out to them the subjects on which they must think if their generation is to escape disaster. In what I have been saying I am aware that I was asked to speak about the good society rather than spe- cifically about the relation of schools and teachers to it. But because the good society itself is growing, not static, it is not merely an end but itself dynamic. Education and the good society, therefore, cannot be separated sharply as certain philosophers would have tried to dis- tinguish between cause and effect, the means and the end, They must be bound together in one process of life. It has been the tragedy of our American education that it has so nearly forgotten this fact. In a world where most of us have long ago theoretically agreed with H. G. Wells that history is a race between education and catastrophe we have devoted a large share of our edu- cation to the nationalist cult. Because we have wanted to save our schools, or our jobs in our schools, we have sterilized them by eliminating from them what the public regards as controversial matter, and this in an age when the very stuff in life is controversial. We have not even sought to present to the next generation a fair state- ment of facts on the interpretations of which men may legitimately differ. No wonder that as a result our educational system has become a kind of machine. In one end we pour the young; out of the other we turn by wholesale the finished product—Babbitt and Robot. It is not even a good machine because so much of its raw material is wasted. It makes quite unfit for any good society the boy or girl who does not easily conform to the conventional standards we have set up. It merely allows them to drift through the school and out into the world, Often they have been hurt rather than helped by the educational processes which we have sought to impose upon them. In other words, schools under these conditions are not preparing for the good society or for any understanding of what constitutes the good society because they are not themselves good, nor worthy to be integral parts of the good society. No one in fairness can utter this criticism of our educational system without recognizing that it is basic- ally a criticism of contemporary society, of its ideals. or lack of ideals, and its general disintegration. The process of education is never purely formal. It is car- ried on by newspaper headlines, by movies and radio, at least as much as by the schools. That is one reason why so much talk of school reform, even when it is well intended and of itself wise and thoughtful, fails of re- sults. The educator cannot even do what he wants Our Present Carl T Is a paradox of our peculiar type of society that the boys and girls who are its hope in solving the gravest and most critical social problems this industrial age has faced, will have only a “pop-gun education” with which to battle in a “machine-gun” civilization. At least this is true in the light of present trends. Indeed not only is the quality of our educational work being undermined, but free education itself is being threatened with extinction. The issue facing us to-day has moved from that of quality in educational technique and results, to that of preserving the public school! system itself. Powerful influences are at work with the avowed purposes of crushing free education in America. They wouldn’t admit it—at least not at pres- ent, Their movement has not yet mobilized sufficient public sentiment. They speak in terms of “economy’— “frills and fads.” But to be more specific, the United States Chamber of Commerce has sent to the local cham- bers— among other things—a list of twenty suggestions for reduction of school costs. Included in this list are two very significant items: (1) “The transfer of one-third of cost of all instruction above the high school level from tax-payer to pupil .” and (2) “The prin- ciple of imposing fees on high school students.‘ You can see what is in store for free education a la Chamber of Commerce. It is my opinion that this move is a first step toward the abolishment of free education in the United States above the sixth or seventh grade. Our school system came out of a bitter struggle lasting the better part of fifty years—1800-1850. We had the principle of state education before that. There were provisions placed in the constitutions of our new states here in the Middle West. But the real fight came when the principle of free education was made con- crete through legislation and tax measures. And the issue was fought out chiefly along the lines of economic interest. Those to be taxed usually fought like steers. Also those churches who were interested in parochial THE AMERICAN TEACHER with his school unless he dares to think and dream and plan in terms of the good society, the fellowship of free men, the cooperative commonwealth in which every able bodied adult is a worker, proud of his part in keeping the world going, secure in his work and in his leisure, the sharer of an abundance which he helps to create. In the panel discussion which followed Mr. Thomas’s ad- dress, the conference got around to the question how teachers could rectify their status as members of the Order of Sacred Rabbits, to which, Mr. Thomas said, most of them belong, and how they could take a more effective stand for the educational policies that had been discussed. He said no real progress could be made until professional associations of teachers understood the need of organizing along economic lines to protect their own interests and their rights and duties as teachers. He urged them then to join in connection with similar organizations of other workers, in which case the strength of all workers would be increased. In this connection he particularly recommended the American Federation of Teachers. Dr. Sidney Hook took a somewhat similar line which found a pretty general endorse- ment, at least as to the need of economic organizations and by silence if not by open assent, from the rest of the panel. Mr. Thomas elaborated the idea somewhat later in talking to informal groups. School Picture Winters schools fought free, education by the states. Sorry to say the churches have not always been the benign sponsers of education that they have been pictured to be. In brief our school system came as a result of pressure from the masses organized and led by some able, public-spirited, progressive citizens. For instance, the workers’ unions which were quite politically effec- tive at times during this period were greatly interested in securing public education. (Cubberly p. 672) Cubberly says in a footnote, “Among many resolutions adopted by laboring organizations the following is typical: ‘At a meeting of Mechanics and Workingmen held in New York City, 1829, it was: “Resolved, That next to life and liberty, we consider educa- tion the greatest blessing bestowed upon mankind.” “Resolved, That the public funds should be appropriated (to a reasonable extent) to the purpose of education upon a regular system that shall insure the opportunity to every individual of obtaining a competent education before he shall have arrived at the age of maturity.’” Our public school system was not handed to us on a platter. It came with hard labor, with a long campaign of education of the public, and with much sacrifice. I have mentioned this because | think it helps us see by historical perspective that we can expect certain economic groups to favor schools and other economic groups to fight them. It is significant that the present organizations lined up against our school systems are representative of the wealthy owning classes, the large industrial interests, the tax-dodgers, and the bankers’ associations, The four best known national organiza- tions are: (1) National Organization to Reduce Public I“xpenditures under the auspices of the Chicago Associa- tion of Commerce and Illinois Manufacturers’ Associa- tion; (2) National Economy League—financed by astern bankers: and closely tied with the United States Chamber of Commerce; (3) National Committee for Economy in Government, organized by National Associa- ‘cy Moe one a ae eo << o id ee le ag re, nd nal uld od wn red of uld led 0k ow by to ign to of me ice, Fec- ted 72) ons is nen uca- (to ular 1 of ived na 1ign see tain ymic sent are arge cers” 11za- tblic ycia- 9cia- | by fates for ocia- FEBRUARY, 1934 tion of Manufacturers and (4) The United States Chamber of Commerce. In addition to these with their many subsidiaries are hundreds of smaller organi- zations scattered over the country. If you think this group is to be “sneezed at,” you are most unhappily mistaken. These groups have one dominant motive, less taxes— more profits and dividends. Their watchword is “econ- omy”. What this means being interpreted is, public poverty in our school system makes for private plenty and luxury in the lives of the privileged few. But what of their charges of extravagance? The per capita cost in Ohio for a high school pupil is $70.00 per year— or 35 cents a day. Is there any other pur- chase which affords so much for so little? We spend more for tobacco, cosmetics, soda-water, and chewing gum in this country than for education. Our expendi- tures for highways in Ohio are as much or more than our expeditures for our schools. We spent two and a half billions in the United States (1928) for education and two and a half billions for war purposes, Which is the better bargain? There is no drive on by these “economy leagues” to reduce armaments. There is too much profit in steel for bankers and industrialists for that. Then consider that $827,000,000 in interest and dividend payments were received by citizens of Ohio for the year 1932. With the major share of this $827,- 000,000 going to a relatively few people, can we still say we can’t afford $100,000,000 for education in Ohio? This “large income” group pays relatively little towards school support. It is the “small income” group who bears the disproportionate share of this tax. Yet the “big boys” are making the greatest kick. Now let’s look for a minute at our present school situation. First, where are our teachers? Various estimates have been made of teacher unemployment. One hun- dred thousand, I think, is a conservative estimate for the entire country. The N. E. A. received reports from nine states with five thousand or more unemployed teachers in each, with the other states running from five hundred to five thousand. Of those who remain employed salary cuts have ranged from 10% to 50%. Eunice Barnard (N. Y. Times— Sept. 24, ’33) asks, “What kind of worker can still be hired for an average of $7.70 pér week? Not an office-boy, a dish-washer, or a factory hand, if the N. R. A. catches you. No, the correct answer is—a teacher.” Chas. A. Lee, president of the National Council of State Superintend- ents of Education reports that in a number of states “more than one-half of all the teachers employed will not receive $400 during this entire year for their serv- ices.” Mr. Lee also says that $40,000,000 is owing to public school teachers in this country in back pay. Then again, where are the children and students? The N. E. A. received reports that sixteen states short- ened the school term one month or more in ’32-’33 and that fifteen states expect short terms for ’33-’34. In Alabama there are 200,000 without any school. In Chicago, we are fairly familiar with events. For a detailed picture of the entire middle-west see Harper’s (Nov. issue) article entitled ‘Deflating the Schools.” Here in Ohio we know something of the situation. Dayton is on half time—Hocking County, as well as other rural areas, facing shut down by the first of the year. Others are running on short terms with unfair 7 teacher-loads. And the movement against the schools is still gathering momentum. This doesn’t look bright. So here we are. Now the question is, ““What to do?” On the whole it seems to me that we have employed ‘pop-gun’ tactics to meet “machine-gun” opposition, 1. I would suggest first in order here, that teachers begin to educate with this problem in mind. I mean by this that not sufficient emphasis has been placed upon the teaching of courses designed to give the student a working knowledge of the actual social forces at work in an industrial age. Our teaching of history, social sciences, civics has been, to my mind, too imaginary and theoretical and not enough realistic and practical. [ had to wait until I was out of high school and college to learn that Adam Smith in his “Wealth of Nations” and the economists that followed him down to today were giving us mostly “hot air” and theory in an effort to justify a social order which is inherently inefficient, unjust, and un-christian, The teachers who neglect this element of social reality deserve to lose their jobs—and will lose them. Ten years ago teachers had some ex- cuse for not knowing any better. Today, this excuse is removed. No student should leave high school with- out at least knowing who are his friends and who are his enemies. But this issue of free schools is here now and demands action. Very well, make this problem a part of your curriculum. Debate free schools, read free schools, sing free schools, draw free schools, dramatize free schools, play free schools, until every pupil has the truth about our public school system in him. 2. But I would advise more action than this. The teachers and educators of this country need an effective organization to promote the interests of education and free schools. You have organizations—all good in their particular function. You attend your state conventions and hear of new methods and of new technique, of the cultural aims of the teacher, the books that should be read, and then come back home to the most chaotic jumbled mess imaginable, because the public and the board members never heard what “Dr. So-and-so” had to say about teacher-load, effectiveness in teaching, etc. lf I were going to these conventions this week, and the same program were proffered, /] would use every effort to forward a movement in the convention for the scrapping of all talk of methods until some means were taken to insure that schools would remain open long enough for these methods to be applied. The issue today is not methods but free schools. Either some existing organization should be utilized to promote the interest of free schools or a new one set up. I commend to you a study of the organization and methods of the American Federation of Teachers. I would consider it the function of any wide-awake teacher’s organization to do at least three things. (1) Put on an intensive publicity compaign in behalf of free schools. It takes a ton of public opinion to outweigh an ounce of utility influence. (2) Maintain an active lobby to protéct the schools. And (3).in order to make the lobby effective, build up a solid teacher-organization for the purpose of collective bargaining. The place to deal with this situation is not in the county but at the state capitol. One county or two counties or so can’t exercise sufficient pressure. There must be a water- tight, state-wide organization able to lay down the condi- (Turn to page 15) 8 AMERICAN TEACHER THE The Purposes and Functions of a Teachers’ Federation in a University Harold M. Groves HE University of Wisconsin Chapter is one of the few exclusively college locals of the American Federation of Teachers. The organization is only three years old. Credit for its beginning, along with a lot of other credits, goes to the Wisconsin Summer School for Workers in Industry. Professor Jerome Davis assisted in the organization of this local. The Workers’ Summer School faculty felt that it should ex- press its belief in the benefits of cooperative organization and its belief in organized labor by organizing them- selves into a chapter of the American Federation of Teachers. The organization has grown from a handful of members to a group of more than seventy. In or- der to attract new members’and to encourage organiza- tion in other colleges it now appears opportune to make a statement of principles and functions of our organiza- tion and to answer some of the criticisms which have been made concerning it. The union exists first of all to protect the economic interests of its members. It is the only campus organ- ization which is concerned with these interests. The or- ganization seeks to protect the teacher in an economic way: (a) By using available ways and means to secure ade- quate appropriations for education and adequate salaries for teachers. The Federation is in a strategic position with regard to this matter because of its affiliation with organized labor. Organized labor was the first and most valiant champion of publicly supported schools in this and other countries. It has continued to give its un- qualified support to education. Many teachers do not appreciate what their profession owes to organized labor. Although the Federation stands for adequate com- pensation for teachers, this does not mean that it will pay no heed to the claims of other public services or to the interests of the taxpayer. Economic interests are protected: (b) By resisting discrimination against any class of college teachers through unequal or disproportionate wage cuts, time ‘cuts, or elimination of personnel, or through any other unfair discrimination. We feel that a university has some obligations to the younger mem- bers of its staff, that is, assistants and instructors, as well as to those of professorial rank. This obligation is particularly important during a depression such as this. Both in recognition of past services and to con- serve the human resources of the profession, the uni- versity has a moral duty not to permit an unfair share of the burden of deflation to fall upon this group. This moral obligation is reinforced by a consideration of the injury to the quality of education which deflation at the expense of assistants and instructors may involve. The second main function of the University Federa- tion is to preserve the freedom of teaching and of teach- ers. The Federation stands with the strength of num- bers and organization to protect the individual rights of ~* Outline of address delivered at the Seventeenth Annual Con- vention of the American Federation Wisconsin, June 26, 1933. of Teachers, Milwaukee, its members. It stands for freedom of opinion and speech generally, not only for its own membership and those who agree with it, but also for those outside and those who disagree as well. The organization stands for full protection against discharge for religious, racial, or political reasons. It does not stand for retention upon the public payroll of incompetent persons or persons whose services are no longer needed. The third function of the Federation is to promote better and more effective teaching and research in col- leges and universities. It is our feeling that this can be done in many ways of which the following may be singled out for mention: (a) Emphasis upon quality rather than size of stu- dent body, faculty, and curriculum. (b) An adequate teaching staff so that individual students may get individual attention. (c) Adequate active participation by students in their own education. At least in many subjects this requires substantial opportunity for discussion as well as the op- portunity to hear lectures. (d) Sufficient assistance to able and needy graduate students in the form of scholarships or part-time teach- ing positions so that these students may complete their training and the graduate school maintain a student body sufficiently large and able to do effective work. The graduate school is a most essential factor in effective research. The research carried on by the university faculty with the aid of the graduate school both in the physical and social sciences has been of tremendous value to this state. (e) Experimentation in new methods of teaching and research. * (f) Encouraging teachers to take an active interest in the affairs of their community and to accept oppor- tunities in the public service. This not only improves the quality of teaching but also enables the state to profit directly by the scientific knowledge and training of its teachers. The relation of mutual assistance between the community and its educational institutions, sometimes called the “Wisconsin Idea,” has been one of the unique achievements of our state. It has been one of the im- portant factors in the international reputation achieved by our university. It should be kept alive and nour- ished. (g) Encouraging of teachers to take a positive posi- tion and point of view on social questions. There is a strong feeling on the part of some that active participa- tion in community affairs and a strong point of view destroy objectivity in teaching. The organization feels on the contrary that an insistence upon a neutral point of view and a refusal to join any active movement or to indorse any principles is likely to make teaching sterile. We believe that the fact and the appearance of objectiv- ity should be sought through fairness in the presenta- tion of subject matter and in giving all sides an oppor- tunity to be heard rather than through neutrality and inactivity. ae AS wee id 1d ial Pir "eS »p- ate ch- eir dy ‘he ive ity the lue ind ‘est Or- ves ofit its the nes que im- ved yur- OSi- is a ipa- 1eW eels oint r to rile. “tiv- nta- por- and cower rr es FEBRUARY, 1934 The Federation not only encourages teachers and stu- dents to take a point of view; it gives assistance and encouragement to those who take its point of view. The Federation differs from all other teachers’ organizations in that it has a point of view, particularly on social and economic questions. Its point of view is indicated by its affiliation with organized labor. This affiliation commits the organization to a belief in some rather fundamental economic principles such as industrial democracy (or the right of labor to organize from the bottom and speak through representatives of its own choosing). The or- ganization stands for human rights when they are op- posed to property rights and non-acquisitive interests where they are opposed to acquisitive interests. Wealth may have its place and its rights, but we are opposed to the subservience to it which has so often character- ized educational and other institutions. Because our organization takes a point of view and encourages its members to do likewise does not mean that it believes education should be propaganda. It is true that the teacher should encourage the student to think for himself and not dictate to him what he should think. We believe in fairness, tolerance, and good sportsmanship; they require giving the other side of every question an equal chance to be heard. But we believe in having a side and working for it and organ- izing to promote it. In football it is not bad sportsman- ship to be loyal to one’s team and to try to win. It is bad sportsmanship not to give the other side an equal chance. In the fourth place, and embracing the others, the university teachers’ federation stands for the democratic point of view among teachers. We are opposed to all snobbery whether it take the form of snobbery by those performing mental work toward those performing phys- ical work, by teachers in the upper ranks toward those in lower ranks, or by teachers toward students. The democratic point of view includes opposition to discrim- ination between classes of teachers. It includes support for high quality and adequate quantity of social services furnished by governments. This involves promotion of adequate pay and recognition for public service includ- ing teaching. The democratic point of view requires support for industrial democracy and the right of all economic groups to organize and speak through repre- sentatives of their choosing. Those with the democratic point of view must seek for greater justice and less ac- quisitiveness in the social, political, and economic in- stitutions of our time. In addition to the functions which we have mentioned it is worth noting that the teachers’ federation may be a link between the divisions of our profession—between those engaged in college education and those engaged in elementary and high school teaching. Teachers as a group have many problems in common. A university group is likely to feel dissatisfied with the kind of back- ground the student acquires in the elementary and sec- ondary schools. The high school and elementary school groups are inclined to feel that their work is nullified because the college deadens the lively minds they have helped to create. Both sentiments are probably justified. The groups should get together on a common program to make the whole educational process more effective. Certainly college teachers ought not to be unconcerned with a report such as emanated a few weeks ago from Chicago. I quote an extract from a letter from a Chi- cago teacher printed in the New Republic of May 31st: 9 “Chicago teachers carry the heaviest teaching load in the country. There is a 54 percent overload in the high schools. In spite of the increase in high school attend- ance of 114 percent, no provision has been made for new teachers. The bankers are asking us to carry the heavy load of additional work caused by the depression. We have had two weeks pay since May, 1932, and the tor&l amount now due us stands at almost $40,000,000. I wish I could actually picture the trail of wreckage which this situation has caused—lost homes, forfeited insurance, re- possessed cars, lack of medical service, insults from creditors, a breaking of morale, and actual hunger.” Criticisms of the Federation Our organization has been criticized on the ground that it destroys scholarship by making partisans and protagonists of teachers. We have already answered this criticism. Scholarship does not imply a neutral point of view and the absence of principles or loyalty to them. The Federation is criticized also on the ground that its affiliation with outside groups and its promotion of a program with outside assistance will involve the uni- versity in politics. The answer is that the state uni- versity which is so detached as to be unconcerned with politics or politics with it will never be a vital factor in the life of its time. Such a university might be a fine retreat for its faculty and might spend its time teaching an archaic ritual and discipline to students. Any peda- gog worth his salt believes in a more vital kind of edu- cation than this. It is also said that there is no need for a federation of teachers on a college or university campus. It is said that the teachers’ federation is a dual organization; that the American Association of University Professors is already largely in possession of the field. The A. A. U. P. stands for academic freedom and the promotion of educational standards. It is also said that in some uni- versities, including our own, regular faculty meetings are held in which matters of policy may be discussed. The president of the university and the deans, both of whom are more employees than employers, represent the faculty before the legislature and the Board of Regents. What need is there for any other organization? The American Association of University Professors does not perform the functions which the teachers’ fed- eration aspires to perform. Although it offers a junior membership to assistants and instructors it has never made an appeal to this group. The professors’ organ- ization for the most part does not focus upon local campus issues. It offers no protection to its members so far as their economic status is concerned. The organ- ization is a strictly professional one and has no outside affiliations. Most important of all perhaps the A. A. U. P. has no point of view and holds no opinions regarding economic institutions. As previously stated the teach- ers’ federation has a point of view and does take a side on at least some very fundamental economic issues. The faculty meeting is for university professors only and allows no’ voting power to assistants and instructors. The teachers’ federation may form a very useful sup- plement to it by raising issues for it to discuss. Im- portant as it is for teachers to participate in the control of the educational system of which they are a part, faculty meetings are frequently poorly attended and are often without important business to discuss, or do not afford adequate opportunity for such discussion. The president and deans may represent all the faculty adequately and fairly. Sometimes they may need as- sistance. They represent a particular experience, inter- est, and point of view. Not always will they be im- partial. For example, they are likely to take the atti- tude that teachers below the rank of professor have no economic rights at all, either legal or moral. Conclusion In conclusion it may be stated that never before has it been so important for teachers with the democratic point of view to organize. We are now in the midst of an attack upon education and the public service unparal- leled in our history. As is usually the case, those weak- est in the economic scale are likely to fare worst in this attack. There never was such need for developing socially-minded leadership among students and in the community as now. The problems of war and depres- sions which now appear almost at the point of over- THE AMERICAN TEACHFEt whelming civilization can not be solved as long as indi- vidualism and acquisitiveness are permitted to run their course unbridled. Our economic system has become char- acterized by violent contradictions such as fhe simul- taneous presence of huge surpluses and wide-spread hunger and want. Millions of people are condemned to complete absorption in the problem of providing for themselves and their dependents the bare necessities of life. Maullions, including many of our own profession, face a future which offers them little or no opportunity. Economic insecurity, like an evil spirit, hangs over them always. Unless education is a sterile institution and a huge waste of the taxpayers’ money, it can not fail to accept the many challenges which our modern life presents. It is our business to see to it that education does in- fluence life and for the better. It is our business to see to it that teaching becomes the great profession it has every right to be. The Functions of a School Board James A. Mullenbach More properly or precisely stated the subject should read: Tue FuNcTIONS OF THE SCHOOL BoarD oF CHICAGO It cannot be too frequently reiterated that the main- tenance and conduct of the schools of Chicago is a state and not a municipal obligation. Whatever service the Board of Education performs it performs as the agent of the state. The state legislature is the source of what- ever authority the Board of Education is endowed with. The legislature can set up Boards and cast them down. It can enlarge them or do away with them entirely. Any reform or reorganization of the present system of edu- cational control can come only from the legislature. It is well for those who have in mind changes in the or- ganization to remember that the changes can only come to pass through legislative action. The special act under which the Board of Education operates in Chicago is known as the Otis law and was passed in 1917. That act did three things: 1. It reduced the number of board members from twenty to eleven. 2. It conferred upon the superintendent distinct pow- ers and gave him a definite tenure of office; 3. It provided for a tenure of office for the teaching force so protecting them from arbitrary dis- missal or demotion. The reduction of the number of members from twenty- one to eleven was a distinct gain. It made the Board less unwieldy and consequently more efficient. Under the act members of the Board are nominated by the mayor and confirmed or rejected by the Council. As a matter of fact, one of the weaknesses of the ap- pointing plan is that the aldermen do not recognize the great responsibility resting upon them in these nom- inations. In very rare instances they are regarded as perfunctory and routine selections by the mayor and very seldom does the Council undertake to review with due consideration his nominees and their fitness for the Radio Talk—WENR—Dec. 6, 1933, Chicago Federation of Women S. Teachers. office to which they are being appointed. As a rule, the Council does not even require the names to lie over for one week so that they might be criticized and the citizens might know the qualifications of those who are to man- age their schools. Usually the list is voted through at once as if it were some complimentary vote the Council were paying the mayor. Both mayor and aldermen are performing a state function. The assumption of the law is that after the mayor and the aldermen have performed their functions as agents of the state, the control of the schools passes exclusively to the Board of Education. It is presumed that the mayor and the aldermen have no more concern or author- ity over the Board of Education. The theory of the act is that the Board as an independent body will then officiate as the agents of the state and remain untram- melled by any local political obligations. The intent of the law was to create a non-political board. That is the assumption of the law but it rarely works out in actuality. With most infrequent exceptions the mayor and his political associates regard the schools simply as another rich field for political perquisites properly falling to the party in power. The average board member is appointed because he is a “safe” de- pendable supporter of the mayor and his “‘politics.“ He is appointed because of his political, racial, business, or financial connections. As a matter of fact, this plan has resulted too frequently in creating a board without any responsibility for the good of the schools, and with all their obligations, running it in the direction of their political sponsors. The members of the board receive no salary. The assumption is that they will get their satisfaction in serving the people and the children in this important place without any hope of reward but of service well rendered. It is assumed that the duties will be light, not much time will be required and in general no seri- ous demands will be made upon the members. In reality most members do give only the fag ends of their time to their school duties. Only those members having a strong personal interest in the operation of the schools or those i- ir T- l- § ry. ‘m ge fl pt ts. see 1as the for ens \an- 1 at ncil are and ents vely the hor- the then ram- it of orks . the 100ls sites rage ’ de- He s, or plan thout with their The ym in yrtant well light, ) seri- ‘ealitv me to strong those FEBRUARY, 1934 members having a political interest in jobs and contracts give much attention to the operation of the system. This condition will continue until the citizens set up standards and qualifications for membership in this im- portant body and then hold rigidly to account those who do the appointing—the mayor and the aldermen. It must be at least of as great interest to the citizen to know how the alderman of his ward has acted in selecting, school board members as his interest in gas rates, cab rates, or some other feature of his activity in the council. What ought to be the qualifications of a board mem- ber? First, public spirit, next adequate appreciation of his duties and limitations as a member of the board, un- derstanding of the function of the superintendent and other professional officials of the schools, capacity to resist pressure. A ruthless city administration can fre- quently force and blackmail members into positions they would not naturally take. The number of free men and women in a modern American community is very small in number. Business relationships, family connections. and other elements shackle the man or woman at the point where he would be free in his action. A banker has city funds in his vaults. They cannot be withdrawn without jeopardizing his institution. He “goes along.” A business man with his factories is vulnerable to at- tack from captious smoke inspectors, fire inspectors, plumbing inspectors, and all that raft of inspectors of one kind and another that can be set upon him if he does not “go along”. Even a labor representative needs the condescension of the police when he has pickets on the street. He will be told that one hand washes the other. If he “goes along”, the pickets will not be bothered. And so it goes. Various devices have been suggested to secure a com- petent and independent board of education. Some ad- vocate selection of members by direct election. Others prefer the appointing system as at present in operation but would change the appointing power to the ‘judges of the Supreme court or local courts, or to the Governor. Some would do away with boards entirely and lodge the authority in a commissioner of education appointed by the mayor. This would centralize and fix responsi- bility, it is claimed. Any of these would work on one condition that there is an alert and informed citizenship organized to watch over and guard the operation and conduct of the board. There can be no substitute for this aroused citizen body. We have a worthy approach to such a body in the Par- ent Teacher organizations, the Joint Committee on Pub- lic School Affairs, and similar organizations. Not the least of importance in this relationship are the teachers unions and organizations. They too help to create popu- lar sentiment toward the schools, and to hold.members to their duties. Probably the most important act of any board of edu- cation is the selection of the superintendent of schools. No act the board can perform will have such significance for the peace of the board and the welfare of the chil- dren of the schools. A superintendent must have the confidence of the teachers and staff. He must be thor- oughly conversant with best school practices and meth- ods. Naturally, he ought to be an experienced school man. Such a superintendent the Chicago schools now have. One of the best features of the Otis Act is the larger powers it confers upon the superintendent as compared il with previous legislations. The law provides for three executive departments: educational, business, and legal. The board is required to select a superintendent of schools who shall have charge of the educational depart- ment and shall hold office for four years. The business manager and the attorney for the board are likewise elected by the board. A far better arrangement would have been to center all executive authority in the hands of the superinten- dent and the sponsors for the bill were urged by well known educators to change it in this respect, but the proposal was rejected. So the system operates under a triumvirate of executives. A bill to place entire author- ity in the hands of the superintendent was introduced in the last legislature and received much support though not enough to pass it. Undoubtedly, another attempt will be made to effect this change. Despite this defect in the Otis law, this act does give to the superintendent definite powers. He is authorized to bring recommendations to the board. In fact all ini- tiative for managing and conducting the educational work is placed in the hands of the superintendent. His recommendations cannot be over-ruled except by a two- thirds vote. The board may not initiate a change in schools or personnel except by two-thirds vote. It was plainly the intention of the law to clothe the superin- tendent with special powers of initiating and controlling school changes. The superintendent must pass on the budget so far as it relates to the educational part of the system. Re- cently the board passed a budget without even consult- ing him, contrary to the law. Likewise they passed that budget without giving any public hearing, also contrary to the law. This is only an illustration of the aforesaid irresponsibility of the board members to the public, after they have been confirmed in their positions, The superintendent is responsible for any change in the system, for transfers, and promotions of teachers or staff officers. He has control of the curriculum. He must pass on the location and type of buildings required in any particular part of the city. He may recommend new types of service. All these are dealt with in the agenda he sends to the board. These recommendations represent his professional judgment as to the matter in hand. As a rule the board accepts the superintendent's pro- posals without change, but sometimes they are modi- fied by the board. Of course in some instances the modi- fications are justified, but wherever they occur the public can afford to be watchful, particularly where nomina- tions to special positions are involved. It may be that political considerations are at work on such occasions. The point that needs emphasis is that the manage- ment of a school system is a highly professional serv- ice. In the case of such a widespread enterprise as that of the Chicago schools which ministers to 500,000 chil- dren it requires administrative talent and professional training and experience of high order. The intention of the law was to give to the superintendent professional control of the schools. The law recognizes that a board made up of laymen could not be expected to manage successfully a school system like Chicago’s. Placing so much power in the hands of the superintendent the leg- islature was attempting to eliminate “politics” in the schools and substitute for “politics” and “pull” the judg- ment of a professional leader. 12 It ought to be pointed out that the intrusion of lav opinion and control into the school system is bound to bring loss, confusion, and resentment. It inevitably leads to “politics.” The very essence of “politics” is the interference of laymen like aldermen with engineers, leg- islators with professional people in state charity institu- tions, board members interfering with professional school authorities, and similar maneuvers. Until the American public realizes that professional services call for professional men and women and that these must be let alone in the management of their specialized work, we shall have “politics” in public life. The viciousness of “politics” exists in this very fact that the legislative bodies made up of laymen undertake to administer as well as to legislate. A legislative—a board of education, or a council of aldermen, or a state legislature—is cre- ated for the purpose of determining policies—policies of their supporters and constituents, but as soon as they go beyond this function and undertake to tell the en- gineers in the city hall, or the doctors in the state in- stitutions, how they shall do their work and who their assistants shall be, they are resorting to an illegitimate function. So when the board of education on an educa- tional matter over-rides the superintendent when he ap- THE AMERICAN TEACHER points an assistant and substitutes its lay opinion, it is going beyond its proper function. The separation of the two fields in government—the legislative and the executive—must be made, not only in our constitutions, state and national, but in the actual practice of our public life. Otherwise we shall never get rid of “politics.” The temptation to think that one man’s opinion is as good as another’s is a hangover from our pioneer days when life was simple. But as life has become more complicated, professional services have extended. We do not send for a carpenter to fix our car simply because one mechanic is as good as another. We send for an auto-mechanic—a specialist—a_profes- sional. So with the school, laymen on a board of edu- cation filled with a great idea of their importance can do an immense amount of harm by substituting their crude ideas for the experience and professional skill of the school man. The most important qualification for a board member I have left to the last. It is a due sense of humility. A proper sense of his limitations will make him more helpful as a member than perhaps any other qualifica- tion. If he will start as a learner—as one of the school. he will make real progress and in time be a real sup- porter to good management. Taxation Propaganda Florence Curtis Hanson QUOTE to you as a text for what I have to say on Taxation Propaganda what a true educator, an as- sistant superintendent in Chicago, has said: “A wholesome skepticism, a negative reaction, whenever a new slogan comes to us is a necessity. Unless there exists an in- telligent public no longer capable of being led, but rather in- clined to doubt until there is overwhelming evidence in favor of positive action, we shall be in danger that many of the questions which beset us will fail of a just solution.” People ‘have suffered so much in the present depres- sion that it makes them the ready prey of propaganda. It has, long been the practice of wealth and privilege to deceive the people as to the cause of their miseries and to find a scapegoat when the going gets hard. To- day the much advertised cause of all human misery is high taxation and the scapegoat is the public schools. And first, let us inquire who are these “advertisers”? They are the representatives of wealth and privilege— the self-constituted committees, the extra-legal organiza- tions, topped by the United States Chamber of Commerce, a private organization having no connection with the U. S. Government, which have set themselves up to tell the people and their regularly elected representatives how much money shall be spent on government, particu- larly on the schools. These people who have made the egregious blunders which have got us into this mess now have the colossal nerve to say, “Let us take over your governments. Let us take over your schools. And your taxes will be reduced.” Their smoke screen is con- fusing, just as it was meant to be. The fact remains that the schools and other government costs are under attack by individuals and groups of individuals willing Men Teachers Union of Chicago Radio Series at 6:45 p. m., Tuesdays, KYW, November 28, 1933. to use methods of misrepresentation in their attack, The bugaboo of “high taxes” is being used to undermine public confidence in popular government and in our so- cial services, and to put the tax burden on the poor in- stead of on the rich. Will taxes be reduced? In spite of repeated assur- ances, they have not been. Should they be or does the remedy lie in readjustment and redistribution, placing the tax burden on those best able to bear it, who are those receiving the most benefit from the services of government for which taxes pay? Is our tax bill too high? Do our schools cost too much? Accurate information on these points should be ours before we accept the propaganda of these interested persons, interested in the tax problem as large tax payers, not as patrons of the public schools, for they send their children to private schools. Suppose we compare the cost to the patron of the public schools for that schooling with the cost of education in private schools. A number of well-to-do Chicago parents send their boys to an eastern school where the annual tuition is $1500, to which should be added two or three hundred dollars travelling expenses ; a number of wealthy parents patron- ize other schools where the tuition is up to $3000 per year. How far will the patrons of the public schools get by such an arrangement? You live in a $10,000 home or apartment. On that your tax bill is about $5334, and 30% of it, or 160 dollars, goes for the support of the schools. You have two children and for their education you are paying $160 a year, or $80 each, or for about four days for two pupils or eight days for one in a private school. Do our schools cost too much? According to the Board of Education’s own figures, the cost per pupil ean Ff MM sh & 6. 90 ed rs, ir FEBRUARY, 1934 per day in 1932 was 34c, and that has been cut to less than 28c. The cost per citizen in Chicago for the sup- port of public education is about 4c per day, less than the cost of a cheap cigar, a package of gum, a glass oi beer, or an ice cream cone. And while we are paying this 4c per day for the education of the children of the city, for their protection and care, for their preparation for a future life of usefulness to fit them to carry on the tradition of American freedom and democracy, we are paying 7c for a street car ride, 10c for an “L” ride, Sc for a phone call, 15 to 20c a day for gas, 15 to 30c for electric light. For every dollar we spend for taxes, we are spending $5 for public utilities, 4/5 of which goes to swell the fortunes of those who are leading the fight for school retrenchment. If a tax of ten cents per day were collected from each person of 21 years of age and over in the U. S., the total amount so collected would pay the present public education expense for almost 26,500,000 pupils. In 1930 the average expense per adult for public education was $36.42, that is, something less than 10c per day per adult in the U. S., but in Chicago only 4c in 1933. Many persons have been startled during the last three years with the revelation that government costs a lot of money. Much has been made of the cost with no ac- count taken of the value received. The tax burden of the American citizen is not only lighter than the tax burden of any other great nation, but the average Amer- ican citizen is getting more for his tax dollar than for any other dollar he spends. We have considered the comparative cost im dollars only of private and public education. A similar comparison can well be made in practically all governmental services. Suppose the es- sential social services—police protection, fire protection, health inspection and service, collection of waste, sew- age disposal, water supply, streets, roads, bridges, care of criminals, delinquents and insane—were conducted by private enterprise on a profit basis, taking all it can get, instead of on a non-profit basis by government, Without question the cost would be 20 to 50% greater and the service less satisfactory. Take for example the matter of salaries alone. The Superintendent of Schools receives $15,000, less the cuts that have been made; the Mayor of Chicago receives $18,000; the President of the North Western Railroad, $61,000, reduced from $100,000; the presidents of the public utilities—of the “L”, the Telephone Company, the street railway, the People’s Gas, Light, and Coke Com- pany, the Commonwealth Edison Company, all receiv- ing a salary higher even than this railroad president. You are paying these salaries without protest, but are being deceived by the business men organized into citi- zens’ committees, tax payers’ leagues, and what not, in many cases personal rackets for their promoters. Are these public utilities more valuable to you than the schools and other social services? Do you want cheap government? Do you want for your children the cheapest schools taught by the cheap- est teachers? Do you want firemen and policemen paid so little that only grafters will do this work? Do you want your health department operated so cheaply that contagion and epidemics prevail? How about cutting out food inspection, or employing the cheapest chemist for this work? Shall we do away with garbage collec- tion and sewage disposal ? Indeed, we need to do a little thinking about all that is purchased with our tax dollar, 13 In order to cover up their own stupidity, these tax dodging business men of ours make much of the argu- ment that excessive taxation caused the depression. It is not government that has failed; it is business that has failed. Banks have failed; factories have closed; busi- ness has collapsed, but the government has continued to function and to give assistance to these “captains of in- dustry” in distress through their own ignorance and folly. : The depression is an excuse for, not a cause of, re- trenchment. Depression does not lessen our need for governmental services, but increases that need because of public welfare and relief agencies. Government costs cannot be brought down in proportion to decreased in- comes. With lowered income a person still needs the same fire and police protection, the same collection of garbage, the same disposal of sewage, the maintenance of streets and highways, and even more health protection and inspection. And as for the schools, a greatly added burden is put upon them. As opportunities for gainful occupation decrease more boys and girls go to school! Men unemployed turn to the evening schools, In Chi- cago, 15,000 more pupils have been added to the school roll, and all that our overlords can think of to meet the needs of our boys and girls, our unemployed men and women, is to cut costs and to reduce taxes. A true economy calls for more and better schools. Money spent for wages, books, supplies, buildings, etc., is returned to circulation. The amount of his income an individual spends wisely and well is in direct proportion to his education. Books, magazines, pictures, music, good homes, good food, beautiful clothing, these are pur- chased by the educated in the measure of their educa- tion. The economy of free public education, moreover, is in the enrichment of the spiritual life of the nation. Money spent on schools is money well spent, a true econ- omy ; it is money saved on jails, penitentiaries, hospitals, detention homes for delinquents, police, poor relief, and wars, internal and external. From the wardens of many state penitentiaries come the statements and figures to prove the statements that public school education is a crime deterrent, that the inmates of these institutions increase in inverse ratio to their education. I should like to ask you to look up the figures in the various states for school expenditures in the past few years in connection with the effect of the depression in those states. You will find that the states with the best schools have prospered most and have stood the depression best. This is no accident, but cause and effect ! We are very proud of our great America and we want to continue so. How does it compare with other na- tions in its treatment of its schools in this year of de- pression? The United States Office of Education in Washington has recenlty sent out some comparisons: Mexico, Australia, and the Irish Free State report im- provements. New Zealand, Scotland, Belgium, Den- mark, France, and Chile, no adverse effects. A canvass of the countries of the world reveals that schools in the United States have not been safeguarded from the im- pact of the depression as well as schools in most other nations, says the report. We need to think about this if we are going to continue to be proud, It is not high taxes that is causing our troubles, but evasion of taxes in high places. There is no time here to enter into the inequities of our tax system which without doubt needs reforming. Waste and extravagance 14 when determined should be eliminated and undoubtedly the first step to be taken to this end is the consolidation of overlapping governmental agencies. A land tax which places a disproportionate share of the tax burden on the small home owner is indefensible and unnecessary. If proper taxes were laid where they belong, this injustice could be remedied. The income tax is an equitable tax by which those who profit most from the protection of our government will pay its bills. Because our present law needs teeth is no criticism of the principle; it merely indicates that a new dentist is required. The principle of inheritance and gift taxes is just and fair. Here, again, we need teeth. Evasions are too well-known to need mention. Notorious cases of the creation of a trust to avoid paying an inheritance tax are unhappily only too numerous. I wonder how many of us stop to think why our bankers and big industrialists have fine homes and estates just outside the city limits. It is a very general practice in every city. Is it to escape the noise and dirt of the city, or to evade taxes? Why has Henry Ford placed his factory just outside the city of Detroit? Have you considered that one of’ the reasons why the city of Detroit is so hard hit at this time is because of the burden thrown upon it by this tax evasion and the neces- sity of feeding the Ford workers when they are unem- ployed or on part time? Another favorite dodge of our tax evaders is to main- tain both an official and an actual residence. Is it the climate that draws our rich men to Florida, or is it be- cause it has no income and inheritance tax laws? John D. Rockefeller makes much of his money in New York, where his actual residence is, but his official residence is in Florida and he saves thousands of dollars in income tax. THE AMERICAN TEACHER When studying tax propaganda, may I suggest that you consider, first, who is back of this Reduce-Taxes- Cut-Cost-of-Government program? Does it mean any- thing to you that the United States Chamber- of Com- merce, this private organization with no federal govern- ment connection, representing the bankers, the real estate boards, and the manufacturers’ associations, ad- vocates a program of retrenchment covering 20 points including all the changes that have been made in Chi- cago, together with three others, namely, fees for high schools, shortening elementary school curriculums to 7 years and high school to 3, making the school life 10 years instead of 12? Does it mean anything to you that the President of the Chicago Board of Education, taking ._ this U. S. Chamber of Commerce letter from his desk and reading from it this retrenchment program, says to a delegation protesting Chicago’s school-crippling policy, “The U. S. Government advocates these cuts.” Does it mean anything to you that the largest group of organized parents in America, the patrons of the pub- lic schools, their founders, defenders, and protectors, the American Federation of Labor, has opposed these cur- tailments and retrenchments and has said, “Increased revenues for the maintenance and development of public education; not less but more money for the support of public schools, in spite of the depression, yes, because of the depression.” It declares for the elimination of waste and corruption, not the lessening of educational oppor- tunities for the children of the workers. It says, “Our complex social order calls for widening the scope and in- fluence of our public schools and requires larger instead of restricted appropriations.” Is your mind open? Are you fortified against false propaganda ? Unionization of Teachers Robert T. Kerlin tioned and too little known, that organized labor was the chief agency in establishing our present system of free schools, and that organized labor has been their most constant and effective protector. It is further- more a fact too little known outside of labor circles that the American Federation of Labor has a most en- lightened program of education. What is that program? Here it is in brief but memor- able words: “Better enforcement of the educational laws; wider use of the school plant; reduction in the size of classes; revision of teachers’ salary schedules upward; increase of school revenues to maintain and develop public schools; co-operation between boards of education and superintendents and committees representing the teach- ing body in all cases of controversy between school au- thorities and teachers; tenure of position for teachers during efficiency; sound pension laws; protection of the schools from propaganda and all forms of exploitation; labor representation on school boards; compulsory at- tendance laws; free text books; opportunity for every child to receive adequate educational advantages; op- position to all attempts to curtail educational opportuni- ties at any time.” k Is a matter of history, yet a fact too seldom men- An address to the West Virginia State Federation of Labor. Such are the historic educational demands, repeatedly and urgently set forth, of the American Federation of Labor. The prime concern of a free people, of a citizenry that would be free, ought to be and will be their schools. They will keep their schools free in every sense of the word, and they will zealously guard and maintain the freedom of their qualified and approved teachers. In their system of education, from the elementary grades up through the high schools to the State colleges and the University, the teachers must be made to feel and know themselves to be free citizens and free teachers in the preparation of the on-coming generation to build a bet- ter world in which to live. From every malign and pestiferous influence, from all political meddling, from all propaganda, the schools and the teachers must be free. But are they so? Do not our teachers, like unorgan- ized workers, live in constant fear of loss of job and therefore in constant servility? Living in such fear they cannot be free. they do not own their own souls. They serve their bosses. Here is the crux of the question. The issue is the independence of the teacher. Has the teacher freedom in teaching? Has he the spirit and the courage neces- sary to make him a free man and a free citizen? If not, ne a at ail ot -h- a | rat yIs. the the In up the OW the et- ind om be an- and hey hey the om “eS- 10t, FEBRUARY, 1934 he is poorly qualified for the supreme task of training the boys and girls of his generation to create that com- monwealth of the future in which there shall be true freedom and justice and an abundant life for every man, woman, and child. Let us consider the condition of teaching where free- dom is wanting. Let us consider the conditions in the classroom where the teacher is plainly timid, plainly sub- servient to the powers that be. Let us consider the con- ditions in that school, of whatever rank, in which the teachers, by force of pressure from politicians and from the interests which politicians serve, are restrained from expressing their honest views, in the class-room and out, and from the free criticism of the institutions, the laws, and the rulers that at the time prevail in their country. What true education can be said to exist in that school? What encouragement can there be in that school to independent thinking, to courageous action, to the noble conduct of life? Effective teaching is based on mutual confidence as be- tween teacher and pupil. Each must have faith in the other—the teacher in the pupil, the pupil in the teacher. jut how can students, of any grade or age, have con- fidence in teachers whom they know to be political ap- pointees? In teachers whom they know to have obtained their positions by pull? In teachers whom they know to be servile-minded and lackay-souled, the yes-yes meni- als of political bosses? It is because of these fundamental principles, these incontestable propositions, that the American Federation of Teachers was organized, now seventeen years ago, and became affiliated at once with the American Fed- eration of Labor. Its principles and objects are iden- tical with the principles and objects of the mother or- ganization. The American Federation of Teachers seeks to win for the teacher the same protection and security and freedom and fair treatment that the A. F. of L. wins for the other worker. Protection, security, justice, fair remuneration, freedom, and happiness in his service to the State,—these are fundamental rights for every citizen. The whole argument leads directly and conclusively to the unionization of teachers. They cannot be free, any more than workers can be free, without unionization. They carinot make any gains in the way of improving their status and their wages, any more than workers can, without the power of collective bargaining and co- operative action. Their intelligence must compel them to these conclusions. The American Federation of Teachers, which came in- to being to accomplish this unionization, is based on principles to which every American citizen can give hearty assent. Its Preamble declares that: “We believe in democracy, and in the schools as the chief agency of democracy , “That the schools have failed of their fullest attain- ment because of undemocratic administration . . . , and that the teachers must find the remedy. “That servility breeds servility, and that if the schools are to produce free, unafraid men and women, American citizens of the highest type, the teachers must live and work in an atmosphere of freedom and self-respect.” Never in the history of this nation was there greater need for emphasis upon the objects and principles of this Federation. And the national situation as regards edu cation seems to be at its most distressing worst in this our State. Not since these mountain counties became a 15 State, seventy years ago, have the citizens of West Vir- ginia been confronted by a more serious general con- dition. Bankruptcy, not of finances only, not of busi- ness only, but manifestly, and primarily of brains. In- telligence has not been brought to the solution of the general problem, and least of all to the educational prob- lem. All the evils of these evil times have concentrated to destroy the public schools and colleges of the State: the calamity of the depression and the curse of partisan politics—these have cooperated to wreck and ruin the toilsome work of generations, and our free school sys- tem is such in name only—like our democracy. Colleges have been deprived in many instances of their best teachers, and hundreds of students have been un- wisely excluded from their rolls, and added to the army of the unemployed. This has been a serious loss to the State economicaly as well as otherwise. Teachers from the one-room schools to the colleges have been kept un- certain from month to month of job and pay, and they have been treated with that want of consideration cus- tomary among unskilled, unorganized wage workers. It is such a situation as this that we are called upon to remedy. This situation can be completely remedied and made permanently impossible of recurrence only by a strong teachers’ federation allied with the American Federation of Labor. Such a federation is the one I am here to represent, as State Organizer. I appeal to you Labor Federationists to lend us your support; to co- operate in your communities with teachers who desire to unionize; to protect them in their jobs and see to it that they are not threatened or molested when they enter upon this worthy and legitimate work. Be friends with us and aid us with good counsel and firm support, and the enlightened, unionized teacher will be the best possible friend of union labor and of all the worthy aspirations of workers. Our Present School Picture (Continued from page 7) tions under which teachers will work and conditions under which teachers will not work, and an organization able to fight effectively for free public schools. I advocate taking our schools out of the sweat-shop class of institutions, giving teachers decent living condi- tions, decent working conditions, and decent pay, and maintaining an educational program which will improve our cultural level, and equip boys and girls to face the most baffling and bewildering society any younger generation has had to face. For January-February, 1934 — Progressive Education Announces a special number on THE SOCIAL STUDIES Contributors: Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Norman Thomas, Boyd Bode, Granville Hicks, Sidney Hook, Merle Curti, Norman Woefel, Nucia Lodge, Lucy S. Mitchell, Paul Limbert, Ralph Borsodi, Laura Zirbes. Subscription rate — $3.00 a year The Progressive Education Association 716 Jackson Place Washington, D. C. 16 THE AMERICAN TEACHES A Century of Retrogression? John M. Brewer HE Chicago fair has received many commenda- . tions, even if some critics have asserted that the word progress remains undefined. But the critics of that city’s attitude towards its schools have left no doubt concerning their opinion. Thinking persons ask with amazement, when they learn the details of the recent economies, What can Chicago mean by such a gigantic backward step? How can a body called a Board of Education so boldly turn its back upon educa- tion, and propose to return to the bare bones of school- ing—a kind of schooling in vogue long before the begin ning of the century celebrated? Apply this policy to the exposition, and what would we have? Abolish electricity, and return to the “essen- tials’—candles and whale-oil lamps. Omit most of the buildings; they could not have been built a century ago. Rule out almost all exhibits of machinery, saving only a few steam engines. Finally, cut out all auto- mobile traffic to and from the fair; let us go back to what nature intended—the horse, or to the equipment of the railroad of 1833. In an age when it has been definitely discovered that the earliest years of child life are of supreme importance in forming the right habits and avoiding the bad, Chicago abolishes its kindergartens. At the moment when drives on crime are beginning to take effect, Chicago, one of the most crime-ridden cities of the world, proposes to discontinue its parental school, where the neglected or wayward might be deterred in their first contacts with unsocial experience, to cripple the compulsory education office, which checks up on truants, and to abolish industrial arts in elementary schools—the very studies which act as life-savers to active boys and to put in the place of these shop exercises more of the sitting-still and bookish subjects which already drive many boys to mischief. In an age when even civics teachers are becoming conscious of their failure to prepare children for good citizenship, Chicago abolishes its supervision of the social studies, supervision which might aid the teachers in making a frontal attack on the sources of crime and an effective drive for right ideals and activities for citizen ship. At a period when the importance of the problem of leisure is apparent to all thinking persons, when the morale and well-being of miltions of workers depend upon the right methods of recreation, Chicago sets up as the “economies” of its mayor and board of education the following cuts—physical education, swimming, ath- letic coaches, bands, orchestra and ‘manual training Supervision of music and art is also curtailed. Again, at a period when it is realized that the business recession itself was needlessly severe and prolonged because of our very ignorance of its causes and method of operation, when men and women are suffering from maladjustment in occupational life, it is proposed to abolish the department of vocational guidance, the activity concerned directly with enlightenment in all these matters. Moreover, the manual training upon which guidance is based, the work of the high-school deans and the continuation schools, which guide the first steps in the initial jobs, are likewise marked for destruc- tion. The world has troubles aplenty in the matter of homes, yet Chicago is abolishing its visiting teachers, concerned with adjustments in this important field, and discontinuing the household arts in all elementary schools, At a time when careful teaching is of greater moment than ever, Chicago proposes that classes be en- larged to the bursting point, and ordains that high-school teachers should have a minimum of seven periods per day. Supervision, by leaders capable of helping teachers to do their best, is crippled by the simple expedient of assigning to administrators twice as many teachers as they formerly had. Other items might be cited; but the story may all be climaxed by two further proposals: that the junior high school, the very institution first organized to enrich and guide the life of pupils, be abolished, and that the bureau of curriculum, for the study of what, after all, children shall be taught, be discontinued. It is true that Chicago has had serious financial difficulties, but these began several years ago, and there has been ample time to cure them, were there more effective truth in the city’s motto “I Will.” The problem now becomes a national one. Just as the Chicago gangs have overflowed upon other territory, so many of the pupils now to be denied an education will later flow into other cities and states. It is a pity that the organizations of teachers are not more militant in such an emergency, The National Edu- cation Association was urged to refrain from holding its annual convention in Chicago but went there when assured by the mayor that the clouds were lifting. The convention over, however, the economy program was announced. The answer of the teachers of America should be framed through the influence of the associa- tion in mobilizing public opinion everywhere, .and per- haps through legal action. The American Federation of Teachers diverted its convention to the neighboring city of Milwaukee. This organization, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, urges the setting up of citizens’ committees interested in the schools, and believes that labor support, historically responsible for the movement leading to the public school system, will be helpful to the teachers and the cause of education. The teachers unions in Chicago itself, however, have not effected united action. Something more is needed. Perhaps this something is the awakening of the pop- ulation of Chicago itself to the emergency and the dangers ahead, and the crushing and driving from politics of the forces arrayed against the schools. If the economy plans are not speedily corrected, it will be difficult indeed for the city to explain to future citizens what happened in 1933—a colorful fair on the lake front to celebrate progress, and a drab system of schooling unworthy of 1833 throughout the whole area of the city, to inaugurate, whether intended or not, a retrogressive period in its future history. From ScHooL AND Soctety, by permission. 01 eT ot ens ake ot rea FEBRUARY, 1934 Labor Leader Urges Unions for Teachers “The time is here now when teachers must take a stand, because the union is the only type of teachers‘ or- ganization that trains its members to deal with the forces of reaction that are bent on withdrawing economic sup- port from public education.” This was asserted by M. I. Thompson, president of the Utah State Federation of Labor, in answer to a declaration Monday by Miss Faye Read, National Edu- cation Association official, that “the time may come when school teachers will be organized into labor unions.” “There are some teachers who feel that their profes- sional dignity, their self-respect demands that they do not affiliate with labor unions,” Mr. Thompson said. Such teachers are mistaken. Their profession, while it may be noble in intent, has become ignoble in practice. Sees System Crumbling “Their dignity and self-respect are brushed aside daily by groups interested in promulgating their own doctrines through the schools. For standing up for their rights and for expressions of honest opinion, teachers are often discharged. Such teachers may continue to hold their so-called dignity and respect, but at the same time the educational system is crumbling around their feet. “Evidently Miss Read is a believer in the American Federation of Labor, but is fearful in telling the teach- ers that they should affiliate with it. Organized labor invites the teachers to join with it in its program for human betterment, of which its support of free public education is a part.” If teachers expect support from the American Fed- eration of Labor, said Mr. Thompson, they should be willing to share the burden and responsibility of carry- ing on this work. The Consumer Pays (From Consumers’ Research, by Permission) Roughly, the proportions of the selling price of au- tomobiles which go into production and sales are as f lows: 2/5 to the factory for making the car; 1/5 to the tire and accessories makers; 1/5 to the dealer; 1/5 to advertising. This gives an idea of how much might be saved the consumer if automobiles could be marketed on the same basis as navy beans or granu- lated sugar in bulk, where all the advertising and part of the dealers’ wastes (such, for example, as sitting around palatial showrooms, waiting for cus- tomers) could be squeezed out. Only about five per cent of the selling price is labor cost. If the employees of the factory worked without wages, it would in some cases call for no readjustment of the price of the car, distribution expenses being so large as practically to mask large changes in cost of production. Adjustment of all reparations and other war debts to the troubled situation of the world—and this ad- justment should take place without delay if new dis- asters are to be avoided—is the only lasting step cap- able of re-establishing confidence.—Basle Report. 17 Per Capita Cost of Public Education Drops 22 Per Cent How schools are cooperating in reducing costs of public education is disclosed in reports reaching the Office of Education, U. S, Department of the Interior. Of the 62.8 cents spent daily in 1930 on each child, 12.6 cents went into new buildings and equipment and other improvements. Only 50.2 cents went into current expense, that is, teachers’ salaries, books, coal, repairs, Ce. Of the 48.7 cents being spent each day this year, 4 cents go into buildings and improvements ; 44.7 cents into salaries, supplies and other current expense. Comparison of data for other years shows that the de- crease in 1933 is carrying per capita costs for public education to a level lower than any year since 1922. The average daily cost of educating a child in 1922 was 51.1; in 1920 it was 38.9 cents per child. The comparative figures do not disclose the full ex- tent of public education’s reduction in costs. The fig- ures do not take into consideration the increased propor- tion of high school pupils in the public school popula- tion. Since high school pupils cost about twice as much to educate as elementary school children, any change in the proportion has a profound effect on the expense of the school’s undertaking. In 1920, when the average per capita cost of public education was 38.9 cents, only 10 per cent of the school enrollments were high school pupils. In 1930 this pro- portion had risen to 17 per cent, and it is undoubtedly higher now—perhaps twice as high as it was in 1920. This means that while the per capita cost for 1933 (48.7 cents) is 10 cents more than for 1920 (38.9) part of this increase is due to the greater percentage of high school pupils in the schools. . COST IN CENTS PER DAY IN SCHOOL PER PUPIL IN AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE (For Public Elementary and Secondary Education) Estimate Item 1920 1930 1933 Ce GN onc dase keke cau 33.0 50.2 44.7 NO Ee eee eee 5.9 12.6 4.0 ., eee a KP oer 38.9 62.8 48.7 Frank Morrison Says Trade Unions organize within their ranks workers following the same trade or occupation. In these unions, workers have full opportunity for self-expression in dealing directly with questions which affect the immediate character of work in which they are engaged. These workers have the right of extending control over their trade or occupation throughout the country through the functioning of a national organization. This type of organization is a natural development out of the demand of the workers for the operation of methods which satisfy their needs and meet with their general approval. The members of trade unions are free to chart their course in whatever way appeals to them as promoting their best interests so long as there may be no encroach- ment upon the equal rights of other trades. They may join with members of other trades to act unitedly in a given situation, or they may amalgamate with other organizations as the wisdom of these acts may suggest. 18 THE AMERICAN TEACHER So This Is America! Herrin Township Teachers Get $25,000 Back Pay.— Teachers of Herrin township received $25,000 in back pay on Dec. 16. The Costs of Schooling.—Citizens of school district 107 in Highland Park, a wealthy north shore suburb of Chicago, were told that they must increase their taxes or curtail the school activities or salaries. The question went to a special election—should the district levy be increased from $1.50 on the hundred of as- sessed value to $1.80?—and 768 votes were against it, 551 for it. Child Labor Amendment Ratified by Minnesota.—The special session of the Minnesota Legislature ratified the child labor amendment to the Federal Constitu- tion, raising to seventeen the number of States which have approved it. Much credit for the action of the legislature is due to the militant program of organized labor to secure appoval of the proposal, which confers upon the Con- gress of the United States the power “to limit, regu late and prohibit the labor of persons under 18 years of age.” Free Lunches for Needy School Children Planned.— Dr. Frank W. Ballou, superintendent of schools, Washington, and Leroy A. Halbert, emergency relief director for the District of Columbia, announced a conference to consider means for providing lunches for school children whose parents are unable to care for them adequately. It is estimated that at least $25,000 will be required to provide proper food for the hungry children. To reduce the expense to the taxpayers the hope was expressed that much of the needed food products might be made available from the allotments to the District of surplus foods being distributed by the Federal Government. Fight Looms Over Pay for Teachers.—\\ ith Sparta, Wis., school teachers unpaid for November, and with Mayor John F. Nicol opposed to the transfer of gen- eral city funds to the depleted school fund, a fight appears imminent. The council voted, 5 to 3, a reso- lution ordering the transfer of money to the school fund, but Mayor Nicol, who insists on further cuts of teachers’ wages, has threatened to veto the resolu tion. Large Contracts for Schools.—At its meeting on De- cember 6, the Chicago Board of Education appropri- ated $244,367 for building contracts. $136,400 of this amount will fireproof the new Phillips High School. This is some $26,000 higher than a contract which was awarded to another company for the same work in 1931. $107,967 will be spent to reinforce the roofs in five or six elementary schools. Teacher Tenure Case in Indiana Courts.—Suit has been filed in Daviess circuit court by Miss Bernice El- more, of Elnora, Ind., seeking a mandamus against Trustee Wm. T. Summerville of Elmore Township to force him to re-employ her as a township teacher and to pay her for the entire school year following his failure to hire her this year. The suit is based on the teacher’s tenure law which provides a permanent contract after five years’ ser- vice, providing competency prevails Board Member Favors Seven Months School.—A member of the Chicago Board of Education made the statement recently that he favors a seven months school term, and that the Board is working on a bill to present to the state legislature to legalize this reduc- tion in the school term. Citizens should be alert to this new impending assault on public education. Union Wage Rates Won on Civil Works Jobs.— $3,000 to $5,000 Per Week Added to Pay Envelopes of District of Columbia Mechanics. After a ten days’ delay, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia decided that mechanics employed on civil works proj- ects here should be paid the union scale of wages which prevailed in the District on April 30, 1933. Commissioner George EI. Allen, who has supervision over the civil works program estimated that the pay increases would add between $3,000 and $5,000 per week to the mechanics’ pay envelopes. Age Limits in Tests for Teachers.—Age limits for teachers in both the elementary and high school ex- aminations in December have been fixed between 19 and 45 years, according to announcement of the Los Angeles Board of Education. Exceptions will be made, however, it was indicated in cases of applicants for high school positions when special qualifications will be held to offset an age older than the 45-year maximum. Schools Are NRA Orphans.-—Dr. \W. T. Foster, de- scribes education as “‘the forgotten cause of the NRA.” “In Chicago the city has forgotten to pay its teach- ers $16,000,000 but it could and did raise $16,000,000 to start a World’s Fair. The great state of Ohio cut expenditures for school construction 99 per cent but at the same time managed to raise the usual $41,000,- 000 a year for construction of hard-surfaced high- ways,” Dr. Foster asserted. In Grove City, Ohio, the speaker said, he found schools closed and the children turned out into the streets. “The silly films from Hollywood were run- ning as usual,” he added, “and there was no falling eff in sales of beer, cigarettes or cosmetics.” This is not because the citizens of Ohio care more for highways and beer than their children, he ob- served, but because of “‘a vicious and obsolete system of taxation.” “Some day the people will demand a national plan for financing a minimum of education. “They will demand a depression proof plan. They will insist that the education of youth shall not go up and down with the stock market.” “Some people think teachers are paid too much anyway,” Dr. Foster said, quoting President Roosevelt in a recent radio address to the effect that the quality of teaching in many states is low. Dr. Foster added that $7.70 per week is the average “wage of half the teachers in a number of states” and said that good teaching can hardly be expected for that amount. “The teachers are eager to do their part for the Blue Eagle,” he concluded, “but the Blue Eagle has not done his part for the teachers. The eagle while demanding shorter hours and more pay for most work ers has let the teachers go with longer hours and less pay.” —A the ths to to re »b- °-m ey up ch elt ity ge nd he as ile nd FeBpruaRy, 1934 Federal Aid Needed.—“Only substantial Federal aid in almost any form can meet the need of the hour,” Dean Russell emphasizes. “It is to be hoped that our national leaders will see its importance.” The threatened breakdown of the school system is the great “tragedy of the educational situation that will be found in our country in 1934,” the Dean de- clared. “The task confronting our schools is plainly far more important than ever before. Nevertheless in many sections we may have an educational break- down. “We are now in a period of recovery. The wheels of industry have started to turn. The confidence of the public has been restored; but it will be two years or more before the New Deal begins to reach the pupils and students in our schools and colleges, Next year promises to be far worse than last; and unless something drastic is done, education in the United States will be at a low ebb in 1934.” Nonresident Teachers.—The current attempt to create the impression that it is a horrible thing for a man or a woman to draw a salary for teaching in the Phila- delphia schools and at the same time live in the sub- urbs does not seem to have been very successful. When the issue was raised a few months ago some of the nonresident teachers began to arrange to follow the example of the political leaders by renting a room in town and designating it as their legal residence while continuing to live somewhere else. They rea- soned that if it were proper for the political leaders to maintain a voting residence here while they actu- ally lived outside of the county or even outside of the State it certainly would be proper for a school teacher. Incidentally, it may be noted that the superintendent of schools in Abington is not disturbed by the resi- dence in Philadelphia of thirty-six of the 165 teachers in the schools of the town. It is known that many teachers in other suburbs prefer to live in Philadelphia because their families and friends live here—Public Ledger. Well! Well! Not a Union.—That the name of the New York State Teachers’ Association name may be changed to the New York State Education Associa- tion, to prevent misconception on the part of the pub- lic as to the body’s function was indicated. The asso- ciation is not a “teachers’ union,” it was pointed out.— Rochester Times-Union. Listen !—Gilbert Seldes, New York newspaper cor- respondent, says: “only human stupidity stands be- tween America and Utopia by 1940.” “If by 1940 America has learned to look at things as they are, instead of giving them fancy names, it will have come close to the longed-for Utopia,” he said. “I don’t think,” he continued, “we have reached equal- ity of income yet, but that is not important. The im- portant thing is whether or not we all have enough.” Old Forge School Teachers’ Strike Brought to Close. —Old Forge teachers voted to end their strike which had been in progress six weeks. Under the terms of the agreement accepted by the teachers, they are to receive two months’ pay within a week and the school board is to make every effort to raise additional money with which to pay the re- mainder of approximately $120,000 due the instructors, The agreement prepared by the school board is practically the same as that drawn up by the teachers, but which the directors refused to sign. 19 From the U. S. Bureau of Education, \Washington.— Nearly 2,000 rural schools in 24 states failed to open this fall. So far no city public schools are re- ported closed, but many private and parochial schools are closing. Twenty-four Catholic schools have closed, affecting 3,000 children. About 1,500 commercial schools and colleges have closed, and 16 institutions ot higher learning. One out of every four cities has shortened its school term ; 715 rural schools will run less than three months. Terms in practically every great American city are one or two months shorter today than they were 70 or 100 years ago. For our whole country the year’s school term is 172 days: City, 184 days; rural, 162 days. How do we compare with European countries? France, 200 days; Sweden, 210 days; Germany, 246 days; Eng- land, 210 days; Denmark, 246 days. In Michigan 90 per cent of schools will shorten hours this year. In Nebraska, 15 per cent of schools will cut at least one month. In Missouri 100 high schools and 1,000 rural schools face early closing. In New Mexico, most schools will have shortened terms. One of every four American teachers receives less than $750 in salary a year. An unskilled factory worker laboring for a year at the minimum “blanket code” rate, would receive $728 a year. Two hundred and ten thousand rural teachers receive less than $750; 40,000 rural teachers will receive less than $450 this year. Of 700 typical cities studied, 67 reduced art instruc- tion, 36 eliminated it; 110 reduced the music program, 29 eliminated it; 81 reduced physical education work, 28 eliminated it; 65 reduced home economics, 19 elim- inated it; 58 reduced industrial art work, 24 elim- inated it; 89 reduced health service, 22 eliminated it. One-half the cities had to reduce one or more ser- vices ‘by which the schools have been helping future Americans to be healthier, to be better homemakers, more competent contributors to the life of their com- munities, and moré@ intelligent users of the new leis- ’” ure, Teachers Fight Contract.—A court fight over the public school teachers’ contracts approved by the board of education last Friday, may be undertaken by the Duluth Teachers’ Association, John Jenswold, attor- ney for the teachers, has announced. He declared he did not think the teachers would sign the contracts because they contain a provision that, if necessity arises, the board may cut the school year from thirty- eight to thirty-six weeks with a corresponding salary cut. E] Paso, Texas.—Vossibility of the dismissal of 11 city school teachers at the end of the present term in January was seen last night with the announcement to the school board by Superintendent A. H. Hughey that some 22 classes in city grammar schools “could” be consolidated. Teachers Face Cut in Pension.—Association Head Alleges State Is in Default on $4,000,000 Loan.— Frank G. Pickell, president of the New Jersey State Teachers’ Association, today announced he had been advised by actuaries of the State teachers’ pension fund that after January 2, 1934, no pensions can be paid to teachers out of State funds. The pensioned teachers, he explained, can thus receive only the an- nuities which their own contributions to the fund have provided. Education for De American Federation of Teachers Organized April 15, 1916 Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor 506 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, IIl. President Henry R. Lryvitte, New York Local 5; 70 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer Fiorence Curtis Hanson, Chicago Local 3; 506 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, III. THE AMERICAN TEACHER Official Organ Apvisory EpiTor1aL Boarp Lucie W. ALLEN RuTH GILLETTE HARDY Chicago Local 8 New York Local 6 Mary C. Barker Henry R. LINVILLE Atlanta Local 89 New York Local 56 Se_ma M. Borcuarpt A. D. SHEFFIELD Washington Local 8 Wellesley College Joun M.GraypreL CuHartes B. STILLMAN San Francisco Local 61 Chicago Local 2 FLorENcE Curtis HANSON Executive Editor Publisher H. G. Apatr Printinc Co. 107 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, III. on oe The Seven Sticks A man had seven sons, who were always quarreling. They left their studies and work, to quarrel among themselves. Some bad men were look- ing forward to the death of their father, to cheat them out of their property by making them quarrel about it. The good old man, one day, called his sons around him. He laid before them seven sticks, which were bofind together. He said, “I will pay a hun- dred dollars to the one who can break this bundle.” Each one strained every nerve to break the bundle. After a long but vain trial, they all said that it could not be done. “And yet, my boys,” said the father, “nothing is easier to do.” He then untied the bundle, and broke the sticks, one by one, with perfect ease. “Ah!” said his sons, “it is easy enough to do it so; and anybody could do it in that way.” Their father replied, “As it is with these sticks, so it is with you, my sons. So long as you hold fast to- gether and aid each other, you will prosper, and none can injure you. “But if the bond of union be broken, it will happen to you just as it has to these sticks, which lie here broken on the ground.” Home, city, country, all are prosper- ous found. When by the powerful link of union bound. McGuffy’s Third Reader. What Are Teachers? How to classify that enigmatic in- dividual who spends his life directing to some extent at least the education process through which all children must go, has often proved a problem to those not engaged in the occupa- tion. Unfortunately teachers are often set apart in the public mind from the common run of humanity than any other group with the pos- sible exception of the clergy. Un- fortunately, for there never was a group that should enter as actively into all social activities as the teach- ers. Teachers too often in public mind should be removed from all active participation in political, economic, or social movements. They should be, outside the schoolroom as well as within, impartial, opinionless, sexless robots. Then the public isn’t always clear on the economic status of the teacher Is he a laborer? Or a professional worker? He is rarely mistaken for that flower of modern civilization, a business man. Or is he something different from all these? To show that his classification is a real problem consider the question confronting the governmental agen- cies engaged in relief and work pro- grams. The N. R. A. dodged the issue al- together. Teachers were not con- sidered as laborers for no code was made for them. Education was not an important business hike banking or railroading for no money was given it. Finally, however, when it came to direct relief, teachers had to be con- more sidered. Physically they are like other people. They get hungry. But how much relief? Does a teacher need as much as a common laborer who gets 40 to 50 cents per hour for made relief work? Or as much as a skilled worker who gets from $1.00 to $1.20 per hour? Of course not as much as a railroad pres- ident whose railroad must be given millions that he may continue to re- ceive, if not earn, his $61,000 salary for making and keeping his corpora- tion insolvent. The difficulty in classifying teach- ers is no where so apparent as in the offices of relief agencies. In Illinois, he must be an unskilled worker as he is to receive 50 cents per hour for his services in working at his THE AMERICAN TEACHEK mocracy occupation. In one city, -he is paid $1.90 per hour, the going wage for teachers in that community. He must be considered as a _ skilled laborer there. In Chicago he is to receive 83 cents per hour, an evidence that he is something different even from the in- tentions of the Civil Works Admin- istration. The public can not be blamed for failing to classify the teachers. They can’t do it themselves. As a group they are certainly not class conscious, If they don’t know where they be- long, why should any one else be ex- pected to know? It is, however, time they were find- ing out. The average public works administration is classifying them somewhere near the common labor level. Many school districts are classifying them, economically, far below that level. : The members of the American Fed- eration of Teachers believe they know how to classify themselves. Economically, they are _ laborers, skilled laborers’ with intelligence enough to organize themselves and affliate with all other laborers for their economic protection. Politically, they believe themselves to be citizens with full citizenship rights including the right to advocate and support measures and officials to the same extent as any other citizens. Socially, they claim equality with any group, asking for no special privi- leges and refusing to be given special handicaps. If the bulk of the teachers of America were members of this or- ganization, it would simplify the problem of the public in deciding what teachers are. How Many Unemployed Teachers? A widely circulated report gives on the basis of returns from nine states an estimate of approximately 80,000 teachers unemployed. We can but wonder which nine states were selected. As another esti- mate we give the figures at nearer 300,000. Michigan reports 12,000 unem- ployed teachers and 3,000 other cer- tificated teachers unable to find places. Massachusetts has 8,000 _ teachers without jobs. Alabama, Arkansas, and several other states have a larger proportion of schools closed than have Massachusetts and Michigan. ’ ‘ y aid for lust rer » 83 e is in- nin- for hey ( yup us. be- ex- ind- orks rem bor are lar ‘ed- 10W ers, nce and for lves ship cate s to ens. vith rivi- cial of or- the ling s on ates ,000 nine esti- arer 1em- cer- aces. hers 1sas, rger than FEBRUARY, 1934 Democracy The populations of these two states is in round numbers four million each. The United States has a total population of about 120 million or 15 times that of Massachusetts and Michigan together. If the teacher unemployment throughout the country is in the same proportion as in these two states, and we know it to be, in a much larger proportion in many states, there are 335,000 unemployed teachers in the United States. A National Defense “Teacher organizations have a pro- tective as well as a professional func- tion. Nationwide attacks are being made upon the schools. Only a na- tional defense can cope with them.” We find the above quotation in a teachers’ magazine. It is a statement with which we completely agree. It is a statement which we have re- peatedly made. In fact we began say- ing this very thing on April 15, 1916, the day the American Federation of Teachers was organized. We believed then and we believe now that education is a national prob- lem, that the schools are the teach- ers’ business and they should be about their business, that for the protection of the schools against subversive con- trol by special interests, and of the teachers in their economic and social status, a national organization is needed. For these reasons the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers was cre- ated and is continuing in increasing power. We recognized seventeen years ago that the schools were the subject of attacks. We participated in the strug- gles for kindergartens for enrichment of the curriculum through music, art, vocational education, commercial courses, for free text books, for con- tinuation schools, for compulsory edu- cation laws, for fairer salaries for teachers, for tenure for teachers, for better teaching conditions, for health inspection and training, for smaller classes, for sanitary buildings, for vocational guidance, etc., etc., and we learned that the schools had enemies and we learned who these enemies were. We came to know that the very same _ self-seeking, profit-con- cerned groups which are attacking public education today were attack- ing it always. We learned, also, that the schools had friends and that in combatting counted on—Organized Labor. We learned that “only by the union of all those who work, whether with the head or with the hand” can public education be safeguarded. And so we set up the American Federation of Teachers, affliated with the American Federation of Labor, as a national defense to protect the pub- lic schools and to build a better social order which would make that protec- tion possible and our gains permanent. Have you supported those efforts? If you believe the quotation with which we open, your place is in the American Federation of Teachers. Schools and the Blue Eagle While the NRA was ushered into existence the news was broadcast that teachers and other employes of the schools throughout the country were having their pay reduced. Of course it could hardly be ex- pected that daily newspapers would make public that this is the culmina- tion of the policy of the taxpayers’ associations and associated industries to beat down living conditions even if it result in abolishing the free pub- lic schools, Ever since the depression started these organizations have insisted that there should be no money appropri- ated to afford employment for the un- employed, but that they should be put into breadlines because that was claimed to be the cheapest way out. This has resulted in inability of many to pay taxes and has cut down the income of the schools. Through the policies of these organizations, at the time the schools should be func- tioning the best, they are to be severe- ly crippled. At a time when other employers are being urged to increase wages and number of employes and_ shorten hours, the school administrations, pre- sumed to be model employers, reduced wages in some instances 50 per cent. If there is any place that emergency funds of the government should be used, it is to see that the schools are kept operating properly. The public schools should have the protection of the NRA eagle and receive aid from federal funds to continue properly their operations. Meanwhile, in this crisis, teachers and other school employes should or- in Education these enemies, there was one friend of education that could always be ganize solidly in order that they may be most effective, not only in their own behalf, but in behalf of the com- munity in aiding in obtaining funds for schools and for wages that can best be obtained through strong or- ganization with the American Federa- tion of Teachers, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, The organized labor movement is sponsoring national legislation to put schools under the Blue Eagle. —Utah Labor News. William H. Holly William H. Holly, attorney for the American Federation of Teachers, has been appointed to a United States district judgeship in Chicago. Admirers of President Roosevelt and well-wishers of the New Deal are rejoiced at this appointment, which indicates again the firm intention of the President to follow through his announced plan. Mr. Holly was a former law part- ner of Clarence Darrow until! the lat- ter’s retirement from active practice and a one-time member of the state’s attorney’s office in which position he once prosecuted William Lorimer. He was also counsel for Chicago in street railway cases. Mr. Holly has served as attorney for the Public Ownership League of America, Women’s National Trade Union League, and City Club of Chi- cago, and has represented the Illinois State Federation of Labor before the committees of the State legislature. He was the choice of Organized La- bor for this position. To those working for a better so- cial order the appointment of Judge Holly is indeed heartening. He is all that a judge should be. He is liberal, tolerant, fair, generous. His life is an exposition of the principle of the square deal. We congratulate Judge Holly, but we congratulate more the judicial system and the people of the United States to whom a new hope is born through such an appointment to the federal bench. The National Advisory Committee on Illiteracy estimates that there are over 4,000,000 persons in the United States who can neither read nor write, To make the nation “illiteracy con- scious” forty-four state branches are cooperating in the work. a) =o Assy i > tye ae ap 4 oo gee ee 2 Rsk TE wT Ae ~ pag Ng Bp 22 The Relationship of Poverty and Education Resume of a Study In response to a request of the American Federation of Teachers about two months ago, Dr. Charles A. Neal, Superintendent of the Ham- ilton County Home and Chronic Dis- ease Hospital at Cincinnati, Ohio, made a study of the 1933 inmates to determine the efficacy of education as a preventive of poverty. The data was secured from Case Histories and by personal interviews. Six tables are given: (1) Nativity and physical condition ; (2) Age at admission; (3) Education; (4) Occupational classification ; (5) Marital and financial status; (6) Three other tabulations — (a) Religious, (b) Rural and Ur- ban, (c) Families. Dr. Neal says, “The tables seem to indicate that the average inmate of the institution is an unattached individual, born in the United States, of the laboring group, past fifty years of age, who can just read and write, and who is destitute and suffering from some chronic disease.” The table on education indicates that out of 1953 inmates, 21 are feeble-minded; 29 can not read and write; 1430 can just read and write; 116 have gone through the primary grades; 247, intermediate grades; 90, high school; 20, college. Some statements made by Dr. Neal are: “The fact that such a high number of inmates were employed in’ the laboring group again seemingly indicates that there is an apparent relationship between educa- tion and the ability to hold the better posi- tions as a means of livelihood.” “It is apparently obvious that a very high percentage of the inmates were past the age when they could readily support themselves by common labor and that they were handicapped by physical disabilities.” “It is obviously true that even the well educated person would be unable to sup- port himself, or accumulate any savings, if he were disabled at an early age.” “An effort will be made to break down the educational table with that of occupa- tion, disability and financial status, as well as to contrast the 110 inmates that received a high school or college education with the 140 of the occupational group that were engaged in other than actual labor. It is hoped that this may develop some statistics that can be correlated and show some def- inite relationship between education and poverty.” “There exists a_ relationship education and poverty.” The American’ Federation of Teachers appreciates the scholarly work done by Dr. Charles A. Neal, between and the fine spirit that prompted him to undertake so great a task. His work will be used as a pattern for securing further data from Homes of the Aged and Poor, in an effort to determine how efficient education is in preventing poverty. Grover C. RAMSEY. Hitler’s Antilabor Terrorism in Action Washington.—The extreme bru- tality, ending in murder, which characterizes Chancellor Hitler’s Nazi war against prominent persons in the German labor movement is strikingly shown by the victimiza- tion of Philip Scheidemann and his family. A picture of this victimization was given to the 1933 convention of the American Federation of Labor by Miss Selma M. Borchardt, a delegate of the American Federation of Teach- ers, who favored the boycott of Ger- man goods and services as a protest against Hitler’s wanton destruction of the German labor movement and his equally wanton persecution of trade union leaders. Miss Borchardt, who had recently returned from a visit to Germany said: “The crime of Philip Scheidemann was not even the crime of birth, be- cause he was born a Christian. But he had sinned; he had tried to keep Germany a Republic. He it was who helped to establish the Republic of Germany. His sin was that he be- lieved in the form of government to which you and I subscribe, and he thought that if he ran away his wife and children would be safer. “When he went away they got his family. They drowned his son, they took his daughter and broke every major bone in her body, and they caught her husband. They did all this because Philip Scheidemann believed in the republican form of government and said so. “1 did not hear of the ‘crime’ of Philip Scheidemann and the punish- ment meted out to him from an enemy of Germany. I got it from a repre- sentative of the Hitler government seated in a compartment with me go- ing into Spain. He boasted of it. ilies He said: ‘Take the case of Philip Scheidemann. He thought he had gotten away, but he had not. We got his family, and they know now what discipline means.” Then with pride in his new culture he told me that the Nazis had certainly finished the Scheidemann family.” THE AMERICAN TEACHER The unparalleled treatment, not stopping at torture and murder, which Hitler and his Nazi brutes meted out to Scheidemann and his~-family has been duplicated in innumerable in- stances against other labor leaders. It was this record of brutality and persecution which led the 1933 con- vention of the American Federation of Labor unanimously to declare a boycott of German goods and services until the German workers are freed from the despotism under which they now live and are given the right to reorganize their independent trade union movement. School Crisis More Severe in United States Than in Foreign Nations The depression appears to have affected education in the United States more than it has the schools of approximately 40 foreign countries, according to reports received in the Federal Office of Education by Dr. James F. Abel, chief of the foreign school systems division. The reports, from 15 Latin-Amer- ican countries, 14 European, 3 Asiatic, and 3 African countries, Newfound- land, the 9 provinces of Canada, New Zealand and the 6 States of Australia. answered a U. S. Office of Education inquiry as to the effect of the depres- sion on school expenditures during the past five years, the general effect of the present crisis on education in comparison with the effect on other national activities, number of schools, size of classes, number of teachers, attendance on all levels of instruction, erection of new buildings or recondi- tioning of old ones. Canada “Provinces of Canada are quite generally withholding school building programs and in some cases reducing salaries,” the Federal Office of Edu- cation reveals, “but school attendance is increasing and educational expan- sion has been slowed down, not halted. -ducation, less than other govern- mental activities, is suffering from budget retrenchments.’”’ No_ schools have been closed in the Province of Ontario; attendance has_ increased and new buildings have been erected or old buildings improved, where con; ditions demanded such action. Mexico The National Government of Mex- ico, providing about two-thirds of all the money spent for education in that a a— os > se ar TER not hich out has in- Ss. and Con- tion ea ‘ices reed they t to rade lave ited ools ries, the Dr. elgn ner- atic, ind- New alia, tion res- ring fect 1 in ther ols, ers, ion, ndi- uite ling cing du- ince an- ted. ern- rom ools » of ised cted >on- lex- all that Fepruary, 1934 country, “seems determined to carry on its educational renaissance despite the depression,” according to Doctor Abel. The American consulate re- ports that “school expenditures from the national treasury have steadily in- creased since 1927.”’ Other branches of governmental activity have suf- fered more than education. Argentina-Panama The 1933 budget for the National Board of Education of Argentina compares favorably with those for 1931 and 1932. Panama, however, has increased the number of pupils per teacher, but also increased the number of teachers to care for a larger school attendance. A consider- able sum has been spent in construct- ing modern school buildings and in repairing those in bad condition. “No special changes of importance have come in the educational situation in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Haiti,” Dr. Abel indicates, In Peru, El Salvador and Honduras the schools have suffered. Brazil’s revolution, Nicaragua’s civil war and eathquake, and political disturbances in Cuba, more than the economic depression, have interrupted educational prog- ress. Albania-Italy “There is no period of depression in Albania” comes the cheerful state- ment. Italy is carrying on its expand- ing financial program, and education is receiving its share of the expendi- ture since it is the policy of the Gov- ernment to reduce illiteracy. The number of students, teachers and school buildings, has increased in Italy in the last few years. Irish Free State The Irish Free State declares, “So far, education expenditure remains unaffected. The present national pol- icy is one of economic self-develop- ment and of improved social services, Judget increases under these heads are offset by economies in other direc- tions and by increased taxation. Education is at present seeing the fullfllment of a big reform program begun by the Irish Government in 1922 and now nearing completion.’ Small Urgo-Finnish countries of northwestern Europe, the Office of Education foreign school systems division has learned, are all reducing their budgets. Funds for education in Esthonia are yearly an increasingly higher per cent of the total expendi- tures, however. The decrease for schools is not unproportional in Latvia. Lithuania allots 14 per cent of its budget to education, and ex- pects nothing more than temporary curtailment of its school expansion program. Education and social ser- vices have suffered unduly in Finland. Schools of Poland have been able to care for increasing attendance in face of lessened national appropria- tions. The situation in Spain is com- plicated by the establishment of the Republic and the closing of large numbers of private sectarian schools. England The depression caught England in the midst of an educational reorgan- ization along the lines proposed in the Hiaadow Report. Teachers’ salaries were reduced 10 per cent and other reductions were compelled, but a re- cent review of the year 1932 shows that the education and school health services have held up well. Higher fees are proposed for secondary schools. France France, to the contrary, is planning to make all secondary schooling free of tuition, and even in Morocco is holding education appropriations at the level they have reached by steady increases in the past five years. Coincident with the termination of the era of prosperity, Japan com- pleted a_ school-building program. Partly due to this, national appropria- tions for education have decreased. For the Government schools of Palestine, progress in all directions has been seriously checked, especially buildings and equipment, while schools of the Jewish agency have suffered greatly. School building has about stopped and teachers’ salaries have been re- duced in Australia. E xpenditures for education and social services were cut in New Zealand, but building and maintenance charges have been kept to a minimum and all public schools are in operation. Very few private schools have been closed in this country. The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom has a travel- ing exhibit of about two hundred chil- dren’s books covering the ages from pre-school through the junior high school. The exhibit will be loaned for one month for the cost of trans- portation only. Further information may be obtained from Women’s In ternational League for Peace and Freedom, 1924 Chestnut Street, Phila- delphia. 23 Newspapers Use Carriers to Win Public Support for Evidence that newspapers are at- tempting to deluge NRA officials with ‘canned” protests against the Child Labor Amendment to the Constitu- tion and barring of child workers by NRA codes has been received from Louisville, Ky., by the International Typographical Union. A copy of a letter distributed by newsboys of the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times shows that efforts are being made to line up newspaper subscribers against prohibition of child labor. The letter, addressed to “Dear Subscriber,” sets forth that the signer is a carrier and recites the al- leged benefits of working for the Courier-Journal and Times. It con- tinues : “Reformers are attempting to prohibit through the National Recovery Act and through a proposed amendment to the Con- stitution of the United States boys under 18 years of age from being gainfully em- ployed. : “As the carrier boy on your route, I want to ask you to write a note in my behalf and address it to Gen. Hugh 5S. Johnson, Recovery Administrator, Wash- ington, D. C. I am giving you the paper herewith, and I will call for the letter and see that it is properly mailed for you, I hope that you will say that you do not consider this work harmful for boys and that you believe the training we get is highly beneficial. I will greatly appreciate your doing this for me because I want to continue serving you as your carrier boy.” The activities of the Louisville pa- pers are in line with the pronounced opposition to the Child Labor Amend- ment of the American Newspaper Publishers’ Association. At the re- cent A. F. of L. convention in Wash- ington, W. R. Trotter, delegate from the International Typographical Un- ion, described such opposition as “in- sidious” and “sinister,” and pointed out that editorial and news columns would be utilized to push the propa- ganda against the amendment, Teachers will be wondering why they do not have in their classes boys who can write letters of such perfect form and English. They may not know who wrote the letter, but they know who did not. The International Bureau of Edu- cation has prepared a new edition of its catalogue, “Children’s Books and International Goodwill.” Book lists of 37 countries are included. In- formation may be secured from Mlle. Blanche Weber, Section of Children’s Literature, International Bureau of Education, Geneva, Switzerland. 4 >| | 4 1 24 | BOOKS “There is no frigate like a book To bear us lands away.” —Emily Dickinson. a A List of Books for Teachers’ Winter Reading The teacher is preoccupied with a hundred and one problems daily. The school duties consume a good part of her (or his) time, and with the end of the “working day,” her school du- ties are by no means at an end. There are pupils to be reprimanded after school hours, parents to be seen con- cerning their children’s conduct and problems, conferences to be held with principals or assistant-principals—all of which keep the teacher from one to two hours daily, on the average, in the school building after her “regu- lar” school hours, And once out of the school building, the school teach- er’s duties are not over. There are outlines to be prepared for the next day’s class room work, papers to be corrected, reference works checked up, her storehouse of knowledge re- vamped—all of which require a little extra energy and time. And, above all, the intelligent teacher always feels the “urge” to broaden her mind, to extend her horizon of intellectual in- terests, and enrich her knowledge— and this requires the reading and studying of good books. But, as we could readily see from the foregoing list of a teacher’s duties, she has little leisure time left for reading and what is left is extremely precious and should be utilized to the best advan- tage. In consideration of the teach- er’s heavy burden and multiple du- ties, I have prepared a list of worthy books which will answer the range of interests of those teachers whose mental grasp is not circumscribed by class room walls but extends beyond. This list will save a good deal of the busy teacher’s time and the reading of many a worthless book. Of foremost importance to the teacher who is a member of the great American Federation of Teachers is, of course, The Labor Movement—its origin, development, and present stat- us. Being a fighter in the cause for the liberation of the working class from the yoke of industrial exploita- tion, she naturally wants to have a fair background of the spiritual, ideo- logical, and organizational ramifica- tions of the world-wide labor move- mént. As a champion of the Ameri- can trade union movement, she is, of course, next interested in the labor history and labor problems as they have unfolded on the American scene. And as a member of a specific school of the American labor movement, she is next interested in works shedding light on the origin, progress, and present status of her group of or- ganized labor, namely, THe Ame_ert- CAN FEDERATION OF LaBOr. Happily we are able to list here a number of books which are both classics in their respective fields and inexpensive at that. * * * History oF Sociatist THOUGHT. Harry W. Laidler. Thomas Y. Crowell Company (393 Fourth Ave.) New York, N. Y. 714 pp. $3.50. A remarkable piece of work. A ver- itable encyclopedia of social thought. Dr, Laidler presents a lucid outline of all the libertarian and humanitarian ideals and movements, beginning with the republicanism of Plato and end- ing with the apostles of modern com- munism and German Nazism. Dr. Laidler devotes a good deal of space to the Italian, French, and German schools of Utopian socialism, which have fired the imagination of the youth of the world during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Utopian social- ism has evolved into scientific social- ism, under the master minds of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A few comprehensive chapters are devoted to the rapid and world-wide expansion of Marxian socialism, to the various national socialist parties, and to the diverse schools branching out from orthodox Marxian socialism, such as German revisionism of Eduard Bern- stein, English fabianism of George sernard Shaw and H. G. Wells, guild socialism—also of English origin, syn- dicalism, and finally communism. A few interesting and informative chap- ters are devoted to the spectacular rise of Sovietism—a brand of Marxian so- cialism, or communism—in Russia, and of its fifteen-year develop- ment over one-sixth of the _ habit- able globe. A number of chapters are devoted to the recent political and governmental successes of the social- ist parties in various countries, to the decline of socialism in Germany, and to the present status of the socialist movement the world over. A chapter deals with the personalities and the schools of the socialist movement in the United States and of its effects and influence in the trade union move- ment. The book has also several chapters of excellent biographies of THE AMERICAN TEACHER the immortals in the movement for human liberty and happiness, with re- markable reproductions of portraits from real life. The book ends with several chapters on the non-Marxian schools of socialism, still claiming millions of adherents throughout the world, such as Christian socialism, state socialism, Bismarckian social- ism—the forerunner of the national socialism of the Nazis, and others. Verily, the book contains a mine of information—it is, as its sub-title says, “Socialism Through the Ages.” x * x LABOR AND INTERNATIONALISM. Lew- is L. Lorwin. The Brookings In- stitution, Washington, D. C. 682 pp. $2.50. What Dr. Laidler’s book does for “Socialism Through the Ages,” Dr. Lorwin does for socialism, commun- ism, and trade unionism of the pres- ent age—beginning with the latter half of the 19th century to the pres- ent times. They are really excellent companion volumes, though written entirely independently and on differ- ent occasions. Dr, Lorwin limits his book to an analysis of the modern labor and socialist movements, de- scribing in full detail their ideolog- ical and organizational development, their personalities and leaders, their various schools and schismatic ten- dencies. A good part of the book is devoted to the division of forces that had been taking place within the so- cialist movement of the world prior to the outbreak of the World War, the same coming to a head with the failure of the opportunist socialists— the legal social democrats—to prevent the World War. From the group of international socialists, formed during the first years of the war, evolved the communists, who were responsible for numerous revolutions in Euro- pean countries and who succeeded in gaining control of Russia. A few brilliant chapters are devoted to the recent development or change of front of the communist theoreticians in Russia and of the Third International, leading to the expulsion of Trotsky from Russia and to the organization of an opposition communist move- ment throughout the world. Of spe- cial interest to American trade union- ists are Dr. Lorwin’s chapters on the European schools of the trade union movement, particularly those dealing with the largest school as represented by the International Federation of Trade Unions, for many years known as the Amsterdam International. This =F 3 Gf & AA Ue hee Le a eS i —= © —_— FEBRUARY, 1934 International claimed the membership of the American Federation of Labor for some time before and after the War, but becoming too militant in the period of “sturm and drang”’ after the War, it became too “hot” for the moderate and opportunist Samuel Gompers. None the less, the Ameri- can labor movement left its imprints on the European labor movement. The First of May holiday so widely celebrated all over Europe, particu- larly in communist Russia, had its origin in the United States and the International Labor Office of the League of Nations owes much to the efforts and influence of our Samuel Gompers. Dr. Lorwin’s book is in- dispensable to the student of the mod- ern labor movement and no labor li- brary is complete without it. : 2 *@ Lasok PropteMs. Gordon S. Wat- kins. T. Y. Crowell Company, N. Y. 726 pp. $3.50. A simple and yet exhaustive pres- entation of the subject. It really furnishes a solid foundation to a stu- dent who wishes to learn the position of the labor movement and the prob- lems of labor in the American scheme of things. In a most thrilling man- ner Professor Watkins unfolds to us the panorama of the rise of modern industrialism, culminating in the Jn- dustrial Revolution of the Last Dec- ades of the Nineteenth Century. This is followed by several illuminating chapters revealing the problems that harass the American worker: unem- ployment, technological progress, child labor, immigration, the competi- tion of women in industry, periodic strikes, and court opposition in the form of injunctions, intimidations, etc. A number of chapters are de- voted to the reaction of the worker to these problems: his struggles for better conditions of living, his band- ing with his co-workers into unions, his ideological progress, his aversion to radical and socialistic theories, and his adoption of forms of political and industrial organization that harmonize with American traditions and Ameri- can industrial conditions. A few chapters are also devoted to the in- ternational problems as_ affecting American labor. In short, Professor Watkins offers us in his study a wonderful textbook for labor colleges, lecture rooms, and study groups, in- cluding regular colleges and univer- sities, and the reviewer only wishes that Professor Watkins would find the time to revise it and bring it up to date. Unfortunately, his book does not include the depression years, and we all know how important these years are to the labor movement. *x* * x Tue Lapor PropLeM IN THE UNITED States. E. E. Cummins, Ph.D. D. Van Nostrand Company, 250 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 858 pp. A monumental piece of work, en- cyclopedic in scope. It covers prac- tically the same field as Professor Watkins’ work, but, fortunately, it includes a study of the labor prob- lems arising during the years of the depression. In Professor Cummins we find an impartial student of the grave issues that now confront the worker deprived of employment and the very sources of life. He is in full sympathy with the victims of the greatest scourge in human history and recommends unemployment re- lief and unemployment prevention measures as the vital needs of the hour. “Some kind of insurance seems inevitable,” he says, “as a method of caring for the unemployed.” In one of the chapters he predicted that the American Federation of Labor will be obliged to depart from its tradi- tional policy of opposing state inter- vention in industrial affairs and de- mand state insurance. His work was published the early part of 1932, and in the fall of the same year the Amer- ican Federation of Labor in conven- tion assembled announced its historic demand for state unemployment in- surance, thus effecting a reversal of the principles of individualism of its founder, Samuel Gompers. Profes- sor Watkins’ work and Professor Cummins’ are splendid companion vol- umes and both of them could be read with great benefit. x * * THe AMERICAN FEDERATION OF La- Bor. Policies and Prospects. Lew- is L. Lorwin. The Brookings In- stitution, Washington, D. C. 574 pp. $2.75. The best and most comprehensive volume on the origin, development, and present status of the greatest and most influential trade union body in the American labor movement: the A. F. of L. and all its affiliated unions. It is a book every worker in the labor, movement has been waiting for for many years, and it brings up data to the very last minute. Dr. Lorwin ably analyzes the traditions of the A. F. of L.: its ideological principles, its tactical maneuvers, and its organ- He graphically thorny izational structure. describes the tortuous and ~ 4 road which American labor has been traversing: its struggles for legis- lative, industrial, and human rights; its victories and defeats upon the po- litical and economic fields, Dr. Lor- win reviews the important role Amer- ican labor played in the Wilson Ad- ministration; its heroic contributions to the early victory of American arms in the World War, and he speaks with deep feeling of the “raw deal” or- ganized labor received in the after- math of the War. The reaction which set in close upon the heels of the war threatened not only to nullify all the gains labor attained in recent years but to engulf the entire labor move- ment. Dr. Lorwin reviews the major legislation of benefit to labor passed by several Democratic Houses during the Wilson and Hoover Administra- tions. Of special interest is his analy- sis of the current problems confront- ing the American worker: unemploy- ment, economic instability, low wages, etc., and of the methods and policies adopted by the A. F. of L. and of the measures it has recommended in grap- pling with them, He leaves no doubt in anyone’s mind that in recommend- ing such measures as unemployment insurance, state intervention in indus- trial affairs, state regulation of hours and wages, economic planning, and similar legislation, the A. F. of L. has radically departed from its tradi- tional principles, A good part of Dr. Lorwin’s book is devoted to the description of some important individual affiliated bodies of the A. F. of L. and to a clear summation of the strength and in- fluence of the entire movement. MIcHAEL B. SCHELER. Tue New LetsurE CHALLENGES THE Scuoots. Based on a study made for the National Recreation Asso- ciation by Eugene T. Lies. At the present time it has been estimated that there are 5,000 schools completely closed in America, and that 25% of all American teachers are unemployed. The unemployment fig- ures for the country at large are still well over the twelve million mark. Inflation is taking place under our very eyes, and several responsible au- thorities have declared that we will face, this coming winter, more hard- ship and misery than has been known in the last four years. The National Recreation Associa- tion, under the auspices and publish- ing of the National Education Asso- ciation, chooses, however, to ignore these facts and blithely goes about 26 making this study of the proper use of leisure time. It is true that in the introduction of the report, it is stated that “We are, however, for the mo- ment looking more at the situation as we see it when the wheels of industry are running along pretty evenly,” and yet it is difficult to understand such deliberate overlooking of the present situation. Do not these bodies know that Mr. Green, himself, has said that were the industry of the country to go back to the peak 1929 level tomorrow, that there would still remain over five mil- lion men who could never find work, that these jobs have been completely wiped out? Are these bodies unaware of the fact that even in the boom peri: od there was a constant body of un- employed amounting to over two million ? The assumption of this report, of course, is that if the schools can only train the young in proper recreational and moral uses of leisure, juvenile and adult delinquency will decrease, and the social virtues, civic pride, and all the rest of it, will increase in pro- portion. Now no one wants to quar- rel with that assumption. And yet one cannot help compare such efforts as this with the program advocated by the American Federation of Teachers, The National Recreation Associa- tion, with its ally the National Educa- tion Association, has nothing to say about overcrowded slum _ districts where the physical means of recrea- tional use of leisure simply do not ex- ist, nothing to say about teaching loads and breakdown of teacher mor- ale which makes proper supervision impossible, nothing to say about local political situations which offer the corner pool-room and its allied pleas- ure spots to the youth. In fact, one is forced to assume that the NEA in this, as in other instances, is not at all concerned with the basic facts as they exist, but rather expects to build a fine structure on a rotten founda- tion. The American Federation of Teach- ers, on the other hand, through its rank and file of class-room teachers, does recognize the basic facts respons- ible for so much reprehensible use of leisure time, does offer a program whereby these basic facts can be con- trolled, and does offer a means where- by the physical needs of proper rec- reational use of leisure may be ob- tained. One other word. A study of the schools and systems studied by the makers of this report from which they draw their conclus:ons as to what should be done, shows that they are in general schools and systems sub- sidized and used by the higher eco- nomic levels of the population. And even in these cases the leisure time uses suggested are just that—-ways of spending leisure time with nothing really functional about them. As to how, to say nothing of why, the most of the people surfeited with leisure, children and adults as well, are going to get interested in giving plays, draw- ing pictures, indulging in handcrafts, playing handball, participating in lo- cal and civil affairs, and all the rest of it, | confess I found no answer in the report. The whole thing reminds one a little bit of the dictum of a certain great French lady, “Let them eat cake.” BERTRAM ENOs. EDUCATIONAL FRONTIER, Cen- tury Co. $2.50. This book results from the laboration of such well known educa- tional experts and philosophers as William H. Kilpatrick, Boyd H. Bode, John Dewey, John L. Childs, H. Gordon Hullfish, R. B. Raup and V. T. Thayer who are connected chiefly with Columbia and Ohio State University. The authors indicate the confusion of present day education and indict the vice of compartmen- talism. New subjects were just tacked on to the curriculum already be- wildering in its variety: “In the days of our prosperity this de- vice of compartmentalism was like the answer to a maiden’s prayer. The Amer- ican people, on the whole, were too well satisfied with their institutions and with themselves to find any serious fault. Hence compartmentalization was syited admirably to the circumstances. It was a device which made it possible to accommodate every new interest that seemed entitled to serious consideration, without disturbing the ar- rangements that were already in opera- tion. Questions of the fundamental pur- pose of education were dodged. Edu- cation shared in the general confusion and suffered from internal contradic- tions. The science teacher leaves his scientific methods in his laboratory on Sunday. The business man, who holds that sentiment must be kept out of business which rests only on com- petition, sees no contradiction in joining the Rotary Club and asserting that business is based on service. The Daughters of the American Rev- olution refuse to become the mothers of revolution. The authors compare this confusion to the Soviet education where the schools and society converge upon a common purpose. But they see the THE col- THE AMERICAN TEACHES danger of stand-pattism if the pur- pose becomes fixed and “no provision made for the reconstruction of atti- tudes and beliefs as a mearis of prog- Their conviction is that the ress.” school must serve the new social order and the book passes on to dis- cuss the American economic situation and the administration of the school. The frontier and its rugged individ- ualism have been outmoded and the school rust do its part in a society which depends on continuous social planning. The authors see that the average teacher has not been equipped to be a social pioneer : “Many a teacher of to-day went through college with hardly a respectable course in social science. In the teacher’s college or normal school he has learnt only bits of a badly warped psychology and a few tricks of the trade of teaching the subjects which he taught. He has been taught not to think, indeed the less he thinks about crucial matters the less trouble he will give his superintendent. He can be heir to all this and still be rated high, Such can- not continue to be the prevailing con- ception of the teacher. For we are begin- ning now to see what the profession, to fulfill its own integrity, is compelled to do. The group of persons who are charged with critical appraisal of the modern American community must be of the high- est quality, with a most thorough and vital educational experience of their own.” Surely this is an endorsement from our most prominent American edu- cators of the policy of the American Federation of Teachers not only in its insistence upon adequate training and salary, conditions, and standards but its unity with the unions of work- ers in other departments of necessary social labor. Then our authors wisely insist that a new adult education must be de- veloped and a complete section is devoted to suggesting how this will be developed to provide the necessary understanding and control of social forces. There is a wealth of practical suggestion of how the school can help develop the co-operative spirit. The running of a co-operative store and the study of consumer interest in con- junction with Consumers’ Research are giyen among the examples. An- other idea discussed at length is par- ticipation by the staff in the admini- stration of the school instead of run- ning a school like a business with the superintendent as the boss. Then too methods of linking the parents to the school are treated. Indeed for the teacher who is determined to pioneer “The Educational Frontier” is an encyclopedia of new trails. The auth- ors see that the profit motive has failed. That competitive anarchy has ni -_— — eo ae eS Co =z lar] an ‘ds -k- lat le- be ry ial FEBRUARY, 1934 proved diastrous. They are anxious to make the school an important and formative agency in building the new social order. Every member of the A. F. of T. should explore their challenging and constructive pro- posals. MARK STARR. CHICAGO ON Parape. Edited and published by Herman O. Duncan, 1414 E. 59th St., Chicago. Price 25 cents, A booklet which, quoting from the publisher’s introduction “is a pictorial representation of certain phases of Chicago life which are to be seen alongside the much-publicized Cen- tury of Progress Exposition but from which the attention of the public is being diverted by our political and civil leaders.” Every World’s Fair visitor who did not have time to see the part of Chi- cago back of the boulevards and parks routes of the sight-seeing tours should secure the booklet. It will give him, through authentic pictures, informa- tion not generally disseminated about the social life of Chicago and en- lighten him on the school situation of that city. “How to Use Enciisn”—A GUIDE to Correct SPEECH AND WRIT- inc. By Frank H. Vizetelly. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1933. 658 pp. Price, $2.50. This is a manual no teacher, speaker, writer, legislator—in fact, no one who employs English as a tool in his business—can be with- out. It is an invaluable addition to the dictionary and_ encyclopedia. Mr. Vizetelly in the nearly seven hundred pages of his book succeeds in bringing together almost all the words that have troubled and are troubling the literati and the intel- ligentsia and that have confounded and are confounding the average man in the street. He has arranged the words alphabetically so that we can readily find the word we are looking for. In addition to “troublesome” words, Mr. Vizetelly allows liberal space to prepositions, adjectives, and adverbs that cause headaches to the average man from time to time. The most important service, in the reviewer's opinion, which Mr. Vizetelly is rendering to his readers is his clear method of explaining the delicate differences between many synonyms which many of our educated and cultured men and women use indiscriminately, and his simple analysis of numerous homonyms. He devotes some space to the ever growing number of col- loquial expressions and offers help- ful hints as to how to detect them and avoid them. The origin of many words receive much of Mr. Vizetelly’s considera- tion and his revelations will prove surprising to many educated read- ers. In addition to words, he takes us back to the origin of many :dio- matic phrases and expressions. So, for instance, we learn how the ex- pressions, “Seven Seas,” “In the seventh heaven” and hundreds of others have originated. In fine, “How to Use English” fully justifies its title. It consti- tutes a splendid manual for the man and woman who use English in their daily activities for one pur- pose or another. Its constant use will enable many of us to avoid the pitfalls stalking along the tortuous path of the English language. We heartily recommend it to all Eng- lish speaking people, especially to those who employ English as a tool in earning their livelihood—teach- ers, preachers, and writers, Micwaer B. ScCHELER. AN ANTHOLOGY oF ENGLISH Prose, Herbert Read & Bonamy Dobree, 665 pp., Viking Press, New York, $3.00. The writers have scanned the cream of English literature, from its early dawn to modern times — literally thousands of volumes—and have giv- en us the gem of English thought, of English genius. The writer who wants to learn “style,” the teacher who wants examples of good diction, the orator and politician who aim to leave an impression with their audi- ences, the actor who wants to imper- sonate historic and out-of-the-ordi- nary types and characters—will find in “An Anthology of English Prose” an abundance of material, an inexhaust- ible mine of “plots,” “samples.” “pieces,” “declamations” for every occasion and for every purpose. The book is divided into three principal parts: Narrative, Scientific, and Emotive, and each part is in turn divided into related sub-groups. Un- der Narrative we find Story-telling, Autobiography and Journals, Biogra- phy and Characters, Letters, ete.— each group provided with a rich as- sortment of excerpts taken from the wells of English literature. Under the classification Scientific, we find such sections as Pure Science, 27 Philosophy, Theology, Politics, Law, etc.—with ample “samples” of the writings of such scientists, biologists, and philosophers, as Thomas Henry Huxley, Charles Darwin, Adam Smith, John Tyndall, Karl Pearson, Thomas Paine, John Milton, and others. Under Emotive, we find an ex- tremely interesting selection of lite- rary gems in the sections on Pathos, Drama, Oratory, Comedy, Satire, and Invective, and others. In “An Anthology of the English Language” the student and the teach- er will find the “type” and “style” for every form of composition, for every purpose of belles-lettres, and as such it will prove a valuable addition to their libraries. MicHaevt B. SCHELER. Wm. J. University EconoMy IN EDUCATION. Cooper. Stanford Press, 1933. 77 pp. An excellent study of economy in education based on the firm stand that while we must have economy that economy must not be at the ex- pense of the child. Like most such studies, however, its objectivity minimizes the role played by cer- tain great interests in the so-called economy so many schools are forced to practice. “The primary cause of all wars in modern times,” William Gibbs Mc- Adoo told students of the Southern Methodist university, “is economic strain, and that in turn is the result of intense financial and commercial competition.” Profound economic adjustments must accompany disarmament if peace is to be insured, he stated, because modern wars are preceded by eco- nomic wars which breed hatred and create chauvinism. “We must realize that the next war, if it comes, will convert the civilized world into a madhouse,” McAdoo said. For its prevention, he gave the following program: “1. Direct and complete disarma- ment, or in the event that cannot be achieved, a reduction, and the largest possible reduction, in the size of army and navy and air forces. “2. A consideration of economic and other factors that lead to wars, with a determined purpose to rectify them. “3. A campaign of education to abate the intense nationalism that pre- vails throughout the world, and to build up, in its place, a genuine spirit of international friendship.” ——— News from the Field Chicago Chicago’s Public Schools CAN Get Additional Revenue Everybody—bankers, real estate men, business leaders, the Board of Education, Parent - Teacher Associations, citizens, teachers—agree that the schools must have more money for 1934, or they might as well be closed. Even now they are hope- lessly crippled. The city’s children who should be the last to suffer are paying the price for the blunders and failures of this generation. A _ building, with the doors open and children herded inside, is not a school. A man or woman, with salary un- paid for many months, facing an uncertain future with an overload of work and lim- ited equipment, is not a teacher. Fourteen thousand teachers and a half million chil- dren are in this desperate situation in Chi- cago today. Without additional revenue for 1934, ad- ditional reductions in educational opportuni- ties are threatened that will make all pre- vious reductions appear as nothing. If no action is taken to prevent this disaster, nine and a half million dollars must be cut out of a nine months’ school for next year, one-fourth of the expenditures for each month, unless some trick of book- keeping raises the estimate of the possible income from regular sources. The fund remaining will be just about half the funds allowed for a much smaller number of children three years ago, in a not elab- orate school system. If this cut is made, public education in Chicago becomes a farce. Of course, it must not, it cannot happen. The Board of Education, business and civic leaders have publicly agreed that it must not happen. Several possible plans have been suggested, and yet we have not touched several of the possible sources of revenue that have been recently uncovered by Indiana and other states. The question is, “which and how many of the ways out shall be taken, and how soon.” Steps al- ready taken in the development of a work- able plan are as follows: 1. At a meeting of the Chicago Recov- ery Administration on November 27, Prof. A. R. Hatton of Northwestern University obtained a public statement that the bud- get of the Board of Education would not be passed until legislative action was pos- sible, and until the budget had been pre- sented to the C.R. A. A January session of the Legislature will be better attended than a December session and will give time for proper legislation. 2. The Chicago Board of Education has prepared and sent to Springfield a bill asking that the sales tax after January 1 be diverted to the state distributive fund. The use of the sales tax for schools would benefit all of the 11,000 school districts down state as well as the Chicago district. Approximately 30 million dollars will be availabe from this source, and Chicago’s share would be about one- -third. The al- location of this money is within the power of the special session of the legislature. It must go somewhere. What service needs it so much as the schools? 3. Another plan which has the support of a group of business and financial lead- ers but has not yet been put into a bill is the transference of 15 cents from the tax rate of the unused building fund to the educational fund, for the years 1932, 1933, and 1934. This would bring in nearly 12 millions of additional credit for the Janu- ary budget. Yet the total school bill for 1932 would be nine millions less to the tax payer than for 1931, while the addi- tional revenue for the three years would more than take care of the danger of further disaster to the schools. 4. Other additional sources of school revenue which have been suggested are: (a) A 3 percent net income tax on cor- porations to be put into a new state school fund. (b) A flat personal income tax of 2 percent, on all incomes over $1,200, proceeds to go into a new school fund. (c) A grain future tax of % cent per bushel for the school fund. This is like the New York tax on stock sales. If these three forms of taxation were allowed in Illinois, they would bring in approximately 90 millions to the State and allow reductions in the property tax. New York Local 5 The Supreme Court of the State of New York ordered the Board of Education to fill vacancies in the high schools now oc- cupied by substitute teachers at substitutes’ salaries with regular teachers by March 1, 1934. This affects the salaries of 1,576 per diem substitute teachers who should have the status and the pay of regular teachers. The substitutes involved have been as- signed to steady work in the high schools in recognized vacancies. For the last few years the Board of Education, however, has been appointing few, if any, new teach- ers. Instead, it has assigned substitutes to new vacancies at $7.50 a day for each day of actual service. This makes a total possible income, on the basis of 195 school days a year, of $1,462.50 a year. The first year salary of a new high school teacher, on the other hand, is $2,148, leaving a net loss to each so-called permanent high school substitute of $685.50 a year. The Court ruled that the Board of Edu- cation was circumventing the law requiring appointments to be made from the elig- ible lists. In order to give the Board time to adjust its financial difficulties, the Court postponed enforcement of its mandamus until March 1, 1934. Permanent substitutes in charge of classes whose regular teachers are absent on maternity or sabbatical leaves do not come within the provisions of the order. On the basis of the Board of Super- intendents’ recent ruling in the case of Miss Alice Citron, a probationary teacher who was denied increment and was given unsatisfactory rating because of alleged criticism of the board, members of the Teachers’ Union will launch a “campaign for academic freedom” in which they ex- pect to enlist college professors, organized labor groups, parent organizations, and other teacher groups. At a special meeting of the union held at the High School of Commerce, Manhat- tan, a resolution was passed “repudiating” the action of the Board of Education in the “specific case of Miss Alice Citron” and providing for the appointment of a cam- THE AMERICAN TEACHER paign committee by the president, Dr, Henry Linville, and the executive board. Resolutions protesting a proposed in- crease of the pupil load or any other meas- ures that would “undermine teaching standards and conditions,” were passed also. The executive board was asked to request that the Retirement Board explain the “entire situation of the purchasing of city bonds.” In this connection it was stated that certain city bonds had been purchased by the Retirement Board at par value at a time when the market value of the bonds was 12 per cent less. In his report Dr. Abraham Lefkowitz, chairman of the Legislative Committee, warned that proposals will be made by the “tax reductionists” in Albany at the coming session of the State Legislature to cut teachers’ salaries and disrupt teacher pension systems. “New York State can finance its educa- tional program without any curtailment if it will utilize the sources of revenue at its command,” Dr. Lefkowitz said. Charles Hendley, secretary, warned against the extension of the 6-3-3 plan of school organization as “political expedient to reduce school costs” and made a plea for “educational statesmanship.” In discussing the pressure on what he termed “the politicians at Fifty-ninth street,” Mr. Hendley urged that “teachers have the courage to demand a cleaning of our own house.” “The graft at Fifty-ninth street is hurting us all and bringing the whole school system into disrepute,” he said. “They are trying to save their own jobs in their efforts to meet the demands of the taxpayers for retrefichment. It is a very popular demand.” Dr. Henry Linville, president, presided at the meeting, which was attended by some three hundred teachers. Granite City Local 38 The members of Local 38, in common with teachers everywhere, have had diffi- culties both in salary reductions and in de- layed salary payments. The local is, how- ever, carrying on and is making headway in solving the problems of its members. New officers have been elected for the current school year. They are Walter Klein, President, 2131 Grand Ave., Gran- ite City; Mary Clark Walker, Secretary, McKinley School, Granite City; and Ruth Squires, Treasurer, 2508 W. 20th St. Granite City. . . Philadelphia Local 192 The Chamber of Commerce and teach- ers themselves were the principal targets for attack at a meeting of approximately 300 Philadelphia school teachers, held under the auspices of the Local 192, Amer- ican Federation of Teachers, 15th and Race streets, on December 15. John A. Phillips, president of the Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor, upbraided the teachers strenuously. “Teachers, as a class,” he said, “are the most lackadaisical group I ever have known. They have floated along with the tide, allowing things to happen without protest. They have neglected to use the power they possess to influence public sentiment for themselves and in the interest of education. I know places in Pennsylvania where a teacher’s con- tract is as vicious, as ‘yellow-dog’ as any ever foisted on the manufacturing indus- try. Unless you act nothing will happen.” Dr. Jesse H. Holmes, professor 0 ae a ae a Ai a ef ah a _3I A * oes OOD oe oe ae be; ain vas -en par itz, ee, by the 1er ca- its ed ent on ffi- le- h- ly Id T- id he Tr, re er 1g on to ce in es Ly s- of FEBRUARY, 1934 College, philosophy at Swarthmore Chamber turned his wrath against the of Commerce. “We teachers,” he declared, “believe teachers should have something to say about education. The Chamber of Com- merce seems to have more to say about it. The way they meet an emergency is by taking it out on education. They have made a society in which no lives are secure. They ‘tare responsible for this—the acme of impudence. I think the Chamber of Commerce had better shut up for a while.” Philadelphia Inquirer. Minneapolis Local 238 Good News Local No. 238 is very happy to report to the American Federation of Teachers the results of a course of legal action by which the Public Schools of Minneapolis have been made independent of any other branch of city government in fiscal mat- ters. By way of review we wish to explain the local conditions in Minneapolis which made such a course of legal action neces- sary. The State of Minnesota has an enviable record among the states of the union in jealously guarding the public schools as far as possible from the influence of polli- tics. Minnesota has established, under law, two types of school districts for the public schools. The most general type is the “independent district.” This type em- braces practically all the public schools outside of the three cities of the “first class”, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth. The “special district” was set up to ac- commodate the public school administration in the three above named cities. How- ever, no fundamental rights of the inde- pendent district was abridged by the law setting up special districts. The special districts were merely special in the sense that certain variations of administration were permitted under the special district law. These variations were allowed for the purpose of convenience and accommoda- tion to the respective “home-rule” charters in the cities of the first class. In both types of districts the absolute authority over educational administration was vested with the respective boards of education. In 1920 the City of Minneapolis adopted a home-rule charter. This is a_ very voluminous document which bundles to- gether all the statutes pertaining to cities of the first class and an additional body of sections adopted locally. This docu- ment was given the title, “The Charter of the City of Minneapolis.” Section 8 of the charter outlines the general powers given to a “Board of Estimate and Taxa- tion.” The function of this board was to supervise and determine the annual gross tax levy for all clty departments inclusive. However, Section 8 as it stood was in conflict with the state laws so far as its power over the Board of Education was concerned. 3y a vote of ten to one in 1921 the people of Minneapolis corrected this error by an amendment to the city charter, which specifically empowered the Board of Education to ignore any control over its taxing powers by the Board of Estimate and Taxation. This amendment, added to Section 18 covering public school control, made it mandatory upon the Board of Education to submit its levy direct to the County Auditor on or before November Ist of each year. It also pro- vided that in the event the Board of Fdu- cation failed to do this by November Ist, the Board of Estimate and Taxation should set the maximum millage for edu- cational purposes for the next fiscal year. For the past twelve years the Minne- apolis Board of Education has permitted the Board of Estimate and Taxation to set its levy. During the first few years of this period there was no occasion for the Board of Education to test its right over its own levy permitted under the above mentioned amendment for the rea- son that the Board of Estimate ana ‘l'axa- tion never seriously challenged the amount of money which the Board of Education requested in its annual budgets. As a result of this common practice continuing over a number of years, the question of raising the legal issue was never seriously considered. But as the depression crept upon us and as the tax situation in Minne- apolis became more acute, due to excessive delinquencies in the past three years, the Board of Estimate and Taxation took upon itself the right to reduce the budget re- quests of the Board of Education. Last year it cut the request of 21 mills down to 19 mills. This had the direct result of lowering all salaries under the Board of Education jurisdiction over 30%. This was a greater percentage of cut than that given to employees of other city depart- ments. In August of this year the Board of Education again presented its budget for 1934 to the Board of Estimate and Taxa- tion requesting the maximum millage (22 mills) provided under the charter for edu- cational purposes. The Board of Estimate and Taxation reduced this request to 17.5 mills and certified it to the County Aud- itor. This reduction would have had the effect of so severely crippling the schools that drastic retrenchments would result. Nevertheless, the Board of Education ac- cepted this cut and was already beginning to feel out sentiment as to where retrench- ment should begin, both from teachers and other interested groups. Such were the conditions we were tac- ing when Local 238 decided upon a course of action that would settle once and for all the issue of the status of the Board of Education in its legal relationship to the Board of Estimate and Taxation. Our first step was to retain counsel and get an opinion in writing as to the legal status of the Board of Education. We also re- quested a suggested course of action, Our counsel informed us that in his opinion the Board of Education was independent of any fiscal control by any other branch of the city government. As to a course of action he suggested that the quickest method would be to bring mandamus pro- ceedings against the Board of Education, using their request of 22 mills as a basis for raising all the points of law, compel- ling them to submit their budget directly to the County Auditor or show cause why they fail to do so. A taxpayer, one of our own members, brought the action on Oc- tober 14, 1933, after a district judge had signed the writ of mandamus on October 13. The Court allowed until the 20th of October for the Board of Education -to prepare its defense. However, on the 17th of October the Board of Education under the order of the Court complied with the mandamus by sending its request to the County Auditor. Since the Board of Edu- cation was not compelled under the law to request the maximum of 22 mills their action of October 17th requested 20 mills. On October 18th the County Auditor re- fused to honor the request of the Board 29 of Education on tne grounds, (1) that the bookkeeping involved in the preparation of amended tax statements was impossible of performance by January Ist, 1934, and (2) that on general points of law the Board of Education did not have the right to make the request directly to him. On October 19th, 1933, the same tax- payer released the action of October 14th by stipulation with the Board of Education at about 10:30 a. m. and immediately brought a second mandamus action against the County Auditor compelling him to ac- cept the levy of the Board of Education or show cause at a hearing set for Oc- tober 28th, 1933. On October 2Ist the Board of Education also obtained a sim- ilar writ against the County Auditor and both cases were joined for the purpose of hearing on October 30th. At the hearing on October 30th the County Auditor’s chief deputy clerk ad- mitted under cross-examination that with additional clerical help the tax rolls could be properly amended, and that element of defense was speedily disposed of. On the second matter of defense the Court ruled against the County Auditor and a perma- nent writ was signed by the judge immedi- ately after the arguments were closed. The County Auditor appealed the de- cision of the District Court to the State Supreme Court, and upon the request of all parties concerned the Chief Justice per- mitted a special hearing on November 8th. This brought the entire controversy to its final stage in exactly twenty-one days after the original mandamus against the Board of Education was complied with. On No- vember 28th, 1933, the Supreme Court handed down its decision affirming the de- cision of the lower Court. In other words, a controversy which had been tossed about for the past twelve years was settled in forty-six days to the surprise of some, the dissatisfaction of some, and the gratifica- tion of many others including the teachers of the Minneapolis Public Schools. It goes without saying to Federationists that this controversy was not without its usual side-lights of misinformation, at- tempted side-tracking, and opposition. All these were anticipated and successfully met. The settlement of ‘this issue was our main objective and with the moral and financial support of Local 59 and others we carried it through all the maze of op- position to a satisfactory conclusion for the public schools and citizens of Minne- apolis. Victor L. Ericxson, President. Cart E. NELSEN, Recording Secretary. Lawrence Local 244 The second Educational Night of Law- rence Federation of Teachers, No. 24, was held October 24, 1933. The occasion was featured by the presence of Dr. Henry R. Linville of New York, President of the American Federation of Teachers, who was the guest speaker. Mayor William P. White, Mrs. Nora Donovan, Felix L. O'Neill, and Francis T. Murphy of the School Committee, Director of Public Safe- ty Thomas F. Galvin attended. Also both nominees for the 1934 mayoralty, Alder- man Robert F. Hancock and Walter A. Griffin. Also John H. Ahern and Joseph Bateman candidates for school committee. Visiting delegations of teachers attended from other groups of Lawrence teachers, as well as from Lowell, Methuen, and Cambridge 195. 30 Besides Dr. Linville, the other speakers were Robert J. Watt of the Massachusetts Federation of Labor on the “National Recovery Act,” and Roy F. Bergengren of Boston on “The Credit Union.” Despite the heavy downpour of rain, the affair was highly successful, and one hundred and thirty five sat down to the turkey dinner. rancis J. O’Brien, Vice-Presi- dent of 244 was chairman, President Walter A. Sidley was toastmaster. An excellent entertainment program was fea- tured by talent of 244, Joseph M. Walsh, — A. Reynolds, and Cornelius F. Sweeny. Wa tter A. SIDLEY, President Springfield, Ill., Local 251 The Springfield Teachers’ Federation at its regular monthly meeting, November 23, 1933, adopted by unanimous vote of the members present the following resolution: We, the Springfield Teachers’ Federa- tion, Local 251 of the American Federa- tion of Teachers, hereby adopt as our Act the Petition of the President of the United States to broaden the powers of banks so as to enable School Boards and Directors to borrow money from said banks and place so-called teachers’ orders based upon tax payment assessed in the School Dis- tricts as collateral; to attach a copy of said Petition to this resolution and _ in- corporate same as a part thereof; and to forward said resolution in entirety to the National Office of the American Federa- tion of Teachers, urging said body to in- stitute such action in Washington as is necessary to bring about the desired changes in the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Banking Act, or other Laws so as to effect the purpose of this resolution. R. A. DEFFENBAUGH, President. R. B. ZImMMexMANn, Secretary. This effort to secure money trom the banks on “teachers’ orders” as collateral is finding general support from teachers throughout the state. The resolution has been forwarded to Washington for the attention of our Legis- lative Representative. Grand Rapids Local 256 The Grand Rapids local held an open meeting in the lecture room of the Grand Rapids Public Library, on December 7, 1933. It was a very fine meeting with more than 150 Grand Rapids teachers in at- tendance. Mrs. Florence Curtis Hanson, National Secretary of the American Federation of Teachers, delivered an address entitled, “Public Schools, To Be or Not To Be.” At a dinner before the meeting the execu- tive board of the local outlined with Mrs. Hanson a program of action. The local has completed its affiliation with the Grand Rapids Federation of La- bor and has elected delegates to represent it in that body. New Bedford Local 263 The New Bedford local is making prog- ress. The members are intensely interested in the union and are working night and day to make it a success. A number of new members were added at a special organization meeting held a few weeks ago. There were about two hundred New Bedford teachers at the meeting. Miss Bernice Rogers of Cambridge Local 195, who is a Vice President of the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers and the re- gional organizer, made a splendid address Mr. Walter A. Sidley of Lawrence Local 244 was another visiting speaker who im- pressed his audience. As a result of this meeting the local has had a continuous growth. New members are added almost daily. The teachers of New Bedford were asked to teach two weeks without salary in No- vember. The reason given for the request was that there was a shortage in school funds. Instead of agreeing to the free service without question, Local 244 had an investi- gation made of the school financial situa- tion. This uncovered plenty of funds and other things not to the liking of the local politicians. In retaliation the schools were closed for the two weeks. At least the teachers of New Bedford who had already lost most of the conditions secured after many years of effort were not compelled to teach with- out salaries. A bad precedent established in many New England cities was avoided The best result of the whole matter is the civic interest aroused in school and all public activities. With an aroused interest in public affairs, education has not much to fear even during a depression. The local is planning another large meet- ing in January when Mrs. Florence Curtis Hanson, Secretary-Treasurer of the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers will address the New Bedford Teachers. An open meeting is planned for the first week in January at which Mrs. Florence Curtis Hanson, National Secretary-Treas- urer, will be the principal speaker. Benton Towable High School Local 264 Local 264 has increased its membership until it has more than 95% of all eligible teachers in its membership. It has been active in irfitiating relief work for teachers in Benton and Franklin County. It is arranging classes of adults and nursery school children for the teach- ers. It has also been active in securing a Civil Works project for grading the high school grounds. Sse Miiotn Aaricuizel College Local 265 The local has completed its organization and elected officers. The officers are Pres- ident, W. C. Hunter; Vice President, Miss Dorothy Hatch; Secretary-Treasurer, Her- bett C. Hanson. The local has affiliated with the Fargo Trades and [Tabor Assembly and_ has elected delegates to that body. As an evidence that this Local of th American Federation of Teachers has taken its obligations seriously is the communica- tion it has had with various senators and representatives in the matter of the enact- ment of an N. R. A. code for education. Senator Shipstead of Minnesota was in- formed by the Recovery Administration THE AMERICAN TEACHER that no action had been taken because the code submitted was purely a local code and that it is necessary for a code to be national in scope before any consideration is given. A careful reading of the code submitted by the American Federation of Teachers fails to reveal jts local character. Senator Frazier of North Dakota, after considerable correspondence with the Re- covery Administration was informed that the N. R. “does not make provision for a code for the teaching profession.” Senator Frazier’s comment was, “It is very evident that if the N. R. A. is to be a success that the teaching profession will have to be given consideration together with the other It is the hope of this new local of the American Federation of Teachers that the matter of a code be pushed to the limit. It the code submitted does not meet the requirements of the Recovery Administra- tion, let the administration point out the essential defects. If public education is not important enough to be accorded an industrial code in the national recovery policy, in the eyes »f the Recovery Administration, that should be made known, pre rfessic ms.” Ziegler Community High School Local 269 Local 269 organized with every high school teacher in Ziegler as a _ charter member. The local is cooperating with the other locals in Franklin county in an effort to secure employment under the Civil Works program for all the unemployed teachers of the county. The local is also protesting the action of relief agencies in classifying teachers as unskilled laborers, Tooele County Local 270 The Tooele County, Utah, teachers or- ganized Local 270 of the American Fed- eration of Teachers, December 6, 1933. This is the first local of the American Fed- eration of Teachers in the State of Utah but the members of Tooele local are cer- tain that it is to be the first of a great many. There has been much consideration of the union movement among the teachers of Utah and there is little doubt that, with the ice broken, many locals will be formed. Royalton Local 271 The Royalton Local was formed Decem- ber 13, 1933, with more than two thirds of the Royalton teachers as charter members. The local is interested in getting work for the unemployed teachers of the vicinity and in getting relief for employed teachers who are not receiving regular salaries. It is also on record in favor of the formation of a State Federation of Teachers. West Allis Local 272 West Allis organized with a_ charter membership of more than 150 teachers of the West Allis, Wisconsin, Public Schools. The local is engaged in perfecting its or- ganization and will have a more complete report at a later date. CT er to n- of rs, rk ity TS he of er of Is. r- te Fepruary, 1934 ° P Wisconsin Delegates from the locals of the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers in Wisconsin met in Milwaukee on December 9, 1933, for the purpose of forming a State Fed- eration of Teachers. The organization was formed. A com- mittee was named to formulate a constitu- tion and perfect a permanent organization. The delegates are expecting to be called together in January to complete the work begun in the earlier meeting. . os Illinois The Illinois State Federation of Teachers was organized in Springfield, December 27, 1933. Early in December, the Joint Board of Chicago Teachers’ Unions, by resolution, asked the National Office of the American Federation of Teachers to issue a call to the fifteen local unions of the Federation in illinois asking them to send delegates to a meeting in Springfield for the three- fold purpose of considering legislation, re- lief and a state organization. As a result of extremely bad weather conditions on the day of the meeting some of the delegates from Southern Illinois were unable to attend. There were, how- ever, delegates from Chicago, Springfield, Royalton and Ziegler. Meeting was held in Leland Hotel. R. A. Deffenbaugh, Springfield 251, was elected temporary chairman. The Organization of the State Federation was perfected. R. A. Deffenbaugh of Springfield was elected President and C. A. Ruff of the same local, Secretary. The Federation adopted a legislative pro- gram for the expected special session of the Legislature. The officers were in- structed to get and keep in close contact with the officers of the Illinois State Fed- eration of Labor. It protested the classifying of teachers in any class lower than skilled laborers by relief or recovery bodies. It petitioned the relief agencies for help for employed teachers who were not re- ceiving a living income as well as for unemployed teachers. One member from each local is a mem- ber of the executive council of the Fad- eration. Regular meetings will be held annually at Springfield the last week in December. " . California The California State Federation of Teachers held its annual meeting recent), but at the time ‘of publication, no report has been made. Ziegler Local 266 Local 266 is proud to announce that at its second meeting to which all the teach- ers in the Ziegler elementary schools were invited, all eligible teachers joined the local, making a one hundred per cent or- ganization. President Worfel reported progress in aid for unemployed teachers. Through County Superintendent Swofford funds have been asked for sufficient to care for all the unemployed teachers in the county for whom positions can be created. The local is doing all in its power to arrange for such places for the unemployed. Christopher Local 267 The Christopher local was organized with all teachers in the Christopher , Ele mentary Schools as charter members and is a one hundred per cent local. The Christopher local is joining with 31 the other locals of Franklin County, IIL, in an effort to provide work under the Civil Works Administration for the unem- ployed teachers of the county. Oshkosh Local 268 The officers of the new Oshkosh local were installed at a meeting held Nov. 23, 1933. Mrs. Florence Curtis Hanson, Na- tional Secretary-Treasurer was a guest at the meeting and installed the officers All the vocational teachers of Oshkosh are members of 268. | Who's Who in this Issue ' John M. Brewer, dean, Graduate School of Education, Harvard Uni- versity. Dr. Robert T. Kerlin, college teacher, author of several volumes, prose and poetry; editor Milton’s Minor Poems in Johnson’s English Class- ics. James A. Mullenbach, NRA Labor Board mediator; former member Board of Education, Chicago. Norman Thomas, candidate for Presi- dent of the United States on the Socialist Party ticket, 1928 and 1932. C. L. Vestal, president Chicago Men Teachers’ Union; teacher Schurz High School, Chicago. Carl Winters, pastor First Presby- terian Church, Mt. Gilead, Ohio. We Buy 1928 1931 1929 1932 Incorporated 29 So. La Salle St. CHICAGO and SUBURBAN TAX WARRANTS H. B. La Rocca & Co. We Sell 1930 1933 State 8008 134 No. La Salle St. TAX WARRANTS BOUGHT- SOLD - QUOTED Wittbold Securities Co. Member Chicago Curb Exchange State 7500 The H. PRINTING CO. 107 No. Wacker Drive, Chicago G. ADAIR CONSTRUCTIVE PRINTERS Telephones: FRAnklin 8124-5-6 American Federation of Teachers 506 South Wabash Avenue CHICAGO, ILL. —~ The American Federation of Teachers desires to establish an intimate contact and an effective co-oper- ation between the teachers and the other workers of the com- munity. 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 affiliate with this National Organization of Classroom Teachers, for mutual assistance, improved professional stand- ards and the democratization of the schools. Our Slogan Is: Democracy in Education: Education for Democracy THE AMERICAN TEACHER is published bimonthly by The American Federation of Teachers. Membership dues carry subscription to the magazine. To all others the subscription price is $1.00 per year, 25 cents per copy.