URS. OF nies. AMERICAN TEACHER September-October 1935 e¢ Volume XX No.1 Official Organ of the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS iA ac _IN THREE PARTS _ PART ONE A Critical Evaluation of the American Federation of Teachers A Thesis | Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Re- quirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Education at Smith College, May, 1934 Aileen W. Robinson & | Price 50 Cents ee Order from po American Federation of Teachers 506 South Wabash Avenue CHICAGO, ILLINOIS PROCEEDINGS OF THE Nineteenth Annual Convention OF THE American Federation of Teachers Price 50 Cents ON SALE OCTOBER 1ST AT THE National Office American Federation of Teachers 506 South Wabash Avenue Chicago, Illinois TABLE OF CONTENTS United for Democracy in Education and the Nation High Lights of the Convention Secretary-Treasurer’s Report . Real Problem of the Schools.. L. Hi. Elmer W. Johnston 11 Jean Canter 14 Teacher and the Consumer Cooperative Movement Office Workers Seek Solution So This Is America.. Raymond I’. Lowry 3 Thornburg 8 16 Newly Elected Executive Council 18 nw Editorials 18 CREATION Comparison—A. F. of L. Union-Company Union * Par ie : test What Ts a Company Union? ‘The kee ent ge The Union and the Press—David H. Pierce Websters, packed ~ X. Tenureless Tenure century of leadership ~i¢° . : i th Administrative Change in Buffalo on ee my Fs Teachers’ Mental Health arship. Just completed Maintaining Professional Control of Schools at a cost of $1,300,000. Significant Facts about American Education Milk and Money—Florence Jane Ovens WEBSTER’S Items of Interest 24 NEW INTERNATIONAL _ ae Labor Day, 1935 William Green; Frank Morrison 25 DICTIONARY, Second Edition Book Reviews Libraries and the Unemployed On Taxation—A Letter from H. B. Loomis New Locals . Advertisements... 2, Index, Vol. XIX, 1934-35 N. Y. Bulletin.. Jay F. Otis 29 William Allan Neilson, President of Smith 26 College, Editor in Chief, heads the most author- itative staff of editors ever organized. Contains 600,000 Entries 3 The greatest amount of information ever put HU into one volume. 122,000 Entries not found in any other dictionary. 30 12,000 Terms Iilustrated. Magnificent Plates in Color and Half Tone. Thousands of encyclopedic articles wonder- fully rich in information. 35,000 Geographical Entries. 13,000 Biographical Entries. Exhaustive treatment of synonyms and anto- nyms. Definitions absolutely accurate yet 31, Part Two Part Two Part Three PUBLISHED bi-monthly, except August, by the American Federation of Teachers, 506 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, Ill. En- tered as second class matter October 18, 1933, at the pest office 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, author- ized Nov. 3, 1926. 3 SUBSCRIPTION $1.00 for the year—Foreign $1.10—Single copies, 25c. expiration, a bill will be found in the copy. Subscribers are requested to give prompt notice of changes of address. Remittances should be made in postal money-order, ex- press order, draft, stamps or check. easy to understand. Thousands of Etymolo- pe never before published. Pronunciation At the time of ully and exactly recorded. 3350 Pages. New from Cover to Cover. Write for free illustrated pam- phlet containing specimen pages, color plates, an RE information. G. & C. MERRIAM CO. Springfield, Mass. mg yy my ome th r- ut in Two Parts—Part 2 AMERICAN TEACHER Index The AMERICAN TEACHER Volume XX—Numbers 1 to 4. Month Page Education Comes First. yy May-June, 1936 ave g in Palestine, by Marion Rubenstein. A rogress Cooperati ‘ FR Nov. -Dec., canbe ae) Shu oo fy oe — on ssiaidibi pinta tietets yeast Dean 1936 18 E duantional Psychology, by James Bart Stroud. Reviewed American Labor Struggles. Samuel Yellin. Reviewed by H. L. Latham........ -Sept.-Oct., by Elsie Glick... sevsserseseeseeeemeeeeMar.-Apr., 1936 32 Effects of Technological Changes On Women Workers. American Newspaper Guild. David Scheyer................. ...Mar.-Apr., 1936 22 ., Studied by U. S. Women's Bureau... --. Nov.-Dee., American Points of View. Edited “4 WW - and Eleven Crimes Against Youth. Hon. Ernest Lundeen Mar.-Apr., A Kathryn Coe Cordell. Reviewed by Boris Gamzue....Mar.-Apr., 1936 32 American Year Book 1933 & 1934. Reviewed by Michael Sirsa snsiedeicisascsicenehiihetesltet bse paceiaediiasieaihaonbessbiidadhand Sept.-Oct., 1935 26 American Youth Bill. “Hon. Thomas sR. “Amlie severe May-June, 1936 16 Fantasy Novembresque. Anonymous Nov.-Dec., Armaments vs. Social Security. Warren D. Mullin..... ..May-June, 1936 626 Foundations of Human Nature, by John Morris. Dorsey. Ashtabula City Schools Situation by Mark Starr ..Sept.-Oct., 1935 29 Michael B. Scheler... aS es SE Nov.-Dec., ? French Teachers Ask Jailing of Bankers. .... Sept.-Oct., B Besdine, Matthew. The Rating System......... . Mar.-Apr., 1936 14 G Bloomington Teachers Organize 100%. Portia Alex- Giles, Iona. Discrimination in Wisconsin Rapids. May-June, 1936 ander . . : ..May-June, 1936 9 Goodhue, F. M. Seacroft... «-««e Nov.-Dec., Britannica Junior. ~ Reviewed by Michz ael. B. Scheler. ty 1935 28 Great American Institution, A. William Green Nov.-Dec., Broadening the Teachers Union. Editorial..... w-eee-eeee Mar.-Apr., 1936 2 Green, William. Urges Labor to Act ‘ Sept.-Oct., Buftalo—Administrative Change in. Editorial... Sept.-Oct., 1935 20 Sounds Warning Against War...... : -oveveee SEPt.-Oct., Butte Local Secures Single Salary Schedule. Margaret A Great American Institution... ie Nov.-Dec., a sellieendatetinda ..-Mar.-Apr., 1936 6 Labor Day 1935... nonennnsitein Sept.-Oct., Camden, N. J. Local—Case History... E. B. Pendleton... Nov.-Dec., 1935 6 Reviewed by H. L. Latham... Atlas of Current Affairs, by J. F. Horrabin. Reviewed September-October, 1936 September 1935 to June 1936 Month F einesinnpelennenaiieatias .Sept.-Oct., Freedom of the Press, by George Seldes. Reviewed by Groves, Harold M. Taxation for Schools... Guidance in the Large High School, by Elsa G. Becker. "i Reviewed by Florence E. Clark Ma .-Apr., 1936 5 Campus Issues and the New Leadership. “Willard E. | . ....Nov.-Dec., 1935 8 Can - Ww ork-Week Shrink and “Wages " Geow? By Harap, Henry. Labor Movement in the Curriculum..........Mar.-Apr., Katherine Pollak. Review.........................-..0.-.-<--. Nov.-Dec., 1935 24 Hartwell, Albion A. Security in the Professions................May-June, 1936 Capitalism and its Culture, Mg Jerome Davis. Reviewed Hazel, H. . ictory My ¢ ‘leveland.. octane May- June, 1936 by Edwin Berry Burgu ; Mar.-Apr., 1936 31 History of ye in U. S., Vv Z Working Conditions, Carter, Jean. Office W orbers Seek Solutions... ...Sept.-Oct., 1935 14 by Don D. Lescohier, Labor Legislation, by Child Labor | _ Signed in Penna.. Child Labor D. Child Psychology, “by “George "D. Stoddard. Reviewed by H. L. Latham Cleveland C tt. Highlights oe sis Sept.-Oct., 1935 6 I. L. GW. U. Builds Body aoavemes ’ , } amd Breit... Sept.-Oct., san Nd — or Statement of Objectives ? Denjarin J 1936 33 Industrial U nionism, John Brophy on. Sara T. Walsh......May-June, 1936 cent ov ang Why Thev Should Join the AFT By-JUNE, 1759 os Industrial Unionism, Sentiment for Crystallizes. Edi- | Aiea me 3 ; ) , Mar.-Apr., 1936 19 torial Mar.-Apr., |! Communication to Local Unions of sored by Stanton E. Smith, Chatt: Company Union—~A.F.L. Union, Comparison........ .. Sept.-Oct., 1935 18 Constitution, Revision of A.F.T. Editorial..................... May -June, 1936 2 Consumer Cooperative Movement, Elmer W. Johnston................ icbeitindon Controversy in San Diego.... Convention Issues, a Statement of. George Davis ...May-June, 1936 11 Jewett, Victor R. Unprofessional Conduct... ..May-June, 1936 Curti, Merle. The Soot Ideas of American Educators lohn Brophy on Industrial Unionism. Sara T. Walsh....M: Ly- } Reviewed by H. L. Latham ae . -.Nov.-Dec., 1935 25 Johnston, Elmer W. The Senate and the Consumer Co operative Movement... sniiaiecen ... Sept.-Oct., Dart, Anna. Tenure in California. Davidson, pengemin. Code of E thics Ee sii May-June, 1936 33 by Stanton E. Smith.......... — —perge. A Statement of C onvention Issues. w-soee-----e May-June, 1936 11 amt. on i Wosilineses Hearing The New York Situation—Supp. Democracy in the A.F. Editorial... Detroit Suggestion. initial , a Discrimination in Wisconsin Rapids. Doing Things Together in a ramos racy. M. A. Wig zht. -Nov.-Dec., 1935 Drawings .......... .Mar.-Apr., 1936 4; Eck, M. J. Teachers and Taxes........ Kx jucation and Organized Interests = Raup. Reviewed by Philip W. Bull. — ak, Sept.-Oct., 1935 Davis, Jerome. Why College Teachers Should Join the Declarations of Confidence. C ‘ommunication to All Locals. May June, 1936 Sept.-Oct., 1935 22 Elizabeth Brandeis. Rey Gand by Theresa Wolfson....May-June, 1936 7 i ATT O 2 Nov.-Dec., 1935 Nov.-Dec., 1935 24 the A.F.T. Spon anooga Local Mar.-Apr., 1936 10 Glick. Review........ The Teacher and. RS Oe EE Sept.-Oct., 1935 11 May-June, 1936 28 D Mar.-Apr., 1936 21 s or Statement of Kennell, Frank R. Reply to Communication spenoeet saiindicinaeeta - Mar. -Apr., 1936 13 ina May-June, 1936 4 Labor College in California Labor Day 1935.. Introduction to American Trade U nionism, “An, “by ‘Elsie Investigation of the A.F La ‘Editorial... It’s Been Tried Before.............. Labor Movement in the C urriculum. “Henry Harap... ..Sept.-Oct., 1 H I K L —- Beret, .. Sept.-Oct., wcvgeenrecenerescacceencoweescene Mar.-Apr., 1936 19 Labor Movements, by Selig Perlman and Philip Taft. . 3 Reviewed by Theresa Wolfson. ' .. May-June, 1936 ssoseensseenneresseeeee Mar.-Apr., 1936 ot Labor Notes ...... Mar. “Apr. 1936 “30; May-June, 1936 ococruncasectencncenevences Nov.-Dec., 1935 2. libraries and the Unem "Pee “Jay F, Oti eS FT lona Giles... ---- May-June, 1936 13 L — Union Peace Plan. Dr. "Niebubr. Supp. s : rT >§ ulletin ...... a = tm 20. May “June, 1936 5;7;9;16;20521 ;2 Loomis, Hiram B. Letter on Taxation... .Sept.-Oct., Lowney, Margaret. Butte Local Secures ‘Single “Salary eet ...Mar.-Apr., £ Loy —y Oaths at Harvard University. Material Compiled Nov.-Dec., 1935 18 by Prof. Kirtley F. Mather—.......... ae SE * n America, b y Bruce Loyalty Oaths, Rising Opposition To. Editorial............. Mar.- -Apr., » COK...........cce0s00+-s-00eeee May-June, 1936 39 Lundeen, Hon. Ernest. even Crimes Against Youth...... Mar.-Apr., .May- June, 1936 Nov.-Dec., .... May-June, May-June, 1936 une, 1936 .Mar.-Apr., 1936 . Mar.-Apr., Page 2 19 NUwonNwwunnd Nh N ~~ 40 23 20 Volume XX—Numbers 1 to 4. M Maintaining Professional Control of Schools in Pevest tion to Dominant Political Interests. Editorial.. .. Sept.-Oct., 1935 Memphis Union Wrecked by Politicians May-June, 1936 Mental Health of Teachers. Dr. James Frederick Rogers..Sept.-Oct., 1935 Mexico, Educational Policies in Moral Education. H. L. Lath re (ite. Te Mexico Sends Fraternal Greetings .. Nov.-Dec., 1935 Milk and Money. Florence Jane Ovens - Sept.-Oct., 1935 Moral Education. Educational Senne in Mexico. 1935 1935 Latham ........ a i. ... Nov.-Dec., Mullin, Warren D. Armaments vs. Social “Security... ... May-June, 1936 Month Page Morrison, Frank. Labor ‘Day 1935... ' ---- Sept.-Oct., National Legislative Front.... w---ee-- May-June, 1936 National News of the Federation....Mar.-Apr., 1936 16; May-June, 1936 New Federal Organizations, by Lawrence F. Schmecke- bier. i ease Nov. -Dec., 1935 New International Year Book, 1933 & 1934. Reviewed by Michael B. Scheler .... Sept.-Oct., 1935 New Locals... ..Sept.-Oct., 1935 30; Nov.-Dec., 1935 Inside Cover; Mar. -Apr.. . 1936 ‘15; May- June, 1936 Inside Cover. New Standard Year Book, 1933 & 1934. a head Michael B. Scheler... .. Sept.-Oct., New York Situation. George Davis. “Supp. “Bulletin... Sept.-Oct., New York ean —erewregager Articles & Editorials. Supp. Bulletin... .Sept.-Oct., 1935 News from Locals. New ‘York; “State Teachers’ “College, Milwaukee; Atlanta; Philadelphia; Toledo; Milwau- kee; Cleveland; Butte; West Allis, Wis.; Pontiac; St. Louis; Michigan State Federation..........................-. Nov.-Dec., Camden, N. J.; Butte..............---.-cscssssssoeeeeyeeneereesneessesees Mar.-Apr., Chica 0; Bridgeport; Cleveland; St. Louis; Atlanta; Duluth; Ohio State Fed.; Detroit; San Mateo, Cal.; | ee Mar.-Apr., Chicago (Local 3) ; St. Paul (Local 28); New Orleans; Chattanooga- Hamilton County; Toledo; Trenton; Phila.; New York; Penna. State Fed.; Minn. State Fed.; Cal. State Fed... Niebuhr, ‘Dr. Linville Balked Union Peace Plan. Bulletin .. Nine Ways to Kill an Organization... 1935 26 1935 1935 7 1936 5-6 1936 17 ~‘aed -June, 1936 .» 1935 mk oy 1936 O Office Workers Seek Solutions. Jean Carter..... Otis, Jay F. Libraries and the Unemployed... Ovens, Florence Jane. Milk and Money — Sept.-Oct., ..... Sept.-Oct., Sept.-Oct., 1935 1935 1935 P Pennsylvania C *hild Labor Law Signed . .. Sept.-Oct., 1935 Pennsylvania “‘Investigates’’ Its Schools........ .....- May-June, 1936 Phillips, John A. About a State Federation of Labor........ Mar. -Apr., 1936 Pierce, David H. The Union and the Press.......................-§ Sept.-Oct., 1935 Plans for American TeacHeR. Editorial... ---e Mar.-Apr., 1936 Power of Non- vee: * Richard B. Gregg. "Review. Sept.-Oct., 1935 Preisler, Paul W. Louis Local Fights anti-Union . May-June, 1936 “United ..... Sept.-Oct., 1935 ule President’s Address to 19th Annual Convention. for Democracy in Education and the Nation Progress, A Year of... = ... Sept.-Oct., 1935 Program and Membership. | ae NR RESeR NRE May-June, 1936 Progress in Cooperation. The A.F.T. and the A.A.U.P. Arnold Shukotoff .- .May-June, 1936 Proportional Representation “Pian “Proposed for A.F.T. Report of Sub-Committee on Voting Procedure.......... Mar.-Apr., 1936 R Race Discrimination—Trade Unions Seek to End.............. Rating System: Anti-Union bg on. Matthew wenemnnan 9 "Se Real Problem of the Schools. Thornburg... ... Sept.-Oct., Redirecting Education, Vol. iL Europe & Canada, edited Rexford G. Tugwell & Leon H. Keyserling. Re- NS SLE TA EE Sept.-Oct., Report of the. National Survey of Potential Product Ca- peony. New York City Housing Samerny and Div. ERB Reviewed by Joel Seidman... .. Nov.-Dec., 1935 Benhving a Dual —-;, John H. Walker...................... May-June, 1936 Rich Man, Poor Man, by Rylis A. and Omar P. Goslin. Reviewed by Michael B. Scheler Nov.-Dec., 1935 maen ) to War, by Walter Millis. Reviewed by F. Melvyn Nov.-Dec., 1935 Rulers James Frederick, M.D. Teachers’ Mental Health..Sept.-Oct., 1935 of America, ay Seems sediester. Reviewed by Lawson Eugene C. Hohnes... iain ..May-June, 1936 Sept.-Oct., 1935 1936 1935 1935 AMERICAN TEACHER Index S St. Louis Local em anti-Union Rule. Paul W. Preisler arinaciiaasdaiaedsiRiamiah San Diego, Controversy in.. Scheyer, David. American ‘Newspaper Guild Seacroft. F. M. Goodhue... Security in the Professions. “Albion A. Hartwell Shukotoff, Ares. a rogress in Cooperation. The A.F. T. and the A.A Significant Facts ne ‘American Education. Six Enemies of Peace. Smith, t E. A. ; So This Fie ~aeamnneenenase "Sept. -Oct., Social Reforms—Teachers Asked to Lead Social Security, Armaments vs. Warren D. Social Studies, William McAndrew, editor. by H. L. Latham Socializing Our Democracy, by Harry W. Laidler. viewed by Joel Seidman scsennaninendl Source of Power. Editorial... Saiiinedisencnil State Federation of Labor. John A. Phillips. Statement of Convention Issues. George Davis Ex litorial.. Communication to Local Unions, ,1935 16; Mullin...) Reviewed T Taxation for Schools. Harold M. Groves Taxation, Letter on. Hiram B. Loomis Taxes—Teachers and. M. J. Eck... Teacher and the Consumer Cooperative Movement. W. Johnston ainledcasiaal Teachers and Taxes. J. Eck... Teachers’ Mental Health. Dr. James Frederick Rogers.. Teachers Union in Action Mar.-Apr., 1936 16; Teachers Unions vs. Company Unions. Editorial........... Tenure in California. Anna Dart............ Tenureless Tenure. Editorial They Say... Thomson, Mare: aret M. Youth on Relief in : Minneapolis. Thornburg, I ». H. Real Problem of the Schools.. Thurstone, L. L., The Vectors of Mind. Reviewed by H. L. Latham... sie Trade Unions Seek End of Race Discrimination. Tryon, Rolla M., The Social Sciences as School Subjects. Reviewed by H. L. Latham.... a Two-Unit Plan at Mt. Holyoke College... “Elmer U Jnion and the Press. David H. Pierce. Inion Officials Keep Membership Despite “‘Red” Row. Supp. Bulletin Inited for Democracy in Education ‘and the Nation. Address of President to 19th Annual Convention Inprofessional Conduct. Victor R. Jewett... . ™ Jphaus, Willard E. Campus Issues and the New Leader H. R. Hazel... Victory in Cleveland. C. of C. Thwarted. i A. Fitch. Re- Vocational Guidance in Action, by John viewed by Florence E. Clark......... W Walker, John H. Resolving a Dual Situation.. ; Walsh, Sara T. John Brophy on Industrial Unionism WwW ashington Hearing. Report by George Davis.. 4 Wisconsin Rapids Union embers Discriminated Ag 8 OY eee ; a aT we cae Teachers Should Join the A.F.T. W %, Keep Them Alive? ‘by Paul de Kruif. Reviewed by M. J. Fruchter... Wight, M. A. Doing Things Together it in a Democr: acy.. Women Workers re ects of Technological ( Changes Studied By U. S. Women’s Bureau : Jer rome Y Year of Progress Youth on Relief in Minneapolis. Margaret M. Thomson ite Nov.-Dec., . May-June, 1936 .. Sept.-Oct., ... Mar.-Apr., ... Mar.-Apr., 1936 ...May-June, 1936 Sept.-Oct., Nov.-Dec., September 1935 to June 1936 Month -.- May-June, 1936 ...May-June, 1936 Mar.-Apr., 1936 1935 .. May-June, 1936 1935 1936 amp ey Mar.-Apr., ..Mar.-Apr., 1936 1935 1935 May-June, 1936 ov.-Dec., 1935 1935 1936 Nov.-Dec.. Sept.-Oct., May-June, 1936 .. Sept.-Oct., 1935 - Nov.-Dec., 1935 ... Sept.-Oct., 1935 Nov.-Dec., 1935 Sept.-Oct., 1935 May-June, 1936 m4 June, 1936 ..Mar.-Apr., 1936 .. Sept.-Oct., 1935 . Nov.-Dec., 1935 Mar.-Apr., 1936 1935 1935 1935 Nov.-Dec., 1935 Sept.-Oct., .. Sept.-Oct., 1935 Sept.-Oct., 1935 Sept.-Oct., 1935 Sept.-Oct., 1935 ... May-June, 1936 Nov.-Dec., 1935 May-June, 1936 .. Sept.-Oct., 1935 ..May-June, 1936 May-June, 1936 ...May-June, 1936 . May-June, 1936 ..Nov.-Dec., 1935 Mar.-Apr., 1936 ... May-June, 1936 .Nov.-Dec., 1935 Nov.-Dec., 1935 Sept.-Oct., 1935 Mar.-Apr., 1936 why oan Ne 0D eownorwnw Nov nour mh ~~ ——————— — Vor. XX ———_—_—_—— SS THE AMERICAN TEACHER SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1935 United for Democracy in Education and the Nation President’s Address to the Nineteenth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Teachers At no time in the history of the American School System has the professional leadership in that field been as thoroughly aware of the importance of its position in American life—social, economic, and political. Al- though at no time has the educator been remiss in attempting to approach scientifically the problems which face a constantly changing civilization, catastrophe and suffering have hurled him suddenly into the arena before an audience not so much desirous of fixing the cause for the present dilemma as in shifting the oppro- brium. Questions directed at discovering solutions for wrongs strongly entrenched in national life fall upon ears deafened by prejudice and greed. His honesty of purpose is denied; his erstwhile position of leadership is ridiculed by the press and the public tongue. Yet such accusations as would destroy the position which he has long held only furnish further proof that the schools and the educator are at the very center of national life. To understand more completely the predicament in which he, with other leadership, now finds himself, one may have recourse to the revelations of history. At least, on the side of the interpretation to be made of the reactions of social groups throughout the ages, one may begin to appreciate the reason why those who would by scientific investigation and experimenta- tion increase the knowledge of humanity once more should be bound beneath the searchlight of unreasoning criticism and fear. During the darker days of the Middle Ages those who employed themselves in the search for truth suffered. In the fields of medicine, mathematics, and religion they were criticized, perse- cuted, and delivered to death. Their search was termed blasphemy, “emanations of the devil,” by those less learned and too often utterly ignorant of the need for such investigations and even startling revelations. The little worlds in which men then lived socially, politically, and economically have indeed broadened, but their inhabitants are just as prone to accuse fool- ishly in the face of unexpected reversals. In this light we may better understand why a professionally sci- entific group should again suffer from those who live largely to themselves in a world seeking readjustment. While both accused and accuser will admit that the blessings of knowledge today are the fruits of those who pioneered, we are startled to learn that further efforts in emulation must be terminated. We are forced to a position of defense. Democracy is largely the direct product of the procedures followed by the educator. Without public schools offering equal opportunity for knowledge and training in democratic functioning, rep- resentative democracy would be an impossibility. We have only to look to the prophetic utterances of the fathers of the Constitution to realize that we have gone rt in developing the idealism which gave their words power. One who would now cripple and destroy this institution by ill-conceived criticism and abuse cannot lay the slightest claims to the sentiments which he insists are so utterly lacking in the leadership of the schools. According to Bismarck, “The nation that has the schools has the future.” Furthermore, the schools have become rightfully the scientific laboratories in which new facts are sought and old ones are tested. In the interests of youth and of future generations we are resolved that the educator still has the right to discover by a scientific approach new truth. As to methods of procedure to be employed he is the logical social factor for determining. He is as distinctly fitted for his profession as the doctor, the lawyers, or the nurse. Except as specialists in these various fields he does not presume to dictate to those of other vocations. It is due to confusion in thinking that leads him who has been successful in the march of trade to believe that he may dictate the programs and policies of educational institutions and the curricula of the schools. Financial success does not posit the super- ior understanding of problems not immediately con- nected with that particular activity. To cross over the boundaries of this experience into a totally different one is only to lend evidence to prove the truth of that ancient assertion that, “A little knowledge is a bad thing.” We will admit that it has been largely a process of trial and error that has brought us thus far along the high road of civilized progress. As it has been prac- ticed in business, so also has it characterized human effort in every trade, profession, or social activity. In order to achieve any marked degree of perfection such failure and success is correlate with man’s effort to rise to higher planes. While it is not contemplated, neither is it denied as less than the expected. To deny the attempt is to frustrate the development of man and lower him to a level with the brute. It must continue. Crippled with the hope of success, it animates and inspires ; even the realization of error is brightened by the joy of having attempted; to have reached up even though the grasp proved short, leads to enriched living. It is to pursue this academic right that the educator has given his life and talent. In defense of this right and the citizens of tomorrow the American Federation of Teachers present a united front and will here deter- mine a program ‘of action. They will perfect plans for enrolling greater numbers of like-minded professionals into their ranks to the increased efficiency of the schools and the advancement of our Nation along the path of representative democracy and peace. Granted a very certain knowledge of the difficulties which impede our program from without we may only proceed slowly after we have ascertained the problems which face us from within. A few well-timed words 4 from the address of Dr. Henry R. Linville, last year, stated the first, a fundamental one, as follows: We may well ask whether we may hope for social and educational stabilization without doing more in the schools than we have been doing. It could hardly be expected that we can avoid doing more. The pro- tection of the schools involves the adequate social education of the nation’s teachers. . . . The broad edu- cation of teachers to an adequate understanding of social problems is a necessity not only for the social education of the young, but also for the raising of the level of effectiveness of public education. Such a situation evinces itself in the personnel of many institutions. It is in the effort to eradicate this evil that an even graver peril than ignorance of social problems arises. This statement is not intended as a reflection on the above quotation ; that is all too gravely justified, but it should be accompanied by another ob- servation which current experience has forced upon us, namely, the very effort of many teachers to broaden their understanding of social problems has so far resulted in a narrowing of their viewpoint and a divorcing of their interests. At least, the resultant of this endeavor has apparently in many quarters fur- nished us within the labor movement with one of our major responsibilities. All too often schisms and fac- tions have formed around certain central social ideas which have resulted in individuals and groups of individuals affiliating with parties and interests whose ultimate aims are not alone detrimental to but actively destructive of the purposes and program of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor. If this factor is serving to divorce loyal teachers from the primary ends to which they have taken oath, it would seem that the formation of locals and the insti- tution of new objectives of study were not pursued sufficiently in educating the membership to any funda- mental appreciation of the Labor Movement. Certainly, our organization and our methods of accomplishment are subject to change, but this danger accompanies the course which we would follow. We must fight for the application of a principle against the substitution of some new system. This does not carry with it any denial to the individual of the right to participate in the activities of any political or religious group of his own choosing, but it does mean that utter loyalty to his Country and his Union is demanded. Subversive interests may not be tolerated. There is no place in the Labor Movement for those who would seek first the interests of other than that declared in accord with the ideals of representative democracy. Hence, education of the teacher in the problems fac- ing modern society consists neither in discursive survey and nominal affiliation, nor in the specialized attention which leads to alienation and unrest. It does not mean the adoption of a system as a cure for economic ills and social unrest. Our education must lay emphasis on the enlightenment of the individual in the operation of a democracy. Since “Cooperation is not a sentiment, but an economic necessity” (Charles Steinmetz), we must learn that the real good to be obtained through organi- zation is the improvement of the individual for coopera- tion, that he may be freed from ignorance and intol- erance and inspired with the desire to serve. Under this banner there is a place for those of every creed or race or belief. We have committed the Golden Rule to memory; this is an opportunity to put it into practice. Such an endorsement does not preclude scientific investigation and experimentation; rather, it encour- THE AMERICAN TEACHER ages the culture of better attitudes and leads to a greater general elevation of society. A thorough educa- tion in the problems of society is to be encouraged by every means available to the educator, but the official sanction of interests foreign to the national good stil] are to be most carefully avoided and even in theory most discretely advanced. Even though there are those who might regard any pretense on our part to offer leadership to the majority of our profession as the most naive effrontery, never- theless, our affiliation with the five and more million of the organized men and women in labor does place us in a rather unique position to offer both leadership and security. This conclusion brings us to the second internal problem which should weigh heavily in our considerations. There has been much talk, especially of the last few years, that the growth of our union is impeded by the fear of the manner in which such an affiliation of the teachers would be received by the general public. Such a consideration is, of course, a natural one. It should receive respectful attention. However, in addition to a sincere desire not to antagonize unduly those outside of the labor movement, we must bear in mind that the very presence of antagonism imbedded in public opinion is largely because of the very failure of the teacher for so long to join with those to whom he is most deeply indebted. The cure rests in the intrinsic purpose which we hold for the whole program of enlarging our organization. We must create new atti- tudes by cultivating in mass thinking the proper regard for the creators of the world’s wealth. Thomas Carlyle would have so directed their attention, when he said, “The movement they call organized labor is the uni- versal, vital problem of the world.” We have neglected too long to advocate in the class room the truth expressed so succinctly by Abraham Lincoln, “Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital and deserves much the higher con- sideration.”” Advocacy of this truth must be made by precept and example in spite of fear to destroy fear. The members of the adult legislature of the land were once the students in some classroom. There the considerations which go into the framing of laws so destructive of the best interests of his former instructor and that instructor’s friends were formed. Thus, as has been previously stated in this paper, it is infinitely more difficult to achieve a program for stabilization and protection until the educator has been converted to a new attitude. Until the effort to psycho- analyze has reached beyond the brochurian and has reacted to change the individual himself, pupils will continue to ape the doctrines of the classroom and past sowings will reap present harvests. When, how- ever, a fundamental change has taken place in the human nature of the membership our second problem will reach solution. Threats of discrimination and actual persecution will cease; entire groups of those so actuated will in reality be bound together inseparably for the defense of their colleague and the program of an ever widening curricula of instruction. Conscious conviction will demand unity for defense as well as progress and growth. When the many locals of the American Federation of Teachers have learned this lesson and have advanced to this degree of understand- - —- © +o & “— oo ~~. +~ = oO a ee ee - I 1 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1935 ing, discrimination will cease and schism will be done away. Further, by this personal step upward in a knowl- edge of the ideals of Labor the teacher will come to an abiding conviction for need for closer and more intimate cooperation with the Labor Movement nation- ally and internationally. To our affiliates we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude. In spite of our derelic- tion, even Dr. John Dewey cannot fully express for us what Organized Labor has accomplished in spite of and too seldom with the teachers of America. They have received us as brothers into every trades body, where the teachers have organized, in sympathy as well as the most serious support. Would our conscience, at least, be not more at rest if we were to reciprocate more entirely ? It must be quite clear to the careful observer of national and world trends that with each new day the fears of those who refuse to bear their part in the blame for international confusion are steadily winning ground toward a refusal to accept much longer the attempts of those who would listen to the desires of the people. The beneficent skies of the New Deal are darkening. Dictatorial policies are becoming more rap- idly than ever the rule of the day. The very immediate, not the more distant, but the very immediate future wel- fare of those who labor, depends upon the teacher’s closer sympathetic cooperation with their affiliates. We have yet a long way to traverse in seeking to supplant ignorance with knowledge, that selfishness may be done away. The recent decision of the Supreme Court and the votes of the citizens of Rhode Island would declare a rapid departure from the conviction voiced by that indisputably American of Americans, Daniel Webster, when he vigorously declared, “The freest government cannot long endure when the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of the few, and to render the masses poor and dependent.” The only salvation for the social security of the people rests in the closest possible organization of all who labor. We must come to understand one another and our problems. We must pay the price of sacrifice and struggle that justice may prevail. With this mention of price in sacrifice and struggle, two closely allied ideas are conveyed. On the one hand, we have the sacrifice of time, the struggle to reconstruct misguided attitudes of mind and of social reaction. On the other hand, we must approach in our fourth problem one of the most difficult for our consideration and action. We cannot cite the cost of federation in other social, religious, and economic groups for fear of stumbling upon some of the almost a@ priori predis- positions and attitudes of the professional fraternity. We are either unwilling or indisposed to carry over into the defense mechanism of the Union a conviction which we have been forced to accept beyond dispute in many other of life’s relationships and institutions. We know that in the marts of trade we receive only that for which value is given. Faced by a crisis beyond that yet experienced in the annals of public free educa- tion in America we are still looking for an exception; we would have more, much more than that for which we render payment. This general, widespread attitude on the part of the membership is due no doubt in part to the more or less human frailties within the organization. The territory covered by our lines of affiliation are most extended. The Central Office, as a clearing house for all who draw upon its resources, seems at times far removed and ill-acquainted with the local or territorial difficulty. Its wealth and the lines of communication are imme- diately dependent upon the support given to it from the small and widely scattered membership. Various suggestions for solution have been made by the Execu- tive Council, but all have failed of adoption because of the more primary consideration which few desire to advocate, particularly at this time. This financial prob- lem must be thoroughly considered at this Convention and our definite recommendation made to the various parent locals. To checkmate the fear which exists even within the membership of certain of our locals, through a sound financial program more of security may be offered them. Such additional protection might even be extended to those who are looking toward our ranks in this day of uncertainty. A fund directed toward achieving this one objective has already been set up. While the policy of contributions has its obvious advantages, results do not speak so well for it. The advantages of an organi- zation which really protects the interests of its members cannot fail to attract many more into affiliation with us. A certain degree of economic security is open to us. Its strength will be in direct proportion to the financial sacrifice which we individually will to undergo. Fur- ther, our very life within the brotherhood of organized labor is directly dependent upon the constant coopera- tion and unity with which we maintain our group. Closer contacts must be made. And, although many of the divisions which arise from time to time for divers reasons within the separate locals must be autono- mously settled, yet a national awareness, achieved in time, might be of utmost assistance to them. It is most certain that a decidedly more perfect machinery of organization and cohesion should be set up. These five problems within the organization; funda- mental social education, faction, fear, fraternalism, and finance by no means complete the list. They do, how- ever, in their inter-relation demand the careful con- sideration and action of this deliberative body that we may more successfully meet the challenge for which we exist and proceed with growth through organization. First, the education of the teacher to a fuller knowl- edge of current social problems, even if it becomes an incentive to more courageous instruction, can result only in the gradual evolutionary dissolution of attitudes hostile to organized labor. It may be accompanied by two grave results. On the one hand, unless such study is maintained on the basis of strict scientific investiga- tion and experimentation, alienation of affiliation or actual divorce of interest may result. Our second prob- lem—factions, follows. On the other hand, the inves- tigation and experiment may arouse idle speculation by those unacquainted with the license which the edu- cator should enjoy and a threat to tenure and academic freedom arise. The first and last of these problems await the development of a solidity of group conscious- ness within the teaching personnel which, by offering security, can furnish protection and a bulwark of de- fense against attack from without. Unless the second danger, factionalism, is avoided, both of the other achievements are destroyed. All three situations, then, are dependent upon the degree of unity achievd within the group. This strength is very seldom determined by the initial size but rather attitude and idealism of the nucleus around which the local grows, to the destruc- tion of internal dissension and the overthrow of the 6 general ignorance which breeds fear. And lastly, to the extent that the individual member feels his financial and fraternal responsibility, will come the local and national power for protection and growth—the stabilization of the schools and the heightened efficiency of the educa- tional program for a democratic commonwealth. When we have determined in our individual hearts to develop such an attitude; when we have collectively enacted such a program, then may we proceed with the fulfillment of the dreams of our Secretary-Treasurer to secure the realization of the six major purposes of the American Federation of Teachers in serving the edu- cational program of our Nation: 1. It can and must develop such a loyalty of teachers to each other that no teacher will accept the position of another teacher who has been unjustly dismissed. THE AMERICAN TEACHER 2. It will organize the teachers in such strength that they will determine the standards of their calling and raise these standards to a level of excellence 3. It will, through continued group solidarity and intel- ligent militancy, protect freedom of teachers. #. It will help our locals to a fuller knowledge and understanding of each other and a fuller cooperation with the social purpose of the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Labor, It will establish teaching on a sound basis of ade. quate compensation and security of tenure in order that only the ablest and most self-respecting may be the teachers of our children. ' 6. It will work together with other social agencies to build a saner economic world in which social justic will prevail. ai Highlights of the Cleveland Convention The 1935 Convention of the American Federation of Teachers opened auspiciously the morning of August 26 with a record attendance of delegates and visitors. Thomas J. Donnelley, secretary-treasurer, Ohio State Federation of Labor, got the Convention off to a good start with a keynote speech emphasizing the devotion of Labor to the Public Schools and the need of unity and solidarity of all workers. The Get-Together-Luncheon on Monday at which representatives from various sections of the country outlined conditions as they found them was declared by many to be the finest meeting in A.F.T. history. Fraternal delegates were present from the Canadian Teachers Federation and the Federacion Escolar Na- cional, the teachers’ union of Cuba. Mr. C. N. Crutch- field, general secretary, Canadian Teachers Federation, brought an inspiring message and constructive criticism. He expressed himself as surprised, and apparently was disappointed, at the extent to which politics occupied the convention. He said they appeared the paramount interest. Miss Rosa Sanchez gave a thrilling account of con- ditions in the Cuban schools. She was enthusiastically received. . James Wilson, for many years vice-president of the American Federation of Labor, as the personal repre- sentative of President William Green, addressed the convention on Wednesday. He urged upon the mem- bers of the A.F.T. a full realization of their respon- sibility in the present crisis and the need of unity and solidarity. He emphasized Labor’s devoted support of public education, past and present, and pledged its continuance. The fine clarification of Labor’s social and economic principles and the warm interest in the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers brought enthusiastic re- sponce from the delegates. Academic Freedom, a major issue in education today, was a major topic of the convention. James J. Stewart, teacher of social science, Plumville, Pennsylvania, elo- quently gave his experiences. Mr. Stewart's case illus- trates one of the many dangers confronting teachers who are without adequate tenure safeguard. Mr. Stewart, in relating to his class how the United States came into possession of the territory on which is built the Panama Canal, committed the crime of quoting Theodore Roosevelt’s laconic phrase, “I took it.””. When Mr. Stewart’s temporary certificate neared expiration, he was given so low a rating by the County Superin- tendent, Dr. James P. Chapman, that the State refused him a permanent certificate. Mr. Stewart charged that Dr. Chapman gave him a low rating to prevent him from continuing as a teacher. After court action had been started by the Civil Liberties Union, Dr. Chapman agreed to submit Mr. Stewart’s rating to a disinterested educator. The latter rated him satisfactory, and Dr. Rule signed Mr. Stewart’s permanent certificate. Another attack on academic freedom and _ teachers’ security in Pennsylvania is that of Dr. Winslow N, Hallett, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pennsylvania. Dr. Hallett was a delegate from his Local No. 359, The militant fight and the plans for combatting this grave injustice were outlined by Dr. Hallett. From California came a third case, that of Victor R. Jewett, a delegate of Bay Cities Local 349. A series of attacks aimed at Mr. Jewett, Junior High School teacher, Eureka, culminated July 2 and 3, 1935, in state- wide newspaper and radio statements that the Board of Education had voted to suspend him on charge of “un professional conduct.” Although not permitted by the California teachers’ civil service law—the Tenure Act— this action came shortly after the failure of an admitted attempt to force his resignation by a 20% salary cut. Newspaper reports featured the charge by “loyal em- ployees” that they saw Jewett on the picket line during the current lumber strike. Doubtless the false impres- sion was left in many minds that the “unprofessional conduct” charge in Principal J. T. Glenn’s letter to the Board, had an actual basis in fact, although it was not backed by a single example. Mr. Jewett’s Defense Committee is composed of mem- bers of Bay Cities Federation of Teachers No. 349, San Francisco Federation of Teachers No. 61, and Cali- fornia State Federation of Teachers. A strong resolution protesting the cut as a threat against Civil Service, was adopted by the Central Labor Council of Alameda County, in Oakland. The pamphlet “Teachers on the Firing Line” ex- plaining the attack on Mr. Jewett and published by the Teachers Union Defense Committee contains this para- graph: What is the significance of this, and similar cases scattered across the country? The fate of a single person is not s0 important, but these cases indicate a menacing trend which must be resisted, if traditional American liberties are to anything more than meaningless words. The few who want t0 $$$ m M Ww ER that lj ng nce, it el- and tion tion bor, de- ‘der nay ; to tice rin- sed hat rim had nan ted Dr. rs’ iia. 59. his te- of m- the ted ut. m- ing eS- nal the 10t mn- an ili- eat or SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1935 maintain and extend their strangle hold on the means of life, at whatever cost to the many who are in need, conceal their own flouting of American principles of freedom, democracy, and a good life for all, by making loud attacks on all forward- looking ideas. Some fail to recognize this as the early steps in the establishment of a dictatorship such as that of Hitler, who used exactly similar methods. Some do not understand the strategy of the reactionaries in getting rid of the most pro- gressive individuals in schools, unions, or wherever they are, by raising a red scare over them. Having disposed of the more outspoken leaders, they find it easier to deal with the others, who thought themselves safe in their more cautious position. E. B. Pendleton, Ashtabula, Ohio, gave an enlighten- ing exposition of the situation in his city where three men teachers had been dismissed. After drastic cuts in salary and other curtailments in educational facilities, a petition for forming a teachers’ organization (not A.F.T. local) was circulated. A committee drew up excellent objectives which were presented to the super- intendent, who assured the committee that he was not opposed to a local teachers’ association. _However, no arrangement for the use of a school building as a meet- ing place could be made. Indirectly the answer has come. Three men of long and satisfactory experience were dismissed. 7 The forceful presentation of the Ashtabula situation carried home to the delegates the need of sound, effec- tive organization and the value of labor affiliation. Mr. George P. Hambrecht, Director, Vocational Education, State of Wisconsin and President, American Vocational Association, gave an inspiring talk on The Out-of-School Youth. The factional differences in the New York local occu- pied a large part of the attention of the Executive Coun- cil and the Convention. The decision not to revoke the charter was based on the belief that a better and less drastic method has been devised. Dissatisfaction with this decision caused the temporary withdrawal of a few delegates. We regret that these delegates absented themselves from the proceedings of our convention during the last few hours. The outgoing Executive Council had a plan of settle- ment and the present Executive Council, mindful of the New York problem, is considering a plan of settle- ment in harmony with the established principles of the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Labor. A Year of Progress The secretary-treasurer submitted a report gratifying in its indication of progress, with the organization financially solvent and with increasing activity and growth. The membership is the largest in the history of the American Federation of Teachers, the gain being 45.6% in number of locals and 12.1% in membership. Locals have been formed during the year in large industrial centers. Attention was directed to the attack upon organiza- tion coincident with the attack on public education, being in fact a part of the latter, the purpose being to prevent effective organization of teachers that can pro- tect the schools. The activities of the year were outlined. National and state legislation occupied an even larger part of attention than formerly. Tenure and federal aid for education were the chief objectives. In the combatting of Teachers Loyalty Oath legisla- tion, a bulletin and a pamphlet were prepared. Mem- bers are urged to purchase them as helpful in future legislative campaigns. A Critical Evaluation of the American Federation of Teachers by Aileen W. Robinson was published in attractive boqk form and the Legislative Report which gives our program and policy was reptinted. We are attempting to make the AMERICAN TEACHER a magazine which will command a greater interest among teachers. We are anxious to obtain suggestions as to format and content. Does the American Teacher serve the needs of the members of your Local? What items in the American Teacher interest you? Which do not ? What type or types of article should appear? Would you like to see featured other topics than those we mainly emphasize, that is promotion, teacher wel- fare, teaching conditions? Part of the magazine is printed in double column and part in triple column. Which set-up do you prefer? We hope to have a cover with color as soon as finances permit. Also we hope to return to nine issues a year, as formerly. We regard frequent issues of the official publication as important and valuable. To compensate in a measure for the bi-monthly in- stead of monthly publication of the AmERICAN TEACHER, we have published this year four bulletins, one a legislative report, one on War and Peace, one on Academic Freedom, and one on Loyalty Oaths for Teachers. The report concludes, In conclusion I wish to emphasise the need of unity and solidarity im our group. It is only by the union of all those who work that we can build a saner world. Our potential power is practically limitless if we will but unite upon a common program and proceed with the social vision and clarity of purpose which were ours at the birth of this organisation. We are faced with attack the like of which we have never known The epemies of the schools, the enemies of society are entrenched in power. The resources of wealth and propaganda are theirs. If we will be joined in truth and understanding. in loyalty and devotion to the cause to and we have known much. which we are dedicated, we cannot be defeated. Every evidence of lack of unity among us is cause for rejoicing among our enemies. Let us be too intelligent to permit them to be success- ful in their efforts to break the solidarity of our ronks. There are no differences which cannot be settled by calm deliberation around the council table. “United we stand; divided we fall.” Let us in truth and frankness and generosity and tolerance attack our problems. Nine years ago I was chosen to this office largely, I believe, because I am a temperamental optimist. I still am and in exalted hopes that the purpose of this organization as set forth in the Preamble and Article II of the Constitution will be realised, I submit this my final report to the Nineteenth Annual Con- vention of the American Federation of Teachers. THE AMERICAN The Real Problem of the Schools L. H. Thornburg January Harpers, 1934 carries an article which paints pictures of “Educators Groping for the Stars,” but this is only one side of the school problem. The other side presents the real crux of the school situation and it deals with local control of the schools. Only inci- dentally are the educators who are accused of groping connected with the present crisis in education. They are only incidentally connected because they have relin- quished their leadership in order to chase theories. The present need is with the here and now. It is not concerned so much with the future because what is happening to the schools now will determine that to a far greater extent than philosophical dicta or the- ories. Philosophers may come and philosophers may go but we still have with us the same school problems which have retarded progress for the last century. Public education has tried to reflect the changing needs of society, but it has bogged down in the process. The reflection has become more and more distorted. The real problems of education are more political than they are philosophical. They are political because that happens to be the way the schools are controlled —by politics, and often on a low plane at that. The truth of the matter is that many boards of education are mainly interested in keeping school expenses as low as possible, and this side of the educational problem takes precedence over all others at the present time. This curtailment of school revenues would not be so bad if it were planned on an orderly and scientific basis, but it isn’t. Many local school systems, and there are thousands of them scattered throughout the land, have cut school revenues without rhyme or reason during the depression. There is at present no effective educa- tional or political organization to halt these curtail- ments. Worse yet, there is none being planned with the authority to cope with this growing problem. Here then, is a job for the educators that does not call for theories but clever politics. It calls for this brand of politics because that is the kind which is used against the schools. As we entered this year 1934 we were still blessed with nearly 150,000 one room schools. On January 1, 1933, nearly 2,400 of these schools had closed their doors for lack of funds. The present situation is not greatly improved because nothing of importance has been done to open them during the past year. The federal government has opened the treasury and pro- vided funds by the millions of dollars for the railroads and banks. The N.R.A., A.A.A., H.O.L.C., F.E.R.A., and other initialed organizations have all been formed to aid recovery during the past year but what about the three C’s for the schools? What about character, citizenship, and culture? Can permanent financial re- covery ever be achieved unless these attributes of civilization are stressed more than they have ever been stressed before? Aren’t we as a nation of people suffer- ing from a cultural lag which only character and citizen- ship can cure? Why have the public schools been over- looked in this struggle of the socialization of the indi- vidual against rugged individualism? Here is a ready made institution (the public school) whose ideals and philosophy embraces all the concepts of the New Deal yet this institution is ignored in the struggle for recovery. Why is it that the Blue Eagle does not wave from the belfry of the little red school house? If the New Deal is to be permanent, how shall we achieve this permanency unless the oncoming generations are aroused to the necessity of change? If the schools are the laboratories of democracy and if more democracy is the ideal of the New Deal, why have the New Dealers forgotten the schools? How can the teachers in the public schools teach citizenship when they are not per- mitted to live this citizenship themselves? These are questions which demand an answer before the teachers in the public schools of the United States can take the New Deal seriously. How can they practice citizen- ship, how can they teach character and culture when one out of every four will receive less than $750.00 this year? How can 40,000 rural teachers who receive less than $450.00 in wages for their year’s work be expected to even maintain themselves in decency on such an income? How can our legislators complacently ignore the 2,280,000 American children who cannot attend school because their schools have closed or because their parents cannot pay tuition fees? Isn’t this proof that we as a nation of people are sadly lacking in those self-same virtues the schools are supposed to teach? The school terms in many states have been greatly reduced. Even before these reductions the average school year in the United States was considerably shorter than in France, England, Germany, Sweden, or Denmark. School enrollments have increased by 613,- 000 pupils and many other thousands will undoubtedly enroll as a result of the abolishment of child labor. Hun- dreds of schools are defaulting on their indebtedness. Thousands of teachers are being paid in scrip or war- rants they cannot cash. Thousands of others receive such a low wage that thev can scarcely pay their barest living necessities. Nearly one-third of the teaching personnel receives a wage lower than that paid the day laborer under the codes. As late as 1924, and this was one of the good vears, nearly 70% of the teachers were receiving less than $1,000 -per year. 30% were receiving less than $700, and 12% less than $450 annual wages. In the face of such conditions many of the educators still talk of far reaching social reforms or of remaking the social order through the schools. One wonders just how it is to be done. How do the teachers feel about a leadership which ignores these conditions, which solves one problem by ignoring it and proposing an- other? Teachers have always had to fight for the right toa decent living. Their tenure has always been insecure. Teaching has never been a real profession and for that matter it never will be until its personnel is balanced. At least half the teachers should be men. The social, psychological, and educational implications connected with the practice of employing a teaching personnel in which women outnumber men four to one is not healthy for the schools. The lack of vigor and aggressiveness which is now so apparent may be in a large part attrib- utable to this practice. Nature has provided for the equalization of the sexes with the result that the number of boys and girls are about equal in the grades. This equalization now caf- TEACHER 0Do Oo eee ars wf Ot ere ee ee Oe sh oOo ws n a0 0 © ase tly ge bly 3. dly SS. ar- ive est ing the his ers ere 50) ors ing ust out ich an- Da ire. hat ed. ial, ted in thy ess ‘ib- xes are SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1935 ries upward into the high schools and colleges. Because of the personal relationships and the close contacts between the teacher and the pupil it does not seem fair to deprive these youths of the influence more men teachers would bring to the schools. School boards engage in the practice of employing young women teach- ers between the period of their own schooling and marriage largely because young women teachers can be employed for less money. If this is not so, why is it that nearly 80% of the teaching personnel in the United States is women? Such a practice keeps men out of teaching because they cannot maintain a home or a family on the wages paid these young women teachers. School boards also engage in the practice of employing their own relatives, and it is not uncom- mon to find half the teachers in some school systems either relatives of school board members or local young women who received their appointments because their parents were influential with the school board. The short tenure of those who use teaching as a stepping- stone t2 marriage or other vocations helps to keep standards and wages low. It is also perhaps the great- est single factor in keeping teaching from being a profession. In many localities teachers are denied the ordinary political rights accorded other citizens, and again the reason is obvious. Women are not usually members of the Chambers of Commerce, of Rotary or Kiwanis. These are the organizations around which the economic life of the community centers. Men teachers being out- numbered four to one by women, are placed in the same category as the women. Because they are teachers the community unconsciously places them outside its major activities. They can attend church, sing in the choir, belong to a fraternal organization, and teach school, but they must never attend the Chamber of Commerce and offer constructive suggestions. They are supposed not to have any. They are supposed to know nothing of business, finance, or taxes. They must not offer advice about the character building institutions in the community irrespective of the fact that character build- ing is a chief function of the schools. Their job is to teach from books what some one else said about some- thing which has already taken place, and all the better if the person they quote is a rugged individualist. Their light, such as it may be, must be hid under a bushel and its only glimmerings must be in line with the Status quo. Various states erect barriers against teachers from outside their borders in order to supply jobs to the graduates from their own institutions. This may appear to be a highly desirable procedure, but state lines do not exist for the intercommunication of citizens. Mod- ern methods of transportation bind us together as a whole nation of people and not as separate states. Our citizens travel east, west, north, and south, and educa- tion is national in scope even though it is still locally controlled. Intellectual pursuits are not defined by state borders. Why should states erect barriers against teachers from other states because a line was once sur- veyed designating land boundaries Is this the way to solve the problem of overproduction of teachers? Why should colleges and universities engage in struggles against each other for students? Why should teacher training institutions want more graduates when they cannot place those they do graduate? Will more teach- ers solve the problem or does not the solution rest elsewhere? Is it not true that education and experience do not count for much in a school system which ignores 9 these qualifications, which continually casts out the experienced in order to make room for the beginners? After all, is not the teacher problem economic, more than it is educational? The great annual turnover of teachers keeps the schools in a constant state of flux and uncertainty. The economic waste involved is likewise a factor well worth considering. The cost to the states in financing their teacher training institutions is con- siderable. Teachers who benefit by such training only to use it for a year or two cost more than those who make teaching their life’s work. If the truth be known, there is no other great nation in the world which treats its teachers with such little regard as does the United States. Students of education who would challenge this statement need only refer to the status of the teachers in Germany, England, France, Denmark, or Italy. Judged by the leadership education has had in recent years the teachers are not at fault for present school conditions, even those within the class rooms. They have always been between the cross-fire of the school administrators on the one hand and the board of school control on the other. The boards of education control the purse-strings and the administrators set the stand- ards. The teachers are thus blessed with the unique position of serving two masters neither of which is greatly interested in their welfare, whether it be eco- nomic, social, or educational. They have never had a voice in school control or planning as this is supposed to be taken care of by the administrators and the school boards. They are considered as workmen in our educa- tional factories to be hired and fired at will, regardless of the personal, educational, or economic waste in- volved. Under existing practices they have but little recourse to justice notwithstanding the state laws which pretend to protect their rights. Any society which keeps its teachers virtually in a state of economic bondage cannot expect much in the way of educational results from its school system. Any reorganization of the schools must give the teachers a larger place and greater responsibility if it is to be successful. Instead of one system unified and integrated, the United States has forty-eight separate state systems of education. Each state has divested itself of much of its authority by giving it to the smaller districts. As a result we have thousands of local school systems each practically a law unto itself. Such local autonomy may have been excellent practice when we were largely an agricultural people, but that day is past. The big diffi- culty is that those who now control the schools will not admit it. They still wish to control the schools by methods which worked in the days of the ox cart. This is especially true in obtaining school revenues. The present taxing system is not based upon ability to pay but upon the tangible property of the dsitrict. The problem of changing these obsolete methods of obtain- ing school funds is intensified because of the scattered school control and the lack of any centralized govern- mental authority to give it force and direction. From the signing of the Constitution down to the present time the national government and the various state governments have had very little to say about the schools. What authority they now exercise has been bitterly contested in almost every instance by the local communities. The people of the United States certainly believe in local control when twelve states out of the forty-eight are able to boast of two school board mem- bers to each teacher employed. This scattered local control and the lack of any centralized authority has 10 left the schools open to attack by the short-sighted and selfish interests. It has been relatively easy for a cer- tain group in each community to control school revenues by exerting economic pressure upon local school boards. This is one reason for the present deplorable conditions in the schools today. In the larger communities the schools are invariably controlled by bankers, business men, and industrialists, and they have sacrificed public education during this depression because dollars are more precious to them than a good school system. The one answer to this problem is to balance school control by reasserting the right of equal representation for the common man. He has had some education made avail- able for his children, but it has been education without representation, because he has had little to say about the schools. In theory he has had his chance to serve on school boards but it has not worked in practice. Both the school administrators and that minority group which has controlled the schools have largely ignored his interests. In all fairness, the masses of the people should have educational representation. The workmen, the artisan, the laborer has a daring spirit because he has yet to make his stake. He is not afraid of change but will welcome a reorganization of the school system if he can see that he is to benefit thereby. Most important of all, he will see to it if he has equal representation on school boards, that the necessary taxes are levied to maintain the schools. Part of this crisis in the public schools is due to poverty which is actual and does exist in school districts, and part of it is due simply to the refusal of school authorities to levy sufficient taxes to meet school needs. The educators will hold a better hand in the educational game if they will place more faith in the common man. Our schools need a thoroughgoing reorganization from top to bottom, but that will never be brought to pass as long as one particular class in our society controls the schools. It is to the interests of this minority group to keep the schools as they are because good schools cost money. The reorganization must include more good teachers and at least half of them men, to teach well what is to be taught. What is now taught should not be added to, until we have done one job well. We do not need more theories or more courses but more good teachers. Overcrowded class rooms, mass production, piece-meal methods of instruction must be abolished. This nation is wealthy enough to maintain decent schools. If we have not yet learned how, let us take lessons from those nations which have. Above all, a school system which is based upon growth, freedom and becoming, is impos- sible unless the teachers themselves are growing free and becoming, members of a teaching personnel, self- determining and responsible to the social regime in which they function. Economic bondage and slavery to the existing status quo will ever be the lot of teach- ers until the present educational system is reorganized from the top down. The changes so greatly needed today must be imposed from above because they will never be initiated by the present school boards which control the educational systems of the United States. Boys and girls are not to be considered as cogs in an educational factory. Going through an educational mill whose hopper is fed from the upper educational levels with theories guarantees nothing, least of all an education. If we have mistaken means for ends, husks for kernels, and forms for substance, shall we add more THE TEACHER AMERICAN of these and forget the ends? If we have stressed the system rather than the education of boys and girls, shall we enlarge it or purify it? We have in practice stressed quantity rather than quality, and numbers graduated rather than intellectual achievements. We have stressed architectural splendors in the form of buildings, but bricks and mortar and fine buildings do not make a school. In our inconsistencies we have glorified 150,000 one room schools by calling them little red school houses, when, as a matter of fact, they were dull, dingy, and gray, thousands of them without mod- ern sanitary accommodations, and the majority of them with new and untried teachers. We have regimented classes, overcrowded class rooms, mass production fac- tory methods of instruction, samplings of this subject and that subject—all this we have called education, but is it? Here are but a few of the problems facing the edu- cators in this year 1934, and what are they going to do about it? They have laid claim to leadership in the press, over the radio, and in the schools—what are they going to do about it? Many of these educators must learn to use the forces available. They must use their own psychological the- ory of moving from the known—the now, and what is. The gap between theory and practice is already too wide. The quickest way to solve it is to make a begin- ning toward solving immediate problems. If the present educational leadership cannot meet the challenge, they should give the teachers a chance. They at least have their feet on solid ground, and they are not greatly concerned with theories. An open school house door, with books and supplies for the pupils and bread and butter for the teachers, provides the chal- lenge for 1934. Almost daily some periodical carries an article deal- ing with the depression and its challenge to the teachers but this is only half of the story. The real challenge is to the administrators and the school boards. They are the ones who are largely responsible for the sad plight of the schools today. The teachers were not the ones who squandered the school funds during the years of prosperity because the incomes of the teachers have always been extremely low. Poor management, lack of planning, and lack of an integrated and unified national school system provide the answer for the plight of the schools today. The public schools of the United States must be taken out of the hands of the minority group which now controls them. The quickest way to do this is for teachers throughout the country to align themselves with labor organizations, and they can best do this by joining the American Federation of Teachers. The federal government should immediately classify all teachers and provide them with an educational code. They should have the right to organize the same as other workers, because their economic status is prac- tically the same and for that matter it always has been. As the status of the teachers improves, public educa- tion will improve. Forty-eight separate states with thousands of local school districts will never pull together or provide a system of education which will meet the challenge of reorganization. The greatest need of the public schools is a strong federal interest and activity in the problem of education. Public education must have a new deal instead of the raw one it is now getting. —__~ SpePTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1935 11 The Teacher and the Consumer Cooperative Movement Elmer W. Johnston The American teacher in the last six years has been given to realize in a most painful and pertinent manner that he now stands at the crossroads of his career. A challenge has been laid down to him to the effect that he must choose whether he will continue his former prosaic existence in the “ivory tower” of insulated intellectualism or face the facts of life and go out to conquer them. One of the saddest spectacles in Amer- ica in these recent difficult days has been the manner in which the great majority of American teachers have faced a national emergency. It is all too true that the difficulties which many teachers must meet today were brought about, if not by deliberate action of the teachers themselves, at least with their silent acquiescence. We have all heard the saying that people generally get the government they deserve. If this be true, and there is strong historical presumption for believing so, then teachers can largely blame only themselves for the dilemma in which they are now placed. Certainly, if teachers as a group had actively exerted the influence which their position and numbers warranted and had directed that influence toward the study of and partici- pation in new ways of living more fitted to the circum- stances of a mechanized environment, they would not now find themselves the unwilling victims of a crumb- ling economic order. When cases of exploitation and suppression have been brought to their attention, when striking workers have appealed to liberal minded citi- zens for support against autocratic employers, when children have appeared in their classrooms semi-starved and underclothed, when “radical” teachers have been fired for the free expression of their views, when cheap politicians have stolen their right to a living wage under the pretext of “protecting the taxpayer,” the teachers in the past have looked the other way. We admit that many teachers have given liberally of their small stipend to well-meaning charitable works, yet this is but a negative way of trying to correct an evil. If the teacher is to become teacher in deed as well as word, he must begin to take an active part in the daily business of life itself, and find out for himself his true and proper relationship to his society, following which he can map out for himself a course of action con- structive in nature and suited to the times of which he is a part. That he has begun to realize this necessity is evi- denced by the growth of the American Federation of Teachers in the past few years. Teachers are learning the power of united effort exerted toward a common objective, salary schedules have been maintained, liberal- minded teachers have found a new sense of freedom in the classroom and in public, and in general it might be said that the American teachers has slowly been develop- ing a group consciousness. Yet we would point out that although the teacher within his group is learning a new relationship technique, he is still working within the frame of the old economic system and that, apart his union organization, if some vital change does not occur in the economic picture he stands to repeat the experience of the recent depression if a like emer- gency ensues, and which economic history tells us we can reasonably expect. Hence the teacher finds it neces- sary to ask some pertinent questions as to the line of economic thought he should pursue and the resulting action he may be required to take. It is our purpose to show how the teacher may be the leader on the road to a new and more highly civilized economic order. “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” Many otherwise sensible people have believed in the past that pressure upon politicians, donations to relief organizations, slum clearance projects, doles to the unemployed, labor organizations, free medical and other services, vocational guidance, and a host of other simi- lar activities were the paths to lead us out of the woods of depression and distress. Past events show that these activities, worthwhile enough in themselves, after all is said and done are merely efforts to correct conditions after they have been created by forces which such ameliorative activities do nothing to prevent or change. In fact, in some cases they actually make the conditions worse, as for instance, the dole system which in its final analysis is nothing more than an admission by industry that it has failed to pay a living wage, so that the dif- ference between starvation and minimum subsistence must be made up by taxation of the public. Such a dole not only gives the recipient something for nothing but removes his incentive to better his condition through his own efforts. Socially motivated individuals with charitable inclina- tions for centuries have been crying out against the evils of exploitation and suppression of the working classes and have invented all sorts of schemes political, finan- cial, and social to circumvent this exploitation. May we point out that up to date the exploitation still goes on; not only has it held its own, but it has actually increased as the economic distance between the exploiter and the exploited has grown and “those darker Vandals” which Henry George saw so prophetically some sixty years ago now rise to plague us in the names of Communism and Fascism. We have forgotten in our enthusiasm as producers that although exploitation takes place at the point of production, it is only realized at the point of consumption. The power to remove exploitation by changing the economic system lies not in the hands of the produeer, who could not change it if he would, but in the purchasing power of the consumer, whose dollar on the counter determines who shall receive the wages of production and what his share will be. The con- sumer controls the economic processes as no other indi- vidual can, yet until his power is organized, he can be effective only in a negative manner. Organized under democratic forms, however, his power is invincible, as he has demonstrated in convincing manner in any country where the (Consumer Cooperative movement has grown to be a factor in the life of the people. We believe that there is a close relationship between the condition of such a country and the degree that it has taken over the ideals and the practices of consumer co- operation. Sweden, Denmark, and Finland have suf- fered least from the world-wide depression, have found unemployment a comparatively unimportant problem, and recovered soonest. In each of these countries a t - i y : 12 large fraction is controlled by the consumer coopera- tives. These nations are a living illustration of the power of consumer cooperation, not only from the economic standpoint, but also in their known resistance to the forces of Communism and Fascism. Consumer cooperation has justly been called “the Bulwark of Democracy,” proof of which lies in the acknowledged democratic outlook and practices of these countries. What is needed then is some base in the economic system which will reinforce and support those activities which have heretofore failed in attaining their objective of changing the social and political order because of the lack of an enduring economic foundation. We firmly believe that there is no true democracy, no true freedom of the people in any field, that is not based on an eco- nomic system which is democratic in principle and in practice. “The democracy of the dollar must precede all other democracy, or there is no democracy.” Hence it is our interest to examine into the possibility of eco- nomic democracy and to ask ourselves as to how these principles may be applied. The finest illustration of democracy in economics is to be found in the Rochdale consumer cooperative, based on a few very important fundamentals. These basic principles were first stated by the Rochdale pioneers; if properly carried out they cannot fail to produce a workable organization. For the purposes of comparison with the typical corporation setup, we might state them briefly. First, a consumer cooperative is democratically controlled, that is, every member has one vote no matter how many shares he may own, thus making all members equal in their control of the affairs of the cooperative. Secondly, money invested in a coop- erative society receives a fixed percentage of interest which may not be more than the prevailing current rate, thus removing the incentive for excessive profits gained at the expense of the consumers. Thirdly, all net profits are returned to the consumers who patronize the society in proportion to the amount of their purchases. This again is the essence of democracy, making each individual responsible for taking a part in the enterprise and rewarding him accordingly. Lastly, the member- ship is open to all, regardless of political, financial, or social views or station in life, all men being assumed to be equal in their capacity as consumers. Ninety-one years ago, in the little village of Roch- dale, England, there was born the idea of the Rochdale consumers cooperative, which today has grown into a worldwide organization of three hundred million con- sumers in fifty countries buying products worth billions yearly, and serving consumers in many countries with all the necessities of life. For instance, a member of a cooperative in England may wish to “start in house- keeping.” He may borow the money from his coopera- tive building society at low rates of interest, his coop- erative housing society will build his house for him from plans drawn by his cooperative architects service, and he may take out insurance on it in his insurance cooperative. He can obtain all the furnishings for it from his cooperative furniture factory, his clothing and that of his “cooperative” life partner will come from a cooperative clothing factory and the food and supplies for running his home he may buy in the cooperative store around the corner. In Denmark, an individual may be serviced by his cooperatives in several hundreds of different items in production and distribution and may belong to as many as forty different cooperative societies to take care of all his needs. In Sweden, the cooperatives have broken the bread trust, the electric THE AMERICAN TEACHER bulb monopoly, the rubber boots racket (an extremely important matter in Swedish life), and others, until the life of the Swedish cooperative movement has be- come a succession of victories with the trusts which formeriy controlled the life of the Swedish people as our own trusts control America today. Unemployment is below two percent today in Sweden, we believe largely because of the consumer movement as expressed through the cooperatives. In Finland, the only country in the world to pay its war debts to the United States, the interest of the people in cooperatives amounts to a national passion. It has gone so far that the Finnish “coops” control not only the financial system, but also unofficially the political life of the community. Perhaps we see here an answer as to how the Finns can pay their debts when other and much richer countries can- not. There is practically no unemployment in Finland, largely production is geared to consumption by the known demand of the consumer cooperatives. Over there, the cost of milk distribution is ten percent of the farmer’s price; in America, 300 percent, another illus- tration of the difference between the efficiency of the cooperative and individualistic methods of getting things done. Cooperatives do business not only within one country, however, but also trade internationally, though hindered by tariffs and international “trade agreements.” It is interesting to note that the first shipment of American oil produced by American coop- eratives was sent to cooperative societies in Esthonia and France this year. Thus a beginning has been made in cementing peaceful economic relations between Europe and America on the basis of mutual needs. All these illustrations are, however, far from our shores. The problems closer at home are resolved to some extent if there is near you a cooperative enter- prise. Such will very likely be the case if you live in the north-central part of the country, where there will in all probability be a cooperative store or perhaps a gasoline coép at hand and already functioning. This will also be true of scattered parts of the northwest and New England and New York City. Contact with these developments will be part of the answer to the question as to what we may do as individuals in and for the cooperative movement. Another activity in which we may immediately engage is the organization of a con- sumer cooperative club. In fact, the consumer club movement is spreading so rapidly that there is every likelihood of there being a club in your vicinity. The club is a very effective means of bringing before the community the need for consumer organization in ad- vance of the time that the people concerned are ready to function as a property holding cooperative. The club has numerous possibilities for consumer education and can direct its activities into a dozen different channels. It may be a buying group, pooling its purchases to obtain lower prices for its members and saving money which would otherwise be eaten up in the wastes of the profit system. It might be a pressure group for the betterment of working conditions placing its orders with those firms which provide decent labor conditions, and witholding them from companies where labor is mistreated and exploited. It could also be effective in publicizing fact material concerning such items as the costs of milk distribution or excessive public utility rates. The club as a study group could devote its ener- gies to investigation of the work of government agencies and government literature in the field of consumer interests. A group of club members might study the reports of such fact-finding agencies as Consumers ae hlUf)hCUltC eC ole ist Cl elle ill 1S ers SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1935 Research, and find means to make effective the recom- mendations of that body. The club can work with the Federal government through the local County Con- sumers Council on such objectives as better quality and lower prices for locally sold products. It can make home tests of canned goods and other common products, the results of which it can use in everyday purchasing. In these and in many other ways the consumer club can be an entering wedge in the education of the public to the consumer cooperative viewpoint. It can work with religious, workers’, professional, and other groups for changes in the social order because of its universality of membership, taking in members from all other groups without discrimination. We must remember that cooperative activity “begins at home” with our own community needs and problems, hence the club idea has proved itself in numerous instances to be the con- necting link between a knowledge of consumer coop- erative practice and its fulfilment. As an instance, we might cite the Cincinnati Consumers Club which started in January as a small group of a dozen interested con- sumers and in June was already operating its own local cooperative store supplying over two hundred families with groceries and other supplies. A consumers club in Chappaqua, New York, turned over eight thousand dollars worth of business in its first year, proving that a consumers club is not only a good educational device, but a practical one as well. The consumer cooperative movement offers an oppor- tunity for participation in other fields as well as the local club. We should be active in that part of the movement that is already well organized or now in the organization stage. Not only can we throw our own purchasing power to the existing cooperative store, but we can organize cooperatives to help strengthen the movement in other localities. These cooperatives may take many forms. The commonest is the cooperative store, where consumers may buy near at home their groceries, canned goods, and other household supplies. As proof of what teachers can do in this particular, we might cite the case of a Chicago University professor who is the president of Consumers Cooperative Serv- ices, Inc., of Chicago and the manager of which is the son of a well-known professor of economics in a New York University. A teacher of music in Flint, Michi- gan, has been the inspiring leader in the development of a study group which evolved into a buying club and finally into a cooperative store in that city. A professor at Shurtleff College has resigned in order to give his full attention to a successful store which he was instru- mental in organizing at Alton, Illinois. There should be a cooperative store in every community, not only for the savings it may make economically speaking, but because it is an excellent center for education in the new economic movement which the cooperatives represent. There are also the various fields of insurance, fire, life, casualty, and others, in which the cooperative movement serves its members. A beginning has already been made in cooperative insurance by certain Farm Bureau Federations and the Cooperative League. Medical serv- ice is another field ripe for cooperative development. Cooperative medicine, as practiced by the Ross-Loos group in California, or even better as in Elk City, Oklahoma, where the consumers own their hosiptal, is the only logical answer to the advocates of govern- ment medicine and to the rugged individualism of the American Medical Association. Cooperative oil and gasoline distribution has proved highly successful in the Middle West and has already gotten a start in the East. 13 One of the latest cooperative oil stations in Ohio has been recently launched under the direction of a pro- fessor of mechanical engineering in Ohio State Univer- sity, again showing what teachers can do in a practical form if they devote their spare time interests to the cooperative idea. Milk distribution, with its juicy profits to the middleman recently exposed by the Fed- real Trade Commission, has been undertaken in several communities and savings are being returned to con- sumers which formerly found their way into the already swollen pockets of the distributors who own the milk trust. Cooperative housing is another field which offers attractive possibilities. Five millions of dollars invested in cooperative housing in New York has survived the depression and is still safe in the hands of the coop- erators, while literally millions of unorganized con- sumers have lost everything in real estate “investment.” The Credit Union is one of the most important branches of consumer cooperative activity. It is a device to pool the savings of its members and to lend these savings to other members at low rates of interest for provident purposes. The credit union and cooperative insurance are especially important fields of cooperative endeavor as they promise to become the consumer co- operative banks. The ownership of their own banks will in turn give the consumer cooperative movement the control of consumer finance, and take the consumer out of the hands of the loan shark and the predatory private banker. In addition, the control of consumer finance by the consumers themselves will make it pos- sible to prevent the maladjustment in industry which occurs when bankers, lending other peoples’ money, create credit inflation which leads to periodic booms and depressions. It is interesting to note that while America’s banking system nearly had to suspend opera- tions and finally reached the point where government had to step in to prevent a fiasco, the credit unions, with a business in the hundreds of millions, had losses of less than one-hundredth of one percent. Some of the most successful credit unions so far organized have been set up by and for teachers. Consumer coopera- tives also work well upon the mail order principle. Quite a volume of consumer cooperative purchasing is now being built up through this method. This enables consumers at widely scattered points where the coop- erative method is not yet in effect to purchase coop- eratively and thus reap the same benefits as would ordinarily result from purchasing at points where coop- erative stores have been organized. The mail order cooperative affords the most effective consumer coop- erative educational medium through which teachers who are as yet unfamiliar with cooperative practice may learn how cooperation works. In all these developments the teacher should be a leading figure, but in addition to taking an active part in the projects we have outlined, he has yet another duty, more in line with his professional activities. It is obvious that the cooperative movement is too important for teachers to ignore in their daily work in the class- room, yet it is safe to say that the schools of America have until very recently remained blissfully ignorant of the whole idea of cooperation. This is true for two reasons, one being that teachers themselves knew so little of the history of cooperation, the other that the spirit of American life and the temper of the American people in general, as would be expected in a new terri- tory waiting to be exploited by a laissez faire economy, was not sympathetically inclined toward the idea of helping oneself by helping one’s neighbor. Rugged 14 individualism, however, seems to have run its course and America has shown by the eagerness with which it has turned to the cooperative idea in the past few years that it is ready to accept the fact and the spirit of coop- eration. This presents to the American teacher a golden opportunity to help lead America toward a new eco- nomic and soical ideal, and at the same time to make a genuine place for himself in the American scene. In countries where cooperation has become the dominant mode of life the teacher has risen to a place of prime importance, for cooperative communities everywhere have stressed the necessity of education for the con- tinuity and growth of the cooperative movement. The cooperative way of life accords to the teacher a per- manent high and respected place and thus guarantees him in the community a position which carries with it the prerogatives. which are necessary for carrying out the educational processes in a proper and _ scientific manner. Yet this is but a minor reason for teachers being active in the spreading of the idea of cooperation. If, as we believe, the cooperative way of life is the sensible and the right way, then let the teachers of America see to it that, their students learn of the great work of the cooperators everywhere and that young America understands the significance and value of this new way of life. Young people are already learning about cooperation in the folk schools of Indiana, in institutes held by the Cooperative League in various parts of the country, in cooperative societies operated by themselves as in the Students Cooperative Associa- tion of the University of Washington, in cooperative clubs, and in a growing number of farm organizations. Teachers know how students are today asking questions which require definite answers of a practical kind, and if teachers do not or cannot give such answers, they will search for other sources of information where they will be accorded a more favorable reception. At the present time, the great development in cooperative education has not come from the teachers, who would be its spokesman, but from the cooperative societies, which TEACHER THE AMERICAN have supported an educational program with practically no help from the teachers of the public school system. It is our opinion, aided by the history of the movement in other countries and by figures showing the geometric growth of the cooperative movement in America since the beginning of the depression, that the American teachers should begin immediately to study the idea of cooperation, to see the opportunities in it not only for themselves, but for the young people of America and for American society at large. This study followed up by the type of action we have indicated will again give to the teachers that acknowledged place of leadership in the American community which not so long ago was their proud possession. Bishop Sonne, the patron saint of the teachers of Denmark, said to his people after their disastrous war with Germany, “What the enemy has taken from us in war we must regain through the education of our people.” He advocated a new way of living which we now call “cooperation.”” From that time until his death Bishop Sonne carried his message through the highways and byways of Denmark into every village and hamlet throughout the land. Denmark today, while poverty stalks the great part of Europe, is a land where peace and plenty reign, a land of happy and prosperous people, made so by the daily practice of cooperative ideals. As Denmark once looked to a great teacher for a way out of disaster and depression, so America also might look to her teachers to lead the way toward new goals and new ideals. It is the privilege and duty of our teachers to tell their fellow-citizens and students the story of cooperation, to show them the picture of what coopera- tion has done in other parts of the world, and the promise it holds for the people of America; then, as did Bishop Sonne, go out into the highways and byways and help organize America to this new and better way of life, the way of cooperation. Norte: Literature on the cooperative movement may be obtained from the Cooperative League, 167 W. 12th St., New York City; Cooperative Distributors, Inc., 30 Irving Place, New York City ; Credit Union National Association, 5 Park Square, Boston, Mass. Office Workers Seek Solutions Jean Carter For many years industrial workers have been seek- ing, through discussion of their problem in workers’ schools and classes, to find possible solutions. It is only, however, within the past few years that business and professional workers have been willing to face squarely the fact that they, too, must get together to talk things over and determine lines of action if they are to meet the social and economic challenge of today and survive. Two years ago a summer school, sponsored by the Affiliated Schools for Workers, opened its doors to office workers on the campus of Oberlin College, Ober- lin, Ohio. The two-week experiment of that year proved so successful that, during the two succeeding summers, four-week sessions have been held, the first of these at Oberlin, the second at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Now, at the close of this third session, the need for such a school in the scheme of things seems to be a fact beyond a doubt. This summer, thirty-one young woman office work- ers came to the school eager to devote the precious weeks of their vacations to the study of their problems as workers, and they agreed that it was worth it. About the middle of the session, one of these students ex- claimed enthusiastically, “When I came, I expected to study more and learn less.” Although there was some study of a formal nature, the curriculum was so planned as to make an exchange and re-interpretation of experi- ence an important part of the educative process. Toa group of girls, most of whom were graduates of our secondary schools, the informal nature of this method was at first startling. Very soon, however, they realized what was happening and, to an astonishing degree, achieved what Dewey says should be the result of all education: they not only reconstructed their own expe- rience in the light of the facts they were acquiring but they “gained control of the process involved.” Their education had really begun, for they had within them- selves the means of continuing it. The first afternoon of the school was devoted to a discussion of “who I am, and why I’m here.” At the end of that discussion, the faculty felt that a very real challenge had been presented to them if they were to make even an approach to all the problems presented. The keynote of the entire discussion was “I want to know in order that I may do . Such purposeful 1935 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, seeking relieves the teacher of the need for stimulating a demand for his wares, but at the same time makes him realize that the quality of what he offers must be beyond reproach. Although a curriculum plan had been tentatively set up in advance, the plan was modified and the content of the courses was determined in part by this discus- sion. Each student was assigned to an economics class and in addition selected a project on the basis of her own interests. The work in economics was of a gen- eral nature, but the approach in each class was through problems presented in the economic world of today of which the students were a part. The projects, planned on the basis of interests expressed by the students in their applications and in the preliminary dis- cussions, included social legislation, political philosophy, and trade unions. In each of these groups there was study and discussion of general background while each student worked on the phase of the subject in which she was most interested and reported her findings to the group. Twice during the summer the entire school met to hear reports and to discuss the work of the three projects, thus giving all the students the benefit of the study of each group. The trade union project proved the most popular. This, as well as attitudes of students toward the desira- bility of organization for office workers, indicated a definite change of heart from the old-time attitude of the white collar worker. The problem seemed no longer whether “to organize or not to organize” but how to organize. During the last two weeks the stu- dents in this project insisted upon going through the process of actually organizing an office—one group drawing up their grievances, another making plans for procedure, a third drawing up an agreement, and so forth. This, of course, meant a thorough consideration of all that is involved in organization and a careful weighing of pros and cons. Differences in attitudes toward unions in different communities and different offices were considered. The fact that three of the nine workers among the students were school clerks and belonged to the American Federation of Teachers, while school clerks from other communities belonged to organizations for clerical workers, made inevitable many long and sometimes heated discussions of where these people belong. Not all the students in the school, however, nor even all in the trade union project expected to function through the trade union movement on their return to their own communities. In some cases this was due to the fact that the community made it impossible; in other cases, students themselves felt that they could accomplish more through political action or pressure groups. In addition to the economics classes and projects, the entire school met for discussions of social literature and social ethics. At intervals throughout the session there were school discussions for the purpose of evaluating the curriculum, and as a result desirable adjustments were made. Both faculty and students participated in all these discussions, and, as one girl later confessed, the students at first thought the faculty had planned in advance who would say what at just which point in the discussion. They were delighted when they re- alized that differences in points of view were as real among the faculty as among the students. At the final party, each group demonstrated thorough understand- ing of the other in skits in which the faculty presented 15 students as they saw them, and the students conducted a faculty meeting as they visualized it. The fact that for practically all the students there would be no vacation until another year had passed made the planning of the health and recreation pro- gram of great importance. Tennis, bicycling, hikes, and picnics met the need for out-of-doors; while spon- taneous dramatic skits, interpretive and folk dancing, and group singing made possible gay social evenings indoors. Into most of these activities there carried over some of the purposefulness expressed by the group in the discussion of that first afternoon. A dramatic skit was likely to present a problem which had arisen in one of the discussions, and the fact that it could thus be treated in a half-in-fun-whole-in-earnest man- ner made it more meaningful. For example, no one is likely to forget that changes are sometimes made by manufacturers in their products upon which Consumer’s Research has placed its stamp of approval, after the hilarious play in which the beautician recommended Sweetheart Soap as a cure for all tragedies, domestic and personal, only narrowly to escape the angry mob when the newsboy shouted his “extry” announcing a change of formula for the soap. Some students could remain in the school for only two weeks because it was impossible to get additional time off; others remained throughout the month. At the end of the session they returned to their typing, bookkeeping, filing, or machine operating in sixteen widely separated communities, ranging from New Or- leans on the South to Chicago on the North, Philadel- phia in the East to Denver in the West, realizing that their bond as fellow workers and their need to seek solutions as such, united them much more closely than mere geographical proximity possibly could. WHO’S WHO IN THIS ISSUE Jean Carter, acting director, Affiliated Schools for Workers. William Green, president, American Labor. Elmer W. Johnston, Philadelphia Local 192, teacher Roxborough High School, Philadelphia. H. L. Latham, director Character Research Service’; editor Character Education Inst. ; author and teacher. Raymond F. Lowry, president American Federation of Teachers; instructor University of Toledo and Toledo High School. Frank Morrison, secretary, American Federation of Labor. s Jay F. Otis, Seattle, contributor to Oregon Historical Quarterly, Social Science, labor journals, and other periodicals. David H. Pierce, Cleveland Local 279; chairman Con- vention Publicity Committee; teacher social science John Adams High School, Cleveland; former edi- torial writer for the Cleveland News; contributor to Educational Review, Crisis, Nation, Survey, Survey Graphic, and other sociological and educational journals. Michael B. Scheler, free lance writer whose work ap- pears in many periodicals. Joel Seidman, instructor in economics, Federation of Brookwood Labor College. L. H. Thornburg, member state legislature, Idaho; former teacher Kellogg, Idaho; member Local 278. 16 THE AMERICAN TEACHER So This Is America! Married Women Teachers Upheld in New Jersey.— Four women teachers dismissed last year by the Wildwood school authorities because they were mar- ried and had husbands to support them were ordered reinstated by the New Jersey State Board of Educa- tion with back salaries for the time they were kept from their classrooms. The board ruled that the women were under the State tenure law and could not be dismissed except for reasons that would apply to both married and single teachers. 135,000 New York City School Children Suffer Lack of Adequate Food.—The annual report of the Division of Handicapped Children of the Board of Education declared that at least 135,000 children in New York City’s elementary schools are too weak and undernourished to profit by attendance in regular classes. The undernourishment has been increasing constantly during the five years’ business depression characterized by employers refusing to employ workers, many of whom are parents whose ability to provide for their families depends on wages. Veterans Attack N.E.A. on Freedom.—The Le- gion of Valor of the United States, composed of persons who have won the Distinguished Service Cross or Congressional Medal of Honor, condemned the “academic freedom” resolution of the National Education Association at its meeting in Bridgeport, Conn., and demanded that recognition of Soviet Russia by the United States be abrogated. The resolution of the education association was characterized in a resolution adopted by the Legion of Valor as “a sugar-coating of propaganda and a cloak under which to teach atheism in the schools.” The Legion called upon all “loyal members” of the N. E. A. to “follow and preserve the Constitution.” Seven Public School Systems in New York State Use Talking Films on Cooperative Basis.—Public school systems in seven cities of Westchester County, New York, have initiated a cooperative use of the Erpi educational talking pictures during the current school year. The scheduling of the films is so arranged that it coincides very closely with the New York State sci- ence syllabus. Thirty Mile Trek to Evening Class.—Deeply ap- preciative of the educational opportunities offered in California for adults, two San Joaquin Valley farm- ers, natives of Afghanistan, drive thirty miles twice a week to an elementary evening class in English and Americanization. Workers Favor Good Books.— EE ee PA ond 22 the money famine. When cities and towns have found it difficult to raise the funds they needed, they have seized the school budgets and helped themselves. As a result, over a thousand kindergartens have been closed. This is particularly appalling because of the fact that even before the money famine kin- dergartens had been provided for only one child in seven. Now what is it that the general public know about milk that they don’t know about systematic pre- grade education? They know that milk is of special nutritive value to little children and that a substitute entails dangerous consequences, both now and later. Most of them don’t know this about systematic pre-grade education. College lead- ers do know it. They have known it and declared it for years, but their voices are lost in the din made by the unknowing multitudes. Will you step aside with me and listen for a few moments to the colleges? The President of Boston University Says : The findings of modern psychology make plain that no education can be more important in forming the bent of the individual than that which is given at kindergarten age. Notice his words, “the forming of the bent of the individual.” Will you think of that for a moment, please? .. . Now from the Alabama Polytechnic Institute comes the message : Unless kindergarten training is given, the community runs the risk of having a great many maladjusted citizens. Ap- parently this country is seeing now the results of the sins of omission. fusal to provide kindergarten on account of the lack of money is one of the most futile economies of any state. And the President of Tufts College tells us: It is nothing less than absurd to cur- tail the educational effort in the time of depression and it is especially absurd to restrict the effort in the early years of the child. Kindergartens, by all means, ought to be maintained at full strength. A thousand educators are speaking in further support of these facts, but we can listen now to only one more. But why do men and women at the top of the educational ladder spend time urging attention to those at the very bottom? The President of Asbury College of Kentucky answers: Every builder says “Look well to the foundations.” Surely in the building of the greatest thing in life—character, the kindergarten becomes one of the essen- tials. The mind of the child is wax to receive but steel to hold its early im- pressions. A right beginning indicates a The re-. THE happy ending. What investment can be made which will yield larger returns in health, moral conduct, and fine citizen- ship than that which is made to inaugu- rate and maintain in the community a kindergarten for the young Americans of tomorrow? If the general public could know what these educators are saying, could ponder and understand their words, would they allow the chil- dren’s kindergarten money to be di- verted, however great the need? They don’t know, so kindergartens are closed, children of four and five are left to learn false standards and form unfortunate attitudes and hab- its from an environment unfitted to their development. Such conditions tend to develop criminals. Men and women who wouldn’t drink the children’s milk take their kinder- garten money and cause undernour- ishment with regard to the most worth-while things of life. FLORENCE JANE OVENS. ~ Nore: Publicity material on kindergarten values and advice with regard to procedure to secure the establishment of a public school kin- dergarten may be obtained without charge from the National Kindergarten Association, 8 West Fortieth Street, New York City. William Green Urges Labor to Act William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor, has appealed to the State Federations of Labor in every state where the Amendment will be considered in 1935, urging that ratification of the Amendment be made the chief leg- islative objective this winter. “It is imperative,’ wrote Mr. Green, “that we consolidate the gains made in the abolition of child labor through the adoption of indus- trial codes of fair practice, by adopt- ing the Child Labor Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This is the only way by which we can make permanent the uniform abolition of child labor in industry... . “It has been made convincingly clear that the evils of child labor can only be overcome and the child life of the nation protected through the application of national remedies. The evils of child labor constitute a national menace which can only be successfully dealt with through the enactment of a federal statute by the Congress of the United States. ... “Let us win this great victory this winter in behalf of human wel- fare, child life, and the resultant moral advancement of the national life.” HER AMERICAN TEAC Pennsylvania Child Labor Law Is Signed Maximum 44-Hour Week Im- posed—Age Regulation Is Raised from 16 to 18 By A. F. of L. News Service Harrisburg, Pa—Gov. Earle signed the child labor bill, enacted by the recent session of the Legisla- ture, regulating the employment of minors until they are 18 years of age, instead of 16 under the old law, and barring children under 16 from certain types of employment. The law raises the minimum age for employment of minors from 14 to 16 years in manufacturing occu- pations at any hours and other oc- cupation during school hours. Chil- dren of 14 and 15 years may be employed in non-manufacturing op- erations during vacation periods and after school hours. Six days a week, eight hours a day and 44 hours a week are the maximum work periods permitted, applicable to all minors under 18. The old law affected hours only of employed minors under 16. Employers are required to pro- vide a lunch period of at least 30 minutes after no more than five hours of continuous work. Boys selling or distributing news- papers or periodicals come under special provisions which stipulate that boys under 18 may work a nine-hour day and 51-hour week. Night work for children under 16 is prohibited between 8 P. M. and 6 A. M., and employment certifi- cates are required for children un- der 16. Telegraph offices employing only one messenger are permitted to im- pose a nine-hour day and 51-hour week. An 18-year minimum is estab- lished for employment where alco- holic liquors are manufactured, sold, or handled. Trade Unions Seek End of Race Discrimination Green Says A. F. of L. Desires to Protect All Workers “Re- gardless of Creed, Color, or Nationality” By A. F. of L. News Service New York, N. Y.—Representa- tives of 110 trade unions at a meet- ing in Renaissance Casino here pledged themselves to do everything possible to eradicate race prejudice and discrimination from the trade union movement. The delegates, Negro and white, set up a perma- nent organization to work for race SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, unity within the framework of the American Federation of Labor. William Green, president of the A. F. of L., expressed his approval of the plan in a letter to the confer- ence. He reaffirmed the Federa- tion’s determination to guard the economic rights of all classes of people regardless of creed, color, or nationality. Mr. Green wrote, We are constantly endeavoring to pro- mote a condition where all international unions affiliated with the American Fed- eration of Labor, clothed with auton- omous authority, will conform to the declarations, procedure, and principles of the American Federation of Labor itself regarding the admission of mem- bers without regard to race, color, or nationality. We are certain that time, patience, and good judgment will bring about a solution of our vexed problem. William Mahoney, State organ- izer of the A. F. of L., gave a simi- lar pledge of co-operation. He said, Only too often have rapacious and greedy members of the employing class set black against white and white against black in an effort to defeat labor organi- zation. Frank R. Crosswaith, organizer for the International Ladies’ Gar- ment Workers’ Union, was chair- man of the meeting. In the keynote address he said: We know that race prejudice is just as much a part of America as is the Constitution, but we are resolved to fight to abolish it from the labor movement. Resolutions were adpoted by the convention demanding removal of color bar in labor groups, urging Federal legislation against lynching, recommending the thirty-hour week, favoring a constitutional amend- ment giving Congress power to reg- ulate labor and industry, and asking Negro clergymen to devote at least one Sunday a month to considera- tion of the economic plight of their worker-parishioners. Asks Teachers Lead in Social Reforms Columbia Professors Tell Them to Take More Active Part in Organizing for Future More than 1,500 Columbia Uni- versity summer session students at- tended a conference on education in social conflict, held on July 27 in the Horace Mann Auditorium of Teachers College, and heard four Teachers College professors urge teachers to take a more active part in the formation of a better economic and social life. Professor Harold Rugg, asserting that “there are clear signs that the increasing physical privation and steady increase in enlightenment will 1935 in our time lead to a drastic change in the basis of ownership and opera- tion of our present system,” warned the students, most of whom are teachers, to organize for a more effective means of educating the great mass of people. “The great ignorant and indiffer- ent mass of fifty or sixty million adults in the country,” he declared, “do not want things changed much because they hope, with better luck, to rise above their fellow-men.” Asserting that the majority of teachers are “middle class” and “un- certain of the way out of the pres- ent problems,” Professor Goodwin Watson urged teachers to take their position with the great mass of peo- ple and “fight for the right of class- less society.” Professor George Counts declared that the nation’s teachers must form a positive organization with “‘finan- cial resources to protect discharged teachers, hire expert legal advice, and educate themselves more fully to the society in which they live.”— New York Times. French Teachers Ask Jailing of Bankers Union of 80,000 Makes Demands at Congress That Are Close to Communism Wireless to THe New York TIMES Paris, Aug. 3.—The powerful Teachers Syndicate, which has 80,- 000 members throughout France, opened a three-day meeting today with bitter denunciations of the gov- ernment’s deflationary program and appeals for a revolutionary program very close to communism. The Teachers Syndicate, which not only plays an important role in the General Confederation of Labor but also is powerfully represented in the Radical Socialist party, has al- ways been radical, but never so violent or threatening as today. Andre Delmas, the secretary gen- eral, sounded the keynote when he demanded that a threefold program be adopted: to seize the banks and imprison the directors, seize the press and imprison the publishers and “purify the administration of the army.” While such a program has not the slightest chance of adoption in present-day France, the importance of the Teachers Syndicate is such that their attitude is bound to have an effect on French politics this autumn. 23 A. F. of L. 1935 Convention The Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor has notified the affiliated unions that the fifty-fifth annual convention of the Federation will open in Westmin- ster Hall, Chelsea Hotel, Atlantic City, N. J., at 10 o'clock Monday morning, October 7, and continue in session until the business of the convention is completed. The Coun- cil said, The importance of the convention of the American Federation of Labor must be fully appreciated by working men and women throughout the United States and Canada. Questions affecting the eco- nomic, social, and industrial welfare of all classes of workers are always con- sidered and acted upon at conventions of the American Federation of Labor. There are many reasons why the fifty- fifth annual convention of the American Federation of Labor will command pub- lic interest and public attention. The report of the Executive Council, which will contain reference to the activities of the American Federation of Labor in all its organizing work, its legislative policies, its attitude toward economic and social questions of great public interest, and future policies of the American Federation of Labor will be carefully considered and acted upon by the officers and delegates who are in attendance. I.L.G.W.U. Builds Body and . Brain A nation-wide and expanded pro- gram of mass education, study groups, institutes for training in union service, scholarships at schools, radio talks, and special pub- lications, proposed by its recently appointed educational director, Mark Starr, has been sanctioned by the Educational Committee of the I.L.G.W.U., with the personal su- pervision of the Union president, David Lubinsky. Already in Greater New York over 80 groups and classes meet regularly. The vocal and instru- mental music groups and a big mixed choir are actively preparing for a monster May Day demonstra- tion. Needle pushers (once narrow- chested, stooping, anemic, pasty- faced victims of the sweatshop) now under the auspices of the Union, which has won leisure and high wages by trade union team work, crowd the gym classes, make their biceps bulge with the punch ball, rowing machines, and hotly con- tested basketball, soccer, and other games. Local 10 (the Cutters) hires the extensive gym facilities of the Hotel Lismore for its members on 24 Saturday morning. Other groups meet in schools. Numerous inter- local basketball games have been arranged for February and already New York City (Local 10) has met Philadelphia and Passaic in hotly contested matches. And an inter- local union basketball league is be- ing formed. For the less strenuous, the I.L.G.W.U. runs visits to places of interest in New York City under skilled guides. Locals are provided with lecturers at their meetings. They visit each other to present the union plays. and sing the “1T.L.G.W.U. Anthem,” and “The Victory Song of the Dressmakers.” Out-of-town locals have been as- sisted to see such plays as “Sailors of Catarro” and “Crime and Punish- ment.” ) One of the first four pamphlets issued to introduce the new member to his union has been translated into Spanish. The New Republic cited the I.L.G.W.U. pamphlets as a praiseworthy example to other un- ions. Outlines on social insurance, anti-fascism, the 30-hour week, and organization methods are being sup- plied to teachers and study groups. Justice now devotes two pages with appropriate pictures to educational matters. Two-Unit Plan at Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College has an- nounced a plan under which a spe- cial group of not more than twenty students will be admitted ‘this fall on a new, Two-Unit Plan of study. Young women with a special bent or ambition, who give evidence of maturity of interest, will not be required to follow the regular course, but will arrange their col- lege work in a unified program, re- lated to two main subjects only. Students entering under this Two- Unit Plan will live at the Syca- mores, an old New England house near the college. They will have the aid of an adviser especially assigned to the group, and weekly confer- ences with their instructors. The Two-Unit Plan is a natural development of Mt. Holyoke’s long tradition of emphasis upon individ- ualized work. At present students in the first two years choose their work with certain requirements from three fields of study, languages and literature, natural sciences and mathematics, and social studies, with intensive work in one subject THE in the last two years. The new plan will offer gifted students from the beginning of their course an oppor- tunity to work out for themselves a closely related plan of study, the range of which may easily be as great as in the old liberal arts courses, or it may provide as much concentration as the more recent honor work. Two-Unit students will also make definite plans for at least a part of their leisure time, choosing some art or skill in which to specialize. Choral work, dramatics, play-writ- ing, or some form of athletics, for example, may be chosen. Students working in special projects will have easy access when they need special material to the libraries and mu- seums of Boston and New York City, as well as to collections near at hand. The first object of the Two-Unit Plan is to free the student from the distraction that often comes from studying several unrelated subjects at the same time. The student will supplement her chosen two subjects with work in other fields as she dis- covers the connection of such work with her main interest. For in- stance, a student whose subject is a particular period of English litera- ture may find some immediate need of history, art, archaeology, sociol- ogy, or political history, and acquire naturally a thorough knowledge of the whole life of her period. She will thus build up a program, unified and logical, but not narrowly spe- cialized. Such an educational proc- ess, changed as needs dictate, should serve to give an education suffi- ciently deep to secure power and sufficiently wide to secure general culture. The second purpose is to offer gifted students the opportunity to cultivate initiative and independ- ence, to develop skill in acquiring knowledge, as well as pleasure in study. Recreation is to be related to the study program, as far as pos- sible, as a large factor in the educa- tion of a well-rounded personality. Some students already registered for admission to Mt. Holyoke as freshmen, in the fall may be allowed on application to transfer to the Two-Unit Plan; others should ap- ply to the Board of Admissions for information. The Union Label assures the pur- chaser that he is putting his money into the best investment on earth— Trade Unionism. TEACHER AMERICAN Items of Intcrest Lawyers Strike Five thousand attorneys, compris- ing practically the entire Bucharest Bar Association, went on strike at Bucharest, Roumania, against a re- cent order of the government in- creasing court fees. Pickets were selected to picket the various courts ! British Doctors Join Labor Congress The Medical Practitioners’ Un- ion, the equivalent in England of the American Medical Society, has affiliated with the British Trade Union Congress, the equivalent in England of the American Federa- tion of Labor. Many are engaged in salaried public work, but doctors belong to the union whether they work for fees or for salary. Many of the normal union conditions pre- vail, although strikes in time of sickness are barred. Green Defends Strikes in Labor Controversies William Green, president of the A. F. of L., in an address at Racine, Wisconsin, urged American working men and women to guard the strike as their most effective weapon against exploitation. He character- ized the opponents of the aims of the striking union members in San Francisco as “people determined to exploit labor.” “Where men are de- nied the privilege of exercising their right,” he added, “they must strike. May labor never become so com- placent as to refuse to strike.” He declared that unorganized labor with its lack of power to combat oppressive conditions, is the real menace to industrial peace. I cannot say that | consider our radio reception at all a success dur- ing the last year. The industry seems to be so commercialized and in control of business interests that it is of very little value in the class- room.—A California high-school principal. Our experience with commer- cial stations in broadcasting edu- cational programs has been that they will throw out our programs if they get a chance to sell the time.—Dean C. J. Anderson, school of education, University of Wisconsin. 1935 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 25 Labor Day 1935 William Green An achievement of the past years constitutes a funda- mental gain that gives to wage earners the key to self progress. For decades society has recognized that the union was the wage earner’s method of increasing his income and raising his standards of living, but never until Section 7 (a) of the National Recovery Act was made law did society put this right into legal form. When employers refused to conform to law, Labor asked that the government be authorized to assume responsibility for preventing employers from interfering with Labor’s right to organize in unions and bargaining collectively through representatives of their own choos- ing. This was written into the National Labor Rela- tions Act. Although judges may do their best to restrict the number of workers to whom this law will apply, the federal government has made this important declaration of policy for whatever area of labor relations the fed- eral courts may permit to come under its jurisdiction. It is now a generally accepted policy that govern- ment shall protect rights growing out of ownership of property. This was a more obvious obligation neces- sary to basic order in society. The time is now overdue for government to assume responsibility for assuring to men and women rights as human beings so that their welfare may have at least equal consideration with wealth and the products of their labor. There is in- volved in this issue which Labor has raised, the key to the future of our nation. It proposes that society offer even-handed opportunity for those who invest creative labor with those who invest capital. The progress and the enduring development of our nation depend upon the acceptance by our government of its responsibility for human welfare. An avowed purpose of our govern- ment is to promote the general welfare and Congress is given power to lay and collect taxes to provide for the general welfare. This together with its power to regu- late commerce between the states is the basis for Labor’s belief that the federal government has legal power to legislate for social welfare. We know that the moral and economic need for such legislation puts still further obligation upon Congress. Industries now organized upon a national basis, buying their crude materials from any supply center in the nation and selling in a world market, are in no sense local insti- tutions. They can escape any regulation not national in scope. Unless regulated, cut throat competition brings sweat shop labor conditions. The welfare of our 49 million persons gainfully employed by business enter- prises depends on whether society places a restraining hand on business struggle for profits for the few and forces more equitable division of returns from joint work. Our Supreme Court has recently rebuked Congress and the Administration for their attempts to build up national regulation of work conditions and trade prac- tices. They interpreted the Constitution so as to limit sharply the scope of interstate commerce and virtually to deny Congress the power to legislate for social wel- fare. But, as the Chief Justice has truly declared, “The Constitution is what the courts say it is”—until the Sovereign Nation speaks. Once before when the Supreme Court blocked the path of human welfare by the Dred Scott decision, the Nation wiped out that decision. It cost human blood and life and for years has blighted the economic prog- ress of our southern states. We hope to solve our present constitutional problem by less costly methods. Greater familiarity with labor and industrial problems will teach judges the need for federal action for regu- lation of industry for social purposes. The Sovereign Nation must also establish its method of overruling any governmental authority that blocks social progress. This is the problem which presses for Labor’s solu- tion equally with that of organizing all wage and sal- aried workers in strong labor unions. Organized power is the first fundamental in progress for the welfare of all who work. Labor Day, 1935, finds progress in both the political and union organization fields. There are problems, but none that cannot be solved by courage and the will to find a solution. Wage earners must first rally to- gether in unions to fight against unfair wages and hours and to set up the machinery through which they may have representation and voice in deciding issues that effect their interests. The year ahead presents the challenge of great oppor- tunities. Frank Morrison National holidays in America call attention to excep- tional instances in history. Labor Day is an exception to the rule. The first Monday in September is not intended to remind us of one particular advance by wage workers but rather to attract us to their problems, their tri- umphs, and their wrongs. The wider acceptance of Trade Union viewpoint on social and industrial questions is noted on this Labor Day. The new public attitude toward labor displacing ma- chinery is also significant. Workers were formerly assured they could find other employment and the new industries and wants automatically care for those who have been displaced by machinery and _ scientific processes. The new Industrial Revolution, however, operates in new industries as well as established industries. Low wage jobs, such as employment at gas filling stations and mass production industries, is no solution for unem- ployment of highly skilled workers and well-paid cre- ative labor who have been displaced by automatic proc- esses that are yet in their infancy. The imagination and courage of inventors and sci- entists must be guided into the field of distribution and labor’s demands of shorter hours and still higher and higher wages be supported. Society, for its own well-being, must be conscious of the need of the distribution of the wealth that has been created by machinery and scientific processes. Labor is not a trust. By its nature this is impossible. One of its greatest expenses is organizing, and educat- ing non-union workers to the benefits of trade union- ism. A trust consists of a comparatively few who con- trol solely for purpose of profit. The union is not organized for profit. BOOKS “There is no frigate like a book To bear us lands away.” —Emily Dickinson. THE AMERICAN YEAR Book, The American Year Book Corporation, The New York Times, New York; 1933 Edition, 1,018 pp.; 1934 Edi- tion, 1,003 pp.; $7.50 each. Re- viewed by Michael B. Scheler. The American Year Book not only presents annually a record of events, personalities and tendencies of each successive year in the United States, but it endows the record with the con- temporary interpretation of upward of two hundred authoritative contributors in the fields of government, science, art, religion, education, literature, and commercial enterprise. The book is the fruit of the labors of a supervisory board composed of outstanding men represent- ing forty-five learned societies which spread their activities over the entire country, and it has the advantage of the implemented spon- sorship of the New York Times. These remarks are part of a state- ment on the jacket of The American Year Book and I must say that, after the most circumspect examination of both volumes; not a word is exag- gerated. The over 200 contributors to each of the 1933 and 1934 editions of The American Year Book have done their best to make these editions the most comprehensive and histori- cal records of two momentous years in American history. Every phase of the Roosevelt Administration, of the National Recovery Program, of the N.R.A.; every field of American in- dustry, politics, commerce, science, culture, social life, foreign relations, etc., is adequately analyzed, what progress made during the years 1933 and 1934 recorded in hundreds of ar- ticles, most of which are buttressed by the latest statistics, charts and figures largely taken from official sources. From year to year, the American Year Book is improved in contents, enlarged in scope, and con- tinues to serve as one of the most graphic reflectors of the panorama of our nation’s economic and social life. The American Year Book is in- dispensable to every teacher and stu- dent of American history. THE NEW INTERNATIONAL YEAR Book, 1933 and 1934 Editions. Funk & Wagnalls Company, New York. 856 pp. & 761 pp. $6.25 each. Reviewed by Michael B. Scheler. The New International Year Book is the ablest, most authoritative, and exhaustive compendium of the world’s progress from year to year published in the English language, and I defy anyone to contradict this statement. The 1933 and 1934 editions of this Year Book contain hundreds of arti- cles, written by the most outstanding and competent men and women in THE AMERICAN TEACHER their respective fields of endeavor, and cover every conceivable phase of human activity, both in the United States and throughout the world. The articles in the International Year Book follow in alphabetical order and nearly all of them are fully docu- mented with graphs, charts, and sta- tistical tables taken from the most recent available official sources. The International Year Book is filled with beautiful illustrations, many graphic and up-to-the-minute maps, and pho- tographs of men and women who have distinguished themselves in some fields of human activity during the years 1933 and 1934 throughout the world. It portrays ably and truth- fully, from year to year, the physical, social and even cosmic changes of this planet, and as such should find an esteemed place in every library, pri- vate or public. THE NEW STANDARD YEAR Book, 1933 and 1934 Editions. Funk & Wag- nalls Company, New York. 544 pp. & 544 pp. $1.00 each. Re- viewed by Michael B. Scheler. The New Standard Year Book is under the same editorial supervision as the New International Year Book, namely, that of Dr. Frank H. Vize- telly. Its articles are written by the same writers who contribute to the New International, though not as comprehensive and documented as the articles in the latter work. The New Standard Year Book contains numer- ous illustrations, maps, charts and statistical tables up to the minute, and as such constitutes an important compendium of the world’s events from year to year. Furthermore, it is put out in a format that conven- iently fits into a man’s coat pocket and a woman’s shopping purse and at a moderate price within the reach of all employed men and women. The New Standard Year Book should prove an invaluable source book throughout the year to the busy worker in all walks of life. ADVENTURING IN PALESTINE. Marion Rubinstein. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York City. 163 pp. Thirty pictures. Reviewed by Marjorie MacCreary. Three little girls from Germany visit their cousins in modern Pales- tine. Amply illustrated by excellent photographs taken by the author. The book will appeal strongly to old and young alike. This might be called a travelogue for young people, for so sugar coated is the geography that the young reader finds himself follow- ing with great delight the adventures of the little girls in the commune life, at a wedding, in the temples and mosques, swimming in the Dead Sea, arrested and even held up by bandits. Highly recommended. SOCIALIZING OuR Democracy. Harry W. Laidler. Harper and Brothers, New York. 330 pp. $3.00. Re- viewed by Joel Seidman. In his most recent volume, Dr. Laidler writes sanely and convincing- ly of the evils that plague society today, and the possibilities of achiev- ing a cooperative commonwealth with- out the catastrophe that communists envisage. Dr. Laidler brings to his task a wealth of information, and a sound, logical approach. The program of action that Ameri- can socialists would adopt if they gained power through the ballot, Laidler observes, would depend upon the economic situation and the psy- chology of the people. A state of emergency might be declared in or- der to assure bread to all and jobs to the unemployed. The basic indus- tries, including banking, transporta- tion, and natural resources, would be socialized at once. If the situation was less acute, the process might last longer, with one industry or a group of industries socialized at a time. Compensation would be paid, not as a matter of principle, but in an effort to prevent destructive conflict and civil war. The author has no use for dicta- torship. He believes that, with pow- erful organization of the forces mak- ing for a better society, and with the application of an intelligent socializ- ing technique, violence and dictator- ship can be avoided in the United States. He desires more democracy, not less, and indicts the present order on the score of its autocracy in the economic sphere and_ its _ limited democracy in politics. ' Dr. Laidler emphasizes the exist- ence of non-profit incentives in the world today. In the case of scientists and inventors, the joy of creative work and the love of humanity have proved potent spurs to activity. Even in the case of business men, profits are often sought because of the power that money gives, or because money is a symbol of success. With the management of large corporations in- creasingly in the hands of salaried executives, the profit motive is no longer so directly operative. Such executives might function just as effi- ciently for the community as for ab- sentee owners. The success of non- profit motives has been amply dem- onstrated in Russia. The reader will find in Laidler’s volume a compilation of valuable in- formation relating to present-day so- ciety, and a well-reasoned argument in favor of non-violent socialization. The student of socialist problems, though he may find little that is new to him, will be impressed by the author’s scholarly competence in gathering and organizing so much material bearing upon the problems of socialization. SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER , REDIRECTING EDUCATION, Vol. MII, Europe and Canada. Edited by Rexford G. Tugwell and Leon H. Keyserling. New York. Columbia University Press. 1935. 285 pp. $3.00. Reviewed by H. L. Latham. Eight fully informed men write on the educational developments in Ger- many, England, France, Italy, Den- mark, and Canada. They give a sketch of the framework of the edu- cational systems and supplement that with an interpretation of observed educational trends in the _ several countries. There is no hesitancy in presenting opinions as to the success and validity of the systems reviewed, but the expression of judgments is in restrained language and is supported by the facts adduced. The attention of publicists and stu- dents of current history should be drawn to this volume. It is fair to believe that a more penetrating in- sight into the present and future drift in these nations may be gained through an examination of these edu- cational tendencies than through a vast amount of statistical research. Here we can watch the stream of popular living as it is being shaped by the educators of the land. Each nation is making a success of its program despite the fact that a critic may find serious weaknesses in it. For this reason educators can borrow many good living ideas that have been allowed to wither on American soil. These men all write as educational statesmen; they are judicious interpreters to the teachers of our nation who know far too little of life beyond our doorsteps. THE FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN Na- TURE. John Morris Dorsey. New York, Longmans Green and Com- pany. 1935. 488 pp. $2.80. Re- viewed by H. L. Latham. This psychiatrist has the command of many experiences in the hospital, a wide familiarity with the literature of his subject, and a brilliant style. This “study of the person” conse- quently is outside the class of ordi- nary volumes on personality. The principal themes of the book are the structure underlying the for- mation of personality disorders, the biological background, race and family stock, constitutional pattern of the person, external and internal orienta- tion, character formation, and edu- cational objectives. The editor of the series thinks that this volume will not make light read- ing; however, it is shot through with clear, pointed, and valuable aphor- isms that alone will repay the reader. Particular attention is called to the Summary of each chapter composed of perhaps twenty brief sentences, each one representing a portion of the author’s message. It is a book of wisdom and we hope for it a very wide circulation among educators. 1935 PSYCHOLOGY. James Bart Stroud. New York, Macmil- lan Company, 1935. $2.50. 490 pp. Reviewed by H. L. Latham. These sixteen chapters treat the topics long since proposed as the principal field of educational psychol- ogy. The material is drawn largely from recent experimental studies, but the author’s critical judgment inter- prets the findings in a very agreeable and helpful manner. The subject of instinct, for exam- ple, is disposed of by rehearsing the theories proposed by modern writers followed by the author’s rejection of the instinct hypothesis and his rea- sons therefor. On the subject of learning the views of H. A. Carr, Margaret W. Curti, H. E. Garrett, A. I. Gates, R. S. Woodworth, H. Cason, E. L. Thorndike, C. L. Hull, and others are cited and critically evaluated. Two chapters on personal- ity are a welcome addition to the more traditional list of themes. The author affirms that the problems of personality cannot be wisely ignored by any teacher. Each chapter of the book is sup- plied with questions and exercises and with selected references for fur- ther reading. We have here a typical textbook of considerable merit and no obvious deficiencies. Without undue exertion on the reader’s part it will yield a very satisfactory understand- ing of the best thought on the psy- chological aspects of education. EDUCATIONAL GUIDANCE IN THE LARGE HIGH ScHooL. Elsa G. Becker. Reprint from High Points in the High Schools of New York City. June 1933. 14 pp. Reviewed by Flor- ence E. Clark. This little pamphlet is of great in- terest for several reasons. In the first place, Miss Becker answers the question raised by the reviewer, when describing the contents of her first annual report of the Guidance De- partment of the Samuel J. Tilden High School.* This question was, Where did the teachers get their free time to do guidance work? Were they allotted free time in the administra- tive set-up, or did other teachers in the school carry their teaching loads? Miss Becker quotes her principal, John M. Loughran, who established the Guidance Department in the school at a time when educational facilities were being curtailed. He says, ; The withdrawal of a teacher from classroom work necessarily increases the load of the re- maining teachers. In the face of prevailing larger class units than permit of proper indi- vidualization of instruction and socialization of recitation many of us are loath to introduce anything into the school that will necessitate still larger classes. The question resolves itself, perhaps, into one of relative values. From my point of view the returns of a guidance service in terms of benefit to students amply compen- sate for the relatively slight increase in class 27 size. Also, the hundreds of adjustments that have been effected and the motivation of school work thus provided, with consequent improve- ment of classroom activity, more than offset the quantitative consideration. . . . With respect to the increased pupil load of teachers because of the withdrawal of some for guidance work, the statement may be made that, the larger the school, the smaller the effect upon class size. Then follows a table worked out by Mr. Loughran to show how great is the increase in teaching load in vari- ous sized high schools when the num- ber of teachers released varies from one to five. Besides showing how a principal has faced the question of increasing the size of classes and weighing its disadvantages against the advan- tages of improved service to the stu- dents, the pamphlet has additional interest. Miss Becker stresses two points which usually are not recog- nized when a plan of guidance is worked out from within a school sys- tem. She emphasizes the fact that a well-rounded program of guidance is needed in the high school, not merely a “purple patch.” She further recognizes that if teachers are to be selected to do the work, ones with the necessary qualifications must be chosen and must be given additional specialized training in the field of guidance. *American Teacher, vol. XVIII, No. 4, April 1934, p. 25. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE IN ACTION. John A. Fitch. Published for The American Association of Social Workers, by Columbia University Press, 1935. 294 pp. $2.75. Re- viewed by Florence E. Clark This study gives a definite picture of what the counselor does from day to day, whether she or he is located in the school, meeting individuals or groups, or in the placement office try- ing to place the individual in his first job or helping him to adjust to his vocational life. Some educators will question the classification of the coun- selor as a social worker instead of a special kind of worker in the edu- cation field. But none will question the facts presented, as they are based on two kinds of research—field visits by the author himself to many cities doing guidance, and questionnaires sent to superintendents of schools, counselors themselves, and to offices doing junior placement work in pub- lie schools, federal and state employ- ment offices, and YWCA and YMCA organizations. Planned as one of a series of stud- ies by the American Association of Social Workers to tell what social workers do, the study does not at- tempt to evaluate the work or set up standards. In this respect it is more limited in its scope than the volume on Vocational Guidance of the White House Conference on Child Health 28 and Protection, which at many points sets up standards in the way of rec- ommendations. The book is divided into three parts. Part I discusses what voca- tional guidance is and the organiza- tion of vocational guidance. In this section the author defends his posi- tion of classifying vocational guid- ance as social work. Part II treats of counseling, the duties of counsel- ors, methods of counseling, the gath- ering and dissemination of occupa- tional information, qualification of counselors who are at work, and the conditions of their work. Part III is devoted to placement—the activi- ties and problems of the placement office, the methods of registering and interviewing applicants, of referral and follow-up, the qualifications of the placement worker and the condi- tion of work. One chapter is devoted to the placing of the handicapped. With this volume on vocational guidance, the fifth in the series of job analyses of various kinds of so- cial work, the American Association of Social Workers is abandoning its project. Other volumes in the series are The Social Worker in Family, Medical, and Psychiatric Social Work, by Louise C. Odencrantz; The Social Worker in Group Work, The Social Worker in Child Care and Protec- tion, The Social Worker in the Pre- vention and Treatment of Delin- quency by Margaretta Williamson. While the studies were planned for another public, they will be of vital interest to the public school teacher, who is dealing in the classroom with the same child that the social worker is treating in another relationship. THE Power OF NON-VIOLENCE. Rich- ard B. Gregg. J. P. Lippincott Company. $2.50. Of special in- terest to members of the League for Independent Political Action. Here is a new kind of book in which there is both realism and idealism— a fine blend of what is and what ought to be. The author gives a definite answer to “What are you going to do about it?” question which is the final note of many recent books on the villainy of another world war. This vigorous volume touches everyone who has been angry or afraid, resentful, revengeful or bitter; everyone who has taken part in a fight, mob-violence, or war; everyone who has been the object of anger, hatred, exploitation, or op- pression; all who are troubled lest the great economic, political, and social questions which are pressing upon all nations will issue in appalling vio- lence and increased insecurity for mankind. “The Power of Non-Violence is a eareful dialectic statement of the practical case for non-resistance THE AMERICAN TEACHER which for its very thoroughness and precision, must supersede all its predecessors and remain for years to come the authoritative textbook of the movement,” declares John Haynes Holmes in the New York Herald- Tribune. Millions of converts will be made by this work, which is the most potent instrument of persuasion ever placed within the reach of organizations and their leaders who are devoting untir- ing energy in preventing for all time, wars, race riots, and bloody strikes. BRITANNICA JUNIOR. 12 Volumes. Blue Cloth Binding. 1934 Edition. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., New York and Chicago. $59.75; also terms. Reviewed by Michael B. Scheler. The publishers of the Encyclopae- dia Britannica have for many years entertained an idea to put out an encyclopedia for children which “would do for them what the Brit- annica itself does for adults,” but it is a fortuitous occasion that induced them to proceed with their plan in earnest. Several years ago they were in- formed that the “Weedon’s Modern Encyclopedia,” regarded by many authorities as the best children’s en- cyclopedia at one time, was offered for sale. They promptly communi- cated with the publishers of the “Weedon’s,” bought all the rights to and plates of the “Weedon’s Modern Encyclopedia,” and with that work as a foundation the publishers of the Encyclopaedia Britannica proceeded in materializing their ambitious plan. The editors of the American edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Franklin H. Hooper and Walter Yust, were put to the task of modernizing, expanding, revising, and improving the “Weedon’s Modern Encyclopedia,” and the result was the Britannica Junior with 12 massive volumes in the place of the 8 volumes in the old “Weedon’s Modern Encyclopedia.” The Britannica Junior is an en- tirely revised work. Every article in the old “‘Weedon’s” was carefully ex- amined, hundreds of them were en- tirely revised and rewritten to con- form to the geographical, political, and cultural transformations in the post-War world, and, above all, to harmonize with “the ideals and plans of the present Editors.” In addition, dozens of new articles, written by outstanding authorities in their fields, were added. In putting the Britan- nica Junior into shape, the editors have employed the same care, accu- racy and authoritative ability as was applied in producing the new edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and we are pleased to say, with consid- erable success. The Britannica Junior is composed of 12 volumes, an average of 300 pages to a volume. The articles are set in an unusually simple and inter- esting style and are accurately writ- ten, though many of them necessarily are brief. Many absorbing stories to clarify some of the major articles, such as China, etc., are inserted for the benefit of the younger readers. The Britannica Junior is profusely illustrated with beautiful maps, pic- tures of persons and things, diagrams, plans of buildings, ete. According to the editors, “no work of this kind is more beautifully or more fully aided by pictures than Britannica Junior.” The Britannica Junior is distin- guished by two features which, in the opinion of its publishers and editors, are unique in the publishing of ency- clopedias, both for young and old. One feature is the first volume, called the “Ready Reference” volume, a book of 482 pages. In this volume are listed in alphabetical order all the items that one finds in regular ency- clopedias, for which only the essential facts are briefly given. This volume was prepared on the assumption that most of the searchers for knowledge who consult encyclopedias desire only the essential facts about an object or a person, such as name, birth, loca- tion, area, etc., and are little inter- ested in exhaustive, descriptive mat- ter. As such it is a distinct reference work in itself. The other feature is found in the final volume, called the “Study Guide.” This volume is filled with “directions for making things” and with numerous aids to teachers in arranging study courses and play activities for their wards. For exam- ple, the chapter, “How to Use a Library” takes the young reader through all the complex processes of a library, such as the classification, indexing, and carding of books, the use of reference works, in a simplicity of style that is as amazing as it is instructive, both to young and adults. A section is devoted to making vari- ous things at home, still another to making things at school, each chap- ter of which is accompanied by a timely and useful bibliography for further instructive reading. Particu- larly valuable to teachers should prove the rich presentation of out- lines of studies for various languages and sciences and of plans for the ar- rangement of interesting games and plays for the children. The final sec- tion of this volume is filled with many valuable documents and tables of facts, such as the Constitution of the United States, the latest census population figures, the presidents and vice-presidents of the United States, the national parks and monuments, the rulers of foreign countries, the stories of operas, modern inventions, etc., etc. While we are pleased with the Britannica Junior in general as @ reference work for children and for busy adults as well, we cannot re- frain from pointing out a major de- aSe_wrT!ST Tele )hClUY SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1935 fect in its work, a defect which, by the way, seems to be shared by all children’s encyclopedias. Voicing as we do the sentiments of the organized pody of 5,000,000 trade unionists in the United States, who in turn, di- rectly or indirectly, influence from 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 Americans and have families with many children; and particularly voicing as we do the sentiments of the professional sectors such as the organized teachers in our Union, we regret the omission of articles on many social problems in the Britannica Junior. At one time 17,000,000 men and women have walked the streets in a forlorn search for work, from 11,000,000 to 12,000,- 000 are still engaged in this hopeless task; it is estimated that at least one- third of our nation is dependent on relief in one form or another, and yet neither unemployment nor relief re- ceive the attention of separate arti- cles, except a few lines in the article on the United States. The American Federation of Labor, the National Recovery Act, the wave of strikes that reverberated throughout the world, and kindred subjects are en- tirely ignored. We believe that a ref- erence work that is designed to appeal to the youth of the modern world should not overlook the social prob- lems that distress and transform the modern world from day to day, and in which youth is taking an increasingly important part. May we hope that the editors will endeavor to overcome this deficiency in the next edition. Barring this defect, the Britannica Junior may be recommended as one of the best and most inexpensive children’s encyclopedias on the Ameri- ean market today and as a highly in- structive reference work to busy adults as well. ATLAS OF CURRENT AFFAIRS. J. F. Horrabin. Alfred A. Knopf. $1.25. Reviewed by Mark Starr. To teachers desiring to read their newspapers intelligently this book is as indispensable as to those teach- ing modern history and current events. The usual reference atlas and the bigger maps have too much detail. Mr. Horrabin is master in “the art of leaving out.” Each map lights up some particular key fact in world geography. For example the map and the short explanatory note on the Treaty of Versailles illumines in a flash the basis of the outraged nationalism which Hitler has ex- ploited. Other maps deal with the Ruhr, the Saar, and the Polish Cor- ridor. The tangle of the Balkans, the precarious position of Austria, sep- aratist movements in Spain, and the nationalist struggles in Belgium are among the topics treated in the first section dealing with Europe. Other main sections deal with Mediterra- nean and the Near East. Japan and the Far East, Russia, India and the Indian Ocean, Africa and America. An index facilitates reference to the 74 maps, all of which are drawn with that bold clear line which made Hor- rabin’s “Outline of Economic Geog- raphy” and his diagrams and maps in Wells’ “Outline of World History” so distinctive. When published in England the Atlas of Current Affairs won praise from both the Communist Daily Worker and the Tory Morning Post. It is a definite contribution to the understanding of world problems. Reading for Fun Reading for Fun is to be the theme of the 1935 Book Week, November 17th to 23rd. It is to be a seven day festival devoted to the enchantment of reading, with children who have already discovered books that absorb and delight them sharing their joy in reading with others who have not yet found out how much sheer fun it is to read. While some boys and girls enjoy reading for information and authors and publishers in recent years have provided very delightful books of this type for young people, the chief emphasis during the 1935 Book Week will be on the broad field of imaginative literature, the classics and modern tales of character, of far places, of humor and fantasy. In Roads to Childhood, Anne Car- roll Moore says, Dreams, fancies, humor, are the natural heri- tage of childhood and are at the foundation of what is beautiful and poetical in literature, art, and human experience. Never in our history has there been greater need for men and women of vision and power to persuade. These quali- ties may, and assuredly do, take form and clarity from the facts of science, but they live only in literature and in the aspirations of the human heart. This statement of Miss Moore’s seems to sum up very happily the theme of Book Week this year. A new poster and leaflet of sug- gestions for Book Week exhibits and programs will be ready in September. Schools are requested to send the usual fee of 25 cents to the National Association of Book Publishers, 347 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. Libraries and the Unemployed Comparatively few of the unem- ployed workers seem to realize how garet an agency for social betterment the public library is. Many more un- employed than ever in the past are now using the libraries, but compara- tively few seem to be getting the full benefit of its considerable store of literature in the social, economic, and political fields. The reading rooms are always full, but most of the patrons go there to read the newspapers and fiction. The book departments are used more than ever before, but most of this increase is in the use of fiction and other light reading. If the serious minds among the un- 29 employed knew of the great store of socially useful information that is seldom removed from the library shelves, they would be amazed. This condition exists because comparatively few know of the notable revolution- ary writings that are at their com- mand for the asking. The list of radical authors whose works are on the shelves sounds like a whole galaxy of the famous figures in the field of social reform: Sherwood Anderson, Harry Elmer Barnes, August Bebel, Ernest Sutherland Bates, Roger N. Baldwin, Max Beer, Edward Bellamy, Edward Bernstein, Louis Blanc, Louis M. Boudin, Arthur W. Calhoun, Lewis Corey, V. F. Calverton, G. D. H. Cole, Eugene V. Debs, Max Eastman, Fred- erick Engels, John T. Flynn, Fourier, Anatole France, Joseph Freeman, Henry George, Emma Goldman, Max- im Gorky, Arturo Giovanniti, Bill Haywood, Joseph Jastrow, Karl Kaut- sky, Harold J. Laski, Lenin, Robert M. Lovett, Jack London, Karl Lieb- knecht, Karl Marx, William Morris, Scott Nearing, James Oneal, Bertrand Russell, G. B. Shaw, Upton Sinclair, Samuel D. Schmalhausen, John Strachey, Leon Trotsky, Thorstein Veblen, Voltaire, the Webbs, Oscar Wilde. . . . These are but a few of those prominent writers that are available at the public libraries of the nation (their presence often being studiously unheralded and often con- cealed). Can the workers afford not to avail themselves of these priceless oppor- tunities for the advancement of their cause? No more can they afford to see the libraries of the country crip- pled by a lack of operating funds. These funds come from taxation. It is the workers’ duty to themselves and to others to use all their influence in the political field to prevent crip- pling that institution which aids them all most directly—the public library. Jay F. Om1s. The Making of a Teacher “Select a young and pleasing personality; trim off all man- nerisms of voice, dress, or de- portment; pour over it a mix- ture of equal parts of the wis- dom of Solomon, the courage of young David, the strength of Samson, and the patience of Job, season with the salt of ex- perience, the pepper of anima- tion, the oil of sympathy, and a dash of humor; stew for about four years in a hot class- room, testing occasionally with the fork of criticism thrust in by a principal or a superin- tendent. When done to a turn, garnish with a small salary and serve hot to the com- munity.” 30 On Taxation Epiror’s Note: The following letter was sent by Hiram B. Loomis, former principal of the Hyde Park High School, Chicago, to W. B. Satterthwaite as com- ment upon a statement on taxation made im the article “Must Free Education Dis- appear?” in the May-June AMERICAN TEACHER. Mr. Loomis’s remarks are so pertinent and valuable that permission has been asked and given to reproduce them here. My dear Mr. Satterthwaite : I read your article in the May-June number of the AMERICAN TEACHER with interest. There is one and only one sentence in your article that I do not like. I dislike that very much. It is, “Lower tax rates on real estate and exemptions.to home owners and farmers have come to stay, and properly.” The greatest danger that I see for the near future is the movement to lower taxes on real estate, because a lowered rate on real estate, as it is advocated, means not only a lower rate on improve- ments but a lower rate on land. A low rate on land means land speculation; and the lower the rate, the greater the spec- ulation. When I find my friends among the teaching profession approving the lower- ing of taxes on real esatte and talking about a broad basis of taxation, I lose all hope that another depression will not come and come hard. That experience may be a necessity. I am, however, do- ing my best to call the attention of a few people who are likely to live into the next financial crash to the part land specula- tion will play in producing it. There will come another time when the Brisbanes will be saying “Don’t sell America short.” The values they will be counting on will be the land values of America. When I talk of this, people re- fer me to Henry Ford. My reply is that Henry Ford knew enough to protect himself so far as land values were con- cerned. When I visited his plant near Detroit, the first thing that caught my eye was a large lake vessel at dock right in the plant. Henry Ford had looked after water transportation. His plant is not in the middle of a prairie. I have also heard the story that when the steel kings wanted to raise their price, Henry practically said to them, “I have a small iron mine and produce part of my steel. Shall I enlarge my facilities and produce all of it?” Henry Ford is primarily an entrepreneur ; but he has not neglected to protect himself against land monopoly. Let me also refer to real estate bonds, based on speculative land values. I own some of them myself. I believe that those that I own were issued honestly on what was considered a conservative esti- mate of value. Notice what a tax on land value means. I am going to give my own home as an illustration. When I bought my home, I paid $1,000.00 for the vacant lot next south of the house. At that time the tax on the lot was about $20.00 a year. If money was worth 5%, I was really pay- ing $70.00 a year for the lot, $50.00 in interest on the investment and $20.00 in taxes. If the tax had been $10.00 in- stead of $20.00, and if I had still been willing to pay $70.00 a year for the lot, the selling value would have been $1,200.00. The following table gives an THE idea of the effect taxes on land have on its selling value: Tax Selling Value 0 $1,400 10 1,200 20 1,000 30 800 50 400 60 200 65 100 There would be no speculation in land values if the tax came anywhere near the selling value of the land. In this connection it is well to bear in mind that rights to use the streets for rails, pipes, or wires are land values, that railroad rights of way are land values, including Henry Ford’s great plant. In addition to my home I own what I call a farm. The improvements consti- tute but a small part of its value. I built the building with my own hands. In my opinion it would be better for my children and for my grandchildren if all land were taxed so heavily as to diminish its selling value by 90%. I bought it for speculation, and could today sell it for more than I paid for it. I am not selling it at present. I think it will bring a higher price. Moreover, the lower the taxes, the more I will be able to get for it. But my children and my grandchildren would be better off though they got less when I die, if they could only avoid the consequences that will follow another period of not selling America short. This may be simply the cry of a male Cassandra; but remember the prophesies of Cassandra came to pass. Hrram B. Loomis. 6119 South Rockwell Street Chicago, Illinois May 17, 1935 Erratum Editor AMERICAN TEACHER: I desire to correct an error in my column in your May issue entitled ‘,Sug- gestions for Textbooks or School Charts.” An omission was made of two lines which made no sense of the figures as to the number slain in the War of 1812, the Mexican, Spanish and World Wars. There were fewer than 2,000 slain in each of the first two, though over 10,000 died of disease in the Mexican war. In the war with Spain fewer than 1,000 were killed but over 5,000 died of dis- ease. Less than 52,000 were killed in battle in the World War. I may add that our traffic disasters in three years far exceed the total number killed in battle in all our foreign wars combined. Lucta Ames MEAp. Even though stealing from chil- dren, the aged, the helpless, has traditionally been the basest form of crime, it is common enough in local politics. School funds in nu- merous cities have been corruptly expended by local politicians. In Chicago for a generation public school control has been the prize of politics. Every other essential public service has also been squeezed. The scandals of the Sani- tary District have been worse than even Chicago could stomach. —Collier’s. TEACHER AMERICAN New Locals The American Federation of Teachers welcomes into membership and its cru- sade for school protection and social betterment 24 new locals since the last previous issue of the AMERICAN TEACHER. Watauga, Tenn., Teachers Federation, Local 405. Escanaba, Mich., Teachers Club, Local 406. Gladstone, Mich., Federation of Teach- ers, Local 407. Crystal Falls, Mich., Federation of Teachers, Local 408. East Detroit, Mich., Teachers Club, Local 409. Saginaw Valley, Mich., Federation of Teachers, Local 410. Newark and Licking County, Ohio, Federation of Teachers, Local 411. N. Franklin County, Ark., Federation of Teachers, Local 412. Magazine, Ark., Federation of Teach- ers, Local 413. West Allis, Wis., Federation of Voca- tional Teachers, Local 414. Johnson County, Ark., Federation of Teachers, Local 415. Van Buren County, Ark., Federation of Teachers, Local 416. Pontiac, Mich., Federation of Teach- ers, Local 417. Federated Teachers of Oklahoma City, Local 418. Bay City, Mich., Federation of Teach- ers, Local 419. Teachers Union of St. Louis and St. Louis County, Local 420. Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., Federation, Local 421. Richmond County, Ga., Chapter, Local 422. Syracuse, N. Y., Teachers Federation, Local 423. New Era, Ark., Teachers Teachers Federation, Local 424. Tex.-Ark. Federation of Teachers, Local 425. Summers County, W. Va., Union, Local 426. N. District, Ohio, Federation of Teach- ers, Local 427. Mountain City, Tenn., Teachers Assn., Local 428. od President Green Sounds Warning Against War President William Green has sounded a sharp warning against war talk and all war. Especially interesting paragraphs of his statement on the subject in- cluded the following: “Workers of the world must unite solidly to prevent what seems to be an approaching war! “We believe that the purpose and spirit of the workers of the world is to see that war will never occur again. “We cannot allow those with a mad lust for power to have their way. They must not be allowed to command masses of people to march out on the bat- tlefield and destroy each other. “The interest of the common peo- ple is to preserve peace, for we ab- hor war in any form.” Yas _ American Teacher—Part III—-Supplementary Bulleti —— Vouume | WEB 4s SEPTE MBER 14, 1935 The New York Situation George Davis The “Commincement” ELEGATES to the recent convention probably will D read no further than the title, but since so many in- quiries are coming to the office and since the New York local factional differences have become a national is- sue, this statement of the issues involved and actions taken has been prepared for the information of members. Early in the spring of 1935 a committee composed of President Lowry, Secretary Hanson, and Legislative Rep- resentative Borchardt went to New York on the invitation of the officers of Local 5 to investigate alleged subversive activities within the local. New York to Cleveland At a National Executive Council meeting held in Cleve- land during the convention, two plans for dealing with the local’s factionalism were presented: one by Mrs. Hanson and Mr. Lowry proposed a committee made up of one New York labor man acceptable to Local 5 and two A. F. T. members to cooperate with the officers of the local for a period of three months to clear up the situation by expul- sions of trouble makers, compromise, disbanding of minority groups, or whatever method seemed wise after thorough investigation; the other by the officers of Local 5 and con- curred in by Miss Borchardt asked immediate revocation of the local’s charter and the issuance of a new charter to the officers and their supporters. Twenty-five Hours An extended hearing followed at which Dr. Linville pre- sented the administration’s point of view and three members from opposition groups, who had come to the convention on their own responsibility, appeared to oppose revocation of the charter. Just what the hearing brought out is doubtful, but the lines were clearly drawn; the Council had to go on record for or against revocation since the administration flatly refused any compromise plan recognizing the opposition. (It should be mentioned that several factions exist—the administration group, the progressives, the rank and file, etc., the opposition groups working together under the name, the “United Committee to Save the Union.”) A motion to recommend revocation was lost on a tie vote of the twelve Council members present followed by a motion to accept the Hanson-Lowry plan passing 8 to 4. Mr. Green’s Telegram Between adjournment of the Council and the next con- vening of the delegates a telegram arrived from Mr. Green asking revocation of Local 5’s charter on the grounds of Communistic domination of the New York Union. Mem- bers of the Council who could be reached were hastily sum- moned and voted revocation by a majority present. At the next session of the convention the Executive Council pre- sented its decision and on roll call voted 10 to 2 for revoca- tion. Following presentations by the disputants and lengthy debate the delegates voted 100 to 79 to reject the Executive Council’s recommendation, with a number of delegates either absent or not answering the roll call. On the last day of the convention the New York dele- gates, followed by a number of delegates from ten other locals, walked out in protest. Under New Management _ The incoming Executive Council, following the final ad- journment of the convention, sent the following communi- cation to President Green: August 30, 1935. Mr. William Green, President, American Federation of Labor, Washington, D. C. Dear Mr. Green: The nineteenth annual convention of the American Federation of Teachers acknowledges receipt of your telegram of August 28 and now wishes to inform you that by a regular vote of the convention we have refused to revoke the charter of the New York Local. This letter will confirm a telegram to that effect which we have sent to you today. The subject of the internal situation in the New York Local has not been neglected by our Executive Council during the past year, nor has it been neglected by this convention. We cannot avoid the impression that you have been misinformed on that situation when you state that Loca! 5 is controlled and dominated by communists. We regret that you acted so definitely in sending your telegram before giving this convention an opportunity to consider and act on this situation. We are interested in knowing the source of the information which you seem to have on that situation and which we do not have and we would appreciate having that information laid before our Executive Council. Our Executive Council had evolved a plan by which a sub-committee consisting of one labor man not a teacher and two members of our organization was to be offered to the New York Local to assist in solving their internal problem. The Administration Group in that Local flatly refused to cooperate in this plan. We wish to emphasize that our action in refusing to revoke this local charter constitutes in no way an en- dorsement of the tactics of either the Opposition or the Administration Groups in the local. We have faith in the ability of the membership of the local to solve its internal problems, and we have faith in the ability of our Executive Council to see that that aim is accom- plished in full harmony with the principles of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor. Fraternally yours, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS Raymond F. Lowry, President. A letter was sent to Dr. Linville at the same time offering the services of the Council in any capacity in which it might serve to solve the New York situation. Aftermath Dr. Linville branded the offer as insulting, suggesting that we communicate with the left-wing groups. Mr. Green has not replied at date of this writing. During the past few days many stories, a few of which are reprinted, have appeared in New York papers pointing definitely to the intention of the Linville-Lefkowitz group to resign from Local 5, to seek the revocation of the A. F. of T. charter by the A. F. of L., and to have themselves desig- nated to form a new national teachers’ labor organization. Personal Evaluation The foregoing account is as nearly an impersonal record of events as I can make it. Too many words have already been spent on this affair, and I shall take neither time nor space defending a position approved by the convention. I was not elected to this office to engage in “bush-whacking.” If the officers of Local 5 resign, the National Office in cooperation with the membership of that Local is prepared to handle the situation. If charges are brought against us at the A. F. of L. Convention, our charter will be defended. Let us hope that some time and energy will be left for constructive work, CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSED A committee consisting of Bernice Rogers, chairman, Henry R. Linville and F. G. Stecker, was asked by the National Of- fice to study a procedure for handling cases of difficulties in locals such as the New York case and others similar, which had arisen during the year, and to suggest a constitutional amendment to be presented to the Cleveland Convention. The report of the committee is as follows: In making a study of the best method of amending the constitution of the American Federation of Teachers to provide machinery by which the National Organization can render aid to locals which are split by internal dissension of whatever nature, the committee sent letters to ten of the Internationals asking both for copies of their constitutions and advice based on their experience in such matters. Five of the ten responded with copies of their constitutions, but offered no advice or suggestions, either having none to offer or feeling that their constitutions spoke for themselves. The responding Internationals were as follows: United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners of America International Federation of Technical Engineers International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers International Association of Machinists International Typographical Union In general, the procedure of these Internationals is the same. The International President has the right at any time to take over control of a local, to direct the affairs of said local either himself or through a representative or com- mittee appointed by himself for whatever length of time seems necessary to him, and even to revoke or suspend the charter of the local. A careful study and consideration of the matter brought the committee to the conclusion that, though this method may be efficacious and satisfactory to other organizations, it is too rigid, perhaps too autocratic, for an organization, the motto of which is “Democracy in Education; Education for Democracy.” Furthermore, as one member of the committee expressed it,—“The Interna- tionals would seem to handle matters for the locals, and by that token the locals cease to have responsibilities, and can throw the blame for not handling the situation on the Inter- nationals.” On the other hand, when a local has proved itself in- capable of directing its own affairs, and finds itself in a con- dition which is actually detrimental to the progress of the National Organization, some method must be adopted which shall give the Executive Council authority to deal with the matter in a time of emergency, without waiting for the na- tional convention. In order to avoid an autocratic method of procedure, and to preserve the ideals of democracy and maintain the au- tonomy of the local, the committee feels that it might be wise to make the provisions covered by the following reso- lution :— The committee recommends the adoption of this report and of the following amendment of the constitution as provided for in Article X. A. F. T. CONSTITUTION ARTICLE X Amendments Section 1. Proposed amendments to the constitution shall be submitted to the annual convention either by re- quest of the Executive Council, or by request of a local. Section 2. Proposed amendments shall be submitted to a referendum vote to be taken at meetings of the locals either by naam of the Executive Council, or by request of five ocals. WHEREAS, the Constitution of the American Federa- of Teachers, as it now stands, makes only a super- ficial or inadequate provision for handling such mat- ters in an emergency; be it therefore RESOLVED, that the Constitution of the American Federation of Teachers be amended as follows: 1. That in Article IV—Charters—Section 5 be amended as follows by adding “upon an appeal” 2. That in Article IX—Executive Council—a new section shall be added as follows: Section 9. (1) Upon the appeal of the officers and execu- tive board of a local or of 30% or more of the mem- bership thereof for assistance in settling internal dis- putes, the president shall appoint a committee of three from the Executive Council, based upon the regional organization division of the American Fed- eration of Teachers, to conduct an investigation, and, in case an unanimous decision is reached by the in- vestigating committee, to prescribe to the local a course of action. If an unanimous decision is not reached, the investigating committee shall make a full report to the Executive Council whose decision shall be final. A protest against the unanimous de- cision of the investigating committee may be filed with the Executive Council which shall then have the authority to act. An appeal to the next national con- vention from the decision of the Executive Council shall be based only on sustaining or not sustaining the decision of the council. The cost of such an investigating committee shall be borne two-thirds by the initiating party, one-third by the national. (2) The Executive Council may by an unanimous vote of the Council investigate a local whose conduct is not in harmony with the principles of the American Federation of Teachers and tends to bring the A. F. of T. into disrepute. The action of the Council, in such cases shall be final unless an appeal is made against the decision to the next National Convention. The cost of such an investigation shall be borne by the national. Section 4. If the proposed amendment is to be submitted to a referendum vote it must be sent to the locals by the Secretary of the Federation within two weeks of its receipt by him. The votes for and against must be mailed to him within a further period of two months. Section 5. The Constitution shall be amended by a ma- jority of the votes cast. Will each local please consider this amendment at its next meeting and submit the result in actual votes cast by November 15? Article X, Sec. 4, “The votes for and against must be mailed to him (secretary) within a further period of two months.” NEW YORK POST—SEPTEMBER 5 Linville Balked Union Peace Plan, Says Dr. Neibuhr “Uncompromising Attitude” Is Blamed for Failure of Formula He Drew Up PROFESSOR MINIMIZES TALK OF “RED” CONTROL By Alexander Ostrow Staff Correspondent New York Post SHARON, Conn., Sept. 5.—Professor Reinhold Neibuhr of the Union Theological Seminary tried early this summer to restore peace in the Teachers Union. He failed, Reached here today, where he is vacationing until the re- opening of Columbia University, he blamed that failure on the “uncompromising attitutude” of Dr. Henry R. Linville, president, and the administration forces of the union. At the same tiine, he minimized all talk of “Red” control of the local. Formula Drawn Up Dr. Neibuhr said Professors George S. Counts, John Dewey and himself were asked by certain “independent union forces” to draw up a formula this summer by which all factors in the union might be reconciled. The liberal groups, he said, cooperated fully, presenting a detailed list of proposals by which they agreed to grant cer- tain concessions to the administration in return for greater protection of their minority rights. Those proposals, Dr. Neibuhr asserted, might have been the basis for a virtual rapprochement between the warring factions. - But he said the plan was rejected by Dr. Linville. Quotes Dr. Linville “Such things,” he quoted Dr. Linville as saying, “have been tried before, and they haven’t worked.” The union president went ahead with his own plan to have the union’s charter revoked by the American Federa- tion of Teachers, with the idea of reorganizing later, barring “radical” elements. That effort failed last week. “The left wing,” Dr. Neibuhr declared, “doesn’t now, and never did, constitute a majority of the Teachers Union.” The accusation by William Green, president of the Ameri- can Federation of Labor, that the union is dominated by Communists, Dr. Neibuhr dismissed as “bunk.” He acclaimed the refusal by the American Federation of Teachers to revoke the local’s charter. Must Represent All “It is impossible to suppress or exclude minorities or to deny freedom of opposition in an organization such as the Teachers Union,” he said. “All shades of opinion and every manner of belief are represented in New York’s vast teaching staff, and if one group tries to exclude another, it will just weaken the union and lead to its eventual dissolution.” He does not believe the resignation of Dr. Linville and other officers of the organization would turn the union over to “radicals.” “Most of the members of the union belong neither to the right nor to the left,” he said. “Most of them remember that not so long ago the Communists were out to wreck the union.” Feeling Still Rankles Communists have given up that idea, he said, but the re- membrance of “broken up meetings and constant interrup- tions which made it impossible to conduct any business” still “rankle.” The majority of union members, he declared, have no taste for such demonstrations, and would not elevate the perpetrators to leadership. e expressed the hope that the union factions might adjust their differences and continue the union as “a truly represen- tative group, representing all teachers, and not just one small faction.” PROPOSALS DRAWN UP BY DR. NEIBUHR The proposals drawn up by Dr. Neibuhr’s committee to bring peace in the Teachers Union were reported here today to provide the following: That all groups recognize the principle of democratic functioning in the union. That all agree not to attack each other in the press. That the existence of different groups be recognized as legitimate trade union tendencies. That a one-third vote be required to place items on the agenda. That before December 1 the questions of admission of substitutes, dues for substitutes and unemployed and of re- organization of the Joint Committee be placed on the agenda. That the books of the union closed last June when 150 applications for membership were waiting to be acted upon, be reopened, and new members admitted. That a committee be appointed to suggest clarification and amendment of the constitution. NEW YORK POST—SEPTEMBER 6 Union Officials Keep Membership Despite “Red” Row See Hope of Action by A. F. L. on Move to Reorganize National Unit LOCAL THEN PROPOSES TO REMOVE RADICALS See Today's Editorial: “Fouling Their Own Nest” The Teachers Union administration has not yet lost its fight to oust the opposition forces. The resignations of its officers, when they occur this month, will not constitute a simple “throwing up of hands.” This much was frankly conceded today by Dr. Abra- ham Lefkowitz, one of the retiring officers and co-leader with Dr. Henry R. Linville, president, of the move to bar “disruptive elements” from the union. Although he made no statement that the administration would carry a direct appeal to the A. F. of L. convention in Atlantic City next month, he confirmed reports published on the Post School Page yesterday that the future of the resigning officers rests largely with the labor organization. The officers are remaining in the union, hopeful that the A. F. of L. will revoke the charter of the American Federa- tion of Teachers, its national affiliate, thus opening the way for reorganization, not only of the Federation, but of the Teachers Union as well. Machinery Described The machinery for this move was described by Dr. Lef- kowitz. Simply stated, it involves revocation of the charters of both the national and local organizations. Only the A. F. of L. convention can revoke the charter of the national organization. On the other hand, only the national organization can revoke the charter of the local. Both revocations entail reorganizations. Because its officers want to reorganize, barring Commu- nists from membership, the New York local asked the na- tional organization to revoke its charter last week. Although William Green, president of the A. F. of L., requested the national to take such action, it refused. Retaliate by Quitting In retaliation, the local officers said yesterday they would resign their posts. _ “We will retain membership in the union, however, pend- ing action by the A. F. of L.,” Dr. Lefkowitz said. “If it revokes the charter of the teachers’ national, we shall remain in the organization. “Such revocation would mean the appointment by Mr. Green of some one to reorganize the national. It is to be expected that this reorganizer will revoke the Teachers Union charter and give us the opportunity to reorganize ourselves.” The reorganization of the Teachers Union would be rela- tively simple, Dr. Lefkowitz said. The local’s constitution would be rewritten, providing that no teacher be admitted to membership who “advo- ae the overthrow of the United States Government by orce.” Dr. Lefkowitz envisions one other possibility for settle- ment of the dispute, apart from action by the A. F. of L. That is revocation of the local’s charter by the executive council of the teachers’ federation. While other quarters said they would be inclined to challenge the constitutionality of such a move by the council without authorization from the entire federation, Dr. Lefkowitz said it would be possible for the council to reconsider the question and revoke the charter. If neither the A. F. of L. nor the teachers’ federation acts, however, Dr. Lefkowitz said thé retiring officers would then place the entire issue before the Teachers Union. “We shall let the membership decide which way they want to go,” he declared. OPPOSITION FORCES SEE NO DANGER Opposition forces of the Teachers Union see no danger of the union’s collapse as a result of factional strife which this month will bring the resignation of present union officers. Meeting last night as the “United Committee to Save the Union,” these forces, representing three distinct groups in the union, affirmed their confidence in the organization's ability to “weather the storm.” There was no mention of political issues involved in the controversy. But a passing observation on the American Federation of Teachers was construed as indicating recogni- tion of the threat to the national organization. “The Teachers Union and the American Federation of Teachers have lived through many crises and have grown stronger,” the statement said. “The courage and intellectual vigor of the membership will undoubtedly enable them to weather this storm and continue their growth.” The committee expressed confidence ‘ ‘that the union mem- bership will remain loyal to the union, and will continue their splendid work of building up the Teachers Union move- ment.” NEW YORK POST—SEPTEMBER 6 Editorial : FOULING THEIR OWN NEST Julius Cesar was a wise old bird. When he marched his Legions into Gaul, he didn’t take on all his enemies at once. He used the Roman formula “divide et impera—” that is, divide and rule. As long as he could, he played one tribe off against another, conquering one at a time. When the Gallic tribes finally woke up to his strategy, it was too late to stop him. There is a lesson here for Mr. William Green and Mr. Matthew Woll and the other leaders of the American Fed- eration of Labor. The reactionaries who hate collective bar- gaining and unionization are using Czsar’s strategy. First they use the Red bogy to split the workers. But when they finish off “the Reds,” they will proceed to clean up Mr. Green and Mr: Woll and the conservatives. Hitler used the same tactics in Germany and Mussolini in Italy. The situation in the Teachers Union in this city and the part being played in that situation by Mr. Green illustrate the danger. Dr. Henry Linville, president of the union, has given it many years of devotion. Dr. Abraham Lefkowitz, its legis- lative representative, has been one of the most progressive leaders in the A. F. of L Unfortunately, they are stooping to methods unworthy of them to maintain themselves in office. They are afraid that they cannot be reélected. So they asked the American Fed- eration of Teachers to revoke the charter of their union and to give them a charter for a new union they can control. Their excuse is “disruptive activities” within the union. They did not drag in the Red herring, for they know that the number of Communists in the Teachers Union is very small. They did not, as is often done, seek to label the progressives “Reds.” But Mr. Green did. He demanded that the Federation of Teachers revoke the charter on the grounds that the New York local is in the control of Communists. Dr. Linville and Dr. Lefkowitz would deny this. The convention voted against revocation. The real situation seems to be that trouble began with a few stupidly obstreperous Communists. Unfortunately the officials ignored the advice of John Dewey on how to handle the problem. Instead they turned to dictatoriai methods, increasing their own power at the expense of the democratic rights of members. These moves, plus disagreement over a number of union issues, increased dissatisfaction and opposition to the Lin- ville-Lefkowitz régime. If they can't be reélected, they will have to take their medicine. Instead, they are talking of getting the Federation of Teachers’ charter revoked and reorganizing the whole Fed- eration in order to keep their power in New York. Mr. Green has supplied the reactionaries with headlines that give the impression that New York’s teachers are largely Communist. The fight against unionism and against aca- demic freedom is strengthened. More than that, serious questions are raised by Mr. Green’s actions, questions that affect the whole American labor movement: Are charters to be revoked whenever incumbent officers cannot be reélected? Is the A. F. of L. to continue to play into the hands of labor’s enemies by labeling progressives as “Reds”? And how much longer is Mr. Green to fight these “Reds” while refusing to lift a finger against racketeer leaders? CONVENTION SUMMARY Because of the rush in considering committee reports at the end of the convention, and because much of the conven- tion’s business was referred to the Executive Council, this summary of the hurried actions of the convention during its last hours and subsequent actions of the Executive Council which delegates had no opportunity to hear, is presented as a supplement to delegates’ reports to locals. Resolutions having to do with the financial support of schools urge the following: Reduction of military expendi- tures to the pre-war level and diverting of the money to schools; increase income, inheritance, and corporation taxes; a more liberal policy of state support of school districts; adoption of uniform state tax systems initiates through con- ference of governors called by president. Restorations in salaries have not kept pace with the in- creased cost of living. Locals are urged to call this to the attention of the public and boards of education in their communities. Reductions of annuities to teachers already retired in some states having retirement provisions and cut- ting down the expectancy of teachers looking toward re- tirement have been made, and call for an effort to restore these annuities. Encroachments Union teachers are urged to be on the alert for evasions and repeal of tenture laws in states where such laws exist and to work for tenure laws where there are none. Loyalty Oaths have been imposed on teachers in many states. We must oppose the passage of such laws and work for the repeal of those now in force. (The National Office has copies of an excellent study of this question available at cost. We hope locals will use them.) Civil rights of teachers have been denied in many com- munities. Let us insist on our rights to engage in civic affairs, politics if we choose. Fascist tendencies such as Hearst's pendence” are straws which indicate the current be vigorously opposed. “Declaration of Inde- They must Improve Conditions Through cooperation with central labor bodies encourage labor men to run for boards of education and help elect them. Promote workers education projects in your com- munities. Insist that class sizes be kept down to 35 or less in large cities, 30 or less in smaller cities, and not more than 15 in special classes. While improving our own working conditions we should work for the reduction of crime through encouraging special educational work among the underprivileged and mal- ad- justed, insist on sound social and educational programs in our C.C.C. camps, and give some thought to unemployed and W.P.A. teachers. Under the present set-up a teacher must first be on the relief roll before being employed by W. P. A. These teachers, who must work in the adult edu- cation field, have little opportunity for training, are paid niggardly wages, and are denied the right to collective bargaining. Legislation We favor a constitutional amendment to permit necessary social legislation. We believe Representative Marcantonio should be supportd in his Workers’ Rights program. Agri- cultural workers, particularly share-croppers, need legal pro- tection of their rights. All industrial hazards should be covered by law, and we stand ready to support such bills. The original Wagner-Costigan bill on lynching should be passed to further guarantee due process of law and discour- age mob rule. Activities We should be solidly behind the Chest for the Liberation of the Workers of Europe. We approve of the anti-war activities of students in our schools and colleges. We be- lieve in taking part in demonstrations against Fascism, Im- perialistic aggression, and suppression of its citizens by the state. Finally, we are ready to join in the formation of a Labor Party made up of industrial, agricultural, and professional workers determined to go forward on a program of adequate social legislation, the repeal of anti-labor laws, and the out- lawing of war. x * * The report is sketchy. It must necessarily be to cover so many subjects in so short a space. If it has suggested some lines of thought and possible activities for your local, the page has served its purpose. Published proceedings of the convention will be available in a short time so that our full program may be studied. The secretary is now offering his apology for the omissions which must have occurred in a hasty examination of an incomplete reporter's transcript. | ’ | }