our schools. Uneducated and untrained teachers in any school in the United States are a national liability. There are 30,000 teachers in the United States who have no education beyond that furnished in a one-teacher, rural elementary school. There are nine States in which 40 per cent or more of the teachers hold licenses which require less than a high-school education. For the whole of the United States not more than 25 per cent of the teachers hold licenses which require two years of professional training beyond high-school education, a standard which has been acknowledged as a meager minimum preparation for teaching in elementary schools.

The encouragement of education by the Nation will involve the spending of money the larger part of which will be collected in taxes from the wealthy States. This is true of all Federal expenditures. It is justified by virtue of the fact that the income derived by the citizens of these States is dependent upon a market which is nation-wide. Income, excess profits, and internal revenue receipts are collected very largely in the States engaged in the manufacture and distribution of goods. The income and profits derived are paid by citizens throughout the Nation. For the fiscal year 1920–21 the State of North Carolina paid $79,573,088 in internal revenue on the manufacture of tobacco. The product was used and the taxes actually paid throughout the length and breadth of the nation.

National leadership and the development of better provisions for education in the States require the establishment of a department with sufficient funds to make investigations and to disseminate useful information throughout the Nation. The present appropriation of the Bureau of Education is entirely inadequate for this purpose. The quality of leadership demanded can not be provided in the person of a bureau chief occupying a subordinate position in some other department, but could be secured through the Cabinet head of a Government department. The results which have been achieved by the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor in the field of scientific research amply justify the provision for research in the Towner-Sterling bill.

National leadership: The paramount importance of education in our national life demands that it should be given commensurate leadership. There is nothing historically to prove that a department is inherently more apt to be menaced by politics than a subordinate bureau, board, or commission. Everything urged against political influence in the appointment of a secretary for the department of Education applies as well to every Cabinet position. On the whole, these departments of the National Government have been headed by competent men, have functioned well and have been of great service and definite value to the Nation.

The Federal Government appropriated for all education purposes for the year ending June 30, 1921, $149,608,482. If there be omitted from this total the amount appropriated for the vocational rehabilitation of soldiers, $108,000,000, there remains $41,608,482. If a further deduction is made of $14,511,870, which was used for the purpose of providing for a school of national defense and carried on primarily under the jurisdiction of the War and Navy Departments, there remains $27,096,612 appropriated by the National Government for education, exclsuive of the educational needs in preparation for war or for the rehabilitation of those participating in the late war. The United States Bureau of Education, commonly recognized as the one governmental agency providing for national leadership in education, had available for maintenance during the year ending June 30, 1921, $162,045.

Importance of investigation and research: The value of scientific research in the educational field is so self-evident as to need no argument. However divided may be the opinion as to the wisdom of Federal aid to the States, most thoughtful people agree that we do need more information than we now possess in regard to the conduct of our schools, their buildings and equipment, the training of teachers, methods of taxation by which our schools are supported or starved, the educational ideals they uphold and the practical service they render in their main purpose that of training citizens for the Republic. What has been accomplished by the studies and investigations of private institutions and organizations and of other Government departments has been of such significant value to public welfare that it is hard to overestimate the results which may be achieved by a well-financed department of education in disseminating among the States the results of educational investigation and surveys of all sorts and in stimulating backward communities toward improvement of the educational opportunities afforded their children. Such a service would amply justify the provision for scientific research which is included in the Towner-Sterling bill.

Good administration of educational activities demands a department of education. That there is at present no coordination of the many agencies responsible for the educational activities carried on by the Federal Government is by no means "a minor and comparatively unimportant administrative question.' It is of vital importance that the financial waste, the duplication, overlapping, and working at cross purposes which are characteristic of the present situation should be remedied. This can best be done by means of the establishment of a single governmental agency of departmental scope to deal with education. Moreover, it is inevitable that with the growth of the Nation other educational activities will be demanded by the people and the confusion will be added to by the passage of legislation for such purposes if there is no one agency under which the new legislation can be coordinated.

The promotion of education at the present time is a subordinate function scattered among 7 of the 10 departments of the Government.

While it is probable that the Army and Navy schools would not come under a department of education, but few would argue that a wise and efficient coordination of the other educational activities of the Government would not be an improvement on the present system. Such coordination of the different bureaus now dealing with education could hardly be accomplished under the present Bureau of Education, itself a subordinate member of a department. The history of the development of other Governmental departments, Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, show that such coordination can, however, be gradually brought about under a new department of the Government, and there is nothing inherent in the organization or activities of the different agencies now dealing with education that would prevent most of them from being placed under a department of education. Such governmental changes must, of necessity, be accomplished slowly as the result of growth and experience, and the proponents of the TownerSterling bill were therefore wise not to attempt to dictate just which bureaus and divisions should immediately be included under a department of education, but to seek the creation of the department first and let the results of its investigations and surveys suggest the recommendations to be made to the Congress for the future coordination of the educational activities of the National Government..

The Towner-Sterling bill has been approved after discussion and debate by a great majority of all of those responsible for administration of education and by large bodies of laymen. The department of superintendence of the National Education Association, enrolling practically all State, county, and city superintendents of schools, normal school presidents, and a large majority of those specially qualified to pass judgment on matters of educational policy in the Nation, have approved this measure unanimously after lengthy discussion and debate at each of its last three annual conventions. The National Education Association of the United States, enrolling more than a hundred thousand members, has made this bill the center of its program of work. The measure has the unqualified indorsement of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the American Federation of Labor, the National League of Women Voters, the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Congress of Mothers' and Parent-Teachers' Associations, and of thousands of local, civic, and welfare organizations throughout the country.

Summary: Good administration, the structure of our National Government, the practical importance of education in our national life, all call for the recognition of education in our Federal Government through the establishment of a national department of education. The social and economic well-being of all of our people and the perpetuity of our representative democracy call for the acknowledgment of Nation responsibility through the granting of Federal aid to the States for the purposes specified in the Towner-Sterling bill.

THOMAS E. FINEGAN.
MRS. IRA COUCH WOOD.

MEMORANDUM BY R. GOODWYN RHETT .

I think the Federal Government should increase the effective operation of its existing educational activities, but I do not think this should be done "by using them in a department of education under a secretary of education."

I think the Government's educational activities should be unified in a bureau under some department, such as the Department of the interior, and I think its functions should be confined to gathering and disseminating information for the use and benefit of the educational departments of the States, and also to

ascertaining whether the conditions prescribed in any act giving Federal aid to the States have been complied with so as to entitle the educational departments of the States to receive this aid, and also to see that it is applied by the States in the manner prescribed in such an act.

I am not so sure that the Federal Government is prohibited by the Constitution from taking over the control and direction of education, and even if it were now prohibited by the Constitution an amendment is open to those who believe in such a policy.

The education we are discussing goes to the very root of our social and political life. It differs radically from vocational education, which is the better training of our young for a more efficient industrial career. It involves his very conception of life, of society, of government. We have separated the church and the state because of the evils we have believed resulted therefrom. The education we are considering to a certain extent involves the faith of the child in the social and political structure of American life, or at last it may take that direction. The case of Germany is an illustration in point.

On the other hand, the Federal Government in the Constitution specifically guarantees to each State a republican form of government, and it may well be important for it to safeguard that guaranty by promoting or possibly requiring a certain amount and a certain kind of education, i. e., education on certain fundamental principles pertaining to a “republican form of government."

However, it seems to me that Federal aid is the best contribution the Government can now make, and that the conditions prescribed in the Towner-Sterling bill are eminently proper. They certainly do not interfere with State control. The analysis of the Towner-Sterling bill and the arguments for it on pages 5, 7, and the following pages of the minority report are most excellent. I agree with them except on the creation of a department of education.

In conclusion, I believe that education is a fundamental necessity for an enduring representative democracy; that in our form of government it had best be left with the State government, but that the Federal Government should thoroughly inform itself as to just what education is being afforded by the States and aid them all it can through information and advice. I also believe it should extend financial aid in removing illiteracy and teaching the English language and in giving a more widespread understanding of the principles of the government under which we live, and which the Federal Government has guaranteed the people of the entire country shall extend to every State in the Union. I am not prepared to go any further than this, and I feel that the creation of a department of education under a secretary would in all probability result in the inauguration of a certain amount of Federal control of education which would increase with the years. Possibly it may be found advisable or even necessary to do this at some future time to effectively discharge the obligations of the Federal Government, but I am not persuaded that this time has come nor that it is well to take steps to hasten it. One or more States may try experiments with disastrous consequences without seriously affecting the whole country. In fact, it may be that such experimentation would have a very salutary effect upon the whole, including those making the experiment. One State is now considering forcing every child into the public-school systems for a certain number of years and abolishing private schools. An interesting experiment. Whither will it lead?

R. GOODWYN RHETT.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAREFERENDUM NO. 40 OF THE EDUCATION, 1923

The committee on education of the chamber presented to the board of directors a report regarding education. The propositions set forth in this report were submitted to referendum vote on December 26, 1922, and the balloting closed on February 9, 1923. The present bulletin sets out the details of the votes which were cast in the referendum.

In this referendum three propositions were placed before the membership of the chamber. Under the by-laws the vote closed at midnight on February 9, 1923, when 594 organizations had filed ballots. These organizations are situated in 48 States, Alaska, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii.

In the balloting each organization casts as many votes as it may have delegates at an annual meeting of the chamber. The number of delegates an organization may have depends upon the number of its members, but in no case falls below one or exceeds 10.

The propositions submitted, and the results of the balloting on each proposition, were as follows:

I. Do you favor the creation of a Federal department of education with a secretary in the President's Cabinet? Votes in favor, 4611⁄2; votes opposed, 1,3192.

II. Do you favor enlarging the present Federal Bureau of Education? Votes in favor, 623; votes opposed, 1074.

III. Do you favor the principle of Federal aid to education in the States on the basis of the States appropriating sums equal to those given by the Federal Government? Votes in favor, 527; votes opposed, 1,200.

Under the by-laws the chamber is committed on a proposition submitted to referendum by a two-thirds vote representing at least 20 States, provided at least one-third of the voting strength of the chamber has been polled.

The result of the final count is that the chamber is committed in opposition to propositions I and III. It is not committed either for at against proposition II. The detailed vote is tabulated on the pages which follow. Notes are added to indicate such definite action as members took in connection with their votes.