perfect good-will of the patrons concerned. It can at once be seen that the subtraction of seventh- and eighth-grade pupils from the district schools cuts their waning numbers down to a still smaller working basis. Then at the time these pupils are going into the high school, which in our state is usually a centralized school, younger members of the same and other families go along to the better school. In two years now this plan has killed off ten district schools out of sixty where it has operated. Our county is now on the verge of a great landslide of consolidation, which is being brought about pretty largely by our new type of high school. I am not a believer in forst consolidation of schools; but where the system can be gradually establisht without opposition of the patrons served, there is no danger of a return to the old and obsolete system of one-teacher district schools.

In conclusion may I say that the six-year high school in Huntington County, Indiana, has come to stay. Patrons, pupils, teachers, and school officials consider it a greater success than our first fond anticipations pictured.

EDUCATIONAL READJUSTMENTS FOLLOWING THE WAR T. H. HARRIS, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION, BATON ROUGE, LA. Our participation in the war has deepened our pride in the fact that we are American citizens, and it has emphasized certain essentials which the schools of the nation should not neglect. No shortcomings have been suggested, however, which should cause the least hysteria among teachers and school officials. We are on a firm foundation in all the essentials of good citizenship: the home, the school, and the church have been doing their work in such a sane manner that when the supreme test came to our people they met it wisely, gloriously.

We are proud that we are Americans because public sentiment in this country unanimously condemned the practices of the Beast and was willing to sacrifice to the limit American wealth and man power in defense of principle and honor, and this when the country was full of Hun spies paid to corrupt public opinion. We are proud that we are Americans. because it has been demonstrated that a democracy can meet promptly and efficiently a great crisis that threatens the peace of the world. We are especially proud that we are Americans when we consider that four millions of our boys, reared in an unmilitary atmosphere and hating war, cheerfully laid aside their citizen clothes and habits, donned the uniform, subjected themselves to discipline, underwent the grueling physical exercise necessary to convert useless fat into muscles of steel, and threw themselves against the Beast with a dash and courage unsurpast in the history of the world, because principle and honor were at stake. Our accomplishments in the war hinted at in these statements prove conclusively that in the essentials that make for intelligence and character the school, the church, and the home are establisht upon firm foundations and have

been doing their work well. I am not sure that the war has pointed out readjustments which the schools should make. It has, however, called pointed attention to the need of the emphasis of certain things which we have been working at for years, or which we knew we should be working at, a few of which I desire to enumerate:

I. The schools should reach all the children. In the South they have not been doing so. A few of the white children and many of the negro children have not enjoyed educational advantages. Good schools should be provided for all, and strong compulsory-attendance laws should be rigidly enforst and require their attendance. Sentiment in Louisiana is in accord with this view and adequate funds have been provided for its realization.

2. The census returns show that there are in this country large numbers of adult illiterates. These people are not confined to any particular section of the country-they are found everywhere, North, South, East, and West. While the numbers are decreasing in many states, especially those of the South, they are increasing in many other states, particularly in the manufacturing centers. It would be a waste of time to look for the causes of our adult illiteracy, or to charge ourselves with neglect of duty for having denied some of our people the advantages of education. The constructive thing to do is to determine to reach now our adult illiterates with elementary-school facilities and organize at once to act favorably upon that program. The national government is askt to assist in the education of adult illiterates, and the assistance should be forthcoming; but the states should not wait for national initiative; they should organize locally to wipe out the illiteracy within their borders. In Louisiana we consider the instruction of adult illiterates an important matter, and with no thought of waiting for the federal government to come to us with funds we propose to organize immediately to attack the problem seriously and vigorously we hope to allow some other state to occupy the lowest rung of the ladder when the census is taken in 1920!

3. Much more attention should be given to the physical training of children than has been given in the past. A sound, vigorous body is as necessary as a sound, vigorous mind. We have always believed this, but we have not acted intelligently upon the belief. We have given little attention to the health of children, or to the physical development of children. The results of the army medical examinations have disclosed the enormity of our losses, in mental and physical vigor, from our neglect of this field of education. We should make it our business to see that competent physicians regularly and systematically examine all children and give directions and assistance that will lead to the eradication of any existing defects that are subject to treatment. And it is of still greater importance that physical exercises suited to the physical needs of the children be planned and executed for all children in all schools. Our

experience in Louisiana, however, where we have a highly competent and efficient state official to direct the work, is that the problem is much more difficult than apparently it should be. The inertia of officials and teachers will have to be overcome, and the disposition of people to adhere to old customs and to avoid new and untraveled paths will have to be broken down before we shall give to medical inspection and physical training the same intelligent attention that we give to the teaching of the usual school subjects. If, however, we appreciate the importance of the lesson which the war has taught us we shall find a way to overcome all obstacles and to give physical training its proper place in our systems of schools.

4. Aside from any question of morals or religion this war has clearly pointed out to the medical profession the importance of reducing the evil of venereal diseases to the lowest possible minimum. Tens of thousands of the young men who were examined for military service were found to be infected with syphilis and other venereal diseases. These diseases make for impaired intelligence and for physical bad health, for a weakened, debilitated population. The medical profession of the nation should take seriously upon its conscience the duty of protecting our manhood against this scourge, and the schools and all other branches of government should give unstinted assistance.

5. Our experience in the war has taught us that the work of farm and factory should be done by intelligent, skilful workmen. To realize this ideal it will be necessary for the schools to give much more attention to practical courses for boys and girls than they have given in past years. Agriculture especially should be fostered by the schools, with the definite end in view of educating for the country men and women who can live happily and successfully under country conditions. Then we should act upon the fact that many boys and girls drop out of the elementary classes to enter gainful occupations. These people are inadequately educated and poorly equipt for any kind of useful work. They should be found and brought into part-time and evening classes for the additional instruction. needed to make good citizens and skilful workmen of them.

6. We appreciate more fully than ever before that government is organized and maintained for the benefit of the people governed, and that every individual owes sympathy for and cooperation with all his fellowindividuals in providing a government that will serve the people to the best purpose; and aside from government in the fostering of all movements organized in the interest of the progress and happiness of society. The war has taught us to disregard selfish motives and to join with our neighbors in the advancement of a great cause. We have learned to pool our efforts and our money in order that the public, that is, all the individuals constituting the public, may be safe and prosperous. We know as we have never known before that no man can live apart from his fellows, but that everyone must contribute to the maximum of his ability to the

success and happiness of all. Upon our devotion to this ideal in the years to come will depend the greatness and the security of our institutions.

We have reacht the conclusion in Louisiana that the public school is the most important of all public institutions; we have provided funds to finance the public schools adequately, and we propose to bid for the best talent in the nation to teach our children, to pay the salaries which the best talent can earn, and to have the daily instruction of the child directed and measured by supervisors who know what should be accomplisht in the classroom and possess the ability to direct teachers to accomplish it.

NATIONAL AID FOR EDUCATION

MARGARET S. MC NAUGHT, STATE COMMISSIONER OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, SACRAMENTO, CALIF.

I have been invited to present for your discussion the subject of federal aid to education among the states. Whether this subject be considered with respect to the magnitude of the nation as a whole, or with respect to the needs of some of the smaller and poorer school districts, it will be found one of the most important that engages the attention of educators. Furthermore, when considered in relation to the effects that education. has upon the prosperity of a people, it will be found one of the most important that demands the attention of statesmen. It is therefore with high appreciation of the greatness of the issue, as well as of the honor conferred by your invitation, that I take part in your conference and enter upon the task assigned me.

The Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Lane, has in his recent report so well summed up the revelations brought out by the war of our deficiencies in these respects that I quote statements not more for their official authority than for their terseness and vigor of expression. He says:

What should be said of a world-leading democracy wherein 10 per cent of the adult population cannot read the laws which they are presumed to know?

What should be said of a democracy which sends an army to preach democracy, wherein there was drafted out of the first 2,000,000 men a total of 200,000 men who could not read their orders, nor understand them when delivered?

What should be said of a democracy in which one of its sovereign states expends a grand total of $6 per year per child for sustaining its public-school system?

What should be said of a democracy which is compelled to reach many millions of its people thru some foreign language?

What should be said of a democracy which expends in a year twice as much for chewing-gum as for schoolbooks, more for automobiles than for primary and secondary education, and in which the average teacher's salary is less than that of the average day

laborer ?

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Surely that which should be said we will say here: That we will plan a structure of education national in scope and service that shall be a of strength to the Republic, and out of the magnitude of our wealth provide the cost not only of construction but of maintenance.

Fortunately the plea for such education appeals to a sentiment already formed in the minds of so many men and women of light and leading that it may be accounted as the sentiment of all whose sentiments are worth counting.

. The force of public sentiment is made manifest by the consideration now given in Congress to a bill for the establishment of a national Department of Education, to be administered by a secretary of cabinet rank, to be sustained by an appropriation of $500,000 for current expenses, and to be authorized to expend $100,000,000 annually to cooperate with the states of the Union in various educational activities.

As you are familiar with the bill, I need not give even a summary of its various features. Suffice it to say that the passage of the bill will put the national government into its rightful place as the leader in national education. Such leadership will not only incite the states to increast ambition and energy in school work but will give encouragement to educators in even the remotest school districts. The rural teacher will feel an increast dignity in the consciousness of being a part of a national body, and her influence in the community will be augmented by the popular consciousness of the national importance of her position and her work.

That an increase of state, county, and district revenues will follow the adoption of a genuinely national system of education appears to my mind so self-evident that I find it difficult to invent a method of demonstrating it.

We had ample experience during the war to prove that the patriotism of the people responds far more promptly to a national than to a local appeal. We are not citizens of a district; we are citizens of the nation. We do not build with ardor for a district, but we are willing to give all when the nation calls. We would find it difficult to raise a hundred million dollars more for education by appealing or even beseeching in the states separately, but if the nation leads with a hundred million the states will give another hundred million and never count it a sacrifice.

The advantages which the proposed measure will have over the present system are many. To begin with, it will coordinate and unify the scattered efforts which the federal government is now making toward aiding education. A part of the federal educational work is done by the Bureau of Education in the Department of the Interior, a part by a bureau in the Department of Agriculture, a part by the Federal Board of Vocational Education, which is attacht to no department; and during the war a good deal of educational work of a non-military nature was done by the War Department and by the Navy Department.

If all these bureaus were groupt under a single head and provided with ample appropriations, results much better as well as much larger would surely follow.

Furthermore, unity of education would tend toward infusing the whole people with a unity of patriotism. Thru the schools thus nationally