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diff --git a/old/65576-0.txt b/old/65576-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 5760232..0000000 --- a/old/65576-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,19269 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Goslings, by Upton Sinclair - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Goslings - A Study of the American Schools - -Author: Upton Sinclair - -Release Date: June 9, 2021 [eBook #65576] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: KD Weeks, Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading - Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from - images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOSLINGS *** - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note: - -This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. -Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_. - -Footnotes have been moved to follow the paragraphs in which they are -referenced. - -Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please -see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding -the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - THE GOSLINGS - - BOOKS BY UPTON SINCLAIR - (Now in Print and Obtainable) - - THE GOSLINGS: 1924 - HELL: 1923 - THE GOOSE-STEP: 1923 - THEY CALL ME CARPENTER: 1922 - THE BOOK OF LIFE: 1922 - 100%: 1920 - THE BRASS CHECK: 1920 - JIMMIE HIGGINS: 1919 - THE PROFITS OF RELIGION: 1919 - KING COAL: 1917 - THE CRY FOR JUSTICE: 1915 - DAMAGED GOODS: 1913 - SYLVIA’S MARRIAGE: 1913 - THE FASTING CURE: 1911 - SAMUEL THE SEEKER: 1909 - THE METROPOLIS: 1907 - THE JUNGLE: 1906 - MANASSAS: 1904 - THE JOURNAL OF ARTHUR STIRLING: 1903 - PRINCE HAGEN: 1902 - -[Illustration] - - The Goslings - A Study of the American Schools - - BY - UPTON SINCLAIR - - AUTHOR OF - “THE GOOSE-STEP,” “THE BRASS CHECK,” “THE PROFITS OF RELIGION,” ETC. - - - - - - - - -[Illustration] - - - - - - - - - UPTON SINCLAIR - PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - - COPYRIGHT, 1924 - BY - UPTON SINCLAIR - - --- - - _All rights reserved._ - - --- - - First edition, January, 1924, 5,000 copies, clothbound, 5,000 copies, - paperbound. - - - - - CONTENTS - - CHAPTER PAGE - - INTRODUCTORY ix-x - - I. Land of Orange-Groves and Jails 1 - II. The Adventure of the University Club 8 - III. In Which I Get Arrested 13 - IV. The Empire of the Black Hand 19 - V. The Schools of the “Times” 22 - VI. The Teachers’ Soviets 26 - VII. A Prayer for Freedom 32 - VIII. The Price of Independence 36 - IX. The Regime of Reciprocity 40 - X. The Spy System 44 - XI. Lies for Children 50 - XII. The Schools of Mammon 54 - XIII. The Tammany Tiger 59 - XIV. God and Mammon 62 - XV. Honest Graft 66 - XVI. A Letter to Woodrow Wilson 72 - XVII. An Arrangement of Little Bits 77 - XVIII. The Luskers 81 - XIX. To Henrietta Rodman 87 - XX. Melodrama in Chicago 94 - XXI. Continuous Performance 98 - XXII. The Incorporate Tax-Dodging Creatures 102 - XXIII. The Superintendent of Trombones 109 - XXIV. The City of French Restaurants 113 - XXV. The University Gang 119 - XXVI. The Ward Leader 125 - XXVII. The Romeo and Juliet Stunt 130 - XXVIII. The Inventor of Five Sciences 135 - XXIX. The Land of Lumber 140 - XXX. The Anaconda’s Lair 146 - XXXI. The Little Anacondas 151 - XXXII. Colorado Culture 154 - XXXIII. The Domain of King Coal 159 - XXXIV. The Homestead of the Free 164 - XXXV. Is a Teacher a Citizen? 167 - XXXVI. Introducing Comrade Thompson 173 - XXXVII. Millers and Militarism 179 - XXXVIII. Newberry Pie 184 - XXXIX. Beets and Celery 186 - XL. Boston in Bondage 191 - XLI. The Open Shop for Culture 195 - XLII. Corrupt and Contented 203 - XLIII. The Scenes of My Childhood 209 - XLIV. The Brewer’s Daughter-in-Law 212 - XLV. An Autocracy of Politicians 216 - XLVI. The Calibre of Congressmen 221 - XLVII. The Local Machines 224 - XLVIII. The Steam Roller 228 - XLIX. The Dispensers of Prominence 234 - L. A Plot Against Democracy 240 - LI. The Plot Fails 244 - LII. Mormon Magic 249 - LIII. The Funeral of Democracy 253 - LIV. The Fruits of the Sowing 258 - LV. Teachers to the Rear 263 - LVI. Bread and Circuses 269 - LVII. Schools for Strike-Breakers 275 - LVIII. The National Spies’ Association 279 - LIX. Babbitts and Bolsheviks 284 - LX. The Schools of Socony 290 - LXI. The Riot Department 296 - LXII. The Blindfold School of Patriotism 301 - LXIII. Professor Facing Both-Ways 307 - LXIV. Poison Pictures 312 - LXV. The Book Business 315 - LXVI. Ten Per Cent Commissions 320 - LXVII. The Superintendent-Makers 324 - LXVIII. The Church Conspiracy 330 - LXIX. Catholicism and the Schools 334 - LXX. The Practical Church Administrator 341 - LXXI. Faith and Modern Thought 344 - LXXII. The Schools of Steel 349 - LXXIII. The Schools of Oil 353 - LXXIV. The Country Geese 357 - LXXV. The Schools of Snobbery 362 - LXXVI. A School Survey 369 - LXXVII. The Educational Mills 377 - LXXVIII. Descensus Averno 381 - LXXIX. The Teacher’s Job 385 - LXXX. Teachers’ Terror 389 - LXXXI. The School Serfs 395 - LXXXII. The Teachers’ Union 402 - LXXXIII. The Teachers’ Magna Charta 406 - LXXXIV. Workers’ Education 410 - LXXXV. The Goose-step March 417 - LXXXVI. The Goose-step Advance 423 - LXXXVII. The Goose-step Double-quick 428 - LXXXVIII. The Goose-step Review 432 - LXXXIX. The Call to Action 440 - - - - - INTRODUCTORY - - -Life has given you one of its precious treasures, a child; a body to -nurture, a character to train, a mind with endless possibilities of -growth, a soul with hidden stores of tenderness and beauty—all these are -Nature’s gifts. Modern science has shown that within the child’s soul -lies magically locked up all the past of our race; also, it is evident -that within it lies all the future of our race. What our children are -now being made is what America will be. - -You send these little ones to school. Twenty-three millions of them -troop off every week-day morning, with their shining faces newly washed, -their clothing cleaned and mended. You bear them, you rear them, with -infinite pains and devotion you prepare them, and feed them into the -gigantic educational machine. - -You do not know much about this machine. You have turned it over to -others to run. Every year you pay to maintain it a billion dollars of -wealth which you have produced by real and earnest toil. You take it for -granted that this billion dollars is competently used; that those who -run the machine are giving your twenty-three million children the best -education that forty-three dollars and forty-seven cents per child will -buy. - -The purpose of this book is to show you how the “invisible government” -of Big Business which controls the rest of America has taken over the -charge of your children. In the course of a public debate with the -writer, in the Civic Club in New York City, May, 1922, Dr. Tildsley, -district superintendent of the public school system of that city, made -the statement: “I do not know any school system in the United States -which is run for the benefit of the children. They are all run for the -benefit of the gang.” This statement, made upon high authority, is the -thesis of “The Goslings.” Come with me and let me show you what is this -“gang” which runs the school system of the United States; how they got -their power, what use they make of it, and what this means to the bodies -and minds of your twenty-three million little ones. - -To assist the reader in finding his way through a big book, I give -traveling directions: - -Pages 1 to 22 take you behind the scenes of that “invisible government” -which is now ruling America, including its schools. Pages 22 to 59 show -in detail what this “invisible government” is doing to the schools of -one large American city—Los Angeles. Pages 59 to 93 study the schools of -New York, and 94 to 109 those of Chicago. Pages 109 to 224 deal with -school conditions in a score of other large cities. I realize that this -is a large number; but then, many people are interested in these cities. -You will find both melodrama and humor in the stories; and if there is -too much, you can skip! - -Beginning at page 224 is a study of the state and national machines of -the school world; and whatever else you miss, do not miss the National -Education Association, and how it was stolen from the teachers of -America—there is no drama on Broadway to equal that for thrills. From -275 to 329 you will find a score of powerful Big Business organizations -which have assumed to take control of our schools. From 330 to 349 comes -the Catholic Church in relation to the schools—this in addition to -details given in a number of cities. From 349 to 417 you will find a -general survey of the school situation from the point of view of both -pupils and teachers. The concluding chapters discuss “The Goose-step” -and its critics, and developments in the college world since its -publication. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - THE GOSLINGS - - _A Study of the American Schools_ - - ------- - - - - - CHAPTER I - LAND OF ORANGE-GROVES AND JAILS - - -I begin this study of the American school system with Southern -California, because that is the part of the country in which I live, and -which therefore I know best. It is a representative part, being the -newest and most recently mixed. We have all the races, white and black -and yellow and red; but the great bulk of the population is of native -stock, farmers from the Middle West who have sold or rented their -homesteads and moved to this “roof-garden of the world.” It is our -fashion to hold reunions and picnics for the old home folks, and there -are few states that cannot gather thousands of representatives. - -We have the most wonderful climate in the world, and soil which is -fertile under irrigation. Our leading occupation is selling this soil -and climate to new arrivals from the East. We are eager traders, and -everything we have is for sale; you can buy the average house in -Southern California for two hundred dollars more than the owner paid for -it, and I know people who have sold their homes and moved several times -in one year. Also, we have struck oil, and this sudden wealth has fanned -our collective greed. We boast ourselves “the white spot on the -industrial map.” Hard times do not touch us, we build literally whole -streets of new houses every week, and labor agitators are banished from -our midst. - -The intellectual tone of the community is set by a great newspaper, the -Los Angeles “Times,” created by an unscrupulous accumulator of money. -The “Times” has now grown enormously wealthy, but it still carries on in -its founder’s spirit of hatred and calumny. It boasts of being the -largest newspaper in the world—meaning that it prints the most -advertisements. You pay ten cents for the Sunday edition, and have two -or three pages of Associated Press dispatches with the life censored out -of them; after that, you grope your way through a wilderness of -commercialism. I stop and wonder, how can I give the reader an idea of -the intellectual garbage upon which our Southern California population -is fed. I pick up this morning’s paper, and find a cartoon on the front -page, our daily hymn of hate against Soviet Russia; the cartoon is -labeled in large letters: “Out of the Fryingpansky into the Fireovitch.” -As the naturalist Agassiz could construct a whole animal from a piece of -fossil bone, so you may comprehend a culture from that piece of wit. - -We have several hundred churches of all sects, and our “Times” prints -pages of church news and sermons, and double-leaded two-column -editorials invoking the aid of Jehovah in all emergencies. But the real -spirit of the staff breaks out on the other pages; when it is necessary -to represent Los Angeles in a cartoon, their symbol is a sly young -prostitute with sparkling black eyes and naked limbs. Once upon a time -such pictures were purchased surreptitiously and handed round by naughty -little boys; but now they are delivered every morning by carrier to -everybody’s home. One of the features of our life is “bathing beauties”; -young ladies in thin tights parading the boardwalks of the beaches, -winning prizes from chambers of commerce and lending gayety to Sunday -supplements. Any new stunt is worth a fortune to one of these ladies; -one day a lady has gilded her legs, and the next day a lady has -butterflies painted on her back, and next—most elegant of all—a lady -appears with a bathing-suit and a monocle. - -The men, thus summoned, come in droves. Competition is keen, and the -ladies are strenuous in defense of their meal-tickets, and when one -trespasses upon another’s rights, we have a thrilling murder story. Our -lady murderesses are a leading feature of Southern California life; -sometimes they shoot, and sometimes they poison, and sometimes they go -to the nearest five- and ten-cent store and buy a hammer, and beat out -the other lady’s brains. Then they are sent to jail, which is a career -of glory, with photographs and interviews in every edition of the -newspapers, and a sensational trial with full details of their many -lovers and their quarrels. Autobiographies written in prison are -featured in Sunday supplements and advertised on billboards; and finally -comes the climax—a magical jail delivery. We know, of course, that -nowhere in America can the jails hold the rich, but out here in Southern -California the rich don’t even wait to be pardoned by presidents and -governors—they tip their jailers twenty-five hundred dollars and walk -right out. “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage!” - -Fifteen years ago the writer had haunting his mind what he thought was -to be a great blank verse tragedy. The scene of one act was to be laid -several hundred years in the future, and the crowning achievement of -that time was an invention whereby music could be made audible to people -all over the world. The scene was to show a great musician, whose -inspiration was being thus conveyed to humanity. And now we have this -invention—somewhat ahead of time! Our radio in Southern California is -presided over by the “Times,” and the invisible government decides what -is safe for our hungry masses to hear. - -Our plutocracy has just built for itself a new hotel, a sultan’s dream -of luxury, costing several million dollars. The opening of this hotel -became the great historical event of Southern California; there were -several pages about it in the newspapers, and it was announced that a -certain prominent person, would convey his inspiration to the multitude -over the “Times” radio. In a hundred thousand homes the hungry “fans” -put on their ear-caps and awaited the sublime moment; and meanwhile in -the Hotel Biltmore a great part of the guests got royally drunk. The -orator had his share, and his inspiration over the radio took the form -of obscenities and cursing; the horrified “fans” heard his friends -trying to stop him, begging him to come and have one more drink; but he -told them they were a set of blankety blank blank fools, and that he -knew what he was going to say, and it was nobody’s blankety blank blank -business. This continued until suddenly the radio was shut off, and the -fans were left to silence and speculation! - -Also, we have Hollywood; Hollywood, the world’s greatest honey-pot, with -its thousands of beautiful golden bees swarming noisily; Hollywood, -where youth and gayety grow rotten before they grow ripe. If you say -that Hollywood is not America, I answer that you have only to wait. -Hollywood is _young_ America. - -Of course our hundreds of churches are not entirely inactive. We have -revivalists, who furiously denounce the sins of Hollywood, using the -most up-to-date slang; and groups of men and women, instead of going to -the movies, gather in Bible classes and learn the history of the -Hittites and the succession of the kings of the Jebusites. You can hear -sermons over the radio—that is, if you have a high-priced set, and can -tune out the jazz orchestras. The cheaper sets hear everything at once, -and you can dance to the sermons or pray to the jazz, as you prefer. - -Who runs this new empire of the Southwest? It is run by a secret -society, which I have named the Black Hand; consisting of a dozen or so -of big bankers and business men, hard-fisted, cunning and unscrupulous -profiteers of the pioneer type, a scant generation removed from the bad -man with a gun on each hip. They are the inner council and directing -circle of the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association; with a -propaganda department formerly known as the Commercial Federation of -California, and now camouflaged as the Better America Federation. -Concerning this latter organization, you will find much information in -“The Goose Step,” pages 129-132. It occupies the entire floor of a large -building, and has raised a fund of a hundred and sixty thousand dollars -a year for five years for its campaign of terrorism. Like all criminals, -it operates under many aliases: the American Protective League, the -Association for Betterment of the Public Service, the Associated -Patriotic Societies, the Taxpayers’ Association, the People’s Economy -League, the Tax Investigating and Economy League, the Americanization -Committee, the Committee of One Thousand, the Committee of Ten Thousand, -the Parent-Teachers’ Associations, the Board of Education, the District -Attorney’s Office, and the Police Department of the City of Los Angeles. - -Ours is an “open shop” city; that is, the business men and merchants are -forbidden to employ union workers, and if they disregard this rule they -are blacklisted, their credit is cut off, and they are driven into -bankruptcy. When a new man comes into town and sets up in business he is -politely interviewed and invited to join the gang; at the same time he -is given his orders, and if he disobeys, he moves on to some other part -of the world, or down into the ranks of the wage-slaves. So perfect is -the system of the Black Hand, so all-seeing is its spy service, that the -Young Women’s Christian Association could not prepare and mail out a -circular letter asking for funds without every merchant in the city -having on his desk by the same mail a letter from the Better America -Federation president, warning him that the Young Women’s Christian -Association is supporting the eight-hour day for women, the minimum wage -law for women, and other immoral propositions. - -We have a “criminal syndicalism law” in California; the public is told -by the Black Hand and its newspapers that this law is to punish men who -advocate the overthrow of government by force and violence. Under this -law eighty men are now coughing out their lungs in the jute mill at San -Quentin prison, under sentence of from two to twenty-eight years. As I -write, one of these men collapses under the strain and refuses to work -longer in the jute mill, and seventy others are being tortured in -“solitary” because they “strike” in sympathy with this comrade. No one -of these men has ever had proven against him, or even charged against -him, any act of force or violence or any destruction of property. They -were convicted because the Black Hand of California pays three hundred -and fifty dollars a month to several hired witnesses, who travel about -from place to place testifying before juries that ten years ago, when -they belonged to the I. W. W., they, the witnesses, personally burned -down barns. Because of this testimony men who have recently joined the -organization, and have never burned down barns nor advocated burning -down barns, are sentenced to the jute mill. - -The public does not know, and has no means of guessing that the law on -the statute books against “criminal syndicalism” has been modified by -the police who enforce it to read “suspicion of criminal syndicalism.” -That means that any man may be arrested at any time that any police -official does not happen to like the way he has his hair cut, or the red -flower in his button-hole. Crime and suspicion of crime are the same -thing in our legal procedure, because men once thrown into jail are held -there “incommunicado” without warrant or charge; they are not permitted -to see attorneys, and their friends cannot find out what has become of -them. They are starved and beaten and tortured in jail; so there is no -longer any difference between innocence and guilt. The eighty convicted -in the state’s prison suffer less than the many hundreds of unconvicted -in jails and police stations all over the state. - -What this means is that the Black Hand is trying to smash industrial -unionism. They have got the old-line unions cowed; they have purchased -or frightened most of the leaders, and driven them out of politics, and -are no longer afraid of them. But now comes the new movement, the mass -union, the portent of the New Day. They are fighting this as furiously -as the Spanish Inquisition ever fought against heresy; but to their -bewilderment and dismay they are repeating the age-old experience of the -torturer and the despot—the blood of the martyrs is becoming the seed of -the church! - -There came a great strike at the harbor. “San Pedro” is a part of our -city, where the ships come in laden with lumber and pipe and cement for -the endless new streets of homes. Our army of real estate speculators -and contractors and bankers are reaping their golden harvest, while -several thousand longshoremen slave, literally fourteen and sixteen -hours a day of back-breaking toil, handling these heavy materials. They -clamor at the docks, bidding against one another, fighting and trampling -one another for a chance of life. And here is a ring of grafting -employment agencies, secretly maintained by the Shipyard Owners’ -Association, draining the last drops of energy from these wretched -wage-slaves. The old-line respectable unions are out of business, and -everything is serene for the masters; but suddenly comes a -flare-up—three thousand men on strike, and one or two hundred I. W. W. -organizers spreading the flames of revolt—and just when we thought we -had sent the last of them to San Quentin for twenty-eight years! - -The strike tied up the harbor and tied it tight. For more than two weeks -not a ship was unloaded, and all the building operations of all the -speculators came to an end. One day the “Times” would deny that there -was any strike, and next day it would declare that the strike had been -broken the day before, the next day it would declare that the strike -would be broken the day after next. And in the inner circle of the -torturers and despots, such confusion and such fury as you will hardly -be able to imagine. - -You have taken up this book, expecting to read about the American school -system; and now you are being told about a strike! It happened that this -strike came just as I was settling down to write “The Goslings.” I got -arrested; and this experience plows a furrow through one’s mind. Now I -sit at home and think about the schools, and naturally, I see them in -relation to this series of events—they become one more device of the -strikebreakers. - -I ponder the problem, how to start this book. I want to show you the -invisible government which runs your schools, for its own profit, and -your loss. This power is the same power which runs your politics and -industry; here in Los Angeles, the very men who smashed the union of the -shipyard workers also smashed the councils of the school teachers. -Indeed, as chance willed it, the two jobs came together and became one -job; so that every lie told against the strikers was a lie against the -teachers, and every dollar wrested from the shipyard workers was -balanced by a dollar stolen from the schools. - -I ask myself, therefore: How can I do better, at the beginning of this -book, than to tell you what I saw at the harbor? This strike was a -blazing searchlight, thrown into the very vitals of our invisible -government; if you will follow it, you will see the whole system, and -understand every detail of its mechanism. So I ask you to set aside for -the moment all questions of labor unions, criminal syndicalism, anything -of that sort; come with me as a plain American, believing in the -Constitution, believing in the people, and their right to run their own -affairs. Follow the story of this labor struggle—and before you get to -the end of it you will magically find yourself reading about the -schools, and learning who has taken them away from you, and why they -have done it, and what it means to you and your children. - - - - - CHAPTER II - THE ADVENTURE OF THE UNIVERSITY CLUB - - -The first step in this narrative is to explain how it happened that the -writer of this book, a muck-raker and enemy of society, was in the -office of Mr. Irwin Hays Rice, president of the Merchants’ and -Manufacturers’ Association of Los Angeles, and chief of the Black Hand, -at the very moment when Mr. Rice was conspiring with his fellow chiefs -for the smashing of the harbor strike. This story is amusing in itself, -and not altogether alien to education. - -In April, 1923, I received a letter from the secretary of the University -Club of Pasadena, my home city, asking if I would consent to lecture -before the club on the subject of “The Goose-step.” I replied that I was -busy, and made it a rule to decline invitations to lecture. Then came a -telephone call from a member of the club, begging me to reconsider my -decision; here were a group of men, influential in the community, some -of whom had read “The Goose-step” and thought they could answer me, and -wanted a chance to try. It would be an adventure for them, and might -teach me something. To oblige a friend, I accepted, and the lecture was -announced at a dinner of the club, and the announcement was published in -the local newspapers—upon the club’s initiative, please note. - -At once the Black Hand got busy; and a week or two later a gentleman -called at my home, obviously embarrassed and pink in the face, -explaining that he was the president of the University Club of Pasadena. -The executive committee had held a meeting the previous evening and -decided that in view of certain objections, I should be respectfully -requested to consent to have the lecture called off. Knowing my -community, I was sympathetic towards the blushing respectable -gentleman—an ex-naval officer who would have faced the guns of a foreign -foe, but dared not face a new idea. I answered that I would be content -to have the lecture forgotten. - -But an hour or two later a newspaper reporter called me up, asking if I -had heard that the action of the University Club had been taken at the -instance of William J. Burns, head of the Burns Detective Agency and -chief of the United States Secret Service. Naturally, I was interested -in that news; as a matter of tactics, when I find a man like Burns after -me, I go to meet him head on. I at once telegraphed, asking Mr. Burns if -it was true that he had called me “a dangerous enemy of the United -States government.” The result was a tangle of falsehoods, and if I -proceed to untangle them, do not think that I am rambling. Before we get -through with this book we shall discover that the big private detective -agencies are an important part of the educational system of the United -States, and so what we learn about Mr. Burns and his methods will be to -the point. - -The great detective telegraphed me from San Francisco that my name had -not been the subject of discussion at any time during his visit to Los -Angeles. I was not satisfied with that, and telegraphed again, saying -that I wanted to know if he had mentioned me at any time in Southern -California, and if he had done so, would he say openly and for -publication what he had said against me. In the meantime there had been -published a United Press dispatch from San Francisco, quoting Mr. Burns -as saying that if he had mentioned me, it had been “as a private -individual and not as a government official.” Therefore I pointed out to -Mr. Burns that he could not say anything about me as a private citizen; -whatever he said would be assumed by everyone to be based upon -information he had got as head of the United States Secret Service. This -brought a second telegram from Mr. Burns, as follows: - - Replying to your second wire, I made no statements concerning you as a - private citizen or government official at Pasadena or elsewhere, nor - have I ever undermined the character of you or any other person. I - want to also deny that I ever made any statement to the United Press - as stated in your telegram, and for your further information let me - assure you whenever I express myself concerning you or anyone else I - will not hesitate to admit it. - -That seemed explicit, and I was prepared to accept it. But you note that -it left the United Press in a bad light; and representatives of the -United Press took the matter up, and wired their head office in San -Francisco, receiving the information that the interview with Mr. Burns -had been given to Frank Clarvoe, one of their most trusted and -experienced men. Mr. Clarvoe had been with Mr. Burns in his hotel room -when the telegram from me arrived, and Mr. Burns had allowed Mr. Clarvoe -to make a copy of this telegram, and had dictated a reply, slowly and -distinctly, so that Mr. Clarvoe could write it down. The manager of the -United Press added that this was evidently one of those frequent cases -where parties talk and afterwards wish to deny it. - -In the meantime I had been interviewing the executive committee of the -University Club of Pasadena, holding over the heads of these gentlemen -the threat of a slander suit, and thereby inducing each of them in turn -to state upon exactly what basis he had repeated the statements about -Mr. Burns and myself. So the report was definitely traced to Mr. Irwin -Hays Rice, president of the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association of -Los Angeles, and one of the chiefs of the Black Hand. Mr. Rice, in a -conversation over the telephone, had stated to the secretary of the club -that Mr. Burns had described me as “a parlor pink and a dangerous enemy -of the United States government.” - -So now I had a clean-cut issue of veracity between Mr. Rice and Mr. -Burns, and it seemed worth a trip to Los Angeles to find out which was -the liar. I went in on a Monday morning, and fate was unkind to Mr. -Rice—he had been out of town over the week-end, and had not read -anything about the controversy, nor had anyone in the University Club -taken the trouble to call him up and warn him. I took the precaution to -bring my brother-in-law, Hunter Kimbrough, as witness to the interview, -and Mr. Rice received us in his private office. I explained my point of -view: he and I were antagonists on opposite sides of the class struggle; -I had my opinion of him, and freely granted him the right to have his -opinion of me. The only thing I took exception to was the fact that in -discussing me he had made use of the name of Mr. Burns. - -Mr. Rice is one of these two-fisted men of action, quite different from -the president of a University Club. His answer was prompt and explicit: -“Anything that I say once I’ll say twice. It is a fact that at a recent -gathering, in the presence of myself and several business men of this -city, Mr. William J. Burns stated that you were ‘a parlor pink and a -dangerous enemy of the United States government.’” - -“I thank you, Mr. Rice,” I replied. “Now I am wondering what you will -have to say to this telegram”; and I put into his hands the telegram -from Mr. Burns, declaring: “I made no statements concerning you as a -private citizen or government official at Pasadena or elsewhere, nor -have I ever undermined the character of you or any other person.” “What -have you to say to that, Mr. Rice?” I asked, and Mr. Rice replied: -“Well, I will say that I am surprised.” It was unnecessary for him to -say that—his face showed it! - -Mr. Rice refused to name the other men who had been present at the -interview, but he remarked that the gathering was of such a nature that -it was manifest to everyone that Mr. Burns was there as a private -citizen, and not as chief of the United States Secret Service. Do you -think I would be reckless if I should guess that it was a gathering of -the chiefs of the Black Hand, and that Mr. Burns was there in his other -capacity, as head of the William J. Burns agency of espionage and -strike-breaking? - -That the William J. Burns agency is thus employed regularly by the Black -Hand of Southern California is something which I have known for several -years. Turn to Chapter LXVI of “The Brass Check,” and you will find -there the story of how Sydney Flowers, returned soldier and editor of -the “Dugout,” was smashed by the Black Hand in Los Angeles, because he -refused to permit his paper to be used as a strike-breaking agency. I -did what I could to aid Flowers and save him from the penitentiary, and -as a result the Black Hand attempted a “frame-up” against myself. -Wishing to know just who was responsible for this, I thought I would -employ the most famous and most reputable detective agency in the United -States. With my attorney, Mr. John Beardsley, I called at the office of -this agency and interviewed the manager. As chance willed it, the -district manager, the high-up person who travels about the country -overseeing the affairs of the agency for Mr. Burns, was also present at -the interview. - -I explained the case, confidentially of course, stating that I had -suspicions that the trail might lead to the office of the Merchants’ and -Manufacturers’ Association and its Los Angeles “Times,” and that I -wished the agency not to take the case unless they would be in position -to follow a trail to such a quarter. The two managers requested a little -time to think the matter over, and that afternoon they gave us their -decision: the William J. Burns Detective Agency, because of the -embarrassing possibility explained by me, could not undertake to -investigate this “frame-up.” Then I went to another detective agency in -the city, and when I told the manager about this incident he laughed -heartily and told me that the Burns Agency did all the secret work for -the “M. and M.” Incidentally, this man told me that he himself could not -take the case, because his business would be ruined if he did; nor would -I find any other detective agency in the city which would take the case. -And in this he was correct. - -To complete the story of the Burns Detective Agency, I will also mention -that just prior to America’s entry into the World War this agency was -conducting a spy service in the United States for the German government. -Shortly before the sinking of the Lusitania, the Burns’ agency had men -stationed in American munition plants and was secretly selling -information to German government agents, who were gathering knowledge of -munition shipments for the purpose of torpedoing munition-laden vessels. -The head of Burns’ New York office, Gaston B. Means, admitted under oath -that he delivered reports in a secret place to an unknown man to whom he -was directed by the German government spy, Paul Koenig. The Burns agency -perpetrated against the United States government a gigantic frame-up -designed to supply von Bernstorff with perjured evidence for diplomatic -use against the United States government. Tug boat captains were hired -by a nest of German military spies under the direction of Burns’ New -York agent, Gaston B. Means, the captains being induced to swear to -false affidavits to indicate that they were carrying supplies to British -vessels outside New York harbor in violation of the laws of neutrality. -In this frame-up the Burns agency was caught red-handed, but was given -immunity from prosecution because its clients could better be caught by -holding this club over Burns’ head. Recently, when the Workers’ Party -called a mass meeting in our national capital, at which Robert Minor was -announced to tell this story, the use of the hall was mysteriously -withdrawn, and Mr. William J. Burns, in his capacity as chief of the -United States Secret Service, raided the offices of the sponsors of the -meeting and arrested a dozen men. - - - - - CHAPTER III - IN WHICH I GET ARRESTED - - -The purpose of the previous chapter was to explain to you the series of -events whereby it came about that Upton Sinclair, muckraker and enemy of -society, was in the office of the president of the Merchants’ and -Manufacturers’ Association of Los Angeles, at ten o’clock on the morning -of Monday, May 7th, 1923. - -My brother-in-law, Hunter Kimbrough, and myself had come without -appointment; at the same time two gentlemen came in who had an -appointment—so a polite clerk explained. I had not presented my card, -and no one there knew either Kimbrough or myself; we were invited to sit -down, and did so, while the other gentlemen were escorted into the inner -office. We made no effort to listen to what went on, but we had to hear -it, because the door of the inner office was left ajar, and the talk was -carried on in tones which caused the clerks in the outer office to drop -their work and look at one another and grin. - -“Who is that?” asked the young lady stenographer. - -“That’s Mr. Hammond,” was the answer of the chief clerk. “He owns a -couple of hundred thousand acres of timber land, and he’s got about -twenty ships tied up at the harbor.” - -“Oh,” said the young lady stenographer, “then he’s got a right to pound -on the table.” - -He exercised his right, and pounded, and cursed so freely that the young -lady was moved to get up and close the office door; but still we heard -the uproar. The substance of it was that the San Pedro strike, which had -been on for about two weeks, must be smashed without another day’s -delay. Mr. Rice argued and expostulated; they were doing their best. -Finally he promised there would be “a meeting” that afternoon, and -arrangements would be made. That you may understand clearly, I explain -that Mr. Andrew B. Hammond, president of the Hammond Lumber Company, is -one of the big “open shop” despots of San Francisco, a bigger man even -than Mr. Rice; and he had come down on the night train to lay down the -law to the timid crowd at Los Angeles and insist that his ships be -moved. Wishing to make sure there was no mistake in identity, I engaged -the head clerk in conversation, asking him how long he thought “those -irate ship-owners” would stay in there. He rose to the bait and -discussed the “irate ship-owners,” assuring me that they would not need -to stay much longer; the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association was -not going to have any trouble in opening up the harbor. Subsequently, as -part of the preparing of this manuscript, I wrote to Mr. Hammond, asking -if he cared to deny that he was in Mr. Rice’s office at the hour -specified. He did not reply. - -Come now to San Pedro, where three thousand men are fighting to get -their babies a chance to grow up into full-sized human beings. They have -won their strike, they have won it strictly under the law; they have -kept order rigidly—having even smashed the boot-leggers, to the great -dismay of the police! Here again I do not have to ask you to take my -word for it: Police Captain Plummer, in command at the harbor, stated to -my brother-in-law, Hunter Kimbrough, in the presence of several -witnesses, that he had no fault to find with the I. W. W., they were -fine fellows, and had kept order through the strike. Also he stated in -the presence of witnesses: “I smashed that strike.” Before an -investigating committee of the clergymen of Los Angeles he stated: “Yes, -I said that, and I’ll say it again.” Officer Wyckoff—who arrested -us—stated to Hunter Kimbrough, in the presence of two ladies, whose -signed statements I have, that “Black Jack” Jerome, the strike-breaker, -had brought in hundreds of gunmen, heavily armed; Captain Plummer had -disarmed them, but someone saw to it that they received another supply -of arms. - -Mr. Hammond and his Shipyard Owners’ Association and his horde of gunmen -having failed to provoke violence, or to move the ships, Mr. Rice must -act; and how is he to act? For ten or twenty years he and his Black Hand -have been preparing for precisely such an emergency; they have been -buying both political machines, and controlling the nominations of all -candidates, so that now they have their own governor, their own -legislators, their own mayor, their own city council, their own chief of -police, and their own judges. They control the governmental machine from -top to bottom; and they give the orders, let this strike be smashed. - -The man who put through the job is Asa Keyes, then deputy district -attorney, since promoted to be district attorney as reward for his -efficiency. “The mayor is not handling this situation,” said Chief of -Police Oaks to me. “The man we’re getting our orders from is Asa Keyes, -and if you want to speak at the harbor, see him.” Keyes is the man who -has been enforcing the “suspicion of criminal syndicalism” law; he pays -an army of secret agents and provocateurs, and a year or two ago he -stated to two different informants of mine: “I have spent between four -and five thousand dollars, trying to ‘get’ Kate Crane Gartz and Upton -Sinclair. If ever I become chief, I will spend ten times that amount to -‘get’ them.” - -Mr. Rice, Mr. Keyes, Chief Oaks, and Captain Plummer attended the -“meeting” which Mr. Rice promised to Mr. Hammond. “I have attended -several conferences of the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association,” -said the naive Captain Plummer to Hunter Kimbrough, in the presence of -witnesses. “Mr. Rice was present and Mr. Marco Hellman, and others.” -Marco Hellman, the biggest banker of Los Angeles, we shall hear of again -before long. - -In the early days of the strike a Presbyterian clergyman and Harvard -graduate was arrested while addressing the strikers, the charge being -“blocking traffic.” Police Magistrate Sheldon, in sentencing him to -jail, said: “Why don’t you hire a hall, or speak upon private property? -Then you will not be molested.” The strikers thought this was good -advice; they found a piece of vacant land, whose lessor was willing for -it to be used for mass meetings, and on this land, known as “Liberty -Hill,” the strikers held numerous meetings. At one of these meetings a -group of them raised the flags of fifteen nations, with the American -flag at the top, and the flag of Russia included. There were Russians -among the strikers, and presumably they thought their country had a -right to be represented. - -This incident took place five days after the meeting between Messrs. -Rice and Hammond, and it afforded the pretext for which the police were -waiting. “You’ve lost your constitutional rights now!” shouted Captain -Plummer, and he arrested twenty-eight men for the crime of raising the -red flag. Again and again, in negotiations with the police officials, -and with Mayor George E. Cryer, we were told that this act of raising -the red flag afforded complete justification for the abrogation of all -civil liberties at the harbor. It seems therefore worth noting what -happened some three weeks later, when these men were arraigned in court -upon the charge. Police Magistrate Crawford declared that in his opinion -everyone who displayed a red flag should be sent to prison, but -unfortunately the Supreme Court of California had declared the red flag -ordinance of the city of Los Angeles unconstitutional! - -In the three days that followed, the police arrested a total of six -hundred men; they arrested hundreds for attempting to speak on Liberty -Hill; they arrested hundreds for singing and cheering on the street. Any -slightest sign of sympathy with the strike or with other arrested men -was enough to cause a man to be tapped on the shoulder by the police and -told to report at the police station. Crowds of men were surrounded on -the street, loaded into trucks, carted off to the police station, and -packed away in cells. George Chalmers Richmond, Episcopal clergyman from -Philadelphia, was arrested when walking along the street, having in mind -the criminal intention of addressing the strikers when he reached the -place of meeting. A restaurant proprietor was dragged out from behind -his counter and thrown into jail, upon the charge of helping to prolong -the strike—that is, he had fed the strikers and their children. In -describing these incidents, the Los Angeles “Times” stated that the -police announced their intention “to arrest all idle men at the harbor.” - -The city of Los Angeles boasts of being the fastest growing city in the -world, but its jails have not grown at all in the last thirty years. To -describe them as death-traps would not be using reckless language, but -merely quoting from reports of one public body after another which has -investigated and denounced them. The jails were already crowded; and -here were six hundred more men suddenly thrust into them! Some of the -“tanks,” built to hold twenty or thirty men, were required to hold a -hundred, and it was literally impossible for all the men to sit down at -once. All the jails were swarming with vermin, there was no bedding -obtainable, and the food was atrocious. These things not being enough, -wanton cruelty and torture was added. In one of the “tanks,” because the -men persisted in singing, the jailers sealed up all the ventilation and -turned on the steam heat for two hours. Ninety-five men were in this -hole, and many of them swooned. Other men were chained up by the thighs, -so that they could not quite sit down. We have the affidavits of several -men to the fact that Chief of Police Oaks personally reviled the -prisoners, calling them liars and degenerates; and when one of the men -spoke up and said this was not true, Oaks called him out from the -“tank,” and in the presence of many witnesses struck him in the face and -knocked him down again and again, pounding him until the chief was -exhausted. - -Such was the situation on May 15th. The “Times” for that morning -announced that the city council had appropriated money to build a -stockade, in which to hold the strike prisoners, and all the remaining -strikers at the harbor were to be thrown into this pen. I was about to -begin the writing of this book, but I found it impossible to keep my -peace of mind in a “bull-pen” civilization, and decided to do what I -could to remind the authorities of Southern California that there is -still supposed to be a Constitution in this country. - -With seven friends I went to interview the mayor that afternoon. The -interview lasted an hour, and developed curious notions upon the part of -the chief executive of a large city concerning the meaning of civil -rights. According to Mayor Cryer, all the arrests which had been made -night after night on Liberty Hill, and the complete abrogation of the -rights of freedom of speech and of assemblage, were justified by the -fact that somebody unknown had violated the unconstitutional ordinance -of the city of Los Angeles against the displaying of a red flag. The -wholesale arrests of hundreds of men upon the street day after day were -justified by the fact that on one occasion some rowdy unknown had -shouted: “Here comes Captain Plummer, that fat prostitute.” I said: “Mr. -Mayor, according to your way of reasoning, if some one were to upset a -peanut stand on Broadway and steal the peanuts, you would feel justified -in arresting everybody in sight and closing the thoroughfare to traffic -for a month.” - -Our mayor is a politician, and cautious. He would not say that it was -the duty of the police to smash the harbor strike, neither would he say -that a group of American citizens had the right to proceed to Liberty -Hill and there read the Constitution of their country and explain to all -who might care to hear them the meaning of the Bill of Rights. His -proposition was that we should go to the harbor and ask permission of -Captain Plummer, and if Plummer refused, the mayor would “review” his -decision. To this we answered that the essence of the situation was -time; the strikers were being robbed of their rights every hour, and -civil liberties were not subject to review by either a police captain or -a mayor. The upshot of the hour’s argument was that Mayor Cryer made the -specific promise that he would telephone to Captain Plummer and instruct -him that we were to be “protected in our constitutional rights, and not -molested so long as we did not incite to violence.” Let it be added that -at his next interview the mayor denied that he had made this promise. - -Now, I shall not take up space in detailing what happened to our little -group. Suffice it to say, we repaired to the harbor, a dozen ladies and -gentlemen, with two lawyers; and in an interview with Chief of Police -Oaks we were informed that if we attempted to read the Constitution of -the United States on Liberty Hill we would be arrested and jailed -without bail. Four of us, Prince Hopkins, Hugh Hardyman, Hunter -Kimbrough, and the writer, did attempt to read the Constitution. I -personally read Article One of the first amendment, and was then placed -under arrest. Kimbrough started to read the Declaration of Independence. -Hopkins remarked, “We have not come here to incite to violence.” -Hardyman remarked, “This is a most delightful climate.” For these words -they were arrested—all four of us for “suspicion of criminal -syndicalism.”[A] We were held “incommunicado” for eighteen hours, and an -effort was then made to rush us into court a few minutes before closing -time, and have us committed and spirited away again, so that we could be -given the “third degree”; but this plot was balked, owing to the fact -that a confidant of Chief Oaks betrayed it to my wife, and our lawyers -got to the court and demanded and obtained bail. A week later we went -again to the harbor and held our mass meeting, and said to ten or -fifteen thousand people everything that we had to say. Next day the -police turned loose all but twenty-eight of the six hundred men they had -arrested; and some three weeks later a police judge threw out the case -against us four. So ended our little adventure in “criminal -syndicalism.” - ------ - -Footnote A: - - Extract from a letter written by a student of Washington University, - St. Louis, now visiting in Santa Monica, California: “The St. Louis - papers had only short accounts, which said that Upton Sinclair and - several other I. W. W. had been arrested on a charge of Syndicalism. - And my friends out here tell me that a raid was made when Upton - Sinclair, after having submitted a most innocuous abstract of his - speech to the authorities, exhorted a strikers’ meeting to break - loose, smash all windows in sight, and dump the street-cars off the - tracks. He also attacked the integrity and honor of the chief of - police.” - ------ - - - - - CHAPTER IV - THE EMPIRE OF THE BLACK HAND - - -Let us now survey the situation in Southern California as I settle down -to the writing of this book. The storm has blown over for the moment. -Twenty-eight of the strikers—the best of their leaders—have been shipped -off to the jute mill for from two to twenty-eight years. The others are -back in the slave-market, bidding against one another for the lives of -themselves and their families. Those who were active in the strike are -black-listed; even though they own homes at the harbor, they cannot find -employment, but must sell out and move on. And meantime, the men who -robbed them are enjoying the “swag.” Mr. Andrew B. Hammond has gone back -to San Francisco, to the comforts of the Bohemian Club, and the Pacific -Union Club, and the Commercial Club, and the San Francisco Golf Club; -while Mr. I. H. Rice continues to run the political and business affairs -of Los Angeles. - -Some lovers of fair play have organized a branch of the American Civil -Liberties Union, to teach the people of this community the elementary -idea that the Constitution applies to the poor as well as to the rich. -True to our program of the open forum, we call upon Mr. Rice and -courteously invite him to set forth his ideas of constitutional rights -to one of our audiences. Mr. Rice declines the invitation, and so does -Mr. Harry Haldeman, president of the Better America Federation, and so -does Mr. Marco Hellman, the banker, and So does Captain John D. -Fredericks, congressman-elect of the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ -Association and the Chamber of Commerce—it is reported that they put up -twelve thousand dollars additional salary for him, because so important -a man could not afford to go to Congress otherwise! - -Among the “tips” which came to me in the course of the struggle was one -to the effect that Captain Plummer and Chief Oaks were each presented -with a gold watch as a tribute of gratitude from the Merchants’ and -Manufacturers’ Association. At a hearing before the Ministerial Union I -had opportunity to ask Captain Plummer about this matter; he admitted -with evident embarrassment that he had got a gold watch. I asked him if -it was engraved in acknowledgment of his services to the Merchants’ and -Manufacturers’ Association; his answer was that it was engraved “From -the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association for services to the -community.” He added, somewhat naively, that he could not imagine how I -had got that information. “No one but Mr. Rice and the jeweler were -supposed to know about that watch!” - -With six hundred men packed into the filthy jails of Los Angeles, some -of them with faces bloody from the fists of Chief Oaks, the chief -himself went off to the convention of chiefs of police at Buffalo. He -went in glory, taking the policemen’s and firemen’s band of sixty -pieces; the expenses of this tour being in part paid by the protected -under-world, and in part loaned by Marco Hellman, banker and chief of -the Black Hand. Mr. Hellman went to the station to see the party off, -and on their return he went again to welcome them. Day by day we -followed in our newspapers the progress of this tour; they had royal -receptions in our biggest cities—and also in Lebanon, Missouri, the -village which contributed our great chief of police to the world. The -local newspaper mentioned that Mount Vernon was the birthplace of George -Washington, and Springfield, Illinois, was the birthplace of Abraham -Lincoln! - -In the meantime, our Civil Liberties Union was collecting affidavits of -men who had been beaten and starved and tortured in jail. We presented -these affidavits to the mayor, and the mayor referred us to the city -council; we presented them to the city council, and the city council -referred us to the police commission; we presented them to the police -commission, and the police commission referred them to the committee of -the whole. As I said at one of our mass meetings: “It is called the -committee of the hole because it hides and nobody can find it.” We were -told that the charges would be considered when Chief Oaks came back; the -chief came back, and went before the City Club, and in a burst of glory -stated that if anyone had charges against any police official he would -personally take them before the grand jury. Whereupon we made -application to him to present to the grand jury the charge that Chief -Oaks had beaten prisoners in jail—and he did not keep his promise. We -had brought the charges before the Ministerial Union of the city, and -the ministers appointed a committee to investigate; this committee met, -and heard many witnesses, but took no action, and has never met -again.[B] - ------ - -Footnote B: - - While the rest of this book is being written, Chief Oaks becomes - involved in a factional dispute in the Police Department, and his - enemies publish affidavits by the police officials of a neighboring - town, to the effect that Oaks was arrested a few days ago, while - parked in a lonely road with a young woman and a half-gallon jug of - whiskey. So Oaks is no longer chief, but plain lieutenant of police, - and is telling his friends that he intends to have the inscription cut - from his gold watch and to sell it. - ------ - -The ministers were prejudiced against us, because of something they had -read in the “Times”; a statement that the United States Department of -Justice had investigated the American Civil Liberties Union and -ascertained it to be “the defense branch of the I. W. W.”: this on the -authority of “Agent Townsend of the Department of Justice.” We went to -call on the head of the Department of Justice in Los Angeles, and -learned that there was no “Agent Townsend,” nor had the Department -obtained any such information concerning the American Civil Liberties -Union. We then called upon the managing editor of the “Times” and -presented this information. He promised to look further into the matter; -and next morning he published another statement, reiterating the charge, -this time giving a formal signed statement by “Agent Townsend of the -Department of Justice.” The matter was put before the Department of -Justice at Washington, which replied in writing that there was no such -person as “Agent Townsend of the Department of Justice.” A copy of this -was mailed to the “Times,” with an offer to submit the original. But the -“Times” made no reply, and published no retraction. I go into these -minute details, because later on I shall assert that the “Times” -deliberately lied about the school teachers of Los Angeles; and I wish -you to understand that I mean exactly what I say. - -The theme of this book is the schools—public schools and private -schools, primary and grammar and high schools; and now I have to carry -out my promise, to show you that this same Black Hand of Southern -California controls our board of education, putting its own -representatives thereon; that it controls our school funds, wasting them -in graft; that it controls our teachers, browbeating them and -underpaying them and denying them their rights as citizens; that it -controls our children, drilling them, suppressing them, putting poison -thoughts into their minds—so that they shall come out perfect little -bigots, prepared to hate and if necessary to tar and feather and lynch -those people who try to apply real Americanism to America, and to -protect the rights of the poor as well as of the rich. In other words, -what the Black Hand wants, and what it has made for itself, is schools -which will turn out a generation of children who will stand for all the -infamies I have just narrated, and will regard them as right and -necessary and patriotic actions, and the men who perpetrate them as -courageous public officials and high-minded patriots. - - - - - CHAPTER V - THE SCHOOLS OF THE “TIMES” - - -Naturally, we have to begin with the “Times”; and at the very outset, to -show you what the “Times” wants from our schools, I narrate the -experience of Mr. M. C. Bettinger, until recently a member of the board -of education, and for thirty-eight years connected with the educational -system of Los Angeles. In the year 1906 Mr. Bettinger happened to be in -the office of Superintendent Foshay, when that gentleman was packing up -his belongings and preparing to retire from his job. He took out of his -desk a bale of papers two inches thick, fastened with a rubber-band. -“Thank God,” he said, “at least I don’t have to pay any more tribute to -the ‘Times.’ These are receipts for money which I’ve had to pay to that -paper upon one pretext or another for the past eleven years!” - -Or consider the experience of Dr. E. C. Moore, who succeeded Mr. Foshay -as superintendent. In the year 1907 the National Education Association -held its convention in Los Angeles, and in the guide-book prepared for -it was an article by General Otis, publisher of the “Times,” denouncing -union labor. Dr. Moore had the courage to cut out these passages, and -for this General Otis set out to “get” him, and in due course did so. - -Dr. Moore’s blunder was that at Christmas time he sent out an order to -the principals of schools to be guarded in their proceedings so as not -to give offense to any class of people. This was a routine notice, its -significance being that Jewish children should not be compelled to take -part in religious ceremonials obnoxious to their faith. But Otis saw in -it his opportunity; Superintendent Moore was attacking the Christian -religion and undermining the basis of all morality! Should such a man -remain superintendent of the educational system of a Christian -community? The “Times” printed literally pages of attacks upon this -basis, interviews with clergymen and parents, and reports of sermons -denouncing Dr. Moore, who was thus forced to move on to Yale University. - -Next came John H. Francis, and he had a wonderful idea. He was going to -have junior high schools all over the city, and the youngsters were to -have stenography and typewriting and bookkeeping and manual -training—perfect little clerks and shop foremen turned out in two or -three years! Francis was a man with a passion for education, a wonderful -platform orator; he got his junior high schools, and the fame of them -spread all over the United States. But they cost a pile of money, and -they didn’t perform the wonders which the business men had hoped for; -instead, they got the youngsters interested in music and art and -dramatics and debating—and got them organized, so that you couldn’t take -these things away from them without a riot! So the Black Hand lost all -their enthusiasm for Superintendent Francis, and they tried on him their -favorite device of the detective agency and the woman scandal. Recall my -statement that the big private detective agencies form an important part -of the educational system of the United States! - -The president of the board, who was elected to oust Superintendent -Francis, was Judge Walter Bordwell, before whom Clarence Darrow was -tried. Bordwell was a flabby and repulsive looking man, with the manners -of an Irish section-boss; he was a relative of Chandler, and a pet of -the “Times.” In 1918, shortly after ousting Francis, Bordwell became the -“Times’” candidate for governor; and, as part of his campaign, an -assistant superintendent of schools sent a letter to teachers asking -them to vote for the Judge. The name of this assistant is Mrs. Susan -Dorsey, and I ask you to remember her, because a little later we shall -find her rewarded for her fidelity by being made superintendent of -schools; we shall find the teachers of Los Angeles presuming to go into -politics in the interest of the schools—and Mrs. Dorsey insisting that -politics must be rigidly excluded from the system! - -Along with Judge Bordwell was elected Mr. Washburn, ex-banker, whose one -idea of school administration was to keep down the taxes; Mrs. Waters, -the widow of a bank president; and Colonel Andrew Copp, an officer in -the state militia. Mr. Bettinger, at that time assistant superintendent, -tells me anecdotes which show the attitude of these people toward -education. “We don’t want you to come here with opinions,” said Mrs. -Waters; “we want you to obey orders.” And in almost the same words -Colonel Copp addressed a delegation of teachers who came to him to -complain of inability to get supplies. “Don’t come here with your views -of things,” stormed the Colonel; “what we want you to do is to do what -you’re told.” - -In the course of discussion before a board Committee, Mr. Bettinger made -so bold as to give his definition of education: “to aid in the -unfoldment of a human mind.” Colonel Copp was so furious that he was -hardly able to keep still until Mr. Bettinger finished. “Education?” he -cried. “I’ll tell you what education is! Education is getting a lot of -young people into a room, teaching them a lesson out of a book, hearing -them recite it, putting down a mark in figures, and at the end of the -year that’s their record. That’s what education is, and we are going to -have that and nothing else in Los Angeles.” - -Judge Bordwell had gone to New York to put the problem of the Los -Angeles schools before the great mogul of plutocratic education, -President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia. He came back with Albert -Shiels, a product of Butler’s educational enameling machine, who was to -make a survey. Shiels was an accountant, not an educator; also, under -the charter of the city, he was ineligible for superintendent, not -having lived a year in the state. But a little thing like a charter -provision would not be allowed to block the will of Judge Bordwell. Dr. -Shiels was made superintendent and started publishing anti-Bolshevik -propaganda in the teachers’ paper, and circularizing the teachers with -such literature. He published in President Butler’s “Educational Review” -an article assailing the Soviet government, which article contained no -less than one hundred and twenty-four misstatements of fact. Challenged -to debate this issue, Dr. Shiels wrote to me: “I believe it is contrary -to good public policy to place Bolshevism and its practices on a par -with debatable questions.” - -But Dr. Shiels soon became disgusted with the crudity of his political -masters, and went back to New York to take up a pleasanter job for -Nicholas Miraculous. The new president of the school board, a banker and -perfect plutocrat by the name of Lynn Helm, selected an assistant -superintendent, formerly a teacher of Latin and Greek, as the new boss -of the schools. He stated as his reason that he knew she was “safe”; and -time has proven that he was a good judge of employes. Mrs. Susan M. -Dorsey rules the system as I write, and you will have a chance to watch -her in action. For the moment it may suffice to record that for thirty -years she has been a member of the Baptist Temple, Reverend J. Whitcomb -Brougher, pastor. When “Billy” Sunday came to Los Angeles, some people -found fault with him, and Rev. Brougher rushed to his defense, -describing Sunday’s critics in the following highly educational -language: - - The dirty, low-down, contemptible, weazen-brained, impure-hearted, - shrivelled-souled, gossiping devils do not deserve to be noticed.... - Scandal-mongers, gossip-lovers, reputation-destroyers, hypocritical, - black-hearted, green-eyed slanderers.... Corrupt, devil-possessed, - vile debauchés.... Immoral, sin-loving, vice-practicing, underhanded - sneaks.... Carrion-loving buzzards and foul-smelling skunks. - -If anyone wishes to take charge of one hundred and seventy-six thousand -school children under the Black Hand, he may learn from this how to -train himself; for better remembering, I have put the directions into a -poem: - - Five days in the week - Teach Latin and Greek; - On Sundays, an hour, - Go listen to Brougher; - And seven days weekly - Obey Mammon meekly. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - THE TEACHERS’ SOVIETS - - -It is the thesis of the business men who run our educational system that -the schools are factories, and the children raw material, to be turned -out thoroughly standardized, of the same size and shape, like biscuits -or sausages. To these business men the teachers are servants, or -“hands,” whose duty is the same as in any other factory—to obey orders, -and mind their own business, and be respectful to their superiors. -Whenever by any chance teachers dare to have ideas of their own, or -especially to ask for higher wages, these teachers are treated precisely -as we have seen labor unions treated by the Black Hand of Southern -California. - -In 1916 and 1917, something happened which shook the teachers of Los -Angeles into action; their wages were suddenly cut to about forty per -cent of what they had been before. Or, to put it in the more common -formula, the cost of everything the teachers had to buy with their money -increased a hundred and thirty per cent; and meantime their wages -remained as in 1914. They were unable to live, and fifty-six per cent of -them were forced to do additional outside work. So the teachers’ -associations began a salary campaign, which for the first time brought -them out of the classrooms and into contact with the real life of Los -Angeles. The campaign lasted intermittently for four or five years, and -the outcome of it was tragedy for the teachers and comedy for the -reader. - -One of the purposes for which Mrs. Dorsey had been made superintendent -was to hold the salaries down; and in her effort to break the resistance -of the teachers, she served notice upon them that they must sign their -contracts for the next year before the end of the old term—and this -although legally they had until twenty days after the end of the term. -She would be very sorry not to see their faces next year, she told them, -and smiled amiably. When some said that they did not want to return, her -smile was still amiable. “You’ll be back,” she said. “Teachers have gone -out before this and tried to do something else.” - -The president of the City Teachers’ Club made herself obnoxious by -calling a meeting of the teachers for four o’clock one afternoon—that is -to say, after the closing hour of the schools. Mrs. Dorsey, desiring to -forestall her, closed the schools at half past one that afternoon. -Hitherto Mrs. Dorsey had maintained that the schools must never be -closed for special occasions; but now she closed them, and called the -teachers together at half past one to listen to an address of her own. -Some teachers thought it was her idea that they should be tired out and -go home before their own meeting at four o’clock! - -But the dissatisfaction of the teachers did not abate. A hundred of the -best had left, and three hundred more were refusing to renew their -contracts for the coming year; so the business men realized that some -concession had to be made. Manifestly, it would not do to let it come as -a result of teacher agitation; it must be due to the loving concern of -business men. Mr. Sylvester Weaver, head of the “education committee” of -the Chamber of Commerce, was called in, and he organized a committee of -leading citizens, including Harry Haldeman, president of the Better -America Federation. Somebody had “put over” on the teachers a publicity -agent, a gentleman with a big cigar in his mouth and a gold watch-chain -across his waistcoat. He now advised the teachers to drop their -agitation and allow the business men to handle it; let the grand -committee retire and do some grand thinking. So for five weeks the -teachers preserved an awed silence. - -They wanted a flat raise of a thousand dollars a year, and they proved -that this amount was not enough to raise the lowest salary to ante-war -standards. The committee, when it finally emerged from its thinking-bee, -endorsed this demand; but at once the business men set up a howl—and so -Mr. Weaver wrote to the board of education that he regarded the thousand -dollars increase for teachers as a great and noble ideal to be worked -for—in the course of time! The committee went before the board of -supervisors, which said that it would be impossible for the teachers to -have that much money; the committee went before the board of education, -which said there was no use asking what the supervisors refused. The -discontent of the teachers burst into flame again; the committee retired -and did more thinking; and finally it was announced that the taxpayers -of Los Angeles intended to perform an act of unprecedented generosity -toward the teachers—every single one was to have a raise of three -hundred dollars a year! - -This amount made the average salary just one-half what it was before the -war; and in a month or two rents went up and absorbed most of this. One -landlord said to a teacher friend of mine: “You’ve just got a raise, and -I’m going to have my share!” Recently the Chamber of Commerce of -Hollywood invited the hungry teachers to a banquet, and informed them -that for the other three hundred and sixty-four days of the year they -should learn to live on respect. On the place-cards of the hungry -teachers they printed “A Tribute”: - - _To the Teachers of Tomorrow’s Manhood and Womanhood_: - - To you, who bless mankind by the devotion of your lives to a noble - vocation, we declare our gratitude! In your charge we have placed the - responsibility of tomorrow, and your performance of that sacred duty - makes us all your debtors. Your calling is the highest in the social - order; your reward is the most valued of possessions—respect. - -The advantage of this salary campaign to the teachers was not the money, -but the education they got. For the first time a few of them began to -think about their board of education, and who was on it, and why. Some -even took up the suggestion that the teachers’ organizations should -affiliate with the American Federation of Labor. What indignation this -excited in our “open-shop” city should hardly need telling; the Better -America Federation set forth its ideas in a two-column advertisement in -the newspapers of San José: - - Teachers must keep aloof alike from politics and industrial - discussions. Teachers are beginning to be regarded as wards of the - State. Teachers, like soldiers, owe their first and only allegiance to - the State. - -The faculty at Jefferson High School decided that they would like to -hear both sides on this problem of affiliation with labor, so they made -up a questionnaire, and sent it, first, to fifty teachers’ organizations -which were affiliated with the American Federation of Labor; second, to -fifty which were not affiliated; and third, to all those which had been -affiliated and had withdrawn. This would seem calculated to bring out -all sides in the discussion; but the board of education issued a -peremptory order that the procedure should cease. I have a written -report of this incident from the teacher who interviewed Mr. Helm, the -banker president of the board. Here is one paragraph: - - Mr. Helm spoke very decidedly against the committee’s right to - continue its investigation, stating that its plans were “propaganda of - the worst sort.” He said the board had told the teachers what they - (the teachers) were to do, and that was the end of it. He declared - there was but _one_ side of the question of injecting _anything_ to do - with “labor” into any teachers’ organization. He said it was - impertinence to ask the board what it thought about such a matter, - because it had put itself on record in no uncertain terms. He said the - board reflected the “will of the people” in this regard. When - questioned as to who “the people” are, he replied, such concerns as - the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association and the Chamber of - Commerce, “which are responsible for the upbuilding of the city.” He - said when it was suggested to have “that man Stillman” (president of - the American Federation of Teachers) to speak before the teachers at - institute, these representative business men of Los Angeles asked, - “You’re not going to permit that, are you?” And he told them, “No, - indeed!” He remarked that the board expects the teachers to see to it - that “labor” does not get any recognition in the teaching profession. - -Some of the teachers now decided there ought to be a different sort of -people on the school board, and they called in a group of liberal -citizens to their help. A committee met, and a representative ticket was -nominated, and a house-to-house campaign was carried on. The Black Hand -opposed it, but not very ardently—a circumstance which would have -awakened the suspicion of the teachers, if they had not been so new to -public life. The entire “teachers’ ticket,” as it was called, was -elected in the spring of 1921; and to the consternation of the poor -teachers, two of the members resigned, and three others went over to the -Black Hand, and so the board was deadlocked three to three, and nothing -could be done. The board spent the rest of its term arguing over the -choosing of a seventh member. The three liberal members had one -candidate, Dr. Oxnam, a public-minded clergyman; while the three Black -Hand members brought in a new candidate every week, until they had -suggested most of the Tories in Southern California. Their favorite -candidate was a brother-in-law of Harry Chandler of the “Times”; and -after him they had three ex-presidents of the Chamber of Commerce! - -One of the guiding thoughts of the liberal campaign had been that -teachers know something about teaching. They now prepared a timid -proposal for a “Teachers’ Advisory Council,” to consult with the -superintendent and the assistants as to the welfare of the children and -the schools. Such councils exist in many cities in America, and the -teachers of Los Angeles thought their plan would be welcomed by their -new “liberal” board of education. So little did they understand the -methods of the Black Hand! One morning the “Times” came out with a -frightful story, all the way across several columns; there was an -underground conspiracy among the teachers of Los Angeles to establish a -“teachers’ soviet”! A group of blood-thirsty “Reds” were scheming to -take control of the schools from the duly elected board of education, -and have the taxpayers’ money spent and administered by labor unions! - -One of the teachers who was active in this movement, and who in a long -editorial was branded as a dangerous “radical,” was Miss Wilhelmina Van -de Goorberg. This, as you will note, is a terrifying foreign-sounding -name; but it wasn’t foreign enough for the “Times,” which made it Von -instead of Van. This lady’s parents came from Holland when she was a -child, and the “Times” staff know her very well; but they changed her -from innocent Dutch into devilish Prussian! - -The Black Hand was sending Colonel Andrew Copp, whose ideas on education -we have learned, to denounce the “teachers’ soviets” before the City -Club and the Woman’s City Club. The Chamber of Commerce resolved to make -an “impartial investigation” of the question, and appointed a committee, -and a teacher was invited to appear before it to defend the new idea. -Two teachers went, and found Colonel Copp on hand. The teachers were -permitted to speak briefly, and then they were questioned, in tones that -might have been used to naughty pupils. “Suppose the board of education -refuses to carry out the orders of your teachers’ councils, what are you -going to do then?”—and so on. Colonel Copp spoke at length, making a -series of false statements; after which he packed up his papers and -marched out, refusing to answer a single question. The chairman declared -the meeting adjourned, without permitting the teachers even to deny the -falsehoods! - -This was a regular habit of Colonel Copp, it appears; a group of high -school teachers interviewed him after one of his addresses, and pointed -out to him a number of flat misstatements he had made. He said he would -“investigate”; but a day or two later he repeated the misstatements, and -refused to correct them. When a teacher asked him how he could do such a -thing, he turned his back upon her. - -For months the “Times” continued its denunciations of the “teachers’ -soviets”; and, of course, they succeeded in crushing the hydra-headed -monster. There come a hundred thousand new people into this community -every year, and these people know nothing about local matters except -what they read in the “Times.” When the “Times” tells them day after day -that there is a band of secret conspirators, in sympathy with Moscow, -trying to undermine the school system and destroy the morals of the -children, they really believe it, and go to the polls and make their -little “x” marks on the ballot, according to the pattern set before them -in the “Times”! And so it is that four thousand highly trained experts -are denied all opportunity to have effective say concerning the -education of the children. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - A PRAYER FOR FREEDOM - - -There is an election of the school board in Los Angeles every two years. -The Black Hand laid their plans to elect a complete board in the spring -of 1923; they went at the job in grim earnest, sparing neither trouble -nor expense, and the story of what they did reads like a chapter from a -muckraking novel. - -The ruling group held a series of meetings: Harry Chandler of the -“Times”; “Eddie” Dickson of the “Express,” evening newspaper of the -Black Hand; Captain Fredericks, congressman-elect of the Black Hand; -Harry Haldeman, president of the Better America Federation; E. P. Clark, -proprietor of one of our biggest hotels, and principal financial backer -of the Better America Federation—these and half a dozen others -constituted themselves “the Committee of One Thousand” for the purpose -of electing a “citizens’ ticket” of seven members for the school board. -A little later they decided to expand into “the Committee of Ten -Thousand”—this in spite of the fact that at no one of their meetings -were they able to collect more than thirty-seven people! - -Their ticket comprised an assortment of hard-boiled reactionaries. At -the top of the list stood Jerry Muma, their most active representative -on the previous board. Mr. Muma runs a big insurance business; and just -as the campaign was getting under way there was made public the -affidavit of a prominent architect in the city, to the effect that Mr. -F. O. Bristol, agent for Muma and likewise a candidate for the school -board, had come to the architect soliciting insurance, and pointing out -that Jerry Muma, as head of the building committee of the school board, -controlled much valuable business of an architectural nature. “Mr. Muma -believes in reciprocity,” said Mr. Bristol, significantly. This -affidavit caused the Black Hand to take Jerry Muma from the head of its -ticket; but they left Mr. Bristol! - -Also they left on their ticket Mr. Frederick Feitshans, president of the -Los Angeles Desk Company, in spite of the fact that this gentleman -admitted to a committee of the teachers that he was at present selling -many thousands of dollars’ worth of furniture to the schools of Los -Angeles, and that while under the law he could not sell it to the -schools after he became a member of the board, there was nothing to -prevent his selling it to an agent, and this agent selling it to the -schools. As reward for Mr. Feitshans’ refinement of sensibility, the -gang members of the old board did their best to jam through a contract -with the Los Angeles Desk Company for seventeen thousand dollars’ worth -of furniture before the new board came in! - -Also, there was Mrs. Lucia Macbeth, wife of the vice-president and -general manager of our biggest cement company—and this with fourteen -million dollars’ worth of new buildings to be handled by the new board! -A terrible discovery concerning Mrs. Macbeth came out during the -campaign: she smoked cigarettes! She admitted this to a committee of -clergymen who visited her, but promised that if she were elected to the -board she would give up smoking; and naturally the church people of Los -Angeles could not lose such an opportunity to bring a lost sheep into -the fold. - -Also, there was Mr. Odell, a lawyer, one of the members of the old -board, who had voted “right,” and who, as a Mason, brought many votes; a -retired hay and grain merchant, who stated naively to the committee of -teachers that he was tired of playing golf and wanted something to do; -the wife of a real estate and insurance man; and another lawyer, who -represented the bond house of Mr. Babcock, the gentleman who was -selected by Captain Fredericks as campaign manager to put this -reactionary school ticket into office. Mr. Babcock’s firm got the -handling of several millions of the school bonds; and this firm sends -out literature, signed by Mr. Babcock, attacking government ownership, -and advising the public to put its money into private enterprises. So -you see how Big Business and the schools tie up! On this board almost -every kind of interest which preys on the school system was boldly -represented; and to elect it every power the Black Hand could wield, -both inside and outside the system, was wielded, and every slander that -could be whispered concerning the opposition was spread upon the front -page of the “Times.” - -“No politics in the schools!” runs the formula; which means, quite -simply, that no one must oppose the Black Hand. The rumor was spread -that the “teachers’ board” was pledged to oust Mrs. Dorsey; and so for -every teacher the issue was one of “loyalty to the chief.” Many were -intimidated—I know one teacher who was told by her principal that if she -gave out literature for the “teachers’ ticket” she would be summoned -before the grand jury! Others were bought with promises of promotion—the -system is honeycombed with intrigue of that sort. The principals’ clubs -went boldly into politics, cheered on by the “Times” and the “Express.” -One school director, a pet of Mrs. Dorsey, used the school time and the -school’s long distance telephone for a whole day calling the Masons in -the school system to a meeting at which they were told how to vote. - -I have before me a letter from a school principal telling me how a -certain political woman came to him, offering him, in exchange for his -support in the gang, a written promise of a high school principalship. -This offer was turned down and the principal wrote his wife, who owns a -dairy: “Keep the cows. We may need them.” - -In apologizing for telling so much about the harbor strike, I promised -to prove that the same men who smashed this strike were running the -school system of Los Angeles, and smashing the teachers. Now comes the -proof. As it happened, the campaign for the election of the school board -was going on all through the harbor strike and the formation of our -Civil Liberties Union; and among the few who came forward to stand for -this union was the Reverend G. Bromley Oxnam, pastor of the Church of -All Nations, and candidate for the school board on the “teachers’ -ticket.” At our first mass meeting of protest, held in Los Angeles three -days after the release of Hopkins, Hardyman, Kimbrough and myself, Mr. -Oxnam was asked to lead the singing of “America” and to open the -proceedings with a prayer. This he did; and so all the fury of the enemy -was turned upon him. The kept preachers of the Black Hand denounced him -from their pulpits, and also before the Ministerial Union, and before -the City Club. Nothing more was needed to defeat a candidate for the -school board than to associate him with Upton Sinclair, notorious -Socialist and muckraker. Day after day the “Times” pounded upon this -theme, both in editorials and in news. The Better America Federation -circulated alleged stenographic transcripts of speeches by Mr. Oxnam, -which “transcripts” were made up in their own offices, and were the -opposite of Mr. Oxnam’s beliefs. - -Understand, Mr. Oxnam was not the head of this ticket; he was only one -of seven. But from the day he stood upon the Civil Liberties platform, -the ticket became the “Oxnam ticket,” and his candidacy was an effort of -Upton Sinclair and the “soviets” to take possession of the schools. All -the minor organizations of the Black Hand, the business clubs, the -women’s organizations, the little educational bosses—all these adopted -resolutions denouncing the conspiracy to turn the schools of the city -over to the “Reds.” There is very good reason to believe that the -praying of a prayer for the Constitution of the United States not merely -cost Mr. Oxnam his election to the school board, but cost his associates -their election as well. So, at the risk of making my story too long, I -print the prayer that Mr. Oxnam prayed, and that a stenographer took -down for his protection: - - Our Father, we lift our voices to Thee in Thanksgiving. We are - thankful that Thou hast created us thinking beings. We are thankful - that we are not mere automatons, but that Thou hast given to us - freedom of choice, and that in large measure our own destiny and that - of our brothers lies in our own hands. We pray Thee, that just as Thou - hast granted to us the right to think and to speak, so too we may - grant to our citizens the right to think and to speak, to the end that - that glorious day may come at last when all men share the abundant - life Jesus of Nazareth died to bring to men. - - Give to us, we pray, the spirit of tolerance. May we be willing to - listen to our brother with whom we disagree. But O God, as we pray for - tolerance, we pray too that we may be men of conviction. Give to us an - open mind, but give us also the strength to stand for our convictions - even if it take a Calvary Cross to win them. May we never bow the knee - before insolent might. Help us to be tender and just, loving and - righteous, never turning aside from the needy. Give to us that virtue - that was Christ’s—forgiveness. May we even love those who despitefully - use us. Keep before us ever the example of the One who was despised - and rejected of men, yet who could pray forgiveness for those who - crucified him. - - We thank Thee for America, her traditions, her history, her place in - the world. We thank Thee for our forefathers who won for us the - liberties we so easily inherit. Give to us their spirit. Fire us with - the desire to bring to men the ideals for which they died. Give us - Life, give us Liberty, give us Happiness. Give us the strength to - stand for Life, and Liberty, and Happiness. We thank Thee for the - Constitution of our Republic. We thank Thee that the people united to - establish justice, to insure domestic tranquility, and promote the - general welfare. May we stand worthy of them today. Give to us the - courage today to stand as Americans insisting upon the maintenance of - those principles upon which our Republic was founded. - - In Christ’s name we ask it. Amen. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - THE PRICE OF INDEPENDENCE - - -There has existed for the past twenty years inside the school system a -secret oath-bound society of the school men known as the “Owls,” whose -members pledged themselves to consider first the interests of this -group. They served the Southern Pacific Railroad in the old days when -this machine ran the state; they now serve the Santa Fé Railroad and the -Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association and the Chamber of Commerce -and the Better America Federation, and the other organizations of the -Black Hand. For twenty years the system had one man, an assistant -superintendent named Lickley, who declined to join this society. He had -also refused to make the various anti-social pledges which the Better -America Federation has required of every candidate for the school board -and of every school official. In the 1921 election Mrs. Dorsey pleaded -with Dr. Lickley, advising him “as a mother” not to support the -“teachers’ ticket.” He supported it; and so in the interests of -“harmony” it was necessary that he be driven out of the system. The -intrigue against him came to a head during the election campaign, and -became an issue in this campaign. - -In telling the story, I have to devote two paragraphs to some Los -Angeles school principals. I apologize for taking up your time with -people you never heard of before, and will never want to hear of again. -But you will find, as we go on, that the school system of America is one -system; when you read about school principals in Los Angeles, you will -be learning about school principals in every other big American city. -Also, I would suggest that if men are important enough to be put in -charge of your children, they ought to be important enough for you to -know about. - -In the course of Dr. Lickley’s duties it became necessary for him to -consider charges against a principal by the name of Doyle. Seven -witnesses made affidavit that this principal had kept liquor in the -school building, contrary to law; that he had offered them this liquor, -and that his habits were generally known to the students, and were a -cause of demoralization in the school. It was testified that this liquor -had been brought to Doyle by Italian boys, whose parents were making it, -and that these boys had thus obtained immunity from school duties and -from punishment. It was also testified that he had knocked down David -Rutberg, a fourteen-year-old Jewish boy, by striking him in the eye. It -was further charged that Doyle, while principal of an evening school, -took other teachers away from their classes and spent the time with them -gambling in the basement. For this and other reasons Dr. Lickley -recommended Doyle for dismissal. We may complete this part of the story -by stating that Mrs. Dorsey and her school board have blocked every -effort for a hearing of these charges. Doyle is still in the system, and -the board has jumped him over two entire divisions, and elected him -principal of one of the biggest schools in the city. When this caused a -scandal, the men who had made the charges against Doyle were summoned to -the superintendent’s office, and efforts were made to browbeat them into -withdrawing their sworn statements. - -Immediately after Dr. Lickley’s action in the Doyle case, charges of -insubordination and disloyalty to the system were preferred against Dr. -Lickley by Doyle and others. I will list these others: first, a man -named Lacy, whom Dr. Lickley had dropped from the principalship of a -school upon the charge that he had come to school in a state of -intoxication, that he was unable to perform his duties, and that he had -misappropriated the funds of the Schoolmasters’ Club. Next, one -Cronkite, who, according to Dr. Lickley, was demoted from the position -of supervisor, because of “incompetence, laziness and objectionable -conduct to other members of the department.” Next, a principal named -McKnight, who, according to Dr. Lickley, left the principalship of one -school because of “serious and reprehensible misconduct.” Next, one -Dunlap, who was charged by Dr. Lickley with having stolen public -property; also with having carried on a private business as insurance -agent in school and in the board of education offices, urging the -employes under his supervision “to buy insurance, oil stocks, -automobiles, real estate, etc.” Another man, I am told, had been -disciplined by his Masonic brothers for taking a woman upstate with him. -Another was turned out of a night school because the young women -teachers would not stand his conduct toward them; he was put in charge -of the jail night school—it being apparently assumed that such pupils -would not be troubled by his morals. During the campaign the men under -charges were in conference with Mrs. Dorsey, enjoying her confidence and -carrying out her plans. I want to make clear my own position as regards -the matter: I do not say that these charges are true; I say that they -have been published by responsible persons, and that neither Mrs. Dorsey -nor her school board have cared enough about the good name of the -schools to answer the charges or bring the men to trial. - -Mr. Herbert Clark, recently promoted by Mrs. Dorsey, came to Mr. -Bettinger with a proposition: they had “got the goods” on Lickley; they -wanted to take him out and put in one of their own gang; they would let -him stay as an assistant, but with minor duties; and if Mr. Bettinger -would consent to this program, they would make him the next -superintendent of schools in Los Angeles. Mr. Bettinger refused, and -then the gang took the charges before the Municipal League, which asked -to have them in writing, and to have them sworn to; but instead of doing -this, the gang induced a poor old lady to bring the charges before the -county board of education, asking that Dr. Lickley’s license as a -teacher be revoked. The old lady had understood that the charges would -be secret—but whiff! they were spread out in the “Times”! - -This county board was a gang affair—two of them members of the “Owls,” -one of them the brother of an old Southern Pacific Railroad henchman, -who ran the recent Water Power campaign for the Black Hand. A third -member was the father of Lacy, one of Dr. Lickley’s accusers! In the -course of the election campaign, this accuser went to a meeting of the -Los Angeles City Teachers’ Club, and started to speak. His right to -speak was challenged, because he was not a member; whereupon he paid his -fee, received his membership card, and made his speech. It proved to be -a series of false statements concerning Dr. Oxnam—that Oxnam had been in -jail recently, and that he had been barred from speaking in the city of -Long Beach. Some of the teachers objected, and succeeded in silencing -Lacy, until Oxnam could appear to answer the charges. Oxnam wrote, -demanding that Lacy produce his evidence, and challenging Lacy to appear -at the next meeting of the teachers. Lacy declined to appear, whereupon -the Teachers’ Club expelled him. - -There were two sets of charges against Dr. Lickley, one set of which -they published, and the other of which they whispered. They had been -shadowing him with detectives for years; they had followed him on train -journeys and steamer trips, and wherever he drove in his automobile. -Sometimes there were as many as four people devoting their attention to -him; one of these men got drunk and admitted that he was shadowing Dr. -Lickley for the gang. They were trying to get what they call a “woman -story” on him; as we go from city to city you will find this such a -common device of the Black Hand that you will learn to take it for -granted. - -The Lickley stories served their purpose—of helping to beat the -“teachers’ ticket.” The candidates of the gang were elected without -exception, and Dr. Oxnam came out next to the bottom of the poll. The -charges against Dr. Lickley were dismissed, on motion of the attorney -for the opposition; whereupon Superintendent Dorsey informed Dr. Lickley -that if he still stayed in the system she would put him in a solitary -room in the Grand Avenue School, with curtailed duties, without a -stenographer, and without even a telephone. It happens that Dr. Lickley -is a lawyer, and can earn far more at his profession than he was getting -in the school system. He had before him a long and nasty fight, with the -cards stacked against him. He tendered his resignation, which the new -board accepted. - -Some maintain that he should have stayed and fought it out. Suffice it -to say that one of the factors upon which the Black Hand counts, when it -puts its scandal bureau to work, is the probability that men of -refinement will choose to go their own way as private citizens, in -preference to having slanders about them published in the newspapers. If -you take that to mean that Dr. Lickley was guilty and ran away, all I -can answer is what Mr. Bettinger tells me; that he rented a room in the -upper part of his home to a typist, who, hearing him speak of Dr. -Lickley, remarked: “Why, I typed all the reports of the people who -investigated his life; he didn’t do anything wrong.” - - - - - CHAPTER IX - THE REGIME OF RECIPROCITY - - -We now have the Black Hand in undisputed control of the school system of -Los Angeles; their seven dyed-in-the-wool reactionaries meet, frequently -in secret session, and carry out the will of their masters. Let us see -what this means for the schools, the teachers, the children, and the -public. - -First of all, graft: it means that the handling of twelve million -dollars a year is in the hands of people who have no conception of any -other ideal in life but that of money-making. They would, of course, -deny this indignantly; while denying it, they will be teaching the -children in the economics classes that pecuniary self-seeking is the -only principle upon which a civilization can be built. They will be -glorifying greed by high-sounding phrases, such as “individualism,” -“_laissez-faire_,” “freedom of contract”; they will be ridiculing any -other ideal as “utopian,” the product of “theorists” and “dreamers.” - -Here are more than nine hundred school buildings, and the system has -never had a real building expert. The best architects in the city do not -trouble to bid upon school buildings; they know that these contracts go -to those who, in the phrase of Jerry Muma, “believe in reciprocity.” The -whole business system of the schools is antiquated and tied up in red -tape, all of which is sacred because it represents somebody’s privilege. -The 1921 board ordered a business survey of the schools, employing the -financial expert of the State Board of Control; a minute and detailed -report on the school system was made—and was turned down and suppressed -by the gang. - -Quite recently Mr. F. W. Hansen, purchasing agent for the schools, -resigned his position, stating that the system was “an institutional -mad-house”; all his efforts to save money for the taxpayer had been -thwarted by the business manager. Mr. Hansen had wished to go out and -develop additional sources of supply, as the purchasing agent of any -commercial organization would do. He went directly to the manufacturers -of ink-wells and saved from thirty to forty per cent. He cut the price -of waste-baskets from $9.60 to $6.85 a dozen; and so on through a long -list of savings. - -But you see, if you go directly to the manufacturers, you cut off the -profits of jobbers and wholesalers, and these are prominent members of -the Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association, who “believe in -reciprocity” and “the encouragement of home industry.” When you buy from -novelty houses for $38.00 calendars which the local dealers are selling -for $100, you are causing unemployment for a bookkeeper in Los Angeles, -who keeps track of this transaction for the local business men. Still -worse heresy, when you go to San Francisco and buy reed for $1.50 which -costs $3.53 in Los Angeles, you are boosting the most bitter rival of -our City of the Black Angels. When you buy lubricating oil for -twenty-seven and a half cents a gallon, which meets the test better than -that which the city has been getting for fifty-four cents a gallon, you -have some oil men on your neck. Mr. Hansen had a long fight with his -superiors before he was even permitted to sign his own letters asking -for prices in transactions such as this. - -Mr. Hansen insisted upon getting competitive bids for the supplying of -colored crayons. The business manager told him to “lay off this”; the -city had been using Prang’s crayons, and there was none so good. The bid -on Prang’s water colors had been forty dollars; when the competition -started it came down to twenty-five; there were other brands offered for -eighteen, and the art supervisor of the schools made tests, and could -find no difference in quality between them. The old board split on this -issue—the members of the “teachers’ ticket” stood out, trying to save -the taxpayers $1,204.07 on this single purchase. The new board is now -in, the city is paying the higher prices, and somebody is getting the -“rake-off.” - -And yet, in spite of this orgy of spending, the teachers cannot get -supplies. I have before me the Los Angeles “School Journal” for October -24, 1921, giving a report of a committee of teachers which had been -appointed to investigate the question of school supplies. Here are six -pages of closely printed details, covering every sort of school -material. Some forty or fifty teachers testify. No one knows when -supplies ordered will be received, the time is usually from six months -to a year. Tissue paper was “called for repeatedly for two years. First -amount received one year ago.” Desks ordered in the spring of 1918 had -not been received two and a half years later. Half a class in -agriculture was idle, because garden tools were missing eleven months -after ordering. Text-books in English for the teacher’s desk received -“sometimes six months later, sometimes a year.” Again, “I have been -asking for bookkeeping desks for five years.” - -I talked with the head of a department, who had kept a careful record, -and had never got supplies in less than six months, and sometimes had -waited two years and a half. There were some repairs to be done to -laboratory tables, and application for this work was made in the spring, -so that it could be done during the summer vacation. In the fall, after -school had started, along came the carpenters and the painters to do -this work. Said this teacher: “The city was paying me fifteen dollars a -day to teach two hundred pupils, and then it paid another fifteen -dollars a day to workmen to keep me from teaching the pupils.” - -All this is petty graft; and the thing that really counts is Big -Business, which is not considered graft. This board has the placing of -magnificent new high schools which the city is building for the children -of the rich, and which determine the population and price of real estate -for whole districts. It goes without saying that these schools are put -where the active speculators want them; three such schools are now going -up in districts where there is practically no population at present. -Meanwhile the old, unsanitary fire-traps in the slums are left -overcrowded and without repairs. They have passed a regulation -districting the city, and compelling the children to attend school in -their own district. The children of the poor may not travel and attend -the schools of the rich! This year there are no schools at all for many -of the children of the poor, and sixty thousand of them are on part -time. - -The reason for this is the ceaseless campaign of Big Business to starve -the schools. In the columns of the “Times” you will read that the -“Times” is a friend of the schools; but the teachers noted that this did -not keep the “Times” from backing the treacherous program of the -“Taxpayers’ Protective Association,” which lobbied through the state -legislature the notorious Bill 1013, which forbade any community to -increase its tax rate more than five per cent over that of the year -before. The lobbyists of the association solemnly assured the teachers’ -representatives at the state capital that this bill would not in any way -affect the schools, and so they let it get by. Then, to their -consternation, the teachers discovered that it would completely -hamstring the schools! The tax rate of the previous year had been -unusually low, because there had been a surplus; now, under this new -law, most of the schools would have to close down. - -The teachers got busy and circulated petitions, and defeated this law by -referendum. Then the Taxpayers’ Protective Association tried to throw -out the referendum, and the teachers had to pay an attorney a thousand -dollars of their own money to argue the case before the Supreme Court. -You will not be surprised to hear that the principal backer of this -Taxpayers’ Protective Association is Mr. E. P. Clark, principal backer -of the Better America Federation; in other words, the association is -simply one of the aliases of the Black Hand! - -And now this Black Hand has elected its own governor of the state, on a -program of “economy,” which means the starving of every form of public -welfare activity. The school appropriations have been cut to such an -extent that the teachers’ colleges are crippled and the whole system is -in despair. You see, what money California has to spare just now must go -into a new state penitentiary here in the South; the Black Hand is -planning more campaigns against “suspicion of criminal syndicalism.” A -couple of months ago, while I sat in my cell at the Wilmington -police-station, my fellow prisoner, Hugh Hardyman, quoted a remark: “I -would rather be in jail laying the foundations of liberty than at -liberty laying the foundations of jails.” In California you take your -choice between these two. - - - - - CHAPTER X - THE SPY SYSTEM - - -It goes without saying that in such a school system promotion goes by -favoritism. The system of examining and grading teachers at the present -time is a farce. These examinations are partly written, partly oral, and -partly references; the references are submitted as confidential, and one -of the assistant superintendents marks them, without any assistance. So -far as the oral examinations are concerned, it is purely a question of -getting before an examiner who is your friend. Mrs. Dorsey, the -superintendent, will say: “Send So-and-so to my committee”; and it will -be done. - -Mr. Bettinger, while assistant superintendent, discovered that the -deputy superintendent was giving the clerk a list of names of those who -were to be passed as favored by people of influence. He tells me how -later on Jerry Muma, at that time “boss” of the board, came to him with -a friend whose daughter desired to take the examination for high school -teacher. Mr. Bettinger explained the routine; the examination must be -taken in such and such a way, etc. But Mr. Muma was not satisfied. He -said that he had heard these matters could be arranged more -expeditiously. Finding that Mr. Bettinger did not take the hint, he -said: “Wait a minute,” and went out. He was gone five minutes, and came -back, saying: “It will be all right; Mr. Shafer (an assistant) will have -this young woman come before him.” Mr. Muma, you remember, is the dealer -in life insurance who “believes in reciprocity.” - -Mrs. Dorsey is a very devout church member, and the churches are strong -in her support; so when a woman teacher came to her, complaining of -having been seduced by the principal of her school, Mrs. Dorsey was -greatly incensed. When the teacher’s story was substantiated by the wife -of the principal, Mrs. Dorsey—so I am informed by Dr. Lickley—summoned -the man to her office and demanded his resignation. But she had been led -in her excitement to overlook the realities of politics in her school -system. This principal had a powerful friend, an ex-judge who was high -in the councils of the Black Hand. He called on Mrs. Dorsey and -presumably explained to her the concrete facts about the administration -of schools. Anyhow, the matter was suddenly dropped; and Mrs. Dorsey has -just been presented with a reappointment for four years, with a salary -raise from eight thousand to ten thousand a year. - -The thing for which I indict this elderly lady superintendent is her -pitiable subservience to the power of wealth, and the glorifying of -commercialism in her school system. She has made the schools a -“boosting” agency for reaction; it would be no exaggeration to say that -she has handed them over to the bankers to be used as a collection -agency to get the children’s money. One teacher tells me how her -principal came back in great excitement from a meeting of principals -summoned by Mrs. Dorsey, at which the details of a “thrift campaign” had -been explained. All the children must start savings banks at once; the -Chamber of Commerce was furnishing the banks, also posters, which must -be put up in every schoolroom. Some time later the principal came into a -room much disturbed; there was no poster up in that room, and what was -the matter? The teacher explained that the wind had blown it down; it -had been up for two months. The principal fussed about, and would not -leave until it had been tacked up again. - -The children were hounded to start their bank accounts; some were taken -out and paraded around the block, with banners reporting the percentages -of bank accounts in each class. The teachers also were hounded; you were -a failure if your children did not reach a certain percentage. A man -from the bankers’ association came around to make a speech: “The -principal is going to give you a bank; the superintendent expects that -every one of you will have a dollar saved up.” And every month there was -a bulletin from Mrs. Dorsey. Meantime the bankers’ association, in the -literature it sent out, was explaining that it was spending more than -one dollar per child upon this school campaign, but it would pay well, -because the children would get the bank habit. - -Mrs. Dorsey has a formula of subservience which she is accustomed to -repeat to her teachers and subordinates: “We must please the business -men, otherwise they will not vote the bonds to keep our schools going.” -That she has grounds for her fears was shown by the statement of Mr. -Edwards, self-appointed financial boss of the school board. The teachers -and the public were demanding a fifteen-million-dollar bond issue for -new schools; but when the proposition came before the board, it had been -changed to nine millions, and Mr. Edwards’ explanation was simple: the -heads of the Chamber of Commerce had drawn a line through the fifteen -and made it nine! “That’s what we’ll vote just now,” they said; and as a -result of those strokes of the pencil, sixty thousand children are now -condemned to part-time instruction! - -If you think this a matter of small importance, let me tell you of one -teacher who had a class of incorrigible children. Out of nineteen boys, -seventeen confessed to her that they had burglarized houses or stores. -The ages of these boys were from thirteen to sixteen, and in the -majority of cases their mothers had been compelled by poverty to go to -work outside the home. The boys would take the money they stole and go -to beach resorts, and spend it all in one night. These boys had had -three years of half-day school sessions, and told the teacher that they -had started their careers of crime while turned out on the streets -instead of being in school. - -As I finish this book, Mrs. Dorsey issues a bulletin, informing all -teachers that the schools are to celebrate a “Chamber of Commerce Week.” -It is solemnly ordered that “children of the first five grades write to -their father or guardian a letter on some phase of the work of the local -Chamber of Commerce, or on the benefits to the city of the activities of -that organization”; and teachers of all other grades shall “use the -functions, activities, or achievements of the local Chamber of Commerce -as suggestions for themes and orations. Pamphlets dealing with the -activities of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce will be placed in the -mail-boxes. The co-operation of principals and teachers is urged.” - -I have before me a copy of the pamphlet in question. The Chamber of -Commerce, which cut the school appropriation from fifteen million to -nine million dollars, and put sixty thousand children on part time, now -has the effrontery to state to all school teachers and pupils: “The Los -Angeles Chamber of Commerce has worked for every bond issue asked for by -the Board of Education, until now the city has more than 900 public -school buildings for its 176,000 children.” Upon learning of this -“Chamber of Commerce Week,” the American Civil Liberties Union hastened -to apply to the board for a “Civil Liberties Week,” and in a written -statement afforded the board many reasons for making the children -acquainted with the importance of protecting civil liberties. It goes -without saying that the Board of Education of the Black Hand made haste -to vote down this riotous proposition; and likewise another for a “union -labor week.” - -Of course there has been, and is, a campaign of terrorism to drive out -the few rebel teachers from the system. One high school principal was -told by Judge Bordwell that he would be promoted if he would remove -several teachers accused of liberal ideas. When the principal said they -were good teachers, the Judge said: “Can’t you get something on their -morals?” - -That the Black Hand directs spying by the school children on their -teachers is something you do not have to take my word for; you may take -the word of Mr. Harry Haldeman, president of the Better America -Federation. Speaking at a banquet given by his supporters in the -Alexandria Hotel in Los Angeles, Mr. Haldeman said in substance: -investigators have been placed in various schools and colleges in this -state and throughout the United States, whose business it is to take -note of the utterances of teachers, professors, or students, and report -to the headquarters of the Federation. If any utterances are reported -which are not to the liking of the Federation, means will be taken to -have the teachers or professors discharged. So far as the students are -concerned, they will be shown the error of their ways. If they prove -obstinate and fail to take heed, steps are to be taken to prevent their -getting employment. And if you should find any of these statements -incredible, let me add that Mr. Haldeman made the same speech in many -other places; he made it at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, and -you will find in “The Goose-Step” what the San Francisco “Call” -published about it. - -They control the board, the superintendents, the teachers, and the -pupils; they even control the parents. For twenty years Los Angeles has -had an excellent group of organizations called Parent-Teachers’ -Associations; the parents come to the school buildings for meetings with -the teachers, to discuss the welfare of the schools. But this machinery -has gone the way of everything else—it has been taken over by the Black -Hand. I talked with a lady who was president of one of these branches, -and saw the whole intrigue from the inside. There are prominent women, -paid agents of the Better America Federation; while others are paid by -the “Times” in the coin of prominence and applause. If you support the -politics of the “Times,” you become “the distinguished Mrs. So-and-So”; -your picture is printed, your speeches are quoted, and your honors are -recited at length. - -These agents of the Black Hand have their plans always laid in advance; -they are aggressive, they pretend to know the laws and by-laws, and -brush the ordinary parents out of the way. At one of the general -meetings of the association they rushed through an endorsement of -military training in the schools. There were only thirty or forty people -present; no one had any warning of the program, nor any opportunity to -discuss this important question; yet next morning this action was -announced in the “Times” as representing the sentiments of thirty-one -thousand parents! One lady, objecting to this procedure, brought up a -discussion of the matter at her branch; she proposed that they should -have speakers to present both sides of the question. Her principal was -“furious” that she should have brought such a proposition up in his -school. - -In order to prevent the parents from having an effective voice, they -have amended the constitution to read that there shall be “no -interference with the administrative functions of the board of -education”; so now, if there is anything they want to hush up, they -simply call it “an administrative function of the board of education”! -In order to keep the teachers from having any voice, they frequently -call the business meetings at hours when the teachers are busy in -classroom. One teacher who has spent something like thirty years in the -system, tells me that he has never yet been able to attend a business -meeting of the association in his school. The representatives of the -school at these meetings are the principals and their office staff. The -teachers pay one-third of the dues, they furnish the bulk of the program -work—but they have nothing to say about policy. - -“Politics” is strictly barred; but, as everywhere else throughout the -system, this rule works only one way. The associations are forbidden to -endorse any candidates; but during the recent election the “Times” -announced that they had endorsed the candidates of the Black Hand—and -when the “Times” says a thing, that thing might as well be true, because -ninety-nine per cent of the public believes it. On another occasion -these political women rushed through an endorsement of some of their -judges, and Mrs. E. J. Quale, the press chairman, handed in her -resignation in protest. The executive board accepted her resignation, -but kept the fact out of the records and out of the newspapers—thus -concealing Mrs. Quale’s protest from the membership. - -“No politics in the P. T. A.” It was not “politics” when Harry Atwood, -author of “Back to the Republic,” came to talk about the Constitution, -and devoted nine-tenths of his time to attacking the initiative and -referendum. The “politics” began when some one ventured to ask for a -speaker who was known to favor the initiative. There is an executive -committee for the purpose of controlling speakers, and no one could be -permitted to speak unless his name had been approved by this committee. - -The biggest issue in the state just now is that of public or private -control of water power; the whole future depends upon this, and to keep -the public in darkness concerning it is the one big purpose of the Black -Hand, to which all other purposes are subordinated. So in this water -power fight the control of the Parent-Teachers’ Association has been -most clearly revealed. In the last election campaign the proposal to -issue bonds for public development of water power was beaten by the -corporations; subsequent investigation by the state legislature revealed -the fact that the Southern California Edison Company, a private water -power corporation, had contributed $107,605 to carry this campaign. They -had paid $26,000 salary to a campaign manager, who had formed the -“Women’s Committee of the Los Angeles Taxpayers Association.” He had a -professional publicity agent, a woman, and “three or four other ladies -who went around making speeches.” There was one item of $4,019 for -“special literature,” signed with the name of the “Women’s Tax and Bond -Study Club”—and this, according to the admission of the campaign -manager, was for circulation among the Parent-Teachers’ Associations. -During the campaign, the speakers for public ownership were barred; but -now, by order of the superintendent, the Edison Company is taking its -propaganda directly into the schools! - - - - - CHAPTER XI - LIES FOR CHILDREN - - -Needless to say, those who run this school machine for the Black Hand -are vigilant to keep modern ideas from the children. They excluded the -“Nation” and the “New Republic” from the high school libraries shortly -after the war; and they have recently refused to rescind this action. -There was a debate on the subject before the Friday Morning Club, a -ladies’ organization, and Mrs. Chester C. Ashley, ex-member of the board -of education, waved before the eyes of the horrified ladies the current -issue of the “Nation,” June 6, 1923: let them inspect the cover and see -what poison was prepared for the minds of their children: - - UPTON SINCLAIR DEFENDS THE LAW - - HIS LETTER TO THE LAW-BREAKING CHIEF OF POLICE OF LOS ANGELES - -The Better America Federation picked out as its text-book of patriotism -for the schools a work called “Vanishing Landmarks” by Leslie Shaw, -ex-secretary of the treasury, a comical old Tory who glorifies the -Constitution as a bulwark of special privilege. “Only Socialists, near -Socialists, and Bolsheviki clamor for democracy,” declares Mr. Shaw; and -he says it is wise for representatives of capital to be permitted to -organize, and the only danger begins when federations of unions are -formed. Incidentally he denounces, as part of the revolutionary program, -the woman’s suffrage amendment! The Better America Federation spent -twenty thousand dollars to put a copy of this book into the hands of -every school teacher; they wanted it adopted as a text-book in all -elementary schools—and this in a state where the women have had the -ballot for twelve years! As one teacher remarked to me, the slogan, -“Votes for Women,” is to be changed to “Lies for Children”! - -For the Pilgrim Tri-Centennial the Better America Federation prepared a -beautiful text-book for the schools, full of reactionary propaganda; -this they gave away, and they had a list of eloquent orators, also to be -given away. Then they produced a text-book “Back to the Republic,” by -Harry Atwood, denouncing the initiative and referendum as treason to our -forefathers. The publishers announce this as “The Outstanding Book of -the Age,” and it was distributed to every teacher. Let me quote you a -few of its theses: “Promiscuity, or free-love, is to the domestic world -what democracy is to government.... What gluttony is to the individual, -democracy is to government.... What drunkenness is to the individual, -democracy is to government.... What discord is to music, democracy is to -government.... What insanity is to thought, democracy is to government,” -etc., etc. And understand, this in a _text-book_! Teachers were expected -to compel little children to learn this by heart, and to recite it! - -Next came “The Citadel of Freedom,” by Randolph Leigh, a product of -Nicholas Murray Butler’s educational machine. It was written as a -Columbia doctor’s thesis, and is a panegyric of the Constitution, in -which every reactionary influence in our history is glorified, and every -popular influence sneered at. I have read the galley proofs of this -book, as submitted to the school board of Los Angeles, and they bear at -the top the tell-tale label, “TIMES.” Mr. Leigh appeared personally -before the board of education, offering to put a copy of this book into -the hands of every student orator. He was backed by a committee, -including Chandler of the “Times” and Haldeman of the Better America -Federation, who offered a prize of fifteen hundred dollars, or “a de -luxe summer tour of the Mediterranean country,” for the best oration by -any high school student using this book and its references as source -material. A liberal representative on the school board objected, saying -that the students should have an opportunity to hear both sides. Mr. -Leigh said that he had done all the research work. The board member -answered: “Our students are trained to do their own research work.” And -Mrs. Dorsey sat there and did not say one word in defense of her school -system! - -Reactionary teachers are appointed for the express purpose of repressing -originality and independence in the students. What are their standards -and ideals was charmingly revealed by one of them who was discussing a -certain pupil with a friend of mine. This pupil was a “leader,” said the -teacher; “I know she’s a good leader—you give her something to do and -she’ll do it beautifully.” The consequences of such training are seen in -the so-called “Ephebian Society,” an organization formed to interest the -high school alumni in public service. The choicest of the high school -graduates are picked out each year, and this is a great honor—while you -are graduating. After that you discover it to be a farce; because the -members of the society meet and the authorities in control forbid them -to take up any vital subject whatever. The Ephebians meet in the rooms -of the board of education, and are permitted to spend their time raising -money for the Travelers’ Aid Society, or superintending the Newsboys’ -Christmas Dinner! I talked with this year’s president of the society, -Lee Payne; they will never get him again, he said. - -This same young man told me of his experiences when he was selected to -deliver the valedictory of his class. He asked to have a liberal teacher -as his guide, but was compelled to have a reactionary teacher. She -assigned to him a commonplace theme, and he rejected it, and wrote on -the subject of “Labor’s Right to a Share in Industry.” When he brought -in his address, the teacher refused to let him deliver it; it was “too -Bolsheviki,” she said, and told him that when he went into a garden he -must see the beautiful red roses, and not the thorns. She practically -rewrote the address for the student, and he took it off and wrote it -again. The controversy continued up to a day or two before commencement, -when the boy finally had to deliver an address which did not represent -his own convictions. - -I have mentioned favoritism among the principals and teachers; needless -to say, also, that children who come from poor homes, and especially the -children of foreigners, are slighted. A boy came to see me, Clarence -Alpert by name, a sensitive lad, conscientious and idealistic; with -tears in his eyes he told me how he had been turned out of Lincoln High -School by the principal, Miss Andrus. I was familiar with the name of -this lady. In an address to the school assembly she had referred to -“that notorious disloyalist and traitor, Upton Sinclair.” I wrote a -letter to the lady in which I mentioned my support of the war—you may -find it in “The Brass Check,” pages 205-7. I served notice upon her that -she would make a retraction of her statements or face a libel suit, and -she preferred the former alternative. - -The boy whom she had now expelled had refused to salute the flag. He was -a Socialist, and believed that the flag stood for capitalism. Miss -Andrus sent for him, and stormed at him; he was a Russian Jew, and she -knew his kind from her experience at Hull House. They were dirty, rotten -scoundrels; they were people with no ideals and no country; they were -cheap material, who could not be made into good citizens and were not -entitled to an education. Miss Andrus tried her best to get young Alpert -to name some of the teachers who had encouraged him in his ideas; the -boy was threatened with immediate dismissal if he refused to name them, -but in spite of the fact that he had “no ideals,” he stood firm! Finally -he was given three days in which to make up his mind and salute the -flag. - -Then—so the boy explained to me—one of his teachers labored with him, -explaining to him that he was under a misapprehension about the flag. To -be sure it was used by capitalism at the present time, but that was only -because it had been stolen; in reality the flag stood for the highest -ideals ever conceived by mankind, and it was our business to preserve it -for those ideals, and to take it away from the exploiters and rascals. -Alpert agreed to that, and went back to Miss Andrus and told her that he -had realized his mistake, and that he was now ready to salute the flag -as she required. But she declared that he was a hypocrite and a coward, -and should not stay in the school. I went to a friend of mine, a wealthy -man who happens to be a liberal. He called up a member of the school -board, who went to see Miss Andrus; so in two or three days the boy was -restored to school, from which he has since been graduated. - -The schools are starting in this fall with what they call “codified -patriotism”; a whole outfit of flummery contrived by the American Legion -and the professional hundred percenters. The flag must be exactly at the -top of the staff, and you must raise it briskly, and lower it slowly and -reverently; you must raise your hat with your right hand, and women must -put their right hand over the heart. The legislature has passed a bill, -requiring that American history shall be taught “from the American -viewpoint”; no longer is it to be taught from the viewpoint of truth! -The children are to learn that Alexander Hamilton was a good American, -but the soft pedal will be put on Thomas Jefferson. They will not be -taught that the Mexican War was a disgraceful foray of greed, and that -Abraham Lincoln denounced it in Congress. Instead, they will be taught -all about the “Red” menace—with the columns of the “Times” for source -material. At last commencement time at least six addresses by students, -dealing with this subject, were featured by the “Times” in its radio -service, which is devoutly followed by hundreds of thousands of -wage-slaves in our community. All these addresses, of course, had been -carefully censored; one or two of them were “repeated by request,” and -the announcement was made that you could have a printed copy of them by -application to the “Times.” - - - - - CHAPTER XII - THE SCHOOLS OF MAMMON - - -What becomes of the children under this regime of the Black Hand? I have -talked with scores of teachers, and their testimony is unanimous, that -the children’s minds are on anything in the world but study. I choose -the great “L. A. High,” because that is where the children of the rich -attend. One parent, a woman of refinement and sense, has tried to keep -the tastes of her daughter simple and wholesome, but she tells me it is -impossible, because home influence counts for nothing against the -overwhelming collective power of the mass. The child comes home thrilled -with excitement, telling of what the other girls have; and she must have -what they have, or her happiness is ruined. It is all money; their ideal -is the spending of money, their standard is what things cost. I know a -lad, who tells me gravely that a fellow can’t have anything to do with -girls these days; they have no interest in you but for the money you -spend on them, and unless you are rich you cannot “go the pace.” About -this school you will see the automobiles parked for blocks; and, of -course, the youngsters who drive these cars are the social leaders, they -run the school affairs, and they get the girls. - -The schools are given up to athletic excitements and “assemblies”; “Aud -Calls,” the students term them—that is, calls to the auditorium. They -come to practice cheering; they follow the cheer leader, who tells them: -“That wasn’t loud enough. Now give one for the team.” The young people -come out from these affairs trembling with excitement, and they have no -mind for their studies the rest of that day. Out in the halls are -students waving balloons which they have bought in the bookstore; on -athletic occasions, you see, it looks so lovely if everybody in the -bleachers is waving toy balloons with the school colors. They will just -get settled in class with their toy balloons, when there comes a call -for “fire drill.” Or if such diversions are lacking, the pretty young -things take out their vanity boxes and proceed to powder their noses and -smear red paint on their lips, while the poor unhappy teachers are -trying to put something into their silly heads. I have walked through -the corridors of a high school and counted a dozen of the young things -performing these toilet operations while chatting with their beaux. - -How can the teachers combat such forces? There is only one way, and that -is by making the studies interesting, by taking up live topics, which -awaken the initiative of the students, and reveal to them the delights -of thinking. Several teachers have tried to do this, and the stories of -what happened to them are amusing; but unfortunately I cannot tell the -stories, because each would identify a teacher, and no teacher dares -take that risk! I can tell about a girl who wanted to write a thesis on -“The Social Motive in American Literature.” Here was a real subject—but -the principal of the school forbade it. - -Also I can tell how, during the war, seven high schools took part in a -debate: “Resolved, that the nations of the world should adopt the -program of the League to Enforce Peace.” You can look back now and see -that it was our going into the war blindfolded, our utter failure to -know anything about the issues of the peace, that made the great tragedy -of Europe. Do not get this League to Enforce Peace confused with -pacifist organizations like the Peoples’ Council; this was a perfectly -respectable organization, with ex-President Taft as president! But Mr. -Jack Bean, a member of the school board, rushed to the “Times” with the -charge that the high schools of Los Angeles were carrying on propaganda -for immediate peace! The “Times” took it up, and for three days -published scare articles accusing two students, Lee Payne and Mildred -Ogden, of being pro-German. Young Payne assures me that their only -mention of Germany in the entire debate was to quote President Taft’s -statement that if the program of the League to Enforce Peace had been in -action in 1914, Germany would not have dared to begin the war. But the -solemn asses on the board passed a resolution, solemnly forbidding the -debating of peace; and the “Times” solemnly printed their resolution -under the caption: “Win the War!” - -How far the Black Hand is willing to go in this program of cutting out -the brains of the school children you may judge by the fact that in 1921 -Assemblyman Greene introduced, and the Better America Federation tried -to jam through the state legislature, an act providing for the expulsion -from the schools of “any teacher who shall disparage to a pupil in the -school where said teacher is employed, any provision of the Constitution -of the United States of America, or who shall orally make to such pupil -any argument or give to such pupil any written or printed argument in -favor of making any change in any provision of said Constitution.” And -this, you understand, in face of the fact that the Constitution itself -provides for its amendment, and has been quite legally and -constitutionally amended no less than nineteen times in our history! -Think of a school teacher being forbidden by law to discuss with a pupil -the desirability of an amendment prohibiting child labor! - -A still more curious incident occurs while I am finishing this book. -There is in Los Angeles an organization called the Young Workers’ -League, an educational society of the Communists; they held a debate on -the subject of Communism versus Capitalism, and not being able to get -anybody to defend capitalism, they appointed their own speakers, who -naturally didn’t do it very ardently. Three lads, one of them a high -school student, the other two just graduated, attended the meeting and -found themselves dissatisfied with this defense; they rose up and said -they could do better, and the result was the planning of a debate. The -Young Workers’ League hired a hall, and the three students spent a good -part of their summer vacation preparing for the contest. Two or three -days before it came off, the Young Workers’ League distributed -announcement cards in the high schools, erroneously referring to the -students as “three representatives of a high school debating society.” -Immediately thereafter the one high school student was informed by -Principal Dunn of the Polytechnic High School that he must not take part -in the affair. Mr. Dunn did not take this action on his own initiative, -he explained, but under instructions from Mrs. Dorsey, who had -investigated the matter. - -On the afternoon of the day set for the debate, the secretary of the -Young Workers’ League appealed to me. Being interested in the cause of -free speech, I went to see Mr. Robert Odell, attorney and president of -the school board. After hearing my account of the matter, Mr. Odell said -that the only objection he could think of was that the debate might not -be fair, the audience might be packed against the students. My answer -was that I would agree to act as chairman, and see that there was no -interruption of the speakers. Mr. Odell agreed to ask Mrs. Dorsey to see -me immediately. - -It was then four o’clock in the afternoon, and I called on the -superintendent, and listened while she explained to me at great length -that the schools could not under any circumstances permit students to -represent them in public debates unless the students had been selected -by the schools. In reply I assured Mrs. Dorsey that I agreed with her -absolutely; but if that was all the school authorities wanted, why not -require the high school student to state to the audience that he spoke -as an individual, and without authorization from his school? I offered -as chairman of the debate to make this announcement with the utmost -explicitness. - -I pointed out to Mrs. Dorsey the singular position in which her schools -would be placed by the preventing of this discussion. A large audience -would be sent from the hall convinced that the authorities were afraid -to let their students face the arguments of the Communists. The students -would have to meet Communists in political life, so why not let them -practice while in school? Mrs. Dorsey gave me her answer, and I -understood it to be that if I would make the announcement as promised, -the school authorities would not concern themselves with the debate in -any way. I then got the three students together and gave them this -information. They reported themselves as anxious to debate, and greatly -disappointed at the outcome; but they were not willing even to come upon -the platform without first having talked again with their school and -college superiors. They would not go into details; but evidently -something had been said to them which had taught them caution. Said one -of them, significantly: “You know, Mr. Sinclair, the schools can get -along without us very easily if they want to.” - -Then I tried to arrange for the affair to come off two weeks later, and -wrote to the school authorities. What happened between the authorities -and the students I do not know; one of the latter, in a letter to me, -apologized because he could not “go to the heart of it.” He added: “This -much I can tell you—that the determining factor in this case is the -Merchants’ and Manufacturers’ Association.” That the lads were wise in -keeping out of the debate was shown by the fact that I received from -Mrs. Dorsey a special delivery letter, repudiating the understanding of -the matter which I had got from her. Said Mrs. Dorsey: “You pressed for -assurance that the boys would not be punished by school authorities if -they took part in the debate. This assurance I declined to give, stating -again that the schools were not a party to the debate and must not, -therefore, be involved in any program of arrangements therewith.” So -there you have the lady! - -At the hour that I was chasing about Los Angeles, interviewing school -authorities and trying to save this debate, two enormous bruisers were -pummeling each other into insensibility at the Polo Grounds in New York -City. One was the champion bruiser of North America, and the other was -the champion bruiser of South America, and the two Americas held their -breath, awaiting the outcome. That was entirely respectable; that did -not threaten the capitalist system, so no one stopped the pummeling, and -no one stopped the school children of Los Angeles from reading the -newspaper bulletins about the great event. But here were three serious -students who were not interested in bruisers; three self-supporting boys -had put in all their spare time during vacation, preparing to defend the -faith of the schools; and the school superintendent of the Merchants’ -and Manufacturers’ Association steps in and frightens these boys into -silence, and disappoints an audience of a thousand working people who -have assembled for an intellectual treat. Such is “culture” under the -Black Hand! - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - THE TAMMANY TIGER - - -You shake your head and say: “I had no idea of such things; yes, -Southern California must be very bad indeed!” But I beg you not to fool -yourself in that way. Southern California is exactly the same as the -rest of industrial America. In the course of this book we shall visit -the Bay Cities of California, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley; also -Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, in the far Northwest. We -shall visit a number of cities scattered across the continent—Spokane, -Butte, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit; on -the Atlantic coast we shall visit New York, Boston, Worcester, -Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington. We shall have glimpses of many -towns, and of the rural schools in many states; also we shall not -overlook the private schools and the big “prep” schools, where our -youthful aristocracy is made ready for the gladiatorial combats and the -social intrigues of college. - -In all these regions we shall find the plutocracy in control of business -and politics; and we shall find the very same interests, and as a rule -the very same individuals, in control of the schools. Whether or not -they use the methods of the Black Hand depends purely and simply upon -one question—to what extent the subject classes are attempting to -protest. If the subject classes make no protest, there is no violence by -the master class. If the subject classes attempt to protest, then there -is whatever amount of violence is necessary to hold them down. - -I begin with New York City, because that is the headquarters of our -financial, and therefore of our intellectual life. It is from New York -that we are controlled, both in body and in mind, whether we have any -idea of it or not. As it happens, I know New York and its schools at -first hand, having spent my boyhood and youth in the city. - -The Black Hand of the metropolis is known as Tammany Hall; and under its -shadow I went to school, and also to college—a free, public college, -full of Tammany professors. In my home the father of the family was -drinking himself to death; it was Tammany saloon-keepers who sold him -the liquor, it was Tammany politicians and a Tammany police force which -guarded these saloons while they defied a dozen different laws. In that -city hundreds of thousands of children were wondering, just as I -wondered, why all powers of the state were used for their destruction, -instead of for their aid. With the dope-rings and the bootleggers -flourishing as they are today, there must be ten times as many children -asking this question; and with exceptions so few as to be hardly worth -mentioning, all the power of the schools and the colleges, as well as of -the pulpit and the press, is devoted to keeping these children from -finding out. They kept me from finding out until I had entirely come out -from under both the physical and the intellectual control of the Black -Hand of New York. - -Tammany Hall is an old-style pirate crew, wearing modern clothing and -operating systematically at looting the richest of all modern cities. -Its symbol is the Tiger. In the days of my boyhood people still -remembered Tammany as it was run by Tweed, who carried off a great part -of its cash and sold a great part of its belongings. In my day the chief -was a grown-up gangster and bruiser by the name of Richard Croker, who -stated to a committee of the state legislature, “I am working for my -pocket all the time.” His method was to make systematic collections from -the brothels and gambling-dives and saloons; also, of course, from the -contractors who wanted to charge half a dozen prices for the paving of -streets and the removing of the garbage, and other jobs for which a city -has to pay. - -Even in my day the Tammany chieftains, like other successful bandits, -were beginning to grope their way toward respectability. Every bandit in -America wishes to become respectable—the test of respectability being -that you get a hundred times as much loot. The financiers of Wall -Street—the banks and insurance companies and the New York Central -Railroad, which were organized as the Republican party and controlled -“upstate”—used to fight the Tammany machine year after year, and be -beaten, for the simple reason that Tammany controlled the polling places -in the East Side slums, and distributed free coal to the poor in winter -and free ice in summer, and therefore could count upon loyal “repeaters” -and ballot-box staffers at election time. During my youth, the -financiers, finding that they could not oust the Tiger, came to terms -with it; such men as Whitney and Ryan, the backers of Tammany, were -making so many tens of millions out of traction steals that they left -the police graft as small change to their political subordinates. - -I had an opportunity to observe this transformation at first-hand, for -the reason that part of the profits were at my disposal. A friend of my -boyhood was founder and president of a big financial concern, which -wanted to come into New York. He went to the chiefs of Tammany, and took -one of them for his New York manager, and distributed generous blocks of -stock to Croker and his henchmen. At once his concern became the -official house for that class of business, and the word went out that -every politician and every city employe must patronize it. I remember as -a lad sitting at luncheon with this friend, hearing him denounce the -evil-minded men who criticized our business leaders, the master minds of -our country; then presently the conversation changed, and this friend -told me how he had just obtained the nomination of one of his managers -as state treasurer, and how much he was paying to the campaign fund of -the Democratic party, expecting to get it back many times over in the -form of business with the state. - -Today the chiefs of Tammany Hall are great financiers, and the efforts -of the Republican party to win elections in New York City are largely -formal. How completely the two parties are one, you realize the instant -there is prospect of a Socialist candidate being elected. Immediately -the leaders of the two old parties get together and agree upon a ticket, -and their watchers at the polls unite to slug the “Reds” and stuff the -ballot boxes. Afterwards, when the Socialists collect evidence of these -crimes, the Democratic officials of the city and the Republican -officials of the state unite in doing nothing about it. And so the Black -Hand rules New York. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - GOD AND MAMMON - - -The education of a million children, and the control of twenty-five -thousand teachers in the metropolis, is entrusted to a school board of -seven people. The president of this board is a leading real estate -operator; the retired president, still a member of the board, is a -manufacturer of chemicals, who profiteered extensively during the World -War; the next member is a manufacturer of cigars; the next is a leading -real estate operator; the next is the private physician to the mayor of -the city; the next is a woman of wealth and leisure, who represents the -Tammany machine; the last is a lawyer. As always, you will note that -there is not one educator on the board. There are few who know anything -about education; but all know about business—especially those kinds of -business which are transacted with school boards. - -What are those kinds of business? To be able to pick the location of -handsome new schools is worth a fortune to real estate interests; and -that this is regularly done in New York is not my charge, but that of -the comptroller of the city. To be able to determine the placing of -contracts for school buildings and supplies is worth a fortune to any -member of a political machine; and I talked with a former clerk of the -school board, who told me he had seen so much graft that he had run away -from the sight. I do not mean that this Tammany school board personally -carries off the money, as it did in the days of Tweed; the method now is -“honest graft”—that is, the placing of school contracts with companies -in which your wife’s relatives and the members of your gang are -interested. The amount to be expended in New York amounts to a hundred -million dollars a year, and Tammany gets it all. At least four of the -members of the board are “dummies,” having no function save to vote as -the machine directs. All of them are Democrats, and the majority are -Catholics; that is to say, the educating of a million American children -is in the hands of people who teach that public education is a crime -against God. - -So it comes about that the principal indictment of this Tammany regime -is not the money it spends, but the money it withholds. New York is the -wealthiest city in the world; the masters of the city have money for -palatial town houses, for country estates many square miles in extent, -with homes as big as summer hotels; they have money for private yachts -as big as ocean liners, and for luxurious motor cars by the tens of -thousands; but they have no money to provide a decent education for the -children of the poor. While their own children go to elegant private -schools, the children of the poor are herded into dark, insanitary -fire-traps, some of them seventy-five years of age; and even of these -there is an insufficiency! Ever since my boyhood the refusal of New York -City to accommodate the children who clamor for an education has been -the blackest crime of the Tammany ruffians. At present one-third of the -children are on “part time”; that is, they are turned out of school -after two or three hours, to make room for another relay. The rest of -the day they pick up the vices of the streets; and if they are made into -young criminals, the city is ready and able to build whatever jails may -be necessary. - -Two years ago a committee of women representing a score of civic -organizations—the Women’s Municipal League, the Women’s Department of -the National Civic Federation, the Civitas Club of Brooklyn, the Women’s -City Club, the League of Catholic Women, etc.—made a careful study of -forty of the school buildings of New York City; they reported that -twenty out of these forty were fire-traps, old wooden buildings with -narrow stairways and no fire escapes. Sanitation was reported “bad” and -“wretched” in twenty-one of these schools, and “fair” in eleven more. -Twenty-one out of thirty-six were in need of repairs, twenty-seven had -only dark basement playgrounds, and so on. I quote a few phrases, just -to give you the flavor of these reports: - - Boys’ toilets terrible; no basins and towels.... Toilets old and in - bad condition; foul air unavoidable.... Plumbing too old to operate, - inadequate and unsanitary; few basins and no towels.... Garbage dump - nearby, inexcusable menace to health and comfort of the children.... - Twelve toilets for twelve hundred boys, old, bad conditions, bad odor. - No repairs in years, furniture and woodwork almost falling to - pieces.... Fearfully dilapidated; paint and repairs needed on walls; - stairs worn down to danger point.... Buildings so old as to be beyond - repair, should be abandoned.... Insufficient lighting and ventilation; - two rooms with only one window, eight rooms with only two windows.... - Fire escapes incomplete and badly constructed.... Wooden buildings, no - fire escapes reported. - -These reports were given wide publicity; the ladies waited six months, -over the summer vacation, and then came back to see what had been done. -Out of twenty-three buildings reported dangerous as to fire conditions, -twenty remained unchanged. Only two out of twenty-two schools had made -any improvement as to provisions for the comfort of the teachers. As -regards sanitation, fourteen had been improved, twenty-three had not -been changed; and so on. How much the public authorities were concerned -about such matters was shown by the experience of the Teachers’ Union, -which prepared for an exhibit of the Public Health Association a series -of posters and charts showing the physical condition of the schools. -“Over nine hundred thousand children suffer from lack of a good -ventilation system,” declared one of these posters. “No soap, no water, -no towels,” declared another; and so on. Privately the nurses of the -Health Department at this show all admitted that the posters represented -the truth; but for three days the man who was then commissioner of -health and the man who is now commissioner of health sought desperately -to compel the Teachers’ Union to remove these posters; failing in this, -the publicity agencies of the show cut out all the press notices of the -teachers’ exhibits. - -What this means to the teachers was set forth to me by the victims. One -was teaching a class of children on a dark stone staircase. Another was -teaching in a room on a level with the elevated railroad, with trains -coming and going on four tracks; she would have to stand in the middle -of the room and shout in order to be heard by all the pupils; and this -in a new school, just built! An inspector of some sort came along and -entered on his report, “room noisy”; the teacher was denied promotion, -for some reason which could not be explained, and it was over a year -before she could get the matter straightened out—the words “room noisy” -had been taken to mean that she did not maintain discipline! - -Another woman was teaching physical culture in a dark basement, with -water always on the floor. She had seven classes every day, with fifty -children in each class; and the gas lights were so feeble that she could -not see the children she was supposed to be teaching. She said to one -boy: “Stand with your feet together.” He answered: “There’s a puddle of -water under me.” And when the physical culture classes got through with -this hole, it became a play-ground for the other children! - -I am reluctant to introduce into this book any statements which may add -to the income of the Grand Imperial Kleagles of the Ku Klux Klan; -nevertheless, it is impossible to discuss school conditions in such -cities as New York, Boston, St. Louis and San Francisco without -mentioning the fact that we have in our country some ten or fifteen -million people, held by fear of eternal torment in subjection to a -priestly system, which repudiates democracy, repudiates freedom of -opinion and of teaching, repudiates everything we know as Americanism. -The Catholic church denies the power of the state over marriage and -divorce, and above all things else, it denies the right of the state to -educate the child. I am going to prove that in detail before I finish; -for the present I merely point out that in city after city we shall -encounter this influence. - -The Catholics, you see, have their system of parochial schools, in which -the children are taught the priestly view of life. The church is -enormously wealthy, and some of these schools are, as buildings, very -fine. Manifestly, the priestly admonition to the faithful, to send their -children to church schools, will be much more effective if the public -schools are old and filthy and insanitary; and more especially if they -are fire-traps! Tammany Hall is a semi-religious institution, maintained -by the votes of Irish and Italian and Polish Catholics. Practically the -entire list of public officials are Catholics—and this includes the -majority of the public school board and of the superintending force. So, -to the natural greed of the plutocracy is added the power of priestly -intrigue. Mr. Stewart Browne, president of the Real Estate Board of New -York, attends every hearing of the Board of Estimate, and of other -public bodies having anything to do with appropriations for the schools. -His one function is to prevent appropriations; and with the secret help -of the Catholic prelates, he succeeds. Thus we observe, in full -operation in our modern age, the ancient alliance between the secular -arm and the spiritual; we see God and Mammon united to rivet the chains -of wage-slavery upon the poor. - - - - - CHAPTER XV - HONEST GRAFT - - -On the top of my desk as I work is a five-foot shelf of big envelopes, -containing data on the school systems of various cities. I take one -envelope, and sort out its contents, marking the material with the -letters, G, F, P, and R. That is to say, Graft, Favoritism, Propaganda -and Repression—the four products of education by Big Business. Under the -letter F in New York City I find the grievances of scores of teachers -with whom I talked. Their story was all the same: the system is brutal, -the system is rigid, the system is honeycombed with politics and -dishonesty. - -It fell to my lot while in the city last year to take part in a public -debate with some of the school officials at the Civic Club. To my -statement that Tammany was running the schools, Examiner Smith rejoined -that all promotions in the system depended upon civil service -examinations—he knew, because he did the examining. But when he was -pinned down, he admitted that the twenty-six district superintendents, -the eight associate superintendents, and the thirty high school -principals were all excluded from the civil service list; and here, of -course, are the prizes for which everyone is striving. At that very -moment the schools were in an uproar because of the appointment to a -superintendent’s position of Mrs. Grace Forsythe, a Catholic lady who -had not even high school qualifications; also of Margaret McCooey, -sister of one of the Tammany bosses. Milo MacDonald, a Catholic, had -been appointed principal of a high school from the rank of ordinary -teacher; Henrietta Rodman told me of another teacher, a Catholic, who -took the examination for elementary principalship and failed, and was -appointed to a high school principalship. Other cases have happened -since. - -These are a few out of scores of cases that were detailed to me. I was -told of a Catholic who took an examination, and then was permitted to -withdraw his papers and write up a new set at home. It is a matter of -record that Mr. Somers, member of the board of education—a -super-patriot, who called the Teachers’ Union treasonable—let off a -clerk of the school board who had been proven guilty of misappropriating -funds; also another who was charged with letting people get copies of -examination papers in advance, and of selling information to candidates. -Both these people, Catholics, got off with a fine of a few days’ pay, -and both are still in the system. - -A form of “honest graft” which has been widely developed under this -Tammany regime is the writing of text-books by school officials. Many of -the text-books in use in the public schools of New York bear the names -of people in the system; in many cases they were written by teachers, -but officials have put their names upon them, and get the greater part -of the profits. The principals recommend these books for use, and the -board of superintendents adopts them. Former Superintendent Maxwell had -a large income from books published by the American Book Company which -he himself had not written; and a number of the district superintendents -get their share. The New York “Globe,” discussing the case of Maxwell, -showed how in his position he had the power to increase the sales of his -own books; and this same power is possessed by all the gang. I was told -of one head of a department with a book to sell, who got himself -transferred three times to different parts of the city—starting in the -High School of Commerce in Manhattan, from there to the Commercial High -School of Brooklyn, and then to Long Island—and in each place he took -with him his commercial arithmetic. The teachers did not want it, but in -every school the other texts were thrown out and the new one introduced. -All over New York—and all over America, as we shall find—there are -school basements and cupboards filled with discarded text-books, or new -text-books which are so bad that the teachers will not use them. - -Needless to say, many of the Tammany superintendents and principals are -ignorant men, utterly unfitted for scholastic duties. I look back on my -own days in the College of the City of New York, and recall the comical -old boys whom the Tammany machine appointed to teach me literature and -philosophy and Latin, and other high-brow subjects. Therefore, I was not -surprised to be told of a superintendent who talks about “algebray,” and -who says: “As I was a-saying,” etc. The French teachers find amusement -in the efforts of superintendents to pretend that they know French. I -talked with a charming lady of Spanish birth, who attempted to get by -one of these examiners, but he reported her French as “very bad”; she -“ran all her words together.” Anyone who has listened to a Frenchman -talk will appreciate the humor of this comment; one might say that the -first qualification for speaking good French is to run your words -together to the utmost possible extent. This lady went to see Professor -Cohn, head of the department of French of Columbia University, and one -of our leading French scholars. He reported that she spoke French “like -a native,” and took occasion to add that he knew the examiner in -question, and knew him to be ignorant of French. - -This lady got her appointment; but presently she discovered that the -head of her French department didn’t know any French; necessarily, her -pupils discovered it also; and that made her unpopular with her -superior. She was refused promotion upon the ground that she was “a -non-conformist.” She told me of her adventures in trying to get -something explicit from the examiners; she called several times upon -Examiner Smith, the same gentleman who debated with me at the Civic -Club. Mr. Smith was in a hurry to catch a train, and asked the lady to -tell him her story while he was washing his hands in a lavatory. She was -so fastidious as to think that was not quite a courteous examination! - -I talked with a young man, who had been for many years in the system, -and with whom they had not been able to find fault; his ratings had been -“double A” from the beginning of his career. But what chance had the -system to hold an energetic man, who saw all promotion depending upon -favoritism and graft, and saw himself condemned to a subordinate -position, taking orders from pompous ignoramuses? The desirable -positions in the system are few—the Board of Estimate sees to that!—and -the struggle for them is tense, and the way of promotion is the way of -intrigue. Here were people giving courses to teachers, instructing them -how to pass examinations for promotion—and then these same people -conducting the examinations! Here were examiners with agents out touting -for them! (You see, they teach what is called “salesmanship” in the New -York schools; and evidently, they practice what they teach!) My young -friend went out into the business world, and is making a good living. He -explained the difference this made in his life; when he met business -men, he was an equal among equals, but as a teacher he had had to -tremble before a board of examiners who could not have passed one of -their own examinations. - -“I do not know of a school system in the United States which is run for -the benefit of the pupils; they are all run for the benefit of the -gang”; thus District Superintendent Tildsley, debating with me before -the Civic Club. Dr. Tildsley added that by “the gang” he meant the -superintendents, the principals and the teachers. It was kind of him to -add the teachers, but some of them in the audience did not appreciate -his compliment. There is quite a group in the New York schools who are -really concerned for the children, and feel no sense of solidarity with -the bigoted autocracy which at present holds the power. - -“It is the duty of a teacher who knows of anything wrong in the school -system to complain to her superiors about it,” said the pious Dr. -Tildsley; and there came a chorus from all over the room: “Yes, and lose -her job!” Dr. Tildsley was pained by the suggestion that a teacher might -encounter trouble as result of just complaints, made at the proper time -and in the proper manner. As it happened, however, I had spent that -morning in the home of Mr. James F. Berry, a teacher of mathematics at -DeWitt Clinton High School, who had been for twenty-three years in the -system, and took seriously the idea that a teacher has responsibility -for teaching conditions. Mr. Berry made complaint against the grossest -kind of evils in the school—cruelty to pupils, dishonesty, and acts of -injustice by those in authority. As a result, his career in the system -was one long misery. He was denied promotion to which he was justly -entitled; and he put in my hands a little diary, in which he had kept -the record of two decades of struggle for his rights. I glance through -it and find entries such as this: - - Mr. Tildsley exemplified today his arbitrary and disagreeable way of - dealing with those under him, by making a perfectly groundless - accusation against me. It was easy to disprove, and then he virtually - apologized, though with no sign of regretting his accusation. I have - observed this practice of sweeping statements by him, and if they are - not promptly disproved one feels that he takes them for granted as - true and admitted, and such an impression does not make for good-will. - -I shall before long show you how at this same DeWitt Clinton High School -there has been established with official sanction an elaborate system of -espionage; a teacher drawing full salary devotes the greater part of his -time to training pupils to spy upon other teachers, and when these -pupils bring reports of unorthodox ideas and utterances, the pupils are -praised for a meritorious service. But in the case of Mr. Berry I find -that the disposition to report genuine evils is described by Dr. -Tildsley as “a tendency to tale-bearing which lessens efficiency!” - -Why Dr. Tildsley did not like the “tale-bearing” of Mr. Berry is easy to -understand. In 1914 Dr. Tildsley was principal of the DeWitt Clinton -High School, and when he was moved on to a higher position, two of his -favorite teachers in the school, who were in line for principalships, -and who have since been made principals, took five hundred and -twenty-five dollars out of the “general organization fund” of the -school—that is, money contributed by the students for student -activities—and used it to purchase a silver service which was presented -to Dr. Tildsley. The source of this money was kept a secret, but Mr. -Berry learned about it, and wrote to the president of the board of -education, pointing out that this was a clear violation of the law, as -well as a great injustice to the pupils, most of whom were poor and many -self-supporting. Had not one teacher been turned out of the system for -accepting a box of candy from her pupils? A scandal was threatened, but -it was hushed up, the newspapers co-operating by not publishing a line. -Dr. Tildsley returned the silver service, which was sold, I am informed, -to George Sylvester Viereck. For nine years Mr. Berry has been -persecuted because of this affair; while Dr. Tildsley was promoted to be -deputy boss of the gang! - -They have a method of punishing teachers which they learned from the -police department in New York. Every now and then some policeman takes -it upon himself to enforce a law which his superiors are using as a -means of extortion; they will shift this policeman to the Bronx, and a -month later they will send him to Brooklyn, and a month later to Staten -Island, and so on—the poor wretch spends the greater part of his life on -street cars, getting to his job and back. In the case of a teacher they -wait just long enough for her to get settled in a new home, and then -they move her again. It is something understood by all teachers that -anyone who opposes the principal will find herself “transferred,” or -lowered in ratings, or will have hard classes, or longer hours with no -more pay. Said one to me: “Any teacher who brings charges against a -principal is ruined. It matters nothing what the charges are: stealing -school funds, or beating the pupils, or offensive advances of a sexual -nature. All that happens is the principal denies the charges, and the -matter is dropped; a teacher’s testimony counts for no more than the -testimony of a Negro in the South.” - -New York is not an “open shop” city, and so the teachers have a union. -Its leaders suffer discrimination when it comes to promotion, but that -does not break the union down. As part of the campaign against it, the -authorities maintain a “yellow” union; that is, an organization which is -supposed to represent the teachers, but can be controlled by the gang. -The name of this is the “Teachers’ Council.” It purports to be a -representative body, but the teachers do not vote directly, they vote -for delegates from all organizations recognized by the board of -education; and the insiders will belong to as many as ten or a dozen -organizations, and will have a vote in each. The machine has its -henchmen in all the key positions, and the surest way to promotion in -the system lies in the rendering of this kind of Judas service. This -“Teachers’ Council” is accustomed to attack the reputations of union -teachers, and never give them opportunity to reply; the slander, -whatever it is, will be quoted in the “Times” as representing the -opinion of “twenty-five thousand organized teachers.” We are in New York -now, not in Los Angeles, but you note that we still have our “Times,” -and it is exactly the same kind of “Times”—it will publish any falsehood -about an independent man or woman, and will give the victim no chance to -answer. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI - A LETTER TO WOODROW WILSON - - -Needless to say, the first duty of this Tammany school board is to -enforce loyalty to the plutocracy; and, needless to say, this -constitutes “patriotism” and “religion.” Mr. Aaron Dotey, Chief Spy of -the DeWitt Clinton High School, brought in a report last year, charging -a school teacher with having said that “patriotism is a murderer’s -occupation and a traitor’s cloak.” It did not occur to Mr. Dotey that -this might not be the teacher’s fault. The Chief Spy should have -mentioned that a hundred and fifty years or so ago a leading Englishman -of letters, a prize old Tory, made the statement that “patriotism is the -last refuge of a scoundrel.” - -The hounding of the teachers by the scoundrels began at the very -outbreak of the war. First, there was the “mayor’s pledge,” which they -all were required to swear; this not being enough, there was another -pledge contrived by the board of education. All the teachers were loyal, -but not all of them were willing to swear away their right to think. -There were eighty-seven conscientious objectors to the “loyalty -pledges.” A number of these subsequently served in the army and made -distinguished records; but intention to enlist did not save them from -persecution at the outbreak of the war, nor did their war-records save -them from persecution after they came back. - -In the fall of 1917 there occurred an outbreak at the DeWitt Clinton -High School. Dr. Tildsley arbitrarily lengthened the school day, when -already the teachers and pupils were overworked. A deputation of pupils -waited upon the board of education, to protest against the proposed -measure, and were received by John Whalen, board member and prominent -Tammany chieftain, who settled the matter as follows: “I want it clearly -understood that neither the pupils nor the teachers will be allowed to -run the schools. And I want you to understand that if you pupils don’t -go back and behave yourselves I’ll close down all the schools. Do you -understand?” The pupils went back and reported, and there was the -beginning of a strike; also there was a meeting of the teachers of -DeWitt Clinton, attended by more than a hundred, who adopted the -following so-called “Whalen Resolution”: - - First:—That it is the sense of this meeting that John Whalen’s - assertion is contrary to the modern spirit of true democracy. - - Second:—That remarks of this type and threats to close the high - schools are detrimental to good discipline and good teaching. - - Third:—It is the sense of this meeting that the autocratic assertion - of John Whalen is subversive of the proper spirit underlying our - educational institutions. - - Fourth:—Be it finally resolved: - - That the best interests of school administration demand the cordial - recognition of the classroom teacher as a most vital influence in the - educational system. - -This, of course, was a direct challenge to the power of the gang; a -revolt which must be put down at all hazards. Superintendent Tildsley -came up to ascertain the names of the ring-leaders, and especially of -the one who had drafted those incendiary words. The spy department was -ready with the information; the criminal was Samuel Schmalhausen, a -Jewish Socialist, twenty-nine years of age. It was resolved to drive -Schmalhausen out of the system, and with him two other Socialist -teachers, Mufson and Schneer. The spy department undertook to get -something on these teachers without delay; and we are now going to hear -a little story, which shows in detail exactly how a school spy -department works. - -In a day or two word was brought to Dr. Paul, principal of the school, -that Mr. Schmalhausen had assigned to his pupils a theme for a -composition, as follows: “Write an open letter to Woodrow Wilson, -commenting frankly, within the limits of your knowledge, upon his -conduct of the war against the German government.” Almost certainly some -East Side Jewish boy would make that an occasion for disrespectful -expressions; so Dr. Paul sent the head of his English department, Miss -Garrigues, to Mr. Schmalhausen’s room. This lady rushed up in breathless -haste and caught the pupils in the act of turning in their themes; she -took possession of them, without giving Mr. Schmalhausen a chance to see -them, and delivered them to Dr. Paul, who went over them. Among -seventy-six themes he discovered one that justified his hopes—a bitter, -sneering letter, written by a seventeen-year-old Jewish boy. - -Dr. Paul, being skilled in intrigue, saw how this thesis would “go” in -the capitalist press; his venom bubbled over and he exclaimed: “Now I’ve -got him!” At least, Miss Garrigues on the witness stand testified that -he said that. Dr. Paul denied it with asperity, and when asked to -explain how Miss Garrigues could have thought she heard it, he described -her as “an emotionally energized lady on occasions.” Poor Miss -Garrigues—she was new to public life, and did not realize that the first -essential to success is to be a fluent and tactful liar. - -Dr. Tildsley came, and he also recognized the opportunity. He summoned -Schmalhausen, and first pinned him down to the fact that he had written -the “Whalen resolution”; then he set for this sensitive minded and -idealistic young teacher an extremely cunning trap. You understand, Mr. -Schmalhausen had not yet seen the criminal theme; and Dr. Tildsley did -not let him see it now. He read him the first page of it—the first page -being mild, and all the outrageous statements being found in the latter -pages! So Dr. Tildsley trapped Mr. Schmalhausen into saying that he -would merely make some minor corrections of expression in the theme; at -least, Dr. Tildsley testified that that is what the young teacher -said—Mr. Schmalhausen denied it. Later on Dr. Tildsley, consulting the -rest of the gang, realized that his case did not look quite right, so he -went back to the school, and read the entire composition to Mr. -Schmalhausen, asking what would have been his action as a teacher in -such a situation. Mr. Schmalhausen undertook to mark the theme as he -would have marked it in the due course of his class work. His comments, -written along the margin of the theme, were as follows: - - Exaggerated, excessive emotionalism.... _Is there any sanity in this - assertion?_... Do you take these remarks seriously?... For a - thoughtful student this statement sounds irrational.... Recall - President Wilson’s differentiation between the German Government and - the German people.... Not accurately presented.... Foolish attitude - historically.... Do you believe in its sincerity? (peace offer made by - Germany).... Sorry to find this unintelligent comment in your work.... - Why did you write this? - -Mr. Schmalhausen was suspended from his duties without pay, and in due -course was haled before a committee of the board of education. It is -interesting to note that the chairman of this committee was none other -than John Whalen, Tammany chieftain, who had started all the trouble by -threatening to close all the schools! I have before me the testimony at -the hearing, as published in pamphlet form by the Teachers’ Union. John -Dewey describes it as the most comic document of the age, so it will pay -us to read a few passages: first, the testimony of Miss Garrigues, as to -why she considered Mr. Schmalhausen’s theme “an unwise assignment.” Do -not fail to note from this passage the high standards of English -expression which prevail in the English department of New York’s biggest -high school: - - Q. May I ask why you considered it an unwise assignment? A. I think - the reason was that it was a little bit, in the nature of the wording, - inclined to lead boys who were either pacific, I think is the real - trouble, or were unpatriotic—this boy unquestionably was unpatriotic, - I think—to express themselves very freely, which I do not know whether - it is very wise for boys of that age to do. - -Also you will wish to hear Superintendent Tildsley upon this same grave -question. Dr. Tildsley was very sure that Schmalhausen had made a -mistake in assigning such a theme. He explained in detail why the boys -of the DeWitt Clinton High School were unfit persons to address -imaginary letters to Woodrow Wilson. He said: - - They are very much interested in the social life and the political - life of this city; they are exceedingly fond of discussion and they - have developed a rather high degree of critical ability and critical - tendency, and the only thing that they like more than anything else I - should say, is a discussion on social, political and economical - topics; they are more interested in that than they are in being good - or even than they are in athletics. - -That students should be more interested in “a discussion on social, -political and economical topics” than they are in athletics, would be -recognized by any superintendent of schools in America as a state of -affairs full of menace to our institutions, and under no circumstances -to be tolerated. Cross-questioned further, Dr. Tildsley stated that he -would not think it right to let boys in the DeWitt Clinton High School -write on the negative of this topic: “We seek no selfish ends in this -world.” He would not consider it proper to let them write on the -negative of the topic: “Conscription is justifiable under a democracy.” -He would not think it was proper to permit them to write an essay on the -subject: “Revenue by bond issue or taxation.” After Dr. Tildsley had -made these emphatic statements, the cross-questioner sprang on him the -painful tidings that all three of these themes had been in the -examination papers of the DeWitt Clinton High School of the previous -week—officially adopted with the approval of his friend and admirer, the -“emotionally energized” Miss Garrigues of the English department! - -Mr. Schmalhausen was on the stand for a couple of hours; and as you read -the testimony you recognize a man of culture and fine sensibility, a -teacher profoundly conscientious, with deep respect for the -personalities of his students. He told how he would have dealt with that -theme if it had come up in his class; he would have questioned the pupil -and showed him his ignorance, and tried to make him realize that his -ideas were wrong. Asked if he disagreed with the opinions expressed in -the theme, Mr. Schmalhausen replied: - - Oh, absolutely, from head to foot. The subject matter is offensive - from every point of view. Part of it is irrational. Part of it is - crude and violent, the whole thing is a wrong frame of mind, and in my - discussion with Dr. Tildsley, with which I took up a lot of time, I - tried to explain clearly what influences in that boy’s social and - economical and home environment were responsible for some of his - sentiments. So far as I was concerned there was no implication at all - at any time that I ever accepted the thought of that letter. - -Nevertheless, Mr. Schmalhausen was driven from the school system of New -York, and with him Mr. Mufson and Mr. Schneer. The offense of Mr. -Schneer was that he had given to some of his pupils a list of books, -with comments on their contents in the somewhat flowery style of a young -man who takes great literature with sudden and intense seriousness. -There were two hundred books listed, and a committee of the -Schoolmasters’ Association undertook to mark ten of them which were -especially offensive. One was Eltzbacher’s “Anarchism”—which turned out -upon investigation to be a work opposing Anarchism, written by a -non-Anarchist; poor Mr. Schneer had been trying to save his East Side -Jewish boys from the snares of the extremists! Another was Romain -Rolland’s “Jean Christophe,” one of the greatest novels and noblest -works of culture of our time. A third was listed as “Sinclair’s ‘The -Divine Fire.’” No one could guess why the committee should have objected -to this eminently respectable novel; it occurs to me that Mr. Schneer’s -failure to give the first names of his authors may have betrayed the -schoolmasters into thinking that he had endorsed a book by my wicked -self! I occasionally get letters intended for May Sinclair; so let me -state that the author of “The Divine Fire” lives in England, and is not -related to me, nor in any way to blame for my evil actions and -writings—except that she occasionally writes me letters approving them! - - - - - CHAPTER XVII - AN ARRANGEMENT OF LITTLE BITS - - -The expulsion of these three teachers was, of course, a personal triumph -for Mr. Aaron Dotey, Chief Spy of the DeWitt Clinton High School. The -activities of the “Dotey Squad,” as the spies and informers are termed, -were now extended to cover the entire system. The Chief Spy compiled a -card index, with detailed information about suspected teachers. I have -talked with some who have been privileged to inspect this catalogue, and -have seen on Mr. Dotey’s desk a dossier of clippings and reports a foot -high, relating to one group of rebel teachers in the system! - -Mr. Dotey’s training for this work had been thorough; first, he was a -sheriff; then, becoming a teacher, he was put in charge of the “corridor -squad,” which has to do with discipline. He struck one pupil in the jaw -and knocked him down for talking in line; he was accustomed to summon -unruly pupils to his room and administer the “third degree,” calling -them foul names, shouting and storming at them in a voice which could be -heard all over the building, and which became a scandal throughout the -system. One of the crimes of Mr. Schmalhausen was that he had proposed a -program of student self-government, thus eliminating Mr. Dotey. To -complete the picture of this furious old bigot, I mention that he was -“converted” by his Catholic wife, which fact now puts him in line for a -big promotion. - -The next teacher to fall a victim was Mr. Benjamin Glassberg, of the -Commercial High School of Brooklyn, who was notified that he was -suspended without pay. Mr. Glassberg’s hard luck was that a boy in his -class had asked him “whether or not Lenin and Trotsky were, in his -opinion, German agents or German spies.” I quote the exact words of Mr. -Glassberg’s answer, as sworn to by thirty-five boys in the class; eight -of these boys testified, and then the board got tired of hearing them, -and the testimony of the other twenty-seven was entered by -stipulation—that is, both sides agreed upon a statement of what the -twenty-seven would testify in substance. Mr. Glassberg’s reply was that: -“he did not think so, as Lenin and Trotsky had been busy circulating -propaganda literature against the war among the Germans, thereby -undermining their morale, and weakening their power in the war.” - -Here was another Socialist teacher whom it was desired to “get,” and -this was the chance to “get” him. There were forty-three boys in the -class, and more than thirty were Jewish. The principal summoned before -him, one at a time, two Jewish boys and ten Gentile boys, and questioned -them as to what had happened in the class, trying to get them to say the -worst possible things against Mr. Glassberg. A stenographer was present -and took down what the boys said; then, according to the testimony of -one of the boys, a most eager opponent of Mr. Glassberg, the principal -“made an arrangement of little bits” of what the boys had said, and made -it into a statement. The boys were summoned several times—for a period -of eight weeks this coaching and rehashing of the charges went on, and -meantime Mr. Glassberg was suspended without pay, and could not get the -copy of the charges to which he was legally entitled! It finally became -necessary for his lawyers to apply to the Supreme Court for a writ of -mandamus, compelling the service of the charges upon Mr. Glassberg! - -The statement, when finally prepared, was an obvious perversion of -everything which even the most hostile of the boys alleged. This was, -let remind you, a time when the principal news out of Soviet Russia was -“the nationalization of women”; and here was a teacher, questioned by -his students, and telling them the plain and obvious truth. Let me quote -a little more of the testimony—and please note that I am quoting from -the _stipulated_ testimony of thirty-five members of the class: - - Another boy in the class made a statement, though apparently rising to - ask a question, to the effect that it must be that Lenin and Trotsky’s - government was stronger with the people than the Kerensky government - for the reason that it held on longer than the Kerensky government, - and it could hardly be that the Bolsheviki were such thieves and - cut-throats as represented if their government lasted so long. This - boy’s statement Mr. Glassberg did not discuss at any length, because - it was made at the end of the period, but did indicate in what he said - that since the Lenin-Trotsky government had lasted longer than the - Kerensky regime, this indicated that it must have considerable - strength with the people. Another boy asked if information about the - Bolsheviki was being withheld and Mr. Glassberg said that he was - inclined to think so, and read certain questions which Senator Johnson - had read in the Senate some time previous asking information about - Russian conditions, and also referred to the fact that Colonel Robins - of the Red Cross had been requested upon his return to this country by - the State department, not to discuss the Russian situation, and also - referred to a speech made by Major Thatcher of the Red Cross at a - banquet in Boston at which he had defended the Bolsheviki from the - attacks made upon them by some previous speakers. - -Colonel Raymond Robins took the witness stand, and testified that upon -his return from Russia he had been requested by the State Department not -to discuss the Russian situation. Major Thatcher also took the stand, -and testified to the truth of what Mr. Glassberg had said about him. It -is interesting to note that the principal of the school informed some of -the boys who were to testify at the hearing that Major Thatcher, an army -officer of the highest standing, was “a criminal.” Also, a number of the -boys told how the principal had attempted to intimidate them before they -went upon the witness stand. To quote one case: “Do you know, boys, that -Mr. Glassberg was charged with conduct unbecoming a teacher; therefore -it means that you boys who are going to testify for Mr. Glassberg are -UN-AMERICAN.” The boy’s reply was: “Mr. Raynor, do you know that when we -are going to testify for Mr. Glassberg, we are going to tell what we -heard in our class, and no more. We are going to tell the truth.” - -Mr. Glassberg’s record as a teacher was produced before the board. His -ratings during his entire five years had been the highest possible, this -applying both to discipline and to teaching. Nevertheless, he was driven -from the schools; and soon afterwards went Benjamin Harrow, whose crime -was that he advised his students to read a magazine article by Thorstein -Veblen. Also, according to the official statement of Superintendent -Tildsley, “his favorite reading is said to be the ‘Nation,’ the ‘New -Republic’ and the ‘Dial.’ He occupied a front seat at each session of -the Glassberg trial, and seemed to approve sentiments expressed in favor -of the Bolshevists.” In this same official document is given an idea of -the cultural level of the district superintendent in charge of all the -high schools of New York City; says Dr. Tildsley: “Mr. Harrow -recommended his pupils to read an article in the ‘Dial’ of February 22, -1919, by Thornstein Veller!” Mr. Harrow did not wait to be tried before -John Whalen and the rest of the thugs. He handed in his resignation, -with a blistering letter to Dr. Tildsley, asserting: - - You are using the school as a medium for conducting a campaign of - propaganda in favor of the most reactionary tendencies of our day.... - In short, you have made the schools an unhappy place for any sensitive - American who refuses to accept your own individual conception of what - constitutes Americanism, who prefers rather to accept what the - founders of this republic conceived to be the true American ideals. - -Also, while dealing with teacher casualties, I must pay honor to Dr. -Arthur M. Wolfson, who was principal of the High School of Commerce, and -resigned as protest against this White Terror. Dr. Wolfson knew that he -was dealing with boys who came from Socialist homes, and he had -conceived it his duty as an educator to take a stand of neutrality in -the issues of the class struggle. He would teach his students the ideal -of freedom of discussion, and a hearing for both sides. For many years -he followed that program, and as a result there was in his school an -atmosphere of tolerance and fellowship unknown in other New York high -schools. - -But it had been the custom when election time came round for the history -and civics department to take a straw ballot for the presidency; and -this time the dreadful discovery was made that three hundred and -fifty-four out of the two thousand students had voted for Debs! It was -proposed to tell this news in the school weekly, but the superintendent -in charge ordered this paper suppressed, and rebuked Dr. Wolfson for -taking the straw vote. Dr. Wolfson pointed out that the “Literary -Digest” was doing the same thing. Also, if the students were for Debs, -would it do any good to suppress the fact? Would it not be best to face -the fact and deal with it? A little later Dr. Wolfson got his orders -about Russia; no longer was there to be free discussion; he was to teach -one view and only one view—that is, the official propaganda of the young -secretaries of our State Department who, with their aristocratic Russian -wives, were conducting a private war against the Russian people without -authorization from Congress. - -Later, Dr. Wolfson was ordered to enforce a rule forbidding the New York -“Call” to be carried in class-rooms or study-halls. So he wrote a -dignified letter to the board of superintendents, explaining: “Frankly, -during the last two or three years I have not felt free to follow the -intellectual habits of a lifetime.” Superintendent Ettinger came back -with a letter to the New York “Times,” declaring: - - I am very frank to confess that I dissent most heartily from the basic - thesis set up by Principal Wolfson that it is the function of our - schools to allow students and teachers to express their belief freely, - to meet argument with argument, and not either overtly or covertly to - suppress opinions which are held in honesty and in good faith. - -It is not often that the gang is so frank as that, so we owe thanks to -Superintendent Ettinger. Wishing to give him all the fame to which he is -entitled, I mention that to a reporter of the New York “Call” he -declared that he would bar H. G. Wells from the school forums of New -York for having said that Lenin was a great man! - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII - THE LUSKERS - - -This campaign to make the schools safe for the plutocracy culminated in -the passage of the so-called “Lusk laws” at Albany. Senator Lusk was a -Republican machine politician, who accepted 137 pieces of silverware, -worth a couple of thousand dollars, from New York police detectives, for -whom he had got a salary raise. This did not put the Senator out of -business, nor did it interfere with his laws, which disgraced the -statute books of the state for four years. One of the laws was for the -purpose of suppressing the Rand School of Social Science. They had -already attempted this by a raid on the school and they now attempted it -by a law requiring all schools to apply for a license. The Rand School -refused to apply, and a long-drawn-out and expensive legal conflict -followed.[C] - ------ - -Footnote C: - - In “The Goose-step” it is stated that when the “Luskers” raided the - Rand School they “threw the typewriters and the teachers down the - stairs.” I am informed that this is an error; the throwing in question - occurred at the office of the New York “Call,” the Russian People’s - House, and other places. I talked the other day with a magazine writer - who was present at the raid on the Russian People’s House, when a New - York police detective ordered an inoffensive elderly Russian teacher - to take off his eye-glasses, and then hit the man in the forehead with - the butt of his revolver and crushed his skull. The offense of this - elderly Russian was teaching algebra to other Russians. - ------ - -Another of the Lusk laws provided for the expulsion of any teacher who -“advocates a form of government other than the government of the United -States or of this state.” Please note that this law did not forbid -merely the advocacy of violent change, but also of peaceful change. -Interesting light was thrown on this during the debate at the Civic -Club, previously referred to in these chapters. Mr. Harry Weinberger -asked of Dr. Tildsley the question: “Did you ever, in your entire -experience in the school system, hear a teacher, either in school or out -of school, advocate the overthrow of the government by violence?” Dr. -Tildsley answered, “No.” The next question was: “Then what is the need -of the law?” Dr. Tildsley did not answer that; he could not very well -explain that the purpose of the law was to make it possible for -inquisitors, appointed by the state and by the school board, to summon -teachers without warning to a secret inquisition, to browbeat them and -try to trap them into dangerous admissions, then to give secretly to the -capitalist press false and garbled statements, to be spread broadcast -over the country, and then to refuse to the teachers any record of the -proceedings, or any protection against such outrages. - -The Teachers’ Union issued resolutions denouncing this legislation, and -the bigotry and dishonesty displayed in its enforcement. Abraham -Lefkowitz, an active member of the Union, was summoned before Dr. -Tildsley and Superintendent Ettinger, to be questioned as to his -authorship of these resolutions. Superintendent Ettinger had issued an -official syllabus on the war, setting forth to all school teachers what -they were to teach. It was a compendium of what we now know to be the -knaveries of Allied propaganda, and included endorsement of universal -military training. In the course of the questioning of Lefkowitz, Dr. -Tildsley and Dr. Ettinger got into a wrangle as to whether universal -military service and universal military training were the same thing. -All this was taken down by a stenographer, and subsequently Mr. -Lefkowitz demanded a copy of the record; when he got it, he found that -it had been doctored, omitting a great number of the “raw” statements -made by Ettinger, which the superintendent realized would not look well -in print. - -There was an open forum being conducted at the Commercial High School, -under the direction of the Rev. John Haynes Holmes. The authorities now -required that this open forum should submit a week in advance the names -of all proposed speakers. They barred Frank Tannenbaum, an East Side boy -who had gone to jail in 1913 as a result of a demonstration of the -unemployed, and who subsequently, as a student at Columbia University, -had made himself an authority on prison reform. They barred Lincoln -Steffens for the offense of having been President Wilson’s personal -investigator in Russia. Finally, some one asked Dr. Holmes a question -about Lenin, and he replied that he regarded Lenin as a great statesman. -For this they barred Dr. Holmes. Then came the Rev. Howard Melish, -prominent clergyman of Brooklyn, who praised Dr. Holmes and condemned -the board of education. After that the board issued a pledge, which must -be signed by all speakers. Among those who refused to sign it was Rabbi -Stephen S. Wise; and so the board closed the forum. As one of the -teachers said to me, “What they want people to lecture about is -Moonlight in Venice.” - -This kind of thing had been going on in the New York school system for -five years when I visited the city in the spring of 1922. At this time -the state commissioner of education, in pursuance of the Lusk laws, had -appointed an “advisory council” to investigate suspected teachers and -deny them licenses. One of the members of this council was Archibald -Stevenson, fanatical attorney for the Luskers. Another was Conde B. -Pallen, editor of the Catholic Encyclopedia, and snooper-in-chief for -the National Civic Federation. Another was Finley J. Shepard, husband of -Helen Gould; you may read about this gentleman’s activities on behalf of -the plutocracy in two chapters of “The Goose-step,” entitled “The Helen -Ghouls” and “The Shepard’s Crook.” Another member was Hugh Frayne, -Catholic labor leader, who has climbed to power upon the faces of the -deluded wage-workers of New York. - -The council was holding sessions at the Bar Association. I went up -there, hoping to attend and to tell you about it; but I could not even -learn in what room the sessions were being held. All I got to see was a -row of suspected teachers, humbly waiting their turn to be browbeaten. -And each morning I would read in the newspapers a relay of information, -supplied by the Chief Spy. One teacher had said that he “wouldn’t -believe atrocity stories unless they were given out by the government.” -Another teacher had said that “the Russians were happier now than they -had been under the Czar”; another that “Colonel Robins had not been -given a hearing”; another that “New York couldn’t be worse run if the -Germans were here”; another that “If we go to war I’ll run away and -spend a year in the North Woods.” Even school teachers sometimes joke, -you know, and I have already mentioned the fact that these teachers did -not run away. Mr. Garibaldi Lapolla served as an artillery officer in -France; and now he was one of those sitting on the bench, humbly waiting -his turn to be browbeaten! Chief Spy Dotey admitted that he had given -information against Mr. Lapolla to the Lusk committee! - -Also, the Chief Spy issued a report full of charges against teachers. -The Teachers’ Council, the “yellow union” maintained by the gang, -enthusiastically adopted this report, and called for the barring of -various persons from the school forums—the black-list including the -names of Jane Addams and Lillian Wald! The State Department of Education -addressed to principals of public schools a letter instructing them to -prepare reports as to the loyalty of every teacher in the system. The -principals were to list the names of teachers, and indicate those “for -whose morality and loyalty as a citizen” they could vouch, and those -“concerning whose morality or loyalty to the government of the United -States or to the state of New York” they had reason to doubt. Weirdly -enough, those about whom the principal knew nothing, were lumped in with -the latter group. Every teacher was guilty until he was proved innocent! - -And with these things going on every day—with school principals carrying -step-ladders and peering over transoms to discover what their teachers -were doing—Superintendent Tildsley had the nerve to stand up before an -audience at the Civic Club and say in my hearing that there was no -oppression of teachers for their opinions, and that no teacher in the -system had anything to lose by being a Socialist! As evidence of the -fact, he stated that he had a very good friend, a teacher of English in -one of the high schools, who was a member of the Socialist party, and -had even been a candidate for office on the Socialist ticket. This lady -had never suffered any handicap from her political opinions and -activities; Dr. Tildsley went on to say how he had been in her class not -long ago, and had heard her explain to her pupils the meaning of the -French Revolution, and he would not want the French Revolution explained -to his own children any more fairly and intelligently than this teacher -had done it. - -When my turn came to answer, I said: “Dr. Tildsley does not name the -teacher of English who has not suffered from being a Socialist. It -happens that I know who she is, because I had dinner at her home -yesterday evening, and she told me how Dr. Tildsley had come into her -room and had complimented her upon the way she had explained the French -Revolution to her students. New York is not the only city in which a -teacher is fortunate in belonging to one of the old families, and being -able to know the district superintendent as a social equal. But Jessie -Wallace Hughan is the last woman in New York who would wish to take -advantage of that social prestige. She is a woman with real convictions, -and I am sure she will not mind my repeating what she said to me only -yesterday evening—that since she has run for office on the Socialist -ticket some teacher friends have been in such a state of fear that they -are hardly willing to be seen speaking with her in public. And twelve -years ago, when Miss Hughan was a student at Columbia, she was told by -Professor Seligman, in charge of her work, that she could never have a -career as a teacher, because she had joined the Socialist party. All the -recommendations he gave her were for statistical and research work, -never for college work!”[D] - ------ - -Footnote D: - - Upon submitting proofs of the above to Miss Hughan, I received from - her a statement as to her present position. Because she modified the - pledge which she signed for the “Luskers,” reserving her rights to - freedom of conscience and political action, she was denied a - certificate of loyalty by this committee, and although the Lusk laws - are now repealed, Miss Hughan has for six years been denied the rank - and salary to which she is entitled under the school regulations. She - writes: “My present and past principals have urged my appointment. I - have letters from the officials responsible, making it clear that my - radical beliefs were the sole ground for my non-appointment during the - six years. They still refuse, however, to replace my name on the - eligible lists; and I am now fulfilling the duties of head of - department in the Textile High School, without enjoying the rank and - additional five hundred dollars salary that should belong to the - position.” - ------ - -I had something even more definite than that, in answer to Dr. -Tildsley’s statement that it does a teacher no harm to be known as a -Socialist. It happened that I had been in the New York Public Library, -collecting evidence from the files of the “Times,” and I had copied in -my note-book an account from that newspaper (April 27, 1919) of a -meeting of the Public Education Association addressed by Superintendent -Tildsley. According to his friends of the “Times,” this great authority -was reported as saying “that in his opinion there was no place for the -Marxian Socialist in the New York school system, that there were quite a -number of such Socialists in the system at present, that they should be -dismissed”—and so on, a long summary of the speech, the substance being -that such teachers should be excluded from the system in future. - -This citation made Dr. Tildsley uncomfortable for a few minutes, but it -did not do him any serious harm, for the simple reason that there were -only a couple of hundred people present at this debate, and the news of -his humiliation went no further. There were a number of reporters -present, and next day the “Tribune” quoted Dr. Tildsley’s remarks at -length (May 26, 1922), but did not mention the name of Upton Sinclair. -Several other newspapers reported the debate, but only one of them, the -“Herald,” mentioned my name. The “Herald” did it in the following -fashion: “Among the other speakers were ... Upton Sinclair.” A newspaper -man who was present told me that I might take this as a compliment; it -meant that the reporters and editors having to do with the matter had -read the “Brass Check”! - - - - - CHAPTER XIX - TO HENRIETTA RODMAN - - -In city after city I found school conditions like these, and in every -case I found a little group of men and women opposing them, facing every -handicap and humiliation. In two cities the soul and inspiration of this -protest was a woman: Margaret Haley in Chicago, and Henrietta Rodman in -New York. Henrietta took me in charge, and like Virgil with Dante, led -me through the seven hells. She would gather a flock of teachers, and -sit by while they told me their troubles in chorus. I counted upon -Henrietta to read and revise this manuscript; but last spring she died, -and all I can do is to tell about her, and pass on her brave and loving -spirit to the future. - -Henrietta Rodman came of an old New York family, dating back some two -hundred years. Her great-grandfather, Colonel Robert Blackwood, was a -member of the First Continental Congress, and would have signed the -Declaration of Independence if his death had not intervened. I think it -would not be an exaggeration to say that this fighting Colonial ancestor -kept Henrietta in the school system in New York. Many and many a time he -put on his ruffles and his cocked hat, and drew his rusty old sword and -stormed into the presence of boards of education and superintendents, or -into the columns of capitalist newspapers—to prove that his -great-grand-daughter was not a Bolshevik nor an alien enemy! Under the -shadow of his revolutionary banner Henrietta fought for true -Americanism, with the fangs of the Tammany tiger in her flesh. - -She was twenty-three years in the school system, yet she never lost her -courage, her idealism, or her sense of humor. She was always full of -energy, always pleading for the schools; to her pupils she was -warm-hearted and loving, interested in new ideas, eager for new -adventures. Her father had said to her: “Find the fundamental issue of -your day, and concentrate on that.” The great-grandfather had chosen the -issue of American independence; the father had chosen the issue of -chattel-slavery; and Henrietta chose the issue of wage-slavery. - -She had been teaching Latin at Wadleigh High School, and found that -ninety-four per cent of the pupils were being forced out because they -could not pass the examinations. She proceeded to teach them so that -they could pass; but it was against the rule to teach that way, and the -principal sent for her and scolded her. She persisted in passing her -pupils, and so the city superintendent sent for her; a teacher had no -right to criticize her superiors, he declared, and flew into a passion. -Suddenly a light leaped into Henrietta’s eyes, and the sword of the old -revolutionary colonel swished over the superintendent’s head. “If you -storm at me like a primitive man I’ll shriek like a primitive woman!” So -at once the superintendent calmed down! - -They wanted to give her some real trouble, so they put her in charge of -a hundred defective girls. At that time no one knew anything about -psychological tests, or what to do with mentally defective children in -the schools. Henrietta worked out a course of study by easily graded -stages, which the most feeble-minded of them could follow. The principal -of the school took this and published it as his own, and so stated -before the board of superintendents. Some of these pupils were homeless -and sick, and Henrietta got the class to adopt them; that was an -unprecedented thing, altogether against the rules, and Henrietta was -stormed at some more. They sent her to the Julia Richman High School, -one of those terrible old barns that was built apparently before the use -of paint was discovered. It was supposed to be one of the most -democratic schools in New York City. “But,” said Henrietta, “we can’t -call the teachers together, we can’t pass a motion, we can’t send a -statement to the press or make an application to the school board, -without first having the sanction of the school principal!” - -There came the George Eliot incident, whereby the spotlight of publicity -was turned upon this liberal teacher. She was teaching English, and some -girl asked if it was true that George Eliot had lived with a man to whom -she was not married. What was Henrietta to do? Should she tell the girl -to hush, that was a naughty question? Or should she lie? She explained -that George Henry Lewes had had an insane wife, and under the English -law could not get a divorce; so he and George Eliot had lived as husband -and wife, and had been so accepted by all their friends for the rest of -their lifetime. One of the children took this home to her father, and -the father took it to the priest, and the priest took it to the pulpit, -and the New York “Times” took it to the whole city. There was a terrible -uproar—it is so that reputations are made in the radical movement. We -have to do something queer or unusual, something supposed to be -shocking; and we must manage to be right while we are doing it! - -Next came the uproar over married teachers. The board passed a rule that -women teachers who got married should automatically lose their jobs; so -the women took to concealing their marriages. But now and then one could -no longer be concealed, and there would be a case of what Henrietta -called “mother-baiting.” The board of education caught one woman about -to become a mother, and Henrietta wrote a satirical letter to the -newspapers. For this she was suspended for eight months without pay. As -she said: “They fined me eighteen hundred dollars, and then they adopted -my idea. They have always adopted my ideas, and have always fined me for -making them adopt them.” - -Henrietta, like myself, supported the war. She was head of a “team” that -sold fifteen thousand dollars worth of Liberty bonds; but that did not -save her from being “investigated” by military intelligence agents. They -got hold of her pupils while she was away; the agents were suspicious, -because she had been teaching from Frederic C. Howe’s book, “European -Cities at Work.” They discovered that what she had been teaching from -the book was city planning. But it was an offense at that time to let -children know that the Germans planned their cities well! - -Henrietta was summoned by Superintendent Tildsley. She had been making a -disturbance because the spy department was having the pupils write -essays on Bolshevism as a means of finding out what the children were -being taught at home. Henrietta brought along a stenographer to take -down the interview—so little trust did she have in Dr. Tildsley; but -they would not let the stenographer take notes. They summoned her again -before the board. She had written a letter to the Brooklyn “Eagle,” and -the “Eagle” had not published it, but had turned it over to the board. -They had an assistant district attorney present to try to twist her -statements; they had no evidence, but they tried to get some out of her, -luring her into testifying against herself. They furnished a -stenographer for this meeting, and when she got the stenographer’s -transcript it had been “doctored.” In American political life today you -must realize that you are dealing, quite literally, with criminals in -office, and there is no limit to what they will do to you. - -At this time Henrietta was organizing the high school teachers, and the -principal forbade them to meet unless he was present; so it was that the -principals took to carrying step-ladders and peering over the transoms, -to see if the teachers were violating orders. Said Henrietta: “One might -think, if we are fit to teach the children in the schools, we are fit to -meet and discuss our own problems and ideas. But, no! Here are a million -children and twenty-five thousand teachers, and all the thinking for the -whole system is to be done by twenty-two men. If anybody else presumes -to think, that is impertinence.” - -She explained the situation to me; teachers as a rule are people of -quiet tastes, not good fighters, and the community knows nothing about -how they are treated. For example, during the war-time, New York City -agreed to cancel all its contracts for the purchase of school supplies, -because prices had gone up, and it would not be fair to make the -contractors fulfil the old contracts. But no one thought about the -contracts with the teachers, and what was fair to them. The teachers -suffered in silence, or retired to some other occupation, giving place -to less competent people. And who gave a thought to the children, who -were now to be taught by the incompetent? - -It happened once that Henrietta met Mrs. Tildsley at a reception, and -there was a discussion. “If you don’t like the way the schools are run, -why do you stay?” asked the superintendent’s wife; to which Henrietta -answered: “I stay because I am not willing to leave the children to Dr. -Tildsley.” To me she said: “I have enlisted as if for a war. I am -furiously patriotic; I believe in the future of America with all my -heart and soul, and I am going to make freedom a reality here. I am -going to stick to the death.” She did this. - -We were sitting on the little roof-garden of the Civic Club one spring -evening, and there were six or eight teachers in the group. I could not -see their faces in the darkness, but I could hear their eager voices, -their murmurs of assent to Henrietta’s statements. With a pencil and pad -I noted down in the dark one after another of her sentences: “Tight -mindedness and fear are the occupational diseases of teaching.... In the -business world there is no such thing as unquestioned obedience; that -belongs only in teaching.... There is more kowtowing in our schools than -anywhere else in the world.” - -She told me how she had been assigned to teach “Americanization” -classes. There was a class of union painters, foreigners who had asked -for help; naturally, they wanted a union teacher, and they chose -Henrietta. But the superintendent in charge said that she was a -dangerous radical, and they could not have her! Here was a school system -with twenty-two per cent of its children, more than two hundred -thousand, according to official statistics, coming to school suffering -from malnutrition. According to the director of physical training, more -than half the children who come to the high schools have physical -defects. And if you try to do anything whatever about these conditions, -if you have any sense of public responsibility for the poverty, the -exploitation and neglect of children—why then, you are a Bolshevik and a -social outcast! - -A young teacher spoke up, a girl who had just begun work. The principal -had given her mimeographed directions as to how to teach. There was a -book containing all the problems, and day by day she read from these -sheets; she was merely a phonograph. They would hold a stop-watch on her -pupils to see the number of words per minute they could read, and they -would rate her according to that. They figured what they called the -“pupil load” of a teacher. Every teacher had to carry a “pupil load” of -710; that was the minimum, and they never let you get below it. There -was supposed also to be a maximum, but they never minded driving you -above it; they would report the extra pupils as “visitors.” Another -teacher spoke up; she was teaching typewriting, and they had gone -through the books and cut out a sentence of Emerson’s attributing to -society some responsibility for criminals. That was radicalism! - -Henrietta is gone; but her soul lives, and likewise the teachers’ union -she helped to found. This book goes out as a call to the teachers and -friends of teachers, not merely in New York, but all over America, to -come to the aid of the children, to save the young and groping minds of -the new generation from the bigotry and squalid ignorance which afflicts -our adults. I quote you a letter written last year by a high school boy -of Brooklyn, and sent to me by a teacher in that school. The teacher -does not say how he answered this letter; read it and see if you would -know how to answer, if such a letter came to you: - - Brooklyn, N. Y., Aug. 31, 1922. - - Dear Mr. ——: - - I have never had the pleasure of being in one of your classes, but it - will not deter me from writing to you. Somehow I believe that you are - one who may be able to help us where I and my friend have pondered - many, many hours and still could not achieve solution. - - We are young—youths just upon the threshold of learning the way of our - feet in the world of men. And when the week’s work is done and we have - a day or two or three all to ourselves, what are we to do? - - Bear with me a moment. All about us yawns the pit of mediocrity. With - few exceptions, the men and women and the sweet boys and girls I meet - jade on me. It is appalling—their unlovely spirit—mediocrity. They are - without greatness, without camaraderie, never do much of anything that - is virile and stinging and resentful, nor ever feel the prod and urge - of life to will over its boundaries and be devilish and daring. I can - see through them and beyond them, and all there is to see is their - frailty, their meagerness, their sordidness and pitifulness. They are - miserable little egotisms, like all the other little humans, - fluttering their May-fly dance of an hour. As far as we are concerned - in the matter they can go hang. We laugh at the ridiculous effrontery - of their efforts to crystallize us in the particular mold of their - two-by-two, cut-and-dried, conventional world. - - Don’t you see? Beyond all of us and the spirit of us that is a-bubble - whispers Romance, Adventure. We have read the books and are aflame - with purple hints of a world beyond our world. When the week-ends roll - around, we want to do novel and stirring things, we want to realize - ourselves, to chance and boast and dare, to put laughter in our - throats, and quicken the throb of our blood. Heavens! We have - considered and counseled a myriad times, and the only conclusion we - reached was that we were as abysmally ignorant of life as we were or - thought we were profoundly wise. - - We have no morality in the matter. We will be grateful for anything, - providing it is provocative of the thrills and novelty we seek. And - please do not consider any such insipidity as taking a hike to the - country or a trip to Bear Mt. They are commonplaces, don’t you see? - For instance, a séance with a medium would have been a glorious - suggestion—or something more unusual. But this is only a sample of the - many possible things that would lend color and individuality to our - days. - - So we who are merely young, appeal to you, a little naively perhaps, - but with stern sincerity, in the hope that you who have passed through - our stage of evolution may sympathize with us and may be able to help - us in the way that we wish to be helped. - -To me this letter is like a flashlight thrown suddenly upon the minds of -the young people. Our whole problem of education is summed up in it; and -I ask again: Would you know what to answer. I, for my part, would tell -these lads to find one of the big strikes which are always going on, say -in the clothing trades of New York, and attempt to read the Constitution -and so come into contact with the realities of the class struggle. But, -of course, a teacher who gave that advice would cease to be a teacher. -Those who hold their jobs and get their promotions in the system are -those who follow the mimeographed formulas, and see that the pupils read -the required number of words per minute. The result is a newspaper item -from the New York “Times” of May 26, 1922; I quote the first paragraph: - - Two school girls were found yesterday afternoon, clasped in each - other’s arms, lying on the floor of a kitchen of an apartment in the - tenement house at 75 Van Alst Avenue, Long Island City. The room was - filled with gas and the discovery was made just in time to save them - from death by asphyxiation. The girls were Dora Boylan, 15 years old, - daughter of a widow who occupied the apartment, and who at the time - was at work in a factory near by, and Agnes Dougherty, also 15, of 28 - Hunterspoint Avenue, Long Island City. They had made up their minds to - die rather than go to school. - - - - - CHAPTER XX - MELODRAMA IN CHICAGO - - -Let us take next the school system of Chicago. Here is a city of three -million people, with representatives of most of the races and nations -and tribes of the world; a great port, a great railroad center, a meat -packing and manufacturing and banking center. The owners of these -industries contribute the necessary cash, and finance alternately two -rival political machines; candidates are chosen who are satisfactory to -the “invisible government,” and with the help of four or five great -capitalist newspapers the candidates are elected. The purpose for which -they are elected is to protect Big Business while it plunders the city; -incidentally, and on the side, the political officials plunder all they -can. - -The city being a strong union center, the school teachers are organized. -The grade teachers form the Chicago Teachers’ Federation, and the -business representative of this federation is Margaret Haley; one of -those terrible people known as a “walking delegate”—that is, she goes -about among the masters of the city, asserting rights for those who are -not supposed to have rights. She is hated and slandered, but continues -to clamor for the teachers. For a generation the school board and -politicians in chorus with the capitalist newspapers have insisted that -the teachers could not be paid a living wage, the city was too poor. -Nearly twenty-five years ago Margaret Haley took up the question of -tax-dodging by the great corporations, and I shall tell later on how she -made five of these corporations pay taxes on their franchise valuations. - -The business representative of the Chicago Teachers’ Federation lives -always in the midst of some tumultuous political issue. She was in the -midst of one when I arrived in Chicago, in May, 1922, the city being in -the throes of a school graft scandal. The attorney for the school board -had just been indicted by the grand jury, and the president of the board -and many other members were soon to be indicted. Millions had been -wasted—nobody could guess how much. At the same time the governor of the -state was being tried for appropriating thirty thousand dollars of the -state’s money; the jury acquitted him—and then some members of the jury -got jobs from the governor, and were tried in their turn. The day of my -arrival it was discovered that the chief clerk of the city jail had -stolen thirty-six hundred dollars of the money taken from the prisoners. -The Chicago “Tribune” published an editorial headed: “Is $10 Safe -Anywhere?” - -The answer to this question is No; and if you ask the reason, it is the -Chicago “Tribune.” Turn to page 270 of “The Brass Check,” and read the -story of how the “Tribune” robbed the school children of enormous sums. -This paper, and also the “Daily News,” have their buildings on school -land; and they got leases at absurdly low rentals, the leases extending -for ninety-nine years, with no provision for revaluation during the -entire period. In order to put this job over, the “Tribune” had got its -own attorney appointed on the school board! - -The affair created a tremendous scandal, and during the administration -of Mayor Dunne there were some school board members not under Big -Business control, and these attempted to have the leases declared -invalid; whereupon the “Tribune” and the “News” started a crusade of -slander against the school board and against Mayor Dunne, who appointed -the school board. The “Tribune” calls itself “The World’s Greatest -Newspaper,” and is undoubtedly the most powerful newspaper in the Middle -West. The “Daily News” is the most powerful evening paper; and the two -of them, according to William Marion Reedy, “rallied to their support -all the corrupt and vicious element of the Chicago slums, likewise the -forces that could be controlled by the street railways and other public -service corporations.” They elected a mayor who was their tool, and he, -in defiance of law, turned some school board members out of office, and -the courts upheld the leases! Here, you see, are two bands of -highwaymen, operating under the cloak of “patriotism” and “hundred per -cent Americanism,” and robbing the school children of Chicago of sums -beyond estimate. Every politician and office-holder in the city knows -that, and follows this high example; and so it comes about that $10 is -not safe anywhere in Chicago. - -The first place to which I went was Margaret Haley’s office. She gave me -a chair, and started to tell me the news, but the telephone rang; it -rang every few minutes during our chat, and I listened, and little by -little this scene became unreal—it wasn’t a business woman’s office in -Chicago, it was an act from one of those old-fashioned “muck-raking” -plays which used to be written by Charles Klein and George Broadhurst -and others, twenty years or so ago. You couldn’t produce such plays in -America today, you would be sent to jail for “suspicion of criminal -syndicalism.” In these plays the hero, an upright young politician, or -maybe a newspaper man, would be hunting a band of grafters, and tied up -in a tangle of plots and counter-plots. You would see him in his office, -with breathless messengers running in; or at the telephone in swift -conversations, giving orders and thwarting the moves of his enemies. - -I had my note-book and pencil ready, and it occurred to me that you -might be interested to hear two or three minutes of the conversation -which goes on in the office of the business representative of the -Chicago Teachers’ Federation, in these days of “normalcy” and “hundred -per cent Americanism” triumphant. So I wrote a little scene from a play, -a regular thrilling melodrama, with plots and counterplots, betrayals -and raids and sudden surprises, grafters getting away with their loot -and grand juries’ representatives bursting in upon them—all the stock -stage material. But alas, when I brought it to Margaret Haley to read, I -discovered that she had no idea she was dramatic, and didn’t like it; -also, the particular bit of melodrama to which I had been witness had -never been brought home to her, and her connection with it could not be -revealed without pointing to certain very precious sources of -information. And so my stage scene had to be “cut,” and you will have to -learn about Chicago school graft from plain narrative prose. - -The public schools of Chicago still have some land which the grafters -have not stolen. There is a tract of one square mile on the outskirts of -the city, and in 1921 a bill was introduced in the state legislature to -authorize the school board to sell it to the grafters. The Teachers’ -Federation protested, and received in reply a letter from Mr. Bither, -attorney for the school board, saying that the expenses of holding this -land for the schools were such that if the teachers insisted upon its -being held they must be prepared to have their salaries cut five hundred -thousand dollars! The business representative of the teachers -investigated and ascertained that the cost of holding this land was -literally and absolutely nothing; if any money had been paid it had been -paid illegally. So Mr. Bither’s proposition came to this: the teachers -must stand by and let the grafters rob the schools, or else the teachers -themselves would be robbed! - -Instead of bowing to this threat, the teachers appealed to the public; -they demonstrated that the figures presented to the mayor by Mr. Bither, -showing the money spent for running the schools and for teachers’ -salaries, had been juggled. Mr. Bither had overstated the amount paid -for teachers’ salaries by $868,000 and understated the amount paid for -administrative salaries by $314,000. When he had wanted a big -appropriation from the legislature, he had presented to this legislature -tables showing that the teachers’ salaries were very low; but when he -had wanted to keep the teachers from getting this money, he had -presented to the mayor tables showing that their salaries were higher. - -All this, of course, led the teachers to go thoroughly into the -expenditure of school funds. Reports began to come to the federation -from one source after another. The legislature had appropriated thirteen -million dollars, for the schools, and the school board was spending it -in a hurry, so that the business men would get it instead of the -teachers. School principals were called on the telephone and compelled -to order quantities of stuff—office furniture, chairs, desks, moving -pictures, telephones, pianos, rugs, phonographs. A pamphlet issued by -the Chicago Teachers’ Federation showed that the rate of increase of -appropriations for “incidentals” in 1921 was ten times the rate of -increase of the total appropriations for teachers’ salaries in 1921. - -Then came the news of strange goings on among the “engineers,” the -school custodians. It was charged that the vice-president of the school -board had got increases in salaries for the engineers and they had -generously paid to him the three months’ back pay included in the -measure. The engineers came to the Masonic Temple to pay this -money—between $75,000 and $125,000. Every man presented the exact -amount, and they checked him up carefully. And later on they had a -banquet, and presented with fulsome speeches a magnificent silver -service. An amusing feature of this story is that the chief of police of -Chicago furnished two “front-office men” to sit and guard the sums of -money which the engineers brought in. You have to take every precaution, -in a city where $10 is not safe anywhere! - - - - - CHAPTER XXI - CONTINUOUS PERFORMANCE - - -I went away from Chicago in May; and coming back in June, on my way -home, I discovered that this Chicago melodrama is a continuous -performance. A new act was on, and the business representative of the -Chicago Teachers’ Federation Was in the midst of another whirlwind. The -city was on the point of getting a new president of the school board, -and he was worse than the old one, if such a thing were possible. He was -a physician, Dr. John Dill Robertson, formerly head of the Bennett -Medical College, which had been exposed in the “Journal of the American -Medical Association,” February 7th, 1914. Margaret Haley had had the -article reproduced photographically, with its headlines: “High School -Credentials for Sale. Illustration of Irregular Methods by which -Commercially Conducted Medical Colleges Admit Students Contrary to Law.” -The article told how a student had applied to Dr. Robertson’s college, -presenting credits for a year and a half of high school work, and the -registrar of the college got him a certificate supposed to represent a -full four years’ high-school course. They got this signed by a county -school superintendent in Wisconsin, after the applicant had passed an -examination for which the registrar furnished him both the questions and -the answers! A copy of this article was mailed to every member of the -city council of Chicago—but Dr. Robertson was confirmed by this body -just the same! - -Meantime the graft revelations continued. I have before me a pamphlet by -Judge McKinley, chief justice of the criminal court of Cook County, -detailing the devices by which the fake purchasing companies made their -millions out of the schools. There are pages of details about such -concerns, their imaginary offices, their contracts for every kind of -material which could be used in a big city school system. There was a -deal for a hundred thousand tons of coal, without any competitive -bidding; another deal of $244,000 for “surplus Shipping Board -boilers”—these being boilers offered for sale by the Shipping Board and -purchased by a dummy concern, whose head was a former school board -member. This man, Fitzgerald, had “never had a bank account until this -sale took place”; and the boilers were bought on the recommendation of -Davis, the president of the school board, described as “a nice little -fellow who did what he was told.” Says Judge McKinley: - - There was “the phonograph deal” of the Hiawatha Company, headed by - State Commerce Commissioner P. H. Moynihan; “the six skinny cows” sent - to the parental school, as milk producers for the three hundred little - truants confined there; the stationery and school supply contracts - between the board and Davis’ nephews; the tearing out of expensive - plumbing in school buildings to “make work” for Metzger’s “steam - heating and ventilating company”; the sale of coal in certain - districts to the schools by certain firms who made contributions of 50 - cents a ton to board officials; the “sale” of buildings on school - property by Bither, the attorney for that board, and the “splitting” - of the rents collected from tenants who continued to live in them for - two years after they had sold them as additions to the Forrestville - and Wendell Phillips schools. - -You will wish to know the outcome of this particular act of the -continuous Chicago melodrama. William A. Bither, attorney for the school -board, and Edwin S. Davis, president of the board, were tried for -conspiracy and acquitted, together with thirteen others, including the -boss of the gang. Some witnesses had disappeared; others had “forgotten” -what they had sworn to before the grand jury; but most significant of -all, this clever board had taken the precaution not to pass rules -governing its own procedure—and the court instructed the jury that in -the absence of rules, the business manager’s rules held good! It was not -a crime for board members to sell to their own friends and relatives, -nor to sell to companies in which they, the board members, owned stock! -It was not a crime to buy supplies without bids! It was not a crime to -make bad bargains in purchasing! To have these things proven in court -cost the people of Chicago some two hundred thousand dollars—in addition -to the millions already wasted. - -Chicago got a new mayor, who, by political subtlety too intricate to -detail, got rid of the old school board, and of Dr. Robertson as -president. The last word of the great medical educator was a letter to -the new board, explaining the wonderful legacy he was leaving them, in -the form of a commission to study the school housing question; and so, -when I came back to Chicago in December, 1923, to read the proofs of -this book, I found yet another act of the melodrama on, and the business -representative of the Chicago Teachers’ Federation in the midst of -another whirlwind! This commission and its Big Business masters had set -out to foist upon the people of Chicago the wonderful new “platoon -system” of schools, as it is now working full blast in Detroit, the very -latest wrinkle in Ford factory standardization applied to the minds of -children. - -Needless to say, in a city where $10 is not safe anywhere, the schools -are hideously overcrowded. There is a new building program, amounting to -thirty million dollars, and this hurts the plutocracy even to think -about. So one day, after a school board session, the kept press of -Chicago exploded all over the front page with the news that the school -board had discussed a wonderful plan to save all that money, and put -half a million children on half time, and hire eleven thousand new -teachers, and get double service out of the schools by running them nine -hours a day, six days a week, twelve months a year on the “platoon -system” as it exists in Detroit. - -The first thing to be got clear about this newspaper story is that it -was a simultaneous lie. The school board had not considered any such -plan, either at its regular meeting or at any committee meeting. The -Chicago Teachers’ Federation keeps a court stenographer at every session -and has a complete transcript of every word that is spoken—this just -because of the newspapers’ habit of shameless lying. But for some reason -not easy to guess, the board members failed to make a formal repudiation -of this published false news; the papers went on day after day outlining -what the board was about to do; and so it was plain that some power -behind the scenes was setting out to force the hand of a new and -supposed-to-be-liberal school board. - -The Chicago teachers decided to find out for themselves about this new -Detroit system and how it is working. They sent a committee of nine -class-room teachers, who did not wait the convenience of -superintendents, but went right into class-rooms at the opening hour, -and spent several days wandering about in the great assembling plants -for goslings. They found Detroit teachers in secret revolt against the -new system—and incidentally much puzzled to learn that it was being -boosted in Chicago as a saver of money and building space. The members -of the school board in Detroit had been having rows, and calling one -another impolite names because of the costliness of the system; and as -for space, one Chicago teacher asked: “Why aren’t you using the platoon -system in this school?” The answer was: “We haven’t room enough!” - -If it is not money and not building space, what is it? To quote the -report of the Chicago teachers: “All special work is outlined, -standardized, and supervised from some central authority, so that -children derive no benefit from the originality and experience of the -individual teacher, or from her knowledge of their particular needs. The -teachers know the names of but few children in each group, because of -the large numbers with which they deal.” Again: “If fatigue and -inability to give attention are features of modern life, the children -are certainly experiencing life.” - -So it appears that this Detroit system is a contrivance to suppress -every trace of individuality in school teachers, and make every one of -them a phonograph, repeating formulas set before her in print; to -prescribe not merely her words but her states of mind, and the -“attitudes to be acquired” by her pupils. One teacher read me the -specifications, and said: “It’s enough to raise the hair on your head.” - -What is the “central authority” which now shapes the minds of all the -children of all the wage-slaves of our great metropolis of automobiles? -We shall inquire before long, and find that it is the same interlocking -directorate we know so well. And here is their master achievement; how -well they know it, how proud they are of it, you may learn from their -official statement, written by the man who has the job in charge—Mr. -Charles L. Spain, deputy superintendent of schools of Detroit. Says this -great educator: “During the war the public schools came to be recognized -as a powerful agency through which to spread propaganda. It is certain -that society will expect more from the schools in this respect than in -the past.” And he goes on to explain that the “platoon system” gets the -children all ready, and every child in the building can be reached every -day! When this new scheme has been set up in all our schools, big and -little—and it won’t take them but a few years—it will be possible for -Judge Gary or Mr. Morgan to press a button at nine o’clock in the -morning, and by twelve o’clock noon every child of our twenty-three -million will be ready to go out and kill the “Reds.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXII - THE INCORPORATE TAX-DODGING CREATURES - - -It is important to note that a great part of the opposition to graft and -propaganda and repression in the Chicago schools has come from classroom -teachers. That is the real significance of a struggle which has been -going on for many years, over the question of the teachers organizing -and being affiliated with labor unions. Eight years ago Big Business put -in as president of the school board a gentleman named Jacob Loeb, who -proceeded to enforce a resolution forbidding teachers to belong to -unions. Sixty-eight teachers were dismissed, of whom thirty-eight were -officers or active members of the Chicago Teachers’ Federation. So this -federation was forced to withdraw from affiliation with labor, and is -still withdrawn. - -Mr. Loeb was so satisfactory to the plutocracy that first a Democratic -and then a Republican administration appointed him. A Hebrew workers’ -union was induced to support Mr. Loeb’s candidacy by the statement that -the Catholic Federation was opposed to it; but at this time Roger -Sullivan, the Democratic Catholic boss, was secretly supporting the -reappointment of Loeb by Mayor Thompson, the Republican boss! Mayor -Thompson afterwards stated that Mr. Loeb cried in his office and begged -for the reappointment. Anyhow, the Chicago teachers fought the “Loeb -rule,” as it was called, and the unions backed them. So the Loeb rule -has fallen into disuse, and Chicago is one city in which the teachers -run their own affairs. - -But, of course, the teachers are powerless to clean out the school -system; it would be Bolshevism and Sovietism if they were to try. The -teachers are mere employes, and the principals and superintendents are -their “superiors”—this in spite of the fact that to be a grade teacher -in Chicago you have to have educational qualifications, while the -friends of politicians find it easy to pass the examinations for -principalships. - -In a city where $10 is not safe anywhere, most of the attention of the -teachers naturally has to be devoted to the getting of a living wage. -Throughout this book you will find stories of teachers in revolt over -this question, so let me say once for all that the rise in prices which -cut the salaries of teachers to less than half, was not confined to Los -Angeles and New York; it was a universal condition. The teachers in -Chicago showed that between 1897 and 1919, the increase in the cost of -living had been 349 per cent, so, in spite of the raises they had won, -their salaries had been cut squarely in half; they had lost a dollar a -day in buying power from their 1897 salaries! - -Yet the grafters were fertile in devices to keep the teachers from -getting more money. Years ago, under the regime of Superintendent -Cooley, they established a fake salary schedule; that is, they had one -schedule on paper and another which they actually paid. They would grant -increases, and then take them back; they would adopt schedules, and then -suspend their operation; they would require examinations for admission -to the higher salaries, and then pass but very few, and burn the papers -in a great hurry. An investigation by the Teachers’ Federation showed -that only sixty-two out of a possible twenty-six hundred were getting -the maximum salary! They called this scheme the “merit system,” and it -is still in use in many of our schools—the Department of Superintendence -of the National Education Association being a clearing-house for such -bright ideas. - -Understand, there was a thousand dollar maximum, and the teachers had -been trying for ten years to get it, in vain. And now somebody worked -out a new arrangement; they were to get a raise if they got five points -of credit in five outside courses of study. This was supposed to take -three years—and keep them waiting meantime! But Margaret Haley -discovered a loop-hole, an institute at which the teachers could take -five courses in one year. The board had intended to change that -regulation, but the teachers beat them to it; they rushed to the -institute and registered for five courses at once. The teachers regarded -this as a great lark; they swarmed into the place, and studied till late -every night. The authorities pretended to be out of application blanks; -but the Teachers’ Federation had some printed in a hurry! - -Sixteen hundred teachers thus got in, and this broke the back of -Superintendent Cooley’s scheme. He had assured the big business men of -the city that he could hold down the salaries, but now he had a pain in -the head and stayed in Europe; when he came back, he was made president -of D. C. Heath & Co., one of the big school-book publishers. After that, -the Commercial Club of Chicago made him its “educational commissioner,” -and for five years paid him a salary to study the training of -wage-slaves in Europe, so that he might come back and take charge of the -“continuation schools” of the city. Make note, please that this -gentleman was a past president of the National Education Association; we -shall meet these “great educators” one by one in their home districts, -and observe just what their greatness consists in. - -I have mentioned how Margaret Haley made the corporations pay their -school taxes. This happened in 1900—there was a shortage in the school -funds, and the board of education went so far as to take away from the -teachers money which had already been paid to them. The income of the -schools was supposed to be derived from taxes; and Margaret Haley -discovered that there were no assessments on franchise valuations being -levied against corporations in Chicago. They were not even filing -schedules, as under the law they were required to do. So the Chicago -Teachers’ Federation set to work to bring mandamus proceedings against -five public service corporations, and after three years of agitation and -legal controversy, these five corporations paid six hundred thousand -dollars in one year—of which nearly half went to the schools. Somebody -composed a poem on the subject: - -/* Mandamus proceedings were brought by the teachers Against the -incorporate, tax-dodging creatures; “No, no,” said the ladies, “you -cannot flim-flam us, We’ll keep up the fighting though every man damn -us.” */ - -After that the big highwaymen resolved to put Margaret Haley out of -business. The Chicago “Tribune” came out with a story that she had -applied for a four thousand dollar pension, and it was then discovered -that she had for seven years been collecting two salaries, one from the -board of education and the other from the teachers. The “Tribune” had -told so many lies about the teachers that it thought nothing mattered. -But Margaret Haley brought a libel suit, and proved that she had had no -salary from the board of education and that her salary as business -representative of the Teachers’ Federation was precisely the same as she -would have got as a school teacher. The jury brought in a verdict in -Miss Haley’s favor, and she collected five hundred dollars from the -“Tribune,” and presented it to the Labor party! - -By way of countering the Teachers’ Federation, the politicians of -Chicago have got up the usual fake organization. It is called the -“Teachers’ League,” and nobody can find out who belongs to it, or who -gives it the authority to speak for the teachers. But it speaks; and the -“Tribune” and other kept newspapers take up its voice and broadcast it. -This fake “League” is used for lobbying in the school board and the -state legislature, and more especially for the slandering of union -teachers. It appeals to every kind of ignorance and base prejudice; -charging that those who run the Teachers’ Federation are “Bolsheviks,” -and more terrible yet, that they are atheists! When the “Tribune” calls -you names like this you cannot punish it; Henry Ford found that out when -the “Tribune” called him an Anarchist! You know how much of an Anarchist -Henry Ford is, and so you can judge how much of a Bolshevik and atheist -the leaders of the Chicago Teachers’ Federation are! As I write this -book, a superintendent and two instructors at the Chicago Parental -School are suspended, as result of a coroner’s probe into the suicide of -a fifteen-year-old boy, who hanged himself to escape torture. And I -wonder, if I were to call the owners of the Chicago “Tribune” the -murderers of this boy, would anybody sue me for libel? - -It is time we gave some attention to the fate of the children, in this -city where $10 is not safe anywhere. Let me take you to one Chicago -high school as portrayed to me two years ago. This school gets up -entertainments, which take the boys out of the class-rooms; pupils -often fail in their classes, because they have been playing in an -opera “to make money for the school.” Money is collected at such -entertainments—and replaces scholarship as an aim. The school takes -part in industrial exhibits; the boys work to prepare these exhibits, -and prizes are collected, and the money goes into the general fund. -When the state stops giving cash prizes, the school at once stops -competing. The school publishes a paper; it is a wretched paper, of -poor literary quality; the “boosters” have charge of it, and it makes -money “for the fund.” A certain teacher in the school has become an -artist, and has painted a beautiful picture; it is proposed to -purchase this picture for the school, and some of the school funds are -to be used for the purpose. The teachers and pupils have been working -under heavy pressure to earn this money, but they are not permitted to -have anything to say concerning the purpose for which the money shall -be expended. - -The boys know of such conditions, and so do the teachers; the school is, -to use the phrase of one of them, “a hell of hate.” Poor and -foreign-born parents, coming to the school, are insulted and abused. -Teachers are scolded before their classes. The teachers take the matter -up in a faculty meeting, and the principal is interviewed by a committee -from the faculty, and hears a strenuous and detailed discussion of his -conduct. The teachers object among other things to having their -efficiency judged by their ability to sell tickets. The principal -promises to reform, but does not, and finally thirty teachers sign a -petition to the superintendent. Before delivering it, they have one more -conference with the principal, who admits his faults—and then sets out -to avenge himself, by demoting three of the teachers, and marking down -the rating of another from the highest to a very low grade. A woman -member of the committee is summoned to a “grilling”—in the course of -which she hears all the other members of the committee berated. A day or -two later there breaks out into all the newspapers of Chicago a scandal -story, and the principal gives an interview hinting that “there is one -example of radical teaching in the school.” - -It appears that the Association of Commerce had asked that on Armistice -day all the pupils should face the East, and silence should be -maintained for one minute while everybody thought about the dead in -France. But two students refused to face the East, and so the newspapers -called them “Bolsheviks.” It was intended to implicate this brave woman -teacher—although the two boys were not her pupils, nor even in her -department. The boys were hauled up before the authorities, and -questioned as to their “Bolshevism.” They admitted that they did not -believe in war. As to facing the East, that was a Mohammedan custom, and -one of them was a Jew, and neither a Mohammedan! - -I could tell you of another school in which the lunchroom, supposed to -be operated at cost, has been used for money-making. I could tell you of -cases of cruelty to pupils, and the abuse of parents. I could tell you -of one of Chicago’s few real educators, Principal McAndrew of the Hyde -Park High School, who was forced out because he refused to promote the -incompetent son of a school board official. - -I have in my possession a statement signed by two Chicago high school -boys, reciting how, at the instance of their principal, Mr. Lewis A. -Bloch of the Marshall High School, they agreed to work for the board of -education. They went to the office of the board at 460 South State -Street, and Mr. Bachrach, in whose office they were put to work, agreed -to pay them three dollars a week to cover their car fare and lunch. On -the afternoon of the last day of the week Mr. Bachrach informed them -that “suddenly and unexpectedly the Chicago Board of Education’s -treasury had gone dry, and that the three dollars compensation could not -be given us.” These boys ask me to withhold their names. Another boy -states: “I have since found that this has been done time and again, and -also with the same excuse at hand.” - -These Chicago schools are strenuous for the “Americanization” of the -foreigners—which means despising the foreign children and calling them -names. It meant in war-time the activities of spies—boys paid to report -what this teacher has said, and that. Also, it means the repression of -every kind of liberal activity. During the recent slaughter of the Jews -by the Poles, the Jewish people in Chicago were stirred up, and -organized a protest parade. Some Jewish children asked to be permitted -to attend this parade; they got up a petition, and their request was -denied. They argued that they had been allowed to attend all kinds of -bankers’ parades and Association of Commerce parades; why not an -anti-pogrom parade. The answer of their principal was that if they went -to the parade they would all be “fired.” Nevertheless, the Jewish -children went to the parade, and there were so many of them that they -were not “fired.” - -The schools of Chicago are a happy hunting ground for every form of -reactionary propaganda. The War Department supplies “dope” for the high -school papers, and it is published. The boys hate this military -training, but they take it; as one boy explained to his teacher, “I’ve -been bullied for two years; now it’s my turn to bully somebody else.” -Many years ago Chicago had a great superintendent of schools, Mrs. Ella -Flagg Young, and she tried to keep this curse of militarism away from -the children. She introduced in courses for every grade a little time to -be given to the teaching of peace; but the president of the school -board, attorney for the packers who came to board meetings drunk, cut it -out. - -The bankers come to set up their golden calf in the schools; also -the various commercial men who want to use the schools for -advertising—putting their “dope” into the writing books. For -example, the book-keeping classes copy pages of the transactions of -Marshall, Field & Co. A recent investigation in the technical -schools showed that employers were calling up for high school -students, and even specifying their church affiliations. Such -employers use the public schools to train their apprentices, and -then violate the constitutional rights of citizens. The Yellow -Taxi-cab Company sends to schools to ask if would-be drivers have -union relatives! - -The big Babbitts of the Association of Commerce, desiring flocks of -little Babbits, arranged for organizing in the schools what they called -“Junior Associations of Commerce.” The boys must be called out of class -to listen to lectures by Mr. Sam Insull, monarch of all the gas tanks he -surveyed, who made a tour of the schools to tell how he succeeded by -never looking at the clock. Another business man told the kids that -labor “slacked” during the war; and as many of these Chicago kids came -from union homes, they resented it. When the grown-up Association of -Commerce failed to support appropriations for the schools, the kids at -one school got on their dignity and withdrew. Then the Chicago -Federation of Labor had a bright thought—why should there not be a -Junior Federation of Labor in the schools? Why should not labor leaders -come to tell the kids how they succeeded by solidarity? A movement for -this program was started, and the name Junior Associations of Commerce -was changed in a hurry to Civic Industrial Clubs! How badly some labor -representation is needed in Chicago schools you may judge from a story -told me by a parent, whose little boy asked his teacher, “What is the -militia for?” The answer was, “To put down labor strikes.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII - THE SUPERINTENDENT OF TROMBONES - - -We have now examined the public schools of three of our largest cities. -We are going to visit a number of other cities, and it will be -convenient to begin with San Francisco and cross the continent eastward. - -San Francisco has a long and picturesque history of graft. Its Big -Business is in the hands of descendants of gamblers and hold-up men, who -have run its affairs in that spirit. Everything has been for sale, -including the leaders of the exploited working class. The old line union -leaders of San Francisco were, and to a great extent still are, agents -made use of by business men against their business rivals. Some twenty -years ago Eugene Schmitz, head of the musicians’ union, led the workers -into politics, and was triumphantly elected mayor of the city. Behind -the scenes as boss sat Abraham Ruef, a lawyer; and these two became -almost as important in the world of graft as the heads of traction, -water, gas, and electric light companies. - -In 1906 came the earthquake and fire, and in the resulting confusion -fortunes were made. Everything had a tax on it—the privilege of building -a street-car line or the privilege of building a chimney on your home. -Every form of vice was included—you may judge the moral tone of this -community by the fact that one of the most prominent men in San -Francisco “society,” a regent of the University of California, was shown -to have invested trust funds in a “French restaurant” building, intended -to be used for his own profit as a house of assignation; and after this -exposure the gentleman stayed on as regent of the university! - -One courageous newspaper editor, Fremont Older, and one public-spirited -rich man, Rudolph Spreckels, undertook the exposure and punishment of -these grafters. Francis J. Heney was put to work, and he made up his -mind that for the first time in American history the big insiders, and -not the little agents, were to pay the price. He went after Patrick -Calhoun, president of the street railways; and the result was the most -terrific civic convulsion in American history. Of course, all the -interlocking directorate rallied to Mr. Calhoun’s rescue; they were -equally guilty, and must stand or fall by their confederate. While -trying the case in court, Heney was shot in the head, but he recovered, -and the prosecution was continued; Mr. Calhoun was saved from the -penitentiary only by the purchase of the jury which was trying him. - -In spite of all the efforts of Older and Heney, the outcome was that to -which we are accustomed; the little fellows were punished. Abe Ruef was -sent to the penitentiary, while Schmitz was let off by the Appelate -Court. Fremont Older, realizing that Ruef was merely a tool of the real -criminals, became sorry for him and tried to obtain his pardon. Nothing -was ever said about Ruef’s returning the plunder he had collected, and -he is now living in retirement upon this. Ex-Mayor Schmitz has recently -been re-elected one of the supervisors of the city. But he has now -learned his lesson, and takes the orders of Herbert Fleishhacker, the -banker who now runs both the city and state administrations. If you have -read “The Goose-step,” you have made the acquaintance of Herbert -Fleishhacker’s brother, Mortimer, who is the grand duke of the board of -regents of our state university, and owns the “hell fleet of the -Pacific,” the fishing vessels whose horrors are a legend of the San -Francisco waterfront. It is interesting to note that Mortimer -Fleishhacker has just appointed a new president of his university, an -astronomer named Campbell, whose son is in the bond department of -Herbert’s bank; and the new president has shown his loyalty to his -masters by declaring in a public address that “higher education is a -privilege and not a right.” - -What has been the fate of the public schools of San Francisco you may -judge when I tell you that a trombone player in the Schmitz orchestra -was appointed superintendent of schools of the city, and held that high -position for eighteen years. Alfred Roncovieri was a union man, -representing what was supposed to be a union labor ticket; nevertheless, -the teachers of San Francisco were persecuted for belonging to the -American Federation of Teachers. They were ordered to withdraw, and some -two hundred out of two hundred and fifty did so. At the same time the -schools were open for the propaganda of the bankers and the militarists, -and the usual spy system was installed by the business interests. - -Mr. Roncovieri was an Italian Catholic, and the censorship of text-books -was turned over to his Church; books on history, economics, biology and -science had to be submitted to Father Wood of St. Ignatius College, who, -with the help of a Paulist priest, decided whether they were suitable -for the children of San Francisco. They rejected one book, “Builders of -Democracy,” but through a mistake ninety copies of it got into the -library of one of the high schools; the city had paid for them, but the -Catholic censors ordered them out, and out they went. - -Mr. Roncovieri conducted very pleasant “institutes” for the teachers, -and was profuse in flowery compliments, telling them that they were “the -finest teachers in the world.” (They had been appointed by the grafters, -and had tenure for life, and a majority of them were Catholics.) He -selected lists of speakers, and the Catholic brothers and fathers were -prominent thereon. He cultivated his reputation as “the best hand-shaker -in San Francisco”; also he saw to it that the incidental music at the -institutes was of the finest quality—as an expert trombone player, that -was in his line. How good care he took of the schools you may judge from -the fact that in one of the largest and most crowded high schools more -than one hundred windows were found to be broken and not repaired! - -San Francisco kept on growing, and the schools kept on falling to -pieces, and public agitation grew louder and louder. Various public -bodies took the matter up, and finally a survey was ordered, and a -committee was appointed by the United States Commissioner of Education. -This committee visited 106 schools, and made 1818 visits to classes. -They issued an exhaustive report of 649 pages, which you can get from -the United States Bureau of Education. They criticized the schools of -San Francisco very sternly, and called for a complete reorganization, -amendments to the charter, new departments, and other radical changes. - -Superintendent Roncovieri, needless to say, took offense at this report, -and before the Teachers’ Institute he delivered a violent attack upon -it. The report was defended by Mr. Addicott, of the Polytechnic High -School, and so resulted several years of controversy. Roncovieri’s -outpourings were featured in the San Francisco “Chronicle,” organ of -Mike de Young, whom Ambrose Bierce pictured hanging on all the gibbets -of the world. (See “The Brass Check.”) In the “Chronicle” of October 19, -1920, Superintendent Roncovieri described Mr. Addicott as “a clown,” “an -idiot,” and “a boob.” These highly educational statements were followed -by charges on the part of Mr. Gallagher, Catholic president of the board -of education, to the effect that there was gambling going on at -Polytechnic High School. Also it was charged that Mr. Addicott had -suspended some pupils—though nobody could explain how the principal of a -school was to keep the pupils from gambling if he were not allowed to -suspend any of them. It must be especially hard for a principal to keep -the pupils from gambling when the principal knows, and all the pupils -know, that the big business men of the city are doing little else. - -Not long after that Mr. Addicott committed two major offenses; he gave -to the grand jury information concerning the wasting of school funds by -the grafters, and he said something in public to the effect that the -president of the school board had appeared at a school gathering under -the influence of liquor. So Mr. Addicott, after a farcical trial before -the Catholic board, was turned out of the school system, and the -non-Catholic population of San Francisco proceeded to organize the -Public Schools Defense Association. The students of the Polytechnic High -School declared a strike, and there was a campaign carried on by means -of mass meetings and leaflets, which made the public acquainted with -facts which the newspapers had for years refused to print. What these -facts were is the next subject for our attention. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV - THE CITY OF FRENCH RESTAURANTS - - -Once more I am sorry to seem to play the game of the Grand Imperial -Kleagles; nevertheless, it must be stated that two forces have had -control of the San Francisco public schools for the past twenty years: -First, the big and little business grafters, and second, Archbishop -Hanna, who is pledged ex-officio to the undermining of the public school -system and the building up of the Catholic parochial schools. The -Catholic superintendent and the Catholic board had deliberately held -down the construction program of the public schools. The money intended -for these schools was stolen by the grafters, while building materials -were sold at bargain prices or stolen outright for the parochial -schools. The very furniture out of the public schools was taken—the -Catholic children were sitting on chairs taken from the public schools, -while the children in the public schools had to sit on soap-boxes. You -may find this incredible, but it is a matter of public record; it was -proven before the grand jury, and the documents are available for those -who care to consult them. - -Needless to say, not many take that trouble; the newspapers of San -Francisco follow the rule of the capitalist press throughout the United -States—attacks on Catholic institutions are barred. Public speakers were -forbidden to hold meetings and to lecture on this question, by order of -the chief of police. Colonel J. Arthur Petersen asked in the office of -the superintendent of schools for certain records concerning school -affairs, and Mr. Roncovieri threatened to shoot him. Later on, a mob set -upon Colonel Petersen and tried to murder him in broad daylight on the -streets of the city. - -The most curious story is that of the sale of school desks. By order of -the school director, Miss Jones, a Catholic, there were sold to the -parochial schools nearly three thousand school desks, at from fifteen to -fifty cents apiece. They were delivered by the city’s trucks to the -various parochial schools, and the Catholic fathers and sisters signed -receipts for them, and the city’s workmen, paid out of the city’s money, -installed the desks, and cleaned and varnished them, using the city’s -tools and materials. And three thousand children of the city were told -that there were no accommodations for them in the public schools, but -there was plenty of room in the church schools nearby! - -I send the manuscript of this chapter to my friend, Fremont Older, -editor of the San Francisco “Call,” and he writes me that he has never -heard of these incidents. I take this as a curious illustration of the -power of the Catholic church over public opinion. The facts concerning -the theft of school furniture, books and building materials constituted -the principal issue in the school election of 1921. I have before me -seven pamphlets of the Public Schools Defense Association, in which the -facts are given in minute detail; especially Bulletin No. 2, dated -October 10, 1921, and Bulletin No. 3, dated October 20, 1921. The facts -were also published and republished in a paper called the “Crusader,” -especially the issues of June, September, and October, 1921. Mr. H. H. -Somers was an active worker in the association, and he has sent me -transcripts of the sales of school desks, which he personally rechecked -from the records of the board of education. - -The president of this board came to the defense of the gang declaring -that the desks had been sold “to anyone who might want them.” But -practically nobody got them except the parochial schools, and nobody -knew anything about the sales but these same schools. The city charter -provides that all public property which is “usable” must be sold at -public auction, after being advertised for five days; a law which was -not once complied with over a period of five years. The president of the -board furthermore argued that the desks “were sold in small lots.” -Concerning that you may judge for yourself; I quote from the records: -Father W. H. O’Mahoney received two lots, a total of 235 desks, voucher -960, dated May 8, 1920, and voucher unnumbered, dated September 27, -1919. Father Peter C. Yorke received two lots a total of 200 desks, -vouchers 812, November 26, 1917, and 912, September 22, 1919. Father -Sullivan received 200 desks, voucher 610, September 8, 1916. Father -Doran received one lot of 375 desks, voucher 816, December 2, 1918. This -makes a total of 971 desks delivered in six lots. In addition to these, -more than 2,000 desks went in lots of from 20 to 60 per delivery. - -So great was the public excitement over these matters that on September -15, 1921, a crowd of five hundred women stormed the city hall. A Mrs. -McCarthy declared that children at the Portola and Buena Vista public -schools, from which desks had been sold, were having to sit on -soap-boxes; another woman declared that her own child was sitting on a -soap-box. The newspapers reported the incident, but briefly, and without -mentioning the dread word Catholic. The grand jury took up all the -charges, and conducted very thorough investigations.[E] - ------ - -Footnote E: - - So many people have expressed incredulity concerning these matters - that at the risk of repetition I quote one paragraph from the report - of the school committee of the grand jury, the chairman of which was - Mrs. Samuel Backus, wife of General Backus, former postmaster of San - Francisco: - - “Mr. Conkling, store-keeper, testified that School Director Miss - Sallie Jones condemned the furniture and sold the same to private - parties and schools, and the same were at once put into service. Miss - Sallie Jones testified that she had ordered the sale of old desks, - etc., and that the same were sold at private sale, and at the same - time the Department was buying new furniture for the schools, as she - would not put old desks or chairs in new schools built by bond money. - This is in strict contradiction of the Charter. First, the furniture - was not useless, and second, it was not sold at public auction. Most - of the sales were made at 25 and 50 cents per desk, and replaced by - new ones costing from six to ten dollars.” - ------ - -Nor was it desks alone. Thousands of sacks of cement, intended for the -public schools, were stolen from the board of public works, and other -material, wood, steel, etc., was likewise delivered to the parochial -schools. Because of the overcrowding in the public schools, the city had -built over five hundred temporary shacks, costing one or two thousand -dollars each; and it was estimated that more than half this amount had -gone into graft. A school official in the course of his duties sent a -cement man to estimate on cement repair work; the price asked was two -hundred dollars; the official told him to add fifty dollars, “And you -know what it is for.” On another job the man estimated two hundred and -fifty dollars; he was told to add fifty dollars for the official; then -he was told to add ninety dollars to this. A former storekeeper of the -schools received fifty reams of paper, and was asked to sign for one -hundred; because he refused to do this he was discharged from his -position. It was shown that the city had furnished its Catholic board -president an automobile costing over five thousand dollars. Other -members of the board had had homes built at the expense of the city; the -material was taken from the board of public works, the employes of this -board helped to construct the buildings, and the time was charged to -“school repairs.” - -Also this grand jury committee brought out the fact that the laws had -been repeatedly broken in the purchase of text-books for the San -Francisco schools. Books had been bought in large quantities in defiance -of state provisions, and at prices higher than those permitted. The -committee listed a total of 11,161 books which could not be used at all. -Among those who appeared before the grand jury was a Catholic member of -the school board, Miss Alice Rose Power, who admitted that she had -formerly owned five thousand shares of stock in a text-book company, and -had assigned half this stock to the head of the company and the other -half to her nephew. She still had a desk in the office of this company, -and at the same time, as a member of the school board, had authorized -purchases of text-books from this company. - -I was told by teachers in San Francisco that there were store-rooms full -of unused books, which had been purchased at much higher than the -authorized prices; scarcely a teacher who did not report basements and -cupboards in his or her school, piled up with books which could not be -used. One teacher told me how, when it was known that this book graft -was being looked into, great quantities of books were shipped to another -school, and others were given to the pupils to be carried home. I -recalled the stories I heard nearly twenty years ago, when I was -investigating the glass factories in South Jersey; the state child labor -inspector would telephone to a certain factory that he was about to make -an inspection, and all the child workers would be gathered up and hidden -away in the big passage through which the fresh air was driven to the -blast furnaces! - -Under the law, all these book companies could have been fined and made -to take back the books; also the bondsmen of the school board members -were liable for the amount of the graft. Some citizens hoped that this -money might be collected, but their hope was vain. The foreman of the -grand jury requested that while the investigation was under way, the -Public Schools Defense Association would hold no more public meetings -and give no more information to the press; the grand jury likewise gave -out nothing, and so gradually the excitement died down. Then, to the -dismay of the association, the grand jury adjourned without taking any -action; and the members of the association investigated, and discovered -that the foreman of the grand jury was a Catholic! - -The book graft is an ancient and honored one in San Francisco history. -If you visit the University of California you will be shown with pride -the magnificent Bancroft library of old Spanish manuscripts. You are -told that this is a memorial to H. H. Bancroft, the historian of -California; and you get the impression that Mr. Bancroft donated it. As -a matter of fact, he sold it to the state for a quarter of a million -dollars; also, he sold his books to the schools—his great store-house of -culture, the “History of California” by Hubert Henry Bancroft, three -volumes at five dollars per volume. It was published by the author, and -wide-awake young agents explained to school boards and superintendents -that the great work was not yet complete; there was a shrewdly worded -clause in the contract, whereby the purchaser agreed to take the -succeeding volumes of the series. - -The school authorities signed this contract by the thousands, and then -the Bancroft mills began to grind! “The History of California” extended -to thirty-three volumes, and then it was continued in the form of -histories of Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Central America, Alaska; -it was like the magic salt-mill which made the sea salty! These volumes -would appear every six months or so; they would be delivered at the -schools, and the innocent teachers would take them in and put them on -the shelves. Nothing was said about payment, and so nobody worried about -it; until finally, after the series was completed, the bills were -delivered—and there was weeping and gnashing of teeth among school -boards of California. Many refused to pay, but Bancroft sued, and got -judgments amounting to over a million dollars. I am told that there are -schools way up in the hills which have a shelf of Bancroft’s history as -their sole instrument of general culture. After that the Bancroft -concern was a power in the school-book business of the state; it got the -agencies for many of the big book concerns, and carried the school -superintendents in its pocket. - -Some time ago the people of California got tired of being robbed by book -companies, and put through a provision for the manufacture of elementary -school text-books by the state. All over the United States I found the -book men incensed concerning this California procedure. They would -present me with pocketfuls of literature, expensive pamphlets -demonstrating the futility and extravagance of the California text-book -program. I would listen politely, and accept the literature and ship it -home, where it still forms a pile upon my shelves; but I do not need to -go into it, because, having investigated the California situation, I -know how the political machine is occupied to sabotage the public -text-book scheme. The former state printer, Richardson, is now our -governor, put in office by the Black Hand to starve the schools and -build up the jails. - -To return to San Francisco: there was an election campaign over the -issue of reorganizing the school system, and this became of necessity an -anti-Catholic campaign. The Catholics fought vigorously—some three -hundred nuns were marched to the polls to cast their votes for the -Catholic program, and the archbishop formally granted them absolution -for the crime of taking part in politics! Nevertheless, the awakened -people of San Francisco had their way. Mr. Addicott was reinstated, and -Superintendent Roncovieri and President Gallagher of the school board -retired. - -San Francisco now has a new board of education. The president of this -board is a department-store proprietor and strong Chamber of Commerce -man, who admitted that he had completed his scanty education in a -parochial school. The grand duchess of the board is the mother-in-law of -Congressman Kahn, one of our most ardent militarists, and a close friend -of the archbishop’s. The rest of the board consists of the sister-in-law -of the mayor’s secretary; a prominent tobacco merchant; a prominent -lumber merchant; a labor official who is employed in a bank at a salary -of $150 a week, and who sends his children to the parochial schools; and -finally, Miss Alice Rose Power of the Catholic church. - -This board has imported a new superintendent from New Orleans, and I -find a long article in the “Sierra Educational News,” state organ of the -school machine, telling what a great educator he is. We shall see in due -course how greatness is manufactured by these school machines, and for -what purpose it is used. We shall see Superintendent Gwinn working with -the gang when they stole the National Education Association away from -the teachers; also we shall see him drawing up the “patriotism program” -under which the N. E. A. turned its conscience over to the keeping of -the American Legion. It is worth noting that he retains from the days of -the trombones his deputy superintendent, who at the last election was -caught taking eight hundred dollars from the Power Trust, for propaganda -among the teachers against the public ownership bill. - - - - - CHAPTER XXV - THE UNIVERSITY GANG - - -We cross San Francisco Bay to Berkeley, and here is a city of sixty -thousand people, cut in half by a broad avenue; on the one side live -well-to-do commuters, retired army and navy officers, capitalists, and -university students and professors; on the other side live shipyard and -railroad workers, and servants of the rich. The city, both the rich part -and the poor, is completely dominated by a medieval fortress on a hill, -which I have called the University of the Black Hand, and which is -officially known as the University of California. It has eleven thousand -students, a completely intrenched bureaucracy, and a board of regents -made up of the worst plutocratic elements in the state. Desiring to show -how much he cares for “The Goose-step,” the newly elected governor of -the Black Hand has just added to the board the greatest enemy of the -public welfare in California, Harry Chandler, publisher and owner of the -Los Angeles “Times.” - -In 1911 the workers of Berkeley took thought of their own interests, and -elected a Socialist clergyman as their mayor. This, of course, was -terrible to the plutocracy, and they waged incessant war upon the -Socialists, one of their principal agencies being the political science -department of their university. You understand that the purpose of -“political science” is to maintain the capitalist state; and what better -practice for the students than to hold down the working class of their -university town? - -The head of this department was David P. Barrows, whom I have called the -Dean of Imperialism: one of these military figures who make our cause -easy by caricaturing his own. I have told the story of his career in -“The Goose-step”—how he went to Siberia and directed President Wilson’s -private war on the Russian people, and then came home and clamored for -the shooting of all the Bolsheviks in America. On the strength of this -program the Black Hand made him president of the university; a position -he has just quit, because the Black Hand discovered that it needs, not -merely a man who is “strong,” but one who is not stupid. - -What do you do when you are Dean of Imperialism of a state university, -and are set to hold down the local populace? You build up a political -machine, precisely like Tammany Hall or any other machine. You pick a -university representative to become mayor of the town, and you pick -another university representative to run the school board. You have your -experts draw up the city charter and all the laws and ordinances, so as -to make it possible for you to have your way and for the people not to -have their way. You summon your fraternities and put them into politics -on the side of their fathers. You vote your students en masse in the -city, in spite of the fact that they are not legally entitled to vote -there. Your fraternity political leader gets five thousand dollars from -the Key Route (street railways), and when a student exposes this fact on -a public platform, you see this student mobbed and beaten. You collect -campaign funds from the public service corporations and big business -grafters in the usual political fashion, and pay them with the promise -that when there are strikes you will use the students of the university -to break the strikes; and whenever the occasion arises you carry out -this promise. You drive from your university every professor who dares -to lift his voice against the regime of the Black Hand. You kick out -unceremoniously a student who dares to publish a paper reciting the -facts about your activities. Such is “political science” in an American -state university; such are the lessons which the students of the Black -Hand learn in Berkeley, and go back to apply in their home cities and -towns. - -You might have the idea that at least a university administration would -do something in the way of improving the schools of its city; but if so, -you would be as naive as the people of Berkeley have been. The -university-controlled system of Berkeley turns out precisely the same -products as the New York system dominated by “Democratic” Tammany Hall, -and the Chicago system dominated by the Thompson “Republican” machine, -and the San Francisco system dominated by Banker Fleishhacker and -Archbishop Hanna; those products being G, F, P, and R—Graft, Favoritism, -Propaganda and Repression. - -In the year 1913, when the Socialists carried their second election and -got control of the schools, the school buildings were run down and -filthy, with no paint and with vile, unsanitary toilets. Large sums of -money had been voted, and nobody could find out where they went; the -accounts were purposely confused for the concealment of graft. The -school board was made up of political “dead beats” and grafters, -representing all the business interests, including prostitution and -booze. The teachers were browbeaten, the parents were insulted and -driven from the schools when they tried to find out what was going on. -The pupils were “fired” because of their own political activities, or -the activities of their parents in opposition to the gang. - -The Socialists came into power, and their first demand was for the -building up of the school system. They called a bond election, and the -interests defeated this; subsequently the bond issue was carried, and -there was a possibility of several hundred thousand dollars being spent -without consideration for the grafters. This, of course, would never do; -so the political science department of the university was called on, and -it drew up a plan, which the city council put through, to appoint a -special committee to handle this money; a “committee of citizens”—that -is to say, the business grafters of Berkeley, in sufficient number to -outvote the Socialists! - -Mrs. Elvina S. Beals was a Socialist member of this school board, and -also of the next school board, on which she constituted an unhappy -minority. She has told me the story of her experiences, and put the -documents into my hands. To become a Socialist school board member is -like stepping into a lion’s den; save that there is no wall against -which you can back up—the lions are on every side of you! There is -nothing you do or attempt to do for the schools in which you do not -encounter some business interest trying to make profit out of them. - -If you tried to obtain a fair price for a building site, you made mortal -enemies of some fellow board member, whose relatives were expecting to -retire with a life competence from this particular deal. If you insisted -upon enforcing the law requiring bids for school furnishings, you made -enemies of those board members who had “friends” among the wholesalers. -If you tried to have the board furnish stationery to the high school -students at cost, the merchants of your city came in a body to make a -protest to the board—you were ruining their business. The secretary of -the Chamber of Commerce made an eloquent speech, asking who it was that -paid the taxes to support the schools, if not the business men. If you -tried to establish school cafeterias, so that poor children could get -wholesome food at cost, you were ruining the restaurant keepers and the -bakers. All these people would combine and form a little local Black -Hand; they would start a scandal bureau and fill the kept press with -misrepresentations; they would start a “recall” campaign against you, -and pour out floods of slander upon you, and make you spend a small -fortune to defend yourself. - -And here is the most significant fact: at the very front of this -campaign of rascality and falsehood would be the university machine! -Here was a school board giving away old houses to real estate men -without bids; here was a coal man on the board giving furniture -contracts to a friend; and in every such issue the university vote would -be on the side of the grafters! The Socialists brought up the question -of fire insurance graft. It seemed that whenever the local insurance men -got hard up and needed cash, they went and insured a school; they had -even insured one building which didn’t exist! - -They had been charging as high as four dollars per hundred; but now the -Socialists demanded bids, and forced the local agents down to a -dollar-sixty per hundred, and in one case as low as sixty cents per -hundred. The representative of a Pennsylvania company made this bid, and -the law required that the city should take the lowest bid. Mrs. Beals -urged that the law be obeyed; against her on the board was an official -of the Federal Coal Company, whose president and secretary were at that -time in San Quentin penitentiary, charged with defrauding the government -by short-weight—and getting fifteen hundred dollars a month salary from -the company while in jail! Also a prominent politician, who frequently -came to board meetings with so much liquor in him that you could smell -it across the table. Also a local political woman and finally the -university professor. Here was a plain issue of whether or not the -school board should obey the law; and the university professor of the -Black Hand voted to disobey the law. After a whole day’s fight, Mrs. -Beals forced a reconsideration on this matter; the professor stuck by -the gang, but the woman and the coal dealer changed, and so the city of -Berkeley was saved five thousand dollars. - -Then came an old settler trying to sell some property to the board for -many times its value. There was mysterious pulling of wires, and it was -evident that the board was again going to disobey the law. So the -Socialists raked up a forgotten statute, to the effect that the board -could not buy land without the consent of the people. Under another -forgotten statute they called a town meeting, which was most -embarrassing to the grafters. The board dropped this proposition; also -they dropped Mrs. Beals from the sites committee of the board, and put -her on the supplies committee instead. Thus she saw another side of the -system; one of the agents who sold school supplies told her he was glad -there was now one school supplies committee in the state of California -which did not have its hands held out! - -The board, following the lead of President Barrows at the university, -had made a ruling that the superintendent might dismiss teachers on -recommendation from the principal, and without the right to see the -board. But Mrs. Beals made it her business to see every teacher who was -let out, and also to see those who were newly engaged. Iron fire-escapes -were desperately needed, and with the help of the fire-chief Mrs. Beals -got them. Also she got kindergartens in every primary school. Giving her -entire time for the munificent salary of fifteen dollars a month, she -had saved the city of Berkeley a hundred thousand dollars. But now came -war and glory; the board members were called upon to sign a resolution -to the effect that they would perform any service that Woodrow Wilson -might request; and when Mrs. Beals very wisely hesitated at this, the -Associated Press flashed her over the United States as disloyal. So the -gang came in waving the stars and stripes, and everything is now back -where it was. You will find this happening in city after city—America -has been made safe for capitalism. - -Berkeley now has as superintendent an amiable but feeble -lecturer-pedagogue, who told the California Teachers’ Association that -“the teachers and the public should get together in prayer-meeting”; he -went on to explain what he meant by the public, naming the Chamber of -Commerce, the Rotarians, the Kiwanis—and not a single labor body! The -overhead expenses of the schools have increased five times—but they have -put out all the Montessori work, because they cannot afford it! In -charge of the spending of the money is a board made up as follows: a -coal and wood dealer; a dry goods merchant of the Rotary Club and -Chamber of Commerce type; the wife of an attorney; a political woman -affiliated with the oil interests and the Barrows machine; and a -professor of the agricultural department of the university. How -aggressively the Black Hand is at work you may judge from the fact that -the children of Berkeley were required to answer a questionnaire, -disguised as a “social survey.” Among fifty questions were such as -these: “How does your father spend his spare time? What does he do -Sundays? What books does your mother read?” The child was assured that -all this would be “confidential”; but he was not permitted to take the -questions home to his parents! - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI - THE WARD LEADER - - -The trolley cars take us a few miles south to the city of Oakland, where -we find a still larger population of shipyard workers, longshoremen and -factory hands, having ideas of their own, and therefore having to be -taken in charge by the Black Hand. The situation in Oakland is of -especial importance, for the reason that the school superintendent of -the Black Hand in this city is one of the big chiefs of the National -Education Association. Fred M. Hunter was the 1921 president of the -Association, and at the convention where he was chosen the gang put -through a “reorganization,” whereby it was made forever certain that the -class-room teachers of America shall remain impotent in their own -organization, while their opinions are voiced for them and their money -is spent for them by the bosses of the educational Tammany Hall. - -I wish you to understand that when I speak of the N. E. A. as an -educational Tammany Hall, I am not slinging language, but giving a -precise description of a sociological phenomenon. The N. E. A. is run by -a political gang, and the bosses in it are exactly the same kind of -people, functioning in exactly the same way as the ward leaders of -Tammany. Fred M. Hunter is one of these ward leaders, and he uses the -schools of Oakland, in no sense for the benefit of the city or its -people, but solely for the building up of the N. E. A. machine, and of -his power in this machine. As you read the story, therefore, bear this -wider aspect of the matter in mind. The city of Oakland, with its -quarter of a million people, mostly workers, contributes the sum of -eighteen thousand dollars a day for the education of its children, and -this sum is used by a school politician to reward his friends and punish -his enemies. Incidentally, of course, this ward leader sees to it that -our education, both local and national, remains plutocratic; just as the -ward leaders of Tammany see to it that the “traction crowd” and the -other big exploiters are protected. - -The City of Oakland voted five million dollars for new schools, and Mr. -Hunter explained publicly his idea that the proper people to handle -these bonds were the business men; therefore he appointed a special -committee known as the “Bond Expenditure Committee.” This committee -proceeded to appoint a prominent politician as “land agent,” to handle -the buying of sites, at a salary of three hundred dollars a month. The -opposition members of the school board objected to this program, and -forced the resignation of the Bond Expenditure Committee; whereupon, Mr. -Hunter caused to be printed in the Oakland “Tribune,” kept newspaper of -the gang, an interview proclaiming to the citizens that the school -system was about to be disrupted. - -You will appreciate the humor of this when you are told that during the -previous year the schools had had to be closed for two weeks because of -the wasting of school money; but at the same time the board had -increased Mr. Hunter’s salary to ten thousand dollars per year! (It has -since been raised to eleven, and is about to be raised again.) When the -school board, in the effort to keep the schools open, tried to take -control of the business department from Mr. Hunter, he caused the big -business men of Oakland to come before the board and protest; and one of -these men stated that he didn’t think it was so bad for the city to lose -two weeks of school—a small matter of a hundred and eighty thousand -dollars—as it would be to “injure the prestige of so big a man as Mr. -Hunter!” - -Not merely must the money put up by the Oakland taxpayers be sacrificed -to Mr. Hunter’s “prestige,” but also the teaching in the Oakland schools -must be sacrificed to the same end. Mr. Hunter promotes teachers who -serve his political ambitions, and this without relation to their -ability. The convention at which the National Education Association was -“reorganized” was held in Salt Lake City in 1920; and Mr. Hunter’s -right-hand man in putting this through was J. Fred Anderson, president -of the Utah Educational Association. He delivered the votes of the Utah -teachers, and immediately was made principal of one of Oakland’s large -high schools, with salary and allowances amounting to $4,390 per year. - -Also there is Miss Elizabeth Arlett, who, while supposed to be teaching -the school children of Oakland, was touring the United States, shortly -before the convention, in the interest of Mr. Hunter’s candidacy for the -presidency of the N. E. A. Miss Arlett was promoted to be principal of a -high school in Oakland, and I am told that many teachers in Oakland have -heard her boast that she can have anything she wants in the Oakland -school system. - -On the other hand, there have been some teachers who have failed to -carry out Mr. Hunter’s will—just as there are some labor leaders who -will not sell out their union, but persist in representing the workers. -Mr. Hunter wished to put his own henchman in the position of president -of the Oakland Teachers’ Association. Here, please understand, were the -teachers of the city, supposed to be electing the head of their own -professional organization; but they were not permitted to cast their -ballot secretly, they had to vote in the presence of the principal, and -they got their orders for whom to vote. One young woman teacher failed -to vote according to orders, and she was so persecuted in her school -that she felt compelled to resign. - -You might think that would have ended the matter, but if so, you don’t -know the methods of the gang. This teacher applied for a position as -secretary to a corporation, and was promised the position, but when she -went to begin her work she was told by the manager that Mr. Hunter had -reported her as having been “disloyal”; consequently this corporation -could not employ her. And if you think that an unusual kind of thing, -let me mention that only yesterday I was talking with a school teacher -in Los Angeles, who told me about a friend of hers who had fought the -gang, and then had left Los Angeles to seek a position elsewhere; for -years afterwards she lost every position she held, because the gang -ferreted her out and wrote letters about her to her new school -employers. - -There has just been a new school election in Oakland. In preparation for -it, Mr. Hunter had got his henchmen in all the Babbitt societies of the -city—the Rotarians, the Kiwanis, the Lions, the Ad Clubs, the “High -Twelve,” the “Knights of the Round Table.” And a few days before the -election he took eight boys out of high school, without the permission -or knowledge of their parents, and set them to distributing election -cards in boats and trains. His ticket won; and so he now has everything -his own way. - -The old board had persisted in keeping in office a “chief of -construction” who was finishing the new school buildings. This man had -required the contractors to live up to the specifications, and had -thereby incurred the furious enmity of the grafters—and also, of course, -of Mr. Hunter. The grafting contractors put up large sums of money to -pay for the election of the new board, and the first action of Mr. -Hunter when the new board came in was to recommend the discharge and -force the resignation of the too honest chief of construction. In -resigning, this official filed specific charges of fraud against the -contractors, and Mr. Hunter’s school board majority utterly ignored the -communication. - -It was left to the Civic Club, an independent organization, to force an -investigation, which has shown substitution of inferior materials, -meaning tens of thousands of dollars stolen from the people of the city. -Some new buildings have been condemned as unsafe, and the work ordered -done over. And note, please, that Hunter is on the building committee, -and had full knowledge of what his gang was doing. The presidents of the -various women’s clubs of Oakland unite in a statement: “We are told of -fire hazards, faulty roof construction, and other grave dangers menacing -the lives of our children. And yet we are told that no crime has been -committed!” I entreat you to remember these things when, later on in -this book, you are reading about Hunter of Oakland, and his career of -glory at the annual conventions of the National Education Association. - -You will not need to be told that a Black Hand such as this rules firmly -the thinking of the people of Oakland. How they do it was narrated at a -meeting of the Better America Federation at the Oakland Hotel, where Mr. -Levenson, manager of the biggest department-store, stated that the -police under his direction had undertaken to crush street speaking, and -had crushed it. Also the school department under Fred M. Hunter was put -to work, and the Honorable Leslie M. Shaw, author of “Vanishing -Landmarks,” was brought to Oakland, and all the teachers in the school -system were compelled by official order to listen while he denounced the -referendum and woman’s suffrage. - -Then came Woodworth Clum, of the Better America Federation, to tell the -high school children that a proposition to amend the Constitution of the -United States is “akin to treason.” The Black Hand shipped up from Los -Angeles eleven thousand copies of Clum’s pamphlet, “America Is Calling,” -the substance being that America is calling her school children to mob -their fellow students with whose opinions they do not agree. The Black -Hand gave them a practical demonstration of this program by mobbing the -editor of the Oakland “Free Press,” who was too freely exposing graft. - -It was proposed to distribute Mr. Clum’s pamphlet to every pupil in the -high schools, but the Central Labor Council made a protest to the state -board of education, and the state superintendent, acting by vote of the -board, forbade the distribution. Here comes an interesting test of the -Black Hand. The thing they are in business to protect is “law and -order”; their one purpose in getting the school children into their -military classes is that the children may learn discipline and -subordination to authority. Now the state superintendent of education is -the superior of the Oakland superintendent, and under the law it was his -right and his duty to forbid the distribution of propaganda in the -schools. In issuing his order to Hunter, he was acting by vote of the -state board; and what did Hunter do about it? Why, he went ahead and -distributed the pamphlets, and the Better America Federation proclaimed -him a hero throughout the state! - -Every once in a while a hero like this arises: first Ole Hanson of -Seattle, then Cal Coolidge of Massachusetts, then President Atwood of -Clark University, who leaped into the limelight upon the face of Scott -Nearing. I invite you once more not to forget Fred M. Hunter, Oakland -superintendent of schools. There is a strong movement under way to -establish a new cabinet position, a secretary of education, and Hunter -has his eye on this goal, and is bending every effort toward it. How -beautifully he would fit in the cabinet of Cal Coolidge, strike-breaking -hero of Massachusetts! What a demonstration of national unity—from -Boston Bay to San Francisco Bay, one country, one flag, and one -goose-step! Black Hands across the continent! - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII - THE ROMEO AND JULIET STUNT - - -We move north to Portland, which is the harbor of the lumber country, a -relatively old city with an aristocracy of merchant princes, like -Baltimore or Boston. Ten years ago Oregon had a strong progressive -movement, it was the pioneer in direct legislation. Today the old guard -rules, and Portland is in the grip of a Black Hand which imports its -ideas direct from Los Angeles. Curiously enough, they had a strike of -the longshoremen and seamen, at the same time as Los Angeles; and here -also the I. W. W. attacked the very basis of American civic life by -closing up the boot-legging dives and dumping the liquor into the -gutters. The insurrection was put down by the same methods as in Los -Angeles—the throwing of hundreds of men into jail and holding them -incommunicado without warrant or charge. - -A number of Portland’s old and ineffably haughty families got their -wealth by stealing the school lands which the government had given to -the people of the state; now other families are on the way to becoming -haughty upon the basis of real estate manipulations of the school board, -and the sale of school supplies at double prices. The boss of the Oregon -political machine is Mr. A. L. Mills, president of the First National -Bank; for the past ten years he has kept a political agent to run the -state legislature. The machine sent down to Los Angeles for copies of -Woodworth’s Clum’s pamphlet, “America Is Calling,” for distribution in -Oregon; and from these dragon’s teeth resulted a whole crop of -legislative vermin—a bill requiring every school teacher to take an oath -of loyalty, a bill forbidding aliens to teach in the schools; a bill -barring any teacher who “either publicly or privately engages in -destructive or undermining criticism of our government”; a bill -requiring “the teaching of the Constitution in all public and private -schools”—meaning, of course, the teaching of the Constitution as a -bulwark of special privilege. - -As the directing staff of the public schools of Portland, Mr. Mills has -selected a group of educators about whom I have yet to hear anything -good. To call them uneducated educators would not tell you much; so come -with me and make the acquaintance of Mr. D. A. Grout, superintendent of -schools for a quarter of a million people. Mr. Grout is clammy and cold -in his personal dealings, but in literary composition and oratory he -expands and reveals himself. He takes a parental attitude towards his -teachers, gathering them in large assemblies to instruct and inspire -them. He composes verses, and has the teachers learn and recite these -verses before him. He tells them stories with moral lessons, and then -prints the stories in the official “School Bulletin.” One of these -stories had to do with the philosophy of an old Negro, who was -accustomed to say on all occasions: “Make the most of life today, ’caze -you don’t know what may come along tomorrow.” A group of teachers -declared to me that in telling the story Mr. Grout repeated this formula -eight times; but I suspect these teachers of inaccuracy—because, as Mr. -Grout publishes the story in the “School Bulletin,” September 6, 1919, -he repeats it only three times, and then varies it for another three -times as follows: “Make the most of life today, ’caze we _do know_ what -may come along tomorrow.” - -Two or three years ago Mr. Grout went East to attend a convention of the -National Education Association. His expenses were paid by the city; he -has done considerable traveling at the city’s expense—$4,995.08 in the -past three years. Superintendents do this traveling upon the theory that -they will meet other great educators and bring home new ideas and -inspirations. “We do get so tired,” said one of Mr. Grout’s flock, in -telling me about it. “We do so crave a little bit of enthusiasm, -something to make us think it’s worth while to go on with the old, dead -routine!” - -Portland’s great educator comes home from his six thousand mile trip, -and the twelve hundred teachers of the city are summoned to a general -assembly to receive the new ideas and inspiration. The proceedings are -opened with music; there is a supervisor of singing, who stands upon the -platform, with the bulk of the men teachers on the ground floor, and the -bulk of the women up in the gallery. The men are directed to sing: “Soft -o’er the fountain, ling’ring falls the Southern moon.” They do not sing -loud enough, and the music supervisor jumps up and shouts: “Sing until -you break the chandeliers.” After which it is the women’s turn; they -answer: “Nita! Juanita! Ask thy soul if we should part.” The men sing -another verse, and the women answer—the sarcastic young lady teachers -who told me about this performance described it as “the Romeo and Juliet -stunt.” Next they sing, “In the gloaming, oh, my darling”—in the same -“Romeo and Juliet” fashion. I have before me the “School Bulletin” for -two successive years, which provides the texts of these -chandelier-breaking melodies; also, “Just a song at twilight, When the -lights are low,” and “Maxwelton’s braes are bonnie, Where early fa’s the -dew.” - -Now Mr. Grout rises, and a hushed silence falls upon the twelve hundred -men and women teachers. The time for new ideas and inspirations has -come. Mr. Grout has brought a really new idea: poetry is to be taught to -the children, and he opens a normal school right there and then, to -teach the teachers how to teach it. His method is to repeat one line of -the poem, and then have the twelve hundred teachers recite this after -him; then he repeats another line of the poem, and the teachers recite -that; then he repeats the two lines together, and the teachers recite -the two; then he goes on to the next two lines, and so on, until all the -twelve hundred teachers are able to recite the entire poem correctly. -Such is the newest pedagogic discovery, for which the people of Portland -were paying a salary of six hundred and twenty-five dollars per month, -plus a car allowance of fifty dollars per month, plus a traveling -allowance of a hundred and thirty-eight dollars and sixty-one cents per -month. - -It depends upon the poem, you may say. So I give you the poem which Mr. -Grout thus taught to the twelve hundred assembled teachers of Portland. -Lest you find it incredible, I specify that when the teachers recited it -to me, I also found it incredible; I made two or three of them recite it -in turn, so as to make sure they really knew it. Later on, I made them -send me a copy of the “School Bulletin,” in which the poem was printed -for the benefit of any of the twelve hundred who might have forgotten -it. Here it is, word for word, and punctuation mark for punctuation -mark: - -/* “There was a crooked man Who walked a crooked mile; But I, when I go -walking, Don’t walk in crooked style. I keep my chin and stomach in And -hold my chest up higher, And step along so straight and strong, And -never, never tire.” */ - -You can imagine the silence which prevailed in the auditorium after this -course in poetry. Could it be that some faint uneasiness penetrated the -mind of the Portland superintendent of schools? Apparently it did, for -he now told the assembled twelve hundred teachers that he had a story to -teach them. There were some teachers who were dissatisfied with the -school system, and were accustomed more or less surreptitiously to -criticize it; for the benefit of such teachers Mr. Grout mentioned that -once upon a time he had owned a dog, and this dog had acquired the habit -of running out on the highway and barking at everybody and everything -that went by. Once a big automobile had come along, and the dog had -rushed out at that, and afterwards the dog had been buried at the foot -of a big tree, and had made excellent fertilizer for the tree. The fate -of this dog was one for all teachers to bear in mind and apply the moral -in their lives. After which the twelve hundred teachers joined in -singing: “Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze -on so fondly today”; and the assembly was adjourned. - -I was solemnly assured by five teachers at once, that at the assembly of -the following year Mr. Grout started out to ascertain if the teachers -still remembered the poem which he had taught them; but one of the board -members seated on the platform burst out laughing, and brought the -poetical proceedings to an end. The board member thought it was funny, -and maybe you think it is funny; but I don’t. I think it one more proof -of the deliberate conspiracy which the masters of our plutocratic empire -have hatched, to keep the American people at the mental age of eight. -The schools are now conducted upon the basis of keeping the pupils at -that age; and of course the safest way to do this is to keep the -teachers at the same age, and likewise the principals, and the -supervisors—and the superintendents. - -But it may be that I do an injustice to the mentality of Portland’s -high-priced educators; it may be that they are not so naive as they -appear, and really know what they are doing to earn their keep. The -teachers have a pension fund, to which all have to belong. The amount of -the fund is over three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and some -school officials are ex officio members of the board of directors of -this fund. The board loaned the sum of sixty-five hundred dollars to a -firm of lawyers, and there was a rumor that one school official had got -the use of this money. One of the teachers came upon a newspaper -clipping, telling how an official in the Philippines had been sent to -jail for taking money from a fund of whose board he was a member. This -clipping was mailed anonymously to the school official; and immediately -afterwards the firm of lawyers began to pay up that sixty-five hundred -dollars! At one time it was reported that the fund was on the rocks, and -the teachers were going to lose all their money. May be it really was in -danger; and again, may be somebody wanted to throw it into the hands of -a receiver, so that the politicians could get it. Big Business of course -wants the teachers to take out insurance with private companies; to this -end the Portland “Oregonian,” organ of the Black Hand, cited seventeen -cases of the bankruptcy of teachers’ pension funds! - -One incident from the administration of the previous superintendent, -just to show you what happens to school teachers in the days of -“progressive” politics. The teachers’ organizations worked out plans for -certain changes in the school system, which changes were calculated to -cause inconvenience to the superintendent. The teachers went out on the -streets, they went to the restaurants at night, and to the market -places, and got the necessary thirty thousand signatures to petitions. -(This is the thing called “direct legislation,” you understand; this is -what the Honorable Leslie M. Shaw, and the Dishonorable Harry Atwood and -Woodworth Clum describe as “Treason to the Republic.”) The teachers -gathered in the superintendent’s office with their signatures; they took -them to the office of a lawyer who was a friend of the superintendent, -and locked them in his safe. After supper they found that the door of -the building had been unlocked, the office door had been unlocked, the -safe had been unlocked, and the petitions were gone! The politicians had -made off with the thirty thousand signatures, and no more was heard of -that treasonable referendum! - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII - THE INVENTOR OF FIVE SCIENCES - - -The school situation in Portland assumes to some extent the aspect of a -sex-war; the women teachers do the work and the men bosses get the -salaries. After a long campaign the taxpayers voted money to raise the -teachers’ salaries, but some of the teachers got no increase, and others -got only fifty dollars a year, and others a hundred dollars a year, -while the principals got four hundred dollars! Even when the teachers -got the “increase,” they didn’t always get the money. Some of them told -me their misadventures, trying to get this money; but when I wrote out -the stories, they got scared—somebody might recognize them! So you don’t -get the stories, any more than the teachers got the salaries! - -I am free to mention, however, that teachers’ salaries are delayed for -one week, and in the meantime the money lies in somebody’s bank. That -may seem a small matter, until you figure that the interest on two -million dollars for one week amounts to three thousand dollars a year—a -sum worth anybody’s taking! - -The women teachers complain also of male parasites, who do little work, -but draw high salaries. Many of the supervisors draw an extra salary -from the state university, and seldom come to the schools; the teachers -until recently had to go to them and pay to be taught. There is a -drawing supervisor drawing pay in the state university; there is another -supervisor who is paid twenty-nine hundred dollars a year, who also -teaches in the state university, and whom you may see smoking every -afternoon in a hotel lobby. Teachers assure me that he has not visited -some schools in three years. - -There is the usual graft in the purchase of supplies, and the usual -inability of the teachers to get supplies. When they make public -complaint about this, they read items in the “Oregonian” to the effect -that the reason there is no money for school supplies is that it all -goes for teachers’ salaries. Hardly ever is the problem of school funds -discussed, that this little sneer does not emerge. Some teachers became -indignant, and started to investigate the expenditure of school money; -the principal of their school became interested, and took the -investigation off their hands, and discovered so much that he was made -an assistant superintendent to keep him quiet; three other men were -promoted to be principals, as a result of this little affair! They have -taken out cooking, sewing, and manual training from the sixth grade in -the elementary schools; last year they threatened to take out more -subjects—because they are so poor. But they are not too poor to pay -eight hundred and thirteen dollars and sixty-one cents per month for the -teaching of poetry at the assemblies! - -They have in Portland a system whereby the teachers are supposed to have -something to do with the selecting of text-books. There was a sort of -“book-election,” at which the teachers were to indicate their choice. -Swarms of book men descended upon the city, and were charming to the -teachers; then the ballot boxes were taken secretly to the court house, -where they were kept all night—open. Ginn & Company got four of the -principal books, and the agent laughed and said he hadn’t had to work -very hard. - -Having heard about Portland’s banker-boss, Mr. Mills, you will not be -surprised to learn that the Portland schools are active in the interest -of commercialism. In the last few weeks the bankers have been giving -lectures every week; the Navy got its “day,” and then the “Oregonian” -with a spelling-bee! As a means of teaching Big Business in the schools, -they introduced what they called the “Business Science Normal”; there -were two meetings a week for three weeks, and each meeting was repeated -twice, so that all the teachers might attend. At the suggestion of the -superintendent, invitation cards were sent in bulk to the principals, -and by them distributed to the teachers; the schools were closed early, -so that every teacher might be on hand. In addition to lectures, there -were fifty-two printed articles about business, twelve issues of -“Business Philosophy,” the official organ of the “Business Science -Society,” and “a year’s council privilege with the educational director -of this society.” Here was a wizard without peer in all the realms of -Mammon—as you learned from a circular got out by the Portland Chamber of -Commerce, which described him as “known wherever the English language is -spoken as one of the world’s greatest business scientists. He is the -author of five sciences dealing with human relationships.” Did you ever -hear anything so wonderful? A man who created five new sciences, all out -of one head and in one lifetime! I wonder how many Newton created! - -While I was in Portland this wide-awake Chamber of Commerce had taken up -propaganda for a “world’s fair” to celebrate the discovery of the -Northwest. Of course they thought first of the school children: Let the -children write compositions upon the desirability of this world’s fair! -The Chamber of Commerce would supply the arguments, and the children -would copy out maxims, and take them home to their parents, and so the -people would be induced to pay the cost of the fair out of public taxes! - -Also, the city has a “Rose Festival” every year, the purpose being to -exhibit advertising “floats” of the various stores. The children are -supposedly not required to appear in this parade, but schools which -neglect their duty are considered disloyal. The children spend two or -three weeks being drilled, and of course lose that time from study. They -have to stand round in the streets all day; there are no toilets -available, and some of the children became seriously ill. - -I talked with a group of high school teachers. At the Washington High -School they have a Junior Chamber of Commerce; one of the teachers asked -me to imagine a Junior Central Labor Council, but my imagination was not -equal to this flight. Some of the teachers had wanted to discuss a -teachers’ union, but the principal of the school forbade it. Finding it -impossible to keep the high school students from sometimes hearing of -modern ideas, the business men abolished outright the departments of -economics and sociology. The students signed a petition for the -restoration of these courses; a group of thirty of them went to -interview Superintendent Grout and take him this petition, and he -insulted them, informing them that the Portland schools were not being -run on petitions of the pupils. This school was forbidden to debate the -Plumb Plan, and also to debate Socialism. The teachers have been -forbidden to allow any discussion of the creation, of evolution, of the -Hebrews in history, and of the birth of Christ. - -The Portland forbidders, resolving to make a clean sweep, also forbade -the “New Republic” and the “Survey.” A committee of teachers went to -protest in the matter of “The Survey,” and were told that this magazine -was “one-sided” in its treatment of capital; they were advised to -content themselves with such publications as the “Outlook,” the -“Independent,” and the “Literary Digest.” They pointed out that it might -be possible to regard these magazines as “one-sided” in their treatment -of labor, but no answer to this argument was returned. At the Washington -High School the students, with the help of the history department, gave -an entertainment for the benefit of the school library. They earned -three hundred dollars, but they were not permitted to select their own -books—the list had to be passed by the superintendent’s office. Also, -the pupils are forbidden to invite outside speakers. I assume that this -school is named after George Washington, so I recommend an inscription -to be carved across the front of the building—some words taken from the -letters of the Father of his Country, as follows: - - “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence—it is force! Like fire - it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master; never for a moment - should it be left to irresponsible action.” - -That government is a fearful master has been thoroughly proven to the -teachers of Portland; the White Terror has raged in the schools, and has -taken all the ugly forms of spying and treachery and brutality. The -first teacher I talked with told me how she had seen a shadow on a -window curtain, and had discovered the superintendent listening outside -her class-room window. The second teacher I talked with had discovered -the second assistant superintendent hiding in a cloak-room watching the -teachers. Of course, all the agents of the Black Hand were training -their children to bring tales home from the school-room. The Portland -“Oregonian” exploded in a furious editorial, revealing that a teacher -had actually defended the “Survey”; another teacher had maintained that -the Socialists who had been elected to the Assembly in New York state -had a right to demand their seats. That Charles E. Hughes agreed with -this school teacher made no difference to the editor of the “Oregonian.” - -During war-time, when everybody was selling Liberty bonds, a rumor -spread that the librarian of the public library refused to buy. She was -“grilled” by the city commission, and said: “I have been doing my work -as librarian and minding my own affairs. But if you question me, and -insist upon a reply, why then I inform you that I am a pacifist.” One -commissioner’s answer was: “Would you want a German to ravish you?” You -remember how they used to settle the anti-slavery question in the old -days: “Would you want a Negro to marry your sister?” Of course the -librarian went out, and her persecutor was elected to the school board. - -This ultra-patriotic official was a wholesale druggist, and I had a -friend who, in the early days of the war, was talking with an employe in -this establishment, and was told that they had two clerks at work all -day marking up prices. The employe said this in all innocence; he was -proud of being part of such a busy and thriving institution! The -druggist-hero was a Four-Minute Man, whose especial enemy was German -literature and history; he did not rest until he had routed Goethe from -the Portland schools. This reminds me of our adventure here in Pasadena, -where our patriots discovered “The Psychology of the Unconscious,” by -Jung; this great authority happens to be a Swiss, but he has a German -name, and moreover, he was rumored “obscene,” so out he went from our -public library! - -There are Catholics in Portland, and they work for their faith; they get -on the school board, and then there are anti-Catholic campaigns, and -they get off again. But one member, thus put off, laughed to a friend of -mine, saying that he didn’t mind, he had accomplished his purpose—he had -sold the Archbishop’s property to the city! Now Oregon has passed a bill -requiring all children to attend public schools; the Catholics are -testing this in the courts—and meantime three public school buildings -have been mysteriously burned down. - -Not long ago there was a Catholic chairman of the school board, a -prominent judge and politician. The alarming discovery was made that -there was a teacher of manual training in one of the high schools who -was a Socialist and believer in evolution; he was brought to trial, and -Professor Rebec of the state university took the stand, and testified -that it was quite the common custom among scientific men to believe in -evolution. The chairman of the school board interrupted in rage! “That’s -an exploded standpoint, and we won’t have it here!” The trial lasted for -a week, and was a grand farce comedy. But, of course like all these -Black Hand trials, its end was predetermined, and the teacher was fired. - -I asked a large group of teachers what had become of the youngsters, -under this regime of hundred per cent capitalism. Their testimony was -unanimous upon the point that the schools are retrograding and that the -children are not learning as they should. Home study has become a lost -art. In the first place, the children have no room to study at home; in -the second place, they go to the movies. Their parents permit them the -freedom of the streets at night; and what can a teacher do, when she -herself is condemned by official decree to be a mere phonograph? “It -wouldn’t be so bad,” said one teacher, “if the phonograph had -interesting records. But you can imagine what kind of lessons He picks -out!” She had used this word “He” several times in our talk, and finally -I asked, “Who is He?” There came a chorus from several at once: “When we -say He, we always mean Mr. Grout!” Since this was written, “He” has been -re-engaged for a term of three years. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX - THE LAND OF LUMBER - - -We continue north to Seattle, another metropolis of fir and cedar. Here -organized labor has been active; the city came near having a Socialist -mayor, and the struggle of Big Business to keep its grip on the schools -has been intense. The state university, located in Seattle, is safe in -the hands of the gang, with a president by the name of Suzzallo, who -acquired his finish at Columbia University, and has made himself a -little miniature Nicholas Miraculous. Last spring he appeared before the -legislature, and explained why he was worth $18,000 a year to the state; -he had effected many economies—and when pressed to cite these, he stated -that he had kept the professors from getting salary increases, and had -reduced the standard salary for incoming instructors! The poor college -slaves are strictly forbidden to take part in politics—which means that -they dare not resent such incidents. - -For twenty-one years the public schools of Seattle have been under the -control of a feudal lord of finance, by the melodramatic name of -Ebenezer Shorrock. He was born under the flag of Queen Victoria, and -acts as if he had been born under George III. A teacher asked for an -advance in salary, and gave the excuse that he was paying for a piano. -“A piano!” cried Banker Shorrock. “What business has a man in your -position buying a piano?” To another teacher he made the statement that -“No man who has any self-respect would work for the salary the teachers -are paid.” Yet, in all his twenty-one years he has never voted for an -increase to the teachers; and in June, 1922, he voted a decrease. In the -arguments over this action he used his inside knowledge as head of a -bank to attack his teacher slaves; he knew about their accounts, and -many of them had “saved money!” We are told that these bankers are the -proper persons to guard school finances; so let it be noted that Banker -Shorrock has so run the schools into debt to the banks that now they are -paying more than half a million dollars every year in interest. - -On his board this mighty plutocrat has a surgeon to the rich, who was -asked by a labor leader to permit the “Nation,” the “New Republic,” and -the “Freeman” to be used in high school civics classes. “Well,” said Dr. -Sharples, “I cannot answer this question, as I am unacquainted with the -journals you mention.” This from a professional man, presuming to direct -education for a third of a million of people. - -But even that is not the limit in Seattle; another board member up to -1923 was a Stone and Webster engineer, who murdered the English of -Banker Shorrock’s queen. Somebody said that a cut in wages would lower -the morale of the teaching force. “That moral stuff don’t go with me,” -declared Engineer Santmyer. “I know lots of them girls, and there ain’t -anything wrong with their morals.” It is interesting to note that this -engineer was also connected with the Pacific Coast Coal Company, from -which the school board purchased most of its coal. - -Another board member who retired along with him was Mr. Taylor, -Northwestern representative of a big school-book publishing house. He -gave a written pledge that he would oppose any attempt to reduce the -teachers’ salaries; he signed this pledge on April 19, 1922, and on June -10, 1923, he seconded Banker Shorrock’s motion to make a heavy cut in -the teachers’ salaries. Mr. Santmyer also joined in this vote against -the teachers, and when his victims protested, he got cross, and -addressing a meeting of the school engineers, declared: “I just want one -more crack at them damned teachers.” - -The friends of education in the state of Washington brought before the -voters in 1922 a “tax equalization” measure, whose purpose was to compel -the big corporations, and especially the lumber interests, to pay their -proper share of school taxes. Against this measure all the organizations -of the Black Hand lined up—the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the Central -Committee of the Republican Party, the reactionary governor, the Seattle -Board of Education, the kept newspapers, the state university, the -Weyerhaeuser lumber interests, the president of Whitman College—to which -the Weyerhaeusers had just contributed seventy-five thousand dollars—and -finally the state superintendent of education, Mrs. Josephine C. -Preston. Remember this lady, because when we come to study the National -Education Association, we shall find her as its president, occupying the -throne of power at the Salt Lake City convention of 1920, where the gang -turned out the teachers from control. - -I have shown in Los Angeles, and will show in many other cities, how the -Black Hand bars “politics” from the schools. Here in Seattle the board -of education offered a classic demonstration of what this means. Some of -the teachers in the high schools presumed to have class discussions in -which both sides of the equalization amendment were heard. At five -o’clock on the afternoon of Friday, October 27, 1922, the school board -of Seattle passed a resolution absolutely forbidding teachers to engage -in any kind of political propaganda in the schools, or to post on the -bulletin boards any notices except those pertaining strictly to school -business. Eighteen hours later, at eleven o’clock on Saturday morning, -October 28, Dr. Sharples of the board, Mr. Santmyer of the board, and -also the secretary of the board, appeared before a meeting of school -janitors, engineers and custodians, in a school building, and there -spoke in opposition to the equalization amendment. The secretary of the -board traveled to other parts of the state to oppose this amendment, and -he spoke at meetings during business hours—that is, during the time he -was being paid by the people of Seattle to do his work as school board -secretary. - -Another incident, to give you an idea what it means to be a teacher in -Seattle. Early in 1923 eight or ten high school teachers received notice -from the superintendent that their names were being withheld for -reappointment, until the board could complete an investigation -concerning a teachers’ meeting which had been held the previous summer, -at which a resolution had been adopted condemning the board for cutting -the teachers’ salaries. The teachers who received this written notice -tried to find out what it was all about, and they learned that the board -of education had in its possession an unsigned typewritten document, -purporting to be a resolution adopted by the teachers and transmitted to -the Central Labor Council. - -But the teachers had held no such meeting and adopted no such -resolution; the secretary of the Central Labor Council declared that no -such communication had ever been received from the teachers; and when -the teachers tried to get a copy of the alleged resolution from the -board, they were told that all the copies had been “lost”! Under its own -regulations, the board was barred from considering documents with -typewritten signatures; nevertheless, they took two weeks to consider -this “lost” document, and finally gave the teachers their jobs—but -without apology for the false accusation! - -We shall find it worthwhile to glance at school conditions throughout -this state. The Washington farmers and fruit ranchers, picked to the -bone by the railroads and the banks, have their Nonpartisan League and -their Farmer-Labor party, and are trying to get their schools. Mr. J. T. -Sullivan, a teacher at Klaber, with a twelve-year record, ventured to -run for county superintendent on the Farmer-Labor ticket. Reports were -circulated that the platform of this party consisted of three -planks—nationalization of all property, compulsory free love, and the -destruction of all churches. The county superintendent—that is, Mr. -Sullivan’s political opponent—declared that Mr. Sullivan would either -give up his political activities or have his teacher’s license revoked; -and Mrs. Josephine C. Preston, the state superintendent, refused him a -license to teach in another county, because he could not get the -endorsement of this same county superintendent! - -Mr. William Bouck, master of the Washington Progressive Grange, a rebel -organization, gave me the names of two young women teachers in Lewis -County, who were asked if they were members of the Nonpartisan League, -and when they answered yes, they were told that they were “fired.” Mr. -Bouck’s own daughter applied for a position as teacher, and her -credentials were judged satisfactory, but her name was suspicious; she -was asked if she was any relative of William Bouck, and when she -answered that she was his daughter, the director replied: “Well, you can -go to hell!” Mr. Bouck added that there were grave-yards of radical -teachers all over his county; and one of the other men in the party -spoke up, saying that he had six personal friends who had lost their -teaching positions because of their political opinions. - -Everywhere throughout the state the book agents are in active control, -working hand in glove with the politicians. I was shown one school -primer, for which the Washington schools were paying sixty cents, and -the same book was sold by the same company in Tennessee for twenty-two -cents. Many school districts in the state were close to bankruptcy, -because of the theft of their school lands by the big lumber companies; -in all these lumber districts the companies put their own men on the -school boards and run education. In the town of Centralia the boss of -the schools, as well as of the town, is F. B. Hubbard, a mill-man, -former president of the Employers’ Association, who incited the Legion -men to raid an I. W. W. hall and hang the inmates with ropes. The Legion -men had the ropes in their hands, and the door half battered down, when -the I. W. W.’s opened fire, and Hubbard’s own nephew was one of those -killed. The Associated Press sent out a dispatch stating that the I. W. -W.’s had opened fire in cold blood on the Armistice day parade of the -Legion, and it will take a generation to unteach this monstrous lie to -the American people. Thus the Great Madame conducts for her Big Business -masters the adult education classes of our schools! - -Beginning our journey East, we find ourselves in Spokane, where we shall -not mind stopping, because the lumber barons and kings of silver and -lead have built themselves a sumptuous hotel; once within its portals, -we may think we are among the plutocracy of New York or Paris or London. -The first thing we do is to buy a paper from the news-stand, and learn -that the lumber barons and kings of silver and lead have been equally -lavish to their children, providing them with high-power motor cars, -which they are driving recklessly about the city to the great distress -of the police—who, of course, could not arrest the sons and daughters of -royalty. It appears that these youngsters, instead of studying their -high school lessons, have been studying the “movies”; they are going off -on joy-rides, spending the night at road-houses, and the judge of the -juvenile court has taken the matter up, and charges that school -probation officers, seeking information about these youthful escapades, -have been unable to get it from high school teachers, because the city -superintendent of schools has intimidated the teachers. - -So we are not surprised to learn that the invisible government of -Spokane is the Employers’ Association, backed by the Washington Water -Power Corporation; and that the head of the city school board is a grain -speculator, prominent in anti-labor campaigns; also that they have their -full quota of text-book scandals, and a campaign to introduce the -teaching of the Bible in the schools—purely as literature, of course; -also, that they discovered a high school teacher to be a Unitarian and -believer in evolution, and he was reported to the superintendent as an -atheist; also, that the teachers at the high school do not dare attend a -lecture course given by the local Unitarian clergyman. - -You might think you were in Portland, hearing a teacher remark: -“Whenever they want to reduce our salaries, they cast slurs at us in the -newspapers for weeks.” You might think you were in Los Angeles, when you -hear how the business organizers endeavored to set the school children -to writing essays on reactionary themes, and how a little group of -“kickers” in the city offered a prize for the best essay on Woodrow -Wilson’s “The New Freedom.” At this time Woodrow Wilson was robed in the -majesty of office, so the proposition put the school board in something -of a quandary. They turned the matter over to a committee, which -solemnly resolved: “‘The New Freedom’ is not a book by Woodrow Wilson, -but a series of extracts from campaign speeches, highly partisan in -character.” So the proposition was turned down! - - - - - CHAPTER XXX - THE ANACONDA’S LAIR - - -We continue our journey, and enter the domain of the copper kings. In -“The Goose-step” I have portrayed the state of Montana as entirely -swallowed by a monstrous reptile known as the Anaconda, and I have shown -what this reptile has done to the universities of the state. Let us now -have a glimpse of Butte, which is a mountain of copper with office -buildings and miners’ shacks on top. We shall find here a situation -resembling Berkeley; that is to say, the workers have been making -desperate efforts to control the education of their own children, but -without success. The copper interests, in their efforts to control -Montana, have stopped at no atrocity and no crime. They have broken -strikes with the utmost brutality, and when the people of Butte -succeeded in electing their own political administration, the Black Hand -used its control of the state machine to turn the city administration -out. In the same way, they have been willing to wreck the schools by -every device of slander and corruption. It is hard indeed to find honest -public officials in a community where the rewards of treason are so -high, and the penalties of public service so heavy. The result has been -that the schools of Butte have served as a football of rowdy gangs. - -The early stages of Montana history consisted of civil and political war -between the Anaconda and its rival, F. Augustus Heinze. In those days -public officials and political parties commanded fancy prices; but these -good times came to an end in 1906, when the Anaconda bought out its -rival, and took control of a state as big as Germany—most of its -minerals, ninety per cent of its water power, and a hundred per cent of -its politics. Butte at that time had an honest school superintendent by -the name of Young; and because the Anaconda crowd could not use him, -they began war upon him; three years later they kicked him out, and he -died of a broken heart. They put in “the crookedest school man in the -Northwest”; a gentleman who had two interests which absorbed his -attention—breeding fancy dogs, and training brutal football players. -Montana football tactics became a scandal throughout the country; and -teaching standards fell so low that other cities refused to accept -credits from Butte. - -In 1911 came a radical wave, and a Socialist clergyman, Lewis J. Duncan, -was swept into office as mayor. The first thing the Socialist -administration attempted was to clean up the redlight district, and this -brought them into conflict with two of the Anaconda’s political bullies -on the city’s detective force. The pair were put on trial, one for -blackmailing a prostitute, and the other for soliciting a bribe, and -were convicted. They swore vengeance, and immediately afterwards one of -the most efficient teachers in the Butte high school, who had been -active in war upon the grafters, was summoned before the school -superintendent and notified that she would not get her yearly -reappointment. (They keep their teachers in Butte upon a string, having -no tenure, and never knowing if they are to be re-engaged.) - -This lady was told that her work was “not satisfactory,” but the -superintendent gave no specifications, and refused to discuss the fact -that the principal O.K.’d the teacher’s work. As a result of this -development, a teachers’ union was organized in Butte, and immediately -the three officers of the union were let out without cause. The fact -that the superintendent had given one of these teachers a fulsome -recommendation only one month previously did not count at all. The -president of this union, a Harvard post-graduate, was blacklisted, and -kept from any teaching position in Montana. In the meantime, Mayor -Duncan, who had been re-elected, was kicked out of office by the Black -Hand. - -The Socialists had never been able to elect more than three of the seven -school board members. In the 1916 campaign the Anaconda crowd made the -open boast that they had controlled the schools for twenty-five years, -and would continue to control them. They elected their ticket, and -proceeded upon a campaign to “clean out the radicals,” dismissing -without charges twenty-four of the most efficient and intelligent -teachers. There was a roar of protest from the city; a prominent society -woman, friendly to the teachers, made the statement at a mass meeting -that it was the program to discharge every teacher who had attended the -study classes conducted by the Reverend Lewis J. Duncan for nine years -prior to his election as mayor. This lady’s husband happened to be -cashier of the First National Bank, and at the next meeting of the -directors of the bank this cashier lost his position. The school board -took to meeting in secret and refusing admission to the angry public. -Nevertheless, the people succeeded in having their way, to the extent -that the teachers were reinstated and the superintendent retired. - -Then came the world war, and that made things easy for the grafters. -Since then there has been in Butte the same situation that we found in -San Francisco; the Catholic schools are flourishing, while the public -schools are deprived both of their money and their brains. A couple of -years ago, through misuse of funds, the school treasury was so low that -the schools were about to be closed two weeks in advance of the regular -time. As a consequence of the Anaconda’s control of the state -government, the mining companies pay taxes only on their net profits, -and when they close down, as they did for a whole year, there are no net -profits and no taxes. At the last moment the banks agreed to lend the -money to keep the schools going—Big Business could not quite afford to -have the news go out to the world that “the richest hill in the world” -was unable to afford schools! In connection with this problem of mining -company taxation in Montana, you may read in “The Goose-step” how -Professor Louis Levine was kicked out of the state university for -writing a treatise on this subject. - -The working people of Butte are still struggling to have something to -say about their schools, but their struggles are now blind and helpless, -because the war has put the Socialist movement out of business, and -without the idealism and training of the Socialists the labor movement -falls prey to bribery and intrigue. There are now several so-called -“labor” representatives on the Butte school board; and having read the -story of a “labor” administration in San Francisco, you will be prepared -for what is happening here. The Anaconda has not the least objection to -its henchmen calling themselves “labor” men—provided only they will vote -for the Anaconda. Big Business today has its representatives in all -labor unions; and the Black Hand sees no harm in petty graft and a -flourishing redlight district, provided that taxes are kept down and -dividends not interfered with. On this “labor” board in Butte are a -couple of loud-mouthed demagogues, whose main concern is to get -patronage for relatives and friends. One of them has had his brother -made utility man for the board, and his sister a teacher in the high -school—somewhat to the concern of the city, because this lady is -decidedly unusual in her mind, and two other members of the family are -under restraint. Mr. O. G. Wood, until recently clerk of this board, -writes me: - - Professional etiquette forbids doctors and lawyers from buying space - in the newspapers for advertising purposes, but they are not opposed - to columns of fake write-up about the sacrifice they are making to - serve the public while serving on the school board, in which to my - certain knowledge they take no interest whatever except to get some - relative elected to the position of janitor or utility man. The school - board will wrangle for weeks over some janitor getting a job, and - never pay the slightest attention to the great question of educating - the child.... The Anaconda Copper Mining Company has been controlling - the members of the school board for years, so as to divert the - purchasing of supplies into their particular stores. This corporation - has bribed members of the school board and has offered money to some - of them to get them to resign, in order to have their men appointed by - the county superintendent, who has the appointing of members to fill - vacancies. My experience as an instructor in the public schools, and - my two years in an executive position handling about a million a year, - have led me to the conclusion that there is no public institution in - the United States run with more waste and with less regard for the - TRUTH than the public school system of the United States. The waste of - money is appalling. - -I close this story with an illustration of where the money goes. One of -the great mining kings of Montana is W. A. Clark, who bought himself -into the United States Senate, and was kicked out again because it was -proven that his agents had dropped thousand dollar bills over the -transoms of the hotel rooms of state legislators. Senator Clark had to -get this money back somehow, so he sold the city of Butte a site for the -high school, at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars. But there is no -high school on this site, for the reason that the children would have to -go through the redlight district to reach the school, and one mother -publicly declared that she would burn this school down rather than have -the children attend it. After this you will be prepared to learn that -ex-Senator Clark’s newspaper, the Butte “Daily Miner,” forever proclaims -the sacredness of the schools. - -One more illustration of the intense concern of the copper interests for -education. You will suspect me of making up this story, because it -sounds like a piece of symbolism—it might come straight from a play by -Ibsen or Charles Rann Kennedy. The Anaconda discovered a vein of copper -immediately underneath the Jefferson School, and has been occupied for -several years in undermining the school. Now the walls of the building -have begun to crack; but needless to say, the taxpayers are not getting -compensation for the ruin of a school building. Nothing has been done -about it, because this is an “East Side” school, where only the children -of miners attend. When the building collapses, the Anaconda will head -the relief list by a subscription of a hundred dollars. - -Butte now has a new superintendent, who comes from Columbia University, -and writes me that he was appointed as an educator and not as a -politician. He tells me that neither he nor the school board would -attempt to control outside activities of teachers, and that they are -perfectly free to join a union if they wish. I trust they will not fail -to act upon this information; and I wish Superintendent Douglass good -luck in keeping out of Butte politics! - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI - THE LITTLE ANACONDAS - - -While we are in this mountain country, let us see what is going on -throughout the state. The financial agents of the Anaconda, known as the -Montana Bankers’ Association, passed a resolution to take charge of the -schools; and Mr. W. J. Hannah, who lives at Big Timber, and is a member -of the county high school board, also for a dozen years chairman of a -rural school board, wrote to their educational committee to ask what -they meant by this. In reply they informed him that they intended to -appoint teachers, select text-books, and deliver lectures, and thereby -inculcate respect for the money-changers of Montana. - -Within two years after this action three presidents of banks in Mr. -Hannah’s county were appointed as members of the high school board. Says -Mr. Hannah: “Not a man among the three possesses any education whatever, -nor have they ever evinced any interest whatever in the work of the -public schools”—except, as he goes on to explain, to carry on propaganda -on behalf of bankers. The high school library has been kept without any -of the standard works on history, economics, sociology and ethics, which -have any tendency toward democracy in industry or even in politics. None -of these ignorant banker board members could possibly have found out for -themselves what books to exclude from the library; they must have got -from some central organization suggestions causing them to keep from the -shelves such historical writings as Draper, Lecky, Buckle and White. - -They crowd the pupils with manual training, domestic science and -commercial courses; and discovering that basket-ball might be used to -divert the minds of the whole community from interest in politics and -social reform, they become ardent friends of school athletics. The -Nonpartisan League was trying to organize the farmers of Montana, and, -says Mr. Hannah: “It is only a year since a mob of high school students, -with the full knowledge and tacit approval of this board of banker -trustees, broke into a peaceful assemblage of farmers which was being -held in the county court house.” They tried to break up the meeting, but -did not succeed, and subsequent efforts to have them disciplined were -thwarted by these banker trustees. Mr. Hannah continues: - - What the bankers are now doing to our own high school in a limited - way, they are also doing throughout the state in a much more general - and effective way. Their educational program is in full operation. For - two or more years they have demanded and secured prominent speaking - places at every meeting of school men that is held in the state. Their - voice is now heard wherever the subject of education is publicly - discussed. Moreover, I read in the public press almost every day of - addresses delivered by bankers to high school assemblies; and it is - plain to see that it is merely a campaign of propaganda designed for - the one purpose of misleading the children concerning the real nature - of our banking system. - -I have had occasion to argue with big business men concerning this -control of school funds by bankers; they never can see anything wrong -with it—who is there that should handle money, if not bankers? But I -come upon a little item in the “Inter-Mountain Educator,” official organ -of the Montana State Teachers’ Association, March, 1923: - - The Hardin State Bank at Hardin, Mont., has closed its doors. Eight - school districts in the county have a total of $74,380.85 in the bank. - The heaviest loser is Hardin No. 17 H, which has $23,222.63 in the - closed bank, and, besides, has been compelled to cut to the quick to - operate this year. - -There are now hard times in Montana, and in his 1922 report the -superintendent of public instruction tells of the retrenchments and -sacrifices which have been necessary to keep the schools going. “In -hundreds of districts last year all expenses but teachers’ salaries were -eliminated, the parents even donating the fuel and hauling. The teachers -caught the spirit of sacrifice, and scores of them gave their services -from one to several weeks in order that the children would not be -deprived of any more school than necessary.” In this report appears a -photograph of a mother who drove a team twenty-three miles a day in -order to get her three children to school, and brought with her two -younger children whom she could not leave at home; she came forty miles -to a teachers’ meeting, so that she might get suggestions as to how to -help these children at home. The report tells also of an eighth grade -boy walking sixteen miles, and of five families who dug holes in a -hill-side near Broadus, and lived there during the school season in -order that their children might get instruction! - -I am dealing in this book with Big Business; but you will understand -that in this lair of the gigantic Anaconda, there are many little snakes -hoping some day to become Anacondas, and diligently swallowing all they -can. In the report of this state superintendent I find several pages of -details about the plundering of the district schools by local business -men: every kind of graft you could imagine—sixty dollars a month for -transportation to bring the child of one trustee a mile and a half to -school; a thirty-dollar pearl necklace for a teacher; trustees and -clerks paying themselves all kinds of money on school contracts in -violation of law; another trustee who hired his brother-in-law as -principal for two hundred dollars a month, his wife as teacher at a -hundred dollars a month, and his daughter at ninety-five—and the -following year raised the principal’s salary to three hundred dollars, -and the wife to a hundred and fifty! - -Under such economic conditions it is inevitable that teachers should be -terrorized. Here, as in Washington, there are grave-yards of radical -teachers scattered everywhere. Certificates are continually refused to -teachers who refuse to “take policy,” and on the other hand the State -Normal College is freely distributing credits to teachers who carry on -propaganda for the Black Hand. The teachers have been completely -deprived of control of their own organization. At the Montana State -Teachers’ Association convention of 1922, the gang put through strong -resolutions against every kind of political liberalism, and the -superintendent of schools of Lewistown, who was chairman of the -Resolutions Committee, denounced the suggestion that there should be a -referendum to give the rank and file of the teachers the right to vote -on any question. - -I have a letter from another Montana school official, who tells me of -four different cases in which he heard prominent educators and lecturers -admit the intolerable nature of present conditions in the state—but -always ending with the anxious statement: “Of course, you understand -that I am not a radical, and have no sympathy with radicalism!” At the -summer school of 1921, at Lewistown, Montana, a professor of economics, -being asked some questions about “The Brass Check,” took occasion to -tell the students of the vast wealth which Upton Sinclair had -accumulated out of his credulous followers! Just where this professor -got his information I do not know, but any time he wishes he can have -the fifteen thousand dollars’ worth of debts which I still have left -from selling “The Brass Check” below cost. This same professor discussed -a student at the Fergus County High School at Lewistown, who had come -with the financial help of the school, but had proved himself unworthy -and ungrateful—he had not changed any of the radical ideas which he had -brought from his Nonpartisan League home! I cite these anecdotes just to -show you the atmosphere which prevails in the class-rooms of the kept -educators of the Anaconda. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII - COLORADO CULTURE - - -We move on to Colorado, where we have not only copper kings, but coal -and iron and oil and gold and silver kings—half a dozen dynasties -dividing an empire. It would take a large volume to tell the corruption -of government in the state of Colorado and the city of Denver; I have -given a sketch of it in “The Goose-step.” Suffice it here to say, there -is no “invisible government” in this community, the offices and -privileges are sold on a curb market. As for education, only taxpayers -have a right to vote for school bonds, the banks control the handling of -the money, and their politicians spend it. - -For a generation the active institution in control was the First -National Bank, whose educational agent began his career in Denver as -“Fudge” Sommers, clerk of the police department. He specialized in the -stealing of school elections; he would have a “bunch of money” at each -election, and workers awaiting him with their hands out. As “de gang” -would say, “dere ain’t no easier money”; the school elections were -entirely unguarded—there was no registration, and the ballot-boxes would -be carried to the East Denver High School, and there fixed according to -orders. “Fudge” was a Democrat, but at times when his party became -progressive, he took his influence and his talents to the Republicans. -He grew respectable, and is now the Honorable Elmer S. Sommers, oil -magnate, good roads promoter, prominent in the Rotary Club, a society -man rich enough to have his own “hooch” parties. - -Under such conditions the citizens are helpless. For the most part they -do not trouble to vote; now and then they protest, and are taught their -place. I talked with a member of a committee which entered objection to -the waste of school funds, and threatened to nominate a citizens’ -ticket. The answer of the boss was: “You put up your board, and I’ll -take my bag of money, and we’ll see how far you get!” - -Next to Mr. First National Bank Keeley, the most active agent of the -plutocracy in controlling the Denver schools was Mr. Great Western Sugar -Company Morey. Mr. Morey was the “Sugar Trust” in our national capital, -one of the most notorious of the war profiteers. He built himself a -magnificent palace in Denver, facing the lofty Mt. Evans, and with the -whole of Cheesman Park for a back-yard; then he died, and Denver has the -Morey Junior High School, just as other cities have Washington Schools -and Lincoln Schools and Jefferson Schools. We may assume that Mr. Morey -dwells happily in a celestial palace, because as a far-seeing business -man he provided for his spiritual welfare, being a pillar of the -exclusive St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral. - -Once more the firm of God, Mammon and Company; and note how the schools -are taken in as junior partners. For twenty years Denver had a most -efficient school superintendent, a former president of the National -Education Association by the name of Gove. I call him efficient, meaning -that he served his masters, by keeping out of the system all -revolutionary and dangerous new ideas, such as kindergartens, manual -training and directed play. The progressive women’s clubs waged war upon -him, and at the end of the twenty years succeeded in getting rid of him. -And where do you think he went? Why, he became confidential lobbyist for -the Great Western Sugar Company in our national capital! A congressional -investigating committee raided some offices and got hold of the letters -of his employers, and it was disclosed that Gove had been “interviewing” -congressmen in their home districts; he had been instructed not to name -his employers, and not to itemize his expense accounts! - -The president of the Denver school board is a young aristocrat by the -name of Hallett, whose qualification for spending the money of the -schools was described to me by one of his friends: “He never earned a -dollar in his life.” His father was a millionaire federal judge, whose -tyrannies and fearful temper made his name one of terror to labor unions -and would-be reformers in Colorado. Young Mr. Hallett also is a socially -prominent vestryman of the exclusive St. John’s Cathedral, and he helped -to import the very expensive Dean Brown from the effete East. Mr. -Hallett was in a delicate position—he was both vestryman of the -cathedral and president of the school board, and the cathedral owned -twenty-six lots which it wanted to sell to the city as a school site. It -must have been hard for Mr. Hallett to make up his mind where his duty -lay, but apparently he decided that all eternity meant more to him than -his term as president of the school board; his vestry sold the lots to -his school board for a hundred thousand dollars, which was two or three -times what they were worth. - -In May, 1923, Mr. Hallett came up for re-election, together with Mr. -Taylor, seventy-four-year-old vestryman of the cathedral, who serves the -mining kings as an engineer; and Mr. Schenck, seventy-three years old, a -former store-keeper at coal-mines for Mr. Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel -and Iron Company. (The other board members are a lumber dealer, -sixty-seven years old, a nice old lady of seventy, and an able-bodied -contractor, active in politics.) - -There was an opposition ticket put up by the liberals, and a second put -up by labor, and a third put up by the Denver “Post.” In order that you -may appreciate this story, I explain that the “Post” is a wealthy and -powerful newspaper, which began in the old “shirt-sleeve” days, when -newspapers in mining camps lived by blackmail. The “Post” has seen no -reason for mending either its morals or its manners; its two -proprietors, Tammen and Bonfils, are former gamblers and saloon keepers, -whom I have told about in “The Brass Check.” Tammen, a frank and -delightful personality, tells at Chamber of Commerce meetings how he -would toss a dollar in the air, and if it stuck to the ceiling it -belonged to the boss, and if it came down again it belonged to him. The -Chamber of Commerce whoops with delight at this anecdote. - -The “Post” now broke loose against President Lucius Hallett and his -board. For a month or two the murders, highway robberies and sexual -scandals of Colorado were shoved off the front page, and the red -head-lines of the paper were given up to the crimes of the school board. -The “Post” charged that the board members had permitted corrupt deals -with members of the Real Estate Exchange and the Chamber of Commerce, -and that the taxpayers had been robbed of great sums through shady land -purchases. It went into details concerning the “favoritism” of the -school authorities for the American Book Company. It showed also how the -school board was favoring the children of the rich, and published -pictures of the luxurious high schools in the rich neighborhoods and the -overcrowded old fire-traps in the slum districts. It charged that the -school board was maintaining the worst political machine in Denver’s -history; the teachers were in fear for their jobs, the principals were -political henchmen, and propaganda literature for the school board was -distributed among the children to be taken to their homes. A Denver -edition of “The Goslings” in serial form! - -Why this sudden concern of the “Post” for the welfare of the schools? I -do not know that. But I know that President Hallett published the -statement that the cause of the attack was the school board’s refusal to -make a contract with a coal company owned by the “Post.” I know also -that the “Post” did not deny this charge of Mr. Hallett’s, or refer to -it. An intimate friend of Mr. Tammen’s has asked me to meet him when -next I am in Denver; then I shall ask him about it, and I have no doubt -he will live up to his reputation as a “good sport.” Every now and then -the “Post” has entered into campaigns against the stealing of city -franchises, and when Tammen’s friends have asked him why so much fuss, -he has answered with his cheerful laugh, “Because we didn’t get in on -the graft.” - -Election day came and passed, and Mr. Hallett and his friends were -declared re-elected. The grand jury took up the charges of the “Post” -concerning real estate graft, and it was shown that one prominent -“realtor,” or a dummy of his firm, had bought a parcel of land for -several thousand dollars, and a few days later sold it to the school -board for so many more thousands that it was considered dishonest even -in Denver. Another “realtor,” recently a member of the city council, had -bought land and sold it to the board for twice the price—and had charged -a commission at both ends besides. He had used dummies—an office-boy, -also his own son—and on this technicality the courts let him off. You -will form an idea of the state of Colorado culture when I tell you that -I consulted the Denver telephone directory, and found listed therein -approximately 450 of these “realtors”—and to balance this, book-stores -to the number of sixteen! - -In the face of such obstacles, a few devoted souls labor to save the -children of the city. The schools have been shockingly overcrowded—with -classes in cook-rooms, in hallways, in basements, in rooms without light -or air. And, of course, the school board has made to the teachers the -usual explanations why the city could not pay them a living wage. The -high school teachers called a mass meeting, intending to affiliate with -labor; whereupon the school authorities rushed to head them off—by -bringing in a famous orator of the National Education Association, and -then by granting the raise in wages! When the president of the Denver -Labor College asked for the right to use school rooms for classes, the -board with seven representatives of business and not one of labor turned -him down in horror; if they allowed a working-class school, they would -have to allow a capitalist school! Let the labor college allow the board -to appoint the instructors, and then they might consider the matter. -“Won’t you walk into my parlor?” said the spider to the fly! - -For ten years the progressives have pleaded with the school board to -permit school buildings to be used by the citizens for public -meetings—but in vain. As I write, they are winning a long struggle to -have some attention paid to the health of the school children; the -“interests” denounce this as Bolshevism—though just why it is Bolshevism -to take care of the children’s bodies, when it is not Bolshevism to take -care of their minds, is not explained. There is one devoted friend of -the children in Denver, Judge Lindsey of the Juvenile Court; all over -the United States he has spoken to great gatherings in the schools—but -not in Denver! He tells me that he hopes to get back this fall; if so, -it will be the first time in ten years that he has spoken in a Denver -school! The officials have told him quite frankly that “business” would -not permit it.[F] - ------ - -Footnote F: - - In December, as I am reading the proofs of this book, Mrs. Lindsey - writes me that he has not yet spoken, and she knows of no prospect. - ------ - -So we see the same thing that we saw in Los Angeles and Spokane—the -children, being deprived of the joys and excitements of the intellectual -life, follow the example of their elders and go “wild.” If I had the -power to gather all the parents of America for one hour, and make them -listen to whatever I chose, I think I should put them in the private -chambers of Judge Lindsey. I had the pleasure of spending several days -with him. I thought I knew something about what is going on among the -school children, but I was staggered when I heard Lindsey’s story. I am -going to tell it, but later on—for the reason that these conditions are -not peculiar to Denver, they are a problem of the entire country. After -we have satisfied ourselves what plutocratic education is, we shall want -to know what it has done to our children, and how our grand-children are -to be saved. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII - THE DOMAIN OF KING COAL - - -Back in the days of President Buchanan the American Congress set aside -large tracts of federal land, to be devoted forever after to the support -of schools; and these lands have ever since been the favorite pasturage -of Big Business. In state after state I found highly cultured members of -old ruling families interested in education—and living upon fortunes -made by the theft of school lands! In Maine and Wisconsin and Oregon -these lands were stolen for the timber; in Minnesota for the iron ore; -in Michigan for the copper; in Oklahoma and Texas for the oil; in -Indiana and Illinois and Colorado for the coal. - -The story of the Colorado school lands is told in a little pamphlet, -“The Looters,” by George A. Connell, Cedaredge, Colorado. The sections -set aside were Numbers Sixteen and Thirty-six of all government -townships; and according to data available, the schools of Colorado own -about six billion tons of coal. Instead of working these mines for the -benefit of the schools, the state of Colorado turns the land over to the -coal companies for a royalty of ten cents per ton of coal mined! The -schools have to have coal themselves, and they purchase it from these -same coal companies. It costs the companies, to mine this coal and -deliver it to the schools, $5.80 per ton, while the price which the -schools pay for it is $10.50 per ton; the coal companies therefore make -$4.70 per ton, and this after paying the ten cents royalty to the -schools! In the year 1920 there were mined almost a million tons of coal -from the state school lands; the schools got for this a net profit of a -little over eighty-five thousand dollars, while the coal gang made a net -profit of nearly four and a half million dollars. In other words, the -coal companies made in one year from the coal more than the schools will -make in fifty years. Under the present method of doing business, the -schools and the people of Colorado will surrender to the coal -corporations for the coal taken from the school lands a total net profit -of twenty-seven billion dollars. - -Let us follow this coal money. Under the law a part of it has been -turned into a “permanent school fund,” which now totals ten million -dollars. And where does this money go? Why, to the banks, of course; and -what do the banks pay for it? They pay three per cent interest; and at -the same time the various school districts are borrowing money, and have -to pay five and a half per cent on their bonds! The difference between -these two items means a quarter of a million dollars, which the schools -of Colorado are donating to the bankers every year! That pleases the -bankers, and they use their control over the educators of Colorado to -keep the people from knowing about the graft. - -In September, 1920, there was a contest arranged between two district -schools, and an eighteen-dollar basketball was put up as a prize for the -school which could give the best answers to twenty-four questions. The -principals of both schools accepted the terms of the contest, and the -county superintendent agreed to assist. The questions were to be -published in the local newspaper, the Surface Creek “Champion”; the -editor said he would take them under advisement, but he never published -them. The Republican county committeeman was called in to the -“advisement”; the county superintendent, who was up for re-election, was -also called in, and this lady made a hurried trip to the two towns and -called off the contest. And would you like to know why? Well, one of the -twenty-four questions read this way: “How much of the permanent school -fund is loaned to the banks, and how much is on deposit?” - -The county superintendent had sent this question to the state -superintendent, and a letter came back, signed by both the state -superintendent and the deputy: “I cannot answer this question. I could -not get any information along this line.” The question was presented to -various educators throughout the state, and they admitted that they did -not dare to touch it. The question was presented to the editor of the -“Rocky Mountain News,” the great organ of the plutocracy of Denver, and -the editor not only refused to print anything about it, but stated that -“any man that stirred up such things is a Bolsheviki and an undesirable -citizen.” - -In 1914 there was a great strike of the Colorado coal miners, which led -to a civil war, not merely at the mines, but also in front of 26 -Broadway, New York, the offices of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and -also at Tarrytown, where the Rockefellers, father and son, have their -palatial estates. This civil war was of concern to the Colorado schools, -because they paid all the cost of it; the coal company gang in the state -legislature put through a bill, taking five hundred thousand dollars -from the school funds of the state, to pay the cost of breaking a strike -for Mr. Rockefeller. The radicals carried on a campaign for a year or -two over this issue, and as a result of the publicity one-fifth of the -amount was paid back to the schools. - -In the East Side High School of Denver there were two teachers who made -so bold as to talk about these matters, and also to concern themselves -with the civil rights of miners. Of the six demands of the strikers, -five were for the enforcement of the laws of the state; and a pupil in -one of the high school classes asked Miss Ellen A. Kennan whether this -was true. An embarrassing moment for a teacher—with sons and daughters -of coal operators in the class! Miss Kennan answered the question -truthfully, and forthwith the president of the Colorado Fuel and Iron -Company, Mr. Rockefeller’s concern which was breaking the strike, came -to the school to demand an explanation! - -Miss Kennan was one of the prize teachers of the Denver school system, a -Greek and Latin scholar and a prominent lecturer at women’s clubs; she -had been in the system for seventeen years. Her friend, Gertrude Nafe, -had been in for seven years, and during the strike had the difficult -experience of teaching the son of General Chase, the combination dentist -and militia officer who was setting aside the Constitution in the coal -country and supervising the Ludlow massacre. Miss Nafe also answered her -pupils’ questions truthfully, and so the general and his employers made -up their minds to get these two ladies out of the schools. - -It took them four years to do it, and they had to increase the number of -school board members, packing it with their henchmen. Even so, it was -only the war that gave them their chance. They drew up an oath for the -teachers to take, pledging loyalty to the Constitution and the -government, and “to promote by precept and example obedience to laws and -constituted authorities.” Miss Kennan and Miss Nafe cheerfully signed -the first part of this pledge, but they found themselves in difficulties -when it came to the second part. How can one pledge obedience to laws -and constituted authorities, when constituted authorities are defying -the laws? Consider the 1914 strike, in which the miners had tried to -compel the constituted authorities to enforce the laws—and had failed! -The teachers had explained this to their pupils, and now could not -stultify themselves. Their friends begged them to sign, the pledge being -”nothing but a joke”—the teachers all so regarded it; but these two -ladies took the matter seriously, and struck out the word “obedience.” - -So they were slated to be driven from the system. They demanded a -hearing before the board, and were permitted to make a brief statement -explaining their reverence for their revolutionary ancestors, who had -defied the constituted authorities when these authorities defied human -rights. The principal of the school asked to be heard, and said: “I have -never wavered in my faith in their value to the schools, in my faith in -their services to the coming citizens of this republic.” But the board -turned them out, and for the past five years the children of Denver have -been taught by some teachers who take their oath to be a joke. - -Time passed, and there came another strike of the Colorado mine-slaves, -and another curious test of Colorado education. I have before me an -issue of a weekly paper published by the striking miners, the Walsenburg -“Independent,” January 3, 1922. It bears across the top in large letters -the caption, “This paper was censored by the Colorado Rangers.” Then -follows a news item to the effect that Professor S. M. Andrews, school -superintendent of Walsenburg, and also of Huerfano County, had addressed -a teachers’ meeting in Denver, and praised the rangers and their martial -law. That much I learn from the paper; then comes the statement: “Censor -cut out report of his speech as printed in the ‘Rocky Mountain News,’ -December 30th.” Of course I might hunt up this issue of the “Rocky -Mountain News” and tell you what Professor Andrews said, but I don’t -think it worth the bother. The point is clear: a superintendent of -schools, supposedly a public official, drawing two salaries from a coal -mining community, goes up to the state capital, and before a convention -of teachers defends the state police in their abrogation of state and -federal constitutions during a strike; and the commanding officer of -these gunmen in uniform forbids the miners’ newspaper to communicate to -the miners what their own superintendent of schools has said about them -in their own state capital! - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV - THE HOMESTEAD OF THE FREE - - -We continue East and cross “bleeding Kansas,” where John Brown fought, -and the old settlers came in their covered wagons, singing: - -/* We cross the prairie as of old The Pilgrims crossed the sea, To make -the West, as they the East, The homestead of the free. */ - -Now in this homestead of the free the organizers of the Nonpartisan -League are beaten, tarred and feathered, jailed or deported, for trying -to address the farmers. Alexander Howat is thrown into jail for six -months for advising coal miners to strike, and William Allen White, -editor of the Emporia “Gazette,” is arrested for putting in his window a -card stating that he sympathizes with the strikers. The principal organ -of culture in the state is the Kansas City “Star,” founded by a brave -and sincere liberal, and now turned into an organ of screaming bigotry -and hate. Two years ago this paper flung wide the gates off the city to -its darlings, the American Legion, and the boys gathered by the tens of -thousands, and repaid their hosts by conducting a three days’ drunken -orgy, in the course of which they wrecked the lobby of the city’s -palatial hotel. - -Kansas City is a packing-house and railroad center, and the head of its -Black Hand is W. T. Kemper, hard-fisted “open-shop” exponent and -manipulator of high finance. To run the board of education he has a -prominent real estate operator, Nichols, with four children, none in the -public schools; a lawyer, Nugent, a little brother to the rich; and -Pinkerton, president of the Gate City Bank. All these gentlemen call -themselves Democrats, I believe; but this makes no difference, because -Kansas City has what they call a bi-partisan school board—one-half its -members to the Democratic party, one-half to the Republicans, and none -to the people. This school board is absolutely autocratic, makes no -reports to anyone, and does not even have an auditor. Its function was -described by one of the teachers—“to buy all the holes in the ground -belonging to the bankers and put schools on them.” I regret that I -cannot give the figures as to what the bankers got, because the lady who -knows, and made the statement, is not willing to take the risk of -publicity. - -As manager of their “open-shop” schools this board has engaged a -superintendent by the name of Cammack, at a salary of eight thousand a -year; an aged despot with a second-grade teacher’s certificate and a -very bad temper. When you hear the story of his handling of the teachers -you find it so familiar, that you wonder if you have not already read -this part of the book. I had the same sensation all the time I was -traveling over America; it was like those dreams you have, in which you -know you’ve dreamed all that before! - -In Kansas City, as everywhere else, the teachers were unable to live -upon their wages; and here, as everywhere else, the business men had to -“jolly them along,” and persuade them that a great rich city could not -possibly afford to pay a living wage to the teachers of its children. -The women’s clubs took up the problem, and appointed a committee, which -voted that the question was “an intricate, vexatious and dangerous -one”—but it would never do to raise the tax assessment! Fifty-two -teachers had to go to work as telephone girls and in department stores -during the summer, to make up the deficit in their salaries; others were -working as waitresses in the railway hotels. They had borrowed money to -go to summer school, hoping thus to get promotion; now they were in debt -and could not make it up. - -So the teachers took up the idea of affiliation with the American -Federation of Teachers; there was a mass meeting, and the president of a -“co-operative” organization of the teachers, supposed to be representing -their interests, got them started at singing, and after they had sung -for a while he let them hear some “hand-picked” speakers; then, just -when everybody was expecting to hear a speech on the subject they were -all interested in, an increase in wages, he had them sing one more -song—and then declared the meeting adjourned! For this service he was -awarded with a five thousand dollar position in the school system of -another city. - -Kansas City has a kind of Margaret Haley of its own; she is Mrs. Sarah -Green, president of the Woman’s Trade Union League, and her organization -took up the fight for the teachers’ salaries. A mass-meeting was called, -and Mrs. Green called up the president of the board of education, and -asked permission to distribute announcements of the meeting to the -teachers in the schools; this permission was refused. Then Mrs. Green -asked the superintendent of schools for permission to hold the meeting -in a high school building; this permission also was refused. The meeting -was held outside, and a great many teachers got up the courage to -attend, and in the end they got about half the salary increase they -should have had. The cultured lady-teachers were shocked at the idea of -joining a trade union and identifying themselves with common working -girls. “But,” said Mrs. Green to me, “I know of girls who work in -factories in this city, and don’t even know how to read, who have more -courage than our teachers, and would not submit to the humiliations -which the teachers have to endure.” That is something for -school-teachers, and all other white-collared wage-slaves, to think -seriously about! - -Mrs. Green has also made herself a great nuisance to the school -authorities by butting in on debates in the public schools. You see, -they cannot keep the students from wanting to discuss that livest of all -live issues in Kansas City, the open shop. Mr. Cammack and his -supervisors and principals naturally plan to have the opponents of union -labor win these debates; but the students persist in coming to Mrs. -Green, who takes them in off hours and provides them with the facts—with -the result that out of ninety-seven she had trained, only seven have -lost the debates! You can imagine what a terrible thing that is for the -morale of an open-shop city! - -In the summer of 1922 there was an epidemic of trachoma in the Kansas -City schools. This is a dreadful eye-disease, which in its later stages -eats out the eye-balls. It is one of the most contagious of known -diseases, and so is a serious matter in schools. In one Kansas City -school a majority of the children were afflicted, but the board didn’t -want anything done about it, because it would interfere with the real -estate business; they would not let the doctors and nurses make the -facts known, so the parents had to take up the agitation. They went -before the school board and protested again and again, but could get -nothing done; the board sent nurses—to forbid the parents of infected -children to discuss the matter! One courageous teacher, Miss Letitia -Cotter, took up the agitation, at peril of her position, and carried it -to the labor unions and the parent-teacher associations. The -superintendent went off on his vacation, and left the assistant -superintendent, who told Miss Cotter that no more public money would be -spent on this matter—“the Red Cross already has spent six hundred -dollars on those dirty rats and wops!” So you see how they love the -people in these open-shop schools! - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV - IS A TEACHER A CITIZEN? - - -We continue East to St. Louis, another city where God and Mammon have -combined for the exploitation of the children. There is no city in which -the Catholics are stronger, nor any in which the two political parties -are more completely in the hands of the open-shoppers and labor -exploiters. Up to last year the two parties had a gentleman’s agreement -by which each party nominated for the school board only half as many -candidates as there were places to be filled. The result was no -competition for school board memberships on election day. The Democrats -inevitably elected their candidates and the Republicans theirs; and -since the nominating conventions were under the complete domination of -political bosses, these bosses in effect named the school board members. - -Recently the people made an especial effort to eliminate one gang -member, by the name of Murphy. They kept him off the Democratic ticket, -whereupon the Republicans nominated him, both the gangs voted for him, -and he went in for another six years. These school board members are -uneducated men of the ward-leader, campaign-manager type; at least three -of them, I am assured, have never been through the grade schools. A -prominent citizen of St. Louis wrote me in 1922: “We have men on our -board of education who are ignorant and vicious and without character -whatsoever.” Another citizen of St. Louis writes in 1923: - - There is no such thing as an honest election in St. Louis. The ballots - are changed by the political gangsters, who are the election officials - at all the polls. I visited a large number of the polls at the last - school election, and in some found only one individual sober; some - were lying with head on the table, dead to the world, others maudlin. - The large mass of the people are criminally negligent toward their - civic duties—they do not vote, and this makes it all the easier for - the ward-heelers. This is for your private information, for it would - work me much harm here in my position if anything of this appeared - over my signature. - -The Catholics of St. Louis have a complete educational system of their -own, replacing the public school system. The German Catholics used to -send their children to the public schools, but now the archbishop says, -“You will be damned if your children attend the godless schools”; and -the Irish and Italians and Poles, who compose the new Catholic -population, bow to this threat. You might think the Catholics would at -least be willing to let the “godless schools” alone, but they are not; -on the contrary, seventy per cent of the teachers in the public school -system are Catholics, and a good part of the board has been for a long -time made up of Catholics. The purpose of this is the same as we have -seen in New York and San Francisco, and shall see in Boston and -Baltimore—to starve the public schools. - -The extent to which this is done in St. Louis you will find difficult to -believe. The people want to have good schools, and go to the polls and -vote the money—and then the board of education refuses to spend the -money! Recently the people passed a bond issue of three million dollars -for new buildings; while I was in the city the board decided to spend -only one million and a half. The people have voted an education tax of -eight and one-half mills on the dollar, but the board again and again -has voted to spare the poor taxpayer and save his money. There were six -millions available for buildings, and no move had been made to spend -them. Ten grade schools and two senior high schools had been authorized -by the board the previous year, but they were not yet off the -drawing-boards; and meantime all the residence districts of St. Louis -are dotted with Catholic schools and high schools, and a new half -million dollar Catholic high school is near completion. - -I talked with Dr. Henry L. Wolfner, who is one of the best known -oculists in the United States, and was until recently a member of the -school board. Dr. Wolfner told me that he did not know why the board was -unwilling to spend this money; he had tried his best to get it spent, he -said, and the result was a long intrigue to force him off the board. -When finally he resigned, the “Globe-Democrat,” organ of the gang, -declared that in a letter to the board he had given ill health as his -reason for resignation. This, Dr. Wolfner assured me, was an out and out -lie. He summed up the situation in the St. Louis schools in two -contrasting incidents: first, the courts had removed a board member -because it had been discovered that the board had purchased a building -site through his real estate firm; and second, the Catholic president of -the school board had withdrawn from the college library a set of -Havelock Ellis’ great work, “The Psychology of Sex.” These books had -been in the library for many years, and were made use of by juvenile -court workers, and teachers of incorrigible boys and defectives. - -Dr. Wolfner told me of the efforts of the gang to get rid of one -competent educator after another. They had just forced out Dr. John W. -Withers, and also Dr. E. George Payne, director of the Teachers’ -College. Dr. Withers wrote a letter to the papers three or four years -ago, in which he showed how political graft and favoritism made -impossible an honest administration of the schools. The superintendent -was continually besieged by demands from the gang for favors, the -appointment or promotion of this or that political favorite. The -Catholics, of course, are tirelessly working for promotions for their -crowd. “I wish I could bring myself to become a Catholic,” said a -teacher to a friend of mine; “I would get on three times as fast.” - -Also, there has been a long struggle over the question of whether -graduates of the Catholic high schools should have the right to enter -Teachers’ College without passing an entrance examination. Since the -Catholic schools have very low standards, the educators of St. Louis -have fought this, and it was on this issue that Superintendent Withers -and Principal Payne of Teachers’ College were driven from St. Louis. The -Catholics brought suit in the courts, and won their case in St. Louis, -but lost it before the supreme court of the state. Now everybody in St. -Louis rests easy, in the assurance that standards are being maintained -for the teachers. But just recently the school board has thrown down the -bars, and parochial school graduates are accepted wholesale. This news -has been entirely suppressed by the St. Louis newspapers, so the public -of that city will get from this book their first information that their -school board has set aside the decision of their supreme court! - -Also, of course, the book companies are on the job. Up to the year 1921 -a member of the committee for the adoption of text-books was receiving a -salary from the American Book Company, for spending summers in -California and doing some nominal editorial work. Naturally this board -was friendly to American Book Company publications. The board meets in -secret, what it calls “executive meetings”; the members of the gang hold -a caucus in advance, and decide what they are going to do, and make -everything unanimous; so the public never finds out what is going on. -This regime of graft and favoritism extends all the way down; the -principals are petty tyrants, flattered and fawned upon; those teachers -who are weak and subservient, and do clerical work for their principals, -are the ones who get the marks. The St. Louis school system was worked -out by a real Prussian some thirty years ago; it is a military affair, -routine and red tape and formulas. Every year the teachers are -automatically dismissed, and must be reappointed—the ideal of the “open -shop” system. - -Here, as usual, the teachers had to take up the fight for a living wage. -No attention was paid to them, so they proceeded to organize. Miss Rosa -Hesse was elected president of the teachers’ organization, and the -superintendent sent for her and demanded to know if they were going to -join the American Federation of Teachers; if so, every one of them would -be discharged. The organizer of the teachers’ federation was barred from -speaking to them. At the same time, the official representative of the -Chamber of Commerce was coming and soliciting them to join his -organization. It would be “advantageous,” he assured the teachers -significantly. This Chamber of Commerce was deeply interested in the -schools—it had been taking action to prevent the professors at the -Teachers’ College using a series of text-books, “Community and National -Life,” prepared by Professor Charles H. Judd, and published by the -United States government; the ground of the objection being that these -books intimated very mildly that labor unions had some advantage, in -that they developed a sense of self-respect among laborers! - -If you have read “The Goose-step” you will recollect the question raised -by Professor H. L. Bolley of North Dakota: “Is a college professor a -citizen?” You will remember that we cited a number of cases proving that -he is not a citizen. We shall in this book consider the question: “Is a -school teacher a citizen?” In St. Louis she very certainly is not, as -the case of Miss Rosa Hesse proves. I had the pleasure of talking with -this lady, and if it would do her any good I would cheerfully bear -testimony that she is an American gentlewoman of the old school, -absolutely uncontaminated by any touch of “Red”—that is, unless -perchance the reading of “The Goose-step” has since affected her! At the -time I talked with her, she had no idea whatever of the social -significance of what had happened to her; she was simply bewildered by -her discovery that a school teacher is not permitted to demand a living -wage and to exercise her rights as a voter. - -To begin with, Miss Hesse discovered that the meetings of the school -board were supposed to be public; so she got a group of teachers to -agree to attend them and see what was going on. But when it came to a -showdown not one of the teachers dared; Miss Hesse went in all by -herself, and gave me a comical account of the expression on the -superintendent’s face when he saw her in that holy of holies. As a -result of this presumption, her name was left off the list for -reappointment in the year 1921. The superintendent lied to her outright -about it, but one of the board members gave him away, and the protests -of the teachers forced a reconsideration at this time. - -But shortly afterwards an election for the school board came up, and -Miss Hesse’s organization, the Grade Teachers’ Association, ventured to -approve certain candidates. I am told by a gentleman of St. Louis who -knows the situation intimately that in this political struggle the -teachers’ organization was being misled by the “gang”; and this, alas, -may be—I have seen labor unions thus used on many occasions. Anyhow, a -lady by the name of Mrs. Gellhorn, president of the Missouri League of -Women Voters, issued a call for a meeting of women. At this meeting the -choice of the Grade Teachers’ Association was condemned; and among those -endorsed was Mr. Christopher W. Johnson, millionaire basket -manufacturer, and a member of the board for twenty-four years. - -Mr. Johnson was running for re-election to a public office, and Miss -Hesse, a citizen of St. Louis, was being asked for her vote; she thought -she had a right to be informed about the matter, and she said to Mrs. -Gellhorn, privately and politely: “Is it true, as has just been stated -at an open men’s meeting, that Mr. Johnson is the head of a sweat-shop, -and is connected with a real estate company doing business with the -board?” That was all of the conversation; and for it Miss Hesse, who was -head assistant of the Franz Sigel School, and had been a teacher in St. -Louis for thirty-one years, was driven from her position and from the -school system. - -Mr. Johnson himself got hold of the story, and the matter was brought up -before the board. A motion was made for the expulsion of Miss Hesse, and -when the motion was about to die, Mr. Johnson himself seconded it. Miss -Hesse managed to get a public trial, and at this trial Mr. Johnson -served in the triple capacity of complainant, prosecutor and judge. -Three other members of the board gave testimony against the teacher, and -then voted as judges against her. - -I am told by one who has investigated the matter that the charge -concerning Mr. Johnson’s connection with a real estate company was -false; but the charge had been made in a public meeting, and so Miss -Hesse thought she had a right to inquire about it. Whether Mr. Johnson’s -large box and basket factory is properly described as “a sweat-shop” I -can not say; if I should call it that, Mr. Johnson, who is a contentious -person, might put me on trial also. But I presume I may quote a -physician in St. Louis, Dr. H. W. Faber, who writes me that he had to -attend girls who worked in this basket factory, and had worn down the -skin of their fingers until the blood oozed out on the baskets. I -presume also it is permissible to say that one of the ladies who -testified to having heard Miss Hesse’s question about a “sweat-shop,” -belongs to a family which ran a sweat-shop in the Missouri penitentiary! - -Miss Hesse’s expulsion made a great stir in the city; a petition was -circulated for her restoration, and twenty-five thousand people signed -it. The Central Trades and Labor Union appointed a committee to take up -the matter; but the board declared that it had no power to advise the -superintendent to reappoint a teacher. We may venture to guess that if -the board had made a polite recommendation, the superintendent would not -have ignored it. But they preferred to leave matters as they stood; and -the rule for teachers in St. Louis was stated to the newspapers by a -Jewish rabbi: “Do nothing, say nothing, be nothing!” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVI - INTRODUCING COMRADE THOMPSON - - -We move north to Minneapolis, headquarters of the milling industry, and -financial center of a rich iron and lumber territory. Here we find the -beginnings of hope for America; organized labor has broken away from its -old leadership and gone vigorously into politics, while the farmers, -rejecting the propaganda of their exploiters, have struck hands with the -labor unions. The result has been the Farmer-Labor party, which has -elected both United States senators from Minnesota, and will probably -take over the state administration at the next election. It controls the -city council of Minneapolis, and is fighting to get the schools away -from the Black Hand. - -The labor-smashing society of Minneapolis for twenty years has been the -Citizens’ Alliance, with a secret service department and a program of -terror. They have gone after the schools, as everything else; they have -had their friends on the board—contractors’ friends and real estate -friends, and open-shop friends. During the war the contractors put -forward their lawyer, the product of a military school, and the -secretary of the Citizens’ Alliance announced that this Mr. Purdy was to -run the school board. They borrowed the automobiles of the rich, and -elected him by the votes of the cooks and chambermaids and chauffeurs of -Minneapolis. As colleague on the board they gave him a Mr. Jepson, -president of an artificial limb company, who, needless to say, was -getting rich out of the war. While he was a member of the state senate, -he had written letters to his agents, ordering that all packages should -be shipped to him personally, because the express companies were so kind -as to handle his personal packages free. I had an amusing experience in -connection with this artificial limb gentleman. I sent the manuscript to -a certain high-up Minneapolis educator, who thinks I am too extreme in -my distrust of the plutocracy. He promised to correct my errors; and -concerning this Jepson story he wrote: - - This is a dim and mysterious tale. What frank does a state legislator - have? A postage allowance perhaps, that all the boys use up in some - way, whether for stamps or cigars. Or do you mean that the American - Express Company carried his packages free because he was a legislator? - I have never before heard this story, and I am not enough interested - to look it up. But you had better get a more accurate version before - you publish it. I know Jepson, and he does not strike me as just that - kind of a scoundrel. - -Well, I was more interested than my correspondent, and I looked it up. I -have before me a poster, measuring 25 inches by 39, with letters at the -top 1-5/8 inches in height: - -/* DISHONEST IN BUSINESS IS THIS THE KIND OF STATE SENATOR WE WANT TO -REPRESENT THE 44TH DISTRICT? */ - -The rest of the poster is occupied by six facsimile letters, bearing the -signature of Lowell E. Jepson, president of the Winkley Artificial Limb -Company, Jepson Bros., Sole Owners. One letter reads as follows: - - Now until you receive full instructions, send everything by U. S. - express to Hon. L. E. Jepson, 106 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis, - Minn., but always in a box so that contents may not easily be seen, - but never use a leg box in so doing. If you should have to send us a - leg for changes you had better get a small soap or cracker box and - bend it up and put it in that way. - -Another letter explains that inasmuch as Mr. Jepson represents the city -of Minneapolis in the state senate, the railways give him free -transportation, and he will be very glad to visit his correspondent to -fit him with two artificial legs. Another letter laments the fact that -“The U. S. express has gone back on me, so I had to pay the 30 cents; -after this send by Gt. Northern and it will come all right to me all -right.” And still another letter is addressed to an agent who is trying -to sell an artificial leg to an old soldier. In order to get a cash -payment at once, the agent is instructed to make the old soldier think -that if he does not pay cash there will be a long delay. “Make them -think that if something is not paid, dozens will get ahead of them.” - -This poster was used by Mr. Jepson’s political opponents in the effort -to keep him from being re-elected to the state senate. It is interesting -to hear that Mr. Jepson applied for an injunction, and the courts -suppressed the whole edition of these posters. Such a comfortable thing -it is to have your own courts! - -Against conditions such as this the Socialists and labor men of -Minneapolis are carrying on a fight for the schools. Big Business owns -not merely the courts and the government, it owns the university, and -almost all the churches and newspapers. The labor people started a -newspaper of their own, but it seems to have gotten away from them, and -they have to go to the public with their bare voices. A Socialist school -board member told me that in the campaign of 1921, he spoke at a noon -meeting in front of some factory every day for two months, then at a -meeting in the afternoon, and six times every evening. He was a member -of the board while I was in Minneapolis, and took me into office and -showed me the insides. - -Permit me to introduce you to Lynn Thompson, plain American carpenter, -organizer for the Trades and Labor Assembly of Minneapolis, and for -thirteen years an active Socialist soap-boxer. Recently it became his -duty to call a strike against the Wonderland Theatre; some judge issued -an injunction against the strike, and Comrade Thompson gave me the text -thereof, containing many paragraphs, and covering everything a human -being could do in connection with a theater and its proprietor. Said -Comrade Thompson: “I would violate that injunction if I were to wake up -in the middle of the night and dislike him.” Nevertheless, he posted the -theatre as unfair, and he and four other men were sentenced to pay two -hundred and fifty dollars each. Refusing to pay, they were sent to jail -on a six months’ sentence, and actually served sixtyfive days of it—a -period of great relief for the representatives of Big Business on the -school board! - -We are told that we must elect business men to office, because they -alone know about business. Here in Minneapolis was a school board -composed of business men exclusively, and the schools were reported to -be three hundred and fifty thousand dollars in debt, and there was no -money for current expenses. The newly elected carpenter asked these -business men, and they didn’t know how matters stood; neither did the -board’s employes know. For years the board had been spending the money -of the schools on guess-work. They got their appropriations at one time -of the year, and figured their expenses at another time, and never could -tell how much they needed or how much they had. Professor Swenson, of -the state university, who happened to be on the school board, had to go -before the legislature and make a guess as to what amount of bond issue -was necessary to cover the deficit; he guessed half a million, and came -out pretty near right. To make perfect the humor of this situation, an -association of business men had got the legislature to pass a strenuous -law, providing jail sentences for public officials who allowed -overdrafts of public funds. They knew at the time that the board of -education was “in the hole,” as were several other departments; and they -made no provision to cover the deficits. They went ahead and passed a -law, which they knew must be broken every day, if the government were to -go on! - -A carpenter is not supposed to know much about school-books, but Comrade -Thompson, with his colleague Mrs. Kinney, wife of a railroad conductor, -did what he could to find out. There had been no system in the -book-rooms, and it was often not possible for the principals to know -what books were stored in the schools; some of them followed the plan of -ordering new books every term, and burning the surplus stock of old -books. That was fine for the book companies, which naturally resented -Comrade Thompson’s “butting in.” - -The American Book Company had been represented for a couple of decades -by a famous book man, an old soldier by the name of Major Clancy. I ask -you to make particular note of this old gentleman; we shall meet him in -several places, and in the end find him high up in the councils of the -National Education Association. Major Clancy has only one arm, and this -is a picturesque appurtenance of a military title—until you learn that -the other arm was lost in a threshing machine! Citizens who were -investigating school book graft in Minneapolis noticed that when they -brought an indictment against one of the board members, the first thing -he did was to make a beeline for Major Clancy, who got him a lawyer and -saw to the putting up of his bail bonds. It was discovered that another -member of the board, also a member of the normal school board, was -attorney for the American Book Company. Text-books had been published in -huge quantities, and had stayed on the shelves untouched, until the -board had resolved that they were out of date, whereupon the companies -had taken them back for a few cents a copy. - -Naturally, Lynn Thompson was interested in building. The average cost of -school buildings in the United States is 37 cents a cubic foot. This -labor agitator and walking delegate, under bonds for violating a court -injunction, insisted upon the standardizing of all specifications, and -contracts were let in Minneapolis at a cost of 21.7 cents. Nor were -these cheap buildings—on the contrary, they were using brick that had -been adjudged too high in price for the schools in Des Moines. On that -same day the school board of Boston let a contract for a big building at -48.9 cents. It is worth noting that every step in this economy campaign -was fought by a big contractor who was on the school board. - -There was a question of building three high schools, and three brick -concerns bid $33 per thousand; it was manifest that they were in -collusion. The price was eight dollars too high, and Thompson moved that -they should buy in the open market for $24.10 per thousand. Two weeks -later they got an offer at this price from one of the concerns which had -bid $33—the same concern and the same bricks! And then came the question -of sites. One man having a pull with the board asked $60,000 for a site; -Thompson decided that it was worth $28,000 and the board offered him -$40,000. He went to the courts, and the jury said $28,000, and the -Supreme Court sustained that valuation. “For these efforts,” said -Comrade Thompson, “I got some abuse—and sixty-five days in jail.” It is -interesting to note that this $28,000 site was a trackage site, and the -purchase was made necessary because a previous board had given away -trackage to an automobile company. - -As a Socialist, of course, Comrade Thompson’s hobby is to have the -people do their own work, omitting the grafters. He would make a motion -that school buildings should be put up by the city; and he would get one -vote beside his own—that of the railroad conductor’s wife. The school -board had an electric repair shop, and this persisted in making bids on -repair jobs which beat all the contractors—to the contractors’ great -annoyance. There was one job on which the city’s men saved the city -three thousand dollars, or thirty-five per cent of the total cost. The -school board admitted that these workers were responsible and did -first-class work; nevertheless, the board passed a motion that the -repair shop should make no more bids. - -On December 20, 1921, bids were opened for a large job, and it was found -that the Sterling Electrical Company had bid $22,688, while the school -shop bid $4,300 less. The board awarded the contract to the Sterlings, -by a vote of five to two—the two, needless to say, being Thompson and -Kinney. Thompson got a taxpayer to go before a court and ask an -injunction, and Mr. Purdy, representative of the Black Hand on the -school board, appeared for his colleagues, and admitted that the shop -had proved to be reliable and efficient, but argued that the interest of -the private contractors must be conserved! The court sustained the -majority of the board, and the city of Minneapolis lost $4,300 to the -grafters.[G] It is interesting to note that the judge who rendered the -decision is that same Judge Bardwell who kept Comrade Thompson and four -other labor men in jail for sixty-five days for violating one of his -injunctions! - ------ - -Footnote G: - - Guy Alexander vs. A. P. Ortquest, Nels Juel, Lowell Jepson, et al.; - injunction denied Jan. 25, 1923. - ------ - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVII - MILLERS AND MILITARISM - - -In order to make a consecutive story, I have shown what Big Business has -done in the way of Graft in Minneapolis. Let us now complete our view by -taking up Propaganda and Repression. During the war there was formed a -“Public Safety Committee,” a lynching society of the Black Hand. One of -the first objects of their attention was the school board—with Lynn -Thompson daring to defend a teacher who belonged to the I. W. W.! He was -a fine teacher, and there was no other charge against him—but he had to -go. - -There was the usual fight over salary increase, and the teachers were -forming a union. The president of the Citizens’ Alliance, a former head -of a strike-breaking agency named Briggs, set out to “smooth them down,” -and gave a dinner to the teachers’ officers and leaders, about sixty of -them, at a “swell” club. There was an association of the teachers, -controlling their pension fund, and Mr. Briggs attended a meeting of -this, and pleaded with them “like a Methodist revivalist, with tears in -his eyes,” not to be so wicked as to join a union. He had several -teacher-lobbyists to help him in this campaign—and one of them got a -fine job in the state university as his reward. Another got up a -“Teachers’ League,” one of those “yellow” unions which the gang -controls. The teachers were asking five hundred dollars raise, and this -representative went before the board and said they would take three -hundred; after which he was made, an assistant principal, with a three -thousand dollar salary! It is interesting to note that when the Black -Hand was raising campaign funds to drive Comrade Thompson from the -school board, one of the charges named in their secret circulars was -that he had opposed promotion for this man! - -The militarists are making a desperate struggle to keep their hold on -the schools in this city of the millers. I thought I was back home in -Los Angeles when I learned how at one of the general meetings of the -Parent-Teachers’ Association they sprang a proposition to endorse -military training for the children. There was no time for consideration -or debate; they shoved it through without most of the people realizing -what was happening; and next morning the kept newspapers triumphantly -announced this result as representing some tens of thousands of parents -and teachers! - -Next came a proposition before the board to cut out night schools and -the Americanization program, on the ground that these cost too much -money. The Socialist carpenter moved that instead they should cut out -the military training; and he demanded a public hearing on the -proposition. The board set a time for the hearing, and then began it -earlier, hoping to rush it through before the opponents of militarism -got in. But that was easy for a soap-boxer who has learned to speak at -eight meetings in one day; he held all eight meetings right there before -the board, and kept things going until the regular time which had been -set for the discussion! - -It proved to be a lively session. The Reverend Shutter, pastor of the -Church of the Redeemer—oh, magnificent irony!—wrote a letter in defense -of militarism, and pointed out how the army was needed for the putting -down of strikes. The congressman for the Black Hand liked this so well -that he put it into the Congressional Record, and it was sent out under -the frank of the government. The editor of the Minneapolis “Labor -Review” stated that he had heard the wife of a school board member, -taking part in a debate at a women’s club, state that “we need soldiers -to put the Socialists down.” This was practically the same thing as the -clergyman had said, but for some reason the militarists took offense, -and the editor was challenged to name the woman—which he did. - -The climax came when a Congregational clergyman by the name of Stafford -spoke in opposition to military training. He was lieutenant and chaplain -in a medical regiment of the Officers’ Reserve Corps; so here was a -first-class scandal. The members of this corps held a meeting and -expelled him from their mess, and demanded that he surrender his -commission. The commanding officer of his regiment demanded that he -apologize and recant, and when he refused, preferred formal charges -against him for “conduct unbecoming an officer.” The army martinets set -up the contention that members of the Officers’ Reserve Corps and of the -Reserve Officers’ Training Corps are part of the army, and are under -military discipline at all times, and it is a breach of discipline for -any member of any unit to oppose military training. It is pleasant to be -able to record that the War Department refused to sustain this extreme -doctrine. - -I have told in “The Goose-step” of the elaborate system of spying which -the Black Hand maintained at the University of Minnesota, located in -Minneapolis. They did the very same in the schools; they got out a -questionnaire on militarism, and when one teacher omitted to answer -about Socialism and labor unions, the fact was broadcasted in the kept -newspapers. They sent a spy to inspect the text-books—including -annotations written in the teachers’ own copies. One teacher told me of -this, and how her principal had refused explanation of the incident. -They tested students on Socialism, the I. W. W., etc., for the purpose -of spying on the parents of these children. One high school teacher -thought it proper that her pupils should know the meaning of such words -before they answered questions; she advised them to go to a Socialist -meeting and hear the Socialist arguments, and she was summoned by the -principal and told that she would be discharged if she repeated this -offense. Another teacher was censured for advising a student to read -“The Jungle.” - -The spies were especially successful in the case of W. R. Ball, -“director of citizenship” in the Minneapolis schools. Mr. Ball had the -idea that democracy really means something, and should be applied in -every-day life; still worse, he belonged to the American Federation of -Teachers. The Citizens’ Alliance had a so-called “American Committee,” -and this committee employed two spies, bearing the hundred per cent -names of Olsen and Kunze, who collected a mass of gossip concerning Mr. -Ball’s utterances to his pupils. For example, he had referred his -advanced students to John Fiske’s “Critical Period of American History”; -in this work a chapter dealing with the period prior to the adoption of -the Constitution is entitled “Drifting Toward Anarchy.” So the spies -reported that Mr. Ball had advised his students to read a Socialist book -entitled “On the Road to Anarchy.” They also introduced a statement -charging disloyal teaching, signed by a well-known saloon keeper; and on -the witness stand before the board of education, this gentleman was -unable to remember anything in the statement, and finally admitted that -the paper had been handed to him to sign by Spy Olsen. - -Twenty-four principals and teachers, co-workers with Mr. Ball, appeared -to testify to the value of his work, and a committee of professors of -the state university, including a dean of the Graduate School and head -of the history department, certified to the value of the pamphlets Mr. -Ball had got out for his students. But Mr. Ball, in his statement to the -board of education, confessed to holding such ideas as “that a large -number of workers under the present capitalistic system, were getting -wages too low to support their families with the necessities of life.” -Also: “We defined a radical as a man who went to the roots of things and -traced cause to effect, and was necessarily a deep thinker, and a friend -to justice and righteousness.” The Minneapolis board of education -considered that this was equivalent to a plea of guilty, and so they -drove Mr. Ball from the Minneapolis schools. - -You will be amused also to hear the story of how the Black Hand of this -city put a detective agency upon the trail of Comrade Thompson, and what -they found. The report came in that he was a plumber, French descent, -member Holy Rosary Catholic Church, short, thick-set, dark complexion, -could neither read nor write the English language, and expressed himself -with great difficulty on the platform. Members of the Citizens’ Alliance -who had heard Lynn Thompson speaking at eight meetings per day, told the -detective agency that the details didn’t fit; they had been shadowing -the wrong Thompson! - -It is sad to have to report that after six years of devoted service to -the city, Lynn Thompson and Mrs. T. F. Kinney were defeated for -re-election to the Minneapolis school board in 1923. The teachers -supported them solidly, and they were able to show the voters how they -had saved the city more than a million dollars. But the Black Hand was -out to put down Socialism, and they did it in the usual way—with their -money. The contractors raised a campaign fund; Mr. Purdy wrote to the -vice-president of the First National Bank, pointing out the perils of -radicalism and appealing for support. The club women turned out with -their automobiles—and the wives of workingmen did not turn out, and that -tells the story. - -Out of ninety thousand votes the Big Business ticket won by four -thousand majority—and at the head of the board was the Citizens’ -Alliance candidate, a man by the name of Gould. It has since been -revealed by a senatorial investigation that this man was holding a -clerical position in one of the departments at the state capital, -drawing a salary of four hundred dollars a month from the state, while -doing the work of the so-called “Sound Government League,” an -organization of the Black Hand formed for the purpose of evading the -corrupt practices law of the state. This league had spent half a million -dollars in order to re-elect the candidate of the Black Hand as governor -of Minnesota; and now its secret agent, Gould, is on the school board of -the city, doing everything in his power to overcome the accomplishments -of Lynn Thompson and Mrs. Kinney. - -What does this mean for the teachers? I have before me a letter from a -Minneapolis teacher, who has ventured to speak out against school -autocracy. He explains that he has not been able to send me data, -because he has been loaded with a double amount of work, as punishment -for his opinions. I dare not tell you what this work is, because that -might lead to the teacher’s being recognized. He tells me of the -struggle of the teachers’ organizations, and the plan which they are now -agitating—to be permitted to experiment with a school without a -principal. He tells me also how the high schools are on a “six-hour day” -plan, against which the teachers are in opposition. Says my friend: - - One man, an athlete and debater at college said to me: “I think the - plan is a failure.” “Will you say so when you are asked?” I inquired. - “I think the administration will not look kindly on anyone who does,” - he replied. “But do you, a man, mean to tell me that you will not say - what you think?” His rejoinder was that he did not want to be thought - a “knocker.” What can be expected when such things prevail? Before the - war it was considered uneducation to make large classes: the big men - now demand “economy,” and force election of administrators pledged to - guarantee it. These administrators, instead of saying to the people: - “We are doing a reactionary thing,” declare: “We are now, by new - schemes of efficiency, getting one teacher to do the work of two; and - the teachers like it—as witness So-and-so!” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVIII - NEWBERRY PIE - - -Next we visit Detroit, headquarters of our automobile industry, where we -find the usual struggle to hold down union labor, and the usual school -board of business men and politicians, engaged in protecting the -interests of their crowd. I sat chatting with a group of newspaper -reporters, one of whom has been specializing in school affairs for many -years. “I suppose you have the regular school board graft,” I remarked; -and he hesitated: “No, I wouldn’t say there was much graft.” “Well,” -said I, “you have a committee which selects sites for the schools; do -you mean to say the members of this committee haven’t relatives and -friends among the big real estate speculators, who want the schools in -the neighborhood of their subdivisions?” The reporter looked at the rest -of the company and grinned. “Oh, the dirty son-of-a-gun, he’s right on -to the whole thing!” - -He went on to explain—of course they had that, but nobody would call -that graft in Detroit. It was in the power of the school board to make -the city grow any way it desired; there were thousands of people forced -to live in the suburbs, because rents everywhere else were too high, and -in making up their minds which district to go to, the first thing they -thought of was the nearness of a school. Then I went on to ask about -text-books, and the first detail to come out was that the principal of -the Northern High School of Detroit had written a text-book on English -literature, and the superintendent had been unable to refuse it, because -the principal was so “well connected.” “Is it a good book?” I asked, and -an educator replied: “It is one of the rottenest in the world!” - -Another friend tells me about some school board meetings which he -attended. There was a long and intricate discussion of the kind of pipe -which should be used for school buildings. One board member was keen for -iron pipe, another board member was keen for steel pipe. That bankers -and lawyers and dentists and club ladies should know so much about the -technicalities of building materials was puzzling to my friend. Some -kind of conclusion was arrived at, and then two weeks later he went -back, and attended another board meeting, and lo and behold, they were -threshing out the question all over again! Said my friend to a reporter: -“Aren’t there any other questions connected with Detroit education but -what kind of pipe they have in their buildings?” The answer was: -“Simpleton! One of these board members has a friend who would like to -sell iron pipe, and another of the members has a friend who would like -to sell steel pipe.” - -The connections of Big Business with the schools are so intimate in -Detroit that they are almost humorous. We have seen the American Book -Company operating in Minneapolis, and we now find that in Detroit its -president, A. V. Barnes, is the brother-in-law of Truman H. Newberry, -ex-secretary of the navy and ex-senator from Michigan.[H] We shall, -before we finish, see the American Book Company engaged in corrupting -school officials and making away with school money in every section of -the United States. Now we discover that several hundred thousand dollars -of the money thus made away with was used by Newberry and his gang to -buy a seat in the United State Senate. - ------ - -Footnote H: - - In “The Goose-step” Mr. A. V. Barnes was erroneously stated to be the - _father-in-law_ of Truman H. Newberry; and thereby hangs an amusing - anecdote. The Detroit “Times” wished to reprint the chapter dealing - with the University of Michigan, and in order to make sure of the - facts they sent the book to Judge Murfin, regent of the university, - and friend and attorney for the Barnes-Newberry family. Judge Murfin - sent back his comments with the statement that “Mr. Barnes is _not_ - the father-in-law of Mr. Newberry.” Just that and nothing more; you - see what a clever family lawyer the judge is! But someone on the - “Times” was suspicious, and wrote again, saying that in order to be - perfectly fair it would be necessary for Judge Murfin to state if - there was any relationship at all between Barnes and Newberry, and if - so, what the relationship was. By this means Judge Murfin was - persuaded to admit that Barnes is Newberry’s brother-in-law! - ------ - -As a rule, when these high-up grafters purchase a political title they -wear it with honor and glory the rest of their days; but it happened in -this case that Newberry’s opponent was Henry Ford, who has money enough -to have some rights, even in America. When Mr. Ford visited my home two -or three years ago, he told me that he had some two hundred men at work -investigating these election frauds, and he did not mean to quit until -he had got Newberry out of the Senate. He kept his word; but all through -the struggle the defense of Newberry was the first task of the gang in -Michigan—and this including the school machine. Mrs. Otto Marckwardt, an -instructor of swimming in the Detroit schools, and wife of a professor -at the University of Michigan, was so indiscreet as to answer the -questions of a pupil about the Newberry affair, and for this she was -turned out of her position. How this could happen you will understand -when I explain that Mr. Frank Cody, superintendent of schools in -Detroit, has a brother, Fred Cody, who was Newberry’s most active -henchman, and was convicted of election frauds along with Newberry. The -cycle becomes comically complete when we learn that Fred Cody is agent -for the American Book Company, whose president is Newberry’s -brother-in-law! - -So here is the perfection of plutocratic education. You may learn from -it what Big Business is going to do to all our children; in fact, you -have already learned it—turn back to Chapter XXI, and read about -Margaret Haley’s deputation of nine school teachers who came to Detroit -to study the “platoon system” as there applied. I am told by an educator -whom I trust that this system is fundamentally good; I am here -discussing only what is found in the great metropolis of automobiles, -the headquarters of all standardization. I remind you of its deputy -superintendent, in charge of this Fordization of infancy, who tells us -how “society” is certain to require more and more propaganda from the -schools, and this is the system which makes it possible. Ask yourself, -before it is too late, whether you are satisfied with your destiny, to -breed human units to be turned into factory operatives and cannon fodder -for the masters of the new American Empire. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIX - BEETS AND CELERY - - -We go from city to city, and I wonder, will you grow tired of reading -the same things over and over? Perhaps we shall be wise to agree on a -few formulas, so that you may get a situation in a phrase. Let us agree -upon “salary campaign,” to mean that the teachers took up the fight to -get an increase in wages—and didn’t get very much. Also the phrase -“union smashing,” to mean that the teachers formed an organization, and -were forced to quit it or to quit the schools. Also the phrase “schools -overcrowded”—meaning that the children of the poor are jammed into old, -unsanitary buildings, while the city is erecting palatial high schools, -with all the luxuries for the children of the rich. Also let us recall -the familiar “Propaganda” and “Repression,” which tell us that business -men come to the schools to sing the praises of business, while teachers -are reprimanded for the slightest hint of a liberal idea. All these -things are a part of the school system in the metropolis of automobiles. -As one teacher phrased it to me: “We know that the old watchful eye is -on us!” - -I have before me a copy of a publication called the “Industrial -Barometer,” Detroit, Michigan, September, 1923. It is the organ of the -Employers’ Association, and is full of bitter, sneering arguments -against labor unions and public ownership—proving that public ownership -of railroads leads inevitably and “by easy steps” to public ownership of -babies! A copy of this publication is sent free of charge to every -school teacher in Detroit, and when the teachers read it through they -find the menace which is meant for them: “The spread of radical and -iconoclastic theories in colleges calls for a closer inspection of -persons and things herein than heretofore.” (This of course is intended -as a lesson in economics, not in English!) - -I got an interesting light on Detroit education from a group of -Socialist children. Needless to say, these children were not having a -happy time in the schools; they were forced to listen all day long to -attacks upon their faith—and this regardless of what might be the -supposed subject of instruction. One teacher discussed the wickedness of -teachers forming unions, and pictured their plight when ordered on -strike: “And we’d be clubbed over the head if we refused!” A teacher of -economics explained all poverty as due to the extravagance of the poor; -she talked for half an hour about a case she had known, a poor woman who -bought a mahogany furniture set costing six hundred dollars, and -including three plate glass mirrors! You understand, it is not permitted -the children of Detroit to argue with their educators; as one child said -to me: “We almost die with rage!” - -Sometimes these children would be pained to note that teachers of a -liberal bent of mind would make some statement, and then be seized with -fear, and apologize and explain that they didn’t really mean it. One -teacher explained that she was using a very reactionary text-book, -because she had to. “And,” added the child, “that teacher is not -teaching any more.” The child understood exactly why, having often -observed the principal standing behind a half-opened door, listening to -what was going on in the class! - -The Socialist children brought me their text-books, to show what they -had to endure. For example, that work on English literature written by -the principal of the Northern High School of Detroit, Edwin L. Miller. -This local celebrity tells the children of his city that George Bernard -Shaw “persistently obtrudes upon the public the absurd proposition that -all property should be held in common.” I hereby publicly offer to Mr. -Miller or his publishers, the Lippincotts, the entire income which I may -derive from this book if they will point out to me a single passage from -the writings of George Bernard Shaw in which this proposition is -advanced. Will Mr. Miller or his publishers let me hear from them? They -will not! - -Also “The Elements of Political Economy,” by Professor J. Laurence -Laughlin, prize reactionary of the University of Standard Oil. This -eminent economist tells the school children of Detroit that “Socialistic -teaching strikes at the root of individuality and independent -character.” I have known some thousands of Socialists in my lifetime, -and I venture the estimate that nine out of ten of them possess more -individuality and independent character than a kept college professor of -the Rockefellers. This professor is so rabid in defense of his masters -that he even finds it necessary to underscore the phrases in his -text-books: “The great _difficulty with these schemes_,” etc. He reveals -himself so ignorant of Socialism that he cannot even spell correctly the -names of its leaders; he gives three names, Proudhon, Karl Marx, and -Lassalle, and misspells two of them! - -Or consider this sentence: “If men constantly hear it said that they are -oppressed and down-trodden, deprived of their own, ground down by the -rich, and that the State will set all things right for them in due time, -what other effect can that teaching have on the character and energy of -the ignorant than the complete destruction of all self-help?” I take the -liberty of answering this rhetorical question: such teaching can have -the effect of making the ignorant realize that for the mass of the -proletariat under the capitalist system individual effort is a pitiful -delusion and snare, and that the one hope for the workers lies in -class-conscious collective action. And when the ignorant have learned -that lesson, they will be wiser than a professor who teaches economics -under a Rockefeller subsidy, and produces poison text-books to be -published by Mr. Barnes of the American Book Company, and sold to the -schools of Detroit by the convicted henchman of Mr. Barnes’ -brother-in-law, and purchased for the city of Detroit by the brother of -this convicted henchman! - -I got another interesting sidelight on the schools of this metropolis of -automobiles by talking with a group of citizens interested in the -prevention of child labor. Because the workers of Detroit are taught by -poison text-books to rely upon self-help instead of solidarity, they are -so poor that they are unable to keep their children in school. The big -business men of Detroit are charmed with this condition, not merely -because it enables them to avoid paying taxes to build new schools in -the slums, but also because it provides them with an abundant supply of -child labor for their industries. In the effort to abolish such labor, -the reformers of Michigan obtained passage of a law allowing -poverty-stricken parents a sum equal to what the children might earn if -they worked; also, they obtained a mother’s pension law, for the support -of those children whose fathers are killed in the automobile factories. -But what is the use of such excellent laws when there is no budget -provided to pay the money? In the county in which the state capital is -located some mothers are getting as little as fifty cents a week for the -support of their children! - -A group of church workers, seeking to raise a fund to agitate against -these conditions, had the bright idea of getting “society ladies” to -assist them. The “society ladies” were to go about and collect -subscriptions from the manufacturers; but for the first time the ladies -found their charms entirely futile—they could not raise a penny! To -enforce these child labor laws would destroy the prosperity of Detroit, -said the great captains of industry. So every week the truant officers -and child labor officers bring children into the Recorder’s Court, and -the recorder investigates and learns that the reason the children are -out of school is because in school they would starve. The recorder has -to admit he does not know what to do with cases of this sort. - -We shall in due course examine the enormous organization, including all -the big manufacturers of the country, which for thirty years has carried -on a nation-wide campaign to paralyze the schools in the interest of -child labor. While we are in Michigan, let us see what they have been -doing here. All over the state are vast fields of beets and celery, and -for the cultivation of these cheap labor is a necessity. A man applies -for a job, and only one question is asked him: “What is your gang?”—the -meaning of the question being: “How many child slaves have you got?” -Children as young as five years of age stagger about the fields, -carrying in each hand a beet which weighs as much as six pounds, and -with the clay on it as much as ten pounds. The National Child Labor -Committee, covering one-seventh of the beet-territory, counted -sixty-nine children under six years of age, working as high as fifteen -hours a day! - -Of course, such babies, working such hours become ill, and are malformed -for life; yet before committees of the legislatures of forty-eight -states you will hear suave manufacturers explaining that child labor is -good for children—all the great presidents of America were raised on -farms! These suave gentlemen got through a law exempting the canning -industry from the child labor laws during the canning season; and then -the suave gentlemen devised a method, by the use of vats, to make the -canning season last the year round! This being a depressing subject, you -will be glad to end with a laugh; so I mention that one of these big -business gentlemen, a bitter and persistent enemy of the child labor -laws, is an active officer in the national organization of the Animal -Welfare League! - - - - - CHAPTER XL - BOSTON IN BONDAGE - - -Let us now move to the Atlantic seaboard, beginning with Boston, hub of -the universe and fountain-head of our culture. Boston once prided itself -upon the civic virtues and stern New England moralities; today it is a -graft-ridden city of slums, the cultured population having withdrawn to -the suburban towns, and the plutocracy to haughty isolation in the Back -Bay District, where “the Lowells speak only to Cabots and the Cabots -speak only to God.” The great bankers and corporation magnates employ -the corrupt city government in their factional fights—Lee, Higginson & -Company against Kidder, Peabody & Company; it is reported by those on -the inside that one mayor of the city made more than a million dollars -out of the “tips” he got from the latter firm. For a decade or two the -great part of Boston’s government has been for sale; the district -attorney was selling justice, or injustice, wholesale, and recently an -effort was made to convict him, but the gang proved too strong. - -All that these haughty magnates, the Lee-Higginsons and Kidder-Peabodys -and Lowell-Cabot-Lodges ask of the schools is that taxes be kept down. -To this end they have entered into alliance with the Catholic -hierarchy—the old firm of God, Mammon & Company operating on the shores -of Boston Bay, as we have seen it on the shores of San Francisco Bay and -the Mississippi River. For some time the arrangement was that the school -board consisted of two Catholics, two Protestants, and a Jew; but when I -was in Boston last year the line-up was four Catholics out of five -members. As usual, the entire program of the Catholic element can be -summed up in one sentence, to starve the public schools so that the -parochial schools may thrive. The hierarchy never ceases to denounce -from its pulpits those Catholics who fail to send their children to the -church schools. They have advised Catholic women not to join the -National Education Association, because this organization has endorsed -the Shepard-Towner Bill, providing national subsidies for education. It -was offered to exclude the Catholic schools from federal inspection, but -that made no difference—the Catholic authorities do not want the public -schools improved, they do not want the competition of good schools. - -They are tireless in their efforts to keep control. They have blocked -the movement for a “Greater Boston,” because this would bring in the -suburbs, which are Protestant. At a meeting at the Notre Dame Cathedral -one speaker after another stressed the importance of getting Catholic -teachers into the schools. “The Irish are always for the Irish,” -testifies ex-President Eliot of Harvard; and there have been some funny -illustrations in Boston education. Two or three years ago there was an -uproar in the city, it having been discovered that the schools were -using a work of anti-Irish propaganda, the Century Dictionary! Someone -had looked up the word “brutal,” and discovered that in illustrating its -use the dictionary employed a sentence from Emerson’s “English Traits,” -dealing with the great famine: “In Irish districts, men deteriorated in -size and shape, the nose sunk, the gums were exposed, with diminished -brain and brutal form.” So the school board solemnly resolved as -follows: “Ordered: That the use of the Century Dictionary in the Boston -Public Schools is hereby discontinued until such time as a -discriminating, unfair, and untrue reference to the Irish race is -eliminated.” And the Board of Superintendents ordered the passage -blacked out from all copies in the school libraries! I suggest to the -publishers of the Century Dictionary that when they are getting ready -their next edition for Boston, St. Louis, San Francisco, and other -Catholic cities, they look a little farther in Emerson’s “English -Traits,” and quote the following: “The English uncultured are a brutal -nation.... The brutality of the manners in the lower class appears in -the boxing, bear-baiting, cock-fighting, love of executions, and in the -readiness for a set-to in the streets, delightful to the English of all -classes.” - -The Catholic censorship of Boston’s intellectual life extends even to -the public library, which was at one time a famous institution, but is -now useless to students, because it excludes whole groups of modern -books. There is a reading-room for children, and on the prominent -shelves of this room you find church propaganda for the young, thrilling -stories about popular and beautiful lady Catholic wives, and wicked -Protestant “vamps” who break up homes. The Italians cannot get the -Bible, but have to write down their names and stand in line and wait—and -even then they don’t get it. I was told by a teacher in the Brookline -schools that the public library there had refused to order Chafee’s -“Freedom of Speech,” the standard work on the subject, written by a -professor of the Harvard Law School. I was told by a teacher in a Boston -high school that she had been rebuked by her principal for using a -text-book in which it was stated, casually and without comment, that the -Irish immigrants had come to America on account of the potato famine. - -I was told also of a high school department head who was called up on -the telephone by a Jesuit priest of Boston College, and ordered to -promote a certain Catholic to a higher grade. Considering this Catholic -incompetent, the department head declined, and was given two hours in -which to make her decision; when she still refused, scandals were spread -concerning her and she was summoned before the board. I cannot give the -details of this case, for the reason that the teacher who told me the -story was afraid to put it into writing, or even to revise my -manuscript. It is interesting to note that this priest is the person who -has been selected by the Catholic hierarchy to give the “improvement -lectures” for the teachers of the Boston schools; these lectures being -public school affairs, originally given by professors of Harvard. One -high school teacher told me that her pupils had been forbidden by the -priest to read Dumas! - -Boston is one city in which they have teachers’ councils. “What freedom -we have is due to these councils,” said a group of teachers to me; and I -asked just what kind of freedom that meant. They might take up the -question, at what hour should the janitor clean a certain room. They -might take up the question, what credits should be allowed for certain -courses. “But you have nothing to do with hiring and firing?” I asked, -and there came a chorus: “Oh, no, no, no!” And, of course, they have -nothing to do with salaries; their salaries have been held down, and -when the women teachers agitated for increased pay, they were “put off.” -They called a meeting in Faneuil Hall, “the cradle of liberty,” to -discuss their problem; they invited the board members to attend, but not -a single one was interested enough to come. Some teachers belong to a -union, but they keep very quiet; they saw what happened to the -policemen’s union in Boston. It is interesting to note that at the time -of the Boston police strike the teachers of English and history received -instructions from the school board not to permit any mention of it in -classes.[I] - ------ - -Footnote I: - - My account of the Boston police strike in “The Goose-step” was - ridiculed by the Boston newspapers, and a Cambridge professor wrote me - that he knew it was not true, because he had been on the - ground—meaning that he had read what the Boston newspapers published - concerning it, and had talked with other people who had read the same. - I take this occasion to state that my account of what went on during - this strike in the private offices of the Black Hand of Boston was - furnished by one of Boston’s leading bankers. This old gentleman wrote - it out for me with his own hand, and sent it to me—under the pledge - that when I had read it and made notes concerning it, I would send it - back. I am not sure that I would have had the nerve to publish what I - did about Cal Coolidge and his black eye, if I had known that this - strike-breaking hero was to become the next President of the United - States. But I have published it now, and can’t unpublish it! - ------ - -There was a Boston tea-party once upon a time, and the history books are -proud of it; but those old days are past, and the White Terror holds -sway in Boston and its suburbs. A teacher in the Cambridge public -schools was driven from the system for telling her pupils that the -Soviets had a right to determine their own way. At one of the Boston -high schools a child was writing on Bolshevism, and asked the teacher -about it, and the teacher gave her an article from the “Review of -Reviews,” which presented some facts favorable to the Russian -government. This teacher was called before the board and suspended, with -two weeks’ loss of pay, and was told never again “to teach anything with -two sides.” In Boston they passed an ordinance forbidding the displaying -of the red flag; and only after they had passed it did somebody -recollect that the red flag is the emblem of Harvard. I should like to -tell you of a number of other funny things which have happened in the -shadow of our “cradle of liberty”; I spent several hours listening to -stories of teachers—and after I got back home, most of these teachers -wrote, forbidding me to repeat what they had told me! - - - - - CHAPTER XLI - THE OPEN SHOP FOR CULTURE - - -While we are in Massachusetts, let us have a look at its second city, -Worcester, the manufacturing center of the metal trades, and “open shop” -headquarters of New England. We have studied this “open shop” system in -Southern California, and it will be interesting to note some further -evidence of the unity of the United States. - -What does the term “open shop” mean? It means that a place is “open” to -unorganized wage-slaves, and closed to union men; as corollary to this, -it means a universal spy system, with the beating, jailing and deporting -of union organizers. That there are factories in which the employers -maintain such conditions is bad enough; but when you have, as in -Worcester, an open shop city, the case is infinitely more serious. An -“open shop city” is a place where the organized employers apply to a -whole community those tactics of terrorism which they have learned -inside their factory gates; so that the “open shop” becomes not merely -the industrial policy, but the philosophy and religion and morality of -two hundred thousand human beings. - -The Black Hand of Worcester is known as the Metal Trades Association. It -has a whole group of subsidiary propaganda organizations, the Chamber of -Commerce, the Rotary Club, the Kiwanis Club, the Economic Club. It has -two kept newspapers, the “Telegram” and the “Gazette,” also a smaller -paper, the “Post,” controlled by the Catholics. There is a large Irish -population, also a French-Canadian population, to which the open shop is -handed down as the will of the Pope. The Protestant God thunders -actively through the mouths of fashionable clergymen, who denounce labor -unionism and Socialism, not merely in sermons, but in illustrated -lectures in colleges and schools, their denunciations being reprinted in -the next day’s newspapers. - -At the top of the educational system of this Black Hand is Clark -University, once a center of America’s feeble intellectual life. I have -told in two chapters of “The Goose-step” the story of this university’s -collapse. I will restate briefly: one of the trustees, Mr. Thurber, -general manager of Ginn & Company, school-book publishers, discovered an -opportunity to boost the sales of the Frye-Atwood Elementary -Geographies, and selected as the new president of Clark University and -Clark College the author of these masterpieces, who proceeded to open in -the institutions enormous geographical and geological and -physiographical and anthropographical and anthropogeological -and physicoanthropological and geophysicogeographical and -anthropophysicogeological departments, institutes, summer schools, -chautauquas, and correspondence schools, at which teachers and -superintendents of the United States are assembled, winter and summer, -to meet the book writers and book agents of Ginn & Company, with Mrs. -Helen Goss Thomas, head of the geographical division of Ginn & Company, -graciously pouring the tea. - -It happened that Scott Nearing was lecturing at Clark University on the -control of American colleges by the plutocracy, and President Atwood -came in to hear him, and being dissatisfied with the proofs he quoted, -and wishing to furnish more conclusive proofs, got up in the middle of -the lecture and ordered Scott Nearing off the platform and out of the -hall. This was the greatest triumph of plutocracy in American -educational history, and all Worcester rose with a yell and hailed -President Atwood as the saviour of the learned world. The Rotary Club -gave him a banquet, welcoming him with such uproar that the newspaper -reporters had to admit their best eloquence inadequate. The Economic -Club elected him president for the new year, the superintendent of -schools sang his praises, and the clergy ordered special anthems. - -Nor were more substantial rewards forgotten; I inspect a list of the -text-books used in the public schools of Worcester for the year after -the Nearing incident, and I discover that in the high schools there are -forty-two text-books of Ginn & Company, in the elementary schools -twenty, in the supplementary reading list thirty-five, a total of -ninety-seven books—and, needless to say, under the heading of -“Geography” we find “Frye’s New Geography, Book I, (Frye-Atwood -Series),” and also “New Geography, Book II, Atwood, (Frye-Atwood -Series).” - -While we are on the subject, you will be interested to know of recent -developments at Clark University. The chapters in “The Goose-step” -evidently got under the skin of the alumni, for they appointed a -committee of three to investigate President Atwood’s administration. The -chairman of this committee was a young Catholic physician of Worcester, -having political ambitions. He looked into the matter, and assured a -number of the faculty members that he was going to make a report -condemning Atwood’s administration. But then he was summoned before the -Clark trustees, who are the big chiefs of Worcester’s Black Hand; and -his committee rendered a report which said that everything was just as -it should be. Mr. Thurber came out with a statement that “everything is -lovely at Clark”; and this at a time when the freshman class had been -reduced one-half, the graduate school had been reduced nearly -two-thirds, and the trustees were obliged to raise the tuition fifty per -cent in order to offset the decrease in income! They have now made plans -to drum up students for the next year, and have engaged one of the -foremost chautauqua artists, ventriloquists, magicians, and vocal -acrobats in New England, to lead the force of salesmen. - -Also you will be amused to know that at the close of the last academic -year President Atwood summoned all those members of the faculty who were -his supporters, and asked them if they could suggest anything wrong -about his administration. One of the academic rabbits summoned courage -to make a squeak; he said the exclusion of the “Nation” and the “New -Republic” from the university library had done more than anything else -to injure the reputation of Clark. Whereupon the librarian flared up, -and declared that if either of these magazines were restored to the -library, he would resign. They have not been restored. - -Instead of that, Clark University is sending out bulletins offering -“home study courses” to people who want to learn to talk about the -weather! You may think that just one of my hideous jokes, but here is -the “Supplement” for April, 1923, listing “Courses Now Ready,” and the -first course is entitled: “The Passing Weather.” Says the description: -“This course will prove of interest and value to all who wish to know -the simple, scientific facts which underlie that ever-present widely -discussed subject, the weather.” The advertisement goes on to explain -that “the person who finds pleasure in observing and anticipating the -ever-changing face of the sky will find this study interesting and -profitable.” - -There remains to be mentioned a tragic incident. Among the faculty of -Clark who were in rebellion against the Atwood regime was Arthur Gordon -Webster, an internationally known scientist and physicist. Professor -Webster had been on the faculty for thirty years. I was advised to write -and ask him, in confidence, his ideas and conclusions. He wrote briefly, -but did not give me what I wanted, and I was told afterwards by some of -his colleagues that he was afraid to do so, and that the shame of his -position preyed upon his mind. Two months after “The Goose-step” -appeared, and while the faculty and student-body at Clark were -discussing the book, Professor Webster said to his students: “This is -the last time I shall address you from this platform—that is, for a long -time.” He wrote a note to his son, saying that his life had been a -failure; then he retired to his laboratory and put two bullets into his -head. - -Let us now take up the training of the goslings of this open shop city. -There is the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, with President Hollis, a -former naval officer and martial soul, who boasts that he is ready at -any time to place the entire student body of the Institute at the -disposal of the police to break strikes. (Last summer he loaned his own -daughters to break the strike of the underpaid telephone operators!) A -list of the trustees of this concern is a list of the Black Hand of -Massachusetts. At the head stands George I. Alden, president of the -state board of education, also president of the Norton Grinding Company, -a thoroughly feudal concern, which owns its workers’ homes, and -ruthlessly ferrets out every independent thought in their heads. Just -for fun, I will list the rest of these trustees by occupation, so that -you may see what a really plutocratic board can be when it tries. - -The manager of the American Steel & Wire Company, another feudal -concern, whose special device is to avoid paying pensions by discharging -its old employes a year or two before they become eligible; a prominent -banker and member of this same concern; a prominent lumber dealer and -manufacturer; the head of the largest loom manufactory in the United -States, heavily interested in banks and in the two Worcester newspapers; -the head of the United States Envelope Company; a leading banker; the -president of a sprinkler company, a notorious reactionary; the treasurer -of the Norton Company; the vice-president and sales manager of a forge -company; the president of the White Motor Company; the president and -general manger of a pump machinery company; the vice-president and -superintendent of the shoe machinery trust; the vice-president of the -Westinghouse Electric Company; the manager of a tool manufacturing -concern; the vice-president of a scales company, president of two other -scales companies, chairman of a typewriter company, director of an -asbestos corporation, a cement company, two banks, a safety razor -company, an arms company, a finance and trading corporation, a guarantee -company, and a water power company; the treasurer of a construction -company; another magnate of the Norton Company; the vice-president of a -national bank; the president of a lumber company; another manufacturer; -the treasurer of another manufacturing company; and three -representatives of the open shop of Jesus Christ. - -Let me give you also an illustration of what it means to run education -for such a board of magnificoes. The brother-in-law of one, an -interlocking director of manufacturing, banking, journalism and -hospitals, found himself with a son on his hands; and in the effort to -get this son through this institution he employed one of the -institution’s young instructors as a tutor. The son being unwilling to -take the trouble to visit the tutor, it was arranged that an automobile -should come each day to bring the tutor to the son. On one occasion -there turned up at the tutor’s door a large industrial truck of -unprepossessing appearance. As the tutor knew the garage of the great -magnate was stocked with motor cars of all kinds and sizes, he felt -himself injured in his dignity, and declined to climb aboard the -industrial truck. When the magnate learned of this, he was enraged, and -threatened the tutor—not merely with loss of the opportunity to tute, -but also with the loss of his position in the Worcester Polytechnic -Institute. - -The tutor still remaining obstinate, the issue was carried to President -Hollis, who took the side of his instructor: how could a retired naval -officer preserve the proper strike-breaking spirit in his faculty, if -members of the faculty were required to ride alongside common workingmen -in industrial trucks? He refused to discharge the instructor—and this in -spite of the fact that the magnate threatened the institution with loss -of a big donation. The tutor stopped tuting, but went on instructing at -Worcester Polytechnic; and I take pleasure in recording this first -feeble sprout of academic dignity in the Open Shop for Culture. - -Next in turn comes Worcester Academy, a preparatory school for young -plutocrats, correct, spiritual, and athletic; the principal a Rotary -Club educator, an ardent open shopper, who bars all liberal periodicals, -and rushed forward to denounce as “dissolute” those members of the Clark -faculty who opposed President Atwood. The grand duke of the board of -trustees is the president of a great construction company, and a leading -member of Worcester’s Black Hand. I might give you the complete list of -these plutocrats, but it would bore you, because it is the same kind of -thing as you have just read a minute ago. - -Next, the Worcester State Normal School, an entirely innocuous and -thought-excluding institution, in which the Black Hand trains its -teachers. One of the students reports everyone ardent in support of -Atwood, everything correct and cautious—because the funds depend upon -the open shop magnates. - -Next, Holy Cross College, a Jesuit school, where theology is queen of -the sciences and logic her chief handmaiden. The leading trustees are -prosperous Irish business men, lawyers and politicians. The institution -is prosperous, crowded with students, and has famous athletic teams, -noted for their bruising tendencies. Holy Cross graduates used to come -to Clark for graduate work, and express astonishment upon discovering -the existence of the sciences of economics and sociology. Whole new -vistas of mental activity would be opened up to them—which vistas have -now been closed by President Atwood. - -Next, Assumption College, founded by the monks of the Augustinian order, -who were driven out of France some twenty years ago. Its trustees are -the leading business men and lawyers among the French-Canadian -population, and the ideas taught are those which were considered a -menace to the existence of the republic in France a generation ago, but -which are exactly appropriate to the medievalism of plutocratic New -England. - -Finally the public schools. These are conducted by a “school committee,” -made up of leading representatives of the firm of God, Mammon & Company. -There used to be one professor of Clark University on this board, Frank -H. Hankins, an eminent sociologist, and it was his liberal ideas which -had a great deal to do with the decision of the Worcester plutocracy to -smash Clark. Now Professor Hankins and a dozen of his liberal colleagues -are gone, and the “school committee” is filled with semi-illiterates, -most of whom could not qualify to teach an elementary class in the -schools they control. - -The Metal Trades Association, with the consent of this “school -committee,” sends circulars to the teachers, warning them of the dangers -of the closed shop, and of all modern ideas in history, civics and -economics. Two or three years ago they encouraged a series of inter-high -school debates on the open shop, taking it for granted that their side -would win. Of course it didn’t win—it never can where both sides are -heard. The secretary of the Black Hand was infuriated, and declared this -one more evidence of the prevalence of Bolshevism in the educational -world. Nearing and Watson’s “Economics” was first mutilated, and then -ousted altogether; the same fate befell the entirely conventional -text-book of Professor Thomson, because he stated that immigrants were -frequently brought in to get cheaper labor, and were frequently not well -treated. - -The superintendent of schools in Worcester was, until recently, a -gentleman by the name of Gruver. He was a good-natured person, who tried -to keep friends with everybody; he made the mistake of recommending in a -newspaper interview the reading of Wells’ “Outline of History,” and from -that time he was doomed. He moved on, and his assistant took his place, -a gentleman by the name of Young, a special darling of the Worcester -plutocracy, and a special _bete noire_ of the Worcester teachers; a -meddlesome, domineering pedagogue, who delights in the exercise of -authority, and is never so happy as when he can order some passage -blacked out of a text-book, or can storm at some teacher for an -unplutocratic utterance. - -Under the former superintendent a number of teachers studied diligently -in summer schools, acquiring special credits; they were promised a -hundred dollars increase in salary, as reward for ten years of such -labor. Superintendent Young has abolished this reward—and so the -teachers are “out of luck.” He has substituted an arrangement whereby -high school students are enabled to earn money, to the vast satisfaction -of the Worcester plutocracy. The boys and girls lose two weeks of their -school work, and in return have the educational experience of acting as -clerks in the Worcester department-stores during the holiday rush! - -The Catholics are so strong that the “school committee” has had a -difficult time adjusting promotions to suit all parties. It used to be -arranged that executive positions were given alternately to the Knights -of Columbus and the Masons; but there developed a deadlock at the secret -sessions of the school committee—known to the populace as the “gum-shoe -meetings.” The Knights of Columbus were demanding a position out of -turn, and the Masons wouldn’t stand for it—so finally they compromised -by giving the position to a Jew! The Catholics had to be satisfied with -getting an uneducated blacksmith made assistant principal of a high -school; first he had been taken on to teach forge work in the manual -training department, and then, through his political pull, he became a -regular member of the faculty, and now assistant principal, on the way -to the top! - -Equally powerful in Worcester education are the Rotarians and the -Kiwanis. Superintendent Young was chosen by the Rotarians to travel all -the way to California as their representative in a national convention; -his predecessor, Gruver, was president of the Kiwanis. This book will be -translated into a number of European languages, and my translators will -write to ask me about these strange words, which are not in any -dictionary. So pardon me while I explain that Rotarians and Kiwanis are -business men who have made money rapidly, and who meet together to -express their satisfaction with the city and the civilization which have -made possible their success. Being human, these men would like to make -the world better, if it could be done without interfering with business; -since it cannot be done, they proceed to make the world bigger, and more -like what it is. - -How completely these men are divorced from the intellectual life, it -will be difficult for a European to imagine. They are bursting with -energy; but lacking contact with ideas, they are like engines whirling -in a vacuum, unconnected with driving shaft or gears. They assemble and -partake of luncheons and dinners in sumptuous hotels, and summon to them -preachers and teachers of all degrees, to tell them that they are the -ultimate product of evolution. Left to himself, a Rotarian or Kiwani -might now and then experience a gleam of humility; but intellectual men -accept their hospitality, and for the sake of promotion and pelf flatter -their mass-vanities and whip up their herd-emotions—and this surely is -what is meant by the sin against the Holy Ghost. - - - - - CHAPTER XLII - CORRUPT AND CONTENTED - - -We move south to Philadelphia, the third largest city of the country, -controlled by the Pennsylvania Railroad and its allied banks, through an -old-established and smoothly running political machine. Nearly twenty -years ago Lincoln Steffens described it as “Philadelphia corrupt and -contented.” For a while after that it ceased to be contented; there was -a general strike, which was smashed by the mounted police. But then came -the war, and Philadelphia is again at the apex of contented corruption -and corrupt contentment. - -So far as concerns the schools, there has always been the usual hundred -per cent plutocratic board, distributing patronage and financial and -real estate favors. When I visited the city in 1922 the schools were -under the care of what was called “the octogenarian board”; at its head -Judge Beeber, president of the Commonwealth Title and Trust Company, who -sees that a good part of the school funds are deposited in his bank. -Next to him was Mr. Burt of the American Bank, and financial intimate of -the Vare brothers, contractors and political bosses who had run the city -for a generation. Next, Mr. Simon Gratz, the czar of the schools for a -generation, and president of a real estate organization—you remember in -“The Goose-step” what I called the “interlocking directorate”; next, an -aged war-horse of the Republican machine, who was open in saying that he -represented the Vare brothers on the board, and whose name was -frequently mentioned in connection with female teachers and pupils, to -whom he had displayed undue ardor in his private office. - -Several of these aged plutocrats have just been forced out by a popular -upheaval, and the board is now run by Mr. William Rowan, who has a bank -in Kensington, and whose other qualification for the office of school -board president of a great city is that he is an undertaker. He presided -at a banquet in honor of some distinguished Frenchmen, and one of these -Frenchmen, a member of the Academy, made a speech in perfect English; -Mr. Rowan in reply proposed that the assemblage should unite in singing -the French national anthem, the “Marr-sales.” Also there is Mr. Boyle, -replacing Mr. Burt as representative of the American Bank. Also Mr. -Shallcross, a suburban political boss, whose son was recently president -of the real estaters. Also Mr. Mitten, president of the Rapid Transit -Company, and a nationally known union-smasher. Mr. Mitten has deluged -the schools with his propaganda in favor of company unions; he sent so -much that one high school returned it, marked “Send no more.” This -traction company has been so plundered by the financiers that seventy -per cent of its gross revenue goes to the bond-holders of underlying -companies, which own no property and do no work. In the girls’ high -schools some of the teachers of civics ventured to point out the -significance of this, and so Mr. Mitten transferred this subject of -civics to the grade schools, where the children are too young to -understand high finance. - -Philadelphia is an old and slow-moving city, in which everything follows -precedent, and outward respectability is the whole of life. It resembles -London, in that its leisure-class gentlemen have cricket-clubs; also in -that old families have vast holdings of real estate throughout the city, -which they hand down from generation to generation. The rich as a matter -of course send their children to private schools, where they do not have -to associate with the vulgar unwashed; so the big business men do not -care what becomes of the public schools, and only want their tax -assessments held down. - -For many years the social service organizations agitated for a school -survey by the city, and finally matters got so bad that the survey was -made by the state. The four volumes of the report, dated 1921, lie -before me. If you are suspicious of my opinions about schools, you may -prefer to hear from the state superintendent of public instruction. Dr. -Thomas E. Finegan is not a muck-raker, but a high-up educational -politician, with more letters after his name than he has in it—A.M., -Pd.D., Litt.D., L.H.D., LL.D.; and he says: - - It cannot be too emphatically stated that the general condition of - Philadelphia’s school plant is deplorable. - - Nearly forty thousand elementary pupils are on part-time attendance - because of lack of sufficient classrooms, and the high school pupils - are handicapped by the heavy overcrowding of their classes. - - There is a real hazard to the children of Philadelphia in the fact - that seventy-four per cent of the school buildings are not fireproof, - and are not equipped with modern fire protection apparatus. The system - of fire drills and the devotion and competence of the teaching force - afford the chief protection to most of the children in times of danger - from fire. - - The citizens of Philadelphia would be shocked to learn of the - unsanitary and unwholesome toilet facilities that are provided for the - children in a majority of the public schoolhouses. It is no - exaggeration to say that many of the conditions not only threaten the - health of the children, but are a menace to their morals as well. - - Over eighty per cent of these buildings provide less than the standard - play area now recognized as necessary to the healthy and happy school - life of children. - -Moreover, Superintendent Finegan goes on to say: - - As matters now stand, however, there is no way in which the people of - Philadelphia can register their will concerning the work of the public - schools. This condition results from the fact that the members of the - Board of Public Education are appointed by the judiciary rather than - elected by the people. There is no escaping either the logic or the - wisdom of maintaining that, where the members of a board of education - have the direct power to levy and collect taxes for the support of the - public schools, it follows as a necessary corollary that the members - of such a board should be elected directly by the people taxed and so - become directly responsible to them. - -Of course, one can make out a case from any report by taking the worst -items and quoting these alone. So I hasten to state that the makers of -the survey found some things in the Philadelphia schools of which they -could approve, and they were profuse in pious hopes that other things -would be made better. But nothing can alter the significance of a -statement such as the following: - - Sixty-four per cent of the children examined were found physically - defective. - -Or of a statement such as this: - - The most depressing condition observed was the indifference or - passivity of a large proportion of the classes visited. Pupils asked - very few questions, and it is most exceptional to find a recitation in - which thoughtful inquiry is usual and frequent. Real discussion is as - rare as signs of eager interest. - -And again: - - There is no organized attempt at any high school in Philadelphia, as - far as the administration is concerned, to teach the pupils how to - study. - -Philadelphia has a new superintendent, by the name of Broome, and he was -hailed as “the Broome that sweeps clean.” He had one new idea when he -took charge of the schools; he wanted a teachers’ council, and that -sounded like a revolutionary idea, and the teachers were interested. -This council was to deal with all matters connected with the interests -of teachers, and it would save the board of education the need of being -troubled with teachers’ complaints. Presently it developed that out of -the thirty-one members, considerably more than the majority were to be -elected by small groups from the supervising force. After much political -manipulation the superintendent succeeded in putting this plan over on -the teachers; the council has now been in operation for a year, and all -teachers realize its purpose. It has done nothing for teacher -welfare—but it stands in the way, so that no teacher can any longer get -access to the board of education! - -We shall see when we come to study our education from the national -viewpoint, that these superintendents meet together in county and state -and national conferences, to work out plans for the holding down of the -teachers and the regimenting of the school system. This clean-sweeping -Broome of Philadelphia put into effect an ingenious method of enforcing -conformity; he has a group of what he calls “superior teachers,” who are -given extra pay and promises of advancement for exceptional scholarship, -writing of theses, and other outside activity. The result has been gross -favoritism, and the wrecking of the morale of many schools by the -forming of cliques and political gangs. - -Teachers who fall out of favor are treated like the policemen in New -York; they are given jobs at the other end of the city from their -homes—and Philadelphia is geographically the largest city in the United -States. Three teachers were driven to suicide by such methods, and great -numbers have left the service. In certain schools the system has now -reached the stage of development with which we are familiar in the -moving picture world, where promotion for women employes depends upon -sexual favors extended to the men in power. Such is the reason which -Philadelphia teachers assign for the sudden rise of certain ladies in -the teaching force; and this condition is so common throughout the rural -schools that the city teachers assign it as their main purpose in -demanding tenure for all the teachers of the state. - -A great many of the schools, and especially the high schools, are -organized politically; the alumni associations and parent-teachers’ -associations are used, not merely to get favors for their schools, but -to serve the political bosses and their interests. The principal of a -South Philadelphia school not long ago circulated among his staff a -“request” that no teacher should “flunk” a certain notoriously poor -scholar, the reason being given that “his father is the police -lieutenant of our district, and we cannot afford to antagonize him.” -This boy passed triumphantly; and of course the same favors are extended -to prominent athletes, who would otherwise be barred from the school -contests. - -You will be prepared to learn that in such a city the feeble effort of -the teachers to start a union was crushed by the discharging of some and -the intimidating of the rest. (There were about a hundred members, and a -prominent leader sold them out for a promotion.) You will be prepared to -learn that the teachers get low salaries, and work all their lives -without promotion, unless they belong to the “gang.” You will be -prepared to hear that the Chamber of Commerce is strong, and has an -“educational bureau,” which formulates the policy for the schools, -especially as regards the training of Chamber of Commerce clerks and -mechanics. You will also be prepared to hear that civil rights are -things forgotten in this corrupt and contented city. - -There used to be a certain old-fashioned type of gentleman who had read -the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights of the -Constitution, and believed in civil liberty as a thing to be trusted and -fought for; but that type is now out of date, and the hustling young -business man, with his “under cover” agent and his “strong arm” -detective, runs both the city and the schools. The spirit was shown by -Superintendent Broome, when he heard a rumor from the Daughters of the -American Revolution (delicious irony of that name!) that there were -supposed to be some revolutionists among school teachers. The -clean-sweeping Broome set to work at once to sweep out “un-Americanism.” -“There are too many insidious influences at work today,” he declared. -“If there are any persons with such ideas in our schools here, I wish -they would resign before I am put to the embarrassing position of asking -them to resign.” The same newspaper quoted “other school officials” as -declaring that “if any teacher was suspected to be a radical, it was the -duty of a citizen to inform the school authorities.” - -Needless to say, education in Philadelphia is not inspiring to children; -and, as we have seen in other cities, under such conditions the children -get drunk. Early in 1923 Director Davis of the Prohibition Enforcement -Bureau ordered his investigators to look into reports of drunkenness on -the part of children in three public schools, who were said to be coming -to school in a half stupefied condition. I asked a friend about this, -and he wrote me that they were the children of Italian parents, who make -wine. But then I inquired further, and I learned that among the English -speaking mill-workers in the Kensington district the pastors of the -churches found it necessary to band together to protect the children -from the activities of boot-leggers. The brother of one of the highest -teachers in the city was arrested on this charge, and there have -frequently been charges of teachers imbibing during class sessions. -Also, the use of drugs by school children is prevalent, as in our other -great cities. How can you expect either the children or the boot-leggers -to obey the law, when the public reads in its morning papers that, -nearly five years after the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, the -police of Philadelphia Corrupt and Contented are solemnly informing the -keepers of thirteen hundred saloons that they must positively close next -month! And they don’t! - - - - - CHAPTER XLIII - THE SCENES OF MY CHILDHOOD - - -Let us move farther south to Baltimore, another old and slow-moving -city, with a dynasty of long-established merchant princes. For forty -years, to my knowledge, their political gang has run the city and -pocketed the proceeds. It is a community in which you can lose yourself -in miles of brick houses, all exactly alike—little two-story brick -houses for the working class and larger three and four-story brick -houses for their “betters.” I was born in one of these larger brick -houses, and spent my childhood playing on the cobble-stoned streets of -“Ballamaw”—as we called it. I never went to school there, because in my -childhood the family doctor thought I was learning too fast, and did not -realize that to send me to school might be the quickest way to stop me. -In Baltimore, as in Philadelphia, the children of the rich have -beautiful private schools, and leave the children of the poor to the -politicians. As one teacher said to me: “The people take it for granted -that the school system is working, like the water system under the -pavement.” After I had looked a little farther into school matters, I -wanted to substitute for the “water system” the “sewers.” - -It is the old story of the business partnership between God and Mammon. -The Catholics are strong in Baltimore, and are doing everything in their -power to choke the public schools; at the same time the merchant princes -are holding down taxes, and their politicians are leaving the old -buildings out of repair, without fire escapes, without proper heat—in -some cases even without books. The salaries of the teachers are -inadequate; but if ever there were two of them who had the courage to -start a union, they kept it so quiet that I was unable to find them. - -Baltimore is an old-fashioned city, and the middle-class -respectabilities hold it immovable. I was invited to the home of a lady -and gentleman who were interested in education, and there I found a -large company assembled. I asked them what was the economic control of -their schools, and found that in an audience of twenty-seven educators -there was apparently only one who knew what I meant by the phrase. They -were not conscious of any such thing, they said. I wanted to point out -to them that a horse never feels the rein until he starts to travel in -an undesired direction; but having been brought up in Baltimore, I knew -what politeness required. - -Another of the unwritten laws of Baltimore decrees that woman’s place is -the home. Woman is now permitted to leave the home to teach the children -in classrooms, but she is not permitted to come out of the classrooms to -discuss the conduct of the schools. In this company, with which I spent -a couple of hours, I counted ten men and seventeen women, and all of the -men said their say about the Baltimore schools and about education in -general. But only three out of the seventeen women had anything to say -at all; and one of these was the hostess, while the other two were -directly called upon by the hostess to answer a question. Such is the -state of the feminist movement in Baltimore! - -I found upon inquiry that the same condition prevailed in the schools. -Although the women teachers in the schools outnumbered the men seven to -one, they were practically unrepresented on the teachers’ councils. -Among nineteen representatives of the white teachers’ training schools -there was only one woman representative; from the girls’ high schools -there was only one woman representative out of thirty. From the colored -schools there was no woman representative, and many groups of the white -teachers had no woman representative. It was interesting to note that -the twenty-one hundred elementary teachers were represented as follows: -four principals, one kindergartner, one teacher in a secondary high -school, and three members of the Schoolmasters’ Club. You can imagine -how easy it is to handle the teachers in Baltimore! - -One of the things they need is a Henrietta Rodman in their city; for -they have the old Tammany system of “mother-baiting.” When the women -teachers marry they automatically resign; if they have a “pull” they may -get themselves re-employed as substitutes, at a lower salary—the -advantage in handling substitutes being that they may be immediately -dismissed without excuse. The women teachers in Baltimore have never -dared to have anything to do with the move for equal pay; this fight has -been carried on by the woman’s clubs. The city council was induced to -appropriate money to abolish discriminations between men and women -teachers; but the school board refused to spend the money, and the issue -has now been carried to the court of appeals. - -When I asked my impolite question about “economic control,” a former -school board member who was in the company told me how he had taken up -the fight for an increased tax to make possible better schools; he had -found one rich man to whom this increase would mean ten thousand dollars -per year, yet this man was willing to support the program. Surely that -disproved my idea of economic control! I answered patiently that I knew -there were individual rich people capable of generosity; but it was -different with classes, and especially when it came to anything which -threatened class control. Would this rich man have been willing for the -teachers of Baltimore to form a union? - -You may recollect that in Los Angeles I criticized the bankers for their -“thrift campaign” in the schools; and perhaps you wondered: did I object -to thrift in the schools? And why could I not believe that the bankers -might have a genuine interest in teaching thrift to the school children? -Well, you may learn about this from what happened in Baltimore. At the -Francis Scott Key School a beginning was made at a school bank, and the -bankers objected. Here, as in Los Angeles, the children were learning -thrift; but in Los Angeles the money was turned over to the bankers, -while in Baltimore the money was kept for the school! So here is a -laboratory test, proving that what the bankers want is not to teach the -children thrift, but to get the children’s money. - -The biggest banker in Baltimore is Mr. Robert Garrett, whose palace on -what we used to call “Charles Street Avenue” was one of the scenes of my -childhood. Mr. Garrett is director in half a dozen great financial -institutions, also of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; he is a graduate -of Princeton and of Johns Hopkins, and was selected as the city’s most -eminent financier to act as chairman of the Public Improvement -Commission, and spend twenty-two million dollars of the people’s money -for new school buildings. The work goes forward, under the very highest -capitalistic auspices; and one of the great new high schools is nearly -completed, when a group of independent citizens makes an investigation, -and discovers and proves that all through this building the contractors -have been substituting inferior materials—terra cotta pipe instead of -cast-iron pipe, cement bricks instead of clay bricks, inferior floor -materials, an inferior motor, etc. To cap the climax, the “panic bolts” -on the doors, which were to have brass rods, have steel rods -substituted; steel rusts, you understand, so when there is a fire, and -the children try to fling the doors open in a hurry, they will find the -bolts rusted fast, and the doors immovable. Does that dispose you to -trust your schools to the tender care of your bankers? - - - - - CHAPTER XLIV - THE BREWER’S DAUGHTER-IN-LAW - - -I have referred to the Francis Scott Key School in Baltimore, and you -will be interested to hear more about this rare phenomenon—a beautiful -building, animated by a beautiful spirit, and located in a city slum. -“Locust Point” is out in the shipping district, and the school overlooks -the harbor and the old Fort McHenry; it is named after the author of -“The Star-Spangled Banner,” who composed the song close to this spot. A -few years ago the people of Locust Point had the usual old wooden -fire-trap for their children; it burned down, and then came a struggle -with the politicians for a better school. The neighborhood is a Catholic -stronghold, and the priests wanted the building in an inaccessible -place; it had a library, and the priests do not wish Catholic children -to have too easy access to modern books. They would have had their way, -if it had not been for one rich woman of Baltimore, who has made herself -a kind of godmother to the schools. - -Meet Mrs. William Bauernschmidt, daughter-in-law of a well-known -Baltimore brewer lately deceased. This lady got her education in -Baltimore politics in a somewhat amusing way. A quiet, mild-mannered -young daughter-in-law, she used to sit in a corner of the library of the -old brewer’s home and do her knitting, while the men of the family -talked business. As the brewery business was all mixed up with politics, -the daughter-in-law came to know a great many secrets. She explained: -“The men paid no more attention to me than if I were a dormouse; so now, -when I come to deal with Baltimore politicians, I tell them, ‘I know -every filling you’ve got in your teeth!’” - -This, you perceive, is not refined language; not the sort that was used -by ladies during my boyhood in Baltimore! “But,” said Mrs. -Bauernschmidt, “there’s no use talking ‘up-town talk’ to them. I use -their own language.” She told me about one of these potentates—I forget -his name, but his nickname is “Sunny”—and said Mrs. Bauernschmidt: “I -know whose man you are every day; you belong on Monday to the gas -company, and Tuesday to the street railways, and on Wednesday you belong -to the breweries. I want you to know that I always know when our day -comes round!” - -But also she cajoles these fellows, and touches their hearts. Once upon -a time they were children, and some of them went to school; now they -have children of their own, and these are going to school; do they want -to steal the children’s money? And then she goes after the big fellows, -and sometimes she finds that even they have hearts! When she was -fighting for this new school on Locust Point, she tackled not merely the -mayor and the school board and the Catholic hierarchy, she tackled the -president of the Baltimore Dry Dock and Ship Building Company. She -wanted a park around the school, so that it would have room to grow, and -she got this mighty magnate to the point of declaring that if the -politicians wouldn’t vote the forty-five thousand dollars, he would put -it up himself and he would spend another forty-five thousand to find out -why he had had to do it! So, of course, the politicians fell all over -themselves, and the school has its park. - -Here was a second case of plutocratic generosity in Baltimore, and I -began to fear for the thesis of “The Goslings”! I asked Mrs. -Bauernschmidt about it, and she made a face. They will never be able to -fool her again, said she. Four years ago the schools wanted six million -dollars, and all the civic agencies of Baltimore were fighting for a -bond issue; they went to the business organizations, which endorsed -their program cordially, and there was thanksgiving among the educators. -But then it was discovered that a group of politicians and -land-speculators intended to tack on another bond issue of forty-two -million dollars for a “port loan”! The people of Baltimore were invited -to put up this enormous sum to provide harbor facilities for Big -Business, and the six million dollars for the schools was to provide the -“human appeal.” The combined propositions were carried in a whirlwind -campaign, and a “Port Commission” was appointed, which has been drawing -fat salaries for four years—but not a single dock has been built to -date! - -No, I do not expect to get very much for the people’s schools from the -plutocracy; but you note that I am perfectly willing to take what I can -get. For example, I take Mrs. Bauernschmidt! I don’t think she knows -much economics, and I am sure she never met a Socialist before; but she -has a robust mind, and she faces facts, whatever they may be. When there -was a strike of the ship-workers on Locust Point, she faced the fact -that the children were starving, and she helped raise money to feed -them. That, of course, was a terrible thing; everywhere throughout the -United States it is one of the worst offenses you can commit against the -plutocracy, because they rely upon the cries of the starving children to -break down the morale of strikers. - -Years passed, and Mrs. Bauernschmidt continued her wayward course. She -took up the fight for the new school at Locust Point, and did not stop -for the Catholic priest, nor yet for the political machine and its -political superintendent of schools. She went to speak before a -Parent-Teachers’ Association; a teacher asked her, and the -superintendent rebuked this teacher, saying that she had made a grievous -mistake, that Mrs. Bauernschmidt must not speak in the schools of -Baltimore, and a teacher ought not even be seen on the street with her. -He added words to this effect: “I know my business so well that I never -give promotion to a teacher who doesn’t stand in with the powers that -be.” - -So Mrs. Bauernschmidt went to war with this superintendent. She put him -on trial before the school board—when you have money you can do that -kind of thing. The gang was greatly exercised, because a teacher and a -principal who had been witnesses to the superintendent’s statement, told -the truth before the board; and that was a violation of the first -principle of gang ethics, it meant the end of discipline in the school -machine. The upshot of the controversy was that my native city got one -or two new board members, and the old superintendent was dismissed. You -see how it pays to keep track of the fillings in the teeth of your -politicians! - -There is the same story in Baltimore that we saw in San Francisco, St. -Louis and Boston; the people appropriate money for their schools, and -the representatives of God, Mammon and Company refuse to spend it. They -even get the courts to forbid them to spend it! The schools were -discovered to be fire-traps—and what better way to make Catholic parents -send their children to the parochial schools, than to have it generally -rumored that there is danger of fire in the public schools? So the money -for fire-escapes was not spent; and a delegation waited on the mayor, -one from each of the twenty-five schools which lacked fire-escapes. Mrs. -Bauernschmidt went along, and the Baltimore newspapers reported the -“wallop” which she delivered to the mayor: “History tells us about a -ruler who fiddled while the town burned, but I don’t remember reading of -his re-election, and I’ll bet you he couldn’t be re-elected mayor of -this city!” - -So the schools got some fire-escapes—but not all. Last year the -politicians returned an “unexpended balance” of $104,000 out of $600,000 -appropriated for school repairs; and so Mrs. Bauernschmidt’s -organization, the Public School Association, went after them once more. -Now it is promised that all the schools will be safe; and the Catholic -priests, realizing that they have to come up to the new standards, pay -visits to the Francis Scott Key school—a dozen of them in the course of -a couple of months—to find out about modern education! - -I make this Baltimore chapter the basis of a special word to those -people who read my books and write me that I am too bitter, that I -refuse to believe anything good about the rich. The story of Mrs. -Bauernschmidt gives me the chance to show that I like rich people -exactly as well as poor. All I ask of the rich is that they turn traitor -to their class and serve the general welfare. Not one in a hundred can -conceive of doing this, and not one in a thousand has the courage to act -on the idea; but at least I give them the chance. In every city, town -and village of the United States there is room for a woman of wealth who -will turn out and fight for the schools—not merely to get more money -from the tax-payers, and to keep the grafters from stealing it, but to -make the schools places of freedom, with windows open to the new -doctrines which are blowing over the world. In free inquiry and free -discussion lies the salvation of America; and it may be my misfortune, -but nevertheless it is a fact, that after having spent a year and a half -making inquiries, I am unable to name a single public school in the -United States in which the policy of free inquiry and free discussion is -consistently and boldly followed. - - - - - CHAPTER XLV - AN AUTOCRACY OF POLITICIANS - - -Next comes our national capital; and here we have a unique situation, -owing to the fact that the people of the District of Columbia have no -votes, but are governed by an autocracy of politicians. The school board -was formerly appointed by the District Commission; now it is appointed -by the District Supreme Court. The invisible government of the city is -made up of the traction interests and the real estate speculators, who -work hand in glove with the political machine, quite regardless of -whether this machine happens to be Democratic or Republican. There are -innumerable ways in which the public may be plundered, and innumerable -forms of “honest graft,” whereby it may be made worth while to -congressmen and senators to stand in with the plunderers. During the war -the population of Washington jumped from 300,000 to 450,000 in three -months; real estate values leaped to the skies, and rents beyond them, -so there was a harvest for every kind of speculator. - -The business gang had run our national capital for so long that they had -forgotten the possibility of anything else. But President Wilson -appointed two or three men of liberal sympathies to the District -Commission, and also to the District Supreme Court; so for the first -time some attention was paid to the public clamor concerning the -run-down state of the schools. Probably seventy-five per cent of the -buildings were old and unsanitary, and the overcrowding was unendurable, -especially in the high schools and the schools for Negroes; many of the -pupils had to do their work by artificial light. The way toward school -progress was blocked by entanglements of “red tape”; there was, and -still is, a triple control of school construction—recommendations for -new building sites are made by the board of education to the District -Commission, and from there go to the Appropriation Committee of the -House of Representatives. - -The movement for a new deal in school affairs came to a head in 1916. A -Universalist clergyman, Dr. John Van Schaick, Jr., was appointed to the -school board, and shortly afterwards became its president. He secured an -assistant for his church, paying this assistant out of his church -salary, while Dr. Van Schaick gave most of his time, without salary, to -the service of the Washington schools. He was a man of culture and broad -vision, a liberal of the finest type; and what the gang thought of him -was revealed three years later, when he was nominated for the District -Commission, and a congressional hearing was held. The first witness to -take the stand was a Washington business man, who set forth that Dr. Van -Schaick was neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but “a man who has been -handling a few dollars in a church,” whereas “we want a man who has been -in our city here, who has made a success of life.” Reading this, I could -not help thinking of a story I was told, about a former president of -this board of education who had made such a success. He remarked to a -friend that he had sold for a school site a lot so steep that it had to -be measured perpendicularly! - -The war came, and Dr. Van Schaick obtained leave of absence from the -school board and served as Commissioner for Belgium of the American Red -Cross. He has written a book about this, “The Little Corner Never -Conquered.” Returning, he again became president of the school board, -and took up the fight for the public. The district commissioners were -fixing the value of the traction lines, squeezing out a little of the -“water,” and Dr. Van Schaick supported them. He opposed one of the -traction mergers, which would give value to millions of dollars worth of -this “water.” Also, there was a commission to reduce rents, and Dr. Van -Schaick committed the crime of supporting one of its members who was -trying to expose the high rate of interest charged by the banks on -second mortgages. He had tried to get the new tuberculosis hospital -located in a decent site, whereas the real estate interests wanted it in -a swamp. As if that were not enough, this clergyman-educator advocated -prohibition enforcement—and anybody who knows Washington life will -understand how intolerable this would be to senators and congressmen. -Also, he supported the commissioner of police, who was trying to clean -up the “red-light” district; and this also would cause much -inconvenience to our leading statesmen. - -There was a superintendent of schools who was incompetent, but who stood -in with the gang. He had made political appointments, he had fought the -unions of the teachers and held down the teachers’ salaries; also, he -was a local favorite, raised in our own schools, and supported by the -Washington “Star.” Now Dr. Van Schaick and his board of education had -the temerity to get rid of this superintendent by a vote of eight to -one. The gang took up the challenge, and “Pat” Harrison of Mississippi -introduced into the Senate a resolution for an investigation of school -affairs. This investigation occupied a period of six weeks, during which -time the work of the schools came pretty much to a stand-still. - -Senator Harrison was not the chairman of the committee, but he took upon -himself the rôle of prosecutor, and did ninety-five per cent of the -questioning. He is the fighting type of statesman, who specializes in -not very courteous wit. I don’t suppose that many of my readers will -care to peruse the 1349 closely printed pages of this government -document, but my sense of duty has carried me through it, and I report -briefly thereon. It was a trial of four or five leading citizens for the -crime of being public-spirited. Dr. Van Schaick was on the stand for two -or three days, and showed himself a man of social vision and of the -finest courtesy. The spirit in which he was questioned may be judged -from one sentence of Senator Harrison’s: “And you have a very great -admiration for your ability in answering the questions that have been -propounded to you, have you not?” This caused the other members of the -school board to submit a written request that they might be represented -by counsel at the hearing; but the request was denied. - -The next victim was Mrs. Margarita Spalding Gerry, novelist, widow of a -former teacher in the Washington schools. Mrs. Gerry, a self-supporting -woman, had given herself without salary. She was accused of the crime of -owing Dr. Van Schaick a thousand dollar mortgage on her home, which -compelled her to vote as he directed. She was able to prove, first, that -Dr. Van Schaick did not own, and never had owned, any mortgage on her -home; and, second, that her vote had frequently been opposed to his. -There was a school teacher, Miss Alice Wood, who was accused of having -answered some questions of her pupils on the subject of Bolshevism. -Later on we shall hear her story; suffice it for the moment to say that -the school board had punished her, but that Mrs. Gerry, coming to know -her, had realized that injustice had been done. That constituted Mrs. -Gerry a Bolshevik, and made it necessary that both she and Miss Wood be -questioned minutely as to their political views. Dr. Van Schaick, on -returning from Belgium, had persuaded the board to reverse its action in -Miss Wood’s case; and that constituted Dr. Van Schaick a Bolshevik. - -Then came the turn of Mrs. Coralie Cook, a colored citizen, representing -the large Negro population of the city on the board of education. In -Mississippi the Negroes do not get much education, and Senator Harrison -felt it his duty to put this wife of a professor at Howard University in -her place. He referred to her niece, a teacher, as “this Clifford -woman,” and to a Negro teacher in the Washington schools as “a fellow by -the name of.” At the same time the Senator was cordially cooperating -with a Negro board member who had turned traitor to the liberal board. - -It had chanced that prior to the war the Dutch consul had sent to Dr. -Van Schaick a scientist from his country with a letter of introduction, -and Dr. Van Schaick, as a matter of routine, and in the midst of many -pressing duties, gave this gentleman a letter authorizing him to inspect -the schools. Subsequently this man was accused of being a German spy, -and it was proved that, as an anthropologist, and being interested in -racial types, he had taken nude photographs of women. Whether these -photographs were really obscene, I cannot say; but in any case, Dr. Van -Schaick had known nothing about the matter. But there was that letter of -introduction; and you can imagine what use the kept press made of such a -chance! Professor H. B. Learned of Yale University and Stanford, having -been so unwise as to serve on this school board, had to travel all the -way from California to explain that the Dutch anthropologist had visited -his home one evening and played on the piano and sung! - -The city of Washington can claim the prize over all the capitals of the -world for the degradation of its press. The leader of this man-hunt was -Theodore Noyes of the “Star,” who has always run the school board; he is -the brother of Frank Noyes, director of the Associated Press. Also -Edward B. McLean, owner of the Washington “Post,” heir of one vast -fortune and husband of another; Mr. McLean is notorious among Washington -newspaper men for his defiance of the prohibition laws, and it takes -some real defiance to achieve such prominence in Washington. - -These two newspapers made the claim that Dr. Van Schaick was not -eligible for the office of district commissioner, because he had not -been a resident of Washington for three years. They published a -photographic facsimile of a ballot alleged to have been cast by Dr. Van -Schaick at his summer home in Cobleskill, New York. It was subsequently -proved that this ballot had been cast by Dr. Van Schaick’s father, at -the time when Dr. Van Schaick was busy with Red Cross work in Belgium. -You will not need to be told that the newspapers did not feature this -correction! - -At the close of the investigation Senator Harrison delivered three or -four hours of eloquent denunciation in the Senate. But the school board -persisted in asserting its right to appoint a competent man as -superintendent. Then, having made sure of this appointment, Dr. Van -Schaick resigned, so that the new superintendent might not inherit all -his enemies. Also, Mrs. Gerry resigned—saying to a friend of mine: -“After all, my life is worth something to myself, and apparently it is -worth nothing to the city.” You can understand that the effect of this -uproar has been to make self-respecting citizens very reluctant to -assume the unpaid and thankless task of being responsible for the -Washington schools. - - - - - CHAPTER XLVI - THE CALIBRE OF CONGRESSMEN - - -Dr. Van Schaick’s successor as president of the board of education was a -Catholic gentleman by the name of Edwards, prominent in the Chamber of -Commerce, and therefore an undoubted “success.” His intellectual -qualifications you may judge when I tell you that he was president of -the Columbia Correspondence School, and when I explain to you this -amusing product of American public life. Great numbers of newly fledged -statesmen come to Washington, where they have to compose political -speeches and felicitous after-dinner addresses, letters to the -newspapers and to their constituents—all kinds of literary efforts for -which they lack the necessary knowledge of grammar. They cannot all have -private secretaries to write their speeches for them, as did the late -President Harding; so comes the Columbia Correspondence School, filling -a long-felt want. - -President Edwards would write you an essay or a speech on any subject, -at prices ranging from fifty cents up. If you used it only once, he -would charge you two dollars. It was all strictly confidential—that is, -until President Edwards was put upon the witness-stand at a -congressional hearing. Then he was asked: Did they sell essays to school -children? He answered, Yes, they would sell essays to people in any part -of the country, asking no questions. He was asked: “What would you do if -a teacher reprimanded a pupil for passing in one of your essays as his -own?” He answered that he was not sure what he would do, but he could -see nothing wrong with that. This disclosure raised such a row that the -new president of the school board was forced to resign; no one could -ever find out which one of the judges of the District Supreme Court had -recommended him, but they all united in getting rid of him! - -Under this autocracy of politicians the fate of the Washington school -teachers has been the same as we have seen in other cities. Their wages -in 1917 were on a starvation basis; the minimum was five hundred dollars -for assistant kindergartners, and the next was six hundred. Both the -high school teachers and the grade teachers formed unions, and the -politicians did not dare to stop them. The unions carried the agitation -to Congress, and got an increase of salary during the war. The gang -tried to corral them into the National Education Association. They have -a local “institute” and of course the teachers have little to do with -selecting the speakers. - -I have referred to the experience of Miss Alice Wood, and promised to -tell her story, which shows clearly what happens to teachers under an -autocracy of politicians. Miss Wood was a teacher of English at the -Western High School, and in the course of study furnished to her by her -superiors appeared such items as “Current Events,” “War News,” “Study of -Democracy Today,” and “Spontaneous Discussions and Criticisms.” In the -year 1919 it was naturally impossible for a teacher to conduct a class -along the above lines without being asked something about “Bolshevism.” -Miss Wood was asked, and she stated in reply that she had attended a -meeting at Poli’s Theater, where several travelers from Russia had -spoken, and their accounts of conditions were different from the -published stories in the daily press. (Never forget, this was the year -of the nationalization of women!) In answer to a direct question, Miss -Wood stated that she considered the Soviet government “an improvement -over the former government of Russia and a good government for Russia.” -She explained the word “Bolshevik” as meaning majority; and finally, she -advised pupils who wanted to know more about the subject to read -articles from the “Dial,” the “New Republic” and “Current Opinion.” - -A few days later Miss Wood received a letter from her principal, -questioning her about these matters. She answered, stating the facts as -above; furthermore explaining that she was extremely patriotic, that her -forefathers had served in the American Revolution, and that she regarded -Woodrow Wilson “as the greatest statesman of all times.” The reactionary -superintendent of schools then took up the matter with the board of -education. Under the law, Miss Wood had the right to a public trial, and -to be represented by counsel; the board set this rule quietly to one -side, and invited Miss Wood to appear informally before a committee, -which questioned her, but without giving her any idea that she was on -trial. She stated that she had received no instructions as to what kind -of answers she was to return on the subject of Bolshevism, and that she -was perfectly willing to follow the directions of her principal, of the -superintendent, or of the board, on this and on all other matters. -Whereupon the board suspended her, without pay, for a period of one -week! - -This of course was small punishment in itself—we have seen what is the -pay of a Washington teacher for one week. But what the board really -sentenced her to was disgrace and outrageous publicity in the -carrion-eating press. Therefore the teachers’ union took up the matter, -and engaged an attorney, and a long correspondence with the school -authorities followed, leading to no result. The matter was carried to -the District Supreme Court, and it is pleasant to be able to state that -this body reversed the action of the board, and Miss Wood got her week’s -salary. But in the meantime the Black Hand of our national capital had -accomplished its principal purpose—all the other teachers of the city -learned their lesson, and the pupils in the schools continued to believe -that all women in Russia were “nationalized”! - -Also they continued to believe that Washington is governed by great and -patriotic statesmen. Some time previously, a teacher had stated to her -pupils that “the calibre of congressmen of the present day is not as -good it was in the time of Clay and Webster”; and this teacher was made -the object of furious attack upon the floor of Congress! The -congressional committee took it up, and summoned the principal of the -school before them, and read the riot act to him; and so all the -teachers of Washington learned that they are not citizens of a -democracy, but serfs of a plutocratic empire. - -I am told now by a group of teachers that the new superintendent is -doing well, and that there is hope for a better deal in the schools; new -buildings are going up, and everyone wants to forget the old unhappy -past. The teachers ask me to plead for the cause which lies nearest to -their hearts, that of teacher participation in school control; and I -answer that this is the thing for which my book is written—to urge that -those who do the work of teaching, and really know about teaching, shall -take the place of traction magnates and real estate speculators in -charge of our children. It is not only in Washington that this is -needed, but everywhere, as you have already had opportunity to see. - - - - - CHAPTER XLVII - THE LOCAL MACHINES - - -We have now examined school conditions in nineteen of the largest -American cities; the total population of these cities amounts to -eighteen million, which means four million children subject to the -education here portrayed. You have noticed how much alike these school -machines are; it has no doubt occurred to you that such resemblance -cannot be a matter of accident, there must be some centralized control, -some bureau of standardization in charge of school systems in the United -States. And this is true; the local school machines, in cities, towns -and villages, are part of county machines, and these county machines are -part of state machines, and these state machines are united and -co-ordinated and standardized by the National Education Association, -with the help of the United States Bureau of Education, and the -Rockefeller General Education Board, and the Carnegie Foundation for the -Advancement of Teaching. - -Let us begin with the counties. Under the American system a county -superintendent of schools invariably has to be a school politician, and -almost invariably has to be a political politician as well. His school -gang is made up of his assistants and clerks and principals and other -numerous appointees, all of whom depend upon his favor and are looking -for promotion; also those teachers who serve him as bell-wethers, -leading the flocks of teacher sheep. In order to preserve the -self-respect of teachers, and make them think they have something to do -with education, they are organized into associations or clubs, all of -which are affiliated with the National Education Association, and -practically all of which are run by the local school machine. These -teachers’ associations thus occupy in the school world the same position -as the company or “yellow” unions, in the labor world. In the great -percentage of cases the officers in these teachers’ associations are the -superintendents and principals and other members of the supervising -force; in the remaining cases they are teachers who take their orders -from this force. In the few cases where the teachers have dared to rebel -and control their own organizations, their leaders have been browbeaten -and persecuted, slandered and denied promotion. - -The county superintendent works hand in glove with the local politicians -and their local financial masters. Whether he is appointed, or whether -he is elected, makes little difference, because the election must be -preceded by a nomination, which depends upon the local political -machine. Back of this nomination and the ensuing election are all the -sinister forces of graft which expect to profit from the schools. There -are the land speculators, who either have land to sell, or want to buy -school lands upon which wealth of some sort has been discovered. There -are contractors who want to put up school buildings for profit; there -are school book agents, who are bosom friends of all superintendents, -and put up money to elect them, and get it back ten-fold. I shall show -you in due course how these book agents serve also as teachers’ agents, -controlling the appointment of teachers and handing out favors and -promotions to those who support their “line.” - -And of course there are the bankers, who want the handling of school -funds, and also of the teachers’ funds; you shall see how the teachers -put up money for their own pensions, and the gang takes charge of it, -and turns it over to the bankers, either for cash or for political -support, which comes to the same thing. Also there are business -interests which want child labor, and want the compulsory school -attendance laws repealed or ignored. There are the various organizations -of Big Business propaganda—the National Association of Manufacturers, -which wants the children trained for servitude in mills and stores; the -American Legion and the militarists, who want them taught war and the -patriotism of greed; the newspapers, which support all forms of -reaction, and hold over the head of every official the imminent threat -of ruin as the penalty for insubordination. Such is the position of -county superintendents of schools, and of county boards of education -everywhere throughout the United States—except in those few counties -where the people, through the Farmer-Labor movement or something of the -sort, have been able to take over control of their own affairs. - -Next, the state superintendents and the state boards, which are the same -thing upon a bigger scale. The state machine has more money, the state -superintendent gets a higher salary, and so he is a politician of more -skill and subtlety. He stands in with the state gang, and his office is -a “hang-out” for idle functionaries smoking numerous big cigars. He -works with the land grafters and the book companies, the bankers and -merchants and manufacturers; he is their man, and gives the people their -kind of education. As a rule, the people are satisfied with that—there -being no other kind of education in sight, and no other kind -conceivable. The devout peasants of America have been taught to sing a -hymn about “the old-time religion,” which was good for their fathers and -is good enough for them; in exactly the same way their children get the -old-time education from the old-time gang. The average American has been -taught to believe in the public schools as next to the church in -sacredness, and he takes it for granted that public educators must be -noble-minded and disinterested men. - -There are frequently disputes between the educational politicians and -the political politicians; but if you examine these, you will generally -find that they are disputes over the division of the public funds. The -educational politicians are naturally fighting for the educational -machine; they want it to grow big, they want to be able to promote their -subordinates, and to carry on their propaganda, and to build up their -prestige. Here in my state of California, as I write, the state -superintendent is in the midst of a dispute with the newly elected -governor of the Black Hand. The governor cut down appropriations for the -state school machine to almost nothing—it was part of his program of -“economy,” and the state simply must have a new penitentiary if the -“criminal syndicalism” law is to be saved. The state superintendent of -schools carried the issue to the legislature, and the legislature voted -him the money, and the governor vetoed the bill. - -So now in the Los Angeles “Times” you learn that the state -superintendent is guilty of “political activities”; he is using the -power of his office to appeal to the people against the governor. In -such a dispute the sympathies of the local educational machines -throughout the state will be with the superintendent; they too want -funds, and they have to fight the forces which cut off their funds. But -they will all be careful not to overstep a certain limit in their -activities; the ultimate arbiter is Big Business, and both parties -appeal thereto. - -I have emphasized the uniformity of school systems and of their -political control. This uniformity is attained by constant communication -among the superintendents and the supervising force. In California they -make the state pay the expenses of this inter-communication; twice every -year there are conventions attended by all county and city -superintendents; once a year there is a convention for all principals of -high schools; and the traveling expenses of these functionaries are paid -out of the school funds. We shall find when we come to study the -national body that it has a “Department of Superintendence,” and holds a -convention in the course of each winter, at which all the -superintendents gather, expenses paid. Here is the great clearing-house, -where the bosses exchange experiences and perfect the technique of -holding down the salaries of the teachers, breaking up their -organizations, eliminating the rebels from the system, and making fast -the hold of the gang. - -We are going to attend several of these conventions of the National -Education Association, and meet some thirty thousand educators, -assembled from every corner of the country. But first it is desirable -that we should know more about the county and state organizations, all -of which send delegates to the national conventions. Let us take up the -state machines—bearing in mind that they are all alike, and that when -you know one you know forty-eight. - - - - - CHAPTER XLVIII - THE STEAM ROLLER - - -I again select California, because it is the nearest, and the easiest -for me to study. We can best know the California machine by following -the adventures of a rebel teacher; so permit me to introduce Mr. Ray E. -Chase, until recently head of a department at the Manual Arts High -School of Los Angeles. Mr. Chase was a man of brains, who refused to -take the orders of the gang; and we shall see what the gang did to him. - -In the year 1917 Mr. Chase was chosen by the Los Angeles High School -Teachers’ Association as their legislative representative, to proceed to -the state capital and watch out for the interests of teachers. He -applied to the school board of Los Angeles for leave of absence without -pay, whereupon the board members called him before them, and required -him to submit a complete list of the measures proposed or endorsed by -the Teachers’ Association. Said Mrs. Waters, widow of a bank president -and member of the board: “How could we know but that you meant to -advocate something of which the board would not approve?” But having -heard an outline of the projects, she declared: “I think those are all -harmless.” So they “allowed” Mr. Chase to go—and incidentally invited -him to work for some measures of theirs! - -Turn back to our Los Angeles story, and refresh your mind concerning -“Bill 1013” whereby the Better America Federation and its political -crooks tried to cripple the schools of the state. When this bill came up -before the legislature, the teachers’ agents were assured that it would -not affect the schools, so they let it go by; afterwards, the teachers -had to initiate and put through a referendum to repeal this bill, so as -to keep the schools functioning. Mr. Chase was a leader in this -procedure, and earned thereby the deadly enmity of the Black Hand. They -did all they could to drive him out of the school; his principal was -offered promotion by Judge Bordwell, president of the school board, on -condition that he would get rid of Chase and two other “radicals.” It -was during this intrigue that Bordwell asked the question: “Can’t you -get something on their morals?” - -Mr. Chase came back to Los Angeles and set to work on a plan to enable -the teachers of the city to exercise control of their Association. At -risk of repetition, let me make it clear that these teachers’ -associations are purely voluntary affairs—the teachers’ clubs, or -professional societies, which they try to run in their own interest and -according to their own ideas. Not merely does the gang take this control -away from them; the gang has made it a matter of professional life and -death for a teacher to stand out for the independence of the federation. -When elections are held, principals and superintendents are nominated, -and teachers who oppose their superior’s ambitions are denied promotion, -and sometimes dismissed. Let me remind you of the teacher in Oakland who -refused to vote for Superintendent Hunter’s candidate, and was hounded, -not merely in the schools, but in the business world outside. - -It is no easy matter for a common teacher to travel to a convention; -only the high-salaried ones can afford such a luxury. The rules of the -teachers’ associations permit members of one group to send members of -another group as delegates; so when the teachers cannot go, it is -tactfully suggested that a superintendent or a principal would like to -go; and how should a teacher be rude enough to deny credentials to such -a personage? So these personages go; they go fully versed in the -technique of controlling conventions, and the first thing they do is to -enter a caucus, and come out of it with a program of proceedings and a -“slate,” all ready to be “jammed through.” - -For three years the independent teachers of Los Angeles worked over a -plan to reorganize the Southern section of the association, taking it -out of the hands of the superintendents and putting it under the control -of the class-room teachers. The project came up in December, 1920, at a -convention whose chairman was Dr. E. C. Moore, director of the Southern -branch of the University of California. We met this gentleman as -superintendent of schools in Los Angeles seventeen years ago, getting -himself into trouble by cutting out General Otis’s “open shop” -propaganda from the program of the National Education Association. Since -then Dr. Moore has learned discretion, and become a thoroughly tame -servant of the Black Hand. At this convention he ruled out the report of -the reorganization committee, on the technical ground that he had not -had thirty days’ notice of the matter. Mind you, this committee was -reporting according to orders given at the last year’s convention, where -it had made a tentative report; Dr. Moore had known all about it at that -time, but he now shut the committee off, and appointed a new committee -to “work over” the constitution. This took another year, and resulted in -a document under which the association is a closed corporation, entirely -controlled by the supervising element in the schools. - -Simultaneously with all this, and practically duplicating it, was Mr. -Chase’s experience with the State Council of Education, the executive -body of all these California teachers’ associations. At its meeting in -Oakland, April, 1918, Mr. Chase brought up a project to bring these -associations under control of the classroom teachers. He had a detailed -and carefully worked out program to reorganize the associations, and -provide for their democratic control from the floor of the conventions. -Mr. Chase swept the assemblage with this project, and was made chairman -of a committee to perfect it. His ill health prevented his activity for -two years; but finally the project was got into shape, and was brought -before local bodies, and approved by every one that voted on it. In -December, 1920, Mr. Chase took it to the state council; but the gang -leaders, knowing what was coming, deliberately kept the convention busy -all day, and called for “new business” late at night, when everybody had -gone home except the administrative crowd. Out of thirty present, there -was only one class-room teacher! They meant of course, to vote down the -project, and then have the kept press flash the news over the state. So -Mr. Chase forbore to introduce it; he never will introduce it now, -because his story came to a sudden end. The Black Hand in Los Angeles -succeeded in “getting” him, according to the formula suggested by Judge -Bordwell some years earlier. The story is a complicated and rather -ghastly one; suffice it to say that they put him in a position where he -could not defend himself without dragging in some other people. As he -was unwilling to do that, he is out of the schools, and the gang leaders -are secure in their grip upon the teachers’ associations of Southern -California. - -But California is our most reactionary state, you will say. Very well: -then let us skip to Wisconsin, which is our most progressive state. Let -us see what has happened to the Wisconsin Teachers’ Association. - -There is one significant detail for you to get clear at the outset: In -state after state we find the people taking over their political -government, but they cannot get hold of their schools. The school -machine is intrenched behind entanglements of “red tape”; the -supervising force has “pull,” sometimes it is protected by civil -service—anyhow, the machine is tough, and hangs on until the -reactionaries come back. We shall see that happening in North Dakota, in -Minnesota, in Wisconsin. Senator LaFollette carried his state last time -by the biggest plurality ever known in America; but Mrs. LaFollette was -barred from speaking in country school-houses! The state educational -machine, the county machines, and most of the city machines in Wisconsin -are still in the hands of the gang. - -The situation in Milwaukee is especially interesting. Before the war -Milwaukee was under the eye of Victor Berger, while the schools were -under the eye of Victor Berger’s wife; so there was one American city -with no graft in its school affairs. But during the war the gang came -back, and they still have the schools—Mrs. Berger was for years the lone -Socialist member, and the board is run by the so-called “Voters’ -League,” which consists of exactly seven men, the chiefs of the Black -Hand of Wisconsin. These seven picked the candidates for the school -board at every election, and the newspapers printed the list -conspicuously, and told the people to “cut this out and take it to the -polls”; and, like good, patriotic Americans, they did so. - -In the effort to bludgeon the Teachers’ Federation, this Voters’ League -proposed a bill making it unlawful for public employes to organize. But -this bill failed, and the teachers of Milwaukee have stayed organized, -and what is more, they have kept the control of their own organization. -They went over the heads of their reactionary school board, and appealed -to a progressive state legislature, and got the school taxes in -Milwaukee conditioned upon the payment of a minimum salary of $1,500 to -grade teachers, running up to $2,400. Imagine a school board unable to -terrify its teachers by threats of salary reduction, and you will -understand the fury with which the educational gang regards the -Milwaukee Teachers’ Federation! - -Not content with getting their own salaries increased, these Milwaukee -teachers contributed $2,400 to the publicity campaign of the state -association, to get salary increases for the other teachers. They -lobbied through the state legislature the best kindergarten law in the -United States. They proposed legislation for tenure, and drafted the -best law on this subject. In short, the Milwaukee Local of the Wisconsin -Teachers’ Association is Bolshevism, raw, red and bloody, trampling the -holy ground of American education.[J] - ------ - -Footnote J: - - From the “Clarion,” Milwaukee, November 18, 1922: - - “EDUCATIONAL BOLSHIVISM (sic) - - “Milwaukee last week entertained the literati of Wisconsin’s leading - educationalists. The convention, designed to be creative in works of - harmony, good will and a spirit of constructive development, resulted - in a wild and riotous effort to determine the status of the caste - system with regard to our state educators. Topping it all, the head of - the Milwaukee’s Teachers Association emits a theory so rank in its - bolshevistic nature as to rock the very foundation of learning and to - place in extreme jeopardy the principles and ideals of our system of - state education.” (Note: This “theory” was that teachers are the - equals of superintendents.) - ------ - -In order to get clear what follows, you must understand that outside -Milwaukee, the gang still controls the teachers’ organizations, as it -does in California and all the other states. We are now going to watch -the gang leaders of Wisconsin at their job of holding down the Milwaukee -local. - -The constitution of the Wisconsin Teachers’ Association provided that -representation at conventions should be on the basis of one delegate for -every fifty members or major fraction of fifty. This provision was as -explicit as the English language could make it, and it had been -thoroughly threshed out, and understood by everyone. The Milwaukee local -had 1,347 paid members, and on that basis their representation had been -fixed at twenty-seven. But now the gang set up the claim that small -communities should have a chance to send representatives to the -convention; let it be provided that communities having less than fifty -teachers might have one delegate for every twenty-six members. To this -the Milwaukee teachers answered: Very well: but if the basis of -representation is to be one delegate for every twenty-six members, then -let the large cities also have one representative for every twenty-six -members, instead of one for every fifty. But you see, that did not fit -the purpose of the gang, which wanted to hold the Milwaukee teachers -down to one in fifty, while giving double representation to the country -districts, which the gang had under its thumb. - -In February of 1922 a meeting of the executive committee of the state -association was held, and it was resolved to permit the forming of -locals of the association in small communities, these locals to consist -of twenty-six members or more, the understanding being that the -convention, to be held in November, would determine whether or not it -approved this procedure. All over the state delegates were chosen under -this arrangement, and forty-six of them came to the convention. The -scheme of the gang was to get these country delegates seated, overwhelm -the twenty-seven delegates from Milwaukee, and put through an -arrangement to perpetuate that semi-disfranchisement of the -“Bolsheviks.” - -The “floor leader” who put through the job for the gang was Mr. Carroll -G. Pearse, then president of the Milwaukee State Normal School, and now -a book agent. I point out to you in passing that he is one of the big -chiefs of the national school machine. You remember, I have referred to -this as our educational Tammany Hall; and if you thought I was just -calling bad names, read this account of the “steam-roller” at the 1922 -convention of the Wisconsin Teachers’ Association, and see if Tammany -could teach anything to the school-masters! - -On the evening before the convention there was a meeting of the -credentials committee, which voted that the forty-six delegates, -representing locals having less than fifty members, were to be admitted -in violation of the constitution. And next day the president of the -convention placed his chair in such a way that he could not see the -Milwaukee representatives when they rose to demand recognition; he -called for a viva voce vote on the report of the credentials committee, -and declared that this report had carried. The Milwaukee teachers, of -course, demanded a roll-call; but the president refused to order it. One -after another he recognized the representatives of the supervising -force, who orated to the convention amid storms of protest. - -Here was a large gathering of people, and no one had any means of -knowing which were delegates and which were not; yet the president -refused to determine who was voting on this motion or on that. He -refused even to rule on the point of order, that he should determine who -had votes! He drove his “steam-roller” ahead, rushing through one motion -after another. The assembly adopted an amendment to the constitution, -admitting delegates from locals with twenty-six members or more. The -assembly elected a normal school president as president of the state -association for the next year. The assembly passed a resolution, offered -by Mr. Pearse, validating and legalizing all proceedings up to that -time—and all this without a single roll-call, without any record -whatsoever as to what persons had voted for these various resolutions, -what mob had altered the state constitution and disfranchised the -Milwaukee teachers! - -Having a night to think it over, the gang must have realized that this -story would look just a little “raw” when told in “The Goslings.” So -Floor-leader Pearse appeared next morning with a resolution excluding -those representatives whose rights to seats had been questioned on the -day before. But all the motions which had been passed by the shouts of -these representatives were permitted to stand! The disfranchised -delegates were directed to leave the hall; then they were reseated—the -whole transaction occupying five minutes! Finally a superintendent of -schools was elected secretary of the association, at a salary of -fifty-five hundred dollars, and the public school system of the state of -Wisconsin was safe for another year! Take this to any ward-healer or -henchman of your local political machine, and see if he can “beat it!” - - - - - CHAPTER XLIX - THE DISPENSERS OF PROMINENCE - - -We now ascend to the top of our great school pyramid, the National -Education Association. This is the professional organization of the -educators of the United States, and as such it possesses tremendous -prestige and power in the educational world. You probably know very -little about it, and may think that it has nothing to do with your local -schools; but in this you will be deceiving yourself, for its influence -is none the less strong because indirect. What the N. E. A. does is to -set the standards of the school world; in its councils, open or secret, -the thing called educational greatness is determined. - -Who are the “great” educators of America? Who are the ones that really -know how children should be taught, and what they should be taught? Do -you know who they are? Manifestly you do not; you have to be told who -they are, and the function of the N. E. A. is to tell you. It is the -dispenser of educational prominence and applause. The final test of -greatness in the school world is to be invited to deliver one of the -addresses before its annual convention; while to have your name added to -the list of presidents of the organization is in the school world the -same thing as it is in public life to have your name added to the list -of presidents of the United States, which every school child has to -learn by heart. You step out before this vast assemblage, amid a flutter -of applause, and tens of thousands of teachers and sympathizers absorb -your utterances, and carry them away to the farthest hamlets—this is -what is known in America as “inspiration.” The local newspapers print -your address in full, and the Associated Press sends a summary of it to -its thirteen hundred leading newspapers. Thus, if you are a reactionary, -you help to set backward the clock of American history, and to render -the position of your capitalist employers secure. If you are not a -reactionary, then you do not get within many feet of the platform at the -N. E. A. convention. - -There are at the present time a hundred and twenty-five thousand members -of the N. E. A., and they pay dues at the rate of two dollars per -member. More than eighty per cent of them are the plain, ordinary, -humble, rank and file classroom teachers, whose function is that of the -day laborer in the great corporation—to produce the wealth, while their -superiors spend it. You will be told that the N. E. A. is a “democratic” -organization, and you will understand what this means when I tell you -that Tammany Hall also is a “democratic” organization. New members are -welcome, in fact, they are eagerly sought-“drives” are carried on, and -the prestige of schools is established by the fact that they have one -hundred per cent membership in the N. E. A. Some school systems are even -going so far as to make membership in the N. E. A. compulsory to all -applicants for teachers’ positions. The Journal of the National -Education Association for September, 1922, triumphantly quotes the -superintendent of schools at Onaway, Michigan, as stating that -“teachers’ contracts in Onaway, Michigan, will in future require -teachers to become members of state and national educational -associations.” And in the case of St. Joseph, Missouri, the blanks to be -filled out by applicants for teaching positions contain the following -two questions: “Are you a member of the N. E. A.? If not, will you be a -member this year?” - -Now the classroom teachers are the real educators in America. They do -the actual work of teaching your children; they are the ones who know -your children, they spend some twenty-five hours with them every week, -and they are not seduced from the job of understanding children by -prominence and applause, nor by high salaries, nor by any other lure. -The classroom teachers are the ones we must depend upon if education is -to be improved. The classroom teachers represent democracy in the school -world, and the test of democracy in the N. E. A. is what happens to this -rank and file. So I begin my study of this great organization with its -Department of Classroom Teachers. - -Until a year or two ago the Department of Classroom Teachers of the N. -E. A. was nothing but a name. The way it leaped into sudden life is an -amusing story. The school superintendents of the N. E. A. decided that -they would have an exclusive organization, and hold meetings -uncontaminated by the presence of the school proletariat. At their -mid-winter convention of 1920 they reorganized themselves into an -autonomous body, called the Department of Superintendence. After they -had done this, the embarrassing discovery was made that they had -violated the by-laws of the N. E. A.; but, of course, at the next -convention of the N. E. A. special amendments were passed, so as to -legalize what the superintendents had done. Being a superintendent in -the N. E. A. is like being a millionaire in a police-court. - -Now to each of the N. E. A. conventions come the “Bolsheviks” of the -Milwaukee Teachers’ Association, headed by their president, Ethel -Gardner; also the “Bolsheviks” of the Chicago Teachers’ Federation, -headed by Margaret Haley. These groups are fighting for the school -proletariat, and they watch with practiced eyes the tricks and -contrivances of their superiors. They pounced upon this brilliant scheme -of the Department of Superintendence; why not reorganize the Classroom -Teachers’ Department of the N. E. A., and have it autonomous, like the -Department of Superintendence? A beautiful scheme, you see! The -Department of Superintendence had excluded from its membership everyone -who was not a superintendent; now let the Department of Classroom -Teachers exclude everyone who was not a classroom teacher! - -Here was treason and rank rebellion; and actually, these teachers had -the insolence to call a convention in Chicago, in February, 1922, at the -same time as the midwinter meeting of the Department of Superintendence. -The gang was so indignant that in Milwaukee the board of education -refused leave of absence to Miss Ethel Gardner, who was president of the -Department of Classroom Teachers, so that she might attend the -convention she had called. The gang moved heaven and earth to oust her -from her job as a teacher; but it so happened that she had an honest -principal, and when they asked him to report her as incompetent he -replied: “I will not tell a damned lie.” - -The convention was held without Miss Gardner, and the teachers appointed -a committee of Milwaukee and Chicago “Bolsheviks,” which spent all the -spring drawing up a constitution and having it made air-tight by a -competent attorney. At the 1922 convention of the N. E. A., held in -Boston, they appeared with a printed draft of their scheme. They were -going to re-elect Miss Ethel Gardner, the Milwaukee “Bolshevik,” as -their president; and it goes without saying that the gang did not intend -to let that happen. The gang picked out a “tame” teacher, Miss Effie -MacGregor of Minneapolis, and decreed that she was to become president -of the Department of Classroom Teachers—in spite of the classroom -teachers! - -This chapter is called “Dispensers of Prominence,” and here you see what -I mean. The classroom teachers had never heard of Miss Effie MacGregor; -she had never attended a meeting of the Department of Classroom -Teachers, nor was she a member of a classroom teachers’ association. She -had fought hard against the increase of their salaries; but now she was -to be their president, and have the spending of their ten thousand -dollars for a year! President Charl O. Williams of the N. E. A. -proceeded to place the lady on the main program of the N. E. A., -introducing her as “the foremost classroom teacher in the United -States.” President Williams went on to explain the lady’s credentials to -that title—she had arranged a movie benefit at a theatre, and raised -funds to send eight delegates to the convention! Please understand, that -is not a joke; that is the N. E. A. idea of “greatness.” - -Come back with me to Oakland, California, and recall the picture of Fred -M. Hunter, superintendent and educational ward leader, with his school -henchmen and his grafting contractors. Recall Miss Elizabeth Arlett, -“who, while supposed to be teaching the school children of Oakland, was -touring the United States, shortly before the 1920 convention, in the -interest of Mr. Hunter’s candidacy for president of the N. E. A. For -that service and her subsequent activities, Miss Arlett was promoted to -be principal of a high school in Oakland,” etc. You will expect to find -Miss Arlett at this 1922 convention, ready to carry out Mr. Hunter’s -orders for the smashing of the classroom teachers. You will be prepared -to hear that the gang went into caucus in Miss Effie MacGregor’s room, -and that Miss Arlett took the initiative and made the principal speech, -endorsing her and outlining the program. - -The gang had engaged Symphony Hall for the business meeting of the -Department of Classroom Teachers—an afternoon meeting, and there was to -be a concert in the hall in the evening. The promise had been made that -the hall would be vacated at five o’clock; but not a word was said to -the teachers about this, and the gang proceeded to drag the meeting out -with technical discussions over the details of the constitution. At six -o’clock a slip of paper was sent up to the presiding officer, stating -that the meeting had already kept the hall for an hour beyond the time -agreed upon, and must vacate immediately! - -The teachers had just got down to the work of electing officers; they -wanted to finish this work in a hurry, for they knew exactly whom they -wanted, and it wouldn’t have taken five minutes. But the gang would not -let that happen; a member of the board of trustees of the N. E. A. began -a violent and noisy filibuster, and so prevented the election. The -assembly twice rejected a motion to hold an adjourned meeting; they -wanted to do their electing right there, but the gang held on and -delayed matters, until finally the janitor threatened to turn out the -lights, and thus forced the teachers from the hall. - -So here was the Department of Classroom Teachers left without officers -for a year! They did not know what to do; but the gang knew, you may be -sure. They sprung the proposition at an assembly of the N. E. A. -convention, at which very few of the classroom teachers were present, -but at which four out of five of those present were superintendents or -members of the supervising force. To this gathering the president of the -N. E. A. announced that she “ordered” a meeting of the Classroom -Teachers’ Department, to be held as soon as this N. E. A. assembly had -adjourned. Under the by-laws, the president of the N. E. A. was -absolutely without authority to order any such meeting; but she ordered -it, and the incoming president of the N. E. A. took charge—Mr. William -B. Owen, president of the Chicago Normal School, “ward leader” of the -gang in that city. - -The meeting was held; that is to say, a number of spectators stayed -over, and Mr. Owen called them to order as classroom teachers, but -without making any effort to find out whether they really were classroom -teachers or not. The climax of absurdity was reached when this -meeting—it was held in a theatre—was forced to vacate, and adjourned to -the Boys’ Trade School. Fewer than two hundred people came to this -place, and no effort was made to ascertain who they were, or what right -they had to vote in the affairs of the classroom teachers. By means of -this assemblage, the gang proceeded to elect Miss Effie MacGregor to run -the Department of Classroom Teachers for a year! And you may be sure -that in the course of that year the gang got busy, and pulled its wires, -and saw to it that at the next convention there was a good majority -against Miss Ethel Gardner, the Milwaukee “Bolshevik!” The job was an -easy one, because the convention was in Oakland, and we have been there -and seen how Superintendent Hunter keeps his teachers under his thumb. - -I think that to make the above story complete and perfect you will need -to know something about the lady-president of the N. E. A. who put this -job through for the gang. You already have her name—Charl O. Williams; -she was school superintendent of Shelby County, Tennessee, and -immediately after this convention she got her reward—a permanent N. E. -A. job, carrying not merely a salary of $7,500 a year, but the privilege -of uplifting the teachers with Southern eloquence at one hundred dollars -per lift. This lady ex-superintendent ex-president field secretary also -represents her State of Tennessee on the national committee of the -Democratic party, where she sits in conference with the chiefs of -Tammany Hall; so you see exactly where this rascality comes from. Keep -the lady in mind, because a year later we shall find her selected by the -N. E. A. to uplift the world conference of educators—and to soothe their -cravings for peace with weazel words of war. - - - - - CHAPTER L - A PLOT AGAINST DEMOCRACY - - -The National Education Association is a very old institution, predating -the Civil War. It has always been controlled entirely by the supervising -force; in other words, it has been an employers’ organization. During -several decades of its history no classroom teacher was ever elected to -any office. At the present time some well trained teacher is -occasionally admitted to office for the sake of appearances. It required -many years of struggle to get the National Education Association to give -any consideration whatever to the living and working conditions of the -classroom teacher, or to recognize salaries, pensions and tenure as -legitimate subjects for discussion. It required a revolution in the -organization to secure in the year 1903 the appointment of a committee -on salaries, tenure and pensions; and this committee made a report which -was full of misrepresentations. Not until 1911 was action taken even to -gather the real figures on these questions. - -I will give you a glimpse of the organization in those early days, just -to let you see how these things remain the same. At the 1901 convention -in Detroit, the United States Commissioner of Education gave a paper -outlining the progress of the schools. He was an aged dotard; as an -eye-witness said to me, “In the educational system we don’t bury the -dead. We let them walk around to save funeral expenses.” This speaker -congratulated the country upon the growing number of school pupils, but -said not a word about the need of more school money. An orator who rose -to applaud him declared that the educational sky was without a cloud, -and his only regret was that the American public schools had not been -able to get a donation from Rockefeller. - -But suddenly a cloud rose upon the educational sky. A thing happened -which had never before happened in the history of the N. E. A.—a -classroom teacher rose up from the floor of the convention and asked to -speak! To make matters worse, it was a woman teacher. This female rebel -declared that she for one was glad that the American public schools had -not got any money from Rockefeller, and she hoped they would keep clear -of all corporation influence. If the rich wanted to help the schools, -let them pay their taxes; let the railroads, for example, pay taxes on -their franchise valuations, which they were everywhere evading. - -You may not need to be told that this was Margaret Haley, making her -debut to the N. E. A. twenty-three years ago. The great assemblage was -stunned; to attack the railroads, the N. E. A.’s main source of revenue! -At that time, you see, when you bought your ticket to the convention, -the ticket included your dues, and the N. E. A. got the rake-off! - -The aged commissioner felt called upon to put down this insurrection. He -got up again and stated that all the wealth of the railroads had come -from economy in administration—he knew, because he was a personal friend -of Commodore Vanderbilt. As for the attitude of the lady teacher, these -meetings were held at the end of the school year, when all the teachers -were tired; if there were any more such hysterical outbursts, he would -insist upon having the time of the convention changed. He urged the -delegates to pay no attention to this; the teachers were worn out from -the school routine, and were not in condition to think soberly. -Moreover, the delegates must bear in mind that Chicago was no criterion -of the rest of the country; Chicago was “morbid and cyclonic.” You can -imagine how the Chicago newspapers appreciated this compliment from -Detroit! - -Sixteen years passed, and revolution came in Russia, and our school -superintendents realized the danger of permitting the lower classes to -get out of hand. They resolved to put down the classroom teachers in the -N. E. A., and to keep them down. The procedure by which they did it -constitutes one of the most amazing public crimes in the history of the -United States. Bear in mind: this National Education Association was a -public institution, with a charter from Congress, according to which it -was controlled by its members. Any educator—including teachers—might pay -four dollars and become an active member, and these active members met -in convention once a year, and there voted and elected officers. This -was democracy, as our ancestors understood it; and this was the thing -which was suddenly discovered by school superintendents and their -capitalist masters to be a menace to the American schools. - -At N. E. A. conventions there would appear two kinds of active members. -There would be those who had come from all parts of the country, and -ninety per cent of these were from the employing class of the schools. -These had the money to come, and made it their business to come; most of -them had their expenses paid, either by the public, or by the -organization to which they belonged. The other group was made up of -members who lived in or near the city where the convention was held, and -these would be ninety per cent classroom teachers. They were the only -classroom teachers who could attend the convention without great -expense, and they represented, and properly felt that they represented, -the great mass of the teachers who could not attend, but who had a vital -stake in education, and had needs to be voiced. - -So at N. E. A. conventions there was beginning to be noticed that major -phenomenon of our time—the class struggle. Here were the high-up and -prosperous and powerful superintendents and “great educators”; and here -were the common riff-raff of the school proletariat. In any big city it -would happen, inevitably, that the proletariat would be in the majority. -They would have little idea what was going on, or how they should vote; -but here would come a dozen or two of the New York and Chicago and -Milwaukee “Bolsheviks,” who would get up in meeting and ask questions -and explain matters to the classroom teachers, and induce them to vote -for their own class—or shall we say for their own classes? - -This was the thing which the educational employers decided to change. -They worked out the scheme at their midwinter convention of 1918—the -Atlantic City meeting of the Department of Superintendence. Instead of -the N. E. A. being governed by the democratic vote of its active members -at the annual convention, the N. E. A. was to become a representative -body, like the United States of America; the members in the various -cities and towns and counties would elect delegates to the state bodies, -and both local and the state bodies would elect delegates to the -national convention. The gang, of course, would be on hand at every -stage of these elections to pull wires and get its own politicians -chosen. So, when the convention assembled in some big city, the -classroom teachers of that city would no longer have votes as active -members of the N. E. A.; instead of that, they would be represented by -delegates on the floor, one delegate for every hundred teachers, and, in -case they had more than five hundred members, one delegate for each five -hundred members thereafter. So the classroom teachers of the convention, -instead of having one vote per teacher, would have one-hundredth of one -vote per teacher, or maybe one five-hundredths of one vote per teacher! -And so the N. E. A. would be made safe for the superintendents! - -There was only one difficulty with that scheme, and that was explained -to you when you were a child and read Aesop’s “Fables.” The mice wanted -a bell put around the neck of the cat, but how was it to be done? At -some one convention of the N. E. A., the classroom teachers of an -American city must be induced, not merely to disfranchise themselves, -but to disfranchise the classroom teachers of the entire country forever -and ever after! Such was the job; and I repeat that the doing of it was -one of the most amazing public crimes in the history of the United -States. We are now going to hear the story of it in detail. - - - - - CHAPTER LI - THE PLOT FAILS - - -First you will ask to know the people who did the job; which means that -you will be introduced to the bosses of our educational Tammany Hall. -Some of them you know already; but for convenience I will re-introduce -them. - -Superintendent Fred M. Hunter, ward leader of Oakland, 1921 president of -the N. E. A., and life director of the N. E. A. During his presidency, -Mr. Hunter had a liberal teacher, whom he recommended for discharge to -his board of education. The board thought the teacher ought to have a -hearing, to which he was legally entitled; but Hunter’s proposition was -that he would give the teacher a hearing if the teacher would first -resign. “In other words,” said a board member, “you want to hang him -first and try him afterward.” With these words ringing in his ears, -Hunter went to the convention of the N. E. A., and presided over -meetings at which eloquent orators set forth in glowing terms the rights -of teachers under our great American democracy! - -Carroll G. Pearse, formerly president of the Milwaukee State Normal -School, and now a book agent; also a trustee and life director of the N. -E. A. We have seen Mr. Pearse smashing the classroom teachers of his own -city. If we had time for a detailed study, we should discover him -running the N. E. A. machine for a decade, from the time he was -president in 1912. - -Next, President William B. Owen, of the Chicago Normal School, 1923 -president of the N. E. A. Mr. Owen is the ward leader of Chicago, and we -have just seen him in Boston, stealing from the classroom teachers their -own national organization. Mr. Owen is vice-president and life director -of the N. E. A. - -Next, Professor Howard Driggs, of the English department of the -University of Utah, author of “Live Language Lessons,” president of the -Utah Educational Association, a power in the Mormon church, and -vice-president of the N. E. A. - -Next, Superintendent Charl O. Williams, of Shelby County, Tennessee, a -lady of fine presence, an “inspirational” orator of the old Southern -style, an aggressive Democratic politician, 1922 president, and now life -director and field secretary of the N. E. A. - -Next, Mrs. Josephine C. Preston, state superintendent of public -instruction of Washington, 1920 president and life director of the N. E. -A. We have seen Mrs. Preston browbeating the teachers and defending the -incorporate tax-dodging creatures of the lumber country. - -Next, Principal Olive Jones of New York, 1924 president of the N. E. A., -also trustee and director. I asked two New York teachers to tell me -about her, and the answer came: “She is small-minded, vindictive, not -over-scrupulous, a self-advertiser and office seeker, a good, clever -politician.” - -Last but not least, the representative of Columbia University in our -educational Tammany Hall. Before introducing him it is necessary to -explain that for the first decade of this century our national school -machine was run by Nicholas Murray Butler, who was president of the N. -E. A. in 1895, and then head of the Department of Education at Columbia -University. Becoming president of Columbia, Butler dispensed the -educational patronage of Teachers’ College for his gang. How great this -patronage is, you will understand when I tell you that Teachers’ College -has officially announced that it furnishes more teachers than all the -other universities and colleges of the United States and Canada -combined. You will find half a dozen chapters about the dispenser of -this patronage in “The Goose-step,” and I point out to you that the most -bitter critics of the book did not find a single error in my statements -concerning him; nor did one educator in the United States come to his -defense. - -“Nicholas Miraculous” was preparing himself to take charge of the -American government, so he no longer had time to bother with the school -world. He turned this detail over to one of his subordinates, George D. -Strayer, professor of educational administration in Columbia University, -and 1919 president of the N. E. A. It was during Strayer’s presidency -that the great plot was hatched, and he received a year’s leave of -absence from his university, so that he might devote his entire time to -putting it through. He presided at the Milwaukee convention of 1919, -where he failed. Then he was elected first vice-president, and sat at -the right hand of the president at the Salt Lake City convention of -1920, and supervised her every move. Both Strayer and Butler are life -directors of the N. E. A.; and so, as you read this story, you must -understand it as one more of the Nicholas Murray Butler chapters of “The -Goose-step”—it is the spectral hand of old J. P. Morgan, the elder, -reaching out and seizing the minds of your children, and twisting them -out of shape, so that Morgan’s heirs shall be able to pick their pockets -without inconvenience. - -Our story begins with the midwinter convention of the N. E. A. in 1918. -Miss Frances Harden of Chicago was the first classroom teacher who ever -attended a midwinter convention—and she had to pay her own substitute in -order to do it! She saw the plot being hatched by the Department of -Superintendence, and brought back word to the Chicago teachers, who got -out a circular describing it, and pointing out what had happened in -their own state of Illinois, which had just been “reorganized” and made -a delegate body according to the new scheme. The first Illinois -convention under this plan had been held in December, 1917; 1,360 -teachers had attended, and the effect of the scheme had been that 1,193 -of these teachers were disfranchised! There were only 167 delegates -entitled to vote, and the occupations of these delegates were listed as -follows: county superintendents, 42; city superintendents, 53; -presidents of colleges, 4; principals of high schools, 12; principals of -elementary schools, 24; teachers in colleges, 5; teachers in high -schools, 13; teachers in elementary schools, 14. In other words, out of -167 delegates, 135 represented the supervising departments, and only 32 -were teachers—only 14 of these being elementary classroom teachers! - -This Illinois reorganization was the work of Owen of Chicago; it was his -pet scheme. At the Pittsburgh convention notice was given of intention -to apply it to the N. E. A., and the gang set to work to line up the -school bosses. - -Then came the Milwaukee convention of 1919; here Strayer presided, and -the gang had a charming device to get rid of the teachers. The by-laws -provided for the business meeting at 11 a. m. of the 4th of July. -Milwaukee had a “sane Fourth” program for that day, and the teachers -were supposed to be occupied in the parks; the gang, thinking to catch -them off guard, called a “snap” meeting at nine in the morning. But the -Milwaukee teachers have been trained in politics, and know its devices. -They had arranged to have the “sane Fourth” program taken care of by -those teachers who were “associate” members of the N. E. A., while the -“active” members, who had votes, were to attend the business meeting. -Some of them got wind of the 9 a. m. trick, and these went in and -started singing “America.” They went right on singing “America” until 11 -a. m.—they are so patriotic in Milwaukee, and that was their idea of a -“sane Fourth!” To make sure of keeping it sane, these Milwaukee teachers -omitted to eat any lunch, and stayed by the convention until it came to -an end at 5 p. m. - -The gang brought up their reorganization scheme, and Margaret Haley -arose on the floor of the convention, and told them that they were -violating their federal charter. The reply was that they would put the -scheme through and get the charter changed afterwards. But Margaret -Haley, who has a way of consulting lawyers, pointed out to them that any -teacher could get a court injunction, and forbid them spending a penny -of the association’s money for a year. So they dropped the proposal; -Owen resigned from the committee and moved to discharge it; the slate -was wiped clean, and the teachers thought the scheme was dead—except for -a few who made note of a motion to appoint a committee to take up the -question of amending the charter of the N. E. A! - -The place selected for the next national convention was Salt Lake City. -The classroom teachers made no protest—how were they to know that the -gang had been conducting an “educational survey,” combing the United -States with a fine comb, to find one place where they might be sure of -getting their way? Said one teacher, when she got to Salt Lake and saw -the frame-up: “We should have had notice of this.” Said H. S. Magill, -field secretary of the N. E. A.: “You blocked us twice; this year we’ve -come where your cohorts couldn’t follow us!” Said Strayer, strutting -like a little bantam: “We took it where we could put it over.” And if -that is not enough for you, a prominent official of the Milwaukee -convention told Miss Ethel Gardner, quite naively, that Professor -Strayer had a most wonderful plan, by which he was going to get all the -big business men of the United States back of the N. E. A! (He did.) - -When the minutes of the Milwaukee business meeting were produced, they -included a notice of intention to amend the by-laws at the next -convention, by repealing the provision which requires a year’s notice -before a constitutional amendment can be adopted. No one could recollect -having heard such notice given, but the minutes showed that it had been -given by Professor Howard Driggs, the great Mormon educator. It was a -peculiar kind of proposition for a great educator to make; whenever you -mention the subject of constitutions and by-laws to such an educator, -the first thing he praises is that system of “checks and balances” -prevailing in the Constitution of the United States, which imposes -restrictions upon the hasty passions of the masses and compels us all to -stop and think before we act. Such a provision had been put into the -by-laws of the N. E. A.; and now it was proposed to abolish it, and -permit the hasty passions of the masses to prevail! - -Professor Driggs apparently realized the strangeness of such a -proposition, coming from a great educator; discussing the matter on the -floor of the Salt Lake convention, he said he had not known the contents -of the notice when he gave it. Somebody had handed it to him—he thought -perhaps it was Mr. Magill, the field secretary—and asked him to give the -notice, and he did so. Dear, innocent, trusting Mormon educator—you -could hardly believe that he was forty-seven years of age! Before you -decide what to believe about him, wait and see what use the gang made of -that alleged notice. - -They had a whole year to work in, and they went at it systematically. -They drafted an amendment to the charter of the N. E. A., known as -Section 12, providing that it might be organized as a delegate body and -governed by a representative assembly. The gang leaders spent much time -in our national capital, getting this charter amendment passed by -Congress and signed by the President. When our leading plutocratic -educators appear in Washington, asking to be permitted to govern their -school proletariat in their own way, how should a plutocratic Congress -refuse? The amendment was being trumpeted over the country as a plan to -make the N. E. A. “democratic.” The President of the United States had -just made the whole world “democratic,” so it was to be expected that he -would approve the plan and sign the bill. - - - - - CHAPTER LII - MORMON MAGIC - - -Come now to Salt Lake City, and see why the N. E. A. machine selected it -for their next convention. Externally there are reasons, in the form of -beautiful temples and educational institutions, erected by the devotees -of a weird religious cult. This cult is based upon “certain tablets -having the appearance of gold,” which were dug out of the ground by an -ignorant New York farmer-youth named Joseph Smith, and were found to be -miraculously inscribed with fantastic chronicles in biblical language; -Smith was able to interpret them by the aid of two magic stones, and -they are now the inspired word of God to half a million people. One of -the customs recommended in this “word” is the patriarchal Old Testament -virtue of polygamy, and the United States government fought a little war -with the Mormons over this issue, and Utah was not admitted as a state -until the chiefs had agreed to follow the example of the rest of our -plutocracy, and keep their polygamy under cover. - -This is not a work on religion, but on economics, and what here concerns -us are the two great Mormon virtues of industry and submissiveness. -Seldom has a priestly caste evolved a more perfect system for separating -its devotees from their cash. The Mormon hierarchy is a Big Business -institution, which works hand in glove with the great corporations of -Utah, and their political representative, the Grand Old Party. The -Mormon church is practically the same thing as the Sugar Trust in the -state, and also the Smelter Trust and the railroads; their two -representatives in the United States Senate are equally active in the -affairs of God and Mammon. The church machine has its own educational -institutions, and at the same time, like the Catholic church in other -parts of the United States, it controls the public schools. I have -portrayed in “The Goose-step” its domination of the University of Utah, -and how sixteen professors resigned at once in protest against its -policy. - -So you begin to see why the N. E. A. machine picked out Salt Lake City. -Utah is a long way off, and few classroom teachers could afford the -journey. As for the teachers of Utah, the majority of them are Mormons, -and the rest either take the orders of the church or move out. It takes -no stretch of the imagination to picture Professor Driggs, the great -Mormon educator, telling Owen and Strayer and Hunter and Pearse and the -other great educators how we manage things in Utah—so much better than -in Milwaukee! And how beautifully the great Mormon “tabernacle” would -serve as a setting for this “reorganization” drama! I remember in my -childhood reading a fearsome story about an innocent American virgin -lured into the clutches of a diabolical Mormon patriarch; and here is -the story made real—the victim being the associated school-marms of -America. - -The delegates arrived, and were welcomed by the entire hierarchy—the -Mormon governor, the Mormon mayor, the Mormon bishops, the presidents -and professors of the Mormon colleges and universities, and the two -United States senators from the Sugar Trust. You may imagine the effect -upon the Salt Lake City school teachers of this array of religious and -financial power; but even so, it was not enough! Church and State and -Big Business combined could not prevail against a few simple facts put -before the teachers of the city! At the very outset of the convention -there was a meeting of classroom teachers, with Margaret Haley and Ethel -Gardner and the rest on hand, and Mr. Magill, field secretary of the N. -E. A., was so indiscreet as to come upon the platform and face the -questions of these teachers. At the end of the session the gang could -not muster three votes among those present; rebellion was spreading, and -the great educators were frantic. - -That night hundreds of telegrams were sent out all over the state of -Utah. Superintendents and principals of schools summoned their teachers -to Salt Lake City. It was J. Fred Anderson, president of the Utah -Educational Association, who knew these teachers; and we have seen in -our story of Oakland how Superintendent Hunter presented to him a high -salaried position in the Oakland schools. Hunter was here, hard at work, -and received his reward by being elected president at this convention. - -The master of ceremonies of course was Howard Driggs, who was on his -home ground, and had guaranteed to put the job through. With the help of -the Mormon hierarchy, both religious and educational, he got the -teachers of Utah into a caucus on the night preceding the business -meeting of the convention. These teachers were told nothing whatever -about the significance of the issue; they were merely told how to vote. -The radicals, of course, got wind of this meeting, and came to it, but -some of them were excluded, and the stenographer they had brought was -ordered to leave. A motion was made that none should be granted the -floor except Utah state teachers, or those who might be invited by them. -Once during the proceedings a man ventured to ask if they might not hear -the other side and know what were the objections to this plan. Chairman -J. Fred Anderson glowered at the assembly, and roared: “If there is -anyone from the state of Utah who objects to this plan, we’ll listen to -him!” - -An important part of the plot was a series of amendments to the by-laws, -providing for great numbers of “ex officio delegates” to N. E. A. -conventions. All the officers and all past presidents were to be such -delegates, likewise all state superintendents, and all N. E. A. -directors in each state—every such personage was to have a vote, and -every such vote was to be equivalent to the vote of from one hundred to -five hundred classroom teachers! Naturally, some one asked for an -explanation, and so was born the classic jest of the American school -world. You might be puzzled to understand why a superintendent of -schools should be referred to as an “oil-dome”; but Professor Howard -Driggs explained the symbolism to the Utah teachers. When you saw a -train of oil-cars on the railroad track, you noted that these cars had -little domes on top. The reason was that on curves the oil would acquire -momentum which would throw the cars off the track, but these domes -served to change the direction of the momentum and so prevented an -accident. And the “oil-domes” of the N. E. A. machine were the -superintendents! - -If I thought you could possibly do it, I would ask you to imagine the -mentality of a country school-marm from the far-off mountains and -deserts of Utah, brought up to a devout belief in the golden tablets of -Joseph Smith. Suffice it to say, that at this group meeting the Mormon -ladies listened patiently, and not a single classroom teacher opened her -mouth. Mr. Magill gave them printed statements containing the arguments -of the gang, adding that of course they would vote as they saw fit. But -the Mormon managers were not satisfied with such a careless formula, and -one of them got up and pointed out that it was sometimes a difficult -matter to follow the technicalities of business meetings, and the Utah -teachers ought to take precautions to keep from getting lost in the -parliamentary labyrinths. These managers knew they had to come out on -the floor of the convention next day, and face Margaret Haley and Ethel -Gardner and the rest of the “Bolsheviks”; so they had reason to be -nervous! - -It was arranged that the Utah teachers should sit together in a group, -and in their voting they should follow the example of a leader, saying -“aye” when he said “aye,” and “nay” when he said “nay.” And who was that -leader to be? Whom would you guess but Howard Driggs, professor of -English at the University of Utah, author of “Live Language Lessons,” -vice-president of the N. E. A., and president of the Utah Educational -Association? And lest perchance these teachers from the mountains and -deserts of Utah might never have seen the great Mormon professor, the -professor was invited to stand up and display his impressive presence to -the assemblage. It was furthermore ordered that the Utah teachers were -to be on hand in their Mormon Tabernacle half an hour in advance of the -opening of the business session. - -Immediately after this meeting there was a secret session in the room of -President Pearse of Milwaukee, at the Utah Hotel. At this meeting the -gang leaders staged a full-dress rehearsal of the proceedings. They had -someone to play the part of Margaret Haley, and to make all the motions -and objections which they expected her to make; they worked out the -method of foiling her, with each one’s duty assigned, each part learned -and recited. This secret meeting lasted until one o’clock in the -morning, and goes down into educational history as “the midnight -rehearsal.” - - - - - CHAPTER LIII - THE FUNERAL OF DEMOCRACY - - -The business meeting of the National Education Association was called -for 8:30 on Friday morning, and the program stated that there would be a -paper read and singing before the transaction of business; but the -moment the meeting opened, they made a motion to dispense with the paper -and the singing. Thus they rushed through a good part of their program -with very little opposition. When Margaret Haley and Ethel Gardner -entered the hall the assemblage was voting on the by-laws, article by -article, and adopting them with vigorous roars from the rehearsed Utah -teachers. In the uproar it was impossible to tell just what was being -voted on. - -The presiding officer at this convention was Superintendent Josephine C. -Preston, whom we saw working hard for the Black Hand in Seattle, and -whom we were asked particularly to remember. The report of the Executive -Committee was presented by Professor Strayer of Columbia, first -vice-president, who explained the act of Congress permitting the -reorganization. This report having been adopted by a thunderous “aye” -from the rehearsed Utah teachers, Professor Vice-president Strayer -seated himself at the right hand of Superintendent President Preston, -and was seen to whisper into her ear at every stage of the future -proceedings. No one can say what he whispered, but there were some who -suspected that he was telling her what to do next. - -Professor Vice-president Driggs now arose, and had the good fortune to -catch the eye of Superintendent President Preston—or possibly the eye of -Professor Vice-president Strayer. He was recognized, and proceeded to -bring up the resolution of which he had so innocently given notice at -Milwaukee, providing that it should not be necessary to give a year’s -consideration to a by-law amendment. - -Now the classroom teachers’ delegates were certain that no notice had -been given, the assembly had had no warning of this revolutionary -proposition. They sought to explain matters, but for some strange reason -Chairman Preston, or possibly Professor Strayer, was unable to see any -of them, and they could not get the floor. Professor Driggs insisted -that the notice appeared in due form in the minutes of the Milwaukee -meeting, therefore his motion was in order. The motion was put, and was -carried by a thunderous “aye” from Professor Driggs and his rehearsed -Utah teachers. - -Then at once it appeared what was the purpose for which the innocent -Mormon professor had introduced this resolution without knowing what was -in it. The purpose was that the Salt Lake convention might adopt the new -“Section 12” of the charter, without waiting a year to give the -membership a chance to find out what it was all about! Immediately the -motion to adopt this section was made by Superintendent Life-director -Hunter of Oakland—I hope I don’t bore you with these “titles,” for you -ought to see just who these gang-leaders are, and just how they put the -job over. Ex-Superintendent Field Secretary Magill explained the -proposition to fill the representative assembly with supervising -delegates—life directors, state superintendents, state directors, and -officers. Superintendent Newton of Denver strongly supported the -proposition, and a New York teacher opposed it. A rehearsed Utah teacher -took the side of the gang, as did also the president of a state normal -school in Michigan, Superintendent Dorsey of Los Angeles, and -Superintendent Gwinn of San Francisco. The chairman ruled Margaret Haley -out of order; the chairman instantly ruled out of order everyone who -tried to refer to the rehearsing of the Utah teachers, or to the packing -of the convention. There were shouts of “Question! Question!”—and the -amendment was adopted by a thunderous “aye” from the rehearsed Utah -teachers. The vote was declared unanimous—for the reason that the -steam-roller was rolling so furiously that the opposition teachers could -not find out what was being voted on! - -An unforeseen emergency now arose—the tactics of the gang were so crude -that an ex-superintendent of schools of Salt Lake City became troubled -in his conscience, and actually had the temerity to propose that this -coup d’etat should be submitted to a referendum vote of the membership -of the N. E. A.! Ex-Superintendent Field Secretary Magill hastened to -explain that under the resolution just adopted this procedure would be -utterly illegal. In other words, the charter obtained from Congress had -been “loaded” so as to make this very thing impossible; and the gang was -“loaded” with legal opinions to prove that it had so arranged matters! -Mr. Magill’s argument was supported by Principal Trustee President-to-be -Olive Jones of New York, State Superintendent Wood of California, -Superintendent Hunter’s Principal J. Fred Anderson of Utah, and -Professor Vice-president Driggs of Utah. The published minutes of this -business meeting condescend to tell us that Margaret Haley of Illinois -spoke—but they don’t tell us on which side she spoke, nor do they tell -us how the chairman shut her off! They merely record that “the proposed -amendment was laid on the table”—of course by the vote of the rehearsed -Utah teachers. - -And note this curious detail: among the new by-laws rolled through by -this steam-roller was one providing for amendments to the by-laws by a -two-thirds vote after a year’s notice given in writing; in other words, -the very same provision which had been done away with, less than an hour -ago, by the motion of Professor Vice-president Driggs! The system of -checks and balances, which had just been destroyed, was magically -restored! Humpty-dumpty, having been knocked off the wall, was put -together again! To choose a more accurate simile—the farmer, having let -down the bars while he got his pig into the pen, now put the bars up -again, to keep the pig inside forever after! - -Piled on top of that came an even wilder flight of humor! Margaret Haley -moved that Congress be asked to amend the charter and abolish the -life-directors; whereupon ex-Superintendent Field Secretary Magill -explained that Congress would never again pass another special -charter—this trick was positively the last that could ever be played in -America! Miss Haley’s motion was tabled by a shout of the rehearsed Utah -teachers; and the convention proceeded to elect Superintendent -Life-director Hunter of Oakland its new president, and to hear his -fervid speech in celebration of “democracy”! - -It is interesting to note that the minutes of this meeting were withheld -from the membership of the N. E. A. for eleven months, and were finally -published in very inadequate and doctored form. Margaret Haley had -arranged with a stenographic agency to obtain a transcript of the -proceedings, but after the show was over she discovered that she had -been cheated out of this transcript. The agency would not be permitted -to furnish a transcript until it had been “edited.” You see, the gang -had also ordered a transcript from this same concern! - -I obtained a copy of this “edited” transcript, and have checked every -statement in this chapter. In case you find my account incredible, I -suggest that you consult in your public library the “Journal of -Education,” Boston, August 19, 1920, in which an eye-witness tells the -story with amiable mockery. That American school teachers should have -had their own organization stolen away from them seems to Editor Winship -just the most delightful joke in the world. Such a comical spectacle—a -great convention, lasting for six days, with several thousand people -devoting all their labors to keeping one little woman from getting the -floor![K] - ------ - -Footnote K: - - Just to make the thing real to you, I give you one glimpse of the - steam-roller, taken from the transcript as furnished by the N. E. A. - secretary. The assembly is here voting on Section 9, which provides - for the packing of the N. E. A. with a hundred and fifty-one - ex-officio delegates, state superintendents, state directors, life - directors, and miscellaneous officers. It has been moved to amend this - section by striking out the ex-officio members; but in the uproar it - is impossible for the opposition to know what is being voted on. The - amendment is voted down, Section 9 is jammed through, and Margaret - Haley is refused the right to ask a question. Field secretary Magill - starts to go on to Section 10; but the protest against this becomes so - vehement that the gang sees it has to give way, and Professor Driggs - blandly rises and pleads for fair play—delicious irony! So Margaret - Haley receives an opportunity to be informed by the chairman that the - measure she has been trying to oppose has already been carried! The - text follows: - -THE CHAIRMAN: Are you ready for the question? (Cries of question, - question.) - -A DELEGATE: I rise to a question of personal privilege. - -THE CHAIRMAN: What is your question of personal privilege? - -A DELEGATE: There has been some imputation cast upon the teachers of - Salt Lake and Utah as to the packing of this convention. (Cries of out - of order, out of order.) - -THE CHAIRMAN: You are out of order. (Cries of question, question.) - -THE CHAIRMAN: We will now vote on the amendment. All of those in favor - of the amendment say aye. All those opposed say no. The amendment is - lost. - -A DELEGATE: Question on the original motion. - -THE CHAIRMAN: The question is now on the original motion. Are you ready? - (Cries of question, question.) - -THE CHAIRMAN: All those in favor signify by saying aye. Those opposed. - Unanimously carried. - -A LADY DELEGATE: A question of information—— - -THE CHAIRMAN: The motion is unanimously carried. - -MISS MARGARET HALEY (Chicago): We couldn’t hear what you were voting on. - -A DELEGATE: Madam Chairman, I think at this point it would be well to - listen to the lady’s question. She rose and asked for information - before that vote was put. Because of the inability of the chairman to - hear her it was passed. - -THE CHAIRMAN: Out of order. - -A DELEGATE: She just asked a question, that is all. - -A DELEGATE: Is it possible we cannot present a question in this - assembly? - -MR. MAGILL: Section 10—— - -A DELEGATE: Madam Chairman, Madam Chairman, I rise to a point of order. - Is it possible we cannot hear a question in this assembly? - -A DELEGATE: No, it is not possible. - -A DELEGATE: That lady wants to hear a question. I would like to know - what it is. (Applause.) - -MR. DRIGGS (Utah): I appeal from the decision of the chair on a point of - order. Salt Lake is going to stand for a square deal. We want the - lady’s question. (Applause.) - -A DELEGATE: Come to the platform. - -MISS MARGARET HALEY (Chicago): It is not necessary for me to go to the - platform. I wished to ask the question before the vote is taken. It - was impossible for us to hear what was being done and I didn’t know - the question that was being voted on. I ask for information as to what - the motion was. - -THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment was voted down and the motion was carried, - Miss Haley. We presented to everyone that came, when the business - opened, a copy; we want it in the hands of every active member and I - so announced exactly what we were doing. - -MISS HALEY (Chicago): That is not the question I asked. I asked what was - the motion that we were voting on. We didn’t hear it when it was - stated. - -THE CHAIRMAN: We were voting on section 9 then: we were voting on the - amendment to section 9. - ------ - - - - - CHAPTER LIV - THE FRUITS OF THE SOWING - - -So now our National Education Association is what the gang wants it to -be. Let us see exactly what that is. - -The next convention was held at Des Moines in 1921, and here were the -first fruits of the sowing. I have before me a tabulation of the -delegates to the Des Moines convention, classified according to their -occupations. Statistics make tiresome reading, but in this case the -statistics are the heart of the argument, so I beg you to consider these -figures carefully. There were present at this convention a total of 553 -delegates having votes; among them were: state superintendents, 33; -county superintendents, 21; city superintendents, 104; presidents of -colleges and normal schools, 28; principals of high schools, 34; -principals of elementary schools, 54; supervisors, 23. That makes a -total of 297 delegates belonging to the employing class—297 out of 553, -a comfortable majority. But note further: the tabulation includes 14 -miscellaneous, 46 not classified, 6 editors of educational journals, and -2 agents of book companies; if we set these to one side, we find that -the 297 members of the supervising force were figured upon a total of -485 delegates. - -And now, to balance this, consider the representation of the teachers: -special teachers, 8; teachers in colleges and normal schools, 34; -teachers in high schools, 65; and teachers in elementary schools, 81. -That makes a total of 188 teachers, including college professors; and -this to be balanced against 297 members of the supervising force! In our -schools the teachers outnumber the supervising force by ten or fifteen -to one; but in this national body, as between the two groups, they have -thirty-nine per cent, while the supervising force has sixty-one. Such is -“democracy” in the great educational organization of the school world! - -At the close of the 1923 convention, held in Oakland, it happened that I -was in the locality, and said something to a newspaper reporter about -our school Tammany Hall. Some of the gang leaders made indignant reply; -and I received a letter from Mr. Joy E. Morgan, editor of the official -“Journal of the National Education Association,” who said that I was -misinformed concerning the organization, and asked me to have lunch with -him. I am shy about breaking bread with the enemy, but I am always glad -to talk with him, because he never fails to give me better ammunition -than I could otherwise get. So I went to call on Mr. Morgan after lunch, -and we had a pleasant chat of an hour or so. He is a young man, and -friends assure me that he is well meaning but uninformed. I will pass no -judgment, but my story will make clear his amazing ignorance, not merely -concerning his own organization, but even concerning his own paper. - -Mr. Morgan started off with the ancient formula that the N. E. A. is -“democratic”; all the teachers of the United States were welcome—in -fact, they were implored to join their professional organization. I -asked Mr. Morgan about this matter of having honorary members who were -ex-officio delegates and endowed with votes. Here was a representative -body, purporting to be democratic, but which started out with 23 life -directors and a long list of ex-officio delegates, the president, the -treasurer, the 12 vice-presidents, the 5 members of the executive -committee, 52 state directors, 52 state superintendents of public -instruction—and, to cap the climax, all the past presidents, a new one -added every year! The total of these ex-officio delegates was 151, and -out of this total just three were classroom teachers! That constituted a -handicap against the teachers of 145 votes; and since it took 100 -classroom teachers to elect one delegate, and in big cities five hundred -teachers, it took somewhere between 14,500 and 72,500 teachers to -overcome the handicap against them in every N. E. A. convention! Was -that what Mr. Morgan understood by “democracy”? - -The young editor did not use the phrase, “oil-domes,” but he did assure -me that the interests of superintendents and teachers were not opposed, -and that the teachers of the country, many of them, elected their -superintendents to represent them; moreover, there were great numbers of -teachers who were delegates—probably a majority of the convention, Mr. -Morgan actually said that; and then I handed him the tabulation of the -Des Moines convention, which showed 188 teachers, as against 297 members -of the supervising force. He studied it, and was obviously embarrassed. -“I don’t know just what to say,” he replied. “I hardly think it can be -accurate. The tabulation must have been made by some interested party.” - -Now the tabulation had been given to me by Frances Harden, who is in -Margaret Haley’s office, and I could not deny that Miss Harden was -“interested” in the problems of N. E. A. representation. I said to Mr. -Morgan: “I will investigate and find out just how that tabulation was -prepared.” - -“It looks to me absurd on the face of it,” continued the young editor, -“because you see it gives two ‘agents of book companies,’ and that is -preposterous. No agent of a book company could be a delegate to the N. -E. A.” - -“I will look into that,” I promised; and we chatted for a while about -other aspects of the class struggle in education. Mr. Morgan gave me a -file of his publication for the past year, in order that I might see -what excellent material they were using; then I took my departure, and -sought out Miss Harden and her bunch of “Bolsheviks,” who had come on to -attend this Oakland convention. We had dinner in a little “dago” -restaurant, and I told them of Mr. Morgan’s objection, and it would have -done you good to hear Miss Harden laugh. “Why,” she said, “that -tabulation was made from the official list in his own paper, the Journal -of the N. E. A.; and Mr. Morgan was managing editor at the time the list -was published! When I get back to Chicago I’ll send you a copy of that -issue; they listed all the delegates at the Des Moines convention, -giving the occupation of each, and all I had to do was to go through the -list and check the number of superintendents, the number of principals, -and so on. We made the tabulation and published it, and it’s interesting -to notice that next year the list of delegates as published in the -Journal no longer states the occupations of the delegates, but merely -the organizations they represent. You may take it from me, it will be -many a long year before the Journal again makes the blunder of revealing -the make-up of one of its annual conventions!” - -“What about the matter of the book company agent?” I asked; and Miss -Harden and her “Bolshevik” friends laughed more merrily than ever. - -“Why, one of those two agents is Major Clancy, and Mr. Morgan knows him -as well as he knows anybody at the convention. He’s here at Oakland—one -of the first sights that is pointed out to a new delegate. He’s a kind -of unofficial host to all of us.” - -“But is he here as a book company agent?” I asked, in bewilderment. - -“Why, of course,” said the teachers; and Miss Ethel Gardner explained -that he had got up some kind of club or association of the agents in his -locality, and got himself named as their representative. - -In case you should find all this as incredible as I found it, let me add -that Miss Harden faithfully carried out her promise; when she got back -to Chicago she sent me two issues of the “Journal of the National -Education Association.” The first is the issue for December, 1921, and I -note the name of Joy Elmer Morgan, managing editor. Beginning at page -199, and continuing to page 205, I find a list headed, “The First -Representative Assembly; delegates who attended the 59th annual meeting -of the National Educational Association in Des Moines, July 5-8, 1921.” -There I find the delegates by state, with the occupation of each one -given; on page 203 I find “Robertson, W. W., agent for Charles E. -Merrill Co., 19 West Main St., Oklahoma City.” And on page 202 the name -“Clancy, Major A. W., 502 Globe Building, Minneapolis.” - -The second issue of the Journal is that for September, 1922, and again I -find Joy Elmer Morgan, managing editor. From pages 291 to 298 I find the -list of the second representative assembly, with the occupations of the -delegates not given. On page 295 I find as follows: “Clancy, A. W., -Bookmen’s Department of Minnesota, 2516 Humboldt Avenue, South, -Minneapolis.” And then, as I complete this manuscript, the Journal of -October, 1923, appears, and gives the list for the third representative -assembly, at Oakland, California—and again the occupations are not -given, and again Major Clancy _is_ given! - -Yes, you may count upon Major Clancy to attend all N. E. A. conventions! -Turn back to our Minneapolis chapters, and read about this one-armed old -veteran of the threshing machine. And come to Oakland, and see him in -the luxurious parlors of the Oakland Hotel; come to San Francisco and -see him in the parlors of the Fairmont. He is the lord of motor cars and -of boat-rides; never does he sit down at table except it is crowded with -guests. The editor of the “Journal of Education”—not the official N. E. -A. Journal, but an independent weekly, published in Boston—portrays this -aspect of the Salt Lake convention of 1920 in a playful paragraph. Says -the witty editor Winship: “No one in the association at summer and -winter meetings, has in fifty years had as many men and women to as many -feasts as has Major Clancy.” - -Perhaps all this hospitality is poured out from the Major’s own generous -heart; perhaps again, it is his employers, the book companies, who fill -the cornucopia. However it may be, the major is the idol of the -schoolmarms; he chats with them jovially in the lobbies, and now and -then you see him jump up and run across the floor—some superintendent -has entered, and he must shake the hand of all superintendents. -Presently you see him button-holing one of the great leaders of the -gang, and there is a whispered conversation; it is by these little chats -in lobbies that we get our business done—the gentlemen’s agreements -whereby votes and influence are traded for contracts involving your -money and mine. - -A teacher friend of mine traveled all the way from the East to attend -the N. E. A. convention of 1923 at Oakland; on the day before the -opening of the convention she visited the Fairmont Hotel in San -Francisco, where in the lobby she observed Major Clancy in conversation -with Principal Olive Jones of New York. This conference lasted for a -couple of hours, and other members of the gang took part in it from time -to time. My friend wondered what it was about; she never found out, but -she noted that before the convention came to a close, Principal Olive -Jones of New York was chosen as the new president of the N. E. A. The -Major had had advance information, you may be sure; and likewise the -rest of the gang had had it. In fact, this 1923 convention had been held -in Oakland, because it was the bailiwick of Hunter, and he and Strayer -had promised the honor to Miss Jones when they asked her influence at -Salt Lake City. This promise had been for 1921, but the gang had fallen -to quarreling among themselves—Owen of Chicago had broken with Strayer, -and Miss Williams had got the prize in 1921, and Owen had grabbed it for -himself at Boston in 1922. You see what the inside ring is giving its -time to, and why the great national organization of the school world is -an object of contempt to every educator who has a truly professional -ideal. - - - - - CHAPTER LV - TEACHERS TO THE REAR - - -The National Education Association now stands complete, according to the -design of its architects. It is a political machine, maintained by Big -Business to do a certain job in the interest of Big Business. And just -as in any other great factory, the workers are deprived of all power, -but are cajoled into thinking themselves free citizens. At the annual -conventions you will hear floods of oratory in praise of democracy, -while every precaution is taken to keep the rank and file from having -any say whatever about their own affairs. All the power is in the hands -of one little group; they put themselves in the key positions—each one -on six or eight committees. They make the plans, and when the time comes -they jam them through. - -The classroom teachers form a large group at each convention, but they -are helpless. They are outside the circle, a floating group, untaught, -untrained, without a background or policy. At Salt Lake City Miss Harden -attended a meeting of seventy-five of them, and she asked how many of -them had ever come to a previous N. E. A. convention, and found that -only eight or ten had had this experience. What do such delegates know -about the machine and its tricks? What chance do they stand against the -gang? - -Miss Flora Menzel of Milwaukee came in 1923, with instructions to -recommend certain policies on behalf of her group. She was put on the -“credentials committee,” and wandered about the corridors of the Oakland -Hotel trying to find out where this committee met. The meeting was set -for a certain hour; she succeeded in finding the place, fifteen minutes -late, and there was no one in the room. Subsequently she ascertained -that the “credentials committee” had already met, named a sub-committee -of the gang, and adjourned in fifteen minutes! And that is only one of -many devices whereby classroom teachers known to be loyal to their own -groups are shunted to one side. In 1921, at Des Moines, they appointed a -committee on the revision of elementary education, and they made it up -of college presidents and professors, state superintendents, the United -States Commissioner of Education—and one elementary teacher. They were -going to determine the policy of the N. E. A. toward the most important -of all subjects connected with the schools, and they put on this -committee just one person who was having actual experience with -children! - -For more than twenty years Margaret Haley has been fighting in the -interest of the teachers for action on salaries, tenure and pensions. It -took ten years to get them to adopt resolutions on the question, and ten -years more to get them to do anything. I have told about the Atlantic -City mid-winter convention of 1918, at which the Department of -Superintendence planned the Salt Lake City swindle, and how Miss Frances -Harden was there, having paid her own substitute. She was representing -Margaret Haley, who had been put on the committee for salaries, tenure -and pensions. The chairman of the committee was President Joseph Swain -of Swarthmore College, past president of the N. E. A. President Swain -got up and made a momentous announcement: two young men from the -Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching had been giving him -invaluable assistance on this pension question. The two young men were -present, and thus introduced they practically ran the committee -throughout the sessions. They had a “model teachers’ pension bill,” and -they asked the endorsement of the Department of Superintendence, after -which they proposed to take the bill to each of the states, and get the -endorsement of the state educational machines, and then force it through -the legislature. - -Perhaps you may wonder why the Carnegie Foundation should be proposing -to take charge of teachers’ pension money. Well, if you will turn to -“The Goose-step,” pages 408-9, you will find how this institution, with -an endowment of some seventeen million dollars, has taken the pension -money of the college professors of the United States and made it into a -club to be held over the heads of professors, compelling them to obey -the orders of presidents and trustees. If you will read Professor -Cattell’s book, “Carnegie Pensions,” published in 1919, you will be -informed about the wonderful insurance corporation, devised by this -Carnegie crowd, and run by Elihu Root and Nicholas Murray Butler; the -scheme was submitted by “School and Society” for the consideration of a -great number of college professors, and was voted down by 636 to 13. - -And now here are these Carnegie specialists in autocracy, setting the -very same trap for the seven hundred thousand school teachers of the -United States! Their device is known as the “standard pension plan”; it -provides a graded pension, and needless to say the sums are very low, -while the age limit is very high, from sixty to sixty-five years, and -the term of service required is long, from thirty to forty years. -Needless to say, also, the women are treated as inferior animals; their -heirs have no pensions, while the heirs of men teachers do have -pensions; moreover, the women contribute at a higher rate than the men. - -Get clear this essential point, that all this pension money is teachers’ -money; a certain amount is deducted each month from the salaries of -every teacher, and it is of this money that the pension is composed. -And, of course, the feature that really counts is the control of the -money; you may be sure that under the capitalist system no plan of any -sort would be “standard,” that did not provide for the control of the -money by those whom God has created for the purpose of controlling -money. The essence of this “standard pension plan” is that the teachers -have no control over their own pension funds; in all cases this control -is in the hands of politicians who serve on the pension board ex -officio—the state superintendent, the comptroller, the attorney general, -and other leaders of the gang. - -It was decided that this Carnegie pension plan should be taken to the -state of Vermont and there tried out; and at the summer convention at -Pittsburgh the new Carnegie experts appeared again, and their -proposition was jammed through, in spite of the protests of Margaret -Haley. You see, Margaret Haley wanted the teachers to have the control -of their own money, so the gang evolved one of their clever schemes—they -divided the “committee on salaries, tenure and pensions” into three -separate committees, and they put Margaret Haley on the salary -committee, which had already acted! Also, they put in a by-law, -providing that these three committees should serve for one year only, -and should then be reappointed. This would give them the chance to drop -any “kickers”; and sure enough, the next year they dropped Margaret -Haley! - -But they couldn’t drop her from Chicago. The teachers there have power -of their own, and they have just got the legislature to adopt the -“Chicago teachers’ pension plan.” Under this plan the teacher gets a -pension after having taught for twenty-five years in the United States, -fifteen years of which must be in Chicago. Women are recognized as human -beings, getting equal treatment with men. But the all-important point is -this: the pension funds are under the control of a committee of nine, -three of them being members of the board of education, and the other six -being teachers elected by teachers. This is the only pension fund in the -United States which is under the democratic control of those who put up -the money; and it is hereby suggested that every teacher in the United -States should set to work to make that Chicago law the “standard” -pension law of the United States. - -Next, let us consider the attitude of the N. E. A. on the equally -important question of teachers’ tenure. Is a teacher a civil servant, -with some permanence and security; or is a teacher a wage-slave, who may -be “fired” without notice and without excuse? At Salt Lake City the -committee on tenure handed in a report and a resolution. All the -resolutions appeared in printed form—but that on tenure was left out. -Margaret Haley fought for a whole day to get the floor, and finally one -superintendent who had a sense of decency insisted that she should be -heard, and she asked about this resolution. The chairman asked the -secretary what had become of it, the secretary asked somebody else, and -so they “passed the buck.” The resolution had been mysteriously “lost,” -and nobody knew what had become of it. At Boston, in 1922, they passed a -resolution to work for tenure in every state, but they have not done it -in a single state. - -They don’t want to be bothered with the teachers, they want the teachers -to obey orders and teach. Miss Ethel Gardner told me of her experience -at Salt Lake City, where she happened to be the only classroom teacher -present at a conference of administrators. They told how they had been -trying to improve their teachers by holding meetings every Saturday -morning and talking to these teachers. But the stubborn teachers -persisted in not improving, and even showed resentment at having their -Saturday mornings taken in that way. The superintendents discussed the -question whether the teachers might not become more docile if the school -board would pay them for attending these Saturday morning improvement -meetings. Finally some one asked Miss Gardner what she thought about it, -and she asked if it had ever occurred to them to let the teachers talk -at these teachers’ meetings. It was as if Miss Gardner had thrown a bomb -into their midst. Not one of them had ever thought of such an idea! She -went on to tell what the Milwaukee Teachers’ Association was doing for -the improvement of teaching, and when she got through they thanked her -quite earnestly for having made an entirely original contribution to -their conference: - -These were unusually polite superintendents. As a rule, they resent such -interference, and take any suggestion from a teacher as an affront to -their dignity. Margaret Haley is one of the most charming of women, a -delightful companion, and on the floor of a convention the very soul of -wit and good fellowship; but to the N. E. A. bosses she is a fiend in -petticoats. They regularly ignore all her resolutions; and when she gets -the teachers stirred up, and some action becomes necessary, they take -her resolutions and write them over and present them as a contribution -of their own. At the same time they diligently circulate slanders about -her; she has been paid ten thousand dollars to deliver the Department of -Classroom Teachers over to the American Federation of Labor; she -received a salary of ten thousand dollars a year from the Chicago -Teachers’ Federation. Such falsehoods as this are circulated and -believed by most of the delegates at the convention—the facts being that -Miss Haley gets the salary of a teacher from her own organization, and -her organization is not affiliated with the American Federation of -Labor. - -At the same time the gang, like all other political gangs, is not too -scrupulous about its own personnel. It carried for years one life -director while he was in Joliet prison for appropriating public funds. -It did not hesitate to make use of a man who, while secretary of a state -teachers’ association, charged the association for plumbing work done on -his home, and then it was found that the plumber hadn’t got the -money—the secretary had kept it for himself! And of course the gang -leaders are all tied up with the book graft and with other Big Business -in their own localities. The book agents swarm to the conventions, and -they have their candidates, and if these candidates do not win, it is -because some other book agent has been more active. At the last -mid-winter convention of the Department of Superintendence, a prominent -candidate for president was the school superintendent of Milwaukee, and -Major Clancy boasted to a friend of mine that this great educator would -surely win. He was favored by the American Book Company. Major Clancy is -getting old, and somebody fooled him; the successful candidate came from -the city where Ginn & Company has its headquarters! - -The first aim of the prudent school superintendent is to stand in with -the “bookmen,” as they call themselves. For, whenever there is a vacancy -in a desirable place, the book companies are the first to learn of it, -and they know their own. So the N. E. A. is honeycombed with book -intrigue and graft—especially the Department of Superintendence, the -part which really counts. I shall tell you bye and bye of an especially -crooked five year book “adoption” in the state of Indiana. Immediately -after that event, it was noticed that a practically unknown -superintendent from Indianapolis became president of the Department of -Superintendence. - -That caused a scandal, and efforts were made to break the book -companies’ hold; it is like the efforts to drive the railroads out of -state politics. At the last meeting of the Department of Superintendence -it was announced that no “bookmen” were to have rooms in the Cleveland -Hotel, where the N. E. A. had its headquarters; but I am told by a -gentleman who was present that the American Book Company had all the -rooms it wanted. This same gentleman tells me that he was present at a -convention in Milwaukee, some years ago, when it was discovered that the -American Book Company had taken the entire second floor of the hotel in -which the N. E. A. had settled; Cooley of Chicago, who happened to be -president that year, moved his headquarters to another hotel. - -Many of the big chiefs of the N. E. A. draw royalties from text-books. -Strayer of Columbia edits a whole series of “teachers’ professional -books” for the American Book Company; also, it features one of his -educational books. Then there are the elaborate systems of record cards -which he edits; these are advertised and exhibited at every meeting of -the Department of Superintendence. Also there are fees for surveying -city school systems, and recommending buildings. I am told by one who -knows Strayer that he is eager for money; and this is a part of his -Columbia heritage—you may recall the three hundred thousand dollar -residence, built out of trust funds for “Nicholas Miraculous.” Sometimes -a great expert is summoned to survey a school system, and he tells the -city that it needs many new buildings. Also he names the architects who -know how to put up just the sort of buildings which he recommends. The -architects get six per cent for their work, and pay the expert -one-twelfth of that. A modern city thinks nothing of spending a million -dollars for a new high school, so the expert’s rake-off will be five -thousand dollars. - - - - - CHAPTER LVI - BREAD AND CIRCUSES - - -We have followed closely the business and politics of the N. E. A. -conventions; let us now consider them in their educational and social -aspects. They are imposing assemblages, and of course loom colossal to -the cities in which they occur. To have thirty or forty thousand -visitors spend a week in the city inspires the local merchants with a -deep respect for culture, and the local boosters get busy to show the -school-marms a good time. The N. E. A. politicians naturally make this a -condition in the placing of the convention; they want to have the -delegates occupied with scenery and entertainments, so as to distract -their minds from political controversies. This wisdom has come down to -us from the Roman Empire; then it was bread and circuses, now it is -boat-rides, auto-rides, luncheons, and telephone calls. - -I have before me a page from the “Chicago Schools Journal” for June, -1922, giving the official announcement of the Boston Chamber of Commerce -regarding the convention of that year. There are thirty-five affiliated -societies to hold meetings, and halls have been engaged for all. The -leading business men have organized a committee to prepare receptions, -the head of it being a former secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. -Excursions have been planned upon a vast scale; the railroads are -co-operating, likewise the hotels and tourist bureaus; we note the -interesting detail that “One of the book companies has compiled an -exhaustive literary history of Greater Boston and will publish it in -compliment to the convention. A copy of this history will be given to -every teacher who registers.” - -Also we note that two hundred guests are coming from Memphis, Tennessee, -in honor of President Charl O. Williams, who is on a year’s leave of -absence to enable her to uplift the educational associations of each of -the states, as well as sectional meetings—price one hundred dollars per -lift. Other notables are coming, General Pershing, Vice-president -Coolidge, Secretary of State Hughes; President Harding has promised to -attend if possible. Most significant of all, there will be “a patriotic -demonstration of mammoth proportions, managed by the commander-in-chief -of the American Legion.” - -It was at the 1921 convention at Des Moines that our N. E. A. turned its -political conscience over to the keeping of our Fascisti. In the -official “Journal” for November of that year I find a report of the -special committee on this subject. The chairman of it is Superintendent -Gwinn—the gentleman we saw moving from New Orleans to San Francisco to -take the place of the Superintendent of Trombones. This program provides -that all teachers must be American citizens; it provides for flag -worship, and for the American Legion to furnish speakers for patriotic -exercises in the schools. At the very time that this resolution was -published in the official “Journal,” the American Legion was displaying -its fitness to educate our children by conducting a three-days’ drunken -orgy in Kansas City, in the course of which they stripped young girls -naked on the street and wrecked the lobby of the Baltimore Hotel. As I -write, they are further displaying their passionate affection for -democracy by inviting Mussolini to come and address their San Francisco -convention! - -Such is the educational department of capitalist imperialism; there is -nothing too murderous and blood-thirsty for them, and no degree of -reaction from which they will shrink. If Premier Mussolini should bring -his castor-oil squad to the next N. E. A. convention, there would be -only the change of language and the absence of black shirts to let him -know that he had crossed the ocean. Our leading reactionaries would be -there to greet him, headed by United States Commissioner of Education -John J. Tigert, who before the Des Moines convention discussed the -subject of Socialism, and pointed out the vote for Debs as proving that -900,000 Americans were advocating the abolition of all law, all -constitutions, and all forms of government! Addressing the school -teachers of San Diego, he sounded a warning against the increasing -tendency of the public schools to delve into sociology and economics, -which subjects were perilously close to “radicalism.” Said Commissioner -Tigert: - - There is altogether too much preaching of these damnable doctrines of - Bolshevism, Anarchy, Communism and Socialism, in this country today. - If I had it in my power I would not only imprison, but would - expatriate all advocates of these dangerous, un-American doctrines. I - would even execute every one of them—and do it joyfully. - -Mr. Tigert is a great favorite at conventions of all sorts; he got his -appointment at the hands of President Harding because of his charm as a -teller of humorous anecdotes. He is able to keep sober enough to tell -them—something which his predecessor in office was unable to do. At the -1919 convention of the N. E. A., held in Milwaukee, this gentleman was -apparently lured into celebrating the last “wet” night in the history of -the United States. An eye-witness writes me: - - He clung desperately to the desk in front of him, and babbled - incoherently for two hours and a half. People clapped and clapped in - the monotonous fashion they have when they want a speaker to quit, but - he still went on. I don’t know where the efficient President Strayer - was, but nobody stopped him. You ask if it is true that he was carried - off the stage; he may have been for I got tired and left. - -I shall be called a vile gossip for publishing things like this. All I -can answer is that I think it is of the utmost importance for the -American people to know what kind of men the Black Hand puts in charge -of the vast and increasing educational work of our government. At the -present time the chiefs of the N. E. A. are concentrating all their -energies upon the so-called Shepard-Towner bill, providing for a Federal -department of education, with a cabinet member at its head, and an -appropriation of a hundred million dollars. When they get it, there will -be one more boot-legging politician in Washington, and one more source -of reactionary propaganda for the kept press to broadcast. - -At the same Des Moines convention at which Commissioner Tigert spread -himself, the chiefs of the N. E. A. showed their intellectual caliber by -putting through two resolutions, the first urging disarmament, and the -second urging military training in the schools! The business men got up -a luncheon for the teachers and themselves, and invited Governor Allen -of Kansas, who at that time saw a glorious vision of himself becoming -president of the United States on the platform of putting all strikers -into jail. Under his supervision the big business vigilantes had been -mobbing and tarring and feathering the organizers of the Nonpartisan -League throughout Kansas. Governor Allen delighted the lunchers by his -wit, of which I give a sample: “The I. W. W.—I beg pardon, the -Nonpartisan League—come in, and we deal with them.” The lunchers laughed -so merrily that the Governor repeated this wit several times: “The I. W. -W.—I beg pardon, the Nonpartisan League!” At an evening meeting John -Gay, representative of the miners, showed again and again how Governor -Allen had lied in his statements concerning the Kansas miners’ strike. -He was booed by the audience, under the supervision of the chairman, -Fred M. Hunter, superintendent of schools of Oakland and president of -the N. E. A. - -More recently someone had the bright idea of gathering educators from -all over the world and forming a world federation of educators, to be -run by the N. E. A. gang. The call went out to all nations to send their -school representatives to San Francisco, at the same time as the Oakland -convention of 1923. The delegates came* *—nine-tenths of them -“Bolsheviks,” in the N. E. A. sense of that dreadful word; that is, -people dissatisfied with narrow and futile nationalism, and groping -towards international solidarity. They found themselves assembled in a -hall decorated with enormous American flags, and little dinky flags of -all the other nations; also they found themselves being ushered about by -lads in uniform—members of our high school and college military -organizations! The address of welcome was delivered by our gracious -lady-superintendent from Shelby County, Tennessee, field-secretary and -past President Charl O. Williams; and these world-wise and war-weary -educators, who had traveled all the way from China and Czecho-Slovakia -to hear her golden words, were told that we have wonderful scenery in -the Grand Canyon and the Yosemite; also that: - - Whenever in the name of democracy the serpent of Communism or - Bolshevism or Anarchy, feared alike in the countries from which you - come, shall rear its head to strike its poisoned fangs into the - charter of our liberties, it will be crushed under the heel of a true - democracy, just as we kill without fear or hesitation, the common, - ordinary garden variety which plays at our feet and then go on about - our business. - -Of course no public address is delivered nowadays without pious -statements that we dearly love peace; you remember how dearly the Kaiser -loved peace—but let his foes beware! Said past-President Charl O. -Williams: “It has been thought by some that this meeting is wholly in -the interest of peace. It is not so.” And the eloquent lady from -Tennessee explained the other purpose—if another war for liberty should -be called, “please God, we shall not send a soldier who cannot write his -name!” As a piece of pacifist fervor, that almost equals the utterance -of Cal Coolidge, as quoted on the front page of the Los Angeles “Times” -feature section, October 7, 1923: “The only hope for peace lies in the -perfection of the arts of war!” - -At this same San Francisco convention, a young high school teacher from -Santa Barbara brought in a proposition for the establishment of an -international university, to teach world problems from the international -point of view. They put a committee in charge of this fine project, and -I predict that when the university appears before the next convention, -it will be a university to teach capitalist nationalism. At the N. E. A. -gathering, which was going on across the bay, Mrs. Fannie Fern Andrews -of Boston, a social worker and tireless advocate of international -understanding, was chairman of a committee which brought in an excellent -report, recommending the teaching of history and civics from the -international point of view. The American Legion agents were on hand to -see that this report was postponed; also the National Security League, -whose representative was orating against “Bolshevism.” The gang-leader -selected to postpone Mrs. Andrews was the president of the Department of -Superintendence, Commissioner Payson Smith of Massachusetts. His motion -was carried with a roar, and a crowd of superintendents in the rear of -the room yelled out: “Hurrah for Payson Smith!” - -A study of this convention oratory reveals two prominent features: -first, the fulsome flattery which these great educators pour out upon -one another in public; the devout school-marms and enthralled visitors -are told that they are listening to the eloquence of the gods. Second, -the prominence given in all the discussions to the material side of -education, to administrative routine and “red tape.” This, of course, -comes from Columbia University, whose standard-bearers occupy the -prominent places on the program, put there by George D. Strayer, -professor of Educational Administration at Columbia University. Get this -title clear; it means that he teaches, not education, but the business -of conducting education factories. In other words, education has become -a Big Business in itself—a chain system of mills for the grinding out of -standardized minds. That is the thing they deal with at these N. E. A. -conventions; and if you could imagine the soul of a child being present, -you would picture it as a midge rolled over by a ten-ton truck. - -The central bureau of the Department of Superintendence is trying out -many great schemes. For example, no longer are janitors for schools to -be employed individually, there is now to be a contract janitor system, -and one great capitalist firm is to take care of all the schools in a -city. Before long we shall find the N. E. A. recognizing a new section, -and its annual conventions will be listening to the specialists of the -“Department of Janitorial Contracting.” - -In other parts of the country the “four-term year” is being tried out; -the children of the poor are to be rushed through, and delivered to -their Big Business masters in six years instead of eight. Also, an -enterprising superintendent from Oklahoma has taken up the problem of -what to do with the teacher during the period that used to be the -teacher’s vacation—a dangerous interlude, when she might read -unauthorized books, such as “The Goslings.” The teacher is now to spend -one summer term attending a university under proper supervision; the -next summer she is to be sent to acquire culture by travel under -supervision; the third summer she is to teach in the summer schools of -the city; and during the fourth she is to be permitted to have -recreation—if she has succeeded in passing the requirements of the -previous three summers. - - - - - CHAPTER LVII - SCHOOLS FOR STRIKE-BREAKERS - - -We have seen the National Education Association assembling in Boston, -and welcomed by the Chamber of Commerce. We have seen them assembling in -Oakland, and welcomed by the same organization. Wherever they go, they -are welcomed with open arms by Big Business, and the school-marms hasten -to this bear’s embrace. It is no exaggeration to say that from the -earliest days of the public school system its worst enemy has been -organized commercialism. I understand that there are individual business -men of vision, who believe in and work for the schools; but the -organizations, the class groups of the exploiters did all they could to -block the establishment of public schools, realizing that to educate the -lower classes was to prepare the overthrow of wage-slavery. - -What Big Business wants of children is their labor. Twenty years ago -Margaret Haley was lobbying at the state capital of Illinois for a bill -to abolish child labor, and she talked with the head of the Levis -family, which owns enormous glass works at Alton. It was provided in the -bill that children shouldn’t work in these factories earlier than -fourteen. Said Mr. Levis: “If you keep the children in school till then, -they aren’t of any use to us when they come.” This he said before the -legislature; and afterwards Miss Haley went up to him asking: “Just what -is it in the public schools which hurts the children?” The answer was: -“All this literature stuff, and history and music. In the schools where -they don’t have such things the children are willing to go to work.” -Before the legislature Mr. Levis threatened that if this bill were -passed the glass works in Alton would move to some other state. The work -of the children was carrying bottles a short distance, and they couldn’t -get men to do it—not at their price. The bill was passed—and immediately -the manufacturers decided that the work could be done by machines. - -Having realized that the schools are here to stay, Big Business now -seeks to turn them to its own ends. Modern educators, with their manual -training want to use handwork to develop the brains of the child, while -the manufacturers want to develop the hands only. The educators want to -keep the unity of the system, understanding that where hand and brain -are separated both degenerate. The business interests want schools in -which their workers may be trained; they are willing to pay generously, -in order to get cheap skilled labor which they may use in -strike-breaking. They want two separate school systems, with separate -boards, buildings, funds and corps of teachers. They want no -co-ordination between the two systems—the plan being that when they have -got them separate, they can feed the vocational schools and starve the -cultural schools. The organized teachers of Chicago have understood this -plan from the beginning, and they have explained it to the organized -workers, who have beaten it. - -Move up to Minnesota, and you find the same fight, financed by the same -people. The National Association of Manufacturers has had this definite -policy for the schools for a generation, and they have had highly paid -lobbyists and organizers at work all over the country. In Minnesota -these lobbyists came to the legislature with their bill for industrial -training under the direction of employers. The money was to be put up by -the public, but the school authorities were to have nothing to do with -the spending. There was to be a second school system, run by the -manufacturers, and they were to have power to transfer students without -the consent of their parents! Also, the local school boards were to be -permitted to accept petitions to provide industrial education in the -public schools. - -Mr. H. E. Miles, agent of the National Association of Manufacturers, -came to Wisconsin and denounced the schools there, declaring that the -vocational schools would never amount to anything until they were run by -the manufacturers themselves. Once more, Big Business was to train its -wage-slaves, and the state was to pay the bill. Mr. Miles made the -beginning of what he wanted, starting a trade school in a tannery in -Sheboygan. Mr. Schultz, a member of the state board, wanted one in his -chair factory; he objected to all scholastic subjects, especially -civics—he wanted only the trade taught. Many of these pupils were -foreigners, many were feeble-minded and could not get beyond the third -grade. - -Mr. Charles P. Cary, state superintendent of education, insisted that -these children should spend half their time in self-improvement; but Mr. -Miles would take nothing less than their whole time. He wanted them to -learn but one thing—the exact thing they were going to do the rest of -their lives; anything else was “overeducating” them. Talking with Mr. -Cary in April, 1921, Mr. Miles admitted that what he wanted of the -part-time schools was to train strike-breakers. “I was talking with one -of our great manufacturers,” he said, “and he told me that by putting in -the plant system of training he had made twenty thousand dollars in one -year. Now if that were paid for by the city and state”—and then suddenly -Mr. Miles realized that Mr. Cary was not a man to appreciate this line -of argument; he said abruptly: “It’s a remarkably fine day, is it not?” - -We went to war with Germany, thinking to abolish the German system of -autocracy. But here was a high-salaried agent of our biggest business -organization, representing many billions of dollars of invested capital, -devoting his energies to establishing the complete Prussian system in -the American schools! In Germany of the old regime, this system -comprised two distinct types of schools; first, the people’s schools, -and secondly, the gymnasia for the privileged classes. The children of -the poor dropped out at the age of fourteen years; ninety per cent of -them took to part time study and part work, fitting themselves to do -what their fathers were doing. Those who were destined for the gymnasia -pulled out at the third year, and began on foreign languages. A boy who -finished the people’s school had to go back and take up foreign -languages in order to get into the gymnasia, and very few ever achieved -the feat. - -This is class education, and it is what the National Association of -Manufacturers has been working for all over the United States. Margaret -Haley told me of a legislative hearing at Springfield, Illinois, at -which they produced Superintendent Cooley of Chicago, who gave an -elaborate lecture on the European system of vocational training, which -he pretended to know. Mr. Frederick Roman had gone to Germany, with -credentials from the governor of North Carolina, and had spent two years -making an independent study. Superintendent Cooley didn’t know about -this, and was taken by surprise when Mr. Roman walked in upon this -legislative hearing, and showed that Cooley had misrepresented both the -law and the facts of the European system. The vocational training which -the Chicago superintendent of schools was recommending for the state of -Illinois was worse than anything in Prussia! - -Superintendent Cary of Wisconsin told me the details of his long -struggle with the manufacturers. They informed him that if he did not -obey orders, they would put him out; he must play the political game, -and name the county superintendents selected by them. When he refused, -they put up a candidate against him—whose son was an agent for Ginn & -Company, book publishers. A little later on we shall deal with these -book companies in detail; suffice it here to say that one book agent -offered to put up fifteen thousand dollars for Mr. Cary’s campaign fund, -and the offer was refused. The manufacturers, being unable to get the -trade schools they wanted from Mr. Cary, went to the legislature and got -provision for separate vocational schools, and put their man in charge -of these. When the next election came round, they put up a man for Mr. -Cary’s place, and set out to raise a campaign fund; one contractor sent -out a letter to the others, the book companies rallied—and so Mr. Cary -no longer has anything to say about public education in Wisconsin. - -The National Association of Manufacturers, together with the National -Chamber of Commerce and the American Bankers’ Association and the rest -of them, now have a comfortable working majority in the Supreme Court, -and they got a decision granting them the right to work our babies in -their factories. They have several million now at work; and you -recollect how in California the Better America Federation tried to force -through the state legislature a bill providing for the dismissal of any -teacher who should discuss with any pupil the desirability of any -amendment to the Constitution. As an illustration of the conditions they -want, take the state of Delaware, which has no compulsory school -attendance law, and where children are bound out to employers on the old -English apprentice system, which is practically the same thing as -selling them into slavery. In Delaware the powder interests, owned by -the Dupont family, have very kindly taken over the educational system of -the state; they have established a School Association, which under the -law does all the buying of supplies and the putting up of school -buildings. - - - - - CHAPTER LVIII - THE NATIONAL SPIES’ ASSOCIATION - - -Next comes the question of the open shop, the most important in the -world to our National Manufacturers, who have been active in putting -anti-union propaganda into the schools, and in spying on those who deal -with unions. We have seen this going on in city after city—Los Angeles, -Oakland, Portland, Denver, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Detroit; and now we -discover the central source from which these impulses come. The National -Association of Manufacturers maintains an “Open Shop Department,” with a -huge campaign fund, and Mr. Noel Sargent as manager. Mr. Sargent -obtained the distribution of his anti-union literature to every school -child of New York, and when he was challenged about this he explained -quite innocently that “the association wished merely to see that -students and teachers understood its view-point.” The American -Federation of Labor made protest to the school authorities; but it -happened, amusingly enough, that at this very time the big labor chiefs -of New York City were doing their best to elect the Tammany ticket—the -very gang under whose direction the distributing had been done! - -Cross the continent to Stockton, California, and observe the local -branch of the Black Hand, known as the M. M. & E. (Merchants, -Manufacturers and Employers), engaged in strangling the high school -paper, the “Guard and Tackle,” because the student publishers committed -the crime of accepting the lowest bid for printing the paper—which bid -happened to be made by a concern employing union printers! The editor of -the “Forum,” an independent newspaper of Stockton, is greatly distressed -by this action; he thinks the M. M. & E. is drawing the class lines in -an artificial and fantastic way. Secretary Baker of the M. M. & E. -admits that he has caused advertising to be withdrawn from the school -paper, and admits the reason, but declines to put the statement into -writing, so that his organization would be legally responsible. It -appears that Professor Reed, financial adviser of the school boys, is a -canny gentleman, who advised the boys, at the time they made their -contract with the union concern, to reserve the right to cancel the -contract in case of interference by the business masters of Stockton. So -the work was taken from the union printers; but six months have passed, -and the school paper has not yet got back its lost advertising! - -As a rule, we put through these little jobs without disagreeable -publicity; but once in a while accidents happen. We may take the best of -care in selecting our educators, but now and then a Bolshevik will creep -in. Take, for example, the United States Bureau of Education; we have -had some most eminent Bolshevik-hunters in charge of that organization, -and had every right to feel safe about it. Who could have foreseen that -when the United States Commissioner of Education selected a young lady -by the name of Alice Barrows, whose ancestors went back two hundred and -eighty years in our history—a niece of Thomas Brackett Reed, Republican -party boss of the House of Representatives for a generation—who could -possibly have foreseen that this hundred per cent respectable young lady -would turn out to have sympathy for a labor union? Thereby hangs a -story, full of tragedy for our merchants and manufacturers of woolen -materials. - -In the course of the war we discovered a great many foreigners who -didn’t speak English and didn’t know how to read and write. That seemed -dangerous in war-time, so we started campaigns of “Americanization.” So -after the war the Bureau of Education sent Miss Alice Barrows to -Passaic, New Jersey, to make a study of the problem of adult education -among the foreigners who work in the woolen mills. It so happened that -only a few months ago there had been a big mass strike among these -workers, and they had formed a union. We were quietly engaged in -strangling this union, when Miss Barrows, entirely neglectful of her -dignity as a government investigator, had the bad taste to go and -consult with the president of the union about teaching the union workers -to speak and read and write English. - -Of course, we merchants and manufacturers can’t hold down this foreign -riff-raff without a great many spies to keep track of them. We have had -to develop a whole industry of espionage, almost as elaborate as our -school machine. We have scores of secret service agencies, some of which -spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year, and have complete -private armies of their own, cavalry, infantry and artillery. Naturally, -we had spies in the office of the Amalgamated Textile Workers of -Passaic, and one of these spies sent in a report concerning a “Mrs. -Alice Borrows of the Educational Division of the United States -Department of Labor.” There were a number of slips in that description, -but we haven’t as yet been able to introduce courses on espionage in our -schools, so our spies are not as highly cultured as we should like. - -The report referred to “Mrs. Borrows” as “a misguided zealot,” and -pictured her engaged in “a long and earnest conversation with Mathew -Pluhar, the head of this so-called union.” The two of them were -concocting a vile plot; there were to be night schools for the workers, -and the workers were actually to be permitted to select their own -teachers—who would, of course, teach them Bolshevik doctrines disguised -as English lessons! “This appears to be a very subtle scheme,” said our -spy, and he brought his report in haste to Mr. J. Frank Andres, -secretary of the Passaic Council of the Woolen Manufacturers’ -Association. Mr. Andres naturally hastened with it to the superintendent -of schools, so as to warn him against this subtle scheme and keep these -night schools from getting started. But here again an unforeseeable -accident happened. The superintendent of schools, instead of regarding -Miss Barrows as “a misguided zealot,” regarded her as a fellow educator, -and sent for her and put the report into her hands! - -Miss Barrows went to interview Mr. Andres, who consented not to punish -her for what she had done, but put it up to her fairly: “Don’t you think -that a corporation worth twenty million dollars ought to have some -control over the policy of the public schools?” There is a cheap -newspaper in Passaic, catering to the lower classes, and this published -the story; the yellow newspapers of New York took it up—they set out to -find out about our spy system, pretending never to have heard of such a -thing! Our Mr. Andres took a high moral position, explaining that “It is -of the highest importance for manufacturers to use agents among their -workers for the dissemination of truth against the doctrines of hatred -and antagonism which are being preached by such men as the leaders of -the Amalgamated.” - -But not all our members were as courageous as this. Miss Barrows began -calling upon the presidents of our great woolen corporations, and one of -them, Mr. Forstmann, denied that he had ever heard of such a thing as -industrial espionage, and promised to have it abolished except inside -the mills. Of course, that made us laugh; but it didn’t help to stop the -publicity. In order to hold down the Bolshevik agitators during the late -strike, our city authorities had required all speakers to get a permit; -and we didn’t give permits to unionists. But now came another kind of -union, a parlor Bolshevik affair called the American Civil Liberties -Union, demanding to hold meetings without permits. - -They have a clever trick—they hire a hall, and get up and start to read -the Constitution of the United States; they don’t really care anything -about the Constitution, of course, they just want to put us in a hole. -In this case they put up the Polish president of the Amalgamated, to -translate the Constitution into Polish, something which ought to be a -crime in itself. They wanted to make us arrest him, but we were too -clever for that; our chief of police just turned out the lights in the -hall, and then shoved all the foreigners and workingmen outside, and -left the newspaper reporters and parlor Bolsheviks inside to listen to -the Constitution in Polish! Of course, the Bolshevik newspapers made a -great fuss over that; there was a fellow by the name of William Hard, -who made it into a farce comedy in four issues of the “New Republic,” -April 7 to April 28, 1920. - -But, as the saying is, we showed them where to get off. To make -everything legal, our city council passed an ordinance, requiring that -everyone who speaks at a public meeting in Passaic shall first get a -permit from the police; and then, to complete the matter, our mayor put -Mr. J. Frank Andres on the school board. Now he is right there to see -that foreigners who belong to labor unions don’t get into the night -schools to learn English or anything else! Also we sent a couple of our -manufacturers down to Washington to try to have that Barrows woman -turned out of her job; but we couldn’t manage that—the politicians were -too much afraid of the publicity. We tried to keep them from printing -her report, but they wouldn’t even do that. It was published as the -Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1920, No. 4, and we hope you won’t send -for it. It is unfit for any decent person to read, as you can tell from -one sentence on page 23: - - It should, however, be clearly understood by the people of Passaic - that, so long as an espionage system so subversive of mutual trust and - social confidence among the adult population of Passaic continues, the - educational process is impossible. - - - - - CHAPTER LIX - BABBITTS AND BOLSHEVIKS - - -Space is limited, so let us drop the merchants and manufacturers, and -consider another great power, the American Bankers’ Association, which -has gone aggressively into education. This power has formally declared -its disapproval of the popular custom of using such words as “Wall -Street” and “capitalistic” in a disrespectful manner; so, in combination -with the American Institute of Banking, it takes steps to make the new -generation more polite. It has prepared a program of lectures, beginning -with the seventh grammar grade and continuing through the four years of -high school. Its “Committee on Public Education” has prepared a series -of ten lectures, and arranged to distribute them in the schools through -the eighty-three city chapters of the American Institute of Banking. -Bankers from each chapter will give lectures in the public schools at -the rate of one a month during the school year, teaching the economic -system upon which our banks are founded. - -What this economic system is can be stated in one sentence: our -government has turned over the most important function of modern life, -the creation of credit, to a group of selfish interests, which are -thereby enabled to confiscate the greater part of the product of the -modern industrial machine. Naturally, the bankers want the schools to -teach that this is a divinely inspired arrangement. We have seen their -educators at work in city after city, with lectures and “thrift -campaigns.” We have seen them in Montana, taking over the whole school -curriculum, and in Colorado taking a good part of the school funds as -well. - -Also the lawyers come forward to do their part. At the annual meeting of -the American Bar Association, in Minneapolis, 1923, a “Committee on -American Citizenship” brought in an elaborate report, full of words of -terror: “inroads,” “threatened changes,” “insidiousness,” “dangerous -tendencies,” “dangerous elements,” “long established institutions,” -etc., etc. There are four hundred “Red” newspapers, with five million -readers, say the lawyers of the United States; and these lawyers propose -to protect the people by taking charge of the schools. All local bar -associations are to organize committees, and there is to be “unity of -policy and action” all over the country; “direct contact will be made -with all our schools and colleges.” - -And already, it appears, some of the local lawyers have got to work. In -the September, 1923, issue of “School Life,” published by the Bureau of -Education, I learn that the Indiana State Bar Association is -co-operating with the schools, sending speakers on the Constitution; and -of course this will be the same thing, the lecturers will say nothing -about the Bill of Rights of the Constitution, they will interpret it -solely as an instrument for the perpetuation of privilege. - -Next, the National Chamber of Commerce, under the guidance of Professor -Strayer of Columbia University, Educator-in-Chief of J. P. Morgan & -Company. This mighty school magnate has organized a committee for -co-operation between chambers of commerce and city school departments. -We have seen this “co-operation” working in many cities, resembling the -alliance between the lady and tiger—“they came back from the ride with -the lady inside!” The co-operating organization is known by the imposing -title of “The American City Bureau of the National Committee for -Chambers of Commerce Co-operation with Public Schools”; think what a -delicious mouthful for a functionary—executive secretary of the A. C. B. -N. C. C. C. C. P. S.! - -This mammoth institution issued a report based upon a survey of schools -in nine hundred cities, from which most optimistic conclusions were -drawn by the “Outlook,” house organ of the firm of God, Mammon and -Company. Miss Josephine Colby, a “kicked-out” union teacher, wrote to -the “Outlook,” pointing out how misleading this editorial was, because -it gave the impression that the Chamber of Commerce report represented -the entire country, whereas it covered the large city schools, which are -the best, and left out the rural schools, which are the worst. Needless -to say, the “Outlook” had no space for this letter; and that is why -boards of education all over the United States recommend the “Outlook” -as proper reading for goose-herds and goslings. - -Next, the National Industrial Conference Board, which is the research -and propaganda bureau of a long list of Big Business associations—cotton -manufacturers, hardware, paper and pulp, electrical, chemical, wool, -automobiles, boot and shoe, metal trades, erectors, founders, rubber, -silk, railway cars, etc. Here is one of the most powerful “educational” -organizations of the country; its active manager is a consulting -engineer of the General Electric Company, who got his education in -Austria and Germany, and is working to introduce the German system of -slave training. This great organization has been active all over the -country in censoring text-books and supervising the contents of our -children’s minds. At its instance the Chamber of Commerce in St. Louis -caused Washington University to cease using the book entitled “Community -and National Life,” by Professor Charles H. Judd, head of the department -of education of the University of Chicago. - -Also, this National Industrial Conference Board discovered that the -Bureau of Education of the United States government was circulating a -series of pamphlets by Professor Judd, entitled “Lessons in Community -and National Life”; which pamphlets were discovered to be full of most -terrible Bolshevik material. They quite definitely labored to prejudice -the minds of little children against the leading doctrines of our -organized American manufacturers. Consider, for example, a sentence such -as the following: - - Those in favor of the minimum wage for men say that men should receive - a wage sufficient to marry and rear a family without the dangers that - come from insufficient employment and wages. - -Or consider a criminal Bolshevik utterance like the following: - - The prohibition of night work, the eight-hour day, and the minimum - wage for women are necessary to protect the health of the mothers of - the next generation. - -Or an incendiary statement such as this: - - Social insurance helps to maintain normal family standards. - -Again, think of telling a tender young child about a workingman who -contracted tuberculosis, so that his oldest boy had to leave school, and -the mother had to go out to day sewing, with the result that “the young -children ran wild.” Then follows the subtle propaganda: - - The misfortune of this family could have been prevented if a law - providing for social insurance against sickness, or health insurance, - had been in effect. - -There was a whole list of Bolshevik utterances such as this, which you -may find quoted and discussed in a pamphlet published by the National -Industrial Conference at Boston. The title of the pamphlet is: “A Case -of Federal Propaganda in our Public Schools.” The pamphlet doesn’t state -what was done about this matter, so I mention that the circulation of -the wicked propaganda by the United States government was immediately -stopped. - -Next, the National Association for Constitutional Government, which is -sending out lecturers to talk to school children on the Constitution. A -teacher in St. Paul tells me about a woman from this organization, who -was allowed half an hour in a high school of St. Paul, and devoted two -minutes to the Constitution, and twenty-eight minutes to the -Bolsheviks—meaning, of course, everybody who believes in municipal milk -inspection and government control of railroads. This lady has just -turned up in Southern California, having got herself transferred to the -Better America Federation. She lectures in the drawing-rooms of our rich -ladies, and feeds them all the old garbage—free love, nationalization of -women, the communization of children, the tearing down of churches. She -lends spice to her discourse by telling how she herself in her youth was -seduced by these cults of Satan. It is noted that no one is ever given -an opportunity to question her, and she never appears before those -organizations whose rules provide that both sides of every question -shall be heard. She has a new and curious formula for getting at the -truth: “If you want to know about Socialism, don’t go to the -Socialists!” To a friend of mine she said, with lifted eyebrows: “Do you -really think Upton Sinclair is sincere?” - -Next, the National Security League. From a syndicated newspaper article, -occupying two columns, I cut the following head-lines: - -/* LESSONS IN PATRIOTISM ARE FREE FOR TEACHERS - -REVISION IN STUDY OF CIVICS ALL OVER COUNTRY HELPED BY NOBLE WORK OF -LEAGUE SECRETARY */ - -In the text which follows I learn about this wonderful secretary, the -daughter of a “patriotic instructor” of the G. A. R., who now maintains -an office in New York, and is the “personal friend” of the seven hundred -thousand school teachers of the United States. Many of these teachers do -not know much about the Constitution; being afraid to reveal the fact to -their supervisor, they are glad to write for advice to a specialist in -patriotism. In the past five years a quarter of a million teachers have -had either direct or indirect relationship with this system. Twenty-six -states have passed laws requiring the teaching of the Constitution in -the schools, and this secretary is right there with the dope, especially -prepared for children of every age. For example: “The Supreme Court is -the greatest contribution to free government ever made, in that it -exists to protect the people from the tyranny of the government they -themselves set up.” In other words, nine venerable gentlemen, seven of -them the lifelong hired men of great corporations, have usurped to -themselves the power of annuling laws of Congress—including a law -intended to save several million children from slavery in glass -factories and cotton mills and enable them to go to school. - -There are numerous other great organizations of Bolshevik hunters -supervising our schools—the American Civic Association, the “America -First” Publicity Association, the International Association of Rotary -Clubs, the Inter-Racial Council, the National American Council, the -Sentinels of the Republic—a whole universe of Babbitts! The New York -“Commercial,” a daily newspaper of Wall Street, makes a regular feature -of Bolshevik hunting. It has an “expert” who publishes a daily -department, “The Searchlight,” all got up in official fashion, with -index numbers ready for filing in your spy cabinet: “File No. 21, Report -No. 7, November 21, 1923, Schools and Colleges, Radicalism In”—this kind -of thing gives delight to the Babbitt soul, like a stuffed cat to a -baby. This particular report deals with the National Student Forum and -its branches in the colleges, particularly the Harvard Liberal Club. It -quotes me as approving these organizations. The passage is taken from -“The Goose-step,” page 466, and appears in the New York “Commercial” as -follows: - - As an illustration of the activities of this group I mention that the - Harvard Liberal Club, during the year 1922, had sixty luncheon - speakers in five months, including such radicals as Clark Getts, - Lincoln Steffens, Florence Kelley, Raymond Robins, Frank Tannenbaum, - Roger Baldwin, Percy Mackaye, Clare Sheridan, Norman Angell, and W. E. - B. Dubois. - -The New York “Commercial” stopped there, and stopped, according to the -rules of punctuation, with a period. But, as it happens, that period -constitutes a lie; for in “The Goose-step” the punctuation mark is not a -period, but a semi-colon, followed by the words: - - Properly balanced by a group of respectable people, including Admiral - Sims, Hamilton Holt, President Eliot, and a nephew of Lord Bryce. - -You see what a dirty piece of work! The Harvard Liberal Club is what its -name implies, an organization believing in free discussion and a hearing -for both sides. I gave an account of its activities which proved it to -be that. The New York “Commercial,” desiring to prove the Harvard -Liberal Club a “radical” organization, deliberately mutilates my -sentence, and represents the Harvard Liberal Club as inviting only -radicals, and myself as endorsing such a procedure in colleges! - -Now skip one or two thousand miles, to where the Sioux Indians once -chased the buffalo, and the capitalist Indians now chase professors -through college halls. The legislature of Iowa passed a law providing -for a course in “citizenship,” and the state superintendent appointed a -committee to prepare a course, the chairman being Harry G. Plum, -professor of European History at the state university; a Columbia Ph.D., -author of several historical works, and an entirely respectable person. -Professor Plum, with the help of his graduate students, prepared a -syllabus, in which he made so bold as to discuss American problems on -the basis of facts. So Professor Plum became a target for the arrows of -the Ottumwa “Courier,” which insisted that high school students ought -not hear about such a topic as “the English Industrial Revolution.” Said -the editor of the “Courier”: “To the teacher of history industrial -revolution may mean a change in mechanical methods, but to the radical -it means overthrow of government.” - -Furthermore, Editor Powell objected to the use of such words as -“problem” and “difficulty” in connection with our civilization. High -school students ought not to know that there are any problems or -difficulties—unless possibly it be the problem or difficulty of -compelling college professors to obey their masters! Also Editor Powell -would not permit Professor Plum to list the I. W. W. among labor -organizations; he would not let the professor make frequent references -to “the capitalist group” and to “capital and labor”; he would not let -the professor state that the farmers were responsible for the Populist -movement and the Nonpartisan League; nor would he permit the suggestion -to be made that high school pupils should “participate in the working -out of problems.” Editor Powell was so determined about all this that he -carried the matter to the state legislature and forced an investigation, -at which Professor Plum was grilled, and the university faculty was made -unhappy. As Editor Powell put it in his paper: “Iowa City does not want -any question to arise as to the brand of teaching at the university, -while the big appropriations for the institution are pending before the -legislature.” Needless to say, the wicked syllabus was thrown out of the -schools of the state. - - - - - CHAPTER LX - THE SCHOOLS OF SOCONY - - -Among the great capitalists who have been making over our schools, the -most active has been Mr. John D. Rockefeller. Mr. Rockefeller -established the General Education Board, an institution with an -endowment of a hundred and twenty-five million dollars, for the purpose -of exercising supervision over American education. Of course this is all -supposed to be entirely altruistic; its purpose is to improve our -standards of education, and has no relationship whatever to the fact -that Mr. Rockefeller is engaged in collecting tens of millions of -dollars every year from a long list of our biggest industries. I have -discussed this matter in detail in “The Goose-step”; but it is of such -overwhelming importance to the schools, that I must repeat the facts -here. The Rockefeller General Education Board is without doubt the most -powerful single agency now engaged in keeping our schools subservient to -special privilege. Dr. W. J. Spillman, of the United States Bureau of -Agricultural Economics, tells of the efforts of the Rockefeller board to -control the agricultural colleges in the different states, and of the -activities of their agent, David F. Houston, ex-president of the -University of Texas, and Secretary of Agriculture under Woodrow Wilson, -to keep the farmers of the United States from learning anything about -how they were “deflated” by the Federal Reserve banks. - -Dr. Houston is a member of the Southern Education Board, one of the -Rockefeller organizations, and later became chairman of the Federal -Reserve and Farm Loan Board. Dr. Spillman was on the inside all through -the Houston administration of the Department of Agriculture, and -portrays his chief as “lying, cheating and intriguing, resorting to -every device in order to keep the facts about farming costs from being -collected.” You see, the farmers were expected to raise food and sell it -below the cost of production; they are still being expected to do this, -and are doing it. There was circulated through Dr. Houston’s department -a typewritten sheet, said to have come from Mr. Rockefeller’s General -Education Board, and concurred in by Secretary Houston, forbidding the -department to make any investigation which would determine the cost of -producing farm products; no one should ever hint at over-production in -farm products, and the sole business of the department was to persuade -the farmers to produce more. - -This General Education Board possesses unlimited funds, pays no taxes, -and renders no accounting to anyone. It employs a huge staff of experts -in lobbying and wire-pulling. These experts got control of the farm -demonstration work in the South, and because Dr. Spillman fought them in -the North and West, they did everything in their power to handicap his -work. I refer you to “The Goose-step” for the story of Professor T. N. -Carver of Harvard University, who became head of a government department -for which the Rockefeller board put up the funds. Professor Carver was -an honest man, who really wanted to help the farmers, and worked out an -elaborate program. It was turned down flat by the Rockefeller board, and -Professor Carver told them in plain language what he thought of them, -and then quit. In consequence of such intrigues on the part of the -Rockefeller experts, the farmers of the Northwest are now flat on their -backs, and ignorant of how it happened, or what to do about it. - -Hundreds of expert super-educators, with strings of college degrees, are -put upon the payrolls of the General Education Board, and sent to every -portion of the United States to run our schools free of charge; and if -you were to ask the General Education Board, or the capitalist press of -the United States, you would be assured that never, never could it -happen that anyone of these educators would cease for one moment from -his altruistic labors, or think about anything so base as the interests -of the Rockefeller corporations. But I invite you now to give attention -to the story of Mr. Granville Cubage, who in 1922, announced himself as -candidate for superintendent of public instruction in Union County, -Arkansas. Mr. Cubage got out a pamphlet entitled “How Arkansas Schools -Lost a Million Dollars,” and here is the strange story he tells. Mr. -Cubage’s opponent in the race for state superintendent was Mr. A. B. -Hill, state high school inspector at a salary of thirty-five hundred -dollars a year paid by the Rockefeller General Education Board, together -with an expense allowance of twelve hundred dollars. Mr. Hill’s second -in rank got the same salary and allowance of Rockefeller money, his -third in rank got the same, and his fourth in rank, the supervisor of -Negro schools, got a little more—presumably to salve his feelings and -preserve his prestige among the people of Arkansas, who do not like -Negro schools. - -Mr. Cubage, who has been for the past fourteen years a teacher at the -State Normal School, goes on to explain how these four great educators -have spent most of their time playing politics, and have secured one act -after another from the state legislature, building up the power of their -machine. Mr. Hill obtained the power to grade the schools, and to hire -and fire teachers, and to give orders to the county superintendents—so -on through a long list of powers. That may be all right, of course—if -the educators are really educators, trying to serve the people. Also it -may be proper that the state board of education should be filled up with -Rockefeller agents, drawing Rockefeller salaries; but are they really -serving the people? - -Read on a little further, and you discover that Mr. Cubage is advocating -that the great oil and pipe line companies, principally Standard -Oil-Rockefeller concerns, should pay a “severance tax” upon the natural -wealth which they draw from the state of Arkansas. And what have the -great Rockefeller educators to say about that? - -Mr. Cubage, in his campaign circular, tells us about an amendment to the -state constitution, providing that the people shall pay more taxes to -provide more money for the schools. At the meeting of the State -Teachers’ Association, November 11, 1920, such an amendment was -approved—but also containing a provision for the severance tax. -Immediately Mr. Hill rose in the convention, and proposed that a -“Committee on Phraseology” be appointed, to put the finishing touches to -this resolution. Mr. Hill himself was not named on this committee, but -his influence counted—for when the bill came out from the committee, -with the “finishing touches” complete, it was discovered that the -principal “finishing touch” had finished the severance tax provision! -This provision had entirely disappeared, and Amendment 14, as approved -by the teachers of the state, said nothing about such a tax. In order to -beat Mr. Cubage, who favored the tax, and elect Mr. Hill, who opposed -it, the gang assessed all the Arkansas school teachers three times, and -made all county and city superintendents contribute one hundred dollars -each to the campaign fund! - -Later on, when the legislature came to consider bills providing for a -severance tax, the great Rockefeller educators were at the state -capital, advising the legislators that these bills were objectionable. -And so, the next time you read about the abundant generosity of Mr. -Rockefeller, the greatest educational philanthropist of all time, don’t -forget this little story from Union County, Arkansas. By paying out a -few thousand dollars for the improvement of Arkansas education, Mr. -Rockefeller’s industries expected to save a million dollars a year in -one single bill! I am sorry I have not access to the complete files of -the General Education Board and of the Standard Oil Company, so that I -can tell you how many tens of millions a year have been added to Mr. -Rockefeller’s income by this simple little scheme of paying the salaries -of educational politicians! - -When you question our great captains of industry about proceedings such -as this, they make one defense—they have to do it, because the other -fellow is doing it. We must give Mr. Rockefeller the benefit of this -plea; the rivals of the Standard Oil Company have also been buying up -educators and state governments. Especially they have done this in order -to get school lands which have been discovered to contain oil. - -I have before me a copy of the Oklahoma “Leader” for July 1, 1922, -telling the story of Robert H. Wilson, then candidate of the Black Hand -for governor of Oklahoma. It appears that Wilson had been a member of -the School Land Commission, and he had awarded a lease for a hundred and -eighteen thousand acres of school land to an oil operator by the name of -Marland, who made sixty-seven million dollars out of this lease and -others. The scandal became so great that the legislature took up the -matter and prescribed terms for releasing; but the School Land -Commission met and solemnly took the stand that the act of the -legislature was unconstitutional, and proceeded to continue Marland’s -holdings on the old terms. In the court battle which ensued, the state -of Oklahoma obtained $1,400,000 from the Marland interests—a sum which -the School Land Commission had endeavored to throw away. If the school -commission had held on to the lands and leased them upon proper terms, -the schools of Oklahoma would have had not less than thirty million -dollars. - -It is interesting to note the outcome of the gubernatorial election. Mr. -Wilson, the candidate of the Black Hand, was beaten by “Jack” Walton, -hero of the Farmer-Labor party. Immediately afterwards it was discovered -that all Walton’s campaign expenses had been met by the oil interests, -and he proceeded to kick over his party and run the state of Oklahoma -for these oil interests—among other things, turning out of office a -radical educator, president of the Agricultural College. Governor Walton -would still, no doubt, have been running the state for the oil men, if -he had not made the mistake of attacking the Ku Klux Klan. - -While we are in this Southwestern country, with its new rich and its new -poor, let us take time to consider the great Invisible Empire, which is -so rapidly taking over the control of our political life. Wherever you -travel in the West nowadays, people consider it necessary to ask whether -you belong; so I answer that I have been invited to join, but have not -availed myself of the opportunity. Many klansmen will read this book, -and discover that some of the things they want are the things I want; -but I venture to tell them that they will not get these things through -the Klan, whose leaders got rich in a hurry, and are now hand in glove -with Wall Street. A great many Klan members are former Socialists, who -have got tired of waiting for something to happen; they will wait a -while longer, and then the class struggle will begin inside the Klan, -and its membership will decide whether Americanism means wage slavery -and no more. - -For the present I record that Socialist school teachers are being -hounded by the Klan, in places as far apart as Oklahoma and Indiana. How -intelligent the conduct of the organization is, you may judge from the -fact that the school board of the large city of Dallas, Texas, has been -formally condemned by the Klan, and sentenced to extinction at the next -election. The local Klan potentate wrote officially to the school board -in substance as follows: “We have been informed that the wife of the -manager of the lunch room at the Forest Avenue High School has told her -husband that if he joins the Ku Klux Klan, she will leave him. Now we -beg to inform you that the Ku Klux Klan is a one hundred per cent -Christian and American organization, and it resents such statements; and -we expect the school board to see that they are not repeated and that -proper punishment is meted out to persons in the school that make such -remarks.” The Dallas school board committed the offense of filing this -letter without action, and so it is slated to go. - - - - - CHAPTER LXI - THE RIOT DEPARTMENT - - -Next, our military men present themselves as educators; nothing would -please them more than to take over our schools entirely, and make a -hundred thousand little West Points. They have made much progress, and -Big Business cheers them on, and puts up the money for their propaganda. -We have seen the N. E. A. turning over its conscience to the American -Legion, which may be described as the Riot Department of the plutocracy. -In city after city the chambers of commerce and merchants and -manufacturers have built palatial club-houses for the Legion; they are -subsidizing its worst activities, and keeping its inciters of violence -upon their secret payrolls. They are working out a program to have a -representative of the Legion as one of the orators at every school -commencement. All reactionaries understand that to get the school -children into uniform and drill them is the one sure way to save us from -modern thought. Hear, for example, General Pershing, orating at a -banquet tendered to him by the Chamber of Commerce and its Riot -Department in San Diego. According to the Los Angeles “Times”: - - More than 500 persons whistled, applauded and pounded the tables when - the commander of the United States Army in war and in peace paid his - compliments to the Reds. “Military training with its teaching of - submission to the will of authority is one of the best methods of - teaching young and old the sacredness and the power of the - Constitution of the United States,” said Gen. Pershing. “I firmly - believe that a sane program of military training for every young man - is a great immunity against the idle, insidious and foolish propaganda - of the I. W. W., the parlor Bolsheviks and all other shades of Reds of - which there are too many right now.” - -Thus the “Times”; and if you think the schools are not drinking in this -poison, I refer you to “School Life,” the official publication of the -United States Bureau of Education, December, 1921. The front page of -this magazine opens with an article by Commissioner Tigert, -self-appointed slaughterer of Socialists. The title is “Educational -Aspects of the American Legion’s Convention.” Let me make clear to you -before you go on that this is that same hideous orgy in Kansas City, to -which I have previously referred. You may find a sketch of it at the end -of my novel, “They Call Me Carpenter,” and a detailed account published -in the “Nation” for November 23, 1921. After you have read these, read -how the convention is made to appear to the school children. The -headlines continue: - - Presence of International Figures Made Occasion a Memorable Event. - School Children Impress General Diaz. Program of Americanization - Enthusiastically Indorsed. Policies and Principles of Legion. Program - for American Education Week. - -Then follows a list of the “international figures” who were -present—Marshal Foch, Admiral Beatty, General Diaz, General Jacques, -General Pershing, Vice-president Coolidge, etc. “Gigantic parade of -40,000 heroes of the Great War, the banquet given in honor of the -distinguished gentlemen,” etc. “Thousands of school children lined along -the boulevards to see Foch.” And here is the message of the pious -Catholic general to America: “You boys, when you grow up, must work. You -little girls, when you grow up, must remember to pray.” - -They are getting the little children into the Boy Scout movement, which -is the first step. They get them into uniforms and march them, and teach -them the military ideal of obedience. The Boy Scouts become more and -more warlike every hour; and the men who run the movement become more -warlike in their attitude toward the school authorities. Says Mr. O. G. -Wood, quoted in our Butte story: - - One Scout Master in Butte by the name of Owen used to come before the - school board and tell them what to do in regard to allowing the public - schools for Scout meetings. He fixed the dates and no change was made. - He threatened to have any member of the board beaten at the next - election if an objection was hinted at. - -For the high school and college boys they have what they call the -Reserve Officers’ Training Corps; wherever possible, they compel them to -serve and where the people have prevented this, they lure the boys by -uniforms and music and badges and banners and holidays in camp. They -teach them to plunge bayonets into human bodies, and to snarl and howl -like wild beasts while doing it. Says Mr. Ray McKaig, of Boise, Idaho: - - In 1922 one very prominent club woman came home to find a group of - children watching her fourteen-year-old boy bayoneting a dummy and - screaming while so doing. To her horror she found that he was learning - this at high school. She learned that the commandant, a West Point - officer, was deliberately instilling arrogance into the boys. - Oftentimes the boys, in squads led by a corporal and fully armed, - would walk down the sidewalk brushing others in the gutter. A large - public funeral was held of one of the leading Boise citizens, and the - high school boys were having a military drill. With insolence - characteristic of militarism “made in Germany” these young future - soldiers were ordered to break through the funeral procession, instead - of waiting quietly until it had passed by. - -One of the lads who was being taught militarism in Camp Kearney, -California, turned traitor and delivered to me the typewritten -memorandum of a lecture on “Military Psychology,” delivered July 26, -1920, by Robert J. Halpin, Lt. Colonel of Infantry. It consists of -approximately fifteen hundred words of blood-thirsty raving; I cannot -spare space for it all, but I quote one paragraph from the beginning and -one from the end, and assure you that the rest is all the same: - - This is a period of a truce. The Great Wars of the world have not been - fought. . . . - - Gentlemen: There will be wars until the end of time. Everlasting peace - is for the grave—not for life. The wish for everlasting peace is born - of fear and ignorance. It is a sure sign of weakness and a declining - civilization. - -This is an old, old story—the training of little children to the -murdering of their fellowmen and calling it glory. In the old days this -was Kultur, and we went to war to put a stop to it, but apparently have -not done so. The capitalists who now rule Germany are being robbed by -the capitalists of France; and they are preparing the school children of -Germany for the next war, in which they will gain a chance to rob the -capitalists of France. In a “German History for Schools,” which is used -in all the schools of present-day Germany, it is stated that French -airplanes bombarded German railways before the declaration of war; this -in spite of the fact that the German ambassador at Paris asserted the -falsity of the charge. - -This is wicked of the Germans, and ought to be stopped at once. The -French are getting ready to stop it; the capitalists of France, who are -robbing the capitalists of Germany, are training the children of France -for the next war, by teaching them from text-books equally full of lies. -There is a history of the great war, in use throughout the schools and -written by a school director; “For Our France” is the title, and in it -the Germans are described as “a host of savages, whose profession is -war, and who go about to despoil, to devastate, and to terrorize.” Under -the heading of “Entertainment” there is a series of questions adapted to -children, dealing with the savageness of the Teutons. There is also a -reader for primary and secondary schools, full of terrible stories of -murder and rape; also a volume entitled “Les Lectures des Petits,” that -is, readings for young children, full of such stories. In Belgium there -is an “Atlas Manual of Geography,” intended for use in high schools, -published four years after the end of the war, describing the Germans as -“brigands, thieves and assassins”; they are not to be received into the -League of Nations, but must be kept under surveillance, like the Negroes -and the Malay races—even these have hearts but the Germans have none. - -Strange as it may seem to you, they are teaching such stuff, not merely -to the children of Belgium and France, but to the children of America -who study French! For example, a standard text-book, Chardenal’s -“Complete French Course,” New and Revised Edition, 1920, is full of the -basest French chauvinism: Germany was the sole author of the war; the -real hero of the world, and of France, is always the warrior; the sacred -places of France are the victorious battle-fields, and the scenes of -peace conferences such as Versailles. The date of the signing of this -most infamous of all the world’s peace treaties has a mystic -significance, because it was four hundred years previously, on that same -day, June 28, 1519, that Charles V was elected Emperor! - -There are some really sane men writing on the subject of war and peace -in France at the present time; but never would it do for American school -children to read anything by Anatole France or Romain Rolland! Any more -than it would do for them to read the writings of American -humanitarians, such as Jane Addams or David Starr Jordan. Says Dr. -Jordan, concerning our school text-books: - - They have glorified deeds of blood and celebrated most persistently - the heroes of the battle-field. The heroes of peace barely appear on - their pages, and they fail to recognize that the actual heroisms which - have brightened the records of war like flashes of lightning in a - thunderstorm are not products of war. They represent the divine in man - revealed in desperate conditions, in wallowing in physical and moral - mud, midst the barbaric loneliness of war. - -And, needless to say, our chambers of commerce with their Riot -Department are going to see that we continue to get text-books of this -sort. Says Colonel Galbraith of this Riot Department, at a May Day -meeting, 1921: - - We will see what kind of courses these teachers are giving and what - text-books they use. If we find that they are disloyal we’ll tell you, - and you can kick them out. We don’t care what you do with them. - -And in another newspaper item I read: - - Captain Walter I. Joyce, chairman of a sub-committee of the - Americanization Committee of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, is - appointed to meet with the representatives of the American Book - Company to scrutinize history text-books gotten out by that company in - order to prevent the creeping in of un-American propaganda. The - investigation of American histories has been going on for the past two - years, and as a result thereof, two histories have been discarded by - the Board of Education of New York and several are under consideration - at the present time in Boston. - -This kind of thing has been the rule all over the country, and the -National Council for the Prevention of War has been making a study of -standard text-books of history to determine the result. Here they are, -briefly stated: - - Fully 25% of the space in each approved text-book on history is - devoted to war. “The test of a state is its ability to wage war,” is a - statement frequently found in text-books. “Americans demonstrated - their instinctive military talent.” “Fair field of battle,” “valor,” - “bravery,” “audacious courage,” “brilliant,” “magnificent drive,” “our - great adventure,” are terms frequently used to glorify war. - - Underlying conditions predisposing to international friction, such as - commercial rivalry, territorial ambitions, centralized autocratic - government control and the maintenance of gigantic military and naval - establishments, are rarely, and usually very inadequately, analyzed. - - In analyzing the results of war, emphasis is always laid on the - territorial gains acknowledged in the treaty of peace. If reference is - made at all to tremendous destruction and cost of war, it is to point - out that it was worth while. - - No attempt is made in the text-books to understand developments in - Russia. Sweeping terms are used in characterizing the present regime - there; such phrases as “two sinister figures, Lenin and Trotzky,” - “brazenly serving Germany’s ends,” “the anarchy known as Bolshevism,” - are frequent. - - In treating of the world war, all recent text-books perpetuate the - hate and rancor engendered by the war. The guiltlessness of the allies - is always proclaimed. - - - - - CHAPTER LXII - THE BLINDFOLD SCHOOL OF PATRIOTISM - - -Needless to say, it is not only the military men who are revising our -school text-books; all the business interests are wielding their blue -pencils, and likewise the religious groups, and the racial and national -groups. In New York City, Commissioner of Accounts David Hirshfield is -leading a crusade against those who want to bring up our school children -without hatred for England. The commissioner held a series of hearings, -and gave an opportunity for all patriots to vent their dissatisfaction -with school text-books which failed to make proper capital out of Betsy -Ross and John Paul Jones, and which committed such offenses as -mentioning that Sam Adams was a smuggler, or that Alexander Hamilton had -said: “Your people, Sir, is a great beast.” Commissioner Hirshfield -published at the expense of the city of New York an elaborate pamphlet, -listing the offenses of such “un-American” text-books—David S. Muzzey’s -“American History,” Willis M. West’s “History of the American People,” -Albert B. Hart’s “School History,” and so on. - -This crusade has spread widely, directed by what might be called the -blindfold school of patriotism. According to this school, all our -ancestors are equally to be revered, regardless of the fact that they -called one another all the vile names in the dictionary; they are -equally to be followed, although they lead in opposite directions. The -bewildered historian must manage to agree with both Thomas Jefferson and -Alexander Hamilton, with Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln; a -generation from now he will learn to agree with Calvin Coolidge and -Eugene V. Debs! - -It is easy to poke fun at Chinese ancestor-worship transplanted to -America; but, on the other hand, one does not like to be in the same -boat with those Anglo-maniacs whose purpose in writing text-books is to -line us up with the British ruling-classes in their future wars. It is -hard to take one’s choice between Commissioner Hirshfield, and, for -example, Professor Greenlaw of the University of North Carolina, whose -“Builders of Democracy” is one of the most popular text-books in our -schools. Here is a book of more than three hundred and fifty closely -printed pages, full of Anglo-American military glory. The first part is -“The Call to the Colors,” and that is all American flags and battles. -The second part is “The Builders and Their Work,” and that is Tennyson -and Elizabethan seamen and the mariners of England, and “Burke, the -Friend of America.” Part Three, “Soldiers of Freedom,” is “The Soul of -Jeanne d’Arc,” and “Vive la France!” and “A Chant of Love for England,” -and all the battles and glories of the late war. I search this book from -cover to cover without finding one line about the builders of industrial -democracy. There is a short section entitled “The Growth of Sympathy for -the Poor Man,” which gives us “A Cotter’s Saturday Night,” and oddly -enough, “To a Mouse”! But there isn’t one word about labor, there isn’t -one word about Socialism, there isn’t one hint to any school child of -the colossal struggle for economic self-government now going on all over -the world, with its roll of heroes and martyrs as magnificent as any -ever sung in the days of political revolutions. - -All over this country the hunt for the unorthodox text-book is going on, -and the principle upon which the revisers are working is set forth by -Edward Mandel, district superintendent of schools in New York, who -ordered every school principal in the city to direct his teachers of -history to examine the history books and transmit reports. Said Mr. -Mandel: “The question to be considered is not one of whether statements -made in the text-books are truthful and based on fact, but whether -propriety would be observed if they were included in them.” You will not -be surprised to hear that this educational gang-leader went up to -Albany, and was active in pushing through a series of bills known to the -teachers as the “spoils bills,” their purpose being to undermine the -merit system and give the gang entire control over promotions; and when -he got through with this job, he was promoted to be associate -superintendent at a considerably higher salary. - -The final goal of these patriots has been reached in Arkansas, where the -state legislature has just passed a bill providing exactly how American -history shall be taught; the teachers are to avoid “a mere recital of -names and events,” and devote themselves to “instilling an understanding -and a love of country,” etc. In other words, there is to be no more -history, only propaganda; and any teacher who slips up on it is to be -fined from one hundred to five hundred dollars, or to serve in jail from -thirty days to six months, or both. As we used to say when we were -youngsters, and had got somebody down with our thumb in his eye: “Now -will you be good?” - -The leader in the crusade against what he calls “treason texts” is Mr. -Charles Grant Miller, organizing director of the “Patriot League.” Mr. -Miller tells me how “for years in my newspaper work I have encountered -evils arising from the rivalries of text-book publishers and their -unscrupulous methods of manipulating school officials and intimidating -teachers.” He then goes on to tell how the Patriot League has set to -work to give the text-book companies a dose of their own medicine. The -haughty American Book Company has been brought to its knees; they -submitted to Mr. Miller the proofs of a new school history, which had -won the endorsement of the Sons of the American Revolution. But it -didn’t suit Mr. Miller; he specified over three hundred unsatisfactory -passages, and the American Book Company agreed to accept ninety-five per -cent of these corrections. It has just sent Mr. Miller proofs of another -school history, which he finds to be ninety-nine per cent all right from -his viewpoint. Then they asked him to read in manuscript a new high -school history; says Mr. Miller: - - I have had a conference with the full editorial and business staffs of - the American Book Company, within the last few days, and am satisfied - that, whether for business reasons or because of real conversion to - our cause, they will, for the present at least, issue no more texts - that are not patriotic. - -I have not undertaken a thorough study of school text-books; most of my -readers have them in their own homes, and can investigate for -themselves. However, I have on my desk a few samples, which were thrown -at my head by indignant teachers and pupils in the course of my travels. -For example, here is “Economics and the Community,” published by the -Century Company, and written by Professor J. A. Lapp, a prominent -Catholic propagandist. I consult the index for the most important aspect -of “economics and the community”—that is, Socialism—and I find it is not -mentioned! And then I take up a book prepared for the education of -immigrants, Howard and Brown’s “United States,” published by Appleton. I -glance over it, and in six different places I find enthusiastic praise -of our great American newspapers. Also, the unsuspecting immigrants are -told that “in our great country there is almost always work for -everybody.” At the time this book was handed to me there were nearly -five million unemployed in the United States! Later on the immigrants -are told that “in the South Central and Southern states there are -millions and millions of acres of good land which cannot now be -cultivated because there are not laborers enough.” Nothing is said, of -course, about the rents the poor immigrants will have to pay for this -land, or what the bankers will charge them for crop and chattel -loans—see “The Book of Life,” a quotation from a report of the United -States comptroller of the currency. - -And while we are dealing with country problems, let me quote from the -letter of Mr. W. J. Hannah, of Big Timber, Montana, chairman of a rural -school board: - - As you know, even the grade schools are now teaching “scientific - agriculture.” My boy of twelve has just placed in my hand Stone-Mills - “Intermediate Arithmetic.” It contains page after page of so-called - “Problems of the Farm.” I cite you a composite of half a dozen—by - actual count there are twenty-four like this in one small text: - - “Farmer Jones raised ten acres of wheat, which yielded 100 bushels and - sold at $1 per bushel. What did he receive for his crop? How much more - would he have received if, by better cultivation, better seeding, - better seed and more careful harvesting, he had raised 200 bushels on - the same field?” - - Now, the fact is that in this problem there has been inserted the most - deliberate falsehood that was ever spoken in the name of economic - science. The implication is that in order to double his income all the - farmer has to do is to double his output. And that implication is a - lie. It is a known fact that with our present marketing system the - farmers of the country receive even less for their bumper crops than - they receive for their lean crops of the same products. And why not? - If there is an iota of truth in the so-called law of demand and - supply, it follows that just as the farmer increases his output of - crops, there must follow a corresponding decrease in price or - purchasing power. Hence an increased output cannot possibly benefit - the farmer. - -In the chapters dealing with Detroit we made the acquaintance of -Professor Edwin L. Miller, principal of the Northern High School. An -agonized pupil mails me another book by this professor, entitled -“Practical English Composition, Part II.” It deals with the subject of -journalism, and I find the margin dug into by an indignant pencil, where -Professor Miller tells his students what public-spirited and -well-meaning men are the editorial writers of the American press. The -professor gives examples of editorials, one of them an exposition of the -follies of Socialism, taken from the Philadelphia “Record.” I quote one -paragraph: - - There is a common impression among Socialistic workmen, encouraged by - some of the new-fangled college professors, that the weaver produces - all the cloth that comes off the loom he tends, and he is robbed if - his wages are only a part of the value of the cloth. But he is only - one of a long line of producers, each of whom has to get some of the - money for which that cloth is sold. - -There follows a detailed argument to the effect that the farmers who -raised the raw fibre and the railway men who transported it are entitled -to their share of the product. And after the pupils have read and -assimilated this marvelous discovery, they are asked the question: “What -is proved by this editorial?” Let me tell Mr. Miller’s future pupils -what is proved—that the editorial-writer of the Philadelphia “Record” is -an ignoramus. I challenge Professor Miller and the “Record” both, to -find anywhere in the world a Socialist authority who does not plainly -state that the Socialist demand is for the _collective_ workers to -receive the full value of their _collective_ product. Under Socialism, -as a matter of course, all workers of whatever sort, whether of hand or -brain, who contribute to the making of finished products, will receive -their proportionate share of the value they have created. The only -people who will be left out are the owners of stocks and bonds and other -pieces of paper, who under the present system of wage-slavery draw off -the surplus product of the collective labor, and use this unearned -wealth to hire educational experts to misrepresent the cause of social -justice. - -Or take the volume entitled “Representative Modern Constitutions,” -extensively used in the colleges and high schools in Southern -California. It is edited by two instructors at the Southern Branch of -the University of California, and published, of course, by the Los -Angeles “Times.” Among the constitutions of a dozen different European -countries is included that of Russia; but our “Times” is not content to -print the constitution of Russia and let it speak for itself, it is -necessary to provide an antidote in the form of a preface by W. J. -Ghent, retired Socialist who is introduced as “a distinguished authority -on Russian affairs.” Ex-Comrade Ghent’s preface elaborately explains to -the student that the Russian constitution doesn’t really mean anything. -He talks about its “safeguards against democracy,” as if such safeguards -were obviously wicked; overlooking that other text-book published by the -“Times,” “Back to the Republic,” by Harry Atwood—which compares -democracy with promiscuity, free love, gluttony, drunkenness, discord -and insanity! - -Says ex-Comrade Ghent: “Never before has anything professing to be a -constitution set up such elaborate safeguards against democracy.” The -students will swallow that, without bothering to look into the -constitution and see; but I did bother, and I quote you a few of the -things expressly provided for: “The land to those who work it ... a -general democratic peace ... the free determination of the peoples ... -real freedom of conscience ... freedom of expression of the toiling -masses ... free meetings ... full and free education ... equal rights to -all citizens ... recall of deputies.” Do you think I would be -exaggerating if I were to reverse Ghent’s statement and make it read: -“Never before has anything professing to be a constitution set up such -elaborate _protection_ of democracy?” - - - - - CHAPTER LXIII - PROFESSOR FACING BOTH-WAYS - - -The situation confronting a would-be writer of school text-books in the -United States is as follows: If he writes on astronomy, engineering, or -Spanish grammar, he may write the truth; but if he writes on history, -economics, or literature, he either writes dishonest books, or he writes -no books. - -Says Professor James Harvey Robinson, author of “The Mind in the -Making”: “No publisher of text-books for the schools would venture to -permit a writer to give children the best and most authoritative -knowledge that we have today.” Says Mr. Aaron Sapiro, attorney for the -Farmers’ Co-operative Societies: “The text-books we now use are censored -by political and social factions.” Says Mr. William McAndrew, member of -the board of education in New York: “The text-books which are supposed -to discuss our civic problems do not know enough to keep a women’s whist -club from financial and moral bankruptcy.” - -I have a letter from Mr. S. M. Dinkins, principal of a private school at -Selma, Alabama, who tells me about his experience with a text-book, -“Problems of American Democracy,” by Professor R. O. Hughes. Mr. Dinkins -found this book so unsatisfactory in its attitude toward modern -questions that he wrote to the professor, and received in reply the -statement: “I know my publishers would be pleased to learn that my -readers cannot tell from my book what my own opinions about many -questions really are.” Mr. Dinkins was so much troubled by this that he -wrote to the publishers, Allyn and Bacon of Boston, to ask them if that -could possibly be true; it took Mr. Dinkins two months of continuous -letter-writing before he finally got from the publishers a reply to the -effect that school authorities would not adopt any other kind of book, -and publishers had to meet the demand; they did not care to publish a -book that would not sell. - -That many college professors have taken up the role of “Mr. Facing -Both-Ways,” adjusting their opinions to the demands of the school bosses -and school-book publishers, is amusingly shown in the pamphlet published -by Commissioner Hirshfield. He takes some American history text-books -and gives us in parallel columns the statements which were made before -and after the patriots got to work. For example, here is Dr. W. B. -Guitteau, director of schools of Toledo, Ohio, who published a text-book -in 1919, with a preface urging the international point of view: - - Throughout this book, therefore, special emphasis has been placed upon - the relations of the United States to other countries, in order that - the young citizens who study it may realize more fully the importance - of our world relations and our world responsibilities. - -But then the hundred percenters got after Dr. Guitteau, and he brought -out a new edition of his book in 1923, and started his preface with this -statement: - - Recent events have demonstrated that our teaching of history should - emphasize more than ever before the peculiar and characteristic genius - of American institutions, and the permanent and outstanding assets of - American democracy. - -Or take Professor Everett Barnes, who published an American history book -in 1920, in which he described the battle of Bunker Hill as follows: - - The courage shown on both sides was wonderful. To march, as those - British soldiers did up to the works, so near that each one felt that - the man who was aiming at him could not miss, required a nerve as - steady as was ever shown on battlefield since men began to kill each - other. - -But then the super-patriots landed on Professor Barnes, and there was a -new edition of his book in 1922, in which the incident is told as -follows: - - The courage shown on both sides was wonderful. “Don’t fire until you - see the whites of their eyes,” said the American commander, who knew - that their supply of ammunition was small, and that his men did not - have enough bayonets to be used successfully in meeting the charge of - the British. - -I could take up a great deal more space with this kind of fun; but -instead I will go on to mention that there are in America a few -educators who have not been willing to play the part of Professor Facing -Both-Ways. One of these men is Scott Nearing. He had three text-books on -economics, all written in collaboration with some other person. These -text-books enjoyed the greatest popularity; for example, the “Elements -of Economics” had seventy-five per cent of the field; also “Community -Civics” had a big sale. But after Nearing was kicked out of the -University of Pennsylvania for his loyalty to the truth, the sale on -these text-books stopped. When I talked with him in 1922 he told me that -his publishers had not made a contract on them in two years, and they -were about to bring out new editions without Scott Nearing’s name! - -As it happens, I am able to tell Nearing exactly how he lost some of -this business. I have mentioned Mr. W. H. Powell, editor of the -“Courier” of Ottumwa, Iowa, who haled a college professor before the -state legislature for the crime of referring to the “English Industrial -Revolution,” and for listing the I. W. W. as a labor organization. Mr. -Powell is naively proud of his achievements, and has written to a friend -of mine, telling about them. So let us hear one of these Bolshevik -hunters speaking for himself: - - I discovered, along in 1918—late in the year—that our high school was - using and had been using for about eight years, Burch and Nearing’s - “Principles of Economics.” Nearing had made himself notorious during - the war and I thought a book by him, on whatever subject, would not be - a good thing to have in our schools. I suggested that much through a - reporter, to the superintendent of schools, but he replied that the - board was under contract to use the book, or had bought a certain - number on a contract, and it could not be eliminated. I may say that - we supply text-books here at public expense. - - Inquiry developed that there were only perhaps a hundred of these - books in use and as each was worth less than one dollar, the expense - didn’t seem to me to be prohibitive. I got a copy of the book and - found in it some matter decidedly socialistic and radical. Then I - canvassed the school board members and found none of them had ever - read the book. The superintendent admitted he never had read it and - the teacher who had charge of the class in which it was being studied - told me he hadn’t read the text ahead of the day to day lessons. The - principal of the high school hadn’t read it, either. In fact, I seemed - to be about the only one in town who knew what was in the book. - - But the members of the board backed the superintendent, who didn’t - want to stir up a quarrel with book publishers. Finally, however, he - changed front and our first mention of the affair, publicly, was an - announcement in the news columns that he had ordered the book out of - the course of study. Thus we gave him credit for the move. - - In the meantime, however, I had discovered that two other - objectionable texts were being used at the high school—David Saville - Muzzey’s American History, and “Outlines of European History—Part II,” - by Robinson and Beard. Muzzey’s book is socialistic, or - pro-socialistic, and it is rankly unfair in its treatment of several - subjects, in my opinion. The Robinson and Beard book had been thrown - out of the Seattle schools in the summer of 1918 because of its - pro-German taint. It was re-written twice during that summer by - Professor James Harvey Robinson, according to the information given me - by a representative of the publishers—Ginn and Company. Robinson is a - more or less radical professor and Beard had been the subject of - considerable adverse comment during the war. - - We took the position that regardless of its text, a book by those men - was not a fit volume to have in the hands of boys and girls. We held - that Muzzey’s book condemned itself, as did Nearing’s. - -And then Mr. Powell goes on to tell how the superintendent of schools -sold these Nearing books second-hand, for use in schools in Indiana, -price ten cents per copy. Mr. Powell was not complaining about this -sacrifice price—quite the contrary, he thought the books should have -been burned, and he says that “this sale turned public sentiment against -the superintendent.” He does not tell us, but we are permitted to guess, -that the Ottumwa “Courier” may have had something to do with the turning -of public sentiment in the matter! - -Another educator who is entitled to honorable mention is Professor -Willis N. West, historian. I have told in “The Goose-step” how Professor -West was kicked out by the Black Hand of the University of Minnesota. -His admirable text-book on American history has been kicked out of -schools in various parts of the country, because it tells the truth -about the buying of state and national governments by the corporations. -Mr. Ray McKaig tells me how the gang went after this history in Boise, -Idaho. The Nonpartisan League being so strong, they did not dare attack -the book on political grounds; but they discovered that Professor West -described General Grant as a simple-minded soldier, and General Lee as a -noble figure. They brought this to the attention of the G. A. R., and -the old veterans attended to the matter! - -I have before me a letter from Gilson Gardner, Washington correspondent -of the Scripps newspapers, and a well-known liberal. Mr. Gardner tells -his own experience as a writer of text-books: - - Largely for my own amusement, but with a view to making a little more - pleasant the task of high school students in approaching political - economy, I wrote a little book called “The New Robinson Crusoe.” It - was put out by that thoroughly staid and respectable firm, Harcourt & - Brace. The book did nothing but illustrate in a microcosm the - commercial and economic system of our world as it is. There was no - attempt at suggesting a remedy such as Socialism or Communism, nor any - effort at propaganda. So at least it seemed to my mind in writing it, - and so it seemed to the mind of Mr. Harcourt. He thought it would be - an excellent book for side reading in high school economics courses, - and took it as a commercial prospect. In addition to the regular - edition, he printed 250 copies in pamphlet form, which were sent to - high school teachers with letters asking them to look it over and give - their opinion. Harcourt showed me letters received from teachers, - which run about as follows: - - “I am a teacher in such and such a high school and teach political - economy. I have read ‘The New Robinson Crusoe,’ and find it very - interesting. I should like to recommend it to my pupils, but you know - as well as I do that the day I make such a recommendation I would lose - my job. Our supervisors will not stand for that amount of truth in - regard to our political and economic system. How did you come to print - the book?” - -I was told of many cases of text-book publishers who are literally -facing both ways—running two editions of books, adjusted to the -prejudices of their customers. The American Book Company has one version -of Civil War history for the North, and another for the South. In -text-books on biology, you may believe in evolution in your editions for -New England; but if you want to sell to the far South, you must have an -edition in which “Darwinism” is repudiated. I have before me an -editorial from the Newton, Mississippi, “Record,” a daily newspaper -whose pious editor is not much shocked to learn that the book companies -have been “robbing the state and the poor students,” but is horrified by -the news that they have been furnishing books “contrary to the teaching -of the Bible.” We may assure this pious editor that the book companies -will accept a compromise with him, whereby they may continue to “rob the -state and the poor students,” in consideration of their leaving out the -achievements of modern science! - - - - - CHAPTER LXIV - POISON PICTURES - - -There are other forms of propaganda now being turned out wholesale for -our children. There are various papers and magazines, to which in many -cases the pupils are required to subscribe. For example, a four-page -weekly newspaper called “Current Events”; during the time of the White -Terror in this country this paper was full of the most atrocious -slanders concerning the radicals. As I am working on this book someone -sends me a sample copy; a new president of Armour & Company has been -appointed, and the event is recorded to the school children under a -headline, “Reward for Hard Work.” Such little touches, you see! Nothing -is said about “The Jungle”; indeed, I could tell you of teachers who -have lost their jobs for advising their pupils to read “The Jungle.” At -the high school of Claremont, California, some thirty miles from where I -live, the Better America Federation dragged a teacher into the -newspapers because he ordered from the county library “The Jungle Book,” -by Rudyard Kipling, and the librarian sent him “The Jungle” by mistake! - -Also there are moving pictures. Quite recently one of the great -statesmen of our plutocracy was appointed director of moving picture -propaganda, at a salary of a hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year; -our kept press celebrated this as one of the great events of our -history. Speaking before the Bond Club in New York City, Mr. Will H. -Hays unbosomed himself to his masters: “Unless people are properly -entertained, this country may go Red; but shake a rattle at the baby and -it calms down.” The rattle is now being diligently shaken from eleven -o’clock in the morning until eleven o’clock at night, in some twenty -thousand moving picture houses throughout the United States; and the -censors keep careful watch over the infant’s mental states. Some of the -organized workers made an effort to start a moving picture business of -their own, the Labor Film Service; and among the films they tried to -show was “The Jungle.” They submitted it in due course to the National -Board of Review, and were ordered to remove a caption describing the -United States of America as “Not just the sweet land of liberty.” Also -they were ordered to remove a caption in a court house scene, “Pleading -for Justice.” This seemed to convey the idea that workingmen sometimes -did not get justice in the United States without pleading for it! - -Take the experience of D. W. Griffith, who produced a film called “The -Whistle,” dealing with the life of a factory worker. The Philadelphia -Chamber of Commerce took offense at this picture, and issued a bulletin -warning the masters of industry throughout the United States of the -perils contained in such films. One caption ran: “Since the days of -Plato and Socrates there have been many men of wisdom, but none sage -enough to solve the eternal struggle between capital and labor.” Mr. -Griffith was forbidden to mention the struggle between capital and labor -in Pennsylvania, and the caption had to read: “One of the eternal -struggles of life.” Another line read: “Connors’ widow came to you and -you sent her away with a few filthy dollars when you killed her -husband.” This had to be modified to read: “When Connors’ widow came to -you, why didn’t you act like the decent bosses of today?” And again the -lines: “You’ve had six years to make this place safe. You’ve been -thinking of dollars. You haven’t had time to think of lives.” The censor -changed this to read: “You had no right to put off making this place -safe.” - -Also there are films prepared especially for schools; “educational -films,” they are called. This industry is the growth of the past four -years, and already there are a hundred firms offering films, and some -thirty thousand schools using them. Will Hays went before the N. E. A. -convention of 1922 in Boston, and shook his rattle; the moving picture -manufacturers of the country yearned to co-operate with the educators, -to produce great pictures for the schools. Then he went back to his -masters, who turned him over their knee and spanked him; the -manufacturers had no remotest desire to co-operate with anyone—the movie -houses would stand no competition from the schools, and the schools -could not have pictures except second hand. So the poor educators have -to make out with scenery pictures boosting the railroads, and so-called -“industrial films,” boosting various makes of auto tires and shoes. - -If you get tired of these, there are propaganda pictures, in support of -every base prejudice. Needless to say, the product is full of the -trickery of Big Business. A state inspector of “visual instruction” -sends me some samples. Here is the National Film Company, with its -newest release, “Wolves of the Street, an absorbing story showing -machinations of the Bolsheviki.” And here is the Victor Animatograph -Company, with Mr. Bryan’s “wonderful illustrated address. Back to the -Ape, or Back to God?” And here are the “Better America Lectures,” -prepared by Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis, chaplain to the military -department of God, Mammon and Company. For only $425 you may purchase -these ten complete “lectures,” which have been supplied to the United -States Army and Navy to the amount of $55,000, and which are full of -every mental poison you can imagine. - -This chaplain, it appears, is making up for the money he lost a few -years ago, when he got caught in some stock-gambling business, and had -to confess in tears before his congregation. If you will consult “The -Brass Check,” pages 186-7, you will find him lying about the Colorado -miners, and having his lies circulated in expensive form by parties whom -he dares not name; also you will find him, pages 389-90, hiring himself -out to the anti-Bolshevik liars, and perpetrating this culmination of -all human infamy: “It is now conceded that the interior towns and cities -of Russia have gone over to this nationalization of women.” From the -flamboyant circular of his lectures, I learn that he has spoken before -2,600 audiences, and in every state of the union, and that the subjects -he offers to colleges and schools include: “How Bolshevism Ruined -Russia, and how it works Ruin where Tried; Is Socialism the Perpetual -Motion Machine Delusion converted into Economics; False Views of -Equality as Incitements to Social Revolution”—etc., etc. And such a list -of sponsors—the whole Interlocking Directorate, and the Chiefs of its -Riot Department, and of its Grand Old Party, and of its Goose-herds and -Goose-step Drill-masters. - -There is a preface, written by James Roscoe Day, ex-Chancellor of the -University of Heaven, and now Chancellor of Heaven. Being right up -there, and in position to know, the chancellor tells us that these -lectures are “a providential instrument.” If you should be curious to -know what Providence wishes the soldiers and sailors of the United -States to believe, I mention, for example, that John Ruskin and Henry C. -Frick and John D. Rockefeller are benefactors of equal rank and -significance; that human equality is disproven by the fact that the -ostrich is a bigger bird than the lark; that there is a radical agitator -by the name of “Hayward”; that the title “Lazy Socialists and their -Loot” represents thinking on social problems; and that New York city, -“The Flower of Individual Ownership,” has magnificent libraries and -museums, and no slums worth referring to! - - - - - CHAPTER LXV - THE BOOK BUSINESS - - -In addition to the patriots, who are interested in the contents of our -school books, there are large groups of business gentlemen interested in -these books as merchandise. Every year our twenty-three million school -children and seven hundred thousand college students require and consume -millions of new books; so here is a great industry, like every other in -America, a battle-ground of graft and favoritism. It is a main support -of the political machine in our schools, a reason why we cannot get -honest and competent educators for our children. - -For a long period the school-book industry was practically a monopoly. -The American Book Company controlled ninety per cent of the business, -and everywhere its name was synonymous with corruption. Now there are -many competitors in the field, and the business of the American Book -Company represents only sixty or seventy per cent of the total. But it -remains an enormous corporation, and its methods are the same as ever. -According to the law of business competition, which is praised in all -school and college text-books, the competitors of the American Book -Company are forced to meet its methods and to buy their share of -success. - -There are something like a hundred and fifty “independent” firms -manufacturing and selling school-books; some of them are very large -firms. I had the pleasure of talking with a number of these book -gentlemen, and I found them willing to go into detail about the doings -of their rivals. As to their own doings, nothing is said; but you can -inquire next door. Two of these gentlemen assured me that direct -corruption has gone out of fashion in the book game; no longer do the -agents pay spot cash to superintendents and state commissions for -“adoptions.” I asked one at what date this happy change had taken place, -and made note that the date was prior to some cases of cash payment of -which I had positive information. - -However, I report the statements of these book gentlemen. The graft is -now of the “honest” variety; there has been the same evolution that we -have seen in the Tammany machine, from the days of Tweed, when the -property of the city was stolen outright, to the present time, when the -Traction Trust pays the campaign expenses of politicians, and gives them -legal retainers, and contracts, and other “tips” of a legitimate -business nature. What the agent of a book company now does is to -contribute generously to the campaign funds of superintendents and -school board members. Thus the various book companies have their “own” -superintendents and their “own” school machines. The superintendents not -only select the books of these companies, but they accept friendly -recommendations as to teachers and promotions; so book company agents -also conduct informal teachers’ agencies, and have long lists of their -“own” teachers. - -And when promotions and favors in the system are desired, the big, -powerful, and always genial book company agent is a good man to see. He -is always present at conventions, pulling wires for his crowd. If -legislation is wanted, he knows the legislators, and if investigation is -threatened he knows the press correspondents and managing editors. All -these things will be told to you by any book man who is willing to talk. -Their excuse is that they have to do it, because the other fellow does -it, and there is no other way to get business. They are in the same -position as the railroads, which have to control the political machines -in order to keep the machines from “holding them up.” - -In one of our Eastern cities I had an amusing experience. I happened to -meet socially a certain large capitalist, high up in the councils of the -employers’ association of his city. He was a merry old gentleman, and -meeting a muckraker appealed to his humor; he “blew” me to a fine lunch -at what I guess is the most costly athletic club in the world. He asked -me what I was writing; and when I told him, he mentioned a friend of -his, a high-up official in a big text-book company, who had told him a -number of amusing anecdotes of the buying of state legislatures and city -school boards and superintendents. Naturally, I said I would like to -meet that school book official; so the old gentleman put me in his -limousine and took me to his friend’s office, where I spent an hour or -so, listening to an inside account of conditions in many states. - -The substance of what the man said was that it was impossible for book -companies not to pay commissions; the politicians would demand anywhere -from a thousand to five thousand dollars for a state contract. He -described in detail the state of Indiana, where the text-books are -adopted for periods of five-years, and there is a political board of -utterly incompetent men, with no qualifications for judging text-books. -On the date of adoption there will be perhaps fifty agents swarming to -the state capital; you will find out what the price is, and you either -pay it, or you go out of business so far as concerns the state of -Indiana. - -I went off and made some notes of what this gentleman had told me; but I -wasn’t sure of some details, so I wrote him a seductive letter—all in -the strictest confidence, of course—asking him to verify certain -statements. In reply came a no less polite letter, assuring me of his -pleasure in the recollection of my visit, but saying that my capitalist -friend and myself had misunderstood the purport of his conversation. He -had entertained us “with some of the legends of the business, which had -been handed down from one generation to another.” But these things -weren’t done any more, and selling text-books is now “an honorable -business.” - -It happened through a coincidence that I had on my desk a letter from -Professor Charles H. Judd of the University of Chicago, whose adventures -with the National Industrial Conference Board were told a few chapters -back. Professor Judd, as head of a great department of education, has -had opportunity to watch the book company business from the inside. He -says, among other things: - - The situation in the state of Indiana, where there is a book adoption - by the state board of education every five years, is certainly worth - your investigation. The state board of Indiana, which is made up of a - number of ex-officio members, is asked every time there is a book - adoption to canvass an impossible number of school books. It would be - worth while to find out exactly how many are submitted for judgment by - the board. None of these busy professional men can make the analysis - of a book necessary to an intelligent choice, and yet they have to - make the choice. I was told by one of the members of that board that - at the time of the recent adoption an attorney, living in the city of - Richmond, Indiana, where one of the members of the state board lives, - was paid a fee of $10,000 for a month’s work, the character of which - was not otherwise known. - -Let us consider the American Book Company, because it is the biggest, -and has set the pace for the rest. Thirty years ago my friend George D. -Herron, then a Congregational clergyman and college professor, came upon -the wholesale knaveries of this concern. Henry D. Lloyd and President -Gates of Grinnell College took up the facts, and published them in a -little Christian Socialist paper in Minneapolis, the “Kingdom.” The -answer of the American Book Company was to file suit for a hundred -thousand dollars damages. Dr. Herron writes me: - - The suit has never been brought to trial to this day. The Book Trust - never had any intention of facing the trial or facing the facts in our - possession at that time. They merely meant to announce, as they did - through the Associated Press and with great acclaim, that they had - brought immediate suit for damages because of these infamous and false - charges; and that was all that was necessary. They knew perfectly well - what a short memory the public has, and that they would gain all the - benefits of a victory in the public mind without ever bringing the - matter to trial. - -And now, a generation later, we find the Commissioner of Accounts in New -York City carrying on his investigation into text-books, and there -appears before him Mr. George E. Morrison, editor of “The Historic -Hudson,” and recently a reporter for the Detroit “Journal.” You will -recall Detroit as the home of Mr. A. V. Barnes, president of the -American Book Company; also of ex-Senator Newberry, his brother-in-law; -also of Mr. Fred Cody, agent of the American Book Company, convicted -with Newberry of election frauds; also of Mr. Frank Cody, brother of Mr. -Fred, and superintendent of schools in Detroit. Under these -circumstances you will not be surprised to learn that Michigan is a -center of American Book Company activity. Mr. Morrison in his testimony -stated that he had been given several weeks’ leave of absence by the -Detroit “Journal,” to collect evidence concerning this matter. Mr. -Morrison interviewed a hundred and twenty-seven witnesses, and turned -over their evidence, with the affidavits of eighteen out-of-town people, -to the prosecuting authorities. The matter was presented to the grand -jury, which took minutes and returned a report in which Mr. Morrison was -abused by numerous public officials, who stood in with the Newberry-Cody -gang. The influence of this gang, said Mr. Morrison, was sufficient to -paralyze the arm of the public prosecutor, and to cause a police justice -to get busy and prevent indictments. - -Mr. Morrison went on to explain the methods of the American Book -Company, and just how the money of the school children of the United -States was used to buy a seat in the Senate for Truman H. Newberry. I -quote from the stenographic record: - - All his money practically has come from the American Book Company. His - brother-in-law, Mr. Barnes, is head of the American Book Co., and both - he and his brother John have more money than they know what to do - with. In his campaigns Mr. Truman H. Newberry transferred his funds - from John’s bank account to Truman’s, and no question was ever asked. - The private agent of Mr. Truman H. Newberry was Mr. Frank Cody, who - was by the way indicted with Newberry and the others in the United - States Court at Grand Rapids. He was involved in the scandal of the - American Book Company in Oklahoma at the time Haskell was governor, - and has been a legislative representative of the American Book Company - and a salesman on special occasions when special force was needed to - put over contracts. He always had declined to admit that he was a - representative of the American Book Company. During the time that I - was more or less closely identified with trying to find out about the - American Book Co., I was never able to learn absolutely the identity - of anyone that ever represented the American Book Co. There was one - man that came into the open when I worked at Grand Rapids, Michigan, - who supplied the members of the Board of Education with money. The - members said that the money represented campaign contributions. The - agent and the two members of the Board of Education were indicted, and - it seemed to be difficult to prove that the money was given to them as - members, and as I recall the case never came to trial. This man named - White, as I recall, subsequently declined to see me, and as I say, I - have never known any representative of the American Book Company. - -Also I quote from another portion of this interesting testimony: - -THE COMMISSIONER: Do you think the American Book Company would be - inclined to pay large premiums, call it that way, to anyone who has - the power to introduce any set of books? - -MR. MORRISON: I think there is no question about that at all. - -THE COMMISSIONER: Of course, I have no reference to our schools. I am - talking about these schools in Michigan. - -MR. MORRISON: The American Book Company is always willing to give. It is - the financial angel of the candidates that would do its bidding. - -THE COMMISSIONER: Let me ask you, are the members of the Board of - Education in Detroit elected? - -MR. MORRISON: Yes, they are. - -THE COMMISSIONER: And you say that the American Book Company is looked - upon as the angel of these candidates for the position of members of - the Board of Education? - -MR. MORRISON: Yes. - -THE COMMISSIONER: And supplies every one of them? - -MR. MORRISON: Yes. - - - - - CHAPTER LXVI - TEN PER CENT COMMISSIONS - - -The solution of the problem of our school-book supply waits upon our -training a generation of social servants who believe in public welfare -and in knowledge, as our forefathers believed in their religions. I -should say that the first step toward this goal is to fill our hearts -with disgust for the present situation, in which private greed and -self-seeking are provided with unlimited sums of money and turned loose -to corrupt our schools, making efficient and even honest education -unattainable. Such is the situation, alike in the crowded cities of the -East and in the farming and ranching country of the far West and the -South. Here and there you will find educators fighting loyally for the -schools; and at the head of the intrigue against them you will find the -representatives of book and supply companies. Wherever you hear of a -superintendent or board member who has gone down fighting in the -people’s cause, you will find it was book and supply companies which -beat him. - -I have told the story of Mr. Charles P. Cary, state superintendent of -education in Wisconsin. Early in his teaching career, Mr. Cary tells me, -an agent for the American Book Company asked certain favors of him, and -offered in return to make him superintendent of schools in a big city; -the place depended entirely on this book agent. All through Mr. Cary’s -work as superintendent in Wisconsin, the book-agents would come to him, -demanding this and that. When the question of his re-election came up, -one of the most prominent lawyers in Milwaukee told him that he could -get thirty-five hundred dollars toward his campaign fund by calling on a -certain state official and agreeing to certain terms laid down. Mr. Cary -was told that this was the money of a leading firm of book publishers. -When Mr. Cary did not accept this proposition, an agent of Ginn and -Company put up his father to beat Mr. Cary—and somebody put up the money -to elect this father! - -Ginn and Company has been for more than a generation the most active -competitor of the American Book Company, and it would not be surprising -if they had learned something about its methods. We have come upon the -activities of Ginn and Company agents in the school politics of many -cities; as I revise this chapter, there comes a letter from -Philadelphia, telling me how its salesman there became principal of the -girls’ high school. I remind you of the situation in Worcester, -Massachusetts, where Mr. C. H. Thurber, manager of Ginn and Company, and -trustee of Clark College and Clark University, put into the presidency -the author of the Frye-Atwood geographies, and started a whole series of -new sciences, with departments and summer schools and chautauquas based -upon these popular school geographies. The head-lady of Ginn and -Company’s geography department pours tea with the best social charm, and -there are ninety-seven Ginn and Company text-books used in the public -schools of Worcester. Also I should note that the senior partner of this -firm, Mr. George A. Plimpton, is a trustee of Amherst College, which has -just kicked out a liberal president; and also a trustee of Barnard -College, thus interlocking with Nicholas Miraculous, and with Professor -George E. Strayer, who runs the National Education Association. - -Let us move to North Dakota, where I listened to the story of a county -superintendent of schools, elected by the Nonpartisan League. The gang -is on top once more in North Dakota, so this man is no longer an -educator, but is earning a living in the real estate business; -nevertheless, he asks me to call him Mr. Smith! Among the forces which -were active in defeating the people in North Dakota while they tried to -control their own schools was a certain Mr. Gleason, agent of the -American Book Company, “whose boast it was that he had placed more -school superintendents than any other man in the United States.” When a -new superintendent was appointed, Mr. Gleason always called, and the -superintendent was always glad to see him—the reason being that it was -the custom of the American Book Company to pay superintendents ten per -cent commission on all books sold in the county. They paid this -quarterly, as a matter of regular routine. They kept track of the -situation in every school district, and if any book was not reordered, -they sent an agent to find out about it. - -Mr. Gleason’s subordinate, Mr. Thorson, came to see Mr. Smith, and was -very genial. He wanted him to sign up a new list of books for the -county. But Mr. Smith explained that the request was a little premature, -as he had not yet taken the oath of office. As soon as Mr. Smith had -assumed his duties, Mr. Thorson came again, but Mr. Smith wanted a -little time to get acquainted with the situation. Then came Mr. Gleason -himself; but Mr. Smith insisted upon having his own ideas about -text-books. He made out a list, which gave the American Book Company -sixty per cent of the books, forty per cent being divided among other -companies. Mr. Gleason was dissatisfied with this, because he had been -getting ninety-seven per cent of the business. When these agents could -not persuade Mr. Smith, they tried to threaten him, but this also did -not avail. - -In the following year Mr. Thorson came again. He wanted to see Mr. Smith -in private, and asked Mr. Smith to dismiss his stenographer, which Mr. -Smith refused to do. He then asked to see him after office hours, and -Mr. Smith absented himself from the office so as to make this -impossible. The agent telephoned on Sunday evening, and came to Mr. -Smith’s home for an interview; but Mr. Smith’s wife was present, and -that also was not satisfactory. He asked Mr. Smith to come to meet him -in his room in the hotel; Mr. Smith refused this. He begged for an -interview on Monday morning, and Mr. Smith said that he would come to -the hotel at six o’clock in the morning. He went, and took with him his -“Uncle Charley,” who followed Mr. Smith up to Mr. Thorson’s room. When -Mr. Thorson saw this, he asked that “Uncle Charley” should wait in the -lobby; so “Uncle Charley,” by prearrangement with Mr. Smith, pretended -to go down to the lobby, but came back to the door of the room and -listened through the open transom to what was going on. Mr. Thorson -offered Mr. Smith ten per cent commission on all books sold within the -county, and he had the cash with him. Mr. Smith threw the money on the -floor, and walked out of the room. - -And so began a long campaign against him. Mr. Gleason, Mr. Thorson, Mr. -James, and several other agents put in nine weeks in the county, trying -to get the school machine lined up against Mr. Smith. They approached a -number of the teachers, as well as school directors; they gave Mr. Smith -“a dirty fight.” But he won with a good majority, and threw out all the -American Book Company’s books. He ordered some of Ginn and Company’s -books for the consolidated school of one township, and Mr. Thorson and -Mr. James went to this school with a supply of American Book Company -books, and traded book for book, taking out the Ginn and Company books, -and putting in their own. But Mr. Smith took the trouble to interview -school boards, and in every case he succeeded in persuading them that -the other books were better; he completely drove the American Book -Company out of the county—that is, until they drove him out of the -schools! - -They have one system throughout all North Dakota; they get the -superintendents to an “educational meeting,” which is really a banquet -paid for by book company agents. When they are properly fed, the list of -books is flashed upon them, all carefully prepared for the various -grades of their schools. Many superintendents don’t know anything about -books, and don’t want to bother with them; they know the subject is a -dangerous one, and the easiest way is to sign the list. The book company -then prints this list at its own expense, and sends the copies to the -superintendent for distribution to the school boards. The boards, -receiving this list, assume that it represents the superintendent’s -selection, and they put the list through. - -And apparently it is the same way in South Dakota. Miss Alice Daly -resigned in 1921 from the Madison State Normal School, and in a public -statement declared as follows: - - The book trust operates in South Dakota exactly the way that it has - operated in other states, against the interests of the great mass of - working people, against the freedom of the teacher, against any - efficient organization of teachers, against the frank and honest - discussion of vital questions of the day, against labor; in short, - against democracy. The book trust operates for its own selfish - interests, for capitalism and for autocracy within and without the - school. The book trust whenever it has enjoyed control, operates - against education in any genuine sense of the word. - -The manager of one concern which sells books all over the country, and -concerning which I have not learned of any graft, assures me that -throughout the middle West, especially the states of Missouri and Iowa, -the county “adoptions” are almost uniformly a matter of purchase. The -petty politicians on the school committees see a chance to make a little -money, and they make it—that seems obvious enough. The price is five or -six hundred dollars; and this manager found it so hopeless to try to do -business without paying that he told his agents to quit the county -field. I have not heard of any American counties being without -text-books, so presumably there are other companies not so fastidious. - - - - - CHAPTER LXVII - THE SUPERINTENDENT-MAKERS - - -Wherever you travel in the school world of the United States, you find -these same activities. You recall the almost universal graft in the -school affairs of Chicago; it should hardly need saying that the book -trust was “up to the eyes” in this graft. You never know where you meet -them; they operate under the names of various companies. A member of the -school board made the statement that one of the book companies had “a -whole trainload of books on a siding,” which they were trying to unload -in Chicago; all the newspapers knew about it, but they would not publish -the facts. The beginning of the graft exposure was the determination of -the agents to dump this supply of books onto the Chicago board. - -The same thing extends over the state of Illinois. An agent of one book -company was chairman of the state committee of the Republican party, and -a superintendent of Peoria, Illinois, was discovered to have grafted to -the extent of more than a million dollars, and was sent to jail for it. -They had the governor of the state, and had got a five-year “adoption.” -They did the same thing in Cincinnati, where they ran the superintendent -and school board for a decade. Again, it was a leading book company -agent who was mixed up in a scandal with the governor of Oklahoma. There -was another exposure in Kentucky—and I was told of other states where -there might be an exposure, if I would go there and make inquiries! - -In Texas also there was a scandal and a political upheaval. The American -Book Company was prosecuted as a trust, and fined fifteen thousand -dollars and ousted from the state. It was at that time a New Jersey -corporation, and the Texas authorities allowed it to plead guilty, -whereupon it was reorganized as a New York corporation and readmitted to -do business in the state. Such little jokes as this the big corporations -and their attorneys take great pleasure in playing upon state -prosecuting authorities and legislatures! An attorney in Dallas writes -me: - - The American Book Company got an outrageous contract from the state - text-book board, headed by the sanctimonious Governor Neff, making a - number of needless changes, that would cost the public school fund - many hundreds of thousands of dollars; but this contract has been, - temporarily at least, defeated. It must be said, however, that the - chief reason it has been defeated is not the action of public-spirited - Texas citizens, but the activity of other publishers, particularly - Ginn and Company, for whom I have the same sort of respect that I have - for the American Book Company. - -As it happens, I learned of another case, in which the American Book -Company was pulling off some dirty work in Michigan, and in that case -they were stopped by Heath and Company. So let us be thankful that the -school book business is still in the competitive stage! - -Kansas was one state in which the farmers went to war against the book -trust. You will be interested in the adventures of Mrs. Ella S. Burton, -who took up the issue as lecturer for the State Grange. These granges -are farmers’ societies; and like the teachers’ associations, they have -been taken over by the gang. Mrs. Burton found herself fighting the -school-book machine inside of her own organization. The book trust -controlled not merely the state school book commission; it had its -high-priced educators and corporation lawyers and politicians inside the -grange. Charges were brought against Mrs. Burton, and a committee -appointed to investigate these charges unanimously vindicated her; but -the master of the State Grange would not give her the floor, nor hear -the committee report, and adjourned the meeting in order to suppress -her. It was promised that the findings of the committee would be -published in the annual report, but not a word of it was published, and -Mrs. Burton was finally expelled from the grange. The right-hand man of -the grange master throughout the proceedings was, of course, an American -Book Company agent. - -Nevertheless, the Kansas legislature passed a bill providing for state -manufacture of text-books; and so Kansas shares with California the -distinction of being the object of many pamphlets published by -school-book company representatives, proving the evils of its -school-book habits! I am not going into the cost of text-book -publication, but I think it may be worth mentioning that while I was in -the state of Washington I found that the schools there were using in -many cases the same text-books as in California, and were paying for -them from a hundred to a hundred and fifty per cent more than it was -costing the people of California to manufacture them. - -Sometimes the law permits school teachers to have something to say about -the adoption of text-books, and then you have book company agents -playing the generous host to teachers. We have seen Major Clancy at -Oakland and Boston and Des Moines. In California, I am told by a -prominent educator that many teachers get their summer vacations at the -expense of the book companies. It is a favorite device to offer them a -trip to the East to see where the school books are made; that is not -graft, but education! Teachers learn to look to book company agents for -promotion; and almost invariably you notice that when any superintendent -or board member is turned out of his job, the book companies take care -of him. We saw a school superintendent of Chicago becoming president of -Heath & Company; we saw President Pearse of the Milwaukee State Normal -School becoming an agent for Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia. I am told -by Mr. William Bouck, head of the Washington Progressive Grange, that -the American Book Company has named more superintendents in the state of -Washington than all the big agencies put together; also that the agents -of this concern were put on the program of every school institute on the -west coast of Washington. This point is also touched upon by Professor -Charles H. Judd, of the University of Chicago. He writes: - - It is a matter of constant rumor that the selection of the - superintendent in various cities is altogether in the hands of book - companies. The most impressive and detailed story of this sort that I - ever heard relates to the superintendency of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The - man who told me the story is still in the educational profession and - would hardly want to be implicated, but he said that he was met at the - station, when he went to see the board of education at Fort Wayne, not - by any member of the board of education, but by the local - representative of one of the book companies. His conversation about - the position was altogether with this representative of the book - company, and he left town telling him that he did not want the place. - The representative of the book company told him that he was not going - to ask him to keep the conference confidential, because he knew that - it was all the superintendent’s professional career was worth to have - a controversy with him, and that if the superintendent ever reported - any part of this discussion, the representative of the book company - would deny the whole affair. This story was told to me by a man who is - absolutely reliable and he would not, I am sure, in any wise distort - the facts. - -Professor Judd goes on to explain his belief that in many cases these -things are done by book agents without the knowledge of the company, and -that the company would be “greatly distressed to know that these things -happen.” I have a great respect for Professor Judd, one of the most -liberal and courageous educators in this country; also I have great -respect for a college professor, a very distinguished author of school -text-books, who writes me that the trouble is due to “the less -scrupulous agents in the heat of a campaign.” This gentleman’s own -publishers “deprecate these methods, but perhaps the heat of a campaign -will now and then lead local agents astray. I have plenty of reason to -suspect that other publishers make it impossible to play the game very -fairly.” - -In answer to this, I can only state my own point of view—that I cannot -take much stock in the idea that heads of large-scale modern industries -do not know what their employes and agents are doing. They make it their -business to know, and any lack of knowledge which they have is formal; -that is, a business man smiles and says: “Don’t let me know about it!” -But in reality he knows; and the school officials who get the “rake off” -also know. Says Professor Robert Morse Lovett, also of the University of -Chicago: “There is scarcely a large city in the country in which the -pupils and teachers alike are not shamefully and scandalously defrauded -by action of school trustees, which would be characterized in the -mildest terms as wilful mismanagement conducing to private profit.” And -Professor Guido Marx of Stanford University tells me how he referred to -school book graft before the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, and a -representative of a book company said to him: “What’s the matter? Have -you got a book you can’t get published?” - -It appears that ethical codes on book matters are in a somewhat -unsettled state—out here in California at any rate. I have on my desk a -series of letters from a California school-book publisher, personally a -very likeable and genial fellow, who assures me that he doesn’t think -there is any harm in the fact that a lady editor of his magazine, -formerly a stockholder in his business, and still having a desk in his -office, is also a member of the local school board, and in this capacity -signed orders for the purchase of something less than a thousand dollars -worth of books from this publisher. I suppose that if I were to meet -David P. Barrows, Dean of Imperialism at our state university, he would -assure me there was nothing wrong in the fact that he, while head of the -department of political science at the university, was invited by the -Mexican government to come down there and advise them on the subject of -education; and that he went, and became vice-president of the Vera Cruz -Land & Cattle Company, and came back to recommend war on Mexico, so as -to give value to his holdings in that concern! - -All this time we have been thinking of text-books as a source of -dividends. It is necessary to remind ourselves that these sources of -dividends are also sources of ideas to our children. How do the ideas -count, in comparison with the dividends? Let me quote Professor Judd -once more: - - There is a more fundamental matter which is not scandalous but which - is important. Book companies influence the schools to an enormous - degree by furnishing the materials of instruction. The ordinary - teacher in the American school is so little prepared for his or her - work that the material supplied in text-books is absolutely - indispensable to the conduct of classes. When a book company gets a - successful text-book, it is very loath to make any changes in the book - for obvious reasons: the cost of making new plates and the danger of - losing the market prevent revision of text-books. The result is that - there are sets of text-books which exercise a thoroughly unwholesome - influence on school practices, just because the book companies are - unwilling to make expensive revisions and are interested primarily in - selling the books that they now have in stock. When a good report is - prepared by one of the technical societies, and book companies are - asked to conform to the progressive ideas which are expressed in such - a report, one finds these companies very reluctant to try any - experiments. - -When I was a lad, I learned geometry and algebra as two entirely -separate subjects, and until today it never occurred to me that they -were in any way related, and might be taught as parts of one subject. -But now I learn from an educator that this is the case. And why are they -taught separately in all high schools of the United States? Well, -because geometry and algebra are the private preserves of Ginn and -Company, owners of the Wentworth text-books, which lead in this field. -Any teacher or superintendent who should suggest that these profitable -works be scrapped would not be regarded with favor by the hundred and -twenty-five agents of this great book concern, who have so much to say -about high salaried school positions. - - - - - CHAPTER LXVIII - THE CHURCH CONSPIRACY - - -We have seen the activities of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in many -American cities; but because this is a national system, competing with -the public schools in every part of the country, it is necessary to -consider the general aspects of the parochial school problem. Many -Catholics will read this book and write me letters; therefore I will -save both my time and their feelings if I explain at the outset that I -know there are a great many decent, hard-working Catholics in the United -States, and also many earnest and devoted Catholic teachers in the -American public schools. My quarrel here is with the Roman hierarchy, -which holds the faith of millions of sincere people, and sells it out to -the exploiters of the world. This is a book on economics, and its plea -is to Catholic working people, to open their eyes to the class struggle, -and see how they are being betrayed and plundered in modern capitalist -society. - -This class struggle is in the Catholic Church, precisely as in other -organizations. There are Catholic trust magnates and exploiters of -labor, and they give their money to Catholic educational institutions, -and then control these institutions in the interest of the open shop and -general reaction. I was not well informed about the insides of Catholic -affairs, and when I came to investigate I could not keep from laughing, -to discover how completely Catholic education reproduces all the -features of Protestant education. Here, for example, is James A. -Farrell, president of the Steel Trust; he got part of a common school -education, and then went to work in a steel mill; in 1922 we find him -getting an honorary degree from the Catholic Georgetown University! - -Here is Francis P. Garvan, wealthy corporation lawyer, Attorney-General -Palmer’s assistant in robbing helpless Germans during the war. He gives -generously to Catholic schools and colleges, and gets an honorary degree -from Fordham University, and is a trustee in the Catholic University of -America. He vigorously carries on the open-shop propaganda in the -Catholic world, and bitterly fights the influence of Father Ryan, who -sympathizes with labor. Here is Condé B. Pallen, graduate of Georgetown -University, a wealthy Catholic propagandist, editor of the “Catholic -Encyclopedia,” and head of the “Committee for the Study of Revolutionary -Movements of the National Civic Federation.” Mr. Pallen is one of the -“Helen Ghouls”; and thereby we discover that in the world of Big -Business the gulf between Catholics and Protestants has been bridged. It -is my hope that this gulf may be bridged in the world of labor, and that -Protestant and Catholic wage-slaves will no longer permit themselves to -be divided and conquered by their masters. - -Six or seven hundred years ago the Catholic Church had its Golden Age, -and at that time it was to some extent a proletarian movement. There are -Catholics today who dream of a return of that Golden Age, and see in the -modern labor unions something resembling the medieval guilds. These men -are fighting vigorously inside the church; they got a group of bishops -to support the National Catholic Welfare Council, and the Catholic -Church issued an extremely progressive manifesto on social problems. You -remember during the war we had quite a wave of enthusiasm for the making -over of the world; and there were Catholic idealists, sharing that -bright dream. - -But now the war is over, and we no longer need to make promises to -labor, and the “hard guys” are in the saddle. The open-shop gang goes -after the Catholic radicals, and you hear less about the reconstruction -program. John D. Ryan, chairman of the Anaconda Copper Company and -leading Catholic capitalist, resigns from the board of the Catholic -University of America, and Nicholas F. Brady, Catholic traction magnate, -declares that this university will get no more funds while Father John -A. Ryan, the radical, is on its teaching staff. Father Ryan’s teachings -are denounced by the Lusk Committee as “subversive,” and the open-shop -intriguers protest to the Apostolic delegate in America. The Catholic -bishops turn lukewarm to social reconstruction, and the funds to be -devoted to this work are suddenly discovered to be missing. Mr. Condé B. -Pallen travels to Rome, and the next thing we hear is that the Papal See -has ordered the dissolution of the National Catholic Welfare Council. - -The Catholic liberals, of course, do not give up without a struggle, and -they have powerful arguments on their side. For a generation the Church -has seen with dismay the organized workers drifting away from its -authority and taking up with Socialism. And what chance has the Catholic -machine to win unless it professes some interest in the cause of social -justice? What chance will the Church have with the American Federation -of Labor if it sells itself body and soul to the open shop? In -Cincinnati a Catholic priest, Father Peter Dietz, started a liberal -organization, the American Academy of Christian Democracy; he opened the -convention of the American Federation of Labor with a prayer, and was -then suspended by the archbishop of the diocese. Thereupon high -officials of the Federation addressed a protest to the archbishop; if -such protests are not heeded, how can the Church hope to hold the rank -and file of organized labor? - -The National Catholic Welfare Council appealed to the Pope to reconsider -the order for its suspension. It ought to be interesting to American -Catholics to know the names of the judges who heard and decided this -grave question of American policy; they were Gasparri, Merry del Val, -Bisleti, Sbaretti, Van Rossum, and Pompili: four of them Italians, one a -Spaniard, and one a Hollander! There are no Americans in the Roman -Curia, and American Catholics are excluded from any share in the control -of their church. This seems to me something which every American has a -right to make note of, and which American Catholics must find -embarrassing. - -The most active of Catholic propaganda agencies in this country is the -Knights of Columbus, and this order has recently resolved to assume its -share of the labors of revising our schools and school text-books. -“Knight” McSweeney has declared that “half the history text-books should -be destroyed.” It is interesting to note that the class struggle is -going on inside this organization, precisely as in the National -Education Association. There are some Catholics who object to seeing -their church used by the political henchmen of Big Business. When -District Attorney Pelletier of Boston, a high-up official of the -Knights, was prosecuted for selling justice to rich criminals, there -were resolutions passed by several state branches to demand his -resignation. Pelletier of course raised the cry that he was being -persecuted because he was a Catholic; such is the device by which the -grafters try to hold on. But Pelletier had to quit. - -When I was a boy of sixteen, earning my way through college by writing -jokes and sketches, I went to call upon Street and Smith, publishers of -the “half-dime novels” of my boyhood; detective and Wild West tales, -full of thrilling adventures, and having illustrated covers in brilliant -red and green and blue and yellow. The editor in charge of these -publications was a gentleman who called himself Enrique H. Lewis; he had -lived in South America, and enlisted in the navy. I took him the -manuscript of a long novel, and presently began to write for him a -series of stories about West Point life. Someone asked him if I had been -through West Point, and he answered that I had been through it in three -days! The Spanish War came on, and I took to slaughtering the enemy by -land and sea—on the land I was Lieutenant Frederick Garrison, and on sea -I was Ensign Clark Fitch. My editorial chief used to marvel at the speed -with which these manuscripts appeared; there was a year when I was -turning out a total of fifty-six thousand words a week. We used to have -office consultations, and he was worried about the state of my soul; it -didn’t seem natural that a boy of my age should be holding such serious -views about human problems. His forebodings proved to be justified—I -spoiled myself as a writer of dime novels, and lost my job with Street -and Smith! - -My former chief took better care of his career, and is now Henry -Harrison Lewis, editor of “Industrial Progress,” organ of the “open -shop.” I have before me one of his articles, entitled: “The Great -Open-Shop Conspiracy.” You might guess this conspiracy to be the effort -of the Black Hand to make the American people believe that “open shop” -means freedom for labor; but no—this conspiracy is the action of the -National Catholic Welfare Council, together with the Protestant -churches, in defending the right of workers to form unions if they want -to. This article is reprinted in pamphlet form, and copies of it are -sent to every Catholic priest and every Protestant clergyman in the -United States. Mr. Lewis admits that the cost of this is defrayed “by -other persons and organizations”; but he refuses to tell us who these -persons and organizations are! - - - - - CHAPTER LXIX - CATHOLICISM AND THE SCHOOLS - - -Just what is the attitude of the Catholic Church to the American public -schools? This is an important question, because there are fourteen -million Catholics in our country, and they control the education, not -merely of two million children in their own schools, but of other -millions in public schools where the Catholic vote has elected Catholic -officials and school board members, and obtained the appointment of -Catholic superintendents and teachers. There has been so much -controversy over this question, so much has been affirmed by one side -and denied by the other, that I decided I would go into it thoroughly -and settle it once for all. I may as well state at the outset that I -found I had been overambitious. The question cannot be settled once for -all; for the reason that no two Catholic authorities agree with each -other, and in controversy with Catholic theologians the most explicit -Latin and English words are discovered to be capable of so many -interpretations that all meaning goes out of them. - -The most detailed statement of the official Catholic attitude towards -Church and State, and State activities such as public schools, is found -in the “Syllabus of Errors” of Pope Pius IX. This is a list of eighty -propositions of liberalism and democracy, which are lumped together and -condemned as “the principal errors of our time.” I had often seen this -Syllabus summarized and discussed, but I had never seen the complete -text. I consulted the public libraries in Pasadena and Los Angeles, but -in vain. I applied to Catholic bookstores, but likewise in vain. I -applied to Loyola College and to the Catholic bishop in Los Angeles, but -these had it only in Latin. I telegraphed to the largest wholesale -book-seller in New York, but was informed that an English text was not -obtainable. By that time I began to suspect that the church authorities -were not anxious to have the American public read their fundamental law -on the subjects of liberalism and democracy; when I finally obtained the -text, I discovered why. - -It was left to an enemy of the Church to supply me with this most vital -church document. William Ewart Gladstone attacked the Syllabus with -righteous wrath, and I found the text in his volume “Rome and the Newest -Fashions in Religion.” This Syllabus is extremely awkward to quote, for -the reason that the propositions are all negative—a list of statements -which are condemned; and some of the statements themselves are negative, -so that you find yourself with double negatives to disentangle. A few of -the most important of the propositions will have to suffice; and let me -say that I have brushed up my rusty Latin for the occasion, and made -certain that the translations are literal and precise. Bear in mind that -this is the Supreme Pontiff speaking ex cathedra, which is the same as -the voice of God; so the following statements are not subject to -question or revision, so long as the Holy Catholic Church endures. Thus, -formally and finally, we are told that it is an error to teach that: - - 15. Every man is free to embrace and profess the religion he shall - believe true, guided by the light of reason. - -This of course means that every man is _not_ free to embrace and profess -his own religion; and carries the obvious corollary that every man must -let the Catholic Church tell him what religion to embrace. - - 17. We may entertain at least a well-founded hope for the eternal - salvation of all those who are in no manner in the true Church of - Christ. - -This means, in brief, that all non-Catholics are damned eternally, and -it is false doctrine to teach otherwise. - - 20. The ecclesiastical power must not exercise its authority without - the permission and assent of the civil government. - -This means that the Church may exercise its authority without the -consent of the State; that, for example, the Church may marry and annul -marriage, in defiance of the civil laws. This must be taken in -connection with - - 30. The immunity of the Church and of ecclesiastical persons derives - its origin from civil law. - -This means that the Church and its priests are immune to civil law, and -this immunity comes from God, and cannot be taken away by the State. If -the Church could maintain this proposition in America, neither the -Church nor any ecclesiastic could be sued or tried by the regular -courts, but only by courts of their own. - - 42. In the case of conflicting laws between the two powers, the civil - law ought to prevail. - -This means that civil law ought not to prevail over Church law; and -since it is manifest that two laws cannot both prevail, it follows that -Church law is proclaimed superior to civil law. - -Such is the Church’s own version of her attitude to the State; and now, -let us see what is her attitude to the schools of the State? The -propositions dealing with this matter are longer, and more involved with -double negatives; but we will take the time to disentangle them, and the -reader who is not interested in the problem may skip. - - 45. The entire direction of public schools, in which the youth of - Christian states are educated, except (to a certain extent) in the - case of episcopal seminaries, may and must appertain to the civil - power, and belong to it so far that no other authority whatsoever - shall be recognized as having any right to interfere in the discipline - of the schools, the arrangement of the studies, the taking of degrees, - or the choice and approval of the teachers. - -The phrase “episcopal seminaries” means what we should call “Catholic -schools” or “parochial schools”; and this proposition states that the -Church is not satisfied with being permitted to teach what it pleases in -these schools, but denounces the claim of the State to exclusive control -of teaching in the State schools. - -The next proposition, 46, defends the right of the Church to teach as it -pleases in its own schools. Since that is not commonly disputed in -America, we pass on. - - 47. The best theory of civil society requires that popular schools - open to the children of all classes, and, generally, all public - institutes intended for instruction in letters and philosophy, and for - conducting the education of the young, should be freed from all - ecclesiastical authority, government, and interference, and should be - fully subject to the civil and political power, in conformity with the - will of rulers and the prevalent opinions of the age. - -This is an exact statement of the theory upon which the American public -school system is founded, and this theory is declared to be an error. - - 48. This system of instructing youth, which consists in separating it - from the Catholic faith and from the power of the Church, and in - teaching exclusively, or at least primarily, the knowledge of natural - things and the earthly ends of social life alone, may be approved by - Catholics. - -This is practically a definition of what we call “secular education”; it -is what we give in our public schools, and we are declared to be in -error when we do so. - -There are many other statements in this Syllabus which are of -importance. Thus in 77 we learn that the Church refuses to give up its -demand that the State shall maintain it as the only religion. In 78 we -are told that the State should not permit non-Catholics to worship -publicly in Catholic countries. In 79 we are told that freedom of -worship, and freedom of manifesting opinions and ideas, conduce to -corrupt the minds of the people. In 80 we are told that the Roman -Pontiff cannot and ought not “reconcile himself to, and agree with, -progress, liberalism, and civilization as lately introduced.” I think -that will suffice to make plain to the average American why the -“Syllabus of Errors” cannot be found in English translation in Catholic -volumes obtainable in libraries or book-stores! - -While in the midst of these researches I came upon a little pamphlet -entitled: “The Catholic Answer. An Honest, Dignified Statement of Facts -for Fair-Minded People,” published by “Our Sunday Visitor,” of -Huntington, Indiana. This pamphlet has the American flag on the cover, -and contains an entirely different statement of the Catholic attitude; -also an offer of a thousand dollars to anyone who can disprove anything -in the pamphlet. So I wrote to the editor of this publication, asking -him for help in my researches. At the time of writing I did not have the -full text of the Syllabus; I had merely a summary of some of its -propositions, and I sent these to the editor, asking him to explain the -matter. From the letter-head of his reply I gain the information that -“Our Sunday Visitor” is “the popular National Catholic weekly with -2,000,000 readers scattered over every country in the world. Thousands -of priests order it for all of their people.” The editor is the Rt. Rev. -Msgr. J. F. Noll, and he tells me: - - We do not have the Syllabus of Pius IX at hand, and therefore are not - able to determine the accuracy of the quotations which you submit for - verification. The last two quotations seem so utterly abhorrent even - to the Catholic, that I am quite certain that they are not genuine. - You understand that this is the day of bogus documents, concocted and - circulated by enemies of the Catholic Church. - -After that, of course, I was more than ever determined to get the full -text of the Syllabus. When I got it, I found that the passages to which -Monsignor Noll takes exception are merely a brief practical summary of a -few propositions, turning their negatives into positive affirmations. -Thus, one of the passages which I sent to the Monsignor and which he -finds “utterly abhorrent even to the Catholic” reads as follows: - - The Church has the right to avail itself of force, and to use the - temporal power for that purpose. The Church has the right to exercise - her power without the permission or consent of the State. - -And that is covered by Proposition 24 of the Syllabus, which states that -it is an error to teach that - - The Church has not the power of availing herself of force, or any - direct or indirect temporal power. - -and also Proposition 20, which denounces the error that - - The ecclesiastical power must not exercise its authority without the - permission and assent of the civil government. - -You will note variations in the translation; no two people, rendering -the same Latin into English, would use the same English words. The Latin -“potestas” is called “right” in one version, and “power” in the other; -but the meaning is the same, for the power claimed by the Church is -moral power, the power given by God, which is what we call “right.” So -far as I can see, the statement which Monsignor Noll finds “utterly -abhorrent even to the Catholic” is a perfectly fair summary of the -practical effect of the Syllabus. And the same applies to the other -quotation, which, as submitted to Monsignor Noll, read: - - The Church and her priests have the right to immunity from all civil - laws. - -That is Proposition 30 of the Syllabus, which denounces as an error the -doctrine that - - The immunity of the Church and of ecclesiastical persons derives its - origin from civil law. - -Now there can be no dispute that this proposition asserts “immunity” for -the Church and for ecclesiastical persons; and the word “immunity” is a -technical church word, meaning immunity from civil law—a prerogative -which was maintained by the Church until recent times. The question -considered in the Syllabus is whether this “immunity” is derived from -the State or from God. If it is derived from the State, it can be -abolished by the State, and this is the “error” which the Pope is -denouncing. He affirms the contrary, that the immunity is from God, and -therefore can never be taken away. Is not this the very proposition -which Monsignor Noll finds “utterly abhorrent even to the Catholic”? - -The Monsignor goes on to discuss the propositions referring to the -schools, and to say that they are applicable only where there is union -of Church and State, and have nothing to do with the Catholic Church in -its relation to our own public schools. “Outside of countries where -there is union of Church and State, the Catholic Church does not pretend -to have any jurisdiction, nor would she ever dream of interfering with -the public schools. The teaching of the Church is that both the State -and Church are supreme, each in its own domain.” And then, after reading -that, I get the text of the Encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII, which are part -of the supreme law of the Church, and I read: - - The Church of Rome is one monarchy over all the kingdoms of the earth, - and is, among temporal kingdoms, as the mind or soul to the body of a - man, or as God in the world. Therefore the Church of Rome must not - only have the spiritual power, but also the supreme temporal power. - -And once more: - - It is an impious deed to break the laws of Jesus Christ for the - purpose of obeying the magistrates, or to transgress the laws of the - Church under the pretext of obeying the civil law. - -In the effort to clear up these mysteries, I wrote to the fourteen -catholic archbishops of the United States, also to the papal delegate in -Washington, and to the Paulist Fathers in New York. The first reply came -by telegraph from the archbishop of New Orleans, referring me to the -Catholic Encyclopedia. I consulted in that work the topics “Pius IX,” -and the “Syllabus of Errors,” and the first thing I read was that the -Encyclical containing this “Syllabus of Errors” “was solemnly received -in national and provincial councils by the episcopate of the whole -world.” I also learned that “the ‘Syllabus’ is not only the defense of -the inalienable rights of God, of the Church, and of truth against the -abuse of the words _freedom_ and _culture_ on the part of unbridled -Liberalism, but it is also a protest, earnest and energetic, against the -attempt to eliminate the influence of the Catholic Church on the life of -nations and of individuals, on the family and the school.” And again: -“It has done an inestimable service to the Church and to society at -large by unmasking the false liberalism which had begun to insinuate its -subtle poison into the very marrow of Catholicism.” - -But I do not find one word in either of these articles to indicate that -the propositions of the Syllabus do not apply to America, but only to -countries which have separation of Church and State. I find sweeping -endorsements of sweeping propositions; and how can I bring myself to -believe that ecclesiastical authorities, solemnly laying down the law -for all time, would omit to state such vital qualifications, if they -wished such qualifications to be understood? - -I have before me a stack of letters from Catholic authorities, also a -stack of Catholic pamphlets, and references to a great number of books; -I realize now that if I were to make an authoritative pronouncement on -the attitude of the Catholic Church toward the American public schools, -I should have to write a volume instead of a chapter. How complicated -the subject is you may judge from one sentence, quoted to me by -Archbishop Keane of Dubuque. This is a statement made by Cardinal -Newman, in the course of his controversy with Gladstone over the meaning -of the “Syllabus of Errors.” Says the great master of Catholic -apologetics: “The ‘Syllabus,’ viewed in itself, is nothing more than a -digest of certain errors made by an anonymous writer.” I can only give -my reaction to this sentence—it shows me that I should be wasting my -time if I tried to understand Catholic controversy. The “Syllabus” is an -explicit statement by the highest Catholic authority, that the -propositions of the “anonymous writer” are errors; from which it follows -that the contrary of these propositions is upon the highest Catholic -authority affirmed. If someone tells me that I am reported to have -burglarized a bank, that is an anonymous statement; but if I answer, -“that is a lie,” then I am making the flat assertion that I did not -burglarize a bank. And if anyone denies that, I say that he is not -seeking truth, but merely juggling words, and I have no more time to -waste on Cardinal Newman. - - - - - CHAPTER LXX - THE PRACTICAL CHURCH ADMINISTRATOR - - -Let us now break through the tangle of ecclesiastical sophistry, and try -to get in a few paragraphs the common sense of the situation. Why are -Catholic authorities reduced to quibbling and evading, and hiding their -real dogmas from the world? The answer is that Catholic students -throughout the world are inevitably influenced by their environment; -those who live in liberal countries take on a tinge of liberalism. But -meantime the dogmas of the church are laid down by a group of -medieval-minded bigots in Rome, who set their faces against the whole of -modern life, and prescribe formulas which are excruciatingly -embarrassing to American Catholics with political and social ambitions. -Hence it comes about that the “Syllabus of Errors” of Pius IX is not -obtainable in official Catholic translations in American public -libraries; hence also it comes about that one Catholic archbishop after -another writes to assure me that the propositions of the “Syllabus” do -not apply to public schools in America. - -The frankest letter is from Archbishop Dowling of St. Paul, who -practically admits that I am right in my suspicion that American -Catholics are going as far as they dare to put the dogmas of the Papal -reactionaries upon the shelf. He says: - - The theologian still holds that in itself that State is most perfect - where the rights of God are recognized as well as the rights of man. - He assumes all the implications of that position. But his thesis - receives the attention and the respect that are usually given to - Utopias. The practical church administrator loyally accepts the _fait - accompli_. He adjusts his policies and his plans to things as he finds - them. - -And again: - - So far as I know nobody with any influence in the Catholic body of - this country opposes the public school system. I doubt if Catholics - ever give the subject of such a fatuous movement a single thought. In - fact, Catholics are not effectively organized in any but parish - groups. They have not an influential press. There is not a Catholic - paper of any kind that circulates largely throughout the whole - country. They are divided into many racial groups with no point of - contact save a common creed. - -I should like to accept this very courteous statement; but when I am -dealing with men who admit that they are “practical,” meaning that they -profess creeds which they do not try to apply, I am necessarily led to -wonder whether such an attitude might not lead a man to feel justified -in “shading” his views while writing to a non-Catholic correspondent. -Also, I am obliged to contrast the archbishop’s statement with that on -the letter-head of Msgr. Noll: “‘Our Sunday Visitor,’ the popular -National Catholic weekly with 2,000,000 readers scattered over every -country in the world. Thousands of priests order it for all of their -people.” How can this be fitted to the statement that “there is not a -Catholic paper of any kind that circulates largely throughout the whole -country?” - -For the rest of this chapter let us follow the program of the “practical -church administrator,” and adjust ourselves to things as we find them. -What one finds everywhere throughout America is as follows: The -Catholics are maintaining a rival system to the public schools; they are -running an enormous business, spending tens of millions of dollars, and -they take toward the public schools precisely the attitude which -business rivalry engenders in every human group. They say in their -propaganda literature that they wish to be “fair” to the public schools. -But just what can be the meaning of this word, to men who regard secular -education as destructive to the souls of the children who receive it? -Inevitably, they wish to save as many souls as possible; and the fact -that they do it from the best of motives makes no difference to us. The -attitude of the Catholic church is to get as much for the church schools -as possible, and to hold down the public schools as much as possible; -that is the fact, and any denial of that fact is propaganda, and a part -of the game. - -So when you travel from city to city, and from state to state, as I have -done, you find that the Catholics are everywhere claiming what is -“right”; but that “right” is never the same in two places. It varies -according to one simple formula—it is always a little bit more than the -Catholics are getting in that place. In Italy, Catholic “right” demands -that the Pope shall be the civil ruler of the papal state, including the -city of Rome, and that there shall be no schools except church schools. -Catholic “right” requires this latter in South American countries also. -In cities of the United States where the Catholic vote is large, -Catholic “right” demands that church schools be supported out of public -taxes. In California, which is not Catholic, “right” is somewhat less -than this—merely that the state should furnish free text books for the -Catholic schools. In order to get this concession, the Catholic -lobbyists made a deal with the Y. M. C. A., agreeing to help the “Y,” -which thought it had a “right” to be released from having to pay taxes -on its property![L] - ------ - -Footnote L: - - Franklin Hichborn: “Legislative Bulletin,” April 21, 1917. - ------ - -Archbishop Dowling tells me that the Catholic “finds that the secular -State which is founded on liberty is, after all, not such a bad sort.” -But then I go to my Catholic documents once more, and I note that only a -few years ago the most beloved of modern Catholic popes, Leo XIII, sent -an Encyclical to the most beloved of American Catholic prelates, -Cardinal Gibbons, dealing with that dangerous and wicked thing known as -“Americanism,” and insisting that the growth of the church in America -must not be attributed to the excellence of America and American -institutions, but solely to the peculiar divine excellence of the -church. What the beloved Leo thought of our American scheme of -separation of Church and State, with a fair field and no favor for all -religions, he set forth in his Encyclical “Immortale Dei,” dated 1885; -denouncing as one of the products of “unbridled license” the theory that -the State is “not obliged to make public profession of any one religion, -but on the contrary is bound to grant equal rights to every creed.” And -lest any “practical” American archbishop should try to do funny work -with that sentence, he went on to nail the doctrine down; declaring -“that it is not lawful for the State, any more than for the individual, -either to disregard all religious duties, or to hold in equal favor -different kinds of religion; that the unrestrained freedom of thinking -and of openly making known one’s thoughts is not inherent in the rights -of citizens, and is by no means to be reckoned worthy of favor and -support.” - -I could go on for chapters, exposing such inconsistencies between the -divinely revealed papal doctrines, and the propaganda of the “practical -church administrator.” But the thing you are really interested in is -what I have shown you in Boston, Baltimore, St. Louis, San Francisco—the -Catholic hierarchy building a whole school system to replace the public -schools; and at the same time electing to the public school boards of -these cities Catholic ladies and gentlemen who omit to develop the -building programs of the public schools, and when the people persist in -voting the money, refuse to spend the money and have the buildings -constructed. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXI - FAITH AND MODERN THOUGHT - - -One more important question we have to consider: What is Catholic -education? Here again we find two aspects of the problem—first, the -doctrines of the church, and second, their “practical” application to -American life. - -When Catholic priests and Catholic sisters teach the -multiplication-table, they teach the same multiplication-table as the -public schools. When they teach chemistry, they teach the same formulas -as the public schools. When they teach astronomy, they teach that the -earth is positively known to move round the sun. But when they teach the -_history_ of astronomy, they have to call upon their subtle casuists, -and get round the fact that their infallible popes infallibly decreed -that the sun moves round the earth, and caused the imprisonment of -Galileo in a dungeon for having taught the devilish Copernican heresy. - -During my last year in the New York public schools I had an Irish -Catholic gentleman for my teacher. I never had a better teacher, and -wouldn’t want one; he was efficient, and at the same time human and -jolly. He discovered that it was possible to let us talk to him and ask -him questions without the formality of raising our hands. He would let -us argue and “scrap” with him, and he evolved a most delightful method -of discipline for boys who did not pay attention—he would let fly a -piece of chalk at their heads. I learned more from him in one year than -I learned from some other teachers in two; so I have a kindly spot in my -heart for Irish Catholic teachers. - -But then I went on to college, and here it was quite different; for I -was not studying spelling and geography and arithmetic, about which all -the world agrees; I was studying history and philosophy and literature, -about which Catholics differ from everybody else. I was studying at a -public college, run by Tammany Hall, and many of the professors were -Catholics; later on, when the college moved up to its new buildings, -they took most of its staff from Fordham College, a Catholic -institution, and without any examinations or preliminaries. - -I had as my Latin teacher Professor Charles G. Herberman, editor of the -“Catholic Encyclopedia,” and a captain of the Society of Jesus. He was a -great Latin scholar, but a despot as well as a bigot; and when he -wandered from the subject, which he did frequently, he supported every -obscurantist idea in the world. My philosophy teacher, John J. McNulty, -taught me the intellectual cob-web spinning of all the ages. Naturally, -he could not have taught me a philosophy of evolution, or a philosophy -of common-sense, such as pragmatism. I spent my entire time in his -classes marveling that no one of the world’s great philosophers had ever -thought of relating metaphysical theories to the plain facts of life -which everybody knows and lives by; I would try to pin Professor McNulty -down on this point, only to find that he couldn’t understand what I -meant. - -And then Professor George E. Hardy, who taught us English, according to -the New York “Sun” and Tammany Hall. I have told about him in “The -Goose-step”—how he made us learn and recite Catholic poetry, and taught -us that Milton was a narrow bigot and Chaucer not a Wyckliffite. I -didn’t know what a Wyckliffite was, but I understand now that he was the -Bolshevik of the fourteenth century—a creature so wicked that it wasn’t -safe for you to know about him, for fear you might come to agree with -him! - -Now, manifestly the education which these Catholic gentlemen tried to -give me was absurd; and if they had tried to give me education in -biology, or in sociology, or in history, it would have been equally -absurd. To the Catholic Church the entire development of modern thought -is a kind of malignant tumor upon the human race. This again is -something about which there can be no argument—there simply is not in -the Catholic system any place for the secular state, or for rationalism, -or for evolution, or for democracy; I could give a long list of other -impossibilities—but instead I invite you to study a book by the leading -literary Catholic of England, Hilaire Belloc. I don’t think I exaggerate -in saying that Belloc is the one living Catholic man of letters who has -managed to achieve a first-rate position in English letters. And here he -writes a big book, “Europe and the Faith,” working out in detail the -exact point of view which I have just set forth. - -He begins by telling us that he is the only real historian, he is the -only one who can in the deep and mystic sense know his subject, because -he has the Faith; all those who have not the Faith are outsiders and -predestined to error. According to this Faith, Mr. Belloc knows that -Rome is the source of European civilization, Rome created the Eternal -Empire—from Scotland to the Sahara, and from Syria to Spain. All was -going well with this Eternal Empire until the lust and greed of King -Henry VIII of England led him upon a path of crime; England turned -traitor to the great European Empire—and as a result of that came all -the monstrosities and abnormalities of the last four hundred years, -Protestantism, Capitalism, Industrialism, Atheism, Pessimism, -Imperialism, and the World War. - -Such is Catholic history; and Catholic biology and Catholic sociology -and Catholic philosophy and Catholic literature will be things equally -and inevitably as remote from reality. When you go into Catholic -colleges you will find such fantasticalities being taught, you will find -all knowledge being distorted to fit the Catholic theories and sustain -the Catholic Faith. One illustration—in Milwaukee the Catholic -archbishop objected to a pageant of the Pilgrims being given by the -Milwaukee school children, because it was said that the Pilgrim Fathers -came to this country in search of religious liberty; the archbishop -forced the change of the word “religious” to “political”! You will find -everything thus taught from the point of view of the Faith—or else not -taught at all. For what does it really matter? Our stay on this earth is -brief, and so long as our souls are saved, why care what becomes of our -minds? Says the Milwaukee “Catholic Citizen” of July 15, 1922: “One -would imagine that devotional books are the chief output of our Catholic -publishing houses—ten new books of devotion to one of history or -biography.” - -What are the standards of the Catholic parochial schools? This again is -something which follows from the premises already stated. Mr. Franklin -Hichborn, one of the most careful of social investigators, tells me that -he has been collecting data on the effect of the parochial schools upon -the public school system, in a town of six thousand inhabitants. This -material has not yet been published, but Mr. Hichborn gives me a -summary: - - I found that the dual school system is most demoralizing. It increases - the difficulties of the truant officer, and is a drag upon progressive - school policies. Furthermore, I found that children who started in the - parochial school were from two to five years behind when they entered - the public schools. Or, to put it another way, children from the - parochial school, who left such school at the age of ten, for example, - were qualified for public school grades where the ages of the children - were eight or even seven years. Children leaving the parochial school - at the age of sixteen entered public school grades where the age of - the students was nine or ten. I have this information with the names, - dates and grades, and covering a number of years. - -In America the Catholic Church has to build and run schools, because -they have the competition of the public schools to meet; but there are -other countries in which they do not have this competition, and there we -may see what the Church would do with education if it had its own way. I -will give you a few of the statistics of illiteracy throughout the -world, and to make the contrast vivid I will give first a Protestant -country, and then a Catholic country—and see if you can tell which is -which! The percentages, taken from the U. S. Census of 1920, are as -follows: U. S. A., 6; Argentina, 54; Canada, 11; Brazil, 85; Australia, -1.8; Bolivia, 82; Holland, .08; Chili, 49; England, 1.8; Colombia, 73; -Denmark, .2; Hungary, 33; Scotland, 1.6; Mexico, 70; Sweden, .2; -Portugal, 68; Germany, .05; Spain, 58; Switzerland, .3; Italy, 37. It -seems to me these figures cover the case. - -The main basis of the Catholic attack upon the American public schools -is that they are “godless”; the children come out without religion and -without morality. But then you go to the juvenile courts, and what do -you find? Judge Collins of the Juvenile Court in New York City, -addressing a meeting of Catholics at St. Charles Borromeo Church, -reports 145,000 cases brought up each year in the children’s court, 60% -of them Catholic, 30% Jewish, and the remaining 10% of other faiths; 65% -of the boys in the reformatories are Catholic—and this in a city whose -population is 25% Catholic. According to the Department of Correction of -New York, there were 23,539 Catholics in New York jails, as against -9,278 non-Catholics. On the other side of the continent, in San -Francisco, I find a tabulation of the inmates of the state prison; 76% -of these are from Catholic schools, brought up in the Catholic faith, -yet the Catholics have less than 20% of the population of California. - -I close this subject with one glimpse of what might be called Catholic -adult education. In some parts of our country the church has become so -powerful that the capitalist press has taken to publishing Catholic -propaganda; I have before me a specimen of such propaganda, cut from the -Boston “Post” of July 25, 1921: - - MEDAL GIVEN TO AUTOISTS - - Special Blessing from Patron Saint of Motorists - - Some 2000 autoists—chaffeurs and car owners—thronged St. Leonard of - Port Maurice Church, Prince Street, North End, yesterday to receive - special blessing and obtain a St. Christopher medal, bearing the - picture of the patron saint of automobilists—the charm against motor - accidents and death. - -The story spread over two columns, describes the “solemn high mass and -adoration of the St. Christopher relic,” and the “eloquent sermon” -preached by the Reverend Christopher Burzi, who told all the legends -concerning the saint, and how this particular feast had been ordered by -Pope Pius X. “At the conclusion of the mass the relic of the saint -encased in glass was brought to the altar rail, where the congregation -gathered to kiss the sacred relic.” - -Here we have what we may describe as an adult vocational course of the -parochial schools. In the “godless” public schools, you must realize, -there are night classes where men painfully acquire knowledge of the -proper handling of automobiles; but under this Catholic system all these -tiresome details become superfluous, and men avoid automobile accidents -by kissing the bones of a saint and purchasing magic medallions—“one a -pocket charm, and the other a sterling silver plate that can be attached -to the car itself.” - - - - - CHAPTER LXXII - THE SCHOOLS OF STEEL - - -We are now familiar with the principal agencies which have taken over -our education upon a national scale. In addition to these, each -community has its local interests, which may be small from a national -standpoint, but are big enough to block the vision of a school board. -Wherever capitalist industry exists in America, in towns or villages or -country districts, that industry dominates the schools. There are whole -counties, hundreds of them scattered over the United States, which are -feudal domains of great corporations. In cases where these corporations -own the land and the homes of the workers, as in the coal towns of West -Virginia and Colorado, the corporations support the schools, and the -teachers are the least competent and poorest paid of their clerks. In -cases where other landlords have a chance to exploit the workers, the -burden of the schools falls upon the tax-payers—with the great -corporations dodging their taxes. - -I talked the other day with a teacher from Benicia, California, a -“tannery town.” A school board member, elected to serve the people, got -the idea that the tannery was not paying its proper share of taxes, and -he brought an expert from the city to get the facts. The firm was -assessed on a quarter of a million dollars, and should have been -assessed on two millions. This same school board member belonged to the -city council, and brought the matter up before that body, which decided -to do nothing. Of course the schools were starved, and sometimes the -teachers did not get their salaries at all. Again, I talked with a -gentleman from Wisconsin, whose father was an engineer. A lumber company -wanted his services, but could not afford to pay what he was worth, so -they decided to give him an extra salary, and ordered the secretary of -the school board to resign! - -I talked with a teacher who had taught in several of the coal towns of -Southern Illinois; the invariable condition is wretched schools, with -the vast wealth of the corporations untaxed. The miners who attempt to -control their own schools are browbeaten or tricked. The mines -invariably work on school election days; the club women turn out with -their automobiles, and bring the voters to the polls—those who will vote -the business men’s ticket. By the time the miners get out of the pits -the polls are closed, so the miners’ candidates are not elected. At -Eldorado, Illinois, the organized miners endeavored to put up a ticket, -and the clerk of the school board lied to them as to the date for the -filing of petitions. - -For a detailed study of what industrial feudalism does to education, I -propose that we investigate Judge Gary and his Steel Trust. In -Pittsburgh, I talked with a reporter on one of the newspapers, who had -been watching school conditions for twenty years. Here is a whole county -entirely dominated by steel; you cannot hold meetings without permission -of the police, which means that if you are a labor organizer you do not -hold them at all. The valley is a solid line of “steel-towns,” and in -one of them, McKeesport, representatives of the American Civil Liberties -Union duplicated my experience at San Pedro—they were arrested for -reading the Constitution of the United States on private property. - -The Pittsburgh schools of course are run by the steel interests; the -president of the board is David B. Oliver, eighty-five year old steel -magnate. The people have nothing to do with the matter, because the -school board is named by the judges of the county, and this board levies -taxes as it sees fit, and spends the money on its friends. A Pittsburgh -physician writes me: “The offices of the board are palatial, the staff -of clerks legion, the extra teachers unnumbered, and the equipment of -paper and materials would keep any supply-house wreathed in smiles.” He -goes on to add that the present superintendent draws a salary of $12,000 -a year, with automobile, chauffeur, and upkeep of car; “he is rumored to -be on speaking terms, at least, with a book-publishing house.” - -But that is a lot better than what Pittsburgh had ten years ago—a -superintendent who represented a school-book house in St. Paul, and -spent the rest of his time seducing his girl pupils; it was proved in -court that he had had a criminal operation performed on one of them. My -reporter friend had dug up four cases of rape by this superintendent in -his own office, and the affidavits were presented to the grand jury. The -school children went on strike against their superintendent, and finally -he was tried, and the jury disagreed. Juries in Allegheny County agree -only with steel officials. - -In the slum neighborhoods of Pittsburgh you find atrociously crowded -schools, in wretched buildings, some of them made of corrugated iron; in -the rich districts you find palatial high schools. The system is run on -a basis of political pull; good teachers are shifted, so that the -sisters of ward-heelers may get promotion. When parents venture to -complain they are insulted—especially if they are poor. There is a -political machine even of the doctors; the favorites of the board of -health get the jobs of vaccinating in the schools. - -Further down the valley is Homestead, from which the Carnegie Foundation -for the Advancement of Teaching derives its millions. You will -appreciate the gay humor of this situation—in the schools of Homestead -the steel-slaves are drinking water from the Monongahela River, into -which various industrial plants discharge their acids. When complaint -was made about this water in Homestead, the newspapers saw an -opportunity to be witty, and assured the public that the water needed no -filtering—the acids would kill the bacteria! I am assured that, owing to -the effect of these acids, the plumbing in the homesteads of Homestead -wears out in one-third the normal time; and this suggests the subject -for an important scientific monograph—I see it in my mind’s eye, -catalogued in Carnegie libraries throughout the United States and Great -Britain: “The Internal Plumbing of Pupils; a Study of the Stimulation -Effects of Sulphuric and Nitric Acids on the Renal Canals of One -Thousand School Children at Homestead, Pennsylvania. By A. Learned -Phaque, A.M., Ph.D., T.O.A.D.Y.; Bulletin of the Carnegie Foundation for -the Advancement of Teaching, No. 4-11-44.” - -Come to Northern Minnesota, and see what the Steel Trust does to the -shipping port of its vast ore fields. I have before me a copy of the -Duluth “Rip-Saw,” containing a detailed account of the activities of -school board members who have had charge of teachers’ pension money, and -have been lending it out for their private graft. One board member was -an insurance agent, and if he loaned you the teachers’ money, you had to -place your insurance with him. Needless to say, along with this go -accounts of the humiliating of teachers, the beating down of wages, and -the driving out of those with liberal sympathies. Judge Gary, of course, -would say that he has nothing to do with all this; all that he does is -to put up the campaign funds to keep such gangs in office. - -Again, Lorain, Ohio, a port on Lake Erie, headquarters of one of the -Steel Trust subsidiaries, the National Tube Company. Here are forty -thousand people, most of them wage-slaves, and recently they elected a -mayor who made an effort to serve them, and was smashed by the Black -Hand. On the school system of Lorain the people have been unable to make -any impression whatever. The house agent of the National Tube Company, a -sort of watch-dog against the radical element in the mills, occupies the -same post on the school board. The president of the board is a dentist -and bank director, a high-up Mason and pillar of the Lutheran church; he -rolls down-town in his big limousine, and lives “on the Avenue” in a -large residence, which is taxed less than the small cottage of a -machinist. Another member is a jeweler and bank director, a pillar of -the Congregational church, who sees to it that the works of Scott -Nearing, Jack London, Bernard Shaw and Upton Sinclair are kept out of -the Carnegie library. The other members are a bank teller and a very -intolerant ex-teacher, both devout Methodists. - -As superintendent this board has had for ten years a perfect autocrat, -who finds opportunity for many financial activities on the side. He is a -typical small-town mind, and excludes from the system all teachers whose -minds are bigger. The two most popular teachers in the system were -driven out because their parents happened to be Socialists. A high -school teacher, who had been on the faculty for twelve years, was -charged with “refusing to do team work”—the real reason being that he -attended labor meetings and tried to help the workers. When he was -fired, a petition was presented, signed by every student in his -class—except one, whose father was manager of the Chamber of Commerce. -The fight was carried to the school board elections, but to no purpose, -and this teacher left town. - -There must be “no politics” in Lorain school affairs, the board solemnly -ordains; but four years ago, when the ring was kicked out of the city -hall, the school board hastened to make a job for one ring member. A -working-boy was a minute or two late because a draw-bridge which he had -to cross was swung open; he was punished for this, and on the second -offense was threatened with loss of his grades. The son of a big bank -director and promoter was found smoking cigarettes in the high school -building, the punishment for which is expulsion, but the young man -graduated three months later. These are petty details, and I only cite -them because they are typical of a thousand school systems in small -towns. Lorain would tell you that its schools are “progressive,” and -would mention the beveled glass mirrors in the new high school, costing -ninety-five dollars a piece. Its educators stand high—the superintendent -got his enamel finish under Nicholas Miraculous last summer, and the -high school principal did the same thing the year before, and other -members of the faculty have done it or intend to. Superintendent Boone -is a director of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Y. M. C. A., a Mason -and a Kiwani, and when he came back from his course in “school -management” at Columbia, he showed what he had learned by joining the -Elks! - - - - - CHAPTER LXXIII - THE SCHOOLS OF OIL - - -So much for what steel does to schools; let us now see what oil does. -Our journey of inspection will be under the escort of a rare high school -teacher—one who is willing to tell his experiences over his own -signature. Mr. David H. Pierce specializes in sociology, and at present -is teaching hygiene and Spanish at a high school in Ohio. Two or three -years ago he accepted a position as principal of a high school in the -oil country of West Virginia. The town of Littleton, containing about -seven hundred inhabitants, is spread along a valley, sharing it with a -creek, a mud road, and a railroad; as far as the eye can see in every -direction the hillsides have sprouted oil derricks. Mr. Pierce went -there because he was tired of the “rigid” school system of New York -state, and was told that in West Virginia things were more free. He -found a commodious brick high school, and felt much encouraged—until the -first faculty meeting, when the district superintendent stated: “There -are two boys in your senior class who must pass regardless of their -work. They have never been known to work in school and never will, but -they come from a good family and must graduate.” - -Mr. Pierce was supposed to be the principal of the school, but the -superintendent hadn’t much else to do, and made his headquarters in the -building. Mr. Pierce describes him as “a kindly gentleman, a good -husband and father”; he let his teachers alone, except when it became -necessary to protect his own position, by pleasing the aristocracy of -Littleton. He would say to a student who was deficient in half a year of -algebra: “Work six cases of factoring, and it will be satisfactory.” To -a girl who had failed to take a year of high school mathematics he would -suggest: “Go down and observe the class in eighth grade arithmetic a few -times.” - -The faculty spent several hours working out a schedule of classes, and -the school ran for three weeks, when news came that a prominent athlete, -desired for the basket-ball team, was to be admitted to school. He was -employed in the mornings at outside work, so it was necessary to arrange -three afternoon classes for this young athlete. As this conflicted with -the schedule of the school, Mr. Pierce suggested that the boy should -spend his entire day in school, in order to secure the fifteen hours per -week of class work. The superintendent’s reply was that this could not -be required, because the lad’s father was president of the school board; -the old schedule must be destroyed and a new one arranged. Immediately -after this had been done, the boy changed his mind and decided he would -not come to school. The athletic coach spent a month persuading him, -then he concluded to come to school for the entire day. When Mr. Pierce -had occasion to admonish this young man for truancy, he retorted: “Ah, -what the hell difference does it make? I’ve been guaranteed graduation a -year from June.” Says Mr. Pierce: - - In many cases the athlete runs the school. I heard of one who told a - school superintendent to “go to hell” and was given one day’s - suspension. I have known of others to engage in physical combat with - instructors, with no ill results to their scholastic position. They - are privileged characters. They obey only those rules which they - desire. Being assured of a coterie of hero-worshipers in the - community, they live in no terror of penalties or punishments. It - would be as much as a principal’s or teacher’s place is worth if he or - she dared to prevent a boy from taking part in an important game. This - is no exaggeration. It is a fact. To put it mildly, a teacher in many - a small West Virginia high school who attempted honestly to enforce - the rules laid down by the State High School Athletic Association - would be blacklisted. He would suffer indignities. Littleton High - School was of this sort, and the villagers of Littleton wanted teams - that could win. - -I have shown in “The Goose-step” how the coaches and the athletic alumni -run the colleges, and here in this high school of the oil country we -find the same phenomenon. Mr. Pierce’s year in Littleton was one long -struggle, because he would not permit mid-week basket-ball games, which -drew a large part of the students from their work. The coach of the -basket-ball team was a junior high school teacher, and he advised Mr. -Pierce that “It ain’t the way we do them things in this section.” He -proceeded to give instructions to the girls’ basket-ball team: - - Girls, you’ll be up against a stiff team tonight. Go in and foul for - all you’re worth. Remember if you are fouled by the referee, and the - opponents make a goal it counts one point. If the opposing team is - given room to shoot from the open floor, every basket they make counts - two. - -The team proceeded to follow this advice. The referee was one of their -own students, and because of foul play Mr. Pierce went down on the floor -and stopped the game and ordered the referee from the floor. The crowd -was raving, and for several days the town debated whether or not the -principal should be dismissed from the high school. There was a meeting -in honor of the coach, and his admirers presented him with a fountain -pen, and he made them a speech: - - Fellows, maybe it ain’t right, but I’ve got to tell you what was told - me by a man that saw you play. He said “Christ, but you’ve a hell of a - good team,” and I agree with him. You fellows have been there with the - goods. - -This oil town was extremely religious. Mr. Pierce provided some of his -students with copies of the “Survey,” but the paper was thrown out of -the homes by two parents, who were afraid it would interfere with the -children’s religion. Mr. Pierce taught at the Methodist Sunday school, -but at his boarding house he ventured to question the existence of a -future life, and so the word spread that he was an “atheist,” and he -found on his school blackboard the announcement: “Reverend Pierce will -lecture on ‘No Heaven, No Hell.’” A gentleman was appointed to spy upon -his Sunday school class, to discover what he was teaching. A preacher -devoted two-thirds of his sermon to the glories of basket-ball, and -closed with an earnest prayer for victory in the approaching game. -Dancing and card playing were barred. The town’s idea of diversion was -to tie one end of a rope to a switch engine and the other end to -somebody’s front porch. - -A part of Mr. Pierce’s story was published in an article in the -“Survey,” entitled “A Village School,” April 23, 1921. Mr. Pierce was -then teaching in Clarksburg, West Virginia, and the superintendent of -Littleton wrote to him, threatening to “beat him up.” The superintendent -sent this threat through the mail, and thereby laid himself liable to -several years’ imprisonment; but Mr. Pierce, being, like myself, an -amiable muckraker, forebore to press the point. Besides, he had new -troubles in Clarksburg; the high school team won a debate favoring -government control of railroads, and this so frightened the principal -that “he spent ten minutes notifying the entire assembly that debates do -not mean anything, and the decision was not to be taken seriously.” Mr. -Pierce continues: - - Upon another occasion, he advised me not to discuss the coal strike in - my class, or at least to show no sympathy for organized labor, because - he asserted that ninety per cent of my students were children of coal - miners who belonged to unions, and they would be inclined to be - aroused too much. Upon another occasion, he entered my class casually, - when I was discussing some of the advantages of government control of - railroads, and he told the class that the movement for government - control was Bolshevistic. I was using, at that time, New York state as - an example, in trying to show what saving could be made, if, for - example, the Erie Railroad was used for passenger service and the - Lackawanna for freight. Of course, I had to defend myself from the - accusation of Bolshevism, but as we were personally friendly (in fact, - I was a roomer at his house), he did not carry the case up at all. - -That indicates at least one way for a liberal to keep his job in a high -school! - - - - - CHAPTER LXXIV - THE COUNTRY GEESE - - -We have had glimpses of rural school conditions in the far West. Let us -glance at the wheat country. From the point of view of politics and -education the Dakotas are a back-yard of Minneapolis and St. Paul, being -governed by the railroads and banks and chambers of commerce of these -cities. The farmers made a desperate effort to free themselves by their -Nonpartisan League, and the story of their ten years’ struggle to -control their schools is most illuminating. - -The Nonpartisan League was strong in the country districts, while the -gang still held the towns; so their legislature put through a measure -taking control of city schools away from the state; after which the gang -proceeded to dump overboard all city teachers who belonged to the -League, or who ventured to speak in its support. “The Reds have taken -the schools,” was the cry; and in cases where the Nonpartisan League -appointed principals or heads of state institutions, the students were -incited to strike against these officers. The Teachers’ Union was forced -to disband in Fargo, and in the State Agricultural College a teacher who -became secretary of the Teachers’ Union was refused the increase of -salary to which she was legally entitled. - -By methods such as these the gang managed to hold on in North Dakota; -they were sure the political tide would turn, and it did. The Federal -Reserve Board “deflated” the farmers, and the price of wheat dropped to -less than half the cost of producing it; when I was in North Dakota, in -1922, there were counties of the state in which every farm was being -sold for taxes. In four months during 1923 over seventy small banks went -to the wall, and two hundred others were in trouble. The Nonpartisan -League program included state-owned mills and elevators, and these -half-completed enterprises of course were useless. The League was -without funds—the bankers saw to that, by calling the loans of farmers -who paid their dues. So the gang came back, and they put out MacDonald, -the League superintendent of schools—not content with that, they hounded -him literally to his death. A friend of his writes me: - - Wherever he secured a position, he was followed by his North Dakota - enemies. The new superintendent and the new director of vocational - training prepared letters and bulletins denouncing him; they sent - these to his students and the officers under whom he worked, and this - would be continued until he was dismissed. As soon as he would get a - new job and they would get him located, they would repeat. - -The gang put in as its new superintendent a political woman, Miss -Neilson, president of the Federation of Women’s Clubs, an organization -controlled by the Black Hand, in North Dakota as in Los Angeles. Miss -Neilson is not a graduate of any college, normal school or high school; -under the law she was ineligible to the position, but the courts very -kindly held this law unconstitutional. The uneducated lady now has -absolute control of the teachers of North Dakota, and can and does -withhold certificates from her political opponents. They have set up a -system of “grading” schools, a purely political scheme to strengthen the -control of the gang; they have four politicians as “school inspectors,” -and the standards on which the grading is done are wholly artificial, -having no relationship to merit. If the schools stand in with the gang, -the pupils from those schools do not have to pass examinations to enter -the higher state institutions, or to secure positions from the gang. - -The text-book graft is back again; and also the banker-graft. There are -quarter sections of land belonging to the bankers, and these have been -left out of the school districts, so that they do not have to pay school -taxes. The law requires the banks to pay interest on school money, but -the bankers handle that matter by the simple device of naming the school -treasurer and keeping the books for him—and incidentally keeping the -interest! In the county where my friend Smith was superintendent, the -school treasurer was threatened that if he made trouble he would have to -pay up his own note at the bank; and when Mr. Smith persisted in making -trouble, the banker came in a fury, demanding: “What’s this?” - -Mr. Smith told me also about the graft in building jobs—the biggest of -all. Mr. Smith had to see to putting up school buildings, and was told -to charge as much as the other counties were paying, otherwise the money -would not be allowed him. When he refused to do this, they passed a law -compelling him to do it! He put up a building 42 by 54, with a full -basement, for $3,700; while for the same building other counties were -paying from nine to ten thousand dollars. But in spite of such public -services, Mr. Smith never had a safe majority in the county—he had -against him the bankers’ machine and the bankers’ newspapers, and the -vote of the towns, whose people depended for their jobs upon the -bankers, and for their ideas upon the bankers’ newspapers. Imagine the -political conditions in a community where a man, hoping to get back into -the educational field, dares not permit me to relate these incidents in -connection with his real name! - -These conditions prevail wherever the farmer movement has been active. -In South Dakota the Nonpartisan League was never able to carry the -state; but it is growing, and the gang has been frantic to stamp it out -of the schools. At the Madison State Normal School there were several -teachers who made so bold as to declare their sympathy with the League. -In 1920 one of these teachers, Mrs. Anna Mae Brady, was unceremoniously -kicked out by the president, and a prominent Republican politician -stated as the reason her sympathy with the League. But realizing that -this wouldn’t look well as a campaign issue, President Higbie discovered -that Mrs. Brady had been giving lectures at teachers’ institutes in -other counties. Mrs. Brady had been doing this for eight years, and it -was a custom of teachers throughout the state. But the president had -nothing more to say, and when Mrs. Brady demanded a hearing before the -board of regents, they graciously permitted her to come and speak, but -professed to know nothing about the matter, and refused to summon -President Higbie and permit Mrs. Brady to question him. Another teacher, -Miss Alice L. Daly, handed in her resignation in protest, and stated -that the political machine of the state, and powerful financial -interests outside the state, were running South Dakota education. The -answer of President Higbie to this protest was to drop three more -teachers who were sympathetic to the League. - -Also in Idaho the farmer movement is becoming powerful, and the -interests have been hard put to it. In Boise they have a beautiful new -high school, with a big auditorium, and the school board had made the -rule that under no circumstances was it to be open for political -gatherings. But it happened that at the close of the 1922 campaign, the -radical candidate for governor secured the big opera house; the gang -wished to offer a counter attraction, and there was no hall big enough -for their purposes. So the school board met and rescinded their -resolution, and the Republican party held a meeting in the high school -auditorium, addressed by the Republican governor. Next day the school -board met again, and restored the rule forbidding political gatherings -in the public schools of Boise! Laws made to order, so to speak! - -Let us take the country districts of California, from which you get most -of your fruits, canned and dried. I have notes of the misadventures of -many California teachers; apparently the habit of breaking the law is -universal among school boards and superintendents of this state. In -Bishop the principal of the high school drops teachers contrary to law, -and when they resort to the courts he solves the problem by eliminating -the courses of study taught by these teachers. In Calexico the courts -refused to enforce the law regarding teachers’ tenure. In Santa Cruz the -board of education has set aside the state law providing equal pay for -equal work as between men and women. They have a school principal who -for a trivial offense whipped two little boys so severely that they had -to have medical attention. This also was against the law, but the board -paid no heed to the petitions of the parents. Mrs. Josephine Tyler, who -writes about this matter, states: - - I secured one letter from a former resident of Santa Cruz, who had - taken her adopted daughter out of school because of insulting - treatment from Forsyth. I gave this letter to the president of the - board to read, and, after reading it, he remarked, “I believe the man - is crazy.” But he didn’t advocate his removal. He asked permission to - show the letter to other members of the board, and I granted his - request, after securing his promise to return the letter to me. I - afterwards learned that some members of the board were very loath to - return the letter to me, and I heard only recently that there is still - some apprehension concerning that letter.... Forsyth holds his job - because he stands in with and is a good propagandist tool of the - lodges and the banking and business interests. - -Or take the strange experience of the teachers at Fresno, the place from -which you get your raisins. Up to recently the schools in Fresno had a -superintendent by the name of Cross; he used to run the high school in -Pasadena, and we played tennis together, and took pleasure in licking -the school champions. I never observed in Mr. Cross any failure of -manners on the tennis court, so I long for the day when we apply inside -our schools the same standards as on the play-grounds outside. When Mr. -Cross came to Fresno the sanitary conditions in the schools were -“shocking,” and he so reported them; but next year one of the teachers -ventured to make a report, showing that conditions in her school were -still more “shocking,” and Mr. Cross resented the meddling of teachers -in such affairs. This teacher was persecuted until she resigned, and the -result was the forming of a teachers’ union in Fresno. Miss Verna Carson -became the president of this union, and one of the board members told -her that “the business men of this town are getting tired of having you -going around through the state and organizing other locals.” In June of -that year Superintendent Cross dropped Miss Carson, and when the -teachers made protest, he declared his attitude to organized teachers: -there was no use trying to deal with them by conference—“a base-ball bat -or a gatling-gun is needed.” That was the kind of talk the Chamber of -Commerce wanted, and they rallied to their superintendent’s support, and -gave him a raise of a thousand dollars. When pushed by friends of Miss -Carson, Mr. Cross finally gave a reason for her dismissal, “professional -incapacity.” Miss Carson, being unable to get a hearing, proceeded to -bring a libel suit, and Mr. Cross on the witness stand was invited to -state what acts of “professional incapacity” she had committed. He could -not give any, so he was adjudged guilty of libel, and obliged to pay the -costs of the suit, and at the end of the year to resign from his -position. This is one of the pleasantest school stories I have to tell, -and I wish that teachers would make note of it and do likewise. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXV - THE SCHOOLS OF SNOBBERY - - -So far our attention has been given to the public schools. There is -another large field of education, at which we can only stop for a -glance—the private schools. There are over two thousand private high -schools and academies in the United States, with two or three hundred -thousand students; and apart from parochial and a few experimental -schools, these institutions are maintained by the rich for the purpose -of giving their children a class education. Some of them are large and -wealthy, with endowments running into the millions; when we glance at -their boards of control we are reminded of the interlocking directorates -of “The Goose-step.” - -For example, here is Phillips Exeter, a hundred and forty-two years old; -in control we find Mr. Thomas W. Lamont, partner in the firm of J. P. -Morgan and Company, director of the Guaranty Trust Company, overseer of -Harvard University, trustee of Smith College, and director of the -Crowell Publishing Company, which gives us that lovely “American -Magazine” about which you may read in “The Brass Check.” Also Colonel -William Boyce Thompson, mining magnate and Republican party chief; also -Mr. George A. Plimpton, trustee of Amherst College, who has just helped -to kick out its liberal president, and senior partner of Ginn and -Company, who run Clark University and Clark College for the benefit of -the Frye-Atwood geographies. - -Also there is Phillips Andover, a hundred and forty-five years old, -having at the head of its board a Boston bank president, interlocked -with Yale University; as board members a clergyman, interlocked by -marriage with the Boston Lowells, who are even more exclusive than the -Boston banks; also a New York corporation lawyer, who ran our war -department under Taft. At Hotchkiss we find the president of a trust -company and a dean of Yale; a partner in a stock exchange firm, who is -also treasurer of Yale; and a president of a bank, vice-president of a -trust company and of the American Brass Company, director of a life -insurance company and a trustee of Trinity College. At Groton we find as -secretary the chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, interlocked -with Barnard College and Nicholas Miraculous; also a member of the firm -of Lee, Higginson & Company, the Boston bankers, interlocked with the -University of Lee-Higginson, popularly known as Harvard; also two -representatives of the Episcopal department of God, Mammon & Company. - -At St. Paul’s we find the New Hampshire bishop and two other members of -this same aristocratic firm, one of them interlocked with Yale; also a -Baltimore copper magnate, interlocked with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad -and Johns Hopkins University; also a carpet manufacturer; a Republican -politician of Boston; a Philadelphia lawyer, who is president of a bank -and two railroads, director in four railroads, a trust company, an -electrical company and an asphalt company; and finally, a real -sure-enough, honest-to-goodness, cross-my-heart-and-swear-it English -lord! At St. Marks we have the same bishop as at Groton, and two other -representatives of the firm; also a cotton goods merchant interlocked -with Boston Edison and Massachusetts Gas, the invisible government of -Harvard; also a president of several manufacturing companies, who is -vice-president of a railroad; one of the Choates, who directs railroads, -banks and life insurance in New York; and finally “Jim” Wadsworth, -senator and Republican boss of New York state, whose father I had the -pleasure of putting out of politics some eighteen years ago. (See “The -Brass Check,” page 45.) - -The Lawrenceville School, a magnificent institution located five miles -from Princeton, has on its board of trustees President John Grier Hibben -of Princeton, one of our leading clerical militarists; also a New York -banker who directs much foreign exploitation; also a bank president who -directs insurance. At Lawrenceville they had a head master who was -liberal, or at least human; he died recently, and the plutocratic alumni -came, offering to raise a few millions, on condition that they should -name the head master. They brought in the very successful coach of the -Yale rowing crew; incidentally he was professor of Latin, but that is -hardly worth mentioning in comparison. Because of his services in -beating the Harvard crew, Yale gave him the degree of M.A., _honoris -causa_—the same as they had extended to Jane Addams! This rowing -gentleman proceeded to coach Lawrenceville under the new Prussian spy -system, with the result of a faculty explosion too unsavory to be -detailed in this book. - -These schools of snobbery are scattered all over New England and the -eastern states. They are training grounds for the athletic teams of the -big universities, also for the university fraternities, so that social -strivings and jealousies make up a good part of their student life. -Admission to the more exclusive of them is an hereditary privilege; if -you belong to the right families, your children and grandchildren are -booked when they are born. Needless to say, the plutocratic psychology -of these schools is never offended by the least breath of liberalism. In -place of ideas, the boys are furnished with golf courses, motor cars, -saddle-horses, boot-leggers, and all other comforts of home. - -You have heard of Roger W. Babson, who sends out bulletins to keep the -rich informed as to the progress of social revolution. Mr. Babson deals -also in plutocratic education; conducting at Wellesley Hills, -Massachusetts, the Babson Institute, where thirty sons of the plutocracy -are trained to be magnates, at two thousand dollars per magnate per -year—room and meals not included! The Babson Institute also undertakes -to educate your employes, furnishing you with magic circulars to be put -in their pay envelopes. I have seen some of this magic; Mr. Babson asks -the wage-slaves: “What is the law of capitalism?” and answers, in -capital letters: “The law of capitalism is that wealth saved in -production should be honored and respected.” I wonder what Mr. Babson -tells his thirty budding magnates to answer when their wage-slaves ask -concerning wealth which has been stolen in corruption. - -Of course there are private schools which are less expensive, and less -plutocratically correct. They descend in a sliding scale, until you come -to places which only a Dickens could describe. Society ladies enjoying -life in Reno or Paris, captains of industry who are sent to Congress or -to jail, want some place where they can stow their children out of the -way. Professor William Ellery Leonard was once a master in one of these -places, up in New York state, and told me vivid tales about the hordes -of young savages, and how, for trying to enforce a little discipline, he -incurred such furious enmity that on his last night in the school he had -to barricade himself in his room and defend his life with a baseball -bat! - -I know a lady who, in order to get an education for her only son, -accepted a position as “house-mother” in another of these private hells, -and found herself housed in a room with fungus on the walls and on the -floor the overflow from an adjoining urinal. Everywhere the toilets were -overflowing and the floors covered with filth, the cooking atrocious, -the boys ill with indigestion, colds and sore throats, no infirmary or -provision for the sick, and among the hundred and fifteen boys a general -prevalence of smoking and wine-drinking, and practice of self-abuse so -general that many of the boys were mentally helpless—a lad would sit in -class “with dropped jaw and staring eyes, or with nervous spasms which -furnished entertainment for the other boys.” - -I talked with a group of young masters at one of the older and more -reputable of these “schools of snobbery.” To show how closely the boys -were guarded from modern thought, one of these masters said that he had -passed through the school as a pupil, and then gone out into the world -and become a bit of a liberal; returning to the school as a master, he -had met his former masters, and discovered that they too were liberals. -But never a whisper of their ideas had got to him as a pupil, nor are -they getting to the pupils now. All the boys’ attention is on wealth, -all their standards are those of worldly possessions, and this is what -their parents desire and ordain. - -I have referred to Phillips Andover; this school is located five miles -from Lawrence, Massachusetts, the headquarters of the Woolen Trust, run -by William M. Wood, one of our most ruthless labor smashers, who ten -years ago was prosecuted for a dynamite frame-up against the strikers in -his mills. A group of conspirators, headed by a prominent contractor, -placed dynamite in the home of a non-union worker, the intention being -that the explosion should be blamed upon the strikers. The contractor -who placed the dynamite blew out his brains rather than face an inquiry. - -Such is the atmosphere of Lawrence. In 1919 came another great strike, -and a group of young Quaker clergymen took the part of the workers. I -have told about one of these, A. J. Muste, in “The Goose-step.” Among -others whose consciences were stirred was Bernard M. Allen, a teacher of -Latin in Phillips Andover; he went with a party of twenty-five ladies -and gentlemen to attend a meeting of the strikers in Lawrence. The -police commissioner had announced that no more “agitators” would be -allowed to enter the city, and when these ladies and gentlemen left the -railroad station and started to walk across the open square, they were -charged by mounted police, and Mr. Allen was severely clubbed over the -head. This was the first of a series of unprovoked assaults by the -police, in one of which young Muste and another clergyman were driven -into a side street and nearly clubbed to death. - -As for Mr. Allen, it happened unfortunately that Phillips Andover was -beginning a campaign for two million dollars’ endowment. (It had just -received half a million dollars from the late Oliver Payne, who had -purchased a United States senatorship for his father.) Mr. Allen’s -resignation from Phillips Andover was requested and promptly accepted. -If I do not tell you many such incidents concerning our schools of -snobbery, you may believe that it is because young masters in these -schools do not often get themselves clubbed over the head in sympathy -for “dagoes” and “wops” on strike. - -What these schools are really for was very interestingly shown by a -study of class standing in Harvard University, published in the Harvard -“Advocate” at the end of the year 1923. Here was a graduating class -consisting of 379 men from private schools and 858 from public schools. -The study showed that in the eight major athletic teams there were 40 -men from these private schools, and only 22 from public schools. All the -managers were private school men. As regards class officers, musical and -glee clubs, debating teams, dramatic clubs, class day officers, etc., -there were 183 private school men, as against 29 from the public -schools. But after that came the record on scholarship, and the contrast -was amusing: the scholarship honors had been won by 41 from private -schools, and 82 from public schools! It is interesting to note that this -study was made by a son of Thomas W. Lamont, and I welcome him to the -ranks of the “Bolsheviks.” - -In New York City I met a well-known writer, who had taught in a private -school on Staten Island, and had been summoned before the principal for -the crime of putting on the blackboard a stanza by Don Marquis, setting -forth the idea that discontent is a good thing! I met also a woman -teacher from a private school in Brooklyn; this school is located in a -Y. M. C. A. building and the Y. Secretary used to come and pray with the -students—he prayed that God might give them power to smash the Huns, and -power to smash the Bolsheviks, and power to smash many other enemies. -These expensive young gentlemen drove to the school in costly motor -cars, to which God had given power to smash everything in their way. - -In Boston I talked with a teacher in one of the private schools for -young ladies, and she described to me the atmosphere in this place. She -had got into trouble, by stating that the happiest people are those who -earn their own way in life; also for stating that labor should be -respected because of its importance. By remarks such as this the teacher -occasioned so much resentment that she was never asked to lead in -chapel. These girls would not stand the simplest kind remark about -working people—not even common humanitarianism. - -I talked with another who taught in a girls’ school, where the pupils -were advised to avoid hard thinking, because it would spoil their -complexions and bring wrinkles and other signs of care. I could make a -novel out of the story which this teacher told me about the treatment of -a girl whose father had failed in business, and who was trying to pay -her way through the school by selling an encyclopedia. The teachers at -this place were underpaid and pitiful decayed gentlewomen, who lived -starved lives and read sentimental romances; but they did not feel -sentimental about a girl who was trying to redeem her family fortunes. - -Concerning a school of “secretarial science” in Boston I was told a -story which at least has the grace of being funny. Mr. William Lloyd -Garrison, Jr., a Boston banker, was invited to address the young ladies -of this school, and the principal’s speech of introduction ran as -follows: “The gentleman whom we have the privilege of hearing is the -grandson of William Lloyd Garrison” (dead silence); “he is the nephew of -Lucretia Mott” (dead silence); “he is the lightest quarter-back that -ever played on the Harvard eleven” (tumultuous applause). - -I am especially informed concerning young ladies’ finishing schools, -because of the fact that my wife was sent up from Mississippi to attend -one. This school stood on the fashionable part of Fifth Avenue, and in -the catalogue you were informed that it adjoined the homes of the Goulds -and Vanderbilts, and the pupils had opportunities to meet the -multi-millionaires of New York. The pupils used to watch these -multi-millionaires and their multi-wives from the windows—hiding behind -the curtains, of course, so that they might not be seen. One of these -fortunate wives came frequently to call upon the young ladies, bringing -her multi-dogs. Helen Gould came once, and it was the same as a court -ceremony, the thrills of it lasted for weeks. - -The husband of this establishment was an old gentleman with humiliating -plebeian tastes; he used to go out every afternoon and disappear around -the corner, and come back with a small paper bag, which was a source of -fascinated speculation to the young ladies—until finally one of them -succeeded in brushing it out of his hand as she passed him on the -stairs, and it was discovered to contain a ten-cent apple pie purchased -on Third Avenue! My wife thinks I ought not to tell this story, because -it is unkind to the old gentleman, who has since died. I hasten to -explain that I myself now and then bring home an apple-pie in a paper -bag; the point of the story is not that the old gentleman liked pie, but -that the young ladies considered his liking it a scandal of first-class -proportions. It was only permitted to like expensive things! - -My wife came from the far South, and had the prestige which attaches to -that region in the world of elegance. It has been written up in -romances, you understand; so the mining princesses from Idaho and the -cattle kings’ daughters from Wyoming were eager to model themselves upon -the gestures and mannerisms of a real daughter of the Confederacy. The -teachers at this school were forbidden to correct her Southern dialect; -therefore the standard of good English for the “Four Hundred” was set by -a Negro field-hand, black as a scuttle of coal, who had been picked out -as a house servant before the war, and had become “mammy” to a dozen -white babies. When this aged negress was cross she would say: “I never -said any such of a thing”; and when she was pleased she would say: “The -prettiest thing I nearly ever saw.” When the Goulds and Vanderbilts -heard that, they called it “charm”! - -What these young ladies were taught in their “finishing school” is -“accomplishments”; everything from the standpoint of the drawing-room, -and just enough to get by on. When my wife was completely “finished,” -she could play three pieces on the piano, and three on the violin; she -could sing three songs, and recite three poems, and dance three dances; -she had painted three pictures, and modeled three busts, and heard three -operas, and read three books. What was more important, she had had tea -in all the luxurious palm-rooms and Louis Quinze rooms of the great New -York hotels; she had acquired connections with the most expensive -fashion shops, and had had obsequious foreign gentlemen study her -colors, and tell her what was her proper style; she had seen the inside -of a number of Fifth Avenue homes, and learned the names of “period” -furniture; she had been to West Point to attend the annual football -match with Annapolis, and to New Haven to attend the annual rowing match -with Harvard. Now she lets me poke fun at such culture, but she still -has affection for her old teachers, and insists that I specify—they were -giving the young ladies exactly what the parents of these young ladies -demanded, and the only thing they were willing to pay for. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXVI - A SCHOOL SURVEY - - -To just what extent does the plutocracy control our schools? In “The -Goose-step,” pages 28-29, I quoted from a study by Scott Nearing, -reported in “School and Society” for September 8, 1917, showing that in -143 of the leading colleges and universities of the United States there -were a total of 2,470 trustees, of whom 1,444 were of the commercial and -financial class—that is, a percentage of 58. In “School and Society” for -January 20, 1917, Scott Nearing gave the results of a similar -investigation with regard to school boards. He wrote to the -superintendents of schools in all American cities having a population of -over forty thousand; there were a total of 131 such cities, and 104 -replies were received. - -The total population of the cities was twenty-four million, or -one-fourth of the American people at that time. The number of board -members was 967. The business class, including merchants and -manufacturers, capitalists, contractors, real estate and insurance men, -and officials in railroads, banks and corporations, numbered 433, the -professional class 333, and miscellaneous 201—this last including 18 -teachers, mostly college professors, 48 clerks and salesmen, 39 -mechanics and wage-earners, and 25 foremen. Nearing points out that in -these cities the wage earners and clerks included five-sixths of the -employed population, but that they had only one-tenth of the school -board representation; nine-tenths of the members had been chosen from -one-sixth of the population. It is interesting to note that women -compose 48% of the population, but only 7% on the boards of education in -large cities, and only 3% on the boards of trustees of colleges and -universities. The commercial class, with their lawyers, compose 58% of -college boards, and 59% of city school boards. - -So we see that the plutocracy really does hold the whip hand; whatever -this class has wanted to do with the schools, it has done. Let us now -see, in the form of statistics, just what it has wanted to do. - -First: It has been far more interested in killing the young than in -educating them. We are able to put this preference into figures—which is -how the plutocracy likes a thing put. Its interest in war has been -ninety-three times as great as its interest in education and science put -together. According to an analysis of federal appropriations by the -chief of the United States Bureau of Standards, the appropriation of the -government for the year 1920, which was a year of peace, was as follows: -Past wars, 68%; future wars, 25%; civil departments, 3%; public works, -3%; education and science, 1%. Disregarding small fractions, out of a -total of $5,685,000,000 appropriation, the share of wars, past or -future, was $5,279,000,000, and education and science combined got only -$57,000,000. - -That represents federal appropriations. Still more illuminating is a -study of the total expenditure of the American people for education, as -contrasted with expenditure for other purposes. The “Survey” for July -16, 1921, presents a table: “The Schools’ Share in the Nation’s Wealth.” -According to this, it appears that the American people spent in 1920, -upon joy-rides, races and pleasure resorts, $3,000,000,000 and upon all -departments of education in the entire country $1,000,000,000. The -American people spent upon sundaes, sodas and drinking fountain -delights, including ice cream, a total of $600,000,000, and upon higher -education $137,000,000. The American people spent upon face lotions and -cosmetics $750,000,000, and upon the public elementary schools -$762,000,000. They spent upon chewing gum $50,000,000, and upon schools -to train their teachers $20,000,000. They spent upon candy alone as much -as they spent upon all departments of education, and upon cigars, -cigarettes, and tobacco more than twice the amount. - -We are a self-satisfied people, and we propose to make our foreign -population like ourselves; but we really ought to hesitate, because the -1920 census shows that in illiteracy we are behind nearly all the -civilized nations—Australia, England, Scotland, Wales, New Zealand, the -Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany. We boast of six -per cent illiteracy, while Denmark has only two-tenths of one per cent, -Switzerland and New Zealand three-tenths of one per cent, England and -Wales one and eight-tenths per cent; the German Empire, which we went to -war to destroy, had only three-hundredths of one per cent, which is two -hundred times better than the United States! - -The war brought us some definite information about our education. The -Army test of illiteracy was based on the ability to read as well as -children in the second grade, and 25% of our would-be soldiers “flunked” -this test. We cannot get away by attributing our illiteracy to the -Negroes, because Camp Devens in Massachusetts showed 22%; nor can we -attribute it to the foreigners, because there were seven hundred -thousand native-born illiterates in the first draft. The chief of the -Americanization Bureau estimates that there are three and a half million -native-born adults who cannot read any language. - -Also it is worth while to glance at the physical condition of our -people. More than one-third of the country’s best manhood between the -ages of twenty-one and thirty-one was disqualified because of physical -defects; and another large percentage was later rejected for the same -reason. One-fourth of all college boys were rejected—it would appear -that shouting at football games does not constitute the whole of -physical training. A report of the committee on health problems of the -National Council of Education estimates that three-fourths of our -twenty-five million school children are suffering from physical defects; -the professor of physical education at Columbia University tells us that -25% of our school children are underfed, while from 50 to 75% have -defective teeth. You would think that our plutocracy would be concerned -about these matters, even on purely business grounds. Taking the state -of Massachusetts, one million workers lose an average of nine days a -year from sickness, which means in wage losses and medical bills -$40,000,000, and $35,000,000 a year additional expenses to the state. - -We spend on our school children less than fifty dollars per child per -year, which does not seem a munificent sum. Let us see what we spend per -teacher. The United States Bureau of Education has provided up-to-date -figures, in a study of rural school salaries for the year 1923, covering -one-half the counties in the United States. The number of “one-teacher -schools” reported was 97,758, and the average salary was $729. Sixty -dollars and seventy-five cents per month will keep a teacher alive, but -it won’t keep her a teacher. According to a bulletin of the National -Education Association, there are approximately 600,000 public school -teachers, and one-fourth of them serve in the schools two years or less, -and half of them serve less than five years; in other words, teaching is -a temporary job, by which the teacher earns pin money until she can get -a husband or something better. Naturally these teachers do not trouble -to acquire fitness for their work; one-sixth of them are under twenty -years of age, and half of them have no professional preparation -whatever. Ten per cent have no education beyond the eighth grade, while -half have no more than four years beyond the eighth grade; in other -words, the teachers know as much as the pupils will know at the end of -the school work—and no more! - -These figures include the city schools, whose teachers have considerably -more training. Let us see what reward they get for this extra training. -The National Chamber of Commerce, in its survey of school salaries -covering 359 cities, shows that in 1919-’20 more than half the male -elementary teachers were receiving less than $1262 a year; their -salaries had increased 33% in six years, while the cost of living -increased 104%. So naturally the men teachers are leaving the public -schools; from 1880 to 1915 the percentage of men teachers fell from -42.8% to 9.6%; and this was before the increase in the cost of living! -Said the “Bankers’ Magazine,” discussing this question (January, 1919; -the Bankers’ Publishing Co., New York): “We pay the day laborer more -than the teacher because he is worth more—because he produces a service -of greater value to society—just as the corporation manager is paid more -than the preacher.” - -Who is to blame for illiteracy in America? Is it the fault of the -children and of the parents, or is it the fault of the propertied -classes, who will not furnish schools for the poor? Upon the opening of -the public schools, September, 1923, it appears that in New York, the -richest city in the world, 150,000 children can receive only part time -instruction, while 200,000 will be taught in double sessions; of the -high school pupils more than two-thirds will have to be content with -less than normal instruction. Los Angeles is even worse, with 16% of its -pupils unseated; Chicago follows with 12%. In the year 1921, with -one-sixth of its population in the public schools, the propertied -classes of the country saw fit to tax but one cent and a half in every -hundred dollars of their income, to provide housing for the school -children. The National Chamber of Commerce reports that 37% of city -school buildings are fire-traps, and only 5% are considered fire-proof. - -There is a strong movement under way for federal expenditures upon -education. Educators recite that our government spent $600,000 for a -book about horses; we spend $30,000,000 annually on the prevention of -diseases in hogs and cattle, and the destroying of insects which injure -crops; so surely we ought to spend something on the child! But this -money will have to be spent through our present political machines; and -consider the figures of ex-Congressman John Baer, who made a study of -federal educational expenditures, and showed that out of more than -thirty million dollars appropriated for educational purposes, our chief -educational agency, the Bureau of Education, expended less than one per -cent in actual administration of education. “Federal educational -activities are now directed through more than eighty different offices, -divisions, bureaus, commissions, and other agencies of the government.” - -Such is “red tape” in Washington; and if you follow the strands of this -tape, you find it extending to all the seven hundred thousand school -rooms of the country. We have seen our “great educators” keeping the -teachers in submission by loading them with routine work, reports, -questionnaires, examinations and re-examinations. The most universal -complaint of the school teachers, from Los Angeles to Boston, and from -Minnesota to Mississippi, has to do with this administrative and routine -labor, taking up their time and destroying their eyesight and their -nerves. This of course is the very essence of machine education, the -running of schools by business men on the quantity production basis. It -occurred to the National Council of Teachers of English to make a survey -of conditions in their profession, and they found that the average -teacher had four hours of “theme” reading to do every day, while the -average high school teacher had five hours. Many reported that they -skipped and skimmed through every paper, others destroyed the great bulk -of them unread and gave credit without reading. In high schools the -teachers of English were required to take care of 125 pupils per -teacher! Needless to say, the survey reports that teachers of English -are overworked, underpaid, underequipped and underestimated. - -A detailed picture of this routine in one school is given in a paper, -“Should English Teachers Teach?” by Edwin M. Hopkins, professor of -English at the University of Kansas, and editor of the “English -Journal.” Professor Hopkins complains that English teachers do not have -time to teach English, because of the other kinds of work piled upon -them by those who run the great educational factories. Many teachers, it -appears, have to do janitor work, because the schools have no janitor -and divide such work among the teachers. Practically all teachers have -to do “school bookkeeping.” In one school the supervisor has provided -printed forms with finely divided blanks, in which the teachers have to -fill in information concerning no fewer than sixty items. These printed -forms vary in size, from ordinary cards to sheets fifteen by twenty -inches; there are “quarantine cards, record cards for office and -superintendent, record of transfer to other schools, registration cards, -three forms of attendance reports, inventories, seating charts, -duplicate schedules”; records must be kept of “absence excuses, term -record sheets, duplicate attendance slips, library cards and library -service, correspondence duty, telephone duty, patrol duty, meeting -parents, care of lockers and keys, returning lost books to pupils.” - -A single item, the filling out of a library or text-book card for each -pupil, occupies seven full hours of the teacher’s time for the pupils of -a single section; and this principal makes six sections, of from fifty -to sixty-five pupils each, the regular assignment of his English -teachers. Other details include the filling in of from forty to a -hundred separate items on each of the room cards; also the making of -more than seventy entries of each pupil’s full name and room number, on -the seat-charts of every recitation-room, for each recitation-hour and -subject—there being fifteen or twenty of these for each teacher. Then -there are “schedule cards,” handled by a special committee of three -members assisted by ten or twelve volunteers. This takes two or three -weeks of each semester, and the classes have to wait, doing no work -while this is going on. Then there is the “checking of assembly-room -slips,” an average of eight slips per pupil in a section of forty -pupils. Each of these three hundred and twenty must be checked in its -proper compartment on the individual pupil’s room card, which is ruled -for fifty compartments. “For this item of duty no time allowance -whatever is made.” - -And if you trace all this back to its source, you will find it runs in a -straight line, through Professor George D. Strayer and President -Nicholas Murray Butler, to J. P. Morgan, the elder. I have mentioned -that Strayer himself is the author of an elaborate series of -card-systems, which are sold in quantities to teachers; and you will -find that the young men and women who come out from Strayer’s mill are -never happy till they get settled at some job of “scoring.” Thus one -Columbia man is marking a city map with a red dot for every high school -student in each city block. Another writes to a book publisher, asking -for one hundred free copies of six different text-books—he is testing -out text-books, a thousand different volumes, using one hundred copies -of each. Two other Columbia men, with the highest degrees, have been -“scoring” history topics; they have marked subjects mentioned in -seventeen leading magazines for five years, a total of 92,000 -references, showing how many times Columbus is named, and Magellan, and -Theodore Roosevelt! They publish this in the “Journal of Educational -Research,” of which Strayer is co-editor. - -And every teacher’s college throughout the United States becomes a -little Columbia, with some little “Nicholas Miraculous” at its head. I -have a friend who was brought up within the shadow of such a place, and -writes me what is going on. Listen: - - The education of the future high school teachers in Nebraska is - largely in control of the teachers’ college of the state university. - And the teachers’ college has a compact, steam-roller organization run - by a group from Columbia University, who are known to the irate - professors in the other colleges of the university as “the Columbia - ring.” They direct very nearly the whole course of the candidates for - the teachers’ certificates, and you who know Columbia can easily - imagine how they direct it. There is wild war between the “Columbia - ring” and the more liberal professors in the arts and science college, - but the dear little teachers-to-be never hear anything about it. They - go out to their various schools with their life’s ideas supplied to - them ready made, and with the fine “morale”—in the building of which - the teachers’ college prides itself—to safeguard them against getting - any new ideas. - -This young lady goes on to explain that so far as she knows, the -Columbia ring are “perfectly sincere and earnest gentlemen,” and no one -has ever heard of the financial powers taking a hand in the matter. I am -advising this correspondent to consult “The Goose-step,” and see who it -was that paid for the costly education of these Nebraska educators. All -the contributors are Wall Street gentlemen who never contributed a -dollar in their lives without being certain that they got two dollars’ -worth; and if they can train great educators to serve their interests -sincerely and earnestly—and without knowing it—is not that exactly the -way the driver of a dray-horse likes the horse to be? - - - - - CHAPTER LXXVII - THE EDUCATIONAL MILLS - - -The “little red school-house” may of course be anything, depending on -the individual teacher. In our two hundred thousand “one-teacher” -schools, there are many which are jolly and human, and many which are -efficient, and many which are places of irritability and oppression. But -the characteristic product of our modern system is the big school, the -great educational mill, run by efficiency experts on a quantity -production basis. These huge machines are but little influenced by -individual personalities; they acquire momentum of their own, and grind -up everything which gets in their way. These are the institutions in -which our modern “great educators” specialize; the science of running -them is what you get from experts such as Professor Strayer, head of the -Department of Educational Administration of Columbia University. - -From the state of Pennsylvania survey of the schools of Philadelphia, I -take this picture of a well disciplined school: - - The teachers in charge watched very carefully and jotted down notes of - the slightest transgressions. All pupils raising their eyes from their - books were liable to punishment. The principal believed that the - amount of study done by pupils in the study hall depended upon the man - in charge. The strictest policing would produce the best results. The - practice was clearly one of coercion and pressure. - -And now let us skip one-half the continent and visit the high school at -Superior, Nebraska, where a young lady of my acquaintance was a teacher -three or four years ago; she writes: - - The much-vaunted “discipline” of this school included an iron-clad - military regime which forbade pupils ever to run up or down stairs or - to cut corners in passing between classes. When classes were - dismissed, two teachers were required to stand in the hall to see that - nobody cut a corner or took two steps at a time. During general - assembly, when the whole school was gathered together, all the - teachers were required to be in the auditorium and each was assigned - two rows of students to watch during the program. No teacher was - allowed to sit down during assembly, as she was expected to be - watching her rows and seeing that no students exchanged a remark. The - students not unnaturally referred to the school as “the penitentiary,” - and while they were still as mice when the superintendent was looking, - the place seethed with suppressed revolt. Any sort of meanness that - could be done on the sly was a short cut to glory, and teachers were - fair game for anybody who could torment them and get away with it. - -And now skip the other half of the continent, and read part of a letter -from Mrs. Edith Summers Kelley, author of a splendid novel, “Weeds.” -Mrs. Kelley describes what is happening to her two children in the -schools of San Diego, California: - - At the “Junior High” which my little girl, aged eleven, attends, they - are given no time to play at all. The children race directly from one - classroom to another and have only half an hour for lunch. There is no - chance whatever to form individual friendships, for as the twelve - hundred race from classroom to classroom they are continually changing - roommates and instead of school friendships there is simply a - confusion of half familiar faces soon forgotten. My little girl still - exchanges letters with the friends she made in school in Imperial - Valley. But since she came here she has not made one friend. She could - leave the school tomorrow without the slightest regret for it or any - person, teacher or pupils in it. This seems to me a most damaging - thing to say about a school. - - At the “Junior High” they keep strict account of time. If a child has - to go to the toilet during a class he or she is given a “detention - slip” and has to stay after school the length of time that he was out - of the classroom. This sounds like burlesque; but the child tells me - that it is the sober truth. Of course they stuff them at both schools - with flag saluting and patriotic songs, etc. Among other things they - have taken the “Anvil Chorus” from “Il Trovatore” and set to it some - didactic-patriotic words. “With peace and union throughout our happy - land,” is all that the children remember; but you will agree with me - that it is enough. - - There is a very strong tendency in both schools to subordinate - individual consciousness to group consciousness. Both of my children - are strongly individualistic, though differently so, and they resent - this. The children are taught they should be “loyal” to their country, - still more so to their state and city, and quite belligerently so to - their school. They have cheer leaders, school yells and songs, and - they hire men to coach the boys in their games so that they can beat - the teams of other schools. The aim seems to be not to encourage the - individual characteristics of a child but to make them all as nearly - as possible alike. My little girl is possessed of insatiable mental - curiosity, and yet she hates the school. This being the case, it seems - to me the fault must be with the school. - -The point for you to get is that all this is training for “democracy.” -The teacher in Nebraska just quoted confesses that she was a “misfit,” -and explains the reason: - - It seemed so perfectly inane to me to try to bring up citizens for a - democracy under a system which is an old-style bureaucracy. The school - board vents its lust for authority on the superintendent, the - superintendent takes it out on the principal, the principal takes it - out on the teachers, and the teachers take it out on the classes. The - one unforgivable crime seems to be for student, teacher, principal or - superintendent to be “disloyal” or “insubordinate” to the upper layers - of the hierarchy. - -With all the discipline and regimentation, just how much do the pupils -succeed in learning? Dean Marshall of the University of Chicago was -chairman of the Committee on Correlation of Secondary and Collegiate -Education, and he examined the first hundred and fifty freshmen who -registered for the School of Commerce and Administration at his -university. He found that of these students, 59% had had no modern -history, 24% no United States history, 86% no English history, 92% no -industrial history, 39% no civics, 72% no economics, 98% no sociology. - -And in the courses which they do take, how much do they learn? I think I -do not exaggerate in saying that there is general complaint throughout -the country that they learn far less than they should. Two illustrations -come to me while I am writing. The first is from the San Francisco -“Examiner,” November 10, 1923, and I quote it without change: - - Failure of students in the sophomore year at the Sacramento high - school to solve problems involving the subtraction of 2 from 3 was - announced today in connection with arithmetic examinations recently - given to 500 pupils at the institution. In multiplying 3 by 2 eleven - students failed, the test papers show, while fifteen gave incorrect - answers when asked to divide 6 by 3. Though a check of the examination - papers has not yet been completed, early returns establish that 416 - boys and girls could not multiply a mixed decimal by a plain decimal. - -The second is from the New York “Times,” July 22, 1923, and presents a -column of data collected from examination papers on “current events” in -the high schools of a Tennessee city. The “Times” mercifully withholds -the name of this city—no doubt figuring that all are alike. Prizes were -offered, and 1,160 high school students entered a competition, to answer -a list of sixty questions; the first discovery was that less than 28% -knew the name of the governor of their own state! Michael Collins, Irish -Free State leader, was described as “ex-President of England,” “a noted -boot-legger,” “real estate agent,” “head of labor union,” “manager -Boston Red Sox,” “Chicago ball player,” “manager of Piggly-Wiggly -store.” Clara Barton was classified as a “movie actress,” “nurse whom -the Germans murdered,” “race horse,” “noted writer,” “woman who is to -sing for Kosmos Club,” “candidate for Mayor of a city,” “an unmarried -woman who lives in exile.” It would appear that not many students in -these Tennessee high schools have read “The Goose-step”; for when they -were asked to identify Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, they guessed: -“President Harding’s private physician,” “a well-known Bible teacher,” -“newspaper editor,” “a leader in the medical convention,” “minister,” -“writer and essayist.” Needless to say, they scored a hundred per cent -of correctness on the identity of “Babe” Ruth; and they doubtless would -have done the same for “Fatty” Arbuckle; and who won the last prizefight -or the last world’s baseball series, and who are Mutt and Jeff, and have -we any bananas today. On the other hand, it would have been easy to -frame questions dealing with the higher culture, on which the high -school students would have scored one hundred per cent of failure. Mr. -O. G. Wood, for four years a teacher and for two years clerk of the -school board of Butte, Montana, writes: - - The average American boy of today does not care a fig about the - beautiful and art side of life. He wants to see the wheels go round - and run an automobile and fix a spark plug. He is not studious. The - foreign-born boy or the boy born of foreign parentage is far more - studious than the American boy, and I have made an especial study of - this subject right in the class room. The American boy wants to “get - by.” He will shuffle in and out of every class he can. He “fakes” from - morning to night with all kinds of lies and excuses on his mind. It is - doubtful if a single parent will think their boy does this, yet there - are millions of them in the country. - -In the course of our travels from city to city we have seen our -miseducated school children indulging in rowdyism, patronizing -boot-leggers, racing in high-powered automobiles, and spending the night -at road-houses. Someone with a sense of humor sends me a copy of a Texas -newspaper, the Dallas “Morning News,” October 4, 1923, in which there -are three items on one page, which seem to have been especially placed -to vindicate my thesis concerning American education. The first item -tells that a committee of preachers are investigating the Southern -Methodist University, to make sure that no one is teaching modern -science. The second reports the director of physical training at this -university, speaking at a luncheon of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, -telling the youngsters that “foot-ball is character building and -training for life.” The third item tells how nine boys and five girls -have been arrested and thrashed, either by their parents or their -principals, for raiding a Jewish synagogue and doing more than a -thousand dollars worth of damage. The Junior Ku Klux Klan! - - - - - CHAPTER LXXVIII - DESCENSUS AVERNO - - -The person who can tell us about the morals of our school children is -Ben B. Lindsey, judge of the Juvenile Court of Denver. Lindsey knows, -not merely because he has been on the job for twenty-five years, but -because he has evolved a technique for getting this particular -information. The children come to him literally by thousands—not merely -to tell him their troubles, but to ask his advice on every sort of -question. Instead of sending delinquent children to jail, Lindsey has -fought and exposed the gang politicians, the saloon-keepers, the -proprietors of wine-rooms and dives who were preying on the young. At -every election he has been fought by these powers, backed by the money -of Big Business; he has been supported and elected by the children and -their friends. “Our little Ben,” they call him; and “court” is more like -a home—or like what a school ought to be. - -The first principle upon which Lindsey proceeds is that he never -“snitches.” Several times the powers that rule Denver have threatened to -send him to jail, and on one occasion they fined him five hundred -dollars for contempt of court, because he refused to betray a child’s -confidence. As I write, the grand jury is threatening him with -imprisonment, because he has made the statement that the abortion rate -of Denver is one thousand per year, and he will not tell who the -abortionists are, because he has learned their names from women and -school girls “in trouble.” - -The Denver board of education has adopted a righteous attitude upon this -question; any teacher or principal who learns of immorality on the part -of any Denver student is required to expel the student and notify the -parents; which is an excellent way for the school authorities to keep -from knowing uncomfortable facts! Lindsey tells me of a school -superintendent who made a statement to reassure the parents: “In more -than twenty years’ experience in the Denver schools I have known of but -three of our high school girls who were guilty of immorality.” It -happened that on that very day four such girls had come to Lindsey’s -court to seek his advice! He tells me that he knew of more than three -hundred sexual cases involving high school girls in a two-year period of -investigation; and two-thirds of these girls came to him of their own -free will. More than a thousand of high school age have confessed to -him. - -And, mind you, these are not servant girls and shop girls and -waitresses, the victims of poverty, but the daughters of Denver’s -leading families, copper kings and coal kings and iron kings and gold -kings and silver kings, together with the lawyers who protect their -property, and the doctors who look after their bodies, and the clergymen -who save their souls. A prominent Denver churchman dramatically -denounced Lindsey before a public body because of his attitude on the -question of censorship; and this churchman’s beloved daughter, a high -school student, had confided her troubles to Lindsey, who helped her to -be secretly treated for venereal infection! Another minister’s daughter -became involved with the son of a high-up school official; both of them -were recent high school students, and the affair developed under the -steps of a school building while the young couple were on their way from -church! - -You might hunt the moving pictures through and find no stranger -incidents. Here comes a father, one of the great public utility men, who -has been fighting Lindsey tooth and nail in politics. Now the man is -broken; he has discovered that his beloved daughter is in trouble, and -he is going to shoot the youth who seduced her. But Lindsey persuades -him to wait, and the man promises to come back next day; he comes, and -in Lindsey’s chambers, by a coincidence not of Lindsey’s planning, he -meets his own son. The son, thinking the father has been brought there -to confront him, breaks down and tells how he, the son, is responsible -for the pregnancy of a young girl! - -At the railroad station, as Lindsey and I were parting, a costly -limousine came rolling up, and three fashionable society beauties -alighted, together with an elderly gentleman. They were the sort of -people you see pictured in the fashion plates and advertisements of -motor cars; Lindsey remarked to me: “One of those three girls came to my -court. She was too rich to attend high school, she went to our fanciest -and most expensive finishing school for young ladies; and she got into -trouble, one night on the way home from the country club. She went away -for two months and had her baby, and I saw to its adoption. I wanted the -mother to “adopt” it herself, some day after marriage; but her nerve -failed her. There are just five people who know—the girl and myself, a -doctor and a nurse, and a prominent young business man, who happened to -have a wife already. I suppose that if the girl’s father knew, he’d drop -dead on the spot.” - -Lindsey insists that these conditions are not peculiar to Denver; on the -contrary, matters are worse in other big cities. He attributes the evil -in part to the prudery of parents; more girls are “ruined” by the -attitude of their parents and teachers than by the girls’ own acts. The -parents keep the girls ignorant, and drive them to rebellion by their -unwillingness to face the facts of life. Lindsey himself tries to tell -the parents, but they will not listen; they prefer to “spit on Lindsey’s -shoes”—such was a resolution before the Real Estate Exchange in 1914, -when the miners’ wives whose children had been burned in the Ludlow -massacre were taken by Lindsey to interview President Wilson in -Washington. It happens many times that Lindsey gets permission from some -girl to tell the girl’s parents; he sends for the parents, and starts to -tell them, and there come looks of incredulity and even of rage—he is -accusing their precious children, and the parents are up in arms to deny -the charge and defend their offspring. - -I told you how Lindsey has been barred from speaking in the Denver high -schools. All over the country he is invited to speak in other schools—on -his last lecture trip he spoke to thirty-five thousand adolescent boys -and girls. He talked to them “straight”; but now and then a principal -would timidly ask him to avoid “improper” subjects. In one city he was -informed that it would be “distasteful to the school board,” who -expected to be present, if he were to discuss “love, marriage, or -divorce.” He omitted these delicate matters; but after the lecture fifty -children, mostly girls, crowded about him, begging him to answer -questions. And what were the questions? What did he think about -marriage, divorce, love and beauty! Here were these starved little souls -pining for real knowledge about the vital things of their lives; and it -was “distasteful to the school board” to permit them to learn! - -A still more powerful cause is the example which the parents of these -children are setting. Many are brought up in luxurious homes, with a -multitude of servants; they are used to every gratification, automobiles -and chauffeurs and extravagant clothes. They hear the smart talk of the -young matrons, they read the literature of the new license, they go to -the movies and drink the poisons of Hollywood. Recently Lindsey visited -one of the fashionable hotels at Colorado Springs, and there he met a -lovely girl from a Denver high school. She made no concealment of the -fact that she was enjoying the gaieties of the season with a lover; and -when the judge remonstrated, she laughed and pointed out “Mrs. -So-and-So,” one of Denver’s leading society matrons, who was there with -a prominent business man not her husband. “Their rooms are on the same -floor as ours,” said the girl. - -“Society” girls, now-a-days, know that their parents are breaking the -laws, not merely in business, but in their private lives; they take it -for granted that there is wine on every table, and booze in every -hip-pocket and vanity bag. Their religion is a fairy tale, and they have -nothing with which to replace it. They have learned about -birth-control—but not quite thoroughly, it would appear from Lindsey’s -experiences! So they have to ascertain the names and addresses of the -fashionable abortionists. The leading doctors possess the knowledge, and -will give you the “tip”; the only people who do not know are the -prosecuting authorities! - -In the course of my trip I visited a certain wealthy relative. According -to the fashion of the time, this old gentleman chatted about his -bootleggers, and told how the cellar of his country home had been broken -into, and some tens of thousands of dollars worth of precious old -liquors had been stolen. But there was more to replace it—my relative -was making mint juleps for the rest of the company while he denounced -the Eighteenth Amendment. After he had said his say, and his son had -done likewise, and H. L. Mencken had agreed with them, the old gentleman -asked me: “Upton, what do you think about it?” My answer was: “I don’t -think it’s a Bolshevik plot, but if it were, it wouldn’t be different!” -The old gentleman sat up, for he was keen on Bolshevik plots. I -explained: “The poor cannot afford much liquor, so they stay sober; the -rich can afford all they want, and they get it. If this continues for -another ten years, the rich will have got to a condition where they can -no longer pull the trigger of a machine gun. So the Bolsheviks will have -their way.” - - - - - CHAPTER LXXIX - THE TEACHER’S JOB - - -We have seen what becomes of the child in the great educational mill. -Let us now see what becomes of the teacher. Let us inquire, to begin -with, how the teacher gets in; put yourself in the position of the -graduate of a high school or normal school who wishes to enter the cheap -and easy profession. I consult a book called “Out of Work,” by Frances -A. Kellor, a detailed study of the problems of unemployment in America. -Turning its pages, I realize what a vast trap for the poor our country -is—and how little the teachers count in the mass of misery! The problem -of jobs for teachers gets only eight or ten out of the five hundred and -forty-nine pages of this book. - -The placement of educators has fallen into the hands of great private -agencies. These “teachers’ bureaus” have set up the claim that they are -not common employment agencies, and on this basis have generally escaped -license fees and regulations. They collect from the teachers a fee, -somewhere from two to five dollars, usually called a “consultation fee”; -it gives you the high privilege of having your name enrolled for one -year, and of visiting the office and asking questions of a clerk. A -great many agencies live entirely upon such fees; that is to say, they -list the teachers’ names and do nothing else. One agency charges three -dollars in its main office, and then advises you to register in ten -branch offices at one dollar each. One agency charged two dollars “for -advice only,” and when a teacher paid the money, the advice she got was: -“Try some other line, as the demand for women teachers is very small -this year.” - -When you get a position, the agency claims five per cent of your first -year’s salary, and in some cases ten per cent. You have to pay the -entire sum within one or two months, and even though you lose the -position immediately afterwards, you don’t get the fee back. If you get -an increase of salary, you pay a percentage on that. If you get board as -part of your salary, you pay a percentage on that. Says Miss Kellor: “A -contract seems to give an agency a lien on a teacher for at least one -year, and sometimes for longer. It requires considerable skill to find -any rights or protection for the teachers in these contracts.” Many of -the agencies require the teachers to give them information about -vacancies, thus turning the teachers into unpaid canvassers for them. -They freely use threats of removal to compel teachers to fulfil their -unfair contracts. “A hint of ‘later information’ to a school board can -cause all kinds of trouble.” - -Some of the states now have bureaus for placing teachers; some of the -universities do it, and at the big plutocratic institutions this placing -bureau becomes a cog in the machine, and is used for the browbeating of -teachers. Several have told me of this kind of thing; I am permitted to -recite the peculiar experience of Mr. Otto Koeb at Stanford. Inasmuch as -Mr. Koeb’s name has a German sound, I mention that he is the son of a -Swiss diplomat, and the incident happened in 1912, when German names -were entirely respectable. Mr. Koeb had been graduated from the Colorado -State Teachers’ College, and then from the University of California, and -went to take a master’s degree at Stanford. As a result of his declaring -himself a Socialist, he was secretly blacklisted by the “appointment -office” of the university. For nine years he struggled to get a good -teacher’s position, and his applications were always turned down—until -finally a friend betrayed to him the reason; in the “recommendations” -which Stanford was sending out concerning him there were statements -about his political views, deliberately designed to keep him from -getting employment! - -The agencies, both private and public, of course give close attention to -the character of teachers and to their opinions. I have referred to the -fact that some city school superintendents require teachers to join the -N. E. A. A high school instructor, whose name I am not permitted to -quote, says: “I have known of many fellows who have been refused -positions as teachers of printing in manual training shops because they -were known to belong to labor unions. I myself carry a card, but I never -tell my superiors about it.” At Wheeling, West Virginia, the official -application blank asks you for “references, including your pastor.” When -you furnish this information, a blank is sent to each of the references, -asking among other things: “Has applicant ever shown a tendency towards -extreme radicalism?” and “Does applicant take any part in church work?” -Hundreds of superintendents follow this practice of asking about the -church affiliations of teachers; in spite of the fact that to ask such a -question of an applicant for a public position is to violate the -constitutional rights of a citizen. Mr. David H. Pierce declares: - - For the sake of a job, many Catholics become Episcopalians, and Jews - turn into Unitarians for the time being. I know of one teacher in a - small college, a Congregationalist, who has successively been Baptist - and Methodist, and who has informed me confidentially that he is - willing to become a member of any church under the sun, just as long - as he can keep on teaching music. One of my personal friends, in - seeking a college position, invariably discovers what denomination the - school is, then furnishes credentials to show that he is a devout - member of that particular church. - -I have a letter from a teacher in California, who discusses the taming -of her profession. I know of no teacher who has put up a harder fight -against the gang, and it is significant that even this hard fighter asks -me not to use her name; she writes: - - The average teacher is a cringing coward, and boards of education play - this as their trump card. The only recommendation the teacher has is a - clean bill from her last berth. She is given no chance to make good in - a new position. “Where did you teach last year?” is the first question - she is asked. “Why did you leave?” the second one. Unless a teacher - has “pull” and friends it is practically impossible for her to get a - position, if she has lost her previous one by the will of the board of - trustees. By this you can see it is the same with her as for a doctor - to lose his certificate. Teachers know and fear this, boards know it - and work it to control teachers. Boards control their teachers usually - through their major domo, the city superintendent. If he is fair, and - a man of convictions, the board cannot do much; but he is dependent - upon the board for his position, and unless he pleases them he may go - the way of the teacher who dares think for herself. - -Mr. David H. Pierce has been a high school teacher for five years, and -does not expect to remain one. He explained the reason in a very -illuminating article published in the “Survey,” May 15, 1923. He says: - - We graduated from college, having specialized, let us say, in - mathematics. In the course of two years we have presided over classes - in elocution, biology, economics, vocational guidance, sociology, - German and chemistry. We get no intellectual stimulation from our - neighbors in the school. Outside the school we are addressed as - “professor,” by elderly people who do not know us. We become experts - in sitting through lengthy prayer meetings and meaningless sermons. We - develop remarkable skill in dodging revivals. Our names are coupled, - in turn, with every eligible girl between fourteen and forty in the - community. About once a month a preacher “cheers” us by saying: “Next - to the ministry, brothers and sisters, there is no greater calling - than that of the teacher. The opportunity to mold our youth into - citizens is unlimited. I sometimes believe that they are even on a - level with those who follow in God’s footsteps.” - -Mr. Pierce pictures himself becoming dissatisfied with his position, and -applying to an agency, and filling out a blank: - - We underscore three times those subjects we prefer to teach, draw two - lines under those we have taught, and add a single line for those - branches we can teach. Having covered possibly twenty subjects, we are - ready to prove to any school board within five hundred miles that we - are the most educated, experienced and docile individual our alma - mater has produced in a decade. We prepare a barrage of testimonials - from board members who never entered our classroom, preachers with - whom we have never had a frank discussion, and college instructors who - must rack their memories to recall us. - - The fact that we may be specialists in one or two branches is - immaterial. The agency wants its five per cent and we want a job. We - never allow ourselves to be discountenanced by strange requests. A - colleague tells me that in applying for his first position he received - a telegram from an agency, asking “Can you teach sociology?” He - replied at once in the affirmative, secured the position and was - reasonably successful. After he had assumed his duties he frankly - said: “Sociology was new to me. I had to look in the dictionary to - find what the word meant.” - - A teacher who had specialized in Latin, taught, within a few years, - algebra, English, civics, German and Spanish as well as his preferred - subject. One woman, trained as an instructor in the domestic arts, was - assigned a hash of household arithmetic, calisthenics, music and story - telling. This is the lot of the great majority of high school - teachers. We are doomed to be intellectually unskilled laborers, - masters of nothing. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXX - TEACHERS’ TERROR - - -I have given in “The Goose-step” a list of some of the offenses for -which college professors have lost their jobs. I might do the same thing -for school teachers, and include everything, from refusing to “pass” the -son of a school board member to refusing to become the mistress of a -superintendent. The main trouble is that you would not believe the -stories without the teachers’ names, and these can so seldom be given. -Even when the teacher has quit the profession, her terror still hangs -on; one writes me that her husband will not let her talk, and others -must protect their relatives who are teachers. I have a letter from one -young lady, who tells me that she has quit teaching and is earning a -good living as a newspaper writer; but she adds: “On second thought, I -am afraid after all I shall have to ask you not to use my name. I -despise being a ‘rabbit,’ but my father is a professor in the state -university. It would be too bad if he should have to suffer for my -opinions.” - -This young lady goes on to express her conclusion as to the teaching -profession. I quote one paragraph: - - What drives the teachers in this state to marriage, suicide, or - stenography is not the tyranny of wealth—of which they are so - unconscious that even I am not sure whether it exists—but the petty - tyranny of public opinion and of tin-horn superintendents who rejoice - in showing off their power. Where a teacher knows that she cannot - dance or bob her hair or walk about the town alone at night without - getting a severe reprimand, and where she knows that it is as much as - her job is worth to receive a call from one of her boy students, even - although it be to hear him confess his personal problems, she is not - going to be much tempted to any wild flights of intellectual - speculation. Being spied on by the thousand eyes of a village soon - dries up the springs of adventure before they reach the surface. - -Mr. David H. Pierce also has something to say on this subject. He points -out that in this respect teaching differs from all other professions; -neither lawyers nor doctors nor engineers permit their superiors to -exercise control over their social life, and forbid them to dance or -play an occasional game of bridge; neither are they kept in such -subservience that they regard themselves as bold progressives when they -utter harmless platitudes. Says Mr. Pierce: - - I have known teachers to be dismissed for combating shady athletics. - Others have been forced out because they expected children of - influential parents to do a little work for their credits. In the - course of five years, I have been warned, officially or otherwise, to - refrain from discussing organized labor, the Negro problem, evolution, - the miners’ strike, dancing, card-playing, the controversy between the - chiropractors and the allopaths, and government control of railroads. - -And Mr. Burt Adams Tower, who fled all the way to Hawaii to escape from -the school gang, adds a new and unique one to this list: “A few months -before leaving Butte I was called on the carpet for receiving a letter -on your stationery!” Said a teacher at the 1923 convention of the -Northeastern Ohio Teachers’ Association: “The situation today is that if -you don’t accept and apologize for every institution, good, bad and -indifferent, you immediately become suspect.” - -There are two very funny stories which I got from friends of the -teachers, and which I am permitted to tell—provided I suppress, not -merely the names of the teachers and the school, but of the city in -which the incident took place! These stories have to do with Bolshevik -hunts, and the hero of the first is a high school boy. He is the son of -intellectual parents, but is a mediocre pupil, being obviously bored by -school work. He is required to write a theme, and comes to his teacher -and tells her that he cannot get warmed up to such subjects as “Beowulf” -and “The Rape of the Lock,” and wonders if she won’t let him write on -something real. She asks what he would choose; and imagine her -bewilderment—he would like to write on Bolshevism! - -The teacher probes the boy’s mind, and finds that he knows of Bolshevism -as something wicked; he would like to expose those who are trying to -spread such wickedness in America. The teacher refuses consent, but the -boy comes back and begs again. The teacher points out to him the -seriousness of such a subject, and the dangers of it; he promises to be -very serious and very careful, and gets the consent of his parents; so -finally the teacher relents, and the boy falls to work. He is interested -for the first time, and brings in a theme which shows real study; the -teacher demands more, so the boy scours the city for original data. In -the end, he presents an excellent paper attacking Bolshevism; from a -pupil with a low record on “Beowulf” and “The Rape of the Lock,” he -suddenly shines as the “A” pupil of his class. - -But now comes a terrible rumor, spreading like wildfire through the -“silk stocking” district of this city. Some one in the high school has -been teaching Bolshevism! A pupil who wrote against Bolshevism had been -“failed” because he differed with his teacher! The local Babbitts rise -up and roar, and the principal of the school comes to the teacher in -terrible distress, and scolds her severely. The teacher demands the name -of her accusers, and finally is told that the complaint has come from -the chief of police! She threatens to go to the chief, whereupon the -principal writes a long letter of introduction, explaining to the chief -that the teacher has already been “severely reprimanded.” The teacher -protests against this letter, and finally the principal consents to run -his pencil through the word “severely”; otherwise he is obdurate, and at -the next meeting of the faculty he issues the order that in future no -reference to Socialism or Bolshevism is to be allowed in any classroom -of this high school! - -The teacher refuses to take the incriminating letter, and seeks out the -assistant superintendent, who happens to know the boy personally, and -takes the teacher to the chief of police. The chief explains that the -boy came to him, asking for data, and received some pamphlets which had -been taken in a “Red” raid. Soon afterwards the chief was talking before -a Sunday School class of parents on the subject: “What are your boys and -girls doing?” He mentioned, as an instance of creditable activity, the -fact that a boy in the high school was looking up Bolshevism, getting -first-hand information so that he could refute the Bolsheviks. So the -spectre was laid; the teacher has gone back to “Beowulf” and “The Rape -of the Lock,” and the high school principal has been promoted to be -assistant superintendent! - -The other incident happened in a city fifteen hundred miles away; but -the Babbitts cover a continent—just like the Bolsheviks! We come to an -old and cultured city, with a high school of which the city is proud. In -this school a teacher of English suddenly decided that it was her duty -to find out what her pupils thought about Bolshevism; she had them write -a theme, and discovered to her dismay that a number of them did not -think altogether ill of the subject. She hastened to her principal, who -was equally shocked; he called a meeting of the teachers, and instructed -them that the two thousand pupils of this school were to be immediately -educated as to the wickedness of Bolshevism. School assemblies would be -held, and the teachers would talk to the pupils about the aforesaid -wickedness; also they might get someone from the outside who knew more -about this wickedness. - -The young man who told me this story is a friend of the principal, and -saw the whole adventure from the inside. One teacher, when his turn -came, told the pupils that he thought we had plenty of things to concern -ourselves about at home, and that it was our duty to clean our own -house; the principal rebuked this teacher, saying that his talk had been -“too tame.” “You didn’t say a word about the nationalization of women!” -So the principal himself talked about the nationalization of women; and -in the fall, when the campaign was taken up again, a zealous teacher, -whom I will call Mr. Jones, went out and inquired at a church forum for -the name of a competent speaker against Bolshevism. Somebody with a -sense of humor gave the name of Moissaye J. Olgin, well known as a -supporter of the Soviet government! Poor Mr. Jones, too trustful of his -fellowmen, invited Comrade Olgin, who came and lectured. I asked Olgin -about the incident, and quote from his letter, so that you may see for -yourself. He writes: - - I explained in a more or less scientific way how it came that the - Bolsheviki obtained the upper hand. I drew a picture of the forces - that made for Bolshevism, among them the craving of the masses for - peace, the craving of the peasants for land, and the explicit desire - on the part of the workingmen to assume control over the factories. I - was simply a man who thinks he knows something about Russia and - explains the working of social forces. The lecture created great - consternation among the teaching staff, but the pupils were most - enthusiastic. - -After the lecture was over, the speaker was asked by Mr. Jones what he -thought of a man by the name of Lee-Nyne; to which he answered mildly -that this was “something for history to decide.” But, as you know, the -Babbitts are not willing to await the verdict of history; a child took -home this story to her parents, and the local Babbitts flew to arms. A -newspaper exploded with a scare story, all the way across the front -page: - -/* BOLSHEVISM TAUGHT AT HIGH SCHOOL! */ - -It happened to be just at the time that a high public official was about -to be tried for malfeasance in office, and he was glad of a “Red” -herring to draw across the trail; his office summoned poor Mr. Jones and -proceeded to put him through the third degree. One of the inquisitors -grabbed Mr. Jones’ fraternity pin: “What’s that?” “And what do you know -about the American Revolution?” For two days the grilling went on, and -each day the newspapers had more frightful stories. Mr. Jones came out -mopping his brow, and vowing: “Well, if anything could make me a -Bolshevik, it would be such public officials!” - -You know how it is—these Soviet propagandists are cunning rascals, and -hide under many disguises. The local Babbitts were sure they had an -agent of Lee-Nyne in this high school teacher, so they called in the -United States secret service, which took the trail, and followed Mr. -Jones day and night for two weeks—and reported that he did not go -anywhere except to a Methodist prayer meeting! So finally the Babbitts -were convinced that their teacher might be given another chance; but the -principal received special orders—he was never to invite another speaker -without first submitting the name to the superintendent! - -Another incident, to show you what it means for teachers who deal with -the finer things of life to work under the shadow of this Black Hand. I -happen to know a lady who is head of the department of English in a high -school of a great city. This lady is a lover of literature, and a -teacher of the highest gifts; she knows how to inspire the young, not -merely to read and think about books, but in all their school -activities, their magazines and debates and dramatic performances. It -happens that she is a Socialist, and makes no bones about teaching the -children to think for themselves about our social system. Also it -happens that she is a “lady,” in the technical sense of that word; she -is good to look at, she was brought up in the Episcopal church, she is -received in the best society—and so it has been impossible for half a -dozen successive school boards to get rid of her. Incessant intrigue has -gone on against her, but she has quietly ignored it, and done her work. - -This lady was invited to dine at the home of the school board president; -a prominent judge, a wealthy Republican politician—and incidentally a -gross bar-room animal. The primary purpose of the judge was to get the -lady to appoint his daughter as a teacher in her department; but before -bringing up that subject, he brought up another one. “I want you to -know,” he said, “that I realize you are a Socialist, and that you teach -the girls free love.” The lady rose up, and said: “I will not discuss -that question with you, Judge Smith.” “All right,” said Judge Smith; -“you don’t need to, but I’ve got the goods on you just the same.” The -lady’s reply was: “I don’t know what you’ve got, and I decline to permit -you to tell me.” But Judge Smith laughed, and went on to tell. “You’ve -given the girls a poem by Walt Whitman called ‘The Mystic Trumpeter,’ -and I took the trouble to read it, and I know what’s in it.” - -Now, I will not complete the story. If I should quote you the lines to -which the bar-room judge objected, apart from their context, you also -might misunderstand. Get the poem, which you will find in “Leaves of -Grass,” the section called “From Noon to Starry Night,” and read a piece -of real eloquence. Meantime, I conclude this chapter with letters from -two teachers. I have many to the same purport, but the book is long, and -two will serve as types of all. A man teacher in California writes: - - I have a humiliating request to make of you, Mr. Sinclair. Not having - made provision for going out of the teaching business, I am afraid to - have you mention the —— matter. The story will be unfailingly traced - to me in what will probably be a brief time, considering the interest - commanded by your “Goose-step,” and retribution will be sure to - follow. I have so many sins to answer for before such unpromising - judges within the next year that I have not the courage to add this - delightful one to the rest just now. Will you sacrifice those two - paragraphs? - -The other letter is from a man teacher in the far Northwest: - - You may think it strange that I am writing to you to repeat my request - that you in no way use my name in connection with the data that I sent - to you for “The Goslings,” nor word any passage in such a way that my - name could be associated with any of the facts that it contains. I - believe that I have sent newspaper clippings confirmatory of the - various statements of fact; in any case, omit any seemingly - significant item rather than connect my name with it. As you well - know, if any person here should suspect me of having so much as passed - on to you information of common knowledge which is contained in - newspaper clippings, in a very short time it will reach the ears of - those who would unhesitatingly put an end to my professional career. - At my time of life, with a family, and a very meagre portion of this - world’s goods, I cannot afford to allow my name to be associated with - an enterprise of this kind, however much I may be in sympathy with it. - With physical condition not at all vigorous and no trade or business - experience, you can readily understand what publication of my name, or - the faintest suspicion of me, would lead to. Although my wife is the - only person here whom I have told of my action, she has become very - apprehensive of late, lest something creep into your book which would - fasten suspicion upon me; in fact, she is verging into a highly - nervous state, unable to drive the thought out of her mind. May I ask, - in order that her anxiety may be relieved, that you send me a letter - assuring me that my name, or any words that may indicate me as a - contributor of data, be kept from the pages of “The Goslings.” - - - - - CHAPTER LXXXI - THE SCHOOL SERFS - - -We have asked the question: is a teacher a citizen? I can name a few -places in the United States in which a teacher may be a citizen, -provided he or she is willing to give up promotion and honors. Under -those conditions a teacher may be a citizen in Chicago, Milwaukee,[M] -and New York, and I might think of a few other places if I searched my -memory. On the other hand, if I wished to name places where a teacher is -not a citizen, I could cover every state in the Union, and districts -large enough to include several states. - ------ - -Footnote M: - - It is amusing to note that after writing this sentence I learned from - a Milwaukee teacher that the Teachers’ Association was at first denied - admission to the “Recreational Council,” a league of civic - organizations for school improvement, upon the explicitly stated - ground that teachers are not citizens! - ------ - -You have seen that a teacher is not a citizen in North Dakota or in -South Dakota. A teacher is not a citizen in Pennsylvania, where -teachers’ unions have been outlawed by decree of the state -superintendent. A teacher is not a citizen in Terre Haute, Indiana, -where the superintendent has declared that no one may teach history who -believes in the recall. A teacher is not a citizen in the state of -Washington, where Miss Alfa Ventzke was turned out for protesting -against the mobbing of Nonpartisan League members; nor in Texas, where a -gentleman whose name I withhold out of kindness to him, writes me how he -has wandered from place to place seeking a school where a teacher may be -a Socialist outside of school hours. He started out over thirty years -ago, and in those days a teacher could be a Populist; but nowadays he -has to hide—and even then they find him! - -A teacher is not a citizen in Oklahoma, where Mr. A. A. Bagwell, who -began life as a Methodist minister, and is now a Christian Socialist, -has been hounded from public school to public school all over the state -for fifteen years. Mr. Bagwell’s story is told in a series of nine -two-column articles in the Oklahoma “Leader,” and it would take several -pages even to sketch his adventures. I glance over the articles and note -the names of town and county schools where he got into trouble—never for -any reason but his Socialist opinions: Gotebo, Greer, Blue Jacket, -Weatherford, Ardmore, Springer. The last place is Gotebo, where Mr. -Bagwell was county superintendent, and the American Legion held its -state convention and complained that the “firing squad” was not being -sufficiently used on teachers. So this Christian Socialist was kicked -out, and although he presents affidavits from literally hundreds of -people where he has taught—including the school boards—he travels from -one to another of his superiors demanding a hearing on the charges -against him, and can get no hearing. - -A teacher is not a citizen in Leesville, Louisiana, where Mr. Otto Koeb -went to teach history in the high school. A mile from this town lies the -Llano Colony, at which three or four hundred hard-working earnest men -and women are making an effort to prove that human beings can labor from -other motives than individual greed. Mr. Koeb thought this an -interesting experiment, and wanted to write about it; he went to study -it—and was informed by the superintendent that if he continued such -visits he could not remain a teacher in the high school. So he gave up -his position, and now has none. - -Nor is a teacher a citizen in Dallas, Texas, where many years ago Mr. -George Clifton Edwards, a teacher of Latin and mathematics, committed -the crime of being a Socialist. The school board was “a quiet, -vestry-like body,” and let him alone; but a certain rich lumberman, a -combination of note-shaver and psalm-singer named Owens, served notice -on them that if they did not fire the Socialist, he would elect a board -that would. They did not, and so he did. From that time on, Big Business -has run the schools, and has fired three other teachers, the best -qualified in the city. They have closed all the night schools save one, -which is practically an adjunct of the big department stores. As Dallas -is a city of great distances, this means that evening instruction is -denied to the working class. - -Nor is a teacher a citizen in Austin, Texas, where sixty-three of them -joined a union, and all the officers were dismissed. The president of -the union, Mr. E. S. Blackburn, appeared before the superintendent and -demanded the reasons in his own case. Mr. Blackburn was director of -manual training, and the superintendent told him he didn’t administer -his department well. As the teacher had given the sixteen best years of -his life to the work, and loved it passionately, this hurt his feelings, -and he asked for specifications. The superintendent, after some -pondering, cited the fact that Mr. Blackburn hadn’t a wood-block floor -in his manual training shop. The next question was, what school did have -such a floor; and that was rather a poser, but finally the answer was -forthcoming—the Manual Training High School of Chicago. Mr. Blackburn at -once telegraphed to Chicago, and three hours later was informed by -Western Union that there was no Manual Training High School in Chicago! -Continuing his researches by telegraph, he learned that no manual -training shop in Chicago had a wood-block floor; he laid these messages -before the board—which was “speechless,” but nevertheless voted to -sustain the superintendent. - -Take Elgin, Illinois, a manufacturing city run by the open shoppers, -with the usual board of business men and retainers. The condition of the -schools was so bad that the teachers formed an organization—not a union, -as they explicitly repudiated union tactics; they wanted merely a -respectable teachers’ association, affiliated with the National -Education Association. But the Black Hand wouldn’t stand even that, and -persecuted the teachers to such an extent that they went into politics -and tried to educate the public, and failed. The Black Hand, having been -victorious at the polls, reappointed its superintendent, and he -proceeded to get rid of six teachers and eight principals who had -supported the teachers’ ticket, and to put seventeen other teachers on -monthly contracts, so that they would have to be good. One of the -principals who lost her place had been in the Elgin school system for -twenty-six years, and expressed her feelings about the matter by taking -poison and dying. You have heard of the Chinese custom of committing -suicide upon the door-step of some tyrannical mandarin; it would appear -that this is the one form of protest left to American school teachers in -open-shop cities. In this case it was successful, because public clamor, -accompanied by threats of lynching, caused the open-shop superintendent -to quit. - -A teacher is not a citizen in Atlanta, Georgia, where the teachers -organized to work for salary increases and for larger school -appropriations, and Miss Julia Riordan, a principal with a twenty years’ -record, was so courageous as to help them. Three prominent business men -called upon members of the board, and instructed them to “slap the -teachers’ association” by discharging Miss Riordan. They did so—in -secret session, and without giving their victim a chance to defend -herself. Then they proceeded to fill the newspapers with mysterious -hints as to this teacher’s offenses; one of the board members, Mr. -McCalley, a gay humorist who represented a New York bond house, -explained that he voted against granting Miss Riordan a hearing because -of affidavits which he had received “under seal” concerning this -teacher. “If those affidavits are true, I cannot vote to give Miss -Riordan a hearing; if they are not true, somebody could be prosecuted.” -The humorous Mr. McCalley failed to explain how anyone could know -whether the affidavits were true, unless the principal were given a -chance to refute them. He failed to explain how “somebody could be -prosecuted,” so long as nobody knew who “somebody” was, or what -“somebody” had charged! - -A teacher may be a citizen in Buffalo, New York—provided that he or she -is a very courageous and determined citizen! There was formed in Buffalo -the “Teachers’ Educational League,” to deal with the wretched condition -of the schools. In 1920 they published a pamphlet, in which they -discussed the school situation; I quote four of the paragraphs to which -the school board made objection: - - We cherish the pious hope that in some not too distant day there may - arrive in the positions of administration of the schools men and women - of sufficient vision to realize the importance to education of the - intelligent and free-minded co-operation of the teachers. - - Since 1910 every increase in salary for the grade teachers has been - secured by the sole efforts of the Teachers’ Educational League, and - with the active opposition of the heads of the school department. - - We advocate a sane and sound training for children and cannot fail to - deplore the current makeshift in the form of drives and campaigns and - petty pedagogical pastimes. - - The schools are overrun with charlatanism and quackery of the very - cheapest form. - -The school board of Buffalo had as its president the local head of the -Standard Oil Company, and as its other members a lawyer to the rich, a -son of a banker, a son of a great lumber merchant, and a wife of a rich -man. The action of these five was to summon the teachers and question -them as to their responsibility for the pamphlet—but refusing to let -them produce any evidence of the truth of their statements. After which -the board met in secret session, and dismissed the president and the -recording secretary of the Teachers’ Educational League. Also they found -four other officers of the League guilty of “disrespect, defiance and -insubordination,” and sentenced them to be removed, but with the -privilege of being restored to their positions if they would sign an -apology and promise to be good in future. Three accepted these terms; -the other, together with the two who were unconditionally dismissed, -appealed to the state commissioner of education, and it is pleasant to -be able to record that this official reversed the action of the school -board. So it appears that a teacher can be a citizen in Buffalo—provided -she is willing to face a scandal and an expensive law-suit. - -All this is a part of the “open-shop” movement, whose purpose is to keep -the wage-slaves from organizing and acquiring power. From coast to coast -both school boards and superintendents are solid on this question. In my -home city of Pasadena the board of education unanimously adopted a -resolution condemning the affiliation of teachers with the American -Federation of Labor. At a convention of superintendents in Riverside, -California, Superintendent Wilson of Berkeley declared that “the ends -for which teachers’ unions strive are unsound.” In New York the state -commissioner of education, John H. Finley, made the same statement, his -ground being that a teacher is in the same category as a soldier, “an -officer in the army of future defense.” Commissioners and -superintendents who want to know how to enforce military discipline -among teachers may receive instruction from Mr. J. W. Crabtree, -secretary of the National Education Association, and formerly president -of a state normal school in Wisconsin; at an N. E. A. convention he said -to a friend of mine: “My teachers will never form a union—I keep their -noses to the grindstone!” - -Consider the experience of Miss Leida H. Mills, for twenty-nine years a -teacher in the schools of Wichita, Kansas. The teachers there had no -tenure, and were getting the munificent salary of forty dollars per -month; they proceeded to organize, and Miss Mills, who was head of the -Latin department in a high school, committed the crime of becoming -president of their organization. The president of the board of education -was a bank cashier, and he first fought her, and then fired her. She -addressed a protest to the board, which the board ignored. She found a -job on the Pacific Coast, leaving her mother and father back in Kansas; -she has returned twenty times to see them—quite an inconvenience for a -poor teacher! The Wichita board had to invite eight other teachers -before they found someone to take Miss Mills’ place; but of course they -always find someone in the end. - -In San Antonio, Texas, there were no funds to increase the teachers’ -salaries, and it was proposed to raise the money by private -subscription—a method of putting the teachers under bonds to the -bankers. That this was the plan became evident when the teachers began -to form a union, and one banker withdrew a contribution of fifty -thousands dollars which he had promised! The teachers went on with their -union, however, and got some three hundred and fifty members; also a -separate union of colored teachers with a hundred members. In the -following spring the two active organizers of the union were “let -out”—one of them a school principal who had been teaching the Mexicans -for twelve years, and had spent a good part of his own salary in -providing equipment for them; the other a high school teacher, a -university graduate with four years’ excellent record. Both were well -recommended by the superintendent, but the board fired them, and twelve -more teachers resigned—with the result that both the white and colored -teachers’ unions have disappeared from San Antonio. - -In Houston, Texas, the teachers joined the American Federation of Labor, -and the unions threatened the mayor with a recall, and the school board -almost doubled the minimum teachers’ salaries. But then came Mrs. -Josephine C. Preston, past president of the National Education -Association—you remember the lady who presided at the Salt Lake -convention, with Professor Strayer of Columbia seated at her right hand. -Now we discover what the makers of educational “greatness” are up to; -the “great” Superintendent Preston told the teachers of Houston that it -would be far better for them to belong to her organization—it didn’t -cost so much, and it was so much more genteel! So the teachers deserted -the labor unions en masse. The president of the American Federation of -Teachers remarked to me sorrowfully: “The price of a teacher in the -United States is fifty dollars”—meaning that a teachers’ union would -agree to disband if the board of education would give them fifty dollars -a year increase of wages as the price of their civil rights. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXXII - THE TEACHERS’ UNION - - -The effect of official tyranny such as we have been observing is to -reinforce and intensify the occupational diseases of the teaching -profession, which are timidity and aloofness from real life. The teacher -lives in a little world of her own; she spends many hours every day with -her children, and other hours in reading their themes, and marking their -examination papers, and making out complicated reports. For the rest, -she knows only her colleagues, whose life is as narrow as her own. And -this is the way her superiors want it. Said the superintendent in Agra, -Kansas, to a young lady graduate of Wellesley College: “You ought to -have gone to a normal school instead of to college. There they teach the -teachers just what they ought to know, and not anything else.” - -It hardly needs saying that a world which is five per cent male and -ninety-five per cent female is an abnormal world, with many jealousies -and suppressions. The teacher is, as a rule, either a very young woman, -looking forward to escape through matrimony, or else a woman grown -prematurely old, and watching with suspicious eye the curvettings of -youth. The tendency of women thus placed to curry favor with their -superiors, and to be spiteful toward their rivals, is very strong; and -the only way to keep the school-room from becoming a place of fussing -and fretfulness is to open the windows to the airs which blow in the -outside world. The teacher must have a vital interest in the great -causes which are stirring the minds of men; she must have some hope -outside her own very slender chances of personal success. The teacher, -in other words, must cease to be an individual, she must become part of -a group; she must share the consciousness of an organized and -disciplined body of workers, with a duty towards the future, and a means -of carrying it out. - -In their efforts to keep the teacher an individual, the employing class -has not relied upon terrorism alone; they use all their propaganda -resources to take possession of the teacher’s psychology, to shut up her -mind in class greed and snobbery. The teacher is a “lady” in ninety-five -per cent of cases—and in the other five per cent the teacher is a -“gentleman.” The teacher belongs to the white-collared class, and -receives a monthly salary—never the degrading weekly stipend known as -“wages.” Once or twice in a life-time, the teacher is invited to a -banquet, and given an opportunity to listen to bankers and merchants and -manufacturers grow eloquent upon the dignity and nobility of the -pedagogical profession. These same compliments the teacher finds in her -capitalist newspaper, and her capitalist “Saturday Evening Post,” and -“Outlook,” and “Independent,” and “Literary Digest”; the compliments -cost less than nothing, because the advertisements more than pay for the -paper and printing. - -Having spent my childhood in one of the larger-sized brick houses in -Baltimore, I understand thoroughly the psychology of “ladies and -gentlemen,” and the horror with which they contemplate common -workingmen, with grimy hands, and overalls, and no collars—or worse yet, -collars made of celluloid. Having left Baltimore thirty-five years ago, -and spent the rest of my life studying modern economics, I write this -book to tell the seven hundred thousand school teachers of the United -States that the path to independence and self-respect for them is the -path of organization, and of full and whole-hearted cooperation with -organized labor. - -We have heard from the hired educators of Big Business a chorus of -denunciation of teachers’ unions; and their point of view is easy to -understand. What I find hard to understand is their serene confidence in -the inability of their wage-slaves to put two and two together. In the -very same breath in which these Big Business educators denounce -teachers’ unions, they praise the unions of bankers and merchants and -manufacturers and lawyers, and urge the teachers to intimacy with these. -Says J. W. Studebaker, superintendent of schools of Des Moines, in a -circular for the National Education Association: “The schools are linked -up with the business interests of the city.” Says C. L. Carlsen, -director of part-time education in the San Francisco public schools: -“The convenience of the employer must be the first consideration.” Says -Dr. Frank M. Leavitt, assistant superintendent of schools in Pittsburgh: -“Of very great importance is the matter of establishing friendly and -intelligent relations with the employers of the juvenile workers.” -Quotations such as this are scattered all through “The Goslings,” and I -could collect another chapter full if it would help. - -Why may teachers belong to employers’ unions and not to unions of their -own? There are a few educators who have had the courage to put this -question—one of them Professor John M. Brewer, of the Graduate School of -Education of Harvard University. I owe an apology both to Professor -Brewer and to Harvard, because in “The Goose-step” I forgot to mention -him as one of our liberal educators. He discussed the question of -teachers’ unions in an excellent article in “School and Society,” -January 14, 1922, and no doubt he will send you the leaflet if you ask -for it. He points out that the utmost the teachers have so far dared to -ask in the way of tenure is the right to a hearing before their -superiors. But in Filene’s department store in Boston, no worker can be -discharged without a hearing before his fellow workers. When will the -teachers of America have the courage to ask as much? - -What could be more sensible, what could be more essential, if a teacher -is really to _be_ a free man or a free woman? Who is it that knows -whether a teacher is competent and faithful, if not her fellow teachers? -Who can really judge and protect the needs of the child, if not those -persons whose business it is to be in daily and hourly contact with the -child? I have on my desk a letter from a lady who was formerly a teacher -in Terre Haute, Indiana, and who presumed to take an interest in an -organization of the teachers, and was threatened with loss of her -position. The superintendent told her it was because she was -“incompetent”; she took up the fight on this issue, and wrote to the -parents of every one of her children, and an actual majority of these -parents appeared before the school board to defend this teacher, and not -a single parent could be found to say that her work was not -satisfactory, or that she was not beloved by her pupils. Yet this -teacher was forced to move on to another city. - -That is just one more illustration; I have given you a bookful of such -stories, and I could compile an encyclopedia on the subject if I had -nothing else to do. The point is clear: The present status of the -American school teacher is that of a wage-slave, an employe of the -school board and the superintendent; it is not the status of a free -citizen, nor of a professional expert. It can only be made that, first, -by the education of the teachers themselves—a process of organization -and self-discipline, guided by the more active and intelligent and -courageous of the profession. In this process there will be many -martyrs, and each can take to himself such comfort as martyrs through -all the ages have had—the knowledge that each one is adding to the sum -total of human progress, and that without this heroism and unselfish -idealism, there would have been no progress in the past, and will be -none in the future. - -One of America’s really great educators, who supports the unionizing of -teachers and has had the courage to join a teachers’ union himself, is -John Dewey. Just so that you may not think of the teachers’ union as the -notion of cracked-brained radicals like myself, I quote three paragraphs -from an address delivered by Professor Dewey at a mass meeting of -teachers in New York, and published as a leaflet by the American -Federation of Teachers, located in Chicago: - - We have not had sufficient intelligence to be courageous. We have - lacked a sense of loyalty to our calling and to one another, and on - that account have not accepted to the full our responsibility as - citizens of the community. - - To my mind, that is the great reason for forming organizations which - are affiliated with other working organizations that have power and - that attempt to exercise the power like the Federation of Labor; - namely, the reflex effect upon the body of the teachers themselves in - strengthening their courage, their faith in their calling, their faith - in one another, and the recognition that they are servants of the - community, and not people hired by a certain transitory set of people - to do a certain job at their beck and call.... - - We should have an organization which shall not on the one hand merely - discuss somewhat minute and remote subjects of pedagogy with no - certainty as to how their conclusions are going to take effect in - practice, nor simply look after the personal and more or less selfish - interests of teachers on the other hand. But we should have a body of - self-respecting teachers and educators who will see to it that their - ideas and their experience in educational matters shall really count - in the community; and who, in order that these may count, will - identify themselves with the interests of the community; who will - conceive of themselves as citizens and as servants of the public, and - not merely as hired employees of a certain body of men. It is because - I hope to see the teaching body occupy that position of social - leadership which it ought to occupy, and which to our shame it must be - said we have not occupied in the past, that I welcome every movement - of this sort. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXXIII - THE TEACHERS’ MAGNA CHARTA - - -The first objection always brought against teachers’ unions is that they -might lead to strikes. The American Federation of Teachers has met this -proposition by expressly repudiating the policy of teacher strikes, and -the American Federation of Labor has endorsed this attitude. Well, -somebody has to make a start, and if the labor movement will not, I -will. I say squarely, and without compromise or evasion, that I know no -reason in the world why teachers should not strike, and I know hundreds -of reasons why they should. If you want to find these reasons, all you -have to do is to turn back and read this book once more. I say that the -teachers of St. Louis should have struck when Miss Rosa Hesse was kicked -out of the school board for opposing the candidacy of a school board -member for re-election. I say that the teachers of Buffalo should have -struck when five teachers were kicked out by the school board for -publishing a pamphlet criticizing the schools of their city. I say that -the teachers of Chicago should have struck when large numbers of their -colleagues were kicked out of their positions for the crime of belonging -to a union; so should the teachers of Butte, Montana, and of St. Louis, -Missouri, of Fresno, California, of Austin and San Antonio, Texas, of -Wichita, Kansas, of Olean, New York, of Lorain, Ohio, of Atlanta, -Georgia, of Peoria, Marion, and Elgin, Illinois, of Lancaster, -Pennsylvania, of Terre Haute, Indiana. - -These are only a few cases, and I might cite many more. In general, what -I say is that school teachers of the United States should have their -professional organizations, and should run these organizations; they -should establish professional standards, setting down not merely their -rights, but also their duties; they should hold their members to these -duties, and should maintain these rights against all comers, including -superintendents and school boards. I say that teachers should do this, -not merely for their own welfare, but for the welfare of the schools; I -say that it is necessary both for the schools and for the children, that -teachers should cease to be rabbits, and should become self-respecting -and alert citizens. - -There has been a kind of strike going on in the American public schools -for the past six or eight years; it might be described as an “individual -strike.” It is made by teachers who find their positions intolerable, -and who simply go into some other occupation. Professor John M. Brewer -estimates that there were forty thousand such “individual strikes” -during the labor shortage just after the war. These represent, of -course, the cream of the profession—the people who were sure they could -take care of themselves in the outside world, and who went and did it. -And all these people have been lost to the schools and to the children, -while the feeble-minded and feeble-souled have remained. So the -profession of teacher sinks lower and lower, until now it is agreed by -educators that students at normal schools—that is, those preparing to -become teachers—represent the lowest grade of any to be found in -training schools of the professions. It seems to me that in the light of -this fact, anyone who really cares about the schools and the children -would long for nothing so much as for a real, vigorous, large-scale -strike of school teachers. - -The school teachers of England and Canada and Australia belong to -unions, and do not repudiate the policy of the strike. They have struck -on many occasions, and have been dignified and successful, and highly -educative to the community. The National Union of Teachers of Great -Britain sent over their president to represent them at Boston, the 1922 -convention of the National Education Association. This gentleman happens -to be, not a college president or a state superintendent of schools, but -a plain ordinary class-room teacher; and what he said about the -backwardness of American teachers, their lack of independence and -class-consciousness, was quite paralyzing to the N. E. A. gang. He told -about the strike against a reduction of salary, then being carried on by -the teachers of Southampton; and the N. E. A. ordered all reference to -his speech stricken from the record of the Department of Classroom -Teachers! - -Professor Brewer has discussed this question of the teachers’ strike, -and has not shirked the issue; he says, very sensibly: - - It is our business to help discover methods of abolishing the need for - strikes, but it is useless to talk against strikes when no better way - to prevent injustices has yet been discovered. Employers almost always - have the right to the lay-off and lockout. We can aid in the discovery - of better methods for all workers if we work with them and not against - them.... What have we ever done to educate boys and girls in - preparation for better solutions for labor difficulties than strikes? - Laborers do not enjoy striking; they do it because they believe this - to be their only weapon when circumstances which they consider - intolerable arise. - -In order to get the fundamentals on this matter, we have to come back -once more to the question, several times discussed in this book: Is a -teacher a citizen? What I ask the teachers of the United States to do is -to write for themselves a Magna Charta; to adopt a collective program, -and put upon the statute books of every state the explicit provision -that teachers are citizens, and that wherever their rights as citizens -come into conflict with the rights of school boards and superintendents -as hirers and firers of labor, the teachers’ rights as citizens are -superior. Teachers have, and should maintain through their -organizations, every right which other citizens have. - -What are these rights of citizens? Teachers have a right to employ their -spare time as they see fit. Teachers have a right to belong to such -organizations as they see fit. Teachers have a right to take part in -politics alongside all other citizens—and this includes the election of -superintendents and school boards. Teachers have a right to discuss -school affairs, and to say anything they please about the schools and -those who conduct the schools. If they say things which are not true, -they are liable, like all other citizens who make false statements, to -due process of law; but they are not liable to lose their positions for -exercising any of the rights of American citizens. They may belong to -political parties, and may hold and advocate such political opinions as -they see fit. If they advocate sabotage, violence and crime, they may be -dealt with by the law, but they may not be dealt with by school boards -or superintendents for political ideas which they hold, or for political -activities outside the class-room. - -These principles, I take it, are fundamental, and no teacher is a -citizen until they are rigidly upheld; the first duty of every school -teacher in the United States is to back every other school teacher in -the assertion and protection of these rights, and nothing that any -teacher can do or fail to do to our children is so important as this -assertion of teacher self-respect and teacher dignity. Am I too much of -an optimist when I say, that before I leave this earth I hope to see the -teacher rabbits come out of their holes and band themselves together for -mutual protection as citizens? Am I historically correct when I assert -that this is the true one hundred per cent Americanism, which the author -of the Declaration of Independence and the author of the Emancipation -Proclamation would have endorsed? Or will the teachers of America -forever let themselves be bamboozled by Chamber of Commerce lackeys into -calling a man a “radical” and a “Red” because he stands for these -fundamental liberties in a free republic? - -Those who affect such horror at the idea of a teachers’ strike argue -that the teachers are public servants, dedicated to a sacred cause. Of -course; and all I want to do is to extend the boundaries of this service -and this cause. I contend that coal-miners are also public servants, and -likewise oil-workers and railway-workers, and every man or woman who -contributes the labor upon which civilization rests. I assert that all -these workers now occupy the status of industrial serfs, and must raise -themselves to the status of industrial citizens. The way to do it is the -way of organization, education, agitation; and the strongest weapon is -their power to give or to withhold their collective labor. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXXIV - WORKERS’ EDUCATION - - -Some teacher who is not in touch with the labor world will read the -story I have told about labor government in San Francisco and in Butte, -Montana, and will ask, is that what I mean. It isn’t what I mean; and -for the benefit of newcomers, I hasten to explain. I wish that there -existed in modern society a beautiful and altruistic labor movement, -instead of what does exist, a part of the capitalist system, partaking -of the weaknesses and corruptions which are automatically produced in -human societies by the continuous operation of mass rivalries and -greeds. The American Federation of Labor is a machine, precisely like -the Republican party, or the National Education Association; it is a -vested interest of high-salaried leaders, whose function is to dicker -with Big Business for the best terms obtainable in the labor market. -Many of these leaders are sincere but ignorant men, who have grown up in -the present system and can imagine nothing else. Many others have -accepted without realizing it what I call “the dress-suit bribe.” Still -others are cynical corruptionists, who sell out their deluded followers, -and permit labor unions to be used as weapons in the partisan wars of -Big Business. Any teacher who goes to the labor movement without -realizing these things, will suffer bitter disillusionment. - -Underneath this machine is the great mass of the workers, groping their -way toward freedom and self-government; betrayed a million times by -leaders throughout the ages, they continue to grope, and to learn. The -modern machine process has brought them together by tens of thousands, -and the printing press and the soap-box have given them the means of -spreading information. Many new organizations may have to be made and -broken, many new weapons constructed by the masses; but they are on -their way toward freedom and self-government, with a movement like that -of a glacier. To understand the workers and their needs, and to help -them to find their path—that is the task to which the teacher may -contribute. Let her go to the labor movement, not expecting too much, -but ready to give the precious things which she has. - -The teacher who goes in that spirit will not be disappointed. She will -find in the toiling masses a deep and touching reverence for her -profession. The teacher is well known to the masses, she has messengers -who carry good words about her to the homes of the people. The great -bulk of our wage-slaves have but little hope for themselves; what -ambitions they have are for their children. They send these children to -school, and they think of the teacher as the children’s friend, the -guardian of the children’s future, the keeper of a magic key. To the -very poor in the slums, the teacher comes as a missionary; she is the -only representative of authority who assumes any aspect of kindness. As -one who has been in the labor movement most of his life, I say that I -have yet to hear a labor man speak of teachers without respect; or to -hear of an American city in which the teachers made an appeal to the -working masses without getting a response. - -That portion of the labor movement which has especial need of the -teacher, and which should command the teacher’s especial regard, is -workers’ education. I have devoted a chapter to this subject in “The -Goose-step,” and do not want to repeat information which is given there. -Suffice it to say, that the organized workers have grown tired of seeing -their best brains stolen from them, they have set out to educate their -own youth, and train their own leaders. There are now workers’ colleges -or schools in all the leading cities of America, and to know them and to -help them should be one of the joys of progressive teachers. In places -where there is not yet a labor school, it only waits for some group of -teachers who will go to the labor men, and advise with them, and help -them to break into this new field. - -There exists in New York a center of information, the Workers’ Education -Bureau, 465 West 23rd Street, which works in harmony with the old-line -labor unions and has received their endorsement. This bureau has -established fifty labor colleges in America in the six years of its -existence. It holds a convention every spring, and if you will read its -proceedings, you will pity the N. E. A. - -The more radical labor unions have their own educational centers, -concerning which you may have information for the asking. The -Pennsylvania Federation of Labor, under the presidency of James H. -Maurer, a clear-visioned Socialist, has established a department of -education and labor research at Harrisburg, and has promoted labor -classes in a dozen cities throughout the state. It will send you much -interesting literature on request. The Brookwood School at Katonah, New -York, has twice as many pupils as it had last year, and you will wish to -know about this charming place. You will meet here several of the kicked -out college professors whom you read about in “The Goose-step”; one of -them is Professor A. W. Calhoun, who writes: - - We are planning to give this summer a course of interest to teachers - who may care to work into the labor education movement. Opportunity - will be given to such teachers to get the labor point of view and to - associate with labor people. In addition there will be special - attention to the fundamentals of economics, and other matters that - teachers ordinarily need to approach from the labor view point. - -I mention also that the I. W. W. have their Work Peoples’ College at -Duluth, Minnesota (Box 39, Morgan Park Station). Mrs. Kate Richards -O’Hare has moved to the Llano Colony at Leesville, Louisiana, and has -started there Commonwealth College, under the direction of W. E. Zeuch, -a college professor whose adventures you may read in “The Goose-step.” -The International Ladies’ Garment Workers and the Amalgamated Clothing -Workers are maintaining elaborate educational programs for their members -in many cities. - -I give you these various addresses in order that you may get the -literature of the subject. I will also say a friendly word for the -“Labor Age,” an admirable magazine of information edited by Prince -Hopkins, and published at 41 Union Square, New York. The issue of April, -1922, was devoted to the subject of labor education, and is full of -information as to developments both in this country and Great Britain. -In the latter country the Workers’ Education Association has a total of -2,760 branches, to say nothing of the various independent and radical -educational bodies. - -Also, I ought to mention that outside the labor movement there are some -independent experimental schools, which are radical so far as concerns -education, and are clearing the way toward the future. In Washington, D. -C., in the Progressive Education Association (1719 35th St., N. W.). Ask -them for their pamphlet, “The Spirit of Adventure in Education”; ask -them for their lists of experimental schools, and especially their -account of what is going on at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, -which is making an effort to combine real work and study—the basis of -all truly democratic education. Write also to the Organic School at -Fairhope, Alabama, and inform yourself about the splendid work which -Mrs. Marietta Johnson is doing, to train young people in the realities -of life, and to make education a complete and living thing. Write to the -Bureau of Educational Experiments, 70 Fifth Ave., New York. There are a -number of new schools in or near New York; I mention especially the -Walden School at 32 West 68th St., the Teachers’ College Playground, and -the Gregory School at West Orange, New Jersey. The New School for Social -Research, located in New York, is doing excellent work. The Modern -School, at Stelton, N. J., is testing out the theories of “libertarian” -education. Finally, Dean Alva P. Taylor of the State College of New -Mexico has a very interesting plan for organizing a college to be -managed by its faculty; he wishes to hear from others who are -interested. - -Also I must not fail to mention the Pathfinders of America, which is -endeavoring to supplement our public school education by character -training, the lack of which is our greatest school defect. The founder -of this organization, Mr. J. F. Wright, is one of our pioneers, and the -work he is doing should be known to all educators. He began with efforts -to redeem convicts, and he had sixty-five organizations when I met him a -year and a half ago, and was reaching five thousand men in prisons. They -have now started “junior councils” in the public schools—much better -than the junior chambers of commerce, I assure you! They eliminate -religion from their training, but teach the children practical conduct -in a practical way, and the parents perceive the results—as do the -juvenile delinquency officers in Detroit. - -Also, I should mention the work which is being done by Mr. Vance Monroe, -editor of the “Colorado Union Farmer” of Denver. Here is a co-operative -organization of farmers, which has got up a series of juvenile -clubs—again something better than junior chambers of commerce! There are -forty-eight such organizations in the state, with youngsters up to the -age of sixteen conducting their own courts, forming their own -“co-operative credit associations” for the handling of their savings, -working up their own debating teams, and in general running their own -affairs. There is no control from the grown-ups except the written -suggestions of Mr. Monroe, together with the advice of two adults whom -the youngsters have themselves chosen to fill that rôle when requested. -This is real training for democracy; it is education in the strict sense -of the word—drawing out the child’s own impulses and abilities, instead -of repressing them and crushing them into a predetermined mould. Through -such voluntary and self-governing associations our schools will be made -over—and I fear it will have to be done from the outside, not from the -inside.[N] - ------ - -Footnote N: - - I yield to the temptation to quote a letter from Mr. Monroe, answering - some questions as to his work: - - “I have made a study of true co-operation for twenty years and that is - what I deal in. First I tried to educate men. It didn’t work. Then I - tried a combination—men and women. That failed. Then I tried to - educate the children. It was a fruitless effort I discovered, as no - doubt you did long ago, that the children couldn’t be ‘educated,’ but - that if any degree of success was obtained, they must educate - themselves. - - “The work is carried on through the medium of clubs which are - co-related and interlocking. Each club has a code. They are bound in - honor to live up to its provisions. They are doing it, too. This may - sound like the ‘boy scout plan’ but it is altogether different. Boy - scouts are disciplined, army style, by adults. Under our plan the boys - and girls discipline themselves. As a matter of fact they help to - build their own program. Many noteworthy character building - suggestions have come from the kids. Our plan helps to obviate the - spirit of warfare without war being mentioned. I feel that war is a - dangerous word. Why use it? Our plan is built around harmony, charity, - peace and good will. There is no need to discuss war if peace can be - thoroly understood. - - “The plan sounds complicated to a good many of the adults, but the - children understand it. They have more faith, more optimism, more - energy, more loyalty, more potentialities, more wisdom. Parents tell - me our members are better behaved at home. They are more considerate - and unselfish. They think of others. They are getting to the point in - many cases where they are ready to make co-operation the very - important essential in the texture of life. - - “I am working thru the Farmers’ Union. This because it is a vehicle at - my hand. I have undertaken thru the medium of the juvenile - organization to develop a new rejuvenated spirit of co-operation in - the home life, the social life. Each child will thoroly understand the - value of co-operation, spiritual and material, its necessity and - importance in the scheme of life. They, in their own way and time, - come to understand the vitalness of co-operative principles, and learn - by experience that failure is ever the creature of competition. - - “By the excessive mental effort and physical energy it is sometimes - possible to arouse the adults for the moment—but only for the moment. - They have been too long victims of a deadly environment. Our hope lies - with the children. Strange as it may seem, part of our plan gives the - children opportunity to assist in education of their parents. It is - altogether surprising to me to see how well this works out in - practice. - - “Each club has an ‘editor’ who reads a paper at each meeting night. - This does not mean that the editor simply produces a ‘literary paper.’ - As a matter of fact most of the editors take their work seriously. - They make a good job of it. The papers in most instances are - educational, instructive as well as newsy. Practically all of the - clubs take their ‘paper’ to the local newspaper and have it printed - therein. This makes for genuine propaganda. Besides this plan, with - proper tutelage, helps to develop potential editors who may one day be - recognized as factors in the newspaper field. - - “All my work is based on the honest conviction that we can expect no - help from the public schools or colleges. Of course the forces of - competition have them absolutely under control. There can be no real - help from the subsidized press of the present time. Even library lists - are censored. Because of such conditions I believe that this is the - way out. The plan works. That’s something. Other states are taking it - up. Kansas, South Dakota and Georgia have already written for the plan - with the intention of carrying it out.” - ------ - -If this book were not already too long, I should like to take space to -tell you about this kind of work. But all these schools and reform -projects have their own literature, which they will send you for the -asking. I want to add, by way of comforting some anxious souls, that I -am not really a pessimistic and destructive person; I understand that -there are many earnest workers in the schools, and that some of them -manage by tact and force of personality to put liberal ideas into the -heads of their students. I know that plutocratic influences are not -entirely unopposed in America; I know that conditions portrayed in this -book are less bad than they would be, if conscientious men and women -were not risking their jobs every hour. My reason for writing this book -is my belief that these people can do their work better, if they know -exactly what they are opposing. I do not want liberal teachers to be in -the position of Mr. M. C. Bettinger, who gave thirty-eight years of his -life to the school system of Los Angeles, as teacher, assistant -superintendent, and school board member, and then, after he had been -kicked out in his old age, read “The Goose-step” and wrote me these -pathetic words: “I may not be of much help to you, but you certainly -have helped me. I know now what I have been trying to do, and what has -been done to me.” - -I close this chapter on workers’ education with a message from an abler -writer than myself. In France the teachers are an organized and -disciplined social force; and to their trade union convention came the -greatest of living French prose masters, a sage and _bel esprit_ whose -high position in the world of letters has not held him from full -sympathy with the revolutionary workers of the world. I quote four -paragraphs from the message of Anatole France to the teachers of his -country; and I mention, in case you want to read it all, that you can -find it in the “Nation,” Vol. 109, or in the “Living Age,” Vol. 302. - - Pardon me for returning to this; it is the great point upon which - everything depends. It is for you, without hope of aid or support, or - even of consent, to change primary education from the ground up, in - order to make workers. There is place today in our society only for - workers; the rest will be swept away in the storm. Make intelligent - workers, instructed in the arts they practice, knowing what they owe - to the national and to the human community. - - Burn all the books which teach hatred. Exalt work and love. Let us - develop reasonable men, capable of trampling under foot the vain - splendor of barbaric glories, and of resisting the sanguinary - ambitions of nationalisms and imperialisms which have crushed their - fathers. - - No more industrial rivalries, no more wars: work and peace. Whether we - wish it or no, the hour is come when we must be citizens of the world - or see all civilization perish. My friends, permit me to utter a most - ardent wish, a wish which it is necessary for me to express too - rapidly and incompletely, but whose primary idea seems to me - calculated to appeal to all generous natures. I wish, I wish with all - my heart, that a delegation of the teachers of all nations might soon - join the Workers’ Internationale in order to prepare in common a - universal form of education, and advise as to methods of sowing in - young minds ideas from which would spring the peace of the world and - the union of peoples. - - Reason, wisdom, intelligence, forces of the mind and heart, whom I - have always devoutly invoked, come to me, aid me, sustain my feeble - voice; carry it, if that may be, to all the peoples of the world, and - diffuse it everywhere where there are men of good will to hear the - beneficent truth! A new order of things is born. The powers of evil - die, poisoned by their crime. The greedy and the cruel, the devourers - of peoples, are bursting with an indigestion of blood. However sorely - stricken by the sins of their blind or corrupt masters, mutilated, - decimated, the proletarians remain erect; they will unite to form one - universal proletariat, and we shall see fulfilled the great socialist - prophecy: “The union of the workers will be the peace of the world.” - - - - - CHAPTER LXXXV - THE GOOSE-STEP MARCH - - -As this manuscript goes to the printer, “The Goose-step” has been before -the public nine months. Approximately twenty-two thousand copies have -been sold, and many of them have been going the rounds in colleges. I -have a letter from one school teacher, who tells me that her copy has -been read by forty others. In the “Bookman” for December, 1923, “The -Goose-step” is listed third among non-fiction books most in demand in -public libraries. I was told by an instructor at Stanford that some -students had torn out the Stanford chapters from a dozen copies of the -book, and had pasted these pages, elaborately marked in red ink, upon -bulletin boards and upon the doors of their dormitories. A lecturer, who -visited many colleges in all parts of the country, tells me that he -found “The Goose-step” the principal topic of argument in faculty clubs; -as he phrased it, the member would sit and debate: “Are we like that?” - -A number of universities replied, directly or indirectly, to the book. -The most emphatic of all was Harvard. Said President Lowell and his -deans and his corporation: “Go to, we will show this varlet how much we -care about him! Let us tell the world how proud we are to be the -University of Lee-Higginson, with J. P. Morgan connections!” What -happened then was reported in the Boston “American”: - - Harvard University today flung a defi in the face of Upton Sinclair. - Today Harvard, at its commencement exercises, presented an honorary - Doctor of Laws degree to Mr. Morgan. In presenting the degree to Mr. - Morgan, Dr. Eliot said: “To John Pierpont Morgan, a son of Harvard, - heir to the power and responsibility of a great financial house. He - has used them with courage in a dark crisis of the World War and at - all times with uprightness, public spirit and generosity.” In effect, - Mr. Morgan gets his honorary degree for multiplying dollars through - his international banking house. Sinclair could not possibly have - wished for a more definite, clearer verification of the charges that - he made. - - Another degree—this one a Master of Arts degree—was presented to Eliot - Wadsworth, assistant secretary of the treasury. Mr. Wadsworth is a - member of the firm of Stone and Webster, which is allied with the - Morgan firm. In his book, Sinclair charges that State Street, a suburb - of Wall Street, absolutely owns and controls the Massachusetts - Institute of Technology. The president of Tech is Samuel Wesley - Stratton. Mr. Stratton today was presented with an honorary LL.B. - degree. Sinclair charged that Morgan’s control of American colleges - extended not only to the college presidents, but to the clergy which - exercises much influence over these colleges. Charles L. Slattery, - Episcopal Bishop Coadjutor of Massachusetts, referred to by Sinclair - as “Mr. Morgan’s Bishop”—received the honorary degree of Doctor of - Divinity. - -Also the University of California made answer to “The Goose-step”; there -was a vacancy on the board of regents, and the governor appointed the -chief of the Black Hand, Harry Chandler of the Los Angeles “Times.” The -alumni of the university also took action; they engaged as their -secretary, an agent of the Power Trust, at a salary of ten thousand a -year! There are thirty-five thousand alumni, you understand, and to be -able to control them means to control the state. This new agent was -formerly editor of the “Electrical World,” and was on the list of the -kept speakers of the Power Trust during the recent campaign against -public ownership; he was put in his new job by Attorney Earl, who runs -the board of regents for Banker Fleishhacker and Publisher Chandler. - -I have pointed out in “The Goose-step” that an actual majority of the -regents of this university are Power Trust officials or attorneys; and -the same is true of the council which controls the alumni. I have -nothing more important to tell you than this, because hydro-electric -power is the issue of our time; the Power Trust is today what the -railroads and Standard Oil were a generation ago, the chief active -corrupter of our public life. At the last meeting of the National -Electric Light Association they brought up an elaborate program for -“getting the university professors, holding “institutes” for them, -employing them to write literature, and giving them jobs in local public -utilities. This report was not formally adopted—it was thought not to be -“tactful”; they would just put it through without saying anything! - -Professor Vladimir Karapetoff, of the College of Engineering at Cornell, -sends to a friend of mine samples of the poison dope which is being fed -to college professors. This particular dose comes from Philip Torchio, a -high-salaried engineer for a number of electrical companies; it is sent -free, and for no particular reason that the recipient knows. The subject -is “depreciation,” the substance of the argument being that public -utilities never depreciate, and so dividends should be collected on the -basis of the original cost! This argument is signed by two -supposed-to-be public officials, both of whom turn out to be on the -pay-roll of the Consolidated Gas Company of New York, a Standard Oil -concern. One of them began his life as an active “reformer” in New York, -then became counsel for the Public Service Commission at fifteen -thousand dollars a year, and prepared a case for the people against the -Consolidated Gas Company. On the very day that the case came to trial he -went over to the gas company, and became their chief counsel, and -carried over to their side every particle of the evidence which he had -prepared for the benefit of the public! - -That is just one incident, to show you how the dice are loaded against -you in the world of education. In every great university throughout the -United States today there are rascals of this sort, posing as -scientists, and carrying on intrigues against the public welfare. And -every instructor in high school, and every professor in colleges who -touches on such subjects meets these intriguers with the dice loaded -against him; that is, he knows that to oppose the rascals means to -forfeit promotion, and perhaps his job. - -How beautifully the Black Hand has got the professors frightened in the -universities of California was proven by George P. West, who formed an -organization to work for the repeal of the criminal syndicalism law. He -got the backing of the Episcopal bishop and the Catholic archbishop of -San Francisco, and it was proposed to have some university professor -prepare an entirely disinterested study of the actual workings of this -law. Mr. West wrote to the professor of economics at Stanford, asking -him to name a competent man; he received in reply a cold letter, -declining his request. He went to talk with the economics men at the -University of California, and not one of them was willing to meet him in -the faculty room; they asked him to take a walk! Not one of these young -instructors or research men was willing to take the job, even with a -good salary attached, and with the backing of two bishops! - -Another instance: I don’t want to indicate the identity of this -informant, so will call him professor of Chinese metaphysics at a large -California university. He gave me some information for “The Goose-step,” -and because of the nature of this information he fell under suspicion, -and the Black Hand set out to punish him. This eminent specialist has a -standard text-book on Chinese metaphysics, in use everywhere in colleges -and universities throughout the United States. It is the most up-to-date -book on the subject, there is no other as good, or anywhere near as -good; nevertheless, this book has been thrown out of the three biggest -institutions in the state of California! - -The University of California has a large branch in Los Angeles, and this -also made reply to “The Goose-step.” A young lady presented a copy of -the book to the library, and a few days later was requested to come and -take the contaminating thing away. (But the demand grew so pressing, -they had to let it in!) Then came their professor of education, a -gentleman by the name of Woellner, before the American Civil Liberties -Union, stating that “The Goose-step” was “full of vicious lies.” I wrote -him a courteous note, saying that I never wilfully made a false -statement, and would appreciate his pointing out the specific “lies” he -had noted. The professor in his reply gave no specifications, but -explained that I “state but half the truth.” He went on to put me in my -precise place: - - Your scholarship is atrocious, your literary style is pitiful, your - social attitude unwholesome and your recommended cure, Socialism, - worse than any of the diseases you diagnose. American political and - social institutions are remarkably fine. They can only be made better - by those who love them and work for them from the inside. Bury the - hammer, pick up the flag and wave it over consecrated effort for the - perpetuation of all its glories. - -I will make you a bet—that this flag-waving professor becomes a dean -inside two years! - -Also Stanford makes answer; just as the last of this manuscript is going -to the printer, a new regent is appointed, Mr. Paul Shoup, -vice-president of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and perhaps the most -active union smasher in the state. Ten or fifteen years ago we were told -that Hiram Johnson had driven the Southern Pacific out of California -politics. Today the Better America Federation openly controls the state -legislature, and everybody takes it for granted that Mr. Shoup should -dictate both nominations and legislation. - -Nicholas Miraculous also made his answer to “The Goose-step”; and this -is one of the funniest stories I have to tell you. You know that for six -years our pious government has refused recognition to Soviet Russia, -because it isn’t “democratic.” We always did business with the czar—he -was “democratic,” but Lenin isn’t! Now, to test our sincerity, a ruffian -rises in Italy, and his thugs beat and murder the Socialists of that -country, and set up a castor-oil dictatorship. Does our pious government -refuse to recognize him? Our pious government falls on his neck. He -sends us an ambassador, and our great universities rush forward to do -him honor, and testify their devotion to the dictatorship of the -capitalist class. A string of American plutocrats, headed by Judge Gary, -go over to Italy and make obeisance before him, and come back to tell us -what a great man he is, and what a fine example he has set us. - -So the young snobs of Columbia proceed to organize a castor-oil society -for their own university, and they make the assistant professor of Latin -the head of their organization. Arturo Giovannitti writes to President -Butler in protest: and what do you think Butler answers? He “has no -power to discipline a professor for his ideas,” and his university “has -through a long and honorable history lived up to the highest ideals of -freedom to seek the truth and freedom to teach.” After that, pick up -“The Goose-step” and read the half dozen chapters which tell how -Nicholas Murray Butler kicked out professors for holding and teaching -pacifist or radical ideas. Then you will understand what Alexander -Harvey meant when he wrote in the “Freeman”: - - I have rolled over and over on the floor in my struggles to keep from - laughing at Nicholas Murray Butler—the Nicholas Murray Butler one - encounters in the works of Upton Sinclair. I wonder if there exists on - the planet any such person as he who, in the writings of Upton - Sinclair, is referred to by the name of Nicholas Murray Butler. - Whenever I am so melancholy as to think only of suicide I exhilarate - myself with this reflection: “The Nicholas Murray Butler of Upton - Sinclair exists!” Then my heart goes dancing with the daffodils. - -To complete the story you must hear how President Butler’s students -proceeded to apply his “highest ideals of freedom to seek the truth and -freedom to teach.” Some members of the Students’ Reserve Corps were -doing the goose-step on the campus, and some other students jeered at -them from the dormitory windows. There was a fuss about it, and the -commandant of the Reserve Corps wrote a letter to the “Spectator,” -denouncing this disrespectful action. A graduate student of the -university, by the name of William L. Werner, a veteran of the Argonne -fighting, wrote to the “Spectator” in reply, stating that “someone -should inform the major that the war is over.” That was “freedom to seek -the truth and freedom to speak it,” according to President Butler’s -formula; and seven students of the university applied the formula by -coming to Werner’s room at midnight, blindfolding and binding him, -taking him out into the country, beating him with sticks and barrel -staves, and putting him through a cross-examination on “loyalty to the -nation.” And while this was going on in New York, the new ambassador -from Mussolini was being marched in the commencement procession at Yale -University, alongside Chief Justice Taft of our Supreme Court, receiving -the honorary degree of doctor of laws, and proceeding to teach to the -assembled college men a lesson in elementary Fascism. - -I have told how Clark University made answer to “The Goose-step,” by -firing a dozen professors and getting an alumni whitewash. Also Syracuse -University made answer through its new chancellor, whose baccalaureate -sermon I find published in the “University Bulletin” for July, 1923. -Talking confidentially with members of his faculty, Chancellor Flint -admitted that I had “got Syracuse just about right”; after which he -proceeded to mount the rostrum before the assembled booboisie of the -city, and deliver a eulogy of Chancellor Day occupying twenty-four pages -of the bulletin, and starting with the sentence: “Nor am I willing to -allow Upton Sinclair’s clownish caricature to stand as the last -message,” etc. One of the professors sends me this bulletin, with the -comment: “This shows what a Methodist will do for a dollar!” - -Also Amherst came forward to make its answer. I stated in “The -Goose-step” that this college had a liberal president, Alexander -Meiklejohn, who was making a brave fight against the interlocking -directorate. “He is still in office, for how long I do not know.” This -was published in March, and in June President Meiklejohn was fired, and -a dozen of his graduating students had the courage to defend him by -refusing their diplomas. It is amusing to notice that the grand duke of -this board is Dwight L. Morrow of the firm of J. P. Morgan & Company. A -friend of Mr. Morrow’s wrote to me, assuring me that he was really a -liberal, working hard for academic freedom; so I forebore to list him -among my interlocking directorate. Now I learn that he was the prime -mover in the ousting of Meiklejohn! It is worth noting that the -president of these trustees is the head of Ginn and Company, school-book -publishers; and among the other board members is Cal Coolidge, our -strike-breaking president, and Mr. Stearns, his department-store -millionaire “angel”; also Chief Justice Rugg of the Massachusetts -Supreme Court, who is interlocked with Clark University and Ginn and -Company’s Mr. Thurber. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXXVI - THE GOOSE-STEP ADVANCE - - -There are some universities which were not satisfied with the amount of -attention they received in “The Goose-step,” and came forward to demand -more. Most prominent among these is the University of Tennessee. I told -how by devious intrigue its president got rid of a friend of mine, an -excellent professor, on the ground that he was a Unitarian. Two months -after “The Goose-step” was out, the president proceeded to fire -Professor Sprowls, for the crime of having ordered some copies of James -Harvey Robinson’s “The Mind in the Making.” That wasn’t all there was to -it, of course; it had been discovered that Professor Sprowls was a -believer in evolution. Another member of the faculty, Mrs. Hamer of the -history department, was accused of having voted in the recent Knoxville -charter election! “Women have no business to vote,” said President -Morgan; and he told Mrs. Hamer that she would be dismissed if she went -to Nashville to represent some women’s clubs in the interest of equal -rights for women. - -Because of these incidents the faculty of Tennessee proceeded to -organize; they drew up a project for faculty representation in the -government of the university, and some of the students who were ardent -in their support published a little paper called the “Independent -Truth.” Whereupon President Morgan prepared a questionnaire, and -summoned the professors before him and grilled them in the presence of a -stenographer. Had they had anything to do with the proposed constitution -for the University of Tennessee? Were they in sympathy with the -administration and its way of doing things? Had they had anything to do, -directly or indirectly, with the publication of the “Independent Truth?” -Had they attended any meetings dealing with the case of Dr. Sprowls? Had -they signed a petition asking the American Association of University -Professors to investigate conditions at the University of Tennessee? All -whose answers to this questionnaire were not satisfactory were summarily -discharged. One of them was Judge Neal, for thirteen years a member of -the Law School faculty, and the best professor at the university. -Another was a dean, whose crime had been an effort to reconcile the two -factions. The student publications were forbidden to discuss the issue -in any way; and in general the University of Tennessee got a thorough -drilling in the goose-step. - -The Fundamentalists are going right on kicking out teachers of evolution -from colleges. I note an amusing incident at Kentucky Wesleyan: an -instructor of physics and mathematics signed an apology for believing in -evolution, regretting the harm that he had done to the college, and -agreeing not to discuss the subject during the remainder of his stay. He -did this on April 10th, and his job was up on May 29th; the poor fellow -could not afford to pay forty-nine days’ salary to keep his -self-respect! I am told of a less tragic incident at Morningside -College, Sioux City, Iowa, where a professor with a twelve years’ record -was slated to be fired as a believer in evolution, and hit upon a most -ingenious way of saving himself. There was an “examining committee” -appointed—and the professor recommended the head of this committee to -receive an honorary degree of doctor of divinity! - -Some of the professors and students of the University of Missouri were -distressed because their institution got left out of “The Goose-step.” -The president here was determined to get into this volume, so he -canceled a speaking date of Kate Richards O’Hare before the Liberal Club -of the university. Two days later the editor of the St. Louis -“Post-Dispatch” addressed the students of the School of Journalism, -declaring that “the rising tide of intolerance is the greatest menace -our country faces today. The freedom of speaking outright guards our -other privileges; it must be unrestrained, accountable only under the -necessary laws of libel.” And at the end of this address the president -of the university came up to the lecturer, shook his hand and said: -“Sound doctrine; I agree with you.” Lest you be tempted to think that -this university president is mentally irresponsible, I mention that the -board of curators of the university was at this time asking the state -legislature for five million dollars. Also I mention that the students -of this wonderful university took part a few days later in the lynching -of a Negro within sight of the West Campus. - -Also you will wish to know what happened at the University of North -Dakota, where a group of professors, learning from a former colleague -that I was to deal with their cases, united in a written request that I -should refrain from doing so. The latest news from North Dakota runs as -follows: - - I am sorry to say that Professor Ladd seems definitely out at North - Dakota. The Board exonerated him of charges, but will not give him - back his post or reply to his request for a personal hearing. It is a - sad commentary that the faculty up there seem so cowed that it was - difficult to find a few men who would sign a request for the American - Association of University Professors to come in and make an - investigation. The request, of course, has to be made by members of - the local group at North Dakota. One of them recently wrote to me, “I - suppose Ladd feels pretty sore at us because we do not throw ourselves - into it, but some of us have families to consider and we may be too - old to find other positions, especially if we lose our present ones - under these conditions.” The rumor reaches me that the slick Tracy - Bangs is the man who is secretly responsible for the refusal to give - Ladd a square deal. But Libby hasn’t much to brag of, for he is merely - restored, as the letter to him says, “during good behavior.” I have - tried to do what I can for Ladd at long range, and have written over - my signature to various prominent men in North Dakota, but the replies - show me how reluctant these people are to contend against the forces - at work. - -When I visited Pittsburgh I was told a good deal about the rule of the -Black Hand in that community, especially over the Carnegie Institute of -Technology. I omitted these stories at the request of the victims. But -now comes a letter from a student, telling me that some of these men are -gone, and there is to be “another house-cleaning” this year. The student -tells how the secretary of the Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor -spoke to a group of students, and a few days later an instructor stated -to a class that there had come to Carnegie Tech a notice from the United -States Steel Corporation, reading in substance as follows: Last week, on -such and such a day, at the bidding of your economic staff, so-and-so -spoke before a group of students at your school. He spoke in such and -such a room, and said this and that. If the person who is responsible -for this meeting is kept on the faculty at Carnegie Tech, do not expect -any further aid from the United States Steel Corporation. So came the -house-cleaning. - -Another institution which escaped my attention was the Women’s Medical -College of Philadelphia. Immediately after “The Goose-step” appeared, -the board dismissed a professor of seventeen years’ standing, refusing -any explanation or charges. Thirty of the faculty resigned in protest, -among them a number of leading physicians of Philadelphia. - -Also you will be interested to learn that the University of Minnesota -has been saved from Socialism by the intervention of the governor of the -state, who put his foot down on a co-operative book-store which the -students were starting. The governor did not think it proper to have “a -commercial enterprise” on the campus—so the sons of Minnesota farmers -will step across the street and buy their books from a private dealer at -thirty or forty per cent higher prices. - -You will also wish to hear the latest news from the University of -Jabbergrab, which has graduated a class of fifteen hundred students, -more than half of them receiving commercial degrees. I have a clipping -from the New York “World,” March 11, 1923, occupying the top of four -columns: - - NEW YORK UNIVERSITY TRAINS COMPETENT AUTO DRIVERS - - TEACHING INSTITUTION HAS COURSES TO MEET SHORT-HAUL PROBLEMS - -Also I quote a headline from my own Pasadena newspaper: - - KU KLUX KLAN NOW HAS OWN COLLEGE - - VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY IS TAKEN OVER TODAY FOR $350,000 - -Let no one say after this that there is no academic freedom in America! -Also let no one say that colleges and universities are not really -useful. From “Printer’s Ink,” January 18, 1923, I quote: - - M. F. Hilfinger, vice-president of the A. E. Nettleton Shoe Company, - Syracuse, speaking before the Greater Buffalo Advertising Club, - declared that the new University of Buffalo will be the greatest - advertising asset the city has. He said that it is estimated that - Syracuse University brought at least $5,000,000 worth of business to - that city. - -Also Secretary Weeks of the War Department has paid honor to higher -education: twenty-five of our principal colleges were designated for -special honors as reward for their services in teaching young men to -plunge bayonets into imitation human bodies. At the same time the -secretary of the navy went to Princeton and made a patriotic speech, -while the new Art and Architecture Building was dedicated to the honor -of the harvester machinery king. Mr. Mellon, secretary of the treasury, -and one of the three richest men in America, received an honorary degree -from the University of Jabbergrab; he marched through the Hall of Fame, -and listened to the Reverend Woelfkin, Mr. Rockefeller’s pastor, -denounce the Bolsheviks. Mr. Mellon also collected a degree from -Rutgers, together with the “wet” Governor Silzer of New Jersey, and the -dry Mr. Edward Bok, and the magnetic president of the General Electric -Company. Readers of “The Goose-step” have sent me quite a stack of -newspaper clippings, with the annual orations of the interlocking -directorate at the commencements of their intellectual munition -factories. They range all the way down from the chairman of the Standard -Oil Company of Indiana, and include every reactionary idea that ever -sprouted in the head of a prosperous but worried plutocrat. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXXVII - THE GOOSE-STEP DOUBLE-QUICK - - -I have in my collection a number of clippings, which demonstrate how -fast the goose-steppers are stepping their short journey to hell. At the -extremely pious Northwestern, which I have called “The University of -Judge Gary,” four men students, together with four “co-eds,” were -arrested by police detectives in a night raid on a house of assignation. -At this same Methodist institution a group of students were hazing a -freshman, who was so unsportsmanlike as to die during the procedure. The -hazers were annoyed, but decided to bury the body and say nothing about -it. A year later the body was discovered, and a prominent millionaire -relative of President Scott of the university said in a signed -statement: “An investigation of conduct at Northwestern University would -rock the kings of Evanston. The hypocrisy of the whole regime galls me -and disgusts me.” - -Also I notice that at the University of South Dakota a hundred and sixty -men students staged a “pajama party,” in the course of which they -entered the women’s dormitories after midnight, and decked themselves in -various garments of the women, and so paraded through the streets. Also -I note that members of a fraternity at Columbia University have received -letters from a sorority at the University of Alabama, saying that the -sorority was collecting funds for a chapter house, and its members -offered to write love letters to Northern college boys, at the price of -five dollars the series. “Wouldn’t they like to receive once a week, -from now until June 30th, a real, honest-to-goodness love letter from a -little Southern girl?” - -But let no one be discouraged; among my clippings I come upon the germ -of a great hope for higher education. A college out here in Southern -California has received a visit from the football team of Notre Dame -University, a Catholic institution with seventeen hundred students, -located in Indiana. It appears that these mighty gladiators have a -tendency to be nervous, prior to the classic contests upon which their -reputations depend, and coaches and alumni have been consulting -psychological experts to find out what to do about it. The result was a -remarkable discovery: the way to keep football men in proper mental -condition is to take their minds off their work and get them interested -in study! So the Notre Dame football team, along with its trainers and -coaches, brought out here to Southern California a squad of professors, -and recitations were conducted both on the train and in the hotel rooms. -You will realize the overwhelming importance of this psycho-gladiatorial -experiment; if once it should become the fashion for college athletes to -study, the fortune of American higher education would be made. - -Nor is this the only promising sign in college life. At Dartmouth the -students got out an independent paper, called “Le Critique”; I quote a -few sentences, and you will recognize at once that this is a new note in -American under-graduate journalism: - - Dartmouth is graduating about three hundred Babbitts a year to go - forth to exploit others for the good of themselves alone, to become - loyal Americans, and never think. Fraternity life is a joke, without - true brotherhood. The professors are intellectual wrecks, and teach at - Dartmouth only because it would be impossible for them to succeed at - any other trade.” - -A similar incident occurred at the University of Wisconsin, where a -group of liberal students started an independent paper called the -“Scorpion.” In their first issue they made so bold as to print two -chapters from “The Goose-step,” dealing with their own university; the -editors, one of whom was my son, were summoned before the dean and -ordered to submit to censorship. There happen to be some twenty -Socialist legislators in the Wisconsin assembly, and these took up the -matter, and the promise was made that if the student editors were -expelled, there would be a legislative investigation, and some -university deans would be expelled; whereupon it was suddenly discovered -that the dignity of the university would be preserved if the editors of -the “Scorpion” would consent to announce at the top of their paper that -it was independent of university control! - -Also I ought to mention the interesting incident which happened at the -University of Illinois, where Miss Allene Gregory, daughter of the first -president of the institution, was selected to write a biography of her -father, and to have it published under the auspices of the university. -Miss Gregory decided to have the volume published under other auspices, -and stated her reason: - - I have had peculiar opportunities for an intimate knowledge of the - administration of this university since its beginning. I have watched - it grow, through many vicissitudes, on the sound principles of its - foundation, until recent years. - - But it is now my duty to declare that those principles are flagrantly - and continually violated by administrative officers who have come into - power since President James retired. These officers have forfeited the - respect of the faculty and of the student body, and are already making - our university a byword in the educational world. No growth in size or - in wealth can compensate for our loss in morale and in reputation. Nor - can noisy self-congratulation and the suppression of criticism alter - the facts. Those of us who know the situation, and are unbiased, and - are free to speak, should do so. Wholesale rebuke is now our best - service. The safe passage of the recent appropriation bill now removes - the temporary expediency of refraining from criticism. - -You may recall my story of how Mr. M. H. Hedges was kicked out of Beloit -College for writing a novel about it. Mr. Hedges knows our higher -education, and in an article in the “Nation” he gives a description of -the American college student. I yield to the temptation to quote one -paragraph: - - The undergraduate of American colleges has been pictured as an - enthusiast; the fact is, he’s a stone. An apostate to youth, the - psychology books and the general impression notwithstanding, he is - neither passionate, nor impetuously loyal, nor exuberant, nor - impatient of trammels, nor idealistic. On the other hand, he is prim, - correct, frigid in respect to things of the mind; and furtive, - indiscreet, bold in reference to his instincts; and covetous and - greedy in respect to grades, credits, managerships, class - distinctions, and degrees—non-essentials. His favorite word is “pep,” - and goaded by institutional convention he will stand for hours and - shout himself hoarse for a team, but he will callously overlook the - birth of the Russian republic, or the pathetic degradation and - suffering of the Armenian people. He is intolerant of personal - difference and diversity of character and yet clandestinely he will - disturb a college assembly with an inopportune alarm clock, asserting - a right to personal eccentricity. He is everywhere surrounded by - records of the past’s greatness, and blindly moves in a present not - realized. In the classroom he daily examines theories of government - and constitutions, while his own social life upon the campus is a - specimen of primitive tribal life with taboos, hecklings, - mob-contagions, and naive sexual preferences. The fraternity is his - tribe; the college his clan; and in parties and “functions,” he - competes in amorous and pugnacious exploits. - -Also I find in the “New Student”—a most useful little paper which you -can order from 2929 Broadway, New York—an account of the activities of -the National Student Forum, which brought six students from Europe to -visit American universities, with the idea of widening the cultural -opportunities of the youth of both parts of the world. The six students -were divided into two groups, and an American student tells how he took -one group, a German, an Englishman, and a Czecho-Slovak, to visit -American colleges. The presidents of two large universities, Minnesota -and Purdue, refused to allow their precious fledglings to be exposed to -this foreign corruption at all. - -At Fiske they made a two-day visit, and much to their surprise, were met -at the station by the president, and taken in his car to a hotel. After -a supervised breakfast, they were taken to the chapel, and the leader -and one of the European students gave brief talks before the assembly. -Then the student body was marched out with extraordinary rapidity, and -the four visitors were kept in the president’s office. They were lunched -by the president in the Chamber of Commerce rooms; in the afternoon they -were taken for an automobile ride to inspect historic landscapes—and -when they came back the leader made his escape, and was approached by -one of the students, and asked if the visitors could not find a little -time for the students. “The president says you are all booked up!” - -In other words, President McKenzie of Fiske University was devoting his -time to a conspiracy to keep his students from having private -conversation with three young liberals from Europe! Brought face to face -with the issue, the president declared angrily that the visitors had -done the university “a moral wrong” by forcing this issue upon him. But -then, when the party threatened to leave, it appeared that the president -could not afford to have it known that he had refused to permit the -visitors to talk to his students! After hours of “begging, threatening, -and accusing,” meetings with the students took place—and nothing -happened! - -The University of Oklahoma received the visitors at the Y. M. C. A. “Our -reception was cold and clammy.” There was a “get-together” conference -with the student leaders; editors of student papers, athletic champions, -Y. M. C. A. secretary, etc. “It took about two minutes to see that these -fellows were quite convinced that we were Bolsheviks, and another two to -realize that they had gathered together, determined to heed and -understand nothing, but merely to be maliciously unintelligent and -disagreeable.” That evening the three foreign students spoke in nearby -churches; while the head of the party was summoned into a session before -the student leaders. He tells the story: - - For twenty minutes I sat and listened to the “leaders of the campus” - tell me that although they had nothing against us personally, in fact - they rather liked us, still on careful consideration of their - responsibility for “the good of the whole,” they thought the - university, and especially the freshmen and sophomores, too - underdeveloped, and too susceptible to evil influences to hear what we - had to say. And further, that they just wanted to mention that, as the - whole student body was getting angrier and angrier at our presence on - the campus, they thought it best that we leave as soon as possible, - for fear that some student group would suddenly attain the - overwhelming climax of its wrath and throw us out. Could anyone help - laughing at that? I did laugh, and they commended me on taking the - “disappointment” so well. - - - - - CHAPTER LXXXVIII - THE GOOSE-STEP REVIEW - - -“The Goose-step” would have been a failure if it had not excited bitter -antagonism. Many collegians rushed to defend their alma mater; and the -purpose of this final chapter is to review their reviews. - -There must be at least ten thousand statements of fact in “The -Goose-step”; which means ten thousand possible errors. I wish I could -announce that I scored a hundred per cent exactness. I set out to do -that in “The Brass Check,” but it couldn’t be done. I have to rely upon -many other people for my information, and it is inevitable that slips -should be made by some of these; also, it is necessary to type each -manuscript several times—and after that comes the printer and his -“devil,” and three sets of proofs to be read. I am told that some pious -society in England offered a reward of a thousand pounds for an edition -of the Bible without a typographical error; but the reward has not yet -been claimed. - -I begin with my own blunders. There exists in our national capital an -institution called the Catholic University of America; also, in the same -place, a Methodist institution called American University. It so -happened that I did not know of the latter institution, but assumed that -“American University” was an every-day name for the Catholic University -of America. As soon as “The Goose-step” appeared, Father John A. Ryan -wrote me a note, calling attention to my error, which was corrected in -the second edition. This was my most serious slip—and it is amusing to -note that it was not caught in a single one of the several hundred -reviews I have read! - -The most important error which the critics did catch was that referring -to Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. During a -period of a few years there existed an alliance between these two -institutions; and in my manuscript I had referred to M. I. T. as “until -recently a part of Harvard.” My Harvard chapters were revised by at -least a score of Harvard professors, alumni and students, but only at -the last moment was this phrase questioned, by an M. I. T. student, -Phillip Herrick, son of Robert Herrick, who happened to call upon me. I -had him telegraph to the authorities at M. I. T., and get me by -telegraph a statement of the exact relationship. Upon that basis I put -into the proofs of the book, pages 80-81, a footnote giving the facts. - -But, alas, I overlooked the fact that the phrase, “until recently a part -of Harvard,” occurred in two places in the manuscript; there were about -seven hundred pages of this manuscript, and it was hard to remember -every word. I did not correct the other place—and so Harvard and M. I. -T. had an error upon which to base a whole indictment of “The -Goose-step”! The “Technology Review,” organ of M. I. T., even took up -the fact that I put my corrected statement in a footnote; “for a -technical reason of Sinclair’s own”—which sounds very mysterious and -wicked! The fact was that I was making corrections in the proofs, and it -was cheaper to slip in a footnote than to have a paragraph reset. - -Mr. John Macy made strenuous use of this slip in his review of “The -Goose-step” in the “Nation.” Mr. Macy dealt with the book “as a friend,” -and was pained to discover that it was “cluttered with misstatements and -sophomoric conceit.” And pray, how many instances of misstatement would -you think it takes to make a “cluttering”? It took precisely one—this -Harvard-M. I. T. detail! - -As to my “sophomoric conceit” Mr. Macy quoted from “The Goose-step” -(page 11): “In the course of the next year I read all the standard -French classics.” He pictured Brander Matthews answering, with a -superior smile: “My dear young man, a born Frenchman could not read all -the standard French classics in ten years.” Professor Matthews would -love to say something incisive like that; but possibly he would be -honest enough to mention, what my context makes plain, that I was -referring to “standard French classics” as taught in undergraduate -language courses at Columbia, and not to standard French classics as -understood by “a born Frenchman.” - -Mr. Macy was also troubled by the “pathetically absurd egotism” of my -sentence on page 17: “I was as much alone in the world as Shelley a -hundred years before me.” Here is a case of suppression of the context, -so flagrant as to be beyond excuse. In the passage in question I was -criticizing the education I had received from my college and university, -on the ground that it had taught me nothing about the modern Socialist -movement, to which the rest of my life was to be devoted. I took two -whole paragraphs to explain this in detail. The first two sentences were -as follows: “Most significant of all to me personally, I was unaware -that the modern revolutionary movement existed. I was all ready for it, -but I was as much alone in the world as Shelley a hundred years before -me.” Is not the meaning of that statement plain—that “I _felt myself_ as -much alone in the world,” etc.? Of course, I wasn’t really “alone in the -world,” for my millions of Socialist comrades existed, and in the rest -of the two paragraphs I tell how I found them. How came it that Mr. -Macy, indicting “The Goose-step” for being “cluttered with -misstatements,” could bring himself to suppress one half a sentence, and -thus obscure its meaning? - -Fourth and last of this critic’s specifications: “And even his -unverifiable statistics: ‘Eighty-five per cent of college and university -professors are dissatisfied with being managed by floorwalkers.’ Why not -sixty-nine per cent or ninety-three per cent?” The answer to this is -found on page 55 of “The Goose-step,” referring to Professor Cattell at -Columbia University: “In 1913 he published a book on ‘University -Control,’ in which he demonstrated that eighty-five per cent of the -members of college and university faculties are dissatisfied with the -present system of the management of scholars by business men.” The same -matter is discussed more at length on page 401: “Three hundred leading -men were consulted, and out of these, eighty-five per cent agreed that -the present arrangements for the government of colleges are -unsatisfactory.” Now, if Professor Cattell’s questionnaire had revealed -that sixty-nine per cent were dissatisfied, or ninety-three per cent, I -should have given this figure. As it was, I gave eighty-five per cent, -as Professor Cattell records it in his book. - -Also, my respects to Mr. Charles Merz, who gave a page and -three-quarters to kidding “The Goose-step” in the “New Republic.” Mr. -Merz would be disappointed if I passed him over; he says: “There is a -tradition that whoever takes issue with Mr. Sinclair about one of his -own books is certain to be pounced upon, in turn, by an eagerly -dissenting author.” Mr. Merz has a lot of fun calling me Captain -Parklebury Todd: - -/* He couldn’t walk into a room Without ejaculating “Boom!” Which -startled ladies greatly. */ - -This is good fun, and the fact that in the course of it Mr. Merz admits -my entire contention makes it easy for me to share the laughter. Mr. -Merz thinks it natural and inevitable “that able and successful -capitalists ordinarily control the universities produced by capitalism.” -Of course, Mr. Merz; you know it, and I know it—and a lot of other -people know it, since “The Goose-step” has been passed about in -colleges. - -Mr. Merz had one serious objection—that in fifty-six cases I failed to -name sources of information. He doesn’t tell you in how many cases I -_did_ name sources of information; and it seems to me that in fairness -the two figures should have been put side by side. I can only say that I -named my sources in every case where I was permitted to name them; and I -suppressed them in every case where I had pledged my word to do so. Mr. -Merz complains that in some cases I do not even name my “villains”; and -again I think he ought to count up the “villains” I _do_ name. Let me -tell him, in strict confidence: I think I take more risks of libel suits -than any other man in America; but there is a limit to the risks I am -willing to run. I never make a statement unless I feel sure it is the -truth, but I frequently make statements which cause great distress to -friends who happen to be lawyers. As this book goes to press, my wife -sends me a special delivery letter from one of these gentlemen: “Of -course, if Upton _wants_ to go to jail, this is a good way to break -in”—and so on. - -In the case of “The Brass Check,” one of the most prominent corporation -lawyers in the United States read the manuscript, and told me there were -fifty criminal libels in it, and not less than a thousand civil -suits—unless I could prove my charges. Right now I am on the point of -going over “The Goslings,” for the last time before the manuscript goes -to the printer; and in a hundred different places I shall stop with my -pencil in the air, and ponder the question: shall I leave in this name, -or shall I cut it out? And in each case there will be a series of -guesses: what will be in this “villain’s” mind? How much has he done, -and how much will he think I know? And if it came to a show-down, would -this professor or that teacher stand by me? And would I have to travel -to Minnesota, or to Massachusetts, or to Texas to defend a libel suit? -And where would I get the money? And how would my poor wife stand the -ordeal? You see, Mr. Merz, the rôle of Captain Parklebury Todd is a lot -more complicated than you realize; there is really more to it than just -walking into a room and ejaculating “Boom!” - -To come back to the confessions of myself, my secretaries, and my -printer and his “devil”: Somebody—I don’t know who it was—played a trick -on my Vassar story, taking one of the letters of the Y. W. C. A. and -turning it upside down; which brought a worried communication from the -president of that institution, asking if I could possibly be under the -impression that it was co-educational. (I wasn’t!) But I made several -small slips. I got one professor’s initial wrong; I made Finley J. -Shepard a lawyer as well as a railroad official; I made Frank B. Leland, -Detroit banker, a brother to the motor-magnate, and confused Ogden L. -Mills with his grandfather, D. Ogden Mills. I have a letter from Judge -Lindsey, telling me that some high-up educator in Denver proved “The -Goose-step” an unreliable book by the fact that I stated “that J. P. -Morgan was buried from Trinity Church, when as a matter of fact he was -buried from St. George’s Church!” - -In this case I seem to be, but really am not, guilty. In “The -Goose-step,” page 21, I was drawing a humorous picture of the -interlocking directorates, and how they work. I imagined Justice -Brandeis, in his account of these directorates, going from railroads and -steel and coal and telegraphs, to such things as hospitals and churches -and universities. “He ought to picture Mr. Morgan dying, and being -buried from Trinity Church, in which several of his partners are -vestrymen.” Elsewhere I have described Trinity Church as the “Church of -J. P. Morgan & Company”—and this not merely because of its supply of -Morgan vestrymen, but because of the whole spirit of the institution is -Morgan. I was aware that Mr. Morgan himself had his own church, for many -times in my boyhood I attended it, and saw the old wild boar of Wall -Street passing the collection plate. - -Also, I made some statements concerning Delaware, and the benevolent -feudalism which the du Ponts have set up in the education of that state. -My statements were disputed by an elderly gentleman, formerly connected -with Delaware College, and having a reputation as a liberal. On the -other hand, the statements were strenuously sustained by the two people -who had given me the information, and who have reputations as -hard-fighting radicals. Not being able to visit Delaware and make a -thorough investigation, I cut these paragraphs from the second edition -of “The Goose-step.” - -No book of mine can be published nowadays without a report upon the -latest activities of Professor James Melvin Lee, director of the -Department of Journalism at the University of Jabbergrab. I gave -Professor Lee a whole chapter in “The Goose-step,” explaining what a -peculiar antagonist he is—you supply him with evidence, and he pays no -heed to it, but goes right on clamoring for the same evidence. Among -many cases, I listed the following detail: - - Thus, to a single anecdote of Gaylord Wilshire being misrepresented by - the Associated Press, Professor Lee devoted three paragraphs in the - “Globe,” demanding at great length the names of the newspapers and the - dates; I supplied him with the names and dates of two newspapers—but - to no result that I could discover. - -Soon after “The Goose-step” came out I began receiving letters from -college professors and others, asking for the names and dates of these -two newspapers. So I knew that Professor Lee must be up to his old -trick! And sure enough, there came a letter from John Haynes Holmes, -stating that Professor Lee persisted in arguing with him concerning my -truthfulness, and was now basing his case upon the fact that in “The -Goose-step” I stated that I had furnished him with the names and dates -of two newspapers dealing with the Wilshire story—whereas I had done -nothing of the sort. Dr. Holmes requested that I would be so good as to -settle the matter by advising him when and how I had supplied these -names and dates to Professor Lee. - -This issue had come up during my controversy with Professor Lee in New -York “Evening Globe,” mentioned in “The Goose-step,” pages 324-6. The -conduct of this controversy was as follows: Professor Lee submitted his -first article to the “Globe,” and either sent me a copy, or the “Globe” -sent me a copy. I then wrote my reply, and either sent a copy to -Professor Lee, or the “Globe” sent it. Each of us studied the other’s -arguments in detail, trying to pick flaws therein. I presume therefore I -may fairly assume that Professor Lee read my three articles! One of -these three articles bears the date of Thursday, August 4, 1921, and in -it occurs the following: - - IN THE MATTER OF WILSHIRE - - Professor Lee asks about the dates of the story which the Associated - Press sent out to the effect that Gaylord Wilshire had been prevented - from speaking in York, Pa., by a mob, when, as a matter of fact, he - was never in this city. Professor Lee makes three paragraphs out of - this one demand. It happens that Wilshire is away from home. I have - searched his house, but cannot find the volume of “Wilshire’s - Magazine” for 1901. Maybe this volume is in the New York Public - Library or in the Congressional Library. Meantime I can furnish - Professor Lee with two references—the Philadelphia “North American” - for Sept. 9, 1901, and the Los Angeles “Express” for the same date. - -If you will consult the second edition of “The Goose-step,” you will -find that on page 309 I have added in parentheses the words, “A joke.” -This has to do with Mr. Hendrik Willem Van Loon’s adventures at Cornell: -“When he asked to see the Dante collection, they took him to inspect an -electric manure sprayer.” Several reviewers of “The Goose-step” took -occasion solemnly to suspect that in this anecdote Van Loon must have -been “spoofing” me! Not being supposed to have a sense of humor myself, -I am resolved that in future, whenever I do any “spoofing,” or allow -anybody else to do any “spoofing,” I will follow the precedent of -Artemus Ward, and put in the explanation: “This is a goak.” - -Another bit of comedy: In my jesting at Mr. Rockefeller’s University of -Chicago, I wrote: “They are sensitive on the subject of petroleum at the -university; they blush at the mention of the word, and do not admit the -conventional book-plates showing the lamp of knowledge.” This was a pure -piece of phantasy on my part; some more “spoofing,” in short. But, lo -and behold, soon after “The Goose-step” was out, came a letter from a -former student, as follows: “One fact you got, Lord knows how, I got it -straight from Dean Robertson (in an address in chapel); it is a matter -of the rejection of the oil lamp as a symbol in the ‘Coat of Arms’ of -the University.” - - Postscript: As this book goes to press, Vassar College makes the - answer to “The Goose-step” which really pleases me. A formal “statute - of instruction” is issued, granting to all teachers “complete freedom - of research, instruction and utterance upon matters of opinion.” - - - - - CHAPTER LXXXIX - THE CALL TO ACTION - - -I have now said my say, concerning both colleges and schools. I have -given two years to the subject, have written nearly four hundred -thousand words on it—and these words are the truth to the best of my -ability. The problem is now up to the American people, and especially to -the rank and file of school teachers and college professors; the tens of -thousands of devoted men and women who are giving their undivided -thought to a glorious ideal—the delivering of every child in a whole -nation from the curse and enslavement of ignorance. - -This great cause has many enemies—and some of these enemies will try to -use my work to spread distrust of education, and cut down the money -supplies of both colleges and schools. I wish to state explicitly that -the purpose of my study is the very opposite of this; I would have the -American people devote to this cause ten times the money they now -devote—I would have them give all that is given, so that education may -be free from the charity of the rich. But I want them, while giving -their money, to give also their time; to study the schools and school -problems, and see that their money is honestly spent for the children, -and that educational policies are in the hands of men and women who love -the children, and believe in freedom and enlightenment—not, as so often -at present, in the hands of intriguing politicians, and the sycophants -and hirelings of vested greed. The aim of my two books is to set our -educators free from this control of selfish private interest; to awaken -them to their position in a society which is ruled by organized -exploitation. - -When you talk with school and college administrators, you discover that -the thing they crave above all other things is “harmony.” Everyone in -the system must be loyal, everyone must co-operate, there must be an -attitude of cheerfulness; in short, the school teacher and the college -professor must comply with the formula which was frequent in the want -advertisements of “domestics” in the days of my boyhood: “willing and -obliging.” Manifestly, the program I have laid out in this book does not -make for harmony—at least, not right away. If it would not sound too -much like a Bolshevik utterance, I would say to the educator: “Think not -that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a -sword. For I am come to set the teacher at variance against the -superintendent, and the professor against the president, and the -educator against the board of education. And a man’s foes shall be they -of his own school.” - -In a social system based upon justice and freedom we have a right to ask -for harmony; but where the system is based upon injustice and servitude, -to ask for harmony is merely to be a tool of intrenched wrong. So my -advice to teachers and professors is that they should stand up and -assert themselves, and let harmony come when educational institutions -are controlled by educators, and not by the owners of stocks and bonds -and other symbols of parasitism. - -To the educators of the United States—and also to the parents of the -United States—I say: Look about this country of ours. Look at it, not -through the rose-colored glasses of the capitalist press, but look with -your own eyes, and ask if this is a civilization with which you are -really satisfied. A country in which five per cent of the population -owns ninety-five per cent of the wealth, and uses it to increase its -share of income and control; in which ten per cent of the population -exists always below the line of bare subsistence, unable to get food -enough to maintain physical normality; in whose richest city twenty-two -per cent of the children come to school suffering from undernourishment; -whose city slums are growing like monstrous cancers, while the farms are -being deserted because it no longer pays to work them; where tenantry -and farm mortgages are increasing one or two per cent every year; where -crime and prisoners in jails are increasing even faster; where between -one million and five million men, willing to work, are kept unemployed -all the time; where half a million women have to sell their bodies to -get bread to live; where ninety-three per cent of the expenditures of -government are devoted to the destroying of human lives; where the -surplus wealth needed at home is not permitted to be consumed at home, -but is sent abroad to seek opportunities of exploitation, to make our -flag a symbol of greed, and turn our army and navy into debt-collecting -agencies for Wall Street profiteers. Such is America as it really exists -today; such are the facts—and ten thousand fancy-salaried administrators -of education are forbidden ever to mention them, but required to tell -their seven hundred thousand teacher-geese and their twenty-three -million goslings that this is the greatest, the grandest, the most -beautiful and most Christian country that God ever created. - -Perhaps you are satisfied with this country, and my proposals for -changing it do not appeal to you; but even so, that does not alter the -fact that the changes are under way. Our country is in the rapids, along -with all the rest of the world. Modern capitalist society is rushing to -a swift and terrifying breakdown; and this not because of crimes or evil -designs of any man or class of men, but because of economic forces -inherent in it, and beyond the power of our feeble social will to -change. - -Under the scheme of modern industry enormous quantities of goods can be -produced, but they cannot be distributed, because of what I call “the -iron ring” which binds the profit system. The great mass of the people, -being upon a competitive wage, do not get money enough to purchase all -that they produce; hence comes over-production, periodic crises, “hard -times” and unemployment. Out of this is born the labor movement—and this -again not due to wickedness of individual agitators, but to irresistible -economic force. Under the capitalist method of production the great mass -of the workers are under a pressure which I call “the economic screw.” -Their ultimate fate is extinction, and they organize to save themselves; -the first to go down are the unorganized—including that white-collared -proletariat to which the educators are so proud to belong. - -Because no capitalist country can consume its own wealth, every -capitalist country has to seek foreign markets, and in that search it -conflicts with the other capitalist countries. Out of that rivalry grows -war: incessant world-wide war is the abyss into which our present -society is doomed to be hurled. We have seen the collapse come to -Russia; as I write this book it is coming to Germany—and before I write -many more books we shall see it come to the Central European countries, -then to France and Italy, then to England and Japan, and—last of all, -perhaps, but none the less inevitably—to America. - -You will recall one of our famous school orators, recently president of -the National Education Association, defining to the world-educators in -San Francisco the function of teachers—to see to it that to the next war -“we shall not send a soldier who cannot write his name.” Such is the -capitalist concept of education and the duty of the educator. Is it -yours? You may answer that it is not; but take note of this fact—what -you answer makes not the slightest difference. That is what you are -doing, and it is what you will continue to do, under the present class -control of industry; training boys to be loyal servants of the -plutocracy, to manufacture new and more terrifying engines of -destruction, and to go out and die horrible deaths whenever the -plutocracy, in its lust for foreign markets, has brought about such a -condition of jealousy and hate that the people can be stampeded into a -war for the defense of liberty, or democracy, or whatever the rascal -politicians and rascal kept editors choose to call it. That is the -future of our children, and that is the rôle which you, the educators, -are commanded to play—which you _do_ play hour by hour, and with the -perfectly explicit understanding that the penalty of refusal is to lose -your status among the white-collared class, the so-called “ladies and -gentlemen,” and to be beaten down to the status of grimy hands and -overalls and celluloid collars. - -What can you do about this? The first thing you can do is to understand -it; to get those books and magazines and newspapers which your masters -are moving heaven and earth to keep away from you, and in which you may -find explained the economics of the class struggle, and the forces which -are dragging mankind into the pit. - -When you have acquired this knowledge, you will realize once for all -that you can place no hope in the exploiting class. Individual employers -may be kindly and liberal; but with very few exceptions they are bound -in the psychology of their occupation, and the great mass of them are -like every other ruling class in history, drunk with power, and bent -upon their own aggrandizement. In this present world situation they find -themselves confronted with two possible alternatives—world conquest and -class rule for themselves, or abdication and class suicide. In no -country are they going to choose the latter alternative; so you, the -educators under the capitalist regime, are going to fulfill your destiny -as cultivators of cannon-fodder. - -The middle class, in which you aspire to remain, is being ground between -the upper and nether mill-stones. You have seen the value of the rouble -and the mark wiped out; you see the franc started on the toboggan, and -some day you will watch the pound and the dollar travel the same road. -More and more the outlines of the world struggle become clear—on the one -side the plutocracy, and on the other the workers. It is the workers, -and they alone, who can deliver us from slaughter; they alone have the -numbers, the potential power, and they alone have the ethics—being -producers, not gamblers and speculators and wasters. The future world of -co-operation and brotherhood is theirs to make, and all they lack is -ripened understanding and vision of the better life. - -Twenty years ago, when I first came into the Socialist movement, I had -the beautiful fond idea that the intellectuals would furnish that new -psychology. Twenty years of watching the brain-workers climb out upon -the faces of the poor, and take their comfortable stations as retainers -of privilege, have brought me to realize that the workers must save -themselves; they must supply not merely the numbers, the industrial -power, but also the idealism, the moral power. When I appeal to -educators, I am not indulging in youthful utopianism; the salary -struggles of the past six or eight years have brought vividly home to -the rank and file of teachers the fact that they too are workers, and -that, far from being superior to the proletariat, they are actually less -paid and less respected than carpenters and masons and machinists, who -are organized and able to protect themselves in the wage market. I am -not for a moment overlooking the fact that educators are idealists and -social ministrants; but I assert that they are also members of the -intellectual proletariat, having nothing but their brain power to sell, -and I appeal to them to realize their status, and to act upon the -realities and not the fairy tales of the capitalist world. The educator -is a worker, a useful worker, and the educator’s place is by the side of -all his brothers of that class. “Workers of the world, unite. You have -nothing to lose but your chains; you have a world to gain.” - - - - - INDEX - - Roman numerals refer to chapters, Arabic numerals to pages. Names of - colleges and schools are in italics. - - - Adams, Sam, 301 - Addams, 299 - Addicott, 112, 119 - Harvard “Advocate”, 366 - Agencies, 386 - Agra, 402 - _Alabama_, 428 - Alden, 198 - Algebra, 329 - Alleghany, 351 - Allen, Gov., 272 - Allen B. M., 366 - Alpert, 52 - Am. Asso. of University Professors, 425 - Am. Bankers’ Asso., 284 - Am. Bar Asso., 284-5 - Am. Book Co., LXV, 107, 170, 176, 185-6, 189, 268, 300, 303, 311 - Am. Civil Liberties Union, IV, 47, 282, 350, 420 - Am. Federation of Labor, 28, 332, 400, 406, 410 - Am. Fed. of Teachers, 165, 170, 181, 401, 405–6 - American Legion, LXI, 54, 226, 270, 396 - “American Magazine”, 362 - _American_, 433 - “Americanization”, 91 - _Amherst_, 423 - Anaconda, XXX-I - Anderson, J. F., 126–7, 250–251, 255 - Andres, 282 - Andrews, F. F., 274 - Andrews, S. M., 163 - Andrus, 53 - _Antioch_, 413 - Arbuckle, 380 - Architects, 269 - Arkansas, 292–4, 303 - Arlett, 127, 238 - Armour & Co., 312 - Army, 371 - Ashley, 50 - Associated Press, 124, 145, 235 - Atlanta, 398 - Atwood, H., 49, 51, 306 - Atwood, W., XLI, 129 - Augustinian, 201 - Austin, 397 - Australia, 407 - - Babbitts, 108, 392 - Babcock, 33 - Babson, 364 - Bachrach, 107 - Backus, 115 - Baer, 373 - Bagwell, 396 - Ball, 181 - Baltimore, XLIII-IV, 403 - Bancroft, 117 - “Bankers’ Magazine”, 373 - Bardwell, 178 - Barnes, A. V., 185, 189, 319–20 - Barnes, E., 308 - Barrows, LVIII, 120, 124, 328 - Barton, 380 - Bauernschmidt, XLIV - Beals, XXV - Bean, 56 - Beard, 310 - Beardsley, 11 - Beeber, 203 - Belgium, 299 - Belloc, 346 - _Beloit_, 430 - Benicia, 349 - _Bennett Medical_, 98 - “Beowulf”, 390 - Berger, 231 - Berkeley, XXV - Berry, 69, 70 - Better America Federation, I, 36, 47, 228, 421 - Bettinger, 22 - Bible, 145 - Bither, 96–99 - Blackburn, 397 - Blackwood, 87 - Bloch, 107 - Boise, 298, 360 - Bok, 428 - Bolley, 171 - “Bolsheviks”, 237, 243, 252, 260, 273, 286, 314, 367, 385, 392, 432 - “Bolshevism”, 107, 222, 391-3 - Bonfils, 156 - Book Business, LXV-VII - “Bookmen”, 268, 417 - Boone, 353 - Bordwell, 24, 25, 228, 230 - Boston, XL, 177, 266, 270, 367 - Bouck, 144, 327 - Boyle, 204 - Brady, A. M., 359 - Brady, N. F., 331 - “Brass Check”, 433, 437 - Brewer, 404, 407–8 - Briggs, 179 - Bristol, 32 - Broadhurst, 96 - Brookline, 193 - _Brookwood_, 412 - Broome, 206 - Brougher, 26 - Brown, Dean, 156 - Browne, S., 65 - Bryan, W. J., 314 - Buffalo, 399, 427 - Bunker Hill, 308 - Burch, 309 - Bureau of Education, U. S., 281, 372 - Bureau of Standards, U. S., 370 - Burns, W. J., II - Burt, 204 - Burton, 326 - Burzi, 348 - Butler, N. M., 25, 245, 246, 265, 375–6, 380, 421 - Butte, XXX, 390 - - Calexico, 360 - Calhoun, A. W., 412 - Calhoun, P., 110 - _California_, 110, 118, 120, 418–2 - California, XLVIII, 226–7, 326, 328, 360–1, 387, 395, 407 - “Call,” N. Y., 81 - Cambridge, 194 - Cammack, 165–6 - Campbell, 111 - Carlsen, 403 - _Carnegie_, 264, 265, 426 - Carson, 361 - Carver, 291 - Cary, 277–9, 320–1 - Catholic, XL, LXVIII-LXXI, 65, 168, 202, 209, 212, 215, 331, 339 - _Catholic_, 433 - Cattell, 264, 434 - Century Dictionary, 192 - Chafee, 193 - Chandler, 30–32, 51, 120, 418 - Chardenal, 299 - Chase, R. E., 228–30 - Chaucer, 345 - Chauvinism, 299 - _Chicago_, 379, 439 - Chicago, XX, XXII, 242, 266, 276, 324–5, 373, 406 - Child Labor, 189 - Chinese, 398 - Choate, 363 - Citizen, LXXXI, 408–9 - Clancy, 176, 260–1 - Claremont, 312 - “Clarion,” Milwaukee, 232 - _Clark_, XLI, 422 - Clark, E. P., 32, 43 - Clark, H., 38 - Clark, W. A., 150 - Clarksburg, 356 - Clarvoe, 9 - Classroom teachers, 236 - Class struggle, 242 - Clay, 223 - Cleveland, 268 - Clum, 129–130 - Coal, 160 - Cody, 186 - Cohn, 68 - Colby, J., 285 - Colorado, XXXII-III, 349 - Collins, 348 - Collins, M., 379 - _Columbia_, 245, 274, 375–6, 421–2, 428, 434 - Columbia Correspondence School, 221 - “Commercial,” N. Y., 288–9 - Commissioner of Education, 241, 264 - Commissions, 320 - _Commonwealth_, 412 - Compton, 327 - Connell, 160 - Constitution, 18–35, 279, 282–3, 288, 350 - Cook, C., 219 - Cooley, 103–4, 269, 278 - Coolidge, 129, 273, 423 - Copp, 24, 30–1 - _Cornell_, 439 - Cotter, 167 - “Courier,” Ottumwa, 289–90, 310 - Crabtree, 400 - Crawford, 16 - Criminal syndicalism, 5, 96, 227 - Croker, 60–1 - Cronkite, 37 - Cross, 361 - Cryer, 16–17 - Cubage, 292–4 - “Current Events”, 312 - - “Daily Miner,” Butte, 150 - Dallas, 295, 380, 397 - Daly, 324, 359 - Darrow, 24 - _Dartmouth_, 429 - Davis, E. S., 99 - Davis, Director, 208 - Day, J. R., 314–5, 423 - Debs, 271 - Delaware, 279, 437 - Denver, XXXII-III, LXXVIII - Department of Classroom Teachers, 236, 240, 267 - Department of Justice, 21 - “Department of Superintendence”, 227, 236, 268, 274 - Des Moines, LIV, 177, 264, 270–2 - Detroit, XXXVIII-XXXIX, 100–2, 242, 318–20 - Dewey, 75, 405 - de Young, 112 - “Dial”, 80 - Dickson, 32 - Dietz, 332 - Dinkins, 307 - “Direct Legislation”, 134 - Doran, 115 - Dorsey, V, XI, 34–9, 254, 571 - Dotey, 72, 77–84 - Dowling, 341, 343 - Doyle, 37 - Driggs, LII-III, 244–8, 251 - Duluth, 352, 412 - Duncan, L. J., 147–8 - Dunlap, 38 - Dunn, Principal, 57 - Dunne, 95 - Dupont, 279 - - “Eagle,” Brooklyn, 90 - Earl, 418 - “Educational films”, 313 - “Educational Review”, 25 - Edwards, 46 - Edwards, G. C., 397 - Edwards, President, 221 - Eldorado, 350 - “Electrical World”, 418 - Elgin, 398 - Eliot, George, 89 - Ellis, 169 - Eltzbacher, 76 - Emerson, 92, 192 - England, 407 - English, 374 - “Ephebian Society”, 52 - Ettinger, 81–3 - Evanston, 428 - “Examiner,” S. F., 379 - “Express,” L. Angeles, 34 - - Faber, 172 - Fairhope, 413 - Faneuil Hall, 193 - Fargo, 357 - Farmer-Labor Party, 173 - Farrell, 330 - Feitshans, 32–3 - Fifth Avenue, 368 - Filene’s, 404 - Finegan, 205 - Finley, 400 - Fiske, J., 181 - _Fiske_, 431–2 - Fleishhacker, 110–11, 418 - Flint, 422 - Foch, 297 - Ford, H., 100, 106, 185 - _Fordham_, 330 - Fordization, 186 - Forsythe, 66 - Foshay, 22 - “Four-Term Year”, 275 - France, 298–9, 416 - France, A., 299 - Francis, J. H., 23 - Frayne, 84 - Fredericks, 20–32, 33 - “Freeman”, 141 - “Free Press,” Oakland, 127 - French Classics, 434 - Fresno, 361 - Frick, 315 - Frye-Atwood, 196 - Fundamentalists, 424 - - Galbraith, 300 - Gallagher, 112, 119 - Gardner, 237–40, 248, 250, 253, 261, 266–7, 311 - Garrett, 212 - Garrigues, 73, 75, 76 - Garrison, W. L., Jr., 367 - Gartz, 15 - Garvan, 330 - Gary, 102, 350, 352, 421 - Gates, President, 318 - Gay, 272 - “Gazette,” Worcester, 195 - Gellhorn, 172 - General Education Board, LX - Geometry, 329 - _Georgetown_, 330 - Germany, 277, 298–9 - Gerry, 219, 221 - Ghent, 306 - Gibbons, 343 - Ginn & Co., 136, 196, 268, 278, 310, 321, 329, 362, 423 - Giovannitti, 421 - Gladstone, 334 - Glassberg, 78, 79 - Gleason, 322–3 - “Globe-Democrat,” St. L., 169 - “Globe,” N. Y., 438 - “The Goose-step”, LXXXV-VIII, 197 - Goetbo, 396 - Gould, 183 - Gould, H., 368–9 - Gove, 155 - Grand Rapids, 319 - Grange, 326 - Grant, 310 - Gratz, 204 - Green, 166 - Greene, 56 - Greenlaw, 302 - Gregory, 430 - Griffith, 313 - _Groton_, 362 - Grout, XXVII-VIII - Gruver, 201 - Guitteau, 308 - Gwinn, 119, 254, 270 - Gymnasia, 278 - - Haldeman, 27, 32, 47, 51 - Haley, XX-XXII, LIII, 87, 186, 237, 241, 247, 250–2, 264–6, 275–6 - Hallett, XXXII - Halpin, 298 - Hamer, 424 - Hamilton, 54, 301 - Hammond, A. B., 13–4 - Hankins, 201 - Hanna, 113 - Hannah, 151, 304 - Hansen, 41 - Hanson, 129 - Harcourt, 311 - Hard, W., 283 - Harden, 260–1, 263, 246 - Hardin, 152 - Hardy, 345 - Hardyman, 18, 43 - “Harmony”, 440 - Harrison, P., 218–20 - Harrisburg, 412 - Harrow, 80 - Hart, 301 - _Harvard_, 194, 366, 404, 417, 433–4 - Harvard Liberal Club, 288–9 - Harvey, H., 422 - Hays, W. H., 312–3 - Heath, 104, 325 - Hedges, 430 - Heinze, 147 - Hellman, 15, 20 - Helm, 29 - Heney, 110 - “Herald”, 86 - Herberman, 345 - Herrick, 433 - Herron, 318 - Hesse, 170–3, 406 - Hibben, 363 - Hichborn, 347 - Higbie, 359 - Hilfinger, 427 - Hill, A. B., 292–4 - Hillis, N. D., 314–5 - Hirshfield, LXII, 308 - Hollywood, 3, 28, 384 - Hollis, 198–200 - Holmes, J. H., 83, 438 - Homestead, 351 - Hopkins, E. M., 374 - Hopkins, P., 18, 412 - _Hotchkiss_, 362 - Houston, 401 - Houston, D., 291 - Howe, 89 - Hubbard, 144 - Huns, 367 - Hunter, XXVI, 229, 238, 244, 251, 254, 262, 272 - Hughan, 85–6 - Hughes, C. E., 139 - Hughes, R. O., 307 - - Ibsen, 150 - Idaho, 360 - Illinois, 246, 325, 350 - _Illinois_, 430 - Illiteracy, 347, 371, 373 - Immorality, 382 - Imperial Valley, 378 - “Independent”, 138 - “Independent,” Walsenburg, 163 - Indiana, 285, 317–8 - “Individual Strike”, 407 - “Industrial Barometer”, 187 - “Industrial Progress”, 333 - Insull, 109 - Italy, 421 - I. W. W., 5, 6, 14, 130, 145, 179, 272, 412 - Iowa City, 290, 324 - Irish, 192, 193 - - Jabbergrab, 427 - James, 323 - Jefferson, 54 - Jepson, 174 - Jesuit, 193, 200 - Johnson, C. W., 172 - Johnson, H., 421 - Johnson, M., 413 - Jones, O., 245, 255, 262 - Jones, S., 114 - Jordan, 299 - “Journal,” Detroit, 318 - “Journal of A. M. A.”, 98 - “Journal of Education”, 256, 261 - “Journal of Educational Research”, 376 - Joyce, 300 - Judd, 171, 286, 317–8, 327 - Jung, 139 - Jungle, 312 - - Kahn, 114 - Kaiser, 273 - Kansas, 326 - Kansas City, XXXIV, 270 - Karapetoff, 419 - Keane, 340 - Kelley, 378 - Kellor, 385–6 - Kemper, 164 - Kennan, 162 - Kennedy, C. R., 150 - Kensington, 208 - Kentucky, 325 - _Kentucky Wesleyan_, 424 - Keyes, 15 - Kidder, Peabody & Co., 191 - Kimbrough, 10–8 - “Kingdom”, 318 - Kinney, 176, 182–3 - Kipling, 312 - Kiwanis, 202 - Klein, 96 - Knights of Columbus, 202, 332–3 - Knoxville, 424 - Koeb, 386, 397 - Koenig, 12 - Ku Klux Klan, 65, 295, 381, 427 - Kunze, 181 - - LaFollette, 231 - “Labor Age”, 4 - Labor Film Service, 312 - “Labor Review”, 180 - Labor Unions, 387 - Lacy, 38–9 - Ladd, Prof., 425 - Lamont, 362, 366 - Lapolla, 84 - Lapp, 304 - Lassalle, 188 - Laughlin, 188 - Lawrence, 365 - _Lawrenceville_, 363–4 - “Leader,” Okla., 294, 396 - Learned, 220 - Leavitt, 403 - Lee, 310 - Lee, J. M., 438–9 - Lee, Higginson & Company, 191, 417 - Lee-Nyne, 393 - Leesville, 397 - Lefkowitz, 183 - Leigh, 51 - Leland, 437 - Lenin, 78, 79–83, 421 - Leo XIII, 339, 343 - Leonard, W. E., 364 - Levenson, 128 - Levine, 148 - Levis, 275–6 - Lewis, H. H., 333 - Libel, 436 - Lickley, VIII - Lindsey, LXXVIII, 159, 437 - Lippincotts, 188 - “Literary Digest”, 138 - Littleton, LXXIII - Llano Colony, 397 - Lloyd, H. D., 318 - Loeb, 102–3 - “Looters,” The, 160 - Lorain, 352–3 - Los Angeles, I-XII, XLVII, 373 - Lovett, 328 - Lucey, 66 - Ludlow Massacre, 383 - Lusk, 81 - Lowell, 417 - - Macbeth, 33 - MacDonald, Milo, 66 - Macy, J., 434 - Magill, LIII, 247–8, 250–2 - Magna Charta, 406 - Mandel, 302 - Marckwardt, 186 - Marland, 294 - Marquis, 367 - Marshall, 379 - Marshall Field & Co., 108 - Marx, G., 328 - Marx, K., 188 - _Mass. Tech._, 433–4 - Matthews, B., 434 - Maurer, 412 - Maxwell, 67 - McAndrew, 307 - McAndrew, Principal, 107 - McCalley, 399 - McCooey, 66 - McKaig, 297, 310 - McKeesport, 350 - McKenzie, 431 - McKinley, 98–9 - McKnight, 37 - McLean, 220 - McNulty, 345 - McSweeney, 332 - Means, G. B., 12 - Meiklejohn, 423 - Melish, 83 - Mellon, 427–8 - Mencken, 385 - Menzel, 263 - Merz, 434–5 - Metzger, 99 - Mexico, 328–9 - Michigan, 325 - Miles, 277 - Miller, C. G., 303 - Miller, E. L., 188, 305 - Mills, A. L., 130–1, 136 - Mills, D. O., 437 - Mills, L. H., 400 - Mills, O. L., 437 - Milton, 345 - Milwaukee, 231–4, 247, 268, 271, 327, 346, 396 - Minneapolis, XXXVI-VII, 276 - _Minnesota_, 181, 426, 431 - Minor, 12 - Missouri, 324 - _Missouri_, 425 - Mitten, 204 - Monroe, V., 413 - Montana, XXX-I - Moore, E. C., 23, 227 - Morey, 155 - Morgan, J. E., LIV - Morgan & Company, 102, 285, 375, 417–8, 437 - Morgan, Pres., 424 - Mormon, LII - _Morningside_, 425 - Morrison, 318–20 - Morrow, 423 - “Mother-baiting”, 89, 211 - Mott, L., 367 - Moynihan, 99 - Muma, 32, 40–2 - Murfin, 185 - Murphy, 167 - Mussolini, 271, 421–2 - Muste, 366 - Muzzey, 301–9 - Mystic Trumpeter, 394 - - Nafe, 162 - Nashville, 424 - “Nation”, 50, 80, 141, 197, 297, 430, 434 - National Association for Constitutional Government, 286 - National Association of Manufacturers, 226, 276–280 - National Catholic Welfare Council, 231–2 - National Chamber of Commerce, 285, 373 - National Child Labor Committee, 190 - National Council of Education, 372 - National Council for the Prevention of War, 300 - National Council of Teachers of English, 374 - National Educational Association, XLIX-LVI, 119, 125–6, 142, 158, 225, - 372, 407 - National Electric Light Association, 418 - National Industrial Conference Board, 286–7 - National Security League, 274, 287 - National Student Forum, 283, 431 - National Tube Company, 352 - Nationalization of Women, 392 - Neal, Jud., 308-9 - Nearing, 196, 369 - _Nebraska_, 376 - Negro, 219, 425 - Neilson, 358 - New Freedom, 146 - “New Republic”, 50, 80, 138, 141, 197, 434 - “New Student”, 431 - New Robinson Crusoe, 311 - _New School_, 413 - New York, XIII-XIX, 373 - _New York_, 427 - “News,” Dallas, 380 - “News,” Chicago, XX - Newberry, 185, 186, 319, 320 - Newman, 340–1 - Newton, 254 - Nichols, 164 - Noll, 337, 342 - Nonpartisan League, 151, 164, 272, 310, 322, 357 - _Notre Dame_, 429 - North Dakota, 322, 357–9 - _North Dakota_, 425 - _Northwestern_, 428 - Noyes, 220 - Nugent, 164 - - Oakland, XXVI, 230, 258–6, 262–3, 272 - Oaks, III - Odell, 33, 57 - Officers’ Reserve Corps, 180 - Ogden, M., 56 - O’Hare, 412, 425 - Ohio, 390 - Oil, LXXIII - “Oil-Dome”, 251, 259 - Oklahoma, 294–5, 325, 396 - _Oklahoma_, 432 - Older, 110–114 - Olgin, 392–3 - Oliver, 350 - Olsen, 181 - O’Mahoney, 115 - Open shop, 165, 195, 333 - Onaway, 236 - “One-Teacher Schools”, 372, 377 - “Oregonian”, 136–9 - _Organic_, 413 - Otis, 23–29 - “Our Sunday Visitor”, 337, 342 - “Outlook”, 138 - Owen, 239, 244–7, 262 - Owens, 397 - “Owls”, 36–8 - Oxnam, 30, 34–9 - - Pallen, 84, 331 - Parent-Teachers Associations, 48 - “Parochial Schools”, 336 - Pasadena, II, 400 - Pathfinders, 413 - “Patriot League”, 303 - Patriotism, 301 - Paul, Dr., 73 - Payne, L., 52, 56 - Payne, O., 366 - Payne, 169 - Pearse, 233–4, 244, 252, 327 - Pelletier, 332 - Pensions, 264–6 - Pennsylvania, 396 - Peoria, 325 - Pershing, 296 - Petersen, 113 - Philadelphia, XLII, 377 - _Phillips Andover_, 362, 365–6 - _Phillips Exeter_, 362 - Pictures, LXIV - Pierce, LXXIII, 387–9, 390 - Pinkerton, 164 - Pittsburgh, 350–1, 426 - Pius IX, LXIX - “Platoon System”, 100–2 - Plimpton, 321, 362 - Pluhar, 281 - Plum, 289–90 - Plummer, III - Portland, XXVII-VIII, 139 - “Post,” Boston, 348 - “Post,” Worcester, 195 - “Post-Dispatch,” St. Louis, 425 - Powell, 290, 309–10 - Power, A. R., 116 - Power Trust, 418 - Prang, 41 - Preston, LIII, 142, 144, 245, 401 - _Princeton_, 427 - “Printers Ink”, 427 - Progressive Education Association, 413 - Proudhon, 188 - _Purdue_, 431 - Purdy, 173, 178, 182 - - Quale, 49 - - “Rape of the Lock”, 390 - Raynor, 79 - Rebec, 140 - “Record,” Newton, 311 - “Record,” Phila., 305 - “Reds”, 30, 35, 62 - “Red Tape”, 374 - Reed, T. B., 280 - Reedy, 95 - “Review of Reviews”, 194 - Rice, I. H., 8 - Richmond, 16 - Riordan, 398–9 - Riot Department, LXI - “Rip-Saw,” Duluth, 352 - Riverside, 400 - Robertson, Dean, 439 - Robertson, J. D., 98, 100 - Robertson, W. W., 261–2 - Robins, R., 79 - Robinson, J. H., 307, 310, 424 - Rockefeller, LX, 161, 315 - Rodman, XIX - Rolland, 299 - Roman, F., 278 - Roncovieri, XXIII, 119 - Root, E., 265 - Rotarians, 202 - Rowan, 204 - Ruef, 110 - Rugg, 423 - Ruskin, 315 - Russia, 242, 306, 314 - Rutberg, 37 - _Rutgers_, 428 - Ruth, 380 - Ryan, Father, 330, 331, 433 - Ryan, J. D., 331 - Ryan, T. F., 61 - - St. Christopher, 348 - St. Joseph, Mo., 236 - St. Louis, XXXV, 406 - _St. Marks_, 363 - St. Paul, 286 - _St. Paul’s_, 363 - Salary campaign, 26 - Salt Lake, LII, 247, 266 - San Antonio, 401 - San Diego, 271, 296, 378 - San Francisco, XXIII-IV, 272–3 - San Pedro, 6 - San Quentin, 5 - Santmyer, 142–3 - Sapiro, 307 - Sargent, 279 - Schenck, 156 - Scott, Pres., 428 - Schmalhausen, 73–7 - Schmitz, 109–10 - “School Life”, 296 - “School and Society”, 369, 404 - School survey, LXXVI - Schultz, 277 - “Scoring”, 376 - Seattle, XXIX - Seligman, 86 - Shallcross, 204 - Sharples, 141–3 - Shaw, G. B., 188 - Shaw, L. M., 50, 129 - Sheldon, 15 - Shelley, 434 - Shepard, 84, 437 - Shepard-Towner Bill, 272 - Shiels, 25 - Shorrock, 141 - Shoup, 421 - Shutter, 180 - Silzer, 428 - Sinclair, M., 77 - Sinclair, U., 15, 34–5, 53, 286, 422–3, 434 - Slattery, 418 - Smith, Examiner, 66–8 - Smith, Joseph, 249, 252 - Smith, P., 274 - Snobbery, LXV - Socialists, 295, 394, 420 - Socony, LX - Somers, 67 - Somers, H. H., 114 - Sommers, 154 - Southampton, 407 - South Dakota, 324, 359 - _South Dakota_, 428 - South Jersey, 117 - Southern California, I-XII - Southern Pacific, 421 - _Southern Methodist_, 381 - Spain, C. L., 102 - Spillman, 291 - Spokane, 145–6 - Spreckels, 110 - Sprowls, 424 - Soviet Russia, 421 - Stafford, 180 - Standard Oil, 418, 428 - _Stanford_, 420-1, 386-7 - “Star-Spangled Banner”, 212 - “Star,” K. C., 164 - “Star,” Wash., 218 - Stearns, 423 - Steel, LXXII, 426 - Sterling, 178 - Steffens, 83, 203 - Stevenson, 84 - Stillman, 29 - Stockton, 280 - Stratton, 418 - Strayer, LI, LIII, 262–9, 274, 285, 321, 375–6, 377 - Street and Smith, 333 - Strikes, LXXXIII - Studebaker, 403 - Sullivan, 115 - Sullivan, J. T., 144 - Sunday, “Billy”, 25 - Superintendents, 226, 227, 316 - Superior, 377 - Supreme Court, 279 - “Survey”, 138–9, 370, 356, 388 - Suzzallo, 141 - Swain, 264 - Swenson, 176 - “Syllabus of Errors”, LXIX - _Syracuse_, 422, 427 - - Taft, 422 - Tammany Hall, 160, 233, 235, 240 - Tammen, 156, 157 - Tannenbaum, 83 - Taylor, 142, 156 - Taylor, A. P., 413 - Teachers’ Associations, 225 - “Teachers’ Bureaus”, LXXIX - Teachers’ Union, LXXXII-III - “Technology Review”, 434 - “Telegram,” Worcester, 195 - Tennessee, 144, 379 - _Tennessee_, 423 - Terror, Teachers’, LXXX - Texas, 325, 396, 404 - Text-Books, LXI-LXVIII, 298–301 - Thatcher, 79 - “They Call Me Carpenter”, 297 - Thomas, Mrs., 196 - Thompson, Lynn, XXXVI-VII - Thompson, Mayor, 102 - Thompson, W. B., 362 - Thomson, Prof., 201 - Thorson, 322–3 - Thurber, 195, 197, 321, 423 - Tigert, 271, 272, 296 - Tildsley, XVI, 69, 70, 85–6, 90–1 - “Times,” Detroit, 185 - “Times,” Los Angeles, I, III, V, 30, 34, 227, 296, 306 - “Times,” N. Y., 71, 81, 86, 89, 93, 379 - Todd, Capt. P., 434 - Torchio, 419 - Tower, 390 - Townsend, 21 - “Tribune,” Chicago, XX, 105–6 - “Tribune,” N. Y., 86 - “Tribune,” Oakland, 126 - Trotsky, 78–9 - Trovatore, 378 - Tweed, 62 - Tyler, 360 - - Undergraduate, 430 - Unemployment, 385 - Unitarian, 423 - United Press, 10 - University Club, II - Utah, LII - - _Valparaiso_, 427 - Van de Goorberg, 30 - Van Loon, 439 - Van Schaick, XLV - Vanderbilt, 241, 368–9 - Vare, 204 - Vassar, 437 - Veblen, 80 - Ventzke, 396 - Vermont, 265 - Viereck, 70 - “Villains”, 436 - Visional Instruction, 314 - - Wadsworth, E., 418 - Wadsworth, J., 363 - Wald, 84 - Walton, J., 294–5 - Ward, A., 439 - Washburn, 24 - Washington State, XXIX, 326, 396 - Washington, D. C., XLV-XLVI - Water power, 49 - Waters, 24, 228 - Weaver, 27, 28 - Webster, 223 - Webster, A. G., 198 - “Weeds”, 378 - Weeks, 427 - Wells, H. G., 81, 201 - Wentworth, 329 - Werner, 422 - West, G. P., 419 - West, W. M., 301, 310 - West Virginia, LXXIII, 349 - Whalen, 72, 75 - Wheeling, 387 - White, W. A., 164 - _Whitman_, 142 - Whitman, 394 - Whitney, 61 - Wilshire, 438 - Wilson, W., 73, 146, 223, 294 - Wilson, Supt., 400 - Williams, C. O., 238, 240, 245, 270, 273 - Winkley, 174 - Winship, 256 - Wisconsin, #231–4:Page_231, 321, 349 - _Wisconsin_, 429 - Wise, S. S., 83 - Withers, 169 - Woelfkin, 428 - Wolfner, 169 - _Women’s Medical_, 426 - Wood, A., 219, 222–3 - Wood, Father, 111 - Wood, O. G., 149, 297, 380 - Wood, W. M., 365 - Worcester, XLI - Workers’ Education, LXXXIV - Workers’ Educat. Bureau, 411 - Workers’ Party, 12 - “World,” N. Y., 427 - Wright, J. F., 413 - Wyckliffite, 345 - - _Yale_, 363, 422 - Yorke, 115 - Young, 147, 201 - Young, E. F., 108 - Y. M. C. A., 343, 367, 432 - Young Workers’ League, 56 - - Zeuch, 412 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Who Owns the Press, and Why? - -When you read your daily paper, are you reading facts or propaganda? And -whose propaganda? - -Who furnishes the raw material for your thoughts about life? Is it -honest material? - -No man can ask more important questions than these; and here for the -first time the questions are answered in a book. - - =THE BRASS CHECK= - - A Study of American Journalism - - By UPTON SINCLAIR - -Read the record of this book to August, 1920: Published in February, -1920; first edition, 23,000 paper-bound copies, sold in two weeks. -Second edition, 21,000 paper-bound, sold before it could be put to -press. Third edition, 15,000 and fourth edition, 12,000, sold. Fifth -edition, 15,000, in press. Paper for sixth edition, 110,000, just -shipped from the mill. The third and fourth editions are printed on -“number one news”; the sixth will be printed on a carload of lightweight -brown wrapping paper—all we could get in a hurry. - -The first cloth edition, 16,500 copies, all sold; a carload of paper for -the second edition, 40,000 copies, has just reached our printer—and so -we dare to advertise! - -Ninety thousand copies of a book sold in six months—and published by the -author, with no advertising, and only a few scattered reviews! What this -means is that the American people want to know the truth about their -newspapers. They have found the truth in “The Brass Check” and they are -calling for it by telegraph. Put these books on your counter, and you -will see, as one doctor wrote us—“they melt away like the snow.” - - From the pastor of the Community Church, New York: - - “I am writing to thank you for sending me a copy of your new book, - ‘The Brass Check.’ Although it arrived only a few days ago, I have - already read it through, every word, and have loaned it to one of my - colleagues for reading. The book is tremendous. I have never read a - more strongly consistent argument or one so formidably buttressed by - facts. You have proved your case to the handle. I again take - satisfaction in saluting you not only as a great novelist, but as the - ablest pamphleteer in America today. I am already passing around the - word in my church and taking orders for the book.”—John Haynes Holmes. - - =440 pages. Single copy, paper, 60c postpaid; three copies, $1.50; ten - copies, $4.50. Single copy, cloth, $1.20 postpaid; three copies, $3.00; - ten copies, $9.00= - - Address: UPTON SINCLAIR, Pasadena, Cal. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - They Call Me Carpenter - - By UPTON SINCLAIR - -Would you like to meet Jesus? Would you care to walk down Broadway with -him in the year 1922? What would he order for dinner in a lobster -palace? What would he do in a beauty parlor? What would he make of a -permanent wave? What would he say to Mary Magna, million dollar queen of -the movies? And how would he greet the pillars of St. Bartholomew’s -Church? How would he behave at strike headquarters? What would he say at -a mass meeting of the “reds”? And what would the American Legion do to -him? - - _From the “Survey”_: - - “Upton Sinclair has a reputation for rushing in where angels fear to - tread. He has done it again and, artist that he is, has mastered the - most difficult theme with ease and sureness. That the figure of Jesus - is woven into a novel which is glorious fun, in itself will shock many - people. But the graphic arts have long been given the liberty of - treating His life in a contemporary setting—why not the novelist? - - “Heywood Broun and other critics notwithstanding, it must be stated - that Sinclair has treated the figure of Christ with a reverence far - more sincere than that of writings in which His presence is shrouded - in pseudo-mystic inanity. By an artistry borrowed from the technique - of modern expressionist fiction, he has combined downright realism - with an extravagant imaginativeness in which the appearance of Christ - is no more improper than it is in the actual dreams of hundreds of - thousands of devout Christians. - - “Like all of Sinclair’s writings, this book is, of course, a Socialist - tract; but here—in a spirit which entirely destroys Mr. Broun’s charge - that he has made Christ the spokesman of one class—he is unmerciful in - his exposure of the sins of the poor as well as of the rich, and - directs at the comrades in radical movements a sermon which every - churchman will gladly endorse. - - “It is not necessary to recommend a book that will find its way into - thousands of homes. Incidentally one wonders how a story so - colloquially American—Mr. Broun considers this bad taste—can possibly - be translated into the Hungarian, the Chinese and the dozen or so - other languages in which Sinclair’s books are devoured by the common - people of the world.” - - Price, cloth $1.50; paper 75c; postpaid. - - Order from - - UPTON SINCLAIR, - - Pasadena, California - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - _A book which has been absolutely boycotted by the literary reviews of - America._ - - THE PROFITS OF RELIGION - - BY UPTON SINCLAIR - -A study of Supernaturalism as a Source of Income and a Shield to -Privilege; the first examination in any language of institutionalized -religion from the economic point of view. “Has the labour as well as the -merit of breaking virgin soil,” writes Joseph McCabe. The book has had -practically no advertising and only two or three reviews in radical -publications; yet forty thousand copies have been sold in the first -year. - - _From the Rev. John Haynes Holmes_: “I must confess that it has fairly - made me writhe to read these pages, not because they are untrue or - unfair, but on the contrary, because I know them to be the real facts. - I love the church as I love my home, and therefore it is no pleasant - experience to be made to face such a story as this which you have - told. It had to be done, however, and I am glad you have done it, for - my interest in the church, after all, is more or less incidental, - whereas my interest in religion is a fundamental thing.... Let me - repeat again that I feel that you have done us all a service in the - writing of this book. Our churches today, like those of ancient - Palestine, are the abode of Pharisees and scribes. It is as spiritual - and helpful a thing now as it was in Jesus’ day for that fact to be - revealed.” - - _From Luther Burbank_: “No one has ever told ‘the truth, the whole - truth, and nothing but the truth’ more faithfully than Upton Sinclair - in ‘The Profits of Religion.’” - - _From Louis Untermeyer_: “Let me add my quavering alto to the chorus - of applause of ‘The Profits of Religion.’ It is something more than a - book—it is a Work!” - - 315 pages. Single copy, 60c postpaid; three copies, $1.50; ten copies, - $4.50; By freight or express, collect, twenty-five copies at 40c per - copy; 100 copies at 38c; 500 copies at 36c; 1,000 copies at 35c. - Single copy, cloth, $1.20 postpaid; three copies, $3.00; ten copies, - $9.00. By freight or express, collect, twenty-five copies at 80c per - copy; 100 copies at 76c; 500 copies at 72c; 1,000 copies at 70c. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - A New Novel by Upton Sinclair - - 100% - - THE STORY OF A PATRIOT - -Would you like to go behind the scenes and see the “invisible -government” of your country saving you from the Bolsheviks and the Reds? -Would you like to meet the secret agents and provocateurs of “Big -Business,” to know what they look like, how they talk and what they are -doing to make the world safe for democracy? Several of these gentlemen -have been haunting the home of Upton Sinclair during the past three -years and he has had the idea of turning the tables and investigating -the investigators. He has put one of them, Peter Gudge by name, into a -book, together with Peter’s ladyloves, and his wife, and his boss and a -whole group of his fellow-agents and their employers. - -The hero of this book is a red-blooded, 100% American, a “he-man” and no -mollycoddle. He begins with the Mooney case, and goes through half a -dozen big cases of which you have heard. His story is a fact-story of -America from 1916 to 1920, and will make a bigger sensation than “The -Jungle.” Albert Rhys Williams, author of “Lenin” and “In the Claws of -the German Eagle,” read the MS. and wrote: - - “This is the first novel of yours that I have read through with real - interest. It is your most timely work, and is bound to make a - sensation. I venture that you will have even more trouble than you had - with ‘The Brass Check’—in getting the books printed fast enough.” - -Single copy, 60c postpaid; three copies, $1.50; ten copies, $4.50. By -freight or express, collect, twenty-five copies at 40c per copy; 100 -copies at 38c; 500 copies at 36c; 1,000 copies at 35c. Single copy, -cloth, $1.20 postpaid; three copies, $3.00; ten copies, $9.00. By -freight or express, collect, twenty-five copies at 80c per copy; 100 -copies at 76c; 500 copies at 72c; 1,000 copies at 70c. - - UPTON SINCLAIR — Pasadena, California - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - JIMMIE HIGGINS - -“Jimmie Higgins” is the fellow who does the hard work in the job of -waking up the workers. Jimmie hates war—all war—and fights against it -with heart and soul. But war comes, and Jimmie is drawn into it, whether -he will or no. He has many adventures—strikes, jails, munitions -explosions, draft-boards, army-camps, submarines and battles. “Jimmie -Higgins Goes to War” at last, and when he does he holds back the German -army and wins the battle of “Chatty Terry.” But then they send him into -Russia to fight the Bolsheviki, and there “Jimmie Higgins Votes for -Democracy.” - -A picture of the American working-class movement during four years of -world-war; all wings of the movement, all the various tendencies and -clashing impulses are portrayed. Cloth, $1.20 postpaid. - - _From “The Candidate”_: I have just finished reading the first - installment of “Jimmie Higgins” and I am delighted with it. It is the - beginning of a great story, a story that will be translated into many - languages and be read by eager and interested millions all over the - world. I feel that your art will lend itself readily to “Jimmie - Higgins,” and that you will be at your best in placing this dear - little comrade where he belongs in the Socialist movement. The opening - story of your chapter proves that you know him intimately. So do I and - I love him with all my heart, even as you do. He has done more for me - than I shall ever be able to do for him. Almost anyone can be “The - Candidate,” and almost anyone will do for a speaker, but it takes the - rarest of qualities to produce a “Jimmie Higgins.” You are painting a - superb portrait of our “Jimmie” and I congratulate you. - - EUGENE V. DEBS. - - _From Mrs. Jack London_: Jimmie Higgins is immense. He is real, and so - are the other characters. I’m sure you rather fancy Comrade Dr. - Service! The beginning of the narrative is delicious with an - irresistible loving humor; and as a change comes over it and the Big - Medicine begins to work, one realizes by the light of 1918, what you - have undertaken to accomplish. The sure touch of your genius is here, - Upton Sinclair, and I wish Jack London might read and enjoy. - - CHARMIAN LONDON. - - _From a Socialist Artist_: Jimmie Higgins’ start is a master portrayal - of that character. I have been out so long on these lecture tours that - I can appreciate the picture. I am waiting to see how the story - develops. It starts better than “King Coal.” - - RYAN WALKER. - - Price, cloth, $1.20 postpaid. - - UPTON SINCLAIR, Pasadena, California - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Concerning - - =The Jungle= - - --- - -Not since Byron awoke one morning to find himself famous has there been -such an example of world-wide celebrity won in a day by a book as has -come to Upton Sinclair.—_New York Evening World._ - - --- - -It is a book that does for modern industrial slavery what “Uncle Tom’s -Cabin” did for black slavery. But the work is done far better and more -accurately in “The Jungle” than in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”—_Arthur Brisbane -in the New York Evening Journal._ - - --- - -I never expected to read a serial. I am reading “_The Jungle_,” and I -should be afraid to trust myself to tell how it affects me. It is a -great work. I have a feeling that you yourself will be dazed some day by -the excitement about it. It is impossible that such a power should not -be felt. It is so simple, so true, so tragic and so human. It is so -eloquent, and yet so exact. I must restrain myself or you may -misunderstand.—_David Graham Phillips._ - - --- - -In this fearful story the horrors of industrial slavery are as vividly -drawn as if by lightning. It marks an epoch in revolutionary -literature.—_Eugene V. Debs._ - - --- - - Mr. Heinemann isn’t a man to bungle; - He’s published a book which is called “The Jungle.” - It’s written by Upton Sinclair, who - Appears to have heard a thing or two - About Chicago and what men do - Who live in that city—a loathsome crew. - It’s there that the stockyards reek with blood, - And the poor man dies, as he lives, in mud; - The Trusts are wealthy beyond compare, - And the bosses are all triumphant there, - And everything rushes without a skid - To be plunged in a hell which has lost its lid. - For a country where things like that are done - There’s just one remedy, only one, - A latter-day Upton Sinclairism - Which the rest of us know as Socialism. - Here’s luck to the book! It will make you cower, - For it’s written with wonderful, thrilling power. - It grips your throat with a grip Titanic, - And scatters shams with a force volcanic. - Go buy the book, for I judge you need it, - And when you have bought it, read it, read it. - —_Punch_ (_London_). - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - BOOKS - - _By_ - - UPTON SINCLAIR - -=THE GOOSE-STEP= - - A Study of American Education. =Price $2.00 cloth; $1.00 paper.= - -=THEY CALL ME CARPENTER= - - A Tale of the Second Coming. =Price $1.50 cloth; 75 cents paper.= - -=THE BOOK OF LIFE= - - A Book of Practical Counsel: Mind, Body, Love and Society. Published - by E. Haldeman-Julius, Girard, Kansas; for sale also by the author. - =Price $2.00.= - -=THE CRY FOR JUSTICE= - - An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. =Price $1.50 - cloth; $1.00 paper.= - -=HELL= - - A Blank Verse Drama and Photoplay. =Price 25 cents.= - - (All the following books; 60 cents paper, $1.20 cloth, postpaid. Any - three copies; paper, $1.50; cloth, $3.00) - -=THE BRASS CHECK= - - A Study of American Journalism—Who Owns the Press and Why? - -=THE JUNGLE= - - A Novel of the Chicago Stockyards. - -“=100%=” - - The Story of a Patriot. - -=KING COAL= - - A Novel of the Colorado Coal Country. - -=THE PROFITS OF RELIGION= - - A Study of Supernaturalism as a Source of Income and a Shield to - Privilege. - - UPTON SINCLAIR - - Pasadena - - - California - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - Transcriber’s Note - -Each page or chapter reference in the Index is linked for navigation to -the top of that page as it appeared in the original or to the beginning -of that chapter. Since those page breaks are not preserved, the topic -referenced by page may appear on the _next_ page as displayed here. - -There is an error in the Index for Judge Neal and the following item for -Scott Nearing. - -Neal, Jud., 308-9 -Nearing, 196, 369 - -Judge Neal is mentioned only on p. 424. The reference to pp. 308-9 is -obviously intended to be included in the Nearing item. - -Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and -are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the original. -The following issues should be noted, along with the resolutions. - - 16.4 worth not[h]ing what happened Removed. - 41.6 develop addit[i]onal sources of supply Inserted. - 41.30 in transactions such as this[.] Added. - 78.12 the twen[t]y-seven would testify Inserted. - 138.10 “New Republic” and the “Survey.[”] Added. - 142.22 w[b/h]ose purpose was Replaced. - 207.37 who would otherwise [h/b]e barred Replaced. - 253.1 one o’clock in the mornin[g] Added. - 259.38 a majority of[ of] the convention Removed. - 262.18 the gentlemen’[t/s] agreements Replaced. - 297.15 Vice-president Coolidge,[”] Removed. - 326.8 th[e]y have been taken over Inserted. - 373.30 housing for the school children[.] Added. - 374.30 teachers of English are overworke[r/d], Replaced. - 390.13 regard themselves as bold prog[r]essives Inserted. - 396.16 the mobbing of Nonpartis[i]an League members Removed. - 414.39 if peace can be [thoroly] understood. _sic_ - 415.18 Each child will [thoroly] understand _sic_ - 428.8 of their i[m/n]tellectual munition factories Replaced. - 437.32 “Church of J. P. Morgan & Company[”] Added. - 446.51 Dorsey, V, XI, 34–9, 254[, 571] Invalid. - 454.9 [“]Times,” N. Y., 71, 81, 86, 89, 93, 379 Added. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOSLINGS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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