(3) They believe that the United States public-school policy should be shaped by persons who believe in and who understand the public schools-persons who are patriotic and who are actively supporting the Constitution of the United States, while at the same time they are actively opposing any alien or subversive propaganda in the schools.

LOCAL GROUPS OF PARENTS AND TAXPAYERS

(4) It is an organization of citizens who are interested in public education who are willing to give enough time to the study of the problems of public education to thoroughly understand them, and then to take such action, in the various school districts, counties and State governments, and finally the United States as will best promote and defend the public schools from every danger that may threaten. (5) The Friends of the Public Schools of America has been developing into its present form over a period of 7 years starting in Chicago, Ill.

(6) State branches are being organized in all States and these State organizations cooperating with the national headquarters will be prepared to speak up in defense of the free public-school system when any adverse proposals are made, whether in counties or municipalities, the States or the Nation.

(7) The Friends of the Public Schools of America are not opposed to private or religious schools which are truly American in character and maintain a proper standard of instruction and which also teach patriotism and loyalty to our Government. Such schools must not however be supported in whole or in any part from public funds.

FREE TAX-SUPPORTED SCHOOLS, PURELY AMERICAN

(8) The public-school system of the United States (that is free public schools open to all children without distinction as to race, color, or religion or even whether citizen or alien) is a purely American institution founded by the men who fought the war of the Revolution, on the belief that a democracy where all have a voice in the government, can only endure if the citizens are educated sufficiently to study and understand the Constitution and laws under which they live and practice the rights of citizenship.

(9) It is proposed to publish a monthly bulletin to inform members of the organization concerning all new developments that appear efficient in aiding public education, to point out dangers which threaten the public schools, and to suggest the best line of action in school districts, in counties, cities, States, or the United States.

GENERAL STATEMENT

Many people will ask, "Why the Friends of the Public Schools of America?" i. e. why another organization when there are so many already?

The answer is: "There is no organization whose sole or even whose principal purpose is the improvement, protection and preservation of our free public-school system in every phase of our national life," such as:

(1) Historical growth, development and influence on American life in general; (2) Present needs of the schools not alone in a financial way but also as to courses of study, school textbooks, character and training of teachers, training in the fundamentals of citizenship, our Constitution, patriotism, respect for our flag-in fact, in everything that affects public education;

(3) The question of the general control of the schools and the relationship of teachers to the parents and to the Nation, the State, the county, and the local school authorities; how and where money is to be raised and how and under whose control money raised by public taxes for schools is to be spent;

(4) Opposition to the use of public funds for the promotion and support of private and sectarian schools, whether operated for profit or not; opposition to teaching the children of the various foreign races in the United States in the language of those races instead of making English the basic language of instruction in all grammar grade schools, public or private, religious or fraternal.

WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS-21 YEARS FOR PREPARATION

Washington, in his farewell address, one of the greatest public documents in American history said, "Promote, then, as an object of primary importance institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of government gives force to public opinion, it should be enlightened."

The Declaration of Independence, written 21 years before Washington's Farewell Address, began its second paragraph with these immortal words: "We hold

these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

In the 21 years between the Declaration of Independence and his farewell address, Washington had struggled through 8 years of perilous war, 6 years of almost equally perilous peace, and more than 7 years of intensive work as President in making of the Constitution a living, vital thing and thus creating a nation which has grown to undreamed of wealth, population, and power in 150 years.

The last sentence of the Declaration of Independence as quoted above states that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and the Constitution, devised under the guidance and direction of Washington himself, was written for the express purpose of carrying that fundamental idea into effect. And Washington, in 1796 wrote into that farewell address all the wisdom gathered during 21 years' experience in trying to make the Declaration of Independence a beautiful promise and not a mockery of words.

Washington foresaw that if the people are to control the government, as they should if the government is to derive "its just powers from the consent of the governed," they must be an educated people-educated in the science of government in general and particularly in the science of the government of the United States, without religious, political or racial bias.

VALUE OF BROAD UNBIASED KNOWLEDGE-FORCE OF PUBLIC OPINION

Washington likewise foresaw the need of educating the public as a whole, and not in special groups so he wrote in his farewell address the sentence, "Promote, then, as an object of primary importance institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge."

It will be noted that Washington uses the word "knowledge" in the broadest sense i. e., general knowledge. Such knowledge can not show partisanship in politics, sectarianism in religion, or confusion in the scheme of government. It must be knowledge as distinct from opinions. It must be basic, as the science of numbers, as the science of reading, writing, and spelling, of geography, history and the moral law founded on a broad background of religious belief.

And then Washington added these words: "In proportion as the structure of government gives force to public opinion, it (public opinion) should be enlightened.” While the government set up by Washington under the Constitution April 30, 1789, was an unprecedentedly liberal one for those days, and extended the rights of citizenship (which alone "gives force to public opinion") to an unheard of degree, we have gone in recent years far beyond Washington's days by granting voting privileges to women and others, thus broadening immensely the force of public opinion.

Should not then the "general diffusion of knowledge" be increased so that the added "force" we give to "public opinion" is an enlightened one in the correct sense of being education in fundamentals, nonpartisan, nonsectarian and thoroughly American?

NO PUBLIC FUNDS FOR PRIVATE OR SECTARIAN SCHOOLS

There has recently arisen a demand that private and sectarian schools shail be supported by public funds, either wholly or in part, thereby increasing the cost of public education and also creating a division of public-school funds between public and church schools in violation of the American ideal of separation of church and State, in addition to being hurtful to the public schools through decreasing the funds available for them. The use of public funds to promote private or sectarian schools, or schools to promote foreign racial or politica: ideals is incompatible with that “enlightened public opinion" which alone makes a nation a free people.

Care also must be taken to see that the increase of nonessential fads and fruls in education shall not be permitted to crowd out those fundamentais which 150 years of teaching have made of the United States of America the richest and most desirable dwelling place on the face of the globe.

FIRST CENTURY OF OUR NATIONAL LIFE

For the first century of our national life, the free public school was the very direct concern of every parent, and, for that matter, of all good citizens, including those who had the misfortune to have no children. The good of the public

The

school was a subject in which everyone took a deep and vital interest. financial support of the school was in the hands of the neighborhood. Debating societies, spelling bees, school closing exercises with presentation of gifts for excellence in school, were neighborhood events of first-class importance in which everybody took part and pride.

The quality of the teaching was high! If anyone doubts the success of the schools of that day let him consider the unprecedented progress of the United States in all of the arts and sciences during that period. From a vast wilderness, the Nation grew across the continent and achieved more human progress than any other nation attained in a thousand years.

As further evidence of the value of the methods used in the public schools in the "old days," we see those methods being copied today by the formation in many States of spelling bees, debating societies, and similar activities in the public schools.

Friends of the Public Schools believe it wise to encourage a return to the teaching of fundamentals and to the renewal of the keen interest of parents including those, who, having no children or whose children have grown up, are yet strongly interested in the public schools.

Fundamentally that is the basic idea back of the organization of the Friends of the Public Schools of America.

The foundation laid for the ambition to succeed, the thirst for more knowledge, all that relentless drive to wrest from nature the secrets of the soaring eagle, the depths of the ocean, or the speed of the wind came from the free public school, and the deep family interest in that school.

NINETY PERCENT OF ALL AMERICAN CHILDREN ATTEND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Upon the proper support, development and protection of the public schools, depends the whole future of the Nation. That is conclusively shown by the fact that more than 90 percent of all children in the United States between the ages of 5 and 13 attend the public schools.

Among the most important matters to be considered by the Friends of the Public Schools, is how to prevent the introduction into the public schools of unwise theories and unwise experiments in education.

The Friends of the Public Schools of America propose through organizations of friends in every county and eventually it is hoped in every school district, to encourage a keen, persistent, and enlightened interest in the public schools to the end that the youth of America may be thoroughly grounded in the fundamentals of knowledge-reading, writing, and arithmetic and the other courses which go with them, including a thorough knowledge of our Constitution, those who wrote it, their background, and the development of our Nation under the Constitution.

DANGEROUS TEXTBOOKS.

SUBVERSIVE PROPAGANDA. LOYALTY TO THE UNITED

STATES

Knowledge is power. Whether that knowledge is power for good or evil depends on the activity of the man who wields that power. The monthly bulletin to be published will contain information concerning dangers arising from improper textbooks, from legislation in various legislative bodies in the United States, and from the introduction of subversive propaganda against our form of government, our ideals and national heros and any other dangers to the public schools and the Nation that may arise from time to time.

Children in the free public schools and in all other grammar and high schools must be taught American history, American ideals of liberty, justice, morals, truth, tolerance, courtesy, honesty, kindness, fair play, respect for the Christian and other religions, and for the aged, temperance, chastity, and fidelity with devotion to the Constitution of the United States and respect for our flag.

THE MONTHLY BULLETIN

The Monthly Bulletin will carry information in regard to matters concerning education that come up in Congress and elsewhere, and particularly those things that affect the public schools.

Many bills have been introduced in the Congress of the United States seeking to appropriate hundreds of millions of dollars, and many more will be introduced which vitally affect the public schools either through moneys appropriated or laws passed influencing, extending or restricting the schools themselves. Sug

gestions will be made as to what bills are good or bad and whether the bills should be passed, defeated or amended, and if amended, then in what manner. Each month this information will come to you in the Bulletin, as well as other information that may affect the public schools or be of interest to the parents and all other taxpayers who support the public schools.

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION IS TYRANNY

If you do not want to be taxed without representation, that is, without a voice as to what your taxes shall be used for so far as schools are concerned; and also if you want information on other matters affecting the public schools referred to above, join the Friends of the Public Schools of America by signing and sending to your State chairman the enclosed application blank for membership.

Senator AIKEN. Thank you, General.

The next witness is Mr. William F. Saunders. Mr. Saunders.

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM F. V. SAUNDERS, HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK CITY, INC.

Senator AIKEN. Will you state your name and whom you represent for the record?

Mr. SAUNDERS. The High School Teachers Association of New York City, an organization of 5,000, favors the principle of Federal aid for education. We believe that the Eightieth Congress should enact legislation appropriating sufficient funds to meet the needs of all the States to bring the several systems of education up to a level commensurate with the economic, political and scientific development of the Nation. This is an era of the upsurge of the great body of our citizens to greater heights of ambition, attainment, and living. Why should there always be a cultural lag? Certainly you accept the principle that education pays not only economically but also in terms of human happiness, a constitutional right of the American people. We believe that you are fully justified in giving aid to the States in the light of existing statutes and we believe that it is an obligation binding upon you to assume responsibility at this time, now, for seeing to it that America takes its place as a leader in education as well as in politics, economics and science. The school child of today is the captain of industry of tomorrow. The product of a broken down school system of today can only lead to distress and disintegration of the American way of life in the years to come. Welleducated America will lead the world in politics, in economics, and in science. Are you aware that one of our largest universities had only eight science majors in 2 years who chose teaching as a career? Overwhelming evidence points to an even worse situation for education in the years to come than which exists today.

Vocational-guidance teachers are torn between love and duty when they hesitate to suggest that students take up teaching. Certainly unless the profession is made more attractive America is going to face a bankrupt system of education in a period that promises the greatest political and economic development a nation ever experienced. Certainly you want to discover and train those who are best able to lead us in the future. You want also to find and develop the best brains we have for guidance in a scientific age that may exceed even the greatest of our imaginations of today. The teachers of America know that this Nation possesses the greatest potential human wealth a nation ever enjoyed but it must be discovered and developed to its

utmost by the best possible teachers if we are to cope with these highly complex problems in the future. To neglect at this time to recruit the best possible teachers is to commit future national suicide. We recommend that sufficient Federal funds be appropriated to enable all States to pay sufficiently high minimum and maximum salaries in order to attract the highest type of young men and women to teaching. We further recommend that the appropriation be continuous so that the various school systems will be enabled to keep the best personnel.

Our loss during the past 6 years was 350,000 teachers above the normal expectancy. Only by the highest skill and competency of the teaching staffs can a system develop the best of its students to their fullest and only by a sound permanent system of finance can this be assured. Federal aid will tend to add permanency to systems adequately established. State aid too often depends upon economic conditions. Often school aid comes from local nuisance taxes thus antagonizing the public and causing loss of public support and consequent cuts in educational budgets.

We urge you to end forever the making of political footballs, kicked between governors and mayors of what should be a community's most valuable possession: an adequate educational budget.

We recognize that inequalities of standards of instruction exist between the States, often to the point where only the barest of essentials are taught and these without forced attendance. The per capita income varies with the several States. The income per school child, likewise, varies from an estimated $9,000 down to $2,000. This is a constant problem which should be considered by the Federal Government as a national problem for solution by Congress as well as the States and not by the States themselves. We recommend that as a policy the Federal Government equalize educational opportunities by outright grants to the States based upon their ability to pay the costs of a minimum, sound-educational program. Certainly it cannot be considered a financial burden too heavy to face when we are spending only 1.5 percent of our national income on education. We believe that it would be sound policy for the Federal Government to lead in spending up to 5 percent of our estimated postwar income for educational purposes. This would amount to, roughly, $6,000,000,000 a year over all. The stimulus for increasing educational expenditures nationally can readily be given by the enactment of an appropriation measure providing for $250,000,000 a year to the neediest States and an additional appropriation, based on the number of children 5 to 17 years of age in each State, so as to enable all States to participate. Inequalities of opportunity are found within States as well as amongst States and an appropriation of a given amount per child would provide for all the children wherever they may live. An appropriation of only $3 per census-child would amount to only $50,000,000 but should provide a clear-cut picture of the responsibility each State owes to each of its children: The right to a wholesome youth spent in the happy surroundings of a completely staffed school run by satisfied teachers and providing adequate facilities and equipment to enable the individual child to live in situations that are physically wholesome, mentally stimulating and satisfying, socially sound, and which enable him to make good for the best that is in him without any artificial limitations placed