our membership is shrinking is that very few of them belong to the owning class or to labor unions and they are kind of ground out between the lower and upper millstones. It is not that they do not agree with our policies that more are not contributing, but they are simply broke, a whole lot of them.

Until within a year or so, I discussed this question all over the country and our board of directors has repeatedly favored, as I know the majority of our members do, Federal aid to education. But I can emphatically say that there shall not be any of this money raised by taxing our members of the People's Lobby as well as others of small means, to support any nonpublic schools.

No arguments are required to prove the need for Federal aid to tax-supported public schools. That need has been fully shown.

The real question is why the Congress of the United States, sworn to uphold the Constitution, which requires separation of church and state, has for 8 consecutive years succumbed to the controls of the Catholic hierarchy, and refused such aid, because it was not also given to parochial schools.

That is the question that is involved and I think the American people and, fortunately, Protestant denominations, are waking up a little.

That the American Federation of Labor has joined this Catholic conspiracy against the children of Americans is simply another proof that part of the labor movement in America needs to clean house itself, or the American people will clean labor's house for it.

No subterfuge or evasion can avail to cloud the issue which is: Are Members of Congress for the children of America, all of whom, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish, are admitted to public tax-supported schools, or for a Catholic supergovernment in America?

Congress, and immediately this committee, cannot any longer ignore this challenge, of the Catholic hierarchy and its stooges in the labor movement, to the supremacy of established government in America.

A few weeks ago-I think it was in March-Coadjutor Archbishop J. Francis A. McIntyre, of New York City-I am always grateful that the Members of Congress have a brief title, Senator or Representative, it is very fortunate you do not have about 16 titles to go by-but this Coadjutor Archbishop J. Francis McIntyre, of New York, and other Catholic prelates in March issued a statement on education, and I quote:

Education is not the function of the state. Education is the function of the parent. If the statement that education is a state function is written into the law, it will permit future encroachments on the parental function of education. That is what we mean by the infiltration of Communist ideas.

That is a new conception of communism.

As to whether the Catholic schools need the money, on the first day of Lent, Pope Pius XII, the present Pope, broadcast an appeal to Catholic school children in America to help "lost" children abroad. I will not read it as it is a rather long statement, but he referred to the fact that there were about 2,000,000-what did he call it-in the elementary classes. He said, "You are more than 2,000,000 strong in the elementary classes." And then he said, "Add to your number another half million of your older brothers and sisters in the

high schools and colleges and what a mass of testimony you present to the faith of your mothers and fathers, to their spirit of self-denial and generosity in safeguarding that faith for you, their dearest

treasures.

If there are only 2,000,000 children in Catholic parochial schools, it is quite obvious that less than half, considerably less than half, of the number of Catholic children, that is, children of Catholic parents, are in parochial schools. It is quite obvious, or seems so to me, that the majority of Catholic parents do not regard, as the Pope seems to, the American public school as the fount of all evil, for he says:

What a mass of testimony

talking to the children

you present to the faith of your mothers and fathers, to their spirit of self-denial and generosity in safeguarding that faith for you, their dearest treasures.

You can never thank your parents enough for sending you to your Catholic schools.

The pope also informed American taxpayers that children in Catholic schools are well-clothed, shod, fed, and sheltered. I am glad to hear it. But if they are, there certainly does not exist any reason why Congress should use any of the small amount of money which it is going to be able to appropriate this year to help such children and the parents who are religious snobs or they would send their children to public schools. Why should we help them when there are literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American children who are going short not only on educational facilities but who are not either well-clothed, fed, or housed?

We hope that this year Congress will show it is not controlled by the Catholic hierarchy; will strike out that provision of the bill which is chiefly under discussion and will proceed to turn American for a change. It would help us very much in our international relations.

A striking thing has happened in the few months since I last had the pleasure of appearing before this committee on this subject. You may recall that the Lateran Pact was made between the pope and Mussolini -the then pope, of course in 1929. Well, the Italians did not like it but the Italian constitutional convention has just renewed that Lateran Pact with the somewhat ambiguous and strange collusion of the Communist members of the assembly. We are not going into any such combination, I take it.

I said I would be brief. I have been; and I trust that you will report this bill out purged of the un-American provision which somehow or other found its way into the bill, permitting the giving of Government funds to non-Government schools.

If there are any questions I would be glad to try to answer them. Senator AIKEN. Are there any questions to be asked of Mr. Marsh. (No response.)

Mr. MARSH. I hope this signifies complete agreement.

Senator AIKEN. No one guarantees that. I would not guarantee it. Thank you, Mr. Marsh.

The next witness is Stanley Feingold, New York legislative director of the Young Progressive Citizens of America.

STATEMENT OF STANLEY FEINGOLD, NEW YORK LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR, YOUNG PROGRESSIVE CITIZENS OF AMERICA

Mr. FEINGOLD. "Educate and inform the whole mass of the people," said Thomas Jefferson. "They are the only sure reliance of our liberties." We echo the words of Jefferson; if we mean what we say when we speak of American democracy, then we mean that every American regardless of race, color, creed, or economic status is entitled to a free, adequate, and equal opportunity for education. If we mean freedom when we say freedom, we shall extend to all Americans the freedom to know, the freedom to learn to the limit of their capacity to learn. It is precisely this freedom-a freedom from ignorance and prejudice which can best keep America free.

Because the people's educational needs are great we must act boldly. Because our failure to meet these needs is grave we must act promptly. Young Progressive Citizens of America urges that this committee recommend the adoption by the Congress of a just and generous program of Federal aid to education.

We are aware of the crisis in American education. Twenty million adult Americans lack education above the sixth grade, according to the National Education Association. Sixty percent of the American people over 25 years of age have not completed high school. The Harvard Committee on the Objectives of a General Education in a Free Society points out that only 60 percent of the children from middle-income families and 30 percent from low-income families graduate from high school.

Many States, and many areas within States, fail to meet their minimum needs in quantity, quality, and accessibility of educational facilities. An alarming shortage of teachers, variously estimated at from 200,000 to 500,000 teachers, denies competent instruction and guidance to millions of children of school age. One-tenth of all teachers of the United States have temporary emergency certificates, indicating their inability to meet minimum teaching standards. The present low enrollment in teachers' college-65,000-little more than one-half of the 1940 enrollment, indicates a rapid intensification of the teaching shortage. Low salaries, resulting in an actual decrease in real wages between 1939 and 1946 for public-school teachers, have helped to bring about what the National Education Association calls one of the greatest vocational migrations in our Nation's history.

The States are unprepared and unable to alleviate the crisis. The average annual expenditure in public elementary and secondary schools in 1944, according to the United States Office of Education, varied from $203 to $42 per pupil among the States. The expenditures per pupil very even more widely within the States. Sixteen States spend a greater proportion of their income than New Jersey for the support of education, yet New Jersey ranks first in expenditures per school child. The States have failed, because the Nation's income is not always earned where the Nation's children are to be educated. The States have failed, because without adequate Federal aid they cannot succeed.

Young Progressive Citizens of America therefore urges that the Congress enact a comprehensive program of Federal aid to education. We urge the reintroduction of a measure similar to S. 2499, introduced

in the second session of the Seventy-ninth Congress by Senators Murray, Morse, and Pepper. Such a measure would authorize the expenditure of a 10-year average of more than a billion dollars a year.

We commend the several Senators who have introduced legislation during this session of the Congress to extend Federal aid. We offer our qualified recommendation of the bill proposed by Senator Aiken, S. 199. This bill, if enacted into law, would be a notable step forward in this field.

We must, however, stride forward to meet the needs of our Nation's children and the challenge of our Nation's future. We therefore urge that legislation adopted by the Congress should:

Appropriate at least $1,000,000,000 a year for 10 years.

Extend direct aid for the purpose of raising teachers' salaries. Assure the fair distribution of these funds within the States to achieve equal educational opportunity for all persons regardless of race, color, or creed. We deplore the existence of segregated educational facilities. A democratic government must deny the existence of unequal facilities.

Extend Federal aid to institutions of higher learning, and establish a system of scholarships and fellowships in order to make higher education available to more qualified young people.

Bar the appropriation of Federal funds, directly or indirectly, for the support of schools of religious instruction. Such an appropriation would be inconsistent with the separation of church and state established by the Federal Constitution.

Because our faith in democratic government is an avowal of our faith in an intelligent and educated electorate, we must evince that faith in clear and unmistakable terms. No more eloquent declaration of this faith could be given than the preservation and extension of our free public-school system.

We know the need, and we know it can be met. We have heard teachers and administrators. We have heard civic and religious leaders. If we could hear the young people of America, they would say: "Give us the right to an education. Do not deny us the opportunity to make a greater contribution to industry and agriculture, to the arts and to science, and to the professions. Do not deny the American promise of opportunity limited only by a person's capability.” In speaking for the thousands of young people in Young Progressive Citizens of America, I am speaking for uncounted thousands unable to receive or to afford a fuller education.

The greatest gift this Nation can bequeath to its children is the knowledge and understanding which would eliminate ignorance, hate, and war. In giving that gift of greater and better education, no cost can be too high. For Federal aid to education is not really a gift, but an investment in America and America's children.

Senator AIKEN. Thank you. Senator Donnell has a few questions to ask of you.

Senator DONNELL. Mr. Feingold, what is the Young Progressive Citizens of America?

Mr. FEINGOLD. The Young Progressive Citizens of America is the youth division of an organization called Progressive Citizens of America.

Senator DONNELL. Is the Young Progressive Citizens of America a corporation?

Mr. FEINGOLD. No; it is not.

Senator DONNELL. Is the Progressive Citizens of America, of which the organization you represent is a subdivision, a corporation?

Mr. FEINGOLD. I really do not know if it has been incorporated. Senator DONNELL. Where is the office of the Young Progressive Citizens of America?

Mr. FEINGOLD. The national headquarters are in New York City. Senator DONNELL. What street address, please?

Mr. FEINGOLD. The street address is 205 East Forty-second Street, New York City.

Senator DONNELL. And how large a membership does the Young Progressive Citizens of America have?

Mr. FEINGOLD. The membership at the present time consists of approximately 4,000 young people.

Senator DONNELL. Where are they located in the main?

Mr. FEINGOLD. They are located in metropolitan areas and on a number of college campuses throughout the country.

Senator DONNELL. Who organized that organization?

Mr. FEINGOLD. It was organized in the main by young people themselves, young people in industry and agriculture, and young people on college campuses.

Senator DONNELL. Do you recall who the particular individual was who started the movement?

Mr. FEINGOLD. I do not believe there was any single individual. Senator DONNELL. Well, there was a group of individuals, was there, who started it?

Mr. FEINGOLD. The organization sprung up virtually simultaneously in many areas of the United States this past summer and the summer of 1946. Individuals on college campuses and in some communities, notably New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere, organized chapters of this organization feeling that young people of college, young people in industry, and young people in agriculture should band together in a common organization for progressive causes.

Senator DONNELL. Now, referring to the parent organization, the Progressive Citizens of America, who is the head of that organization? Mr. FEINGOLD. The national cochairmen of the Progressive Citizens of America are Mr. Joe Davidson and Dr. Frank Kingdon.

Senator DONNELL. What is the profession of Dr. Frank Kingdon? Mr. FEINGOLD. Radio analyst at the present time. He is a former college instructor and professor. Mr. Davidson is, of course, the noted sculptor.

Senator DONNELL. And where is Dr. Kingdon located?

Mr. FEINGOLD. I really cannot say.

Senator DONNELL. How long has the Progressive Citizens of America, that is to say, the parent organization, been functioning? Mr. FEINGOLD. The Progressive Citizens of America was created at a national convention on December 28 and 29, 1946. It was formed of a merger of the National Citizens Political Action Committee and the Independent Citizens Committees of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, and numerous organizations of various States. Senator DONNELL. And it was formed in what year?

Mr. FEINGOLD. In 1946, as a merger of these organizations. Senator DONNELL. Will you give me again the names of the original bodies?