been from the outset vitally interested in the movement to coordinate educational activities which now exist in the Federal Government by the creation of a national department of education. This matter has been brought to the attention of the membership at conventions, through correspondence and through its official organ, the American Journal of Nursing. This reaches many thousands of nurse readers. The American Nurses' Association has advocated the measure, believing that it is a forward step quite in keeping with the spirit of the American Government. Furthermore, it believes that through the results of research and distribution of findings, which may be conducted under such a department, all educational work, including schools of nursing, will ultimately be greatly benefited. I might mention incidentally that I am a member of the board of directors of the American Nurses' Association and was for four years president, previous to the régime of the present president, who submits the foregoing statement. The CHAIRMAN. At this point I would like to insert in the record a number of resolutions indorsing the creation of a Federal department of education with a secretary in the President's Cabinet, adopted by the following educational organizations: Resolutions by the National Education Association from 1918-1927. Resolutions by the department of superintendence of the National Education Association from 1918-1928. And by the following State educational associations: Alabama Education Association. Arizona State Educational Association. Arkansas Education Asociation. Colorado Education Association. Florida Education Association. Minnesota Education Association. Pennsylvania State Education Association. South Dakota Teachers Association. Tennessee Public School Officers Association. Texas State Teachers Association. Utah Education Association. Virginia Education Association. West Virginia State Education Association. Washington Education Association. Wisconsin Teachers Association. Wyoming State Teachers Association. (Resolutions adopted by the following sections of State educational associations:) Southern section of California Teachers Association. Northern section of California Teachers Association. Chicago division of the Illinois State Teachers Association. Northwest Missouri Teachers Association. Northeastern convention district of the Pennsylvania State Education Asso ciation. (The following organizations have also adopted resolutions favoring the bill:) San Francisco Regional Conference, Department of Classroom Teachers of the National Education Association. Missouri State School Administrative Association. Elementary School Principals Association, Kansas City, Mo. Steuben County School-Masters Association, Corning, N. Y. Eddy County Teachers Association, New Rockford, N. Dak. Aberdeen local unit of the National Education Association, Aberdeen, S. Dak. Harris County Teachers Association, Texas. Board of education of the Wasatch County school district, Heber, Utah. Norfolk Education Association, Norfolk, Va. [Resolutions of the National Education Association, presented at Pittsburgh, Pa., 1918] The association favors the establishment of a national university, the creation of a national department of education under the direction of a secretary of education. [Resolution of the National Education Association, Milwaukee, Wis., 1919] This association has urged for years that education should be given just recognition by the Federal Government, and that a department of education should be established. The war has so emphasized the importance of education from a national standpoint that the necessity of the immediate consideration of this question is universally recognized. Moreover, a commission on the emergency in education, appointed by this association one year ago, acting under the instruction of the association, prepared a bill creating a department of education with a secretary in the President's Cabinet, and authorizing the appropriation of $100,000,000 to encourage the States in the promotion of education, particularly in the removal of illiteracy, the Americanization of immigrants, physical and health education, teacher preparation, and the equalizing of educational opportunities. This association, through its commission and with the cooperation of other great national organizations, secured the introduction of this bill in the Sixty-fifth Congress and more recently its introduction in the Sixty-sixth Congress in a carefully revised and perfected form, known as the Smith-Towner bill, H. R. 7 and S. 1017; therefore, this association gives its hearty and unqualified indorsement to the Smith-Towner bill, H. R. 7 and S. 1017, now before the Sixty-sixth Congress, and instructs the official staff of this association to use all honorable means to secure its passage. [Resolution of the National Education Association, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1920] We are convinced that adequate preparation of teachers, and the elevation of standards of selection, can be achieved only through an acceptance of the principle that the wealth of the Nation, as a whole, can legitimately and may justifiably, be drawn upon to equalize opportunities for the education of all the Nation's children. We reaffirm our faith in this principle, and urge the immediate passage of the Smith-Towner bill by which Federal participation in the support of public education is provided and which, at the same time preserves the autonomy of the State in the management of its schools. We condemn the efforts of the enemies of the public schools to defeat this measure, particularly by stigmatizing it as a measure which involves national control of education. Such control is not only clearly unconstitutional, but it is out of harmony with the spirit of American institutions. This association pledges itself as unreservedly to do its utmost to thwart any movement or proposal that would centralize control of the public schools, as it does to its support of the measure. We call attention once more to the singularly valuable features of the SmithTowner bill: To the program that it sets for the reduction of adult illiteracy, for the Americanization of the immigrant population, for the vast extension of health education, for the adequate preparation of teachers, and for the creation of a department of education under a secretary who shall have a seat in the President's Cabinet. We reiterate the fact that each item of this program strikes at an outstanding weakness of American education which the experience of the war set in high relief. We call the people's attention to the fact that these emphasized problems are still with us, and that unaided state and and local action has failed in any appreciable measure even to begin their solution on a nation-wide basis. The Smith-Towner bill is the only measure that has been proposed to cope with all of these problems. That measure now languishes in Congress, primarily because of the opposition of a minority of the people whose leaders are traditionally opposed to public education. We seriously and earnestly commend to the American people the program proposed in the Smith-Towner bill, framed with the interests of America's children and America's free schools solely in mind. [Resolution of the National Education Association, Des Moines, Iowa, 1921] We renew our unqualified indorsement of a department of education with a secretary in the President's Cabinet, and Federal aid to encourage the States in the removal of illiteracy, the Americanization of the foreign-born, the development of a program of physical education and health service, the training of teachers, and the equalization of educational opportunity as embodied in the Towner-Sterling bill now pending in the Sixty-seventh Congress. We are gratified to note the development of a nation-wide sentiment in support of the principles embodied in this bill. We unite with the friends of public education throughout our country in urging that Congress give prompt recognition to the primary importance of education in relation to the Nation's welfare. We earnestly protest against the submerging of education in any other department of the Government or the subordination of education to any other national interest. [Resolution of the National Education Association at Boston, Mass., 1922] ́ ́ We reaffirm our sincere, devoted, and unqualified support of Federal aid and Federal recognition of education without Federal interference in any way with State and local control, as they are embodied in the Towner-Sterling bill now pending in the Sixty-seventh Congress. [Resolution of the National Education Association, San Francisco, Calif., 1923] We reaffirm our sincere, devoted, and unqualified support of Federal aid and Federal recognition for public education without Federal interference in any way with State and local control as embodied in the Towner-Sterling bill. We believe that national leadership in education and the efficient administration of the educational activities of the Federal Government demand the creation of a department of education with a secretary in the Cabinet of the President. We know that the aid furnished to the States and Territories by the Federal Government has been a most important feature in the development of their school systems. The deficiencies now existing in our system of public education will be most effectively and rapidly removed by providing Federal aid for the removal of illiteracy, for the Americanization of the foreign-born, for the development of a more adequate program of healthy service, for the training of teachers, and for the equalization of educational opportunity as provided in the Towner-Sterling bill. [Resolution of the National Education Association, Washington, D. C., 1924] We, the members of the representative assembly of the National Education Association, here assembled in the National Capital, reaffirm our devoted and unqualified support of the education bill now pending in Congress. We believe that Federal leadership as provided by the creation of a department of education, with a secretary in the President's Cabinet, is essential to the development of the highest degree of efficiency in the schools of the nation. We know that the Federal Government has an obligation to support research and investigation and to disseminate information with regard to public education comparable to that undertaken by other Federal departments. We are convinced that the Nation should contribute to the development of a nationwide program for the removal of illiteracy, the Americanization of the foreign born, the training of teachers, the development of a program of physical education and the equalization of educational opportunity. This leadership, to be provided by a secretary of education in the President's Cabinet and the Federal aid required to promote the program of education on a broad scale, can and should be accomplished without any interference on the part of the Federal Government in the constitutional right of the States to organize, administer, supervise and control their own schools. It is gratifying to note that the two great political parties have in their platforms recognized that education is one of the chief concerns of the nation and that the President of the United States is favorable to the establishment of a new department emphasizing the importance of education. [Resolution passed by the Delegate Assembly of the National Education Association, Indianapolis, Ind., July 3, 1925] DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION We believe that education is a matter of primary concern to the Nation as a whole. This national responsibility for education has been recognized from the earliest days of the Republic by grants of land and of money to the several States in support of their public school systems. We hold that the Federal Government should promote the further development of our State and local school systems through the establishment of a department of education with a secretary in the President's Cabinet. Efficiency and economy demand that the several agencies of the Federal Government dealing with education now distributed among the several executive departments be consolidated in a department of education. We know that this department, operating as a fact-finding and fact-distributing agency, will aid the several States to improve and to develop their public schools. We urge the Congress to create a department of education in accord with the principles embodied in the bill adopted by this body. [Resolution passed by the Delegate Assembly of the National Education Association, Philadelphia, Pa., July 2, 1926] EDUCATION BILL The welfare of the children now enrolled in the schools of the United States is dependent upon our ability to make available to boards of education, to superintendents of schools, and to teachers throughout the Nation the results of current practice, of experiments wherever they are conducted, and of the results of scientific investigation. The Federal Government has long recognized its obligation in the field of scientific inquiry and has promoted the welfare of all the people through the activities of the Departments of Agricluture, Commerce, and Labor. We hold that economy and efficiency demand that the activities of the Federal Government dealing with education be consolidated in a department of education under the leadership of a secretary with a seat in the President's Cabinet. We urge that adequate support be provided for this department in order that it may conduct such inquiries and disseminate such information as will make for the highest degree of efficiency in all of our schools. We know that this service can be rendered without in any way interfering with the constitutional right of the several States to control, administer, and supervise their own schools. We, therefore, urge the Congress to pass the Curtis-Reed bill which embodies the program which this Association has consistently advocated throughout its history. [Resolution passed by the Delegate Assembly of the National Education Association, Seattle, Wash., July 1927] EDUCATION BILL That the Federal Government, which has long accepted responsibility for conducting inquiries and disseminating information concerning the public schools of the Nation, enlarge the scope of its scientific inquiry with respect to education and increase its support of this undertaking. That this most important function of the National Government can be best carried out by the establishment of a department of education with a secretary in the President's Cabinet. We pledge our aggressive support to the Curtis-Reed bill which provides for the establishment of a department of education and for the more adequate support of scientific research in education under the direction of a secretary of education. L [Resolution of the Department of Superintendence, at Chicago, Ill., February 24-March 1, 1919] Declaring that education in a democracy is the most important function of the government, that it is a national, state, and local responsibility, and that each should contribute to its support; we urge, therefore, the passage of the SmithTowner education bill by Congress. In order that education may be given proper recognition by the National Government, we ask for the immediate creation of a department of education with a secretary who shall be a member of the President's Cabinet. [Resolution of the Department of Superintendence, Cleveland, Ohio, February 23-28, 1920] We reaffirm our indorsement of a department of education with a secretary of education in the President's Cabinet, and generous appropriations by Congress to aid and encourage the States in the promotion of education with the express provisions that Federal aid shall not imply Federal control of supervision of education, and that education in all its phases shall be organized, supervised, and administered exclusively by state and local educational authorities, established by State laws, as provided in the Smith-Towner Bill, now pending in the Sixty-sixth Congress. [Resolution of the Department of Superintendence, Atlantic City, February 24-March 3, 1921] We reindorse the principles of the Smith-Towner education bill which has been reported favorably by both the House of Representatives and the Senate. We believe administrative procedure requires that many of the educational agencies now uncoordinated in the National Government be organized in a single executive department and we maintain that the dignity of the profession be recognized by placing the head of that department in the Cabinet of the President. We hold that long-established practice of the Federal Government in providing aid to education within the States should be continued, and that the authorization of an appropriation by the Smith-Towner bill for the removal of illiteracy, for the Americanization of the foreign born, and for the equilization of educational opportunities are not only necessary in the present crisis but are also completely in accord with our most securely established American practice. We call especial attention to the fact that the bill expressly provides that the organization, administration, and supervision of the schools, aided by the provisions of the act shall be exercised exclusively by the legally constituted state and local educational authorities. [Resolution Department of Superintendence, Chicago, Ill., February 27-March 2, 1922] Believing that the Towner-Sterling bill now before Congress recognizes and embodies the policy of the undivided responsibility and authority of the State in matters of education, we reaffirm our approval of the principles of that bill. [Resolution of the Department of Superintendence, Cleveland, Ohio, February 26-March 1, 1923] We recognize that a department of education is necessary in order that the educational activities of our National Government shall be efficiently and economically administered. We believe that national sanction and national leadership can be provided only in the person of a secretary of education in the President's Cabinet. Federal aid for the purpose of stimulating the several States to remove |