ment is necessary to supplement the work of state and local boards of health. Federal activity in these matters has already developed greatly, until it now includes quarantine, meat inspection, pure food administration, and federal investigation of the conditions of child labor. It is my own hope that these important activities may be still further developed."

CHAPTER X

Educating the People

There are social writers of late who place ignorance as the chief cause of human misery. But ignorance can be dispelled and men can be enlightened concerning the possibility of their physical, mental, moral and spiritual development. Associations are being organized on every hand with this end in view; for it is a common belief that the next decade will mark an epoch in human development as pronounced as that of the Reformation or the Rennaissance. To some extent the government as well as the people is feeling the influence of this educational Zeitgeist.

In the past this government has had very little to do with the school system of the country, as school work was thought to be purely of local interest. Other nations, like Germany, might work out a great and yet harmonious system, but in the United States the government lacked all except advisory

power. In this country, as it is well understood, there is no federal system, but each state of the Union has a public school system, of its own, supported by funds derived from its own resources and administered by state officials. The common schools do not receive any financial aid from the general government.

As to the development of the public school system, history shows that in 1836, the surplus revenue in the United States Treasury was divided among the states as a loan, many of the states setting aside their portions of this federal loan for public education. Before the end of the eighteenth century it became the policy of Congress to grant for educational purposes the sixteenth section of the public lands on the organization of new territories, and subsequently both the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections were set aside for this purpose. Many of the newer states still own these lands and derive school revenue from them. Others sold all or portions of their school lands, creating permanent school funds from the proceeds, which funds are entirely under state control.

The amount of permanent school funds of each state varies from $60,000 in New Hampshire to over $60,000,000 in Texas, while the fund of most of the states runs into the millions. The various states show such marked differences in their school system that uniformity can only be secured through the co-operation of the central government. This was the thought that led to the establishment of the National Bureau of Education, the original purpose of which was "to collect statistics and facts showing the condition and progress of education in the several states and territories, and to diffuse such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country."

General James A. Garfield introduced the bill in 1867, which was enacted into law, establishing the Department of Education, which three years later was transferred to the Department of the Interior, as a bureau.

Like the "general welfare" clause in the constitution, the words of the original act "otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country," give wide latitude in dealing with all educational matters as the country grows, and the needs become more complex.

The first enlargement of the Bureau came in the Act approved in 1896, authorizing the Commissioner of Education to prepare and publish a bulletin showing the condition of higher education, technical and industrial, giving educational facts as to compulsory attendance in the schools and such other educational topics in the several states of the Union, and in foreign countries, as may be deemed of value to the educational interests of the states. In 1884, the Bureau was given charge of the education of the native children in Alaska and in 1890 the Bureau established the Government Reindeer Service in Alaska. Further administrative duties, without doubt, will from time to time be added, if the Bureau of Education is to be more of a school board than a literary bureau. Other branches of the government are giving direct attention to educating the people. They became responsi