We believe in law and order, in reason above force, in cooperation in the spirit of the Golden Rule.

As an organized unit of the American Federation of Teachers, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, we recognize the brotherhood of brain and brawn.

We believe in the democratization of the schools and in the improvement of the condition of the teacher.

We believe in the conduct of the schools only by persons standing above all partisanship whether of sect or party, clan or clique.

We believe in organic teacher participation in school government in all its phases, but we stand for unselfish service rather than for selfish domination; for giving more than for mere getting.

We believe in the merit system of appointment and promotion, and in equal pay for equal work.

We stand for the schools for democracy, and for more democracy for the schools. And so, with malice toward none, with charity and justice for all, with an eye single to the right as God gives us to see the right, we press forward to achieve better schools for our free citizens and more freedom for the schools of our beloved State.

TEACHERS' UNIONS AND LABOR'S ATTITUDE TOWARD

EDUCATION.

That the teachers' union movement has made one contribution few would deny. This is in respect to the attitude of organized labor toward education. Always friendly to the public schools—indeed, with considerable claim to pioneer leadership in creating public schoolsorganized labor has, through the accession of the teachers, had its educational aims and purposes sharply and specifically defined and has adopted an aggressive, constructive attitude toward accomplishing educational betterment. The St. Paul convention of the American Federation of Labor (June, 1918) went on record as favoring complete reorganization of all types of schools in the interests of all the people, vocational guidance and industrial education in both urban and rural schools, establishment of systems of modern physical education, Federal aid for teachers' salaries, and a Federal department of education headed by a Cabinet officer. The Atlantic City meeting (June, 1919) again adopted a comprehensive program of education, specifically indorsed the Smith-Towner bill as revised after consultation among officers of the American Federation of Labor, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association, and emphasized the need for protection of teachers everywhere against a tendency to interfere with freedom of teaching.

The constructive influence of teacher union affiliation with labor is further indicated in the section on education of the reconstruction report of the American Federation of Labor, one of the briefest and clearest educational statements in any of the reconstruction programs:

Education must not be for a few, but for all our people. While there is an advanced form of public education in many States, there still remains a lack of adequate educational facilities in several States and communities. The welfare of the Republic demands that public education should be elevated to the highest degree possible. The Government should exercise advisory supervision over public education and where necessary maintain adequate public education through subsidies without giving to the Government power to hamper or interfere with the free development of public education by the several States. It is essential that our system of public education should offer the wage earners' children the opportunity for the fullest possible development. To attain this end State colleges and universities should be developed.

It is also important that the industrial education which is being fostered and developed should have for its purpose not so much training for efficiency in industry as training for life in an industrial society. A full understanding must be had of those principles and activities that are the foundation of all productive efforts. Children should not only become familiar with tools and materials, but they should also receive a thorough knowledge of the principles of human control, of force and matter underlying our industrial relations and sciences. The danger that certain commercial and industrial interests may dominate the character of education must be averted by insisting that the workers shall have equal representation on all boards of education or committees having control over vocational studies and training.

To elevate and advance the interests of the teaching profession and to promote popular and democratic education the right of the teachers to organize and to affiliate with the movement of the organized workers must be recognized.

XVI. HOME EDUCATION.

CONFERENCES ON CHILD WELFARE.

World interest in the welfare of the home has been evidenced by, at least, three great conferences during the spring of 1919. Probably the most important conferences were held under the auspices of the Department of Labor, Children's Bureau, on Standards of Child Welfare. Scientists in many fields of endeavor for human welfare and the upbuilding of the home, public servants, social service technicians, labor leaders, publicists, and physicians, and others who could bring to the conferences scientific methods in approaching child-welfare work were brought together at Washington, New York, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Seattle. Among foreign countries sending representatives were Belgium, England, France, Japan, Italy, and Serbia.

Minimum standards of child welfare were outlined. Among the many topics of discussion were economic and social basis for child welfare, child labor, the health of children and mothers, children in need of special care, and standardization of child-welfare laws. The report of the proceedings of the conferences issued by the Children's Bureau is a valuable contribution of this year.

IN SOUTH AMERICA.

The Second American Child Congress which met in Montevideo, Uruguay, in May, 1919, was another important conference. Delegates were present from every South American country and from the United States.

This congress adopted many resolutions of great importance for the care of children in the Western Hemisphere. Among these the following may be taken as of prime importance: Calling for greater vigor in the prosecution by the several countries of the fight against tuberculosis and prophylactic measures for children; compulsory instruction in the schools of America in sanitation, treatment of alcoholism, etc.; material organization of special medical commissions for the detection and treatment of tuberculosis; legal regulation and publication of vital statistics on social, economic, and political grounds; organization in every South American country of preventive measures against child mortality, with systematic reports on each child, weekly for first month, monthly for the first year, and annually up to 3 years of age; organized study of conditions among the proletariat as bearing on infantile mortality; organized instruction of poorer classes in fundamental facts of life, care of children by means of every possible socialized agency; encouragement and establishment of mothers' clubs in all South American centers of population; organized work in sanitation and hygiene with relation to prevention of blindness and deafness of newly born children; systematic attention to dental and oral affections of children.

The section of the congress upon the protection of children adopted resolutions urging (a) the establishment by each country of a directory or general inspection charged with control of all official and private institutions related to care of children; (b) the intrusting of charges relating to protection and hygiene of children only to accredited and qualified persons.

The section on sociology and legislation adopted resolutions urging the prohibition of labor for wages for minors under 15 years of age and of industrial work for minors under 16 years; the limitation of daily hours of work to 6 for minors under 19; the requirement of compulsory school attendance up to the age of 15; prohibiting the employment of minors in work dangerous to life, limb, and health or morals; the strict regulation of work for wages by expectant mothers or those with young children; the establishment of courts for juvenile delinquents, with necessary reform agencies and prohibiting the sending of minors to criminal prisons; the suppression of juvenile delinquency; fostering of health and

mental growth of children as related to the national economic factor; the national furthering of vocational instruction of older children and adolescents; the limitation of the traditional absolute power of the father over the children.

The section of medicine passed resolutions urging the complete identification of medical with sociological and educational reforms, and the systematic medical inspection of national schools, public and private.

The section of education passed resolutions urging compulsory attendance for the period from 8 to 12 years, and in continuation or vocational schools from 12 to 15, and also urging the encouragement of industrial and artistic education, the training of teachers in the moral aspect of hygienic education, recognizing the important and beneficial place of motion pictures in primary education, encouraging worthy and elevating pictures, and demanding the legal prevention of attendance by children on those detrimental to morals, health, and eyesight.

The congress recommended the establishment of a permanent International Association for the Protection of Children, to be officially recognized by all of the countries of South America, and located in the city of Montevideo.

IN FRANCE.

The medical conference of the Inter-Allied Committee of Red Cross Societies was held at Cannes in April for the purpose of outlining some plan for reconstruction of the world's vitality and health. Six sections represented needs of humanity in social welfare, child welfare, nursing, preventive medicine, malaria, tuberculosis, and general venereal disease.

Many problems were discussed, and the committee on child welfare recommended a world-wide child-welfare campaign as the greatest need from an economic and humanitarian standpoint.

Among the problems discussed by this committee were: Saving infants, caring for dependent children, prenatal care of mothers, the education of expectant mothers by well-trained public health nurses, and intelligent cooperation of both parents in the education of their children.

COOPERATION OF HOME AND SCHOOL.

The parent-teacher associations and other organizations doing similar work under different names came into existence through the realization of parents and teachers that they must have some form of cooperation to increase the efficiency of the work of both.

The cooperation thus brought about has produced a more harmonious atmosphere. The parents understand the teachers better, and the teacher understands the children better. The organization

becomes an important factor in the community, and many needs of the school have been filled through the efforts of the parent-teacher associations.

About 8,000 organizations of this sort are in existence, of which 982 are in California, under the National Congress of Mothers; 766 in Virginia, under the direction of the State department of education; 619 in New York; 501 in New Jersey; 394 in Texas; 354 in Illinois; 265 in Kansas; 261 in Wisconsin; and 251 in South Carolina, under the direction of the State department of education. Every State has at least a few organizations working largely for child welfare. Parent-teacher associations are essentially makers of public opinion for righteousness.

XVII. LIBRARY ACTIVITIES.

LIBRARY WAR SERVICE.

During the year the Library War Service of the American Library Association continued actively to supply reading matter for the soldiers and sailors, both at home and abroad. Up to June 1, 1919, the service had shipped overseas 2,561,888 volumes, and had put into use a total of approximately 7,500,000 books since the war began. The fund raised for the work amounted to $5,250,000, and the total personnel employed on June 1, 1919, was 564 persons. This fund includes $3,500,000 assigned to the American Library Association as its share of the sum raised in the United War Work Campaign of November, 1918.

The large libraries operated by the service in the United States numbered 49; overseas libraries, 1,401. In addition, there were numerous small camps, branches, and stations, both at home and abroad. Many hospitals and industrial war-work plants were supplied with books and service, and many transports and other ships equipped with libraries.

The total expenditures of the Library War Service up to June 1, 1919, for buildings and equipment, books and periodicals, service and subsistence, supplies and general equipment, travel, freight, and miscellaneous amounted to $3,330,319.98.

One of the world's greatest library undertakings has thus been successfully accomplished by American librarians. At the Asbury Park meeting of the American Library Association, 1919, a chart was exhibited showing the following comparative library statistics, estimated as nearly as possible: Library of Congress, 2,700,000 volumes; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 3,650,000 volumes; British Museum, 3,900,000 volumes; American Library Association, Library War Service, 7,500,000 volumes.