of Education, and the same are hereby transferred from said Bureau of Education to said Department of Education and the same shall hereafter remain under the jurisdiction and supervision of the last-named department. SEC. 4. That all the laws and parts of laws heretofore enacted relating to education and the said subdepartment known as the Bureau of Education, so far as the same are applicable and not in conflict herewith, are continued in full force and effect. SEC. 5. That it shall be the province and duty of said Department of Education to collect, classify, and disseminate information and advice on all phases of education and to promote, foster, and develop advancement and improvement in the common school system throughout the United States. SEC. 6. That a sum sufficient to carry out the purposes of this Act is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated. SEC. 7. That this Act shall take effect upon its passage. Having had considerable experience as a teacher and as a commissioner in the New York City board of education, and having always taken an active interest in our public schools, I felt that this branch of the Government, situated in the capital of the nation, should possess power and dignity. It should gather reports from the various municipalities, counties, and States of this country, as well as those of other nations. These should be carefully digested, put in shape, and sent to educators everywhere for the improvement and benefit of the schools. The office here should be an inspiration, a beacon light to the school systems of the country. School officials generally under these conditions would receive valuable information, enabling them to apply up-to-date methods, proving of incalculable advantage to the youth of the nation. This can only be done by creating either a live bureau or department with ample money at its disposal. As now constituted, the Commissioner of Education has practically little or no authority, limited means, and consequently small influence. With the object in view of making this office what in my judgment it should be, an instrument of great good, I have introduced the bill now before your committee, which I trust you will report favorably. To obtain the views of several leading educators, I wrote to the following well-known gentlemen, and take pleasure in reading their replies. But before doing that, I would like to read an extract from a pamphlet on the subject, which has been very kindly handed to me by Commissioner Brown. It contains a reprint of "An act to establish a department of education," approved March 2, 1867, and of the law changing the Department of Education to the Bureau of Education, approved July 20, 1868, as follows: AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. [Approved March 2, 1867.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established, at the city of Washington, a department of education, for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and of diffusing 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. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a commissioner of education, who shall be intrusted with the management of the department herein established, and who shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, and who shall have authority to appoint one chief clerk of his department, who shall receive a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, one clerk who shall receive a salary of eighteen hundred dollars per annum, and one clerk who shall receive a salary of sixteen hundred dollars per annum, which said clerks shall be subject to the appointing and removing power of the commissioner of education. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the commissioner of education to present annually to Congress a report embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will, in his judgment, subserve the purpose for which this department is established. In the first report made by the commissioner of education under this act, there shall be presented a statement of the several grants of land made by Congress to promote education, and the manner in which these several trusts have been managed, the amount of funds arising therefrom, and the annual proceeds of the same, as far as the same can be determined. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioner of public buildings is hereby authorized and directed to furnish proper offices for the use of the department herein established. LAW CHANGING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO BUREAU OF EDUCATION. [Approved July 20, 1868.] Provided, That from and after the thirtieth day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, the department of education shall cease, and there shall be established and attached to the Department of the Interior an office to be denominated the office of education, the chief officer of which shall be the Commisisoner of Education, at a salary per annum of three thousand dollars, who shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, discharge all such duties, and superintend, execute, and perform all such acts and things touching and respecting the said office of education as are devolved by law upon said Commissioner of Education. The first letter which I shall read in connection with this matter is from a distinguished educator, the state superintendent of public schools of Pennsylvania. It is dated January 26, 1910. It reads: Hon. J. A. GoULDEN, Washington, D. C. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, DEAR SIR: It has always seemed to me that education is an important function of every government and that there should be an executive department of education at Washington for the purpose of making education more efficient throughout the United States. I shall be glad to support the act of Congress in any way that I possibly can. Yours, truly, NATHAN C. SCHAEFFER, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. STATE OF NEW YORK, EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, Hon. J. A. GOULDEN, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR SIR: I have yours of January 18, inclosing a copy of your bill to create an executive department of education, and asking my opinion in reference to the proposition. In reply I advise you that I am heartily in favor of the bill. The United States really has no legal and settled plan of educational procedure, and it needs one. The governmental supervision of educational activities in the Territories and in the insular possessions might, with all propriety, be given to a federal department of education. The manner in which the Government treats the educational interests falling upon it is expressed in the Bureau of Education, and the treatment of the Bureau of Education is a discredit to the General Government. I have long thought that there ought to be a federal department of education, and I trust that your bill will become a law. Very sincerely, yours, ANDREW S. DRAPER, I also have a letter from Dr. John Franklin Crowell, an expert statistician, who was employed in the Bureau of Labor under this Government for many years. He is now the editor of a leading paper in New York City. He says: Hon. J. A. GOULDEN, M. C., NEW YORK, N. Y., January 25, 1910. House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. GOULDEN: Your favor of the 22d instant is here. By way of a brief to present to the Committee on Education, I would suggest the following points: (1) To outline what is done under the existing law for education through the Bureau of Education. (2) To lay before the committee the importance of coordinating the educational activities and policies of the different States and cities into some definite national aim in which the national, as distinguished from the state and municipal objects of education, should be emphasized and realized. Among these aims I should include a statement of what the nation has a right to expect of the public schools of the country. I would ask the question, "What type of citizenship must the schools produce in order to meet this requirement?" Having defined that type, as to the common result of the educational processes in the state and local institutions, the question arises, What can the Federal Government do to promote the demands of that type in actual practice? This brings up the question whether it were not well to equip the Bureau of Education with a system of inspectors or visitors who, by reports on methods and results, could determine whether or not the trend of the present day meets the national educational aims or not. As things stand now, there is no governmental influence or control which is authorized to call attention to the inequality of results achieved in different States and communities. For instance: In the educational operations of Texas and Massachusetts, the national element is probably undervalued. There is no representative of the nation who has any part in formulating the plans and purposes of the States' educational programme. Hence, the national thought, feeling, and ideals receive only slight recognition at the best. Some such cooperation in an official capacity as is in good working order between the Federal Department of Agriculture and the state agricultural departments could, at least, be inaugurated in the educational field. The Federal Government, under the Hatch Act, provides some millions of dollars each year for the promotion of agricultural and mechanical instruction. Why should not this be coordinated with the Federal Bureau of Education, and that bureau or proposed department be authorized to cooperate with the state institutions in such way as to give what is distinctly national in this policy a more concrete recognition? (3) In a department of education a separate bureau should be organized, having special charge of all the educational matters in which the Federal Government is interested, including the agricultural and mechanical colleges, the Indian schools, and the academies at West Point and Annapolis. I would also suggest that a bureau of institutes be organized, by which representatives of the Federal Government could be brought into touch with the States and localities of the country through the agency of these local, voluntary organizations, which hold sessions in each county and township or city once or more a year. There should be a director at the head of this bureau who could keep in touch by correspondence, and by a small staff of lecturers, to begin with, thereby contributing through these assemblages to the programmes of proceedings in a practical form, something of the spirit and hopes of the Federal Government in endeavoring to give emphasis to the conditions of national life, of which the schools should take account. I would also organize a bureau of school finance. There has recently been started a magazine which gives special attention to the current expenditures of schools, colleges, and universities. This is a most fertile field. Even in a short time these efforts have shown wastefulness, large expenditures, and how much better results are being obtained in some parts of the country than in others. This brings up your question of comparative finance in educational expenses. It involves the question of taxation, assessment, state appropriations, land-grant schemes, and various others. The United States Army has assigned to duty in a large number of institutions, both public and private throughout the country, a military officer, whose duties are, primarily, educational. The public gets little knowledge of what these duties are, how well or how ill they are performed, whether or not the officer's work is hampered or helped by the attitude of interests with which he comes in contact, or whether the plan now followed is the best under the circumstances, or the worst, that could be devised. This is only another field in which the United States is doing considerable work at a great outlay without returns being collected and brought into the educational divisions of the Government so that one may have information as to what is being done with the expenditure. If I were to present the matter to the Committee on Education, I should try to ascertain how much the United States expends each year in all educational outlays, including agricultural colleges, Indian schools, maintenance of army officers at schools, and at West Point and Annapolis, in every capacity. In formulating general ideas about this department, I should concentrate thought upon the need of the department in which the cultural activities of the country might find expression and representation. The Government is possessed of great museums and schools of much educational value. Art and industry, commerce and labor, as well as agriculture, have their educational sides. To organize a department which would focus all the multiform educational activities and institutions into one governmental department would be a great gain in the cultural achievement of the United States. Now, our efforts as a people represent so many disjointed units. There is little cooperation, much loss from lack of knowledge of what others are doing, and a continued neglect of the exaltation of the national element in education, in spite of the cost which a century and a quarter of efforts to develop and preserve the Union have entailed upon the people. Nothing would better serve to knit together into the seamless garment of national spirit the various elements of popular thought and feeling than a well-organized and well-managed department of education. Trusting this may answer your purpose, and wishing you much success, I am, as ever, JOHN FRANKLIN CROWELL. Very faithfully, yours, Mr. GARRETT. Your bill, Mr. Goulden, proposes to create a Cabinet position and a department? Mr. GOULDEN. Yes; or a distinct bureau. Something that could be or should be properly equipped for its work. Mr. GARRETT. But the bill before us contemplates a Cabinet position? Mr. GOULDEN. Yes, practically; that is what I should prefer. I have a letter here which I will put in the record from the private secretary to Secretary Ballinger, stating that Commissioner Brown would be on hand this morning: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, SIR: In accordance with the request contained in your letter of the 29th instant, that a representative of the department appear before the Committee on Education, Wednesday morning, February 2, at 10 o'clock, to discuss the provisions of H. R. 12318, providing for the creation of an executive department of education, you are informed that Dr. E. E. Brown, Commissioner of Education, has been directed to appear at the time mentioned and for the purpose indicated in your communication. By direction of the Secretary: Hon. J. A. GoULDEN, House of Representatives, United States. DON M. CARR, I have a letter here which I will put in without reading, because I do not want to occupy too much of your time. We have a great educational system in New York City. I have been connected with it for a number of years and know whereof I speak. We have with us this morning a gentleman, Hon. John Jasper, of New York, who was connected with that system for fortyfive years, and for twenty-five years he served as city superintendent of the New York schools. He has come here this morning at my request to state some facts about educational matters. I need not say that what he knows about this subject will be of interest. I will present him later. His successor also is widely known as an educator. I wrote him under date of January 18, asking for his views, and while he is not in accord with the bill or with my views, I thought it would be interesting that you should have the benefit of his wide experience and knowledge on the subject. His letter is dated January 21, 1910, and reads as follows: DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, New York, January 21, 1910. MY DEAR CONGRESSMAN: I have your letter of January 18 inclosing a bill to create an executive department of education, and asking me to give you my views on the subject-matter of the proposed statute. I think you know that I should always be delighted to favor any project of yours if I possibly could. As I see this matter at present, however, I can not favor this bill. Under the Constitution of the United States and the constitutions of the several States public education is a matter that belongs exclusively to each of the sovereign States within its own borders. The Federal Government has no right whatever to interfere in matters that are reserved to the States. To create an executive department of the Central Government to perform duties that are reserved to the States would be, therefore, one of the most conspicuous invasions of states' rights that has ever been attempted. I feel quite certain that you as a Democrat can not have looked at the matter in this light, or you would not father such a bill. The Bureau of Education, which is a part of the Department of the Interior, performs good service in collecting and disseminating information regarding educational work in this and other lands. That, however, is as far as, in my judgment, the Federal Government ought to go Regretting that I can not favor the measure, I remain, Truly, yours, Hon. JOSEPH A. GOULDEN, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. WILLIAM H. MAXWELL, City Superintendent. Perhaps my friend from Louisiana would like to know what the politics of the gentleman are. I do not know that he has any. As becomes the head of a great educational system he is not in politics. Mr. GARRETT. He seems to be a states rights man. Mr. GOULDEN. Yes, he seems to be; but whether he is a Republican or a Democrat, I really do not know. However, I desire to have his views go into the record. I have said all I desire at present, but I have a number of persons here who are interested in this matter who will entertain the members of the committee. Mrs. WILCOX. I can say that I have bushels of letters showing the lively interest of the writers in this subject. Mr. GOULDEN. They will hear you, Mrs. Wilcox, a little later. The CHAIRMAN. Yes; you will be given an opportunity to be heard in your own time. Mr. LEVER. I notice the purpose of your bill in section 5 is: That it shall be the province and duty of said Department of Education to collect, classify, and disseminate information and advice on all phases of education and to promote, foster, and develop advancement and improvement in the common-school system throughout the United States. Would you give the committee your idea as to how this is to operate practically? Mr. GOULDEN. One of the best examples of the practical dissemination of information is furnished by the Agricultural Department, |