practical and utilitarian sides of education. He had a firm grip on the principles of reorganization and administration and showed marked ability in obtaining coöperation both with Congress and the educational group. Consequently upon his resignation, May 4, 1911 (taking effect July 1), he left firm foundations upon which his successor might build.

Dr. Brown was succeeded by Philander Priestly Claxton of Tennessee, who was appointed by President Taft and took office July 8, 1911.

The new Commissioner reiterated, generally speaking, the guiding principles of the bureau which had been enunciated by his predecessors. Specifically he conceived the functions of the bureau to be as follows:

1. To serve as a clearing house of information in regard to education in the several states of the Union and in all the countries of the world.

2. To make careful and thorough studies of schools, school systems, and other agencies of education, of their organization and management, of methods of teaching and of such problems of education as may from time to time assume special importance, and to give to the people the results of these studies and also the results of similar investigations made by other agencies.

3. To give, upon request, expert opinion and advice to state, county, and city officials, and to respond to appeals from individuals and organizations for advice and suggestions for the promotion of education in any part of the country.

4. To serve as a common ground of meeting and a point of correlation for all educational agencies of whatever grade, both public and private, throughout the country.

5. To serve as a point of contact in education between the United States and other countries.

6. To cooperate with any and all persons, organizations and agencies in working out higher and better ideals of education, holding them before the people for their inspiration and formulating practical plans for their attainment."

The new administration showed marked activity in the field of internal expansion, connoting, of course, a more widely extended external service. This ten-year term saw the addition of numerous new specialists and divisions, including: Negro Education,

12 Colorado School Journal, May, 1914, pp. 18-20.

Kindergarten Education, Civic Education, Education of Immigrants, Industrial Education, Education for Home-Making, School and Home Gardening, Agricultural Education, Community Organization, and Commercial Education.

The World War had intruded upon the bureau work, changing emphasis, altering plans, and in general tending to disrupt any orderly development. It brought with it, however, a zeal for service of which Commissioner Claxton was quick to take advantage, by utilizing the services of additional volunteers." These volunteers, many of them persons of high repute and prestige, enabled the bureau to cover a far wider field with an extremely small financial outlay for the additional service.

Commissioner Claxton was able to obtain an appropriation in 1914 for traveling expenses. Such funds had never before been granted, and the allotment (since continued and increased) enabled the Commissioner to coöperate more widely and gain valuable personal touch with local systems.

Dr. Claxton's resignation has been too recent for an adequate estimate of the accomplishments of his administration. There is concrete evidence of a wide expansion of activities, largely increased volume of work done, progressive liberality in the granting of appropriations, ability to gain the confidence and coöperation of Congress, and a continuation of the trend away from the historical and philosophical to the practical and utilitarian.

After ten years of service Commissioner Claxton resigned, and was succeeded by John J. Tigert of Kentucky, who was nominated by President Harding, May 12, 1921, and confirmed by the Senate on May 31.

The work of the bureau has been the reflection of the various Commissioners' ideas and ideals. The curve of progress has not been smooth, but the tendency has been definitely toward closer touch with the problems which the educator faces daily and closer coöperation with local and national organizations.

The personality of no Commissioner could rise above the restrictions of the law, and if, as some have charged, the history of the bureau has shown the organization to be static rather than dynamic, the fault lies not at the door of personalities, but of conditions.

1 The first "dollar-a-year" man had appeared in or about 1913.

History of Activities. A recital of the history or development of the various activities of the Bureau of Education is made most easily comprehensible by a division into three groups, more or less arbitrarily classified as:

1. The informative group which includes the prime statutory functions of the collection and dissemination of educational information;

2. The administrative group, including education, medical relief, and support of the natives in Alaska, and the approval of the distribution of funds for "land-grant" colleges; and

3. The promotive, advisory, and investigatory group, which includes all the specialized work in surveys, the giving of advice, and the promotion of various lines of educational activity.

The Collection of Information. The act establishing the Bureau (then Department) of Education provided, primarily, that the bureau should collect "such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several states and territories." This work was begun at once upon the establishment of the bureau, but during the first few years, data were meagre. Few figures were available except those gathered by the Bureau of the Census" and these formed the basis for most of the early statistical studies. Commissioner Barnard, in his first annual report (1867-8), stated that he was obliged to rely for his data upon the following sources:

1. Annual reports of school officers and systems, replies to special inquiries, and such information as could be gathered by visits of the commissioner and his agents in the field. (These were the principal sources.)

2. Attendance at annual meetings and special gatherings of national, state, and local associations and other groups interested in education.

3. Personal touch and individual correspondence with school officers.

4. His own personal collection of books and pamphlets.

5. The press.

These sources (except the fourth in later years) continued to be the reliance of the bureau throughout its history.

24

This work began with the census of 1840, largely as the result of agitation on the part of Dr. Barnard.

At first methods were not organized, and during the first three years little more was done than to develop the form of devices and methods for collecting and analyzing figures. These plans as developed were sound in principle. There was, of course, little uniformity at this time among school reports, either as to nomenclature or type of information published, and coöperation in supplying data was not forthcoming.

By 1870 such coöperation began, and the statistical work got under way. In that year an appropriation of $3000 for additional work in compiling statistics and preparing reports was granted by Congress. The annual report in 1870 showed tabulated returns from but twenty-one inquiries and information from 831 educational institutions and systems.

13

By 1871 the latter number had reached over 2000."

Commissioner Eaton applied himself to the task of organizing methods for collecting material which proved to be of permanent value. The principles involved were used for many years with only such alterations as changed conditions demanded.

In 1872 Congress granted an appropriation of $1800 for the employment of a Statistician, one of the earliest specialists provided for in the bureau organization. The division of statistics as such, however, was not established until many years later.

The department of superintendence of the National Education Association in 1874 turned its attention to the improvement of statistical forms and worked out a plan of uniform school reporting and nomenclature. This plan was shaped to clarify reports and simplify the digestion of data and was recommended by the association to the bureau, which in turn published and distributed copies of the suggestions among educators for criticism. Coöperation increased encouragingly until by 1878 over 7000 reports from institutions and systems were being received and by 1889 over 15,000.

The periods of office of Commissioners Dawson and Harris showed steady increases in volume of reports received but with no marked change in type of material collected, means of collection or methods of presentation. It was not until 1907 that attention

15 In 1872 every state but Delaware was issuing some sort of annual educational report.

was again turned to improvement in methods of analysis. At that time a specialist was called in to review the statistical methods and reports of the bureau." Extensive recommendations for simplification and improvement were made and adopted, the work being continued more intensively during the next few years under an expert and with outside coöperation.

Arrangements were made with the Bureau of the Census also for closer coördination of the figures of the two bureaus; a meeting of the heads of state educational systems was called to arrange for closer coöperation in the matter of statistical inquiries and the uniformity of reports; and an agent was sent out to study the work and obtain the coöperation of officers in charge of records, accounting, and reporting in representative city schools throughout the country.

The volume of work continued to increase during the next ten years until in 1917 returns were received from over 20,000 institutions or school systems, while the Statistical Division now numbered nine people, with part of the work being done by other divisions.

During 1917-18 decision was made to collect and tabulate statistics of schools biennially instead of annually; thus releasing members of the division for other important work.

In 1918-19 further attempts at establishing uniformity in statistical reporting and collection were made. A committee representing state school officers was called into conference and blanks were revised in coöperation with this group and sent out for criticism and suggestion.

During the same year arrangements were made for the furnishing of data by state educational systems for all schools under their jurisdiction. This at first applied to twelve eastern states but the next year was spread to include the others.

This plan provided that:

The state department of education should be the only agency within a state to which the federal government should be required to apply for information regarding educational statistics.

A Report Concerning the Statistical Blanks of the United States Bureau of Education, comprising a Revised Set of the Blanks and Suggestions for their Use, by Edward L. Thorndike, January 17, 1907. MS.