During the succeeding dozen years attempts to bring about the desired agency were made and various suggestions proposed: To incorporate it in the plan of the Smithsonian Institution (1845, 1847); to set up a permanent statistical bureau which would present educational statistics and progress (1849); to establish a department of education (1851, 1854). These suggestions, with others, were presented in the form of printed articles, addresses, memorials, and resolutions, and were taken up for discussion in the meetings and conventions of various associations interested in education.

In 1854 a plan for the establishment of a bureau of education was formulated and presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Education. It embodied substantially the terms of the act which later established the department of education. Discussion of details of this plan and others and of the general necessity for action went on vigorously during the next few years, but without concrete result.

Review of Legislation. The Civil War postponed possible action for at least five years, but with the return of peace the agitation for a national bureau of education was revived. Finally in 1866, at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Superintendents, a resolution was passed appointing three members of the association to present to Congress a memorial on the establishment of a national bureau of education. This was brought out on February 14, 1866. Four days later Representative James A. Garfield of Ohio, presented this memorial to Congress, accompanied by a bill "To establish a Department of Education" which included essentially the provisions sponsored by the memorial.

Debate, amendment, recommitment, and conference on the bill delayed action over a year, and it was not until March 1, 1867, that it assumed final form and was passed. It was signed by the President the next day (14 Stat. L., 434). Thus came into being the Department of Education.

The Organic Act. The text of the organic act provided:

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. 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 $4,000 per annum, and who shall have authority to appoint one chief clerk of his department, who shall receive a salary of $2,000 per annum, one clerk who shall receive a salary of $1,800 per annum, and one clerk who shall receive a salary of $1,600 per annum, which said clerks shall be subject to the appointing and removing power of the Commissioner of Education.

In

SEC. 3. 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. 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. That the Commissioner of Public Buildings is hereby authorized and directed to furnish proper offices for the use of the department herein established.

The terms of the act, obviously, were innocuous enough, providing for a research and tabulation agency without administrative duties. Little power was granted the new department. The commissioner, though head of a "department," was not a member of the President's cabinet. The appropriation, too, was small.

The law, to many, seemed lacking in comprehensiveness and in adequate power, but the reasons for the passage of such an act are not far to seek.

National control of education, desired by some, was out of the question. The Constitution of the United States made no provision under which the national government might establish or maintain a national school system.

Secondly, education was viewed by most Americans as purely a state function, and a very considerable group of conscientious

educators feared the possibility of despotic control of education under a central head.

Thirdly, the jealousy and opposition of many state officers was a real obstacle. Under national control they feared the curtailment of their authority and loss of prestige.

These factors, coupled with a very understandable desire on the part of Congress not to bring to issue, with the sores of the Civil War still unhealed, any question involving a discussion of state rights made inescapable the type of act which was passed.

Amending Act. The department, however, was not to operate long under its original designation. The memorial presented to Congress by Representative Garfield had asked for a bureau rather than a department of education, and many members of Congress had clung to the bureau idea.

We find, therefore, in the annual appropriation act of July 20, 1868 (15 Stat. L., 92, 106), a provision abolishing the Department of Education as an independent unit and reëstablishing in the Department of the Interior a Bureau called the "Office of Education." This took effect as of July 1, 1869.

At the same time the salary of the Commissioner was reduced from $4000 to $3000 per annum. Powers and duties, however, remained unchanged.

The "Morrill" and Other Land-Grant Acts. In 1862 an act had been approved which later was to affect the Bureau of Education. This was the so-called "first Morrill Act" of July 2, of that year (12 Stat. L., 503).

This act, with amendments, provided for the donation of "public lands to the several states and territories which may provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and mechanics arts" and the extension of the "time in which the provisions of said act shall be accepted and such colleges established."

On August 30, 1890, the President approved "An act to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts established under the provisions of an act of Congress approved July 2, 1862" (26 Stat. L., 417, 419). This act, the so-called second "Morrill" Act, made provision for the allotment of funds to such colleges, specified certain

restrictions and required detailed annual reports as to operations and expenditures."

Section 4 charged the Secretary of the Interior with proper administration of this law, and he in turn delegated the duty to the Commissioner of Education.

The legislative, executive, and judicial act of March 2, 1895 (28 Stat. L., 764, 798), provided funds for a clerk who was charged with the duty of collecting and examining the reports required by law of the "land-grant" agricultural and mechanical colleges. He later was known as the specialist in land-grant college statistics.

Alaskan Education. With the exception of appropriation measures and the above mentioned "land-grant college" acts, no further legislation destined to affect the Bureau of Education was passed until 1884.

On May 17, of that year, an act providing a civil government for Alaska (23 Stat. L., 24, 27) was approved. The duty of providing for the education of the children in that territory was placed upon the Secretary of the Interior by Section 13, which said:

That the Secretary of the Interior shall make needful and proper provision for the education of the children of school age in the Territory of Alaska, without reference to race, until such time as permanent provision shall be made for the same, and the sum of $25,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated for this purpose.*

On March 2 of the next year the responsibility for this work was delegated by the Secretary of the Interior to the Commissioner of Education.

An act of March 3, 1899* (30 Stat. L., 1253, 1336), had levied a license fee upon certain businesses and trades in Alaska, while the act of June 6, 1900 (31 Stat. L., 321, 330, 331), “making further provision for a civil government for Alaska" provided

By act of March 4, 1907 (34 Stat. L., 1256, 1281) the appropriations for these purposes were considerably increased.

*31 Stat. L., 321, 330 repeats this provision in practically the same terms. An Act to define and punish crimes in the District of Alaska and to provide a code of criminal procedure for said district."

that 50 per cent of revenues so collected should be devoted to

school purposes.

The latter act was amended March 3, 1901 (31 Stat. L., 1438), so that one-half of all funds, covered into the treasury under the original act and its amendments from sources outside incorporated areas, were to be set aside for expenditure by the Secretary of the Interior at his discretion upon schools outside of that area. It was found in practice, however, that from the funds so collected the courts were withholding court expenses." This so seriously reduced the funds available for school purposes that another act (32 Stat. L., 944, 946) was approved March 2, 1903, "amending the civil code of Alaska" and stopping the practice mentioned by a change in the wording of the law.

66

On January 27, 1905, the President approved “ an act to provide for... the establishment and maintenance of schools . . . in the district of Alaska. (33 Stat. L., 616, 619), which made elaborate provisions for a new school system for white children under the governor of Alaska as superintendent of instruction. It specifically stated in Section 7, however,

6

That the schools specified and provided for in this act shall be devoted to the education of white children and children of mixed blood who lead a civilized life. The education of the Eskimos and Indians in the District of Alaska shall remain under the direction and control of the Secretary of the Interior, and schools for and among the Eskimos and Indians of Alaska shall be provided for by an annual appropriation, and the Eskimo and Indian children of Alaska shall have the same right to be admitted to any Indian boarding school as the Indian children in the states or territories of the United States.

Thus the supervision of the education of the white, or civilized children of Alaska passed from the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Education. The native schools remained, however, under bureau jurisdiction.

In the sundry civil act of May 27, 1908 (33 Stat. L., 317, 351), a maximum sum of $7000 was made available for personal services in the District of Columbia under the Alaska Division. This per

"In 1891 an act had been approved (26 Stat. L., 1095, 1101) which reserved Annette Island for certain natives who had migrated from British Columbia. Schools under the bureau were not established here, however, until a number of years later.