Wider use

missal of classes and nightfall. In high schools this has long been of the

a favorite period for meetings of student societies and athletic conschool plant before tests both in and out of doors, and now a similar practice has got 6 P.M.

under way in the elementary schools. . . . For example, in Grand Rapids, Mich., parochial classes in domestic science use the public schools on certain afternoons from 4 to 6 o'clock, and three times a week the parents' council meets at 3:30 P.M. In Evanston, Ill., a children's class in gymnastic dancing supported by membership fees, a children's orchestra, the room basketball teams, and several other pupil organizations keep school buildings open after the ordinary closing time. These are samples only of the miscellaneous afternoon occasions which are developing spontaneously in the

schoolhouses of many cities. . . Letting reg

The marked increase of late years in miscellaneous evening occaulations.

sions in school buildings is largely due to the new spirit which has appeared in school letting rules. It does not pervade all of them, but each year sees an extension of its vogue. It is well expressed in the following regulations (published March, 1914) recently adopted

by the Joliet (Ill.) Board of Education: Generous In order that the public school plant may serve a wider community attitude of

use, the board of school inspectors will bear the expense of lightthe Joliet (III.) Boarding, heat, and janitor service when the school is used for the of Educa

following purposes: tion.

(1) Adult clubs or organizations for the discussion of educational, civic, and community problems.

(2) Public lectures, entertainments, or indoor recreational or

educational activities. Activities (3) Club work among young people — literary, musical, dramatic, which the

social- under supervision arranged by the school authorities. Board will favor and (4) Political discussions may be permitted when announced in partially

advance, and equal opportunity given for presentation of both support.

sides of the question, in accord with the American spirit of fair play. ...

is not

and cents,

156. The money value of education 1 The most valuable result of right education is the broadening, Education deepening, and refining of human life. This result can no more be

measurable measured by dollars and cents than can truth, self-sacrifice, and by dollars love; nevertheless, the material and measurable rewards of educa

but it is tion should be made plain to those who are either inclined or obliged nevertheless

important to judge an educational system in terms of money return. Anything

to point out which will show that education promotes industrial efficiency and its money

value. increases material wealth will help to secure the support of certain types of taxpayers and numerous classes of pupils. In the following extract the United States Bureau of Education discusses the money value of education: An investigation of the educational advantages enjoyed by the Who's Who

in America. 8,000 persons mentioned in Who's Who in America, for the years 1899–1900, brought out the following facts: Out of the nearly five million uneducated men and women in America, only 31 have been sufficiently successful in any kind of work to obtain a place among the 8,000 leaders catalogued in this book. Out of 33,000,000 people with as much as a common-school education, 808 were able to win a place in the list, while out of only 2,000,000 with high-school training, 1,245 have manifested this marked efficiency, and out of 1,000,000 with college or university training, 5,768 have merited this distinction. .

In interpreting the results of this study, as in the interpretation Despite of all of the following comparative studies of those who have educa- modifying

influences, tion with those who do not have it, let it be understood that the the success remarkable superiority of the educated must not be attributed en

of the indi

vidual detirely to their education. Those who receive education are a selected pends largely lot to begin with. Their parents were, as a rule, persons

of more

education. than average efficiency, and hence were able to keep their children in school; they were more intelligent than the average, and therefore induced or required their children to remain in school. The child himself probably had more than average ability, else he would

upon

1 From the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education. Bulletin, 1917, No. 22. “The Money Value of Education.” Washington, 1917; pp. 15, 17, 23, 31-33.

The educated man fails less often than does his uneducated fellow.

have wearied of the intellectual labor of the school and would have left it early. . . . Other influences also doubtless modify the result; but after due allowance for all these factors is made there remains still a large margin of superior efficiency on the part of the educated that one must credit to education. ..

[A study conducted by H. J. Hapgood] brought out especially the large per cent of successes among college-bred men in responsible, high-salaried positions, and the comparatively small per cent of successes on the part of the non-college-bred men. He says: “A notable instance of the value of college men is furnished by the Western Electric Co., which began employing college men about ten years ago, and has found that 90 per cent of them make good, as compared with 10 per cent of the men who enter business on leaving the high or grammar school.

[Studies conducted in Springfield (Mass.), and Brooklyn,] represent a fair average of what may be expected as a result of a good school system. ... The life expectancy of the average high-school boy is more than 40 years. If we [assume, as statistics show that we have a right to assume, an] average annual salary of $1,000 for a period of 40 years, and compare it with the illiterate laborer's salary of $500 per year for the same length of time, we can see how richly the child and the community are repaid for each day the child attends school. $1,000 for 40 years equals.

$40,000 $500 for 40 years equals.

Every day at school worth nine dollars.

20,000

Difference.

$20,000 Twelve years of 180 days each, or a total of 2,160 days of school, bring the child, therefore, an added life income of $20,000, or a return of between nine and ten dollars for each day spent in school. ...

Questions on the foregoing Readings 1. What, at present, is the attitude of most authorities toward the

question of standardizing all of the educational facilities of the

nation? 2. What were the recommendations of the U. S. Bureau of Education with regard to the centralization of the state school system in

Arizona? 3. Outline the recommendations of the Bureau with respect to higher

standards for teachers in Arizona. 4. Why is the problem of financing the schools increasingly important? 5. Compare the amounts spent on the schools of Columbia, South

Carolina, with the amounts expended for this purpose in other

cities. 6. What are some elements in a campaign to secure more adequate

financial support of the schools? 7. Why ought not to be difficult to secure this support? 8. How many states had compulsory attendance laws by 1914? 9. Discuss the problem of securing the school attendance of the

children of poor parents. 10. What is the importance of state agents charged with the enforce

ment of the school attendance laws? II. What is the present tendency with regard to setting the age limits

in compulsory attendance laws? 12. Summarize the important factors in the enforcement of compul

sory school attendance laws. 13. Give an example of a problem which may arise in connection

with the relation of general or liberal to vocational education. 14. What problem arises in connection with the time at which vo

cational education should be begun? 15. Give some examples of problems which arise in connection with

the transference of the results of vocational education. 16. Illustrate the difficulty of dividing the pupil's time and energy

between technical and practical training. 17. At what age should home-making education be begun? 18. Name some activities which figure prominently in the wider use

of the school plant movement. 19. Give an example of the wider use of the school plant between the

dismissal of afternoon classes and nightfall. 20. Summarize the attitude of the Joliet (I11.) Board of Education

toward the wider use of the school plant. 21. Why is it important to point out the money value of education? 22. What did a study of Who's Who in America reveal as to the value

of education? 23. Illustrate the statement that “the educated man fails less often"

than the uneducated. 24. What were the results, so far as the money value of education is

concerned, of the studies conducted in Springfield (Mass.) and Brooklyn?

PART IV - AMERICAN POLITICAL PROBLEMS

a. SOME ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS OF GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER XXVII

PUBLIC INTEREST IN BUSINESS: REGULATION

1

157. An example of industrial combination Rapid de- One of the most spectacular chapters in the history of industry velopment of deals with the origin and development of those business organizations the corporate form of which are popularly known as trusts. Formerly most businesses business or- were carried on either by individuals or by a small number of partganization.

ners; within the last half century there has been so steady a development of corporate organization that to-day the great corporation is the dominant form of business organization. In the following selection Professor Chester W. Wright illustrates the development of “big business” by tracing the history of the United States

Steel Corporation: The begin

In the year 1858 one Andrew Kloman and his brother started a nings of

small iron forge at Allegheny, Pa. Their plant was worth about what later developed

$5,000. They made a reputation for putting out good and reliable into the products, particularly axles for railroads, and the business prosU.S. Steel Corporation. pered. ... During the Civil War the demand for iron was enor

mously increased and the iron and steel industry grew rapidly and was very prosperous. [In 1863 Andrew Carnegie bought an interest in the business, and] in 1865 this partnership was consolidated with another in which Carnegie also had an interest, and took the name

of the Union Iron Mills Co. ... The busi

The Union Iron Mills consumed large quantities of pig iron, and ness, origi

the owners decided that they could obtain it at less cost if they made nally small, grows rapidly

their own pig iron instead of buying it. In 1870 a group of them after the

organized a separate company and erected the Lucy blast furnace Civil War.

i From the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Lessons in Community and National Life. Washington, 1918. Series A; pp. 209– 212, 217–218.