problems. They must show as much altruistic energy in the defense as the radical leaders have been showing in the attack. The disjointed, unprincipled, unpractical or sentimental altruism which is doing so much harm as practiced in university, in church, in philanthropic and in social circles must be shown up or made to understand the realities and dangers of its efforts, and be led, by this new insight, to shift to the camp of constructive action.

The re-education of the educators and of the educated class must go hand in hand with the reorganization and extension of our educational system. We cannot give the right point of view to our foreign population and to our children unless it is clearly and firmly ingrained in all of us. Knowledge and convictions based on knowledge must be gained by the whole nation. This report aims to give this knowledge as far as it was humanly possible to do in the spheres it undertook to investigate. This Committee feels that it has only begun the work that the country as a whole must take up and carry on, heart and soul, beginning with the renovation and elevation of our school system, based on a generous and wise understanding of its financial needs. It there fore backed with all its influence the legislation granting increased salaries to public school teachers. Party differences, local claims, appropriations not fundamentally necessary, should be set aside until more than living wage is secured for those on whose teaching the spiritual and material prosperity of this country so largely depends.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EDUCATIONAL LEGISLATION

At the close of the Committee's investigation into various organizations engaged in seditious activities and those calculated to encourage such a movement, and after making just as careful a study of all the activities of constructive agencies seeking to counteract these influences, the Committee was confronted with the problem of making recommendations for legislative action. This was extremely difficult. The scope of the investigation is so broad, the problems presented of such great magnitude and importance, that the Committee has hesitated to make many or extensive recommendations.

I

After a thorough review of the educational facilities offered not only by the State and municipalities and school districts, but also by religious and philanthropic institutions, the Committee felt impelled to make certain very definite suggestions. It must be observed that no matter how imposing are the school buildings, how elaborate the curricula, how sound the text books, the success of the school system depends in the last analysis upon the character and viewpoint of the teachers and instructors who carry out the program, and who influence the pupils with whom they come in contact. It is apparent that these teachers must be acquainted with the forces at play upon public opinion. They must recognize the influences which seek to undermine the confidence and respect which their pupils or students should have for the government and laws of this commonwealth. They should be trained and eager to combat those influences, and, in order that they may do this, it is essential that they themselves shall be in full accord and sympathy with our form of government and the system of society under which we live. There is a further element which has been overlooked in the selection of teachers, and that is character. In the main, the teachers in our public schools and private and philanthropic institutions have been chosen because of their academic and pedagogical attainments. In other fields it has been found necessary to scrutinize the character of persons seeking to enter them, before they are granted special privileges. For instance, admission to the bar is not alone granted for legal knowledge, but the applicant must submit to a rigid and thorough investigation as to his character. If there exists a fiduciary relationship between the attorney and his client, there is even a greater reposing of trust on the part of the public in the teacher.

Having these considerations in mind, the Committee has recommended that a law be placed upon the statute books of this State which shall require the teachers in public schools to secure, before the first of January, 1921, a special certificate certifying that they are persons of good character and that they are loyal to the institutions of the State and Nation.

II

In another portion of this report descriptions are given of various so-called schools of social reform, masquerading under different names and being carried on by various subversive organi

xations. An examination of their curricula shows that the fundamental purpose of these schools is to destroy the respect of the students for the institutions of the United States. Many of them advocate the overthrow of the governments of this State and of the United States by force, violence or unlawful means. In many schools and courses of lectures and classes, class hatred and contempt for government are being preached, and all those fundamentals which make for good citizenship are either ignored or ridiculed. It is the fundamental purpose of these institutions to develop agitators to enter the labor fields, to preach the doctrine of revolt, and to divide the people of the United States into contending classes so that they may be instrumental in hastening the social revolution.

At the present time there are no methods by which the public authorities can protect the people of the State from the injurious effects of such institutions. Fundamentally, it is the duty of the State in the interests of its self-protection, to see that its citizens are trained to respect its laws, to revere its institutions and to accept the duties and responsibilities as well as the privileges of citizenship. It is also the duty of the State, in the opinion of this Committee, to protect its citizens from subversive teaching. Institutions holding themselves out to the public as institutions of learning, which have the ulterior purpose of undermining our social order, entice into their classrooms large numbers of students who are unfamiliar with the purposes of those institutions, unfamiliar with the principles and character of our form of government, who would be unwilling at the beginning to participate in the movement for which such schools are created, but who, after attending the courses of lectures and imbibing the false doctrines which are there enunciated, are made a part of and become active in movements which are detrimental to the interests of the State and of its people.

Years ago the State recognized its duty to protect its citizens from unqualified lawyers and from unskilled practitioners in medicine and dentistry, but it has neglected what this Committee considers the most fundamental of all questions, and that is the protection of its citizens from false and subversive teaching.

To meet this situation the Committee recommends to the Legislature the passage of a law requiring all schools, courses and classes that are not now under the supervision or control of the Department of Education, or are not created and maintained

by well-recognized religious denominations or sects, to procure a license from the Board of Regents of this State. This bill was recommended in the preliminary report of this Committee, and it has been particularly interesting to note the way it has been received by the public of this State. A very considerable opposition has been aroused, not only among the subversive institutions against which it was directed, but also in the more conservative elements of our population. The latter have joined in a protest against this measure, largely because of a lack of understanding of the bill itself, the purposes for which it is prepared and the necessity for its enactment.

The opposition shown in the public prints against this measure is a clear demonstration of the methods by which public opinion is controlled by the subversive elements in this community. If any member of the Legislature or person into whose hands this report may come will follow the issues of the New York "Call" from the date of the submission of the preliminary report of this Committee, he will there see the methods adopted by Socialists and other radical groups to influence public opinion against this measure. The opposition began in a committee of the Rand School of Social Science. It was augmented by delegates from the various radical revolutionary organizations conducting subversive educational campaigns among their membership. It was joined by delegates from the Neighborhood Houses of New York City and if reference is made to the section of this report dealing with the pacifist movement as a means for the spread of Socialism, the reason for the participation of these particular individuals in these conferences at the Rand School will be understood. Through the agency of these committees, circularizing newspapers, and preparing and circulating petitions, they have secured the support of a large number of substantial and loyal citizens of this State in opposing this measure.

It

The measure itself is designed to give the same supervision over unincorporated schools, courses and classes which the Regents at present have over all incorporated educational bodies. is claimed that such supervision would result in the suppression of free education, that it would be a bar to educational progress, that it would be a reversion to medieval methods. Precisely the same arguments were used at the time the control of the medical profession was placed in the State's hands. At that time the argument was used that State control would be a bar to the progress of

medical science and knowledge. The opposition was as strong as that to this measure.

An examination of the schools and colleges of this State under the supervision of the Regents does not disclose any atrophying effect upon education: this supervision is recognized as essential in raising the standards of education in this State. It is these considerations that led the Committee to recommend this measure and to express the earnest hope that it will be placed upon the statute books of this State.

III

In the first chapter of the Educational section, in Part II of this Report, the problems created by the necessity to assimilate large bodies of alien peoples have been presented. The solutions of these problems rest primarily upon the teachers in our public and private institutions. They require extraordinary talent and special training. Heretofore it has been customary to employ teachers ordinarily qualified as public school teachers to deal with the problems of adult and immigrant education. Short courses of intensive training have been provided.

This Committee, however, feels that the problems are so vast that especial training of a substantial and thorough character is necessary in order to make effective the courses conducted in our public and private institutions in the fields of immigrant education and citizenship training.

The Committee, therefore, has proposed in its preliminary report legislation directing the Department of Education of this State to open and conduct special training courses for teachers in these fields, to have a duration of not less than one academic year.

IV

In the course of its investigation the Committee has been impressed by the need of a wide extension of the facilities offered to illiterate adults and minors over sixteen years of age. In another chapter the questions are fully presented. The factory extension education classes afford, in the opinion of the Committee, one of the most effective means of dealing with these problems. The Committee has, therefore, offered in its preliminary report a bill calculated to enable the Commissioner of Education to open more and more schools in factories and outside of school buildings, in such places as may be appropriate,