The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1916-08-10

J, FIRST, Is tne NOCdllOlldl
n Education Bill a very i'm
portant piece of construc-
u tive legislation?
Second, is Senator Page
responsible therefor?
Taking up the first question, Senator Pages
answer would be: Vocational Education is one
of the most important pieces of constructive
Legislation now engaging public attention
Why? Because it opens up broad educa-
tional policy which vitality and favorably affects
EVERY state, county, town, and school district in
the United States, and because it is measure
designed to give efficiency to every American
boy and girl, not only in the workshop and on
1.-THE farm, but in the home, and it is measure
which is designed to make into better citizens
the boys and girls of today, who will constitute
the citizenship of tomorrow"
On this question President Wilson speaks, in
the cean-cut language for which he is justly
celebrated, as follows
There are two sides to the question of
preparation There is not merely mill
tary side-there is an industrial side And
the ideal which | have in mind is this,
| gentlemen: We ought to have in this
country great system of industrial and
| vocational education, under Federal guild
ance and with Federal aid in which very
large percentage of the youth of this
| country will be given training in the skill
| f11,1 md onr,1in IF fba J,I.n oir,la 4
| science in maneuver and business.
Congressman James r. Mann, everywhere
recognized as the great Republican leader of the
present House of Representatives, and the man
| who will, should the administration change I'M
questionably be the next Speaker of the House
says. 80. isaflA sas-,. ..~,.
The subject of vocational education |
think is one of the most important subjects
before the American people today, or, for
that matter, before the people of the world,
but particularly with us. We are going to
be in competition with other nations when
they do better than we, by nstructing their
youth in the vocations.
Answering the second question, Us Senator
Page responsible for this legislation" the fol-
lowing fact is given as matter of official
record:
In 1911 the Committee on Agriculture and
Forestry passed, without dissenting vote, the
following resolution:
Resolved, that Senator Page, as SUBJ
committee of one, be instructed to CORE
spond with leading educators and others
interested in the purposes Of the proposed
measure, and to report to the full commit
tee the result of his investigation, and to
submit bill amended to conform to the
suggestions he may receive from such cor
respondence or any he might have to make.
Acting in conformity with this resolution,
Senator Page entered into correspondence
with the leading educators of this country,
which became so extensive that the Senator was
to devote thereto the larger part of
his vacation period in the fall Of 1911, and from
that time until the present, in season and out Of
season, night and day, the surplus energies of
Senator Page have been largely given to this
work. To him it has been labor of love- and
he has incurred expenditures with reference to
this measure out of his private means, not re-
by Congress, of more than $4,000
That this great measure is regarded by the
National Senate as the child of Senator Page is
a matter of general knowledge, but as bearing
upon this point we quote below from speeches
delivered in the United States Senate July 81,
1916.
Senator Smith, of Georgia, in discussing the
Measure, said:
The responsibility for this measure
would have continued with Senator Page
rather than to have fallen to me- but for
the change which took place in the organic
alton of the Senate three years ago. With
Republican majority he was leading in
the work and was helping him. Since that
time, as ! am Chairman of the Committee
on Education and Labor, the ituation
is reversed just little, but | am always
glad to stop at any time the opportunity is