The Cordova daily times., 1919-10-18
TERRITORIAL SCHOOLS ARE
 REGISTERING

Commissioner of Education l.. D. Henderson is here on visit to the local schools, after having just re- turned from trip to Fairbanks, Ne mana and towns along the Yukon river He says Cordova is to be congratulat- ed on her excellent schools, and on the record which the pupils have made in the support of every war activity in which the government has asked aid of the schools during the past two | years.
 Alaska generally brides herself on four things: First of all, she yields second place to no state in the Union in the war record of her schools. In war gardens, war savings, Red Cross work and food conservation, in relief activities of every description, and in active support of every win -the-war measure" there were few laggards in the whole territory. Alaska further brides herself on the training and ex- perience of the teachers in her public schools. More than two-thirds of the teachers in Alaska are graduates of normal schools or colleges, and large percentage of this number have had advanced training in addition to grad uation. The average experience of Alaska teachers during the school year 1917-18 was seven and oneihalf years. When these figures are compared with those of any state in the Union, or with those of the nation as a whole, Alaska is found to be far in the lead, a circumstance which contributes, without doubt, to a third cause for pride, namely, the superiority of the pupils in her schools as indicated by series of standard tests which have been given during the past two school 1 years. A fourth cause for pride is to be found in the generous financial sup port which the residents of Alaska give to their schools and in their read mess to provide still greater funds as the necessity presents itself.
 The high cost of living is now an issue in every walk of life Per cap- ita school costs will now be larger than in the past. The matter of teach CTS salaries in the schools of nearly every community needs adjustment upward. Alaska has been able to se- cure highly trained and experienced paying more adequate salaries than the average state. Teachers salaries throughout the United States have ad- vanced materially during the past year. There is in addition, a scarcity of teachers throughout the nation, the shortage last year being estimated at 5O000. If we are to secure thoroughly competent teachers in the future we must spend more money on the item of teachers salaries.
 A period of material, moral and spir- itual reconstruction now faces the na- tion. It is frankly admitted by all that the schools are essential to the proper carrying out of a reconstruc- tion program. Without the active CO., operation of teachers and pupils the nation would fail in it's endeavor. The great war has done one thing for the public schools. It has brought them directly to the attention of the gov ernment and of each individual in this country in a way that has never before been possible. Heretofore the schools were an accepted institution, as were babies, day, night and the movies. 1 Then came the war, and the nation for the first time realized the power which the army of 22000,0O0 school children and 6O0,0OO school teachers represented.
 Not only has the public obtained a new view of the American school and it's power and value as an investment, but the school has in turn obtained a new view of its own functions and needs. It has realized it's weaknesses and shortcomings, but never so con- cretely as now. It has in the past made attempts to remedy these weak nesses, but never with such determi- nation or a conviction so clear cut as now-never with such confidence that the public will cooperate and provide both moral and financial support as now.
 The reconstruction program of the public schools provides for definite