The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-08-14
K. OF 6. OPPOSE FEDERAL CONTROL
 OF PUBLIC SCHOOL

sturdy American pr1nclpleS, the Knights of Columbus are on record in opposition to. federal control of American schools. With their practi- l cal experience in education, as well l as their other patriotic work during the war and after, they have seen clear through to the bald facts in the Smith-Towner bill for the fed eralization of education Why, they have been asked, the opposition to a federal bureau of education? With the question comes the statement that the Department of Agriculture does not control the farmers and a department of educa- ton would serve the same purpose in the same way. The answer to the question is con tained in the report submitted to the Knights of Columbus with the reso- l lution protesting against the Smith l Towner Bill as a bureaucratic policy | directly in conflict with American 1 principles and precedents and ob- structive to the normal development of real education in a democracy. The Knights of Columbus, the re- port points out, number well over half million men, parents in fact or | in possibility, interested as American | citizens in the education of the youth Of the United States. In the Smith Towner Bill is contained a sharp challenge to that interest: 'We have 1 become we'll accustomed to the view 1 that local schools, being the exclusive concern of the several states and not
 the federal government should sup port and control such schools. The 1 bill in question, however, would re- wise that principle by providing for l the establishment of a department headed by a secretary of education, 1 who would direct and control the ! education of the children of the sev-
 eral states. It is proposed to ap- 1 propriate one hundred million of dol- | lars to carry out this plan, and pre- l Sumably this vast sum would have to 1 be raised by federal taxation. Al. 1 though the national debt is estimat- | ed to be at the present time between l twenty-five and thirty billions of dol 1 lars, no good citizen would object to l the addition of another hundred mill 1 lions of dollars if it could be shown 1 that the benefit to our children is commensurate with the expenditure ''The point, however, which seems to 1 be most worthy of emphasis in con- i sidering this matter of great national l concern is not so much that it in l wolves a huge outlay of money, not l so much that it vests in one individual 1 the secretary of education, a, measure 1 of authority and control denied to any | other official.S We are aware that great emphasis is laid by proponents | of this measure upon the claim that | all educational facilities shall be en- couraged by the provisions of the act, l and that all these facilities shall be | organized. supervised and administer ed exclusively by the legally consti- l tuted state and local authorities of l said state, but, says the 'bil the sec | retary of education Sha1 exercise no | authority in relation thereto except l as herein provided to insure that all i funds apportioned to said state shall | be used for the purpose for Which they are appropriated and in accord 1 ance with the provisions of this act, | accepted by said state.'
 l "It is to be noted that the excep- l tion is significant and all-inclusive. No
 one but the secretary of education
 shah judge whether the state is prop erly using the money appropriated l therefore it seems plain that in this
 regard the federal government and not the state exercises actual control The federal government, of course
 will follow its money"
 The application of that reception carried in the, Smith-Towner Bill
 would give the proposed secretary Of
 education power such as the Secre-
 tary of Agricultur for dnstanc, cannot ! wield. The Secretary of Agriculture
 assuredly does not control the farmers , but the proposed secretary of educa- . ton, according to the Smith-IoWner Bill would pass judgment upon every act or plan of the states for education and on the basis of his own personal opinion of what and how the children , l of America would be framed could
 grant or withhold the appropriations available for the states.
 The Secretary of Agriculture tells , no farmer what he must or must not
 produce. The proposed secretary of
 education dictates precisely what the
 schools must or must not produce
 or else he withholds the share in the appropriations that would otherwise go to the State that refuses to com
 ply with his decision. What he die
 tates is seen in the Knights of Co.,
 1umbus report:
 Remembering that there is a con- :. dition attached to the payment of any
 part of this money to any gwen state . it is helpful to a right conclusion on the merits of this bill to observe that
 the federal Secretary would have the
 power to require any state which
 makes application to submit it's ed
 ucational credentials to him, for ac-
 cording to the act the state must re-
 port to the secretary on these various
 matters, first instruction of Hitter ates ten years of age and over; sec
 ond, the Americanization of immi- . grants, teaching them to speak and :, :, read the English language and to un- derstand and appreciate the spirit and purpose of the American govern
 ment; third, plans for the payment d d of teachers salaries; fourth, provid- 5 ing better instruction and extending $ school terms esta b1ished in rura = schools; fifth, the extension an6 foundation of public libraries fol :, educational purposes; sixth, orders regula ting the length of the schoo u term, providing compulsory attend
 Iance, and making English the basic | language of instruction; seventh U physical educational and Instruction s in the principles of health and hy'
 1 geine providing dental clinics ant