Evening star., 1941-04-29
Fries Criticizes Bill
To Give S3OO,OOO,OOO
u. ). Aid 10 Schools
Feors Federal Control
Of Education, He Tells
Senate Hearing

Educa tional problems of various
parts of the Nation were described
to a Senate subcommittee today as
hearings on the $500, 100000 bill for
Federal aid to schools went into the
second day.
Against statements of number of
persons who favored the bill was
the lone testimony of Maj. Gen.
Amos A. Fries. regional director of
the Friends of the Public Schools
of America, who said his organiza-
tion opposed the measure because 1t
would lead eventually to complete
Federal control of the Nations
schools. He also said there were
loopholeS through which Federal
money might go to parochial and
private schools.
The bill, sponsored by Senators
Thomas, Democrat. of Utah, and
Harrison, Democrat, of Mississippi,
is intended to equalize educational
facilities of the country, to create
new facilities to care for extreme
population shifts due to the defense
program, and to make Improvements
in Negro schools.
Although no proposals for division
of funds have been made. it is as
sumed that the District of Colum-
bia, which is to share on the same
basis as a State, would be recon-
pensed for additional school burdens
imposed by the great recent influx
of Government workers.
Thinks Old Schools Better.
At one time in his testimony, Gen.
Fries made an unfavorable COM
parison between the old schools and
the new schools of the District.
Il think children in the little one
room schoolhouse in Missouri he
said, learned better than some in
the fine modern schools of the Dis
trict of Columbia"
Speaking in support of the bill,
1t. Col. Frank McSherry, assistant
Federal security administrator, said
the defense program had found
acute need of supplementary, or re-
lated, vocational instruction and
pre-employment training.
DR.. Will w. Alexander of Chicago,
vice president of the Julius RoSen-
wald Fund, said in supporting the
bill that, while the South is produc-
ing the population surplus of the
Nation, educational resources there
are the most meager in the country.
He asked for consideration of long
time welfare" of the country. Vo-
cational training is inadequate in
the South, he said, adding that 40
per cent of all State-owned equip
ment for vocational training Is In
New York State.
Statistics on Migrants.
Courtenay Dinwiddie, general Sec
retary of the National Child Labor
Committee, said that since we are
now deeply concerned with the ex-
istence of democracy, we should
look more carefully at the under
pinning of democracy-the educa-
ton of our people"
He presented STATISTICS from a
study of 181 children of migrant par
ents, and said So per cent of them
had not been in school at any time
within the last year. He said tests
showed the children to be natively
as intelligent as most of the others.
but that they were woefully retarded
in education.
Mr.. Dinwiddle suggested an
amendment that would make the
pill clear in its provision for edu-
cational opportunities for migrant
children, and added that 1t was an
unusual situation when children
dropped out of school earlier than
their parents. He said that such
was the situation with migrant
families.
Difficulties in Indiana.
Representative Earl Wilson of In
diana told difficulties faced by town.
ship school authorities in Charles
Town, Ind, site of the Indiana