594 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of their ideas ; how cheerfully they will devote life, strength, and en- 

 joyment to the work of convincing others of the existence of some 

 fact, or the truth of some view. But, if such forces are to be placed 

 at the service of society, it must he on the condition that society should 

 not throw artificial and almost insuperable obstacles in the way of those 

 reformers who search for better methods. If, for example, a man hold- 

 ing new views about education can at once address himself to those in 

 sympathy with him, can at once collect funds and proceed to try his 

 experiment, he sees his goal in front of him, and labors in the expecta- 

 tion of obtaining some practical result to his labor. But if some great 

 official system blocks the way ; if he has to overcome the stolid resist- 

 ance of a department ; to persuade a political party, which has no sym- 

 pathy with views holding out no promise of political advantage ; to 

 satisfy inspectors, whose eyes are trained to see perfection of only one 

 kind, and who may summarily condemn his school as " inefficient," and 

 therefore disallowed by law ; if in the mean time he is obliged by rates 

 and taxes to support a system to which he is opposed it becomes un- 

 likely that his energy and confidence in his own views will be sufficient 

 to inspire a successful resistance to such obstacles. It may be said 

 that a great official department, if quickened by an active public 

 opinion, will be ready to take up the ideas urged on it from outside. 

 But there are reasons why this should not be so. When a state de- 

 partment becomes charged with some great undertaking, there accu- 

 mulates so much technical knowledge round its proceedings that, with- 

 out much labor and favorable opportunities, it becomes exceedingly 

 difficult to criticise successfully its action. It is a serious study in 

 itself to follow the minutes and the history of a great department, 

 either like the local board or the education department. And, if 

 a discussion should arise, the same reason makes it difficult for the 

 public to form a judgment in the matter. A great office which is 

 attacked envelops itself, like a cuttle-fish, in a cloud of technical 

 statements which successfully confuses the public, until its attention is 

 drawn off in some other direction. It is for this reason, I think, that 

 state departments escape so easily from all control, and that such as- 

 tounding cases of recklessness and mismanagement come periodically 

 to light, making a crash which startles everybody for the moment. 

 The history of our state departments is like that of some Continental 

 governments, unintelligent endurance through long periods on the part 

 of the people, tempered by spasmodic outbursts of indignation and 

 ineffectual reorganization of the institutions themselves. It must also 

 be remembered that the manner in which new ideas produce the most 

 favorable results is not by a system under which many persons are 

 engaged in suggesting and inventing, and one person only in the work 

 of practical application. Clearly the most progressive method is that 

 whoever perceives new facts should possess free opportunities to apply 

 and experiment upon them. 



