COLLEGE STANDARDIZATION 529 



tion, with advantage both to themselves and to the public. The enforce- 

 ment of the laws relating to banks has rarely ever been a hardship 

 except to those that have made themselves unsafe by recklessness. 

 Stockholders and depositors have a right to protection ; and this might 

 easily be denied them if the inspection of banks were denied. Such is 

 human nature, that the temptation to dishmonesty is greatly reduced by 

 the consciousness of responsibility and the knowledge that untruthful- 

 ness in accounts will be sure to bring its own natural punishment with 

 little delay. 



In the work of education the process of standardization is as 

 inevitable as in other great industries, despite the fact that the train- 

 ing of the young is not directly merchantable and that industrial com- 

 petition is not so conspicuous here as in transportation or manufactures. 

 The American public-school system is an enormous educational in- 

 dustry, divided into as many state corporations as there are states in 

 the union, and with as many subsidiary corporations as there are cities 

 where municipal school systems are supported by local taxation. The 

 growth of this aggregation of school industries since the close of the 

 civil war has been proportioned to our national growth in population. 

 The annual profits can not be expressed in dollars, but the value of the 

 system as a popular investment is manifested by the willingness of the 

 people to pay for the maintenance of such schools. During the twenty 

 years from 1880 to 1900 the population of the United States grew from 

 50,000,000 to 75,000,000, and the enrolment in schools from 10,000,- 

 000 to 15,000,000; in each case an increase of 50 per cent. In the 

 same interval the total estimated property of the country grew from 

 $42,000,000,000 to $94,000,000,000, an increase of 119 per cent. ; and 

 the total expenditure for schools from $80,000,000 to $214,000,000, an 

 increase of 162 per cent. 



The rate of increase in expenditure for education was thus about 

 one third greater than the rate of increase in wealth. The average 

 expense to each person in the country for the maintenance of schools 

 rose from $1.56 to $3.36. For salaries of teachers and superintendents 

 the outlay rose from $56,000,000 to $137,000,000. A passing com- 

 parison may be here made with the amounts paid by the national gov- 

 ernment to the army of war pensioners; in 1880, $56,000,000; in 1900, 

 $140,000,000. The function of a war pensioner is to teach patriotism, 

 even if he has never been near a battle. His reward has much exceeded 

 that of the teacher who has really earned his salary. There is need 

 for a consistent system of standardization in comparing the value of the 

 war pensioner with that of the teacher. 



In most of our country the system of public education is well 

 organized, and through the reports of superintendents every citizen can 

 obtain all the information he wishes regarding school expenditures, 

 vol. lxxiii. — 34. 



