702 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol, 36 



encouraging the type of education for the mass of our people which 

 will train them for the practical affairs of life. ... It proposes that 

 we give our workers a square deal, by giving them a chance to se- 

 cure technical training as we now provide technical training for the 

 professional classes." 



This bill differed widely as to details from the measure eventually 

 enacted. It contained a plan for the maintenance of branch experi- 

 ment stations and made no provision for the training of teachers. 

 Subsequently it was reintroduced into later sessions of Congress, as 

 were also a considerable number of other bills having in view the 

 same purpose of fostering secondary education in agriculture, the 

 mechanic arts, and home economics. One of these, introduced by 

 the late Senator J. P. Dolliver of Iowa, which also included provi- 

 sions for teacher training in vocational subjects at State normal 

 schools and extension work in agriculture at the colleges of agricul- 

 ture, received a favorable report from the Senate Committee on 

 Agriculture and Forestry in 1910. 



An elaborate measure, introduced in 1912 by Senator Carroll S. 

 Page of Vermont and embodying substantially the same objects as 

 the bill just mentioned, was likewise favorably reported by the 

 Senate committee, and in 1913 this measure with some modifications 

 was substituted by the Senate for the text of an agricultural ex- 

 tension bill which had passed the House. No agreement was reached 

 between the two Houses, however, as regards these measures before 

 the adjournment of that Congress. 



In 1914 the appointment was authorized of a commission to study 

 the entire question of national aid for vocational education. This 

 commission, of which Senator Hoke Smith of Georgia was chair- 

 man, submitted an extended report later in the year, as previously 

 noted in these pages (E. S. R., 31, p. 402). It advocated a system 

 of schools of subcollegiate grade for pupils over 14 years of age, 

 stating that " the most opportune time to train the boy is during his 

 adolescent period, when he has already gained much knowledge of 

 farm work and its requirements, and is at the age when he is most 

 ambitious, most alert, and therefore most teachable." It laid much 

 stress on the desirability of directed or supervised farm practice, 

 and considered as fundamental the necessity of providing facilities 

 for the adequate preparation of teachers. 



Endorsements for the principle of federal aid for vocational edu- 

 cation, few in number at first, had been steadily accumulating during 

 the years the question was under consideration. The National So- 

 ciety for the Promotion of Industrial Education, the National Edu- 

 cation Association, the National Grange, the American Federation of 

 Labor, the American Home Economics Association, and the Interna- 

 tional Congress of Farm Women may be cited as types of the many 



