284 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVIII. Xo. 452. 



1. The United States Bureau of Education 

 has amply proved its usefuhiess to the nation. 

 Its publications are standard works of refer- 

 ence for school oiEcers and teachers every- 

 where. The Bureau of Education should be 

 made an independent administrative depart- 

 ment, such as were the Departments of Agri- 

 culture and of Labor before their elevation to 

 Cabinet rank. Sufficient appropriations 

 shovild be made by the Congress to enable the 

 Commissioner of Education to extend the 

 scope and add to the usefulness of his work. 



2. The condition of affairs in the Indian 

 Territory, where fully three quarters of the 

 population are reported as being without 

 schools for their children, demands the im- 

 mediate attention of the Congress. Provision 

 should be speedily made by which the people 

 of the Indian Territory will have power to 

 establish and carry on a system of public 

 schools so that all classes of citizens in the 

 Indian Territory may have the educational 

 opportunities which are enjoyed by their fel- 

 low-citizens in other parts of the country. 



3. Teaching in the public schools will not 

 be a suitably attractive and permanent career, 

 nor will it command as much of the ability 

 of the country as it should, until the teachers 

 are properly compensated and are assured of 

 an undisturbed tenure during efficiency and 

 good behavior. A large part of the teacher's 

 reward must always be the pleasure in the 

 character and quality of the work done; but 

 the money compensation of the teacher should 

 be sufficient to maintain an appropriate stand- 

 ard of living. Legislative measures to give 

 support to these principles deserve the ap- 

 proval of the press and the people. 



4. The true source of the strength of any 

 system of public education lies in the regard 

 of the people whom it immediately serves, and 

 in their willingness to make sacrifices for it. 

 Eor this reason a large share of the cost of 

 maintaining public schools should be borne 

 by a local tax levied by the county or by the 

 town in which the schools are. State aid is 

 to be regarded as supplementary to, and not 

 as a substitute for, local taxation for school 

 purposes. In many parts of the United 

 States a large increase in the amount of the 



local tax now voted for school purposes, or the 

 levying of such a tax where none now exists, 

 is a pressing need if there are to be better 

 schools and better teachers. 



5. The highest ethical standards of conduct 

 and of speech should be insisted upon among 

 teachers. It is not becoming that com- 

 mercialism or self-seeking should shape their 

 actions, or that intemperance should mark 

 their utterances. A code of professional con- 

 duct clearly understood and rigorously en- 

 forced by public opinion is being slowly de- 

 veloped, and will, doubtless, one day control 

 all teachers worthy of the name. 



6. It is important that school buildings and 

 school grounds should be planned and dec- 

 orated so as to serve as effective agencies for 

 educating not only the children but the people 

 as a whole in matters of taste. The school is 

 becoming more and more a community center, 

 and its larger opportunities impose new obli- 

 gations. School buildings should be attrac- 

 tive as well as healthful, and the adjoining 

 grounds should be laid out and planned with 

 appropriateness and beauty. 



Y. Disregard for law and for its established 

 modes of precedure is as serious a danger as 

 can menace a democracy. The restraint of 

 passion by respect for law is a distinguishing 

 mark of civilized beings. To throw ofi that 

 restraint, whether by appeals to brutal in- 

 stincts or by specious pleas for a law of nature 

 which is superior to the laws of man, is to re- 

 vert to barbarism. It is the duty of the schools 

 so to lay the foundations of character in the 

 young that they will grow up with a rever- 

 ence for the majesty of the law. Any system 

 of school discipline which disregards this obli- 

 gation is harmful to the child and dangerous 

 to the state. A democracy which would en- 

 dure must be as law-abiding as it is liberty- 

 loving. 



THE AMERICA'S' ELECTROCHEMICAL SO- 

 CIETY. 

 The fourth general meeting of the Amer- 

 ican Electrochemical Society will be held at 

 Niagara Falls, N. Y., September 17, 18 and 

 19, 1903. Thursday and Friday afternoons 

 will be devoted to visits to power houses and 



