FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL REPORT 



To the Trustees of The American Museum of Natural History 

 and to the City of New York 



PROGRESS OF THE FIFTY-SECOND YEAR 



BY 



President Henry Fairfield Osborn 



"We believe that the Mayor and the Board of Estimate of the City 

 of New York are deeply interested in the education of our children and 

 will support a well-considered movement to secure adequate funds for 

 education, provided it can be shown that this movement is in the 

 interest of the 900,000 children of our public schools. The present 

 Governor of the State of New York and the Members of the Senate 

 and Assembly must prepare to meet the crisis which has suddenly over- 

 whelmed the educational system of the State. At the moment a demo- 

 cratic measure of taxation, one that has a precedent in many other 

 states, seems advisable. President John H. Finley, at the head of the 

 entire educational system of the State, has recently declared himself in 

 favor of united support for home rule for the schools, for financial 

 independence on the part of boards of education, and for separate tax 

 rolls and assessments for educational purposes." 1 



The above sentences from my Fifty-first Annual Report have 

 aroused widespread discussion. In general the democratiza- 

 tion of taxation for purposes of education is not popular. The 

 people must be convinced through a gradual appeal to their 

 patriotism and to their reason that every citizen as well as 

 every alien should make some direct contribution towards the 

 great system of public education and public welfare which has 

 been built up in the City of New York. The spirit of mutual 

 sacrifice involved in such a contribution is an important ele- 

 ment in the training for citizenship. By this means taxation 

 becomes a blessing fairly borne by all, instead of a burden 

 resting heavily on the shoulders of a few. I am convinced 

 that our present system of taxation in the City of New York, 

 where only one person in ten pays a visible and direct tax, is 

 thoroughly undemocratic. It means taxation of the few with- 

 out representation or a real voice in the expenditure of tax 



1 From the Fifty-first Annual Report of The American Museum of Natural 

 History. 



17 



