THE NATIONAL, GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



285 



Photograph from American Red Cross 



A GROUP OF" WOUNDED AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO HAVE BEEN SENT TO ENGLAND 

 TO REGAIN THEIR HEALTH AND STRENGTH 



The scene is the lawn of Dartford Hospital, near London. Mrs. Walter Hines Page, 

 wife of the former American Ambassador, is seen dispensing flowers and cheerfulness among 

 the boys who have been sent from the front to recuperate in England. 



life with a wider vision than when plow- 

 ing furrows in Kent. 



Like every other British reform, the 

 educational act carefully utilizes the long- 

 laid foundations, avoids unnecessary 

 shock to tradition, saves and builds upon 

 whatever has been found good. It has 

 since become a law, and for its coordina- 

 tion of all grades from kindergarten to 

 university, for its plans to make educa- 

 tion compulsory, practical, and cultural ; 

 for its guarantees of the full measure 

 of educational opportunity that every 

 type of adolescent mind may justify, it 

 seems fairly to justify the verdict of 

 some educators, that it is the most com- 

 plete and satisfactory educational scheme 

 ever devised for any nation. 



If space would permit, a digest of this 

 measure, which combines a scheme of 

 universal education with new and neces- 

 sary restrictions on child labor, would 



give an excellent idea of how the British 

 have managed, while meeting the de- 

 mands showered on them by a warring 

 world, to find time for constructive re- 

 forms. 



Here in America a few people have 

 just begun to study the amazing data 

 about illiteracy, our 11,000,000 alien resi- 

 dents, use of foreign languages in great 

 communities, and the physical degeneracy 

 of great classes, which have been made 

 available through the working of the uni- 

 versal military service act. Britain has 

 studied its corresponding data, and has 

 taken measures to end disgraceful condi- 

 tions. 



Foreseeing the myriad problems of 

 after the war, they have set up in Britain 

 a Ministry of Reconstruction, headed by 

 Dr. Charles Addison, which has produced 

 a great mass of illuminating studies in 

 existing conditions, with plans for their 



