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 A social and political necessity. 
 
 3 1924 031 434 271 
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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031434271 
 
H Social anb political 
 IFlecessit^ 
 
 MORAL, CIVIC AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING 
 Experiences, Reports and Proposed 
 
 Legislation 
 
 BY 
 
 WILSON L. GILL, LL:B... 
 
 president of the patriotic league, 
 
 general supervisor of moral and civic training, 
 
 public schools of cuba, under the 
 
 american administration 
 
 AND BY 
 
 Military, Legislative and Educational Officers,, 
 Principals, Teachers and Students 
 
 MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT in the hands of the people, is not and 
 never can be permanently honest and reasonably effective for the 
 good of all, until the whole people is not only taught the principles and 
 practices of unselfish popular government, but also trained in the schools 
 into the character and habits of faithful citizenship. This book shows the 
 way this is being done practically, and this is the ONLY possible way. 
 
 The Patriotic league 
 new paltz and new york city 
 
C HARPENING one's wits and filling one's memory 
 with general information and the knowledge of 
 right and wrong, while the teacher talks learnedly 
 about child study, pedagogics or other educational 
 topics, will not prevent one's becoming a defaulting 
 cashier or a bad citizen in other respects. You sharpen 
 his tools and load his fire-arms for good and for mis- 
 chief alike. This is what the schools in general are 
 doing in the United States and throughout the world. 
 Training the conscience and one's habits Practically, 
 so that one shall Judge and Act kindly, honestly, 
 vigorously and wisely, is what makes good character 
 and good citizenship, and this the schools are NOT 
 doing. The School City furnishes the successful meth- 
 od for doing this. Cuba was the first country in the 
 world to recognize this practically, thanks to General 
 Wood, and the State of Vera Cruz, in the Republic of 
 Mexico, was the next, thanks to Governor Teodoro 
 Dehesa and Mrs. Addie Northam Fields. 
 /CHILDREN in the cities play gambling games, and 
 when they are grown they are gamblers. No 
 amount of preaching or of teaching from books will put 
 an end to this, neither can they be forced to do it by 
 grown people. They can be led to do it themselves, 
 if an adequate method be followed intelligently, and 
 the School City is the ONLY such method. By this 
 method the children can be led to eradicate from them- 
 selves the roots which otherwise will develop into per- 
 jury, cheating, stealing, drunkenness, cruelty, disloy- 
 alty, riots, anarchy, and other crimes of adults. 
 
Contents 
 
 CIVIC DISEASE 
 
 chapter I Some of its Roots and Remedies Page 3 
 
 II Some Reform Ideas 4 
 
 III Civic Apathy and a Remedy 6 
 
 IV Practical Industry necessary to a complete 
 
 system of moral and civic training 8 
 
 CIVIC TRAINING IN CUBA 
 
 V View of the Situation 1 1 
 
 VI View of the Subject, extract from report 
 of Wilson L. Gill, Supervisor of Moral 
 and Civic Training 14 
 
 VII A Success in Cuba, reports and letters 
 
 from General Leonard Wood, General 
 Superintendent Frye, Secretary Varona, 
 Dr. Lopez, Captain Wilcox 23 
 
 VIII Past the Experimental Stage, from report 
 
 of Lieutenant Hanna, Commissioner 
 
 of Schools 29 
 
 IX Agricultural Training 36 
 
 X Children's Palace 39 
 
 XI A General Endorsement, letter from Gen- 
 
 eral James A. Beaver 45 
 
 SCHOOL CITY ABROAD 
 
 XII In Great Britain and Ireland 45 
 
 XIII In Mexico 46 
 
 XIV In France and Spain 47 
 
 SCHOOL CITY SYMPOSIUM 
 
 XV Greatest Problem ever presented to 
 
 Teachers, solved by the School City, 
 
 An address by C. R. Drum 53 
 
 XVI Testimony of Graduates of Normal School 64 
 
 XVII Testimony of other Teachers 71 
 
 LEGISLATION 
 XVIII Mobs, Anarchy and threatened destruc- 
 tion of American institutions 76 
 
 What is the SCHOOL CITY? See pages 7, 19, 58 etc, 
 
'THE SCHOOL CITY for moral and civic training is 
 
 far past the experimental stage. It has been in 
 successful operation ever since July, 1897. Therefore 
 if any teacher should now fail in its use, it would not 
 be to the discredit of the method, but would only 
 show that through ignorance of the method, simple as 
 it is, or from alack of ordinary diligence in its use, such 
 as must be used to make a success of anything, even 
 the hewing of wood or drawing of water, the teacher 
 demonstrates that he is derelict in his duty, so far as 
 this important part is concerned, and that he, not the 
 method, is in default. 
 MORAL and CIVIC TRAINING (not simply the 
 
 teaching of precepts) is of sufficient importance 
 to warrant the detailing of teachers and supervisors for 
 it, and, moreover, the changed and changing condi- 
 tions in this country, demand this for the preservation 
 of liberty and of democratic institutions. 
 HpHE COST ought not to be a consideration, as the 
 
 moral and civic results needed and in reach by the 
 use of this method are of such vast importance to our 
 nation, but it is a fact, that the saving, in both money 
 and nerve force, easily effected by the School City, 
 can be made to far exceed its cost. ■ 
 HTHIRTY-TWO dollars a year is spent on each public 
 
 school child in some cities to sharpen his wits. 
 Does it not seem as if as much as one dollar each, if 
 necessary, might be spent to train him to habitually 
 use his powers in ways that do not lead to private or 
 public harm, but to good for him and the good of all ? 
 
Moral, Civic and Industrial training 
 
 1HE OBJECT of this book is to help the 
 friends of moral and civic reform to see 
 some of the neglected roots of the disease 
 with which American municipal and other 
 social and political affairs are afflicted, and show 
 them that the School City is a practical, effectual and 
 inexpensive remedy for the worst features of the dis- 
 ease ; to call attention to the fact that the moral and 
 civic welfare of our nation demands that our young 
 people, in the schools, in the army, everywhere shall 
 be trained in practical, profit-producing industry ; to 
 strengthen school officials, teachers and pupils in the 
 idea that in using the School City method of school 
 discipline or government, they are standing on firm 
 ground; to put into the hands of friends of the cause 
 of moral and civic training, some material which I 
 hope may prove suggestive and helpful to them. As 
 the subject is simple and there is much testimony on 
 the same points, there is necessarily considerable rep- 
 etition. 
 
 To show how the idea is regarded in some other 
 parts of the world some items are introduced from 
 Great Britain, France, Spain and Mexico. To show 
 how it is regarded at home, in the United States, tes- 
 timony, of which there is very much more to the same 
 effect, is given from some of those who have had ex- 
 perience in using the School City method of moral 
 and civic training. 
 
 As Cuba is the first state in the world to adopt and 
 put in operation in its public schools a system of moral 
 and civic training, from which excellent results are 
 obtained, and to make official reports on it, it seems 
 fit to give some of these reports in this place. 
 
 I went to Cuba at the request of General Wood to 
 establish moral and civic training in the public schools, 
 
2 H Social and 
 
 and was most successful in this mission. It became 
 evident to me that other improvements ought to be 
 introduced for the moral and civic welfare and pros- 
 perity of the people. These improvements would be 
 of vast importance to that little nation, and could be 
 made with a very small expenditure of money, and I 
 hope the way may open for me, or someone else, to 
 return and carry them into effect. At the close of the 
 American occupation, the Secretary of War, having 
 investigated the results of my work and being greatly 
 oleased, requested me to go to Washington to consult 
 with him and Governor Taft and arrange to establish 
 moral and civic training in the Philippines. I resigned 
 my office of Supervisor of Moral and Civic Training in 
 Cuba to comply with this wish, and apparently, as a 
 result, the Filipinos will have moral and civic training, 
 
 This is especially gratifying since at the time Gen. 
 Wood called me to Cuba, Secretary Root did not 
 favor my going but he remarked to me last February, 
 "It was not lack of appreciation of the value of your 
 ideas on moral and civic education, that made me 
 doubt the wisdom of vour going to Cuba, but I 
 thought with President Elliot, that it was illtimedjbut 
 now I want you to know that I have gotten most 
 satisfactory reports and am deeply gratified that you 
 went and have accomplished so much good." 
 
 To advocate this social and political reform, for 
 which the times are surelv ripe, involves expenditures 
 for printing, correspondence, travelling and the living 
 expenses of whoever devotes his time to the work. 
 In the past two years much has been accomplished, 
 but not without considerable expense, all of which I 
 have paid for, and not as much as one cent has been 
 received from any person to help. I say this, because 
 the work has been amply proven to be of important 
 social and political value and my financial resources 
 are not adequate to carry it on without help, and I 
 hope this may come to the attention of some person 
 who is able and may be willing to furnish the money 
 necessary to push the work vigorously. 
 
 U^ew Pattb N. Y., Sept. ist, 1902. W. L G. 
 
political Necessity 
 
 Civic IDteease 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SOME OF ITS ROOTS AND REMEDIES 
 
 That there is civic disease in our municipalities, 
 every patriot deplores, but what are symptoms and 
 what are roots of the disease, few seem able to see. I 
 do not mean this to be a complete diagnosis of the 
 case, but so far as it goes, it is certainly correct, and 
 the remedies proposed are so nearly self-evident that 
 it will not be necessary to discuss them at length to 
 enable a thinking person to understand. For instance, 
 intelligent city people do not attend to their civic 
 duties ; train the children is the remedy : people owning 
 property, the value of which, for purposes of taxation, 
 cannot be ascertained except by confession of the 
 owner, withhold the information to the extent of 
 moral damage to themselves and the community; and 
 industry and improvements are discouraged by present 
 methods of taxation ; the remedy is to reform the 
 methods of taxation — New Zealand has shown how 
 this may be done: young people come out of the high 
 schools with habits of irresponsibility which are a 
 serious stumbling block to their progress in business; 
 civic and industrial training is the proposed remedy : 
 our soldiers, not on active duty, aside from times of 
 rest, have four or more hours of undirected working 
 time each day, which is spent in loafing, fixing on 
 themselves habits that unfit them for civic life, and 
 making an army career undesirable and a means of 
 corrupting instead of benefitting the boys who go into 
 it; the remedy is practical, profit-producing industry: 
 little children are natural imitators of children a little 
 older than themselves and of grown people, which 
 fact points toward an immense educational force not 
 availed of by our public schools, and to a needed re- 
 form in teaching methods; Bell and Lancaster, nearly 
 a hundred years ago, showed how this may be reme- 
 died. Some of the ideas may be tabulated as follows : 
 
H Social and 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Some Reform Ideas 
 
 Best Morality, Best Industry and Best Citizenship, are 
 Inseparable and Dependent upon each other 
 
 Good morals and the spirit of helpful co-operation, 
 PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRY, ( not child slavery ) 
 Proper rest, recreation, cleanliness, clothing, housing 
 
 and nourishment, are necessary to 
 Best Citizenship, and any scheme of education which 
 does not take all these into consideration, besides 
 necessary drills and instruction from text-books, 
 has not yet reached the limit of its usefulness to 
 the nation, or to its children, who are apt to be- 
 come in some measure its victims, instead of alto- 
 gether its beneficiaries. 
 In the SCHOOLS. — This idea, properly developed in 
 the Schools will make them more effective for 
 every good purpose. Eventually if not immediately, 
 it will reduce the cost of maintaining schools for any 
 given number of children. It will lift to a higher 
 plane the morality, industries, health, happiness, 
 wealth and citizenship of the community. 
 In the ARMY. — This idea properly developed in the 
 Army among young men in the first term of enlist- 
 ment, will result in, — 
 i st. The use of the enlisted men's waste time; 
 2nd. Killing the loafing habit; 
 3rd. Reducing gambling, tippling and other vices ; 
 4th. Giving the men useful trades; 
 5th. Making the men more intelligent, interested, 
 
 healthy, obedient soldiers: 
 6th. Making good, industrious citizens of the sol- 
 diers, instead of spoiling them for ordinary civic 
 industry and independence, as at present; 
 7th. Enabling the men after leaving the army to 
 support themselves and their families honora- 
 bly; 
 
political Necessity 5 
 
 8th. Producing some capital for the men's use after 
 
 leaving the army; 
 9th. Reducing the cost of maintaining the army ; 
 10th. Making the men more contented, and thus 
 
 reducing the number of desertions; 
 nth. Rendering enlistment easy and rapid, by mak- 
 ing it evident to parents and friends that the 
 boys' character will be benefited instead of 
 ruined. 
 These points are so nearly self evident that it seems 
 needless to argue them. It is the application of 
 known principles to known conditions, and the results 
 can be predicted with absolute certainty, if a man of 
 good judgment is permitted to direct the work. 
 
 If the necessary facilities are furnished, it will be 
 easier and cheaper to develop both applications of the 
 whole idea in one place and at one time than only a 
 fraction at a time. 
 
 TAXES. — In a given community of adults, there can 
 not be best morality, best industry and best citi- 
 zenship, unless the system of taxation is constructed 
 to encourage industry, building, improvements, 
 cleanliness, health, happiness, honesty and truth. 
 The ancient system, still in use nearly all over the 
 world, is constructed as if the first intention were 
 to restrain all these, and make them impossible 
 for a large part of the people, and the producing of 
 a permanent revenue only a remote consideration. 
 This remark is not intended to apply to customs 
 and indirect taxes. 
 The attempt has always been made, in all countries, 
 to tax things which may be hidden, such as money, 
 jewels and valuable papers, and the values of rentals 
 and other sources of revenue for a knowledge of which 
 the assessors must depend on the confessions of the 
 owner, with the general result of tempting both officers 
 and people to do wrong and to incite bitter feelings 
 against the government. Therefore, it is desirable to 
 find a way by which the owners of such property may 
 be taxed for approximately the same amount without 
 
6 H Social and 
 
 encountering the difficulties attending the taxation of 
 such things. 
 
 -$-*** # #- $ 
 
 CHAPTER I I I 
 
 Civic Hpatby and a Remedy 
 
 BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE REASON FOR DEVELOPING THE 
 SCHOOL CITY METHOD OF MORAL AND CIVIC TRAIN- 
 ING, AND EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN 
 
 If our nation is to be one of CITIZENS and NOT of 
 
 SUBJECTS, IT MUST BEGIN TO TRAIN ITS CHILRDEN AS 
 CITIZENS AND STOP TRAINING THEM AS SUBJECTS 
 
 Unfortunate Condition in Our Country that Needs to 
 he Cured 
 Educated men in the cities of the United States as a 
 rule neglect such municipal duties as attending prima- 
 ries or caucuses, and serving on boards of education 
 and in city councils. In consequence of this, American 
 municipal affairs are in the hands of schemers who can 
 command the following of the ignorant part of the 
 population, or of men who are incompetent for the 
 important business of the public. 
 
 A Root of the Evil. 
 
 Competent men stick too close to their private busi- 
 ness; but that is not the root of the evil. 
 
 Party politics enter into purely business offices and 
 transactions — that is fruit, not root. 
 
 All government, school government being the most 
 influential, in contact with which educated people 
 come during that period of life when character and 
 habits are formed, is monarchy. That is one of the 
 roots and a chief one. So far as there is any intention 
 in this, it is to teach obedience. It generally fails in 
 this object, except in some outside appearances, while 
 underneath is a constantly increasing current of disre- 
 gard and contempt of personal responsibility for gov- 
 ernment, of established authority, and the establishing 
 
political Necessity 7 
 
 of the habit of neglect of one's political rights and 
 duties. 
 
 We teach reading by having the child read ; writing 
 by having him write; arithmetic by having him figure; 
 spelling by having him spell. The rights, duties and 
 morality of citizenship we do not attempt to teach to 
 any except the few who go through high schools and 
 colleges, and to this few we bring no practice in citi- 
 zenship — only a mind and memory exercise from some 
 books on civil government. 
 
 A Remedy 
 
 If we are to accomplish any practical cure, it must 
 be by teaching citizenship as practically as we do 
 reading, writing and arithmetic ; by having all children, 
 from the youngest to the oldest, made into citizens 
 instead of subjects, and guided by the teachers in the 
 performance of" the duties of citizenship. These ideas 
 have given rise to a most successful system of moral 
 and civic training for this purpose, known as the 
 "School City." This is not an experiment. It has 
 been in successful use in many schools for years. 
 
 Some 'Details 
 
 A school is organized as if it were a city, each room 
 being a ward. All the children elect a city council, 
 a mayor and other officials. Police and other depart- 
 ments are established. The children make and execute 
 their laws and have their own judiciary. The teachers 
 guide them and protect them from the development of 
 any impure or improper methods. The moral results 
 are wonderfully fine, and civic knowledge is imparted 
 with amazing rapidity. State and national citizenship 
 is taught similarly. Needed improvements in the 
 machinery of government, such as proportional repre- 
 sentation, the initiative, and referendum are taught 
 practically. The childrens' respect for their teachers 
 and for authority in general is largely increased. 
 
 Adult Citizenship 
 
 If it is desirable that adult Porto Ricans, Filipinos, 
 and our own countrymen, shall understand citizenship, 
 
8 H Serial and 
 
 it will be a great aid to such understanding if there is 
 placed before them, wherever there is a school, a 
 working model of that kind of government and citizen- 
 ship which is desired. 
 
 The Cost 
 
 There is no cost for teaching, as it is simply a method 
 for maintaining order by means of popular government 
 in place of monarchy, but supervision is necessary and 
 a very small amount of printing, the expense of which 
 is almost nothing when compared with the economy 
 effected by it. Other school work is not interrupted 
 in the slightest, but on the contrary is greatly facili- 
 tated. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 practical Industry 
 
 Necessary to a Complete System of Moral and 
 • Civic Training 
 
 A republic, for its own defence, ought to require by 
 statute, that its people while children and plastic, be- 
 fore their characters are formed and crystalized, shall 
 be trained in the public schools to form the habits of 
 intelligent and faithful citizens of the republic, and not 
 as the subjects of a monarchical form of government, 
 which is the ordinary form of school government 
 throughout the United States as well as the rest of the 
 world except Cuba. The Governor of the State of 
 Vera Cruz in the Republic of Mexico, has taken the 
 initial steps for the introduction of the School City 
 method of training for citizenship, as has the Secretary 
 of War and Governor Taft, for the Philippine Islands. 
 
 Since our American schools were inaugurated there 
 has been a social and industrial revolution which has 
 completely changed the conditions to meet which the 
 schools were established. While the schools have 
 multiplied and changed and consume much more of 
 the child's time, this has been done, apparently in 
 
Political Necessity 9 
 
 utter blindness to the nature of the changed conditions 
 in the community. The new conditions call for a 
 totally different kind of service from that which was 
 needed before city occupations developed and robbed 
 child-life of that constant contact and work with its 
 parents, which furnished moral, industrial and civic 
 training, which was both the entire foundation and 
 most of the superstructure of the excellent education 
 of our colonial ancestors. As compared with these 
 elements those added by the schools, however useful 
 they may be, are of but small importance. 
 
 The School City is one of the results of the attempt 
 to restore to childhood and youth as much as possible 
 of those elements of education which disappeared 
 when modern machinery took the place of the old 
 time home industries and methods of farm work, and 
 separated the children from their parents. It is, and 
 has been for several years, thoroughly successful in re- 
 storing some valuable and important elements of moral 
 and civic training, but other elements are just as im- 
 peratively demanded. Profitable, productive, visibly 
 remunerative industry, occupying several hours each 
 day, is necessary for the development of best charac- 
 ter. Our educational system that is blind to these 
 facts is not only stupid, but, it seems to me, criminally 
 stupid and negligent; and laws in some of the states 
 that prohibit child labor in factories are just as cruel 
 and short sighted as is the negligence to put any limit 
 to the hours and conditions of child labor, where the 
 little ones are being dwarfed in body and soul by over 
 work in the factories, or that country across the Gulf 
 of Mexico, into which is pouring a constant stream of 
 boys to work in the fields a few months and die. 
 These awful results would not come to the poor little 
 children if they were provided with properly chosen 
 and organized remunerative work under state super- 
 vision, and, if necessary, provided by the state for the 
 lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness of her people. 
 This would be far less expensive and far more sensible 
 than to allow thousands of her children to be need- 
 lessly ruined, and then provide in some inadequate 
 
io H Social and 
 
 way to take care of them in prisons and insane and 
 other hospitals. We can have millions of dollars tor 
 such things and universities, but nothing to keep 
 God's little ones out of such places, except a pittance 
 to a few deserving institutions. At this point it 
 may be well to suggest that the universities might be 
 able to put off the character of asylums for unfortunate 
 youth ignorantly prolonging an inadequate, misdirected 
 course of training, and be what they aim to be, if the 
 boys before reaching them should have proper moral 
 training, an absolutely necessary element of which is 
 profit-producing industrial work, not "manual train- 
 ing' - an hour a week, but real work, several hours 
 every work day. 
 
 The School City has not necessarily any thing to do 
 with this phase of the present educational problem, 
 but the investigation which gave the School City as 
 one of its results made clear the necessity for indus- 
 trial training for the moral development of our people, 
 and also the necessity, for the moral well being of 
 society that people should be trained, while still chil - 
 dren, to see the public need of taxes, to assess taxes 
 wisely, and both pay them honestly and expend them 
 judiciously. There is no practical means for accom- 
 plishing this at the present time, but a way may be 
 found in connection with industrial training", and this 
 may be done easily in connection with a well devised 
 and organized plan of agricultural training. Where a 
 large number of boys aie allotted portions of a tract of 
 land, and are instructed and helped to make its culti- 
 vation profitable, the object of taxes can be made per- 
 fectly clear, a just and equitable method of assessing 
 and collecting taxes without discouraging industry 
 and improvement, found, and the ability and desire 
 to pay the taxes, easily produced. 
 
 When we begin to train the children in this 
 way, we may be able to get our eyes open to 
 the fact that some phases of our present method of 
 taxation are a most stupid and shameful means of 
 corrupting the morals of the people and of putting a 
 check on general industry and prosperity. We may 
 
Political Necessity 11 
 
 then be able to see the simple and effective remedy 
 and to muster up the force of character necessary to 
 enable us to put it into operation. Altogether, I think 
 we are a very stupid race, not one full step away from 
 the horrors of barbarism, some of which, in fact, we 
 are nursing as if they were the blessings of heaven, 
 but I am an optomist, and believe that sometime we 
 will become civilized and that it is the duty of every 
 person, great and small, to help on to that happier 
 time. 
 
 * 4* % & ■%- •%■ * 
 
 Civic draining in Cuba 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Tiew of the Situation 
 
 Having been called by the Government of Cuba, to 
 take charge of the civic education of the young people 
 during the American military occupation, and to in- 
 troduce a permanent system of moral and civic train- 
 ing, it was necessary for me to get a general view of 
 the situation, from the standpoint of history and poli- 
 tics, social, industrial and educational conditions, and 
 that I should avoid the possibility of inoculating the 
 future citizens with such ideas and practices as are 
 proving to be a curse in the United States. It was a 
 case of civic illness that required a careful diagnosis 
 and the application of effective remedies. 
 
 Cuban character and conditions are different from 
 those in the United States at the time of their revolt 
 against England. Americans had had practice of a 
 large measure of self-government for generations. 
 Cubans never had any exercise in self-government, 
 some slight appearances to the contrary. The Span- 
 ish government, through its resident captains general 
 and subordinate officials, was very harsh, using every 
 means they could devise to extort taxes and black- 
 mail, to say nothing about the corrupting state lottery, 
 with its drawings monthly, then fortnightly and 
 
*2 H Social and 
 
 lastly, every ten days. The instinct of self-preserva- 
 tion forced the people to mislead and outwit the ever 
 present official. The character of the people of course 
 corresponds — all are born diplomats — and that feature 
 of the subject of monarchy is utterly antagonistic to 
 successful citizenship. The character of adults is 
 sometimes revolutionized, but the cases are so rare 
 that they are hardly worth taking into calculation. It 
 is comparatively easy to change the course of forma- 
 tion of a child's character. The younger the child the 
 easier the process, provided the teacher is tactful and 
 uses a good method. 
 
 The government encourages the holding of large 
 tracts of land in idleness and so discourages farming 
 on a small scale and the establishing of small home- 
 steads, by omitting to place any tax on land. It dis- 
 courages improvement; and industry by charging fees, 
 and heavy ones, for licenses to do any kind of business 
 or make improvements or repairs. I saw a factory in 
 course of construction, the building permit for which 
 cost $1200. The people had better pay $2400 for such 
 an improvement, than charge $1200. In fact, the list 
 of taxes, in spite of their awful, demoralizing and tragic 
 effects, are more comic than any jester could easily 
 think of for a comic almanac. The country people 
 work only a part of the year on the sugar and tobacco 
 plantations, raise almost no vegetables, but little fruit 
 and practir ally no grain, though there are no frosts, 
 the land is fertile and they can raise four crops a year 
 on the same ground — but they own no land and do 
 not know how to farm, and so loaf when not wanted 
 by the planters. This furnishes the most perfect soil 
 and the seeds for the production of brigandage and all 
 associated evils, which grow like weeds with no need 
 of cultivation. 
 
 There is no training school for teachers, and Mr. 
 Frye, the General Superintendent, who did a wonder- 
 ful work of organizing their schools and endeared 
 himself to the whole people remarked to me that the 
 schools were almost totally without discipline, and 
 that while discipline is absolutely necessary to good 
 
political Necessity 13 
 
 school work, he had no hope that any person could 
 make much progress at the present time, in introduc- 
 ing successful means of discipline into the schools, but 
 if I should succeed in only a very small degree, it 
 would be one of the greatest services that could be 
 performed for Cuba. How well I succeeded in this 
 service can be learned from the following letters and 
 reports. 
 
 For the lack of knowledge of what true citizenship 
 is and of the character and habits necessary for suc- 
 cessful citizenship, and the lack of school discipline, I 
 provided the "School City." To convey best ideas 
 to the people in relation to child life and education 
 and to provide a normal school of high character, and 
 at no expense for the normal feature, I planned the 
 " Childrens' Palace." For agricultural training I pro- 
 posed the establishing of a farm for the boys of Guines, 
 to demonstrate that agricultural instruction may be 
 almost if not entirely selfsupporting after the beginning 
 is made, and so could be extended easily throughout 
 the Island. For industrial training for city children, I 
 suggested that a beginning be made in the unused 
 shops in the navy yard, and that the school hours be 
 reduced from six to three and four hours, using the 
 released fund for teachers in the ordinary schools to 
 pay for industrial instruction. These ideas are ex- 
 plained further in the following pages. The plan and 
 details of organizing and conducting a School City are 
 given at length in a little book entitled "School City 
 Helps," which I am issuing simultaneously with this 
 book. 
 
 Some may imagine that the Cubans are but half civ- 
 ilized, because for the protection of our Southern 
 States from infection from yellow fever, we have found 
 it necessary to clean their streets and to enter their 
 homes, abolish the cesspools under their kitchens and 
 put in sanitary plumbing. While we are forcing some 
 lessons of civilization on them, let us understand that 
 we have some very important lessons to learn from 
 them, for we are as savages, compared with them. 
 in kindness, courtesy and hospitality. 
 
H H Social and 
 
 CHAPTER Vr 
 
 View of the Subject 
 
 Extract from Report of WILSON L. GILL, Super- 
 visor of Moral and Civic Training 
 
 Object of Public Instruction — Changed Condi/ions 
 
 The greatest aim and object of education is to culti- 
 vate in the individuals to be educated a good con- 
 science, and to secure for them a wise and resolute 
 self-government and the desire and ability to co-oper- 
 ate for the common good. The sharpening of the 
 wits and storing the memory with facts, which is the 
 apparent object of schools, colleges and universities, 
 is, in reality, but a minor matter, and will easily and 
 necessarily follow the attainment of the chief end of 
 education. A practical method which may be used in 
 a wholesale way in all schools, for students of all ages, 
 which makes it possible and easy for teachers to lead 
 their pupils to cultivate good consciences, to govern 
 themselves wisely and to co-operate for the general 
 good, will do for the cause of morality, education and 
 human welfare, what the steam engine and electric 
 apparatus have done for the cause of manufacture and 
 human comfort. The School City method of popular 
 government has proved itself fully adequate to this 
 great purpose. This large claim is not rashly or unad- 
 visedly made. 
 
 It is not claimed, however, that this method can 
 take the place of proper methods of teaching reading, 
 writing and arithmetic, or of other reforms and addi- 
 tions to public instruction made necessary by the 
 social, political and industrial evolution which has 
 accompanied the general introduction of machinery 
 and the immense emigration from the farms to the 
 cities, and consequent deprivation of children during 
 working hours, of their parents' industrial supervision 
 and moral influence, all of which have a direct bearing 
 on the moral and civic conditions, and consequently 
 call for notice in this place. The changed conditions 
 
political Necessity 15 
 
 demand, for the public thrift and the public safety, that 
 children be trained in productive industry, and that 
 intelligent attention shall be given to making a health- 
 ful division of the children's time among bookwork, 
 productive industry, recreation and rest, and to the 
 proper housing and feeding of the people Let it be 
 noted, that by productive industry is not meant that 
 kind of manual training in which a child is engaged 
 only two or three hours a week, and in which he uses 
 up material furnished out of the public funds and does 
 not give a visible and commercially valuable and ade- 
 quate return. 
 
 Teaching the precepts of morality and the doctrine 
 of one's relation to his fellows and to his country, is 
 as old as literature. Enterprising and true teachers 
 have always sought for ways to put such teachings 
 into practice, and they have been successful as teach- 
 ers in proportion to their success in this matter. A 
 well developed method of practical character build- 
 ing and training in morality and in performing the 
 duties and exercising the rights of citizenship in a 
 thoroughly systematic, wholesale and successful way 
 is new, and Cuba is the first country in the world to 
 require such training in the public schools. Every 
 country should require it as a matter of public policy, 
 and the highest legislative power in the State ought to 
 give authority to it. 
 
 State Supervision 
 
 There are many school teachers and officers who 
 are bright enough to see the importance of training 
 the children in citizenship and to form good charac- 
 ters, and there are many who are sufficiently unselfish 
 and self-sacrificing to perform the labor of thinking 
 about and installing what is to them a new method in 
 their schools. Such teachers should be encouraged to 
 begin the work without waiting to be compelled by 
 law. Even such enterprising ones desire to consult, 
 and need the help of constant supervision by a com- 
 petent and legally authorized specialist in moral and 
 civic training. Such special supervision is at least as 
 
i6 H Social and 
 
 important as State supervision of mathematics or any 
 other branch. This is necessary for many reasons, a 
 notable one being that many teachers who have had 
 no experience in the use of the method and do not 
 fully understand the principles involved, think it 
 would redound to their credit if they should simplify 
 and change the plan and thus make it appear to be 
 wholly or at least in part their own; or what is 
 worse, fail to recognize it as a method of leading and 
 training in which they are the only possible leaders 
 and trainers, and leave it as a trick or fancy for the 
 children unaided to operate, as if they were more 
 competent to conduct a court without advice than the 
 Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
 who refer to the law books for help. Such ones gen- 
 erally fail in accomplishing the object of the School 
 City, and the whole plan is abandoned, unjustly dis- 
 crediting the movement. Some of these same teach- 
 ers would have succeeded, had they been required to 
 follow the well developed plan, and had they been 
 under competent supervision. 
 
 There are school teachers and officers who will not 
 take the trouble to introduce this method. Whether 
 or not these are in the vast majority may not be of 
 much importance. That there are any such, is suffi- 
 cient reason for looking to the higher powers for de- 
 cision in the matter. 
 
 <A Question for Statesmen 
 
 Whether the children of a nation shall be trained as 
 subjects of a monarchy, as is being done ordinarily 
 throughout the world, or as self-respecting, co-oper- 
 ating citizens of a republic, is not a question for school 
 teachers or school officials, who have been either too 
 stupid to see the difference or too selfish to take the 
 trouble to understand and introduce a philosophical 
 and | ractical method of training for citizenship. 
 Neither is it a question for old-fashioned ward politi- 
 cians. It is a question that demands the attention of 
 broad-minded statesmen whose insight is sufficiently 
 penetrating and whose outlook is far-reaching enough 
 
Political Necessity 17 
 
 to enable them to discover a vast peril of the 
 great republic at the present time, whose judgment 
 is good enough to enable them to recognize the remedy 
 when it is placed before them, and who have enough 
 backbone to act promptly and effectively in the mat- 
 ter. They should put it beyond the choice of teach- 
 ers, principals, superintendents and school boards. 
 They should lay down the law that the schools of a 
 great republic shall train its people while children as 
 citizens, not as subjects, ai.d that they shall make the 
 developing of good character in the children the first 
 aim and a specific practical part of the daily work of 
 the schools. 
 Facts and Philosophy 
 
 The facts and philosophy, briefly and partially told, 
 are as follows : Cuba has just shaken off the yoke of 
 Spanish monarchy, and her people have had no expe- 
 rience in citizenship. We must look elsewhere for 
 experience and forms of government, to avoid the 
 rocks and find safe channels in which to sail. In the 
 United States, the greatest and most successful of all 
 republics, and to which we must look chiefly, the one 
 great failure in the government is the municipality, 
 and this is the sore spot that threatens death to the 
 republic. It is worth while to analyze the situa- 
 tion, with a view to seeing the principal causes for 
 the weakness in American municipal government. 
 
 The most glaring defect is that the educated people 
 as a whole do not go to the primaries, and they neg- 
 lect their municipal duties. That leaves the effective 
 political power in the hands of those who ate compar- 
 atively uneducated. They in turn are organized and 
 manipulated by men who make a business of munici- 
 pal politics for the money they can get from the public 
 treasury, and, by means of blackmail, from private 
 persons and establishments, and especially from those 
 engaged in forbidden or restricted practices or business. 
 Lost Liberty and Death 
 
 " Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty," and the 
 educated people have not paid the price. Among the 
 
18 H Social and 
 
 consequences are insufficient results from the expend- 
 iture of public funds and a higher death rate than there 
 should be. The people have lost a part of their liber- 
 ty, if, because of the dishonesty or incapacity of the 
 public servants, they must labor additional hours to 
 pay their taxes, and quite as much so, if they lose Hie 
 because of bad drainage, dirty streets, bad food or 
 other evils which should be prevented by the govern- 
 ment, 
 Schools and Colleges are to blame , 
 
 As this state of affairs is charged to the account of 
 educated people, let us take a closer look. We see 
 practically, the following: the uneducated men, who 
 can be easily handled by the machinery of the bosses, 
 all vote; most of those who have but little schooling 
 vote; less of those who have had much schooling 
 vote; a college and university education is almost a 
 certain guarantee that a man will not attend the pri- 
 maries or perform his other municipal duties. This 
 seems to throw the blame on the schools, colleges and 
 universities. They teach right principles. The fault 
 does not seem to be in the books. The fault is in the 
 school management. From the primary school till the 
 man graduates from the university he is made to feel 
 and to know that he has nothing to do with the gov- 
 ernment of himself and his fellows, and that he is a 
 tattle-tale and sneak if he brings a wrong-doer to jus- 
 tice, and is mean and dishonorable if, when called 
 upon by the authorities to testify, he does not so shape 
 his testimony as to clear the offender. 
 Anarchy Fostered 
 
 Under this pressure, secret opposition and disloyalty 
 to constituted authority are constantly fostered. Many 
 pupils regard their pleasures and interest as opposed 
 to those of their teachers, who are apt to be thought 
 of as spies and in some cases as enemies, instead of 
 friends and guides. 
 
 Old-fashioned school government is monarchy in 
 which the teacher endeavors to rule by means of his 
 conscience and arbitrary authority, and the results are 
 
Political Necessity 19 
 
 as we see them in the municipalities of the United 
 States. 
 
 The Remedy 
 
 The recognition of the cause of the evil is almost a 
 declaration of the only remedy, which is to systemat- 
 ically train the individual to wisely cultivate his own 
 conscience and be governed by it, rather than by that 
 of the teacher; to co-operate with his fellows for the 
 common good, rather than for mischeif; to form the 
 habits of law and order, rather than those of anarchy. 
 In other words, the remedy for the apathy of educated 
 men, in reference to their municipal duties, which is 
 in effect anarchy, not of the lowest, but possibly the 
 most dangerous type, is to train them to think and act 
 and form the habit of citizens, instead of, as at the 
 present, training them in the schools and colleges as 
 subjects of monarchy. 
 
 'Plan of School City 
 
 The plan of the School City is to organize the chil- 
 dren of each school, under a charter given by the gov- 
 ernment, as citizens of a municipality. These citizens 
 elect a city council, who in turn elect a mayor, judge, 
 and other administrative and judicial officers. These 
 officers may be removed and replaced at the will of the 
 council. The mayor appoints his cabinet and subor- 
 dinates and has power to remove them at will. Pro- 
 portional representation and the Swiss initiative and 
 referendum enable the whole body of citizens to ex- 
 press and enforce its will at any time, either with, or 
 independent of its representatives. Elections, for sev- 
 eral reasons, occur frequently — once in ten weeks— 
 and experience has shown that it is desirable to make 
 the term of the police officers short. In most 
 schools, every citizen not elected or appointed to some 
 other office is a candidate for a place on the police 
 force. 
 
 Introduction of ike School City in Havana 
 
 The work of introducing the School City, the only 
 practical method of Moral and Civic Instruction known, 
 
20 H Social and 
 
 into the public schools is progressing in Havana and 
 in other parts of the Island 
 
 The principals, teachers and children have taken an 
 enthusiastic interest in the work of organizing. The 
 principal has been, present and a main factor. A lapse 
 of several weeks occurred after organizing the first six 
 School Cities before organizing others. At the end of 
 that time, the Commissioner of Public Schools made a 
 general inspection, and the best discipline he saw any- 
 where, he found among those six schools. 
 Good Results 
 
 Many instances of fine moral results are reported 
 from the different schools. Of course the results are 
 not uniform, as the School City is not an automatic 
 machine out of which all must come in exactly the 
 same shape. It is a method, and its degree of success 
 depends upon the interest and skill of the principal 
 and teachers who use it. Every experience empha- 
 sizes the fact that best results demand good printed 
 suggestions and helps for the teachers and children, 
 and intelligent and authoritative supervision. 
 
 [ In this report a description of organizing a School 
 City at Guines, Cuba, is given, but is omitted here, 
 three letters, however, which came as a sequel, are 
 as follows:] 
 
 OFFICE OF THE MAYOR OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF GUINES 
 OFFICIAL 
 
 December 26, 1901. 
 Mr. Wilson L. Gill, 
 
 My dear Sir: — I have the pleasure of enclosing to 
 you two letters : one from the Judge of First Instance, 
 Hon. Ramon J. Franqui, and the other from Mr. 
 Nicholas Garcia, director of the large school estab- 
 lished in the old Spanish military barracks. These 
 will enable you to see some of the excellent results 
 already reaped from the system implanted by you. 
 
 For myself I can say that the day you passed with 
 us and established the school city was one of the hap- 
 piest of my life; for I saw how the Cuban people may 
 
political Necessity zi 
 
 be educated for liberty quicker and more thoroughly 
 than I ever dreamed of. It will be a great service to 
 Cuba when this system is extended to the whole 
 Island, and I make bold to assure you that Gen. 
 Wood will lend you all his power to accomplish this 
 most important object. 
 
 The system has operated perfectly in Guines. 
 Judge Franqui for the present, attends the School City 
 court whenever in session and aids the young judge 
 in holding court and in rendering his decisions; and I 
 have extended the authority of the young alcalde and 
 police throughout the city, with most admirable red 
 suits. The streets of our city are more quiet an- 
 orderly because of the school city. The improvement 
 of the boys' conduct immediately following its organ- 
 ization was so marked as to be easily noticeable. 
 
 If by chance you should think of going to the city of 
 Remedios, I would like to know of it, that I may send 
 you a letter of introduction to my friend Mr. Francisco 
 Carrillo, who is a Cuban much interested in all that 
 can benefit our country. 
 
 I improve this opportunity to express to you the 
 gratitude of my people for the benefit you have con- 
 ferred upon us, and I wish to extend my thanks to 
 those who are the philanthropic promoters of the insti- 
 tution of the School City. 
 
 With the greatest consideration, I am, 
 
 Your obedient servant, Leandro Rodriguez, 
 
 Alcalde of the Municipality of Guinse. 
 
 COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE 
 RAMON J. FRANQUI, Judge 
 
 Guines. December 25, 1901. 
 Mr. Wilson L. Gill, Havana. 
 
 Dear Sir: — The circumstance of my being the father 
 of the youth who was elected Alcalde of the School 
 City "Maximo Gomez," led me, from the very first 
 moment, to observe the practical benefits which the 
 young people are reaping from this form of education 
 which you have planted, by which the men of the 
 future are being trained in the exercise of social and 
 
22 H Social and 
 
 political rights and the faithful performance of their 
 civic duties. The enthusiasm which his election pro- 
 duced in my son, brought as a consequence, a desire 
 to know the powers conferred upon him with the 
 office, and how far his authority extends. I, sharing in 
 his enthusiasm, take pleasure in answering his ques- 
 tions and in helping him to understand the duties 
 which his elevated position imposes upon him. 
 
 The day when the first case came up before the 
 judge of the school city, I had the pleasure of being 
 present and indicating the course of the trial; and I 
 can assure you, that on the following day, when the 
 second case was heard, it looked as if in that court 
 there was being carried on a case between little men, 
 and not between boys, so serious were they. 
 
 For all these reasons, I wish to assure you, that it 
 will be a matter of great satisfaction to see your sys- 
 tem of moral and civic training established throughout 
 Cuba, for I believe it will produce brilliant results for 
 our future. Very respectfully yours, 
 Ramon J. Franqui, 
 Judge of the Court of First Instance. 
 
 Guines. December 25, 1902. 
 Mr. Wilson L. Gill, 
 
 General Supervisor of Moral and Civic Training, 
 Public Schools, Island of Cuba. 
 
 Sir: — I take pleasure in informing you that on the 
 20th day of this month were installed the military 
 captain, the captain of police and four policemen for 
 each school room in the School City " Maximo 
 Gomez," of this city, who were appointed at the time 
 you organized our school city. 
 
 Now that the personel of the department of adminis- 
 tration and government has been completed, one can 
 easily note, both in school and out, the beneficial in- 
 fluence on the children's character of this modern 
 form of education. 
 
 For my part, I purpose to watch and see that your 
 method and plans are maintained intact and pure, in 
 spite of any exterior influence to corrupt the children 
 
political JVecessity a 
 
 every indication of which will but point the way for 
 me to those features which may need at the time im- 
 mediate and most careful attention; and I trust that 
 the teachers of the school "Jose Antonio Saco," 
 which I have the honor to direct, and the parents of 
 our pupils will not refuse their cooperation in a work 
 of so great value to the community and to the nation 
 of which we are a part. 
 
 Yours, with the greatest consideration, 
 Nicholas Garcia Perez, 
 Director of "Jose Antonio. Saco" Public School. 
 
 ******* 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 H Success in Cuba 
 
 HEADQUARTERS 
 MILITARY GOVERNOR OF CUBA 
 HAVANA 
 
 February 20, 1902. 
 It gives me great pleasure to testify to the good work 
 accomplished in the Schools of Cuba by the establish- 
 ment of what is known as the School City. Mr. Hanna, 
 Commissioner of Schools, speaks enthusiastically con- 
 cerning it, as does Secretary Varona, Secratary of Pub- 
 lic Istruction, and such members of the School Board 
 of Havana as I have had occasion to speak with on 
 the subject. Mr. Gill's idea is an excellent one and 
 he deserves much cedit for its development. He is 
 also assisting to the best of his ability in establishing 
 it in the schools here. I can say without reserve that 
 the experience in Cuba justifies the strong endorsement 
 of the School City plan. It tends to develop the child's 
 idea of his civic responsibility and, I beleive, will send 
 him out from school much better fitted to assume the 
 duties of a citizen of a republic. 
 
 LEONARD WOOD, Military Governor. 
 
24 H Social and 
 
 OFFICE OF 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS OF CUBA 
 
 HAVANA 
 
 December 31st, 1900. 
 Dear Mr. Frye: 
 
 I anticipate that there may arise circumstances when 
 the presentation of my methods and plans for moral, 
 civic and industrial training will be embarrassed if 
 assurance can not be given that you, with whom I 
 have been so closely associated in Cuba, are in sympa- 
 thy with them and believe them to be practical and 
 worthy of adoption. For this reason will you please 
 write your word of approval below? I ask it in this 
 unusual form, because of the pressure that is on your 
 mind and time this last day of the century and last 
 business day before leaving for your vacation in Cal- 
 ifornia, at the close of your first year in Cuba. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Wilson L. Gill. 
 
 Dear Mr. Gill : 
 
 It will be always a great pleasure to me to recall our 
 cordial relations in Cuba, and I am happy not only to 
 refer to your work here, but also to assure you that 1 
 feel much stronger and richer in every way, from 
 having thought and conversed with you so many 
 times. I am certainly in hearty sympathy with your 
 plans and methods for moral, civic and industrial train- 
 ing, and am firm in the belief that they are well 
 worthy of adoption everywhere. 
 
 With feelings of gratitude for your great help to me, 
 both personally and officially, in Cuba, 1 am — 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Alexis E. Frye, 
 Superintendent of Schools of Cuba. 
 
Political Necessity 25 
 
 Extract from Report to the Military Governor by 
 Hon. Enrique Jose Varona, Secretary of Public 
 Instruction, January 6, 1902 
 
 The great problem of moral education through the 
 school, which rightly overweighs, at present, all other 
 pedagogic problems, has inspired a thoroughly Amer- 
 ican invention, the School City. Its author, Mr. Wil- 
 son L. Gill, was called by you to this Island; and has 
 devoted himself, with the greatest earnestness, to the 
 implanting in our public schools, of this organization 
 to which he has given so suitable a name. The con- 
 trolling idea in his system, is to wake up, in the chil- 
 dren, the conscience of solidarity, that is, not only a 
 personal, but a community conscience, and not only 
 the knowledge of the importance of cooperating for 
 the general good, but the knowledge of how to do it 
 and the habit of actually cooperating for the welfare of 
 all. This is the foundation of morality, and his method 
 is to exercise the children in performing the functions 
 of civic life, in a miniature municipality. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great difficulties this idea has 
 to meet, in a medium so poorly prepared as ours, Mr. 
 Gill has laid the foundations of the work, with a con- 
 stancy worthy of all praise. He has actually estab- 
 lished fifty school cities in Havana; forty-six in as 
 many schools and four at the school " Luz Caballero. " 
 
 This system is in operation at Cienfuegos, and, 
 according to information from the provincial Superin- 
 tendent of Public Schools, with undeniable success. 
 The President of the School Board has introduced 
 some additions to the system, such as the postal serv- 
 ice and two more officers: the Sanitary Chief, and 
 the Chief of Ornato, the latter being to encourage 
 
26 H Social and 
 
 school and city ornamentation by various means, in- 
 cluding the planting and care of trees and flowers. 
 
 According to the Superintendent, the postal service 
 is well organized. The central office is at the offices 
 of the School Board, and there is a mail box at each 
 school city. The classes once over, the letter carriers 
 proceed to gather up the correspondence and take it 
 to the central office, wherein it is distributed. Plants 
 and flowers do already abound at several school cities, 
 under the direction of the Chief of Ornato. These 
 additions are certainly commendable, as they show 
 how well the spirit of Mr. Gill's system has been un- 
 derstood at C'ienfuegos. 
 
 In Havana, the best results from the system, up to 
 date, have been obtained at the girls' schools, but 
 there is no reason to doubt that it will give as benefi- 
 cial results in the boys' schools. Mr. Gill intends to 
 extend this organization to the Institutes. It is actually 
 in operation at the Institute of Matanzas. 
 
 There are fourteen school cities at Santa Clara, 
 seven of girls and seven of boys. The system has 
 been favorably received there, and at a great festival 
 on December 22, the Ayuntamiento of Santa Clara 
 presented its colors to each school city. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENCE 
 
 PROVINCIAL DE ESCUELAS 
 
 HABANA 
 
 May 14th, 1901. 
 Mr. Wilson L. Gill, 
 
 Supervisor of Moral and Civic Training 
 Dear Mr. Gill :— I have received with great pleasure 
 a copy of "The School City Charter" in Spanish and 
 English, which you have prepared for the govern- 
 ment. Many a time have 1 had occasion to examine 
 your fine project, and to express my favorable opinion 
 of it. On seeing now this idea so fully developed, I 
 
political J^ecesetty 2.7 
 
 have but to confirm my previous judgment. Cuba 
 will be indebted to you for a great benefit, when this 
 work, so eminently constructive, as well as reforma- 
 tory, is carried into practice in all our schools. 
 
 The earnestness and assiduity displayed by you in 
 this work, while under my personal observation, as 
 Acting Superintendent of Public Schools, gives me the 
 assurance that you will never dismay in this noble 
 enterprise, which, every day as I come in contact with 
 it, I consider more and more praiseworthy, and makes 
 me wish for you the most effectual aid from the 
 proper authorities. 
 
 Please count me, dear sir, as one of your most 
 devoted friends. Very truly yours, 
 
 Alejandro Maria Lopez, 
 Acting General Superintendent 
 
 A HOPELESS PROBLEM SOLVED 
 Letter to a Superintendent of Public Education : 
 
 OFFICE OF THE 
 SPECIAL INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS OF CUBA 
 
 Havana, Cuba, Nov. 8th, 1901. 
 
 Dear Sir: — Mr. Wilson L. Gill has shown me a 
 communication from you, asking for School City testi- 
 monials. I beg leave to say in this connection that 
 having been in the same office with Mr. Gill for over 
 a year, I have been brought in close contact with him 
 and his work. 
 
 I arrived in Cuba a short time before Mr. Gill, — only 
 long enough in fact to make one tour of inspection 
 through the Island. I saw at once the great lack of 
 discipline in the schools. Under the Spanish regime, 
 the pupils had been harshly governed by the Spanish 
 teachers. Now that this rule was at an end, sentiment 
 had swung to the opposite extreme, parents and chil- 
 dren resented even the slightest exercise of authority. 
 When I returned to Havana from this tour of inspec- 
 tion I was greatly depressed at the outlook. When I 
 met Mr. Gill and understood his method, 1 rejoiced 
 that what I considered the most difficult if not hope- 
 
28 H Social and 
 
 less problem in the school work here had been solved 
 by him. These peculiar conditions had made sufficient 
 discipline, if enforced by the teachers, utterly impossi- 
 ble, but by means of the School City, the children, 
 guided by the teachers, successfully discipline them- 
 selves, and apart from the School City's value for 
 moral and civic training, which is beyond computa- 
 tion, its value in securing discipline in the schools is 
 too great to be estimated. 
 
 You have some literature on the subject and it is 
 needless therefore for me to say anything as to the 
 character of the work, but 1 do wish to add, that it 
 seems to me a most happy combination of events, 
 that Mr. Gill has developed this method just at this 
 time when our government has acquired its new pos- 
 sessions, with their millions of inhabitants, who are 
 to be instructed in those principles which are to make 
 them self-governing. 
 
 Our own country still needs this instruction and 
 training; much more do the people of our recently 
 acquired territory. 1 believe that this work of Mr. 
 Gill is to become one of the great powers for good of 
 this century, not only for America but for all the civil- 
 ized world. Mr. Gill, who has enjoyed the privileges 
 of both Dartmouth and Yale, is a highly educated, 
 cultured gentleman of pure life and spotless reputa- 
 tion. He is a deep and original thinker and student, 
 and a tireless worker. 1 believe that if you should 
 secure him to inaugurate his system of moral and civic 
 training, that it would reflect great credit upon the 
 executive of the Educational Department for having 
 given to this people the best of opportunities for learn- 
 ing to govern themselves morally and politically. 
 
 1 am conscious that my personal regard for Mr. Gill 
 has not prompted the writing of this letter, and 1 wish 
 to say that my high appreciation of his work furnishes 
 a sufficient motive for what I have said or might be 
 able to say of it. Yours very truly, 
 
 E. B. Wilcox, Ph. D., 
 
 Special Inspector of Schools of Cuba and 
 
 Agent of the Commissioner 
 
Political Necessity 29 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Past the experimental Stage 
 
 From Report of Lieut. MATTHEW E. HANNA, 
 Commissioner of Pubuc Schools 
 
 Object of the School City 
 
 The School City is an educational innovation based 
 on sound logical principles, susceptible of easy practi- 
 cal application in any school under wise supervision, 
 and has as its most laudable purpose the betterment of 
 free governmental systems by the training of citizens 
 in their duties as such while they are yet children. 
 
 It is a method, the primary object of which is the 
 moulding of the private and civic character during the 
 susceptible period of childhood and early youth. A 
 secondary result, a mere by-product of the method, 
 however, is the mutual assistance given the teacher, 
 by saving him many of the worries and trials of the 
 school government by discipline enforced by himself 
 which is replaced by the free popular government es- 
 tablished and enforced by the children themselves. It 
 has the additional attractive feature that no other 
 school work is sacrificed by its introduction, since 
 every moment devoted to it is outside of the regular 
 school hours, excepting perhaps the hour needed in 
 the first organizing of the School City. It is not, 
 therefore, a question of its comparative value, but one 
 of absolute value. It is either good or it is bad. If it 
 is good, nothing is lost by adopting it and much may 
 be gained. In fact, we find by experience that the 
 child who is a citizen of his own little school republic 
 seems to understand and appreciate the object of his 
 school far better than the same child did, when he was 
 a subject of monarchial school government. Thus, the 
 School City, while not encroaching on any of the 
 school exercises, seems to add intelligence and zest to 
 all of them. 
 
30 H Social and 
 
 If the object of our public schools is to train men for 
 life, in the broadest sense of the word, they are most 
 certainly failing to accomplish the purpose for which 
 they are intended as long as boys and girls are passing 
 out of their doors with no well formed ideas of their 
 duties to their country and to each other. There 
 is no gainsaying that this lack of development of 
 the conscientious, moral and civic sides of the char- 
 acter of the boy, and lack of practical training in his 
 most rudimentary duties as citizen, is one of the great 
 defects of the modern public school. On all sides the 
 boy hears ungrammatical language, or sees well estab- 
 lished hygienic principles abused, but in the school- 
 room he is repeatedly warned thit these things are 
 wrong and is told what is right; but he may daily see 
 or suffer the pernicious results of a corrupt government 
 with no one to point out to him that it is wrong and 
 the way in which it may be righted. He lives in a 
 democratic country, under a free flag, where he is told 
 that the will of the people is supreme, but in the school- 
 room he is surrounded by the influences of a monarchy 
 where authority is wielded with the rod, in fact or 
 metaphorically, and the will of the teacher is supreme. 
 
 The impressions made on the mind of the child by 
 constant association are indelible, and if in the school- 
 room he lives in an atmosphere of republicanism, feels 
 that he has certein duties towards his playmates and 
 certain rights in his relations with them, and that he 
 is a part of the government, as well as one of the gov- 
 erned, the foundations will have been laid for a good 
 citizen when this boy of to-day becomes the man of 
 to-morrow. 
 
 It is the purpose of the School City to accomplish this. 
 It is a comparatively new idea. Its author is Mr. Wil- 
 son L. Gill. He organized the first School City in 
 New York in 1897. Since then it has been greatly 
 developed in the United States and has spread to Europe. 
 Cuba is the first state that has regularly adopted it as 
 an essential part of its public school training. From 
 many places where it has been tried, interesting and 
 
Political Necessity 31 
 
 satisfactory accounts have been given of its success. 
 Honesty and trustworthiness are stimulated and dis- 
 cipline is improved. 
 Introduction of the School City in Cuba 
 
 In the fall of 1900 the Military Governor secured the 
 services of Mr. Gill to introduce his method into the 
 schools of the Island. He immediately prepared a 
 School City Charter, which was published by the 
 Government in May of 1901. As the object is to 
 teach the principles and practices of citizenship and free 
 government, rather than that of any particular local- 
 ity, the Charter was made to serve this purpose and 
 was not modeled after that of any particular city. The 
 actual work of organizing was begun in the city of 
 Havana on May 13th, when six School Cities were or- 
 ganized. The results secured may be better under- 
 stood from the following reports of the Superinten- 
 dent of Instruction of Havana and principals of the six 
 schools. 
 
 It was decided that the success which had attended 
 the first practical application of the method warranted 
 its extension to all of the principal cities of the Island, 
 and plans have been made to do it this school year 
 (190 1 -2). I believe that the work has passed the 
 experimental stage and that the general introduction 
 of the method will give the best of practical results. 
 Its introduction is accompanied by many difficulties, 
 such as a lack of appreciation of its purpose on the 
 part of some teachers, and it will be necessary to pro- 
 ceed with the greatest of care and precaution to avoid 
 its being mutilated and misapplied in some instances. 
 F01 the same reason, it will need constant and intelli • 
 gent supervision. An interesting and detailed descrip- 
 tion of the method of organization will be found in 
 Mr. Gill's report. 
 
 Reports of Superintendent and Principals of Schools 
 
 Report of Dr. MANUEL AGUIAR, Superintendent 
 
 of Instruction, Schools of Havana 
 
 I have the honor to enclose herewith the reports 
 rendered by the principals who, during the last year, 
 
32 H Social and 
 
 established the School City in their schools, from 
 which reports you will see the benefit derived from 
 this system. For my own part, whenever I have 
 accompanied Mr. Gill during the year to establish the 
 School City, the idea has been received by the pupils 
 with great enthusiasm, and they have always shown 
 good and sound judgment in the election of their 
 officers, and all the positions have been filled by 
 children of good conduct and devotion to study. As 
 regards the future of the School City, I can assure you 
 that it depends entirely on the interest taken by the 
 principal and teachers of the school in which it is 
 established, for it is necessary that they should always 
 pay special attention to the system to keep the enthu- 
 siasm alive. In this manner the system will become 
 more and mere perfect, and its good results will be 
 correspondingly greater. 
 
 Report of Jose Miguel Fernandez de Velasco, Prin- 
 cipal of School No. 15 
 
 1 have observed with great satisfaction that in the 
 ward of San Leopoldo, in which the school is situated, 
 the number of children who were found running 
 about the streets molesting quiet citizens and using 
 bad language has greatly diminished. When the sys- 
 tem was established, the choice of the eleven council- 
 men, made by children without any experience in a 
 work of this kind, was made with a great sense of 
 justice and impartiality. The Council, without re- 
 ceiving suggestions of any kind, selected the best ele- 
 ments of the school for their appointees. 
 
 The order and discipline have greatly improved. 
 The system is a means of making children learn and 
 practice sentiments of morality and of justice, as well 
 as a method for teaching them to-day the great duties 
 which, as citizens, they will have to fulfil on the 
 morrow. 
 
 In this country, where we have just broken away 
 from a system of oppression and tyranny imposed 
 upon us by a hateful and obnoxious government, in 
 which more than one citizen violated the law simply 
 
political Necessity 33 
 
 because he was not aware of its provisions, I believe 
 that he who devotes himself to the teaching profession 
 should strive with zeal and enthusiasm to instill in the 
 minds of his pupils a knowledge both of their duties 
 and of their rights. In the same way that they were 
 formerly made to learn in the schools the Catechism of 
 religion, they should be made to-day to learn the 
 Constitution of their country and the Catechism of their 
 duties and rights. 
 
 To children who have heretofore seen in their teach- 
 ers only men ready to chastise them, inspiring them 
 with hatred and dislike instead of with feelings of love 
 and respect, inspired by kindness and friendly treat- 
 ment, it is very agreeable to have their schoolmates 
 act as intermediate authorities between their teachers 
 and themselves, if they are made to understand that 
 when punishment is imposed upon them it is because 
 they have not complied with their duties or because 
 they have violated the law ; and finally, this satisfaction 
 will be greater if they see that the law, which protects 
 good citizens, punishes bad ones. By these means 
 children are taught to respect authorities, and they 
 respect them all the more when they are not imposed 
 upon them, but elected by their own free will. In this 
 manner they are prepared for public life, which they 
 will enter free from those passions which unfortunately 
 reign at present in our dear country, and they will 
 simply look for the interests of the fatherland. 
 
 The School City ought to be organized in all the 
 schools, but it is necessary that day after day it should 
 be looked after, and the persons in charge of its organ- 
 ization should make the children understand its bene- 
 fits, explaining to them that the School City is like 
 governments constituted by men, who obey and respect 
 the laws and resolutions of the majority, although these 
 be contrary to their opinions, because every citizen is 
 bound to respect the law ; and if he considers it bad and 
 deficient, he is bound to do all he can to improve, but 
 always to obey it. 
 
 The maxim contained in the first paragraph of the 
 first Chapter of the School City Charter, "Do unto 
 
34 H Social and 
 
 others as thou wouldst have them do unto thee," and 
 "Love others as thou wouldst have others love thee," 
 are in my opinion the granite pillars which serve as a 
 foundation to morality and to all religion. The children 
 should be taught everyday to love good and hate evil; 
 they should be advised never to commit any act in 
 their lives without first asking of themselves, "Would 
 it please me to have such a thing done to me ?" and if 
 a secret voice from within answers "no," he should 
 refrain from doing it. This system furnishes the oppor- 
 tunity for such instruction. 
 
 In short, with the School City it is easier to obtain 
 order and discipline, not only within but outside of the 
 school ; the children are fully interested in this system 
 of civic instruction, which stimulates them to be good; 
 and lastly, its organization ought to be continued. 
 
 Report of Justo L. Falcon, Principal of School No. 25 
 
 It has produced most satisfactory results, in the 
 preservation of order and the improvement of school 
 discipline. 1 believe it to be of great benefit, not only 
 for moral and civic instruction, a branch of study so 
 little known among us and from which great patriotic 
 and useful results may be obtained, but also as a means 
 of making children at an early age understand the duties 
 and rights of every good citizen, that they may become 
 accustomed politically and socially to the form of gov- 
 ernment adopted by the Constitution of our Republic. 
 
 Report of Adelaide Pinara, Principal of Girls' 
 School No. 30 
 
 1 am of the opinion that the establishment of the 
 School City in our public schools will give beneficial 
 results, judging from those obtained in this school 
 under my direction, in which the School City was 
 established in the latter part of last year. Although in 
 this school there has always been good order, this 
 order was improved by the election of an tAyunta- 
 miento with its different officers, to the satisfaction of 
 the teachers and visitors. The School City has exer- 
 
political Necessity 35 
 
 cised the same influence on the ideas and notions of 
 moral and civic duties, because all the girls, both the 
 electors and elected, vie with each other in preserv- 
 ing order, in rendering help to the teachers in 
 their work, in practicing charity, in helping each other 
 in necessary cases, etc., all under the supervision of 
 their respective teachers and their principal. 
 
 The conditions had reached such a state of perfection 
 in this school that in the past six months the Court has 
 not had to pass a single sentence, which speaks very 
 highly for the children and for the system. In this 
 school the system worked with regularity within a 
 month after its establishment. 
 
 If due attention is paid to this system the schools, 
 and as a consequence thereof the country, will be greatly 
 benefited, because it is the only means of teaching in 
 a practical and objective manner. Both civic and moral 
 instruction, if given in any other way, result in barren 
 and purely routine work without any utility, as hap- 
 pens with every method of teaching that does not 
 interest the senses and enforce the lessons by prac- 
 tical effects, thus making the pupils see before them 
 the results of thought and intelligence without tiring 
 or loading their memories excessively. 
 
 Report of Magdalena Pardo de Castroverde, Prin- 
 cipal of Girls' School No. 48 
 
 It is an excellent method of civic instruction. It has 
 contributed to the development of the sense of justice 
 among the pupils of the school, as was demonstrated 
 in the first elections, and to the maintenance of obe- 
 dience to recognized authority. It has made the pupils 
 have greater interest in maintaining friendship and 
 union among the citizens of the school. Whenever the 
 laws of the school have been violated, the sentences 
 pronounced by the judges against the culprits have 
 been founded on the strictest sense of justice. 
 
 The citizens of the school, since the system has 
 been established, have endeavored to make its order 
 and discipline more perfect, because of the love which 
 
36 H Social and 
 
 every one feels for the city to which he belongs, and 
 which they named "Union." I believe that the sys- 
 tem will render beneficial results to the schools of our 
 country. 
 
 Report of Maria de los Angeles, Principal of Girls' 
 School No. 8 
 
 The organization of the School City has given splen- 
 did results both in the preservation of order and disci- 
 pline, and also because it is easy to make our children 
 understand what respect is due to authority (respect 
 that they now willingly practice within the school) as 
 a civic preparation for after life in our beloved Republic. 
 
 I do not mean to say that our organization is perfect ; 
 but I can certainly say that with the continuance of 
 the system we shall at last obtain all of the desired 
 results. 
 
 ******* 
 
 chapter IX 
 Hgmcultural Training 
 
 The moral, economic and political salvation of Cuba 
 is in agriculture. The climate and soil are such that 
 four crops a year may be raised, with no fear of frost. 
 The masses of the people live in the country, yet are 
 not farmers and do not know how to farm. They are 
 sugar plantation hands and in name are freemen, but 
 in fact are serfs. Land must be taxed and by this means 
 idle tracts broken up and a chance given to the country 
 people to own small farms. 
 
 It is not practicable, on account of the expense, to 
 establish agricultural colleges such as those in the 
 United States, with capacity to educate all the Cuban 
 country boys. It is possible, however, to give the boys 
 practical farm training, in such a way as to make the 
 results of their labors nearly, if not entirely, pay the 
 expenses of their training With this in view, the fol- 
 lowing letters were written, but circumstances have 
 prevented the starting of the project up to the present 
 
Political Necessity 37 
 
 time, though President Palma fully appreciates the truth 
 and importance of the above statements. A small 
 amount of money can bring splendid results in this field. 
 
 SUPERVISOR OF MORAL AND CIVIC TRAINING 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF CUBA 
 
 Havana, January 30, 1902. 
 To the Honorable Secretary of Agriculture, Havana. 
 
 Sir: — I came to Cuba at the request of the Mili- 
 tary Governor, to put into operation a practical method 
 of training the people, while yet children, to form good 
 characters and to be intelligent and faithful citizens. 
 I have put my method into many public schools and 
 hope the work of introduction will soon be completed. 
 
 That is only a part of what needs to be done 
 among the young people for the cause of morality and 
 citizenship. The people need to be taught industry, 
 especially agricultural industry, frugality, prosperity, 
 and to assess and pay taxes for the public service, 
 while they are still children. This cannot be done so 
 practically and in such a wholesale manner after char- 
 acter and habits are formed. It cannot be done in 
 schoolrooms with books on botany and finance, or by 
 any other kind of books or process. It must be actual, 
 profitable labor, under competent instruction and en- 
 couragement. It must be to such an extent self- 
 supporting as to make it practicable for children by the 
 hundreds and thousands. It will not require costly 
 buildings and an expensive faculty, but practical tillers 
 of the soil, who will in large measure pay their own 
 way. This is absolutely necessary to the solution of the 
 moral and industrial problem, on which must rest the 
 personal independence and prosperity of the people. A 
 reduction of the American tariff on sugar and tobacco 
 may relieve the present distress, but the way to liber- 
 ate Cuba from her abject slavery to sugar and tobacco 
 is to train the- boys of Cuba, each one, to work inde- 
 pendently, raising vegetables, grain and fruit. 
 
 I believe this is a matter in which it is necessary for 
 your Department and the Department of Education to 
 
38 H Social and 
 
 co-operate, if best and broadest results are to be 
 obtained. 
 
 Children of a people who must make their living by 
 industry, should not spend more than from two to four 
 hours a day in school, and should spend from four to 
 six hours a day in fields and shops under competent 
 instruction. I can find good men with whom to develop 
 this work if we may begin at once. Will you co- 
 operate in this matter ? Respectfully yours, 
 
 Wilson L. Gill, 
 Supervisor of Moral and Civic Training. 
 
 SECRETAR1A DE INSTRUCTION PUBL1CA 
 HABANA 
 
 Januarys, 1902. 
 Secretary of Agriculture. 
 
 Sir: — It is with great pleasure that I endorse the 
 ideas contained in Mr. Wilson L. Gill's letter to you. 
 His successful work in behalf of the moral education of 
 our young people commands our admiration and 
 respect. Most respectfully yours, 
 
 Enrique Jose Varona, 
 Secretary of Public Instruction. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENCE 
 
 PROVINCIAL DE ESCUELAS 
 
 HABANA 
 
 January 31, 1902. 
 Secretary of Agriculture. 
 
 Sir: — I take great pleasure in recommending to you 
 the beautiful project of Mr. Wilson L. Gill, Supervisor 
 of Moral and Civic Training in the schools of Cuba. 
 Nothing could be of greater value to the people of 
 Guines than the establishment of an industrial and agri- 
 cultural school. The locality is admirable for this experi- 
 ment. The land is fertile, and the good roads render the 
 transportation of produce easy, and the region is emi- 
 nently agricultural. Yours most respectfully, 
 
 Alfredo M. Aguayo, 
 Provincial Superintendent of Schools. 
 
political Necessity 39 
 
 OFFICE OF THE MAYOR OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF GUINES 
 
 Guines, February 1, 1902. 
 Secretary of Agriculture. 
 
 Sir: — It gives me great pleasure to recommend to 
 you the admirable project of Mr. Wilson L. Gill, Super- 
 visor of Moral and Civic Training in the schools of this 
 Island, for training the boys of this city and vicinity in 
 mechanical and agricultural industry. This is eminently 
 an agricultural country, and the excellent roads make 
 this an especially favorable place in which to begin this 
 work. The consolidation of the municipalities of Cata- 
 lina and San Nicolas, with Guines as the capital, will 
 render such an experiment of great influence. 
 
 Mr. Gill is not unknown in Guines, for he recently 
 honored us with a visit, when he founded the School 
 City, which has produced magnificent results and given 
 us the opportunity to see that the ' enthusiasm which 
 inspires him for the progress and well-being of our 
 youth is founded on right principles and plans which 
 are abundantly demonstrated to be thoroughly practical 
 and of great value. 
 
 1 am yours with the greatest consideration, 
 
 Leandro Rodriguez, 
 Mayor of Guines. 
 * & * * >$ * * 
 
 chapter x 
 
 "Che Children's palace 
 
 As the two projects — the School City and the Chil- 
 dren's Palace — are by the same author and both for 
 the same ultimate object (civic education in the broad- 
 est sense), as different as they are, they are supposed 
 by some to be one and the same thing. This is the 
 difference in a few words : 
 
 The School City is child citizenship — a method of 
 school government for training the people, while young 
 
4o H Social and 
 
 and susceptible, in the use of their individual con- 
 sciences, and the attainment of a high and practical 
 moral and civic character. This is for use in all schools, 
 everywhere. 
 
 The Children's Palace, which, in part, was practi- 
 cally exemplified by the Children's Building in the 
 World's Fair at Chicago, is primarily a free PUBLIC 
 MUSEUM of ideal child and home life; a nursery, 
 kindergarten, primary and high school of head, hand 
 and heart culture ; a school of productive industries ; a 
 training school of methods for mothers and teachers; 
 a- library for mothers; teachers, boys, girls, and little 
 children; play-grounds, gymnasium, baths, etc., under 
 careful and experienced supervision. 
 
 Absolutely necessary to the fullest succecs in reach- 
 ing the people for this purpose, is 
 
 i. The most attractive and accessible location; 
 
 2. A large and attractive building; and 
 
 3. The best trachers, appliances and facilities. 
 Without all of these features the prime object of the 
 
 institution cannot be reached. A nursery here, a kinder- 
 garten there and an excellent school some place else, 
 cannot accomplish the purpose of a Children's Palace. 
 This should not be looked upon in the light of an 
 experiment which may succeed or fail. Every separate 
 element is already a success, and will be no less a suc- 
 cess because associated with other successful elements. 
 Of course such an enterprise, no less than any other, 
 needs to be in the hands of one of large experience in 
 such matters. 
 
 In Havana, most of the schools are in dwelling- 
 houses, which prove to be excellent for the purpose, 
 each arcommodating from 300 to 400 pupils, and one 
 teacher at $75 a month is provided for each 40 school 
 children. In New York it is a common thing to have 
 3000 or more children in one school. The Children*s 
 Palace proposition is to use the Maestranza or the 
 Carcel on the Prado, preferably the latter, or Luz 
 Caballero School in connection with vacant buildings 
 in the Navy Yard opposite, as a school building for 
 3000 or more children, save present rentals, and use 
 
Political Necessity 41 
 
 the salaries of 75 teachers at $75 a month, amounting 
 to $67, 500, to employ the best normal instructors in 
 the world. These normal instructors would teach the 
 3000 pupils by means of their normal students, even 
 young children being systematically trained to teach. 
 
 In this way a most practical and valuable normal 
 school would be established without the expense to 
 the government of one dollar for the normal feature, 
 and the 3000 children would get at least as good 
 instruction as they get under ordinary circumstances. 
 This fund might be so managed as to allow some 
 money, possibly as much as $10,000, to be divided 
 among the normal students as rewards for excellent 
 work. To illustrate, the kindergarten normal instructor 
 could have 20 or 30 kindergartens, with two, three or 
 four times as many normal students in charge, all under 
 her supervision and instruction. Industrial and all other 
 classes may be managed similarly. 
 
 This may be done in the city of Washington or any 
 other city, to as great financial and educational advan- 
 tage as in Havana, even though it may be less obvious, 
 from the fact that Cuba has not one normal school, 
 while normal schools abound in the cities and villages 
 of the United States. 
 
 Teaching is one of the fine arts, and, like the others, 
 is made easier and more intelligent by a knowledge of 
 theories. Like the other arts, however, the learning of 
 the theory cannot be compared in importance with the 
 practical work, well supervised until the young artist 
 has formed good habits in reference to the practice of 
 his art. Practice of this nature is impossible to a suffi- 
 cient extent in the practice school of an ordinary normal 
 school, where the number of children is not much 
 greater than the number of the normal students, but 
 would be entirely so for two or three hundred normal 
 students, with three thousand children. 
 
 OFFICIALLY ENDORSED 
 
 General Wood having referred the Children's Palace 
 petition and the School City Charter to the Honorable 
 Enrique Jose Varona, Secretary of Education, tor his 
 
42 H Social and 
 
 consideration and recommendations, the Secretary 
 returned them with the following endorsement: 
 
 Respectfully returned to the Honorable Military Gov- 
 ernor with the report that the undersigned Secretary 
 has carefully considered the two projects of Mr. Wilson 
 L. Gill for a Children's Palace and the School City, and 
 has formulated his opinion as follows : 
 
 The expediency of the Children's Palace is self- 
 evident. I find no objection to granting Mr. Gill's 
 request for the use of a public building for this purpose, 
 provided a suitable building, properly located, can be 
 found. No personal benefits will be derived from this 
 undertaking, but general public advantages are inevit- 
 able, and it well deserves to be supported by the 
 Government. 
 
 The establishment of School Cities in Cuba will be 
 attended with positive good results, provided it is 
 done by men of excellent judgment, and slowly enough 
 to insure success at every step. In rural schools its 
 success will be attended with especial difficulty, since 
 it is probable that but few of their teachers will fully 
 appreciate it. The beginning should be made in Havana, 
 Santiago, Cienfuegos, Matanzas and the other important 
 cities. The plan ought to be as simple as practicable, 
 without defeating its purpose. It is safe to say that 
 this method will be of great and immediate advan- 
 tage in the Institutes, where the pupils are old 
 enough to easily understand the duties imposed upon 
 them by such a system of government. The admirable 
 and practical aims of such a training in the actual duties 
 of citizenship cannot be questioned, and it is of national 
 importance that its successful establishment in the 
 schools of Cuba shall be insured by every precaution, 
 and it is for that reason that I say the introduction 
 should be made so slowly that it may have the most 
 careful supervision. Enrique Jose Varona, 
 
 Secretary of Public Instruction. 
 
 Every newspaper in Havana, by editorials and long 
 articles, advocated the establishing of the Children's 
 Palace in the Carcel. 
 
Political Necessity 43 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 H Ckmral endorsement 
 
 Letter from Gen. JAMES A. BEAVER, ExGovernor 
 of Pennsylvania 
 
 Havana, March 8th, 1901. 
 Mr. Wilson L. Gjll, 
 
 My Dear Sir: — Having been connected with you in 
 the past as a consulting officer in the Patriotic League, 
 and having had some opportunity while here of exam- 
 ining your work and what you propose in connection 
 with civic and industrial training for the army and in the 
 public schools, I do not hesitate to say that the ideas 
 involved in both are not only valuable, but are in my 
 judgment entirely practical. 
 
 If the educational system of Cuba is to reach its 
 highest development, it is of course important to begin 
 at once with the teachers. Just how this is to be done 
 is a problem to which 1 have not been able to give 
 close attention, but it seems to me that an institu- 
 tion such as you suggest which would provide in- 
 dustrial training for the teachers of the Island, and at 
 the same time furnish a model school as a practical 
 illustration of such training, would reach the largest 
 results in the shortest time. This, of course, involves 
 the systems carried out in the States which are farthest 
 advanced in education, and which are well understood 
 by educators. 
 
 If such an institution could be established in Havana, 
 with plenty of room and an equipment of teachers to 
 take the children in their infancy and show how the 
 training of them through the infantile period in kinder- 
 garten work, in primary and grammar schools, and 
 in the best work of our best high schools, the illustra- 
 tion would be useful not only to the teachers who are 
 in the normal department, but to parents, and espe- 
 cially to mothers. 
 
44 H Soctat and 
 
 It occurs to me also that along the line of civics, in 
 which you are especially interested, a primer on free 
 government, covering the township, the county, the 
 state and the nation, and showing their entire inde- 
 pendence of each other, and how they are governed 
 by their respective officials, would be very useful, not 
 only to teachers, but for the citizens of Cuba as well. 
 Such a pamphlet, simple and comprehensive in char- 
 acter, generally distributed, could not but awaken 
 interest and give information to the citizens of the 
 Island in regard to a government such as they are evi- 
 dently desiring to set up in their midst. 
 
 As to the work in the army, you must, of course, 
 remember that an increase in the impedimenta of an 
 army is to be carefully avoided, and the industrial 
 training which might be reached must be confined 
 very largely to the hand and should deal in general 
 principles which can be applied with profit to the 
 government and with interest on the part of the soldier, 
 whenever troops are gathered together in posts where 
 facilities for exercising their hands in training could 
 be furnished. Such training, however, it seems to 
 me could only be practicable when the troops are in 
 garrisons or are gathered together in posts such as 
 have been established in Cuba. I have no doubt if 
 you could succeed in interesting one or more officers 
 and at the same time secure the co-operation of the 
 men, an experiment along this line would lead to 
 desirable results, and to a large development in the 
 future. 
 
 I wish you success in all your work, and sincerely 
 hope you may find a fruitful field for the development 
 of both civic and industrial training along the lines 
 which you have outlined to me. 
 
 Very cordially yours, 
 
 James A. Beaver. 
 
 a # & & # & & 
 
Political Necessity 45 
 
 ftbe School <Tit£ Hbtoab 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 In 6reat Britain and Ireland 
 
 In the British Review of Reviews of October, 1897, 
 Mr. William T. Stead, the editor, remarked that in his 
 recent visit to America the most interesting and valu- 
 able idea that he came across was that of the School 
 City. He described it at length, saying he did not 
 wish to lose any time in giving the advantage of it to 
 educators and statesmen. From that time much was 
 published on the subject throughout England and 
 Scotland, which resulted in the formation of a national 
 "Society for the Reform of School Discipline." Its 
 officers are: Honorary President, C. H. Hopwood, 
 Esq., Q..C, Recorder of Liverpool; President, County 
 Councilor John Morton, J. P. , Cathcart ; Solicitor, John 
 P. Allan, Esq., Glasgow; Honorary Secretary and 
 Treasurer, Llewellyn W. Williams, Esq., B.Sc," Glas- 
 gow. The General Committee consists of prominent 
 educators throughout the United Kingdom. The soci- 
 ety is large and growing rapidly. Last year the soci- 
 ety put up one candidate for the Glasgow school 
 board, who was elected by an overwhelming majority 
 on the following platform, which is also the statement 
 of the objects of the society: 
 
 1. The abolition of corporal punishment, which has 
 been already effected in the schools of France, Holland, 
 Belgium, New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia, etc, ; 
 South Australia, and many British private schools. 
 
 2. The substitution of natural and educative meth- 
 ods of discipline. 
 
 3. The institution of the American "School City Sys- 
 tem," under which children, acting as the citizens and 
 officials of their school as a "city," under good guid- 
 ance make and enforce their own laws, thus in a prac- 
 tical way acquiring the principles of good citizenship 
 
46 H Social and 
 
 and developing the faculties of self-government — the 
 climax of education. 
 
 For the next election the society will put up enough 
 candidates in Glasgow, who if elected will be a ma- 
 jority of the board ; and there is good reason to believe 
 that they will be elected by a large vote. There is 
 very much printed matter that shows the interest 
 which has been aroused. 
 
 * * # * -& * * 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 In Mexico 
 
 Something of the situation in Mexico may be learned 
 from the following letters : 
 
 LOYAL TEMPERANCE LEGION 
 
 MRS. ADD1E NORTHAM FIELDS 
 
 ORGANIZER 
 
 City of Mexico, May 30, 1902. 
 
 My Dear Friend : — I have astonishing news for you. 
 I spent an hour with Governor Teodoro Dehesa of 
 the State of Vera Cruz — in Xalapa, the capital ; spoke 
 at length of the origin and progress of your work, and 
 gave him a copy of your book on the School City, 
 published by the Cuban government; and, do you 
 know, he has had it reprinted, every word, in the 
 government printing office and distributed through- 
 out the State, with a view to its adoption in the public 
 schools! An able professor here has written a fine 
 article advocating the School City, of course in Spanish. 
 I will send you a copy. Send all the literature on the 
 subject you can to Governor Dehesa. 
 
 I have just returned from an audience with President 
 Porfirio Diaz. It was most satisfactory, and 1 am sure 
 much good will result. This was in reference to tem- 
 perance education. I shall have a special interview 
 with him in reference to the School City a little later, 
 when the time is quite ripe. 
 
 I am more than delighted with the success of my 
 work here, and I wish for you the best of success; 
 
political Necessity 47 
 
 but remember, you cannot drive Latins — they must 
 be handled with care. But that is in accord with your 
 system, which I am going to talk up, and will keep 
 you posted. 
 
 You will dread to leave your little family and go 
 away off to Manila; but after all, some of our greatest 
 blessings come from the things that seem hardest, that 
 seem like giving up everything. I have found it so. 
 
 Most sincerely your friend, 
 
 Addie Northam Fields. 
 
 correspondence particular 
 
 del gobernador del estado 
 
 de veracruz llave 
 
 Xalapa, Mexico, July 4, 1902. 
 Mr. Wilson L. Gill, New Paltz, N. Y., U. S. A. 
 
 Dear Sir: — I have received the printed matter coa- 
 cerning the School City, and am much obliged. 1 shall 
 greatly appreciate any further information on the same 
 subject which you may be able to send to me. 
 
 The novel feature in educational methods that you 
 are introducing has greatly interested me. 
 
 It gives me pleasure to send herewith a copy of the 
 reprint we have made of your book on the School 
 City, issued by the government in Cuba for use in the 
 public schools there. Very truly yours, 
 
 Teodoro Dehesa. 
 
 chapter xiv 
 In frame and Spain 
 
 From the Havana Post. 
 
 The Cuban government being the first in the world 
 to undertake the training of all the people while chil- 
 dren to enjoy the privileges of citizenship and to per- 
 form its duties, it is especially interesting to see that 
 the Hera/do de (Madrid is advocating for Spain the 
 same course we are pursuing with such happy results, 
 which are familiar not only to all people in Havana 
 
48 H Soda! and 
 
 who read the papers, but to all who have children in 
 the schools, and those who have observed the neater 
 appearance and better conduct of the boys in the 
 streets. The HeraUo article is inspired by an article 
 in the Paris Figaro. 
 
 People like to know how such an idea originates 
 and travels from country to country, for most of us 
 know that simple things that prove to be great, and 
 lead us to say "Why didn't I think of that ?" do not 
 come by accident, but generally come from men who 
 have had a long preparatory training. Schoolmasters 
 have lived and taught and died, from the beginning of 
 civilization to the present time, who have known the 
 principles involved in the School City, but have never 
 organized, them into a systematic and successful 
 method for training all the children of a nation in mor- 
 ality and citizenship. What was the special training 
 of Wilson Gill, that enabled him to successfully organ- 
 ize, as he has, certain forces of human nature for edu- 
 cational purposes, which have been neglected by edu- 
 cators up to the present time ? 
 
 Mr. Gill comes of old New England stock, and his 
 parents and ancestors, back to Governor Bradford of 
 the Pilgrims, have been engaged in the organization of 
 government and the industries of the country. He had 
 considerable experience as an organizer and executive 
 before he entered Dartmouth College and Yale Univer- 
 sity, where he was president of the Semi-centennial 
 Law Class, class of 1874, and where he had an 
 extensive course of instruction with special reference 
 to executive labors. He was then, for many years, 
 the executive head of a large manufacturing establish- 
 ment, employing about five hundred men and finishing 
 from seventeen to twenty railroad cars daily. This is 
 equivalent to building and completing a village of sev- 
 enteen good-sized houses every day. 
 
 The organizing and reorganizing work that devolves 
 on the executive of such an establishment is great. He 
 was the working member of the committee of three, 
 General Alexander H. Webb and Judge William H. 
 
political Necessity 49 
 
 Arnoux being the others, to write the constitution for 
 the National Society of the Sons of the American Rev- 
 olution. He made the plans on which was organized 
 the Society of the Daughters of the American Revolu- 
 tion. He organized and is president of the American 
 Patriotic League, whose Board of Managers has in- 
 cluded many of the most prominent statesmen and 
 scholars, including every President from Hayes to 
 Roosevelt, and whose object is primarily to work 
 through the schools for better citizenship. He was 
 associated for years in the manufacture of agricultural 
 implements with his father, who was also a farmer on 
 a large scale. He was willing to give up the emolu- 
 ments of a successful manufacturer and handler of 
 men and machinery for the cause of education. That 
 is why we have the School City in Cuba and other 
 nations of the world seem to be reaching out for it. 
 
 Following is the article from the Heraldo de (Madrid 
 of January 9, 1902: 
 
 CIVIC EDUCATION FOR THE RUSTIC 
 
 The distinguished novelist, Marcel Prevost, who in 
 his odd hours treats of political and social problems, 
 and in a very advanced and radical manner, which he 
 demonstrated during the famous Dreyfus case, in which 
 he figured by the side of Zola, Anatole France, Octave 
 Mirabeau, Reclus, Jaures, Clemenceau, Clartie, the sa- 
 cred legion who combated for truth and justice, has 
 published in Le Figaro a very notable article, L Edu- 
 cation des Petits Paysans de France" — the education 
 of the little peasants of France. 
 
 It is known that in the French chamber there has 
 been presented a project, on which no definite decision 
 has resulted, to secure the integrity of the suffrage. 
 
 Two methods dispute the solution of the problem : 
 that of casting the vote inside of an envelope and that 
 of isolating each voter in a booth in order that he may 
 not be influenced or coerced by those interested in per- 
 verting his will and conscience. 
 
 The gist of the problem is that the rural elector 
 will not vote. He will mutilate the ballot or leave it 
 
50 H Social and 
 
 blank when they oblige him to enclose his vote in an 
 envelope or leave him alone in a booth to meditate on 
 what his conscience dictates, in a general, depart- 
 mental, or municipal election. 
 
 To decide for this or the other party, this or that 
 form of government, is difficult not only for a rural 
 elector; but it is so for higher intelligences and con- 
 sciences more enlightened. The eminent Taine said 
 in the preface of his great work, "Les Origines de la 
 France Contemporaine," that the greatest difficulty of 
 his life was when, in 1858, at the foundation of the 
 second republic, his vote was asked and he did not 
 know for what and for whom to vote; whether the 
 nation ought to organize itself after the type and plan 
 of a middle-class house, an aristocratic palace, a bar- 
 rack, a phalanstery, or simply a camp of savages. 
 
 The rural elector is in France, as in almost every 
 country, the number, the force, the mass, and he goes 
 on elaborating slowly, unconsciously, the real national 
 constitution, which is not written anywhere. The 
 future of a country, and peculiarly so if its democratic 
 organization is fundamental, belongs to the rural pop- 
 ulation, without which there is no durable legislation, 
 nor in reality is anything changed, except on the surface. 
 
 Marcel Prevost says, with profound knowledge of 
 the structure and essence of modern peoples, that in 
 vain are decrees made and laws multiplied and consti- 
 tutions promulgated, if the mass of the working peo- 
 ple, and especially those of the country, are not asso- 
 ciated in the work. The fourth estate is that which, in 
 the last, governs, and the secret as to whether a soci- 
 ety progresses or stagnates, depends on whether or 
 not the reforms penetrate into the brains and hearts of 
 the rural electors. 
 
 The legislators, he adds, who ten years after the 
 war wished to establish in France the democratic re- 
 gime, perceived well the point of the difficulty. At the 
 base of the political edifice they placed the instruction 
 of the rural laborer. To-day the peasant of twenty 
 years, in all the municipalities of France, can read, 
 write and count. Renovated from top to bottom, 
 
political Necessity 51 
 
 the pedagogic methods are admirable. But it is not 
 complete, for in the deskful of books which the child 
 carries to school, there is lacking one volume, little as 
 it may be: the civic manual, the epitome of the rights 
 and duties of the citizen. 
 
 It is clear that the civic instruction of the peasant 
 does not require a great number of lessons. Beyond 
 the cultivation of the earth he need not mix in 
 the functions of social life, except as soldier, as 
 elector, and as juror. The state confiscates three years 
 of his life, in which to teach him the vocation of a 
 soldier. As elector and juror he serves his apprentice- 
 ship without any one to help him or to reach him a 
 protecting hand before he comes to the ballot box and 
 before he must serve on the jury. There is too much 
 abandonment; there is too much confidence in his 
 natural discernment and independence. Thus it results 
 that the rural people know only by halves, and for the 
 most part very badly, the duties of electors and jurors. 
 
 It has been proclaimed in the French chamber, and 
 by no less an authority than the great statesman Wal- 
 deck-Rousseau, president of the council of ministers, 
 that the rural elector does not know how to vote, be- 
 cause in most cases he is ignorant of the material act; 
 for, though he can write, he does not know how to 
 put the name he prefers on the ticket and how to 
 throw it into the ballot-box. So that the more the 
 act of voting is complicated, the less will be the proba- 
 bility of ascertaining the true will of the people. . . . 
 
 And for that condition, what is the remedy ? The 
 remedy, according to Marcel Prevost, as well as all 
 others who think seriously and honestly on this grave 
 problem, is in the primary school, because here is the 
 only possible place in which to teach the rural laborer 
 how to perform his duties as a voter and juror. 
 
 Of course it is not proposed to establish in the pri- 
 mary school a course of political economy and law. 
 But if the child learns there the meaning of the things 
 which to-morrow he will read in tl.e newspapers, 
 posters and manifestos without understanding them — 
 such as capital, salary, estimate, sinking fund, mort- 
 
52 H Social and 
 
 main, land or personal tax, right of association, strikes, 
 etc. — he will not continue to read newspapers as if 
 they were a species of strange language, whose princi- 
 pal words escape his comprehension. 
 
 If in the primary school the child is exercised in the 
 practical duties of the voter and juror, he will be de- 
 lighted, as well as instructed, with these lessons, wihch 
 will form in him the spirit of the citizen and accustom 
 him, little by little, to decipher the mysteries of his 
 high mission in the world, as partaker in a sovereignty, 
 in a power, as an integral part of the government. If 
 in the schools they train a child as a soldier, there 
 should be no grave inconvenience or insuperable diffi- 
 culty in training him as an elector and juror. If they 
 can teach military exercises there is no reason for not 
 instructing the child in the mode of voting and judging. 
 
 If it is necessary to train the child in military prac- 
 tices in the schools, it is doubly necessary to train him 
 in performing the practical duties of the elector and 
 juror, because, if the former may possibly be of prac- 
 tical use to him at some time in his life, the latter are 
 sure to be indispensable at all times during his mun- 
 dane existence, and there is no reason why they 
 should not be in the curriculum of the schools. 
 
 This theme, which M. Prevost develops in a mas- 
 terly manner in his article in Le Figaro, and which we 
 submit for the consideration and study of those who, 
 in Spain, wish to occupy themselves with the future 
 of our democratic institutions, is Universal Suffrage 
 and the Jury, without whose honest exercise in perfect 
 freedom, independence and intelligence, no country is 
 free. 
 
 MM. Marcel Prevost and Waldeck-Rousseau lament 
 that the rural elector in France lacks capacity and in- 
 telligence in his august office of voter and juror, and 
 that in a country where, according to these same gen- 
 tlemen, backed by statistics, every elector can read 
 and write. What would be said here, in a nation of 
 illiterates; here, where twelve million Spaniards, out 
 of sixteen millions, are deprived of the most elemen- 
 tary instruction, not knowing even the alphabet ? 
 
political Necessity 53 
 
 Scbool Ctt£ Symposium 
 
 CHAPTER X V 
 
 "Che Greatest problem ever presented to ITeaebers 
 Solved by the School City 
 
 By Principal C. R. DRUM, Syracuse, New York 
 
 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 In the winter of 1899 and 1900, Professor James R. 
 Hamilton asked me to come to Syracuse and tell some 
 of his friends about my method of moral and civic 
 training called the " School City." As a result of that 
 visit several principals of schools adopted the method, 
 and Mr. Blodgett, the Superintendent of schools, asked 
 me to return and present the subject to the principals 
 of all his schools. Some good seems to have come 
 from that address, but I asked him to let me organize 
 a school as a School City, which could stand as an 
 object lesson, and practical illustration. He sent me 
 to Mr. C. R. Drum, who was quick to see the philoso- 
 phy of it and aid me in organizing his pupils as citi- 
 zens of a municipality. 
 
 Interesting and valuable results followed the adoption 
 of the method immediately. After half a year's exper- 
 ience with the School City, he made an address on the 
 subject to an educational society, and now (July, 
 1902), after two years more experience, he finds noth- 
 ing to cancel. In revising it, he has felt that he must 
 give more emphasis to some points, but especially to 
 the statement of its value as an aid to the building of 
 good, honest, strong character and its fitness for chil- 
 dren in the primary as well as upper grades. The re- 
 vised address is given herewith. 
 
 Mr. Blodgett wrote January 6, 1902: "Quite a large 
 number of our schools are using the School City in 
 modified form with most excellent results. We are 
 satisfied that it has more elements of strength and 
 
54 H Social and 
 
 character building than anything else that has been 
 incorporated into our schools in many years." 
 
 Many who have not looked deeply into the subjecl: 
 are under the impression that it is a matter which 
 should be left to the discretion of each principal to 
 adopt or reject at his own free will. Instead of its 
 being a fad for such treatment it is a matter of social 
 and political necessity, far more necessary even than 
 the teaching of reading, writing and arithmetic, which 
 are but an indirect by-path that can never alone reach 
 the proper goal of the public schools, which is good 
 character and intelligent, faithful, prosperous, gener- 
 ous, co-operating citizenship. 
 
 New Paltz, N. Y., July, 1902. Wilson L. Gill. 
 
 THE TEACHERS' GREATEST PROBLEM SOLVED 
 
 WRITTEN IN 1900— REVISED IN 1902 
 BY C. R. DRUM, PRINCIPAL OF MONTGOMERY SCHOOL 
 
 Necessity for Training in Citizenship 
 
 The originator of the School City had in mind the 
 necessity for training in citizenship. He saw the 
 growing corruption among many people interested in 
 local governmental affairs and a lack of interest 
 among a large class of good people and that many 
 citizens remain passive while others, for selfish rea- 
 sons, are very active in public affairs. We all know 
 that this condition of things exists, to a large extent, 
 in this country to-day. It seemed to Mr. Gill that the 
 solution of the problem lay with the children. If they 
 could be made interested in government by acquiring 
 the habit of taking a wise and unselfish part in gov- 
 ernment during that period of life when habits are 
 formed, that interest would continue with them 
 through life. They would be able to more intelli- 
 gently assume the rights and duties of citizenship. 
 Text-book Instruction Not Enough 
 
 The learning of civics from a text book is good, but 
 the application of knowledge is necessary to its be- 
 coming a part of the individual. "We learn to do by 
 doing," is the truth which furnishes a very good 
 
Political Necessity 55 
 
 reason for the introduction of a municipal form of 
 government into a school. The wrongs which will 
 from time to time, creep into a School City may be 
 skillfully eradicated by the principal of the school and 
 important lessons in civic honesty and virtue taught 
 at the same time. A jury, in deciding a case, rendered 
 a verdict too severe for the offense. Upon inquiry, it 
 developed that this severity was occasioned by the 
 knowledge, on the part of one juror, of a wrong act 
 committed by the defendant some time previous to- 
 the act for which he was on trial. This gave the 
 opportunity to explain that the decision must be ren-" 
 dered in accord with the evidence presented concern- 
 ing the case being tried. 
 
 If there were no other reason for the organization 
 of the School City, the two stated above are enough, 
 but those are not the only reasons. 
 
 Object of the Public Schools Promoted by the School 
 City 
 
 The purpose of the public school has not been to 
 teach politics, citizenship or religion, but to open to 
 the child the avenues of knowledge, to awaken a 
 desire to tread in those paths and to create correct 
 habits of thought. In all these directions the School 
 City has made the road more attractive, but, what 
 is vastly more important, the School City has added 
 two moral results to those ordinarily gained by the 
 schools, which are valuable beyond computation, 
 namely, decision as the result of thought, and prompt 
 action as a result of decision. 
 
 In other words, the purpose of the public schools 
 should be to give the child the power to make the 
 most out of his environment for his own good, for the 
 good of his fellows and of the community. The 
 School City gives the self activity of the child a free 
 chance to express itself and shows him how it may 
 be done. The best element, with a little encourage- 
 ment, will always stand firm for the right. Self 
 activity which interferes with others' rights, as pro- 
 tected by law, is restrained or directed; and the per- 
 
56 H Social and 
 
 sons who enforce the law are their own fellows. The 
 offenders are influenced more by the opinions of their 
 classmates than anything else. Children learn more 
 from one another than from the teacher. A child 
 nearly always selects another child, a little older, 
 probably, for his ideal. This principle works to excel- 
 lent advantage in our method. 
 Character 
 
 To sum up what has already been said, the purpose 
 of the School City is, and of the schools should be, to 
 develop character. If the character be right, good 
 •citizenship must follow as a result. The right solu- 
 tion of the great questions which perplex us to-day 
 must come through the elevation of the character of 
 our people. The underlying purpose in the formation 
 of a School City is to develop character by leading 
 the children into an active participation in their own 
 government, and the method has proved itself, thor- 
 oughly successful. 
 Public Conscience Killed to Wrongdoing 
 
 Activity for good is far better for character building 
 than passivity. The world has many passive people, 
 usually classed as "good." What the world needs 
 to-day and in the future is active good people. Any 
 person who has had anything to do with school work 
 knows that in every school, run on the absolute mon- 
 archy plan, the well meaning children are passive. 
 They see wrong doing, but do nothing to suppress it. 
 They frequently go even so far as to shield the 
 offender. The teacher is the one person whom all 
 study to outwit. There is continual prevarication, if 
 not absolute untruthfulness. The public conscience 
 has, in a measure, been killed to wrongdoing by this 
 passive education toward wrongdoing. 
 Tattling 
 
 To many, "telling"' is "tattling." They feel no 
 responsibility in the care of their own building and 
 grounds. The sense of personal ownership enters 
 few, if any, of their minds. The School City, properly 
 supervised, dispells this illusion. Some will tell things 
 
political Necessity 57 
 
 about others for the purpose of "getting- even," but it 
 is nearly always most uncomfortable for the tattler. 
 Hence, there is less of it than under the old plan. 
 Good, but Lack Backbone 
 
 The majority of the people in this country intend to 
 do right. They know, however, that certain things 
 which transpire are wrong, but they lack the back- 
 bone of rightly trained character to step in the arena 
 of public affairs and demand that right and honesty 
 shall prevail. It is one thing to know the right but it 
 is quite another thing to do it. There is no character 
 growth in simply knowing. Knowing is only the 
 second step in character growth. Decision and action 
 must follow. Of those who know, a few decide and 
 a less number act. 
 
 Very many of these people believe that for a young 
 man of good character to enter politics is to ruin him. 
 They advise him to keep out. If that condition of 
 things is allowed to continue, it is self evident that 
 the end will be disastrous. He cannot keep out, if he 
 is to decide and act on questions pertaining to his 
 country's welfare. Every man of character loves his 
 country and her institutions. He must think, decide 
 and act in their behalf. He who fails in any one of 
 these, lacks in character, and his citizenship is of a 
 low type. 
 
 The School City, as intimated above, successfully 
 trains the children in every step of the process of 
 making well rounded citizens, by giving them a 
 chance and encouragement, not only to think, but 
 also to decide what is right and to act for themselves 
 as a result of such decision, in questions relating to 
 their own government. 
 Children can be Trusted to their Great Advantage 
 
 This method for obtaining good order which places 
 the responsibility upon the children themselves and 
 makes them feel the responsibility, changes the whole 
 idea of school management. It places the children 
 upon honor. They feel that confidence is placed in 
 them and they will not betray the trust. My faith in 
 
58 H Social and 
 
 children has increased very much since the introduc- 
 tion of the School City. I know that children can be 
 be trusted to their great advantage. 
 "I am a Citizen" 
 
 Montgomery School City is practically self-govern- 
 ing; it has its mayor, police justice, jury, chief of 
 police, truant officer, policemen and common council. 
 The citizens make, explain and enforce the laws. 
 There are twelve wards. Each room is a ward. The 
 citizens are active for good. While the keeping of 
 order is delegated to the officers, each citizen feels his 
 own personal responsibility and acts accordingly. 
 Citizenship is taught. They breathe it in the very 
 spirit of the institution. A lady met one of our small 
 boys on the street and asked him: "Are you a police- 
 man?" "No," he replied, and with promptness and 
 evident satisfaction added: "But I am a citizen." 
 They have been led to feel that to be a citizen is a 
 great honor — the honor of responsibility and of per- 
 sonal proprietorship. 
 Their Business is to Serve 
 
 The officers are conscious of the fact that their busi- 
 ness is to serve — to labor for the best good of all. 
 Vulgarity 
 
 Vulgarity is being rooted out. A large boy was 
 disorderly in the hall. The officers on duty had 
 spoken to him several times; he resented it as an 
 infringement upon his personal rights. One noon in 
 attempting to fight the mayor, he used indecent lan- 
 guage. One of my teachers who happened to overhear 
 the trouble came back from dinner ready to return to 
 the old method of discipline. I felt discouraged. I 
 presume people on the street called it a product of the 
 School City idea. An ideal thing must work ideally, 
 is the thoughtless judgment of many people. 
 
 Using the same argument every church member 
 would be and do just right. The Christian system is 
 ideal, but Christian people sometimes fail to do right. 
 No sensible man will use that fact as an argument 
 against the system itself. Soon the justice and a 
 
political Necessity 59 
 
 policeman came. They reported the behavior and 
 language of the boy, asked for and were granted per- 
 mission to hold a special session of court. It seemed 
 to them something that should be settled at once. 
 The offender was tried, found guilty and banished 
 from the School City. 
 Some Mothers are Wise 
 
 Later the mother came. I explained to her the situ- 
 ation. The mother was wise. Some mothers are 
 wise. The boy returned to the School City after a 
 few days and came before the judge a most humble 
 penitent. 
 Public Opinion and Troublesome Boys 
 
 He found it impossible to withstand public opinion. 
 Every citizen in his ward, except one, said the court 
 had done right in suspending him. This occurred 
 some time ago. That boy has done well ever since. 
 He always caused trouble. Now he causes none. 
 Other boys who were very troublesome have reformed. 
 I could cite other similar cases. 
 Swearing 
 
 The swearing habit is being eradicated. A young 
 Hebrew was brought before the court charged with 
 swearing. Two witnesses testified to the fact; he 
 finally admitted it. The attorney for the people, 
 himself a Jew, taking two steps forward and making 
 an emphatic gesture with his hand said: "And you, a 
 Jew, one of God's chosen people, and take His name 
 in vain! You have been taught better than that at 
 German school. You have been taught 'Thou shalt 
 not take the name of the Lord, thy God, in vain!' 
 What kind of a fellow are you, any way?" The effect 
 of that speech upon us all was wonderful. No teacher 
 ever wielded greater influence for good. 
 
 Feel Belter, Look Better, Are Belter 
 
 Our mayor appoints the policemen in each ward 
 and also the policeman for the care of halls and play- 
 grounds. Our marching has improved. Our deport- 
 ment and lining up in yard and basement is better 
 
60 H Social and 
 
 than ever before. The citizens seem to take a lauda- 
 ble pride in doing right. They feel better, they look 
 better and they are better. 
 
 A Dirty, Disagreeable Girl 
 
 We had a dirty, disagreeable, tardy, runaway girl 
 in one of our rooms. She was appointed a policeman. 
 The change in that girl is marvelous. She is clean, 
 agreeable, in school every day, and comes on time. 
 She is a new creature. 
 
 Tough Boys 
 
 Superintendent A. B. Blodget has placed in a room 
 in my building an ungraded school of about fifty boys 
 of all ages and conditions. For the most part, they 
 are the tough boys from neighboring schools. I con- 
 fess that he gave me a hard proposition. I did not at 
 once bring these boys into the School City, but did 
 presently. By the School City method, those boys 
 have been led to think healthfully, to decide justly and 
 wisely, and to act promptly and courageously. They 
 are themselves doing more to bring order out of dis- 
 order than both of their teachers, and this is by no 
 means a discredit to the latter. The present judge of 
 our School City is from that room and he is the best 
 we have ever had. 
 
 A Better Relation to the Child 
 
 Since the school court settles with offenders the 
 principal and his teachers are enabled to secure and 
 maintain a more helpful, sympathetic relation with 
 these same offenders. They treat us more as friends, 
 and we are thereby enabled to sow the seeds of right 
 conduct by kindly word and helpful admonition. We 
 stand in a better relation to the child. It may be the 
 exact same relation so far as we are concerned, but 
 they see us now in a new light. They realize now 
 that order is kept by the school for the school, and 
 not by the teacher for his own special profit and 
 pleasure. It is simply teaching concretely what all 
 have attempted to teach abstractly. To a greater or 
 less degree, there may be pupil control without ma- 
 
Political Necessity 61 
 
 chinery. Every good teacher works to that end, but 
 in Montgomery the School City method has given a 
 great impetus to its accomplishment, and for us has 
 solved to our entire satisfaction the greatest problem 
 that ever presented itself to teachers. 
 
 Life Easier for the Teachers 
 
 Some people may feel that this is a scheme to make 
 life easier for the teachers, but that does not enter into 
 our calculation. The question is, what is the best 
 thing for the child ? If the best thing for the child 
 happens to make life easier for the teacher, as is the 
 case with this method in our school, well and good. 
 If not, teachers as a class are more than willing to 
 bear any extra burdens for the good of the children. 
 
 A Cash Value 0/ the School City 
 
 The other day I stood in the lower hall of Franklin 
 school, which is governed by Mr. Gill's method. I 
 was a stranger to the pupils. No teacher was visible. 
 The children were entering the building in perfect 
 order. I waited. Order seemed to be the first law of 
 Franklin school. The time formerly spent in duties 
 outside of their rooms saved to my teachers amounts 
 in one day to five hours and twenty minutes, in one 
 week twenty-six hours and forty minutes, in one year 
 214 school days. If the teachers are using that time 
 in preparation of lesson work, at the present salary 
 rate, the value to my school in one year is $642. In 
 Franklin school 321 days are gained, amounting to 
 $962 per annum. 
 
 Value in Character Growth 
 
 The value of the School City in saving the time of 
 teachers can be calculated easily in cash; it can be 
 seen readily in the teaching of civics, and in fact in 
 the child's whole attitude towards his school work 
 and school relations; but its greatest value of all is in 
 the splendid aid it gives to character growth. I will 
 not endeavor to compute the value of the School City 
 in character growth, for we have no common unit of 
 character measurement. But the value of this method 
 
62 H Social and 
 
 of helping the children to build good character on the 
 
 only right foundation is so great that it is beyond 
 
 computation. 
 
 Large Share in their Own Government 
 
 From what I have seen in my own school I am con- 
 vinced that it is just, right and proper, and our duty 
 as school officers, to give the children just as large a 
 share as possible in their own government. If it is 
 true that governments derive their just powers from 
 the consent of the governed, and such governments, 
 wisely administered, are powerful for the good of all 
 the citizens, in no place can this truth be more easily 
 and definitely observed than in a school governed by 
 the School City method, administered by the children 
 themselves and guided by a tactful and faithful prin- 
 cipal. 
 In Primary Schools 
 
 I have found the primary children do very well with 
 the School City. They do even better than the Jun- 
 iors. Of course they have a very elementary form of 
 government in the lower grades. The reason why it 
 works with young children is that they are very sug- 
 gestible. The power of imitation is at its maximum 
 in young children. They delight to play that they are 
 "Big Folks." In cities the officers of the law are con- 
 stantly before them, therefore the School City appeals 
 strongly to them. What they do is not from reason, 
 but imitation. The educator who fails to use the laws 
 of suggestion and imitation fails to use the most pow- 
 erful levers for good. 
 The System Works Perfectly 
 
 To sum up the whole matter, Mr. Wilson L. Gill, the 
 originator of the method, came up from New York 
 and organized us. As a result, the boys and girls 
 have made a better and a different place of Montgom- 
 ery school. They have rooted out swearing and 
 vulgarity. Prevarication and untruthfulness, which 
 the teachers could not prevent, the children have 
 stamped out. They feel that confidence is placed in 
 them and they do not betray the trust. I know that 
 
political Necessity 63 
 
 children can be trusted to their great advantage. I 
 am present at all sessions of court. Judge or jury- 
 seldom impose an unjust sentence. The citizens are 
 active for good. While the keeping of order is dele- 
 gated to officers, each citizen feels his own personal 
 responsibility and acts accordingly. It exerts an in- 
 terest awakening influence. 
 
 I doubted its practicability for little children. Mr. 
 Gill insisted on organizing them and it works well in 
 the primary school. I have learned some valuable 
 lessons from the School City method. I expect great 
 things from it in the future. The children's parents 
 and other people in the neighborhood have become 
 interested in it. The School City is a character devel- 
 oper. There are three indispensable elements of good 
 character, namely; 1st, vigorous, well directed thought; 
 2d, wise decision; 3d, prompt and conclusive action. 
 Schools in general develop the first element and stop 
 there, which tends to weaken and break down charac- 
 ter rather than to build it up. That is why our schools 
 have failed to reach up to the mark of their high call- 
 ing. As a result, many people think all right, but fail 
 to decide and act. Our schools should look after this. 
 The School City furnishes the needed elements, by 
 means of a thoroughly natural method and a well de- 
 veloped plan. I am glad to hear of its success in 
 Cuba. Cuba has gotten first, what America ought to 
 have had for fifty years. 
 
 I would never voluntarily revert to the old system 
 of government by the teachers. The popular govern- 
 ment method is the only one by which children of a 
 republic should be educated. The School City method 
 works perfectly. 
 
 *• # * $ 2- «- *- 
 
64 9 Serial and 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 "Ceattmony of Graduates 
 
 OF NEW PALTZ NORMAL SCHOOL CLASS OF I9O2 
 
 The class of 1902 of the State Normal School at New 
 Paltz, New York, had betv/een two and three years' 
 experience as citizens of the School City. Having 
 graduated and returned to their homes, in response to 
 the request of their president they wrote their opinions 
 on postal cards as follows. A few have not yet been 
 heard from. President Kaine has added his opinion 
 at greater langth. 
 
 Susan Barlow: The School City has strengthened 
 the character of each individual member of the school 
 and made practical the idea of government. 
 
 Mary C. Doremus : The good done by the School 
 City cannot be limited to a single paragraph nor to a 
 hundred. The student who leaves our New Paltz 
 Normal School without clearly defined ideas as to civic 
 duties and civic privileges must be dull indeed ; and 
 to understand them is to take a conscious pride in that 
 freedom which is the birthright of every American. 
 
 H. D. Torpey : It was a help to me. The children 
 were more easily disciplined. It was both the cause 
 and the means of moulding the characters of some 
 children. In every way I found it a success. 
 
 J. DuB. Hasbrouck : I think it is a good thing. 
 
 Cornelia Macy : A school is best governed when 
 every member aids in enforcing the laws wisely made 
 for its government. The School City furnishes oppor- 
 tunities for this. Furthermore, it trains for future citi- 
 zenship, fosters self-control and consideration for the 
 rights of others, and creates true patriotism. 
 
 J. H. Ganun : Established and maintained with the 
 proper spirit by teachers and students alike, it proves 
 a very satisfactory method of government and a great 
 help in familiarizing us with civic customs. But as 
 
political Necessity 65 
 
 soon as the leachers fail to support it, it then, in my 
 opinion, will become a mere farce. [It is a method for 
 use of teachers. If an artist does not use his method, 
 but leaves his brushes in the hands of children, of 
 course they will do no good, but will make a mess. 
 There is not the slightest difficulty in maintaining the 
 students' interest if the teachers keep up their own.] 
 
 Margaret B. Lucy: The School City government is 
 of great benefit to the young pupils and older students. 
 It leads them to obtain self-control. It meets the needs 
 of the students more than any other system, because 
 it is by the students for the students. 
 
 Rebecca C. Cocks : The School City is of educational 
 value. It is advantageous to students and teachers 
 and practicable in a normal school. 
 
 Mary F. Lindholm : The School City has done much 
 toward training for citizenship, self-control, and co- 
 operation with others in the noble and important en- 
 terprises of life. 
 
 Adalena Denniston : The School City has given our 
 students of the Normal School and grades not only an 
 opportunity of acquainting themselves with the practi- 
 cal work in the forms of government, but it has helped 
 in securing the development of self-governing power 
 in the students themselves. 
 
 Sara K. Story : The School City ought to be in every 
 wide-awake school. By means of it, the children are 
 able to come into close relations with the workings of 
 our government, thus making them more interested in 
 the political. affairs of their own town. 
 
 It forms a basis from which the child acquires his 
 idea of what a true citizen ought to be. It has made 
 children more tidy, also more thoughtful of others. 
 
 H. Belle Little : The School City has made the pupils 
 in the grades more interested in their national govern- 
 ment and laws than they would otherwise have been. 
 As for myself, the School City has given me an insight 
 imnationaf affairs in a way which, no doubt, I would 
 never have gained. 
 
66 H Social and 
 
 Katharine V. Mullen : The School City has many ad- 
 vantages. Under it one feels there is a strong govern- 
 ment over him, yet he does not feel that cast-iron rule 
 of the old form of school government. The children 
 have a clearer knowledge of the form of government 
 under which they live, and become better citizens. 
 
 Mabel S. Davis : 1 consider the School City the hap- 
 piest, most profitable school organization I have ever 
 seen in operation. I believe its success is due to the 
 fact that every student is reached and participates in it. 
 
 Eva Keator: The School City has relieved the fac- 
 ulty from many cares, and the students have made 
 practical the workings of our American government, 
 an experience that no student can afford to do without. 
 
 Mazie F. Ward : The effects have been good, and we 
 have gained what is of great importance, a knowledge 
 of parliamentary law and of the workings of a demo- 
 cratic government, which we could not have grasped 
 under any other circumstances. 
 
 Edna B. Tellerday : The School City has made the 
 students more free than they were under the previous 
 regulations, and to feel the responsibility that they 
 must make a success of the School City, thus leading 
 them on to endeavor to make a success of life. 
 
 Charles D. Coutant : The School City has done a 
 great deal of good and has had its designed effect on 
 the people of the New Paltz Normal. 
 
 Daisy B. Hitch : Carried on in a sincere and con- 
 scientious manner by all, the School City is a form of 
 governmemt greatly to be desired in our schools. It 
 nourishes patriotism by means of giving a clearer in- 
 sight into the workings of our country and its laws. 
 It makes one independent and self-reliant by forcing 
 one to meet, to estimate, and to decide problems for 
 oneself. It broadens and beautifies the character by 
 means of its just decisions since a person is loath to 
 do wrong when his honor is put to the test. If it 
 should be carried on in a slipshod fashion, with 
 "winking eyes," it would be a curse to the commu- 
 
political Necessity 67 
 
 nity, a hindrance to its civilization and a wrong to the 
 individual. At New Paltz it has not been carried on 
 in the best manner or the worst spirit. 
 
 Isaac Conklin : A School City is of several distinct 
 values. Its chief value is to the students and it is by 
 no means of minor value to a faculty. Standing in the 
 student's position, I have enjoyed the benefits that it 
 is their privilege to receive. I have had valuable in- 
 struction in civics, including organizations, elections, 
 duties and powers of officers and court proceedings. 
 
 As a whole, it has done a great deal of good at New 
 Paltz. It has instilled every one with the idea of his 
 personal responsibility and duty toward every one in 
 general, in order that he and every one else may enjoy 
 the greatest privileges with the least possible friction. 
 I am sure it has helped to solve one of the great prob- 
 lems of sociology of the present day and has accom- 
 plished much in this line and will do more, as im- 
 provements will come with time. 
 
 Alpha Rauch : I am in favor of the School City gov- 
 ernment. I believe it fosters a democratic spirit and 
 cultivates the power of self-government which is very 
 essential to one who is to help rule in a democracy. It 
 cultivates the proper spirit and gives opportunity for 
 the student to learn through real practice how a re- 
 public is carried on. It has been successful in securing 
 order in the New Paltz Normal. 
 
 E. C. Clemens : The School City's advantages far 
 exceed its disadvantages. Although one feels that 
 there is a strong government over him, he does not 
 feel that excessive restriction of the old form of school 
 government. It teaches children, as well as older peo- 
 ple, much concerning the form of government under 
 which they must live. It gives a nobler idea of citi- 
 zenship. I heartily approve of the School City. 
 
 Ida Kaiser: The School City, if well led by faithful 
 teachers, is an ideal form of school government. 
 While it is maintaining order in the schoolroom 
 through the pupils themselves, it is also preparing the 
 
68 H Social and 
 
 young people to be good intelligent citizens. The 
 School City is a great lesson in civics. 
 
 Frances Lewis : The School City is a success, but 
 last year less attention was paid to enforcing the laws 
 than in previous years, and that was a disadvantage. 
 
 Mabelle Clark ; The School City arouses in the child 
 the brotherly feeling, "Do to others as you would 
 that they should do to you," and stimulates in 
 older students the desire to act as citizens should act 
 by giving them practical experience in performing 
 civic duties. 
 
 Charles M. Deyo : The School City tends to arouse 
 interest in city government, gives practical experience 
 in submission to municipal authority and in the re- 
 sponsibilities of civic office, all of which lead to model 
 citizenship. 
 
 Joseph M. Kaine: The concensus of opinion of my 
 classmates is that the School City is a most valuable 
 shaping tool, as Mr. Gill would say, for the use of the 
 principal and teachers, and the enthusiasm and gen- 
 eral good results are dependent upon their skill and 
 faithfulness, of which these are an inevitable gauge. 
 They must sustain their interest and give constant 
 evidence that they are in deep earnest. These neces- 
 sary conditions being given, good results in every di- 
 rection follow with as much certainty as in all nature 
 plants and fruits follow according to the seeds that are 
 sown and the cultivation expended on them. ,For the 
 School City, the seeds of truth, self-respect, conscien- 
 tiousness, diligence, independence, kindness and the 
 spirit of democracy should be planted; the garden 
 should be watered, weeded and tilled, and the flowers 
 will be fragrant and beautiful and the fruits whole- 
 some. The hearts of little children are virgin soil, 
 while those of older students have been worked over 
 and are apt to be impregnated with the seeds of weeds. 
 
 We believe the School City is good for little children 
 and older students, for keeping order, shaping charac- 
 ter, lubricating the machinery of school life and giving 
 knowledge and practice of the rights and duties of 
 
political Necessity 69 
 
 American citizenship. In my own experience, nothing 
 else has so much helped me to think on my feet and 
 give expression to my thoughts, or given me the im- 
 pulse to do that which I see ought to be done for our 
 common good. 
 
 THE SCHOOL CITY IS EDUCATIONAL, PRACTICABLE AND 
 USEFUL ALIKE TO TEACHERS AND PUPILS 
 
 The School City is of Educational Value 
 
 Rebecca C. Cocks : In the mass meetings which are 
 a necessity in the organizing and maintenance of gov- 
 ernment, the students get drill in parliamentary prac- 
 tice, which will be of use to them in any sphere of life. 
 
 The term " civil procedure" is often heard, but its 
 full meaning is learned only by actual service, and for 
 this the School City provides. Thus methods of civil 
 procedure are forcibly taught alike to boys and girls. 
 The civil service in school creates a lively interest in 
 political government, which could not otherwise be 
 obtained. The mayor, sheriff, policemen, etc., of the 
 School City are aroused to study the duties' of their 
 various offices and to learn who are filling those offices 
 in the larger world. The knowledge thus gained of 
 laws and the methods of enforcing them will be con- 
 ducive to habits of obedience not only in school but 
 also in the broader life of the citizen which follows. 
 
 The discussions which arise in the mass meetings 
 and the courts afford excellent training in logical 
 thought and clear, concise expression. True, this ex- 
 ercise may be had elsewhere, but it may lack the inter- 
 est which it never fails to have in connection with the 
 School City. 
 
 The teacher in the ordinary public school has the 
 responsibility of governing others, and for this should 
 be prepared by self-government in the Normal School. 
 If pupils in a Normal School are not able to govern 
 themselves, they surely are not to be trusted with the 
 government of others. A student is strengthened by 
 independence and enabled to think and act without 
 supervision. 
 
70 H Social and 
 
 Lastly, the School City teaches regard for the rights 
 of others, which is an essential of good citizenship in 
 any community. 
 The School City is Better for Students and Teachers 
 
 A student tried in the court of the School City is 
 convicted on the testimony of fellow citizens, who are 
 striving to protect their government and to advance 
 the interests of the School City. The student ar- 
 raigned may demand trial by jury and may be given 
 every chance to prove his innocence. More important 
 than these, the students who best know their own 
 needs in government may supply their needs through 
 the School City ; and the exercise of this right will se- 
 cure unity of interest. 
 
 If the laws are made by the students, every citizen 
 is responsible for their execution, and the absence of 
 the teachers will not be a signal for disorder. The 
 teachers thus relieved of all police duty, may give un^ 
 divided attention to instruction and inspiration; and 
 the friendly feelings between faculty and students 
 which are a result of self-government will do much to 
 enable all to do their best work. 
 'The School City is Practicable and Successful 
 
 The School City is practicable. It has been used in 
 our school for several years and proved to be suc- 
 cessful in many respects and directions, of which the 
 following is but a partial summary: in improving the 
 spirit of school life; in saving time for both teachers 
 and pupils; as a form of government to preserve order, 
 and thus relieving the teachers to a large extent of that 
 element of labor, the maintaining of discipline, which 
 is the greatest source of worry and hinderance to the 
 accomplishment of the chief objects of a school; in 
 arousing and maintaining an interest in the study of 
 citizenship and civil government; as a means of shap- 
 ing the character of the pupils; as a pretty accurate 
 thermometer to show the degree of warmth of the 
 teacher's interest in the pupils and enthusiasm for the 
 educational welfare of the school. 
 ******* 
 
political Necessity 71 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Other 'Ceacbji'8' testimony 
 
 Careless, Inattentive — How that Boy has Grown! 
 
 Since writing my last letter to you, in which I said 
 J was afraid of the judicial department of our govern- 
 ment, my experience has led me to see that it may 
 perhaps after all, be the very strongest element in the 
 whole plan; and 1 must confess that not once yet, have 
 any mistakes been made, so far as I can see. The ju- 
 dicial department stands for the will of the school, and 
 culprits, who have been called before the court, find 
 their greatest punishment in the fact that they are on 
 the unpopular side. We do not have a formal trial, 
 but the judges use the office and what they say and do 
 is not recorded. That they give more attention to 
 pleading for right doing in the future, rather than to 
 extensive penalties, I have had opportunity to know. 
 
 You ask me of the moral effect upon our pupils of 
 having this responsibility placed on them. The effect 
 has been to stimulate growth in the true elements of 
 character; a conscious aiming for the highest results in 
 self, and a reaching out to others in a helpful spirit. 
 Our mayor has illustrated this, as have others. He is a 
 popular boy and wellmeaning at heart, but last term a 
 trial in the school room. He was careless in deport- 
 ment, inattentive in his recitations and full of boyish 
 pranks. His election caused me a little worry, but it 
 told upon him. At first, he reformed outwardly — it was 
 necessary that he should — but he soon found that he 
 had deeper work to do in himself than anywhere else, 
 and how that boy has grown/ With others the same 
 good work is going on. 
 
 Next year I think we shall do much better — experi- 
 ence is our teacher and our enthusiasm is great. The 
 School City is certainly the right method for training 
 our young people. — Estella B. Nye, Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
7* H Social and 
 
 BEST Year — Without Ifs or Buts 
 
 Worcester, Mass., April 10, 1902. 
 My dear Mr. Gill: — 
 
 I remained in Walpolelast year, largely that I might 
 try the School City. I knew my school was ripe for 
 it, and it was because of this that Mrs. Bird was instru- 
 mental in getting you to come. I shall never regret 
 that opportunity. We had a successful city and 
 enjoyed the BEST year of school work that it has ever 
 been my good fortune to witness. The teachers had 
 no reprimanding to think of, no parceling out of pun- 
 ishments, no chance for the engendering of unkind 
 feelings against us; in fact it was a pleasure to teach 
 and not have to be on the lookout for the mischief- 
 maker. I sat about in the schoolroom as I would at 
 home with never a thought as to whether Tommy 
 was not doing what he ought or whether Mary was 
 applying herself to her work. The sudden growth of 
 personal responsibility made all such care needless. 
 In watching out for the welfare of the city the indi- 
 vidual pupil watched himself more closely. 
 
 I do not mean to suggest that everything went 
 smoothly all the time, for that would not be reasona- 
 ble, but I do mean to say that the School City made 
 things go at least two hundred per cent better and at 
 the same time reduced the expenditure of worry and 
 anxiety on my part. Though some pupils were at 
 first opposed to the plan, before the close of the year 
 no voice was to be heard except in its approval. I 
 assure you that you can depend upon me to approve 
 the plan of the School City without ifs and buts. 
 When I say this I take it for granted that the teacher 
 is interested and ready to do his part, but that is taken 
 for granted, for, as you say, it is a method for the use 
 of the teacher, and if he drops it, it is as if the sculptor 
 had dropped his mallet and chisel. 
 
 I am heartily in favor of the School City and ready 
 to give it my support whenever and wherever I can. 
 
 Wishing you every possible success in your work, I 
 am — Yours Sincerely, Allen Latham. 
 
Political Kecessity 73 
 
 Good Results in IDAHO 
 
 From the Idaho Industrial Institute Gleaner 
 
 For none of the invaluable services of that incom- 
 parable patriot, Wilson L. Gill, is the nation more in- 
 debted than for his latest idea, that of the School City. 
 
 The December Review of Reviews gave an account 
 of several schools in different parts of the United 
 States which have put President Gill's idea into suc- 
 cessful practice, and its writer hazarded the statement 
 that the School City was. likely to be attended by a 
 greater degree of success in the vVest than in the East. 
 
 New methods are more easily adopted and practiced 
 where thare is least of custom and precedent to over- 
 come, and in Idaho, for instance, the people are ac- 
 customed to a greater degree of personal liberty than 
 the citizens of the older States possess. 
 
 Young men and young women who have grown up 
 in the freedom of the mountains have a strong distaste 
 for the absolute government which obtains generally 
 in schools. Such government, moreover, is contrary 
 to the spirit of a democracy, and unfits rather than fits 
 our students for civic life. But neither boys nor girls 
 are proof against the charm of organizing, legislating 
 and executing laws for themselves. 
 
 The importance of putting pupils on their honor has 
 long been recognized, but every teacher knows that 
 the student's code of honor is often sadly at variance 
 with the highest interests of the school, and neither 
 teachers nor students should demean themselves to 
 become spies in the interest of law and order. But 
 throw the responsibility on the class to be governed, 
 and interest, honor and public welfare are no longer 
 at variance, and success is achieved in three directions 
 — the school machinery wo rks without friction, a 
 practical knowledge of civics is attained by every pupil, 
 and the teaching force is relieved from the wearing de- 
 tails of government, to be expended in the actual edu- 
 cation of the pupil. — Jane M Slocum, LL.B., Ph.D., 
 
74 H Serial and 
 
 Principal of Ladies' Department, Idaho Industrial Insti- 
 tute. The following issues of the same paper, give 
 interesting accounts of the School City work and suc- 
 cess. 
 
 Management Greatly Facilitated and Improved 
 
 The lesson to the child of self-government in a prac- 
 tical form, as taught by the School City in the daily 
 performance of its duties, the constant and continued 
 recognition of its motto, and the natural willingness 
 and love in the child to imitate its elders, all unite to 
 make for character and manliness. 
 
 The primary child has little grasp of mind, and yet 
 I am very willing to attest to the fact, that in Public 
 School 31 in the short time devoted to the School City 
 the many very necessary details that go to make suc- 
 cessful and intelligent management were grealy facili- 
 tated and improved by the aid of the underlying princi- 
 ples of popular self-government and the necessity for 
 practicing these principles. 
 
 I gave up the principalship of School 31, in the He- 
 brew quarter in the lower "east side," for that of No, 
 168 Primary in the upper east side, where the popula- 
 tion is mostly such that it needs every possible help to 
 enable it to understand the principles and right prac- 
 tices of American citizenship. It has been my inten- 
 tion to organize my pupils as citizens of a School City, 
 for the social and political betterment of the community, 
 as well as the educational benefits of the school itself, 
 but the school is large and the situation most difficult, 
 and as the effort of organizing is considerable, 1 have 
 let the matter wait, in the hope that you will organize 
 this school for me, as you did No. 31, in 1898, in the 
 presence of Rev. Thos R. Slicer and Mrs. J- R. Lowell. 
 I shall be ready for this, any time you may be in New 
 York and will take the time to start the work for me. 
 — Milcent Baum, Principal, P. S. 168, New York City. 
 
 Public School 61, Primary Department, 169th Street 
 and 3d Avenue, New York City. Last term we organ- 
 ized the School City with the boys of the second and 
 
political Necessity 75 
 
 third years as citizens. They were taught that their 
 greatest privilege was the right to vote. It seems to 
 me that if the children learn nothing more than the 
 sacredness of the ballot, your method ought to meet 
 with universal approval. It. however, goes further and 
 successfully teaches the individual to be selfrespecting 
 and selfgoverning. Our first mayor was a boy of Ital- 
 ian parentage, whom I feared I should be obliged to 
 suspend. After his election, he caused no further 
 trouble. He felt keenly the responsibility of his posi- 
 tion, and was not only deeply interested in the welfare 
 of the school but obtained and preserved better order 
 than we had before succeeded in getting. — Kate Van 
 Wagenen, Principal. September 12th, 1902. [Miss 
 Van Wagenen remarked, that following the organizing 
 of the School City the order in the halls, stairways and 
 play grounds was so much improved that she reduced 
 the number of teachers who perform police duties 
 there, to one half, and still has better order than by 
 the old method. This is a school of 97 classes 
 
 During the last three years we have seen some of 
 the most important phases of school reform worked 
 out at New Paltz. . . . Especially is it noteworthy 
 that the usual machinery of school organization has 
 for the most part been left to stand idle and the stu- 
 dent body left largely free from arbitrary restraint, to 
 develop, as individuals and collectively, such resources 
 as have lain within it. Once some of us would have 
 looked for serious results of such freedom, but they 
 have not followed. The school is successfully gov- 
 erned, for the most part by itself — better governed 
 than it could be by any force from without, because 
 governed with less of antagonism and more of ready 
 co-operation; with less of mechanical routine and 
 more of spontaneity and life ; better governed not only 
 in the sense of being restrained — for restraint is not 
 the only element in good government — but better 
 governed, too, in the sense of being set actively at 
 work for the good of the whole.— Jeanette E. Gra- 
 ham, Instructor in Psychology. 
 
76 H Social and 
 
 ^Legislation 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Mobs, Hnarclrv and Threatened Destruction of 
 Hmerican Inetitutiona 
 
 A Partial Antidote 
 
 Last winter (1901-2) Hon. William S. Edwards, 
 President of the House of Representatives of the State 
 of West Virginia, visited Cuba, and seeing the excel- 
 lent results of the School City there, expressed the 
 opinion that American, as well as Cuban children were 
 entitled to be taught how to be good citizens and 
 trained into the habits of exercising their rights and 
 performing their duties as such ; and further, that in 
 view of the fact that the spirit of anarchy is showing 
 itself in every part of the country, by means of violent 
 mobs of men and women in open rebellion against the 
 laws of the States, endangering the very foundations 
 of our Republic, the preservation of our American 
 institutions, demands that the millions of children of 
 these men and women who, on slight provocation, are 
 ever ready, when a leader shows himself, to defy the 
 law and even the army, shall be trained in the public 
 schools to understand, as their parents do not, the 
 spirit of American liberty and of our institutions, and 
 trained to accept and defend them ; and that provision 
 ought to be made by the legislatures of the States, re- 
 quiring that all the children of the Nation shall be thus 
 enlightened and trained. 
 
 He said that a general law should be draughted.that 
 might be passed by the legislatures of all the States, 
 and that he would make such a dranght on his return 
 to Charleston. The draught which he made is printed 
 herewith under the title "Joint Resolution." 
 
 Previous to this, the same idea having been pre- 
 sented to several members of the Ohio legislature and 
 
political Necessity 77 
 
 State officers, on consultation they draughted a bill, a 
 copy of which is printed herewith, and followed, by 
 another draught made on the advice of Judge Edward 
 Kibler, a member of the commission to prepare a mu- 
 nicipal code for the State of Ohio. 
 
 The United States government, as well as each sep- 
 arate State, spends a vast sum of money annually, that 
 it may have an army in readiness to put down anarchy 
 and rebellion after overt acts have been committed. Is 
 it not quite as important that at least some small amount 
 shall be spent on this ounce of prevention? Is this not 
 as important as the distribution of seeds to farmers, 
 and young fish to the rivers? 
 
 No one doubts the value of the government's efforts 
 to improve the food products of our country, but what 
 avail are such endeavors, if nothing is done to eradicate 
 the steadily increasing disease of tens and hundreds of 
 thousands of men, annually dropping their work, 
 enforcing idleness on others who wish to work, com- 
 mitting unlawful depredations, defying the police and 
 military powers of the government, and causing great 
 losses and distress to their own families and the entire 
 nation? Powder, balls and bayonets are used as a 
 medicine, but they are not radical, they do not go to 
 the root of the disease. They check it, temporarily, 
 at enormous cost, but they irritate and the sores break 
 out in other spots. It is a disease of moral and civic 
 ignorance and lack of moral and civic training, which 
 is not furnished by the mere teaching of reading, writ- 
 ing and arithmetic, or even geography, botany and 
 astronomy. There must be direct work for character 
 building. 
 
 This legislative action cannot be brought about 
 unless some person makes a business of attending to 
 it, and no fund exists for such a purpose. This state- 
 ment is made here in the hope that some one who 
 may appreciate the importance of this thing, and is 
 able to do so, will help financially to forward the 
 cause. The draughts of bills are printed for the con- 
 venience of those who may take up the matter practi- 
 cally. 
 
78 H Social and 
 
 JOINT RESOLUTION. 
 
 Resolved by the Legislature of ( ). 
 
 That Whereas it is desirable to add to the system 
 of our public schools a method of teaching citizenship 
 by practical means, thereby raising its quality to the 
 highest standard among the men and women of this 
 State : 
 
 And Whereas this end may be successfully attained 
 by means of the method of instruction known as the 
 " School City" organization, whereby the children are 
 instructed in the duties and practical working of the 
 rights and powers of citizenship : 
 
 Now, Therefore, are the Committees on Education 
 of this Legislature hereby requested and directed to 
 present to the Assembly and Senate, respectively, con- 
 current bills authorizing and directing the Superintend- 
 ent of Schools of this State to devise and adopt such a 
 system of "School City" instruction for all of the pub- 
 lic schools of the State as shall meet the sense of this 
 Legislature as now expressed in this resolution. 
 
 OR 
 
 Now, Therefore, are the Committees of Education 
 of this Legislature hereby requested and directed to 
 devise and present to the Assembly and Senate, re- 
 spectively, concurrent bills providing for the adoption 
 and working of a system of "School City" instruction 
 to be used in the schools of this State, and which shall 
 be so drawn as to meet the sense of this Legislature 
 as expressed in this joint resolution. 
 
 74th General Assembly, ) „ D x,„ 
 
 Regular Session. [ H " B ' No - ■ 
 
 A BILL 
 To authorize the Governor to appoint a commission to 
 prepare a form of school government for use in the 
 public schools, and to put it in operation ; and to 
 make appropriations therefor. 
 
political Necessity 79 
 
 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
 Ohio: 
 
 Section 1. That the Governor of the State is hereby 
 authorized to appoint three persons to prepare a form 
 of government, democratic in its nature, for use in the 
 public schools throughout this State. 
 
 Sec. 2. The persons so appointed shall compose a 
 commission to be known as the School Government 
 Commission, and any vacancy occurring therein shall 
 be filled by appointment by the Governor. 
 
 Sec. 3. Such commission shall devise a form of 
 school government by the pupils, under the direction 
 of the teachers, which shall serve the purpose of main- 
 taining order in the school and of giving such moral 
 and civic training to the pupils as will fit them for the 
 performance of the ordinary duties of citizenship, and 
 said commission is hereby empowered to use such 
 means as may be necessary to put the same in opera- 
 tion in all the public schools throughout the State. 
 
 Sec. 4. There is hereby appropriated out of any 
 funds in the treasury of the State, not otherwise appro- 
 priated, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars to defray 
 the cost of the work herein contemplated, to be drawn 
 on the warrant of the auditor of the State, payable to 
 such persons, in such amounts and at such times as 
 the Governor may approve and order. 
 
 Sec. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force 
 from and after its passage. 
 
 Judge Kibler, Ohio State Municipal Code Commis- 
 sioner, having criticised the above bill, the bill that 
 follows was drawn in accord with his suggestions. 
 I had not then the time necessary to prepare a School 
 City charter, conforming to the proposed new munic- 
 ipal code. General Wood had already requested me 
 to go to Cuba for a similar service in connection with 
 the Government and I had to make preparations. 
 For that reason the work in Ohio had to wait for 
 some future time. The present seems to be especially 
 appropriate to take up this work in Ohio, since a spe- 
 cial session of the legislature has been called to enact 
 a new municipal code. 
 
8o H Social and 
 
 7-th General Assembly, ) u r m« 
 
 Regular Session. ) M " D ' NO ' 
 
 A BILL 
 To authorize a form of popular government for use in 
 the public schools, for moral and civic training, and to 
 put it in operation; and to make appropriations therefor. 
 
 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of 
 Ohio: 
 
 Section 1. The form of government, democratic in 
 its nature, described in the following charter, shall be 
 used by the teachers for the purpose of maintaining 
 order in all the public schools throughout the State 
 and of giving such moral and civic training to the 
 pupils as will fit them for the performance of the 
 ordinary duties of citizenship. 
 
 [Here follows the School City charter adapted to the 
 form of municipal government in use in said State.] 
 
 Sec. 2. The Governor of the State is hereby author- 
 ized to appoint a person to supervise the introduction 
 of this form of school government into all the public 
 schools throughout the State and its use after intro- 
 duction. 
 
 Sec. 3. Boards of education in the cities through- 
 out the State are hereby directed to take such action 
 as may be necessary to facilitate the introduction and 
 maintenance in all the public schools of said form of 
 popular government of the pupils for the purpose of 
 school discipline and moral and civic training. 
 
 Sec. 4. There is hereby appropriated out of any 
 funds in the treasury of the State, and not otherwise 
 appropriated, the sum often thousand dollars to defray 
 the cost of the work herein contemplated, to be drawn 
 on the warrant of the auditor of the State, payable to 
 such persons, in such amounts and at such times as 
 the Governor may approve and order. 
 
 Sec. 5. This act shall take effect and be in force 
 from and after its passage. 
 
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