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Quarterly journal - Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee

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S(uartter1 journal


January 1939



A History of the Morrill Act of 1862
CLARENCE A. BACOTE


English Anti-Slavery Literature Up to Wilberforce
JAMES R. FISHER


A Broader View of Art in Our Present-Day Education
H. MANNING EFFERSON




The Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College


- FLORIDA



:I


TALLAHASSEE








I. PUBLICATION STAFF


FACULTY PUBLICATION COMMITTEE


Eugene Portlette Southall, Chairman; L. H. B. Foote, A. L. Kidd, H. M.
Efferson.


II. AIM OF THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL


The magazine has two main purposes: First, to provide a medium through
which faculty members of the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College
may publish the results of important problems of research upon which they
may be engaged; second, to record articles on the question of education in
general, and Negro education in a specific sense. Hence, the nature of the
Journal is two-fold-research and professional.


To a great extent, the contents of the Journal will be of a local character.
This is inevitable, as most of its contributors are engaged upon work growing
out of situations in Florida. But it is not the desire of the Publication Com-
mittee to be rigidly restrictive. It solicits contributions of either a research or
a professional nature.





SUBSCRIPTION RATE: $1.00 PER YEAR
Printed by the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College Press, Tallahassee, Florida


Entered as second-class matter at the Post-Office, Tallahassee, Florida, under the Act of
August 24, 1912.
















l1 twtar terl Jouvnal


Published by faculty members
of the Florida Agricultural and
Mechanical College, Tallahassee


FIEAD
ELD Nxo


Issued quarterly, in the months
of January, April, July and
October


VOL. VIII JANUARY, 1939 No. I



THIS ISSUE CONTAINS:



A History of the Morrill Act of 1862 _--- -_ Clarence A. Bacote 5


English Anti-Slavery Literature Up to Wilberforce .....---_ James R. Fisher 13


A Broader View of Art in Our Present-Day Education H. Manning Efferson 17





CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE


CLARENCE A. BACOTE (A.M., University of Chicago), Department of History, Atlanta
University.

JAMES R. FISHER (A.B., A.M., Howard University), Department of English, Rust College.

H. MANNING EFFERSON (A.B., Atlanta University; A.M., Columbia University), Depart-
ment of Mathematics, Florida A. & M. College.











127103


As


/py Mo











A HISTORY OF THE MORRILL ACT OF 1862

By CLARENCE A. BACOTE


I
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
OF LAND GRANTS
BEFORE 1862

T HE system of granting lands for
the support of schools was inaug-
urated long before the Morrill Act
of 1862 was enacted. Intelligent men,
before the Declaration of Independ-
ence was signed, realized that it was
impossible to maintain an adequate
school system which depended solely
upon private resources. The first set-
tlers of Massachusetts, being cogni-
zant of this fact, set aside lands for
the support of schools.' On April 10,
1752, President Samuel Johnson of
King's College (now Columbia Uni-
versity) wrote to Archbishop Seeker
the following:
"I beg leave, my Lord, to observe that
it is a great pity when patents are granted,
as they often are, for large tracts of land,
no provision is made for religion and schools.
I wish, therefore, instructions were given to
our governor never to grant patents for
townships or villages or large manors with-
out requiring the patentees to sequester a
competent portion for the support of religion
and schools."2
The State of Georgia in 1784, in
an act relative to the survey of lands
in the western part of the state, in-
structed the county surveyors to lay

1 H. Barnard, American Journal of Edu-
cation, XVIII, 65.
2 Ibid., p. 65.


out in each county "20,000 acres of
land of the first quality, in separate
tracts of 5,000 acres each, for the
endowment of a collegiate summary
of learning."3 As a result, the Uni-
versity of Georgia was established.
The ordinance of 1787 contained pro-
visions for the support of schools,
which stipulated that lot number 16
in each township be given for the
support of education and lot number
29 in each township for the support
of religion.4 In 1846, R. J. Walker,
in conjunction with the Commissioner
of the Land Office, recommended "an
increased grant of lands for school
purposes, to the new states and terri-
tories." An attempt was made by John
A. Rockwell, a member of the U. S.
House of Representatives, to give in
addition to the 16th section, the 36th'
section in each township but this pro-
posal was defeated. But when the
territorial governments of Oregon
and Minnesota were organized, August
1848 and March 1849 respectively,.
the 16th and 36th section in each
township were "reserved for the use
of public schools."5 It is quite evident
that the government and people in
general saw the necessity of provid-
ing adequate school facilities, if the
ideals upon which this country was
founded were to be maintained.

3 Ibid., p. 65.
4 Ibid., p. 68.
5 Ibid., p. 69.
5


127703




THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL


II
HISTORY OF MORRILL ACT
1. FIRST MORRILL PROPOSAL AND
ITS VETO
During the decade of 1850-1860
the growing intelligence of the agri-
cultural classes of the country, and
the moderate development of all those
sciences which have a practical bear-
ing upon the industrial operations of
life, were important factors in bring-
ing about immediate attention to the
problem of scientific education. The
traditional literary colleges failed
absolutely to supply the necessities of
the industrial classes. Their idea of
education was to be found in Latin
and Greek; and if a young man mas-
tered the classics, he was fitted for
practical duties in life. The idea of
"industrial education was turned into
ridicule, and industrial colleges were
denominated visionary ideals of im-
practicable men."6
But this industrial class found a
disciple in Justin S. Morrill, a repre-
sentative in Congress from Vermont,
who introduced his first bill in the
lower house on December 14, 1857.
The bill authorized the establishment
of colleges in all the states and pro-
vided "20,000 acres of the public land
for each Senator and Representative
in the present Congress, and also an
additional donation of 20,000 acres
for each Representative to which any
state may be entitled under the census
of 1860."7 The object of the bill was
to endow, support and maintain at
least one college in each state where
the subjects to be taught were those

6I. E. Clarke, Industrial and Technical
Training in Schools of Technology and in
United States Land Grant Colleges (Wash-
ington, D. C.: United States Department of
Education, 1898), Part IV, p. 848.
7 Richardson, Presidential Messages, V, 543.


relating to agriculture and mechanic
arts, without excluding other scien-
tific or classical subjects. The admin-
istering of the law was left to the
states who were held responsible for
the carrying out of its purpose. The
bill passed both houses of Congress
but was vetoed by President Buchanan
on February 24, 1859, for the follow-
ing reasons:
"1. Should the bill become law, the
'Treasury will be deprived of the whole, or
nearly, all of our income from the sales of
public lands, which for next fiscal year has
been estimated at $5,000,000.'
"2. The character of both State and Fed-
eral governments will be greatly deteriorated
if State governments shall look to the Federal
treasury for means of supporting themselves.
"3. Wealthy individuals will acquire large
tracts of land in new states and hold them
for speculative purposes.
"4. It is doubtful whether the bill would
contribute to the advancement of agriculture
and the mechanic arts.
"5. The bill would injure existing colleges,
in which many taught scientific subjects suit-
able for this purpose.
"6. The bill is unconstitutional."8

2. MORRILL ACT OF 1862 AND ITS
PROVISIONS
The setback of the President's veto
did not disconcert Representative
Morrill in the least, for in December,
1861, he introduced a new bill in the
House, giving 30,000 acres of land
to the several states for each Senator
and Representative in Congress in
1861 for the establishment of indus-
trial colleges. This was an increase of
10,000 acres over the original bill of
1859. Senator Ben Wade of Ohio
introduced the bill in the Senate on
May 2 and it passed both Houses in
face of adverse report brought in by
the House committee on public lands.
President Lincoln signed it on July

8 Congressional Globe (35th Congress, 2nd
Session, 1859), pp. 1412-13.





THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL


2, 1862,9 thereby setting the founda-
tion for the great "cow colleges" that
were soon to give "mental nourish-
ment" to the masses of the rural
world.
The disposition on the part of many
of the existing colleges at the time to
spend enormous sums for buildings,
for archways to the campus, to buy
up all the land surrounding the col-
lege, and to have practically nothing
internally, caused Congress to fix cer-
tain restraints upon the states accept-
ing the grant. President French, of
the Massachusetts Agricultural Col-
lege gave a typical definition of the
colleges during this period. He stated
that "a college is chiefly a group of
magnificent buildings with pleasant
surroundings of lawns and trees,
where students are expected to some-
how to gain an education, however
starved and pinched may be the in-
ternal organization including the
corps of professors and teachers."10
This is about the situation that char-
acterized the institutions at this time
and before. Thus Congress wisely pro-
vided that "all expense of manage-
ment and disbursement of the moneys
received therefrom, shall be paid by
the states to which they may belong
out of the Treasury of said states,
so that the capital will remain un-
diminished.11
No portion of the fund was to be
applied under any circumstances to
"the purchase, erection, preservation,
or repairing of the buildings."12 To

9 Ibid. (37th Congress, 2nd Session, 1861-
62), Part IV, p. 3062.
10 H. W. French, "Agricultural Colleges,"
Annual Report of the Commissioner of Agri-
culture (Nov. 13, 1865), p. 140.
110. B. Goode, "The Origin of the Na-
tional Scientific and Educational Institute of
the United States," American Historical Asso-
ciation Papers, IV (1890), No. 2, p. 188.
12 Ibid., p. 188.


guard against the loss of the fund by
unwise investments, the act provides
that "all money shall be invested in
United States stocks, or of the States,
yielding not less than 5 per cent, and
if any portion invested be diminished
or lost, the state shall replace it, so
that the Capital will remain forever
undiminished, except that a sum not
exceeding 10 per cent upon the
amount received by any state under
the act may be applied to the pur-
chase of lands for sites or experiment-
al farms whenever authorized by the
legislature."13 All the states that were
expecting to derive land from the
government were to set up at least
one college within five years from
the passage of the act or the grant
would be void. Such were the basic
factors as laid down in the Morrill
Act of 1862.

3. INFLUENCE OF EUROPE
At the time of the passage of this
act there were few institutions for
the adequate instruction of either
theoretical or applied science, while
in Europe the schools had reached a
high degree of development and were
exercising such influence not only in
the professional courses of law and
theology but also in the arts and man-
ufactures, and were greatly modify-
ing theories of methods of education
in nearly all of its phases. The inter-
national expositions had opened the
eyes of the educators in the United
States to the inferiority of scientific
education as it existed compared with
that of Europe.14 The students of the
United States who desired a technical
education of a high order were com-
pelled to go to Europe, and since only
13 Ibid., p. 178.
14 Report of U. S. Commissioner of Edu-
clation (1873), p. Ixxiii.




THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL


the sons of the wealthy could afford
this, the sons of the poor and middle
classes were practically deprived from
ever enjoying the fruits of scientific
knowledge. The country was abound-
ing in rich natural resources and, be-
cause of the lack of scientific knowl-
edge on the part of the masses who
invaded the frontiers, thousands of
dollars were lost as a result of unscien-
tific principles applied to the gifts of
nature. Thus our country was in dire
need of institutions which would de-
mand in their curriculums, "means
for a thorough education in the sci-
ences, both theoretical and applied."15

4. PURPOSE OF ACT OF 1862

The purpose of the land grant of
1862 can probably be no better ex-
pressed than in the terms of Mr. Mor-
rill himself who said:
"The Design was to open the door to a
liberal education for this large class at a
cheaper cost from being close at hand, and
to tempt them by offering not only sound
literary instruction, but something more appli-
cable to the productive employment of life.
It would be a mistake to suppose it was in-
tended that every student should become a
farmer or mechanic, when the design com-
prehended not only instruction any person
might need-and without exclusion to those
who might prefer to adhere to the classics.16
In other words, it was to give an opportunity
for those engaged in industrial pursuits to
obtain some knowledge of the practical sci-
ences as related to agriculture and mechanic
arts. It was to give instruction in those fields
which the classical colleges failed to recog-
nize. It did not mean that a son of a farmer
who attended one of the schools was to come
out as a farmer but was merely to give him
an opportunity to do with advantage if he
saw fit.17 The act, being intended for a pol-

15 Ibid., p. lxxiii.
16 Clarke, op. cit., J. S. Morrill's Address
at Amherst Agricultural College (June 21,
1887), p. 857.
17 C. W. Dabney and N. M. Butler, "Agri-
cultural Education," Education in the United
States, p. 613.


icy of liberal education, could not exclude
the classics. Up to this time the institutions
catered to the classics, and the sons of the
wealthy were trained to be professional and
literary men. But the new schools were to
include both, though laying more stress on
those subjects beneficial to the industrial
classes."
These colleges were to supplement
the existing institutions and provide
free tuition for all. As Erza Cornell
once said, "They are institutions where
any person can find instruction in any
subject.""i The secondary object of
the act was to provide military train-
ing for the young men who attended
the colleges so as to serve their coun-
try in case of war. The Civil War
had taught the nation the dangers of
unpreparedness and the lack of trained
officers to pursue the war properly.

5. WANT OF A GENERIC NAME
After the provisions had been suc-
cessfully carried out by the govern-
ment for the aid of industrial educa-
tion, there was a question as to what
name these new colleges should go by.
In Rhode Island, Brown reorganized
the scientific department bearing the
name of the original institution. In
Kentucky, Wisconsin and Minnesota
the industrial department was organ-
ized as a branch of the University. In
New Hampshire, the title, "College
of Agriculture and Mechanics" was
preferred. In Pennsylvania, Iowa, and
Michigan, the title, "State Agricultu-
ral Colleges" was selected. Illinois
named her school the "Industrial Uni-
versity." New York named her land
grant school after Erza Cornell, who
was a moving spirit in the passage of
the land grant act of 1862.
The newspapers used the term
"Agricultural College," but this was
objected to by many, because the

s8 Ibid., p. 616.







THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL


term emphasized the agricultural side.
Still it was felt that to call the new
institutions, "Agriculural and Mechan-
ical Colleges," was not comprehensive
enough; and also the phrase was too
long to be popular. Since the schools
owed their existence to the national
government it was suggested that they
be known as the "National Schools of
Science."19 but no definite action was
taken. As a result the naming of the
new colleges was left up to the states
and there is no definite name, although
probably a majority of them adopted
the term "Agricultural and Mechan-
ical College" in order to distinguish
the school from the university.

6. IMMEDIATE INFLUENCE OF THE
MORRILL ACT OF 1862
The passage of this law led to nu-
merous discussions among the various
educators of the states, who immedi-
ately began to investigate the needs
of the people in order that the new
schools would be of the most bene-
ficial service.20 The application of the
term "Mechanical Arts" to the new
schools served as a boon to their de-
velopment, for it meant that they
were to be more than manual labor
farm schools in which farmer boys
were to be taught only such matters
as related to the daily routine of the
farm. The stress that was to be laid
on the agricultural or the mechanic
arts was to be determined more or less
by the agricultural, manufacturing or
mining influence of the community.
Scientific men who were determined
to make the sciences their particular
study had been brought together from
the classical colleges and from the

19 A. C. Gilman, "Report on National
Schools of Science," Report of U. S. Com-
missioner of Agriculture (1871), pp. 431-32.
20Report of U. S. Commissioner of Edu-
cation (1871), pp. 431-32.


community. These new schools de-
manded a body of instructors who
were specialists in the field of science.
Men made a study of the European
agricultural systems and applied it to
the conditions in America as far as
possible. Thus, for the first time a
large number of professional educators
seriously investigated the needs of spe-
cial training for young men.21 The
attitude taken by the masses whom
the particular colleges were to serve
was a prominent factor in turning
immediate attention of the state gov-
ernments to the new colleges of agri-
culture and mechanic arts.
However, doing and talking are
two different things. By 1866, only
three colleges had been organized and
had started operations, while in sev-
eral others plans had been drawn up
and trustees appointed. For a while
the experiment looked as if it were
going to fail in its purpose. The
Nation, in its editorial of August 16,
1866, stated:
"There is great want of faith and little
enthusiasm in the enterprise,....let us have
something done. An energetic attempt, even
if but partially successful, would be more
encouraging than the darkness and silence
which seem at present to be brooding over
the whole scheme .... It is a wanton injury
to the people; it is scarcely less than a fraud
upon our boys and young men especially, to
withold from them for one unnecessary mo-
ment the advantages which a beneficent gov-
ernment intended to convey."22
This editorial pictures the situation
in 1866 in regards to the agricultural
schools.

7. ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST
THE INDEPENDENT AGRICULTURAL
COLLEGE
Shall the agricultural colleges be
21Clarke, op. cit., pp. 228-30.
22The Nation, V (August 16, 1866), p.
133.





THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL


united with some existing institution
or shall they be independent? This was
the great question that faced a num-
ber of the states and served as an
impediment against immediate organ-
ization.
Those who favored the union of
agricultural colleges with some exist-
ing institution endeavored to show the
advantages from such a move. They
insisted that it would be considerably
more economical, since the colleges
that were already established had more
room than they needed. Furthermore,
the existing colleges had much equip-
ment that would be needed in the agri-
cultural colleges. Since the leading
minds of the country were employed
by the established colleges, they be-
lieved that the agricultural colleges
on an independent basis would be far
below par.23
The group who opposed the union
of the new schools with the existing
classical colleges presented a stronger
argument. They sensed the danger of
the agricultural colleges' becoming
subordinate to the classical tendencies
which predominated in the older insti-
tutions and thus fail in its purpose.
As far as the economical question was
concerned, the agricultural group ad-
vocating independent institutions felt
that there were persons who would be
willing to aid their project with con-
tributions, whereas they would not feel
obligated to give to the older schools.
And finally-and this is probably the
strongest argument of any-the inde-
pendent group thought it was hope-
less to introduce a class of "laboring
boys into the ranks of an established
institution, where the older classes
had by the natural course of their
education, imbibed the common prej-
23French, op. cit., p. 142.


udice against labor."24 Thus these two
opposing forces hindered the develop-
ment of the schools to a great extent,
causing in turn an immediate effect
upon the interest already created.
There was much in the arguments
presented by both sides but the matter
depended a great deal upon the atti-
tude of any proposed institution which
fostered union towards the ideals of
the new colleges. However, in the east
the land grant was given to older in-
stitutions which established depart-
ments or colleges of agriculture, and
the combinations were very successful
in the enterprise.
The agricultural colleges in the
South, owing to the lack of adequate
funds, were forced in many cases to
unite with older institutions in order
to secure proper facilities. By 1880
only Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, Ken-
tucky, and Alabama supported inde-
pendent institutions.

8. CRITICISMS OF AGRICULTURAL
SCHOOLS
Because the smaller states had diffi-
culty in organizing their colleges with
the money received from the land
grant of 1862, Mr. Morrill, who now
was a member of the Senate, intro-
duced in that body, December, 1872,
a bill to give "500,000 acres of land
for the further endowment of one
national college in each state and terri-
tory, minimum price of the land to
be $1.25 per acre."25 This immediate-
ly evoked much criticism from the
leaders of the older institutions. They
figured that such a large endowment
for educational purposes, which to
them were narrow and sectional was
an injustice, and demanded an inquiry
24 Ibid., pp. 142-43.
25 Congressional Globe, 42nd Congress, 2nd
Session, Part III (1872), p. 1177.




THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL


into the work of the agricultural
schools.
They doubted the benefits which
were being proclaimed by the sup-
porters of the industrial schools. They
questioned the percentage of agricul-
tural students that was claimed by the
new schools. It was hard for them to
understand the necessity of the United
States government giving such sup-
port to aid agriculture, whereas, "in
Scotland, where the farming was so
excellent, agriculture is promoted by
farmers' associations with magazines
and lectures, but not by special col-
leges."26 Since the schools that were
to be benefited by the proposal of
1872 were the ones which had re-
ceived benefits from the Morrill Act
of 1862, they took the attitude that
the government was showing partial-
ity to certain interests and that this
was incompatible with democracy.
Mr. McCosh, who was president of
Princeton University, asked, "Why
should the excellent college at New
Brunswick (Rutgers), managed by a
few Dutchmen, get $50,000 a year
and Princeton College, with its new
school of science, receive nothing?
....We (Princeton) object to being
obliged to contend with a subsidized
institution..... I hold that so large
a sum as that now at the disposal of
the government .... be allotted to
institutions open to all and giving in-
struction in branches in which not
mere sections of the people, such as
farmers or engineers, but all the peo-
ple may receive profit."27
This statement represents the gen-
eral attitude held by that group who
were the disciples of classical educa-
26 James McCosh, "Upper Schools," The
Addresses and Journals of Proceedings of the
National Educational Association (1873),
p. 32.
27Ibid., pp. 33-34.


tion. They seemed to forget that they
failed utterly in maintaining instruc-
tion that would benefit the "indus-
trial classes" before the advent of the
agricultural schools. But now they
took the position that the maintenance
of such schools by the government
was undemocratic and served partic-
ular classes. The position taken was
wholly unwarranted, for the act of
1862 specifically stated that the insti-
tutions were to educate, not "exclu-
sively"; but especially, the industrial
classes. In other words, the new col-
leges were to be broad in their curric-
ulums, with the classics as well as the
industrial subjects included. As Sena-
tor Morrill stated, "I should hope that
no farmer or mechanic would be so
illiberal as to wish to have the monop-
oly of education in any of these land
grant colleges."28
The representatives of the agricul-
tural colleges were awake to the at-
tack. They pointed out the influence
the new schools had in forcing the
older colleges to modify their curric-
ulum in favor of the scientific courses.
The fact that free tuition was pro-
vided in the agricultural schools, en-
abled hundreds of students to take
advantage of the opportunity to gain
an education, whereas before they
would have been denied this privilege.
As Professor G. W. Atherton of Rut-
gers College put it, "These institu-
tions are the logical and fit comple-
tion of the common school system of
the country."29 Dr. Read, president
of the University of Missouri, summed
it up precisely by declaring, "it was
a grant made in answer to the de-
28Dabney, op. cit., p. 616.
29 G. W. Atherton, "Relations of General
Government to Education," The Addresses
and Journals of Proceedings of National Edu-
cation Association (1873), p. 71.




THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL


mand of the active, progressive, enter-
prising men of the nation."30
A committee from the House of
Representatives was appointed in 1873
to investigate the progress of the land
grant school. The findings revealed
that many of the institutions were in
the state of formation and their efforts
to become established properly were
not discouraging. Many of the states,
especially the southern, were handi-
capped by social disorders. The com-
mittee recommended that the records
of the agricultural colleges be kept
more systematically and that better
financial skill be employed in the ad-
ministration of their endowments.31
The agricultural colleges were bur-
dened with the duty of preparing the
pupils who entered the scientific
courses with an adequate background.
The public schools, in many cases,
30 D. Read, "Reply to President McCosh,"
The Addresses and Journals of Proceedings
of National Educational Association (1873),
p. 40.
31 Report of United States Commissioner
of Education (1874), p. lxiii.


failed to train the pupils for college
work. Consequently, a great deal of
time had to be spent in making up
the deficiencies of the students in the
elementary branches. In 1873 the
academies and high schools of the
country reported 2,277 students in
the preparatory scientific courses. But
it was doubted whether any large
number of these students received the
proper training for advanced work.32
Thus the writer has dealt with the
general attitude of the government
towards educational aid from the co-
lonial period to 1875, with special em-
phasis upon the later policy which
had its origin in the Morrill Act of
1862. An effort has been made to
introduce the important factors which
were responsible in determining the
development of national aid to edu-
cation. No attempt has been made to
discuss any specific section or state,
the main object being to give a com-
prehensive view of the different forces
up to 1875.
32 Report of United States Commissioner
(1873), p. lxxii.








ENGLISH ANTI-SLAVERY LITERATURE UP

TO WILBERFORCE

By JAMES R. FISHER


THE British anti-slavery crusade
covered approximately the years
from 1770 to 1833. It was an out-
standing development of a general
humanitarian movement. It began in
the second quarter of the eighteenth
century and expressed itself in differ-
ent ways. Churches and schools were
built; hospitals were established; mis-
sionaries were sent to the ends of the
earth; the criminal code was revised;
prisons and prison discipline were
humanized; better poor laws were
enacted; labor legislation was begun,
the Roman Catholics were emanci-
pated; Parliament was reformed; and
voices were raised in behalf of the
brown men of Asia and the black men
of Africa. As a result of a half cen-
tury of effort, British slaves were
emancipated in 1833.
This paper purports to present a
survey of the English literature which
constitutes the anti-slavery movement
up to William Wilberforce (1759-
1833).
The Quakers were the first persons
in England to voice opposition to slav-
ery. Their founder, George Fox, wrote
an epistle (1671) to those who were
in America. He remarked:
"Let your light shine among the Indians.
the Blacks, and the Whites; that ye may an-
swer the truth in them, and bring them
to the standard and ensign that God hath
set up, Jesus Christ. Be not negligent, but
keep up your Negroes' meetings.....Bring
them all to the baptizing and circumcising


Spirit, by which they may know God, and
serve and worship him."'
One of the early English novelists,
Mrs. Aphra Behn, lived for a consider-
able length of time in an American
colony in the West Indies, called Sur-
inam. There she came in contact with
numerous Negroes. Her novel, Oro-
onoko (1688), is a study of a Negro
with whom she was acquainted. We
are told that the story is a true rela-
tion of the experiences of the hero.2
She tells us of the horrible manner in
which the hero of the story was tor-
tured by his masters before they chop-
ped him to pieces. Mrs. Behn contrasts
Oroonoko's nobility of character with
the ruthlessness of his white owners.
Daniel Defoe championed the Ne-
gro's cause in his novel, Colonel Jack
(1722). He contended that the Ne-
gro would have been a better servant
if he had not been subjected to such
harsh treatment:
"It may be true that there may be found
here and there a Negro of a senseless, stupid,
sordid disposition.... there are such among
Christians as well as among Negroes.....But
if such a refractory, undocile fellow comes in
our way he must be dealt with first by the
smooth ways, then by the violent way....
and if this was done I doubt not you (slave
owner) should have all your plantation
carried on and your work done and not a
Negro or a servant upon it but would not
1 G. Fox, Journal (Philadelphia: Friends'
Book Store, 1890), p. 642.
2E. A. Baker, The Novels of Mrs. Aphra
Behn (London: G. Routledge & Sons, Ltd.).





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only work for you, but even die for or Ireland, either with or without his mas-
you ...". ter, doth not become free."9


We see James Thomson's sympathy
for the Negro in his poem, "The Sea-
sons" (1726-1730). The poet por-
trays a slave ship pursued by a hungry
shark. The shark impatiently awaits
the hurling of some unfortunate slave's
body into the sea.4 Perhaps thousands
of slaves were thrown into the sea,
because they became ill and could not
be sold at the slave markets.
Dr. Samuel Johnson did not write
a book against slavery. His opinions,
however, as to the matter are worth
our attention. He was a strong oppo-
nent of slavery. While in the com-
pany of some dignified men at Ox-
ford he gave as his toast, "Here's to
the next insurrection of the Negroes
in the West Indies."5 His disgust with
the Americans is seen as he exclaims,
"How is it that we hear the loudest
yelps for liberty among the drivers
of Negroes?"6 In 1756 he described
Jamaica as "a place of great wealth
and dreadful wickedness, a den of
tyrants and a dungeon of slaves."7
Johnson wrote (1759), "Of black
men the numbers are too great who
are repining under English cruelty."8
Granvill Sharp strove to gain abso-
lute freedom for Negroes who reached
English soil. He examined the cases
which concerned escaped slaves. He
got. the opinions of the King's At-
torney (P. York) and the Solicitor
General (C. Talbot). They com-
mented:
"We are of opinion, that a Slave by com-
ing from the West Indies to Great Britain,
3 D. Defoe, Colonel Jack (London: Con-
stable & Co., 1923), I, 182-83.
4 The Works of James Thomson (London:
J. Nicols & Sons, 1802), I, 71-72.
6, 7, 8 J. Boswell, Life of Johnson, ed.
by R. Ingpen (Bath: G. Bayntum, 1925),
XI, 733-34, 740, 743.


Sharp challenged their authority and,
in breaking down their argument,
cited cases to the contrary. He care-
fully pointed out the evils of the sys-
tem of slavery. He concluded that
slavery should never be tolerated in
England.
In the dedication of his The Dying
Negro (1773) Thomas Day refers to
himself as a friend to human nature.
He also tells us:
"Could I interest the generous minds of
my countrymen to extend an ampler pro-
tection to the most innocent and miserable
of their own species, I should congratulate
myself that I had not lived in vain."10
The poet tells us of a Negro who be-
longed to the captain of a ship. He
agreed to marry a white woman, his
fellow-servant. He left his master,
was detected and carried back to the
vessel. Finding no chance to escape,
preferring death to another voyage to
America, he decided to kill himself.
As soon as his determination was
made, the Negro is supposed to have
written this poem to his intended
wife. The final stanza is an apostrophe
worthy of remembrance:

And now, ye pow'rs! to whom the brave
are dear,
Receive me falling, and your suppliant
hear.
To you this unpolluted blood I pour,
To you that spirit which you gave restore!
I ask no lazy pleasures to possess,
No long eternity of happiness;
0 lead me to that spot, that sacred shore,
Where souls are free, and men oppress no
more.11
9 G. Sharp, A Representation of the In-
justice and Dangerous Tendency of Toler-
ating Slavery (London: B. White & R.
Horsefield, 1772), p. 2.
10T. Day, The Dying Negro (London:
W. Flexney, 1773), p. iii.
11 Ibid., p. 24.







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Thomas Paine was ever the defend-
er of the Negro. His first American
essay, African Slavery in America
(1775), was an attack upon slavery.
His point of view may be got from
the statement:
"That some desperate wretches should be
willing to steal and enslave men by violence
and murder for gain, is rather lamentable
than strange. But that many civilized, nay
Christianized, people should approve and be
concerned in the savage practice, is sur-
prising."12
To Paine's mind the most shocking
thing about the attitude of those who
favored slavery was that they at-
tempted to justify the "wicked prac-
tice" by saying that the "sacred
scriptures" approved of it. He con-
tended that it was abominable and
should be abolished. It is interesting
to note that Paine anticipates a logi-
cal retort of his opponents by answer-
ing the question as to what disposi-
tion could be made of the slaves.
Slave holders, he opined, were moral-
ly obligated to care for those who
were old and infirm. "As to the rest,
let prudent men, with the assistance
of legislatures, determine what is
practicable for masters, and best for
them."13
John Wesley's Thoughts Upon
Slavery (1774) is a vivid narration
of the horrors which attended human
bondage. He pictures the ruthless
manner in which slaves were procured
for the markets. We are told of
African chiefs who were bribed to
war against other tribes so as to sub-
due them and turn them over to
,gents representing buyers of slaves.
The author's plea for the abolition of
slavery is feelingful. Wesley asked
12 W. M. Van der Wede, The Life and
Works of Thomas Paine (New Rochelle, N.
Y.: Thomas Paine National Historical Society,
1925), XI, 3.
13 Ibid., p. 9.


God to arise and help the Negroes
who had no helper and "whose blood
is spilt upon the ground like water."14
Two verses taken from the Bible
are indicative of the theme of James
Ramsay's The Treatment and Con-
version of African Slaves (1784).
This writer strove to get England to
realize that "God hath made of one
Blood all Nations of the Earth, for
to dwell on all the Face of the Earth"
(Acts xvii. 26); and that "He that
stealeth a man, and selleth him, or
if He be found in his Hand, he shall
surely be put to death (Exodus xxi.
16). This work is a record of obser-
vations made over a period of twenty
years which the author spent in the
West Indies. In uncommonly trench-
ant terms Ramsay condemned slavery:
"A horse, a cow, or a sheep is much better
protected with us by the law, than a poor
slave. For these, if found in trespass, are
not to be injured, but secured for their
owners; while a half-starved Negro, may,
for breaking a single cane, which probably
he himself has planted, be hacked to pieces
with a cutlass; even though he be incapable,
perhaps, of resistance, or of running away.
.... Nay, we have men among us who dare
boast of their giving orders to their watch-
men, not to bring home any slave that they
find breaking of canes, but, as they call it,
to hide them, that is, to kill, and bury
them."1''
Another friend of the Negro was
William Cowper. He denounced slav-
ery in some of his ballads and in some
of his letters. In his greatest poem,
"The Task" (1785), he said:
Slav.'s cannot breathe in England; if their
lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free.
14 J. Wesley, Thoughts Upon Slavery
(New York: Anti-Slavery Society, 1838),
p. 24.
15 J. Ramsay, The Treatment and Conver-
sion of African Slaves (London: J. Phillips,
1889), p. 163.






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They touch our country and their shackles
fall.16
Such an attitude, Cowper concluded,
bespoke a noble nation.
William Blake's attitude toward the
Negro is seen in his "The Little Black
Boy" (1787). It is a tribute to the
Negro. The poet philosophizes upon
the artificiality of color, commends
the Negro's attitude toward his white
brother. The little black boy's high
regard for the English boy is admira-
ble:
And thus I say to little English boy.
When I from black, and he from white
cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,
I'll shade him from the heat, till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our Father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love
me.17
In his Impolicy of the African
Slave Trade (1784) Thomas Clark-
son aimed to show that slavery was
as impolitic as it was inhuman and
unjust. He laid down two propo-
sitions: (1) that "the Africans, by
proper encouragement, could be
brought into habits of labor," and
(2) that "free labour could be made
the medium, through which the pro-
ductions of their country could be
collected, or brought to maturity and
use.""' Clarkson thoroughly analyzed
the institution of slavery, and pre-
sented its advantages and disadvan-
tages. His effort was to show that
16 R. B. Pace, English Literature (Boston:
Ailyn & Bacon, 1918), p. 219.
17 G. B. Woods, English Poetry and Prose,
etc. (Chicago: Scott, Foresman, 1929), p. 167.
18 T. Clarkson, Impolicy of the African
Slave Trade (London: J. Phillips, 1784), p. 5.


slavery was a liability and not an
asset. The writer's conclusion is
striking:
"I have replied to all the arguments of
any consequence that I ever heard advanced
in favor of the policy of the slave trade,
or against the expediency of its abolition.
....It has appeared, that the slave trade,
considered abstractly by itself, is of no emol-
ument to the nation; that it is unprofitable,
on the whole, to individuals; and that it is
the grave of our seamen, destroying more of
them in one year than all the trades of Great
Britain .... destroy in two."19
Clarkson then returned to his two
propositions; he advanced them as a
possible remedy for many of England's
ills.
It scarcely requires remark that the
literature which has been considered
does not possess impressive stylistic
effects. To the present writer's way
of thinking these people-consider-
ing them as a whole-had something
to say, nerve to say it, eagerness to
put it before the public. Perhaps some
of them (Mrs. Behn, Defoe, Day)
were sentimentalists. Their works in
connection with the abolition of slav-
ery may be the results of romantic
impulses. That does not, nevertheless,
appreciably affect the credit that be-
longs to them. Fox, Wesley, Cowper,
and some others were God-fearing
men who strove to purge England
of an evil. All of them were humani-
tarians, friends to the downtrodden.
The efforts of all of them motivated
the movement which eventually cul-
minated in the emancipation of Brit-
ish slaves in 1833.

19 Ibid., p. 132.










A BROADER VIEW OF ART IN OUR

PRESENT-DAY EDUCATION
By H. MANNING EFFERSON


INTRODUCTION

UNDER the topic of "Art" a sylla-
bus prepared for the Educational
Foundations course by a group of
Teachers College professors, one of the
questions asked is: What occurs to
you when the word "art" is men-
tioned? The question seeks to find out
what thoughts, concepts, images or
sensations the individual has when
this little three-letter word is seen or
heard.
The authors of the syllabus point
out that-"There are those who
think of art as something esoteric, as
an adornment of an acquisitive soci-
ety. There are others who think of
art as being concerned with making
more beautiful all aspects of our en-
vironment and life. There are still
others who think of art as being pri-
marily the personal reaction to an
event or an arrangement of material."
The viewpoint taken by the second
group is most nearly identical with
the broad view which we shall con-
sider in this article.
When the word art is mentioned,
it is not sufficient that we think of
the most lovely piece of music or lines
of poetry we have heard, the most
beautiful building, piece of statuary,
article of painting or play we have
seen. But the word should bring to
mind, in addition to these, such com-
mon-place things as the picture of a


beautiful forest in early spring or fall,
the rolls of fresh plowed soil, a green
or ripened field, a uniquely designed
and well-paved walk, driveway or
highway, a well-situated and beauti-
fully laid out park, a well-kept street
or lawn, a well-planned and well-
appointed home, a properly served,
appetizing meal or a neatly-fitting,
most-becoming suit. Then, even more
far-reaching and significant than
these, it may bring to mind the recol-
lection of an interesting conversation-
alist, an individual with culture and
fine personality, a person with admira-
ble character, a loving, devoted fam-
ily as well as the highest type of inter-
relationship among individuals in a
community. In all of these, we see
art in its real, and in many respects,
highest form.
We are forced to admit in the out-
set that too large a part of our popu-
lation still holds to a much narrower
view of art. The more limited view
is due, perhaps, on the one hand, to
the type of illustrations given when
the word was mentioned in our pres-
ence and, on the other hand, to our
limited experiences. In either case,
however, our educational agencies, the
school in particular, must assume the
task of disseminating the broader
view. In the discussion which follows
we shall consider some of the state-
ments of writers who hold this broad-
er view and try to designate some of





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the things the school must do to help
the students as well as the larger
group in the community attain this
art of finer living.


THE FINE ARTS AND THE ART
OF FINE LIVING

The Misses Goldstein3" state that
"When beauty is expressed in our sur-
roundings, it becomes a part of our
life and our personality. It is not a
thing to be set apart for occasional
enjoyment, but should be sought in
everything we do and in everything
we select." This statement implies the
wider view of art which must be
taken by our present-day educational
system.
In discussing the more inclusive
view we do not think of minimizing
in the least the traditional fine arts
or the important part they have played
in the history and progress of the race.
On the contrary, we are compelled to
take time here to pay special tribute
to the creators and the proponents of
the fine arts for the invaluable con-
tributions they have made in develop-
ing our civilization. The sculptors,
the painters, the poets and the musi-
cians are the individuals who have
been able to look beyond our normal
range in time and place and bring to
us a conception of that which most
nearly approaches perfection in beauty,
in design and in thought or emotion.
Yet, in view of the fact that they
and their works have been given such
wide recognition and publicity by
men in practically every field, we do
not need to give them further dis-
cussion here. We turn our attention
to the more commonplace art which

Figures refer to reference numbers in
the bibliography at end of article.


may be found in fields, forests, rivers,
cities, streets, houses and even in the
simple but fine art of daily living.
A few extracts from Mumford's8
"Sticks and Stones" gives a vivid pic-
ture of how, during the early years
when the mad rush was on for eco-
nomic gain, we destroyed the forests,
"milked" the soil of its wealth and
built up large industrial cities in
America even at the expense of human
values and personality. Mumford
points out that
"Modern industrialism began to take root
in America after the War of Independence
and its effect was twofold: it started up new
villages which centered about the waterfall
or the iron mine and had scarcely any other
concern than industry; at the same time
by cutting canals which tapped the interior,
it drew life away from the smaller ports and
concentrated commerce and population in
great towns. That part of architecture which
was touched by industrialism became crude
beyond belief: the new mills and factories
were usually packing boxes lacking in light
and ventilation, and the homes of the factory
workers, when they were not the emptied
houses of merchants and tradesmen, made
to serve a dozen families instead of the origi-
nal one, were little more than covered pens,
as crowded as a cattle market. In the nine-
teenth-century city planning the engineer
was the willing servant of land monopolist;
and he provided the frame for the architect
-where site-value counted for everything,
and sight-value was not even an after thought.
In street layout and land subdivision, no at-
tention was paid to the final use to which
the land would be put; but the most metic-
ulous efforts were made to safeguards im-
mediate use, namely, land speculation."
These statements and similar ex-
pressions by others as well as the
sights we see in the slum and tene-
ment districts of practically all our
cities, especially the large industrial
centers, show very clearly that our
quest for gold made us overlook the
fact that the opposite to the state-
ment quoted at the beginning of this
section is equally true, namely, that





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when ugliness and filth are expressed
in, our surroundings they become a
part of our lives and personalities. It
seems that many of the early planners
and builders had utter disregard for
the idea which we hear stressed over
and over, namely, that man is a part
of his environment and not apart from
his environment; there is constant
interaction and interchange between
the two. In those early days, and in
this day too, we did not seem to know
the truth expressed by Doctor Kil-
patrick7 when he said "Any habit of
the child belongs as truly to the situa-
tion as to the child, for it joins both
together." In other words, it is the
exception and not the rule when a
boy lives in a slum district all the
week, observes a few pictures of fine
art in his school books or sees examples
of it in the church or public building
which he visits on Sunday and then
grows up to become the fine, upstand-
ing young man which every mother
wants her son to become. He who
would enjoy the art of fine living
must have opportunity to become in-
creasingly conscious of examples of
the fine art in the things about him.
The same disregard seems to have
prevailed in the construction of ten-
ant houses in rural areas of sections
that were predominantly agricultural
and in mining districts. A casual trip
through any of the states from Mary-
land to Oklahoma and from Ohio to
Florida will convince us of this fact.
The most pathetic fact is that so much
ugliness was allowed to develop all
about us before any active effort was
made to change it that many decades
will probably be needed to wipe out
Je slums and undesirable tenement
*tricts. Such sights as these made one
oour statesmen remark that a visi-
tor from an Old World city to this
country must be astounded at our


city slums, our dirty villages, our
dismal mining towns dotted with
shacks where workers live.
Although the above picture is very
gloomy, there are some bright spots
in it. On a trip through the same sec-
tion suggested above we will see here
and there evidences of the fact that
the truth of the "Reaction Theory"
is being taken seriously. We will see
that planners and land owners are
building better houses and giving
more wholesome surroundings to both
industrial and agricultural workers.
In addition to the first-hand views of
the changes which we may get by
taking a trip or looking about us, we
may gain a ray of hope from the few
bright sides of the picture which
Mumford8 gives of the changes that
are in process. Then among other pub-
lications which give very interesting
accounts of the projects and move-
ments taking place for making the
environment of the common people
more favorable for the art of fine liv-
ing, numbers 1, 3, 5, and 6 listed in
the bibliography will be found very
valuable.
Here we see such agencies as the
President's Housing Committee, Re-
gional Planning Committees of differ-
ent sections, County and City Plan-
ning Commissions or Boards in differ-
ent states and other civic groups as-
sembling facts, making studies and
surveys, taking an active part in plan-
ning and zoning particular areas
and making specific recommendations
with regards to types of building that
should occupy certain localities. Laws
and city ordinances go still further
by specifying the dimensions certain
buildings shall have in proportion to
the size of the lots and the width of
the streets and the purpose for which
the building is to be used. Special at-
tention is given to the selection of




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the most appropriate material of con-
struction for particular localities; the
grounds about the buildings are de-
veloped by special landscape archi-
tects; while civic organizations and
community, church or social clubs
have sponsored beautifications proj-
ects. Some of these have taken the
form of annual flower shows or con-
tests, best kept lawns, most attrac-
tive flower garden, the cleanest ward
or street in the city or the most beau-
tiful stretch of highway in the
country.
All these efforts are bearing fruit.
In some of the industrial and manu-
facturing centers, the well-lighted,
well-ventilated buildings are taking
the places of the old dark, poorly-
ventilated sweat-shops. The homes in
these and some of the mining areas
are changing from the single-design,
one-color pen type mentioned by
Mumford. In the South, instead of
the one-room, no-window, no-paint
plan of tenant houses, one sees some
of the new houses built with a better
design, painted or whitewashed and
placed a bit farther from the horse
and cow barn which was frequently
built attached to the house. Space is
now left in the front for a flower
garden and lawn.
Thus far, our discussion has dealt
with some of the large outward
changes which we may see at a glance.
But the changes that have taken place
on the interiors of these buildings have
been more far-reaching than these in
making us more aware of the art in
common things. They in turn (grant-
ing the truth of the Reaction Theory)
will have a most telling effect on our
lives.
"Up to the nineteenth century"
says Mumford,8 "a house might be a
shelter and a work of art. Once it
was erected, it had few internal func-


tions to perform: its psychological
system, if we may use a crude and
inaccurate metaphor, was of the low-
est order. An open fire with a chim-
ney, windows that opened and closed
-these were its most lovely preten-
tions."
But, thanks to modern science, art
and invention, these are no longer
"the most lovely pretentions." We
need only to visit a few modern
American homes of the working class-
es or a large department store to see
how the fine arts which, once the
sole possession of the wealthy class,
have come to adorn the simple home.
Reproductions and copies of the
sculpture and paintings of some of
the masters have been made and sold
at a price in reach of the man with
limited means. Artistic designs of dif-
ferent styles, paneled and carefully
decorated walls and wall paper of
many patterns and shades have taken
their places in the homes from the
living room to the kitchen. The news-
paper, the phonograph, the player-
piano and the radio have brought the
most choice music, poetry and dra-
matic entertainments into the home,
the factory, the shop, and even into
the instruments of transportation
along the highways.
The open fireplace has been re-
placed by streamline radiators and by
gas, electric and oil ranges; the straw
broom by the vacuum cleaner. The
old cupboard of "Mother Hubbard"
fame and the kitchen safe have moved
out for the modern cabinet or frigid-
aire. The bedroom and bathroom with
all their modern furniture and fix-
tures have also brought in their share
of new comforts and design.
Artistic designs in interior con-
struction, in machinery and fixtures
as well as all shades of attractive colors
have been carried into the industrial






THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL


and manufacturing plants and into
all of our modes of transportation to
lend cheer and contentment to the
worker and greater comfort and pleas-
ure to the traveler.
It may be stated that these changes
have come about as a result of com-
petition and desire for large gains on
the part of producers and not as any
conscious desire on their part to pro-
vide finer living. But it is safe to say
that the desires and tastes of the con-
sumers and their demands for finer
things had much to do with the new
developments. It may be stated also
that the machine age is depriving us
of much of the creativeness in the arts
which came formerly from the person-
al touch and personality. In answer to
that criticism we need only to voice
the belief and the hope that the rich-
ness of life made available to the larger
group will be sufficient to offset the
loss.

SOME THINGS THE SCHOOL
MUST DO TO PROMOTE
THIS ART OF FINE
LIVING

A few extracts will give further
evidence of what others think about
the arts in relation to higher and finer
living as well as give a clearer con-
ception of the magnitude and import-
ance of the school's task.
When discussing the topic on art,
Doctor Raup said "In any field, there
may be fine art. All life situations
have the potentialities of being lived
artistically. Art is at the center of
moral character; yea it is at the cen-
ter of all life."
Doctor John Dewey2 said "The arts
which are of most vitality for the
majority of the people are the arts


which they do not recognize as art."
"The sense of an understanding of
a deeper intelligibility on the part of
objects of nature and man, resulting
from esthetic experience, has led phil-
osophic theorists to treat art as a mode
of knowledge and has induced artists,
especially poets, to regard art as a
mode of revelation of the inner na-
ture of things that cannot be had in
any other way."
All these quotations call to our at-
tention the more inclusive view in
which we must consider art. The
truths expressed or implied in the fol-
lowing statements give strong indica-
tions of some of the conceptions and
new interpretations which the schools
must give.
In his book on "Complacency"9
Doctor Raup makes this interesting
statement: "To the farthest and finest
reaches of his varied physical and
mental life man's whole performance
centers in the making and maintain-
ing of favorable relationships with the
objects of his environment."
Doctor Harris4 states that "The bas-
ic approach to personality develop-
ment and higher cultural integration
is the guided use of the practical arts
of life as the organic center of the
curriculum. The basic attitudes we
seek in the building of a new cultural
sentiment are part and parcel of the
thoughtful reconsideration of the
practical commercial, political and
fine arts of life. The basic arts of life
should become the core of the new
curriculum."
The writer believes that we are in
common agreement with the idea that
the school is the place (or at least one
of the places) where we seek to have
boys and girls acquire that collection
of knowledge, information, experi-
ences and skills that will help them
round out and live a more complete,





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a richer and a more useful life for
themselves and to society. He believes
very fully also that those who make
the curriculum are primarily inter-
ested in including such materials and
activities as will enable boys and girls
to attain that goal.
What then, we may ask, is the
school doing and what must it do
further, to make this new view of arts
a conscious achievement of students
as well as reality for the surrounding
communities? What is being done to
build these basic attitudes of the new
cultural sentiment or to bring about
the integration of this higher cultural
personality? What effort is being made
to surround the organism with the
best, so that when it spends its energy
in making the favorable adjustments
with its environment it will attain
most lasting values in return? How
is the school trying to help people
find art in the places they least ex-
pect? To what extent has it embraced
the challenge to reveal art as being
at the center of life or how far it
joined the philosopher and the poet in
regarding art as a mode of revelation
of the inner nature of things?
These are some of the questions
which the school must answer both
quantitatively and qualitatively.
Wherever the answers are found want-
ing for real evidence, that is probably
a signal that something has been left
undone.
Judging from commission reports
and other publications and from what
we see when we visit our institutions,
the elementary school to the univer-
sity inclusive, we seem safe in saying
that there is abundant evidence that
the school has accepted the challenge
and is meeting it creditably. This is
true with references to the practical
arts as well as the fine arts.
Keppel6 reports that "The period


from the end of the Chicago World's
Fair in 1893 until the beginning of
the World War was a time of much
general activity in arts and of higher
public esteem for them. In this peri-
od, we had the beginnings of large
gifts for the arts. As contrasted with
opportunities for vocational and pro-
fessional training, there can be no
question that in comparison with ten
years ago the arts have today a strong-
er position at all levels of education,
both in terms of opportunities to the
student and in competition with other
subjects. At present the demand is
growing more rapidly than education
can provide equipment and trained
personnel. Since the beginning of the
century, the various branches of ap-
plied and commercial art have been
forcing their way into a program that
had hitherto been limited to drawing,
painting and sculpture."
The students, both when in school
and out of school, and the people in
the communities seem to have a deep
interest in the practical, the applied
and the fine arts. This interest is, per-
haps, most largely due to the type
of courses offered, the new methods
of teaching and the wide variety of
activities in which the students are
encouraged to take part. The month-
ly or annual exhibits in the schools
which the public has been persuaded
to attend, the exhibits of school proj-
ects at County and State Fairs, the
Arbor Day, the "plant a flower" or
campus beautification programs, the
May Day festivals, the fashion and
food shows, better health displays,
public demonstration cooking classes,
the community pride campaigns and
many other activities sponsored by
the schools have had their effect in
helping individuals see art in the com-
mon things; do many simple tasks
more artistically and enjoy more of





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the art of fine living. A special fea-
ture in many cities, large and small,
where there are public libraries or
museums is the cooperation between
the schools and these agencies in pro-
viding lecture programs and special
exhibits for the community's educa-
tion and entertainment.
,Notwithstanding the very favorable
picture painted above, the surface
has just been scratched, figuratively
speaking. The rural areas and many
of the villages still stand as the main
challenge to us. There are still too
many little red or dingy brown school
houses with broken down stoops, un-
sightly, pictureless walls, jagged floors,
rough backless benches, dilapidated
(or often none) heaters, complete
lack of ihat may be called modern
equipment, barren unsightly yards,
inadequate playgrounds and almost
nothing including the teacher) that
give; any suggestion of the fine arts
or the art of fine living. When we
consider that nearly 44 per cent of
our population live in such areas and
that the one- and two-teacher schools
still predominate them, a rather dark
shadow is thrown on the picture.


OUR TASK

SFirst of all, the little dingy school
louse must be painted a more invit-
ing color and the entire surroundings,
inside and outside, made to correspond
to more accepted modern standards.
Second, a teacher needs to be sent
there who knows something about
urnun nature, who knows something
about the rich meaning that life may
have for individuals, especially young
people: who is interested in having
the children as well as the adults in
the community create more beautiful
srroundings and wholesome relation-


ships and who understands what Doc-
tor Kilpatrick7 means when he says
"Our criterion in education is the wel-
fare of the whole child, ever growing
in wholesome relations with all
others."
Finally, a teacher needs to be sent
there who has found out that learn-
ing the three R's is of little value if
the individual is not learning, at the
same time, the art of better and finer
living.
Such a teacher will try to make the
school a center of community activi-
ties and have it take the lead in many
community projects. This teacher
may, at some convenient time, have
the school cooperate with the church-
es and community clubs in putting
on an exhibit of whatever collection
of fine arts the group can assemble.
That will probably lead to greater in-
terest in local arts and crafts. But,
more important than these, he or she
will try to lead these same groups in
cleaning up about their homes, plant-
ing flowers in their yards and painting
or whitewashing their houses. Sugges-
tions will be made as to where appro-
priate, cheerful, low-cost pictures may
be secured for decorating the walls of
their homes. This teacher will try to
get the people in the community to
see that, although their income is
limited, a little wiser selection can be
made in the food and clothing they
buy.
Several instances of such activities
may be found in Virginia, Western
Tennessee, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and some
of the other Southern states. In these
sections, the Jeanes Supervisors, some
of the local teachers or the Home
Demonstration agents organized school
and community clubs and led them
in a great variety of community beau-
tification and improvement projects





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and in developing larger interest in
the fine arts to be found in the com-
mon-place things about them.
These teachers are helping the com-
munities discover that cleanliness,
orderliness and beauty in their sur-
roundings will produce a happier,
more contented condition of living.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. ART APPRECIATION, Collins and Riley.
2. ART As EXPERIENCE, John Dewey.


3. ART IN EVERY DAY LIFE, Harriet and
Vetta Goldstein.
4. THE CURRICULUM AND CULTURAL
CHANGE, P. E. Harris.
5. OUR CITIES TODAY AND TOMORROW,
H. V. and T. K. Hubbard.
6. RECENT SOCIAL TRENDS (Chapter on
Art), F. Keppel.
7. THE RECONSTRUCTED THEORY OF THI,
EDUCATIVE PROCESS, W. H. Kilpatrick
8. STICKS AND STONES, L. Mumford.
9. COMPLACENCY THE FOUNDATION OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR, R. B. Raup.