breaking "the barriers of pride and prejudice down, and we were triumphing as the friend of Latin-America sooner than we could possibly have triumphed as her superior overlord-'And how much more handsomely, with how much higher and finer satisfaction of conscience and of honor.'"

CHAPTER XXII

THE NEED OF EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS

The more important issues springing out of the European war soon began to press heavily upon our educational institutions. President Wilson, himself a trained educationist, was quick to see the need of educational preparedness and to call the attention of the American people to this need. But how was the school affected?

The public school is an instrument created by society for the purpose of preserving its ideals and institutions and for promoting its own interests. The problem of individual development is a professional one, with which society in general is unacquainted. Therefore, since the beginning of recorded deeds, there have been two aims in education: one is social or practical, the other is individual or theoretical. The former is constantly changing because it is affected by every great social upheaval. The latter is more or less constant since it is concerned primarily with the native tendencies of the individual.

The political and industrial revolutions at the close of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries

made radical changes in all social institutions. Scarcely a man lives today as his ancestors did before these great changes took place. As a result we have a public school system unlike the old systems. It has a different organization, a different content, and even a different social purpose from those of the 17th and first half of the 18th centuries.

But at the beginning of the 20th century, even before the outbreak of the European war, it was observed and noted that our whole educational system, although it was comparatively new, was ill adapted to meet the needs of modern society. Moreover, it was a matter of professional knowledge that "every step taken in the direction of broadening our courses and differentiating our schools so as better to meet its needs has invariably resulted in a rapid increase in attendance"-an argument that an untrained people is the result of poor educational opportunities.

The great war gave society a tremendous jolt, and men everywhere began to take an inventory of the permanent social assets that could be mobilized for the benefit of society. The conservatism of the school stood out, then, in bold relief, and the American system came under a fierce criticism. It was charged that less progress has been made in education in the last thirty years than in any other vocation or profession.

Vocational education was advocated strongly before the war, and the Gary system was one concrete result of

the agitation. There were others also. But it was the European war that taught America how necessary it is to have "a loyal entente between the industrial men, the merchants, and the agriculturalists" of a nation. Moreover, it became more apparent that "each nation must resolve to accomplish profound modifications in industries, commerce, and culture," and that the school must play a large part in producing this modification.

Another industrial revolution was felt to be taking place. New industries have arisen in America because of the suspension or destruction in Europe of similar industries. Other nations had monopolies on goods essential to American homes and American business. The great war cut off our supply by destroying the accustomed trade route, and American genius and energy have been stimulated to enter new fields.

American colleges and universities, instead of attacking vigorously these problems, before the war were tributaries in a large measure to European universities. But after the outbreak of the war, these higher institutions of learning came also under the fire of criticism, and a readjustment was begun.

President Wilson advised the people of this country that the school must play a tremendous part not only in perfecting the program of the New Freedom, but also in making the nation sure of its military, commercial, and industrial preparedness. He referred in his message to the need of

giving federal aid and stimulation to industrial and vocational education "as we have long done in the large field of our agricultural industry." The Smith-Lever bill, referred to elsewhere, was the product of the long agitation for federal aid to agricultural industry.

"We should study more carefully," he said, "than they have hitherto been studied the right adaptation of our economic arrangements to changing conditions.

And again, "The most we can do is to make certain that we have the necessary instrumentalities of information constantly at our service, so that we may be sure that we know exactly what we are dealing with when we come to act, if it should be necessary to act at all. We must first certainly know what it is that we are seeking to adapt ourselves to."

Here was a new field for the colleges and universities to enter. It was pointed out that other nations had institutions for the study of world trade, and that they were organized with a corps of highly trained economists to instruct the people concerning trade possibilities and difficulties, and industrial needs. The Tariff Commission proposed by the President would in a measure serve the purpose of such an institution. But that would not relieve, it would increase the obligation imposed upon