Mr. JONES. Mr. President

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sutherland in the chair). Does the Senator from Vermont yield to the Senator from Washington?

Mr. PAGE. Yes.

Mr. JONES. The Senator has passed section 9?

Mr. PAGE. I have. I will be very glad to answer any question, however, relating to that section.

Mr. JONES. In section 9, on page 8, I notice the provision is for the preparation of teachers "in State normal schools and in other training schools for teachers." In our State university, for instance, which is a very large educational institution, they give special training to teachers, although it is not termed, of course, a training school; it is a State university. I would like to know whether, in the opinion of the Senator, that university would come under the provisions of this section?

Mr. PAGE. I am happy to say that that matter was very carefully discussed, and the decision reached was that any school which the State board for vocational education regarded as a training school for teachers might properly be included within the provisions of the section.

Mr. JONES. Would the Senator have any objection to striking out, in line 2, the word "training," before the word "schools," and inserting after the word "schools" the words " furnishing special training for teachers," so as to make it read:

That for the preparation of teachers to give instruction in or closely related to agriculture, the trades and industries, and home economics in State normal schools and in other schools furnishing special training for teachers.

And so forth.

Mr. PAGE. I can not see any objection to doing so.

Mr. JONES. I hope the Senator will consider that suggestion when the bill comes up. I think that would make it clearer than the language of the section as it now stands. I have some doubt whether under the language of the section our State university would come under the terms of the bill.

Mr. PAGE. If the Senator will study the bill in its entirety he will find, as he goes through it, that we have made a good many provisions conditioned upon the approval of the State board of control or board. for vocational education, and conditioned further upon securing the assent of the Department of the Interior, which means the Commissioner of Education. There is no design on the part of those interested in the bill to deprive any State of the right to determine what are training schools for teachers.

Mr. JONES. That is true; and yet when the bill confines it to certain described schools, no matter what may be the provision thereafter, it is confined to those schools. I doubt if the language "training schools for teachers" would include the State university, which is not classed as a training school for teachers. Therefore I wanted to suggest this change in the language for the Senator's future consideration.

Mr. PAGE. I certainly see no objection to it now. I will give it consideration and report to the Senator later.

I would especially direct the attention of the Senate to the fact that every section of this bill has been carefully considered and every

safeguard provided to prevent the diversion of any fund from the purpose for which the appropriation has been made. I am sure Senators can have but a slight appreciation of the details which have been wrought out in this bill. First, to the end that its provisions might articulate satisfactorily with State laws; and, second, that that funds appropriated by the measure may never be diverted, lost, or squandered.

Mr. President, I have prepared with considerable care a statement showing in detail the administrative features of the bill, and I am prepared to go on at length and explain fully how the law is to be administered, how the appropriations are to be safeguarded, and what is required of the several States in order that they may participate in these appropriations.

As I proceed to the discussion of this measure, I will refer briefly to a few of the more important sections covering the administrative features of the bill.

ADMINISTRATION.

Section 11 safeguards the funds appropriated for schools of the secondary grade and the preparation of teachers for these schools. It charges the Secretary of the Interior with the duty, and gives him the necessary power to administer the provisions of this act in relation to the $9,000,000 appropriated for schools teaching the trades and industries, home economics, and agriculture, as provided for in sections 3, 4, and 5 of this act; the $480,000 for the education of teachers in State agricultural colleges, as provided in section 8; and the $1.000.000 appropriated for the education of teachers in State normal and other training schools, as provided in section 9. Section 11 also provides that the Secretary of the Interior shall have the cooperation of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Commerce and Labor.

Section 12 safeguards the other $4,000,000 appropriated in sections 6 and 7. It charges the Secretary of Agriculture with the duty, and to him is given the power, to administer the provisions of the act relating to the $1,000,000 appropriated for branch stations at the district agricultural high schools, and the $3,000,000 appropriated for the extension-work fund, and it authorizes him to aid the Secretary of the Interior in carrying out the provisions of this act, so far as they relate to instruction in agriculture and home economics in schools of the secondary grade, and the preparation of teachers for those vocations.

Section 13 gives the Secretary of Commerce and Labor authority to assist the Secretary of the Interior in carrying out those provisions of the act which relate to instruction in the trades and industries and the preparation of teachers for those vocations.

The question may be asked as to why the administration of this act has not been left with a single department. The answer is that after a careful study of the matter and after conferring with those whom I think best qualified by experience to advise concerning the administrative features of the bill, I have become satisfied that, so far as they apply to supervision of the extension work in agriculture and to the branch-station work provided for in the bill, they may

best be left to the Department of Agriculture to administer. On the other hand, supervision of the schools provided for by the bill may be left to the Commissioner of Education, who will, of course, be the direct representative of the Secretary of the Interior in administering that part of the act which it is made the duty of that official to administer.

As to the position occupied by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor with reference to this bill, it may be said that the labor organizations have come to regard that official as the connecting link between the Government and themselves; and as the Department of Agriculture has long been the special agency in touch with agricultural and home-makers' organizations, they have asked that the Secretary of Commerce and Labor might be vested with a cooperative relation in connection with those schools which are to teach the trades and industries. It has therefore seemed eminently wise that the Departments of Agriculture and of Commerce and Labor be authorized to give cooperative assistance to the Department of the Interior and thus help the Bureau of Education to have the widest possible support.

Section 14 provides that in order that any State may secure the benefits of this act it shall, through the legislative authority of said State, accept its provisions and shall designate a State custodian to receive and be responsible for each and all of the seven funds appropriated. I would call the attention of Senators especially to the last paragraph of this section, for in many respects it contains one of the most important changes made in the bill as originally introduced. It reads as follows:

Any State or the District of Columbia may accept the benefit of any one or more of the respective funds herein appropriated to it and many defer the acceptance of the benefit of any one or more of such funds, and shall be required to meet only the conditions imposed in relation to those funds the benefit of which it has accepted.

This paragraph has been incorporated in the bill at the suggestion of several States which were in doubt as to whether they would or would not deem it advisable to accept all the appropriations and provisions of the bill, as they were required to do under the measure as it was originally drawn, in order to be the recipients of any of the appropriations named in the measure.

The effect of this amendment is to leave it optional with any State to accept any one or all of the appropriations and to permit it to defer the acceptance of any one or more of its provisions until such time as the State may wish to avail itself of the benefits of those particular provisions.

My judgment is that, without a single exception, every State will avail itself of every provision of the bill. Inasmuch as the $3,000,000 appropriation for each of the three classes of secondary schools$9,000,000 in all-and only a part of the appropriation for college extension work becomes effective until 1916, all the States will be given ample opportunity to provide by legislative enactment for taking advantage of the provisions of the bill.

I confess in this respect I may be mistaken. My good friend the junior Senator from Louisiana [Mr. Thornton] expresses a doubt of

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his own State accepting all the provisions of the measure. I believe that within five years every State will not only be accepting the provisions and appropriating enough to cover its provisions but a good deal more. But, of course, that is a matter of opinion.

I believe there is no State in which there will not be a meeting of the legislature by 1916.

Section 15 provides that States must, by legislative enactment, designate a "board of vocational education," which shall have all necessary power to cooperate with the Secretary of the Interior in the administration of the provisions of the act relating to the industrial schools authorized by the act and the training of teachers. This board may consist either of the board of education or other body now having charge of the administration of public education in the several States, or it may be a new board to be established with special reference to the new educational system which this legislation will initiate.

Mr. HEYBURN. Mr. President

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Does the Senator from Vermont yield to the Senator from Idaho?

Mr. PAGE. With pleasure.

Mr. HEYBURN. I suggest to the Senator that some States have constitutional provisions covering the organization and government of the public schools and it would seem that it might be necessary to change the constitutional provisions in order to authorize the creation of the board. I have the constitution of one State before me where it makes a provision definite as to the constitution of the educational board.

I understand the Senator to say that the States will be required to create a new board, because it would be in effect a new board. In that case you would have to change the constitution of the State.

Mr. PAGE. That condition has been suggested in regard to one or more of the States. As I think the matter will work out, your State legislature will make the board authorized by your constitution the vocational education board to take charge of this field.

Mr. HEYBURN. The State legislature would not have power to legislate away the provisions of the constitution or to change it. It could not be done except by a change of the constitution itself. The legis lature was not invested with power in this case to make any change whatever. It was thought dangerous to leave that to the legislature, because it would be subject to the vicissitudes of changing administrations and changing opinions. So in making the constitution we fixed it so definitely as that the legislature would not have control over it. Now, it might be desirable to have such a board as is suggested in the bill, but it would be beyond the power of the legislature to create it.

Mr. PAGE. No; not at all. Can the Senator tell me whether that board as authorized by his State constitution is made up of one, two, or three members?

Mr. HEYBURN. The board consists of the superintendent of public instruction, the secretary of state, and the attorney general.

Mr. PAGE. I should like to ask the Senator further if he can see any objection, in view of your constitution, to saying that the board authorized by the constitution shall be the board which shall have charge of this fund?