fact, we seem to be considered a very rude nation in all parts of the globe. Is it not high time that we begin taking stock of this phase of our psychology and seek methods for removing this objectionable feature. It will require a good deal of education aside from physical, and a lot of co-operation from the home, but eventually we shall develop a sense of the fitness of things and come to realize that a nation without manners, a condition toward which we seem to be steadily drifting, is one that has lost the finest thing that life has to offer,-which is the relationship of men to their fellow men.

N. B.-Uncertain ideals as to what should constitute good behavior and proper restraint for the school child, on the part of modern educators, has no doubt militated strongly in bringing about this condition. Physical training teaches restraint and coordination. Therefore, let us have plenty of physical training.

The American Citizen's Creed

I believe that God is Architect of all the skies and stars
And America is my Mother, home-my Comrade at the wars;
I am her son and in my veins and in my arms and eyes
Her blood is mine, like roses; and her soul that never dies.

We two are one, and if I fail her, so myself I do betray,
For I live and perish with her, at the plow or at the gun;
If I die she dies in battle or in walks of every day,
And I love my country, Mother, built of honor and the sun.
Her Flag is her great Voice, that stands on top the sky,
A shrine and a great altar that will never never die;
And she's worth fighting for and must be always free,
With her white, snowy Capitol, God's Church of Liberty.
She is the Eagle Nation, and my country right or wrong,
Beneath the vast encircling suns in beauty and in song;
And now across the world she throws her spinning stars
To tell the world her honor is worth a thousand wars.

I believe my country is a garden and my playground here;
Christianity in government; a house and home most dear;
And I am proud to be her son, beneath her flag unfurled,
An American, an honor far the greatest in the world.

I believe that she is building Peace with her great armies here,
The Hand of God uplifted on this red embattled sphere-
America, I love you, kind and noble, great and broad,
And I'll be true forever to my country and my God.

EDWIN CURRAN.

American Notes-Editorial

A situation exists throughout the country, in relation to the management of public school affairs, which, while having its advantages, is nevertheless fraught with possibilities of evil and disaster, which not infrequently materialize. We refer to the division of responsibility between the Superintendent and the School Board. Happily, there are many places where there is the utmost harmony and co-operation between the two. In such cases the several officials, or the clear majority of them, are persons well qualified by nature and grace for their offices. The Board members defer naturally and willingly to the Superintendent in all strictly educational or professional matters. They accept his policy and hold up his hands in every good work which he undertakes for the improvement and increased efficiency of the school system in the given town or city. Together they purpose and plan for the good of the community, the improvement of the school conditions, and the acceptance of higher ideals and achievement by the teachers, parents, pupils, and citizens in general. Fortunate and happy indeed is the town or city where such co-operation and goodwill exists.

But, unfortunately, this often is not the case. Frequently the citizens do not elect the best qualified candidates for the School Board. Scheming politicians, or men and women with single-track minds, or men who have the single qualification of being rich, are elected to the School Board. Perhaps the most common and pestiferous of these is the single-track-minded member. He knows practically nothing of the complicated and subtle educational problems, to judge wisely in regard to which the Superintendent has had to take many years of specialized education, and which he sees from all angles and seeks to solve for the greatest good of the largest number. His opponent on the Committee or Board sees only one aspect of the case and deliberately refuses to listen to reason or to investigate any other considerations that may be brought forward. It is, for him, "war to the death" of one side or the other. And too often it is the death of the superintendency and the crippling of the institution upon which hundreds of young people are depending for suitable preparation for a successful life.

What we are pleading for is, first, the utmost solicitude and care upon the part of the electorate to put the right men and women upon the School Board. The basis of choice should be first and always, character; second, knowledge of and sympathy with the educational aims

of the present day. No person is qualified for a place on the School Committee merely because he has a big bank account, or because he has a glib tongue, or because he belongs to this party or that. The schools belong to the whole ocmmunity. Their conduct is a highly specialized task. The majority of the Committee should be, if possible, among the best educated men and women. The Superintendent should be their leader. The chances are ten to one that he will be qualified to lead, now that law and custom require of him so much by way of professional training. If he "gets by" all this training the chances are good that he will be able and willing to accept modifying local conditions and kindly counsel with a good grace.

Voters, this paragraph is mainly for you. Choose the best qualified persons for your School Board! Here is a big and widespread responsibility.

The young people of Ohio are "exposing" themselves to the higher education as never before; whether many of them will "take" is another matter. It is probable that the enrollment in the three state institutions chartered as universities will reach ten thousand before the end of the present year. This does not include Wilberforce University, which is exclusively for colored people, and which last year had an enrollment of about twelve hundred, nor the two state Normal Schools, from none of which a report has been received. All receive appropriations from the General Assembly. Two cities, Cincinnati and Akron, maintain municipal universities. This arrangement is not common in this country. In addition to the above mentioned institutions maintained mainly by a tax, there are in the state about fifteen universities and colleges with a varying standard which may be designated as high, medium and low. All of them are populous; in several the population runs into thousands. Some rather drastic laws passed by the legislature last winter will increase the attendance at the public schools. The General Assembly also passed a law levying a special tax within the next two years to provide new buildings for the three state universities. The sum eventually realized from this source will probably come nearer to two million dollars than to one million. A most remarkable change in public opinion throughout the state has taken place within the present century. Even less than twenty years ago it was no easy matter to persuade the General Assembly to make grants for the training of teachers; now the question no longer is yes or no, but how much. Rarely does one hear the once familiar complacent boast that the Buckeye State produced great men

by the score without normal schools. Most people have learned that schools are not intended to make great men, but useful and efficient citizens.

Health education is one of the greatest needs of the American people. The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, with its extensive organization, its thousands of employees, its highly specialized management, has established a health program which, for personelle, equipment, and practical efficiency is probably unexcelled in any quarter of the globe. One of its recent printed statements calls attention to the following startling facts and the conclusions to which they lead. This company's experience is of more than private and local interest and significance. Its report says that "to educate a person to protect himself against disease under all circumstances is impossible; everybody takes chances-the brainy and the brainless; but there is much benefit to be derived from education; to obtain the best results both pupil and teacher must exercise patience and perseverance, be interested and not easily discouraged, possess judgment, ability and willingness to apply information obtained. If all were born perfect and reared properly, the problem would be solved, but such is not the case, and any deviation from either is an affliction that should be corrected if possible."

The report goes on to say that there is something radically wrong with the human family of our country that needs correcting when it it acknowledged: that 11 per cent of babies die within one year after birth; that 20 per cent of children of school age suffer from malnutrition; that 75 per cent of the twenty-two million public school children of the United States are physically or mentally defective; that 35 per cent of our ablest young men between the ages of 21 and 31 cannot pass the army physical examination; that one million people in the United States are known to have tuberculosis, "a curable and preventable disease"; that of the seven civilized countries (regarding tuberculosis) "the United States is the worst"; that during the two years of the World War, the American army lost by deaths 80,000 men. During the same period 180,000 died in the United States of cancer-a disease "considered preventable and curable if treated early"; that "idiocy is increasing rapidly"; that mental diseases have increased three times in the last 40 years"; that this includes only a small portion of similar statistics that might be cited. All goes to prove there is an imperative demand for rehabilitating

the human family or establishing a new standard. How may the desired end be accomplished? It can only be done by education, conscience and law."

. . "The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company for years has done much to improve the health conditions of its employees through constant vigilance by its officers, the Joint Committees on Sanitation, Health and Housing created under the Industrial Representation Plan, the schools, by nurses and doctors; but still there is sickness, and as long as disease persists the good work of prevention must continue. Prevention is the slogan."

The example of this business and industrial corporation is of real significance to school authorities and all who have influence over the lives of other human beings.

The U. S. Department of Commerce, through the Bureau of the Census, gives statistics of school attendance, by geographic divisions. and states, compiled from the returns of the Fourteenth Decennial Census, taken as of January 1, 1920.

The total population 5 to 20 years of age, inclusive, enumerated in continental United States, numbered 33,250,870. Of this number, 21,373,976 attended school at some time between September 1, 1919, and January 1, 1920. The total population 7 to 13 years of age, 15,306,793, included 13,869,010 children attending school. The percentage attending school among the population 5 to 20 years of age, increased from 59.2 for 1910 to 64.3 for 1920; and the corresponding percentage for children 7 to 13 years of age increased from 86.1 for the earlier to 90.6 for the later year.

Among the individual states, the largest proportion attending school in the 5-20 age group, 73 per cent, is shown for Utah, and the smallest, 53 per cent, for Louisiana. In six states-Iowa, Nebraska, Montana, Idaho, Utah and Oregon-the proportion of school attendance for this age group was more than 70 per cent.

For the 7-13 age group the largest proportion of school attendance, 96.1 per cent, is that for Massachusetts, and the smallest, 75.9 per cent, for Louisiana. In seven states-Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, Iowa, Delaware, Idaho and Utah-the proportion was 95 per cent or more.