THE CENTER OF THE WEB

The prospects of federal intervention in the financial phase of city-supervised public school systems began to crystallize early this week when the school teacheres of Chicago, salaryless since last June, desperately clamored for federal relief through R.F.C. funds. President Roosevelt in accordance with his policy of federal relief and departmental reorganization promised speedy assistance through the national government even though it mean an invasion of a strictly local sphere of action. Mean-while the school children staged a demonstration designed to show the power of public opinion, an opinion which acting Mayor, Corr adamantly characterized as "Potently Communistic."

The case of Chicago is by no means a singular one. Even before the economic to system lapsed into stagnancy there was enough evidence in large municipalities to condemn the ugly hegemony of politics over education. Local politics have only proved themselves a serious drag on the American educational system, and there is every reason to believe that a nationalization of education would effect the necessary financial regulation. Further, a single controlling department would provide uniformity of education and effectively stamp out remaining evidences of American illiteracy. To force a change, however, would require, first, the marshalling of a dormant public opinion into an effective force for action, and, second, the determination of a non-politic department in the federal organ.

Nevertheless, any hybrid union of national and local powers would be definitely a retrogression from the present setup. Education must be entirely national or entirely local. A combination of the two would provide only for financial or entirely local. A combination of the two would provide only for financial security with doubled political control and meddling. Under the proposed evolution Mr. Roosevelt must go the "whole hog" or the Chicago teacheres will be pacified to the definite detriment of the secondary school system.