The commission held extensive hearings and made a lengthy report. It found that

There is a great and crying need of providing vocational education of this character for every part of the United States -to conserve and develop our resources; to promote a more productive and prosperous agriculture; to prevent the waste of human labor; to supplement apprenticeship; to increase the wage earning power of our productive workers; to meet the increasing demand for trained workmen; to offset the increased cost of living. Vocational education is therefore needed as a wise business investment for this nation, because our national prosperity and happiness are at stake and our position in the markets of the world cannot otherwise be maintained.

It was also found that federal aid was necessary:

I. To make the work of vocational training possible in those states and localities already burdened with the task of meeting the requirements for general education.

2. To help the states, with their widely varying resources, bear the burden of giving vocational education as a national service.

3. To equalize among the states the task of preparing workers whose tendency to move from place to place is increasing, making their training for a life work a national as well as a state duty and problem.

4. To secure national assistance in solving a problem too large to be worked out extensively and permanently save by the whole nation.

5. To give interest and prestige in the states to the work of preparing our youth for useful and productive service.

6. To secure expert information from the agencies of the national government, bringing to bear a country-wide knowledge and viewpoint, which will put the work of the states on a scientific and business-like basis.

The recommendations of the commission were incorporated into a bill that was immediately introduced, but owing to the congestion of business and for other reasons not connected with the merits of the matter, it was not pressed at that time.

Creation of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. It was not until February 23, 1917 that the Smith-Hughes Act, containing only minor variations from the recommendations of the commission, was approved (39 Stat. L., 929). Under its provisions the states got three appropriations on condition that they or the local communities, or both, should spend an equal amount for the same purposes. The first was for the purpose of coöperating with the states in paying the salaries of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural subjects. It began with $500,000 a year and was to increase annually until 1926 when it would amount to $3,000,000, at which figures it would remain permanently. This was to be divided among the states according to their rural population. The second appropriation was for the purpose of coöperating with the states in paying the salaries of teachers of trade, home economics, and industrial subjects. It, too, began with $500,000 a year and was to reach its maximum of $3,000,000 a year in 1926. Not more than twenty per cent of it could be used for the salaries of teachers of home economic subjects. The money was to be allotted on the basis of urban population. The third appropriation was to aid in preparing teachers, supervisors and directors of agricultural subjects and teachers of trade, industrial, and home economic subjects. It began with $500,000 and reached its maximum of $1,000,000 a year in 1921. It was to be allotted according to total population.

The act provided that in order to secure the benefits of the appropriations the states had to accept the provisions of the act through their legislatures, or temporarily through their governors. They had also to designate or create a state board of at least three members having the necessary power to coöperate with the Federal Board in the administration of the act. It further provided:

SEC. 6. That a Federal Board for Vocational Education is hereby created, to consist of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the United

States Commissioner of Education, and three citizens of the United States to be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. One of said three citizens shall be a representative of the manufacturing and commercial interests, one a representative of the agricultural interests, and one a representative of labor. The board shall elect annually one of its members as chairman. In the first instance, one of the citizen members shall be appointed for one year, one for two years, and one for three years, and thereafter for three years each. The members of the board other than the members of the Cabinet and the United States Commissioner of Education shall receive a salary of $5,000 per

annum.

The board shall have power to coöperate with State boards in carrying out the provisions of this Act. It shall be the duty of the Federal Board for Vocational Education to make, or cause to have made studies, investigations, and reports, with particular reference to their use in aiding the states in the establishment of vocational schools and classes and in giving instruction in agriculture, trades and industries, commerce and commercial pursuits, and home economics.

The board was to approve or disapprove the programs that would be submitted to it by the state boards. These plans would show the kinds of vocational education for which the appropriation would be used; the kinds of schools and equipment; the courses of study; the methods of instruction; the qualifications of teachers, supervisors, or directors; and the plans for the training of teachers. The Federal Board was also to ascertain whether the states were using the money received by them in accordance with the provisions of the act. To enable it to carry out this supervision, to make the necessary studies and investigations, and to pay the officers and administration expenses, the Federal Board was to receive $200,000 annually.

Work of the Board Under the Smith-Hughes Act.1 Immediately after organizing the board established contact with

1 A detailed discussion of the particular activities will be found in the following chapter.

the states. It did this through a series of conferences with representatives of state boards of education and vocational education. At these conferences the purpose of the law was discussed with particular reference to the general principles upon which it is based and the methods by which these principles should be brought into practice. The states were quick to take advantage of the act and by Dec. 31, 1917, every one of the forty-eight states had accepted its provisions either through their legislature or governor.1 Each one had also submitted plans for the current year which had met with the approval of the Federal Board. Federal agents were sent in the field to examine the work being done by the states and to see that it corresponded to the plans they had submitted. The total number of pupils enrolled in vocational courses in schools federally aided for the year ended June 30, 1918, was 164,186. For the year ended June 30, 1921, the number had increased to 305,224.

The authority to make studies, investigations, and reports was used freely by the board and a large number of bulletins have been published. It was in this connection that the board did its first war work. The demands of the army and the war industries greatly exceeded the number of skilled workmen in certain lines. A call was made by the Federal Board on the state boards for the establishment of evening industrial classes in which conscripted men would be trained to meet the demands of army occupations before entering the service and in which those employed in essential war industries might secure further training fitting them for the better discharge of their duties or for promotion to more responsible positions. To aid in this work and at the request of the War Department, the Federal Board issued nine bulletins giving courses of instruction in mechanical and technical lines. These were used by civilian schools and by special schools established by different branches of the War Department.

1 The action of the governors has since been ratified by their respective legislatures in each case.

The Work of the Board in Rehabilitating Disabled Veterans. Among the studies conducted by the board were several on the question of the vocational reëducation and placement of disabled soldiers and sailors. This problem was occupying the attention of other organizations. The warrisk insurance bill, as originally drafted, contained a promise of vocational training to men disabled in the service but made no provisions for carrying it out. After much informal discussion the matter was brought to the attention of the President, who authorized the Secretary of War to call a conference of representatives of the bodies interested. The conference met and appointed a subcommittee to draw up a suitable bill for presentation to Congress. The committee represented the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the Navy, the hospitals for the insane under jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior, the Council of National Defense, the United States Bureau of Education, the Department of Labor, the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, the United States Employees' Compensation Commission, the United States Public Health Service, the Federal Board for Vocational Education, the American Red Cross, the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Federation of Labor, and the medical profession. It presented a report embodying a bill substantially similar to that passed subsequently by Congress except that the rehabilitation work was to be administered by a commission of five representing the Surgeon General of the Army, the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery of the Navy, the Department of Labor, the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, and the Federal Board for Vocational Education.1 When the act was passed (approved June 27, 1918; 40 Stat. L., 617) the administration of the work was not placed with a special commission as recommended, but

1 The proposed bill also included provisions for the rehabilitation of disabled civilians. These were later expanded into the Industrial Rehabilitation Act.