Demand for Federal Aid for Vocational Education of THE FEDERAL BOARD FOR ITS HISTORY, ACTIVITIES, AND ORGANIZATION CHAPTER I HISTORY The Federal Board for Vocational Education is an independent establishment, created in 1917, having for its general function to study the problems of vocational education, to supervise the work in vocational education by the states. aided by federal grants, and to supervise and study the work in rehabilitating persons disabled in industry by the states aided by federal grants. Early Grants for Vocational Education. Prior to the creation of the Federal Board for Vocational Education the federal government had given assistance on several occasions to various forms of vocational education. These were not part of a broad comprehensive scheme but were sporadic gifts resulting from the efforts of a small group of men. In each case they had to do with vocational education in the colleges. Provision was first made for the giving of federal aid for vocational education by the Morrill Act of 1862 (12 Stat. L., 503). This was "An Act donating Public Lands to the several States and Territories which may provide Colleges for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts." Under its provisions tracts of public land were granted to the states to be sold, and the proceeds were to form a perpetual fund, the interest of which was to be used to endow at least one college, "where the leading object shall be to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts." The grant of public lands provided for was soon accepted by the legislatures of the states loyal to the government, and after the end of the war the benefits of the grants were extended to those states which had been out of the Union when the act became a law. Within ten years of the act thirty-one colleges were receiving aid under it, and by 1916 the number had increased to fifty. The next instance of government aid was the Hatch Act of 1887 (24 Stat. L., 440). This provided for an annual direct appropriation of $15,000 per year from the proceeds of the sale of public lands to each state for the maintenance of an agricultural experiment station, to conduct researches or experiments bearing directly on agriculture. In 1906 the Adams Act (34 Stat. L., 63) increased this annual appropriation to $30,000, and removed the restriction which said that the money was to come from the proceeds of the sale of public lands. A long campaign for additional funds for land-grant colleges ended in the Second Morrill Act of 1890 (26 Stat. L., 417). This gave to each state, for the benefit of colleges established under the Morrill Act of 1862, an annual appropriation beginning with $15,000 and increasing a thousand dollars a year until the amount reached $25,000, at which figure it was to remain. In 1907 an amendment to the annual appropriation bill for the Department of Agriculture (34 Stat. L., 1256) increased the amount given each state for the benefit of land grant colleges by $5000 a year until the annual appropriation was $50,000. Finally in 1914 came the Smith-Lever Act (38 Stat. L., 372). This provided for an annual appropriation of $10,000 to each state and an additional increasing grant which would reach its maximum of $4,100,000 at the end of eight years. This amount was to be divided among the states according to their rural population. It further required that each state or the local authorities in it appropriate an equal amount to be used in accomplishing the work provided for by the act. With this money the land-grant colleges were to diffuse among the people useful and practical information on subjects relating to agriculture and home economics, by means of publications, instruction, and practical demonstrations. Demand for Federal Aid for Vocational Education of Less Than College Grade. All these grants had been for vocational education of college grade. Meanwhile there had arisen a widespread and increasing demand for federal aid for vocational education in the lower schools. Among its advocates were educators, reformers, manufacturers, and labor organizations. The American Federation of Labor from 1903 on, consistently and unremittingly advocated the establishment of industrial education in the schools. A very large number of labor unions went on record from time to time as approving bills for vocational education that happened to be before Congress. The National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, including among its members representatives of practically all the trade unions and of all the prominent manufacturers' associations, was formed in 1906. Since that time it has played a prominent part in the movement. The Chamber of Commerce of the United States in 1913 and again in 1916 adopted resolutions strongly endorsing the principle of liberal appropriations by the federal government for the promotion of vocational education in the states. This public sentiment was reflected in Congress where bills for this purpose became more and more frequent. There was not a session of Congress from 1910 on when one or more bills, touching on some phase of vocational education, were not introduced. The pressure continued until it culminated in the creation of a Federal Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education. (38 Stat. L., 767, approved Jan. 20, 1914.) Congress authorized the President to appoint the nine members of the commission who were "to consider the subject of national aid for vocational education and report their findings and recommendations not later than June 1 next." |