Liberal Federation Research Articles

A new look at the federal aid issue

As MEMBERS of a national community, we are called upon from time to time to re-examine the relationship of our federal government to our public schools. Our Federal Constitution contains no reference to education; this important responsibility is reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment. However, shortly after the Federal Constitution was adopted, the United States Congress approved liberal Federal Land-Grants to states to stimulate and assist in the development of public schools. It is remarkable that the constitutional decision to reserve to the states the responsibility for public education and the congressional decision to aid and stimulate state action in the development of public schools should be made by essentially the same national leaders within such a short period of time. This early action foreshadowed a type of national ambivalence pertaining to education which has cropped up from time to time in our history-on the one hand, a genuine national concern about the adequacy of our public schools and, on the other, a determination not to us6 the federal government machinery as the vehicle for attacking the problem. Our national concern about public education reached a high point in 1857, when we created the United States Office of Education, directing it to collect and diffuse information regarding schools and methods of teaching that would aid the people in the establishment and maintenance of an efficient school system and to otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country. Again, in 1917, largely as a result of the need for skilled workers revealed and accentuated by World War I, we enacted the Smith-Hughes Act, designed to stimulate public schools to place greater emphasis upon vocational education. This national action, like the earlier Morrell Act providing Federal aid for colleges of agriculture, was directed toward increasing our economic productivity-not toward increasing the support underlying the total public school system. More recently we have embarked upon a national program of Federal

The Origins of the National Liberal Federation

-ff_HE National Liberal Federation, or caucus, as it was popularly I known, is regarded by students of British politics as the source of modern popular party organization. In the I870's and i88o's it revolutionized the practice of politics and nullified many of the results expected from the general extension of the suffrage. Yet little attention has been paid to the origins of the federation. thesis of Moise Ostrogorski, developed in an article entitled The introduction of the caucus into England,, and repeated in his elaborate work Democracy and the organization of political parties,2 has generally been accepted without criticism. Ostrogorski's argument ran as follows: In I867 the house of lords amended Disraeli's Reform Bill to ensure minority representation in the four largest English boroughs. Where three members were to be chosen, electors received two votes, so that a minority concentrating on a single candidate would have a fair chance to win one of the seats. Liberals determined to secure all three seats for their borough. even division of their strength among three candidates required an elaborate organization, which did not exist in the old Liberal party. Electors in each ward were carefully instructed as to which two of the three candidates to support. plan succeeded. Liberal vote was divided evenly, and three Liberals were returned in i868. new organizationthe caucus-failed to carry the school board elections of i870 but was revived inl I873 by Joseph Chamberlain and Francis Schnadhorst to gain control of the municipal council. usefulness of the caucus in parliamentary elections led to the extension of the Birmingham Plan throughout the country. Many large or 400's,) were established on a representative basis, especially after the defeat of the Liberals in 1874. When Disraeli's Eastern policy gave an opportunity for national agitation against the Conservative government, the unanimity with which Liberals lent their support suggested the idea of a permanent national organization. As a result, a conference of Liberal associations at formed the National Liberal Federation in I877. Ostrogorski's explanation attempted to account for the two distinctive features of the caucus-the local associations, formed on a representative basis, and the permanent national federation, ready to agitate on any issue of political consequence. former was derived, Ostrogorski contended, from the opposition in to minority representation; the latter, from the ambitions of Chamberlain at the time the Eastern question was a major issue. thesis was simple, but it exaggerated the importance of minority representation and was mistaken in regarding opposition to Disraeli's Eastern policy as the cause of the national organization. It is true that the minority representation clauses of the Reform Act of I867 led to increased activity in Birmingham, I Political science quarterly, VIII (I893), 2873I6.

The Liberal Way; A Survey of Liberal Policy, Published by the Authority of the National Liberal Federation. With a Foreword by Ramsay Muir. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.1934. Pp. vi, 224.)

The Liberal Way; A Survey of Liberal Policy, Published by the Authority of the National Liberal Federation. With a Foreword by Ramsay Muir. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd.1934. Pp. vi, 224.) - Volume 29 Issue 4

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:Experiment in Autobiography. By H. G. Wells.The Social Survey of Merseyside.The New Philanthropy. By Elizabeth Macadam, M. A. Publisbed By George Allen and Unwin.The First Workers Government. By G. R. MitchisonBritain's POlitical Future. By Lord Allen of HurtwoodThe Liberal Way: A Survey of Liberal Policy. Publided by the Authorio of the National Liberal Federation. Edited by Ramsay MuirProblems of the Socialist Transition. By Stafford Cripps and OthersWhy This Socialism? By Stafford CrippsParliamentary Reform. By W. I. Jennings, M.A., LL.D.Survey of International Relations, 1933 3. By Arnold Toynbee, assisted by V. M. BoulterA Short History of International Affairs, 1920–1934. By G. M. Gathorne‐HardyPeace With Honour. By A. A. MilneLabour and War. By Bjarne Braatoy. Wifb a Preface by Harold J. LaskiA Better League of Nations. By F. N. KeenNationality and the Peace Treaties. By W. Sullivan MolonyInternational Narcotics Control. By L. E. S. EisenlohrThe Saar and The Franco‐German Problem. By B. T. ReynoldsThe Life of Joseph Chamberlain. Vol. 111. 1895–1900. By J. L. Garvin.The Life of Lord Carson. Vol. 11. By IAN Colvin.The Rise of Gladstone to the Leadership of the Liberal Party, 1859–1868. By W. E. Williams.Mr. Gladstone at the Board of Trade. By Francis E. Hyde. With a foreword Ly F. W. Hirst.George Tierney. By H. K. Olphin.Fox. By Christopher Hobhouse.Rights and Duties of Englishwomen. By Erna Reiss. With a PreJae by Eleanor Rathbone, M.P.Women Under Fascism and Communism. By Hilda Browning.Post‐War France. By Paul Vaucher D‐es L. Home University Library.Supply and Trade in The U.S.S.R. By W. Nodel.Foreign Trade in the U.S.S.R. By J. D. Yanson.Health Protection in the U.S.S.R. By N. A. Semashko.The Soviet Theatre. By P. A. Markov.Co‐Operation in the U.S.S.R. By Leslie A. Paul.War and Peace in the Soviet Union. By Gore Graham.The October Revolution. By Joseph Stalin.The Soviet State. By Bertram W. Maxwell, Ph.D.Russian Sociology. By Julius Hecker, Ph.D.C. P. Scott of the Manchester Guardian. By J. L. Hammond.

The Gipsy Moth Problem in New York State

The gipsy moth, Porthetria dispar Linn., has been found in small numbers near or on most of the eastern border of New York State, thus necessitating close scouting and clean up work in nearly all of the proposed barrier zone some 25 miles wide and extending from Long Island Sound north to the Canadian border. Available data indicate a relatively slow spread in the Connecticut valley and even more favorable conditions for control work along much of the border in New York State. There was somewhat rapid spread on the eastern slope of the Berkshires and this may also be expected if the pest is allowed to establish itself in the Catskill and Adirondack mountains. Liberal Federal aid is considered essential to the maintenance of a barrier zone.

The National Liberal Federation: From its Commencement to the General Election of 1906. By Robert Spence Watson, LL.D. With an Introduction by the Rt. Hon.Augustine Birrell, K.C., M.P. (London: Fisher Unwin. 1907. Pp. xii, 318.)

The National Liberal Federation: From its Commencement to the General Election of 1906. By Robert Spence Watson, LL.D. With an Introduction by the Rt. Hon.Augustine Birrell, K.C., M.P. (London: Fisher Unwin. 1907. Pp. xii, 318.) - Volume 1 Issue 4