The county superintendent works hand in glove with the local politicians and their local financial masters. Whether he is appointed, or whether he is elected, makes little difference, because the election must be preceded by a nomination, which depends upon the local political machine. Back of this nomination and the ensuing election are all the sinister forces of graft which expect to profit from the schools. There are the land speculators, who either have land to sell, or want to buy school lands upon which wealth of some sort has been discovered. There are contractors who want to put up school buildings for profit; there are school book agents, who are bosom friends of all superintendents, and put up money to elect them, and get it back ten-fold. I shall show you in due course how these book agents serve also as teachers’ agents, controlling the appointment of teachers and handing out favors and promotions to those who support their “line.” And of course there are the bankers, who want the handling of school funds, and also of the teachers’ funds; you shall see how the teachers put up money for their own pensions, and the gang takes charge of it, and turns it over to the bankers, either for cash or for political support, which comes to the same thing. Also there are business interests which want child labor, and want the compulsory school attendance laws repealed or ignored. There are the various organizations of Big Business propaganda—the National Association of Manufacturers, which wants the children trained for servitude in mills and stores; the American Legion and the militarists, who want them taught war and the patriotism of greed; the newspapers, which support all forms of reaction, and hold over the head of every official the imminent threat of ruin as the penalty for insubordination. Such is the position of county superintendents of schools, and of county boards of education everywhere throughout the United States—except in those few counties where the people, through the Farmer-Labor movement or something of the sort, have been able to take over control of their own affairs.