There was only one difficulty with that scheme, and that was explained to you when you were a child and read Aesop’s “Fables.” The mice wanted a bell put around the neck of the cat, but how was it to be done? At some one convention of the N. E. A., the classroom teachers of an American city must be induced, not merely to disfranchise themselves, but to disfranchise the classroom teachers of the entire country forever and ever after! Such was the job; and I repeat that the doing of it was one of the most amazing public crimes in the history of the United States. We are now going to hear the story of it in detail. CHAPTER LI THE PLOT FAILS First you will ask to know the people who did the job; which means that you will be introduced to the bosses of our educational Tammany Hall. Some of them you know already; but for convenience I will re-introduce them. Superintendent Fred M. Hunter, ward leader of Oakland, 1921 president of the N. E. A., and life director of the N. E. A. During his presidency, Mr. Hunter had a liberal teacher, whom he recommended for discharge to his board of education. The board thought the teacher ought to have a hearing, to which he was legally entitled; but Hunter’s proposition was that he would give the teacher a hearing if the teacher would first resign. “In other words,” said a board member, “you want to hang him first and try him afterward.” With these words ringing in his ears, Hunter went to the convention of the N. E. A., and presided over meetings at which eloquent orators set forth in glowing terms the rights of teachers under our great American democracy! Carroll G. Pearse, formerly president of the Milwaukee State Normal School, and now a book agent; also a trustee and life director of the N. E. A. We have seen Mr. Pearse smashing the classroom teachers of his own city. If we had time for a detailed study, we should discover him running the N. E. A. machine for a decade, from the time he was president in 1912. Next, President William B. Owen, of the Chicago Normal School, 1923 president of the N. E. A. Mr. Owen is the ward leader of Chicago, and we have just seen him in Boston, stealing from the classroom teachers their own national organization. Mr. Owen is vice-president and life director of the N. E. A. Next, Professor Howard Driggs, of the English department of the University of Utah, author of “Live Language Lessons,” president of the Utah Educational Association, a power in the Mormon church, and vice-president of the N. E. A. Next, Superintendent Charl O. Williams, of Shelby County, Tennessee, a lady of fine presence, an “inspirational” orator of the old Southern style, an aggressive Democratic politician, 1922 president, and now life director and field secretary of the N. E. A.