MISS MARGARET HALEY (Chicago): It is not necessary for me to go to the platform. I wished to ask the question before the vote is taken. It was impossible for us to hear what was being done and I didn’t know the question that was being voted on. I ask for information as to what the motion was. THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment was voted down and the motion was carried, Miss Haley. We presented to everyone that came, when the business opened, a copy; we want it in the hands of every active member and I so announced exactly what we were doing. MISS HALEY (Chicago): That is not the question I asked. I asked what was the motion that we were voting on. We didn’t hear it when it was stated. THE CHAIRMAN: We were voting on section 9 then: we were voting on the amendment to section 9. ----- CHAPTER LIV THE FRUITS OF THE SOWING So now our National Education Association is what the gang wants it to be. Let us see exactly what that is. The next convention was held at Des Moines in 1921, and here were the first fruits of the sowing. I have before me a tabulation of the delegates to the Des Moines convention, classified according to their occupations. Statistics make tiresome reading, but in this case the statistics are the heart of the argument, so I beg you to consider these figures carefully. There were present at this convention a total of 553 delegates having votes; among them were: state superintendents, 33; county superintendents, 21; city superintendents, 104; presidents of colleges and normal schools, 28; principals of high schools, 34; principals of elementary schools, 54; supervisors, 23. That makes a total of 297 delegates belonging to the employing class—297 out of 553, a comfortable majority. But note further: the tabulation includes 14 miscellaneous, 46 not classified, 6 editors of educational journals, and 2 agents of book companies; if we set these to one side, we find that the 297 members of the supervising force were figured upon a total of 485 delegates. And now, to balance this, consider the representation of the teachers: special teachers, 8; teachers in colleges and normal schools, 34; teachers in high schools, 65; and teachers in elementary schools, 81. That makes a total of 188 teachers, including college professors; and this to be balanced against 297 members of the supervising force! In our schools the teachers outnumber the supervising force by ten or fifteen to one; but in this national body, as between the two groups, they have thirty-nine per cent, while the supervising force has sixty-one. Such is “democracy” in the great educational organization of the school world!