The Goslings: A Study of the American SchoolsSinclair, Upton
History
The Goslings: A Study of the American Schools
Sinclair, Upton
Education -- United States
In case you should find all this as incredible as I found it, let me add
that Miss Harden faithfully carried out her promise; when she got back
to Chicago she sent me two issues of the “Journal of the National
Education Association.” The first is the issue for December, 1921, and I
note the name of Joy Elmer Morgan, managing editor. Beginning at page
199, and continuing to page 205, I find a list headed, “The First
Representative Assembly; delegates who attended the 59th annual meeting
of the National Educational Association in Des Moines, July 5-8, 1921.”
There I find the delegates by state, with the occupation of each one
given; on page 203 I find “Robertson, W. W., agent for Charles E.
Merrill Co., 19 West Main St., Oklahoma City.” And on page 202 the name
“Clancy, Major A. W., 502 Globe Building, Minneapolis.”
The second issue of the Journal is that for September, 1922, and again I
find Joy Elmer Morgan, managing editor. From pages 291 to 298 I find the
list of the second representative assembly, with the occupations of the
delegates not given. On page 295 I find as follows: “Clancy, A. W.,
Bookmen’s Department of Minnesota, 2516 Humboldt Avenue, South,
Minneapolis.” And then, as I complete this manuscript, the Journal of
October, 1923, appears, and gives the list for the third representative
assembly, at Oakland, California—and again the occupations are not
given, and again Major Clancy _is_ given!
Yes, you may count upon Major Clancy to attend all N. E. A. conventions!
Turn back to our Minneapolis chapters, and read about this one-armed old
veteran of the threshing machine. And come to Oakland, and see him in
the luxurious parlors of the Oakland Hotel; come to San Francisco and
see him in the parlors of the Fairmont. He is the lord of motor cars and
of boat-rides; never does he sit down at table except it is crowded with
guests. The editor of the “Journal of Education”—not the official N. E.
A. Journal, but an independent weekly, published in Boston—portrays this
aspect of the Salt Lake convention of 1920 in a playful paragraph. Says
the witty editor Winship: “No one in the association at summer and
winter meetings, has in fifty years had as many men and women to as many
feasts as has Major Clancy.”
Perhaps all this hospitality is poured out from the Major’s own generous
heart; perhaps again, it is his employers, the book companies, who fill
the cornucopia. However it may be, the major is the idol of the
schoolmarms; he chats with them jovially in the lobbies, and now and
then you see him jump up and run across the floor—some superintendent
has entered, and he must shake the hand of all superintendents.
Presently you see him button-holing one of the great leaders of the
gang, and there is a whispered conversation; it is by these little chats
in lobbies that we get our business done—the gentlemen’s agreements
whereby votes and influence are traded for contracts involving your
money and mine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account