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music, etc., as well as those subjects which have been borrowed from the high school, such as algebra and the languages, came to be added. In the elementary schools of New York State today, there are sixteen subjects or courses of study. Two-thirds of these represent additions to the curriculum which have been made within recent decades, and of which the schools in the middle of the nineteenth century knew nothing.

It is not only by the addition of new subjects of study, however, that the elementary school has developed. There has been growth likewise in the way of academic organization. The early schools knew little of grading, as we understand it now. There was no definite number of grades. Each school was a law unto itself, and there were more grades in some schools than in others. There was division of pupils according to their advancement, and groups of pupils of about equal academic standing were taught together. But even in city schools all the grades were found in the same schoolroom, as is the case still in district schools, and each teacher kept her own pupils from the time they began their A B'C's till they had finished the highest reader, and were ready for a higher school or for work. Such was the condition of the elementary schools throughout the country until well into the nineteenth century, and the condition obtained in the schools of Boston as late as 1856. The development of the grade system came towards the middle of the last century, and was one of the results of the great popular educational awakening which culminated in the public high school movement. With the appointment of city superintendents of schools, a system of uniform grading was adopted, a full year's work being counted as a distinct grade, and each teacher being limited in her work to the studies of a single grade.

I have said that, up to the present, little has been accomplished towards bringing about academic coordination between the elementary school and the high school. The subject has long been recognized, however, as a problem full of importance for the future of our educational system. The report of the Committee of Ten, to which I have alluded, has to do largely with this problem, and many of the best educational minds among us have been engaged in studying its various phases. It has long been

evident that, as Commissioner Brown puts it, the high school is "wedged in," and cannot hope to move forward except space is made for it on one side or the other. There is no space to be looked for on the college side. The pressure of the college has been steadily downwards, and the college cannot relax here even if it would. The only practical way in which the high school can hope to relieve this pressure is by entering into closer relationship with the elementary school, and transferring its lower classes to the upper grades of the elementary school. This was the substance of the plan of the Committee of Ten. This has long been the dream of our educational idealists, and we are now witnessing an attempt to inaugurate this, according to a carefully prepared plan, and on a large scale.

In the new Syllabus of the Department of Education of New York State, which goes into effect this Fall, the elementary curriculum proper is reduced to six grades. The seventh and eighth grades are cut off and framed into an "Intermediate Course." having a close relationship to the curriculum of the high school. In this "Intermediate Course," some of the work of the seventh and eighth grades is retained-English, arithmetic, geography, history and physiology; while Latin, German, French, and other subjects are brought down from the high school, which is thus left free either to receive new subjects from the college in its upper grades, or, retaining its present amount of work, to turn its graduates over to the college or to the business professions at an earlier age. In either case, the lightening of the load the high school has thus far been carrying means an opportunity for the college. It will probably be enabled in this way either to shorten its own curriculum at the expense of the high school, and thus transform the old four years' college curriculum into a five or six years' university course, or, retaining its traditional curriculum, receive its candidates younger and turn its graduates into the university courses or the professional schools at an earlier age.

This new development in the academic relations between the elementary school and the high school is likely to be of very great importance and far-reaching influence. The new six years' curriculum for the elementary school will doubtless be copied in

other states, and it may eventually become universal. It is, of course, at present simply an experiment. But the fact that it comes as the result of a study which many of our leading educators have for years been giving to this problem, coupled with the further fact that the experiment is to be tried in the State of New York, which has had in the past such a commanding educacational influence throughout the Union, makes it extremely likely that it will eventuate in something more than an interesting educational experiment. Catholic educators may well study the possibility and the desirability of a six year curriculum for their elementary schools.

THE CATHOLIC GRADUATE IN BUSINESS

BYRON V. KANALEY, ESQ., CHICAGO, ILL.

There are times in the lives of all of us when we feel truly humble and unavailing. It may be a marvelous painting or a work of sculpture, it may be the stars in some wondrous sky, it may be a majestic waterfall, a poem, a spell of eloquence, it may be a sublime scene in some storied cathedral, it may be a simple thing-much of life may move us to a feeling of deep humilitythat will make us see how unworthy, how pitifully little we really are after all. Such a feeling is upon me. You have had gathered here for two days from all parts of the nation men of distinguished ability, of profound learning, and deep piety, in a great convention to further the educational interests of a very considerable portion of the American people.

To be asked to contribute to the program of such a gathering is honor enough indeed, for I well know what it means to be asked to participate, but it is even more than that that makes me feel humble and unequal to my allotted part. For I am here also as the representative, in a sense, of my mother educational institution-an institution that has the power of so endearing her sons to her by every bond of love that her boys always feel the deep, deep obligation to be worthy of her-to give of the best that is theirs for the cause that is hers. I have wished that my college

might have chosen of her sons one more accustomed to forensic triumphs, one who would do better for her to-night, for if ever there was a time when I wished to be more than I am it is for my college, and in a broader sense for the general cause of Catholic education in business life-before you-now.

Business-its methods, its evils, its results, is the most discussed subject among men to-day. But even when we recollect all the strong criticism that has been leveled at some of our business men and their methods, in charity, we must not forget one great saving grace that is theirs, one virtue that covers a multitude of faults-the brevity of business men both in private and public utterance. And I assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that I have at least attained harmony of subject and treatment in my effort.

The subject assigned to me for discussion this evening is "The Catholic Graduate in Business." Now, the Catholic graduate, I take it to mean for the purpose of this discussion, the Catholic graduate of a Catholic college. The Catholic college teaches in so far as the moral law is concerned exactly what the Catholic Church teaches. The Catholic Church always has taught, teaches to-day, and always will teach those principles that go to make all legitimate business honorable before God and honorable by all the true standards of men. As she was in the beginning the force that made possible the vast commercial activities of our day when she made sacred the rights of private property and personal liberty, as she made possible our material well-being when she wrote into the hearts of all her children the divine commands, "Thou shalt not steal," and "Love thy neighbor as thyself," so our Church stands to-day the great bulwark against business oppression, against greed, against thievery of all kinds, in high places and low, and for a sane, true, honest commercial life as between man and man. The Catholic Church has always impressed it on her children to render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's. It is in the expounding of this holy obligation that our modern business world owes an unpayable debt to the Roman Catholic Church. Now that the world has reached a time when in all civilized countries this obligation of the Church has been written in the statute books of men, so that at least a man is insured

what is his legally-our Church is now bending every energy that mankind may acquire righteously.

It is well for this republic that she has with her in the struggle for the realization of the highest aims of this greatest of governmental institutions, the tremendous force for righteousness of the Roman Catholic Church. With the exception of the Civil War, the nation has probably never been in more dire need of strong, helpful influence that touches vitally the masses of our people than now. In the sixties it was a principle at stake. Today it is the very lives of our workers. Wherever you may go from east to west, you will find a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the present social order. Indeed, the whole world presents this same perplexing problem. The lines between labor and capital are becoming more sharply drawn day by day. While the millionaire rolls by in his automobile carrying perhaps death in his wake, the poor cannot see why they shouldn't have bread at least for their children.

On every hand socialism, with all that it means as destructive of men's ideals and governmental ambition, is increasing in strength. A powerful socialistic press is exerting its utmost influence, and the strength of this new movement in our midst cannot be denied. And, as in the past our Church was the initial force that destroyed slavery, that made sacred the rights of private property and personal liberty, that made possible a republic such as ours when she instituted the sacrament of marriage and instituted the family, so now, when the best interests of that republic are threatened, when a great deal of our commercial life may appear unjust, when so much may seem to be a grinding of the poor, when laws seem to be for the strong and not for the weak and oppressed, the Church is lending her powerful influence to right these wrongs. Again the work of the Church in all that is good for America will be justified and America will say of her in Bulwer's words:

"I found France rent asunder,

The rich men despots, and the poor banditti;
* * * schism within the temple:
Brawls festering to rebellion; and weak laws
Rotting away with rust in antique sheaths.
I have re-created France; and, from the ashes.

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