JACKSON, SIDNEY L. America's Struggle for Free Schools. Pp. viii, 276. Wash ington: American Council on Public Af fairs, 1941. Clothbound: $3.50; Paper bound: $3.00

• DOI: 10.1177/000271624222100181
• Published date: 01 May 1942
• Author: Thomas Woody
• Date: 01 May 1942
• Subject Matter: Articles

239

butions.

For

six

years

he

was

president

of

a

morning

daily

newspaper

in

New

Haven,

and

for

nine

years,

editor

of

the

Yale

Re-

view.

The

most

important

and

enduring

of

all

Professor

Farnam’s

work,

however,

was

his

dominant

influence

and

tireless

efforts

in

developing

and

welding

organized

economic

research

in

the

universities

and

teaching

institutions

with

that

of

the

endowed

inde-

pendent

research

institutions

in

the

new

era

then

beginning

in

America

with

the

estab-

lishment

of

the

Carnegie

Institution

in

Washington.

Farnam

was

one

of

a

com-

mittee

of

three

appointed

by

the

Carnegie

Institution

to

prepare

the

report

on

eco-

nomic

research

which

inter

alia

recom-

mended

that

the

&dquo;social

legislation

of

the

states ...

should

be

critically

examined

with

reference

to

its

results.&dquo;

He

was

sec-

retary

and

later

chairman

of

the

Depart-

ment

of

Economics

and

Sociology

which

the

Carnegie

Institution

set

up

to

carry

out

the

Report.

Twelve

years

later,

in

1916,

when

the

Institution

discontinued

its

work

in

this

field

in

order

to

concentrate

on

the

physical

sciences,

Farnam

became

chairman

and

personally

financed

a

large

part

of

the

work

of

an

independent

Board

of

Research

Associates

in

American

Economic

History,

which

carried

on

what

the

Carnegie

Institu-

tion

had

so

auspiciously

begun.

In

addition

to

more

than

two

hundred

articles

and

monographs,

about

half

of

which

appeared

in

print,

fourteen

substan-

tial

volumes

have

appeared.

The

last

one

was

the

unfinished

contribution

of

Professor

Farnam

himself,

to

which

this

note

par-

ticularly

refers.

Differences

of

opinion

with

respect

to

the

topics.chosen

and

the

propor-

tionate

space

given

to

them

will

arise,

but

there

will

be

general

agreement

that

for

precision

and

consistency

of

method,

and

for

results

obtained

in

the

analysis

and

interpretation

of

legislation

prior

to

1860,

there

is

nothing

comparable

to

this

study

in

American

economic

and

social

literature.

The

most

valuable

parts

of

the

volume

are:

the

chapter

on

Labor

Policy

in

the

Colonies

(Pt.

I,

Chap.

VI);

Chap.

IX,

So-

cial

Ideals

in

the

Fundamental

Law

of

the

Republic;

Chaps.

XIII-XVI

on

Slavery

Legislation,

North

and

South,

with

the

150-

page

appendix

on

Slave

Codes

in

the

South-

em

States;

Chaps.

XVII-XX

on

Labor

Legislation;

and

the

excellent

46-page

Bib-

liography

in

Part

II.

They

are

a

challenge

to

younger

scholars

to

continue

Farnam’s

researches

to

cover

the

next

fifty

years

down

to

1910.

This

is

the

period

to

which

the

methods

of

this

book

are

particularly

applicable,

and

for

which

Farnam

has

pre-

pared

the

way

and

laid

a

wonderful

founda-

tion.

He

has

done

more.

He

has

left

and

deposited

in

the

Sterling

Memorial

Library

at

Yale

University

for

future

research

workers,

copious

notes

and

the

essential

materials,

some

available

in

published

form,

some

in

manuscript.

It

is

a

cause

of

great

regret

that

he

himself

could

not

have

com-

pleted

the

entire

study

as

he

projected

it.

Here

is

the

foundation

for

the

understand-

ing

of

the

new

era

of

social

legislation

which

may

well

become

the

chief

accomplishment

of

the

twentieth

century.

SAMUEL

MCCUNE

LINDSAY

Columbia

University

JACKSON,

SIDNEY

L.

America’s

Struggle

for

Free

Schools.

Pp.

viii,

276.

Wash-

ington:

American

Council

on

Public

Af-

fairs,

1941.

Clothbound:

$3.50;

Paper-

bound:

$3.00.

This

book

is

the

result

of

a

praiseworthy

effort

to

discover

the

mind

of

various

groups

in

New

England

and

New

York

during

the

period

1827-42,

as

it

expressed

itself

relative

to

education;

further,

to

judge

the

influence

of

such

groups

as

ac-

curately

as

possible.

It

is

to

be

hoped

that

this

valuable

pioneer

study

will

lead

to

others;

the

need

for

them

is

great.

While

the

central

concern

is

the

struggle

for

com-

mon

schools,

there

are

numerous

references

to

secondary,

higher,

and

adult

education.

The

grouping

of

writers

and

speakers

under

the

heads

of

intellectual

leadership,

propa-

gandists

of

education,

rural

publicists

labor

protest,

and

others,

is

to

a

certain

extent

artificial

and

inexact,

in

some

cases

particu-

larly

so.

The

amorphous

character

of

the

&dquo;intellectual

leadership&dquo;

is

quite

evident.

This

the

author

recognizes,

e.g.

in

explain-

ing

the

distinction

between

intellectual

lead-

ership

and

the

educational

reformers

(p.

17).

Other

groupings

might

have

been

use-

ful.

As

to

the

influence

of

each

group,

little

more

could

be

done

than

provide

a

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