« 
 
 EDITORIAL EXTRACTS FAVORING AND SUGGESTING REASONS FOR THE 
 
 APPOINTMENT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF 
 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION BY THE REGENTS 
 OF THE UNIVERSITY. 
 
 [Editorial from New York Times, 12 August 1894] 
 
 THE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
 
 There is one subject with which the constitutional convention should deal 
 with courage and decision, if it does anything with it, and that is the unifica¬ 
 tion of the educational system of the state, by vesting the appointment of 
 the superintendent of public instruction in the regents of the University. 
 By thus removing the choice of the superintendent from the field of par¬ 
 tisan political contention it would be possible to secure the services in that 
 office of higher-minded and more capable men and (of almost equal con¬ 
 sequence) to retain such a man so long as his efficiency, pertinent to the 
 duties of the office, should continue at high-water mark. 
 
 The present method of choosing superintendents by the legislature, once 
 in three years, makes political considerations decide the original choice, 
 and is sure to turn out the experienced officer at the end of his official 
 term if the opposing political party is then in the ascendency. 
 
 All parties should agree to take the educational system of the state out 
 of politics. There is plenty of room elsewhere for political contention. 
 Let us all unite in placing the schools of the state, from the kindergarten 
 to the university, under the scientific supervision and unselfish care of the 
 regents of the University, who are high-minded men, devoting their time 
 and services to the cause of education, asking and receiving no compen¬ 
 sation for their labors and anxious only to promote as best may be the 
 enlightenment and elevation of the people at large. 
 
 The constitutional convention can do nothing that will more widely 
 commend its work to the people of this state, of all shades of political 
 belief, than thus to safeguard the best interests of the public schools of all 
 grades. 
 
 -^ 13024 " 
 
I 
 
 2 
 
 [[Editorial from New York Tribune, 12 Aup:ust 1894] 
 
 THE CONVENTION AND THE SCHOOLS 
 
 The proposal that the power and duty of appointing the superintendent 
 of public instruction in this state shall be transferred from the legislature 
 to the regents of the University is supported by strong arguments. The 
 advocates of this change, whose sincerity and disinterestedness can not 
 possibly be suspected, have reason to hope that the constitutional conven¬ 
 tion will adopt their views, but since its time is limited and its work heavy, 
 a preliminary discussion of the subject may be helpful. 
 
 All judicious supporters of the educational establishment of this state 
 are doubtless agreed that it ought to be absolutely secured against po¬ 
 litical manipulation, and therefore that it ought, if possible, to be entirely 
 outside the field of political contention. So far as the powers of the re¬ 
 gents extend, that object has been already happily accomplished. It is 
 solely with the desire and intention of carrying out this principle still 
 further that an extension of their powers in the way proposed is now 
 urged. Under the existing system the choice of a superintendent of 
 public instruction is inevitably influenced by political considerations. 
 The fact that the unfortunate possibilities of the present method of 
 selection have hitherto been generally avoided is not a sufficient ar¬ 
 gument for its retention, if a different method would almost certainly 
 afford a' stronger guarantee of efficiency in that important office and 
 of popular confidence in the incumbent. Those who have carefully 
 considered the plan of vesting the appointment of the superintendent in 
 the regents of the University are convinced that the change would be per¬ 
 manently beneficial. It is said truly that while by the conditions of their 
 existence and organization the regents represent both parties in the sense 
 that they are chosen from both parties, and must continue to do so, they 
 are nevertheless as far removed from the sway of personal or political 
 prejudices as any official body however constituted could be ; that during 
 the whole period of their history they have never shown a desire for in¬ 
 creased power or patronage, and that the only argument for the proposed 
 change to which they would listen for a moment is to be found in the 
 belief that it would enable them to serve the state by unifying and strength¬ 
 ening its educational system. 
 
 The regents hold office for life without salary, and the natural expecta¬ 
 tion that officials appointed to discharge a sacred trust on those terms 
 would cherish no other ambition than that of promoting the common wel¬ 
 fare within their sphere has been confirmed by experience. The people 
 of this state have an immense interest in the educational branch of the 
 public service, and are more and more conscious of that fact every year. 
 They will certainly be prepared to ratify any measure for increasing the 
 efficiency of the schools so soon as they are convinced of its merits. That 
 
3 
 
 the purpose of this proposal to lift the office of superintendent entirely 
 above the range of party strife is as sure as it is deserving of their sym¬ 
 pathy no one can doubt, and we believe that the method suggested will 
 commend itself to their approval, as we hope it may to the judgment 
 of the constitutional convention. 
 
 [From editorial of Niagara Falls Cataract concerning the proposed appointment of the superin¬ 
 tendent of public instruction by the regents of the University] 
 
 Much might be said in favor of the suggested change. The board is a 
 more permanent body than the legislature, is freer from political entangle¬ 
 ments ; and is in closer touch with all matters educational, dealing as it 
 does with such subjects only. Any appointments they might make would, 
 in their own interests, necessarily be dictated rather by a desire to secure 
 a competent and capable man than by any desire to serve party or party 
 ends. 
 
 [Editorial from New York Morning Advertiser^ 8 .A.ugust 1894] 
 
 The movement inaugurated by the teachers of the high schools of the 
 state to have the superintendent of public instruction appointed by the 
 board of regents is one that deserves encouragement and should receive 
 the careful attention of the constitutional convention. The educational 
 committee has had the matter before it for some time, but consideration of 
 it is being too long deferred. • The present method of appointment — by 
 joint ballot of the legislature — is one which passes this important office 
 over to the control of politicians. The salary attached is $5,000. This 
 is a bone worth picking, and it sets the pack to quarreling. Of late there 
 has been no influence in the state that could prevail against the personal 
 wishes of Lieutenant-Governor Sheehan in this matter, and that fact of 
 itself is sufficient to show the danger which lies in the present method. 
 The superintendent of public instruction exerts a tremendous influence on 
 all the educational institutions of the state from the kindergarten to the 
 university, and it is not pleasant to know that the entire public-school 
 system might be so readily Sheehanized. The regents are nineteen in 
 number, holding office for life, and the board, including as it does the 
 governor, lieutenant-governor and secretary of state, is, we take it, much 
 better qualified to select the superintendent of public instruction than 
 William F. Sheehan individually. 
 
4 
 
 [Editorial from Harper's Weekly, 14 July 1894] 
 
 AN EDUCATIONAL REFORM 
 
 It is understood that a proposition to vest the election of the superin¬ 
 tendent of public instruction in the regents of the University is considered 
 favorably by the committee on education of the New York constitutional 
 convention, and will in due time be reported to that body for its action. 
 It is auspicious, both for the character of the proposition and the prospects 
 of its incorporation in the organic law, that it will proceed from the com¬ 
 mittee with substantial unanimity. In the convention it will be advocated 
 by leading delegates of both parties, and there can be no question of its 
 adoption and submission to the people. 
 
 Its inspiration is obvious, and that in the desire of intelligent friends of 
 education to relieve, so far as practicable, the conduct of its various sys¬ 
 tems from political influences. There is, of course, no department of 
 government that should be so free from partisan inclination as that of 
 education, and yet it is to the reproach of New York, which in many re¬ 
 spects has conserved admirably the educational interests of her people, that 
 she has permitted too much of the evil-indicated to obtain, and that 
 specially in the management of her elementary schools. This is true of 
 city boards, too often the creatures of ward caucuses, of county commis¬ 
 sioners quite as often the makeshifts of convention compromises, and of 
 the superintendent of public instruction, chosen almost uniformly for his 
 skill as a manipulator of votes rather than for his worth as an educator. 
 That some of the officials thus evolved have become superior to the method 
 of their production is certainly to their credit, but the method has endured 
 with the lax or dictatorial supervision, the incompetent subordinates with 
 credentials from local bosses, and the tendency to subordinate educational 
 weal to political behests which it involves. A drastic re‘'orm would at 
 once resolve the elective into the appointive scheme, with lengthened ten¬ 
 ures and removals for cause, but this would probably be so repugnant to 
 the democratic sentiment of the commonwealth, fortified as it is by the 
 generally beneficent operation of the constitution of 1846, as to render it 
 inexpedient and impracticable, but a movement in the right direction may 
 be made by taking the department of public instruction from the domain 
 of party politics. 
 
 There is no need to rehearse the story of how this supreme and sacred 
 trust has been time and again abused and degraded, or how those who 
 have held it have been fashioned by the machinery of party, and have in 
 turn constructed machines for personal profit and partisan aggrandizement. 
 It is a story as familiar as lamentable. The evil should be summarily 
 remedied, and that remedy may be applied by the convention at the 
 request of the committee. 
 

 HOW CAN THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION 
 IN THIS STATE BE. IMPROVED ? 
 
 The attention of the delegates to the Constitu¬ 
 tional Convention is respectfully called to the 
 considerations and arguments advanced in the fol¬ 
 lowing pages, as suggesting an answer to this most 
 important question. 
 
 
5 
 
 The committee suggests nothing revolutionary concerning the functions 
 of the department. They will not be disturbed. Neither its authority is to 
 be abridged, its jurisdiction limited, nor its constitution changed. Its 
 head will still be the head of the common-school system, invested with 
 all the powers — and they are very considerable — that he now possesses. 
 He will not be the servant of the regents; he will be tlie master within 
 his own sphere, although in deriving his commission from them he will be 
 likely to act in harmony with them. Friction between the elementary and 
 higher branches of education, which has sometimes occurred, will thus be 
 avoided, and this is most desirable. There should be harmony between 
 the two, but this does not imply either the persuasion or propriety of 
 unification, even if it were attainable, which at-present it probably is not, 
 delicate and perplexing as would be the adjustments required, and deter¬ 
 mined against it as are the convictions of many who have given it serious 
 thought. It is not proposed to vary or to modify a single feature of 
 existing systems of education. 
 
 The new departure is simply as to the mode of election. The regents 
 are the most convenient, conservative, and serviceable agents in whom to 
 confide such election, while still preserving the integrity and independence 
 of public-school administration. 
 
 It is not essential in this connection to review the work which the regents 
 have done through the century of their being, nor to emphasize the oppor¬ 
 tunities for still larger usefulness which recent legislation has afforded them, 
 but it is true that their composition, their disposition, and their usages 
 would be the assurance that through them politics would be eliminated in 
 the selection of the superintendent, who would be chosen in the same 
 manner and for the same term as is the secretary of the board. The re¬ 
 gents have, indeed, been elected by the same body, viz, the legislature, as 
 have the superintendent and United States senators, but membership in 
 the board, with the life tenure attached to it and non-compensated service, 
 has informed them with a dignity and a sense of responsibility inconsistent 
 with political bias in their official action. This is in the nature of things. 
 It commends itself a priori^ but it is also justified historically. Some fresh 
 illustrations are notably pertinent. Four years ago George William Curtis 
 was unanimously elected chancellor by a board which was almost wholly 
 opposed to him politically, but he was by his eminence as a scholar, and 
 his long and distinguished career as a regent, entitled to the distinction, 
 which was freely bestowed. Upon his death another scholar was preferred 
 as his successor, and William Croswell Doane, who had but a year pre¬ 
 viously been elected a regent by a democratic legislature, was made vice- 
 chancellor. In the selection of its secretaries and clerical force the board 
 has always been equally solicitous that its appointments should be sig¬ 
 nificant of their educational and effective quality, and not of their political 
 affiliations. So it would appear that the regents may safely be trusted to 
 
6 
 
 choose the superintendent, and that thus that official may be preferred by 
 educational standards. These are the proper standards, and thus far no 
 better nor no more rational plan has been outlined than* that the regents 
 should enforce them. 
 
 [Editorial from Buffalo Express, 24 June 1894] 
 
 REGENTS WORK AND POLITICS 
 
 The amendment before the constitutional convention proposing to make 
 the superintendent of public instruction a subordinate of the board of 
 regents would do away with the existing inconsistencies consequent upon 
 a dual system of supervising education. It is difficult to see how it would 
 injure the power or opportunities of a good superintendent, or how, with 
 the board composed as it is, it would be a dangerous step for the state. If 
 it would tend to bring the regents, who are appointed for life, more into 
 politics, it would not be so desirable. But with a superintendent chosen 
 as under present conditions, merely because he is the henchman of a boss, 
 it will be hard to make the public believe that a change making him a sub¬ 
 ordinate would be an injury to the interests of education. 
 
 [Editorial from The Sun, 14 August 1894] 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
 
 Among the thousands of college graduates who are inhabitants of the 
 Empire State there are but few who could, offhand, give a correct answer 
 to the question: What is the University of the State of New York? Yet 
 the question is well worth answering, for under that title we possess an 
 institution of remarkable administrative capabilities of utility which, if not 
 absolutely unique, is only paralleled in France, and approached within a 
 certain distance by the London University. 
 
 The history of the University of the State of New York is bound up 
 with that of the commonwealth, with which it is nearly coeval. Organ¬ 
 ized in 1784, it had for its first Chancellor George Clinton, while De 
 W iTT Clinton was its third Secretary; and Alexander Hamilton and 
 John Jay were among its first and most active regents. The “ University ” 
 is a supervisory and administrative, not a teaching, institution. It is a 
 State department, and at the same time a federation of over five hundred 
 institutions of higher and secondary education. Like other States, New 
 York has a department of public instruction in charge of elementary 
 schools, but no other State has a department devoted to the interests of 
 education higher than that which may be classed as elementary. 
 
7 
 
 Considered as a State department, the “ University ”—we use quotation 
 marks to distinguish it from the meaning usually attached to the term— 
 unites various educational functions elsewhere scattered or entirely unpro¬ 
 vided for, and exercises unusual powers. Though most of its work is ex¬ 
 ecutive, yet in granting charters to all educational institutions, it performs 
 functions usually discharged only by Legislatures. On the other hand, in 
 revoking charters and dissolving educational corporations, it exercises the 
 judicial functions of a court. Its examination department embraces not 
 only the functions of the local examinations of Oxford and Cambridge, 
 and of the University of London, but also the State licensing of physicians, 
 and other work peculiar to itself. 
 
 Its extension department corresponds to the similar departments of Ox¬ 
 ford and Cambridge and of the London Society for the Extension of Uni¬ 
 versity Teaching. Its State library and State museum departments not 
 only have custody of collections, among the most important in the United 
 States, but also conduct work allied to that of the English science and 
 art department of the British Museum, and of the London Natural History 
 Museum. 
 
 Regarded as a federation, the University of the State of New York 
 reminds one of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, each of which 
 represents a union of colleges; but in respect of comprehensiveness it 
 differs from these, because it includes all the colleges, academies and 
 institutions for higher education within the bounds of the commonwealth. 
 The law gives to incorporated institutions no option as to their member¬ 
 ship in the University. It says : 
 
 “The institutions of the University shall include all institutions of 
 higher education (the term ‘ higher ’ here is construed to embrace what is 
 generally termed secondary) which are now or may be hereafter incorpo¬ 
 rated in this State, and such other libraries, museums, or other institutions 
 for higher education as may, in conformity with the ordinances of the re¬ 
 gents, after official inspection, be admitted to or incorporated by the 
 University.” 
 
 This means that no educational establishments except those of a rela¬ 
 tively elementary order, which fall under the authority of the Department 
 of Public Instruction, can have a legal existence in New York without 
 being subject to the regulations and entitled to the privileges provided by 
 the University. 
 
 The University of the State of New York conserves the advantages oi 
 individual initiative, while extending the benefits of system, of harmony, 
 of coworking in the various members of the educaHonal body, and of 
 organic connection with State life. The organization most closely re¬ 
 sembling it is that of the University of France, as devised by the first 
 Napoleon in 1808, twenty-four years after that of the State of New York 
 had been put in operation. 
 
8 
 
 [Editorial from Troy Press, ii August, 1894.] 
 
 KEEP THE SCHOOLS UNDEFILED. 
 
 The constitutional convention, as we have previously suggested, should vest the 
 appointment of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in the Regents of the Uni¬ 
 versity of the State of New York. — IVew York Advertiser. 
 
 The question of harmonizing the two departments of education in the 
 State of New York has been one which has caused a great deal of thought 
 on the part of leaders in educational thought in this state for several years. 
 All sorts of suggestions have been made. Many of the practical politicians 
 urge that the regents of the University of the State of New York be 
 abolished, or put under the control of the department of public instruc¬ 
 tion. But this wish seems to be confined to the politicians or those who 
 have not given the question particular attention. The true friends of 
 education, of advanced education in this state — and we are glad to see 
 the Advertiser taking a determined stand on this ground — are appre¬ 
 ciative of the grand work accomplished by the regents, and are mindful 
 of the wonderful progress made by that body in the care of the higher 
 schools and academies during the past few years, especially since the re¬ 
 organization of that institution. This phase of the question is one which 
 has been discussed frequently in this paper and we do not propose to 
 touch upon it here. The immediate point at issue is whether the depart¬ 
 ment of public instruction.shall dominate. 
 
 The present superintendent of public instruction has taken occasion 
 during his terms of office to ridicule the University of the State of New 
 York and the work of its executive officers. An attempt has been made 
 to belittle the principle on which the institution has stood for a century, 
 as well as to cast discredit upon its workings. The stand taken by the 
 enemies of the University is indefensible, from our standpoint. The 
 foremost educators of the country, and some of the greatest educators of 
 Europe, repeatedly have commended the regents for the work accom¬ 
 plished by the University in recent years, and the University stands 
 to-day as the peer of any educational institution or system in the world. 
 
 For years the department of public instruction was kept out of politics. 
 The University always has been kept out of politics, and ever will be free 
 from contamination of that character, so long as its cardinal principles 
 remain unaltered and its executive officers continue to be anywhere near 
 the standard of the present staff. The department of public instruction, 
 on the contrary, has been brought into politics. We do not pretend to 
 state the whys and wherefores, but that it has been placed where it is 
 dominated, to a certain extent, by politicians, none will attempt to refute. 
 
 It is against this domination that the friends of education in this state 
 are defending the regents of the University. And it is with this principle 
 of complete autonomy on the part of the educational bureau in view that 
 
 
9 
 
 we advocate exactly what the Advertiser does — that the appointment of 
 the superintendent of public instruction should be vested in the regents 
 of the University. This would take the department entirely out of poli¬ 
 tics, and we can see no other present way in which this most desirable 
 end is to be accomplished. Partisan politics is the bane of education 
 wherever it obtains even partial control. Such power should be throttled 
 wherever it manifests itself, instantly and without mercy. No branch of 
 our public service is so close to the people as that of public education; 
 and it is becoming more sacred year by year. Had the citizens of the 
 state known the true status of affairs or its possibilities, the change pro¬ 
 posed would have been effected the last previous time the constitution 
 was revised. 
 
 The interest in the matter was never greater than now, and it is increas¬ 
 ing. Year by year the eyes of the people are opened wider and wider, 
 and the demand for the protection of public education from political par¬ 
 tisanship becomes stronger and stronger. With public sentiment as it is 
 to-day there is little room for doubt that the action of the constitutional 
 convention in making the change suggested would be emphatically endor¬ 
 sed by the people if they were called upon to settle the question with their 
 votes next fall. * 
 
 [Extracts from Editorial in The Outlook^ i8 August, 1894.] 
 
 * * * If in our educational systems there is one principle more than 
 
 ' another to be insisted upon, it is that schools should be totally dissociated 
 from politics. The present issue in New York state has its lessons for 
 the educational system in every other state in the Union. * * * 
 
 Now as to the dual system. The superintendent of public instruction, 
 elected by a joint ballot of the legislature, generally owes his election to 
 political influence. The regents controlling higher education are twenty- 
 three in number ; they are elected in the same manner as are United 
 States senators, and they serve without salary. The present board is 
 composed of the most eminent citizens of the state, and instead of enlarg¬ 
 ing the political power of the superintendent of public instruction we need 
 rather to enlarge the economical, essential, and non-partisan work of the 
 board of regents. * * * 
 
 The fortunes of politics affect our school officers from the superintend¬ 
 ent down. Instead of reforming higher education, we need rather to look 
 at the incompetency of elementary instruction. * * * 
 
10 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 
 Instead of abolishing the board of regents, we would give them power 
 to elect the superintendent of public instruction, and would make him 
 amenable to them. A body over which George Clinton, John Jay, George 
 William Curtis, and Anson Judd Upson have presided would surely prove 
 at least as desirable electors of a superintendent as would any partisan 
 legislature. The regents would choose a man without the slightest 
 regard to political affiliations, and with some regard to fitness for his 
 work. This plan was unanimously approved at the recent meeting of the 
 University Convocation, the most largely attended ever held, which voted 
 to memorialize the constitutional convention to provide for the recognition 
 in the constitution of the board of regents as a constituent part of the 
 organic structure of the commonwealth, and to confer upon it the power 
 to elect the superintendent of public instruction of the state. 
 
 [Editorial from Rome Daily Sentinel^ 15 August, 1894.] 
 
 UNIFY THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. 
 
 If the constitutional^ convention does any thing to the educational sys¬ 
 tem, let it unify the office of superintendent of public instruction in the 
 regents of the University. A critic of the subject of the State system of 
 education well says: “ Let us all unite in placing the schools of the state, 
 from the kindergarten to the University, under the scientific supervision 
 and unselfish care of the regents of the University, who are high-minded 
 men, devoting their time and services to the cause of education, asking 
 and receiving no compensation for their labors, and anxious only to pro¬ 
 mote as best may be the enlightenment and elevation of the people at 
 large.” 
 
 The unification would be desirable if for no other reason than that of 
 the equableness and progress guaranteed by having all affairs germane to 
 one department, kept under that department. But the fact that the office 
 of superintendent of public instruction is political is strongly additional 
 reason for the consolidation. Every three years the legislature elects the 
 superintendent, and there is partisan contention over the office. 
 
 The political considerations likely to govern the original choice are not 
 such as tend to secure the services of high-minded and capable men. If 
 after three years the opposing political party is in the ascendancy, an ex¬ 
 perienced officer is sure to be turned out. And so it goes. Capacity in 
 the first place, and the retention of the cumulative experience of the offi¬ 
 cer, the two vital principles of successful administration, cannot be ob¬ 
 tained under the present system. Let the office cease to be a political 
 foot-ball. 
 
11 
 
 [Editorial from the New York Times, ai August, 1894.] 
 
 THE REGENTS AND THE SCHOOLS. 
 
 A few days ago the Times pointed out the advantages that would accrue 
 to the State by the unification of the system of public instruction by a 
 system under which the superintendent should be appointed by the 
 Regents of the University. 
 
 There can be no doubt that this management is theoretically much 
 more eligible than that which now exists, under which secondary and 
 higher education, so far as the State has to do with it, is administered by 
 the Board of Regents, and primary instraction by the Superintendent. 
 The regents are chosen by the Legislature as vacancies occur in their 
 body, and each party makes a point of putting forward some man whom 
 it desires to honor on account of his scholarship. As a matter of fact, the 
 system has worked very well indeed in securing men of high character and 
 standing. 
 
 A real and valuable tradition has been established, and a body of men 
 assembled the imposition upon whom of any duties pertaining to public 
 instruction would command the public confidence beforehand. The only 
 complaint that has ever been made about the body is that its duties are not 
 very important. On the one hand, here is an advisory board capable of 
 supervising and administering public instruction so as to command the 
 public confidence. On the other, here is the desirableness, admitted by 
 every thoughtful citizen of the State, that the public school system should 
 be taken out of politics. What could be more obvious, and, now that a 
 Constitutional Convention is sitting, more easy, than to symmetrize our 
 whole system of public instruction by intrusting to the Regents the 
 appointment of the Superintendent } 
 
 Theoretical anomalies do not much distress ordinary Americans. So 
 long as an incongruous system worked well and was not attacked, there 
 was no good reason why it should be changed. But the present Superin¬ 
 tendent of Public Instruction has had the very bad judgment to call at¬ 
 tention to the incongruity of the system and to propose that the incon¬ 
 gruity be removed. He did this by recommending that his own office 
 should be magnified by adding to it the functions heretofore exercised by 
 the Regents. But, to people who consider the case, that is an impossible 
 solution. The chances are very great that a Superintendent appointed 
 under the present system will be a politician and will owe his place to 
 political influence. In fact, the present Superintendent is an object lesson 
 as to that danger. 
 
 Even if he happened, against all the chances, to be a competent and 
 faithful Superintendent, he would be in imminent danger of removal when¬ 
 ever the party opposed to his own controlled the Legislature at the ex¬ 
 piration of his term, and the State would at once lose the benefit of his 
 
12 
 
 experience. If he were appointed by the Regents, his appointment would 
 be as far removed from politics as can be expected of any State appoint¬ 
 ment, So far as we know or.believe, the Board of Regents is as free from 
 political control as any body of public servants in the State —as the Court 
 of Appeals, for example. We do not believe that the politics of a candi¬ 
 date for Superintendent would cut any figure in the discussion or the 
 consideration of his appointment by that body. We believe the election 
 would be decided solely by what appeared to be his fitness for the place. 
 
 This would be an immense and obvious improvement over the present 
 system. In the first place, the chances are overwhelmingly against the 
 choice being decided by the unrestricted judgment of the Legislature, or 
 the majority of it, as to the fitness of a candidate ; in the second place, 
 the chances are overwhelmingly against the Legislature’s being so good a 
 judge as the Regents upon the fitness of a candidate for this particular 
 place. 
 
 [From “ A new constitution for New York,” in Review of Reviews, March, 1894] 
 
 EDUCATIONAL REFORMS 
 
 There is no public matter that lies in reality so close to the hearthstone 
 of every family in New York as that of the proper provision for education, 
 so that a wise and practical intelligence for citizenship and for self- 
 support may be brought within the reach of the children of every house¬ 
 hold. What can this convention do to improve the school system of New 
 York and for education in general? 
 
 The opportunity is given to this convention to place the entire educa¬ 
 tional system of the state, from the primary school to its colleges and 
 universities, under a thoroughly competent and representative state 
 authority, and to prohibit interference by the legislature or by local 
 officers in the sphere particularly reserved to the science of education. 
 The board of regents of the University of the State of New York is a 
 body which, although its powers have been enlarged within two years, has 
 never yet had that opportunity of doing effective work which so represen¬ 
 tative and important a body of men should have. 
 
 “ I submit that in states where there is a state university governed by 
 regents, the educational departments of the state ought to be placed under 
 their administration and thus kept out of the political powers and free 
 from the dangers which would entail were it committed to their hands. 
 This is one of the most decided advantages for the system in the state of 
 New York, and is in itself strong enough to overbalance almost all other 
 considerations.”— Wili.iam Warren Potter, M. D. in a paper read at 
 the annual conference of state medical examining and licensing boards, 
 Milwaukee, Wis., June 7, 1893 
 
13 
 
 [Editorial from The Mail and Express^ 20 August 1894] 
 
 SCHOOL REFORM AND IMPROVEMENT. 
 
 Argument ought not be necessary to fix public sentiment in favor of the 
 reform in the educational department of the State which has been pro¬ 
 posed to the Constitutional Convention, and probably it is not. 
 
 The change proposed is that the Superintendent of Public Instruction 
 shall be elected by the Regents of the University and be responsible to 
 them for the faithful and competent discharge of his duties. At present 
 the Superintendent, who is elected by the Legislature, has charge of the 
 elementary schools, while the Regents exercise some supervision of the 
 higher institutions. 
 
 The office of Superintendent has become a political prize. James F. 
 Crooker, its present occupant, was formerly a resident of Buffalo, and was 
 chosen simply and solely because William F. Sheehan named him. It is 
 too much to expect that a Superintendent, chosen under such auspices, 
 would be satisfactory to the real friends of the public schools. 
 
 With in fact two departments of education, each independent of the 
 otlier, there is constant danger of friction. Mr. Crooker has suggested 
 that this can be avoided and the educational department of the State gov¬ 
 ernment harmonized and unified by the abolition of the Regents of the 
 University and the placing of the powers and expenditures in his hands. 
 But this would mean the further involvement of our schools in politics, 
 and they are too much involved already. 
 
 The Board of Regents consists of the following eminent citizens : 
 
 Martin I. Townsend, LL. D., Troy; Anson Judd Upson, D. D., LL. D., Glens 
 Falls; William L. Bostwick, M. A., Ithaca; Chauncey M. Depew, LL. D., New 
 York; Charles E. Fitch, M. A., Rochester; Orris H. Warren, D. D., Syracuse; 
 Whitelaw Reid, LL. D., New York; William H. Watson, M. D., Utica; Henry E. 
 Turner. Lowville; St. Clair McKelway, LL. D., Brooklyn; Hamilton Harris, LL. D., 
 Albany; Daniel Beach, LL. D., Watkins; Willard A. Cobb, M. A., Lockpcrt; 
 Carroll E. Smith, Syracuse ; Pliny T. Sexton. LL. D., Palmyra ; T. Guilford Smith, 
 M. A., C. E., Buffalo; William C. Doane, D. D., LL. D., Albany; Lewis A. Stim- 
 son, M. D., New York; Sylvester Malone. Brooklyn, 
 
 These gentlemen, who are distinguished for their ability in their pro¬ 
 fessions and who were selected for their sympathy in the broadest sense 
 with the public school system, hold office for life. Politics has no place in 
 their deliberations. They represent all sections of the State. If the pub¬ 
 lic schools were entirely under their control, there would be immediate 
 and valuable improvement in these schools. Politics would be completely 
 eliminated from the State’s work of education. The teachers would be se¬ 
 lected for their ability and would not depend for their places on the suc¬ 
 cess of one political faction or another. Incompetent and ignorant per¬ 
 sons would not, as they do now, get situations through political influence. 
 
 The incongruity of two departmens of education is admitted on all sides 
 and it ought not to be longer tolerated in our State. The fitter should 
 survive and control. The other should be abolished or merged in the 
 better one. The consolidation would provide for superintendence and 
 take the public schools entirely out of politics. 
 
14 
 
 [Editorial from New York Tribune^ 23 Augfust, 1894.] 
 
 THE REGENTS AND THE SCHOOLS. 
 
 The proposed amendment to the constitution transferring the appoint¬ 
 ment of the Superintendent of Public Instruction from the Legislature to 
 the Regents of the University is under consideration by the Committee on 
 Education. Approval of this proposition has been so general as to sug¬ 
 gest the probability of favorable action by the convention in case the com¬ 
 mittee shall recommend the change. We hope that it will have that 
 advantage. An open discussion of its merits is likely, we think, to be 
 convincing to disinterested persons who may not have given much thought 
 to the subject hitherto. Certainly the advocates of the proposal are gov¬ 
 erned only by a desire to promote the efficiency of the schools, and their 
 argument is a strong one. 
 
 No reputable citizen of New York wants to have the selection of the 
 Superintendent influenced in the slightest degree by political considera¬ 
 tions. But, human nature being what it is, it is impossible under the 
 present method of appointment to escape such influences altogether. A 
 legislature is either Republican or Democratic, and its bias is always liable 
 to be disclosed in the dismissal of a Superintendent who ought to be re¬ 
 tained or the retention of a Superintendent who ought to be dismissed. 
 Every three years the schools of the State are subjected to this danger, 
 and the fact that they may escape it for a considerable period does not 
 justify the risk. 
 
 The Regents constitute a permanent body, removed by the terms of its 
 official existence as far as possible from the influence of narrow and selfish 
 considerations. They have never asked for an extension of their powers 
 and patronage, and have no motive for incurring a new responsibility ex¬ 
 cept a laudable desire to render better service to the State which honors 
 and trusts them. It is believed with reason, and so far as we know it is 
 not openly disputed, that the proposed amendment would operate to unify 
 and strengthen our educational system. That is the end, and the only 
 end, which its supporters are seeking to accomplish. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF TEACHERS. 
 
 At the annual meeting in Albany, in July, this year, of the University 
 Convocation, which is composed of the principals of the schools of this 
 State, and was largely attended by them and by eminent educators from 
 other States, they unanimously adopted a memorial to the Constitutional 
 Convention, in which it was requested : 
 
 “ That among the powers and duties of the Board of Regents shall be 
 the election of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the State.” 
 
15 
 
 Extracts from Letters from Prominent Principals of Schools. 
 
 “ The proposed movement to free our educational system from politics 
 ought to be carried through without fail. 
 
 “ When every plan is fikely to be overturned in three years, when educa¬ 
 tional officials have to court the favor of political bosses, and when a 
 man’s political belief has more power to put him in the office of Superin¬ 
 dent of Public Instruction than his fitness for the position, then it is time 
 to inaugurate a different system. 
 
 “ The plan to place these matters in the hands of the Regents of the 
 University of the State of New York is the right one; for history has 
 shown that they are working on the right line—that of elevating true 
 education for its own sake and for the sake of the people.” 
 
 “ I cannot understand how any real friend of education can fail to feel a 
 deep interest in the present attempt to unify the school system of this State, 
 through the Constitutional Convention now in session, by placing the 
 whole system under the supervision of the Regents of the University. If 
 there were no other reason for giving the Regents the power to appoint the 
 State Superintendent than the fact that it would effectually take the office 
 out of politics, that alone would be sufficient. But the rapid development 
 and high standard of excellence attained by the secondary schools under 
 the wise supervision of the Regents warrants the belief that the elementary 
 schools would be immeasurably benefited, if placed under the same super¬ 
 vision.” 
 
 “ If for no other or higher than political reasons, hedge our schools, ele¬ 
 mentary and secondary, round about with ever possible protection against 
 political influences, from the highest position of Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction to the lowest, if possible. Place us under educated and edu¬ 
 cational men and not partisan politicians. Divorce partisan politics from 
 all educational interests as far as practicable. Away with the dual system ; 
 a dual system is necessarily weak on account of conflict and friction. 
 Harmonize the two departments of education in this State, not by abol¬ 
 ishing or placing the Regents of the University of the State of New York 
 under the control of the Department of Public Instrucion, which would 
 be a surrender to partisan political influences, but, combine the whole 
 State system of elementary and secondary schools, by placing all 
 under the fostering care of the University and giving the latter the control 
 and power of appointment necessary to accomplish this purification. I 
 believe that there would at once be a radical advance and improvement in 
 the elementary schools.” 
 
The Regents of the University were the Originat¬ 
 ors OF OUR Public Common Schools. 
 
 ^^For the initial and the decisive step which led to a State 
 system of elementary schools^ we are primarily indebted to the 
 Regents of the University. In their annual report to the legis¬ 
 lature in 1793, 1794 and 1795 they urgently represent the ne¬ 
 cessity of State action for the organization of a general system 
 of elementary schools. They were the foremost men in the State 
 and they were the custodians of the educational interests of the 
 commonwealth. This gave them the right to speak and it gained 
 attention to what they said. And they spake earnestly, force¬ 
 fully and effectively. What they said brought from the legisla¬ 
 ture of 1795 the great statute whose approaching centennial 
 anniversary has suggested this address.” — [Hon. Andrew S. 
 Draper, LL. D., in address at the University Convocation, Albany, 
 N. Y., July 6, 1894. 
 
 And there is abundant evidence that the Regents to-day, as they ever 
 have done, clearly recognize the supreme importance of fostering our 
 common schools. Make them responsible for the character of the work 
 done in that educational field, as they would be if they were to select the 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the progress and improvement 
 in the elementary schools of the State would be as marked as has been 
 the development of the secondary schools, with whose care the Regents 
 have been especially charged. 
 
The Constitutional Convention Should Vest the Appointment of the Super¬ 
 intendent OF Public Instruction in the Regents of the University of 
 THE State of New York, for the Following, Among Other Reasons: 
 
 I. 
 
 Because the regents are a continuous body, laboring constantly in the field of pub¬ 
 lic education, and dealing with the subject from a scientific point of view. Chosen 
 primarily because of attained prominence as high-minded and capable men, their offi¬ 
 cial experience gives them personally, and their board traditionally, an expert ability 
 to judge more accurately concerning the natural and acquired fitness of candidates for 
 so important an educational office as that of superintendent of public instruction. 
 
 n. 
 
 The independent RCtion of the regents, free from harmful outside influences or 
 constraints, is assured by the tenure of their office, which is for life—or rather during 
 continued capacity and faithful attendance upon their duties; and as they receive no 
 compensation for their services, it must be obvious that, as a rule, the position would 
 be accepted only by men whose guiding motive is a sincere desire to promote the 
 public welfare. - 
 
 m. 
 
 The educational system of the state should be kept free from the contaminating 
 influence of partisan politics. 
 
 That only can be assured by taking the appointment of educational administrative 
 officers out of the field of such political contention. 
 
 As now selected, the choice of superintendent of public instruction is invariably 
 dictated by partisan political considerations, which must naturally impose hindering 
 constraints upon his administration of the office; and (of equal ill consequence) no 
 matter what useful expert efficiency such an official may acquire or develop in office, 
 experience has demonstrated that he will be required to retire therefrom and give place 
 to some new and untried man, when another political party comes into power. 
 
 IV. 
 
 There is no administrative position in the government of this state which afTords 
 greater opportunity for far-reaching public usefulness than that which supervises and 
 guides the instruction of the rising generation. It should have the services of the 
 most capable of men. 
 
 But under the present method of choosing the superintendent of public instruc¬ 
 tion, men of the most desirable qualities cannot well hope to compete successfully 
 for appointment to that offi(^ — could hardly be induced to seek the same, or to 
 undertake its duties, knowing so well that scientific and conscientious devotion 
 thereto would avail but little toward their retention in such official position. 
 
 V. 
 
 Their willing and vast expenditures therefor attest the deep and earnest interest of 
 the people of this state in the cause of public education. They will be quick to ap¬ 
 prove any measure that promises to increase the efficiency of our educational agencies, 
 and will not hesitate to commend and vote to sustain the Constitutional Convention 
 if it shall take action so clearly for the welfare of the children of the state as that 
 herein suggested.