A few years ago a committee was appointed by the American Political Science Association to investigate the teaching of American Government in the secondary schools of the United States. The circular letter sent out by this committee contains the following observation:

Is it not a curious fact that though our schools are largely instituted and operated by the government, yet the study of American government in the schools and colleges is the last subject to receive adequate attention? The results of the neglect of this important branch of study in our educational institutions can easily be seen in the general unfitness of men who have entered a political career, so that now the name of statesman is often used as a term of reproach, and the public service is weak, except in a few conspicuous instances. Are the schools perhaps to blame for the lack of interest in politics shown by our educated men until recent exposures arrested the attention of the entire nation?

We think the best place to begin the work of regeneration and reform is in the American secondary schools and colleges. Here we find the judges, legislators, diplomats, politicians and office-seekers of the future in the making. Here are the future citizens, too, in their most impressionable years, in the years when the teacher has their attention.