DE? AR TMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF EDUCATiON BULLETIN, 1919, No. 26 L\ilJ<~V' .. tCHI4J.~ ~iAH' COLf Of' ~W!'ft.A/'Ctl,\,",:- e..... t e United States School Garden Army .y ]. H. FRANCIS OfRE.CTOR [Ad.lUlC~Shcd.t Iro,", the Biwni.l Survey 01 EdllCatioa ill the Uni\'CdSt.ta, 191o-I'H8' AODITIONAL CQl'lES OJ' 'fRl8 PUBLlCA![ON XiI\' lUi PJl.OGUBED '&0111 'I'BJI: RUl'l!ll.nlTENDENT 0' DOCUMPlTII (lOVIUl..'I)IKNl' rRINTIN(l OYnllE WAlIHINO'tON, D. C. " 5 OEN'l'1:ll'ER COpy V HE UNITED STATES scaoor, GARDEN AR}[Y. By J. R. B'IlANClB, Dtrector. ,name was adopted in March, 1918. The work of the orgnni- is . an ex pension . of work undertaken by the Bureau of Edu- 1 m 1914. The scale upon which it was done WIlS limited by tho es that could be secured for it. e, acute demand for food production growing out of tho war tiona made expansion possible . . P. P. Claxton, Commissioner of Education, addressed the fol- ,g letter to Hon. Fran kiln K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior l on nry 14, 1918: Dp..Al\Ma, SJ;;CBItT.Uty:For several ;fe8rs the Bureau ot Educatlon llR~ e\'elOPlllg slowly, with a smnl1 appropriation, 11plnn ot l!~ooHllrccto\1 gUTllenlng In crues, towns, vtungea, and suburban communltle8 wntcu OI'e<1so e.l!ecth'e, both for etucauo» and for food production, that I feel almost Imperntlvc that it be put Into operauon at once 10 nil parts ot UOt'ry DS one mauna ot meeting the food eme-eencx which DOW exIsts nnd rob' nbly eonttnua to exist for two or three ycnrs Ilt least. J.~laD conglsts In enlfstlng boys n.nd gIrls between the ages ot 9 or 10 I1tHI in aystelJlntlc garden work tor food production on such plats ot grouurl r ~ hill! for this purpose nenr their homes, en buck yards, side yards, nml ots. Dntl then pt"O\1d1ng teecner-utcectcee for them ot the rate ot on.. Ir-dtrector for encu group ot from 100 to 160 garden worker&, Pnreuts .der brothers tun] sisters nre Induced to cooperate with the cnuuree when· lIts Is PO!),'llble. The work ot the children Is done ertcr school 11(lDrSnnd ~~rdIlYSond vacatlon days, so thl1t no Ume 18 taken from llClll}Ql. 1 e, schools of cities, towns, vlHnp;eB, fUld. suburbnn COllllllunJtles of the , St.ates there Ol'e flppTOJ;:lmutely7.000,000 children ot the ages gtven 8\.10\'('; Ilse probabl;y 5,000,000 WOllIn be nble to find some space tor gJlTllcnlllll 'p,"" Induced to do systematic gllrdeu work under thl8 plan. For tbetr ctlon and dlredlon 40;000 teacber-dlrt!Ctorll w11l be needed, 1111(\ 10 811 the pluces there S11011ldbe b't!oertl1 sllperlntendents IUJd Inslructors of. these r·dlreetoTil. Under proper supen'lsJon thIs army 01' boy.!!lind glrlli WilY Produce $250,000,000 worth at food, willeh will rench tllc COl!SUlucrlu .t CQndltion without (,'Ostfor trnnsporllltlon or handling Ilnll without JOS! gh deterlorntlon on the markets. An equal amount ot otller torms IJ( mny thereby hll released for exportntlon for tile use of our IIl"IllJes alld 1I1egover6etl.8. Many millions of tlolJars may boa prodUced und 81lved for ent In bon~lll or wllr SIt,'lugs stamps, and tlJe chIldren cugaged In w(lrk e benefited physically, mentally, lind morally. Since the work w111he ty children who would otllenvlse be hila, (lnd on IlInd which would not Vise be used, there wl1l be nO (Oost except for supervision und dlrecUon or tools, seeds, aud tertJllzers. ElI:perlence allOWSLbat tbe cost of theilt U2aB9-1lt 8 4 nmNNIAL SUI:V~~Y~OF T.:OUCATroN, 1l/16-191B. does not ex(.>(>oo 10 per cent or the vnlue of the food produced, and Is often less. The Department 01' AgrIculture hils agreed to furnish to the Bureau 0 Clition, for tile promotion of this work, Its buuetine and lcnfl.ets on gnr In such uumbers as may be needed, uud will ask Us county lJ!!Tleultul'lll nud home-demonstratIon ugenta tc use a pnrt of tneu time III aupervlsl rnstructtng telleher--1111'ectorswhen tltcJ' have the nbtlltJ' 'lila when till aces not take too mUUh ttme from their other and more legltilulltc dut! The States dhislon 0:1'the Ocuncn ot Natlon"l Defense has prorulsed operate In ratetng money In Stnte and local communities to !IllY the snln sucervtsoea in places where thts mlly be lIeet!8/:Iu,ry. T~ xeucnei Wilt Couunlsslon wtll cooperate by don.o.tlng In Illlltmitednumbcl's us Ill' gardeu bulletins, 1\0(1 IJY pI'lullng tOl' rustuuuttou I1t coee« dullJ" recor which lIaB been nrepured by the Bureau of Edu~lioD 1'01' keeping accouota. But all this can be made errecuve only through the nnrenu of F,dll wnrcn. to enable It to ettniulute and etreer tbliJ worlt efl'ectlvely, must 11 the beginning aPProximately $35,800, '0 nddltlon to 011 funds wblcl:l It no RJl !J:I shown In the following table of eeumatee: EBti1Hu/e of coet f01' pl'omotinQ 8chool-dfl'ectell IrOnl6 n0l'lrell Wf}1'1!l. One dlrector $'I, 011(' assistant dJrector ... +~ +__ 8, Fifteen stl;'mogrnpllerlt, typewriters, JUld lllnlling and j}Ung eJcrks __ ~ + 18, Oue messenger ~ ~ _ TypewrltlJll;, UlultlgrA.plJl.ng, n.nd 8\ldrelisogmplllng ma- ehinery IlDd othel' flqulpw=t,:l.Ild suppllll!l and Ilwtlouel')'_ Total 85,80 Because of the very greut Importanee of titla matter, and be<.11lJSI:! fad lllllt wh.a.tevet .Iljooue llltult be tlonc "el'Y I'jUlckly, llmve the honor to thllt YOU gI'-e It your ver~'{,III'cfnl oollsl(ieratlon, and 11' It commends I YOu, I:hat you ask the Pres!iJent to make avilliable to the B\ll'CIIU of Ed for thIs usc 110mudl of lim WUI' Emergency Fnntl us may he nel;('~s carryIng on the work untll ollieI' funds ore llVllll\lbhi tlJrougJI OOngr apllroprlatiOD or otbll.l"wl!:le, lli.osl;lecttuJly submitted. p, Th[' honorable thQ SY,QIllI:'I'ARY01" THE IN'J'l,'RTOll. Following this letter, and upon the request of Secl'etnr, President Wilson appropnuted $50,000 trom the Niltionni S and Defense Fund to promote school and school-super",ise gludcnillg among the school children of AmcriCI\ J'esiding il towns, Ilnd \·iUllgel:i. Up to tll.is time the field had been prll untouched by any governillental agellCY. In Ii few cities thl' the countrYl glll'dell work had been undet'lah:en by the school civic orgnnizntions, but these installces were few in number. Eud}' in Apl'il,1(18) the following suggestions on plAns of Zlltion ,were sent to school suptu'intcudellls lUld glll'dc.n tellcl Supervl501'S: UN1TEn STATES SOROOL (;ATIDE}.'"ARMY. 5 ORGANIZATION OJ' THE ,o.ll'UY. "'I ot merubers 10 a company: 'ren to one hUllllroo lUlU 1I.fty , mit: Any- Fitl100 , Ch"·'f. but prefernbl)' the more tmportnnt . companieS' ld be enllsted (rom nie pupils above the wl1'd grade, ~:entll lor enllatment : 't'be signing 01' fin ()\)lIgtltlOll curd III wbldl tile sreea to raise one or more food crops and to keep recorlla of urs wOl'k :1JelreBU1ts, rePOrtlng them to the tescnee or garden Ilupervisor. :rhcs') , Vi'1I be tlIrnlshe(l by this uurenu S''ctEI1Cl 1 ecmpnnv to hnve u cnptnlu . 11m] one 01' two ueutenenra the I' et)e11dlng upon the number of sciuters enl1sted ' M: . b the (II' k privates ' 11ltElrVIOO . hal' with U. 8. S. G. til red letters Oll 0. wune He ground with a border or btue. or the eecono ueutenam, tile eame bnr with one white star in the border. t' the n rllt ueutenunt, ilia !;iBIDe bar with two white stars In tile border I r the captain, the same btu· 1\'1t.b.three whIte stllJ'S in the border . I' the garde II tea C1Lt<£ bl "--' or supervtscr. 81mllar Insignia wtthcut -' stare, with ue lettenl nnd II. red border. ment d 1 0' &lIitillg organlUlLloJls: anv org/l.oiJ'Jl1t1on ot $&001 chtldreu otn g garUOATroN, rete-una 3. Fifty thousand teachers received valuable Instruction in gar( ing through the garden leaflets written by experts in this office distributed from here. ana million five hundred thousand lea were sent out. 4. Boards of education and other civic orgauiaatione were i enced to give financial and moral support to the school and II garden movement and to pay extra snluriee for supervision teaching . .1. Hundreds of thousands of parents became interested in garden movement u.nd worked with their children in horne gard . In SnIt Lake City alone 51200 mothers, representing 62 parentnl !I cintions, actively supported food production in the schools. 6. 'Ibousends of chic, commercial, and patriotic organization came interested in the movement and gave it heu-ty support. 7. One and one-half million children were given something t( last summer; something that helped to carry the burden of their c t~J'in the struggle for freedom, something that helped them to character, and something that appealed to lind developed patriotism. 8. Home-and vacant lot gardening in cities, towns} and village ' dignified and made popular to u degree that practically Insur II prominent place in the school system of our country. It Wall difficult to estimate the educational and material value of such No other movement in history promisee so much in aiding the" to-the-soil" movement ae this. President Wilson made a second apprcprieticn of $200,000 ti.' tinue the work until July, 1919, und some chnugee were mode orgnnixetlon- A slighmeadjustment of terr-itory assigned to the regional dir was necessary. The southeastern region was enlnrged by a Wef:,"tVirginia, Alabnmn, and Mississippi from the southern I' The southern region in turn was glven Missouri and Knnsns fro central section u.nd Colorado and New Mexico from the wester tion. The five regional directors remain the same ns before til IIdj ustment. Twenty-five assistant regional directors were appointed. duties of the assistant regional directors nrc aimilur to those regionu! directors, but are on a more intensive scale and in I limited territory. They work under the direction of the r director in a part of his territory assigned to them und make reports to him. Under this orgonizfltion the United States School Garden wol"iilng fOl· the season HH8-19. o