Hague Again

In New Jersey it is generally safe to suppose that, when Boss Frank ("I'm the law") Hague of Jersey City denounces a man, there must be something good about him. That accolade was being bestowed last week on U.S. Education Commissioner John Ward Studebaker. The Hague gang was holding up the New Jersey Senate's confirmation of Studebaker as new head of the state's school system.

The Haguesters charged 1) that Governor Charles Edison could have found Iowa-born Studebaker's equal among native Jerseymen; 2) that present Commissioner Charles H. Elliott was being shelved after seven years because he had

"obstructed the radical element" in the New Jersey school system.

The Hague case against Studebaker was as weak as it sounded. Around Washington's Jackson Place, national educational hub, it went without saying that the U.S.

Commissioner rated as a top-flight educational administrator who deserved his raise (Trenton pays $15,000, gives five years tenure; Washington pays $9,000, gives tenure at the President's pleasure).

Lithe, little and lively, bustling as a Jersey mosquito, Studebaker worked his way through a now extinct cow-college as a bricklayer, got a Columbia master's degree, taught school, served as national director of Junior Red Cross in World War I.

As Des Moines's school superintendent from 1920 to 1934, he modernized its school system. He said: "If I could wave a magic wand I would have all the people engaged in a systematic study of our common problems for ten hours a week." The Carnegie Corporation gave Studebaker no magic wand, but $125,000 to experiment with public forums. Studebaker pioneered a system which turned out droves of Des Moines adults five nights a week for discussions led by Henry Agard Wallace; Lyman Bryson, now Columbia Broadcasting's director of adult education; the late Carroll H. Wooddy, University of Chicago professor of education. When Wallace left Studebaker's staff to become Secretary of Agriculture, Studebaker followed him later as Education Commissioner.

In Washington, Studebaker vigorously promoted Negro education and vocational education of the unemployed, the teaching of CCC boys, the coordination of U.S. educational activities. When war loomed he organized the $75,000,000 Federal program for training skilled labor. He kept on pushing for adult education by public discussion and the radio.

New Jersey's Governor Edison wanted a man capable of such "a vigorous leadership, as befits these new times." There was little in the record to suggest that Studebaker would be more radical than his dictum that one hour homework nightly is plenty for children. It looked as though Governor Edison would get the man he wanted -- if Boss Hague could not prevent it.

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