they must be prepared by suitable training for the life work that lies
ahead--"making a living being an indispensable foundation for making a
life."

Through special circumstances certain parts of our country have
been slow in developing the free school so as to make possible even
a most elementary education for their children. This is notably true
of sections in the South. From the early days when the University of
Virginia entered upon its honored service to higher education, the
schools and colleges of the South have been influential, but through
the force of peculiar economic condition these have ministered to the
privileged classes, while the great masses of Negro and white children
in the isolated regions were given few opportunities for even the most
elementary schooling.

The devastation of war left an impoverished South, and as free schools
depend upon the generosity of the individual states, many, though
desirous, were utterly unable to make suitable school provision for
their children.

Sections in the North thus neglected may also be found, as some of
the islands on the coast of Maine and other more or less isolated
regions of New England, New York, and other states will testify.

There have been great gaps where the government has failed to
make adequate educational provision among the Indian tribes. The
Spanish-speaking people are also exceptional in their educational
needs. Though the government has done much, yet Cuba and Porto
Rico are among the places where conditions make necessary special
educational effort.