sentences:  Chamberlain favoured free, secular, compulsory education, stating that "it is as much the duty of the State to see that the children are educated as to see that they are fed", and attributing the success of the USA and Prussia to public education.The Birmingham Education League evolved into the National Education League, which held its first Conference in Birmingham in 1869 and proposed a school system funded by local rates and government grants, managed by local authorities subject to government inspection.By 1870, the League had more than one hundred branches, mostly in cities and peopled largely by men of trades unions and working men's organisations.