we possess, and varies less than college degrees vary or than clementary and local standards of culture vary."

Yet the committee maintain that high-school graduation must be of unexceptionable reputation and completeness, clse applicants be subjected to close examination. Considering that the high schools get no aid from the State, it seems surprising the number that have been established by private initiative. At the writing of this report there were as many as 98, with 381 teachers, whose average salary was over $1,000. Their buildings are not far from $2,000,000 in cost. The average of daily attendance is 78 per cent of the number enrolled, thus being in excess of that in the elementary schools, which is 71 per cent. This liberal support voluntarily extended augurs strongly that this secondary system will in good time receive from the State the aid which has been plainly shown to be merited. The university has shown appreciation of their importance, as seen by the following language in this report: "The State University has adopted a system of accrediting high schools, whereby, on account of the high order of work done, their graduates will be admitted to the university, on the recommendation of the principal, without examination. During the last year as many as 67 were thus complimented. In the list, however, were several private academies."

Besides the three normal schools supported by the State, there is one which is fostered by the city of San Francisco. The course is one year, in which only the theory and art of teaching are taught.

Although there was not time to visit the various orphan asylums of the State, those which were visited showed good, humane management.

The normal schools from time to time have raised the standard of admission, and gratifying increase of applications come not only from high schools but even from those holding only primary and grammar graded certificates. These institutions, besides their set curricula, are doing much of what the report styles "seminary work" among teachers, through teachers' circulars and other agencies.

COLORADO.

Report for 1895-96, Mrs. A. J. Peavey, superintendent of public instruction.

Mrs. Peavey begins with candidly admitting that the system of public schools suffers from serious defects.

"The laws have been changed from time to time, and lack not only harmony but are confusing and difficult of interpretation, and should be thoroughly revised. The rights of superintendents are circumscribed, and those of the school directors are too unrestricted."

Yet it is said that improvement has gone along the educational lines, especially in what the superintendent calls "ethical culture." Quite a number of voluntary associations have been formed, including parents, with teachers and other officials. These have resulted in creating considerable inspiration in several localities.

A serious movement has been contemplated for some time to modify the office of directors. It was recommended that the school system have two departments of administration, one for supervising instruction and the other for managing the business. The report says that this change is very much needed in the State.

"With all deference to the faithful and consecrated ones, in many instances the school fund is being wantonly and unrighteously wasted; men and women who have made a failure of their own lives and enterprises are to-day occupying these positions, and they are not only engendering factional differences, but are evading the law in every possible way in order to loot the treasury and rob the children of their rights. Let the directors give our schools the same permanent equipment as is given to all other professions, unvexed by the murky minds of politics, the unrighteousness of favoritism, or the fear of sectionalism. The standard of

teaching would be elevated just as soon as it was understood that a man or woman was to be employed, not to pay a political debt, but to serve the public; not to occupy a certain position and draw so much pay a month, but to find it, and earn by honest work the money that is paid out."

In general the superintendents are reported as doing honest work; but there are a few exceptions in those who have been devoted mainly to furthering political schemes.

A notable change has lately taken place in the make-up of superintendents, of whom women have increased during the present administration from one to twenty-six; and the new appointees, it is declared, have done faithful, efficient work.

There has been considerable improvement in schoolhouses.

It is recommended that all instructors and directors applying to teach in normal institutes, of which there are thirteen in the State, should have testimonials of fitness from the State board of examiners. Ten of these institutes were held during the year 1896, with notably good results.

Compulsory education has been much more effectually enforced. The falling off in Arapahoe County has been far less, being only 4 per cent of those in attendance upon public schools. This would be diminished considerably further if that in private schools were counted.

The State board of examiners held nine sessions. The conditions of getting diplomas are very stringent, and they are gradually raising the standard of the teaching force.

A very large number of decisions are printed in the report, that were given by the superintendent upon questions submitted by her subordinates upon several subjects. Among those seeming particularly noteworthy is the following touching use of the Bible in schools:

"Neither the constitution of the State nor the statutes touch directly the reading of the Bible or prayer, or any other form of religious or devotional exercises, except to forbid that observance or participation shall be compulsory. The spirit of the constitution permits religious exercises in school if nothing sectarian is introduced and the trustees do not object."

DENVER SCHOOL REPORT.

Report for 1896; Aaron Gove, superintendent.

The report dwells at some length on the various studies in the school course, as German, music, physical culture, and drawing. The department of sloyd was introduced six months ago, and has been studied by quite a number of pupils in the eighth, seventh, and part of the sixth grade.

Kindergartens have become notable favorites, their number having been doubled during the year. The superintendent, under instruction of the board, opened 20. Much attention has been paid to cooking and sewing.

It is a boast of the superintendent that school funds are the more easily raised aud bear less heavily upon the people because of the fact that there are no outstanding bonds of the city on which interest is to be paid.

On the subject of clubs among students of the high school, the principal, Prof. William H. Smily, has to say the following:

"With the exception of the lyceum and attic society, the cadets, and the athletic associations, the school gives no countenance to societies, but invites the cooperation of the home in checking the formation of small clubs and the holding of socials."

The report discusses, under the head The Public Library, the question of the quantity of books on fiction it is proper to have there. The decision is to cut down gradually the present list until it includes only what is "distinctively standard.” Appended is the charter for the support and regulation of the schools of Denver, approved February 13, 1874, as amended February 2, 1876. It appears to be a carefully prepared paper and intended to provide for all contingencies in school life. Among them we note the following salutary provision:

"62. Any child coming to school without proper attention having been given the cleanliness of his person or dress, and whose clothes need repairing, shall be sent home to be properly prepared for the schoolroom." And this:

"63. Text-books are furnished to pupils by the board; but books can not be taken from the school building except by special permission of the principal."

Teachers' certificates are valid during only one year after their issuance. The following serves to show that extreme care is taken in the matter of obtaining and retaining teachers:

"The teachers are elected by the board of education, but first must be present at an examination and receive a legal certificate to teach. The examination is both oral and written, occupies three days, and embraces reading, spelling, English grammar, physical and descriptive geography, arithmetic, elements of algebra, United States history, English literature, elements of vocal music, methods and theory of teaching and drawing."

Those in kindergartens, besides these, must hold State certificates for kindergartens, issued only by the constituted kindergarten authorities.

CONNECTICUT.

Report for 1895 and 1896, from the State board of education to the governor, and from the secretary, Hon. Charles D. Hine, to the board.

Attention is directed first to the law forbidding child labor in factories, passed in 1886, amended by that of 1887, by which appointed agents could compel school attendance. These agents are reported to have done their work with diligence and with excellent results. In this respect the last year, 1896, was notable. Increase in

attendance within the five years last past has gone beyond increase in enumeration, notwithstanding quite a number of withdrawals to private schools. Not that the evil has been entirely abated; for, despite all attempts thereto, it yet exists to an unhappy extent, and is regarded as the very greatest impediment to educational

success.

Serious complaint is made of the incertitude and partial inefficiency of the rules regarding teachers' examinations. On this head the report thus speaks:

"The object of these examinations is to secure trustworthy evidence of fitness to teach. While there is a law requiring local examinations, these examinations do not raise the standard of teaching, nor keep out the inefficient and untrained. Whether disregarded willfully or negligently, the administration of the law relating to examinations is lax, and is an open door to the unqualified and disqualified."

To the law of 1886 establishing evening schools, an amendment was subjoined in 1893, enjoining the board of education to compel attendance of the illiterate between 14 and 16, and although considerable good has been achieved, yet inspection of factories shows that a considerable number of these unfortunates avoid the search of those charged especially with the care of their cases.

The State has three normal schools, with capacity for 700 students.

The report calls special attention, which it urges at considerable length, to an extended report of the secretary on the subject of high schools. Among the influences supposed to be operating to their hurt are the colleges. We give an extract from the discussion of this point:

"Only about one in fifteen of those who enter the high schools of this State afterwards go to college. If any of the fourteen are badly educated, the fact is not demonstrated through any accepted test. If, however, the one who takes the college examination does not pass this examination, his school is thought to be tried and found wanting. It is therefore natural that the best teachers should be set by the principals to teach the small college classes. This, of itself, would be bearable. The existing evils result largely from the fault that college examinations are adopted to test the amount of memorizing that has been done, rather than the intellectual power that has been acquired. The college classes have to be got ready for an examination--not educated. They can best be prepared, as things now are, by securing the memorizing of lessons through the tests of the oral recitation, and by a skillful mechanical drill. We can not justly criticise the purposes or methods of those who are engaged in preparing boys and girls for college. Their work is laid out for them by the college authorities. It is, however, unfortunate that most high school principals and most of the best teachers should be, perforce, accustomed to narrow ideas of education. From this it results that the thousands of scholars who are not going to college are also set to memorizing lessons instead of being wisely educated." This question, referring the while to the overmuch time spent with Latin and Greek (which, in the board's opinion, ought not to be taught to those who are not to go to college) is elaborately discussed. The report of the secretary in general appeals for a more modern and workable system of education, for better preparation for teaching, and for extension of higher education to all the children.

A table is added giving reports of the agents to whom is intrusted the duty of enforcing the law appertaining to child labor. A part of its violation is due to manufacturers who employ children within the law's provision, relying for protection upon parents' certificates. To remedy this, one of the agents recommends that certificates of age, instead of coming from parents, should be gotten from the bureau of vital statistics in the counties and towns where they were born.

There are some interesting things in the reports made to the secretary by the teachers. One of them speaks of what he regards serious evils. Among other things he says:

"The foregoing statistics suggest :

"1. The inadequate pay to many teachers.

2. The great difference between the wages of women and men ($42 to $84). "3. The great number of persons allowed to begin without preparation—a monstrous abuse of children. Half of the teachers in the State do not receive

more than $8 per week, or $288 a year. Out of this grows a crop of evils. The well qualified are justly uneasy, and seek better pay and permanent tenure. The poorer districts are depleted for the benefit of the richer, and the children bear the burden of incompetency and change."

The State still holds to the twofold system of school administration. "One, the original town system, is distinguished," says the report, "by a single board of officers, and a direct, efficient, and reasonable method of doing business. The other, the district system, is distinguished by two independent sets of officers, the one hiring and paying teachers and caring for schoolhouses, and the other examining teachers and supervising the schools."

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Report for 1895-96, Hon. J. W. Whelpley, president of the board of trustees.

The attendance both at day schools and night schools has increased over the last year, due, perhaps to some degree, to the system of providing free text-books. It is surprising, the board contends, that with appropriations hardly adequate, so much of good work has been done in education. They earnestly maintain that the average salaries of teachers are too low, being sensibly below those paid in most of the other cities. They reiterate the appeal for an assistant superintendent and for a conveyance for the distribution of text-books and other supplies to the various schools. Notwithstanding the recent construction of new buildings the schools are yet overcrowded, and many pupils are limited to half-day's tuition. Especial need in this respect is for the manual training schools.

Attention of the Commissioners to kindergartens is again besought. Observation has satisfactorily established their utility in preparing very young children for the primary schools.

They also request of Congress a more effective law than those now existing for compulsory attendance at school, and they earnestly represent the need of a general system of frequent medical inspection. Not alone the capacity of children in regard to hearing and seeing, and the means of correcting individual safety should be inquired into, but their seats, desks, supplies of light, study rooms, cloak rooms, play grounds, with unceasing watchfulness for appearance of serious contagious diseases.

The report of the superintendent, Hon. W. B. Powell, shows a considerable increase in enrollment of pupils, and he gives elaborate statistics of all subjects under his supervision. He urgently repeats the request for a delivery wagon and man for conveyance of books and general school supplies, a matter which has grown too large to avoid giving much inconvenience to the present force of employees. Sanitary considerations in connection with these supplies seem to become more and more important with the accumulation of worn-out books. The superintendent, after much observation in this regard, expresses the opinion that "the only consistent system or rule of furnishing books is to give the child the book, when he enters school, to hold him responsible until it is worn out, but to let no other person use it. The plan would be in the interest of cleanliness and good health, and therefore to be commended aside from considerations of contagion.

The superintendent with much earnestness repeats the crying need of more buildings to remove the unhappy pressure into half-day schools, of which there are more than 250 in the city.

The work in the normal school is much commended, and promises yet better results to come from the extension of the course from one to two years, which will go into operation the coming year. He argues that the board of education should restrict the work done in this school to learning more definitely what, and how intelligently to teach what is known as the common school branches.

In regard to sanitation the superintendent, regarding it of increasingly exigent importance, suggests to the Commissioners to apply to Congress for a medical commission, directed to examine at frequent brief intervals the sanitary condition of all school buildings, and at stated intervals to examine pupils and direct teachers in the disposition of cases of sickness or other physical infirmities.

It is claimed that advance has been made in the attempts to give a greater amount of individual teaching. Experimentation has led to more intelligent groupings of those pupils of similar capacity, development, and receptivity.

The report of Superintendent Cook, of the colored schools, contains some interesting matter. The habit of corporal punishment, although not get entirely dispensed with, is gradually becoming extinct, suspension and other things being substituted. Similar opinions with the rest are held by him about kindergartens, and the need of more school accommodation. The high school, among others, has outgrown the enrollment of its pupils.

All the reports furnish detailed statements of all items composing the educational endeavors of the District. It is gratifying to note the excellent repute in which the teachers are held. High praise of their culture, disciplinary capacity, and fidelity is generously bestowed by those whose office is to inspect their work.

FLORIDA.

Report for 1896, Hon. W. N. Sheats, superintendent.

Much apprehension was felt for the schools as well as for all other business enterprises in the State by the appalling disaster wrought by the memorable freezes in the State, the first in December, 1894, and the last on February 8, 1895. The mag

nitude of that disaster people outside have perhaps never justly conceived. The report says of it several things, of which the following is a portion:

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Those living outside of the State and not engaged in the cultivation of tropical fruits and vegetables have but slight appreciation of what is meant by a 'freeze,' which impoverishes the rich and takes away the visible means of subsistence from tens of thousands of industrious citizens in one night. Groves which had given employment to thousands of laborers, yielded large incomes, had required many years and much capital to grow, were worth the bare land the next morning. The effect upon the State was the same as if every manufactory in New England without insurance had been burned to the ground in one night."

In view of the universal distress the county commissioners, by request of the governor and the executive council, withheld collection of taxes until the fall of the year. Yet the public schools had won so much favor from the people that reduction of the school tax was not made. Indeed this could not have been done, because assessment for education had been made mandatory by the constitution. The result was that beyond some lowering of salaries, shortening of terms, and delay in establishing schools which were expected to be started, educational interests underwent little suffering.

The rebuke of the delay and negligence of county school officials administered in the foregoing report seems to have had intended good results, as the showings made by them are in the main satisfactory in the matter of clearness and accuracy.

The statistics show a very slight falling off of the several items since the freeze. With the exception of the year 1895 there has been a constant increase in the number of pupils enrolled and in daily attendance. The decrease in the number of teachers has been mainly among those of lower grades and by the union of some small schools, in which better if fewer teachers were employed.

Counting the whites alone in the enrollment, it is claimed that the percentage of school population is greater than the average for all the United States, greater than the New England, and only a little lower than the North Central, and it is a gratifying fact that, whenever enrolled, white children and colored attend with like punctuality. In this respect Florida, it is claimed, leads every Southern State, as it does in the number of school days.

There is great difference among the counties in the length of the school term, the longest for both races being 157 and the shortest 72 days, 8 below the number required by law. The disparity is peculiar to neither race, in several counties the colored schools being in this respect ahead of the white. It is suggested that the maximum limit of the school levy should be abolished, and it is asserted with confidence that such action would be ratified by the people.

The law passed, in accordance with the recommendation of the superintendent, for the uniform examination of teachers met at first with much opposition and from sources whence it was expected, a class on whom the report pours some ridicule, and it congratulates that such opposition has subsided almost entirely before the evident benefits resulting from its operation. In the matter of framing questions for such examinations the superintendent, in view of the delicacy and other things attending them, asks for the appointment of a commission of two or more special experts to perform the work, arguing that the small cost incurred would be far remunerated by the value of the service rendered, part of which would be prevention of the jealousies on the part of such as for political or other special reasons seek the position and indulge in unreasonable complainings when disappointed in that behalf.

It is noteworthy that whereas it is made by the State constitution optional among the counties to levy a school tax anywhere between 3 and 5 mills, the number is constantly increasing of those which come up to the maximum. Even after the great freeze thero was falling off in only two counties. Every one of them, with exception of three, levies at least 4 mills, and not one went as low as the minimum.

It is claimed by the report that with the exception of Texas the average of teachers' salaries is above that in any other Southern State.

Regarding that delicate, difficult problem, the education of the colored race, we give the following extract:

"The race is receiving all the educational advantages they are capable of appreciating. Their schools are as closely supervised as any others, the very best teachers are secured that can be had, and they are paid better salaries than the same grade of teachers are paid in any other part of the country, North or South. And further than that, every possible encouragement and help is given them to prepare for a better grade of work. Besides a well-equipped State Normal College, equal advantages are offered their teachers in summer schools and institutes. It is my opinion that the race needs, more than anything else, to be let alone by their overzealous friends, and given time to work out their own destiny. . . . The race is manifesting, as a whole, as commendable ambition to improve its condition as any race in like intellectual, social, and financial conditions under the sun. . . . . . The people of the State