this field of labor, and that this noble State, after having so long been an example to sister States in the breadth and wisdom of her free school legislation, may not now draw back and sacrifice an element that has contributed so n.uch to her preeminence."

The Superintendent of Indiana writes:

"It appears from our final summary of figures that the moneyed results of the county superintendents' extra labors show a value to the State of $156,728 96, more than twice the total cost of county superintendency. Who can object to economy like this?

Besides these results there are many others whose value cannot be estimated in money, but which are really more valuable than all the money involved; such as increased efficiency in the schools and in the teachers' methods and labors, resulting in thoroughly educated minds,-the true wealth of any State. In view of these facts it will be a financial benefit to continue the system of county superintendency, and in view of the great salutary influences exerted by this system on the schools, it is almost the unanimous wish of the educators of the State to have the system perpetuated. In fact, he who strikes at it aims his blow at the educational heart, and he who advocates it does a noble work for the State. The system is, at present, only on trial in this State, and so far it has met the anticipations of its friends. It needs to be tested more fully before any change would seem to be desirable. At present it is most certainly the duty of the State to further test its important workings and its special advantages.'

The Superintendent of Iowa says:

"The incompetency in this branch of the school work is due to the fact that the office being awarded politically and very poorly paid, is sought for by those who design making it simply collateral and subsidiary to something else. Thus, that which of itself should form a business sufficiently onerous and responsible to absorb the energies of a man, devoted wholly and exclusively to it, is degraded to the place of a hapless expedient, and not unfrequently becomes a serious obstacle in the way of educational progress. Ultimately the whole evil is referable to the fact that the salary paid this official is so inadequate that it will not justify men, ordinarily, in devoting their time exclusively to it. So long as this state of things continues our school system must suffer at its most vital point, and be sadly crippled for want of the class of men who are capable of superintending the school interests of the county. Let the place be made as remunerative, at least, as are now our firstclass city superintendencies,-and there is no reason why it should not be made more so,and the talent which now flows into these and other channels, will be readily diverted to the county; and the district school, now comparatively so far in the rear of its neighbor, will soon put itself on terms of respectable competition. Teachers will prepare themselves for the work; the machinery of normal training, which now overtasks this branch of the school work altogether, will send out men educated for the place, and a thousand agencies, which now seem not to exist, will conspire to make the office an instrument for good second to none in the country. It is hoped that the Legislature will put this branch of the school system on a footing analogous to that aimed to be secured for it in the untimely provisions of 1858. The salary should be fixed by law. There would seem to be no good reason why the county superintendent should be made the solitary exception, in the list of county officials, in the matter of support; that he should be thrown almost exclusively upon out-door work and a meagre per diem for a livelihood, which, when thus laboriously earned, is entirely inadequate to his wants, and contrasts so discouragingly with the salary secured to other officers whose positions are by no means more onerous or responsible. It is not at all surprising that an office, so crippled for the want of support, should so often fall into incompetent hands, and come to be regarded by the county authorities as a sufferance to be endured whilst it lasts, but to be thrown off as soon as occasion may offer. I cannot too emphatically urge the necessity of this agency in the school system as it now is. The skilled, efficient, devoted county superintendent is a conservator of our school interests in a sense in which not even the faithful teacher can be said to rival him; for he maintains the system in vigorous working order, and but for his services, the labors of the most earnest teacher would avail but little. Standing in a position to see and appreciate the services of an efficient county superintendent, as well as to feel the incubus of an incompetent one, and knowing in detail the extent to which the office fails to accomplish the end in view, I am only induced thereby to advocate its necessity the more earnestly, and to urge the more importunately such reforms as will relieve it from its disabilities and develop its immense resources of power.

The Superintendent of Kansas says:

"The county superintendency has ever been regarded as the right arm of power, the mainspring of strength, and the vitalizing force of the school system. The inspection of

the schools and the direction necessary to their full and harmonious development, require the talent, energy, and perseverence of the best educators. The work is one of vast importance and great responsibility. The long experience of many States where county supervision has been tried, as well as in our own, proves beyond question the efficiency of school management through this method. No system of education can be complete without a live, energetic, intelligent superintendent to examine, instruct, and direct the teachers, inspect the schools, and counsel the district boards."

The Superintendent of Minnesota says:

"What good has resulted from the system? The fact that a far better class of teachers is found in our schools cannot be denied by any one at all observant. By those best qualified to judge, the opinion is often expressed that the teachers now engaged in teaching are far in advance of those found before this system was inaugurated. To all those acquainted with the qualifications of the teachers in the State a few years ago, the change is very apparent. The influence of the superintendent is seen in the increased interest manifested by teachers attending institutes, and the general spirit pervading all classes and ranks of teachers; in the greater interest taken by communities in the improvements in their schools and a better class of school-houses; in the increased number of visits by parents and school officers during the past year."

The Superintendent of Missouri in his report of 1873 says:

"It is well to record for future reading a few suggestions bearing on county supervision. First of all, the nature of the circumstances demands it. Are the county schools to combine for any purpose whatever, or shall each struggle independently of every other, find its own teachers, take care of its own school funds, and reach out a feeble hand to seize the necessary elements of development from the passing current of progress as a poor woman snatches a billet of wood from the river's edge? If the schools are to combine for common purposes, that combination must center in a head man or supervisor. If they are to act independently and still make progress, or rather live, each school will find it necessary to have its own agent or supervisor. Is this practicable? Is it the part of economy? Just here the farmer's movement toward combination affords a useful lesson. Alone and retired, acting upon his limited experience of the world, the farmer found himself the easy prey of every other industry. Why? He met combination by independent and individual force alone. The shape, quality, and price of the implements necessary for this industry were fixed by others, while he retained no power to fix the price of his own products. How does he seek to extricate himself from this embarrassment? He joins with his fellow farmers for common purposes. They have crops to sell and goods to buy. The very first step towards making a combination effective was to employ their common agent. The agent or supervisor, acting upon the principle of division and concentration of labor, thinks, studies, reads, observes, experiences, not for one farmer, but for all who are joined by association. This is the method of progress; this is the method of economy.

The schools lie precisely in the same category. It is better and cheaper to have a common agent to do their guarding, watching, thinking, devising, planning, and executing than it is for each district to watch, think, devise, plan, and execute for itself. The argument lies in an axiomatic principle; if we drift away from this principle, we must eventually drift back again. To my thought the abolition of county supervision would be attended with grave results to the county schools, and to the entire interests of our farmers. The schools would degenerate and farms would depreciate in value. Cities and villages, of course, would continue their present system of carefully graded and minutely supervised schools, and every farmer who has children to educate and means to make the shift would abandon the farm for the city. Civilization, which depends more upon education than upon any other force, would withdraw from rural scenes and concentrate in cities and populous centers. The foregoing suggestions are made in the earnest belief that if carried out they will result in what is best and cheapest for the schools and for the development of the State."

The Superintendent of Pennsylvania, in his report of 1868, says:

"The county superintendency is a fixed fact in Pennsylvania. It has existed in this State since 1854. No one who has carefully watched its working would be willing to see the act establishing it repealed. No statement is needed to make known the good it has done. Its fruits speak for it. It has been called, and with good reason, the right arm' of the system."

The Superintendent of Wisconsin says of this system, after it had been on trial in that State for several years:

"The objects sought by its creation were: 1. A careful and thorough examination of teachers. 2. A better supervision of the schools by an officer having the authority and ability to improve their condition. That these objects have been secured is generally acknowledged by those acquainted with the past and the present condition of the public schools. Improved methods of instruction have been introduced, and better order very generally prevails. Many of them have been well classified, and they have been graded, where circumstances permitted, so as to secure economy and efficiency in their management. Courses of study have been adopted and extended, and in many of the country towns there are facilities for acquiring an education that could never bave been secured without intelligent supervision. In spite of all adverse circumstances, the standard of teachers' atainments has been raised. In some of the counties, where the superintendents have been sustained by the people, the change for the better is too marked to be questioned. Schools have been taught a longer time during the year, and teachers have found permanent employment. Character has been made a prerequisite to employment, and ability and acquirements have become the only means of retaining it. Our experience has not been unlike that of other States, where the testimony is strong, if not unanimous, that this educational agency is a necessary part of any good school system."

In the State of New York the county superintendency system, after an existence of several years, was abolished in 1847. The late Deputy Superintendent, in a history of the schools of that State, alluding to the abolishment of the system, says:

"Its effect upon the prosperity and advancement of the common school system was, in many essential respects, most disastrous. During a period of nearly forty years the progress of that system had been uninterruptedly onward and upward, and a succession of wise enactments had strengthened and consolidated its foundations and expanded its usefulness in every direction. The destruction of that feature which, perhaps, more than any other, had come to constitute its most distinctive characteristics and crowning excellence, giving to its details their peculiar symmetry and power, was their first retrograde step in its history. Its consequences were speedily manifested in the comparative inefficiency and inutility of the local and general supervision of the schools in the absence of any connecting link between the Department and the several town and district officers and the inhabitants of the respective districts; in the discontinuance of a local appellate tribunal where the numerous controversies constantly springing up relative to the external affairs and internal arrangements of the districts might be equitably adjusted by a disinterested officer on the spot; in the faculties afforded for a perversion or wrongful appropriation of the public funds by the absence of any responsible check; and in the utter impracticability of obtaining, with any accuracy, those statistical details in reference to the practical operation of the system, so indispensable to the department, to the Legislature, and to the public. Nine hundred town superintendents, however well qualified for the discharge of the special duties devolved upon them, within their limited jurisdiction, were wholly unable to supply the place and fulfill the functions of county officers in constant communication with the State Superintendent and with each other, whose abilities were or should have been unquestioned; whose influence was extensive, and their means of usefulness unrestricted. The dial of progress and improvement was set back for a long series of years, only to be restored and advanced by a radical and fundamental change in the entire system."

After a period of nine years, a system,-substantially the same as the one abolished, was established in that State, which provided for the election of an officer in each asembly district instead of county, and styled a commissioner rather than superintendent. The report, issued by the Department of Public Instruction in that State for 1872, says:

"For seventeen consecutive years the present plan of supervision by commissioners has been in undisturbed operation. Time has proved it advantageous and revealed its defects. Adherence to it for so long a period without change indicates that it has worked with considerable success, and has secured a corresponding degree of popular favor. It is the agency through which the detailed administration of the whole school law is secured. Provisions, however excellent in themselves, must depend upon this for their effect. Like circulation in the physical system, it is the means of health and vigor in all parts of the organization; energy in the performance of this function tends to produce efficiency in all; sluggishness in this respect causes weakness throughout. No comprehensive system of education, embracing so wide a field as ours, and requiring such an extended sub-division of labor, will produce results much better or much worse than the character of the supervision which it employs

STATE TEACHERS' INSTITUTES.

Thirteen Teachers' Institutes have been held in that number of counties during the year, by State appointment, as follows:

Spring Series-At Dowagiac, Cass county, beginning March 23d; at Mendon, St. Joseph county, March 30th; at Palo, Ionia county, April 6th; at Midland City, Midland county, April 13th; at Ithaca, Gratiot county, April 20th; and at St. Johns, Clinton county, April 27th.

Autumn Series.-At Central Lake, Antrim county, beginning August 31st; at Hadley, Lapeer county, September 7th; at Ludington, Mason county, September 21st; at Traverse City, Grand Traverse county, September 28th; at Monroe, Monroe county, October 5th; at Caro, Tuscola county, October 12th ; and at Decatur, Van Buren county, October 19th.

Each Institute began on the day appointed, and remained in session five days. The total number enrolled as members at these Institutes was eight hundred and ninety. None were received into membership except teachers and such as were fitting themselves for the work of teaching. The prompt and regular attendance at all the sessions by the members, and the interest manifested by the citizens in the work as it was going on, was very encouraging. A very generous hospitality was commonly extended.

My hearty thanks are due and tendered to the local committees and many citizens, who by prompt and cheerful effort, answered the immediate necessities of these gatherings. The superintendents of the several counties discharged efficiently and well the duty that devolved upon them, of distributing circulars, giving timely notice of the arrangements, and impressing upon the attention of teachers the importance and benefit of the Institute and the necessity of their attendance. In conducting the Institutes it was the aim to adhere to the legitimate work of a teachers' institute, and make them as practical and useful as possible. To this end professional instructors were employed; class drills were had; modes of imparting instruction in the various branches pursued in our primary schools from the alphabet to the highest studies taught in them were illustrated; principles to be observed in the management of schools, and all those subjects connected with school discipline which should be considered of especial importance by teachers, were discussed.

In the arrangement for these institutes, it was required of each county superintendent that he forward to this department a formal application, signed by himself, accompanied by a petition signed by at least as many resident teachers as the law requires, and also by a good number of prominent citizens residing in the locality where they desired the institute to be held.

By this means there is secured both the "reasonable assurance," which the law speaks of, and a pledge from all parties, superintendent, teachers, and citizens, to give it their countenance and support.

Particular information in regard to these Institutes may be found in Appendix D of this volume.

EDUCATIONAL MEETINGS.

The County Superintendents' Association held its annual meeting at the High School building in the city of Grand Rapids in August last. The Presdent of the Association, Superintendent John S. Goodman of Saginaw, was present and gave the opening address. About one-half of the Superintendents of the State were in attendence. Several papers on important school

topics and the work of the Superintendency were presented and discussed. The sessions, however, took on the character of an "experience meeting."

The counties were called alphabetically, and the Superintendents present responded by relating their experiences, and presenting the condition of the schools within their jurisdiction. A good portion of the time of the meeting was occupied in this way, and with great profit and interest. The yearly meeting of these officers, whose supervision extends over most of tho townships and school districts of the State, should be fully attended, as it can be made one of the most efficient aids in advancing the interests of public education. The evening addresses were given by Prof. Edward A. Strong, Principal of the High School at Grand Rapids, and by the State Superintendent. The following officers were elected by ballot to serve for the ensuing year: President John S. Goodman, East Saginaw.

Vice Presidents-Ezekiel G. Hall, Kalamazoo; W. Irving Bennett, Jackson; and George A. Ranney, Grand Rapids.

Secretary-Charles R. Coryell, Jonesville.
Treasurer-Edson G. Walker, Adrian.

Executive Committee-Johnson A. Corbin, Pontiac: W. Irving Bennett, Jackson; Samuel Johnson, Dowagiac; Bertrand F. Welch, Marshall; and Elmer D. North, Lansing.

The Executive Committee was instructed, by resolution, to designate the place and make the needful arrangements for the next meeting.

The twenty-third annual meeting of the State Teachers' Association convened at Kalamazoo on the evening of the 28th of December and continued two days. An address of welcome on behalf of the school board and the citizens of Kalamazoo was made by Dr. L. C. Chapin, President of the board, and responded to by Prof. Daniel Putnam of the State Normal School, President of the Association. The topics upon the programme were of a practical character, and were ably presented and discussed. The work of the high schools. and their relation to the University and the colleges of the State received a careful and earnest consideration at this meeting.

The report of the executive committee, submitted by its chairman, awakened much interest. The most important suggestion which it embodied,-and that a very timely one,-was that of effecting a reorganization of the Association with the view of making the deliberations at its meetings broad enough in their scope to interest all classes of educational workers, and, as stated in the report, to make it an "organization which shall be one great whole, subdivided for convenience and efficiency of action into appropriate parts or sections." The report of the committee was adopted, and this action carries with it the pledge of the Association to effect the change suggested. By a vote of the Association, the new executive committee was charged with the duty of conferring with the county superintendents, members of school boards, and others, and of presenting at the next meeting such plan of action as may seem. to them most desirable, or such a modification of the constitution as will secure the object aimed at.

The following resolution, offered by the Hon. Duane Doty, superintendent of public schools at Detroit, was unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That this association has observed, with regret, a proposition made in the House of Representatives of the United States to abolish the Bureau of Education, and desires to enter a strong protest against the abolition of this Bureau, and to express a belief in its great and practical usefulness.