Last winter the teachers of southeastern Alaska took a census of their respective villages. These statistics are embodied in the following table with those taken by myself daring my trip of last fall to the Aleutian Islands:

The following persons have been employed and paid from the school fund:

No official course of study has been marked out for the various schools. The experience of the two years during which public schools have been in operation, and the experience of the mission schools for nearly twelve years, have demonstrated the fact that it would not be wise to hamper the teachers with a course of study that would not fit the surroundings of the school. Attendance is so irregular, the pupils of such different ages (from 6 to 60), with such varying aptitudes for acquiring the English language, and all ages in the primary grades, that a uniform plan would be impossible. It must be left necessarily to the tact and originality of the teacher.

COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE.

The reports of the several teachers during the year are burdened with complaints of irregular attendance and of their inability to secure the best results from their teaching because of this irregularity. The new board of education has taken this matter in hand, and it is hoped that something may be accomplished next year in securing a more regular attendance of the pupils.

The appropriation of Congress for the education of children in Alaska, without distinction of race, was only $15,000.

If the schools had been dependent upon that alone, either one-half of them would have had to be closed, or all of them closed up at the end of six months. Fortunately there was an unexpected balance of 1884 which was available. The aggregate expense of running the schools the past year has been $25,000. In the appropriation for 1887 and 1888 the sum of $25,000 has been granted. As it is very essential that the number of schools should be increased and buildings erected at the more important points, I would urgently recommend that the appropriation for 1883 and 1889 be increased to $50,000.

Every publication which helps to make Alaska known to the outside world, either directly or indirectly, helps the school work.

Among the popular works on Alaska published in recent years are the following: Life in Alaska. By Mrs. Eugene S. Willard. Illustrated. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1334 Chestnut Street. Pp. 384. Price $1.25.

Among the Alaskans. By Mrs. Julia McNair Wright. Illustrated. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication. Pp. 351. Price $1.25.

A Trip to Alaska. By George Wardman. San Francisco: Samuel Carson & Co., 3 Sansome Street. Pp. 237. Price $1.25.

Our New Alaska. By Charles Hallock. Illustrated. New York: Forest and Stream, 39 Park Row. Pp. 200. Price $1.50.

Alaska and Missions on the North Pacific Coast. By Sheldon Jackson, D. D. Illustrated. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 755 Broadway. Pp. 400. Price $1.50. Alaska, Its Southern Coast and the Sitkan Archipelago. By E. Ruhamah Scidmore. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. Pp. 333.

Along Alaska's Great River. By Frederick Schwatka. Illustrated. New York: Cassell & Co., Limited, 739 Broadway. Pp. 360.

History of Alaska, 1730-1885. By Hubert Howe Bancroft. San Francisco: A. L. Bancroft & Co. Pp. 775.

Our Arctic Province. By Henry W. Elliott. Scribner's Sons. Pp. 473.

Illustrated. New York: Charles

Illustrated. Pp. 627.

By Frederick Whymper. Illus

Alaska and its Resources. By William H. Dall. Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska. trated. New York: Harper & Brothers. Pp. 353. Report of the Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska. By Lieut. P. H. Ray. Illustrated. Government Printing Office. Pp. 695. Pacific Coast Pilot, Alaska, Part 1.

333. Price $2.

United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Pp.

Report on the Population, Industries, and Resources of Alaska. By Ivan Petroff. Illustrated. Government Printing Office. Pp. 189.

Report on Seal Islands. By Henry W. Elliott. Illustrated. Government Printing Office. Pp. 188.

Alaska and its People. By Capt. G. W. Bailey. Government Printing Office. Pp. 52. Education in Alaska, 1881. By Sheldon Jackson, D. D. Illustrated. Government Printing Office. Pp. 28.

Education in Alaska, 1886. By Sheldon Jackson, D. D. Illustrated. Government Printing Office. Pp. 88.

The Cruise of the United States Revenue Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean, 1881. By Capt. C. L. Hooper. Illustrated. Government Printing Office. Pp. 148. Alaska Coast Pilot, Appendix 1, Meteorology. By Wm. H. Dall. Government Printing Office.

I would recommend the following additions to and modifications of the school laws: 1st. That as the new rules and regulations look to obligatory school attendance, the board of education be authorized to employ a special policeman to enforce attendance at each settlement where a public school exists and at which there is no other policeman to perform the duty; said policeman to be paid from the educational fund.

2d. That the supervision of the schools of the Territory be divided into the eastern and western division.

The eastern division shall comprise southeastern Alaska and the western division the remainder of the Territory.

That a superintendent of public instruction be appointed by the United States Commissioner of Education for each of these divisions.

That the superintendent of the eastern division shall have his headquarters at Sitka, and be ex officio secretary of the board of education.

That the superintendent of the western division shall have his office at the Bureau of
Education, Washington, and spend that portion of the year in which vessels are plying
between the different ports of western Alaska in visiting the schools in his district.
This division of the superintendence is rendered necessary-

(a) Because there is no means of transportation between eastern and western Alaska. The one section is reached by sea from Puget Sound, and the other section by sea from San Francisco. This is such a barrier to jurisdiction, that although the civil government has been in existence over three years, not one of the civil officials has been able to visit any portion of the Territory outside of southeastern Alsaka, except the general agent of education, and he only succeeded by chartering a special vessel. There have been several murders in southwestern Alaska, but the guilty parties are at large because the court has no means of reaching them.

(b) This division is rendered necessary by section 4 of rules and regulations, which directs that the general agent "shall visit each school district and each school in the district at least once a year."

This is a physical impossibility. With the present means of communication no one person can visit each school in the Territory once during the same year. If he gives his attention to the schools in southeastern Alaska he can not reach those in western Alaska the same season. And vice versa, if he attempts to visit the schools in western Alaska it will keep him away from southeastern Alaska the entire season. In the forming state of the schools it is important that a yearly visit should be made, but this can only be accomplished by a subdivision.

3d. I would again renew my recommendation that the Honorable Secretary of the Interior be requested to ask Congress for $50,000 for the school fund for the year ending June 30, 1889.

4th. I would further recommend that the annual reports of the several teachers, the special report of Miss Alice C. Fletcher to the Honorable Secretary of the Interior on the need of schools in western Alaska, and the proceedings of the Territorial board of education be printed in the appendix to this report.

5th. I would still further recommend that legislation be asked from Congress setting apart one-fourth of the gross revenues of Alaska annually as a fund for the education of the children of Alaska without distinction of race.

In the Western States and Territories Congress has granted sections 16 and 36 in each township for the use of the schools in said States and Territories.

In Alaska the lands are unsurveyed, and when in course of time the general land laws are extended over it, the nature of the country and the requirements of the population will prevent the laying out of the land to any great extent in sections of a mile square. While no school fund is practicable for years from the lands, the General Government derives a regular revenue from the Seal Islands, a portion of which can be used in the place of the proceeds of the sale of the school lands.

The present method of supporting the schools by an annual appropriation prevents the feeling of permanence. A failure on the part of Congress any one year to make provision for the support of the schools will close them up, causing a loss of public property and a serious drawback to the success of the schools.

Very truly, yours,

SHELDON JACKSON,

United States General Agent of Education in Alaska.

For other information relating to education in Alaska consult the Index.

ARIZONA.

[From Report of Governor C. M. Zulick, 1887.1

PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM.

The public school system of Arizona is a subject of pride to all of her citizens. School advantages are freely offered to every child in every part of the Territory. Paying higher salaries than any State or other Territory, it also requires a higher standard of ability in the teacher. The public schools are supervised by a Territorial superintendent of public instruction, who is elected biennially. There is also a Territorial board of education, consisting of the superintendent of public instruction, Territorial treasurer, and the Governor, whose duty is to adopt rules and regulations for the government of the public schools and libraries, devise plans for the increase and management of the Territorial school fund, prescribe and enforce the use of uniform series of text-books and course of studies, grant educational diplomas, and revoke for immoral conduct or evident unfitness for teaching Territorial diplomas. The probate judge of each county in the Territory is made ex officio county superintendent of the public schools for his county. His duty is to apportion the school moneys to each district of his county, to draw the necessary warrants on the county treasurer for expenses against the school fund, enforce the course of study, the use of text-books, and the rules and regulations for the examinations of teachers as prescribed by the proper authority. The Territory is divided into school districts, which are presided over by three school trustees, who are elected at a special election, and whose duties are to generally superintend all school matters within their district. The public schools of the Territory are maintained by the levy of a tax of 3 cents upon each $100 value taxable property, collected and paid into the Territorial treasury as a special fund for school purposes, and then apportioned to the respective counties. The school year begins on the 1st day of July and ends on the last day of June. The Territory has also in successful operation a normal school, located at Tempe, Maricopa County, and has endowed a university at Tucson, Pima County, which is not yet constructed.

All moneys accruing to the Territory by the sale of personal or real property of an escheated estate, or from the rents or profits of lands or tenements held as escheated, are payable into the school fund, as also all moneys arising from fines, forfeitures, and gambling licenses.

By her liberal and progressive system of public schools Arizona is diffusing knowledge among her rising generation and preparing her youths to intelligently assume the duties of American citizenship when clothed with its cares and responsibilities.

SCHOOL LANDS.

By act of Congress there have been seventy-two sections of public lands within the Territory granted for the purposes of a university, also the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections of every township for a school fund. The Territory is deprived of the use of these lands until it becomes a State. If the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections in every township could be sold and the money arising from the same appropriated to defraying the school expenses of the Territory, it would prove a great benefit to the cause of education and greatly relieve our overburdened tax-payers. Arizona needs the benefits to accrue from these lands now more than when she becomes a State, and should enjoy the privilege of their disposal the same as is granted the States. Not having any control over these lands they are fast being denuded of timber, so that when we do enter statehood and control them they may practically prove valueless. Again, many of these sections are being occupied by settlers who innocently and from want of information are wasting time, labor, and money in clearing the land, erecting buildings, and making improvements which will in the future prove a total loss to them.

Í respectfully recommend that Congress be asked to give the Territories the same privileges as the States now enjoy in this matter and authorize the absolute transfer of these lands to the respective Territories for the immediate benefit of the cause of public education.

For other information relating to education in Arizona consult the Index.

ARKANSAS.

For the statistical and other information in the possession of the Bureau relating to education in Arkansas consult the Index.

CALIFORNIA.

NEW LEGISLATION.

State text-books.-In addition to the books heretofore directed, the State board of education shall compile or cause to be compiled an elementary arithmetic, an elementary grammar or language lessons, an elementary geography, and a physiology and hygiene, including a system of gymnastics and instruction as to the nature and effects of alcoholic drinks and narcotics.

All orders for text-books shall be made upon the superintendent of public instruction, and shall be accompanied by cash at the price fixed as the cost price at Sacramento. The following persons are entitled to order: (1) County superintendents of schools, (2) principals of State normal schools, (3) secretaries and clerks of school districts, (4) retail dealers who make affidavits not to sell any books of the State series at a price to pupils exceeding that fixed for them.

All State text-books shall be furnished to pupils at the cost of printing, publishing, and postage.

For other information relating to education in California consult the Index.

COLORADO.

NEW LEGISLATION.

State superintendent to construe laws.-The State superintendent is to decide all points touching the construction of the school laws, and his decision shall be held to be correct and final until set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction or subsequent legislation. School year.-The beginning of the school year has been changed from September 1 to July 1.

Maps of counties.-Each county superintendent is required to have prepared a map of his county, showing the correct boundaries of the district.

Penalty of failure to make reports. Whenever any district shall fail to make the annual report required by law, or to maintain a school for one year, or keep up its organization of officers, the county superintendent may declare such district annulled, and annex its territory to adjoining districts.

Term of school directors.—One school director is to be elected annually, to serve for five years, instead of two for three years, as heretofore.

Qualification of voters in the matter of contracting a school debt.-At all elections held for voting upon a proposition to create or contract a debt by loan for the purpose of erecting or furnishing school buildings, or purchasing school grounds, only such qualified electors of the district shall vote thereat as shall have paid a school tax in such district in the year next preceding such election.

Free text-books.-District school boards are required to furnish free text-books for the use of all pupils when authorized to do so by a majority vote of the district as expressed at any regular or special meeting.

Expurgation of school libraries.—School boards are directed to exclude from school and school libraries all books, tracts, papers, and other publications of an immoral or pernicious tendency.

Library tax.-The board of any district may order the levy of not to exceed one-tenth of 1 mill, the proceeds of which shall be used exclusively in the purchase of books for a library, to be open to the public under such rules as the district board may deem needfal for the proper care of the said library.

Forfeiture of school funds.-Any school district failing to maintain a public school at least three months of any school year shall not be entitled to receive any portion of the school fund for that year.

Schools taught in the German and Spanish languages.-Whenever the parents or guardians of twenty or more children of school age of a district shall so demand, the district board may procure efficient instructors to teach the branches required by law in the German and Spanish languages, or in either.

Temperance instruction.-SEC. 1. The nature of alcoholic drinks and narcotics, and special instructions as to their effects upon the human system, in connection with the several divisions of the subject of physiology and hygiene, shall be included in the branches of study taught in the public schools of the State, and shall be studied and taught as thoroughly and in the same manner as other like required branches are in said schools by the use of text-books, designated by the board of directors of the respective school dstricts, in the hands of pupils where other branches are thus studied in said schools, d by all pupils in all said schools throughout the State.

SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of the proper officers in control of any school, described in the foregoing section, to enforce the provisions of this act; and any such officer, schoo