What kind of schools, then, can be expected in the five lowest districts in each county reported in the last table? Examine the following table for the answer:

That's a comfortable showing! In twenty-two counties-representative counties, selected at random-the average district of the five lowest valuations can raise, by taxing itself to the extreme legal limit, $232, or a trifle more than half enough for a good six months' school! No wonder that the chief qualifications of some rural teachers seem to be "cypherin' and lickin'."

Take the average of the five highest valuations (holding still to districts employing but one teacher); suppose them to tax themselves equally with the five lowest, and then compare the educational possibilities of the children of one with those enjoyed (?) by children in the other. Compare, or, better, contrast, the tables as you read.

This shows an average of $1,014; or considerably more than four times the average of the five lowest. This is called equality of taxation, "equality before the law," educational equality.

In the estimate given above, $125 was considered the minimum expense of a tolerably good six months' school. It was shown that many districts could not raise this amount under the present limitation; while some districts under a 20-mill tax could raise three or four times this amount.

Can a single valid objection be raised to spreading the aggregate running expense of all the schools of a county upon the county rolls?

The State has three objects in view in public education. It wishes to make each man an intelligent voter; it wishes to make each independent of the necessity for public aidthat is, to lift him above possible pauperdom; it wishes to make him strong enough to bear his share of all public burdens. These are such e-sentials in a free republic, that we have accepted as a truism, "the State must educate or perish."

Education, then, is the public necessity, a public duty, a public burden (as far as expense goes), and a public blessing. Its methods, therefore, should be as largely public and as little communal as possible.

In this State, as in most Western States, the county is really the political unit. The desirability and justice of distributing to the county at large what had been so long carried by townships (under the rather limited New England system)-such as bridges, the care of the poor, etc.-has long been recognized. The school, which should have been

first to receive this more just as well as more generous treatment, has thus far been left to be handled in a happy-go-lucky way by the petty little communalities, which we insist on retaining for no reason other than "for the sake of self-government;" as though self-government did not exist in the county, or as though self-government were desirable for its own sake rather than for its results!

Let us suppose a county system, for taxation at least, and note the results. The task of making the necessary computations for many counties is arduous and unnecessary. One county, a thoroughly representative one, will be sufficient.

In this county we find, outside of its one city, a valuation of $3,200,000. It has eightyfive school districts-far too many, if any reasonable amount of discretion had been used in districting the county. But we will take it as it is.

The problem then is: 85 times $425 equals $36,225; $36,225 equals 11.8 mills on $3,200,000.

Think of it! A good six months' school in every district in the county for less than a twelve-mill tax. If any district wishes to do more, let it do so; but here is an abso lute guarantee of good work throughout the county.

It seems impossible to study the figures in the foregoing tables, and the inferences drawn from the answers of superintendents, without concluding that our school system is wretchedly inefficient, and that our legislature should at once be asked to enact a law which will secure for us a justef taxation, more efficient supervision, more intelligent officers, a simpler machinery, a uniform course of study, uniform text-books, and, as a consequence of all these, infinitely better results in our schools than it is possible to expect under the present system.

Your committee therefore recommend, that all laws in relation to our independent school district system be repealed. We have carefully examined the school systems of various States, and we conclude that the model system of schools for a State, approved by the National Association of Superintendents, at Philadelphia, in 1876, and also by the veteran Commissioner of Education, General Eaton, who has given the best years of his life to a study of school systems, is the best for Kansas, and it is the system your committee now respectfully present to you. As that part of the Kansas school system which relates to higher education is in the main satisfactory, it has not been touched in this report; and all the recommendations made have reference solely to the rural parts of the State, excluding all cities of the first and second class.

In dividing the State for school purposes, we recommend

That the county should exercise a limited general supervisory control over its schools, select a county superintendent, have a county board of education, secure uniformity in text-books, have power to establish county high schools.

That the county board of education should be composed of the school trustees of corporations which are under the supervision of the county superintendent, consider the general needs and wants of the schools under its charge, seek to unify the school work, arrange a course of study, make general rules and regulations in regard to the employment of teachers, time of commencing schools, the government of the schools and the conduct of the teachers and pupils, etc., adopt text-books, levy a county tax.

That the city or township should be left to the local control of its schools, elect its officers, build its own houses, select its own teachers from among those that have been duly qualified under the laws of the State, be permitted to levy local taxes for the building of houses, etc.; be permitted to levy local taxes for the continuance of the schools beyond the minimum period fixed by the State, be permitted to levy local taxes for the maintenance of schools of an advanced grade.

That districts should be formed for the purpose of localizing the patrons of the school; have an advisory power in the selection of teachers and the erection, removal, or repair of school-houses.

That trustees of townships and cities should be three for each corporation; be elected by the people; serve for three years, one retiring annually; receive school revenues; have power to levy local taxes, within specified limitations, for grounds, buildings, furmitare, repairs, supplies, apparatus, etc., and for library purposes and for additional tuition purposes; be compelled to locate, establish, and maintain a sufficient number of sebools for a certain number of months in each year; have power to abolish old school districts, create new ones, build and remove houses; be compelled to make provisions for instruction in certain prescribed branches; have power to establish township or town graded schools; have power to provide instruction in branches additional to those prescribed by law; employ and contract with teachers, being restricted in their selection to those who have been duly licensed by competent authority; properly account to proper officers for all school revenues that come into their hands; receive reports from teachers, and should transmit reports to the county superintendent and other county officers; have authority to dismiss refractory pupils from school; be prohibited from contracting debt; carry out the orders of the county board of education in respect to course of study and text-books.

We further recommend that no person shall be eligible to the office of county superintendent who does not possess a diploma from a college or university legally empowered to grant literary degrees, or a diploma or State certificate issued according to law by the authorities of a State normal school, or a certificate from the State board of education, or a first-grade certificate from a county or city examining board; nor shall he be eligible unless he has a sound moral character, and has had successful experience in teaching within three years of the time of his first election.

We further recommend that in each county the tax levied by the county board be sufficient to secure to each district in the county six months' school each year; and that the one-mill State tax be restored.

We have placed before you as concisely as possible the evils we seek to remedy; and, in like manner, recommend a system which has received the approval of the most eminent educational bodies and men in the land. We sincerely hope that the substantial outlines of the system will be adopted, and that immaterial details may not delay your action. We recommend that this report, if adopted, be printed at the expense of the association, and that a copy be sent to each member of the State legislature.

We further suggest that a committee be appointed to draught a bill embracing the system herein outlined, and to further the passage of this bill at the next session of the legislature.

Respectfully submitted,

JOHN MACDONALD.

J. H. CANFIELD.
H. D. MCCARTY.
W. H. SWEET.

The State Teachers' Association adopted the foregoing report, and added to the original committee the following gentlemen: Hon. J. H. Lawhead; Hon. H. C. Speer, Superintendent R. W. Turner, of Jewell; Superintendent J. H. Lee, of Riley; Superintendent Matt. Thomson, of Wabaunsee.

For additional information concerning education in Kansas consult the Index.

KENTUCKY.

[Report of 1884-86.]

The Kentucky report of 1884-86 shows that the condition of the public schools of that State has been one of almost uninterrupted progress, and that the prospects for continued improvement are very encouraging.

The greatest drawback arises from (1) a want of interest and appreciation, which is very decidedly marked in some counties; and (2) a lack of funds, caused in part by this want of interest and in part by the slender resources of the people. Hence proceeds the indisposition or inability in some sections to raise local revenues to supplement the State grants, which results in turn in the continued existence of poor, even wretched, schoolhouses and the employment of underpaid teachers. "When they [the trustees] try to employ a first-class teacher and ask the district for a tax or a subscription, they are met with the following reply from the patrons: 'I thought it was to be a free school! I paid my taxes; that is all I'm going to do. The public money pays the teacher $20 a month; that's more than I can get working on a farm. You needn't say anything more to me. I am against the tax. The trustee leaves in disgust; and the energetic, thorough teacher, with an ambition, is soon on his way to other more appreciative States, or to a more remunerative profession."-(Superintendent of Ballard County.)

A comparison of the county superintendents' reports for the two years covered by the State report shows the growth of a much more hopeful tone, though there is still a strong undercurrent of such complaints as the above. Particularly is this noticeable in the increased willingness to raise funds by local taxes and subscriptions. The superintendent of Boyd County says: "When the present school law took effect there were 37 districts, 4 good houses, 11 medium, and 20, if not 31, that should be condemned; 2 districts had no house at all; 14 houses were at once condemned. Eleven of these districts have voted tax to build new houses in place of condemned ones; 8 of the new houses are completed; 1 brick, worth $800; 7 frame, average value about $400. Three others will be built in the spring, with probable cost of $3,500. At the end of five years from the date of the new law it is hoped and believed every district in Boyd will have a good, comfortable, healthy school house. A vote for county tax in August was defeated by only 27 votes; at another time the tax will carry." The superintendent of Lyon County: "The school houses were found to be a disgrace to civilized communities, so 18 out of 2 were condemned. The people are responding nobly, and next year, instead of houses valued at $20, $50, and $75, an increase of value is confidently expected at the rate of

$300, $500, and $800." Superintendent Pickett shows that the cause of education is not merely keeping pace with the general development of the State in material prosperity, but is considerably outstripping it.

A marked feature of this report, and one which distinguishes it from most Southern school reports, is the information it gives as to the condition and prospects of the colored schools and as to the sources from which they draw their revenues, showing what the white inhabitants of Kentucky are doing for the education of the negroes. This matter is treated of more in detail in Chapter XIV.

The following extracts show the superintendent's treatment of the principal topics of interest:

Total increase during this period, 79, 129; white, 45,894; colored, 33,235. The extraordinary relative increase of the latter over the former must be referred, mainly, to the extension of the school age, in 1882-83, to correspond with the school age of the white children. The increase of the census of white children for 1886 over that of 1885 is 9,993, while that of colored children, is only 1,905.

SCHOOL REVENUES.

The increase of the school fund, as apportioned, from 1880 to 1886, is $399,864.33, and the increase in local taxation and subscription from 1880 to 1835 is $205, 165.75, making a grand total of $605,030.08. Thus while the number of school children has been largely angmented, the increase of the general school fund for the same period has been correspondingly greater, producing an increase of the per capita from $1.25 to $1.65 for the white school children, and from $0.48 to $1.65 for the colored school children. Of course this is referable, first, to the additional 2-cent tax voted by the people in 1882; secondly, to the acquirement of the just proportion of the school tax from railroads, turnpike roads, hinks, and other corporations; thirdly, to the increase of the taxable property of the Commonwealth; and, fourthly, to the increasing popular interest in the common schools. This speaks well for the progress and prosperity of our people. It is, in fact, the practical realization of one of the fundamental principles in political economy- the increase in the wealth of a State, intelligently directed, exceeding the ratio of the increase in population.

THE FOURTH INSTALMENT OF THE SURPLUS REVENUE.

Kentucky, with her inborn intelligence, energy, and sense of independence, and with her vast and varied material resources only needing further development, must continue to rely mainly on herself for the proper conduct and sustenance of her common schools. Every importunate effort in any other direction contributes to lessen her selfreliance and her self-respect in regard to her schools. Yet there are legitimate claims that the Commonwealth has upon the General Government, which in no sense should be ignored by your honorable body or disregarded by your obedient servant. In virtue of the large and unavailing surplus in the Treasury of the United States, the following "suggestions" were prepared and published by the superintendent for the special consideration of the last General Assembly, and as they are of equal force at present, they are caly reproduced:

"In the common school report for 1880-81, pages 218-222, the origin of the school fund is succinctly recited. It will be seen that under the Deposit Act of June 23, 1836, Kentucky received $1,433,757.39 from the General Government, that sum constituting the three instalments. The fourth instalment, calling for $477,919.13, has never been paid, or, in other words, has never been deposited, as the law clearly requires. According to the act of Congress the deposits were subject to call in ratable sums by the Secretary of the Treasury if wanted to meet appropriations by law. These instalments have never been called for, and no law has ever been enacted by Congress preventing the payment of the fourth instalment. It is still due, and there is a large surplus in the public treasury at Washington. That amount should be legally collected and added to the common school fund of this Commonwealth.

"Kentucky has suffered largely by the late war. According to the United States tensus of 1880 as compared with that of 1860, in assessed valuation of property there was

a decline in this Commonweath of 34 per cent., or $177,648,722. In simple terms, 'the loyal State of Kentucky' was subjected to the sacrifice of more than one-third of her property in support of the Federal Government in the late war. She has sustained this loss, while her sister States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois have, respectively, enjoyed for the same period an increase of 60 per cent., 77 per cent., and 102 per cent. in assessed valuation of property.

"In common with all the late slave States, Kentucky has not only suffered from the deprivation and depreciation of property, but has had imposed upon her a mass of illiterate freedmen, whose descendants must be educated for citizenship, and as mixed schools' will not be tolerated in the South, a dual system is a necessity in every Southern State, thus imposing an extraordinary burden in the way of additional taxation upon the white citizens. In Kentucky, for the school year ending June 30, 1883, they apportioned for the support of colored teachers $92,845.36, while the colored people contributed only $16,661.19, the entire revenue derived from them. This is not stated in reproach to the colored people, but simply in justice to the white tax-payers.

"It is not the province of the superintendent to say what other Southern States should do, but in regard to Kentucky, and in virtue of the foregoing statement, he respectfully suggests the following:

"First. That, inasmuch as there is a large surplus revenue reported to be in the United States Treasury, which is not needed for the ordinary expenses of the Government and is not demanded for the payment of any portion of its debts, and inasmuch as 'the fourth instalment' has not been paid to Kentucky for common school purposes, the General Assembly take such steps as may be necessary for the proper consideration of the matter. It should be added that Virginia and other States are moving in the same direction.

"Second. In consideration of the facts stated above, and that Kentucky has annually and largely contributed to the creation of the surplus revenue in the Federal Treasury by the regular payment of taxes thereto, she is in a position to expect, as a moral and political obligation, her legitimate quota of such surplus, independently of all form of subsidy or of compromise of her inherent rights as a State.

"Third. Creation involves the obligation of legitimate preservation. Inasmuch as a large additional citizenship, with equal political rights and privileges, but of unequal material, had been created in Kentucky by the power of the Federal Government, and in view of all the facts given, the superintendent suggests that such steps shall be taken as shall lay before said Government that which is due, both to the white and the colored citizens of the Commonwealth, in regard to the necessities of the common school system of Kentucky.

"Attention is invited to the following compendium from the United States census of 1880 in regard to Kentucky:

In response to the proposition concerning the "fourth instalment" indicated above, the honorable joint committee on education favored the "suggestion;" the superintendent accordingly drew up a bill covering the whole ground, which duly became an act of the General Assembly, approved April 12, 1884.

In accordance with the second "suggestion," a bill, drawn also by the superintendent, guarding the character and credit of the Commonwealth in the event of national aid to common schools, was introduced in the senate, and finally, by executive approval, became a law on the 12th of May, 1884.

No special action was directly taken in regard to the third "suggestion;" but as Kentucky was always rated and ranked as "a loyal State" by the General Government, and in view of her heavy loss in property, her slaves alone being assessed in 1860 by the proper State officers at $109,876,402, and that she is maintaining, as already shown, at the expense of her white schools a system of common schools for the very descendants of those slaves, the superintendent hereby suggests," as a matter of law and as a measure of relief, that these facts be duly represented to the General Government. A low rate of interest on one-tenth of the value of the emancipated slaves of the "loyal citizens" of the State would, with the present census of pupil children, maintain the system of colored schools, with a fair appropriation for the building of school-houses. The State would compensate for the increase of the school census. This plan is entirely practicable by the execution of a bond by the General Governinent in favor of the Commonwealth, draw