school warrants, an evil which has annually deprived teachers of thousands of dollars and proportionally decreased the aggregate value of their services.

For other information relating to Mississippi consult the Index.

MISSOURI.

From Report for 1886-87 of State Superintendent W. E. Coleman.]

NEW LEGISLATION.

The last General Assembly, while making no radical changes in the school law, passed some valuable amendments, among which are the following:

Formation of districts.-The section relating to the formation of new districts and to the change of boundary lines, was greatly improved by simplifying the language and rendering the law more definite in its requirements.

Change of date of school census.-As the apportionment of State school moneys is made in July, the time for making the enumeration was changed from June to the first fifteen days in May, so that the county clerks can make their annual reports before the State moneys are apportioned; this enables the State and county apportionment to be made upon the enumeration in May of the same year.

Colored schools.-The three sections relating to colored schools were repealed and two new sections enacted, which outline the duties of the school boards in unmistakable language. Whenever there are 15 colored children within any school district, they are entitled to the same school facilities as are provided for the white children of the district; but when there are less than 15 in any district, they can attend any colored school in the county, and the board in the district from whence they come must pay for such attendance.

Powers of town and city boards.-The powers of town and city boards were enlarged, by giving them the authority to continue their schools for a term of not less than 7 nor more than 10 months in the year; by authorizing them to locate additional school sites after the first site has been located by the people; by authorizing them "as soon as the funds are provided" to establish an adequate number of primary or school wards, and furnish the same; and by authorizing them to loan any surplus "sinking fund," and apply the interest thereon to augment the said "sinking fund.”

Normal school diplomas.—A diploma, granted by any one of our State normal schools, upon completion of the full course therein, is made authority for the holder thereof to teach in the public schools of the State without further examination by any authorized examiner, until said authority is revoked by the county commissioner, State superintendent, or the board that issued such diploma, for causes therein set forth.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

Among the changes in the school law recommended by Superintendent Coleman in the present report are the following:

(1) The establishment of efficient county supervision. ignored by the General Assembly at its last session. (2) Making the minimum school term 6 months.

This matter was entirely

(3) The enactment of a law enforcing the provision of the State constitution forbidding the appropriation of public funds for any sectarian purpose or in aid of any sectarian institution.

Tins law is being violated daily in many of the public schools of the State, and it reits in prejudice and open opposition to the public schools in those communities where it is practised.

The law should specify definitely in what language instruction in the primary schools must be given; two languages cannot be taught, in these schools, at the same ume, without great detriment to the teaching of English.

ARBOR DAY.

The 15th day of last April was observed by hundreds of school districts as Arbor Day, and thousands of trees and shrubs were planted in the school yards. It has been such > dry season that many of the trees did not live; besides, it was apparent that the date fred was too late, therefore this date will be observed hereafter on Friday following the annual school meeting, which will be the first Friday after the first Tuesday in April; structions are given to this effect in the school law; and April 6, 1888, will be observed "Arbor Day."

For other information in this Report concerning education in Missouri consult the

ΜΟΝΤΑΝΑ.

Governor Leslie, in his report to the Secretary of the Interior for 1897, makes the following remarks upon education and school lands in Montana: "Montana is justly proud of her public and private schools. Liberal provision is made by direct taxation for the support of public schools, and good buildings have been erected for these people's colleges in all the populated portions of the Territory. Our cities and towns have substantial, commodious, and even elegant school buildings, and the most approved systems of graded schools, kept up for the larger part of the year. In fact, these schools will compare favorably with the schools in towns of equal size in any of the States. These public schools are supported by direct county and district taxes, and penal fines for violation of Territorial laws.

"The county taxes can not be less than 3 mills nor more than 5 mills per dollar on the valuation of all taxable property. Districts may vote additional taxes for building, apparatus, and salaries of teachers.

The amount of school money raised by direct taxation during the last year was $223,871, and from fines in various courts $6,466, making for public schools, $230,337.”

SCHOOL LANDS.

"Montana has been the home of the white man only a fraction over a quarter of a century; her people have no school fund except as they draft upon their estates by the process of taxation. The General Government has heretofore donated to our people for school purposes lands which consist of the 16 and 36 sections of each township and 72 sections for the support of a State university. But these lands are still held by the giver, and Montana has no title to or control over them. They have been selected and designated, so that the school mark is upon them. It therefore appears to be appropriate for me to ask your attention to this most sacred trust, involving the intelligence and virtue of the future population of this promising Commonwealth.

"I am advised, and believe the information to be true, that very much of these lands has been seized by certain persons, who have them fenced up and live upon them, and in this and other ways are appropriating and consuming their products, greatly to the injury and tending much to the destruction of this valuable school property, and I am assured that this species of taking for private uses of the wrong-doer has been going on for a number of years.

"Moreover it is a fact that already some portions of these school lands have been lost, in this, that a portion of them were found to have been appropriated before they were surveyed and designated for school or university purposes; and still another portion was taken as mineral lands.

"I ask for the people of Montana that such action be taken as will insure the immediate expulsion from these lands of every person who is engaged in their occupancy, cultivation, or selfish appropriation in any way, and that ample provision be made for their oversight and protection against trespass and spoliation."

For other information concerning education in Montana consult the Index.

NEBRASKA.

Reference is made to the Index for the statistical and other inforniation concerning education in Nebraska contained in this Report.

NEVADA.

State Superintendent W. C. Dovey writes as follows: "During the year there has been a revival of interest in educational matters, both among teachers and the public generally.

"The State teachers' institute, held at Reno during Thanksgiving week, was the largest, most successful, and most profitable ever held in this State. Many teachers came from a distance of more than 200 miles to attend the meeting. A State teachers' association was organized, which already embraces in its membership a majority of all the teachers in Nevada. From three to four meetings will be held each year in different parts of the State, besides State teachers' institutes. One of the chief objects of the association is to arouse public interest in education, to the end that much needed legislation may be secured thereby.

**County supervision in Nevada is a failure, and must remain so as long as county superintendents receive an annual salary of from three to four hundred dollars only. My

predecessor, Hon. C. S. Young, made vigorous and persistent efforts to secure through the Legislature reform in county supervision, but without avail, for the session of the Legislature which met in January, 1887, passed an act making district attorneys cx officio county superintendents, thus destroying the last vestige of county supervision. Let us hope, if we can, that this retrograde legislation may produce, by its excessive viciousDess, a reformation so long deferred."

For other information relating to education in Nevada contained in this Report consalt the Index.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

[From Report for 1886-87 of State Superintendent J. W. Patterson.]

RESULTS OF THE CHANGE TO THE TOWN SYSTEM.

The present State report affords material for a study of the results of the compulsory change from the district to the town system, under the law of 1885. It is found that the number of school districts has been reduced from 1,890 to 275, and that the number of districts organized under special acts is only 46, which is six less than were reported the previous year. There has been a decrease of 494 schools numbering 12 scholars or less,schools that were not needed, but were necessarily kept up at a wasteful expenditure of public funds under the old system. Included in this number there were a few schools ambering more than 12 scholars. From the same cause, the average length of the schools for the whole State the past year has been 22,39 weeks, while the previous year we had but 20.37 weeks.

If we multiply this average increase of 2.02 by 2,276, the number of schools in the State, we shall have 4,598, which shows the total number of weeks of increase which the Dew law has given to the schools of the State.

The length of the village schools has not materially varied from previous years, but the outlying schools have increased, in towns which have united their small schools, from one-third to double their former length.

The number of enrolled scholars given in the report of 1886 is 64,219, while this year we have only 60,770. This apparent decrease has resulted from the opening of parochial schools, and from the more accurate returns of the school boards.

The number of teachers employed in the public schools under the new law is 679 less than under the old. The average wages of male teachers per month the past year has been $11.03. The year previous it was $40.22. The average wages of female teachers the past year has been $24.46 per month, as against $23.56 the year before. There have been 154 towns in which teachers from normal schools have been employed the past year, and only 142 the year previous. The average attendance to each school of the State has increased from 16.16 in 1886 to 18.73 in 1887. These are some of the results of the new law.

The new school law has run the gauntlet of misrepresentation and abuse for a year, and has come forth stronger in itself and in the number of its friends than when it entered upon its course. No law ever encountered, at the outset, bitterer or more groundless prejudices than this, and none ever disarmed opposition more quickly, and denronstrated its power to benefit the State.

The town reports, with hardly an exception,--and many of them were prepared by beards hostile to the law when elected,-comment favorably upon the results of the new #yem. There has been a more equitable distribution of educational opportunities than armerly, and, as a rule, better teachers have been employed and more careful superVision given to their work.

FREE TEXT-BOOKS.

By an act passed in 1883, any town or district may, at any lawful meeting, raise money, by taxation or otherwise, for supplying the scholars in the common schools with suitaNe text-books free of charge. A number of towns and cities in the State have adopted the law, and have been more than satisfied with the results. It has been found that thool boards could purchase books for all the schools at less than two-thirds the cost private parties; that the plan gave to boards an easy method of securing a uniform stem of text-books; enabled them to reduce the number of classes to reasonable limits, and so enhance the educational value of a majority of the schools.

Superintendent Patterson recommends that the free text-book law be made compulwry instead of permissive, that the schools may become more absolutely free to the your, and more efficient and beneficial to all.

The law is popular with teachers, parents, and scholars wherever it has been tested, i would seem to be the next step in the line of progress. With this system it will be ier to establish consecutive courses of study, now impossible by reason of a multitude diferent books and classes, and the scholars will be ready for work on the first day of

SANITARY SURVEY OF SCHOOL-HOUSES.

A sanitary survey of the school-houses of New Hampshire was commenced by the State board of health about 2 years ago. A blank book containing 50 questions was prepared and sent directly to the teachers. In addition to the questions, a sketch of the ground plan of the house was asked for, and a page divided into squares was appended in order that the teacher might be able to draw the plan readily to any given scale.

The questions embraced all the important points connected with school-house sanitation. The size of the school-house, also the size of the different rooms, was obtained by actual measurement, and by a comparison of these in the report their accuracy was in a measure proved. Reports were received from 1,228 school-houses.

A study of these reports proves conclusively that the school-houses of the State were constructed without any reference to the amount of air space which science and experience have proved necessary for the welfare of the pupil. The average cubic air space per seat for all the schools reported upon is 173.8 feet, whereas 250 is the smallest tolerated by any standard authority, and then should be accompanied by suitable provisions for ventilation, a condition not fulfilled by the school-houses of New Hampshire. The average cubic air space per seat does not reach 250 feet in a single county in the State, the nearest approach to it being in Hillsborough County, where it is 244 feet.

The amount of lighting or window area necessary for a school-room has been variously estimated at from one-sixth to one-third of the floor space. In 1,068 school-rooms in New Hampshire, however, the lighting area is less than 16 per cent. of the floor area, and in 488 rooms it does not exceed 10 per cent., and in 26 rooms it is 5 per cent. and under. Moreover, the windows are badly placed. If it had been the direct object to destroy the eyesight of the pupils, better plans could not have been produced than evidently exist in regard to location of windows in these rooms. The arrangement in most of the rooms is abominable, and can not fail to have an exceedingly bad effect upon the eyesight of the scholars. In 402 rooms there are windows directly in front of the pupils, a condition which should be prohibited by the strictest law. In 271 rooms light is admitted from all sides, and in 781 from three sides.

It is universally conceded, continues Superintendent Patterson, by all experts in school hygiene that, whenever possible, light should be admitted from one side only, and in no case from more than two sides of the room. In the latter case it must be in such a manner as not to produce cross lights.

Under the circumstances, then, it is no wonder that 600 near-sighted pupils are reported.

The condition of the public school-houses with regard to water supply, privies, cellars, heating, and drainage is equally unsatisfactory; in short, it may be said without exaggeration that the revelations of these reports are well calculated to excite alarm in the minds of persons sensible of the importance of good sanitary surroundings for school children.

Reference is made to the Index for other information concerning education in New Hampshire contained in this Report.

NEW JERSEY.

NEW LEGISLATION.

Consolidation of school districts.-The State board of education, upon the application of a majority of the trustees of each of the school districts of a township, not exceeding 4 square miles in area, may consolidate such districts into one school district. In each consolidated township district there are to be elected six school trustees, or two from each ward if divided into wards. Such trustees are to be subject to all the provisions of the law relating to district trustees now in force.

Loans to cities.-Any city may borrow money, not exceeding in the aggregate $30,000, for the purchase of land and buildings for schools, and give bonds therefor.

Expenditures by cities.-Any city may raise by taxation and expend annually for current purposes a sum which, together with the State apportionment, shall be equal to $15 per capita of average number enrolled.

Industrial education.-Whenever in any school district there shall have been raised, by special tax or by subscription, or by both, not less than $1,000 (instead of $3,000, as heretofore), for the establishment of a school or schools for industrial education, or for the purpose of adding industrial education to the course of study pursued in the public schools, there shall be appropriated by the State a like amount; also the State shall appropriate annually for the maintenance of such school or study a sum equal to that appropriated by the district, not exceeding $5,000 in any one year.

Right of women to vote.-Women shall have the right to vote at any school meeting in any school district where they may reside.

School district bonds.-The bonds of the several school districts shall be a lien upon the real and personal estates of the inhabitants of said districts, as well as upon the property of the districts. District clerks shall report to the State superintendent each year the condition of the district indebtedness.

For other information contained in this Report concerning education in New Jersey consult the Index.

NEW MEXICO.

[From Educational Report of Trinidad Alarid, Territorial Auditor, for 1886–87.]

No complete statistics of education in New Mexico have been collected since the United States census of 1880. Those given in the educational report of the Territorial auditor for 1886-87, a summary of which appears below, are not only very defective as regards the number of counties reporting, but bear internal evidence of unreliability. The school population (five to twenty years) is less than that reported by the census of 1880, one county reporting a school population of only one-fourth of the enrolment. Sierra County reports an average daily attendance more than three times as large as the enrolment.

Superintendent Parker, of that county, makes some very pertinent suggestions tending to more complete and accurate reports by teachers and school officials.

The above figures, incomplete and unsatisfactory as they are, establish the fact that there has been within a few years a notable improvement in educational affairs in New Mexico. The enrolment in nine counties during the past year was nearly three times great as that of the whole Territory in 1880, and a corresponding advance in other respects may be noted. Seven years ago there existed scarcely anything deserving the mame of a public school system; only about 4 per cent. of the population were enrolled in the public schools against an average of over 20 per cent. for the United States. There are now probably about 12 per cent. enrolled, and a well-defined school law in operation which will serve as a stimulus to the further development of an organized and unified system.

PRESENT CONDITION.

In regard to the present condition of the schools Governor Ross says in his annual repert: There has been a marked improvement in the educational affairs of the Territery during the past year. There is a growing appreciation among the native people of the necessity and advantages of acquiring an education in the English language, and the American methods of thought and of business and general affairs. "A compulsory school law was enacted by the last Legislative Assembly, which, though rade, is a step in the right direction, and its general effects will be good. The number of pablic schools has been largely increased throughout the Territory, and the attendance proved correspondingly, as has also the general morale of the system. The public