Number of Males 10 or More Years Old in the South, in 1880, Employed and not Employed in Gainful Occupations.

Number of Females 10 or More Years Old in the North, in 1880, Employed and not Employed in Gainful Occupations.

Number of Females 10 or More Years Old in the South, in 18380, Employed and not Employed in Gainful Occupations.

Reducing the numbers of the "totals" in these four tables to parts in 1,000, it is manifest that the proportion of people, both male and female, at work in the South was greater than the same class in the North. In 1,000 males, 10 or more years of age:

It is not implied that labor in the South is as regular, as judiciously applied, or as effective as labor in the North; doubtless in many cases it is more unmethodical, and still oftener less profitable; but it is there and at work, in spite of all disadvantages of climate and all previous conditions of life. The smaller wealth and scantier leisure of the South are shown particularly in the greater proportion of females employed, and still more specially in the very large number engaged in agricultural pursuits. This applies more particularly to the colored population, which is almost entirely engaged in that branch of industry. As fast as education renders the masses in the South more apt in the performance of diversified labor, and as soon as manufacturing and mechanical industries suitable to their strength are developed and brought near their homes, we shall see a gradual transferrence of Southern laborers from the farm and field to other kinds of toil. But this is yet distant; and the South must always, in the future as in the past, be mainly an agricultural country.

These remarks do only partial justice to the situation in 1880; but perhaps what has been said is enough to show that the burden of public education in the South is a real and heavy one. I believe that the history of the past decade will show that, though heavy, it has been cheerfully borne, and will exhibit more favorable conditions.

The facts and relations shown by the figures given above demand certainly the serious attention of all persons interested in the public welfare, and most especially of all charged with the conduct of public affairs. If popular education be indeed the safeguard, and popular lib. erty the bulwark of a free government, it is a matter of grave concern if one section of the country be found struggling against disparities in the effort to secure this protection and defense. The inequalities which have been pointed out are so interwoven with all the social and business interests of the different sections that it is impossible to indicate either the extent to which equality of educational provision is possible, or the means by which it may be accomplished.

Judged by the experience of other communities the industrial condi tion of the South as disclosed by the census, is the most hopeful augury for the free school system. In the North industry, thrift, and liberty have found their natural outcome in a general demand for knowledge, and in determined efforts for the supply of that demand. Is it not reasonable to look for the same results in the South? Indeed her attitude with respect to that issue need no longer be simply that of hope or expectancy.

SOURCES OF SCHOOL REVENUE.

The firm hold which the free school has taken in Southern communities, as a matter for local action, is an important fact in the detailed record of the year. For proof of this statement I need only refer to a single page of that record. Table 13, Chapter III, shows the relative importance of the various sources of school revenue. From this it appears that there are twenty-four States and five Territories in which the

local tax exceeds all other sources of revenue. Nine of these States are included in the group which I bave classed as the South, as against thirteen belonging to the group which I have called the North.

But the experience of the States to which we instinctively turn for guidance in the progressive conduct of the school system, discloses also the importance of another principle of action. From the nature of things, local effort can not be uniform, nor in all cases sufficient. Hence communities are found combining their efforts to secure equal diffusion of educational privileges. This principle of combined action is illustrated in the levy of a general tax, by means of which the whole people contribute to the support of public education in the entire State. By reference to Table 13 it will be seen that, with two exceptions, the States here classed as the North levy such a tax, and that in three States of the group it yields the larger portion of the school revenues. It is a more important source of revenue in the States classed as the South. In seven of these the State tax yields more than half the support of the schools, while in three only does it afford less than one-fourth of the

revenue.

It is easy to demonstrate the absolute necessity of both local and State taxation, and to show further that under certain conditions national aid may properly be invoked for the educational necessities of particular regions. This may be done either by a specific appropriation or by the appropriation of the proceeds of the sales of the public. lands, and in either case the effect would be the same.

The adjustment of the two principles of public action here pointed out, their due development, and their ju dicious application, are among the great problems which are forced upon our thoughtful attention at the present time.

THE RECORD OF THE YEAR.

The educational record of the year is presented and discussed in the succeeding chapters of this Report. It is an interesting and suggestive, and in many respects a remarkable record. Its importance is indicated by the large amount of money and property involved in the operations of the various scholastic agencies, and by the statistics showing the number of children and youth brought under their influences. The expenditure for public education amounted to $122,455,000 in round numbers, and more than twelve million children were enrolled in the schools, of whom eight millions were in average attendance.

The progress of this system is marked not only by the increase in material resources, teaching force, and average attendance, but also by improvements in the spirit and methods of the work.

MANUAL TRAINING.

Among the most important of these improvements is the introduction of manual training in many cities and towns. The conflict of opinion developed in the discussion of this subject arises in a measure from the widely different experiments to which the term is applied. Thoughtful

men deprecate all movements which threaten to transform the common schools, or any grade of the common schools, into instruments for industrial training in the sense of trade teaching. On the other hand, all, even the most conservative, admit that the education of the children should involve the exercise of the mind, the eye, and the hand. Upon their systematic training depends the complete development of the individual, as well as his complete preparation for industrial life. The adoption of constructive exercises as a part and parcel of our common school methods, is a movement along lines laid down by Rabelais, Comenius, Pestalozzi, and other great philosophers. It is a movement which accords with sound principles; it tends toward methods of instruction applicable to many branches of study, and yielding larger results with less friction and less waste of time than is possible in the use of purely mental exercises; but the movement should be so guarded as not to confuse or obscure the distinctions between general and particular ends in education. The great purpose of popular education is the elevation of the people, which depends upon intellectual activity and spiritual insight, rather than upon skill. As expressed by Dr. W. T. Harris in a discriminating discussion on the "Psychology of Manual Training":

Man elevates himself above the brute creation by his ability to withdraw his attention from the external world of the senses and give attention to energies, forces, producing causes, and principles. He can, in short, look from the particular to the general. He sees the particular object by his sense-perception, and reflects upon its casual processes by his intellect. Insight into the cause enables him to anticipate perception and to reinforce it. Thus without losing the particular he grasps together the whole realm of the particular in the general, in mastering the cause of anything he grasps together and comprehends an indefinite series of effects. The senses perceive the particular thing or object, but the reason perceives the casual energy by reflection and introspection.

These different effects are perfectly clear to educators who, as regards manual training, differ chiefly in their opinions as to its educational value. It will not be easy to determine whether these differences of opinion are radical or not, until precise meaning is given to the expression. A notable endeavor to fix the meaning of the term "manual training" has been made in a report by Nicholas Murray Butler, chairman of the Committee on Manual Training of the New Jersey Council of Education, one of the leading advocates of the system. In this report he said:

Manual training

is instruction in thought-expression by means other than verbal language and gesture. It includes necessarily instruction in delineation and instruction in constructive work; whether or not the tools commonly used for working wood and iron shall be employed for the purpose of giving a part of this instruction in constructive work is a mere incident. We are of opinion that the educational value of proper instruction in the use of tools has been fully proven; but it is not to be supposed that the means of giving instruction in manual training will not improve and develop, as text-books, maps, and other school-room apparatus have improved and developed.

Mr. Butler then goes on to declare that manual training is only an ex