oner and the proper conditions of his reformation and transformation into an industrious and worthy citizen may require that he should be put at a different kind of labor." It is true that contract labor is rapidly becoming a thing of yesterday, but now as it passes out of existence, in each particular instance, the superintendents are compelled to see even this wretched substitute for industrial training taken from their school without means to provide the proper kind, and are inclined to think, with the superintendent of the Illinois school, that "the money required to carry on such industries with but little prospect of profitable return on a currency basis is the only apparent obstacle to technological labor in a reform school."

As a trade, properly so-called, for boys detained in a reform school, shoemaking is the most extensively followed, carpentry coming far behind in point of numbers, the percentages being 12 and 3 respectively of the total number reported. If the decided manifestations of a desire to introduce manual training into these schools, for industrial pur

poses, continues this great disparity will soon disappear. There is this, however, to be said in favor of shoemaking as opposed to manual training, it is a trade. When the student is dismissed he has learned, his term of confinement and the character of the instruction permitting, to do one thing and not the underlying principles of all mechanical things. In a word, he has a means of livelihood.

In the column headed agriculture" we find about 2,000 pupils, 27 per cent. of the whole number. Whether these boys can be said to be learning a trade, i. e., making themselves proficient in a useful occupation, or are merely to be considered as employed about the farm, (these schools have very generally that feature to occupy their time) is more than this Office can say. It would seem that the agricultural instruction given is very far from being that which obtains at real agricultural schools.

Nearly 59 per cent. of the pupils, boys and girls, are not in the three occupations which the Office, rightly or wrongly, supposed to be the most generally followed when making up its form of inquiry. There are 12 remarkable instances of this divergency, and we proceed to investigate them.

In the case of the Connecticut Reform School the great majority of the boys are employed at cane-seating, 225 for the present year, and it seems to be very much the same at the Maine School at Cape Elizabeth. At the St. Mary's School 144 of the pupils are employed in cigar-making and 104 in tailoring and 14 in the printing office. At the Michigan School printing is taught and the boys are employed in mending the clothes worn by the inmates and in making the repairs incidental to the heating and lighting of the building. At the Newark City Home brush-making is extensively followed. At the New York Juvenile Asylum tailoring is taught; at the New York House of Refuge hosiery and painting, and at the Catholic Protectory tailoring, printing, and cane-seating. At the Ohio Industrial School brush-making, hosiery, printing, and tailoring are taught. At the Pennsylvania Reform School brush-making is taught to a large number. At the Sockanosset School brush-making, printing, and tailoring are taught, and at the Vermont School cane-seating is the only occupation. In the greater number, if not all, of these schools the pupils do the baking, laundry work, etc.; these, however, can hardly be called trades.

We have hinted above of the encouraging growth of real technological instruction in these schools (polytechnic shops as the Ohio School superintendent calls his) stimulated by the agitation of the subject of “manual training” in the community and the abrogation, gradual but sure, of the contract system. We can not discuss this growth here, but will return to the subject in future reports.

In considering the columns in which are given the instructors, classified by sex, it appears that the female element in many instances is quite prominent in schools for boys only.

In our opinion Column 8 is the most important of the table; but as it has been introduced here merely as a complement to Column 9 we will confine ourselves first to discussing the two as one whole and then the latter by itself.

About 78 per cent. of the schools reporting devote from eight to ten hours daily to school and to shop or other work. Of these about a third require eight but less than nine hours of mental or manual employment. In a number of cases the time is equally divided; where a disparity occurs most frequently the longer time is in the column showing the duration of work in industries. We note that at the Burnham Industrial Farm, the establishment of which we had the pleasure of noting in our last report, that five and a half hours are devoted to school and four to industrial work, and at the Massachusetts Primary School the periods for school and shop are respectively five and three and a half. The time given at the several institutions to industrial employments in 78 per cent. of the schools is from four to six hours. Of these the cases in which the time is four but less than five hours are about one-third of the whole number. In the manual training school, where half of the day is spent in the shop, the time is about two hours at physical labor; in the public schools of lower grade the time is much less.

"INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS."

The somewhat anomalous class of schools contained in the following table are mostly for the poor and friendless. There are many more of them from which statistics have not been received; indeed the list could be swelled indefinitely. The life of these schools is rather ephemeral in many instances, and their character more distinctly indicated by the word "protective" than by "educational" or "industrial." Owing their foundation and maintenance to private charity, they differ considerably in methods of management and government. The character of the schools as charitable institutions indicates a strong religious sentiment in the persons by whom they are supported, and it is only natural to suppose that in them the spiritual as well as the intellectual and physical needs of the pupil is cared for.

To classify the immense number of schools of this and several similar kinds will be one of the duties of the Office during the ensuing year.

II. TRADE SCHOOLS.

Three important schools have been established during the year-the Williamson School, to be located either in or near Philadelphia, the Rindge School of Cambridge, Mass., and the Pratt Institute of Brooklyn.

THE WILLIAMSON SCHOOL.

The plans and purposes of Mr. G. V. Williamson, who lately announced his purpose to establish and endow a great trade school, are fully set forth in the statement which he has caused to be published in Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Company for Insurance on Lives and Granting Annuities is made the fiscal trustee to hold the fund with which the school is endowed. This fund consists of securities amounting, at their par value, to $1,596,000, but of an estimated worth of $2,225,000. This fund, under the deed of trust, is to be appraised and then divided as nearly as may be into two parts. One-fifth is to be composed of securities which are easily and advantageously salable, and will constitute the building fund. The remaining four-fifths will go to the endowment fund. With the consent of the seven trustees the fiscal trustee is empowered to sell any securities and reinvest the proceeds as may seem desirable. Provision is made for the merging of any funds that may hereafter be devised or given to the school.

A body of land not exceeding 300 acres is to be purchased, lying either in Philadelphia or in Bucks, Delaware, or Montgomery Counties, but there is a further provision that not more than $400 per acre shall be paid. After giving directions for the selection of a healthy neighborhood and the erection of fire-proof buildings, the deed says:

"I leave to the judgment and discretion of the trustees the character, number, and extent of the said buildings to be erected, but, as the great object to be attained is to board, lodge, clothe, educate, and instruct in mechanical trades those who, when arrived at manhood, will be obliged to labor with their hands for their support, I particularly direct that all palatial structures, expensive materials, and elaborate ornamentation or decoration shall be avoided, so that the scholars may not, by reason of luxurious or expensive accommodations and surroundings, acquire tastes or habits which may unfit them for their trades in the sphere of life in which their lots are to be cast."

After referring to the appointment of teachers, officers, and agents, all of whom are to be selected by the trustees, specifications are given as to the admission requirements. "When the school is prepared to receive scholars, the trustees shall from time to time receive and admit to the school as scholars as many able-bodied and healthy young male persons of good moral character, of such ages between 12 and 18 years, as may from time to time be determined by the trustees, as in the opinion of the trustees the extent, capacity, and income of the school will provide for. Preference shall be given in the admission of scholars: First, to those born in the city of Philadelphia; second, to those born in the county of Bucks, State of Pennsylvania; third, to those born in Montgomery or Delaware Counties, Pennsylvania; fourth, to those born elsewhere in Pennsylvania; fifth, to those born in the State of New Jersey; sixth, to those born elsewhere in the United States. And in all cases, other things being equal in the order of preference, the preference shall always be given to the poor. But I especially direct that no scholar who has been properly admitted with reference to the order of preference shall thereafter be displaced to make way for any later or subsequent applicant who may be higher in the order of preference hereinabove directed to be observed. And the decision of the trustees as to the number of scholars to be admitted, and as to the conflicting claims of any or all rival candidates for admission, shall be final and conclusive upon all parties. All scholars admitted to the school shall be bound as indentured apprentices to the trustees, by their parents or guardians or other competent authority, for such respective periods as the trustees may from time to time determine; provided, that no indenture shall be for less than three years nor extend beyond the minority of the scholar.

"Each and every scholar shall be be compelled to learn and be thoroughly instructed in one good mechanical trade, so that when they leave the school on the completion of their indentures they may be able to support themselves by the labor of their own hands. I leave it to the discretion of the trustees the selection of the several kinds of mechanical trades to be taught, and the determination of the particular one that shall be taught to and acquired by each scholar, but I particularly desire that the taste, capacity, intelligence, and adaptability of each scholar be ascertained and considered before assigning him to any particular trade.

'Among the trades which may be taught are those of a baker, blacksmith, bricklayer, butcher, cabinet-maker, car builder, carpenter, carriage-maker, coppersmith, the crafts of constructing, managing, and repairing electrical appliances and apparatus, foundryman, gasfitter, goldbeater, harness-maker, hatter, locksmith, machinist, marble mason, moulder, painter, paper hanger, pattern-maker, plasterer, plumber, printer, saddler, shoemaker, steam engineer, slater, stone-cutter, stone-mason, tailor, tiller, tinsmith, turner, wheelwright, and many others. In mentioning these several trades I

do not intend to make it obligatory upon the trustees to teach all of them, nor do I intend to exclude any of those which are not mentioned, and I authorize the trustees, to the extent that the cultivation, care, and adornment of the lands and grounds connected with the school will admit, to instruct such of the scholars as show taste and capacity for the occupation in the art of farming and gardening, or either.

"I desire and direct that the moral and religious training of the scholars shall be properly looked after and cared for by the trustees, but there shall be no attempt by the trustees at proselytism among the scholars, and no favoritism shown by the trustees to any particular sect or creed. I especially direct that each scholar shall be taught to speak the truth at all times, and I particularly direct and charge as an imperative duty upon the trustees that each and every scholar shall be thoroughly trained to habits of frugality, economy, and industry, as, above all others, the one great lesson which I desire to have impressed upon every scholar and inmate of the school is that in this country every able-bodied, healthy young man who has learned a good mechanical trade, and is truthful, honest, frugal, temperate, and industrious, is certain to succeed in life, and to become a useful and respected member of society."

Provisions are also made for the publication of the trustees' accounts in the newspapers in order that the condition of the institution may be full known, and it is further provided that a record shall be kept of graduates, showing their occupations and facts bearing on their success in the world for at least ten years.

THE RINDGE SCHOOL.

The object of the Rindge School, lately presented to the city of Cambridge, Mass., is thus indicated by the donor:

"I wish the plain arts of industry to be taught in this school. I wish the school to be especially for boys of average talents, who may in it learn how their arms and hands can earn food, clothing, and shelter for themselves; how, after a while, they can support a family and a home; and how the price of these blessings is faithful industry, no bad habits, and wise economy, which price, by the way, is not dear. I wish also that in it they may become accustomed to being under authority, and be now and then instructed in the laws that govern health and nobility of character. I urge that admittance to said school be given only to strong boys who will grow up to be able workingmen. Strict obedience to such a rule would tend to make parents careful in the training of their young, as they would know that their boys would be deprived of the benefits of said school unless they were able-bodied. I think the industrial school would thus graduate many young men who would prove themselves useful citizens."

MORAL FEATURES OF THESE SCHOOLS.

It will be observed that both Mr. Williamson and Mr. Rindge discriminate as to the condition of the boys to be admitted to their respective schools. First, they are to be able-bodied; secondly, in the Williamson School there are to be taught those mechanical trades which will enable "those who, when arrived at manhood, will be obliged to labor with their hands for their support" to gain a livelihood, and all tending to unfit them for "their trades in the sphere of life in which their lots are to be cast" is to be avoided, and in the Rindge School the benefits are "for boys of average talents who may in it learn how their arms and hands can earn food, clothing, and shelter for themselves." At the Williamson School "each and every scholar shall be compelled to learn and be thoroughly instructed in one good mechanical trade," not in the underlying principles of all trades. Not only is the trade instruction to be definite, thus securing the graduate inimediate rather than potential ability, but it is especially directed by Mr. Williamson that habits of frugality, economy, and industry be inculcated, as the one great lesson above all others which the founder desires to impress upon those for whom he is providing is "that in this country every able-bodied, healthy young man who has learned a good mechanical trade, and is truthful, honest, frugal, temperate, and industrious, is certain to succeed in life, and become a useful and respected member of society:" and Mr. Rindge says the same. It requires something more than a trade to succeed, those gentlemen think.

The two practical business men whose schools we have just spoken of emphasize industry, frugality, and honesty as the price-which, by the way, is not dear, says Mr. Rindge of success. A third, also a founder of a recently-established industrial school, equally a public benefactor and a successful man of business--it will be remembered that we are not speaking of academic or peripatetic philosophers or those thinkers who, as Sir George Cornewall Lewis says, write history as though a popular assembly were not to be seen-would emphasize another, if possible, still more important element of success, and that is self-respect. The magnificent creation of Mr. Pratt "offers its advantages to those only who propose to do their own part earnestly and well. Its aim is to aid those who are willing to aid themselves. Its classes, work-shops, library, reading-room, and museum are for this purpose, and while tuition is required, yet it will be the endeavor to make possible by some means consistent with self-helpfulness and self-respect the admission of every worthy applicant."