TABLE 96.-Statistics of Reform Schools for 1887-88; from Replies to Inquiries by the United States Bureau of Education.-PART III. San Francisco, Cal Washington, D. C.. South Evanston, Ill., Plainfield, Ind.. 9 North Topeka, Kans... 13 15 16 Boston, Mass.. 17 Boston, Mass.. 18 Lancaster, Mass 19 Lawrence, Mass. 20 21 New Bedford, Mass...... 22 North Cambridge, Mass. 28 Palmer, Mass...... 24 Salem, Mass...... 25 Westborough, Mass.. 20 Worcester, Mass.. Lowell Reform School......... a Number present June 1, 1888. From the Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1886-87. b Congressional appropriation. o Included in city appropriation for alms house. d Biennial appropriation. e Biennial expenditure. V.-EDUCATION OF THE COLORED RACE. In presenting for the second time the section of this chapter which deals with the education of the colored population of the Southern States, we can only repeat that the object of the section is to bring together and within a small compass the statistics of institutions devoted to the education of the colored race. No elaborate work in the domain of ratios is attempted, we are too far from the last census for that. Nor are any ingenious statistical hypotheses made, for we are too near the next census for that. Our statistics are simple, as they well may be, since the matter with which they deal has been surveyed from every possible point of view, has again and again been presented in every conceivable statistical way, has again and again been passed upon by one of the branches of the national legislature, and has been neglected rather than defeated in the other. We doubt if there is a journal or review that has not contributed to making the subject one of the most thoroughly ventilated in the land. Three agencies have been operating to accomplish the education of the class of persons under review-the efforts of the Southern States themselves, religious associations at the North, and the Peabody and Slater Funds. To the first of these are to be attributed the public schools; to the second the many so-called colleges, normal schools and universities. The income of the Peabody Fund has been mainly devoted to training teachers, and that of the Slater Fund entirely to fostering industrial and professional training. PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR THE COLORED RACE. TABLE 97.-Colored School Population, Enrolment, and Average Attendance for 1887-88. * For 1886-87. a Exclusive of city schools. These figures seem to be those of 1886-87. b Exclusive of Wilmington, where there are four schools for colored children. d For 1885-86. -TABLE 98.-Comparative School Statistics of the Colored and White Races in States making the Distinction. TABLE 99.-Teachers in the Public Schools for the Colored Race for 1886-87. c Counties only. d Colored teachers; number teachers of colored schools not given. In commenting on the three tables, which are in reality but so many parts of one, we premise that their lack of complexity, and the obvious and, we hope, logical manner of arranging the columns in each, will relieve us of the necessity of any remarks except upon the statistics as a whole. The statistics are not all for the year 1887-88, and in any general remarks upon them this must be taken into consideration. The censuses are not all for the year 1887-88 nor for the year before nor the year before that; this too must be considered. Let us exclude from the body of the statistics given in Columns 4 and 5 of Table 93, the statistics of States falling in either of two categories; first, those not reporting for the year under review, and, second, those having taken no census since 1885. This excludes the statistics of Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. We have then approximately accurate figures when treating of the relation that the enrolment of the other States bears to their present school population, something that represents the statistics of 1887-88. The school population, white and colored, of those States which are not excluded as above is 3,668,613, and of this, 27.59 per cent. are colored. But in this calculation the statistics of Indiana and of West Virginia are included, though in both States the percentage of the colored school population in below 5 per cent. Excluding the statistics of these two States the ratio of the colored population of school age to the total school population is 37.06. Last year it was 36.85, though in the effort to cover all the ground statistics of States were admitted in that computation that we have not scrupled to throw out in this. Now, what per cent. of these 37 colored persons in every hundred of school population is enrolled? We find it to be 53.27. In obtaining this we have used the enrolment for last year in the case of Florida and of Alabama. The total average attendance we cannot give for reasons that will suggest themselves to those who are familiar with the proper manner of obtaining that most important of all statistics of education. But though the bases, or one of them, for obtaining statistics of the average attendance of the colored race are wanting, we have still an interesting comparison to make with the absolute figures (the average attendance being a relation) of enrolment. What part of the total enrolment, white and colored, is the colored enrolment? The answer to this, including the statistics of one State which are very unsatisfactory, is 33.06 per cent. Somewhat below the ratio of the colored population to total population, which we have shown is 37.06 per cent. It will be understood that we are using the statistics of the same States in obtaining these two ratios. To make this plainer we will tabulate the statements just made: Of the population of school age in the 9 States whose statistics have been used The white population of school age comprises............. The colored population of school age comprises. Or, excluding Indiana and West Virginia The white population of school age comprises.... The colored population of school age comprises...... Of this last white population of school age there is enrolled. Of this last colored population of school age there is enrolled.. Of the total white and colored enrolment of 9 States the colored enrolment comprises Per cent. 72.41 27.59 37.06 63.54 5327 33.06 Only in one instance does the ratio of enrolment to school population (Columns 5 and 6 of Table 98) show better for the colored than for the whites, and that instance is where provision is made in part by the national government; for in the District of Columbia half of the expense of school affairs is provided by Congress. In considering this exception, however, it is to be carefully borne in mind that the city of Washington amounts to very much the same thing as the District, and it is too obvious to remark that it is in cities that school affairs can reach or perhaps, as we should say more hopefully, have reached their highest usefulness. In average attendance (Columns 7 and 8 the ratio for the races is much nearer, and as to number of days of schooling there is little or no difference. As to average monthly salary of teachers there appears but little difference as far as the figures go. As to pupils to a teacher, with an exception or two, there appears to be an equality. PRIVATE BOARDING SCHOOLS. CHARACTER OF THE INSTRUCTION. In our last report we spoke of the elementary character of these schools as exhibited by an examination of their catalogues. Since then we have received information on this point, which we will quote from most fully. "Three years ago," says the agent of the John F. Slater Fund in his report for 1888, "there was occasion to make a careful investigation of the studies pursued in the higher |