blacksmithing, and they are instructed how to produce various articles of industry. The number of pupils received from 1869, the date of the opening of the school, to 1882 was 421. In the year 1888 there were 100 boarding pupils in the school, each paying 180 rubles ($100) a year, in addition to an entrance fee of 20 rubles ($11), and 75 day pupils, paying 12 rubles ($6.69) a year. Each boarding pupil costs the school 330 rubles ($184) and each day pupil 160 rubles ($87) annually.

The Alexander artisan school at Kazan, belonging to the third group, was opened January 20, 1881, its object being the intellectual, moral, and industrial education of artisans. The length of the course is six years; those who graduate receive the title of under-master and enjoy privileges of the fourth class as regards military service. In addition to trades, the pupils learn the following subjects: Religion, Russian language, arithmetic, caligraphy, elements of Russian history, geography, and natural history. The trades taught are: Cabinetmaking, leatherwork, woodcarving, lock-making, blacksmithing, tinkering, shoemaking, and tailoring. The instruction in these branches is mainly practical and those who acquire cabinetmaking, locksmithing, lathework, and blacksmithing also learn drawing and drafting. Thirty-six hours every week is given to the learning of trades. The pupils were divided according to age in 1888 as follows: There were 7 from 12 up to 14, 45 from 13 to 16, 40 from 16 to 18, 11 who were 18 years old, and 3 over 19. Sixty per cent of the total number of pupils belonged to the city population, 11 per cent were the children of peasants, 26 per cent were from various classes of the people, while 10 per cent represented the privileged classes. The school spends annually in its work about 6,000 rubles ($3,348), divided as follows: Inspector, 1,000 rubles ($558); teacher of educational subjects, 550 rubles ($306)); lessons in drafting, 200 rubles ($111); ten instructors of trades, 2,800 rubles ($1,562); establishment expenses, 150 rubles ($83); materials and instruments, 600 rubles ($334). The cost of instruction does not exceed 58 rubles ($32) annually for each pupil, while the cost per pupil for the six-year course is about 350 rubles ($195). The cost of maintaining the school is defrayed by the following annual contributions: From the local society, 5,000 rubles ($2,790); fund for providing poor pupils with scholarships, 500 rubles ($279); from the municipality, 500 rubles ($279). Instruction is gratis to pupils living in the city; to pupils coming from other towns a charge is made. The school is under the control of the city council, the actual direction of it being in the hands of a committee of five trustees, three being chosen by the municipality and two by the city residents.

The artisan school at Riga, belonging to the fourth group, arose out of the initiative of the Industrial Society of Riga (Gewerbe Verein), an organization started in 1866 for the moral, intellectual, and industrial improvement of its members. Having become aware of a gradual lowering of the moral tone of the Riga artisans, and of the bad quality of much of their work, the above-named society petitioned for the foundation of a school in which artisans could be trained in the evenings and on Sundays, and the result was the opening of the Riga artisan school. The edict establishing this school was promulgated on December 3, 1875. This school, in which instruction is given on week-day evenings and every Sunday morning, has two departments, the preparatory and the special. The first consists of four classes with a one-year course, the second of three classes, and there is also a high special class with a two-years course. The subjects taught in the preparatory department correspond with the course of the primary schools, while in general educational subjects the course of the special department corresponds with that of the district schools. Pupils entering the preparatory department must not be younger than 11 years; those entering the special department must indicate proficiency in the subjects taught in the preparatory department. The pupils in the higher classes are divided according to their trades into three departments: (1) Workers in metal; (2) cabinetmakers; (3) carpenters and builders. The statistics for 1888 show the ages of the pupils to have been as follows: From 12 to 14 years, 15 per cent of the pupils;

32 per cent from 14 to 16; 42 per cent from 16 to 19; 11 per cent from 19 to 31. According to occupation, the pupils were divided thus: Cabinetmakers, 10 per cent; carpenters, 10 per cent; painters, 10 per cent; locksmiths, mechanics, and blacksmiths, 25 per cent; printers, 10 per cent; shoemakers and tailors, 10 per cent; masons, 25 per cent.

The school is in charge of a commission chosen by the Artisan Society, and is supported from the funds of that society and by contributions from various outside sources. The amount contributed for its support from outside sources in the year 1887-88 amounted to 11,932 rubles ($6,658) in which is reckoned 1,750 rubles ($976) received as tuition fees. The pupils pay from 3 to 5 rubles ($1.67 to $2.79) a year for their training in the preparatory department and 8 roubles ($4.46) annually in the special department. The poorer pupils are instructed gratis. The pay of the instructors in general educational subjects for the year named was 30 rubles ($16.74) each and that of the trade instructors 374 rubles ($21) each.

Such are the main details in regard to the intermediate and elementary, technical, and industrial institutions as presented by Mr. Anopoff; and in conclusion it may be said that in the twenty-five years to which Mr. Auopoff refers these schools have spread to the very confines of the Russian Empire.

REPORT OF FIRST TECHNICAL AND PROFESSIONAL CONGRESS.1

The first congress of Russian educators engaged in technical and industrial instruction in Russia, held at St. Petersburg during the month of January, 1890, opened with an exhibition of school methods and material, presided over by Mr. Ivan A. Anopoff, director of the Nicholas Artisan School. The congress proper, under the presidency of Mr. N. V. Isakoff, was opened on January 7 by the minister of public instruction, Count Jvan Davidovich Delianoff. Its work was transacted in a general session of the congress and in five divisions, to each of which some special subject had been assigned. In the general session Mr. A. K. Nebolsin read a paper on "Periodical exhibitions and congresses in the interest of technical and industrial education." In the divisions the following topics were discussed: (1) General pedagogical questions, such as school hygiene, factory, artisan, and commercial education; (2) middle and lower technical and artisan educational establishments and instruction in navigation; (3) instruction in farming and mining; (4) professional education of women; (5) manual training in the schools.

Mr. A. K. Nebolsin, in his paper before the general session, said: "The best way to prepare the peasant and artisan classes for industrial education is to secure that general dissemination of elementary instruction which is now so much needed in Russia. To this end the most energetic action should be taken both by the Government and by society at large. Until a recent period the Government took no part in the establishment of industrial schools, limiting itself to the function of providing them with rules and constitutions or of giving subsidies to persons founding such schools. Only in very exceptional cases did it ever take these establishments under its own control. The industrial schools, arising from private initiative, without any general plan and often modeled on foreign institutions, have thus had many difficulties to contend with, and the attempt to establish them on a firm footing has been attended with much waste of time, money, and labor. The very Gov

'Digest of a Russian report by Mr. Edmund Noble, Boston, Mass.

ernment establishments which were to control them were in no better condition themselves. But in 1888 a Government edict opened up a new era for technical education in Russia. This edict, which made the technical and industrial schools Government institutions to be supported not only by private means but also out of the public purse, provides that there shall be three types of technical schools, known, respectively, as the "artisan schools," the "lower technical schools," and the "middle technical schools," fixes the order of their establishment, conditions of scholarship, and programme of education, besides defining the rights and privileges of teachers and pupils. Much as we welcome this edict it is to be hoped that the work of the schools may not suffer from bureaucratic influence. The aim of every technical school is to raise the economical condition of the people among whom it is founded; but the character and circumstances of people vary so greatly that it will be necessary to vary the rules and methods so as to make them suit different localities. Attention to local differences should be the special study of persons in charge of such schools. It has been proposed to limit these establishments to the preparation of workers in wood and metal for situations in factories and workshops; but this limitation is, in my opinion, unwise. The technical schools ought to fit men not only for the factory, but for all kinds of technical work, and thus to enable them to start workshops or trade establishments of their own. Especially in this sense are technical schools needed in those localities where the "bush" or domestic industry is carried on, an industry which has grown to be of great importance for the country people of Russia."

After discussing this paper the congress passed resolutions declaring that its periodical gatherings be held at intervals of not more than five years; that its next sitting take place in Moscow three years from date, and that, in the intervals between the general sessions of the congress, various local conferences be organized.

The sessions of section 1, which were presided over by E. K. Richter, were devoted to discussions in regard to teaching in general, school hygiene, commercial education, and technical drawing.

Prof. Lesgaft, in a report dealing with the relation of physical to intellectual education in the middle and lower schools, urged that both should go on simultaneously, and should be carried on by like methods in the two grades referred to. In the discussion which ensued strong emphasis was laid on the insufficient place given to physical training in modern Russian education. The section, in a formal resolu tion, admitted the importance of physical education, but confined itself to a declaration to the effect that all elements injurious to physical development of the pupils should be removed from the technical schools.

After hearing reports on the subject of drawing the section resolved, "that the congress petition the Government for the introduction of drawing into all the educational establishments of the Empire, without distinction of sex, as far as the middlegrade schools, and that instructors be provided for the purpose who may enjoy the privileges of Government service."

On the subject of foreign languages it was resolved, "that in the teaching of nonclassical foreign languages it is desirable to combine practical aims with a study of the best writers in those languages, and that, as an indispensable condition of success in teaching, the instructors must be thoroughly educated and know the Russian tongue, both theoretically and practically."

The attention of the section was called to the loss of time, to the worry, and to the injurious effect upon the health and nerves of the pupils caused by the present system of annual examinations, and a resolution was passed favoring the new alternative method of repetition during the courses of study. The question of school hygiene was also raised by the special reports of expert oculists, and a resolution was passed declaring that it is desirable to make a periodical examination of the eyesight of pupils with a view to the accumulation of statistics on the subject, and ex

pressing the hope that before the next congress measures be elaborated for the preservation of the eyesight of students engaged in learning the graphical arts and some of the technical industries.

The question of child, woman, and apprentice labor was also discussed, and measures were suggested for the removal of existing abuses. Prof. Yarotsky urged the improvement of the apprentice system: I, by giving to apprentices the opportunity of attending some midday, evening, or Sunday school; II, by inaugurating an oversight of apprentices in workshops. M. Rakéeff pointed out that the existing law permitted apprentices to be worked for ten hours a day, and that under the present system Sunday work for apprentices had become habitual. He added that there are no regulations to protect the apprentice from work injurious to his health, or from night work generally. It was resolved to petition the Government to bestow upon the Imperial Humane Society, which now has charge of the fund for minor apprentices, the right to carry out all necessary and practicable changes in the relation of apprentices to their employers.

Prof. Isacff, in a report on "technical education as a means of aiding the 'bush' or domestic industry," pointed to the present extreme exploitation of child labor in this industry, and recommended: I, the introduction into the schools of a course of manual labor adapted to the circumstances of local industries; II, the introduction into pedagogical seminaries and institutes of certain kinds of manual work corresponding with the work involved in the chief domestic industries in Russia; III, the establishment in the large centers of technical schools for training in domestic industry, and also the creation in those centers of museums containing samples of the products of the industry and of the instruments and tools employed in it; IV, the offering of prizes for the best samples of work, and for improvements in the "bush" or domestic industry. The section indorsed all the above recommendations.

After listening to a report on the education of minors in factories, the section passed a resolution asking for the obligatory establishment of schools for minors in connection with all factory establishments, as well as in industrial centers generally, and the obligatory attendance of young workers at such schools. It was proposed to maintain all such educational establishments by means of a tax levied on manufactures.

Then followed a discussion on "school savings banks," and a resolution was passed indicating the desirability of introducing the school savings-bank system into establishments where pupils receive pay for their work.

In connection with the teaching of arithmetic the section decided in favor of maintaining the Schoty, or counting, frame in counting rooms, and it was also resolved to utilize, in the teaching of the knowledge of merchandise, all the chemical and physical knowledge given in the courses of natural science in commercial schools.

Attention was then called to the necessity of raising the standard of scientific knowledge in commercial schools. The establishment of a commercial institute was proposed in which higher training could be given, not only to persons who were needed as instructors in the middle and lower commercial schools, but also to young men who were to conduct the financial and industrial enterprises of the country. In order to illustrate the eagerness of Russian merchants to encourage commercial education the excellent financial condition of all the special commercial schools were adverted to, and it was mentioned that the yearly income of the St. Petersburg commercial school exceeded the expenses of that establishment by 27,000 rubles ($15,000). Several members of the section considered that the existing schools already supplied all commercial education at present needed, but the section as a whole approved of the establishment of a higher commercial institute.

On the subject of "uniformity of method" the section reached conclusions which may be summarized as follows: "In the matter of general education, it is desirable to have greater uniformity in the plan and programmes of the existing commercial

schools. The appropriation of the plans and programmes of the Realschools can not be regarded as the best means of acquiring such uniformity. The commercial schools must, conformably to their aims, have their own special plans for general education. As regards modern languages and the majority of the special branches, each commercial school must elaborate its own plan and programme, having in view the peculiar conditions and needs of the local trade."

A suggestive report was then read on the "multiplicity of subjects in our educational establishments." The discussions of this subject led to the following statements, viz: "This multiplicity of subjects is the ulcer on the life of Russian technical schools, causing these schools to load a man down with a mass of superficial acquirements but giving him far too little special knowledge."

The explanation of this excessive variety in the programmes of the higher technical schools is attributable to the present condition of Russian industry. In foreign countries there is a natural demand for specialists in this or that branch of industry, but with a less advanced industrial development Russia stands more in need of persons whose education is encyclopedic in character.

A report was then presented which recommended the further development of technical literature, and the section affirmed the necessity of the issue of manuals and text-books of the applied sciences for use in the higher technical schools.

The members of section 2, presided over by Mr. M. E. Kazy, discussed reports in regard to educational establishments in which the art of building is taught and in regard to middle and lower technical and artisan schools. They also discussed the formation of classes for the education of sailors.

In order to place no unnecessary difficulties in the way of popular technical education, it was resolved that the elementary training given by the primary schools should be the only condition of entrance for pupils of the technical establishments. The section also found it desirable to carry on the work of general education in the lower technical and artisan schools, and to instruct pupils in the various methods of working in wood and metal, in order to qualify them for special industries in their several localities. It was further decided to regard as competent teachers of the trades those who, after passing through a course in the technical or artisan schools, have had practice in such trades, or those who, having the necessary practical knowledge, are also familiar with methods of teaching. In order to facilitate the obtaining of a suitable occupation by pupils after leaving the schools, it was suggested that every Russian subject wishing to do so be given the right to open a trade or workshop.

The members of the section discussed at length the present deplorable condition under which the labor of artisans and apprentices is carried on. The conclusions reached may be summarized as follows:

"In order to raise the moral and intellectual status of our workingmen and artisans, they should have an opportunity of attending evening and Sunday schools, in which lectures could be given on general and special subjects. The trade guild of the various industrial centers ought to issue books in which the facts regarding the employment of any minor in a workshop may be entered, as also the dates of his entrance and departure, together with particulars about his conduct. No employer ought to receive any one into his service without being first acquainted with the facts regarding the new comer's previous employment. Trade boards should be established for the purpose of exercising oversight over workshops and deciding disputes submitted by employers and workmen. It is desirable, in view of the irregular and indiscriminate issue of diplomas to chief workmen and subordinates, that such diplomas shall henceforth be granted by special commissions made up of trade experts, and only after public examination of the candidates. Permission to have apprentices shall be granted only to those employers who are known for the excellence of their behavior and morals. The number of apprentices in any workshop ought not to be more than twice the number of the under hands.