TABLE IIIa.-Increase in fifteen years of the total number of persons receiving education and of the total population.

TABLE IIIb.-Per cent of the population receiving education of different grades.

It appears from these tables that the average length of a school year has been steadily increasing, from one hundred thirty-two and two-tenths days in the year 1869-70 to one hundred fifty and nine-tenths days in the year 1904-5. In the same period the per cent of the school population enrolled in the schools has increased from 57 per cent in 1869-70 to 70.35 per cent in the year 1904-5. The percentage of the enrollment in average daily attendance, too, has increased in this period from 59.3 per cent to 69.7 per cent. The percentage of the total population enrolled in the schools has declined slightly for several years past, and for the year 1905 fell below 20 per cent for the first time in seven years. This slight decrease in the percentage of enrollment, however, is more than made up by the increase in the average length of the school term, which passed one hundred and fifty days for the first time in the year 1904-5, and by the percentage of average daily attendance, which in the same year for the first time rose above 70 per cent.

It is to be noted that not only the percentage of male teachers in the whole teaching body has steadily decreased for many years, but

for the past five years the total number of male teachers employed in the schools has actually declined, in spite of the great increase in the total number of teachers employed and the total number of pupils enrolled. Attention should, however, be called to the fact, which appears from the statistics of city school systems, that during the years 1902 to 1905 there has been a gradual increase in the number of male teachers employed in city schools, and the percentage of increase in this item for the year 1904-5 was greater than the percentage of increase in the number of female teachers.

The relative amounts of schooling given in each of the different census divisions at different periods since 1880, measured in school years of two hundred days each, is shown in Tables IVa and IVb. It appears from these tables that if enrollment and attendance should hold the same percentage to population for thirteen years that it held during the year 1905, each inhabitant on an average would receive five and thirty-three hundredths full years of schooling, or one thousand sixty-six school days; or in other words, the number arriving at the school age of 6 years would, on the completion of their eighteenth year, if their average attendance per year had been the same as that of all the schools of the nation, public and private, as reported for 1905, have attended school one thousand sixty-six days. Table IVe shows the average amount of schooling in days, as estimated in this manner, at different epochs beginning with the year 1800.

TABLE IVa.-Average number of years of schooling (of 200 days each) that each individual of the population received at the different periods specified in the table, taking into account all public and private schooling of whatever grade.

1880. 1890. 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899. 1900. 1901. 1902. 1903. a 1904. a 1905. a

TABLE IVb.—The same, taking into account only the schooling furnished by public elementary and secondary schools.

1880. 1890. 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899. 1900. 1901. 1902. 1903, a 1904. a 1905, a

TABLE IVC.-Average entire amount of schooling, public and private, since 1800, at different epochs, given in days (partly estimated).

REPORTS OF THE MOSELY EDUCATIONAL COMMISSION.

The tendency to the exchange of opinions and experiences in respect to education is one of the most significant signs of the growing sense among nations of their common interests. The relation of our own country to this general movement is illustrated by the recent visits of the Mosely Commissions to the United States, namely, the industrial commission of 1902 and the educational commission of 1903. The investigations carried on by these two companies of chosen men are impressive also from the private origin of the commissions, their systematic conduct, and the published reports which have given permanent form to the observations and opinions of their members.

The report of the educational commission, published in England at the expense of Mr. Mosely, was limited, and naturally could not reach the great body of teachers and school officers in this country deeply interested in its contents. Chapter II, presenting in condensed form the substance of the portions of the report pertaining to our schools and colleges, is an endeavor to meet repeated requests which continue to come to this Office for information as to the final opinions of our English visitors.

The particular significance to this country of the educational commission is indicated by Doctor Harris in a review of the report included in Chapter I. Commenting upon Mr. Mosely's own statement, that the idea was suggested to him by the success of the engineers from the United States whom he had known in South Africa, and his desire to see "what sort of country it was that was responsible for sending so many level-headed men to the Cape," Doctor Harris says:

The occasion put forward as the ground for the appointment of the commission is in itself a delicate but overwhelming piece of national flattery-in a good sense of the word "flattery." For it assumes as the most real of facts an achieved greatness of the United States in industry and commerce and seeks to find its source in a self-conscious and reasonable preparation for it on the part of our people in the education of the rising generation.

In view of such recognition manifested by the Mosely Commission, and by similar investigations and inquiries emanating from other European nations, it would seem that it rests in a peculiar sense with

this country to show how education-or rather the education of the masses may conduce to the welfare of democratic societies under the conditions of modern industry. In order that this mission may be worthily fulfilled, it is important that we should repeatedly examine our present system and methods in the light of the criticisms that these excite in the minds of discerning and appreciative foreigners. Our school systems-for though animated by a common spirit they are as many in number as the States of the Union-are extremely flexible and may therefore be readily improved as the need is shown. Many members of the Mosely Commission came to the opinion that the educational activity of our country arises like its industrial prosperity from the energy naturally excited by its vast natural resources. Mr. Mosely himself differed from this opinion. It is interesting to note that his personal observation deepened the impression that he had formed by contact with the American engineers in Africa. Their power of initiative seemed to him to imply some distinctive quality in their training. This idea accords also with that expressed by Doctor Harris in the analysis of our educational tendencies comprised in his review of the report of the commission already cited. (See p. 1.) With us the essential purpose of education is the preparation of all the people for the conduct of affairs. The instinctive regard for this end, as the all-important one in a democratic society, makes it the more necessary that those engaged directly in the work of education should be often reminded of the value of details, of that "thoroughness of specialization" which, as Doctor Harris observes, "has its place in reenforcing the present moment by the application of the lessons of past experience."

The recorded observations and reflections of the members of the commission relate substantially to the two lines above indicatedthat is, to the prevailing spirit of our institutions on the one side and on the other to the details of their internal conduct, especially the conduct of studies. Their joint report shows general approval in respect to the first of these considerations. (See Chapter II, pp. 19.) Criticism begins when the inner workings of our schools and colleges are discussed; here the different members speak as experts, sometimes indeed with a noticeable bias due to English experience, but more often from the higher standpoint of ideal excellence, for which reason their strictures deserve our most careful attention.

The open and impartial spirit in which the investigations were conducted is illustrated in the comments upon the free high schools of the United States. In general, the members of the commission were profoundly impressed by the ample opportunity which these schools offer for prolonging the period of general education and by the freedom with which our people avail themselves of the same. This provision,

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considered in the completeness of its adjustments to varying demands, was apparently regarded as the most suggestive feature of our public school system.

With respect to the strong and the weak points in the conduct of our high schools the several reports show also very general agreement. Their average opinion is fairly represented by the citations from the report of Rev. H. B. Gray. He notes, in particular, defects in the teaching of foreign languages, ancient and modern, in contrast with the general excellence of the instruction in English, and the admirable teaching of science by the aid of "magnificent apparatus and liberality of space." (See p. 29.)

Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Fletcher, in common with several of their colleagues, call attention to the waste of time by deferring the entrance of pupils upon "the more difficult and testing subjects that belong to a secondary curriculum until they are 14 years of age."

"It is quite clear," says Mr. Fletcher, "that the American system does not solve the question of coordination. By preventing overlapping it merely ignores the difficulty, and until the difficulty is fairly met it will remain a serious impediment to really good work." (See p. 29.)

Among other subjects covered by the citations in Chapter II are manual training and business high schools and the higher institutions for technical and agricultural education.

The value of this report to ourselves is greatly enhanced by the fact that, being intended primarily for the information of English educators, its judgments are naturally expressed in comparative terms. Thus, incidentally, English standards and processes are reflected in the discussion of our own with the result that, while studying the report, it is easy to keep in mind the different conditions under which the two nations are working out problems of common interest.

RHODES SCHOLARSHIPS.

Chapter III, on the Rhodes scholarships, gives a brief account of the method adopted by the trustees for giving effect to the provisions of the Rhodes will, as far as it related to the United States, the measures taken by Doctor Parkin, their agent, for carrying out the plan of the trustees, and the acceptance of the opportunities offered by the will, as far as can be shown by the number of scholarships secured. The examinations for these scholarships are practically identical with that known as "responsions," usually taken soon after matriculating at Oxford. The examinations mainly consist in translations from Latin and Greek authors into English, including passages from Cicero, Cæsar, Horace, Virgil, and Livy in Latin, and Homer, Demosthenes, Euripides, Sophocles, Plato, and Xenophon