and transmit them to this Department, a war- | times and places, and the State Superintendent rant may yet be issued for the appropriation. is asked to refuse to issue a Commission to him on that account.

CONTESTED ELECTIONS.

It is proper to complete here the history of the contested election cases commenced in the August number, and omitted last month for want of room.

Samuel Sickler received the highest vote for Superintendent at the Convention of Directors, in the county of Wyoming. As heretofore stated he could not be commissioned on account of his want of qualifications. E. L. Underwood received next to the highest vote in the convention, and would have been commissioned as Superintendent had it not been for the objections filed against him in the manner prescribed by law. In answer to the summons of this Department, he appeared for examination, July 15, and the following is the report of the committee who conducted it:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE.

HARRISBURG, July 15th, 1869. Hon. J. P. Wickersham, Superintendent Common Schools: SIR: The undersigned appointed a committee to examine E. L. Underwood, who received the second highest number of votes for the office of County Superintendent, of Wyoming county, in the Convention of

School Directors, held on the fourth of May last, at Tunkhannock, and against whom there are objections on file in this department, charging that he does not possess the qualifications the law requires, have in accordance with the duty devolved upon them examined him, and they respectfully report that they do not consider him qualified to receive a county professional certificate, and therefore deem him legally unfitted to hold the office of County Superintendent.

Very respectfully your obedient servant,

Having witnessed the examination of E. L. Under

committee.

wood, I concur in the conclusion arrived at by the above J. P. WICKERSHAM, Superintendent Common Schools. The decision of the committee being unfavorable to Mr. Underwood, J. B. Rhodes, of Tunkhannock, the old Superintendent, was appointed.

The opinions in the Pike and Forest county cases, omitted in August, are inserted below.

PIKE COUNTY CASE-OPINION.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS,
HARRISBURG, July 2, 1869.

In the matter of the objections to the issue of a
Commission to John Layton of the County of
Pike, made by E. S. Decker and others, and
filed at various dates during the month of May,
1869,

This case involves simply a matter of fact. John Layton, the Superintendent elect, is accused of having been intoxicated at various

Intemperance is a grave charge to bring against a Superintendent of Schools, and, if proven against him, will always prevent the issue of a commission to a person elected County Superintendent, or cause his removal from office when commissioned.

In the case of Mr. Layton a large number of letters, petitions and affidavits have been received, many in favor, and a smaller number against him; the evidence contained in these papers has been carefully considered, the facts elicited at the protracted hearing which was accorded the parties interested at the rooms of the School Department have been allowed their due weight, and the conclusion arrived at, is that the charge has not been sustained. A suspicion is entertained that Mr. Layton's habits in the matter of drinking may not have always been as regular as they ought to have been, but he cannot be condemned on a mere suspicion, The answer he makes to the specific charge of intoxication, the support he receives from prominent gentlemen in the county, the unanimous vote with which he was elected Superintendent, the general expression of school directors and teachers in his favor, and the positions of trust which he has held, constittute a mass of evidence overwhelmingly in his favor. No good reason existing therefore why the commission as County Superintendent of the County of Pike should be longer withheld from John Layton, it is hereby ordered to be issued. J. P. WICKERSham, Supt. Com. Schools. At the hearing, J. A. Congdon, Esq., of Harrisburg, appeared as counsel for the objectors, and William Miller, Esq., of Harrisburg, as counsel for the respondent.

FOREST COUNTY CASE-OPINION.

HARRISBURG, July 6th, 1869. In the matter of the objections to the issue of a commission to S. F. Rohrer, as County Superintendent of the County of Forest, made by A. H. Steele and others, and filed during the month of May, 1869:

The petition received in this case reads as follows: "We, the undersigned, School Directors of Forest county, object to your commissioning S. F. Rohrer as Superintendent of the Common Schools for this county, on account of his intemperate habits and use of intoxicating liquors." This petition is duly signed by a majority of two boards of directors, there

being eight boards in the county, and the facts | definite as to place, time, and circumstances, set forth in it are sworn to in a general way, by one of the signers. In addition, the same charge is made against Mr. Rohrer by three members of the Board of Directors of Jenks township, and more or less positively certified to in the affidavits of five private citizens.

In answer to these charges, some thirty affidavits certifying to Mr. Rohrer's excellent character for temperance, and answering the charges made against him, were received from citizens, as well as numerous petitions and letters setting forth the same facts.

that no positive conclusion could be arrived at. The decision was, therefore, postponed, and the parties requested to take further testimony, the objectors making specific charges, and the respondent having the privilege of answering them, if able to do so. This course being acceded to by both parties, they agreed to meet in the borough of Tionesta, Tuesday, June 29th, but, although the respondent was present with numerous witnesses who certified to his temperate habits, none of the witnesses of the objectors made their appearance. The evi

of such a character as to convict him of habitual intemperance, or even of being intoxicated, within the last three years, during which time he has held the office of County Superintendent, and as positive evidence of this character will at any time secure his removal from the office of Superintendent, a commission is hereby ordered to be issued to him.

J. P. WICKERSHAM, Superintendent Common Schools. At the hearing, the objectors appeared in their own behalf, and P. Jenks, Esq., of Brookville, appeared for the respondent.

ITEMS FROM REPORTS FOR JULY AND

AUGUST.

At the hearing which was accorded the par-dence against Mr. Rohrer, therefore, not being ties at the rooms of the School Department, on Wednesday, June 16th, the counsel for the respondent maintained that the objections presented by the directors, not being "certified to under oath or affirmation by at least three of the signers," as the law requires, could not be considered, and that consequently the case must be dismissed. The point thus raised has more technical than real weight, for all the persons who swore to the allegations made in the petition of the directors would have willingly signed the petition had they been asked to do so, and the end of justice ought not to be defeated by a simple omission of this character. But allowing the omission made to be fatal to the object of the directors, it does not follow that the case must be dismissed. The State superintendent, it is held, has a clear legal right, of his own motion, to take evidence in reference to the moral character of a person elected to or holding the office of County Superintendent of Schools. This power is found, first, in Sec. CXXII, p. 150, Digest of School Laws, of 1866, which reads, "He shall have the power of removing any County Superintendent for neglect of duty, incompetency, or immorality, and to appoint another in his stead, until the next triennial convention of directors." This provision, it is true, has reference to removal from office, but it is clear that the law was never meant to compel the State Superintendent to grant a commission one day which it requires him to annul the next.

And, second, in Sec. VI., Law of 1867, in reference to the election of County Superintendents, in which it is expressly enjoined that no one shall be commissioned as County Superintendent, "unless he has a sound moral character." The case must, therefore, be determined by the facts involved in it. What are they?

In a discussion of the evidence presented for and against Mr. Rohrer, it soon became evident that both the charges and the answers thereto were so loosely made, being quite in

ADAMS.-Teachers' Examinations were attended by full boards, and audiences varying from sixty to onehundred. In some districts the term has been increased, and salaries advanced.

Indications for a prosperous school term are very encouraging.

CENTRE.-Normal Institute opened July 28, and is in successful operation.

CHESTER.-Several Districts are about to start high schools. A number of houses are now in process of erection; two of them for graded schools.

CRAWFORD.-Normal Institutes at Woodcock and

Spartansburg.

ies have been advanced, and the school houses will be DELAWARE.-Ridley township is waking up. Salarsupplied with new furniture.

FOREST.-The Schools of Barnett District are to be

supplied with globes, and the Clarington school is to have are being

an Orrery and Tellurian.

JEFFERSON. Two elegant new houses

erected, one in Washington and one in Young District.

LANCASTER. We are losing many of our best teachers every year, on account of the business not affording them a proper support.

LEBANON.-A majority of the districts pay according to certificate and success in teaching.

LYCOMING. We will have a longer average school term this year than ever before. New houses are being erected in Muncy Creek, Loyalsock and Upper Fairfield.

NORTHAMPTON.-In Allen, Bath, Chapman, South

Easton, Forks, Palmer, Williams and Plainfield the salaries of teachers have been advanced.

PITTSBURG.-The City Institute was attended by 185 teachers, and was the most profitable ever held in this city. A school for deaf mutes was opened on the first of

REPORTS AND ADDRESSES.

ABSENTEEISM AND ITS CORREC-| computations make the number of children in

| greater than those obtained in our own country. It seems unnecessary for this committee to multiply evidences that crime results from non-attendance of the youth at our schools since it is universally understood and accepted by the educators and social economists of the age. It is by no means claimed that could a perfect attendance of all the youth for the full school period of their lives be obtained, crime would be eradicated, but it is claimed that it would be diminished to a small part of what it is now. It is not claimed that, if a youth neglects to attend school at all, he must necessarily be a felon, but it is claimed that his chances of being one are two hundred times greater than if he should attend school contin

standing with open doors. Thence he is promoted to the school of loungers; then to the saloon school; the tippler's school; the gambler's school; the swearing. school, and finishes his course in the school of lies and lust. All these charge no tuition. In them dullness is sure to learn. The appetite and zeal displayed in this vicious education never stop with mere rudiments, but push on until a plenum of baleful knowledge and depraved appetite is secured. Vice lavishly spends her money to furnish her rooms and render her lessons attractive. She has great sagacity and skill in selecting her literature, and with great adroitness she entices her victims from among the idle, the ignorant, the vacant and the unthinking. Such being the surroundings of society and the constitutionuously for his school period. Would it not be of youthful tendencies, the crime arising from the neglected education of 100,000 children in Pennsylvania must be enormous. Look at it-100,000 youth in the street, in the saloon, in the gambler's den! What a crop of criminals we are growing! What vast labors we are preparing for judges and juries, lawyers and policemen, jailors and executioners! What a mountain load we are gathering to crush society!

And if this is the oppressive, hideous view that presents itself in but one commonwealth, how deep must the feelings sink into despair when we see the spectacle of two and a half millions of youth in the carnival of ignorance and vice.

That absenteeism produces crime is a proposition that is proved not only by theory but facts. The conclusions of the theory are verified by the official reports of the facts.

From the annual reports of Mr. Wickersham for 1867 and 1868, we deduce the following generalization: Three-fourths of the youthful offenders sent to the houses of refuge have never been at school, or so little as to be equivalent in results to no attendance. The statistics of other parts of our country and of England show about the same ratio.

In our alms-houses there are six paupers without schooling to one having some education. There are forty persons with none or but an indifferent education to one having a good education. In our jails there are two persons illiterate to one having some education. There are twelve persons in our jails without a fair education to one having a good education. In our penitentiaries there are thirty persons with either none or but a poor education to one having a liberal education.

a great object on the part of philanthropists to diminish the possibilities of crime two hundred times?

But crime is not the only evil that springs from neglect of schools. What an incalculable amount of enjoyment the uneducated lose in consequence of their ignorance. What evils of superstition, of conscious inferiority, of exposure to deception, of blunted sensibilities and leaden stupidity. How they are forced down step by step to the lowest forms of labor! How this ill-paid toil brings on the horrors of poverty! How poverty suppresses the pleasures of refinement and tempts the coarser passions! How the passions once inflamed burst out in open felony; how temptations become infectious, and crime rages like an epidemic. The true wealth of a State is its mind and its virtue as manifested by its citizens. The Free School System is founded that this wealth be developed in ever-recurring generations. The State makes an adequate outlay to promote the general happiness. The proffer is in millions of instances unaccepted; we might say contemptuously refused.

In estimating the loss we are sustaining, we can view the loss in products, or the money outlay that is made for a fruitless harvest. Our loss in products are: loss of intelligence, loss of productive labor, loss of the comforts of life, loss of virtue, loss of citizenship, loss of respectability, loss of happiness, loss of soul enough to sadden the heart and hopes of the Christian world. But what are the money losses? This is more tangible, and therefore perhaps more effective in stirring us to duty.

Estimating five and one-half months as the average school year, and the average cost per month as $1.30, and the number of children The reports of other States, so far as exam- not partaking the school provisions as 100,000, ined, show nearly the same ratios. The reports there is thrown away each year in Pennsylvaof European countries show ratios very muchnia three-quarters of a million of dollars; in

REPORTS AND ADDRESSES.

ABSENTEEISM AND ITS CORREC-| computations make the number of children in