cation by his own church and clerical caste; the theorist who denies the right of the state to educate; the social exclusive who fears the elevation of the masses; the scholar who takes no stock in popular culture; the Bourbon politician who hugs the corpse of state rights, buried with its great expounder; the college and academical professor, jealous of the public schools; these, and various other hostile elements, will come together and contest every inch of ground, at Washington, during the present congress. Already the Catholic hierarchy demands that the senate shall refuse to confirm General Morgan and Doctor Dorchester, of the Indian Bureau, for their friendship to the common school and because they deem it unwise to extend the subsidy system now in vogue. It is well enough to be warned in time, and meet the enemy at the Capitol, where a battle lost means a prolonged conflict, perhaps a doubtful issue, for a third of our American states.

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N no way was the educational statesmanship of Horace Mann more apparent than in his idea of establishing a citadel of popular instruction in the Normal School, and an efficient system of state overlook and supervision. When he planted the three Normals and removed the election of state superintendent from the scramble of popular politics, he laid the foundations of the central fortress to which Massachusetts owes largely the steady development of her educational life. To-day, any threatened assault on the public school, at the State House, brings up a host of trained defenders and friends, whose experience and reputation are too much either for the educational reactionist or the educational crank. The same tendency is constantly improving school superintendents in the cities, and introducing a good working system of supervision in the townships. A conspicuous instance of the neglect of this wise policy is the State of Ohio; -with no State Normal School or county supervision; where, every school official is like a man on the open prairie, exposed to every high wind of popular disfavor; and no man, at Columbus, powerful enough to stir a legislature to decisive action. Within the past few years almost every city superintendent of national reputation in the state has been deposed; while the city training schools are in a state of siege by the second-rate local teachers who are always moved by jealousy against the normal in any shape. If the present eminent state superintendent, so providentially spared, can signalize his administration by laying the foundation. of this central fortress in one effective State Normal School, the country, no less than the great commonwealth he represents, will be grateful for his administration.

EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS FOR THE NEXT CENSUS.

[The following communication from Mr. Robert P. Porter, Superintendent of Census, has been received, and is inserted here for the benefit of all concerned.

EDITOR.]

THIS office desires to secure the best results possible regarding the schools of the country with a few salient inquiries.

JAMES H. BLODGETT, A. M., of Rockford, Illinois, a gentleman of long experience in educational work and in public affairs, has been appointed a special agent for the collection of statistics of education for the United States.

Public schools are so related to systems of public record that their statistics are obtainable through established methods.

Incorporated private schools have a place in public records. Parochial schools generally render stated reports to some controlling body.

Unincorporated private schools form a considerable element of usefulness hitherto unmeasured. It is desirable to gather reports of the number of teachers and pupils in such schools, without troubling them for the financial statements that schools supported by public funds owe to the tax-payers.

The enumerators of population will report each person who has attended school within the year, and whether at a public or at a private school; and, for all persons ten years of age and over, those who can read and write. This will be more than has been done heretofore. Other educational statistics must be reached by different methods, in which every one interested may render some aid.

Any lists of private schools, no matter how brief, or names of single schools, no matter how humble, open in any part of the present school year, with the address of the principal teacher of each, will be of assistance to this office.

Now is the time for all teachers to be planning to attend some summer school during the next long vacation. Every ambitious teacher should make decided professional improvement each year.

PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

[The following appeared as an editorial in the December number of the Andover Review. It will doubtless prove interesting and of value to thoughtful students of the subject. - EDITOR.]

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(OMPLETE statistical reports of the number of scholars attending parochial schools in Massachusetts appear in the Boston "Daily Advertiser" of November 12. The reports come from school superintendents, supervisors, members of school boards, and others, and are believed to include all the parochial schools in the state, with the possible exception of a few opened recently. No section of the country affords a better illustration of the growth of the parochial system than Massachusetts, which has a larger proportion of Catholic population than any state in the Union, and which has that population distributed in many cities and manufacturing towns all over its territory.

In those places where Catholic schools have been established the actual numbers are as follows: Number of scholars in the public schools, 178,097; number of scholars in parochial schools, 39,301; whole number, 217,398. That is, about 18 per cent. of the scholars reported as in actual attendance are sent to parochial schools. Boston sends 55,599 to the public and 8,000 to the parochial schools, or 12.5 per cent.; Worcester, 12,000 to public, 1,935 to parochial schools, or 13.9 per cent.; Cambridge, 10.462 and 1,400, or 11.8 per cent.; Fall River, 8,605 and 3,000, or 25.8 per cent.; Lowell, 7,700 and 2,500, or 24.5 per cent.; Lynn, 7,723 and 600, or 7.2 per cent.; Springfield, 6,639 and Soo, or 10.8 per cent. ; Somerville, 5,488 and 640, or 9.8 per cent.; Lawrence, 5,300 and 1,670, or 24 per cent.; Chelsea, 5,000 and 550, or 9.9 per cent.; New Bedford, 4,643 and 1,818, or 28.2 per cent. ; Gloucester, 4,000 and 250, or 5.9 per cent.; Holyoke, 3,387 and 3,220, or 48.8 per cent.; Haverhill, 3,200 and 900, or 21.9 per cent.; Salem, 3,600 and 1,268, or 26 per cent. ; Newburyport, 1,600 and 800, or 33 per cent.; Chicopee, 2,200 and 1,000, or 31.3 per cent. In Southbridge only is the parochial in excess of the public school attendance, the numbers being 830 and 725 respectively. The town has a large French population, and 650 of the 830 parochial scholars are in the French parochial school. There are thirty-seven towns and cities. in which parochial schools exist, and in six of these places the whole number of parochial scholars is only 1,313. Computing the entire school population between the ages of five and fifteen at 350,000 and

the number in attendance at 320,000, there would remain in other towns and cities about 100,000 school children attending the public schools. The percentage of attendance in parochial schools in the entire state is, then. about 12.3 per cent. (39.301 to 320,000). It is really less than that, for the number of pupils over fifteen years of age is not included. It appears, then, that the extension of parochial schools has been considerable only at a few centres, and has not reached nine-tenths of the towns of Massachusetts at all, and that in those centres there is accommodation for only a fraction of the children even of Catholic parents. In Boston, the children of Catholic parents number about 30,000, of whom only 8,000 can be accommodated in the parochial schools. Even in Holyoke, where there are only 1,638 Protestant children out of a total school population of 6,402, there is room in the parochial schools for only about 3,000, so that one-half the pupils in the public schools are Catholics.

In nearly all cases where the Catholics build a schoolhouse, the immediate effect is to relieve over-crowded public schools of the neighborhood. The relief is usually temporary only, as increase of population soon fills up every room. In a few instances, the number of teachers and the appropriation of money have been reduced. Fifty teachers in all have been displaced, twelve of them in Fall River and nine in Southbridge. In six places only has the appropriation been reduced, Newburyport, Malden, Woburn, Waltham, Canton, and Southbridge.

The rate of increase is not indicated by the statistics of the "Advertiser." In Boston, several schoolhouses have been built since the Baltimore decree of 1886, which urged more activity in religious education. In Worcester, since 1874, when a large schoolhouse was built, the only increase is a French school opened in 1880, two small houses a little later, and in 1888 a school for boys, with 200 pupils. In Woburn, a schoolhouse was built in 1884, but nothing has been done since. In New Bedford, no buildings have been erected since the first was built in 1884. In Fall River, some of the six schoolhouses have been opened recently. The same is true of Holyoke. The rather rapid increase of Canadian-French population has led to the erection of new buildings within the last three or four years. On the whole, there has been no recent increase of parochial schools at all corresponding to the increase of public schools and of population.

The zeal of the Catholic clergy for church schools is general if not universal, but the laity are not sufficiently in sympathy with the priests to be at the expense of building and maintaining independent schools for their children. And there is little probability of more activity, if a few simple and sensible conditions are complied with by Protestants. One condition is, to keep up and to increase the efficiency of the public

schools. Thus far there has been no question of the superiority of the public over the parochial schools. This is so well understood by Catholic parents that of their own accord they seldom remove their children from the public schools; and very often, after removal at the request of the priest, children are sent back again to the schools from which they had been withdrawn. Let there be intelligent direction of elementary education in respect to textbooks, teachers, hours of study, school hours, manual training, the usefulness of studies, and the subordination of method to result, and there is little doubt that the large majority of Catholic children will remain in the public schools.

There should be no discrimination against Catholic teachers who are as well trained and as competent as Protestant teachers. They have an advantage in teaching children of their own faith, and their participation in the work of instruction removes one objection from the mouths of the priests. An important part of the testimony which has been collected bears on this very matter. In Blackstone, where there is no parochial school, twelve of the twenty-five teachers are Catholics. Of Winchester, which is without a parochial school, the superintendent, Mr. Hunt, says: "We have four Catholic teachers in one school, and the pupils are all Catholics. The teachers are graduates of the Salem Normal School, and are among our very best qualified, and their work is not easily equalled anywhere by any teachers of the same grade. They all do not believe in parochial schools. Give Catholic teachers an equal chance with Protestant teachers; give them full credit for excellent work. I can show some of their work I have never seen equalled in Boston."

Above all, every effort should be made to avoid public discussion and agitation as against Catholics. In view of the facts, it must be seen that nearly all of the alarm which exists in many minds is groundless. Nothing is more likely to further the plans of the Catholic clergy than violent opposition and the appearance of religious persecution. Nothing else can consolidate American Catholics against public schools, or unite them to provide educational facilities for all their children. There are causes enough and more than enough to counteract the efforts of priests in behalf of church schools. The excellence of public schools, the advantage of association with Protestants, the political equality of this country, and unwillingness to be taxed again for what is already provided are among the causes which work effectively against the establishment of a separate system of education. We repeat what we said a year ago on this subject: "The church does not control the people in all things, and is not the only interest of their lives. They live in modern times, in intelligent and enterprising communities, and in a republic. If these influences are allowed to produce their legitimate