SAY so. If you appreciate the efforts of another say so. Then he will know that his labor has not been in vain. We were glad to be complimented by some of the readers of our September number and wish to extend our thanks for the kind words that have come to us. We trust that all of our readers found something of interest in the first number of the school year, and that those to follow will prove more helpful. If you like AMERICAN EDUCATION, we would be pleased to have you tell us and also your friends who are not subscribers. During the present year we wish to increase our circulation by many thousand copies, and if you would like to help us in the work, write and we will explain how you may do so.

THE FARMERS AND THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

THE New York Legislature of last winter appropriated ten thousand dollars for the purpose of providing lectures on educational topics at the Farmers' Institutes to be held during the coming season. The money is to be expended under the direction of the Commissioner of Education who appoints the lecturers and arranges the work.

The progressive farmers of the State are deeply interested in education and desire to make their schools thoroughly up-to-date and so far as possible equal to city schools of the same grade. They will, therefore, lend a willing ear to the suggestions of the specialist sent out by the Department of Education and will, no doubt, incorporate many of such suggestions in new school houses, more attractive grounds and better teachers.

This work should also result in making the farmers better acquainted with the aims of the Department and the Department more familiar with the needs of the rural schools,

thus preparing the way for the most intelligent action on the part of both for the advancement of education in the country districts.

*

THE RETIREMENT OF MELVIL DEWEY

THE retirement of Melvil Dewey as State librarian is a distinct loss to the educational interests of New York State. Al

though his resignation was involuntary, the board of regents concede by their emphatic resolutions, that his services, covering a period of seventeen years, are the occasion of grateful recognition and sincere appreciation. As the founder and director of the library school Dr. Dewey has trained over 1,400 librarians, the majority of whom are now occupying responsible positions. His work in connection with this school has made his reputation almost world wide. It has been currently reported that with Dr. Dewey's retirement the library school will be given up by the State or transferred elsewhere. Regent McKelway, however, is responsible for the assurance that the rumor is without foundation in fact.

It is unfortunate that the State of New York should lose the services of an official of such manifest ability, yet it is necessary that the relations of the State library to the other administrative departments should be entirely harmonious. This has not been true for some time and has been due largely to the brusqueness of the State librarian's personality. Some suavity of manner would have been of great help to him. There has been a tendency to believe that Dr. Dewey's resignation is a direct result of the charges made against him last winter by certain residents of New York who complained that as president of the Lake Placid Club, he had discriminated against Hebrews. In this connection Regent McKelway says that Regent Lauterbach's co-operation in

moving the adoption of the commendatory resolutions, is in itself a refutation of the industrious fallacy. Whatever the reasons may have been which have caused his retirement, it is hoped that Dr. Dewey may find a more agreeable environment where he can carry on the work for which he is so eminently fitted.

and to give him an interest in useful work. Military drill and physical instruction are given to increase his self-respect and to assist him in forming habits of obedience. His term of sentence is made dependent on his good behavior and upon his release he is paroled under favorable conditions so that his new battle with life may not be too severe at the outset. Valuable as all of these

PRISONS

THE Department of Prisons of New York State has just inaugurated an educational movement that bids fair to outrank the indeterminate sentence and parole system as a means of reformation for prisoners. In each of the State prisons there has been appointed a thoroughly competent and progressive head teacher, who in conjunc tion with Dr. A. C. Hill, of the Department of Education, will organize the work of teaching the prisoners and interesting them in good literature.

It has been conclusively proved that the prison of the old stamp which merely punished the criminal does not aid society by lessening crime. Men will not refrain from wrong-doing for fear of punishment, neither will they reform by means of punishment. Too commonly prisoners make the completion of their term of confinement only the beginning of a new course of crime. The cold severity of the prison life brutalizes them and they go forth from the prison doors with no hope for the better things of life, with no regard for society, with no feeling of sympathy for any living creature. No wonder that they seize the first opportunity to prey upon the society that has refused to sympathize with them in their misery.

The prison of the new type is a reformatory rather than a penal institution. While necessarily detaining the convicts its aim is not to punish, but to form character. Instruction in the skilled trades is given in order to make the convict self-supporting

their purpose. The prisoner needs the intelligent and moral stimulus of good teachers and good books. With these his field of vision will be broadened, his sympathies and hopes will be aroused and his determination to face the world with honest courage will be strengthened.

The State Department of Prisons is to be highly commended for organizing a work of such far-reaching significance.

** *

CONTAGIOUS DISEASES IN SCHOOLS How to prevent the spread of contagious diseases by the schools is one of the most serious problems that school authorities. have to solve. This is especially true in large cities where many hundred children of all sorts and conditions attend the same school. A single pupil afflicted with measles, smallpox or scarlet fever may expose a hundred or more fellow pupils before the disease is discovered or a single cause of infection such as contaminated water may count its victims by scores before being located and removed.

The gravity of the problem is apparent to any one who gives it a moment's consideration. The effect on the school itself is serious enough, but it is little compared to the trouble and anxiety of the parents and the pain and death of the innocent sufferers.

Strange to say, school authorities are slow to take the necessary precautions and usually wait till the contagion breaks out. The only disease-preventing regulation that is enforced with any degree of universality

is the one referring to vaccination, and that is one of the least important. Beyond the quarantine enforced by the board of health .practically nothing is done to prevent scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria and whoopingcough.

Were the modern methods of disease prevention expensive and difficult to obtain, the inaction of school authorities would be more excusable, but as a matter of fact, the application of a few common sense rules and a few simple devices would work wonders for the health of the schools. We have but to remember that germs are spread mainly by the air and water, that germs cannot endure sunlight and that vigorous children do not easily contract disease, and we have the key to the whole situation.

It follows that a bountiful supply of pure air must be furnished at all times and in all parts of the school building and that foul air must be promptly removed. Every precaution must be taken to prevent dust mingling in the air. A supply of the purest water obtainable should be furnished and wherever possible sanitary fountains should be used. The common drinking cup and the common water pail are relics of primitive days and should be forever banished. Cloak rooms should not be neglected. Too often they are crowded and stuffy and the wraps of the various children hang over

each other in most promiscuous fashion. The air of the cloak room should be just as pure as that of the school room and each child should have an apartment as inviolable as its desk in the school room. Direct sunlight should be freely admitted to every room as long as possible without interfering with the work of the school. When direct sunlight cannot be admitted the largest possible amount of diffused light must be let in.

Children suffering from heavy colds and children who are anæmic and of low vitality should not be allowed to attend school. Health is of more importance than regularity of attendance. In Boston and some other cities medical inspectors are employed to visit the schools regularly or at the call of any principal. These physicians examine all children suffering from physical defects. or disease of any kind and advise the teachers concerning them. In case a contagious disease is discovered, the board of health is notified and immediate action is taken. The cost of such inspection is not great, while the benefits are very large. Its general adoption is only a matter of time.

Let nothing be neglected that may contribute to the physical well-being of the child. Without a substantial physical basis we rear in vain an intellectual and moral structure.

Now a hush is in the air,

Now the fields are brown and bare; Lightly float upon the breeze Leaves from flaming forest trees,

For Autumn days are here. Gleaming streams with scarlet lined, Barren rocks with garlands twined; Purple, topaz, brown and red, Are with matchless grace o'erspread, While Autumn days are here.

Uplands, glens, with color dyed,
Crowned in splendor, glorified;
Far away the wooded heights
Shine and gleam like starlit nights,
While Autumn days are here.
Can it be that this is death,
Is this Summer's dying breath,
Wearing a bright smile of bliss,
Bidding a farewell like this,

While Autumn days are here?

Professor Charles Mills Gayley of the University of California has just returned from Europe where he represented the United States as a delegate to the International Congress for the Reproduction of Manuscripts, Coins and Seals, held at Liege, Belgium. Backed by this international congress which placed its emphatic and formal approval on the plan, Professor Gayley proposes to establish at Washington, D. C. an institution from which will be sent to universities all over the world, fac similes of the greatest manuscripts, coins and seals that make up the treasures of European museums, libraries and universities. The money for this unique undertakmen of ing will be solicited from American wealth who are known to be interested in archaeological research.

Next in importance to the N. E. A. meeting this summer was the National Educational Congress, held at Portland, Oregon, August 28 to September 2. The opening address was delivered by W. T. Harris, United States Commissioner of Education. A. S. Draper, commissioner of eduIcation for the state of New York delivered an address on "Unsettled Questions in the Organization and Administration of Schools." Others who addressed the congress are Frank Rigler, state superintendent of schools of Oregon; F. Louis Soldan, city superintendent of schools, St. Louis, Mo.; M. B. Brumbaugh, of the University of Pennsylvania; Prof. H. M. Leipziger, supervisor of lectures in the public schools of the city of New York and President E. A. Bryan of Washington State College.

A movement has been inaugurated in Brooklyn for the school children to raise a fund with which to purchase the frigate Constitution (Old Ironsides), but it is not likely that the government will let the historic relic pass from public to private care.

and placed in the savings bank to his credit over $50 at the end of the season.

Kentucky, The Kentucky Court of Appeals has decided that the reading of the King James version of the Bible in public schools is not within the prohibition of the Constitution on religious freedom. The decision reads, in part, "The Bible is not of itself a sectarian book, and when used merely for reading in public schools, without note or comment by teachers, is not sectarian instruction, nor does the use of the Bible make the school house a house of religious worship."

Ohio.-Dayton has been fortunate in securing as superintendent of schools John W. Carr, who did a valuable work at Anderson, Ind. Supt. Carr is one of the progressive school men and has the interest of teachers thoroughly at heart. He is an earnest advocate of higher salaries and his voice is always heard on that subject at the educational conventions.-Owing to the overcrowded condition of the Cleveland schools temporary quarters have been secured in some of the churches. One whole class found itself without a room, but a tailor in the vicinity of the school vacated his shop so that the children could move in.

Pennsylvania.-The twenty-first annual session of the teachers' institute held at Reading, September 4-8, was one of the most interesting ever given in that city, its success being largely due to the zealous efforts of Supt. Foos and his An excellent proefficient corps of assistants.

gram was arranged including the following instructors: Richard G. Boone, Ph. D., Boston, Mass.; Richard E. Dodge, A. M., Teachers College, Columbia University; Miss Louise Connolly, General Supervisor of Public Schools, Newark, N. J.; W. W. Deatrick, Sc. D., Keystone State Normal School, Kutztown; Miss Amanda E. Stout, Supervisor Intermediate and Grammar Grades, Public Schools, Reading; Miss Mary S. Addams, Supervisor Primary Grades, Public Schools, Reading; Mrs. A. H. Smith, Jr., Former Grade Teacher, Reading; Dr. Clara Shetter Keiser, Reading.-The beneficent workings of the teachers' minimum salary law are just beginning to make themselves manifest, as is shown in the reports filed by County Superintendents at the Department of Public Instruction. Superintendent H. H. Garner, of Dauphin says in his report: "The minimum salary law caused ten of the districts in the county to increase the salaries of the teachers. It has wrought a very healthful change in the rural schools affected by this law. It gives the teachers more compensation for further advancement and an opportunity for the directors of the rural schools to retain them in the same school of the district for more than a year. Teaching has been and is made a stepping stone to something better paying, and will continue as long as the public calls for a low rate of taxation for the schools. The best teachers are not too good for our sons and daughters."

DEMUTUALIZATION OF THE N. E. A.

Miss Margaret Haley of Chicago who is opposed to the new scheme of re-incorporating the National Educational Association is out with a statement in which she likens the alleged plan to turn over the association to the National Council, to the methods just now being laid bare by investigation of certain insurance companies. Miss Haley says, "We want the association to remain mutualized. We want it to remain within the control and be administered in the interest of the thousands of teachers who contribute to its income. Public opinion is compelling the mutualization of the great financial institution before noted, but the dominant official faction of the National Educational Association is trying to compel, in the most arbitrary and relentless manner, the demutualization of our organization.

"While our brilliant and honored and democratic president was congratulating the National Educational Association on the ground that it was truly democratic, a true democracy, the managers of that organization had just taken action tending to convert it into an absolute despotism."

Miss Haley maintains that the proposed charter will centralize the government of the association in the National Council, one of the departments of the N. E. A., and a self-perpetuating body, which enjoys its present powers only by courtesy of the board of directors. As a result of absolute control by the council, she is convinced that the permanent fund will be put beyond the reach of the active members and that action by the association to secure better conditions for teachers will be obstructed.

THE SALARY QUESTION AT PITTSBURG

The teachers of Pittsburg, Pa., are dissatisfied with the methods of the Central Board of Education which has been making an investigation to determine who are entitled to an increase in salary. Last October the grade teachers petitioned the board to adjust the salary schedule-asking for $600 minimum per year to $1,300 maximum― salary to increase at the rate of $50 per annum until $1,000 per year be reached; after two years at $1,000 the teachers requested that the salary of a teacher, proving proficient and skillful in her work, should increase at the rate of $50 per year until the maximum for the first seven grades reached $1,200 per annum; the High School teacher to receive $1,300 per annum. This was refused by the board, and a minimum of $440 and a maximum of $960 per year substituted. The method, however, of compelling the teachers to pass severe examinations before getting the increase is objected to and denounced as only another scheme to keep the teachers out of the advance.

An examination was held last April, concerning which the board of trustees of the Teachers' Association has recently issued a statement. One paragraph says: "No criticism is made upon the question propounded as a means of determining the extent of a teacher's knowledge of the theory of teaching and the scope of her professional read

ing, study and thought, but when the commission decided upon this method of investigation it was its duty to conduct the investigation in as fair a manner as possible and under the most favorable conditions. On the contrary, work requiring, at the lowest calculation, four and onehalf hours was demanded in two hours and ten minutes, and in some cases less time, under poor hygienic conditions and with no provision made for the inevitable bad effect physically upon a number of the participants."

The objection of the teachers is not based upon the number who passed the written examination of the Teachers' Salary Commission, but that it has made this written examination, as far as can be ascertained by the applicants, an absolute and final test of a teacher's practical work in the school room. The classification which the teachers expected to require two years to accomplish, the commission attempted in five months.

As many of the examination questions have been considered unreasonable they are presented here for the benefit of those interested in them. About thirty minutes were allowed for each paper.

GROUP I.

Describe your ideal school, including teacher and pupil. What is the object of punishment? What is meant by "Make the punishment suit the offense?"

From your experience as a teacher give one example that illustrates this principle.

Have you ever heard of any punishments that have violated this principle? How?

What punishments are helpful? What punishments are harmful?

What do you mean by proficiency and skill in teaching?

GROUP II.

What relative proportion of attention (time, effort, interest) should be given to bright and to dull pupils?

How do you secure and hold the attention and interest of indifferent, restless or mischievous pupils?

What is the most important work of the teacher outside of the school room?

State clearly what you understand by the term culture. By or through what sources obtainable? Show that it is an essential factor in the teacher's equipment. Show that the term has a meaning other than as you have used it. Show that with this meaning it is an essential factor in the teacher's equipment.

GROUP III.

What educational magazines do you read? Why do you prefer these? Give a summary of each of two articles that have appeared within the last four months, naming the magazine.

At the November meeting of the Pittsburg Teachers' Institute Miss Harris talked on the subject of reading. Recall her talk and tell wherein you agreed with her and wherein you differed from her. Or, recall either of her other talks, giving a brief review of the same, and tell how the lecture could be of benefit to the teacher. In speaking before the Forty-second Convoca