a population of 434,246, of whom 67,326 were colored; which added to Baltimore County, 72,907 white, and 10,367 colored, gave to the city and county of Baltimore in 1890 one-half the entire population of the State.

The State superintendent's report of 1892 contains an elaborate history of all the colleges and academies of the State which receive public subsidies from the legislature. The attendance in the colleges had rallied-Washington 96, St. John's 172. The State Agricultural College reports favorable progress.

The total expenditure for public education in 1893 was $2,288,229, an increase of $119,922.74, largely the contribution of the city of Baltimore. The reports of Examiners Stephens of Caroline and Chaplain of Talbot counties are especially noticed in the report of the State superintendent. The death of the late superintendent of public schools, Dr. M. A. Newell, at Havre de Grace, in 1893, was remembered at the state association. The increase of expenditure for the common schools during this decade had become almost a matter of yearly occurrence. In 1894 it amounted to $59,782, the total being $2,348,011.71. A steady increase of the school population enrolled and in daily attendance was also noted. In 1895 Caroline County, under the administration and intelligent supervision of Examiner Stephens, appears as the banner county of the State in school libraries, 41 schools with and only 8 without, 4,000 volumes in all. Washington College, the oldest in the State, had fallen into the modern tendency by becoming a coeducational institution, and in 1895 graduated its first young woman. In 1896 the State school funds took an unusual leap in addition, with $261,784.26 increase; total amount, $2,650,265.59. The increase of population enrolled was large, 14,618. A free text-book bill was passed by the legislature in 1895-96. The cost of the books was to be borne by the counties, in part met by an appropriation from the State of $50,000. The normal school was crowded by an attendance of 414 students, and the principal again urges the appointment of a State superintendent of public instruction, Maryland being the only State in the Union that combined the duties of these two important positions. The superintendent denies that the passage of the free text-book law was an error in the building of the common schools of the State. One examiner declares that the average school attendance has been increased 23 per cent thereby, and all the counties report in this direction.

Superintendent Stephens presents an important phase of the subject, the shutting up of all the schoolbooks of the children during vacation. This was a serious matter in the counties where the schools were in session only five, seven, or eight months. Every child should finally own every schoolbook he has ever handled, for its value in many ways will be appreciated more every year. An important event among the colleges was the movement of Washington College for a department of pedagogy and a normal course of study extending over three years. A large and commodious building was erected and furnished for the women students, and 14 free pupils had been received. There were 92 students, all but one of the nine counties of the eastern shore having availed themselves of the provision for free tuition. Miss Katherine K. Hobbs, of Federalsburg, was appointed as lady principal of this department. Miss Hobbs for a number of years had been a teacher widely known in the region in which this institution was established. One of the most valuable literary contributions made by Superintendent M. A. Newell to the cause of education was a paper of 34 pages in the Maryland School Journal of 1877, entitled, "Early legislation in behalf of public education in Maryland."

In 1898 the superintendent announces the fact that the State of Maryland is practically out of debt and that it is a favorable time to call for an increase in the school-tax levy. This call was responded to by the increase of $349,402.81 to the total expenditure for the school system, making $3,052,326.86, and an increase of

ED 1903-27

teachers' salaries of $93,785.75, with the usual addition to the enrollment and average attendance. The appropriations for colleges and academies in 1897 were unusually liberal. Among them was a gift of $50,000 a year for two years to Johns Hopkins University. The annual appropriation to the State Normal School was made $20,000, out of which the salary and traveling expenses of a State' teachers' institute conductor was to be paid. An appropriation of $20,000 was made for the erection of buildings for a second State normal school at Frostburg, Allegany County, and $5,000 annually for its support. The general appropriation for the year included $150,000 for colored and an increase of the State tax for white schools. The State school appropriation in 1898 amounted to $602,957.

It has been well said that the ideal condition of an American State system of public schools in its relation to public affairs is found where every political party is compelled to offer the people superior educational advantages in order to gain the popular vote. Despite the exciting political conflict that during the closing years of the century twice upset the reigning political administration of Maryland, these four years were more fruitful in radical school legislation than any previous decade since the close of the civil war. Among other and less important enactments between 1896 and 1900 we note (1) the appropriation of $150,000 by the legislature to purchase schoolbooks for free distribution and the furnishing of the schools with free text-books on civics; (2) a law authorizing the governor of the State to appoint county boards of school commissioners with a term of six years' service; (3) most important of all, the long-delayed establishment of a State superintendency of instruction, and, in 1900, the elevation of Mr. M. B. Stephens, commissioner of education in Caroline County, to the State superintendency. By this arrangement Mr. E. B. Prettyman was retained as principal of the State Normal School. Another important new departure was the establishment of the second State normal school, located at Frostburg, in the northwestern portion of the State. During the same period Mr. Henry A. Wise retired from the superintendency of the public schools of Baltimore, and Prof. James H. Van Sickle was appointed in his place. The two governors, William Lloyd Lowndes and John Walter Smith, both appear in the proceedings of the State Teachers' Association and the convention of county school commissioners as active workers in the good In 1900 the whole number of schools in the State for the previous year was 2,519--185 in Baltimore. Of 222,373 children and youth of school age, 194,332 were enrolled and 134,400 in daily attendance-65,289 and 53,728 in Baltimore. Of the 5,116 teachers, 3,314 were outside the city. The average term of school session was 9.3 months-10 in the city and 8.7 months in the counties. The total receipts from all sources for public education were $2,951,723.85, and the expenses for all public school purposes were $3,022,908.61.

cause.

Superintendent Stephens began his administration by a report to the State board of education in 1901, the term of office being four years from May 1, 1900. As early as 1898 the legislature had taken the first steps toward the relief of the overworked double-headed official by the appointment of Dr. Samuel E. Foreman as State institute director. The teachers' institute, which had been suffering for lack of administration under this direction, had been revived in all the counties. An important department of the work of Mr. Stephens was the superintendency of the county institutes. For the first school year most of his time was spent in visits of three to five days in each county, holding one for a single week. He declares that public education has become much broader in its scope and character than formerly and the public school is fast becoming a greater factor in the comprehensive education of the children. A new course of study was prepared as a standard for all the counties and in most respects conformed to the recent report of the "committee of fifteen" of the National Educational Association. The general assembly of 1898 had recognized the subject of manual training in the

schools and provided an appropriation of $1,500 for one school for white and one for colored pupils in each county. The first school was established by Commissioner Chaplain in Talbot County and at the close of the year sixteen of the counties were arranging for similar schools. Along with the renewed interest in teachers' institutes had come a revival of the Teachers' Reading Circle, with the establishment in several counties of teachers' libraries.

The unusual labors of the new superintendent resulted in a severe fit of illness, which for several months removed him entirely from the field of labor, and the report of the State board of education for 1902 does not contain any communication from him. The statistics both of city and county reveal no considerable increase in any department save in total expenses for the State of an increase of $154,025.76, and in the city of Baltimore of $72,842.09. The death of Mr. J. M. Cushing, of Baltimore, was commemorated at the annual meeting of the teachers and school commissioners. Mr. Cushing for many years had been identified with public school work in State and city, was a member of the State board of education, a personal and intimate friend of teachers and school officials, and a faithful servant of the State in all movements of an educational character. The State board of education in 1902 adopted a unanimous resolution of confidence in the principal of the State normal school, Dr. E. B. Prettyman, and pledged that the school should be conducted in accordance and harmony with his views, and that his decision on the conduct and discipline of the school should be final. In the year 1902 the State appropriation for public education was $625,000–$150,000 for colored schools. A compulsory education law was passed affecting children from 8 to 12 years of age and youths from 12 to 16, unless engaged in labor. The teachers of district schools appointed by the district school trustees were to be confirmed by the board of county examiners. This board was authorized to establish libraries and reading rooms in county seats and other towns by a tax of from 5 to 7 cents on $160, and a board of nine library commissioners appointed. In 1900 the State of Maryland, exclusive of the city of Baltimore, was supporting 2,357 public schools with 144,345 pupils, of whom 81,112 were in daily attendance. The schools were under the instruction of 3,360 teachers, and were in session 8.5 months in the year. The receipts for the same portion of the State were $1,469,663.13, of which $962,152.40 was paid for teachers' salaries and $104,053.56 for school buildings. The result of thirty-five years since the close of the civil war, not only in the expenditure of money and increase of school attendance but in the general organization and administration of the educational affairs of the State, the quality and breadth of instruction, and a remarkable expansion of the facilities for higher education, had placed this Commonwealth well alongside the most favored States of the Umon.

In no State of the Union has the influence of its chief city in the development of the public school system of the Commonwealth been more pronounced through the Commonwealth than in Maryland. In 1890 the city of Baltimore reported 79,659 of the 224,004 pupils in school attendance, and an expenditure of $1,322,964.03 of the total $2,792,027.16 upon the public schools of the State. Only the lack of space prevents an extended review of the deeply interesting history of the building up of that combination of institutions which makes Baltimore to-day the foremost of educational cities of the Southern States, and in some respects a rival of the metropolitan cities of the Union, of which it is still the sixth in population.

One of the first and the only practically successful effort toward the enforcement of the public school law of Maryland for 1825-26 was in the city of Baltimore. Indeed, it is doubtful if this abortive scheme effected any permanent lodgment outside that city. In 1829 a feeble attempt was made to inaugurate public education in the city by the establishment of a few schools conducted on the monitorial plan. The plan contemplated the establishment of four male and female schools

held in hired rooms, and provided over all one master or mistress with the aid of the more advanced pupils. At the end of its first ten years' experimenting the monitorial system of instruction had come to its inevitable end. But in this exigency the intelligent friends of public education came to the front with the abolition of this method of instruction and especially the establishment of a boys' high school.

In 1839 the commissioners of the public schools were ordered to establish a school where the higher branches of English and classical literature could be taught." In this way the school successively named the High, the Collegiate High, and the Baltimore City College, was established under the principalship of Mr. Nathaniel C. Brooks. During the following thirty-seven years this school was occupied largely in fighting its way up to a permanent home in spacious buildings next door to Johns Hopkins University in the most conspicuous portion of the city. The school had increased in numbers in 1849 to 232 students with 7 instructors. But for years the 20 school commissioners appointed by the city government in this department made perpetual protests against the loose financial habits of their masters in the city council. Not more than half the money voted for education was collected at all, or, if collected, was turned over to the use of the public schools. As a consequence, the board was under a perpetual burden of debt, and it was not until after incessant protest that the city government was seriously brought up to the idea that the common school was more than an amiable fad of certain eminent gentlemen working in behalf of the lower classes of the city. In 1875 the high school reported an attendance of 425. The boys were admitted at the age of 12 and under circumstances that compelled the policy of dealing with the material not in accordance with a school so named. In 1852 the rush of pupils was so great that the standard of the public grammar schools was raised to prevent the institution from being swamped by incompetents. A reorganization was effected and seven grades of study arranged and the teachers were styled professors. The students were permitted to choose between the English and classical courses, with permission to change within three months. In 1857 Dr. Thomas D. Baird was appointed president of this institution, and he held the position with great success for sixteen years, until his death. Doctor Baird died in 1873. During his administration an effort was made to lift the central high school to the dignity of a college. The name was changed to Baltimore City College. In 1866 a fifth year was added to the course and the former grades in the common school were raised. The successor of Doctor Baird was the professor of mathematics, Mr. William Elliot, jr. He had been in the service of higher education in Baltimore for twenty-three years. Doctor Elliot died in 1890, having held the office of president of the City College for twenty-seven years. For thirty years he had been connected with the schools and had put heart and soul into their development. A small number of the graduates of this school have been utilized in the male contingent of the city school teachers. The English course was dropped and Latin made compulsory in every class, with French and German. In 1894 the faculty consisted of President Soper and 14 professors.

It was one of the accepted claims of Baltimore to educational foresight that within five years after the establishment of the boys' high school there came up one and soon after another similar institution for girls. The establishment of these two free high schools was one of the most popular acts of the leaders of the rising system of common school instruction. They at once were crowded with students and have always been the pride of the city. These schools have always been favored by the city, and one of them was at the time better housed, perhaps, than any similar school in the State. Baltimore was the first American city to introduce this feature of the common school system, a girls' high school. In other cities there had been probably high school grades for girls in the grammar

schools, in the educational and coeducational public high schools, as in New York, for many years, but Baltimore was the leader in establishing a separate department of the system for the secondary schooling of its young women. Soon after the establishment of these schools an attempt was made to meet the exigency of a professional class of teachers by a normal class heid on Saturdays, in which instruction was given largely by a review of previous studies and in some cases professional education supplemented by practice. This Saturday normal class has perpetuated itself in an amateur fashion through varying success and failure. Every city superintendent of schools has urged the establishment of a proper training and practice school for teachers, but for many years there seems to have been an unaccountable prejudice in the city against such an institution. An additional power was given to the girls' high school as an inducement to pedagogical training. The public schools of Baltimore were not free in the sense of the absence of a tuition fee. As late as 1850 a considerable and probably a large number of youth were kept out of school by the variety of reasons which serve as an excuse for such neglect or abuse of parental authority. It must have been from this cause to an appreciable degree that the common school increased so slowly that, in 1848, twenty years after its establishment, there were only 6,339 pupils, 39 male and 52 female schools, supported at the moderate expenditure of $59,459.

In 1849 the district primary school departinent of the public schools of Baltimore was first established. The schools continued to grow with the natural increase of the city. In 1855 an English course was added to the boys' and a course in modern languages to the girls' high schools. The receipts for tuition amounted to some $25,000, and only $100,000 was accepted from the city. The high schools for girls prospered, and a new building was furnished. Of 11,441 pupils, 8,163 were paying and 3,733 free. The irregular attendance on all the schools was a serious fault. In 1856 18,800 had appeared at the schoolhouse doors, and had been enrolled, while not 10,440 were in regular attendance. In 1857 the expenses of the school board increased to $143,600, $22,000 from tuition fees and only $92,000 being available for the schools. A night school had been established, which for several years continued with varied success-more than once suspended. The Peabody Institute of Baltimore, then in its early years, admitted 50 pupils of the boys' high school free to its lectures, and the Maryland Institute extended the same courtesy to the girls. The streets, according to the charge of the school board, were swarming with vagrant and unschooled children. Of the 20.5 per cent of public moneys appropriated by the city government only 12.5 was collected and passed over to the educational fund. Forty-eight girls of the female high school entered the Saturday normal class. Of the $1,000,000 voted for the expenses of the city government only $567,000 were actually collected, and of the $225,000 assigned to the school fund one-half was lacking.

The general superintendency of the common school system of Baltimore up to 1860 had been required as a special work of the office of treasurer, who, in addition to his laborious function of "making two ends meet" in finance, was expected to visit, inspect, and report concerning the schools of all sorts.

The Rev. S. N. McJilton, who for many years filled the office of treasurer, exerted himself to the uttermost to perform this duty, and in his annual report, really an elaborate lecture, discourses with great directness and with the display of a wide acquaintance with educational affairs. In 1860 Mr. George W. Eaton was president of the city school board. In 1866 the girls' high schools of Baltimore were among the few seminaries of this sort in the country, and one of the buildings was declared the best public school building in the State. George Peabody had been received in the city with great honors by 100,000 people and a procession of 20,000 school children, and Mr. Peabody declared it "one of the happiest days of his life." Mr. Peabody had given $500,000 to the Peabody Institute and $1,000,000 to the