me has been assigned the preparation of a paper on the establishment of the office of United States Commissioner of Education, and Dr. Barnard's relation to it.

resources.

The discussions relating to the life of Henry Barnard must center about his great work in the preparation of the American Journal of Education, which may be said to have practically absorbed the energy of his life and to have used up his financial Dr. Barnard makes, and will make, in our educational history a heroic figure through his devotion to this one great purpose, namely, the preparation of a series of volumes containing all that is solid and valuable in the history of education. I think it was said by Horace Mann, in reviewing his own labors, that the greatest need existing at the time when he left his work in Massachusetts was the publication in a convenient form of the literature of education. Certain it is that Henry Barnard was early impressed with the need for such a publication, and took it upon himself as his life work to prepare it and offer it to his countrymen.

I think that whatever he undertook in other lines of education-and the list of items in this field is certainly an extensive one-was felt by him to be subsidiary to this one great purpose of his life, namely, to enlighten the teachers and directors of education throughout the United States by giving them access to a complete record of the history of education in all ages and countries. When Congress in 1867 passed an act establishing a Bureau of Education, it was quite natural that the name of Henry Barnard should be mentioned to the President as the fit man to fill the position of Commissioner of Education. Dr. Barnard would naturally think of his fixed purpose to provide educational literature, and it would occur to him at once that here was an opportunity providentially thrown in his way to take up a national work which could best be promoted by the same labors that he had undertaken as a private individual and supported from his private fortune.

I think that in forecasting the most important lines of usefulness for the newly established Bureau of Education he foresaw that the preparation of volumes containing the history of educational experiments, the discussions of educational reformers, the statistics of national systems of schools, and the biographies of great teachers would furnish the best material for a long series of official reports. During the three years (from March 14, 1867, to March 15, 1870) in which he held the office he seems to have been maturing his plans for this line of work and awaiting opportunities in the form of resolutions by Congress calling for reports on special themes connected with the promotion of schools in the nation.

His first opportunity was furnished by the call on the part of Congress for a special report of the Commissioner of Education on the condition and improvement of public schools in the District of Columbia. This work was completed and submitted to the Senate in June, 1868, and again submitted to the House two years later, namely, in June, 1870, with additions. Three thousand copies of it were printed by the Government Printer in 1871. The act calling for it was passed March 29, 1867, fifteen days after his appointment as Commissioner. This book of 912 pages forms the chief monument of Dr. Barnard's career as Commissioner of Education. It begins with an introduction by himself; this is followed by a special report of Franklin B. Hough (31 pages), and next comes the chief article in the shape of a compilation of the statistics of the schools in the States and cities of the country (pp. 44-144.) There are five appendices. The first appendix gives an account of the proceedings in the establishment of a permanent seat of government in the United States. The second appendix contains a full discussion of the legal status of the colored population in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, and Kentucky. The third appendix contains an article on illiteracy in the United States, prepared and illustrated by Dr. Edwin Leigh. The fourth appendix contains an account of art instruction in the country. The fifth appendix contains an account of public

instruction in the cities of Germany, and a reprint of the report of Fraser on American schools; a brief statement of the course of study in Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New Haven, Springfield (Mass.), New Bedford, Boston, New York City, St. Louis, and Louisville; and a table showing the salaries of teachers in the several cities.

The second opportunity of Dr. Barnard came with a call of the House of Representatives for a report on technical instruction. The first copy of the manuscript, which was not complete, was prepared in pursuance of an order of the House approved January 19, 1870; but it was never printed. A so-called second edition was published in Dr. Barnard's American Journal of Education.

What Dr. Barnard called the second edition (on p. 9 of Vol. XXI of his American Journal of Education) is not a second printed edition, but only an edition revised from the manuscript which he had prepared in compliance with the order of the House of Representatives. He says distinctly:

* *

The resolution of the House * * * to print 5,000 copies for distribution * did not reach the Senate in time to be acted on before the close of the session. No subsequent action having been taken by the Senate, House, or Office of Education, to give circulation to a document which, etc., * * the following edition is issued for subscribers to the American Journal of Education.

*

So far as the ordinary usage of the word "edition" is concerned, this is therefore the first and only edition of the work, and it appeared in July, 1871, as Volume XXI of the entire series of Barnard's Journal and as Volume V of what he called the "National Series." Dr. Barnard had evidently intended his "National Series" to contain his reports as Commissioner.

The contents of this work on technical instruction are as follows:

An introduction (pp. 17-32) on the progressive development of schools and practical courses of instruction in science.

Part I, systems and institutions of technical instruction (pp. 33-800): (1) Austria, (2) Baden, (3) Bavaria, (4) Brunswick, (5) German free cities, (6) Hanover, (7) Hesse-Cassel, (8) Hesse-Darmstadt, (9) Mecklenburg, (10) Nassau, (11) Oldenburg, (12) Prussia, (13) Saxony, (14) Saxe-Altenburg, (15) Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, (16) SaxeMeiningen, (17) Saxe-Weimar, (18) Würtemberg, (19) France, (20) Belgium, (21) Holland, (22) Denmark, (23) Norway, (24) Sweden, (25) Russia, (26) Switzerland, (27) Italy, (28) Spain, (29) Portugal."

A prefatory note prefixed to the edition of this work in Volume XXI, 1870, throws more light upon the plans of Dr. Barnard with regard to the reports of the National Commissioner of Education. He states that in the original plan:

This document [namely, report on technical instruction] would have constituted Part IV of a comprehensive survey of national education in different countries which he [Dr. Barnard] had commenced in 1854 in view of a thorough discussion of the condition and improvement of public instruction in the United States.

Parts I and II of the survey of national education in different countries were to treat of elementary and secondary education, as follows:

Part I, in the German States, and in Belgium, Holland, Denmark, France, Norway and Sweden, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain.

Part II, in the American States, with a comparison of the systems and condition of public schools in the United States with those of more advanced States in Europe. Part III, in universities, colleges, and other institutions of superior instruction. Part IV, professional classes and special instruction, including schools of theology, law, medicine, teaching, agriculture, commerce, engineering, navigation, mines, technology, etc.

Part V, supplementary instruction, including libraries, lectures, evening schools, etc. Part VI, societies, museums, and collections for the promotion of education, science, literature, and the arts.

In the prefatory note Dr. Barnard states that the information relating to systems of elementary and secondary instruction had been collected and prepared for publi

cation in the office of the Department of Education, and that it would be communicated in a few days to the Secretary of the Interior, with a plan for its speedy completion and publication.

As we read over this conspectus we can not help seeing that Dr. Barnard had begun to form a noble ideal of the work of the Bureau of Education (or "Department of Education," as it was named in the first law of Congress which organized it). Dr. Barnard sent in his resignation as ommissioner of Education, to take effect March 15, 1870. His successor, Gen. John Eaton, endeavored as far as possible to realize in the conduct of the office the ideas of Henry Barnard, and to incorporate in them such new features as recommended themselves from time to time. He began from the first to lay much stress upon the collection of statistics of the institutions and systems in the United States, showing their actual working results. This direction given to the report by General Eaton has been followed subsequently with somewhat increased emphasis. But in the administration of Col. N. H. R. Dawson, my predecessor, an attempt was made to return more nearly to the ideas of Dr. Barnard by the preparation and publication of a series of circulars of information giving a history of the founding and conduct of the colleges and universities in the several States. The publication of this series has continued to the present date and is now (in 1901) nearly completed.

At my request General Eaton has written out for me a brief account of Dr. Barnard's connection with the Bureau of Education, which I will now read:

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 29, 1901.

SIR: In reply to your request for "a brief account of Dr. Henry Barnard's connection with the Bureau of Education, mentioning the devices which he invented that came down to his successors," it is difficult for me to answer in full. My indebtedness to him personally was very great, but how much of this indebtedness came to me thru the Bureau, and how much thru his writings and other works previously, and from personal acquaintance with him, it would perhaps be impossible to relate. His publications I had studied, beginning with the period in which he was connected in one way or another with Dr. Absalom Peters, Superintendent Randall, Dr. Wilder, and Professor N. A. Calkins, in publishing the American Journal of Education and the College Review, in the fifties, before the College Review was dropped from the title. At different times also I enjoyed opportunities to study on the ground what I could see of his administration of State systems, both in Connecticut and in Rhode Island, and I knew how he had influenced educational efforts in Charleston, S. C., in New Orleans, and elsewhere in the South. Indeed, I knew that he had suggested to the Secretary of the Department the taking of illiteracy in the census when that item was first included. Altho I had been acquainted with the work of Horace Mann while a teacher in Massachusetts schools in different places, perhaps I knew more of that period of educational revival thru Dr. Barnard in which he had been so prominent. I had gathered what I could from his trip to Europe, and of his labors as president of the university at Madison, Wis., and at St. John's College at Annapolis. To me he seemed to be the most eminent man at the time in the country in the knowledge of educational literature, and I felt great misgivings when I was called by General Grant to become his successor.

While I was Commissioner of Education I had visited him as State superintendent of schools and had drawn upon him by letter. How much I had received from him in these various ways and how much came to me thru his efforts in the Bureau, I repeat, it will be difficult to state. As early as 1854 he had made a movement for

the establishment of a central office for educational information.

In response to a petition from a body of educators, especially made up of State and city superintendents of schools, prepared and presented by Hon. E. E. White, thru General Garfield, Congress had passed an act, approved March 2, 1867, establishing an independent Department of Education, to be conducted after the manner of the Agricultural Department, as it was administered at that time, with a Commissioner at a salary of $4,000, and a group of clerks. Dr. Henry Barnard was appointed to organize the department, and entered most earnestly upon the work. In time he encountered opposition in Congress. At the end of two years the department was reduced from its independent position to that of a bureau in the Department of the Interior. One thousand dollars was taken from his salary, and the clerical force reduced to that of two of the lowest grade, with a salary of $1,200 each, making the

salary of the Commissioner what it has remained to July of this year, $3,000, from which time the amount is to be advanced to $3,500.

On handing me the keys of the office the Doctor informed me of his trying experience in securing quarters for the office; for it had been moved from place to place without his approval. There was belonging to it no library, excepting a small number of city and State reports. The publications in his possession, in a separate room, had come to him in his capacity as an editor and were his private property. Later, as appropriations warranted, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, these were purchased, their value having been estimated by the Librarian of Congress, A. R. Spofford, esq., and others. He spoke somewhat specially of the difficulty of securing the passage by Congress of a resolution to print, but indicated that he had made a report May 30, 1868, to the Senate, which in July, 1868, had been ordered printed by the Senate separately to the number of 3,000 copies. The same resolution of the Senate included authority to print a like number of copies of the special report on the District of Columbia, prepared by him on the order of the House of Representatives. He also indicated to me the substantial preparation for printing of other material. Immediately, with the hearty approval of the President and of the Secretary, Hon. J. D. Cox, previously obtained, I prepared a letter recommending its printing at once, which the Secretary forwarded in due form with his official recommendation. Later, in order to facilitate the use of these letters for urgency among Members of Congress, they were printed. A resolution to print this material passed the House, but did not pass the Senate, and thus our efforts failed; but the material prepared afterward appeared in the Journal, and the Bureau, as far as possible, aided in its distribution. Later the Bureau furnished Dr. Barnard copies of its reports to supply the place of one number of the Journal, thus giving his subscribers information of the condition of education in the United States.

This Journal, it may be remarked, is his monumental work. Its publication absorbed his fortune and impoverished his last years. Thus he made his greatest contribution to the Bureau and to other educational agencies. This failure to secure a resolution to print left the Doctor and myself both in a very trying situation. If the office could not print, it must fail. Who was so well prepared as my predecessor, by long experience in educational literature, to offer for print what would be valuable for the country? This compelled me to study the situation, and I found that there were those among the school superintendents of the country not ready to answer questions and furnish the necessary information which the department needed; others claimed that it would meddle with their rights. Some pointed out the difficulty arising from the fact that there was no uniformity of dates in the reports of State and city systems and of educational institutions; others still fell back upon the fact that there was no authority given the Bureau but that of using such information as was freely accorded to it.

The plan of work, as unfolded by reports, and especially by the carefully prepared circulars printed by Dr. Barnard, was most comprehensive and seemed to leave little to be desired. What could be done? I inquired extensively among those who appreciated the importance of the office. In one of the reports of the State of Kentucky there will be found a portion of a statistical report copied from material obtained from Dr. Barnard and gathered by him. It was incomplete, and therefore it did not satisfy his judgment to use it, but its publication thus furnished evidence of the struggle he had made to get information which would satisfy the demands of Congress. Of his devices, tables of statistics, abbreviated texts, the issue of periodical circulars, and the methods which he proposed for furnishing information to persons and officers, I had enough knowledge to lead me to value them most highly.

As county and city teacher I had been trained in the tabulation of school reports; as city superintendent of schools I had devices for the tabulation of data to enable me to see the situation of each school in each week's experience; in order to study the relation of education to crime I had collated the statistics of jails in Ohio, and as State superintendent of schools I had been called upon to prepare a complete system of recording and reporting attendance and finance; yet I could not see how his devices and methods could be essentially improved in form. What could be better? I determined in some way to find a method of securing publication. I was sure the reports of the office would have been enriched if they could have included his personal reminiscences of the progress of educational efforts, his long and varied experience, together with his alert editorial watchfulness of this progress, as it may be termed, which made his memories extremely valuable. But I could not obtain them for publication by any offer of compensation by the office.

After a few months of experience and consultation, material for a circular was submitted to the Secretary of the Interior and its publication approved with a measure of hesitancy. Less than eight months after my appointment material for an annual

report was submitted and published, with all its imperfections, substantially within the lines and forms adopted by Dr. Barnard, and in accordance with the forms required by law.

Of his relation to the shaping of the work of the office I might say perhaps more specifically of his plans and devices: (1) He gave his utmost influence to the establishing of the bureau; (2) he sought to make reports which would be truly national; (3) he sought most carefully to devise valuable forms for statistics and abbreviated statements; (4) he began the publication of circulars giving information in regard to miscellaneous educational topics; (5) he enforced the national obligation to education; (6) he emphasized the need of universal education; (7) he would make the bureau enforce the universal relation of education to all the details of man's improvement; (8) he would make it understood that the laws of education in their relation to man's welfare were the same to all races; (9) he would draw illustrations of educational processes from all nations and peoples; (10) he sought to stimulate improvement by using both the historical and comparative methods, setting over against each other different years and different institutions and systems, by the publication of

facts.

Indeed, it will be hardly possible for a national office of education to find anything appropriate to publish which is not included in the plans of Dr. Barnard as touching education and its relations.

In preparing this statement, I may add, I have consulted with two of the clerks, of whom one was a translator employed by Dr. Barnard, and also with Hon. George S. Boutwell, a surviving member of the committee of the House of Representatives which proposed the organization of the department. However unsatisfactory this statement, I can hardly make it more definite without quoting Dr. Barnard's language more at length.

Very respectfully, yours,

JOHN EATON.

I have collected from the records of the Proceedings of the National Teachers' Association, of the National Superintendents' Association, and from other sources such items as relate to the conception of the National Bureau of Education, as follows:

Appendix A.-A letter addressed by the secretary of the American Institute of Instruction to John D. Philbrick, esq., January 4, 1851, informing him of his appointment as chairman of a committee to petition Congress to establish an educational department at Washington.

Appendix B.-(a) Extract from an address by Daniel Read, Proceedings of National Teachers' Association, at Cincinnati, 1858 (pp. 43, 44).

(b) 1859. Proceedings of National Teachers' Association, Washington, 1859. On motion of Rev. Dr. MeJilton, it was resolved that a committee of three be appointed to memorialize Congress in relation to the establishment of a national agency, thru which the educational statistics of the several States and Territories may be collated and distributed thru the country.

(c) 1860. Extracts from an address by J. W. Bulkley, National Teachers' Association at Buffalo (p. 24), recommending that Congress be asked to inaugurate a department of national public instruction.

Appendix C.-(a) Proceedings of National Teachers' Association for 1863 (p. 46), showing that Prof. Noble Butler, of Kentucky, read an essay in 1863 recommending the establishment of a national bureau of education by the Federal Government.

(b) Proceedings for 1861 (p. 143), showing that Prof. S. H. White, of Illinois, read an essay on the same subject, and offered a series of resolutions.

(c) Proceedings for 1865 (p. 220). Prof. James S. Hart, of Philadelphia brought in resolutions reeommending a memorial to the President and Congress for the establishment of such a bureau.

(d) Previous to the action of Professor Hart's resolution, Supt. A. J. Rickoff, of Cleveland, Ohio, read a paper on the subject showing the important services that such a bureau as was proposed would accomplish for education. (P. 223, same Proceedings, 1865.)

(e) The names of the persons appointed to memorialize the President and Congress are given in the volume of Proceedings of the National Teachers' Association published in 1866, and include members from ten different States.

Appendix D.-(a) A resolution adopted in 1866 to appoint a committee of five by the National Teachers' Association (Proceedings of 1865, pp. 305-307), to cooperate with the committee of the national superintendents.

(b) The report on the "National bureau of education" was read by Dr. E. E. White. Resolutions introduced by E. E. White, chairman (at the meeting of the National Association of Superintendents, 1866).

(c) Resolutions approving the Department of Education which had been established by the act of Congress in 1867, in pursuance of the recommendations of the committee above named, Dr. E. E. White, chairman.