The important fact in respect to the long-established peasant industries is the recent endeavor on the part of provincial assemblies (zemstvos) and the Central Government to organize and aid them. The first systematic effort in this direction was made by the Moscow zemstvo, which opened a museum in Moscow for the exhibit of the products of these industries in 1885, and in 1888 organized a special commission to direct and extend the work. The help given is in the form of raw material, of instruction in the ways of finishing the articles manufactured, and of arrangements for facilitating the sale of the articles. This example was rapidly followed by other zemstvos, and in 1910 there were 34 governments that had organized workshops for training the peasants and arranged for permanent exhibitions and for the supply of the raw material to the peasant workers (koustari). The part of the Central Government in promoting this work is described as follows by the authority above quoted:

The interests of the koustarnui industry are intrusted to the department of rural economy and statistics of the ministry of agriculture. This department employs a special staff of experts in different branches of koustarnui work, has 12 technical schools managed by State instructors, lends money on long credit, subsidizes koustarnui stores and workshops, publishes albums of drawing and designs, organizes exhibitions, and helps to maintain the St. Petersburg Koustarnui Museum, started by the Government in 1900. Besides this, when the State gives orders for koustarnui goods, the department acts as intermediary between the zemstvos and the respective Government institutions, and further affords financial aid in exporting the products abroad. During the last five years the treasury has contributed over 3,300,000 rubles for the development of koustar (cottage) industries, the estimates for 1913 being 1,647,000 rubles.

With respect to these industries a well-known authority says:

The position of the peasant in Russia, his well-being or his poverty, is largely due to the existence of the organized peasant industries. Far from being the most povertystricken agricultural class of Europe, his economic condition will stand comparison, within certain well-defined limits, with that of the tillers of the soil of the greater part of the continent. The natural tendencies of the great Russian people have made the existence of this organized industry possible. More than any other people they have the instinct for cooperative working, an instinct which has resulted in, and been fostered by, the institutions of the mir in the villages, and of the artel, or temporary voluntary associations of workmen, outside them.

The most recent investigations seem to show that there are more than 8,000,000 of the inhabitants of European Russia whose time is shared between agriculture and some form of industrial handicraft, meaning by this term the production of some sort of merchandise for sale, not for use in the family of the producer; and about 4,000,000 or thereabouts whose whole time is engaged in handicrafts and small machine industries not grouped in the modern factory system. Where the wares produced are desirable and salable, the concomitant advantage of a healthy home life to the producer is a national asset.

The number of these villages is almost unlimited, and as a rule only one industry is pursued in each village; different provinces have become celebrated for the skill of the people in industries of the same general character, such as textile, industrial, metal working, pottery,

etc.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

MODERN EDUCATION IN ASIA AND AFRICA.

CONTENTS.

Asia: Japan-Report of the minister of public instruction.-China-Modern education.-India-The sixth quinquennial review.

Africa: Progress in Egypt.-The coast regions.-The Union of South Africa.

JAPAN.

REPORT OF THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.

The report of the minister of public instruction in Japan brings the record of education in that Empire to the close of 1913, with comparative tables showing progress in the half decade.

The system is marked by complete provision for primary education, thorough preparation of the teachers, and the high qualifications required for supervisory officers. The central department maintains close relations with the schools by means of annual conferences at the capital, to which selected teachers are called from every district, and by frequent conferences of the local inspectors. At these gatherings opinions and experiences are interchanged, instruction imparted, and new plans unfolded, and the delegates return to their duties with new enthusiasms and ideals.

In the provinces of secondary and higher education great care is exercised to limit the number of institutions, whether general or special in character, to the actual needs of the country, and to bring each institution to a high degree of efficiency. high degree of efficiency. Quality rather than quantity is the aim.

The minister urges special efforts at moral and ethical instruction in every class of schools, primary, higher, and special, and emphasizes the need by a letter from the Emperor, as follows:

As the building up of a vigorous nation can only be effected through the diffusion of general education, those who are engaged in that effort should ever be assiduous and painstaking.

Special attention is called in the report to recent extensions or changes in the official regulations for different classes of schools. In the higher primary schools, courses in manual training, agriculture, and commerce have been made obligatory, all pupils being obliged to take one or other of the subjects named. English, which was formerly treated as an independent subject, has been included in the

commercial course, with a view of making the instruction more practical.

The salaries of teachers have been raised and special rank conferred upon meritorious principals who have been over 20 years regular teachers of elementary schools.

In the high schools for girls a course in household management has been substituted for the special art course, and authority given to establish high schools for girls which provide only an industrial course suited to their wants. In the regulations for normal schools, a course in ethics has been extended and strengthened. In the instructions pertaining to technical education, as well as to university education, new emphasis is placed upon the training of character, and provision has been made for increasing the equipment of all the higher institutions.

The following table summarizes the statistical data respecting schools and higher institutions for the years specified:

Total..

36,081 34,376 186,776 160,878 7,809, 140 6,627, 1101,247,363 607, 557

The expenditure for public schools of all grades below the universities in 1911-12 amounted to 79,692,983 yen ($39,687,105), an increase of 3,000,000 yen over the preceding year. The appropriations for universities are included in the expenditures for the department of education, which amounted to an additional 10,448,331 yen ($5,203,258).

MODERN EDUCATION IN CHINA.

The system of modern education in China, ordered by imperial decree of September 5, 1905, has been continued by the Republic. The early efforts in this direction pertained chiefly to the establish

ment of higher institutions. The present minister of education places main stress on elementary schools and the training of teachers for their service, and, as a rule, the governors of the different Provinces seem to be giving hearty support to his plans. It is difficult, however, to form a clear idea of the progress in establishing the modern system, on account of the vast extent and local organization of the country, which consists of 18 Provinces having independent authority in respect to education, and comprising an area of one and one-half million square miles, with a population exceeding three hundred million.

INSTITUTIONS UNDER PUBLIC CONTROL.

Recent official statements give a total of 34 colleges, i. e., law, technical, etc., and six higher normal schools, established in various capital cities. The Peking Government University, an ancient literary high school, was organized as a modern institution about four years ago. The Government has agreed also to recognize the diplomas of the Union Medical College, founded at Peking by British missionaries. In the Province of Chihli a university has been established at Tientsin, and at Pao Ting-fu an Anglo-Chinese college.

TSING HUA COLLEGE.

One of the most important Government institutions is the Tsing Hua College, an outcome of the indemnity fund returned to China by the United States; amounting to $10,785,286. As a consequence of this liberal action, it was announced by the Government of China that

from the year when the return of the indemnity begins, 100 students shall be sent to America every year for four years, so that 400 students may be in America by the fourth year. From the fifth year and throughout the period of the indemnity payments, a minimum of 50 students will be sent each year.

Regulations were at once drawn up in accordance with this decision which, among other things, provided that "the Board of Foreign Affairs should be responsible for the establishment of a training school in China and the appointment of the superintendent of students in America." Specific directions for the choice of these students and their distribution in the United States were issued by the board, and plans were at once adopted for the establishment of a training school at Peking to prepare students for their work in the United States. This is the function of the Tsing Hua College, which is named from the beautiful estate selected for its site.

The college was opened in 1911, but the revolution interrupted its work, and it was not until the spring of 1912 that operations were definitely resumed. The affairs of the college are administered by a

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board, of which the president is Mr. Tsur Ye-Tsung, who has the degree of A. B. from Yale University and of M. A. from the University of Wisconsin. The dean of the institution is Mr. Chao GuoTsai, also a Wisconsin graduate. Of the eight remaining members of the administrative board, two are graduates of American universities.

The college is organized in two departments. The faculty of the Chinese department comprises 9 professors; the faculty of the Western department comprises 20 English professors, of whom 19 are American graduates, from leading institutions of this country; 2 of the number have also degrees from European universities; 1 is a native of China, holding the degree of A. B. (in education) from the University of Wisconsin and of M. A. in sociology from the University of Chicago. The teaching corps includes, also, 7 instructors who are natives of China and graduates of foreign universities.

The candidates for admission come from the various Provinces, the number from each Province being determined by the amount of the Boxer indemnity that falls to its share. The course of study in the middle school covers four years and leads to a certificate which admits the holder to the high school; the latter also has a four-year course. Students who complete this successfully receive a diploma, and may then be sent to the United States to pursue advanced studies under rules in force for a period of five years. The highschool graduates of 1913 numbered 43, and the class of 1914 had 34 students.

THE SCHOOL OF CONSERVANCY ENGINEERING.

Under date of October 9, 1914, a presidential mandate was issued relative to the opening of a school of conservancy engineering in accordance with the advice of the minister of agriculture and commerce. A fund equal to $20,000 was set aside for this purpose.

EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS.

The educational movement is promoted by provincial educational associations, of which the Kiangsu Association may be taken as a type. It was organized in 1906 with headquarters at Shanghai, was sanctioned by the Chinese Emperor, and has been continued under the Republic with a revised constitution and rules.

The unification of the educational work of the Provinces has been promoted by conferences of the local educational societies and by a national convention called by the Kiangsu Association. This convention, the first of its kind in China, met in 1911 in the office at Shanghai and included delegates from 11 Provinces.

The general purposes of the association are furthered by the publication of a monthly educational magazine which has very wide cir