WASHINGTON: -
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

Paga REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION......

V-CCCXVII
Library, v; publications of the Bureau, vii; governmental provision for education, x;

educational reports, xiv; table of facts relating to State reports, xix; recess or no
recess, xxiv; school legislation, *xvi; statistics of correspondents of the Bureau,
xxviii; growth of education in the United States, Lix; school ages, xxxi; summary
of statistics of State systems, xxxii; summary of the statistics of the last ten years,
xl; school population, enrollment, and average attendanco, xliii; comparative view
of school attendance in tho more densely populated States, xlv; defectivo adminis.
tration of common schools, xlvii; status of the teaching force, xlix; supervision of
country schools, 1; graded course of study, lii; compulsory attendance, liii; sum.
mary of the educational condition of the Union, liveducation of the colored race,
1xvii; statistics of institutions for the education of the colored race, lxviii; teach

ix
ers for colored schools, lxxv; illiteracy in the South, lxxvi; industrial training for
colored youth, lxxvii; Peabody fund, Itrix; John F. Slator fund, lxxx; summary
of statistics of city systems, lxxxii; tablo of averago expenses per capita for city
schools, xcviii; school population, enrollment, and attendance in cities, c; exam.
inations, cv; an experiment in discipline, cvi; supervision, cvii; free text books
and stationery, cis; gymnastics, ex; tenure of office of teachers, cx; administra-
tion, cxiii; the teaching of vocal music in public schools, cxiv; statistics relating
to city superintendents, cxvi; summary of statistics of normal schools, cxxviii; ap-
propriations for normal schools, crxxiii; character of normal training, cxxxvii;
information concerning particular schools, cxxxis; teachers' institutes, etc., crl;
summary of statistics of commercial and business colleges, cxls; suiniary of sta-
tistics of kindergärten, cxlvi; general statistical summary of pupils receiving
secondary instruction, cxlviii; summary of statistics of institutions for secondary
instruction, cl; summary of statistics of preparatory schools, cliii; public high
schools, clv; measures for improving secondary instruction, clvi; overwork in
secondary schools, civi; statistical summary of students in classical and scientific
preparatory courses, clxiii; statistical summary of students in institutions for su-
porior instruction, clxiv ; summary of statistics of institutions for the superior in-
struction of women, clski; summary of statistics of universities and colleges,
clsxii; distinction between colleges and universities, clxxiv; movements in certain
colleges, claxviii; graduate departments, clxxx; the university of the nineteenth
century, cixsxi; colleges whose main work is in the undergraduate department,
clxxxii; catalogues of American colleges, classiv; statistics of alumni of colleges
and universities, clxxxvi; summary of statistics of schools of science, cxcvii; classi-

it
fication of scientific students in a number of institutions, ccv; meaning of the er:
pression, "industrial education," cevi; the Workingman's School, New York, ccviis
experiments in connection with city public schools, coviii; exercises of universal
application, cexii; exhibitions of industrial work by school children, ccxii; indus-
trial training in normal schools, ccxiv; in the South, cexr; special schools, ccxV;
instruction in cookery, ccxvi; summary of statistics of schools of theology, ccxviii;
summary of statistics of schools of law, ccxx; summary of statistics of schools of
' medicine, etc., ccxxi; statistical summary of all degrees conferred, ccrxiv; sum-
mary of statistics of training schools for nurses, ccxxxi; education of the deaf and
damb, ccxxxii; summary of statistics of institutions for the deaf and dumb, ccxxxvi;
education of the blind, ccxxxviii; summary of statistics of schools for the blind,
ccxlii; education of the feeble-minded, ccxliv; summary of statistics of schools for
seeblo-minded youth, ccxlvi; statistical summary of benefactions, ccxlvii; list of
historical societies in the United States, ccl; education in foreign countries, ccliii;
recommendations, cccxii; appropriations needed, cccxiv.

:

;

Page 1-325

4

318 328-837

328 336 392 417 437

438 552

ABSTRAC18 ....

Abstracts of the official reports of tho school officers of States, Territories, and cities,

with other information ....

Educational associations and conventions
STATISTICS OF EDUCATION FOR THE YEAR 1884-'85 ....
TABLE I. Statistics of the school systems of the States and Territories..

II. School statistics of cities containing 7,500 inhabitants and over.
III. Statistics of normal schools
IV. Statistics of commercial and business colleges.

V. Statistics of kindergärten ......
VI. Statistics of institutions for secondary instruction
VII. Statistics of preparatory schools
VIII. Statistics of institutions for the superior instruction of women.
IX. Statistics of universities and colleges..

X. Statistics of schools of science.
XI. Statistics of schools of theology
XII. Statistics of schools of law..
XIII. Statistics of schools of medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy...
XIV. Summary of examinations for admission to the United States Military and

Naval Academies....
XV. Degrees conferred in 1884-'85 by universities, colleges, scientifio and other

professional schools, and by schools for the superior instruction of women.
XVI. Statistics of public librarios numbering 300 volumes and upwards...
XVII. Statistics of training schools for nurses...
XVIII. Statistics of institutions for the deaf and dumb..
XIX. Statistics of institutions for the blind........

XX. Statistics of schools and asylums for feeble-minded children...

XXI. Statistics of educational benefactions.. LIDEX

REPORT.

1

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

BUREAU OF EDUCATION,

Washington, D. C., June 30, 1885. SIR-I have the honor to submit my fifteenth Annual Report, for the year ending June 30, 1885.

In all the work of this Office it has been my endeavor to regard with the utmost care the spirit and letter of the law providing for its operations."

The appropriations for the Office have never been sufficient to enable it to do all the
work legitimately required of it within the law.
For the year covered by this Report the items of the appropriation were as follows:
Salaries..

$44, 022 60 Library

500 00 Current educational periodicals

250 00 Other current publications.....

225 00 Completing valuable sets

200 00 Collecting statistics.--

2, 200 00 Distributing documents

2,000 00

The Office may very properly be described as an agency for collecting and disseminating information on the subject of education.

The collected information forms already a professional library of great value. This library, its collection, preservation, and cataloguing, have been objects of my constant care during my sixteen years in this Office. Not a hundred volumes belonged to the library when I assumed direction. Now there are 17,500 volumes and 45,000 pamphlets.

There was no official pedagogical library for a model by which to shape my efforts. But the plan which I adopted for the general work of the Office was applied to the collection of this library. Keeping in mind sound pedagogical principles

First, I sought to answer as far as possible the reasonable demands made for information.

Second, I did not seek to communicate my own opinions, but facts and the opinions of others, and to treat all subjects by historical and comparative methods.

1 According to the Revised Statutes of the United States, the purpose and duties of this Office shall be "to collect statistics and facts showing the condition and progress of education in the seve eral States and Territories, and to diffuse such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country."

Again, it provides that the Commissioner of Education shall present annually to Congress a report embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will, in his judgment, subserve the purpose for which the Office is established."