Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-29


II we take for International comparison
the number of children, attending school in
proportion to population. Russia makes an
even worse showing than in the reports of
the recruiting officers. The proportion of
scholars to population in the United States
Is 30 per cent. In western Europe 1t
ranges from IL per. cent for Italy to 21.2
per cent for Bavaria. In Japan it is 76
per cent. and even in Bulgaria, where the
people have been subject for centuries to
the domination Of the Turk, 1T 10 So per cent
In Russia 1t barely reaches 81 per cent.
The initeracy of the Russian peasants is
not attributable to any lack of inclination
or disposition on their part to learn. On
the contrary. they avail themselves with
the utmost eagerness of all the educational
facilities that are afforded them, and the
Russian newspapers are constantly filled
with complaints of inadequate accommoda-
ton in the existing schools for the children
respondent Of the Kiev newspaper, the
Word. for example. reports that the schools
OF that town are not large enough to hold
one-quarter OF the children that would like
to enter them. In 1880, $500 children were
turned away from the doors of the Moscow
schools and more than 1000 from the
odessa schools. because there was no room
for them. In Kazan, at the beginning of
the present educational year, there were
5,S47 applications for admission to the pub
lie schools. of which 1896 were denied for
want OF room. In st. Petersburg there were
2.1SO applications for 36D vacant places in
were school accommodations for only 100
out of more than 5000 children Of school
age. If this state of things prevails in the
cities or the empire, what can be expected
in the country? In the province of Kos
troma there Is only one school to every 126
square miles Of area. In the province of
kursk there are !, 40 schools for S197 peas
ant villages, or one school, on an average,
for every eight settlements, while in the
province Of Viatka there is only one school
for every thirty-eight settlements. 1t is
estimated by the best authorities that. TAX
ing the Russian empire as whole, educa-
tional facilities are accessible to only one
fortieth part of the children of school age.
Where the Responsibility Rests.
The responsibility for this state of things
rests mainly upon the central government
The we'll Known Russian reactionist, Prince
Meshcherski said recently in the Grazh-
DAMN: 1T Is incomparably more impor-
tant that the peasants should be subjected
to the firm and prudent guardianship of the
authorities than that they should be edu-
Gated" and this is the view that seems
to be taken by the government. No serious
attempt Is being made, and no serious at
tempt ever has been made, by the tsar or
the ministry of public Instruction, to pro-
vide the great mass Of the Russian people
with educational facilities, even in their
most elementary form. The best measure
of governments desire to do a certain
thing is the amount of money that 1t Is
willing to spend in 9doing it. and, judged
by this standard the desire Of the Russian
government to educate it's people Is so
weak as to be hardly worth taking into ac-
count. In 1884 the central government
drew from It's people in the form of direct
and indirect taxes about 4OSOO0,O 600. 1t re-
turned to them in the shape of facilities for
elementary instruction a little less than
$2,OOO.OOO C,002,575 nruPles), or one two
hundredth part of theI annual budget II
this sum had been distributed among the
people upon a per capita basis it would
have given to each person, for educational
CT about one and four-fifths cents. In 1884
ten years later, the central government had
Increased its expenditure for primary
schools to 1896, 600 a, 732. 900 rubles), but
inasmuch as the population had increased
In the meantime by, 13,OOOO0O. this larger
sum, If distributed among the people, would
have given to each person, for educational
purposes. an even smaller allowance than
that provided for in the budget Of 1884.
In 1854 the total expenditures Of the CEN
trai government for all objects, amounted
to 1857 per capita of the population of
which one-half Of one per cent went for
the support of primary schools. In 1894
Of which only forty-four hundredths of one
per cent were devoted to primary schools.
In other words, the central government de-
voted to elementary instruction in 1854
fifty cents out OF every hundred dollars ex-
pended. while 1t was willing to assign for
out of very hundred dollars expended.
Striking Exanples.
In May. 1883. a weli-known official named
c.. in the Russian town P the
press censor would not allow the newspa-
per from which quote this case to give
full names either Of persons or places). re-