Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-11


sary to a successful convention of more
than modest pretensions.
With the full knowledge of all these draw
backs an educational convention was
planned early in the history OF the exposi-
tton. SO assiduously and nteligently was
1t worked up that 1t is safe to say that in
comparison with the extent OF the exposition
with which 1t was connected the Trans
mississippi Educational convention was
the most successful one of the kind that
has yet been held. The attendance was
satisfactory and the average character OF
the papers presented was of a high order.
The sessions covered three days, June %,
20 and 30. Those dates were selected be-
cause they came just after the close of the
schools, before the teachers had gone off on
their vacations, and 1t was reasonable to
expect that many might be induced to make
Omaha the end Of their annual summer
trips, and that still others might stop on
their way to the National Educational as
sociatlon in Washington early in July. The
result justified these expectations.
The plan OF the convention was modelled
after that of the National Educational AS
ISOLATION meetings. General sessions were
held each morning at Boyds theater, in the
city, and each evening at the auditorium at
the exposition, the entrances of which we're
so arranged that persons from outside the
grounds might attend without passing
through the exposition gates. In addition
to the general meetings, conferences on spe-
| cial subjects were held in the afternoons at
various places in the city. The attendance
| at some Of these was not as great as they
deserved. but, on the whole it was better
than could have been reasonably expected.
Altogether the convention might be pro-
nounced distinct success and that sue
cess was due principally to the efforts OF
the local executive committee, namely
y. U. Pearse, superintendent of the city
schools, Omaha, chairman; j. NJ Gillian
secretary of the Board of Education, Omaha
secretary; J. H. Dumont. treasurer; w. R.
jackson, state superintendent of public in
| struction; Victor Rosewater, managing edi-
tor of The Omaha Bee; J. e. Utt, secretary
| of the Commercial club.
Exhibit of Bureau of Education.
The Bureau OF Education was originally
| established for the collection and diffusion
| OF educational Information, but it has also
been charged by congress with the admins
| tration of the schools of Alaska and with
| limited supervision of the expenditures
| for land grant colleges under the Morrill,
act of 1890. While the first of these is
\ the most important and far-reaching it Is
| the most difficult to show in an exhibit;
| the last, while important in itself
! is but part Of the bureaus
work and does not require very extensive
illustration. The work which relates to
| Alaska has within it the germs of wide de-
| velopment, but up to this time the school
! system of Alaska cannot be said to be COM
| parable in extent or Importance with that
| or either Of the states or with the other
| work of the Office itself. Neverthe-
| less, the peculiar conditions of education in
that territory, and it's population by races
so entirely different in habits, customs and
| dress from our own, make the Alaskan side
OF the bureaus work peculiarly useful for
exhibition purposes. About half of the
space allotted to this office, therefore, was
| devoted to material illustrating the condi-
| tions of life and Of education in Alaska,
| while the remaining half was nearly equally
divided between the exhibits of land grant
| colleges and the statistical and other ma
| terial intended to "diffuse educational in
formation" of general character.
The most conspicuous feature Of the ex-
hibit was large wall chart four feet wide
and ten feet high on which was set forth
| the progress Of education in twenty years
| in the north central division Of the United
| states. In series of wing frames near by
| were forty smaller charts showing educa-
| tlonal statistics OF miscellaneous character
| These were all done in bright colors, with
| graphic diagrams in great variety, so that
the striking appearance of the charts them
| selves might attract attention to the sta
tistics presented. Many of the charts were
Of special local interest, though such as
could not be easily prepared except in the
Bureau of Education. The local sheets were
| placed conspicuously, in order to strike the
attention Of the visitor and lead him to ex-
anime the others. Two map cases on the
wall contained eight maps, which showed
the distribution of educational agencies and
conditions in the United States. They
were devoted respectively, to public schools,
secondary schools, colleges and universities,
schools OF medicine, of dentistry and of
pharmacy, schools of theology and of law,
normal schools, public libraries and litter
acy. The cases used for these maps, as
| well as the maps themselves, were those
USED az the two previous eXpositions and
have been already described in my reports
Ihe remaining wall space was filled with
pictures of historical school punishments and
of school buildings. The first series OF
these comprised twenty water colors by Mr.
Felix E. Mahoney, and illustrated spanking
shaking, horsing, the Eton block, standing
on one foot, the Ounce cap, the bastinado
elC ne otner series were also In water
color and were executed by Mr. Spencer b
Nichols. They showed the development OF
school architecture and included the los
cabin school, the interior of the same. 8
prairie 'dugout," the little red school house
a city school of thirty years ago and mod.
ern school building.
A set of the publications of the bureau
was placed in a revolving bookcase in 6
prominent place and not only showed tc
casual visitors the variety and extent of the
work of the Office but they were frequentl,
used for reference.
The data intended to be read in the ex.
hibit Itself were supplemented by a ten.
, page folder, containing facts relating TO edu
cation, which was gratuitously distributed
The information in this folder was of tn,
sort most likely to be appreciated b,
general readers and it's distribution was. il
my opinion, the most substantial and salts
factory innovation in this exhibit EleveI
thousand five hundred of these circulars wer,
, distributed and though great many o
, them were wasted, as might have been ex
pected, / saw repeated evidences of valuabl,
! results from the distribution.
! The presentation Of land-gran colleges
consisted of collection of publications O