Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-11-13

One OF the greatest educators of the
age is your Uncle Sam. School mas
ter, indeed, he is with nearly 10000
600 pupils receiving instruction in the
schools and colleges of the country.
And the fact that fully nine-tenths Of
this vast army of students are en-
rolled in the public institutions of
learning indicates how democratic a
country we have. So strongly had
Uncle Sam developed his pedagogical
propensities, in fact, that no sooner
had he taken Porto Rico and the Phil
ippines under his fatherly watchcare
than he set about establishing schools
In those islands, so that to-day excel
lent public school systems are doing
effective work with the native child
rem Of these outlying possessions.
When one stops to think of what q
vast and complicated educational sys-
tenn has grown up, he is able to ap-
preciate somewhat the tremendous
task involved in collecting the educa-
Is not surprised that these statistics
when all gathered together make a
most voluminous report. So great, in
fact, is the work involved that the
commissioner of education has but
just completed the work for the school
year ending in June, 1905.
The enrolment in the schools at
that time was almost $4,000, 900 Of
whom 100000 attended public insti-
tutions. while the balance attended
private institutions.
The enrolment in the schools and
colleges was distributed as follows:
Elementary schools, 17,019,259; Sec
ondary schools. (high schools and
academies) 876,050; universities and
colleges, 1854; professional schools,
61,322. and normal schools, $500. To
these figures should be added 1871
pupils in special schools During the
last Is years the increase in enroll
ment in schools and colleges, leaving
the special schools out of considera-
ton, has been one Of 47,697-that
IL, OF rs per cent-while the
gain in population-almost3 $4,000, 900
amounts to 30 per cent. On the 9TH
CT hand, the percentage Of the school
population (persons between five and
10 years of age) enrolled in the
! schools has increased from 81 per
cent. to 70 per cent during the last IS
years.
The total expenditure for education
during the year under review amount.
ed to 1916 ,996,472, q sum equal to
more than one-half of the cost of the
national government.
The aggregate Of school property in.
creased almost $50,000.000 in value
during the year.. reaching a total OF
| 1888, 446,805, while the average ex.
penditure for school purposes grew
from 1875 to 1853 cents per day for
the instruction of each pupil.
The average length Of the school
year has been steadily increasing,
namely, from 1872 days In 1870 to ISL
days in 1905, while the percentage OF
male teachers in the entire teaching
body has been declining gradually for
number of years-in fact, during the
| past five years there has been a loss
in the total number of male teachers
employed
BY reason OF the recent activity OF
the government in the direction of for.
est preservation, considerable interest
attaches to the opportunities fuf'
nished for instruction in forestry. We
learn from the report that of the "A
institutions in which instruction in
forestry was given 81 were agricul.
tural and mechanical colleges estab.
lished under the land grant act OF
1862. Only six institutions, five state
universities and one agricultural col.
lege, had full four-year undergraduate
courses in forestry, while two, Yale
and Michigan, maintained graduate
courses.
In the report devoted to the stats.
tics of state school systems, we are
told that several states expend an.
nually for schools $25 per capita oil
school population, and several less