New-York tribune., 1907-09-07

AS the days draw when the claTlS OF lIle
school bell will again be heard on the country
si6e and in the crowded city streets, and col
lage canlpuses will be SplaShed with mouey
array of coOred sweaters and caps lhe Amer
can turns with just pride to the great lnstllu-
tiOns that encompass him and compares present
with past.
The outward change that has come over our
educational system is vast enough in itself 10
excite something more than mere Satisfaction;
where tiny, i'll ventilated buildings once slood
palaces now rise and where insignificant col
Ieges once lost themselves among elms, STU
nen5ous groups of beautiful halls now serve
almost the same architectural purpose IN Amer
tcan towns as Old World cathedrals do. But
not many observers can realize through lhe
ssght of modern schools alone the true mag
nftude of the country's progress in educanoI
Indeed the sight Of the most conspicuous col
lege and high school edihces tempts some per
sons to doubt the reality OF the progress we
haze made. il almost seems as though IN our
ambition to excel we had squandered millions
fooIisbgv on earish gargoyles and dizzy towers
negIecting the deepest needs Of our children IL
will therefore be necessary, while pointing out
the advances made, to lay little stress on sta
tistics about the number, size ana expense VI
educational palaces; the less obvious improve
enfs-irnprovennents that are often doubted by
casual spectators-in teachers, subjects taught
discipline and pupils deserve most attention
ENORMOUS EXPANSION.
To learn how huge the outward expansion of
American school systems has been, one cannot
do better than peruse the careful summary
made by Elmer Ellsworth Brown. Commission
or of Education of the United States, in his
rar,er on Fifty Years of American Education.
read last wear before the National Educational
Association. The growth Of the high schoolS
has been such that they now occupy the celtrai
,stinn in the series of educational INSTITUTIONS;
while in 1860 the country could boast OF only
sixty-nine such schools worthy of the name
There is to-day scarcely town Of five thou-
sand inhabitants without one In tle IaS'
seventeen years the increase in attendance hdo
heen simply incredible springing from 2oZ$o5
sn 1890 TO 679 T02 in 1905. Probably this IAN
the figures will reaCn a round three-quarters OF
a million Our universities have Increased theif
enrolments from % ;;l2 twenty-five years ago TO
12S 4O4 in 1903. and in the same PERIOD the
number of graduate students, the true LdeX OF
collegiate progress has shot up from 200 to
about 1000 Twenty-Five years ago there were
only ~ kindergartens whereas to-day nearly
p 500 flourish and are finding new competitors
almost daily Manual training was offered NJ
teen years ago in only 81 towns; to-day nearly
800 communities give their young men and
girls practical training with tools. since lhe
close Of the Civil War universities and colleges
have been rapidly opening chronological schoolS
and courses At present the list OF students
following some line Of engineering exceeds
10000 During the same period there has been
an equally astounding growth in agricultural
and mechanical instruction; begun under the
guidance and patronage OF ADTdIldHl 1@IiSo4i4'
the campaign for the enlightenment Of the
farming class has been carried on without wav-
eriag until to-day American agricultural col
Ieges are the pattern for European countries.
MILLIONS EXPENDED,
To form a lust estimate of the significance Of
this development. a glance at the money the
nation has invested in order to produce this re-
suit is necessary. In 1870 when the country
had only 3SO00000 inhabitants. about SG3,-
m M p.-,rf far all educational
In 1895 with population OF about 100000.
the huge sum Of S22S 100000 was poured into
the bottornless Golfers Of the schools. Remem-
Der that this represents only the expenditures
for public systems; private and state universi-
ties and private schools of lower rank spent
enough money to raise the grand total of the
nations school bin two Years ago to 1916 $780,
Az This amounts 10 % per cent of all govern
mental xpenditureS-natiOnal state and local
combined.
= II is true that clever pleaders for better
salaries and bigger laboratories have pointed out
that this sum ws-theoretically-a burdsp
of about 81 on each American. which compares
most unfavorabiy with the S29 per capita
penditure for tobacco and alcoholic drinks. But
statistics in this do not prove in the least
national preference for drinking and smok-
ing. yet our neglect of educatOn-as if any
body could seriously infer this!-but only the
or for woe, human beings develop thirst and
a lust for Nicotine several times a day for the
greater part Of their natural lives. while the
average individual spends barely decade at
school, and manages to get a fairly good edu-
in he less than