believed the result will show that the amount of salutary religious instruction actually received by the young in our country in the · schools and at home, and from special religious institutions, though of course capable of great increase, is not inferior to that in countries where religious instruction is enforced by the State.

13. School Documents.

As a contribution to the library of the Department, and as the basis of a system of distribution as well as of exchange of official documents, copies of all reports and other publications issued by State and municipal authority and by institutions, have been requested, and the inquiry made of superintendents and schoolmen generally, how far they are disposed to come into such a system, conducted without expense to the parties after the documents have reached this office. The documents are important to the Department-an analysis of the suggestions made, and a summary of the statistics contained in them will form an important part of the monthly Circulars, as well as constitute much of the authority for the generalizations of the annual reports of the Commissioner.

14. Memoirs of Teachers and Benefactors of Education.

Among the noblest benefactors of their race are to be numbered those men who have founded institutions of good learning or devoted their lives to the vocation of teaching, especially in public schools; and the country which fails to do honor to the memory of such benefactors, exposes itself to the charge of ingratitude, and withholds a powerful encouragement to the continued succession of such services. To preserve the memory of such men and women as have devoted themselves or their means to these objects, materials for a record in some appropriate document of this Department have been solicited.

15. Open Competitive Examinations.

Believing that Government-State, National, and municipal-can in no other way so well promote the cause of sound education and efficient official service, as by opening the career of public employments within its gift, to such persons only as shall present an authorized diploma of school attendance, and evince, in an open competitive examination, the possession of the requisite qualifications, an inquiry has been made how far a provision exists in any of the States for such diploma, or examination with reference to employment in its service of any kind, or for nomination for admission to our national military and naval schools.

On all these and other related topics, the results of inquiries car

ried on by the Commissioner for the last fifteen years will be made available without cost to the Department; and if supplemented by prompt and hearty coöperation on the part of school officers and friends of education in the different States, a body of information, facts, and suggestions will be formed, such as can not elsewhere be found, the importance of which, in their bearing on the development of our educational systems and agencies, can scarcely be overestimated.

MODE OF OBTAINING INFORMATION.

1. The main reliance for full and authentic information respecting public institutions must be the annual reports, and special replies of officers charged with their administration, supplemented for purposes of comparison and generalization by opportunities of personal visitation and conference by the Commissioner, or inspectors selected with special reference to their knowledge and experience of the subject on which information is sought. From superintendents, both State and municipal, from presidents of institutions, and professors devoted to special branches, the most cordial coöperation has been promised, and the strongest desire expressed to give the fullest publicity to the aims, means, methods, and results of their work, and to obtain an account of similar work done by others.

2. The annual meetings of national societies devoted to general or special educational objects, and similar meetings of State Teachers' Associations, as well as occasional conferences of persons interested in particular allotments of the great field of popular education, afford important opportunities of making inquiries widely and in a short time, and of meeting individuals who have devoted years to the investigation of subjects under consideration. Several of these meetings the Commissioner has attended, having been specially invited, and every opportunity of communicating with them opened.

3. From a long connection with the administration of systems of public instruction, and frequent personal visits to different States. and countries, for the inspection of schools, an extensive correspondence with the active schoolmen of the day, both at home and abroad, has been established, which has been made immediately available in collecting information respecting the present condition of systems of public instruction, and institutions of learning of every kind in nearly every civilized country; the results of which will be made public as rapidly as possible, and the sooner, and in the most satisfactory manner, if the Commissioner is authorized to employ the necessary clerical and editorial help.

4. As a great central repository of the results of the experience

xxiii of States, institutions, and individuals, in this work of education, on the basis of a collection commenced thirty years ago, of text-books, school documents and instructional appliances, and in exchange of his own publications for similar works, a library and cabinet of education has been begun by the Commissioner, and is already accomplishing the purpose of the law, by "collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories."

5. As the main reliance both for collecting information of all important educational movements and discussions, as well as for disseminating information, the daily and weekly press of the country, both secular and religious, must be resorted to; and with such publishers and editors as have already expressed, or may hereafter express a desire to receive circulars and documents issued by the Commissioner, a system of exchange will be established which, it is believed, will greatly promote the objects of the Department.

MODES OF DISSEMINATING INFORMATION.

The several agencies relied on for collecting information, the annual meetings of educational associations, national, state, and municipal; correspondence daily growing in volume and detail, with officers, teachers, and friends of educational improvement; the press, as well as personal interviews, have all been resorted to, to disseminate information as to the objects and needs of the Department. In addition to these, the following plan of publication, after such consultation as could be had, was adopted, and inaugurated, but will depend for its full development on the sanction and aid of Congress. It was set forth in Special Circular, No. 2, which is here introduced with slight verbal modifications, suggested by the experience of the Department.

PLAN OF PUBLICATION.

As at present advised, the following plan of publication will be pursued:

1. Monthly Circular.

To be issued monthly-each number to be devoted to such special subject as the correspondence or investigations of the Department may require; and if the requisite clerical labor can be devoted to its preparation, to a monthly summary of Educational Intelligence and Statistics in different States and Countries.

These Circulars will not be printed for general distribution, and as a general rule will be mailed, in answer or inquiry, to correspondents, or to persons known to be, or who may write, that they are specially interested in the subject. The matter contained in them, in addition to the official, will not always be new, but such articles will be introduced from former publications of the Commissioner, or of others, as he may think illustrative of the special subject to which the Circular is devoted.

2. A Quarterly Publication.

It is proposed to begin a National Series of the American Journal of Education, with a view of completing the encyclopediac view of Education-its His

tory, System, Institutions, Principles, Methods, and Statistics; begun several years since, and prosecuted thus far with a special reference to the condition and wants of our own schools, and with a studious avoidance of all matters foreign to the main object. The range and exhaustive treatment of subjects can be seen by the Classified Index, which will be forwarded if desired.

Although the Journal will remain for the present under the editorial supervision of the Commissioner, who will receive no compensation for this service, it will be entirely the private enterprise of its publisher, who will soon announce his plan and terms.

The Department will be in no way responsible for the matter or the expense, but will avail itself of this mode of printing documents prepared by, or at the request of the Commissioner, which it may be desirable to issue in advance or aside of any other form of publication.

The Numbers will be sent only to subscribers, or to special orders addressed to the Publisher, Hartford, Conn.

3. Educational Documents and Tracts.

The Commissioner, with such coöperation as he can enlist, will at once begin the preparation or rather the revision and completion of a series of Educational Documents (A) begun several years ago, after consultation with several of the most eminent educators of the country; each of which will be devoted to an exhaustive treatment of a particular subject, and at the same time be so prepared as to give a brief summary of the general principles and statistics connected with the same for circulation by itself.

The plan of publication (B,) will be set forth in his first Annual Report.

4. An Annual Report.

As is provided for in the Act establishing this Department, a Report will be submitted to Congress annually, in which, after the preliminary arrangements have been completed for obtaining full and reliable information, the progress and condition of Education in different States and countries during the year will be presented.

The following is the series of Educational Documents referred to above (A):

1. A Catalogue of the best publications on the organization, instruction and discipline of schools, of every grade, and on the principles of education, in different languages, which can be consulted in the Library of the Department of Education at Washington.

2. A History of Education, ancient and modern, with reference to original authorities, where the systems and institutions of each country can be more fully investigated.

3. An Account of Elementary Instruction in Europe.

4. National Education in the United States; or contributions to the history and improvement of common or public schools, and other institutions, means and agencies of popular education in the several States.

5. School Architecture; or the principles of construction, ventilation, warming, acoustics, seating, &c.; applied to school rooms, lecture halls, and class rooms, with illustrations.

6. Normal Schools, Training Schools, Teachers' Institutes, and other institutions, means, and agencies, for the professional training and improvement of teachers.

7. System of Public Education for large cities and villages, with an account of the schools and other means of popular education and recreation in the principal cities of Europe and in this country.

8. System of Popular Education for sparsely populated districts, with an account of schools in the agricultural portions of different countries.

9. Schools of Agriculture, and other means of advancing the special instruction of persons engaged in agriculture.

10. Schools of Science applied to the mechanic arts, civil engineering, &c.

11. Schools of Trade, Navigation, Commerce, &c.

12. Female Education, with an account of different systems and seminaries

in this country, and in Europe.

13. Institutions for Orphans.

14. Schools of Industry, or institutions for truant, idle, or neglected children, before they have been convicted of crime.

15. Reform Schools, or institutions for young criminals.

16. Houses of Refuge, for adult criminals.

17. Secondary Education, including a, institutions preparatory to college, and & institutions preparatory to special schools of agriculture, engineering, trade, navigation, &c.

18. Colleges and Universities.

19 Schools of Theology, Law, and Medicine.

20. Military and Naval Schools.

21. Supplementary Education, including adult schools, evening schools, courses of popular lectures, debating classes, mechanic institutes, &c.

22. Libraries, with hints for the purchase, arrangement, catalogueing, drawing, and preservation of books, especially in libraries designed for popular use. 23. Institutions for the Deaf and Dumb, Blind, and Idiots.

24. Societies for the Encouragement of Science, the Arts, and Education.

25. Schools and Academies of Art, Public Museums and Galleries.

26. Public Gardens, and other arrangements for popular recreation.

27. Educational Tracts, or a series of short essays on topics of immediate practical importance to teachers and school officers.

ers.

28. Educational Biography, or the lives of distinguished educators and teach

29. Educational Benefactors, or an account of the founders and benefactors of educational and scientific institutions.

30. Self-Education; or hints for self-formation, with examples of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties.

31. Home Education; with illustrations drawn from the Family Training of different countries.

32. Educational Nomenclature and Index; or an explanation of words and terms used in describing systems and institutions of education in different countries, with reference to the books where every educational subject of importance is discussed and treated of.

The Commissioner has no partiality for this classification of subjects, nor does he wish to restrict the inquiries or contributions of others to them. The series embraces, in his judgment, the most important institutions and agencies by which the education of the country is secured; and the careful preparation of a special document on each, giving its present condition and the suggestions of experienced and thoughtful men, on the improvement of the same, will in the end greatly abridge the correspondence of the Department, and "promote the cause of education throughout the country."

The plan of publication alluded to (B) in the above Circular, is as follows:

1. The publication of such special documents or reports, in connection with the Annual Report of the Commissioner, as Congress shall authorize to be printed, to be circulated in the usual way, or as is suggested in paragraphs (4 and 5,) below.

2, The printing of such special documents, so far as shall be authorized by Congress, in the same way as special documents are now prepared and printed in the different departments.

3, The printing of special reports or documents by the Commis