The bulk of population and of territory is on the eastern slope of the mountains. The four cities of over 10,000 population-Denver, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, and Trinidad-are located here. Denver, with 256,000, constitutes over one-fourth of the total population of the State. The remainder of the urban population is contained in 20 cities and 3 incorporated towns, and constitutes 50.7 per cent of the total. Thirty-two counties are wholly rural, according to the United States Census classification. Excluding as urban the population of all incorporated cities and towns, 38 per cent of the population in 1910 was rural.

Racial composition of the population. Of the 16 per cent of the population foreign born, about 35 per cent came from Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; about 18 per cent from Germany; 11.3 per cent from the Scandinavian countries, and 7 per cent from Russia. Among the remaining 29 per cent nearly all the countries of southern Europe are represented. The foreign-born population, as a rule, is concentrated in groups, creating special problems for the schools. In three counties the foreign-born population represents from 25 to 35 per cent of the total, in four others from 35 to 50 per cent; in all of these mining is the leading industry. Aside from these counties the problem of educating foreigners is confined largely to the cities.

School attendance and illiteracy.-The percentage of illiteracy among the native white population is 1.5, among the foreign-born population 10.6. The percentage of illiteracy of the population between 10 and 20 years is 1.6, which is much lower than that for the United States as a whole. A large portion of the adult population has come from other States. The low per cent of illiteracy among the native white population is due to the schools in these States as well as to those in Colorado; the low percentage of illiteracy among the population between 10 and 20 years shows that the schools within the State are effective in reaching the majority of the population. In 1910, of all the children from 6 to 9 years old, 78.9 per cent attended school; of those from 10 to 14 years old, 93.4 per cent; of those from 15 to 17 years old, 62 per cent; and of those from 18 to 20 years old, 20 per cent. Of the urban population between 6 and 14

years of age, 89 per cent attended school; between 15 and 20 years of age, 44 per cent. Of the rural population between 6 and 14 years of age, 85 per cent attended school; between 15 and 20 years, 45 per cent.

Farming and other occupations.-In 1910, one-fifth of the entire land area of the State was in farms; of the counties of the State, those in the northeast portion had the highest percentage of their total acreage in farms. Nearly 6,000,000 acres were under irrigation in 1910 or included in projects which were then under way. Relatively few of the farms are operated by tenants-about 18 per cent, or less than one-half the percentage for the United States as a whole. Figures compiled by the Colorado State Tax Commission from 1912 to 1915 show that the relative valuation of farm lands and improvements and live stock increased from 21.5 per cent of the total taxable property valuation in 1912 to 31 per cent in 1915, while the value of city lands and improvements decreased from 40 per cent of the total in 1912 to 33 per cent in 1915.

In the Federal Census of 1910 Colorado was listed as preeminently a mining State, but even at that time agriculture and manufacturing were becoming increasingly important industries. Approximately 30,000 are now engaged in mining industries. The manufacturing is dependent largely upon the mineral resources and upon the products of farms. The manufactures dependent upon the mining industries, railroads, and carshops are concentrated largely in cities; those dependent upon farm crops, as sugar factories and those connected with the canning industry, are located in the small towns and villages in the agricultural communities. Sugar production in Colorado is greater than in any other State of the Union. The canning industry is important in the agricultural districts in the northern counties, and the natural grazing country so abundant in the eastern portion of the State has caused the development of butter and cheese making, meat packing, and condensed milk factories. As a whole, the manufacturing industries in 1909 paid in salaries $25,600,000, employed 34,000 persons, and added in wealth to the State $49,500,000. That Colorado has the means to support good schools is shown by the following:

TABLE 2.-Number of men 21 years of age or over for each 100 children 5 to 18 years of age (1913).

TABLE 3.-Number of adult men and women for cach 100 children 5 to 18

TABLE 4.-Value of property for each child of school age (5 to 18), 1913.

The following table shows how much Colorado, in comparison with other Western States, spent on education per $100 of assessed valuation and also of true valuation from the estimates of the United States Bureau of the Census. The figures are for 1912, the latest available:

TABLE 5.—Expenditure for public schools and relation to taxable property, 1912.

(2) THE EXISTING EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

General administration.-The constitution of Colorado provides that the general supervision of the public schools shall be vested in a State board of education, composed of the superintendent of public instruction, the secretary of state, and the attorney general. In practice the only functions of the board are to render decisions in appeals by teachers or school officials from the decisions of the county superintendents and to approve formally recommendations for State certification made by the State board of examiners. This board of examiners, of which the State superintendent is chairman ex officio, consists of eight members, appointed by the State board of education, of whom four are to be appointed on the recommendation of the presidents of the four institutions of higher education. All must be engaged in educational work at the time of appointment. The duties of the board are to examine credentials and recommend to the board of education the issuance of State certificates.

The constitution provides a State superintendent of public instruction, elected at large at each regular biennial election. His duties are defined by law and are very general. "He shall have general supervision over the county superintendents and the public schools of the State"; collect and publish school data; apportion the school fund; interpret the school law; and prepare questions for the use of county superintendents in examining teachers. The office force of the State superintendent consists of a deputy, an assistant librarian, one clerk, and two stenographers. The State superintendent is ex officio State librarian, a member of the board of trustees of the State Teachers College and State Normal School, and president of the State board of education and of the board of examiners.

In each county there is a county superintendent elected at large at the regular biennial election. No educational qualifications are required. The salaries range from $100 to $2,800 per year. Legally the superintendent has general supervision over all the schools of the county, visits schools, decides boundary disputes, conducts examinations for teaching certificates, examines the accounts of school districts, apportions school funds within the county, approves the school census lists of the various districts, and reports annually to the State superintendent of public instruction. In practice he has little real authority in guiding educational interests of the county, as he has no voice in the selection of teachers, in the adoption of textbooks or the course of study, or in determining the kind of buildings to be erected.

The actual unit of school administration in the State is the school district. There are 31 first-class districts (school population 1,000

or over); 59 second-class districts (school population 350 to 1,000); 1,758 third-class districts (school population less than 350).

The third-class districts include all of the rural and small village schools. Each second and third class district has a board of three elected directors, one of whom is elected each year. These boards employ teachers, determine the length of school term, adopt the course of study, select textbooks, have charge of the school property; in fact, they have sufficient control to make the school as good or as poor as they may wish.

In first-class districts the board is composed of five members elected for a term of six years. The elections are held biennially, and the law governing them is of an entirely different nature from that governing elections in second and third class districts. Firstclass districts as a rule do not recognize the certificates issued by the county or the State, but conduct special examinations for applicants to teach in the district. They also employ special superintendents and supervisors and conduct meetings and reading circles independently of county institutes or State and county reading circles. This plan of district organization helps to emphasize the differentiation between the county and the city teaching force when the different kinds of districts exist in the same county.

School support.-There are three sources of school income in Colorado-the State, the county, and the district. The State school fund is derived from rentals on school lands and from interest on the permanent school fund, derived from the sale of school lands.

The county general school fund is raised by a levy placed by the county commissioners on all the taxable property of the county. It varies from 1 to 25 per cent of the total school expenditure. This and the State fund are apportioned to the school districts on the basis of the number of children in the district 6 to 21 years of age. The local district tax is the main source of school support. The school boards in first and second class districts and the qualified electors in third-class districts fix the amount to be raised. For the State as a whole 7 per cent of the total school expenditure comes from the State, 22 per cent from the county, and 71 per cent from local taxation.

High schools.-There are three kinds of high schools-the district high school, established and maintained by the school district, confined by law to first and second class districts; union high schools, maintained by districts which unite for high-school purposes, supported either by a special tax on the union district territory or through pro rata of funds from the districts combining for this purpose; and county high schools maintained by the county and located at the county seat.