HAYTI.

MESSAGE

FROM THE

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

TRANSMITTING,

In answer to a resolution of the House of the 26th instant, a communication from the Secretary of the Navy relative to a naval force at Hayti.

MAY 30, 1868.-Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed.

To the House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, in reply to the resolution of the House of Representatives adopted on the 26th instant, making inquiries relative to a naval force at Hayti.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

WASHINGTON, May 29, 1868.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, May 29, 1868. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the following resolution of the House of Representatives, adopted on the 26th instant, on motion of Mr. Chanler, and referred to me for report:

Resolved, That the President be, and hereby is, requested to inform this house why a competent naval force was not cruising in the neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Hayti, to protect the flag of the United States from insult, and our citizens from the outrages committed against them by the government of Hayti, in the last revolution reported by telegraph as having taken place there.

No information has been received at this department of insult to our flag, or of outrages committed on our citizens in Hayti, although political disturbances and revolutions are of frequent occurrence in that quarter. Despatches from our consuls and others represent the condition of affairs there at this time in an unsettled state. Copies of these communications have been, from time to time, as they were received, transmitted to Admiral Hoff, who is in command of the North Atlantic squadron, and 'who at our last advices, on the 12th instant, was at St. Thomas, calling his attention to the subject. That officer, and the naval officers in that part of the West Indies, will not be wanting in vigilance or their duty to protect our flag and our commerce with such force as is placed at their disposal.

Hayti is within the limits of the North Atlantic squadron, which embraces the West India islands and the entire eastern coast of America north of the

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equator. There are now in this squadron six cruising vessels. Of these, it is intended that one at least shall be at all times at Aspinwall or its vicinity, for the protection of American interests at that point. Six is as large a proportion of the vessels in commission as can justly be assigned to this squadron, and it will be proper to add that, if the clause in the naval appropriation bill as passed the House of Representatives, reducing the authorized number of men, becomes a law, even this force may have to be reduced.

Besides a vessel at Aspinwall, the presence of naval vessels is often required at Vera Cruz or elsewhere on the Mexican coast, at Venezuela, St. Thomas, and other islands in the West Indies, as well as at St. Domingo. It is usual to have one or more vessels on the banks or in the gulf of St. Lawrence during the fishing season, and a proposition is now before Congress for a larger naval force in that quarter. It will readily be seen, therefore, that to afford protection to American interests throughout the limits of the squadron the vessels must be almost constantly passing from one point to another. Difficulties are perhaps more likely to occur during the absence of a man-of-war than during her presence in any port, and communication with cruising vessels cannot always be readily made; but upon the receipt of intelligence of a revolution at any point, it is usual for the admiral in command to order one or more vessels to repair to the scene of disturbance. To have vessels constantly at all points in anticipation of difficulties would require a very much larger force than the limited number of men authorized by Congress will allow.

I am not aware that St. Domingo has been neglected by our vessels. The United States steamship Saco was there during the latter part of March, and the De Soto was at Port-au-Prince on the 18th of May.

It is but just to the rear-admiral commanding the squadron to say, that early in May he applied for three additional vessels, but the department has been obliged to inform him that, in view of the action of Congress, as already indicated, they cannot be furnished him, and that his present force may have to be reduced. Should it become necessary to send vessels to the northeastern coast, (within the limits of this squadron,) for the protection of the fishing interests, but two or three vessels can be left in that part of the squadron embracing the entire West India islands, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Spanish Main, for the protection of our extended commerce in that quarter, which is often greatly exposed in consequence of the unsettled condition of public affairs.

Very respectfully,

GIDEON WELLES,
Secretary of the Navy.

The PRESIDENT.

REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION.

LETTER

FROM

THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION,

TRANSMITTING,

In compliance with the act of March 2, 1867, his annual report.

JUNE 2, 1868.-Referred to the Committee on Education and ordered to be printed.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,

Washington, D. C., May 30, 1868.

SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith to the House of Representatives the report required of the Commissioner of Education by an act to establish the Department of Education, approved March 2, 1867.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

HENRY BARNARD,

Commissioner.

REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C., March 15, 1868.

At the close of the first year since he received from the President of the United States authority to organize and administer the affairs of this department, the Commissioner of Education has the honor to submit his first or preliminary report, "embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will, in his judgment, subserve the purpose for which this department is established," as is provided for in the following act, approved March 2, 1867:

AN ACT to establish a Department of Education.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established, at the city of Washington, a Department of Education, for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of school systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Commissioner of Education, who shall be intrusted with the management of the department herein established, and who shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, and who shall have authority to appoint one chief clerk of his department, who shall receive a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, one clerk who shall receive a salary of eighteen hundred dollars per annum, and one clerk who shall receive a salary of sixteen hundred dollars per annum, which said clerks shall be subject to the appointing and removing power of the Commissioner of Education.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Education to present annually to Congress a report embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will, in his judgment, subserve the purpose for which this department is established. In the first report made by the Commissioner of Education under this act, there shall be presented a statement of the several grants of land made by Congress to promote education, and the manner in which these several trusts have been managed, the amount of funds arising therefrom, and the annual proceeds of the same, as far as the same can be determined.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the Commissioner of Public Buildings is hereby authorized and directed to furnish proper offices for the use of the department herein established.

Approved March 2, 1867.

After consulting State and city superintendents of public schools, and other friends of education who had taken an active interest in the establishment of the department, so far as they could be reached by letters or call within the first month, a general plan of operations was formed, the rooms furnished by the Commissioner of Public Buildings were occupied, the three clerks provided for were appointed, and about the middle of April the special work assigned to the department was begun.

The general and special work of this department, as defined in the act of March 2, 1867, are

First. "To collect such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories; " and

Second. "To diffuse said information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country.

Third. Besides giving his attention to these general subjects, the Commissioner is directed to present in his first report to Congress "a statement of the several grants of land made by Congress to promote education, the manner in which these several trusts have been managed, the amount of funds arising therefrom, and the annual proceeds of the same, as far as the same can be determined.” Fourth. By a joint resolution, approved March 29, 1867, the Commissioner is further directed to ascertain the condition of the public schools in the District of Columbia, and submit a report on the relative efficiency of the system now in force, and on such additional legislation as he may deem necessary to secure the advantages of said system to all the children of the District.

The magnitude and delicacy of the work assigned to this department, both in the general and the specific provisions above recited, are such as to compel the Commissioner to invoke in advance a charitable judgment on any apparent deficiency in his plans, or in any delay in reaching or in making public the results of his first year's labors. None, save those who have had personal experience in this field of labor, can appreciate fully the difficulty of obtaining complete statistics, or even general information, of the organization and operation of systems and institutions located in 46 different States and Territories occupying half of the American continent-these systems, where they do exist, differing from each other in organization, management, and returns; and these institutions, whether in or out of the general system of the State, differing from each other in all the great centres of population. This difficulty of obtaining precise and uniform statistics, not inconsiderable even where there is legal

authority for requiring the information, and forfeiture of some kind or pecuniary advantoge is attached to withholding or giving the same, becomes almost insuperable, when, as with this department, there is no organic connection with systems or institutions in the several States; no authority to require, no pecuniary advantage for furnishing, no forfeiture for declining or neglecting to furnish the information sought, and no means to supply the deficiency of written returns by personal inspection. If a comprehensive and exhaustive inquiry, on some general plan, was instituted every year in each State, into its educational condition and progress, including institutions of every kind and grade, a compilation and comparative view of the results would be very easy and satisfactory; and it is hoped that one of the results of the labors and publications of this department, and of the annual conferences of State and city superintendents already inaugurated, will be the adoption of some uniform plan of gathering annually the statistics of schools of every kind, both in States and in all large cities. At the present time there are no two States or cities in which the statistical returns, as published, include the same particulars, or between which a rigid comparison as to schools can be instituted. In more than one-half of the States the returns are so incomplete as to institutions, or omit so many vital points in the condition of the schools returned, as to be worthless as indications of the real work attempted, or done, in individual schools, or by all the schools of the State. In nearly all of the States no attempt is made to secure inspection or returns of private, denominational, or incorporated institutions; in nearly one-half of the States no efficient system of public schools is in operation, and no sufficient number of good private or denominational schools exists; and of those which have a precarious existence, not even their locality or the name of the teachers and the number of pupils are known to any public officer; and, with a single exception, no efficient measures are enforced by State or municipal regulations as to the non-attendance of children at some school, public or private, to stop the growth of absolute illiteracy, or diminish, by evening and adult schools, the still larger amount of practical ignorance of letters and books which abounds even in States where the most attention is paid to education. It is only when a searching inquiry is instituted by the national census, or under State or municipal authority in the same form, or by societies and individuals in restricted portions of large cities for some ecclesiastical purpose, or the antecedents of the victims of vice, pauperism, and crime are investigated, that the amazing deficiencies in our systems, means, and methods of universal education appear. The startling and humiliating statistics of the national census of 1840, 1850, and 1860, as to the number of the white adult population unable to read and write in certain States, and for the whole country, will be found in official circular No. XIII.

In the present condition of the educational statistics of each State, and in the full occupation of the clerical force at his command in other directions hereinafter set forth, the Commissioner has not attempted, beyond the statistics of public schools in the principal cities of the country, in reference to the practical efficiency of the systems in operation in the District of Columbia, to exhibit by any statistical summary the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories. If he has been reasonably successful in indicating the method by which a national agency, like this department, can obtain a record of the educational systems and institutions of the several States, and put himself into communication with their managers and teachers; can throw light on the deficiencies as well as excellencies of our systems, and impart greater activity to all the agencies which determine the education of a people; can contribute in the experience of States, systems, and institutions, and in the views of eminent teachers and educators, the material for a thorough discussion and wise solution of educational problems-he has done all that he has thus far attempted, or that could be reasonably expected. Should it be his privilege to continue the investigations already instituted, should he be authorized to get, by per