TABLE XIV.-MILITARY AND NAVAL ACADEMIES.

Special attention is invited to the details of the examinations of applicants for admission to these Academies in 1873, as presented in Table XIV of the appendix. Coming from all parts of the United States, as these lads do, for examination, the result is very suggestive in regard to the condition of elementary education.

The following extract from the report of the Board of Visitors of the United States Military Academy for the year 1873 refers pointedly to the lack of thoroughness of instruction in our public schools:

The fact that of 134 appointees so large a number as 49 were rejected on the literary examination was a surprise to the board, as no doubt it will be to the country. This board takes occasion to say, from its own observation on the spot, that this result is due, not to any undue elevation of the standard of admission, nor to any excessive severity in the examination, but in some cases to inconsiderateness in making appointments; in others, to the failure of the appointee to appreciate the honor and duty to which he is called; in a few others, to the lack of facilities for preliminary education; and, most of all, to want of thoroughness in the schools of the country with respect to their primary work. This Academy owes it to itself, and to its influence as a national institution on the whole system of popular education, to render and publish to the world this honest verdict. If our school-boards and superintendents and teachers, in the North and in the South, in the East and in the West, will but heed the verdict and use due diligence to correct this great defect, some abiding good may come from the mortifying experience of this year's examination of candidates fo. admission to the Academy. With the appointment annour ced a year beforehand and the intervening time wisely improved, no candidate of ordmary mental capacity need fail to pass the examination here. There having been various inquiries about these examinations, and a disposition manifested to complain of their severity, I insert the following letter from Colonel Ruger, Superintendent of the Academy at West Point. The limited requirements for admission will be a surprise to those not acquainted with the facts.

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*

UNITED STATES MILITARY ACADEMY, West Point, N. Y., November 24, 1873. DEAR SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 22d instant, in which you state that the reports of failures in the examinations for admission to the Military Academy are attracting more and more attention and that inquiries are made as to whether the questions asked of candidates are more difficult than those asked fifteen, twenty, or thirty years ago, and to state in reply that, prior to the year 1866, candidates were examined for admission under the requirements of section 3, chapter 72, act of Congress approved April 29, 1812, by which it is prescribed that "each cadet, previous to his appointment by the President of the United States, shall be well versed in reading, writing, and arithmetic," and that, since 1866, the examinations have

b4

In course.

Honorary.

In course.

Honorary.

THEOLOGY.

In course.

MEDICINE.

Honorary.

In course.

Honorary.

In course.

LAW.

:

:

ALL OTHER.

Honorary.

been in conformity with section 2, joint resolution of June 16, 1866, by which it is prescribed, "and in addition to the requirements for admission as prescribed by section 3, chapter 72, of act of April 29, 1812, candidates shall be required to have a knowledge of the elements of English grammar, descriptive geography, (particularly of our country,) and of the history of the United States." There is a greater number of rejections comparatively of late years, owing to a difference of requirement as prescribed by law. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. JOHN EATON,

THOS. H. RUGER,
Colonel Eighteenth Infantry, Superintendent.

Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C.

TABLES XV AND XVI.-LIBRARIES.

Table XIV of the report for 1872 gave detailed statistics respecting 306 important libraries in the United States. Table XV, in the appendix to this report, furnishes statistics respecting the growth of 230 of these collections. Table XVI of the appendix is a continuation of the library-table of last year and gives similar information respecting 144 additional libraries, which contain 1,202,301 volumes, 147,293 pamphlets, and 1,929 manuscripts.

The following summary shows the distribution of these additional libraries among the States and Territories :

Statistical summary of number of additional libraries, &c.

The increase during the year 1873 of the libraries mentioned in Table XIV of the report of 1872, being added to the summary of that table, enables us to present the following interesting summary, by States, of the condition at the present time of the 450 libraries above referred to. It will be observed that they contain 6,420,993 volumes, 1,134,463 pamphlets, and 16,329 manuscripts.

Statistical summary showing increase of libraries during 1873.

Libraries, per Table XIV, Report of

1872.

Increase, per Table XVI, 1873.

State.

Number.

Statistical summary showing increase of libraries during 1873-Continued.

New libraries, per Table XV, 1873.

Total of libraries in 1872 and 1873.

On comparison of Table XIV, 1872, with Table XV in the appendix of this volume, it will be observed that the following important libraries have received accessions as specified: Mercantile Library, San Francisco, 3,683 volumes; the Chicago Public Library, 6,000 volumes and 2,722 pamphlets; the Peabody Institute, at Baltimore, 2,986 volumes and 341 pamphlets; the Boston Public Library, by absorbing the Charlestown and Brighton Public Libraries, gains 26,000 volumes and 5,000 pamphlets, while its other increase by purchase and donation is 2,400 volumes and 20,000 pamphlets; the Boston Athenæum, 3,652 volumes and 2,861 pamphlets; the Mechanic Apprentices' Library, of Boston, 5,000 volumes; the Free Public Library of New Bedford, Mass., 3,000 volumes and 433 pamphlets; the Essex Institute, of Salem, 632 volumes and 6,905 pamphlets; the Free Public Library, of Worcester, Mass., 3,074 volumes;

Manuscripts.

the State Library, Albany, N. Y., 2,535 volumes; the Grosvenor Library of Buffalo, N. Y., 3,000 volumes; the Apprentices' Library of New York City, 2,500 volumes; the Astor Library, 2,375 volumes; the Mercantile Library Association, New York City, 4,920 volumes; the Public Library, Cincinnati, O., 10,059 volumes and 1,555 pamphlets; the Public Library, Cieveland, O., 4,000 volumes; the Mercantile Library, Philadelphia, Pa., 15,000 volumes and 500 pamphlets; the State Historical Society, Madison, Wis., 2,166 volumes and 1,528 pamphlets; the Library of Congress, 12,407 volumes and 5,436 pamphlets; the Library of the Surgeon-General's Office, 5,500 volumes and 8,000 pamphlets.

Referring to the benefaction-table, No. XXIV, in the appendix to this report, it will be seen that $379,011 have been given to libraries during the year 1873. Among the most interesting dedications of library-buildings during the year, that of the Concord (Mass.) Free Library, in September, is noteworthy. This munificent gift of Mr. William Munroe will accommodate about 35,000 volumes. At its consecration to the service of learning the following remarks were made by Hon. E. R. Hoar, chairman of the board of trustees:

The library has been for years an object of much interest in our little community, while it grew from small beginnings, and, as it were, "dwelt in tabernacles." It will be, I hope, still more our pride and delight in its stately and enduring temple. It may not be generally known, and it may interest this audience to know, how early Concord stands among New England towns as the owner of a town-library. I do not refer to the establishent of the present library in 1851, though that was early among the towns; nor to the social library incorporated under the act of 1806, upon which this was founded; nor to the library company, whose constitution, in the handwriting of Dr. Ripley, and dated February, 1784, is preserved in the volume which I hold in my hand. Our antiquity is much greater, and goes back at least two hundred years. If any other town or city can claim precedence of us, they are invited to show their title. In 1672, just two centuries before Mr. Munroe laid the foundation of his new building, a committee, consisting of Nehemiah Hunt, John Flint, John Miles, William Hartwell, Thomas Wheeler, Joshua Brooks, Joseph Haywood, Gershom Brooks, Humphrey Barrett, and John Billings were chosen to give instructions to the selectmen, and of the seventeen articles which they prepared the third read as follows:

"That care be taken of the books of marters, and other bookes that belong to the Towne, that they be kept from abusive usage, and not be lent to persons more than one month at one time."

So long ago was the possession and lending of good books recognized here as an object of public concern; and the instruction contains all that is essential for the management of a library in our time.

It only remains for me, in the name and in behalf of the town and its inhabitants, to give some slight expression of their respect and gratitude to their benefactor. We thank you, sir, not only for the magnitude of the gift in its pecuniary value, but for the wise and thoughtful spirit which planned the benefaction and has watched over every detail of its completion. You have given to your native town something which shall make it henceforth a town better worth living in. We are glad to think that this is an expression of kind feeling and regard to us, the present inhabitants of Concord, and that you feel the interest of personal acquaintance in our welfare. In that touching story of the olden time, when the elders of the people went to invoke the Master's aid for the centurion, the affectionate phrase of their intercession was that "he is worthy, for he loveth our nation and he hath built us a synagogue." But we recognize in your bounty not merely kindness to your friends and neighbors, to the generation which you know and by which you are known, but something fruitful and perennial. We are passing away with you; but the town, this Concord that we love, is to last and for an indefinite future to be elevated and enriched by means of what you have done. It is enriched, indeed, by your example. To do something for the permanent benefit of mankind is the purest, as it is the highest, object of human ambition.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, esq., followed with characteristic remarks, from which extracts are here given:

That town is attractive to its native citizens and to immigrants which has a healthy site, good land, well-constructed sidewalks, and good hotels. More attractive is it if it have a fine town-hall, good churches, good preachers, good schools; but still more if it has availed itself of the act of the legislature authorizing towns to tax themselves for the support of public libraries; happier yet if it have citizens who cannot wait for the slow growth of the town to make this adequate to the desire of the