In cabinet 46 the Connecticut public library committee show the library privileges open to the people of the State. There is a map showing the distribution of public libraries, charts showing organization and statistics, photographs of the buildings. On the shelves are samples of library and school documents, a library scrapbook, a sample portfolio of Audubon bird charts, sample portfolio of pictures loaned by the Society of Colonial Dames. In special cases in front are samples of libraries loaned to the library committee by the Audubon Society and the Society of Colonial Dames. These portfolios and libraries are

loaned by the committee to the public schools of the State.

The Bridgeport exhibit is in cabinets 47 to 51. In cabinet 47 the Bridgeport City Normal School shows charts prepared by the normal students "during the discussion and application of the principle concerning the relation of the concrete to the abstract in instruction." In cabinet 50 the city normal school shows methods in geography and the work of the practice and regular departments. In the other cabinets are shown specimens from the art work of the public schools and pupils' work in arithmetic, language, composition, history; outlines of the methods of teaching music in the schools; a series of photographs illustrating the methods of physical training. There are bound volumes of pupils' work in drawing, composition, and arithmetic.

In cabinet 52 Ansonia shows the city school administration, specimens of the work of the children showing the correlation of drawing and language, pupils' work in number and drawing, and work from the high school. There are bound volumes of pupils' work in language, geography, history, and Latin.

ILLINOIS.

BY ALFRED BAYLISS, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.

ORGANIZATION.

The public school system of Illinois is based upon the statutory provision that each Congressional township is hereby established a township for school purposes." The law provides that three trustees shall be elected in each township, to hold office for three years, one being elected each year. The trustees appoint a township treasurer, who is under bond, and whose duty it is to receive, hold, and pay out all school moneys, securities, papers, and effects belonging to the township or the school district. The trustees are authorized to "lay off the township into one or more school districts, to suit the wish or convenience of a majority of the inhabitants of the township." This provision has led to the establishment of 11,751 districts, 10,677 of them so small as to require the services of but a single teacher.

In each school district having a population less than 1,000 there is a board of three directors, and in each district having more than 1,000 and not over 100,000 inhabitants there is elected a board of education consisting of a president and six members and "three additional members for every additional 10,000 inhabitants." The term of office of directors and members of boards of education is three years, one-third of the membership being elected annually. The presidents of boards of education are elected as such by the voters annually, and have no vote except in case of a tie. In cities having a population exceedED 1904 M-57

ing 100,000 inhabitants the board of education consists of 21 members appointed by the mayor, by and with the advice of the common council, 7 each year, for the term of three years. Boards of education and of directors are authorized to levy taxes to the amount of 24 per cent upon the assessed valuation of all the taxable property in the districts, annually, for maintenance, and, when authorized so to do by the electors of the districts, a like amount for building purposes. When authorized by a vote of the electors, boards may also issue bonds for indebtedness to the amount not exceeding 5 per cent of the total valuation. These boards are authorized, and thus empowered, to establish and maintain free schools, employ teachers, adopt text-books for a period not less than four years, and make all necessary rules for the government of the schools, which are free to all residents of the respective districts between the ages of 6 and 21 years.

Two or more adjoining townships, or parts of townships, as well as any single Congressional township, may, in a manner provided by law, establish and maintain a "township high school;" such schools, of which there are as yet 33, being governed by a township board of education of 5 members, with the general powers of school directors.

No

In each county there is a county superintendent of schools, elected by the voters of the whole county quadrennially and paid by the State. It is the duty of the county superintendent to act as the official adviser of the school officers in his county, to examine and certificate teachers, to visit and supervise the schools. He is required by law "to spend at least half the time given to his office, and more, if practicable, in visiting ungraded (1 teacher) schools." scholastic qualifications are prescribed for the county superintendent. There is a State superintendent of public instruction, elected quadrennially by the voters of the whole State. He is charged with a general supervision of all the common schools of the State; is the legal adviser of all school officers; must give his opinion upon any question arising under the school law, when requested, and hear and determine controversies coming to him by appeal from the county superintendents, and report the general condition of the schools to the governor biennially.

There are five State normal schools, established and maintained by the State, in which tuition is free to all persons preparing to become teachers, subject to an agreement to teach in the schools of Illinois for a specified time, unless employment can not be found. These schools are governed by boards of trustees appointed by the governor, the State superintendent being ex officio a member of each board.

THE ILLINOIS EXHIBIT.

The school exhibit made by the State of Illinois represented every grade of school established under the foregoing provisions of law, except in school districts having a population of over 100,000 inhabitants. (At present the school district of the city of Chicago is alone in that class. The exhibit from that city was a unit by itself and was maintained as such.) The State commission provided the booth, received the material, and authorized the State superintendent of public instruction to install it. Except a very small allowance to each normal school, all expenses connected with the preparation of material and transporting it to and from the exposition were borne by the districts. It is, therefore, not possible accurately to estimate the cost of the exhibit.

The first request to districts to participate in the exhibit was made as late as November 1, 1903. At that time all schools under boards of education, except in cities of over 100,000 inhabitants, and all county superintendents were invited to send material, subject to the following classification and suggestions:

CLASSIFICATION OF SCHOOLS.

GROUP I.-Elementary education.

Class 1. Country schools.

Class 2. Semigraded schools.

Class 3. Graded schools.

GROUP II.--Secondary education.

Class 4. High schools.

Class 5. Normal schools.

Under this classification it is desired to exhibit:

1. Legislation, organization, general statistics.

2. Buildings-photographs, plans, models.

3. Administrative methods.

4. Results obtained by methods of instruction.

MATERIAL OF EXHIBIT.

CLASS I.-Country schools.

1. The design of the best one-room schoolhouse in the county, to include floor plans and method of heating and ventilating.

2. Photographs of ten of the best one-room school buildings in the county, preferably with pupils and teachers in front of the buildings.

3. Photographs of every school building in ten or more counties, as above.

4. Photographs of groups and classes of pupils at work.

5. Photographs of school libraries, museums, natural history collections, etc. 6. Photographs of school gardens.

7. Manual training work of all kinds.

8. Collections of written work, honestly prepared and intelligently labeled, bound in volumes arranged by grades, so as to clearly and faithfully illustrate the solid and indispensable work of the school.

9. Free-hand drawing, color work, illustrations, map drawing, etc.

10. A bound collection of circulars, programmes of teachers' meetings, school papers, and other printed matter used by the county superintendents in administrative work.

CLASS II.--Semigraded schools.

Material for exhibits from schools of this class may be chosen from the items enumerated for country schools or graded schools, in the discretion of teachers, acting under the advice of the county superintendents. All schools in buildings with fewer than eight rooms may be counted in this class.

CLASS III-Graded schools.

1. In this class should be placed schools in buildings with eight or more rooms for grades below the high school. For work done in this class the unit is the city, and material may be prepared under the direction of the city superintendent or corresponding officer. To the itemized suggestion of material under Class I may be added apparatus, appliances, models, and materials used in teaching each of the eight grades; lists of supplementary and collateral reading, reference books, maps, charts, magazines, and newspapers in use; printed courses of study, manuals of directions, blanks, reports, records, etc.; programmes, rules and regulations, annual reports, and other printed matter.

2. Photographs of all school buildings in the city, showing pupils and teachers at work, as well as exteriors and playgrounds.

3. Statistical charts, diagrams, and tables showing graphically the important facts in regard to the population, the number and kind of schools, number of teachers, number of pupils, cost of instruction, etc.

CLASS IV.-High schools.

1. A photograph of each and every building in Illinois used exclusively for high school purposes is earnestly desired.

2. Photographs of physical, chemical, and biological laboratories and the assembly rooms are especially desired.

3. Photographs of manual training and household arts departments, showing equipment and pupils at work.

4. The school grounds, shown by topographical maps and photographs.

5. School gymnasiums, games, and outdoor sports.

6. Printed lists of text-books, libraries, and collateral reading lists.

7. Courses of study.

8. A graphic representation of the history of the school, showing number of graduates, their present occupations, the per cent of pupils who have gone to college, higher technical, or professional schools, and other data tending to illustrate the plans, methods, and ideals of the school.

9. Choice specimens of pupils' work in physics, chemistry, biology, and in manual training.

10. Bound volumes of the written work of the pupils, intelligently labeled to show conditions under which the work was done.

CLASS V-Normal schools.

1. Topographical map of grounds.

2. Photographs of grounds and buildings.

3. Photographs of interior views of libraries, class rooms, laboratories, etc.

4. Publications of the school or of members of the faculty.

5. Theses of students, graduates, or undergraduates.

6. Special methods of instruction and pieces of apparatus invented at or peculiar to an institution.

7. The course of study, equipment, maintenance, history, and purposes of the school shown by charts, catalogues, yearbooks, etc.

8. A representative collection of work done by pupils in the practice school. 9. A representative collection of students' written work, with especial reference to those forms peculiar to normal schools, as observation notes, lesson plans, and the like.

10. A pamphlet for judicious free distribution, to include paragraphs explanatory of the objective exhibit as well as a retrospective view of the school. The exhibit thus assembled was necessarily more or less unbalanced. The late date of the initiatory steps and the somewhat inadequate allowance for necessary expenses also operated to some extent as handicaps. Evidences that it had been collected and arranged on short notice were not wanting. It had, however, the merit of fidelity to actual and, perhaps, average conditions, and was more than ample in quantity. The exhibit included 3,500 photographs, 1,200 volumes of written work, 3,000 pieces of hand work, 7,000 drawings, an excellent model of a school building recently erected for the use of a “consolidated” country school, a model of an unusually good type of one-room schools, and a topographical map and model of the grounds and buildings of the Carbondale Normal School-the work of students of that institution.

No features of this exhibit stood out in very bold relief as more excellent than others. Its characteristic was the completeness with which it represented, as far as it is possible to do so objectively, present conditions in the common schools of a wealthy State in which the school system is so organized as to leave almost everything to local initiative. From this point of view its uniformity was remarkable. Sixty-eight city and village school districts, 11 township high schools, 29 counties (country schools), and 5 normal schools were represented.

There were variations in quality and quantity, but no decided premiership in any group. It is believed, too, that it would be quite possible to assemble, without notice, from the current school work in Illinois an equivalent or even better exhibit without in any way varying the routine of the schools for that purpose-given the authority to select and take the material wherever found. Had more time, money, and forethought been expended upon this exhibit it might, perhaps, have been more uniformly excellent, and certainly more artistically installed, but at the risk of making it more impressive to the casual observer and at the expense of fidelity to actual conditions and value to the student of things as they are. Upon this last consideration must be based whatever claim of excellence is made for the exhibit as a whole.

INDIANA.

BY W. A. MILLIS, DIRECTOR.

ORGANIZATION.

In the State of Indiana elementary education is almost exclusively a function of the State. In rural communities and in most towns the public school is the only school known to the people. In the cities desultory systems of parochial schools are maintained, and in the larger cities a small number of poorly attended private schools exist. The chief provision for secondary education is in the more than 1,000 public high schools. These are supplemented by 26 academies, seminaries, and preparatory schools under private or ecclesiastical control. The facilities for higher education comprise two State universities, one organized in the direction of the liberal arts and the professions, the other in the direction of technology and engineering, and 20 other colleges and universities. The relative extent of public education as compared with education under all other control is shown in the table of enrollments below. The numbers are approximate:

The spirit which pervades the organization and administration of the public school system of Indiana is reflected in the purpose to provide “open paths from every corner of the State through the schools to the highest and best things which men can achieve."

The public school system provides for three circles or spheres of administration: (a) The State, (b) the county, and (c) the township, town, or city. In each sphere the administrative bureau comprises an executive officer and a board of education, which in some respects sustains an advisory relation to the