(b) Pedagogical departments in several of the universities and colleges of the State.

(c) Training schools in cities and training classes in villages.

(d) Teachers' institutes, which are conducted under the direction of the Commissioner of Education once a year for the period of five days in each school commissioner district, and which every teacher in such district is obliged to attend.

(e) Summer schools, which are conducted under the direction of the Commissioner of Education during the summer vacations.

Teachers' Qualifications. In order to guard against the employment of unqualified persons as teachers the statutes declare that no public moneys, whether apportioned by the State or raised by local taxes, shall be paid to a teacher who does not possess a license or certificate to teach. These certificates are as follows:

(a) State uniform examination certificates. These are of three grades. Third grade, which are issued to persons who have had no teaching experience or special training. They are Į ood for only one year, and but one can be issued to the same person. Second grade, which are issued to those who have either taught ten weeks under a third grade certificate or attended a normal school or training class for one year. They are issued for three years, and but one can be granted to the same person. First grade, which are issued to those who have taught for at least two years. They are issued for ten years, and may be renewed at their expiration for a further period of ten years.

The Commissioner of Education has given notice that the foregoing certificates will be discontinued in a short time, and in their place will be issued certificates for short periods to such persons as successfully pass certain regents' examinations.

(b) State certificates, issued for life by the Commissioner of

Education to candidates of two years' experience who successfully pass examinations in some twenty-five prescribed subjects. (c) Normal school diplomas issued to graduates of normal schools, which are good for the life of the holder.

(d) Training school and training class certificates, which are issued for a period of three years, and are renewable at their expiration in the same manner as first grade certificates.

(e) College graduates' certificates, which are issued by the Commissioner of Education to graduates of approved colleges who have had three years' successful experience in teaching in public schools.

(f) Normal school diplomas from other States when endorsed by the Commissioner of Education of this State.

Compulsory Education. Although the State has provided such a complete school system, yet it has been found necessary to devise some means by which attendance of children can be made compulsory. To that end the socalled Compulsory Education Law was passed, the principal provisions of which are that unless receiving other competent instruction or prevented by mental or physical conditions,

Every child between eight and sixteen years of age shall regularly attend upon instruction at a school in which at least six common school branches of reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, English grammar and geography are taught as follows,

Every child between fourteen and sixteen years of age, not regularly and lawfully engaged in any useful employment or service, and every such child between eight and fourteen years of age, shall so attend upon instruction as many days annually, during the period between the first days of October and the following June, as the public school in the district or city in which such child resides, shall be in session during the same period..

Cost of Schools. For the support of the public schools from thirty to thirty-five millions of dollars are annually expended. Of this amount about four millions are distributed by the Commissioner of Education from general taxes

and state funds to the various cities and counties in proportion to the number of teachers employed, attendance of students, and expenditures for libraries. The amount so given to each county, except the portion to which a city therein may be entitled, is then divided by the school commissioners of the county and distributed among the school and union school districts. As the amount so distributed by the Commissioner of Education is not sufficient to pay all the charges of the schools, the balance is raised by local taxation.

State School Funds.-The school funds of the State

are:

(a) The Literature Fund, which arose in 1786 from the sale of public lands. Its income, about $12,000, is distributed by the Regents.

(b) The Common School Fund, which arose from the sale of public lands in 1805. Its income, about $170,000, is distributed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

(c) The United States Deposit Fund, which arose in 1836 from a distribution of the surplus in the United States Treasury among the States. Of its income, $75,000 is distributed by the State Superintendent, $25,000 is added to the capital of the Common School Fund, and the balance, about $85,000, is distributed by the Regents.

(d) The College Scrip Fund, which arose from the sale of western public lands granted by the United States to the State for the support of a State Agricultural College. Its income, $20,000, is paid to Cornell University in return for the free scholarships assigned by it to successful candidates at competitive examinations held in each of the 150 assembly districts of the State.

In regard to these funds the Constitution directs that: The capital of the common school fund, the capital of the liter ature fund, and the capital of the United States deposit fund,

shall be respectively preserved inviolate. The revenue of the said common school fund shall be applied to the support of common schools; the revenue of the said literature fund shall be applied to the support of academies; and the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars of the revenues of the United States deposit fund shall each year be appropriated to and made part of the capital of the said common school fund. (Art. IX., Sec. 3.)

Sectarian Schools.-Besides the public schools supported by the State, there are many other institutions of learning under the control of religious denominations. These are maintained wholly from private resources, for in conformity with the principle that state and church should be entirely separate, the Constitution provides that:

Neither the State, nor any subdivision thereof, shall use its property or credit or any public money, or authorize or permit either to be used, directly or indirectly, in aid or maintenance, other than for examination or inspection, of any school or institution of learning wholly or in part under the control or direction of any religious denomination, or in which any denominational tenet or doctrine is taught. (Art. IX., Sec. 4.)

CHAPTER VIII.

TAXATION.

Necessity of Taxes.-The conduct of state and local governments calls for large expenditures of money in the payment of salaries to officials, the building and maintenance of pub. c institutions and property, repairs and care of canals, roads and bridges, the support of paupers, preserving the peace, and other similar matters of state or local interest. These expenses are met by taxation, which is a charge upon property in proportion to its fair value

in such a way that the property of each town or city not only pays its own local expenses, but also bears its proportionate share of the expenses of the county and of the State.

Taxable Property. In theory, taxes are levied upon all property, but in practice some property is exempt from this charge. Such are United States bonds and property of the United States; pension money and real property purchased with pension money; property used exclusively for religious, charitable, educational, literary, and historical purposes; the real property of agricultural societies used for exhibition grounds; deposits in savings banks; and in some cities and villages a certain amount of the property of persons who have served for a certain period as volunteer firemen.

Sources of State Revenues.--Within the past few years there has been a growing tendency to relieve the property of individuals from taxation for state purposes and to raise the state revenues from special taxes and licenses, with the result that although state expenses are rapidly increasing, the rate of the state tax on each dollar of the valuation of property has been steadily diminishing. The chief sources of the revenues of the State at present are from special taxes, as the taxes on corporations; taxes on inheritances, called the transfer tax; licenses, as liquor tax; and the general state tax on property."

Corporation Tax.-Taxes on corporations are, in gen

eral,

(a) a charge, at the time of organization, of a prescribed per centum upon the amount of the capital stock; or,

(b) if a corporation is organized in another State or country, a