and Great Britain, signd a card agreeing to use, as far as may be practicable, the simpler spellings that were recommended by the Simplified Spelling Board.

In the face of much opposition the movement stedily increast in strength, attracting to its support not only a great number of educators and scholars, but many lead ers in social, religious, and political reform. The President of the United States, Mr. Roosevelt, announced his approval of the movement Aug. 24, 1906. On Aug. 27 he sent a letter to the Public Printer, directing him to use "in all government publications of the executive departments the simpler spellings included in "the 300 words enumerated in Circular No. 5" of the Simplified Spelling Board. This action excited much interest thruout the world, and was met by much opposition, and enormous misrepresentation, in the public press. In Dec., 1906, the House of Representativs attacht to an appropriation bill a clause providing in effect that no part of the appropriation should be used for printing in simplified spelling any documents printed by act of Congress. This reduced the Public Printer's use of simplified spellings to documents from the executiv department, not printed by order of Congress. But this action of Congress has not been regarded by educated men as being intellectually conclusiv, and the use of simplified spellings has been kept up by many public officials, in accordance with their personal convictions, and the recommendation of competent advis

ers.

This use is widely prevalent among men in the scientific bureaus, and among officers of the army and navy.

The support given to the movement at the start was greatly increast as a result of the discussion in the newspapers, and every month has shown definit gains in numbers and in influence. The Board has up to date issued twenty-four circulars of the regular series, a number of special circulars, ten special leaflets, and seven numbers of the Simplified Spelling Bulletin, a quarterly periodAll has been done deliberately,

ical.

plified forms thus far recommended by the Board are containd in Circular No. 23. These circulars and the Bulletin have been widely circulated thruout the world. Many thousands of persons have signd the card agreeing to use the simplified spellings. Thousands of teachers are using them personally, and many have introduced them into their schools. Some normal schools, as the Iowa State Teachers' College, the Illinois State Normal University, the Colorado State Normal School, and the Normal School at Truro, Nova Scotia, have adopted simplified spellings to the full extent recommended by the Board, and are not only teaching them, but are using them in their publications.

The simpler spellings have been used in a large number of periodicals, of which the Board printed, in Dec., 1908, a list of more than 250. Simplified spellings have also appeard in a number of professional and technical magazines, and are freely used in a number of college journals. Among these simplified spellings, program and catalog are now establisht as the prevailing forms, and tho and thru are everywhere common. The influence of the Board is seen also in an extensiv use, in advertizements, of spellings which, if not always “simplified," are at least "insurgent," and mark a revolt against orthografic stagnation. Among men of learning there is now little public opposition, and it would be difficult to find any recognized philologist who would be willing to declare himself against the principle of simplifying English orthografy. Indeed, few educated men can now be found who will maintain that English spelling, of all human inventions, should be kept forever exempt from improvement.

The Simplified Spelling Board in 1909 consisted of forty-six members. The American members were then as follows: E. Benjamin Andrews, O. C. Blackmer, David J. Brewer, James W. Bright, Andrew Carnegie, Clarence G. Child, Samuel L. Clemens ("Mark Twain "), Melvil Dewey, Oliver F. Emerson, David Felmley, Isaac K. Funk, Lyman J. Gage, Richard Watson Gilder, Charles

dated March, 1909, contains a full "Alfabetic List of Simplifications in Spelling recommended by the Simplified Spelling Board up to Jan. 25, 1909." These recommendations are all applied in this article. It will be seen that they are far from "radical." They are, in fact, only the "first steps" to a reasonable revision of English spelling. Other simplifications are under consideration, but none have been publisht since the date mentioned.

Esperanto. The sixth international congress of Esperanto was held in Washington, Aug. 14-20, 1910, the previous congresses having been held annually at Boulogne, Geneva, Cambridge (Eng.), Dresden, and Barcelona. There were present official delegates from twenty-three nations speaking eleven languages, and representatives from other countries speaking as many more. The peculiarity of the congress, distinguishing it from all other international gatherings, was the presentation of all papers and the transaction of all business in the single language of Esperanto, the only exception being in the case of the Chinese delegate, who used his native tongue. A feature of the congress was the address

of Dr. Ludwig L. Zamenhof, of Warsaw, Poland, the author or inventor of Esperanto. John Barrett, director of the bureau of republics, and president of the Esperanto Association of North America, presided. Prizes were awarded for the best literary productions in Esperanto, several being awarded to American competitors. The experiences of the Washington congress, and the facility with which the artificial international language was utilized in the proceedings by its members, is claimed as a demonstration that Esperanto is making good its claim to be a feasible and effective medium of international communication, especially for commercial purposes. This claim is not admitted by the adherents of rival artificial languages, of which there are a number, including Volapuk, Bolak, and Ido, the last having also an international organization. It is agreed, even among Esperantists, that Dr. Zamenhof's language possesses certain obvious and unnecessary defects, which impair its simplicity, consistency, and effectiveness. In all probability the more important changes suggested for the improvement of Esperanto will ultimately be adopted.

A YEAR OF PROGRESS The record of education in the United States for 1910 shows a continuance of the progress that has marked previous years of the decade. An impressive feature is the magnitude of the work carried on in the common or public schools. These enrolled during the year above 17,200,000 children and youths, or 19.6 per cent of the population, employed nearly 496,000 teachers, and were maintained at an expense of about $380,000,000, equivalent to $31 for every pupil in average attendance. No other country in the world provides at public expense for the instruction of such a large proportion of the population; and excepting new provinces in Canada, where every material condition has to be supplied at once, no country pays such a high rate per capita for the maintenance of public schools-viz., $4.27, estimated on population; $31 estimated on average attendance.

Private schools enrolled during the year 1,500,000 pupils, and the registration in universities, colleges, and professional schools was in round numbers 300,000; hence, altogether, 19,000,000 children and youths were under instruction during the year, or a little more than twenty-one per cent of the total population. The corresponding total in 1900 was 17,299,000, an increase of 1,701,000 in ten years, which is about equivalent to the rate of increase in population for the same period.

The statistics show that 93.37 per cent of all pupils were in schools of elementary grade; 5.05 per cent in secondary schools; and 1.58 per cent As regards in higher institutions.

control, public schools comprised 92 per cent of all elementary pupils, and 82.8 per cent of secondary pupils; of students in higher education, 45 per cent were enrolled in state or city institutions.

STATISTICS OF EDUCATION

The status of the public or common schools of the country for the current year and the progress during the decade are indicated by the following statistics covering salient features of the record.

Upon the total enrollment of 17,200,000 pupils, an average attendance was maintained of 71.2 per cent, a gain in this particular of 3 per cent above the average in 1900. The teaching force increased from 431,918 to 495,463, a gain of 14 per cent as against 93 per cent gain in the number of enrolled pupils. In other words, there were fewer pupils to a single teacher. The average monthly wages of teachers show decided increase in the decade-i. e.. for men teachers from $47.55 to $62.35; for women teachers from $39.17 to $51.61. The actual increase in salaries is greater, as the average length of the school term was extended from 143.7 days in 1900 to 154.1 days in 1909, and no decline has since been reported. The only falling off noticeable is in the number and relative proportion of men teachers. In 1909 there were 104,495 men in the service, or 21 per cent of the entire force as against 29 per cent

in 1900.

School Property. The value of school property was estimated in 1909 at $945,400,000, an advance of sixtyfive per cent above the value in 1900. This gain is in great measure the re

Since every state and territory in the Union has independent control of its public schools, the statistics above given relate to forty-nine different systems and therefore conceal many, and in some cases, startling deviations from average conditions. For exam ple, the average number of school days in a year, considering the entire country, is 154; but in three states it is less than 100 days, and in seven other states between 98 days and 121. Teachers' salaries range from an average of $32.50 a month for a school year of five months, to $88.50 for a school year of nine and a half months. The annual expenditure per capita of average attendance varies from $6.79 to $72.34. There are many causes for these inequalities, but the chief causes are the differences in industrial conditions and their effect in massing or distributing populations. Hence for an understanding of current educational movements, it is important to classify the main particulars relating

$214,964,618

$2.84 $20.21

$371,344,410

$4.27 $30.55

to public schools: (1) According to geographical sections; and (2) in urban and rural groups. On account of the extent of the country and the varying periods covered by the official reports, some being biennial, others annual; some closing the record in July, others in Dec., the statistics of state systems of education are never complete for analysis for the current year. Since, however, changes in the aggregate are hardly discernible from year to year, the statistics used in the detailed tables comprised in this review express practically present conditions.

The distribution of the estimated population of the United States in 1908 by geographical sections, the relation of the school population to the total population, and to the adult males twenty-one years of age and over, who constitute what may be termed on the average the producers of the country, are shown in the following table: