held on December 8, 1885, the establishment of a special traveling scholarship fund. This proposition was received with warm approval. His Majesty the Emperor gave the first subscription of 5,000 florins to this fund. His example was followed by Prince John of Lichtenstein and a number of prominent merchants and manufacturers and various commercial institutes. The director succeeded in raising for this purpose the sum of 60,000 florins. The list of the various subscribers and the regulations for the scholarships are to be found in the report of the proceedings of the administrative council, made December 12, 1886. In April, 1887, the administrative council decided to assign two scholarships of the value of 1,500 florins each, one to Salonichi and one for Barcelona. In September, 1887, both were assigned. The conditions of these scholarships are completion of the Vienna Commercial Academy with distinction and at least three years' successful practical work at home and abroad. It remains now, in order to complete this account, to give some of the more important data relating to the school. The total attendance at the Vienna Commercial Academy, since its establishment in 1858 to the year 1888, inclusive, was 16,906 students. It is of interest to note how many students have completed the course of study and obtained the certificate of graduation. It appears that in the first period, 1858 to 1872, there were 1,714 graduates; second period, 1873 to 1877, there were 1,262 graduates; third period, 1878 to 1888, there were 2,168 graduates, making a total of 5,144 in the thirty years of the life of the academy. The success of the instruction has been a very satisfactory one, and in this connection it is important to note that the report of the management to the ministry of education, rendered each year since the beginning of the third period, has been uniformly accepted as eminently satisfactory.

The graduates of the academy have always found employment very quickly, whether at home or abroad. Former students of the academy are to be found in all the larger centers of trade in Germany, Switzerland, France, England, and Belgium, as well as in the leading States of North and South America. At the present time there are forty foundations or scholarships established by the founders in accordance with the provision noted above. There is one Imperial scholarship of a yearly value of 300 florins, and two scholarships named after Czedik of 126 florins each. The assistance fund, established for worthy poor students, amounted on June 15, 1887, to 7,061.73 florins, and aid was granted in the school year 1887, in cash, to the extent of 683.11 florins; in paper, pencils, etc., to the extent of 246 florins; in text-books, to the extent of 290.63 florins; in traveling expenses, to the extent of 370 florins. The students contributed to this fund 920.25 florins. The president of the society for assisting poor students, which has charge of the fund, is the director of the academy ex officio. The executive committee consists of two professors, chosen by the instructing body, and a general committee of two from each division, chosen by the students.

The association of the Vienna Commercial Academy had received, from its foundation up to 1887, from its members, contributions to the amount of 530,642.22 florins; of this amount the State granted 40,950 florins, the city of Vienna 31,500 florins. The State made its appropriation in the form of establishing, through the ministry of religion and instruction and the ministry of finance, one scholarship (3,150 florins) a year for a series of years. In consequence, the ministry for religion and instruction controls at present seven scholarships and the ministry of finance six.

Of this amount, 452,110.15 florins were used for the purchase of the ground and the erection of the building of the academy, and to cover the deficit of the early years, including also 27,000 florins assigned to the pension fund established in 1873. The rest of the sum constitutes the academy fund, which, according to the balance of August 31, 1886, amounted to 159,693.80 florins.i

The current expenses of the academy since its establishment amount to nearly 2,000,000 florins and was covered entirely by the tuition of pupils. The income of the institution from tuition and incidental fees from 1878 to 1887 amounted to nearly 900,000 florins.

The administrative council of the Vienna Commercial Academy has, however, uniformly observed the principle that the worthy pupil, though poor, should be enabled to attend this school. It grants, therefore, every school year to a considerable number of pupils either entire or partial remission of tuition. These remissions represented down to August 31, 1887, the considerable sum of 280,485 florins. The preliminary budget for the year 1886 showed the following estimate:

Salaries

Administration

General expenses

Pension...

Incidentals

Total

Florins.

58,985

6,000

13, 200

4, 145

3,950

87,280

The 30th of September, 1877, at the beginning of the third period, there was still a mortgage upon the academy building of 15,000 florins, and no cash fund.

ED 96-24*

The Vienna Commercial Academy possesses, since 1873, its own pension fund, which is managed by a separate committee. To this fund the regularly appointed professors contribute the same rates as in the case of public educational institutions, as the provisions adopted by the State for similar pensions have been accepted as the rule for this fund. Besides this, the general assembly grants yearly a very considerable sum to this fund from its surplus income. On August 31, 1886, this fund amounted to 144,314.16 florins, and the pensions payable amounted to 4,074.96 florins. In the general assembly of December 12, 1886, 5,000 florins were granted to this fund.

The Vienna Commercial Academy is located in its own building, which was formally opened on the 12th of October, 1862. It embraces an area of 1,953 square meters. Its principal front is 60 meters long; its two side fronts 31 meters each. The building is two stories high. It cost, as noted above, 452,110.15 florins. As divided at present, it embraces 15 lecture rooms, the museum of commercial products, the laboratories for chemistry and commercial products, the physical, geographical, and natural history halls, 2 libraries, 2 faculty rooms, the office of the management and various small offices, and the residence of the director and 3 servants, and has accommodation for 800 students. The arrangements for heat are so fixed that the vestibules, the great stairway, and the large corridors are warmed throughout. Water is also furnished throughout the building. The heating costs per year from 1,400 to 1,500 florins; gas from 1,600 to 1,700 florins.

We might finally mention that the Vienna Commercial Academy has the largest attendance of similar commercial schools in Austria, Germany, and France, and that of late years the management has been repeatedly requested to give detailed information to foreign governments as to the arrangements and organization of this school. The school also received the highest distinction at the Vienna World's Fair in the year 1873.

LATER STATISTICS.

Certain acts relating to the attendance at the various courses will undoubtedly be of interest in this connection.

The one-year course for graduates of the gymnasia and real schools had an enrollment in 1889 of 115 pupils; in 1890, of 105 pupils; and in 1891, of 115 pupils. Of these there were:

Students came from all the leading provinces of Austria and 11 of them from foreign countries.

In 1889, 73 of the students were Germans, 22 were Poles, 11 were Hungarians, and the others of various other nationalities.

The other two years do not show any considerable variation from this year. It will be noted that the large majority of the students were in these years over 18 years of age, and in the first two years over half were over 20.

In 1889 there were 661 pupils on the rolls at the end of the year; in 1890 there were 671; and in 1891 there were 638.

During these three years only 1 student succeeded in reaching the third year of the course at an age less than 16; and only 1 student had succeeded in reaching the second year's course at an age less than 15. Only one-fifth of the students in the academy in 1889 were under 16 years of age; about the same ratio held for 1890, and in 1891 less than one-seventh were under 16. The average age of the pupils appears then to be from 16 to 19.

The association for aiding indigent and worthy students seems to do very real

service.

In 1889 it granted 922 florins in cash to various students; 270 florins in supplies; 218 florins in books; 500 florins in traveling expenses.

The association granted in 1890 to various students 898 florins in cash; 302 florins in supplies; 117 florins in books; 400 florins in traveling expenses.

The association granted in 1891 to various students 1,041 florins in cash; 270 florins in supplies; 119 florins in books; 502 florins in traveling expenses.

Making a total of 1 director, 23 professors, 3 instructors, 7 assistants, and 2 subassistants; total, 36.

2.-COMMERCIAL ACADEMY OF PRAGUE.

The foundation of the institution.-It is a strange fact that the very class which occupies to-day by its activity and wealth the most prominent place in our society has been neglected almost altogether.by the governments of the various States in regard to the professional training of its members. There are gymnasia for the training of the future scholar and public official, and real schools and polytechnic institutions for the technologist. The forester, the miner, the soldier, the sailor, all have their own technical schools, but the future merchant has had to content himself with the gymnasium or the real school. Was the reason for this to be found in the fact that the merchant needs no special preliminary training for his calling? That the special branches of knowledge appropriate to his vocation are really only facilities which the school is not able to give him; things of subordinate importance which he can easily acquire for himself by private activity and practical work? It would almost seem so; and it may be that this view was not unjustifiable in earlier times, but the present makes new demands upon the merchant if he wishes to rise above the limited sphere of the small shopkeeper. He needs a greater amount of training and knowledge if he is to keep pace with the times and to occupy that place in social and economic life to which he is entitled. But where shall he obtain this training? There is no doubt that existing educational institutions are not adequate to supply this want. The solid training of the gymnasium has its great advantages, and many a merchant of to-day selects his assistants rather from the ranks of the graduates of the gymnasium than from those of the real schools. But the gymnasium can not, of course, insert the purely commercial branches of instruction into its curriculum, and consequently it does not appear to be at all satisfactory as a preparatory school for the commercial career. The real schools would seem to be somewhat nearer, but these schools furnished a training more suitable for the manufacturer and the technologist than for the merchant, and until very lately, especially in Austria, they excluded from these schools the important element of modern languages. The purely commercial branches also are either very inadequately or are not at all represented in their curriculum. The attempt has been made here and there to unite special commercial courses with the real schools. But this is only piecework, and can be justified only where it is impossible to establish independent commercial schools. For the place of the professional school can not be even approximately supplied in this way.

At the time when the thought of the establishment of the commercial school appeared for the first time in Prague the various public educational institutions were far less perfect than to-day. The unsatisfactory condition of things had been recognized first in Germany, and it was the Leipzig Merchant Guild which took the first step toward the remedy. It established in the year 1831 a commercial institute, whose organization by Schiebe remained for a long time in a certain sense the model for the similar establishments organized later throughout central Germany.

About the same time the need for a special commercial school was felt in Prague. Mr. Johann Bachheibl, a member of the commercial council from 1831 to 1810, was the first to take up the matter, and to urge upon his colleagues the desirability of such an establishment. But many hindrances, especially the unfavorable conditions of the time, prevented them from carrying out the idea. It was not until the year 1849 that the first real step toward such an institution was taken.

Cp. Die Prager Handelsakademie von ihrer Gründung bis zur Gegenwart (1856-1873), Gedenkschrift aus Anlass der Wiener Weltausstellung. Page 4 and following.

The president of the commercial council in that year, Mr. Josef Halla, and a member of the corporation, Mr. Edward Pleschner, took up the idea with energy, for the need of such an institution was more and more keenly felt every day. The commercial council appointed a committee to obtain the necessary financial means, and in March, 1849, the committee published the following address to the merchants of Bohemia:

"The establishment of a commercial school in the capital city of Bohemia, a land where such a many-sided industry and trade flourish, has been a long-felt want. But it was not possible, under previous conditions, to establish this institute so necessary and advantageous for our youth. It remains further our honorable task by uniting all the necessary intelligent and pecuniary means to establish and develop a commercial institute. It appears superfluous to dwell upon the advantage of such an institution. Every one of us reognizes how necessary to our prosperity is the regular and systematic training of our youth. We have been obliged up to the present to seek such a training for our sons in foreign countries, at the cost of much money and great anxiety. In the future we should find this at home. We all recognize, moreover, how greatly such a theoretical course would aid our young people when they go into practical life, and how much more useful they are to us when they have enjoyed the training of such an institution. The commercial council, inspired with this conviction, has, therefore, resolved to establish such an institution. It proposes to cover the expenses in part by the use of its own capital, and in part by the contributions of founding and contributing members. We send, therefore, an earnest invitation to all members of the commercial and manufacturing classes of Bohemia to assist in the establishment of this useful institution, and by cooperative effort to leave this honorable memorial to our posterity. The commercial council has appointed a committee, which is not only to take charge of the new school, but to work out a curriculum upon the plan of the best existing commercial schools. The council has resolved further to make provision so that the apprentices in our shops, who are not able to enter the school regularly, may obtain instruction in the practical knowledge relating to commerce from the teachers in this institute. In this arrangement we rely upon the humanity of our colleagues to assist us by sending regularly their apprentices, and prove in this way that they, as well as we, desire the training of useful and skillful clerks, and that in this way the value of this sort of instruction may be fully recognized."

In answer to this invitation 12,000 florins were subscribed within a short time. As this sum, however, was not sufficient for the establishment of a higher commercial institute, the council resolved to organize a Sunday school for commercial branches. Steps were immediately taken to carry this resolution into effect. The school was opened on the 19th of April, 1850, on the birthday of the Emperor. Rooms were obtained for it in the Polytechnic Institute.

This Sunday school, however, was intended only as a transition institute to the higher commercial school which was the end and aim of the efforts of the council. The year 1851 brought a decisive turn in favor of the establishment of such an institution. In that year a man was chosen as presiding officer of the commercial council who possessed in himself all the qualities which were necessary to secure the realization of the plan above mentioned.

Mr. Edward Pleschner, the new president, devoted his attention in the first place to increasing the endowment fund, and to overcoming the prejudices and objections against the project, which showed themselves here and there. His efforts were soon crowned with success. The fund was increased by June, 1853, to 34,398 florins; by the year 1855 the fund had reached 44,211 florins. The necessary financial means had thus been provided.

There were many different views as to the manner in which the project should be carried out. Some favored the acquisition of a separate school building and the union of the Sunday school with the proposed academy. Others proposed that the Sunday school for commercial branches should be expanded so that instruction should be given on one week day, and that this should be gradually extended by the addition of new subjects of instruction. A third party, under the lead of the president, wished to establish an independent higher commercial school, and this view was finally adopted. On the 18th of October a final decision was made, and the commercial council unanimously voted for the establishment of the independent commercial institute.

The next effort of the council was devoted to the acquisition of a building, which was purchased shortly after for the sum of 58,542 florins. On the 13th of December, 1855, the council held its first meeting in the halls of the school.

On the

Leo Luhn tion that occupied ociety,

of October preceding the council had presented a petition to Count ster of religion and education, in which they expressed the convicmmercial classes, on account of the important position which they economic and social point of view among the other classes in only thorough professional knowledge, but also a higher general