Resolved, That active school supervision is an element essential to the complete development of a public school system.

Resolved, That complete supervision involves-1. A State Superintendency; 2. City Superintendency; 3. County or District Superintendency; 4. Town or Township Superintendency.

Hon. W. D. Henkle, State School Commissioner of Ohio, presented the subject of School Statistics. His suggestive report is found in our April issue. Hon. S. S. Ashley, State School Supt. of North Carolina, read a report on "National Aids to School Systems of the South", in which Congress was asked to make such provision by the granting of public lands, or by appropriating the proceeds of the sale of such lands or other government property, or by direct appropriation of money, as shall aid the Southern States in the establishment and maintenance of good public schools. It was recommended that this appropriation should not be less than $1,500,000 annually for a period of five years, and that the money should be disbursed in each State by an officer or agent of the National Government. These propositions were earnestly discussed, and referred to a special committee.

Gen. Howard presented a report, recommending the consolidation of the educational division of the Freedmen's Bureau with the National Bureau of Education. He stated that the Freedmen's Bureau had expended for educational purposes, in five years, about $3,500,000, and that an equal sum had been contributed by the benevolent societies of the North. The freedmen had raised about $1,000,000. The policy of the Bureau had been the same as that used in the distribution of the Peabody Fund, viz: to help those who are willing to help themselves. An incalculable amount of good had been accomplished. He strongly urged the continuance of this work, of encouraging and stimulating the local authorities and the people to organize and sustain efficient schools. The plan would not require a large annual expenditure. He stated that in organizing the new agency it is proposed " to initiate not precisely a national system of education for the whole people, but a kind of supervision of the public schools of the several States," without relieving them of responsibility or, in the least, infringing upon their rights.

Gen. Eaton, National Commissioner of Education, stated that bills embodying the recommendation of Gen. Howard, were in the hands of the Senate Committee on Retrenchment and Reform, and the House Committee on Edu. cation and Labor, and that there was good prospect that the consolidation would be effected.

The special committee on Supt. Ashley's propositions reported the following resolutions, which were adopted:

WHEREAS, It is the opinion of this Convention that the work of reconstruction will not be finished, and a sure basis of a republican government will not be laid in the States recently in rebellion until an efficient system of public instruction shall be established in each, which shall embrace the whole population thereof: therefore, Resolved, That this National Convention of School Superintendents earnestly recommends Congress to take into immediate consideration the educational condition of the States aforesaid, and to make such provision as the exigencies of the times demand.

We regret that we have neither the time nor the space this month to give this action the consideration its importance deserves. The discussion shows

clearly that the educational necessities of the South are giving impetus to the hitherto unnoticed movement for the establishment of a national system of education. Representative Hoar, of Mass., the author of the House bill to establish a national school system, was present. He stated that he was convinced that "the Government must take in hand the public education of its people", and that this was among its delegated powers. "It is not necessary", said he, “that Congress take from the individual States the management of the details of their educational systems, but Congress has the right to assume the supervision of these details." He proposed that Congress should establish a common-school system throughout the country, and apportion a tax among the several States according to their population, with provision that any State which, within a reasonable time, shall establish for itself a school system, meeting prescribed requisites, may be excused from the payment of its share of the national tax. Representative Prosser, of Tennessee, favored "the national extension of education."

President Wickersham, in an earlier discussion, declared that as a matter of broad policy" the National Government ought not to take one step toward a national system of education, and we are surprised that this position was not unequivocally taken by the Association. The General Government may safely and wisely make appropriations of lands or money to aid in the establishment of school systems in the South. This it did for the West when there was far less need of its aid. These appropriations may also be made conditionally, and their disbursement may be placed under proper supervision. So far as the territories are concerned, Congress may require and regulate common-school systems.

But we see no necessity of any direct national management or supervision of education in the States. The history of the Northern States shows that such interference is unnecessary here, and, with proper national encouragement and assistance, good school systems will soon be in operation in every State of the South. It takes time to accomplish so great a work.

The transfer of the educational work of the Freedmen's Bureau to the Bureau of Education will place no ordinary responsibility on the National Commissioner, and it will take great wisdom and caution to keep the educational policy of the Government from drifting into the current of a national school system.

Dr. Barnard, the retiring Commissioner, presented a report on The National Department of Education-its Work in the Past." It was a very full statement of the comprehensive plans which had been initiated. He was requested to furnish a written copy of the report for publication.

On motion of Secretary B. G. Northrop, of Connecticut, a commiittee, consisting of Messrs. Northrop, Hobbs, and Jillson, was appointed to consider the subject of competitive examinations as a mode of admission to the U. S. Military and Naval Academies. The committee presented the subject to the proper Congressional committees, and reported to the Association the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted:

Resolved, That no person should be appointed to the cadet corps at West Point, or to the naval corps at Annapolis, until he has been found qualified in the particulars

designated by law, after a public examination. The examiners should make return under oath to the Secretary of War of the persons examined, in the order of merit; and all appointments to fill vacancies should be made from these returns, and in the order of merit as assigned by the examiners.

We have gleaned the data for the above sketch from a somewhat full report of the proceedings found in the Educational Gazette for April.

WE call attention to the article in this number by an ex-Catholic." The writer is a gentleman of eminent scholarship and of great candor and liberality. He doubtless fairly presents the Catholic objection to the reading of any version of the Bible in the public schools, but, we would ask, does not the real difficulty lie back of the Bible question? The Church of Rome claims and demands supreme and exclusive authority in education, and especially in the education of Catholic youth. It denies that the State has any right to educate, except so far as it may become the agent of the Church. Hence, the uniform and unyielding demand that the free-school system of this country shall either be abolished or the school funds divided between Catholics and Protestants. The only way in which the school system can be made acceptable to the Church of Rome is to make the whole or a sufficient part of it Catholic. This is the root of the difficulty, and it strikes too deep for surface treatment. The forcible ejection of the Bible and all religious influences from the schools, will make them less instead of more acceptable to Catholics, and, at the same time, it will alienate the support of many Protestants. No one has been able to show how such a course will fortify the school system against Catholic assaults. To lessen the friends of a cause is a queer way to strengthen it. The attempt to draw a moral from the St. Louis election in favor of the anti-Bible view, is ridiculous. The proposition to divide the school funds would, to claim the least, be voted down as decisively in Cincinnati or Chicago. The true and strong position to take on this subject is, that the reading of the Bible in the public schools shall neither be prohibited nor required. Let the whole subject be left-where it has been wisely left for fifty years-to the common sense and discretion of American teachers.

Ar the recent election of school trustees in Cincinnati, the Bible question was made a square issue, and, as a result, a majority of the members of the new Board are opposed to the exclusion of the Bible from the schools. This doubtless secures the repeal of the famous Miller resolutions, already decided void by the Superior Court, but, of course, the enemies of the Bible will renew the conflict at the first favorable opportunity.The day after the Cincinnati election the citizens of St. Louis voted on the demand of the Catholics for a division of the school funds. The friends of the school system triumphed, a decided majority of the new Board being in favor of non-sectarian schools. The Bible has long been excluded from the public schools of St. Louis, but this fact has not lessened, in the least, the Catholic opposition. The St. Louis schools without the Bible are as objectionable to Catholics as the Cincinnati schools with the Bible.

MISCELLANY.

WHEN notified that a subscriber has failed to receive the MONTHLY, we remail the missing numbers.

WE can still supply back numbers of the MONTHLY from January—the beginning of the current volume. Our subscription list is growing very encouragingly.

THE State Superintendents' Association meets at Columbus (High School Building) July 5th. The programme, given in another place, shows that important topics are to be considered. The Ohio Teachers' Association meets at the same place July 6th and 7th.

THE State Printer succeeded in getting out the School Commissioner's report in time for the members of the General Assembly to take a copy home with them! The report proper is sensibly brief, occupying but twenty-eight pages, fourteen of which are filled with detailed summaries of statistics. The more important portions of the report were published in the MONTHLY for February. The statistical tables are carefully compiled, and are very full. The appendix contains cuts of the school buildings of Salem, Galion, and Bucyrus, nineteen cuts of school furniture, and several cuts of school apparatus-a new feature. Examiners, superintendents, presidents of colleges, principals of academies and seminaries, township clerks and treasurers, sub-district clerks, and the officers of school boards in special districts are entitled to a copy of the report on application to the county auditor. Teachers wishing a copy should apply to the School Commissioner.

A REFERENCE to the school laws, in the School Officers' Department, will show what the present General Assembly has been willing to do for the improvement of the school system. We confess that it looks like small tinkering. The only law to which we need call attention, is the one relating to teachers' institutes. The amendment requires institute committees to file a bond with the auditor, conditioned on the faithful disbursement of the money, and on the making of the required report to the State School Commissioner. The Commissioner received no report from twenty of the institutes held last year and noticed in the MONTHLY-— -The House deserves special credit for slaughtering two bills-the one making a certificate issued in any county valid throughout the State, and the other (a Senate bill) forbidding the suspension of pupils for absence and other causes. The bill abolishing local boards of examiners was not reported back by the School Committee of the House.

THE National Normal Association meets at Cleveland, August 12 and 13; the National Superintendents' Association, August 15 and 16; and the National Teachers' Association, August 17, 18, and 19. The full programme will be ready in time for our June issue. President Hagar informs us that among the lecturers and essayists for the Teachers' Association, are Gen. John Eaton, National Commissioner of Education; Hon. F. A. Sawyer, U. S. Senator from South Carolina, a practical teacher of long experience; Prof. Geo. A. Chase, Principal of the Female High School at Louisville, Ky.; Ira S. Baker, Principal of Skinner Grammar School, Chicago, Ill.; E. Tourjee, Director of the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston; Prof. E. A. Sheldon, Principal of the Oswego Normal School, N. Y.; Prof. J. W. Hoyt, of Madison University, Wis.; and Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard College, Mass. One gentleman is yet to be heard from. We hope that all of these addresses and papers are not to be crowded into a three days' programme. Remember Trenton, Bro. Hagar!

OBERLIN. We think no other town in the State can report so large a proportionate school attendance as Oberlin. During the present school year, eighty per cent. of the youth of school age (between 5 and 21) have been in regular attendance at the public schools, and ten per cent. have attended the College, giving the extraordinary enrollment of ninety per cent. of the school population. The average daily attendance in the public schools for two terms, is over 93 per cent. There are about 700 students enrolled in the various departments of the College, and the number in the several graduating classes is over 70. In addition to the College and the public schools, the town contains a Commercial Institute, a Chirographic Institute, and a Telegraphic Institute-all in prosperous condition. Seventy teachers are employed in the various institutions. Oberlin is emphatically a school town.

PERSONAL.-E. P. Caruthers, a teacher in the Ohio Deaf and Dumb Institution since 1865, has been elected Superintendent of a similar institution at Little Rock, Ark., at a salary of $2,000 and found. We most heartily commend Mr. C. to the people of Arkansas.- -Prof. Sidney A. Norton, late of Mt. Auburn, sails for Berlin in May.-W. H. Cole, late of Nashville, Tenn., has taken charge of the public schools of Wilmington, 0.- -C. W. Bennett, professor of mathematics in Moore's Hill College, Ind., has taken charge of the public schools of Greenfield, O.-Hon. S. S. Randall has resigned the superintendency of the public schools of New York City. Pres. E. T. Tappan, of Kenyon College, will engage in the institute work in July and August.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES AND ASSOCIATIONS.

CENTRAL OHIO TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.-The first meeting held at Columbus, Saturday, April 2, was well attended by the teachers of this city and county, with some twenty delegates from other cities and towns, including Springfield, Morrow, Circleville, Lancaster, Urbana, Galion, Marion, and Mansfield. The exercises were interesting and valuable. The President, Supt. C. S. Smart, of Circleville, presented an excellent inaugural, which was briefly discussed by Mr. Joseph Sullivant, Commissioner Henkle, and others. This was followed by a discussion of the Bible question, participated in by Messrs. Reinmund, Mitchell, Crow, and others. No speaker favored the exclusion of the Bible from the schools. In the afternoon brief and practical papers were read by Supt. Parker, of Mansfield, on "Incentives to Study"; by Supt. Reinmund, of Springfield, on "Methods of Teaching Penmanship" (published in this number); and by Mrs. Cuscaden, Supt. of Marion schools, on "Primary Instruction." Mr. Parker's paper was briefly discussed by Messrs. Henkle, Deuel, Williamson, and others. The next meeting is to be held in Columbus.

NORTH CENTRAL OHIO TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.-This Association is composed of the teachers of Crawford, Richland, and adjoining counties. Its second meeting was held at Galion, Saturday, March 19th, with a good attendance. A full board of officers was elected with Supt. Parker as president. Papers were read by Mr. Parker on Incentives to Study"; by Mrs. Cuscaden on "Primary Instruction"; and by Mr. Gillellen, of Shelby, on "Language Lessons." Each paper was briefly discussed. The next meeting is to be held the first Saturday of June.

HURON COUNTY.-The banner institute of the year was held at Norwalk the last week of March. The number of names enrolled was 233, with an average attendance of about 160. The instructors were Pres. E. T. Tappan, of Kenyon College, and Supt. Wm. Mitchell, of Columbus, who gave great satisfaction. School Commissioner Henkle and Supt. Cowdery were each present a half-day. The success of the