entendimiento" (development of the understanding) slips glibly from their tongues, but too many show in their methods little real understanding of what that means. They are poor managers, and their lack of attention to details is their most exasperating failing. "No me fije" and "poca cosa" are by many regarded as all-sufficient excuses. The value, the necessity, of associating practice with precept is not appreciated. Some of the teachers have done wonderfully good work. I have in mind one school in a town that had no English teacher after the end of November, where the children in the upper grades made excellent progress under a native teacher not only in the subjects that were taught in Spanish, but also in English.

Too much can not be said of the necessity of a normal school for teachers such as has been established at Rio Piedras. The good results of a ten weeks' course, held under such adverse circumstances last summer, are seen on all sides. One has but to enter the school of a teacher who attended it to see them. Management, method, instruction are in sharp contrast with those found in the school of a teacher who has had twelve or fifteen years' experience under the Spanish system and nothing else. A ten weeks' course will not create a teacher, and those that took the course still have many defects. Their eyes are opened; and though they may see men as trees walking, yet they are not the blind leaders of the blind that their less fortunate associates are.

THE AMERICAN TEACHERS.

Considering the far superior opportunities, educational and institutional, that the American teachers have enjoyed as compared with the native teachers, I am forced to say that they have not given me as good satisfaction as the Porto Rican teachers. By that I do not mean to say that their methods are not better or that they do not attain better actual results. What I would say is that they do not do their best, do not take the professional pride in their work, and do not labor with the singleness of purpose that the native teachers do. The good results are the inevitable results of better preparation. They are inclined to feel independent of the rules of the department of education and to assume unwarranted authority over the native teachers and to lay claim to special privileges and exemptions. Several times I have called a teacher's attention to a rule of the department only to receive the reply, "O, that means the native teachers." The greatest hindrance to good work on the part of the American teachers is the giving of private classes in English. There can be no question that such work is desirable as far as regards the natives, and a necessary incentive to induce American teachers to come to Porto Rico. At the same time in some cases it is carried so far that the teacher is able to give no time or thought to preparation for the regular class-room work.

THE CHILDREN.

The family is the unit of civilization. To understand the children of Porto Rico, or of any country for that matter, one must know the homes from which they come. Except in the most material sense of the word, very many of the children can not be said to have a home. A shack of one, possibly two rooms, built of the bark of the royal palm, the only furniture a table, and possibly a chair and a cot. The cooking is done over an open fire and the food, almost exclusively rice, yautia, Spanish peas, and roasted bananas, is eaten from gourds, those eating being seated on the ground or on the floor. At night all are huddled together in one room, sleeping on the floor. Of home training or discipline there is none. From these sur roundings the child goes to the school. There conditions are much better, but fa. from what they ought to be. The children have never been taught self-control or regard for the rights of others. The only seat is a long bench without a back and so high that the feet of the smaller children do not touch the floor. It has been a source of constant wonder to me how the children keep as still and behave as well as they do under these conditions. Occasionally a vicious, evil-dispositioned scholar will be found, but almost all are docile and are disorderly unwittingly. As students they have remarkably good memories for what they have read or heard, but they are loath to confess that they know anything else. On one occasion when I asked a boy what the bottom of a near-by river was covered with, he replied that the teacher had never told him. Yet he had to wade across the river to get to the school. This attitude of the children is frequently fostered by the method of the teacher. On one occasion a teacher, who holds a principal's certificate, asked a boy what a bridge is for. He replied, to walk over on. "No," she said, "it is for water to run under." Not only did she thus by her manner, as well as by her words, discourage the boy from giving an original answer, but to my mind his answer appears more correct than hers.

SCHOOL BOARDS.

The statement made by Dr. Brumbaugh in his first annual report, that "these local boards were generally made up of men who were without experience in the management of public business and wholly without knowledge of school duties,” has been quite borne out by my experience in this district. For this reason it seems to me advisable that the school law be changed to require the boards to have a fixed day for the regular monthly meeting, and to require that the secretary of the board notify the supervisor in advance of all extraordinary sessions called; this, that the board may be assured the assistance and the advice of the supervisor. During the five months of my incumbency in the office of supervisor the only school-board meetings that I attended were those in Coamo, simply because the other boards held no meetings or failed to notify me of meetings held. Of the five school boards in the district one, that of Coamo, has taken an earnest, intelligent interest in the performance of its duties. One has shown itself far too pliant and susceptible to outside influences, one has been perniciously active doing many things it should not have done and leaving undone many things it should have done, and two have been in a comatose state. In the matter of renting buildings for schoolhouses, all the school boards have been too closely bound down to the traditional practice of paying the same rent for each house irrespective of the value of the house or its adaptability to school purposes. This practice, besides being bad business methods on general principles, makes it difficult to induce the owner to make necessary repairs or advisable improvements in the houses. When a property owner knows that the board will pay him the same rent for a house worth barely $50 that it pays for another house worth $200, he sees no reason for spending any money on his house, and the second property owner cares little if his house deteriorates. Were it not for the additional work that it would impose on your already overburdened office, it might be well to require that contracts for rent of schoolhouses as well as contracts with teachers be referred to you for approval. The efficiency of the school board could be further improved if in some way the members thereof could be given to understand that if they show themselves derelict in the peformance of their duties as school directors the governor will not appoint them to fill any vacancies in other offices. From the time I took charge of this district till the middle of June the president of the Aibonito school board could not get a quorum together. Yet two or three of the derelict members were given appointments as members of the town council.

On the whole, however, I have found the school boards quite ready and willing to cooperate with me and to listen to my suggestions.

SCHOOLHOUSES.

At the end of the school year just closed there were in the district sixty buildings occupied as schoolhouses. In addition there were two new agricultural school buildings, for which it had been impossible to find teachers. Of the sixty buildings, one is two-room frame graded-school building in Juana Diaz, finished in the spring, and another of four rooms, mamposteria, graded-school building in Coamo, dedicated in October, both built from the moneys of the school-extension fund. Work on another building similar to that in Coamo was begun in Aibonito toward the end of May. With but one or two exceptions the buildings rented by the school boards for school purposes are better than the average. Few, however, are fully equipped with furniture, even of the old-fashioned sort. Since I took charge of this district 150 modern desks have been placed in town schools, and 72 kindergarten chairs have been distributed among those rural schools that needed them most. At present, aside from those that are in the building erected by the department of education, there are about 550 modern desks in the schools of this district. The greatest lack in the equipment of the schools has been that of clocks. Nothing needs to be said about the impossibility of following a programme or of having any system in a school that has no clock and whose teacher has no watch. I am very glad to be able to say that I have induced Juana Diaz and the Coamo school boards to authorize me to purchase in New York clocks for all the schools in those jurisdictions.

SPECIAL EXERCISES.

Washington's birthday came so soon after I took charge of the district, and I was so busy familiarizing myself with the conditions, that I was unable to make any special preparation for the celebration of that anniversary. Fitting commemorative exercises were, however, held in all the towns.

Not wishing to be caught unprepared again, and being particularly anxious to inculcate in the children a love of our flag a. d of the principles of which it is the emblem, I immediately began preparations for elaborate exercises on Flag Day. To

this end I wrote to several patriotic organizations asking for suggestions and assistance. As a result Colonial Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, State of New York, sent me programmes, recitations, songs, etc., and brought the matter before Alexander Hamilton Corps 162, Womans' Relief Corps, Department of New York, which very generously sent me 10,000 small flags and one 8 by 12 bunting flag. Meanwhile I gave out songs, dialogues, (tc., to the teachers who, in a most commendable and gratifying way cooperated with me. It was my plan to furnish every school child in the district with a flag, and to have all, including those in the country, come into the town and take part in the exercises. The Coamo school board made an appropriation for music. Everything promised well. Then came a period of several weeks during which it rained almost incessantly, interrupting intercourse with Ponce and among the towns. As a result I did not receive the flags until the morning of the day set for the exercises. The leader of the band was unable to get to Coamo from Salinas where he lives, and practically no children were able to come in from the country. Nevertheless, successful exercises were held in all the towns. In Coamo the band played without its regular leader. At the end of the first part of the programme a heavy shower came up, driving us into the Franklin school building, where the exercises were concluded, though we were unable to have a street parade as planned. All songs and recitations were given in English generally, in the case of the recitations, followed by a translation into Spanish, that the guests might derive more profit and pleasure from the exercises. The children pronounced and enunciated the English with remarkable clearness, and at the end of the exercises expressions of delight and surprise, mingled with regret that the rain had interfered with carrying out the programme as originally planned, were heard on all sides.

Later I received 4,000 more small flags from Washington Camp, No. 6, P. O. S. of A., State of New Jersey, for Fourth of July exercises; but as the schools were already closed and the teachers dispersed, I did not consider it advisable to attempt to have any exercises on that day. The effects of such exercises are seen everywhere. The little flags which I allowed the children to keep are fastened to the walls of the houses, being often the only bit of ornament or brightness the house contains; and young and old can be heard singing our patriotic songs. Another year I hope to have matters sufficiently well in hand to let no holiday pass without its appropriate exercises.

Respectfully submitted.

Hon. SAMUEL M. LINDSAY,

Commissioner of Education, San Juan, P. R.

ROGER L. CONANT, Supervisor.

SCHOOL DISTRICT No. 8.

PONCE, P. R., July 18, 1902.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report on the schools of the eighth district:

The school year opened auspiciously, though the lack of school accommodations made necessary the regrading of many schools. Teachers were overwhelmed by the numbers seeking admittance. As far as possible pupils of the preceding year were given the preference, but where these failed to make their appearance during the first few days new applicants were admitted. The school supplies arrived promptly and teachers were enabled to organize their classes and arrange plans and programmes that could be put in operation without delay. Some improvement had been made in furniture, but many schools were still without bookcases, teacher's tables, and the necessary seats and desks. By an effort the board soon succeeded in placing bookcases and tables in the greater part of the schools, and as fast as patent desks were received from the department the benches and desks used in the graded schools were transferred to the rural schools, and we were able to avoid seating pupils on the floor. The department has now promised a sufficient number of desks to complete the seating of the graded-schools at the beginning of the next school year.

Owing to the lack of legally qualified teachers only 39 schools were opened in October. This number was increased during the year to 43, but rural schools remained closed, though some of the barrios in which these schools are located have approximately 200 children of school age, and many petitions for schools have been filed. In securing grade teachers the board was more fortunate, and every position created was filled. Early in October a kindergarten was established and placed in charge of a kindergarten specialist. So popular was this school found to be that an assistant had to be employed. Even with this aid the teacher found it impossible to admit all who applied. Another kindergartner will be employed next year and the