full teachers; have the sole appointment of probationers and a large measure of control over all teachers. They must approve the timetables of individual schools, and receive the reports of the primary inspectors of their respective departments. They have also to establish amicable relations between the prefecture and the academy, to mediate, as it were, between the exigencies of politics and pedagogy, for a man may be an excellent teacher but opposed to the party in power, and in that case he may be supported by the inspector and opposed by the prefect.

This general oversight is supplemented by the closer surveillance of the primary inspectors, of whom there are between 450 and 500, or about 1 to every 150 schools. They visit the schools of their respective districts twice at least in the year and report their state to the academic inspector; they preside over the teachers' conferences, conduct the examinations of candidates for the certificate of primary studies, report infringements of the compulsory law, direct the establishing of public schools, decide as to the opening of private schools, of classes for adults, the creation of local funds for aiding poor pupils, etc. The discipline and the reward of teachers is also largely determined by their recommendation.1

With this close oversight maintained by special officers of education and by the departmental prefects, all of whom owe their positions to the central authority, there appears to be little chance for the exercise of local authority in respect to the schools; but if from the administrative side the schools seem to be wholly the creations of the State, from the financial standpoint the view is changed.

3

The taxes on which, after all, the whole fabric rests have to be raised from the people. Besides the four direct taxes levied by the State for general purposes, there is a school tax amounting to 8.12 centimes additional to the product of the four direct taxes. These taxes accrue to the public treasury, from which an annual appropriation is made covering the salaries of primary teachers and the current expenses of primary normal schools. In addition to the school tax, the communes provide the sites and buildings for the primary schools, the furnishing and care of the same, the wages of servants in infant or other schools, the allowances made to foremen, assistants, and workmen required. for special courses-agricultural, commercial, or industrial-and also lodgings for the regular teachers or money equivalent for the same. The funds for these expenditures are voted by the municipal or communal councils, which are elected by the citizens of the commune. The statistics do not enable us to determine what proportion of the

1

A decree of January 18, 1887, determines these duties.

By law of July 14, 1884. the direct taxes are the tax upon land, the tax upon personal property, the license tax, and the tax upon doors and windows. Law of July, 1889, Chap. III, Art. 27.

amount appropriated by the State for the expenses of primary schools is covered by the 8.12 additional centimes.

In a comparison of the school income of 1887 with that of 1892 it is stated that in the former year the State contributed 49 per cent of the total obligatory expenditure for primary schools and in the latter year 67.6 per cent, and that the increase is due chiefly to the transfer of the 8 centimes additional to the State budget which was first effected in 1890.

1

In

The interest of the people in their schools is not, however, solely a financial one. In each commune a local school committee (commission scolaire) is formed to supervise and encourage school attendance. This committee consists of the mayor, or of an assistant delegated by him as president; of a cantonal delegate, and in communes comprising several cantons of one delegate for each, appointed by the academy inspector; of members designated by the municipal council, not exceeding in number one-third the members of the council. case the municipal council fail to nominate these members they are appointed by the prefect of the department. These committees were constituted to assist in carrying out the law of compulsory instruction and have no authority with respect to the matters and methods of instruction. They meet formally for business once every three months on the call of the president or the primary inspector. In case any accusation is made by them against guardians or parents, appeal may be made by the parties interested to the prefect. For obvious reasons they have accomplished little in respect to the enforcement of the obligatory law and have been of little account save where their efforts have been directed chiefly to promoting the well-being of the pupils. They afford rather proof that local interest is the strongest inducement to the maintenance of effective schools, a truth which is emphasized further by the effects of the funds for the aid of poor pupils (caisses des écoles) maintained by the communes. As to the prefect of the department, who has larger authority with respect to the schools than any officer outside the educational body, self-interest naturally prompts him to render himself acceptable to the people over whom he is appointed.

I remember [says Mr. Bodley] to have seen the préfet surrounded by the leading citizens of Lyons, distinguished men who devote their lives to the local institutions of the second town of France, the independent spirit of which is their pride.

Statistique de l'enseignement, 1891-92. p. cxxv.

Law of March 28, 1882.

A department is divided into arrondissements which are administered by subprefect. A canton is a division made with respect to judicial affairs, a justice of the peace being assigned to the chief place of each canton. The canton is entitled to a representative in the departmental council and to several representatives in the council of the arrondissement. A commune is a community entitled to self-government. A large commune, as Paris or Lyons, may include several arrondissements or several cantons.

We may concur, with reference to this whole system of local administration, so unlike that of our own country, in the opinion which this author adds:

If, therefore, a great civic population, composed of conflicting elements, accept complacently the governance of an imposed authority, it is clear that the system is in accordance with the sentiments of the community.

It has been said that under the Republic there is less freedom in respect to primary education than before the revolution, when it was left entirely to the communes. In reality the schools were at that time under the control of the church. It is, as already stated, the purpose of the State to break up the monopoly of the church, not by destroying church schools, but by maintaining and favoring public schools. It has adopted for this purpose the university organization of Napoleon, but it has infused therein the spirit of professional liberty rather than repressed local activity. Says M. Faquet:

The diverse laws which have established in France the liberty of primary, secondary, and superior instruction are decentralizing revolutions.

It is proper to notice in this connection that the civil liberty of the communes is continually increasing. Mme. Darmesteter points out in a recent article that the law of July 24, 1867, transferred the authority controlling the discussions of the mayor and council from the bureau in Paris to the prefecture. The Republic has gone further; the laws of April 7, 1884, have greatly increased the power of the mayor, "and by the institution of permanent committees have enabled private citizens to partake, in some measure, of the affairs of the Commonwealth. Finally, the law voted on October 27, 1896, gives a certain financial control to the municipal councils and adds to their faculties."1

In view of the movements here traced, the official statistics assume an importance beyond that of serving merely to show the present state of the various institutions.

The following tables are from reports published under the Republic, which comprise also revised summaries of statistics from 1829 to 1876, the date of the first report under the present government.?

p. 62.

Review of Bodley's France by Mary Darmesteter.-Contemporary, July, 1898, 2 The reports issued by the ministry of public instruction since 1870 are: Statistique de l'enseignement supérieur, 1876, 1878, 1888; secondaire, 1876; secondaire des garçons, 1887; secondaire des jeunes filles, 1887; Statistique de l'enseignement primaire, 1876-77, 1881-82, 1886-87, 1891-92. The minister has published also for several years a brief annual report of primary education.---Résumé des Etats de situation de l'enseignement primaries.

Paris

Number of students in the university faculties for years specified.

28.4

Provincial

Total.

52.44

a In January; these figures are taken from a report made to the Chamber of Deputies in 1896, accompanying the project of law relative to the constitution of the universities, as reported in the Revne internationale de l'enseignement of February 15, 1896, p. 193. Includes 1,828 foreigners.

a From report of the committee on the budget for 1897, p. 14. b The difference between this total and the corresponding total in the preceding table is prob ably due to the fact that certain municipal students are here included that were omitted in the other table, or possibly the two counts were made for different months of the year.

a From Statistique de l'enseignement supérieur, 1878-1887. From speech of minister quoted in Revue internationale de l'enseignement, February 15, 19

From the first of the foregoing tables it is seen that while there has been a marked increase in the number of university students in the past two decades, the provincial faculties share in this increase to a greater degree even than Paris. The second table is of interest as showing the success of the efforts to increase attendance upon the faculties of letters and sciences, which correspond very nearly to the philosophical faculty in German universities. This increase has been accompanied by the development of the teaching function as contrasted with lecturing and examining, and also by a gradual change in the character of the students matriculating in those faculties. pointed out recently by a minister of public instruction, the number was so small in 1876 they were not mentioned. Then through the cre

ation of scholarship funds (bourses) and examinations (agrégation) for special professors, candidates for the licentiate or for the title of agrégé were attracted to the faculties of letters and of sciences, and more recently the number has been increased by students having in view other careers.

The increase of the university receipts and the consequent diminution of the per capita expenditure by the State that has been going on since 1887, as shown in the third table, may be justly regarded as an outcome of the measures for giving autonomy to the several universities.

SECONDARY SCHOOLS.

The status of the secondary schools of France appears at this time to be less satisfactory than that of any other department. The efforts that have been made by the Government to modify the curriculum and the constitution of the State lycées have been considered in full in previous reports. The statistics carefully reported from year to year have shown a gradual falling off in the attendance upon the public secondary schools and a proportionate increase in the attendance upon the church establishments. This tendency is viewed with some concern by the Government, and inquiries have been instituted with a view to ascertain the exact causes of the movement. The attendance upon the five classes of secondary schools, i. c., the lycées and communal colleges which belong to the State system, and the three classes of private schools which are almost without exception. church establishments, has been as follows, for the successive years 1892-1897, inclusive:

The proportion of students in the lycées and colleges fell from 48.33 per cent in 1892 to 46.55 in 1897. The decline, although not great, has been increasing from year to year; its causes are not yet well defined. Meanwhile, it is noted in the official reports that although the status of the State schools with respect to attendance is not wholly satisfactory, they contribute a much larger proportion of students to the special schools of the highest order than the rival institutions. This is an important matter, as these graduates enter eventually into the most influential public services. The following