and the older free academies; and four are in the university-the years of which are nothing more than the last four grades of this public system. States that do not include within the university some form of normal and technical training have separate institutions covering these phases of education. All these schools are bound together under the general direction and supervision of State commissioners of education, and each grade is made to feel its dependence upon every other. Thus there is incentive and opportunity for every child of the State to pass by easy stages, in schools under popuar control, from the lowest seat in a district or primary school to graduation from a university of high standing. This is Huxley's educational ladder-more effectually and completely reproduced in the Western States than in any other portion of this country.

It has taken nearly a generation to bring out both the defects and excellencies of this system, and to give to the system the impulse and incentive and support which can come only from the grateful hearts of those who have gone out to their places in the world from under such instruction. It has taken nearly a generation also to satisfy the people of the entire wisdom of this system; but there can be no further question as to the interest of the people and their enthusiasm in these educational provisions. This system is not something that has been thrust upon the Western public by a few designing men. It is not a hobby upon which some small segment of the public may successfully ride-it is the magnificent result of steady growth under steady and intelligent demand. It is no longer an experiment, for it stands upon the same ground as that occupied by all other institutions which are not in existence merely by express statute, but have arisen out of conditions and circumstances, and have arisen to serve these conditions and circumstances. The school work of the West has reached its present status by a gradual process of natural development.

And it has come to stay. No one claims that it is perfect. It will always be subject to modification and changes. It will grow with our growth. But as a public system, as contradistinguished from any and every form of private instruction; as a system organized by the State, maintained by the State, supervised by the State, and the wisest and surest means of self-preservation possessed by the State, it will remain. All its forms have

such a thorough hold upon our people, all are so well understood in all their details, they have become such a part in our public life, they have been supported so long and so liberally by taxation, they have been sustained so triumphantly by all legal proceedings, and in their results they have proved in every respec. such a good investment, that they have passed unchallenged to a place in our public policy. Whatever else may befall us in the uncertainties of our social and political life, and whatever else may come up for reconsideration, amendment, or repeal, there will never be a resubmission of the publicschool question in the West.

The American people are peculiarly a practical people-a pocketbook people. They are not apt to continue from year to year expenditures which are not satisfactory to them. Very generally they ask, very shrewdly, regarding every public movement, "Does it pay?" There must be, then, intense satisfaction in this public-school work when the people of the West are willing to tax themselves for this work nearly as much, if not quite as much, as for all other purposes combined. The increase of the interest in public-school work, measured in this way, has been simply unparalleled. So, too, has their confidence been shown by their willingness to give their children these larger and better opportunities at great expense and with unusual sacrifice in the homes. The attendance upon public schools has increased much more rapidly than population; and the most noticeable fact is that the greatest proportionate increase has been along higher lines. The enrollment of public high schools during the last fifteen years has so far outstripped the enrollment in previous years as to make an illustrative chart almost impossible. The attendance upon State universities from 1880 to 1895 increased over three hundred per cent. The gain in equipment, expenditure, and educational force has been largely commensurate with this marvelous development of popular interest.

The limits of this article will not permit extended statistics; but a few illustrations of the growth of interest in secondary and higher education, and of the generosity of public and private purse, may not be out of place. The eloquent figures in the tables on the opposite page are taken from a large mass of information very kindly furnished to the writer during the last three months.

The action and reaction of the high

stant loyalty of the various denominations to their several colleges-aside from the instances mentioned in the tables here given all testify to the deep and abiding confidence of good men and women in the regenerating power of higher culture and sound training. So, too, it is noteworthy that even in the West, where the spirit of materialism is supposed to be peculiarly rampant, the humanities are holding their own with technical or more "practical ” work. The courses in the latter are more and more recognizing the desirability and necessity of a broad and sound foundation upon which to build, and are so shaping both matter and method that that which formerly was thought to bring nothing but technical skill is now resulting in some of the besttrained minds in the young life of the country.

All this advance is having its effect upon the lower schools. There has been great change in the material conditions under which elementary education is carried forward, in equipment, and in methods. In nearly every Western State there is a definite effort to secure better and more efficient organization of the entire educational force of the State; to enforce some system in the grading of lower schools; to secure some uniformity (not identity) in text-books and courses; to increase the preparation of the teacher; to

add to the effectiveness of superintendence. The number of teachers' organizations is constantly increasing, and membership and better work keep pace with this. All through the West there is constant discussion of educational themes, and with more and more breadth and intelligence. There is no section of the Union in which there is more intellectual activity in these directions, and the end is not yet.

The people of the West are evidently determined that education shall be of the people, and by the people, and for the people. They do not believe that the public school is yet quite good enough for any, but as far as it goes they are determined to make it good enough for all. They propose to make all history and rich experience of the past a common heritage, as far as education can accomplish this. They desire to lift every child of the State out of the mire of ignorance and put his feet on the broad and sure highway of intelligence. They will furnish opportunity and incentive, and, having done this, they place the responsibility for results elsewhere than upon themselves. They are determined that education shall be a power to unite the people rather than to divide them. They desire that all may find possible that large and intelligent service of their fellow-men which alone makes life worth the living-which alone is life.

The Civil Service

To the Editors of The Outlook:

In the issue of The Outlook for November

26, in an editorial reference to the expected Executive order exempting certain positions and classes of positions from the operation of the civil service rules, the following appears:

We speak of this as an apprehension, but not because we are devoted to the Civil Service Law in its present form, or regard it as embodying the best possible ideal for securing the best possible men in the public service. We do not wonder that heads of departments are sometimes out of patience with a system which hampers them in the selection of their subordinates, and which implies a deep distrust of their purpose to secure the best n.en for the work to be done.

I fear that, unwittingly, you have given a false impression as to the nature of the Civil Service Law. It is granted that the existing

system may measure more or less short of the ideal. The most that is claimed for it is that it is immeasurably superior to the system. it replaced; that it has increased the efficiency of every branch to which it has been faithfully applied; and that it has saved many millions of dollars to the public treasury. It can hardly be said, however, in the sense you have in mind, that it "hampers" appointing officers, or that it implies any unusual or unwarranted "distrust of their purpose to secure the best men for the work to be done." Undoubtedly it is an interference with the free selection of subordinates for political purposes; but that, I take it, is not what you mean. When the purpose is to select for fitness only, the rules aid the officer; they never hamper him.

The candidates eligible for appointment are, in the first place, those whose particular

qualifications for the position to be filled have been tested in a practical and strict examination. The officer is not restricted to a choice of one of these, but is permitted to select from among the three who are graded highest. The person selected serves for a probationary term of six months before the appointment is made absolute, and if he possesses any quality affecting his fitness, not disclosed in the examination, it is apt to appear during this actual service. Even after appointment the employee may be dismissed practically in the discretion of the superior, the only limitation being that the reasons for the dismissal shall not be political, and that they must be filed in writing and an opportunity afforded for a personal explanation. Is it to be conceived that such a plan will have in it any embarrassment to the officer whose sole desire is to secure and retain the services of the best fitted?

The suggestion that the competitive system contains in it the implication of distrust is hardly reasonable, either. A general law affecting every officer alike, from the highest to the lowest, in the service of the Government, cannot be said to imply distrust of the individual. It is to be borne in mind, also, that one object sought is to give to every citizen an equal opportunity to enter the public service on his merits a thing that the competitive plan, only, permits.

It is generally understood that under the so-called "spoils system," existing prior to the passage of the Civil Service Law, public officers were frequently disposed, and often compelled, to make appointments for reasons other than those having to do with the fitness of the candidate or the needs of the service. The same difficulty existed elsewhere, and the United States merely followed the lead of other civilized governments in passing restrictive laws designed to end these practices and to establish an orderly in place of a disorderly plan. It is hardly more reasonable to say that the motives of particular officers or classes of officers are suspected than it would be to hold that our election laws impugn the honesty of individual voters, or that there is an insult of some sort involved in asking a public functionary to take an oath of office.

I appreciate that the attitude of The Outlook is favorable to the civil service reform, and that you have been opposed to any recession from the advanced ground that reform has taken. The details in immediate

question are, however, of considerable relative importance, and if space may be given to these reflections I shall be much indebted. GEORGE MCANENY. National Civil Service Reform League, New York City.

An Important Work To the Editors of The Outlook:

After much money and toil spent on wrong lines, we have at last learned that no race whatever is exempt from the conditions of human nature in general. All success in race education has this fact for its foundation. In taking away the independence of the Indian and giving him dole, we did the thing as truly fatal to him as it would have been to the Anglo-Saxon. That the Indian has "kicked" at his treatment only proves in him an affinity to us founded in human nature. The remedy that we have largely acted upon -taking away the dole-is, if done alone, only greater injustice. We took land; in restoration we must give the freedom of the country, with citizenship. We took independence; we must give back the opportunity for self-support. We have come to see that we shall never get rid of the Indian until we are just to him. There is only one way to get him off our hands-to get him upon his own feet.

To do this so far as it is able, and to stimulate others also to the work, is the endeavor of the Indian Industries League. Its specific objects are, "to open individual opportunities of work to individual Indians," and "to build up self-supporting industries in Indian communities."

It now desires to put up, on land adjoining their reservation, a building for the Navajo women living on the San Juan River, and under the charge of Mrs. Mary L. Eldridge, field matron and also missionary. In such building Mrs. Eldridge could employ them in weaving the Navajo rugs. But especially would she teach these women, for whom nothing has yet been done, how to use the knitting-machine, the simple hand-loom, the sewing-machine. Such work would enable them to use the wool of their sheep more profitably than at present. It would also train them in regularity of occupation, and, perhaps best of all, into the perception that they can do something which has not yet been done among them-a stepping out into new possibilities; and, as in the old proverb, it is the first step that costs. It is proposed to begin this work upon a small scale and

in the very simplest way, and progress only as fast as success will warrant. The money needed for this one-room building is two hundred and fifty dollars, exclusive of furnishing. A part has been given to the League; the remainder is earnestly desired, so that the building may be begun at once, when the work will cost less than in the spring.

The very beautiful lace made by the Indian women, under the tuition of Miss Sybil Carter, is well known. This lace is of a quality acceptable to ladies who appreciate the best. The work, if encouraged, will become an industry supporting many of these women, to whom the little money which they can earn is the bridge from discouragement and despair to hopeful living and perceptibly better homes. "What is there to do out here in the woods?" cried one of them. And Miss Carter's lace-work answered her. Miss Carter has applied to the League for aid in carrying on her work.

To meet these and other calls, the Indian Industries League asks for contributions of money, and for an accession of members, not only for greater financial strength, but also for greater influence. The fee for membership is only one dollar a year. The Secretary will gladly answer questions in regard to the League and its management. Contributions and membership fees may be sent to the Treasurer, Mrs. James C. Fisk, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, Mass., or to the Secretary, FRANCES C. SPARHAWK.

700 Commonwealth Ave., Newton Centre, Mass.

Agricultural Co-operation

To the Editors of The Outlook:

I am again indebted to The Outlook for generous words of appreciation, and for help in bringing to the notice of the public a subject which I hope it will consider of great importance. I want to increase my obligation to you by asking you to give me an opportunity of correcting the impression of the reviewer of "Industrial Copartnership" that my chapters with regard to agricultural co-operation are written at "second hand." In the preparation of these chapters I made long journeys in England, Ireland, and Scotland, went into the fields, walked through the piggeries, the greenhouses, and the creameries, had personal interviews with bailiffs and managers, besides attending meetings of the co-operative farmers. I think this can fairly be described as investigation at first hand.

I can see that a reviewer could easily have been led to suppose otherwise from the copious use I make of documentary corroboration, but it seemed to me better to do this than to give details of my personal movements from place to place.

I am firm in my belief that agricultural co-operation is the most important of the new developments of the movement in England. It was for that reason-because it is both the newest and most important that I gave it the first place. The fact that it is not in the hands of the belated agricultural laborers themselves may be regrettable, but is, after all, only a repetition of the evolution of commercial and productive co-operation itself. The co-operative stores were started by workingmen, as these farms are now being started by co-operative storekeepers. Agricultural co-operation is now in the stage in which distributive co-operation was in its early days, the phase of more failures than successes, and the phase in which it still needs the help of leaders; but the plant has, I believe, unmistakably got root, and is going to be a very large and fruitful tree. In default of initia

tive on the part of agricultural laborers, cooperative farms are being organized by the class who have co-operative initiative and experience, and I think it a most happy fact that this is so. It is along these lines of least resistance that agriculture can most easily and quickly be lifted out of its present primitive condition industrially, and brought to its place in the list of the highly organized industries of the world. And as agriculture is the most important of all industries, this seemed to me the weightiest thing I saw in H. D. LLOYD.

Great Britain.

Mexi-Americans

To the Editors of The Outlook:

While public opinion is formulating the future of the Philippines it may be well to study an object-lesson in race-absorption presented in the Territory of New Mexico.

Before the recent election the daily papers of Albuquerque displayed the party tickets for Bernalillo County, the list of Republican candidates containing fourteen names of Spanish derivation to seven of English, and the Democratic list thirteen Spanish to eight English; the proportion of leaders thus indicated being in about the same ratio as the original speech of the voters. Among the candidates there are many names strange to one who does not speak Spanish, from