accordance with modern demands. On the other hand, the system of State primary schools is almost wholly the creation of the Republic. The work was begun in 1878 by the appropriation of a fund of $23,000,000 to be advanced to the communes, one-half in subventions, the other half in loans, to aid them in building schoolhouses. The want of adequate provision in this respect made it impossible to carry into full effect the law of 1833 (Guizot's law), requiring every commune to maintain a public school, supported in part, at least, by a communal tax. This obligation had been extended by Duruy's law (1867), which required every commune of 500 or more inhabitants to maintain a separate school for girls. Under both laws (i. e., 1833 and 1867) a parochial school might be adopted as a public school. The first official school statistics published under the Republic (1876-77) showed for the 36,097 communes 71,547 schools. Of these, 59,021 were classed as public schools, but of this number, 13,205, or 22 per cent, were schools belonging to religious orders. If instead of schools the number of classes be considered, it appears that 32 per cent were in charge of members of religious orders. The measures by which the Republic has freed the public schools from all relation to the church were adopted under the direction of Jules Ferry, who was appointed minister of public instruction in 1879. He began the work by a law passed August 9, 1879, imposing upon each department the creation of a normal school for women teachers upon the same guarantees as those required by the law of 1833 for the normal schools for men. This law, with the subsequent foundation of the higher normal schools, St. Cloud and Fontenay-aux-Roses-intended to train professors for the departmental normal schools-completed the provisions for training a body of teachers devoted to the service of the Republic. There followed in rapid succession the measures by which this minister perfected the national system of primary education, namely, the law of June 16, making the public primary schools free schools, and requiring all primary teachers to be provided with a State diploma, "brevet de capacité" (letters of authorization from ecclesiastics had been previously accepted in lieu of a diploma), the law of March 28, 1882, rendering primary instruction obligatory (choice of means being left to parents), and the law of October 30, 1886, regulating the organization and work of the public schools and forbidding the future employment in them of teachers belonging to the religious orders. (Five years were allowed for carrying this clause into effect in schools for boys; in respect to schools for girls, no time limit was fixed.) By reference to Table III, page 674, it will be seen that in 1900 the religious orders enrolled in their schools about 28 per cent of the children in primary grades. The recent law making these orders subordinate to the State is in strict accord with the policy of Jules Ferry. Under the law of July 15, 1889, the State assumed the payment of the salaries of teachers, thus converting the teachers into employees of the State instead of the commune or city. Comparatively little is left to local initiative in respect to the support of public education. Even the local school tax is levied by the State and collected by State officers. The mayor and civil councilors of every commune (city or rural) have the right to inspect the local schools in respect to the condition of school buildings, furniture, and supplies, and the health and conduct of pupils; but they have no authority over the schools. There is also a school committee (commission scolaire) in each commune appointed by the academy inspector in advice with the municipal council to super vise and encourage school attendance. In Paris and Lyon there is a local committee for each municipal arrondissement. While the central authority regulates the essential conditions of the school work there is a wide field for local effort in the support of additional and optional features, and the chief cities of France have shown immense energy and ambition in the development of their school systems beyond the minimum requirements of the law. PRIMARY EDUCATION. DETAILED STATISTICS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION, CURRENT AND COMPARATIVE. The following statistical details showing the development of primary education under the Republic are from the official statistics published quinquennially (the last bearing date 1896-97) and from reports submitted in recent years to the Chamber of Deputies by the chairman of its financial committee. The status of the communes with respect to the establishment of schools in 1897 was as follows: Number having no separate schools for girls. 646 3,601 Table I shows the number of children of legal school age for the years specified, the ratio of the school population to the total population, and the ratio of school enrollment to population. TABLE I.—Retrospective view of population, as shown at census dates, and ratio of enrollment in primary schools to total population. a Algiers included for this and subsequent years. Tables II and III show the distribution of pupils for the years specified among the different classes of public schools. ED 1902-43 SCHOOL ENROLLMENT AND ATTENDANCE. TABLE II.—Retrospective view of pupils in the primary schools at specified dates. TABLE III.-Proportion of total enrollment in different classes of primary schools at dates specified. The It will be seen that the maximum enrollment was reached in 1888-89. decline between that year and 1896-97, the last year for which the analyzed statistics have been given, took place wholly in France proper, as is evident from the fact that the enrollment in Algiers increased during the period from 78,001 to 104,207. Excluding Algiers, the decrease in enrollment for France only was from 5,545,400 pupils to 5,427,211, or 2.1 per cent. This decline is attributed by the official reporter to the following causes: (1) Decrease in the school population of France (ages 6 to 13), which, as shown in Table I, amounted to 3,145, or 0.07 per cent, between the census years 1891 and 1896; (2) rapid advance of pupils in the primary schools, with the result that the leaving certificate (certificat d'études primaires) is obtained at an earlier age than formerly; (3) less vigorous enforcement of the obligatory school law. The decline in public-school enrollment became somewhat marked after 1889-90, or toward the end of the period assigned for the full secularization of the schools for boys. A transfer of pupils has been going on since that date from public and secular to private church schools, as appears from the following analysis of the a Statistique de l'enseignement primaire (1895-97), pp. ciii, cv. enrollment at the beginning and end of the half decade covered by the last official report: The greatest falling off, it is seen, was in public schools for boys conducted by members of religious orders. Virtually this class of schools has now disappeared. At the same time there has been a very marked decline in the corresponding class of schools for girls. The schools that have gained by the change are chiefly private schools belonging to the religious orders. By a comparison of Tables I and II it will be seen that the school enrollment is considerably in excess of the number of children of school age (6-13). Detailed analysis of the ages of school children shows that only a small proportion escape entirely the obligation to attend school; at the same time the irregular attendance of many pupils and the early age at which the large proportion of children, especially in the rural sections, leave school, are causes for serious apprehension. In his report to the Chamber of Deputies, M. Maurice-Faurea says: "The obligatory law is ignored or partially evaded in many communes. * Legislation seems to have failed of its purpose, probably because at first its application was neglected by the authorities, who failed to realize that if they were negligent at the outset they would hardly have the face to insist later that parents should perform this new duty." * * The school committees (commissions scolaires), composed by the joint action of the municipal councils and the academy inspector and of members designated by the law, are of little account. Complaint is made that the local members of the committees are too often indifferent and sometimes even hostile to the public schools. In view of this condition the minister of public instruction has issued a letter to the departmental prefects, calling for special reports on the subject of school attendance, with statements as to the causes of irregularity in this matter. The certificate of primary studies, instituted in 1834 and recognized by the law of 1882 as a means of stimulating an interest in elementary study, has conduced in part to the early withdrawal of pupils from school. The certificate exempts the holder from the obligation to attend school, and the reports show that a large proportion of children who come up to the examination for this award are at the minimum age (11 years) allowed for candidates. For the majority of the successful candidates the examination is the end of school life. In the twenty years, 18771897, the number of certificates awarded rose from 36,841 to 186,031, an increase a Rapport fait au nom de la commission du budget, 1902. (Chambre des Députés). Service de l'instruction publique of 404 per cent. In the last-named year there were reported in the superior primary schools, which admit pupils possessed of the certificate of primary studies, a total of 64,658 pupils. The usual course of these higher schools is of two years' duration (in the larger cities increased to three or four years). It is apparent that only a small proportion of pupils who secure the certificate pass on to the higher grades. The solicitude of the Government as to the relative influence of public and parochial schools in securing the support of parents is indicated by the official discussions of the subject of school attendance; but apart from this question which concerns France alone, the various suggestions as to means for promoting regular attendance and for prolonging school instruction are of general interest. The measure of first importance relates to the higher primary schools. Attendance upon these schools in the period from 1892 to 1900 increased from 45,599 pupils to 62,982, or 38 per cent. During the last four years of the period there was a slight decrease (1,696) in the number enrolled. This falling off is, however, merely apparent. It results from the transfer of eleven higher primary schools of Paris, with an attendance of 2,505 pupils, to the charge of the ministry of commerce. The transfer has come about from peculiarities of the French administration, and is only significant in this survey as a sign of the general demand that higher primary schools shall have a distinctly industrial bearing. This demand is more readily met in the cities than in the rural regions, owing to the nature of the local industries, and consequently it is in the cities that the higher primary schools are well sustained. In the chief cities the expenditure for these schools is met entirely by local funds, and the schools are very perfectly organized and equipped. Recently an endeavor has been made to enhance the importance of the higher primary schools by making them annexes of the local colleges. This experiment, which has been tried in a few departments, has already produced such excellent results that it is certain to be extended. "By this means," says M. Maurice-Faure, "it will be possible to increase the educational provision of cities without imposing upon them heavier financial burdens, and the arrangement gives to parenís facilities for choosing the courses of study most advantageous to their children." In other words, while recognizing the necessity of maintaining the industrial bearing of the training afforded by the higher primary schools, the Government seeks also to make those schools the preparatory step to a more liberal education for those children whose parents are ready to avail themselves of the wider opportunities. Attendance upon the higher primaries is fostered also by scholarships (bourses), State and municipal. These funds are of three classes: Bourses d'internat " (not to exceed $100 per annum), which cover the cost of living in the boarding department, if the school has one; "bourses familiales" ($100), which are in the form of an allowance for expenses at home, and bourses of support ($20 to $80), In 1897 the number of scholarships allowed was 1,006-viz, 626 to boys and 380 to girls. The vast majority of primary-school pupils have, however, no hope of entering the higher primary schools. Their school training, as M. Buisson has pointed out, "is too brief; it covers only the earliest years. The impressions which it makes, vivid and ineffaceable though they may be, are only the impressions of childhood, and other impressions-the stronger impressions of youth and of adolescence-soon come to obscure the earlier. A moral influence which ceases to operate the day after the child's confirmation may perhaps affect the child, but it can not form the man." This limitation is not a defect of the primary school, but simply an unalterable condition. It calls for other agencies which may supplement and |