operations of the system may be tested, school-houses, teachers employed, pupils enrolled, average daily attendance-all these ratios continue more nearly to approach the ratio of scholastic population, and have now, in spite of all obstacles, reached within four per cent. of that ratio.

The total taxable property of Tennessee for the year 1887 was $224,909,179, and the total amount of money for school purposes from all sources was $1,707,699.25. This is equivalent to a property tax of 7 mills, or $7.50 on each thousand. In this estimate, the balance on hand at the beginning of the school year is included in the total receipts. I am informed by the State superintendent and by the State comptroller that the amount of uncollected taxes will about offset this balance. The last report of Hon. Wood E. Thompson, State superintendent of Arkansas, shows that the amount appropriated by that State for school purposes is equivalent to a property tax of 7 mills on the dollar.

Space forbids an enumeration of the enactments or statistics of the several Southern States. I cannot forbear, however, to place before you the resolutions adopted by the Mississippi State Teachers' Associa tion, at a meeting held in the capitol at Jackson, December 28, 29, 1888, together with extracts from the able address of Prof. John Wesley Johnson, of the University of Mississippi, the mover of the resolutions. Professor Johnson says:

Considering these matters, the question presents itself to-day, What is our duty, as educators, to the negro? What have we done? What have our Northern friends done? What has the negro done for himself? When the negro was freed, being in a condition of utter helplessness, financially and mentally, he could not be expected to do much by himself. The South was too poor, to say nothing of unwillingness, to furnish anything like adequate means for this awful incubus upon our educational system. Evidently, the duty fell upon our Northern friends to educate this race. They prematurely gave him the ballot, therefore they should teach him to use it intelligently, and that, too, as rapidly as possible. Oh, that they could make another amendment to the Constitution and qualify him to use it, as easily as they passed the Fifteenth Amendment, by which they permitted him to use it.

After presenting in detail the statistics on which he bases his calcu ations, and which I regret that I am compelled to omit, Professor Johnson sums up as follows:

In answer, then, to the question, "What are our Northern friends doing?" we must say that they are doing much, and doing it nobly. It is probable that about $1,000,000 annually crosses the Mason and Dixon line for the education of the negro in the South.

As to what the South is doing in this same stupendous work, it will be pardonable, I hope, to refer at the outset to the poverty of the Southern States. It is estimated that the War cost the South, counting the destruction of property by the Federal Army and the support of the Confederate Army, about $2,000,000,000. Besides this, there were freed 4,000,000 slaves, which, estimated at $500 each, would make $2,000,000,000 more. In the face of such appalling statements, and in view of the fact that every industry was completely paralyzed, it would seem unreasonable to expect anything from the late Confederate States for several generations.

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Professor Johnson shows, from the report of Commissioner Dawson for 1885, that the eleven Southern States expended for education the sum of $9,760,710; that the colored school population in these eleven States is about 40 per cent. of the entire school population; that the two races share the public school fund in proportion to the number of educable children. This would give as the share of the colored children $3,904,284. "Several causes, however, conspire to make the amount less."

After pointing out these causes, he continues:

Making, then, due allowance for both these impediments, there still must be paid by these eleven States considerably more than $2,000,000 annually for the education of the negro. In answer, then, to the question "What are the Southern States doing for the education of the negro?" the same answer may be given as in the case of the Northern States: "They are doing much and doing it nobly." With less than oneseventh of the taxable property of the Government, the Southern States are doing more than the other States combined. The question next arises, "What is the negro doing for himself? What part of these vast sums is he paying?" In truth we must say, "Very little." Under the circumstances very little is expected. In proportion to ability, no doubt, he pays quite as much as his Northern benefactors or Southern supporters. It seems impossible to secure reliable data showing just what part of the tax he is paying.

At the conclusion of his address, Professor Johnson offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, at a full meeting attended by leading educators from all parts of the State. They may, therefore, be taken as reflecting the sentiments of the educators of Mississippi:

First. That we cheerfully approve and heartily appreciate the efforts of our Northern friends in assisting to educate the negro and to improve his general condition and efficiency as a citizen.

Second. That we indorse an impartial system of public schools, separate for the two races, believing such to be the most efficient means of educating the masses, both white and black, but we demand a longer term than four months.

Third. Inasmuch as our school fund can sustain only about four months' public school, we recommend that the fund be increased by an increase of poll-tax.

Fourth. That we commend the zeal of the negro in utilizing the public school as well as he does, and we would encourage him to supplement the funds by private subscription, and protract the schools beyond their usual four months' term.

Fifth. Inasmuch as the negro is a national factor in our Federal Government, we believe it to be au imperative duty of our Federal Government to assist in furnishing adequate means for education. Of all measures thus far proposed, we believe the Blair bill the most adequate and just.

Sixth. We believe, as a rule, that it is best that the colored schools be taught by colored teachers; yet, if white people, either from the North or the South, teach colored schools in an honest, missionary spirit, we believe such teachers to be entitled to the respect, confidence, and sympathy of all Christian people.

In presenting this sketch of Southern education, I have endeavored to render a true picture, free from extenuations or exaggerations. I think I am justified in drawing the following conclusions:

First. The South has done and is still doing more than has ever been done by any other people for the education of a race just released from

bondage and essentially distinct from themselves in lineage and physical conditions.

Second. I think I may fairly conclude that the greatest defect of Southern education in the past has been the imperfection of the primary work, the lack of intercommunication among its different departments, and the failure to use the great public appliances to secure the adequate diffusion of common schools and the harmonious development of its educational factors.

Third. That some excellent features of Southern education have not been presented in statistics, and have never received just recognition. Fourth. In spite of the gravest difficulties ever encountered by any people in the organization of a school system, the recent educational progress of the South has been the most rapid and the most salutary of which history has any record.

Fifth. In a financial direction, Southern educational progress has now approached the limit which the resources of the several States will enable it to reach for many years. In all other directions, it will continue to develop in efficiency. The skill of teachers will increase, and the agencies at work will expand, but the extension of school terms and the accretions of matured systems cannot be attained from State revenues until the general development of the country brings a denser population and larger resources.

I have alluded only incidentally to our higher institutions, partly because it is not my purpose to present a statistical review, and partly because the discussion of the essential defect in Southern education has led us to look elsewhere. The higher education has not differed greatly from that of other sections. It has been said that our higher education has been too narrow in its scope; that all of our colleges have been modelled on one plan, and have confined their work to the sphere of classic culture and to the production of orators, statesmen, and professional men. I shall not stop to discuss this point. Certain it is that they have produced such men, and it is also certain that there has been a lack of special and technical institutions.

The South has always had many excellent colleges and universities of a general literary character. Two of these have records second in lustre and usefulness to none in the United States. Others have grand, though unwritten, histories, and yet other younger institutions are now engaged in making history. In some parts of the South, we have too many colleges, standing as rivals in each other's way. The same may be said of other portions of the United States.

In nearly all of the Southern States there have been for many years a number of academies. Some of these have been excellent schools, and some have not. Very few have been endowed. Very few have modelled their courses to any general plan of instruction; and they have usually declined to become special preparatory schools. To a certain extent they have conformed themselves to the wants of their several commu

nities, and have partially supplied the lack of public schools. In this they have acted wisely, and have understood the needs of popular education better than the higher institutions. Still, the lack of special preparatory schools has been seriously felt by the universities.

Tennessee and one or two of the South Western States enjoyed an opportunity which did not accrue to the other Southern States. This opportunity, wisely used, would have proved a valuable advantage. From the failure to appreciate and utilize it, the main benefit was lost. North Carolina, in 1790, ceded to the United States the "sovereignty and territory of all lands" within the present limits of Tennessee. 1796 Tennessee was admitted as a State, but the United States retained the title to the public lands. In 1802, Thomas Jefferson, then President of the United States, had the satisfaction to sign the enabling act for Ohio, the first State carved out of the North-West Territory, thus conveying to the infant State in 1802 the first fruits of the educational seed which was planted by the benevolent wisdom of those who framed the ordinance of May 20, 1785.

It was not until 1806, ten years after its admission as a State, that a similar provision was made for Tennessee, in the cession act of Congress, which act likewise bears the signature of Thomas Jefferson. By this act the United States ceded to Tennessee the public lands to which the Indian title had been extinguished. Provisions were made for the benefit of education similar to those made in the case of Ohio, but differing in one important particular. In Ohio, and in the other States carved out of the North-West Territory, the sixteenth section in each township was designated and conveyed direct to the inhabitants of the township. The admirable system of United States surveys definitely located the grant, and the title was vested. Tennessee, which had been admitted ten years before its land cession, had not been reached by this system of surveys. The township and section could not, therefore, be designated, and Congress did not vest title in the inhabitants of a township or district. The provision was in the following words:

And the State of Tennessee shall moreover, in issuing grants and perfecting titles, locate six hundred and forty acres to every six miles square in the territory hereby ceded, where existing claims will allow the same, which shall be appropriated for the use of schools for the instruction of children forever.

This provision imposed a duty on the State, but failed to vest title ir the subordinate civil division. Tennessee had no series of civil divisions of 6 miles square corresponding to the township. The grant was not, thus, definitely located and vested. In the mean time much of the land had been taken up by valid claims, and with the rapid stream of immigration which poured in, the squatter preceded the surveyor. Many acts were passed by the Legislature to protect the school lands, but from the vague nature of the grant, and possibly from the failure to appreciate its value, the opportunity to utilize it was lost.

Another provision of the same act of Congress, however, was turned

to better advantage. This provision required the Legislature to set apart 100,000 acres for the use of two colleges, and 100,000 for the use of academies, one for each county, said lands to be sold for not less than $2 per acre, and the proceeds to be invested in funds for the uses aforesaid. To protect these lands, the State attempted to construct legislative enactments to serve as a fence against the squatter. The result was numberless lawsuits, and finally the loss of much of the best land. Most of it, however, was saved, and the proceeds applied to the purposes of the grant. The college funds were applied to the erection and partial endowment of two colleges, one of which is now the State University at Knoxville, and the other the Peabody Normal College at Nashville. The funds of both these institutions have been supplemented by private subscriptions and subsequent donations. In addition to these, a number of colleges and universities and schools have been established and endowed by the various religious denominations of the South-Western States, and located in Tennessee. From this circumstance Tennessee deserves the name of "The University State of the South." Many of these are excellent institutions. One of them, having received a munificent donation, has adopted, in honor of the donor, the name of Vanderbilt University.

On September 13, 1806, 27 academies were incorporated, one in each county, and were made recipients of the academy fund. The fund was supplemented in most of the counties by private subscription, and was barely sufficient for building purposes. In most cases, however, good and substantial structures were erected, which are still standing, and some of them are now public high schools. In addition to these, a number of academies were established by private donations, by social orders, and by religious denominations. All of these institutions were, in the past, maintained by tuition fees. Very few of them were endowed. Some of them were called colleges, but they have rarely attempted to perform college work. They have really been county high schools. The assumption of the name college, however, has misled a few of these institutions to misconceive their true functions, and has exposed many excellent institutions to unmerited ridicule. It should be remembered that the name college was applied to institutions of similar grade by no less authority than Thomas Jefferson.

It, thus, appears that the history of education in Tennessee forms no exceptions to the general history of Southern education. Our ancestors maintained academies, colleges and universities, but neglected and undervalued primary and common schools; or at least left them to private enterprise, and devoted legislative attention to the top of the educational edifice.

The important part which has been played in education in the South by the Peabody Fund, the Slater Fund, and by the donations of Vanderbilt, Tulane, and others, and the work done by various religious and benevolent societies in the establishment of colleges and universi