should hesitate for a single moment to allow the expenses of the city superintendent in attending this, the greatest educational meeting of the year held in the United States. Such cities as Milwaukee, Superior, Racine, Ishpeming, Marquette, Calumet, Madison, Manitowoc, as well as many smaller places annually meet this expense and know that the investment is a most profitable one for their own schools.

TO THE MOBILE MEETING WITH THE WISCONSIN-NORTHERN MICHIGAN DELEGATION.

The city superintendents of Wisconsin and Northern Michigan who attend the meeting of the Department of Superintendence at Mobile, Feb. 23-24-25, will leave the La Salle St. station, Chicago, in a special car over the Chicago and Eastern Illinois and the Louisville and Nashville railroads, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 12:30 P. M., arriving Mobile the next day at 4:12 P. M.

This route furnishes the only through daily train service Chicago to Mobile and New Orleans and return, and the round trip rate from Chicago of $25.00 includes both of the southern cities. The berth fare is $5.50 each way. Tickets are on sale from Chicago not earlier than the 21st.

Reservations for berths in this car should be made at once with W. N. Parker, Madison, Wisconsin.

There is not a school board in the country that

GOVERNOR M'GOVERN COMMENTS ON
EDUCATION.

Never before has a Wisconsin Executive given so large a proportion of his message to the legislature to the cause of education as did Governor McGovern last month. On another page will be found his recommendations for the betterment of the educational conditions in the state of Wisconsin. It is especially to be noted that the Governor recommends very strongly the proposed measure for county boards of education, that the county superintendent may be placed upon the same professional plane as the city superintendent is today. His comment on low wages paid to teachers will, no doubt, awaken members of the legislature to some action to relieve this condition. The Governor sounds a warning in his opening paragraph when he says that all the educational systems of the state, from the district school to the university, are working for one end in view-the training of young men and women to good citizenship

and, therefore, harmony should characterize all of their actions. He upholds the university in its great work, and asks the members of the legislature to consider all appropriations in the light of an investment and not as a charity contribution. Governor McGovern's ten years of experience in the schoolroom has well fitted him to grasp the problems presented in the educational field.

FOR WESTERN POSITIONS.

Remember our two offices at Madison, Wisconsin, and Spokane, Washington, are ready now to enroll teachers for the school year 1911-12. Special offer this month before the rush season begins. Write for it at once and also for the new 1911 Booklet. Both free.

THE PARKER TEACHERS' AGENCY,
Madison and Spokane.

STOUT INSTITUTE NOT AFFECTED BY THE DEATH OF ITS FOUNDER.

The Stout Institute at Menomonie is not only to be continued but every preparation is being made to carry out the ideas of the late Senator Stout regarding its growth and future usefulness. Additions are to be made to the instructional force, the equipment is constantly being augmented, and very soon larger buildings will be erected to accommodate the many students who at the present time are unable to gain admittance on account of a lack of room facilities.

This statement is made upon the best of authority for the purpose of setting at rest those rumors recently afloat that the Stout Institute was doomed merely because its late founder left no will. Mr. Stout was striken very suddenly and his death came so soon and unexpected that no opportunity was afforded him to make a will that would indicate his wishes in the disposition of his immense financial interests.

The scheme to take over Stout Institute as a state normal and industrial school has met the approval of many educators and some members of the legislature. It is not probable, however, that the trustees of the institution would be agreeable to a complete surrender to state authority. In the last eight years, Stout Institute has had a remarkable growth. Its reputation is international. Its graduates are recognized everywhere for their ability to give instruction in industrial branches. The reputation thus gained by the institution, and the standing of its alumni as "Stout" graduates would seem to bar such a procedure as changing the name and making it purely a state school.

Here is the best equipped school in this country for the training of industrial teachers. Wisconsin is indeed fortunate in having it within her borders. Without impairing the good name of the institution, why can not the state make provision for the training of young men and women teachers here at public expense, the same as Ohio does with its private normal schools, New York with its agricultural schools, and other states with different institutions? This state needs an industrial normal school. To duplicate the Stout Institute equipment would mean an initial expenditure of $300,000; to conduct such a school would

February!

The month of birthdays and conventions! Ogdensburg is making a big effort to start a free high school.

February 14-15-16.

to the legislature on educational matters which is presented on another page.

Supt. Meisnest of Manitowoc county issues in pamphlet form a review of the annual meeting of the county teachers' association.

The population of Wisconsin in the 1910 census is 2,333,860, an increase of 1,693,330, or 22.2 per cent. over the census of 1900.

Those from Wisconsin who attend the Department of Superintendence at Mobile, February 2324-25, will be obliged to leave Chicago on the 21st.

The press of Ashland is at present engaged in a somewhat warm debate over the cost of education per capita in that city as compared with other cities.

The faculties of the county training schools of the state will meet with the county superintendents in their Madison convention February 1415-16.

Prin. A. H. Cole of the Lincoln county training school is making arrangements to start an agricultural school holding sessions two nights in the week.

The parents of about 600 school children in Marathon county were last month warned that

Prof. William Porter, ninety-one years of age and the dean of the Beloit College faculty, was last month tendered an enthusastic reception by his fellow workers in the educational field.

The normal board of regents of the state have petitioned the legislature to allow them $200,000 a year for five years to meet the necessary expenses of the eight normal schools in Wisconsin.

Supt. Guy D. Smith of Fond du Lac recently held a penmanship contest in the grades. The contest created a great deal of interest among the pupils, and the results will certainly prove beneficial.

Active campaigns for the office of county superintendent are going on at the present time in many of the counties of the state. It is also noticable that in some counties there are no contests whatever.

Reservations should be made at once with W. N. Parker, Madison, Wisconsin, for berth in the special Wisconsin-Northern Michigan car to the Mobile meeting. See further announcement in another column.

The school board of Beloit has voted to purchase a generator to be attached to the engine in the high school building and thus furnish lights for the building and power for the manual training department.

The special committee appointed by the last legislature to investigate the subject of industrial education in Wisconsin has recommended continuation schools throughout the state to be conducted along industrial lines.

Supt. W. E. Switzer of Clintonville, with the members of the faculty of the county training school at New London, issues a monthly paper called The School Bulletin. This is sent free to

school board members and teachers within the county.

Monroe reports a remarkable Christmas exercise in one of its schools last December, when sixteen twins sang a song at the east school building. All attended school in the building, and the name of their production was "All We Happy Children."

The Sturgeon Bay high school issues a paper called The Flasher. Supt. Stangel has lately put into printed form by authority of the board, an outline of the course of study for the grades, and other information relating to Sturgeon Bay educational affairs.

At a meeting of the legislative committee of the state teachers' association held at Milwaukee January 21, it was decided to recommend to the legislature the enactment of four laws. These were: (1) A minimum salary law, (2) Establishment of county boards of education, (3) Provision for an annual convention of city school boards, (4) State pensions for teachers.

The establishment of training schools in Rock and Dodge counties completes the list of twentysix such institutions which are permissible under the present law. No doubt the legislature this winter will increase the number or throw the field wide open to all counties except those hav

died at Beloit on January 9th following a breakdown due to his age. Prof. Hutchins was superintendent of schools at Fond du Lac from 1873 to 1887, and in 1890 he was made assistant state superintendent under Mr. O. E. Wells.

The principals of the Green Bay schools have organized an association for the purpose of promoting the various lines of educational work and of familiarizing themselves with the pressing educational problems of the day. Meetings will be held the first Wednesday in every school month.

Prof. M. V. O'Shea of the University of Wisconsin has for the third time been placed at the head of the American committee of the international congress on childhood and youth. Last year the conference was held at Brussels, but in 1912 it will be held in the United States, probably at Washington.

We note in the annual report of Supt. Chester W. Smith of Columbia county that nearly every district has been provided with a water tank and the common drinking cup abolished. Of the twenty-five teachers who have been graduated from the county training school, twenty-two are employed within the county.

The cities of Escanaba, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw, Michigan, have adopted the cap and gown for commencement exercises for the purpose of doing away with the expensive outfits usually purchased for this occasion. On this ground the idea is not a band one. Probably the next step for high schools will be to have degrees conferred upon the graduates.

voted a training school.

Supt. Kennedy of Sheboygan county has prepared his annual report in neat pamphlet form. It contains a complete list of the officers and clerks of the rural schools of the county, as well as of the state and county officers. Mr. Kennedy reports eighty-five residents of his county enrolled in normal schools last year. Practically all the schools have abolished the common drinking cup.

The new Grant school building at Wausau has been completed at a cost of some $54,000. The eight rooms on the first floor will accommodate about 400 pupils, while the second floor when finished will take care of 300 more. All of the rooms are equipped with slate blackboards and removable dust troughs. There is a good sized gymnasium in the building, and every sanitary feature possi

ble has been installed.

Supt. Sabean of Washburn county reports a district school in her bailiwick where ten pupils have been enrolled, and where there was perfect attendance last fall, with the exception of one pupil who lost twelve minutes by tardiness and eleven days by absence. Three of the pupils lived more than two miles from the schoolhouse. It might be well for some city principals to call the attention of their pupils to this country school record.

The Racine school board has provided better pay for the grade teachers, the average increase being $50 a year. being $50 a year. Prin. E. J. Hardaker of the Jefferson school has resigned to accept a better position in Minneapolis. The new ward school

building to be erected this spring has been christened the "Guilbert Knapp" school; it is to be a nine room building with auditorium on the ground floor; provision will be made for manual trining rooms, play rooms, gymnasium, etc.

If any Journal reader is interested in the open air school movement, he should write at once to the United Charities, 51 La Salle St., Chicago, for a book just issued entitled, "Open Air Crusaders" which is a report of the Elizabeth McCormick open air school and a general account of the work which has been done along this line in Chicago. We should not think that open air schools are needed only in the big cities. They are needed in the smaller villages, and the movement is

At a conference last month in Milwaukee of the presidents of the normal schools and members of the board of regents, it was voted to increase the regular normal courses from two to three years, and where an elementary course is furnished, from four to five years. It was also recommended that steps be taken to have high schools offer a course of study which would especially prepare those students who desire to enter normal schools with a view of preparing for the teaching work.

In a recent entertainment given by the pupils and teachers of the Lincoln ward school at Stanley, $180 was raised, a part of which has been used in the purchase of a colossal statue of Lincoln costing some $150. The boys and girls in the high school who carry their dinners have organized a club for the purpose of using the domestic science equipment to prepare warm lunches. Thirty students in the high school are now carrying courses in stenography and typewriting.

The faculty of the teachers' training school of Columbia county located at Columbus, has begun the publication of a quarterly magazine called The Columbian which will be conducted in the interests of the public schools. It will be under the direct management of Supt. Chester W. Smith and Prin. S. M. Thomas. A liberal advertising patronage in the first number indicates that it will be a financial success. There is no question of the value of such a publication to the people of the county.

Lawrence College has strengthened its department of education by securing the services of Dr. Lester B. Rogers of Columbia University. Dr. Rogers will have charge of that department of Lawrence College which aims to prepare high school teachers. Other arrangements have been made for the professional teaching of college subjects, and the creating of this new department will give Lawrence excellent facilities for the training of high school teachers. About seventyfive per cent of Lawrence graduates go into the teaching work.

spreading throughout the land for more air in

our schoolrooms.

The La Crosse teachers are assured of an increase of ten per cent over their present salaries. A certain amount of each month's salary will be withheld until the end of the school year, the purpose being to avoid the breaking of contracts on the part of teachers. The school board of the city has demanded from the city council an appropriation for additional buildings and has threatened to move old shacks onto the present school grounds unless their demands are met by the council. Four kindergartens are to be established in the public schools of the city at once.

Milwaukee board has been

Secretary Harbach of the school granted an assistant at a salary of

$1,500 a year. Supt. Pearse has called attention. to the danger of boys going to school in sweaters and wearing the same heavy garments indoors as outside. Prin. Stivers of the third district school last month sustained severe injuries in a fall on the school grounds. Assistant Superintendent Leo Stern has been removed from the hospital and is recovering rapidly from an operation. Owing to a lack of funds, it is possible that the evening schools will be discontinued. Last year there was expended for the public schools of the city, including new buildings, the sum of $2,015,600. Prin. Lindsay Webb of the eighteenth district school number one has resigned his position on account of ill health. Two more high schools for the city are planned in 1911. The dental clinics in the city hall have been discontinued owing to a disagreement of the superintendent of public works and the school board over the use of a room for that purpose.

Prin. Paul G. W. Keller of the Appleton high school corrects our statement of last month by saying that the subject of physics is pursued in the senior year and not in the freshman year