Louisiana; Calhoun, the great state rights and nullification advocate of South Carolina, had no constitutional scruples against annexing Texas and conquering California and New Mexico. In Washington's time less than half the men could vote, and when they did it was to elect state legislators and members of congress only. In most states the legislature elected the governor and other state officers, in all they elected presidential electors, in only a few states did the people elect even a part of their local officers. Contrast the influence of the common voters on government now, when most offices are filled by direct election, and every man can vote. This change has modified the real effect of the constitution much more than the formal amendments made to it have done.

There is a very important part of our constitutional history which is not sufficiently studied and has scarcely been studied at all by the historical method till a recent work appeared on local constitutional history by Prof. Howard. The town government of New England, democratic in the extreme, has been often studied, but the county government of the other states imported from England and aristocratic in the extreme has been neglected; so has also the process by which these county governments by appointive officers have given way to elective county officers, making little local republics, as the training schools of politics.

There are certain essential characteristics of our constitution which we ought to hold fast to, and not allow ourselves to be confused by the great mass of details which such a subject brings out. Among these essential characteristics are the following: Our government is a republic, not a monarchy. This differentiates it from the English governWe have a President instead of a King, a Senate instead of a House of Lords, and a nobility is forbidden.

ment.

This is a federal republic, not a mere confederation on the one hand, nor a centralized republic on the other. This is seen in the representatives of the states as such in the Senate and the Electoral College on the one hand and in representatives of the people directly in the House of Representatives on the other hand. The history of our political conflicts has been largely a history of the adjustments made or attempted to be made of the exact relation of states and federal government in this federal republic; and our great civil war turned on that issue partly. We began as a semi-aristocratic republic. We have become a

democratic republic. Every state constitution has been re-made to conform to this great progress of political thought among our people; and the United States constitution has been greatly modified in its practical workings in the same line.

We must not forget that this is an Anglo-Saxon constitution and that it therefore divides the responsibility and power of government between the three great departments, legislative, executive and judicial; and that it has a bill of rights to protect the people from arbitrary power. These I think are the essential characteristics of our constitution, the ideas which permeate it, and around which its machinery is arranged.

It is obvious that this course of study in constitutional history cannot be carried out to anything like its full extent in the public schools. The great majority of the teachers have not sufficient professional spirit or expectation of making teaching their life work to thoroughly study any subject, and the pupils with some exceptions have not the maturity of intellect or the zeal for special study which would carry them through so abstruse a subject as constitution would be if studied in the manner I have proposed. But I do believe that it is entirely feasible for the principals and assistants in high schools to study more than the textbooks teach; and I also believe that many of them would be glad to make special studies in this as well as in other subjects taught in high schools. It is to this class that much of what I have said hitherto has been addressed.

I wish now to speak of what is profitable to undertake in the way of school work in the different grades. In the primary form no instruction in civil government is practicable. In the middle form it is not. usual to give any such instruction, but it is possible to teach a good deal of civil government orally. Any teacher ought to be able to get up a series of good oral exercises by taking care to make them simple. and to cover only the most essential points. For instance, a teacher might easily err by teaching the salaries in detail, which are a minor matter, and omitting the courts, which are very important; or a teacher might attempt to take some text-book and follow it orally. Such a teacher would soon become lost in the wilderness of powers of congress and be unable to find his way out to the second article relating to the executive. But by selecting a few of the leading points of the national and state constitutions, and questioning over and over again on these

points, he ought to be able to give children in the middle form a fair knowledge of the outlines of our government. As most children never get beyond the middle form, there is an importance in this work greater than there would be if all went on to the more complete study of constitution in the upper form. In most ungraded schools such an exercise would almost inevitably become a general exercise with the whole school. If constitution is not otherwise taught to the older pupils of course they should be included in the exercise. But if the older pupils do study constitution and it is found that they discourage the younger ones by their superior knowledge, they should be advised to be conveniently deaf and dumb while the oral exercise is going on with the other pupils. For the upper form, text-book study of the constitution itself is the obvious intention of the law, and the natural practice of skillful teachers. I need not say that no text-book should be followed slavishly. For any teacher a text-book is indispensable in such work in constitution as ought to be done in this grade. Purely oral instruction for this grade is not wise to attempt, but oral instruction may very well supplement the text-book. The method of study here should be the positive method almost entirely, except as the study of the United States and the Wisconsin constitutions in succession naturally compels a comparison. This comparison of the two constitutions should be the chief oral work when the state constitution is reached after the United States. There should not be too great effort at learning details, but the essential principles should be driven into the pupils' heads. It is not wise to teach all there is in the text-book. Much of the less important matter may be used for reference merely, or only read over in the class. No attempt should be made to go over the two constitutions in one term. For this grade at least two terms of three months each are needed and sometimes three such terms are not too much. The town and county government should be taught principally by oral work. The teaching devices for this grade include topical recitations, topical analysis on the blackboard, memorizing of the more important portions of the text of the constitution, search questions, and simple topics for collateral study.

For the high school much the same line of work should be followed, with the difference that the pupils are more mature. Consequently the subject can be easily mastered in two terms, and a little more can be done in the way of collateral study. The teacher should avoid the danger of neglecting the essential positive study of the constitution,

while attempting to instruct his pupils about collateral subjects in which he is interested. Teach the main facts of the constitutions first, then. give the philosophy of government and the minor details, as far as you. have time afterward.

For the college there ought to be a full historical and comparative study of our political institutions in the manner treated of in a previous part of this paper. There should be lectures by the professor, and investigations given the student to make for himself with the aid of a good library. Such work is given now in the State University and in many colleges.

Do not think, however, that I advocate a disproportionate amount of time to be given to my favorite subject. The plan given for the upper form and for the high school is substantially the same, and should not be repeated in different grades of the same school. In brief my plan is oral instruction first for all pupils as soon as they are ready for it, then text-book work for the less number of advanced pupils of the school, graded or ungraded, and then the philosophical part of the subject for the few who take a college course. Thus, I believe, the object of this

study will be best attained.

MADISON, Wis.

A O. Wright.

JAPANESE PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

The general plan of Japanese education is much the same as that of the United States. Indeed, it was American educators, who, soon after the Revolution, had the management of educational matters, which, though some changes were made a few years ago in the details, remain essentially the same now. The general view shows a "three-story" education:- shogaku (“small learning," or primary education); chugaku ("middle learning," or secondary education); and daigaku ("great learning," or higher education). Hence, there are three grades of schools:-shogak(u)ko (“small learning place"); chugak(u)ko (“middle learning place"); and daigak(u)ko (“great learning place"). But there is also a sub-division of the shogakko and the chugakko into two grades, called jinjo (common) and koto (higher). The system of Japanese education (exclusive, of course, of special institutions, such as normal, business, law, medicine, etc.,) consists thus of five schools:-common primary school, high primary school, common middle school,

higher middle school and "great school." Of these the first two together are equivalent to the "grammar school;" the third extends a little higher than the "high school;" the fourth is a little short of a good "college;" and the last is a first-class "university." The present subject thus covers the first two schools of the series, and must, of course, more or less treat them separately, although as far as possible I shall consider the two one, just as in the United States they are one grammar school." Moreover, although my subject is stated in general terms, my information is almost entirely confined to the two schools situated in this city; but I think that they may reasonably be taken as good examples of the average. Under the Shoguna, when the Confucian system prevailed, the schools of Mito were the best in the Empire.

com

It would seem that every town or city is expected to support a mon primary school," (large cities, according to necessity, have more than one); every county is expected to support a "higher primary school;" every state must have a "common middle school;" scattered in different parts of the Empire are seven "higher middle schools;" and there is one "imperial university." This city, as a municipality, has two common primary schools (one each in the

upper town" and the lower town"); and, as a county seat, has one higher primary school, in the "upper town." It is of the two schools in the that I propose to treat.

upper town"

The higher primary school was built at an expense of 3,300 yen, defrayed by county taxes. The common primary school, whose buildings and grounds must be much larger, was erected at a cost of about 7,000yen, of which 2,000 yen came from the municipal taxes, 1,000 yen from state taxes, and the remainder from individual subscriptions, in large sums and widows' mites. I remember well, that when the subscription list was published in the Ibaraki Daily News, the amounts were often very small and were given by women and girls.

The buildings of these two schools are very plain wooden structures, especially those of the common primary school, which, as the subscriptions were insufficient, is not yet finished. The play-grounds are quite extensive.

In the common primary school the attendance is over 900, among whom the boys are in a majority of about sixty over the girls. The two sexes are taught in separate rooms. The teachers number twentyone, fifteen male and six female, and are mostly Normal school gradu-