TABLE 2.-Enrolment, attendance, duration of schools, and sittings-Continued.

Total number

of sit¡tings.

110, 111

e In 1883-'84.
fU. S. Census, 1880.

Table 1, presents the statistics of school enrolment, average attendance, and school provisions, so far as these are attainable.

The total enrolment, 11,435,297, shows increase as compared with 1884-'85 of 265,374, or 2.37 per cent. In two States, Alabama and Kansas, the increase in enrolment is above 8 per cent.; in two, Georgia and Oregon, it is between 6 and 8 per cent. Connecticut and Rhode Island show slight decrease. The increased enrolment in the Territories is especially noticeable, excepting in Arizona and Utah, where it is less than 1 per cent.

For a full understanding of the extent to which elementary instruction is diffused among the people the enrolment in private schools ought to be included in this survey. Returns under this head, more or less complete, have been made from 12 States. These statistics would increase the enrolment in 6 of the States by 10 per cent. or more, and by less than 10 per cent. in the remaining 6.

The average daily attendance, as reported for the entire country, is 7,279,616, an increase of 378,991, or 5.49 per cent. The fact of greater increase in this total than in that of enrolment undoubtedly points to greater regularity of attendance on the part of the actual pupils, which is an evidence of greater officiency in the school sys

The following are the States whose statistics afford this favorable indication: California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. To this list Utah can be added. The only other Territory in which entries are made under the head of increase or decrease is the District of Columbia, where the increase in average attendance was little more than one-fourth the increase in enrolment. Several States are omitted in the comparison between school enrolment and average attendance for the want of the necessary data. Among them are Arkansas and Michigan, which appear to keep no record of average daily attendance.

The item of whole attendance in days is presented in the table for the first time. As it has not yet been included in the inquiries of the office, the statistician could only insert the number where it was found in the State reports. The importance of the number as a means of estimating the precise relation of school attendance to school demand, in individual States, and the amount of instruction enjoyed by the pupils in regular attendance, may be clearly seen by using it as the basis of computation in a single State. The whole attendance in days reported from Illinois is 77,081,056. This number divided by population 6 to 14 years gives a quotient of 119.5; divided by the enrolment, a quotient of 103.7, and divided by the average, attendance, a quotient of 153. The first quotient (119.5) indicates the average number of days' instruction, upon the total reported, for every child 6 to 14 years of age; the second (103.7) the average number of days' instruction for every child enrolled; the last (153) expresses the precise average duration of the schools in days, giving to each school a weight proportionate to its average attendance.

The value of these several particulars as measures of the amount of elementary instruction afforded under the State system depends upon the standpoint assumed. It is hoped that their importance will be so fully recognized that State superintendents, or other chief officers of education, will hereafter use their utmost endeavors to make the statistics upon which these several estimates shall be based full and accurate.

Of the 28 States and Territories which furnish data to determine any change in the duration of schools in days, 17 show an increase, many of them quite large, and only 11 a decrease. On the whole the tendency is obviously in the direction of longer terms.

The statistics showing number of school sittings are necessary for arriving at an exact knowledge of the school accommodations of the country. This item has been obtained from the reports of three States and one Territory; hereafter it is proposed to include this also among the inquiries made by the Bureau.

In Oregon, the remaining one of the five, 1,985 is given as the number of teachers necessary to supply the schools, and 1,861 as the number absolutely employed, from which it would appear that 7 per cent. of the places remained vacant.

The total number of teachers is 2,409 larger than the previous year, being an increase of 1.1 per cent. So far as returns classified by sex have been received, the total number of male teachers is 104,249, female 191,439, the males being 35.24 per cent. of the whole. The States reporting an excess of male over female teachers are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Of twenty-three States in which the change during the year of the average monthly salaries of teachers is recorded, there has been for males an aggregate increase in ten States of $13.39, and an aggregate decrease in thirteen States of $23.75; for females an aggregate increase in eleven States of $8.06, and an aggregate decrease in ten States of $18, there being no change in Ohio, and Wisconsin not giving the average salary of all female teachers. On the whole, the salaries of teachers, both male and female, have decreased during the year.