of God in poetry and religion; one who believes that the recitation is an opportunity not for the pupil, but for the teacher, to tell what he knows; one who believes that the science of teaching can be found in the academic branches as taught in the normal schools; one who be lieves that normal schools should be supported by the state and preferred millionaires and that the carnival and the vaudeville should be employed to embellish a common school education; one who believes in one man power and a monarchical form of school government; one who believes not in mass education but in tutor pedagogy; one who thinks himself the disembodied spirit and resurrected soul of Herbart; one whose chief and lofty aim in life is to be thoroughly advertised; one whose degree (Ph. D.) outweighs the man." THE cigarette has received a hard blow in the recent order issued by the Southern Railway System in South Carolina against the employment of any one who smokes tobacco in that form. The rule provides that all employees who now smoke cigarettes must either give them up or lose their positions, and that in the future no one who is a cigarette smoker will be engaged by that corporation in any capacity. The superintendent has become convinced that habitual cigarette smokers are untrustworthy, and, therefore, the above named action. has been taken. We hope that the time will soon come when boards of education will take similar action, and absolutely refuse to employ, or retain in their employ any teacher who is addicted to the vile habit of cigarette smoking. Perhaps the time may come, too, when college authorities will refuse to have in attendance students whose whole physical and mental, to say nothing of moral vigor is being sapped daily by the use of the cigarette. Only positive and severe measures will ever avail in stamping out the nuisance, and it is hoped that the action of the superintendent of the Southern Railway System will furnish an example to be followed by many others in authority. SECRETARY SHEPARD notifies us that the final statistics of the Los Angeles Meeting show a total membership of 13.653. distributed as follows: North Atlantic Division, 1,721; South Atlantic Division, 363; South Central Division, 818; North Central Division, 5,225; Western Division, 5, 485; Foreign, 41. Of this number, California furnished 4,357; Illinois, 1, 212; Ohio, 579; and Pennsylvania, 537. WE feel certain that the publication of the following letter will be of great interest and benefit to many of our readers who will be glad to take advantage of the conditions. named therein for securing this valuable map of the United States. The cost is only nominal when the merit of the map is taken into con sideration, and, no doubt, in many instances, boards of education would avail themselves of the offer were attention called to it, and thereby furnish the schools under their control with these maps: DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. WASHINGTON. Attention is called to the fact that the Department has recently published a wall map of the United States, prepared under the direction of the Commissioner of the General Land Office, 4 feet 11 inches by 7 feet 2 inches in size, mounted on muslin and attached to rollers ready for immediate use. In addition to the features ordinarily characterizing maps of the country, on this are shown by clearly defined boundaries, the several acquisitions of territory upon this continent by the Government of the United States as determined by the latest investigations, together with all military, Indian and forest reservations. It is supplied by the Department at eighty cents per copy, the cost of printing, mounting, etc. The law permits the sale of only one copy to any individual, but to schools and other institutions as many copies can be furnished as are desired for separate buildings or departments. The Department also publishes small maps about 2 1/2 by 3 feet, unmounted, of the several States and Territories in which public, lands of the United States are located, which are sold at 12 cents per sheet. All remittances in payment for maps should be by draft or postal money order made payable to the order of the Financial Clerk, Department of the Interior. EDWARD M. DAWSON, Chief Clerk. December, 1, 1899. STATE ASSOCIATION OF TOWNSHIP SUPERINTENDENTS. State Association of Township Superintendents, numbering about fifty, from thirty different counties of our state, held four very profitable sessions in room 633 of The Great Southern Hotel, Columbus, Ohio, beginning at 10 A. M. Tuesday, December 26, '99. After a few appropriate remarks by Chairman Dickey, the Secretary, Supt. S. O. Hale of Greene Co., being absent, Supt. D. H. Barnes, of Bath Tp., Greene Co., was chosen to act in that capacity. This meeting was one full of enthusiasm and proved to be a wonderful inspiration to those present. The following questions were discussed: "Should the Brorein Law be Changed?"; "How Can We Improve the Teachers' Meeting?"; "Are We in Favor of a State Normal School?"; "Should the Township High School Undertake to Prepare Its Pupils for College?"; "How Can a Superintendent Help His Teachers?" A gist of the entire meeting may be summed up by the resolutions adopted, which were as follows. "WHEREAS, The State Association of Township Superintendents of Ohio has entered into a consideration of a few of the important subjects relative to the supervision, to the general educational advancement of the rural communities, and to the necessity for professional training of teachers of our state; therefore, be it "Resolved, That the Brorein Law can be improved by electing five citizens of the township at large, to have in charge the entire management of the township schools these members to receive a small compensation for their work." "That the Township High School course should be taught so thoroughly that no branch here finished need be taken again on entering any college." "That the custom, in some parts of the state, of requiring pupils to be able to secure a teacher's certificate, or the equivalent, before they are eligible to graduation from the village or Township High School, be condemned by this association and that the various superintendents do all in their power to discourage this practice.' "That, in as much as the pupil holding a Boxwell diploma is entitled to admission into any High School in the county, we encourage county examiners to make the standard of examination reasonably high enough to meet the entrance requirements of the average High School in the county." "That this association ask the Legislature to enact a law making it compulsory on all townships to adopt a course of study for the subdistrict schools and further that we recommend township or district. supervision." "That the state association of township superintendents recommend that a series of Normal Schools be established in the state of Ohio, the object of which shall be to raise the standard of excellence of the teachers in the public schools of the state by affording them courses of instruction in the history, science and art of education and in the methods of teaching all the branches which pertain to a common school education." The following report by the committee on nominations was received and adopted for the coming year: President, R. B. Clark, Ashtabula County; Vice-President, S. W. Allen, Mahoning County; Secretary, D. H. Barnes, Greene County; Executive Committee, J. Reuben Beachler, Montgomery County; C. L. Dickey, Franklin County; W. G. Scroggie, Huron County. D. H. BARNES, Sec'y. STATE ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL The Sixteenth Annual Session of the Ohio State Association of School Examiners was held in Columbus, December 27 and 28. This meeting was one of the most successful ever held by the Association. The discussions were limited to the list of topics given on the program and no unnecessary arguments were allowed to be presented. In fact, great credit should be given President D. C. Meck for the way in which he looked after the interests of all present. In the discussions Wednesday, the sense of the Association seemed to be that: 1. It is not wrong for a County Examiner to instruct in Institutes. 2. There could be no uniform system of grading manuscripts. 3. A county certificate should not be recognized throughout the state. 4. Applicants should be allowed to carry good marks. 5. The pay of an examiner is not commensurate with the work performed. 6. A higher standard set by the County Examiners results in raising the salaries of teachers. 7. That we might improve our professional certificates by recognition of high grades made in common branches. 8. That the demanding of certificates by some boards of education before they will permit their pupils to graduate, is an injury not only to the profession of teaching, but also to the pupils themselves. On Wednesday evening the committee on resolutions submitted the following which were unanimously adopted. Resolved, That this Association endorse the report of the Committee on Legislation, which is as follows. An act embracing a system of five high grade Normal Schools should be passed by this session of the General Assembly, and that we recommend that at least one of these schools be established immediately. That the object of these schools should be to raise the standard of excellence of teachers in the public schools of the state by providing courses of study in the science, art, and history of education, school economy and methods of teaching the various branches, and that we recommend that requirements for admission be graduation from approved schools. Resolved, That section 4069 should be amended by inserting after the first sentence: All persons appointed as county examiners must have either a degree in a literary course at a reputable college, a state certificate in Ohio, or a five or eight years' certificate in the county in which they reside. That section 4071 should be amended as follows. There shall be not more than ten meetings in any year unless the average number of applicants exceed fifty per meeting in the preceding year, in which case the number of meetings may be increased in the following year until the average number of applicants based on the attendance of the preceding year shall be reduced to fifty per meeting; but the number of meetings in a year shall not exceed eighteen. J. L. TRISLER, CHAS. HAUPERT, L. L. PEGG, Committee. The Executive Committee of the State Teachers' Association met in the Chittenden Hotel, Columbus, on the evening of December 27th and continued in session until noon on the 28th. All members were present. The date fixed for the next meeting was June 26th, 27th and 28th. It was decided to hold the meeting at Put-in-Bay, provided the contemplated arrangements were satisfactorily concluded. The Hotel Victory promises even better things than last year. The railroads will meet all reasonable requirements. The only difficulty has been in the steamer transportation. The representative of the D. & C. Transportation Company assured us that the boats could be held to accommodate passengers at Toledo and Cleveland and that all boats would stop at Put-in-Bay, the weather permitting. The question of extending the time limit of the tickets was also discussed. A final report, which is expected to be satisfactory on all these points, will be made at an early date. The program was arranged in accordance with the resolutions adopted at the last meeting and provides for a forenoon session of two hours and an afternoon session of an hour and a half for the General Association. In this program a number of questions of into primary, intermediate, high school and college teachers will be discussed. The committee has arranged an unusually strong program which will be announced as soon as the persons selected have signified their acceptance. terest A popular entertainment has been provided for Tuesday evening to which an admission of twenty-five cents will be charged. This will be followed by a general reception. The annual address will be delivered on Wednesday evening. The committee aims to make this one of the most practical and enjoyable meetings of the Association ever held. Let the teachers of Ohio plan to attend. STATE EXAMINATIONS. The Ohio State Board of School Examiners completed the work of the session December 28 and announced the following as being successful applicants: |