isted for a normal school, as the supply of teachers was greater than the demand; that the number of organized public schools was 20, the number of children attending public school 3314, and the total expenditure as reported, $28,000.

The report embraced twelve mission and church schools in various parts of the State, including 579 children in attendance.

10. SCHOOL LEGISLATION, 1853.

SALE OF SCHOOL LANDS.

The law regulating the sale of 500,000 acres of school lands, passed May 3, 1852, authorized the Governor to issue land warrants of not less than 160 acres, nor more than 320 acres; the State Treasurer was authorized to sell said lands at two dollars per acre, and to receive in payment Controller's warrants drawn upon the General Fund, or the bonds of the civil debt of the State; and to convert all moneys and all State three per cent. bonds or Controller's warrants so received by him into bonds. of the civil funded debt of the State, bearing interest at seven per cent. per annum, and to keep such bonds as a special deposit, marked "School Fund," to the credit of said School Fund.

Under this provision the sales of land in 1852 amounted to 150,000 acres, yielding $300,000.

AMENDMENTS.

At the fourth session of the Legislature, 1853, the school law was amended by the following provisions: That Controller's warrants, received for school lands, should draw interest at seven per cent., the same rate as civil bonds; that the State Treasurer should keep a separate and distinct account of the Common School Fund, and of the interest and income thereof, and that no portion should be devoted to any other purpose; that County Assessors should be made ex-officio County Superintendents; that all county school officers should be paid such compensation as allowed by County Supervisors; that cities should have power to raise by tax whatever amount of money was necessary for school purposes; that counties should have power to levy a school tax not exceeding five cents on a hundred dollars; that religious and sectarian schools should receive a pro rata share of the School Fund.

The provision allowing the Catholic schools a share of the School Fund was as follows:

"SEC. 7. Article five of said act (1852) is hereby amended by adding after section two the following additional sections:

"Section Three. The County Superintendent may and is hereby empowered, in incorporated cities, to appoint three School Commissioners for any common school or district, upon petition of the inhabitants thereof requesting the same.

“Section Four. Such schools shall be and are hereby entitled to all the rights and privileges of any other city or common school, in the pro rata division of school money raised by taxation, and shall receive its proportion of money from the State School Fund in the annual distribution; provided, they are conducted in accordance with the requirements of this act.

ووو

This provision gave rise to the formation of the so-called "ward schools" of San Francisco.

II. THIRD ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT, 1853.

Paul K. Hubbs, who had been a member of the last previous Legislature, was elected as successor to John G. Marvin, and took office on the first of January, 1854. In his very brief annual report, January 24, 1854, he stated that the School Fund, from the sale of school lands, amounted to $463,000, on which the annual interest was $32,000; that the sale of school lands had entirely ceased, and that there remained unsold 268,000 acres of the 500,000 acre grant. He dwelt on the necessity of reserving all sales of the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections for township funds exclusively. Mr. Hubbs further recommended that the School Fund be apportioned according to the average attendance on school, instead of the number of census children, and urged the establishment of a State university.

No tabular statistics whatever were published with this report.

12. SCHOOL LEGISLATION, 1854.

In the fifth session of the Legislature, 1854, it was provided in the Revenue Act that fifteen per cent. of the State poll taxes should be paid into the School Fund. A well-prepared school law was introduced by Hon. D. R. Ashley, which, among other things, repealed the sections allowing sectarian schools a pro rata share of the School Fund. It met with strong opposition, finally passed to engrossment, but was buried in the rubbish of unfinished business at the end of the session.

13. FOURTH ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT, 1854.

Superintendent Hubbs opened his second report with the statement, "that, though the average attendance on school had increased from 2000 in 1853 to 5751 in 1854, the report nevertheless exhibited the lamentable fact that the children of our State are growing up devoid of learning to read and write." He recommended the establishment of a State Industrial School; that School Commissioners be elected for three years, one annually; that the office of County Superintendent be abolished, as tending to unnecessary expense; that Township Treasurers be elected, to report to the State Superintendent; argued in favor of Township School Funds; stated that no income had ever been derived from "escheated estates," though it had been estimated that millions belonged of right to that fund; and urged a State university. A crude and confused tabular statement was attached to this report.

14. SCHOOL LEGISLATION, 1855.

During the sixth session of the Legislature, 1855, Hon. D. R. Ashley introduced a school bill which was in substance the same as that defeated at the last previous session. After some opposition, with a few amendments it became a law, approved May 3, 1855.

This revised law enlarged the powers of School Trustees; provided for the election of County Superintendents, and defined their duties; and empowered the Common Councils of incorporated cities to raise a school tax not exceeding twenty-five cents on a hundred dollars; to collect and disburse school moneys; to establish school districts; to provide by election or by appointment for City Boards of Education, and City Superintendents; to establish schools on petition of fifty heads of families, provided that no sectarian doctrines should be taught therein, and that such schools be under the same supervision as other schools.

SECULAR SCHOOLS.

It provided that no school should be entitled to any share of the public fund that had not been taught by teachers duly examined and approved by legal authority, and that no sectarian books should be used, and no sectarian doctrines should be

taught in any public school under penalty of forfeiting the public funds. The stringent provision settled then, and probably forever, the question of an American system of public schools in this State, free from the bitterness of sectarian strife and the intolerance of religious bigotry. The public schools are free to the children of the people, and free from the influence of church or sect.

This law of 1855 also provided that Controller's warrants paid into the Treasury for school lands should draw the same rate of interest as civil bonds, and that the State Treasurer should indorse on such warrants, "Common School Fund," and that no portion of such securities should be sold or exchanged, except by special act of the Legislature; it authorized counties to raise a school tax not exceeding ten cents on a hundred dollars, to apportion the same on the same basis as the State Fund, and to appropriate the moneys so derived for building houses, purchasing libraries, or for salaries. This law contained many excellent provisions, and was a very great advance on all previous school bills. Its main features are retained in the school law of the present day.

15. FIFTH ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT, 1856.

Superintendent Hubbs renewed his recommendations for the sale of school lands, and put in a special plea for Township Funds; recommended that all school lands and School Funds be placed under the control of the State Board of Education; asked a direct appropriation of $100,000; considered the new school law behind the age; recommended that the office of County Superintendent be abolished, and that the district township system be adopted; that the School Fund be apportioned according to the average daily attendance.

This report was accompanied by inaccurate statistical tables.

16. SIXTH ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT, 1856.

The last report of Superintendent Hubbs was a brief one, without any statistical table whatever-not even the number of census children in the State.

He urged all his previous recommendations concerning school lands, and township lands in particular, the establishment of a grand university, with an agricultural department, and

a military school; a legislative requirement that a uniform series of elementary books be used in all the public schools; entered his protest against certain "partisan and sectional" text-books sent him from the East; and closed by a eulogy on the English language and the Anglo-Saxon race.

17. SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL SCHOOL REPORT, 1857.

Paul K. Hubbs was succeeded in office, in 1857, by Andrew J. Moulder.

Mr. Moulder's first report opened as follows:

The number of schools has increased, in four years, from 53 to 367-nearly sevenfold; the number of teachers, from 50 to 486nearly ninefold; the number of children reported by census, from 11,242 to 35,722-more than threefold; whilst the semi-annual contribution by the State has dwindled from $53,511.11 to $28,342.16, or nearly one half; and the average paid each teacher, from $955 to $58.32—that is to say, to less than one sixteenth of the average under the first apportionment.

I will not waste words on such an exhibit. If it be not convincing that the support derived from the State is altogether insufficient, and ought to be augmented, no appeal of mine could enforce it.

But this I may be permitted to say, that we have no such thing as public schools, in the full acceptation of the term-that is to say, schools at which all the children of the State may be educated, free of expense. That $9.72 per month, to each teacher, contributed by the State, never can maintain a public school; that the contributions by parents and guardians to keep up the schools are onerous, oftentimes unequal, and must, in time, damp their ardor in the cause of education; that our 367 schools are comparatively in their infancy, and now, above all other times, should be cherished and encouraged by the State. Lacking such fostering care and encouragement, it is to be feared they will languish, and gradually lose their hold upon the popular favor. Is it not worth more than an ordinary effort to avert such a calamity?

He recommended that the maximum rate of county school tax be increased from ten cents to twenty cents on a hundred dollars; that no warrants should be issued by Trustees on the District Funds, unless there was cash in the Treasury to pay them; and that all funds coming into the Treasury during one school year should be used exclusively for the payment of expenses of that year; asked an appropriation of $3000 for Teachers' Institutes; favored the establishment of a State Industrial School; recommended that all school lands be placed under the