EDITOR'S TABLE. 



841 



Bet apart its proportionate stare, and that the 

 same is expended by the trustees and paid 

 by the supervisors of the towns according to 

 law. lie gives advice and direction to school 

 officers, teachers, and inhabitants upon all 

 questions arising under the school laws. He 

 establishes rules and regulations concerning 

 appeals, hears and decides all appeals involv- 

 ing school controversies, and his decision is 

 final. He is charged with the general con- 

 trol and management of teachers' institutes 

 in the various counties, is authorized to em- 

 ploy instructors for the institutes and to pay 

 them, and to certify the accounts for expenses 

 incurred by the School Commissioners in con- 

 ducting the same. He is required to visit the 

 institutes, and advise and direct concerning 

 their proper management. 



He makes appointments of State pupils to 

 the institutions for the instruction of the deaf, 

 dumb, and blind, and generally supervises 

 the management of these institutions. He 

 established rules and regulations concerning 

 district-school libraries. He apportions among 

 the counties the number of pupils in the 

 State Normal School to which each is entitled. 

 He has charge of the Indian Schools, employs 

 local agents to superintend them, and gives 

 directions in regard to the erection and re- 

 pairs of their school-houses. He is an ex- 

 officio member of the Board of Kegents and 

 chairman of the Committee on Teachers' 

 Classes in the Academies. He is also an ex- 

 officio member of the Board of Trustees of 

 Cornell University, of Syracuse University, 

 of the Idiot Asylum, and of the People's Col- 

 lege, and chairman of the Executive Commit- 

 tee of the Albany State Normal School. He 

 is also charged with the general supervision 

 of the State Normal Schools at Brockport, 

 Buifalo, Cortland, Fredonia, Geneseo, Oswe- 

 go, and Potsdam. He receives and compiles 

 the abstracts of the reports from all the school 

 districts in the State. The salary of the Su- 

 perintendent is five thousand dollars, and he 

 has. a deputy, and is allowed to employ a force 

 of clerks, whose aggregate salaries shall not 

 exceed nine thousand dollars a year. 



This is a very extensive list of du- 

 ties and responsibilities to be intrusted 

 to any one functionary by the self-gov- 

 erning people of a great State, especially 

 on a subject so extensive and important, 

 and we may add so domestic and social, 

 as that of education. One would think 

 that an intelligent and independent 

 community would be somewhat scrupu- 

 lous about parting with the control of 



its children in the matter of instruction, 

 and would prefer to attend to tliat mat- 

 ter themselves, rather than to be much 

 superintended hy any distant oflBce- 

 holder who happens to be thrust into 

 the position where he can regulate the 

 schools of the State. But the Superin- 

 tendent of Public Instruction is the 

 head engineer of that vast political ma- 

 chine which has come to supersede all 

 private agency in the formation of the 

 minds and characters of tlio young so 

 far as it is possible for schools to do it. 

 We say " political machine," because the 

 great work of carrying on primary edu- 

 cation in this country is being steadily 

 and rapidly swallowed up in the gulf 

 of politics. Indeed, the fundamental 

 reasons given for the existence of our 

 common-school system, and avowedly 

 the sole reasons for which it can he 

 maintained, are political. It is freely 

 admitted that the State has no other 

 warrant for taking in hand the instruc- 

 tion of the young than to shape them 

 as citizens in accordance with the po- 

 litical system we have adopted. As a 

 consequence, the business of administer- 

 ing education is becoming a prominent 

 part of politics, and appointments in all 

 the best-paid positions are heing more 

 and more determined by the common 

 influences of political manipulation and 

 intrigue. The influence of this state of 

 things upon teachers who are now all 

 government office-holders is a chapter 

 of the subject that can not be here dealt 

 with, but is full of interest. Our object 

 is now simply to call attention to a con- 

 spicuous illustration of the control of 

 partisan politics over our whole system 

 of State instruction. 



No intelligent person will deny that 

 the general subject of education is one 

 of great complexity and great diffi- 

 culty, and that to control it wisely and 

 improve its practical methods is a task 

 requiring much ability, long and pro- 

 found devotion to its fundamental ques- 

 tions, and a wide and varied experience 

 in educational work. But very few men 



