Patriotism and Education 19 



An appropriation by the City of not less than $15,000 



annually is also needed to cover the large and increasing 



cost of public school educational work by the 



Pi! 5 * ? f Trr 1 Museum. Between the years 1886 and 1904, 



School Work . J ' ^ 



sums varying from $18,000 to $38,000 were ap- 

 propriated annually by the State for similar work by the 

 Museum. The Museum is at present carrying on much 

 of the natural history work with the public schools and 

 libraries of Greater New York; it has in circulation 712 loan 

 collections which were distributed among 446 schools and 

 were studied during the year by 1,075,076 school children. In 

 connection with our natural history lectures in the schools, 

 63,111 lantern slides have been loaned to 84 schools, while 

 79,323 public school children have attended 103 lectures given 

 for them by members of the Museum staff. With the aid of 

 the Thorne Fund, instruction for the blind has included 31 les- 

 sons for blind children from the public schools. The Museum 

 is prepared to provide the schools of New York from its un- 

 equaled collections of photographs, taken by its explorers in all 

 parts of the world, which now number 46,565 negatives and 

 63,818 photographs. There is no large city in the world which 

 offers such advantages to its school children in the study of 

 the geography of land and sea, of insects, fishes, birds and 

 mammals, and of all matters pertaining to public health. 



PATRIOTISM AND PUBLIC EDUCATION 



Two events of the year, wholly different in kind, have re- 

 minded us of the close connection between American patriotism 

 and public education. The first is the death of that staunch 

 supporter and exponent of public education, Joseph Hodges 

 Choate ; the second is the unprecedented action of Congress in 

 putting a very heavy burden on education through taxing in- 

 heritances and bequests for educational purposes. 



Our beloved and honored founder, Joseph Hodges Choate, 

 bequeathed to us the inspiration of a life of intelligence, of 

 fortitude and of patriotism, crowned by a final week of elo- 

 quent and forceful enunciation of the principles that should 



