which do not come thru the regular channels of school taxes and revenues, e. g., tuition paid by private parties for the privilege of sending a child from one corporation to another. The per capita distribution of school revenue is never a measure of the per capita expenditure. The whole object in making this table is to show the relative degrees of participation of the state and local corporations in raising school revenues. The length of school term, the daily and yearly wages of teachers and the highest possible wages of teachers are set forth in Chart II which is given below. CHART II.—GIVING SUMMARY OF THE AVERAGE LENGTH OF SCHOOL TERM IN DAYS, AVERAGE DAILY WAGES, AVERAGE YEARLY WAGES, AND HIGHEST POSSIBLE ANNUAL WAGES OF TEACHERS UNDER THE PRESENT LAW, IN 84 CITIES, 224 TOWNS, AND 1,016 TOWNSHIPS OF INDIANA, 1903 NOTE. All cities of the state pay more than $325. The classification is as follows: Less than $400, 1; from $400 to $499, 19; from $500 to $599, 54; from $600 to $699, 10; total, 84. EXCELLENCY OF THE INDIANA SYSTEM OF SCHOOL SUPPORT The Indiana system of school support is one of the very best that has ever been invented. The fact that the levying of taxes for school purposes is intrusted to the school officers who are responsible for the management of the schools, and who know most about them, is unique and cannot easily be improved upon. School systems in other states that must depend upon city councils or other officers not in touch with the schools to provide support for them are decidedly handicapped. If the people elect good officers to administer their school affairs they will usually have good schools. It is agreed that the very best way to support schools is by state and local taxation. In the states where the schools are supported wholly by state revenues, the people do not have that interest in the schools locally, that they should. The plan of levying a general poll and property tax is also wise. This gives everybody an opportunity to help support the schools. People are more interested in anything that they are taxed to support. The only serious defect of the system has been that certain corporations could not pay even the minimum wages to teachers and maintain schools for the minimum term. This defect has been remedied by the law which provides a special state levy for the benefit of those corporations. TABLE V-AMOUNT EXPENDED BY EACH OF THE MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENTS IN THE 137 CITIES OF LARGEST POPULATION FOR EVERY (Table arranged by Hon. W. T. Harris, United States Commisssioner of Education, from data given in Table XXII of Bulletin No. 42 of the Department of Labor, September, 1902) United States. 1. New York, N. Y. 3. Philadelphia, Pa.. 4. St. Louis, Mo.. 5. Boston, Mass.. 6. Baltimore, Md. 7. Cleveland, O. 8. Buffalo, N. Y. 9. San Francisco, Calif.. (a) Less than one mill. 1.659 4.049 .796 3.728 .014 -757 3.880 -793 6.192 .912 4.409 .007 .637 2.995 .001 .464 3.684 .403 2.055 .001 1.195 3.956 .739 3.176 |