VII.-PLATTEVILLE NORMAL SCHOOL BUILDING FUND,

The legislature by the provisions of chapter 116 of the general laws of 1866, and of chapter 118 of the general laws of 1867, authorized the use of $15,000 of the Normal School Fund Income for the completion of the buildings at Platteville. This amount has been transferred to this account.

The following is a statement of the account :

The annual statements of the condition of the University Fund, the Agricultural College Fund, and the incomes of these funds will be found in connection with the report of the President of the Board of Regents of the University, which is published in the appendix.

VIII.-WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY.

The number of copies of Webster's Dictionary purchased of Messrs. G. & C. Merriam, of Springfield, Massachusetts, under

authority of chapter 16 and chapter 106 of the General Laws of 1867, is one hundred and fifty. Of these one hundred and twentynine copies have been distributed to districts heretofore unsupplied, and thirteen copies have been sold to districts in accordance with the provisions of chapter 32 of the General Laws of 1867.

Receipts from the proper officers are on file in this office for all distributed to unsupplied districts, except for those sent out so recently, that sufficient time has not elapsed to secure the return of proper vouchers It is believed that all have reached those to whom they were sent. For those sold receipts are on file, the money having been paid into the State Treasury according to law. There are eight copies on hand, and an appropriation sufficient to purchase one hundred and fifty copies is recommended.

A detailed statement of the number distributed and of the number sold, and of the counties, towns and school districts to which they were sent, will be found in the appendix.

IX. OFFICE LIBRARY.

The Library of this Department contains a complete set of Legislative Documents of the State, and about 800 volumes, consisting of reference books, school books, reports and miscellaneous works of an educational character. There is an annual appropriation of $50 for the purchase of such educational works as the Superintendent of Public Instruction may select.

The amount received on account of the Office Library Fund, since I have been in office, is $231.79, and the amount expended is $167.41, leaving a balance on the 10th day of December, of $64.38. The annual appropriation for 1867 has not yet been drawn. A detailed statement of receipts and disbursements is given in the appendix.

3 SUP. PUB. INS.

X.-TEXT BOOKS

The following comparative statement for the past two years, shows the number of districts in which the text books most used in the State are found:

The foregoing statement is not strictly accurate, as the school books used in the cities and larger villages are not, in all cases, reported. In the annual report for 1866, from this department, the following remarks were made, which I desire to repeat:

"As most of the books in the foregoing list are suitable for our public schools, it is recommended that no changes be made where they are now in use, except so far as the classification of particular schools may require; and that school officers should, in those cases where no text books have been officially adopted, carefully select from those now in general use in the state, and adopt such as, after due examination, they shall prefer."

I have endeavored to prevent needless changes in text books, and in my official action I have kept this object steadily in view. То

what extent this policy has been successful, is indicated by the foregoing statement for the past two years. I am aware that this policy does not meet the approval of those who desire to monopolize the school book business of the State, and that it has, in some instances, subjected me to a covert and strong opposition, but I feel confident that those, whose interests it was my official duty to protect, will approve my course when it is tested by its legitimate results.

NORMAL SCHOOLS.

The State Normal School, at Platteville, has been in operation since the 9th of October, 1866. No other normal school is yet opened, but it is believed that the one located at Whitewater will be ready to receive students as soon as next spring. The Board of Regents of Normal Schools have not yet commenced the erection of buildings at Oshkosh, Sheboygan or Stoughton, but they have determined to commence the building at Oshkosh as soon as the 1st of September, 1868, and that at Stoughton by the first of May, 1869.

The development of our normal school system is the most difficult educational problem that presents itself for solution at the present time. To make these schools promote the interests of public education, to so conduct them as to secure for them the confidence of the people, to so manage them as to train teachers in them for the common schools; to guard against the tendency to convert them into academies or high schools, to render them so attractive and so effi cient as to bring large numbers of teachers under their influence, and to carry them on with such economy as to keep their expenses within the income provided for their support, will demand the watchful care of the people, the heartiest co-operation of the Legislature, and the greatest discretion and wisdom of the Board appointed to manage them.

They may be well attended, the discipline may be excellent, and their teachers well qualified, classes may graduate with honor and the people may cherish a just pride in the attainments of those who have pursued their courses of study; in fact, they may be excellent colleges, but if they are not training schools for teachers,

and if everything else be not kept subordinate to the specific object for which they were founded, the result will be disastrous, not only to these schools, but to our whole educational system. The success of normal schools in other States--while it has been such as to warrant a hope that the policy we have inaugurated, be successfully carried out--has not been so marked and so uniform as to assure us that we shall not encounter difficulties that prudenge, forecast and energy alone will enable us to overcome.

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The report of the Board of Regents of Normal Schools, made in accordance with section 10, chapter 116, of the General Laws of 1866, is herewith submitted, and to it the attention of the legislature is respectfully called, for a "full and detailed account of the doings of the Board, and of all their expenditures and of all moneys received."

STATE UNIVERSITY.

The people of the State feel a deep interest in the prosperity of the State University, and the recent action of the Regents in reorganizing it is watched with earnest attention. The legislature, at its last session, in obedience to public opinion, increased its income so as to enable those, having the University in charge, to provide instruction in agriculture, mining, engineering and other industrial arts. The knowledge necessary to the development of our material resources is imperatively demanded, and to the College of Arts in our State University the people are turning to find it.

Our State is rich in its soil, its forests and its mines, but the hand of intelligent industry is required to make the riches available. The curriculum of the University and the sympathies and efforts of its officers and instructors must be in harmony with the progress of industrial science, or we shall fail to secure the benefits anticipated.

Under the management of the President of the University lately appointed, we hopefully and confidently look to see those branches of knowledge, that relate to agriculture and the mechanic arts, made prominent in the University course, and we believe that he brings to his great work that enthusiasm, experience and energy necessary to command success.