Elementary Schools.
The foreigner who hears of the enormous sums which the
German Empire expends every year on the maintenance and increase
of its army and fleet, may easily fall into the mistake of assuming
that this outlay, imposed by the history and the geographical position
of the country, leaves the German nation only few means for the
promotion of ideal interests. There may be an appearance of justifi-
cation for such an assumption, when merely the proportion is con-
sidered, that exists between the State expenditure for the army and
for the schools. But nevertheless, the sums devoted in Germany, by
the State and by the communities, to elementary education, is not in-
considerable. The total outlay for this purpose in the German
Empire (with the exception of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-
Schwerin, for which no information was available), in the year 1901,
amounted to 412886000 M., of which 120357000 M. were derived
from State contributions.
These figures of 1901 represent the last ascertainable stage
in a constantly progressive development, and will probably be con-
siderably exceeded at the present time. And when, in the absence
of uniform imperial statistics of the educational system, already re-
ferred to, this progression cannot be verified equally for all the
States, the following survey may, at least, give some evidence of the
permanent advance in the svstem of Prussian elementary education.
German Empire.
Public Elementary Schools 1891/2 and 1900/1.
1891/2 1900/1
56 563 58 164
i. Public Element. Schools . . . . .
2. Fully occupied teachers (male and
female) . . . . . 120 032
3. Pupils of Elem. Schools . . . . . 7 925 688
4. Expenditure for Elem. Schools . . . M. 242399 000
5. State Contributions . . 69 310 000
6. Number of:
a) Inhabitants to each Elem.
School . . . . .
0) Pupils to every 100 inhabitants
) Pupils to each fully occupied
teacher
144 484)
8829812
412 886 000
120 R57 000
874 969
16.03 15.66
-
~
“363
6
“Among these 22339 female teachers.