According to a table published in 1869 by the Zeitschrift of the bureau of statistics, there were, in the primary schools: 12.8 per cent.; in 1825, 13.5 per cent.; in 1828, 14.6 per cent.; in 1831, 15.2 per cent. of the male population. It remained the same in 1861; in 1864 we find 16.9 per cent. For the year 1872, Brachelli estimated the number of primary schools at 34,700, and that of scholars at 3,650,000. In 1870 there were in Prussia seventy-six normal schools, fifty-six of which were Protestant and twenty Catholic. Since 1860, eleven normal schools belonging to the former religion, and five belonging to the latter, have been established. - Secondary instruction is represented by schools of different natures and different degrees. The 204 gymnasiums (lyceums) were attended in the winter of 1870-71 by 52,657 pupils, not including the 5,835 pupils of the preparatory schools, which makes one pupil in 468 inhabitants (the elementary classes not included). The thirty-three progymnasiums (colleges) had 3,443 pupils, besides 335 pupils of elementary classes. The seventy-six realschulen (schools of exact sciences) of the first rank had 20,026 and 2,620 pupils; those of the second rank had 2,950 and 1,002 pupils; the higher city schools, fiftynine in number, final examination in which entitled the pupil to enter the military service a year earlier than provided by law, were attended by 7,093 pupils, not including 1,818 pupils in the elementary classes; the twenty which did not enjoy this right had 1,317, and seventy-four pupils. The total number of pupils receiving secondary instruction was 89,275 (the elementary classes included); that is, one pupil in 276 inhabitants. These numbers indicate those who remained till the close, but, in reality, the attendance was 99,102 and 15,584; that is, 114,686 pupils, one in 215 inhabitants. Superior instruction belongs to the universities of Berlin, Königsberg, Greifswald, Breslau, Halle, Bonn, Göttingen, Kiel, and Marburg. Münster may be added, although three faculties only are represented there. Paderborn and Braunsberg have faculties of Catholic theology (besides those which are annexed to many universities). Berlin, Königsberg and Düsseldorf have academies of the fine arts, and there are, in addition, agricultural academies, military and naval schools, and other institutions which it would be tedious to enumerate. The universitieshad, in 1873, about 8,000 matriculated students, and 1,600 to 1,800 young men who are simply authorized to follow the courses. In 1873 these universities had 404 professors in ordinary (incumbents), 166 extraordinary professors, and 241 privat-docenten (free professors); 50 masters taught the languages, etc. The surveillance of the state. over education is exercised by the minister of public instruction, and the different authorities dependent upon him. Such are the provincial colleges (committees), the district governments (prefects), and the school inspectors. The inspection is generally exercised by the priest or pastor. In consequence of the strife between the state and the church (chiefly, but not entirely, the Catholic church), by the law of March 11, 1872, which accentuates the right of the state to the surveillance of instruction, laymen have been appointed, but they still constitute the minority. In execution of the same law, a royal ordinance of April 18, 1873, made the opening of schools or boarding schools depend upon an administrative authorization. It is not probable that this authorization will be granted to religious congregations. (See ministerial decree of June 15, 1872.) - The number of professors, students, etc., at the Prussian universities, during 1882-3, was as follows: The division had to be made amicably; and in | four kilogrammes of gold and 1,633 kilogrammes of silver were extracted. In 1871 Prussia produced 23,874,263 quintals of unwrought cast iron, 5,689,944 quintals of merchandise in cast iron, 1,840,159 quintals of sheet iron, 157,443 quintals of tin, 1,091,042 quintals of iron wire, 3,664,064 quintals of steel, and a proportionate quantity of bar iron. The importation of unwrought iron, amounted, in the same year, to 11,849,410 quintals, and that of wrought iron to 5,664,747 quintals; the exportation amounted to 4,137,844 quin| tals of unwrought iron, and to 6,357,001 quintals of wrought iron. - The production of zinc amounted to more than 1,200,000 quintals of unwrought zinc, to 350,000 quintals of carbonate of zinc, and 350,000 quintals of sheet zinc; that of lead to 365,000 quintals; that of copper to 50,000 quintals. Nickel, arsenic and some other metals in less extent are also found. The textile industries are quite important, especially in the western part of the kingdom. There were in 1861, 651,145 spindles of carded wool, 47,153 spindles of combed wool, 398,071 spindles of cotton, 106,508 spindles of flax. The number of looms was in all 190,715, of which 30,392 were for tissues of silk and half silk, 76,993 for tissues of cotton, 42,667 for tissues of flax, 31,880 for tissues of wool or half wool, 2,315 for hosiery, 4,244 for ribbons, and the rest for various things. In these figures are not included 276,266 looms which are in operation only during the intervals between other labors, and principally for domestic wants. These figures (which were the most recent in 1873) have much increased since; and if we take into account the annexations, they may be considered as having doubled. Among other important industries we will cite the 254 sugar manufactories, which transform into sugar twenty-five metric quintals of beet root (1873), producing about 8 per cent. of brown sugar; the 8.638 distilleries, which used (1872) 5,800,000 scheffels (55 litres) of grain, and more than thirty-one million scheffels of potatoes; the 8,326 breweries, great and small, which produce beer, a part of which is exported. It is proper also to mention the tanneries, paper factories, bushel making, and other like industries.— Transportation by land in 1873 was facilitated by 13,680 kilometres of railway, and by an excellent. net work of highways and roads; the rivers and canals are also numerous and well kept. - The commerce of Prussia embraces, for exportation, agricultural products (cercals, brandy, wool, etc.), minerals, tissues, and some other merchandise;. for importation, above all, colonial commodities, cotton and other materials and objects of luxury. Besides, almost all raw or manufactured products. figure upon the tables of commerce. It is not possible, however, to give the amount of exports and imports, nor the total value of the commerce of Prussia, because its territory is confounded with that of the Zollverein. (See this word.) We can only know what has entered by the frontiers or the bureaus of Prussia. The institution of the Zollverein has been eminently useful to Prussian -commerce, as well as to German commerce in general, and a part of its progress is due to it. This progress, very perceptible already, can only increase by the suppression of the last vestiges of the guilds (Zünfte), by the multiplication of associations of credit, and the advancement of chemistry and mechanics. (Compare GERMAN EMPIRE.)* MAURICE BLOCK AND DE STE. The following table shows the quantities and value of coal and of lignite (Braunkohle), the quantities in 1,000 tons, and the values in 1,000 mark, in the various provinces of Prussia during the year 1880: Quantities Value, in 1,000 in 1,000 1,695.2 Posen.. 28.7 Silesia. 12,656.8 4,118 106 1,469 23,289 4 67,816 Hesse-Nassau 100 2 919 167.4 128.2 9,874.9 830 350 30,166 PUBLIC DEBTS. (See DEBTS, NATIONAL, STATE AND LOCAL.) PUBLIC LANDS OF THE UNITED STATES. The United States has always been favorably situated as regards land, one of the three important factors in production. There has ever been open to the settler an almost unlimited quantity of rich and uncultivated soil, on which he may locate, and take such part as the law allows at a cost which makes it rather a gift than a purchase. The economic effects of this are too evident to require any extended notice. It has permitted an unexampled growth of population without that pressure upon the productive capacity of the soil for the necessary food which is so marked in older countries; it has offered to the inhabitants of the more densely settled countries of Europe an opportunity to improve their condition by emigration, little or no capital other than what is necessary to reach the land being required; it has in this way attracted the labor, skill, and accumulated experience from those countries, and thus applied them to developing the internal resources of this nation, permitting an advance in industry and commerce commensurate with the extension of agriculture; it has, in a measure, regulated the wages of labor, maintaining them at a higher level than they would otherwise have attained, not only by furnishing an abundance of cheap food, but by offering to the workingman an opportunity of increas50 ing his returns should his wages in industry fall below what he might obtain from cultivating the land; it has made the United States the cheapest market for food products, and has brought the European nations to its doors for their supplies; 11,994 and, finally, it has made us a nation of landowners, and thus not only a strong nation, able to assimilate the vast number of immigrants which annually come to its shores, by giving them a direct interest in the stability and maintenance of its institutions, but also a nation in which a marked distinction of classes is impossible, one man being as good as another, and all possessing equal rights. The laws which govern the transfer and disposition of property have also tended to produce this Not included in the tabular statements given above are zinc and tin ores, salines, and other mineral produce. Gold and silver ores are likewise found in Prussia, the quantities amounting to 206,000 tons, and the value to 3,812,000 mark, in 1880. The total mining produce of the kingdom amounted to 577,304,000 tons, and the value to 314,936,000 mark, or £15,746,800, in the year 1880.- The production of the most important mineral, coal, in Prussia, after vastly increasing for about thirty years, from 1840 to 1871, reached its limit at the latter date, when there came to be an apparent exhaustion of the fields. But the years 1875 and 1876 again showed a large increase in production. The following statement gives, after official returns, the quantities of coal, exclusive of lignite (Braunkohle), raised in the kingdom during the period from 1838 to 1880 : In result, and "free trade in land" is almost absolute. This, for the most part, results in placing the land in the hands of those who intend to cultivate and develop its productiveness, and thus insures a rich return from it. From the very beginning, there has been an abundance of cheap and fertile land. The original thirteen states contained 341,752 square miles, or 218,721,280 acres, but the claims recognized in the definitive treaty of peace with Great Britain in 1783 increased the extent of territory to 830,000 square miles, or 531,200,000 acres. Since that time the national domain has been more than quadrupled. 1803, 1,182,752 square miles, or 756,961,280 acres, were purchased from France, and in 1819 a further tract of 59,268 square miles, or 37,931,520 acres, was purchased from Spain. The annexation of Texas, in 1845, brought 274,356 square miles, or 175,587,840 acres, and in 1850 a purchase from Mexico added about 522,568 square miles, or 334,443,520 acres. In 1850 lands to the extent of 101,767 square miles, or 65,130,880 acres, were bought from Texas; in 1853, 45,535 square miles, or 29,142,400 acres, from Mexico; and in 1867, 577,390 square miles, or 369,529,600 acres, from Russia. Since 1803 the total area of territory, purchased and annexed, is 2,763,636 square miles, or 1,768,727,040 acres. As many of these various transfers contained matters in doubt or in litigation, the results do not exactly agree with the details. The greater portion of this land was unoccupied save by Indian tribes, who subsisted chiefly by hunting and fishing, and therefore had left almost untouched the natural fertility of the soil and the rich mineral deposits beneath it. The original settlers who came to these shores took possession by right of discovery, and claimed exclusive title and possession for the governments they represented, a claim which was, according to the ideas then prevailing, good as against all other individuals or governments. But the Indian tribes, which were at the time settled upon the territory, also claimed exclusive possession and occupancy as sovereign and absolute proprietors. This possession was in a measure recognized. “It was deemed a right exclusively belonging to the government in its sovereign capacity to extinguish the Indian title, and to perfect its own dominion over the soil, and dispose of it according to its own good pleasure. This principle, in the view of the Europeans, created a peculiar relation between themselves and the aboriginal inhabitants. The latter were admitted to possess a present right of occupancy, or use in the soil, which was subordinate to the ultimate dominion of the discoverer. They were admitted to be the rightful occupants of the soil, with a legal as well as just claim to retain possession of it, and to use it according to their own discretion. In a certain sense they were permitted to exercise rights of sovereignty over it. They might sell or transfer it to the sovereign who discovered it, but they were denied the authority to dispose of it to any other persons; and until such * * a sale or transfer, they were generally permitted to occupy as sovereigns de facto. But notwith standing this occupancy, the European discoverers claimed and exercised the right to grant the soil, while yet in possession of the natives, subject, however, to their right of occupancy and the title so granted was universally admitted to convey a sufficient title in the soil to the grantees. in perfect dominion.' (1 Story Comment., p. 8.) This principle was adopted by the United States, and its exclusive right to extinguish the Indian title, by purchase or conquest, has never been judicially questioned (Kent); and further, no lands already occupied by Indians have been thrown open to purchase or settlement until the title of the tribes has been duly extinguished. The ultimate title to the land resided in the sovereign; and when the colonies revolted, this title became vested in the states. The constitution of New York (1846) recognized this principle: “The people of this state, in their right of sovereignty, are deemed to possess the original and ultimate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the state," and the exercise of the right of eminent domain is based upon it. With lands already settled, and subject to private ownership, the states also came into the possession of unoccu pied territory, as yet public property, which had been in very general terms granted to individuals. or to associations by royal charters. This public land was ceded by the states to the federal gov ernment, and formed the nucleus of the public domain. While the national domain contains about 4,000,000 square miles, the public domain which has been acquired by the government of the United States, to be disposed of under and by the authority of the national government, has amounted to 2,894,235 square miles, or nearly three-fourths, of the total area of the country. — The title to this, land became vested in the United States, whether it was obtained by purchase, cession or annexation. The federal constitution provides, that, Congress shall have power to dispose of, and make all needful rules and regulations respecting, the territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims. of the United States, or of any particular state. (Art. IV., § 2.) But is this absolute? Would con gress have the power to dispose of the public land in any way that may appear good at the time? In the short sketch of the history of legislation pertaining to the public lands, it will be seen that almost every conceivable method of disposing of them has been adopted, but the United States has never assumed the position of landlord (save as respects mineral lands, an experiment which ended so disastrously to the interests of the government as to be speedily abandoned). It has rather been a trustee, to whose care the management of this. important trust was given. The deed of cession entered into between New York and the United States expressly provided that the ceded lands and territory were to be held "to and for the only use, | results of previous labor. At first the pubiic lands and benefit of such of the states as are, or shall | YEARS. 1800 1810 1820 1830 20.3 1850 979,249 28,191,876 23.7 1860 1,194,754 1870 1,272,239 38,558,871 20.3 1880 1,569,570 50,155,783 32.0 |