creased; more and better schoolhouses had been erected and supplied with better furniture and school apparatus; teachers were better qualified, and as a result pupils were better taught; funds were being more judiciously expended; back of all these, public opinion was growing to a more intelligent appreciation of the schools and of their wants.
The school situation as it was then developing must have given much pleasure to the friends of education and enlightenment. The Territorial system had started on an independent career with Sherman in 1879 and had gone its own way with little supervision until 1883. Then came Horton, who was really first to undertake the organization of the Territorial system. He made some progress; the law of 1883 was a step in the right direction; then, in 1885, the old superintendent (Horton) and the new (Long) put their heads together and evolved a still better law, which, under the pressure of actual working conditions, was somewhat modified in 1887, A beginning in high-school work had appeared about 1883. Provisions were made in 1885 for a university and the normal school at Tempe, and the latter began to furnish teachers. The outlines of a complete Territorial system were visible, and in 1885 a uniform course of study was adopted, but was unfortunately soon abandoned. The last year of Long’s administration seems to mark the crest of the wave of progress; with the incoming of Strauss retrogression became more and more marked.
There were, however, unquestionably serious drawbacks in the school situation. In the first place, the schools were in polities, and any change in the control of national parties in Washington was felt in the public-school superintendency in Arizona. The result of this was bad. Every governor appointed his own friends to office, and as a result there was a rapid succession of officials, who, however earnest and devoted, were handicapped by inexperience. By the time they had learned their duties they were ready to give way to other untrained men.
