Then too, the founding and sustaining of a technical school is a matter to be noted. This may be in the hands of the general government, of the state, of the municipality, or may be looked after by private enterprise. The Guilds, Vereins or Associations may organize, equip and foster schools of such character as train directly for their particular lines of work. It must be stated however in this connection, that there seems to be a strong tendency at the present time toward the centralizing of control in the states. This has been brought about in large measure through the ever-increasing willingness on the part of the state to give financial backing to the schools, and thus has quite naturally arisen the desire and necessity on the part of the state, that it have a controlling voice in the school administration. Herein lies one of the main differences between such education in Germany and that of our own country. Conrad’s Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften, 1900, in an article entitled “Gewerblicher Unterricht”, gives the following table on state expenditure for trade and technical instruction in recent years: Prussia: Marks 142,000 ($33,796) in 1874; Marks 475,000 ($114,050) in 1885; Marks 4,672,000 ($1,111,936) in 1899. Saxony: Marks 235,000 ($60,214) in 1873; Marks 570,000 ($135,660) in 1885; Marks 1,138,000 ($270,844) in 1898. Wurttemburg industrial continuation school: Marks, 58,000 ($13,804) in 1869; Marks 129,000 ($30,702) in 1879; Marks 164,000 ($39,032) in 1889; Marks 208,000 ($49,504) in 1897. The cost of the state per capita of the population of the expenditures was as follows: Prussia, Pfennigs 15 (3½ cts.) in 1899; Saxony, Pfennigs 29 (7 cts.) in 1898; Hesse, Pfennigs 22 (5 cts.) in 1898. The cost per Marks 1,000 ($236) of the entire state expenditures was Marks 2.27 (54 cts.) in Prussia in 1899, and Marks 5.88 ($1.40) in Saxony in 1898. In general the German schools are classified upon a basis of the grade of instruction given rather than upon the character of the subjects taught. Primary education is compulsory, that is to say, all children are compelled by law to attend school from their sixth to their fourteenth year. It is at this point that we find our difficulty. To quote Dr. Alwin Pabst of Leipzig (who speaks of conditions governing technical schools): “The age of admission, length of course, fees and other conditions (examinations) of these schools differ widely. Ages range from fourteen to thirty years or over; length of course, one to four or five years; fees perhaps twenty to thirty marks per year. The Fortbildungsschule is the only institution in which no fee is charged.” (Taken from a personal letter.) Several classifications commend themselves for use. Each has its weaknesses and breaks down at some point, owing to the conditions previously mentioned. In order the better to illustrate this difficulty I shall give these various possible classifications.