described in Section 387 of the Political Code, as follows: Every Sunday, New Years' Day, Washington's Birth Day, March Twenty-second, Good Friday, May Thirtieth, known as Memorial Day, the Fourth day of July, the Twenty-fifth day of July, the First Monday in September, (to be known as Labor Day), Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, every Day on which a general election is held throughout the Island and every day appointed by the President of the United States or by the Governor of Porto Rico, or by the Legislative Assembly for public fast or thanksgiving or holiday. When any day falls upon a Sunday, the Monday following is to be a holiday. Unless otherwise directed by the Commissioner of Education the school board and the superintendent of the district may make provision for the proper celebration of these holidays when the same fall on school days by special exercises in the schools of the afternoon session or during the last hour of the school session of the school day next preceding said legal holiday, provided that no special school celebration of Christmas and New Years' Day shall be deemed in districts where the school board makes arrangements for a celebration of a school festival on a day falling between the twentieth day of December and the sixth day of January inclusive, to be know as a school festival of Christmas and Three Kings' Day.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS.

SECTION 34.-The school district shall be co-terminous with the municipality and the school board shall have jurisdiction over all schools within their respective districts.

QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS.

SECTION 35.--Teachers of schools in Porto Rico shall be designated as rural, graded, teachers of English, principal teachers and special teachers, the latter class comprising kindergarten teachers, music and drawing teachers, teachers of sloyd, teachers of trades and special. subjects in industrial schools, teachers in the normal and high schools and special schools, teachers in stenography and typewriting and all other teachers not otherwise classified who may not at any time be employed in school

work under the direction of the Commissioner of Education. They shall all be persons of good moral character and possessed of the necessary requirements for their several positions as may be prescribed by law and certified to by a certificate or license to teach issued by the Department of Education over its own seal and the signature of the Commissioner.

SECTION 36.-Teachers shall pass an examination for a license to teach in the rural schools of Porto Rico in: (1) English language, (2) Spanish language, (3) Arithmetic, (4) Geography, (5) History of the United States and of Porto Rico, (6) Methods of Teaching.

SECTION 37.-Candidates for a license to teach in the graded schools of Porto Rico shall pass an examination in: (1) English language, (2) Spanish language, (3) Arithmetic, (4) Geography, (5) History of the United States and of Porto Rico, (6) Methods of teaching.

SECTION 38.-Candidates for a license to teach as principal teachers shall pass an examination in all of the studies for a license to teach in the graded schools and in addition thereto in: (7) Algebra, (8) Geometry, (9) Physiology, and such additional studies as the Commissioner of Education may require, provided however, that no additional studies shall be required without giving at least six (6) months notice of such additional studies. Licenses to teach as a principal teacher may be granted on the basis of a certificate of graduation from the Insular normal school, or from any other accredited normal school, college or university provided that such applicant possesses also an elementary knowledge of the Spanish language to be tested by an examination.

SECTION 39.-No person shall be granted a license to teach in a rural school who has not attained the age of seventeen (17) years. No person shall be granted a license to teach in the graded schools who has not attained the age of ninteen (19) years, and who has not had at least one years' experience as a principal teacher. No person shall be granted a license to teach as a principal teacher who has not attained the age of twenty-one (21) years and who has not had at least two years' experience as a teacher, provided, however, that any person who has finished satisfactorily a two years' course in the Insular normal school of Porto Rico (exclusive of the preparatory year)

may be granted a license to teach if he possesses the other qualifications without having any previous experience as a teacher, and provided, also, that any person who has completed the full three years' course in the Insular normal school of Porto Rico and has received a diploma from said normal school, shall be entitled to received a license to teach as a principal teacher without further examination or further requirements upon reaching the age of twentyone (21) years and having had one years' experience as a teacher in the schools of Porto Rico.

SECTION 40.-Teachers of English shall be graduates of a first class,high-school, normal school, college or university, or a teacher of extended experience holding a high grade certificate from some state of the United States or they shall pass an examination in the English language including writing, spelling, reading, and grammar, arith metic, geography, history of the United States, physiology, and methods of teaching. In every village and city maintaining a graded system of schools there shall be at least one teacher of English, and as many more as the Commissioner of Education may appoint. All teachers of English shall be selected and appointed by the Commissioner of Education and shall perform the duties he may assign to them. But in all other respects they shall be subject to the same conditions and regulations governing graded teachers.

SECTION 41.-No license to teach in the public schools of Porto Rico shall be issued to any person over sixty years of age.

SUSPENSION AND REMOVAL OF TEACHERS.

SECTION 42.-Teachers shall be suspended from their positions by the Commissioner of Education or by the school board for cruelty, immorality, incompetency, insubordination or negligence in the performance of their du ties, and said Commissioner may reinstate then or dis miss them and cancel their licenses after an investigation which shall be held and in which the school board may file a statement and said teachers shall be heard in their own defense either verbally or in writing. Provided that no suspension by a school board shall be valid for more than five days; and the teacher thus suspended shall not

be again suspended for the same cause by said board during the school year in which the first suspension took place.

SALARIES OF TEACHERS.

SECTION 43.-The salaries of all teachers shall be fixed by the Commissioner of Education within the limits prescribed by law. In the case of special teachers where no such limits are prescribed by law, the salaries shall be fixed by said Commissioner with the advice and consent of the Executive Council. The salary of any teacher may be increased by a school board of any district above the sum fixed by said Commissioner provided said increase shall be made for a definite period and shall be subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Education and shall be paid from the school funds of said school board and not from those of the Department of Education nor from the funds of the Insular Treasury.

SECTION 44.-For the purpose of compensation and payment, teachers shall be assigned by the Commissioner of Education to one of three salaried classes. All rural teachers shall be divided into three classes beginning on and after July 1, 1903. Those of the first class shall receive thirty-five (35) dollars per school month for each month of actual service. Those in the second class shall receive thirty (30) dollars per school month for each month of actual service. Those of the third class shall receive twenty-five (25) dollars per school month for each month of actual service.

SECTION 45.-Graded teachers shall be divided into three classes on and after July 1, 1903, as follows: Those of the first class shall receive fifty-five (55) dollars per month for each month of actual service. Those of the second class shall receive fifty (50) dollars per school month for each month of actual service. Those of the third class shall receive forty-five (45) dollars per school month for each month of actual service.

SECTION 46.-Principal teachers shall be divided into three classes on and after July 1, 1903. Those of the first class shall receive eighty (80) dollars per school month for each month of actual service. Those of the second class shall receive seventy-five (75) dollars per school month for

each month of actual service. Those of the third class shall receive seventy (70) dollars per school month for each month of actual service.

SECTION 47.-Teachers, whether rural, graded or principal, who receive their licenses to teach under the Department of Education after the passage of this act, shall be placed in the third class and may not be advanced to the second class until after they have taught three years in the public schools of Porto Rico. Said teachers shall not be advanced to the first class from the second without having taught five years in the public schools of Porto Rico. No period of teaching in the public schools, of Porto Rico, prior to July 1, 1903, shall be counted in calculating the length of service provided however, that all persons who hold a diploma or special certificate from the Insular Normal School indicating that they have passed successfully at least one year of the regular course of study in the Normal School (not including the preparatory year), by reason of the superior advantages which they have enjoyed shall be admitted when given a license to teach by the Department of Education, to the second salaried class, immediately upon beginning their work in the public schools, and provided that all rural, graded and principal teachers in actual service during the school year 1902-03, who may be given a license to teach for the school year 1903-04 shall be assigned to the second class of their respective grades.

SECTION 48.-Teachers of English shall receive not less than forty (40) nor more than sixty (60) per school month for each month of actual service. Teachers from the United States principal teachers in the public schools of Porto Rico whose licenses are removed by the Commissioner of Education and who pass a satisfactory examination under the Commissioner indicating that they possess an elementary knowledge of both the Spanish and English language may be allotted-in the discretion of said Commissioner-actual travelling expenses and additional compensation in going from their respective posts to New York or other port of entry of the United States and in returning from New York or other port of departure in the United States to their respective posts in Porto Rico during the vacation period. Provided that for such travelling expenses no teacher shall in any one year be allowed