Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1829-02-09

circumstances, very few poor children ever attend
scnooi more than hall their time; and that st small
Tor number derive any benefit from the opportunity
which Is afforded them of obtaining an education.
That poor children are not ut school more than
half the year. may be satisfactorily proven from the
reports OF commissioners. l have before me the re-
turns from one county, for four years in succession.
these there are put down. with great accuracy the
annual price paid for each scholar, and the tuition
fees of all the teachers in the county. find by cal
euhtion, that the average price paid by the commits
s'orers Tor each scholar Is, So 10 and the average
Prce OF tuition III the county is $l3 To- hence if Tho
tuition tor one year, he Sl3 10, and the commission.
or only pays 50 20 for each scholar Inc SENDS it follows
ihHt he engages for five months only little moro.
may DC said, that tins calculation applies one
county, and cannot lead to any general conclusion
VIII moke another, against which, this objection
cannot be offered. There are educated bv the public
fund about 10000 children annually The average
price Oh tuition IN the State, is, II dollars per
1t therefore, all these children were sent 10 school
Tor one year at the average price, their tuition would
amount To $3.50 900, lacking only ouc-third of beinn
three times as much the present appropriation;
consequently, If the whole OF; the SIS 600 were ex
pended on the children, at the rate OF si2 each per
year, it would be exhausted in less than five months
thence must conclude one of two things first /,
ten thousand children sent to school by the public
1t - only TOR nve months in the years secondly
the children sent, engaged for the whole year
The number canuot exceed four or five thousand.
But the evils of the present system do stop here
In mnny counties there arc not poor children enough
I'd tue quota winch lQllS to tnCm;
the surplus is left III the hands of the treasurer which
ANNUALLY accmuates aud in short time amounts 70
considerable sum. In other counties there ure
lew or no poor children reported; that nearly the
Whole OF their appropriation is UNEMPLOYED in the
hands OF the treasurer. IL would not be cxarcratio
to say that at least fifth of the SIS 900 is snap
proproted, or is loaned sharpers and shavers
for the purpose of grinding their fellow citizens and
bringing them down to level with those beings for
whose benefit the very money they use was intended
10 be applied. This leads to other evil consequences
The Accommodation of money in the hands of men not
strictly responsible for the manner Of its disburse-
ment, offers strong temptation to its msapplicaton
The law, US have said before, so far from mitnp
the powers of the commissions, has left him with
out any restriction whatever sIhc commissioners
shall have power TO determine what number of moor
children they Will edcate what sun shall be Maid
or their education; to authorize each of thcnselvrs
TO select SO many poor children they nlav deem
cXpedicnt; and to draw orders upon their treasurer
Tor the payment or the expense of tuition" &c
Each commissioner according to this article IS at IL
berty to select whom and what number he picases
IRON the large and underlined class called poor; to sti-
pulatc with the teacher for any sum he NAV demand
d 10 draw orders on the treasurer for the payment.
An excellent opportunity of tavoriBg friends and OF
Destowng the public charity on unworthy objects is
here afforded which fail to take adVan,ar e
OF when they have the means in their mower and
when the law is indefinite as not to restrain them
10 avoid difficulties of this kind the commissioners
IN some counties have determined among themselves
that mo person shall be considered an INDECENT child
whose parent or parents ought To be enabled nv his
her, their property labor or skill TO deray the OK
pensc OF sending such child TO school" II the law
itself had been thus defined there never coulI hav.
arisen any doubt as 10 its applications; but as i.
now is, different Interpretation, is given in al
most every county. have known children sent TO
school on the public fund, whose parents were free
lodcr5 and great many whose fathers were able
bodied men oflucratve trades, who might have made
an ample support for their families and have afforded
TIC means OF giving their children plain English
nTf
pugnlnG the motive of commissioners; I have no
doubt they actuatod by the desire of doin rood:
they feel themselves at liberty, when those who are
paupers strictly speaking cannot be found 10 sect
others whom they may bestow the BLESSINGS an
education. But if such latitude as this is allowed
land the law certainly does allow it what must be he
consequence: Ill we not be Offering n premium
Tor ldeness and dissipation? and will we not i'm few
years bring upon ourselves class of paupers rs nu-
merous and as burdensone as those miserable beiDrs
for whose support the English nation is oppressed Iy
an Intolcrable tax?
When men find in their possession a sum of public
money more than sufficient for the PURPOSES OF It's an
preparations and which they are not bound TO rcrn:
1t Is most natural to suppose that they will create m
crative Offices for the purpose of securing it amonr
themselves. An opportunity of this kind offers itself
IN the management of the school fund. No men arc
more convinced of the Effectiveness of the uresent
law than the commissioners themselves. But know
ing tht 50 long as 1t exists the money 1tsbe re-
turned to the public treasury, and be diverted into
other channels; and knowing also that thcy hav more
than sufficient to satisfy the demands of the law and
even that which isleguy applied is of lutte use thc
most cogcnt reason of any;) the commissioners saw
knowing all this, feel at liberty to appropriate to their
own purposes as much they without transcen-
dng their limits And in this respect the law allows
them great latitude: sit shall be lawful for the com,
missioncrs to make such allowance to their trcasu
rer and clerk oach, they may deem reasonable for
their services and TO authorize their Treasurer 10
their own reasonable expenses incurred in attendn1
their meetings" Here ample scope is allowed the
commissioners 20 receive as great a SUN as
the capacity OF tIor conscicnces will admit At first
however, they showed great magnunmity in refsino,
all pay whatsoever bu; finding after a few years that
there was than enough money for the specified
objects of the law, they then voted n remuneration
for the services Of treasurer and clerk. AS it is
law OF our nature TO be always progressive aud for
the succeeding generation 10 excel the one that went
before, think is not beyond the bounds Of probab
ty to say that the next set of commissioners (sould
tho surplus fund continue TO accumulao) will nppro-
priatng money for their own services, cnargethe sa
Inrles OF their officers to make them profitable
and a. the same time nottraneress the law.-What is