Vandalia Whig and Illinois intelligencer. [volume] (Vandalia, Ill.) 1832-183?, 1833-02-20

distributing the School Fund, equitably amongst the
eral counties of this State, beg leave to report
That the late period of the session orbds the bestow
ment of that attention to the subject which its impor
lance would seem to demand. There is perhaps, no
Question requiring Legislative action, vitality interest
the present. and to succeeding generations, SO full
of difficulty and perplexity, SO needing the exercise
of sound discretion. Upon the udicous arrangement
of school system, and upon the due application Of our
limited fund will depend the mora intellectual, social
and political condition of our highly favored country
fl In considering the expedency of uniform system Of
schools, it becomes necessary to direct attention to
the actual circumstances and condition of the State The
newness Of the country, recently redeemed from the
Wilderness the sparseness OF the population, and the
wide extent Of prares, would render any attempt at a
perfect system, such adopted older States entirely
Visionary and impracticabe. However well it may ap-
pear upon paper, it is obvious that division OF the
State into townships and further subdivision into school
districts with the designation Of Teachers, Trustees Com
mssoners, Treasurer, and Secretaries, would leave many
porons without inhabtant, and of course many OIL
GERS without employment And it would farther result
from artificial arrangements Of boundaries that the
people would in many instances be precuded from that
organization which mig ht be best accommodated to their
actual circumstances.
Regarding this subject therefore, in rational and
practical point of view, it is TRUTH however unwecome
to anxious wishes, that the establishment of schools
must be gradual and progressive in proportion to the adj
vance of population the growing resources OF the peo
pie, and the Development of resources to supply the
lack Of timber. Until these obstacles are removed, it
can alone be practicable to adapt system to such
schools may be put in operation by the people them
selves Wherever these already ormay hereafter be
established, the funds at command should be applied
The teachers might call together their employers. for the
purpose of elecg Trustees whose duties ought to be
distinctly defined, and who should be especially required
to report to the Teacher all orphan children, and the
children of INDECENT parents, for grauitous Instruction.
The several teachers should keep schedule OF the num-
Der Of scholars and the number Of days they in at
tendance, and this schedule should be transmitted to the
school commissioner of the county, whose duty 1t should
be to pay over to each teacher the proportion to which
he would appear from the schedule aforesaid to be emit
tied, from the combined proceeds of the sixteenth
tions and the school fund This plan recommends itself
to favourable consideration account Of its extreme
simplicity, and its peculiar adaptation to the present cir
cumstances of the country 1t presents complicated
Details it suggests superuous provisions, 1t points to
waste and unnhabed districts, it proposes super
numerary officers it unes divided funds, and contldes
them to the management of competent and respen-
Sibe individual.
The second branch of the resolution, relative to the
distribution of the fund.- upon equitable principles amongst
the several counties, is attended with embarrassments
long felt and sensby deplored by the Legislature at ev
cry session. The impression has been too widely circu-
lated and the vain hope fond cherished, that schools
could be every where ushered into existence, and ade
qaately supported by mere Legislative enactmens De
uded by such false hopes, and reposng mistaken conf
dence in the capacity of representatives to provide
the of general instruction, the efforts of the peo
pie have been paralized and the great OF educa
ton, been suffered to langush for the want of suitable
and well directed exerton. 1t cannot be too soon an
nounced, too forcbly impressed upon the public
mind, that vigorous and united action amang them
selves, indispensable to the of Instruction
Ito their children, and that little, very little, can be &C
compshed by the State. But small may be the fund
at disposal it becomes question Of deep interest to
the country, how it be made most available to the
highly important objects ofeducation. Two modes of dis
buton have been proposed the one according to pop
ulaon the other according to the number of counties
Whilst each mode has enlisted and Jealous sup
port from its advocates it cannot escape the candid OBJ
ervaon of all, that both liable to great and insu
perable objections Adopting the principle of popula-
ton, the present densey settled counties of the State,
would receive very large dividend whilst the new and
thinly inhabited counties, would be entitled to very
small share. And yet from the rapid influx OF emf
grants, few years might supply to the latter an equal
population with the former. Adherng to the division
according to countless Sangamon Morgan, contain
ling about four thousand three hundred children, would
be allowed than the county of Hancock, contain
ling only about three hundred.
And thus would be exhibited, snguarly unequal ap-
plicaon of fund, which designed alike for all the
children of the State. further objection to the distr
button of the whole fund in either mode arises from the
multiplied risks of loss, and waste. Every division and
subdivisions necessarily increases the danger Of losing
the whole. What then might be the consequence Of
parcelling it out among fftysx counties, and committing
lit to the management of SO great number OF ohcers!
Will any be willing upon question of such general State
TO TO andIn