Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1845-10-16


examination and regulation of the schools and the
Improvement of the scholars in learning" But ex-
perence has shown abundantly, that all this is I'M
avaihng to the purpose of securing proper exam
nation, or, indeed, any examination of teachers Or
proper supervision of the schools, or to awaken
that interest in their improvement among parents,
and throughout the community, which is as indis
pensable to their vigorous health and prosperity,
apure, braCing atmosphere is to the support of hui
man life. ,.. /.
We want system of supervision which shall
make the power of benefcent Legislation felt through
competent and discreet agencies, in every district
and by every child in the State. Shall we have it2
That is the question; and it presses upon us more
urgently than any other question within the range Of
our Legislative duties. We cannot avoid its consid-
Grafton: The States around us are moving onward
in the work of improvements and SO urgent have been
considered the claims of common schools upon leg
islative patronage-so manifest the defects of old
systems of supervision and instruction. and so com
mon and universal the benefits to be derived from
improvements in both, that party spirit has stood ST.
lent In presence OF this great question: and all class
es and all parties have made common cause in the
noble work of educational improvement
The expenses of carrying into effect system of
adequate supervision need not be great, while its
benefits will be inappreciable Dollars and cents
cannot measure their value. We readily make in
which promise return of pecuniary profit but what
are such investments in comparison with those which,
in the process of educating community to virtue
and intelligence, infuse into it the great and ndis-
pensable elements of solid and enduring prosperity!
commend this whole subject to your earnest
consideration, under full persuasion that an awak-
ened and greatly advanced public sentiment will re-
spond hearty approval to your favorable action on it.
| cannot leave the subject of common schools,
without devoting few moments attention to what is
Familiarity denomnated i" the School Fund" The
foundation of this fund was laid in 1926, when the
General Assembly passed an act sequestenng and
granting to the respective towns in the State, for the
benefit of common schools, the amount of the a.
Vais accrued and thereafter to accrue to the State
from the Vermont State Bank, and also the amount
of the State funds accrung from the six per cent on
the nett profits of the banks received and to be re-
ceived, and the amount received and to be received
from licenses to pedlars. 1t provided that said
funds, with the annually accruing interest," shoudbe
Invested in approved bank Stocks or other product
i've securities" and should not be appropriated to
the use of schools, until the amount should increase
to sum, whose annual interest should be adequate
to defray the expenses Of keeping good free com
mon school, in each district in the State, for the pc
Rod of two months.
The State Treasurer was constituted commss-
ionel for the management of the fund; who thereup-
on proceeded to invest the same, by loans, for the
purpose contemplated in the act
BY an act passed in the year 1888, further loans
from the fund were prohibited, and the Treasurer
was directed to deposit the same in the treasury, as
should be received, and to keep an account there
Of and annually charge the State with the interest
on the money thus eposited-which it was decar-
elk, "shal be considered as borrowed from the fund.-"
and the Treasurer was authorized and directed to
pay out said money on any appropriations authoriz-
ed by law"
Under the operation of this act, and principally
in connection with the expenditure Of $4,000, for
the erection of the State House. the State from time
to time has become indebted to this fund, until the
Indebtedness now amounts, including the accumula-
tons of interest, to the sum of 1924 800 so, while
there is due to it from ndivi, uals the sum of &c.,
$50 81; making an aggregate of $234,90 "A.
The eXpediency of continuing this fund has long
been questioned. Upon full consideration | deem
it my duty to bring the biect to your notice, and
to submit the question: whether any present or pros
pectye interest of the people requires that it be
nued.
The first question to be considered is, when will
the fund become available for the use of schools )
that is, when will the annually accruing interest be
"adequate to detray the expenses of keeping good
free school, in each district in the State, for
the period of two months"
The number of school districts in the 240 towns in
the Statetaking the returns of last year from 159
towns, which gave 1909 districts as the basis of cal
cuation-may be estimated at 2730. If it be assum-
ed for the purpose of the calculation, that by the
time the fund will become available, the number of
the districts will have increased ten per cent on the
present number-which may be regarded as not an
improbable increase within thlrty-three years-we
shall have 5000 districts to be provided, from the
walls Of the fund, with good school, two months in
each year. Estimating the expense ofkeeping such
school two months, in the then advanced stage Of
educational improvement at $40, there would be re-
CURED the sum of $4,000, as the accring interest
Of the fund.- to render it available; which is the in
terest, at six per cent on $2,0O0,00O.
The question now arises--withn what time will
the fund probably accumulate to 100000? Its
present amount is $234900 44-the annual interest
on which, at six per cent. is $l4,094 o. The av-
erage annual income from the six per cent of bank
profits, for the last six years, has been $500 sc;
and from pedar's licenses 81, LAG 50; amounting to
! $46l6 80; which may be assumed as the annual
addition to the fund.- hereafter from these sources
The avails ofthe Vermont State Bank have nearly
ceased to add anything to the fund.- and should not
be made the basis of any calculation for the future
We have, then, the elements of the calculation,
namely the present amount of the fund.- the interest
thereon for one year, and the probable annual in
come from the bank tax and pedlar's licenses The
process of accumulation by annually compounding
the interest, according to the act constituting the
fund, will produce $2000387 70 on the first of jan
uary 1885, so that the children who shall be in life
in that year. will reap the first fruits of the fund.- if it
shall be SO long continued This assumes, howev-
er, the doubtful position, that six per cent interest
may be realized throughout the intervening period of
hnty-ttCO gears and three months, and makes no al
owance for losses, and the expense of managing the
fund.
The great question is now presented-what, in
reference to this fund.- is duty to the generation
of 1873? Admitting, of course, that it is our duty
to labor for the benefit of that generation the ques
ton s-wl that generation be really benefited by
continuance of the fund d? If we could send 1t
forward to them, really invested in approved bank
stocks, or other productive securities" according to
the law Of 1925, they might, perhaps be benefited
though the expediency of accommodating school funds
SO large as to have the effect of relaxing personal
efforts, begins to be questioned. But so far as we
send them fund consisting Of debt due from the
state we send fund entirely rlnproductive-a funt
which, when it reaches them, will consist merely in
their Indebtedness to themselves FIVE would make
it otherwise VIC must tax the people of this genera
ton to an amount sufficient to extngush the ndebt
edness Of the State to the fund and having thus
tho IF