Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1845-10-23
THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER %, 1916.

That is the question; and it presses upon
US more urgently than any other question
within the range of legislative duties
We cannot avoid its consideration. The
States around us arc moving onward in
the work ofimprovemeni; and so urgent
have been considered the claims Of COM
mon schools upon legislative patronage,
manifest the defects of old systems Of
supervision and instruction, aud so COM
mon and universal the benefits to be de-
rived from improvements in both that par
ty spirit has stood silent in presence Of this
great question, and all classes, and all
parties, have made common cause in the
noble work o! educational Improvement.
The expense Of carrying into effect Il
system of adequate supervision need not
he great, while its benefits will be inappre-
clabIe, Dollars and cents cannot meas
ure their value. We readily make in
vestmcnts in railroads, which promise a
return ofpccuniary profit; but what are
such investments, in comparison with
those which, in the process of educating
a community to virtue ard intelligence,
lninso into it the great aud indispensable
clemens of solid and enduring proaper-
ity,
| commend this whole subject to your
earnest consideration, under full persua-
sion that an awakened and greatly advanc-
ed public sentiment will respond hearty
approval to your favorable action on it.
| cannot leave the subject of common
schools, without dcyuting few moments
attention to what is denominated "the
School Fund" The foundation Of this
fund was laid in 1925, when the General
Assembly passed an act sequesrering and
granting to the respective towns in the
State, for The benefit Of common schools,
the 0vais, accrued, and thereafter to
accrue, to the State, from the Vermont
State Bank, and also the amount of State
funds accruing from the six per cent on
the nett profits of the banks, received and
to be received from licenses to pedIars Ii
was provided that said funds, with the an
nuaIy accruing interest, should be Gin
vested in approved bank stocks, or other
productive securities" and should not be
appropriated to the use of schools, until
the amount should increase to a sum
whose annual interest should be adequate
to detray the expenses Of keeping a good
free common school, in each district in
the State, for the period Of two months
The State Treasurer was constituted a
commissioner for the management Of the
fund; who thereupon proceeded to invest
the same, by loans, for the purpose con-
templatpd IN the act.
BY an act passed in the year 1888, fur
Their loans from the fund were prohibited
and the Treasurer was directed TO deros-
it the same in the treasury, as it shonld
be received, and to keep an account there
of, and annually charge the State with the
interest on the money thus deposited
which, it was declared, "shall be consd-
cred as borrowed from the fund.-" and the
Treasurer was authorized and directed
to pay out said money on any appropra-
lions authorized by law"
Under the operation of this act, and
prime. paIly in connection with the expend-
iture of SIN, 900, 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 Accommodations of interest, to the sum
of 1924 300 so, while there is due to il
from individuals, the sum of SIO,50O 81;
making an aggregate of $23l,900 A.
The eXpediency of continuing this fund
has long been questioned, Upon full con.
sderalion, deem it my duty to bring the
subject to your notice, and to submit the
question, whether any present or prospect.
i've interest oGthe people requires that il
be continued
The first question to be considered is
when will the fund become available fol
the use of schools that is, when vii
the annually accruing interest be adequate
to deGray the expenses OF keeping gooc
free common school in each distric; il
the State, for the period oft months.
The number OF school districts in The
$40 towns in the Stae--taking the returns
oflas; year from l59 towns, which CAV,
1909 districts, as the basis of calculation
may be estimated at 2730. If be as
sumed, for the purpose oft the calculation
that, by the time the fund will become a
valuable, the number Of the districts vii
have increased ten per cent on the presen