The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-01-03
tn. BOARD 0, EDucArros.-w. felt i, our duty

TIE BOARD OF EDUCATION. felt it our duty
short time since, as conductors OF public
press, TO call the attention of the public to the
proceedings Of this Board; since when. our table
has been covered with communications, contain
ing grave and wsigh,y charges against It's men,
bers We are sorry for tive regret they
should by any acts OF theirs, leave themselves
open TO public animadvcrsion, For many ofthem
we entertain, both in public end private, the
highest respect; aud even in their collective capa
city, We were disposed to look on them with
favor; for, as we said in our former article, we
considered the Board of Education the most i'm
portant and useful body in this State, and so we
consider it still, provided its labors are properly
and honestly directed but if the charges now
made are we'll founded, (and the sources from
which we derive our information scarcelyieavea
doubt on our minds oftheir general correctness,)
we have been egregiously mistaken in our esti-
mate Of the public services of this body.
In our former article we briefly alluded 10 the
duties of the Board of Education, and to the
power and authority with which the public has
invested them if they have unfaithfully per-
formed the one, and abused the other, it Is high
time the public should know it. Ga the other
hand, if the charges are without foundation, and
incons derately made, it is fit those gentlemen
should have an opportunity of exculpating and
setting themselves right with the public, and we
presume they will Cat least they should) be
thankful to US for giving them that opportunity.
We now proceed to state shortly the nature of
those charges. The first is, that they have gross
ly and wilfully wasted the school fund, by pur-
chasing lots and erecting school houses where
they were not wanted, solely for the purpose of
giving jobs to favorites; that some of those
school houses have been erected in unhealthy
localities; and although erected at an enormous
expense to the public, are altogether untitled for
the accommodation and reception of the chill
dren that school houses much more commo-
dious might be put up at one half the cost; but,
as our informants say, the commissioners, In
giving contracts, are influenced more by desire
to subserve the private interests Of individuals
than to benefit those for whom the public bounty
was intended that the expense incurred in fit
ting up and furnishing school houses after their
erection is totally unnecessary, and incurred for
the same object for which building contracts are
given, namely, to create influence and serve
party purposes.
The Board is also charged with the sin of ia
voritism, in the selection and appointment of
school masters, or, at all events, that it is charge
sble with not keeping proper supervision over
the ward officers, who have the immediate Sc
lection and appointment of those functionaries
that they, the members of the Board, are more
DESTROYS to multiply the number of school
masters than to increase the number Of scholars,
and that the former are altogether out Of proper
ton to the latter in short, that the sole object
of the Board seems to be to increase its patron
age, and then to abuse it.
The next charge relates to the free academy.
Our informants insist that the site for the erec-
ton of the building is for many reasons, unsulted
to the purposes for which it is intended "The
Board, saythey, "were unhappy in their selection
Of locality; they have made choice OF site
in the midst ola densely populated neighborhood,
blocked up ON all sides with dwellings, which
renders it altogether untitled for reflection and
study, and only calculated to distract and disturb
the minds of youth, and to call them of from those
pursuits which alone should engross their undi-
vided attention" Again, they say, " the location
is unhealthy that section the island lying very
ow, full of swamps and marshes, the conse-
quence Of /. hich will be that solid foundation,
upon which TO erect permanent and durable
structure, cannot be made, no matter what ex-
pense the Board may incur in their endeavors TO
construct one" To ourselves this is the most
painful charge Of all we were the first to take
an interest in the welfare of the free academy,
and to hail ii as a blessing. We anticipated that
great benefits not alone to the city OF New York,
but to the country at large, would flow from the
establishment of such an institution amongst u.s.
We thought we saw in it the germ from which
would spring American patriots, statesmen, and
philosophers, and hence it was we were particu-
larly anxious that the incpient steps to be taken
by the Board for its erection, should be marked
by sound judgment, patriotism, and purity Of mo-
tive but instead of having been marked by
either one or the other, the public find that be-
fore the first stone is laid, jobbing is introduced.
1t will necessarily lose the confidence of the
people, and fall still-born to the ground.
We shall take the subject up again in few
days, when we intend to make some remarks on
the mode in which appropriations have been
hitherto made; and we shall also point out for
the special benefit OF the public, the information
the Board should require from ward officers
asking for appropriations for school purposes, be-
fore such appropriations are granted.
BANK STATEMENTS. We have received state
ment from the receivers of the Plainfeld Bank,
in reply to that published by the Messrs. Beach,
the managers of that institution. We have also
received statement from the directors of the
Elizabethtown Bank, in reply to the statement
made against it.
If we must publish any of these statements, we
shall publish them all, Wis The report and evil
dence concerning the Plainheld Bank, the state.
ment Of the Messrs. Beach in reply-that of the
receivers of the Plainfield, and that OF the