The Kansas herald of freedom., 1856-11-01
The School Lands.

Few subjects are of more interest to the
people of Kansas than education, and the
means by which it is to be obtained. So
important has this been considered by
our greatest and best Statesmen, that
they early set apart portion Of the pub
lie domain to be used for this purpose.
The State of Connecticut, when she
ceded to Congress all her right and title
to lands lying west of her present boun-
dary, to the Pacific Ocean, reserved sew
eral hundred thousand acres lying in the
northeast part of the State of Ohio, for
school purposes. This land has ever
since been known as the Western Re-
serve. The money which has accrued
from the sale of these lands, has been
funded by the State of Connecticut, and
the interest annually appropriated to the
support of common schools. This fund
now amounts to over two millions of dol
lars. So that every child in that State is
educated, at the common schools, by the
interest accruing from that fund. Every
native born child is compelled, by law, to
attend school. 1t follows that no native
of that State is ever found who cannot
read and write. Almost the only
qualification for voting is, that a man
must be able to read the Constitution
Congress gave to the new States, COM
mencing with Ohio, every sixteenth sec
ton in every township in the State
Ohio has taken very good care of her
school lands. Much of it was rented or
leased out for term of years, by the
trustees of the township in which it lay
and the avails went to make up school
fund. After the country became old and
settled, much of the land was sold for
$50 and $50 per acre, and some even
more. In this way, the State has accu-
mulated a school fund amounting, at this
time, to about one million of dollars, the
interest of which goes to support COM
mon schools. In Illinois and Wisconsin,
demagogues and partisans got the con-
troll of public affairs, put tie public
lands into the hands of commissioners
for sale, and, it is supposed, made pri-
vate arrangements by which they could
obtain possession of them at a merely
nominal price, and afterwards selling
them at the market price, secured to
themselves an immense fortune, leaving
the State mere pittance for her schools.
The State of Michigan has made a
very new, and, We think, a very judicious
use of her school lands. With the funds
arising from them, she has established a
STATE UNIVERSITY, free to all her own
citizens. This university has already a
fund of nearly S30O,O0O, and every de-
partment of science has its professors
and its pupils. The professors are paid
out of this fund. The buildings, appa
ratus and books, are furnished by the
fund. They have the best astronomical
observatory, and the best telescope in the
United States. They have also extensive
experimental grounds for agriculture,
horticulture and gardening, and profess
ors for every department. The State
buildings are only school rooms, lecture
rooms, library rooms, &c. The students
board around in the city. We shall be
called upon soon to make some disposi-
ton of our school lands. Let every set
tier make up his mind, and say whether
they shall be sold Immediately, or re-
served few years till they increase in
value, so as to give fund to us and those
who may come after US, ofgreat and per-
manent utility.