Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-01-01
EVENING STAR.

the Mayor, in relation to the bill appropri-
atiug $4,000 for the erection of school build.
ings in the third school district, and which has
been crowded out hitherto by press Of mat
ter:
MAYORS 0FrIcE, Dec. %, 1855.
To tie board Of Alderman
GENTLEMEN: 1 regret that L cannot, con
sistently with my own convictions of right and
my obligations TO those whose agent u, IN
my official position, give my approval to the
act which originated in your Board, to pro-
vide suitable accommodations for the puulic
schools in the Third School District.
No citizen of Washington is more earnestly
friendly TO the public schools cf the city than
L am. No one has given them a warmer CT
moro consistent support, and none would go
further than would now to promote their
prosperity and usefulness in esery proper
manner. But l have other interests commit
ted to my care which L am equally bound to
foster, and with which 1 think the execution
Of this act would seriously interfere. No oloan
is authorized, nor any extraordinary method
of raising the means resOrted TO, TO meet the
outlay provided for by it; bat tie treasury o.
the city, which is not in condition 10 spare.
without serious Inconvenience, so large a sun
as ten thousand dollars, is drawn upon and,
| indeed, it would not only be inconvenient,
the Corporation. The bank account, which
will DC transmitted to you to-day, will show
that there is but thirteen thousand dollars TO
the credit OF tho Corporation and that, al
though that belongs to the Wards for local
improvements, il will be absorbed on the FIRST
OF the approaching month to pay a quarters
interest and other liabilities Of the Corpora
ton, leaving the treasury utterly empty and
there is no prospect of any considerable acces-
A. e.. J c.L... ~
not enough to pay Its current expenses, until
after the expiration Of the current fiscal year,
as most Of the licenses arc already taken out,
and but little will be received from taxes un-
til the tax sale, and then no more will be
cessarJ to meet current expenses and accruipg
interest; ard this, must be permitted 20 say,
gentlemen, is n state Of things against which
you were warned, and having failed to pro-
vide means to avert il, yCu ought now. IL
justice to tho taxpayers, to practice that
economy in your appropriations which alone
could justify fixing the rate Of taxes as il now
stands, with the expectation Of meeting the
public wants.
But there are other serious objections 10 this
bill. / think it may be we'll doubted whether
it would be wise, in a sparsely populated To-
cality like the third school district, to make
the first experiment of following the New York
plan of bringing a large number OF schools to-
the public schools is to furnish the means Of
AGO uiring a substantial! education TO all, and
il may well be doubted whether you accom-
plish this object in such community "a that
which makes up the third district, spread as Il
is over a wide extent of our city territory, and
that, perhaps, the worst drained Of Gil, and
affording as few facilities 10 the pedestrian.
This system may work well In New York,
where the population is 30 compactly pressed
together that a large number of children may
| be collected in very small space, and indif
| ferently clad children may, though badly pro-
vided with shoes, 90 from their homes over
excellent payements TO school house perhaps
adjacent, but even if far off, without wctting
their feet, and find more comfortable place
than their own parents 6reSide; but this will
not be the case in the eastern section of the
city for many years TO come; and, until ii IS
so, il seems to me that it would be better 10
pursue |, a It in all the outer portions Of the
city, the same policy which mas heretofore
worked go we'll, of carrying the facilities Of
educating his children to almost every mans
door, even If IL does costa little more money
to do 50 +; and l will cheerfully exert all the
power vested in me to procure, either by rent
ing, purchasing or building, suitable school
rooms in the place Of those which are described
as so dilapidated TO be utterly unfit for use.
One of the buildings now owned by the COrpO-
ration, and known as the "0ld Odd Fellows
Hall, " was purchased only about three years
ago, and Was then represented as all that
could be desired in a school house, but is now
described as never having been we'll adapted
to public school purposes. am sure there %
much truth in the remarks of the Secretary of
the Board OF Trustees, In his communication
to the Councils of the 29th Of November last,
that there is not building in the third dis
trict strictly entitled to be styled a school
house," and the remark could well be applied
to the other districts. The district school
house In the first district, for instance, is an
old building, formerly stable, situated at
the corner of q street north and Fourteenth
street west, and covering, with the exception
of a very narrow alley, all the ground appro-
priated to 1t.
Why, then, when this difficulty is so general
and the city treasury so much embarrassed,
shall we begin the erection Of an experimental
class Of school houses, at most inauspiciOus
season of the year, and in portion Of the city
in which they are less likely to answer than
perhaps any other? l suggest, then, that We
husband our means, and provide comfortably
for all as we are able, and, instead Of resorting
TO the already Overburdened funds raised by
the general tax, that the fiscal year be made
an epoch in the history of our public schools
by beginning a new system of raising funds
for their support, independently of the general
fund and the money which ought to be applied
for local improvements, by resorting to the
power of the Corporation to lay direct tax
for the special purpose of supporting the
schools, and providing suitable accommoda-
tions for them.
Another objection to this act is TO be found
in the manner it is directed to be executed
For the first time in the history of the city
and its legislature an important work is au-
thorized to be done, and the chief executive
officer of the Corporation is pointedly excluded
from participation in its management. The
individual who is held more directly response
BILE for every act of the Corporation during
his connection with it than any other-name-
ly, the Mayors not even to be consulted,
whilo the larger portion Of the committee
composed as it is Of gentlemen very remotely
responsible to the peOple) are, by the law, au-
thOrized to purchase lot, to contract for
building, to take bonds in behalf of the Cor
pOration, and the Mayor, who is held by the,
community responsible, is to have nothing to
do with the W hole thing but pay the bills when
properly audited by the committee, whether
there is money to do it with or not, or to have
the credit of the city impaired by declining to
i ~ 81 L. -, Oh L. 10 4