Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1861-01-18

Ohio State Board of Agriculture, and
to direct the results of experiments in
the several departments of farming and
stock raising, to be communicated to
the farmers Of the State through the
annual report of that Board.
Agricultural schools, wherever estab-
Elished, have been productive of valua-
BILE results. Such an institution iii this
State, organized upon principles adapted
to the habits of the people, do not
doubt, would receive their approval.
Invite your favorite consideration to
this subject.
| COMMON SCHOOLS.
AS our civil and political institutions
Fare derived from the wisdom and exist
in the will of the people-the source of
all rightful authority and of all legiti-
mate sovereignty-it is obvious that it
is upon the education of the people we
must rely for the purity, the rreserva-
ton, and the perpetuation of our repub-
lican form Of government. In this sa-
cred cause we cannot exercise too much
liberality. It is identified with our
best interests in this world, and with
our best destinies in the world to come
1t is a source Of just pride to the people
of this State that Ohio has no cause of
self-reproach on this account The
wise pr6vision of her organic law, i'm
posing the duty upon the General As
ssmbly of maintaining thorough and
efficient system Of common schools
throughout the State; and fidelity with
which this obligation has been dis
charged. bear honorable witness of her
zeal in behalf of popular education.
Our present school law was enacted
in 1858. It is much more comprehen-
sive and effective in its provisions than
any preceding law in Ohio. Being
radical in some of its features it is not
surprising that it met with early oppo-
sition. It imposed, what seemed to
some, an unreasonable taxation, and
conferred authority upon Boards of
Education which was objected to by
many. But from the first large ma
jority of the people have approved the
system, and since it has vindicated it's
value by its actual workings little op-
position is sarrayed against it. Wherever
| it has been faithfully administered it
has accomplished noble work for the
people Of the State.
For full exhibit of the progress in
education understhis system I refer you
to the report of the School Commits
sioner.
The receipts and expenditures for
the school year ending August 81,
1860, were as follows, viz:
Balance on hand September |. 1859, 5a2,790 81
Fines Licenses and miscellaneous sources, 69,715 i3
Irreducible school funds, lI0640 IS
State tax, I,e44, 1856 30
months and sustaining high schools, ssl,aO3 OF
Township tax for sites, building, rcpars,
aud contingent expenses, 5Ts, ,236 90
Total, sa,5oo, sol 50
Amount paid teachers, s2,o4e.oso 9,
Sites, building and repairs. 457.642 81
Fuel and all other contingent expenses, 257,l25 a
Total, s2,76o, ,sss CT
The following table shows the en-
couraging progress made by our school
system during the past six years; also a
comparison between the last two years:
No. of youth enumer-
ated. e206o4 e65 ,9l4 9g2 D8l
S.i! a ;Ssss:
No. OF teachers cn-
AR RsTsda psia teachers, 7sss las .5so ss5s
No. of school houses 1890 lO,279 1922
Val of school houses 81 si,4o9 1872 s., ,7o ea7
No. of public high
schools, 81 ISL lel
Teachers in high
schools, 196 e6s $40
Pupils enrolled in
high schools, G,522 10,5l9 1873
These facts satisfactorily show that
our school system is rapidly demonstra-
ting its excellencigs. The steady Increase
in the number of children in attendance
upon the schools, the improvement in
the qualifications of teachers, the num-
Der and character of the high schools of
the State, and the great Improvement in
the architecture of school houses, are
indicative of a pervading educational
interest among the people.
| do not deem it necessary to recon-
mend any essential modification of the
school law. The small appropriation
which the Commissioner recommends for
the encouragement Of Institutes in the
more sparsely settled counties, would, l
doubt not, be productive of good.
STATE LIBRARY.
Connected with the subject of educa-
ton, invite your attention to the re-
port, for this year, Of the Commissioners
of the State Library, in which they
make some suggestions wich are entitled
to your consideration.
The State Library has now been insti-
tuted fortythree years. The entire ex
penditure for its increase and preserva-
ton, including salaries, to November Is,
1860, has been sos, 8,542 81. The whole
number of registered books is 2,793.
The people of Ohio having provided
liberal instruction for all the youth of
the State, it seems not only appropriate,
but imperative, that while the common
school furnishes that instruction neces-
sary to fair knowledge of the methods
and means of intellectual service, an in
stitution should be fostered which is
capable of collecting and preserving the
appliances most approved for the practi-
cal application of those methods and
means.
Libraries are not merely respectable
evidences of intelligence, nor are they
only places of deposit for public records.
They are work shops wherein the high
est achievements of the human mind are
prepared for, or wrought out. Tho
Ohio State Library has become, in re-
spectacle degree, a work shop for writers
of books of historic value, and it would
be source of just pride to the people
of the State if it were so Supplied with