Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1865-09-09
From The wa.hington Chronicle.
Closing the ,colcrea schools In wash

L
Closing the Coiored schools In wash
"ot 'h fnaton.'l ~ HHA .'IlF
Itis related by psychologists and tray
ellers In his native haunts, that The ostrich
when hard pursued, sometimes undertake
70 bi ie himself in the" desert by tbrostins
bis head into the sand, thereby foolishlJ
supposing that bis whole body is bidder
f om view There are a great many people
in This world whose shrewdness and cunning
are fully up TO the standard OF The feath
cred biped. Speaking OF. ostricbes.' we
orc reminded of piece of strategy adopted
by our City Fathers that will do TO bo
narrated in this connection. For several
years past Congress, has endeayored by
legislation TO oblige the municipal autbor-
ties Of the cities Of Washing on and
Georgetown to set aside, for the support Of
colored schools, the money which eOiored
people are taxed to support schools C,n
gress thought it hardly fair that colored
men should be taxed 10 support exclusive
white schools. Well the Washington ar.
tbotiiies biggled about this and ttied % get
rid Of paying it sitoget herr bat finally paid
a portion Of the sums due for that purpose.
liz Juue, 1864, 10 order TO oblige the equi.
table performance of this rdu,y, Congress
enacted that stbe municipal ubo'ities Of
Washington and Georgetown shalt set
apart from the school fund such proper
tionate part thereof rs the colored children
between the ages of six and sesenteenyears
bear to the " hole number thereof" I" George
fown has done this. But Washington bas
not. Not only has she not done u. but she
has inflated the ostrich. She, hasn't raised
any school fund this gear at all What. says
the startled reader, are the schools 10 this
city TO be closed nhogether p Oh, no
only the eolorcd schools !ts iDou't you see
Congress has enacted that the foe proper.
ton ofthe School Fnnd" shall be dev6ted
TO the ccloted schools. Tue "Scheol Fund.-"
Therefore, mast be shared with the blocks
There is no getting over, under, or d onnd
that But our .cnnning City Fathers hare
Just dropped the, st)sooi tar from the lerp This
gear, but haze ipcrcqsedsthe real estate tor
from seventy to seventy-fve cents on tie
hundred dollars and with this AMI other
increased taxes, the tohite schools n be
easily taken care of. There, as no School
Fund, and, therefore. you see, the coIored
schools cant have their "propor,ionate part
hereof How the "Ciiy Fathers" must
have rubbed their hands and cbuckled 4as
they contemplated the ashrewd dodge By
which they ouIwii,ed Congress. II z. ,sb
But we are strongly inclined to suspect
that. they forgot, in The midst Of their glee,
that Congress possessed the legal, corstitu-
tiona power to make uoters of colore men
in this District. They must have left out
Of their calculations the fact that Congress
would, naturally Indignant at this piece OF
petty ehicauery, lie very strongly induced
to put the power 10 right ,heir'ovn wrongs
10 The hands of the c,lored men themselves
by giving them right TO voice 10 the
election of the men who are to make q tax
levy, as we'll as. to assign its p-oporliops 10
d, ffsrent Interests If a ast'onger,argumept
could be brought to be. attention Of the
next Congress for granting the right OF
suffrage 10. the blacks of this District than
the trne history thi, little transaction af-
fords, we wish sone one would call our
attention to it. II Senator Wilson's ssar-
castle allusion to- the absence of the city
.au, horities from the colored celebration on
the Fourl ID of July is not real zed in an
o. her year, it will not be. the fault of the
men who run the municipal machine at
presents HrfeTfr sli-ssl z Ssh