The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-02-09

lion OF the Citizens of Wheeling, and
Members of the Legislature.
Editors IltelLigencer
The facts stated in the article of ga.
B. c." in your issue of Saturday, End
inst, it would seem ought to have salts
fed the minds of all, save perhaps the
avowed enemies of any system OF pub
lie instruction, of the importance, ]
| may say the absolute necessity of the
passage of the bill relating to the
schools of Wheeling, now pending be-
fore the Legislature. 1t appears, how
ever, that the parties who were the
prime, movers in opposition, are YET
ia6orlng to defeat the passage of the
Dill. L propose in this article to consid-
er, as briefly as the character of the
subject will allow, not merely the
points of opposition to the proposed
law,as stated in the ISTELLIGENCER OF
Friday last, but, without scanning too
closely the motives of said prime NOV
ers, to trace the history of the opposi-
ton from its incipiency. a
1 may be allowed to say that the par,
ties who initiated this opposition, are
men of but little property, and who
pay comparatively a small amount OF
| school tax. They have, however, by
what am disposed to term m{srepre-
sentation, led certain prominent citi-
zenS ana men OF property into tile be-
lief that the proposed law increas es the
power of taxation for school pur poses,
beyond what Is reasonable anC Just.
This point which was well answered by
IA. B. or, will be further si1ered
before closing this article. i
What has been the prompting motive
| with the parties who inaugurated the
opposition movement? Simply the
fact that they failed in their efforts to
have Incorporated in the bill certain
scheme of ofB"cOnsOLiddtion," for which
they have been laboriug in vain for
many years. In order to bring this
matter rightly to the understanding of
those who have not Investigated the
subject, it will be necessary to go back
through a period of several years. Un-
der the original school law of the city
each ward constituted a school district,
but the whole were, as at present,
placed under the management of a
Board of Education, known as the
Board of School Commissioners of the
city of Wheeling. This Board was
composed of one member from each
ward. The schools were then, as now,
mainly supported by assessment upon
the property of the city-and l will
here remark that the Board OF School
Commissioners, for period ofeighteen
years, had unlimited power oftaXation;
and who now will undertake to charge
that this power was at any time abused7
The basis of distribution of the school
funds of the city, was, for many years,
the population of the wards re-
spectively. This plan OF distribution
was found to operate somewhat
to the disadvantage of the less popu-
lOus wards, particularly The second, in
which it was at all times found neces-
sarY to levy a .capitation tax upon the
pupils in order to carry the school
through the ordinary school year of ten
months. To obviate this difficulty the
before the repeal of the old law, served
as school commissioner of the second
ward, conceived this famous idea of
consolidation" His plan was this
to unite the first and second wards,
and what is now known as the seventh,
into District No. l, the third and fourth
wards into District No.2, the fifth ward
(now fifth and sixth) forming District
No. 8. The gentleman labored with
characteristic zeal TO impress upon the
minds of citizens and the school au-
thorities the importance of his pet
scheme, but with all his efforts he failed
to induce the people of the city, with
very few exceptions, to view the
matter from his stand point. The citi-
zens of the first ward could not see why
they should be required to send their
children to the second ward, nor could
the people of the second understand
why they ought TO be required to send
their children to school located in the
first ward. And Sc with the citizens of
the third and fourth. The plan at that
time contemplated the building of a
house somewhere in the first or second
ward sufficiently large for the accom-
modation of the children of the first,
second, and what is now the seventh
wards; and one either in the third
or fourth wards sufficient for
the school purposes of these wards
combined.2 Nothing was safd at that
time about separating grammar
and primary yschools-this feature being
atterward Incorporated in the plan.
Bnt,~as remarked, the people, and the
leading school men of this city could
not be made etounderstand that any ad-
economy, would result from the adop-
ton of the plan. Thus the matter
stood at the time of the adoption of our
new State Constitution. Having failed
in his attempts thus far, our consolida-
tion leader hit upon the Fictitious idea
of framing a school law for the city,
which should embody his consolidation
hobby; so calling to his aid two indi-
viduals, who had not previously been
entirely converted to his project, but
who, feeling f1attered by being called
upon toaid iuso responsible an under
taking, yielded any scruples which they
NAV have entertained upon the subject
Vi SALA LhS bL1Ol dALOSd-
ting all the wisdom of the city in such
matters, after days of toll and nights of
waketuIness, brought forth the abor-
ton, under the provisions of which the
Board of Education of the school dis
tricL OF Wheeling has been laboring
fortHS years to carry on the schools of
the district. and which, in order to
make the schC1is many manner eff
cient, has necessitated a debt of nearly
thirty thousand dollars, without, as
claimed by some legal gentlemen, the
means or liquidation. = This law as
originally passed, provided for
the establishment of three gram
mar schools, and sufficient
number of primary TO accommodate all
the youth ofthe District, between the
ages of six and twenty-one years, not
and that not more than eighty pupils
should attend any p imary school.
There was no Nprovision that these
schools should be graded, or in any
manner united each must be indie
pendent of the others. fthe section
had been adopted without moditica-
ton, and carried-out to the letter, it
would have been necessary to provide
for least sixty Independent primary
schools. But this section was some
what modified by the. Senate. As the
law came from the State authorities to
the Board of Education, it provides
that the Board 'tshan, have power to
divide the district into sub-districts." J"
The Board, in this particular,
has acted upon the law as
they received it. They constituted each
township of the district sub-district,
and established grammar and gra-
ded primary school in each. In other
words, a graded or union school has
.Ioaar, established in each township. the