The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-02-12


And every hour a step toward thee
| AT night, when betake to rest
Next morn rise nearer my west
OF life, almost by eight hours' sail,
men when sleep 6reathed his drowsy gale.
| But bark, my pulse. like a soft drum
Beats my approach, tells theeI come;
l shall at last sit down by thee;
The thought of this bids me 20 on
And wait my dissolution,
with hope and comfort Dear forgive
The crtme,) am content to live
Divided, with but half a heart
iii we meet, and never part.
THE PROPOSED CITY SCHOOL LAW
Facts and Figures for the ConsIde dera.
tiOn OF the People OF wheeling, and
the Members OF the LeeIsIature.
No. 9.
In my former article, I endeayored to
show the fallacy of the arguments en-
Ployed by few individuals, in favor
of establishing within the school dis
trict of Wheeling, three grammar
schools, and three only; and 70 expose
the means which have been employed
to compel the people, by legislative
enactment, to accspt a plan of organi-
Zation for the schools of the district,
which they have not asked, and which
they do not desire. The bill relating to
the schools OF Wheeling, now pending
before the legislature, may be Justly
said to be an expression from the Deopie
of what they desire in the matter of a
school law, since 1t was prepared by a
body of eighteen men, the direct repre-
SentativeS OF the people, three having
been elected in each township of the
district, and the whole constituting the
Board of ofEducation ofthe district. The
members of the Board are all tax-pay-
ers, and some of them among the
heaviest taxpayers of the district. They
are men OF integrity and intelligence
and large maj jority of them are known
to be ardent friends of public schools.
In the matter of politics they are nearly
equally divided,-ten being Repu bli-
cans, and eight belonging to the oppo-
sition. But this need not have been
mentioned, since no question of IA po-
ltical character has ever been known to
enter into their deliberations, or to in
tluence their action.
The object of the Board in seeking a
revision of the law, NAV be briefly
stated, having already been intimated.
The present law relating 10 the schools
of Wheeling. makes itincumbent it upon
the Board of Education to revert to the
State law to ascertain, in part, their du-
ties. Whether the act of 1858, or said
act as amended, 1866, should be appli-
cable, in certain of its provisions, TO the
district, has been question about
which, not only members of the Board
of Education, but legal gentlemen who
have been consulted, have differed in
opinion. The Board have not unfre-
Quently been at loss to know what
they were required to do, or what was
the extent of their powers. In the
matter of taxation for building pur-
poses, for instance, it has been a moot
ed question whether the act of '63, '65.
or '66, applies to the District. The
Board, rather than to err in this impor-
mn FfiRnlaF nnaF11a1 IL o1 n 10 %
borrow money to meet the immediate
demands of the District for such
purposes and await legislative
action. All were agreed that
our law must be revised; and
Furthermore that it should embody
all that the educational interests of the
city demand in way of legislation,
without rendering it necessary for the
school authorities of the District to
search any where else, for knowledge
of the rights with which they are in
vested, the powers which they shall
exercise, or the duties which they shall
perform,-and here l may be allowed
TO digress so far as to say that the
Board of Education of the District are
entitled to great credit, and deserve the
warmest thanks of the people of the
District, for the efficient manner in
which the school affairs of the city
have been conducted by them. Though,
as remarked, often at loss on the fea-
lures of the law, and as to the extent
OF their powers, they have shown
determination that the all-important
interests of education in the District
shU uld not languish. Not by innova-
tions, not by extraordinary eXpendi-
lures, but by continuing the schools on
the same general plan upon which
they were previously conducted during
period of eighteen years, and upon a
scale OF economy practiced in no other
aiFr inFrn1nRfny
and such only as might aid in making
the schools efficient for the purposes
for which they were established.
In the matter of taxation it is claim
ed that the BIZ proposes IAN increase
of taxes from TO 80 cents on the hun
dred dollars for building purposes.n
In reply to this objection, / repeat, in
what was stated by "a. b.
c." that the Bill proposes no definite rG,e
of tGIdtioH, but simply to tir q limit 10 the
polCeT of tdrdtioH. For eighteen years
were the public schools of Wheeling
under control of Boards of School Com
missioners with unlimited power of tax
alton, and who were not even SIroT7n Of
tieers, and yet abuse of power in this
direction was never so much as charged
against them. The Bill under consid-
Grafton provides that the Board of Ed
ucation shall be composed of men
sD0rR to perform their duties according
10 INV anu OuS OI THESE duties 49,
ANNUALLY, in the month of July to de-
termine as nearly as practicable the
amount of money necessary, in addi-
ton to all other available funds, TO
continue The schools for a period of not
less than nine months" and for other
necessary purposes relating TO the
schools. And this amount, and this
only;are they authorized to assess. The
State school law empowers Boards of
Education to assess as high as serenity
cents on the 800 for building purposes.
Our Bill proposes that the hRlit be
twenty cents less.
Another. point of objection" is that
the Bill proposes IAN increase in taxes
from 10 to 90 cents on the SI00, for
school purposes" This is sufficiently
answered by saying, that the Bill does
not propose any increase, nor any deI-i
mite rate Of taxation. but simply pro-
vides that the Iimit shall be the same
as that fixed by the State law, namely,
fifty cents on the hundred dollars val
uation.- all probability the limit
never will be reached.
Again, it is said that 'sit admits of an
additional tax by townships" "a. B.
c. has shown that this power already
exists. This Bill does mot propose to