The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1868-01-17

illouiil VI usefulness OF winch III 10 "a
pabIe.
At the close of the year the number
of school districts in the State was
| 1899; the number of schools, 13,436 !;
graded schools, 2,147; school direc-
tors, 1854; county, city and borough
superintendents, 68; teachers, 16, ,-523
pupils, 1889; the cost of tuition, $3,-
C28 ,O65 10; building, 81 ,262, ,79S IS ; con-
tin9encies, $3.50, So 33; tuition, build
ing and contingencies, $5,081 ,539 II !;
and the amount expended for all pur
poses, relating to schools, $, 1915 II.
Your attention is particularly invi-
ted to the want of uniformity and con.
slant change of books in the public
schools. These are matters of serious
| Inconvenience and needless expense to
the poor, and might easily be remedied
by judicious legislation.
The chief aim of-our system of COM
mon schools is to place the advantages
of an education within the reach of all
the children of the Commonwealth
and when it is considered that intelli-
gence and virtue are the principal
safeguards of our free institutions,
this system earnestly claims the foster
ing care and wise guidance of the Leg
iSlature.
The graded schools have largely in
creased during the past year. The
system established by the State was
designed, not only to furnish instruc-
tion to our youth in the elements of
knowledge, but wherever practicable,
to impart to them an education in the
higher branches of learning. The
multiplication of grammar and high
schools should, therefore receive every
encouragement, for they are necessary
to perfect the system and enable the
States to avail itself of that talent which
is born in the cottages ofthe poor quite
as frequently as in the places of the
rich.
Good schools cannot exist without
good teachers, and good teachers can
only be obtained by using the prop
er means to prepare them. Recognize
ing these facts, the Legislature of 1857
passed a general Normal school law,
dividing the State into twelve dis
tricts, and looking forward to the
establishment, in each of them, of q
Normal school. According to the pro-
visions of this law four of these schools
are now organized, the prosperous
condition of which is exemplified by
the fact that two thousands one hun
dred and eighty-fve students attended
them during the past year, of whom
fOrty-SiA graduated.
Fourteen colleges and thirtytwo
academies have made reports to the
School Department during the past
year. Such institutions supply great
public want, as the common school
system is not competent to perform the
whole work of popular education.-
A State requires men of generous Gull
ture in all the walks of life, as well
as in the profession of teaching, and
the perfection of the system of public
Snhnnl inStructiOn is one of the WiSeSt
and nOblest opJecCs OF Legislation. All
of the different institutions of learn
ing would be strengthened and their
usefulness increased by bringing them
together in closer union, which posi-
bly, can be best accomplished by the
creation of a general Department of
Education.
Soldiers Orphans Schools.
The Superintendent reports the eX-
penditure5 for the eleven months end
ing November 80, 1867, as follows:
Education and maintenance. c......... S34l,S s.
Clothing furnished l, 1888 children, in
advanced schools. s................. ~ ,lS7 o3
Making and repairing clothing,
freight, &c....... ....-......''... o30O ~
General expenses es.............. 6,78l so
Total amt from Jan. 1, to Dec ,'67 S94 ,420 OF
The expenses for the six months,
from December /, 1867, to June l, 1868,
are estimated by the Superintendent,
as follows:
Education and maintenance of 1850
children, in advanced schools, at ~ -.
$40 per annum. m...........'...'... SlZ9,oOO w
Education and maintenance for 800
children in primary schools, at
SI25 per annum. m....:............ 31,25O 90
Education and maintenance Of ,O50
children in 'sHomes, at $l05 per
onnHm........... 55,125 90
onnu9. ] ........................ 23,125 90
Transferring pupils, salaries, &c. 1919, O0
June i. 1868. ..................... 242975 90
Total actual and estimated expen-
January /, 1863, to june /, 1868 s637, 1876 OF
Or, at the rate of f$449, ,925 so per an
mum.
From which deduct total amount ap-
propriated for seventeen months at
$3.50 900 per annum ........... 495, 1888 80
shown, of. ....................... IA, ,56l 60
Or, at the rate of S99, ,925 50 per an
num-
1866 Observation-Disclosures. | 31,O49 II
And it exhibits the total deficit from
December |. 1866 to June |, 1868,
to be provided for by special aP- j.,
preparation. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. l'-,oAl ~
do not deem it inappropriate here
to state that if the bill which passed
the House at the last session had be-
come a law, making an appropriation
of $3.50, 900 per annum for the orphans
schools, it would have been sufficient
to have paid the total expenses.
The estimates for the year ending
June 1st, 1869, will be found fully Set
| forth in the report of the Superinten-
! dent. From that report it will also
be seen that there are in operation
thirty-nine orphan schools and homes,
having in charge an average of two
| thousand nine hundred and thirty-One
pupils, for the year ending Novcm-
| Der 80, 1867 at an average cost OF one
hundred and forty-eight dollars and
forty-three cents per annum.
These schools have doubtless reach
ed their maximum numbers. Six
teen years being the age at which the
orphans cease to be chargeable to the
State, and they will henceforWard
decrease in the following ratio, viz :
374 will reach that age in 1868, 329 in
1869, 348 in 1870, 403 in 1871, 479 in
1872, 460 in 1873. 416 in 1874, and 344 in
1870, after which there probably Will
not be more than 600 remaining in the
schools. Should the term be reduced