New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-08-21
WHOLE NUMBER 1926.

oficer $4,000 per aunum, and REQUIRE of hin,
NJ s1sD zee IN person that the large sums annu-
any appropriated are properly and iudici.
ousiy expended, than to pay him s25O0. and
| gt Agt naih trust to the meagre returns annu-
| any maze Dy the disbursers of the school
iuDd, as the only source from whence he is
ttr ~ 10y An1oI imatlon as to the true condi.
elon Oh tne puollc schools of the State.
In another report blythe same gentleman.
for 1859, he says:
Durlng the greater portion of the past
year my time has been chiefly devoted to az
examination of the practical workings ~
the public school system in other States
| md that in many instances the prospects
Ior success were, at the outset, equally as
dlscoqraging in those States where the sys-
TEN does exist as it has been and still is
with u.s. but by the adoption of such mess-
| ures and amendments as time and expeIi-
ence suggested, nearly every objection has
been met, and nearly every obstacle re
moved, and today the public schools of
New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island In
diana, ETC., and even Canada, have reached
the standard fixed by the most sanguine
| friends OF the system. 1t is worthy Of re-
mark, however, that no law was every
| adopted by them without mature delibera-
ton, or repealed without having been thor
oughly tested in all its provisions and bear
| ings.
| LAC dNNdLCtueuL OF education DY the
most e1hcaclous means, and not the adop-
tlon of the most economical 5ystem, has
| been the object had in view first, last, all
| the time.
| Our resources are more ample than
! theirs, and legislators equally as Intelligent.
But 1t is respectfully submitted that our
\ system Is still Writhtng under the effects of
the hue and cry Of i'retrenchment and re-
| form, which was raised in 1852; nor will It
| hnd relief until we return to the system "a
it then existed, which, together with such
amendments and notifications as are obYi-
| schools on footing which will compare
tayorably with any in the United States or
in Europe. Such, indeed, may now be said
OF New Orleans, the city of Jefferson, and .
few other localities which form noble ex-
eeptlons TO the general rule.
NOW, sir, these wretched old school,
houses Of which Mr.. Bard speaks SO
feelngly are part OF a generally defective
system, one of the signs of that utter ne
giect resulting from the impossibility Of the
State Superintendents properly performing
his duties upon the meagre salary and as
sistance given him. And the very system
which has been so eulogized by Senator
Bacon is there criticised in the severest
terms By these Superintendents themselves.
One other reason which they allege why
they can not perform the duties Of their Of
fees and why they can not give their atteL-
tion to the character OF school houses,
Qualifications ofteachers andother matters.
was that their business confined them to
their local CthCe at the capital of the State.
But that IS Lot the strongest point. In the
report OF the Superintendent of education
Tor lSGp, 1t appears that as years went on
things got worse, and the report is mere
lugubrious and mournful under the system
1 so highly eulogiZed by the Senator from the
, Fourth District. The remarks of Mr.. Ham
ilton upon the subject of State SuperintenG
ent have been read to you.
wish to call the attention Of the Senate
to the fact that Mr.. Hamilton was only
following in the footsteps of Mr.. Bard and
= other Superintendents. In his report 0!
! those things in which the hands the State
4 Superintendent were tied and in eulogizing
= the distinctive systems Of Ohio and othe'
q q States, he praises precisely what Senator
I Bacon condemns.
y have read these extracts not solely to cal
the attention of the Senate to the fact thai
former Superintendents every one of then
i down to 1860, have asked for an increase o
salary, although that is a strong point; but
: to show that the system from top to bottom
+ + was radically defective, as shown by the
! reports OF the ditierentparish officers. Some
of them could not even sign their OWE
! | names; others did not regard the public
! schools as OF any value. The whole system
for the superintendent of which this small
salary was given, was entirely useless, anl
the State Superintendents Of Public SCHOOL,
have been from year to year calling the at
tention Of the Legislatures and the peopt
: of Louisiana to this fact.
} Now, sir, as to this bill. have no par
, tieular preference as to the amount to b
II paid to these clerks. But that the Stat
I Superintendent needs them, and will not b
!, worth anything to the schools of the Stat
y unless he has them, am sure.
!. 1t was my fortune while young man
= have something to do with the publ
: schools of my native State--the State G
: Pennsylvania. There, under the lead G
- Mr.. Burrows, great advocate of the publ
school system, one of the most distinguishe
4 public writers on the subject of education
f under his lead and advocacy they adopte
u in Pennsylvania the system of New England
. with a system of local county SuperintenC
:. ents. The prominent distinctive feature {
= that system and tho ono that redeemed th
= schools of the State was that which CAV
Il II to the State Superintendent persons
y aud constant supervision over all til
II schools in the State. While man
could not understand the q1id pro quo re
4 ceived from the Superintendent in th,
shape of an occasional or annual visit, an,
i while they could not understand how tbs
u could have any effect, yet they were told b
y men of experience that 1t would lead to II
'SS form, and il did. -a.--e- --fr t@
= The salary of $4,000 now is not more tha
IF was paid in 1860, when they paid ia golt
is nor more than an equivalent with the pre-
= ent prices ofthings and the imitation of th
currency to between three or four thousan
" dollars In gold at that time. wish to ca
'e the attention of the Senate to the fact tbs
h this is not an increase of the emoluments {
u. the State Superintendent, but it
it to pay clerks, which l contend al
e necessary, and which think every friend {
a education will see are necessary, and th
" sole question before us is whether in carry
W ing ont a good common school system th
Is assistance here asked is necessary, and th
salaries reasonable. If the latter are though
W too large have no objection to their beinj
r, lessened. That the Superintendent need
1t assistance and suitable office, are two fact
= to me as plain as that the State needs bette
% schools and schoolhouses.
d ~