The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-12-30
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
Wednesday Morning, DecemAsr 80 1863,
Letter from Augusta.
PORTLAND.

Letter from August1.
CENSUS OF SCHOLARS IN THE STATE.
AUGUSTA, Dec, %, 1868.
TO the Editor Of the Press;
You have noticed in several papers a cor
respondence between Mr.. johnson, Supt. of
common schools, and John A. Poor ESQ. in
relation to an apparent decrease of the num-
Der of scholars in the State. The census of
scholars as taken and returned by the proper
town officers, indicates decrease of 1858
since 1858. Mr.. Poor thinks "the falling off
In the returns is attributable to a lack of fidel-
lty on the part of town officers, rather than
TO any actual diminution in the number of
scholars in the State" For this opinion he
gives the following reason: "The Wit hdrawal
OF The principal part of the bounty paid to
towns by the State, consequent upon the
abandonment of the bank tax, and the laree
increase Of taxation required by recent and
former laws, have so operated upon the feel
ings OF the community that a disposition is
shown to diminish rather than swell the list
OF scholars in the several towns"
II may be fair to assume that the rsdue-
tion ofth State school fund has in some de-
gree removed the temptation on the part of
small towns to swell their number OF schol-
ars, but it is strange mistake 10 assert that
the increase OF taxation required by recent
and former laws" has created disposition to
diminish the list. Chapter 1876 of the laws of
1868 requires that "every city, town and
plantation shall raise and expend annually
for the support of schools therein, a sum of
money not less than one dollar for
each inhabitant, according to the census of
the State by which Representatives to the
Legislature were last apportioned" And the
basis was the same when the tax was sixty
cents and when it was seventy-five cents. as
anyone may readily see by referring to the
Revised Statutes and the laws of 1865. The
amount of school money raised by each town
has therefore been in no way dependent up
on the census of scholars taken each year:
and it is rather remarkable that Mr.. Poor
should have fallen into this errcr. He NAV
De called to "vindicate the general correct
ness of the statements" in his report as to the
A~ PNPoi"siOh VI tuc OldIe, Dut ne has
failed to show sufficient reason for distrusting
the fidelity of all the town officers in the
State in regard to the enumeration of schol-
ars.
Alarming as it may be, we are constrained
to accept the result of the school returns as
very nearly correct. The observation of ey-
cry one who may chance to visit a country
school district with which he was familiar
ten Or fifteen years ago, will confirm this re-
suit. The fact should "arrest our attention,
snd excite inquiry as to the cause of it. The
war, i. is true, called away thousands of
young men between the ages of eighteen and
twenty-one, who never returned; and thou
sands of the heads of families between the
ages OF twenty-one and thirty-fve were alb
sent in the army from 1862 to 1865. Our
young men, too, are emigrating in larger
numbers than formerly. But other causes
contribute to produce the alarming decrease
shown by school census. 1t is well known
that families are generally much smaller than
in the olden time. Why this is so is aues-
ton in sociology which for obvious reasons
we do not now proposeto discuss.
DAMON