Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-02-15
THE CONVENTION.
THIRTY-FIRST DAY.

| / NACsNA'AAS 1NO. HC SO1tNl
met at 9:30o'clock a. NJ, President Brown
in the chair. Prayer by Rev. DR.. Young
Mr.. Jones, of Lincoln, Offered the fol
lowing amendment at the end of the sec
ton on corporations "Every stock
holder in an incorporated company shal
refund to the company or its creditors al
dividends received by them respectively,
in case it shall at any time be necessary
to pay the liabilities of the company"
MIR. Gibson offered q resolution to test
the sense of the Convention in regard to
the Fifteenth Amendment of the Consti-
tuition of the United States. Laid over
under the rules.
Mr.. Fielder moved to reconsider the
vote of Saturday rejecting the proposition
to confer power upon the Legislature to
give the right to. cities, towns and coun-
ties, and civil districts, to prohibit the
sale of intoxicating liquors by majority
vote of the voters of such city, town or
county.
Mr.. Jones moved to lay the motion TO
reconsider on the table. Lost by vote of
"a to 81.
On motion, the further consideration of
the subject was postponed until Tuesday.
Mr.. Williamson offered resolution
calling for committee to audit the ac-
counts created by the Convention. 1t was
was adopted and the following committee
was appointed: Messrs. Williamson,
Porter, of Henry, and Burkett.
Mr.. Carter offered resolution calling
for committee of five with power to
send for persons and papers to investigate
the condition of the State finances. An
effort was made to suspend the rules for
the adoption of the resolution, but the
motion failed.
COMMON SCHOOLS.
The Convention now took up the con-
sideration of the report of the Committee
on Common Schools. The proposition of
the committee was read as follows:
Resolved, That section 10, article XI,
of the present Constitution, be amended
by striking out all after the word end
in the fifth line, and inserting:
1T shall Be the duty Of tie General As
Senobly to prooide for the establishment and |
maintenance Of free schools for the gratuit-
Gus obstruction Of al the children Of this |
State, JctUeen tie ages Of and Of -
gears and tie ordinary tao assessed on
polls, ulader tie provisions Of tItis oo1lstitu-
ton, NTH such other Of tie regenue Of tie |
State as tie General assembly mag from |
time to time set apart therefor, shall neccr
be applied to other than educational pur-
poses
Mr.. Nicholson proposed to amend by |
inserting between the words ordinary
and ''tax," the word State The |
amendment was adopted.
Mr.. Porter, of Haywood, offered the |
following in lieu of the report of the
committee:
''The General Assembly may by gen
eral law provide for the establishment and |
maintenance of free schools for the gratu-
itous instruction of all children of this
State between the ages of-and-
years, and shall have power to provide |
such ways and means for maintenance and
support Of such schools as may be deemed |
The proposition in lieu was tabled by
vote of AZ to 10.
A motion to lay the report of the COM
mittee on the table was lost.
Mr.. Gordon proposed to fill the blanks
with 3 and 10.
1t was moved to insert in the first
blank. Adopted.
1t was further proposed to fill the sec
ond blank with IS. This was adopted,
after motions to fill by inserting 30 and 10
had been voted down.
Mr.. Heiskell proposed to strike out the
words at shall be the duty of the Gen
eral Assembly, and insert "Hhe General
Assembly may"
Mr.. House of Montgomery, was in ia
vOr of free schools, but he could not sub
scribe to the doctrine that the obligation
to provide educational resources was
higher than to pay the States honest
debts He did not think that it was hon
est to take funds which should be applied
to the payment of the public debt, and di-
vert them to any other purpose.
Mr.. Fentress Offered the following in /
lieu Of the report of the committee:
"'Tle General Assembly may authorize
the County Courts of each county in this
State to levy and collect school tax for
free common school purposes for the |
children in such counties between the ages
of six and eighteen years. Provided, that
in case any county shall establish common
schools within its limits there shall be
separate schools for white and negro |
children"
Mr.. Fentrcss said the officers having /
in charge the control of the school fund |
were not under the old system under di-
rect control. He thought every county |
should for itself levy just such tax as it
might consider necessary to educate the
children of that county. The magistrates
of each county met quarterly, had under
their eye the whole subject, and without
any extra expense could control the entire
system of county schools in that county
He thought the State of Tennessee should
have the general taxes levied to be applied
to the payment of the debt and that the
system of education should be left to be
settled by the counties themselves.
Mr.. Nicholson felt great deal of in
terest in this question. The proposition
Of the committee if adopted would set
apart perpetually a sum Of from $75, 600
to 100000 for common school purposes.
If the amendment of the gentleman from
Shelby were adopted, then the Legisla-
ture might set apart fund for education
al purposes. He claimed that the educa-
ton of the children of the State was one
of the highest moral obligations. He
claimed that the State was legally bound
to make up any loss in the old school
fund which had been put in the old Bank
of Tennessee. Who could say that the
obligation of paying the interest on the
internal improvement bonds was higher
than the obligation to pay the interest on
the one million of school money which
had been squandered, no matter how.
Mr.. Jones, of Giles, said he would very
vote to establish school fund,
if he could see how it might be done.
The State was now toiling under load of
debt, and the people were not able to do
it, 1t would be better, as he thought, to
leave this matter TO the Legislature to be
acted upon in the future.
Mr.. Gordon thought that the payment
Of portion of the State debt could be
postponed for awhile, rather than that
the education Of the children of the State
should be neglected. He thought it was
a matter of paramount importance that
school fund should be provided for.
There was no Reputation in the PROPOSE
ton which the committee urged.
Mr.. Brown, of Davidson, considered
the report of the committee as following
in the wake of the Constitution Of 1884.
He thought the State was indebted to the
children of Tennessee for the school fund
which was sacredly set apart by the old
No plea could be made that
the State had been devastated by war and
that fund swept away He was one of
those that believed that it was the duty of
Al. 4 l., IL. al