The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1871-04-06

you Pi Pc 70 entertain apprehensions that
servatiOn of good order II the Legislature
do not give the people Immediate and efiec-
tive protection from all possible ground Of
discomfort with their local taxes. With
that VIE a, /, In the words OF my message OF
the Sth Of February, recommend earnestly
that the issue of credits by the Board OF
Supervisors shall be placed Immediately un-
der rigid restrictions, and that their powers
OF taxation be limited TO two hundred per
cent. on the State-tax"
The School Directors present an admins
tration which threatens by the wantOnness
OF its extravaganza 70 impress the more
FESTIVE OF our population with a sense that
they are being oppressed by taxation. The
election OF County Superintendent Is the
measure for introducing into that manage
mem AN influence more wholesome ia It's
results, because more in sympathy with the
people. than that which Is now represented
by a set Of appointees having I'm the majori-
IL Of cases no identity with the counties
over whose school interests they preside
and but little IL any Identity with the State.
The excessive taxation originating mainly
I'm this deleterious influence would become
all the more aggravating 10 the people, II
by a current laXity which gives the control
of the monetary affairs OF the Directors To
County ,defalcatiORs should
follow under the temptation Of the fact that
those officers are not required TO give bond.
To cover any working irregularities arising
from the fact that the County Superintend-
enu as President of the Board OF Directors.
issues orders for money on the Treasurer of
the Board, / recommend that the COuRty
Superintendent shall be required 20 give
bond and security sufficient 10 cover his
agency in disposing Of the school funds of
the County.
The necessity Of haste in organizing the
school system made IL unavoidable during
last session TO permit the County Superin-
tendents to be selected by appointment
The eXpediency now passed, the Legislature
is free to exercise the right given IL under
the Constitution to make the Office ofCounty
Superintendent OF Education elective. The
| general propriety under our system OF gov
eminent of surrendering such an eXcep-
tiOnal and anti-republican power as that Of
| appointment of County officers, by GEN.
| trail bureau demands that the County Super
/ lntendent of Education be made subject at
once TO the choice of the people. / urge
| that measure upon your attention here on
the special grounds Of its conciliAtory effect
In placing the fact OF their own free selec-
| tion of a man belonging to the County.
known aud trusted by its citizens, In bar OF
! all unreasonable dissatisfaction with the
administration Of the funds Of trust COM
| ing home so closely To the affections aud TO
| the passions of the people as that OF the ed
ucation of theif children.
/ recommend earnestly that TO obtain
class of administrators more calculated to
! conciliate passion In its scrutiny of our
management of the funds OF the public
one of profit but Of simply honor. And to
further purify the management Of the
Boards, recommend that to obtain the SER
vices OF a class of men other than the mere
Office-holders, looking TO the position as AN
object simply OF his cupidity, the per diem
| of the County superintendent shall never
| exceed an aggregate OF 500 per annum.-
And the school affairs of the Counties still
more thoroughly from the influence of ira
! ding in politics and place. further COM
| mend consideration
holding any office, State or Federal, shall
be eligible to that Of Superintendent Of the
County Schools.
The standard fixed for the examination OF
| teachers is placed unnecessarily high. This
can have no other practical result than that
of excluding In the very wantonness of
power. much educational ability properly
available amongst our people, white and
coored. But while working this objections
! able result, IL works the still further result
of furnishing an excuse for a rate Of teach
! er's pay utterly exhaustive Of our resources.
! While the average pay Of the teacher In
the Northern schools embraced In the
| statistics of the National Bureau of Educa-
! ton Is less than $500 a year, rates set here
vary from S720 year for the lowest class 10
| 1920 for the highest | recommend earn
| estly that the Chancellor and the Circuit
! Judge Of the District together with the SUI
! perinteudent of Education for the county.
shall be charged with the issue OF third aud
\ second class certificates 70 teachers, and
that, the Normal Schools only issuing first
class certificates, the pay Of the three grades
of teachers shall be declared by law 10 be
$40, SEQ and $50 per month.
With the purchase or erection of brick
! school houses i'm some districts, the furnish
ing of school houses in others with elegant
desks and Office chairs, the supplying in
still others OF apparatus better suited %
the demands of the academy than of the
common school, we may well accept the
conclusion that there is some foundation for
the general cutlery against the alleged plum
der of the school funds of the State aud
counties. In very few short months Of
actual work In the county of Lafayette, the
School Board of that county is charged on
very grave authority with having expended
$500 In cash and $1,000 in credits with little
or nothing TO show for the money! In the
interests of not only the school funds but Of
also the peace and order Of the State, re-
commend 10 you earnestly TO set some limit
on the option of School Boards as to their
outlays; and suggest that leaving the pa
rents free to supply any deficiency In those
cases, the expenditures Of the Boards on ap-
paratus shall not exheed ~ per pupil Of the
daily average attendance, and shall not ex-
coed the same rate for desks and seats, and
that while not more than $500 shall be paid
for any school site, not more than ten dol
lars per pupil OF the average daily attend
ance shall be paid for the purchase or build
ing any school house.
The cancellations with which we are
bound in the interests of peace and order 10
go forward In conducting the public busi-
ness apply with special force in the case OF
public schools. A sore need Of the masses
as these are, they are hailed with a popular
favor which il Is our bounden cuty TO do
nothing whatsoever to check. The school
system comes home 10 the fondest anxieties
of the people, and should be so conducted as
10 draw out those anxieties, with the great
est possible diFectness In support of the
public schools.
supplementary to the cancellations which
| urge In the matter OF taxation In this
communication, / urge with equal earnest
messy the expediency OF conciliatinR the
affections, the conscience and the indie
pendence of the parents OF the State, BY
giving them the option, where they exercise |
their right OF separate schools, to select the |
teachers. The wisdom of this liberalizlng |
of our present system OF Capitalization will |
be felt In an Improvement OF the popular |
temper. The Rev. DIR. Elder Catholic Bis |
hop OF this diocese, has urged this and other |
points OF improvements In our school eys- |
TEN on my attention; and M an act OF Justice /
TO that very Important subject. | submit /
with this message his letter. The ability /
and Christian benevolence which character |
lies his communication will command your /
attention for IL, even though you did not 4
know that the piety, earnestBess and eulti- /
walton Of It's author command for him the /
confidence and respect Of men Of all classes /
and creeds amongst our PEOPLE.
make all the foregoing recommendation /
I'm view OF the work before me as conserva-
tor of the peace OF the State. While regard |
ing with calm Indifference the violence and Il
vituperation Of a press which represents ia /
its vapid utteranees no portion Of this peo- \
pie, owe it to you, 70 myself and to the /
interests Of all good citizens, 70 entreat you Il
10 carry out, as far as possible, all the re-
forms 1 have pointed out here In the inter-
ests of reduction Of taxation and the free
dom Of education. 30 that consciousness OF
having given no cause for Just irritation to
the man of violence we may be all the more
determined in action when that man Of vfO-