Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-04-13
THE SCHOOL FUND AGAIN.

Our good friend of the GreeneviIle Sen
tjncJ is one of the best fellows in the world,
but the "scales have never yet fallen from
his eyes" and things seem different to him
from what they really are. He, in at
tempting to state facts, misses the mark
very widely sometimes, but we attribute
this to an erroneous head rather than a
bad heart. He has worked himself into a
frenzy over our exposition of how Tennes-
see Democracy stole and squandered tn e
Tennessee school fund during the late
Democratic rebellion. He gives figures to
refute what we say, which figures prove
only one thing, and that is, that
the editor of the Sentinel has not
the remotest idea of what he is
writing about. For instance, he says
that the Legislature attempted to author
ize an appropriation but that no dpprO-
prjdtiOV was made. Well, if this be so it
was no fault of the Legislature. We gave
the language of the law passed, and it says
very distinctly that the sum of four hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars per annum
VI Jl1C SCIlOOl llillu w do W NC ltoCh iO1 wv "
years, for the relief of the INDECENT fami-
lies of soldiers in the service of the State
of Tennessee or the Confederate States.
We would like to know what further act
this Democratic-rebel Legislature could
have done in the way of rendering this an
appropriation, or rather a mi5apprOpria-
ton.
But, says our good friend 1.-The school
fund of Tennessee, S625, 900, all the actual
cash Oh deposit, was carried out of the
State by the officers controlling it, to pre-
serve it from the grasp of avaricious and
INSCRIPTIONS commanding officers of the
Federal army Well, that is remarkable,
but these "unscrupulous Federal officers
kept following it up and finally got it any
way-and what may seem strange to our
friend, they didn't steal it, either.
But does our good friend know (if he
don't it is nevertheless true that the
school fund before the war amounted to
S26OO,OOO? If there was only $685., 900 on
deposit, when the rebel State authorities
made up their minds that further South
was ahealthier cline than Tennessee, what
had become of the balance of the $780,
600? "Aye, there's the rub" Had they
stolen nearly two millions before starting "
and if they had, is there any good reason
to suppose that they lost their inclination
to steal after they had passed beyond the
limits of the State? Oh no, brother
Reeves, it is not at all probable, after steal
ing and squandering two millions of the
children's money, that they would call
upon the Confederate army to guard and
protect this remnant of only a little over
half million.
But the real fact i'll the case is, that they
suuandered the iUhOLe Of 1.-THE entire
s3,6OO,OOO. Every dollar of twas paid out
in the interest of treason and rebellion.
When the custodians of the fund returned
to the State at the close of the unhappy
civil war, brought about by Democratic
ambition and rapacity, it was found to con-
sist of Confederate bonds, payable SIX
months after treaty of peace between the
United States and the Confederate States.
This treaty has never been ratified yet, and
when it is, these Confederate bonds will