Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-02-28

8. My third objection TO the bill is that it
is nothing but delusion. 1t does not pro-
pose to grant the public lands to the States,
nor does it propose to give the net cash pro-
ceeds to the States for educational purpos-
es, but requires the Secretary of the Treas
ury Of the United States to cause one half
the net proceeds ''to be invested in bonds
of the United States, bearing interest at the
rate of five per cent. per annum." These
bonds are not assigned to the State in trust
for educational purposes, but they "shall
constitute perpetual fund in the Treasury
ofthe United States, to be known as the
educational fund" 1t is made the duty Of
the Commissioner of Education, under the
direction of the Secretary Of of the Interior,
to apportion to the several States, Terri
tories, aDd District of Columbia, upon the
basis Of population, tone half of the pro-
ceeds of the public lands for the previous
year, together with the whole amount ofthe
income Of the said educational fund.-" This
fund is to be paid over to the States on GER
tain conditions, which will be noticed in a.n-
other connection. Assuming that ConCre
will keep its faith with this fund, it TFill be
preceived that one half the net proceeds of
the lands are to be invested in five Der cent.
bonds. This fund will increase in principal
and the interest until the pubic lands are
exhausted by sale. These bonds are nomi-
nally to remain in the treasury, and the
five per cent. annual ir.terest is to be dis
tributed to the State s and Territories.
Now we have Il e figure out so that we
can lift the masF. let us inquire where the
Government j. TO get this large interest
fund which It proposes TO lavish @ith royal
munihcer &c upon the nations children?
By tax. don alone. See the delusion. The
Cove, rnment takes one halfths net proceeds
of che public lands, with them pays its own
bonded debt, gets possession Of its own
bonds so paid, and then promises to pay
the five per cent. interest for educational
purposes, and it must tax the people toget
this interest. This is but an artful device Of
the Government to tax the people for the
support of national system Of education.
The people must not only pay the five per
cent. tax, but they must pay the expense Of
collecting it, which would add one fourth the
amount, and make the true amount Of the
tax six and one quarter cents.
Thu Government with equal prOpriety
might promise to pay five per cent. on our
old revolutionary bonds, which lie dead and
Cancelled in the public archives, as to
promise to pay five per cent. on It's existing
bonds after they have been once paid and
extinguished. In time, one half the pro-
ceeds of the sales Of the public lands which
the bill proposes TO distribute to the States
and Territories viii be exhausted by the
failure of the lands. After the lands are
exhausted, then the Government will have
no educational resources, except the anOm-
alous interest on the defunct bonds which
have been purchased in with the other half
Of the land funds.
finn cRhp e.
self into system of unmitigated taxation
for its support by the General Government.
It is conceded as a general legal pro position
that the power Of the Government to tax
carries with it the cOrrelative power to con
troll the persons or things taxed. This be-
ing so, by passing this bill, and its accept
ance by the States, the States would sur
render the educational control of all their
children from six to sixteen to the Federal
Government. By taking the children who
may be said to be the population Of the
States in the mucilage form, they might be
worked into a sort of educational pro.
toplasm, as the scientist would say, and give
life to a naScent imperial dynasty. The
States might thus be stripped of their con
stitutions and rights of self-gOveTnment as
useless membranes. If the right to tax
be granted, and the right to educate be as
sumed, then the right TO furnish the eduCa-
tors would be asserted. A national bureau
of education established in Washington
would send its branches through all the
States, supervising and employing all the
teachers in the normal and common schools
of the country. National teachers would,
perhaps, soon fill the school houses in the
States, Gas the Egyptian mice invaded at
Potassium the bowstrings and shield straps
of the Assyrian army The bill is nothing
but delusion, but the antelope Of Jacobs
vCice with Esau's hands. While it is
blatant with mock generosity, it comes with
bribe 10 liberty in one hand and DISCUS
ed tax in the other. While it asks the State
TO give its back to the burden Of taxation,
its liberty to a yoke, it would sacrilegiOusly
entwine the garlands of education upon the
brow of the children of the States, as oTna-
ments for victims to be offered upon the al
tar of am unparalleled Government.
Let us not be told that the State may es-
cape the operation of the bill by refusing
its terms. 1t might refuse its quota of
money, the golden key which is intended to
open all the sChOOl-hOuseS of the States to
the General Government; but it could not
reject the tax. If the quota should be re-
fused, it would pass into the general educa-
tional fund for distribution among the 9th
er States, so the recusant State would be
faxed for the support of education in the
other States. Thus the bill presses the
State hard between two horns one de-
manding q partnership control Of the child
rem in the State; the other, on refusal, is
taxation for the support of education in the
other States. How inequitable, unjust,
and unconstitutional The public lands
are the trust property Of all the States. If
one half are to be sold, and the pro-
ceeds distributed among the States,
why should the State be required to give up
any of its essential rights as a conditional
precedent 20 participation in the funds
Suppose that any of the States should have
been war-ridden, plunder-ridden, and tax
ridden to bankruptcy, so that If they were
so disposed they could not Obigate them
selves to educate all their children, white
and colored, from six to sixteen, according
to the terms of the bill, yet their failure
would work forfeiture of their shares to
and inure to the benefit of the other States.
Few, If any, of the Southern States would
be able or willing at once to take such enOT-
ma;ls obligations upon them. If they even
attempted ii and failed, their failure would
be A forfeiture of their shares for education
al purposes to the other States.
The receipts from the annual sales of
public lands now amount TO only about one
million or one million five hundred thou
sand dollars. Only one half Of this sum,
with the five per cent. interest on the other
half. would be distributed among the States.
The apportionment to Tennessee probably
would not exceed So 600. This sum, dl-
. vided among the ninety-nine counties III
the State, would give only about four hun
dred aud twenty-five dollars to each, and
this, subdivided among the school districts,
would give only about fifteen dollars 10
each district, which would not be sufficient
TO have a school taught in the district a
single month. To provide foi a system of
common schools in Tennessee, as contem-
plated by the bill, it would require a coer-
Give tax annually by the Slate of more
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