Wilmington daily gazette., 1873-09-29
Minority Repov,.


ware: D''~
GENTLEMEN The undersigned. the mlDor.
lty OF the Committee appointed, under the res
olutlon OF Mr. s. ROdIlan Smith, instTuetiDO
,9 ~ g., ,St DyaLu % appoint committee Of three
10 inquire whether the Board could obtain tIIe
tltle, or use of the Howard School, for the nur
pose OF maintaining therein school for col
ored children, &c, would respectfully report
that he cannot agree with the majority Of the
cCnhlttee tTd at the same time, he regrets that
the Legislature, at Its late session did not pasS
law by which the cOlOred people could be |
taxed Tor school purposes (althouRh, they. |
the coored people, pay no tax. and have no |
property on which school Tx, worthy of
sh,i she name, can be levied) yet until the law |
snal give the proper authority, the under |
signed as member Of this Board. Will not at
tempt 70 usurp. such powers. One of the
great troubles OF the Zines Is, that men usurD
powers not granted them by law.
o.lI me bOarq OF Education is created by a
State law OF Delaware members of the Board
are public officers, whose duties are created.
and defined by law. The presumption is CON
elusive to all executive officers, that the laws
OF the State, which define their duty, are con-
stltunonal and valid until they have been de-
clded 70 pc otherwise, by a court of competent
jurisdiction. The Board are executives OH
GERS; their duty Is to execute laws, not to make
| them. The laws of Delaware (see volume a.
page 66) provide and define their powers in
| the words following:
The Board Of Public Education in Vii
mlngt0n, shall be capable In law to take, pur-
chase, hold, sell, grant, mortgage demise. or
| otherwise dispose Of lands, tenements heTedi-
taments, goods, chattles and effects and shall
have control and authority over all the public
schools IN the city OF Wilmington and shall
increase the number, and improve condition
thereof, and do all acts necessary for estab-
fishing and maintaining said schools, as they
shall deem JudiciOus and eXpedient until there
are sufficient public schools to accommodate
all the white children and minors, whose par
entS, guardians or masters desire for them the
benefit" These arc our powers no more
and no less, the Legislature gave them, and
alone has power to amend enlarge, or restrict
them, and would here say, that It is the Opin-
ION OF the undersigned that the Legislature at
Its late session should have passed q law look
ing to the education Df the children of colored
parents an act which would have been wise,
and no doubt would have been to the interest
Of the general public, provided that such an
act WOald provide seperate schools for cOlOred
children. t must not be forgotten that the
Laws OF Delaware, vol. II, page 400 expressly
provide "Fhe school assessment shall not in
clude the persons Or estates of cOlOred per-
sons"
The Howard SchOJl referred to at such length
and by such terms Of approval and laudatiOn
in the report Of the majority was so far as the
undersigned is advised, built by Gen. Howard
and his associates, put of the puclic money,
and wlthOutthe variant FLAW, and the apprO-
priatiOn by the City Council of Wilmington
Of $1,000 and the annual appropriation of 81,
600, since the year 1868, to said school, has
been an exercise OfpOWer of doubtful legality,
and entirely outside Of the School Laws Of the
State, or the Chan ter Of the city, under which
the City Council have always been supposed
to find their just powers. Ii the agreement
prepared by the majority be true, and the
Threat to the people Of our city and State SO
AaG0 la unn n IN int
the same schools with the white children, then
it must be admitted that the appeal to the
, United States COu1ts which Is so brandished
before the Board (With three Federal officers
members OF the same one the District AttOr-
ney, one the Assistant Collector OF Customs
and the other the Clerk of the Court and a
member of the majority Of this committee
, that the establishment Of single school in
, one OF the wards OF our city, with all the
/ privileges and advantages which the Howard
School give TO cOlOrad people erelgsipsty will
not In the least degree avail to exclude the
. cOlOred children from any and every OtheI
public school In the city or the State, which
. may happen to be In the ward or school dis
/, trict where the parents Of such cOlOred child
: rem may chance to reside.
9 If the laws Of Delaware relating to public edu
cation arc as Is claimed by the majority liable II
D be oveTthrown by an appeal by eoloEed chilt
who is refused admithnee to public school, theI
r the proposition now made aud endorsed by the
: majority OF the committee will be utterly useless
Z to prevent it, The whole thing Is a makeshift
: an evasion; an attempt to blink the truth auC
conceal from the people Of the State that the tru
and real object OF the majority Of the committee
and their party associates, Is the mingling of tn
: two races in the public schools, aud all othe
! places and ways Tor which opportunities Me offer
o cd.
o For these reasons your Committee would re
lport adversely to the renting Of the 'Howar
School, and would o1IeF the following resolution
RESOLVED, That the Board of Education Tefus
to accept the offer OF the Executive Commute
q OF the managers of the Delaware Association TO
n the Moral improvement and Education Of th
: COloTed Persons OF the State viz "t0 rent 10 tn
= Board the Howard School for the purpose q
y maintaining q school for eolOred children" as tn
= same is ia conflict with the charter of the BOart
J. and the Laws Ofthe State of Delaware.
y Respectfully,
2 II. b. McINTIRE,
r Committee.