Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-03-01
COMMON SCHOOLS AND EDUGA.
TON.
Practical Views Of Hon. @. n. I'll


TION.
Practical Views of Hon. g.. N. TIL.
man, Representative from Bed
ford. a. eea.t .sr s-ef ~ ~
We have received pamphlet of Hon. G..
N. Tillman's remarks on education and
common schools which, owing to his pro-
traeted illness were not presented to the
House of Representatives at the proper
time, and hence are now given in .RamI hlet
form. The author shows how al unjust
assumption of power in antiquity had its
foundation in the ignorance OF the people,
that liberty and intelligence are allied for
mutual good, and although books are no
longer written in Latin and Greek,
and the schools are not set
apart fer a lazy clergy,
| yet 1.-THE United States has ], 5S5, 900 litter
ate voters (nearly half being free-born
white men), and while there are 5000, 900
| illiterate persons over ten years of age, $780,
900 are citizsns of Tennessee. After an
able argument showing that system of
popular education underlies every other in
! terest IN the State, lhasmuch as it is the
! primordial of social development, tie au-
thor illustrates its power to engender pub
lie spirit by liberalizing the minds of all
classes, and interprets DR.. Franklin's re-
mark, "a man who empties his pocket into
bis head will have q fortune" to mean thai
education increases the productiveness of
labor, and thereby enriches, which result is
| demonstrated in logical manner. In re-
lation to immigration the author says:
'Tbere is no greater iGducement to for
eigners, or citizens of the more crowded
States of the East, hunting homes, than the
| promise of free education for their children.
Our mines may be rich, our fields produc-
| tive, our climate healthy; but the mechanic
and farmer, the industrious laborers of
every avocation, viii flock TO lands less ia
vored by nature, bat richer in educational
advan tages. With 10 Common Schools,
and roads tina. are almost impossible in
winter, the rearing and educating family
of children in this State, is an undertaking
no poor man dare assume. Il is so expen-
sive that even men who own two or three
hundred acres of rich land in rural districts,
permit their children to grow up with less
of the rudiments of knowledge than is pos
sessed by the boys OF day laborers in States
where free schools exist. While this is the
case, we cannot hope for immigration. In-
UccO, IL 10 . QUCoLAOtA " LII LAC4 WIZ nave
given the subject consideration, whether
there are not more people leav-
ing than are coming into the
State. immigration Societies may induce
people to come here, but they cannot keep
them here. Many families have come to
Bedford county-one of the richest coun-
ties in the State-and after remaining one
or two years, becoming dissatisfied, not
with its natural advantages, but with its
social state, have returned to their former
homes, or gone elsewhere. We should not
look for others to come aud shoulder our
burdens, and build up our interests; we
should put our own hands to hearty work. |
By industry, economy, and public spirit, |
we should offer superior advantages to |
home-seekers. When we tell them that our |
country is fair and rich, they may well ask,
Why, then, are you not more enterprising |
and prosperous? Our people must practice |
industry, and most of all ec0nOmy-econ-
omy of time, of labor, and of money. In |
an able article in Frdzer'S Magazine last
year, the writer, speaking of ths French
people, observes: 'rhey believe that for.
tune may be gradually sGUed; and
whatever may be the other contributing
causes, to the amazing wealth of France,
the great source of he- riches certainly lies
in the saving habits of the people,"
Among other interesting numerical ex
hibits Mr.. Tillman presents the following
figures:
"Gov. Brown estimates the value of the
taxable property of the State at S500, 900,
900. Its assessed value, according to the
Comptroller's report, is only $272, 100000.
But let us suppose that, by the operation of
more efficient assessment laws, to be enacted
by this Legislature, our taxable property
shall reach, for 1873, $3O0,0G0,600. A tax
of 60 cents on the 500, together with the
tax on privileges, would yield revenue
sufficient for the expenses of the govern
ment, and pay 81 ,260,0 the interest on the
State de5t, if funded.
at is SIS important that the credit of the
State be maintained as that the children be
educated. Besides the heavy State tax the
people of many counties, if not of every
county In the State, are required to pay
county tax almost, if not quite as great as
he State tax. Then also must be added
he taxes levied by corporations. Such
being the burden we have, we cannot ex-
pect to inaugurate at once commoD-school |
system equal to that of Massachusetts or
Ohio. Many years must eiapse before we
IAN have an efficient system: it cannot |
come to maturity in a day. Our pOpula
ion must become more dense and our
,osds must be improved. This will require
lime, industry and economy"
Speaking of the "Common School Fund.-"
he author says the Constitution declares
hat it 'tshall remain a perpetual fund.-"
md ''the interest thereof shall be inViolably
appropriated to the Import and encourage
nent CT common schools throughout the
State" That the principle shall not be
diminished by legislative appropriation"
But the principal has been diminished-not
by legislative appropriation-buti it has been
Junk in the general wreck of the State,
brought about by the civil war. The State,
guardian of the children, and holding in
rust for their benefit the sacred fund, has
with how much culpability we shall not
Iay) suffered that fund to be lost, and the
children, the needy beneficiaries, are with
)ut the means of a cOmmon-school educa- ,
ion. Is the State not yet bound to them,
morally aud legally? These children come
md beseech us simply TO pay the inter-
,st on what we owe them. Shall we :
lot do it? lIt is our constitutional Obliga-
ion as well as our moral duty to do this /
much, if not more. The original Common
school Fund amounted to about $780, ,
100. A tax on the taxable property in the !
State of cents on 500, will raise $4,000 :
an amount sufficient to pay the t
interest on the original School Fund. Be-
ides this, we can well afford an additional :
ak of q cents on the 500 for school pur- :
'oses, which will yield annually 100000,
which, added TO the 100000, the poll-tax, !
nd the tax which the counties shall raise, s
Fill constitute fund sufficient to main 9
ain schools in every county for few !
months in every year. :
The present school law, with State SUI '
and such provisions for rails {
1g funds as those indicated, and few $
Their amendments which We will not now
u ggest, would, in our opinion, be about c
he best which we can now provide. i
Attest Markets BY TELEGR APH