The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-02-17
The State School Tax.

Mr. Cummings. member of the ILL |
nois house from Fulton county, has under
taken good work in his proposed intro
duction OF bill to abolish the collection of
q schoolta by the state government. The
present practice is to collect $1,000 600
annually for tie schools by state taxation.
The tax is apportioned on the valuation of
property, and the proceeds divided among
the counties in proportion to the number
of children who are of school age in each
county. Under this unfair system, some
of the counties pay much more than they,
receive, and few are allotted larger
proportion than they pay. Cook county
has been paying nearly 100000 year
more on the property valuation than it
has received on the division according to
the number of public school attendants.
Fulton county is one Of those whose pro
portion of the fund is larger than it contri-
butes, and it would be IN the selfish 10
terest of Mr.. Cummings constituents to
retain the present system if the entire
fund were distributed. But this gen.
tleman has found, upon examination,
that the percentage Of the fund paid out
for its collection and handling is larger
than the difference in favor of any county
Thus the 100000 excess which Cook
county pays every year does not really 60
to the support of schools in other counties.
but is eaten up and exhausted by the ex-
penses incident to the system. The state
tax is collected by the town officials, who
retain a part as commission passes from
the town collector to the county collector,
who takes slice off the remainder
from the county collector to the state trea-
surer, who exacts his salary; from the
akokn frnn %, kA.. kak1 j..
of instruction, who takes his toll thence
back to the county treasurer, who takes
another toll then to the town treasurer
and the school districts, both taking toll
In this process of constant friction between
the various officials, it is estimated that al
least taoenty. tioo per cent of the entire funC
is rubbed off before it reaches the
teachers and the schools.
The system is useless 10 itself, since thu
fund is not sufficient to support the schools
OF the state, and because every county j.
Obliged to organize and support a separate
system OF its own for collecting school tax
es. 1t is folly, therefore, to waste nearly
$240,000 year in the collection and dis
triDution Of fund of $1,000. 600, while
every county in the state has separate ma
chinery for the collection and distribution
OF the school tax of its own. This woulc
be sufficient reason for repeating the state
tax, even it there were no discrimination
But, while number of counties are re-
quired to defray these unnecessary ex
penses, and the others are exempt, the
state tax is simply the means of support
ing horde of tax eaters, who might 9TH
erwlse be dispensed with; for, with the
abolition of this school tax, it is thought
that it will no longer be necessary to levy
state tax on farms, houses, mills, shops,
and real estate. Thus a double benefit
will be secured from the proposed change
1t will then remain for every county tc
raise its own school fund, instead of rails.
ing part of it Us now, and depending
upon the state tax for the remainder.
There are two features of Mr.. Cum
mings's bill, as it has been described, which
we regard as Objectionable. One is, that
1t requires the counties to maintain theii
schools only four months in the year; We
think they should be required to keep
them open at least five or six mouths.
The other feature is the proposed aboli-
ton Of the offices of state and county su.
perintendents OF instruction, The cost of
supporting these officials is not very large,
and they IRE useful in the .disciplining Of
teachers and the collection of school stats
tlSo' w q lukuh th6J tAG COtuuOu cCIiUOl
system would suffer in this state by the
abolition of, at least, the state superinten-
dent; and as this change is not essential
to the discoutinuance OF the state tax, it
should be omitted from the bill. which,
otherwise, ought to be passed. - Chicago
Tribune
Any system of taxation which furnishes,
from the money of the people generally,
free schools for anything beyond the CON-
mon branches of en- English education is
wrong and unjust. And the simpler the
machinery for this purpose the better.
The Offices of state and county superinten-
dent OF schools should be abolished Each
school district should choose its own school
comp'ittee or directors, hire its own teach
ers, and assess and collect its own school
taxes, and permit nothing to be taught at
the public expense except the common
branches OF an English education. We
should then have just as good schools as al
present, and at not over one-half the pre-.
sent rate OF taxation.