Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-10-07

frivolous pretextS, and, nnally, peremp-
torily and insultingly refused. Obsta-
cles Of every possible character were i
thrown in my way to prevent me from |
obtaining reliable information, the |
treasurer even attempting my imprls-
onment on the charge oflarceny.
x The result of a somewhat pro-
tracted investigation can be summed |
up in few words. The accounts, as
they appear In the remarkable dOcu-
ment before alluded to, are, in many
cases. falsified by being raised; tictl-
tious claims are allowed and paid to
fictitious personages; unworthy, IN
competent, and dissipated teachers
have, in some instances, been employed
TO perform political services OF ques-
tionable honesty, and the public money
expended to the last cent, leaving a
heavy load of debt. : Know
ing as do the details of this most dis
graceful matter, | charge the then
treasurer of the board with embeZzle-
ment. aided and abetted by the then
president and the parish judge, who
also was a member of the board, and
am prepared to establish this before
any competent tribunal.
The treasurer of the school board
here denounced was also at the same
time State Senator and member of the
police-jury (supervisor). Mahoney
who was president ofthe school board,
was at the same time member OF the
Assembly and police-juror.
find that in great many parishes
the members of the Legislature are
members and officers of the school
board. As the latter Office is not
salaried. 1 was dull enough not to
see the object of the Senators and Re-
representatives. in holding it, until an in
telligent colored man, Republican
and an office holder, explained to me
that in this way the public schools are
made political engines throughout the
State. The Senators or representa-
tives, being also officers of the school
boards. appoint the school-teachers,
and select men who are their own po-
litieal adherents, and who, living
among the colored people, help to keep
their patrons in office.
I'm this parish, said the man to me,
I'VE have many more colored schools
than white; but it is a fact that most
of the teachers are ignorant men or
lazy. or. sometimes, drunkards. They
are appointed by our Senator and Re
representatives., and their work Is not to
teach school, but to talk up the man
who appoints them. If teacher were
the smartest man in the township, and
he went against the man who appoint
! ed him, he would be turned out; but
this is not all. Over here there Is a
colored school, and another one close
to it. There is no need for two so near
together; but neither of them is worth
anything; for they were both set ny
| for politics, and the teachers are only
politicians. and the schools are hardly
ever open."
The colored man who told me this
is Republican and an ofhce-holder
| [ shall not mention the name of the
| parish in which he lives, because l dc
not wish to get him into trouble; but
his testimony was confirmed to me by
many other men of both colors.
The school report to which L have
referred gives melancholy picture OF
the Louisiana school system. Of 242,-
;534 children between six and twenty
one, only 81 ,433 were enrolled in the
public schools; and as my eye runs over
the pages | find that in one parish the
treasurer of the school board has used
the funds for his private purposes, and
paid the teachers in scrip to the
amount of three thousand dollars. In
another thirty thousand dollars were
spent, and the schools were open less
than a year-this in a country parish
In two parishes the school treasurers
had absconded with quite large
amount of money belonging to the
school fund" Inanother the money
appropriated to esta blish schools was
invested in private business and spec
ulation." In yetanother AL theforms
| of law which should govern school at
fairs have been totally ignored and dis
regarded" In the parish of st. Mar.
tin, the treasurer of the school fund
was discovered TO be defaulter to the
amount of three thousand seven hun.
dred dollars. In St. James the school
board had prudently burned their re-
cords when they left the Office, and j
! w. Hunsaker, president of the board
after giving bail of five thousand dol
lars to answer to the charge of fraud
left the State.
Mr.. Nordhoff's next report is from
Mississippi-his first stepin enquiriug
for the public school system there was
not promising; here it is.in his own Ian
guage:
knowing that l am interested il
in schools, some one in New Orleans
sent me 4 letter of introduction to the
State Superintendent of Public In.
struction here-a colored man named
Cardoza. On asking for him | found
he had gone to Vicksburg to look af'
ter an Indictment" found against him;
and when | myself went there, L dis
covered that Cardozo was not merely
indicted. but, as an indignant Repub-
| lican told me, 'shingled all over with
/ Indictment" for embezzlement and
/ fraud, aud likely, if justice is done
presently to be sent to State-prisOn
What lovely and improving sight fol
the children of the State, white and
| black I"
And we hear no more of public
schools in that State; the one privilege
the radicals seemed to offer the negro
there was that on condition of his
helping the carpet Dagger to steal a
good deal he should have a chance Of
stealing a little himself.
In Alabama the white people, were
regaining power when Mr.. Nordhoff
went there MAY 1870; and as a result
things were working much better be-
tween black and white:
Alabama was not in the old times
famous for schools, butt is now bet
ter provided than Mississippi, or
/ even Arkansas. In Mobile, Selma,
and some other places, an admirable
/ school system is found for both colors
/ In Selma, ten per cent, of the city rev.
enues is set apart, by q Democratic
/ council, for school purposes, and divid-
/ ed among both colors. Mobile, Mont
gomery, Selma, Birmingham, and
/ Huntsville, all have graded schools for
/ both colors, and at Huntsville there is
/ a colored normal school. The State
school-fuud yields one dollar twelve
and half cents per head for all the
children in the State; and, besides, the
poll-t is given to the school-tund IN
each county. Unfortunately, the poll
tax has not been fully collected"
/ In North Carolina the Democratic
.-.,- -, ;,,oo 107O honn pradOmiOant