New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-03-12
The McDonogk Fund in Baltimore.

The trust of great charity should be
guarded with care and carried out with
diligence, in the closest possible accordance
with the will of the testator. When Mr..
John McDonogh, of New Orleans, made
his noble bequest to the cities of New Or
leans and Baltimore. the earnest and yigor-
ous expressions of his will show that the
ends he desired to attain were very dear to
mis- heart, and had formed the neditations
of his lite. In the legacy to New Orleans
we are not interested. The property be-.
oueathed BY him to Baltimore was dedi-
Gated to one definite and benefcent purpose.
That purpose was the founding OF q school
having these primary objects in view,
First-That the boys who were selected
as benefciaries of his charity should re-
ceive an education in reading, writing,
arithmetic, geography, and kindred studies.
Second-In addition to this, and to just
as full an extent, they should be taught
practically the work of farm and the
general science of agriculture.
The acquisition, II necess airy, also OF the
.ud;men,s Of such mechanical arts as
would render easy their apprenticeship to
a trade.
To accomplish this purpose Mr.. Melon
ogh's property was committed to trustees.
The mayor and city council of Baltimore
having supervision of the trust, the trustees
were made thereby public officers. The
estate of Mr.. McDonogh was supposed BY
himself at the time of his demise to be
worth over 100000, but under the ap-
p-aisement the value was reported at about
half that sum. Mr.. McDonough died in
1850. We pass over the partition of the prop
erty, the only important point being that,
owing to various causes, the city OF Balti.
more only succeeded in realizing as her
share of the property, and after many
years delay, a little more than $eCo,ooo. The
lpyestment of this sum, now increased to
about 100000, seems to have been judi,
cously made. With this tuna IN naad anS
drawing interest, it would appear as II,
after the lapse of quarter OF century,
1he cherished wishes of the donor could be
carried out to q generous extent, anu that
7he educational and industrial advantages
of such an institution as he contemplated
might now be enjoyed by large NUMBER
Of the poor children of Baltimore, or, Sec
ondariiv, of those of the State at large
whom he had toiled for years to benefit,
Ind for chose welfare he had shown him.
sell. by his will, to have been 80 deeply 60
iicitOus.
Thus far the results, we regret to say,
have been eingularly meagre. The puDlle
has. therefore, right to feel disappointed,
and to ask fuller explanation than any
that has vet been vouchsafed. The trustees
have husbanded the funds with care, aho
deserve not only great cre1iI, ". sineu ~
praise for the jjudicious and thougatIu5 way
in which they have discharged the duties
Of the trust Nevertheless, either the plan
adopted for the institution is too narrow ~
its scope and too rigid in it's requirements
or else there are defects of management
that prevent it becoming the popular anG
practical school which its founder desired
it should be.
We nave looked in vain for the cause OF
this. The reference to the McDonogf
School in Mayor Latrobe's recent message
is very brief. 1t simply goes over oic
grounds; quotes again the same monoto
nous paragraphs about the required status
of the boys before admission, and places
their number at fifty, which is precisely tn
same number it had two years ago. In 1877
sixty-eight scholars were on the roll; bu
of these eighteen ran away. or were re
called, or were dismissed for various causes
This loss of nearly one third of the boys il
one year, indicates either An unfortunat'
selection from among the large number o