Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-11-16
THE sCHOOLMAsTER GENERAL.
SHIP.

THE sCHOOLMASTER GENERAL.
SOmsthing About IN OMlce and she
Present Incambent.
Mr.. EDITOR: / have noticed in the Ne
vada newspapers considerable criticism Of
State Superintendent Young for leaving
Carson to act as Principal Of the public
schools of Eureka, and also . good deal
said about the uselessness Of the Office that
he holds. Now, sir, the subject has in
terested me very much and I have gone to
the trouble to find out what are the merits
Of the question that agitatss the newspa-
pers to such an extent. I came pretty
near agreeing with the editorial fault-find-
ers in regard to this Office which exists and
is held in high regard in every State of the
Union, except, perhaps, in Nevada. l
find that, to simmer it all down and
throw aside details, the State Superin-
tendent Of this State never has been able,
on account Of our School law and the
manner in which the Office has been treat
ed, to do any great amount OF good.
Whereas in other States he is granted q
number Of purogatives in his department
and given large authority therein, here
his SUPPLEMENTARY Of schools does not
exist but in the mere name Of the thing.
In adopting our laws almost wholly from
the statute books of California otherwise,
we took q skeleton of q school law from it
for our use. In this law the State Super
intendent is practically q nobody. Every
Legislature that has ever met in the State
has been u%nfriendly to the Department Of
Education or has certainly seemed to be
30. 1t has been impossible to get our law
makers to give the subject Of . school law
for Nevada the consideration that it needs
to bring it up to the requirements Of the
community, to make it what it ought to
be and what it is everywhere elsa useful
and important statute. II our Legislatures
have not been unfriendly, they have at
least ignored the matter Of public educa;
ton at its proper source, and have done
nothing to vitalize the Schoolmaster Cen
eralship. 1t is undoubtedly q sinecure.
1t has always been comparatively so, but
now it is more Of that nature than ever
before. The Superintendent used to be
allowed his travelling expenses to go around
through the State and visit and examine
the schools and talk to the boys and girls
at work over their books and take counsel
with the teachers. He, even then, how
ever, could not act with any authority.
The law gave him nc power to do anything
towards correcting abuses or making i'm
provements. Still, by his visitations nee
q year, something might be lone in the
way suggested for the good Of public edu-
cation. But the Superintendent in Office
now cannot even visit the schools as a
f;aI t. oaoko . nvaoA 1nn - ,o-aI
over the State of Nevada; and the
last Legislature finished the emasculation
of the Schoolmaster Generals office by
looping off every cent for travelling ex-
penses. That he can travel on his slight
salary at his own expense is, Of course, out
of the question. This being the case, Mr..
Young, the present incumbent, has nothing
to do in his Office at Carson, except some
merely clerical work of a purely routine
sort, which would not require his atten-
ton, if all piled together, two weeks in q
twelve-month.
This much for the Office. Now, as to the
criticisms to which the present incumbent
has been subjected, l would say this:
Don't you think he did we'll to come to
Eureka and make himself useful in his
profession as an educator? What good
could he be to himself or anybody else in
Carson, where he had positively nothing
to do. unless, perhaps, to open the door of
the State Mineral Cabinet for visitors to
look at the specimens-which the porter
of the State House can do as we'll as he?
AS to his drawing the salary, all l can
say is that somebody has to draw it. He
can do that probably as well as anybody
else. This is about the sentiment that
Harry Mighels expressed when he
was running for an Office
which is, to-day, the worst sinecure
on the list. I say worst, because it was
within the power of the Legislature to
make it expenseless. l refer to the Office
OF Lieutenant-G Governor. The Office of
Superintendent of Public Instruction is
a constitutional Office and cannot be
abolished.
1 learn, also, that Mr.. Young came to
Eureka only at the urgency Of the Trustees
here, who could not find a reliable man to
take the Principalship OF the Eureka
schools after prodigious efforts to do so.
1t seems to me that Mr.. Young does
himself no discredit by throwing off the
laziness Of official life at Carson and apply
ing himself diligently here to one of the
noblest works that ever evoked the ener-
gies of man. If by his action in the prem
ises he has placed himself in q position
that requires explanation, it appears to me-,
after considering the whole case maturely,
that it is not his fault, but rather that OF
the laws of the State under which his Office
has been, practically. q sinecure always.
aud by which, last Winter, it vas 80 emas-
culated that it exists, now, only in the
name.
John Mccullough Failing.
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