The Aberdeen examiner. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1866-current, 1883-06-28
Federal n idtO state school Funds

Congress will doubtless at it.
December session be called upon t.
consider the question OF making q
heavy appropriation of money from
the public treasury to the seyera
States for the furtherance Of the
cause Of popular education.
We are strongly in favor Of thi.
appropriation provided it is not con.
ditioned upon the exercise Of Fedora
control over its disbursement, and we
believe this to be the general senti-
ment of the people of the Southern
States.
But while we favor this appropriate
ton Of money for public school pur-
poses we dissent from the plan rec.
commended by the Committee on
Education, of distributing the fund
Gin accordance with the ratio Of Hit
eracy,' but demand that population
shall be made the basis Of distribu-
ton.
This is exactly fair and reasonable
and does not, like the bill reported
last year, propose Offering a premium
to ignorance on the one hand, while
it Furnishes education on the other.
To be sure by such distribution
States that already have ample school
funds will share equally with those
that are deficient in this respect, but
we must remember that the money
to be distributed belongs to a com
mon fund, and was collected through
the levy Of Internal and External
taxes from all the people, and hence
should be shared when expended by
all alike, without wronging the rich
Tor the sake of the poor or the poor
for the sake Of the rich. Such a bill
as this will find favor with those who
opposed the one to which we refer,
and we earnestly appeal to the Sen
ators and Representatives of South
ern constituencies to periodically and
and unselfshly urge the plan Of dis
tribution according to population
instead of distribution Sin accordance
with the ratio of illiteraey."
The amount proposed to be dis
tributed in the bill ably championed
by Senator Blair last year, was $l5,-
100000. Now to illustrate the in
justice of the "illiteracy" plan, we
will state few census facts:
The population of Mississippi is
1,131,507.
The population Of New jersey is
1,l31,11
1t will be seen that we onl y exceed
New Jersey in population 4Sl, and
yet the Blair bill proposes to give us
S96l,354, while it only allows New
Jersey $ll9,202.
To further illustrate:
Tennessee has a population Of SIP 3j9.
Iowa has "A population Of l,G24,6i5.
Now the Blair bill proposes that
Tennessee shall receive 81 POI ,296
while Iowa, with an excess in popu.
lation of 2,20G, shall content herself
with 1854 from a treasure to which
her population contributed more thar
that of Tennessee.
To illustrate more strongly the
injustice Of distribution according
to the ratio of illiteracy," suppose We
instance Indiana and Florida:
Indiana has Il population Of ,97S,30l.
Florida has a population OF 800, 1913.
Well according to this plan Flori
da would draw $213,SS7, while
Indiana with an excess Of population
in her favor of 1,70S,S08, would
receive but $2l3,244, .or $643 les,
than Florida.
Now is there any justice in {
proposition Of this character, and is i
strange that Western mon oppose
measure that proposes SO unequal
division of fund to which all Amer
leans are supposed to have contribu
ted pro ra-a IA excise taxes ?
we do not believe that a bill pred