Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-01-26


receive that attention from Congress which its
importance demands Various bills granting
aid in one form or another have from time to
time been reported, and last May tho House
committee on education and labor, after a
thorough consideration Of the subject pre-
scented measure backed by an able and ex-
haustive report. This bill was finally called
up the other day and some action will doubt
less be taken upon it this week The bill
provides that $40, 600, 600 be annually drawn
directly from the treasury mot from proceeds
of public lands, as recommended by former
bills) for the period Of five years and distrib-
uted to each state in proportion to the illit-
eracy of the state relative to the total litter
acy as shown by the last census that it shall
be paid to the proper officer Of each state,
and expended by state officials under state
laws; that it shall be all expended for COM
mon schools except per cent which may be
used for the training of teachers that it shall
be divided proportionally between whites and
blacks that none of it shall be expended for
schools or repairs or sites, or for salaries ex-
cept those of teachers.
The conditions prescribed by the national
government and preceding the right Of
state to receive its proportion are (D That
it shall have provided by law a system of pub
lie schools; (2) that it shall have. supported
schools for at least three months during each
preceding year. and shall have expended at
least as great q sum Of money as it receives
CD that it shall report yearly to the commits
soner of education such statistics rs shall APP
prise Congress how the money has been ex-
pended, and also general information concern
ing the condition and progress of the schools
The recent slave states will receive according
to this bill, 81, BOO, 773 of the whole amount,
which it is believed will enable them to sup
port schools for six months of the year when
added to the amount raised by state or local
provisions. The national government will be
at slight additional expense in distributing
the fund.- since it is to be done through the
existing bureau of education.
The Senate also took up the subject last
week The bill before that body, presented
by Senator Blair, differs from the House bill
in some important respects. It's author and
those who support him believe that so long
as one.fourth of the whites and three-fourths
of the blacks in the southern states are unable
to read and write, it is for present rather
than future needs that provision must be
made. The bill proposes that for the first
year after its passage the sum of Sl5, 600 900
shall be taken from the federal treasury and
distributed for the support of common schools,
under the direction of the Secretary of the
Interior, among the various states and terri
tories in the proportion which the number of
iliterates above the age of 10 in those states
and territories bear to the population of the
whole United States. For the second year
S14, 600 would be thus distributed for
the third year Sl3, 600, OOO and so on, dimin-
ishing one million per year for ten years
when the distribution would cease. This
money is to be used for the teaching of COM
mon school branches only, but 10 per cent
of it may be employed in training teachers
II is further provided that no state shall re-
ceive share of the money unless it expends
from funds raised by itself at least one-third
as much every year for the first five years rs
| it would receive from the government, and
for the second five years sum equal to its
allotment. In the ten years of its operation
| this bill would call for an expenditure of
| sos, 600, 900.
| In support of Senator Blar's bill it is urged
that in hiscountry education is a state charge,
and it is only in abnormal circumstances that
| the giving of federal aid is warranted. These
abnormal conditions are found in the south
ern states, where the emancipation and en-
reimbursement of large body of slaves so
. 4Io nf; tl,K
erably less than one in three of the voters in
the old slave states can read the names on
their ballots The ilterates in the South are
not all blacks, however. The average of
white illiteracy there is not far from 20 per
cent. of black iliteracy, 10 per cent In
the northern states, the range of native white
illiteracy is from fraction of l per cent. up
to per cent. These figures are not needed,
however to prove the allegation that in the
southern states common school education has
been woefully neglected. That is a matter
of common fame. 1t would be bad policy for
the government to take any steps looking to
a permanent assumption of the burden of
maintaining common schools in the South.
The most that it can properly do is to give an
impetus to the cause Of education there. The
bill before the Senate is wisely limited in the
time of its operation, it is generous in its pro-
visions, and is said to receive the hearty ap-
proval of educational bodies in different Sec
tons of the union.
The general subject is one which has al
ready had ample discussion in our columns,
and in regard to which the people of all sec
tons of the country, irrespective of party,
are, as we believe, in substantial accord.
Though it matters little what may be the pre-
else terms of the act which Congress shall
adopt by way of encouraging popular educa-
ton, it is of importance that the work be no
longer neglected.