Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-07-14
Where Lies the Hostility to the Schools

place their action upon the basis Of
friendship for the public schools. True
II has been urged that so.called cattle
kings should not be permitted to use
the public lands, without remunera-
ton 10 the state, but when 1t is re-
membered that free grass means n
privilege for the poor man as well as
the rich one, even greater because 1t is
"A greater necessity TO him, this Is so
an appeal TO pre- judice that
1t is relegated to those whose reasons
are 80 beclouded by narrow-mlnded-
ness that 1t were folly to hope to con-
vince or convert, w1atever facts
might I've presented. The lease
issue is then reduced, in SO
far as it's affirmative features are
concerned, TO the question OF its effect
upon educational interests. To secure
absolute fairness, IL must be conceded
at the outset that all arguments In
this connection must be largely specu-
iative, because the practical results are
yet 10 be reached, and the basis of all
calculations, mt so early stage in the
operations OF the lease law, must nee.
essarily be meager. A great many ex-
travagant figures have been INDUCED
in by the lease-law advocates, which
have so befogged the public mind that
grossly incorrect ideas have been prom
ulgated ~ to the real revenues de-
rived from leases. A correspondent of
weekly journal asserts that "from
the best reports we can gather
the lease system contributes S2,000,O0O
year TO the public schools which
would have 10 be raised by taxation If
IL were abolished;n and another
weekly contemporary figures 1t out
that the abollshmtnt of the lease sys.
tenn would deprive It's own county of
50 600 year. These and all such cal
cula,ions are purely imaginative, the
enc gross misstatement of the facts,
the other speculation. without any
grounds whatever save the enthusiasm
of its author for the maintenance of
the lease law. The actual revenue
now accruing 10 the school fund from
the Leasing OF its land Is about one
hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars year. The difference be-
tween this and the amount In.
dictated by the correspondent referred
TO Ia too obvious TO require resort To
the subtraction table; no doubt he was
led into an honest mistake by the reclS-
less assertions OF the lease organs. The
assessment for 1854 ia S530,O00, 900 and
the school tax II cents on the hundred
dollars. The lease revenues are thu,
equivalent 10 tax of - cents on In,
hundred dollars. In other words. In,
farmer who renders 81 900 worth o
property Is saved just 23l cents by tn,
operations OF the lease law. II Is /,
the future, however, that the leas,
men look with hope, and the,
expect sdch ultimate result
as will yield an annua
income of 100000 TO III,
schools from leases. Granting that leas
Ing VIII be kept up Ms 1t has begun
ana That the corporations will take u,
the poorer sections after they have ex
hausted the richer, 1t will reouir
nearly four and one.half years to at
tain this result. The apportionmen
to the schools this year will reacl
nearly two million dollars, which Il |
admitted will not be sufficient To m,
them six months, AS required by tn
constitution, even including the fund
owned by the various counties. An,
which are private property In tb
stricteet sense. The increase |,
lhe scholastic population accord
ing TO the returns Just In Ia abou
thirty per cent, which is largely nc
counted for by the extension of IN
scholastic age. 1t is estimated. how
ever by the superintendent OF educa
uon, that ofthis five.per cent. is leviti
mate Increase. Taking this rs basis
the Increase In live years would h
nearly twcnty-eight per cent. Tn
expenses o. running the schools 10 moi
OF course, increase in the same pronor
uon as the attendance, and vet Il i
'air TO assume that twenty.eight pel
cent additional children would reon,,
an increased approximation .
twenty per cent, which woul,
swell the expenditures of m,
schools, at the lowest estlma,,.
70 three millions at the very time N,
leases began 10 provide an in,oms q
one million. This is clearly illus,ra
i've OF two facts: First, that sbon,d
the lease system yield all thai i.
claimed for 1t, there can still be no "a
duehon Of taxation. but rather An In.
crease because the additional revenue,
WIN DC entirely Inadequate TO mee,
the additional expenses. second tbs,
our system Of public free school. mus,
always be based on taxation. Their.
iore' the emily efiectnal ma is,I Of 10.
creasipg tsxation fer school and al,
otner purposes Is by Increasing saxabls
values. That the settlement and deva,.
opmen, OF the West Is the chief source
!" which we must look for