The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-07-23
The Free School Sustain.

7 men as yet have done nothing in re
gard to collecting the taxes assess
ed under the new municipal schoo
law. Since the dissolution of the in
= junction by the decree of Chancellor
Fleming there has scarcely been &
doubt in the minds of the people
here as to the issue in the chancery
; court. The case will almost Ger
tainly be dismissed at the next court
in September. The trial at Cham
bers was virtually a trial of the
case on its merits, and the decree
then rendered amounts to victory
for the corporate authorities. When
the case shall have been tried in
September and dismissed, as will
doubtless be the issue, the com
plainants, as we are informed, will
appeal to the supreme court. We
believe that this course will only
result in delay and that they will
finally be defeated. If the law were
decided to be unconstitutional it
would revolutionize the public
schools of the state. A number of
towns and cities in Tennessee have
schools that are governed by laws
similar to the Pulaski school law.
They exist,in fact,all over the Unit
ed States and have existed a long,
long time. So grave an error as the
complainants claim has been made
by the enactment of this law could
scarcely have become so general
and enduring. Judge Fleming's
decree is not without precedent.
The question has been adjudicated
in other courts, and the weight of
opinion is decidedly against the
complainants. The supreme court
will decide against the complain
ants, and we will have the school
sooner or later. 1t Is a mere ques-
ton Of time, and we honestly be-
lIeve that when the school shall |
have been established and, by lea
son OF that fact, the population shall
have increased and the business of
the town stimulated, that they, and |
the property owners generally, will
not be hurt in the least, but upon
the contrary will be greatly bene-
fitted. They do not believe so, and
they have a perfect right to their
opinion. 1t IS their privilege also to
appeal to the courts for protection
when they think that an infring-
ment is being made upon their
rights, and their neighbors ought
aot to judge them harshly because
they do it. We certainly don't l
blame them for the course they
nave taken, for if we believed as they s
10 we would join them in opposing t
he law, if there were any hope of f
success in that opposition. But en- r
as we do an opinion ex- I
actly the opposite to their own, we e
ire in favor of it, and hope they are c
generous enough to grant US, with +
'ut judging us harshly, the privi- t
eye we allow them-that of ex- t
our opinion. If it could s
De made to appear, as compliments f
,laim, that the establishment of the c
public school system in Pulaski t
would initiate against the interests a
# any one class of her citizens to u
he upbuilding of the interests of r
mother class, the CITIZEN would t
lave not another word to say in ia p
or of the law. Glass legislation is b
Lbomin able. But we favor the law u
because we believe it will be bene-
icial to all classes alike. While
hose who, under its administration
would pay but little or no property 1
ak, would be enabled to educate $
heir children and to make of them u
Intelligent citizens, honorable in r
he community, rather than ignor- q
mt men and women, dishOnoring it, :
md while this class would be q
hus benefited, the property own o
RS, those who would be called upon '
o lend their means TO uplift the
weak and the poor, would find re-
yard more substantial, one more /
greatly coveted by the human fami- g
y, than the mere approval of the Q
for having done chart
able act. 1t will not be casting
,read upon the waters to be gath ,
red up many days hence" in the I
orm of the grateful thanks of bene- !
iciaries-the gratitude OF apprecl- :
tive men made of waits. The re- =
rms for the lending will come in
he shape of dollars nd Snd cents. Ill
will be lending money to a good :
cause at high rate of interest. If :
he free school system Is ever estab- 4
ished in Pulaski, property is bound
4, |
lone everywhere else, and the prop
.rty owners here, as elsewhere, will
become its strongest supporters.