Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1886-03-05
The State School Fund.

ture WAS the following In regard to the
distribution of the State school tax:
Under our present rule Of distributing the
State school tax separate funds are appropriai cd
TO the white and colored schools The colored
schools first receive Sl00 900 per annum, and
the white schools the b,lance collected from
said tax. No injustice il done the celorcd
schools by this appropriation, for in proportion
to population they receive more than their full
share. believe the uniformity Of the system
requires no division Of appropriations upon the
color line Separate schools must he laintsiued
and impartialv operated, but they should be
under ore system, and paid from one and the
same fund"
This same matter WAS discussed at the
last session of the Legislature and then
the lines took occasion to express its
views regarding it and the question WAS
discussed to some extent by the State
press. The conclusion then reached was
different from that expressed by the Gov
ernor ae above quoted, and the agitation
of the matter in the Legislature was drop
ped We have not seen that any move
ment has been made at the present session
to revive the discussion Notwithstanding
the recommendation of the Governor. 1t
is hoped hat there will not be any renew
ed agitation of the question at the present
session, but lest there may be, it may not
be out of place to review the matter briefly
at this time.
The Governor comedies that separate
schools must be maintained" for the white
and colored pupils; but thinks that they
SHOULD be under one system and paid
from one and the same fund" and that
'the uniformity of the system requires no
division of appropriations upon the color
line" Now as matter of fact the free
public instruction of the State, of both the
white and colored pupils, is under the
same system and is paid from the same
fund: VIZ, the public school tax. But
when we concede that separate schools are
necessary for the two races (snd We pre-
sumo no one in Maryland will seriously
main' ain the contrary it results nccessar-
lily that there must be decision in the dp-
preparation.
The colored population of the State is
resident Almost exclusively in the few
counties in which slavery chiefly existed,
while in many Of the counties Of the S ate
they have scarcely any colored population
at al. Here in Charles, for instance. we
have 4,145 colorsd children between the
ages of 5 and 90, being in excess of the
white children of that description. while
in several counties of much larger popula-
ton they have less than thousand color
ed child en- and in one less than a hun
dred. Our colored population is distri-
buted uniformly over the whole county,
and separate schools have to lie maintain
ed for them in all the districts As re-
sui, too, of this large colored population
the white population is sparsely scattered
over large area OF territory, and as q
consequence it requires more schools and
teachers and much greater attendant ex-
pense per capita to afford our white child
rtn equal educational advantages. than il
does in the more populous counties whose
people are chiefly of one race.
Now it would he manifestly unjust to
require Charles county to educate her tw o
races in separate schools at the same ex-
pense per capita as it is required to edu-
cate the children of other populous and
thickly settled counties in which very few
schools have to be provided for the CO or
ed children. Charles now receives less
than $4,000 Per annum for educating over
1000 celored children and this is barely
adequate for the purpose. IT the Govern
or's recommendation were carried out, We
should receive little over $4,000 for the
purpose, and in order to carry on the col
o-ed schools at all with this diminished
appropriation, would have 10 trench
upon the fund for white schools. which,
owing to our sparse pofu atom and large
area, is already Inadequate and has to be
largely supplemented 10y a local levy.
The instruction of colored children was
a separate feature engrafted upon our edu-
cational sy.tem and the 100000 appro-
priated for the purpose was by no means
excessive. Tae manner of the distrbu-
tion of this fund, i, giving to each coun-
ty the proportion of it which her colored
school going population bears to the total
populatian of the State of that d, scription
is manifestiy right and should not be dis
turbed