The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-12-27
THE SCHOOL FUND CASE.
Attorneys Present Argument Before
the Supreme Court.

The township school fund case was
argued in the supreme court Wednesday.
| The suit IS to test the constitutionaHty
| Of the act requiring township trustees
to return to the state treasury all un-
| expended balances at the end Of the
fiscal school year, and the particular
case OF which the test is being made is
the state on the relation of A. G. Smith,
Encouragement, against John F. Nc
Clelland, school trustee of Wayne town.
| ship.
The proceeding were begun before
Judge Brown, who issued an alternative
writ of mandate requiring the defend
ant to turn over the unexpended balance
on hand in July, 1893, amounting to
| SS22.05 or TO appear in court and show
why he should not do so. On the day
set the defendant appeared and filed a
demurrer to the alternative writ, and
this was sustained on the ground that
the plaintiff had no legal capacity TO
sue; that there was a defect of parties
| defendant; that the alternative writ Of
mandate did not state facts sufficient to
constitute a cause Of action. 1t was on
the last named ground for sustaining
the demurrer that the Encouragement
claimed the court erred.
Leon Bailey, deputy attorney general,
appeared for the relator. He said that
where state moneys are involved numer-
Gus courts have decided that the attor-
ney-general is the proper party to the
suit.
The school fund. he said, was fixed by
the constitution and the laws enacted
have carried it out. The constitution,
when followed in the school provisions,
makes the grossest distribution. The
congressional funds are unequally di-
vided among the townships, but the
funds Of one township cannot be divert
ed to another. The same applies to the
state fund. the only remedy being by
statute. The constitution produces the
condition of affairs, but does not correct
the inequality. In 1898 there was a tax
of S2.000.0O0 and other funds made the
amount $4,000 000 Seven-eighths of which
comes from the constitution and one
eighth from the law. The state says that
the revenue must be expended within
the year. and it was insisted that the state
had the right to control any unexpended
balances. The state, he said, was the
trustee Of the fund and had in fifty SINH
lar cases sued and recovered money of
this character.
Harding & Hovey Of this city are the
attorneys for the appellee. They were
assisted in the argument by James NJ.
Barnett of TT. Wayne, an attorney who
is interested in number Of similar suits
in the northwestern part of the state. 1t
was argued on this side that the consti-
tutional provision for general and uni
form system Of common schools, wherein
tuition shall be without charge and
equally open to ALL" together with what
follows in the same article, has been
and must continue to be construed to
mean that the revenues of the state for
school tuition purposes must be so dis
tributed that with the congressional
township fund" equality in the distrbu-
ton Will result to the school children of
the state; that the act Of the general
assembly upon which this action is pre-
dicted requiring u repayment by school
trustees into the county treasury for re-
distribution by the superintendent of pub
lie instruction Of the uneXpended state
tuition funds would result in an unequal
distribution of the state tuition funds.
and In so far as the amount received by
the trustee in the redistribution is less
than the amount returned under the act,
the children of the township suffer, and
the act is therefore unconstitutional; that
the grant OF the 'und sought to be re-
covered. having been made and fully
executed and the money paid over to the
trustees as shown in the alternative
writ, the funds cannot be taken from the
township even by the state itself.
If, it was claimed by the appellants
the absence of the law permitted the
abuse of the powers Of officers, it was the
fault Of the officers and not of the con-
stitution. If officers We're guilty Of mis-
appropriating the funds for speculative
purposes they could be removed and
others who would obey the constitution
put in their places. The constitution
provides that all the money received by
a township shall be expended during
the year for which it was appropriated
The constitution further provides that
if for any reason, the funds appropriated
for any county shall not be used they
shall be Teinvested for that county. Ac-
cording to this law the fund would have
to be returned for general distribution
and the county would be deprived of the
benefits obtainable from the amount so
distributed among the other counties. If
in case such as Muncie experienced dur
ing the smallpox epidemic, when the
public schools had to be closed, the
amount of money uneXpended during
that time should have to be returned
to the general state fund, it would work
an Injustice upon that district, because,
otherwise, the schools could be continued
through more months at the next school
year and so on until the children Of that
district had received the benefits lost
during the time the schools We're closed.
law was a compulsory one in so far as
it required the expenditure each year of
the amount appropriated for that year
Another instance where the children Of
a district could be deprived Of their vest
ed rights was cited. In case township
trustee should be dilatory and should not
provide for more than a few months Of
school or none at all, at the end of the
year the money which should have been
expended for the education Of the chill
d he 0a5
to the general fund, and his successor
would have no means Of making up, by
longer terms or otherwise, the time lost
by his negligence. 1t was not right that
the children of one district, on account
Of the negligence or criminality Of an
officer should be made to suffer to the
benefit of the children Of other districts
The proper thing to do is to elect men
who will carry out the existing laws on
the subject.
HUGE MINING ENTERPRISE.