Mexico weekly ledger., 1897-04-15

the school fund, and that only upon
conditions. In support of that state
ment / want to quote an extract from
Hon. Webb M. Ruby, the very PAINS
taking and worthy representative
from Macon county. MI. Ruby's n
tire article Is worthy of consideration.
I suppose Mr.. Woodward will say that
he, too, was prompted by personal
considerations, but an impartial pub
lie will not.
"But the Importance Of this endow-
ment scheme is not at all confined to
the little history Of its introduction,
discussion and defeat. Its Importance
consists in the agitation it has already
caused and will continue to cause, of
what, If any constitutional claims the
University has upon the State for sup
port, and this is the phase of the
question 1 propose to discuss.
don't believe there is any provis-
ion in the constitution requiring the
State to maintain the University from
the general revenue fund, nor any
authority for the legislature to appro-
pirate directly any money for that
purpose out of the revenue fund.
In making this statement l am not
unmindful of the fact that I subject
myself to the criticism of able men
and that 1 may be considered as I'M
friendly to the State University. 1t
may seem a serious thing to thus init
mate, if not charge the Legislature
with having gwen millions of the
peoples taxes to an illegal purpose,
and it becomes me, therefore, to be
more specific.
In my judgment the trainers of the
constitution recognized the fact that
the University is a type of educational
institutions beyond the limit to which
direct taxation should be applied. And
therefore, when the subject of educa-
ton came up for consideration we find
that the leading thought was to the
free public schools, and the article on
education begins in there words:
"Section IA general diffusion of
knowledge and intelligence being es-
sential to the preservation of the
rights and liberties of the people the
general assembly shall establish and
maintain free public schools for the
gratuitous instruction of all persons in
the State between the ages of s and 20
years." Not a word as to University.
And this entire article on education is
devoted to the details necessary to
the enforcement of the mandatory
provisions of said section 1, and the
University is mentioned but twice in
said article, and then as a subordinate
to the "free public schools and upon
a condition which has never occurred,
as 1 shall attempt to show. Following
up this idea the sixth section of the
article provides for a "public school
fund" to consist; first, of all lands that
had been OF thereafter might be
granted by the United States and not
otherwise appropriated by the terms
of the grant; second, all moneys,
stocks, bonds, lands and other prop
erty then belonging to any State fund
for purposes of education; third, all
lands and other property that might
accrue to the State by escheat and
from unclaimed dividends or distribu-
tive shares of estates of deceased per-
sons; fourth, grants or gifts to the
State, and fifth, so much of the ordi-
nary revenue of the State as shall be
set apart for that purpose, which shall
in no ase be less than 25 per cent of
the State revenue. This ''public
school fund" was evidently designed
for the chief object announced in sec
ton /, the support of the "free public
schools" The only provision in the
constitution relied upon to give au-
thority for the support of the Univer-
sity of the State is found in section 5 OF
said article XII, which reads as fol-
lows: "The General Assembly shall,
whenever the public school fund will
permit and the actual necessity of the
same may require, aid and maintain
the State University now established
with its present departments"
This section 5 is the first mention
made in the constitution of the Uni
versity, and it seems incredible that a
body OF men selected to make a consti-
tuition would have put the support and
maintenance of the University upon
such a condition, il not SO intended. If
they intended its support to be given
out of another fund other than the
public school fund, it were easy to
have said SO.
The plain meaning of this section 5
Is that the General Assembly shall, ac-
cording to section 1, establish and
maintain free public schools for the
gratuitous instruction of all persons in
the State between the ages of 6 and 20
years, and having done this, then it
would be lawful, if the University
needed aid, to grant it out of the funds
remaining in the public school fund.
The proper meaning of the words
twill permit" as found in said section
5 seems to be overlooked. They were
used because the convention was un-
willing to provide an unconditional
obligation on the Legislature to aid
and maintain the University. They
were used because section l and sub
sequent sections required the COM
mon free public scnool to be kept in
each district not less than four months
each year, which might take all the
money belonging to the public school
fund, including Is per cent or more of
the general revenue. AS a matter of
fact this public school fund has never
amounted to enough to establish and
maintain the required four months
school in each district in the State,
and as a consequence no part of it has
ever, SO far as I know, been applied to
the support of the University, but
without authority, expressed or i'm
piled in the constitution, the General
Assembly has donated hundreds of
thousands, ever millions of dollars, to