The age-herald., 1899-06-28
THE SIXTEENTH
 SECTION FUND
To The AgeJHerald:

l instance a white man who considers the | Afro-American to be as good, in all re-
 spects, as himself, spells it "Negro;" a
 white man who regards him as a tolerated, | but useful inhabitant of the state, enti- tied to tho full protection of the laws, ex- | cept those relating to the ballot box, spells | it "Niggro;' and the old-fashioned, uncon- yerted and unchangeable southerner, who
 looks upon him as a legalized runaway,
 entitled to full work and fair pay, and no
 nore, spells 1t "Ngger." l do not mean to say that the three classes of white men above indicated would, in writing an es-
 say, employ the peculiar spelling set forth; l but it is a fact that in ordinary conversa-
 tion they pronounce the word according to their individual feelings and principles, and | the spelling of 1t as given is fair inter- pretaton of the pronunciation of each. It is a well established principle of phi lology that men think in words and speak
 the words they think. Good boys call their
 sisters "girls"-bad boys call them gals"
 Reconstructed southerners speak Of their
 ertwhile foes as union soldiers-the un-
 reconstructed stick to the old-time appella- tion, D-d Yankees. The modern house. wife asks you if you will have some salad Oul llOLhGlS uSGu lO say, VIII SOu nave some greens?" When a gentleman re-
 ceives a favor he says, T thank you sim -cerely;" in similar circumstances a dude says Thanks, awfully." Illustrations
 could be multiplied indefinitely. The idea
 l am trying to express Is that in dealing
 with the problem of negro education, three
 distinct classes of white citizenship must
 be consulted, and that each of these three classes, perhaps unconsciously indicate
 their relation to that question by their
 pronunciation of the racial name.
 Before discussing the future of this ques- tion, it is well to look at the past. The history of negro education In Alabama is Known only to few. It IS doubtful if many of the political leaders of this day know that from December 1865, to July, 1868, We had a state government in full op- eration, that it was based solely on tho white vote of the state that Robert M. Patton was the governor; that the 1egis- lature was composed of men who had been shareholders and most of them soldiers in the Confederate war; that this legislature enacted the body of laws, civil and crimi- nal, which, with immaterial changes, exists today, and that this government was over thrown by the reconstruction acts of con gress, passed March and 23, 1876. But the fact is historical. This legislature framed and enacted what was known at the time as the Borden school bill.
 Mir. Borden was 8 representative from Talladega county and chairman of the com mittee on education. In February 1876, he reported from this committee the bill by which negro children were allowed their of hA 1ic f,,,1 and separate schools provided for them Its passage was stoutly opposed by a few
 members, on the ground that the school fund consisted of moneys derived from the sale of the sixteenth sections-that these sections had been given, in trust, to the stste by the general government for the free education of the white children of the state, that they were the only cestuis que trustent of the fund, and that to ex- tend its benefits to negro children, or any other sort, would be a fragrant violation of duty and a breach of the trust. From legal or constitutional point of view, this argument was unanswerable; but under the circumstances the legislature ignored it, and in a spirit of conciliation to the demands of the northern people and in grateful recognition of the fidelity with which the slaves had served their masters during the war, passed the bill almost unan- imously.
 Many and most important amendments have from time to time been made to the Borden act, and the school fund has been increased almost ten-fold since II became law; but the fact remains that the prin- ciples of that law stand unchanged and that it was enacted by a legislature, every man of which was southerner and then called rebel and traitor" by the people who lived north of the Ohio and Potomac. As above stated the sixteenth section fund is the basis of our public school sys- tenn. It was enacted, or settled, as a trust by the congress of the United States in the act which admitted Alabama into the union. By the terms of that act the state was made the trustee to sell every six teenth section of public land in the state, hold the fund and pay interest on it at the | rate of per centum This interest was, of course, to be used in keeping up the public schools.
 At that time, 1Sl9 the negroes were slaves and it was against the public policy of the government, both general and state, to | teach them to read or write. Therefore,
 
 trust was created for the sole benefit of the | white children.
 | This being true, what legal right have the negro children to share in the benefits of that particular fund? The United States
 has never, by law, changed the terms of | the original trust, and Alabama, the trus- 1 tee, had no legal power to do so. The | principals of law regulating the creation 1 and execution of trusts are automatic; the | facts are plainly stated. Who among us is l wise enough to devise the method by which l the white children can recover the interest | on their trust fund, which has been paid to | the negro children for the last thirty-two | years? Where is the master in equity
 who could state the amount? Where is the | chancellor who could formulate the decree? Who will pay it, when it is rendered and 1 enrolled?
 l It will be observed that the foregoing re-