The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-01-15
COULD APPEAR NOWHERE ELSE.

COULD APPEAL NOWHERE ELSE.
Newspapers have been accused Of many excuses
OF craftsmanship, and as a body the papers of strong
political leanings may have been guilty of extrava-
gance III coioring party contentious, but the Globes
treatment OF Missouris School Fund management
has SO far passed the bounds of ordinary partisanship
that Intelligent Republicans in the State are as in
dignant as Democrats. And such editorials as that in
yesterdays Globe will increase the Republican dis
content with o~rganship which demoralizeS lis party.
There is probably no other daily paper in America
which would print an editorial article Of That nature.
Republicans know as much. and are annoyed that
their party must be responsible before the voters.
The Republic has shown that the Ohio School
Fund is. like that of Missouri, invested in the States
credit. Ohio has. however, no bonds which represent
The States debt 10 the schools. 1t simply treats the
obligation as an "irreducible debt paying the high
rate of G per cent. Ohio is proud Of its libcrality 10
The cause of education. The Governor points TO the
fund as q sacred debt. to be maintained forever. and
asks that. since the State debt proper is extinguished,
the Legislature make permanent provision for paying
the G per cent interest.
To again summarize the comparison. If OhioS
policy is wise and liberal that of Missouri is wise and
liberal. If the Ohio School Fund is well secured
that Of Missouri IS much better secured. If. on the
other hand. there has been a fault in Missouri there
has been 4 crime in Ohio.
In the Globes article, after using such epithets as
III siii'i .Hu ioH5 uStdih'u i'N
and recklessneSs' and the vacuum that was once 4
School Fund.- appears this paragraph, which contains
the total of argument in the production:
But in Missouri cash gifts to the public
schools. chiefly from the United States.
hnwe been used for other than school pur-
poses, ard all that remains now is 4 pile Of
unconstitutional due bills calling for 81
%@G.SG9. This Illegal debt takes from the
pockets Of Missouri taxpayers $4,000 l
year. These same taxpayers are asked to
vote for a constitutional amendment next
fan to cover up the defiance of the con-
stltution. which commands that the School
Fund shall be invested in State bonds or
Government bonds. Ohio has no such
tangle OF crookedness in its treatment Of
cash assets received from the United States
for educational purposes. Its 'irreducibIe
debt has a clean. simple record and the
Constitutional warrant.
Missouri voters who read Governor Nash's mes
sage on the Ohio school moneys will remember that
he stated how the money received from the United
States gift of lands had been turned into the Sinking
Fund and used to cancel State bonds. "Al that re-
mains is not even unconstitutional due bills: it is the
States "irreducible debt" In Missouri there are
bonds of full security, the only difference between
them and ordinary State bonds being the incon-
v%ertibilty. The irreducible debt of Ohio takes from
The pockets Of taxpayers S2S1. 900. or about S3looo
more than the Globe finds in Missouri. Ohio's Gov
ernor is asking the Legislature in reducing the tax
rate as suggested by the final cancellation OF bonded
debt TO provide permanently for the School Funds
il!luiil RUIN -Ni>SvuIi lIoipStS al CouStliutioii'ti
amendment for the same reason and 10 the same
end. And the clean. simple record" is alike in both
States-honorable alike to the two peoples who have
50 carefully and literally provided for their schools.
The Globe knows-if il does not it can learn from
Professor John r. Kirk, from President Jesse of the
State University. from the st. Louis School Board
and from any other competent educational authority
in the Statc-that not 4 dollar has been lost to the
School Fund. According TO its logic the people would
have profited S211.0OO a year if the fund had been
looted and destroyed. But the logic of the Globe
merely confuses the question. The Globe knows
that the School Fund is invested, as contemplated by
the Constitution. in the securities of the State: that
il is intact and sacredly guarded. The Ohio analogy
was not necessary to prove this fact. The fact had
been proved over and over again. The Ohio case.
like the suggestion Of investing the Carnegie gift in
United States bonds. simply proved that the Globe
IS n deliberate falsifer in its assault on the integrity
of the School Fund.
-