The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-03-08


building of new school houses was an
untried experiment. But that they were
| needed, no one could gainsay.
| Mr.. Blount then proceeded to give a
| graphic, pathetic description of the aver
| age school house of North Carolina. He
| said the time had come when we must go
| forward, or we would go backward. There
was movement in this General Assem-
bly,, and we were face to face with it,
to take a backward step. There had been
actually a cold-blooded proposition to
| take 100000 of the school money and turn
it into the general fund to pay the de-
/ felt. Our present proposition amounted
| almost TO that.
He spoke eloquently of the grand sue
| cess of the free school libraries all over
| the State That had been a kindred
proposition to this one.
| The idea that the literary fund was a
| sacred one had kept the pilfering hands
of the Fusionists of it. Were we to be
| less careful than they.
Mr. Smith said we were on the verge
of very serious step. 1t meant the dis
position of 100000. He would show the
| House how, by defeating this bill, they
| could save s2OO,O00 to the State, and yet
not take a cent of money from the school
| fund.
The gentleman from Washington seem
| ed to have taken under his wing all the
| children of North Carolina. He was ter
| ribly suspicious of schemes to rob them
Why" continued Mr. Smith, there are
some men so suspicious that they are
afraid of meeting snake in the grass
| while walking on the golden streets of the
New Jerusalem"
He then went on to say that the policy
of the State had always been to use the
literary fund, whenever it had accumu-
lated in sufficient amount, to meet any
emergency, as the gentleman from Bun
combe had said, or to be distributed to
the counties as an additional fund. This
he showed by reading from former acts
of the General Assembly.
This bill would be actually diverting
this fund from its constitutional purpose.
Instead of those who oppose the
ing the one who want to lay hands upon
this fund, it Is the people who advocate
it.
Whenever the State had tried to hold
this fund separate and distinct it had
failed. During the Civil War it was lost
and in Reconstruction days the Por"rIi
cans had squandered it to pay per diem
of 81 to the members Of the Legislature
of 1869.
The appropriations to public schools out
of the Treasury was a new idea, and
could only be justified on the ground of
bringing up the school to the constitu-
tional requirement.
There was now a proposition to appro-
pirate 100000 to the public schools
If we should take the 100000 from the
literary fund and distribute it to the
schools, there would be no need for the
special appropriation and we would
thereby save $4,000 to the State. It
would be a strictly constitutional use of
that fund and would take nothing from
the children Of the State. The children
have a right to have this money distrib-
uted to them a
Suppose all the schools were running
nine months, there would be no warrant
to give gratuitously 100000 OF them. And
. if there were half that did not run nine
months, there would be no more warrant
to give this money. 1t was nothing more
than a gratuitous gift.
Then Mr.. Smith said he had substi-
tute bill to offer to the one appropriating
eloquence, pleading for the betterment
800, 600 His bill would appropriate only
so much as might be necessary to bring
up the schools to the four months re-
/ quirement.
Mr.. Guion said that as the gentleman
from Gates had unfolded his plan, he
| could not concur with him. He could not
| agree that this fund be used for any other
! purpose than that for which it was in
| tended As a matter Of fact, that fund
was not an emergency fund. He was
| glad to know that the State did not need
any emergency fund, when the Treasurer
! could by simply putting his name to a
note raise almost any amount that might
| be needed.
| This bill proposed a use of this fund
| that was very similar to the students
| loan fund idea, that is, for the colleges
| to accept notes from young men who had
| not cent to pay for an education. The
| amount was amply secured. There was
no fear of losing it,
Gov. Doughton asked, even if the mon
| ey were never to be paid back, would it
| not be an excellent investment.
| Mr.. Guion thanked Gov. Doughton for
| the suggestion, and said he most certain
J ly thought it would be splendid invest
ment.
J The law OF 1901 provided that only the
| income of the literary fund could be
used, and not the principal of it. AS for
! the constitution, that said this fund was
| to be used to establish a public school
| system. How could a school system be
established without school houses?
| Mr.. Guion also opposed Mr.. Smiths
substitute as he believed that we must
carry out exactly the pledge made.
Mr.. Guion made an earnest, eloquent
speech for the bill and for the pledge
OF the State.
Mr.. Whitaker, OF Guilford, fully ex-
| planned the bill and its effects. Tt
was no common thing for schools to be
| closed for one or two years in order
that sufficient money might be raised to
! build a school house.
The money would be loaned at 4 per
cent and applied directly to the build