Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1903-05-23
MOONS PHHsEa.
A HARDSHIP FOR oOLORED SCHOOLS

AHARDsHIP FOR OOL0RED SCHOOLS
From Maryland Republican.
1t has developed that the recent decis-
ion Of the Court of Appeals in the case
of Robert Shriyer VS.. the State Comp
troller relative to the superintendent of
the State School tax to the several coun-
ties and the city of Baltimore will, if the
Comptroller apportion the tax for col
ored schools according to the decision,
and there is apparently no way TO avoid
such apportionmcnt, seriously affect and
cripple the colored schools of all the
counties having large negro populations.
The ontention of Mr.. Shriyer was that
the fund the white schools was not
properly proportional and ON the con-
tention he lost. This fund viii be APP
portioned as heretofore upon the basis
of the whole school population, white
and cOlored, and not upon the basis of
the white school population alone as
contcnded for by Mr.. Shriver. But in
reviewing the law the Court of Appeals
found that the language of the Code
was identical in the matter of the appor-
tionment of the fund for colored schools
as for white schools and held that it
would have to be apportioned in the
same way, namely upon the basis of the
whole school population, white and col
ored. The following is the language of
the Code relative to the apportionment
of the school funds.
WHITE SCHOOLS.
Art. ~, Sec. 1902 AS soon as the Comp
troller shall have received from the city
of Baltimore and the several counties re-
tax, levied in each county and the city
of Baltimore, he shall Immediately there
after apportion the amount of the whole
levy TO the several counties and the city,
of Baltimore, in proportion to their re-
spectre population between the ages of
five and twenty years
CoLoRED SCHOOLS.
Art. n, Section 9S. "The Comptroller
shall apportion the sum appropriated for
the support of the colored schools of the
several counties and the city of Balti-
more.in proportion totheir yespectioe popu-
lationIbetween the ages of five and twenty
years said apportionment to be made at
the time he apportions the levy for the
white schools"
The italics are ours and are for the
purpose of directing attention to the fact
that the language relative to apportion-
ment in proportion TO population is
identical in the two sections. The Court
of Appeals said it could not read white"
into one section anymore than it could
"colored" into the other. We must pre-
sumo that the Court of Appeals is right,
but its construction OF the law is hard on
the counties having a large colored school
population, is especially as in the Act of
1879, Chapter 377, reenactment of the
school law, under the caption "colored
schools, section 3, of chapter % linden
tieal otherwise in language with Section
%, of Article "a of the Code, has the
word "colored," making the language re-
lating to apportionment read, lin pro-
.
ton. In codifying this law in the Code |
of 1888, the word "colored" was inadver-
tently left out and the Legislature adopt
ed the Code without being aware of the
omission We think we are justified in |
saying that the word ''colored" was mad |
yertently omitted and that the Legislature
was unaware of the omission, because
frequent efforts have been made to get |
the Legislature to change the method of |
apportionment, all of which have failed, |
and the further fact that no one, as far |
as we have been able to learn, had motto |
cd the omission or at least had question |
cd that apportionment to colored schools |
as made by the Comptroller, Though he |
has been making the apportionment
right along since 1888 as if the word
''colored" were in the Law.
No such equitable contention can be |
made for reading the word white into
the law relating to apportionment for
white schools, as the word was never in |
the school law and was never intended
to be, the Legislature purposely and de-
signedly having enacted the law as it
now reads. The Legislature having
adopted and legalized the Code of 1888
though in this respect inadvertently, we
suppose there is no escape from the hard
condition which will now be imposed
upon the counties having large negro
populations until Legislative action is
had.
TIE show the effect of this decision upon
the apportionment of the fund for color
ed schools, we shall instance only three
counties, two in Western Maryland and