The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-04-05

y HS yOutH- sometimes this
reference to education appears to be
merely a good rounded way to close
a nicely WOrded message: while at
other tunes a large part of the re-
port is devoted to the educational
conditions and needs.
1t should be noted here that the
conception Of public education as en-
tertained by the most advanced men
OF the times was vastly different from
that entertained today. A public
school was looked upon as a charity
school for the Door. When money
was left to support q free school the
wording was usually as follows. as in
the case Of the Dixon will, Free
school or schools for the benefit of
the poor Of Duplin county,
Many plans We're proposed. such as
Archibald d. Murphey's in 1916. in
which the whole educational question
was discussed; but each died in the
throes of being born.
The General Assembly played hide
and seek With bills looking to some
KIND of educational system. They dis
cuSSed plan after plan, but always
the question was, Where is the money
to come from? and where then was the
slightest intimation that the attention
was directed to the public treasury2
We find that either the House or the
Senate do not concur or the bill
was 'indefinitely postponed" The
pressure seemed to grow heavier and
heavier each year. Finally chool
plans We're laid aside and the queS-
ton of a permanent fund was brought
to the front. The public lands of the
nation came up for division. Here
hope was revived, and dreams Of great
wealth We're entertained Then hope
went down. AS the material is pre-
sented in these volumes, it is easy to
trace the growth of d permanent
fund.
A unique plan to raise such a fund
to raise money for building q school
house in his anner. In 1920. 1T
was proposed to raise immense sums
by lottery which was to be conduct
ed by the State ana the proceeds
shall be invested in some safe and
productive manner and to constitute
a permanent fund But even
this plan was indefinitely postponed
In 1926 the General Assembly did
pass a bin ITO create a fund for the
establishment of ommon schools.
The bill was introduced by Mr..
Charles A. Hill, OF Franklin. and pro
vided that dividends arising from the
stock now held, and which may here
after be acquired by the State in the
banks Of New Bern ana Cape Fear,
which has not heretofore been pledged
-, the dividends arising from stock
NItti ID Nv II A1S or i q
Navigation Company. the Roanoke
Navigation Company, and the Clubfoot
and Harlow Creek Canal Company, the
tax imposed by law on licenses to the
retailers of spirituous liquors and
a~uctioneers, the unexpected balance
Of the Agricultural Fund -. all
monies paid to the State for the en-
tries of Nacant and -; and
of all the vacant and nnappropriated
swamp lands in this state shall be
set apart as a permanent fund. IhlS
is the Literary Fund, and is the be
ginning Of our public school system.
A Literary Board was created, com
posed of the Governor of the State,
the Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, the Speaker Of the Senate, the
Speaker of the House Of Commons.
and the Treasurer Of the State. The
following year the directors of the
Literary Boar were authorized to
raise money by way of lottery: but the
morality of lotteries was beginning to
receive some attention. 1t was
pointed out that many schools that
had depended upon the lottery fer
Mr.. Hill, of Franklin, said he
Thought lotteries were a species Of
gambling and he hanked God that
he had never voted for their
agement. The discussion arose over
the question of authorizing the trus-
tees OF the Richmond Academy to
raise by lottery ten thousand dollars.
The bill passed its second reading by
a vote Of thirty-SeVen to twenty-five,
but it developed that the lottery sys-
tenn had it's pronounced enemies: and
after a delay it came up for final read
ing and was defeated.
The income from the Literary Fund
was small. How to increase the
fund was the great concern of the ad-
vocates of d public school system. The
management of the fund was attack
ed. There was much opposition to
the establishment OF such a fund, and
in 1928 a bill was introduced to re-
peal the Act to create a fund to re-
establishment of common Schools
This bill was referred to a committee
of which John w. Morehead of Gull ,
ford was chairman. He reported
that your committee unanimously
recommend the rejection Of the bill"
In 1878 the fund had increased to