USA > Indiana > A history of education in Indiana > Part 10
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1,853
66.2
42
66. Putnam.
2,955
22 .2
85
22. Floyd
2,093
75.5
29
67. Randolph ...
1,962
70.7
38
23. Fountain.
1,921
59
50
68. Ripley
2,110
52
57
24. Franklin.
2,261
59.7
55
69. Rush
2,695
37 .6
68
25. Fulton.
653
91.3
2
70. Scott
965
69.4
39
26. Gibson
1,606
68.5
40
71. Shelby
2,506
60.2
49
27. Grant ..
1,304
67.5
41
72. Spencer.
1,087
55.1
53
28. Greene
1,844
25 .2
82
73. Steuben
694
82
19
29. Hamilton .
1,431
39
67
74. St. Joseph ..
1,612
93.8
1
30. Hancock ..
1,489
41. 4
64
75. Sullivan ....
1,639
32.5
73
31. Harrison ..
2,287
34
71
76. Switzerland.
2,431
88
9
32. Hendricks
2.062
25 .4
81
77. Tippecanoe .
2,908
83.7
18
33. Henry ..
2,476
43 .3
62
78. Tipton. . ...
366
74.6
30
34. Howard
706
55.5
52
79. Union
1,318
44
61
35. Huntington
880
84 .4
16
80. Vanderb'rgh
1,288
89
6
36. Jackson 37. Jasper
347
65.4
44
82. Vigo
1,954
51.9
58
38. Jay .
690
73
34
83. Wabash
1,696
81.8
20
39. Jefferson ..
2,897
76.3
28
84. Warren ... . ..
1,113
85.9
13
40. Jennings
1,651
79.5
25
85. Warrick.
1,352
39.7
66
41. Johnson .
1,516
19.4
87
86. Washington.
2,442
25 8
80
42. Knox.
1,728
74
31
87. Wayne
3,912
63.7
46
43. Kosciusko .
1,479
85
15
88. Wells.
552
79.7
24
44. La Grange ...
1,322
86
12
89. White
666
84.2
17
45. Lake
339
88.8
7
90. Whitley
. .
675
87 .2
10
.
1,423
41.5
63
81. Vermilion ..
1,506
66
43
...
107
CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849.
A little examination of the table discovers some strikingly significant facts.
Dividing the State by an east and west line along the southern boundary of Marion County, forty-seven of the ninety counties then organized * lie to the north and forty- three to the south. The former contained more territory, the latter one fourth more people. The accompanying table presents an exhibit of the relative attitudes of the two sec- tions upon the question of public free schools :
Table of the Vote by Sections.
North.
South.
Totals.
1. Total vote on the school question.
64,850
75,560
140,410
2. Total vote for free schools
41,560
36,963
78,523
3. Vote against free schools
23,290
38.597
61,887
4. Majority for free schools.
18,270
....
..
5. Per cent of whole vote.
64 per cent
......
6. Majority against free schools.
1,634
.....
7. Per cent of the whole vote.
·
52
8. The net vote for free schools.
·
16,636
Of the total affirmative vote, the section north furnished fifty-three per cent, the section south sixty-two per cent of the total negative vote. Of the counties north, nine gave majorities against free schools, aggregating 5,242, while twenty-one of the forty-three counties south gave majorities for free schools of 13,967. Strangely enough, every river county but two-Crawford and Harrison-belonged to this group.
Again, of the twenty-three counties giving majorities for free schools, equal to four fifths of their total vote, all but three belong to northern Indiana ; these counties, in the order of their rank, are: St. Joseph, Fulton, Pulaski, Porter, La Porte, Vanderburgh, Lake, Marshall, Switzerland, Whit- ley, Noble, La Grange, Warren, Dearborn, Kosciusko, Hun- tington, White, Tippecanoe, Steuben, Wabash, Allen, Miami,
* Starke and Newton have been set off since.
108
UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION.
and Cass; Vanderburgh, Switzerland, and Dearborn alone of that number being located south. Of the remaining twenty, but three are farther than the third tier of counties from the Michigan line.
Further, of the sixteen counties reporting the largest ma- jorities against free schools, thirteen lie below Indianapolis. They comprise Orange, Dubois, Clay, Johnson, Monroe, Put- nam, Pike, Lawrence, Greene, Hendricks, Washington, Owen, Brown, Decatur, Madison, and Morgan; Putnam, Hendricks, and Madison being the three fairly called northern coun- ties.
Notwithstanding the denser population, having the older settlements, the established industries, and all of the colleges but one, the most insistent opposition to free schools came from the southern half of the State. The influence of local seminaries and colleges seems to have gone for nothing in the movement for free elementary schools. Monroe, Put- nam, Montgomery, and Johnson Counties, the seats of four chartered colleges, in an aggregate vote of 9,113, counted out 6,921 against free schools, or more than three to one ! So of the dozen counties maintaining the most prosperous semi- naries, Washington, Henry, Morgan, Delaware, Harrison, Lawrence, Parke, and Orange gave more than a two-thirds vote against free schools .* Cass, Jefferson, Randolph, and Wayne Counties show 7,372 affirmative answers out of 10,365.
It must be borne in mind that this was an assault, not against education, but against free schools as a means of providing this education. Southern Indiana, as is well known, was largely settled almost to the middle of the State north by families from Kentucky, Virginia, and the Caro- linas. The policy of these States, adhered to for generations, excluded the idea of a free elementary school system, or, in- deed, free schools of any kind, except for the pauper class- assuming to provide all needed education through endowed
* 11,934 in a total vote of 17,872.
109
CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849.
academies and seminaries or private, rate-supported schools. Among the people of these counties the opinion not only prevailed, but was tenaciously held, that free schooling was a form of charity-a charity which was not needed by the prosperous and well-to-do, and which the poor needing were too proud to accept. Indeed, from the pinched and improvi- dent class throughout Indiana, as in other States, when the question was raised the most violent opposition came. Ne- cessitous and ignorant, they would have none of it. Free schools were "pauper schools."
Occasional objection came from men of means and busi- ness also. Public free schools meant public taxes ; taxes were a drain, and taxes for education larceny. Of $125,000,000 of taxable property represented in the vote, nearly $50,000,000 were counted as adverse to free general education. More- over, it was in keeping with a life-long sentiment of these people, in the States from which they came, to look upon all public schools, State-founded, State-supported, and State- controlled, with teachers having public credentials and civil contracts, as a species of centralization, the usurpation of local rights, the infringement of personal and family liber- ties. A system so constituted involved needless and unjust interference with personal rights, and, touching matters of education, was especially offensive. "It can not in truth be called a free school," said one, " so long as one reluctant tax- payer is forced to pay." And the line expressed a not un- common thought.
Following the taking of this vote upon "free schools" (August, 1848), and in anticipation of the gathering of the approaching Legislature, Prof. Mills's third message was prepared. It bears the date of December 11, 1848, and was submitted to the members upon taking their seats. Its theme was The Advantages of a System of General Educa- tion. In addition to a re-enforcement of his former argu- ments concerning the raising of school funds, the demand for competent teachers, the need of elementary-school super- vision, and the impolicy of partial legislation, most attention
110
UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION.
is devoted to a review and careful analysis of the "free- school " vote.
It appears from this survey that of the thirty-one coun- ties furnishing the negative vote, twenty were below the general average of adult intelligence in the State. And Prof. Mills claimed it to be a fair and legitimate inference from numerous facts at hand that " the majorities in many, if not all, of these twenty counties was owing to a want of a thorough understanding of the real character of the question submitted to the people for decision. In many of them," he asserts, "the subject was not discussed at all, nor indeed mentioned by the candidates, and, consequently, thousands came to the polls in utter ignorance both of the fact that such a question was before the people, and also of the true merits of the case. In others of them it was grossly misrep- resented, as facts and testimony abundantly prove. While, on the other hand, in many of the counties which gave large majorities in favor of free schools the subject was thor- oughly discussed, and the people voted in full view of the real nature of the question."
However partial the victory, and discouraging as were many of the incidents of the contest, Prof. Mills and the friends of education generally saw abundant occasion for congratulation. In this same appeal to the Legislature the author eloquently exclaims : "There was more genuine patriotism in the school vote of last August than was ever expressed at the ballot box since she [Indiana] became a sovereign State. Let the record of that affirmative vote stand as a proof of the existence in our State of the spirit of '76. I rejoice that we have such indubitable evidence of it. I rejoice that we have been furnished with such proof that we are not the degenerate sons of noble fathers, but that we possess the spirit to rebuke selfishness wherever found and however disguised-a kindred spirit to that which pledged life and fortune and sacred honor to the cause of national independence."
And, as if challenging the patriotism and the unselfish
111
CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849.
interest of the law-makers whom he sought to move, he asked : "What ought, then, to be the spirit of those who are chosen to carry out the noble, self-sacrificing, and lofty patriotism of such a vote ? What enlarged and liberal views ought such to entertain ? What independence, what freedom from selfishness, what purity of motive, should characterize the executors of such a noble bequest to the present and future youth of our State ?" In the Senate were such men as John I. Morrison, J. H. Holloway, Godlove S. Orth, William Stewart, F. P. Randall, John Beard, all of whom were on the Committee on Education ; and in the House, J. R. M. Bryant, Daniel Kelso, Gilderoy Hicks, and Solomon Meredith. To these men is due, in great measure, the whole- some legislation of the Assembly.
Within a month of their gathering, within the shadow still of the recent election, and in the atmosphere of the State's most earnest campaign against ignorance, the General Assembly had passed " An Act to increase and extend the benefits of the common schools," January 16, 1849-the fifth general school law.
In addition to the general law, acts were passed early in the session making the education of deaf mutes and the blind free, and providing for the security of the school funds ; special acts concerning school lands in fifteen coun- ties specified ; one each concerning school-houses and the duties of trustees ; and two acts of so special character as to deserve mention. The one is entitled, " An Act authorizing the trustees of school district number thirteen (13) in town- ship thirty-six (36) north of range three (3) west, in La Porte County, to levy a tax to build a school-house," but limited the continuance of the law to "the term of two years from and after the first day of January, 1849." The second included a provision that officers collecting or holding seminary funds belonging to the Cass County Seminary should "pay the same over to the treasurer of the Cass County and Eel River Seminary Society instead of to the county treasurer." Both acts are examples of the special and partial legislation that
112
UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION.
dominated the State during the period, and against which Prof. Mills so persistently and wisely protested-a form of legislation which, in the last century, ruined the schools of Connecticut and other New England and some Western States, and has always been disintegrating.
Nevertheless, the Legislature of 1848 has been fairly desig- nated the great "Reform Legislature" of the earlier period of the State's history. It launched the State upon a line of progress persisting to the present day.
Through its initiative came the present Constitution and all its train of improvement, including the subsequent edu- cational provisions. It inaugurated the telegraph system * of the State, chartered thirty railroads, and did much to reform the evils of local legislation.
CHAPTER IX.
THE LAW OF 1849.
THE general enactment, since known as the "law of 1849," while not long, was comprehensive in its provisions; and, without being revolutionary, was at least the beginning of reform. It is an interesting document, and the text of the law is given, both for its historical connections and as an example of what the best legislative sentiment of the period had worked out on the question of public schools under the old Constitution.
An Act to increase and extend the Benefits of Common Schools. Approved January 17, 1849.
SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That there shall be annually assessed, collected,
* It is said that every man " who voted to charter the Morse electric telegraph was defeated for re-election, because he had so recklessly voted for an impossibility."
113
THE LAW OF 1849.
and paid (as the State and county revenue is assessed, collected, and paid), for the purpose of increasing the Common School Fund, to be appropriated exclusively for the support of com- mon schools : First, on the list of property taxable for State purposes, there shall be levied and paid the sum of ten cents on each and every one hundred dollars. Second, there shall be paid by every person liable to pay a poll tax for State purposes twenty-five cents annually ; provided, that all the taxes required or authorized by this act in any provision thereof shall be assessed only upon free white persons, and upon the property of such persons only. Third, a tax of three dollars on each one hundred dollars shall be assessed on the amount of all premiums received in this State for in- surance on property or lives, within the same, by the agents of insurance companies not chartered therein. (Omitted, provisions concerning reports and penalties, growing out of the requirements of the last clause.)
SEC. 2. The several taxes hereinbefore mentioned (with the exception of the tax upon premiums of insurance) shall, together with the surplus revenue fund, the saline and bank- tax funds, be and are hereby set apart for the support of schools within the respective counties of the State, and shall be denominated the County Common School Fund.
SEC. 3. The tax upon premiums of insurance, as specified in the first section of this act, shall be paid over by the sev- eral county treasurers to the State treasurer, distinguishing the same from other taxes; and the said State treasurer shall apportion the same among the several counties of the State according to the number of polls therein, and pay over to the several county treasurers their respective pro- portions of the said fund, which shall be added to and be- come a part of the County Common School Fund. [Reve- nue?]
SECS. 4-6. [Abolished the office of county school com- missioner, his fiscal duties being added to those of the county treasurer, and all other services left to the county auditor; provided compensation-one half of one per cent on all
114
UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION.
moneys handled-and construed "county auditor " to mean "county clerk" in certain counties.]
SEC. 7. The treasurers of the several counties shall annu- ally, on the second Monday in March, make distribution of the several funds applicable to school purposes (upon the proper warrant of the county auditor) to the several town- ships of the county, which payment shall be made to the treasurer of each township; and in making the said distri- bution the auditor shall ascertain the amount of the Con- gressional Township Fund belonging to each township in the county, and shall so apportion the amount raised by taxation, the surplus revenue, saline and bank-tax funds, as to equal- ize the amount of available funds in each township, as near as may be, according to the number of scholars therein ; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so con- strued as to divert the fund commonly called the Congres- sional Township Fund, or any part thereof, from the objects and purposes for which it was granted by Congress.
SEC. 8. There shall be taught in each township in this State, by legally qualified teachers, for at least three months in each year, as many free schools as may be required for all attending scholars in such township, and it shall be made the duty of the township trustees so to arrange the schools of their respective townships that the schools in each district may be taught an equal length of time, without regard to the diversity in the number of scholars attending the respect- ive schools.
SEC. 9. The business of each district shall be transacted by one district trustee, who shall be elected annually by the legally qualified voters of the district, on the first Saturday of September, at which time also the general meetings of the voters of each district shall hereafter be held, and the said trustee shall continue in office until his successor is elected and qualified.
SEC. 10. It shall be the duty of the district trustee to pre- side over all meetings of the voters of the district, to keep a record of their proceedings, and report the same to the clerk
115
THE LAW OF 1849.
of the board of township trustees, where such report may be necessary, to do and perform all such acts, matters, and things as may be required of him by the board of township trustees ; he shall make all contracts, purchases, and sales . necessary to carry out any vote of the district, for the pro- curing of any site for a school-house, building, hiring, re- pairing, or furnishing the same, or disposing thereof, or for the keeping any school therein, and all payments shall le made by the treasurer of the township trustees, upon the certificate of the district trustee as to the performance of the service or labor, or the conveyance of the property contracted for; and whenever from any cause the said district trustee shall not be present at the meeting of the voters of the dis- trict the meeting shall appoint a chairman, who shall for the time being discharge the duties of such trustee.
SEC. 11. The district trustee shall act as the organ of communication between his district and the board of town- ship trustees, and shall make to them from time to time such suggestions as may advance the educational interests of his district, and shall, on or before the fifteenth day of Septem- ber annually, certify to the clerk of the board of township trustees the number of scholars in his district, male and female, between the ages of five and twenty-one years, dis- tinguishing between five and ten and ten and fifteen and fifteen and twenty-one years of age; the whole number of scholars admitted to the school, the average attendance, the length of time a school has been taught, whether by a male or female teacher, the branches taught, the books used ; whether the district has a school library, and if so the num- ber and value of the volumes, the condition of the school- house, the furniture thereof, and of what the furniture con- sists ; and the clerk of the board of township trustees shall certify the same to the county auditor before the first day of October annually, together with a statement of the amount expended in the several districts of their township for tuition and all other expenses.
SEC. 12. In cases where any school district may be formed
116
UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION.
out of portions of adjacent townships, the report of the dis- trict trustee shall be made to the clerk of each of the town- ships in which such district may lie.
SEC. 13. It shall be lawful for the qualified voters of any school district in the State, at any general or special meeting thereof, to vote a tax for the purpose of building a school- house or repairing the same, or providing fuel, or such fur- niture, maps, books, and apparatus as a majority shall deem proper; they may also, for the purpose of continuing their schools after the public money shall have been expended, vote to raise by tax such an amount as the majority may deem advisable ; provided, however, that the aggregate amount of all taxes, so levied by a vote of the district, shall in no case, in any one year, exceed the amount of fifteen cents on each one hundred dollars' worth of property.
SEC. 14. When any tax is voted to be paid in labor, it shall be worked out under the supervision of the district trustee ; and when any person charged with a tax payable in labor shall fail to discharge the same after two weeks' notice to comply with the proper requisition, the district trustee shall report the same to the clerk of the board of township trus- tees, whose duty it shall be to bring suit therefor in the name of the board of township trustees for the use of the proper district, and a recovery shall be had at the rate, if any established, for commutation, if not, at the rate of 75 cents per day, and an execution shall be issued thereon, which shall not be subject to any relief whatever from valuation or appraisement laws.
SEC. 15. When any tax is voted by any district to be paid in money, the district trustee shall make a list of all the taxable property within the district, together with the names of the owners, and shall file the same, together with the votes of the meeting, directing the same to be levied with the county auditor.
SEC. 16. [Providing for the assessment and collection of said taxes, and their payment to the said township.]
SEC. 17. The district shall be laid off in such manner as
117
THE LAW OF 1849.
to be most convenient for the population and neighborhoods thereof, paying due regard to any school-house already erected, districts already laid off, and other circumstances proper to be considered, and shall be formed to contain, if convenient, not less than twenty-five scholars. And the board of township trustees shall have power to change any school district under their charge, so as to increase or diminish their size, and may consolidate two or more into one, or may add parts of one or more to others ; and the trustees of adjacent townships may form a district out of parts of such townships, but no subdivision shall be made to reduce the number of scholars below twenty-five in any dis- trict. [Provided for thirty days' notice.]
SEC. 18. In order to enable the trustee of the district to make the reports which are required of him by this act, the teacher of each and every school district shall, at the expira- tion of the term of school for which he shall have been em- ployed, furnish to the district trustee a full and complete statement of the whole number of scholars admitted to said school, the average attendance, the length of time the school has been taught, the branches taught, and the books used ; and until said report shall have been furnished by the teacher as aforesaid, it shall not be lawful for the district trustee to issue the said teacher the certificate entitling him to his compensation as such teacher.
SEC. 19. Until the clerk of the board of township trus- tees shall have made to the county auditor the reports required by the 11th section of this act, the township of which he is the clerk shall not be entitled to its distributive share of the school fund.
SEC. 20. On or before the first day of November annu- ally the several county auditors shall report to the treasurer of State, as superintendent of common schools, the substance of all reports made to them by the several township clerks of their respective counties, and also the number of unor- ganized townships in their respective counties, if any, the amount of territory not laid off into school districts, the 9
118
UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION.
number of acres of school lands remaining unsold, if any, and whether the same is improved or unimproved, product- ive or unproductive.
SEC. 21. It shall be the duty of the treasurer of State, as superintendent of common schools, to condense the reports of said auditors, and submit the same to the General Assembly during the first week of the session thereof.
SEC. 22. [Providing for pay of school officials.]
SEC. 23. [Providing for penalty for failure to discharge official duties.]
SEC. 24. [Providing for salary of the superintendent of common schools.]
SEC. 25. [Providing for the organization and control of fractional townships.]
SECS. 26-27. [Providing for the transfer of school funds by the commissioners to the county treasurers.]
SEC. 28. Any State, county, or township officer, having the charge of any of said school funds, who shall embezzle or appropriate to his own use any of said school funds, shall, upon conviction, on presentment or indictment, be fined in any sum not exceeding four nor less than two fold the amount so embezzled or appropriated to his own use, and be imprisoned in the county jail for not more than six months, at the discretion of the court or jury trying the same.
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