USA > Indiana > A history of education in Indiana > Part 9
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In a private letter* (since made public), dated March 18,
* For this and for many other facts in the life of Prof. Mills, and con- cerning the period from 1840 to 1860, the author is indebted to the kindness of President Joseph F. Tuttle, of Wabash College, in whose possession is one of the three sets of Prof. Mills's messages known to be preserved in the State.
95
CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849.
1833, prior to leaving New England, he said : "My thoughts have been directed of late to the subject of common schools, and the best means of awakening a more lively interest in their establishment in the western country. Public senti- ment must be changed in regard to free schools, prejudice must be overcome, and the public mind awakened to the importance of carrying the means of education to every door. Though it is the work of years, it must and can be done. The sooner we embark in the enterprise the better. It can only be effected by convincing the common people that the scheme we propose is practicable; that it is the best and most economical way of giving their children an education. Introductory to, and in connection with these efforts, we must furnish them with teachers of a higher order of intellectual culture than the present race of peda- gogues."
This was the key-note to his service for Indiana during almost half a century. He was now twenty-seven, and when, thirteen years later, he presumed to advise-confer with- the members of the General Assembly he was neither im- mature nor uninformed of the needs, conditions, and possi- bilities of education in Indiana. In his first message, as in all the messages, was embodied the wisdom of years of ob- servation and reflection. By preference, by deliberate con- secration, by experience, Prof. Mills was a teacher. He had no unwavering faith in the ameliorations and contentments of education in the midst of pioneer life. He easily became one of the "people." Familiar acquaintance with the do- mestic and social conditions of frontier life gave him both text and sermon, and who would dare to say that the sermon was not well preached ?
Deliberately, then, he sought to arouse the Legislature as the most available means-the rightful instrument-for se- curing and maintaining the reform. The means must be secular and uniformly administered. In the Legislature the address seems not to have attracted any considerable atten- tion; but by the apathy of those who were in power, not
96
UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION.
less than by the dangerous and wide-spread illiteracy, the friends of education were aroused as they had not been.
Early in the year there was held a public meeting of the citizens of Indianapolis, at which a committee was appointed, consisting of Ovid Butler (chairman), Henry Ward Beecher, John Coburn, and others, to provide for a general conven- tion of the State's educators and the friends of education. A circular was issued, including extracts from the recent re- port of the Superintendent of Common Schools, and a call made for a meeting on May 26, 1847. This was the first of a series of "State Common School Conventions," without an understanding of whose influence any study of the next ten years of school agitation would be only superficial. Their deliberation determined legislation, educated public senti- ment, conducted campaigns, and generally reformed the sys- tem as no individual could have done.
The convention of May, 1847, was presided over by the Hon. Isaac Blackford, continued its sessions for three days, and represented in its attendance of three hundred the best thought and the philanthropy of the State. Two commit- tees were appointed-one, consisting of O. H. Smith, A. Kin- ney, and Calvin Fletcher, to lay before the Legislature a typical bill; and a second to prepare an address to be pub- lished and distributed to the people. Of the latter, Rev. E. R. Ames was chairman, and had associated with him Jere- miah Sullivan, T. R. Cressey, R. W. Thompson, James H. Henry, Solomon Meredith, and James Blake. The address, as might be inferred, was replete with suggestion, counsel, and appeal. The questions they set themselves to answer for the benefit of the public were these: 1. What is the pres- ent condition of our common schools in Indiana ? 2. What ought to be their condition ? 3. Are there any insurmount- able obstacles to our making them what they ought to be ?
The first was answered by pointing out that school- houses were wanting, sixty per cent of the children were not touched by the schools, teachers were incompetent, the peo- ple of the State were prohibited from levying taxes for the
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CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849.
support of schools, and that, notwithstanding the permanent fund amounted to more than $2,000,000, the schools were yearly falling into greater disrepute.
Of their future, it was demanded that (1) additional funds should be provided by a general tax; (2) they should be free, "perfectly free, as the dew of heaven, to rich and poor, without the least recognition of pauperism or charity "; (3) they should be made as good as any other schools in the State ; (4) a suitable standard of qualification should be erected for teachers, and a corresponding compensation made ; (5) there should be provided a superintendent of common schools.
It was argued, finally, that (1) no friend of the genius of our Government could oppose the establishment of a system of free common schools if he would but note the illiteracy ; (2) no one who desires the payment of the State debt, the redemption of our credit, and our permanent establishment as a State could oppose them; (3) that as private schools, wherever statistics could be had, were shown to cost from two to four times as much as State schools, no one who would secure to Indiana the cheapest and most efficient mode of education could oppose a State system; (4) that as crime in Indiana was costing already twice as much as edu- cation, all who wished to diminish this drain, and "render tenantless our prisons and poor-houses," would favor such proposed system; and (5), finally, no one who wishes to do his duty to the rising generation would oppose a system of free common schools.
The address, in an appendix as well as throughout the text, made copious extracts from reports and other educa- tional documents in neighboring States, and drew to its aid the few pedagogical journals of the country. Here were quotations from Hon. Henry Barnard, Horace Mann, Governor Slade, of Vermont, Governor Briggs, of Massa- chusetts, the official reports of Ohio, Massachusetts, and Boston, and Hon. A. G. Escher, Minister of Education in Switzerland. It was a masterly production, and fairly cov-
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ered the ground. A thousand copies were printed and dis- tributed, and much personal work done by the committee. The address was noticed and even published in full by papers in other States, South and East, but was said not to have received the attention it merited from the Indiana press. Nevertheless, the papers throughout the summer were freely used by correspondents to vent their various views upon the question. One party asked for a central control of the schools, having agents of its own to carry on its operations and the vigor of a department of the Government. County superintendents should be elected, teachers be appointed by him or by a county board, their qualifications specified by law, and all officers paid salaries. It meant system. All this was new. For Indiana it was revolutionary.
It was held by the opposition that "the fact of one man being a Methodist, another a Baptist, a third an Episcopalian, a fourth a Presbyterian, a fifth a Campbellite, a sixth a Ro- man Catholic, a seventh a Unitarian, and the eighth a Uni- versalist, and all being thrown into the same district, with their heterogeneous and antagonistic principles, produces so much confusion that any prospect of improvement is lost to society." After years of the most disastrous experience, it was urged that the system should be formed on the principle of voluntary associations-schools reporting to the civil au- thorities, and receiving funds from the public.
The committee on legislation previously mentioned pre- pared a bill, and at a convention of educators and members of the Assembly held in the House of Representatives, De- cember 8, 1847, made, through Judge Kinney, a statement of its general provisions.
It recommended a poll tax of twenty-five cents and a tax of six tenths of a mill on the property of the State for school purposes, the townships being required to levy an equal amount of local tax. It suggested also a State superintend- ent, a county superintendent, one trustee in each township, and one in each district, and that the county superintendents in each congressional district should constitute a district
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CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849.
board, one delegate from each of which should together sit as a State Board of Education. To still further increase the revenue, the recommendation provided that two dollars should be collected annually from each State officer, county officer, member of Congress, bank official, lawyer, physician, and other holder of public professional or industrial posi- tion, for the use of the schools. Finally, there was suggested an election to be held in the following year (1848), at which a vote should be taken upon the question of free schools.
In the second message of Prof. Mills, published Decem- ber 6, 1847, and laid upon the desks of members, both Sena- tors and Representatives, as they took their seats in the thirty- first Assembly, there was an elaboration of certain points in the previous addresses, supplemented by a comparative study of the illiteracy conditions of the twenty-six States; an in- vestigation of the congressional township appropriations as managed in Michigan and Indiana; and a somewhat detailed exposition of the essential characteristics of a State system of schools. The requirements, as enumerated in the letter, but doubtless suggested by the State's notorious deficiency, were : (1) Convenient and safe houses and furnishings; (2) sufficient pay to attract teachers; (3) well-trained teachers; (4) uniformity of text-books; (5) efficient supervision-State and county. If it be remembered that this presentation was made at a time when, and in a State where, there were no school-houses outside of cities; where real teachers were few, and the wages were rarely more than a dollar a day; when texts of any grade of excellence were scarce, and every school was independent of every other, the seemingly simple and self-evident requirements become significant. They meant far more then than now. A State system of free, secular, elementary education was the ideal which not only legisla- tors but every citizen must somehow be brought to under- stand and approve. It was the labor of a generation. What was personal opinion in a few must be slowly worked into the common life. The responsibilities of the State to her subjects made the first lesson.
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Throughout the address Prof. Mills writes in the light of, and converges every argument for schools upon, the State maxim, "It is the duty of the State to furnish the means of primary education to the entire youth within her borders." His address was more than an argument; it was a pleading. From the law-makers he appealed to the people; from the people to the Legislature. "We must not be discouraged by ignorance and prejudice," but, "impressed with a just appreciation of the magnitude of the enterprise, the value of the interests at stake, and the obstacles to be overcome," he appeals to those in authority, "let us gather up the experi- ence of the past, and bring it to bear upon popular education, and we shall find in Indiana as cordial friends to the intel- lectual and moral culture of the rising generation as in any other State in the Union. Awaken the public mind, and concentrate it on the question, 'Am I not interested in the proper education of all that are socially and politically con- nected with me ?'" Few would answer it in the negative now; many did then.
To this same second message, moreover, there were five appendices, supplemented and illustrated by graphic and tabular presentations of-1. Indiana's illiteracy. 2. Educa- tion and labor. 3. School sanitation. 4. Illiteracy and pauperism. 5. Parochial and other sectarian schools.
It was a masterly production, and fairly left no ground untouched. Its argument must have been convincing even to the unwilling. Newspapers at various points in the State joined in the discussion. A candidate's attitude on the ques- tion occasionally entered as a factor in his local canvass. Representatives from some counties went up to the Assembly "instructed " by their constituents and pledged to work for a more efficient school system; others as emphatically pledged against it.
An argument, cogent and practical, appeared in the In- diana State Journal, December 31, 1847, for free schools. Its spirit was applauded. Newspapers copied. There was much individual interest. As a result of these efforts, inspired
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CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849.
and sustained by the "messages," the "Educational Conven- tions," the writing and addresses of friends of education, and influenced by the growing illiteracy, the thirty-first session of the Legislature passed an act authorizing the peo- ple to vote for or against a tax for the support of free schools.
A bill similar in its general provisions to that recom- mended by the convention's committee on legislation passed the House and was sent to the Senate, but so near the close of the session that nothing was done with it; instead, there was passed the act referred to, submitting the question of free schools to a vote of the people. It recited as follows :
" Whereas, laws respecting common schools are the most important in a people's code ;
" And whereas, a system for the regulation and establish- ment of free common schools must of necessity be extensive and complex in order to embrace and arrange all necessary points and provisions ;
" And whereas, the bill for the improvement of common schools was sent from the House to the Senate at a period so late as to preclude thorough examination and deliberation ;
" And whereas, the said bill, even should it become a law, will not, according to the provisions thereof, take effect until after the time appointed for the assembling of the next Legis- lature; therefore-
"SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That the voters of the State shall, at the annual election, on the first Monday in August, 1848, give their votes for or against the enactment of a law by the next Legislature for raising by taxation an amount which, added to the present school funds, shall be sufficient to sup- port free common schools in all the school districts of the State for not less than three nor more than six months each year.
"SEC. 2. The inspectors of elections at the several places of voting shall propose to each voter presenting a ballot the question, 'Are you in favor of free common schools ?' And those who are in favor of the enactment of a law for taxa- 8
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tion as aforesaid shall answer in the affirmative, which an- swer shall be duly recorded by the clerk of such election; and the result of such voting shall be certified, as is provided in other cases of voting at general elections, to the Secretary of State, and by him certified to the Governor, who shall report the same to the Legislature on the first day of the session."
The law-makers of 1847-'48 were not disposed to assume any new responsibilities touching education. Free schools might be desirable, but their legal establishment in a system must come through the expressed preference of the people. No risk was or could be assumed by the Legislature. The entire official attitude was evasive or apologetic. It betrays no vigorous policy-no plan. Legislation was tentative and full of compromises. In the outcome the voice of the people was clear and emphatic. It must have been a rebuke to the fearful Legislature.
A joint resolution of the same Legislature also invited the friends of common-school education to meet again in convention at Indianapolis to consider the situation.
In the light of present confidence in public schools, this all seems but child's play. Legislation was fearful, poli- ticians carped, religionists were suspicious. The policy was halting and puerile. There seems now almost no excuse for such temporizing and cringing. The delay came neither from ignorance of the need, nor of notable precedent in other States, of the remedy; yet the best legislation touching schools was more or less evasive and partial.
Even before the adjournment of the Legislature the cam- paign for free schools began, and the friends of the move- ment in using every agency to help it on were only equaled by its enemies in their efforts to retard it. Partisan politics, sectarian bias, the antagonisms of social classes, and personal preferences were all arrayed against the establishment of State, tax-supported schools.
At the suggestion of the Legislature, and continuing the policy begun the previous year, a third Educational Conven-
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CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849.
tion was held in May, 1848. The meeting was short, but enthusiastic and decisive. Another address was prepared and directed to the voters of the State. Free, tax-supported schools were held up as the poor man's friend, the State's best garrison, and every one's right. The friends of educa- tion were urged to hold educational meetings in every town and neighborhood previous to the August election. At the former meeting a permanent State Educational Society had been organized, which now appointed Judge Kinney, of Terre Haute, a special agent "to travel throughout the State and deliver addresses, and endeavor to awaken an interest in behalf of free common schools." Papers were asked to copy the address, which was done much more freely than in the previous year. Many counties were visited, and meet- ings held and addressed by local speakers as well.
It will be remembered that 1848 was presidential year, and the school question was submitted at the regular elcc- tion. This greatly complicated matters, and divided the at- tention. The issue of the Mexican War had reopened the question of slavery and given to the border States, and par- ticularly the border settlements in Indiana, a new signifi- cance, dividing communities, and even then political parties and religious organizations into the most radical factions. In the excitement of religious feeling and political bias, and the waverings of industrial and social interest, the claims of general education were sometimes depreciated, if not ig- nored. Political interests in the years following the war with Mexico were particularly exacting and factious. Chil- dren could wait.
The day of election was one well remembered yet by the voters of 1848, involving experience of momentous interests and more than usual excitement. Politicians were divided, and the State canvassed by both the friends and the enemies of the movement. Along with a generous indorsement of schools went in places the most violent opposition. It has been said that in some instances (it is to be hoped they were few) otherwise sober and reputable citizens appeared at the
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polls armed to intimidate the advocates of free schools .* . To defend or countenance general taxation for the support of schools was, in certain counties, to invite suspicion of one's motives. Its friends were regarded as fanatics and dangerous to the Commonwealth. No State could long meet such lavish drain upon its resources. The objection was not so much to schools as to free, State-controlled, State-sup- ported schools. It was precisely the attitude of Governor Berkeley, of Virginia, a century and a half before; and "but for the persistence of this Virginia sentiment, operating upon and directing the Kentucky, North -Carolina, and South Carolina, and other kindred elements, during the formative period of a great State, the Hoosier Schoolmaster had never been written." +
Another class of people objected to free schools because it would make education too common. Schools of any kind were, or should be, for the few, and chiefly for those who could afford private instruction. Strangely enough, how- ever, it occurred in Indiana in 1848, as it had fifty years before in Rhode Island, and elsewhere later, that the most vigorous opposition came from the improvident, the needy, the hand-to-mouth laborer, and the ignorant, who most needed the schools-and the free schools. As a class, they were suspicious of every advance.
"Taxation," it was said by some, "is just, to support our Government and to defend our rights and liberties, but to be taxed to make us benevolent is quite different." Another class intimated that the law was got up by designing men -not the farmers and working men of the State. "Of all men, none were more dangerous than the clergy. . . . There is priestcraft in this scheme," said a writer whose fear of the Church's aggressions led him to disown the truth's best friend-an unrestricted education. In the same strain said another : "The bait is to give our children an education;
* See Indiana School Journal, 1876, p. 298.
+ J. M. Olcott, in Indiana School Journal, July, 1876.
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CALEB MILLS AND THE LAW OF 1849.
the chief object is to religiously traditionize them, and then unite Church and state." "Shall industrious citizens," said others, " be taxed to favor and support the indolent?" Every argument was used that could by any possibility be so con- strued to the detriment of a public free-school system, and every bias appealed to. Personal interests and party con- nections, and sectarian prejudices and local history and tra- ditions, were made to contribute to the movement against a free, general, secular schooling.
The actual result of the vote, however, was encouraging. The supporters of free schools were victorious, and fairly so. The returns showed a light poll, 13,052 short of the presi- dential vote on the same day, though 140,410 voters responded to the question. The affirmative vote stood 78,523; the nega- tive, 61,887.
Of the ninety counties then organized, fifty-nine, or sixty- six per cent of the number, stood for "free schools," thirty- one against them ; while of the individual responses, but fifty-six per cent were affirmative *- only six per cent more than half. It was a victory, but chiefly because it was not a defeat. The proposed public schools had many friends- hopeful, patient friends, and intelligent ones-but many ene- mies, besides many indifferent also. Neither were the ad- ministrative and economic values of an educated citizenship greatly appreciated. In an aggregate of $125,000,000 of capi- tal represented in the vote, something less than two thirds (about sixty-one per cent) stood pledged for free schools. But this was sufficient. Fifty-six per cent of the voting citi- zenship, sixty-one per cent of the capital, and sixty-six per cent of the districts had henceforth a record on the side of free and general education. The day was won. The ma- jority vote was for State-established, State-supported schools.
A table of the vote by counties is appended, showing the total vote on the question of free schools, the per cent of this
* New York, the year following (1850), voted upon the same question, and out of a total ballot of 249,872 there were cast sixty-eight per cent for free schools.
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vote cast for free schools, and the rank of the counties based on this vote.
Table of Free-school Vote, August, 1848.
COUNTIES.
Total
vote.
For
schools.
Rank.
COUNTIES.
Total
vote.
For
schools
Rank.
1. Adams
621
71.5
35
46. La Porte ....
1,919
89.2
5
2. Allen.
2,266
80. 6
21
47. Lawrence.
1,927
24 . 6
83
3. Bartholomew.
2,170
52.4
56
48. Madison
1,670
29.2
76
4. Benton
143
78
26
49. Marion
3,386
54.5
54
5. Blackford.
332
73.5
33
50. Marshall.
88.7
8
6. Boone
1,640
32 .6
72
51. Martin.
833
40.7
65
7. Brown.
670
28
78
52. Miami.
1,462
80.4
22
8. Carroll
1,819
74
32
53. Monroe .. ..
1,825
20.6
86
9. Cass
1,594
80.3
23
54. Montgomery
2,817
30.7
74
10. Clark.
2,127
62.4
47
55. Morgan.
2,219
29.5
75
11. Clay.
1,150
18.8
88
56. Noble
1,112
86.3
11
12. Clinton.
1,571
70.7
36
57. Ohio
891
77.6
27
13. Crawford
1,114
34 .2
70
58. Orange
1,706
8 .8
90
14. Daviess ..
1,346
50-7
59
59. Owen. .
1,682
26. 4
79
15. Dearborn
3,039
85.5
14
60. Parke
2,792
34 .3
69
16. Decatur.
2,197
28 . 6
77
61. Perry
846
61.8
48
17. De Kalb.
938
65
45
62. Pike
1,017
24 . 4
84
18. Delaware
1,523
47
60
63. Porter
771
90.5
4
19. Dubois
809
17
89
64. Posey
1,802
58.4
51
20. Elkhart. .
1,761
70.7
37
65. Pulaski.
246
91
3
21. Fayette. ...
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