USA > Michigan > Men of progress : embracing biographical sketches of representative Michigan men with an outline history of the state > Part 9
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Agricultural College. 7 per cent.
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MEN OF PROGRESS.
some one form, then of all forms-the latter, of course, not presumable. This elaim, how- ever, seems inconsistent with a prior declara- tion of the same ordinance. After preserib- ing the method of civil administration in the eeded territory, the ordinance lays down cer- tain "fundamental principles," of what may be termed eivil ethies, beginning as follows: "And for extending the fundamental princi- ples of eivil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republies, their laws, and constitutions, are erected," etc .. , "the fol- lowing articles shall be considered as articles of compaet between the original States, and the people and the States in the said terri- tory." Religious liberty could not well be maintained under a State where some form of religion was established, or encouraged, to the disfavoring of other forms. Possibly a compromise construction may be reached by interpreting the ordinance to mean that in a State in which knowledge is disseminated by means of schools, the people, in the broadest exercise of their "religous liberty," will be naturally led to embrace that form of religion most conducive to "good government." The preceding was written before the opinion of Judge Carpenter (referred to later on) was rendered, or had come under the eye of the writer. In this opinion the same view is expressed in the following language: "It is an expression of the faith that I was taught as a child, and that I, in common with many others, still hold, that, as you inerease the effi- cieney of schools and other means of educa- tion, religion, morality and knowledge will prosper."
In the year 1787 a purchase of a million and a half aeres of land, including what is now the city of Cincinnati, was made (or at least negotiated for), by Judge John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, on behalf of a com- pany. It was stipulated that the traet should be surveyed under the government system, and that section 16 of each township should be set apart for educational, and section 29 for religious, purposes. This would seem to have been a stipulation in behalf of a com-
pauy, rather than a covenant which the gov- ernment would have interested itself in en- forcing. It was most likely an enterprise on the part of some religious society.
One of the topics on which information was asked for from school districts, by the Superintendent of Publie Instruction, in 1841, was "the religious instruction" im- parted in the schools, and the answers were summarized by the words "that seetarianism was not taught, while a certain amount of religious instruction was encouraged." The first Superintendent of Publie Instruction, in outlining the plan of the University, says: "It is not to be expected that the study of theology, as a profession, can ever be made a separate department of the University. There is no connection, and it is devoutly to be hoped there never will be, between church and state, under our government. We have, therefore, no establishment, and consequently 110 ministry to provide for it. But * * the basis on which Christianity has reared its stupendous fabrie, and founds its elaims to the confidence and affection of the world, would be fruitful topics for the predilections of such a professorship as is proposed to be established. Besides, it will be found to be essential to the prosperity of the University. Without something cf the kind it would be abandoned by all religious denominations."
The religious character of the University (having reference more specifically to the sys- tem of religion represented by the Christian cult), has been dwelt upon and emphasized by chairs in the University, notably by Presi- dent Angell, in his inaugural address. It may be said to have been authoritatively stated by Prof. Frieze, who was designated to give the leading address at the University semi-een- tennial, June 26-30, 1887, his theme being "The University in Its Relation to Religion." The following extraet from the address is given:
"In its future it (the University) must be expected to maintain the same position as heretofore. Until Michigan shall cease to be a Christian State, its University cannot eease
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to be a Christian school of learning, for it is governed and controlled by the people through regents of their own choosing; and, therefore, its teachers must in general repre- sent the religious opinions of the people as a whole. But to believe that Christianity is ever to lose its grounds in the State is to throw up our faith in its Divine Anthor. On the contrary, His word cannot fail; His good work must go on and prosper; the people must become more and more imbued with His spirit, and make that spirit to be more and more manifest in the character and working of their institutions. And we have in this a sure promise that the University will never cease in the future to maintain that reason- able and strong position, as a Christian insti- tution, of a Christian commonwealth, which, as a historical fact, it has held throughout the half century this day completed."
Dr. Tappan, the first president of the Uni- versity, in an address before the Christian Library Association, June 22, 1858, used lan- guage strongly implying that no system of religion should be taught or represented, as by authority, in a State institution. A few of his sentences are appended:
"But egregiously do those mistake the char- acter and ends of this institution who imagine that because it belongs to no seet or party in particular, it therefore belongs to all sects and parties conjointly, and of equal right. It not only does not belong to any seet or party in particular; it belongs to no seet or party at all. It is a purely literary and scientific in- stitution; it is in no sense ecclesiastical. Tt is designed for a single purpose-advancing knowledge and promoting education. The State is not composed of religious sects, but of the people. And the institutions of the State do not belong to the seets into which the people may chance to be divided by their
opinions and practices, but to the people con- sidered as the body politie, irrespective of all such divisions. The right of prescription, in- terference, or of any control conceded to one religious body, would involve a concession of the same to all similar bodies. What is con-
ceded to the Protestants, the Catholics may equally claim. What is conceded to Metho- dists or Presbyterians, all other Protestant seets may equally claim. Nay, what is con- ceded to religious seets must be conceded also to those who belong to no sect. The only practical alternative is that of committing an institution of learning to one seet, or to none at all. State institutions, of course, are com- mitted to none at all."
A liberal view would certainly not objeet to the teaching in the State schools of the history and tenets of all religions, as matter of information, without teaching any one of them ex-cathedra, leaving it to the intelligent student to determine in his own mind which is the right one or the preferable one. A study of this character, however, would not be adapted to the primary schools, and it is here that the greatest friction has arisen. The Roman Catholics, more especially, have claimed that religious instruction should be concurrent with that of a secular character. The same view is held by many of the Pro- testants, but in view of the difficulty of intro- ducing any religious teaching without offend- ing persons of some one or more sects or of no sect, there has been a general concurrence in the propriety of omitting religious instruc- tion from the public schools.
A case involving the right of the Board of Education of Detroit to introduce the so-called "Select Bible Readings" into the schools of that city was decided by the Supreme Court of the State, December 6, 1898, (Pfeiffer vs. Board of Education of Detroit). This case was before the court for many months before a de- cision was handed down, showing the extreme care exercised by the judges before reaching a decision. The contention of the relator, Pfeiffer, was that the Select Bible Readings, being a religious book and intended for reli- gious instruction, their use in the schools was violative of sections 39, 40 and 41, article 4, of the State Constitution, as follows:
Sec. 39. The Legislature shall pass no law to prevent any person from worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of his own conscience.
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or compel any person to attend, erect or support any place of religious worship, or to pay tithes, taxes or other rates for the support of any minister of the gospel or teacher of religion.
Sec. 40. No money shall be appropriated or drawn from the treasury for the benefit of any religious sect or society, theological or religious seminary, nor shall property belonging to the State be appropriated for any such purpose.
Sec. 41. The Legislature shall not diminish or enlarge the civil or political rights, privileges and capacities of any person on account of his opinion or belief concerning matters of religion.
It was contended by the Board of Eduea- tion, in its answer, that the book was not in- troduced into the schools as a book of reli- gious instruction, but as a reading exercise, valuable for its moral precepts. Its use was defended on this ground, and this was the ground on which the right of the school authorities to place it as a text book in the schools was affirmed.
The ease was first brought in the Wayne Circuit Court, and Judge Carpenter, of that Court, in a very elaborate opinion, decided in favor of the relator, Pfeiffer, and against the use of the book in the schools. His decision was reversed by the Supreme Court on writ of error, four of the judges-Montgomery, Grant, Hooker and Long- concurring, Judge Moore filing a dissenting opinion. The spirit of the decision in the case is fairly repre- sented by the following extract from the opinion handed down by the four judges:
"No interference, by way of instruction, with the views of the scholars, whether derived from paren- tal or sacredotal authority, is shown. The Bible was used merely as a book in which instruction in reading was given. But reading the Bible is no more an interference with religious belief than would reading the mythology of Greece or Rome be regarded as interfering with religious belief or affirming the pagan creeds. A chapter in the Koran might be read, yet it would not be an affirmation
of the truth of Mohammedanism, or an interference with religious faith. The Bible was used merely as a reading book, and for the information con- tained in it, as the Koran might be, and not for religious instruction. If suitable for that, it was suitable for the purpose for which it was selected."
Virtually, therefore, the opinion would deny the right of the school authorities to prescribe any form of religious teaching for the schools.
In his dissenting opinion Judge Moore qnotes the opinion in full of Judge Carpen- ter, in the lower court, from which the fol- lowing extraet is taken:
"It is no answer to the charge that the contem- plated use of 'Readings from the Bible' is teaching religion, to say that the book also teaches morality. What religious book could not be taught in the schools, if the morality of its doctrines were to determine its use? Teaching religion at the expense of the taxpayers is forbidden by the constitution, and teaching morality is not commanded by it. Nor is it possible to take a middle ground, and insist that the religion of the Bible can be taught in the schools, and other religious teachings excluded. It is impossible to frame an argument which, under our constitution, will permit respon- dent to carry out its proposed action, which will not permit it to teach any religion it may choose to teach. The constitution prohibits all religious teachings in the public schools, or it prohibits none."
Judicial decisions are supposed to be reached upon the law as it is found to exist, independently of popular opinion. But an advancing tendency in popular opinion, run- ning through decades, comes to be recognized by the conrts, and assumes the form of law. Had the same issue been tried fifty years ago, as in the ease cited, it is a safe assumption that it would have been decided much more promptly and with an added emphasis. The history is of value, as showing the evolution of thought on the special line indicted.
MATERIAL INTERESTS.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS BY THE STATE.
Fanciful Schemes of the Earlier Days-Prophetic of What is Now Seen-Work Projected-The Five Million Loan-Views of Governor Barry-Sale of the Railroads-Abandonment of the System.
Under the territorial government a number of companies were chartered for building railways and for improving the interior water- ways, although but little progress was made in construction. At the time of the organi- zation of the State government immigration was at high tide. Everybody was wealthy in imagination. Visions of a magnificent future filled the public eye. And if a thought verg- ing on the fanciful may be pardoned, it is that our visions are real while they exist. Castles in the air are real castles until they are blown away. So our predecessors in the thirties had visions and built air castles.
When the constitution of 1835 provided that internal improvements should be encour- aged, the popular pulse-beat responded to it. Many schemes of internal improvement were undertaken, only to prove failures. But while the castles of those days may have been ethereal as to their then permanence, they were prophetic of what should come after. The improvements of the present day far ex- ceed in extent and surpass in excellence the most fanciful dreams of the enthusiasts of the earlier days. Though these improvements have not been made directly by the State, they have been made by private enterprise fostered by the State. They have been made possible and have been made indispensable by the growth in population and wealth-fac- tors, by the way, which the improvements themselves have been potent agents in devel- oping. Let those who will, strike the balance between cause and effect. In passing, also, it may be noted that while the State entered upon an extended policy of public works in
its infancy, only to abandon it later, there is now a rising demand for public ownership of public works, especially by municipalities, but not stopping short of the general govern- ment in its relation to the great transportation agencies.
In 1837 the State, pursuant to authority of the Legislature, entered upon an extended system of internal improvement, including three trunk railway lines-the Southern, the Central, and the Northern, the latter between Port Huron and Grand Rapids-and the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal, from Mt. Clemens westward to Lake Michigan. For carrying out these gigantic enterprises, whose cost at this day would exceed the hundred mil- lion mark, a loan of $5,000,000 was nego- tiated on the credit of the State. The full amount of the loan was, however, never real- ized by the State, a portion of the bonds hav- ing been negotiated with the Morris Canal & Banking Company, of New Jersey, and with the United States Bank, both of which be- came insolvent. The final settlement became a matter of compromise between the State and the holders of the bonds. It was a matter of history at the time also that $20,000 of the money received on account of the loan mys- teriously disappeared on its way from New York to Detroit in the custody of the Michi- gan agents. Of the public improvements pro- jected, Gov. Barry, in his message to the Leg- islature in 1842 said: "Our whole system of internal improvement, it will be seen, em- braced about five hundred and ninety-six miles of railroad, about two hundred and fifty-three miles of canal, and the improve- ment of five rivers. The estimated cost of these improvements is $10,489,275.76, though probably their real cost, were they completed, would not be less than $15,000,-
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000." The Governor's estimate of the cost illustrates the want of knowledge at the time as to the cost of works of the character in question, while the nicety with which the probable cost of so comprehensive a system is figured down to centals in the first estimates is not a little amusing. The entire system of internal improvements was placed under a board of seven commissioners.
Some further comments of Gov. Barry in the message already quoted from are worthy of reproduction. Speaking of the scheme as a whole, he says: "The conception of the plan on a scale so magnificent, is to be at- tributed to the erroneous opinions of the wealth produced by a too redundant paper currency. The system was altogether too ex- tended for our wants, and required expendi- tures beyond our means. It was projected at a time when things were too often viewed through a magnifying glass. Individuals embarked with confidence in enterprises which they now regard as extravagant and visionary. The spirit of the times unfor- tunately became the governing policy of the States, and Michigan projected a system of internal improvements which would have been a grand undertaking for the oldest and
most wealthy States. This general delusion has now passed away. Men have returned to sober senses and rely on the realities of life."
Gov. Barry recommended the abandon- ment of the system as a whole, while hus- banding those works already completed, or nearly so. There was a growing sentiment, however, that the State should wash its hands of the whole business, and this sentiment cul- minated in 1846 in the sale of both the Cen- tral and Southern railroads. The former had been completed as far as Kalamazoo and the latter as far as Hillsdale. The pur- chase price of the Central was $2,000,000, and of the Southern $500,000, but it was paid by retiring so much of the $5,000,000 loan bonds. No work other than some grad- ing and grubbing had been done on the north- ern route (Port IInron and Grand Rapids). Some work had been done on the Clinton and Kalamazoo canal, extending as far as Roch- ester in Oakland County, at an expense of $56,754.68, and various small sums had been expended for other improvements up to 1842. But with the sale of the two railroads the State cut loose from all work of the kind.
BANKING AND CURRENCY.
First Effort at Banking-Chartered Banks-General Banking Law of 1837, or "Wild Cat" Banks-Col- lapse of the System-Scarcity of Bank Currency -- Canadian, Indiana and Illinois Notes-General Banking Law of 1857-State Banks of Issue Superseded by National Currency-Shinplasters and State Scrip-Savings Banks, State Banks and National Banks-Tabular Exhibits.
The first effort at banking in Michigan was under the auspices of Gov. Hull and Judge Woodward, who in 1806 established a bank in Detroit, of whose operations fabulous tales were old. The institution had no legal existence, and closed out at the end of two years. The Bank of Michigan was chartered by the Legislative Council in 1817, and did a prosperous business for twenty-four years, when it went under in the general financial
collapse of the time. The Farmers' and Mer- chants' Bank (1830), and the Michigan State Bank (1835), both of Detroit, both suffered the fate of their predecessor about the same time and from the same causes. The Michi- gan Insurance Company (bank) was char- tered in 1834 and continued doing business until it was superseded by the national bank- ing system. Aside from the Detroit banks mentioned, a dozen or more had been char- tered and were doing business at interior points. In 1837 the speculative fever ran so high that the Legislature was overwhelmed with applications for bank charters, and in lien of special charters the general banking law was passed, under which the brood of "wild cat" banks, so well remembered by the
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few now living who were then residents of the State, came into existence. Within a year and a half from sixty to seventy banks had been organized in the State. The col- lapse of the system was as sudden as its rise, carrying with it most of the chartered banks also. At the close of the year 1839 four chartered banks and four under the general law remained, and three years later the Miel- igan Insurance Company was the only asso- ciation doing a banking business in the State .*
For a period of over twenty years the banking facilities of the State, so far as banks of issue were eoneerned, were mainly confined to a couple of banks in Detroit. In the early fifties a bank known as the Government Stoek Bank was doing business at Ann Arbor, though under what charter right is not re- called. It was of a speculative character, and was not held in favor by the Metropolitan Bank, of New York, by which its notes were gathered up and presented for redemption be- fore they became crumpled. This pressure forced it out of business. Several banks in the interior were revived and transacted busi- ness under old charters.
The present constitution, adopted in 1850, ' forbade special charters, and provided that any general banking law should be sub- mitted to a vote of the people. The Legisla- ture in 1857 passed a general banking act, which was approved by popular vote at the November election in 1858. Its provisions were sueh, however, that no banks were es- tablished under it so far as known. The busi- ness interests of the State had increased to an extent that the absence of banks of issne at which accommodation loans might be had was serionsly felt, as was the scareity of eur- reney for ordinary business exchanges. In the eastern part of the State, Canadian bank notes were largely in circulation, and were
valned for their supposed seeurity and gold equivalent. Indiana bank notes were also in evidenee. In western Michigan, Illinois cur- reney was the more plentiful, but it was re- garded with suspicion, and was sometimes characterized by the unpoetie term of "stump tail." The embarrassment had become so great and the need for relief so pressing, that the Legislature of 1861 proposed an amend- ment to the constitution providing that the Legislature, by a two-thirds vote of each house, might establish a single bank, with branches. The amendment was adopted at the ensuing November election, and beeame part of the constitution. The system eontem- plated was similar to that on which the In- diana banks were organized. The establish- ment of the national banking system, how- ever, made action under the amendatory clause impracticable, as all State banks of issne were soon merged into national banks. Private banks or banking offices for the pur- pose of discount and exchange had sprung up in many places where there was a demand for them during the dearth of other banking facilities.
During the wild cat period there was a suspension of specie payments by the banks, and silver coin for small change was unob- tainable. To supply the need, private firms, and in some cases municipalities, issued frac- tional currency known as "shinplasters," an experience that was practically repeated in the first years of the war of the rebellion, be- fore the issue of the fractional currency by the general government. In 1841 an issue of State scrip was authorized, of which over $200,000 was put in circulation. The notes were paid ont for all purposes required by the needs of the State government. No direet provision was made for their redemption, but they were made receivable for taxes. The financial eredit of the State was at a low mark, and the notes were looked upon with distrust. They could be converted into coin only at a considerable discount, and were in many eases declined in matters of ordinary traffie except at a discount. Those who had
*T. H. Hinchman's "Banks and Banking in Michigan." In the report of the State Treasurer for 1853 five banks are mentioned: The Bank of Macomb County, at Mt. Clemens; the Government Stock Bank, at Ann Arbor, and the Michigan State Bank, the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank and the Peninsular Bank, at Detroit.
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taxes to pay, paid them in State scrip. If they did not have the notes, they bought them np at a shave from those who had them. The consequence was that in a year or two the scrip had substantially all been returned to the State in the way of taxes, and the State was withont available means with which to meet its ordinary obligations.
Savings banks, at least in Michigan, are an essentially modern institution. The first law under which savings banks were organized was passed in 1869. The act was revised in 1889 so as to include discount and deposit banks for commercial purposes, as well as savings deposits. These banks are under the supervision of a bank commissioner, having his office at. Lansing, who is required to make an examination of the affairs of every bank organized, at least once each year, similar to the examination of national banks required by the general government. Below is given some comparative statistics of State and sav- ings banks, beginning with the year 1873, the reports up to that time being meagre and of little value. Up to and including 1888 the reports of "State banks" and "savings banks" are made separately. Beginning with 1889 all are reported as "State banks," but the de- posits are classified as "commercial" and "sav- ings." Trust companies are included in the number of banks-two in 1890, four in 1895,
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