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deposits of public money, approved June 23, 1836. It was enacted that the money which remained in the Treasury on January 1, 1837, reserving the sum of $5,000,000, should be deposited with such of the several States, in proportion to their respective representation in the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, as should by law authorize their treasurers, or other competent authorities, to receive the same on the terms specified; and the Secretary of the Treasury should deliver the same to such treasurers or other competent authorities, on receiving certificates of deposit therefor, duly signed, which should express the usual and legal obligations, and pledge the faith of the State for the safe-keeping and repayment of the money, and should pledge the faith of the States receiving the same to pay them and every part thereof, from time to time, whenever they should be required by the Secretary of the Treasury for the purpose of defraying any wants of the public Treasury, beyond the amount of $5,000,000 aforesaid. If any State should decline to receive its proportion of the surplus on the terms named, the same should be deposited with the other States agreeing to accept the same, in the same proportion. It was further enacted that the said deposits should be made with the States in the proportions named: one-quarter January 1, 1837; one-quarter April 1; one-quarter July 1, and one-quarter October 1, all in the same year. The surplus amounted on January 1, 1837, to $37,468,859.97, three-fourths of which sum was divided among the States according to the method prescribed in the act; the fourth installment was never paid, owing to the necessities of the Government growing out of the financial crisis of that year. The States receiving the deposits have never repaid them, and have never been called upon to do so.

The lands and moneys described in the preceding paragraphs were granted to the States to be used for such purposes as they saw fit. Naturally, an example was soon set of bestowing the funds arising from these sources, in whole or in part, on education, and with the lapse of time this example has been more and more followed. Many of the States applied the money received in 1837, in whole or in part, temporarily or permanently, to schools and education. In this list are found Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Vermont. The schools of some of these States still derive a revenue from this source. It is foreign to the present purpose to inquire into the disposition that the States have made of the other funds mentioned. It will be found, however, that these subjects are frequently referred. to in the extracts made from State constitutions in Section X of this paper.2

1 Stat. L., Vol. V, p. 55.

'See E. G. Bourne: History of the Surplus Revenue of 1837, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons. An interesting account of what is known as the "Town Deposit Fund" will be found in the Report of the Connecticut Board of Education for 1890, pp. 144-147.

AUTHORITIES.-The following may also be consulted with advantage: A. Ten Brooke: American State Universities and the University of Michigan. J. K. Patterson: National Endowment for Schools for Scientific and Technical Training, Proceedings of the National Educational Association, 1874.

VIII. THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION.

I. Memorial of the National Association of State and City School Superintendents to the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, February 10, 1866.—II. An act to establish a department of education, March 2, 1867.-III. Sections of the Revised Statutes defining the province of the Bureau of Education.

At the annual meeting of the National Teachers' Association for 1864, held in Ogdensburg, N. Y., August 10-12, S. H. White, of Peoria, Ill., read a paper entitled "A national bureau of education." At the meeting of the same association held at Harrisburg, Pa., August 16-18, 1865, Prof. S. S. Greene, of Providence, R. I., delivered an address entitled "The educational duties of the hour," emphasizing the need of a system of national education. At the same meeting, A. J. Rickoff, of Cincinnati, read a paper entitled "A national bureau of education."3 About the same time Dr. Henry Barnard, who was prevented from attending the Harrisburg meeting by illness, matured a plan of a central agency and headquarters for conference, correspondence, discussion, and publication relating to schools and education. At this meeting the association adopted resolutions that commended to the General Government the organization of a bureau of education for the purpose of collecting and publishing educational statistics and of making suggestions for the advancement of popular education in the several States, and that authorized that a committee of five be appointed to carry the resolutions into effect, and that the president of the association be chairman of said committee. It was further resolved that a committee of three from each State represented in the association be appointed, whose duty it should be to circulate petitions among the people of their respective States praying Congress to establish a department of education. What immediate efforts these resolutions led to, if any, the compiler is not informed.

At the annual meeting of the National Association of State and City School Superintendents, held in Washington, D. C., February 6-8, 1866, Dr. E. E. White, of Columbus, Ohio, again presented the subject. The immediate effect of this presentation and the accompanying discussion was the appointment of a committee to embody the substance of Dr. White's paper in a memorial to Congress, said committee consisting of E. E. White, State commissioner of common schools, Ohio; Newton Bateman, State superintendent of public instruction, Illinois,

The American Journal of Education, Vol. XV, p. 180.
Ibid., Vol. XVI, p. 229.

Ibid., Vol. XVI, p. 299.

4Ibid., Vol. XV, pp. 806, 810.

and J. S. Adams, secretary of the State board of education, Vermont.' The committee prepared the memorial before separating, and requested General Garfield, who was then serving his second term in Congress, to take charge of the measure in the House of Representatives. General Garfield consented to accept the commission, but requested Dr. White to draw up the bill, which he did." On February 14, having first obtained leave, General Garfield introduced the bill and memorial. The bill was twice read, the two documents were ordered printed, and the subject was referred to a select committee of seven: Garfield of Ohio, chairman; Boutwell of Massachusetts, Molton of Illinois, Patterson of New Jersey, Donnelly of Minnesota, Goodyear of New York, and Randall of Pennsylvania. On April 3 the committee reported a so-called substitute, but the substitute was the original bill slightly amended, the principal change being the adoption of the name department instead of bureau. The subject was debated at considerable length. In its favor it was argued that the department, if established, would be of great service in collecting and publishing statistics and other information. concerning education, and that it would be serviceable in promoting schools and education in the Southern States. It was replied that it was unnecessary and unconstitutional, and would prove expensive. The vote was taken June 8. Mr. Garfield had granted to other members of the house so much of the time allotted to the discussion that his own speech was cut short by the Speaker's hammer; however, in response to earnest requests, he wrote out his notes in full and gave the speech to the public. The vote stood 59 yeas to 61 nays, but was reconsidered June 19. Mr. Garfield said it was an interest that had no lobby to press its claims. "It is the voice of the children of the land," he said, "asking us to give them all the blessings of our civilization." The bill now passed, 80 yeas to 44 nays. Carried to the Senate, it was immediately referred to the Judiciary Committee. At the next session, January 30, 1867, it was reported back; February 27 it passed after brief discussion, and March 2 it received the President's approval. The change wrought in the temper of the House between the 8th and 19th of June was mainly due to the persistent zeal with which General Garfield urged the measure in private. In later debates-for the department was no sooner created than attacks upon it began-one member said the passage of the bill by the House was due to Garfield's "persuasive eloquence," and another declared that it was carried by "dint of personal entreaty." In defending the department, Garfield called the proposition to abolish it "putting out the eyes of the Government."

'Dr. White's paper may be found in the American Journal of Education, Vol. XVI, p. 177. The compiler is indebted to Dr. White for private information on the subject.

It is found in the Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1867-68, p. 49; in the American Journal of Education, Vol. XVII, p. 49; and in President Garfield and Education, p. 183, prepared by the compiler of this chapter and published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co.

I. MEMORIAL OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE AND CITY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, FEBRUARY 10, 1866.

At a meeting of the National Association of State and City School Superintendents, recently held in the city of Washington, D. C., the undersigned were appointed a committee to memorialize Congress for the establishment of a national bureau of education.

It was the unanimous opinion of the association that the interests of education would be greatly promoted by the organization of such a bureau at the present time; that it would render needed assistance in the establishment of school systems where they do not now exist, and that it would also prove a potent means for improving and vitalizing existing systems. This it could accomplish

(1) By securing greater uniformity and accuracy in school statistics, and so interpreting them that they may be more widely available and reliable as educational tests and measures.

(2) By bringing together the results of school systems in different communities, States, and countries, and determining their comparative value.

(3) By collecting the results of all important experiments in new and special methods of school instruction and management, and making them the common property of school officers and teachers throughout the country.

(4) By diffusing among the people information respecting the school laws of the different States; the various modes of providing and disbursing school funds; the different classes of school officers and their relative duties; the qualifications required of teachers, the modes of their examination, and the agencies provided for their special training; the best methods of classifying and grading schools; improved plans of schoolhouses, together with modes of heating and ventilation, etc., information now obtained only by a few persons and at great expense, but which is of the highest value to all intrusted with the management of schools.

(5) By aiding communities and States in the organization of school systems in which mischievous errors shall be avoided and vital agencies and well-tried improvements be included.

(6) By the general diffusion of correct ideas respecting the value of education as a quickener of intellectual activities; as a moral renovator; as a multiplier of industry and a consequent producer of wealth; and, finally, as the strength and shield of civil liberty.

In the opinion of your memorialists, it is not possible to measure the influence which the faithful performance of these duties by a national bureau would exert upon the cause of education throughout the country; and few persons who have not been intrusted with the management of school systems can fully realize how widespread and urgent is the demand for such assistance. Indeed, the very existence of the association which your memorialists represent is itself positive proof of a demand for a national channel of communication between the school officers of different States. Millions of dollars have been thrown away in fruitless experiments, or in stolid plodding, for the want of it.

Your memorialists would also submit that the assistance and encouragement of the General Government are needed to secure the adoption of school systems throughout the country. An ignorant people have no inward impulse to lead them to selfeducation. Just where education is most needed, there it is always least appreciated and valued. It is, indeed, a law of educational progress that its impulse and stimulus come from without. Hence it is that Adam Smith and other writers on political economy expressly except education from the operation of the general law of supply and demand. They teach, correctly, that the demand for education must be awakened by external influences and agencies.

This law is illustrated by the fact that entire school systems, both in this and in other countries, have been lifted up, as it were bodily, by just such influences as a

national bureau of education would exert upon the schools of the several States; and this, too, without its being invested with any official control of the school authorities therein. Indeed, the highest value of such a bureau would be its quickening and informing influence, rather than its authoritative and directive control. The true function of such a bureau is not to direct officially in the school affairs in the States, but rather to cooperate with and assist them in the great work of establishing and maintaining systems of public instruction. All experience teaches that the nearer the responsibility of supporting and directing schools is brought to those immediately benefited by them, the greater their vital power and efficiency.

Your memorialists beg permission to suggest one other special duty which should be intrusted to the national bureau, and which of itself will justify its creation, viz, an investigation of the management and results of the frequent munificent grants of land made by Congress for the promotion of general and special education. It is estimated that these grants, if they had been properly managed, would now present an aggregate educational fund of about $500,000,000. If your memorialists are not misinformed, Congress has no official information whatever respecting the manner in which these trusts have been managed.

In conclusion, your memorialists beg leave to express their earnest belief that universal education, next to universal liberty, is a matter of deep national concern. Our experiment of republican institutions is not upon the scale of a petty municipality or State, but it covers half a continent, and embraces people of widely diverse interests and conditions, but who are to continue "one and inseparable." Every condition of our perpetuity and progress as a nation adds emphasis to the remark of Montesquieu, that "it is in a republican government that the whole power of education is required.”

It is an imperative necessity of the American Republic that the common school be planted on every square mile of its peopled territory, and that the instruction therein imparted be carried to the highest point of efficiency. The creation of a bureau of education by Congress would be a practical recognition of this great truth. It would impart to the cause of education a dignity and importance which would surely widen its influence and enhance its success.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

E. E. WHITE,

State Commissioner of Common Schools of Ohio.
NEWTON BATEMAN,

State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Illinois.
J. S. ADAMS,
Secretary State Board of Education, Vermont.

WASHINGTON, D. C., February 10, 1866.

II. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be established at the city of Washington a department of education for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a commissioner of education, who shall be intrusted with the management of the department herein established, and who shall receive a salary of four thousand dollars per annum, and who shall

'This memorial is transcribed from the Report of the Commissioner of Education submitted to the Senate and House of Representatives, June 2, 1868, pp. 3, 4.

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