upon the state's admission into the Union, 1837. The Swamp Land Fund was established by an act of legislature, 1858, which provided that after deducting the expenses of sales, fifty per cent of all proceeds of all former and all future sales of swamp lands should constitute a fund to be "denominated a primary school fund" and the annual interest thereof at five per cent should be appropriated and distributed in like manner as the Primary School Fund interest.295 The history of these swamp lands may be briefly told: In 1812 Congress set aside two million acres of land in Michigan as bounty land to non-commissioned officers and soldiers who would enlist in the war between the United States and Great Britain.296 Surveyors declared these lands swamps and worthless. Other lands in Illinois and Missouri were given to the soldiers, and in 1850 Congress gave back to Michigan the worthless lands; 5,838,775 acres of swamp land were patented to the state prior to 1899, and of the proceeds, $846,778, were devoted to the Five Per Cent Fund.295 The minimum price originally fixed by the legislature in 1837 upon primary school lands was eight dollars per acre. "Owing Loss to the hard times following the financial panic was of 1837, many who purchased the lands appealed to the state legislature for a reduction of the minimum price. As a result, the minimum price (of primary school lands) changed in 1840. . . to five dollars per acre. In 1842 a still further reduction was made, so that in December, 1842, the fund had shrunk from $739,638.01 to $359,809.41." 203 When we consider that the moneys belonging to the Primary School Fund and the Swamp Land Fund have been used for general expenditures and payment of state debts we see that these funds instead of lessening the taxation for the support of schools actually increase it, but Michigan has escaped the full weight of the burden that would be felt if the interest on these funds were paid out of a direct state tax. 295 Laws of Mich., 1858 (No. 31), Sec. 5, p. 171; Report Supt. of Public Instruction, 1889, p. 22, gives a full account. 296 Statutes at Large, Vol. II, p. 669; Act of Dec. 24, 1811, Chap. 10, Sec. 2; and p. 728, Act of May 6, 1812, Chap. LXXVII, Sec. I. Section I of article XIV of the constitution provides that "all specific taxes except those received from mining companies of the upper peninsula, shall be applied in paying the interest of the primary school, university and other educational funds, and the interest and principal of the state debt in the order herein recited, until the extinguishment of the state debt, other than the amount due to educational funds, when such specific taxes shall be added to and constitute a part of the Primary School Interest Fund (i. e., be added to the interest derived from all permanent primary school funds)." The constitution provides for the increasing of the principal of the Primary School Fund from three sources: 297 the proceeds (1) of sales of all lands that have been or may hereafter be granted to the state for educational purposes; (2) of all lands or other property given by individuals or appropriated by the state for like purposes; (3) of intestate lands escheating to the state. Present Sources of Increase All educational funds in Michigan are managed by the legislature. The Superintendent of Public Instruction transmits plans for the management to the Governor, who in turn transmits them to the legislature.298 Management The interest of the Primary School Fund is apportioned semiannually by the Superintendent of Public Instruction among the towns and cities of the state in proportion to Apportionment their school population (five to twenty years).299 The combined interest of the Seven Per Cent Fund and the Five Per Cent Fund is known as the Primary School Fund interest. It can be applied to only one object; the payment of the wages of teachers in public schools.300 Objects In order to share in the Primary School Fund interest, a district must have been maintained for at least five months the preceding year, a school taught by a legally qualified teacher.30 Conditions of 301 297 Constitution of Michigan, 1850, Art. XIII, Secs. 2, 3. 298 Mich. Gen. School Laws, 1903, Sec. 17. 299 Ibid., Sec. 20. 300 Ibid., Sec. 54. 301 Report Supt. of Public Instruction, of Mich. 1903, p. 29. CHAPTER XXXI MINNESOTA PERMANENT SCHOOL FUND. SWAMP LAND FUND Minnesota possesses two public permanent funds devoted to the support of common schools, the official titles of which are Perma Titles. nent School Fund 302 and Swamp Land Fund.303 Of the Swamp Land Fund only one-half is a common school fund; the other half is devoted to the support of other state educational and charitable institutions.303 The condition of these funds in the year ending July 31, 1908, is reported as follows: Invested principal of half Swamp Land Fund Total invested principal . Estimated surface value of 1,015,187.46 acres of unsold Permanent School Fund lands 307 Estimated value of ore products of same 306 Total prospective value of Permanent Common School 621,636.17 304 19,709,383.91 305 $ 20,331,020.08 5,545,954.32 100,000,000.00 $125,876,974-40 The principal of the Permanent School Fund is invested in or secured by state bonds and certificates of indebtedness, municipal bonds, and bonds of foreign states.308 The rent of unsold school 302 Laws of Minn. Relating to the Public School System, edited by J. W. Olsen, 1901, p. 43, Title 9. 303 Minn. Gen. Laws, 1907, Chap. 385. 304 Advance Rept. Minn. State Aud., Biennial Report, 1907-08, p. ix. 305 Ibid., p. vii. 306 Ibid., p. xxxvi. 307 Data from records of State Auditor furnished F. H. Swift by Dept., Dec. 28, 1908. 308 Data furnished F. H. Swift, Sept. 27, 1906, by J. W. Olsen, Minn. State Supt. of Public Instruction. lands is added to the principal of the fund 308 and is not, therefore, distributed annually as in some other states. Income of Permanent School Fund 1907-08 Total income of public permanent common school funds 309 $686,432.55 307 18,637.16 307 $705,069.71 307 The total receipts for common schools for the year 1907-08, including the balance on hand at the beginning of the year, amounted to $14,919,015.3 Of this, therefore, approximal four and seventenths per cent (.047)* was derived from the income of the Permanent School Fund and Swamp Land Fund. Section 18 of the Congressional Act passed March 3, 1849, to establish the territorial government of Minnesota reserved sections Origin of sixteen and thirty-six in each township for the use of common schools.310 The amount of land thus reserved amounted to 2,969,990 acres,10 or (.055) five and five-tenths per cent of the area of the state. The Permanent School Fund was provided for by the first constitution adopted by the state, that of May 11, 1858, which became effective upon the admission of the state into the Union.311 The origin of the federal grant of swamp lands to the states of the Union has been described in Chapter III. The area and estiOrigin of Minn. mated value of the swamp lands thus far granted Swamp Land Fund to Minnesota could not be ascertained at the state department. As stated in Chapter III, the Swamp Land Grant is an indefinite grant covering "all the swamp and overflowed lands rendered thereby unfit for cultivation and remaining unsold at the date of the grant." The last published federal tables, those of 1896, reported that prior to January 1, 1896, there had been granted to Minnesota 4,738,549.78 acres of swamp lands. An amendment to the constitution, article VIII, section 2, adopted 1881, * Computed. 309 Data furnished F. H. Swift, Dec. 28, 1908, by Minn. State Dept. of Public Instruction. 310 Organic Act of Minn., Gen. Stats. of Minn., 1866, pp. 14-21; also Report Minn., Dept. Public Instruction, 1878, p. 6. $11 Constitution of Minn., 1858, Art. VIII, Sec. 2. provided that of all the swamp lands then held or which might thereafter accrue to the state one-half shall be appropriated to the "Common School Fund" and one-half to the educational and charitable institutions of the state, the principal of the funds derived from the sale of such swamp lands to be forever preserved inviolate and undiminished. It will be seen that the provisions of this amendment set apart one-half of the Swamp Land Fund as a second permanent public common school fund. Despite this amendment the Swamp Land Fund was not divided and nothing was derived from it for the support of common schools until the passage of an act in March, 1907.303 As the result of this act, since 1907 one-half the income from the Swamp Land Fund has been devoted to the support of common schools 307 and one-half credited "to the appropriation for the support of the several state educational and charitable institutions." In Minnesota the swamp lands were devoted originally to state institutions, not to the schools. In 1865 a law was passed directing that 525,000 acres of swamp lands be reserved Minnesota Lands Devoted to Common Schools, 1907 One-half Swamp for the benefit of the following state institutions: 100,000 acres each for the Insane Asylum, School for Deaf, Dumb and Blind, State Prison; 75,000 acres for each of the three normal schools, Winona, Mankato, and St. Cloud.312 Subsequently it was provided that after the swamp lands appropriated to other purposes shall be selected, the Commissioner shall select and set apart the remainder of such lands for the support of a Soldiers' Orphan Asylum. In 1878 the Superintendent of Public Instruction suggested that in view of the fact that the Soldiers' Orphan Asylum had been closed, the lands set apart for it be in the future given to the normal schools. 313 Minnesota "has never lost a dollar of her permanent school fund." 308 The state had borrowed (prior to 1906) $6,657,479.96,308 over one-third of the principal. The interest on this is paid out of state taxes.308 As pointed Loss 312 Minn. Gen. Laws, 1865, Chap. 5. 313 Report Minn. Supt. of Public Instruction, 1878, p. 75. |