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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



of the fund which will be received by differ- 

 ent States under this distribution. Let me 

 refer to the manner in which the distribution 

 will operate as respects two or three States. 



" The whole net proceeds of the sale amount 

 to about $2,000,000 annually. Of this sum 

 one-half is proposed to be distributed annually, 

 while the other half is to constitute a perma- 

 nent fund, the income of which shall be dis- 

 tributed in the same way. Under this distri- 

 bution the State of Alabama, with a popula- 

 tion of 996,992, would receive as its share of 

 $1,000,000 the sum of $67,689.71 ; while the 

 State of Connecticut, with a population of 

 537,454 a little more than half the population 

 of Alabama will receive only $5,234.03. The 

 State of Kentucky, with a population of 1,321,- 

 011, would receive $58,705.46; while the 

 State of Massachusetts, with a population of 

 1,457,351, would receive only $17,273.94. 



" Now, Mr. Speaker, this bill in its mechan- 

 ism is exceedingly simple ; but I believe (and 

 in the expression of this belief I am fortified 

 by the unanimous testimony of educators in all 

 parts of the country) that its protection of the 

 Government against the waste or misapplica- 

 tion of these funds is absolute and complete. 

 It requires of the States just two conditions, 

 and declares that every State which shall, 

 within one year, comply with those two con- 

 ditions shall, in the next year, receive its share 

 of this distribution. Those two conditions 

 are: first, the establishment of a system of 

 free public schools for all its citizens, leaving 

 all the details of that system to its own dis- 

 cretion ; and, secondly, a report that it has es- 

 tablished such a system, and that it has ap- 

 plied the money in accordance with the pro- 

 visions of the bill, and a report of the number 

 of children that have been in attendance at 

 those schools during the- previous year. A 

 great many other conditions have been sug- 

 gested as desirable to be added ; but it seems 

 to me that the performance of these condi- 

 tions will be sufficient for the end proposed. 



" Many gentlemen say, 4 "Why, how is it pos- 

 sible that a gift of $50,000 to a State of a mill- 

 ion and a half of inhabitants, one-half of whom 

 cannot read or write, can suffice to produce 

 the result which this bill aims to accomplish ? * 

 But, Mr. Speaker, the history of education in 

 this matter answers that question, and answers 

 it to the surprise as well as the satisfaction of 

 persons who have not previously investigated 

 the subject. I am informed by the distin- 

 guished agent of the Peabody fund, Dr. Sears, 

 perhaps the highest authority in this country 

 on this special subject, that the expenditure of 

 $30,000 a year from this fund (I believe that is 

 the amount, though I may not have it precise- 

 ly in my memory) causes probably an expendi- 

 ture of from ten- to twenty times that amount 

 in. the localities where this slight expenditure 

 has been made ; and not only that, but that 

 the results proceed in a vastly increasing ratio. 

 When you say to a town, or a parish, or a neigh- 



borhood, ' "We will give you $5,000 for the es- 

 tablishment of schools,' not only is the propo- 

 sition readily accepted for any community 

 dislikes to see such an offer go by unimproved 

 but every town or community within the 

 circuit of forty miles around comes in and 

 says, ' Why can you not do the same for us ? ' 



"The bill contemplates that there shall be 

 made to the General Government a report set- 

 ting forth the number of schools in each State, 

 and the number of pupils actually attending 

 therein. 



"That list will be tabulated and reported to 

 Congress, and the result will be if in any State 

 it appears, either that the State has refused to 

 get its share of the bounty of Congress, or that 

 the State stands lowest in rank in these par- 

 ticulars which are reported, somebody in that 

 State will set its rivers on fire until that state 

 of things is changed. It was that stimulant, 

 and that stimulant alone, giving a few dollars 

 only to each town, by which Horace Mann 

 created anew the common-school system of 

 Massachusetts, and raised it from its degraded 

 condition, thereby making his name immortal 

 among the benefactors of mankind. On this 

 point the authority of the various school su- 

 perintendents as given by Dr. Sears, to which 

 I have alluded, is decisive. 



" Then, Mr. Speaker, that will leave the 

 other million dollars to be deposited in the 

 national Treasury, and invested in Government 

 bonds, the interest only to be distributed, leav- 

 ing the principal to accumulate as a national 

 educational fund. 



"It seems to my mind the vast public do- 

 main we are rapidly disposing of in one way 

 or another ought not to be used up for the ne- 

 cessities of a single generation. The people of 

 the country, and especially the laborers of the 

 country, take a deep interest in the public 

 lands. They will not consent to any disposi- 

 tion of the proceeds of the sale of these public 

 lands ; and this bill gives no public lands, but 

 simply disposes of the proceeds of their sale 

 when paid into the Treasury they will not 

 consent, I say, to the disposition of them to 

 any purpose less sacred than that of the edu- 

 cation of the people. 



" It does not seem just that the entire pro- 

 ceeds of tliis vast national heritage should be 

 disposed of for the necessities of a single gen- 

 eration, and nothing left for the future." 



Mr. Dunnell, of Minnesota, said : " Mr. 

 Speaker, I desire to make some remarks upon 

 this bill, but shall not long occupy the atten- 

 tion of the House. I think there are very 

 grave questions involved in the measure some 

 that we ought not to forget or overlook in the 

 discussion of it. While it is not agreeable for 

 me ever to vote against any measure that 

 looks toward public free schools, yet I am 

 constrained to present a few considerations in 

 opposition to the passage of this bill, and give 

 some of the reasons why I shall vote against it. 

 In the first place, it is a new departure ; it is 



