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and no more than sufficient, to operate as an inducement to the inhabitants of school districts to contribute liberally to their support." "It is, from the nature of the subject, impossible to fix the exact limit, below which a reduction of the sum distributed (including the amount raised by taxation in the several towns) would cease to operate as an inducement to the inhabitants to assume the residue of the expenses of maintaining the schools, or beyond which its increase would render their burdens so light as to create inattention to the concerns of the districts. It may, however, be safely assumed, that, at any point between forty and fifty cents per scholar, it is not probable that either of these evils would be felt; and that its augmentation above the maximum, on the one hand, or its reduction on the other, below the minimum above named, ought to be avoided, if practicable." The effect of the subsequent increase of the sum so distributed during the past few years, has certainly, it may here be remarked, by no means impeached the soundness and accuracy of this proposition; the extent to which the schools have improved being clearly attributable to other and more potent influences than the augmentation of the public funds applicable to their support.

At the opening of the session of 1837, Gov. Marcy again brought the subject of common school education before the legislature, in connection with the act of congress of the preceding year, authorizing the deposit of the share belonging to this state, of the surplus revenue of the United States, with the state for safe keeping, until required by the general government. He recommended the appropriation from the income of this fund, of an amount equal to the sum annually distributed to the common schools, to be applied to the same purpose, viz. the payment of the wages of duly qualified teachers; making the annual distribution for this purpose, $220,000-a liberal appropriation to the academies, "having in view principally the design of rendering them more efficient as seminaries for educating common school teachers-and the addition of the residue of such income to the capital of the common school fund. He also recommended the transfer of the general superintendence and supervision of the several academies of the state, from the Regents of the University to the secretary of state in his capacity of Superintendent of Common Schools, disapproving of the proposed erection of a separate department of public instruction, and suggesting the appointment of an additional deputy to aid the secretary in the performance of this portion of his official duties. He commends the efforts in progress for the promotion of popular instruction by the diffusion of education through all ranks of the people, and the devotion of talents and wealth to this great cause; and expresses his conviction, that aided by the powerful co-operation of the legislature, its advancement may confidently be anticipated.

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The sum of $110,000 was this year apportioned among the several school districts, the number of which had augmented to 10,207. The number of children between five and sixteen residing in the several districts from which reports had been received, was 538,398; and the number instructed within the year, 532,167; being a diminution of 9,234 from the number instructed the preceding year. This diminution is accounted for by the Superintendent," by the prevalence of an absorbing attention, in a considerable portion of the community, to their pecuniary interests rather than to the interests of education." Strong excitements in the community," he observes, especially when continued for a length of time, are in their nature unfriendly to the cause of education; and of such excitements none is perhaps so much so as that which is characteristic of periods when fortunes are amassed without effort and by the mere chances of speculation." "In the year 1834," he continues, "the common schools were in better condition, in all respects, than they had been at any previous time; and, as is well known, that year was distinguished by a serious depression in the business affairs of the country. The interests of education seem never to be better secured than in seasons when individuals are compelled to husband their resources, and when the highest as well as the most certain re

wards are those which are the fruits of patient industry. No period seems less propitious to the promotion of those interests, than that season of delusive prosperity in which multitudes are tempted by a few instances of wealth suddenly acquired, to lay aside their accustomed avocations, and embark in the precarious pursuits of fortune."

In his message at the opening of the session of 1838, Gov. Marcy repeats his recommendations of the previous year, in reference to the proper disposition of the revenue of the United States deposit fund, with the additional suggestion that a portion of this fund be devoted to the purchase of DISTRICT LIBRARIES, in such of the several school districts of the state as should raise by taxation an equal amount for that object. In reference to the departments for the education of teachers connected with the respective academies designated by the Regents of the University, he expresses the opinion, that however ably conducted, they must of necessity be inadequate to the supply of the requisite number of teachers for the common schools, and suggests the establishment of county normal schools, "on principals analogous to those on which our system of common shools is founded." An increase of the number of academies provided with teachers' departments, is also suggested, the additional expense to be defrayed from the revenue of the deposit fund.

The number of school districts had now increased to 10,345: the number of children between five and sixteen residing in the several districts from which reports were received, to 536,882 and the number taught was 524,188; showing a still further diminution of nearly 8,000 from the preceding year.

During this session the sum of $160,000 was added from the annual revenue of the United States deposit fund, to the amount to be apportioned among the several school districts of the state; of which $55,000 was is required to be expended by the trustees in the purchase of suitable books for a district library, and the residue for the payment of the wages of duly qualified teachers. An equal amount was also required to be raised by taxation on the several counties and towns, and applied to the same purpose. The residue of the income, after making certain appropriations to the colleges and academies, was added to the capital of the common school fund.

On the 7th of March, the Hon. DANIEL D. BARNARD, from the literature committee of the house, submitted a masterly and eloquent report upon the general subject of public instruction, to which we regret that our limits compel us only to advert. Many important and valuable suggestions for the extension and greater efficiency of our systems of popular education will be found embraced in this document. No specific action, however, in accordance with the recommendations of the report was had.

At the opening of the session of 1839, Gov. SEWARD called the attention of the legislature, in an especial manner, to the interests of elementary public instruction; expressing his conviction of the paramount necessity of elevating the standard of education; recommending legislative co-operation in the furtherance of the effort to engraft the system of normal schools upon our institutions for education, through the agency of the academies; strongly commending the district library system; and urging the indispensable necessity of a more thorough and efficient visitation and supervision of our common schools.

By the annual report of the superintendent, it appeared that the number of organized school districts in the state was, at this period, 10,583; the number of children between the ages of five and sixteen years, residing in the several districts from which reports had been received, 539,749; and the number of children under instruction, 528,913; exceeding by 4,725 the number instructed the preceding year.

In reference to the act of April, 1838, appropriating the income of the U. S. Deposit Fund to the purposes of education, the Superintendent ob

serves:

"The acts of April last, after making certain appropriations for the support of colleges, academies and common schools, from the income of the United States Deposit Fund, provides that the residue of that income shall be added annually to the capital of the common school fund. The income of the former fund will amount to nearly $260,000 per annum, and the appropriations referred to amount to $208,000, viz.: to the common schools, to be applied to the payment of teachers, $110,000, and $55,000 to the purchase of school district libraries; to the literature fund $28,000, and to colleges $15,000; leaving a balance of about $50,000 to be applied to the increase of the last mentioned fund. Should this appropriation continue undisturbed, the capital of the common school fund will, by the year 1850, amount to about $3,000,000, without any further provision for its increase; as the sales of lands belonging to it may be expected to yield two or three hundred thousand dollars."

On the subject of moral and religious instruction in the several schools, the Superintendent has the following sensible and judicious remarks:

"However desirable it may be to lay the foundation of common school education in religious instruction, the multiplicity of sects in this state would render the accomplishment of such an object a work of great difficulty. In the state of Massachusetts it is provided by law that no school books shall be used in any of the schools calculated to favor any religious sect.' In this state no such legal provision has been made; but the natural desire of every class of Christians to exclude from the schools instruction in the tenets of other classes has led to the disuse, by common consent, of religious books of almost every description, excepting the Bible and New Testament, which are used in more than one hundred towns as reading books. The spirit of jealousy by which the schools are surrounded, regarded as they are as most efficient instruments in the formation of opinions, will probably render this state of things perpetual; and it is of the greater importance, therefore, that moral instruction and training should constitute a principal branch of the system of education. No teacher can receive a certificate of qualification from the inspectors, unless they are satisfied as to his moral character. In this respect the inspectors cannot be too rigid in their scrutiny. A teacher whose moral sentiments are loose, or whose habits of life are irregular, is an unfit instructor for the young, whatever may be his intellectual acquirements, or his skill in communicating knowledge. The lessons of moral truth which are taught at the domestic fireside and the examples of moral rectitude and purity which are there displayed, will be in danger of losing all their benefit, if the school room does not reinforce them by its sanctions. If neither the atmosphere of the family circle, nor of the school, is free from impurity, to what other source can the young resort for those principles of morality which shall render their intellectual improvement subservient to useful purposes, and without which it might become an instrument to be wielded for the annoyance of their fellows and for their own destruction? Though moral principles may have their origin in the heart, it is not to be expected that their proper development can be effected amid the perpetual counteraction of hostile influences. Moral cultivation should, therefore, be one of the first objects of common school instruction. The great doctrines of ethics, so far as they concern the practical rules of human conduct, receive the intuitive assent of all; and with them may be combined instruction in those principles of natural religion, which are drawn from the observation of the works of nature, which address themselves with the same certainty to the conviction, and which carry to the minds of all observers irresistible evidence of the wisdom, the beneficence and the power of their divine author. Beyond this, it is questionable whether instruction in matters of religious obligation can be carried, excepting so far as the school districts may make the Bible and New Testament class books; and there can be no ground to apprehend that the schools will be used for the purpose of favoring any particular sect or tenet, if these sacred writings, which are their own safest interpreters, are

read without any other comment than such as may be necessary to explain and enforce, by familiar illustration, the lessons of duty which they teach.

"In connexion with this subject, it is highly gratifying to consider that the religious institutions of the country, reaching, as they do, the most sequestered neighborhoods, and the sabbath schools, which are almost as widely diffused, afford ample means of instruction in the principles and practice of the Christian faith. In countries where ecclesiastical affairs are the subject of political regulation, there is no difficulty in making religious instruction the foundation of education, by arrangements independent of the action of those whom it immediately concerns. But the policy of our law is to leave the subject, where it may be most properly left, with the officers and inhabitants of the school districts."

In passing from the administration of Gen. Dix to that of his successor, it is scarcely necessary to observe that the exertions of the former, during the six years in which the interests of the common schools were committed to his charge, to elevate and expand the system of popular education, were unsurpassed by any of his predecessors. The impress of his clear, discriminating and cultivated mind, was stamped upon every feature of that system, and the order, arrangement and harmony which pervaded all its parts, were due not less to the ceaseless vigilance of its supervision than to the symmetry and beauty of the system itself. In 1837 Gen. Dix, under the authority of the legislature, collected together and published a volume of the decisions of his predecessor and himself, embracing an exposition of nearly every provision of the school act, and establishing, upon a permanent basis, the principles of future interpretation and decision, in reference to those provisions. The system of district school libraries was also organized and put into successful operation under his immediate auspices; and to his clear and convincing exposition of the principles upon which this great institution was based, the ends it was designed to subserve, and the objects it was capable of accomplishing, a large share of the success which has attended its establishment thus far, is unquestionably due.

Administration of JOHN C. SPENCER-County Superintendents—1839 to 1842.

On the 4th of February, 1889, the Hon. JOHN C. SPENCER was appointed secretary of state and Superintendent of Common Schools. Deeply impressed with the necessity of a more thorough and efficient supervision and inspection of the several schools, his first measure was to procure the passage of a law authorizing the appointment of a County Board of Visitors, whose duty it should be gratuitously to visit the common schools of their county, and to report to him the results of such examination, together with such suggestions for the improvement of these institutions as they might deem expedient. These visitors were selected from among the most intelligent citizens of the several counties, without distinction of party; and under specific instructions from the department, most of the common schools of the state were visited by them, and a mass of valuable information respecting their condition and prospects, accompanied by suggestions for their improvement, obtained and communicated to the legislature. With great unanimity the plan of a county supervision through the medium of an officer to be appointed either by the Superintendent or by some local board, was urged upon the department and the legisla ture; and under the strong recommendation of the Superintendent, backed by the exertions of several of the most eminent friends of popular education, among whom may be enumerated the Hon. JABEZ D. HAMMOND, who as early as 1835 had given to the public the details of a plan essentially similar; the Rev. Dr. WHITEHOUSE, of Rochester; FRANCIS DWIGHT, Esq, editor of the District School Journal, then of Geneva; Professor POTTER, of Union College, and JAMES WADSWORTH, Esq., of Geneseo, this project became, in 1841, by the nearly unanimous action of the legislature, incorporated with our system of common schools.

In his message at the opening of the session of 1840, Gov. Seward thus adverts to the subject of elementary education:

"Although our system of public education is well endowed, and has been eminently successful, there is yet occasion for the benevolent and enlightened action of the legislature. The advantages of education ought to be secured to many, especially in our large cities, whom orphanage, the depravity of parents or some form of accident or misfortune seems to have doomed to hopeless poverty and ignorance. Their intellects are as susceptible of expansion, of improvement, of refinement, of elevation and of direction, as those minds which, through the favor of Providence, are permitted to develop themselves under the influence of better fortunes; they inherit the common lot to struggle against temptations, necessities and vices; they are to assume the same domestic, social and political relations, and they are born to the same ultimate destiny.

"The children of foreigners, found in great numbers in our populous cities and towns, and in the vicinity of our public works, are too often deprived of the advantages of our system of public education, in consequences of preju dices arising from difference of language or religion. It ought never to be forgotten, that the public welfare is as deeply concerned in their education as in that of our own children. I do not hesitate, therefore, to recommend the establishment of schools in which they may be instructed by teachers speaking the same language with themselves, and professing the same faith. There would be no inequality in such a measure, since it happens from the force of circumstauces, if not from choice, that the responsibilities of education are, in most instances, confided by us to native citizens, and occasions seldom offer for a trial of our magnanimity, by committing that trust to persons differing from ourselves in language or religion. Since we have opened our country and all its fulness to the oppressed of every nation, we shall evince wisdom equal to such generosity by qualifying their children for the high responsibilities of citizenship."

From the annual report of the Superintendent it appeared that the whole number of organized school districts in the state was 10,706; the number of children between the ages of five and sixteen, residing in the several districts from which reports had been received, 564,790, and the number of children taught during the year reported, 557,229-showing an increase of 28,316 over the preceding year.

On the 13th of April, 1840, the Superintendent transmitted to the legislature the reports of the several Visitors of Common Schools appointed by him under the act of the preceding session, accompanied by a condensed abstract of their views and suggestions, together with a full exposition of his own, in reference to the various proposed improvements and modifications of the system. In relation to the inspection of the schools the Superintendent ob

serves:

"It has already been shown to the legislature, from the official returns, that at least one half of all the schools in the state are not visited at all by the inspectors. The reports of the Visitors show that the examinations of the inspectors are slight and superficial, and that no benefit is derived from them. Many of the Boards unhesitatingly recommend the abolition of the office." "The Superintendent is constrained to express his concurrence in the opinion expressed by several of the boards of visitors, that the office of town inspector of schools is unnecessary, and rather an incumbrance on the administration of the system." He recommends the appointment of Deputy Superintendents of common schools for each county and expatiates upon the signal advantage to be secured to the interests of the common schools by the adoption of a system of visitation at once so comprehensive and efficient. He dissents from the views of the visitors in reference to the expediency of establishing normal schools in each county for the instruction of teachers; being of the opinion that, the existing system of academical departments for this purpose was preferable; and he accordingly concurs in the recommendation of his predecessor to increase the number of those departments. He strongly urges the establishment, under the patronage of the state, of a journal to be exclusively devoted to the promotion of education; the attainment, if practicable, through

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