LAW OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

CHAPTER I.

TAXATION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

1. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SUBJECT.-2. THE POWER TO TAX FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES.

1. BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SUBJECT.

THE thought that man as man, without reference to any special practical end, should be educated seems to have occurred first to the Greeks, but it was not until the Reformation that men began to hold the opinion that every man's intellect should be so trained as to be able to read and inquire and think for itself.

During what are called the dark centuries a state of deplorable ignorance prevailed all over Europe. It is refreshing to find in the history of this dark middle age two monarchs who strove to give to their subjects the inestimable privilege of

lifting themselves out of the depths of ignorance in which they were immersed. At the accession of Charlemagne to the throne of France no means of education existed in his dominions. This monarch, who, it is said, was himself incapable of writing, invited men of letters from abroad to come and reside at his court and instruct himself and his family. He also established schools in various cities of his empire.'

In the ninth century Alfred the Great, of England, made similar efforts, but they died with him, his successors being too much occupied with warfare to continue the educational work thus initiated.'

Down to the time of the transitional movement in Europe from the medieval ages to the modern world, there is little of interest to the cause of popular education to record.

The influence of the Reformation upon education was made manifest early in the seventeenth century. In 1616 the Scotch Parliament adopted measures for settling and supporting a public school in each parish at the expense of the heritors or landed proprietors. This legislation was repealed at the restoration of Charles II., but was re-enacted by the Scottish Parliament in 1696.3

1 Hallam's "Middle Ages," chap. ix., parts 1 and 2.

2 Hume's "History of England," vol. i. chap. ii.

3 II. Kent's Comm, *196.

Lord Macaulay says: "By this memorable law it was, in the Scotch phrase, statuted and ordained. that every parish in the realm should provide a commodious school-house and should pay a moderate stipend to a schoolmaster. The effect could not be immediately felt. But, before one generation had passed away, it began to be evident that the common people of Scotland were superior in intelligence to the common people of any other country in Europe. To whatever land the Scotchman might wander, to whatever calling he might betake himself, in America or in India, in trade or in war, the advantage which he derived from his early training raised him above his competitors. If he was taken into a warehouse as a porter, he soon became foreman. If he enlisted in the army he soon became a sergeant. Scotland, meanwhile, in spite of the barrenness of her soil and the severity of her climate, made such progress in agriculture, in manufactures, in commerce, in letters, in science, in all that constitutes civilization, as the Old World has never seen equalled, and as even the New World has scarcely seen surpassed.

This wonderful change is to be attributed, not indeed solely, but principally, to the national system of education."1

' Macaulay's "History of England,” vol. v. chap. xxii.

Since then every great power of the civilized world has adopted some system of public schools. '

1

What little objection has been made to taxation for universal education, in this country, has come from Wealth, which says it cannot properly be taxed for the education of the people. We must not forget that without law the ownership of that wealth could not exist.

Jeremy Bentham says: "The idea of property consists in an established expectation, in the persuasion of being able to draw such or such an advantage from the thing possessed, according to the nature of the case. Now this expectation, this persuasion can only be the work of the law. I cannot count upon the enjoyment of that which I regard as mine, except through the promise of the law which guarantees it to me. Property and law are born together, and die together. Before laws were made there was no property; take away laws and property ceases."'

2

The words, "I cannot count upon the enjoyment of that which I regard as mine, except through the promise of the law which guarantees it

1 In Turkey, whose influence as a nation is declining, public instruction has ceased. Her school-houses have been aban

doned and are in ruins. 1876-7, p. 193

Rept. of U. S. Com. of Education,

'Principles of the Civil Code," chap. viii. "Of Property.”

to me, come home with significant meaning in this day of Socialism and of clashing between Capital and Labor, which now so often occurs in the monarchies of the Old World, and even in our own land. The law guarantees the right of property, but instantaneous with the creation of the right of property must exist the paramount claim of the government to such portion of it as may be necessary fully to effectuate that guaranty. The law must be. upheld and respected, or else all rights of ownership are in jeopardy and industry paralyzed.

To maintain the law, education of the people is more potent than standing armies.

Lord Brougham, in the House of Commons, said: "There have been periods when the country heard with dismay that the soldier was abroad. That is not the case now. Let the soldier be abroad in the present age he can do nothing. There is another person abroad-a less important person in the eyes of some, an insignificant person, whose labors have tended to produce this state of things. The schoolmaster is abroad! And I trust more to him, armed with his primer, than I do the soldier in full military array, for upholding and extending the liberties of his country."

991

1 Speech, January 29, 1828.