p. 235 | Untitled article by W. H. M.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · July 31, 1890

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 5, No. 30

Centralization.

By W. H. M.

THE Blair Educational Bill, “to aid in the establishment and temporary support of common schools,” and which was defeated in the Senate, has been introduced in the House by Mr. Cheatham, and was called up in a meeting of the House Education Committee on June 27, when, seven Republican members being present, all voted to report the bill. It has since been reported favorably to the House, by the chairman of the Committee.

July 12, Mr. McComas from the House Education Committee reported favorably the bill, which has already passed the Senate (S. 3714) to apply a portion of the proceeds of the public lands to the more complete endowment and support of the colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanical arts.

This last bill appropriates the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, with an annual increase of one thousand dollars for ten years, and an annual sum thereafter of twenty-five thousand dollars to be paid to each State and Territory, to aid in the endowment and maintenance of agricultural colleges. The sums annually appropriated are directed, by the provisions of the bill, to be paid to the treasurers of the respective colleges, and “such treasurers shall be required to report to the Secretary of Agriculture, and to the Secretary of the Interior, on or before the first day of September of each year, a detailed statement of the amount so received and of its disbursement;” also “an annual report by the president of each of said colleges shall be made to the Secretary of Agriculture, as well as to the Secretary of the Interior, regarding the condition and progress of each college, including statistical information in relation to its receipts and expenditures, its library, the number of its students and professors, etc.” The Secretary of the Interior is charged with the proper administration of the law.

This bill had its origin and growth in the same atmosphere which produced the Blair Educational Bill, and the Blair Educational Amendment, and was accompanied by a printed report from Senator Blair. Some of the more objectionable features of the measure, as it was first attempted to be passed, were eliminated, but enough remains to show the ear marks of a determined effort to centralize educational control in the general Government.

Senators Morgan, Reagan, Hawley, and Plumb opposed most earnestly the clauses which placed these State institutions under the supervision of United States authority; and to them it is due that Congress did not commit itself to the passage of a bill which in express terms assumed the right of the central Government to exercise a supervision over State institutions of learning. Senator Morgan said:—

It seems to me, Mr. President, that the Senator from Vermont is lending himself to a scheme here for the purpose of introducing into the act of 1862 certain new features which imply that the Congress of the United States shall take the control of education in the States where these colleges are situated, and that the schools shall be regulated by a law passed here and by administrative measures enacted here. . .

If any one thing has ever occurred in the history of the legislation of the United States to prove that the States are the proper guardians of public education, the history of the act of 1862 establishing the agricultural colleges is the best proof that could be adduced. At a proper time, I shall ask these gentlemen in this body, who have committed themselves against the propositions of the interference of Congress in the administration of public schools in the States, to strike out of this bill what is proposed to be inserted here and which is entirely unnecessary.

Senator Reagan followed Senator Morgan, saying:—

Before I proceed with the criticisms I desire to make upon the bill, I will say that it seems to me the purpose of the bill is to fix upon our legislation the principle that Congress is to go into the States, take charge of educational institutions, and regulate what is to be done with them. That was a principal argument made against an educational bill which has been urged with great ability and persistency here. It seems to me now, if we consent to adopt this bill in the form in which it is presented by the committee, it takes away all arguments in the future that Congress has no right to control the schools of the State.

I wish to add here that it seems to be upon the theory of a great many leading men in New England, almost a New England idea, that the Constitution of the United States is to be overthrown by the enlargement of the powers of the Federal Government, and by the abridgment of the powers of the States, and this is one of the means of doing it.

This is a serious indictment, and, most unfortunately, it is a true bill.

W. H. M.