V. PROPOSALS FOR SPECIAL GRANTS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS Since the close of the Civil War two different attempts have been made to extend national aid to the states for the improvement of their public school systems. The first was the series of efforts, made between 1870 and 1889, to establish a national permanent school fund and temporarily to make direct grants to the states, the income to be distributed to the states at first in proportion to the number of illiterates in each. The Hoar bill of 1870 proposed the establishment of a national fund, and the Blair bills of 1881 to 1887 the extension of temporary aid. The nature of the Blair bill, as well as some of the reasons for its failure, are in part set forth in the following extract from an address, by its author, before the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association, in 1887. [From Circular of Information No. 3, 1887, U.S. Bureau of Education, pp. 185-187.] I have been requested to say a little to the audience with reference to the education bill. This association of superintendents of the country has fathered it from the beginning. It has grown out of the wants of the people of all parts of the country, as they have been brought to the attention of the superintendents of the country. The census also was a revelation, but along with the cold figures of the census came the personal statements of the superintendents of the various states. These statements have been laid before Congress for six or eight years. These statements and some deductions from the census were brought to the attention of the different members of Congress, and finally to the two Houses of Congress. There was for a long time a bill which proposed to give simply the interest of the annual accumulations of the sales of public lands, to distribute this throughout the country upon the basis of population. It was found that this would not amount to much. For the present at least it was no help, and therefore it was that the present educational bill, which has one thing as its leading feature, and that is the appropriation of enough money now to do some good; therefore it was that this educational bill was introduced into the Congress of the United States. That was in the month of December, 1881. It was introduced in the Senate as a report from the Senate committee, but it got no further. It was discussed, however, and the idea was brought out. The next was the Forty-eighth Congress (1883-5), in which the bill was fully discussed and finally passed the Senate. It appropriated $77,000,000 to be distributed throughout the country upon the basis of illiteracy, during the eight years following its enactment into law. It was just about an average of $10,000,000 It began at 7 millions; went to 10, 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, and 5 millions, during which time the whole amount would have been distributed. The bill was very carefully and fully discussed during several weeks of the Congress, and was finally passed by a vote of 33 to 11. It was not passed by a two-thirds vote or as a party measure. Perhaps it was more generally supported upon the Republican than upon the Democratic side of the Senate, but the difference was so slight that it was not a party measure. States of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi gave two votes for it in the Senate; there was one from Alabama, two from Florida, two from Georgia, one from South Carolina, two from North Carolina, one from West Virginia, one from Kentucky, one from Tennessee, etc. As you see, the South as a section really gave more votes than were given against it. The It passed in the Forty-eighth Congress, on the 7th of April, by a vote of 33 to 11. It went to the House, and, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of Mr. Willis and other members of the House, it failed to be considered; and I ought to say that in the House of Representatives, in the same Congress, there was a measure of like character, though of considerable less power, which was reported from the Senate Committee on Education, but which got no further. Strong influences were against the bill, and it failed. On the assembling of the Forty-ninth Congress (188587), just expired, the bill was reintroduced in the Senate in precisely the same form that it had passed before, and after a three weeks' discussion it again passed the Senate by a vote of 36 to 11, gaining three votes. It went to the House last March a year ago, and there it met a bad fate. The Committee on Education, who should have considered such a measure favorably, were found to be opposed to it. Its friends then introduced the bill under another head as a House bill, and it was referred to the Committee on Labor after a somewhat heated contest, which resulted, I believe, in a vote of some fifty majority. There were some objections to the reference, which seemed to be a slight to the other Committee, who had failed to act upon it. For a long time the Labor Committee, who were expected to report at once, kept the bill in their possession, and at last, after very great pressure, reported adversely on the Senate bill, and presented a substitute, which was really I do not risk anything by saying this when I say that the majority report was made for the purpose of killing the bill reported a substitute which was too ridiculous for consideration. The minority reported in favor of the measure of the Senate, but failed to get consideration through the long session, and so the matter came over to the short session. Never was greater effort made. Memorials came from all over the country. Over 100,000 signatures were placed to a petition for the passage of the bill, many of them representing large bodies, societies, and organizations of men and women, so that the entire representation as I am assured by those who have examined into the matter the entire representation in favor of the bill was not less than 2,000,000 people. The friends of the measure made a strenuous effort to secure its consideration under the direction of the committee who had charge of the bill, and on a test vote, as to the consideration of the bill, had a majority of 160 in its favor to 76 against it, more than a two-thirds vote. By a process of filibustering its consideration was defeated, and so it passed beyond the control of any committee. Then nothing remained but an appeal to the Committee on Rules, who are a committee of the House with power to report at any time. That committee, in connection with the management of the appropriation bills, and the Speaker's power of recognizing whomsoever he pleases, are the elements which really control the course of business in the House. A minority of the committee were in favor of reporting the bill for consideration, but the majority steadfastly refused not only to report that bill, but to report for the consideration of the House of any of the great measures that had been referred to it in the same way, fearing, as they expressed it, that if a report were made some of the friends of the school bill would move to amend that report by proposing the school bill for consideration, and, if it once got out of the committee, it would go through the House, so that there was no other way but to prevent its report, and so it failed. But although the bill failed, its strength before the country was developed, and also that it had more than a two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives. Anyone who has observed the discussion on this bill must have seen its strength. The matter now stands in this way: The public necessity almost universally demands it, the Senate in two Congresses has developed more than a three-fourths majority for the bill, the House more than a two-thirds majority, which would ensure its passage, even if it had to incur the opposition of a veto, which I do not believe it will, if it reaches the Executive of the country, and we have every reason to hope that in the Fiftieth Congress we shall achieve success. We will know the nature of the opposition we must meet, and the friends of the bill will see that it is considered during the Fiftieth Congress, and being introduced early, and supported by the same influences which have hitherto carried it along, until it has grown stronger and stronger, I believe we shall be certain of success in the Fiftieth Congress. The Senate of the Fiftieth Congress again passed the Blair bill, but it was again found impossible to pass it through the House, and the attempt to secure such legislation was then abandoned. In 1894-1895 another effort to secure some form of aid, though on different lines, was made in a bill introduced into the House by Representative Beckner of Kentucky, which proposed to equalize all land grants previously made for common schools to two sections to each state, by then making grants to the states to supply any deficiency. The bill was referred to the Committee on Public Lands, but was never reported out. It would have required approximately 28,000,000 acres of public lands to have made such grants. The following table shows the amount and location of the public lands still on hand: |