taxation was, upon the whole, to be preferred to any imperfect system.
But the example of New York was approved, where the distribution of a
small sum, equal to about twenty cents for each pupil, had increased the
public interest, and wrought what then seemed to be an effectual and
permanent revolution in educational affairs. These facts and reasonings,
say the committee, seem to be important and sound, and to result in
this,--that no provision ought to be made which shall diminish the
present amount of money raised by taxes for the schools, or the interest
felt by the people in their prosperity; that a fund may be so used as
satisfactorily to increase both--and that further information in regard
to our schools is requisite to determine the best mode of doing this.
These opinions are supported generally by the judgment of the present
generation. Yet it is to be remarked, by way of partial dissent, that
the public apathy in Connecticut and the states of the West was not in a
great degree the effect of the funds, but was rather a coexisting,
independent fact. It ought not, therefore, to have been expected that
the mere offer of money for educational purposes, while the people had
no just idea of the importance of education or of the means by which it
could be acquired, would lead them even to accept the proffered boon;
and it certainly, in their judgment, furnished no reason for
self-taxation. It is, however, no doubt true that the power of local
taxation for the support of schools is in its exercise a means of
provoking interest in education; and it is reasonable to assume that a
public system of instruction will never be vigorous and efficient at all
times and under all circumstances where the right of local taxation does
not exist or is not exercised. When the entire expenditure is derived
from the income of public funds, or obtained by a universal tax, and the
proceeds distributed among the towns, parishes, or districts, there will
often be general conditions of public sentiment unfavorable, if not
hostile, to schools; and, there will always be found in any state,
however small, local indifference and lethargy which render all gifts,
donations, and distributions, comparatively valueless. The subject of
self-taxation annually is important in connection with a system of free
education. It is the experience of the states of this country that the
people themselves are more generous in the use of this power than are
their