pectations of those by whom it was established have been realized;
that it has given unity and efficiency to the school system; that it has
secured accurate and complete returns from all the towns; that it has,
consequently, promoted a good understanding between the Legislature and
the people; that it has increased local taxation, but has never been a
substitute for it; and that it has enabled the Legislature, at all times
and in every condition of the general finances, to act with freedom in
regard to those agencies which are deemed essential to the prosperity of
the common schools of the state.

Having thus, in the history of the school fund, fully justified its
establishment, so in its history we find sufficient reasons for its
sacred preservation. While other communities, and even other states,
have treated educational funds as ordinary revenue, subject only to an
obligation on the part of the public to bestow an annual income on the
specified object, Massachusetts has ever acted in a fiduciary relation,
and considered herself responsible for the principal as well as the
income of the fund, not only to this generation, but to every generation
that shall occupy the soil, and inherit the name and fame of this
commonwealth.

It only remains for me to present the reasons which render an increase
of the capital of the fund desirable, if not necessary. The annual
income of the existing fund amounts to about ninety-three thousand
dollars, one-half of which is distributed among the towns and cities, in
proportion to the number of persons in each between the ages of five and
fifteen years. The distribution for the year 1857-8 amounted to twenty
cents and eight mills for each child. The following table shows the
annual distribution to the towns from the year 1836; the whole number
of children for each year except 1836 and 1840, when the entire
population was the basis; and the amount paid on account of each child
since the year 1849, when the law establishing the present method of
distribution was enacted:

===================================================
| | | Income
| | | per
Year. | Children. | Income. | pupil.
---------+--------------+---------------+----------
1836. | 473,684 |$16,230 57[5] | --
1837. | 160,676 | 19,002 74[6] | --
1838. | 174,984 | 19,970 47 | --
1839. | 180,070 | 21,358 81