of lotteries' granted by the State. But in most cases the buildings and grounds were provided by local taxation, or by subscriptions and donations, and the support given by the State out of the public fund was very meager. In 1817 it was ordered by the Legislature "that, for the income of the school fund of this State," fifty thousand dollars shall be raised annually, for five years, by means of lotteries if practicable. It seems that the enterprise proved impracticable, for no such sum as that contemplated was ever credited to the school fund. Washington Academy, established in Somerset County in 1779, may be considered as a good example of the schools of that time. The act of incorporation begins, "Whereas, the inhabitants of Somerset County at their own expense have provided houses, lands, etc., Be it enacted," etc. The corporation was allowed to hold fifteen hundred acres of land by gift and five hundred additional by purchase; and, in 1802, the State granted a lottery to the academy to aid in furnishing the school. In 1813 the Legislature enacted' that after 1815 the banks should be taxed one-fifth of one per cent. on all paid-up capital for the support of county schools, and the same be distributed to the counties. For a time this fund3 yielded the sum of twenty thousand dollars annually, which was invested in bank stock. This was an important step toward a school system, inasmuch as it created a permanent fund. In 1825 there was added to this fund the interest on the amount advanced to the General Government by Maryland during the War of 1812. The share of the surplus revenue received by Maryland in 1836, amounting to $274,451, was deposited with the Educational Fund, and the interest of the sum used for the schools of the several counties and the city of Baltimore. In 1839 the revenue arising from the Baltimore and Washington Railroad stock was substituted for this fund, to the amount of $34,069 annually. Instead, however, of holding this, an unwise provision distributed the principal instead of the interest to the different counties. Affairs went on in an indefinite way without any well-founded school policy. The Legislature gave a pittance here and there, and in various ways assisted the local institutions of the different counties. The school fund was increased in 1858 by the amount of $173,559, principal and interest of the sum due from the General Government on account of the war debt of 1812. Lotteries were repeatedly employed to raise money for school purposes. In 1809 a law was passed author Early in the present century, all of the benevolent enterprises in Maryland patronized the lottery scheme; churches, schools, and charities all used this means for raising current expenses or forming endowments. The custom was of long standing, and prevailed in all parts of the country. izing a lottery not exceeding twenty thousand dollars, the proceeds to be applied to the building of a commodious house within the precincts of Baltimore adapted to the purpose of an academy and for the education of females. By the treasurer's report of 1834, the sum of $18,100 was paid by the State to twenty-eight different colleges and academies. Of this amount St. John's College received three thousand dollars, Frederick College two thousand four hundred dollars, Washington College eight hundred dollars, and the remainder was given to the several county schools and academies. UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. The old University of Maryland1 having been discontinued, a new institution under the same title was incorporated in 1812. It was to be in Baltimore, and to consist of the college of medicine,2 a faculty of law, a faculty of divinity, and a faculty of the arts and sciences. In the year following, a lottery was granted by the State for the benefit of the University of Maryland to provide a library, botanical garden, and scientific apparatus. It was also ordered, in 1827,3 that five thousand dollars per annum should be paid to the trustees of the University of Maryland, out of the "next proceeds" of the State lotteries, until the total amount of $40,994.06 was paid. According to the treasurer's report for 1834, the university had received from this source the sum of $30,500.1 Two faculties of the University of Maryland, one of law and one of medicine, still continue in the city, of Baltimore. In 1803 Baltimore City College was founded, and in the same year all educational institutions were for the future exempted from taxation. MARYLAND AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. Public sentiment in favor of special education in agriculture was exhibited as early as the year 1845. At that time the board of governors and visitors of the Frederick County Academy established a department of agriculture, and appointed an agricultural chemist. In 1847 Hon. George Coad, chairman of the Committee on Agriculture in the House of Delegates, recommended in his report the appointment of a State Agricultural Chemist, and expressed the hope that there would soon be "courses of agricultural education in the public academies and schools, or schools for the special purpose established." In 1848 Col. Wilson M./Cary urged before the first anniversary meeting of the Maryland State Agricultural Society the necessity of profes 1 Laws of 1809, chap. 71. 2 Organized in 1807. Laws of 1827, chap. 198. Maryland Public Documents, 1834. 5 Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1867, 273, sional education for farmers, and the "introduction of those studies immediately connected with their pursuit into our colleges and seminaries." Subsequently, Dr. White introduced before the House of Delegates a proposition to inquire into the expediency of agricultural instruction in the academies of the State. The question was further agitated in 1854, and in 1856 the Legislature was memorialized by a company of citizens of Maryland for the establishment and endowment of a State agricultural college. The Legislature granted a charter upon the condition that not less than fifty thousand dollars should be raised by a stock subscription within two years. This body also voted to grant six thousand dollars annually toward paying the expenses of the institution. The subscription was raised, and a farm of four hundred and eighty acres was purchased in Prince George County, and buildings were erected at a total cost of about one hundred thousand dollars. college was opened for students in 1859, but very little was accomplished until after the War. The In 1866, the Legislature assumed the debt of the institution to the amount of forty-five thousand dollars, and assigned to it the United States land scrip received by the grant of 1862. By the latter act Maryland received two hundred and ten thousand acres, which were sold at an average price of fifty-three cents an acre, yielding a net sum of $112,504. When the Legislature assumed the debt of the college the State was made a joint owner in the institution with the old corporation. And when the land scrip was granted to the college by the State, ten per cent. of the amount ($11,250.40) was "reserved, to be paid into the treasury of the State, to reimburse the said State in part for the amount appropriated by this act to the Maryland Agricultural College." This deduction left a fund of about $101,000, which in 1868 yielded an income of $6,075, and in 1882 of $6,975.3 In the year 1881 the Legisla ture made an annual appropriation of $6,000 for the support of the college. SUMMARY OF GRANTS. First support of schools. 1694.-Tax on furs, beef, bacon, etc., exported, for the support of free schools..... 1723.-Board of visitors authorized to purchase 100 acres of land for each county school ... 1723.-Also tax on imported and exported goods for the benefit of free schools..... 1723.-Tax of 20s. per Iread on all negroes imported into the colony. 1723.-Tax of 208. per head on "Irish servants being Papists". 1723.-Tax on exported negroes, 408. per head 1 Laws of 1856, sec. 3. 2 Laws of 1866, chap. 53. 3 Report of Trustees, 1882. Washington College. 1782-1794.-Annual grant, £1,250 (£15,000). 1794-1805.-Annual grant, £750 (£8,250) St. John's College. 1784-1805.-Annual grant, £1,750 (£36,750). 1811-1832.-Annual grant, $1,000 1832-1861.-Annual grant, $3,000 1866-1889.-Annual grant, $3,000 1886-1880.---Annual grant, $12,000 1872-1878.-Annual grant, $10,000 (education of students) 1879.-Annual grant, $6,000 (education of students) 1880-1889.-Annual grant, $5,200 (education of students) For library Total...... 1827.—University of Maryland, State lotteries.......... State Agricultural College Grand total, exclusive of lotteries $52,500.00 27, 166.66 79,666.66 122,500.00 21,000.00 87,000.00 69,000.00 192,000.00 60,000.00 6,000.00 46,800.00 500.00 632, 300.00 40, 994.06 60,000.00 744.466.66 In the distribution of apportionments from the literary fund among academies, Washington and Frederick Colleges were included in the list. The amount of this distribution is not computed, as it pertains rather to secondary instruction. NORTH CAROLINA.1 In the colonial and provincial periods of the development of the Commonwealth of North Carolina the government played a very unimportant part in the education of the people. The establishment as well as the support of schools was dependent almost entirely upon the zeal of religious denominations or the chance of private enterprise. It was not until the dawning of a new era, when North Carolina, emerging from the uncertainties of these early periods, took the position of an independent Commonwealth, that a self-governing people made their bold declaration for higher education in the Constitution of 1776.2 COLONIAL LEGISLATION. The first action toward the advancement of learning taken by the colonial government was in regard to the care of a library donated to the State by Dr. Bray. In reference to this action Dr. Smith says: "A careful examination of the records of the colony while under proprietary government shows only one instance in which help was afforded to literature. * This act provided that a librarian should be ap 1 See History of Education in North Carolina, by Dr. Charles Lee Smith. 3 Laws of North Carolina, Davis's Revisal, 203. sional education for farmers, and the "introduction of those studies immediately connected with their pursuit into our colleges and seminaries." Subsequently, Dr. White introduced before the House of Delegates a proposition to inquire into the expediency of agricultural instruction in the academies of the State. The question was further agitated in 1854, and in 1856 the Legislature was memorialized by a company of citizens of Maryland for the establishment and endowment of a State agricultural college. The Legislature granted a charter upon the condition that not less than fifty thousand dollars should be raised by a stock subscription within two years. This body also voted to grant six thousand dollars annually toward paying the expenses of the institution. The subscription was raised, and a farm of four hundred and eighty acres was purchased in Prince George County, and buildings were erected at a total cost of about one hundred thousand dollars. college was opened for students in 1859, but very little was accomplished until after the War. The In 1866, the Legislature assumed the debt of the institution to the amount of forty-five thousand dollars, and assigned to it the United States land scrip received by the grant of 1862. By the latter act Maryland received two hundred and ten thousand acres, which were sold at an average price of fifty-three cents an acre, yielding a net sum of $112,504. When the Legislature assumed the debt of the college the State was made a joint owner in the institution with the old corporation. And when the land scrip was granted to the college by the State, ten per cent. of the amount ($11,250.40) was "reserved, to be paid into the treasury of the State, to reimburse the said State in part for the amount appropriated by this act to the Maryland Agricultural College." This deduction left a fund of about $101,000, which in 1868 yielded an income of $6,075, and in 1882 of $6,975.3 In the year 1881 the Legislature made an annual appropriation of $6,000 for the support of the college. SUMMARY OF GRANTS. First support of schools. 1694.-Tax on furs, beef, bacon, etc., exported, for the support of free schools..... 1723.-Board of visitors authorized to purchase 100 acres of land for each county school ..... 1723.-Also tax on imported and exported goods for the benefit of free schools...... 1723.-Tax of 20s. per read on all negroes imported into the colony. 1723.-Tax of 208. per head on "Irish servants being Papists". 1723.-Tax on exported negroes, 408. per head 1 Laws of 1856, sec. 3. 2 Laws of 1866, chap. 53. 3 Report of Trustees, 1882. |