lands amounted to 869,178 acres. More than 850,000 acres out of the 869,000, lie in the fourth Senate district, and in the great wilderness which is surrounded by the settlements in Montgomery, Warren, Essex, Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence and Herkimer counties. The increase of the productive capital of the fund, from the sales of these lands, will not be as great in amount, or as rapid, as seems to be demanded by the great increase of the children who are in need of common school instruction.

There is a local school fund derived from lots reserved by the state for gospel and school purposes in several of the towns in the counties of Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, Seneca, St. Lawrence and Tompkins. Ninety-six towns are reported as having participated in this or other local funds, the total amount of which, for the past year, was $14,095.32 cents. The funds derived from the gospel and school lots are safely vested, and the interest only is apportioned annually to the common schools. Some of the towns receive an annual interest from this source, of $500, and others as high as $1,000. The paper marked E, shows the towns which have shared in the benefits of these reserved lots.

III. The Management of the Common School Fund.

The productive capital of the common school fund consists of 407,000 dollars of five per cent canal stock; of bonds and mortgages for lands sold, 242,613 dollars, bearing an interest of six per cent of the loans of 1786, 1792 and 1808, amounting in all to 703,692 dollars, at an average interest of about six per cent of bank stock 230,000 dollars, on which the dividends have heretofore been six per cent loans from the capital to the counties of Broome, Clinton, Erie, Chautauque and Cattaraugus, 18,800 dollars, at an interest of six per cent. These sums are safely and profitably invested, and with the exception of the interest on the individual bonds for school fund lands sold, the revenues arising upon these items may be counted upon with reasonable certainty.

Applications have heretofore been made, and others will probably be presented at the present session, for the loan of portions of the school fund to various counties. Such loans, at six per cent, are at least as profitable and as safe as any investments which can be made at this time; provided, the county be held responsible for the payment of the interest annually, and for making up all losses in the principal.

The loans of 1786 and 1792 were made on the responsibility of the counties, and the loan-officers are appointed by the boards of supervisors of the several counties. For the loan of 1808 the counties are not responsible for deficiencies, and the commissioners of this loan are appointed by the Governor and Senate.

In the revision of the statutes on the subject of these loans, the "Loan-Officers", who have charge of the loans of 1786 and 1792, are so blended with the "Commissioners of Loans", who have charge of the loans of 1808, as to raise a question whether the losses upon the loans of 1786 and 1792 shall be borne by the counties or by the school fund. The law in relation to the loan of 1792 provides, that "if any deficiency has happened, by borrowers not having right to the lands mortgaged, or by the selling thereof at a less price than what is before mentioned, or otherwise-then the said supervisors, or a majority of them, with the concurrence of one or more of the county judges, shall cause all such deficiencies to be assessed and levied in the county, as other county charges, so that the whole of such deficiencies be paid to the said loan-officers by the first Tuesday of May then next following." Under this provision several of the counties have been heavily taxed to make up for deficiencies in the fund. The county of Dutchess in one case paid 7,000 dollars; and the great security of these loans was the liability to which the counties were subjected; and it never could have been the intention of the Legislature to surrender this security in regard to them.

It will be in vain that the constitution has thrown its protection around the school fund, and has declared that it "shall be and remain a perpetual fund," if the security on which it rests is to be given up in regard to investments which remain unchanged.

It is a matter of justice to the school fund that sec. 46, page 374 of the 1st Revised Statutes, should be so modified as to remove any question about the liability of the counties to make good all deficiencies in the loans of 1786 and 1792; or in other words, to allow the security in regard to all the loans to remain upon the same footing as heretofore.

The school fund has 180,000 dollars in the stock of the Merchants' Bank in the city of New-York. The charter of that bank expires in 1832, and an application has already been made for its renewal. If, from any cause, the charter should not be renewed, it

is obvious that some embarrassment may be experienced in regard to the annual revenue arising from that item of the fund; and it would also be necessary to provide for the re-investment of the avails of the stock.

The attention of the Legislature is respectfully called to the suggestion in the last annual report, in regard to authorising the Commissioners of the Canal Fund, whenever loans are to be made, to issue five per cent stock at par, to take up the amount of the school fund capital in the treasury at the time of issuing the stock. A law of this character was passed in 1829, (chap. 325) in relation to the stock of the Cayuga and Seneca canal. A similar law is recommended in relation to the stock to be issued for the canals now making. There is 150,000 dollars of stock yet to be issued for the Chemung canal, and the Commissioners of the Canal Fund might be authorised to use the 83,000 dollars of school fund money now in the treasury, and issue five per cent stock at par for the use of the school fund.

If this deprives the local fund of the benefit which might be obtained by a sale of the stock in market, yet as the premium is paid upon the credit of the state, and as every section will have to contribute to sustain this credit, it is entirely just that this premium should be shared by the whole state; which will be the case if it is yielded to the common schools.

IV. The organization of the Common Schools.

The best proof of the excellence of the organization of our common school system, is found in the fact, that the trustees of 8,630 districts have made reports to the Commissioners of Common Schools; showing that in each of those districts a school has been taught for at least three months during the year, by a teacher to whose qualifications the Inspectors have certified; and furnishing also a census of the number as well of resident children, as of those instructed; and rendering an account for the public money received by their district the preceding year. That abstracts of these reports of the trustees, have been made out and transmitted to the county clerks, by the Commissioners of 785 towns and wards; and that copies of these reports of the Commissioners of Schools, under the certificate and seal of the county clerks, have been transmitted to the Superintendent, embracing returns from every town and ward in the state. The school money arising from [A. No. 15.]

2

the state fund, is paid by the Comptroller, on or after the first o February, to the treasurers of 55 counties, and by these officers is distributed to the commissioners of 785 towns and wards, according to the apportionment furnished to the treasurer by the Superintendent; and by the town commissioners the money is apportioned according to the children over 5 and under 16, and paid to the trustees of 8,630 school districts; and by the latter officers is paid to the teachers in the several district schools. There are more than fiffy thousand officers of common schools, and a defalcation, or any misapplication of the school money, by any of the numerous officers through whose hands it passes, is of rare occurrence. In the returns of the present year, two instances only are reported in the whole state.

These are results highly creditable to the fidelity of the officers of common schools; and they give evidence of a zeal in the cause of common school education, and an attention to this vital interest, which must command the approbation, and encourage the hopes, of every friend of our free institutions.

If there is reason to regret that the standard of education, in the schools generally, is much below what it ought to be; still there is good reason to rejoice, that such great results have crowned the efforts of a few years.

It is gratifying to witness the increased attention which men of intelligence are bestowing upon the subject of common school education in all parts of the state. These efforts, aided by the public press, will invigorate the system, and give a new character to the schools.

A committee of the citizens of Rochester presented a memorial to the last legislature, which evinced much research and attention to the subject of common school instruction; and proposed a plan for a state seminary for the education of teachers, and a town central school, in order to extend the system to each town in the state. This document is numbered 387, of the last session.

The establishment of a seminary for the special education of teachers, has been a favorite plan with those who have turned their attention to the improvement of common schools inthis as well as in other states; and Governor Clinton recommended such a seminary in his message to the Legislature, in 1827.

The committee on literature, in the Senate, to whom this subject was referred, in a report made to that body, in 1827, (Senate Journals, p. 226,) came to the conclusion that the academies may be made to answer the purpose of seminaries for the preparation of teachers for the common schools. To aid in the accomplishment of this object the act of April 13, 1827, was passed, entitled "An act to provide permanent funds for the annual appropriation to common schools, to increase the literature fund, and to promote the education of teachers."

This law appropriated 150,000 dollars to aid the academies, and 133,616 dollars to aid the common schools; making the total sum of 283,616 dollars, taken from the general funds of the state, and applied to the academies and common schools, in that year.

The Regents of the University have not been unmindful of the obligation which rested upon them, in consequence of this liberal appropriation to the literature fund; and their annual report of 1828, encourages the belief that the seminaries which participate in the literature fund, will in some measure become nurseries of teachers for the common schools.*

In 1830, the sum of ten thousand dollars, arising from the literature fund, was apportioned to fifty-five academies, which reported more than two thousand students pursuing classical studies, or the higher branches of an English education.

The paper marked F, which exhibits the number of academies and their location, the number of scholars, and the money apportioned to each school, as well as their classification in the several districts, is extracted from the appendix to Mr. Butler's Discourse before the Albany Institute. This schedule shows that there is a number equal to seven seminaries, in cach senate district, which

*The Regents in their annual report say-" The academies have become, in the opinion of the Regents, what it has been always desirable they should be, fit seminaries for imparting instruction in the higher branches of English education, and especially for qualifying teachers of common schools, as well as for preparing students in classical studies, preliminary to a collelegiate course. For this elevation and degree of usefulness, to which our academies have thus happily attained, they are chiefly indebted to the munificence of the Legislature; first, in the original establishment of the literature fund for the special encouragement of these institutions, and next in the gradual increase of that fund, from time to time, until, by the extraordinary and most liberal endowment of 150,000 dollars, made by the act of April last, the fund has become of such magnitude as to enable the Regents to distribute to every academy, entitled to participate in a dividend, sufficient, with the aid of ordinary tuition money and other revenues, to secure the services of the most able teachers, and thereby to enable the several institutions to fulfil all the beneficial ends for which they were established.

The Legislature having, by the act before referred to, declared it to be one of their primary objects in the great increase made by them of the literature fund, to promote the education of teachers, the Regents equally with the Legislature, being impressed with the sense of the paramount importance of this great object, will always cheerfully co-operate in promoting its speedy accomplishment.'

"