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By section 4, the Corporation, in common council convened, was directed to designate, at least once in three years, the schools which should receive school moneys.

The act also recited a preamble, that, whereas "the trustees of the Bethel Baptist Church, in the city of New York, had expended moneys in erecting a commodious school-house in Elizabeth street," and which property, under the provisions of the act, might become in part useless to them, the Superintendent of Common Schools was authorized to appoint appraisers, who should estimate the damage to the trustees, and which should be repaid out of the school moneys, in four equal annual pay

ments.

The exciting controversy being thus terminated, the trustees of the Bethel schools maintained them until the inexpediency of their longer continuance became too evident to be disregarded, and they were suspended.

The distribution of the school fund being thus committed by the new law to the hands of the Common Council, the trustees proceeded to mature a systematic plan for the enlargement and expansion of their scheme of instruction, and, at their meeting in December, 1824, entrusted the matter to a committee, consisting of Stephen Allen, Joseph Grinnell, Lindley Murray, Robert C. Cornell, Benjamin Clark, James Palmer, and Isaac Collins. The plans matured and submitted in this report of the committee comprehended an enlarged scheme for the reorganization of the system.

CHAPTER IV.

HISTORY FROM 1822 TO 1826.

The Annual Meeting-School-House No. 5-Annual Exhibit and Expenses for 1822Systematic Visitation-" Sections "-No. 5 Opened-Real Estate-Building Fund -Corporal Punishment-Hiram Ketchum-New School Law-Application to the Legislature-Committee of Ladies for Visiting Girls' Schools-School Sections Appointed-School at Bellevue Hospital-No. 6-Visit of the Common Council to the Schools-Resolutions-Pay System-The School Fund Controversy-The Museum-Mrs. Scudder-Charles Picton Resigns, and Returns to England-General La Fayette-Visit to New York-Inspection of the Schools-The New School Law-New Plans-The Pay System-The Common Council-Plans Approved-Proceedings in the Legislature-The New Law-Name of the Society Changed" The Public School Society "-Reorganization and Measures.

THE contest which opened with the year 1822 was the first of the encounters with religious denominations which subsequently formed so prominent a feature in the proceedings of the Society. The aim of the directors of the institution had always been to respect and preserve the rights of all religious denominations, and to pay equal deference to the rights of conscience of all portions of the community, at the same time that they aimed to inculcate those fundamental ideas of religion and mor als, without which civilized men present a condition which differs from that of the savage merely in its artificial surroundings, and the tinsel and splendor of a more polished social life. The pressure of sectarian influence, and the selfishness of sectarian acquisitiveness, led to the adoption of unworthy and reprehensible means in order to secure the public support of church schools. The question, which had assumed a threatening appearance for some time, had finally taken a definite form in the discussion relative to the new school-site in Mott street, and the rivalry on the part of the trustees of the Bethel Church to secure all the advantages which had been granted them by the act of the Legislature in their favor. This controversy has been fully reviewed in the preceding chapter.

The month of May, which closed the seventeenth year of the existence of the Society, was marked by the usual annual meetings of the board, and the election of additional trustees. The special business which received attention, in connection with the working of the system, was that of approving the plans and estimates for the new school-building in Mott street, the purchase of the lots of ground, and other details essential to the carrying out of that measure.

The average number of pupils in attendance at all the schools, as appears by the exhibit of the trustees, was 3,412; and the expenses of the Society amounted, for the year, to $14,440. There was a debt of $6,000, secured by mortgage on school property, and a temporary loan of $2,500 on the obliga tions of the Society.

The advantage of a systematic visitation of the schools had been long apparent to the board; and as the number of schools was increasing, and a proper division of labor was requisite to prevent unnecessary confusion in the discharge of these duties, an amendment to the by-laws was proposed, by which a classification of the trustees should be made for the management of the schools. The proposition was referred to a committee, who reported a plan for the division of the members of the board into "sections," for the care of the respective schools. These "sections" were required to make monthly reports to the board. The recommendations of the report were substantially adopted.

The new school in Mott street, No. 5, was completed and ready for occupancy in the month of October, and on the 28th of that month it was opened, with 111 boys; the girls' school commencing on the 31st, with 49 scholars. JOSEPH BELDEN was appointed teacher in the boys' school, and MARY OTIS in the girls' school.

The erection of the building called for the expenditure of $9,591.09; to meet which, a loan of $10,000 had been obtained of Thomas Collins, at 6 per cent. per annum, and mortgages for $5,000 each had been given upon No. 4, in Rivington street, and No. 5, in Mott street.

This school affords one of the illustrations of the economy and integrity with which the contracts of the Society were executed, the cost of the building complete differing from the estimates only a trifling sum, including charges for "extra work."

The valuation of the real estate of the Society, at the close

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From this amount, by deducting a mortgage of $6,000 on School No. 3, and $5,000 each on Nos. 4 and 5, making, in all, $16,000, we have the sum of $52,000 as the amount of property held by the Society beyond its liabilities.

In accordance with the direction of the board in the early part of the year, the proposition to raise a building fund, by special additional tax, was renewed, and on the 13th of December the subject was referred to a committee, consisting of Robert C. Cornell, Benjamin Clark, and Eleazer Lord.

At the meeting of the board held on the 10th of January, 1823, a resolution was adopted, ordering corporal punishment in the schools to be discontinued, prohibiting entirely the use of the rattan, and permitting only the use of a leather strap in extreme cases-the strap to be applied only to the hand of the refractory scholar. This was a step in a reform which became, at a later period, a marked feature in the administration of the schools.

The Legislature of the State was at this time in session, and active measures were diligently pressed forward to secure the repeal of the law granting special privileges to the Bethel school. The expediency of having a competent pleader and representative to present the views and interests of the Society to the Legislature was felt very sensibly; and, at the meeting of the board on the 18th of February, 1823, HIRAM KETCHUм, Esq.,

was elected a member, and immediately appointed to proceed to Albany to attend to the various measures which affected the institution, and obtain, if possible, the repeal of the obnoxious clause.

A committee was appointed, on the 7th of February, to report the draft of a new law relative to the distribution of the school fund-the committee being composed of Benjamin Clark, Robert C. Cornell, John R. Hurd, Joseph Grinnell, and Lindley Murray. This committee reported on the 18th of the same month, and their report was committed to Hiram Ketchum, Gideon Lee, John Rathbone, Jr., and Rensselaer Havens, to revise and lay before the Legislature. The committee first appointed reported also a brief memorial to that body, which, with other similar papers, form a part of the official action of the Society with regard to the distribution of the school moneys to sectarian and rival establishments. The memorial was adopted, as follows:

To the Honorable the Senate and Assembly of the State of New York:

Your memorialists, the trustees of the Free-School Society of New York, being deeply interested in the distribution of the common school fund in . the city and county of New York, respectfully suggest that a revision of the existing laws on that subject for this city and county would, in their opinion, tend to promote the wise and benevolent intentions of the Legislature in making the liberal appropriations they have, for the education of poor children, and that the following regulations would be highly beneficial, viz. :

That each institution or society that receives of the common school fund shall receive in proportion to the average number of scholars that actually attend their schools each year, which number shall be ascertainable by the teachers keeping a record of the number of scholars that attend each schooltime throughout the year, and the whole number of scholars thus recorded in a year shall be divided by the number of school-times, and this result shall be considered as the average number of scholars that have attended for a year.

That each institution or society (except the New York Free-School Society) who may receive of the common school fund shall expend the same in the payment of teachers, purchase of fuel and stationery, and for no other purpose whatever; and, should they have any balance unexpended at the close of a year, they shall pay it to the commissioners of the common school fund for the city and county of New York, to be added to the sum to be divided the ensuing year.

Your memorialists respectfully refer to the annexed bill on this subject, embracing the above provisions, and some others of importance, for the

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