fund in the hands of the common council of the city. The city council refused (in 1825) to grant funds to any religious society, and distributed the money to the Free School Society and three other smaller similar organizations. Thus the first sectarian difficulty resulted in the first step in placing public education under the control of city authorities.

Local tax for school support authorized, 1828.- The next step was the authorization of the levying of a local tax for school support. In 1828 the Public School Society issued an address showing the need of more provision for elementary education. In this address, and also in an investigation conducted by the city council shortly afterwards, it was estimated that over ten thousand children of school age were growing up in entire ignorance. Petitions drawn up by citizens and by the city council were presented to the legislature, requesting the right to levy a local tax on city property for school support. The petitions were granted, although the tax which was authorized was much less than had been requested.

Catholic Orphan Asylum granted public funds. — In 1831 the Catholic Orphan Asylum applied to the city council for a share of the public-school funds. It claimed to be entitled to them as much as the Orphan Asylum Society, which was really Protestant in character but not in name. The Public School Society opposed this request, but the council granted it. The Methodist Church immediately applied for funds for its orphan asylum, but was refused by the council.

Catholics accused society of sectarian instruction. In 1840 the trustees of the Catholic schools submitted an application to the council for a share of the school funds, declaring that the books and the instruction of the Public School Society were practically sectarian and Protestant. The society, in its first appeal for subscriptions (in 1805), had stated that it would be a primary object, without observing the forms of any religious society, to inculcate the sublime truths of religion and morality contained in the Holy Scriptures." It

was such instruction that the Catholics asserted had become sectarian. Simultaneously with the Catholics, a Hebrew congregation and the Scotch Presbyterian Church also applied for funds. The society made strenuous opposition to these requests and set to work to revise its books, but the Catholics claimed that this would not assure nonsectarian instruction to their satisfaction. The city churches took sides in the heated debate which followed, and the request for funds was refused by the city authorities.

Legislature created New York City Board of Education, 1842.-The Catholics, however, did not stop, but carried the fight to the state legislature. Both sides, for and against the division of school money among religious societies, were represented by petitions. The resulting discussion of the question made it evident that either to leave the funds almost exclusively in the hands of a private corporation, the Public School Society, or to divide them among warring religious sects would be unsatisfactory from the standpoint of public policy. The final result was what neither party to the controversy had desired or expected, namely, an act which made the following provisions: (1) it established a Board of Education in New York City to consist of members elected from each ward; (2) each ward was to have two school inspectors and five trustees, and to be considered as a separate town in applying the general educational laws of the state; (3) no portion of the school funds was to be given to any school in which "any religious sectarian doctrine or tenet shall be taught, inculcated, or practiced." By these provisions the foundation of a real city system of public elementary schools was laid.

The act creating the Board of Education was imperfect in many respects and was soon amended so as better to define the board's powers. The Public School Society continued to maintain its schools, however, although at a considerable financial loss, until 1853, when it transferred its property to the city Board of Education.

Pennsylvania's public pauper-school system. Lack of public elementary schools in colonial period. In colonial Pennsylvania, during the fifty years immediately preceding the American Revolution, no serious efforts were made by the public authorities to establish public elementary schools. There was no effective colonial law making education or the maintenance of elementary schools compulsory. As noted in Chapter III, elementary education was usually provided in church schools or voluntary neighborhood schools, the former being common in the eastern part of the state and the latter in the western part.

Constitution provided for gratuitous education of poor only. The state constitution of Pennsylvania, adopted in 1790, contained the following provision: "The legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, provide by law for the establishment of schools throughout the state, in such a manner that the poor may be taught gratis."

Efforts had been made to secure a more liberal provision in the constitution for general public elementary education, but the idea prevailed that free public education should be provided only as a form of poor relief. For over forty years all the legislation for public elementary education took this form.

Free pauper education in private schools provided in 1802. No law was passed to carry out even the limited requirements of the constitution until 1802. In that year an act of the state legislature provided that the local guardians and overseers of the poor should notify such parents as they deemed sufficiently poor, that the tuition of their children in any of the local schools which they might attend would be paid from public funds. The money for this purpose was to be raised in the same way as the poor tax or road tax. This law was effective, however, in only a few places, and it was slightly modified in 1804 and 1809, but without any fundamental change in its spirit. The law in its final form made no provision for the establishment of public schools, and set no

standards for existing schools. It simply provided that poor children should be taught free in existing private schools if their parents would declare themselves to be paupers. No other provision for free elementary education in the whole state was made until 1834.

Public pauper schools authorized in special districts, 1818. Special acts were passed, however, before 1834, providing for schools under the public authorities of certain districts, for children too poor to pay tuition. The first of such special acts was passed by the legislature in 1818 for the city and county of Philadelphia. The conditions of elementary education in that city were similar at that time to those in New York City, which were described in the preceding section. The only elementary schools in the city were church and private schools and those maintained by voluntary philanthropic organizations. None of the latter, however, were as important as the Free School Society of New York. The law of 1818 authorized Philadelphia to organize at public expense free schools for "indigent orphan children or children of indigent parents." This provision differed from the one made for the state at large in that it organized public "pauper schools” under public authorities, instead of paying the expense of educating poor children in private schools. This special provision was extended in 1821 and 1822 to five other counties. For years the governors and other interested parties recommended to the legislature that some action be taken to create a system of free public schools for all children, but there was always "a determined majority ever ready to resist such a measure."

Public tax-supported schools made optional in 1834. — In 1827 there was organized in Philadelphia the Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Public Schools, which maintained a vigorous campaign extending over several years. Yearly they printed memorials to the legislature, setting forth the facts concerning the ineffectiveness of the law of 1809, the thousands

of children of school age who were growing up in ignorance, and arguments for free public schools for all children without distinction. As a consequence, meetings were held all over the state to urge legislative action. Several bills were introduced but failed of passage, and it was not until 1834 that a law was passed authorizing the desired system.

The law of 1834 constituted wards, townships, and boroughs as school districts and authorized them to levy local school taxes. If they did so, they were eligible to share in the income from the state common school fund which had been created in 1831. The law also provided for local public-school officers, inspectors, etc.

The law was not received with universal favor by any means. Of the 987 school districts of the state, 485 either voted outright against levying the tax for free schools or took no action whatever. The issue became the basis of intense local strife in many places. There were two chief sources of opposition. One source was the churches, including the Friends, Lutheran, Reformed, and the Mennonite, which had maintained for years their own schools with their own peculiar forms of religious instruction. These schools often represented considerable property value; hence sectarian fears and vested interests were excited. The second source of opposition was the selfish interests of propertied individuals, who maintained that the school taxes would bankrupt them. They also asserted that it was unjust to tax for school purposes persons who had no children to be educated.

A vigorous fight was made in the legislature in 1835 to secure the repeal of the law of 1834, but without avail. Instead of being repealed, the law was strengthened so as to make it more effective in securing local assent to the levying of the local school tax. In a few years most of the districts had accepted the new conditions, being stimulated to a considerable degree by the desire to share in the state fund, which they could not do without taxing themselves locally.