In 1833 the Federal deposits were removed from the old United States Bank. They were distributed among various State banks, which were thus enabled to extend their loans, to tide over panics, and to furnish the means for developing the country's resources. Indiana was almost a moneyless State. Thus encouraged, it established a State bank in 1834, to continue for twenty-five years. With no money of its own, the State Government took a large number of shares. When it was proposed, in 1835, to distribute the surplus revenue annually among the several States, President Jackson opposed the measure, fearing to cripple the State banks. In 1836, however, it was determined to distribute among the States in the following year the sum of $37,500,000, in round numbers, in four installments. Three of these distributions were made. The panic in the fall of 1837 made the last of the four impracticable.

Over twenty-eight millions were distributed in 1837. Indiana's share was $860,254. Of this sum, $573,502.67 were at once set apart as a portion of the common school fund. The rest was put into the State bank. This bank had a career of remarkable prosperity for a quarter of a century. Its notes passed current even in New Orleans, to which city much of our trade was given. The profits were enormous. No interest was required from the bank for the Federal funds used, while they drew heavy interest at all times, being made the basis of a large issue of bank notes, which were always in demand in all parts of the country. The State's net profits on its bank stock amounted in 1859 to about $4,800,000 ($4,767,805.89), all of which was turned over to the common school fund. Taxes on the bank stock of individuals furnished $80,000 more. Thus Indiana not only escaped loss, but was enabled immensely to increase the original sum received in the distribution.

Of course the Government is nominally liable at any time to call upon the States for the amount distributed. But nearly a half century has passed away, and notwithstanding the terrible needs of the Gov. ernment in time of war, the demand for the return of the money has never been made, and it never will be made. Though different in form, this distribution was virtually such a measure as the Blair Bill proposes. Directly or indirectly it has furnished us the greater part of our school fund. The earnings of the State bank, which was established and conducted with the encouragement and support given through the policy of Federal distribution, were added to the large amount paid to the school fund directly. I understand that other States pursued much the same policy; I am informed that Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri devoted all or a part of their shares to popular education. Such are the notable precedents in our history for Federal aid to education in the States.

FIFTH SESSION.

Thursday Evening, February 25, 1886.

W. E. SHELDON, Chairman of Committee on Resolutions, reported the following preamble and resolutions in memory of the death of John D. Philbrick, of Massachusetts, which were unanimously adopted by a rising vote:

Whereas, we the officers and members of the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association having learned of the death of John Dudley Philbrick, LL.D., of Massachusetts, who for more than twenty-five years has been an active and enthusiastic member, and an ex-President of the Association, and desiring to place upon record our appreciation, esteem, and love of him, adopt the following:

Resolved, That this association mourns the loss of one of its most devoted and intelligent workers in the cause of popular education. As a teacher, superintendent, and writer upon educational topics for more than a third of a century, he has ranked among the foremost educators of this country. Wise and discreet in counsel, energetic and enthusiastic in action, helpful and sympathetic in his relations with his coworkers, he has left behind him a record full of inspiration and worthy of imitation. Resolved, That the cause of general education has sustained a heavy loss in being deprived of the zeal, energy, and wisdom which have pre-eminently characterized his long career.

Resolved, That the Department of Superintendence especially desire to recognize the eminent services of Mr. Philbrick in their special field of educational work, in which he labored for nearly a quarter of a century, achieving not only a national, but a world-wide reputation as a superintendent of public instruction.

Resolved, That these resolutions be entered upon the minutes of this association, and that a copy of them be sent to Mrs. Philbrick, to whom we tender our incere sympathy in her great bereavement.

W. E. SHELDON,
ANDREW J. RICKOFF,
R. W. STEVENSON,

Committee.

The following address was then delivered by the Hon. S. M. Finger, of North Carolina :

THE EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS INTERESTS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE OF THE SOUTH.

Since the storms that beat upon our ship of state subsided, we find her anchored in the harbor of freedom and equality of all men before the law. Twenty-one years have elapsed, and as the clouds clear away, it becomes us to take our reckonings. Almost a generation has passed away, and other men control, other ideas prevail. It is wise that we lay aside all sectional feelings, and without crimination or recrimination discuss all the great problems that confront us, and especially the negro problem, which, I submit, is perhaps the most difficult of them all. I desire to have it understood that in anything I shall say it is furthest from my purpose to offend any man, white or black, north or south.

Born and reared in the South, having a southern ancestry ante-dating the Revolution of 1775, the son and the grandson of an owner of slaves, I have had opportunity of studying the negro in his home in the South, before and since the late war between the States.

Educated in New England, and having had business intercourse with the people of the northern section of the Union, I have had opportu nity of studying the negro in the North also, both before and since his freedom.

Add to this the circumstance that I was taught by my father to look with suspicion upon the institution of slavery, and that consequently I had a degree of sympathy for the slaves.

In view of these facts, I trust that I can enter upon the discussion of the negro question with freedom from prejudice against the colored people, and with sufficient opportunity to have learned something about them from actual contact and to enable me to keep up with changing public sentiment about the negro, both North and South.

But with all these opportunities to study and observe the negro, I am free to confess that I do not know that I fully understand him; and I cannot, with satisfaction to myself, forecast his future or form a definite conclusion as to his capabilities. So far he is an undetermined quantity in the problem of civilization. Whether the size of his brain and his other peculiarities mark him as the white man's natural inferior, or only emphasize his want of opportunity, is an unanswered question, and it must remain an unanswered question until he shall have been tried and cultivated for more than one generation.

It is, however, but fair to state that when we consult history, any claim of the negro, or of any other of the colored nations, to equality in intellect or force of character with the Indo-European nations, rests upon a very slender foundation. History shows that the Aryan family of nations overcame all other nations with whom they came in contact. So far as the negroes in Africa were concerned, the grand, ancient civilization around the shores of the Mediterranean sea did not stir them. While the Egyptians built the pyramids and their magnificent cities; while the Carthaginians grappled in successful conflict with the Romaus; while the Greeks and Romans made their arts of war and their fine arts felt and known throughout the then known world; while in later days, even down to the present, civilization and Christianity have been developed by the European and American people,-while all these things have been going on, the negroes in Africa have never, to any considerable extent, been aroused by them, notwithstanding in modern times special efforts have been made to civilize and Christianize them. History is against the claims of the negro to equality with the white nations. He would seem to be immovable, incapable of progress, except as he is brought into immediate personal contact with the whites.

However this may be, the white people of the southern section of the United States, as well as those of the northern, desire to give him a fair

trial. In this there seems now to be very fair unanimity of sentiment. So far as the thing to be done is concerned, there is not much diversity of opinion. He is a citizen, equal before the law to any other citizen in all the States of this Union. The conclusion is, therefore, irresistible that he must be educated, intellectually, industrially, and religiously, not alone for his benefit, but for the protection of our government.

But when we come to consider how this is to be done, intelligent and good people have different plans and theories. These plans and theories have foundation, in the minds of those who hold them, according to the glasses through which the negro is seen. One man sees in him capabilities equal to those of the white man, and he fits his plans and theories of education to his estimate of the negro's natural ability. Another man sees the negro as an inferior being, and he fits his plans and theories to his belief. Still another man sees him as an untried and unknown factor in civilization, now far behind in intelligence, morality, and religion, and so his ideas as to how to educate him take shape.

It is exceedingly interesting to watch these ever changing and developing views about the negro himself, and the consequent ever changing and developing plans and theories as to what is the best way to deal with him and educate him, both for his own benefit and for the benefit of the white people. Indeed, the whole matter would be amusing if we could forget the exceeding importance of the problem.

One man says, The race line is providential, and therefore it ought to be perpetuated. Another replies that the race line has already been broken down, and he goes on to argue that all laws that favor the separation of the races in schools, and all laws that forbid intermarriage between the races, ought to be repealed. He says that no harm would come to the body politic by allowing intermarriage, because there would be very little of it anyhow. Thus one of the reasons urged why intermarriage should not be forbidden, serves to show that legitimate social instincts have been given to the races by their Creator, which will perpetuate the race line in spite of law. Still another man says, This race question can never be settled until by intermarriage between the races the white race is made to absorb the colored race; and he advocates mixed schools and mixed churches, because he thinks this policy will lead to mixed marriages. I repeat that these different views would be amusing, if it were not for the momentous consequences involved in the adoption of a correct policy-such a policy as will be right in the highest sense of that word, and as will be for the best interests of both

races.

Whether or not the negro is naturally equal or inferior to the whites. is disputed, but his equality or inferiority need not now enter into the discussion as to how he should be educated. In a practical point of view, there is common ground enough to stand upon. The ground upon which this discussion should proceed is his real status now. We should recognize his intellectual and moral condition as it is, and not too eagerly

inquire what it will be after some generations of training shall have been given him. The future will take care of itself if we faithfully take care of the present.

Let us now inquire what his real status is. I do not think that any man who has not lived in the South for many years and observed the negro in his country home, as well as in the cities and towns, will be likely fully to understand his real condition, intellectual, moral, and religious. He may read all the literature touching upon it; he may travel through the South, and even sojourn for years in the South, and not comprehend it. Far the greater part of the negroes live in the country, on the plantations, and a traveler would be apt to form his opinions by what he saw in the cities and towns, where the most intelligent of the negroes congregate, and where their educational and relig ious opportunities are better than in the country. One who sees the negro in the cities and towns only will fail fully to comprehend his condition, even if he is free from any preconceived opinions about it.

Consider the case as it is. A race of the most barbarous people on the face of the earth, and perhaps the most ignorant, brought to the United States but a few generations ago at most; sunk into the lowest depths of heathenism; bound in all their worship by the most abject fear and degrading superstition; subjected to slavery without any effort, worth the name, to cultivate their intellects; suddenly released from their bondage in the condition of paupers; suddenly made citizens equal before the law to their old masters, who had been civilizing and developing for a thousand years; taught for twenty years in the bad school of politics; embittered against their former owners and for a time virtually ruling them; with only a few years of limited education b the impoverished South-with this history and this treatment, what in the very nature of the case must be their condition and disposition now, even if we assume their natural equality with the whites? Let 7 intelligent man free himself from any preconceived notions and answer as his reason dictates.

We could but expect them to be ignorant still; averse to labor, and so still living in poverty; ruled largely by superstition and fear in their worship; without providence for the future, spending their earnings, day by day as they receive them, if not for the necessities of life, for its pleasures and frivolities; inclined to immorality; the present generation, in large part, growing up in idleness and worthlessness, because of their surroundings and home life.

These surroundings and home life are, as a rule, of the most unfavorable kind. In the country, as well as in the cities and towns, in many cases whole families-fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters-live in small houses, often containing but one room, the parents exercising no restraint, or an impatient and passionate restraint, over their children, and the children having no elevating companionship. Of course there are exceptions, but I am not now noting the exceptions. With