G MSOSxu J MIAMI BULLETIN March, 1907 No. 13, Series 5 Published Monthly by Miami University And Entered at Postoffice, Oxford, as Second Class Mail Matter Evolution of Public Education in Ohio LEGISLATION IDQI The MIAMI UNIVERSITY OXFORD, OHIO 4 ' Evolution of Public Education in Ohio. LEGISLATION. “Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encour- aged.” — Ordinance of 1787, Article III. When on the seventh day of April, 1788, the Mayflower, bearing down the Ohio the forty-six New Englanders, the first settlers in the great Northwest Territories, turned her prow into the mouth of the Muskingum and delivered her founders of a great industrial empire, Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, fa- mous father of one of the four territorial judges, drew up forth- with on a sheet of foolscap paper rules for the government of the settlement and tacked the same to the trunk of a conspicuous oak. Thus simply began legislation for the great state of Ohio whose legislators now present at every session of the General Assembly from six hundred to one thousand bills. For ten years the territorial Legislative Council, consisting of the territorial governor, secretary, and judges, enacted all law for the territory. On the sixteenth day of September, 1799, the first territorial legislature met in Cincinnati. This legislature comprised an appointed council of six and an elected House of Representatives consisting of twenty-two members. Of the thirty-eight acts of this Legislature, one authorizing the free- holders of Marietta Township to levy a tax for religious purpose, had a semi-educational bearing, as religion and education were still considered reciprocally promotive and purposeful. School Lands. It need not be asserted here that in con- formity to the declaration of the Ordinance of ’87, quoted at the opening of this chapter, Congress provided for free schools in the territory northwest of the Ohio by setting aside Section sixteen of every township of five or six miles square for the support of the common schools. In Ohio this meant about 750,000 acres. Mr. Caleb Atwater, chairman of the Special House Com- mittee in the Twentieth General Assembly, 1821-2, on schools and school lands, and again later chairman of the special com- mittee on schools and school lands, appointed by Governor Trimble, divided the school lands into seven “sorts.” (1) Section 16 in every township of Congress Lands. (2) Virginia Military Lands. (3) United States Military Lands. (4) Symmes purchase in Miami Country. (5) Ohio Company’s Land. (6) Refugee Lands from Columbus to Zanesville. (7) Connecticut Western Reserve Lands. Some Early Acts. The terminus ad quern of the pioneer to the Ohio country, whether an officer in the Land syndicates, or an immigrant attracted from New England or Pennsylvania by the advertisements of the Land companies, was good land for little money and on easy payments. He was willing to submerge himself and his children to achieve this. These pioneers were of four types, the adventurer, the freebooter, the promoter, the settler. Our good Scotch territor- ial governor with his judges, was for many years occupied in adopting laws from “Code of Pennsylvania,” the governor’s resi- dential state, to protect the settler and the government lands against the first three classes so that it was nearly a quarter of a century before any legislation is found in the interest of the children of the settler. It is in the spirit of this settler that we find that which makes race improvement possible. He saw not the cabin from which his children should be married and he should be buried, but the great commonwealth, the embellish- ments of civilized posterity, the flourishing industries of a power- ful state. In him race instincts rose above the parental. Pius Aneas could have lived in luxury at, and Ascanius could have been adopted into, the Courts of Dido, but “Longa Alba” and a Roman people were a stronger call to a noble mind. A Myopic Landlord. In 1800 there were 45,365 people in the territory of Ohio, with seven organized counties. In 1810 the population had quintupled, 230,760, and the organized counties increased to thirty-six. This population had settled chiefly in the Southern part of the state, in four of the divisions of the state having school land reservations. This necessitated legislative action regarding the adminis- tration of the munificent gift of Congress as many of the settlers were occupying these unadministered sections. It would be judg- ing too harshly to say that our landlord, the General Assembly, should have foreseen that it was administering upon an estate that within a century would be worth from $50,000,000 to $75,- 000,000, but on the other hand it is a just criticism to say that the gross mismanagement of this first endowment on the new continent for free common schools is wholly unworthy the politi- cal sagacity and high minded statesmanship that characterized the early General Assemblies. The Problem. The Western Reserve was a reserve in the full sense. Connecticut reserved all rights and title to the land and likewise Civil jurisdiction. This made the Northeast a land without law as Connecticut did not establish courts or judicial boards in the Reserve. In 1792, as the map page three indicates, Erie and Pluron counties were given by the Connecticut Legis- lature to the surviving citizens of eight towns which had suffered great loss from Revolutionary marauding parties under Tyron and Collier. The number of such sufferers are given as follows : Greenwich number of sufferers 283 Norwalk number of sufferers 287 Fairfield number of sufferers 269 Danbury number of sufferers 187 New and EaS|t Huron number of sufferers 410 New London number of sufferers 275 Riegefield number of sufferers 65 Groton number of sufferers 92 How Ohio Counties Appeared at the Close of the Eighteenth Century. In 1796 Connecticut sold her residue of the Western Reserve to a Land Company and establishing out of all her income her irreducible Common School Fund of about two million dollars. In 1800 she surrendered Civil jurisdiction of the Western Reserve to Ohio and Governor St. Clair established Trumbull County. The Constitutional Convention of Ohio in November, 1802, made additional propositions to the Act of Congress enabling Ohio to become a state, that School Lands should be set aside for the U. S. Military District, Virginia Military District, and the Western Reserve as had been provided in the Purchase by Ohio and Miami Land Companies. To these propositions Congress responded March 3, 1803 and 1807, from her unsurveyed and un- sold land, making all parts of the state equal participants in the “one section of land to every township for the support of Common Schools” provision. How shall Ohio administer on this generous donation? Two Plans. The first Assembly of the state of Ohio met in the town of Chillicothe, March 1, 1803. Nine counties were represented and among the first measures to be considered was the management of the School Lands. There was no precedent. There were no local officers under the state constitution nor Congressional action to authorize to lease, the Land Agents could not do so. The lands were not productive and could not be leased at money rent. I. The Improvement Lease was authorized April 15, 1803. It was hoped that by the time of the expiration of these improve- ment leases the school lands would produce revenue for the sup- port of schools — vain hope in most cases — they produced but not revenue for schools. 1. Commissioners were appointed by the Governor for counties or districts to a^ct as agents for the state under following Legislative instructions: (In 1807 the township trustees were authorized to manage the School Lands.) a. Lease not less than 160 acres nor more than 320 acres to one lessor, for not less than seven years nor more than fifteen years. b. The Commissioners must advertise the lands in one or more county papers. c. The Commissioner should receive $2.00 for every lease to be paid by lessor. 2. The lessee should observe following conditions: a. Fifteen acres should be cleared and fenced into separable fields. b. Five acres of the cleared lands should be “sowed” in timothy or red clover. c. Three acres of cleared land should be planted in orchard of 100 thrifty and growing apple trees. d. Seven acres of the cleared land should be cultivated in the ordinary manner. e. Lessee should build a house on the lease. f. All improvements should be made in the first twelve years of fifteen year leases and the first five of the seven year leases. II. The Sale of Leases was authorized for the Virginia Mili- tary Tract, February 17, 1809. The Legislature in joint session appointed a surveyor, regis- trar and treasurer for the sale of these leases. Due advertise- ment was to be made in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia of the public sale. 1. Sale was to be made to highest bidder, quarter section in a tract. 2. No sale was to be made at less than $2.00 per acre and expense of survey and sale of the land. 3. The purchaser was to pay the sale expense on first Monday after the second of February after the date of sale. 4. On the amount of the sale he, his heirs and assignees were to pay 6 per cent, yearly and every year forever. 5. The deed of the lease was made by the Registrar for ninety-nine years, renewable forever. The costs of the surveys and sales were not made promptly and with the usual impatience and want of administrative facility of a legislative body, the Assembly in 1810 commuted not only the costs but five years of rent for the humiliating sum of ten dollars cash. Ten dollars in hand were worth more than a hun- dred in the bush, ($96 plus costs of survey and sale). Let us comfort ourselves by the supposition that our fathers lacked faith and facility. In December, 1820, state auditor Osborn reported $5,143,812 in the treasury from the Virginia Military Fund. This would have yielded $308,628 for the support of schools among at least 15,000 school pupils living at that time in the tract — two cents apiece. The lease of 1809 provided that alterations might be made by succeeding legislatures and this provision was freely used to commute judgment, to relieve individuals for term of years, to lease for grist mills, without the revaluation clause, etc., etc. Neither of the foregoing plans yielded revenue for, nor en- couragement to, education. Investigation. Governor Brown’s Message. The seven year leases and the fifteen year leases expired, other leases were made by the township trustees and the School Land Commissioners, but information as to the amount of income or literary advan- tages of the School Lands was not available. Governor Brown in his message to the General Assembly, December 4, 1821, said, “l have possessed no means of acquiring information for the legis- lature, of the success that has followed the act ‘to provide for the regulation and support of common schools.’ You must of course judge of its operation in your respective neighborhoods from your own observation.” In response to the above indictment Caleb Atwater of Circle- ville, offered a resolution that a committee be appointed on Schools and School Lands. Such a committee of five was appointed with Mr. Atwater as chairman. To this committee were referred all petitions for relief of lessees and for postpone- ment of payments, which were the usual questions of privileges arising in the Assembly relative to School Lands. Many members of this legislature were themselves lessees or managers of School Lands, so that the committee found the situation too delicate for any effective report. So a report dis- tinguished for its glittering encomiums upon education and the duties of the legislature relative to education was substituted recommending a general commission of seven members ap- pointed by the governor to report “a bill to establish and regulate common schools, accompanied by such information on the sub- ject as they may collect.” Both Houses agreed to this recom- mendation and Governor Trimble appointed such a commission with Mr. Atwater as chairman. Atwater was the first layman in Ohio to become deeply interested in public education. He was an attorney, a native of Massachusetts, a graduate of Williams and an author of considerable literature. His report bore the stamp of a philanthropic and idealistic temperament. The following excerpt from the report seems quite literary for a report to the House. (McGuffey’s Readers had not yet made Gray’s Elegy known to Ohio.) “Full many a gem of purest ray serene, The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear. Full many a flower is born to bloom unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air.” “Is it not the duty of the legislature to explore the recesses of the ocean of distress and poverty and to draw forth the gems of genius and place them before the public eye? Ought not the field of learning be so far extended as to enclose within its limits those beautiful wild flowers of genius which are now wasting their sweetness on the desert air?” The committee of seven spent much time and money (their own) in bringing to the notice of the public their fruitless pos- session in the School Lands under the adopted management. The Legislature of 1823, was hostile to change, but in the campaign of 1823 the school question became an issue. Waste and mismanagement were discussed in every county. The result of the election was one of the best Legislatures ever sent to Columbus to represent the interest of the commonwealth. Only eight members out of sixty-nine members had been returned at the fall election. Deliverance Per Saltum. This Assembly had a canal party, the spirit of internal improvement having culminated in the canal question, and a school party. These two parties politically, still Jeffersonian in Ohio, united to get canals and a school system. A memorial was made to Congress and the House of Bur- gesses of Virginia praying the right to sell all common school lands within the state. This general sale was begun before Congress or Virginia replied. Each township could vote at any time upon the sale of its school lands. Some townships never sold their lands. The Common School Fund. The moneys arising from the sale of the school lands and school leases came into the treasury of the state and the Legislature, from time to time, borrowed this money. In February, 1825, we find the following: “That the sum of twenty-five thousand, five hundred and nine dollars, six cents and seven mills, now in the treasury of this state for the use of schools in the Virginia Military District, be and the same is hereby loaned to the state of Ohio for one year at interest of six per centum, per annum. In 1831, however, the Legislature instituted the perpetual loan known as the irreducible debt. The loan was authorized March 2, 1831, and the income constituted the “Common School Fund:” “That whenever, and so often, as any moneys shall be paid into the state treasury, arising from the sale of any lands which heretofore have been, or hereafter may be, appropriated by Con- gress, for the use of support of schools in any original surveyed township, or other district of country, in this state, the Auditor of State shall forthwith open an account in a book or books to be provided for that purpose, and shall pass the said moneys to the credit of such township, or other district of country; which §aid money shall constitute an irreducible fund, the pro- ceeds accruing from which shall be paid over and appropriated, in the manner which shall be pointed out by law, for the support of common schools within the township, or other district of country, to and for no other use or purpose whatever. “That all moneys paid into the state treasury as aforesaid, shall bear an annual interest of six per centum.” The moneys arising from the sale of salt lands were added to the fund, also moneys from licenses on peddlers, auctioneers, etc. The interest was funded until 1835 and annually thereafter the income has been distributed through the State Auditor to the various townships and “districts of country.” State Aid. The sovereign right to tax for the welfare of the entire commonwealth came slowly into the common conscious- ness and the public will was many years in asserting itself. The Assembly grew slowly to full stature, we were so Jeffersonian. In the law of 1821, the school committee, which it created, were enabled to levy taxes for (a) buying a lot for school house, (b) for building such school house, (c) for making up any defi- ciency in the private subscription for the support of the teachers arising from indigent pupils provided : that the tax thus levied never exceed one-half of the levy which had been made “on the same object’’ for state or county taxes. Compulsory County Revenue for Schools. In 1825 the Leg- islature required that the "County commissioners shall levy one- half (y 2 ) mill on all^the taxable land of the county “for the use of the common school.” This compulsory county system con- tinued in force until superseded by the General School Law of 1853, when the sovereignty of the state was fully asserted. Public sentiment does not always register the same even upon a general fixed policy. It beats strong, then weak. In the law of 1825 the Legislature said the Commissioners “Shall levy and assess.” Later it modified the amounts and the form of the language indicating more or less accurately public sentiment regarding state aid to popular education. The following gives the record of the beats for a quarter of a century : 1825 Shall levy and assess y 2 mill. 1825 Shall levy and assess y± mill. 1834 Shall levy and assess 1 mill, may add y 2 mill. 1836 Shall levy and assess y 2 mill, may add y 2 mill. 1838 Shall levy and assess 2 mills. 1839 Commissioners may reduce from 2 mills to 1 mill. 1847 Commissioners may reduce from 1 mill to two-fifths of a mill. 1848 Commissioner authorized but not required to levy one mill. 1851 Commissioners shall levy not less than 1 mill. An Exhibit Showing the State Aid to the Public Schools of Ohio from 1837 to the Present Time VO 't O vo N N to to to vovO - vo to O r vo N *>. £ O h! O h O' ^ m N on •- voOO vo N O' O' N On to ' V v - - ■ rj- vovO CO f On 1 pH 10 o O NO vo 'too to vo vo « 00 X V On N « O t O N O'O too 6 NO ON tooo CTn £>. 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N oo 00 Ov >-i CMn tx VO IN VO CO VO N t?vo h o 000 ON OO OvvO N N "t -"t "t vovo VO OO N h rovO O O N vo vo Ov N ro N 00 .00 N H vo vovO n m vo VO vo VO VOVO ' VO vo VO 00 >ON '(too VONOvtNfnOOO in -too vo t K O' VO00 N rt rooo VO N vo Ov Ov N ov N m t « vo N VO 000 N "t N ro Ov N od'od'tCrovotCd' d I-Too TtvorocTvOOO ►h ro "t Ov —• OO "t Tj-vO "tOO VO 00 vO VO vo VO N.00 VO InOQ NNNNNNN VO00 00 1 1 H O, OOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOO 000000000000000000 QOOOOQOOQQQ OOOOOOOOOOO 00 Ov Tf N VO VO hh ro N vo vo vo ►h vo rooo Ov in rd "t Ov vo Ov vo N in in invO "t ro N ro vo -tvo "t *n 6 00 »n -t N vo 00 Ov O' N vo vo vo VO vo vo vJ-O"A0vd t OvvcT rT 00 NtH o W vo Tj-N r^oo VO VON n N Ov N N o VO *-> o rT vo od rC d rd rd cf od »d rT vo ro vooo ONN iNQO o ro VO vo VO VOVO vo vo vo VO NN "t N VO NO >n "t N tNVO ro —> ro "t ro "t q « tCod rovcT O N Ov ro O vo Ovvo H M N f) HpWO "tod in « N n" uvnO ro vo tJ- N N N N N N "t In Ov ro Ov 00 w ro ro "tvo N vo "tvo tO N O 00 OvOO ro O 00 00 VO Ov O ro Ov h vo N O vo vo VOOO 00 _ VO O O N vo O N 00 N 00 vo N <-T od' O vcT "tod' o' O ro rd -t "t "tvo 00 rovO Ov N h vO in in in in inOO ov ov o H H N N N N ro "t vovo r^oo Ov O « N ro "t vovo In 00 Ov O <-> N ro "t vovo in 00 O' O H N ro "t vovO NNNNNNN In 00 OO 00 00 00 00 00 OO CO 00 Ov Ov Ov Ov O' O' Ov Ov Ov Ov O O O O O O O 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 Ov C\ Ov O' O' Ov Ov I As will be noticed in the exhibit the high tide of State com- pulsory levy was reached in 1838, due to the recommendation and untiring labor of our first Commissioner, the Hon. Samuel Lewis, of Cincinnati. While this recommendation had its re- action and the active interests seemed unappreciated the effort was not lost— rthis voice in the wilderness could not be drowned. Although the office of State Superintendent of Common Schools was abolished, the sacrifice of Lewis grew into the great School Law of 1853, in which the state assumed full authority to levy upon its own duplicate the State Common School Fund. There have been three distinct epochs in the history of taxa- tion in Ohio. Prior to 1826 personal property was not listed for taxation and the land was divided into various classes after the plan of the Kentucky Code. From 1826 to 1846 both the real estate and personal property became the basis of taxation. From 1846 to the present time real state, personal property, money, and credits all were made subject to taxation. We will probably enter a fourth period in which franchises and all forms of earning investments and securities will be entered on the list of taxable property in the state. The State Common School Fund began in 1839. This fund, from 1839 to 1853, was made up from the following items as shown by the Auditor’s report in 1847: “State Common School Fund. Balance in the treasury, Nov. 15, 1846 $ 31,775.56 5 Tax of ^4 a mill on the dollar, levied on the grand list, and paid in by county treasurer 68,891.86 0 Amount paid through Auditor’s office 690.53 0 Auction duties 1,120.44 0 Peddlers’ licenses 4,791.67 0 Tax on lawyers and physicians 4,909.21 0 Tax on insurance and bridge companies 923.62 0 Tax on banks 27,920.53 0 Surplus Revenue, interest at five per cent 91,268.81 6 $232,292.24 1” Some of these items have been continued until the present time. It was not the common practice for the Legislature, prior to 1862, to state what the appropriation should be, but simply to state that there should be appropriated, to the use of the Common Schools of Ohio, so much money as should come into the treas- ury under the law providing for the support of the common schools. In 1862 the General Assembly adopted the plan of making a definite statement of the amount appropriated, which was a mere perfunctory matter as will be noted from 1867 to 1880 in which it was uniformly of $1,500,000. This is shown under the item Enabling Legislation and does not correspond to the amount actually distributed. As to the distribution per pupil, three characteristics will be noticed. (1) From 1839 to 1852 the income was fixed at $200,000, according to the Law of 1838 and as the enumeration increased, the distribution per pupil decreased. (2) From 1854 the distribution per pupil increased until 1871 when it reached $2.19. (3) From 1876 to 1902 the rate per pupil distributed remained about $1.50. State aid should not be distributed per capita enumerated alone to all communities. A fixed per capita aid might be given to all schools and such additional amounts to poor schools as are necessary to supplement the rfiaximum local effort in sus- taining public education of the standard required by the state. I quote the law of England on state aid which though a bit cum- bersome, is nevertheless a good example of carefully adjusted equity in state aid : “There shall be annually paid to every Local Education Authority (Board of Education in counties, county boroughs, independent municipal boroughs) out of moneys provided by Parliament.” (a) A sum equal to four shillings per scholar; and (b) An additional sum of three half-pence per scholar for every complete two-pence per scholar by which the amount which would be produced by a penny rate on the area of the authority (school district under board of education) falls short of ten shillings per scholar.” It might be generally observed as to the surplus that it has always been too large. This large reserve the Auditor has con- sidered necessary because of the fluctuation of delinquencies. The amount to be distributed has until recently been determined by the State Auditor. Since 1900 it has been fixed by statute. It should be in the hands of the State School Commissioner. Both in New York and Wisconsin, in which two states the state administrative organization is most effective, the chief state edu- cational officer, the Commissioner of Education in the one, and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in the other, has the distribution of the school funds. It may be noticed also that when the State Common School Fund suffered loss, namely in 1858 and in 1902, the surplus was very large. It is detrimental to the interests to have a large surplus in the State Common School Fund and such surplus would doubtless be avoided by the State School Commissioner. Evolution of Section 3951. In the Law of 1853, Section 63, which by subsequent codification of the Ohio Laws became Sec- tion 3951, reads as follows: “For the purpose of affording the advantages of a free education to all the youth of this State, the “State Common School Fund” shall hereafter consist of such sum as will be produced by an annual levy and assessment of two mills upon the dollar valuation on the grand list of taxable property of the state.” This section was amended in 1854 to change “two mills” on the dollar of valuation to “1 y 2 mills,” and subsequently to reduce the levy as is indicated in the exhibit from 1859 to 1870. Previous to 1891 it was the custom of the General Assembly to make appropriations for the various state institutions accord- ing to the requisitions of the authorities of the several institutions. Each institution made its requisition to the finance committee of the House or the Senate for its needs for the coming year, or two years, as was later adopted. It is generally conceded by state universities to be the best financial policy to be placed upon the permanent levy of the state by statute; so the state authorities of the Ohio State University in 1891 reconstructed Section 3591, heretofore referring wholly to common schools, and made it read as follows: “For the purpose of affording the advantages of free educa- tion to all the youth of the state there shall be levied annually a tax on the grand list of the taxable property of the state which shall be collected in the same manner as other state taxes and the proceeds of which shall constitute the “State Common School Fund”, and for the purpose of higher, agricultural and industrial education, including Manual Training, there shall be levied and collected in the same manner a tax on the grand list of taxable property of the state which shall constitute the “Ohio State University Fund. “The rate of such levy in each case shall be designated by the general assembly at least once in two years and if the general assembly shall fail to designate for any year the same shall be for the State Common School Fund one mill and for the Ohio State University Fund one-twentieth of one mill upon each dollar valuation of such taxable property. “Said section 3951 of the Revised Statutes of Ohio is hereby repealed and this shall take effect from and after its passage ; this repealed the old section 3951 providing for the support of com- mon schools. This made common the destiny of the State Uni- versity support and the State Common School Fund.” “The needs of the University grew so that in 1900 section 3951 was again changed by the following modifications and made to read instead of “one-twentieth of a mill, etc.,” “for the Ohio State University fifteen-hundredths of a mill for the years 1900 and 1901 and thereafter one-tenth of a mill — the five one-hun- dredths of a mill increase — shall be used solely for erection and equipment of buildings.” In 1902 section 3951 was again changed. The needs of the Ohio State University increased still further. The one-tenth of a mill for which it asked in 1900 and 1901 was not sufficient to meet its growing demands. It wished to have fifteen-hun- dredths of a mill for current support. At the same time it was the policy of the party in power to reduce the grand levy. To meet the usual running expenses of the state the increasing needs of the Ohio State University and other educational and eleemos- ynary institutions of the state, and reduce, at the same time, the grand tax levy was impossible. It seemed then that there was but one move to make and that was in the line of least resistance. This is always done in such affairs, politicians have greatest sagacity. There stood the State Common School Fund — $218,211.80, sufficient to keep the distribution at $1.50 per capita with a reduced levy. The administration stood firm on one side that there should be no increase, in the schedule levy and on the other side was the unguarded surplus. I say unguarded inasmuch as no one is elected by the state to guard the interest of the common schools except the state school commis- sioner and he had no authority over that fund, and Section 3951 was again changed to read as follows : “For the purpose of affording the advantages of a free edu- cation to all the youth of the state, there shall be levied annually a tax on the grand list of the taxable property of the state, which shall be collected in the same manner as other state taxes and the proceeds of which shall continue ‘the State Common School Fund,’ and for the purpose of higher, agricultural and industrial education, including Manual Training, there shall be levied and collected in the same manner a tax on the grand list of taxable property of the state, which shall constitute ‘the Ohio State University Fund.’ The rate for such levy in each case shall be designated by the general assembly at least once in two years; and if the general assembly shall fail to designate the rate for any year the same shall be for ‘the State Common School Fund’ ninety-five hundredths of one mill, each year for the years 1902 and 1903, and one mill each year thereafter: for the ‘Ohio State University Fund,’ fifteen one-hundredths of one mill upon each dollar of valuation of such taxable property, each year for the years 1902 and 1903, and ten-hundredths of one mill each year thereafter.” In 1904 the State University levy was separated from the Common School levy and made fifteen one-hundredths of a mill without limit of time and in 1906 section 3951 was made to read: “For the purpose of affording the advantage of a free edu- cation to all the youth of the state, there shall be levied annually a tax of one mill on the grand list of the taxable property of the state, which shall be collected in the same manner as other state taxes and the proceeds of which shall constitute ‘the State Com- mon School Fund,’ and for the payment of interest on the irre- ducible or trust fund debt for school purposes, ten one-hun- dredths of one mill, said fund to be styled, ‘the sinking fund.’ The rate for such levy shall be designated by the general assem- bly at least once in two years ; and if the general assembly shall fail to designate the rate for any year, the same shall be one mill for the State Common School Fund, and ten one-hundredths of one mill for the sinking fund.” H. C. Minnich, Dean Ohio State Normal College of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. A complete list of references to authorities from which the data were taken will be given at close of the series.