The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898 Page: 97
334 p. : ill., ports., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Enduring Laws of the Republic.
as the chief ornament and blessing of Texas. A suitable appro-
priation of lands to the purpose of general education can be made
at this time, without inconvenience to the Government or the peo-
ple; but defer it until the public domain shall have passed from
our hands, and the uneducated youths of Texas will constitute the
living monument of our neglect and remissness." *
In response to the above message, Mr. E. W. Cullen, Chairman
of the House Committee on Education, made an elaborate report,
from which are given these pertinent extracts: "Your committee
views it as one of the first and paramount duties of Congress to
provide a system of general education; and although it is not in
our power to carry into effect immediately a general system, yet
we should lay the foundation while it is in our power by making
suitable appropriations of the public domain and setting the same
apart to enable us, so soon as our situation will permit, to estab-
lish primary schools and colleges where every class can receive alike
the benefits and blessings of education. Intelligence is the only
aristocracy in a government like ours (and the improved and edu-
cated has and will ever triumph over the ignorant and uneducated
mind)." t
The report concludes with recommending for passage a bill pre-
pared by Mr. Cullen; as to which, W. H. Wharton, chairman of
the Senate Committee on Education, says in his report: "The
committee could present a long report on the importance of educa-
tion, but believing that fact to be admitted by all, such a report
would be commonplace and unnecessary. All that can be done at
present is to secure a sufficient reservation of the public lands for
the purposes of education. The system of schools can be amended
hereafter. Inasmuch as the Committee on Education in the House
of Representatives has offered a bill setting apart a certain quantity
of lands for the purpose of education, your Committee deem any
further action on the subject unnecessary at present." I
Mr. Cullen's bill accordingly, after a few changes for the better,
became the.law, as follows:
"An Act entitled an act appropriating certain lands for the estab-
lishment of a general system of education.
"Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Repre-
sentatives of the Republic of Texas in Congress assembled: That
each county of this Republic shall have three leagues of land sur-
* House Journal, Third Congress, pp. 169-70.
t House Journal, Third Congress, p. 271.
$ Senate Journal, Third Congress, p. 80.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898, periodical, 1897/1898; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101009/m1/114/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.