[The common school fund was established to educate the children of the poor, but ninety years elapsed before this State made an elementary school education compulsory a necessity rather than a charity for all juveniles. It was not until after the civil war, however, that the State's appropriations amounted to any considerable sum. Prior to that time, money for this purpose was raised by private and local contributions. For example, out of the $13,300,000 expended for the support of the common schools during the first years of State government, the commonwealth contributed only $960,000. During recent years, the total expenditures for the common schools have increased enormously, although the State's share before the approaching $20,000,000 additional appropriation for teachers' 'pay" had decreased from one-quarter to less than one-twelfth.]

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T the close of the revolutionary war the State became possessed of an immense extent of unimproved lands lying within its boundaries, which had been the crown lands owned by the mother country. There were also certain quitrents which had been reserved on extensive patents granted by the sovereign, which reverted to the State. It was chiefly from this source and from the proceeds of the sale of the lands that the general fund was created, the annual revenues of which were intended to defray the expenses of the government and relieve the people from taxation. At that period it was actually a fund, the proceeds of which discharged the State

expenses.

Schools had been provided for in the colonial days, the school-masters being chiefly sent from Holland in the employ of the Dutch West India company. The first school to be established of a higher grade was in 1659. It was not, however, until the organization of the university of the State, under the law of 1787, that provision was made for

the incorporation of academies " to give that liberal protection and encouragement for the instruction of youth in the languages and useful knowledge." The liberal policy of the State in granting aid to academies was exemplified in founding what has been termed the literature fund. The origin of this fund may be traced back to 1790, when the legislature authorized the regents of the university to take possession of and lease out certain State lands and to apply the rents and profits to aid the colleges and academies of the State. In 1813 the commissioners of the land office were directed to sell military and other lands, and to invest the proceeds as a principal sum, the interest of which the regents were authorized to distribute among the academies under their care.

The fund received further additions in consequence of an act passed in 1819 which directed that one-half of all quitrents and commutations for quitrents, received by the State, should be appropriated to the increase of the literature fund, and the remaining half to the further increase of the school fund. Moreover, in 1827, an act was passed conveying to the literature fund securities then belonging to the canal fund to the amount of $150,000. Up to this time the securities composing the literature fund had been held in part by the comptroller and in part by the regents; but in 1832 an act was passed transferring all the securities to the custody of the comptroller, and since that date the fund has been managed, as in the case of other funds, by the general financial officer of the State. The capital of this fund on June 30, 1919, was $284,201.30, invested

School fund more than a century old In 1805 the school fund had its origin, and it was provided that the net proceeds of 500,000 acres, all being the unappropriated lands of the people of the State, should be appropriated as a permanent fund for the support of the common schools. At the time of the passage of this law, the funds of the State, meaning by that term certain stocks, bonds, mortgages and loans, produced more than sufficient revenue to meet the ordinary expenses of government. The school fund was subsequently increased by quitrents transferred to it from the general fund, and in 1821 the new constitution transferred all the lands, amounting to 991,559 acres, from the general to the school fund, and by subsequent acts certain possessions of the general fund were made part of the school fund, and it became the duty of the comptroller to invest these school moneys in the purchase of securities of the general fund whenever the latter did not contain sufficient money for the purposes of the government.

There were certain losses on investments in the school fund, but notwithstanding these losses it had distributed to school districts in dividends from 1805 to 1845 the sum of $2,780,560, and from 1846 to 1866, $3,118,503.34. The capital of the fund increased from $58,757.24 in 1805, to $2,090,632.41 in 1845, and to $2,799,630.04 in 1866, and on the 30th of June, 1919, the capital of the fund was $5,023,140.77.

At the time that lands were set aside for the support of common schools, the act provided that no distribution was to be made until the annual revenues of the fund amounted to $50,000, so that it was not until 1816 that any payments could be made from the common school fund for the support of common schools. The act of 1812 provided

be divided among the different counties and towns according to population, and that each town should raise by tax annually a sum of money equal to its receipts from the fund. The act of 1814 recast that of 1812, transferred the tax-rating power from the towns to the counties and made the levy obligatory.

The distribution of the common school fund, together with local taxation, pursuant to the act of 1814, continued, annually until 1851, but during this period the schools drew largely from other sources, prominent among these being the rate bill which was the district charge upon each parent or guardian based upon actual attendance of children and imposed for the purpose of paying whatever balance was due teachers after the proceeds of the fund and the equivalent local taxes were exhausted. After heated controversy and years of agitation and excitement, the act in relation to common schools was adopted in 1851. This law provided for an annual tax of $800,000 based upon property, one-third of whose avails plus one-third of the proceeds of the common school and United States deposit funds should be equally distributed among the several districts, the residue to be apportioned according to the number of children of school age in each district, the rate bill to provide as before for any necessary balance. This forms practically the basis of the free school fund.

In 1856 a tax of three-fourths of a mill on each dollar of State's valuation was substituted for the $800,000 tax of 1851. In 1867 the tax was increased to one and onequarter mills and district rate bills were abolished. Since 1851 when the State committed itself to the policy of levying an annual State tax for schools, the amount of such tax has grown rapidly. The sum annually paid from the State treasury from the school tax increased from $800,000 in 1852 to $3,180,393.90 in 1885, and the legislature of

1902 appropriated for the free school fund the sum of $4,436,150. During the first 40 years of the existence of the common school fund, the total payments from the treasury for school purposes were $2,780,560, so that the legislature in 1902 appropriated in one year $1,655,590 more than was paid from the treasury in the 40 years above specified.

The United States deposit fund had its origin by the acceptance under the provisions of chapter 2 of the laws of 1837 of deposits for safe-keeping its share of the surplus money of the treasury of the United States of America under the thirteenth section of the act of Congress, entitled "An act to regulate the deposits of public money," passed June 23, 1836, upon the terms, conditions and provisions in said act contained, and pledged inviolably the faith of the State for the safe-keeping and repayment without interest of all sums of money thus received from time to time, whenever the same should be required by the secretary of the treasury of the United States. The amount paid in under the above act was $4,014,520.71. The legislature of New York accepted the deposit on the terms prescribed and made laws as to the character and disposition of the fund and its revenues:

First. That the total revenue be devoted to education to education and to the diffusion of knowledge. Second. That. $110,000 of the annual revenue of the fund be appropriated to the support of common schools. Third. That $28,000 be annually transferred to the literature fund to provide dividends to academies under the visitation of the regents. These statutes providing the mode of distribution of the revenue have, however, been frequently modified. According to the statutes at present in force $25,000 of the income of the United States deposit fund is each year added to the principal of the common school fund; $34,000 is transferred to the revenue of the literature fund for dividends to dividends to academies, and $75,000 is appropriated to the support of common schools. There are also other appropriations made for educational purposes.

It might be of interest to note that at the time of the rebellion when the credit of the government was at its lowest ebb, the legislature of this State pledged itself to guarantee its repayment, but this emergency never arose. The United States deposit fund is invested in municipal securities and in mortgages for loans in charge of the State comptroller's office of New York. The fund has been kept inviolably intact.

WHAT A HUGO

Shortly before Jess Dandy started cross-country with Louis Mann in Friendly Enemies, he attended a banquet given in honor of Secretary of State Francis M. Hugo, at which time the latter was boomed for governor of New York and buttons were distributed with the name Hugo on them. Jess Dandy pinned the button on the lapel of his coat, where it has remained ever since; and thereby hangs a tale.

The Friendly Enemies company left Kansas City for Denver on Sunday morning, April 18. In due time the train ran into the overzealous blizzard which struck those parts and for fourteen hours was snowbound at a small town called Hugo, Colo. Across from the railroad depot was the Manhattan Cafe, which did credit to Hugo by serving Dandy and several other members of the company with a first-class meal.

This furnished the snowbound company a bit of merriment, and, according to a message from Mr. Dandy,

BUTTON DID

gave amusement to numerous Hugoites who gathered around. Finally one of the yokels called another aside and, nodding toward Jess Dandy whispered in a loud tone: "Wall, yer can't beat them eastern folk fer bein' boosters. Look at that fat guy playin' the piano. He hain't been in this yer town over a couple of hours and durned ef he ain't wearin' a button boostin' the town. That's what I call fast work, and shows why the easterners kin build up a big town in a few years by what I call fast and furious pluggin'."

Before an invitation to put on a show at Hugo's picture theatre could be filled, a snow plow had blazed a way over the Union Pacific's single track and the company reached Denver in time to inform a waiting audience that the opening performance would not be given until the following night.

The Hugo, Colo., referred to was named after T. W. Hugo, older brother of Secretary of State Hugo.

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for State Comptroller

IVIL service from the bottom to the top! That is the record made by James A. Wendell, candidate of the Republican party for the office of State comptroller.

Never since the inauguration of the civil service system has a man started at a clerkship in any of the big State departments and earned promo

tion upward until he became the choice of one of the great parties for head of his department. Usually they go just so far and then stop but in the case of Mr. Wendell it is a different story.

The advancement of Mr. Wendell is not only recognition of

his merit and fitness for the office of comptroller, but it is an unusual application of the civil service principle. Mr. Wendell entered the comptroller's office more than twentysix years ago, after passing a competitive examination, and he has remained in the civil service classification ever since. It was back in 1893 that "Jim" Wendell decided that he wanted to enter the service of the State of New York. He was twenty

four years old and was employed in the Fort Plain National Bank. Previously he had tried reading law in the office of his uncles, John D. and Fred F. Wendell, well known in legal circles of central New York. But he found that he and law never could form a close partnership so he entered the bank and studied finance. Right from the start he

liked it.

When James A. Roberts was elected comptroller in the fall of 1893 Mr. Wendell wrote to ask for a job. Roberts, whose platform during the campaign has been that he intended

to put the comptroller's office on a civil service basis, replied that if young Wendell wanted a job working for the State he would first have to pass a civil service examination to determine his fitness. So Jim tried the tests and passed. He was thirteenth on the list, but the old superstition that this was an unlucky number proved unfounded, for on February 19, 1894, he was named as a clerk by Comptroller Roberts at $1,200 a year.

Mr. Wendell tackled his new task with an