collateral security, subject to redemption by the city, and their sale was made without the authority of any action of the board, and in our judgment was entirely unnecessary. Being desirous of more full information relative to the manner in which business had been transacted during the preceding year than was afforded by the records of the office, we caused recently an examination to be made of the accounts and vouchers as filed in the Interior Department. The result showed such grave discrepancies and other serious defects, that we are induced to submit herewith a copy of the report made to us, (marked D,) and to invite your attention to the same.

COMPLIANCE WITH THE ACTS OF CONGRESS.

As to compliance with the laws of Congress relative to the provision of funds for the support of the colored schools, we have to state, that the mode of ascertaining the amounts required by law to be sup plied for this purpose by the corporate authorities of Washington and Georgetown does not put it in the power of the trustees to know whether the full sum is set apart and paid over, independently of information furnished to them by these authorities.

The act of July 23, 1866, requires "the cities of Washington and Georgetown to pay over to the trustees of colored schools of said cities such a proportionate part of all moneys received or expended for school or educational purposes in said cities, including the cost of sites, buildings, improvements, furniture and books, and all other expenditures on account of schools, as the colored children between the ages of six and seventeen years in the respective cities bear to the whole number of children, white and colored, between the same ages; that the money shall be considered due and payable to said trustees the first day of October of each year, and if not then paid over to them, interest at the rate of ten per centum per annum on the amount unpaid may be demanded and collected," &c.

It will thus be seen that while the proportion of moneys to be set apart for colored schools is fixed by law, the amounts actually expended for the white public schools, on which the computation is to be made, can be ascertained by us only from such statements as the respective corporate authorities may from time to time furnish to this board.

We take pleasure in adding, however, that such statements have been, so far as we are aware, promptly furnished in all cases, when called for by this board, or its treasurer, and that (inadvertencies excepted) we have no reason to call in question their accuracy.

With a view, nevertheless, to laying before the Senate satisfactory evidence on this point, we have addressed communications to the mayors of the respective cities, requesting them to furnish such official statements as will cover the ground of this inquiry. A copy of our request to the mayor of Washington, with his response, is hereunto appended, (marked respectively E and F.) The reply of the mayor of Georgetown to a similar request is also appended. (marked G.)

In respect to promptness in paying over to this board such amounts as were acknowledged to be due by the respective municipal authorities, we have to say that the city of Georgetown has, in all cases, met its obligations without delay. The authorities of Washington, however, though evidently disposed to fulfill the requirements of law in this matter, have at times failed, in consequence of financial embarrassments, as we believe, to do so as promptly as has been desirable. The result has been that the board of trustees has been unable, during the last

two years, to undertake the erection of additional school buildings, though these have been urgently needed, and the amount due, could it have been obtained, would have covered the expense. We subjoin a copy of a communication addressed to his honor the mayor of Washing ton, on the 6th of October last, (see inclosure marked H,) requesting the payment of the amounts then due, and citing the acts of Congress and of the corporation, bearing on the matter. We are gratified to add that the mayor, in response to this communication, has manifested every disposition to comply, fully and promptly, with the law, and that the full amount due, so far as ascertained, has since been paid over into our hands, so that no cause of complaint now exists.

EXTENT OF SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS.

By reference to the report of the superintendent herewith incorporated" (pages 10 and 22, original,) it will be seen that the school buildings now owned by the trustees can seat but 2,944 pupils, or about 31 per cent. of the 9,300 children for whose education we are required to provide. while 6 per cent. more are very poorly accommodated in rented buildings, for the most part quite unfit for the purpose. It thus appears that nearly 63 per cent. of the colored children are unprovided with public school accommodations of any kind, while few enjoy the advantage of private schools worthy of the name.

There are now in operation, as already stated, 66 schools, in which 64 teachers and assistants, including a teacher of music, are employed by the trustees. Five teachers in addition are furnished and paid by the New England Friends' Association, to whom great credit is due for the liberal and long-continued aid they have rendered to the work of education in this city. They have, however, given us notice that they will be compelled to withdraw before the close of the school year, for the want of funds to go on. It should be added in this connection that the trustees, having recently obtained from the corporation of Washington funds sufficient for the purpose, have already contracted for the erection of a large and commodious school building capable of seating 550 pupils. It will take the place of a dilapidated building now standing on C street south, near Second east, and will add about 300 seats to the accommodations now existing. The building is to be of brick, 68 feet front by 75 in depth, and will have four stories, with a Mansard roof. It will have 10 school-rooms, each 25 by 32 feet, and an assembly hall of sufficient capacity to seat all the pupils, with ample cloak-rooms, closets, provisions for ventilation, and other conveniences. In the basement, provisions will be made for heating apparatus, fuel-rooms, janitors' rooms, and play-rooms for each sex, in addition to inclosed grounds in the rear of the building. The plans and specifications for this school-house have been prepared with great care by Edward Clark, esq., the wellknown and accomplished architect of the Capitol, whose valuable services in this matter have been gratuitously rendered. It is believed that, when completed, this building will be not only an ornament to the seetion of the city where it will stand, but at the same time the most convenient, well-adapted, and economical structure of the kind in the city or District. It will be erected as soon as the season will permit, and will cost about $25,000.

Besides this, the trustees estimate that the revenue of the current school year (if promptly paid over) will enable them to erect another building of equal capacity in another section of the city, which they hope speedily to put under contract. But both these buildings, when completed, will still leave upward of 5,000 children without a seat in school.

NEED OF ADDITIONAL LEGISLATION.

In regard to further legislation by Congress, required to promote the educational interests of the people of color, we beg leave, in response to the invitation of the honorable Senate, respectfully to submit the following considerations:

It is our judgment that the best interests of the colored people of this capital, and not theirs alone, but those of all classes, require the abrogation of all laws and institutions creating or tending to perpetuate distinctions based on color, and the enactment in their stead of such provisions as shall secure equal privileges to all classes of citizens. The laws creating the present system of separate schools for colored children in this District were enacted as a temporary expedient to meet a condition of things which has now passed away. That they recognize and tend to perpetuate a cruel, unreasonable, and unchristian prejudice, which has been and is the source of untold wrong and injustice to that class of the community which we represent, is ample reason for their modification. The experience of this community for the last few years has fully demonstrated that the association of different races in their daily occupations and civic duties is as consistent with the general convenience as it is with justice. And custom is now fully reconciled at this capital to the seating side by side of white and colored people, in the railway car, the jury-box, the municipal and government offices, in the city councils, and even in the halls of the two houses of Congress. Yet while the fathers may sit together in those high places of honor and trust, the children are required by law to be educated apart. We see neither reason nor justice in this discrimination. If the fathers are fit to associate, why are not the children equally so?

Children, naturally, are not affected by this prejudice of race or color. To educate them in separate schools tends to beget and intensify it in their young minds, and so to perpetuate.it to future generations. If it is the intention of the United States that these children shall become citizens in fact, equal before the law with all others, why train them to recognize these unjust and impolitic distinctions? To do so is not only contrary to reason, but also to the injunction of Scripture, which says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Objection to the step here recommended has been made on the ground of expediency. Every advanced step in the same direction has been opposed on the same superficial allegation.

The right of the colored man to ride in the railway cars, to cast the ballot, to sit on the jury, to hold office, and even to bear arms in defence of his country, has encountered the same objection. We are confident that it will prove of no greater weight in the present case than it has in the others. There is no argument for equality at the ballot-box, in the cars, or the jury, in holding office, and bearing arms, which is not equally applicable in the present case. We may go further, and insist that equality in the other cases requires equality here; otherwise, the whole system is incomplete and inharmonious.

It is worthy of note in this connection that some of the most distinguished men in literary, social, and political circles in this section of the country have recently, in setting forth their claims to be considered the best and truest friends of the people of color, taken pains to inform the public that they were reared with colored children, played with them in the sports of childhood, and were even suckled by colored nurses in infancy; hence, that no prejudice against color exists on their part. If

this be so, then with what show of consistency or reason can they object to the children of both classes sitting side by side in school?

That the custom of separation on account of color must disappear from our public schools, as it has from our halls of justice and of legislation, we regard as but a question of time. Whether this unjust, unreasonable, and unchristian discrimination against our children shall continue at the capital of this great republic is for the wisdom of Congress to determine.

We deem it proper to add that a bill now before the honorable Senate, entitled "A bill to secure equal rights in the public schools of Washington and Georgetown, " (Senate No. 361, forty-first Congress, second session,) reported to that body, May 6, 1870, by Mr. Senator Sumner, meets our approbation. It is plain and simple, and prescribes the true rule of equality for our schools. This bill is in the nature of a "cornerstone." Beyond this bill the trustees further recommend certain other requirements essential to a school system worthy of the District of Columbia.

1. Provision should be made for a large increase of the number of members constituting the board of trustees for the city of Washington. Even the number which would be formed by adding together both school boards, as now constituted, would in our opinion be insufficient. In order to secure a proper and vigilant supervision of the schools, and due attention to the various details on which their success depends, a board of trustees consisting of not less than twenty-one members for Washington alone, or three for each ward, is needed, and five for Georgetown. These trustees should be residents of the ward for which they serve, and, after the first term, should hold their office for three years, one-third to retire annually; and they should be appointed in such a manner that their tenure of office shall be as little as possible affected by local politics. Should Congress see fit, as hereinafter urged, to make an appropriation in aid of our schools, it would, in our judg ment, be just and proper that the Government, through the President of the United States, should appoint a part of the trustees, proportionate to the amount of aid afforded.

2. This board of trustees should be authorized to employ a competent superintendent of schools, who should be a person of the highest quali fications for the position, and should hold his office for the term of three years. They should also have authority to employ and properly compensate a secretary and a treasurer outside theirown number; the treas urer to be placed under suitable bond for the security of the funds intrusted to his care.

3. The trustees should be also be authorized to establish schools of a higher grade than now exist, and especially a school for the preparation of teachers for their work. The present law contemplates only the institution of "primary schools" for colored children, though the term "primary" has been presumed and construed to include the elementary branches usually taught in our grammar schools. But the demand for a high school, in which some portion of these pupils may obtain fitness for higher departments of usefulness, is now urgently pressed upon us, and preparatory steps have been taken to meet it. A still more urgent necessity exists for the establishment of a school for the special training of teachers. We earnestly invite your attention to the weighty consid erations on this point embodied in the accompanying report of our superintendent. These considerations apply with especial force to the schools under our charge. The great majority of the pupils are not only suffering the hereditary effects of the deprivations and wrongs

of centuries, but the poverty of their parents affords them at best but a brief period in which they can enjoy the advantages of schools. Hence the importance of providing for them teachers so trained and skilled in their work that they shall be able to impart the greatest practicable amount of instruction in the shortest time.

4. It should also be provided that any action taken by the board of trustees calculated directly or indirectly to subserve the private interest of any member, to the detriment of the public good, shall be null and void, and that such member thereafter be disqualified for the office. All temptations or opportunities to use the office of school trustee for private emolument should be as far as possible removed. This is rendered desirable from the fact that the office, which, in former years, when there were small funds to be handled, went begging for incumbents, is now eagerly coveted and urgently sought for.

5. We would further earnestly advise that whatever changes may in the wisdom of Congress be determined upon in the organization or management of the schools, such changes should not take effect until after the close of the current school year, that is, after June 30, 1871. Arrangements and plans for the present year, including the introduction of a new system of gradation and course of instruction, calculated, as we believe, to greatly improve the condition of the schools, have already been entered upon, and we are now in course of successful application. One-half of the year has already expired. To interrupt these plans and to disturb these arrangements, by a change of organization or administration in the midst of the term, cannot be otherwise than disastrous to the progress of the pupils. Besides, as already stated, the schools which we represent are now under the superintendence of a gentleman of whose competency and efficiency there is no question, and whose past success in the position is a guarantee of progress and improvement for the future; and we consider ourselves fortunate in the selection of a corps of teachers who for the most part have proved competent and faithful, among whom are several whose qualifications are of the highest order. And measures have been taken to remedy deficiencies as rapidly as possible.

6. We would urge the need of additional legislation for the purpose of providing more ample funds for the support of our schools and the supply of school accommodations. We have already exhibited, under the appropriate head, the meagerness of the provisions we have thus far been able to make for the nine thousand children placed under our charge; also our plans for increasing these provisions to the extent of the means at our command.

When this shall have been accomplished, considerably more than one-half of the colored children of school age will still be unprovided with seats in school. Besides, it should be noted that a part of the buildings now owned by the trustees, containing nearly 1,000 seats, are of a temporary character, and, for safety as well as convenience, must speedily be replaced by more permanent and properly adapted structures.

Not less than one hundred thousand dollars, beyond the anticipated evenne, ought to be expended in the coming year in school-houses alone, and an equal sum in the next following year. To what source shall we look for the supply of this need? Northern philanthropy has already done more for us than could be expected. The corporation of Washington has done all that can be asked, especially when it is considered that the great bulk of the population to be provided for has been brought hither, not by the business growth of the city, but as a result of the great civil commotion which of late swept over our land. ́