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Life of Thomas Eddy

SW_WH1793_Page_160

dollars; and, finally, a large number of town lots, atOswego, amounting to ninety-one thousand threehundred and forty-nine dollars, were sold in thesame year, and the proceeds, together with all thesums obtained from the above-mentioned sources,swelled the productive capital at the beginning of1828, to one million six hundred and thirty thousandeight hundred and ninety-five dollars. The constitution of the state provides, that the proceeds of alllands which shall be hereafter sold, or disposed of,shall belong to the fund for the support of commonschools. In 1830, these lands consisted of eight hun-dred and sixty-nine thousand one hundred andseventy-eight acres, estimated at half a million ofdollars, which, added to the productive capital,makes two millions one hundred and thirty thousandeight hundred and twenty-five dollars. Besides thegeneral fund of the state, there are likewise severallocal funds arising out of certain reserved lands inthe respective counties. More than eighty towns arestated to participate in the benefit of these funds,amounting to the sum of about seventeen thousanddollars annually. Progress of the System. The first distribution ofpublic moneys, out of the fund, was made, as wehave said, in 1816, and not till then, can the systembe said to have gone into actual operation. An esti-mate may be formed of the influence of this systemby comparing the state of things before the funds became available, with that which has existed since.In sixteen counties in which the state of schools wasreported in 1798, the number of schools was then onethousand three hundred and fifty-two, and of scholarsfifty-nine thousand six hundred and sixty. In thesame counties, in 1828, the number of school districtsestablished was two thousand five hundred andeighty-six, and of scholars attending them, one hun-dred and forty-two thousand three hundred andseventy-two. Even this comparison falls far short