tion with other officers named in this bill, a
large patronage to bestow. He has to see that
the whole system of this machinery is made
to work with perfect uniformity and perfect
harmony. He is above all others responsible
for the successful working of this entire ma-
chinery. I regard this as the first and most
important step, that we are now about to take in
inaugurating this institution. If we fail here
of commanding eminent talent with a view of
the embodiment of a proper system of public
education, if we fail here in the inception to
hold forth sufficient inducements to men of
ability and capacity to take this place, the whole
system will fail. Here is the foundation, the
basis, the selection of a man of eminent qual-
ifications for this place; and I am satisfied
you will not obtain one for a less sum than
$3,000 a year.
Mr, PUGH. I only rise to say I indorse every
word of the view presented by the gentleman
from Baltimore county (Mr. Ridgely.) I be-
lieve that there cannot be in the State a more
important office; and that we should be more
careful in selecting a man to fill that office
than any other in the State.
But I wish to object to the idea that was
presented by the gentleman from Howard (Mr,
Sands.) I do not know that he presented it
in full, but it was an idea suggested by his
remarks, that the only kind of a man neces-
sary for a position of this kind, would be one
who would take it as a God-send at a salary
of $2,000, and would go to work, and from
the records of the school systems adopted in
other States, make up a system which would
do very well for the State of Mary Hand, who
could get along very well in his position by
following the path laid down by other men
before him, who would play, as it were, sec-
ond fiddler, in this matter.
We want no such man for the State of Ma-
ryland. My idea is, as the gentleman from
Baltimore county (Mr. Ridgely) has sugges-
ted, that the man we desire in this State, shall
be capable of handling the whole subject fully,
and who would be qualified to inaugurate a
system of public education in the State, even
if there never had been any system established
in other States. And I wish to say, having
that idea of the kind of man suggested by the
gentleman from Baltimore county, that such
a man in my opinion cannot be secured for
$2,000 a year.
That raises the question, what makes the
difference in the value of men. That is a mat-
ter about which we have nothing to do.—
It is a matter that depends altogether upon
the God who made man. There is a great
difference in men. We experience it in other
walks of life. We see it all around us. In
the business which I in part manage in the
town of Port Deposit, among forty or fifty
men, there is scarcely two in the whole estab-
lishment that receive the same wages. You
may say that it is not right. I suggest that it |
is right. If one man labors better, more suc-
cessfully, he is entitled to higher wages, and
will receive them. if one man by devoting
his whole time and attention, or more time
than other men, gets through with a greater
amount of labor, upon the principle that the
laborer is worthy of his hire, he is worth more
money,
How does this apply, not only to mechani-
cal branches of industry, but to other branches
of industry? You may see that a certain
man superintending a railroad company gets
$5,000 a year; an immense salary. Why
does he get it? Here is another man, every
way as worthy a man, who cannot get $1,000
a year, who would in the language of the gen-
tleman from Howard (Mr. Sands,) take it as
a God-send to get $2,000 a year. Why do you
give the other man $5,000 a year? He tells
you, "1 can make $5,000 a year; that is not
your fault or mine, if I can make it and you
cannot; if I am industrious and attend to my
business, and go to work in such a way as to
be able to make $5,000 a year, that is my
value."
Every man has his value in the market,
just the same as every commodity has its value
in the market. If you come to me and offer
me work, at $1,000 a year, and if I can make
$1,500 a year, I will not take your work.—
But if I cannot make $1,000 at anything else,
1 will take your work and be glad to get it.
It is so in the intellectual walks of life. It is
so in literature. Some great authors receive
immense sums of money for a single work.
Why do they receive them? Because that is
their value in the market. Some men are bet-
ter calculated for business than others, and
can make more money than others; and they
have a perfect right to make more money.
It is nobody's fault in particular; but it is
the difference in men. It has been sug-
gested, and I indorse the suggestion, that
the kind of man required for this position,
should be one who is in our estimation
worth at least $3,000 a year, I say he
should be a man who is capable of going to
work and introducing a new system into the
State. It is generally expected that it will be
an entirely new system, and it requires more
than an ordinary man. For that reason, 1
think the public will not expect us to hire an
ordinary man. The gentleman from Balti-
more county (Mr. Ridgely) has suggested that
we cannot get such a man as we require for
any less sum than $3,000 a year.
How is it with ministers of the gospel ?—
One minister of the gospel is just as good as
another. We see with amazement a minister
in New York receiving $5,000 a year. it is
an outrageous price to pay. Why does he re-
ceive it? God has given him an intellect
which makes him worth that amount per an-
num, if you put him anywhere else. It is
no fault of ours. It is no unjust discrimina-
tion we make. It is because he has the intel- |
