fore the vote is taken. I do not propose to
make any argument in favor of the amend-
ment which I have proposed, but simply to
express my high appreciation of this scheme
for the '.introduction of a general system of
common school instruction in this State. In
most of its features I very heartily indorse
and shall most cheerfully vote for it And I
do not wish to be understood, in the amend-
ment I have offered, as indicating" any dispo-
sition to regard the office of State superinten-
dent as a sinecure, for I do regard it as an
important one. But it is only because I think
a man eligible to the position, and adapted in
every respect to fill it, can beobtained for the
amount I have inidicated, that I have been
prompted to offer this amendment. So far as
the general features of the report are concern-
ed, I most heartily indorse them, and shall
most cheerfully vote for them.
Mr. PURNELL. I do not intend to enter into
any extended argument upon this subject. I
rise simply to state the reasons why I shall
favor the amendment proposed by the gentle-
man from Caroline (Mr. Todd.) I should
be very reluctant to depreciate this office by
affixing to it a salary which would be wholly
inadequate to its importance. For I hold the
doctrine that in order to secure proper and
competent officers for any position, proper
compensation should be awarded to them for
their services. In view, however, of all the
circumstances that surround this office, I
think that the amount proposed in the amendment
of the gentleman from Caroline will suf-
ficiently and fairly compensate an officer who
may be clothed with the duties which this
officer would be necessarily required to per-
form.
it is proposed by the committee to pay him
a salary of three thousand dollars exclusive
of office and travelling expenses. These office
and travelling expenses I suppose must neces-
sarily be defrayed by the State. This officer
would be required to report to the legislature
the amount of expenses he bad incurred in
the performance of his duties, which would
be paid to him over and above the compensa-
tion allowed to him as a salary. So far as
his travelling expenses are concerned, I will
only speak in reference to my particular sec-
tion of the State, and my particular section
of the eastern shore of this State. There his
travelling expenses would necessarily be very
light, for an officer occupying this position
coining among our people would be conveyed
from one point in the county to another
wherever his duties might require him to
attend, free of expense. He would be enter-
tained by the citizens of the county without
any expectation of being paid for his board or
entertainment in any wily. Thus I say his
expenses in that view would be very light
and so would be his travelling expenses
There is no means of communication there
either by railway or steamboat, through the |
district of country through which he would
necessarily pass, and he would have to be
conveyed in carriages, &c. And I am very
well satisfied that our people would, without
expe-ise, convey this officer from one part of
the county to another, wherever his public
duties might require him to go. Consequently
his expenses there would be merely nominal.
I think, furthermore, that there are many
gentlemen who are qualified—witheout any
depreciation at all of their capacity and re-
quirements, either practical or literary—who
would willingly discharge the duties of this
office for a compensation of two thousand dol-
lars. My experience in the legislature laist
winter, while this subject was pending before
the two houses, was that there were gentle-
men here of known capacity and experience
in this particular department, scientific men,
professors, if you please, who were willing to
accept the office that was then proposed to be
established for a salary of fifteen hundred
dollars. I thought then, and I think now,
that that salary was too small, though they
were under the impression that it would com-
pensate them. They seemed to'take the same
view that I now take, that their travelling
expenses in certain parts of the State would
be merely nominal, and that what they re-
ceived would be for the actual labor they
would be required to perform,
Now, after this system is got into full oper-
ation, after the report is made by this super-
intendent, and the whole system is gotten un-
der way, his duties and labors will be greatly
diminished by the assistant superintendents
which are provided for in the next section of
this report, who would furnish him all the
information from various parts of the State,
which he would otherwise be require'l to ob-
tain for himself, and thus would lighten the
duties devolved upon him. So that all the
labor which he would have to perform might
be performed in his office. The information
received from the assistant superintendents in
the various counties would enable him to
make out the reports provided for in this
article.
I think, then, that two thousand dollars
would amply compensate this officer for the
labor and duties which he would be required
to perform, and I think there area great many
men—without in any manner depreciating
their capacity or the importance of the posi-
tion—who would be willing to take this office,
and gladly discharge the duties lo the fullest
extent and in accordance with the provisions
of the law, for the sum of two thousand dol-
lars a year. And with that view, I shall sup-
port the amendment of the gentleman from
Caroline (Mr. Todd,) thinking that salary
ample and liberal,
Mr. RIDGELY. I do not propose to discuss
this question any further. But I rise for
the purpose of offering an amendment to this
section. As I said, when I was up before, 1 |
