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CHAPTER XXXVII.

EDUCATION IN MICHIGAN-THE COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM - THE UNIAGRICULTURAL COLLEGE-STATE NORMAL SCHOOLALBION COLLEGE-ADRIAN COLLEGE-KALAMAZOO COLLEGE-HILLSDALE COLLEGE-OLIVET COLLEGE-STATE REFORM SCHOOL-STATE PUBLIC SCHOOL-ASYLUM FOR THE DEAF, DUMB AND BLINDMICHIGAN FEMALE SEMINARY - DETROIT MEDICAL COLLEGEDETROIT HOMEOPATHIC COLLEGE-GOLDSMITH'S BRYANT & STRATTON BUSINESS UNIVERSITY—Mayhew BUSINESS COLLEGE.

THE ordinance passed by Congress for the government of the Northwestern Territory, known as the Ordinance of 1787, provided that "Schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged." In 1804 Congress passed an act providing for the sale of lands in the Indian Territory, of which Michigan was a part, and in that act there was an express reservation from sale of Section 16 in every township, "for the support of schools." The year following the Territory of Michigan was organized, and all the rights and privileges which were conferred by the above named acts were confirmed to the Territory of Michigan. Subsequently a provision was incorporated in the State constitution declaring that the proceeds of these lands shall "remain a perpetual fund for that object." The ordinance admitting Michigan into the Union declared that section 16 of each township should be granted to the State for the use of schools. The wisdom of this provision can be readily understood when it is known that much difficulty arose in other States from the inequality of the grant in different townships. This inequality was owing to the fact that in some townships the section would be found to be utterly worthless. This led to serious difficulties, and Congress or the Legislature was constantly besieged by these townships to come to their relief. Learning wisdom from the experience of other States, Michigan submitted

an ordinance granting the lands to the State at large; thus equalizing the grant among the several townships, and obviating the difficulty experienced by other States who had attempted to carry out the original design of Congress by giving each township

J. H. GOLDSMITH, President of Goldsmith's Bryant and Stratton Business College, Detroit, was born in the town of Newburg, Orange county, New York, in 1813.

At the age of twenty-four, he went to Ohio, taking up his residence in Deavertown, which was at that time a young but flourishing town. Mr. Goldsmith first secured a position as book-keeper with a merchant in that place; but without taxing the reader with the details of his industry, or by following him step by step in the hours of his hope and struggle, it is sufficient to state that in six years after his arrival in Deavertown he was

separate control of the section granted. Under the arrangement adopted in the case of Michigan, the loss occasioned by worthless sections fell upon the State at large, and the benefits accrued to all alike, each sharing, in common with the rest, the benefits of the common school fund.

The first law passed by the Territorial Legislature in reference to schools was in 1827. This law provided that the citizens of any township having fifty householders should provide themselves with a school teacher, of good moral character, to teach the children to read and write. Any township having two hundred householders was required to provide themselves with a teacher who was capable of teaching Latin, French and English. A penalty of $50 to $100 was provided for neglect to comply with the provisions of the law. In 1833 another law was passed creating the office of superintendent of common schools. It also provided for three commissioners and ten inspectors, who were to have charge of the school lands.

Upon the admission of the State into the Union, in 1837, the first State Legislature passed a primary school law, similar, in almost every respect, to the law of the State of New York. It provided for the division of the State into school districts, having a sufficient number of inhabitants to support a teacher. grades of pupils were admitted to these schools. When he pop

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elected to the office of Mayor of that place. Having served the people in a most satisfactory manner during the first term, he was designated by the popular voice to fill the same position a second term. He remained in Deavertown until 1849, and during his residence in that place occupied many offices of public trust in the municipal government, besides making considerable advancement in mercantile pursuits.

In 1849, he accepted the position of teacher in the business college of Mr. John Gundry, at Cincinnati, and since that date his life has been uninterruptedly devoted to the interesting theme of actual business practice, and with what results will be seen anon.

After several years in this college at Cincinnati, which gave him no small reputation as a professor of commercial ethics and business discipline, Mr. Goldsmith went to Sandusky, Ohio, and opened the Commercial Institute in connection with the School of Design in that place. Subsequently he was induced by Messrs. Bryant & Stratton to accept a

ulation increased so that the school houses were too much crowded the district was subdivided. The same process was adopted in the villages, the result of which was that there would sometimes be five or six school houses within a stone's throw of each other. Very little attention was paid to school architecture, and some of the school houses were bad and some were worse. The character and duration of the several schools were also exceedingly variable; some being good and some poor, and some continued for nine months and some for three. This state of affairs continued for a number of years; but upon the discontinuing of the branches of the University, a new system was devised. By the new plan the various schools in the villages were united into one. These were called union schools. They were divided into several departments, called primary, intermediate, grammar and high school. Each department was divided into grades or classes, for purposes of different degrees of advancement. These schools are now designated as graded schools. The curriculum of the high school department is the same as that of the best academies, and pupils graduating from the high schools are entitled to enter the University without further examination.

As has been intimated, the character of the school architecture of the State was of a very low order for many years. The establishment of graded schools, however, created a necessity for a

position as teacher in the graduating department of the Buffalo Bryant & Stratton Business College, and after filling the last mentioned post with honor to himself and credit to the institution for several years, he was admitted as a partner, and commissioned to found a Bryant & Stratton Business College in Detroit. Accordingly, in 1857, he visited the Queen City of the Straits, and purchased Mr. William D. Cochrane's Commercial Institute. It then took the name of Bryant, Stratton & Goldsmith's Business College, which it bore until 1869, when the last named gentleman purchased the interests of his partners, thereby becoming the sole proprietor of one of the best commercial institutions in the Northwest.

It should be stated that at the death of Mr. Stratton, which occurred about this time, a change in the proprietorship of all the Bryant & Stratton Business Colleges took place, the resident principal or partner at each point purchasing Bryant & Stratton's interest in the same. This necessitated a new and more permanent organization, based upon the

better class of buildings. The State had, in the meantime, grown wealthy, the people were prosperous and intelligent, and fully appreciated the demands of the age. The result is that Michigan possesses, perhaps, the finest school buildings of any State in the Union, in proportion to its wealth and population. Each town vied with the others in erecting the finest school edifice, and it is not uncommon to find, in a town of two or three thousand inhabitants, a school house costing $20,000 or $30,000. In the cities and larger towns they sometimes cost over $100,000. There are about 5,500 school houses in the State, the aggregate value of which is estimated to be not far from $7,500,000.

In addition to the land granted by act of Congress before referred to, one-half the amount of the cash sales of the swamp lands of the State goes to augment the primary school fund. Of the former there were originally about 1,000,000 acres. A little over one-half of these lands have been sold, from which the sum of $2,601,319 has been realized. From the sale of swamp lands there has been received the sum of $218,462, making a total of $2,819,781 as the present school fund of the State. It is estimated that when the remaining school and swamp lands are sold, the school fund of Michigan will amount to at least $5,000,000. There are about 250 graded schools in the State, and 5,500 district schools. These give employment to 3,035 male teachers,

reciprocity plan, in order to perpetuate the benefits of the chain scholarship, and to secure such other advantages as would be likely to flow from organized effort, uniformity of text books, similarity of practice, etc.

In answer to this demand came the International Business College Association, extending throughout the United States and Canada, comprising the best colleges fornerly belonging to the Bryant & Stratton chain, and including some other first class commercial institutions that did not belong to it.

As already observed, in 1869, the Bryant, Stratton & Goldsmith Detroit Business College came under the proprietorship of Mr. J. H. Goldsmith, and is noticed in another part of this work under the head of the educational interests of Michigan.

Since the above date, Mr. Goldsmith has devoted his whole time to the advancement and interests of his college, and undoubtedly has brought it to nearly a state of perfection.