FREE SCHOOLS COME TO UTAH BY S. S. IVINS*
T
of financing the schools of Utah is not a new one, but has been with us from the beginning. And while the school system is a far cry from what it was a hundred years ago, the question of school finances was as real then as it is now. HE PROBLEM
Utah's pioneer leaders have been justly praised for their keen interest in education. They were continually urging upon parents the importance of sending their children to school. But their enthusiasm for education was not carried to the point of suggesting that property be taxed for the support of a system of free schools. They placed upon individual parents the responsibility of paying for the schooling of their children. In cases of worthy poverty, it was proper to extend a helping hand, but this should be done through private charity rather than by taxation. Brigham Young, the foremost of these leaders, expressed the opinion prevailing among his fellows when he said: Many of you have heard what certain journalists have had to say about Brigham Young being opposed to free schools. I am opposed to free education as much as I am opposed to taking away property from one man and giving it to another who knows not how to take care of it. But when you come to the fact, I will venture to say that I school ten children to every one that those do who complain so much of me. I now pay the school fees of a number of children who are either orphans or sons and daughters of poor people. But in aiding and blessing the poor I do not believe in allowing my charities to go through the hands of a set of robbers who pocket ninetenths themselves, and give one-tenth to the poor. . . . Would I encourage free schools by taxation? No! T h a t is not in keeping with the nature of our work. . . .x * Stanley S. Ivins is a direct descendant of such outstanding Mormon pioneers as Erastus Snow and Anthony W. Ivins. A resident of Salt Lake City, he is considered an authority on many phases of Utah and Mormon history.1 Journal of Discourses (26 vols., Liverpool, 1854-86), XVIII, 357.
