The Rock Island Argus

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the secretary of the treasury be, and he hereby is, authorized and directed to have constructed, under contract, a suitable school house at ——, in accordance with plan and specification to be previously made and approved by him. Provided, that the site, of sufficient size, shall first have been donated by the municipal authorities or citizens of ——. And provided further, that the state of — shall have ceded to the United States exclusive jurisdiction over the same; and for the purpose herein mentioned the sum of thousand dollars is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended under the direction of the secretary of the treasury.

When the building is completed the secretary of the interior is hereby authorized and directed to lease it from year to year to the municipal authorities of ——, for free school purposes exclusively, in consideration of said authorities keeping the building fully insured and in perfect repair.

The above rather unintelligible document was received by Mayor Mott this morning, bearing the Washington, D. C. postmark. The secretary of the treasury has enough to do, we should judge, without dallying with school houses. The people themselves are capable of taking care of their institutions of learning, and do not desire any assistance from the government.