Nevertheless, in the end the war served as a stimulus to common schools. It brought about a complete overturn of the old social and industrial order, and the South realized more fully than ever that it could arise from its desperate material and educational plight only through the institution of universal education. As early as 1865, school systems were organized in the border states,--Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia, and even during the harsh and unhappy days of ‘reconstruction’ (1867-1876), efforts were made in other states to build up systems of free public education. The organization of education became more thorough and mandatory than before the war. All children, white and colored, were to attend school between six and twenty-one, and the term was to last from four to six months each year. Property and poll taxation were established for the support of the schools. A state superintendent and state board of education, county commissioners and a county board, and trustees in each district, were provided for. Text-book commissions were often established, and free books were granted to poor children. The foundation for a real system was thus laid. [Sidenote: Obstacles that had to be overcome.] [Sidenote: Peabody Educational Fund and other encouragement.] This was a tremendous undertaking, and shows the greatest courage and executive ability upon the part of the South. Property had been diminished in valuation to the extent of nearly two billion dollars, and there were two million children to be educated. Moreover, under the reconstruction régime, the tax on property was often not collected, and the appropriations for education remained on paper. Indifference and inexperience were aggravated by the fear that ‘mixed’ schools would be forced upon the white population by a reconstruction legislature or a Congress with millennial zeal in behalf of universal brotherhood. These obstacles, together with misdirected effort upon the part of Northern missionaries, and other serious interferences, for fully a decade constituted an enormous stumbling-block. Several factors, however, aided and encouraged the South in its efforts. Of these the most important was the foundation in 1867 of the Peabody Educational Fund of $2,000,000, well characterized as “a gift to the suffering South for the good of the Union.” This fund was placed in the management of the wisest and most sympathetic agents, who appealed to the higher sentiment of the communities and the states, and granted the assistance necessary to stimulate local effort in education. When the fund proved insufficient for the great task, the trustees pleaded with Congress for an additional subsidy, and made the whole country aware of the crying needs of education in the South. Through these appeals, more than ten million dollars from various sources have since been granted to the different grades of public education. [Sidenote: Struggle won by 1890 and constant progress since.]