New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-07-13

So s;r,nlv "a a M alter oil interest," We noo "'oo
W.. p.p,erty TO itself 20 provide Education ior
GUY o. .beref,re as the children of A. or Of Il,
~. children Of New. York, her future cultsvators
W. instructors citizens, electors and ralers,
81 nd for the Education of All, a. the cost ana
e, he benefit OF All. la a community where
sipele vote cast in ignorance may iny9ve sue
Country in war, IN aggression and untold ca @
hes Property cannot afford that there DC any eou
adorable proportion Of ignorant voters nor
,,otbers Of yotcrs. To whomsOever shan urge ,ne
dntv Of Is 10 educate his children IN spite o. us
relative poverty, VIC say, Urge upon blm tns' guy
70 the extent Of your powers OF persuasion S"u
ue vsill second you as well 80 We may
Afer the State has done oil 10 its power, mere
w;ll ,tiI remain enough for every father % DO In
the way Of educating and discipining his children
Rnt this rudimentary intellectual culture OF tue
Cannon School is an undertaking not oil Individual
parents, but Of the community-the state ana the
State alone should provide therefor as II lo5
It's other institutions. 1t has very wisely declined
he care of Public Worship which in other countries
forms very important portion OF Its duties and tne
onh;c hurdens and has n0bly assumed the charge
NJ Popular Education, which other Governments
too generally repudiste. Having thus resolved
that dren shall be educated, not Tor his sake
but in fnrtherance of its own policy, and In deler-
ence 10 lis own safety, the State would do wrong
10 tag bis poverty 20 deray the cost OF this safe
guard to property. The Common Schools OF New
York ere TO her what their respective standinS
armies are 10 Russia and Austria and It would DC
as fair to support the latter BY hsaa Tax .. a.
the former. The child OF Indulgence WHO az
tends the District School is discharging .
nnbl;c dntv. ard should be as welcome enero
a. The heir of aHluence and social ois'ncH9 ?
He .boold be made 10 feel that MS aug A@i
inc and development are the sucScs %
General solicitude. Property can DetIef auoiu ~
educate faur children in the school house tnan one
.be.,r"., Tbeteacher when fairly remunerat-
cd AZ he too often is NOT, Is q lar Tess expensive
snnc,ionsrv than the Sheriff, the District Attorney
M the Judge One burglar or thief costs more 70
the community than all the teachers OF an average
towpsbjp The statistics Of our State Prisons prove
that at least three fourths OF our criminals are
drawn from that one ourth Of our population winch
has enjoy ed the least educational advantages
mainly no such advantages at all. Let our Com
mon Schools be abolished to morrow, and Properly
would soon be taxed many times their annual cost
In the shape Of rObberies, riots ana dePreoAsons
For every teacher dismissed, new deputy ones
III. Constable or Policeman would be req1i,eu'
Ard the dismissal from our Schools OF those cndren
of poor bat not abject parents wnom tne rlee
School law has called into them, would be Identical
In nrnciDal with the destruction OF the Schools aeo
getber A large portion Of our children would Dc
educated IL there were no Common ocnoois' ou'
these we know, would not be.
But we are asked why citizen who has WORKED,
and saved ard thrived, should pay for schooling
the children of bis neighbor, who has drank, and
foljcked and sauandered till he has little or nothing
left We answer he should do it In order that
these needy and disgraced children may MOI pc
come what their father is and so, very probably 10
time a public burden as criminals or psupers The
children OF the drunkard and reprobate have hard
enough lot, without being surrendered to bis Judg'
ment and accidental for the measure OF their edu-
cation. If they are to have no more instruction
than he shall see fit and feel able to pay for KIND
Heaven must regard them with sad compassion,
and Man ought ct utterly to leave them ancared
for and subjected TO such moral and intellectual In
6uepces only az their desolate homes must afford.
To stahe the education of States future rulers
and mothers on such parents ideas Of their own
ability and their children's moral needs, is mad
ness-is treason to the common veal. Tney VIII
be quite enough detained even from Free Schools
by supposed inability TO clothe or to spare them ;
but 10 cast into the wrong scale deso weight oi
paternal appetite and avarice, in the form OF rate
bills is to consign them heartlessy to intellectual
darkness and moral perdltlon
And in truth the argument for taxing In equal
amounts the improvidently destitute and the iru
g.lly father Vf u family Tor school purposes
IA precisely as strong for taxing them In equa
amounts 10 build coorthouses, support paupers
difuse Justice, or for any other purpose whatever
Nay, it is even stronger for the drinking, thrift
less, idle parent, is far more likely TO bring ex
pense on the community, in the shape OF crime, Z
be punished, or pauperism to be supported than hi
thrifty and temperate neghbor, and, according u
our sdyezsares' logic he should pay more taxes OF
his log cabin and patch Of weedy garden, than tina
neighbor on his spacious mansion and bounteoul
farm The former will probably turn of two pau
pers to one from the latter and should be assessed
In pauper rate bill, accordingly And his argu
ment from parental misconduct against the justice
Of Free Schools is OF piece with the rest.
1t is with unfeigned regret that we approach the
argument againtt Free Schools, and indeed agains
Common Schools generally which is based on Re
hgion. In the eyes Of the true statesman, conylc
tons of religious duty are Of inestimable worth
and, even when mistaken should be treated witt
all possible Difference Yet, when we see the
preitboods by law established, and not these alone
in one country after another of Europe, resisting
the establishment Of any system OF popular edoca
ton which is not based on the reco milton OF then
respective dogmss as the undoubted truth OF God
we arc constrained 10 recognize and resist an as
sumption fatal 10 that universal diffusion of know
ledge which is the chief pillar of Republican Free
dom. Our late neither atirms nor condemns the
dogmas Of any Church or sect, but commends eact
citizen, In matters of faith and worship, to the
guidance Of his own conscience and Of such spritu
al instructors bis parents In Infancy and his owl
convictions in iiper years shall designate. The
Common School is not above nor adverse L
this, but simply aside from it. II does not pr
tend to give religious THAT is, dogmaticl instruc
ton, far less to supersede il. IL simply requires
the attention Of every child for thirty hourl
per week to intellectual culture, leaving the entir
Sabbath, with Saturday and the greater portion Q
the residue, for such purely religious nurture as pa
rents may choose for their children. When To
doors Of the Church and the Sabbath School ar
opened the Common School is closed, and its II
mates are clearly qualified by its teachings for PR
Rtins by the ssbbsths appropriate lessons. VIII
then should any Church grudge the Comm
School those thirty hours for secular instruction
What is it to gain by dividing and sub-dvidiI
school districts in such manner as 70 render a.
system Of universal education impossible 7 W
entrsat you, fellow citizens, to resist the aPpe
which is made TO some Of you on religious ground
to vote against Free Schools. To vote us dow
will not really accomplish the ends Of our dogma!
adverssries, Tor Common Schools will still RENAL
The religious objection, if valid, is not rel
want 10 the present issue and ought not TO be int
posed to Affect H.
We will not, fellow citizens, urge upon you q
priceless worth Of Education rs an Individual pc