Daily American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1852, 1852-02-28

of respect and reward, But, more than ali.
should Legislatures see that teachers especiaIIy,
female ones, receive compensation ADEQUATE to
their high and arduous labors Considering
the amount Of bodily toll, mental exhaustion
and sacred responsibility there is not class
of laborers on earth who are 50 poorly paid
1t is the fashion in some towns to pauperize
education by ranking it with eleemosynary
stipends to foundling hospitals; and they seem
to think that the more they spend on their
highways and the less they spend on their
schools, so much the better for the town, The
Legislature should see that the highest interests
of the community are not thus degraded; for
of all dear things on earth the dearest of all is
cheap schoolmaster.
Again: paternal and Christian Legislature
should pass the law of compulsion, requiring
that every child shall receive some intellectual
and moral culture In the present state of our
mixed population, this law iscalled for as our
defence. We have in the United States more
than million and half of children, between
the ages of four and sixteen, who are in no
school, and who can neither read nor write |!
Do you ask, what are we going to do with them (!
This is not the question. The question is, what
are they going to do with us? We can dis
arm their animal ferocity only by the implnnt-
alton of moral principles; and this preventive
process can be applied, in nineteen eases out of
twenty, only during the period Of youth Is it
not the duty of the Legislature to see that it is
applied? The law for compelling children to at
tend some school, whether their parents will
or not, is q law OF political economy and COM
prehensive love. The reasons for such law
are these Society has right to defend itself
against crime, against murder, arson, theft, sc.
Now, would ask if society has right to de-
fend itself against crime, whether it has not IN
equal right to defend itself against the cause of
crime, which is IGNORANCE? Has it u right to
defend itself against an effect, and no right to
defend itself against a cause? If you force
young man into prison, because he is o thief
we call upon you to force him, while boy, into
school-house to prevent him becoming thief
IAN ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure" Moreover, every child should be in
structed because every one should be able to
read the constitution and laws of his country,
and to Judge of the candidates for public Office ;
but, above all, because every human being
should be able to read the laws of God and to
obey that sacred injunction search the Scrip
lures daily" What apology can a Christian
Legislature make to God or to liberty, for allow
ing its population to grow up in ignorance? In
the kingdom of Prussia, this law Of compulsion
has been in force ever since 1872 and in that
kingdom there is not a human being who does
not receive education, intellectual and moral,
sufficient for all the wants Of common life. The
law was violently opposed at first, but SO benig-
nant have been its effects that now not fam
lily in the realm would wish its repeal 1t had
been in operation but fourteen years, when
pauperism and crime had diminished thirty
eight per cent. At a time like the present
when legal inquiries have traced back adul
crime to infantile neglect and puerile igno
rance, when craft and outrage are round abou
us, like water round diving-bell, and whel
these violations Of justice and order are in
creasing i'll faster ratio than population or ever
wealth-atsuch time, when Legislatures come
together and debate for months how to punish
have they no right to say a word about prepsn
tion In the name of humanity ask, if Legs
latures have right to hang, and have no right
to educate Ought they not to wake up and
look sharply around them, to see how the
sources of an evil torrent may best be dried up
where the strongest dam may be thrown acros,
its impetuous course, and into what side-chan
nels its blind strength may be diverted?
A law compelling every parent to see that
his children are educated, is demanded by en-
lightened patriotism and Christian philanthropy.
II parent be so weak or wicked rs to refuse
TO his child the daily bread Of knowledge let
the Legislature stand in the place Of parent to
that child, and do for him what his nature de-
mauds and the public safety requires To en-.
force the law, let the selectmen Of town be
empowered to impose, on delinquent parent,
fine not less than one dollar and not more
than five dollars. This fine would not need to be
imposed in any town more than half-a-dozen
times, because public sentiment would so heart
lily approve its benevolent aim that it would
silently change all objections, as WAS the case
in Prussia. 1t is my firm conviction, that If
a proper law should be passed, it would not
take more than five years to bring il into gem
eral popularity Bat to remove all objections
to such law, let towns be left free to enforce
the law or not.
Many other laws would be required in the
new era of Christian legislation but have
space to mention only one more--d fdW 10 Sc
cure moral instruction 10 eUeyy child IN the STATE.
Why should not Legislatures recognise the
highest attributes of humanity A childs
moral nature by which he loves God and man
and virtue, is as much fact in this vast crca-
ton as is his intellectual by which he studies
mathematics or invents machine and more.
over, ii is as capable of culture It's culture is
more important to society than that Of the IN
tellect, because moral teaching produces MI
other teaching, and is reproduced an all others.
The moral nature Of man Is therefore, TO be
recognised rs fact, positive fact an inde-
structble fact and furthermore, rs the fact
which underlies all real improvement and nh
permanent happiness. A wise Creator has
bestowed the sovereignty on the moral and
not on the intellectual part of our mixed con-
stitution Human legislation should therefore
second the divine thereby securing to society
the sovereignty Of conscience.
How can this be done answer--by choos.
ing for legislators those who are in advance OF
the iaihlic In oil tln ilaas aE EE, tralI,