The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-01-03

completely the principle which IL 4 based. Edu-
cation in the district schools not yet entirely Free
ii the cost Of the schools in any district exceeds the
amount Of money received from the State, the deh-
cheney mace up by rate BILL assessed upon those VINO
send their children school, and those who unable
TO pay this assessment relieved at the public
pen and thus the recipients Of public charity
The element of the old system Ii thus preserved
and the fundamental principle Of the law fails Of its
application in its most essential point Education is
still regarded a. matter OF charity and not OF right;
gree or any extent, 1t will detract from the full
measure Of usefulness which the system is designed to
secure This evil in the system be remedied only
by making the schools entirely free.
The attention Of the Legislature should also be d.
Iected to for improving the character of the
schools increasing their efficiency and elevatng
and extending the instruction which they impart In
State where every citizen should take active interest
in the administration Of public affairs and may be called
upon to perform the highest duties Of public life 1t is
important that popular education be carried to the
hss p9nI To he Of
people do not prize that which costs them nothing and
that relieving individuals from the expense of educating
their children win diminish their interest in the
subject and lead them to relax the vigilance
which is essential to the highest excellence in
the public schools. There is undoubtedly some
force in the suggestion, though experience. shows
that 1t is much less than is sometimes supposed.
But whether it be less 1t is entitled to consi
deraton and provision should be made for obviating
the objection in any system of education which the
State may adopt An obvious mode of doing this by
which the schools shall be regularly visited and their
discipline examined by competent officers selected for
that purpose. Various attempts have been made to
supply this but OF them have hitherto proved en-
tey successful The agency provided by the present
law Is that of town superintendent but 1t is found
more expensive and less efficient than is desirable and
gives rise to local dssensons injurious to the
full working of the general system. Similar objections
led to the abandonment OF the system Of county super
visitation can be efsctuay reconciled with pub.
lie sentiment and made economical and effective
than has been hitherto the end which il is designed
to secure must be sought by other means.
The connection OF our common schools with the
higher institutions Of learningwh acade mics and col
legefmaking them ALL in fact parts Of great sys
emcoud not fail to contribute essentially to their
elevation, and bring the means of thorough and COM
plete education within the reach OF ALL In the city OF
New York. where the free school system Of the State
has BEEN perhaps more completely developed than in
any other section the benefits of substantially such
union very conspicuous. free academy has been
added to the system, in which large and competent
corps of professors and tutors has been provided plan
of study extending over five years. and embracing all
branches of study pursued In the best colleges of the
country has been adopted scientific apparatus, libra
res and all the aids requisite for study have been fur
nished and the general discipline and Of nstruc
ton have made in all respects of the highest and
most efficient character Pupils who shall have attended
any of the District schools for eighteen months-man
tanned throughout good standing and character, and
passed satisfactory examination in certain specified
tudes admitted to the academy and entitled to the
The academy has been in operation only three or four
years. and the average number of its students is over
four hundred The attendance shows that its benefits
fully appreciated. But besides the thorough and
most useful instruction conferred upon 80 large mum
Der Of the children and youth OF the community its
most marked advantages are seen In the influence which
it exerts upon the common schools-stmulating their
teachers trustees inspectors and pupils alike to gene
rivalry increasing their vigilance and industry,
and rendering them Jealous and emuous in sending the
best pupils to the academy, whose facilities for education
the prize for which all may alike contend While am
aware that large cities afford facilities for such system
which cannot be fully enjoyed in the rural districts,
think tina somehng may DO done throughout the State
in this direction. voluntary beginning indeed has
already been made in sections, by the establish
m Union Schools. and their shows that
the system is not wholly mpractcable i think that the
time has come when higher purposes and broader views
education ana thaI h1ediste Connection with the rene
raj plan and thrown widely and freely open
to the advantages they are intended to confer The
character of their instruction should be elevated and its
range extended; and they should be more completely
furnished with apparatus and the of imparting
knowledge in those sciences which of the most
vice in practical life. by making free admission to the
thorough and complete education they would then af
ford the reward Of excellence in District Schools
stimulus would be furnished which could not fail to be
felt benefciay upon their discipline and character 1t
would be highly desirable to bring the colleges Of the
State into harmonious connection with such plan, SO
that they might become directly recognized rs
members general system of State education and
essential to its completeness and perfection.
The subject of the revision of excise laws win de-
mand and doubt not will receive your serious aten-
ton To the practical operation Of these laws, either
through their inherent ycousness in consequence of
their lax administration, is attributed small proper
ton Of the drunkenness which aicts land Some
thing of this is undoubtedly attributable to the nonen
forcement of our laws, such as they are but viii not
withhold my conviction that the laws themselves are
radically defective, and however faithfully admins
tered must be held justly responsible for the evils which
they foster, and in many instances create.
II the consequences of intemperance were confined to
its immediate victims-though even then the State
would have interest at stakehere might, perhaps,
be less occasion for legislative action But such is not
the fact Every interest of society which IT is the
vince of government protect is, Immediately
motley, involved in these consequences.
Intemperance deprives the State Of the productive
energy Of thousands Of her citizens and so far dmin
ishes its wealth. impedes its enterprise and initiates
against the good. II is fruitful of the
paupersm which imposes heavy burdens upon industry
and pital and its intimate relation TO crime and
sequenty to the burdens which crime imposes upon us,
is too obvious to esea your observation II the purely
moral aspects which IL presents shall be deemed not
entering within the scope of your duties its relation to
taxation, and its producing Is clearly within the
province Of legislation, and demands degree Of atten.
ton corresponding to the great issues which that rea-
ton involves.
The right to egslae in reference to the traffic in in
toxicating liquors will not be denied Our present
excise system is the fruit Of such legislation. 1t
has, in the process OF time, undergone many modi.
fcatons, but its restrictive element, throughout
oil these changes, has been retained, in subservi
ence to the original purpose of the system wiz
the prohibition of the traffic far the public
good may demand and the constitutional limitations of
the law-makng power will permit All restrictive legs-
hibition partially applied so that what is tern pro.
hbitory legislation in regard to the liquor tr de- Is
only HE extension Of principle endorsed sound by
successive Legislatures and its impartial application TO
all The object proposed by the founders Of our State
when they Incorporated the license system into It's egs
aton has not yet been attained neither has he CON
stitutonal power OF the Legislature ia reference TO it.
vet been exhausted With the utmost desire TO reach
right conclusions in relation 70 this matter, AMI TO
guard against tho assumption of powers not conferred
by Fundamental law, have found myself aable TO
10 any other result than hsthat the legislative
prohibition Of the traffic in intoxicating drinks il not
only demanded OF protection the health
the property, and the lives of fellow citizens but
that IL is also distinctly indicated BY the and
purpose Of civil government, and clearly within the
limits OF its constitutional These opinioug
dindenty entertained at first have been wrought into
convictions by ~ careful study OF the limitations and
duties of the awmasing power, by jacicai decisions
nearly remotely affecting the principle involved which
have been had in the several Statss that prohibit the
traffic in question, and by the dicta Of the Supreme
Court Of the United States which cover the whole
ground in controversy, and leave little either
cavil or doubt.
Thai the good results hoped for from the LEGISLATION
recommended legitimate to it, several OF the New
Fugland states especially Maine and Connecticut fur
nsh the most gratifying evidence. The steady dimi-