The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1858-09-29
Correspondence of the Lancaster Ledger.
New YORK, Sept. 81, 1856

dignation at the 'outrages' of the islanders
exhibited by our immaculate municipal au-
thorilies. The Staten Islanders, although
living in the metropolitan police district,
have no votes, be it remembered, TO bcstow
upon candidates for city honors so that
our Common Council, police force and 9TH
or city officials, most of whose time not
passed in robbing the public, is devoted to
shielding from the legal consequences of
crime their rowdy. political friends, who re-
side in the city and vote at charter elections,
have now an excellent opportunity, with
out risking single vote, of getting off
large amount of pcnt'up Indignation, and
by putting the screws TO the Staten Islam
ders, of exhibiting their loyalty to the laws
Of which they themselves are the most au-
dacious and habitual volators. ] can rea-
dily sec why the papers of this city con-
denim these violations of law by an oppress-
| ed-communty but cannot for the life Of
Inc, see how. any man of ordinary, foresight
can be surprised ut people endeavoiing to
| right themselves after having been cursed,
for long term of years, by a succession
of rulers whose main purposes have been
while in Office TO feather their own nests,
and let the people look after themselves
| The men who are now most indignant at
the Staten Island "outrages" are the villains
who mainly contributed to fnsten the swil-
milk nuisance upon us, and they are of the
same class as those who have allowed our
city TO become famous the world over for
filthy streets and rowdyism. Inhabitants
of villages and smaller cities rf the Union
can form but remote idea of what New
Workers have to put up with from their
rulers. The fact is we are not prepared
here for rs liberal and advanced govern.
ment us you in the country are. We must
| have stronger government and on differ
ent basis from that which we now have, or
popuIar outragcs, now the exception, will
soon become the rule among US. Either
the elective franchis must be restricted, in
| the city of Ncw.Iurk, to those only who
can read and write and passes an examna-
ticn in the first four rules of arithmetic or
most Of The offices now elective must be
filled by appointment.
Our leading dares have been publishing
lately two-column letters describing the
| exercises ut the comnencemcnts Of the va
rous colleges within two or three hundred
miles of New York ! never see one of
these laudatory letters without being re-
minded of the fact that there are many rad
! ical defects of organization in most Of our
! Institutions of learning, and that the modes
! of impartng instruction in most Of them
are wretched. A ord is sadly wanted in
our language to express the kind Of knowl-
edge thai youth should possess on leay-
| ing collcge-a word expressive at once Of
hIs knowiedge of genera principles and of
his ability TO apply them AT present our
| young student knows as a principle, and
can demonstrate on the black board that the
square of the hypothenuse is equal to the
sum Of the squares of the two shorter sides
OF n right-anglcd triangle but, year or two
after leaving college, he forgcts all about
the principle, because he was not made to
engr0ft it upon his mind by applying il to
sems practical useful purpose. have heard
n man who stood well at college az math-
ematician ak mason who was building
cellar wall how he managed to get it so
mice and square" / have had a man in
my office who had just been graduated, and
who had taken all the honors, less useful.
ns writer, on nearly any subject, :han
some Young "devis" | have known, 10 the
second year of their impship. Students are
taught manly 10 dissect and efiiicise the
ideas of others, and, to some extent, and
after fashion, TO think but they are not
taught to apply ideas, to construct to do -
This is all wrong, except, .Rerhaps, for
( young men who intend to become specula-
J tive philosophers, et prgterea nihil !; but
/ youths who are designed for any of the
! practical pnrsuits Of life should be taught
to synthetise as well as analyse. IL is well
to be able TO parse Milton and hakespeare;
| but it is much better to be able to write
! plain English one's.self. Educators should
understand that men incapable Of applying
ideas, or of indicating their proper applica-
lion, are, for the most part, unreliable thin
/ kers.
! The fact is the entire system of prepar-
ing youths for the ordinary and extraordi-
nary duties of life requires TO be remodeled.
Evidence Of positive capacity to apply
knowledge to useful purposes should be ex-
hibited by the man who demands diplo-
ma. Until this radical change is made, the
world will continue to owe its advancement
mainly, as heretofore, TO the isolated efforts
Of individuals. and only remotely, when at
ali, to the influence Of the universities.
The Crew OF THE DoLrnIN.-On yes.
terday, five of the crew Of the Dolphin,
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