New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-03-08
ArORruKRr ooLoRRD oussr,e,

tolerant Of sy,tem which robs the black =as, 4,
all bis rights south OF M,soa aud DiIoas L,as, I.
we are not inclined TO favor ope wbi,h ds,n,,
him Of part Of them at the north Of that boia4a
~ A, We wish to sea the worser wrong 20. N
Of By those whom it mos. concerns, for sastr o.,
sakes as well as for tho sake Of those whe are n,
chief suff, rer', so shall we De glad 20 DO our ps,
toward the abolition Of the Lesser wrongs rsis
have grown up out Of the greater one. VIVA. mn
cen say le.s who has ever oPeaed bis mouth .,u
Southern Slavery
We believe, moreover, that the Ses. basis Of goa
citizenship is sOuud education, AID We hare an
faith in ths. principle OF democracy which sessrs
such education to every child born in the saA
The more schools, the fewer grog shops; the mon
teachers. the fewer turkeys; the moro esltar.
the less harbarism the more reading aui vrkat
the less vice. For we do ss believe that people
among whom good, sound education 10 widely diI
fused will be a vicious or degraded peopls. d
s the right of the citizen, BY virtue of his cidIs.
,bip, 10 receive such an education and il s tho das
of the State to provide it. 1t is the duty of ~
State TO provide it for the child of the poor ma
as well as the child of tho rich; for the child Z
foreign birth as vel as the child of native birk
and for the black child as well as tho white OssI
1t is disgrace to our civilization aud 10 %
democracy that we should make any distiSesioa
But We do make IT, The influence Of SlivS
which runs through and corrupts all our insik
tious, does not leave this one untouched. Wen
tematcslly deprive the black man of tho oppocs
nifty Of equal culture with the W iite; wo delsst
atoly withhold fcOm him the humsnizing aud sa
eniug influences Of education; we practically dear
him the right which we theoretically martsin ~
longs tc all men, and then we reprosoh him tbs. 4,
is not thrifty, not enlightened, not virtuoas, Ss
idle, INDECENT, and imbecile. Dong our beet
make him bad citizen, We complain of him, sM
reprosch him for not being good one. II u,
complaint and reproach are not justified By III
fact, il is from no merit Of ours, but because u
black man is so used to oppression that the vir~
Of moral resistance is strengthened BY use, and
does not altogether succumb to the hard fate wa
which he is visited.
There are in this city about nine thousnl
on real estate to the value OF nearly . miia
and half of dollars, and to this amount map NJ
added nearly two millions of personal u
tate and money in bank. Probably not less tAx
three thousand more of these people, who arc ID
owners Of real estate, are heavily aIs
as householders and rent payers, so that a
proportion of the whole number who pay taxes
the support Of cur public schools is quito as larv !
if not larger, in proportion to the whole nambst
than that of the white population. Since tho M
ganization of the Board of Education tho eIpeaG
ture for school-houses has amounted 70 81, cocoon,
The expenditure for cOlored schools. during Asi
same period, has amounted to 81, 000 the Old Pui
lie School Society having assigned to the BoardM
of the school houses now used for colored chldra
Tho actual expenditure then has been as 16Nsl
in favor of the whites, while the proportion
cOlored children to white attending tho schools
as to 40. Nor does the injustice end here. n
estimated number of colored children (fron
census of 1851 is 5000, and the average at!ai
ance on public schools and corporate schools, %
ported by school funds, is 1853, giving an aycrp
of attendance to the whole number Of / to 90
The estimated number of white children ia l59,M
and the average attendance upon the public n
corporate schools is 1864, or to the WIZ
number as ] to $40. From this /
appears that in proportion to the wia
number there are nearly IS per cent mon
colored children than of white, who avail Ass
selves of the advantages Of education provided y
tho State. But a large proportion Of the white cis
dren attend private and Catholic parochiM sclods
and with this addition, even, it appears that b
prOportionate attendance of the two classes
schools Of all kinds. is about equal. With an saH
desire then for education, and with, at least, eqn
if not greater proportionate taxation, the eIpesI
ture of the Board as we have shown above, u
TO 1000. This remark,b difference is ssI
accounted for. The schOOl-hou,es for the wills
are in situations where the price Of lots ha
and on the buildings themselves no expenditure
spared to make them commodiOus and clogs
such as the halls Of learning should be, where
State, with paternal care, provides for the edas
ton of the ri,ing generation. The schools iof
blacks, on the contrary, are nearly ALL
all, old buildings, generally in filthy and desn"
neishborhoods, dark, damp, small and cheer
safe neither for the morals nor the health OIL w
who are compelled to go to them, if taeysI
where, and calculated rather to rePel than nT
tract them. For such a state Of thirgs thersh,
course no excuse other than the very poor or,
an unreasonable prejudice, and an eslghteae
prosperous people should be ashamed Of eens.
governed by it as to make the least possible '''.
in educational privileges to those who Ito
heavily taxed for them. II is breaking the pros,