The daily Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1862-1863, 1862-09-30
.II1I1E JOUR
SEPTEMBER 80, 1862.

munities under the proposed amend
ments, in regard to levying additional tax
for the support of schools 1t is entirely
optional One community can have
first rate free schools the year round;
another may have those that are less ex-
pensiye; another may refuse to levy any
special tax, but be content with ats share
of the ordinary school fund, and rest sat
isfed with the kind of schools that now
disgrace the State 1t is matter for
discussion and free choice.
These amendments offer popular
sovereignty to the people of the State,
so far as their schools are concerned
Under the amended Constitution, if they
do not want good schools, kept open
through the year, they need not vote the
necessary special tax But those COM
munities that aoaRt good schools can
hare them Now they cannot, All are
dragged down to one dead level by
the forced and ilIiberal construction of
the Constitution by the Supreme Court
A spirit of emulation would spring mp
under the Constitution so amended, and
various communities would vie with each
other in the endeavor to perfect their
schools, and render them superior in
their character Soon, Indiana would
boast of schools approximating the ex-
cellence of the schools under the famous
Massachusetts, and Ohio systems. m
Two stigmas have rested on Indiana,
and discredited her in the eyes of the
Nation. One was the alleged cowardice
of portion of her volunteers at Buena
Vista. This charge was unjust, but it
was used against her, nevertheless, with
humiliating effect The heroism of In
diana soldiers on every battlefield where
they have borne part during this Re-
bellion--and that has been on nearly
all-has wiped out this reproach, and
shown how unfounded it was. Indiana
now stands amongst the bravest of the
brave. The other stigma was deserved.
We refer to that fixed upon the State by
the Census of 1850, which showed that
out of population of 9SS, ,4l6, the num-
Der of adults over 20 years of age who
could not read. and write was ", 10;
while in Massachusetts, with popula
ton of 994 ola, the number was only
%, ,345: and in Ohio, with population
of ], $780, 0,329, the number was only &C.,
020. Massachusetts and Ohio were Free
School States. Indiana was not Hence
the difference @ ..s-'
An opportunity is now offered for In
diana to wipe out the stigma of having
one out of about fourteen of her popu-
lation who were ignOramuses in 1850.
mo report yet for 1861 Shall this re-
proach be obliterated2 Let us have
Free Schools, open to all and it can be
so. Vote for members of the Legisla-
ture who are friends of Free Schools,
and who viii vote for the pending amend
ments to the Constitution; then when
these amendments are submitted to the
people for ratification, vote for them;
and it will be in our power to establish
and sustain good Free Schools, and, in
time, to efface the other dark spot on the
escutcheon of the State
The opportunity, if allowed to go un-
improved, will not be offered again for
years-perhaps not within the present
generation. About four years are re-
quired to amend the Constitution. Such
an opportunity as the present can occur
but rarely, and it must be improved if we
desire knowledge to increase, the arts
and sciences to flourish, and the land to
blossom as the rose.
This is not question of party, any
more than is the preservation of the
Union. Now is the time, when parties
have been subordinated to patriotism,
and men of all the old parties have
joined together for the preservation of
the Union--now is the time to amend
the Constitution, so that when the rebel
lion is crushed, and the Union restored
in all its integrity, power, and glory, and
when peace, plenty, and prosperity again
return, Indiana may re-establish her
common schools ON an enduring basis,
make them all that the age demands,
and prepare to stand unabashed along
side the most enlightened and favored
States
The Legislature of 1861 did its duty to-
ward Free Schools most nobly Repub-
Gcans and Democrats voted together to
amend the Constitution. Now let US do
our duty in the premises, by voting for
no man for the next Legislature who will
not solemnly PLEDGE himself to rote for
the pending amendments of the C0nsti-
tuition And then, when the amend
ments are adopted by the next Legisla-
ture, let us perform our duty further by
voting 70 ratify the amendments, and in
ducing others to do likewise.
Next to the duty of transmitting our
glorious institutions to posterity unim-
paired, is that of furnishing good edu-
cation to the rising generation. Select
schools do net answer the purpose. The
children of parents in good circumstan-
ces can be educated in them, but the
children Of the poor must remain in igno-
rance unless they can attend good Free
Schools. 1t is cruel criminal, heathen-
ish, suicidal for any community to allow
a large portion of its population to grow
up in ignorance. A judgment will be
inflicted on any people that do it. This
Republic cannot endure if its people are
held in ignorance. Intelligence is the
salt that viii save it. knowledge is
power" and brings thrift, enjoyment, and
prosperity. Ignorance is weakness, and
produces imbecility, crime, and misery.
With ignorance amongst the mass of
the people, our Republic is doomed to
worse than Mexican anarchy, and an
eventual Austrian despotism. But let
our people, as a whole, grow more en-
lightened, and educate their children
properly-morally and intellectually
and the American Union will emerge
q