Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-12-07
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all the Southern States there are not
5000 white children in the free schools;
there are no public schools under State
patronage; and the great majority OF the
children, white and black, are growing
up without instruction. Nor is there
any hope of change for the better, ex-
cept by Northern intervention, for the
ruling classes in the South are quite
satisfied with the present state Of things,
and so long as their own children are
educated and fitted to succeed them
selves in the control of society and poll
tics, they take but little interest in the
improvement of the masses. Indeed,
too many of the intelligent people of the
South seltishly oppose all efforts for
general education. There would be
little hope Of breaking up this chronic
state of Southern society by any advo-
cacy of II system of popular education,
however Jealous, for it would not reach
those most in need ofit. The only means
of Introducing the matter and creating an
opinion and demand for it is n practical
| exhibition of the advantages of cduca-
ton. Once accomplish this on a suth-
cient scale to attract general attention,
and the people of the South will soon
demand public schools from their State
governments, and the demand cannot be
resisted. Thus it devolves upon the
patriotism and philanthropy of the North
to inaugurate this vital work of recon-
struction, by which the South is to be
truly nationalized and fitted for self
government.
The freedmen's aid commissions and
other Northern societies Of the kind
| have thus far devoted themselves to the
freedmen, as was natural under the Cir
| cumstanceS, their needs having received
the largest share of public attention and
appealing most to sympathy. But the
poor whites of the South, indeed the
large majority of the white population,
are but little above the negroes in the
| matter of education. Their education
must not be neglected. The only asso-
citation that has undertaken this work in
a practical and comprehensive way is
II II SN-, ,a Cn1,nt- ~
which has its board of control at Bos-
ton. The name Of the society is unfor-
tunate, because it is not obviously
characteristic and requires continual en-
PLANTATION. Theidea which suggested tits,
| that the education of the South is the
proper supplement and completion of
the work accomplished by our soldiers
in the war; the society also includes
among its objects the preservation Of
certain memorials of the soldiers; but
its chief and important aim is the edu-
cation of the southern whites, and it
would be better if this were expressed
in its name. One aus Of its failure
thus far to attract general attention and
obtain more liberal support, we have no
doubt, is to be found in the misappre-
hension given by the name unfortu-
nately chosen. For the year ending
with May last the society received but
2 1928 in money, although clothing and
books to several times that amount were
received and distributed. The efforts
of the society have been limited to
Richmond and Wilmington. At Rich
mond its schools contain between FIVE
and six hundred pupils, and there are
thousands more seeking admission, and
children of the lowest class of whites
have been gathered in from the streets;
their progress in book knowledge, in
manners and morals, has been so striking
as to disarm all opposition. The Rich
mond papers speak well of the schools,
and the governor and other prominent
men give their encouragement and sup
port. A few thousand dollars would
enable the society to extend their
schools in Richmond, and the impress
sion they are making upon public opin-
ion, it is confidently believed, will soon
give q free school system to Virginia.
This accomplished, the southern States
will one after another follow the eS-
ample of the Old Dominion, and the
south will then support its own schools.
There would seem to be no better thing
to do now for the promotion of educa-
ton in the South than to sustain lib
erally these efforts at Richmond, and
the similar one commenced ut Whining
ton, and push them to complete success
as rapidly as possible. 1t is very clear
that the education of the millions Of ig-
norant whites and blacks in the South
is too vast an undertaking for northern
philanthropy, however grand and lib
eral. The true way is to induce the
South to do the work for herself, rs she
must if il is done at all, and the Sol
diers' Memorial Society has apparently
hit upon the right method.
THE New York correspondent of the
Boston Journal says: Commodore