The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1866-01-12

A
er, we owe our safe passage through
our recent perils, believe it is the
intelligence which our common
schools have universally diffused.-
1t has not been simply the power to
rread, but that larger and wider cul-
ture which has made the American
people capable of weighing and de-
Gliding upon grave arguments Of right
and policy in the midst of greatest
excitement. The Government ap-
pealed to them as to men able to COM
prehend any arguments of State pol
icy, and the steady loyalty of the
people and their persevering support
of the national cause was in direct
proportion to the intelligence and ed
ucation of different States or com
munities. will even go further,
and declare my belief that, outside
of the immediate theatre of hostile
Operations, the cause OF the Govern.
ment never lost anything by the most
untrammeled freedom of public dis
cussion and printing, because the
people were always able to detect the
sophisms of disloyalty, and their pat
riotic purposes were strengthened,
rather than weakened, by seeing the
whole force of the enemy they had
to meet. Among the safeguards of
our liberties and guarantees of the
permanance of our institutions, /
reckon our school system the very
chief. Blind and devoted love of
country may exist under despotism,
If ignorance be the mother of a su.
perstitious or childish attachment !;
but liberty and republicanism can be
built on no other solid foundation
than intelligence in the whole mass
of the people. A wise self interest
is made the basis of all scientific
political economy, and when a whole
people have learned to estimate that
interest truly, besides loving their
country dearly, you have ground Tor
faith in the stability of their Gov
ernment, such as can be got in no
other way. 1t is because of the gen.
eral conviction that our common
schools may be made to secure this
result, that there is an equal general
belief that no money used for public
purposes is so well invested as that
which supports our school system.
No statement of our condition and
our duties would be complete which
did not speak OF the sad array--al-
most an army in itself-of the MAIN
ed and disabled heroes to whom the
return of peace brings no bright pros
pect of their own future. II dead
may be supposed to look down in
glory and pride upon the work they
accomplish d by sheddi'g their blood,
and our memory of them becomes
} rather exultant than painful; but
these sick and crippled ones are con-
demned to look upon the general
prosperity and joy, feeling bitterly
that their lives must be deprived oi
, nearly everything which health and
, vigor would have secured them. II
we should give them cause to think
J their country Is ungrateful, we shall
, double their misery, and be ourselves
unfaithful to one of the most solemn
J duties which can be imposed upon
us. More than eight Thousand dis
t abled Ohio soldiers are already upon
. the rolls of the national pension bu
reau. The pittance which the gener.
al Government can give them will not
save them from want. How can We
: best do the remainder of our duty to.
| ward them2 A beginning has al
; ready been made in the temporary
/ establishment of a State Soldiers
, Home, but it is manifest that it will
provide for very small part of those
; who have 4 good claim upon us, il
! indeed any system of congregating
t the pensioners in permanent asylums
; can accomplish the desired end.
. believe the people are ready to dc
their whole duty in this matter, ant
e will expect those whom they have
) entrusted with the legislative power
e to provide adequately by law the bes
practicable system for discharging
e this debt of honor. This disposition
| on their part has been manifested
: not only in the noble and generou,
, private contributions through socie
ties and commissions, by which the
comfort of our soldiers in the field
? and the efficiency of our military
hospitals were wonderfully increased
5 but the same spirit has prompted
numerous local monuments to our
? dead, and will, ! trust, grow into
q some permanent memorial on behal
, of the State at large, in keeping will
the dignity of our position and will
r the depth of our feeling.
D In these as well as in other ways
the late war has brought great bur
+. dens upon our State, but its prosper
r ity has been such that they have beer
y borne without impoverishing oul
e people or straining the public re
0 sources. Our State debt has beer
e diminished during this very period o
r commotion, and such has been thu
D thrift of the community and the sue
e cess OF business enterprise, that W,
t see on every hand the evidences o
D accumulating wealth. Ohio, "the frs
: born of the ordinance of 1885," has
t been true to the principles of tha
e great act of craftsmanship, which
t dedicated the northwestern territory
e to freedom and free labor, and now
a more than ever before is she realizing
. the benefits of the wisdom which theI
g launched her upon career of unex
D ampled growth under the auspices oI
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