The Portland daily press., 1868-09-29

A Fearful Race for Lite. sEs sSgG2ssEStss esS
Have you hoard from m ladawnska
1t is an eminently characteristics and fitting
thing in the Democracy to finish with oopJee-
ture, wild guessing and old-wives fapies a
campaign which they began ana carrie" ''''
through with misrepreseniatio ana 'aiseisp
Accordingly we find that "special, dlspatcnes
are sent to Comprehend papers IN New York
and Massachusetts stating that when the re-
turns are in from the northern part of Aroos-
took county it will be found that there are
Democratic gains that will give The county to
the Democracy, and reduce Chamberlain's 5 ma
iority very considerably "a 5.4eagI...i, ,ir,,
1t is almost certain that these expectations
are extravagant and that the county is Repub
lican by at least three hundred majority. Re-
turns from n towns show Republican gain
OF l67, and in the remaining towns nd plan
tations the Democratic majority last year Win
very liberal allowance for Democratic gains
this year would not begin to overcome the
1888 Republican majority in the ciViilzed part
of Aroostook already heari from. '4 n5
1t is not altogether Improbable that there
may be Democratic gains in the towns and
plantations yet to be heard from, for there the
Republican party has had to contend with its
old enemy, ignorance The Madawaska region,
settled for the most part by Frenchmen from
the province of Quebec, may be said to be the
Ultima Thule of the United States. There
the schoolmaster is not abroad. Take the las
report of the Superintendent of Common
Schools and see if you would regard it as an
tecedenty, probable that there could be Re-
publican majoiities there, where the people
hardly avail themselves of the very. limited
school advantages afforded them by the State.
Last week, in a speech delivered at the dedi-
cation or a 7scnoofhvuse In Kittery, Warren
johnson, Esq. Superintendent of Common
Schools made the statement that only one
twelfth of the school children attend school in
the plantations of Maine. In the plantations
of Northern Aroostook the ratio of attend
ance would be much smaller The State does
wrong, as we pointed out last January when
reviewing the annual school report, to allow
this "sore spot'' to remain The progress of
correct political ideas keeps pace with improve
ment in the efficiency of the schools. These
ignorant places are always dangerous places.
There the ties of loyalty and patriotism are
always weak. In times of danger to the coun.
try, whether from political or military commo-
ton, an ignorant populace is never to be re-
lied upon, The results of a more liberal ex
penditure of school money, instead OF the
paltry hundreds which the State annually
vouchsafes to Madawaska, would in a few
years be seen in the election returns.i
1t is no wonder that Democracy always
turnswith hopeful eyes to Madawaska. Dem
ocratic majorities ars as sure as any of the un-
varying operations of nature in places where
the common school system and the press are
either wholly unknown or have only nomi-
nal existence Kentucky and Maryland are
the only. States in the Union that are absolute
y certain to cast their electoral vote for Sey-
mour and Blair. In the former there is not a
daily paper outside of louisville, and in the
latter outside of Baltimore The first thing
done by the restored Rebels OF Maryland was
to abolish the common school system altogeth-
er, under pretence of paving the way for is
Reorganization on an improved basis, but
the Reorganization has not yet come. The
Democrats of the Ohio Legislature last win
ter disfranchised the college students of the
States. Democracy always recognizes the
school asits deadly foe. The aristocratic plant 4
ers of the South always kept their enemy at a
safe distance, and the reconstructed States
weto'the temporary Northern control which
their treason necessitated the es establishment of
educational institutions that will prove inesti-
mable blessings to them and to the whole
country. lof7 si3iCs 81 z0igah s9iIssfas.f- +
The ascendency whicn Democracy. with all
the hideousness and sbarbarism of its political
dogmas has obtained over a portion of our
1otsxr ua1 a,f L
close alliance which exists between Dsmoc-
racy and ignorance. These men are not at all
to blame. o. Victims of a cruel despotism which
has studiouslv withheld from them the means
of mental culture, they come here and consti-
suite the best possible material for manipula-
ton by the agents of another aristocracy on
this continent. The election returns from
NewYork and Brooklyn speak. eloquently of
this fact In other years the choice of public
officers by the foreign pocket boroughs of un-
scrupulous demagogues gave rise to Know
Nothingism. This was speedily perceived to be
at variance with the generous spirit of our in
stitutions and was abandoned, never, we trust,
to be revived. A better method of securing
wise and intelligent political action is to ed
acdte, Our boasted school system has not vet
begun to do its work. In the South and in
particular localities in the North, there are
masses of uninstructed men, women and chill
dren. An e1ucationalfevvaI is needed. Maine
itself T , to be aroused. In the address to
which we have already referred Mr.. johnson
says that not one hair of our children attend
the public schools, and in some places not one
quarter; in the very capital of the State the
number is only % per cent. So long as this
stateHof things continues we may always ex-
pect to ask with some degree Of apprehension,
Have you heard from Madawassa?" a.
lHE SOUTH IS SATISFIED" The burning
OF the Quaker Mills in Logan county, (Ky.,)