Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1869-07-02
. Freedmen,s Bureau Facts.


schools for freedmen, ending with Jan. /
1869. presented By J. W. Alvord, General
Superintendent, in his official capacity, is
before us. We are struck with the i'm
mensitv of the work which has been &C.
complished among the ex-slaves, in the
matter of education, since the overthrow
of the rebellion. 1t is wonderful to note
the aviditv with which the blacks,
doomed by the laws to ignorance, have
availed themselves of the advantages OF
education proffered by benign govern
ment, and benevolent and compassionate
effort. According to the statistics pre-.
sented, about one in every twenty of the
benighted negroes is pupil at one of the
schools instituted by national or private
enterprise for their education. As the
work of instruction has proceeded, many
of the colored population, Impressed with
the advantages resulting from schools, and
prosperous enough for the purpose, bave
combined to institute educational facilities
of their own, entirely independent of
eleemosynary assistance. But not only in
these but in all other cases of celored in.
struction, intolerance has been full of
venomous opposition. In various parts of
the ground occupied, school houses and
churches have been reduced to ashes by
the remorseless hand OF the incendiary
teachers have been driven off by COM
pulsory warnings, or by indammatory
threats Illuminated by local meetings, or
by actual violence impending at the hands
of infuriated mobs
Amid all these disturbances, the cause
of education has made steady and notable
progress; Notwithstanding the various
draw backs of outdoor and home influence
The attendance for the year 1868 was con.
siderably in advance Of the attendance
for the year 1857, and the number of
schools for the former twelvemonth
proved, contrary to expectation, to be
largely in excess of what had been looked
for,
There is hungering and thirsting for
knowledge among the exslaves which is
not to be found anywhere among the
body of the Southern whites. They seize
the advantages presented as persons might
be expected to clutch food from which
imperative circumstances had excluded
them to the very verge of starvation. In
almost every .neighborhood the freed
men, impecunious as they are generally,
are inquiring how schools for their
children can be carried on successfully.
Fortunately, in discontinuing the Freed
mems Bureau - such discontinuance
taking place on the 1st of January last
the question of education was left un-
touched. Appropriations will still be
made for the purpose Of maintaining
schools among the victim race. Money
could not be spent with more utilitarian
effect.
The economical condition of the eman-
cipated slaves is approximated by the fact
that the Freedmen's Savings Bank, with
twenty-fOur branches, distributed through
out thirteen States and the District of Co
lumbia, aggregate deposits for the year
1868, to the extent, in round numbers, of
about 81 100000, ON which, during the
same period, interest was paid to depos-
itors, amounting to $24,39739 When
such fund can be collected within such
circumscribed number of localities, the
general economy, industry and productive
ness of the ex-slaves can be easily i'm
agined. Take the whole race, and proba.
bly, $20,OO0,0O0 would be an under
rather than an over estimate of the
surplus earnings of the negroes
of the onceIslave. holding States for the
year 1868. Considering how utterly des-
titute this class of laborers was, and how
ignorant, inexperienced and hel pless, when
turned adrift from their masters, by the
eventualities of war, some four years ago,
this showing is greatly to its advantage.
A people capable of such accumulation,
amid such complications, defraudment and
repression, certainly must possess some of
the most desirable qualities Of human
nature, such as patience, selfdenial, per-
severance, fixed determination, and pre-
paration against probable contingencies.
Certainly there is nothing in this eager
ness for education, even among those past
adult ages; nothing in this capacity for
accumulation, which indicates incap&city
for freedom or for participation in the
right of the elective franchise. We think
we may say truly that history does not
make mention of so much moral, intellectu-
al and material progress achieved in so
short time, by people starting from con-
dition of snch utter poverty, ignorance, su-
perstition and dependency, surrounded by
so muchhate, persecution and fraud
Chicago Republican, June Gath.