The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-10-03
The School Issue.

We nave lOuS CHHG JleTe Is a
+ irrepressible conflict on the question q
schools between Christianity and Pagan
II. ism in society. Paganism, as it now exist
in civilized nations, ignores the true Go,
and deifes the State. The Church is moth
ing; civil government is rything. Chris
y tians hold that Government is mere poIi
IF tical organization non<Christians contend
s, that the State has far higher and greater
d vocation than the regulation of political
% rights and relations-that it is supreme in
Q domestic and moral questions. 1t is the idea
= of Sparta revived, where the family was
Q merged in the State, the individual in the
;, citizen. The Christian says, enter into
= = the social compact for protection in my
rights, not for improvement in my morals,
intelligence ier physical powers. / believe
that there are other and more appropriate
organizations to promote those ends. The
modern pagan says, no, the State is every
shing; i6 is your insurance company, your
bank, your railroad and canal monopolist,
your ship owner, your commission mer-
chant, your school, your church.
The most honest expression of opinion
recently given to this effect is contained in
an article relative to public schools, in the
New York Tribune, the leader and pioneer
of all radicalism or paganism in the State.
That article is happily condensed as fol-
lows by the New York Journal Of Commerce:
1t proposes to place every child in the land
at hYe years of age under police supervi-
slon with a registry and record which shall
follow it through life, and watch and govern if
at every turn. The great advantage which the
Tribune claims for this system we regard os n
positive evil. at would BRING saws that yyriN
ter, p" the whole youthful population, acih all
circumstances Of their homes, under the cogni-
zance OF the police" When the proper author
tiles had thus made themselves thoroughly ac- !
qualnted, by personal contact, with the chill !
dren OF a given district, they could classify |
them, and the writer suggests placing the |
VICIOUS and leprousby themselves in rctorma-
toy schools, or5emi-penal establishments and /
cYuid divide, the remainder according to their |
Hhtellectual gifts; bestowing n most finished 1
education upon those most likely to profit by I
1T, and carrying to the highest possible culture
these gems of intellect" likely to adorn an
age or n nation. ---a ---,.
"The whole youthful population it'll
altthe circumstances of their homes, under
the cognisGnce of the police" This is the
charming picture which Radicalism draws
to itself. and dwells on with so much gusto.
The State is represe ltedsby the police and
the sacredness of hume is lost in the ecsta-
tic security and strength of its oIershadow-
ing omnipresence. What pity that Com
munism is not yet practicable! But no
doubt the people may be educated up to
that point yet by such potent agitators as
the New York Tribune. Then everybody t
will live under the immediate eye of his c
beloved God-the State. Its collective I
Wisdom viii regulate the quantity of soda I
Or saleratus desirable in biscuits, the grave S
question whether tea or coffee ought to be C
used, the day of the month when flannel Il
must be put on children and when taken Il
Diff; will settle harmoniously the little bck- V
erlDgs thatssometimes arise between hus- II
band and wife, will teach the children their 7
prayers to the most modern improvement Il
on God, if any be tolerated, and all this C
so much better, SO much more scientifically O
han when left to private caprice a
In vain some foolish individual may talk f
II private rights and tastes. He will be b
old that private tastes are bad when not t
'onformed to the rules of science. which
ire inexorable; that his crude ideas will L
prevent himself and family from reacbipg a
he greatest attainable perfection; that the L
state mas right to require this perfection fl
If its citizens; that, in fact, there are no Il
onger individuals, everything Is merged W
n the State This the millennium, of yis= Il
onary fanatics, who lose sight of God and t.
lis revealed religion, hoping to substitute t.
he perfection of human reason for Him u
nd it. t
1t would be well indeed if all people Al
hould regulate their outward lives by the OF
'tfes- of true science, but they prefer using OF
heir own discretion in this respect, and Iii
ley do not form State Government for
le purpose of being coerced into perfec- st
on. In forming the social compact, they st
gree to abandon their private discretion A
nly where its exercise would injure Others +,
irectly, not indirectly and remotely. This it
'mPremise is made by each one in con- Al
Iteration of protection for himself in wi