Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1870-04-12

Inc tor each subsequent insertion
NATIONAL SCHOOL KEEpINa-A DIRECT
TAX OF s5O,OOO,00O PROPOSED. From the
New York Journal of Commerce. Persons
who cherish a rosy hope that the taxes are to
he reduced should ponder the propositions in
Representative Hoar's bill to establish sys.
tenn OF national cducaton," which has been
favorably reported by the Committee on Edu
cation and Labor. In his Fifteenth Amend
ment message the other day President Grant
dropped significant hint for Congress to
take all the means within their constitutional
power to promote and encourage popular edu-
cation throughout the country. % the same
day that his message reached the Capitol the
extraordinary bill that We now proceed TO
notice came back from the committee TO the
House, coincidence best explained on the
suprosition that the President and committee
had conferred and that Congress had been
sounded on the subject and is expected to pass
the measure.
A more ccycrIy contrived scheme to make
thousands of new oficeholders, maintain ma
tional taxes, find work for revenue assessors and
collectors, and strengthen the Central Gov.
crnment, has never come under our eyes. As
prop for the Radicals it is the best thing yet
thought flor it will plant their peculiar politi
cal doctrines in tie breasts OF the rising gen.
eration along with the first seeds of reading,
writing and arithmetic.
That shrewd gentleman, whose name is the
occasion of considerable proftIess dispute
among antiquaries, who wanted to write the
songs of nation in preference to making its
laws, did not originate half so smart an idea OF
moulding national character as Mr.. Hoar has
hit upon. A monopoly Of ballad making and
monccring could do much to shape the pre-
iud;ces of people, but nothing like what an
armv of political teachers, with switch IN
one hand and Radical articles of faith ir an-
other, and the whole power OF government at
their backs, could 60 in that line. The inven-
tor of this patent for confirming and extending
Radicalism indefinitely is the master craftsman
of bis party. :,
After a long, high sounding preamble,
apropos of the Fifteenth Amendment, MIR.
Hoar GENES straight to business and proposes
tbc onnointmcnt for each State in the Union OF
q "sune,intendent of national schools, at
yearly salary of 5000. Multiplying 5000 by
37 (tbe number OF States when they are all ln),
we have Sill 900 of annual expenditure to be-
oin with. These superintendents will boss
The Job" under the immediate direction OF the
Commissioner OF Education, who. in turn, re,
morris for general instructions to theSecretary OF
the Interior who finally takes his cue from the
President, making the whole affair complete
administrative machine as much as the army or
tho revenue crowc.
For each Congressional distFic5 the Secretary
Of the Interior is to appoint division inspec
ior of national schools" on salary OF 81, QUO.
50 600 Y 242=4S4 900, Each of the dlVl
sions shall be divided By the State Superlnten-
lnnt into school districts OF convenient siz,, to
hc managed by local superintendent OF na.
,ional schools at So day Tor the tine that
hc Is actually employed This means millions
unon millions of dollar ia the aggregate. but
for want of moro precise data than we have we
caopot estimate the sum even proxlmate'y.,
What with the salaries of all these myrmidons
OF the strong Government, the hiring OF an 10
definite number Of schoolmasters and mlStresscs
the erecting and repairing OF school houses, the
furnishing Of school books for children unable
to buy them, and other Incidental expenses,
Mr.. lIoar is probably within tie mark oy Prov
ding ior a direct tax to be apportloncd among
The several States, of fifty million dollars-just
to start the experiment, for that is all that even
so large an amount as that will really do.
The more We turn tits scheme over the more
are VIC lost in enforced admiration of the auda.
cious cctius that pianncaii! Besides the
;ncaIculab!e political power that it conters oo
the Administration through itsthouSsnds Of
we'll paid and willing stipeodlares, and the
in1octrination in the tender mind OF childhood
Of the straghtest Radical princi pcs-thlnk o
the pckiugS and Steallnes
The New York County Court House fades
into uotLinsncss compared to the profits to be
made from supplying school books, putting up
schooi houses, Sc! PatronaS', power, money,
all things that political ambition prizes and
struggles lor-will flow in b>undless measure
from IIoar's bill.
This stupendous political and money spend
ing engine will 20 into effect in the Southern
States immediately after tho passage OF tho
Mn for in those States thee is now no system
ofnopular education such as the bill PROVIDE
ior' and the States are, and will be for lonI
time, too poor TO pay for one OF their own
It rests with the option OF the Presiden
whether it will not be introduced into all TIT
other States of the Union.
The last section declares that any State mal
make provision for the education OF all tn
children within its borders between the ages q
Fix and eighteen years ; but the President; l
clothed with absolute power to decide whcthe
any State SYSTEM meets his views aud wishes
and, If not, the national scheme will bc made
10 supersade it. Democratic States will b
especially liable to have their own educatlona
laws nuh6cd and schoo!mastcrs turned out, {;
max. way for radical teachings aud teachers
Wherever it may be cf political advantage {,
rub on, State system, and impose the nat
;o,ol o,, ro,eon, nIr,tier than blacEbcrrlC