The Shasta courier., 1871-02-04
Educate the People.


Edncation is the safeguard of all free
institutions, and that country which has
the most highly educated people possesses
the maximum Of social and political power.
The sducation or the masses then. is the
:: first .bounden duty of a people who aspire
e to sch. government An educated people
: means people, who can think for them
selves, act for themselves, and govern for
themselves. A government constituted of
an nignorant and brutalized populace is like
ship without rudder, driven hither
and fhither.by every blind and angry pas
sion Education, as civilizer, is one of
The most potential forces at work in these
modern times.
At the present writing popular educa-
tion has become-a political necessity to all
nations which aim to acquire and main
tain national power. And tits remark
able fact that those nations which to day
stand at the head of political ascendancy
are those whose people are the most highly
educated and refined.
Education is an all powerful element
of. aational strength. We have most
striking illustration of this remark in the
Prussian nation where 95 per cent of the
adult population can read and write their
names. To-day Prussia stands at the
head of all European nations in political
influence, military prowess and Social aad-
yancement A striking contrast is pre-
sented in the condition Of England
"echristian" England where but 65 percent
of the population can write their names,
while poverty and pauperism stalk through
the land In no European country does
titled aristocracy hold the people in such
abiect submission as in England. Italy
and Spain, once the most enlightened and
edrcated of European nations, are now the
most ignorant, degraded, brutaIized and
impoverished.
In our own country the cause of popu-
lar education is zealously guarded, and our
people through the agency of a school sys-
TEN, that knows no equal the world over,
have become the most intellectual and in
telligent of the nations of the earth. The
more people are educated, the more free
and liberty loving they will become, for
the reason that their minds being expand
ed, they can better appreciate the blessings
Of free institutions. And it is crafty
ing s'sign of the times" that as our ma
terial prosperity and wealth increases, our
educational facilities keep pace with the
growth of the nation with still greater
ratio Not only are our common and high
schools within the reach of all, but the
opportunities for acquiring higher edu-
cation are so numerous and accessible that
few young men, indeed, who aspire to a
collegiate education would fail to obtain
it. Thousands and thousands of those who
would otherwise remain in ignorance and
obscurity, rise to exalted positions in civil
and public life through the genius first
stimulated in the free schools
With an educated people the ballot box is
safe, for they know how to use it. A re-
public being government of the people
by the people, the greatest good for the
greatest number is secured and the degree
Of popular good, material prosperity and
political power which they possess will be
in exact ratio to the degree Of intellectual
training and popular education among the
masses Ignorance is the worst foe of free
institutions and free government of this
we have a lamentable illustration in the
unfortunate condition of poor, distracted
France. Her people, possessing all the
elements of national power, save that one
thing, popular education, are incapable Of
governing themselves, and although pos
sessing the principle of free Republic
cannot use it fqr their own coed. Had
the French possessed the free school sys-
TEN adopted by most of the States of our
Union, their capital would not now be
in possession of foreign foe, and the
flag of free French Republic would be
floating over the fair land overshadowed
by the banners of the victorious and ed
seated Germans. Americans, remember
that the only hope of our Republic is in
the EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE!
Appoftionment of County School money