The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-07-03
OUR FREE SCHOOLS.


ing's paper, report of the proceedings
of the State Teachers Association at
Ravenswood last week. We regret to
learn that the President Of the Asso-
citation and several others INDUCED in
political illusions that were, to say the
least, unwise- Certain of the Radical
orators and writers in West Virginia, in
sheer political desperation and with
characteristic recklessness, have been
endeavoring to create the impression
that the Democratic party is hostile to
the free schools. The originators and
promulgators of the Islander know that
it is untrue, but they would be gratifed
beyond measure if they could push the
Democracy of the State into an attitude
of opposition to the public school sys-
TEN.
During the years of Radical sway IN
this State that party did all 1t could TO
render the free schools odious to the
people. By means Of test oaths they
drove many competent Democratic
teachers from the State and run the
schools as a sort of Radical machine.
In many of the counties the whole
board of school officers was of that poll
teal party and they imposed heavy
taxes for school purposes upon the dis
franchised property holders and citizens
of the State. A large majority of the
people were denied all participation in
the management of public school affairs
and were denied even the satisfaction
of knowing that the school taxes they
paid were honestly applied to the use
for which they were ostensibly collected.
Under these circumstances, the cry
they now raise of Democratic opposi-
ton to the free schools is merely the
suggestion Of guilty conscience. They
know they have so conducted the sys-
tenn as to merit popular indignation
and therefore they seem to expect IT,
But as the Democratic party has be-
trayed no disposition to retaliate upon
the Radicals the political outrages they
committed neither will it in any res
pect injure the efficiency Of the free
school system. 1t will probably hold
the school officers to a more rigid re-
sponsibility- than heretofore; it will
probably put stop to the inculcation
of party politics in the schools; it will
set its face firmly against the mingling
of whites and negroes in the same
school; but it will never abolish the
system nor inaugurate that struggle
for existence" of which Rev. WILLIAMS
spoke.
Nor is it at all probable that the
proposed Constitutional Convention will
have anything to do with this subject,
and there is no propriety whatever in
Juggling the free schools into thepresent
contest. The system is created by act
of the Legislature, and il the Democra-
CIV desire its destruction it is only neces.
sary for them to repeal he law. No
Constitutional Convention is needed to
that end. The sooner the Radical
party in the State understands this, the
better it will be.
The especial championship Of the free
schools which is assumed by certain
Radicals here is really amusing and
absurd. They prance around like the
Irishman at Donnybrook Fair, begging
some Democrat to step upon their coat
tails. They 60 charging about at a
furious pace, flashing themselves into a
towering rage against non-existent enc
mics and suppositious foes, and rival
Don QUIxorE in their chivalric mad
ness. 1t is all very well to inculcate a
popular love for the free schools,
though we doubt whether the plan pur'
sued by these gentlemen is the best for
that purpose, but it is altogether wrong
and foolshly criminal for the Radical
party to assert that the Democrats as a
party are opposed to the public school
system. In plain and emphatic Saxon
be who makes such an assertion is
either a knave or a fool. In every
State where free schools have been
established by law there always have
been and always will be some grumblers
and malcontents. We have some OF
that class in this State, perhaps not
more than our proportion, but they are
not found in the ranks OF one political
party alone, neither are they sufficiently
numerous to seriously threaten the per-
petuity of the system. The Radicals
in West Virginia may as well cease
harping upon that string.
Mr.. CARPET BAGGER WARNER has at
length obtained the office which he has
sought with so much persistence, since
he was turned out Of the Senate Of the
United States. He is appointed Col
lector OF Mobile, against the wishes of
Senator SPENCER, and against the pro-