Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-05-09
HOW SHALL WE EDUCATE.
OUR CITY SCHOOLS.
"OHe Of Very Many"
NUMBER ".

NUMBHR Nv.
MESsRs. EDITORS Since Father Finne-
gan has retired from the field, it is ques-
tion how far should pursue the subject,
with the case altogether in my own hands.
If it were not that some things he touches
in his closing letter, might leave false
impression upon the public mind, it would
perhaps be best to rest the case with the
simple, clearly cut issue which has been
made. AS it is, however, / must beg to
submit certain statements.
1. THE FATHERS GOOD TEMPER.
In his farewell letter this is quite unex-
| cepti0nable, and in response to it can
more than pass over the hard language of
his earlier pieces. repeat therefore, that
personally have nothing at all to bring
against my courteous opponent, and will
be always ready to testify to the ability
| which he has brought to the support of
what regard bad cause and dangerous
principle, as we'll as to the general proprie-
ty with which he has borne himself. 1T is
with Father Finnegan as the agent of an
ecclesiastical organization which, through
its hold on the balance of political power
endangers all that is peculiar in the Amer
lean type of civilization and liberty, that
| have contest.
2. THE QUESTION.
L am glad the Father keeps this before
us. All else in this discussion is of little
value but as it bears upon this momentous
! issue in itself, in its prospective reach and
| its necessary connections. Father Finne-
gan says: ~ have from the beginning in
sisted on the right of a parent to educate
| his children in whatever manner he pleas
es." This is a sound position in the sense
he intends, only it would be well for him
not to forget that in the Papal States, where
only his church was absolute and unques
| toned master, the parent had not, until
| the Pope was dethroned, any such "right'
| conceded. How are we to hope for con-
| tinuance of the "rightn of q parent in this
| important matter if his church should gain,
! as he claims it will at length, supreme con-
| troll in this country? He boasts that his
church has always been infallible, and,
| therefore, that it never changes its princi
| pies. Must they not, therefore, take away
| the right of Protestant parent to educate
! his child in his own way, when they have
| the power to do it?
| But the Father, in the same breath, as
serts the injustice of compelling any man
to pay taxes for the support of school
from which he derives no material advan-
| tage." Now let us examine this position.
| 1t will not be denied that grossly ignor-
ant community will perforce be a degraded,
vicious, and criminal community. In
! such community the conditions of pros
perIIy uO HOG eAlsl. Iue lew WHo AIe eur
| Gated, thrifty and prosperous, viii find
| themselves forced to pay high taxes to sup
| port paupers, and prisons and other institu-
| tions made necessary by crime and vice
! which are the children of ignorance.
Will the Father claim that it is "gross In
| JUSTICE to tax man to support these in
stitutions? Will he not confess that the
very existence of Government demands
such tax? Well, which is fairer and bet
ter, to pay tax to support the common
school that prevents the growth of the
| criminal classes, or to pay the tax to re-
strain and bind and punish them? If it
be said, sectarian schools will be sufficient
to educate the masses, the answer is at
hand. All history and current observation
| in our own land disproves the assertion.
| Wherever there is not a common school
! fund, education among the poorer classes
languishes, is, in fact, almost wholly ne
| elected.
The Father adds, THAT many good and
worthy men, even in Knoxville, will never
consent to send their children to the COM
mon school, /" and asks il it is mot all out
rage upon these to take their money! for
support of such schools? By no means
/ have heard one of this class say publicly
that though he did not expect to receive
any aid from the school in educating his
own family, he was heartily in favor of
paying his proportion of the tax. His
reasons were that the "tax was right" and
that it was the "chedpest way' to meet the
expenses Of Government.
AS to the Fathers remark about "taxa-
ton without representation, must be al
| lowed to suggest that he could not surely
| have made it seriously. Taxation with
| out representation" is q technical express
sion and refers to an arbitrary exclusion
| from the councils that dispose OF common
claims and interests. No such exclusion
has ever been limited or for moment en-
tertained. The proposition is to place all
citizens on the same footing in this matter,
and even in the appointment of teachers
to appoint simply ON their merits, to give
Roman Catholic applicants an equal
chance with others. Is not this fair?
8. THE AIMS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
CHURCH.
The Father asserts that they are simply
"vefy anxiousto perpetuate their religion
by all honorable means &c. No one OBJ
jects to this. Ours is, or at least, it has
heretofore been, land of liberty which
| Protestant principles must secure, if their
adherents are consistent. We leave it to
countries where the Roman Church has
supreme sway to use other instruments
| than those Ofargument in opposing what
is deemed religious error. What we do
object to, and will oppose is, that an &C.
clesiastical system that has welded the In
QUESTION, and boasts itself superior to
change, system opposed to all our cherish
ed views of liberty, civilization and chris
tianity, shall come into our land and work
by political influence to get control of our
common funds whether forsectarians schools
or charities. We object strongly to its
claim of exemptions or of partitions that
no other church thinks of asserting. We
examine the structure of that system and
find it intrinsically and necessarily despo-
tic We trace its path through history, and
find whatever good purposes it has served,
infinite perversions of religion, iron-bound
inuuire into its modes and plans in our own
country and find them deeply laid, COM
prehensive and far reaching, embracing
the INSCRIPTIONS employment of every
political stratagem by which to work into