Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-02-19
of human inhabitants, or so deeply IS
artesian wells, that they cannot receive
surface drainage. Independent
EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH.
From the Report of the .. s. CON-
missioner of Education.


From the Report of the T. s. Com
missioner of Education.
Education, the great process of assim-
ulation, evidently should receive more
attention than any other function of our
life Our society is of such nature.
the establishment of permanent caste is
so impossible the flow and refow of indi-
viduals through all relations from the
highest to the lowest is so constant and
easy that the conduct of one man, woman
or child, can in no sense become safely
matter of indifference to the other men,
bers of society. The moment of NEGLECT
is the opportunity of vice and crime
and the extent of neglect is the measure
of peril from these sources, and the index
of the reduced productions of industry
and the losses of capital. If the indi-
viduals who are idle, ignorant, and Vi
cious increase so as to constitute the
majority, the declared object and form
of our Government, so far as that unit
is concerned, is perverted or destroyed,
be it the civil unit of the town, city or
.l |
results and imperative necessity of uni
versal education, every generation of
adults has thus far, in some form, pre-
sented difficulties or shown hostility
to the education of all the children in
their midst. The late appalling strug-
gle in our nation, was not only sectional,
but the conditions out of which it arose
were as demarcation indicating the
differences of education in the different
sections. The solemn fact is shown that
one fifth of the adult population of this
country is utterly illiterate and three
fourths of this ignorance is to be found
in the South By careful calculation it
is shown that race prejudice is exercised
by five people out of every six toward
one.
The white population being 1885,
989 and all the others only 1865, 1894,
of whom 4, ,99O,OOO, are colored. There
; is probably no greater obstacle to uni
versal education than this e-prejudice.
, 1t is not satisfied with ordinary mani
festations, but records itselfin the enact
e ment of prohibitory laws. In its eager
/ ness to wound others, the white race
: of our country has injured itself.
!, AS safely may one race exclude an
e other from the benefits of medicine or
d the application of sanitary laws. No
V city would think of tolerating the small
a pox in anv class of citizens, even though
It that class were of another race for it
o has been SO terribly written that this
e physical scourge in its deadly unity over
steps all boundaries of race, that the
,r dullest, most bigoted, stupidest of COM
i munities realizes perfectly that its only
IS hope of immunity depends on the protec-
y ton of each individual, and every class
or composing it
W But, what bodily disease has ever
d wrought the terrible evils to society that
O. come from that ignorance whose children
T. are destitution and crime The despised,
Is neglected. destitute, and ignorant have,
at in past times, more than once destroyed
ne governments, and may do so again. The
x children whom society, the church, and
v the school fail to educate, learn in the
10 streets and from countless teachers of
d vice, aided by those grim masters, hun
es ger and want, the malignarts that render
the property of our households, the viz.
of tue of our women, and the health and
nd happiness of our people insecure.
n In some instances, in the Southern
ch States all the intense bitterness of a
Of fratricidal war is remembered. Yet
nd again, men of eminence in the profession
no and in society accept with philosophy
ed he wishes was universal the new order
gs of things Rising above the social pro-
il. scription around them and whatever Of
mt remorceless poverty any of them may en-
* dure, they appreciate the necessity and
he the benefits of universal education.
ess Joined with them in the work of edu
fe- cation, as rule, are those who have
ke settled in that section from the North
his The charity of the North and of Europe
= the great benefactions of Mr.. Peabody
ter and more than all the action of the gen
III. eral Government through the freedman
the Bureau, have set on foot the establish
all ment of schools in accordance with th'
ily idea of universal education.
ks. In conclusion, the Commissioner ap
ev- peals for a generous forgetfulness 0
ace sentiment between the sections; recon
son mends National aid to support and guild
in friendly way the systems of educa
ty tion, for, through such charity he see
ler- the solution of the existing sectional diff
es- culties; reiterates his recommendation
use in last years report for the appropria
wa tion of the net proceeds of the sale. 9
ntal Government lands for educational pur
poses throughout the country. "Wha
Ioid reasonable father or mother asks tn
to Commissioner "could fail, however bit
ita- terly they may have previously felt,
Dos begin to recognize this national an
ent. special endeavor to benefit them in the
was most vital interest? %