Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1872-03-07
N. O. WALLACE,
Educational Fund.
Speech of Hon. j. NJ. Bright, of
Tennessee, in the House of Rep
resentatiVeS, Feb. =, 1872.

l,U43) to establish an educatlona
fund, and to apply the proceed
of the public lands to the educa
ton OF the people. Mr.. Brigh
) said:
Mr. Speaker: 1t is a matter OF
regret with me that the inportan
subject of education has becomt
involved with a question of party
politics. / do not desire to en-
ter into any recrimination with
the honorable gentleman from
Massachusetts, Hoar,] who saw
proper few days ago to allude
to the State of Tennessee in 1T
educational interest. | beg leave
to call the attention of the House
to the language used by the gen
tIeman in his speech of Jan. 25':
"Look at Tennessee to-day, un.
der the rule of that party, with a
school system in but twenty-five
or twenty-three out of ninety-one
counties, and the school system,
although adopted by a vote of
the people, not actually put in
force in all those. In that State,
Mr.. Speaker-I have it from the
most trustworthy information
there can be found county after
county in which there has not
beeU a child at school fJr twelve
monthsSand will not be a child at
school for twelve months to
come" "
acquit the honorable gentle.
man from Massachusetts from any
intention to falsify the facts; but
| am persuaded that incautiously
he has been betrayed into astate.
ment which scanGalizes the edd-
cational reputation Of tennessee.
If the remark bad been made in
relation to the operation of the
common school system in Tennes-
see, | might have passed it an
needed but inasmuch as it was
uneXceptional inasmuch as it re-
ferred TO the general educational
system of Tennessee, | feel N.Y.
self bound to correct this state
ment and pronounce it without
any foundation.
Tennessee has a common school
system and an independent system
of education. That independent
system has its academies and
schools in every county of the
State, though the common school
system may not be in operation
throughoutthe State. Mr.. Speak.
er, it would be alarming to the in
telligence of the nation were there
to be a literal fulfiIlment Of the
expression of the gentleman from
Massachusetts, if it could truly
be said that there was county
after county in which there has
not been a child at school for
twelve months, and will not be a
child at school for twelve months
to come !"
/ undertake to y that you
may give the gentleman a search
warrant and a committee; be
may explore that State from its
blue mountains in the east to the
great Father of Waters in the
west, and he could not produce a
verifcation of the unauthorized
statement. True, Tennessee, in
it's educational statistics, may not
compare favorably with the an
cient Commonwealth which he
in part represents. lido not stand
here to calumniate her system of
education. l revere it. | Irevere
old Harvard and many of the
sons whom she has sent through
out this land. But while the.
gentleman is drawing these dis
ordinations, let him and every
other sensible man understand
that they are invidious and un-
fair. Massachusetts, has terri
torial extent far less than Ten.
nessee. She has the age of CEN
turies upon her head. Tennessee
has a pioneer population still lin
gering in the aisles of her prime
val forests, which they have been
engaged in reducing SO as to pre-
pare the country for the agricul-I
turist and for the perfect occupa.
ton of civilization. The gentle
man ought to remember that
their is difference in circumstan-
ces aud in age, 81
The common-school system re-
quires the growth of time The
more confined the territory and
dense the population the more
successful it will be In its applica-l
ton. 1t generally works outward
from the centers of population.