Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1872-03-02
ASHTABULA, OHIO SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1872

| one. worthy OF great nation, aud this
country will remember the man who
formulated it into language, and will re
member the Congress that made il law
The other point is one of even great u
practical value and significance just now
than this that | have referred to. 1t is
this: How is this great gift TO be dis
tributed We propose to give il, Mr.
Speaker, through our American system
OF education; and in giving it, we dc
not propose to mar in the least degree
the harmony and beauty OF that system
II we did, should b! compelled to
| give my voice and vote against the meas.
ure and here and now, when we are in.
augurating this policy. desire to state
for myself and, as | believe, for many
who sit around me, that we do here sol
emnly protest that this gift is not to de-
stroy or disturb, but it is rather TO be
through and rs n part of aud to be
wholly subordnatcd to what I venture
TO call our great American system of cd
ucation. On this question | have been
compelled heretofore TO differ with many
friends of education here and elsewhere,
many who have thought it might be
wise Tor Congress, in certain contingen.
cies, to take charge of the system Of ed
ucation in the States. | will not now
discuss the constitutional aspects Of that
question; but desire TO say Ihat all the
philosophy of our educational system
torbids that we should take such n
course. And in the lew moments award
ed to me, wish TO make an appeal for
our system as whole as against any
other known to me. We look sometimes
with great admiration at government
like Germany, that can command the
light of its education to shine every
where, that can enforce its school laws
everywhere throughout the empire. I'm
der our system we do not rejoice in that,
but we rather rejoice that here two
forces play with all their vast power up
on our system OF education. The first
is that Of the local, municipal power un-
der our State governments. There is
the center of responsibility. There is
the chief educational power. There can
be enforced Lu,her's great thought of
placing On magistrates the duty Of cdu-
eating children.
Luther was the first to perceive that
Christian schools were an absolute ne
cessity. In a celebrated paper address
ed to the municipal councillors of the en-
pire in 1924, he demanded the establish
ment Of schools in all the villages OF
Germany. TO tolerate ignorance was,
in the energetic language Of the reform
er, to make common cause with the dew
il. The father of family who abandon
ed his family to ignorance, was a CON
summate rascal. Addressing the Ger.
man authorities. he said:
Magistrates, remember that God formally
commands you TO instruct children. This di-
vine commandment parents have transgressed
by indolence, by lack of intelligence and be-
cause of over-work.
"The duty dcvolves upon you. magistrates
to call fathers to their duty, and to prevent the
return Of these evils which we suffer to-day
Give attention to your children. Many par
ents arc like ostriches, content to have laid an
egg. but caring for it no longer.
Now, that which constitutes the prosperity
OF Il city is not its treasures, its strong walls,
its beautiful mansions and its brilliant decOra-
tions. The real wealth of a city, its safety
and its force is an abundance of citizens, in
structed. honest and cultivated. If in our days
we rarely meet such citizens, whose fault is it.
if not yours, magistrates. who have allowed
our youth to grow up like neglected shrub
berry in the forest
Ignorance is more dangerous for people
than the armies of an enemy"
After quoting this passage from Lu-
ther, LaboulaYe, in his eloquent essay
entitled, "L Etat Ct seS Limtes," pages
204 and 2o5, says:
This familiar and true cloquence was not
lost. There is not Protestant country which
has not placed in the front rank of its duties
the establishment and maintenance OF popular
schools"
The duties enjoined in these great ut
terances Of Luther are recognized to the
fullest extent by the American system
Bat they are recognized as belonging to
the authorities of the State, the county,
the township, the local communities s.
There, these obligations may be urged
with all he strength of their high sane
tions. There, may be brought to bear
all the patriotism, all the morality, all
the philanthropy, all the philosophy of
our people, and there it is brought to
bear in its no1lest and best forms.
But there is another force even great
er than that of the State and the local
governments 1t is the force of private
voluntary enterprise, that force which
has built up the multitude of private
schools, academies and colleges through
out the United States, not always wise.
ly, but always with enthusiasm and
wonderful energy. Isay, therefore, that
our local seltgovernment, Joined to and
cooperating with private enterprise,
made the American system of education
what it is.
In further illustration of its mertR, l
beg leave to allude to few facts of great
Significance. The governments OF Europe
are now beginning to see that our sys-
TEN is better and more efficient than
theirs. The public mind of England is
now, and has been for many years, pro-
foundly moved on the subject of educa-
ton. Several commissioners have late
ly been sent by the British Government
to exapine the schoolsystems ofFother
countries, and lay before Parliament the
results Of their Investigations, so as o
enable that body to profit by the expe-
rience of other nations.
Rev. J. Frazier, one of the assistant
appointed for this pur-
pose, visited this country in 1865, and in
The following year made his report to