The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1872-01-12
COL. DEM. --- VOL XXXV-- NO. AZ.
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM.

Legislature to provide the necessar.
| legal machinery to carry out the popu
lar will on this important subject.
| cordially sympathise with this move
ment, and In my last annual messag
| presented my views thereon so full,
that repetition of them is deemed mn
necessary, but TO which special refer
ence is made. A careful revision of ou
fundamental law, by men qualified 70
that duty, is imperatively demanded
by the highest considerations OF publi
welfare.
Connected with this, in a considera
BILE degree, are the questions of the es
tablishment of q "Court of Appeals,
and the appointment of a commission I
to revise the tax laws and to equalizt
taxation. Both of these measures ar,
important, and are urged upon my con
sideration by Intelligent men from dif
ferent parts of the State. But, ,inas
much as the constitutional convention
may, with propriety, undertake the re
organization of our judicial system
and as taxation should be based upon
and made conformable to the require
ments of the Constitution, / incline to
the opinion that general legislation on
these subjects had better be postponed
vention shall be known.
CONGRESSIONAL APPoRTIoNMENT
The second section of the first article
Of the Constitution of the United States
as modified by the second section of the
fourteenth amendment thereto, defines
the principles and basis of congressional
representation and imposes upon each
State the duty of dividing the same
every ten years, into Congressional
districts, each containing as nearly as
possible the ratio of inhabitants adopt
ed by Congress, based upon the emu
meration of the National census of 1870.
No more important duty than this
apportionment of the State into Con.
gressional districts is likely to devolve
upon the present Legislature ; and
bespeak for it that careful and patriotic
consideration which is required by the
magnitude of the interests involved.
EDUCATION.
Every citizen is deeply interested in
the manage ment and welfare of our
common schools, and in the cause of
general education, and should rejoice
that in the prosperity OF so great trust
he is charged with an appropriate share
of responsibility. In proportion as the
character of public instruction is elevat.
ed, the vast multitudes who emerge
from our schools will be properly pre-
pared for the active duties of life, and
"the weishty responsibilities Of Amer
lean citizenship"
Thirty. seven years have elapsed since
the common school system was intro
duced into Pennsylvania, and the gen.
eral prosperity of the State has, ever
since, been commensurate with the adj
vantages that have been afforded to its
rapidly increasing population. Those
who were instrumental in its intrOduc-
tion, and those who have devoted them
selves to perfecting its operations as to
methods of teaching, the adaptation of
buildings, and all other means of edu-
cation, are fully appreciated and COM
pensated by the gratitude of all good
and intelligent people. But much yet
remains to be done to perfect its ulti
mate purposes, and it must not be said
of us, now upon the field OF action, that
we are permitting the good work to Ian
guish IA 90. A.an,is. 10 Just ,PfaInG
should be allowed as to its efficiency or
that its great and important ends are
not being accomplished.
II was certainly the purpose of the
founders of our common school system
to give every child in the Common.
wealth, without regard to its pecuniary
or social copdition, the advantages of
sufficient education to enable him or
her to engage in the successful transac.
ton OF the ordinary branches Of bust
ness, and to obtain and maintain re-
spectabiity which ignorance can never
acquire. Thus far this has not been
fully accomplished; for am informed
there are at least seventy five thousand
children in the State who attend no
schools of any kind whatever. II is
unnecessary to inquire into the reasons
for this shameful neglect. The evil eX:
lists and demands an efficient remedy.
That remedy may probably be found
either in compelling, or in holding out
inducements to parents and Others hav.
ing children in charge, whether rich or
poor, to afford them the benefits, for at
least q reasonable term of years, of our
public schools.
Those who neglect this duty are un.
fit guardians, and deserving Of severe
reprehension. Parents are not the sole
owners OF their children, The latter are
the property of the State, the prosper
ity of which materially depends upon
their future usefulness. They are en-
phatically her children, aud have an in
defeasible right to demand her protec.
tion in their youth, that in advanced
life they may, in turn, hecome her pro
tectors. Let them be properly reared
grow up to maturity loving the hand
that fostered them, and feeling deer
and lasting interest in lis welfare for the
paternal care they received. And thu:
many who would otherwise be neglect
ed may become an honor to themselves
and bright and shining lights in the
moral, social, religious and political fir
mament of the Commonwealth. But LEI
these be neglected, and what are the
adverse results? Idleness and ignor
ance are the prolific sources of vice anC
crime. They will fill our aims house;
with youthful vagrants, our prisons
with convicted criminals, houses of in
fanny with dissolute wretches, the pur
lieus of our cities with drunken, mis-
cradle and half starved vagabonds anC
cover our "POtter's fields" with tn,
graves of those who might have been
with proper instruction, ornaments Il
society and serviceable to their country
| These statements are fully sustained b!
| the reports of prison inspectors, war
dens, physicians and philanthropist
who have given the subject careful con
sideration and it has been clearly de
monstrated that an exceedingly small
percentage Of the suffering beings VIII,
crowd our prisons and poor houses hav
received even the rudiments of an or
dinary education, or moral instruction
during their childhood. This condi
tion of things admonishes those having
charge of the public interests OF grea
responsibility, and that the application
of effectual remedies admits of no della
Therefore, such legislation is recon-
mended as will remedy any defects i
our school system that have hithert
failed to make it itthorough, compreher
sive and universal.
would advise more liberal polio
to be adopted in regard to the compeI
sation of teachers in the public school
that the highest order of talent and I'll
best qualifications for the responsib
and important duties OF instructio
may always be Sc cultd.
On this OCCASION / have omitted II
statistical statements exhibiting IN
condition of the different branches
the School Department, and respectful
ly invite your attention to the careiull
prepared reports of the Superintendel
for detailed account OF the Norma
Agricultural, Common and Soldier