Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-12-16


appearing in the three publications, VIII
reach the great body of newspaper
readers everywhere within two or three
hundred miles Of Memphis. Pro rata
deductions, with those made from sub
,cription prices, are made from adver-
Using bills shared by the three publica-
tions.
EDUCATION A GENERAL SCHOOL
SYSTEM.
The press Of Tennessee has all at once
baen seized with an intense zeal for the
cause Of education. We understand the
motives whfc', prompted this hobby.
The sacred school fund was stolen by
the Radicals. For four years the State
has been sorely pressed to provide for
the payment of the State bonds, the
product Of villainy. On account Of the
pecuuiary embarrassment Of the state,
the onerous taxation already imposed
upon an impoverished people, the last
Legislature Of Tennessee did not adopt a
General state school system. The world
has long laughed at the shirtless fellow
who wanted rufies for his bosom. 1t
would have been equally as absurd had
the last Legislature engaged il stu
pendous system Of education, when there
was not q dollar in the State treasury,
and the people were already taxed to a
confisea3iono of their property to meet the
liabilities incurred by the thieves who in
retiring from the State government left
the handsome legacy to the taxpayers
Of Tennessee Of thirty-six millions OF
dollars. The little faction 50 anxious to
organize new party, and to ride into
Office, are cIamOring for e-d-u-c-a-t-i-O-n!
This is done for the purpose Of panderlng
% the negroes, and tatterdemalians who
pay no taxes. They talk as though
there was a party in Tennessee opposed
10 education, or a general school system.
We trust this grave and important sub
fact will attract the attention Of the
Legislature which assemblies two weeks
from to-day, and that such general
system will be adopted as viii be COM
mensurate with the ability Of the people
TO nav. The State debt viii, no doubt
he funded in bOndsrunning thirty years.
The interest on these bonds can be paid,
and a fund provided for the education OF
the Door children Of the State, without
any material change ia the present rate
Of taxation. While the demagogues
are pulling about education, for vile.
party purposes, the true men of
the State should commence comparing
notes, consulting as TO the ability Of the
people to pay taxes for educational pur-
poses knowing as they do that one Of
the postulates of national greatness is
education universally diffused. So far
as the APPEAL is concerned it viii favor
such a system of general education as
the people need and the taxpayer can
pay for. TO,argue in favor Of education,
mt this late day, is as absurd as TO talk
about the advantages of railroads, tele-
-raph lines, or religion and churches.
Every body now comedies that educa-
lion alone can give skill to the hand,
wisdom in the general conduct Of affairs
Without it the strength Of the physi-
cal power Of a nation is Ike the sight
less Cvclopes, working in the dark.
PHYSICAL strength is generally available
i'm proportion to the intelligence by
which it is guided. 1t has been asserted
and demonstrated, by DR.. Leibery we be-
Iieve, that an increased number OF
crimes viii generally be connected with
o state Of increased civilization, simply
because civilization multiplies, with eve
" advancing step, the opportunities
for the application Of mans activity,
and therefore the opportunities for its
abuse. 1t multiplies the desires and
wants of man, which is in fseto Of
tne most desirable results Of civilization
ut along with them it multiplies dis
appointment, and viii always, with some
individuals, create the desire Of graft
wing these wants by any means, wheth-
or honest OF dishonest. This fact has
been accounted for upon the ground that
when men live upon the meanest food
that nature offers, without the assist
ance Of human activity, and dress in
style Of corresponding simplicity, very
few wants, and consequently few disap-
rointments-few desires, and cOnse-
guently few wicked desires, can exist.
The crimes which an Esquimaux can
possibly commit can be but few in num-
her. On the other hand, what would
have become Of mankind without the
art of writing? Each generation would
have remained in insulated barbarity,
and a gradual development of morals
could hardly have taken place. Where
would we be without the system Of
credit? Nations could never have been
united by commercial intercourse; com
lnerce would have remained in its slow
aud confined incipient stage; knowledge
would not have extended far beyond the
limited theater Of human activity, as we
find il in antiquity. Yet, without the
art OF writing, and without the modern
system OF commercial credit, mankind
numerous classes Of crime-fraud and
forgery. We all know that private
property forms one Of the surest founda-
lions and most Indispensable elements
Of civilization yet without private
property we should be freed from a great
number Of crimes now committed. No
weed grows on barren rock, indeed,
but no grain either. Civilization with
out knowledge Is the greatest bane. There
are no individuals more exposed TO
crime than the ignorant, in civilized
community; or, in other words, those
individuals who are touched by the
wants and desires Of civilization, or by
the effects Of general refinement, with
out being actually within the bosom Of
civilization. These facts show the ne
cessitv Of universal education. Civil
zation exists with US. We cannot stop
il, even were we DESTROYS Of doing So
and the outward effects Of civilization
without knowledge, is the greatest bane
that can befaH any class or individual
Ignorance without civilization is no pc
culisr source Of crime; ignorance with
civilization is an abOunding source OF
crime; both, because it lessons the
means Of subsistence, and lowers the in
dividual in the general and his own es-
teem-severs him from the instructed
and the educated. And what is
still more important, is the fact