The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-12-15
0ttlnte(Ii2ps1@i2sIr:
No school andS1a,o, 4sMcn a. %.
Church and State.

10 school ands,a,e, asWca a. q.
Church and State.
published by:request)
CHARLES SrEBINs, ESQ, Cazenovia:
MY DEAR SIR--I address this letter 10
vOl because number You amongst the
deeply thoughtful and wisely beneyoT
lent men Of my acquaintance.a 1n1
Il is now some twenty or thirty years
since began to speak andsRrite upon
the radical evils Of our cotnnon achcol
system. SO intense still Is my feeling In
regard 10 thcmihat i while liie lasts and
those evils last, I INST continue TO speak
and write upon them. -
All admit the paramount fright sol pal
rents to choose and control The eddca:
lion of their children, and their para.
mount obligation 10 ideIray thes cost 81
il ButmAhy appfehend- that 1 hhiSbe
left exclusively 10 parents, a large share
Of the children will remain uneducated,,
sul will bytheti ignorance anditB.at
leadant vices curse their homes and
their country. Hence the. State Is relied
on to supply the lack. But II the State
will only stand sidesyoluntarily oler;.
ings will now jim and far more than
equal what Is raised ny taxation. This,
however, is denied and the denial rests
upOn The assumption Thai before DE
common schools psssesinto the hands 81
the government, tho education pro-
vded i'm Il twas neither of tsb high a
grade nor so generally acquired as u has.
been since. But whether this assump;
ton be wrong or right, 1t doespot follpv
,hs, the schools would suffer, moo or
hereafter, by,the Withdrawal Of the aid Of
the government IN Tic lorrnef han con:
fury d. our national existencel our faith
ers, Impoverished by one war and much
reduced by another, were obliged to
Weld 10 claims far more urgent than,
those Of education. They had % str1g:
gle Tor the material comfoft s and absolute
necessities Of lie. Their supreme con-
Cern was mot to- feed apd clothe the
mind, but diced aud ol0the the body
10 the latter half century we have risen
into happier circumstances, and are free
10 engage In the higher work or mental
cultivation. We are Movable 20 do
much more inthedepartrnent Oh educaIl
ton than we were in the infancy OF our
nation, and We are ItooEvelb disposed %
DO Il 10 need government TO compel us
to do it. 0nr rich men=of the pre- sent
generation, far SURPRISING in this respect
The rich men Of monarchical countries'
have learned 10 pour out their money
like water in the case OF human improve.
ment. They give hundreds Of thousands
and even millions 70 advance the inter
ests oe 'edueaiion sand lhe people at
large have Como into such on appteoiaA
tOn Of the benefits Of the school, that
they no longer need 10 be taxed to ex-
lcud them, but only left free 70 extend
The meddiins oi tho State with tic
school is ai 'impertinence4ittle less than
its meddling with the church. A lawyer,
than whom there is no ADLER in the land
and who Is as eminent for Integrity,
wrilesime:S Lam against the Cavern
menl's 'beihg permitted to do anything
which can DO entrusted 10 individuals I'm.
der the Equal regulation Of general laws"
But how emphstically should the school
be held to be the conceIn and care otin-
dividuals instead Of the government! II
isnOt extravaganza say that government
Is no more entitled to avoicein th6school
than in the church. Both are, or ought
10 be religious institutions and In the
one important respect thlts the nFetage
scholar ia iof u more plastic and docilo
age than the average attendant on the
church, the school has greatly the adyan;,
tage Of the church, 70 IL h, 90 IL
ladmit the great importance Of having
the common school education as we'll
nigh universal as possible. Nevertheless
il is better that this education should moi
reach as many, than that the hand oil
government be In 1t. Nothing serves 80
much to maintain manly and independ.
en:spirit in the people-nothing indeed
. 50 essential To their national llle-as
the keeping Of government within its
normal and narrow limits, Aspeople
who hang helplessly on government, and,
instead OF doing their ownrwotk, lcok 70
government, u, dc. It for them, make .
asurper Of their government and children
Oflhemselvesu And, Just kere, dot me Say
that while every work In the department
otmOrsls and religion, including especial
lythe training az child ten, tits 10 be done
BY the people, the sole work Of govern
nenI Is to WELD ilsl brute lLorce for the
Protection orthe people.
The signs that this eyilistate education
i approaching ia end are multiplying.
Amongst them il the rising up OF the
great body Of the Roman Catholics
against II. No y, wonder that they fee
themselves % be ctl6Il oppressed by &c
When the Roman Catholics Of ireland
were compelledtto support the Englisl
Church 10 addition 10 their own, al
Americans sympathized with them. Blu
snOt tho oppression of,0ut Rompn ath
alcs the same principle as was that
0uB Set their hessts ennJ training tuei
children 10 be Catholics from their In
lanCy. Hence they naturally desire Il
have their schools such as willpromot
this warmly cherished object. But hov
can they support their own schools at u
ZANE time that they are taxed TO sustail
The State schoolY Here lisa burden thu
presses heavily not upon their consclenc
only but upon theirproperty Also all tn
more heavily upon their property, since
Hapeople, they arerlch- certainly not o
rich as the Professionals, whose childrel
they are with such fragrant injustice com
PEELED 10 help 10 educate. Is II 10 mocl
The ignorance Of a large share Of Catholi