The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1873-01-23
COMPULSORY EpucAr1oN.
From the Chicago Inte,-Oeeou.

9Tcm the Chtcdgo Inter- Ocedn.
Henry Ward Beecher lately deliver
cd a lecture in New York on COM
pulhory education, in which he took
strong ground in favor Of compelling
children to attend schools, and gave
many facts and illustrations tending to
show the wisdom Of such .. rule. Mr.,
Beeoher very truly remarked that a
man is like come of the curious knives
which you sec in a cutters window.
with forty blades !; the uneducated man
is be 'who has tho fight to open only
one of them while all the rest rust in
the handle whereas the educated man
has the right to every blade and to
every. one Of their functions. Mr.!
Beeeher thinks it was the schools of
Prussia that defeated Austria and
France; and ayers that while ninety
eight per cent. Of tho army of the for
mer could read and write there
was but fofty-eight per cent. of the ht.
ter that could do 80. Intelligence is
powerful ally iu war, as w.s plainly
demonstrated in our late struggle with
the South :; bat education alone cannot
win physical victories. There must be
high purpose, good cause, and wise
commanders, and it is altogether prob
able that the French troops fighting un-
der shrewd statesmeu and able generals
like Bismarck and Won Molke would
have won the same battles, 10 the same
cause, that were gained by the educat-
ed Germans. In reply to the argument
SO commonly employed against compul-
sorry education, viz: that it destroys
the freedom Of the individual, and that
every one has the right to educats his
children a little OF not at all, Mr..
Beecher shows that this eourse 10 not
departure from the principles of de-
mocraey it is only applying an old
regulation to develop a new idea. The
State already has the power to legislate
for the public good and determine what
you can and what you cannot do. at
takes your land if it wants it; it takes
you of yourself in time Of war If it
wants you. So ifthe State requires yeor
children to be educated 1t will take
them. If you want your children edu-
Gated the law will not touch you; no
law touches q man when the man is
higher than the law Mr.. Bescher Is
very positive that the general educa-
tion of the masses cannot be trusted to
parental affection or the dictates of
conscience in individuals, no matter
how good the schools may be OF how
earnest the argument employed to con.
vince parents Of the necessity and ad-
vantages of intellectual development:
He says that there are vast number of
foreigners who bring uneduc.ted child
rem into the country, and who do not
at once appreciate the necessity Of edu-
eating them:. There are also q great
many bad characters and criminals
that have no care for the education of
their children, and great many more
of careless parents who look more to
themselves than the intelligence Of the
child. The places of all those who
neglect the important duty Of eaucat.
ing their children should be supplied
! BY the State until ignorance disappears
from the land and the fountain Of
knowledge IS opened to all.
1t has been decided in Illinois that
that portion Of the law giviog the re.
for school the right to retain any
children under its Management who
are growing up in meDdicancy and vice
is null and void. This decision of the
Supreme Court greatly embarrAsses the
movement in this State in favor Of COM
pulsory education. We can very read
lily see where the question of personal
liberty might be applied with seeming
consistency to the restraint Of any per-
son held for cause other than crime !;
but the substance of the organic law
that regulates our conduct aIss prevails
in New Rampsire, Michigan, Texas and
other States, aud still they have sys-
TENS of compulsory education in each
Of these States, and it meets With great
favor. The fact has been repeatedly
demonstrated that large proportion Of
the criminals in our prisons are men
who are illiterate. If ignorance, then,
is fruitful source of crime, and "prs-
vention is better than cure" it would
seem that the State has, or if not. it
certainly ought to have, the right Of
protecting itself in this matter, especi.
ally when by thus preventing crime 50
much can be added to the happiness
and intelligence of tho person over
whom it exercises this surveillance.
JEWISH MARRIAGES.. ..