Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-10-11

uicHe VI CuuSdsiOuf tOui t1u pei i1tcuuCut
deems it advisable to compile careful |
synopsis of methods of discipline, and
lay itbefore the teachers of the county, |
through the press, the use of which
has been kindly rendered him for this
and other purposes, connected with
the interest of public instruction.
The Peabody fund has been kindly
extended in aid of the free schools in
the county, through DIR. Sears, its
agent, through the State agent, Hon.
Jno. NJ. Fleming, State Superinten--
dent, and blanks for petitions for aid
from the fund have been furnished
this office. But it is matter of seri-
Gus regret that no portion of the fund
can reach us unless by county assess
ment. and the schools or towns petit
tioniug for such aid by local taxation,
raise fund enough to carry on, by the
aid of said fund, schools ten months in
the year. Its contributions are liberal
and would, in the event of our meet
ing the requirements of its agents,
materially aid us in this grand work
of educational reform After the
many excellent things that have been
written and said in relation to the real
value of a common school education
to all classes of society your Superin-
tendent deems it unnecessary to pre-
sent an argument in its favor. The
question to be considered by us to-day
is not the material advantages which
this system of instruction possesses
over other systems, but the inadequacy
of the present system TO prepare the
children for the pressing demands of
active life. While | would not utter
syllable in disparagement of the
private schools, but, on the contrary,
would earnestly urge the friends of
public instruction, that every agent
should be broughtt to bear that would
elevate the tone of the free schools,
that the two systems may be blended,
and that Il heaithtul system of unlver-
sal instruction may be eliminated
therefrom. Yet, fourteen years ex-
perience has taught me that the real
wants of the public in developing the
intellectual and material resources Of
society cannot be met by them. The
class of students usually educated by
them are youths. whose pecuniary con-
dition is such, that shielded from want
by wealth and affluence they lack the
impetus which would force them on
ward in a sphere of usefulness to man
kind. They live within the narrow
and circumscribed sphere of their own
means of wealth, and the matchless
powers of intellect too often vanish
before the seductive Establishments of
ease and luxury. IF possessed of en-
ergy and enterprise, when the fields of
the sciences are surveyed with the view
to bringing them to bear in developing
| the right resources of the State, they
find material abundant, mines of wealth
boarded within its bosom stupendous
to contemplate. Incxhaustible reser-
voirs of lubricating oils. Mighty
forests to be converted into building
material. But alas when he surveys
the surroundings, he finds no intelli-
gent labor to aid him in developing
these mighty resources. He must
either abandon his well laid schemes,
| or send to Massachusetts, for men
trained in the arts and sciences, in
chemistry, geology, the working of
mines, machinery, ETC., in order to
bring his capital to bear in developing
the resources. In this lamentable pic
ture, suppo e that we were blessed by
a system in which, in addition to the
branches now prescribed, we had me-
chanical instruction, and instruction
in all the natural sciences fully taught.
We would have system of educated
labor that would make your State,
what she really is, but virtuallyis not
the richest State on the American con-
tinent. The agricultural development
of your State has kept step with
those OF other States. In her univer-
sal resources, yet comparatively un-
touched, lie the great bulk of her
wealth. Our system of instruction is
defective in as much as it does not
meet the wants of the laboring class,
in developing intelligence sufficient to
overcome obstacles, that have hung
like an incubus over the prosperity
of the State. We need brain, as well
as muscle in developing the mighty re-
sources of our State. The great Rad
ical evil of all our financial suferings,
ignorance, must be rooted out. This
can only be done by universal educa-
ton. It is too evident to need COM
ment, that the inferiority of education
has brought most of our misfOrtunes
upon US. The great need of the pres
ent day is to bring mechanical and
industrial pursuits into respect, and
educate and train the young for those
pursuits. Mental culture has been
aimed at altogether, with the view to
placing the young men of the State in
the learned professions. The result is
that the professions are crowded to
Overlooking; while the mechanic arts,
in all their varied relations to the in
dustrial interest of the State, are sadly
neglected
Our attention is called to the advan-
tages of free schools from another
standpoint, viz: its relations to the
prevention of crime and protection OF
property, and perhaps it were enough
to state that 81 per cent of the inmates
of the State penitentiary at Nashville
can neither read nor write. AN ounce
of prevention is worth a pound OF
cure" Surely it would be wise policy
in State or county to spend few thou
sands to prevent what it would cost
many thousands to arrest, suppress
and punish. Mental culture has sal
utary effect on the morality and re-
finement Of people, improving and
elevating its sensibilities, developing a
true sense of the dignity of true man
hood and wOmanhood, which when
once attained is seldom lost, but is fos-
tered as the poor mans one, only
priceless jewel, rendering him thereby
an honest and respected citizen. Prop
erty is enhanced in value as it is rem
dered more secure. Education ele-
Yates the tone of society and thereby
throws a net work of protection around
property; therefore education enhances
the value of property, and if educa-
ton enhances the value of property, is
it not just and fair that property should
be taxed for its support? Again, re-
peat, the property of the State of Ten
nessee lies not in its agricultural ad-
vantages, but in its vast mineral re-
sources in its immense forests of tim
Der, in its great natural facilities for
becoming a manufacturing State, and
again | repeat, we can not become a
manufacturing people without intelli-
gent labor.
Compare your State with the State
of Massachusetts. With a population
about equal to Tennessee, territory
one-sixth as large, no resources what
ever outside of her manufactures,
drawing all materials for manufactures
and for home consumption from abroad