The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-03-27
Cognpstisoa.u EtIitcation-
We have already laid before {

iPElS
Mt lature to secure the better attendance
,d of children at school. There seems t,
50 be an intense desire on the part of phil
o. anthropie people to bring to bear th,
ir powers OF government in nearly every
o. department of human effort. The oIC
oil doctrine that the world is governed toe
i much IS discarded by these theorizers
= They think that the world cannot be
/ governed enough. tits foI this reason
IS that, like barnacles upon a ship, every
: year witnesses an extending area of
: bureaus, commissions and superinten-
e dencles fastened upon the public ser
n wee, to examine into education. aori-
q. culture, statistics, coast lines. LIQUOR
s consumption, consular service freight
= tariffs, and the like. These enceoach-
t ments upon the proper domain of pri-
= Vate enterprise have already swelIed
our vii service beyond that of any
civilized nation on the earth. and are
l fast approaching, if they have not al
ready attained point where by the
mere magnitude Of numbers, our OIL
Gals whose bread and butter stands at
constant hazard, have become them
selves 2 menace to the public welfare.
They are abstracted from the number
OF citizens who have Il mind of their
own.
We are led to this line OF remark.
not by any special enOrmity Of the bill
upon which we are commenting, for it
Is one OF the thousand harmless exDe-
dients which cumber the statute books.
bat fan to do great mischief for lack
OF the necessary machinery in a free
state to carry the aims of its projectors +
! INTO Gpractlce. The assumption en- ,
braced in these compulsory education
schemes, however, lies at the root Of
. the evil of patCrnal government. 1t
has been the entering wedge which we
have seen in our own time drag into its
widening rift all the liberties of n Dco-
pie until even the conscience Of the in
divldual has become matter of state
regulation. Prussian despotism is the
full grown tree of which compulsory
education was the seed. Its advocates
bIandly assume that, because of the ;
sad defects Of ignorance. and because {
ignorant people are more apt to com
NIT crimes than others less ignorant {
therefore the state has the rirht to stem ',
between ignorant parents and ignorant .
children and deliver over the latter TO {
iaShmaSterS and trainers OfIts choice I
IhIs Is the rough, plain statement. di- c
vested Of philanthrOpic platitudes. 1t E
IS predIcated on the idea that the state a
IN the matter of educational training ia c
to supplement- individual !!
eliort and assume power and respon- =
'.oIllty never delegated by the people :.
and not accOrdant with right reason. -
On the same principle, because of tha h
sad eXlgencles Of war, and because sol b
Tiers unframed in their youth make Il
hut indifferent headway against troops
bred to the use Of arms, the state has Ii
The right to protect itself against antici Fl
nated menace by compulsory military Il
service. The state has the same right p
% protect itself against over-eatinq i,
md overwhelming, which result in dys- sa
)epsIa, delimum and ungodI:ness. all -
evils. 1t follows. lOricaI- "
Y enough, that the state may protect q.
tselt against human depravity and ..
original sin, up to such point as where .
he quantum Of sinfulness in the state -
M IN the people ut large might be :,
YenlY balanced, when we do not soc ~
hat the principle could go farther Sc
But are the premises correct upon re,
Inch compulsory educationis ground to
Il! lfit is asserted that vice or crime tn
IN any certain ratio to the ascendiD0 Il i
T descending scale Of intelligence, we mi
eny 1t. Oar own country furnishes an
onYInclng proof of an ascending in pa
coupled with DESCENDING Va
lorality. Who that compares the e@A @
oveInmcnt OF Thomas Jefferson and ne
lysses Simpson Grant, or the pcople thi
lII6 with tire people Of 1874 in this Wi
'untrY Will fail to agree with US ? 90
nj vet, gratuitOus state education is ut.;;:
institution at beneficent work amono "
We are not denying that intellioence +
good thing. knowledge is mower. Cal
lI power to do evil as we'll as rood doc
is very far from being the eorreIa- ags
We of either goodness or honesty-so ag'
+ from 1t that such an assumption is dec
u = sufficient ground on which TO to
.se tyrannOus exercise Of authority. est;
here IS a scale. however by which has
&c may be unerringly measured. 1t aPl
5es with the decay of private and Co,
iollc virtue and sinks as virtue flour tea
les. But virtue is plant of home will
owth, t1ourishing but coldly in our con
mmon schools, and unfortunately. Que Que
all history proves, not to be meas 9th
ed by the delusive scale of what is ed ;
uaily called intelligence, nor to be the!
lrsed into activity by subsidies or cati
to grow by force. sup
IHE statement we made last week egv, Cb,
at Hon. ii. II. Mccormick, the pres tim,
t Speaker Of the House, 1had been Cat
pointed United States District At villa
rney for the Western District of this ca, ca,
ate, was incorrect 1t was so ar ~,
unced in the Pittsburgh papers !ogi
d we took it for granted that tbey tnte
eW what they Wer@ talking ahnnf sign