Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1874-08-21
MIXED SCHOOLS.

Line danger 10 Which, tue EtN aNu
yet incomplete free school system of
the Southern States is exposed through
unwise partizanship and pretended
philanthropy is neutrality-suspicious.
to find recognition in the department
Of Education in the Atlantic Month
ly for September. The manner in
which the subject is treated is tempe
rate and sensible, sayst the Boston Post,
appealing strongly to the judgment Of
the reader. The work Of public in
struction has only begun III the South.
The large cities maintain free schools,
and the States have without exception
passed laws inaugurating the system;
but the plundered and Impoverished
condition of the people in many sec
tons renders them averse to consent
ing to the taxation necessary for a full
development Of the plan, while else
where, as in South Carolina and Lou
isiana, the School Fund is squaudereG
with the rest OF the Treasury contents
by unprincipelled Legislatures. More
over, as tie writer states, there is on
" about one-ttird Of the citizens who
are willing to carry the burdens and
work against these l:scoaraGing OBJ
stccles i'll ORDER to secure free public
schools. One-tilird aIe indifferent and
one-third openly opposed. This is Ike
| condition Of the system, weak and
struggling, without warm public sym
pathy or sufficient pecuniary support,
when the needs Of Republican, pohti-
clans have led to the Introduction OF
tie Civil Rights bill, with its demand
for mixed schools Ii a point has been
sought at which - strike suTely f.
tai blow nj the system of public III
siruction, it could not have been more
surely found. The prediction Of Ser
ator Browuiov, who for once laid 8
side his bigotry in the face Of such
danger, is already finding realization.
Even tie shadow &C the coming event
mentions the suspension Of contracts
for building school-houses in several
States, aud the dispersal Of teachers,
and adds that at no time stree tie Mar
has the party cf progress been i'll so
critical Il condition as since the ngitn-
tion of the question OF mixed schools
il Congress. II Is. IF cnursc, the black;
who VIII have to safer more imrufGi-
atcly. The whites will find refuge i'll
the fOrElcT system OF private schools,
for which tie negroes nave neither the
means nor the intelligence. Such are
tie dangers to which Ike foolish level
ling Legislation Of Congress exposes
education in the South. Without the
interference Of the proposed supple
mentary civil rights bl-', the negroes
Of the South now enjoy, under State
laws, the same Advantages of educa-
ton that the whites have. The schools
fer the blacks are tie same in every
respect, the laws compelling equal
provision for each. Moreover, as the
negroes pay hardly any tax while
holding great political power, they are
sure OF education at The expense Of the
whites SO long as this system stands
The situation is so simple, when re-
garded in the light OF interest merely,
that no Intelligent negro can fail to
comprehend it; and the demand for an
act of Congress forbidding the estab-
ishment of separate schools for white
and black is SO evidently fictitious
political Issue IS to merit the sternest
condemnation. It is part Of the pro-
gramme of manipulating the negro
vote by appeals to the antagonism OF
race, all of which rests upon the sup
Elementary civil rights bill as its
foundation. This and other questions
involving the relations of the two races
can be settled peaceably and justly
only by permitting the State laws to
have unrestricted operation.