, 1874-01-23

National Government to carry letters, pay
postal money orders, or coin money. and es-
pecially would it forbid the State to impose
taxes to support public schools.
2. Any Government must somewhat infringe
individual liberty. Tho price for sharing in the
benefits Of society is the surrender of some
portion OF our rights. How large the portion
shall be depends upon o1pediency. And 80,
while the fact that compulsory education ILL
friuges upon individual liberty creates 3
presumption against it, that presumption has no
weight if the expediency Of the system iB made
clear.
8. Present laws interfere (and must do SOY
with al domestic relations. There is already
mass Of legislation On the relations Of husband
md wife and Of parent and child. The law
recognizes the right Of child to food, clothing.
aud shelter. It comnols the parent to give him
these, but nobody complains against this inter-
ference with private concerns. Hereafter, wo
hope the law OF Illinois is to recognize the right
of child to mental as we'll as physical food It
is higher right, for it's exercise il moro bouel
cGl, its neglect more harmful, to tho child cn1
the world. If he does not get food for the body
he will die and neither suffer thereafter himself
nor do harm to auybody else. Bat if his mind
alone is starved. he will probably live wretchedly
himself and be thorn in :he s:do Of the Eody-
polite. As long as parent gives Child his
lights, the law does not interfere. When ho fails
to do 80. it ought to interfere.
i. While the tendency OF all 1aws which add
to the number of 1salo prohibia ii undoubtedly
towards contempt for law in general. this ten
dcucy may be counteracted. In this case it i5
more than counteracted By the instruction the
law guarantees to all children, for that instruc-
tion is the suresl preventive OF oflaw-brcakiug.
s. II it is hardship to tho poor man to de-
prize him OF the services OF his child, it is a
greater hardship to the child to deprive him OF
education. II some parents a,o absolutely unG
Bile to buy books Tor their children, means will
be found to furnish them, either BY private
charity or public funds.
Universal education is tho basis Of popular
government. It increases nations wealth
producing power. 1t tends to prevent crime
The first proposition is sof-oTidcnt. The other
tWo are profed by statistics,-statistcs which
we're unquestioned TIL Herbert Spencer sud that
it would be found that nine out OF ten convicts
wore snspendets aal that it Would be ~ just to
say that suspenders caused crime as that igno-
rance did. This unworthy qnibble has made
some converts. A suspender can make no
possible impression upon mnn's mind. Edu-
cation must make an impression. It makes the
difference between great thoughts and petty
ones OF none at ali, between Lofty aspirations
and groveling desi1es, between q knowledge Of
the fact that crime Injuries the criminal
more than it does his victim and igno-
rance OF that fact. aud oftontimes between
the ability to subs1st without kna7ery and the
inability to do SO. When, therefore, the crim- |
inal records Of every country in the civilized |
world show, as they do, that the ignorant conf |
nit far more crimes in proportion to their num-
bers than the educated do, We have as certain
proof that tho power Of knowledge extends to |
the prevention or lessening of crime IS We have
that the sun will rise tomorrow. Since uniyor-
ssl education, then, produces these three most
valuable results, it il in tho highest degree e1-
pedient to make education compulsory. The
particular Law now under consideration at SPRING
field may be faulty, but the principle on which it
is founded is manifeslly right.