The Portland daily press., 1875-11-27
NON.sECTARIAN SCHOOLS.
Letter from Ex-speaker Blaine.

WASHINGTON, Nov 26.-The following letter
was written by Mr. Blaine to a prominent Ohio
gentleman just after the late election in that
state. 1t is printed now with at least the inn
piled consent of the writer:
AUGUSTA, Maine, Oct. 90
lfy Dear Sir:-The public school agitation
in your late campaign is liable to break out
then in another, may keep the whole country in
a ferment for years to come This inevitably
arouses sectarian feeling and leads to that bit
terest and most deplorable of all strfes-the
strife between religious denominations. 1t
seems to me that this question ought to be set.
tied in some definite and comprehensive way
and the only settlement that can be final
is the complete victory for non.secrarian
schools. 1 am sure this will be demanded by
the American people at all hazards and at any
COST
The dread of sectarian legislation in this
country has been felt many times in the past.
1t began very early. The first amendment of
the Constitution, the joint product of Jefferson
aud Madison, proposed in 1889, declared that
Enlistment of religion nor prohibiting
the exercise thereof" At that time,
when the powers of the Federal govern
ment were untried and undeveloped, the fear
was that Congress might be the source of dan
power was taken from it, AT the same time
the states were left free to do they pleased in
regard to San establishment of religion" for
the tenth amendment, proposed by that emil
nent jurist, Theophilus Parsons, and adopted
contempOraneously with the first, declared that
''all powers notidelegated to the United States
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
states, are reserved to the states respectively,
or to the people,"
A majority of the people in any state in this
Union can therefore, if they desire it, have an
established church-under which the minority
he taxed for the arnctiOn of ohurph obi
fees which they never enter and for the sup
port of creeds which they do not believe. This
power was actually exercised in some of the
states long after the adoption of the Federal
Constitution and although there may be no
positiveidanger of its revival in the future, the
possibility Of it should 10 the permitted.
The anspicious time to guard against an evil is
when all will unite in preventing it,
And in curing this constitutional defect all
possibility of hurtful agitation on the school
question should be ended also. Just let the
old Jefferson-M Madison amendment be applied
to the states by adding the following to the in
hibitory clauses in section 10, article /, of the
Federal Constitution, viz:
"No state shall make any law respect
ing an establishment of religion or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; and no money raised
by taxation in any state for the support of pub
lie schools or derived from any public fund
therefor, shall ever be under the control of any
religious sect, nor shall any money so raised
ever be divided between religious sects or de-
nominations"
This, you will Observe, does not interfere
with any state having Just such school system
as its citizens may prefer-subiect to the sin.
gle and simple restriction that the schools shall
not be ma de the arena for sectarian controversy
or theological disputation. This adjustment,
it seems to me, would be comprehensive and
conclusive-and would be fair alike to Protest
ant and Catholic, to Jew and Gentile-leaving
the religious faith and tie conscience of every
man free and unmolested.
Very sincerely yours,
j. G. BLAINE.