Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-12-11

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10 PUBLIC EDUCATION A PUBLIC INJURY
SIX ANTI-SCHO0L PROOFS CONSIDERED
The six pretended citations Of fact with
which the Mornin3 Herald supports it's theory
that public education is public injury, We gave
in full in yesterdays COMMERCIAL, and intelli-
gent people no doubt bestowed upon them such
rdicule ~ they deserve. We could not be ex-
pected in this day and generation, to enter
upon serious demonstration Of the importance
OF education, upon such challenge, yet We
may perhaps be excused for devoting to the
six assertions-for they are only assertions,
almost wholly destitute Of foundation in his
torical or statistical fact-some brief comment
The first, promising that Prussia has the
best eduosted population in the world, declares
that country to be ~ despotism which menaces
the Peace Of Europe" This is exactly what the
ultrsmantane Romanists also say, and it has
no special truth. Prussia is no more
"despotic than other monarchies Of
Continental Europe her people enjoy vastly
greater freedom thon the poor illiterates Of
Spain; and If her power is so great that Europe
fears It, that fact is solely due to the general IL
tslligsncs Of her people-the very thing assailed
by the extraordinary critic We are reviewing.
The wise words Of an Austrian statesman in the
Parliament Of that Empire, in 1871, while con-
tending against the ultramontane and reaction
ary party, for the maintenance OF public schools
were that sit is not the needle gun, but the
power OF the intellect, which in our time gives
superiority to one nation over another"
To m hat
ond in education, is more thoroughly debauched
than any (otherl Christian country in the world,
we need hardly present more than precise de-
NAL There are no statistics that show any such
thing. The debsuched nations are those OF
the South. Scandinavia's simplicity of life is
proverbiAl. What everybody knows we need
not proceed to prove. II the Morning Herald
believes it's own assertion, let us see some ev.
denoe of It's truth.
That in New England " more horrid and re-
voting crimes are committed in proportion to
the population than in any other section OF the
country" must be sustained by something more
than the Hsrdlds say-so, or 1t will be laughed
At 1t ia, in fact, destitute Of truth. The CEN
sus reports show that Of convictions for crime
Delaware has more in proportion than any one
where the criminal classes of the great city Of
Boston swell the lists, This may be seen by any
one who will consult the reports; we cannot spare
space here for the figures. That the penal codes
OF those States are more rigid and designate a
larger list Of crimes than ours will not be denied
and therefore their convictions should be more
numerous instead Of less so. To say then, that
the crimes committed there are more revolving
and horrid" than those of any other section is
contrary to the census evidence as far as it
goes, and unsupported by proof, must in the
face OF the worlds knowledge of New Engand's
steady habits" only receive ridicule For cir
cumstances OF cruelty and atrocity, we remem-
Der no murder in the United States which ex-
ceeded that of Mrs. Armstrong who was killed by
her husband in this county, in 1866 nor for ex.
traordinary and deylish ingenuity of murderous
purpose, do we think the country could present
an instance out-doing the butchery of the un-
fortunate Cooch Turner, by DIR. West, at Dover,
OF which crime by the way, Turner being black
man, the " Doctor was not convicted.
The illiteracy OF Southern Delaware is not the
reason why the rate of crime is low This con-
dition exists in spite OF the illiteracy 1t is a
quiet agricultural community, with no shifting
population. 1t has no .vagrants, no ''trampe.',
Yet it has it's offenders against the laws, snd we
VIII call the prosecuting officers Of the State to
prove that they have had fair proportion OF ca
SOS, where white men were the criminals, to
prosecute at the bar Of Sussex county.
As to the fifth and sixth assertions, We need
only to refer to the last that penal statistics
show that the ordinary education Of our schools
does not check the growth Of crime" This is a
monstrous inaccuracy. In the New York PEN
tentiary, 80 per cent. of the prisoners could not
road, while Of the adult population of the State,
not in prison, only per cent. could not, chow
ing that mere ignorance Of reading was eleven
times more favorable to crime than knowledge
of that accomplishment In the Ohio peniten.
tiary, 81 per cent. of the prisoners, were unedu-
cated-that is could just read or barely scratch
their names-while IA per cent. more did not
know their alphabet, showing that 81 per cent.
were uneducated persons. All the reports on
penal subjects, all the transactions Of prison re-
form Congresses are full OF the proof, drawn
from ample statistics, that ignorance ia the
fruitful parent Of crime, and that education
public school educaton-raises the standard Of
conduct and is check upon wrong doing.
But, after all, it seems waste Of time to go
back to the proof that our American civilization,
pursuing the work of education with a zeal
scarcely equaled in the history Of the world, is
not all wrong. 1t is rather late--is it not ?-for
even ultramontane theorists to insist that intel
lgence and crime go hand in hand, that the
most virtuous sections are where illiteracy is
greatest, that the school-house is the bane and
not the blessing Of the oommunity-in fine that
public education is public injury? 1t is true
that such is the theory Of Senator Bayard and
of the Morning Herald, but it can hardly be po ,si-
BILE that their party will take such ground for the
campaign of 1876. Should it do sc. the American
people will only need to be told the issne that
is pending to be ready to decide upon it at once.
Such campaign would indeed be short, sharp
and decisive. BY the month OF November, it
would require microscopical investigation to die
cover grease spot where the ant-schoo party
stood.
The New York Tribune soberly bases long
editorial article in reference to Bishop Haven's
address at Boston, on supposed letter from