The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-11-23
From the Ne,C York Herald.
FF0W NE NeU YORK Herald,
President Grant and the School Cues
ton,

President Grant and the School Cues
ton,
Perhaps the most important service that
can be rendered by the guides of public
thought consists 10 pointing out the sub
jects on which it should be exercised
There is no truer measure of the sagacity
OF a statesman than the sureness of judg-
ment with which he selects the problems
which ought to be solved while he is in
power. 1t has been said that the princi-
pal attribute of a statesman is to under
stand his epoch" that is. to possess a
quick and clear discernment of the chief
needs of his time. Some political cues
tons are frivolous; some, though import
ant, may be wisely postponed some will
settle themselves by mere progress of
events, if let alone; some are so related to
given period that great opportunity is
lost 1t they are not presented and decided
at particular stage in the tide of affairs.
The great test Of sagacity is the ability to
see what are the really important subjects
which deserve immediate attention, and a
statesman who possesses this capacity leads
public opinion and is not compelled to fol-
low it. But public man who aspires to
this kind of leadership, must not fail in
discrimination, as we fear President Grant
IS doing by hurrying into the foreground
lll-timed and irrevelant questions, like
Cuba and the public schools.
His attempt to make the school question
leading issue in our politics is particular
ly maladroit. We do not dispute the
soundness of his opinion that our system of
public schools is one of the main pillars of
our free institutions. A vast majority of
the American people believe this as firmly
as the President, and as they are
not likely to change their opin-
ION there Is no present necessity
for bringing this question into
politics. The common schools are safe for
period extending far beyond his official,
and even his natural life 1t may be true
enough that the priesthood of one of our
many religious denominations do not look
with favor on our common school system,
but it is equally true that an increasing
portion of the laity of the same denomina-
ton send their children to these schools,
and the practice is certain to grow in pro.
portion as our immigrant population be-
come more and more Americanized, The
only thing that can arrest this tendency is
appeals to religious prejudice, which may
unite and consolidate the Catholics by in
creasing the influence of the clergy over
the laity. If bigoted agitators will let
this question alone the public schools will
quietly win their way to popularity, even
among the Catholics, in virtue of their
merits and excellence and their superiority
to parochlal schools. President Grant
would therefore be making a mistake, even
II the common school system were within
the province of national politics. But his
mistake is greater in view of the fact that
the national government has nothing to do
with the subject. The common schools
are created by state legislation, supported
by state taxes, regulated by state control,
and the highest officer of the federal gov.
eminent is going quite beyond the domain
OF national affairs when he attempts to
make the school question an issue in gen
eral politics. There are national problems
enough of first rate Importance, and Presi-
dent Grant would be more usefully EN-.
ployed In trying to concentrate public at
tention on such of these as are of imme-
date urgency.