The New York herald., 1876-03-20

regarding the importance Of separating the
education Of our children from the contami-
nation Of politics, and il therefore suggests
I possible cause when we find mismanagement
walking hand in hand with the powerful
motor referred to. Nothing is easier than to
establish standard rules for the regulation of
attendance and sanitary precautions in the
schools, and IL is a serious reflection on the
official character Of the Board of Education
that such importantrmatters are now in such
a chaotic condition. The rapid growth of the
/ population has undoubtedly complicated
the duties Of the school officials very consid-
erably and has thrown on men deficient in
resource the difficult task of providing ac-
commodation for the increasing numbers of
| pupils. But there can be no excuse what
ever for the neglect of the simplest precau-
tions demanded alike by sanitary and moral
deconcy. Why are not the ideas of rigid dis
cipline Of the class room extended to every
part Of the school building? We do not
hesitate to say that the men who govern the
schools, be they commissioners or trustees,
and who tolerate the abominable condition in
which the closets are kept and who permit
the exposure Of the children 10 the de-
moralizing influences Of the slums. even
within the sacred precincts of the school, are
untitled by their natures and ideas to exer-
else any control over the higher orders of
! brute animals, much less TO minister to the
education of human beings. Would these
men permit the invasion of their own homes
| by ruffians from the street? Certainly not,
and yet they forget that they have volun-
tarily assumed the most sacred of duties
when they accepted the implied response
bility for the education and care of the ris-
ing generation; when they have undertaken,
as it were, to mould the morals of the i'm
mediate future in New York. OF the few
schools from which we print reports, and
which have been selected as illustrating the
average condition of the large number in
spected, there is scarcely one which really
comes up to the sanitary condition which
the health and morals of the pupils i'm
peratively demand The fact that disease
has not caused serious ravages among the
children during the past winter is not due
to any meritorious precautions adopted by
the school officials, but to the extreme mild
ness of the season. Had we passed through
really severe winter such as has been ex-
perienced frequently during the past ten
years, and will inevitably recur, the records
would show terrible falling off in the at
tendance of the pupils and a vast increase
in the death list. We pity the hard working
teachers and the jealous scholars who are
compelled to impart and receive instruction
under the paternal CO administration of
school commissioners and trustees who are
false to their commission and their trusts
The Return OF the Fugitive Marsh.
Everybody but the culprits against whom
he is to testify will be glad that Marsh, the
frightened witness who fed to Montreal, has
received assurances of protection and par
don, and will presently be on his way to
Washington. The steps taken to bring him
back would have reflected more credit on the
President if they had not been SO tardy. If
it be proper to give Marsh guarantee
against personal prosecution now it was
equally proper seventeen days ago. when he
absconded. What excuse can the President
give or can anybody give for him, for keep
ing the wheels of justice blocked for so long
a period for want of evidence when it was in
his power to call back the fugitive witness
by the same means he has at last adopted
He confesses by taking this step now that
there was no legal objection to his taking it
at once, for there has been no change in the
law since Marsh's flight. If the assurance of
protection is given in the interest of justice
the delay is indefensible, for it equally con-
cerned justice to have Belknap impeached
and indicted as soon as his crime was
brought to light Both the impeachment
proceedings and the action of the Grand
Jury have been kept at a dead halt for more
than two weeks by the failure of the Presi-
dent to do promptly what he now, at last,
acknowledges to have been his duty.
Although it is impossible to justify the
delay, it is easy enough to explain it, or,
rather, to account for the action of the Presi-
dent now without any change in the legal
aspect of the case. AS soon as it was dis
covered that Marsh and his wife were i'm
portant witnesses against Pendleton and that
distinguished democrat could be dragged
down in the same disgrace as Belknap,
the President suddenly overcame his reluc-
tance to promise safety to the fugitivts and
induce them to come back. Pendleton stood
higher in the democratic party than Belknap
did in the republican party, and when it
was found that both could be engulfed in
the same ruin by the testimony of Mr. and
Mrs. Marsh the President was quick to rec
ognize the duty he had so long neglected.
We think it utterly discreditable for him to
have waited until he found that their testi-
mony would be as blackening and fatal to a
prominent democrat to prominent re-
publican before recognizing his obvious duty