The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-04-12

4anSf dersd 81 nv INT artfcJe 10 sketct tho
ReIrsrksbfe history OF H0llaHd, Prussia, snd
other states, which began public edkacation
a 8 tfme DC great poverty and which had 70
esrug0le with heavy debts, but which parse
yersd until now they are II the beat dnai1.
ciai condition pf any Countries In Europe.
prussia, after all her wsrs and all her edusa.
tioual and other expenses, has NJ public Geof
And q large balances on hand OF the French
indemnity. The history OF these nations
demonstrates the great public economy OF
common schools, and furnishes sufficient
answer 70 the reckless assertion that educa.
ton destroys industry among the laboring
people.
.Iaborers, when fully studied, Is conclusive
20 every mind open to conviction. can
here only indicate Ito drift. It's phIlosophis
eal basis Is the Same az that underlying
ali arguments for education. Not only 10
kuo wiedge power. but training Is power.
Muscle and bones are only tools, whose
ynIue depends upon the directive power OF
miad. and Of the mind which Immediately
eontrois the tools. There is no machine
40 powerful and SO susceptible of improve.
ment as q man. And there 10 no form Of
labor. however simple. which does not call
for the exercise Of quickened intelligence,
improved skill, and reliable character.
The greater the incapacity and unfaithful-
ness OF the Iaborer the more minute and
costly must be the supervision. But let
the amount of supervision be what it may,
let there be an sverseer to every laborer,
vet no force acting from without can ope-
rate the physical machinery Of q man TO
the same advantage that mans own
mind can work it. Overseers are noteri-
ousIy bad-tempered and unsatisfactory !;
and it is partly because they are required
to produce good results with poor tools.
The oyorseer himself is misunderstood and
thwarted by reason of the ignorance, stu
pidity. and. unfaithfnlness Of the class OF
isborers he commonly has had to deal
with. Multnudes Of our laborers are too
ignorant of the English language and too
undeyeloped Intellectually to comprehend
the instructions given them about the
things. I sometimes com.
pare ignorance and stupidity to the fog
which refrscts sound so that the fog.bell
struck at the lighthouse in order to guide the
mariner, often leads him to destruction.
Thus do the words of the employer fail to
reach the mind of the. laborer so as to convey
their proper meaning. And even when I'm.
trained laborers know what is wanted they
lack that versatility, that power of concen-
trating and controlling their faculties and Of
adapting means to an end, that earnestaess
and steadiness of purpose, that promptitude
of action, that reliability, which are all necea.
sary to the best results in every kind of labor.
What is it that renders unproductive our
lands, that mars our domestic civilization,
that wastes our substance, that overwhelms
us with foreign products, that frets our
housewives, and disheartens our men OF
enterprise-what so much az the-want OF
sense and characterize want Of effective
Instruments in the kitchen, In the field, in
the factory-eyerywhere that handiwork is
to be dones And yet the men Of DR.. Dab.
ney's school would rather sit in the dead tree.
trop and croak despair than lift finger to
improve the tools by means Of which must
be wrought our prosperity and eur civillza.
ton.
The views herein expressed have long
been held by q large class of the soun0est
thinkers and keenest observers of all ages
and they have been so fully demonstrated
By experience all over the earth, and for
hundreds Of years, that what DR.. Dabney
speaks OF as q "crazs" has become the thor.
oughly settled and universally adopted doc.
trines of practical statesman, rulers, and
political economists the Uorld ousr, the ex.
ceptiens being too few to be worthy of notice.
See the worlds statistics and literature
passia. It Ia really tho historic doctrine Of
Virginia, always embodied In her Code, and
advocated by many Of her ablest thinkers,
but, owing to the peculiar circumstances,
never until new developed.
For men of this age to call public educs-
ton aqraria2" in either origin or ten.
dency is simply amusing. On similar grounds
one may call public hydrant or free bridge
.aprariar. But how funny that the public
school i" agrarians" should have rallied I'm.
der such leaders as Frederick the Great,
Napoleon, Bismarck, and the Gar of Russia
had no idea they were such dem,gogues.
I should have thought that if any man on
earth would suit DR.. Dabney 1t would be the
Carl
But it just occurs to nae how DR.. Dabney
came to be 80 opposed to public schools. He
thinks they were invented BY "he Ydn.
KEGS" Now, ia fact, eknew better, for he
is not ignorant of history, either ancient or
modern, and he never "pretendS ~; but I
have long feared that he has just lestle
touch Of that type Of mental constitution
which, when once bitten by rabfd preju.
dice, falls into sort Of detage like that Of
an old lady I once new who had lived in old
Revolutionary times, and to the day of her
death laid all the troubles of the country on
athe British" The Yankees "haye sought
out many Inventions" but they didn't
invent public schools. There is no tell.
ing but that they might have invented
them if they had had q chance, but New Eng
land wasn't born soon enough. 1t is true
that the Yankees had some hand in bringing
the present system here, and that is very
disagreeable Renaissance. I would have
greatly preferred to wait and let our people
do what they certainly would have done
viz, adopted the system, moved only by an
enlightened sense of its value and necessity.
And 30 7 wish we did not have to accept and
use great many things from the same quar-.
ter, such as endowments for our colleges and
eur theological seminaries. But the rational
course for us is to look at the thing itself,
just az we would at the machinery for cot
ton factory, and use or reject it according to
it's value. +"
But we are told that if we teach men to
read they will quii Dork. I wish DR.. Dab
ney would 60 to Accomac county, as did
year ago, and see if the men who with IN
surpassed industry and skill are raising
strawberries and sweet potatoes for market
are set of ignorant Doors. Let us hear from
Ar. Nee;y and General Bagwell on that
point. Aud when DR.. Dabney lived among
Che independent, Woodworking farmers Of
Rockbridge and Augusta did he find that
the men who walked between the plough.
handles were unable to readg Or, if they
can read the Bible and the newspaper, does
he think they ought to stop that tax on their
" nervous energies?"
Here is DR.. Dabney's view Of working
people. Says he:
"Lsborers, il taught the art Of letters In