Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1878-10-02
REV. J. D. HAMMOND AND HIS
CANDIDACY.


tous lest there be some religious onslaughts
made upon our cherished school system grow
ing out of the candidacy of Mr.. Hammond,
deal with the subject of the real or suppositive
influence of a Superintendent of Public In
struction, of the sectarian sort, upon the
schools of the State As fair sample of this
sort of literature as any is the following which
We clip from the Footiigtt of Monday
Let preachers attend to the duties of their
calling, and just to the extent that they per
form those duties faithfully, for the good of
their fellow-men, they will be hOnored and re-
spected. But when men wholly untitled to
| teach, byreason of narrow theological training,
and sectarian bias, seek to guide the secular
education of our youth, it becomes the duty
of every well wisher of his country, the duty
of every man who desires that Church and
State shall be kept separate, to do all that he
can to prevent it. We have nothing against
Mr.. Hammond personally, but we believe
HIM to be unfit for the office of State Superln-
tendent of Public instruction, and believe it
to be our duty to do all we can honorablv to
prevent him from being elected to that office.
The sectarian influence which a preacher, in
the position to which he aspires, can exert
over the minds of children is very great. And
we believe that if Mr.. Hammond is elected to
this office he will feel it to be his duty to teach
! his sectarlan views whenever he may have an
! opportunity. Preachers of the denomination
or sect, to which he belongs are noted for
! their Jealous efforts to make proselytes. In
| California, preachers of Dir. Hammou's views
are now loboring to Incorporate clause i'll
| the new constitution of that State which will
prohibit healthful recreation on Sunday, and
in our Eastern States, and we believe also i'll
California, they are endeavoring to Introduce
God, Christ, and the Bible into our national
constitution.
There is moro, III the same strain. This
will suffice, however, for tho purpose Of a text
to what we are about to say upon this ques
ton. In tho first place then let us see where
we stand. What does the constitution have
to say concerning Superintendent of Public
Instruction; what does that instrument pro
vide concerning an immunity from sectarian
teaching in the public schools; and what in
Huence, if any, have the Superintendent of
Public Instruction, hitherto exerted, (all of
whom are Protestant cIergymen), upon the
school system of the State!
Section l of Article NJ of the Constitution
declares that the Legislature shall ''provide
for the election by the people, at the general
election, of Superintendent of Public In
struct;on, whose term of office shall etc.
Section 2 of the same Article directs that
"any school district. which shall allow III
struction OF sectarian character therein,
may be deprived of its proportion Of the in
terest of the public school fund during such
neglect, or infraction' etc.
Article 9 of the same section says g No |
sectarian instruction shall be impaired or toll
Grated in any school or university that may
be established under this Constitution.
1t would seem from these provisions that |
the office of Superintendent of Public In |
structon is a very harmless one, in the first |
place ; and that in the second place, no mat
ter how great religious fanatic its incumbent |
might be, the moment he began to try and
impart his tenets to the attendants upon any
school the teacher presiding over the same
would be compelled under constitutional
stress to put him out of the door and be taken
to the nearest lookup, as disturber of the
peace and rebel against the unsectarian
dignity of the.State.
As We said the other day, the office of
of Public Instructions has
been filled by a clergyman of one sort or an
other ever since this State was admitted into
the Union. If any one, or all Of them have
caused our school system to be tinged with
any shade or color Of their varying tenets-
Presbyterian, Methodist and Epicopal-we
do not know it. The appalling danger limited
at by the FootIigt has been withstood for
well nigh fourteen years, and yet no child
has been drowned, smothered or otherwise
lone for by the sectarian influences exercised
by the parsons. 1t follows then, that either q
hat these parsons are very inefficient pro- {
noters of sectarian influences or that they
nave never done anything looking to de- ,
lance of the constitutional inhibition quoted q
above. t
The fact is, the Office of Schoolmaster Gen
,ral is about as needless an office as that of .
Lieutenant Governor or Attorney General. ,
t stands for the head of tho school system, t
hat is all. By law the Superintendent is t
with the apportionment of the :,
chool moneys and with some other minor +
uties; but as to his influence upon any school v
n the State it is, and must continue to be,
q nothing in comDarisOn even with the least D