The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-02-28
"Civis" FIN

open one. The past State en- sSzs5
ly demonstrated this. No Ne s. s lsf
public favor had the effrontexs
them. On the contrary every sfi isss
questioned on the subject. ID s5sS I
them, some of whom stuItifed IL
when they did so, however. We IN
apprehension that there will be any zssa
erosion in popular sentiment coneS
them, but as they progress towards p6V&S*S
ton, as they must, when the revenues E
for their support are honestly appropriat%s
and the system itself is indicated in tT%!
results which must follow, they will become
fixture in the economy of the State.
The very instincts of the people are amply
intelligent to dispose of the hard sophistry
and cruel, not to say barbarons reasoning of
''Civis." He treats of the people as he
would of SO many cattle, and gives them no
higher natural plane Of action than the
beasts of the field. 1t is dollars AMI cents
with him all the time, and nothing of mind
and soul, and the destiny of mar as an agent
in working out the purposes of Providence
in human advancement and civilization. He
forgets, too, that inasmuch as the State
claims the life and blood of its citizens in
defence of imperilled existence, that this i'm
plies duty upon the part of the State to
care for her defenders. If property is taxed
to educate the poor, the life blood of the
poor is demanded to protect property, and
when the test comes it is the poor man who
leaves family in penury to march to the
| front to defend the rich mans property.
| The moral animus of the article of ''Civis"
may be gathered from brief expression
| it ''fanks the Nth amendment That is,
he would deliberately educate the popular
mind to evade and practically nullify the
fundamental law of the land, the measure of
praise to be gagged by the success attending
the perjury and treachery!
Such arguments as "Civis'' employs are
an insult to the civilization of the age, and
unveil degree of moral obtuseness that
should revolt the popular consciousness. He
would instil the idea into the public that the
highest dignity and duty of the State and OF
society is obedience to class influences, based
upon material wealth, and welded for the
perpetuation of ignorance, crime and de-
pravity. He does not measure the State by
the intelligence and moral worth of the con-
stituent body. but by the accumulations of
avarice and the enlargement of the sources
of sensual and selfish indulgence. He would
rush the Commonwealth backward into the
shadow of unlettered ignorance, hedge
around the poor impossible barriers to the
school house, and dwarf and degrade the
moral forces, which must necessarily enter
into and constitute a part of the substratum
of the social organism-revoting the sensi-
bilities of true manhood, debarring immi-
grafton and stimulating emigration.
The healthy and efficient operation of the
Public School system Of Virginia, would con-
stitute the most powerful agency in the de-
velopment of the natural resources cf the
Commonwealth that could be conceived. It
would invite intelligent labor and capital, so
essential for the future growth OF the STATE,
to Our natural advantages, create new val
ues and thus increase the taxable resources,
and add to the wealth OF the Common
wealth. it would place us in iais end favor
able competition with other communities,
holding out inducements for intelligent la
Dor, auQ inviting to our wonderful mineral
fields and water-poWer the active enterprise
and capital which have bisilt into affiuence
other less favored localities,
Not only Virginia, but the entire South
must come abreast of the age in their educa-
tional institutions and agencies, if they
would go forward in material development.
Our cotton and iron interests are destined to
draw capital into manufactures, because of
the many adEantages presented, and the
theatre of these Industries transferred from
the Eastern to the Southern States. In all
the progressive Commonwealth. the Public
Schools are nurscd as a paramount instru-
mentality in material development, and
those who constitute the labor clement
which moves the machinery would turn away
in disgust from people who placed above
the expansion of the moral and mental at
tributes Of tie rising generation, the false
notion that the State owes the citizen moth
ing, and that the protection and aeeumlla-
ton Of property was the sole object and mis-
sion oil government.
The whole theory of our government is
based upon the idea Of an educated constitu-
epcy. Mr.. JetEersoa conceived the Free
School svStnm oont omn,.ra t,aau, will, tha
Declaration of independence and Bill OF
Rights. But the class preiudces and feudal
notions which prevailed in the State could
not be eradcated by legislation, or torn out
by government. The principle enunciatcd,
however, grew in other soil, and other
States had to teach the beneficence of
the conception Of the great Virginia
commoner. The lesson has been accept
ed, the Free School system inaugurated,
and the People will see that it is
perpctuated-that the great boon of educa-
ton will be extended to every child, whether
rich or poor, white or black, and that no in
sidious method of "hanking'' and intilad-
ing will for an instant receive encourage
IiicllL lIOIu tllC SfCaL mass OF the constituent
body. The treason which 'tCiyis'' would
propagate we have time and again warned
the people against, as each batch OF Consti-
tut!onal amendments was presented. But
under the influence of passion and prejudice,
aroused on abnormal issues, invasions have
been made contracting and restricting popu-
lar rights. Thanks to the craftsmanship of |
President Hayes, these issues will not again |
be Haunted before the people-partizan de- |
vices cannot again delude and deceive the
constituent body. Upon ITS merits must |
each question be hereafter judged and de-
termined, and with the ballot as tie potent
weapon of the People, they will defend
themselves against the assaults of all such
enemies of popular government and civili-
cation as "Civis," whose brazen treachery
would glory in. ''hanking" and multiplying the
law, which it is his implied, if
not his sworn duty, as citizen of the State
and country, to support.
We confess to an impatient Indignation