Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-09-09
The Presidents Speech
At THE REUNION OF HIS RkGIMsNT
CANroS, O., Sspt. /.

Gan Garfield and vile, are here to-day,
IN attendance upon the reunion of the
o3d ONO Ve.erans--the Presidents old
President Hayes spoke as follows, this
siterno0n:s
COMRADES AND FELLow-CITlzENs:-At the
Soldiers II te Reuaion In COiumous. last
month made some remarks on toe duty OF he
General Government TO complete the work o! u
construction by aaording ala, wherever 1t Is neel,
Oh for III education OF the uliterate white ana
| coiored people In the late slovenolding states
sm fsmly convinced that the subject OF
POPULAR EDUCATION
deserves the earnest attention OF the people OF
lhs whole country with view h. wise ana COM
prehensive action by The Govefnment OF ihe
United States. The means 81 the command Oh
the local and State authorities are IN many cases
wholly inadequate To des with tue question th9
magnitude OF the evil 10 be ersdica ed Is Aot'
sppreuend generally and fully understood Con
slider these i6Cts.
!. In the late slsveholdlng Sta'es, nuder the
system OF slavery, educItioE wac denied TO the
colored people, and the education OF the non
slsveholdIng white people was greatly neglected.
BY reason of this state OF things IN le'O more
than four millions OF people in 'he South, Oi
school sge and over that age, were unable TO read
and write, and more than three quarters ol NIL
lion OF voters too iiiterlte to prepare or even
read their own ballots, TINS eyil is not rapidly
diminishing b tue latest available statistics IL
appears That In 1875 The total scnool p puiatlon
white ana colored, IN tue ate sliVeholdlng states
was 5lS7 ,5e4, snu THAI only 2fl0,OSo We're during
thst year eGrolea N any school rms leaves
2,477 ASS -amos- iva sno s ball mlllons-oi the
young who growing up without IN means OF
education. Citizenship and the right 20 vote were
conferred upon tbs colured people by the Govern
ment aud People of the United States. II Is, there
fore the sacred duty as IL is the highest interest
of the United states to see that THESE new ciu-
zens and voters fitted by education for The
grave responsibility which has been ckst upon
them
DIR. Ruffuer, school superintendent Of Virginia,
in an argument that the General Government
should AID the public schools OF the South, SAYS;
d" / know not Wnat Is true OF Nortnera ana
Western states; but can ny for nv State, and
for most of the southern states, we are not abs
10 educate our people Ia any tolv.SDle sense We
are too poor To do 1t. few yeas ago showed
this concus.veY by statisltcs
There has not been much increase IN financial
ability in these States since that tlme no increase
on average i'll my own state, 40 far as csn
Judge; and every well-iniormed man knows that,
whatever be The wAnts of State her powers OF
taxation has a limit"
? Iu the Territories of the United Ststes It is
estimated that there are over two hundred thous-
a d Indians almost ali of whom are unciyilzed.
They have heretofore neUu hunters aud warriors.
But now no one WAC observes the rapid progress
OF railroads and settlements in the West can fall
10 that the game and hsh, on which the In
dians have hitherto tuo-i.ted, are about To dis
appear.
THE SOLUTION or THE INDIAN QUESTION
win speedily be either the extinction OF the In
dtans or their absorption into Apericsn citizen-
ship by means OF the civzng influences
education. with the disappearance Of game
there can no longer remain Indian hunters or
warriors. The days Of Indian war- are DIR wing
10 "A close. There VIII soon be no room for "a e
lion as to the department 10 which TIE lnoia1
Will belong. In few years all must agree that
he shonld belong, ike every otne- citizen, only
to himself The time ls not distant when he
should be Oh ely cared ter by the civihzng de.
partment Of tins Government, the Bureau o! Ed
ucstiun.
3. Toe people of the Territory of New Mexico
have never been provided with the n cans o. edu-
cation. The number OF paople In That Territory
ia 1870 ten years Old AID upwards, who could not
read su1 write, was 52,22O. This lie laraey more
than halt of the population. The school popula-
ton Is now over $4,000, OF whom only about one.
sixth are enrolled IN school-. 1t VIII not be ques-
toned hat the power OF the General Govern.
ment TO make al needful rules and regulations
respecting the Territory belonging to the United
States " is sufficient to authorize II to provide
for the education OF the iucreasing mas CT Il.
lterale citizens growing up in New Mexico and
other Territories OF the United States.
L. The number Of immigrants srryng in the
United STATES ts grester than ever before. il is
not improbable, from present indications, that,
from This source alone, there Will be addeG, dur
ing he current decade, TO the population of our
country, hve millions Of people. On one Gay
last Spring there arrived in New York e17 i'm
mtgraut--amost five thousand n a single day
at that one port. Dariug the quarter ending the
3Oth Of June last, the number ol INN grants into
the United States averaged eighty thousand
month, and duriuR the four months ending The
DIST OF July last there were nearly three hundred
thousand
Happily for the United States, several Of the
large tltmeHts OF lule immigration cOulllu very
FEW IEoPLE WHOLLY UNEDUcATED.
The Germans and Scsndtnsvans have for the
most part been educated at public schools IN their
native country. Bot II is probable that from one.
fourth 20 one third OF the present total lmmtgra,
tion Into our country is from fore On nations in
which popular education is greatly neglected
II may reasonably be estimated that at least
hom twenty 10 twenty five per cent of the immi-
grants are il!lterate. II the current decade we
shsll probably receive from abroad more than a
mullon OF people of school age ami up Tards who
are unao e TO read and write any language; ana OF
these ab,ut quarter OF million, In a few
years, Will share with US eq laily, man for man,
the duties and responsibilities of the citizen and
the voler.
Jefferson, with hts almost marvellous sagacIty
and foresight, declared, nearly hauGred years
ago, tina, free schools were an essential psrt--ons
Of the columns, ss he expressed II or the repub-
lican edidre. aud that "wlthout instruction free
to ALL the sacred dame OF liberty could not be
kept burning In the hearts Of Americans"
NJ ad son -ald, almost sixty years ago: "A pop
uar government without popular Information
or the means of acquiring fl, IL but prologue to
q farce or tragedy, or perhaps TO both
Already, in TOO many Instances, elections have
become the farce which Madison predicted; and
the tremendOue tragedy which we SAW waen we
were soldiers OF he Union, and in which we bore
part, could never have II III all ,ections
OF our coualry there had been universal iiragc,
based upon universal edncallon. In Oui country,
as everywhere else, Il Will be found thai, IN the
long run, ignorant voters are
POWDER AND BALL FOR THE DEMAGoaUEs.
The iailuC to support tree schools In any part
OF our country tends 10 cheaper aud degrade the
right Of suffrage, and will uIuma'ey destroy its
value in every othei part OF the Republic.
The nnyaryug testimony OF history Il, that the
nations when win the most renowned victories
In peace aLa ar are those winch provide anple
means f. popular education. without Tree
schools tuere IL no such thing as aflJrdiug TO
every man an uuiettered start and air chance
IN the race Of life, In the present condition Of
our country, universal education requires the aid
OF the General Government. The authority to