Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-11-23
THE ADVANCEMENT OF POLITICAL Ed
UCATION.


interests of the public, simply because the
average voter is not capable of discrim-
mating between true and false doctrine
even when the most important questions
depend upon his decision. Every year,
because of this dearth of political training,
it is necessary for the press to discuss
propositions which ought to be abandoned
or obsolete, and national progress is stayed
by the necessity OF fighting over and over
again battles which would never be pos
sible if the people had been well grounded
in the elementary principles of political
science. A few years ago it was the Gus
| tom to hold up our common school system
as the best in the world To praise it was
merely to be orthodox. To find fault
with it was to be anathema. Fortunately
the growth of intelligence has proceeded
so far as to open the public mind to the
truth that this Wanted system is marred
by very serious defects, and that the
merit which was formerly supposed to
belong to it in a particular way,
namely practicality, is in fact conspicuous
chiefly by its absence For it is becoming
more evident every day to those who re-
fleet that in republic where the quality
of the government must depend ultimately
upon the intelligence of the masses, it is
necessary that those masses should be so
far instructed in the great principles of
political science as to be preserved from
ceived that popular education as hitherto
administered does not supply this kind OF
information. The proof of the deficiency
| is found in the character of our political
struggles, and the governmental PROPOSE
tons, which divide the voting population.
Not only do we discover that questions
which have been long ago settled in other
countries are here treated as if they were
new, but questions which have been settled
in this country are from time to time resur-
rected, and it is always possible to persuade
numbers of voters that they are still open.
These facts prove that the experience even
of our own ancestors is not being trans
mitted as it should be. But if this is so
it follows that the country is hampered
and retarded by such failure to
transmit experience. What keeps barba-
rians from progressing during long periods
is precisely this defect Each generation
is left to acquire painfully for itself the
knowledge which ought to have been
handed down to it As civilization adj
vances the transmission of knowledge
becomes systematized, and the result is
that each generation finds fresh progress
easier, because it is spared the toll and
waste of time demanded for the acquisition
of that which its predecessors had dis
covered. Hitherto we have, as regards
political education, pursued the barbar-
GUS rather than the civilized method. 1t
is true that one cause of the popular igno-
rance of political science in this country
has been the constant influx of foreign ele-
ments which have everything to learn con-
corning our institutions, but this avenue of
danger might have been closed had care
been taken to teach our youth the subjects
with which they must deal as citizens.
We are glad to be able to announce that
at last practical effort is to be made to
dispel popular ignorance on these matters.
and that it has taken a shape which prom
Uses very beneficial results. We are in
formed, by circular just received, that a
Society for Political Education has re.
Gently been formed. The headquarters
will be in New York, but it will be gov
erned by an Executive Committee, the
members of which are chosen from all
| parts of the Union. When we say that
this Executive Committee comprises such
names as Prof. W. G. Sumner, Hon.
David A. Wells, Charles Francis Adams,
Jr., Horace White, and many other
specialists almost equally well known, we
have demonstrated the commences and
the truthworthiness of the movement.
Its purposes are to publish series of sound
textbooks upon various branches of politi-
cal science, at rate 80 low that every
one can afford to buy them also to issue
texts or monographs on special subjects at
intervals, and generally to serve as a
means of directing public attention towards
these important topics, and to afford in
formation and suggestions regarding study
and research to all who may be willing to
accept the guidance offered. For ex-
ample, the Society proposes to issue
for the first year, Nordhof's, Poll
tics for Young Americans" Professor
Perry's Introduction to Political Econ
omy," Johnson's History of American
Politics." and McAdams' Alphabet in
Finance" These volumes will be pub
lished very cheaply, and it is proposed to
issue new set every year. 1t may as well
be said that the Society has no partisan
aims or bias. 1t seeks only to disseminate
the truth, and it will do this without re-
gard to the party bearing of it. Those
who wish to know more of the Society
may address r. L. Dugdale, 70 Fourth av.
enue, New York, or NJ. L. Scudder, Jr.,
40 Portland Block, Chicago, ILL., The
former is Secretary for the East, and the
latter Secretary for the Northwest. The
purposes of the Society are such as to COM
mend it to the approval of all thinking
men, and we earnestly hope that it will
find hearty and general response to its
philosophical efforts. There is assuredly
more real patriotism in the conception and
organization of such an undertaking than
in nineteen-twentieths of the superficial
can't and demagogism which masquerades
under that convenient name.
THE ULTERIoR PURPOSES.
The remarks of the London Observer
| ,..1,. A. T~,,I .,k ,rl,ol -.