Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-03-01
THE COMING CONTROVERSY.
Rev. DR.. Dana's Plea For the High School.
To the Editor of the Globe.


evangelical pabulum dealt out to souls in
Plymouth church, by Rev. DR.. Dana. The
intention was to strengthen the clamor foi
additional taxation to erect High school
building large and commodious enough to
accommodate snugly all the 'isns and 'ologies
in which high toned youthful fancy, at thif
advanced stage of the nineteenth century, loves
to revel. The effort, however, was not equal
to the intention. Mr.. Dana's sermon, in re-
ality, uncovers the weakness of his position,
and on this account / would recommend to
our citizens careful perusal of it.
Mr.. Dana's argument is beside the question.
He avoids the main issue. His whole plea is
the general advantages Of high school instruc.
tlon, and the importance for the growth and
prosperity of st. Paul that such instruction
be within the reach of those of our citizens
who would seek it for their children. No one
will dispute this plea. But the question in
point, all will perceive, is not high school In.
struction in itself; buthigh school instruction
provided by public taxation. Is 1t, or Is 1t
not, right and proper to tax the people for the
This is the sole question, which now presents
itself to the citizens of st. Paul, and Mr.. Dana
says not word bearing directly on It.
Let us leave the whole matter of high school
instruction to private enterprise, and st. Paul
will have all she can need. Even now, in sight
of public high school maintained by the
peoples treasury, st. Paul boasts of several
Independent schools, well patronized by the
children of citizens who scorn the idea Of
forcing their neighbors to pay for the educa-
ton of their sons and daughters. Do away
altogether with the tax-school of high in.
struction-the field will be cleared of unfair
rivalry to private enterprise, and independent
schools will become yet far more numerous
than they are to-day. High schools and uni.
versities existed long before certain men caught
up the idea of preying upon their neighbors'
flourish when this same idea shall
have been swept from the land It
would be serious mistake for the city of st.
Paul to erect, through public taxation, an ex-
pensive high school building in order to at
tract hither population. We can have, If we
wish, high schools through private enterprise
without taxation, and to increase our taxation
is the surest way to turn population from us.
The population which high school might
possibly attract would be by no means desir-
able one. Honorable rich men would find in
forbid them to use it. Sturdy and honest Ia
borers and mechanics would not come to us
on its account, for they, with exceptions few
and far between, could not send their children
to it. The high school would
bring us shoddyltes. or the Pc
nurious genteel-classes of men which st. Paul
does not coyet. If we sought to attract these
classes, not high school instruction alone
should we offer to their children, but books
would they accept with the same grace as
they would instruction itself. They never
object to aims.
Mr.. Dana fails utterly to prove that the st.
Paul high school is patrOnized by the children
of the poor as well as by those of the rich.
His own figures contradict his theory. Dur
ing the present year out of 218 pupils only
eight are reported as children of laborers, and
three as children of mechanics, while there are
children of professional men, and seventeen
children of railroad off cials and employees.
Besides, the classifcations he uses are too
general and indefinite to convey any positive
information. Three pupils are marked as
children of widows; there are rich widows
as we'll as poor widows, and perhaps all
three belong to the rich ones. The
same can be said of orphans, thirteen of
whom attended, it is said, the high school in
ly dropped out Of the reports for 1880-a fact
which seems at least singular-and which
leads to the belief that Mr.. Dana's reporters
change from year to year their ideas of what
constitutes an. orphan. Their ideas of what
constitutes rich parent, or poor parent,
may also be variable and arbitrary, and on the
whole, we must be pardoned if we say that we
put no faith in Mr.. Dana's tabulated statements
of children attending the public high school.
There is one sure way OF settling the question.
who are the pupils whose parents are able to
pay for their schooling, and who are the
children of the poor. Let us have the names
of the patrons of the school. The question
will be then easily decided.
A word on the question which should have
been the main burthen of Mr.. Dana's sermon,
if he had desired to enlighten us on the issue
of the day, butwhich he entirely overlooked
to what extent is it lawful and just to MAN.
ernment is not what is termed paternal one;
it does not pretend or undertake to be the
nurse or guardian Of the citizen, as did some
governments of old, and as do certain Euro.
pean governments of to-day. Its object
and duty is to protect men in the possession
and enjoyment of their natural rights and en-
ergies. The citizen is thrown upon his lndi.
vidua responsibility, and must care for him.
self. Protection he must receive, all else he
all admit to be the fundamental idea of our
republican government, the State can
lew no tax for the bene-
fit of the individual citi-
zen, or for classes of citizens, except it be
for those physically or mentally incapable Of
providing for themselves, and who by gen.
eral consent are considered as the wards of the
State. Itlevies taxes for its own maintenance,
and for the public universal veal of all it's
subjects Does instruction come within the
bounds here specified? Yes, SO far as instruc-
ton is necessary condition of citizenship,
and no farther. A republican form of gov.
ernment will not stand, it is said, without q
certain degree of intelligence among the peo-
pie. Therefore, when parents do not educate
their children, the State for it's own protec-
ton, has the right to step in and provide for
the education Of these children. But all that
is for such purposes needed is
accomplished in the common school.
Greek, Latin, the calculus are not required to
enable man to vote intelligently. As a con-
sequence, the State has no right to tax its peo-
pie for the maintenance of other than the COM
mon school, and even for this only SO far as
without it certain children would receive no
instruction.
Not only high school instruction is not
needed for good citizenship, but it is a luxury
to be enjoyed solely by the few, and taxation
in favor of it is unjust towards the many.
That it is an ornament to society is no argu-
ment: so are thousand things for which no
taxes can be levied. Lawyers and physicians
are both ornamental and useful: must we
maintain by tax free schools of law and med
icine? Tradesmen are very necessary to So
ciety: must we by tax have schools for ap-