Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-11-04


ton. As IL protects them, their homes, their
families and their property, they owe it, in
return, their allegiance and their service. Git
izenship then, implies intelligence. 1t i'm
plies patriotism. 1t implies a philanthropy
that will prompt us to lift up "the manhood
of the poor
.'what constitutes state7
Men who their duties know,
And sovereign law that states collected will,
Ger thrones and globes elate
Sits empress, crowning good, repressing ILL.,"
| Conceding, then, the fact that an illiterate
man may possess good common sense, have q
quick appreciation of the qualities of other
men, and gather some knowledge of public
affairs, yet masses of ignorant men are always
easily deceived, liable to be blown about by
every wind of political doctrine, and are a
dangerous element in q republic. The risk is
too great to be taken, and the federal govern
ment must, in some way, provide for the ed
ucation of the people. The northern states
may, perhaps, be able to leaven their own
Jumps without governmental aid though some
of them, like Vermont need to abolish their
district systems and place the schools in the
hands of competent town officers, who will
provide suitable school houses aud we'll trained
teachers, pay for the same out of the town
treasury, and compel the attendance of the
children on the schools. But the southern
states are unable to cope with this monster of
ignorance. They lost two billions of dollars
by the emancipation of their slaves, two bill
ions more in the support of their armies and,
though burdened with debts, are still taxed
their share to support the government. Be-
sides, they were the theatre of the war, and
when that ended their furrowed and devastat-
ed fields we're all that was left to them. Their
people are not to be condemned because they
did not go to work with New England enter
prise to develop the resources of their coun-
try and restore business prosperity; for they
were not New Englanders, and their ideas,
habits and training were widely different from
ours. But they are manifesting somewhat
better spirit, are turning their attention to va
rious Industries, and are striving to improve
their common school system, which has al
ready been established in every state. Each
year marks an increase in the number of
school. houses and teachers, in the attendance
of scholars and in the amount of money rails
ed for school purposes but with six times
the illiteracy that the North has the South
has comparatively no means to overcome it.
While Massachusetts, can easily furnish fifteen
dollars per capita to educate her children, and
other northern states from six to twelve dol
lars, it is difficult for Mississippi to raise one
dollar and sixty-two cents, South Carolina
one dollar and thirty-nine cents and Georgia
ninety-hve cents, for the same purpose The
effort that the South is making to educate
her people deserves announcement II she
were making no effort, the duty of the gene
raj government to aid her would be still more
imperative.
/ shall not enter upon an argument to
prove that the government has the constitu-
tional power to aid in the work of education,
and that this is not left exclusively to the
states. Each year there is paid from the
Federal treasury from six to eight million of
dollars for the improvement of rivers and
harbors As much more is annually demand
ed for the erection of public buildings The
government has granted lands to the Pacific
Railroad Companies, greater in area than the
whole of Great Britain 1t appropriates
money to prevent the spread of contagious
diseases, to aid in Worlds Fairs and for vari-
GUS other objects Whence comes the right
of the government to make these and like
appropriations of money from its treasury
1t comes from the grant of power by the
Constitution to Congress, ito provide for the
general welfare of the United States" and it
Is exercised upon the ground that such appro-
priations are for the public benefit and not
for the exclusive benefit of the people of any
particular state. Able statesmen have insist
ed that, as the education of the people is es-
sentlal to republican government, Congress
would have power to appropriate money for
educational purposes under the requirement
in the Constitution that "the United States
shall guarantee to every state in this Union
a republican form of government" but this
would be very wide construction. Under
our Constitution, the United States probably
could not adopt and enforce a national system
of education to override or conflict with state
systems. 1t can, however, aid the state sys-
TENS, which is all that is required, and this it
should do. Nearly twenty years ago Congress
admitted its right TO grant such aid by devot-
ing portion of the scrip received from the
sale of public lands to the establishment and
support of Agricultural Colleges, and, by ear
ler acts this power was recognized by setting
apart portions of the public domain for edu-
cational purposes. In the last Congress, a
bill passed the Senate but failed to pass
the House, providing that the proceeds of
the sale of public lands and the receipts from
patents should annually be invested in gov
ernment bonds and the interest thereof dis
tributed to the states and territories upon the
basis of their population between fve and
twenty years of age, but for the first ten
years, this distribution was to be made ac-
cording to the illteracy of such population.
Last year the entire receipts from the sale of
public lands were two million two hundred
and eighty-three thousand dollars, and the
year preceding, they were one million eight
hundred thousand dollars. From these re-
ceipts there are many disbursements to be
hiauoi hO ludt MY tuOubhuu uOllhrB ANNUALLY
as the income from such bonds and hundred
and fifty thousand from the Patent Office, if
1t were advisable to use that fund for the pur-
pose, would constitute the whole amount for
this great work. 1t would at least make a
beginning. The George Peabody fund, dis
tributed IN twelve southern states from 1868
to 1879, inclusive, averaged about one hun
dred thousand dollars year. Though this
gave but few thousand dollars TO each state
It1 haTn ltu houa nl,I
the last few years this money has been ap-
piled especially to the training of teachers,
and is claimed to have done more to awaken
an educational spirit in the South than any
other influence, If the philanthropy of one
man can do SO much, how much more ought
great and rich nation to do.
As nation we are intense in our devotion
TO money making and business In the year
1885 there were but thousand miles of rail
road in the country, extending but a little
further west than central New York; now
there are nearly one hundred thousand miles,
constructed at a cost of three billions of dol
lars, reaching from sea to sea and from the
lakes TO the gulf The development of the
great water ways of the country, as thorough
fares for internal commerce, has been i'm
mense. Our commerce is upon every sea-
and our manufactured goods are carried to
cities of Europe that were noted the world
over for their manufactures before we had
national existence. The early settlers had to
struggle hard with the rocky soil of New
England to wrest from it scanty subsistence
Now the broad and fertile fields of the West
have become the granary of the world and
are supplying the nations of Europe. The
very heart of the earth is explored for its
wealth of iron and coal, and the mountains
pour out their untold treasures of silver and
gold to enrich the people and the nation.
Prussia, once an insignificant nation, has
learned that her wealth and strength lie in
the intellect of her people. Every child is
watched and its aptitudes discovered, wheth-
er for business or literature or science or art,
and that child is educated for some of the