The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-02-03
FEDERAL EDUCATION AND sEC-
TIONAL POLITICS.

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FEDERAL EDUCATION AND sKC-
TIONAL POLITICS.
Judge A. W. Tourgee, the author Of
"a FOOLS Errand," is the author also of
an article il the current number Of the
North American RevieD which is of in
terest as showing the present tendencies
of the Radical faction of the Repub'
lican party. The title of the arti.
Gle is "Aaron's Rod in Politics" Its
subject is the imparting Of public edUca'
ton by the Federal Government. This
is called Aaron's rod because, in the
opinion of the writer, it is an
tissue" which will swallow and
devour all other political issues. Gan.
Grant years ago, in a speech at Des
Mo.nes, announced this issue. Mr.
Hayes few months ago enforced it in
speech delivered in the course of his
Western tour. There is no doubt that,
so soon as the Republicans get control of
both houses of Congress, vigorous
effort will be made to enforce it, and
Judge Tourgee's article is evidently in
tended to put its author as early as pos
sible on the right side of the record.
Possibly his anxiety to perform this
service leads Judge Tourgee to disregard
the demands of logic when they seem TO
oppose the demands of his faction. As
an argument to show that the Federal
Government can and should take charge
of public education his paper can hardly
be called successful, although as an ap-
peal to Northern distrust of the solid
South" it is adroit as we'll as vicious.
His statistics are taken from the census
of 1870, a circumstance which somewhat
impairs their value, since any action
must be based upon the statistics of 1880,
for which Judge Tourgee might have
waited few weeks had he not been
anxious to be ION the record" so early.
The statistics which he does use are as
follows:
Voting population of the United stateso.7 623, 900
Voting population OF former slave States.2 us 900
Illiterate male adults In former slave
States .....".''l l23OO0
Per cent. illiterate VOtersin United States
TO entire vote, ~
Per cent, iliteTate voters IN states not
slaVe..""".' ,.''.s,''','.',...'''','
Per cent. illiteTate voters IN South Caro-
69
Ilterate voters In southern sta es (white) 304 900
Iliterate voters in Southern States (o)l-
ored) d)..".."..."..."... Sl9 900
Forty-hve per cent. of the voters of
the South, he adds, are thus shown to be
too ignorant to know how they ought to
vote, to be sure that they vote as they
wish to vote, or to protect what he calls
their "ballotorial privileges" $50 that"
he adds, "the alternative presented ig
"betWeen an honest exercise of power
"by voters who are too ignorant to have
"any certain knowledge whether they
"are right or wrong, and the suppression
"of their votes by force of fraud. \
ut is simply choice between honest
Ignorance and dith)nest fraud or un.
lawful violence" Now, as a matter of
fact, every voter in the country is too
ignorant to have anv certain knowledge
"whether he is right or wrong" An in.
telligent and conscientious Democrat
finds that the reasons which determine
him to be a Democrat have no weight
with his Republican neighbor and
friend whom he would admit to be as
intelligent and conscientious as himself
II Judge Tourgee is perfectly certain
that he is right it should be sign to
Judge Tourgee that his education is
highly imperfect. And what does Judge
Tourgee mean when he says that the
choice of the South is between "honest
ignorance" and dishonest fraud ?"
What presumption of honesty is there
in favor Of an ignorant man against an
intelligent msnP Why should black
voter at the South, because he does not
know how to read and write, be assum.
cd to be seeking only for light upon his
duty, and white voter at the South, be-
cause he does not know how to read and
write, be assumed to be in the practice
Of committing fraud, and even "dishon.
est fraud" if "honest fraud" will not an.
swer his purposeP It would surely be
better for the nation that the citizens
should be honest and ignorant than that
they should be intelligent criminals, and
if Judge Tourgee's statement of the case
is correct he has adduced an argument
against the education either Of Southern
whites or of Southern blacks. A com
munity is better off when it is all com.
posed Of sheep than when it is d vided
into sheep and wolves, of which the for.
mer are predestined to be converted by
the latter into mutton.
This is an example of the loose way
of thinking and of talking which
runs through the whole Of Judge Tour.
gees paper, and which deprives 1t of all
value as a contribution to the solution of
problem which is without doubt a
pressing problem and needs to be as.
preached in very different spirit from
that which he brings to It. His anxiety
to hold the Southern whites up to odium
leads him into wild misstatements.--
"This faction" he says. meaning the
Southern whites, "unquestionably mi
nority, assume for themselves the term
Southern with a sublime disregard of
"the weak and ignorant majority. Even
"as these words are written the message
"of the President is spoken of by lead
"ing journal as meeting with universal
"execration at the South, while In truth
mo document he has ever written is re.
"garded by the actual majority there as
approaching 1t in good sense and states.
"manship." Now, on Judge Tourgee's
own showing, what he calls the "actual
msjority"-that is the Republican party
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