Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1881-06-30
Education in the South.

cause Of education is potent and
admitted on all sides. And, in>
deed, when we consider the situa :
ton of our people, it appears that
we are doing nearly as we'll as the
residents of any other section of
the Union. To correctly appreci-
ate what we mean, it is necessary
to recolIect that while we have val
uable land, that is about all our
possessions while at the North,
real estate is but small fraction Of
the entire wealth. Our situation
may be likened somewhat to that
of England centuries ago, when
money was scarce, and it was i'm
possible to raise any large amount
of ready cash. At the North all
is different, there being a supera-
bundance of currency which passes
readily from hand to hand, en-
abling the people to pay taxes with
comparative case. This is a view
of the matter which should not be
overlooked. But while we are
doing SO well, yet 1t is apparent
that Improvement is still possible
and very much to be desired. One
of the suggestions looking to sup
plying our needs is that the gen
eral government should assist us
somewhat. There are those who
might object to this on first blush,
as being outside of the domain Of
the federal power, but all objec>
tions of that nature can be readily
met. North Carolina and other
Southern States ceded to the gen
eral government large quantities
of territory, and they in conjunc-
ton with their sister States, bought
nearly all of the public land west
of the Mississippi River. This ter
ritory belongs equally to all the
States, and the proceeds of their
sales might well be returned to the
States interested in the original
purchase, just as the excess of rev
enue accumulated some forty years
ago was divided out among the
States at that time. It is on this
line that Gen. Burnside's measure
proceeds. His bill provided for
applying the proceeds of pub
lie lands to educational purposes in
the States. 1t met with favor
among the Democrats and passed
the last Senate, but was hot con-
sidered in the House. Speaking
of this bill the Boston Herald, an
independent Republican paper,
says that it failed to pass because
the Radical leaders did not like
its provisions. They wanted to
utilize this proposed educational
fund to advance their own schemes.
Says that paper:
"The members of the Peabody
commission, which has admins.
tered with admirable results fund
of several million dollars be
queathed for educational purposes
at the South, recommended to Con
gress that the national fund be en-
trusted, as their own had been, to
"the officers of the school systems
of the respective States" The
Bureau Of Education, already Or
ganized at Washington, the COM
mission suggested, could act as a
central agency, and have the gen
eral direction of the system, under
such regulations as Congress NIGH
prescribe. But this did not suit the
super. stalwarts. They saw in the
scheme an opportunity to create
new corps in the great army o
officeholders. Some of the schoo
officers at the South. they cried
F were "rebels," or, at least, the son
of rebels. The text books in tn
Southern schools, they discovered
did not teach that Lee and Jack
son were traitors, for whom hang
ing had been quite too good. L
a word, the Republicans desire nc
: only to administer the educatio
fund through partisan officials {
I; their own creation, but to encum
: ber it with such conditions of su
0 per~ision and use as to make I
r acceptance impossible to any sell
d respecting people. Reduced
d plain terms, the stalwart educ;
: tional scheme involves the crea
e ton of a detachment of carpe
Il bag couriers to introduce and en-
IS force the use Of the Chicago plat
c form as the political catechism f,
e Southern schools"
II Such, then, is a Republics
1t statement of the reasons why Il
&c Radical leaders declined to col
slider and pass this measure. who
effects would have been so ben
fclal to the South, and especial
to the negroes of the Sout
10 . Among the alleged causes is t
= =: matter of school books, the Rad
>. Gals desiring to force the use
n books which should teach "tI
,e. Lee and jackson were traitors.
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