Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-02-22
Free Schools and Colleges.

this principle 1t Is necessary tnat NOT only
shall primary schools be maintained at the
public expense, but that all the higher
grades of study, up through the grammar
and high schools 10 the college, and beyond
that the technical and professional schools,
shall be free to all.
A large proportion, probably majority,
of the people Of this state would, at least at
first, oppose the establishment of public edu-
cation upon the Michigan principle, on the
ground that it would cost too much. But |
were the question put to any such citizens
" Would you, If were possible, have the
knowledge you acquired in school taken
from you, and receive In its place the money
cost of that knowledge p the reply would
be unanimous "Nol" No one in his senses
would make such trade as that. The best
investment ever made Of money, either for
ones self or ones children, is to invest it in
au education. This principle is recognized
by all intelligent people and, being true, it
is as true for the state as for the individual.
Where is there state or community that
has ever baukrupted itself in the promotion
of education ? Ignorance is at once the foe
of liberty, of industry, of progress and pros
perity of all sorts, and the worst of foes to
morality and sound religion. This being
admitted, it is plain that no expense neces-
sary for the abolition of ignorance can be
otherwise than profitable investment. 1t
cost the American republic at least s6,OOO,-
100000 to remove the curse of slavery; but
had the hundredth part of that sum been
previously expended for popular education
in the slave states, the people of those states
would have abolished slavery without any
compulsion, for education would have made
it plain to the large majority of non-slave-
holding voters that slavery was to them the
greatest of injuries,--a monopoly in the
hands of a few aristocrats that must crush
them and their children into the dust. Yet
iu all probability if it had been proposed in
congress, say in 1850, to raise by taxation
and distribute among the states 100000
annually for the support Of common schools,
| it would have been voted down as too ex-
pensive." In fact there is little doubt that
it would be voted down to-day. Nothwith-
standing the fact that nobody wants to sell
his own education, the real value to the
whole community of that general intelli-
eence which comes from liberal system OF
free schools is very imperfectly understood
or appreciated.
| vi. hot nf
strongest arguments in the minds OF our
farmers against a more liberal scale of ex.
peuditure in the state for educational pnr-
pose. is that the most of them are in debt
and cannot afford an increase Of taxation
This is one of the worst evils associated
with the custom of buying farms on credit
1t tends to kill all energy and enterprise
Not only the schools, but the churches, and
all good causes, languish under the load OF
mortgage debts which Expresses the farming
communities everywhere. One of the chic
reasons why even the prohibitory law is sc
feebly enforced is because many rich mer
are against the law, and therefore man,
who would gladly help to enforce it are mo-
in a position to offend their creditors. Il
the farmers were free from debt it is ou
opinion that rum-selling would be wipet
out in Vermont in less than year.
But poor as we farmers may be, and sadl.
in debt, as many of us are, there is one thin
we cannot afford to go without, and that
good education for our children. And
! is the straightest way out of debt, too. lie
: the next generation have proper educatio
. Of the right kind, and in the first place the
will know better than to get into debt, an
in the second place they will know bette
how to pay off the debts that their FOOLS
fathers contracted. Nothing is so PRONE
tive of public prosperity as improvement
" education.
But though most Of our farmers are
debt, yet no New England state is too poo
to establish and maintain good system {
public schools, in which all young person
can receive as good an education as the
may desire. Even our debts are as ru
due to our own fellow-citizens.' The none
is in the state, and is subject to taxation Fl
% educational purposes. A little revision
our laws in the interest of common sen
and common justice, which shall secure tn
no mortgaged farmer shall pay taxes {
more property than he actually owns, W
enable him to contribute much more large
to the support of schools without payir
any heavier tax than at present. The
10 never was a bigger injustice than that
ed making man pay taxes on land that
to To- does not own. Yet farmers submit to
IT, We never yet have had Legislature (thouI
W a majority are always farmers) that has h
'' courage and intelligence enough to d.
In IN with this wretched and absurd injustice
'f our laws. 1t is one of the innumeral
red horde of evils arising out of the abominal
ER credit system, than which nothing col
have been more cunniugly devised by Sat
. himself as a way Of sucking the life bic
out of working men, of making the p'
continually poorer and the rich continue
o' richer. We want better education, If
N %n' nothing else than to get light enough il
the minds of the people to enable them
see the power for ruin for every poor N
that lies in our legalized credit syste
w. But even without any change in the la
that system would soon become almost p'
erless for harm in the face of a spread
knowledge that would make all men 81
oup. debt as they would rattlesnake.
New England is far behind the west
ne this matter of free schools, and is gett
farther behind every day. In little wi
90 the western schoolsystem will alone
- sufficient TO attract emigrants westw
Fly from New England, unless we do someth
!. az effective, and do it quickly, to improve
., own. To-day we would advise any 1
- with family of children to go to Michie
h where he could send every one of Il
y through free schools and up to free cole
Y rather than wait the timid, hating prog
"A Aim L.. Ua..oont Maui Hamnahirs