Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-09-27
SELECT.
POPULAR EDUCATION.

tional Convention, held at Pine Grove,
Mercer county, Pa, August 80, 1882,
by DR.. L. Ii. Bugbee, ex-President Oh
Allegheny College.
I believe there was some expecta.
ton of music of bands We have had
music by our friend, who has given Us
good deal of excellent thought. In
reference to the thought that there
were some college Presidents here,
he meant of course my friend DR..
Jeffers, who is the only one present,
as am an ex-President. And [ am
very happy to meet him here. The
subject of education, though common
one, is nevertheless vital one: very
important one. But we are, all of US,
absorbed with our personal interests
and cares; and it is not supposed
that we shall always be intensely in
terested in this one subject. You
came here to-day, we all came here to-
day, with the purpose of giving at.
tention to this subject of education.
Let US therefore dismiss for little
time our usual duties and cares, and
think about this subject in it's vari-
Gus phases, and as it shall be presented
by the different speakers Of the day.
l shall speak especially upon popular
education, as relates to the safety and
perpetuity of the Republic. OF course
the opposite of education is ignorance.
The Superintendent of the State
School Educational Bureau at Wash
ington said on the 8th of this month,
at Ocean Grove, before the National
Educational Assembly, that 80 per
cent. of the voters of this country could
not read the ballots they cast. Now l
waat you to take in that statement
1t was surprising statement to make,
and yet l am bound to believe it, be-
cause it comes from the head authority
of the Nation on this subject, as it is
from the census of 1880. 80 per cent.
of the voters of the country cannot
read the ballots they cast. Now l
want to give you another statement
DR.. Greer, the efficient agent of the pub
lie debt fund, which is being used as
you know for education in the South,
gives these figures: 100000 illiterate
white voters in the South, and there
are SO4, 900 illiterate colored voters in
the South, making l,10S,000. Now L
do not know just the exact vote cast
by the Southern States, so-called, but
| apprehend that these figures indicate
about 40 per cent. of the voters of the
South who, of course, are illiterate.
Now these statements so nearly agree,
| am to conclude that they are true and
| proceed when arguing upon that
basis. Dr. Greer further says this,
"The education of the voter, is the
greatest question of the day, over-rid-
ing all questions but the question of
civil service reform, which is an i'm
portant element in it."
Now then we come to discuss direct
ly this question of the voter. The
greatest question of the age, in one
sense, is this We are talking now of
education. We are not talking, of
course, to-day, about the question of
all questions, which transcends this of
course, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, in
the hearts of the people of this world.
But we are talking to-day about edu-
cational themes. Why is this the
greatest question of the age? let ME
ask. The education of the voter. In
the first place the voter holds the pre-
servative or destructive interests of this
country. Behind every vote there is
thought. There is personality
when the vote is dropped silently into
the ballot box. The voter, therefore,
determines the government; determines
the law. The voters indirectly ol
directly place in Office all our Legisla
tors, all our members of Congress, al
our Chief Magistrates, all our Gov
ernors and all intermediate and lower
officers. These men, as the represen
tatives of these voters, make our Gov
ernment, and make our laws and exc
cute them. The voter, therefore
should be thinker; if thinker {
reader; if reader then there is nc
illiteracy. For when we talk abou
| illlteracv we mean persons that cal
neither read nor write, and thousands
of those who can read (and very few
who can read can even write theil
nancy cannot write their own name
Then voter should necessarily be {
thinker and a right thinker. Well now
so far as my judgement is concerned
| would rather have an educated baC
man than an ignorant bad man, ant
why !? that is not perhaps the usual
conclusion. They say the ignoran
bad man can do but little harm All
but he is an instrument in the hands
of demagogues, in the hands of rum
sellers, he is simply an instrument tc
be played upon. If the bad man is
an educated man, his heart may
be corrupt but his judgement
after all may be very good
So that | prefer to have bad man ed
ucated, than to have good man ig
norant But on the whole what we
want is more men educated to be
right thinkers, to have knowledge, tC
have thought, to have power, yet tc