The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-04-15
A Good start In the Right Direction.

a NuOu BthEA ~ Nue hlEht DlEeCllOus
BY our Washington dispatches it seems
that the Educational Committee of the
House has reported in favor of M appro-
priation OF SlO,O0O0OO to assist the cause of
education in our lantRt to be distributed las
we hope) in the ntio OF illiteracy-that is,
10 those States and communities that most
need help because Of their poverty and
ignorance.
The dispatches do not set forth how long
this appropriation is to run. 1t simply
provides for an appropriation OF SlO,OOO,OOO
at this time, possibly leaving to the next
Congress 10 supplement the ttt with an.
other and like appropriation. tits not IN.
likely that before the report is adopted by
Congress some provision will be made or
understanding arrived at with reference TO
an annual appropriation OF like sum, 70
be continued SO long as the pressing neces-
sites Of illiteracy in the country, and cspe-
cially in the South, shall demand it. We
need not say how pressing are these neces-
stiles at this time We have from time to
{. time shown what they arc in this State,
where, according to the census Of 1880, We
have S5,S7S persons, aged 10 years and up
ward, out of population OF 6lS,457, who
cannot so much as write their names. This
immense and discouraging illiteracy is the
legacy that slavery left us in West Virginia,
although only 10,lS0 persons thus litter
ate are OF the Colored race. 1t results
from the sparsely settled condition OF many
OF the counties aud the poverty OF the peo-
pie. The land is held in large bodies by
spectators and land misers, whose great
study it is to keep down valuations, and
thus prevent any adequate sum Of money
being raised for SCHOOL or other purposes.
Immense bodies oil land are returned by
the assessors as wild land, at n merely nom.
inal tax, and thus district assessment Of
even so cents on the 500 really amounts to
nothing to these land sharks and land mi
sers, and yields an amount 80 meagre and
contemplate that it does not support
school, even with State aid, for three
months in the year. The consequence is
that the children go Rneducated under our
school System. Only the rugged and well
grown youths can attend school during the
few weeks Of the winter in which school
is open, while those OF tender years,
who are poorly clad and poorly
shod, cannot traverse the country
to the school house. We need
shoots not only in the winter
for the youths who must work
7 on tho farms during eight months Of
the year, but also for tho younger children
in the milder months. The season from
May until November would be a golden
season in West Virginia for sowing the
seeds Of education among tho young
those from TO 10 years-tor then they
could so to school without unusual expense
for clothing or shoes. An appropriation
By Congress that would give the poorest
/ and most illiterate districts of the State
three months summer school would be n
great boon indeed. This immediate part
Of the State would need very little aid, and
hence the share OF the whole State could
be largely concentrated in the sparscly set
tied counties.
There are nearly seven millions OF Hitter.
ates in the United States-about ono sew.
enth OF the population. This was the
alarming disclosure Of the census. 1t has
happily set the intelligent and patriotic
people OF the country to rejecting over the
perilous situation OF the country with such
mass Of ignorance participating iii the
elective franchise, and influencing and
controlling the destinies Of the republic,
A goyernment that rests upon a popular
basis can only have solid and enduring
foundation when it rests on the iutelli.
genee, not the ignorance, OF the peo-
pie. Therefore, popular education is tho
matter Of great and especial concern now
laid upon us. It is to meet this necessity
that Congress is moving in the matter OF
on appropriation.
Pedestrianism made easy by using German
E.A AZ NE