The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-12-14

IN lhe recent message " The president q
matter Of tie yasiest concern 10 iho people
Of The south IL touched upon. IT'S the sub
Jet Of llloracy, and the figures are a,ann.
Ing II was but natural that In the decade
ending 1870, the states which had felt the
brunt Of war, should show In the census re-
port degree Of lliteracy greater than other
sections Of the Union, but II seems that by
the last census even the same proportion is
kept up against the southern and south
western states. The cause OF education
within the past ten years has re-
ceved great attention and Won
derful impetus everywhere through
out the Union, but the field seems
in portions Of the country simply to have
been entered so far. Unfortunately the
figures Of the census to which Mr.. ARTHUR
refers show the darkest pictures in the
south. The fact, of course, is due to the
negro population in that section, but the
returns are not such as could be desired
even among the whites. In some two or
three of the southern states, the per cent
age of those ten years old and upwards who
can neither read nor write is almost half of
Tie population. Three.lourths of the blacks
cannot read or write, and among the
whites the per centage is from fifteen to
twenty-five per cent. Figures such as these
are lamentable, and demand the earn
est attention of the citizens Of our states.
There can be no object demanding so i'm
,yol, al lu nj of
ton as the matter Of the education of its
youth. To allow half, or fourth or fifth
even Of its population to grow up without
being able to read and write is crime
against society, and yet it seems that with
all our prosperity and rapid growth and de-
velopment in the south, our legislators are
doing this very thing. The evil can be
remedied if the proper effort be made. 1t
is possible that one Of the chief reasons for
the fact is the costly character of the sys-
tenn. The poor throughout the south are
numerous, and most of them extremely
poor. Many of them cannot dispense
with the help of their children SO that
they can send them to school, but there
is greater obstacle in the way probably |
than this Alth ough the schools are free
and hold but four or six months in the
year, ii is found impossible by the poor
parent to keep his children in books.
School-books are costly. The little scholar
isrushed into i've or six studies and some
81 TO $40 must be Immediately expended
for his books. Half of them he doesn't need. I
In month or two the studies are changed |
and new set Of books must be purchased
and so session after session. Aside from the
loss of the child's services, the .pinched and
cramped parent cannot produce the
ready cash to keep up with the
change in the text books and if there
are two orthree children to be sent, it simply
cannot be done. Hence the youths are
placed to yofk and grow up without even
having peeped into the mysteries of books.
The complaint referred to is one of the
throughout the country and the
practice objected to is largely responsible
for the illiteracy that exists Ina word, the
school system is not adapting itself to the
wants and condition of the people, but is I
strenuously attempting to make the people !
adapt themselves to the complicated courses
oi study and machinery now witnessed i'll
'unning the free-school system, and ma
GRITTY of the citizens of nearly every COM i
nunity are wholly unable to do so. This /
order of things should be reversed or the .
state should make some provision for [
text books for the schools.
It is a subject worthy of the most earnest /
attention on the part of legislators and i
hey have heretofore seemingly forgotten
o note that there were thousands upon =
thousands growing up in the states who
AN neither read nor write. While our |
public school system and the means for its d
upport are crystalizing and receiFing the /
impress of legislation, the one question e
hould be among the chieiest, how best can :
he largest possible attendance be secured i
Without compulsion? How can we pre- !
ent the recurrence of past errors and COM b
ination of circumstances by which thous \
nds of the youth are left ANNUALLY behind c
o grope in the mazes Of darkness and yet
ssume to exercise intTlligently the rights
nd duties of citizens where honesty
nd intelligence i constitute the only
upoT which the government n
an permanently standC) The subject has a
cen neglected. too much already, and the O
resident will have done good work if he o.
IN arous1attention sufficiently to have the o
ne ca1xes of illiteracy in the country dis y y
,yere6 and the proper remedies applied. L
ie might as we'll turn our borders over 10 Ia
10 sayages as to permit from fourth to a y;
elf Of the young to grow up to manhood ca
I'd womanhood without an elementary ed in
,ation at least. The subject embraces "
9TH black and white, as the rights of citi. ca
nship and suffrage belong alike to both it
id the destinies Of the state are within the ne
eping of the ballot. The president makes
questions, hut not, as it strikes us, OF any
actical value. The work is properly that -.
the states, and ST they fail TO attend TO -
it is hardly probable that the general re,
will undertake the parental Of rel
e Of educating its children. pa
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