Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-08-22

have helped US ike DrotherT. But this
should be considered, as entering into the
question of the ability of the Southern whites
10 do the work that is upon them land it is
the ability of the Southern white people that
is to be inquired into, since they pay the
taxes); nearly all the money sent South
since 1865 for educational purposes, has been
devoted 10 the education of the negroes.
Especially ia this true of the great sums ex-
pended by the churches and benevolent
societies of the North. This we do not regret;
we do not envy the negroes the helps that
Providence sent them. They needed it
soreIy and we rejoice with them. But
this method of help, good as it ia, has
left the white p=ople-thou 'auds OF them
as poor ss the negroes-to struggle with
their own burdens without the help the
negroes had and left to the white people, who
were a little better of, the burden of their
own responsibilities in the matter of educa-
ton, and the obligation 10 pay nearly all the
taxes that were levied for such public
schools as there were for both races and all
classes. Moreover, the school work done in
the South for The negroes by Northern money
has not been in the primary or public
schools. This could not b.; the means were
utterly inadequate. That work has looked
to the preparation Of teachers, for the most
part. And herein lies the govt rnment's OPP
pOrluDllY, ino CuuTCuSs duu IuulNtuuhIe
have been preparing the way for i = more
potent aid. Nothing less needs the proving
than this: There must be more schools aud
better. They will cost money, a great deal
Of money-more Than these States can pay.
Where is it to come from? From individ-
uals? A nation cannot depend on individ-
uals 10 do a work almost too great for the
whole people. From churches and other
benevolent societies? They are but sggrega-
tions of individual, and societies, represent
ing but a part of the people, cannot do a
work that belongs to all. / have heretofore
alluded to
SENATOR LoGAN's VIEWS,
as get forth in article in the April number If
the North american Reuieu. The Senator is
not afraid Of the cost; he is very generous; he
thinks the government ought TO aid the pub
lie schools OF the States; he thinks it ought
to expend at least $40,0 00, 900 annually in
this cause. But he cannot, for a moment,
entertain the principle of the Blair and other
bills before Congress, that the nation's help
should be dispensed in proportion TO the ma
tons needs. He will not hear 10 illiteracy
as a basis of distribution. That principle,
he shows, would give the largest portion 10
the States once owning slaves and once in re-
bellioni He reminds US that slaves wer. pro-
hibIIed from learning 10 read uuder the old
regime. He says, in these words: "The
iiliteracy, therefore, of the colored populs-
tiop, now complained of as a serious burden,
is the result of The deliberate policy of these
States in the past" Has the gallant general,
then, no pity for the ex-slaves he fought so
bravely to free from such laws? Haa he no
pity for their children? Would he punish
the old s~laveholders2 Nest of them
ere dead. Would he punish all the
white people Of the South be-
cause the Shareholders would not
allow their slaves 10 go to school? The ma
jority OF the white people of the South
never owned slaves. Would be now punish
slavery and secession by Withholding from
the children in the South the help he is will
ling to give 30 generously to those who
neither need nor ask il? The school children
in the South were in cradles or have been
born since Appomattox. Are the children's
teeth 10 be kept on edge forever? Aud must
the negro children be kept in ignorance lest
the children of white men in the South
should also be taught? That article was not
| worthy the Senator's fame as a soldier or a
statesman. Far nobler, far more statesman-
Ike were the words of
Ex-PREsIDENT HAYES,
at Woodstock, Conn, last Fourth Of July.
After stating with great force the need OF
national aid, and the right and duty of the
general government to give it, Mr.. HAYES
said: 81 do not debate the question who was
responsible for slavery. 1t is perhaps enough
to say that the Union and the constitution
breathed into this nation the breath CT life.
To the Union and to the constitution we are
indebted Tor our present prosperity, power
and prestige, and the still more Inspiring fu.
ture which lies before us. The Uaion and
the constitution, 10 which we owe all that we
l ara and nauo haan oontaiooJ oaI ao.-.l
slavery. All who TOOK part in forming the
Union or in framing the ccnstitutiop, all who
maintained them down to the war which
brought emancipation, are in some degree
| and IN some sense responsible for slavery.
The only American citizens who are in no
way responsible for slavery are the sons of
| Africa. And. it is especially these colored
people who now, eagerly and with uplifted
hapdP, implore the nation for that which ed
ucation alone can give, and without which
they cannot discharge the duties which the
constitution requires by making them citizens
and voters. In he history OF populsr educa
ton nothing is better Sc tied than this: The
only power able to establish and suppor an
efficient system Of univer,a al education is the
government. In the South, by reason Of
slavery and its pernicious legac;es, to pro-
vide Tor the free education of all by other
means isssimply impossible. The colered
people we're held in bondage, and therefore
IN Ignorance, under the constitution of the
nation. They were set free and made citi.
zens and voters by the most solemn expres-
sions of the nations will, and now, there
fore, the duty to fiji them by education for citi-
zensnip Is devolved upon the whole people"
Mr.. Hayes concluded his address in THESE
wiss words: ITO complete reconstruction
and regeneration in the South, the only f rec
now left to The government is popular educa-
ten. Let national aid 10 this good cause be
withheld no longer. Let it be given BY wise
measures, based on eouud principles and
carefully guarded; but let it be given
promptly, generously and without stint, to
The end that the whole American people, of
every race and of every nationality, may be
reared up 10 the full stature Of manhood re-
CURED Tor intelligent self government uuder
our republican institutions"
IT Is A NATIONAL DUTY
to aid the States in educating these millions
OF illiterate children, for national Interests
are involved in it. 1t is anational duty, for
1t must be done; the States most deeply in
volved cannot do it, and the nation can easily
do 1t. 1t Is a national duty, for the plain
historical reason that the nation, as such.
made these millions of negroes citizens and
voters before they were prepared for their
new duties and relations, aud, 10 the very act
of doing 1t, and by the very method of doing
1t, took from those who are now called on 10
prepare them for their new duties and rela-
tiops the ability to do it. The men of the
South accept the Issues Of the war, and they
may well use the language of the Hon. W. Z.
Forster, Of the English Parliament, in reply
to the radical wing of his own party: "You
demand universal suffrage; / demand uni
verssl education 10 go with IT,"
We hear somewhat about The right of the
general government to grant this aid to pub
lie schools In the States. 1t is not too late
to raise this question; from the time of
Washington the general government has
been doing things that involved the principle
and asserted the right to extend aid from
the public funds TO aid the work Of educs-
ton in the States. Time and again Copgres.
has set aside public lands for the use of edu-
cation i'll the different States. As to this
call for national aid, so far as the South ia
concerned in it, there is one fact already al
luded to-a fact lying right in the heart of
the question-that no constitutional meta
physics or legal sophistries can dispose of
or make other than it is, to-wit: The nation
exercised the right to declare
SEVERAL MILLIONS OF SLAVES FREE cITI-
zENs,
and gave them the ballot before they could