Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-03-16

the late Congress had before it, but which 1t
failed to take up and carry to a conclusion,
was that relating to national education-or,
in other words, to the perfecting of some
scheme of national aid to those states which
are overwhelmed in mass of illiteracy that
they are powerless, through their own re-
sources, to cope with. The subject is one
which has been widely and generally discuss
ed until there are few intelligent men who
are not familiar with the main facts involved
in it. At both sessions of the late Congress
it was under consideration and several meas
ures were proposed with view to establish
ing some system of governmental aid to the
states, especially those of the South, for
term of years. Tho House Committee on
Education, Of which Hon. James NJ Tyler of
this district was a member, agreed upon n
bill which proposed to apportion $40, 600, 600
annually for five years to the several states
and territories, according to their respective
population, ten years of age and over who
are illiterate as shown by the last census.
This distribution was to be made on condi-
ton that the states and territories provide at
least three months schooling at their own
expense for all their children of school nge
without distinction of color, and, further,
that no state or territory should receive
greater sum in any year from the govern
ment than it expended from its own means
for educational purposes during the year next
preceding
Mr.. Tyler made repeated attempts to have
this bill called up for consideration by the
House, but, in the great rush of pressing
business which the short session found itself
literally buried under, his efforts were unsuc-
cessful. After much labor and research Mr..
Tyler had prepared a speech in which were
summarized great quantity of figures show
ing in concise form the great mass of litter
acy with which the country has to deal, its
distribution among blacks and whites, among
the native and foreign born population, and
among the several states. As last resort
Mr.. Tyler obtained leave to print his remarks
in the Congressional Record in the hope that
the facts recited might be of public service
hereafter. In passing it may be said that
MIR. Tyler proposed an amendment to the
bill restricting the appropriation to the six
teen southern states and reducing the entire
amount to $1,000 600, which is substantially
what they would receive under the bill as
their share of $4,000, 600.
Mr.. Tylers remarks begin with an allu.
sion to the condition of absolute ignorance
and poverty under which the four millions of
colored people came, suddenly, to the full
rights of citizenship-a condition for which
they are not to blame, and for which it is
useless now to attempt to apportion the
blame. Nor was this illiteracy confined to
the blacks alone. Under the vicious labor
system which obtained at the South before
the war the inevitable tendency was to con-
centrate both the wealth and the intelligence
in the hands of few, so that in the absence
of any common-school sy stem the great mass
of white people were made hopelessly poor
and ignorant.
As shown by tabulated statistics gathered
from the census of 1880, the white popula-
ton of the sixteen southern states and the
District of Columbia is ~ 1913, 600, while the
black population is G,O99, 900, or about one
third of the whole. Tables are given which
show that the per cent. of iliteracy among
the whites over ten years of age in this sec
ton varies from 43 per cent in the District
of Columbia up to 31.5 per cent. in North
Carolina. In only five of these states is
there less than Is per cent. of illiterate
whites. The per cent of illiterate blacks
varies from 1914 in the District of Columbia
up to SOC in Alabama. In only four states
is there less than 20 per cent. of illiterate
blacks. Of the northern states the only one
having so much as 10 per cent of illiterate
whites over 10 years of age is Rhode Island,
where the per cent. is 1919. The average is
the same section this per cent. of illiteracy is
much greater, and averages not far from %
per cent. Taking the country through, out
of the total population of 80, 1876, 7S3 there
are G,239,0j illiterate persons over ten years
of age. The illiterate white population
alone nearly equals the population of
the whole country at the time of the adop
ton of the Federal constitution. Even in
New England there are 2O4, 900 persons over
ten years who cannot write. OF the total
colored population of the South over ten
years of age only 1927, 1897 can read and
write; the remainder, 1904, 234 are illiterate
As bearing still further on this subject and
illustrating even more forcibly the dangers to
which the country is subjected from the
great mass of illiteracy within its borders.
Mr. Tyler presents table showing that out
of total of 4, 154, 1875 voters in the late
slave-holding states 40, $50 whites and 9i4,-
424 blacks are illiterate. In the northern
states the total number of voters is 8,417.-
1902 of these 1862, 3G5 whites and So, s7s
blacks are illterate. From this point Mr..
Tyler proceeds to show how inseparable are
the permanenoe and stability of our republi.
can institutions from the education and intel
ligence of the people, and the sayings of the
most eminent men in our country's history
are quoted as fortifying his position.
OF the poverty of the South and its needs
Mr.. Tyler says;
"The southern states, unaided are power-
less to cope with this monster of Ignorance.
The people are comparatively poor. Thew
lost two billions of property by the enamel.
patton OF their slaves and two billions more
in the support of their armies. They are
burdened with debts aud are heavily taxed to
maintain their local and state governments
and they also have to contribute to the feder.
al treasury. Those states were the theatre
of the great war, and when that conflict was
ended their furrowed and devastated fields
with such buildings as had escaped destruc-
ton, were all that was left to them. But
during the last few years the people have
manifested commendable enterprise in re-
storing the industries of their country and in
developing its resources Among other things
they have established a system of public
schools in nearly all of the states. Each
year marks an increase in the number of
school-houses and teachers in the attendance
of scholars, and in the amount of money
raised for school purposes. But with only
about two-ffths as large a white population
and with more than three times the iiliteracy
of the North the South has not 1.-THE Of
the means of the North with which to over
come the evil. While Massachusetts can ca
silly raise Sl5 per capita to educate her chill
dren, and other northern states from Sc to
Sl2, it is difficult for Arkansas to raise 30
cents, Alabama 90 cents, North Carolina 80
cents, and Georgia $l.OS for the same pur-
pose, If the South had only her white chill
dren to educate she might be equal to the
task but add to these the colored children,
whose parents can contribute very little to
their education, and she finds her means in
adequate. The immediate wants Of
the South are more schools and longer terms