The Columbus journal., 1883-01-17

kAacasloaal Qaall Acaslon.
Ed. JOURNAL lin the issue of the
JOURNAL of Jan. Sd you cay that one
OF your subscribers asks you TO give
your views on the question of "a edu.
ca,iOnai qualification tor the right OF
suffrage, but you seem 10 dodge the
question and switch of on some oh.
-cure point that looks to be foreign to
the substance of the inqairy. Now, 1
think there is any amount 81 peollta-
BILE discussion in this Queetioa, and l
belle ee that il there waD . la~ requir-
ing such quaiificazioa, -thAt Il would
be Of great and lastiag beneAt - Ne.
braska In its great and prosperous
future, for several reasons, viz: We
know that all our best an1 greatsst
minds do encourage, labos, cad use
oil their best efforts 70 0i1Dominste
knowledge to and smosG the msases
throughout the land, and many 60 90
far - to advocate and pass laWs re-
quiring compulsory education. Now
il strikes me that an educational quail
sfication for the right Of suffrage
would do away with the necessity Of
such compulsory law, for Il IL equiv
alent to such law without the seeming
outward force or compulsiOn, which
you know is 20 distastefnl to the
average human. Second, II a Qualifi-
cation for the righ: Of suffrage was
required, it seems to me thst it would
do away with q great amount Of lille.
gal voting, and the term applied to-
the ignorant voters 40 "voting CATTLE"
would be oblitersted, and better men
elected to Office no doubt ct first It
would work seeming injustice 10
few men who are good, successful
business men, aud WAA pay . large
annual tax to tho general eeS0saosst.
but they, under the condition of
things, would soon become extinct.
There is large class who do not care
10 know anything and who are class-
ed as "voting cattle" by those who
labor to secure this same
vote in order to gain position. 1t is
true, we have but few of those "voting
cattle" in this country, but more than
is healthy for prosperous country to
profit by. would make the educa-
lionsl qualification to the right of
suffrage to be able to read and write
IN English, and am willing to give my
reasons at some future time, If nec-
sssary.
READER OF THE JOURNAL.
By reference to what We said, our
friend will see that we did not start
,ut to discuss the question but sim.
ply refer him to the difficulty of
elling just where to draw the line.
We have often heard the saying, How
absurd to require of any one . thor
'ugh knowledge of swimming before
ne is allowed to 60 into the water. A
Londoner has lately, however, con-
rived a series of lessons teaching the
Irt thoroughly without tho aid of
Jingle drop of water, and 90 that the
student can with safety launch into
he water. Now, if there were some
uch method of training future voters
70 that when they come Of age they
would be thoroughly equipped for
lesling intelligently with the practi-
al questions of politics, we should
III rejoice, at least those of us who
wish to see public interests subserv-
ID as against any secondary matters.
Our friend would have no voters
Who could not read and write Eng
ish, he does not cay how much or
low we'll, whether the mere ability to
crstch ones name and read 1t, or
With sufficient ability to write an
ssay and read upderstandingly
Shakespeare or Newton's Principis.
The degrees Of knowledge or ignor-
nee are infinite, and lining cut GRIM
mails and certain well-defined classes,
'ur lawmakers seem generally to
,ave hit the mark as nearly as the
present state of society will allow. 1t
3 exceptional, We admit, but We have
Iuown men who could neither read
Tor write, vet who had very fair
of public matters; we
rave also known very successful
armers who were not able to place
igures upon paper intelligently.-l
There is knowledge, a training,
outside of books, and the founders of
popular government seem to have put
great deal of confidence in what
nay be termed human instinct, in
what is good and what
8 bad. If company of friends we're
bout to cross the ocean, they would
want first, q good ship; second a
,ood, brave pilot third, fair weather,
mt how many people 60 down to the
ca IN ships without any special in
Iuiry, even "a to the probabilities,
nd yet make a safe voyagel We
AVE sometimes thought, How com.
few people are there in the
world who know the process of di.
,eslion, the circulation of the blood,
'r any other of the wonderful func.
ions Of our animal natures, but who,
very minute, are enjoying life which
9 thus sustained!
Shall we quit eating because we
snnot explain these fuDctions2