The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-07-12
National Aid to Education.

Mr.. X. Is. Hayes, who was dc JdctO
President Of the United States at one
time, delivered an address ut Woodstock,
Connecticut, yesterday, on the subject Of
National aid to education. After referring
TO the progress the South has made since
the war, MIR. Hayes declared that thir.
teen years experience with universal
suffrage only confirmed the opinions Of
the Fathers of the Republic that where
all are citizens and all are voters the
necessity is imperative. fundamental and
overwhelming that there should be free
educationa. ior all. Ignorant voters aTs
ammunition for demagogues. Public
and private credit, social peace and order,
property and life are unsafe in any com.
munity where the voters who make and
execute the laws cannot read and write"
In 1857 Congress passed an act for the
government of the Northwest Territory,
the principal article of which was that
schools and the means Of education
shall forever be encouraged" The
growth aud prosperity of that section of
the country demonstrate the importance
of popular education to free institutions"
and "show that the subject is within the
scope of the constitutional authority of
the National Government" Mr.. Hayes
thinks it was unfortunate that the prin-
ciple of popular education established in
the Northwest Territory was omitted in
the measure adopted for tho reconstruc.
ton of the South, which established uni
versal suffrage and should also have pro.
vided for universal education. Mr..
Hayes says that the omission of this pro.
vision would have been comparatively
unimportant if the number Of illterate
voters had been small, but the vast ex.
tent Of the evil is now only too we'll
known. The total number Of men of
voting. age who could not read and
write in the late slave-hoiding States
was in 1870 one million one hundred and
sixty seven thousand. In 1880 the num-
Der Of illiterate voters had increased to
one million three hundred and fifty five
thousand. In each of eight Southern
states the iiliterate voters exceed in
number the majority Of votes ever cast
even ut the most exciting elections
Most seriously important Of all, the il.
iiterate voters of the South have in the
last ten years increased almost two hun
dred thousand. This increase of ignorant
voters alone exceeds the number of votes
cast in any one of twenty Of the States at
the last Presidential election. MIR. Hayes
reviewed at some length the conditions
prevailing in the South before the war.
the lack Of educatisnal advantages and
the effect Of slavery upon the irtellectnsl
development of the people. He dismiss.
ed the question as to who was RESPONSE
BILE for slavery by saying that the Union
aud the Constitution contained and re.
cognized slavery, and concluded that
"the only American citizens who are in
no way responsible for slavery and its
consequences are the sons of Africa"
In concluding his address Mr.. HAYES
said:
In the history of popular education
nothing is better settled than this. The
only power able to establish and support
an efficient system Of universal education
Is the Government. In tho South by
reason of slavery and its pernicious lega-
cles, to provide for the Tree education of
all by State authority is simply impossi.
BILE. The colored people were held in
bondage. aud therefore in ignorance, un.
der the Constitution Of the Nation.
They weso set free and made citizens
and voters by the most solemn ex :ession
of the Nations will, and now, therefore,
the duty to fit them by education for
citizenship and suffrage is devolved upon
the whole people. To complete recon.
struction and regeneration in the South
the only force now left to the Govern.
ment or the people is popular education.
Let National aid to this good cause be
withheld no longer. Let It be given by
wise measures based on sound principles
and carefully guarded. But let it be
given promptly, generously and without
stint, to the end that the whole Ameri-
can people, of every race and of every
nationality, may be reared up to the full
stature of manhood required for intelli.
gent. self government under our Republi.
can institutions"