The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-04-03
FEDERAL AID TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

piii, WhlCn proposes 10 dlVlde Hitcen
million dollars for the first year, fourteen
for the second and so on down for fifteen
years among the States on the basis of
illiteracy, to be used by them for assist.
ing ths public schools. The following
speeches, in which our readers will feel
an immediate interest, have been made
on this bill:
Senator Brown said that when the late
war commenced neither side supposed
the slaves would lie freed. Providence
had deeper design than the Congress
of the United States, and il began in
time to be seen that the freedom of the
slaves WAS necessary to the salvation OF
The Union At the close Of the war the
Southern people were required TO ncor.
porate in their constitutions provisions
which clothed the slaves with all the
rights Of citizens. The slaves were freed
rs n necessity Of the Union. What,
then, became the duty of The Union.
Certainly il was the duty Of the Union
to take such action rs would qualify the
newly made citizens for the duties OF
citizenship. II had been q fearful exper-
iment to enfrancbise the freedmen in
their then condition; but having freed
them, it was clearly the duty Of the
whole Union to aid the States in prepar-
ing them for citizenship. However
willing the Southern States might be to
do this work, the fact was ;hat they had
been left 80 Impoverished by the war
that they could not do it, even though
the individual slaves were now present
as free men and so the country is no
poorer in that sense. Yet all know that
the property owners of the South had
lost their property. There had been an
actual loss Of 1900 ,000, 900 in the taxable
property of the State of Georgia alone.
According to the returns CT the year be-
fore and the year after the war, tho
Southern States had supported from their
property all the armies Of the Confeder.
acy and tho money which the Southern
people had at the close Of the war was
as ashes in their hands. How different
was it in the North at the close Of the
North for the support OF the army was
worthless. BESIDES that, the South had
to contribute to tho paymcn. Of the
Northern war debt and many millions Of
dollars Of captured and abandoned prop.
erty had been taken and sold by the
United States. Mr.. Brown only men
toned these things To show that the peo-
pie Of the South we've impoverished by
the war SO that it WAS impossible, no
matter how anxious they might be, 10
educate these colored people. Except
Texas, no Southern State was in n posi-.
tion to do all that was required But
Mr.. Brown die not regard it as = work of
charity. The slaves had been freed by
the Union. If it WAS right To- make
those people citizens, and Mr.. Brown
did not question it now, then it WAS not
only right but an imperative duty of
the Union TO fit them, or help them to
fit themselves, for The duties Of citizen
ship, for upon the well performed duties
Of citizenship depended the perpetuity
Of the Union. 1t WAS not necessary that
this aid should be permanent. Mr..
Brown would not desire it to be.
The Senator from New Hampshire (Mr.
E!uir) had shown To the Senate that the
Southern people were taxed as heavily
in proportion to their property as any Of
the people of the Northern States. The
people of the South hnd done the best
they could. Not one of the Southern
States that had been fully recognized as
in the rebellion had passed any law dis
eliminating against the application Of
the school fund to the school for The col
ored children. The same arrangement
existed for both colors. He thought he
might then, under the circumstances,
fairly ask the Senators who werc on the
other side of the question In the war TO
come forward and help out those who,
while doing their best, could not do all
that they could wish, or that the country
could wish. AS to the constitutional
question involved, while Mr. Brown de.
clared himself 10 be Il strict construction.
lat, lie could not but sec i'll the general
welfare clause Of the constitution clause
clearly covering 40 fundamental cUnsid.
Grafton as the education Of the people.
If there was anything necessary for the
general welfare in a republic, was it not
the education Of the people who formed
the republic and made it's laws? If,
again, Mr.. Brown ssid, Congress lad tbs
power SO protect men IN their exercise of
the ballot did 1t not follow that Con.
gress had the power to prepare them to
cast that ballot? Had We not the right TO
prepare him to read and TO write his bal.
lot? Pending debate, the Senate went
into executive session, and when the
doors were reopened adjourned.
Senator Butler opposed the bill. He
said that the common school system of
South Carolina was rs good as any in the
United States. A constitutional provis.
ion created tax tor an educational fund,
and that fund received an additional
income from the poll tax.
Senator Butler read from the proceed.
ings of an educational body acknowledg
ments of colored teachers to SHOW how
much the people of South Carolina had
done for education. The peopls ef the
South, he continued, had had to solve
problem that no other branch of the
Caucasian saca had ever been called upon
to solve before. They had made mis-.
takes no doubt, and as long as human
nature was as weak as it was he supposed
they would continue to make mistakes,
but If he knew his own heart aud the
hearts of his people they meant 10 deal
fairly with this question. The slaves
had been illiterate of course and as
freedmen they had been illiterate, but
the next census would show a great i'm.
provement, for the older people were
passing away.
Senator Logan called attention to the
remarks made by him Logan) the other
day with reference to the propriety of
basing the aid upon the number of chill.
drep, and not upon tota! illiteracy.
Senator Butter agreed that that would
be better basis. 1t would be impossi.
bic to educate the old people. But, of
what did education consist any way?
did not consist in craming let.
ters into peoples heads. One Of the
raost intelligent men in South Carolina
was man that could not read or write.