Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1885-10-29

S land
Can we approve the policy of entering the States with Government
assistance to arrest the spread of plemopneumonia or other contagious
diseases in cattle or other live stock, while withholding aid in removing
the plague OF lliteracy2 Shall the Government annually make large ex
penditures in aid of State quarantine laws or in checking the spread of
"he pestlence that walketh in d darkness and the destruction that wasteth
at MONDAY" and refuse assistance in correcting the widespread and
threatening evils OF hlteacy in the same localities? That the authority
and the policy which prompt and sanction the expenditure of public funds
Tor the protection OF life and property, and for the relief of suffering
caused by flood or famine, will extend to the ellie of the existing con.
diuon OF hhteracy is too clear to require elaboration in this presence.
But the relations of the General Government to this subject and its
obligation to aid IN the matter of education will still more clearly appear
by a bnef reference to the three last amendments to the Constitution,
winch were intended to place under the guardianship of the Government
the rights acquired and the results determined by the civil war.
The thirteenth amendment aboishes slavery and involuntary servtude,
except as a punishment for crime. The fourteenth amendment reaches
several objects: First, declares all persons born or natraized in the
United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof to be citizens OF the
oh'ed states and OF the State wherein they reside, and it forbids the
States to make and enforce any law which shall abrdge the privileges and
lmmunlles of citizens Of The United Stats. Second, it provides that
when the right to vote at any election for the choice u Electors for
President and Wce'Presdent of the United States, Representative in
Congress, the executive and judicial officers of the State, Or the members
OF the Legislature, is denied to any Of the male inhabitants of such State,
being FL years Of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way
abridged except Tor participation In rebellion Or other crime, the basis Of
Congressional representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion
which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number
of male citizens Fl years of age. in such State.
The fifteenth amendment declares that the right of citizens of the
United States to vote shall not be denied Or abridged by the United States
or by any State on account of race, color or previous condition of servi
tude; and Congress is empowered to enforce all of these amendments bv
appropriate legislation.
The States cannot now deny the right of suffrage to any male citizen
because OF race, color or previous condition of serviude. With this ex
cepion, they may deal with the question of suffrage, and could exclude
from its exercise all iIiterates who could not read their ballots, but to do
SO would, under the second section of the fourteenth amendment sub
Ijct the State to the alternative of reducing its representation in Congress-
IN the proportion which the number Of such male citizens so deprived of
suffrage should bear to the whole number of male citizens over II years
of age in the State. To illustrate: We have in Tennessee $40, 900 male
citizens of the United States 81 years of age included in that number
there are IL, 900 lliterahs, unable to read the ballots they cast; suppose
the State should exclude these iLiterates from the right of suffrage (donot
understand me as advocating ths) it would thereby reduceour representa-
ton IN Congress IN the proportion which $4,000 bears to $50, 900, or
about one-thrd, and give us about seven instead of ten congressman. So
these amendments have effected important changes, which have a direct
bearing upon the question of government aid to education. They make
every man born in the United States and subject to their jurisdiction a
cnazen Doth OF the United States and of the State in which h: resides.
They deprive the States of the rghtto deny suffrage on account of race,
color or previous condition of servtude, and they then declare that if
these citizens OF the United States are denied the right to vote, for any
reason except for crime, the State SO denying the right shall have its
representation in Congress reduced in the proportion whichthose excluded
Shall bear to the whole number of voters. The United States now say to
the States; You shall not take from my nhstnS, residing within your
limits, the right to vote on any grounds or for any cause but crime. except
upon the condition of thereby reducing your representation in the Fed
eml Government.
AS the General Government thus protects its iiterate citizens in the
right of suffrage, why should it not aid in preparing them for its wise and
intelligent exercise, and for the discharge of the high duties devolving
upon them, in connection with both governments, State and Federal
Onue UT III systems OF government, with a distinctly dual citizenship
owing allegiance and obedience to both governments in the order of their
sovereignty and the supremacy Of their laws, why should the burden rest
alone upon the States of qualifying this common citizenship for its re
sponsble functions common to each? Corresponding with the duties
which this common citizenship owes to each government, there is the
obligation of each to protect him and promote his welfare; and the con
sderahons which make ta wise policy for the States to provide educa-
uonal facilities for those unable to supply them for themselves extend
equally to the General Government, and impose upon it the obligation to
aid IN the work when exgences arise which render its assistance neces
say. That the common government with common funds cannot or
should not aid the States in the education and elevation of a common
citizenship, on whose intelligence and virtue rest the welfare, if not the
existence, of both governments. stands upon no solid ground. It's neither
in harmony with the spirit of our institutions nor up to the necessities of
our situation.
The General Government has superior sources of revenue, is always
better supplied with funds and at less inconvenience to the people than
the States. Its surplus revenues since 1866 have varied from $37,oo 900
to ST. 1000, 900 annually. They are not likely to be much reduced in
the near future Kept in the vaults Of the treasury, they invite exrava-
giant expenditures, become the source of corruption or lead to improvi,
dence IN legislation, which is the parent of prohgacy. To what nober
OR more benehcent object or one more intimately connected with the
general welfare, can a portion of these surplus funds be so well applied as
to the aid of common schools, the modern nurseries of American citizen
shp2 l know of none.
The idea that such aid would create a spirit of dependence on the part
OF the States, that would ultimately prove hurful to the cause of educa-
ton is not worthy of serious consideration. No great emergency, like
the present, prevailed when the surplus distribution of 1896 was made
amongst the States. The General Government then rested under no
special duty or obligation to assist the States, such as noO exists, in order
to enable them to meet the alarming exigences which the government has
been directly instrumental in producing. What dangers or centraizing
tendencies or evil consequences followed the bestowal in 1896 of that
Federal git, under the form of a loan, which many of the States used in
laying the foundation of a permanent public school fund.- If any evils
hy L"a ,a.-.l~. l- .