Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1885-09-11


plete report of the speech of Senator
Howell E. Jackson, on national aid for
State public schools, first delivered at
Jonesboro some weeks ago before the
State Teachers Association, and repeated
yesterday to the people of Columbia.
Lengthy though it is, it will well repay
the most careful study by every man in
the State, be his condition in life what it
may, or his politics. 1t exhausts the sub
ject. The Senator has left nothing for
anybody to say on the same side, and We
think it will be found impossible for any
one successfully to controvert the posi-
ton he defends in so masterful manner.
Whatever there is OF Interpretation OF the
Federal constitution by the fathers and
founders of the republic, whatever Of
citation of high judicial authority, what
ever of precedent, whatever of political
disposition touching the powers OF the
constitution are here arrayed in sequen-
tial order and logical relationship that
must sweep all doubt from hating minds
and force even these to become urgent
pleaders for the abolition of illiteracy in
the only way open to the ates which it
threatens as with the po Eer Of an over
whslming flood. No work that the Sena-
tor could have undertaken tor the people
he serves with dignity and ability in the
Senate, during his vacation, could be 80
effective as this. He pushes aside the veil
and gives US glimpse OF the blackness,
of the darkness that weighs upon Tennes-
see as a great, an unmixed, evil and retaTds
her growth and her progress. He does
not deal in mere assertion or historical
display. He gives the figures and facts oi
illiteracy as they are furnished by the CEN
sus reports and in overwhelming array
and thus forces upon US the necessity foi
immediate work to arrest the steady in
crease of an army I. with the ballot
box as its inhereIt right under
the Federal constitution, is a menace
to every interest, not only in Tennessee
and every Southern State, but to the na
ton at large. No speech upon the subject
is so convincing, so complete, not even
that of Senator Blair of New Hampshire
delivered during Il last session of Con
Rress. 1t answers every question OF neces
sity and of constitutional right, and justi
fies by precedent and law the demand o
the friends of public education, that sine
the States themselves canno. do this work
since they cannot build barrier hat vii
prevent the steady flow of the great rive
of illiteracy that threatens even the foun
dations of the government, Congress mus
make adequate provision for it. 1h
Federal government can alone cope viii
it, and even with the money that it car
supply it will take years to accomplish
even an appreciable modification of tn
evil depicted so vividly and startingly b,
Senator Jackson. Statistics were never use,
80 better purpose, gere never more scieu
tifcally arrayed to strengthen goo
ingly marshaled to make clear the philcs
ophy that underlies the individual man
relation to the government and the dUt
of the latter to the man. The power O
education in developing the faculties c
the handicraftsman, in enlarging his min
and strengthening his grasp of mis- avoc'
tion, and so making him more useful
himself and more valuable to the State &
= productive force, are in this aamirabl
speech set forth with remarkable clea
ness. No workingmsn can afford to mis-
these words of wisdom, grouped with tripl
hammer force to urge the claims, not onl
of his class to educational facilities, bl
also those OF the humber worker, who's
ms. aments of labor are the shovel an
the pick. Indeed, it is for these class
that the Senator pleads with an eloquen'
no man in the Senate can surPsss and fe
can equal. The craftsmanship that lesy
the petty purpose of the politician behir
is made evident in every word he uttel
and broad and comprehensive view
the only means for the betterment OF Il
condition OF the people is offered that mu
be irresistible, especially with thinki
men. Senator jackson, one OF the few Ia
yers OF marked ability in the Senate, h
quite maintained his reputation in
much of this speech as deals with the co
stitutionality Of the question, and what
mains proves him the scholar, the phil
sophie thinker, the lover of his kind, wi
sympathies broad and deep enough to e
brace all classes and conditions of MT
Taken altogether, it is speech worthy
any man at any time in Tennessee, a
must prove to the people of the State ii
in tn eman that delivered it they have o
worthy to sit in the seat occupied
Grundy and Bell and Johnson, worthy
their continued confidence, and to VIII
they can look as real statesman who v
grow and expand, who has the heart
sympathiEe and the mind to plead for
people. that the great avenue for their
vancement shall be made as broad as II
necessities, and that nothing shall sts
in the way OF their march to the ulim
oi thei. destiny.