San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1885-08-06

court houses, lou nave cIottVl thls nihk
nlhcent e0ur, house on tho same policy.
know Il ID often said, Why shall l pa,
taXeE 10 educate that mans sonl haven
! got /. child; why shall the state, part OF
Of which am, apply tue resources OF The
state, part Of which come from me, or The
resources 81 my city, a part OF which come
from inc, why shall l pay 10 educate The
children in this part OF the commonwealth
have said why already, hut there IL
another reason why. II you think II ID
right that you should pay out your money
10 have public court room, public jail,
then / think you ought 10 BIO compelled,
upon tho same principle, TO be In favor OF
the public schools, because II IL best for the
commonwealth, ms II Ia best for jurispru'
donce, as Il il best for all that these things
come TO pass. II is also, for this reason,
tho best for all that the people should be
taxed 10 support schools. You say, IL
don't wish TO pay any tixes, because ! have
no children 10 send TO school," Woll, why
don't you grumbe when they collect taxes
10 build there court houses1 You may
never have snit in these court houses and
you might on the same principle say;
''Those men who wish TO go 20 law, let
them hire lawyer and private court
house and prison house whore they can put
their prisoners, and they must no kept from
violating tho law they should pay for keep
ing them; IL is their business"
Ihave paid some taxes nearly all my life.
ever since my majority, sometimes larger
and sometimes smaller, and during that
time | had to educate my children-tho only
two sons have. l had to educate my chill
dren because at the time there were no
schools suitable for them TO go to. i have
paid taxes for the arrest Of prisoners, for
lrial, etc., and yet of all the causes that were
plead and money that was spent i have
never had case in court in oil my life.
And ought to grumbleH No: 1t is for the
public good, the public interest and the
public security aud welfare of the common
wealth. Thus you ought to pay part for
that security and welfare.
Now the question is, what are the advan-
tages of education Well, in hofirst place,
as said before, there is no denomination
| in the state that is able to take charge OF it
| in the state, and il there were il would be
unpleasant for us TO be under that burden,
because we might have to subscribe to
things we do not wish to; wo might have
to be educated in q faith that we could not
agree To-. The effect would be that the pub
| lie education could not be dflused among
the people. l will here say that there is
nothing in the world that divides men as
strongly and makes thom so pertinaciouS,
or rather pugnacious l may say, as this d.
vision upon religious creeds. Men will
| light for their religion stronger than they
will for almost any cause, because 1t is q
matter of conscience. Men may differ about
how to carry on the government, rs in the
late war, az to whether the North was right
or the South was right, that is matter of
public policy; but the question rs to
| whether this one or that one ID right in re-
gard o Il religious creed is not matter OF
policy, it is matter Of conscience. You
know that this great country which WAS d.
vlded in the late civil war has come together
and we are prospecting more than we ever
did before; but the divisions in the churches
still remain, still we have the Northern
Methodists and the Southern Methodists, the
Northern and Southern Presby terians--they
still fight on these old lines because it is II
matter of conscience.
Now thon, public education is better be-
cause it tries to educate all the people, and
educate them on the same basis there is no
mixing up of this or that, it is the same
general education public education is good.
Then for the sake of education in towns and
villages it far exceeds any private enterprise
that could possibly take place. L will here
say that IN this town, us far Ms my observa-
ton has gone, you nrc particularly blest in
regard to private education. You have an
institution that has done n great deal for
the education of your people. do not say
81 -, pFh al of md
compliment; | say il with all my heart,
and I believe just what l say. But you
take great many towns, and You will find
in towns as large as this there will be
dozen small schools. Each ono has its select
number of pupiIs-select in number, you
can't say the same thing in regard to quail
ity of instruction, but each one has certain
number of pupils. The children of the
whole town could be taught by nearly ono
half the number of teachers if they were
organized into one school. That much
would be saved to the people-one- half the
cost. Next You can save nearly onc-half of
the educational power. You take these
twelve schools: One has co, another Is,
another 40, another 20. and 80 on, and by
combining these together you see you can
make y good SCHOOL, mean six rooms of
cen take all the first readers ani put them
into one room, the second readers in an
other. the third readers in another, fourth
readers in another room, fifth in the fifth,
and SO on. Now You would have six schools
in one building, and each teacher would be
teaching his own grade, and all no would
have to do would be to divide his grade
into n sufficient number of pupils so that
10 IN ana pl
tho others would he preparing for their re-
citation while III school of the private
kind he would be teaching three or four in
the first reader, after awhile two or three in
the other; he would havo Just as many
classes as all the other teachers combined
and if he could give five or ten minutes to
each class he would be doing remarkably
well, which amounts to nothing moro thnn
hearing lessons to soc whether they have
been learning anything.
Well, that then is the advantage of pub
lie education. That advantage can be Sc
cured in every village throughout the state
of Texas. 1t can be secured TO some ex-
tent in many Of the country districts when
the district don't exceed four mics square |
they can bring them together and can form
an organization there is power and time |
gained Well, now the question comes |
rack to us, how shall the school be sup !
ported? answered that once before, and |
/ answer il again. if the schools are int end
ed for the people they ought to support the |
schools II this court house and your courts |
are for the good Of the people, then you as
the people ought to maintain them; If not. |
then You ought 20 do away with them. If |
schools are good for the people, and uni
versl good can be bestowed to all men, |
whether they participate or not, 1t is for the |
general good that the people at large ought 1
70 support the schools as wei rs other insti-