Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-02-17

insisted thai this was an error, for II Con-
gress hao tnas power TO make the appro-
priation IL Aad the power to follow the ap-
propriationaud direct it's execution. 1t
was becall#e tbis was true that be warned
his orethNen Nat they were favoring a
measure that oentralized vast power in
the hands Of the general government at
the expense Of the States.
THE BILLS PATERNITY.
Mr.. Pugh said he had voted for this bill
IN obedience to the instructions of his
| Legislature. His COLLEAGUE Mr.. Morgan }
! having alluded to the fact that part of the
paternity of the bill lay with him Mr..
Pugh) he wished to make a remark IN
explanation OF mis- relation to 1t. The
! only part he had taken in the preparation
OF the bill was to make its machinery
conform 10 the Morrill, bill, which bill had
passed tine Senate by vote of Al to 6, and
which had the votes of his colleague Mr..
Morgan and the Senator from Texas Mr..
| Maxey.)
MIR Blair believed the question of con-
stitutionality to have been settled by such
overwhelming authority that any man
presenting that point and discussing it
was simply Willing away his time. The
only merit In making the point was that
it kept Senator's conscience clear on the
record and average length Of the school
period in the Southern States. Mr.. Blair
said it was only about three months.
THE PROPOSED TERM.
The maintenance of a school for this
1eriod cost the Southern people SIG. .000.-
900 annually. If the S7.000,000 proposed
be given, the first year under the present
bill would only prolong those schools to
five months at the utmost, so that the
| provision, instead OF being liberal. was
! rather mOninl1G Mr. R1QiF TnQH q
number of letters from Southern people
| favoring the bill.
! Mr.. Hampton remarked that some OF the
| Southern Legislatures had requested that
the bill be passed.
| Mr.. Blair added that 1t was useless for
anybody to say that the people of the
South did not want this bill passed. He
had received letters from teachers inTeXas
favOring the bill.
Mr. Coke said the teachers did not
represent the people of Texas. The State
WAS almost solidly Democratic, and the
last Democratic convention denounced
this bill.
THE TEACHERS GOOD CRITERION.
Mr.. Blair thought that the action OF the
| teachers in their convention was more
expressive of the feeling of the people on
the school question than the action of G
! Democratic convention. Men who stood
| up here, be said, and contested the con-
| stitutionality of this bill, represented a
| state Of things that was passing away. f.
| The legislatures OF Louisiana, Missis-
| sippi, Alabama, and other Southern
/ States mad pronounced unanimously tor
/ this bill, and the people behind them de-
manded 1t. We must have our voters
| educated in order tnat the peo-
| pie of the republic may become
thoroughly homogeneous. Every
| duty and every obligation, constitutional
| and moral, called upon us to help our
| friends at the South temporarily in their
work OF education. He read from the
New Orleans Picayune an article in favor
of the bill.
Mr.. Morgan inquired il the Picagune
was a paper that supported woman suf-
frage.
Mr.. Blair replied that perhaps it was,
but he thought that no objection.
Ar. Hawley said the State Board Of
Education of Connecticut believed this
bill to be unwise. He criticised Mr
! Rlair's course in having reprinted in the
! Record speeches formerly delivered by
nim on this subject, and said there should
be some limitation Of the 'leave-to-print''
/ privilege. Here the debate closed for the
4 day.