The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-01-21
EDUCATION IN TIE SOUTH.
The Nations Duty to the Colored People
Plain and Imperative.

Vnc Nations Outy TO the COlOreu IcoPit
Plain and Imperative.
The reconstruction policy that followed
the late civil war extended suffrage to a
million or more of freedmen who were
entirely uneducated as class and entire
ly unframed in any of the responsible
duties of citizenship. There was every
reason why the Southern States should
deny education to a servile race, as edu.
cation could only endanger the tranquil.
ty of slavery, and it is not surprising that
the poorer class of whites in the South
present larger percentage of illiteracy
than is found in the North, where free
schools have been established for half a
century.
1t is too late to inquire into the wis
dom of enfranchising the colored men
who we're freed from bondage and clothed
with all the prerogatiyes of citizenship.
That has been done and it will not be
undone There is special force in the
argument, now that the passions Of sec.
tonal strife have perished, that suffrage
should have been limited to the standard
of intelligence, but it is too late. The
SOUTH has the power to practically dis
franchise the colored citizens, but it will
not be done, because the limitation of
voters would be loiled by corresponding
limitation in representative power in the
popular branch of Congress and in the
Electoral College.
Universal suffrage, regardless of race,
condition or property. is now the irrevo-
cable policy Of the Republic, and that
compels lis to look squarely in the face
the appalling fact that ninety per cent.
of the whole colored vote of the South
cannot read the ballots they vote, and
twenty -four per cent. of the white voters
of the same section are equally ignorant.
In South Carolina more than one.half of
all the voters, white and black united,
cannot read their ballots, and in Misss
sippi, Louisiana and Georgia. only
small fraction more than one-half of all
the voters can TELL from their tickets, for
whom they cast their votes. These
statistics are furnished by the official
census reports of 1880.
1t must not be assumed that the South
ern States have been remiss in enlarging
facilities for popular education since the
war. On the contrary, considering their
resources and their extreme necessities
they have greatly surpassed the North in
their efforts for the education of both
races. The good work was hindered by
the prcflgacy of carpet bag rule, that
collected school taxes and promised edu-
cation to the colored race, but wasted O.
stole most of tue school revenues. Since
the reconstructed States have been al
lowed home rule they have made mar
yellous strides in popular education.
South Carolina, where war left its lega-
cies in direst vengeance aud desolatiou,
pays nearly half as much for free schools
as does Pennsylvania, aud employs more
colored teachers than are employed in all
the Northern States combined, while
Mississippi, the only Southern State in
which the colored race predominates,
offers better advantages to colcred pupils
for higher education at the cost Of the
State than does Pennsylvania.
The plain duty Of the nation is to give
its voters, with whom are lodged the
sovereign powers of the Government, the
highest possible standard of intelligence,
for only in intelligence and virtue is
there safety for free government. How
the problem is 10 be solved how educa.
tion can be SO diffused as to rescue the
supreme power Of great States from the
domination Of ignorance, is question of
the graves6 moment Earnest men have
proposed comprehensive scheme of ed.
ucation by the General Government, but
the country halts at the scores of millions
necessary to carry it into effect, and many
hesitate at any system of governmental
power in the South that could be prosti-
tuted to partisan ends; but the facts that
a full million and a quarter of voters in
the South are unable to read their bal
lots; that the whole nation has pledged
its faith to the improvement of the freed.
men, and that every intelligent citizen of
every section is Immediately interested
in elevating the standard of intelligence
among those who may control the destiny
of. our institutions, speak trumpe:.tongu-
ed for enlarged educational facilities in
the Southern States. They have done
their part generously, and will doubtless
multiply and extend their schools as rap.
idly as their resources shall be increased;
but they are unequal to the great work,
and the nation should extend helping
hand in justice to itself as the exemplar
Of popular government among the peoples
of the carth.-PAiiadcLphia Times.
In Trance for Seventy Days.