Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-21

'perstitious human beings, from whom
the shackles Of life Of slavery had
been stricken ut one fell swoop. A retro
spect Of the history Of tho human race
in It's long snd toilsome ascent to the
MONDAY brightness Of the nineteenth
century would have justified the pre-
diction that the problem was iusolvable
in our day and generation, and must be
left to the wesrisome and lengthy stages
by which civilization and culture have
been evolved from barbarism. Under
the blessings Of Providence order has
come out Of chaos, and degree Of
progress has been made which will
commend our age to the wondering adj
miration Of the future.
Nobly have our people Of the South
responded to the enforced pledges Of
the dark days Of reconstruction, and
built up system Of public education
for its benighted population which will
challenge favorable comparison with
any similar system in the country. We
have done this out of the wreck lett
by our civil strife, out Of our poverty.
by rigid economy, and unaided. AT
the moment when our efforts have been
crowned with degree Of success I'M
paralleled, and with ell our machinery
and appropriations working smoothly
and in good order, we are asked to fore.
go the grateful contemplation OF virtu-
Gus labors, to abandon the system we
have created, to annul the provisions
made for its maintenance, and, in vol
untary inaction, bask in the beneacent
raysof the Blair charity.
"Mr. Editor, have already trespassed
upon your space, perhaps, beyond your
unfailing courtesy, but give me your
indulgence until | make manifest the
fact that the Blair charity is no bless
ing, but that it means the breaking down
and abandonment OF our present
public.school system and the substitu-
ton Of a worse one.
when Connecticut sold her west
ern-reserve lands the proceeds were
devoted to a school fund in the hope
that this aid would materially benefit
the cause Of education. The fund
proved very productive, the income
varying from $4,000 to 100000 a
year, which was large sum for a
small State in those days, when the
cost Of education was so much less than
now" The effect Of this assistance is
best shown in the words of Mr.. O. d.
Hine, secretary Of State Board Of
Education. We quote his words !:
THE school fund derived from the
sale Of western lands yielded an in
come last year Of sl20, 1855, which
amounts to eighty cents for each per-
son Of the school age. The average
expense of educating each Of these per-
sons throughout the State is Sl0.3l,
so that the fund now furnishes about
per cent. of the total cost. In those
towns and cities where the people in
sist upon good schools no reliance is
placed upon these permanent funds.
The history Of our State shows con-
clusiyely that when this fund was most
productive, and when towns depended
upon il, as they generally did, the
schools were poor and shsrt. In fact,
this was the darkest period Of our edu-
cstional experience. a striking de-
terioration took place as soon as the
fund became productive. Before this
period schools had been maintained at
least six months, and at most nearly
the whole year, according to the size OF
the district. After. and not long after,
this new source of income was opened
the usual length of schools was reduced
to only three months, or just the time
this fund wo I'D maintain them. Hap
PLY the danger from this direction is
passed and cannot return the fund
has probably reached its greatest pro-
ductiveness, and the per capita will
constantly decrease. Mrabiie dictu !
Here We have a gentleman Of recognized
authority in such matters congratulating
bis people that reserve fund for pub
lie education is happily for them on
the decrease. In Georgia, the Empire
State Of the South, in November, 1882,
Mr.. Orr, the State school commits
soner, in his report to the Legislature
pointed out the necessity Of a more
liberal appropriation for its schools,
exhibited her wonderful material pro-
gress in the last few years; demon
strated her entire ability to meet the
demand, and asked for tax Of one
fifth of per cent. upon the property
Of the State, which would keep her
schools open for six months-nearly
twice the period that they were then
open. The entire ability Of the State
was admitted, and no attempt was
made to deny it. A small minority
favored the tax asked for, but the ma
jority supported counter resolution
that its Senator'S and Representatives in
Congress be requested to urge the pas
sage of law giving aid from the Fede-
raj Treasury to education in the States.
The Blair bill proposes to do for the
South what the western-Ieserye fund
did for Connecticut. Its agitation pre-
vented Georgia from making sufficient
appropriation for its schools, though
more able to do so than any southern
State. Human nature is the same
everywhere. We are provident only
so long as the necessity is pressing.
Does any one for moment think
that the same cause which produced
lethaIgy in Georgia, and which in Con-
necticut made its system Of education
so feeble and unserviceable that its
highest authority congratulates its
people upon the fact that its subsidy is
fast decreasing, will be attended with
more beneficial results in Virginia and
the South?
Let US look, however, at few sta
tistics which have been gathered in this
discussion, and see what the various
sections Of this country have done in
the cause Of education without the as