Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1886-06-12
THE AMERICAN AND THE BLAIR BILL


The Nashville American attempts to
prove the CHRONICLE inconsistent in its
position ON the Blair bill by quotations
from an editorial on that measure which
appeared in this paper before the bill
passed the Senate, and contrasting
them with some recent utterances on
the same subject.
The editorial referred to was in re-
gard to the amendment to the bill pro-
posed by Senator Edmunds, which was
as follows:
And in each State and Territory in
which there shall be seperate schools
for white and colored children, the
money paid in such State and Terri
tory shall be apportioned and paid out
for the support OF such white and col
ored children between the ages OF ten
and twenty-one years in such State or
Territory bear to each other, as shown
by the census of 1880. The foregoing
provision shall not effect the application
of the proper proportion OF said money
to the support OF all common schools
wherin no distinction OF race or color
shall exist"
The CHRONICLE was then, and always
has been, staunch supporter OF the
Blair bill; its objection was to this pro
posed amendment. The chief point
urged against it was that it proposed to
distribute the fund on the basis of the
census OF 1880. This is not the ground
on which the American has been urg.
ing the defeat of the bill; is not the
point on which the CHRONICLE accused
it OF resorting TO far-letched argu.
ment. The American has based its OBJ
lection to the measure on the grounC
that the distribution of the fund is tt
be in the hands OF the Secretary of The
Interior, and says that will amount t
Federal control OF the schools.
The CHRONICLE is free to confess tina
the Blair bill as it passed the Senate il
not modelled altogether after its owl
heart, but the objections that could b,
urged against it are TOO trivial to max,
us reject the great benefits it would be
stow. The aid to public education TO
which it provides, is too much of al
essential to the South to interpose quib
bles against its passage
Now since the American has tackle,
us so vigorously on this question, viii
it please define its own position on tn
subject so clearly that it can be under
stood both by us and the general public
Is it opposing national aid to education
or only the Blair bill Would it sup
port any measure giving aid to publ
schools from the national treasury
The objections the CHRONICLE mad
to the Edmund's amendment wer
urged with the hope of getting the bi
before the House in the most excepta
bic shape and thus giving better assui
ance OF It's passage.
The American we believe, wants til
bill defeated because of the main prir
ciple it involves and resorts to the scar
about interference with States rights, i
order to prevent the enactment OF TIL
main principle. Our attitude toward
the bill is that OF friend who wishe
to prune it of minor faults in order t
secure its main benefits. The Amer
can, it appears to us, is in the postio
of an enemy seeking to magnify thes
faults that the bill may become odiou
We will again assert that the Amer
cans argument against the bill in r.
gard to the supervision with which IL
Secretary Of the Interior is investe,
being provision for Federal contr
of the schools, is far-fetched. We chs
lenge it to point out anything we ha'
ever said inconsistent with this.