The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-01-14
cheney.
NATIONAL, EDUCATTON.

The Blair educational bill excites much in
terest in the South and there seems to be an
earnest desire for its passage in the sections
where it is most needed. Tho opposition to
the measure comes mainly from two sources
first theorists who assume that national aid
would injure instead Of ben citing the cause
of education; and, second, from Bourbon
Democrats who are opposed to education
general principles, and to the Blair bill
pecially because it is Republican measure
But the real friends of education everywhere
ere earnestly in favor of the bill, and particu-
larly so in the South, where the necessity of
national aid is greatest. The Charleston
News and Courier, speaking Of South Carolina,
makes very earnest appeal for the passage
of the bill. Among other arguments it says
that as the national government has added
largely to the of illiteracy in the South
by freeing the negroes ''thus imposing vast
body of ignorant voters and their descendan is
on the Southern States" it ought to assist in
educating them. This argument wou Id have
more force If the colored people were
counted, as they VIGOROUSLY not. But
the fact remains that there is a large mass of
illiteracy in the South, of white well
colored persons, and that in most of tbs
Southern States the public school systems are
utterly inadequate to the situation. This
state of things demands attention. It must
be combated. If not growing better it will
grow worse. It is not question of what the
States ought to do, but what they are doing
and can do. If they neglect their duty in
this behalf, or are unwilling or unable to do
more than they have done, there is no way of
compelling them. The question, then, is,
shall the national government permit things
to go from bad to worse, or shall it lend its
powerful aid and influence to the establish
ment of national education under the auspices
of the Statesf We have before letter
written by lady of Lynchburg, Va, making
a strong plea for the passage of the Blair
bill. The writer says:
1.-The poor whites and the negroes hailed
with delight the public schools, which We're
among the first fruits of the great revolution
in Southern society, caused by the civil war
and the emancipation. The old aristocracy
slow to accept the common school, which
was opposed to all the ideas in which they
had been reared. There has been great
change of sentiment among them in this re-
spect, and some who have not changed their
views feel compelled to yield to the inevita-
ble and profess to have done so.
''The public-school system had been in OPP
Grafton but short time in Virginia and pre-
sumably in other Southern States before it
became evident that the available means
were wholly inadequate to the work In hand.
In the large towns the system has met with
remarkable success. In the smaller towns
and country villages it has done reasonably
well, and is an improvement on the old plan.
which only reached the class able to pay for
education. In the rural districts public
schools have by no means met the hopes
cherished by the advocates of the system,
and in many sections are utter failure.
The complaints are everywhere the same,
differing only in degree. The school-hcuses
are too far apart to benefit the children. and
often rude in construction or SO dilap-
idated in condition scarcely to be fit for
habitation. The school terms are short
that people say the children forget in the long
vacations what they learned during the ses-
sion. In short, there is not money enough to
make the schools effective. The letters of the
Hampton graduates printed year after year in
the Southern Workman, tell the pathetic
story Of the struggles of the coored
teachers against adverse conditions. Often
only the frame of log cabin is furnished by
the school board. and the pedagogue must turn
carpenter and mason, fit windows and doors,
work on the chimney and make his benches,
feeling grateful if he has floor to put them
on. When the weather is cold he and his
pupils must gather fuel as they can and it Is
not surprising if the attendance is Irregular
when the children must come five or six miles
to school. Several cases have come to my
knowledge where young white women of good
family. forced to earn their own living. have
taught in district school houses where it
necessary to wear a water proof cloak and
rubber shoes when it rained. The young
schoolmarm, thus arrayed, walked up
and down the dreary barn OF
cabin while teaching the shivering chill
dren, the chimney refusing to draw and
the rain and snow falling unhndered about
them. Even in such circumstances the poor
girls were willing to teach in order to support
themselves, but the term seldom lasts over a
few months and thew must look elsewh ere
for means TO live. Probably few regions of
the United States have better appreciation