The Press., 1888-01-19


 How ahall the surplus in national treas ury be returned to the currency of the country ]? is an open question which con- gress adjourned without answering. The proposition to expend it in coast defencss against possible future enemies is some what belated by modern science. Ressnt progress in the manufacture If d6structive explosives promises to make even the solid steel forts proposed by Bsssemer as useless as the walls built by the ancients became 1T the presence Of gun powdr.
 Thanks to our geographical p sition and other national conditions, we nave, at this age of the world; small reas ol to expect a foreign armed foe who must be met with guns and forts.
 Our circumstances demand another form of defence. Of the 10. 1000. 900 voters in the United States, as reported by the last Census, 2,O00, ,000,o one-hfth of the whole, have not intelligence enough to read and write the ballots they deposit.
 nliteracy among the whole people IS equally alarming. Of our 50, ,O00, 900 in- habitants reported by the elastcensus 6, 900, : 900 6ond neither read or write.
 With existing educational facilities the tuatiOu as a whole is not improving. There are, it is estimated, now 16, GOO, GOO
  country statistics show that ten and a half millions only, are enrolled in public or Fri, vate schools, white seven and half mil lions, fve-twelfths of the whole are grow ing up in absolute ignorance of the alpha bet. Some may be neglecting school op- portunities, but for the largest proportion of these millions there are not only nc schools, but no money provided for the support of schools, To these coming illlt- trates the Bible, with it's leHsons of virtue will be forever, closed book, their allianc with vice is inevitable and our boasfed freedom wiltboOn be at the mercy of theil ballots.
 The strength of,& republic is dependent upon the virtue and intelligence of its peo pie. Virtue and intelligence so intersphere that the former is dependent on the latter
 The surplus i1a our national treasury now amounts to not far from $1O0, ,O00, 900 ev cry year. Our national debt can only bt paid as fast as our bonds mature,i if we keeE faith with our bond holders. Thus wC have an embarrassment of riches. l If the late congress had passed the edO cational bill 2 portion of this troublesome surplus would have been at once divided among the several states and territories il proportion to their ilIiteracy, to be expend cd in the establishment and support of free public schools for all classes.
 The disbursement and expenditure O such sums would have been made by tht various local school authorities, and not by federal dictation," as has been falsely charged. Schools now open but few day. or weeks per annum would have been en larged and held the full school year, witt better teachers, and new schools where there arc now none would have started, ,an( all this with its consequent results would have gone on for ten years. Thus in de cade, through the education of our other wise neglected children, $78, COG, ,000 (no the Overplus of one year) would have beer returned to their normal channels, the cur rency of the people, leaving immeasurabl' riches in their transit, for the virtue tha IS born of intelligence is priceless wealth without it republic must perish. Ignorance and the saloon are natural al .ies. That many-sided society. the Wo mans aChristian Temperance Union, no unmindful of the relation of all this to tn reform they advocate, have actively es poused this cause. Through the efforts o the educational department of that societ in the thirty three states aud territorie 1@on@e&al~ony &0nAFao~~s~o~ a~rUrrOir1En 1rsw
 now in force. In many portions of the re
 maining states the common school ltsel must be first started before temperance o anything else can there be taught. There
 fore these Christian woman agitated, gath cred up and poured into the late congress
 the peoples petitions for the passage of tn
 Blalr bill, providing national aid for com
 mon schools. The bill passed the senate
 and in response tD this home pressure th lcoolly critical attitude of the lower hous changed to one of active interest
 Why then did it not pass ? In answe
 to this question . prominent congressma lsaid, "tn adopting rules that control tn
 bu- mess of this house the forty y-ninth COL
 gress unwittiugly walked into close boz shut down its cover with spring lock ,an left the key with few bosses outside, wb
 let us out or keep us in as they will. O
 the school bill they won't let us out. Three times, more than two-thirds of tn
 house expressed by their votes their wis to consider this measure, and by every It course possible under these arbitrary rule tried in vain to get it before them for as tion. The obstructionists said the ''bl
 would pass if 1t should come to vote.
 This was virtually admitting that they Qes than half dozen men had taken adval tage of their official positions to thwart th ) will of two-thirds of the representatives (
 sixty million people.
 What is the secret of this bitter oppos ton I asked g leading southern democra member of the house. '"The habit ( opposition these leaders on our side fc twenty years have been opposers, and hay thus formed the habits of objectionists. , What Ofrthe 'constitutional obje ction ?''
 asked. ''That in most cases is only an e, cuse," he replied. The best lawyers in th senate declare tito be constitutional.
 it is constitutional for congress to give Ian at a dollar and quarter an acre for schoo ! in the states, as they have done, how is unconstitutional to give the dollar aud tI quarter in money?
 ,l If national aid, as the obiectors ure, would destroy the spirit of self help } education in the states, why does not sta; , aid demoRalize, instead of huilding up. {
 1t has, the district school: and why hs
 not free education pauperlzed instead , : making, as it has, achieving men and ". I mon This objection applied would q away with scholarships in our colleges an the educational funds that have helped pot } students struggle into the self-maCle rnaI
 hood that is the pride of our land, Thes traditional objections faded as the men bers of the house studied the subject an tired to get if where it could be voted on, h the interest of belated measures tb house has retained for many years a ru ! that "durinU the last six ciaya If con0roa