The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1888-09-06
NO. %

Mr.. ost. | know the gentleman woul
IKE to see it buried, but it will not b
buried
Mr.. Bland. The gentleman has beel
arraigning the Democratic party. | AN
glad that party has a record of some econ
omy in defeating the Blair bill''
Mr.. Burnes. [ ask unanimous consen
That the gentleman from Virginia hav,
leave to print the residue of his remarks
MI 4ost. | hope shall be allowed al
least ten minutes more. a.
The Chairman. The Chair will state
| the request OF the gentleman from Mime
sofa Mr. Nelson Unanimous consent
is asked that the gentleman from Virginia
be allowed ten minutes additional. Is
] there objection ? The Chair hears none.
! Mr.. y st | thank the committee for
| its indulgence
From that day to this no quorum has
ever neen gotten together, and of course
no report has been made Nor is there
nope for any action during the life of this
Congress, for the Democratic members of
the committee know that as soon as a legal
meeting OF the committee Is held Just so
soon Will the Republican members demand
report on the Blair bill. That is what a
majority do not intend to have, no matter
what may be the demand of the people, no
liz.
matter what injustice may be perpetrated
by their course.
In making this statement, Mr.. Chair
man, L dlVulge no secrets of the commit
tee and violate no rule of the House. |
am not in the confidence of the committee
and therefore could not betray that conf
denGe. or do the statements here made
rest upon information derived by me from
any member of the committee. They are
matters OF common report, spread to the
world through the public prints l state
them as facts which l believe to be true,
and so charge. and l challenge the mem
bers OF the committee here present, and
whom | now see, to deny them if they can
be denied. l pause for reply.
After pause.
AS / expected, there is and can be no
denial.
If in the statements | have made the
slightest Injustice has been done to either
men or parties, am more than willing to
make the correction when the error is
pointed out. | want every friend of the
bill, no matter with which party he af1il-
iates, to have full credit for all he has done
in its behalf. ] want every enemy of the
bill to have courage enough to assume the
responsibility for his opposition. and let
the people know who it is that thus delies
their wishes.
But, SIR let me go step further, for
the record does not end here. In May last
the Republican caucus of this House
unanimously endorsed the Blair bill and
demanded its consideration. A month
later the Republican National Convention
incorporated in its platform ringing
declaration in its behalf. This plank of
the platform was suggested by one of the
WarmeSt friends of the bill-Gen. Warner,
of Missouri. II is literal quotation from
the celebrated Des Moines speech of that
grandest of Republicans, Ulysses S. Grant.
Applause The principle involved is one
that ought to be dear to the heart of every
lover of the Union. and clothed as it is in
the language of the nation s greatest de-
fender, it comes to us as the expression
Of the party S creed and purpose. empha-
sized and impressed by him who knew so
we'll the true meaning of Republicanism
Applause Here is the declaration of the
Chicago platform:
In Republic like ours, where the citizen is
the sovereign and the Official the servant
Where no power is exercised except by the will
OF the Peep 9. IT is important that the sovereign
the people-should possess Intelligence. The
free school is the promoter of that inte1tg nee
which Is TO preserve us a free nation. There
tRe fat 9go0d
education.
And where stands the Democratic party =
On this question of education ? We look
in vain to its platform for any expression
upon chs most vital of all subjects. Not
one word did il utter in behalf of free ed
not a whisper did 1t vonchsafe.
Its only reference to the public schools was
an endorsement of the Democratic plat.
form of 1884, in which, as | have shown,
the principle of the Blair bill was con-
demned. And when and where in his four
years of office has President Cleveland
spoken in favor of public schools
And yet this is the party that claims,
without the count, the vote OF a solid
South. Is there no need for education in
that section?
Turn to the pages of the last census and
mark the tale there told.
The total population of the United
States in 1880 Was so. 100, 1888. The whole
number of persons, white and colored. in
the sixteen Southern States was, in round
numbers, Is, 100000 The whole number
in the twenty-five Northern States was 81
600 600. Of the Southern population 6,000.-
900 are blacks; 5000 900 OF whom, or so
per cent, cannot write. But the illiteracy
Is not confined to the blacks. There, are
in the United States 2949, l47 illiterate
whites, of whom 1876, $50. or nearly 81
per cent, are in the Southern States. The
South has about one fourth of the whits
population of the States, and over one
half of all the white illiterates, and these
added to the millions of blacks WHO can
not read and write make up one fourth of
the entire aggregate population in the
Southern States. Is there no need for edu-
cation there?
Naturally our white population is as ca
pable Of instruction, as quick witted and
bright as any people Oh the globe. But
the poorer classes are ignorant simply be-
cause they never had chance to learn.
Before the Republican party took the
reins of government there was no Such
thing as free school in the South, and
the man who was too poor to pay for the
education of his child saw it grow up in
abject ignorance. In Virginia, it is true,
he might have sent his child to school un-
der certain conditions, but what were the
conditions? Ii he were too poor to pay he
must go before a notary and make oath
that be was pauper. Then the child was
admitted to the school and tuition fee
paid from the county fund.
But few awaited OF This generous? pro-
vision of the law, for the child, if it had
one drop OF manhood or Womanhood blood
in it's veins. would rather have lived and
died in ignorance than to have been subjec-
ted day after day to the humiliation of
being pointed to as a pauper. But the law
also provided that no freebooter could
claim to be a pauper. and every owner OF
land was a freeholder. The noun
taineer who owned the little cabin,
perched on an arid, rocky acre, saw his
children cut off from every hope of i'm
provement. He had no money with which
TO send them to school, and being free
holder could not avail of the other provis :
ion of the law. And so generation sue
ceeded generation and the shadow of igno-
rance, like dark cloud, enveloped them all.
Do you wonder, then, that the proportion
OF white illiterates is so great in the
South?
But you say we have had the free school
system for twenty years. That is true,
and our people have made heroic efforts to
render the system effective. But they
| have not the money. Virginia, especially.
was swept by the simeon of war. Her
| fields were laid waste. her homes made
| desolate, and the flower of her manhood was
laid beneath the sod. She furnished the
camping ground for both armies l can
best describe her condition, so far as it re-
lates to schools, by reading two of series
of letters which | received some months
ago from the superintendent of the coun-
ties in my district. Tie picture they pre-
! sent is faithful photograph of the coun-
try schools OF the South and shows the
pressing need for aid. and aid at once.
| read, first, letter from William G