Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-03-08

NATIONS CAPITAL.
Senator hale Speaks Aednst
the Blair Bill.
The Senators AmFm That fhey DA Hot
DiIulse The Secrets.
Uom1nattons Aado and Con6rmed-
Doines OF the HOUSE.

WAsHIxsrox. Mar. 7.-Dolph has toll
his fellow Senators that he will not ask thu
the executive session be held this afternoon
and the Senate 10 proceeding with the con
alteration Of the calendar.
/ A meeting Of the special commits.
charged with the duty Of investigating ths
executive session leaks, will be held this
afternoon, for the purpose, II 10 understood
Of agreeing upon some substitute for ths
resolutions proposed by Dolph that will b
acceptable to the Senate.
A number Of public buildinss bills on
the calendar were passed. and
At 2 O'Clock the Blair educational bill
vas taken up. Blair replied to some OF
the criticisms of the bill. He insisted thai
the republican party was pledged, in il
| platform. to the passage Of this bill, and
predicted il that party failed to make good
its pledge the fact would put an eud to the
party.
| Hale addressed the Senate In opposition
to the bill. Eight years ago it had been
| launched on the Senate, and from that day
TO the present, it had been persistently
urged and ~ persistently opposed. The
Senator from New Hampshire could not
complain that the bill had not received the
| earnest consideration and attention in the
Senate, or that it had not been brought
repeatedly and messurelessly before the
| country. One thing was noticeable (and
| the Senator would admit it), that the rising
| tide had been all the time against the bill.
Blair-I do not admit anything like that.
Quite the contrary.
Hale-If the Senator will take the ex-
preston of sentiment by educators and pub
lie spirited, patriotic men, the United States
Senate will admit what have asserted, that
the rising tide is against the bill. When
first voted on by the Senate ii senator's
voted against it. In the last Congress the
l increased to 30. Many senators who
voted for the bill on the second occasion
svowed at the time the bill had received the
last support it would receive from them.
Blair claimed the apparent discrepancy
between ii and 20 was no such real dis
crepancy as appears, because many more
senator's were paired on the first vote than
on the second. On the other side, ~ among
the people at large, q do not mean to say
as the utterances of 4 manipulated press
brought about by the agency to which l
formerly alluded in this debate this bill
10 Ia bICuBth Abu uctS
never was time when it was so deeply
of the country as today.
Hale-No doubt the senator believes
that. He cannot deny that the support
which the bill had at frst has fallen away
in the light of observation and reflection.
In my own State, when first voted against
the bill, there were expressions from the
press, educators, clergymen and gentlemen
Of intelligence and education in favor of
the bill, and great regret was expressed by
friends Of mine at the course had taken.
Today the press of Maine is opposed to
this bill, educators are against it. clergy
men are OPP osed to it, and the course pur-
sued by my colleague and myself, il voting
against It. has received their support and
commendstion. The support that has fallen
OF from this bill, the opposition that has
been increased, the rising tide to which
referred, can only come because observa.
ton and reason are against the bill.
Hale said at first, tempted by the largess
offered in the bill into supineness and yield
ing up the interest in the local common
school education, as soon as the South had
seen the bill was not likely to receive an
immediate passage it turned loyalty and
earnestly to the task of rearing. maintaining
and increasing the common school system m
As to Blair's assertion that the condition of
education in the South was worse than it
had been twenty years ago, Hale said it
could not be correct. 1t was impossible to
believe that any community in the United
States, North or South, would find itself
advancing in the accumulation of wealth
as the South had shown to be- without at
once setting i'self to the task of uplifting
what was the foundation of prosperity of
any people, the common school system and
the advancement of education. 1t was not
possible that the South could 90 on increas-
ing in wealth and prosperity without turn
ing its attention directly to the great ques-
ton of the education Of its people.
The life, vitality and energy, he said,
which maintained the public school system
had to come from the people, when the in
terest Of the people was Withdrawn from it
by the substitution of another system. fric-
ton came and the vitality of the common
schools expired. That system had its vi
tality not in the benefsetions of largesses
from the general government but in the
sentiments and feelings Of the people in
the several localities. If this measure 10
to be fixed upon the country (never to have
its grip lessened) the line of State and To-
cal interest. influences and powers would
fade away. recede. and finally be swallow
ed up in the sea of federal influence. He
did not believe the Senate of the United
States was prepared to embark on any such
a course. The history of the bill has shown
that all the time the opposition to the bill
increased and the reasons for its passage
diminished.
Blair replied to the arguments of Hale,
Spooner and Plumb. He said the points
he made are all fully set forth in his eight
day speech. The whole democratic press
of the South was not opposed to the bill.
As to the press of the North he had already
stated the reasons for its position. He
knew the bill wss given in the House into
packed committees in former congre sses,
its report prevented by threats to prominent
members of congress of anathema of church
on them and families. He was not mis-
tsken as to the source from which most of
the INTERPRETATIONS at the North had
come. The Jesuiticsl power Of the coun-
try had decided that the way to get control
of schools was first to get control Of press.
The press had received its full share of
attention. and had manifested its full share
OF euDsefViency. he nal ietter from =
member of the New York Press Club, ask
ing for 8 copy his speech, 90 as to learn
something about the bill, showing that even
= newspaper man in New York conld fnd
out nothing from the press about it. New
York papers were monopolized the worst
kind, and country Ispers had been per-
verted and poisoned by them. Even the
republican party in the North we're induced
BY misrepresentation, to turn their back
on the national impulses of republicanism
and oppose the bill. but when it got the
facts, as it would come time, the truculent
press would tell different story.
After short exc ecutive session the Sen
ate. at 5 10 adjourned till Monday.