The morning call., 1891-01-18
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS.

The usual attempt to restrict the electoral
franchise 10y adopting an educational quail
firatiun has been made at this session by
B.edsoe If Humboldt This is the county
which stood unfit nchingly by the gTeeuback
party So long as it existed. 1t is a county
Astounding n redwood timber, but the land
which bears it commands but little value,
because there are no railroads on which it
can be moved. 1t has one of the finest har-
bOrs on the coast, but it is blockadcd by a
shifting bar; engineers long ago showed how
the obstacle might be overcome, but except
mat the General Government throws fifty or
a hundred thousand dollars every year into
the breakers a a make-beIeye. nothing is
done to make the access of Eureka easy
and safe. Such a county is a natural birth
place for party devoted to the spread of
70. Zig nee.
would be an excellent thing if every
adult in California came up to Mr..
t. soe's standard, and could write his
Gu name and read the Constitution of the
o-- in the English language" But as to
tn9sl uufortunates who sign their name
with cross, and cannot read the CODSttu-
tion in P1y language. would it better their
eoud ion or help the cause Of pure politics,
i q heir other deficiencies the law added
he -nalty OF disiranchsement? A man
ho denied the privileges OF citizenship is
ihe normal enemy Of the possessors of those
privileges. He has neither lot nor part in
the community in which he lives. Other
men make laws for him. Others tax his
property and spend the proceeds of the
taxes. Others regulate his way of life, and
decide What he may do, and what he may
not do. To say that he Will resent his being
Tins plspaG IN "a IF hoIn L
merely to imply that he will share the in
stncts If humanity.
Exultant in the glory of possessing the
three Rs, the advocates OF educational
qualifications affect to believe that the hu-
man mind is incapable of development
without some measure of book-learniDg
That is only partially true. History is full
of examples Of men who were great SOL
diers and great statesmen, and yet who
affixed their names to deeds and treaties
with the hits of their swords. Mr.. Bled-
soc Is probably not aware that his proposed
reform would have disfranchised William
the Conqueror. if he had resided in Califor-
MIA; and in One-han of the country from
which our ancestors came King Alfred de-
clared that in his reign there was not one
man who could read the ritual of the church.
Yet tire ancient Anglo-Saxons managed TO
build Gp pretty solid nation. and to insti-
tute a system of law which compares favor
ably with the Latin codes.
OF course no one denies that education is
an advantage, and that all 9th er things be-
ing equal, an educated man is likely so be
superior to one who is not educated. But
the difference is not wide enough to warrant
a monopoly of political power by the class
to which the former belongs. Long before
Bledsoe blossomed Dogberry proclaimed
that. ITO be a well-favored man is the gift
of fortune, but to read and write comes by
nature" But others, with keener insight,
have questioned whether education is SO alb
soiutely natural gift that the want of it
unified a man fer taking part in public
affairs. Horace Greeley, who knew men
and was not partial TO slaye-owners, once
declared that there were lots of farmers
In Kentucky who could neither read nor
write, and yet whose opinions on the CUES
tions Of the day were worth more than those
of most of the college professors in New
England.