The record-union., 1891-03-15
A RECORD OF SHAME.

A RECORD OF SHAME.
The Democrats in the Wisconsin Legis-
lature number 81, the Republicans 4s.
Still it was hoped that sufficient Demo
Gratis would revolt on the proposition to
repeal the Bennett school law. That hope
appears to have been vainly entertained;
the repeal of the law has been effected. 1t
is more than unfortunate, for it carries
with it the triumph of sentiment that is
antagonistic to the principles underlying
the whole scheme of the republic.
Talleyrand said well, that education
and agriculture fostered would make and
keep the American nation. The decline
Of the one, and neglect of the other
presage decay. The education in the
schools of this country should be in the
line that will introduce the thought of
the child to the theory and contemplation
of the system of the republic. He must
be able to read the laws of the land, and
justify the presumption that every man
knows the law. The Bennett school law
simply provided that children should at
tend schools given period in each year
ten weeks. 1t added to this compulsion,
that the State would not recognize any
| attendance that was not had in a school
in which reading, United States history,
and geography, and perhaps one other
study. were taught in the English Ian
guage. Certain churchmen, and all of
them foreigners, objected, and claimed
that it is the inalienable right of the citi-
zen to teach his child in any tongue, that
if the State has the right to say that the
children in the State shall be taught in
certain studies, it would have the right
to prohibit the teaching of certain other
studies, and that the assertion of
such a right is an invasion of personal
liberty dangerous to republican form
of government.
That this contention proceeds upon
false premises and erroneous conceptions
of the office of the State is undeniable.
But it was promoted by demagogues
fortered by clericists and furthered by
church dignitaries for selfish, political
and church ends.
Under the repeal Of the Bennett law,
the schools in which the teaching is in
Scandinavian tongues, Polish and Ger
man only, will have State recognition, and
youths will continue to grow up in the
State of Wisconsin unable to read the
laws of the State or the proclamations of
its authorities. That is to say, in that
State of the Union we will have children
growing to manhood upon whom the
duties Of citizenship are to devolve, and
to whom are to be committed the admin
istration of the affairs of the State, who
have been instructed wholly and only in
alien tongues-practically educated in
foreign countries. They may rise up
loyal to the State, from the mere senti-
ment of attachment to the place of birth
and residence, but that they will feel that
love for the republic that should inspire
American citizens we do not believe. To
them the fiagl will be less expressive
symbol than to those who thrill with
patriotic emotion when the words of the
national airs are sung within their hear
| ing.
American States have not only the
| right, but it is their imperative duty, to
see to it that the children of the State are
taught in the language the laws of the
State recognize as official, and that is the
language of the nation. Alien speech is
not to be prohibited to those who wish
foreign tongues to be taught, but it should
not be made possible under the law to
make their teaching exclude the language
of the country, and in which its laws are
printed.
The Bennett law was good one, and
ought to be on the statute books of all the
States of the Union. That it obtains in
practice, except in Wisconsin, is true {;
| that it has been successfully broken down
there is dangerous symptom of the
dominance of the alien and church spirit.
That the Democratic party is chargeable
with this result is to its everlasting shame.
But justice demands that it should be
stated that the great majority Of the DEM
ocratic party, outside of Wisconsin, bit
terly and sincerely reproach the Wiscon-
sin Democracy for its wicked policy.