The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-11

Ism tnat was the plain word by which
the citizens of Connecticut denounced the
w vi rom any child or apprentice
the ability to read the Bible and to enjoy,
IN some degree at least, what Lord Coke
called the gladstone light of jurisprudence.
coming down nearly q Gentry later we
nave the clear conviction of the fathers of
our revolution and the trainers ofour con-
ssitqtion In regard to popular education.
Take, for instance the warning of Madi-
son, as true today and much more needed
than when 1t was spoken-that popular
government without popular education as
means OF obtaining il, is sbut prologue
to farce or tragedy, or to both" Listen
10 jefferson as he demanded "a system of
general instruction which shall reach
every description of our civilization, from
the richest to the poorest"
Listen to the statesmen of every creed and
party who have re-echoed that demand
ana represented the thought of Leibnitz,
tnat me who is master of the education is
able TO change the face of the world" and
then think of the problems in our repub-
hc, statistical, industrial, financial and
social, that today confront the rising GEN
Grafton and threaten the principles and
purity OF our institutions, which, in great
cities, have degraded municipal govern
ment into scheme of plumber, and which
nave spread throughout the nation the
shameless scandal of the spoils system,
dignity of egislation.
Mark the progress of illiteracy among
the voters of the republic When the
census of 1880 showed voting population
OF 1880, 349, of whom 1905, $40 were illit-
crate, and total population of iliterates
over ~ years old of 9, 49, 5S, and note the
preponderance of the alien element in our
cities; when of the total population there
are found of foreign birth and foreign
parentage In New York, so per cent. Phil
adelphia, 81; Brooklyn, 81; Chicago. 81:
Boston, 63; st. Louis, 7S; Baltimore. So:
Cincinnati, 60; San Francisco, IS: New
ppr r.sa' o.; Cleveland, 50; Pittsburg, 81;
6S; Louisville, So; Jersey City. 20; Detroit,
81; Milwaukee, 81, and Providence, 50.
we are to grapple with these difficulties;
10 arrest these dangers; TO correct these
? aboundlng evils; to solve each of these
problems, however seemingly incapable of
soiutlon 10 revise our laws; to restrict
immigration and regulate naturalization:
TO see that every man, native or foreign.
who is admitted to vote, is properly edu-
Gated for the task and is, as the present
naturalization law requires, man of good
moral character, attached to the princi-
pies OF the constitution of the United
States.
AS one condition of admitting a for.
eigner to the privileges of an American
citizen Is that he absolutely and entirely
renounces and abJures all allegiance and
fidelity to any foreign prince potentate,
state or sovereignty" and is attached to
the principles of the constitution. which,
To be attached to, he must understands: so
any failure to fulfill that condition should
work forfeiture of his rights as citizen.
1t is well to remember that Jefferson. who
SAID that ignorance and bigotry, like
other insanities, are incapable of sself-gov-
eminent, wrote In regard to the constitu-
ton adopted by the Spanish patriots:
There is one provision which will i'm
mortaiize its inventors; it is that which.
after certain period, DISTINGUISHES every
citizen who cannot read and write This ~
added Jefferson, will give you an enlight-
ened people and an energetic public
opinion"
And Jefferson again wrote that the tar
which must be paid for educating the
people lis not more than a thousandth
part OF what will be paid to kings, priests
and mobiles, who will rise up amongst US if
we leave the people in ignorance
These tasks, looking to an intelligent
and thoroughly American constituency,
demand that patriotism be the earliest and
latest lesson taught in the public school.
But If the tasks before US are herculean.
our history shows US to what the Ameri-
can education is equal.
We know the truth spoken by Henry
Ward Beecher, provided we maintain the
SCHOOLS
system, when he said that "the children
of all nationalities of the world enter our
pubic schools and come out Americans
Next we ind that our best citizens of
foreign birth are heartily with us in our
resolve TO keep our American institutions
In their purity, and then in regard to the
capacity OF our true and educated Ameri-
cans to cope with the present perils. NAV
we not recall the tributes paid by such i'm
partial judges as / urke and Chatham and
the bishop OF st. Asaph in the time of our
Revolution. May not these tributes. espe-
cially that OF Chatham, which Webster is
reported to have said he could never read
without weeping, be read now bv our
youthful countrymen in the public schools
with JOY and gratitude, and with an in
domitable resolution to devote their lives
to the country with the same earnest pat
riotism and the same judicious wisdom.
when your lordships," said Chatham
in the house of lords, ''look at the papers
transmitted from America-when YOU con-
slider their decency. hrmness and wisdom
you can not but respect their cause and
wish to make it your own. For myself, |
must declare and avow that i'll all nv read
ing and observation-and it has been my
favorite study; have read Thucydides.
and have studied and admired the master
states of the world-that for solidity of
reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom
of conclusion, under q complication of
difficult circumstances, no nation or body
of men can stand in preference to the gem
eraI congress in Philadelphia. / trust it
is obvious to your lordships that all at
tempts to impose seryitude on such men,
to establish despotism on such mighty
continental nation, must be vain, must be
fatal"
An ever-present danger is the system
attic attempt of our foreign foes, in alli-
ance with domestic politicians who can be
moved by brides or threats, to under
mine our institutions by passing laws
with deceptive titles, insidiously connect
ing church and state. sutjecting state in
stitutions to ecclesiastical control, and the
wards of the state to ecclesiastical teach
ing. In addition TO the truth that should
never be forgotten. that eternal vigilance
is the price of liberty. should be remem-
bered the thought of Burke, that Inter
ested timidity disgraces rs much in the
cabinet as personal tmidity in the field;
but timidity in regard To the well-being. of
our country Is heroic virtue"
john JAY.
'"some Thoughts on Technical Education"
Presidential address by Professor Egleston be-
fore the American Institute OF Mining Engineer
ing al Boston, February. 1858
tThese quotations are from n very able paper
by Mr. Douglass Campbell. OF New York on the
"0rigin of American Institutions" as films
trated In the "Hist0ry of the Written Ballot
Papers OF the American Historical Association"
for January and April, 1891, pages l73. la
tBrddhead's "History of New York" page
NOT VANITY.