The Portland daily press., 1893-10-18
The Public School as a Trainer of Citizens.

The TuDl1C SCHOOL dS d Lfd1ACI VI S1thZCASs
The idea of the complete separation of
church and = state :. has, been !. one of ssthe
great forces that have worked.in our
own history to the advantage of both
the State and the church. His advocacy
f.this great truth and the. practical en-
bodiment of it in the state which he
founded, has given to Roger Williams
a place among the worlds great think
ers, benefactors and legislators. Although
our progress toward the complete realiza-
ton of this idea has been slow and
tedious, the popular mind is at length
becoming thoroughly imbued with it's
soundness.
1 come to speak of that prime condi-
ton of liberty, free education. Il the
sketch which I have here set forth OF
the fundamental conceptions that enter
into the ideal of the republic commonly
held, is a correct one, it at once becomes
apparent why there should be strong
insistence upon the necessity of free,
popular education. In a government by
the people, each individual voter has
entrusted to him the final arbitrament
of all national questions, the destiny of
the republic Upon his individual vote
NAV hinge the constitution OF legisla-
lures, the character of legislation, the
policy of the state, the organization Of
The Congress of the United States, and
possibly the fiscal and economical policy
of the entire government.
Tt is safe to say that never before in
the history of the world, has SO much
been left to the decision of the common
neonle. never have such momentous is
sues rested upon the ballot of the indi-
vidual voter. The safety of the state and
all that is involved in it, hangs suspend
ed upon the vote of the merest tyro that
presents himself for the first time at the
POLLS. The self-preservation OF the state,
therefore, requires that provision shall
he made for the proper education of
those into whose hands such great issues
are to be placed. Its only safety is in
popular education, and by no other
means ever yet devised except public
schools. has the education Of the masses
of the people been attempted or possible.
The free school is Indispensable to the.
free state.
United States is to- be a free man, free
in his conscience, in his thought, in his
expression, in his action independent of
all extraneous and impertlnent. author1-
ty. free to investigate for himself, to form
his own conclusions and to act upon his
own convictions it follows that there
must be provided for him some system
of training that shall call into fullest
exercise all those powers of mind which
are essential to This freedom. Such a
system has been provided in the public
schools, where the course of study is
such as to make the pupils acquainted
with the rudiments of an educationaato
put them in possession of their powers.
Of thought accustomed them to sound
thinking and to independent utterance,
wildcat the same time to so develop
moral conceptions and awaken active
consciences as to prepare them for the
great career of freedom that opens before
them. The free school is the buttress of
our liberties the bulwark erected against
the waves of ignorance and vice that
surge continually against the state. 1t
is the nursery of manhood and woman
hood; the training place of citizenship
the home of independence Out of it
spring excellence of character and prepar-
alton for civic duty. To destroy the free
school is to strike deadly blow at the
roots of the tree of liberty. No system
of private or parochial schools can COM
pare with the public schools as an agen-
cy of universal education. General
Morgan.