The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-03-23

- .s-,,rs-l, has led TO civil war. IN
which the president Of the ref'u que, -
-. his foot On the established rries1t
Er.nrr. II, her sslaSidixing 81 chul.h,
arraserel tia heart and reason -
FrcncA nation against the chufSn a..
drove osrt Of the church the BRAN AND Inc
heart If France years and years ago. %
,,,. s,,ls<;liziny Of the Protestant chufsa
;nt;.r,nany has made hundreds and tiiou-
sands ST infislels today. Ii the cnu'Sn =, :.
Car;st Is triumphant, il mighty. the
church of Christ must be free. anu s.'s
church, spiritual. divine. can neFer 90
free If tied 10 pothouse politics. wnet.leI
ia America or Europe or South America
or Italy or Germany.
The moment you introduce TINS secta-
ran principle into your school system
Won have violated that principle OF free-
dom. II the Catholics get their share on
the school fund. which in New Jersey
would be SGSt 600, and the Baptists call
for their share. the Presbyteriais for
their share. the Episcopalians for thesr
share, the question would be, how many
raramuffins could be mustered in a par
ish 50 as to secure SO much money per
capita for the religious machine.
Tshird-The moment You introduce
shat principle of "A division of funds, that
moment the public school system has
gone 10 the dogs. IL the state goes into
the sectarian business, the state resigns
its function as the supreme power. IL
turns it over to factions who Will night
n -
among themselves. and when they ger
through the children will not be educat-
ed. They say they want to increase the
school fund. That reminds me OF a
proposition to build new Jail. The
county Jail commissioners met together
and made four resolutions: First. to
build it; second. on the site where the
old one stood; third, to build it out OF the
bricks of which the old one was made;
fourth, to keep the prisoners in the old
one while they built the new. The
proposition to increase the efficiency OF
our school system is brilliant piece of
iugglery conceived in the mind of a
genius, but whose first lookout was for
the ends of his own machine rather than
for the people.
AND The oIAlE
Fourth-If that scheme was introduced
it would threaten the very life of your
republic. This republic cannot live I'M
less the people are educated. Your sal
vation depends on educating the people
universally. Your forts and your militia
do not amount to anything. Your little
military organizations here would not be
snap if the great, dark, vulgar mass
within and without this city should issue
| their decree to fight it out. The perpetu-
| ity of your constitution does not depend
on the strength of your guns, or the
equipments of your militia, or the forts
along your Wild coasts stretching out
hundreds of miles, but upon the educa-
ton of your boys and girls. Educate
them, and your republic shall stand the
crash of ages. and there can be mustered
no army that can stand that assault;
there can assail your coasts no contend
ing hosts that can withstand them. But
neglect it, and your very structure will
| fall of dry rot-be consumed of its own
fire within.
The perpetuity of your republic de-
ponds upon universal education. If that
is true, the state is the only institution
that can give that education. The church
never has done it, nor can it do it, not if
it had the whole revenue of the state. The
church is incapable as an organization
to educate the masses of the people,
challenge the pages of history to prove
it. If the people, as a people, are to be
educated, it rlust be done. by the masses
Of the people through their supreme rep
resentative, the state. The taxing power
of a state is the only power that car
bring in revenue adequate to the educa
ton of a people.
Besides, the state is the only power
that can compel people to be educated
The church cannot do it. The parent.
won't do it. They do not want to put
their children to school, They would
rather put them in mills. and shops
and the state must lay its strone
arm on them and say: "You canno
work that child. 1t has got right Il
live, to be man or woman, and yor
cannot thus destroy its chance of life.'
The state, then, alone can educate /,
race, and if the state does not see to i
the child will see to it by and by, whe1
those little fingers have grown to tiger
claws, and the result will be prison O.
a reformatory. Will the state put tn
child to school, or will it take the sur
geon's knife by and by and eliminate
from society, or will it electrocute it?
CITIZENSHIP AND PATRIOTISM.
The state only has a right to educat
the child. For person to say-becaus
he takes 40 children and puts them in
| private school of his own free choice
when the public school is provided wit
better teachers and equipments in ever,
way-for him to say, u paw taxes to tn
state and get nothing in return for tina
taxation" is simply pure anarchy.
That sort of principle would subver
every institution of the state If applied
Old maids must pay taxes for schools
bachelors must pay taxes for schools
Have they the right to club together an
say, I'VE will the supreme right O
the state because we are not Representa-,
In the schoolroom?" They have inst a
much right to form an army and marc
against the capital as for any religion
factor to come together and say, "W
Will not be taxed because we are not rer
resented In the public schools Why ar
you not represented? 1t is your lookou,
LII the church has made failure and car
not support its own schools, why ask th
state to take up a bad job and do yha
the church cannot do itself?
Taxation without representation doe
not count in such an instance. The ma,
who has made that plea has failed to uu
oerstand the meaning of citizenship am
J patriotism. Last summer while dow
on the coast of North Carolina I VIA
thrown off on desert island ono MIL,
and wandered all over it. Inever ba,
much use for lighthouse before No
much that night, but compared to FL
amount of money that it takes tn m,
those lighthouses and keep I'D that lin
OF coast survey, why, it was an outra
! geous imposition on me.
L hQx-o 70,