San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-04-19
A FAMOUS LECTURE.
SAN ANTONIO, April is, 1896.

Inc following lecture was uellV-
cred in Cooper Institute, New York
City, February "a, 1889, by one of
the most intelligent Catholics who
ever lived in America, Rev. Ed
ward McGlynn, ID. ID. Ii all
Catholics were like him there
would be no A. p. AS; there would
be no need of them
The American people have very
justly looked upon the public
school as the palladium OF their
liberties and one OF the most neces-
sary safeguards for the preserva-
ton of the republic. Although l
am not a very old man, l can re-
member we'll how, in my boyhood,
the memories of the American re-
volution were more fresh, than they
are today. 1t was a very COM
mon thing in every city and viii
lage, to have poles, designated as
liberty poles, surmounted by the
Phrygian Cap known as the Cap
Of Liberty. 1t was not considered
bombast to regard this Americas
republic as in many respects the
greatest nation in the world. BNt
today in populati>n, in wealth and
in extent of territory, we might,
with apparently much greater
reason, boast that this is the fore
most nation of the world.
We need not censure any short
sighted ness in the fathers. Here
man enjoys opportunities that can
be found nowhere else, here man
hood is respected, pure, simple,
manly manhood as nowhere else
We surely cannot
find FAULT with any want
OF virtue of theirs, but we
must remember the maxim we
have received from the wisdom OF
those who have gone before
us, that eternal vigilance Is the
price of liberty. And 1 would add
to this, eternal vigilance itselfwere
vain il it be not guided and
prompted by keen and lively in
telligence. 1t is in vain to watch,
to maintain your liberties, II you
know not whence the danger to
your liberties come; il you know
not who or what manner OF
foe it is that would undermine
your institutions IL you have not
a proper idea of what these liber-
ties and rights of yours mean, all
your vigilance, all your intense de-
sire to maintain them may readily
come to naught. Intelligence, there
fore, is q necessary condition for
the maintenance of liberty and JUS
tice. 1t Is, therefore, something
more than a mere pardonable piece
of Fourth of July stilted bombastic
rhetoric, to speak Of education and
common schools as the palladium
of our liberties. 1t Is the sober,
sincere and downright truth. Edu-
cation, a general education, by
which the people shall be able to
know what is going on, and shall
be taught more and more to do
their own thinking-is necessary,
in order that they shall maintain
their rights. A republican govern
ment, q true commonwealth, true
democracy, requires not merely in
telligence, but virtue. 1t is q just
law that men who will not Guilt
vate their God-given rights Of in
telligence and Of will and of affec-
ton; men who will not elevate
themselves by knowledge and by
virtue; men who will not study the
moral law and live up to 1t, and
obey it above all things else, must
necessarily be punished for their
apostacy, punished for their trea-
son to their own better manhood,
by being held in bondage.
l believe that general educa-
tion is conducive to virtue.
1t is libel upon human
virtue to say that it has to be pre-
served by ignorance. 1t, seems
almost absurd that any argument
whatever should be necessary to
teach men in a republic that gen.
eral education-an opportunity for
all to get the rudiments of an
education-should be a matter of
course. How should men vote in
diligently IL they cannot read the
name of the candidates they are to
vote for? III a man is not able to
read and write, he should not be
allowed to vote. There is nothing
80 revolutionary in that. 1t Is the
law in several of our large states.
The public school is an American
institution of which we, as peo-
pie, are justly proud. 1t fosters
and promotes the usefulness of the
American citizen. Our forefathers
wisely believed that money spent
in education was a magnificent
investment, that the people became
more virtuous, and vice was apt to
be lessened among them; that
then industrial labor would be
more protected. / now wish to say
something OF the enemies of pub
lie schools. Who are they? and
why should there be any enemies?
There are some old fogies who
actually have said that the people
really do not want education