The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-16
FRIDAY, OCT. is, 1908.
A STALE FAD.

local religious body in the state
of Illinois has Endorsed the plan of a
gentleman of Atlanta, contemplating
the education of the colored people of
D. the South by the United States gov
eminent. We are surprised and disap-
pointed that such a stale and ancient
fallacy should today receive the ap-
proval of thoughtful and conscien-
tious body like this.
There are several objections to the
scheme, any one Of which would be
conclusive. In the first place, it rests
upon the assumption, now thoroughly
disproved that education alone will
confer upon the recipient all the quail
ties that go toward the formation of
high character, fine moral standards
and good citizenship Education should
be no longer u fetch. It is admirable
and necessary, but it is not -the sole
test of individual value. Some of the
worst scoundrels alive are highly edu-
Gated persons.
AS to the negro, it all depends upon
the kind of education that he receives
1t has been clearly demonstrated that
the sort of instruction conveyed by
the modern common school system
often does the negro about as much
harm as good. Its lamentable tendency
as applied to people of any color is to
turn them away from the common oc-
equations of life and make them feel
that their living must be gained in oc-
equations which they can call gen
teel." The sole future of the negro
lies in making industry and the ac-
QUESTION Of property his goal. The
sort of education that Booker Wash
1ngton is giving is a boon to him. The
sort that the United States govern
ment would certainly give, crusted all
over with fads and f1ourishes and hold
ing out as it's highest prize a universal
course and entrance to Drofession
would be to the black race about as
valuable as the gift of an evening suit
to bod carrier.
In the second place. this whole prom.
osition has been threshed out. It is the
old scheme of Senator Blair, of New
Hampshire, for national aid to educa-
tion." For a long term of years he
hammered away at his idea, gained the
support of a large number of senti-
mentalists and came dangerously near
to carrying his bill through congress.
1t was defeated only by the hardest
KIND of hard work on the part of those
who believed in democratic ideas and
republican institutions as one and in
separable
No such assistance can be granted
under the constitution, unless amor
toned equally among all the people of
the country. 1t must, therefore, take
the shape of appropriations by the fed
eral government in proportion to illit-
eracy. 1t would mean the building I'D
OF another tremendous centralizing
department, the taking away from the
people of an activity that should be
committed strictly to local affairs. the
subsection of the children of the conn
try to hard and fast formative
process directed from some fossilized
center at Washington. and the loss to
American citizenship of that personal
interest that now goes to the direc-
tion of our educational institutions. It
would end in scandal and abuse. 1t
would paternalize our government.
turn our educational system into
monstrous scheme for plundering the
public treasury and be standing
menace to the republic.
There is no danger in American pub