The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-03-10

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US 1t would take but a small per
centage more to rise up in rebellion,
demand their fundamental rights and
the result would be too appalling for
us to contemplate | am no pessimist
| believe this and every other legisla-
tive body of our land knows what is
right, and knowing dare maintain it
and | cannot believe we will ever tenn
porarily compromise our state
through the hope of temporary
power or preferment, by giving the
seal of approval to any act by which
we will go down into history as deS-
pOtic rather than democratic, a con-
dition which cannot abide.
This is great country and + e are
a great people holding in q balands
abSOiV ks apN Does
the gre IS; pare"'-t in this
great sisteTL- Il. pei0nwealths
propose an open VOCATION of the spirit
if not the letter of the federal consti-
tuition itself, and flaunt our defiance
in their very faces
| represent the largest county ia
area in the state In population it is
the smallest with four exceptions.
The mountains are high and rugged
and the valleys numerous and deep.
Educational advantages are meager
and expensive. The county was
organized in 1872. In examining the
school records for the past two dec
AIDES | find that the actual number of
months of school per year has varied
from one and three-fourth months on
one extreme to six months on the
other, which was the term for last
year for the first The average has
not exceeded four and one-half
months. Many families live two and
one-haif miles and some nearly twice
that from school. The deartn OF ed
ucational facilities is no fault of ours
We have been levying county tax
for school purposes for years varying
from 30 to 80 cents on the hundred
dollars.
Geographical conditions are such
that educational advantages are twice
and thrice as expensive as in the fiat
land country. The percentage Of
illiteracy is high, reaching % per
cent. of the electorate in one of the
most rugged mountain districts. The
population of our county at its for
nation was estimated at 1000 The
census of 1901 returns it as II, 701.
Most of the increase is from immigra-
ton, OF course. We have many for
eign people among us, if not foreign
born, of immediate foreign extraction.
Many OF our best and most substan-
tial citizens are Germans and Welsh
and Irish. Many of them are our
10 70 nd n 10
fullest sense our most influential citi-
zens, the very bone and sinew of our
government. Some of them even
shouldered arms in time of war, stalk
ing their very lives and fortunes, and
went out i'll defense of their country
and its flag In the adoption of this
constitutional amendment they are
diStrdnchiSed, ground by the wheels
of this modern Juggernant into polit-
ical serfdom And look at the injus-
tice of it, too. Here is my neighbor
Born in Germany, perhaps; lived in
this state and county for years paid
his taxes obeyed the laws exercised
the right of franchise; perchance
needed the nations cry for men, in
avenging the Names disaster and
exposed himself to the danger OF
Spanish bullets and Cuban fever OF
foreign battlefields. DISTINGUISHED
Cast out into outer darkness.
Another neighber may be an out
cast, menace to society, an anarch
list, perchance, but through some per
version of the machinery of govern
ment his grandfather could vote
somewhere q half a century ago
hence he is vested with all the sacred
rights of citizenship. What an infa
nous law | am against it.
Ii we are sincere in our zeal to put
such a high standard on citizenship
why not be consistent and fair an(
honest and let it be true test of 6
mans educational qualifications ant
not a mere political sham.
| believe in an educated, cultured
electorate. 1t is clearly the duty o.
the state to educate its children anC
thus make good citizens out of them
| Everett uttered much truth when he
said Education is a better safe
guard of our liberties than a.standine
army. If we retrench the wages Of
! the school master we raise those OIL
the recruiting sergeant But it is
perfectly clear that it is not the pre-
negative of the state to do it with q
vengeance and ALLEVIATE its citizenship
because they do not measure up tC
any single educational test whatever
The state has no inherent right tC
make a constitutional matter out OF
one that is purely legislative. Let us
use every possible means at hand tC
promote the welfare of our people
from every standpoint, moral, physi
cal and intellectual, but beware OF all
legislation that usurps mans right
TO citizenship, has legal test Of man.
hood and thus weaken the very gov