The broad ax., 1911-03-11

1t is pretty late in the day-lat'
in the evening also I might add-tC
90 into the question Of the proposed
Bill; Constitutionality. only touel
upon this phase of the question thai
you may not for one instant suppose
it partskes in any degree of that thing
Of shreds and patches, that species
Of sublimated demagoguery which
passes occasionally under the name Of
"NeW Nationalism" and for which
the sane people of the United States
Of America demonstrated they have
as little use as they ever had for
crowns, tiaras, plush breeehes and the
other adornments Of hereditary rights
and privileges.
No, this proposition, however novel
it may appear to q generation that
forgets everything more than forty
eight hours old, is, as I said at the
outset, not new. Like Liberty itself,
it is of an ancient house and how
ever the Founders of this Govern
ment differed among themselves on
other points of State and National
policy on this their unanimity is sim
ply amazing.
Geographical lines were lost in
these famous discussions of National
Education. The Adams of Massaehu-
sets were not more strenuous in its
support than Thomas Jefferson or
James Monroe of Virginia. That the
Hamilton should be
for such measures would surprise none
Of us but in the Constitutional Con-
vention Of 1857 it was Pinekney of
South Carolina, backed by Madison
of Virginia who advocated the es-
of a National University |
at Washington. Wilson and Gouver-
nour Morris supported the plan but the
matter was dropped not because it
was thought to be unconstitutional /
but because it was agreed that Con-
yress already had sufficient power
'to enact laws for the support Of
National Education" a conclusion
hat was never successfully contested,
questioned nor apparently deplered by
he most jealous upholders of State
Rights in the great debates of those
lays, or in the Congressional battle
,ver the Morrill, Laws nor during the
en- years conflict that ragged about
senator Blair's historical measure, the
iefeat of which put back the dial of
his Country's educational progress
ar more than fifteen degrees, for the
'loW struck then was one that will
'e felt in effect through more than one
generation.
In that Blair Bill debate appeared
ueh National State Right champions
n advocacy of this measure as
iarland of Arkansas, afterwards At
rney-General in President Cleve-
ahd's Administration; the scholarly
accomplished Lamar, later on Justice
# the Supreme Court; Confederate
7arriors like Gordon and Hampton, in
ellectual giants such as Pugh; in brief
he most powerful representatives of
he South in Congress stood shoulder
o shoulder with Hoar, Allison, Nor I
On, Dawes, Evsrts, Edmunds, and the !
cal statesmen of the North and West,
reeisely as Monroe and Madison had
oined hands in support of essentially I
be same proposition more than a
undred years before. IL
But Of all the sincere, potential ad-
coates of National Education none S
ave left on record nobler sentiments S
! support of the idea than George f
Washington, who presided over that a
of 1887, and in his very ?
rst Message to Congress appears q
lese strong, inspiring words: "There b
nothing more deserving your patron s
&c than the promotion of science and 7
terature. knowledge in every coun- b
y is the surest basis of public hap 4
ness. In one, as ours, in which the b
easures of government receive their 5
1pressions so Immediately from the k
nse Of the community it is proper
onately essential"
That last sentence is n gem Of elias
cal expression, the language of
whose fame this world win 3
sver let die because he legislsted for .
he ages and fought for principles :
1iversal in application, eternal in du-
Ition-
he saw our inconsistency in this .
after a. the Fathers did on the ques- y
on Of Slavery, for in 1876 when c
was given to the Ma
onal Military Academy at West
Oint, he urges in his Message q Ma ?
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