The Washington times., 1912-03-16
FORMER SENATOR
URGES EDUCATION
FOR MOUNTA|NEERS
Henry W. Blair Praises
Times Editorial and Points
Crime Remedy.
To the Editor of THE TIMES:

To the Editor of THE TIMES:
have read you editorial entitled
'Virginia's Mountain Outlaws" in to-
days issue of your progressive and in
fuential journal with great satisfaction.
You are profoundly right in recogniz-
ing the absolute necessity of vndicat-
ing the law and unfolding the courts
and all instrumentalities established to
maintain order in society by the con-
dign punishment Of the men who have
committed this terrible crime. And this
Is sure to be done by the beloved and
proud old Commonwealth which so
keenly resents such an undeserved
stain upon her record, although 1t is
to be feared that many more lives will
be sacrificed in vindicating her honor
than have already been lost in the as
sault upon 1t.
But the all important lesson Of this
uneXampled tragedy is stated in your
closing Paragraph with a pith and
power which are giving your paper
leading position in this country.
Should Be Educated.
You well say at is high time to seek
out these men of the mountains, who
in several States stand apart as unique
in their combination of good and evil i'm
pulses, and subject them to the training
which education alone can afford. They
are of the purcst blood of the first
| settlers. They have been equally I'M
| touched by foreign immigration and do
nestle law. They are naturally keen of
intelligence and Independent to fault
Specific efforts are being made to give
| them the education for which their
| children prove to be eager when once
they taste 1t.
How true this all is, and how the
| heart of every patriot ought to throb
with gratitude to you for saying it.
| These glorious mountaineers 5000. 900 of
| them, now cover both slopes of the
Alleghanies from Virginia to southern
as ever lived in this country or in any
/ country. Without their ancestors the
| Declaration of independence would have
been but a statement of grievances
| never to be redressed and the record
| evidence which would have hung its
| signers. Later they fought the most
| glorious part of the war of 1872. ccips-
ing the fame of perhaps any other OF
point of view. They conquered al
Buena Vista and at New Orleans. They
furnished the great body of the won.
derful infantry of the ConfederaCy, and
| were its real backbone, while they
gave a surplus of hundreds of thous-
ands of their bravcst and best to the
maintenance Of the Union.
Denied Fair Chance.
But neither they nor their children
have ever had anything like a fail
chance. Thirty years ago | had oc,
Casion to study this whole problem
and struggled for ten years in tho
Senate to solve 1t. So far as it is a
race problem the white is on top anc
the black can never rise until the white
man rises and so let's him up. 1 tried
for ten years to get $l0.O00,00O a year fol
a short time to remove the Ignorance
of both races in all parts of the COun
try, according to the rate Of illiteracS
as shown by the census That is bu
the cost of one ironClad yearly. HaC
that education bill become a law there
would have been no crime at IIillSVill,
yesterday. Now, we are spending anC
preparing to spend billions within tn,
next ten years for Panama canals, goo
roads, and vast improvements in Lane
and water transportation. Why not ex
pend something to remove the snag
and shoals from the rivers and harbor
| OF Ignorance in this country? VIII,
not help our overburdened States Il
give common school education to al
the children of our country whose in
tclligence is just as important to tn
nation as to the State?
HENRY W. BLAIR.