Year: 1867




boast Of our common schools, we cannot deny,
when we compare them with those of New England,
and contrast them with the preparations for the
educatiOn OF the Southern people OF all classes tnat
we have much TO overcome, If we would equal the
one or STIMULATE the other The recent convention
Of County School Superintendents OF PennsylVania
exhibits some startling facts winch deserve the
attention OF the people and their representatives.
1etlt Is not by legis alton alone that any people
can be brought to understand their relations to each
other as oiizens Their best instructors are them
selves.


However liberal the appropriations may be, If
these are not seconded by that commendable spirit
which impels the parent to impress upon the child
the necessity OF a sound moral and intellectual
training your representatives generous in vain.
Everything depends uDon the people; hence the
great complaint, preferred by the convention OF
teachers OF shortness OF terms in some DISTRICTS of
the email attendance of enrolled scholars, Of the
~ Oh un9uahIeu anu Oa 1ne
ably not so much from the indifference Of the State,
asir0m the negligence OF those who are invited TO
share and to enjoy the blessings OF cheap and ad
mlrable system OF popular education. Ii my fellow.
citizens Will only recOlect the difference between
the opportunities of the present generation and
those OF their fathers and how much is to be gained
by cultivation of modern facilities, they VIII
require little exhOrtatiOn to the discharge of duties
which relate almost exclusively TO themselves and to
those nearest and dearest to them.


The importance OF common schools, in a republi-
can government, can never be fully estimated. 10
educate the people is the highest public duty. To
permit them to remain IT ignorance Is neXcusable.
Everything, therefore, iOuld be encouraged that
tends TO build up strengthen, and elevate State
on the sure foundation of the education OF the
people Every interest and industrial pursuit will
be aided and promoted by its operations every man
who is educated Is improved in usefulness IN pro-
portion as he is ski led in labor or intelligent In the
professions, and s in every respect more valuaole to
society, Education to be essential to LOYALTY,
for no State in the full enjoyment of free schools
ever rebelled against the Government


Pennsylvania should be the vanguard in the great
mission OF education. She should remember that as
she has been the mother of states, she should also
be the teacher OF States. 1.-The great problem OF
civilization is how to bring the higher intelligence
ifS
bear upon the masses Of the people, so that the
lowest grades of diligence and morals shall always
be approaching the higher, and the higher still
rising. church purified of superstition solves part
OF this problem, and good school s. stem does the
rest"


THE STATE MILITARY.


Nothing, after the education of the people, con.
trti utes more to the security of a state than a
thorough military system The fathers OF the re-
public, acting upon the instinct OF preparing for
war in time OF peace, embodied this knowledge
among the primary obligations of the citizen. Yet
the Rebellion iOund us almost wholly unprepared.
Our confidence in our institutions was so firm
that the idea oil an attack upon them from any
quarter, much less from those who had been the
'spoiled children" OF the Government, was never
believed possible, however threatened rhe first
clash OF arms found us equally undeceived and
UnOrganized and we very soon experienced that the
cOntrlvers of the great slave conspiracy had not
only strengthened themselves by the stolen ships,
arms and Notifications of the Government but had
b en- for deSiqRedtg instructng their youth
the science OF arms; and when the bloody tempest
opened upon us they were ready TO spring at the
heart OF the republic, while the citizens, in whose
hands the Government was lett, were compel ed to
project themselves and their country as best they
could.


When we reflect upon the terrible sacrifices we
endured 10 maintain our liberties, and anticipate
that glorious period OF our country when the whole
continent will be ded Gated to human freedom, and
when the despotisms Of the earth will construe
example into standing threat against their tyranny,
we cannot disregard the consideration OF this I'M
pOrtant subject.


AS before remarked, Pennsy vania contributed
over three hundred thousand troops to the national
cause. De0ucting the loss of nearly tnrtY thousand
by wounds and disease incurred in the field what an
immense army has been lett to circulate among and
to educate the mass OF our population! Properly
comprehenGing this thought, we have at once the
secret OF our past success our present safety and
our future power. 1t would be easy to create an
emulation IN the sci nee of arms among the youth
OF the State by proper organization and to dissent
naie, in all our schools that loyalty TO the whole
country without which there can be 70 permanent
saIetv for our liberty.


In their late report the Visitors to the West Point
MinaTy Academy laid a significant stress upon the
necessity OF such pTeceptors in the future, as would
teach the students OF that institution their first and
unavoidable Obligations to the principles upon
which the Government itself reposes. The neglect
OF this kind OF instruction was Ielt in almost every
movement during the recent conflict; and 1t is not
going too far TO say that many who disregarded
their Oaths and who drew their swords against the
Government that had educated and nourished them
found meretricious consolation in the tact that
they were permitted 10 cherish allegiance to the
stare in which they were born, which conficted
with and destroyed that love of country which
should be made supreme, and above all other poll
tical Obligations


there
been exhibited the valuable and splendied achieve.
mems of our volunteers in the national defense
there has also been shewn the necessity for military
skill, and that knowledge OF and familiarity with
the rules OF discipline so essentially necessary in
| their prompt and eff ctual emplO yment In order
therefore, to make military system effective we
should have particular regard for the lesson. that
TO prevent repel danger state should ALWAYS
have well.discplined force, prepared to act with
promptness and Ygor on any emergency nor should
we forget that II is impossible to tell how soon
our Warlike energies may again be required in the
field.


HOME RESOURCES AND HOME LABOR
In nothing have our trials during the war and
the resulting triumph atO arms, been so full OF
compensation, as in the establishment of the proud
fact that we are not only BILE to defend ourselves
against assault, but, what is equally important to
depend upon ana IIye upon our own resources. Al
the time the Rebellion was preclptated upon u;
the whole business and trade of the nation was
paPayzPd. Corn in the West was used for fuel
az d the producer was compelled to lose not only
the interest upon HIS capital, but the Very capita
Lie mad invested. Labor was in excess, and me1
/ we're everywhere searching for employ Mil!
/ and furnaces were abandoned. Domestic inter
course was so trifiug that the stocks of number
the most important railroads in the country fe to
ard long remained at, an average price of less thai
/ fifty per cent.


But the moment danger TO the Union became
! imminent and the necessity OF self.reliance wa
| plainly presented az the only means of securing
protection, and the gradual dlspersiOn of our mer
chantlle marine by the apprehension Of the armed
vessels OF the Rebels the American people bePaI
| to practise upon the maxims OF self-deiense anC
| self dependence. From having been, If not absO
| luely impoverished and almost without remunera
tive enterprise, depressed by unemployed labor an


Iue capital, all their great material agencies were
/ brought INTO motion with a DTOmpttude, and KEEP
| IN operation with rapidtY and regularity. whicl


re ieVed them fTom want, their country from dan


ger, and excited the amazement OF cvlizedna ions


Protection to the manufactures OF the country


wnen rightly viewed, is merely the defense OF labO


against eomDetltion from abroad. The wages o


lRuor IN the Bnlied States Is higher than those u
! any other country consequently our a6orers ar


the more elevated Labor is the foundation of bot


individual and national wealth; and those nation


that have best protected 1t from foreign cOmpettiO


have been che most prosperous 1t is clearly, there