Year: 1875

there was some good talk on the pun lie school question, and not vain tall l either Judge Taft, in his speeches a Cincinnati and Cleveland, made thi

 question prominent, and the following

 extracts make good matter for reading

 in Arizona:

 But the Church cannot be permitted [ to interfere with the policy of the State

 It cannot be permitted to set aside any department of the State government a:

 !" goddess" No Church in our Repub lie can claim to mOnOpOlize the favol or the attributes of the Deity, or tC yield them as its peculiar power against State or other Churches. Il the priesthood of any Church pu forth such claim they must not ex

 pect the State to recognize it, anG much less can they expect it at tho

 hands or other sects. It has been 6

 great mistake in the Catholic priest hood to characterize the common schools as goddess" It comes from a source and culture foreign to Oul government

 There was a time when such Christ ians as Henry VIII. of England, or as Philip II, of Spain, relying upon his divine right to rule, would have char acterized a republic like ours as "gOd less" Those days are gone. If there is anything divine in America, it is our republican form of government Ii there is anything divine in the Republic, | it is its system of common schools. Ii ! is time that we should all learn the in finite folly of attempting to fasten upon any part of Gods creation our puny condemnation by denouncing it as ! " goddess" The use of the term in reference to the schools, implies an ut ter want of appreciation of the relative position of the schools and the Church in this country. The Church must be content with being protected ID its worship, and in the enjoyment of its own opinions; but it must be taught to beware how it attempts to interfere with the proper functions of the State ! If it seeks to become political party, it must expect to be treated as partisan and any political party which is will ing to use the sectarian zeal of a par. ticular Church to promote it's political power, becomes justly obnoxious to the suspicion of all other Churches, if not to their opposition.

 We come, then, to the grand desider. alum of our Republic-popular educa tion free and universal. Without this | it would be ephemeral. No man could rely on its permanency. With | ignorance breeding over the masses there worid be no adequate restraint upon the brutal passions. There would be no checks upon demagOgues. Tyr amy would grow up in our midst as naturally as weeds grow up in an un cultivated garden. The people would be easily Overreached, and utterly una ble to detect the impOsitions and fraud, upon them, and sooner or later tho popular form of government would give place to despousm, as the Roman Republic gave place to Cesarism, and the French republics have SO often given place to an empire. Ignorance is the mortal enemy of republic. Il not only breeds every form of crime which is the reason commonly assign ed for supporting schools by taxation ] but it deprives the ballot of its value and renders it source of the greatest danger Ignorant voters are always liable, in the hands of demagogueS and wicked aspIrants to power, un willingly to do infinite wrong to their country. But keep in vigorous opera ton the public common schools, and make their support as sure as taxes can make it, and however ignorant the people may have been, intelligence will gradually take possession of the land Like the sun in the solar sys- tenn, which warns and enlightens the most distant planets, the common. school system, in full operation, will gradually disperse the clouds of ignOr ance and shed upon all the people the broad daylight of universal intelli gence. 1 use the term common schools to comprise the system of public schools with all its improvements and ! departments, not limited to its present scope, but with its growth and i'm provement in the future, as we'll as in the past. On this commOn-schOOl edu. cation, rests our faith in the Republic Though there may be thousands who still vote blindly, the number will grow ! less as the common schools all over the country exercise their influence upon the mass of children who grow up in them. Hence 1t is the bounden ! duty of free republic to maintain the common-school system clear of all ] sectarian control at every hazard.

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