Year: 1875




boX-towed boots, fancy neckties and plug
hats, the State can, with the amount, feed
and clothe the families of both Smith an6
Brown on corn bread, jerked beef, coffee
strait, brown domestic calico, wool hats and
br6gans, and still have enough left to pa,
for the trouble. And can also see how,
if all the Smiths in the State will turn over
TO the State all the money they expend upon
pew rent, spittoons, foOtstools, cushions fol
pews, and other incidental expenses con
nected with their churches, the State can,
with the amount, build less costly houses OF
worship, hire two hundred and fifty dollar
| preachers, and furnish church facilities to
all the Smiths and Brown, too, IN the State
-albeit the article of divinity might not be
altogether palatable. And can see as pal
pably how sack of flour is cheaper to q
man when the Sttte takes five dollars out
of his neighbours pocket to pay for it,
and sends it home to him, than it is
VIII, he has TO work for the
money to buy it and has to puck
it home on his shoulder, and Think can
see as clearly that if the State has the
right to do one of these things, it has the
| right to do all of them. II. the State may
upon the plea of necessary for the general
welfare" take under its control the educa-
tien of the people, it may, upon the same
! plea, with more propriety take charge OF
their religion, for if education be necessary
| to the maintenance of good government,
the observance Of the precepts of religion
| is more so, and il the State has the right to
enforce agrarianism for one purpose, it has
| for another, and if it may do to any extent
or upon any pEetext, it may do 1t for any
purpose, and to any extent.


| But we are told sir, by the friends of
| e i
good system of public schools, emigrants
will not come here to settle up and develop
the wealth of this great State. Very well
sir, let them stay where they are, or go
somewhere else. For one, do not want
men to come here who are moved to do SO,
by the desire to have the hard earned. dol
lars of other men applied to the support of
their families. And 1 should think sir,
that men who are 100 azy to educate their
own children, and mean enough to want
other men to- be forced to do it for them,
would be long time in developing the
wealth or greatness of any State. i, .a,
: Public free schools cannot flourish in a
State where private educational enterprises
are left free to compete with them, Their ex-
-Istence depends upon the destruction of
private schools, and States which have ad-
opted them have found it necessary to tax
SO heavily to maintain them, that the re-
suit has been, that the people could not pay
the taxes and send to private schools, hence
the destruction of all private school enter
prises, and the glori6cation of free schools.


The friends of public education point
with pride to the. chapter devoted to this
subject by the great chancellor, Kent, and
f1H so riIas1 f anlioI
some care, and fail to find in it any argu-
ment to sustain the right of a democratic
State government to do this thing. 1t con-
sists, chiefly, of historical facts, and com
mandatory remarks. How the pulses of
that great mans intellectual being would
have quickened,- how the current of his
reflections would have widened and deep
ened if he could have turned to a chapter
devoted to the same subject, in the work
of the great commentator on English law,
instead of having TO go for precedents and
authorities to Sparta and Prussia. But
England. more careful Of the freedom OF
her subjects, than we are OF the freedom OF
our citizens, has never robbed the father
of his sacred right, of edntrol Lover his
own household, or shifted the burden
of providing fol, them from his shoul-
ders and laid it upon the shoulders
of his neighbor. Such an idea had





is not homogeneous with the spirit of liber
ty which pervades it. The leading idea of
the English system, as of our own, is the
| liberty of the citizen. But this idea of pub
lie education was at home in Sparta and is
at home in Prussia. The leading idea of
Sparta having been, and the leading idea of
Prussia being, physical strength. The pow
er to resist aggressions and to make con-
quests The idea of the sacredness of ''per
sonal liberty, personal sanctity and personal
property'' had no part in the Spartan sys-
tenn, and has almost as little in the Prussian
system.


Education is good thing if it be of the
| right sort-if it tends to elevate and purify
the hopes, the aims, and the affections, and
no people more fully appreciate than do the
! people of Texas the value OF such educa-
| ton, and It's advancement is worthy OF our
most earnest efforts But let US be careful
that the means we employ for its advance
ment are worthy of the great end sought to
] be attained. a


For one, I am unwilling to meet my con-
stiruents and say to them, l deem you wise
enough to frame and administer govern
ment for the protection of life, liberty and
property, but altogether incompetent to ex-
ercise guardianship over your own children
or incompetent to use the money which you
propose to devote to their education.


IL is proposed that the State shall pro
vide out Of the public means, now at its
disposal, more literally than any government
on earth has ever done for the encourage
ment of general education. We propose tC
set apart the sixty millions of acres of land
heretofore devoted to educational purposes,
over two and half millions in bonds and
n eiey, and one half of the unappropriate6
domain now subject to disposal by the
State. 1t is proposed to make this donation
the basis of permanent fund. The inter
est to be applied annually tn the payment o
the tuition of all the indigent orphan chill
dren of the State, for four months in eacl
year, and the remainder to be applied 10 th'
payment, pro rata, Of the tuition of al
other children in the State. What more cai
be askedg What better can be donel Blu
sir, if this munificent provision had no
been made. would still feel disposed t
say the friends of education, ''let not you
hearts be troubled. u The seeds of intellec
are sown broadcast by the hand OF Hin
who hath promised thar ''seed time sn'
harvest shaft never fail upon the earth,
and We may, if we will. read in character
as clear as those which ilIumine the page 0