Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 March 1877 — Compulsory Education. [ARTICLE]

Compulsory Education.

The bargain and sale between the Hayes administration and a few southern purchasable democrats, who were sent to oongress with the aTd'oY the railroad ring, seems to be Complete. —Plymouth Democrat. What’s that? Bargain and sale! Purchasable democrats! Why, what is the meaning of that kind ot talk from a democratic paper ? Is it possible that the great party of immaculate purity, the fcnly original John-Jucob-Townseud reformers of this age will bargain and sell themselves to a fraudulent President —to a usurper ? And those iucorruptiblcs, those saintly purists, those invincible ringsmashers, those ardent investigators, “were sent to congress with the aid of the railroad ring! ” And it is true that democrats, southern democrats, are purchasable! Alas! alas! how dark —how impenetrably dark —the gloom that settles d“wu over the horizon of political hope from such sickening revelations ! O tempora ! O mores!

The Nevada legislature, before it adjourned, passed an act for the puuishmqpt of wife-beaters. The act provides that any person convicted of wifeheating shall be tied to a post in somo public place and there be exposed to the gaze and jeers of passers-by for a certain length, of time. Also to have u placard on the breast to indicate the offense. This act will, no doubt, have the desired effect, and the crime will likely be blotted out of existence. Although it is thought by some that the penalty is pot severe enough, still the mode of punishment is such as to command the fear of .all persons guilty of such misdemeanors. The people of Nevada are to be congratulated upon the passage of this law. It is similar to one adopted by an older state over a hundred years ago. If the plan is not a new one it inay have a tendency to do u power of pood in a state where the crime of wife-beating is so frequently committed.

Since the election the Rbnsski.her Union speaks very complimentarily of Dr. Willium S. Raymond, our lute representativeiri congress. It claims that his sentiments more nearly harmonize with republican than democratic principles. ’Twas notso before the election.— Valparaiso Messenger. Wliut wits not so before the election? The Messenger is ambiguous. The UNION nevSr alluded to MiJ'Hnymond in Other than respectful terms, and never made an adverse criticism on his private character or public acts. His record in congress so far as we have knowledge of if was singularly free of blemishes, was invariably consistent and statesmanlike, and was remarkable for the frequency that it discovered him rising above the narrow determinations of tho caucusses of his party colleagues. In no single case that we recollect did Dr. Raymond stultify his record as a Unionist and patriot by voting with the revolutionary filibusters of the democratic party. His votes on tho question that precipitated the thrilling forensic encounter between Mr. Blaine and Mr. Hill, supplemented by his votes against the reckless and.desperate partisans of Mr. Tildcn during the last hours of his official term, fixed his national career high in the estimation of at least every one of his constituents that professes the republican faith. He was one of the very few democratic members of the last congress who could always rise above party prejudice when questions involving principles of vital interest to our form of government were at issue. For this characteristic he is entitled to the gratitude of all patriotic citizens irrespective of party.

We would like to know how the ReXsselakr Umov is going to gi*t around the fact that the democracy cast 11,000 majority for Tililen in Louisiana, honestly and fairly, with the army of the United States and two thousand United States marshals stationed in the state on the day of the flection, and was counted for iieyes?— Magnolia (A lies.) Herald. . The premises are denied by repnblilans. On the faqe of the'returns, perhaps, the democracy is shown to have cast 11,000 majority in Louisiana for Mr. Tilden; but an investigation of the facts by a lawful tribunal discovered that this was a fictitious majority—that it was fraudulently procured through violence, the intimidution of lawful voters and the stuffing of ballot boxes—and hence Was no majority at all. By throwing ont the pretended votes of districts where the evidence of witnesses was conclusive that no election was held (for no lawful election can rightfully be said tq have been held where the election laws were evaded, disregarded or violated) it was fy.qud t,h*t Mr. Hayes

had carried the state by A majority of from 5,000 to 6,000 votes. It is a rule well established, and a principle universally recogntzod in all courts of justice, that a party shall not benefit by his own wrong. The democratic party committed the grossest wrongs in certain districts in the state of Louisiana which were intended to effect not only the people of that state but also the whole nation; fortunately, however, this attempt was thwarted by the honest decision of a tribunal from whose action there is no appeal and ought to be none.

The security of the state is in the intelligence of its citizens. This is a truth so self-evident as to require no argument, and being admitted at once, gives rise to the question, In what way shall the state best insure- general intelligence? To this is the ready reply, By establishing and sustaining the best system of schools for the free education of (lie people. And when these schools are established, has the state a right to insist hputi the attendance thereat of all of proper age wiihan its limits? Most certainly, unless it can be shown that such compulsion in relation to the whole people of the state; is productive of more evil than good. In considering this mutter, wo must keep in mind the tact that society is sustained only by the surrender of pbrsonal rights—is based on compromises between man as an individual and man as Dne of many; and that the welfare df the whole is to be secured, if necessary, at the expense of the few. This much as regards the right ot society to comuel the education of its members. As to the policy of doing it strange as ItmAy appear, a doubt still seems to remain in the minds of some.

We do not suppose that the froslesslon of a common school edn cation must necessarily remove from any child immoral or dishonest propensities that have become a part of his nature by heredity, but that it will have a tendency in that direction there is no doubt. Front the moment a child enters a schoolroom he begins to feel the influence of order. Obedience to laws becomes to him a duty. To do certain things because it is incumbent on him to do them, or to retrain from doing others because to do otherwise wodld be a violation of a rule, soon becomes easy to him, and he soon begins to see for himself that certain regulations and restrictions are necessary for the proper government of the little world of which he is one, and to know as he grow* older, that in the great world, in the management of the affairs ot which he will soon be allowed to have a part, tlie same regulations are necessary for its well-being. When tlie plan of compulsory education—*. e., obliging every chiid between proper ages to attend some school a certain number of weeks in a year—was firstpr’oposed, much was said about the interference with the rights of the parents and the invasion of the sacred precincts ot home, as if that was the first time the arm of the law had been extended for the protection and welfare of the child. Ever since law has existed, it has interfered in the child’s behalf against personal violence ou the part of the parents, and made it obligatory on them to furnish proper food and clothing. Why not go further and insist on tbechild’s being permitted to take the education freely offered, which must be of iuoalculuble benefit in riper years. That children may not be overtasked, many of the states have provided that they shall not be kept at labor in mills or manufactories beyond a specified number of houis in a day, or days in a year, thus assuming the right to interfere with the physical welfare of those who, in a few years, will constitute the state.

The plea sometimes made that the services of tlie children are necessary for the support of the parents, is not worth considering. In the great majority of cases, examination has shown that the plea is entirely without foundation; aud if there should be instances where it is true, ii would be much better to contribute to the necessities of the parents from the public parse than to deprive the child of the opportunity of laying the sui>structure on which may rest his future success. To make an argument allowing the benefit of education to all,"would he assuming a degree of ignorance and stupidity on the part of our readers at which they might very properly take offense, We hclievfe in et^u-

cation for the whole people. We beliewe most decidedly in the right And the duty of the state to entbroe it, and trust the time is not far distant when In all parts of the TThibn every man who caunot read the English language uiiderstandingly and write it with sufficient readiness to communicate his ideas, will be made to pay a penalty for his ignorance by being deprived of the right to vote. —Rural NewYorker.