THE ANNUAL MEETING. 149 



ginning, in good earnest, of the work of putting their school-houses and 

 grounds into proper condition? 



Upon reflection I have come to the conclusion that I can do the society and 

 the cause the most efficient service by suggesting some considerations which 

 may possibly, if fairly weighed, tend toward the creation of such an interest. 



The field from which these considerations may be gathered is so wide that 

 your attention will be invited to only a few of them, and even these cannot 

 be presented in all their bearings and relations. 



I shall select considerations which are forced upon us by the circumstances 

 and discussions of the times, and which as citizens we cannot safely allow to 

 pass without candid and careful examination ; for they have to do with the 

 very existence of our public school system. 



I will venture, therefore, to put the leading propositions which I desire to 

 discuss in this form : 



I. First our common school system is in some, and possibly in serious, danger 

 of being destroyed, or at least so changed that its value will be very greatly 

 impaired. 



II. In order to secure the perpetuity and greatest efficiency and usefulness 

 of our public schools, the reform and improvement aimed at by this society aud 

 other kindred reforms and improvements must be made. 



III. The danger alluded to, and the possibility of averting it by means of 

 such reforms and improvements, ought to be the strongest motives which can 

 be offered to induce right action on the part of all friends of the schools. 



If the first and second propositions can be shown to be only possibly true, or 

 to have strong probabilities to support them, the third proposition will not need 

 to be urged or argued. 



It will, I presume, be conceded that our public school system rests for its 

 support upon the deeply-seated conviction in the minds and hearts of the 

 people that it constitutes one of the broad and firm foundation stones, or one 

 of the mighty, massive pillars, upon which our political and social institutions 

 are based. 



We have been taught that the common schools are fountains of intelligence 

 and virtue, and that without them and their salutary influence a republican 

 form of government and republican principles can not be sustained. 



If this conviction should be eradicated from the minds of our citizens, if 

 the mass of our people should come to believe that the common schools are not 

 necessary to the stability of the government, and that they are not nurseries of 

 morality and virtue, it is not to be supposed that the taxes demanded for carry- 

 ing on the schools would, for any length of time, be either voted or paid. 



Money is contributed to build houses and pay the wages of teachers because 

 it is believed that, on the whole, the outlay is a good one, that fair returns are 

 received for the investment. 



If it should be made to appear, after careful examination, that this expendi- 

 ture of money is not a profitable one, and that no adequate returns are re- 

 ceived, the result can be easily predicted. The school-houses would be allowed 

 to decay, and the school system would soon become a thing of the past. 



I desire to call your attention, for a few moments, to some views and opin- 

 ions respecting the schools, and the results produced by them, held and pub- 

 lished by men who claim, at least, to be well-informed and intelligent. 



The North American Keview, one of the oldest and ablest of our periodi- 

 cals, in the number for the current month, contains an article entitled "The 

 Public School Failure." 



