CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



175 



Mr. Hoar, of Massachusetts, said : " Mr. 



Sju-aki-r, at'ti-r the excited discussions which 



taken place in the House during the 



whole of the present session, I suppose it is 



not disagreeable to all of us to address our- 



to a measure intended purely for the 



it of the country, containing nothing 



\\liirli can appeal to partisan or sectional 



ambition, iuu- rest, or desire. 



"One-fourth of the voters of the country 

 to-day are unable to read or write. For the 

 next ten years thirty-two Senators and one 

 hundred and four Representatives, constitut- 

 \ lion voting compactly, a power which 

 will be able to control on very important 

 measures of legislation of the country, are 

 to be chosen by States one-half of whose vot- 

 iag population hare not knowledge enough of 

 reading or writing to make either of practi- 

 cal advantage in receiving or conveying infor- 

 mation. This condition of things, disclosed by 

 the census of 1870, is, in the opinion of those 

 persons most capable of judging, growing worse 

 instead of better. And if a census were to be 

 taken of the illiterate portion of the population 

 of the country to-day, it would disclose a very 

 much larger number unable to derive any in- 

 formation in the discharge of their duties as 

 citizens from reading, and unable to convey 

 such information to others by writing. It 

 is true I ought to say that a sentiment has 

 grown up in many, and perhaps all, of the 

 States which promises better things in that 

 respect ; that is an encouraging symptom. It 

 is true, also, that the State of Virginia is a 

 most conspicuous and honorable exception to 

 the general statement that I have made. But, 

 with the exception of the fact that men are 

 waking up in the southern portion of the coun- 

 try to labor in this matter, and with the ex- 

 ception of the State of Virginia, to whose Dem- 

 ocratic authorities I desire to pay a tribute of 

 respect which their recognition of this great 

 work deserves, this condition of things is rap- 

 idly growing worse. 



" Now, there are two main objects which 

 are intended to be reached by this bill. The 

 first is to consecrate forever to the purpose of 

 the education of the people this vast national 

 domain, so far as it may be considered the 

 property of the nation. Of course, whatever 

 policy may commend itself to Congress as ne- 

 cessary for furthering the interests of the set- 

 tler, to that the legislation which treats of the 

 public lands as mere property must give way. 

 The interests of the great States which in the 

 future are to cover this domain, the interests 

 of the people that are to compose their popu- 

 lation, must of course be paramount to every 

 other interest whatever. 



" But at the present time the policy of the 

 country is to sell for reasonable prices these 

 lands, and the proceeds are received into the 

 public Treasury. This bill proposes to make 

 an annual distribution among the States of one- 

 half the amount of those proceeds, for the 



purpose of aiding in the endowment of public 

 schools in tho iliiK-ivnt Stateo. It ia proposed 

 tliat tor tlio first five years thin dUtribution 

 shall be made on the baxis of illiteracy ; that 

 is, of the need of the particular States. It is 

 true that this distribution will create a certain 

 inequality among the States for the first five 

 years. But I think every gentleman who re- 

 members, looking now at the interests of bit own 

 State, that the vote of an illiterate and unedu- 

 cated person in another State affects all nation- 

 al questions, affects the policy of the country 

 as much as the vote of the most educated and 

 instructed citizen of his own State, that the 

 humble black laborer in the rice-swamp by his 

 vote affects the national policy of the country 

 with exactly the same power that Agassiz, or 

 Eliot, or Barnard does, will see that it is for 

 the interest of each State that the distribution 

 should be made for the present in proportion 

 to the needs of the several States. 



"Heretofore, in discussing this question, I 

 have presented to the House some statistics, 

 with the view of showing the need of different 

 States, growing out of the number of persons 

 therein who are unable to read or write. 

 When I presented those statistics, some gentle- 

 men, representing States where the number of 

 illiterate was large, seemed to suppose that it 

 was done for some purpose of exciting reproach 

 against their States, or of vaunting in some 

 way the superiority of my own. Sir, it was 

 with no such purpose that these statistics were 

 presented to the attention of the House and 

 of the country. I am perfectly aware that 

 the State which I have the honor to repre- 

 sent, if it has any advantage in this respect 

 over any other State, owes that advantage 

 largely to its wealth, its compactness of popu- 

 lation, and the length of time which it has 

 been settled. And I am not here, hi discuss- 

 ing a question of this kind, to make any 

 claims to any special merit or credit on ac- 

 count of any thing that may have been done 

 by my people or by my forefathers in this re- 

 spect. I am aware that other States, new, 

 with populations scattered over a large terri- 

 tory, which have had, whether by their fault 

 or the fault of others, the great burden of sla- 

 very, which have been devastated by war, have 

 been unable, even if willing, to supply this 

 want for themselves. 



" But I will beg of the representatives of the 

 States now to be affected, not to reject this 

 olive-branch which is held out to them by the 

 people of the wealthier and more densely popu- 

 lated States, which offers them not merely na- 

 tional aid in the establishment of their institu- 

 tions of education, but offers to give them for 

 the first five years, subject to extension by 

 Congress hereafter, if at the end of five years 

 such a condition continues to exist, this great 

 advantage in the distribution of a common 

 fund. 



" I have prepared, and shall have printed as a 

 part of my speech, a table show big the amount 



