CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



165 



jections that have been urged against the gen- 

 eral commingling of white and colored children 

 in these schools have been stated and success- 

 fully refuted in the past. There was great 

 dissatisfaction shown at the inauguration of 

 this system in those States where it has been 

 in successful operation for years. It is grati- 

 fying to state that the satisfactory results of 

 its workings have dispelled all doubts in regard 

 to its practicability, quieted apprehension, and 

 contributed largely to remove fears and anni- 

 hilate that prejudice which has been declared 

 upon this floor should be fostered and respected. 

 It is with the aim of making more complete 

 the destruction of this uncharitable sentiment 

 and proscription that the opening of the public 

 schools to all is so much to be desired. Surely 

 the children are not better than their parents, 

 who now sit with us in the jury-box, the legis- 

 lative hall, and are daily to be seen in the same 

 public conveyances. Therefore I can see no 

 reason why the white and colored children 

 cannot attend the same public school. 



" What we desire, Mr. Speaker, is to have 

 the cloud of proscription removed from our 

 horizon, that we may clearly see our way to 

 intellectual and moral advancement. This is 

 nothing more than what all good citizens de- 

 sire to enjoy and ought to have. I therefore 

 favor the passage of the Senate bill now on 

 your table." 



Mr. Cain, of South Carolina, said: "Mr. 

 Speaker, in the discussion of this question of 

 the civil-rights bill, it has become a question 

 of interest to the country how the colored peo- 

 ple feel on this question of the schools. I be- 

 lieve, sir, that there is no part of this bill so 

 important as the school clause. The education 

 of the masses is to my mind of vital moment 

 to the welfare, the peace, the safety, and the 

 good government of the republic. Every en- 

 lightened nation regards the development of 

 the minds of the masses as of vital importance. 

 How are you going to elevate this large mass 

 of people ? What is the means to be employed ? 

 Is it not the development of their minds, the 

 moulding and fashioning of their intellects, lift- 

 ing them up from intellectual degradation by 

 information, by instruction? I know of no 

 other means so well adapted to the develop- 

 ment of a nation as education. 



"Especially is this true in the Southern 

 States of this Union, where the great cry 

 against the colored people is their ignorance. 

 Admit it, sir, and it is a lamentable fact that 

 the past laws and customs, and habits and in- 

 terests of the Southern States have prevented 

 the colored people from attaining that educa- 

 tion which otherwise they would gladly have 

 attained. It was a part and parcel of the sys- 

 tem of slavery to prevent education ; for the 

 moment you remove ignorance and develop the 

 minds of those who are enslaved, the less like- 

 ly they are to remain contentedly in servitude. 

 For this reason it was the policy of the South 

 to keep in ignorance that part of the communi- 



ty that they controlled for their benefit as their 

 slaves. Now that there is a change through- 

 out the land, now that these millions formerly 

 enslaved are free, it is essential to the welfare 

 of the nation that they should be educated. 



"But the question arises in the discussion 

 of this bill, How and where are you to do this 

 work ? As a Republican, and for the sake of 

 the welfare of the Republican party, I am will- 

 ing, if we cannot rally our friends to those 

 higher conceptions entertained by Mr. Suraner 

 if we cannot bring up the Republican party 

 to that high standard with regard to the rights 

 of man as seen by those who laid the founda- 

 tion of this Government then I am willing to 

 agree to a compromise. If the school clause 

 is objectionable to our friends, and they think 

 they cannot sustain it, then let it be struck out 

 entirely. We want no invidious discrimination 

 in the laws of this country. Either give us 

 that provision in its entirety, or else leave it 

 out altogether, and thus settle the question. 



" I believe the time is coming when the good 

 sense of the people of this country, Democrats 

 as well as Republicans, will recognize the neces- 

 sity of educating the masses. The more the 

 people are educated, the better citizens they 

 make. If you would have peace, if you would 

 have quiet, if you would have good-will, edu- 

 cate the masses of the community. Objection 

 is made to the ignorance of the colored people, 

 and the State of South Carolina is cited as an 

 illustration of that ignorance operating in legis- 

 lation. Why, sir, if it be true that the legis- 

 lators of South Carolina are to some extent 

 ignorant, I answer that it is not their fault; 

 the blame lies at somebody else's door. 



"Now, sir, let the Democracy, instead of 

 reproaching us with our ignorance, establish 

 schools ; let them guarantee to us schoolhouses 

 in all the hamlets of the country ; let them not 

 burn them down, but build them up; let them 

 not hang the teachers, but encourage and pro- 

 tect them; and then we shall have a great 

 change in this country. 



" Sir, we must be educated. It is education 

 that makes a people great. We are a part and 

 parcel of this great nation, and are called upon 

 to assume the responsibility of citizenship. We 

 must have the appliances that make other peo- 

 ple great. We must have schoolhouses and 

 every appliance of education. If your objec- 

 tion is to guaranteeing to us in the civil-rights 

 bill an equal enjoyment of school privileges, 

 then I say surround us with all the other- ap- 

 pliances; say nothing of the schoolhouse, if 

 you choose, but enforce our rights under the 

 law of the country, and we shall be enabled to 

 exercise every other privilege in the commu- 

 nity." 



Mr. Gunckel: "Let me ask the gentleman 

 from South Carolina whether the colored peo- 

 ple of the South want mixed schools." 



Mr. Cain : "So far as my experience is con- 

 cerned, I do not believe they do. In South 

 Carolina, where we control the whole school 



