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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



would be warranted by the Constitution or by 

 precedent, The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 

 Gartield) suggested that we had as much right 

 to collect this information as to collect infor- 

 mation in respect to commerce commercial 

 statistics. I apprehend, sir, that there is a 

 wide distinction. The subject of commerce's 

 committed to Congress by the Constitution it- 

 self. The subject of education is not commit- 

 ted to Congress. We have a right to collect 

 information that may guide us in making 

 tariffs, in imposing internal-revenue taxation, 

 in regulating commerce, because legislation 

 upon those subjects is a part of the duty of 

 Congress under the Constitution ; but no duty 

 with respect to education is imposed upon 

 Congress." 



Mr. Hereford, of West Virginia, said : " There 

 is a broad difference between making appro- 

 priations for gathering statistics concerning 

 commerce and gathering statistics concerning 

 education. The Constitution has in express 

 terms given us power over commerce, but not 

 over the systems of education. The sooner 

 the American Congress allows the people of 

 the States to govern themselves in reference to 

 their domestic matters, the better it will be 

 for the people of each State and the better it 

 will be for the people of the whole United 

 States. I am in favor to-day, as I ever have 

 been, of allowing the people in these matters 

 to govern themselves. Let us have local, 

 home, self-government. There is too much 

 government to-day by the Federal authority. 

 I am opposed to this centralization of power. 

 We should not take the power from the peo- 

 ple and centralize it in the hands of the Gen- 

 eral Government. 



" Mr. Chairman, I wish I had time to-day to 

 refer to a celebrated speech which a former 

 minister of Spain to England made in this very 

 connection, and where he gave as an instance 

 his own government of Spain, which for over 

 three hundred years had legislated for every 

 thing, taking all power from the people. He 

 stated the result was that although the nation 

 for a time grew powerful the individual be- 

 came dwarfed. Thus it ever has been, as all 

 history teaches us, and thus it ever will be 

 * until the last syllable of recorded time.' The 

 more the General Government exercises this 

 power, the more you take away from the indi- 

 vidual the privilege he ought to have, the more 

 you teach him to rely upon the government 

 and not upon himself, of course the less reli- 

 ance he will have upon himself, and the less 

 will he make exertion to help himself, and the 

 less will either the individual or the State de- 

 velop itself. 



"I am in favor, then, of standing by the 

 Constitution, and for that very reason I am 

 opposed to the General Government imposing 

 upon the people of the States any system of 

 education. On the contrary, let each State 

 attend to this matter for itself. I hope, Mr. 

 Chairman, that the whole paragraph will be 



stricken out, and if it is stricken out the peo- 

 ple will save $18,336 in this one item." 



Mr. Monroe's amendment was rejected. 



The question then recurred on the motion 

 of Mr. Hereford to strike out the whole para- 



The committee divided ; and the tellers re- 

 ported yeas 35, nays not counted. 

 So the amendment was rejected. 



In the Senate, on February 13th, the bill 

 for the government of the District of Columbia 

 being under consideration, Mr. Thurman, of 

 Ohio, said : "The twenty-fifth section of this 

 bill provides as follows : 



That, except in cases of the pecuniary inability so 

 to do, and in cases of the mental or physical inca- 

 pacity of children so to learn, it will be the duty_ of 

 every parent, guardian, and of other person having 

 the care or control of any child in said District, to 

 cause, to the best of the authority and means of such 

 person, said child to be reasonably instructed (in 

 reference to its capacity), either in said free public 

 schools or privately, at least in reading, writing, 

 spelling, geography, elementary arithmetic, and the 

 elements of English grammar L an( ^j unless any such 

 child has received from said Board of Education a 

 certificate of having attained such amount of instruc- 

 tion, it will be the duty of such person to cause, to 

 the best of the authority and means of said person, 

 such child to attend such public schools, or some 

 good private school or instruction, during such 

 school-attending age for a period of at least fourteen 

 weeks of each year, eight of which shall be consecu- 

 tive, from its sixth year to its eighteenth 



" That is, twelve years 



but two evenings of attendance of any public or 

 good private evening school shall be the equivalent 

 of one day's attendance at a day school. Any cer- 

 tificate from the Board of Education, under its seal, 

 touching any matter within the sphere of its duty, 

 or any transcript from its records or register, signed 

 by its president and certified by its secretary as cor- 

 rect, or as being a true copy, shall be regarded as 

 prima facie evidence of any facts such certificate may 

 state and as to the qualifications, age, residence, at- 

 tendance, or non-attendance at any public or other 

 school of any child or person named, or as to any 

 facts required to be stated in any register mentioned 

 in this chapter. 



" Now I pause for a moment to say that that 

 introduces what is called compulsory educa- 

 tion, and it introduces it in respect to both 

 sexes and requires that compulsory education 

 from the age of six to the age of eighteen, 

 twelve years, although many people have been 

 of the opinion that it is not wise to send a child 

 of six years of age to school but that school 

 education ought to commence much later. 

 But, however that may be, here is a provision 

 for compulsory education for twelve years of 

 all the children of either sex between six and 

 eighteen years of age in this District. How is 

 that enforced? One would suppose that it 

 would be enforced by the punishment of the 

 parent or the guardian who omitted to send 

 the child to school. That would be the natu- 

 ral supposition, but on the contrary the pun- 

 ishment is upon the child." 



Mr. Mprrill, of Maine, said : " Will my hon- 

 orable friend state his amendment ? " 



