CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



175 



an^ A large amount of American citizens of 

 African descent." 



Mr. Washburn : " A single word. The Sen- 

 ator from Ohio has referred to the provision 

 as to wages as a punishment of the child." 



Mr. Thurman : " Is it not ? " 



Mr. Washburn : " If I understand the mean- 

 ing of that language, it is that if a child has 

 made these attainments the board may give 

 permission although the child has not attended 

 school fourteen weeks in the year ; but, if the 

 child is ignorant and has not made these at- 

 tainments, the board must require that the 

 child attend fourteen weeks. The outside is 

 the requirement of fourteen weeks. If the 

 child has attended for fourteen weeks, al- 

 though it has not made the attainments which 

 are referred to here, there is no difficulty in 

 employing it during the rest of the year." 



Mr. Stockton, of New Jersey, said: "Mr. 

 President, I regret very much that the Senator 

 from Massachusetts (Mr. Washburn) should 

 have given us such an account of the inhuman 

 conduct of the manufacturers in Massachu- 

 setts to show the necessity of the passage of 

 such a law as this for compulsory education to 

 keep them from preventing children from hav- 

 ing a proper education. It is fortunate for us, 

 however, that we are not called upon now 

 and here to make laws in reference to the 

 State of Massachusetts. They have their laws 

 there, and they probably are suitable to their 

 people. This law is not aimed to control rich 

 manufacturers anywhere. The effect of it will 

 not be to operate on that class of children 

 who are fortunate enough even to be in the 

 employment of rich manufacturers. 



"Year after year, since I have been here, 

 have you appropriated $30,000, $40,000, and 

 $50,000 from the Treasury in the middle of 

 winter to keep the poor children in this Dis- 

 trict from starvation. Now, when you vote to 

 compel them to go to school, vote first to fill 

 their bellies. To compel the wretched chil- 

 dren who are begging for their parents in this 

 District to go to school or make them or their 

 parents suffer the penalties of this bill, is sim- 

 ply an absurdity. It is cruel and inhuman. 



"Education is undoubtedly a necessity in 

 this country. It is undoubtedly true that we 

 cannot hope that republican institutions shall 

 for any length of time continue in this coun- 

 try unless we educate the people ; but a com- 

 pulsory system of education which omits al- 

 together any reference to the circumstances of 

 * those who are compelled to go or of those who 

 have charge of them or may be dependent upon 

 them, is certainly an absurdity. It is requir- 

 ing what cannot be done, and punishing where 

 there is no fault and'no crime. Mr. President, 

 not long since I met in the streets of Washing- 

 ton a poor boy, ten or eleven years of age, 

 covered with rags, his feet bare, in the middle 

 of the coldest days in the winter. On the state- 

 ments of those who were kindly charitable to 

 inquire, I found that the boy had a widowed 



mother and five or six brothers and sisters over 

 in what they call the Island. He was a white 

 boy, with a strong Virginia accent. Where 

 those people came from I do not know, nor 

 their history. Those who were charitable 

 enough, I know, did attend to that little case. 

 Is that boy to be made to go to school four- 

 teen weeks without clothes and without shoes 

 or stockings ? 



"Your compulsory system is not for the 

 rich. It is not for those who can afford to 

 pay for their education. It is for the poor ; 

 and this system would apply to the poor boys 

 who cannot provide for their wants, the wants 

 of their parents, and the wants of their starv- 

 ing brothers and sisters, and who require the 

 pittance they 'earn simply to sustain life. This 

 boy, assisted by a few charitable people, was 

 started as a newspaper boy, and from begging 

 around as a newspaper-boy he advanced until 

 he finally got into another little business, and 

 the last I heard of him he was driving a cart 

 on the public works. You want him to go to 

 school. What are you going to do with the 

 brothers and sisters he supports ? What is his 

 mother going to do when she waits for him to 

 come back and bring the half-dollar he has 

 earned in the day? 



"I say the bill in this respect will do more 

 wrong it has more faults, as applied to the 

 condition of things now in the District of Co- 

 lumbia than any bill I have ever seen intro- 

 duced in Congress. I am opposed to the 

 whole compulsory school system here from 

 beginning to end." 



Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, said: "The Sena- 

 tor from Ohio nearest me (Mr. Thurman) moved 

 first to strike out section 25. His colleague 

 (Mr. Sherman) has proposed an amendment to 

 that motion by moving to strike out a portion 

 of the section. At a proper time I shall move 

 to strike out section 26 as well as section 25, 

 and my reasons for voting in favor of all these 

 amendments I will give in as few words as pos- 

 sible. 



"I confess I was not aware that this bill 

 contained a scheme of compulsory education. 

 It seems to me that this is but another illustra- 

 tion of adopting a coercive system and rely- 

 ing upon coercion as a principle in our gov- 

 ernment instead of the voluntary system on 

 which, I think, the philosophy of that govern- 

 ment rests. It is the interference coercively 

 by the State with that which I believe to be 

 the natural duty of the parent that I object to. 



" I have no boasts to make of my services in 

 the cause of education, but I can only proclaim 

 myself most sincerely the friend of the cause 

 of education. I appreciate its blessings ; I ap- 

 preciate its importance ; and I endeavor, so 

 far as my individual life is concerned, to carry 

 into effect the professions that I make. But I 

 do object to the State taking the place of the 

 parent. If you remove the responsibility from 

 the parent, if you interpose the power of the 

 State instead of the duty of the parent, you 



