176 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES. 



take from the parent that sense of obligation 

 which is the very best security for the educa- 

 tion of the child. 



"What is the object of this compulsory sys- 

 tem of education, which shall place all chil- 

 dren in the District from the age of six years 

 up to eighteen under the police control of the 

 officers of the District ; that their mental and in- 

 tellectual regimen shall be measured by the cer- 

 tificate of a Board of Education ; that the dis- 

 cretion and control of the parent, instructed by 

 his sense of duty, instructed by the love for his 

 children implanted in his breast by the God of 

 Nature, shall be overruled and disregarded, and 

 made subordinate to the certificate of a Board 

 of Education of the District of Columbia? 



" Mr. President, I resent it as a parent my- 

 self. Among the chief blessings which have 

 met me in life is the presence of children who 

 look up to me for protection, and whom I feel 

 bound by every tie to protect, and guard, and 

 educate. If these feelings be mine when I can 

 contemplate some Board of Education or its po- 

 lice agent entering my family, asking me what 

 I have done with this little one or that, wheth- 

 er I have taught them mental arithmetic or 

 whether I have taught them English grammar 

 or any other branch of common education if 

 I feel resentment at such inquisition into my 

 affairs, shall I not give my humbler neighbor, 

 perhaps my poorer neighbor, or any neighbor, 

 rich or poor, high or low, black or white, credit 

 for the same feeling which I have myself ? 



" Sir, I tell you that these inquisitorial, pry- 

 ing, coercive regulations are wholly contrary 

 to the spirit of our institutions, and I regret to 

 see them gaining in force or in credit in this 

 country. I do not care whether I shall stand 

 by myself or whether I shall stand with the 

 great majority of the people of this country at 

 my back, I shall, so long as my conscience is 

 so clear as it is upon this subject, object and 

 protest against this invasion of the domestic 

 and family circle and the rights of the poorest 

 or richest citizen of this land. 



" Talk about the education of your children ! 

 Here is what? Their intellects are to be 

 trained by law in writing, spelling, geography, 

 elementary arithmetic, and the elements of 

 English grammar ; and this, forsooth, that ed- 

 ucation may be encouraged, and we and the 

 nation may not be disgraced by illiterate or 

 vagrant children ! I would rather have one 

 lesson of truth, of modesty, of self subordina- 

 tion, of self-denial, and have those qualities 

 by which a community shall be built up, than 

 I would have this attempt to interfere and 

 give mental education to children and punish 

 those who do not give it as well as the child 

 for not receiving it. 



" This occasion is too short for justice to be 

 done to a subject so great as this. But, if this 

 bill had nothing in it but this provision, it 

 would never receive my sanction, however 

 beneficent its other provisions might be. I 

 trust it will be stricken out." 



Mr. Sprague, of Eh ode Island, said : "To ruy 

 mind the enactment of this clause in the bill is 

 of no account whatever. We must judge of 

 the working of a law where it has had appli- 

 cation and favorable consideration. The coun- 

 try will look to New England for the proper 

 understanding of a law where in New Eng- 

 land such a law has operation, because it is 

 conceived that there favorable circumstances 

 attend it. The Senator from New Jersey (Mr. 

 Stockton) has touched the key of the whole 

 question. The compulsory laws in New Eng- 

 land are a dead letter. This fact is evident, 

 and the statistics will show it, that notwith- 

 standing the lavish expenditure of money, the 

 building of edifices of an extravagant charac- 

 ter, and the whole attention of the people be- 

 ing directed to the system of education, owing 

 in each of those States to the enormous cen- 

 tralization of values, leaving in their cir- 

 cumference and surroundings people without 

 power and without the means of procuring an 

 education, and the circumstances attending the 

 factory system to-day, in proportion to the 

 population, there are more unlettered people 

 than there were in the time of the Kevolution. 

 The law respecting New England, where you 

 would look for favorable application of this 

 system, is a dead letter." 



The Vice-President : " The question is on 

 the amendment moved by the Senator from 

 Ohio nearest (Mr. Sherman), to the twenty- 

 fifth section of the bill." 



The question being taken by yeas and nays, 

 resulted yeas 27, nays 23, as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Bayard, Bogy, Boreman, Cooper, 

 Cragin, Davis, Dennis, Eaton, Goldthwaite, Gordon, 

 Hager, Hamilton of Maryland, Johnston, Kelly, 

 McCreery, Merrimon, Norwood, Eansom, Sargent, 

 Saulsbury, Sherman, Sprague, Stevenson, Stewart, 

 Stockton, Thurman, and Tipton 27. 



NAYS Messrs. Boutwell, Cameron, Chandler, 

 Clayton, Edmunds, Ferry of Michigan, Flanagan, 

 Frelingnuysen, Harvey, Howe, Ingalls, Mitchell, 

 Morrill of Maine, Morrill of Vermont, Morton, Pat- 

 terson, Pease, Eamsey, Scott, Spencer, Wash burn, 

 West, and Wright 23. 



ABSENT Messrs. Alconij Allison, Anthony, 

 Brownlow, Carpenter, Conklmg. Conover, Dorsey, 

 Fenton, Ferry of Connecticut, Gilbert, Hamilton 01 

 Texas, Hamlin, Hitchcock, Jones, Lewis, Logan, 

 Oglesby, Pratt, Eobertson, Schurz, Wadleigh, and 

 Windom 23. 



So the amendment was agreed to. 



The Vice-President : " The question recurs 

 on the motion of the Senator from Ohio (Mr. 

 Thurman) to strike out the twenty -fifth sec- 

 tion, upon which the yeas and nays have been 

 ordered." 



Mr. Thurman : " Before that vote is taken I 

 wish to give some official figures. I have here, 

 from a speech delivered by the Delegate from 

 this Territory at the last session, these figures 

 which are taken from the official reports : 



Children of school-age in the District of Columbia 25.985 



Seats provided for the same in public schools 11,910 



Without public-school benefits of school-age.. ..14,025 

 "Of this number 6,759 are in attendance 



