712 



PACKER, ASA. 



has constantly urged the necessity of main- 

 taining the public schools simply as common 

 schools, and arresting the growth of the high 

 school as subversive of the intent and ends of 

 the public-school system. It is stated that 

 "one result of the discussion in Oregon has 

 been the creation of a public sentiment which 

 will prevent any further direct appropriations 

 from the Treasury like those so long made in 

 favor of the college at Corvallis." The points 

 presented against high schools in the discussion 

 may be seen in the following extract from the 

 k ' Oregonian " : 



We hold that, for the most part, the useless instruc- 

 tion in the primary schools consists of the features re- 

 quired for admission into the higher departments. This 

 is emphatically true as regards schools in the cities, 

 and it will hold good for the provincial schools, so far 

 as they imitate the town customs. The useless, if 

 not directly injurious, features of the primary schools 

 are those which are thrust upon them m order to com- 

 plete the machinery of the so-called system. The 

 remedy is not far to seek. It is to withdraw the en- 

 ergy now wasted in developing systems, and direct it 

 entirely toward improving the methods of primary in- 

 struction. Sufficient mental and material force is now 

 expended on the schools, but it is not exerted in the 

 right direction. The remedy is to give less attention 

 to the ornamental high schools and more to the alma, 

 mater of the people the common schools. Children 

 are bewildered and energy is wasted by too rigorous 

 adherence to "method" and "system." Some de- 

 velopment of intellectual powers beyond what young 

 children in our schools can be expected to have at- 

 tained is necessary before formulas and definitions 

 which are pressed upon them cnn be comprehended. 

 These can DC understood only through their applica- 

 tion. The process first, and then the " rule." Bright 

 children wul often commit to memory rules and defi- 

 nitions fast euough, but after all will not know a syl- 

 lable of their meaning till they go back and learn 

 what they should have learned at first namely, the 

 processes out of which the rules and definitions are 

 evolved. Then, after the process is comprehended, 

 the precise manner in which it is formulated makes 

 little difference. 



The number of convicts in the penitentiary 

 is 200. The increase has been over fifty in ten 

 months. 



An investigation was made by a committee 

 of the Legislature with regard to expenditures 

 under the previous State administration. A 

 lengthy report accompanied with much testi- 

 mony was made and published. 



The Oregon "Woman's Association held its 

 sixth annual convention on February llth. 

 The results secured by the Association are 

 thus summed up in the address of the Presi- 

 dent: 



Never until last September were we honored with 

 other than a brief, spasmodic, and strongly contested 

 hearing, which was in its results unsatisfactory. 

 True, we had prevailed upon our legislators, prior to 

 that time, to give us the " woman's sole-trader bill " 

 and the "married woman's property bill," both of 

 which, however, must remain comparatively null until 

 we can be empowered with the political freedom ne- 

 cessary to make such bills available to any class. 

 Never until the last session has woman's right to a 

 place in the government received a tacit endorsement 

 from a vast majority of its legislators as a body. During 

 that session every bill for the promotion of woman's 

 interests which was brought up for consideration was 

 passed almost without objection. "Women were made 

 voters on all school questions and road interests : and 

 their individual property rights were just as nearly se- 

 cured to them by law as_ legislative action can secure 

 them to any class which is denied personal representa- 

 tion. 



But, though I remained at the capital, as your ex- 

 ecutive, during two thirds of the entire session, I 

 failed to get a bill before either House for amending 

 the Constitution by striking out the word "male" 

 from its code of rights, the failure resulting from the 

 desire of our friends to pass the other bills above 

 mentioned before reaching this one. 



An act of the city of Portland forbade the 

 employment of Chinese laborers on the streets 

 of the city. The contractor applied to the 

 United States Circuit Court to enjoin the city 

 from enforcing the act. Judge Deady granted 

 the injunction, and said that the treaty recog- 

 nized the right of the Chinese to make this 

 country their home, and this necessarily im- 

 plied the right to live and to labor for a living. 

 If the State may prevent the Chinese or the 

 subjects of Great Britain from working upon 

 street improvements and public works, it is 

 not apparent why it may not prevent them 

 from engaging in any kind of employment or 

 working at any kind of labor. This view was 

 confirmed by Justice Field, who said that the 

 treaty with China gives Chinese the right to 

 domiciliation in the United States "for pur- 

 poses of curiosity, for trade, and for perma- 

 nent residence." 



PACKER, ASA, born at Groton, Connecti- 

 cut, December 20, 1806, died in Philadelphia, 

 May 17th. He began to learn the tannery 

 business, but on the death of his employer in 

 1822 went to a relative in Susquehanna County, 

 Pennsylvania, and learned the trade of a car- 

 penter. He then went to New York and 

 worked at his trade, but, meeting with little 

 success, returned to Susquehanna County. A 

 year later he married the daughter of a poor 

 farmer of Springfield. The fiftieth anniver- 

 sary of this wedding was celebrated in 1878. 



He continued for four years farming and job- 

 bing until the opening of the Lehigh Val- 

 ley Canal, when he removed to Mauch Chunk 

 to become a boatman on the canal. His was one 

 of the first boats dispatched, and being once 

 engaged in the business, his natural abilities 

 began to manifest themselves. Not contented 

 with the profits from his own boat, he con- 

 tracted for the mastership of a second, which 

 he put in charge ot his brother-in-law. From 

 that time his prosperity grew steadily. He 

 saved his earnings, and invested them judi- 



