282 
SOUTHERN CULTIVAROR. 
THE EDUCATIONAL WANTS OF GEOEGlA. 
No. 3. 
To understand the educational wants of Georgia, and 
o( the South generally, we must take a pretty close view 
ef the present social condition and political strength of 
the masses. To overlook or disregard their highest inter- 
ests is as unwise as it is dangerous. We live in an age 
of unparalleled social and mental activity ; and no duty 
that property owes to the State, or that the State owes to 
its citizeirs, can be safely neglected. The old United States 
Bank committed the error of thinking more of its rights 
riian of its duties, and thereby incurred popular displea- 
sure, and gave Gen. Jackson both the desired opportu- 
jaity and the public voice to crush the institution forever. 
It is little short of madness for any kind of property, pub- 
lic institution, or government, to provoke the hostility of 
the people. In a Republic, their good opinion is indis- 
pensable, and should rest on the most permanent basis. 
To give to the people the true spirit of conservatism in 
Prussia^ Austria, Belgium, and many other European na- 
tions, property is freely taxed for the support of common 
schools. In this way every poor family sees and feels 
the benefit of that wealth which others possess ; w'hile 
the education of all classes renders those in humble con- 
dition, by their general intelligence, cultivated tastes and 
a.ssociations, the fit and acceptable equals in society of 
/ihose in better circumstances. To harmonize all the sev- 
f^feral grades of a community, not by pulling down the up- 
per to the lower standard, but by elevating the lower to 
the upper, is the highest achievement of political and so- 
cial science. This is not a mere theory : it i.s the veri- 
table and successful practice of the most advanced States 
i-n the civilized world. 
Can the slaveholders of the South safely ignore this 
great principle in reference to the education of the chil- 
dren of poor white families 1 Certainly not, unless they 
wish to see the seeds of envy, strife and domestic conten- 
tion, germinate and take root in Southern soil. Human 
i^ature is substantially the same everyw'here. Acting on 
.this principle, the astute politician.s who address the 
^electors of the whole country in the name and over the 
signature of Col. Fhkmont, put forth tlie well considered 
declaration that '• Slavery wrongs the non-slaveholders of 
Jthe South.” While it is impossible to mistake the end 
and aim of this declaration, it is all-important to under- 
stand tiiat it is to be repeated incessantly for many years 
rtO come, by a large, active and unsc.rupulous party. Un- 
der such circumstances, it is impossible for us to stand 
still. Act we must: act w'e whll, and the only material 
■spies tion is, /loh: ? 
Sliall we follow the dictates of a libera] and patriotic I 
statesmanship, which carefully st,udies the best interests j 
of tlie whole people, or sufier ourselves to be led by a few I 
selfish men, whose political wisdom degius by seeking 
-office, and ends to their highest sati.-,ficiion by lioldmg 
office 1 If wc adopt the latter course, wiiat but dis redit 
and disaster have we a right to expect ; 
Providence has placed the future of the t'outii m our 
keeping, and in the keeping of our chddren. it .s a greai 
responsibility. A perfect unity of interests and harmony 
of action are matters of vital concernment. To attain tliis 
^essult, mutual concessions, wliere opinions conflict, ought 
to be cheerfully made. The wants of non-slaveholders, 
and of the poor, should be considered, and, if reasonable, 
promptly met. Their industry should be fostered ; their 
intellectual culture and social elevation promoted, and 
their sympathies fully identified with the leading institu- 
tion of the planting States. A tax on slaves in common 
with other property, for the free education of the children 
of non-slaveholders would show that, instead of being 
“ wronged by the present relation of master and servant/' 
as free-soilers contend, it confers on all classes plain and 
palpable benefits. 
The agricultural industry of the South should stand be- 
fore the world in a more favorable light. One leading po- 
licy should embrace more than one idea. All that is ne- 
cessary to attain substantial progress, general knowledge, 
diffused, not concentrated wealth, and State independence, 
ought to be secured at once and forever. 
When the property holders of Rochester would incrense 
the conservative element in the elective franchise, they 
imposed a tax on their real estate sufficient to maintain a 
free school in every district that had children enough to 
employ a teacher. The result has been not only to add 
largely to the population of the city and the value of aft 
real estate, but it has shown such a demand for building 
lots near good schools, that the number of free holders in 
Rochester is actually greater than the number of voters ; 
although no poll tax, nor any other, restricts the right of 
suffrage. Cheap and abundant as land is in Georgia, k 
wou d be difficult to find a city or county in the State 
where there are more free holders than voters. The huge 
number at the South who have no legal right nor inte*e^ 
in the soil, no homes of their own, tells of the uiihappy 
neglect of common schools with their strong local attaiii- 
ments. The number who desire to sell is out of all pro- 
portion to the number who wish to purchase real estate. 
Land, instead of being generally improved in value and 
fertility, shows that it does not occupy the firs.t place in 
the regards of its owners. As its land is all that the Stale 
claims permanently, its larger interest suffers in the same 
degree that common schools are neglected, and ^ soi 
damaged. 
Nine years ago, when we commenced writing for this 
journal, and a newspaper of large circulation printed at 
the same office, we confess our ideas of the availability of 
uneducated free labor to prosecute both agricultural and 
manuf.cturing industry were more favorable than at pre- 
sent. We have sin- e had four yectr’s experience in the 
employment of this kind of labor in the District of Co- 
lumbia, and some recent experience in Georgia, ll is 
plain to us v/hy so many of the thirty-six cotton factories 
in Georgia have failed ; as it, is equally clear how it ha^ 
happened that Massachusetts ha.s added over (mehundrcii 
and sevenLij-one viilLum doLlars a year to her iiMlustriii 
products since the census of 1850. 
What is unsteady, irresponsible hired labor worth, 
when the freeman often forsakes his plow to the ruin of a 
crop, to hunt wild turkeys or visit groceries ? Without 
mental and moral training, and a high standard of physi- 
cal and social comfort, habits of reliable, voluntary labor 
liy the week, rnontii and year, are hardly to be cxpeeteil 
in a mild climate. 
If we are right in this opinion, (and it has been forced 
upon us, in spiie of different views long ciierit-hed,) it fol- 
lows that all freemen at the South must be educated, ia 
the best sense of tiie term, before either our agriculture or 
manufactures can equal those of the best educated States 
To restrict the youthiul enterprise of the South to the em- 
ployment of slave labor is folt to be a hardship, which Ofx-- 
rates with peculiar severity on all new lieginners, wuo 
own no negroes. Slaves naturally fall into com para tiveiy 
tew hands— a fact that serves to increase the complaint .if 
a •* monopoly.” Make the industiy of white persotto 
