The anti-monopolist. [volume], December 02, 1875, Image 1

About The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
VOL. 11. NO. 21.
Jtoti-|Wfliio)joUiSt.
IGNATIUS DONNELLY, Editor-
AN OMISSION.
We should have stat ed that the extract
from a speech delivered at Mendota, on
the Ist of November, in our last issue
was from our eloquent frieiid M. Hag
gerty, Esq., of that village,
TOO LATE.
We have received another very inter
esting letter from our valued correspon
dent 0 " Silex,” dated at Old Bourbon,
Missouri; but as it came too late for this
issue we will publish it in our next.
MORE RECRUITS.
The settlers are pouring into Stevens
county. J. S, Bose, Esq., of Northfield
has purchased from the R tilroad Com
pany the s. w. 1-4 of sec. 29 t. 125 r. 42
and will open up a tarm in the spring.
Our old friend T, M. Metcalf, Esq., of
St, Paul, in aforetime chairman ot the
Republican District Committee of the 2d
Congressional District, has taken an in
terest with Mr. Stickney in a large body
of lands; they also have a steam-plough
of an improved kind which they propose
4o try on their rich prairies. General
Barrett has secured 14,000 acres ot the
railroad land and will open up two grain
farms and two stock larms on a mam
moth scale, Success to him. llis head
quarters will be at Hermann.
STE YENS CO UN TY.
We omitted to state in our article last
week in reference to Stevens county that
Dillon O’Brien, Esq., of this city has
also purchased ot the St. P. and P.
Railroad Co., 1120 acres ot superior land
close to Morris, and is preparing to
open up a farm there in the spring. It
is but justice to Mr. O’Brien to state that
he was one ot the first to call attention
to the great agricultural resources of
that county; and it was really upon his
representations that Hon. Robert Dea
kin of Red Wing was first induced to
settle there.
Mr. O’Brien will be glad to assist with
all the information in his power, any ot
his countrymen who desire to make their
homes in this new and fertile region.
TYPHOID FEVER AGAIN.
The Journal of Chemistry warns the drink
ers of water of wells near dwellings to beware
of the typhoid poison, sure to be sooner or
later in tnose reservoirs if any of the house
drainage can jH-rcolate them. A dozen cases
of typhoid fever have recently occurred at
Providence, all caused by the use of a single
well, the water of which has been analyzed
aud found to be impure.
We visited a house —a new and hand
some house, —in our travels this fall,
where the siuk and well were within
twenty feet of each other, dug to nearly
the same depth in the same loose, por
ous soil. Death is getting ready there
for his victims; and sooner or later ho
will work sad havoc in that household;
and they will call ita “visitation of Prov
idence” when it was simply the inevita
ble operation of natural causes.
uxjust.
A few of the Democratic papers are
pretending to believe that if Lewis E.
Fisher, Esq,, had been nominated lor
governor he would have been elected.
This is all nonsense. Mr. Fisher is a very
worthy gentleman, and in the city of St.
Paul, he would probably have pulled a
splendid vo*e. and he would have roused
up the enthusiasm of some of the hard
shell. old time Democrats. But in the
country districts lie would have run far
behind Mr Buell.. The truth is Mr. Buell
was a very strong candidate and made a
line canvass and a good run. He comes
out ot the battle with the cordial respect
of all the people of the state, and with
out a stain upon his good name. The
time will come when a majority of the
people will delight to do honor to David
u, Buell.
A DOG LA W.
The farmers of this county have about con
cludes! to give up trying to keep sheep. Rais
ing cur dogs and sheep are two industries that
cannot be successfully maintained in the same
county . The former being the most profitable
—that is, there are far more dogs than sheep in
the county—the sbwp business will have to
subside.—#\iri6aisit Democrat.
Cannot the farmers unite to procure
the passage of a law to protect sheep
raising? It seems criminal that the great
wool interest of Minnesota should be
destroyed by a lot ot worthless curs.
Why would it not be a good p l an to pro
vide by law that the township where
sheep are killed by dogs should at
once pay the owner the value
and then reinburse itself by asstssin*
the amount upon the owners of dogs in
the township ?
Thiuk it over brother farmers and in
struct your representatives in the legisla
ture next winter.
SCHOOL BOOK MOXOPOL F.
Ti e school-book monopoly b becoming one
of the most burdensome in the country in pro
portion to its size. Books that ought not to
cost over twenty cents are held at forty, and se
The Anti-Monopolist
on through the whole list. Unless book pub
lishers shall let up a little pretty soon, this
state should take steps to publish its own school
books. Such outrageous prices for books were
never before known in this country. It is uo
doubt a legal way of robbing the public; nev
ertheless it is robbery as every printer and pub
lisher in the country well knows. The prices
now asked for school books are much higher
than they were during the war, while every
thing entering into their composition is cheap
er. While all other kinds of publications are
very cheap, school books are enormously high.
Is there any hope of a change?— . Waseca Rad
ical.
For two sessions ol the Legislature,
with the help of Hon. 1. M. Westfall, we
tried to save the people from this im
mense robbery. Twice we got a bill
through the Senate and twice it was de
feated in the House by the immediate
representatives of the people, through
the arts of the school book agents, who
bewildered the tools with specious argu
ments.
Cannot the people hold meetings, and
resolve to proscribe every member of the
Legislature who votes against reform in
this particular? As it is the men who
labor for the people are proscribed by
the people. Dr. Westfall, for instance,
a faithful and able legislator, is left at
home. No wonder public men sell them
selves out to the plunderers of the peo
ple :—they never forget their friends.
A SINGULAR FACT WORTH KNOW-
What Makes Water Hard
From “A Piece of Limestone” iu Popular
Science Monthly.
Bnt, though insoluble in pure water, car
bonate of lime is slightly soluble in water
which is already charged with carbonic acid;
and as all rain water brings down carbonic
acid from tiie air, it is capable of taking up
carbonate of lime from the soil and rocks
through which P filter-; and it thus happens
that all springs and rivers, that rise in localities
in which there is any kind of calcaerous rock,
become more or less charged with carbonate
<*f lime kept in solution by an excess of car
bonic acid. This is what gives the peculiar
character to water which is known as "hard
ness;” and a water hard enough to curdle soap
may be converted into a very “soft” water (as
the late Professor Clark, of Aberneen, showed)
by the simple addition of lime-waler, which,
by combining with the excess of carbonic
acid, causes the precipitation of all the Ume iu
solution in the ionu of insoluble carbonate,
which gradually settles to the bottom, leaving
the water clear.
If this be true, (and its truth is easily
tested,) it will add immensely to the
comiort of thousands of housekeepers in
this State. Our well water is almost
universally “hard water,’ 1 or as it is pop
ularly called, “limestone water.” If,
now, by adding “a hair of the dog that
bit you,” to wit: a little lime-water, you
can convert this intractable and otten
unhealthy fluid into pure, soft water, the
women of Minnes >ta will rise up and
call Prof. Clerk “blessedand cisterns
will lose half their importance.
G R BEX BA CK CL ÜBS.
LKOAL TENDER! READ, RBPLKCT AND ACT!
WnKHEAS, The National Bank Notes out
standing July I 1875, were $351 869,008 and
the amount ot United States Bonds deposited
with the United States Treasurer to secure the
Bank Notes in circulation was $387,056,908;
the interest on Bonds at 5 percent., $23,928,.
354; the interest on Bank Notes at ten per cent.
$36,186,900, anti wastage tiv losses of Bank
Notes at five per cent, per annum, $17,583,450;
thereby making tlie total interest paid bv the
people to the National Banks for the use of
their currency, $76,003,704 (being $| i 82 per
vote for the votes cast for President in 1872;
which amount couid be saved to the govern
ment aud the people by retiring th > National
Bank currency and substituting Legal Tender
.Votes, which should be interchangeable for
Government Bonds bearing 3-66 interest, at
the option of the holder; therein saving to the
hard-working, over taxed, iceaUh-producing
people, $76,' 03,704, in inten-st now annuallv
paid to the National Banks; and as the first is
sue of tlie liOgal Tender Notes of $60,000 000
were worth their face in gold before the Na
tional Banks came into existence, and, as Gov
ernment Bonds are and have been worth a
premium of from twelve to fifteen percent
above gold;
Therefore, We, the undersigned, citizens
and legal voters of tlie town of , county of
selva to use our best endeavors, and by ail
honorable means strive to secure the financial
reform above indicated, and hereby form our
selves into a Legel Tender Club, for the pur
pose of co-operation and the dissemination of
information
This is the call for the formation of a
“greenback club.” which was formed
the ether day at Sheridan, Lx Salle Co.,
Illinois, with sixty-three members.
Read that call over, farmers, and if
yon think it represents facts, go then
and do likewise; and during the winter
hold debates and listen to addresses, and
so form a publie opinion which shall
convert and control politicians and news
papers.
Who are the read inflationists? Let's see!
The last Republican Congress passed a l*w
making it possible for all the bonded debt of
the United States to be used as a banking cap
ital for the further issue of national bank notes.
The bonded debt of the United States is in
round numbers $2,000,000,000. If the bond
holders choose to do so they can. by simpir
depositing these leads with the government”
get ninety per cent, of this enormous amount
in national bank currency; in other w ords tbev
can inflate the national link notes to $ 1,800
000,000, and then contract it at their pleasure
at the same time they will be drawing on their
bonds, thus deposited with the government
over $t00,000,000 in gold interest every year,
all at the expense of the grad producing clam
of tha country. U then fellows once gel
SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, WTS.
IX FLA TIOX.
“SPEAK TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THAT THEY GO FORWARD.”
greenbacks out of the wav,— which they are de
termined to do—they will inflate and contract
at their pleasure until they have "gobbled up”
the whole country; monarchs of all they sur
vey, with a paupered people kneeling at their
feet, abject slaves qf a moneyed oligarchy. —
St. Charles Times.
We are glad to see one of the leading
Democratic newspapers of the State
giving some attention to the great ques
tion ot finance, and not joining the Bil
Teds in a senseless howl about “rag
babies’’ and "hard money.” If, instead
of bloviating about “resumption of spe
cie payments,” and the beauties ot gold
and silver, tiny would ask the people,—
“Do you want the greenbacks. On which
you pay no interest, wiped out of ex
istence, and their place supplied by
$300,000,000 of negotiable bank notes,
on which you will be taxed to pay
twenty millions annually , forever, qf in *
terestt" The answer of the people
would not be hard to anticipate.
There are some Democrats who say j
“Hush!—keep quiet!—Don’t array the
money power ol the country against yon;
it is bound to rule the country anyhow.
Keep mum, and put on the Republican
mask as a d sguise.”
Are the capi'alists of this country fools?
Do they not know who their friends are?
Can you "out-Herod Herod?” Can you
“out-Grant Grant?’’ Let us rather fight
the battle of the people as Jackson
fought it, and boldly declare that the
dollars of this nation shall not rule the
men, and go to the people on that issne.
HOME INDUSTRY.
WHY? The editor, living in Des Moines, the
center of the fertile state of lowa, fluds that a
good pari ot what he eats L> not raised iu lowa
at all. Here is aliHle conversation lately held
with his grocer;
EniTOB. —Have you any fresh buckwheat
flour?
Übocib. Oh yes, a nice lot just received
from Pennsylvania, price 6 \ cents a pound.
E. From Pennsylvania? How is that? Don’t
lowa farmeis raise buckwheat?,
G.—But little, we get the most of it and the
best from the east.
K.—What is the price of cheese?
G. —The best N. Y. factory is 20 cents; we
pav 16 for it.
K.—ls it really made and shipped from New
York?
G. Can’t tell you that; it comes from Chica
go and has that brand; made in Ohio perhaps A
B —Where do you get whitebeans?
G.—From Chicago; they are grown fn Cana
da. price three dollars a bushel.
K.—And peas?
G.—From Canada, also.
K.—Well, surely this canned corn is put up
iu lowa, we can raise corn heie at least, and do
raise “oceaes” of it.
G.—Certainly there’s plenty of corn raised in
Iowa; bat this canned corn comes from Chicago.
There’s a good deal of corn canned in Maine.
K.—But these eggs are of lowa production?
O. -Yes, they’re 30 cents a dozen.
K.—But, my dear sir, com is only quoted at
26 c ‘nts, to-day, in this market, and the lower
grades of wheat 40 cents per bushel, why
couldn’t our farmers feed it to chickens mad
raise eggs at a profit?
G.—That is a conundrum that I can’t answer,
perhaps the grangers will make it’a subject for
discussion at their meetings.
K.--They had better. The raising of corn,
wheat, hpgs and cattle should not be the ex
clusive pursuits of oar farmers. There is a
good ileal of money in the minor branches of
farming.— Patron's Helper.
There is a great deal of force in all
this. It is what they bay that keeps the
farmers poor. When a fanner can re
duce his expenditures to clothing and
tea. coffee and susrar, he is on the high
road to prosperity. Let his chief de
pendence be upon his wheat; —the crop
which always commands money;—which
is not affected by a local glut, and which
has the whole world tor a market. Then
let him raise vegetables, beef, pork,
mutton, poultry, &c.; for his own con
sumption and a small surplus to sell, if
he and his neighbors make that surplas
too large they will find it almost value
less.
Then let him buy good books and
subscribe for the Axt-Moxopoljst, and
he is all right.
THAT RAG BASF.
Now you who have howled “ragbahy”
and “rag money” for six months past be
good enough to read the following from
the “money article” of a late number of
the Inter-Ocean, the leading Republican
paper ot Chicago:
We think that a large proportion of these
who advocate specie resumption in 1879, un
der the act of last January, do not realize what
is meant by the word “redeem’’ in the act—at
least it is quite certain that it does not — in
what many persons fancy. It does not mean
that, like the circulation of the Bank of Bra
land, new notes may be issued in place of <3d
ones. It does not mean that greenbacks are to
be kept in circulation as a currency by cou
tant resumptions < nt of a reserve fund’ in the
>ame manner as bank notes are kept at par
Bat it does mean the total extinguishmentof
the greenback currency. In connection with
the provisions for redeeming 80 per cent of
green tacks, in proportion to the increase of
national bank notes, the word “redeem” has
been construed to mean that the greenback
note shall also be cancelled and destroyed.
This, in fact, is the construction put upon the
word “redeem'' by the bank of England, and
when a note is “redeemed” there it is at oac*>
destroyed. But the Bank of Ens land has au
thority to issue other notes in the place of the
ones redeemed and destroyed, while the Treaa
nrv of the United States has no such authority
- at least the legality df such issue is dented.
The redemption of greenbacks provided for in
1879 therefore means the absolute contraction
of the volume of greenbacks to the extent of
every note “redeemed.” If this interpretatisa
a not correct, then the tan million lfpia
backs “redeemed” in the ratio of 80 per cent,
of the new national bank circulation issued
may be issued again.
Undo' the law for redemption in 1879 every
greenback redeemed in gold will he a final
contraction of the tidal volume of greenbacks.
It is apparent that this kind of resump
tion of specie payments means the en
tire extinguishment of the greenback cur
rency and the substitution of a metalio cur
rency in its stead, except to the extent that the
national banks might furnish a mere conven
ient paper currency.
Nine-tenths of the advocates of specie re
sumption in 1879 do not knew what the act
provides for. They have a vague notion that
with a "reserve fund” of one hundred million
dollars or even two hundred million dollars of
gold, and by virtue of the declaration “we have
resumed!” the greenback currency is to be
lifted to par with gold, and yet somehow kept
in circulation. In short, that “resumption”
don’t mean redemption and contraction, but
only confidence.
That clause of the act which provides for the
sale of $300,000,000 of 4 1-2 per cent, bonds is
regarded by many as a means of accumulating
a reserve fund with which to maintain green
backs in circulation at par with gold; but this
is a misunderstanding of the entire purport of
that clause. It is provided that the $300,000,000
of 4 1-2 per cent bonds shall be sold at pair in
gold and the gold applied to the cancellation
and extinguishment of the greenbacks. But
this means nothing more nor less than the
funding of the greenbacks into 4 1-2 per cent,
bonds.
In other words, the howl of resump
tion is simply a banker’s trick to wipe
out the greenbacks, the people’s money,
on which the people pay no interest;
and to substitute in their place bank
notes, the banker’s money, on which the
people are to be taxed to pay interest.
It will be "rag money" after all, only we
will pay rent for somebody else’s rags.
It will be a "rag baby” still, but some
one else will own the baby, and we will
have to feed it.
LABOR'S BALANCE SHEET.
Dr. M M. Hoolon, leading Granger
of Illinois, delivered a speech in the
Ohio campaign the other day in which
he elaborated some tacts which are well
worth the consideration of the people.
Speaking of the amount of capital in
our nation which produces nothing, but
simply exists to tax productive indus
try, he says;
To enable you to fully comprehend the an -
swer to this question, it will J>e necessary tor
me to call your attention to a set of ftets, which
the capitalists have a strong di sire to hide
from you.
Having ascertained the amount of yonr in
come, the next thing in order, in the prepara
tion of oar balance sheet, is to determine, as
near as possible, the amount of our liabilities.
,For the sake of bringing them before your
minds in a shape to be remembered, I We
arranged them in a tabular form, as follows:
Table showing the amount drawn from the
surplus earnings of the nation, in the year,
1875, on dead or non-productive capital
and for what purpose:
Nature of the Liability. | Ain’t of Draft.
Ist. National Debt I $2,250,000,000
2d. Average Bank Discounts! 1,100,000,000
and Loans 6,000,000,000
3d. Railroad Investments
4th. C&mtal i n other corpora- 1
Lons, toch as Express com
panies insurance com panics
(Fire and Life) Telegraph
companies, Ac., Ac. I 2,260,000,000
sh. Municipal Indebtedness,!
State, County, City, Town,!
6th. Individual Indebtodues. 1
not included in Bank Loan*!
and Discounts 1 1,150,000,000
r j
Total Liabilities $13,000,000,000
It will be seen that the aggregate of thes-e
liabilities is nearly equal to half of the wealth
of the entire nation. A very thorough in
quiry into this matter has brought me forcibly
to the conclusion, that this estimate is at least
two bi’lions of dollars below the true amount.
On this entire sum we are paying interest at
the average rate or folly nine per cent. In
addition to the real interest, we pay commis
sions on loans, and legal expenses, such as re
cording, examining titles, Ac., an amount
fully equal to I 1-2 per cent, more, making it
entirely safe to estimate the whole payment at
tenper cent, per annum. .
The interest on $13,000,000,000. at teteper
cent., is 11,300,000,000, or $300,000,000 more
than the entire surplus earnings of the nation
The money lenders have got it all: extorted
from yon bv means of the monopolies given
them by law. And they are annually making
an over-draft on us, which in 1875 amounts to
the immense sum of $309,000,000, as is shown
by the following table: ’
LAMB’S BALANCE BERT.
Iteoember 31, 1875.
_ Labor Dr.
Ist To interest on national debt $226,000,000
*1 “ “ bank discounts 110,000,000
sd. “ “ railroad capital
and debts 600,000,000
4th. “ “ capital of other
corporations... 250,000,000
sth. “ municipal d’ts. 100.000,000
6th. “ “ indivkrldebte. 115,000,000
Total Liabilities -$1,300,000,000
__ , Labor Cr.
By surplus earnings $1,000,000,000
Labor Dr. to balance.s3oo,ooo,ooo
Do vou begin now to see how yon are rob
bed! Do you Dot see why you have nothing
left at the end of the year? Where are vou to
get the three hundred millions to pay th'is im
mense deficiency? Clearly you must make a
draft on your permanent capital. But how?
Simply br going in debt borrowing from cap
ital, and giving a mortgage on tout bonre or
term to secure it Every year vou moat re
peat the operation, until ere long your entire
ertste most be transferred to the capitalist
A* er J aa }* re ■?“* d»e best days of your life
in toiling to pay interest, your home mu* go,
and yoinr old mast be spent in porerty.
Thttsilisemy b> see how the immense for
* '' V-
by drawing laige rates of interest on fictitious
stocks, with no capital to back them.
THIRD TERMISM AND KNOW-NOTH-
There is little doubt in our mind that
the dominant leaders of the Republican
party in Minnesota, —viz: Ramsey, Win
dom and Bill King,—will favor the nom
ination of President Grant, and, per con
sequence, that Minnesota’s delegation in
the national Republican convention will,
»t the proper time, swing into line for
the great Ulysses. Ramsey will in con
sideration thereof, probably receive a
position in the cabinet of Grant, if he is
re-elected; and this will take him out
of Windom's way for the United States
Senate; otherwise it is highly probable
that Windom will find Alexander strug
gling with him for the senatorship next
winter; and the all-powerful co-alition
being thus destroyed Dunne’l would
probabiy run away with the spoils.
But Minnesota has other relations to
the Third Term scheme.. Our eld friend
Dr. Thomas Foster of D»uluth, now His
toriographer of the Indian Bureau at
Washington, has revived the ancient
“National Intelligencer” of that city, as
the mouth-piece of his superior Zacb
Chandler, Secretary of the Interior vice
the virtuous Delano resigned. And the
Doctor is an open and avowed advocate ,
—and he wields a vigorous pen, of
Grant's re-election to a third term. The
doctor, —apart from his many good qual
ities of head and heart, —is a fair type of
the kind of men who are drifting this
country toward an empire. He is an old
Whig, a protectionist, a believer in a
centralized government, a hero-wor
shipper, with a spice of the old Know-
Nothing element, in his composition;
and he is instinctively a politician and
rides along with the popular current. ,
We find in the New York Tribune of
Nov. 18th, the following:
Thibd-Tebh Talk.— Amid the present out
burst of third-term talk from Washington, and
denunciations of it from the Republican pa
pers, a statement from the Chicago Times
possesses special interest. It is to the effect that
Col. Mosby, the original third-term man, Is at
the head of an organization in the southformed
for the secret purpose of advocating the Presi
dent’s re-election, and that there is also a secret
society, known as the Anti-Catholic Organiza
tion, pledged to the President, which is send
ing out secret circulars to the leading men
throughout the country. The Times gives the
t ircular as follows:
Natiosautt no bar to xeubbrihip.—Cos
pidestial.— Dear Sir; In view of the intoler
ant, persistent, and aggressive efforts of Roman
ists in their avowed determination to subvert
the government of the United States, and to
destroy oar civil apd religions liberty, i desire
to submit to you the following questions:
1. Are yon a Protestant from principle and
from choice T
2. Are you in favor of preserving constitu
tional liberty and maintaining the government
ot the United States f
3. Do you regard Rsmanism as the enemy ot
civil and religious liberty f
4. Is it not. in your opinion, unwise and un
safe to appoint to civil, political, or military
office, in this country, men who owe allegiance
to the Pope of Rome, and who have sworn to
obey him ?
5. Are you in favor of maintaining the prin
ciples of our general, unsectarian, free-school
organization T
«. Are yon opposed to all attempts to use the
public funds for any sectarian purpose what
ever?
7. Are you willing to be governed by these
principles in your political actions t
9. Are you willing to unite with others who
hold these principles and henceforth devote
yourself, your fortune, end your sacred honor
to the protection and perpetuation of civil and
religions liberty and this great American
l mon r
10. Gan you, upon sacred honor, without
equivocation or mental reservation, answer all
these questions in tbe affirmative ?
11. Can you furnish tbe names, ages, resi
dence*, and occupations of men who are will
ing to become organized under and be govern
ed by the above principles t
If you are desirous of obtaining further in
formation on the subject referred to in the ques
tions 9 and 11, please communicate with the
person from whom you receive this circular.
Please consider this circular, its contents, and
its source strictly private and confidential.
• Mosby. we see, has opened a law of
fice in Washington, and It is claimed
wield* a large influence at the White
House; —he too is an avowed Third-
Tarmist.
Tbs attempt thus being made, to re
vive the old Know-Nothing party, will
fail as it failed twenty yean ago. It is
impossible to build a great political or
ganization on religious bigotries. Eve
ry year since the 15th century has weak
ened the power of religious prejudices;
and there has arisen in this country a
large body of intelligent people who be
long to no church and who cannot un
derstand and will not sanction the intol
eranee of sects. The pretence now is
that the Pope is trjinrftn the
free schools of' America by demanding
a division of tha school fund. But why
is not the same clamor made against the
Episcopalians and ' the Lotherans?
These denominations also urge that the
public schools are destructive to the
moral character of their children and
that religious and intellectual training
should go hand in hand. They point to
tbe demoralizations and corruptions of
tbe age and claim that thes* have arisen
from educating the mental faculties of
the people at the expense of their moral
natures; and that sooner or later this
one-sided education will sap the verv
foundations of private rirtu* aad public
liberty.
Now we do not agree with
good people in tbe remedy whica they
propose we are ready to concede to them
INGISM.
WHOLE NO. 73.
as a great love for the republic and its
institutions as we claim for ourself.
It is admitted by all that our liberties
must rest upon the intelligence of the
people. That is not the point at issue ;
for those who demand separate schools
are ready to pledge themselves to give
as full a secular aaucation as that now
furnished in the public schools.
Neither cau it be claimed that there is
anything irreligious in education itself.
There is no possible heresy in reading,
writing, grammar, geography or arith
matic. The rule of three neither proves
nor disproves any theological dogma:
and the length ot the Tombigbee or the
Hoangho rivers throws no light on tran
substantiation or predestination. Ifour
whole people were converted to-morrow
to Mohammedanism or Brahminism the
alphabet, the rules of arithmetic, the
forms ot grammar and the tacts of ge
ography, astronomy, etc., would remain
the same. In short secular education,
considered in itself, has nothing whatr
ever to do with morality or immorality,
religion or irreligion. And we cannot
therefore perceive wherein congrega
tions of young people, to pursue their
studies in a public school, are necessa
rily any more “God-less" than similar
assemblages would be ter learn the prin
ter’s art or the carpenter’s trade.
But, say some, it will be admitted that
there is a great deal ot immorality in ths
age itself, a loosening ot the marriage
tie, debauchery, corruption, peculation,
and ciime and violence. Granted; but
are the public school') responsible for
this ? Is it not due to the fact that reli
gion has been for years past, yes, we
may say, for a century past losing its
hold upon the convictions of the adult
population ? It is not nscassary to go
into the causes of this result; it is suffi
cient to know that thousands are sceptical
and hundreds of thousands indifferent.
There is scarcely a leading newspaper
iu our country that does not sneer at re
ligion. This result i 3 to be deplored;
for, aside from the truth or error of the
dogmas taught, the moral training and
discipline for which we must look alone
to churches and pastors, is essential, iu
our judgment, to the preservation
virtue and the safety of society; end
hence all the Christian churches ere
working together for the gsod of mea
kind. It is scarcely possible to conceive
of an enduring republic based on intelli
gence without morality. Tho walls oi
the penitentiaries of such a country
would simply divide the stupid knaves in
side from the intellectual knaves outside.
Unbelief therefore has not arisen from
the public schools; it has descended into
them from the adults. It has not come
from the alphabet and the Arabic nu
merals, but from a spirit of scepticism
in the age itself, attacking first the
thoughtful and penetrating downward
among the multitude. The remedy, in
our judgment, is not the destruction or
modification of the public school system,
but a greater vigilance and activity upon
the part of the churches. The school
hours do not exceed thirty hours iu the
week out of 168. Let the pastors use ft
portion the remaining time to train the
moral nature of the young. Above all
ltt them be prepared to fight Unbelief
with logic and enthusiasm.
The public schools have yielded, one
magnificent result little dwelt upon;
they have ameliorated and nearly destroy
ed theold,bitter,terrible rage of religion*
intolerance. If there are no longer iw
iigious riots in this country, such ae
twenty-five or thirty years ago burned
churches and murdered citizens in the
name of God, it is due to the fact that
the rising generation*, of all religion**
have mingled freely with each other in
tbe public schools, Jew and Universalis!,
Catholic and Protestant; and they have
formed friendship and associations in.
the years of cbilJh md which have soft
ened the asperities of religious intoler
ance ; so that each has learned to respect
all the good which he found in the other*.
To separate the different religion* now,
into different pews, like wild beasts in ft
menagerie, would, in thirty years, breed
destructive results to that peace and har.
mony which should exist among the peo
ple of the country. The old Roman*,
believed that the Christians sacrificed
aad devoured children in their secret as
semblages. Divide the people of this
country, during the period of voutla in
to separate sects, and distrust and bigot
ry would resume old-world proportion*,
if to-day Grant tails to build his empire
on religions hates and a possible relig
ious war. it will be because the free
schools of the United States have elim
inated sectarian bigotries from the heart*
of tbe people.
Tbe duty of the patriot and statesman
then, who believes liberty and equality
to be essential to the happiness yf the
multitude, is to maintain the cane of
universal secular education against all
comers; at the same time to lend the aid
of his voice, pm and energy to all thru*
influences which tend to suppress vie*
and ennoble tbe m oral nature of m«f
We cannot be made (o believe that in
telligence is incompatible with religion *
or religion inimical to liberty. *
In the meantime we ask' alt men to
unite with us in opposition Ur the poo>
nicions and damnable efforts, now being
made, to revive the old Know-Nothing*
party; and to erect the throne of a deo
pot on tin foundation of religions hatcoC