TRIUMPHANT DEMOCRACY.

Evening Star, Issue 7505, 25 April 1888, Page 4

TRIUMPHANT DEMOCRACY.

[a DVT.]

■♦ [By Andrew Carnegie.J CHAPTER Vl.—(Continued.) So vitally important to the child is education considered throughout America that not even the rigid discipline of the Roman Catholic Church is strong enough to restrain Catholic parents from sending their children to the public schools. 'Remonstrances against this soul-destroying practice were recently made simultaneously iu all the Catholic churches of Pittsburg (Pcnn.), and so vehement were the denunciations hurled at offenders that the ' Commercial Gazette' had a thorough canvass made to determine to what extent Catholics were availing themselves of the public schools. Statements were asked from the principals of fifty-six schools, and replies received from twenty-four. The others declined from conscientious scruples to inquire into the religious beliefs of tho scholars. Most significant this of the complete toleration which prevails in this country upon the subject of religion, and surely not without value as proving to Britain how slight is the religious difficulty, if it be a difficulty at all, in the path of free secular education. For this reason, some of the strongest Catholic districts were unreported ; nevertheless, it was clearly proven that one-half as many Catholic children attend the public schools as the denominational schools, notwithstanding the fnlminations of the priests and the command of the Vicar of Christ, the supreme pontiff, which is quoted in the recent attack in Pittsburg against the godless public schools. I was so mnch surprised at the result here stated that before quoting it I applied to the highest authorities for confirmation, among them, to my distinguished fellow-countryman, Mr William Wood, who has long been one of the Commissioners of Education iu the city of New York, and he net only affirms that the result at Pittsburg may be taken to represent the average situation throughout the country, but that in New York and other large cities Catholic children receive their education even in greater numbers side by side with Protestant children in the State schools. So let the Church continue to issue its mandates against free, godless education in the Republic. The Pope, being infallible, must be consistent, and this is his nineteenth century bull against the comet, and will probably be as efficacious as the older one. The public schools aro supported mainly by direct taxation, and no tax is so willingly paid as "tho school tax." In 1880, eighty-two and a-half million dollars (sixteen and a-half millions sterling) were raised for schools—four-fifths by direct tax, the other fifth being derived from rents, or sale, or proceeds of school lands. Following the public schools, in which every child is entitled to receive a common school education free of expense, we come to the various institutions for higher education, with which the State has nothing to do. These are mainly private schools, and depend for maintenance upon fees from scholars. Some of them aro authorised by State legislative enactments to grant degrees and diplomas, but as the standards of States differ greatly, a school entitled in Tennessee to call itself a university or college might not rank as either in Massachusetts. Wo must, therefore, caution our readers not to be misled by figures which show so many more colleges and universities in the former than in the latter.

Schools higher than the primary public schools in the United States number three thousand six hundred and fifty, and contain nearly half a million students. Of these three hundred and sixty-four are universities and colleges, with fifty-nine thousand five hundred and ninety-four students. The number of public schools in the country is estimated at one hundred and seventy-seven thousandonehundrcd, making in all one hundred and seventy-nine thousand eight hundred and eighty-four schools, and the army of teachers number two hundred and seventy-three thousand, of whom one hundred and fifty-four thousand three hundred and seventy-five are women. A glorious army this. Let me quote from the report which the Rev. Mr Fraser made to the British Government some years ago:

American teachers arc sclfpasseaeori, energetic, and foarlc9s, admirable disciplinarian?, firm without Bcv-titv, patient without weakness; their manner cf teaching lively, and their illustrations firlile. Ne class could ever fill asleep in their har.ds They are proud of their position ami fired wi'h a laudable ambition to maintain the credit cf the school; a little too lensitive of Maine, and a little too greedy cf praise, but a very fine and cipable body of workers in a noble cau^c.

The position of America in regard to reading and writing in 1880 is this: out of thirty-six and three-quarter million persons of ten years of age and over, nearly five million, or thirteen per cent., are unable to read, and six million and a quarter, or seventeen per cent., are unable to write. In 1870 the percentage was sixteen and twenty per cent, respectively, so that the march againut ignorance is still onward. The gain in the number able to write is significant. For every thousand inhabitants who could not read in 1870 there were but eight hundred and fifty-three in ISSO, and for every thousand who could not write in 1870 there were but eight hundred and twenty-six who could not do so in 1880. In this improvement the colored population participated to almost as great an extent as tha white, which encourages the friends of that race to look hopefully to their future. A satisfactory feature is the great reduction of illiteracy in the foreign born clement, for of every thousand foreign born who were .illiterate in 1870 there were but seven hundred and fifty-nine in 1880, which testifies to the well-known tact that the character of recent immigration has been far higher than ever before. Of course the native illiterate are found mainly in the Southern States and among the colored people. Of colored people more than ten years of age in 1880, no less than seventy per per cent, were unable to write, while of the native white born (Southern as well as Northern) there were only eight and seventenths per cent, in this class. In the Southern States, taken as a whole, not more than sixty out of every hundred inhabitants over ten years of age can write. That the condition of the colored population is due to circumstances and not to any inherent lack of capacity or disposition, we have the best evidence in the fact that while seventy-five and six-tenths per cent, of this class in the Southern States are illiterate, the Northern States of the North Atlantic group present an average of illiteracy as low as twenty-three and two-tenths per cent., or not one-third as great. Throughout the whole North, where tho mass of the people reside, it may be said that the native-born American, male and female, can read and write; for the percentage returned as unable to do so does not exceed an average of five per cent. Five persons in every hundred, most of whom, no doubt, are mentally incapacitated for instruction.

If we compare the number of white males of twenty-one years and over who cannot read or write, with those of ten years and over, we see at once how education has advanced in recent years. The percentages of all the States rise a grade in every instance when those educated within the ten-year period only are considered ; those showing between two and five per cent, of the latter show between five and ten per cent, when the twenty-one years class is embraced. In other words, the children of today aro more generally educated than those of the preceding decade. The average percentage of white males of twenty-one years and over who cannot read and write is seven and eight-tenths, and of white females to total white females is eleven per cent.—only three more women than men in every hundred, showing that women in the Republic are not far behind. In 1870 the percentages were as follows : Male illiterates, eighteen and twenty-six hundredths per cent. ; female illiterates, twenty-one and eighty-seven hundredths per cent. The decrease of illiteracy in ten years is one of the most surprisingly clear marks of the country's progress. Schools for the superior instruction of women numbered in 1880 two hundred and twenty-seven, and contained twenty-five thousand seven hundred and eighty students. In 1870 there were but one hundred and seventy-five such schools and eleven thousand two hundred and eighty-eight students. These statistics show a rate of increase far beyond that of any other branch, and prove how rapidly women are being advanced !>) fcdiiucitiop,

The average wages per month paid teachers in the public Bchools vary greatly in the diffcient States. Nevada pays her female teachers 77d0l (Lls 8s) and her male teachers 101.47d0l (L2O 5s lOd), which is the highest; Massachusetts 30.59d0l (LC 2s 4d) and 67.54d0l (Ll3 10j 2d); South Carolina 23.89 (L 4 15a 7d) and 25.24d0l (L 5 Is). The ratio of average attendance to school population by States in 1880 ranged from Bixty-four in Maine to nineteen in Louisiana, and the average number of school days from fifty-four in North Carolina to one hundred and ninety-two in New Jersey. As we have already seen, the public schools of America cost in 1880 over sixteen millions sterling. This is very unequally distributed among the States. Virginia City, Nevada, spends most per head upon her scholars, namely, 34.81d0l (almost L 7). Then comes Sacramento, California, with 34d0l (L6l6s) per head. The city of Boston, Massachusetts, ranks third with 33,73 (L 6 15s per head), which is more than three times that expended by London. While the American living is ever mindful of the cause of education, he does not forget it at death, and often bequeaths large sums to his favorite school or college. In 1880 such benefactions exceeded five and a half millions of dollars (Ll.100,000). Now let us just pause a moment to ask how monarchical and aristocratic institutions affect the minds of wealthy people in this respect. Great Britain is, next to her child, the richest country in the world. Her aristocracy, as a class, is by far the richest in the world. There is none comparable to it in the Republic. But who ever heard of a nobleman leaving large sums for the higher education of his fellows, or indeed for any public use whatever? A physician in London (Sir Erasmus Wilson) dies and leaves a hundred thousand pounds, half his entire fortune, to the College of Physicians and Surgeons, to be used to extend its usefulness. Who can point to a member of the aristocracy who has risen beyond his own family, which is only another name for himself! The vain desire to found or maintain a family or to increase its revenues or estate is the ignoble ambition of a privileged order. What they give or leave as a class, with few exceptions, is "nothing to nobody." We can say of the average peer:— The wretch concentrated all in self, Living shall forfeit fair renown, And doubly dying shill go down To tho vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonorcd, and unsune.

The few illusbrious exceptions, all the more notable for their rarity, are wholly insufficient to redeem their order from the just reproach of grasping from the too indulgent State all that can be obtained, and using it only for aims which end with self. They can juetly plead, perhaps, the influence of example in the highest quarters, where surely better things might have been expected—even thrones horde for self in these days. But his is but the legitimate outcome of the monarchical and aristocratic idea. No fair fruit is to be expected from privilcgs. The Republic has a remarkable list of educational institutions bestowed upon it by its millionaires, among them Johns-Hopkins University, Cornell University, Vanderbilt University, Packer Institute, VassarCollege, Wellesley College, Smith College, Bryn Mawr College, and the Stevens Institute. These have each cost several millions of dollars, Johns-Hopkins alone having an endowment of 5.000,000d0l (L 1,000,000), the gift of one man. Only a few days ago the announcement was made that Leland Stanford, President of the Central Pacific Railway and at present United States Senator from California, has transferred property valued at seven million dollars to establish a worthy university on the Pacific coast. The ratio of population to students enrolled by classes of institutions in 18S0 shows that one out of every five attend the public schools, while secondary education 13 received by one out cf every four hundred and fifty-five ; university and college education by one out of every eight hundred and forty-two ; commercial and business education by one out of overy one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight; a scientific education by one out of every four thousand three hundred and twenty-one; a theological education by one out of every nine thousand live hundred and sixtyeight; and a legal education by one out of every sixteen thousand and one. Such is the record of theeducational establishments of all kinds in the country as given by the census of 1880. The moral to be drawn from America by every nation is this: " Seek ye first the education of the people and all other political blessings will be added unto you.'' The quarrels of party, tho game of politics, this or that measure of reform, are but surface affairs of little moment. The education of the people is the real underlying work for earnest men who would best serve their country. In this, the most creditable work of all, it cannot be denied that the Republic occupies the first place. It is and ever has been with all Americans as with JefTerson: "A system of general instruction which shall reach every description of our citizens from the richest to the poorest. As it was the earliest so shall it be the latost of all the public concerns in which I shall permit myself to take an interest." Here speaks the inspired voice of triumphant Democracy, which holds as its first duty the universal education of the people. Of all its boasts, of all its triumphs, this is at once its proudest and its best. We say to the old monarchies of the world : Behold Democracy produces as its natural fruit an educated people. (To be continued.)