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carry on the war against the Democratic party. We borrowed, and as long as the gold in this

As soon as this great Republican party came into power in the other House, though not in this House, when it simply controlled one single branch of this Government, and that only by a very meager majority, the very first act, the very first thing that it had to do was to prevent all the vast Territories of the United States being given over to the blighting curse of human slavery. When the Democracy had a majority in this body of more than two to one, and we held the other House by a smaller majority, on this floor only three Democrats went with the twenty Republicans to prevent this enormous wrong and outrage upon the free people of the United States. Democracy broke down the wall of separation between freedom and slavery, and demanded that the whole of the Territories of the United States should be given over, bound hand and foot, to the blighting curse of slavery; and the first act, the first part of the mission of this great Republican party, was to rescue those vast Territories from this curse of slavery. Mr. President, we did it after a prolonged and terrible struggle.

You all remember the Lecompton constitution, and the terrific conflict we had over it; but we accomplished that part of our mission, and we saved from the blight of slavery our great Territories, large enough to create halt a dozen European empires.

The next part of the mission of this great Republican party was to put down and overthrow a Democratic rebellion against this Government, and that was thrust upon us, forced upon us before we had been in power one month and twenty days, by the firing upon Fort Sumter. It had been threatened for years; it was threatened while we were saving the Territories from the curse of slavery; it was threatened upon every measure that displeased the South, either in this body or in the other; but there were few who believed the South would ever attempt so reckless and foolish a thing as the overthrow of this Government. But they undertook it; and here permit me to say that this was not a southern rebellion alone. If the northern Democrats had not offered aid and comfort and assistance to their southern brother Democrats not a gun would ever have been fired at our flag. The whole Democratic party of this nation is responsible for that rebellion, aud the world and all history will hold them to that responsibility. I am not surprised at all that the Democratic party desire to blot out their record and the record of the past.

armies to carry on the war so long we continued to pay specie on demand; but after the banks had loaned us $150,000,000 in gold, with which we paid every dollar of expense during the first six months of the war, the gold in the country was exhausted, and then we were driven to the absolute necessity of issuing paper money or giving up the contest. Would my honorable friend from Delaware have given up the contest and allowed this great nation to be divided; or would he have resorted to paper money or to anything else to put down this Democratic war?

Mr. President, I will not go over the history of the war, but I will say this: that throughout the whole of it the sympathy of the Democratic organization, (I do not say of all Democrats by any manner of means, because there were remarkable examples of devotion to the country on the part of Democrats, but the sympathy of the Democratic organization, as a political organization, from the time the first gun was fired until the surrender at Appomattox,) was with the rebels, and that very sympathy furnished them aid and comfort from the beginning until the end of the war, aid and comfort that they required, or they would have thrown down their arms months and perhaps years before they did. Hence, I say that the Democratic party is responsible for the continuance of the war. In their State conventions and national conventions and all their political organizations, wherever held, no matter whether in Michigan, Ohio, Vermont, or South Carolina, it made no difference, there the Democratic party expressed sympathy with the rebellion, and resolved only a few months before the final surrender at Appomattox that the war was a failure, and that peace ought immediately to be restored. How could you restore peace with defiant rebels in arms against your Government except by a vile surrender and the loss of your Government? Who ever believed that there was a chance for peace upon any other terms than an unconditional surrender to the demands of the South. And that is just what these Democrats meant throughout.

We have listened here during the fifty days we have been in session to a great many constitutional arguments showing our constitutional duties. Mr. President, [Mr. ANTHONY in the chair,] those arguments must sound very familiar to you and me. They do to me. You and I both sat here and listenened to a better constitutional argument from Jeff. Davis five minutes before he left this body than has been delivered by these constitutional advocates since the commencement of this session. Robert Toombs delivered a better constitutional argument than has been delivered here this session. Those arguments were in the same vein and strain as we hear now. It sounds very familiar to hear these old Democratic speeches. I coutend that we have not only stood by the Constitution, but that we have saved the Constitution, all there is left of it. You and your party would have overthrown the Government, and in so doing you would have overthrown the Constitution; and every shred of it that is left you owe to us, and you ought to get down on your knees and thank us for saving what we did. I do not much

duties from that source. I recognize my constitutional obligations, and I recognize yours.

But, Mr. President, our mission did not end with the putting down of the rebellion, nor did we cease our efforts for the public good during the continuance of the rebellion. The mission of this great Republican party was a wonderful mission. We not only had to save

SENATE.

the vast Territories of the nation from slavery, and to put down a Democratic rebellion, but we had to pass certain great measures for the benefit of this Union, and we have done it.

That beneficent measure known as the agricultural college land act was the work of this great Republican party, that has established agricultural colleges in almost every State in this Union, and which, I trust, will establish such a college in every State. That was a part of the mission of this great Republican party, and it performed it, and performed it well.

Another part of the mission of this great Republican party was the homestead law, giving a farm to the man who cultivates the soil, saying to every people and nation under heaven, "Send your laboring men here and we will allow them to take an interest in the soil by simply paying the actual cost of survey." This was a part of the mission of the Republican party, and we have performed it, and performed it well.

Sir,

Then, again, the great national banking system, the best the world has ever seen, or perhaps ever will see, a system that, in my humble judgment, will be adopted by every commercial nation under heaven before ten years shall have rolled around-the plan of issuing a currency based upon the obligations of the Government, that is good in every nook and corner of the land-was a part of the mission of this Republican party. Prior to that every State issued its bank notes at its own good will and pleasure, and bank bills that were good in Michigan were not worth the paper on which they were printed in Florida, and those issued upon the Atlantic coast were worth less than nothing at the Pacific. we have established a currency so uniform that from Alaska to Texas there is not one fourth of one per cent. difference in its value; and from Maine to Texas there is not the difference of one eighth of one per cent.; a currency so absolutely good that if a bank fails the value of its notes rather appreciates than depreciates in consequence of that failure. The desire has been-it is not so now-so great to obtain the privilege of starting banks that men have actually paid a premium for broken bank notes in order that they might establish banks in their sections of the country. This great, beneficent banking system was one of the missions of this great Republican party, of which I am proud, and of which I intend to boast a little.

Another mission of this party, and one which I ought perhaps to have brought in at an earlier portion of my remarks, was this: we found four million slaves in this land of lib. erty-a foul blot upon our escutcheon in the eyes of all the world. I have had it thrown in my face a thousand times by people of foreign Governments, "You profess to be the freest Government on earth, and yet you have four million men in absolute and degrading bondage. It was a blot that no man on this floor could excuse or defend. We said that we had no responsibility for it; that it was a State institution; but we never could make a foreigner understand that this great nation had not power to do away with so mighty a wrong. It was a part of the mission of the Republican party to strike off the shackles from those four million slaves, and make them men. It was a slow process. I remember that the first time we enacted that a colored individual might sit in that gallery it created more tumult than all that has been made by the "liberal Repub. licans" within the last three months. It fairly raised a howl of rage all through the streets of this capital, that we would permit a colored individual to come and take a seat in this gallery! Well, sir, it was one step, and we took it.

SENATE.

The next step was more terrific in its results. We finally decided to take colored troops into our Army, and then the whole Democratic camp was in as terrific a state of confusion as a bumble-bee's nest would be with a hot iron in it. [Laughter.] Never did I see such an absolute horror created as was created by that resolution to take colored troops into the pay of the Government. I went home and was obliged to meet this on the stump; it was thrown in my face everywhere, and I told my Democratic friends at home that in my humble judgment a black man was good enough to shoot a rebel, but that if there was any Democrat there who was so anxious to get into the Army, and had been crowded out by a black man, I would agree to take the black man out and let the Democrat in. Well, sir, I never had to take a single black man out. [Laughter.] Democrats were not anxious to get in, but they were exceedingly anxious to put all the white Republicans in, keeping the black men out. We took black men into the Army, and after they had fought gallantly against the Democratic rebellion, we were obliged to strike off their shackles, and we did it. For that act the responsibility is on the Republican party, and it is a thing that will go down in history, its chiefest crown of glory through all time.

Mr. President, the Democrats have no responsibility for that act; not one of them voted for it; not one of them favored it; and now they want these black men to vote with them; and what is the process they pursue to make Democrats of them? They whip them until they promise to vote the Democratic ticket, and then if they do not vote it they kill them. That is the Democratic argument!

I am ready at all times to discuss this parallel with the Democratic party here or elsewhere always glad to have it brought up. It always furnishes me pleasure to enter into this discussion; but I have not quite got through with the mission of the great Republican party. The next part of the mission of this Republican party was to prevent the repudiation of the public debt after our armies had conquered the rebellion. In one State, Democrats recommended paying it in greenbacks; in another State they recommended paying the interest for a little while; and in another State they advocated absolute repudiation; but nowhere, in no State, did the Democratic party as an organization stand up for an honest, faithful, honorable payment of that debt. They were for repudiation in some shape or other; and we, the Republican party, had it as a part of our mission to save the national honor from being disgraced by this Democratic party, and we have done it.

Mr. President, we did more; but I will come to that in a few moments. We not only saved the national credit from dishonor, but we raised it from the very dust of humiliation, until it stands to-day on a proud eminence before the world. That is our work. No thanks to you, gentlemen. You did your best to discredit the nation, but you failed; and now you arraign us, do you? We plead not guilty to your arraignment, join issue, and bring you to trial. The next step in the mission of this great Republican party was reconstruction. I will not weary the Senate with all the points in the mission of this party. I am only bringing out a few salient points to which I mean to call the attention of the Senate, and I want to keep them in perpetual remembrance. The next part of the mission of the Republican party was the reconstruction of these rebel States. I confess that I was not in as great a hurry as some were for that reconstruction. I could have waited a little longer for that act to be consummated, but after all I went with the Republican party in pressing it because I would not stand out from my associates. I

repeat, however, I could have waited a little longer any day that we passed any reconstruction law.

But, sir, you will remember very well that Mr. Johnson conceived a plan of his own for reconstructing these rebel States, and he undertook to force his plan of reconstruction over Congress. He adopted a system of provisional governments. Mr. Johnson knew as well as you or I did that he had no right to appoint a provisional governor. Mr. Johnson knew perfectly well that when he was appointed Governor of Tennessee the very first act of President Lincoln was to send his name before the Senate as a brigadier general in the American Army, and Brigadier General Andrew Johnson went to Tennessee as military governor, and not as provisional governor. President Lincoln had a perfect right to appoint any man a brigadier general in the American Army and then make him a military governor, but neither President Lincoln, nor Andrew Johnson, nor anybody else, except Congress and the President, had any right to appoint a provisional governor.

Well, sir, he proclaimed amnesty to rebels and undertook to carry out his plan of reconstruction, bringing them in as rebels. But the mission of the Republican party was to prevent this consummation. The liberal Republicans joined with the Democrats to a man and voted against every measure that we adopted here to prevent this foul wrong attempted to be perpetrated by Andrew Johnson; but the great Republican party was strong enough then to overcome the Democratic party and the liberal Republicans, too, and it is strong enough now.

The liberal Republicans and the Democrats have always acted together. You remember very well, sir, that in 1862 they undertook all over these United States to get up a Union Republican party; that was, a Republican party that would be satisfactory to the Democracy. They tried it in Michigan, and reduced our majority from twenty-two thousand down to seven thousand. They tried it in New York, and elected Horatio Seymour, I think. They tried it in every State; and had they succeeded in the three great States of Ohio, Pennsyl vania, and New York, it is my solemn belief that this Government would have been overthrown; but the Lord was on our side, and they were not permitted to succeed. They elected Seymour in New York, but they failed in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Now, Mr. President, the Republican party carried out faithfully and efficiently and successfully this part of its mission, and to-day we have every State in this Union represented upon this floor. I am sorry there is not more love for the Union in these southern States, but they are all restored, and if they see fit to behave themselves they will all be treated as brethren in this great brotherhood of States. But until they do, until they lay down their Ku Klux arms as they laid down their muskets and their gray uniforms, I for my own part am disposed to say, "Stay out; you shall not hold office; you can vote, but we will not permit you to hold seats upon this floor, where you will misrepresent the views of the loyal men of your States."

Now, Mr. President, as we are going through a comparison of the two great political parties, and as we have been dared to that comparison, I desire to give a few facts and figures in connection with these two great parties. There seems to be an impression on the part of Democrats and liberal Republicans that the masses of the people of these United States have become so disgusted with the old Republican party, with the present Republican party, that they are going to rush right into the arms of the Democracy, and it is proper to show them

42D CONG....2D SESS.

what that embrace will be when they reach there. Let us look a little further into the financial condition of the country in 1869 and to-day.

The amount of debt, including accrued interest and less cash in the Treasury, on the 1st day of March, 1869, three days before the inauguration of President Grant, was $2,525,463,260 01. On the 1st of April, 1871, it was $2,309,697,596 27. The reduction of the debt during the two years and one month from March 1, 1869, to April 1, 1871, was $215,763,663 74, a reduction equivalent to $8,630,626 55 per month, or $103,567,518 60 per annum.

Now, my desire is to give you a very brief sketch of the financiering of this Republican party, and then I desire to give you a very brief sketch of Democratic financiering, with which the whole people are supposed to have fallen in love.

I have given the amount of reduction of the public debt during the two years and one month from March, 1869, to April 1, 1871. The figures I am using are official, from the books of the Treasury; but I have not the official figures since that date. The amount of the debt now is somewhere about $2,285,000,000.

But, sir, this Administration has reduced the principal of the debt from March 1, 1869, to April 1, 1871, $214,294,406 25. The reduc. tion of principal and accrued interest amounts to $206,981,406 72. The reduction of principal and accrued interest less cash in the Treasury amounts to $215,763,663 74. The monthly charge for interest on the public debt on the 1st of March, 1869, was $10,532,462 50; on the 1st of April, 1871, it was $9,527,212 67. The reduction in the monthly charge of interest in these twenty-five months is $1,005,249 83; and the reduction per annum is consequently $12,062,997.

This reduction of the public debt and consequent saving of annual interest was, by careful and economic administration, effected under revenues which had been very largely reduced, as I shall proceed to show. Mark you, sir, we have not only reduced the debt this enormous amount in this brief period of time, but we have at the same time reduced the taxes. We, the great Republican party, have done this, and I propose to boast a little over what we have done. I am not going to appear before either the bar of public opinion or any other bar as a criminal. I arraign the criminals before that bar, and I am the prosecutor, and not the defendant.

By the act of July 13, 1866, we reduced our taxation $65,000,000; by the act of March 2, 1867, we reduced our taxation $40,000,000; by the act of February 3, 1868, we reduced taxation $23,000,000; by the acts of March 31 and July 20, 1868, we reduced taxation $45,000,000; and there was a further reduction by the act of July 14, 1870, of internal taxes to the amount annually of $55,212,000, and of customs duties $23,636,827 33; making in all since July, 1866, that this great Republican party has taken from the annual taxation of this land, $251,848,827 33. addition to paying this enormous amount on our national debt, we have gone on reducing taxation year after year until we have removed more than two hundred and fifty million dollars annually from our national burdens of taxation. In addition to that you will remember that we have reduced our annual tax for interest by actual payment over a million dollars a month, or over twelve million dollars a year; and yet we are to be arraigned by this Democratic party for extravagance.

In

Now I want the Democrats to look at their record. I have shown ours. There has been only one place where they could make a record that I know of, and that was in the city of New

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York. No one will deny that you have pure, unadulterated Democracy there. There is not an element of anything else, nor has there been for years, in the management of the affairs of New York. They have drawn their lines there broad and deep. Here is the record:

"Increase of the City Debt.-According to the official report of the defendant, Richard B. Connolly, controller of the city and county of New York, for the year ending 31st of December, 1868, the funded and bonded debt of the city on the date upon which said defendant. Hall, entered upon his duties as mayor, amounted to.. $34,746,030 00

And the funded and bonded debt of the county, as evidenced by the same official report, amounted to....

15,882,800 80

The difference is the increase in the funded and bonded debt of the city and county during the two and a half years of the present mayoralty.... $57,028,427 71

"In addition to this sum of $57,028,427 71, raised upon the bonds of the said city and county, the supervisors of the county, in accordance with the provisions of the statutes enacted in that behalf, daws of 1569, chapters 875 and 876, and laws of 1870, chapters 382 and 383,) levied and raised during each of the years 1869 and 1870, by tax upon the estates by law subject to taxation within said county, for the support of the city and county governments, and to pay the quota of said county of State taxes for each of said years, as follows:

In 1869....

In 1870.

..$21,309,536 34 23,569,127 71

"showing the average expenditure and cost of the government of the city and county during the two and a half years of the defendant Hall's mayoralty to have been per year $56,627,528 08, or upward of five and one half per cent. upon the fixed valuation of the estates, real and personal, subject to taxation in the said county, the fixed valuation of said estates being, according to the report of the commissioner of taxes and assessments, for the preseat year, (1871,) $1,075,000,000.

So much is known. What the floating and unsettled claims may amount to no man can say. Allowing the city and county of New York to contain one million people, which is considerable more than the actual population, and we have an expenditure of more than one hundred and forty-seven dollars per capita; or for each man, woman, and child, for two years and a half of civil government, and no extraordinary work of improvement, more than fifty-nine dollars a year per capita for local or municipal government. Apply this ratio of expenditure to the nation, which would, no doubt, be realized if the Democracy should be intrusted with powerand estimating the population at forty millions, for convenience, and because that is no greater ratio of excess than allowed for New York-and the national expenditures for one year would exceed $2,360,000,000, an amount greater than the present Bational debt, and greater than the expenditures of the nation during any year of the war, though at times more than a million of men were under arms.'

Think of it, sir. Allowing the same expend itares under the national Government that have been squandered under the Democratic government of the city of New York, and our annual expenses would be $2,360,000,000. ||

Education-Mr. Rainey.

This is a contrast that I advise gentlemen to study before they make up their minds that they are going body and soul into the Democratic ranks, whether they be liberal or illiberal Republicans. It is worthy of study. I could go on to give these outrageous expenditures of the Democracy to an unlimited extent, which I will not do because they are familiar. I have brought this up as a specimen of Democratic prudence and Democratic economy in the only place in the United States where the Democratic party has had full swing as the Republican party has had in the nation. It seems to be the opinion of these Demo. crats and liberal Republicans that this exposé is going to be so attractive that the whole mass of the great Republican party, whose mission is not yet ended, is going to rush into the embrace of this old Democratic party. I tell my honorable friends on the other side that they are making a miscalculation. The people of this great nation are going to do no such thing. You will find here and there a sore-headed Republican who will join the liberal Republicans, and will join any party to break up the great Republican party. Sir, we have always had just such sore-heads and traitors, and in about the same proportionate numbers. We have got along very well without them, and are fully able to meet their opposition.

But I wish to make one honorable exception. When the Blair family deliberately made up their minds to go into the Democratic ranksI hope my honorable friend from Missouri [Mr. BLAIR] is within the sound of my voice-they did not stay in our caucuses and grumble; not a bit of it; but when they made up their minds they raised the Blair flag, and with drums beating and trumpets sounding they marched into the Democratic ranks and demanded an instantaneous surrender. The Democratic party surrendered, and I think it did a wise thing. From that day to this it has had a head and a tail; the head it surrendered to, but the tail was the Tammany ring. [Laughter.] One furnished the brains and the other the money; but inasmuch as the money supply is cut off, I must tell my Democratic friends they will miss that supply more than they would the other. From that day to this we have been furnishing recruits for the Democratic party.

I do not want our Democratic friends to be discouraged. We are bound to furnish them with a candidate for the Presidency. They shall not dissolve their party for the want of a candidate. If we have not a candidate that is satisfactory to gentlemen on the other side in the Senate, we will go outside of the Senate. You shall have a candidate, and a Republican candidate, too; and your experience has been so joyous, you have had such eminent success with your Republican nominees, that my impression is that you had better keep up the practice. For every sore-headed Republican that you have taken into your ranks we have taken a hundred live Democrats into ours, and we are willing to keep up the swapping. [Laughter.] It has been so every year since the breaking out of the rebellion, and it will continue to be so. We want you to take one or all of our disaffected Republicans, and we will take a hundred Democrats to fill their places. Now, do not hesitate at one. If you want more than one, take two; if you want more than two, take three; take them all. Do not be discouraged for lack of a presidential candidate. We are liberal. We are disposed to do the liberal thing by you. Pick out your man and we will say "God speed you." In the mean time we will bring up this Democratic record of yours beside the old Republican record, and we will take all the young Democrats who are now coming on the stage of life, and you can take all the sore-heads from the Repub

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lican party, and we will keep trading. I do not believe you will make any more by that trade than we will; but if you think you can, I bid you God speed. In the mean time, however, if you will follow my advice, and no doubt my advice will have great weight with our Democratic friends, you will never again bring up a comparison between the old Democratic party that started and carried on the rebellion and the great live Republican party that crushed the rebellion and now maintains its living issues.

Education.

SPEECH OF HON. J. H. RAINEY,
OF SOUTH CAROLINA,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
February 3, 1872.

The House having met for debate only, as in Committee of the Whole on the state of the UnionMr. RAINEY said:

Mr. SPEAKER: I have been an attentive listener to the discussions on House bill No. 1043. This bill, as you are aware, has for its object the education of the people, and proposes to that end that the proceeds accruing from the sale of all public lands should be set apart as a sacred fund for that object. Viewing it in this light, one may well be surprised at the manner in which the entire subject has been treated by the Opposition. It is truly marvelous to observe the manifest antipathy exhibited toward measures that are brought before this House having for their purpose the amelioration and improvement of the masses.

It ought not to be forgotten that we are the custodians of the interests of the whole people, sent here direct from their hands to represent their claims and interests before Congress, and, I may add, the whole country. Why, sir, those illiterate and somewhat neglected people are the actual bone and sinew of the country, and at this time may be safely numbered among the stanchest supporters of its institutions. Their efficiency, bravery, and power were known to the country in its darkest days and dire necessities, the testimony of which is stamped in bloody stains upon many a battlefield. These gallant and true men, many of whom have passed away, have left their fatherless children as a heritage and trust to this Government. Yea, the whole people are deeply interested in this subject of education; therefore, we should endeavor to reflect as best we can their opinions, wishes, and desires in this regard.

I feel confident in saying that the populace is eager for education, and are looking with an ardent desire to the General Government to aid them in this particular. Educational facilities are needed alike by all classes, both white and black. There is an appalling array of the illiterate made in the admirable report of the Commissioner of Education, a forcible tabular statement of which has been brought to the notice of this House by the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. HOAR.] Surely this ought to be sufficient to disarm all hostility to this laudable and much-needed measure; but instead of that, it meets with every conceivable objection and opposition from those who profess to be the friends and advocates of universal education. By some the bill under consideration is said to be unconstitutional; by others, centralizing power in the hands of the General Government which by right belongs to individual States. The gentleman from Georgia [Mr. MCINTYRE] expressed his apprehensions that this was a plan to mix the schools throughout the country. What of that? Suppose it should be so, what harm would result therefrom? Why this

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fear of the negro since he has been a freedman, when in the past he was almost a bousehold god, gamboling and playing with the chil dren of his old master? And occasionally it was plain to be seen that there was a strong || family resemblance between them.

Now, since he is no longer a slave, one would suppose him a leper, to hear the objections expressed against his equality before the law. Sir, this is the remnant of the old proslavery spirit, which must eventually give place to more humane and elevating ideas. Schools have been mixed in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and other States, and no detriment has occurred. Why this fear of competition with a negro? All they ask for is an equal chance in life, with equal advantages, and they will prove themselves to be worthy American citizens. In the southern States it was a pride in the past to exult in the extraordinary ability of a few representative men, while the poorer classes were kept illiterate and in gross ignorance; consequently completely under the control of their leaders, all of whom were Democrats.

Education-Mr. Rainey.

Mr. Speaker, I have no argument to advance for or against the constitutionality of this bill; that I cheerfully submit to abler hands. It was said, however, by the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. STORM] and others, that it is grossly unconstitutional; therefore more objectionable than the Ku Klux bill was. Such strictures are frequently heard from the Democracy. Nothing, in fact, appears to be constitutional to them that emanates or originates with the Republicans; consequently, the force of the argument is not felt to any extent. But admitting the assertion with all of the force and potency with which it is constantly uttered, I ask if it is a perversion of the spirit of the Constitution to invoke the sanction of that sacred instrument upon such a laudable measure as this, having for its aim the advancement of the whole people intellectually; thereby raising them to a higher plane, from which they may observe the beneficent workings of this, the greatest and most magnanimous of Governments.

The natural result of this mental improve ment will be to impart a better understanding of our institutions, and thus cultivate a loyal disposition and lofty appreciation for them. The military prowess aud demonstrative superiority of the Prussians, when compared to the French, especially in the late war, is attributable to the fact that the masses of the former were better educated and trained than those of the latter. The leavening spirit of the German philosophers has, apparently, prevaded all classes of the population of that en

servants.

During the last Congress we had under consideration a bill for the establishing of a system of national education, but adverse arguments were urged against the proposition, which resulted in its defeat. It was said then, as now, that it was unwise and inexpedient for such a bill to pass Congress, because it looked forward to centralization of Government, and an eventual invasion and trespass upon State rights. In my opinion, if the doctrine of State rights was not destroyed in the heated conflict of the late war, there are little or no apprehensions of such a contingency in the passage of this bill.

The decision of the sword is conceded to be the most arbitrary of all decisions which we have on record, and it might be added that they are written in blood and will assuredly withstand, all corrosive arguments to the contrary notwithstanding. The results of the rebellion have decided some things, and, in my judgment, defined the boundaries of State rights. Sir, speaking of centralization, all powerful Governments have a tendency in that direction, and those who have not are showing this day their sad want of power to control their internal affairs, and at the same time exercise a salutary influence on the actions and affairs of other nations.

In the old Roman empire, proud though it was, boasting of its many conquests and its almost unlimitable extent of territory, feeling themselves secured by a supposed high order of civilization, they grew indifferent to their best interests in this regard, and as a natural sequence their power waned, and they are only known to us as a nation through the pages of history. The nations of modern Europe most respected are those which have succeeded partly in centralizing their power, and I can see no difference in this respect with republics and monarchical governments. I am confident-yea, it is inevitable-that if this Government expects to control this vast extent of territory now in its possession, with an almost annual augmentation thereto, it must, of necessity, become somewhat centralized or it cannot stand.

result that has passed into history, the lesson of which should not be lost on this continent. With these truths confronting us what is best to be done? Why, educate the people to a higher standard of citizenship. If this is done by the aid of the General Government its fruits will be seen in every department, and its power felt in every emergency.

Now, I am in favor of Government aid in this respect, for it will materially assist and eventually succeed in obliterating sectional feeling and differences of opinion, and thus foster a unit of sentiment that is so desirable by all true patriots, who are ever ready to acknowledge its essentiality to harmony, concord, and perpetual pence; thereby aiding the industries of our country and develop ing our vast national resources. If this had been done years ago there would have been a better understanding and more fraternal feeling between the North and the South, which would have annihilated that obstinate, hostile spirit which engendered the late " unpleasantness." The recent trials of the Ku Klux at Columbia, South Carolina, furnish a striking proof, which is beyond controversion, for the criminals themselves confessed an utter destitution of general information that did not fail to excite the commiseration of the presiding judges.

This lamentable condition of things demands a remedy at the hand of our powerful and generous Government. The evidence is conclusive; therefore it is not necessary that arguments should be multiplied on this point. The report of the Commissioner of Education presents an astonishing anomaly in its tabular statements setting forth the illiterate of all classes in the United States. We find that out of a population of over thirty-eight millions, over two and one half millions in the southern States over twenty-one years old are unable to read and write, and over one million in the northern States.

I find in the report of the superintendent of education of the State which I have the honor in part to represent the following interesting statement: there are 206,610 school children between the ages of six and sixteen, with a total attendance of only 66,056, the greater

42D CONG.....2D SESS.

portion of the remainder being unable to attend for the want of educational facilities, although there has been one hundred and four school-houses erected during the year 1871, at a cost of $13,254, and fifty-two rented in addition thereto. There are employed in that State 1,898 teachers, at a cost of over two hundred and sixty-one thousand dollars per

annum.

Sir, I now ask is not this statement of suffi cient force to baffle opposition, and awaken a lively interest on the part of this House favorable to this great popular necessity? Think of it, only 66,056 children attending school out of a school population of 206,610 in one State in this Union. What must be the exhibit of all the States? But for all this the people are not to blame for their insufficiency of information. They are eager for knowledge, and the cry is still for more. I have seen, much to my admiration, old gray-headed men, formerly slaves, learning the alphabet, and straining their blunted senses in quest of knowledge, and this, too, after the hard toils of the day. The delight with which they behold their little children striving to read while seated around their humble firesides is pleasurable to behold, as a hopeful sign of what the once oppressed will be when they shall have drunk deep from the perennial stream of knowledge. What we want is schools, and more of them. We want them strung along the highways and by-ways of this country.

Mr. Speaker, I would have it known that this ignorance is widespread; it is not confined to any one State. This mental midnight, we might justly say, is a national calamity, and not necessarily sectional. We should therefore avail ourselves of every laudable means in our power to avert its direful effects. The great remedy, in my judgment, is free schools, established and aided by the Government throughout the land. The following statistics will demonstrate what I have said:

In Illinois, in the year 1870, the number of white pupils was 826,829; number of colored pupils, 6,210; number of school-houses, 10,381; number of sehool districts with no schools, 390; number of scholars attending school, 706,780. By this you will perceive that there are over 126,000 children not attending school in this State.

In Indiana, in the years 1867 and 1868, the number of school children was 591,661; number attending school, 436,736; average daily attendance, 283,340; amount expended for tuition, $1,474,832 49.

The population of Maine, in 1870, was 630,423; number of school children, 228,167; number enrolled, 126,946; number not enrolled, 90,335; average attendance, 100,815. Average duration of schools only four months and twenty days.

The population of Louisiana, in 1870, was 716,394; school population, 254,533; number enrolled, 50,000; average attendance, 40,000; number not registered, 204,533; making a total absence from school in that State of 214,533.

The school population of Arkansas, in 1870, was 180,000; number enrolled, 100,000; average attendance, 60,000; number not enrolled, 80,000; average absence of those enrolled, 40,000; total average absence, 120,000.

Can we look at these facts unmoved? Do they not call for our deliberate and earnest action? Surely they do.

There is another fact which should not be lost sight of our country is comparatively new; the want of skilled labor is felt in all the branches of its progressive industries. If the Government can utilize any portion of its immense domain for the furtherance of these ends, it will thus be dispensing its benefits and wealth to another class besides railroad corporations, who already have too much

42D CONG....2D SESS.

of what in right and equity belongs to the people. Millions of fertile acres have been disposed of in a prodigal manner to these opulent, dictatorial corporations. At present they have too much power and influence at their command, and in certain States in this Union they shape and control legislation to a great extent. My fears are that if Congress continues to assist them by further grants of the public domain, they will eventually become the dictators of national legislation.

The plan embraced in this bill thwarts their designs, and will in a measure protect the Government from such a misfortune, and the people from such a catastrophe. In fact the people have long since rendered a verdict on this subject-"No more public lands to corporations. " If this verdict holds good, the public possessions, henceforth, will be held in fee simple for the sole benefit of the people.

I shall remind the House of one thing more, then I shall have done. The youth now springing up to manhood will be the future lawmakers and rulers of our country. That they should be intelligent and thoroughly educated is a prime necessity and of great importance, which is admitted by all and denied by none. All that may be done with this end in view will be returned with an increased interest.

I truly hope that those who oppose this bill will reconsider their opposition, and give it their vote when the question shall again be before the House. For one, I shall give it my hearty support, believing it to be just and beneficial in its provisions.

Education.

SPEECH OF HON. ABRAM COMINGO,
OF MISSOURI,

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
February 6, 1872.

The House resumed the consideration of the bill (H. R. No. 1043) to establish an educational fund, and to apply the proceeds of the public lands to the education of the people.

Mr. COMINGO. Mr. Speaker, the bill under consideration is, no doubt, well understood by every member of the House. The simple proposition to set apart the proceeds of the sale of the public lands for the education of the people is of easy comprehension. But considered in connection with the various conditions attached by the provisions of the bill, it is not so easily comprehended, nor is it free from serious, and, to my mind, insuperable objections. Its features, or some of them at least, are even repulsive, and will, I think, so appear to every one who will carefully and without prejudice examine them. This duty is one we are presumed to perform, and one which I trust we all will most faithfully perform before we dispose of the bill under consideration, if we have not already done so.

In view of what I have just stated, it is perhaps useless for me to say that I cannot and will not give the bill my support; but it is proper that I present at least some of the reasons that control my action in this behalf. Indeed I feel constrained to do so; and whether gentlemen on this floor will hear or will refuse to hear, I will, so far as my time will permit, expose the odious provisions of this bill, and will endeavor to sound the alarm and awaken others to a sense of the impending danger. The opponents of this bill may have arrayed themselves in vain against it; indeed, I fear they have, so far as the result of the action of the House is concerned; but I have an abiding faith that the people of these United States will examine this subject for themselves, and will hereafter express their disapprobation of its provisions in terms that 42D CONG. 2D SESS.-No. 2.

Education-Mr. Comingo.

will be understood, and that will be even felt by some of those who are now at ease in their political Zion, hoping, and perhaps believing, that the excited passions and prejudices that have hitherto sustained them in their reckless trifling with the Constitution of their country, and in their cruel and malignant degradation of a fallen foe, will last forever.

Mr. Speaker, I regret that in the discussion of this subject by the friends of the bill, or by many of them, an effort has been made to evoke the spirit of party and rush the measure through under whip and spur, regardless of consequences. The main proposition and the questions involved, rise or should rise above party interests, and should be determined by the inflexible rules of law and justice. But such an indication of a return to first principles, I regret to say, cannot be found in much that has been uttered in support of the bill, nor in answer to the arguments that have been urged against it. In answer to the clear and comprehensive arguments of the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. MCHENRY] and the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. KERR] touching the questionable constitutionality of some of the provisions of this bill, or rather exposing its unquestionable unconstitutionality, we are met with ridicule and reproach. It is not my intention, however, Mr. Speaker, to reiterate the arguments that have been presented on this point, but I will briefly notice one or two of the positions assumed in reply to these arguments.

The gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. SHELLABARGER,] in his effort to refute the position that the provisions of the bill unwarrantably interfere with the rights of the States under the Constitution of the United States, referred to the fugitive slave law of 1793, and asserted that that law "did the identical thing objected to in the bill under consideration, but was nevertheless held to be constitutional after a most rigid judicial investigation. The latter part of this proposition is not denied, but that the proposed law and that of 1793 have any similarity, or that the latter can, in any respect, be regarded as a precedent for the former, we wholly deny. The law of 1793, which provided for the rendition of fugitive slaves, was expressly warranted by the Constitution of the United States. In section two, article four, of that instrument we find it written

"That no person held to service or labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due."

And it is elsewhere provided that Congress shall have power to make such laws as may be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the Government. I beg gentlemen on the other side of the House to show us any such authority as this for the proposed legislation. If they will do so, I promise to remain forever silent on this question of constitutional power.

The power of Congress to donate lands to the States or to any State for educational purposes, I do not deny; but when it is attempted to couple with such a grant the reservations and conditions, express and implied, that are to be found in the pending bill, do not hesitate to say the measure is not only unwarranted by but is in express violation of the Constitution. In no instance has Congress ever before the present time attempted to bribe the States in the manner proposed in this bill. It is offering a small but gilded pittance for a birthright. One by one the safeguards of republican liberty are being removed and destroyed, step by step we are approaching a centralized power, and link by link are we forging the chain with which that power may hereafter bind and gall us at will.

Mr. Speaker, when we ask for bread we do not like to receive a stone. Much, however, I:

HO. OF REPS.

asserts

"That education is necessary; that universal education is necessary to establish the union of this country, necessary to establish justice, to insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people; and that the Constitution has signally failed in securing these objects if the power to secure the education of the people be not somewhere contained in its provisions."

And therefore the proposed law is constitutional. I am sure I have stated the whole substance of the argument on this point; indeed, I have given it almost verbatim.

Mr. Speaker, I beg to inquire, why is it not necessary to consider the constitutionality "of a measure providing for a system of national education?" If not necessary at this time, and with reference to this measure, when and with reference to what subject does this necessity arise? I have always thought that the constitutionality of a measure was of first importance; that unless it possessed this quality, a loyal man, especially one acting under the sanctity of an oath, would not and could not give it countenance; and that his first inquiry and most earnest effort would be to ascertain that the measure proposed was warranted by the fundamental law. In this I have been in error, or the bill under consideration is so manifestly constitutional as not to admit of discussion, or the dominant party in this House have resolved to give it their support, regardless of constitutional barriers.

The preamble quoted in support of the bill adds nothing to the force of the Constitution. It would be just as potent without it as with it, and if nothing better can be shown to warrant the proposed legislation, he who favors it with his vote will or ought at least to have a fearful account to settle at some time with his conscience. I have hitherto supposed that the preamble to the Constitution simply set forth the purposes the framers of that instrument had in view, and that it was a nullity except so far as it might aid in the construction of what was thereunder written. But it is insisted that its office is not confined to such