<EI)r Centre Democrat.
SHUGKRT & FOUNTER, Editor*
VOL. I.
(Eht (Crnttr rDrmorrnt.
BELLEPONTE, PA.
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THE SOLID SOUTH.
We make the following extract* from
Ml article written by Hr.xar WATEEJO* !
and published in the January number
of the North American It.' Ine:
It is givon out, apparently by autho
rity, that the Piesident ha* no i<ica of
joining the stalwart* of his party in
this new crusade against the South, hut
that, confessing a certain disappoint
ment in the teccplion accorded his con
ciliatory policy by the Southern people, ,
ho will proceed without malignance
upon the line of hi* duty, executing |
tlio Federal laws with rigorous impar
tiality.
Assuredly, no one can complain of ;
•uch a course, carried out in good faith. ,
Hut everybody knows that, as a rule,
there is considerable divergence bo
tween the professions and performance*
of men in groat place; and. a* the re
lation of the South, to the Government
ia still sufficiently equivocal to tempt
partisan* to rush in where state-men
dare not tread, and, moreover, as parti
san legislation has furnished machinery
to that very end, thoughtful people may
well regard the position assumed by the
President as lacking in specification,
and therefore to bo accepted with allow
ance, if not with anxiety. Forcxamplc,
the Presdent need not say that in
withdrawing the troops from the South
he merely accepted the situation, car
rying out the plan already agreed upon '
by hi* predecessor. Again, he might
well spare himself the trouble of men
tioning that, even if he desired to undo
what he ha done, lie could not. Sug
gestions of this kind are presumptuous
and misleading. They are unworthy
to come from the Chief Magistrate of a
great and united country, who is con
scions of having done his duty by the
whole people. They smell of the old
leaven of sectional bigotry, and make
one doubt whether the official who
permit* such expressions to escape him
>• capable of executing the Federal laws,
designed in the first place for party
service, impartially in the .South.
An election never occurs, North or
.South, but that on the side of the de
feated Ibere is plenty of outcry. Per
haps too often there is plenty of reason
for outcry. If the foundation of this,
true or false, are to be carefully collect
ed by hostile agents appointed at Wash
ington- for the purpose, how shall we
hope ever to be rid of the sources of
sectional strife 7 There will never be a
party ia power which will not use the
machine made to its band. There will
never be an election in which it may
not be used. It is the machine itself,
and the President's unquestionable ap
plication of it, which constitute the
danger; and, as he declares himself
disappointed in the Southern people, it
can hardly be hoped that he will not
give bis ear rather to the adventurer*
who run to him with wild stories than
to the leas enterprising and demonstra
tive elements of society, which recognise
neither his paternity nor his right of
serveillance.
For why should he be disappointed in
the South 7 lle came among us, and we
treated him as a Presidrnt and a gentle
man should be treated. Did he expect
us to break up our party connections
and relations and join his party, or
unit# with him in making a new party 7
What haa happened in the South the
last twslve months which has not hap
pened in the North 7 We have reached
the millennium in neither section. In
both there are disorders snd violence;
the strong are unjust; the weak ar
trod upon; and good men are not al
ways able to quell bad men. Rut is
this situation to be mended by renew
ing sectional bickerings, and throwing
into the flame of evil, which always
burns, the combustible materials of
partisan interest and malice 7
The principle of home rule haa not
yet been denied by any responsible
American authority. By the operations
of the administrative policy Us practise^
"KiJI.AL AM) EXACT JUSTICE TO A LI. MK.V, Or WHATEVER STATE OR I'KRSI'ASIOK, RKLIUIOVS OK Pol.n l< A L.Ji TKIt.MS* $lK">O JHT A 11 11 11 111 ill TTLTIULF-o
was restored in the South. The Presi '
dent claim* that in restoring it ho only
did his duty, which is true, and in which I
event party payment should not bo
! asked. Undoubtedly beneficent results i
have followed. Undoubtedly benefi
cent results will continue to follow, j
The pnrtisau solidarity of the South is
referable, not to unfair election*, but '
! primarily to the courses pursued re
spectively by the republican and demo- >
! cratic parties of the North. The one !
has been friendly ; the other has been '
prescriptive and unfriendly. The South, j
on the issues of the last few years, it.
j Democratic, and for good reason. It !
would lie strange iT it were not. It is
the effort to array the North against u 1
on a line of proscription, simply because
we have resisted and do resist proscoip- |
tion, which seenis unreasonable, and
which we contest. At this time there
1 is, practically, no republican party in !
the South, to contest election* with the
democrat*. In South Cnrolina and I,ou
isiana, whore it subsisted by militnry
sufferance, and was represented by
armed encampments, the withdrawal o!
the troop* left it without a reason for
continued cxUtence. It fell to piece* 1
• literally by its own rottenne**. In
!<oui*in!lit, at the recent election, its
remnants united themselves with the
wildest rag-nioney lunatics ; in South
Carolina, there was not enough left of it
to put a ticket in the field. Vet the
Republican press of the North, taking
! the old set of bankrupt vagabonds and
jail birds for their witnesses, are shriek
ing for "a free ballot," and pointing to
Democrat majorities in South Carolina, i
where there was no Republican organi
zation, a* proof of foul piny. And be
cause the peoplo of the South d ire to ;
defend themselves, they are denounced ,
i en matte as traitors to liberty and hu
inanity, whoso chief delight is "bull
dozing" and ballot-box-stuff.ng.
Against this unfair and illiberal deal
ing the South protests, ami the protest
I is universal, embracing nil the repon- '
, *ible element* of life. There i* thu* a
real difference between a "Solid South" !
and a "Solid North." The South is j
j "solid" in its own defeu.-". The lie :
publican haulers would have the North
i "solid" in coutinucd puisuitand perse
cution of the South. At thi* raie we :
should never have any j>eace, never
have any sectional ri poe, never have |
, any national prosperity and glory in
which all might share; hut we should i
Igo on forever, criminating and rcetiuii 1
noting, steadily ii.iparing the ptihltc
credit, ultimately to close the account in
j bankruptcy, repudiation, anarchy, and
| despotism.
'lo tin* fe i*l the sectional jwdicy of |
the republican invites us. That policy I
I is not only aggressive, hut is based U]K>II 1
'an asinmption which, if it be ttuc,
' means the overthrow of republican ism
- —the incapacity of the people of the i
South for self-government.
The ;eople of the South are nothing I
if not sentimental. Climatic influence* ]
have, of course, had mftch to do with ■
: this idiosyncratic feature of Southern j
life; but it ia sdao the offspring of con
dtiions equally jotent; the institution
of slavery which built up great home
stead* and homestead afTections, for one;
; a leisurely, isolated, provincial exist
ence, sffoiding the opportunity and the
' means for the equivocal culture of tho
voluptuary, not the severe training of
the school*, for nnother; a traditionary
reverence for England and thing* Eng
lish, and inherited love of old English
literature, a belief in the social, domes
tic, and political system of England, or
, rather in a mistaken conception of that
system, for a third. The Sonthern lad
who ha* heen educated at home know*
a little Latin, less Creek, and a great
deal of English ; his re|>ertory embrac
ing a tna*s of crude knowledge, some
tunes familiar, sometimes useless, but
always engaging, crowded in between
Addison and Hwift snd Hall am and
M.icaulay. Of mathematics he is al
most as ignorant as of (ireek ; and, with
| a store of what, for the want of a better
' term, the world agrees in calling pottle
j learning, lacking not in readiness, he
lacks accuracy, the source and resource
of modern thought and action. He U
thus, in the materialistic debates of a
thoroughly materialized generation, an
| ill match for the cool and wary disnut
, ant, who throws rhetoric to the dog*
| and plies on the heartless logic of sta
I tiatics.
The whirligig of time, come at last to
the aid of thu North, has brought in its
revenges. For fifty years, during the
bucolic period of the republic, the South
' sent its best men into public life, the
I North its worst. The Southern states
j man may not always have been a planter
i ' or even a rich man ; but, when lie was
< not, be aiill sprang from the dominant
class, snd ws a conservative. In a
, sparsely settled agricultural community,
' yielding to the foremost talent, profes
sional incomes necessarily small, a seat
i in Congress wan, in dollars and cents,
i as lucrative employment as waa to be
j had. To him whose foitune made him
t ; independent of venal considerations,
( the place itself was sufficiently tempt
• | int. So the South never wanted lor
f j efficient representatives ; men in full
. sympathy with the spirit of the age t
. | men adequate to all the exigencies of
I the tim*; good judges of constitutional
, law, though poor judges of facts and
; figures, which did not happen to rule;
i good declsimers and debaters upon the
. theoretic topics which arose oat of an
i angry sectional controversy. The North,
. on the other hand, in many instances,
[ sent her lackeys to Congrss*. Her ris
i ing merchants, lawyer*—citizens of rest
r worth and mark—could seldom afford
to nbsndon great and paying enter
; prises, lo give up richly rewarded pro
i feuional pursuits, to struggle for politi
i col preferment, which uot only de
i tofoded sacrifices, but required the
BKLLEFONTK, PA., THURSDAY, JANUARY lli, 187!).
| exercise of low art* and imposed tho
contamination of vulgar association.
With rare exception# they staid at
home. The scrub who could scuffle, the
1 pettifogger who might uot get u prac
tice but who would serve a corporation,
! we lit to Washington ; und these were
unable to copo with the gentlemen ot
- tho Houth either in honesty or in ca
j pacify. To bo sure, there were many
i notable exceptions. When Tom Mar- i
! shall stumbled upon John (juincy '
' Adams in tlm House—when Hay no |
| shied an unwary lance at Webster in
the Senate—the force of tho whole cul
' ture upon half culture showed itself, to
1 the discomfiture ol twu men or real
1 genius. Hut such scenes were rare.
The rule wit* that the .Southerner came
! off victor in most of the fights ami got
! most Of the glory ; and for the reason
| given, and no other.
Times have changed ; conditions are
reversed. Beneath thu illusory stream
of glory a steady undercurrent ran.
A conspicuous Southern statesman, Mr. |
Toombs of (ieorgia, recently boasted
that during eighteen year*' service in
j Congress fie hud never obtained a dollar
> for hu district. Hu Northern colleagues
were neither so sublimated nor so
sqeamish. While he deelaiuied they
inau'i-uvred ; ughgbl house here, a cus
tom-house there; to-day a railway sub
sidy, to-morrow a river improvement;
fat euls in all the general appropilatioii
bills; land grant* and water grants,
year in and year out, from one session
to another. Truly, me Southern■ r had
'to pay dear>y for ins glory ? Finally the
war came, and, the North equipped, the
.'South without equipment- a victim to
misleading' tio-oi ami calculation*,
each of wuich in it* order came to griet
, -the issue was simply that of lurce j
against force, and, as discerning men
\on both sides saw ut leu-t a year ocforc
i the close of it, ihete could be l-ut one
! result.
The .overthrow of the Confederacy
' verified the prediction* and vindicated
the opinion* of the conservative tntellt
gcbce of the South, which hud oppo-rd
disunion, and wiui dragged into the to
cession movement by the violence of
the turn-*. It ulo produced an element
previously unknown in the South—a
! bright, s--11-reliant young manhood,
m tits rude school of war. Nmeo 1* i
j the republican party bus done what it
. could to debauch ami, destroy these
i germs of a new and sound poliUc-al life;
j and if it has not quite succeeded, its.
luiluro bos keen one rather to tb<
•trength of the germs than to any lack
; of tormenting ingenuity in iis method#,
( I shall not burden this lialy rose' with
j a recital of Die nagging which divided
time witu the muddling, throughout
the short sighted treatment bestowed
ujKin the Notfthern people and the
Southern question by the republican
: leaders. It i* sufficirnt to *ay that the
I charge of etccptional hostility to the
negro rest* mainly upon device* brought
( about to produce antagonism and to'
prevent an honest understanding ami
| cooperation between the native races,
and that the cockle about "social os
| tracism" rest* upon no foundation
j worthy of the re*j*-ctful consideration.
The wonder is, not that there ha* been
o much bloodshed at the Houth, but
that, under the circumstances, there
tie* been so little. Hut, much or little,
the country at large can look with hope
only- to domestic forces for improved
condition*. Outside political pressure
tend* but to inflame. Administrative
meddling begets conflicts of jurisdiction
in the courts, .State and national; IKS
I ween the two stools, justice falls lo the
ground and malefactors make their es
cape. He is a poor judge of human
nature, or else very ignorant of the
Southern character, who does not know
that the well-being of the negro must
originate at home; most certainly it
can not be shaped or hastened by mis
sionaries carrying banners on which
sectional and partisan inscriptions, care
fully worded to convey the greatest
possible offense to the native white
population, are emblazoned. The negro
is placable and kindly—the fortunate
possessor of a sweet, loving, and gener
ous nature. lie is yet half a savage.
His future is shrouded ia mists which
are not very penetrable. A free mpn,
a citizen, a voter, ho should he left to
work out his destiny—a hard one at
beet—in his own way. Rescued from
the agitation of which he had been
the victim, he is likely to grow in grace
and good works ; fo educate himself and
to be educated, slowly of course ; to be
useful, contented, and happy ; perhaps
lo develop, with increasing aspiration
and advancing civilization, faculties
now merely susceptible and imitative
into force* of which he does not dream.
Hut, em ployed for parly service w he
was employed for domestic service, he is
a devil incarnate, a barbarian, useful
to the t asest purposes ; the easy prey of
the vilest. No true friend of his hut
would take bim out of politics as a fac
tor or leading issue. Handled for ten
years as an instrument of torture and
pillage hy unscrupulous oamp-followers
who remained in the .South to rob the
dead and dying left by braver and bet
ter men upon the field, the time mar
oorne when be will compose the Tenth
Legion in the Army of Repudiation,
already mustering in the North, to
sweep down upon New Knglsnd, with
New England's own battle cries in his
mouth and the reflection of hell itaelf
in his eyes. Bettor, far better, leere
bim where be stands, to be "bulldosed,"
if you please, Into voting the lEtrao
emtio ticket, then attach him again to
the fort nose of * efferent and heartless
body of mufAuerfr*, Having no local
interest or IULIe he used by them for
incendiary Better, far better,
kare hint to Ha fate with the conserva
tive xmmlttgkm jat the South, Which
pathizes with his real want* and needs,
than have him trained and sharpened
for official service in future agrarian
movements.
It is aluitrd, if not monstrous, to sup
pose that he can ever govern in the
.South, or anywhere else. The scheme
to force hi* ascendancy is merely a job
to transfer Tweed ism from the North to
the South, and to multiply the Tweeds
in the fancied interest of the republican
party. The negro i* a creature of cir
cunistance, easily led. Ho voted the
Republican ticket while there was a
Freedmnn's Bureau to serve him ra
tions. while there were promise# of
"forty acre* and a mule" to lure him
into camp, while republicanism seemed
synonymous with the glittering parn
libernalia and the power of the armies
IO had seen sweep over the country.
The to withdrawn, he fell under the or
dinary domestic influences, snd i* ln-ilsy
voting the democratic ticket with the
cheerful adaptability of hi* nature. He
is at least out of harm's w-ay, lie is
beginning to depend less tir-nn the gov
ernment and more upon liinnelf. In
hi* jerori and property lie is a* wife a*
a man. ignorant and poor, can be. A
true phi laid b ropy, whose first duty it to
advise itself, would see the wisdom of
letting well enough alone. Nobody
pretends that the condition of thenegm
is an euriiiLle one. It i# only affirmed
that it i belter than it wa* under hi#
old or his new master, the planter or
the Carpet-bagger ; and that hi* future
can not be improved by going back for
counsel# cr practices into the period of
reconstruction.
In it* organized capacity, neither
i arty care* anything fot the negro.
Each would enslave him to it* ue.
Hut there i* in the Smth. as there can
not be in the North, a humanity which
is not partisan, born of cld tic* and a*
•ociation*. common grief*, fellow feel
ing*, which link th<- home-trad and 'h
cabin, not perhaps by hook* of steel,
but by the "mystic chord* of memory'
which stretch n-a thecha>m het*r--n
the nro'ent and the past. To this hu
mai.ity, and to it alone, the destiny of
the negro may be aVIy intruded, j!
it doc* not educate and elevate him. the
fault will be hi*, and not it* w*nt of
interest and effort. The republican
j arty has done much to stamp thi* out;
I ut. thank Ood, it i not yet extinct '
In lhin random note# upon the
"Sol: i South," I have attempted In give,
in ft way, the mw nl Ih*- !
Southern people sgaimt the republican
loi'lir*. with Mitiin M r rrcnm to their
cj for ibnmwlTN; and by 'he t*rtt>
"•'outhern pnnfili>" I mcwi, distinctly,
the responsible clou*, on whom th<-
Government rnnl the Northern povq !.
nmt rely, if the rule <>t the bayonet i#
not to b restored; the native white'
population a* diotinguohed from the
irresjmnsible, entirely ignorant, and
helpless l,la< KS. who, hating no volition
of their own, must ami will U r<>nirol!
Ed, either in the home interest by the*,
who represent it, or in the rotten'bor
ough inlereata by partisan agenta *eni
• lown t<> u,ut|. the honest and beneficent
functions of borne rule. 1 have rliarged
that the re|iuhlican party, wh.cb for ten
year* had sole cutody of the Govern
ment, ignored all that was good and
cultivated all that bad in the South.
I have hinted that there are people in
the South, who. "forgetting those things
which are behind, and reaching forth
unto thoac things which arc before,"
not only love their country, and are
loyal to all that should conatitute its
greatness and pride, but entertain
sound opinions upon the materia! iwues
which press upon our day and genera
lion. My conclusion ia that, if the re
publican pol oy of meddling and mud
dling, of nagging and double dealing,
continues, it will at length complete the
demoralisation which it has only halt
accomplishes! • that it will loosen the
South from ita conservative moorings;
and that, when the unlucky moment
cornea, instead of a reaervoir of whole
some ideas, we shall find the South a
magazine of cotnhuatibles, ready to be
used by adventurer* and charlatans.
The circumstances attending the last
Presidential election put a serious alien
upon our elective system, and it was the
South which saved the country from
civil strife and secured the peaceful
settlement of a moat dangerous issue.
It is the South to-day, the ' solid South."
to which the friends of social order and
honest money will have to look for re
tnforcementa when the tug of war ia
really at hand. How shall they fare if,
in the mean time having leveled suf
frage in the South to the low standard
of suffrage at the North—yen, to a
lower—having elevated ignorance into
a power, and employed this power to
prostrate and debauch the intelligence
which could only organise and direct it
for good—they find the South detached
from iu fi*ed principles, a monster
without a brad, broken into worthless
cliques and ripe for political adventures T
lie it r-membered that this cry shout
the "Solid South" and a "Solid North 1 '
is but an echo, after all. Th country
had four year* of a"Solid South" against
a "Solid North." Kach side spoke ita
mind freely out of the cannon's mouth;
| tho declamation waa vociferous, the
rhetoric waa magnificent, the argument
waa conclusive. Good men on both
I sides, satisfied with the result, wish to
! forget the unhappy events which led to
; it, la it nosatble that any wise man can
- believe thai continuous debate on the
old sectional line* can bring us nearer
to a happy consummation of the quee
lions In dispute?
Dot the republican leaden say i "We
don't want to do Ihia; it la you. Cease
to mistreat the negro, learn to love
your country, guarantee the seourity of
life and property and freedom of speech t
that b all we ask, and, by all the gods of
ft solid North ! this wm moan to have.''
In reply, the South, conceiving itself
a peer and not a vassal, might *sy;
"What right have you to use such Inn
gunge J The assumption on which you
base it is fidse. The spirit in which it is
delivered is b irn ot coardi< e i nd cant.
You seek no peace. You care nothing
for the negro. Freedom of speech and
the security of life and pro|et ty alt- tnc
1 et things which you wouhMiave estab
lished in the South. Your aim is con
tinued disturbance, on which you hope
to trade and derive a profit. Your game
i* to goad us into the imprudent utter
ance* of outraged manhood. For years
)°u legislated against us. For years you
have maligned us. You loose no op
portunily to insult u. Well, if the
North can stand it, IheSouUiean. The
present generation of Southern men i*
not responsible for slavery or the war of
seeemion. Nearly all of the active lead
•rs of the South were obscure young
men when the war began. The leader*
who are coming on were in their cradles.
In all that constitute* good government,
the government of the people, we are
equally interested with you. In private
virtues, as in public spirit and in public
virtue, wo claim to IKS at least your
peer*. A* for you—the radical leader*
of the republican party, who would re
kindle the smouldering fire* of an al
most extinguishes! sectional fury to gain*
a partisan victory —we make no disguise
of our feeling* toward you; we deD-st
and distrust you ; detest you for your
mean pumilt of us; distrust you for
your hvpocricy and corruption. You
alone, among Aru-ricnus, have caused
the cheek of honest American* to b!uh
for their country in every psrt of th'-
world. You alone mountebanks and
malignant* thai you are. have driven
• >ur llsg from the sens, to convert it on
the Und into u drop-curtain to conceal
"Ur machinations against the liberty
nd peace, the p:o<-|-nty and fair good
name of a section of your countrymen,
sprung from the same origin as your
selves, and having an equal right to
•trire with you the glorious achieve
ment# and the birthright of our fathers.
If you are sble to drag your neighbors,
a majority of the good people of tin-
North. down to your baseness, to poi-on
very Mood with lies, and to amy them
'solid against us on the line of an in
• Ulcere, prescriptive chsrUtani-m, so Iw
We wnsh our hand* of the con<v
quence*. Degrade ourselves by alliance
->i h you, contaminate ourselves by in
• triguing with you—that vre will not d >.
because >ntt have erhsut<"l the rosour
■ws <.f hutnsn forgivcnc.-! by transcend
ing the limit* M-t upon human eadur
\ turv. In seeking to dishonor n*. you
have dishonored yourselves; and. though
| death snd the devil stood at the door,
\ we'll none of you 1"
The South micht say this, and more;
md, in moment# of exasperation, catty
#n honest, literal Southern man, who
I '■ntertsw* opinions and sentiment* snd
J sympathies with the farenuwt thinker*
!<•( the North, h* l>een t.-mpted tossy
I it. 1 nrn sure that he doe* not live, if
! in a discourse of Ihi* sort one may be
j allowed a personal reference, who more
! thoroughly respects the chsrsrter and
' polity of New England than I do; who
■ warm* more heartily to her prowess, her
courage, and her geniality ; who has a
'kindlier laugh for her grofesoiterie;
| who is freer of prejudice* against her.
| having none except such a* fsvr.r her.
and would elevate her munificence, her
j culture, and her thrift into examples to
j be eonstantly set before the ill-taught,
j the half taught, the indolent, spend
i thrift, snd imjsoreriabed South. Anil
yet, speaking to the radical leader# in
I question, and to them sione, I do make
j bold to reiterate the words I hsve writ-
I ten down snd hold them true: snd,
•ure of the intelligence snd candor of
j the average Northern audience, and
tearing not to disturb the ghostly back
numbers of the "North American Re
j view" by recording them in three rages,
t I should be surest of all in Faneuil Hall
j itself!
| The republican party is a sactionslist.
i It has done what it could to create the
"Solid South" in order that it might
I compel a "Solid North." At length it
j has the appearance of the desired array
of sectional forces. The effect upon
i parties affords pretty and timely specu
i Istion for the newspaper*. The result,
j for the people at large, may be foretola
| by any thoughtful j-eraon ; for vicious
I agitation leads inevitably to loss of bus
mess, public confidence, and credit,
opens the way for corrupt enginery and
adventurer*, and in the end, threaten*
the demolition of either liberty or prop
erty, and often est of both.
- # ■
Public School*.
The State Superintendent of Public
Instruction in his report makes aoine
I very judicious suggestions, from which
we copy the following:
For myself. 1 hsve long been con
vinced that the matter of instruction
in our elementary school# it not as
profitable as it might be. A consider
able portion of the ordinary text book*
in geography might be omitted without
loss. Tens of thousand* of children
are given lessons in arithmetic every
day that they cannot possibly under
stand, and an immense amount of time
is thrown away in the attempt to leach
the principles of abstract grammar in
primary schools.
In general, the hose of the knowl
edge imported in our schoola ia not
broad enough; little children are cram
med with abstractions, definition#,
formulas and calculations that they
cannot be made to comprehend, and
the whole work of teaching is thus
rendered dull, mechanical and too of
ten fruitless. And not only hsve we
included in our oounses of study much
that might well he ommitted, but w.
have omittexl much that ought to L.-
included. Little children are keen oh
server*. They fairly revel in the world
of nature, hut our schools, for the moot
part, deny tbern lesson* on oljeci-, RTSJ
rnuls, plants, mineral, men, and confine
them to the dry, formal leon of the
text-book*. A public school ought to
he a powerful agency in the work of
preparing iu pupils to succeed in life,
and yet the practical application of tin
brandies taught is frequently overlook
ed, and drawing, the hnndsinaid of m
many industries, receives little atten
tion.
The theory of our institutions is that
all citizen* inay be made to understand
the science; and art of government,
and, therefore, it is wise to intrust them
with the right of suffrage. Itut what
are we doing in oflr schools to instruct
the young in the history of traditions
of our country, its Constitution and
laws, the rights and duties of citizens?
Then, hack of all, and more iui|>ort;int
than all, is the study of man himself,
what he is p.iysically, intellectually,
morally, what he is in his relations to
his family, neighbors, country, man
kind, nature, God. Would it not bo
•veil to have some lessons on a subject
like this in exchange for the detail* of
geography of distant countries that
will soon he forgotten or for certain
half-understood abstractions in gram
mar and arithmetic ?
The Auditor briurjl'i Deport.
cosri.Aixixc or DETECT* IX OI B rixxxnai.
LAWS—4XMTLI' I HIVTINU LEI I&LATIOM.
f< ' uf Ih# TtttMit.}
11 isiisiu 80. January
Auditor Oeneralj Set,ell's annua) re
p>ort was sent to the Legislature today,
a* one of the accompanying documents
of the Governor'* m<**Hige. but the re
jwirts from the head* of department* are
never read in either house and seldom
attain much publicity. 11 in teporl is
eminently practical, aud it calls atten
tion in details to the incongruous finan
cial law* of the State and the actual
inability of officer- often to do justice to
the Commonwealth, lie sums up as
follows.
In conclusion, I desire to say that 1
know it i unusual for the Auditor Gene
ral to rpcak in his annual report of man- r#
outside of the receipt* and expenditures of
the Treasury Department, but I c*nn".
reconcile it to my seme of official duty to
refrain from mentioning the great dnw-*
i in tho isws and the grave abu-os in their
execution which prevail in the 11 nan .al
! system of the Commonwealth. In ref>r
nng u> them 1 disclaim ail intention to n>
fleet ujn individuals. lam of the opin-"
| ion that no individual, and no party, can
lw justly held resj -nsibU- for their vxist
<nte. They have Ix-cn the natural out*
! growth and legitimate mult of a defective
•rttem. S- fr s I have sutlmrily, under
'l oo iavr, all abuM shall he corrected.
Where 1 have not the authority I oor.S
--'-lently hope the Legislature n-;l remove
them by the proper legislation.
The Auditor -General refers to the
laws relating to public advertising. The
cost of advcitising the| praters' list of
mercantile and other license tax, for
the year IST*, was $V4,789.01, and $-1,-
9 ii of that i* paid in Phi! elclph:*, by
' tesson of special laws which leave the
ofliciais no discretion as to the numlarr
of newspaper! in which the notice L* to
lie advertised, and no revision of the
. bill* beyond requiring tbem to be no
higher than the "regular publishing
rate* for transient advertising." The
1 cost of advertising in Philadelphia is
about twenty per cent, of the amount
collected and in the rest of the State
but little over two t-cr cent. The
County Treasurers nettle and |y theso
bill* and the Auditor General has no
! authority to reviae them or to refute
! the Treasurer's credit for the payment,
j unless the rate* charged are in exces*
, of the transient rate* of the newspaper*.
1 The Auditor General says that "the
! effect of tbi* law is to drag large sums
! from the Treasury without adequate
consideration therefor. The Auditor
General baa no discretion. He must
allow County Treasurer* any nnru which
publisher* inay ( fix arbitrarily as their
'regular publishing rates for transient
' advertising."' He then repeats the
suggestion, recently given in the 7W;,
j that the Mercantile Appraisers be re
j quired to serve persona! notice en *1)
: partite as they are appraised and thus
dispense with tire cost of advertising.
As such a reform would • fleet the p*
tronage of the press of all parties
throughout the Slate, and as lrg:-.Utor*
have a tender regard for the tavoro.'
their home organs, hasty legislation
need not be expected on the subject.
GOT. Hendricks was on the floor of
llie Senate on Monday, nnd received
very general congratulation! on his
health and good appearance on the
Democratic side, lie said to a news
paper correspondent that be would not
be interviewed on the Presidential
question, but he added that he should
be satis Hod with the Democratic noon
nee, whether it should tie Thurtnan,
bayard or anybody else who had been
named. When asked whether its would
be satisfied if he himself was nominated
he said it could hardly be a subject of
dissatisfaction, hot that it would be time
enough to talk of that when such an
unlooked-for event occurred.
Bayard Taylor is said to have offered
to write a play with a strong American
character for Durbank, the hunmoo*
reader, just before sailing for Berlin.
CalebCu*hng'i death will be formally
noticed by the Massachusetts Society
next Monday night. Attorney General
Devrns is expected to prrrile at a com
memoralive meeting,
NO.