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 February 26, 187 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 1877. 
 

 SPEECH OF 
 
 HOISr. SA^MXJEL F. MILLER, 
 
 OF NEW YORK, 
 
 m THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 February 2G, 1877, 
 
 On the bill (H. R. No. 748) to appl}' the proceeds of sales of public lands to the education 
 
 of the people. 
 
 Mr. miller. Mr. Speaker, however fortunate we may 
 have been in settling the disputed claims to the Presidency, I 
 trust it will not lead us into the presumption of tempting fortune 
 further by allowing greater dangers to exist unchallenged until 
 they threaten us with impending ruin. 
 
 To-day I wish to call the attention of the House and of the 
 country to evils that fill all thoughtful and patriotic minds with 
 anxiety, and would indeed fill them with alarm if it were not 
 possible by prompt and wise legislation to mitigate and remove 
 them. I ask attention to the lack of facilities for even a com- 
 mon-school education over a great portion of our country, to 
 the alarming amount of illiteracy among our population, and es- 
 pecially do I ask you to consider the fact that nearly 20 per cent, 
 of the voters in this boasted land of freedom and intelligence 
 cannot read the names of the candidates on the 1) allots they cast. 
 
 Does this statement exaggerate the evil or overrate its ex- 
 tent ? Let me appeal to the facts sliown by the last census. 
 The (Commissioner of Education furnished in his re|)ori for 1872 
 a table compiled and computed from the census of 1870 showing 
 for each State and Territory the percentage of illiterates to total 
 population over ten years of age. The footings of thc^ colunnis 
 in this table show the result for the whole comiti-y. Listen to 
 some of these figures. The percentage of illiterates to total pop- 
 ulation of the whole country is 20.04 per cent, in the State of 
 Delaware the illiterates are 24.95 percent, of ilic j)opulation ; 
 in Maryland, 23.55 per cent.; in the District of (jolunibia. 28.59 
 per cent. ; in Yirginia, 50.10 per cent. ; in North Carolina. 51.07 
 per cent. ; in South Carolina, 57.64 per cent. ; in (Georgia, 
 5G.06 per cent. ; in Mississippi, 53.91 per cent. Now, Mi'. 
 Sjjeakej'. can anything be more alarming than ihosf^ figures, un- 
 
less it be the fact that since this exhibit was made the General 
 Government has done little or nothing to aid the States struggling 
 with this great question ? 
 
 We have been taught by the fathers that the success and 
 stability of free institutions rest upon the intelligence of the 
 people. Can we contemplate with indifference the fact that one- 
 fifth of the entire population of the country cannot even re d 
 and write ; that in several of the great States of this Union more 
 than one-half of the people have not taken the first steps of a 
 common-school education. I know that the General Government 
 can have no control of the school systems of the several States. 
 The whole management of these institutions must remain with 
 the local authorities, where the responsibility rests ; but the 
 General Government can and should, as it has often done before 
 aid the States in this work, and especially those States that have 
 by the new condition of affairs had thrown upon them greater 
 duties and responsibilities in educational matters than they can 
 meet by their own unaided, straitened resources. To my mind, 
 Mr. Speaker, the necessity for immediate action is most urgent. 
 I am not committed to any particular plan, so that it is just to 
 all sections and meets the necessities of the situation. 
 
 I have carefully read the bill presented by the distinguished 
 gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Walker,) and it seems to me to 
 meet these requirements and I therefore give it my humble sup- 
 port and trust before the close of the session I may have the 
 opportunity to give it my vote. 
 
 The bill reads as follows : 
 
 A bill to apply the proceeds of sales o^ public lands to the education of 
 the people. 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate, and Houae of Representatives oftJie United BtMes of Amer- 
 ica in Congress assembled. That the net proceeds of the public lands are hereb}' forever 
 consecrated and set apart tor the education of the people : Provided, That this act shall 
 not have any effect to repeal, impair, or suspend any law now authorizing the pre-emption 
 of public lands, or the entry of public lands for homesteads, nor as limiting in any manner 
 the power of Congress to alter or extend the right of homestead upon such lands : And 
 provided further, That nothing contained in this section shall be held to limit or abridge 
 the power of Congress over the public domain, or interfere with granting bounty lands. 
 
 Seo. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior shall cause an account to be taken at the 
 close of each fiscal year, and ascertain the total receipts from the sales or other disposition 
 of the public lands of the United States, including all fees received at the general and dis- 
 trict land offices during such year, and the amount of expenditures during said year, in- 
 curred or occasioned by the survey, sale, location, entryv or other disposition of such 
 lands, including appropriations for the expenses of the said officers for said year, and 
 shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount of the net cash proceeds from 
 the sale, entry, location, or other disposition of such lands as aforesaid after deducting 
 such expenses and expenditures. 
 
 Seo. 3. That upon the receipt of such certificate the Secretary of the Treasury shall, 
 on OT before the 31st day of July of each year, apportion to the several States and" Terri- 
 tories and to the District of Columbia, upon the basis of population of the said States and 
 Territories, between the ages of five and twenty-one years, the net proceeds of sales of 
 public lands for the previous year : Provide, That after five years one-half of said net 
 proceeds and after ten years the whole of the same shall be set apart as an educational 
 
5 
 
 fund, which said fund sliall be invested in tlie bonds of the United States bearing a rate of 
 interest not less than 4 per cent, per annum, both principal and interest payable in coin, 
 the interest on such educational fund only to be appropriated as above provided : And 
 provided further. That for the first ten years the distribution of said net proceeds and the 
 interest on said fund to and among the several States, Territories, and District of Columbia 
 shall be made accordmg to the numbers of their respective population, of ten years old 
 and upward, who cannot read and write, as shown from time to time by the last proceed- 
 ing published census of the United States. 
 
 Skc. 4. That the first apportionment under this act shall be made on or before the 
 3l8t day of July, 1876 ; and each of said States and Territories shall be entitled to receive 
 its distributive share of eacli apportionment, to be paid by the Secretary of the Treasury 
 to its treasurer or other officer authorized by its law to receive the same, whenever there- 
 after it shall file with the Secretary of the Treasury a certified copy of the law of such 
 State or Territory accepting the provisions of this act and undertaking that the funds pro- 
 vided by the same, whenever paid over to it as above provided, shall be faithfully applied 
 to the free education of all its children between the ages of six and sixteen years. The 
 distributive share of the District of Columbia shall from time to time be paid over to the 
 commission of said District created by act of Congress approved June 20, 1874, entitled 
 " An act for the government of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes," or oth- 
 er officer or officers provided by law, and shall be applied in the same manner as above 
 provided for the States and Territories. 
 
 Sec. 5. That to entitle any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia to the ben- 
 efits of this act, it shall maintain for at least three naonths in each year a system of free 
 public schools for all the children within its limits between the ages of six and sixteen, 
 and shall, through the proper oflScer thereof, for the year ending the 30th day of June last 
 preceding such apportionment, make full report of the number of public free schools, the 
 number of teachers employed, the number of school-houses owned and the number of 
 school -houses hired, the total number of children taught during the year, the actual daily 
 attendance, and the actual number of months of the year schools have been maintained in 
 each of the several school districts or divisions of said State, Territory, or District, and 
 the amounts appropriated by the Legislature or otherwise received for the purpose of 
 maintaining a system of free public schools. And if any State or Territory shall misap- 
 ply, or allow to be misapplied or in any manner appropriated or used other than for the 
 purposes herein required, the funds, or any part thereof, received under the provisions of 
 this act. or shall fail to comply with the conditions herein prescribed, or to report, as 
 herein provided, through its proper officers, the disposition thereof, such State or Terri- 
 tor}'^ shall forfeit its right to any subsequent apportionment by virtue hereof, until the 
 full amount so misapplied, lost, or misappropriated shall have been replaced by such State 
 or Territory, and applied as herein required, and until such report shall have been made ; 
 and all apportionments so forfeited and withheld shall be added to and become part of the 
 principal of the educational fund hereby created. 
 
 Skc. 6. That nothing contained in this act shall be so construed as to affect in any 
 manner the existing laws and regulations in regard to the adjustment and payment to 
 States of the percentage of the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands within their 
 respective limits, as provided in section 3tt89 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, this is the bill, but let me concisely restate 
 two or three of its main provisions. 
 
 It will be observed that the net process of sales of public 
 lands, after paying all expenses, are dedicated to the education 
 of the people, but the rights of all pre-emptors under pre-emp- 
 tion laws, and the Vights of all settlers under present and future 
 homestead laws are carefully guarded and reserved, as well as 
 the power of Congress over the public domain and its right to 
 grant bounty lands. 
 
 It is provided that after five years one-half of the net pro- 
 ceeds and after ten ^ears the whole of the same shall be set 
 apart as an educational fund to be invested in interest- bearing 
 bonds of the United States, and the interest on these bonds is to 
 be apportioned and distributed to the several States and Terri- 
 tories according to the population of each between the ages of 
 
6 
 
 five and twenty-one years as shown by the preceding census, on 
 proof furnished by said State or Territory that it has maintained 
 for at least three months in the preceding year a system of free 
 public schools for all the children within its limits between the 
 ages of six and sixteen years. 
 
 For the first ten years the net proceeds and the interest on 
 this educational fund are to be distributed to rhe several States 
 and Territories, respectively, according to the number of their 
 population over ten years of age that cannot read and write, as 
 shown by the last preceding census of the United States. These 
 are some of the leading features of this bill. 
 
 Now, Mr. Speaker, in appropriating public lands or the pro- 
 ceeds of their sale for educational purposes, this bill but follows 
 a long line of precedents commencing before our Constitution was 
 framed and illustrating every decade of our history since its adop- 
 tion. I, myself, have counted over thirty separate general laws 
 appropriating public lands for the promotion of education, passed 
 since 1800, and there have been during this period many special 
 acts for the same purpose. So we have' the authority and 
 indorsement of our greatest and wisest statesmen to the constitu- 
 tionality and wisdom of this bill, both as to the object to be at- 
 tained and the property to be used 
 
 There is one feature of this measure that may meet with 
 some criticism and need some explanation. It may be objected 
 that the plan of distribution for the first ten years is unequal and 
 unfair, as it is to be made on the ratio of illiteracy, and not on 
 the ratio of population. It is true that for the first ten yeai's 
 those States where ignorance is the most dense, whei-e edu.„^atiou 
 is most needed, will receive the largest proportion of assistance. 
 
 To my mind this is no objection to the bill. The States and 
 Territories form one country. One State caimot suffer unless all 
 suffer. No danger can threaten one without menacing the wel- 
 fare of all. The enlightenment and pi-osperity of the people of 
 each State in a hundred ways promote the happiness and pros- 
 per'ty of the inhabitants of every other State. These are trite 
 and general trnths that every patriot admits and feels. But 
 those States that have the greatest need of aid in educational 
 work have especial claims that appeal to the generosity, nay, 
 rather to the jus^i(*e of the whole nation. During the last fifteen 
 years those States have undergone a complete revolution, not 
 merely in their laws, but in their entii^) social organization. 
 
 Never, I believe, in all history did a State survive so great 
 changes, made in so short a time, as those that have occurred in 
 the Southern States of this Union.' Slavery, while it existed, 
 not only made the education of the colored race impossible, but 
 
it prevented the establishment of anything Uke a common-school 
 system for the education of the children of the poor whites out- 
 side of the large towns. The children of the masters were 
 educated by private teachers and in higher institutions. The 
 war came and consumed and swept away the accumulated for- 
 tunes of a century. It broke up the family and higher schools. 
 [t abolished slavery and made the slave a freeman. Reconstruc- 
 tion came, and the freedman was clothed with full citizenship 
 and invested with the responsibilities of the ballot. It was under 
 such circumstances that those States were called upon to provide 
 a C(niimon-school system for their people. JSTever was there 
 greater need, and seldom if ever was there more discouragement. 
 But in spite of all difficulties, and in spite of much opposition, 
 the work has been honestly attempted in all the States, and with 
 full as much success as could be expected under the circumstan- 
 ces, with their crippled resources. And now, sir, they lay before 
 us this bill and ask our assistance. I am ready to meet it. 
 
 I freely acknowledge my responsibility as a citizen and a 
 voter in supporting those two great measures that now increase 
 the importance and the burdens of education in those States. 
 We abolished slavery to save the Union. None now mourn 
 its loss; "none so poor to do it reverence." We placed the 
 ballot in the hands of the freedmen, not through malice, toward 
 our former enemies, but to save free institutions on this conti- 
 nent. I speak for the northern voter and private citizen, for I 
 was one, and I believe I knew their sentiments. And perhaps it 
 is well that souiliern Representatives should know the motives 
 that actuated plain Northern voters in that crisis. There seemed 
 to us to be but two ways of dealing with the great problems of 
 reconstruction so as to secure the guarantees that safety de- 
 manded : first, to remand the conquered States to the territorial 
 condition indefinitely, to be governed by the central government. 
 But this would destroy free republican institutions in half of the 
 States and endanger. them in all. Besides, we did not want any 
 dissatisfied Hungary or down-trodden Poland or subjugated Ire- 
 land to be a perpetual source of weakness to the nation. We 
 ])refe]"red the other alternative. By removing the disabilities of 
 one race and granting the full rights of citizenship to the other, 
 with amnesty joined with suffrage, we thought to make it possi- 
 ble to rebuild od the basis of equal rights free and prosperous 
 States. I repeat that I admit the responsibility of myself and 
 my constituents for these measures. I still believe they will lead 
 to happy results. I know that a great work remains to be done 
 in the way of education for both races, more than the States un- 
 aided can acconiplisli. I recognize our obligafion to aid in this 
 
work. I am ready to meet that obligation now by voting for 
 this bill. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, 1 wish now to call the attention of the House 
 to some circumstances that make this a most auspicious time for 
 granting this assistance ; more favorable, indeed, than any future 
 time can possibly be. A common school system has been organ- 
 ized in each of the reconstructed States. Its means are very 
 limited in m.any, and inadequate in all. It should not be suffered 
 to die of inanition. Its enemies should not have the opportunity 
 to ridicule its feebleness or to belittle its importance. Again, 
 sir, the newly invested citizens have shown a great desire for the 
 education of their children, and the children an avidity for learn- 
 ing. This laudable ambition should not be allowed to change 
 to indifference from want of opportunities, as quite frequently 
 happens with ignorant people everywhere. 
 
 But further, Mr. Speaker, this is a most auspicious time to 
 urge forward the cause of common-school education in these 
 States, because their best men, without regard to party, novv 
 acknowledge its importance, and very many give it their encour- 
 agement and support. We see this in the reports of State 
 superintendents, messages of governors, and proceedings of Leg- 
 islatures. 
 
 I was very much gratified the other day in reading in the 
 Record some philosophical and statesman-like remarks in a speech 
 of the distinguished gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr. Watterson.) 
 Of course I do not refer to that part of the speec^h which was for 
 a party, (for about that we should not agree,) but to that part 
 that was for the country. I wish to quote a tew sentences from 
 that speech that illustrate the point to which I am now speaking. 
 In describing the condition of the enfranchised colored citizens 
 in his own State, inider wise State management, he says : 
 
 Thus by easy stages and bj- the consent of society tlie negro presentlj^ found him- 
 self vested with such legal rights' as the States have exclusive power to give ; he was es- 
 tablished .in the rights which the General Government had given him ; he was made secure 
 in his home, and he is to-day surpassed by no laboring man in any part of the world in the 
 advantages he enjr)ys for getting on in life. He is sought by all parties — a very popular 
 person indeed with candidates for office. In the city where I live his churches and 
 schools are numerous, well ordered, and well attended. He has no conflicts witli the 
 whites. In a word, he is a freeman, a citizen, and a voter. 
 
 I have made this quotation not because it is an indorsement 
 of the fifteenth amendment, although it is very satisfactory in 
 that respect, but 1 have made it to show that many of the lead- 
 iTig men of the South not only look with approbation upon the 
 prosperity and education of the colored race, but rejoice in that 
 result. ' Doubtless this class of men are more numerous in the 
 border States than in the States farther south. But I think this 
 sentiment is advancing, and will soon extend over the entire 
 
country. I trust this bill will strengthen it, for only with support 
 of the best citizens of the States can the success of the common- 
 school system be speedy and satisfactory. I would do nothing to 
 lessen their supervision, or their responsibility, or their honor in 
 this work, and 1 support this feature of the bill that the General 
 Grovernment may aid their people in carrying a necessary burden 
 that they might feel was too heavy for them to bear in their 
 present crippled condition. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, there will probably be found, as there always 
 has been, a few men in every community who will oppose any 
 general system for the education of the people ; a few aristocrats 
 who prefer to hold their position by a kind of divine right, inde- 
 pendent of the opinions and voices of the people who surround 
 them. Then there may be ^ few indolent young men, joined 
 with certain fellows of the baser sort, who do not want to be put 
 to the trouble of further mental exertion, and dislike to see the 
 gap closed up that separates them from those who started life 
 with less advantages. These join in Hamlet's complaint, that 
 " the toe of the peasant comes too near the heels of the courtier ; 
 he galls his kibe." Now, sir, the only answer to all this in a free 
 democratic country is, move on or get out of the way. No man 
 has the moral right to obstruct the path of progress to those be- 
 low him to suit his indolence, his convenience, or his selfishness. 
 In a free country progress is the law, and whoever cannot keep 
 step in the march must fall out of the ranks and go to the rear. 
 But such opposers of a general system of education may for a 
 moment embarrass, but cannot prevent its success when once it 
 secures the approval and support of the best citizens in the state 
 and community. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I believe the fruits of this bill will be good, 
 and only good. The education of the laboring classes, whoever 
 they may be, will not only increase the happiness of indi\'iduals 
 and families, but will promote the material prosperity of the 
 State. The education of the laborer doubles the value of his 
 labor, both to himself and the country. I have heard a good 
 deal since 1 have been here about our duty to aid in developing 
 the resources of the South — to restore and build up its waste 
 places ; but, sir, I know of no waste so broad as this waste of 
 ignorance, and no place where a little a,ssistance would do so 
 great and permanent a good. Other plans and projects can wait 
 until the nation is in a more prosperous condition, but this brooks 
 no delay. Other interests, when in order, can be heard on their 
 merits, but until a general common-school system is in success- 
 ful operation in each of the States this must be the question of 
 paramount importance, the question of the highest privilege, 
 that must take precedence of all others. 
 
10 
 
 Again, sir, the benefits of a common-scliool system will not 
 be deferred to another generation, as many suppose. The edu- 
 cation of the children will be a source of elevation and enlight- 
 enment to the parents. No father, however ignorant, can feel 
 an interest and pride in the education of his children and take a 
 part in the support of their school without being made a better 
 man and a better citizen. The poorest cabin in the land will be 
 ]nade a better home by the presence of the humblest scholar and 
 the most elementary book. Besides, in hundreds of cases the 
 rule of nature will be reversed, and the child will become the 
 teacher of the parents. And in all cases the desire for educa- 
 tion, even for others — the discussion of educational questions, 
 the effort to build the school-house and support the local school 
 — all tend to improve the character of the hiunblest citizen, to 
 give him more self-respect and respectability, and to develop in 
 him some of the higher and better qualities of human nature. 
 
 I have been told by some of my southern friends that the 
 freedmen are vicious, and that they are especially deficient in a 
 correct appreciation of the rights of property. I have no doubt 
 that in many cases this is true. Slavery was indeed a very poor 
 school in which to learn the duties of freedom, and the very 
 worst school in the world in which to get any true conception of 
 the rights of property. But the remedy for this is not to re- 
 ipand them to slavery or to leave them in ignorance, but to give 
 them education. It is always cheaper for the state to educate 
 the child than to punish the criminal or support the pauper. 
 And while it is true that education will not wholly prevent 
 crime and pauperism, it has always been found true in all states 
 that the percentage of illiteracy among the inmates of prisons 
 and almshouses is ten times greater than in the population at 
 large. Now, wliile it is the duty of the State to punish the vio- 
 lators of its laws, it may well be thought a dut}'^ to give its sub- 
 jects opportunities for an education sufficient at least to enable 
 them to rea(i the laws they are compelled to obey. There was 
 a curious old puritanic law of ol(? colonial Connecticut which 
 relieved the child from the penalty of death for striking a parent 
 if it appeared on the trial that the parent had totally neglected 
 tlie education of tlie child. The lesson suggested may be as ap- 
 plienlile to states as to parents. 
 
 Mr, Spetiker, however much in our soi'e need we may have 
 felt indebted to the Peabody fund and otiier private gifts, yet 
 the education of a whole people is too great a work, both in its 
 importance and in the resources required, to be met by the 
 donations of private individuals, however generous. A system 
 of elementary education requires a steady, uniform support, not 
 
u 
 
 dependent upon the caprice of fashion or the fluctuating pros- 
 perity of business, or any of those uncertainties that might make 
 the donations of the benevolent fall off when most needed. Pat- 
 riotic philanthrophy has indeed a noble field for the use of wealth 
 in the domain of education, but it is in supplementing the work 
 of the state by founding higher schools and colleges and institu- 
 tions for special training. Its work begins where that of the 
 state ends. The state furnishes that education that is necessary 
 for all in the common affairs of life, while wealthy philanthrophy 
 may be trusted to furnish that higher culture that is necessary 
 for special duties. As the country increases in prosperity we 
 may expect to see more and more of these acts of benificence 
 that dignify the pursuit of wealth for noble ends, and perpetuate 
 through after years the good . deeds as well as the name of the 
 giver. This, indeed, is noble benevolence, that, like mercy, is 
 twice blessed — " It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." 
 This bill does not limit or trespass upon its domain, but it in- 
 creases the number to appreciate and admire its deeds. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, no institution of our country has received 
 greater credit and honor from statesmen and publicists of foreign 
 lands than the free-school system of the several States. This 
 bill will aid to make it still more an American institution by ex- 
 tending its blessings to every hamlet and settlement of the whole 
 country. It will give our people another object of common in- 
 terest and common pride. It will make our people more 
 homogeneous — having a common education, a common culture, 
 and a common literature. May we not expect that this aid will 
 tend to bind States to the General Grovernment, not by force, 
 but by gratitude, and make all sections and all races more de- 
 voted to the great Republic and to its free institutions, that are 
 the source and guarantee of all our civil blessings. I hail and 
 support this bill as a harbinger of peace and good will between 
 states and between races. And with peace assured, with a 
 hearty union of all for the good of all, there is no height of pros- 
 perity for our people or of glory for our country that we may 
 not anticipate and attain. But, sir, in the supremest hour of 
 our triumph there will be no institution to which we can look 
 back with more pride and gratitude as a chief means of our suc- 
 cess than to this which we will to-day foster and encourage by 
 the passage of this bill. Gi-lorious, thrice glorious country, when 
 the rights of freeman are secured to all thy pedple and the op- 
 portunities for education to all thy children ; for " wisdom and 
 knowledge shall be the stability of thy tiines." 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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