1889. No. 4.

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AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

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THE REMEDY--BUT WHO IS TO FURNISH IT?

President Harrison's Inaugural gives in a brief sentence the remedy for
the great Southern difficulty, viz. EDUCATION.

"If, in any of the States, the public security is thought to be
threatened by ignorance among the electors, the obvious remedy is
education."

The Southern situation has been vigorously discussed in the last few
months on the platform, and in the magazines and newspapers, and the
conclusion to which the minds of thoughtful men is rapidly coming is
that announced in the President's Message.

But the remedy will not apply itself, and the means for an adequate
supply of educational facilities must be furnished promptly or the time
will soon come when the case will be hopeless.

WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF THIS SUPPLY?

1. The public school funds of the States themselves. This must be the
main source. We recognize the fact that the Southern States are
comparatively poor, and the further fact, so greatly to their credit,
that some of them are paying as large a per cent. on the assessed value
of their property as do some of the Northern States. But all the same,
the supply of school houses and teachers is utterly inadequate.

2. From the National Government. The Government has done something in
this direction; in giving lands to the States for educational purposes
and in establishing the Freedmen's Bureau. It is urged to do more by the
passage of an Educational Bill. It has been said that there are
objections to every possible way of planting a hill of corn. But a good
deal of corn has been planted, and it grows. There are objections to any
possible Educational Bill that can be framed. Some of the funds will be
wasted, some will be expended in favoritism and some will be neglected
and not expended at all. But yet a large share of the money will be
spent and well spent, and the great good will over-balance the minor
evils. But even the appropriation, under any Educational Bill that has
been proposed, will be but a drop in the bucket.

3. Another source is from Northern charitable funds. The North owes an
immeasurable debt to both races in the South. It emancipated the slave,
and in so doing, assumed its share of the responsibility for the
consequences. It cannot shrink from the duty under the plea that it is a
Southe