even among the most depraved and illiterate class, and that it is too coarse and vulgar to exercise any influence among the cultivated class. But there is another fact which has to be taken into account; there is no book so vicious and worthless but that its publisher can induce certain papers to praise it. Even respectable papers are sometimes imposed upon in this way; "first-rate notices" find their way into them in which obscenity and licentiousness receive the name of "warmth," "effervesence of genius," &c. ; and thus the innocent and pure are led to read performances which are only fit for the most abandoned.

So far, then, as the author is concerned we might have allowed the book to fall unheeded into the oblivion to which it is destined. But is the publisher the less to blame because the poisonous drug which he presents as a wholesome aliment is compounded in such a stupid, clumsy manner as to be innocuous? If one publisher may corrupt the youth of our country with impunity, why may not another? The police will interfere, it seems, only with poor wights who issue nine or ten pages of obscene matter with a yellow cover, and with those who issue pictures of a similar character; it would appear that what they find in book-form, bound in muslin, &c., is all right, no matter how much it outrages public decency.

But if the authorities will connive at vice and licentiousness where they find them in fine garments or in tinsel, the public should vindicate itself. Our self-respect requires that if a bookseller palms off an indecent book on us to-day for a decent one, we ought not to take his word to-morrow when he presents us another book. Who would not shun the broker who had intentionally given him brass for gold? and might not a vicious, licentious book injure one's family much more than the loss of the gold for which brass was fraudulently given? Let no one do, however, but what he thinks fair and just; if a publisher is justified in selecting for publication in this country the most objectionable books published abroad-books which vie with each other in pandering to vice and seeking to bring religion into contemptthen Mr. Carleton is right and ought to be encouraged, and we are wrong in finding any fault with so enterprising a per

son.

ART. VIII.-Speeches in Congress, and other Documents. 1866.

ON almost the first day of the first session of the present Congress a resolution was introduced by Mr. Donnelly, of Minnesota, as follows:

Whereas, Republican institutions can find permanent safety only upon the basis of the universal intelligence of the people; and,

Whereas, The great disasters which have afflicted the nation and desolated one-half of its territory are traceable in a great degree to the absence of common schools and general education among the people of the lately rebellious States; therefore,

Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Reconstruction be instructed to inquire into the expediency of establishing in this capital a national bureau of education, whose duty it shall be to enforce education without regard to race or color upon the population of all such States as shall fall below a standard to be established by Congress; and to inquire whether such a bureau should not be made a permanent and essential part of any such system of reconstruction.

The above was argued by the House of Representatives. Although it had especial reference to the poor whites and newly made freedmen at the South, and seemed designed to introduce the subject of education as an element of the plan of reconstruction,after considerable deliberation and discussion it passed the House near the close of the session, providing for a department of education in our government, with duties and privileges relating to the subject of education throughout the whole country. Preliminary to the special consideration of this new department we may briefly advert to other subjects of an educational character which came before Congress, and some of which are affected by the department in question. Bills for the establishment of a mining bureau and for the granting of one million acres of the public land for a mining college were introduced at different times by Mr. Stewart, of Nevada. Their object is to develop the mineral opportunities of the country. Although the subject was treated with favor, nothing definite was arranged. Similar favor was shown to a bill proposing to grant a million acres of the public land for the benefit of the public schools of the District of Columbia.

The author of the above resolution introduced a petition coming from the National Normal School Association asking for such a grant of land as has been made for agricultural colleges, in order to establish State normal schools. This memorial states that there are 2,500,000 children in the Southern States, and that normal schools are needed to prepare the 50,000 teachers necessary to instruct them. The

question of repealing the internal revenue tax on school books was considered and appropriately referred, as well as the more important petition that Congress send to every public school in the country a copy of every public document published.*

The act of 1862 making a grant of land to the States for agricultural colleges and the study of the mechanic arts was taken up with reference to an extension of the time in which States may accept the provisions of the act, and to provide for the admission of all persons to the privileges of their colleges without distinction of color. The Military and Naval Academies were considered with a view to provide for the admission to the privileges of the same of those who have been sons of officers or privates who have died in the war. A change in the age and requirements for admission was contemplated in the same bill.

On February 15 a bill was introduced by Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, providing for a Bureau of Education. A select committee on this proposed bureau reported a bill for the same, which was rejected by a vote of 69 to 51. But near the close of the session a reconsideration of the vote took place, when, by a vote of 80 to 44, the bill was passed by the House of Representatives as follows:

SECTION 1. That there shall be established at the city of Washington a Department of Education for the purpose of collecting such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the several States and Territories, and of diffusing such information respecting the organization and management of schools, the school system, and methods of teaching, as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of different school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country.

SEO. 2. That there shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Commissioner of Education, who shall be intrusted with the management of the department herein established, and who shall receive a salary of $4,000 per annum, and who shall have authority to appoint one chief clerk of his department, who shall receive a salary of $2,000 per annum; one clerk who shall receive a salary of $1,800 per annum, and one clerk who shall receive a salary of $1,600 per annum, which said clerks shall be subject to the appointing and removing power of the Commissioner of Education.

SEO. 3. That it shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Education to present annually to Congress a report embodying the results of his investigations and labors, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will in his judgment subserve the purpose for which this department was established. In the first report made by the Commissioner of Education under this act there shall be presented a state

* We would, however, have an exception in regard to Congressional speeches, for there are many of the latter that would do the schools more harm than good.

ment of the several grants of land made by Congress to promote education, and the manner in which these several trusts have been managed, the amount of funds arising therefrom, and the annual proceeds of the same, as far as the same can be determined.

SEC. 4. That the Commissioner of Public Buildings is hereby authorized and directed to furnish proper offices for the use of the Department herein established.

Such is the bill recently passed by the House of Representatives designed to constitute a Department of Education. So great is the importance in our country of the work of education that a measure like the above should be considered faithfully, not only by the legislators of the people, but by the people themselves. The advantage of such a department is at the outset apparent in the assistance it will or ought to render to Congress in legislating upon this subject. The interests of education in their various aspects were brought before Congress, as we have seen above, and received with some favor; yet there was a lack of general interest in regard to them and failure to come to any decisive action. May it not be that the principal cause of this is a want of information, which statistics provided and laid before Congress in an annual report by the department in question would supply? for instance, in regard to agricultural grants for the purposes of education. Let it be ascertained where they have been made, whether for colleges, for agriculture, or mechanic arts, or for public schools. Let some idea of the results be communicated. Let statistics be presented with reference to the state and wants of education among the freedmen and poor whites of the South. These might

* We think our contributor might have added others nearer home. Would it not be interesting to have statistics relative to "the state and wants of education among the Congressmen themselves?" Is is not notorious that there are many "honorable" gentlemen whose education has been sadly neglected? Why not make some provision for these? If they were only taught the grammar of their mother tongue so that they could speak with tolerable correctness it would be a great advantage to the country.

It would not take much to establish a school for this purpose in the neighborhood of Washington at which honorable gentlemen could receive private tuition in the elementary English branches, and have a lecture on taste and decency at least about once a week. It might be intimated in the latter, but of course in a very delicate manner, that it is not seemly for legislators to give each other the lie, or to drink so much lager-beer, or any kindred beverage, as would render them unable to distinguish whether they were standing on their heads or on their feet, &c.

It could be so arranged, without any great cost to the nation, that after having undergone some preparation in this way, they could spend an hour each afternoon-Thursdays and Sundays excepted-for six months, in one of the recitation rooms of Georgetown College. If they could not be taught "the humanities" in this time, even by professors celebrated alike for their learning and for their success as instructors, they would at least be taught to behave themselves in a manner becoming the high position they occupy-a VOL. XIV.-NO. XXVII. 11

be accompanied with suggestions in reference to normal schools there, or for the establishment of public schools, or schools for giving instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts. If land grants are to be made for the purposes of education, it should be seen to that they are properly applied and laid before such of the people as they are designed to profit. With reference to the land grants already made there is at present a state both of ignorance and distrust. Perhaps nothing would do more to correct this than a national report setting forth their condition, nature, and objects. Like reports would be of the greatest help in the future in making similar grants and superintending their execution. The new department, then, is calculated to afford the advantages of both an educational journal and superintendent of education for the nation. As a journal it gathers statistics and information respecting the condition and wants of education throughout the country. As a superintendent it surveys the field and lays before Congress and the people the resulting observations and suggestions.

No part of the educational field so demands the attention of such a department as the freedmen just emerging from a state of enforced ignorance. Philanthropic and religious societies are doing much for them, as well as voluntary individual influence; but much more should be done, and there are abundant avenues for such a department to work through its statistics and observations, together with its suggestions in the reports to Congress and the people. Oue means has been alluded to in the normal schools for the education of colored teachers, the help of Congress in establishing which was asked for by the "Memorial of the National Normal School Association." As stated by Mr. Donnelly in the House, “such a measure is a necessity in the present condition of the South. position truly honorable in itself, but upon which they bring contempt by their conduct.

If they underwent a training of this kind they would be infinitely better qualified to legislate on education than they are at present; and accordingly the public would have some confidence in their legislation on the subject. Had some such course been pursued in the past it would not have been necessary for us to write the article in this number entitled "The Acquisition of Knowledge impeded by our Legislators."

We trust we need hardly add that neither in this note nor in the paper alluded to do we mean to depreciate the intelligence or talents of those of our legislators who possess those qualifications. Far from doing so, we hold that there are men in both houses of Congress who are not surpassed in enlightenment or statesmanlike abilities by the members of any legislature in the world. All honor to these; but we most emphatically deny that any honor is due to the illiterate mountebanks who are privileged to legislate on education or any other important subject only in virtue of bribery and fraud.