Show hEATh OF TilE BLAIR BILL THL following comments from the St Paul IVmetr JrfM fairly illustrate the feeling uilh which the Intelligent = d Independent newspapers news-papers of the country republican as well as democratic have received the news of the defeat of the noted educational bill introduced into the Senate by Senator Blair of New Hampshire All honor to the senate or mo United Slates which has at Ut given its quietus to the pernicious bill of Senator BlairformUonil aid to education SnLor mlrlorntonl enc lion and all honor to tho Northwest r senators by whose vote the oren lee i and dangoron measure w skilled s-killed At last Ii I eight years now since this mOst objectionable proposition proposi-tion first came before Limo country I that time from drew its ttrength at t < lug tlia consideration of the then recent cetuui returns ef ItS honing the prevalence of illiteracy especially cf tho Southern umong the freedmen to Sulber Iates There were many men hi Con trcisfrom theNorth who honestly b liei 1 it to be thenduty 1 conlnbuta t the ct 01 the pCt work that the ouiancijatiou of the negro bascast upon up-on thefcouth Thee were many men from the South who gra p eat rly at theoSered mlwidy from the federal treasury As a rule their public schools were poorly conducted and sUPPr They had not the splendid splen-did ystem that spread from N ow England Eng-land all over the Northern stat and they bad Dot tho public spirit and vril Ilngcess to sacrifice for educational ends that would enable them iuiitao It Thereat danger of a centralization centraliza-tion o powerneer fo Imminent M when it was proposed 1 turn our schools over to federal control was lightly thought o Each it not beet for tho principle of distribution according accord-ing to Illiteracy which the Introducer which offered insisted upon retaining and feces practically the lorso snbsldy tithe ti-the community that had done least for itself it I probable that the bill would have become law As it a the escape was a narrow one Just prior to the vote which killed the bill an intere tsng debate occurred oc-curred Senator Bte of Tennessee opposed the bill because iu Ills opinion it led the people to rely on the Federal treasury for the support sup-port ard management of the public schools Continuing bo said Time head of the Interior Depart panmect would dispense national fund under national law and having the keys of 100WO schoolhouses hang Ing at his girdle that girdle would become as potent in politics as the scepre of any crowned head The cool patronage would bo u < ed in political campaigns of partisan demagogues dema-gogues The tendency of the bill was dangerous I fascinated and charmed bnt I destroyed I wooed l to destruction as a siren of Capri I would lead to d poUsm It was A I dagger behind a smile a serpent ole beneath the rose Senator Edmunds favored the bi aud declired there was no moral nor legal objection to I In the Constitution Itwllll rcmembpred in Utah that this statesman has fore for-e years maintained the position that for twenty years there has been no constitution of the United States except the public opinion of the American people Such are hN own words Senator Hawley of Connecticut made an argument opposition to the bill Following a Imo of the points hu made 101u1 m1e He prophesied that u the bill b came a law it A not merely 377 OJOOJO that it would cost I would oot hundreds of millions and would irs on for fifty years unless the bill became so odious that an extra Son would have to b called to repeal ik The bU was against the splat of States rights lie did not want to have the secretary of the national board of education sent into hi State Tho town rommiuoes and school boards were capable of taking care of the school and he wanted the national government govern-ment to keep Its hands oflV1 Thlrtj one Senators voted In favor fa-vor of the bill of whom only eight were democrats Thirtyseven Senators voted against the bill of whom twenty are democrats Senator I tor Blair changed hlu tote that he might move to reconsider The vote was close the bill being defeated by a majority of live and in view of the growth of the new nationalism o change may eoon take lace in the Senate that will reverse the tide of its favor |