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to make way, but was actually falling back in the race.
Enquiry was provoked.
The facts produced led to fresh enquiry.
Every one was struck, and not a few were stunned.
That a republic pre-supposes an instructed people is not only a truism in politics, but is understood to be so by every writer and speaker in the United States.
“Republics can only stand on the education and enlightenment of the people,” says President Grant.
“The stability and welfare of our institutions must necessarily depend for their perpetuity on education,” says Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior.
“The existence of a republic, unless all its citizens are educated, is an admitted impossibility,” says General Eaton, Commissioner of Education.
Congress passed a bill, establishing a Bureau of Education at Washington, for the purpose of collecting facts and letting the people know the truth.
General Eaton was placed at the head of this Bureau, and for four years he had made an annual report; each year with safer data, each year also with a sharper note of warning.
For the moment, he can do no more than publish facts.
America is
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