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[349] not yet prepared for a great and general act; and General Eaton has to leave his theory and his facts to speak.

His theory is — that a republic cannot live unless the whole of her citizens are instructed men.

His fact is — that in the United States, five million six hundred thousand persons are unable to read and write.

More has been done by states and counties to arrest the downward motion. But the case was always bad, and the war made it everywhere worse. In some States, the school system became a wreck; in every State it suffered from the strife. This wreck is being repaired, but many years will pass away before the country can recover from the ravages of her civil war.

In the States lying north of the Potomac, the wreck was less than in those lying south of that river. New York and the six New England States are doing better than the rest; doing as well as England and Belgium, if not so well as Switzerland and Germany. Pennsylvania lags behind her northern rival, though she shows a good record in comparison with her Southern neighbours, Maryland

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