Speech #490018319

We fbught the South for the common good. and so far as I know. certainly so far as I was myself concerned. without the slightest feeling of personal hostility to any man or any body of men who lived there. We believed their course was destructive to the national welfare. that the Union ought not to be dissolved. that slavery should be destroyed. and we fought in Gods name to accomplish all of those purposes. and when theywere accomplished we looked upon the Southern people as our brethren as much as we ever did before. and more so. because she was to have a future that was homogeneous with our own. and the great cause of difference between the sections was passing away. and the whole Republic seemed likely for the future to be really independent and free. So the feeling turned. as I said. to the South in all kindliness and with an anxiety on the part of our immigrant population to settle in that portion of the country. But what did the Northern men find there? Accustomed to common schools. and understanding that the primal necessity in the raising of a family was to educate the child. the father found no school for his child. he found hostility to the school system. the teacher often abused. the schoolhouse often burned. and persecution toward that system which alone. by permeating the entire population. could create real freedom. and he got away and staid away. and he has remained away. and he will remain away. and so will the intelligent immigrant from abroad avoid that country. blessed as it is by nature with everything that makes it desirable as a home. the loveliest. most fertile. and desirable region of the entire country. So I say that immigration will fbrever remain away from the South until she has such opportunities for the education of the children of the immigrant as are to be found in other parts of the country. The Senator from Kansas dwells very much upon his table. which he produced here. by which he endeavored to show to the country how enormously disproportionate are the benefits that are to be received from this bill if it shall become a law. He reads to us his table in which he says.