nation's fame. So threatening is the danger from the ignorant voter that South Carolina has proposed education as a condition of suffrage, and may enact it for her own protection. This is in the right direction. Other States, all the States, should provide in a similar way against the ignorant voter, though perhaps this is not the complete way to overcome the evil. It is an American habit to eulogize education as the safeguard of our liberties, and to boast of the school-house as the fountain of our wisdom; but if the national life is to be perpetuated-if the average citizen is to grow in his appreciation of our national institutions, customs, and laws— if the nation is to be sovereign and to protect itself against all possible peradventures, it must undertake the education of the youth of the land, and do so speedily. If the question is raised as to what kind of education is necessary to the highest style of citizenship, or what is necessary to the perpetuity of the nation and the accomplishment of its mission, we reply that, in accordance with the nature of man and his position as a citizen, his education first of all should be subjective, or such as will improve his intellectual character and life. His faculties should be strengthened, his powers should be stimulated to act, he should learn to think for himself, he should acquire habits of study, he should know his own tastes, and he should familiarize himself with those laws and principles that are necessary to personal well-being and a manly type of intellectual vigor. A subjective education is indispensable to all men, no difference what their position, task, purpose, or character; and the government should have respect in its provisions for the cultivation and enlargement of this phase of the subjective life of its citizens. Fundamental as this species of education is, it is not the only, nor the whole, qualification for life or for citizenship; and, therefore, the government should take other steps and make other provisions contributory to the highest results. The utilitarian spirit in our educational systems is not an unmixed good or evil, but it should. have a place in the consideration of statesmen if they would generously and prophetically regard the interests of the nation. For while utilitarianism, metaphysically considered, may tend to materialism, and materialism may tend to paganism, the fact is, that the bread-and-butter theory of society is of tremendous importance to those who must have bread and butter; and any theory or provision that takes in only air and the stellar spaces, and does not insure wheat, beefsteak, salt, and water, is too deficient to obtain the sanction of the multitudes who need these things. Hence education must have some relation to life, or livelihood, as well as to culture and the luxury of a career of thought. We cannot ignore the man at the blacksmith's forge for the sake of the man who is discovering asteroids, or the plow-boy for the sake of the entomologist. Education must be practical as well as theoretical, manual as well as mental, and physical as well as intellectual; and the government should confer the one as well as the other.

Nor is the citizen fully equipped for citizenship if he is merely competent to earn his living and to do a little thinking on his own account, for man is more than an animal demanding satisfaction of appetite, more than

a citizen seeking to understand the laws of reciprocity, humanity, and nationality, and more than a thinker dealing with the problems of the universe. He has a religious nature, which is as outspoken as his physical or intellectual, and which in point of self-seeking is superior to either, is richer in its resources, wider in the range of its activities, and responsible not to an earthly ruler, but to the Maker of heaven and earth. Religion is a proper subject of cultivation on the part of the citizen for his own sake; and as government cannot well subsist without morality and religion, it behooves government to promote the sway of religious truths and principles in the organized life of the people. It should not maintain a department of religion, with a secretary at its head, like the department of war or the treasury, which is done in France, but it should enact laws for the protection of the sabbath, the suppression of the drink traffic, the punishment of offenders against morality and religion, and for the dissemination of such religious teachings as will save the land from infidelity, materialism, agnosticism, and all corroding and destructive errors in the national life. The government should not ally itself with the Church in the sense of establishing a national Church, or of uniting Church and State, but it should remember that without the Church it would not survive a decade, and regulate itself accordingly. Religious education, comprising the daily reading of the Bible in the public schools, and daily prayer to Almighty God, and instruction in the moral virtues and in the results of viciousness, should be ordained by law and enforced all over the land. It is time to return to the practice of the patriots of other days, and give religion the right of way in the government, in the schools, and among the people.

Little need be added in recommending the value of what may be called a political education, or the education of the citizen in the American constitution, our form of government, with its legislative, judicial, and executive branches, the relation of the states to the federal government, our systems of finance, tariff, and taxation, and all the peculiarities, functions, and forces of civil government. This is necessary if he would intelligently discharge his duties as a citizen, considered in the political aspect.

If a genuine citizenship involve this fourfold education-and that it does must be clear to all who consider it in its manifold bearings-it belongs to the government adequately to provide for it; for the individual himself is likely to overlook or neglect a part of it; and no organization, religious or civil, acting independently, is strong enough or ample enough' to secure it for the whole country. We are not now pleading for more colleges or for higher education, nor even looking to the college to provide for general education, for the need of the country to-day is not higher education, or scholars, or colleges; but a common or lower education of the millions who are not in the line of scholarship, or hungry for collegiate discipline.

There are colleges enough in the land to afford higher education to those who want it. A thousand more would not solve the problem of

universal education. Hence the proposition of ex-President Andrew D. White to establish a great national university at Washington, D. C, s ill-timed, and would be an embarrassment if it were suggested as a remedy for the situation, because, carried out, it will not assist to an infinitesima degree in lifting the people to a higher level. It would not aid Alabam any more than Alaska, and Texas would scarcely know of its existence. The Roman Catholic university to be established in the capital is a tes timony to the necessity of higher education among the Catholics; but while it may promote that end it will not contribute to the education ef the superstitious masses of that faith. The college system of America, religious and civil, is accomplishing its purpose, but it does not educate the youth in the fourfold elements of character, or the masses in the line of citizenship.

Nor does the public-school-system, devised for this purpose, and effcient here and there, reach the people, and secure to them all the adva tages expected from it. It may operate well in Iowa, but it does not ia Georgia; it may be perfect as a system in Ohio, but it is deficient in Mis sissippi; it may elevate Massachusetts, but it is a slow-working system in North Carolina. As a system of education, it is being improved from year to year in the different States, and its results, so far as they can b tabulated, are excellent and strengthening to the national character. The South has especially advanced in this regard in the last ten years; but the North, with its greater wealth, spends more money for school-houses and teachers, and is, therefore, reaping a larger harvest in a more largely educated population.

Thomas Jefferson was a pioneer in education, and the country is in debted to his wisdom for valuable suggestions; but we must go beyond Jefferson-we must advance beyond the state-systems of education—if the twelve millions of school children in the United States are properly trained in a knowledge of their relations to themselves, their country, and God. The state-system has been tried long enough to satisfy the people that, whatever its value, it is too slow in its methods and too poor in its resources to accomplish for the nation what is suggested by its presea condition. The Review ventures to proclaim the necessity of a nationa system of education, that, without supplanting, will harmonize and safely interact with efficient state-systems, and secure to the whole country 4 uniformity of educational provision that will guarantee the stability of the nation in the future. Recently a Department of Agriculture, headed by a secretary, who shall be a member of the President's cabinet, hay been instituted, because of the increasing importance of agricultural

interests.

Is agriculture of more importance than education? Are war, money, and the navy more deserving of secretaryships than mind, or the qualified citizenship of the nation? Let there be a Department of Education whose secretary, appointed by the President, shall be a cabinet officer, and on a par with every other member of the same. It is true there is a Commissioner of Education, but he belongs to the Department of the

Interior, and besides, gathering statistics has little authority, and no special influence in shaping the educational system of the country or in relieving it of drawbacks and infirmities.

To this proposition there may be objection, especially from the South, that has always believed in States' rights, but as this doctrine once led them into secession, and has kept them in ignorance since the days of John C. Calhoun, it is quite time that they abandon it, and permit the government to aid them in general education. Some of the Northern States may oppose the suggestion on the ground that they are competent to take care of themselves; but the general good is at stake, and a national system, with uniform laws and regulations, will be of greater advantage to the whole country than a few efficient and many poor state-systems, such as now prevail in the land. Among the advantages we indicate the

following:

1. Uniformity as to the length of the school year in all the States and Territories. Nine months should be the shortest period, but in many States it is much shorter, or left to the discretion of trustees.

2. Uniformity as to instruction, the richer State not having any advantage either in the competency of teachers or the course of study for its youth over the poorer State.

3. Uniformity of opportunity for all classes. The colored people in the South, the Indians in the West, the immigrant children in our cities, the poor every-where, should be trained in as excellent schools and for as long a period as the children of the wealthy and more fortunate.

4. Uniformity of education as regards native and foreign youth. The children of German, Irish, Italian, Bohemian, English, and Chinese parents should be required, if within school age, to attend our schools a required period, thus preparing them for American citizenship.

5. Uniformity of education regardless of sects. Catholic youth should attend the public schools the same as Protestant youth. This will break down the Catholic parochial system, and focus or end the controversy with the Catholics.

6. Education should be compulsory for all classes. This would destroy the system of child-labor prevalent in cities, and insure universal education.

7. National taxation, aside from the purpose of government support, should also be largely for benevolent ends. Education should be guaranteed by the government, with state co-operation, to all of school age in the land.

8. By this quiet, uniform educational method the government would preserve itself from the dangers of an ignorant citizenship, and by bringing itself into closer sympathy with the people it would receive in return a loyalty and devotion that would strengthen it against all evil; and, preserving itself, the preservation and sovereignty of the States, within constitutional limitations, will thereby be secured.

We move the creation of a Department of Education, with a secretary, chosen by the President, who shall be a member of the cabinet.

THE BOOK COMMITTEE.

The Book Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church is an extraordinary body, whether its personal composition, its legislative function, or the actual business it annually transacts be considered. Within certain limits, and concerning the publishing and some other interests of the Church, it has all the authority of the General Conference, and acts in its stead, with all the freedom and wisdom of the larger body that created it. It supervises the publication of thirteen or more periodicals, inspecting their editorial management, with an inventory of their resources, cost, surplus or deficit, and has the power in certain emergencies to arraign and depose, as well as approve and justify, those in editorial positions. It annually fixes the salaries of bishops, agents, editors, and a majority of General Conference officers. It examines the business of the Book Concerns, gives direction concerning the publication of books, and may change the methods of business, even to details, of our great publishing-houses. The twelve ministers and eight laymen who constitute the committee were chosen by the General Conference for their integrity of character, supposed business sagacity, unimpeachable loyalty to Methodism, and their general reputation as Christian men, who would honor the position and faithfully perform the duties involved in it.

In their annual meeting in February the Committee performed a vast amount of business, some of it in routine order, but much of it difficult and delicate, and requiring ripened judgment and a studied purpose successfully to adjust all matters to their proper conclusions. It is not possible to say that one was more efficient than another in the settlement of some of these problems, for all were devoted to the common end, and business and religion beautifully and wholesomely interacted in their deliberations and results. When the agents reported the business of the year, the magnitude of our Book Concerns became evident; when the editors reported their papers, the periodical system of Methodism had new significance, and its power within its sphere was seen to be incalculable; when the Committee proceeded to the election of an agent to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of John M. Phillips they became conscious of a great responsibility, and acted with appropriate care and wisdom; and when the bishops present proceeded to exercise their prerogative, either in concurring or refusing to concur in the election, the power of the episcopacy was felt to be great and decisive. Thus the Committee stands in the Church as a body clothed with authority, possessed of dignity, and capable by its relation to great affairs of advancing them or doing mischief beyond repair.

The selection of the Rev. Homer Eaton, D.D., of the Troy Conference, as the associate agent of Dr. Sandford Hunt at New York gives great and deserved satisfaction. He is not a stranger to the duties of the office, having been a member of the Book Committee for eight years, and for one term its chairman; nor is he without special qualifications for the