KEEP THE STANDARD UP.
The suggestion of "Justicia" in last week's issue of this paper, that teachers' salaries should be reduced to the level of the pittance which is paid on some districts in the southern part of the state, is only another phase, and an extreme one, of the clamor for a reduction of taxation which has had free rein in this county for the last four or five years. It is true that the maintenance of the public schools is the heaviest burden they taxpayers have to bear. In some districts--notably in district No. 1 of Harrisville--the school tax amounts to quite as much as all other taxes combined, yet Justicia is the first person to make an open demand for a reduction in this item of expense by reducing the salaries of teachers. The public should be slow in demanding a reduction of the pay of its servants and especially of its teachers, when the qualifications for teaching are every year rendered more difficult by more stringent examinations and by other restrictions, which practically debar any but competent person from securing certificates.
Trim all other expenses to as fine a point as possible, but if there is any institution that the American people should foster with the tenderest care and solicitude, it is the public school system. It is the bulwark of our liberties, the hope of the future, the pride of the present. Defend it, nourish it, surround it with every safe guard and spare no reasonable expense for its maintenance. The common people fought and bled and died for centuries for that freedom of conscience and speech and action, which are now the undisputed privileges of everyone. The surest way of maintaining personal rights is by maintaining the public schools at their present standard.