is probably true that few of the present generation of Texans realize the significance which the pioneer residents of the great Southwest attached to free public Accustomed as we are to seeing a well constructed school building in every hamlet, and a well distributed system of distinguished institutions of higher education throughout the State, education, in the thinking of many, has become one of the mere commonplaces of life. Before we accept this position too complacently, though, let us turn back the pages of history for there we find recorded some of the most significant documents ever prepared by a thoughtful, struggling people dedicated to the improvement of human living. was no mere accident that those sturdy, and oft-times semiilliterate frontiersmen who drew up the Declaration of Independence wherein Texas announced her freedom from the Republic of Mexico dealt so forthrightly with the problem of is remarkable, however, that they stated with such directness and clarity a principle of democracy which some have come to overlook today. Thus, when listing the grievances which in their opinion justified their secession from Mexico, these hardy, free thinking defenders of freedom stated, It (the Mexican Government) has failed to establish any public system of education. Then we find them proclaiming one of the greatest principles of human government. This is incorporated in the statement, ... unless a people are educated and enlightened it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty, or the capacity' for selfgovernment. From the same point of view, but originating at a somewhat later date, of course, I like especially the bold, unequivocal philosophy propounded in Article VII, Section 1, of our State Constitution. Here we find the statement, A general diffusion of knowledge being essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of a free people, it shall be the duty of the Legislature of the State to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of public schools. So in both of these outstanding documents of state, which truly have been cornerstones in the development of our people and our region, we find this commonwealth irrevocably