The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-01-12
.HoYT & CO., PEroprietors.


hi.' :. :. For the anderson 7ntelhgcrlcer.: -
soTbe Fret. Common School System Of South
Carolina" -.
MR.. Ep1roR: This Educational System, as
remarked in q previous communication, re-
mindsone of a ponderous, complicated mill
machinery, which is perfect in every part, but
entirely imperative, because the motive power
necessary to propel it is wanting.
To. o.illustrate. The system under considera-
ton requires a multiplicity Of officers, having
enormous salaries to compensate them for SUI
pervisihg it, stating definitely when, how much,
and By whom they are to be paid, but fails to
provide funds to- pay Teachers, forgetting that
school without Teacher is like mill with
out water! 81.
Now, sir, we can scarcely refrain from indul-
ging the belief that our sapient legislators, in
the conception and concoction of this School
System, had nothing in riew-or, at least, this
was the primary object-but huge and conf
plicated machine, so to speak, which, fromth
very nature of its. multifsrious parts, should
require a multiplicity of fsuperintendents to-
run it=-of school officials to whom they would
legislate fat salaries out Of the hard earnings
of people already taxed enormously. This,
sir, seems to have been the one great and abb
sorbing idea! If not, how did it happen that
they forgot to appropriate money to pay Teach
ers? Without moncy..to pay for teaching, all
the colossal, complicated school systems in
Christendom are just as imperative and useless
as the mill without water to run it! a-s
Hence, the great, the humane. and the phi
lanthropic institution of South Carolina so
much talked of and; loudly praised, called the
system of 'sFrec Common Schools" inaugura-
ted by the philantEropista Of Reconstruction,
has proved one of The most ifeent failures
of the age!z Unfortunately for the poor un=
lettered children Of South Carolina, their phi
lanthropIc patrons are always the most cnthp-
siastic and oselfdevoted lovers OF mankind
when they themselves form the portion or man
kind, whose conditions are to be ameicratcd /!
This system of Gree Common Schools, Gu-
thorizes the State Treasurer to pay school Off
cials annually, IN TIE aggregate, q sum in quar-
ter <inssalments, Of not; less than So, ,OoO I!
while thccsum set apart from the Poll lax,
paid TO ali the Teachers in the State, and that
iadefnitely, if ever; is only $4,000!
We perceive that.a resolution h:.s been oier-
ed in the Legislature to amend the School Act.
Now, sir, we are unnformed asto what the
proposed amendment is, or in Whit It consists
but the amendment most imperatfTcly dcman-
ded is, to retrench the salaries, Of SCHOOL Off
cials, and appropriate money to pay'TeacheFsl
and not Only appropriate, but pay!'' Remem- /
Der, unless Tcachers be paid, there cannot pos
sibly be any schools. .sudi therefore superinten- \
dents and commissioners are superauous. 1
Without water the mill cannot grind, it mat |
ters not how many well-paid millers there may
be. And to mako the system efficient, Teach /
ers must not only be paid Acknowledgements
time nobody knows whcn--but they must pc
paid quarterly Upon what apparent ground
of fairness was it assumed that Teachers could
wait for their pay indefinitely, but supcrinItean-
dents sandc commissioners must be paid quar- ,
terEa.. s,'' 90. .-'a : -f7.;i7-'.-i : \
Toachers cl+ims should not only. be paid at
the end of each quarter, but they should be:
paid by the County Treasurer. The paying of
Teachers claims BY the State Treasurer in Co.
lumbia is an imposition upon both Teachers
and the people. 1t is an imposition upon the
people, because. it enables the State Treasurer
to;use' the school fund, aside from that for
which it was designed-to pay the claims OF
Teachers of one County with the school fund
belonging to another! 1t is an imposition up
on Teachers because it subjects them to incon-
yenience and expense A trip to Columbia, in
many instances, would cost Teachers SUM of
money. equivalent to their claims. And the
very accommodating (s) school officials in Co
lumbia, not content with all enormous outside
salary for experimenting the mill, call upon
customers for part of the grist-require Teach
ers to pay certain per centage upon their
claims before they can get the money
The salaries of the school commissioner are
the same in each County, except Charleston, in
which County it is fifty per cent. more. This,
in our judgment, is unfair, to say the least of
it; for the labor required of the commissioner
in some of the Counties is twice that required
in other Counties. For instance, take the Ia
Dor required of the commissioners of Anderson
and Oconee Counties The school fund of An
derson County the last scholastic year is S4,S5S.
SO. This sum would pay, at five cents per day,
the tuition of 435 scholars for one scholastic
year. For experimenting the teaching of these
As5 scholars the Commissioner of Anderson
County is paid $1,000. The school fund be-
longing to Oconee for the same year is S2,2lS.
This, at FIVE cents per day for teaching, would