The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-01-30
Wednesday, Jan. 80, 1878.
The State University Must be Sus-
tanned,

Wednesday, Jan. 80, 1878.
The State University Must be Sus.
tanned.
The subject of the continuance Of thu
South Carolina College has been discuss
ed at great length and with great spirit ir
the House of Representatives during the
past week. Some able and argumenta'
tive speeches have been made in favor o.
.re-opening that institution, and we regret
to say that a great deal of opposition tc
this wise measure has been offered chief.
ly by ~up-country members. This oppo'
.sition can to a great extent be accounted
for by the fact that a majority Of the rep
~resentatives are comparatively young
mon who nave received their education
in tho excellent UNCONVENTIONAL colleges
during and since the war when tho State
University was either actually or virtual
w closed; and we can understand their
>eaSerness in opposing an institution
which they consider likely to injure these
colleges, not that they love the Univer-
.sity less, but their alma mater more,
This is the first time for nearly sixty
years that the House of Representatives
has not had among its members n large
and influential number of the University
atamni ready to do battle for their nur'
sing mother. Never had she more need
Of stout champions. The Philistincs be
upon her. She has had many 4 struggle
for her existence since 1905, but in Tho
Legislature there have always been a snf
ficient number o~fenlightened and patriotic
men to guard and maintain the cause 0
higher education. We sincerely hope tho
present Legislature will not undo tn,
good work done by their predecessors.
The opponents of the University claim
that its place is supplied and its func,
tions performed by the denominations
and other colleges. OF these there are
five, and in our columns vi have justly
praised them for the admirable work they
have done and are fitted to do. AS valua'
BILE allies in a noble cause they are to be
fostered and sustained, but their founders
v imagined that they were to take til,
place Of the University. They have
neither tho funds, nor the buildings, the
libraries nor the full number of chairs,
They do not even pretend TO maintain 4
curriculum OF studies OF the proper uni
versity standard.
Another objection urged is the ad cap
tdndum uutgus charge that it is wrong to
tax the poor to educate the rich. This is
a plausible fallacy. Demagogues are al
ways cunning in begging the question.
It is that the poor mans son may have
the privileges which the rich can buy.
that we advocate the establishment of a
University within reach of tho poor.
We are demagogue enough to say that in
urging the claims of higher education
We are. urging the claims Of the poor.
The student roll of the South Carolina
College contains the anne Of scores OF
poor mems n who walked its halls
clad in homcspun, and were made by
their rich classmates to feel themselves
the peers Of the best in the land. McDuf-
tie, Thornwell, .Memminger and many
others entered the claSS-rooms poor
young men, some of them beneticiarics
and charity boys, and by University
training were enabled to make them
selves q historical name and do honor tc
the State that produced them. II there
is one place on earth where the rich and
the poor meet together on equal terms
and where merit is the mark by which
man is known, it is the classroom of
University-and especially of the South
Carolina College.
The only feasible objection urged is
that the State is now too heavily tax
burthened to support the University.
Temporary burdens need not close the
doors for ever. Let the University be
opened at the earliest practicable mo-
ment. There are many reasons for re-
opening the University. No institution
in the State has done SC much in the past
to obliterate sectional differences, and
sooth out Of existence provincial animos-
tiles. The difficulties that met Governor
Drayton in 1901 are precisely similar to
those that meet Governor Hampton to-
day in desiring the establishment Of the
University !; and the strong words of the
former are as wise and applicable now as
then. "rhe friendships Of young men
,.o,LJ +bapoa no nrop,ofod opd .tropvtb-
ened throughout the State, and our politi-
cal union be much advanced thereby
Then rs now the measure was met, as
Chancellor De Saussure says with the
strenuous opposition of many whom III
was intended more especially to bless"
This State needs her University for the
training Of all her aspiring sons rich and
poor in one great school, where not only
tne arts and sciences may be cultivated
more thoroughly than in any subordinate
or UNCONVENTIONAL college, but where
alone that important education can be inn
parted which is obtained by association
with young men Of all sections of the
country, Of all classes Of society, and OF
all religious creeds and opinions. For
some years ingenious youth have
been compelled to leave the State in
search of university trimming and culture,
even those who had been graduated al
one or other of the five colleges. 1t is
said that at present there are about four
hundred young Carolinians attending
universities outside the limits of their
native State. Who c&R compute the ben
eiit which is thereby lost to the State /!
10 d~isestablish the South Carolina Col
lsge would be an act of more lasting i'll
jury to this State, more ~dishonorable to
its character, and more %subversive of its
true interests than II ever passed by
this or any former Legislature.
----->eo -s----
Up.Country and Low.Country.
The country--by which term we mean
the whole country-is ready to forgive our
present Legislature a great many faults